Platform 9¾

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

Fumiko didn't even notice how Airlia dodged the question of her brother as she was too busy fighting the urge to cover her beet-red face. When was the last time someone suggested that? The last time she did it was with her previous friends when they were upset.

After what happened with them, Fumiko decided hugs were an undervalued action that only should happen with the person you truly love, platonic or not.

Seeing Airlia even suggest such a thing made her even more flustered than before, no acting involved. And ' next time '? Is there going to be a next time?

She felt scared.

Images of her friends doing ... what they did... flashed in her mind and she felt her heart tighten. She had to remind herself Airlia wasn't like them. Though they have shown similar warmth, surely Fumiko could notice the signs better now..now that she knows them.

' Will you really? Or will you be once again blinded by the warmth they give? '

She ignored the dark thought and focused on Airlia's question about her aunt. Her mood depleted a bit as she wondered what her aunt was actually doing now.

Drinking French wine with her annoying rich ' girlfriends ' as they celebrated the day Fumiko was finally gone and cheered to the peaceful months that would come to them she guessed.

Fumiko didn't even know what she did to make her aunt and her friends treat her like a chewed out toy. She made sure her personality matches theirs when Fumiko was around them, though she can confirm it made herlife easier, it didn't work completely

She was too tired of acting like the personality they wanted so she left it like that, thinking it wasn't going to change and the reason for their dislike was something Fumiko's 11 year old mind could not understand it.

She gave Airlia a smile and folded her hands together behind her back. " She gives me a comforting life " she admitted " But I rather not talk about her " the way her smile contradicts with the words she just said might be a bit scary to see but she didn't care.

She came to the conclusion that Airlia was someone Fumiko couldn't lie to as much anymore. She wishes Airlia was meaner, that way maybe she wouldn't have to feel as guilty when she acted around her. Now that that wasn't the case, Fumiko could do nothing about it except hope Airlia would accept her flowers in the future.

Wanting to continue conversing with Airlia, Fumiko's eyes landed on the notepad Airlia threw on her trunk and her eyes widened as curiosity grew in her eyes.

Genuinely excited, she sat down on Airlia's side of the compartment and looked over the notepad, where a nice unfinished sketch of someones braided hair was drawn. Fumiko was too enthusiastic about finding out Airlia can draw to notice the draft was actually her hair.

" You can draw ?!" Fumiko energetically asked. Not even waiting for Airlia to speak, " It's so pretty! Why didn't you finish it? Oh, I just adore people who're interested in any kind of art! I think there's something beautiful about people who express themselves in this kind of form..."

Even if Airlia was simply drawing someone's hair, Fumiko still thought it was nice to see her put her ideas on a notepad. " I always wanted to draw...but my aunt says I should focus on my violin lessons first " A light bulb sparked in her head.

" Hey, do you want to hear me play it? " once again, she didn't even wait for Airlia's answer as she basically zoomed to her trunk on her side of the compartment. She was just too eager to share her interest with the girl.

But for a moment she stopped trying to open her trunk.

What is Airlia hates it? What if she didn't play it well? She showed her previous friends before and they discouraged her greatly. Saying Fumiko didn't play well and the song she played was just plain boring.

Airlia...is not the same as Fumiko's previous friends.

She assured herself as she opened her trunk. The contents weren't a lot. Just a bunch of extra clothes, the items she was required to bring, a book in case magic books got too boring and sat on top of all that is a small violin case.

She opened the case and revealed a frequently polished wooden violin. The violin couldn't be the best quality since it's still considered a 'kid' violin, but her aunt made the butler find one with the highest quality.

The butler knows Fumiko better than her aunt so he secretly bought a regular one, which pleased her greatly. She would be too scared to use it if it were ' the highest quality '.

Bless the butler, Fumiko misses him greatly. She named this violin after him, which was ' Florence '.

She took out Florence from his case and turned around to face Airlia.

" I.. might screw up a bit because well...we're on a moving train..but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway! "

She couldn't sit down, it can't be helped. She feels uncomfortable when she played sitting down. Taking a deep breath, she placed the violin on her shoulder and rested her chin at the edge of it like she had done it a million times.

Then she started to play

Reducio

OOC Note :

Airlia! I recommend opening another tab to get in the mood when you continue reading! If you're on a laptop of course. Plus, it will help IC Airlia to understand a bit why IC Fumiko played it! Oh and tell me if I'm not supposed to do this! I'll quickly edit it

What compelled her to show Airlia such a sad tune confused her. Perhaps it was because Fumiko did better on low, mood depleting tunes then the the joyous or aggressive pieces her violin tutor forced her to learn.

