To Brave the Unknown PV Closed

Interacting with @Clay McGlinchy @Clifton Troublefield @Cassandra Ironwoods @Meredith Ready

Time seemed to slow as Alexa interestedly watched Clifton open the strange purple box. As soon as the top was opened, a brown… Something… Leapt out of the box. It landed on Cassie! Shocked at first, Alexa’s mouth hung open for a moment, but then she quickly covered it and tried to stifle her quiet laughter. The strange brown object was a frog, and it was in Cassie’s hair!

Cassie, however, in spite of her initial surprise, seemed unfazed overall by the frog. Alexa recalled that she had been born to a wizarding family, and probably saw these sorts of things all of the time. But she couldn’t help but wondering, as Clifton took back the frog, what you were supposed to do with it.

She saw on the wrapper that it said “Chocolate Frog,” and her eyebrows raised in mild surprise as the creature continued to squirm in Clifton’s grasp. Chocolate? Were you supposed to eat it? Even though it was MOVING?

But then Clifton mentioned the prize that came in the packaging, and Alexa was diverted, looking at the collectible card of the strange wizard, who was indeed somewhat purple in aspect. She glanced at Clay, as Clifton showed her the card, and then looked back at it when he returned it to his lap. Wait a second! Where was the picture?

“Clifton! The picture, it’s gone!”

@Clay McGlinchy @Clifton Troublefield @Cassandra Ironwoods @Alexa Mackenzie

Meredith nearly burst out laughing, " Well yeah duh the person is gone they can't just stick around forever they have stuff to do I think. Not completely sure on where they go to but they will not be there all day that is for sure."
" How does she not know this type of stuff? Well it could because Alexa was a muggle born or maybe it was because she didn't pay any attention to these type of things."
Meredith was not used to this type of stuff yet even though she was just like that once. Meredith looked over to see who was on the card but she did not know that name. Was she supposed to know this? All of a sudden Meredith could feel her blood rising at the thought of her not knowing this! Was she supposed to know who this was? Did she even know anything about this place? Maybe she had no idea on anything at all? Could she really be like this or was her mind playing tricks on her?
" Clifton, Who is on your card?" She said turning to Clifton.
" And does suddenly feel very warm in here or is it just me?"

Clifton frowned in confusion at what Alexa said about the picture disappearing, then looked to see she was right.

"Wicked," he grinned. "How do they...erm, magic. Right. Do you think he'll come back?"

In answer to Meredith's question, he said: "I have no idea who he is. The name just says 'Derwent Shimpling'. He looked like he ate too much blueberry pie or something." he laughed. "Maybe he went to find more."

It was a goofy thing to say, but at this rate Clifton would've believed it. Candy that could put itself away, a book about magical creatures, and leaping chocolate? Clifton had never in his life been overwhelmed by his own curiosity, but he was coming close to it now. And they hadn't even reached the school yet.

Clifton looked back at the chocolate frog still squirming in his hand. "But I'm serious guys. What do I do with this? Do you think I can just set it free on the train?" Knowing his luck, the answer was an emphatic no. But he wasn't about to put the thing in his bag. And it felt cruel to chuck it out the window.

"Is it really alive, or just an magic spell?"

Interacting with @Clifton Troublefield, @Meredith Ready, and @Cassandra Ironwoods.

When Meredith said that of course the person would be gone, because they have stuff to do, Alexa stared at her in shock. What did she mean? Did the picture have places to go? How was that possible? It made for a lot of interesting speculation in her mind. Moving pictures…

When Clifton almost asked how it happened, and then corrected himself that it was of course magic, Alexa smiled again. She knew how he felt. Magic seemed to be the answer to everything strange around here! She wondered who the wizard he mentioned was: why was he on the card? Had he done something famous? Was he still alive? It seemed like too much to ask all of these questions, however, so she refrained.

When Clifton asked about the chocolate frog, Alexa studied it more closely. “Maybe it is just chocolate…” She said doubtfully. “Surely it’s not really alive!”

But before they could speculate further on the frog, the door to their compartment suddenly opened. Someone rushed by, laughing, and through something into their compartment before slamming the door. Alexa had about two seconds to see a small brown object on the floor before it seemed to explode! At least, it exploded with smell. It smelled like… Dung!

The smell quickly filled the compartment, almost nauseating, and Alexa, holding her nose, quickly rushed for the compartment door and opened it. Apparently several of these bombs had been thrown in multiple compartments, for many other people were streaming into the central hallway of the train.

