The Hogwarts Express

Okay, so there was flattery and there was sucking up. Elijah wasn’t brave enough to decide which side of that line Brienne was on. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew exactly which one but he wasn’t going to say so, not even in his brain because he didn’t have much of a filter between that and his mouth. So Elijah kept silent and glanced at Chase. This he could reply to. “I encourage that if you tell a teacher pick one of the Dent siblings.” Jenny would brush it off and Rob would probably ask if the Slytherin was willing to share. Surrogate parents were excellent, especially when they were your educators. The only issue was that Elijah wasn’t taking Herbology so a bias grade he would not get.

Elijah smirked, glad that the redhead had chosen to go with him and he had every intention of following her but Jack didn’t seem to want to be letting him out. Elijah paused and looked at the Gryffindor, raising one slender eyebrow as he did so. “Have I done something to offend you?” He asked tartly. “I believe we got on just in fine back in the compartment.” Elijah watched as the compartment door was sealed and he shook his head muttering, “Moody cow.”

The Slytherin shook his head and sat himself back down in the driver’s seat. He propped his legs up onto the dash board, crossing his ankles. “What to do, what to do?” He hummed to himself. Then he remembered he was a wizard. He wasn’t going to be boxed in by some hormonal Gryffindor that didn’t know the difference between anger and ...nope, he had no clue what was wrong with Jack and he had no interest in finding out. He wanted to get drunk he didn’t want to explore the female bloody mind. That he’d never understand; the body however he was incredibly well versed with.

Elijah bounced up out of the seat and pointed his wand at door. It sprang back and Elijah grinned to himself. He tucked his wand behind his ear and took one large stride out into the hallway. He poked his head back into the cabin and smiled at Brienne. “Do me a favour, sweetheart? Would you go and see if Amelia is still in one piece? She looked pretty rough before.” He grinned and ducked out of the cabin again. Elijah then strode down the hallway in search for Chase. The hallways were filling with the wounded or gossiping now and as Elijah passed the compartment he’d locked some of the first years in, he unlocked it for them.

Chase felt someone hit her arm as she started a ways down the aisle. She looked up and heard what Jack said, and froze. "It's okay, Andrew's not around. Who's to tell if you and Elijah get cozy, eh?" Chase froze and stared after Jack. The shock of the statement kept her in place, before she jumped forward. “What was that supposed to mean Jack?” She asked getting in Jack's way so she couldn't pass. “I'm not into Elijah is that's what you meant!” She said with a growl. “He has cigarettes, and I'm hooked, it's a simple I need, he has.” She growled and stepped out of the way. “But I'm sure Andrew could use some comfort right now!” She said bowing with elegance before glaring at Jack and pushing past, back towards the drivers compartment.

Chase smiled slightly when she saw Elijah. "Hey." She said looking up at him. Her face was flushed and she was angry, her mind spinning with what Jack had said to her. "It's okay, Andrew's not around. Who's to tell if you and Elijah get cozy, eh?" She shuddered and found her eyes finding the Slytherin's. She knew there was a big difference between him and Andrew. Andrew was kind, caring, sensitive, amazing, Gryffindor, brave, smart... she took a deep breath and looked up at Elijah. She wasn't attracted to him in any way shape or form. Even if he was an attractive person.

But she knew it was a bad idea in every sense of the word. She wasn't like that... anymore. Before she would have been, but now? No.. she felt the mask harden, and she drew her arms in closer to her, as though pulling her heart off her sleeve. Bringing her emotions towards herself, locking them away in her chest. "Let's go Elijah." She growled and reached out, grabbing his wrist. Bringing her cigarette to her lips, she inhaled deeply, and pulled him along the corridor. "Which one is yours?" she asked glancing side to side, looking for one that might have his stuff in it.

She knew what her problem was, she was to able to let her heart out to anyone who came near her. And in the end, it not only hurt herself, but everyone around her. She had cared so much for her family, for every person in her life, and now.. now it had hurt her in to many different ways. She felt the need to cry, or at least drown herself in alcohol. And she was easily able to do the both.

Brienne nodded. "Okay".

She went searching down the corridors. She found one compartment that'd been empty and blown apart. Inside was Amelia.

"Are you okay? Is there anything I can do for you?" Brienne felt, at that moment, the crushing hand of envy. This woman had Eli, she didn't. The cigarette she'd been smoking was muffling her voice somewhat. She hoped that with good deeds that she'd get on Eli's good side, perhaps even wrestle him away from her. Not literally.

