PV Amadea Campbell & Adam Harringtom

Cecily was the first to the compartment that she had agreed to meet her best friend Amadea Campbell and fellow Ravenclaw Adam Harringtom in. She leaned back into the seat with her book while she waited for her friends to arrive, listening to footstep and voices passing her by. She had already managed, with much trouble, to shove her trunk into the overhead compartment, and now had nothing left to do but wait.

Cecily snapped her book shut as she saw the handle of the compartment door jiggle, and prepared herself to greet whichever one of her friends was entering. Suddenly, though, before anyone entered, she heard a loud thump outside the door, followed by the heavy pitter-patter of quickly-retreating footsteps. Cecily stood alone in the compartment for a few moments in confusion before taking two quick strides towards the door and slowly sliding it open. Outside sat a singular, abandoned trunk. Now even more confused, the girl poked her head out of the door and looked left and right, searching for signs of the person who dropped this here, but there was no one around.

Making up her mind, Cecily leaned down and dragged the heaving trunk into her compartment, leaving by the door. If anyone were to come looking for it, they could come in here and give her an explanation, she thought. She was refusing to think about the fact that she'd probably be too afraid to talk to anyone she didn't know.

Having completed her task, she once more opened her book and, laying on the seats with her feet propped up on an armrest, settled in to wait for her friends-- or the Mystery Trunk Student.

Amadea was becoming scatterbrained. It wasn't all her fault, of course. School hadn't even started yet, and she was still trying to get back into the swing of things. She had finished checking in with all of the Prefects in their fancy compartment. Her brain was already fried from listening to Serena and Anatole go over their patrolling duties and other responsibilities Amadea and her fellow Prefects would have during the upcoming year. While she loved her job as Prefect, it was hard work that Amadea sometimes didn't always feel like completing. There were some perks though, considering the sheer size of the compartment Amadea was coming from. She chewed on one of the candies she had bought while in the compartment as she navigated her way through the narrow aisle of the train, trying to locate the compartment where her friends were waiting for her. 

She hoped she wasn't too late. Amadea had started to get into a habit of being fashionably late to things, and if she didn't fix it, she would soon be more than just fashionably late. As she dragged her heavy trunk through the aisle, Amadea smiled at the people in the compartments, hoping that she didn't look too stupid struggling to drag her trunk behind her. 

Finally, she reached the compartment. As she peeked in, she saw Cecily stretched out on one of the benches. Amadea was surprised she had reached the compartment before Adam had, but considering how the Ravenclaw had a habit of being very, very late, Amadea figured she shouldn't be surprised. 

She pushed open the compartment door, hoping she wasn't startling Cecily who looked as though she was immersed in a book. Amadea pulled her trunk through the door and heaved it up above the seats to put it on the rack. Amadea made a mental note to learn some sort of spell that would transport her trunk for her, or something that would make it less heavy because she didn't know how much longer she could stand dragging the trunk around. 

Once she had gotten herself situated, Amadea turned to her friend. "Hi Cecily!" she said with a smile. Amadea wasn't sure whether or not she should give Cecily a hug or not, so Amadea just stood awkwardly in front of her friend with her hands at her side. She cleared her throat and spoke, trying to fill the silence. "How have you been since the last time I saw you?" 

One hour of one train ride, and Adam was already exhausted. A full-out sprint down the corridors of the Hogwarts Express felt almost like a marathon, physical weariness matched by the mental burden placed upon him after the meeting in the prefect compartment. Admittedly, he'd already been doing many of the duties explained to him -- the only thing really changing was that now he had other students to report to. It still felt like a lot, however, and he was starting to feel overwhelmed. Why was it that having your job laid out for you made it so much harder to do?

His feet dragged against the carpet as he headed back for the compartment Cecily was waiting in, and hopefully where his suitcase still sat against the door. He didn't know where Amadea had disappeared to after he'd seen her briefly before the meeting, but she wasn't anywhere around now. She had probably gotten out early, gone to talk with the other students as they filed out into the corridors. Apparently, she was friends with many of their fellow prefects now: Anatole, Serena, Rosie, and even John Johns, who Adam hadn't even heard of before today. That was good, good for her, even if he was feeling a little bit alone. Their plans still stood though, and unless she'd gotten sidetracked by her new friends, he'd see Amadea in just a few minutes. Just as soon as he got to the other end of train.

