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Waiting For The Train To Leave
Author: Georgia Copperpot
Date: 08-12-17 18:31
Settling into a seat Libby claps her hands, rubbing them together. "Third years now. We're going to have a bloody blast come Hogsmeade weekends."
Edwina rolls her eyes at her cousin's somewhat exaggerated enthusiasm. "It's not as though we haven't been to Hogsmeade dozens of times before."
"How many of those times were you able to go around to whatever shoppes you wanted when you wanted, staying as long as you wanted, eating where and what you wanted, and having hours of time to spend at the gaming centre if you wanted?"
Bertie, having come into the compartment in time to hear Libby's response bobs his head in agreement. Though he missed the first part of the conversation he can tell what Libby and Edwina are talking about. "I can play game after game of paint ball or wizarding laser tag or whatever else without Mum interrupting and telling me, 'Ten more minutes, Albert, then we really must be going.'"
Edwina, who'd been poking her head out one of the windows to see how many are still getting on the Hogwarts Express, pulls her head back in. "You both have good points but can we at least get closer to September 1st, before you two have us back here and already on our first Hogsmeade weekend?"
Libby smirks. "Don't want to ruin your summer holiday by thinking of being back at school, Edwina?"
"Exactly," Libby says, making a face before turning back to the window. "Loads still to board. Good thing we got a compartment already." She reaches for a bag at her side. "Canary creams, anyone?"
Bertie accepts one asking before he stuffs it in his mouth, "You ever turn in for your electives, Libby?"
Libby had thought she had her electives settled the day they got their forms only to repeatedly change her mind. "Yeah, finally. Fitness & Athletics, of course. Muggle Studies, because that should be easy for me. Care of Magical Creatures. I forget what you told me for yours, Bertie."
"Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Fitness & Athletics."
Edwina reminds, "Muggle Studies and Arithmancy & Divination for me."
"You should take F&A with us," Bertie tells her. "It's fun."
"So you both have told me and told me and told me."
Sylvestor and his friend Fitzwilliam Bates. "Shove over," he unceremoniously orders Bertie who's sitting across from Edwina and Libby.
Edwina's lips curl in disgust. "You could at least say please. Why are you even in here anyway?"
"Places with room have people we don't want to sit with."
This earns her sarcastic reply of, "Lovely that you want to sit with us. We are ever so honored."
Libby sniggers. Sylvestor glares at his sister and cousin before asking, "Are those Canary Creams?"
Edwina sighs, knowing she has to share or Sylvestor will find a way to ensure Mum knows and it won't matter that he was rude or demanding, coming into the compartment as he did. She gives him one and offers one to Fitzwilliam. Then, much to her chagrin, Sylvestor and Fitzwilliam start talking Quidditch Con and Quidditch being back at Hogwarts next term. Soon, Libby and Bertie have joined in. It's not that Edwina dislikes Quidditch. She doesn't. It's that she can think of any number of other things to talk about that don't involve talking for half the train ride about the sport and an entire convention dedicated to it.
Train Ride
Author: Susan Fricks
Date: 08-13-17 01:12
Susan shared a compartment with Blair, Maud and Georgina. Two other seats were occupied no less by her cat Buttercup, and Saidra. Once again Titus Nott had trusted Susan with the care of his cat during summer. She was happy to do so, although she couldn't help thinking there was something odd in the way he was behaving when he handed her Saidra this morning, still in the castle. He kept looking at his watch, as if he was in a hurry to depart. He also seemed somewhat nervous.
"It's a shame Gryffindor didn't win the House Cup. People are starting to say our house is cursed," Blair commented.
"We will break the curse next year! Quidditch will be back! Will any of you try to join the teams?" Georgina asked.
Susan shook her head. She enjoyed flying on a broom and even playing games while at it. But to her Quidditch was too violent. She had turned fourteen on May but she knew she would feel tiny at the pitch.
