Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry discussion
Hogsmeade Station
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Hogsmeade Platform
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[Enter Jamie Keenam.]It would be the second year for Jamie to guide the first years to the boats that would take them to Hogwarts and he found himself equally as excited to do so as he had been the first year he was hired. There was nothing more fulfilling than helping kids, especially little bright-eyed future wizards and witches, some of which (like himself so many years ago) only recently discovered they had magic in them.
Dressed comfortably in warm clothing to keep the damp Scottish air out of his bones, Jamie waited at the usual spot for the Keeper with a warm smile on his handsome face, hoping to also spot his sister when she made her way off the train.
[Enter Bradley Xardel from Carriage 1: Compartment C, message 75.]"Well here we are!" the seventh year exclaimed, throwing his arms up as if welcoming an old friend. It was starting to hit him that this was really his last year at Hogwarts, and he was determined to make the most of every moment. Including this one. "Do you guys want to share a carriage?" he inquired of the people he'd shared the train ride with, turning around to face them, leaving him walking backwards across the platform that was starting to fill with students in black robes.
[Enter August Xardel from Carriage 2: Compartment A, message 100.]August meekly followed out the students she had shared a compartment with for the duration of the train ride, still feeling a little too shy to ask if she could join them in a carriage for the trip to the castle. Just as she was summoning up the courage to put forth the silly little question, she saw her brother, who was waving his arms about in a ridiculous manner. Honestly, she couldn't say she was surprised. Her brother had always been the more gregarious one.
[Enter Alice Keenam from Carriage 2: Compartment E. message 20.]Dressed in her black robes with Evander close at her heels and Amber... somewhere, Alice stepped lightly off of the carriage and catching the eye of her brother almost immediately, her face broke out into a radiant smile as she waved at him. "Well, speak of the devil," she murmured, nudging the young Ravenclaw at her side in a friendly gesture.
[Enter Evander August from Carriage 2: Compartment E, message 19.]Evander laughed and smiled warmly at the young staff member. "No kidding!" Jamie was cool, just like Alice. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to work at Hogwarts. Either way, he was excited to meet the Groundskeeper. However, it was time to go hop on a carriage, and he saw some of his friends waving. As the crowd of students started pushing against him and Alice, he shot a last look at Alice's smiling brother. "Sorry, Alice, but some of my friends are waiting for me. Thanks so much for riding with me! See you later!"
"No problem," Alice smiled, waving to the boy as he disappeared. "See you at the castle," she added as she made her way over to her brother. "Allie!" Jamie called out, spotting his sister and waving her over. "Come 'ere, munchkin," he said affectionately, widening his arms for a hug as his sister dove into them, with a large grin on her face. "How was the trip?"
"Same as always," Alice replied sweetly, "Mum gave me cookies to give to you," she told her older brother.
Jamie laughed. "I though she might--even though she already sent some with me when I left two weeks ago," he chuckled.
"Someone's got to make sure you're well fed," Alice defended their mother. "You're too skinny," she teased.
Jamie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, coming from the squirt," he retorted affectionately.
[Enter Endymius Stavanger from Carriage 2: Compartment A, message 103]Smoothing down the front of his robes, Ender tugged the portable luggage bag that contained his possessions out down the ramp into the platform. Gazing ahead, he made his way imperiously through the excitable throng that flooded the small station, getting through on sheer force of will than having to resort to crude means involving elbows or scattered "excuse me"s. Utilising his height he gazed around, hoping to espy a friend or two, in no great hurry to make the jouncing journey up to the castle. Nyfk fretted upon his shoulder, sharp eyes darting like knives into the darkening night sky. "Time you were in bed my girl." Ender mused, sniffing slightly.
[Enter Sam Sporander from Carriage 2: Compartment C, message 54]Stowing her portable pensieve surreptitiously, Sam exited the onboard bathroom, and, leafing quickly through her notebook, stepped onto the platform with a relieved smile. Even though she had done this four times poreviously, every time she set foot onto those hallowed paving stones, the felt as though she was caught in a huge slingshot and sent shooting back to her first year, when a sniffling little girl had stepped nervously onto stone landing and felt herself the furthest from home she had ever been. Nym was still sulking in his travelling case, and refusing to acknowledge his mistress, but she was to preoccupied soaking in the nostalgia of the moment. Hearing someone call her name, she turned, and her eyes lit up at the sight.