Perhaps it was just her way to silently express what she felt when her parents gave her up to her aunt, when her friends left her heartbroken when she had to develop a habit where she pretends to be someone else so she couldn't form real bonds.

The bonds she so wished to have.

It's ... a way to show her feelings without having to pretend to be someone else. They'll just think she's focused on her playing. She pretends so much sometimes she wonders what her real personality would be like. If nothing that went wrong in her life ever happened.

Just as Fumiko, who was very into playing Florence finished the short piece, the train hit a bump and her hand pushed the bow a bit too hard, causing a loud sudden screech. Both the girls flinched at the sound. Fumiko felt a bit embarrassed but lightly chuckled at her mistake.

" Hahha..sorry about that...I was surprised I could play that long though " she sat down back to her seat with Florence and her bow resting on her lap. " So...what do you think? " she beamed nervously.

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

Fumiko must not have liked her aunt very much either. She wished not to speak about her and Airlia wanted to respect that. She made a mental note not to bring up aunts in front of Fumiko.

The screech from the violin as the train jolted hurt Airlia's ears. She had to quickly cover them for a moment.

"I think the song was beautiful." Airlia smiled after she got over the irritating and sudden screech of the violin: "I think focusing on it did you good. You could, after all, have art as a hobby at Hogwarts. I don't draw much. Mainly hair because I can't draw faces at all." Airlia smiled.

"You play well. I could never learn something like that." Airlia said and leaned her head against the window, feeling utterly tired. "The song made me sleepy though." Airlia chuckled.

The melody had been soft and careful. Just the kind of thing Airlia needed in order to fall asleep.

"The only things I can play are the harp and kantele. Or Finnish zither if you wish to call it that." Airlia thought back to the rather large golden harp used more as decoration than as an instrument in the living room. Airlia missed playing. Her mother had taught her until she turned eight. That's when Airlia needed to drop both instruments to make room for her pre-Hogwarts studies.

She wasn't even sure if she could remember how to play after all this time.

"Anyway. What kind of art would you like to do?"

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

She lightly blushed when Airlia complimented her playing and her choice of song. " R-really ?" she nervously asked like she couldn't believe someone actually enjoyed her playing. " A-h sorry...It's not that I don't believe you it's just that...you're probably the first one to tell me that! " second, actually if she considered her father, the one who taught her the violin himself.

But she didn't want to think about him now.

" The way you draw hair is really nice though! A lot of amazing artists I know start from drawing simple stick figures. And hey, if you want someone to help you practice drawing feel free to use my face ~ " Fumiko didn't notice how weird it sounded when she casually offered her face for someone to draw. She was just trying to get the point that she was comfortable around Airlia across.

She chuckled while lightly nodding when Airlia said the song made her sleepy. " Hahah.yes, I've always played better with soft tunes like this. My violin tutor keeps trying to make me play more energetic songs but.. she always says there was something wrong when I try to though...can you hear me play an energetic tune sometimes? Maybe you can help me find out why it sounds off " she suggested as she carefully placed Florence back into his case.

" I hope the song didn't make you too sleepy. I still want to talk to you, you know? Shall I play a horrendous tune for you?~ " she chuckled, very aware of how she was basically switching personalities every second around Airlia. She couldn't help but feel relaxed around her. Even more when she shared her interest and have it encouraged. That didn't happen often.

" A harp? That's wonderful! " she genuinely beamed, happy she found another musician. Her face made a puzzled look when Airlia mentioned the second instrument she played.

A kantele...kantele...kantele...when has she heard that before...

" Ah! A kantele! " she suddenly exclaimed, accidentally surprising her companion.

" My aunt owns that in her music room! Unfortunate I never got to hear someone play it though. She just keeps it there to impress her guest " she explained " I try my best to keep it dust free..a pity, isn't it? Such a lovely instrument like that left untouched and used for mere display ..."

" Not that I think there is something wrong with that though! " she hurriedly defended in case Airlia didn't like what she said " I just think there's much more to an instrument than a decoration. Like how it can change someones mood, or express someones feelings when they play it "

She frowned a bit when she remembered the lonely Kantele, which she named Aina. Who will be taking care of her while Fumiko is still in Hogwarts?

' Acting! ' is what she would say when Airlia asked her question about the kind of art she liked to do. She found it fascinating how someone could pour so much emotion into a fictional character and make them real.

