“Ov’ course you will,” Connor crowed, choosing that very moment then to bound after the other Ravenclaw—keen ears picking up all the wibbly worries and hopeless hopes like a fly in a dung heap. As he threw himself at Kelvin (with characteristic disregard for the people around him), Bastian, Esther and Juni[1] trailed behind at a more sedate pace. His arms snaked around Kelvin’s head like a pair of cables, clingy and grasping. “Do it fer the snidgets,” Connor throbbingly cooed, furiously, passionately stroking a cheek. “Do it fer yer country.”

“I’m already frecklicious,” Juni was telling Bastian and Esther as they approached, luggage in tow. “Can you imagine how I’m going to look at the end of the trip?! All my tiny freckles will converge. They will become one. I will have one giant super-freckle. One freckle to rule them all.”

“Though you will have lost the considerable advantage of your freckles, you would look very cute with a tan,” Bastian replied charmingly. “Though not as cute as me, obviously.”

“Promise me y’ll write, mate,” Connor continued sobbingly, dragging Kelvin’s head to his chest. He groped his friend’s face some more, kneading it like pizza dough. “Especially if Collins dies.”

1.	With Kelly’s permission!

Esther – who had been busy listening to her very best friends with a fond smile – chose that moment to turn around then, and rolled her eyes. “What are you talking about, Connor? You’re going on the trip, too.” Unlike her (which was likely something she’d regret forever, especially when the thought of Ayla being present for everything she would miss was so galling), but it was the price she had to pay to pursue her internship. And if she were to become the next Violet Islington… Ambition demanded sacrifices.

Plus, Bastian wasn’t going either. And that mattered like, a lot.

Now, some people, on the other hand… That dark, pretty gaze skipping past Ayla without a second thought, Esther went over to Nell and Nico (waving at Verity, fellow Potions Club member and Vice President, as she did) and pulled the former into a friendly one-armed hug, her other hand clutching the strap of her favorite bag. “Don’t tell me you’ve done everyone’s fortunes,” she said as she released the other girl, tone dry with amusement, and turned to face the boy more fully. “Did you foresee a great catastrophe, by any chance?”

Not that she wanted one to happen, of course, not when she had friends on the ship. Frankly, it was a dreadful thing to wish on anyone. But there were definitely some people who could do with a solid push overboard, she thought—rude, annoying, inconvenient people who only got in the way. She wouldn’t say no to a more permanent absence…

Speaking of inconvenient people…  Almond-shaped eyes slid away, towards where Ambrose stood—decidedly Trishna-less. Absentmindedly Esther licked her lips; was it possible he’d gotten even more cuter during the last two weeks? She was inclined to say yes.

Juni sqooshed Bastian's cheeks affectionately before giving him a rib-crushing hug. "I'll miss you." She pouted, "Write to me. Or else." She wasn't sure what the 'or else' part would be, but she would figure that out if Bastian dared to ignore her letters to him! She approached Esther and wrapped an arm around her friend's waist, pulling her into a Christian-side-hug. "The same goes for you." Ugh, she so wished that they were coming along on the trip with her.

Oh well. At least Nell, Nico, and Connor were coming. Their little group would be split in half for the duration of SEA.

Her gaze followed Esther's, to Ambrose Pepper. She nodded her head in a silent agreement and gave Esther another little squeeze before giving Nell a look.

She released Esther and took a few steps back, enough to give her a running start before she tackle-hugged Nell, squealing with excitement.

"Get off."  Kelvin said laughing while he struggled to get away from his best friend.  "Help!  Get him off me."  He pleaded with his other friends who were decidedly not helping.  Though at least Bastian wasn't assisting Connor.  Then Esther finally intervened, though only by saying that Connor was going on the trip.

Pulling loose of the lanky Ravenclaw, he looked at his friend.  "Wait, you're going?  Since when?"  Kelvin asked, before giving his friend a slight push, "Why didn't you tell me?  Tosser."

Despite his grumpy expression, Nell knew that Nico was happy to see her, and she was happy to see her friend, as well. As always, she greeted his perma-frown with a smile and chuckled at his mention of her rather childish and magic-obsessed father, whom she had parted ways with not long before. “Well, not for lack of trying on his part. I had to chain him up outside so he wouldn’t come in,” Nell explained with a serious expression. A smirk tugged at her lips when Nico talked about the disasters that would befall them while on their trip.

“Oh, what a relief that I don’t die at sea. I never pictured myself dying young, anyway,” she pondered, choosing not to take Nico seriously. If he had had a vision of some disaster occurring during their trip, Nell hoped that he would take it more seriously.

The sound of familiar voices approaching caught Nell’s attention and she turned to see some of her favorite people walking towards them.

She returned Esther’s hug with both arms, disappointed that the Slytherin girl wouldn’t be going on the trip with them. Nell smirked as Esther inquired about the catastrophes that Nico had foreseen. "He said that there'll definitely be casualties," she shrugged non-chalantly, "Fingers crossed that we all make it back alive."