[Enter Kat Åkerstedt-Swanstrom and Val Romanovna-Nyström from Carriage 1: Compartment A, message 25.]Like everything else about her, Kat's black robes were pristine, ironed and perfectly pressed. Val's were as well, but that was thanks to the household servants and no real diligence of her own. "Well, can't believe this is our last year," Val commented to her best friend as they stepped off of the carriage and made their way to the coaches, leaving the rest of the prefects and the Head Boy, Bart (Kat still couldn't believe that he had been made Head Boy. So much for her list...), in their wake.
"On to bigger and better things," Kat replied smoothly as her ice blue eyes surveyed the bustling platform, carefully avoiding those she didn't wish to speak to. "Let's be quick," she instructed Val as they stepped lightly around a pair of second years, the Slytherin girl not wanting her robes soiled by grubby paws. She could hear Bradley yelling and gesticulating a few feet away from her and she restrained the urge to roll her eyes as they hurried past him.
[Enter Lisbet Pedersen from Carriage 2: Compartment H, message 13]Lisbet stood anxiously on the platform, in her overlong robes, excess cloth flapping ludicrously about her thin frame. Her pale blonde hair whipped about her face in the warm nighttime breeze, and streamed like a trail of gold behind her. She had been standing here for quite a while, tapping her foot nervously and waiting for Melly, her only friend here. Suddenly, an unexpectedly chilly gust rattled her bones, and she wrapped the fur shawl that she had nicked from her mother's wardrobe even tighter around herself, hoping that no one would notice the uncalled-for addition to her uniform.
[Enter Melly Zielinski from Carriage 2: Compartment H, message 14.]With Chelsea strapped securely to her chest with her shawl, purring and asleep again, underneath her robes, Melly stepped off the platform with her knapsack on her shoulder and seeing Lisbet clutching her fur to her rail thin body, she asked her new friend sweetly, "Would you like another sweater? I have an extra one in my bag," she offered, even though Lisbet had far more clothes than the orphan girl.
Whipping around in surprise, Lisbet saw Melly standing there, small as a button, but smiling in a warm, hospitable manner. "Er...no thanks, but that's awfully kind of you. I'm fine, really." Turning towards the direction of the dark lake, she breathed in awe at the magnificence of the castle. The rippling, glassy surface of the lake reflected the rugged majesty of the castle, and the effect was breathtaking. She had been here contless times before, but the beauty of the place never ceased to stun her. Turning back to Melly, her expression was animated and eager. "What d'you suppose we'll be having for dinner tonight, eh? Bouillabaisse?"
"There will be something there for each person to call their favorite," Melly replied knowingly in her lilty voice as they made their way to a carriage. "Personally, I'm looking forward to the pumpkin juice. It's never quite the same anywhere else but Hogwarts," she remarked, although of course, Melly had never really had it anywhere else since she came from a muggle orphanage. "What do you like best, Lisbet?" she asked the Ravenclaw.
[Enter Brendan O'Brien and Casey Diamant from Carriage 3: Compartment H, message 25.]As the two seventh year Gryffindors stepped off the platform, overwhelmed with Casey's junk and their two birds, Brendan scanned the deck for a carriage as he muttered to Casey, "Must you always pack so much crap? Every year you do this and I'm the one carrying it," he grumbled.
"Oh, shut it or I'll kick you off the team," Casey retorted as she rolled her blue eyes, struggling to arrange her belongings securely.
As they walked, Brendan saw someone that he recognized as a Slytherin chaser and grinning devilishly at Casey, he jerked his head in the boy's direction, waggling his eyebrows. "Let's go say hi."
Glancing up, Casey recognized Ender and groaned at Brendan. She didn't really like that bothersome, brooding boy but had no choice but to follow her friend since he was carrying most of her luggage. "Oy! Ender!" Brendan called out, holding out a hand as an offer to the Slytherin. "How goes it?" he queried. "You got a carriage picked out yet or what?"