Of course, after doing just that since she was young, she simply got bored. She wasn't sure if she still liked it or not, and she wasn't going to use the time now to think about it.

" Well...I like playing Flo- um..my violin..all the time. I don't think I'd like to do it for a living though. " she almost slipped the fact she named her instruments. Crap. Their conversation was going so well and she hoped Airlia never noticed anything but the minutes they were together in this small compartment proved Fumiko otherwise.

" We should have a friendly duet sometimes between fr- friends ~ " she suggested, though she faltered a bit when she said ' Friends '.

Like the moment they introduced themselves, Fumiko held out a hand to shake. There was something different about the gesture this time though. It seemed more.. real. This looked like a subtle way to ask Airlia if they were friends.

Scenarios where Airlia rejected her hand started coming in like a storm. It would definitely harm Fumiko's confidence and heart if it happened like that. Airlia was the first person that Fumiko couldn't help but be herself with.

Fumiko did a lot of wrong though , so she would understand why she'll get rejected . She showed she was two-faced right in front of her and that made might make Airlia distrust her.

' You know what? You never deserved her anyway '

A dark thought passed by and Fumiko... listened.

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

"I think you were great. Taking in new challenges is sometimes a good thing, other times harmful to the talent you already possess. Your teacher shouldn't push you over your limits too fast."

Airlia giggled to the idea of using someone's face for drawing practice. It would be tedious for the other person to just sit still so Airlia already thought that she just might draw people from pictures in books. At least those wouldn't leave or get bored. Being in a closed book all day.

"Kantele is Finland's national instrument and the good ones are often very pricey. It is a pity someone isn't taking good care of it." Airlia winced: "It must sound horrible, being untuned all this time. Unplayed. I think not playing an instrument takes the life out of it and playing it gives it memories. A saying my mother taught me... I'm glad you at least try to take care of it." Airlia smiled a bright smile.

"I didn't bring an instrument with me. But I can after Christmas. We can play together then. I'll take my kantele with me. It's a lot smaller to bring than a harp." Airlia giggled and shook the girl's offered hand, thinking of herself dragging a huge golden harp into the Hogwarts Express when returning from Christmas holiday. What a travesty that would be.

Especially when she'd never even been strong enough to drag the harp from the corner of their living room to the middle.

"Playing with a friend might be fun. I'll just have to rehearse a little on holiday to check if I still have the skills to even play half a song. Time really has gone by, hasn't it? I was meant to only take a small break from playing but I feel like with my restricted free time I didn't get to play at all." Airlia shrugged: "I really do miss it."

"Anyway. Do you know anything about the subjects at school? Have you scrolled through your books yet? Is there anything that caught your eye? Anything you're looking forward to learning."

"Personally I'm looking forward to astronomy, even though I already know a lot about the subject and I would love to get to herbology classes as soon as possible."

Airlia swung her legs back and forth with the motion of the train feeling comfortable in her present company. Even with a few bumps here and there, the train ride had actually been rather pleasant so far.

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

Airlia said the words she wished her aunt did. She truly is a mother figure. Her aunt would claim she's petty when Fumiko tells her the violin tutor teaches her way too fast.

She couldn't help but smile sweetly when Airlia praised her action of regularly clean Aina. Her aunt said it was a waste of time since we have maids to do it. Fumiko just didn't trust them to clean Aina properly.

" You mother....seems like a nice person " Fumiko genuinely smiled. " Was she the one that taught you the harp and Kantele? " She was curious to ask what having a mom feels like but that would mean Fumiko has to talk about her own mother and she doesn't want her new friend to pity her too early.

Better yet, she wouldn't even know what to tell.

' Ah yes my mother Erica Belle Tachibana. I don't know if she's still a Tachibana though. She gave me up to my aunt and I never saw her again hahaha ~ so anyway how's your mother? '

She'd rather touch a frog than have that sentence come out of her mouth.

Fumiko, who's mask already slipped half-way off her face, excitedly clapped like a child who got a new toy. " Ahhh ! That's great! I can finally hear someone play a kantele! I bet it sounds as beautiful as it looks~ " she mused dreamily.

Fumiko frowned a bit when her companion mentioned she hasn't played in a long time. Just what could an 11-year-old be busy doing? Were her parents strict about studies? That's a pity if it were the case. In her opinion, 11-year-old still should be given freedom to explore and discover new good and bad sides off them.

