Nicole had been positively devastated to leave Hogwarts, uninterested in going home for the summer. Sure, she loved her mother, but the moment she got there, she knew that things would only become incredibly dull and stifling. After a whole school year away, she couldn't even imagine how bored she would be without her friends. And there was little chance that her mother would let her go out and see people when she wasn't even twelve yet. Nope, it wasn't going to happen.
Of course, she didn't know that what she would end up dealing with would be much, much less pleasant. Exciting, perhaps, but in the wrong way.
She had boarded the train, ready enough and resigned to what was to come, but then something crazy had happened. The train jerked, she fell forward off of her seat, and immediately felt like she was going to lose her breakfast all over the compartment she was sitting in. Doing what she could to keep it down, Nicole burst out into the carriage's hallway, and ended up running into Poppy, a fellow Hufflepuff.
She wanted to ask what was happening, but she was afraid that if she tried to talk she would end up being sick instead, so she frowned sympathetically and looked up and down the walkway. What she really wanted was to get some fresh air. And the train seemed to have stopped, if the stationary grass outside the windows was any indication. Perhaps she could just look out and see for a minute.
She pulled open the main door, expecting to empty her stomach on the grass rather than inside the train, but when she saw what was in front of her, Nicole just stared. If she felt anything now, it was shock, and her voice finally made an appearance.
"Um, guys??" She called, trying to draw their attention. In front of her loomed a giant castle that was definitely not Hogwarts. And as far as she could tell, there weren't tracks beneath them, either. "What is this?"
Just then, a blonde girl opened the doors that connected Nicole's car to the next one, wandering in with a hand to her head, her eyes watering from the pain of hitting it as she fell. Nicole recognized her immediately. The sick one. The Ravenclaw that should've graduated already.
"Are you okay? I think we ought to get off," Nicole said hesitantly, "but I have no idea where we are."