Our Blood Runs Red

Roxi ran in place as she stood next to her mother who was fixing her brothers hair. she sang lously at the top of her lungs, "WE DON'T NEED NO EDUCATION!" while her father bounced between people who knew him and were requiring his attention. Angelina glanced up and said, "Sh, sh Roxi. Roxanne! Could you please try not to be the center of attention."

"But Mum!" she responded. "I simply can't help it!" She threw her arms out and spun in a circle. She was only fifteen, she was allowed to be obnoxious. Fred grinned saying, "It's 'cause you look like a prat, sis." Angelina hurried to berate him for being mean, teasing Roxi about her outfit though Roxi just grinned and stuck her tongue out at her little brother, unfazed.

Her father reappeared and she stood leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, before kissing her mother as well, seizing her trunk. "Bye Mum, bye Dad! I'll write you. Shortstuff can find his own seat. My people are waiting!" She seized her trunk and stumbled towards the train, pulling her trunk with her. She had told her friends to meet her at their usual compartment.

She collapsed in a seat and tried and failed to heave her trunk onto the rack- her thin arms could not lift the dozens and dozens of outfits in her trunk. She collapsed back and began to rummage through her trunk for candy, wondering when her friends would arrive.

Another year, another train trip.

It was Sam's fifth time to take the long-awaited trip on the scarlet train bound for Hogsmeade station, taking him and the rest of the school to their home for the next few months.

He was mildly sad to see the holidays go, the freedom was exhilerating, he couldn't deny it, but after the first few weeks it began to wear off, and this holidays had opened on such an awful note, he was almost longing for the routine and normality of the new school term.

So it was after a quick farewell to his mother and father at the entrance to King's Cross station that he welcomed the start of the structured life that awaited him. The deadline of the train, the specific wall to walk through, it felt like a welcome change, and as the barrier gave way for him to walk through, it felt to him like a wave of relief (rather than one of concrete and mortar)

"What the," he muttered to himself as he broke through the other end of the platform, his eyes met not by the age old train, but instead by a dim, bleak monstrosity, and by walls filled with posters.

Grabbing one such poster he frowned as he read it before throwing it onto the ground. Who would bring muggle things to Hogwarts anyway, it's not like any of it worked... but hopefully they didn't include clothes in that. What he'd do without his board shorts, he did not know.

Spotting the vivacious red hair of one of the Weasleys (a beacon as bright as any other for the presence of Gryffindors) Sam started to push his way through the crowd, ignoring as many of the grim looking guards as possible

Climbing aboard the train Sam followed the hair through the train corridor, before catching the door of a compartment before it slid closed. "Room for a brother?" He asked, grinning at the girl's house spirit of clothing.

"Y'know," he said, dropping his tone a little, "I'm not sure how fond the crowd in the corridors would be of your outift," he said with a small grin.

“Where’s mum?” Elliot asked pointedly, his eyes meeting Seamus’ in the rear view mirror as Millie sank lower into the front seat, hiding her face behind the Prophet. She glanced at her father, momentarily taking her eyes off of an interview with one of the Keepers in the BIQL. Millie’s eyes furrowed as he reapplied his grip on the steering wheel and she watched as the bloody drained from his knuckles. They were whiter than snow; a great contrast against the dark plastic steering wheel was gripping with what appeared to be dear life. She trusted her father much more than she did her mother but she trusted neither of them when her brother was baiting Seamus for answers. He, just like his sister, had been woken up by yet another blazing row between them and where as Millie had disappeared off to go dancing, he’d had to sit through breakfast listening to them bang on about her affairs before she finally stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

And no one had seen her since; hence the worry. Millie didn’t really know why Brother-Bot bothered; perhaps it was just another attempt for him to ‘know all’. But then, it was his mum. Millie had resigned herself to the idea that her father was the only parent she actually had. She’d written Lavender off a long time ago and she was sure Brother-Bot had too but as they sat there, she was ‘mum’ again. She hadn’t been mum in a long time; not since the vicar had trundled into the kitchen that morning wearing a sheepish, apologetic expression on his face. Things had changed and it was at boiling point. Millie was genuinely wondering how long it would be until her father served that woman the long overdue divorce papers. Sometime through the year she was betting, though Ell had been too much of a wimp to actually take her up on it. Instead he was too busy trying to patch their family back together. It was amiable, to be sure, but he was fighting a battle that had long since been lost.

