Blaire shuffled past a group of students who were lingering in the train’s narrow hallway. Peeking her head into another compartment, she sighed with relief to finally find one that wasn’t already occupied. Most of her fellow classmates were cheerfully reflecting on the amazing time they had spent at home with their families during the winter break. Blaire on the other hand had been counting down the days till her mother took her back to King’s Cross station.

The winter break had been long, and tiresome to say the least. Blaire’s mother had spent the first day explaining to her youngest daughter why she was disappointed with the house she had been sorted into. Their family's long lineage of being in Ravenclaw had ended with her. Blaire didn’t understand how this infraction fell solely on her shoulders alone. She didn’t see her mother pointing blame at the Sorting Hat that had whispered smoothly into her ear, speaking only of the great things she could accomplish in Slytherin. Of course, she didn’t dare tell her parents that.

Her father had spent most of the winter break either out of the house working at the small pub he owned, or far away from her bickering mother. Her parents had always been a close couple, stealing kisses from one another when the children weren’t looking. But as of lately her parents couldn’t stand to be in the same room with each other. Blaire brushed it off as just holiday stress. Yet still something didn’t feel right.

Throwing her book bag onto the empty seat next to the window, she flopped down on the adjacent bench. As she leaned forward to tie the laces on her white keds a cascade of curly blonde hair fell in front of her face. Tossing it over her shoulder she leaned back up, tucking her legs underneath her delicate frame. Her eyes shined from the light outside that pierced its way here and there through the clouds overhead. Scanning the families that still lingered outside on the platform she tried to find a familiar face. No such luck. She was already halfway through with her first year at Hogwarts and Blaire had yet to make any real friends. Then again it wasn’t as if Blaire had given it any real effort. Blaire had spent most of the year wandering the halls alone, or with her face buried in another book, hiding out in the library when the common room was full.

Blaire hadn’t been a complete recluse, she had made effort talking to kids in her classes and waving at familiar faces in the corridors. She just hadn’t clicked with anyone yet. Maybe it was just her personality. She had never gotten along with either of her older sisters. They both had gotten along with each other though. Tabby went every summer to visit their oldest sister Bernadette and her husband in Romania. Blaire had never been extended an invitation. She tried to not let it bother her too much.

Returning her attention to the platform outside, she absentmindedly brushed a stray hair from her sweater that was a few sizes too large for her. Blaire was one that put comfort first when deciding on an outfit. Her acid washed levis had been her mother’s once upon a time. The keds were the only new article of clothing she had on, a Christmas gift from her grandparents. The Hogwarts Express would be departing soon. Blaire could tell by the voices around her getting louder as the excited children tried to talk over one another from other compartments. Smiling to herself, she finally felt at ease. Like she was heading home after a long journey. Tilting her head to the side she pressed her forehead against the cold window pane, closing her eyes she could hear the train whistle blowing ahead in the distance.

Lily had waited until the main crowd had shoved their way onto the train before she had climbed aboard herself. She'd made the mistake of trying to get on sooner at the beginning of the year, and there was no way she was going to do any such thing again. While it technically wasn't her fault that she couldn't outrun the other kids on crutches, she could be more methodical about her approach this time. But, she thought as she went into the almost empty passage of the train, I suppose now I'll have to find someone to sit with.

It wasn't that she didn't really want to sit with anyone, she just... yeah, that was it. She didn't really want to sit with anyone. Most of the other kids she'd met couldn't seem to wrap their minds around the fact that she physically just wasn't strong, and it wasn't her favorite topic. It would be a lot more fun and less awkward to discuss favorite foods or animals or... or just something like that. Something new would be fantastic, and as someone who had grown up without the knowledge that magic existed, there were plenty of options to choose.

In all honesty, the idea of having to talk again at all was slightly intimidating, since her entire holiday had been passed without a sound. There just simply wasn't anyone to talk to, since her aunt had left them and she was the only other one who wasn't as deaf. Of course, Lily had made it a point to talk to herself and practice her enunciation, but like most things, it just didn't feel natural. It seemed that there could be nothing familiar in this strange magical world that was so far from the little farm by the muddy marsh. 