The pangs of anger and sadness came back. Her eyes started welling up, the tears stinging her bloodshot eyes and her cheek where it'd been scratched. No, this time it wasn't the injuries or anything that made her sad, it was the fact that she liked someone, and the person she'd come to love was in the arms of another.

Jack was surprised when Chase sprung into Jack's path, partly because Jack had not really processed the fact that what she had said had been rather nasty and terrible; Jack did not like those people who brought up mean things just for the sake of being terrible. And also because, Chase was not usually so confrontational. To see real anger behind her eyes only provoked Jack more. Where had that anger been when Jack had wanted Chase to be angry with her? When she had needed her friends to have emotions and not secrets? Now there were fewer secrets, and too many emotions.

She still stuck by what she said though. Andrew was her friend, even if she thought he was a prat at the moment. Then again, at the moment, everyone and their mother was a prat. Not one person in the world could do anything right. Not one. Least of all was Jack. She scoffed at Chase's words and said, "Yeah, that's so much better." She wondered vaguely if Chase was parading the fact she was smoking, something edgy and out of character for her. The reasonable part of her said that was stupid, but the incensed Jack that usually ruled her brain and emotions fiercely agreed. Chase turned on her heel and strode away, off to meet Elijah Jack supposed.

She stalked forward, her hands balled into fists as she went, blindly trying to find something to do. Some kid found her and said that he had a broken finger and she pointed him in the right direction. She continued on.

What she would give to be battling a demon right now...

Things couldn’t have ended well between Chase and Jack, Elijah supposed. He had two reasons why that was possible and he was also rather confused as to why he was letting this girl get away with as much as she was. She was now forcibly dragging him down the corridor. That was reason one...what was wrong with walking side by side? She wanted out as soon as possible, that was why. The second was...well, that was all he really had to go on but by the looks Jack had been giving the Hufflepuff and Elijah himself, she was angry. Angry women he hated but angry Gryffindor women was something he couldn’t quite handle. They were too damn difficult to deal with and they were really worth yelling at. At least you wouldn’t be disappointed. But Eli didn’t want to be hexed today, he wasn’t in the mood.

Elijah looked down at Chase and stopped where he was. He cocked his head to the compartment on his left and tapped the door with his wand. This one had not been touched thank Merlin and it was in relatively good condition apart from a bit of dust from where the demons had been jumping over the roof of the train. He gestured to it with his hands and smiled at Chase. “Milady your carriage awaits you along with the booze and I am incredibly glad you decided to take me up on my offer but there is one question I’d like to ask. Glass or bottle?” a sly grin pulled at the sides of his lips. To be in pleasurable company was infinitely better than dealing with kids with their minor pathetic injuries. Honestly, why? Why did they need to provoke him so?

Chase stopped when he did and looked into the compartment. Slightly dusty, but otherwise untouched. She smiled lightly and fluttered into the compartment, dusting off a seat, she sat down on it and looked around. "Bottle.." She said looking up at the rack over the seats at his trunks. "E.N.K.." She read aloud and her eyes spun to look at him. "I don't know your last name." She said suddenly. "I wasn't paying attention when you said it before.." She said flushing red.

"If you did say it, I don't remember." She said and shook her head. She was supposed to be the feisty redhead, as he had put it. But she was so angry at the moment. Her fists were clenched into balls and pushing into the cushion as she sat there. She slowly unclenched them and stretched her hands, feeling the muscles were cramped. She rubbed her wrists and stared up at Elijah. "So who was the other girl? Ravenclaw one?" She asked solemnly before looking up at him and smiling lightly, flashing white teeth.

Chase was a model during the summer, so she had to keep her teeth perfect, and they really were. Bright and flashing, with soft red hair that fell around her shoulders. She was a picture of health, and beauty too, feisty, Hufflepuff, and at the moment, single. She smiled slightly and stood up, going to the window and staring out. The terrain was flashing by, and it was getting dark by now. She sighed and spun around, wondering what was taking him so long with her drink, she had asked for it in a bottle anyway.

Elijah stepped inside after Chase had walked in and he pulled the compartment door closed behind him. He followed her line of sight up to his trunk and he smirked. She definitely didn’t wait. Patience was a virtue though. One he didn’t exactly possess himself so he didn’t blame her. “It’s Krum, love.” He replied with a smile. “To answer the usual mental questions, yes I am Viktor Krum’s son and no, I’m not Quidditch obsessed.” Elijah smirked and reached up to lift his trunk off of the rack. He put the trunk on the seat and flipped the gold clasps. He pushed the lid up and looked at the bomb that seemed to have exploded inside his trunk. Everything was covered in paint. This couldn’t have been good. The normal paint splatters were dried but one of the tubes must have burst. The only things that really mattered to him survived though. The scrap book was intact and some of the jewellery he had splayed at the bottom.

