Closed A Start of a Friendship? pv Taylor Hunt

Date and Time: Sept. 1, Midday, minutes before the express leaves.

Tesla wiped a couple of stray tears off her cheeks, giving one last hug to both her moms and bouncing her way over to the express. Her trunk was already loaded and she'd been assured it would make it to her dorm when she got there. Magic was incredible! It gave her one less thing to worry about, so she just hoped it was true. She wanted to spend more time saying goodbye, but she knew that she'd start bawling if she wasn't careful, and she was also so excited to be finally going to Hogwarts she couldn't stand still on the platform one more minute.

She turned around to wave one last time, beaming and yelling goodbye over the sounds of families departing and steam puffing from the front of the train. With one last deep breath and a quick bounce on her toes to hype herself up to face the cramped spaces and cacophony of smells of the train she set off down the hallway. She was already a bit overwhelmed by all the scents and sights of the city, and as she found herself in a cramped hallway she felt her resolve falter.

She'd been determined to meet a friend here on the express, but seeing compartments full of chatting older students and younger students already filling seats and shaking hands was making it feel impossible. Her refuge was in the form of a compartment nearly in the middle of the express with only a single girl inside. She had Tesla's same lack of house colors and uncomfortable awkwardness, so Tesla felt it was safe to make the assumption that she'd just found another first year.

She invited herself into the compartment without asking, plopping down in the seat across from the girl, sticking her hand out and mustering her brightest smile from where it had faltered walking around. "Hi! I'm Tesla Stone! You can just call me Tes, though. Are you a first year too? I was looking for a compartment that wasn't full, so I hope you don't mind me joining you," she said, eyes shining hopefully.

She glanced to the window and caught her reflection, realizing too late that she hadn't tried to clean herself up before introducing herself. It wouldn't have done much good, but she couldn't help the way her cheeks lit up red with embarrassment. At the very least her palms were clean, but she caught a chicken feather in her hair that was sticking up even more than usual. There was a smudge of mud on her face that she'd likely put there herself wiping away tears moments before, and she just knew that if she looked down she'd see the last remnants of farm mud coating the work boots she'd worn instead of the little uniform shoes she'd tucked in her trunk that morning. She tucked her feet a bit under the seat, hoping the blond girl across from her wouldn't mind.