She was glad to skim through the school syllabus when Airlia asked her next question.

" Hm...I guess I'll be good at muggle studies since .. you know..if only it wasn't an elective." She didn't need to finish the sentence " I can't wait for flying classes though! In the muggle world, the only way we could fly is in an airplane, helicopter or jet. None of them are as fun as flying on a broom " She winced when she thought about her experience on an airplane. God, she hated flying on those.

" You must have a green thumb then if you're looking forward to Herbology. " she didn't mean it in a bad way at all " I'm actually interested in learning that too, but we have to take care of plants right? I love plants..but I just can't seem to keep them alive " she reminisced the time where she took care of her first succulent.

" Haru was his name. It means ' spring ' in Japanese. " she smiled as sweet memories flood her mind. Then she let out a rather dark chuckle before saying in a dead tone: " Ironic that he died when spring came "

" I tried to learn as much as I can about plants though. I'm more interested in the language of flowers. If you want to know the meaning of your favorite flower then don't hesitate to ask me " She offered with a smile. With this, she can know what flowers Fumiko wants to buy for Airlia.

" Astronomy sounds cool! Did you study it yourself? What about a Telescope? Do you have one in your house?" genuinely interested in what Airlia has to say, she didn't notice her legs cross folding on her seat. Her back bent as she placed her head on her hands that were rested on each side of her knees, gleaming curiosity sparkled in her dark brown eyes.

Like a child waiting to be told a story.

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

"Yeah, my mom taught me. She wasn't exactly the most understanding teacher but I learned quickly because of the tight schedule she planned." Airlia smiled awkwardly. Five hours a day of learning songs and one extra hour reading books about the instruments to learn their history.

"Muggle studies would be interesting. I doubt I'll be good at them though. I've been rather... Tucked away from non-magical folk." She said blushing.

"They teach you everything you need to know in Herbology and no worries you won't be allowed to kill plants. After all, the teacher will be taking care of them outside of class and on weekends. When it comes to astronomy, yes I had a home teacher for astronomy and we have a telescope on our balcony."

"I do wish to know more about these flying instruments of muggles. They sound so strange. People not flying on brooms I mean. Not that I was allowed to. No, I kept my feet firmly on the ground. I have never flown with an airplanehelicopter or this jet thing." Airlia said thinking that the words airplane and helicopter were just one word, not two. "Are they creatures that you fly with? We can fly with winged horses, thestrals and even hippogriffs if we are talented enough with magical creatures."

Airlia thought about her winged horse. "I have a winged horse, back at home. A Granian by breed. Their population is thinning so I take good care of mine. I think there are only five of them in Finland, eleven in Sweden and around 20 in Norway. That's where they are from you know. Norway. The first with to ride a Granian by legend was called Sigurd. Once muggles saw him on the back of his Granian they made mythological stories about him. But we think he was just a wizard. No one really knows though. There is no proper information about him. Since he lived centuries ago."

Airlia smiled. She'd loved the story of Sigurd when she was a child. And she loved her Granian winged horse. "I named my Granian after him. Sigurd is a boy's name and even though my Granian is a female I thought it suited her. The name means; guardian. It's customary for the women in my family to ride Granians."

"So is the airplanehelicopter a winged horse?"

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

Fumiko winced " Tight schedules... effective ...but the stress.." there was a time when she moved in with her aunt, where her schedules would be filled with all sorts of things.

Violin, History, Tennis ( she quit that rather quickly ) and so on.

" Say..are you a princess of some sort ?" she's been thinking about this since the first time she came into this compartment. Since they are considered ' friends ', Fumiko thought this was the right time to ask.

" Ah! really? " Fumiko felt her chest warming at the thought. She wondered if the brilliant teachers of Hogwarts could cure her curse. " Even if they do that...I still hope we get to take care of plants. There's some sort of ... nice feeling you get.. when you take care of one. Seeing grow from a tiny seed to a full-grown..healthy plant.Never abandoning them... I ... like that ", she felt herself smile. She probably just wanted to be a better parent than her own.

" WINGED HORSES ?!" she squealed, barely containing her excitement in front of Airlia. Fumiko basically bounced on her seat as her dark eyes sparkled with an abundance of wonder and glee.