The car park of King’s Cross was full as always and so Seamus spent a good five minutes looking around for a parking space before finally deciding to glide the old beat up Ford into the drop off bay. He turned the engine off and got out of the car almost immediately. Millie watched through the mirror as he opened up the boot and she slowly resigned herself to the fact that this would not be an amicable parting. Millie heard one of the doors slam shut and she turned to find the back seats empty. Sighing, she turned back around and opened the door. She swung her legs round and planted her feet on the road before rising out of the car. She pulled her bag onto her shoulder and slammed the door shut before walking around to where Ell and their dad were heaving the trunks out of the back of the car. Millie readjusted her belt as she waited for them to sort themselves out and looked up at the sound of the boot being closed. She pursed her lips and slid past her father. She hopped up onto the pavement and took her trunk from her brother before turning to look at Seamus.

Mille rolled her lips against each other, wondering what to say to her father, and glanced up at her brother. Finally, Elliot broke the silence and headed towards the pen where they kept the trolleys for the trunks. Millie bit her lip and released the handle of her trunk. She launched herself at her father, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her cheek against his chest. Seamus chuckled awkwardly and patted her on the back. Millie pulled away and sniffled a little, tugging on her hair. Seamus leaned forward and kissed her forehead, rubbing away one of the tears that had escaped with his thumb. “There, there my little lioness,” He murmured with a smile. “I’ll keep in touch, alright? This year will be difficult enough even without Grindelwald in power. Good luck, sweetheart. Don’t make a nuisance of yourself, alright?” Millie shook her head and Seamus wrapped his arms around her. “Times are changing, Mel. Remember though, happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. I’d walk you through but I have to be at work in twenty minutes. I’m sorry, baby girl.” Seamus released her and rubbed her arms before stepping away, back to the car.

Millie slowly turned, bringing herself back up onto the pavement just as her brother returned with the trolley, mumbling to himself about something or rather. Millie could do little to help him with the trunks but he seemed to mange by himself. All she could do was watch their father navigate his way through the King’s Cross traffic before finally making his way back out into London’s automobile congestion. Elliot cleared his throat and Millie looked up, her eyes narrowing at her brother. He took his cigarettes out from the back pocket of his jeans and chucked it to her. Millie caught them easily and took one out, deciding to tuck it behind her ear instead of actually smoking it, and threw it back to her twin who shrugged his shoulders and put the packet back in his pocket.

From there the two made their way through King’s Cross, tickets in hand. Millie had fished a box of Bertie Bott’s out of her bag and the pair shared a few of the putrid beans as they milled around, wasting time before actually deciding to head to the platform.

When the pair approached the gateway between Platforms nine and ten, a number of wizards were hanging around, owls hooting in their cages. Godric was chirping away in his cage happily, cleaning his feathers and the like. Lucius had decided to sit himself on top of the trunks. Millie had been adamant from when they’d first gotten him that he wasn’t going to be caged up and he’d turned into such a moody git that she doubted anyone would be able to wrestle him into a cage for the duration of the trip. No, he would stay with her and she’d drop him off in the castle when they arrived. He would soon make his way up to the tower, as always. He was sitting tall and proud. No one could shake him from his perch. Even Elliot seemed vaguely amused by the overly egotistical cat. The smirk on his face betrayed his amusement and Millie couldn’t help but feel a little better - at least it meant he wasn’t going to be a moody git as well as the cat the entire trip. Then again, Lucy had the potential to be quite sociable seeing as he loved everyone but her and Ell.

“Alright, go through. Take that sodding cat with you, too. I’ll be right behind you.” Ell instructed. Millie nodded and plucked Lucius off of the trunks. The cat gave a mew of protest and she smiled before hugging him against her shirt . Lucius purred and Millie giggled before skipping towards the barrier. She dodged out of the way of passing Muggles and jumped into the brick wall. The magic rippled around her and she was spat out onto the platform. What she found was not something she’d been expecting though. Millie was confronted not by the beautiful scarlet locomotive but by something that looked like it was transporting common criminals to a prison somewhere up north. The walls were covered head to toe - if walls had head to toes - with posters and Millie pushed through the crowd to one of the pillars where an abundance of the posters had been put up. She tore one off of the wall and scanned the page, her face paling of all colour at the words.

“Elli-” She turned and jumped at the sight of her brother. Though, she shouldn’t really have been surprised. He had promised to be behind her after all. Millie held the poster out to him and the twins began to make their way over to the animal compartment where they’d drop off the owls and Elliot 2.0 for the train staff to look after. Millie managed to hand Godric and Elliot 2.0 over to the porter waiting there but he had to take the fat fool of a bird that her brother had insisted on in their First year. Millie glared at it and it glared back, even going as far as to try for Lucius as the porter lifted the cage. Millie turned away, cuddling her kitty closer to her.

