"Are you ready?"

"Of course," Lorelai lied.

She didn't much like lying to her Gran, but suspected that given the slightest opportunity, her Gran would change her mind about letting her go. She supposed her Gran could see the nerves written all over her face anyway. Was it really lying if you still told the truth through another form?

Gran narrowed her eyebrows slightly, then sighed. "See those other children and their families? Hold tight to your cart, and run through the wall there. I'll be right behind you."

Lorelai's face paled further as she watched other students vanish through the wall. Was this the sort of thing she'd need to do to get around Hogwarts? Did they even have doors at all? How could one avoid crashing into someone on the other side? Would it work for every wall, or simply where the doors should be if they had them?

She decided it would be a very confusing way to build a school, then ran.

The girl very nearly crashed with someone on the other side and many apologies were said as she brought her rattling cart to a screeching halt. Perhaps that had been a little too fast. Nerves kicked her legs into gear, fight or flight, and flight had always been her choice, so run she could.

Gran came next, at a much more reasonable pace, though still quicker than Lorelai had seen her move in a long time. "Well, here we are again," the woman muttered to herself, looking up at the hulking train.

Lorelai studied the train closely, looking for any signs of magic. Nothing was standing out. She didn't have much time longer though, as her Gran swept her into a tight bear hug.

"I'll be okay, Gran," Lorelai said through muffled fabric.

"I know," came the reply. "Don't forget the things I told you. Write me everything that happens, make good friends, be careful with your magic, and keep your heart kind. Then you'll be okay."

The girl nodded with a smile, slowly pulling out of her Gran's embrace as the train whistle sounded. Lorelai was doing so well until she noticed the tears around her Gran's eyes, which started a whole slew of her own.

"Bye Gran."

And with that, the girl boarded the train.

It wasn't long before the train lurched into motion. Lorelai smeared her tears across her sleeve then went to find a seat. She pulled open a door that looked somewhat more promising than the others for some reason and stuck her head in. With her bravest smile on, she introduced herself. "Hi there...I'm Lorelai Wik, mind if I join you?"

"I mean, if you have to."

Lorelai didn't miss the slight scowl that crossed over the other girls' face. She didn't miss the tone behind the words either. It was a similar way that Rolen would respond to her when she's ask to play with him and his friends. He was always fine when it was just she and him, but for some reason he decided he had to be cool around his friends and that she was not cool.

A slight scowl of her own crossed her face, but she pushed it back. What had Gran told her right before she left? Make good friends, and keep your heart kind. She gave a little sigh, then a happy "Thanks," as she passed into the room.

The seats were comfortable enough. Lorelai sat with her hands folded in her lap, watching the world go by through the window. Despite the contented happy look on her face, her body language was telling a different story. Tense, muscles tight, nerves on end. She sniffed. Blinked away another onslaught of tears. She'd see Gran and Rolen and Teddy, and the farm again before long. She had wanted this, hadn't she?

Determined not to make a scene crying in front of the other girl, Lorelai decided to distract herself with conversation instead.

"What's your name?"

"Did your family see you off too? Only my Gran came to say goodbye to me, my brothers are still on the farm..."

"Where are you from?"

"What house do you think you'll be in?"

The questions came as a flurry before the girl finally realised herself and stopped to let the other speak. She gave a lopsided grin as apology. A true grin this time, for already she was feeling the nerves begin to drift away.

"Well," the girl said. "I'm not very good at answering questions. So why don't you tell me about yourself first? I'm sure that's more interesting than me."

"Can't even answer your name?" Lorelai chuckled. "Not sure how well you'll do in classes if you don't like answering questions," Lorelai teased. There was no malice there, just a friendly dig. Like something she'd say to her little brother, Teddy.

After a pause, she decided. "Very well. In answer to my own questions, you already know the first two. I'm from Scotland, though have been told my accent isn't very thick, though the rest of me gives it away." She waved at her freckles and long tangled red curls -- near opposite to the other girls' short blue hair.

"I lived in a little town, only three hundred or so people, so London has been quite an experience!"

She shifted, pausing again, thinking. She relaxed a bit further, slouching slightly. Not as tense as before. Talking always helped.

"As for house...I think Gryffindor would be nice. Or Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad I suppose, though I was chased by a badger once..." She tilted her head, a frown forming creases on her face. "Not Slytherin, though. I've never liked snakes. Can't tell what they're thinking..." She then looked up with a start. "I mean, I'm sure people in Slytherin are nice and all, and if either of us ended up there, I'm sure it would still be good..."

She broke her rambling to a halt and mimicked the girl by running her hand through her own hair. The only problem was it didn't get too far before finding a tangle.

"Now your turn," She said, eager to have an 'out' from the potentially insulting track she had been rambling down.

Lorelai watched the other girl, waiting for the answers. The silence during the wait was not an awkward draining thing like so many silences could be. Lorelai could be patient. There was obviously more to the other girl than met the eye, she decided.

"My name is Stella, Stella Rose. Uhh, I lived in a ghetto in London a while back." A name! Stella. Lorelai twirled it through her mind, assigning it to the other girls' face so that she wouldn't forget. Then the other words trickled in.

