It seemed as if Ellie had just reached Hogwarts, but almost a year had passed and it was time to leave. Ellie grabbed her trunk off her bed and looked around her dorm for the last time as a firstie. She was going to miss this place, with its fun teachers full of exciting lessons, especially charms, and its lavish banquets, filled with food. Not to mention all the people she had met this year, yup she was going to miss it!

She left the castle and looked back. The beauty of it never ceased to amaze her, from the way the light looked on the stained glass to the towers with there unique shapes. Taking her last look of this, she walked down to the train boarding station. She breathed in the Hogwarts air for the last time and boarded the train.

Luckily, she was one of the first people on the train so it was easy to find an empty car, this way people could join her but she didn’t have to feel awkward, asking to join them. She walked to the middle of the train and pulled her trunk through the train cars door. Once putting the trunk into the area above the seats, Ellie sat down on one of the seats.

Ellie looked out the window at the kids hurrying to get in the train and some who were taking their sweet time either soaking up the last moments or just not wanting to go home. Ellie was dying to go home though, she was seeing her friend for the first time in forever again.

She got up from her seat and opened the door to her compartment, just so a random person knew they could sit here. She returned to her seat and sat down. It was time for the next part of her adventure.

Reducio

@Sage Willows @Joseph Sims @Amelia Lerelle

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interacting/mentioning- @Ellie Randensmith, @Joseph Sims, @Amelia Lerelle

Something inside Sage felt heavy, weighing her down and making it almost impossible to walk up the steps of the train. Just stay behind, her conscience tried to tell her. Don't get on the train and you won't have to see him. But her body ignored her racing thoughts and boarded the Hogwarts Express.

The state of mind Sage had been in for the past several months- oh, who was she kidding?- the past few years had only felt stronger, like it was becoming a livelihood instead of just a moment's grief. Once the summer started and she was back home, she'd find herself on another train. Another train, this one on its way towards the only biological parent she had left. Sage hated him, she hated the idea of being there for the summer.

Now on board the train home, Sage could feel her heart beating out of her chest. Not exactly knowing where her friends were, the urge to just slip into a compartment with new kids grew stronger. Seeing someone who didn't know where she would be headed seemed like heaven. Just someone who wouldn't understand and wouldn't be able to determine why the second year
looked so down in the dumps.

Casey, her cat whose age had definitely started to show, squirmed in her arms, meowing like crazy. "Shh, shh," she urged him. "Come on, buddy, we'll just pop in here, yeah?" Sage slid open the door to a compartment holding a younger girl with almost blonde hair. And thank God, Sage didn't know her.

"Hi," she said, her voice sinking into a shaking virbrato as she tried to display herself as pacific. "D'you mind if we join you?"

Sage slipped further inside the car, noting she would leave if the younger girl asked her to, to avoid the hubbub of others boarding the train. "I'm Sage, nice to meet you."

sorry for the late response

More kids where boarding but Ellie’s compartment remained empty. She swung her feet. Everyone seemed to have someone yet Ellie couldn’t find any of her friends. Or rather, they couldn't find the car she was in. It was just her, and her cat Aries.

Another girl walked in and Ellie looked up at her. Ellie smiled as the girl asked if she could sit here.

"Oh, no. I don't mind if you sit here at all!" Ellie noticed the girls cats at her heels. Hope they both get along... Ellie thought, looking at Aries, who was a pretty chill cat.

The girl introduced herself as Sage and Ellie smiled agian, "Sage, that's a pretty name! Nice to meet you, I'm Ellie!"

It felt so weird to be leaving, she still remembered arriving! Of course, she was lonely on the way over, making no move to either invite people in or to at least show they where welcome, she had just sat there. It felt like no time had passed at all... Lost in her thoughts, the train car grew silent.

"So umm..." Ellie fidgeted with the corner on her Hufflepuff cloak, "What level, sorry year, are you?"

Sage surely wasn't first, Ellie had never seen her in her classes and she didn't look older then third year so it was Ellie's guess, she was 2nd or 3rd. Looking out the window for what had to be, the third time that day, Ellie noticed the last group of kids get on who looked to be seventh years (maybe younger), this, for some of the students, was their last time boarding the train. The realization hit Ellie like a bullet, that was so crazy, yeah, they are older than her, but it still felt crazy to her, for a reason, she couldn't explain.