“Come on. I saw the Weasleys. Roxi is already here. She’ll have an idea. Have you spotted Spencer yet either? I tried to look for him...” Millie shook her head and watched as Elliot stuffed the poster into his jacket pocket before taking the trolley and wheeling it back down the platform where nearer the compartment they always inhabited. Millie opened the door and jumped in. She dropped Lucius down and nudged him with her foot. He frowned at her but sidled up the hallway without much protest as the twins wrestled the trunks onto the train. Once they were finally on board, Millie and Elliot went in search of the compartment that, by the looks of things, Lucius had already found. She grinned upon seeing Sam stood in the doorway of the compartment and she glanced back at her brother before lifting her leg and kicking Sam’s bum.

“Get a move on, Sammy-kins!” She gave him a shove into the compartment and bustled in after him, deciding not to bother trying to put her trunk up in the basket. She dropped the trunk onto the floor and kicked it under the seats before flopping down next to Lucius who had already settled in the corner next to the window. “Oh!” Millie looked up at Sam and threw her arms out. “Where’s my hug, baby?” She asked with a grin. “How was your summer, Rox?” She asked, quickly getting distracted by the redhead in the compartment. “Sam. Hug. Here. Now. I haven’t forgotten.” She shook her arms in emphasis. “Have you seen the posters? It’s terrible!”

[I managed not to make it 2,000 words! Who is proud of me? ]

Byron had woken up to a lively house. Ludo Bagman had thought it fitting that every year, on the day for his children to board the Hogwarts Express, he should barge into their rooms with party poppers. It was certainly his way of making the day a festive one. Little did he know what a shock that would cause his boy and his girl, jolted out of bed in such an alarming fashion every year, during this time. Byron got it first. He thought his ears had burst, and on first instinct, reached for them, before realising he could still hear with them. "On the floor again, eh?!" And then the door slammed shut. Seconds later, a scream was heard. The sister had began yelling at her dad for the noisy intrusion. Byron grinned. He was evidently a lot more tolerant with his father. After years of that treatment, he felt like he could bear with it now that he was accustomed to it.

Feeling an ache in his back, Byron finally realised that he had fallen onto the floor. It was something he did every night. The boy would go to bed, and find himself jolted from a fall, or find himself waking up to himself on the floor. It was odd, really, since he never could remember how he would get there. The only accounts he got were secondary, people would speak of the way he would toss and flip so much, it was impossible to sleep on the same bed as him. Byron lifted himself up and walked out of the room, down to the kitchen where Aimee had whipped up a delicious breakfast for the family. She was excited, though a lot less in manifestation than her husband. She wanted to send her kids off with a fantastic breakfast. As soon as the family settled down to eat and be done with it, the kids were sent up to their rooms to change and come down with their trunks. Aimee had ensured, the night before, that the packing was inspected, making sure to check them with her check-list for each child. Things were all done and ready, then. Byron inspected himself in a mirror in the common bathroom, and left it to leave the house with his family.

After the typical traffic congestions, the Bagmans finally found themselves at King's Cross, out of the car and lugging the trunks to the platform. Ludo and Aimee looked a lot more excited than their children. Byron merely looked at his sister and rolled his eyes, before grinning at his parents. He was mildly amused, but glad at the same time. It was heartening to know how much his parents cared, enough to send the siblings off at such a cheery note despite recent events. It also helped that they bothered to walk with them all the way to the platform. And so, he had no complaints. Loving goodbyes were said with hugs and kisses exchanged. The sister went through the platform first. She was a bit of a loner, preferring to stick to the one or two friend she had made. Byron knew that when she got through the pillar, he could just proceed to look for his friends at their usual compartment, as Roxi had said before.

The sight that greeted Byron was a shocking one. It was obvious how much was going to change. Ludo Bagman had brought his son along to the shocking revelation at the Ministry's atrium. Together, they knew Hogwarts was going to face dark times again. Ludo had dismissed Aimee's constant expressions of worry about the children returning to Hogwarts, despite knowing that he secretly agreed with her, but that he could not deprive them of school. Byron himself could not imagine a year without Hogwarts. He just needed to be brave, not a problem for him, and face whatever there was to face in the new school year. He felt sure that there was nothing he and his gang of Gryffindors could not face together. That was how much he believed in his friends, and himself, of course.