“Let’s find a new compartment” Alexa said quickly to her companions, before grabbing her trunk and diving into the melee outside. She quickly found an empty (and less smelly) space, and waved above the crowd to get the attention of her previous compartment companions. She wondered if they would all find each other in the hubbub. She was pretty sure she saw Clay’s hair going the other way on the train… Hopefully they would all meet up again.

Adventuring with @Alexa Mackenzie @Cassandra Ironwoods, and @Meredith Ready

Clifton finally risked taking his hand off his nose as they piled into the other compartment.

"What was that?!" he coughed, slinging his trunk unceremoniously onto one of the seats. It seemed that even at magic school, kids could be idiots. Probably even more so, if they had trick items like that lying around.

He watched the others clamber in, only to see that Clay must've gone a different direction in the confusion. He hoped he'd find her again at school. He liked that she laughed at the same sort of stuff he knew he shouldn't laugh at either.

"I'm glad you found an empty one," he said to Alexa as he slumped down next to her. "I didn't think there were any left." He couldn't believe how many things had already happened and they weren't even at the school yet. He hoped they got there soon before anything bigger decided to happen.

"And here I was thinking this train ride would be the most boring part about going to Hogwarts." After all, but bus ride was the most boring part of his sports camps. He guessed when everyone didn't have screens or headphones stealing their attention, kids became a lot more creative.

I'm making like the others haven't joined us yet, even though you mentioned them climbing in! I hope that's okay!

Clifton quickly clambered in the compartment after, slinging his trunk onto one of the seats. Alexa’s was sitting in the middle of the compartment; though she was tall for her age, she was not terribly strong (unless of course, under duress!). She had yet had a chance to lift it into the luggage rack, and began struggling to do so after he had arrived.

“I have no idea what it was, but that stunk!” Alexa said in response. People were so weird, sometimes, she thought. What had been someone throw those… Things… Into all those compartments? She laughed a little. “People are strange, aren’t they?” She asked with a smile.

She knew she had seen Clay going the opposite direction, but she wondered where the other two girls were, and if they would join them. She hoped so! The company was nice, even if they did seem overly concerned with “blood status.” She still didn’t really understand it, but got the feeling she was ranked pretty low on that.

She smiled again at Clifton. “Yeah, I didn’t think there would be any empty ones, especially ones that didn’t smell! Guess we got lucky!”

As she finished getting her trunk into the luggage rack, Clifton mentioned thinking the train ride might be boring, and Alexa laughed outright. “I wasn’t sure if it would be boring, but I thought it would be alone, honestly.” She turned away as she blushed, covering it by looking out the window. At least she hoped she covered it. “Instead I met a lot of cool people, and it’s been very exciting!” She turned back and smiled.

Just then someone rapped on their compartment door, and slid the glass door aside. It was an older student, looking imperious. He had a shiny green and silver badge on his chest emblazoned with the letter P. “You guys okay after all of that?” Without waiting for a response, he gestured with his head toward the window. “You’d better put on your robes soon; we are over halfway there.” Then he slid the compartment closed and walked away. Alexa turned to Clifton in surprise. That had been abrupt!

Interacts with : @Alexa Mackenzie | @Meredith Ready | @Clifton Troublefield

The five of them enjoying themselves while talking and get to know each other better until someone decided it is a fun thing to throw something stink into the compartments of the train. When the smell of whatever it is filled out the compartment, the five of them quickly clambered out. The laughing that emanated from whomever it is made Cassie blood boiled.

"I will be right back, guys"Cassie said to their companions and went to wherever the prankster go. They follow the pranksters path until they found it that the pranksters, well, one of them about to throw another those stinky thing into other compartment. Just in time Cassie grab the boy wrist and yanked it down, roughly.

"What do you think you are doing?"Cassie's voice drop coldly, asking one of the boy with a icy glare. "It is none of your business, Freshie"The boy spitted back to Cassie. "It is definitely my business when you harassing other people and 'sides I could always just tell the Prefect here"Cassie smirks at that. The boys look at them and Cassie just rose their eyebrow.

"This is not over yet"The boy threaten Cassie. "Let's bounce"The boy added. Cassie assume he is the one in charge on these shenanigans. He talks to the other boys that with him. Cassie look at the boys retreating form and look for Alexa, Clifton and Meredith. After rows of rows compartment that they passed it by, finally Cassie found their other companions.

