Shade watched his sister climb into the van after him and he noticed right off that something was not right with her.  He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but in the chaos of everybody seeming to get into the van at the last minute, he didn't have a chance to ask her about it.  He opted for staring out the window.

It didn't last long though, the issue with Sky pushed to the back of his mind, he notice Chloe had gotten in the vehicle and was currently sitting in the seat in front of him.  He leaned forward, ignoring the two blokes on either side of her and said, "Alright princess?" She was his friend, and he didn't care who had a problem with it, "Ready to go back to your castle?"  Shade didn't know why he came up with all this, but it was just his personality.. . he knew though, that one of these days he was going to get himself into trouble with some comment he made.

"Hey, Mason,"  Rohan said casually with the most obnoxious grin he could achieve, and sliding over as Hawkins squeezed between Chloe and him.  "I'm just so excited!"  He said with a falsely excited tone, just to irritate the boy he was now sitting next to instead of Harris.  "Are you excited, mate?"  He asked him in the same voice as before, leaning so his face was a hair's length away from Mason's.

 He sat back in his spot just as a younger blonde girl sitting in a row father towards the front turned to ask the two if they were friends.  Though Rohan's first instinct was to say, "No way," he simply answered, "Of course,"  throwing a very hard pat on Mason's back.  Rohan completely ignored the 7th year who had begun speaking with Chloe, too busy tormenting Hawkins.

Jet perched on the top of his cage, his head tucked under his wing. Lexi slipped her glove off to take the chocolate frog from Annette, "Oh my gosh Annette, you are literally a life saver!" She opened the package carefully, catching the frog in her grasp before it could hop away. She always felt bad for it, but she quickly bit off part of the frog and it stopped squirming.

"Wait Annette," Lexi said, leaning towards her and lowering her voice. "Is it possible that you would have an extra dress I could borrow for Christmas? I don't have any to wear and I just wanted to dress up, but I never admitted that out loud if anyone asks." She said with a grin.

Cynthia looked back in the mirror, looking at all the kids. They all seemed to be chatting happily. All, except the sixth years. Rohan seemed perfectly content, though Mason and Chloe both seemed like they would rather be somewhere other than here. But the fact was that they were here. In this car. For the next three hours.

"Mase! Did you find the food bag?" She called, wanting to get some actual nutrition into the kids. Whenever they came back from Hogwarts, she saw them as just skin and bones. Needless to say, she'd do her best to fatten them up before they went back.

Chloe turned around to look at Shade, smiling. "It's not that much of a castle, but it works. The king and queen are pretty weird muggles. I'll spare you from them." She remarked. That was the only thing she hated about breaks. It meant that she had to go back to her parents, and visit with them.

"Yes, Mrs. Hunter, it's right here", he held up the bad so she could see it in the mirror. Mason ignored Rohan as he claimed the two were friends, they had burned that bridge long ago, Mason had no hope of rebuilding it either. He didn't want to even look at Rohan, but Graham, kept patting him and talking to him, he just wanted silence.

He got a frog from the first year Hufflepuff, Annette, whom he had baby sat when her parents, and brother were away, she was a sweet girl, sort of loud, but over all a pleasant, smart girl to be around. He grabbed the frog as it leaped away and jammed the entire thing in his mouth, not caring what anyone thought.

Mason tugged the brim of his hat forward. Making it snug on his forehead. He rolled his head back as little Annette replied to the McGee girl, "I think I might have something, you can pop over tomorrow if you'd like,"

Annette laughed and nodded, eating more of her limp chocolate frog. "I can't wait!" She grabbed Emile's shoulders and shook them. "I. CAN'T. WAIT!" She repeated, shaking with excitement. She nudged her foot against her knapsack, it crinkled with all of the candy jammed inside, she just loved wizard candy, even though Jim would probably take her to Hogsmeade sometime during break, she would be able to gape at her school for the village.

A thought occurred to Annette. "Are we allowed to use magic at home with our parents permission? I heard someone talking about it, but I can't remember who. Are we allowed to do that Mrs. Hunter?" Nette asked, pretty sure Alice's mother would have an answer to her question.

Cait sat quietly with a book in hand as Cynthia dictated directions towards the back of the bus, where three unhappy looking students were sitting next to each other. The older witch had already decided that if one of them started misbehaving, she was going to hex them all.