As soon as Byron stepped up into the train, he walked and strained his neck, hoping to spot people he knew, and of course to locate the usual compartment. There, he spotted Millie Finnigan kicking someone into the compartment. Byron grinned. It was all so familiar, the madness in the gang. Not everyone was mad, really. But together, they were madly awesome. Byron eagerly made his way to their compartment, lugging his trunk behind him. Earlier, he had left his owl along with the other ones, although he made sure he had spoken some soothing words to it before he did so. Leonie seemed not to care for his words, though, and went back to sleep.

"WHAT THE BUCK!" Byron yelled as soon as he stuck his head past the door of the train compartment. Grinning, he got a better grip of his trunk and walked into the half-crowded compartment. Out of habit, Byron settled down next to Roxi, nudging her in the process. "Hello Roxie Poxie," he smirked before turning it into a smile. And then Byron forced his trunk below his seat before he looked up again. Millie had spoken, and he turned to look at her. "Merlin help us. The posters were awful. I hope they don't find out about my guitar. Thankfully, dad shrunk it for me to pack it into the trunk. Still, I'm worried they would grab it to burn. That would suck mightily." Byron sighed and began to think of the other items in his trunk. Surely nothing would be grabbed. It would be a bad start to the school year if it happened.

"So," he began. "Anyone with stories to share about summer?"

The train- it was always oh so interesting but also so dangerous. This was one of the most important parts of Hogwarts, since what happened here made you or killed you(not literally- hopefully). If you embarrassed yourself here, your social life at Hogwarts might just result to nothing. That's why Chloe Connolly paused before scaling the step that would lead her to the future. It was hard not to be a bit intimidated here, with all the Slytherin passing her by and giving her dirty looks, as if she had earned them simply by being sorted into Gryffindor five years ago. She refused to show this, though, and shot dirty looks right on back. A few brave souls tried to stare her down, but she just stared at them right back. Chloe knew it was a bit freaky to stare back at someone but still. It was rude to stare at someone in the first place.

Chloe smirked at the thought of the whole exchange that had just happened; this just never got old. She glanced at the step again, wondering if it was time to climb it. She had been standing here for a few minutes, after all. It was just different without her older brother here this year. He had always been with her to take those first few steps before they split up to go hang out with their own friends, and it was disorienting to know that he wasn't here to do that with her anymore. He was onto bigger and better things, things that Chloe had not bothered to find out. To be truthful, she didn't want to know what he had been up to lately; it was hard enough hearing about other people's adverntures. She didn't want to have to deal with acting happy her own brother's great times while she herself had no stories to tell of her life. Her experiences in life currently equaled to none. That was horribly pathetic and sad for a fifteen year girl.

Chloe took one last look back at her parents, who were still standing there, even though they wore confused looks on their faces. She sighed, not particulary blaming them for being confused as to why she was still standing here while she should've climbed into the train a few minutes ago. She waved to them, and they smiled happily as she turned around to climb back around. Chloe resisted the urge to turn back around and stepped onto the train, which she also referred to her destiny. It was corny, yes, but it could be the truth, as she had thought before. it wasn't every day that a person got the chance to do this.

As she stepped aboard, her hands moved to straighten her already straight clothes, a nervous gesture of her when she was worried about her clothes. She had kept it simple this morning, preferring to stick to her usual jeans and t-shirt. She hadn't wanted to go all out, like she had thought some kids would do. She knew it just wasn't her style, though, even though her thought that it would be at least there among the other kids was soon confirmed. A girl sweeped past her, actually wearing a dress. Who wore a dress for a train ride? Seriously, it was so not awesome, but yet, kids did it anyway. Sighing slightly, Chloe, took her first good look at the train that would be her home for the duration of the train ride.

The first thing that really stuck out was the crowd. Every single Hogwarts student plus a billion more must have been crowded onto this train. Kids of every shape and size jostled around, trying to find their friends among all the chaos. How ever was she going to find her friends in this mess? She knew that they were to meet at the usual compartment, but how was she going to find it if everybody insisted on crowding up the walking areas. Then, with a shock, she realized she had forgotten where that was. Darn, now it was going to take forever to find the right compartment. Despite this, Chloe couldn't hold back a laugh as she spotted a woman with her cart of her treats trying to make her way through the crowd. Smirking, Chloe watched as the lady almost ran over someone as she pushed her cart. People were refusing to move even for her. Even from a few meters away, Chloe could see the annoyance etched into the lady's face. Chloe shot her a look of understanding, but the candy woman couldn't even see her in this crowd. Oh, well; it wasn't like the worker would've cared either way.