Maud also replied negatively. She declared she would have no time for Quidditch. Next year they would have to take new classes and she wanted to be sure she would follow up with all her lessons. She had great marks in the exams, but yet again Grace Valentine managed to be better than her. She was entering an obsessive competitive spiral where she wanted to beat Grace at any cost. The worst thing was that Grace was a really nice person. Maud had even been invited to her Christmas party which she attended. She had hang out with Gryffindor Rand Prinsloo, with whom from time to time she shared a desk in classes. She enjoyed his company and somehow Maud thought he was not like the other boys. Rand was very polite and well-mannered and they got along very well.
"Well I will try out!" Blair declared.
"Me too!" Georgina said.
Then they both started to argue because both coveted the seeker position. Blair was convinced they would choose her over Georgina because she was smaller than her. Georgina then reminded her of the disaster try out she had on their first year where a bludger hit her head. Blair hated that episode because she had a little scar on her forehead thanks to it. It was almost invisible, but since then she started wearing bangs to hide it.
The train kept moving, the landscape altered. Soon they would be in London.
Wedding Preparations
Author: Griet
Date: 08-13-17 10:15
The bed and breakfast where the Vanderbilts, Vanriets and their guests were staying for the weekend and early part of the following week was a charming stone house with neatly trimmed vines growing on it. The property boasted a beautiful patio and gardens and was not far from the scenic ocean views in Cornwall, where Griet's wedding to Valentijn was scheduled to take place.
She was currently in her suite, surrounded by the women in her family and in her soon-to-be husband's, getting pampered and dolled up for the big event, which was supposed to take place in the early evening hours. The wedding was an outdoor ceremony, on the cliffs with the bright blue ocean in the background. The reception would also take place there, which would no doubt be lovely with the setting sun.
Late tonight after the festivities, the new Mr. and Mrs. Vanriet would gather their belongings, which were mostly already packed since they'd never really unpacked upon arrival in Cornwall, and set out for an Irish honeymoon. After five days touring the island and enjoying their new status as newlyweds, the pair would return home. Cornelia's wedding to Cassander was next weekend.
There was a knock on the door to Griet's suite. The woman closest to it, Valentijn's grandmother, opened it a crack and saw Franciscus standing on the other side. As they had never before met, she didn't know who he was or whether to allow him inside the room.
"I'm Griet's brother," Griet heard Franciscus say to the elderly witch. "I just arrived and wanted to see her before the wedding."
"It's all right, Oma," Griet said. "I haven't seen my brother in ages. Let him in. We're all decent, aren't we?" She cast a quick glance around the crowded room and saw that nobody was standing around in undergarments.
Valentijn's grandmother opened the door wider and indicated for Franciscus to enter. He smiled politely at her and thanked her and greeted every person he came across from his own family and his sister's new family until he reached Griet herself.
"I just arrived," Franciscus said. "I flooed from Hogsmeade to home and now here. Did Paton make it yet?"
Paton and Franciscus had left Hogwarts together in the morning and had also departed from Hogsmeade via floo rather than the Hogwarts Express. Paton went to his house, which was now also occupied by the awful Flavershams.
"I haven't heard," Griet replied, "but I'm sure he'll make it in time. Your tuxedo is in your room," she added.
Franciscus nodded. "I saw." He paused and said, "I can't believe you're getting married."
"Believe it," Cornelia chimed in, "and I'm next."
Franciscus couldn't believe that either.
"If you haven't eaten yet, go grab something but don't overdo it. You don't want to stuff yourself so silly you won't have room for the meal tonight," Griet said. "We're leaving the B&B at 4, so be ready to go by then, okay?"
"Okay." Franciscus inserted himself in between the women doing Griet's fingernails and hair and gave her a quick hug. Then he slipped out of the room and went down to the breakfast room to find something good to eat.
