The Hogwarts Express

With a small smile, Elijah watched Chase flick through the book. She was incredibly bold; he didn’t understand where it came from. She was most definitely different from what he usually dealt with. He watched her facial expressions as she continued to go through the book and he glanced down every so often. He was infinitely glad he didn’t have Ann Marie in there. The only picture he remembered taking of her was when she was starker’s with that pink feather boa around her shoulders but that had only been out of pure shock and the flash went. He couldn’t move his jaw for at least five minutes after he’d got back to the studio. He blinked away the god-awful memory and looked at Chase questioningly, waiting for her to elaborate.

“I don’t have time for Americans.” Elijah said after a moment. “I don’t think they have time for me anymore either. There models are...odd.” By odd he meant they certainly didn’t do what they were taught in Paris. He’d actually insulted the one he’d had after he’d gotten frustrated with her. Not only did she bore him but she had no clue as to what she was supposed to do. He had known what he’d wanted from her and what she’d needed from him but they didn’t gel as quickly as he did with his French ones. The French ones, in his opinion, were better. They were fun. They made things interesting and if they’d been taught right then they were terrific lays afterwards. They could also hold up their end of a conversation unless they were new...then of course they needed coaxing.

Elijah took the bottle back and took a swig before putting it between them. He tapped his cigarette, sending the ash off of the end onto the floor and watched Chase with interest. He cracked a smile and nodded. She’d guessed right the first time but then again, anyone with half a brain knew who he was whether it was for art or for his father. The art was usually the more...popular one, especially if someone had seen Ann Marie. Somehow Elijah had managed to paint her with some class left but just barely. “You are right love, well done.” He chuckled. “Perhaps I could add you to the collection some time, hmm? You could see if you could redeem American models in my eyes.” He smirked.

Chase stared at him for a long moment before smiling and reaching for the bottle again. "I'm sure it is so against the rules to be doing this.." she said taking a drink and opening the sketchbook again, glancing through the pictures at a slower rate, taking in the details. She smirked and showed him a picture of a rather, lesser dressed model. "I'd be honored, just please, I like clothes..." She said turning the sketchbook back around and flipping through the pictures. She let her fingers trace the path of the paint, and she smiled. "They are very beautiful." she said and brought the cigarette to her lips, after putting down the book.

"So what, you do that in your spare time? Paint models and drink?" She smiled lightly and leaned back in her seat, playing with a strand of her hair as she looked him over with curious eyes. Who was this guy? Sure he might be related to Krum, but she had never been much for Quidditch, seeing as brooms hated her. She smiled slightly and let the smoke drift around her head for a moment before leaning forward in the seat, trying to get closer to him. She could feel the alcohol starting to affect her, and she felt pleasantly buzzed. Seeing as alcohol was pretty strong on her.

"Elijah.." she muttered carefully before smiling. "So do you have a girlfriend?" She asked suddenly, her eyes peering into his, as though trying to see into his soul, her eyes slightly clouded over as though she wasn't actually seeing him. And she wasn't, she was staring at Andrew, sitting across from him at The Three Broomsticks. She turned her face away from him and took another drink quickly. Swearing lightly under her breath she looked at him. "I don't have a boyfriend." She said as though to clarify things.

((you can't remember her, Brienne, Death Eaters wear masks.))

Caelani didn't take kindly to being contradicted. This girl was well on her way to a detention, even without taking Caelani's prejudices into account.

"Do I look like a stationers?" she replied, eying the girl's uniform. "Obviously, if they don't all fit into one compartment, you put them into more than one. I'd have thought a Ravenclaw could figure that out for herself."

"Get going."

She turned back to the older girl, who still hadn't replied to her greeting.

((we ought to give Amelia some time to answer))

((Oh yeah, that's right. I had no other descriptors or nothing, had to meet the stupid 75 word count, so I just said "screw it"....and yeah, we shall leave Amelia some room to answer.))

