She'd found herself on this train twice before - the memories of the trip to Hogwarts for the Remembrance Day events still played strongly in the front of her mind.  But, this was different.  She wasn't a guest.  After months of preparation, what seemed like endless tutoring sessions and awkward anticipation, Mairead was getting on the train now as a full-fledged Hogwarts student.

A student!  Like a going-to-school student! 

It was exciting, terrifying, invigorating and, as Mairead settled in her seat.  Her rugged, frayed-edged trunk had been stowed in the luggage rack overhead, her wand was tucked safely in her well-worn backpack and Ethne was stretched out on the floor, her back against the base of the row of seats.  Amidst the hoopla on the train platform, few seemed to take note of the large, shaggy lurcher. 

Like Mairead's mother had reminded her on the train platform with embarrassingly teary eyes, Mairead was the first in their family to go to school.  Just to be sure, Mairead pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and looked at the three words Deaglan had scribbled on it.  Once she got to school, she was supposed to seek out the Charms professor and learn them.  They'd help her with the reading and writing until she got better - they'd gotten the older Pavee through his first year of classes and he'd sworn they'd get her through hers as well. 

The train whistle sounded through the station and, up and down the train, doors started slamming.  This was it!  They were off.  Mairead shoved herself towards the edge of her seat and pressed her nose up against the train window.  All up and down the platform, parents were waving their children off as smoke began billowing more fervently from the engine's smoke stack.  Staring out the window, Mairead hadn't heard the compartment door slide open.  It wasn't until Ethne's tail flopped against the floor and the dog lifted her head that Mairead realized someone had come in.  Eagerly, excitedly, she looked towards whoever would, theoretically, be her classmate.

Charles, in contrast, had seen the Hogwarts Express many times before, but never been on it before. after years of waiting, he was now officially a Hogwarts student.He just hoped his brother wasn't too overprotective. then, the train started moving and they were off!

Walking down the corridor, Charles found an almost empty compartment.  Opening the door, he noticed a dog laying in the down position on the floor. He also noticed a fellow first-year looking at him with what looked to be excitement. " Hello. Do you mind f I sit in here?" He asked.

“Listen to your teachers, all right?” Oliver’s mother gave him one final farewell-hug, enveloping him and nearly smothering him.  He was afraid that if she hugged him any more tightly, his eyes would pop out of his skull.

“I will, Mum,” he reassured her, flattening his mussed hair with his free hand.  She nodded , and allowed her husband to guide her away from her son.

His father stepped forward and embraced the boy, as well.  He wasn’t as emotional as his mother, but Oliver could tell that there were a fair amount of emotions welling up inside of him, as well.

“Be good, my boy.  Remember to write us as often as you can!”

He grinned.  “I will, dad.”

Giving them each one last final goodbye, Oliver lugged his trunk onto the train with one hand.  In his other, he was holding a newly-purchased birdcage.  Inside sat his owl, Arown.  Brown feathers gathered around the bird’s back and breast, while white feathers formed a sloping shape around her stomach and feet.  Her face was brown, and there weren’t any identifiable markings around it anywhere.  Arown was the quietest of the owls the day Oliver stepped into the menagerie with his father, but she was very friendly.  Inside of one of the outmost pouches of his trunk was a bag of mouse-shaped owl treats.

The boy made his way through the Hogwarts Express, wheeling his trunk along and carrying the cage out in front of him.  No sooner had he passed a group of excited-looking first years when the train whistle blew.  The floor lurched under his feet, and before he knew what was happening, he was off!  Off to the school that he’d dreamed about ever since he was a small boy.  Off to where Mairead had told him knights in glimmering armor stood guard, accompanied by all sorts of other wondrous, magical entities.

Now, all he had to do was find an open compartment.

He spotted Mairead, the girl he’d met in London and had visited Diagon Alley with.  A boy was standing outside the door, asking her if he could come into the compartment with her.  Oliver stood behind him, allowing a large grin to spread across his face.  The last time he saw Mairead had been several weeks ago.  They’d visited Diagon, then left later that day and went their separate ways.  Here she was again, though, going to Hogwarts as well!

“Hi, Mairead!” he greeted her cheerily.  “Do you mind if I sit with you, too?”   

Two boys were standing in the compartment doorway.  The first Mairead was certain she'd never seen before though he was dressed quite cleanly, his clothes seemed new and his trunk seemed very new.  On first appearances, it seemed the boy came from a rather well-to-do family.  Hopefully, this boy would turn out more like that Adley kid than that Euphie (or whatever) girl. 

Even if he was more like that girl ... well, they apparently weren't supposed to use their wands until they got to school so there was plenty of time to sock him, too.  Mairead nodded.  "I don't mind," she offered, her Irish brogue sitting heavily on her voice.   

The boy behind the first was much more familiar.  Though Oliver had a lot to learn about the nuances of having fun, he'd been a relatively good sport as Mairead dragged him through London, the Underground and, eventually, to Diagon Alley.  The light grey scottish deerhound mix under Mairead's feet lifted her head and sniffed curiously at the owl cage.  "Hiya, Oliver!  Yeah - ye can sit here.  Me name's Mairead ó Fearghail," she offered to the first boy.  "I'm so excited," and nervous but that required less in the way of a public announcement.  At least they'd have one more day of freedom before classes started. 

