A Wonderful Wizarding World

[B a k a - c h a n]

Hello! I am pulling together a roleplay. It is a literate roleplay that is going to be made into a guild and that is the reason for this. :3

Please do not post any comments in this thread. I made a seperate one just for that.

Link to the original thread.

Link to the OOC thread.

Characters and their puppetteers will be listed below in order of their appearance as well as a summary.

*This is based off a Harry Potter RP created by USMC FMAgirl058.*

[B a k a - c h a n]

Summary

Darkness has crept back into the world, though it was hardly unexpected. A world wide group of Purists, that is Pure-Blooded magic-folk who seek to weed out the half-bloods and Muggle-born from wizarding society. They do not go under that guise, of course. The creep along, spilling lies from the top most tiers of their power of ridding the wizarding world of muggle-borns, those who support them, and Muggle lovers. Pure-bloods are dwinding nowadays, though with the emergence of some closely hidden blood lines there is some fresh blood left in the society. This group, headed by 8 people, seek to overthrow the governments of the magical world as their first step, and with support from the shadows world wide, this doesn't seem so utterly impossible.

As written by USMC FMAgirl058

[B a k a - c h a n]

Characters

Josiah Starr TwoThingsism

Garret Lemoine Laney USMC FMAgirl058

Melanie Hart TwoThingsism

Melanie Aurelia Hawthorne Nyx Queen of Darkness

Melanthe Allette Hawthorne Nyx Queen of Darkness

Cho Hee Song Temps de Lumiere

Kaiser Andrew Dedeaux Yogg-Saron

Merissa Elsa Laney USMC FMAgirl058

Jemma Grievlings B a k a - c h a n

James Adrian Colt BandBeaner

Brandon A. Dedeaux Yogg-Saron

Aidan M. Dedeaux Yogg-Saron

[B a k a - c h a n]

Darkness prior to the train.

Josiah stood in the large room. It was dark and he could only see directly in front of him. He held his hand across his chest and inclined his head slightly, a sign of respect, even though truly he had no respect for this man before him.

"You will listen! Stop acting as if you are me, Starr! You do not have nearly as much skill as I do!" the Leader yelled. Josiah flicked his arm down and raised his head, taking a step forward.

"You know I have enough skill! You have seen it yourself! I know every single spell you do, every single move you have ever used against Muddbloods, you have taught me! And I am younger than you are. I have more skill. If not that, just as much." The Leader flicked their hand.

"Nonsense."

"It makes sense, you twit!" Josiah said as he pointed his wand.

Bloody hell. Big mistake.

The Leader stood up and pointed his wand at Josiah, "Crucio," he yelled. Josiah fell to the floor and writhed in pain. He clutched his sides and rolled slowly. He whimpered.

Oh, god. Keep my insanity. Keep it. Breathe, Josiah! Breathe.

He took a deep breath slowed his rolling, even though he still felt the spell cast upon him. The Leader broke the spell and sighed, walking out of the room.

"You aren't with my time. Go back to school, boy," he said. Josiah stood up and took in a deeper breath than before. He brushed off his clothes and started towards the door.

[B a k a - c h a n]

Getting aboard the train.

Melanie Hart and her parents walked to Platform nine and three-quarters. Her mom rested a hand on her shoulder.

"You gong to be okay, Melly?" her mom asked, causing Mel to sigh.

"Mooommm," she whined. "I'll be fine. I'll be a fifth year this year, remember?" Her mom nodded and covered her mouth, her eyes tearing up.

Her dad smiled and chimed in, "She just doesn't like seeing our little girl growing up." Mel shook her head.

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Pa. I'm fifteen," she said, stressing the fifteen. Her dad smiled shakily and nudged her towards the wall. She looked at it and back at her parents.

"We'll send Marc with letters every week, okay?" her father asked. She nodded. Marc had been their owl since she was a kid. Her father must have put an anti-aging spell on him or something cause he still acted as young as he was when she was a kid.

She ran up to the platform, as fast as she could go. When she was a first-year, she was scared out of her wits to run into that wall. 'What if I don't go through it?' she remembered thinking. She looked around at the station, and over at the train. She handed her luggage to a luggage-boy and walked up the steps with her cat, Emma, in her arms.

Josiah sighed as he pushed his cart towards the Platform. He handed his luggage to the luggage-fool. He sighed. He really hated having to pretend like he was like any of the pricks here. Like he only knew as much as he did. Like he wasn't a million times stronger than they were.

The small eleven year old boy was intimidated. He didn't feel fear of the situation exactly, but he felt that he could easily panic with all of the animals rattling in their cages, people talking and shouting to one another after a summer of being apart, and the gentle baritone of the train as it was getting ready for its journey across Britain to his home for the next year. His owl hooted softly in his cage, urging him forward behind his sister, the only real guide he had at the moment. Their aunt couldn't show them off today, as she had to go into the Ministry of Magic to go over the details of an assignment before leaving for a month. He frowned slightly. It would be nice to see a familiar face.

Garret Laney kept himself busy, trying to block out the noise by shifting on his feet and looking around rather excitedly. There were others in his situation, fresh, brand new, and entirely confused by the chaos that was platform nine and three-quarters. It was ten fourty-five am, so they still had time to get onto the train and get settled. Mel, his nickname for his sister derived from her initials, Merissa Elsa Laney, drove through the crowd ahead of him, making his way behind her carefully. He heard a comment off to the side, "Aww, they're so cute!" and tucked his head down, half trying to hide from any further attention. Mel turned back and grinned at him a little, but then turned around and shoved into the train and began working to find a compartment for them. The nice thing about being early was that pickings were better for compartments. At least that's what she said. He just followed behind her, nodding when she said something and sticking close.

About five minutes later they had chosen a compartment. For this trip and this trip only, Merissa would ride with him. From here on he had to find his friends and do it himself.

"That's fine. I'd just rather not do something to utterly embarrass us." He'd commented back. He didn't say that he was a little fearful of this, but she picked up on it anyway. She had been too.

They packed their things in their overhead compartments and set their two owls into the corners across from each other. The two didn't particularly like each other yet, so they had to be kept apart. Garret decided to stick the final ten minutes out in the compartment while his sister went to find a couple of her friends. They called her Laney apparently. He wouldn't call her that, since that was his name too. He sat with his feet together, swinging a little under the seat, and his hands gripping the edge of the seat as he leaned forward. If she would have been there, Merissa would have commented that her brother was just nervous and teased him about it to distract him.

Mel looked over in the carts, looking for an empty one. She just wanted to sleep on the train ride here, like she usually did. And she couldn't do that with someone else in the cart.
She finally found and empty one and closed the door behind her. She sat down and lounged in the seat, pulling out one of her favorite books, History of The Dark Arts. Most people thought that the history of it didn't really matter. But she was amused reading about a bloke name Voldemort and a kid named Harry Potter. Some people thought that it was all a story. But it was all too real, to her.

Melanie Hawthorne walked down the crowded corridors of the train dragging along her sister, Melanthe. As the train lurched and rolled onward, she clung with one hand to her sister and with the other to her wand. She was having difficulty to keep her trunk and owl moving forward with the charm in all this commotion. The shiny windows of each cabin reflected her sister's face back at her - a perfect reflection of her own. Melanthe, instead of being happy, had an anguished look on her face. Melanie knew that this year was hard for both of them. She remembered the discussion they had had over the summer.

Melanthe had paced nervously, "It's a great job. You should go. I'll be fine by myself."

"But it's our last year! We should go together." Melanie's eyes tried to met those of her sister.

"No, you've been offered a job as a Curse Breaker at Gringotts, you should take it."

"But I want to stay with you." Melanie's face was earnest, almost pleading. "You're my sister."

"You're going to have to leave me sometime." Melanthe had turned away then to clean out her trunk. "Besides, we'll hardly see each other anyways."

Melanie knew it had always bothered Melanthe to be in another house, especially Slytherin, but reason would not work with her. Melanie sighed as she kept moving down the train. Maybe she should have taken the job, they were drifting further and further apart no matter what she did. If felt as though every time she tried to hold Melanthe tighter that she just kept slipping further and further away. Looking back, she made eye contact with Melanthe and flashed a quick smile. Yet, the liquid gray eyes that matched her own, looked back at her undaunted and sad.

Melanthe drug along quietly behind Melanie. 'It was fitting,' she thought. 'I'm just her shadow.' As she looked up to see her sister's smiling face, she tried to muster a small smile but failed.

Walking onward, she hefted Dante her cat along while still trying to cling to her trunk. Her sister always insisted that they hold hands just like the first time they had come to Hogwarts. It was a simple gesture, but it irritated her in some way. They weren't little girls anymore. They were women, women who were quickly going their separate ways and no matter how much Melanie wanted to drag her along with her she would have to learn to let her go.

Josiah sat down in a cart with a bundle of third year Gryffindors, which giggled when he walked into the cart. He sat down next to the wall and placed his uncaged owl on his lap. He stood up and opened the window, pushing the owl out of it. He sat back down looked out the window. He looked over at the girls with his piercing eyes. They giggled at one another and he shook his head.

"Will you all just shut your yaps? I swear it's children like you that makes me dread going to Hogwarts." They all stared at him, appaled by his rudeness. He wasn't shocked that they were surprised, most newbies at Hogwarts didn't know of his mean streak. Not even some Seventh Years, like him, knew. He was usually so quiet.

He wasn't quiet by his own choice, it was just awkward to him. He felt as if he shouldn't get closer to any of the students here. He would just end up killing them anyway, right? Just make it simpler and don't get to know them. A seconds doubt can kill you.

[B a k a - c h a n]

And the train is on it's way.

Cho Hee Song was in a compartment by herself, watching the countryside roll by like the waves of an ocean. The green hills only ocupied this part of the journey, she knew. She might as well have the pictures that the train presented though it's windows ingrained in her head. And this would probably be her last time making this particular trip. Her last year. It made her kind of sad, the idea that after this she had to emerge helpless into the real world. Well, not completely helpless, as Hogwarts had taught her well. But her lack of experience would be apparent, and she had a lot to learn even after this year was over. And so the view meant something more to Cho: It meant the beginning of the end, and after that. Well, she had hopes, and dreams, and a family to share it with. But she had no real friends, and she had never been in love, or even really liked anyone. That made her sad at the moment, even thought she knew it was by choice. She was not a people person. But she loved studying the complexities of interpersonal relationship, and she loved feeling things. Happy things, of course.