Brienne sighed, "I've been stricken with a personal tragedy, and I'm still shaken from the whole incident, so forgive any unclear thought in my head." She'd heard the words "Get going", and she got started. She ran to her pack and got the parchment and pen she needed. She didn't need to mooch after all. She started jotting down the names of each passenger, their house and age. The first years alone filled up a few compartments when she coaxed them into them with candy. Second and third years filled up several more compartments. The fourth and fifth years she managed to herd together occupied only two spaces. She locked each compartment as she went. She could only lock in who she could find. Sixth and seventh years that she had gotten in occupied several more. The compartments that got filled occupied almost two segments of train.

She went back to Caelani, then gave her the list of names and other information. She may have missed some, though, so she went around looking for others that may or may not have been jotted down or locked up. The whole operation, so far, took her a couple hours.

Everything seemed to be quickly coming to order in the train. People kept coming and getting healed, even the red head girl which Hidama had been stuck with in a battle seemed to be gathering her senses a bit. However, she hadn't wanted to be stuck inside the dining car anymore so now Hidama found herself roaming around the train, almost with tears in her eyes as she was checking into all the compartments to see if her twin was in there. Honestly... where can she have gone? Glancing down at the ring on her right hand, she noticed that the light of the jewel was still bright and beautiful. But yet it was like her sister had disappeared. Perhaps she went back to our compartment. Walking in quick steps, brushing against random students that were hurrying past her also, she bit her lips together and tried to look calmer than she felt. These were the few times which she felt out of place, truly out of place, and that was when her sister wasn't close to her.

Their mother had a big issue with how close the twins were, always scolding them and talking about how they had to start acting like grown ups. That was just not an option for the Keikan twins. There was no room for anything else than each other in their lives, and they didn't really feel like they needed anyone or anything else. Momo peeked out of Hidama's pocket and sniffed the air before looking up at it's owner. Hidama smiled slightly and patted him gently on the head before lifting him up and placing him on her shoulder. There he had a much better view, although he nuzzled close to her neck while keep glancing in a scared manner around. He's probably still scared after all that happened... and the blood smell on my clothes are also making him nervous. She had managed to cat-wash herself with some water she had found, so her appearance was much better now. But she couldn't just cat-wash the blood out of her clothes. And she also doubted that she would ever get rid of the smell of blood from her nose.

I'm just glad Hinode didn't have to see that.. A small shudder of disgust ran through her as she tried her best not to play over the scene once more in her head. Ah.. almost there. She was now in the Slytherin side of the train, almost about to enter her compartment. Grabbing the handle of the door, she threw it open and stepped inside. "Hinode??" There was silence. No one was in there. A low groan of dismay started deep in her throat as she walked to the middle of the floor and then bent down to pick up her Ipod which she had left in the earlier hurry. I'll just wait here a bit, she will come.. I know it. Hidama sat down next to the window and stared out of it, her eyes almost black with sorrow and worries. Momo jumped down from her shoulder and curled up on the seat next to her. From time to time he lifted his head and glanced around, as if he was also wondering where her twin was. "Just wait patiently here with me Momo." She scratched him behind the ears and tried not to let her own worries affect the pet.

“Majere makes the rules, I’m meant to be enforcing them so...I think I’ll let this slide.” He grinned at Chase and placed his cigarette back between his lips. “I hate him but the Imperium Squad is a pretty sweet position. Although granted he doesn’t like me smoking during Quidditch...” Elijah trailed off thoughtfully and took the cigarette away once more, blowing some smoke over to the side. He looked Chase up and down and smirked. “No can do. Sheets and linins I can confirm I work with, though.” He chuckled. “The women or the paintings?” He smirked at the redhead. Elijah had to admit he couldn’t have created the paintings without the models. He never published sceneries for some reason. Perhaps he would one day but no time soon. The ones he had done were in the studio still.

Elijah chuckled and shook his head. He took the sketch book and flicked towards the back. He found a more recent picture of his daughter and put it on the seat between them. “She keeps me busy.” He said with a small smile. “Keeps me grounded. But otherwise yes, when I get the chance all I do is paint and drink.” He took the bottle back and had a swig. The fiery liquid flew down his throat and he licked his lips.