"A ghetto?" The words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them. She frowned slightly in concentration, trying to picture what that might look like. Of course she knew what a ghetto was, but she had never seen one. Never been out of Plockton with the exception of this trip, as far as she knew. Was the ghetto the reason for Stella's standofishness?

"Ah, houses. Hm. I don't know about me..." the girl continued. "Ravenclaw, perhaps?"

"Ravenclaw would be nice," Lorelai murmured in response, being whisked off into her imagination. Would it really be nice? She couldn't even imagine what Hogwarts was going to be like, so it was a stretch really to imagine anything further from the houses except the names and tiny bit of history she had been told. She was beginning to realize more and more that her Gran hadn't told her very much at all.

"What are your interests? Sorry, that sounds a bit formal, doesn't it? I mean, what do you like to do?"

Lorelai joined in with the other girls' chuckle. "It does sound a bit formal," she grinned.

At that moment, just as she was about to answer, the door pulled open and a lady stood with a cart covered in all sorts of lollies. Lorelai's eyes grew wide. "Would you like to buy anything?" The lady asked.

Everything looked magnificent. Lorelai stood up to get a closer look, her eyes taking in all the different colours. "Have you ever had any of this stuff?" She asked Stella. "My Gran never mentioned different types of lollies."

Lorelai reached into her pocket, and her mood dampened ever so slightly. After buying all of the supplies, there wasn't a whole lot left there. A small box of jellybeans caught her eye. "I'll take those, please!" She said, handing over most of the rest of her funds, counting the coins out carefully. "Here, we can share," she smiled at Stella and passed her the snack-sized box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Lorelai almost expected the box of jellybeans to burst open as they fell on the floor. A flash descision ran through her mind as to whether she'd still eat them or not if they went sprawling everywhere...at home she certainly would, and the floor looked clean enough, but would it make her look weird? She'd probably get landed with some nickname like food-floor-eater or something.

Thankfully, she didn't have to discover what she'd do, as the girl picked the box back up.

"What is this?" Stella choked out, her nose wrinkling.

"They look like different coloured jellybeans," Lorelai smiled. "Never had jellybeans before? They're my favourite. Here, try one!" She reached over and peeled the top of the box open, then pulled a bean out for herself all the while leaving Stella holding the box. She couldn't help but feeling like the other girl should definitely know what jellybeans were. Did other magic types not eat normal lollies? Was she herself the strange one?

Lorelai bounced back down into the seat and popped the jellybean into her mouth.

Then frowned.

"That's weird," she said, chewing thoughtfully. "It takes like toast? I was expecting chocolate or caramel with a brown one like that...normally the worst you get is coffee."

She chewed the rest of it then swallowed it down. It wasn't too entirely horrible, but a little disappointing after spending her dwindling meager stash of coins on the box.

"You try one, tell me what it tastes like," she prompted the other girl. Not realizing how closely home to Stella's thoughts she was hitting, she continued "They can't be that bad if they're selling them on the train, it's not like they'd poison us on the way to the school."

Lorelai laughed as Stella stuck out her tongue and said "Earthworm."

"That's disgusting!" She proclaimed, looking at the box with renewed curiosity and a touch of disbelief. Were these things really meant to be treats? Who had invented such a thing? Did all of the students at Hogwarts eat them? Did they think these things delicious?

"My brother dared me to eat an earthworm once," she said grinning as she took the box. "I roasted it on a fire first until it was all shrivelled, then popped it in my mouth...really chewy*" She fished around the box, trying to get a 'good' one.

A green one took her fancy, so she popped it into her mouth...then spat it back out again. "Gross! Blergh!" She wiped her tongue on her sleeve and tossed the bean out the window. "Watermelon," she explained to Stella. Certainly not as strange as toast or gross like an earthworm, but watermelon had to be the worst flavour imaginable, and they had somehow perfected it exactly into the little jellybean.

Lorelai handed the box back, still trying to rid her tongue of the flavour. She'd take toast any day!

Lorelai grew silent as the other girl seemed to be pointedly ignoring her again. What had she done wrong? Did Stella really like watermelon flavour and was offended Lorelai didn't? Did Stella just think she was weird for not liking it? With these questions bubbling about her mind, Lorelai sat, puzzling.

Lorelai wasn't left with her own thoughts for very long as moments later her new home came into view.

Hogwarts.

The girl couldn't imagine how someone could come up with a name so opposite from the thing that was named. Hogwarts didn't resemble the squat 'warty' building that she had been imagining. It was a fully fledged castle. "The whole village could fit in that place," she murmured to herself. Suddenly it all seemed very much more real. It wasn't the wand shop, or buying her books. It wasn't running through a wall to get to the train platform. There was a massive castle, and that's where she belonged.

Lorelai started slightly as Stella was almost instantly to her feet and out the door. "Bye Stella," Lorelai called after her, a little disheartedly. She desperately hoped not all students would be the same as the girl. She desperately hoped she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb if she wasn't like the other girl was more the thing.

Lorelai was about to follow out of the compartment, when she realized other students were walking past in their robes already. Lorelai rushed to change into hers, and was one of the last students off the train and into the lanterned rowboats. She couldn't see Stella anywhere. With a little sigh, she focused her attention on not falling into the water.

Old life behind.

Castle ahead.

Even if all the other students ignored her like Stella, she'd still be here learning magic, living her dream. Lorelai grinned.