She had made sure that she was the first one to get on the train, and she had walked rather quickly to get to one of the back compartments. Thus far, no one had disturbed her. She was having a rare moment of raw humanity, suited for the compartment in the back of the train. Her normally cheerful face was twisted with worry and regret, and she thought she might really cry. She would miss the school, and the students she hated so much. It was the beginning of the year, and it already hurt a lot now, so how would she feel by the end of the year? She composed herself, and pushed all the depressing thoughts to the back of her mind. She continued to look out the window however, enjoying the view in a more shallow way. Later she would read, or the like, but for now she became content in listlessness. A small smile worked it's way onto her face, and she rested her head against the glass of the cool window.

How could anybody read with all this noise? The compartment Kaiser Dedeaux was in was engulfed by the smell of various different perfumes. There were at least five, maybe even more, girls cramping up in his space. The boy wouldn't know the exact numbers since he was trying to ignore them. And it wasn't always like this, no no. It was only him and another girl for most of the concurrent train ride, and it's Kaiser's guess that she got bored of the little conversation he was making and stopped a couple of girls in the corridor and invited them in. Now he was cramped, annoyed, and having his feet stepped on every couple of seconds. Not only that, the red headed girl sitting besides him couldn't keep her hands off of his leg.

Again, Kaiser tried to ignore all of the disruptions and continue reading one of the books on Transfiguration he had purchased the day before yesterday. He had planned to start reading it on the train to Hogwarts, but his time was being cut short yet again. These were the times where he wished he could transfigure into a small white cat and sneak away. Unfortunately the girls probably would squeezed him to death if he did so. If that happened, then he would intentionally spit up hairballs on them and perhaps claw their hands. The thought of this almost made Kaiser giggle, but he hid his smirk behind his book.

Kaiser felt a hand creeping up his leg once more. He looked down and saw a tanned hand with long manicured nails that were painted green. He sighed and looked away for a moment before the hand almost made him flinch for the first time. The girl's hand was moving up and down his leg like some sort of disorientated tarantula. The Ravenclaw boy let his less dominate hand - left - drop from the book and smack the girl's hand away.

"Would you quit it already?" he sneered, trying to force his attention back on his book. He didn't understand why they were being obnoxious. Was it intentionally? No. They - excluding the weird hand girl - didn't know he existed so they didn't care if he was reading.

Kaiser couldn't take it anymore. The blond boy quickly stood up as if he were going to speak up with some sort of stern speech. Nobody even looked at him except for the red haired girl who was previously sitting next to him. Without a word he tucked the book under his arm and grabbed his suitcase from the shelf above. Mumbling a couple of swear words on his way out, he pulled open the door and stumbled out after he felt a force push behind him. One of the Slytherin girls who was passing rude comments earlier decided to gently kick him on his way out.

The train had started on its way and Merissa still hadn't returned. Garret frowned a little nervously, but decided it was better not to worry about it too much. For a moment he wished he had one of his books out still, at least it would be something to do while they were on their way. It seemed like it would be a while too. He thought about it for a moment, wondering what all was ahead of him. He knew of the House ghosts, well castle ghosts, considering Peeves wasn't really attached to one House. Apparently he treated them all quite equally by trying to terrify all of the youngest students, or just annoy all of the older ones.

Then there was the House sorting. Garret had been told a little about each, at least their main reputations and who to stay away from in each House. While he didn't know which House he would be in yet, he guessed that he wouldn't be in Slytherin so much, at least by his sisters description. The teachers there seemed like they would be ok. He didn't know them personally and he knew that first impressions could be everything, so he decided to stay on his toes anyway. Saying Professor wouldn't come naturally though.

Besides just keeping an eye on her brother, Laney was a Prefect. It was annoying, considering she wasn't actually the most responsible in her Year, but it seemed to the teachers that she was. Plus she had to wear the ever-so-dorky Prefect badge. She was half tempted to submit a new design for it. That was probably what made her Prefect, now that she thought of it. She was long resigned to being Prefect, the mental flailing over within the week that she received the news. Unfortunately, it meant she had to patrol the train and make sure people weren't picking on the first years too much.

She broke up a fight between a lower year Ravenclaw and Slytherin before moving on. It would be rather nice to see someone at least on the same level as her here. She gave half hearted smiles to congratulations, and a roll of the eyes to those who knew better. While she wasn't the type to be sneaking around after hours, she really didn't condemn it.

Before she could go on, she needed a break. She swung herself into a seemingly empty compartment rather obviously and half slammed it behind her with an overwhelmed look on her face. And an agitated one. She finally opened her eyes and looked around to see Mel reading.

Immediately switching back to her normal self, she gave a short wave and said, "Hello Mel. Sorry to intrude. I need to sit for a few."

Without saying much she plopped down next to the door and stretched her legs out while leaning back. She immediately felt the stress of being around too many loud people slip away. She probably looked like it too.

"Oh, I don't mind, Laney. You know that I much prefer your company then the other pricks that this school," Mel said matter-of-factly. She nodded when she said that she hoped that they settle down.

"I hope they settle down out there soon." Just an absent comment from a rather quiet girl. Laney couldn't help that she didn't like hearing people shout in her ear as she walked by their compartment. They should leave the compartment and go to the one where the other person is shouting from. It just seemed normal. She laughed at her last thought.

Mel looked up from her book and shook her head.

"Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. Sometimes being a prefect has to suck," she said, shrugging. She, personally, wouldn't know. It was her choice not to be a prefect. She knew she would abuse that kind of power easily. She marked her page on her book, and set it down beside her.

Laney gave a knowing look. Some people, even in their own House, were a tad much to deal with sometimes. Different Houses were even worse when it came down to it. The oldest students tend to have the worst grudges, or just deepest rooted hatred for a certain House. The older they got the more natural it became for them. Perhaps being a Muggle wasn't such a bad thing. She didn't really know about it until she got to school.

"Prefect is completely overrated." Her head made a dull thunk against the wall as she let it drop back. "I think I got it out of the girls in my Year because I have the least amount of offenses." She smiled a little at the thought. She'd only been caught once. Of course that was her only time out after hours and she had her own reason for that. She pushed that story somewhere else and just smiled ruefully.

Mel laughed. "The least. Still implying that you've done something," she said. She scratched the side of her head and yawned.

So tireddd.

Laney only fought a smile at Mel's comment on having done something. Yes she had, no they didn't know it was her. That was the point anyway, she wasn't going to advertise that she had gone out and done something and set it up for the Slytherin to be blamed. They deserved it, she dealt it. That was the deal and they never offered another first year an Acid Pop again if the news would get to her.

"It's not worth it Mel." She sounded like a war veteran, just returning from a particularly bad fight. However, she thought on it again. Maybe perhaps for the privileges. The Prefect's bathroom was pretty nice and she got to wander around at night. She wouldn't complain too hard when things finally settled down. That and maybe she could finally have some power over the rougher crowd. Kind of. A title did little.

"So, how was your summer?" Mel sat up on the bench, and turned, facing Laney. She placed her elbows on her knees and her chin on her palms, smiling slightly.

Laney looked over to Mel and nodded a little vaguely, "It was fine. My brother got his acceptance letter this summer. I forgot where I dropped him." Laney had a sheepish look about her when she finally sat up like she should.

Mel arched an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah. Your brother is that age now. I'm glad he got in. He's a good kid," she said, nodding slowly. She never personally met Garret, but she'd heard about him from Laney. He seemed pretty nice from what she's heard.

"How about yours? Any siblings to hold onto your robes and step on your heels?" Laney actually didn't mind Garret coming to Hogwarts, she knew well enough he would be fine on his own eventually. If not, she'd ween him from her robes anyway. She was not going to take care of him with so many important things going on this year.

Mel shrugged when Laney mentioned her summer.

"You know, same old. Father being locked up in his lab all day. Mother nagging me about not being in Slytherin like she wanted. No tykes yet, though. I really hope she pops one out soon. I'm getting tired of me being called her baby," she said. She stretched and as did her cat. She smiled and patted the cat's head.

"Good kitty," she whispered.

"Hopefully if she does, then they'll continue your reign." Of pranks. Laney knew well enough of Mel's pranks. To a certain degree, Laney actually liked them. She'd have to make sure she went down other corridors while Mel was out doing them. As long as they weren't on Garret at least. In which case she knew where to look. She doubted Mel would do anything.

Mel nodded. "My apprentice! Comeee toooo meeee," she said in a dramatic Romanaian accent, which didn't sound too well with her strong English one. She smiled big, knowing that sometimes she was such a dork.

Pulling her hand loose, Melanthe walked by Melanie who seemed speechless. Going down three more doors, she entered the compartment. Without a word, she nodded her head to those occupying the compartment and slung her trunk up onto the rack. Sitting down, she placed her cat carrier beside her and became instantly engrossed in her Potions book.

Melanie ran into the compartment after her, her face flushed. She didn't understand why Melanthe had become so angry. Nodding to the other girls in the cabin, she smiled.

"Hello Mel. Hello Laney," as she quickly placed her owl and trunk up.

The door to their compartment opened and two girls filed in. It took Laney a moment of thought before realizing that she knew them both.

"Hello Melanie, Melanthe." She wasn't too fond of Melanthe, but they could be nice to each other at least. Neither picked fights with the other.

Cho was growing bored with the books she had brought, the candy she'd bought, and the whole train ride. And they were barely into the whole thing. Her thoughts were interrupted by a pack of first years opening the door. Instinctively, she turned and shot them the most gut melting glare, and hissed. The door was quickly shut, with the first years muttering about the crazy cat lady. 'Yeah,' she thought bitterly, 'Well this crazy cat lady holds the future of the Quidditch team of one of you future houses.' Man, first years were so easily intimidated. It took almost nothing to scare them these days. A face and a hiss? Please. 'Why, back in my day,' she didn't finish that thought, as she felt the pangs of sadness welling up again. She turned her thoughts back to the decision she was making before the first years interrupted. She was trying to decide what to do. She really wanted to go find a Quidditch player or two, but they were probably with their friends talking and whatnot.

But surely they could take a moment or two for their captain? Cho had become captain of the Ravenclaw team at the beginning of her fifth year, after the seventh year that had been captain graduated. She was fairly brilliant at it. But this year she had to watch extra carefully. She wasn't sure who she was going to make captain after this year, and she was worried about it. She felt antsy now, like she should go make the decision. But she couldn't, and she wouldn't until the end of the year.

