"Oh thank you" Scarlett said, smiling and taking the seat. They seemed like a nice group. "I understand, he's all tuckered out from the ride. Henley is just waking up, he was napping for a while earlier, so he's a little hyper" As Scarlett sat down, Henley moved from her neck to sit on her lap, though he sat up, looking around alert and in the moment, not curling up.

"Yeah I think we're getting really close. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see where I'm sorted! I also can't wait to see hogwarts, I've heard so much about it."

"I know! I'd be nice to actually know someone from the start. I'm so nervous about the sorting ceremony it's crazy!" she smiled, what could she say? Fay loved her family, but she always felt like she was the odd one out. Never fitting in. "They're pretty great. They just... don't get the whole magic thing. What about yours?" the girl asked, trying to change the subject away from her family.

Suddenly the compartment door was opened by a redheaded girl carrying a cat.
Fay smiled and scooted over a bit to make room for the new girl, thus waking Merlin up. The turkish angora looked around to see what all the commotion was about, noticing the new cat. He meowed and then laid down again. "This is Merlin. He's usually more social, I guess all the excitment really got to everyone. Oh right, I'm Fay. Do you think we might be getting close to Hogwarts? Perhaps we should change into our robes..."

Marionette had fallen asleep for about an hour before she almost woke up with a start. Seeing that they might be close enough to Hogwarts, the blond girl glanced over to see the same boy from earlier still there. "Do ve get in the robes now?" she asked, finally speaking to the boy.

It had been a little hard to try and maintain the accent on the down low. So far so good. It'd only slipped a little, but it seemed to still be obvious. Maybe she should've shut up for the rest of the ride.

"Nice to meet you Aileen. I hope I didn't interrupt anything..." Scarlett said, looking at everyone and only just then realizing that they'd probably been having a conversation that she'd completely barged in on. But it only concerned her for a moment, she was too excited to be worrying about behavior. "And yeah, I think we've been on here for an hour or two. I dunno, maybe everyone's just really tired." Scarlett shrugged as Henley moved from one shoulder to the other, looking at the people. He nudged her face, asking for some attention.

"Oh, right... this is Henley. I see you have a kitty. She's adorable!" Scarlett said, smiling at Aileen's cat and then also at the other cats in the room.

"That would be totally awesome!" Aileen exclaimed, excited for the prospect of being in the same house as her. She could tell already that they were going to be good friends. They really got along.

"I don't," she sighed, looking out the window for a moment. "What's your family like?" They had to better than hers at this point, it wouldn't take much for that to be true.

While she was waiting for the others to answer, the door slid open and another girl walked in. "Are we really? Well, we must be getting close to Hogwarts. I'm Aileen," she told the girl.

"So, Scarlett, are you finally ready to be in a place that actually challenges you?" Her father asked, smiling down at his daughter. A confident smile was on the 11 year old's lips as she looked up at him.

"Of course. Can't wait to show all those kids what I can do. I'll be the best I promise!" She said, looking up at her father, hoping he would approve what she'd said. Sometimes her parents would look at her oddly if she didn't say what they expected to hear, but normally things about succeeding seemed to get there affirmation. And this statement did, for in response Scarlett's father ruffled her hair.

After saying goodbyes to both parents and being sent off with expectations for excellence laid out by each of them, Scarlett boldly bounded onto the train. She had sat in a compartment with a few other first years for a while, but they had grown quite boring as over the course of the ride they'd fallen asleep. Not the type to enjoy sleeping on such an exciting day, Scarlett picked up Henley, a gray cat, and walked down the aisle to see what compartments had action going on.

A few moments later, she saw a compartment with two girls and a boy her own age. They were talking and the girls both had cats. "Look Henley... they like cats too. We should say hi." Smiling broadly, Scarlett opened the door and peeked her head inside, red hair falling around her shoulders.

"Hi everyone. You guys seem to be one of the only cars still awake. My name's Scarlett. What're yours?" She asked, looking at each of them in turn, Henley raising his head to look at them as well.

"Maybe we'll both end up in Gryffindor together" Fay said, smiling as she petted the sleeping cat in her lap. "So you think you'll manage to make a internet for Wizard and witches?" she asked Neil, intrigued by the idea. No one had managed to combine magic and technology so far- but perhaps he would change that.

Looking out the window, she noticed it had gotten a little bit darker, but the scenes that flew by were still greens. Fay couldn't help but laugh "I can't believe I miss my family already."