It was lucky that Nell had a lot of experience in being tackle-hugged (or sometimes just tackled, in all honesty) by Juni, because she wasn’t given much notice before her friend flung her entire body in Nell’s direction. Once she saw Juni running at her, Nell prepared herself for impact. Though she stumbled slightly, Nell kept her footing and hugged Juni back just as fiercely. Success! "Nailed it!" Nell announced triumphantly as she pulled back from Juni (for many of the tackle-hugs over the years had ended in injuries), "Your tackle-hugs are getting weak, Juni. It barely shook my footing." She gave Juni a smile, beyond excited for this trip. Even if the whole group couldn’t be there, it was bound to be fantastic.

Ayla fingered with the amber pendant around her neck ignoring the curious look it was drawing from Xavier. She was too busy worrying. She had gotten past her fear of the portkey travel (at least momentarily) and found something more pressing to worry about.

Esther and her gang of sycophants had arrived and Ayla suddenly realized just how many of them there were. There had been a time when she had been popular. She had spent nearly three years of her Hogwarts career building herself up, creating networks, getting to know everyone who was anyone while solidifying herself as everyone's adorable little sister. Somewhere along the line, while she dealt with all her own personal drama and worked on herself, everyone had forgotten about her and someone else had taken her place.

She turned away from all the laughing and the tackle hugs to look to the older students that had arrived. She had always been better with those older than her though she missed Fauna more than anything, "when are we leaving? I mean, when are we supposed to be leaving?" She doubted that this was all who was going to be attending the trip.

Nico had only met Nell's father a couple times, but he was delightfully eager to learn anything at all about magic, which made him an easy target for Nico's jokes. The boy filled his head with all manner of 'magical secrets', and he ate them up with gusto all while thanking the boy for teaching him about the wizarding world. He couldn't bring himself to be cruel to a person so beloved by one of the few people he cared about, but he could still enjoy a bit of fun.

"If I foresaw that you were in danger, Nell, trust me I would have chained you up with your father to stop you from coming along," he assured her before turning his attention towards Kelvin when his classmate voiced his opinion on Nico's gifts. He contemplated how easy it would be to acquire a bit of the Ravenclaw's hair to use for a poppet, but before he could act Connor arrived with his usual fanfare.

How Connor Todd had managed to worm his way into the position of arguably Nico's best friend was a mystery to all, but he didn't evoke any sense of loathing from the grumpster. And so Nico cared for him. The fact that Connor was currently causing Kelvin some measure of embarrassment was punishment enough. For now. But he turned his attention away from the boys and towards Esther, his chocolate brown eyes conveying a sense of world-weariness far more suited for a person at least three times his age. Of all of his friends, she was the one most who understood his views on the vast majority of the public. Particularly when it came to certain individuals.

"Esther, you know I don't give fortunes out for free anymore. But fret not, because despite the brilliant idea to travel by boat during the monsoon season, I haven't seen any misfortune befalling our motley crew," he responded before lowering his voice conspiratorially using the distractions provided by all of the exuberant greetings to take a weathered tome out of his bag and passed it discretely to the Slytherin girl. "This required the utmost amount of stealth and subterfuge in order for me to procure from the Restricted Section. Blood was shed. It contains certain spells that you might find most intriguing."

He had already gleaned what information he found useful from the text, and Nico didn't feel that knowledge was meant to be hoarded, but instead shared freely. Plus, she might have more luck in getting ingredients for poppets from some of the nuisances of the female variety. He followed her gaze towards a certain Gryffindor boy who was looking particularly... tasty.

"Appreciating the view? I would bite him. Hard," a devious glint touched Nico's eyes.

Connor whined as Kelvin pushed him away, but he relented—drawing away with a pout that melted into a broad, winsome, please forgive me grin. Possibly because the very lizardy part of his brain knew he might have made a grievous misstep here, although Merlin’s raisin tits forbid he admit that kind of stuff, he pled the fifth. “Surprise?” he tried, smiling winningly as he broke out in jazz hands. And when that didn’t seem to work–

“I wanted to surprise you!” he protested, flailing his hands. He lurched into other boy’s space with a hangdog, pouty expression. “Kevvvvvvvvvvv-innnnnnnnn–”

The girls’ triumph distracting him, Connor abruptly cut himself off, head whipping to the side. A broad, wicked grin slashed across his face.

“GROUP HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG,” he shrieked, darting away and throwing himself on top of the girls.

To think that this was the last time they would convene before being parted! Even though he’d had a sleepover with Juni and Esther, it was still terrible to think that he would be missing out on so much. Saying goodbye was bad enough, knowing that everyone else was going to have fun and adventures while he stayed to slave away his summer holidays made it worse. While he didn’t doubt he would be missed, it wasn’t the same as sharing the time in person, and it almost made him regret his decision. Almost.

His pout disappeared as quickly as it had come, and he wrapped his arms around Juni and squeezed as hard as he could, “I can’t believe you would even suggest such a thing! I will use a phalanx of owls. You will be spared no detail of my experiences.” When had Bastian ever failed as a correspondent? Never, that was when. “Provided you write to me regularly and extensively. I want to hear all about how Ambrose is,” his eyebrows danced.