Then again, she supposed it was only logical that a place on a whole other bloody island wouldn't feel like home, but at least it... At least it had other people around. Not that she was necessarily fond of people in general, but it was admittedly more exciting than frogs. In her experience, she had discovered that while generally speaking animals are much better listeners than people are, they really weren't the greatest conversationalists ever. Come to think of it, though, she couldn't think of a single person she'd met last term who was, the way that she wanted, anyways.

A part of her felt odd, walking down the passageway on the train, her crutches' typical hollow echo slightly muffled by the sounds around her. Willow, the family's little pet Crup, wasn't here to bounce excitedly at her feet and whine for attention, or tug on her shoelaces without pause. Matthew and Susanna got to keep Willow with them, though, since you can't bring Crups to Hogwarts, or any other sort of animal, it seemed. That really was a shame; a lot of comfort could be found in animals that humans just aren't capable of providing, despite all their efforts. 

The thought of Willow and her little siblings led to other thoughts that quite honestly could not be more unwelcome, yet popped up again anyhow. Ever since her mother had died those odd nine years ago, there had been a small hole left in her father's heart and her own. But that grief waa the least of their problems, when it seemed he could scarcely make enough money to feed him, her, and her siblings. Of course he used magic to essentially do everything, but magic can honestly only go so far in certain situations, before it fails to help.

She had, after she was taught to read, primarily taught herself and her siblings while he would be gone all day, and sometimes all night. They certainly couldn't afford to send the little two off to a school somewhere, and if they did then the kids couldn't help the farm. Enough, Lily. They'll just have to figure out something on their own. You can't exactly go back now, no matter how much you may want. So she let out a sharp breath, and peeked in to a compartment that wasn't packed full; actually, it only had one girl sitting there.

"Hi," Lily greeted, "can I si' he'e?"

Blaire’s eyes popped open when she heard an unfamiliar voice, uttering a not so familiar statement. Pulling her head from the glass she turned facing the entrance of the compartment. Trying to mimic what she thought would register as a friendly face, lips curling into a smile. ”Of course! It took me awhile too to find a compartment that wasn’t packed full already.” Blaire hoped that she didn’t sound too eager for some company.

Contrary to popular belief, Blaire did enjoy the company of others. She just didn’t have many friends. Unless you counted the librarian, though most wouldn’t. Glancing at her new companion finally, she raised her eyebrows a tad when she spotted the crutches. Her sister had to use some once after an accident. Not wanting to appear rude she quickly glanced down at the floor.

Was it too much to wish for a friend? And was it also too much to wish for the social skills to handle a situation like this? The silence filled the compartment, surrounding the space between them. Blaire felt like the girl looked around the same age as herself, though she didn’t recognize her. But then again that didn’t mean anything, she hadn’t spent a lot of time around other students. ”What year are you in?” Gosh could she ask a more boring question...

Blaire chewed on her lip nervously, a million thoughts buzzing through her head. She hadn’t had an actual conversation with someone her own age since before she left Hogwarts for the break. Even then those had been short and to the point. She hadn’t had a real conversation with someone in a very long time. Once upon a time she had made friends with another little girl in her neighborhood. It had been short lived though, her family had moved away, and just like that Blaire was alone again. Raising her eyes again, she attempted another friendly smile.”I’m a first year, in Slytherin,” she offered up before the other girl had a chance to respond. Blaire didn’t know if this would either seem rude, or keep the conversation going. She hoped for the latter.

Lily listened to the other girl speak for a moment before identifying her as English. It seemed like everyone at this school was English, despite the fact that it was in Scotland, which would forever confuse her. Why not have the school full of English kids in England? It had probably made perfect sense some odd five hundred years ago, though. The Irish girl sat down on the opposite bench, and placed the crutches on the ground beneath her feet. Although she had picked up on the fact that the other girl had seemed like she might say something about it, Lily was pleasantly surprised that that wasn't the conversation starter.

Then they asked her what year she was in, and identified themselves as a first year Slytherin. While this wasn't ringing a bell, generally speaking she avoided Slytherins since she was raised by a Gryffindor. But, she reasoned with herself, you aren't a Gryffindor. Is it just Gryffindors, or is it the other houses as well? Probably only one way to actually find out. From what she'd observed, granted she had a rather limited perspective, it seemed like it was just Gryffindors who caused the stubborn tension, while Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaw were fine.