She promised herself not to be surprised if that flying horses existed now but she couldn't help it! She loved winged creatures from birds to dragons but of course, she had to live with the fact that some of her most beloved creatures didn't exist

Until now

" You have GOT to show me a picture of Sigurd one day!" her mind raced, trying to remember any mythology about a dude named ' Sigurd ' annddd

she got nothing

" That's a lovely name though.." she mumbled out, tired of her sudden hyperactivity. " You must have a nice bond with her~ "

When Airlia told her about her family customs for women to ride Granians, her confidence in Airlia's status as a princess has increased by 20%. I mean, winged horses, especially such a rare breed like Sigurd must've costed a fortune! Now Airlia is saying every woman in her family had a personal Granian?

And Fumiko thought her aunt was loaded.

When Airlia asked her last question, Fumiko stood still. She bit her bottom lip as her eyes wandered to the floor as she felt her hands clenched on her pants.

No

No

Don't do this here

Think about world starvation. While you're like this, thousands of children are starvi-

Don't do it Fumiko

Think of corruption! How many families lost and cheated in-

Don't...

...


..


.


She burst out laughing.

" HAHAHAHAAH! WAIT WAIT NO- " she wheezed out " nonono- hahhh- noo" her arms hugged her stomach, hurt from laughing too much, while she finally stabilized her breathing pattern

A tad tired, she turned back to Airlia with a content smile. " Nnonononono muggles don't have such things. A- I'm sorry for laughing..you sounded so informative talking about Sigurd and Granians and then you suddenly-" she held back her laughter " it's not something I hear so often...but...-" she smiled and she sank back in her seat " That was...the nicest laugh I had in a while.." for a second Fumiko's eyes darkened at the thoughts of her previous environment.

Of course, she couldn't laugh like this when she was in the muggle world. Now that she was free...

" Muggles...they don't have magic that'll help them. Winged horses and a lot of other creatures you know would make them faint if they ever saw one. They need to...create things from whatever they have now .. so I guess... " she didn't know where she was going with this. She just wanted to explain an airplane and helicopter properly without confusing Airlia.

" Airplane...helicopter..." not aware of Airlia combining the two different words together, she continued using hand gestures " Airplanes...are big..." she stretched out her arms " and... they only take in a lot of people at once who all wish to go to the same place. And....helicopters....are...smaller..." her eyes furrowed " ..boxes? With wings on top? "

Even Fumiko is aware of how terrible she is at explaining.

' andd... they goo..." she lifted her hand like how an airplane would take off while making whooshing sound effects out of her own mouth. " A-" she flopped her hand back down " I give up. Forgive me Airlia. Explaining is one of my many weaknesses..." she pouted.

" I can..." a specific person came in mind " Ah! I can ask my butl- a - er I mean..my aunt to mail me a picture book of them! They might actually amaze you, like how everything amazes me in the wizarding world ~ "

She refused to speak as if everyone had a butler. Airlia might have one herself but Fumiko wasn't going to risk it. She just made her first friend so far and she refused to appear as a spoilt privileged child. Privileged is true though.

Nervous, she scratched the back of her neck while giving Airlia a sheepish smile. " We have a lot to learn about each other's world huh? I gotta admit, it's pretty..." she looked down at her hands, her small smile mixed with all kinds of emotions "...fun... " she breathed out like she just realized it.

Fun

When was the last time she had fun with another person her age?

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

"Oh, I have two pictures with me." Airlia smiled, got off the bench and gracefully landed on her knees on the train floor.

She opened her trunk and started carefully taking her clothes and books out, making sure not to get anything dirty or crumbled.

"It's great that you're interested in plants. I'm sure you'll get what you wish from Herbology." Airlia said answering to the girl a little too late since the girl had spoken about herbology about three subjects ago. It was a little hard to keep track.

She fumbled through her silky clothing, soft pastel fabrics like velvet and wool slipping through her fingers as she was looking for the photo book she'd packed right to the bottom of her luggage.

"And I'm not a princess." Airlia giggled. "My mother is a lady and my father is a lord but I won't be of noble blood unless I am made their official first heir and since my brother is older than me, that title won't be mine if everything goes as it should and he takes over the rule of our town. I don't really wish to be the heir. Too much pressure." Airlia smiled: "I guess I have been raised like a noble though; etiquette classes and history of great wizard houses. I'm the daughter of a lady but that doesn't give me an official title."

"The tradition of our Granians is centuries old tradition and we don't buy a Granian every time a new female is born to our family." Airlia said, knowing that having a Granian alerted the 'rich people around' bells at least on every wizard-born person. Granians cost a fortune. "We breed them. Sounds worse than it is. My Granian is the foal of my mother's Granian and my cousin Katie's horse is the foal of her mother's Granian. My Katie's Granian is actually one of twin foals that were born. They sold the other one for a hefty prize and my father had a fit. We don't sell Granians. Some people don't possess the knowledge that we do about rising the properly and even worse by selling the other horse they broke tradition."