[Enter Leigh Rosenthal]Leigh stood upright on the platform, her spine as stiff as a broomstick, her proud chin lifted disdainfully in the air. What a lot of little brats, she thought, as she eyed the fidgety, small first-years squirming on the platform. Really, why are they even worth my attention? Turning away, she wrapped her raven-black robes a little tighter around herself. Why was it so cold? She ground her perfectly-aligned teeth together in irritation. At least she'd be in the castle in a few minutes. She hated the cold. Spotting the pale figures of Kat and Val a few feet away, she strode over to join them.
Following Kat's lead, Val spotted Leigh first on their way to the carriages and seeing the handsome Slytherin making her way over to her and her best friend, she offered the girl a friendly smile. "Hello, Leigh," she greeted, running a hand through her fiery red waves. "What's up?" she asked. With her hearing as sharp as ever, Kat's white blonde hair flowed perfectly as she swiveled her head gracefully in the direction of the arriving footsteps. "Leigh," Kat greeted, her ruby red lips spreading in a small smile. "Care to join us?" she queried, as if it were some great honor, which, she knew Leigh would see it was, given the difficulty of making it into Kat's clique. Nearing a carriage, she stepped her dainty foot up on the step and placed her gloved hand into the coachman's to accept his assistance.
[Enter Nathan St. John from Carriage 2: Compartment A, message 101.]As he exited the coach with Icarus's cage in his hand, Nathan smiled slightly to himself and making his way towards a carriage, he spotted Val with her passel of friends--how could anyone not notice her?--and thinking of walking around them, he decided instead to confront his fears. The year wouldn't be any easier if he ran from his problems. Passing so that he was directly in their view, he flashed the girls a dashing smile and nodding his head, greeted, "Ladies," before breezing straight passed them.
Val felt her heart constrict at the sight of him, praying to God that neither Kat nor Leigh had noticed her expression as she swiftly followed her friend onto the carriage. This was going to be a rough year.
[Enter Bart Llewelyn from Carriage 1: Compartment A, message 24]Bart walked hesitantly along the length of the platform, examining the state of neatness that his robes were in. Fidgeting rather anxiously, he ran his long-fingered hands along his wrinkled, rumpled robes. Certainly, accidentally falling asleep on the train had been of no advantage to him, nor his crinkled robes. Spotting Kat, Val, and Leigh, the notorious Slytherin girls' clique, he narrowed his eyes in dislike, although he was still rather intimidated by Kat. The cold, emotionless Slytherin was sure to make disparaging remarks on his attire once she caught sight of him, but he didn't care in the slightest. Striding over to her in an insolent manner, he felt that he might as well get it over with. "Well, Kat, enjoying ourselves, are we? Aren't we supposed to be guiding the first-years to the boats?"
Kat's gaze narrowed ever so slightly at Bart's appearance. Already seated in the carriage, it made it easier for her to look down on the Head Boy as she replied in her icy tone, "I figured you would be better suited for the task, Bart. After all, they can relate to you better." She turned her pristine blonde head away from him then to face Leigh, praying to God that Bart would make for another carriage. She didn't want him sitting with them, looking all... rumpled and sorts. Thankful for the distraction that came her way after Nathan had strolled by, Val turned away from looking at her ex. She gave Bart a smile before she too, climbed aboard the carriage, sitting down next to Kat.
Reading her expression of utmost disdain, Bart smirked. "Don't worry, Kat. I wouldn't join your little posse for a thousand Galleons. You can sit at ease in you carriage. I'm perfectly capable of finding another, less snotty person to sit with. Incidentally, you'd better watch what you do. Professor Keenam's glaring at you." Sauntering away, he praised himself. You gave her what she deserved, he consoled himself, she's a spoilt brat who lacks sympathy for anyone but herself. And, with that, he went off to rustle up some first-years to guide to the boats.
If Kat was ruffled by what Bart had said, she didn't show it. Instead, she simply took out her compact mirror to check her reflection. Seeing that it was still perfect, she clipped it shut and turning to face Val, she said, "I don't know why he is Head Boy anyway." "Aw, he's not so bad," Val chided to her friend. "Give him a chance," she insisted.