The train started, soon after the last group got on, To new adventures. Ellie thought, as Hogwarts got smaller in the distance.

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

Joseph still couldn't believe it. It didn't make sense, how time had whizzed by unnoticed so quickly. It had to be just yesterday. When he'd accepted the badger plushie from the prefects. When he was lying gravely ill in the Hospital Wing. When he was twirling around with a smile in a chicken costume.

The disappointment from having to repeat his first year on day one was still fresh in his mind.

The impatient, red train towering over him honked loudly, clouds of steam billowing from its smokestack. Time to go. Unless he was keen on spending his summer observing the dull, rusted train tracks. Which sounded pretty enticing considering his only other option was to return home and spend the summer with his family.

Sighing, Joseph tugged at his trunk that had sent him careering to the floor countless times in the last five minutes, dragging himself towards the train. Another terrible summer, here he comes. Yay.

He made no effort to look for an empty car. Finding a peaceful spot to enjoy the ride would be a priority under normal circumstances, but not now. Not when his limb was about to snap off from the excessive weight of his trunk. Not that there'd be any empty compartments left, anyway.

Looking up with a yawn, Joseph stumbled forward, rubbing at his aching shoulder. He made a mental note to get one of those enchanted bags from Hogsmeade that could fit more than one might think. Because bags were better than bulky trunks. Any day of the week.

He floundered into the nearest compartment, whose door was kindly left open for him. Maybe that was a good omen.

Two girls were seated down already, trying to strike up a conversation. Sunlight trickled into the car from the window, glinting off the brown, silky hair of the girl sitting closer to the door. A Hufflepuff, he noted, his eyes falling to the cloak she was wrapped around in. No surprises he managed to identify it. Two years in Hogwarts was more than enough time to get accustomed to the staple clothing for the best house in the school.

The other girl appeared slightly older, or perhaps it was just the aura she was giving off. Perched not too far away was an adorable cat, looking so old it could've been a close buddy of Merlin's pet kitty, if he ever had one. Or it could be that Joseph's presence had driven it to disgruntlement. Cats never seemed to like him. Especially not the ones back in Arisaig. Maybe they had circulated rumours about him over a secret cat mail system, with a cheesy picture of him grinning stupidly attached. That'd explain why he never seemed to get along well with the felines.

Joseph realised he'd been standing awkwardly at the door, staring at the girls in silence.

A blush crept up to his face, colouring it a uniform shade of red. Perfect time to turn into a tomato-headed boy.

"Oh I'm sorry, I'll just.. I'll uh go... somewhere else," he muttered incoherently under his breath, suddenly interested in a cluster of dusty cobwebs at the corner of the car. Trying to preserve any remaining dignity he might still be clinging on to, Joseph turned, reaching for the sliding door in an attempt to make a quick escape.

Of course he missed.

His unsteady balance, coupled with the sickening weight of his trunk was more than enough to send him crashing backward, sprawling to the ground to form a tangled mess of limbs that wished it could dissipate into nothing forever.

Well, he supposed that was train door - one, Joseph - zero. And the audience was clearly not impressed by his performance.

@Ellie Randensmith @Sage Willows @Amelia Lerelle

Mentions: @Joseph Sims, @Ellie Randensmith and @Sage Willows

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interacting/mentioning- @Ellie Randensmith, @Joseph Sims, @Amelia Lerelle

Now safely settled inside the compartment with the blonde, Sage cozied her ageing cat on her lap, offering a gentle smile to the girl. After the stranger introduced herself, Sage replied with a polite wave. With little energy to start a round of chatter, Sage soaked in the silence until Ellie broke it.

“Just finished up my second year so… Third now, I suppose. You?”

It felt crazy to say she was soon to begin her third year. Where had the time gone? Wasn’t she just a lost little first year, struggling to find her way through the crowds in the corridors? Never mind her disbelief over her age, she had bigger fish to fry.

But suddenly, a boy’s voice startled her. Before she could offer an invite for him to join them, he went tumbling to the floor. Ouch, Sage winced. And then another girl, probably around Ellie and this new boy’s age, appeared, helping him up from the floor.

“Oh, yes, of course! Both of you, come in!” Did she sound too eager? Yep. Was she happy to be around people who probably had no idea what was going on with her? Also yep. “You okay?” she said to the boy. “Looked like a nasty fall.”

After a beat, she introduced herself to the newcomers. “I’m Sage.”