Airlia was lost in thought as she rummaged through her luggage: "Aha! Here." She pulled out a baby blue photo album and scrolled through it, pulling out two pictures.

The first picture had Sigurd walking around on a flower field they would sometimes ride out to. When coming face to face with a new person; Fumiko looking down at the picture; Sigurd chose to show off and get on her back legs, spreading her wings and making butterflies fly around her.

Airlia smiled at the Granian's having fun in the pictures and happened to look at Fumiko's face. At that second Airlia realized: Fumiko most likely hadn't seen moving pictures before...

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

To say Fumiko was surprised at how the pictures move would be an understatement. She even tilted her head a bit to see if the pictures are actually tablets inserted in the pages of Airlia's album. Seeing that it wasn't just made the whole thing more fascinating than it was before. The gleam in her eyes shone more as they were hypnotized by the gracefully moving old pictures.

She covered her mouth with her hands in an astonished manner but kept her eyes glued to the pictures.

" They're...so beautiful..." she muttered.

Did she mention she loved winged creatures?

" Are they...in there? Is this where they are right now? What they're doing? I've seen moving pictures in newspapers from Diagon Alley but I never understood how they ... " she didn't know how to finish the sentence but she really didn't care.

" They're so beautiful..." she accidentally repeated. " I- " she pursued her lip as she glanced at the side with a questioning stare like she wanted Airlia to know she's thinking. " I loved winged creatures. " She thought it was fine to admit something simple as this " I love butterflies, birds and even flying squirrels " she declared with a determined look in her eyes " And I gave up on creatures like Granians, dragons and such so ...forgive me if I don't know how to express my happiness right now "

She was just jumping on her seat like a child a few minutes ago. " It felt like my happiness bubbles just expanded so much but it hasn't been ... " she make a ' pop'

" Have you ever ridden her before? To where? How? Is it hard? What about- " All sorts of questioned carelessly flowed out of her mouth as she was too busy contemplating if it was alright to touch the moving pictures.

She stopped her stream of questions and closed closer on the names of the Granians

" Wow~ They're all named such powerful people~ " she pointed to the word ' Hera ' . " Greek goddess of family.. stories of her didn't make me like her that much. Still powerfull though" her small fingers glided towards ' Artemis " . She couldn't help but smile. " My favorite. Hunt and Moon. Protector of females. I loved her stories when I was a child. Her independence was something I admired haahhah... . I used to call her Tsuki Sama because her name was a bit hard for me to pronounce when I was small. Andddd....Freya ~" she pulled her hands back " I only knew she was a Norse god. What was Freya's story? " she asked

Goodbye London, Hello Hogwarts  Completed 

"So many questions." Airlia chuckled when the girl seemingly threw all her thoughts on her at once. "Slow down if you want me to actually understand what you're saying."

Airlia smiled at the other girl's blush and started once the girl took a breather and calmed down: "So moving pictures." For Airlia explaining things that were common to her were odd. She'd never before had to teach a muggle-born about anything. "How much the picture can do depends on how powerful the person or creature is. For an example when making a painting of an average wizard they can mimic mannerisms and say catchphrases. But when it comes to stronger wizards they can speak, and you can tell them memories that they can pass on and all in all become more lifelike. With pictures, it's pretty much the same, but only pictures on magazines actually speak. The person isn't really there since you can have a picture of a dead person and they'll still move."

Airlia smiled after that letting the girl ponder through this new information: "There is no such thing as being 'too' happy."

"I have ridden my Granian, but never in the air, only with her four feet safely on the ground. My mom doesn't let me fly but it's pretty much like riding a normal horse just... Faster."

"And powerful creatures deserve powerful names. Now Freya was of Norse mythology and the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility..." Airlia and Fumiko went on to speak about ancient cultures and creatures. They spoke of their childhood and what they wanted to learn at Hogwarts, showcased their wands and Airlia explained the wood, core, and flexibility of wands and what they represented.

Their conversations were joyous and meaningful and as the train finally stopped at the Hogwarts station they tried to leave together only to lose each other in the crowd of students...

Unknown to the other they both wondered if they were lucky enough to meet again, or hopefully end up in the same house even...