So she started wandering down the long hallway of the rather busy train. She squeezed by what seemed like thousands of people, and she was amazed they could stuff so many people on one train, let alone one school. She wasn't really that amazed, she'd just like to remember it as a more amazing experience then it really was. One of the apartments she glanced into had a member of her team, and a member of Griffindor's team, she thought. She wasn't sure.

She walked in, opening with, "Have a good summer Laney, Hawethorne?" She didn't call them that cause everyone else did, she called them that because she was a member of her team. She was fairly nice to her team mates, and liked to think she had their respect. But they also knew what she normally acted like, and why they called her the b***h on a Broom. She shot the other girl from Griffindor a fairly apprehensive look. She was pushed the rest of the way into the room, her stuff pushed in after her.

Laney was about to shut the door when another appeared. The compartment was getting crowded.

"Hey Cho." She said lightly as the girl came bustling in. It wasn't likely that they had any more room for people. If there any more going to show up, she was going back on patrol. She didn't like being shoved in like sardines with a group of girls from all over the Houses. It usually didn't bode well at all for anyone.

Mel ran her hand through her hair when Cho, Melanthe, and Melanie came into the cart.

"Hello," she said quietly. Her and other teams weren't always on a good side, seeing how the most they see of each other is when she is catching their quaffle. She bit her bottom lip and looked around the cart.

Awkwarrddddddd.

Kaiser's blue eyes scanned each window as he passed by. He saw a couple of firsties, some Ravenclaw he knew, and some students that were in his classes from last year. All of the compartments were mostly filled with people and he wouldn't want to burden someone and their peers by just sitting there. It would make things awkward. Kaiser then halted when he came to one compartment on the better more civilized side of the train. Well. The least hectic. By the look of it there was only a little boy. There sat Garret Laney.

'Haha, my luck. A first year. And he's all alone. He'll probably care less if I sat in this compartment, and I won't have to sit in a loud compartment surrounded by hyper active girls.'

Kaiser slid open the compartment door.

"Room for one more? Oh, you're so kind. Thank you," he said aloud hastily, not really letting Garret make the decision. The blond brazenly let himself in without permission and after getting his luggage situated he sat on the seat on the other side of Garret. A soft sigh of relief escaped his lips.

Garret mentally sighed his aggravations and gave up. After another moment he realized that he was still leaning forward, gripping the edge of the seat rather tensely. Garret frowned and let go. He leaned back in his seat, sighing audibly this time and letting the tenseness leach out of him slowly. Much better. Of course, right then the door opened and one of the higher years just waltzed in. He seemed rather hassled, so Garret did nothing but smile a little at the semi-comedic entrance of the other. That, unfortunately, had made him jump when Kaiser opened the door, but he relaxed easily enough.

"Finally. A compartment that doesn't reek with the smell of cheap infatuation perfume," Kaiser muttered.

"Yea, lucky for you. My sister said it wasn't a good idea to wear that today. She said it would leave a bad impression." Garret couldn't help the quirky grin at the other.

Kaiser looked at the younger boy with mere curiosity, not speaking at first but finally opened his mouth.

"Your sister is smart. She's a Ravenclaw, I take it?" he retorted. No, he didn't know if she was actually from Ravenclaw or not. It's just the statement Garret said that made him assume so. Since they say the most intelligent and bright students are sent to his house after all. But deciding if not to wear cheap perfume on the first day. Could that really be classified as intelligent? More like common sense, if you ask him. But oh well, at least it's conversation.

Yes. In this compartment he didn't feel cramped or the need to hold his breath. His dark blue eyes drifted away from Garret for the moment and started to examine his surroundings thoroughly. It sure was peaceful - and that's more of an atmosphere that Kaiser would rather be around than chaos. It seemed like his mischievous brothers would rather spend a day in a crowded compartment instead in an empty peaceful one. Well, everybody had different preferences, right? Even brothers.

The pale fingers of Kaiser's right hand gently drummed on one of his legs as his eyes focused out of the window. The beautiful scenery didn't hold his attention though. He glanced back at Garret to see what he would have to say as a response.

Garret broke out to a full grin at the comment of Kaiser. His sister was in Ravenclaw. He was probably just guessing, but he nodded finally. For a moment he just looked at the other boy, trying to see what house he belonged in. Each House had their own colors, but it didn't help that none of them were in their robes yet.

He thought about what he knew about the other boy first and then asked, "She is. Her name is Merissa Laney, though she said everyone's been calling her Laney. Are you in her House too?" He watched the boy momentarily and then looked out the window also.

Kaiser's blue orbs scanned only one page before he decided to look back up at Garret.

"So you're Merissa Laney's brother? I can see that. To my knowledge her hair is a tad bit darker. But I can definitely see it in the eyes." Kaiser nodded reassuringly, continuing to inspect the younger boy. "Yes, I'm from Ravenclaw. And I'm sure you'll make a fine addition to the house," he said, assuming once again. It just made sense to Kaiser that Garret would walk in his sister's shadow. His parents and oldest brother were all in Ravenclaw, so he just figured it was a genetic thing.

Garret finally relaxed fully against the back of the seat, a little uncomfortable for the one-size-fits all type. His feet didn't touch the ground yet, much to his own aggravation. Of course, the others would be even shorter than he was, and this eased the thought of it.

He looked around the compartment, a little at a loss and then asked, "How long is this ride? I'm hoping not too long." He didn't eat that morning, much to the aggravation of his aunt who was flying around the house herself, trying to take care of her own things. He liked that particular memory. It was funny watching her flit around agitatedly while tossing things into a pile that she had to move three more times. He was packed the night before.

Kaiser continued to look at Garret as the connection clicked in his head. 'So he's that Merissa girl's little brother? That makes sense, I guess. I mean, they do look alike. If I had a better relationship with her I would have caught on sooner,' he thought quietly to himself as the boy then asked how long the train ride would be. Again, Kaiser didn't immediately respond. Instead he took hold of the book on Transfiguration he brought with him that was laying by his side and placed it in his lap. His pale hand caressing the pages along until he found where he left off.

"Hmmm. We should arrive by evening." He spoke from past experience. He was going to ask why he was hoping for a short trip but convinced himself not to speak up. It would have been a pointless question. People have different preferences. Some people like long train rides, some people like short train rides. The reasons behind them were none of his business.

Garret nodded, somewhat happy with the answer, somewhat not. He was going to be really hungry. His let down could be seen in how his smile faded, though not in an unfriendly way, and turned to disappointment. This was going to be a very bad trip for him. Perhaps he could stretch out and sleep. At least that way he could ignored his stomach. It would probably be growling in the next half an hour. He quelled those thoughts. Thinking of it only made it worse.

"Yeah." He had something against people looking him in the eyes, even if it was just to see the color. When he made eye contact it was for a reason normally. He couldn't help the small, embarrassed smile and his eyes shifting to the floor of the compartment. Reminding himself of the facts, Garret snapped his eyes back up and looked to the other and smiled faintly. He knew of the inter-House rivalry and felt that he didn't care too much about it. First he was Muggle-born, but on top of that he had yet to have any experiences with the other Houses.

"We'll see later tonight." He was kind of excited to figure out what House he would be in though.

"Kaiser Dedeaux." Kaiser introduced by holding out his hand for a good first impression. The brunette boy's feet didn't even touch the ground, so he wasn't sure if he had to move up a bit for an actual handshake.

Inter-House rivalry thoughts aside, Garret rather liked the experience so far. He leaned forward in his seat and took the other guy's hand in his own. His right foot was on the floor stabilizing him from the movements of the train.

"Garret Laney, nice to meet you Kaiser." He smiled, feeling a little awkward at the pleasantries.

He let go of Kaiser's hand to make sure he could catch himself from falling if the train decided to take a turn or something. Garret scooted back in his seat, still feeling a little awkward, regardless. He picked at the skin of his thumb with a small frown, the pad a little calloused. This was a sign that he wasn't really sure of what all to say. First years were so cute and naive.

Kaiser just nodded before silently going back to his book. He wasn't really paying attention so he couldn't sense the awkward aura coming from Garret. He seemed friendly, so why would he have to be eying him suspiciously every now and then? Very quick to trust people, Kaiser was. Unless they were a jerk Slytherin. He had endured their wrath since he took his first few steps in the castle. Over the course of four years he'd gotten better at ignoring them, like other students started to do.

Kaiser's full attention was still on his book. Two page flips later he slowly slipped his nine and a half inch walnut wand out of his pocket, but his eyes were still on the small print. He started to mutter some words aloud. Then he finally fell silent once more. The boy lifted his blond head slightly up and looked over at the cage where Garret's owl was positioned peacefully. He looked at the book again for an abrupt second before looking at the owl. Then his gaze went over to Garret. Kaiser didn't speak up at first, he just watched as the boy naively played with his thumb or something. It was anyone's guess what he was trying to accomplish.

"Garret. You don't mind if I borrow your owl for a second, right?" He asked, tapping his head lightly with his wand.

Garret almost wished there was a clock in the room to listen to. It was just the gentle jostling of the train, though, and to occasional shout or someone running by the door. He frowned a little, wondering what the chaos was like out there. He decided to not look though and continued picking at his thumb, pulling off the small rings made by lost callouses. They were from him practicing this summer, though that had been a stick and not his wand. He wanted to perfect the swish and flick before he even got to school. He was alright now, smooth but unsure if he could do magic without the swish and flick.

He pulled his feet up, curling up in a ball on the seat. They were a little shallow to be sitting like that in, but he figured he could balance well enough. However, what knocked him out of what few awkward thoughts he could get moving, was the other boy speaking again. He asked about his owl, which did startle him a little and made him sit up. However, he also startled Garret out of his seat and onto the floor with a 'Oof'. He just stretched out there with his back against the door looking at Kaiser curiously.

"Uh, well as long as he'll be alright. I don't want to have to write my aunt and tell her I need another owl." Plus he had gotten rather attached to the bird. He didn't bother getting up.

Rather, Garret relaxed against the door quite comfortably with his legs stretched out in front of him with his ankles crossed over. If only someone would open the door now.

Kaiser couldn't help but to smirk at the helpless kid and his response.

"Don't worry. He or She is in very capable hands." He retorted, flicking his wand towards the cage and saying the simple charm's incantation aloud.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

Suddenly but gently, the cage started to elevate and creep towards him in midair. When it was close enough to reach, he stopped channeling the spell with his wand and grabbed hold of the cage. He placed it besides him on the seat and wasted no time to open up the cage.