"I could be in Slytherin, being a pure-blood, but I don't think I will be. My personality doesn't fit it though. Any of them really, I'd be alright with. Gryffindor would be my choice, my dad was in it," Aileen told in. She wouldn't be disappointed in being put in any of them.

"Its true that Slytherin does have a bit of a nasty past, but most of that is in the past and they've moved past it," she told Neil.

"But the Sorting is final and is said to know where you'll do best overall, so I guess you can't argue with it," she added.

((His hair is supposed to be brown, but I couldn't find a picture the right size. If I can I'll see if I can find a better picture.))

Steven listened to the rumble of the train in the background. The food cart came around again. He ordered a pumpkin pastie and munched on it carefully, attempting not to get crumbs in his book. They could be impossible to remove.

The main character in his book was attempting to pluck a dragon scale from a large Hungarian Horntail. He had a Don't Notice Me Spell on himself, but it would surely be overidden by the plucking of the scale if done too roughly. His hand was on the dragon, waiting to wriggle it out of it's secure spot. He took an automatic, absentminded bite.

Marionette glanced over to see a red haired boy also in the compartment. She had hardly noticed him. She'd been daydreaming as she'd looked out the window, having vaguely heard the door slide. Finishing her chocolate frog, the silver eyed girl studied him. He seemed her age. Slightly plain, and also a scruffy sort of look to him. Realizing this could be rude, she turned her gaze away from him.

It seemed the boy didn't want to be interrupted from reading, and the silence didn't bother her. In fact, she really didn't want to be standing out too much. Her accent was an obvious thing, and one she was still a bit shy about. But at least she could speak English.

After a few moments Steven noticed that his car was, in fact, not empty. There was a girl in it too. She was keeping to herself though, which was good. He was relishing the silence.

Where his silence was of a cowed kind, stemming from a want to stay hidden, hers seemed to be of the sizing up kind. It was just a touch spooky. He went back to his book. Next time the cart went around he'd have to get a pumpkin pasty. He did NOT want to eat the sandwich his mother had packed for him.

Neil raised his eyebrow slightly at Aileen's explanation. It didn't really seem like something one gets sent to Azkaban for. Though it seemed that neither girl really wanted to extend the conversation about Azkaban so he wasn't going to press the subject. When Fay mentioned what house they thought they would be in his eyes lit up. Neil had really only one choice in mind, though it never seemed to garner positive results when he mentioned it.

"I've always thought I would be great for Slytherin. It's full of the innovators and the ambitious of the wizard world. I think people just don't like that particular house because they try to exact there ideals through any means, but sometimes that is what it takes," He said, reaching up and coaxing Grimoire onto his wrist. "That and I guess it didn't have the best past."

Fay didn't really want to talk about Azkaban. While she may know little of the wizarding world, she knew plenty about Azkaban- the prison. It had been horrible before the war. Demontors had been used to guard the prisoners and at times, to execute them.

She felt a shiver travel down her spine giving her goosebumps.
"As much as I want to get to know you both better, can we talk about this without mentioning the..." Fay took a deep breath "-the dementors." The thought of someone sucking all the joy out of anyones body terrified her.

"Which houses do you think you'll be sorted into? I'm thinking I might be in either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. I mean, I love to read and I do try my best in school and apparantly that is basic Ravenclaw-but then again, might end up in Hufflepuff. I can't really see myself in Slytherin though..."

"Okay, that sounds interesting, but I don't really understand muggle technology," Aileen told them, not fully understanding the internet.

At the mention of dementors, her face paled, remembering the fear she felt when she heard that her father was being sent to Azkaban. But they were gone now; spells, enchantments, and guards keeping the prisoners in Azkaban now. "That's true. Its not so bad there now," she agreed with Neil. She always knew it could be worse.

"Oh, I should tell you why my father got sent there. Everyone knows, it was a big scandal a few years ago," she spoke up, figuring they didn't know the reasoning behind it and they would find out eventually. Nothing was secret for long at Hogwarts.

"He was an Unspeakable, oh, that means he worked in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry, and was charged with trying to takes Secrets out of there. But I think it was more of him trying to get work done in his free time. His boss made a big deal about it and brought down everything he could onto him," she told them.

Listening to Fay's description of the internet he nodded his head slightly. "You've got it pretty pretty much there, but the thing about the internet is that you can access it from something the size of a normal book," he said, wishing he had his laptop on him so that he could show her. At Aileen's mention of technology and magic not getting along Neil smirked a bit. They just didn't have the right mastermind yet.