"Why would he make up such stories about Mr. Keenam anyway?" Kat continued, glaring after Bart's back. "It's not like it's mandatory for us to do his job," she insisted. Oh, this was going to be a positively annoying year.
Climbing into the carriage, Leigh sat herself down beside Val, opposite Kat. "Now, what are you two talking about?" She asked sweetly, "Can it be that our dear Kat is now romantically hankering after Bartholomaeus Llewelyn, one of the biggest idiots and jocks in the school? However could this have happened?" She simpered a bit, then pulled out a compact mirror of her own. In a similarly sweet voice, the mirror said, "You look nice, dear. However, you seem dreadfully pale. A bit of scarlet lipstick might do the trick." "Thanks," said Leigh as she flipped the gilded cover shut, and took out a mokeskin pouch from under her robes, and began to rummage in it for a tube of lipstick.
Kat rolled her ice blue eyes at Leigh's smarmy remark and had she not actually liked the girl, the Slytherin would have found herself out of the Åkerstedt-Swanstrom clique effective immediately. "I think you must be losing your mind, dear, to think that someone like Bart could be my type," she informed the sixth year, as she reached into her own purse again to pull out her tube of Couture Beauty lipstick and handed it to Leigh to use. "This color will suit you," she told the girl generously.
Beneath Leigh's vapid demeanor, she had actually a shrewd, clever head beneath all that clutter. She acknowledged that being in THE Kat Åkerstedt-Swanstrom clique was, despite its status as desirable among all Slytherin girls, dangerous. One had to watch what she said around Kat, lest she lose her favour. the main purpose of Leigh's comment had to been to judge whether or not Kat was fond of Bart. Now, she could say, clearly not. Although she would have rather died than admitted it, her heart fluttered a bit whenever she spotted the tall, rangy Hufflepuff. She had seen old photographs of the late Cedric Diggory, and had to conclude that Bart really did resemble him. They had the same lanky stature and carelessly tousled coffee-coloured hair, and, from what Leigh could deduce from reading old Prophets, they were quite alike in personality too. It really was quite uncanny. Turning her attention back to Kat and Val, she took the proffered lipstick graciously. "Thank you, Kat." Turning back to the window, she began to apply the red pigment, holding her compact mirror in front of her.
Kat gave Leigh the barest hint of a nod as she accepted the lipstick and folding her gloved hands in her lap, she commented under her breath, "I guess only time will tell whether making him Head Boy had been the right decision or not. Val, what's wrong?" she suddenly asked shrewdly, noticing her best friend seemed... quiet. "Hm? Nothing," Val replied, glancing up from studying the ends of her flaming curls.
"Is it...?" Kat asked, having noticed Nathan stroll by earlier. Although she and Nathan had been childhood friends growing up, her loyalties were towards Val more so than the St. John. Breakup by association was never easy.
Val lowered her lashes, saying nothing. She didn't want to get into it, with him so close by.
Sarah wrote: "[Enter Brendan O'Brien and Casey Diamant from Carriage 3: Compartment H, message 25.]As the two seventh year Gryffindors stepped off the platform, overwhelmed with Casey's junk and their two bird..."
Given that the yobbish call to attention "Oy" had preceded his name, Ender knew instinctively that whoever demanded his attention, it was almost certainly not one of his own house; Slytherins, whatever people were inclined to say about them, be it to cast benighted aspersions or prejudicial misconceptions, generally knew how to retain a sense of decorum. "Ahh Brendan, I trust your stint away from the castle taught you a thing or two?" he teased acerbically, gesturing to one of the horseless carriages not too far from where he stood. "Here, permit me to give you a hand." Striding forward, he offered Casey a flickering smile, claiming the heavy trunk from her hand; it was a mark of Hogwarts, and indeed the magical communy's new approach toward oter magical creatures, that house elves were no longer tasked with lugging students luggage up to the castle, and the notion of hiring trolls had been unanimously quashed. "The alternative, is always an undetectable extension charm." he grinned, puffed, by the time they managed to fit all their belongings into the capacious trunk storage section of the deceptively sturdy carriage. "still I daresay it makes for excellent early Quidditch practice."