From where Cassie stands, an older boy talking to their friends saying something about putting their robes on. It looks like they will arrive at their destinations in a few minutes. When the person left, Cassie glance at the shiny badge with P on it. Cassie nodded when the person that passed them. Then Cassie flop down on one of the vacant seat.

"Those bugger!"Cassie still fuming. "They thought it is funny to throw dung bomb into compartments"Cassie told Alexa, Clifton and Meredith. "So, I assume we are almost there? If I heard correctly, the Prefect order us to put our robes on"Cassie stated. "You guys, okay? If not I can hex those idiots neanderthals"Cassie ready to get up once more and do what they initially wanted to do.

Adventuring with @Alexa Mackenzie @Cassandra Ironwoods @Meredith Ready

Clifton only shrugged, not wanting to admit that in the right crowd he would probably be categorized as one of "those neanderthals". The dung bombs might've been awful, but the prank was genius.

Still, he had to give Cassie credit for chasing the kids clear through the train. Definitely not someone whose bad side he'd want to be on.

"I think we're okay," he said. "But it's a good thing we didn't change into robes before it happened or I don't think anyone would want to sit by us."

Alexa, who had just finished struggling to get her trunk up on the shelf, was now struggling to get it back down to get her robes. Clifton smiled and climbed up on the seat to help her.

"You'd think carting this many eleven-year-olds around, they'd design it better," he commented.

He then went to find his own robes. The black curtainy things that his fashion-designer mom had only gawked at. He smiled at the memory of her genuinely asking the shop owner if he was kidding. It had been a good thing his dad had been there or poor owner would've had a lot more to repair than his pride.

It took him a moment to find the sleeves. Then another moment to realize he'd put it on upside down. He laughed a little as he untangled himself and gave it a third try.

"I hope the homework isn't this hard."

Alexa grinned at Cassie. Neanderthals was a funny way to put it. “I’m certainly okay, thank you though!” She had to respect to Cassie for going after the pranksters; it was something that hadn’t occurred to Alexa to even try. She was not one for confrontations. Unless of course someone was being bullied. She had been known to stand up to a bully at home in those cases. But these guys seemed less like bullies and more like guys just messing around, so she wasn’t terribly bothered by their antics. Other than the smell!

Now that she had just gotten her trunk into the luggage rack, she began fighting to bring it back down in order to get her robes. Clifton came over to help, and she smiled at him gratefully. She had laughed at his comment to Cassie, and was also glad that they hadn’t changed before that thing had been thrown in their compartment.

“You’d think with this many 11-year-olds, they would let us have smaller trunks!” Alexa responded, laughing lightly. Though usually quite shy, Alexa found it easy to warm up among these other kids.

She pulled her robes out of her trunk and studied them for a moment. They looked a little confusing… She finally managed to get them on, pulling them over her head. As soon as her head popped out, she saw Clifton struggling with his robes; it looked like he had managed to put them on upside down! Alexa couldn’t help but giggle, but went over to help him straighten himself out. She chuckled at his comment as she tugged his robes straight. Then she went and put her trunk away again, and looked out the window. It was getting darker, but she still couldn’t see anything of Hogwarts yet. The prefect had said they had a little ways to go yet.

She turned toward everyone in the compartment. “I absolutely cannot wait to get there,” she said quite softly, thrumming with excitement.

"Yeah," Clifton smiled. "Should be an adventure, that's for sure."

But for the first time during that train ride, his enthusiasm faded just a little. Honestly, Clifton didn't even know what to feel. He was headed to a school his parents didn't like. And he was pretty sure they expected him not to like it either.

He wasn't supposed to be magic and this was supposed to prove it. It honestly felt like playing a video game demo in the store, but knowing he didn't have the allowance to buy it. And knowing that his parents wouldn't let him buy it even if he did.

For now, at least, he was off to a good start. He'd made some fun friends and earned some free candy. Whatever this Hogwarts business was, it had to be something worth trying because it seemed Alexa wasn't the only one eager to get there. The closer they got, the more he could practically feel the air buzzing with everyone else's excitement. Like they were a train full of kids headed off to a theme park rather than a year of school work.

Plus, if that book was right, there were dragons. What more could he ask for?

Clifton's smile widened and he settled more into his seat, watching through the window as the spires of a castle--what he assumed was the school from everyone's reactions--grew closer.

"I'm excited too."

But the quiet, longing sort way that Alexa had said it still piqued his curiosity and he turned away his gaze away from the window. "What are you most excited for?"