"I'm a fi's' yea'," Lily replied presently, her thick Cork accent with quite a bit of country mixed in showing through in her inability to pronounce 't's and 'r's at the end of words, "in 'avenclaw." She idly played with her braids, a nervous habit that she tended to do inadvertently. It had been employed frequently since the first time she stepped foot in Diagon Alley, and even more so after the first time she'd gotten on this train. A few moments passed before her musically accented voice spoke again, "my name is Lilyanabell... bu' eve'yone jus' says Lily."

She couldn't decide whether that was laziness, enmity, or fondness, honestly. Like at home she had her name sign, instead of spelling out all eleven characters of her name. That made sense (well, it did to her, but she assumed that could be attributed to the fact that that was the only way she knew) because spelling could get tedious. Especially when in all honesty, she was the only one in the family who was actually a quarter way decent at spelling. But she guessed that kind of was to be expected... Her blue eyes looked back at the other girl again.

Blaire listened intently as the other girl spoke. Before going to Hogwarts, Blaire hadn’t spent much time with other children her own age. The kids in her neighborhood had been pleasant enough, but Blaire lacked the social skills it seemed to make any real friends. A slow smile crept across Blaire’s mouth, turning her gaze at the other girl. ”I like your name, mine’s so boring. Just Blaire… I was named after a great aunt I think.” Blaire smiled again, a little bigger this time.

Gazing out the window, she watched as the scenery outside changed. Chewing on her lip she absentmindedly watched the world go by outside. Trying to push down the thoughts floating around her head about that morning's conversation she glanced back over at the other girl. All her life Blaire had been raised to feel small. Not in the sense that she was little for her age, but that her words and actions didn’t mean anything. Maybe this was why she didn’t have friends.

Whatever the reason was, she wasn’t going to let it stop her from trying now. True friends were hard to come by, thus why she had none. Blaire had ‘acquaintances’ that she socialized with back home. These people she didn’t show her true self to. She lied to them, only let them see parts of her. But never the real thing, never the whole Blaire. I guess you could call her manipulative. She wasn’t hurtful with her lies, she only used them for her advantage.

That wasn’t what she was doing now though. Blaire was tired of pushing everyone away. She didn’t know why she chose now to start. But right now, she wasn’t holding back. Blaire was actually trying to have an honest conversation with Lilyanabell. The girl had a kind face, and Blaire liked her accent.

"I always 'hough' i' was kind of a funny name, bu' i' 'ad been my mot'e's, so... now I'm jus' Lily." Her face fell slightly when she mentioned her mother. While she had only been about four at the time, something had felt like it was missing the day that her daddy said her mommy was going to sleep for a very long time. Of course now she knew better, that the morning would never come, although she'd held to what her father said and waited for her to wake up for the next seven years. But April had changed everything.

And now she was sitting on a train, without her family, her one friend sitting with another group of people, and trying talking to this other girl who wasn't proving the greatest conversationalist. But then again, considering most of the conversation she got was mocking her crutches, perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. Nobody ever seemed to understand that there were some things that mahic broke, and magic couldn't fix again. She was glad that she could walk as well as she could, but it would be amazing to be able to actually do it, just like everyone else could. 

But, that day would never come. Her mother would never get another morning, and she'd never get to take her first steps. Her appropriately blue eyes gazed out the window for a moment, thinking. After a moment she reached into her satchel, and pulled out her sketch book and a pencil, having never understood using quills. She didn't even look at what she was doing, her eyes were focused on the snow-covered scene outside. They didn't wander from that as her hand danced across the page, but finally she addressed Blaire again, "wha' do you 'hink abou' Hogwa''s?"

Was that an odd question? Maybe. Did Lily care? Nope, not really. Gotta have something to get the conversation going, and if at all possible she wanted to keep it off of her legs for as long as she could. It looked like she might've not really been paying much attention, but that was how she normally seemed. Aloof and with her head in the clouds somewhere. She'd always said that the world above the clouds was better than the one below it anyways. A soft grey picture was slowly taking form on the crisp white page as she watched the world roll by, and waited for a response.

“Just Lily, got it. Well, Lily, it’s nice to have some company. My winter break was pretty dull….” Blaire sighed, quickly dropping her gaze at her hands. She was sure this girl didn’t care to hear about how lonely her winter break had been. Blaire her herself didn’t care, why would someone else? To her it had been a normal visit home, when summer break came around it would be the same experience back home. She would have to pretend to be uninterested in whatever her sister was doing, her mother would stay busy between work and home, and her father would be missing. Same story, different weather. Shifting her gaze back towards the window, she tried to push out the thoughts. Blaire wasn’t heading back home; this train was taking her somewhere magical.