Finally, he arrived outside the frosted-glass window of his destination. Stopping outside, he reminded himself of how he should be acting, less like a jealous loner and more like the excited student he still was. There should be no reason to be anything less than overjoyed, since Hogwarts was less than a day away, and almost nothing beat living at a school for magic. Keeping this thought in mind, Adam smiled to himself and slid the door open.

"You made it!" he greeted the two girls, even though he was the last one to the compartment. Cecily was stretched out across two seats, book in hand, while Amadea was standing in front of her like she was unsure of what she was doing. The Hufflepuff girl must have just beat him back here. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt anything. I'm just happy to see you guys again!"

Cecily sat up with a smile as she saw a head of red hair poke into the compartment. The rest of Amadea followed it in, dragging her trunk along behind her. Cecily snapped her book shut as she greeted her best friend with a big smile. Even though they had just seen each other a few weeks ago, Cecily had already been missing her since they parted ways at the bus station in Ireland.

"Amadea! Long time no see!" She laughed, referring to the week-and-a-half the two girls had spent together just a little while ago. "Things have been..." she gave a nonchalant shrug and a small smile. "Y'know. The usual." And everything had been "the usual". It was just her daily life in the countryside, doing lots of nothing to fill the time during the day and spending time with her family after the sun went down. Not for the first time, she wished she had something exciting to talk about for once, but then thought, again, that maybe being normal made her lucky-- she had never been struck by excitement, sure, but also never by tragedy.

Amadea finished hoisting her trunk into the overhead compartment, and the two friends waited in a companionable silence for the third member of their trio to arrive.

Acting, as ever, like he wasn't the last one to arrive, Adam slid open the compartment door and greeted his friends. During their first year at Hogwarts, Adam's goofy attitude never ceased to break up the monotony of the school days, and Cecily had missed him as much as she did the rest of her (albeit meager amount of) friends.

"Adam, hi! It's great to see you again!" Cecily offered another smile. And with that, the trio was reunited again. For a split second, she reminisced about the day they had met-- in the abandoned classroom on the fifth floor, when ink spilt by the clumsy redhead formed a tight friendship between the three of them. But now was not the time for the past; it was the time to catch up with each other in the present, share stories from their holiday. She and Amadea were already caught up from their summer adventure, so she turned to their other friend. "How was your summer, Adam?"

Amadea took a seat across from Cecily, listening to her answer the question. It seemed as though Cecily was doing well. She settled in her seat, opening up her own book as the two waited for the third member of their trio to arrive. Amadea lost herself in the fantasy world of her book until she heard the compartment door being slid open. Peeking up from behind the pages, Amadea spotted the curly mess of blond hair that belonged to the one and only Adam Harringtom. 

"Adam!" Amadea exclaimed excitedly. She hadn't seen him since the end of the school year. The summer had been so busy for all of them that they had barely even had time to send any letters, let alone find a time to get together. Thankfully, they were all reunited now. Amadea stood, unsure of what to do. Should she help with his trunk? Hug him? Sit down? Amadea decided to go with the latter and took a seat. 

"Tell us all about your summer!" Amadea commanded him. She had heard that he had traveled to Paris to visit colleges for his older brother, Dean. It must have been such an exciting experience. Paris was a beautiful place, from what Amadea had heard. She couldn't wait to hear all about Adam's adventures. And she couldn't wait to fill him in on everything that he had missed!

The quiet, comfortable compartment Adam had just entered could not have been different from the crowded chaos of the August train ride, but the two were the same in the only way that mattered: his company. While he would never give up a minute with his other friends, from Eris even to Max, it was terrific to be reunited with Amadea and Cecily. When they'd met, the three had been adventurers on a quest for a cleaning rag, a rather humble treasure but a treasure all the same. In the months of BlossomFest, they'd bonded together in an attempt to navigate the Great Maze as the formidable Team Who Must Not Be Named. They'd seen each other at the ill-fated Blossom Ball before it had gone up in flames, but after that, conversation between the trio had been scarce.

