Compartment 7 Finished

Eris was wandering through the train herself, lugging a heavy trunk above her head. She couldn't really see anything, nor could anybody see the short girl in the midst of all the trunks and feet. Staggering through the train, Eris decided the next empty compartment she saw, she was going to take. That compartment was seven. Eris shoved the door open, and let her trunk fall to the ground with a heavy thud. Shaking out her arms, Eris winced in pain than turned to survey the compartment.

A girl sat in the corner. A familiar looking girl. Eris had to think for a moment before she remembered the girl, but finally she remembered. It was the wanna-be sytherin girl from Madam Malkins. Ava, right? Eris remembered her as a little pompous, but still nice. She was a better compartment mate then someone Eris didn't know, so with a tiny shrug, Eris greeted her.

"Ava right? We met at Madam Malkins." Eris hoped Ava remembered her, god knows it would of been awkward if she didn't. Deciding it was impolite to leave her trunk on the floor, Eris struggled to lift it up and put in the over head compartment, as she waited for a response. Gritting her teeth in pain, the small girl finally hoisted it over her head and into the right spot.

Eris fell back into an empty seat, panting. Wiping sweat off her forehead, she turned fully towards Ava. She offered the other girl a small smile, and closed her eyes, waiting for an answer still. Boy was she tired. Those trunks really were heavy. Eris hoped she didn't have to carry her trunk up to school. She had no idea how she would do it.

Adam saw a familiar figure duck into the compartment in front of him and his face lit up. Was that who he thought it was? Jogging forward to Compartment #7, he rounded the corner and looked inside. It was! Avalon was seated by a window, looking at the empty seats, and Eris was packing away her things. He greeted her enthusiastically. "Ava! Eris! Hey!" Heading into the compartment, he threw one of his bags on his seat and hauled his suitcase into the overhead slots. Turning to an older, brown-haired boy waiting outside of the compartment, he waved him away and said in an annoyed tone, "Get out of here, Dean." The older boy muttered something unintelligible -- but certainly not polite -- in response, but complied, leaving the first-years seated in Compartment 7.

"Sorry, that was my brother, Dean," Adam apologized. "But anyways, how have you been?" The past few days had been a rush of activity in the Harringtom household, filled with packing, double-checking the packing, and saying their temporary goodbyes before Adam and his brother left for Hogwarts. He wondered what Ava and Eris had been up to since they had seen each other at Madame Malkin's. Surely, the girls had been just as busy as he had. He noticed Ava's suitcase pushed off into an out-of-the-way space next to her seat, and asked "Do you need any help with that?" It never occurred to him to give her any time to actually answer the questions. He was just too excited to finally be on the Hogwarts Express!

(Sorry, I saw your names and couldn't resist writing again with a familiar face. Hopefully we'll get more visitors to Compartment 7!)

Eris couldn't help but giggle at Adam's excited rambling. It was quite entertaining. How odd it was that the three of them were back together again, after seeing each other once. Perhaps it was fate, or maybe Eris had just read too many books and considered random events fate. There was still room in the compartment for more people, so Eris had to wonder who else would visit compartment 7.

Humming a little, she watching Adam ramble on, but finally her attention turned to the families on the platform. The muggle families looked terrified, while wizard families looked fondly onto the train. Eris felt as terrified as the muggle families looked. She had wandered around Kings Cross, until seeing some kids lugging heavy trunks vanish into a solid brick wall. So she had followed after them, and here was was, sitting in a compartment on the hogwarts express about to go to a school for magic. She was terrified but more excited then she had been in a long time. Eris had a feeling that this was the start of a new life for her, and there was no turning back. Somehow she didn't feel sad about leaving London behind. She was ready.

Michelle knocked on the compartment door and peaked in to see if there was any room. Three other kids were in the compartment probably first years, a redhead girl, a boy with blond hair and a girl with dark hair. Michelle watched on as the boy with blond hair rambled and the redhead looked out the window. "Hi, can I sit in here?" she asked nervously.

Meeting new people terrified Michelle but she had promised her mom she would surround herself with people and make new friends, that she would not hole up by herself and do what she always did in scary or different situations and shut herself out from the world. "This is a new world you are going to experience Michelle, I don't want you to miss any of it. Talk to the kids in your year and make friends! Maybe you'll find someone going through the same thing you are and make a forever friend." her mother had said while ushering her onto the train, and that's exactly what she was going to do. After all she didn't have her brothers to shield her away from others maybe now she could see what others were like.

To Ava’s surprise, two familiar faces soon entered the compartment just moments after each other. First was Eris, who Ava was happy to see, and who surprised her by managing to lift her heavy trunk into the overhead compartment. Apparently, the girl had more strength than Ava had originally thought. “Yes, Eris, right? It’s good to see you again! I hope you’ve been well,” Ava said. She was genuinely glad to see the redhead again, as she had liked talking to her before.
Next up was Adam, the tall blonde. Ava caught a glimpse of his brother, who Adam quickly sent away. “I’ve been great,” Ava said when Adam sat down. “I haven’t been sleeping, honestly – I’ve just been imagining what Hogwarts will be like. And thank you, I would appreciate it! Really, I need to learn a spell to make this thing less heavy as soon as we arrive.”
She suddenly felt a lot less nervous, seeing these two again after their short encounter in Diagon Alley. She had thought that there was a chance that they would never speak to each other again if they had  all got sorted into different houses. She knew that could still happen, but at least now there was the opportunity to get to know them a bit better.