The Slytherin looked at Chase when she said his name and he raised an eyebrow in question. His face fell slightly at the question and he shrugged. “Things are...complicated.” He shrugged. “I don’t understand it myself...its a little bit weird.” He shrugged again and took another swig of Firewhisky before setting it down.

Chase blushed deeply when he looked her up and down. She stared at him and suddenly felt as though he was testing her. She narrowed her eyes, and her mind flashed to Andrew, glaring at her as she came home, smelling of alcohol and cigarette smoke. She suddenly felt like she needed to do something to get back at Andrew. Something that might make him look at her again. She struggled with her words, before squaring her shoulders and looked at Elijah. "I would love to model for a picture, if you're willing to have me..." She said softly, her cheeks a soft pink.

Chase let her eyes fall on the boy in the picture. She reached out and carefully picked it up, staring at the pictures. "She's beautiful.." She whispered and set the picture back down, her eyes finding his again. "Who's her mom?" She asked but then shook her head. "No.. don't answer that.." She took a deep breath. "I'd rather not know.." She smiled lightly and looked back at the picture before closing her eyes carefully.

Complicated? When weren't things complicated? Jack hated her, Andrew left her, her family was dead, and she was alone. Why not have a bit of companionship? She moved closer to him and picked up the bottle, her mind attempting to blot out what Andrew had said before he had left the compartment. She moved closer to him again and sighed taking a deep breath. "I don't care about that... anymore." She sighed and leaned back against the seat, resting her head back. "Stupid..." She muttered, and pulled her legs to her chest, closing her eyes. "I'm stupid.." She reached out and grabbed the bottle, swigging back and enjoying the fiery taste as it flowed down her throat.

((Thank you for waiting for me!))

Amelia was alone for a few minutes, though she had full awareness that there was chaos erupting around her. Those students who had been hiding out in their compartments for the majority of the battle were starting to come out from hiding, realizing the extent of the damage to the train and to their classmates. As people ran by her compartment, most did not bother to look in on Amelia’s slight form, looking deceivingly large wrapped in the wool blanket, stock still so as to be as invisible as possible.

She was not completely invisible though, it seemed, because after many students and staff had hurried past her half-compartment without a second glance, Amelia saw out of the corner of her eye a tall blonde woman entering the compartment. She had an aura of calm about her, Amelia could tell even that much without even looking straight at her, but still when she sat down next to Amelia the redhead could not help but instinctively move away from the woman. Amelia was not particularly social to begin with, and was particularly hesitant to be so in this situation. She was covered in human remains, her embarrassment over her uselessness of the last hour had not yet worn off, and she was still working on regaining the use of her full mental capacity.

The woman seemed to hesitate to speak after Amelia slid away from her, putting herself adjacent to the place where a window pane would have been had it not been shattered by heaven-knew-what. Several silent minutes passed between the pair of them before the woman offered a single word, one that was at one time inadequate and appropriate.

Although this greeting was the most basic staple of social interactions, the fact that it was a contradiction in itself made Amelia hesitate too long to respond, though whether she would have or not anyway remained to be known. In her hesitation, Amelia sensed another person’s presence at the door, another female, this one brunette and unrecognizable to Amelia.

Still not looking at either of the two women who were now inhabiting the one place Amelia thought would be deserted right now, the redhead fidgeted in her seat as the newcomer inquired as to her well-being. She would have thought that the blood and bits of flesh and bone that had matted her long hair into thick, unattractive clumps that stuck to her skin would have been enough of an indication of just how Amelia was feeling at the moment, but she could not even muster the energy to make a barbed comment to the new girl. Letting out the breath she had been holding, Amelia let her eyes drift over to the girl at the door, looking up just in time to see tears start to carve paths through the dirt on the girl’s cheeks.

Immediately, Amelia let her eyes drop back to the floor, unwilling to watch an outward display of an emotion she was not equipped to experience for herself. Just as quickly as her emotions had been released by the black smoke earlier, Amelia had restored them to their proper places, leaving her drained of any thoughts but those which were strictly necessary to her current existence and the logic required to cleanly process what had happened.