A smile broke out acrosss her face as she fonally spotted an empty place to walk. It had to be a freaking miracle that she had been able to get through now. She slightly pushed a few kids out of the way gently, not trying to knock someone over like some people liked to do. Chloe didn't really see the fun in that practice; she wouldn't want it done to her so she tried not to do it to others. Unless they annoyed her, of course. Then, all was fair in love and war. well, the love part didn't exist in annoying people, but it was still an appliable phrase, after all.

Chloe squeezed through the crowd and graefully streched her arms as she reached the open space. Thankk god for this, as without it, she would've felt smothered in that crowd. Now for the task of tracking down her friends. Chloe strolled down the aisle, checking into compartments at random. The first one was filled with Slytherins; needless to say, she didn't keep her head in their for long. The next compartment was filled with a few Hufflepuffs Chloe didn't recognize and didn't feel like meeting right now. She gave a nod of apology and backed out again. She was just beginning to get tired of this checking compartments when she stuck her head into the next one. To her surprise and happiness, a few familiar faces waited inside along with the familiar Gryffindor red, and a grin broke out across her face. "Hey there, everyone!" She smiled at them agian and continued,"You have no idea how glad i am to see you."

((Gah, you're all posting too long. Promise not to judge me? I'm a little busy... y'know, making the Hogwarts forums and being awesome and such.))

Sam sighed and was about to turn around and find another compartment (the curse words ready to spring to his lips the moment he passed the threshold) when he felt something make contact with his lower torso.

Something with a fair bit of force.

"What the?" he shouted as he felt his body lurch forward uncomfortably, and found himself on the floor for a few seconds, before quickly springing to his feet and trying to pass act nonchalantly, his face burning all the while.

"Thanks a lot Millie," he muttered darkly, however with a playful expression on his face. "It's nice to see you too, I must admit. I was starting to feel lonely out there in the real world. It'll be nice to get back to my four poster bed, I think," he told her as he reached out and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"It's good to be heading back," he repeated, nodding as he let go of her and took his seat - the last window position left.

"How could you miss it," he said, his voice suddenly turning dark as he looked out the windows to see all the posters lying about. "It's terrible, makes me wonder what the rest of the year is going to be like. I do hope that it's really just some sort of precaution... but painting the train... seems to me that they're just out there soul crushing," he said, shaking his head and looking back at the rest of the compartment's occupants, waving at two of them as they entered.

"Hey Byron," he said, clutching his chest and pretending to go into cardiac arrest for a few seconds on the floor until he heard another person enter. "Hey Chloe," he greeted, climbing back into his spot once again. "Nice to see you both. Have a nice summer?" He asked, grinning as Chloe spoke to them. "I think we've all missed everything, actually. Wouldn't you all agree?" He asked, gesturing for them to take a seat. "My lack of stories is probably one of the reasons I'm so glad to be back," he added with a chuckle.

Trent was late, and mightily, at that. He could not believe that no one had woke him up for school. It was not as if they had to do that everyday. It was the day to catch the Hogwarts Express, for Merlin's sake. Trent had been jolted out of his nightmare and had casually checked the time. On a violent reflex, he jumped out of bed. There was no time for a shower. He merely washed up and ran to his cupboard to pull out a white t-shirt and grey jeans, throwing on a blue hoodie for extra measure. Trent checked the zip on his jeans before making a grab for his skateboard and his trunk. It was a good thing that it was packed before he went to bed. He had expected himself to wake up a little late, but still early enough to make his way comfortably to King's Cross. Now, though, he was massively late. If he did not make it, he could miss going to Hogwarts altogether. That would surely earn his parents' wrath, but he really did not want to earn anymore. Still, he blamed it on his parents.

Where were they? The stillness of the house told him that the parents had left the house, definitely to the Ministry for work. His eyes attempted a slice of hope by scanning for a note of goodbye. None. It was enough to make him want to stay and sulk, and probably slice himself up. He was upset, alright. Surely he was not too big a disappointment to be forgotten, and to have to leave the house without a goodbye before a long time to be spent at Hogwarts. Trent sighed. It was as he expected. They really did not care. Deciding that being at school would beat staying in the house, he walked out of it and slammed the door. While standing on the steps outside, he reached for one of the spliffs he had rolled the night before. He was ready for school, only when his supplies were sufficient for the moment. Lighting it up, Trent inhaled deeply before he jumped down the steps, stepped onto his skateboard, and sped his way to the bus stop.