In the background, someone was screaming, but it lacked the high pitch of the truly desperate, so Bastian ignored it.
Juni had left to hug other people (rude), and so Bastian returned his attention to Esther and Nico, who were apparently discussing Ambrose. Ambrose fever infected everyone, it seemed, and while Bastian totally understood, he also thought that 1. Esther was interning at a fashion magazine and 2. What about him. This was a frequent problem in his life – or rather, in the lives of others, who didn’t seem to realise that Bastian was both hot and adorable. And he had a great sense of humour and a wonderful personality. It was so unjust.

“Wouldn’t we all?” He sighed, “Puberty has been so good to him, but I think I’m getting a spot. I’ll be the only person in my family, can you imagine the shame? Isa will never let me forget it.” Isa, the closest of his siblings in age, felt the pain of being a younger sister acutely, and held nothing back where her siblings were concerned. It was made all the worse because she was utterly perfect – not as perfect as Esther, perhaps, but there was nothing to reproach. Certainly not by for Bastian to reproach, anyway.

Screams went unheeded, but summons to hug would never be left unanswered, and Bastian grabbed Esther’s hand, offering a cheery “au revoir,” to Nico before echoing the call and moving over to the huddle. Perhaps some would be satisfied with joining on the periphery, but that was no way to hug, and Bastian ducked under Juni’s arm to worm his way into the middle of the hug. He was sure that Esther would manage by herself, and by the time he’d worked his head free, he was red faced and his hair horribly messed up. But the sight before him – Connor – was well worth it, and he beamed as he worked up an arm to rest his palm against Connor’s cheek, awkward though the angle was. “Dearest Connor, how can I stand to be parted from you for so long?” his smile didn’t suggest the desolation his tone implied, but he felt the agony already! How terrible it would be!

"Merlin, we got to share a boat with you lot?" Ariadne asked over the commotion of the fourth years come fifth years. "Tell me we can throw them overboard, Professors?" She asked as she skirted round the fray to a safer spot beside Verity and Xavier.

"Do you remember that carefree time before taking OWLs?" She asked them, slipping her rucksack off and putting it down at her feet as she stared at the strange activities of their younger trip fellows.

Ambrose found himself in amongst it all at one point before he squirmed out of it. It was good to be amongst his classmates. For all his explosive tendencies, the likes that were coming along on the trip tended to forgive him after so long. O'Doherty was coming, and he could deal with Norling if everyone else was about. He wasn't a complete arse. Connor could be, but he was a loveable arse.

There was something going on though, Ambrose noticed the girls staring and whispering to each other, and figured he'd done something stupid, so tried to ignore it. Besides, Connor insisted on a group hug with them before it could bother him further.

"Oi, you got to catch us to throw us overboard." Ambrose protested to his older housemate, though he suspected that would be easier with a wand and free of the trace.

Shona had been about to reply to Maiko, but it was as though a dam had been broken; student after student trickled through, bottlenecked by the wall but quickly filling up the platform. Naturally, she’d been distracted.

“Gooood morning,” she beamed at them all, smiling brilliantly. It was, possibly, too early for it. “How is everyone?” She wasn’t really expecting an answer, not when it was early and everyone was saving their energy for either the trip or their friends. Or their family, from the looks of things; sensitive hearing picked up annoyance and goodbye’s as it did last-minute grooming sessions and earnest hugs.

She blinked at Xavier, surprised, but it quickly became a grin. “You too, Mister Tawse,” she replied, amused, before her attention was drawn away by a particularly rambunctious group of fourth-to-be-fifth years; within moments they filled the platform with a new layer of idle chatter, unabashed and carefree. As Todd instigated a mass hug fest, Shona looked on, amused and not a little endeared; it was not unlike a puppy pile.

She gave them a minute – it would be weeks before they all saw each other, after all – but the last of the students and chaperones were coming in and she wanted to make sure everyone was present. If they could start things ahead of schedule, then it was only for the better. “All right, knock it off you guys,” she said. “I want you guys to group up with your cabinmates. Singles form another group. If everyone’s here, then we’ll leave before nine.

“If you’re not going on the trip—shoo.” She flashed those solicitous family members still hovering a goodnatured grin. “That goes for family, too.”

Some students cheered, if not all—but a buzz picked up regardless, the lot of them turning to each other and chatting among themselves in their excitement. A few more hugs were given, last-minute and tight; guardians kissed foreheads, fussed with clothing, and went over lists at breakneck speeds. Todd and Bastian clung to each other, wailing dramatic love confessions and promises until their friends pried them apart.

As Esther led Bastian away, Shona produced a pen and a clipboard. “Alright,” she began, quickly flipped over a few pages until she found what she was looking for. “When I call your name, just give me a sign that you heard me.” She clicked the pen. “Raine... Eli... Nell...”

She lifted her gaze, expectant, and grinned as the first hand rose.