Garret frowned a little, "His name's Gamling." That was a long story to explain, but he liked the name and the owl seemed to also. It worked and he wouldn't change it.

"I learned this spell in Transfiguration Class during my second year. It'll just be a refresher since I haven't used magic in months. I'll have to practice or else I will never become an Animagus later in life." Kaiser explained before clearing his throat. He poked his wand inside of the cage and gently tapped the owl three times before yet again speaking the incantation aloud.

"Fera Verto."

Garret crossed his arms over his chest, still frowning slightly at what was about to happen. Not having done magic in a few months, huh? That didn't sound too good to Garret, especially when he knew that the guy had been reading a transfiguration book. He didn't feel too good about this.

The shape of the owl started to distort quickly, and the texture looked glossy like water. The bird started to shrink, shrink, deform, and wallah! Kaiser successfully transformed the owl into a goblet.

"Hmm.. Could have been better I suppose.." The blond mumbled, examining the goblet with eerie eyes.

The bird began to lose his shape and Garret's eyes widened. This wasn't the first time he'd seen magic. Once he got his letter Garret had seen his aunt clean the house with magic. It made sense, considering that the place was so big, but that was beside the point. He looked at Gamling with a pitying and worried look on his face.

"Can you change him back? I don't think he likes that too much." He was rather glad Laney wasn't her. She'd probably yell at the both of them. Kaiser for doing magic and Garret for something. She could find something. He leaned back against the door, trying to convey to the owl that he'd be fine soon enough. Kaiser just needed to undo it right?

Kaiser listened to the first comment, second comment, but ignored the last one about the bird not enjoying being turned into a goblet. It was the owner's every right to worry, but there wasn't much for Kaiser to say. He already assured him that he was capable.

"Can I change him back? Of course I can," he replied simply. The blond didn't take Garret's words as a demand, more like a question. Could he undo the spell? Yes. Did he plan on undoing it at that moment? No. He was still examining it.

"It's a simple spell," Kaiser mumbled, obviously talking to himself. "But I did it so sloppily. It looks like there are cracks on the bottom. And the top is shaped all wrong. And is that a feather? No. That must have been already in the cage before I commenced the spell." He started to grumble now. Scolding himself inside of his mind for not pulling off a spell he learned two years ago perfectly.

"Well it isn't too bad. Considering that I haven't played with magic for a couple months. Perhaps I should try again," he whispered.

Garret looked a little more irritated now. Kaiser wasn't changing Gamling back to his normal self. If all else fails, do it Muggle style. He didn't want to punch anyone though. He just sat against the door looking rather dejected and thoroughly irritated about his owl. His arms were still across his chest and he wondered if he'd just felt footsteps through his butt.

Jemma Grievling pushed her way down the row of compartments. She had managed to leave her trunk with a couple of second year Slytherins, she actually didn't give them much choice even if they hadn't like the idea anyways. She did, however, keep her owl with her. Diamond was a fairly good sized owl, so Jemz was hugging the cage to her chest instead of just carrying it at her side since it was too big for that. Thankfully Diamond didn't seem to mind being so close to Jemz and simply hooted softly when someone would bump into Jemz therefore jostling the cage.

Most people thought better than to mess with Jemma, even though she was only a third year. The sixth and seventh years didn't mind so much, but yet again they usually kept to themselves. The others were typically intimidated by her piercing green eyes, as though they knew not to mess with her or risk being badly hurt.

That was a weird thought. Garret looked to Kaiser, then the window, tilted his head up and looked at the door, but then found nothing. He frowned, thinking deeply as to why he thought he felt footsteps through his butt. While he thought, he didn't quite feel the door sliding open behind him. Actually, it seemed to only make him think deeper until he decided to leave it alone and just tell Kaiser to change his owl back. He charged himself up to talk to the guy like he meant it and opened his mouth.

Unfortunatley for Jemma, all the compartments seemed full. She was begining to get desperate enough for a non-crowded apartment that she'd even sit with a Griffindor. Finally, however she found Garret's compartment. Two boys, and one seemed to be a first year. At least there's room to think. Jemz slowly pulled the compartment door open, about to ask if she could join them on the ride to Hogwars.

"Kaiser, change GamliiiIIyaAG!" That wasn't quite what was supposed to come out, but then again Garret wasn't supposed to be laying with his torso out in the corridor either. He looked up at the girl who was gently hugging her own owl to her chest and basically standing over him.

Garret took a moment to figure out what had just happened, never mind Gamling and then pointed up at her lamely, "So it was your footsteps I felt through my butt." He wasn't really declaring it. He was just saying it as if it was a semi-new revelation. Garret pushed himself up and got out of her way to come in with them.

Kaiser didn't pay attention to the girl immediately like he should have. He was still examining the goblet. But he eventually got Garret's point.

"Did you say something Garret? Oh, alright." He tapped the goblet three more times with his wand before it suddenly morphed back into the owl. He quickly retracted his hand and closed the cage door so the bird wouldn't peck him to death. He sent the cage back over to the seat on the other side and sank back into his chair. He looked over at Jemma. He recognized her.

"A Slytherin, hmm?" Kaiser spoke up curiously. He had a grudge against the bullies, but this was a Slytherin who was one year below him - so there was nothing he had to worry about. And he never witnessed Jemma being a b***h to anyone, so of course there was no hostility.

"Welcome." He waved his wand in one swift motion as a greeting.

[B a k a - c h a n]

On the train.

James ran a hand through his hair and adjusted the badge on his robes, the shiny silver and green HB glistening in the setting sunlight. His rounds had been fairly uneventful so far; he'd only had to confiscate a fanged frisbee some third years were throwing around and an extendable ear a group of idiotic fifth years were using to eavesdrop on some girls. He was looking forward to the end of this tedious ritual so, he walked on, peering into compartment after compartment for any sign of trouble.

Melanie smiled up at Cho. "It was lovely. Went out to Egypt."

Melanthe cut in. "Turned down a prestigious job, so she could come beat a couple of bludgers around and hold my hand through another year." She looked about the apartment, noticing who she was around. None of her fellow housemates seemed to be in this car nor any friends for that matter. That's not to say that Slytherins were exactly her friends. They were more...comrades. Ironically, she mused, she really did like the Hufflepuffs. The Gryffindors were okay when they weren't being too heroic.

Melanie rolled her eyes at her sister. "'Lanthe..." came from under her breathe. "Do you have to be so rude?"

Melanthe flipped a few pages in her potions book. Carefully making some small marks with a quill she spoke, "It's what's expected of our house."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "I decided to get another year of education. Gringotts told me they'd hold the job for me." Opening her bag, she took out her robes and slipped them on and smoothed out the creases.

"Sorry 'bout that." Sitting back down, she turned to her Captain. "Have a good summer Cho?"

Cho smiled, and sat down in the seat right by the door, meaning to indicate that she wouldn't stay. She had placed a spell in her particular door to lock it, since she was seventeen and could do that kind of thing, but she had taken her stuff for fear the spell would be removed by someone in her absence.

"My summer was fine," she started, her American accent setting her apart from the rest of the girls, "I got a job at a broom shop, and practiced a lot, of course. However, I actually came here to talk about the team very quickly. Hawthorne Number One, this doesn't apply to you, but Laney, I wanted to let you know that since I'm graduating this year I have to pick a new team captain. This will be based on overall temperament, performance, and respect level. I don't want some a*****e ******** up my awesome team by leading them all wrong. But, that's it really. So I'll be going now." She trailed off and went to open the door. She had the distinct feeling she might be gossiped about when she left. She was fully aware that everyone in there knew her as the b***h on a Broom, and it was kind of unnerving. But none of them had her respect, so why would she have their's? And anyway, they probably had more important things to talk about then her reputation. Still.

Laney frowned. She really didn't want to join the Quidditch team. That wasn't exactly her idea of a good time on the broom. Too much intensity and too much rivalry. She also didn't feel like hating someone for them sending a bludger into her face. That was possible for her, even if it hadn't happened so far in school. She gave a resigned nod to Cho.

"Alright. I'll think about it." She got the hint easily enough. It wasn't something she wanted on top of the Prefect thing now. Still, she would step up if they needed her that bad.

"See ya Cho." She commented before the girl slipped off.

Melanie nodded as Cho spoke to Laney. Her mind drifted back to Hogwarts, it was terrifying thinking that this would be her last year within those walls. She had accepted it last year, that she might not return but in her heart she knew she would. Somehow it seemed, she'd always come home to that place.

The door opened, but Cho had to sit there and wait while a group of first years headed down the hallway towards the candy trolley. She felt impatient, and slither unwanted in this car. To be honest, she'd feel that way in almost any car with a population of one or more, assuming she didn't count in the tally. But she wasn't in any car, waiting awkwardly, she was in this one, and it was kind of a b***h.

Thoughts lingered in Melanie's mind of hours spent in study and in play. After this year, she might not play Quidditch again. It seemed odd that that was one of the things she'd miss the most. The air flowing through her long hair, zooming about with no worries, completely and blissfully free.

Turning to look out the window, she caught a look at Melanthe. What the hell was wrong with her? She'd suddenly became very pissed of. But that wasn't true. She could tell a difference in the past few months. Melanthe had become distant, more studious. She'd been practicing magic everyday that she could and making notes in that damn Potion book. She'd become withdrawn and pale then feverishly sick right before their birthday. She was hiding something from her and despite her assurances otherwise, for once, Melanie feared what Melanthe's being in Slytherin could mean.

Melanthe read through her Potions book, making more notes. Taking out a little back binded book, she jotted down a few words then stored it back away. Tapping her quill against the cover of her Potions book, she contemplated the use of gurdyroot in a specific potion. It could work or be quite disastrous.

Shrugging her shoulders almost imperceptibly, she made a note to try it the first chance she could get. Getting up, she stowed her book into her trunk and pulled out her robes. Dressing quickly, she began walking toward the door.

Melanie's voice came to her. "Where are you going?"

Melanthe looked back at furrowed face of her sister. "Out. Don't wait up for me mom."

Laney sighed quietly and let her head fall back against the wall again, it making the same quiet thump it had the first time.

"This is going to be a crazy year." OWLs, Prefect, and now possibly Quidditch. She didn't like the idea of having to take time off of school to heal from being beat up by another team. At least the Ravenclaw team wasn't as hard pressing as the Slytherin and Griffindor teams.

"So...?" She commented into the quiet compartment.