As soon as the bus stopped at King's Cross, Trent rushed down, shoving people out of his way. He had to make it before the train left. Despite the weight of his trunk, he had managed to rush from the house to this destination. Perhaps desperate people really always possessed that something extra -- like the adrenaline of a runner. The run from the bus stop to the wall and through to the platform was marred by no hesitation, no pause. Only then, there and then, Trent scrunched up his face and slammed his skateboard against his head. He had forgotten about Potter! The owl was surely anxious at home now. In one swoop sentence, the boy swore with all the expletives that he had ever known of, only to realise that a fierce-looking man was staring at him. Trent returned the challenge, before realising that there were many more. And the train was ... grey?! He had no time to waste. While others would have time to stop to read the posters up everywhere, Trent merely ran up to the train. There were already too little people on the platform - evidence that almost everyone had boarded, and the remaining ones were families.

The train was a crowded mess. Too many people in every compartment and the corridor. Trent blew some air out in exasperation as he saw the crowd. Before he could continue, the boy found his eyes wander to a group of girls in a compartment, with specific emphasis on a pretty one. He grinned to himself, before one of the girls noticed that he was staring. And then, off he went, swiftly at that. He was looking for the usual compartment. Trent resigned himself to the slow-walking people everywhere, since most of them had already settled in, and are strolling along the corridors just to make conversation or look for their other friends. Just as he was about to drop his trunk of one of the foot of a slow-walking boy, Trent turned to find that he was staring into the gang's compartment. His eyes found Millie, before he tore them from the lingering gaze that they had cast on her. No, he shook his head, as if the action itself could command his eyes to obey.

Sliding one side of the compartment door open, Trent poked his head in. "Hello Gryffindorks." Grinning, he fist-bumped Byron, who had eagerly offered one at his entrance. Turning to Sam, Trent offered his fist now for one with the other boy too. Bromance had to be covered first, in an odd way. Turning to Chloe, Trent reached for a quick hug, before turning to Roxie for one too. He was being very fair in his greeting, at least he thought in his very dazed mind, still enjoying the effects of the spliff. And then, Trent realised he had forgot about Elliot. "Elli-ol-pal!" He trapped the boy in one tight wrap, doing a hug on purpose just to piss the boy off. Elliot was not pleased. He pulled away from the embrace, annoyed to not be getting a proper fist-bump instead. Trent merely chuckled. And then he thought, which seat should I takeeeee?!?!?! [OOC: sorry guys, had to do that XD]

It was not as if Trent had a choice. Elliot made that for him, out of a habit of four years of train rides done in this way. Trent stared at the space between Elliot and his sister, before he sat down quickly. In his nervousness, he had forgotten to offer Millie the customary greeting. When he realised it, it was a little too late. Something was obviously different between them. Elliot did, being Millie's twin brother, after all. He was staring at Trent, having noticed the difference, since the two were usually madly being stupid together. Under the gaze of the other boy, Trent cleared his throat uncomfortably, before turning to Millie. "Hey," he offered weakly. He was hoping that, soon, he could hide himself in the group conversation. That would be a lot easier.

Roxi had a mouthful of Drooble's in her mouth when Sam entered and asked if there was room for him. Sam was cute, but she had never really considered him partner worthy. He was like everybody's brother, it seemed. That was the vibe he gave off. Chewing on the gum, she smiled widely, her mouth still glued together and said, "O' cou'se dere's 'oom, 'Am!"

She finally managed to chew the gum into submission and then said to him, "It gets them staring and that's my objective." She giggled and looked up to see Elliot Millie entering. Roxi threw her arms into the air. "It's a party now!" She began whooping. "It's been fine, Millie-cat. Have you seen Luca and Cameron and Candy and the gang?" She loved her friends and they were quite a large, fun loving group. "And then the other million of us?" She giggled.

"Posters?" she said airily. She turned and glanced out the window, chuckling a little as she noticed all the posters she had overlooked. "Silly me, I was a tad discvtracted, didn't even notice!" She laughed again, feeling foolish- not that she minded. She was used to it. She glanced up at a voice and felt a huge grin fall on her face as she looked up at her best friend in the whole wide world. He sat next to her, rhyming her name and she leaned her head against his shoulder and grinned up at him. "Hi Byron... Fyrin." She giggled and sat up.

Roxi was barely able to adjust to how full the compartment was getting when Chloe entered. "How glad we are to see you Chloe! Take a seat. Joooooooooin uuuuussss!" she said in a creepily clingy voice before giggling. Last to enter was the scrumptious Trenton. [OOC: I love you for the RB reference. <3<3<3] He offered him a hug and she said, "i'm warning you, I hug you now, I may never let you go."

