Closed Express Delivery to Hogwarts PV

⋖ 01/Sep/2024 @ morning | ENGLISH [#715380] | FRENCH [#b654a9] ⋗
INTERACTIONS @Camilla Carter | MENTIONING @Finnegan Connor @Pericles Dralt @Rebecca Lark @Aly Salinger
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Distant conversation muddled together through the window's glass, children coming and going and saying their final farewells to attentive family on the platform. The hallway was abuzz with activity, excited footsteps and the occasional thud of luggage lending the train a sense of life, persistent vibrations a reminder of just how many others would also be sharing the return ride back to Scotland for the upcoming school year. Evelynn should have been among them, sharing smiles and quiet contentment with the group of unlikely friends she had somehow managed to consolidate over summer camp. Yet, for some reason, they were nowhere to be found. Last minute communication wasn't the easiest in the wizarding world. Any potential dialogue with Pericles and Aly had concluded the moment she had secured Janus in his cage. And while she was certain Finnegan would be holed up in one of the compartments with Becca, efforts to coordinate seating with him through text message had gone unanswered. Probably just the excitement of returning to school, she reasoned.

So, she'd found herself sequestered to a cabin, absent any familiar faces. Under normal circumstances, this would have been to her liking. It would afford her the opportunity to draw an invisible shroud around her and bury her attention and time into some book or other for the duration of the trip, permission silently granted to ignore whoever else happened to seat themselves in the same compartment. That very act was one she had played out time and again, and with so much time over the summer having been dedicated to camp and studying for her GCSEs, there really ought to be an encore; she was sorely behind on her preperatory reading. Alas, the drive simply wasn't there. She felt heavy. Hungry, almost. A familiar weight had settled into her core, tendrils snaking out in search of something and finding nothing. They groped endlessly, carressing and assessing the pockets of surrounding activity, but always returned wanting. Focusing on the grand clock that ticked slowly down to the time of departure, Evelynn tried not to think of the similarities to how it felt this time last year.

An unexpected knock jarred her from the spiral of her slow descent. A vacant expression blinked back to life as she flicked her gaze towards the compartment door, now slid to reveal a mostly unfamiliar face. The inquiring girl looked almost like a younger version of an old acquaintance. Vaguely wondering how long it would be before this one misplaced her wand, Evelynn quickly assumed a neutral expression and motioned towards the opposite seat, "by all means. They are not taken." She was about to turn her head back to the window, to disassociate from the intruding presence, but already the void was pressing in, thick with the threat of losing herself to shadowed thoughts if she turned away now. Instead, she grasped at the thread of contact, steeling herself with a breath for what might be the regrettable decision of socially connecting despite the need of distraction. "Have you need of assistance with your trunk?" Already, Evelynn's black walnut wand was in her hand, her head canted as she flicked her wrist as though to motion the girl out of the way enough for Evelynn to magic the luggage up into the over-head space.