Or maybe not, but it amused her to watch the tension rise around the three. Surely it was one of those teenage love triangles going on; but young Mr. Rohan and his lovely scarf seemed to be playing for a different team. Maybe Chloe and Rohan were both pining after Mason? Caitlyn played with the ideas in her head, silently enjoying the intentional cold shoulder Mason was obviously giving Rohan.

She looked again in the rearview mirror, noticing her own child sitting by herself; now completely seperated from her friends. There had been a valiant attempt on Lexi's part to initiate conversation to lighten her mood, but it was obvious that the young Gryffindor was in no mood to interact with her friends.

Probably because she's a bloody werewolf, Cait thought, almost reveling in the fact that her daughter was ostracized from her friends. Served her right for being a werewolf; she was more animal than human, and animals were not friends with humans.

She heard Annette pipe up with an innocent question. "No, Annette. Technically, parents are supposed to enforce rules of no magic outside of school. Underage Magic outside of school is strictly forbidden, unless you find a loophole." She added, eyeing Lexi as if to say, And no, you  missy will not be finding any loopholes.

Sky did her best to ignore everyone, which wasn't like her at all, she knew someone was going to notice eventually and call her on it and then she'd have to come clean to her brother, something she wasnt' looking forward to at all.

Her fingers lightly brushed the parchment in her pocket and she grimaced.  She should of thrown it in a fireplace the moment she realized that it was causing all her problems.  Her friends were getting ignored, her grades were worse than ever - even with Shade's help, and all because of one letter from a dead guy that meant nothing to her.  She leaned her head against the back of the seat and stared at the ceiling of the van. 

She wished this trip was over already.

Han sat for a little, listening to conversations throughout the bus while he brainstormed ideas for annoying the kids next to him.  He only heard bits and pieces of anything, but it was fun to listen anyway.  A shift in the corner of his eye caught his attention.  It was Mason straightening his stupid hat. 

It was at that point that Rohan decided to switch gears from obnoxiously upbeat to a more regular antagonizing style.  He turned to the Ravenclaw next to him.  "What are you, twelve?  Lose the hat,"  he demanded, elbowing the rim of Hawkins' cap, causing it to pop up in the air.  Graham caught it and with a hearty toss, sent it flying out the window. 

Intentionally ignoring Mason and staring forward, Rohan frowned, catching the eye of Mrs. McGee.  "May I help you?"  He asked, rudely.  Maybe it'd throw her off the fact that he just threw Mason's hat onto the road.

Mason watched in horror as his favorite wool hat was sucked off through the air stream around the bus and off and away. Mason looked at Rohan in utter disbelief. "I-yo-ha-bu-My Grandmother knit me that hat! What the bloody hell was that for?!" Mason said, getting his bearings. "I just say the same things about your scarf! UGH!" Mason slumped down in his seat defeated, no longer able to pull his hat just over his eyes.

His ears and face turned red with rage, he just wanted Rohan to spontaniously combust and leave him alone, and his hat, his favorite hat, would be returned to him. His Grandmother had knitted him the grey hat when he was about twelve, just a few mere months before she died. Mason loved his grandmother very much and the hat was the one special thing she had given him, because she had spent the time out of the few cousins Mason had, to knit him a special hat that he wore when he was upset or happy, just to have that special feeling of receiving the hat from Gammie.

He wouldn't weep over his hat, it was too small a trifle to shed tears over but he would gladly hit someone for it, namely the ridiculous scarf wearing baffoon that sat next to him. Gammie had given him plenty of things, but the hat was the thing he most treasured, it could not be replaced by anything else in the world, but perhaps his grandmother herself.

Cynthia looked in the mirror, just to see the hat be whipped out the window. She pulled the bus over, and got out. "Hats are things to be treasured! Especially if they're made by Gammie." She said with a smile, as she got out of the van. "You all don't see what I'm about to do." Cynthia said to the van, before withdrawing her wand, and saying, "Accio Mason's Gammie hat!" It took about thirty seconds for the hat to come flying into her hand, dusty and dirty. She climbed back into the car, and handed it to Mason. "It needs a good washing, but it's as good as new."

She gave Rohan a knowing glance, before they started back on the motorway.