Brendan snorted at Ender's question and retorted, "When do I ever learn from my 'stints'?" When the Slytherin took her trunk, Casey mumbled a thanks and gratefully relinquished it to him as they walked towards one of the carriages. She switched Beowulf's cage into her other freed hand and felt loads better as she quickened her pace to keep up with the teenage boys.
"Ah, so you've been practicing then?" Brendan asked when Ender brought up Quidditch. "All summer long too, I'm willing to bet. It's nice to not have to work during the break, aye?" He had not been as fortunate himself, of course, but that wasn't Ender's fault and so he wasn't planning on taking it out on the boy.
"Practising? Hardly," Even though they were friendly here and now, the complexion of the matter changed significantly out in the pregnant air over the Quidditch pitch, as a beater for Slytherin's fiercest rivals, Brendan would be his direct antagonist, perhaps even more so than the trio of chasers he would have to jostle elbows with. "One has to let you 'whackballs' catch up sometimes, it's only sporting." "Whackballs" was the half-joking, half snide term for beaters that had been devised by Ludwidge Prince-Prenderghast the notoriously anti-beater chaser of the Tutshill Tornadoes, and it had caught on, more as an inside joke than an implied insult. Thumping his sometime adversary on the back, Ender stepped lightly upon the step, elevating himself into the carriage before holding out a hand for the Gryffindor captain, offering her a hand up. "Come, let me, it would seem Nyxus there is in a bit of a hurry to be off." Out of the corner of his eye he saw the bony thestral shuffling its leathery wings he had been able to see them ever since he took the carriages in his second year, the demise of his paternal grandfather in the family bed surrounded by relatives having enabled his grisly audience.
"Uh, okay, thanks," Casey mumbled, handing her hand over to Ender even though she was perfectly capable of climbing aboard herself. Catching Brendan's roguish grin then, she shot daggers in his direction and took a seat on the opposite side of Ender as she placed Beowulf's cage down by her feet. Brendan hopped on and sat down next to Casey, his own bird's cage between his feet. "Nice bird you got there," he told Ender. "Casey's got a hawk too and oh, look, he's red as well," he added, as if he'd only noticed this the first time, waggling his eyebrows at his best friend and captain, receiving a roll of blue eyes as a response. "He's not blind, Bren," she admonished.
More a tawny brown than truly russet unlike the red shouldered hawk, Nyfk cocked her head inquisitively as Ender offered her a finger, upon which she gracefully hopped. "Your powers of observation never cease to amaze Bren." Ender chuckled, a genuine expression of mirth, perhaps his first of that day. "Technically Nyfk here is a kestrel, but I grant you, a raptor nevertheless." With a flare of speckled feathers, the little bird of prey alighted upon her favourite perch, her master's shoulder, and began preening, almost in opposition to the larger hawk cooped up in his cage upon the floor. "Though I don't imagine your birds are deficient in any way," he eyed the handsome owl appreciatively, being at ease in the air, he had developed a keen fondness for the natural denizens of that realm. "What say you let them stretch their wings, I don't know about yours, but this little one gets a bit antsy when cooped up, ow!" For Nyfk had at that moment nipped him "affectionately" on his right ear. Fishing into an inside pocket of his robes, Ender produced a small paper bag, offering the kestrel half a fresh flobberworm before availing himself of a spotless pocket handkerchief, as Nyfk bolted the treat. "I hope your summer was, pleasurable Casey?" Ender offered the sporty redheaed a guarded smile.
The station is located near the Black Lake, and from there a road extends around the lake to Hogwarts Castle. It is actually quite a distance from the village itself, being on the opposite side of the Hogwarts grounds. The Hogwarts Express stops here after travelling from King's Cross Station. At the station is a small group of buildings, the large being a resting place for the conductor of the train. Not far down from these buildings are entrance gates to Hogwarts that are located in a clearing of the Forbidden Forest that leads up to the school grounds. Also at the end of the platform, boats are docked awaiting the arrival of the Groundskeeper and the First years.