Emiline was disheartened that her summer was coming to an end, but it also meant that a school term would soon begin. While the summer had been fun and relaxing, Emiline missed her school and friends. She had forgotten to tell her friends that she would be abroad for most of the summer, so if they sent any owls she would not have read them.

Emiline thought about what she would need to pack, 7 books, robes, broomstick, all her potion supplies, her train sweets (an opening for any friendship). She placed everything in her trunk and brought it to the car. Off to Hogwarts again! She thought.

Soon, they were in the bustling city of London. She looked at the platforms then looked at the big clock to the right of her. She had 15 minutes before her train left. What? Where did all the time go?She thought exasperatedly. She quickly found the platform entrance and pushed her trolley through. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation. Around her people were saying goodbye, chatting and exchanging stories. Of course Emiline was glad to back with the wizarding folk considering she had a non-magical summer and spent her time with her muggle mum. Emiline breathed in the smell of the station before she carried all her belongings into the red train. She moved straight through the first two carriages knowing they would be full already. She peering into the third to sixth carriages, a few people were in there but clearly saving space for their friends. Finally she found a carriage which was empty. She set all her stuff down and pulled out her sweets and ate one which brought a memory of her friend. I wonder if Quinn is on the train yet, oh and Simon , Tracey and Kaitlyn they are probably on the train right? She pondered.

@Poppy Lytle
WC:309

Going from Wales, where even the big cities are somewhat small, to London was a shock for the young witch. There was just so many people. Of course her mother talked about London and the ministry headquarters, yet nothing could prepare her for the excitement of actually being here. Especially since it meant she was finally going to hogwarts.

Her father walked her up to the wall. He walked her through how to get through to the hogwarts express a ridiculous amount of times. “I know I know. It’s simple magic. Not like I’m fixing broken bones like you do.” That finally got her dad to let her just run on through. Not without insisting that she write, and reminding her not to be upset if her mother takes a while to respond. “I know, she told me she would be going back to more dangerous work while I’m off at school.” After that she finally ran off to platform nine and three quarters.

Then she was alone, alone with a huge train in front of her. She had to figure this out on her own. It couldn’t be that hard just go up to the train, put her trunk away and find a train cart. Hopefully someone from back home saved a seat for her.

She kept checking carts, just peeping her head in and then shying away when much older students had already taken up the whole cart or reserved all open space for their friends. This went on for a minute before she poked her head into the cart where Emilie was sitting alone. She didn’t seem to have saved a seat for anyone yet, and she didn’t look that much older or scarier. Maybe she should ask if she can sit here?

@Emiline Hunter

As she was thinking, she saw a girl standing in the doorway. Just standing there. "Come in, Come in, I don't bite. She said with a smile. She gestured to the girl to sit opposite her. "Hello, you must be a first year. Don't worry I'm only in my second. I had the same trouble as you when I first came on the train, I had no clue on who I should sit with. Everyone seemed older than me." She paused for a moment to see if the younger year would say anything but no she was just listening. "Anyways, I'm Emiline Hunter. In Hufflepuff. It is a pleasure to meet you."She paused for another moment. "I wonder what house you'll be in?" She thought aloud. "I was wondering cause if you were in Hufflepuff, y'know I could help you settle in and whatknot."

Soon, she heard the whistle of the train. "Ooh, that means we're going, I won't be back here till the summer again. Thank goodness!" The train lurched as it began to pick up speed. She glanced out the window still a bit nervous about the train journey. I mean who wouldn't be on their third time! The scenery was slowly changing as they gathered speed and sped away from the city, the buildings became less frequent and the grassy meadows grew as far as the eye could see.

WC:232
@Poppy Lytle

When she got the invite to join the second year by sitting across from her, she did so. The seat was nice, comfy. She couldn’t believe she was sitting on the same train that her mother did before her. Her mother went from this position to being a respected Auror. Now she was expected to make something good of herself. Starting here, starting now.

She was comforted in knowing Emiline was in her second year. That was good. She would know things, and the feeling of being a first year would be fresh in her mind. Also Poppy had friends back home going into second year. She talked to people a year older before. It made things less scary.

“I’m Poppy, Poppy Lytle.” The last name that tied her to her father’s pure blood family. In Canada. She hoped that the second year across from her didn’t know much about pure blood lines. As much as she was going to be defined by being the first of her line at hogwarts she didn’t want that to start now. “Its nice to meet you too.”

“I could be in hufflepuff. My mother was in Slytherin, but her brother was a hufflepuff.” Her friends from Swansea ended up spread out throughout the four houses.

The train whistle only increased her nervousness and excitement. It was happening. She was going to hogwarts. She looked out the window to see the train station slipping away. Then the city started to fade, then the green meadows came. She liked the site of the rolling fields much more than the city. It felt more like home, she already knew she was going to miss home. “You don’t go home for the holidays?


@Emiline Hunter

Emiline smiled when the younger year introduced herself. " Poppy. That is a great name " Emiline listened to Poppy talking about her family. "Huh, so your family has been placed in two of the houses already, Hufflepuff is very kind. Some say too kind but I don't believe that anyone can be too kind. And Slytherin is great too, but some people can be a bit ambitious for my liking.
She paused, Emiline rummaged in her pockets until she found a sweet bag, "Do you want one? They are muggle sweets though."

