Humming to herself, Wolfie's hand touched the platform's archways as she passed. She was early and so were some other students. Having passed the enchanted barrier they had formed a few circles chatting, some lounging on luggage, others simply keeping to themselves. Wolfie was on her own and a little bored, but not for just any reason.

There was something habit forming about having to take on a vast swarm of humanity to do something as simple as board the subway back home. Admittedly, it could be relaxing to let your guard down and not feel harried by a vast swathe of humanity when you're out on the town, but soon you start to miss all the hubbub. How it's actually difficult to feel lonely after a walk. After all, everyone else that makes up that mass is in there with you, suffering from the same thing they're also contributing to. Unless kept busy a brain used to that will start to demand to confront that stimulation it's to. And there were other things too. The social life. Access to all sorts of things just within a few blocks or subway stops. Wolfie was starting to feel those accumulated blues.

Having walked the length of the platform Wolfie was still bored. She turned back in the hopes walking another lap would give her the inspiration for having fun. Having turned back the platform looked mostly the same as she had left it. Except one important thing was missing. She couldn't see the group she had asked to watch her luggage. Glancing here and there she couldn't even pinpoint the exact location they had been.

"Crap." Wolfie said to no one in particular. It would probably be fine, her bags were likely safe now that she was on the wizard side of the platform, but instincts to guard your things don't simply vanish when you're visiting somewhere safer than home. As she rushed back to where she thought her bags were, Wolfie forgot she had to cross the area where students dashed in. Another student was coming in just then. Wolfie was used to getting bumped in those aforementioned New York masses, but not by someone going full tilt through an invisible passage.

Elena Jones was allowed to have a little fun from time to time. That’s why she had figured out how to ride her cart around, the trick was a big stick and a run up. Run with it, jump on the cart, and use the stick to steer and stop. Perfection.

That’s why the girl was careening at top speed towards a wall, terrifying some non magical people wandering around King’s Cross. At the last second before hitting the wall she jumped up onto the trolley and pushed with the stick to get more speed, it worked absolutely perfectly, and Elena was laughing and whooping as she passed through.

Then she was in Platform 9 and 3/4, and careening straight toward a girl that did not seem particularly happy to be faced with a runaway cart. Elena hit the ground to her right hard with the stick and the cart spun to avoid the girl, she hit the left, then the front, effectively stopping the cart and the girl jumped off her cart before grinning at the other girl, “Hiya! Are you all right there? I almost ran you over. It probably wasn’t the safest idea, cart surfing, but by god was it fun!”

A flash. Something large. Something fast. Something blue. Wolfie let out a shout before throwing up her hands to shield her face and doing a sort of one legged jump, leaving the other leg up as a literal half-assed shield. A half second passed. The expected impact didn't occur. She looked back up from under her arms to see a girl that must have been her age standing in front of her, full of that cocksure swagger adrenaline grants.

Realizing she was fine, and being asked if she was by the other girl, Wolfie realized she was affecting a weak display, and could almost feel the shame from hearing her father's voice chiding her that Broses don't make showses. She snapped back to a posture dad would approve of. Yet Wolfie couldn't help give a cheek stretching grin. She was no longer bored, her own heart now beating at a pace probably closer to the other girl's. That along with her own sudden shot of adrenaline meant the only thing she could focus was the girl standing in front of her. The girl that could have ended up standing over her instead. Thinking of much else was difficult.

"Yes. I'm fine. Uh, quick save." Wolfie said in response to the other girl's concern. She regained more of her composure upon hearing her own voice say that she was, in fact, okay; as if her head needed to hear her mouth say it to realize it. She took a deep breath and exhaled, enjoying the feeling of still functioning after the near collision. Cheating the fates of misfortune felt great.

"I'm Wolfgang." She defaulted to the name she used with authority figures and adults unconsciously, out of simple awe at the girl's maneuver. Wolfie's eyes drifted up to the other girl's hair, that blue she had noticed before. And she also realized she'd found what she had been looking for earlier, if it had come in a little hot on the throttle. Someone interesting.

"Cool hair." Wolfie said.

Interesting, she reacted like anyone would when getting almost hit by a crazy girl on a cart, but she jumped to some kind of attention afterwards. Pureblood parents? Probably, either that or just the kid of some crazed business people.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Wolfgang, cool name by the way!"Elena beamed at the other girl and bowed, "Elena Jones at your service."

Elena grinned, her new hair cut was attracting compliments, or it was her hair colour. Who knew honestly, it could be either. Sometimes compliments were confusing, especially to someone still not used to getting them, "Thanks! I've had the colour for a while now, but the style is new. Thought it looked fluffy, and it goes rather well with my coat, and my style of course, punk's not dead, it just turned blue."