Melanie's eyes followed her sister for a second then came back to Laney. The quiet in the room was almost stifling.

"It's really not that bad. Quidditch, I mean. Slytherins get a might touchy over it sometimes, but over all it's not that bad. Last year, I only spent a week in the hospital all season."

Laney raised a brow at the comment. "Only a week?" She blew a long breath out, not looking forward to this at all. Something told her this would end very badly. While the girl was a Ravenclaw, she had to study and keep up. Falling behind was her worst enemy and alway made her grades drop. Not that it was hugely detrimental, but it was quite annoying. Being stuck in the hospital wing for a week would drive her insane, knowing that there were classes still going and work piling up. It made her fingers twitch irritably.

"I'd rather just sneak out and risk it than sticking around." She frowned, still troubled by the thought of missing a week of school at once.

In one of the compartments he spotted Melanthe Hawethorne, fellow Slytherin with her twin sister, Melanie. He never had been able to tell them apart and he was always thankful for the robes when he was around them both though they did have a penchant for switching places. It always kept James on his toes. He slid open the compartment door enough to poke his head in and saw that they weren't alone.

Another head peeked in and Laney almost stood up to leave. Too many people. She looked over at the guy and her frown deepened a little. A Slytherin Prefect. The smile was completely lost on her, though not because of the rivalry.

James blinked, a bit surprised but, composed himself and said, “Hello ladies, how are we?” giving them all his most winning smile. “I haven't finished my rounds yet but, would you gals mind keeping a spot open for me until I get back? The trains absolutely packed and I'm afraid the only place I'll be able to find somewhere to sit will be in the prefect's cart. Needless to say I'd sooner hang myself so, would you mind?” To be honest the compartment looked near full all ready and he didn't know the other three girls by name but, he hoped his knowing the twins would help. He could get to know the others easily enough.

"Actually, I've got to get back to patrolling. I stopped in for a moment to get away from the yelling." Laney hoisted herself from her seat. Even if he wasn't going to sit now it would be open later. She wanted to go find Garret and sit in their probably quiet compartment.

She steadied herself and nodded to the girls with a small smile on her face, "I'll see ya later. Back into the fray." She sighed a little playfully after the last word and slipped out into the hall with only a gentle wave of her hand to the other girls.

Jemma jumped backwards as the boy was falling towards her with a suprised "Eeep!" After a few seconds she looked around Diamond's cage to see the boy in the face.

"Bloody hell kid, why where you against the door?" she asked mildly suprised and slightly shaken. She hadn't expected a first year to attack her, and especially before they were even at Hogwarts!

Looking up, Jemma saw Kaiser and nodded cooly to him. "All the other compartments are full," she answered. Cautiously stepping over Garret, she strode into the compartment and plopped down on the opposite seat from Kaiser up against the window and looked out it. She put Diamond's cage between her feet and rested her hands gently in her lap.

Garret muttered a few comments under his breath on the topic of their mothers and a few choicy words, but these were not for the two of them to hear. He snapped the door shut once the third year was through and half glared at Kaiser. Garret leaned across and took Gamling's cage and hugged it to his body like the girl had been doing, except he was glowering quietly in the corner as the two seemed to catch up.

Gamling was in about the same mood, irritated that he'd just been used for an experiment. That was for rats and toads, not owls. Owls had a duty, deliver their master's mail to them accurately and safely. The owl almost seemed to glare at Kaiser also, but Garret decided to chill things out with a few treats through for him to nibble on. It was better than his fingers. Gamling turned around and seemed to glare at Garret for thinking that those would make everything better.

Kaiser looked directly at the new owl that arrived. If Garret noticed the gleam in his eye then he would have known he was thinking the same thing he was thinking earlier. But the gleam did die out pretty quickly and he tucked his wand away. He looked at Garret first, feeling a little hostility coming from his way. Perhaps it was his owl, perhaps it was Garret, probably was both. Kaiser was naive about the situation though. They can't possibly be upset about the spell I mean, nobody got hurt. He thought, once again examining Garret and his owl. Another mystery that would have to wait to be solved.

Garret ignored the owl's anger for the moment and looked back at the other two. He wasn't too sure what to think of them. He started out rather liking Kaiser, but the whole transfiguration thing rather agitated him. On the other hand, there was the Slytherin girl who was as surprised with her opening the door as he was. That had actually been rather funny, even if she'd gotten mad for it too.

"Jemma is it? I'm pretty sure we met each other before. Nothing formal though. Well, forgive my friend Garret for the door situation. He's sort of like a long lost puppy," Kaiser explained keeping the same welcoming expression even though he used an odd example to call Garret.

Jemma's eyes slid up to the fourth year and narrowed instantly. "What's it to you Halfblood?" she sneered. Honestly, the ride would be much better if the two of them would just ignore her as she would them. Jemma was not the type of person to deal with anything muggle. Salazar didn't believe they should learn magic, and neither did she. She was civil to any non-purebloods in Slytherin, but only because they were in her house. And she was fairly nice to any non-Slytherin purebloods, but that was because they deserved it. Even those nasty Griffendors did to some degree.

The puppy comment hadn't helped the situation. Kaiser had to be baiting Garret. Thats all the boy could think of. He's got to be doing it on purpose. However, the first year couldn't quite contain that yet. He continued to glare at Kaiser, completely annoyed by the fourth year now. Gamling was still a little miffed himself, but he was at least cooling off. He also hadn't just been called a lost puppy. That finally broke it.

"How am I a lost puppy?!" His voice was raised, not exactly something he normally did, but he wasn't yelling. That was saved for special occasions. No, right now he was just a little kid that had been pissed off.

In the sense of the 'lost puppy' he was thinking of a person that followed another around and begged for attention. He hadn't even followed his sister out of the compartment, nor did he particularly wish to. If he needed to he could figure his way back to where they'd boarded the train. It wasn't that far off. He could lug his trunk that far. Of course it wouldn't do well on a train, but that wasn't the point. He just couldn't figure out what Kaiser meant by a lost puppy, nor did he think he was one, regardless of the fourth year's definition of it. He continued to glare at Kaiser, unable to help himself from his aggravation at this point.

With a scoff, Jemz pulled a book out of her robes and began to read where she'd left of just the night before. The book was similar to her History of Magic textbook, except much more interesting. And more up-to-date. In fact, even Lord Voldemort's early years where included. Thankfully it stopped just before he had met Harry Potter. She despised Potter with everything she had.

Kaiser blinked. Just blinked. He wasn't sure who to reply to. The snappy Slytherin or the angry little boy. I should reply to Garret. If I ignore him he'll probably get even more upset with me. I sense that I've done something wrong again. Maybe this is what Brandon was referring to when he said I couldn't hold a friend for more than a week.

He quickly shook his blond head and waved his hands, trying to ease the mood. "No no no no, calm down Garret!" Kaiser said, smiling sheepishly. "I was only kidding. I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, honest."

Garret was still frowning, internally fuming over being called a puppy. Garret couldn't help that his glare softened, half giving up his anger, half not wanting to make this all worse. He was still angry though, and the anger still bubbled uncomfortably in his stomach. He didn't like the feeling and subconsciously crossed an arm over his stomach to settle it down. Garret just turned his gaze away, letting the glare cool on the wall across from where he was sitting.

Jemma glanced from the first year to the boy in Ravenclaw. She really shouldn't get involved. She really shouldn't help a first year. But what if he ended up in her house? She'd regret ignoring the situation. And she would, by far, rather ignore the situation and regret than help and only slightly regretting a first year from another house. Well, tecnically he was neutral. That made it ok, right? He wasn't sorted yet anyways.

Jemz slipped her wand out of her sleeve as she stood up and pointed it at the Ravenclaw's nose. "Leave the puppy alone," she snarled menancingly.

However, the third year seemed to be defending Garret. As much as he appreciated her help on him being agitated, her calling him a puppy made it worse. He snapped his hazel eyes back to the pair as she was pulling her wand and pointing it.

"Don't call me a pup-!" He started to yell. He was standing, holding Gamling's cage at his side with his hand going to his wand to make her back off. How much of a threat that was, he didn't know, but it didn't matter. He'd been interrupted.

His stomach growled loud enough to be heard over the train, the argument, and enough to startle Gamling a little. Garret's hand going to his wand stopped and went to his stomach instead. Oops.

Kaiser was a lover, not a fighter. He would only resort to fighting if there was a beneficial outcome that interested him. He didn't flinch and he didn't move an inch. He was more surprised by Garret's reaction to the third year calling him a puppy than the third year threatening him. A soft sigh escaped his lips as his hands reached down and closed the book in his lap. Kaiser still had that soft intrigued look in his eyes.

"Enough with the hostility. There's no reason to draw out your wands over a name. I sincerly apologize if I offended you Garret." He said, his eyesight on Garret, and then on Jemma. "If you have a problem with me being halfblood, then by all means; enlighten me by putting your wand to work. But don't waste my time trying to intimidate me by just pointing it. For the third time, I said I was sorry and if Garret doesn't wish to speak to me ever again then he can just say so and I will. I don't come to school to bully and bother people. I come to learn and to enjoy myself."

Garret frowned at first. It was one of two things, a guilt card or sincerity. He remained standing with his hand over his growling stomach and he sighed finally, the rest of his agitation at being called a puppy leeching out. His shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes while he thought it through. The guy didn't seem like the type to toy with people emotionally, just physically it seemed and only for his own curiosity. He sighed audibly and then opened his eyes to look at the two, frown still in place.

"Its fine. Just don't call me it again." His stomach growled in agreement and his frown deepened. "Besides, never is a loaded word." It held too many emotions to it that were not particularly useful here.

Jemma ignored Garret's reaction for the moment and scoffed at Kaiser, not lowering her wand immediatley. "It's not simply because you are a halfblood. It is also because you won't keep to yourself." Jemz dropped her wand slightly so it was pointed at Kaisers book.

"Locomotor Book," she muttered then flicked her wand, pushing the book into Kaiser's face.

Jemma then looked to Garret while still holding the book to Kaiser's face. "What's your name kid?" For the moment, she had no intention of provoking the first year by calling a name that obviously angered him. Besides that, she didn't want to deal with any spells gone astray by a wizard who had no formal teaching whatsoever.

Garret looked to the third year finally, wondering if kid was much better. He wasn't going to let it bother him. He was too hungry.

"Garret Laney." If she wanted to introduce herself, he'd listen, but he wasn't going to work it out of her. He shifted on his feet and set Gamling on the seat across from where he sat originally, the owl looking around curiously at their interaction.