When the idea of riding up to the castle together had first been suggested, Adam was overjoyed. Train rides were wild events, as evidenced clearly by his first-year experience, and every little thing that happened depended on who you were with. Eris, Kaegen, Avalon, and Michelle had spun up an exciting thrill ride, complete with acidic amphibians. With any luck, things would be less hectic this time around, but definitely just as fun. Sliding down into a seat next to Cecily, he grinned at her and glanced at the cover of the book she had nearby. It wasn't something he recognized, and turning his smile to Amadea, he noticed she'd brought some reading of her own. He was, apparently, under-prepared. Hoping that wouldn't be too much of a disadvantage on his part, he realized with a start that both girls had asked him a question, the same question: how was his summer?

"It was pretty great, actually," he began, struggling to remember the finer details of the past few months. "I stayed for camp with Eris and Phae and Max and a few other people I didn't recognize from my cabin, and it was terrific. You were there, right, Amadea? They had so much to do!" The summer camp pieced together by the Hogwarts staff really had been impressive, considering that none of them probably had dreams of being counselors in the first place. There were no lessons, for one, and the classrooms had been replaced with a playground and a swimming pool. Though he knew it was childish and beneath him as a twelve-year-old, Adam had had the time of his life on that playground. The entire month of July had kept him graciously busy, and when he'd returned home, he'd been sent right into the next vacation.

"Ooh, I told you guys I was going to France, right? I think so. Anyways, I did that too. It was alright, I guess, if you like buildings and bread and stuff. They're really proud of their cheese over there too. I don't really know why." In truth, the cheese had been delicious, but he wasn't about to start complimenting France now. "Oh, also, turns out I'm French. Well, my family is. My dad's side. His mom grew up in Paris, and her mom, all the way back to the Middle Ages or something, I think. My mom's still from England, but I thought that was pretty cool. Too bad I don't have a funny accent or anything." That had been a surprising part of his history, explained to him a few days after they'd gotten back home. It was weird to think that you didn't even have yourself all figured out sometimes.

"Am I seriously talking this much already? You guys can tell me to shut up whenever. I don't want to completely take control of the conversation. How were your summers?" It was surprising to remember that he'd really only talked to Eris while school was out, but mostly true even so, and he was excited to learn how his friends had spent their time off. Besides, once their stories were all done, the door would be wide open for railroad adventures to come to them.

Cecily smiled as Adam started to ramble about his summer. It was exactly something the Adam she remembered from three months ago would do-- it was as if nothing had changed, as if they had never been apart.

"Hold up." Cecily couldn't believe what she had just heard out of her friend's mouth. "Yeah, wow, camp sounds like a lot of fun and all, but you went to France? And you didn't even bother to tell me? A, that's so cool! I wish I could go cool places like that. I basically never even left my house before Hogwarts." Cecily laughed at her own under-travelled self. "But B, come on! You have to tell me these things so I can get excited for you and not look like a fool when you finally tell me about it!" Cecily was more good-naturedly jealous of Adam's trip than actually upset, of course, but she nevertheless wished she could have been excited for Adam when he went to France. She had read books set in the country and, from what the stories had described, it was lovely and romantic and a place Cecily would write on her mental travel wish-list.

"Let's see...over the summer I did a whole lot of chores, read too much, and...oh yeah! Amadea and I visited each other's houses! I got to see London and we did all sorts of cool things and saw so much. London is such a fascinating place." Cecily thought back to that one week in August when she and Amadea went on adventure through the city. The energy of the city, the sounds, the smells all seemed so vivid in her mind that if she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend she was still there.