Elena cackled a little bit at her joke before returning her mischievous eyes to Wolfgang, "I don't suppose you have a nickname? I'd say Wolf, you have this look in your eyes, like you're used to being in charge, am I right? I used to be called Puck, that was fun, only two people are allowed to call me that now though. Elena's fine by me."

Despite being from a pure blood family, Wolfie's parents had her grow up in the muggle world almost exclusively. They hid nothing, but didn't want her caught up in the wizard world they experienced in the 90s UK. Hence New York City. As a result, despite having met some interesting, and other downright strange, folks in her adventures, no one had ever bowed to Wolfie in greeting before and she was unsure if it was something Wizards did. She was fairly certain it was not a common practice in the modern side of the UK. Not for a while now, at least.

So Wolfie chalked it up to being a magic thing that her parents simply had never mentioned. She refrained from bowing back though. Wolfie was still a freaking normal person. She played field hockey not Quidditch. She rode Uber not a broomstick. Her wand was a Samsung Galaxy. And despite having to go to Hogwarts she was going to hold on to that precious status like a soldier posted abroad holds on to home. At least that was the plan.

Or maybe Elena was just being the energetic kid she was. Not that Wolfie didn't share those growth hormones. That stew that refused to be bound by society. But raised as a little adult instead of allowed to be a kid, Wolfie's energy come out more subtly, more implicitly. For instance, in speech, she didn't have that habit of many energetic kids to enthusiastically dump a mountain of information on you from hello. But she certainly told you precisely what she thought of you, even if she knew you wouldn't like it. Sometimes because she knew you wouldn't like it. All that said, Wolfie did try to unconsciously mimic her partner's talkativeness.

Punk. Hair. Wolfie was into that. She had actually been considering getting a mohawk herself. She made a mental note to tell Elena about her plan later. She was equal parts excited and apprehensive about the idea. And that detail also told Wolfie maybe Elena wasn't a stuffy magic user after all. She certainly didn't have the look:

Elena's clothes didn't immediately demand notice, some parts clearly second hand, others not. Typical actually of people with Wolfie's sensibility. Kids from money who wanted to hide or at least balance that fact with some feigned poverty. And that was how Wolfie was currently dressed, but with the addition of being baggier and more functional than favored by most girls her age. Plenty of pockets, that sort thing. Elena's attire though, was a little more faded, like it had been through more. And the eye Wolfie developed during her adventures slumming it told her maybe Elena was living in poverty rather than wearing it like a trinket. Not that it mattered much at the moment. Wolfie had learned the best way to treat people used the same principle for everyone, if not always with the exact same words: Like an old friend she had to catch up with.

And upon glancing on Elena's trunk, Wolfie remembered her own, and she suddenly turned about. To her relief, this time she spotted the group she had left it with. They had simply sat down, obscured by a pack of Quidditch players that had arrived. Wolfie turned right back around and didn't mention it, not wanting to relive her mistake in front of Elena.

And at hearing the name Wolf and her personality guessed, Wolfie became alert. This girl had sized her up well. Slick moves and a sly judge of character. She nodded confirmation upon hearing Elena's own name.

"Smooth operator, you. All my friends call me Wolf. You should too." Wolfie gave a half grin, before turning and gesturing to the group she had just found.

"My bags are down there, you mind if we head over real quick?" Wolfie said, also conscious of getting herself and Elena out the line of fire she had just narrowly missed. As she walked down the platform, she turned.

"I'm from New York. East Harlem. It's fine I guess. Not sure I'm going to like Hogwarts." Wolfie said, curious about where Elena was from. She had guessed by accent that she was from the UK, and probably England, but hadn't the least notion about placing her beyond that.

Damn, the girl was clever. Clever and oh so obviously a rich kid, but one that could scan her in seconds, Elena put up her defences pretty quickly, play the sad street kid with too much smarts. Much better, tricksters don't get questions, they're too annoying and unpredictable to trust.

It was a lonely life, being Elena Jones, maybe one day she'd make a friend, another person to trust. Maybe that day was today, maybe it was years from now. Maybe she would die before any of that happened, or maybe friendship wasn't very far away. For now, the girl was scared, tired, and alone.

"Alright Wolf, nice to meet you." Elena mock saluted and gave another wink, "Lead the way Wolf."

Elena flounced along the platform, "New York? Sound like a lot of fun, I'm London born and raised, well maybe not born. I don't exactly have parents to ask about that, but definitely raised. Hogwarts seems weird to be honest, a magic school? Like wake me up for gods sakes I'm obviously in a coma and dreaming this. I'll wake up in the same alley I went to sleep last night in, and have another day of crippling depression. I bet you."