She giggled and gave her friend a hug before sitting back done. "I'm so excited you guys." [we we we so excited.] "This year is great already!"

The real world; how quaint that idea was. Perhaps they really were sheltered at Hogwarts. Millie knew that there in the safety net of all things juvenile they were hidden from the terrors of reality. It was the pessimist in her that made her doubt that Sam’s definition of the real world was the same as hers. Still, amongst friends wasn’t the time to be a sour puss and she eagerly returned the hug he wrapped her up in.

Millie dropped herself back down against the seat and tapped her foot against Elliot’s. He lifted his head from the book he’d buried his head into and smiled softly at her. A smirk settled on his lips and he clicked his fingers. Millie felt a gust of air brush past her ear and she brought her hand up to find the cigarette was gone and had now settled in Elliot’s hand. She pursed her lips and took it back from him, receiving a chuckle in response as he settled back to the book.

“It’s a subtle testament to what is to come,” Millie told him with a smirk as she stood up, patting her pockets for her lighter. That was something else Elliot supplied with a testy sigh. “Alright, magic man. I get it. We’re all pissheads bar you. Thank you, darling.” Millie took the lighter from her brother and lit the cigarette, grateful for the rubbishy thing for once. Still, there was nothing beating Ell’s cigs which were tucked away in his trunk.

“Look,” Millie began, taking the cigarette from her mouth after her first drag. “As long as they don’t really burn my stuff then I’m fine. Actually, I’ll work on that. What’s everyone got? I reckon I could save it. Take that, Ell.” She tossed the lighter back to her brother and sat down again. “Is Wilson still teaching? He owes me a date.”

Millie grinned and raised her eyebrows suggestively before laughing and handing her cigarette to Elliot. She perked up a little at the mention of Luca and stuck out her bottom lip pitifully. “Bloody hell...I wish. I’m going to get myself some of that this year whether it kills me or not. I do love Cam, really, but Luca is...” Millie whistled, communicating her thoughts on the blonde that way before stealing her cigarette back. “How in the name of Merlin’s beard did you miss them? They were everywhere! Christ. I swear you have tunnel vision or whatever it’s called.” Millie shrugged her shoulders.

Byron's entrance shocked Sam right up until the point when Chloe made her entrance. Millie snickered and looked up, waving to the blonde Gryffindor she shared a dorm with. "Morning lover!" She exclaimed with a light laugh. Millie turned her gaze back to Sam and smirked openly at him. "I am glad Chloe's presence sobered you, darling. You're terrific. Stupid, but terrific. I might just keep you. I'll shrink you and put you in a jar and you will be mine. You will be my squishy." Millie nodded and grinned before flicking some of her cigarette ask out of the window.

“Summer wasn’t that bad, really.” Millie shrugged as Sam began to talk about it. “The weather was typical, my company consisted of a twat and a drug dealer, Ell was being anti-social, mum was shagging a guy allegedly from Milan and dad was never in. I think, overall, it was a pretty entertaining summer. And, the Falcons bombed out of the league. Icing on the cake right there."

When the compartment door opened again, Millie lifted her head to see who it was. She regretted it as soon as she did, though. She felt Lucius shift beside her and she looked down to see the cat get to his feet and stretch, giving his customary mew of appreciation because his favourite person was with them. Traitor, Millie thought, glaring at her cat.

The awkwardness was a little much really. She didn't know where it had come from but since the night she'd spent at his...something had changed. Millie squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled carefully before opening them once more. She shuffled along somewhat so Trent could have the room but not before stealing Elliot's book - just in time for him to have his hug.

Millie heard him choke but paid little attention to him as she flicked through the book, deciding to distract herself until she could get out of the compartment for a while. By this point Millie had realised that she wasn't going to get a hug or something of the like from Trent. So instead of looking all bitter about it, Millie decided she'd surround herself with the study of cockroaches.

Elliot...why? Millie thought pitifully. She may well love her brother but to own a book on cockroaches of all things was the reason why she tried her best not to talk to him while at school. He made the Ravenclaws look like light readers with the amount of crap he read about.

Millie sighed in irritation and snapped the book shut. She tossed it onto the floor, ignoring Elliot’s protest, and turned her gaze towards the window. She blew a mouthful of smoke towards it and flicked her ash out, deciding it was better to be out there than on the floor where Ell's book would hopefully could catch on fire.

At the sound of Trent's voice, Millie begrudgingly turned her head, figuring that the stuttered 'hey' was directed at her. She frowned a little upon finding that his attention was on her and she opened her mouth, spite welling up in her throat like some sort of poison, but quickly shut it when Roxi spoke. Millie closed her eyes again and shook her head, turning herself back to the window.