"No, I don't go home for the holidays, My parents are very busy. My mum is a muggle and works abroad lots and my father is too busy to look after me at christmas so I go home at the end of the summer. But I write to my mum load and my older sister too." Emiline's face darkened and her smiled disappear for a brief second when talking about her father. It was clear there was much more to talk about which Emiline was with-holding. But the steely flash in her eyes made sure no one would want to ask about him. "Anyways, enough about me. Are you excited for Hogwarts? Which class do you think you'll enjoy the most?" She asked the smile back on her face as if nothing had happened.

WC:227
@Poppy Lytle

Poppy’s eyes widened at the mention of muggle sweets. She’s never had muggle anything before. Even the look of muggle candy seemed odd. It wasn’t moving, and without magic what was the fun of the candy? Chasing chocolate frogs throughout the house was one of Poppy’s found childhood memories. She remembered one time her mom had to freeze the frog in place because her young self couldn’t catch the frog.

”Uhm yes please! I would never much like some of that, muggle candy.” Poppy probably sounded much too excited about the candy, but it was something new, something fun.

She caught something off about the fellow witches response so she simply nodded and said. “My mom is very busy too. She deals with the dark wizards, and they’re hard to catch. Oh, uhm, classes. Right. ”

That took the younger wizard a moment to think of. There was so many. Transfiguration sounded fun, especially if she eventually got to turn into an animal! Defense against the dark arts was definitely something she was nervous for. It was the same class that her mom learned how to fight in. What if she did bad? “I don’t know, most of them sound fun, potions transfiguration, defense. History of magic is going to be boring, and sad.” That class was one big reminder of all the ways her mom could die, and all of the injuries her dad had to treat, or try his best too.



@Emiline Hunter

Emiline noted Poppy's reaction to muggle sweets. Cool, she has wizard roots. She thought absently. Emiline held the sweet bag towards Poppy so she could take one.

Emiline listened carefully when Poppy explained that her mum deals with dark wizards. Ooh, that must be a burden on her. Thinking about that, Emiline's mind drifted to a club she had joined halfway though the year. 'Little acts of Kindness'. She should offer her support for the younger witch.

Poppy rattled off some of the lessons that she might enjoy and when Emiline heard about History of Magic she chuckled, "Yep, that lesson can be interesting at points but normally it's only just bearable." Emiline then also noted how the girls eyes lost their perkiness for a glimpse. Maybe this girl was more worried about her mum being in contact with the dark wizards than she let on.
"If you need to talk about anything or just get something off your chest, there is a club called ' Little acts of Kindness' who will try and help out everyone they can, I'm a member and I can tell you are slightly down. Are you worried about your mum? You don't need to tell me, but sometimes, sharing a worry or concern may lighten the load." Emiline asked, a sympathetic smile rested on her face and her eyes sparked with kind concern.

WC:232
@Poppy Lytle

Poppy took a curlywurly from the bag, opened it up, and started to take small bites, savoring the odd flavor for as long as she could. She listened to the older girl across from her as she talked about history only being barrage, and that was from someone who at least had a particularly muggle background. She couldn’t imagine how bad it would be for someone like her who already knew some of the history.

Then she was quite surprised at Emiline offering an open ear. She surely couldn’t have seemed that down about her mom right? Maybe this girl was a seer and knew she was going to meet a girl that was down about something on the train ride here.

“Well how could I not be worried? She fights dangerous people. She was hurt before, and they like to try and hide it from me. They think it’s better if I don’t know, and now I won’t.” She felt like an idiot for opening up to a stranger after just a couple of words were said. Maybe she should have said that everything was okay, it’s not like there was anything to be done about her situation.

At least Emiline didn’t reconizge the last name Lytle. At least this moment isn’t infringing on the legacy she had to transfer to Hogwarts yet.

WC: 224
@Emiline Hunter

Emiline listened to the girl sharing her worries. The girl’s tone implied that she hadn’t shared this problem with anyone before. Huh, that must be a weight off her shoulders. The girl was munching on a curlywurly, clearly savoring the taste. For some reason, that chocolate brought back so many childhood memories. Her first friend gave her one for every time she was down or if she felt like giving something. This sweet treat aways lightened Emiline's mood.

"I hear you. That must be a difficult load to carry. If you need to talk throughout the year, just try to find me. Or ask one of the prefects to let me know you need to talk." Emiline glanced out the window, the rolling hills had changed to a different
landscape. A beautiful landscape of a forest. If you looked hard enough you could see the animals. The squirrels scampering up the trees and the birds perching on the branches. "We are getting closer to Hogwarts, I can feel it. We need to get changed into
our robes soon otherwise the professors will take points away. And that won't make you popular with your housemates. " Emiline chuckled remembering the first time she had some housepoints taken away, she had thought it was the end of the world. "Hopefully
the cart lady will come soon, I'm starving."


WC: 227
@Poppy Lytle

“Okay thank you.” That was all Poppy could get herself to respond with at first. It was nice knowing she could always talk to Emiline, but she doubted she would actually ever try and go through the prefects to find her. She didn’t need the prefects questioning why she was looking for someone a year older than her, especially if they got sorted into different houses. Hufflepuff was seeming like a better and better house now.

Looking out to a forest felt odd. Poppy had lived on the coast her whole life, where the trees are thin and open space was often. The squirrels were familiar at least. Squirrels seemed to be the same no matter where you went. It was comforting in some ways, having that constant there.

Poppy quickly located her robes when she heard that not being changed into them in time would cause a loss of point. She definitely wasn’t going to allow that to happen to her new house. “Where’s a place to get changed?” She didn’t have time to locate the restrooms on her way in since she was too preoccupied with trying to find a seat. She figured that the older witch would know, another good thing that came out of this train ride.

WC: 211
@Emiline Hunter