Strangers are all mysteries to each other. Further layers of the one before Wolfie unwrapped. Sleeping in an alley. Not knowing her parents. Scraps of information coalescing into a clearer profile of Elena. Wolfie saw a word there. One that had been avoided. It was easy enough for her to find though. Elena was probably homeless. That would explain the way she could size you up in a glance. The bold cut of her jib and the way she dressed to boot. Why she was happy about going to Hogwarts. Depression. Yes. It all fit. Wolfie was 95% sure.

So Wolfie had a choice of two options to continue the conversation. Continue as if she had guessed right or seek further information. Or the optimal route. Both. Two-sigma was good enough to publish her findings and call for further research. For people more research was always useful.

"Living on the streets huh. I did that for a while with some friends. We were bad. Really bad. Got to Mexico but then I went back home." Wolfie tried to meet Elena's gaze but only got up to her chin. She blinked a few times before lowering her gaze. She had to lie to get around it. Wolfie was trying to be honest now. She was lucky. For all her complaints she was real real lucky. She had taken all that luck granted to her and acted like a rich brat. Talking to Elena made that clear. Not the first homeless person Wolfie had met or even befriended. But never had that link between her situation and theirs been made quite so clear. Talking to someone going to Hogwarts just like Wolfie but excited about the privilege. Her place in the universe was a little clearer.

"Trying to be good now." Wolfie raised her head and grinned. No sense in moping. "Hogwarts could be cool." A slight change from her previous view.

Wolf had figured it out, her hints weren't exactly subtle but most people preferred not to believe that street kids existed, so they'd block out the signs. Let the children rot, that's what Elena had always known, it wasn't a good ideology to have.

She had been magical for years, so why didn't the professors or whoever was in charge here come and get her? Why was she still alone? The simple answer was that they just didn't care. So that's what Elena Jones believed, that she couldn't trust any of the professors to care, that she couldn't trust anyone.

But, this girl had figured her out a second one and wasn't using it against her, so maybe, just maybe, some of the kids here could have her trust. So far the only person to have gotten it was Eliza, but this wolf might be able to obtain something like it, if not the real thing.

"So, you were on the streets for a time too. What drove you there? And forgive me for being blunt, but why on earth did you come back from them?" Elena raised an eyebrow, "When someone as young as us runs from something, they don't often come back."

Wolfie tried to hide her tenseness with a deep and almost meditative breath. Yet the slightest of blushes touched her cheeks. She hadn't been ready for her own unwrapping. Not for someone she just met. Instead of answering right away she paused for a moment. Elly had been rather upfront with her. And just what was Wolfie afraid of. She was just fine. It was a crisp Autumn London morning and that wouldn't be ruined by showing the other girl her a little of her own self. The conductor wouldn't bar her passage. She wouldn't fall sick and die. The sun wouldn't be covered by the moon suddenly or fall crashing to the earth. Everything would continue spinning as it should. She was being a little silly.

"Oh that. You really want to know? I was kind of, well, I was just being bad. I mean literally. My friends, me, we all; made a pledge to just be bad. Like all the time. I guess it was because we were bored. It felt right at the time but it feels silly now. And I had to go back because. Uh, things happened. Met people that were worse than me. Did things that were fun but hurt me. Some things that weren't fun at all. My parents kind of suck, but not like that. You know?" Wolfie's tension resolved a little, but not entirely.

"I bet you got plenty of war stories huh? Me too. Like, I broke this boy's nose in Chicago one time." Wolfie mentioned still hoping to change the subject.

Elena looked at Wolf curiously, the girl was interesting to say the least. As well as likely to make a good friend, which was rare for the girl. Usually people that were like Elena, people that had this level of cunning and could figure people out with a glance, didn't like her. They either saw her as a threat that needed to be eliminated or as someone that they needed to suck up to. Wolf had chosen a rare path, one which made Elena respect her all the more, friendship.

"War stories? Oh yeah, I can tell you tales." Elena smiled, "Once I had to jump a six foot gap to avoid getting caught stealing, that was an awful lot of fun, well, fun is relative it's a pretty good story though. At least I think so. What made you break that kid's nose? If you don't mind me asking. Also, do you have any idea about how they find out about magical kids? Because I need to know how they knew where I was..."

Elena looked up at Wolfie, in the blue haired girl's eyes was a glint of pain and worry, she hoped Wolf got the hidden message, 'I need to know if they left me there deliberately, I need to know who to trust...'