𝒜madea settled back in her seat as her friends began to chat. She had missed hanging out with her favorite two people that made up their terrific trio. It sounded like both of her friends had a great summer. She was especially jealous of Adam and his travels to Paris. One of Amadea's main goals was to travel everywhere. She wanted to explore the world and see all of the different cultures and things there were to see. Thanks to her adventures during the summer, she could check Ireland off of her list, but Paris was somewhere she still couldn't wait to go see.

"I agree with Cecily," Amadea chimed in as Cecily scolded Adam about not informing the two about his trip. "If I had known you were going I would have convinced you to pack me along in your suitcase! And you're not talking too much," Amadea added. Personally, she wouldn't mind if they spent the rest of the train ride talking about Adam's trip to Paris. "My summer was marginally more boring than yours."

Cecily then chimed in with her adventures over the summer, which sounded very similar to Amadea's, which involved lots of reading, chores, catching up with her family, and going to each other's houses. "Bringing you to London was so much fun!" Amadea exclaimed. She had enjoyed showing her friend around the giant city, especially since it had been Cecily's first time in a city, ever! And then in return, Cecily brought Amadea to the moors of Ireland which were such a contrast from the hectic city life she was used to. Even at Hogwarts, there was always a sense of urgency with homework and classes and extracurricular activities despite it's remote location, but in Ireland, all of that was removed. It was amazing to Amadea. "And Ireland is so beautiful," she added. "I wish we could have hung out with you too, Adam!" she added, now feeling badly about her reminiscing since Adam hadn't been there. She reminded herself that Adam had a great summer as well, plsu she had gotten to see him at the Hogwarts summer camp, which had also been a blast. Amadea was glad she had such a wonderful summer and she couldn't wait for the new school year to begin because she knew that so many more amazing things were bound to happen.      

No matter how much more exciting the girls claimed his summer to be over theirs, Adam would have much preferred to be spending time with them too. They were going to have to make plenty of plans for the summer before third year -- maybe they could visit his house, now that they'd already been to each other's. Or, even better, he could take a trip to Ireland or London himself! He was sure that his mother wouldn't mind, especially if all three of them were together, and he couldn't see why they wouldn't be. His train of thought was already starting to go off of the rails as ideas for the next year flooded into his head. Amadea could lead the Ravenclaws on a tourists' trek of London and they could spend a day seeing all of the most famous things, making a big show out of it. It would be a great chance to practice his American accent. Or, if that proved to be too crowded, they could head out into some Irish forest and see what was hidden away in there. If he needed to, Adam was sure that he could even make Nottingham seem interesting, just for a little while. It was an endless list!

First, though, there was a whole school year to get through. It was too bad that school always had to take up time that could be used in so many better ways. Hogwarts was better than most other schools, no doubt, but time in the castle still moved so much slower than the summers did. Adam would much rather be running around outside than sitting down inside; actually, he'd much rather be running around outside than even running around inside. He knew some people that liked it plenty, the schoolwork and learning (especially in his House), but he just didn't see the appeal. Maybe it was a genetic thing, like hair or eye color. Maybe he just wasn't that type of person.

"We can still hang out!" Adam exclaimed, not wanting to make either of his friends feel like they were leaving him out. "Right? We're only, what, halfway to the school? Maybe not even that!" Leaping out of his seat, he leaned against the window and pressed his face to the glass, wondering if there was anything out there he might recognize from the ride home at the end of first year. Finding nothing that caught his eye, Adam shrugged and turned away, leaving behind a few smudges on the clear surface. "Plenty of time to do something exciting before the summer ends for real."

He didn't exactly have a plan in mind, but all good ideas were thought up on the spot, weren't they? The first step was getting out of the compartment -- the three of them could decide where to go from there as soon as they got there. Whatever they could do on the train, it was sure to be exciting. More exciting than reading, in his mind. "Let's go on an adventure or something! There's got to be a lot we don't know about this train. Who drives it? Shouldn't we find out?" Striding over to the door, he hung on to the handle and rocked back and forth on his feet. "If anyone asks what we're doing, we can just show them our Prefect badges. That always works." It always worked in movies, that was, but it was still a plausible notion. "Come on, what do you say? Let's solve some mysteries!"