Elijah lifted the scrap book out and put it on the seat beside the trunk before moving to the middle to look for the Ogden’s. He couldn’t remember what exactly what was in the scrap book. Pictures of his models and towards the back a hell of a lot of Fauve if he remembered rightly. Then there were some of Julia and Amelia and Rosalie and just...loads of different females. Of course then he had that one picture of Arnold when he was cheating on his wife with one of the staff at the exhibition studios. That was one picture Elijah would hold onto and use for blackmail when the man was being purposely disagreeable.

Upon laying his hands on the Ogden’s, Elijah quickly pulled it out of the trunk. That seemed to have survived the paint as well but he couldn’t say the same for his robes. Elijah decided he’d go and see Jen once they got to school. She’d give him something or let him off or just do something about the paint issue. He growled in frustration and slammed the trunk shut. He put the bottle on top of the scrap book and lifted the trunk back up to the racks. Eli took his cigarette from his mouth and exhaled, allowing the smoke to be free. He lifted the bottle up and pulled the cork out with his teeth. He spat it away, catching it with his feet, and he kicked it onto the seat opposite. Eli took a swig of the Firewhisky and held it out to Chase. “Sit, drink and be happy Miss Moor.” He said with a smile.

Another girl turned up at the door. Ears sprouted from her head; it was the girl who'd tried to stab Caelani at Grimmauld Place. No wonder the Order was so ineffective, if they were depending on students doing their dirty work now.

"Yes, you can go and find out if there's anyone else showing symptoms of shock or emotional withdrawal," she ordered.

She looked around the compartment. This was no place for anyone to be sitting.

"If you can, gather them in one compartment. If not, make a list of their names, years and houses."

A flick of her wand sent her patronus ahead to the school with a message. The healers would appreciate the forewarning, she was sure.

Chase took the drink, and her eyes found his sketchbook. "Oh..you're very good.. I draw in my spare time.." she said glancing at him. "Mind if I look?" she picked it up without bothering for an answer, and started to rifle through the pictures. Her eyebrows shot into her hairline as she recognized a few individuals. "You draw models.." she said softly, her mind spinning as she pushed on through the sketchbook, wondering if she was in there. She exclaimed softly when she hit some pages, fascinated. She could have sworn she had seen his art before somewhere. She wasn't sure though, but when she hit the end of his sketchbook, her eyes slowly drifted to his trunk. E.N.K. Elijah Krum.. son of the famous seeker, who had known Harry Potter himself. Her eyes found his again and she smiled holding out the sketch book. "Of course you don't have me in there yet." She said with a small chuckle.

"But you got a lot of my friends, I didn't know you knew them." She said casually. She usually forgot she was a model at Hogwarts, but seeing those pictures had sparked her memory. "I'm a model for America right now actually. They have a job they want me to fill when I'm done with school, but I don't know, I really like healing people.. I think it would be fun to just.. work at St. Mungos though.." She said casually, chatting softly as she took a swig of the liquid. It burned down her throat, and her eyes stung and watered for a second before the actual sensation of alcohol hit. "Ahh, so much better." She said and leaned back against the seat. Completely forgetting her train of thought.

She took another drink, and then pulled the cigarette to her lips. It felt like she was back at Satin's, trying to fit in in her black dress, hair a mess, flirting with the man who had killed her family. She felt a painful sting to her eyes that had nothing to do with the alcohol in her system, and she took a deep breath, standing up again, before her eyes fell on the sketchbook again and she suddenly realized where she had seen his art. "You have art in Paris!" She said suddenly, her eyes wide. "I was there this summer with..." Her mouth shut with a snap, gulping, before she was able to push out the words, "A friend." It was still to painful to think about it. She hated it, she hated him, what he had done to her, and why.. it made no sense, had he not, she might have fought, might have gotten hurt, and wouldn't be sitting with Elijah Krum, famous French painter, who's favorite subjects were models.

Brienne heard the order from the lady she thought really hated her. "Do you have any parchment and a pen handy? If not I can just get some while trying to gather the others. All in one compartment? One compartment holds what? A few people at most. I can get people to come to the front segment of the train. That way, there's room for everyone and we'll still be in one spot." She hated questioning people, but one compartment? Jeez. She'd have more luck cramming her luggage down her throat.