This was rather annoying to him, but he wasn't going to make this any worse by yelling his head off at some higher years than him. That would probably end in disaster. He finally resigned completely and sat back down where he was originally.

The pain from the book slapping Kaiser's face could be laughed at. It was the type of pain you would feel once a small bug bites you. Tolerable but annoying. He rolled his eyes at the typical Slytherin bully. If she really wanted to hurt him, she would have done a lot better job at it. He had worse torture from his little brothers. And if Kaiser really wanted to retaliate, take his word for it, he would have done a lot better job. But he wasn't going to let his peace barrier dissipate. He wouldn't stoop to the third year's level.

Finally, when Garret assured everyone that it was fine, Kaiser grabbed hold of the book in his face and forced it back down in his lap.

"Well, I'm glad that's settled." He smiled softly at Garret - completely ignoring Jemma.


Jemma didn't happen to notice the door slide open.

"Anything from the trolly dears?" the cart witch asked with a smile on her face, seeming not to notice Jemma using her wand to press a book to Kaiser's face.

"Err, no. I'm fine," Jemma answered quickly while dropping her wand, with it the book as well.

Jemz figured she'd leave the first year alone for a while; she'd wait to find out what house he was in. She noted to herself, however, that his name wass Garret Laney which meant his sister was Laney which would then make him a mudblood and therefore he had even less wizardry experience than she'd thought. She also noted that he had next to no energy when he was hungry.

By the time the trolly lady had opened the door, Garret was about back to smiles again. Magic would be fun when he was finally allowed. You could levitate objects apparently, and guide them towards other people. Awesome. That would be loads of fun when he was allowed to finally. Hopefully he could pull something on Mel soon. He really really wanted to bother her for all the things she'd pulled on him as a kid.

However, Garret's mind wasn't there yet. His eyes widened and there was a silly little smile on his face from all of the sweets on the trolly.

"Yes ma'am!" he half yelled and jumped up. He ran past the two upper years without so much of an 'excuse me' and pulled what money his aunt had given him from his trunk. It wasn't a lot, but it seemed to buy him enough to last him the trip, as he had a stash on his lap by the time the trolly lady left. Garret didn't exactly mean to pig out, but he was going to crash if he didn't eat. Hypoglycemic he thought it was called? Regardless, he popped open a box of what looked like jelly beans and dug in.

Jemma went back to reading her book that she'd dropped near her owl's cage on the floor when she'd jumped up. She was as calm as a bee on the inside, and ignoring the other two in the compartment. Oh, how she wished her parent's hadn't been running late that morning, she could have been in a better compartment.

By now, Diamond was fretting in her cage. The owl hated having to be cooped up for so long. She'd even gone as far as trying to eat the cage door the first year. The second year had been slightly better, Jemz had though to let her out for most of the trip.

Jemma looked down at her owl. "Poor dear, shall I let you out?" Diamond looked up with pleading eyes. Jemz sighed and put her book down on the seat next to her. Reaching down, she unlatched the cage door and Diamond jumped out the second she could. Jemz moved so she could pick up the cage and place it above her head on the luggage rack. The stupid owl, however, had flew right up to the luggage rack. Right where Jemz wanted to put the cage. Ugh. She turned around and put the cage above Kaiser's head.

There wasn't anything for Kaiser to say. He didn't want to speak to Garret for two reasons. One, it probably would be too soon to try and spark up conversation after that little quarrel they just had. Two, he was busy stuffing his face. Then there was Jemma. He thought whether or not he should pass a comment. What he had in mind was; I feel sorry for that owl, for having a relentless b***h for an owner. But he decided against it. Nobody - excluding his brothers - has ever made Kaiser so upset that he would swear at them. Jemma was just some haughty Slytherin in his eyes and she obviously wasn't worth it.

He opened his Transfiguration book and continued to read where he left off. He didn't pay attention to his unfriendly know-her-face compartment companion release her owl and place the cage above his head. The thought of the girl making it purposely drop on his head crossed his mind, so he remained vigilant as he continued to read quietly to himself.

Jemma sat back down and pulled her book into her lap. It took her only a second to find her spot and she went back to reading. As far as she could tell, there was still quite a bit of the train ride left. Diamond seemed fairly content, and Jemz figured she might not even have to put her back in her cage later. Diamond was much calmer now and listed better than she had a year earlier. They'd been through an interesting time during the summer, and they appreciated each other slightly more because of it. Diamond was busy preening herself on the rack above Jemma's head.

Brandon was sitting quietly in his compartment with two other people. With a smirk on his face he looked over at his brother who was sitting directly next to him. His attention then went to a girl who was sitting across from them. Her head was looking from here to there hastily. She was obviously looking for something she lost, and by the look of her face it must have been something valuable. The girl was now on the floor, her hands out touching everything in reach. She looked up at the two boys and blew strands of messy hair away from her mouth.

"Are you sure you haven't seen my locket? I had it around my neck just a minute ago and it's gone!" she exclaimed.

"No I haven't seen it," Brandon replied calmly before he looked over at his identical blond brother. "Have you seen it, Aidan?"

Aidan shook his head in unison with his brother. He didn't even look at either of the two. He was staring out of the window.

"No, I can't say I have. Maybe the candy cart lady took it when she came by." The boy suggested a possible theory which in his hopes would send the girl out of the compartment. And it did. The girl crawled from her knees to her feet and hurried out of the door to find the candy cart.

When the sound of rapid footsteps faded away, Aidan pulled a sparkling golden locket out of his sleeve and simultaneously grinned with his brother.

"How much do you think it's worth?" he beamed, his brother just shrugged and took the golden locket out of his palm to examine it further.

Escaping into the aisle, Melanthe moved further down the train. As she looked into the various compartments, her eye caught sight of a dashing boy-Josiah. Her eyes lingered on him as she contemplated going on or entering the compartment where he sat.

Josiah looked out to the sky and back down at his trousers. He pulled the pocket watch from the pocket and flipped it open, looking at the time. There was still another hour or so before the train stopped, but he felt as if he needed space away from the pricks in his cart. He stood up and grabbed his robes, exiting as soon as he did. He rushed out of the cart, nearly running over Melanthe. He nodded slowly, not looking her in the eye.

"My apologies," he said before continuing to rush down the narrow hall.

Melanthe nodded her head to Josiah as he hurried past. She watched as he walked away, for a moment interested. Wondering about she stood in the hall looking through a compartment out the window. She could feel the bulk of the black binded book beneath her robes. It was light but carried a noticeable weight. Touching the book absentmindedly, she wandered what would ever happen if she lost the book.

She stood there immobile as the thought worked it's way through her mind.

Josiah found a changing cart and knocked on it, to see if it was occupied. When no one answered, he entered and changed slowly into his robes, taking his time putting each item on. He sighed when he finally had on all of the clothes. He really didn't want to back to the cart with the Gryffindor bimbos.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He stepped out of the cart and walked down the hall much slower than he had before. He hummed quietly, hoping it would pass the time and it would result in less time in that cart.

When he finally reached it, he sighed and placed he hand on the door. He closed his eyes and opened it slowly. He found two of the girls holding his bag, trying to open it.

"What is this?" he said. The girls looked up at him, surprised.

"We were just trying to look in it. But it Won't Open!" one of the girls said. He shook his head slowly and snatch the bag from the girls.

"It's called a lock charm, you ninny," he said as he hitched his bag over his shoulder and walked out into the narrow hall.

Josiah sighed and pushed himself off of the windowsill. There was only so long that you could look at nature. But maybe that was just him.

He walked lethargically down the very narrow hallway, looking in carts for the nearest empty one. He occasionally got a giggle or two from one of the younger-years. Once, he got one from a Mudblood. He looked away, disgusted. Some people said you couldn't tell someone's origins from just looking at them, but Josiah could smell the slime in their blood.

Cho walked back to her compartment, again with her stuff, and was pleased to find it empty. She removed the spell, and walked in, closing the door behind her. She put her stuff on the seat beside her, content yet again in her solitude. A few girls peaked in, asking how she got it open.

"None of your business twerps," she growled, "Now scram before I hex you." The girls giggled, and closed the door as they left. "Annoying little," she muttered, not bothering to finish her thought before she sighed. She looked out the window again, fading back into her content complacency. She was amazed that she'd managed to grab a carriage by herself, and figured a few more must be packed to the brim with kids.

Cho was already in her robes, with her wand on her lap from opening the door. She hadn't bothered to put it away. She was staring to doze off. She knew she shouldn't, because people might come in, she'd feel pretty bad when she woke up, she didn't feel tired, just bored and people might come in. She sat up upright, and reached over for a book from her back for her Ancient Runes class. She flipped it open and started reading. Her wand now lay beside her, rolling slightly every once in awhile while the train moved.

Josiah looked in more carts, until he found one with only one person in it. He opened the door slowly, trying to not startle the person inside. After looking, he saw the person was Cho. Her blood wasn't Pure, like he hoped the persons' inside would be, but she was pretty close. He sat down in the bench across from her and laid his bag next to him. He took a deep breath and let his head roll backwards.

Ahh. Finally. Some quiet.

[B a k a - c h a n]

The train grows closer to Hogwarts.

Cho looked up from her book when she heard the door open and close. Some kid from Slytherin? Or so she thought. She wasn't sure. The name 'Josiah' came to mind, but she wasn't sure of that either. And he just came in and sat? Without so much as a 'Hi, I'll be sitting here today,' or anything. That kinda pissed Cho off. Cho put her book to the side, face up and picked up her wand. She walked over and placed her wand on his neck, standing as far back as possible while doing this. Her other hand was at her waist, and her elbow was sticking out in a gesture of impatience. She couldn't actually harm him, but she could threaten the hell out of him, and possibly get him in trouble if he tried to do something to her. If she got in any trouble it would be of no consequence; what was one more detention?

Cho didn't know this kid very well. She was aware of his hatred for mixed bloods, and knew that included her. That was about all. She generally disliked this kind of person more than normal, because she always thought they were full of it. A wizard is a wizard no matter their parents. It didn't make them any less powerful, which was obvious in her case. It was just an age-old excuse to say you were better then someone else. It was so much bullshit, it make her want to scream sometimes.

Josiah sighed when Cho put her wand up to his neck.

Is she trying to threaten me? Try getting the Cruciatus Curse used on you at least once a week for the four years and see whether or not it feels threatening to get a wand pressed to your neck with no curse said.