Not really focusing on what she was looking at, Amelia heard a brief exchange between the two women who had intruded upon her solitude. At the blonde woman’s urging, the crying girl left the compartment to take down names and returned a few minutes later with a list. After she had disappeared once more, Amelia pulled her attention from the torn carpeting at her feet to the woman that was perched beside her. She was striking, in a beautiful kind of way, and her perfection seemed out of place among the disaster that was the compartment. Still processing slower than she would have liked, it took Amelia a few minutes to formulate the question which would give her the information necessary to determine what to do about the woman that had interrupted her reverie.

“Do you work at Hogwarts?” Amelia asked bluntly with no preface whatsoever, her voice raspy at first from the fact that she hadn’t spoken in quite some time. Her throat felt thick with mucous and her tongue heavy in her mouth, but at least she had managed to say something. That was a start. She wanted more than anything right now to be alone, but she also knew that telling off someone who might have been a professor would not rest well during what remained of her education. Amelia had not seen this woman before, but she looked too old to be a student, and too pristine to be one of the Express service workers. Logical analysis said she held some position of authority at Hogwarts, but Amelia was not one for assumptions and instead got straight to the point with her question.

There was one thing you had to do if you were an artist that refused to work with clothes like Elijah did. If you were one of the ones that did so then you had to find what colours worked with your model. You had to pick out natural colours, i.e. hair and eye colour, and work them with linins and the backgrounds and other props that were going to be used. Elijah was sorely tempted to go with black and bring focus onto the red of Chase’s hair. He wasn’t too sure though. He’d done the sheet thing many times before but he’d changed it up enough times to make each of them look new. One thing he hadn’t tried though was really making him wonder whether he could pull it off or not.

“I am most definitely willing to have you...” Elijah smiled. There was definitely a double entendre laced in his words and although it had not been intentional he wondered idly if the redhead had caught it.

Elijah’s eyes fell back to the sketchbook and he smirked at Chase. He’d just let her assume away. It was a shocking thing really. The shocks were in a series the first being that he had a daughter. The second would be when she figured out that said daughter was too old to be his biological daughter. It was when the light bulb went off in Chase’s head that Elijah would laugh. He and Fauve could have been father and daughter. He believed that they should have been but something went a little bit wrong and the fates changed their plans half way through. But it was always fun to see people’s reactions when he either dropped the bomb or they figured it out because the look of bewilderment was always entertaining. It never did get old.

He’d answered the question she’d asked although it had been somewhat hesitantly and she knew what she wanted to know yet she did not seem happy with that information. Something had changed. It was if she realised how useless relationships were. He knew how useless they were himself yet he still tried to make them work. There were only so many one night stands you could have before one came back and bit you on the arse. His desire to actually have a family outweighed how he felt about relationships. Love was unstable and it hurt. It was a superb feeling but it wasn’t worth it sometimes.

“Hey,” Elijah murmured, tapping her ankle with one of his fingers. “Don’t wallow with my Firewhisky. I’d say wallow with someone else’s but I’m going to give you a confidence boost.” He smiled cheekily and his face took a serious turn. “You don’t care because it hurts and it hurts because you care. This guy, whoever he is, will regret doing this to you. You have everything going for you. You’ve got youth, beauty and talent, not to mention a cracking personality. Now if he isn’t as idiotic as I think he is then he will beg you for forgiveness because nothing is worth leaving someone you care about. And of course if he is as idiotic as I think he is then who cares? Like I said you’ve got everything going your way, and of course you’ve got one of the best, if not the best, French artist’s willing to paint you.” Elijah said the last bit hoping to get a smile out of her and he tapped her ankle again. “Cheer up, sweetheart. Things can only get better."

Brienne returned to where Amelia and Caelani were, then gave Caelani a list of the rest of the people she had to herd back.

"I've scoured the train twice. There is no one that isn't already in a compartment". She examined Amelia from afar, and realized the girl must have been in shock or something. She had giblets of people all over her. Practically. Brienne welled up and went back to Eli, who was in a compartment with Chase.

"Eli! Amelia's in shock and is full of blood and bone and stuff." That was the best Brienne could come up with before breaking down into tears. She wasn't crying because of Amelia's condition. No, these were tears of envy.