Blaire could hear Lily rummaging around in her bag behind her. Tilting her head to the side, she watched as the girl brought forth what looked like a sketch book. Trying to not stare she watched from the corner of her eye as the girl’s hand move across the page. It was soothing to watch the fluid way her hand moved across the paper. One of her oldest sister’s many talents included sketching. Blaire used to watch her sister as she would sit on their lawn for hours with her sketch book between her legs, her hand flying across it. Blaire’s parents would joyfully display the drawings on the family’s fridge. Jealously had been building inside of her for many years. Shaking her head, she looked outside once more.

“I think it’s a magical place. That must sound funny, of course it’s a magical place. To some not more magical than what they experience at home. But for me, things aren’t always so bright and shiny I guess away from Hogwarts.” Blaire smirked a little, that was a funny way to put it. “We don’t use magic a lot at home, we live in town and all of our neighbors are muggles. My father owns a pub, it’s nothing like the Leaky Cauldron. It’s small, and always filled with muggles, so my parents have to be careful when they do use magic.” She hoped that this explained away the awkward statement she had made earlier. “Have you enjoyed the year so far at Hogwarts? I feel like the year is almost over, and aside from what I’ve learned I don’t have much to show for it.”

Tucking her legs underneath her she kept her eyesight focused on the ever-changing scenery outside. She listened to the silence between them, hoping she hadn’t come across too open. She didn’t want Lily to feel like she was forcing all this information on her. She wasn’t usually so open with people, it felt good. Like a weight she had been carrying around was lifting off her shoulders. This was a strange sensation to Blaire. Most of Blaire’s childhood had been spent avoiding these types of situations. Aside from socializing with the girls in her dorm room occasionally, she hadn’t tried to converse with many other students.

((OOC: I apologize for the delay, life's hitting me hard lately.))

Even as Lily's blue eyes remained fixed upon the window, she was paying more attention to Blaire than might be apparent. She had always, to some extent, been able to read people. It certainly came in handy, given the fact that she was self-taught in the English language. Gaelic and Irish Sign Language would likely always be easier for her, for the simple reasons that that was what her family used, and she didn't tend to socialize with the other children very much. Especially not after what had happened to her last year, but luckily, her companion knew nothing of that incident.

While it had not exactly been poor Lily's fault that someone shoved her too hard in Astronomy class and accidentally pushed her over the edge of the tower, she was still a little ashamed of that. Maybe if she'd been able to stand up and walk like all the other kids, it wouldn't have happened. But with the resulting injuries she had ended up at St. Mungo's for quite awhile, and she knew that hadn't been easy for her father. After all, uncrushing someone normally wasn't done for free. 

She had no intention of telling Blaire that she was going to be thirteen in four months. First years were supposed to be eleven or twelve, not a teenager. So when the other girl explained her opinion of the school and asked Lily what she thought, there was quite the pause. How could she say she hated every second of it? Her heart longed for the old, little, broken-down house in the middle of nowhere, with her two siblings and little cruppie inside, and where the memory of her mother was the strongest. Hogwarts was full of jeering faces, uncomfortable questions, and people who made fun of every aspect of her.

Finally, the slow and somewhat nervous reply came out, "I don' like i' much. Lessons a'e difficul' because I don' know English 'eally well. An' i' is 'eally ha'd to get a'ound. I' isn' wha' I expec'ed i' would be." There, now Blaire knew, come what may. Abruptly, Lily's hand moved off of the sketchbook, and looked at what she had created so far. Of course, it had no color, but it was still a fairly nice picture of the landscape. She could finish that later, right now didn't seem like the proper time to be doing such things.

Absentmindedly she closed the book once more, and slipped it back inside her satchel along with the pencil. She didn't have the money to buy another pencil, so that one needed to be preserved for as long as she could. As she reflected upon what she had just said--or hoped she'd said since she really wasn't quite sure--her gaze slipped down to her crutches. If it hadn't been for this school, then maybe I would've walked one day. Not now. And naturally the school has to be full of stairs.