He slowly reached up and scratched his arm. He was aware that he could probably harm this girl beyond repair if his wand was armed, but because he wasn't, and because he valued his life, he wouldn't.

He spoke slower than he moved, "You know, if you're trying to threaten me, you are doing a pretty bogus job of it." He wondered if the girl could even understand his strong accent. She was American. He mentally sneered at the word.

Some movement down the hall caught James' eye and when he fixed upon its source he felt a pit in his stomach. Cho Hee Song, Ravenclaw's Quiditch Captain had her wand to Josiah Starr's throat. Josiah was a member of Jame's house who's prejudice against non-purebloods was well-known. This was probably going to end badly if someone didn't intervene.

“Heads up” he said to the prefect as he headed toward the two, wand hand at the ready. “It looks like we have a bigger problem.”

Laney looked up as James moved down the hall further. A frown pulled at her lips. "It'll be fine. Cho won't do anything. She's just saying hello." She took a few steps down the corridor behind him but didn't bother pulling her wand. Her hands just rested on her hips as she watched the situation. "I doubt there will be a fight. He's not hot headed enough and she just wants her own space." She shrugged a little.

Despite Hazel-eyes' assurances that the situation wouldn't devolve further, James knew Josiah well enough to be able to expect that he wasn't going to back down. “Even so,” he said to Hazel-eyes. “We have to stop it don't we? Can't have you Ravenclaws blasting away at a Slytherin when I can't even dock you points for it.”

"I simply thought of the easiest way to get you to talk first," Cho explained, "After all, no saying hello is a death sentence in a few countries." Her tone was simple, and hinted at a subtle, yet constant lightheartedness. She lower her wand, but still stood with her hand on her hip. "What the hell do you want here anyway?" she asked, only now revealing her annoyance, "You're ruining my precious view. And there must be plenty more carts with your precious purebloods that you could go and have a pureblood party with. You guys can go, and make out, and have pureblood babies all over the place. It's okay, even if it's unplanned, you're a pureblood, it'll all be okay. After all, you guys are better then normal right? I mean, if I got knocked up it'd be a disaster, but I'm sure it's just fine when one of you do it." She wasn't really trying to relate anything, or insult him particularly well. She just wanted him to go away. Who would stick around just to be bitched at, especially about their deepest-ingrained beliefs?

Cho had been through this before many times in her life. Someone comes, she dislikes them, she insults them til they leave. It was horribly simple, horribly effective, etc. Cho often thought the phrase 'You attract more flies with honey then with vinegar' was total bullshit. Who wants to attract flies? Or in Cho's case, who wants to attract anyone? Especially if a great portion of her world was akin to this a*****e. Really, to her, it didn't seem worth it. She wondered again why she'd want to be an Auror to protect these buttmunches. 'Oh, right,' she sarcastically reminded herself, 'I like authority and kicking people's asses.'

Josiah sighed. He really did not need to be lectured right now. He remembered how people hated it when he spoke slowly, one of his habits he has had since childhood.

He spoke slower than before, "No matter how much you believe I do, I don't go aroung snogging anything with a face. I actually have standards, unlike some Americans who should remain unnamed." he said with a slight smile on his face. He took in a deep breath. This is where he really serious. "I can't go around and impregnate anyone who is Pure, because then, I would be left with far to many children to pass my beliefs onto. And that is just far too difficult." He spoke with his eyes closed, somewhat disinterested in the subject.

He hoped that Cho noticed the disinterest in his voice and realized that he wasn't leaving anytime soon. He was sometimes very stubborn and a tough person to break. It was one of the things he liked about himself. He always did what he wanted and no one could ever stop him.

Quickly collecting everything at once, Edward saw as Cho Hee was now holding her wand up to Josiah’s neck, with James approaching swiftly from the other end of the hall.

This cannot be good.

His hand now rested on the hilt of his wand as he started to move closer to the location of the conflict. Sliding the wand out when he got there about the same time as James, they stood silently outside of the door. He was not going to make the first move that was for sure.

Edward then slid the door open in time to catch the fact that Americans having no standards. While not a true American, he sure sounded like one, spending most of his early years there.

”Now now, those are some strong words.” While he did speak, his eyes were still locked upon James, hoping he does not do anything stupid. But as he was looking, he noticed a cheerful sight; Merissa was standing behind the Slytherin. So even if he did do something, not all was lost.

Cho rolled her eyes when he implied she was a slut. She had never had any relationship, and everyone who knew her knew that at least. It was far to ridiculous for her to even respond. She sat back down and crossed her arms.

"Standards? What? Their mom had to have had children with her own father to produce only the purest blood?" she asked, raising any eyebrow, "I'd see why you wouldn't want tons of children with someone like that. There's a higher chance of genetic diseases, maybe they'd all turn out squibs with so much inbreeding." She knew what he was doing, and it would probably work. She could talk for hours, but she couldn't make him leave. Whatabitch. She could only hope that he had less patience then she did.

Josiah shook his head, appalled. "Oh dear heavens, no. I heard that that only happens in America," he said simply. He smirked. He knew that Cho was hoping that he would leave soon. But, he knew that he was just getting started. The fact of bloodlines was a very strong subject to him, and he didn't make a habit of hiding it. The only thing he did hide from everyone is who he worked for, which he knew he would get killed for.

Cho's team's seeker came in, and she had ignored it for a bit. Edward. Cho had had a monster crush on him when she first saw him, and a fairly large amount of it still remained. In fact, she barely spoke to the boy for that reason exactly. A few rumors had popped up that she liked him, but that was deemed 'bloody bullshit' in most people's eyes. Many said that she stayed away because she was intimidated. That was the real bullshit. He was that kid that she didn't want to hang around with too much because she knew it would ruin him. She wanted to keep her perfect little idea of what he was locked tightly inside her head, and she knew only he could ruin that. Which lead to her next thought, 'I hope he's not staying.' as much as she would love to sit with him and chat nicely, he was probably just another kid, and idolization made her world a little happier sometimes.

"Hi Lawson," she said with her usual cheerfulness.

Reaching the door to the compartment James arched an eyebrow at Edward, who'd just come out of nowhere. This is getting out of hand, he thought as he took his hand off his wand to show that he wasn't there to cause more trouble.

“Cho could you do us all a favor and put away the wand? I'm sure we can work this out without resorting to threats.” He tried his best to sound cool but, all the while James was just praying that Josiah not destroy the girl. That was something James knew Josiah was fully capable of doing. So he added, “Let's not do anything rash,” firmly.

Laney rolled her eyes. Cho wasn't going to do anything. What was so hard about that? He decided to go anyway. 'Stubborn Slytherin.' With a controlled sighed she followed after him, just making sure he didn't get too protective over his fellow Slytherin. If anything would have happened she would have stopped it long ago. Only those on the Quidditch team, or in Laney's case those who could fly well, were really able to talk to her when she was like this. Anyone else would just provoke it and make it worse. She kept her arms crossed and followed silently.

Edward appeared and Laney smiled a little. He would probably be the best man to fix this predicament.

Laney waved from behind James a little and said, "Sorry, Cho. I tried to hold him back." That was basically her explanation for why James was there with her in tow. It would probably annoy her again to have another Slytherin there, Blood Purist or not. She leaned up against the compartment across from the one Cho occupied and gave her an apologetic look at 'Lets not do anything rash.' Cho was rash's definition in some cases, or so it seemed. There was actually thought there. There was a reason she was Ravenclaw and not, say, Griffindor.

Josiah nodded at James. He thought it was amazing how he had an uncanny ability to see how much Josiah actually held back. He was on good terms with him, he hadn't told anyone about it. As long as he did that he was fine with him. They weren't really friends but Josiah made a hard effort on shoving people away.

After Edward, that other kid came in. The Slytherin prefect? James. How annoying. Cho had lowered her wand a long time ago, and sad down in a rather none threatening fashion, and the idea that she would really blast him caused her to roll her eyes.

"Don't talk down to me James, you know better then that," she warned, "I'm not some second year threatening to light someone on fire." Still, she put her wand safely, and obviously in her pocket. At least Laney knew she wasn't stupid, "And thank you Laney," she added as she saw the girl's look.

As for Josiah's American comment, she didn't particularly give a damn. She wasn't from the mid-west, and she rather disliked the people that lived there, and they were the people stereotyped as inbreeders. As far as she could tell, things happening in America had very little effect on her, and so his comment had nothing to do with her. He obviously wasn't very smart, or he would have realized Cho didn't have pride in anything but her Quidditch team and herself. She ignored him for the moment, trying to keep from staring at the pile of cuteness that was Edward. There was so many people now. And it was kind of nice, but annoying at the same time. At least it was something to pass the time.

Cho was now leaning back against the chair, her arms crossed as she faced the mob of people at her door. Her hair was a bit mussed, but she was still smiling and happy in her own odd way. A lot of people seemed to think this meant she was really nice. At first. But they were idiots, and soon learned. The last time Cho explained that to someone, she actually cackled. It was quite hilarious in her eyes, when someone who didn't know her tried to befriend her because they thought she was a loner.

Edward knew what James meant as well. Practically anyone on this train could take another person out if this continued on at the rate it was moving. So as he saw that the Prefect had now placed his weapon of choice away, the Seeker started to do so as well, though his hand never left the wood. While the two of them had agreed that violence was not the way, it just seemed the situation had already gotten out of hand. The Slytherin within the cabin was out of line for insulting her purity, while Cho Hee was also to blame in this case. Yes, everyone knew that she liked to be alone, which should include Josiah. So everyone was as fault, but if it was his decision, he would probably go ahead and point out that Cho Hee had been like this for the past five and a half years, thus sitting her cabin was usually a no-no.

Josiah rolled his eyes. "We all know you're as dim-witted as a second year," he said quietly. He pulled his wand out of his bag and placed it beside him, the side facing the door. He yawned and stretched.

Now looking at James as the two in the compartment continued to speak, Edward attempted to reason with the Slytherin Prefect.

”I believe that the only reasonable thing we can do here is for me to remove your housemate from this cabin. I don’t care where you take him, but I can’t guarantee that she won’t do anything rash if his mouth continues like it does.” But it had appeared that the situation was dissolving before his eyes. There went his bluff.

Watching as the quarters were now filling up, Edward thought it would be fun if he had joined the party as well. He followed James into the cabin and stood against the wall that separated the room from the hall.