Someone knocked on the door, and a timid girl asked if she could sit down. "The more the merrier," Ava said. "There's space enough. I'm Ava, and these are Eris and Adam. What's your name?" 

(OH MY GOSH A NEW PERSON WELCOME sorry I've been waiting)

Adam cut off his story at the sound of a new voice. It was shy, nervous. "Hi, can I sit in here?"

He looked up, forgetting for a minute that they were on the train. The voice belonged to a girl, most likely another first year, standing at the door to their compartment. She had fairly long hair, and looked wary of speaking to the occupants of Compartment 7 at all. Adam, however, was thrilled to have another person find their way to the compartment, and greeted her with enthusiasm. "Yes! Of course!" Unfortunately, he had started to speak right over Ava, and he sheepishly backed down when he realized what had happened. After the introductions were made, though, he smiled warmly at the newcomer. He hoped that she chose to sit with them. He was excited to reconnect with the girls from Madame Malkin's again, and even more excited to meet someone else!

Adam wondered when the train was going to depart. Surely, they had to leave soon if they were going to make it to the castle on time. He wondered if he'd notice when they started to move, or if he'd be too caught up in the action inside of the train. Oh, well. He was sure Eris or Ava would notice, and they'd tell him.

He returned his attention to the new girl outside of the compartment. "So, what are you looking forward to this year?"

Kaegen followed the nervous looking girl into the compartment. This was too new, too different. The train terrified him, made all of his movements more fluid, more smooth. It was something he had done all his life. Animals don't notice things that belong. And smooth things belonged. The crisp steps of something approaching did not. Being soft was how Kaegen avoided trouble. But on this train, the floor moved strangely. It was even more terrifying than what the train had looked like from the outside. In direct contrast to his predatory walk were his eyes, flashing about like a caged animal, searching for a way out. All Kaegen had with him was a shopping bag, with his school things and a small satchel that hung by his hip. He also had a very small, beautifully carved knife that was strapped to his leg, just above the ankle. A quiet tune could hardly be heard. A cracking, broken hum that didn't have very good melody. The hum was too quiet to make out very well, and the rumbling of the train served to drown it out almost entirely. Kaegen stared at the giggling girl, wondering how she could be so happy on this machine? If he died on this contraption, he was going to have a bone to pick with fate. He slipped past the girl, and sat down on the floor with his back to the wall. Freezing, except for his eyes, which were doing a pretty good Tasmanian devil impression as they dashed back and forth and around.

Eris smiled at the timid girl. She was overjoyed to be back with Adam and Ava, and even more overjoyed to met another first year. "Hi, my name's Eris." she said to the newcomer, trying to break the ice a little bit more. After a few moments of silence, Eris decided saying her name wasn't going to break up the silence enough, so she cleared her throat. "Is anyone else starving! I feel like I'm going to die of hunger!" She proclaimed loudly, just as another boy came into the compartment. He seemed just a quiet as the timid girl, but unlike her, Eris wasn't able to make eye contact with the boy. He also seemed to have a hunting knife by his side. Was that even allowed? Eris wondered. At her old school there was a strict no weapons policy. Maybe magic schools were different.

How strange the boy seemed. He was so withdrawn. Eris didn't understand people who didn't want to talk. Sure, it was scary talking to new people, but it was also great to have friends. Eris's leg shook, as she sat in her seat in the compartment. Gosh there were 4 other people in here with her, and what if they didn't like her. What if they thought her comment about being hungry was weird, and all of them were full already. Eris quickly fixed her gaze out the window again, but getting bored turned back to look at the other children. "What house do you guys want to get into?" There we go, that's a good conversation topic, Eris thought, already pleased with herself.

They introduced themselves and then answered her while talking over each other and asked Michelle her name. "Thank you, my name is Michelle. It's nice to meet everyone." She answered with a small smile, grateful they hadn't turned her away, she handled rejection just about the same way she handled new people.

She sat down until Eris asked if she was hungry, Michelle laughed slightly "Yes very, it seems like running through walls works up an appetite." Then Adam asked about what she was most excited about. "I probably am looking forward to potions, the wizard who came to explain told me about it. It sounds a lot like science and that is my favorite subject in school. What about you guys?" she questioned trying to build a conversation and learn about these kind kids. They seemed very nice and she hoped at least one would be sorted with her so she could know someone. Being alone terrified her and if the wizard who came to explain was right the school was very big and the sorting was done in front of everyone and being the center of attention was definitely not her favourite thing, but she was extremely excited to see where she might fit in. Eris asked if what house she'd like to be in and Michelle gave it a quick thought "I don't really know I barely know enough about them."