(Arielle) Almost There
Author: Jolyon
Date: 08-14-17 18:18
Arielle stared out the window at the passing scenery. The Hogwarts Express was nearing London, which meant that soon, the Kents would be home. She turned her head slightly to study the reflection of the boy seated opposite her in the train compartment. It was her twin, Asher, who had come to some sort of agreement with Malden. Malden was seated next to Arielle, and the other seats were occupied by more Slytherin boys. She was the only girl in the compartment, and the only Gryffindor.
Arielle couldn't put her finger on it, but something was going on with the boys. Asher and Malden weren't exactly friendly as they'd been before, but they seemed to be getting along in a matter-of-fact sort of way. She wasn't sure her brother approved of her relationship with Malden, or perhaps it was the other way around, but Asher wasn't making faces or rude remarks. His apparent acquiescence was an improvement, for sure. She'd take it over outright disgust any day.
The boys weren't talking about anything out of the ordinary to give Arielle any clues into what they were all doing together. Maybe she was imagining things, but she really didn't think so. Currently, the boys were discussing Quidditch Con. She didn't know if she was going yet. Perhaps she would, but it really hadn't come up.
Arielle didn't have any certain plans for the summer. Her parents had decided to take things easy, since her mother was pregnant with a new set of twins. Perhaps they would take some time getting the babies' new room ready.
"Look, the city," Bruno Tate exclaimed, when the green fields made way for buildings. The train started to gradually slow.
Arielle turned her head ever so slightly to look at the changing scenery and wondered what summer would bring.
Understatement (Jaclyn, Rex, Ingrid)
Author: Saffron
Date: 08-14-17 19:41
Jaclyn somehow ended up in a Hogwarts Express compartment with older students, including her cousin Rex and his friend Ingrid. When the train is not quite a half hour from King's Cross Station Ingrid says to Jaclyn, "I know your cousins on the Rex side of your family but do you have any on your other side?"
Rex crinkles his nose at the question. "Jaclyn doesn't need other cousins."
Ingrid laughs. "She might not need them but that doesn't mean Jaclyn doesn't have them."
"That's Rex's polite way of saying you don't want to know about those other cousins," Jaclyn tells her.
Ingrid's eyes get big. "They're horrid?"
"No, not horrid so much as they aren't like us."
"Understatement," Rex snorts.
Jaclyn gives a small giggle because it's true. Saying they aren't like us isn't exactly right. "Mum has one brother, Humphrey Pickens, no sisters. Around a year after he married, he and my aunt moved to a tiny village on a tiny island. Mum describes the adults there as scrunchy hippie dippy throwbacks."
"What does that mean?"
"Any government is 'The Establishment' and not to be trusted. Schools are places to brainwash children to suit 'The Establishment's' needs. They only wear clothes they've made themselves from natural fibers. They grow most of their own food and trade homemade things for whatever else they need but can't do on their own. My uncle changed his name to Dusk. My aunt goes by Ode. They have eight kids: Flower, Cedar, Pax, Moon, Nova, Breeze, Henna, and Cloud."
"What school do those old enough go to?"
"They don't. All the kids on the island go to school there. Or I guess it's all of them. Some might go wherever their parents went but not my cousins."
"Do you get to see much of them?"
"At least once during summer and now and then other times of the year."
Rex makes that snorting noise again. "Last time they came to a Christmas dinner that our side of the family was also there, they brought some sort of grass casserole."
"Grass casserole?"
Jaclyn nods. "Not sure what kind of grass it was but it was grass. There was nuts and tofu and I'm not sure what else. It wasn't half bad."
"Wasn't half good either," Rex snickers. When he's done laughing he does admit, "They're nice people. Maybe too nice."
Jaclyn nods her head. "Sickly sweet nice. It starts getting annoying and then you feel bad that you're finding someone so nice to be so annoying."
"They'd all be the most Hufflepuff Hufflepuffs ever if they came to Hogwarts," Rex decides.
"They sound... interesting."
Rex laughs again and repeats what he'd first said when this topic of conversation began. "Understatement."