”Now that we have all calmed down, can we not just ride the rest of the trip in peace?” He gently smiled as he looked at all three of them, before he calmly turned back towards the Slytherin.

Josiah adjusted his hair this way and that, biting his lower lip. I really do need a haircut, he mused quietly. He soon gave up on it and sighed, lowering his hands onto his stomach, folding them. He released one of his hands and played with the end of his green tie. he never was much of a fan of the color green. It just seemed too nature-ish for him.

His head darted up at Edward's comment. "I suggest you shut your tweeny bopper trap before I go around shutting it for you, don't you agree?" Most people would think that Josiah was bluffing, but he was totally serious. He held his straight face, with one of his eyebrows arched.

This situation as pretty much at a lost. Both sides were at a standstill, neither side willing to put aside their stubbornness to let it go. Well, it was not like Edward was able to back down for Cho Hee, she might actually attack him. So he continued to stand next to the door as he listened the elder Slytherin continue on his rant.

”It appears that you adore generalizing things. In this case, you continue to claim that she is supposed to be a whore, based solely on the fact that she is from America. Yet I believe that you are probably only doing so because it is hard to remember specific people. On the other hand, I suppose some things can be generalized, if it applies to every single thing that is in that specific category. Like Purebloods. For a family to stay pure, without a single drop of Muggle in their body, they would have to mate with other Purebloods. But for this to be true, each generation can only become closer and closer to avoid inbreeding. Now I know that you might want to believe that is possible to go on forever, but mathematically speaking, this is impossible. Thus, families would grow desperate and begin to breed with family members, moving closer each time. It may start out as cousins, but soon, it will end with siblings having to breed with each other to keep it going. With all that said, you would still need to have people that are true Purebloods, rather than people that claim to be because they feel that some of them do not exist.”

With that said, Edward smiled widely towards the male and continued on a rant of his own.

"Rather than insulting people because they know their background, why not look at your own? Would you consider yourself a mutt like ourselves or are you one of those lucky families that survived on being pure by having sex with your own family members?” A fight with words just had no effect sometimes, while on the other hand, sometimes it would be the only solution. In this case, it probably only made things worse, but that was his true intentions. Nobody likes boring ole standstills.

James was starting to get a tad frustrated at the situation and a little annoyed at the Hazel-eyes. Was she actually apologizing to Cho? He had only been trying to protect Cho despite the fact that she was stupid enough to even think to threaten a Slytherin, let alone Josiah Starr. Cho was good but, she wasn't that good. For a second he imagined signaling Josiah and taking care of the situation in a way that would be so much easier and much more telling. Slytherins were not to be trifled with.

James caught himself and slightly horrified at where his mind had gone simply said, “Fine then, let's just calm down and get this settled,” trying to get over Cho's dismissal of him. If it were her Head Boy standing in his place, she wouldn't be so quick to write him off. He swallowed hard, clasping his hands to keep himself from reaching for his wand and added, “Laney was it? Thank you for the help.” Saying that almost hurt him and he stared at the floor hard with shame and frustration. "Josiah, care to explain what happened here?" he said, still burning holes into the floor with his eyes.

Josiah flicked his hand in the air. "Oh, you know. I walk in here, wanting peace and quiet. I had a rough day at home you see. Father was being awful terrible," he mentally smiled at his own inside joke. He always referred to The Leader as Father. Just made things easier. "And the she points her wand at me. I didn't say anything, either. I usually have to ay something for someone to be so offended. So I tell her she doesn't need to attempt to threaten me at all. It doesn't work. So she mouths off like the mutt she is and I just state facts. Nothing wrong with that," he shrugged.

He forced himself to looked at the Mudblood - Laney - in the eye. He fought against the disgust that rose up inside of him. He forced a half-smile before he looked over at the others.

I am surely going to have hell to pay for that. I hope it isn't too bad.

And Edward took Cho's side. If she was some kind of idiotic girly-girl, she might have blushed, or been particularly happy. But she wasn't stupid. It didn't take a genius to tell he was just siding with his own house, and the fact that it was her had nothing to do with it. It was happy and depressing at the same time. But what was even more depressing was that it appeared he was staying. Or was that a happy thing? He was on the journey to the land of People Cho Hates, albeit secretly in this case, considering he'd still be on her team and she'd still have to be nice to him. She was also aware that they both wanted to be Aurors, and she kind of hoped he wouldn't follow her into the career. But she kind hoped he would too. This whole thing seemed very simple to Cho, he just had to stay away, but be around at the same time. It was a good thing he didn't know about her hidden agendas, he'd probably be kinda weirded out.

As for her ability to protect herself, she was a wonderful dueler from years of hard work and practice. After all, she hadn't sacrificed her social life for nothing. She didn't know this, but the only thing that stood between her and winning a duel against Josiah was his lack of restraint. She would not use an unforgivable curse, and he probably would. That would be her downfall, if nothing else.

She heard the comment about her being a second year, and ignored it in the presence of prefects under great duress, and then heard his comment to Edward. That was a threat, and it seemed like he meant it. She put her hand back in her pocket, resting her hand on her wand. "Josiah, you dimwitted a*****e," she said, the cheerfully look quickly fading to a face of utter hatred, especially after she heard his explanation.

If only they'd stayed out of this. Edward too actually, but Laney couldn't blame him. She could see the lines of attraction between them, but never bothered to try anything to push them together. Cho was Cho and Edward was Edward. On the other hand, this was escalating. Laney figured they saw her as a threat, regardless of where her stance in all of this was. She was actually quite in the middle. Cho was a friend, but frankly she didn't want to feel holes boring into her every time she walked the halls for taking sides. Besides, as far as she was concerned, this job was supposed to be unbiased.

She gave a non-committal hum when James said her name, however she did not take her leave, regardless of a fairly blatant dismissal from a Head Boy. She could basically feel the tension from the two Slytherins now and it did nothing but aggravate her. It stayed below the surface and she continued to watch and listen in though. If all else failed, she and Edward could drag Cho away, regardless of their own wounds.

The Slytherin gave his side of the story. Besides being a tad biased on the wording he could see that happening. She worked out what had happened long before anyway, though in all honesty it wasn't particularly fair for her to act like that, she'd always been like that and everyone knew just to leave her alone. Just as everyone learned to let the jibes from the Slytherins just float by. She knew this one was a Purist. She met his gaze evenly, not caring that he hated her just for being born.

Something clicked in her head as she massaged her temples. "One of you could go hang out with my brother. It'll be quiet in there." It came out a little more cheerily than she meant but she had to break the tone, otherwise she'd be ignored. Just a suggestion, though almost a prod to Edward that if they had to that's where they'd take her. She really didn't want to resort to forcing a friend somewhere else though.

After hearing about Merissa's idea, he actually thought it was a reasonable one. But this situation elevated too quickly and it would be hard just to even attempt to remove Cho Hee from the room. Plus, she would probably not go willingly, seeing how she had been here first. Nonetheless, it was a plan out if they needed it.

Josiah smiled wide.

Oh, golly. Already? I can feel the butterflies in my tummy.

He chuckled darkly. "Oh, really. I'm a what now?" He looked over at his wand and stroked the long piece of Ash with his hand. He longed to hold it in his hand, to say those words he said so many times over the summer. To so many people. He longed to point it at Cho's neck, the same way that she did to him. It was all so easy. All he had to do was -

He shook his head violently.

No. Not yet. Not now.

He took in a deep breath. When the Mublood metioned her brother, he sneered.

Another one? Jesus, these Mudbloods populate like rabbits.

The alarms were going off in Jame's head now, Josiah was losing his patience and Cho had just reached into her robes, no doubt for her wand. It's a damn good thing that I want to be an Auror, he thought. Because I suck as a diplomat. And why is Edward antagonizing Josiah too? The situation's all ready bad enough! James put his hands in the air so as not to provoke anyone with his next move.

He stepped in between Cho and Josiah and said, “All right. Obviously you don't agree with Josiah's interpretation of the event Cho. But it seems to me any variation of it would still have you in the wrong." Hearing something from Hazel-eyed Laney was a relief and he tried his best to convey gratitude toward her. She'd given them all an easy out and he prayed that Josiah would accept it.

“What do you say Josiah, will you just let this drop? After all, you were just looking for some peace.”

Cho couldn't stand this anymore. First off, Edward had just unleashed what Cho deemed a 'brilliant Cho-Rant,' which was adorable, and second, this was getting kind of scary. Sure, Cho was stubborn, but as she had told people so many times in her life, she wasn't stupid. She was evaluating the odds that a fight might break out, and her chances of winning. She liked the odds of winning, as she didn't factor in any unforgivable curses. But she didn't want to get in a fight on the train, involving two prefects. It was just illogical. So, in a rare sigh of defeat, she picked up her stuff and walked out of the carriage, pushing past everyone without a word. Hopefully without her at the center of it all, it would dissolve. She started walking down the corridor, looking for a reasonably populated carriage she could read in or something.

As for Josiah, he had embarrassed her in front of her teammates, including Edward, made her seem weak, made her give up. He had just made an enemy for life. As cliche, and morbid as it was, Cho vowed that someday, if he was alive to kill, she would put an end to Josiah's life. However, it would probably be a good idea to find out his last name first. But she had bigger problems at the moment, like a place to sit.

Watching as James got in the middle, Edward could only think of how brave that man was to be standing where he was. Edward would not have done that, not because he did not care for her safety, but it was because he did not want to get in the way of Cho Hee as she fired off a counterattack. But before it could be resolved by the Slytherin, the Ravenclaw seemed to have ended the conflict. Well, not the excitement that he had hoped for, yet this was fine as well. The male then watched as the Captain retrieved all of her belongings and rushed out of the door, pushing through James and to a lesser extent, Edward. With that done and over with, there was no reason he needed to be here. His hand then extended and waved his goodbye before leaving with a smile on his face. Maybe she is starting to learn to give sometimes.

We can all hope.

Josiah sighed. He really wanted some action. Just a little curse. And only for a couple minutes. She's not going to go insane. And all he would have to do is erase everyone's memories. It wouldn't really hurt anyone, except her. He would be amused. He took in a deep breath.

"I don't know, James. Tempting really. Tempting." He looked back at his wand beside him. He slowly wrapped his fingers around the wood and placed the wand in his lap.

All this power. And I can't even use it.

He looked up at the roof. He had to control himself. Deep, steady breaths. He smiled when he heard Cho leave.

"There we go!" he said in a cheery voice. "Problem solved."