Millie rolled her eyes over to Roxi and smiled. "It can only do but get worse can't it?" She asked rhetorically as she got to her feet.

Millie knelt down and put her cigarette between her lips. She reached out and lugged her trunk out from underneath the seats. She spun the dial until the padlock gave a flick and she released the clasps before opening it up. For a few minutes she rifled through it, tossing things around and ruining all of Lavender's neat folding, before she came to a sparkly pale blue monstrosity of a dress that her mother clearly bought for her.

"Mary, mother of God," She whispered, lifting it out of the trunk. Millie's eyes flicked to Chloe and then down to herself before up to the dress. "Chloe...you're about my size aren't you? Well, I'm your size. We're each other's size. Uh, whatever." Millie smiled optimistically, taking the cigarette away again. Millie tossed the dress to her. "Take it. Take it, wear it, get laid - do whatever. Free of charge love."

Millie shuddered and tossed the cigarette up to Elliot who proceeded - as always - to piss about with it because his hand-eye coordination was as useless as he was at times. She rolled her eyes and returned her hands to the trunk. Before long, her hands came to the hoodie that Miles had been kind enough to fill with his stocks. He'd tried to offload the contents of an Afghan truck to her but he decided to remember that he knew her better than that and went to find Spencer to do that. The hoodie was literally made out of pockets that had been charmed to be nigh on bottomless. Nigh on because Miles was rubbish and failed his Charms N.E.W.T.

Millie kicked her trunk again and it sailed back, the lid hitting the seats and slamming it shut as it slipped underneath. She could imagine the dent it had left but that wasn't her problem. Her trunk or not, she still had room to be immature and wasteful with things. She could afford to fritter away.

"If anyone wants my clothes this year then feel free to take them. Don't even ask - just leave the underwear because I tend to need that as a rule. I'd rather everyone else smell and look like a whore and her handbag respectively instead of me."

Millie jumped to her feet. “Right lads and ladies, hand it all over. Contraband, loves. Cigarettes, spliff...vodka...” Millie’s eyes widened and she reached into one of the pockets only to pull out a bottle of Ogden’s. “Whisky,” She added with a hint of disappointment as she slipped it back in. “Miles is a bloody life saver, I swear to Merlin. He’s good at evasive spells so even if my darling boy mucks it up then it should survive the inspection. If not then, well, there's always Dufftown."

Byron grinned at Roxi. He was in a fabulous mood. He was reminded, once again, that he had a lot to be happy about. The family send-off and the Gryffindor gang, the companionship offered was enough to keep him cheery. The only damper to that mood would have to be the first sign of change that awaited all of them at Hogwarts. Even then, Byron was unfazed. As soon as Roxi sat up again, he lightly head-butted her shoulder. When Chloe entered the compartment, Byron smiled before he stood up to make a head-count. It was over-crowding outside, even as this compartment was getting filled. "Four, five ..." Pointing at Millie's cat, he shouted, "six!" And then he scanned again, as if the compartment was that big. "We're missing one more." He already knew who that was. As if on cue, the door slid open, and Byron let out a big ah! before he fist-bumped Trent.

Byron chuckled as he watched Trent do his round of greeting, looking dazed, as usual. It was obvious from the smell on the other boy's clothes, if not from the years of friendship, that Trent had been smoking a couple of spliffs. Byron was not a fan of smoking anything, even if he could do so socially. He could, however, never live without alcohol. Byron watched as Trent seemed to hesitate over his seat. He cocked an eyebrow. Even for someone who could be as oblivious as he, it was odd that the other boy even had to consider. Curious, his eyes went to Millie, who was buried in a book. Not knowing what to make of it, he shrugged, not interested in pursuing the matter in his mind.

And then Millie passed Chloe something, which Byron stared curiously at. Looking up, he teased. "What is this now, the Salvation Army?" Millie continued to talk, and Byron almost choked at a word that he was sensitive to. Whore. He almost allowed himself to forget. The guilt began to well up in him as he felt his eyes focusing on Trent's shoes just because it was conveniently near the ground. Lost in his own thoughts, he merely heard Millie, but did not listen. He did, however, saw the peeking out of a whisky bottle.

"Ogden's! Sharing it?" Byron enquired with a dramatically questioning look on his face. "Looks like sin city has come to us again." He teased Millie. And then, turning to Roxi, Byron poked. Knowing Roxi, she was another one with the truckload of stash. "The two twin sin cities," he commented about the two girls, nodding approvingly.