Neil raised his eyes when Aileen said that her father was in Azkaban. "At least the dementors are gone now," he said, attempting to lighten the mood. He had heard that the dementors vanished after Voldemort was killed. This of course was only a rumor he had heard, he wasn't sure how true it was.

"Be a good boy while you're gone," his mother said absently, patting his head and tightening his scarf. "Just run on through." she was soon distracted by a squalling little sister, crying for a treat from the vending machine. "Not now. You'll spoil your dinner."

He ran though the brick wall, and ended up in front of the scarlet train. He boarded.

Steven looked for a car that was as uncrowded as possible. He found one that was empty, amazingly enough. Good, he could read in peace. At least, until more people arrived. If he had to he supposed he'd talk to them but he'd rather not. He just wanted some peace and quiet, for once.

He didn't have a pet. They didn't have the time or money to get him one. There was the family owl, and everyone got an owl or other pet of their choice when they graduated, but for now he'd take the company of his books.

"I certainly do too" she replied. Fay smiled widely, finally a subject she knew something about "Ipods are a device for music. They store a lot of music in them so you can listen to your favorite music wherever you go! The internet is like..." she took a deep breathe, how could you explain the internet for someone who'd never used it? "It's like an endless library of information and music and movies and things. You can use it to speak to people on the other side of the Earth and...Maybe you can explain it better Neil, I'm not to tech savvy."

She petted Merlin, who looked as though he was sleeping. Silly kitty, he was sometimes more lazy then she was. Fay grabbed the small bag she kept with her and took out her Soda. All this excited rambling had made her throat dry. Or maybe that was just her nerves.

Would it be horrible if she asked Aileen why her father had been sent to Azkaban? Maybe it was one of those subjects you shouldn't butt into?

"Well, there aren't trees near the quidditch pitch, silly! The closet trees to it are in the forest or the Whomping Willow!" Aileen giggled. "And first years are given lessons. I've heard that most people need them anyways. I do."

When they started mentioning certain muggle devices, she was confused, not sure what they were. "Ipod? Internet? What are they? For storage? Or bug catching?" she asked, confused. She knew they had to be some sort of technology muggles made for themselves. All she knew was that muggle technology was too complicated, especially compared to the magical equivalent. "Books and scrolls work well. We have magic to find what we need in them. Technology and magic don't work together well," she shrugged.

"Growing up was great. It was just my dad and I for the longest time. We'd do all sorts of things. Quidditch matched in the summers, he made interesting potions in the winter. There was always something brewing in our house. Then he got sent to Azkaban, so I lived with my grandparents, which wasn't as much fun," she told them.

"I gotta say I feel more or less the same as Fay here does. Though with one big peeve about this world. Getting information is much more of a chore in the wizarding world than it is for the muggles. Everything in the muggle world came be found on the Internet and wizards are still using books and scrolls for everything," he waved a dismissive hand before continuing. "Though with a little tweaked magic and my laptop I may be able to change that a bit."

Since he had discovered he was a wizard Neil had been working on a way to get all the research he had done and for that matter all the knowledge about wizards onto a sort of wizard internet, though it was still a long way from any kind of real thing. Before he found out he was a wizard he had been set to go to a premier technology school, and since finding out he had been trying his hardest to meld technology with wizardry.

"So, we've shared our stories, now tell us, what's it like growing up in the wizarding world?" he said to Aileen with a playful smile.

Fay had heard of Harry Potter, well, at least a little bit and what Neil and Aileen said was pretty much what she'd heard. Muggle borns, like herself, had been hunted by pure blood wizards and witches. Luckily, that wasn't the case anymore. She was pretty sure her parents would never have even considered letting her go to Hogwarts had they known that little tidbit.

"I've never flied before, other than in an airplane. It's going to be so amazing to just get on the broom and lift off! I'd like to try out for the Quidditch team too but then I need to really practice my flying. I bet they'd never accept you if you have a tendency to end up in trees." She giggled and took a bite out of the chocolate frog, who'd quickly lost his ability to jump. It felt odd eating something that has seemed so alive just a few minutes ago, but it tasted great!

Fay didn't ask any more questions about blood-status, the thought of it all just made her feel uncomfortable. Instead she jumped on the chance to answer Aileen's questions about the muggle world.
"Boring! Well, we do have some things that make it worth it though, like Ipods and better clothing options. But other than that, the muggle world is pretty boring. But what can you expect from a world that has no magic or unicorns or centaurs or-" the girl laughed "sorry, there I go again, rambling on!"