"I can't wait for dinner!"  Mairead declared, already looking forward to what she heard would be a bountiful feast.

" Thanks" Charles said, walking to a seat next to the window. Stowing his trunk in the luggage rack above their heads, he sat down, even if he was almost quivering with excitement.

" I'm Charles Harcroft." Charles said when Mairead told him her name. " Yeah, I'm excited too. I just hope I make Gryffindor. all my family have been in Gryffindor. What House do you think you'll be in?" Charles asked.

Oliver followed suit, hoisting his trunk up onto the metal rack.  Arown hooted loudly Mairead’s dog began to sniff at her cage.  She shrunk back but lost her balance, and nearly toppled off the perch.  Luckily, she landed on either talon.  If owls could scowl, she probably would have.  He grinned, watching her busy herself with getting back on her perch.

“Calm down, Arown,” he told her, setting the birdcage next to his trunk.  “We’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

He wiped his hands off on his pants and took a seat next to Mairead.

“I’m Oliver,” he introduced himself to the boy.  “Pleasure to meet you, Charles.”

“What’s for dinner?” he asked Mairead.  “Do they serve the same dish to every house?”

When Charles asked her what house she thought she’d be in, Oliver realized that he hadn’t given that any more thought; what house would he be in?  He canceled out Slytherin and Ravenclaw right away, but went back and forth between the two remaining houses: Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.

The only question was, which one would it be?

Eirene stepped out of compartment 5 as fast as she could, pouting as the door slammed shut behind her. The laughter from the third year group of girls drifted out into the corridors, making her lower lip tremble. She clamped down on it and lifted her chin up resolutely. She would not cry. There had to be an open compartment somewhere!

She dragged her trunk behind her, huffing and puffing down the narrow corridor of the train. Eirene wished someone was here to carry her belongings. Her designer trunk was large enough to hold an abraxan, and heavy too, even with the packing charm! If only she had been able to find Effie earlier. She imagined them sitting together in a compartment reserved for just the two of them, Eirene chattering away while Effie stared sullenly out the window. How perfect!

But she hadn’t been able to find Effie. And because she’d taken such a long time searching for her, she’d had to resort to asking complete strangers if she could sit with them. Obviously, that had not gone over well!

Eirene peeked into every compartment she passed, trying to find students that looked to be her own age. Her Siamese kitten wriggled in her arms and meowed plaintively. Eirene made hushing noises at him and stroked his ears. She’d never admit it, but she had been hoping for a cat that would chase yarn and wind affectionately around her ankles. This one was so shy, he spent most of the time hiding under the bed. Her nanny told her that she had to stop chasing the poor thing around the house and to let him come to her, but it was so hard!

Finally, Eirene saw someone she recognized. She peered into the small window of the compartment door, calculating just how desperate she was. Mairead was in there! Though, Mairead seemed different from the girl she’d remembered from Ollivander’s. Here, she was laughing and chatting with a few boys. One of them looked familiar. Eirene cocked her head and stared at him- oh! He was the boy from the Magical Menagerie! The one Wilma had used as a shield. Then there was another boy, who looked nice and presentable.

Feeling a little bit better about intruding, Eirene put her hand on the doorknob, about to walk in.



(OOC note: Adley, feel free to butt in!)

Figaro Sellaphix shoved over a black-haired girl in front of compartment three.  "Scuse me, official business. You lot in there, hey!"  The short fifth year with dirty blond hair snapped his fingers in everyone's faces.

"Hey, listen up, first years. Kid with the owl, you with the dog, and you with the cat - you guys pay your pet fee yet? Has anyone come round this part of the train collecting pet fees? Cause if not, you're owing me - I'm collecting on orders from the Heads of Houses.  You know, animals shed, and break things, and poop all over the place.  Eat homework, lap up potions - you see why we gotta have a fee.  So that'll be ten for the bird, a galleon thirteen for that cat.  And that dog'll be two galleons five."

Figaro smiled and looked at this kids, his hand out.  Silly first years - didn't they know he'd be needing to raid the snacks cart later?  He had early settled further towards the back in a compartment with Devlin Matthews and some other seventh years.  But who could just sit in one compartment for hours? Figaro had been in perpetual motion since the night before, bouncing off the walls at home.  He'd made a scene in King's Cross as usual and his mother had slapped him in the mouth - "Going on about Nine and Three-Quarters, hooting about your course in Potion-Making! Whose going to pay those Oblivators' fines, em?! Pipe down and talk about television or something!

"Well come on - what are you staring at.  Pay up, or Professor Fleetfoot will use them for N.E.W.T. level transfigurations.  So if you'd rather have a very nice umbrella stand over an owl, let's see some coin.  Don't have all day."  He snapped his fingers again.

At first Eirene thought the train had jarred when she felt a bump and fell forward slightly with a squeal. Her cat promptly meowed and crawled up to hide on her shoulders. Then she glanced up, hearing a voice announce that it was time to pay the pet fee. The pet fee?! Eirene squared her shoulders and stepped into the apartment, leaving her huge trunk just outside for the moment.

“Excuse me!” She tapped the tall boy on the shoulder and stared into his dirty face. Eirene wrinkled her nose a bit and then got on with business.

“But there is no such thing,” Eirene looked around the compartment for support, gaze quickly glancing over Mairead. “I’ve read the Hogwarts Express manual from front to back, and there’s nothing in there about a pet fee. You should know! You look old enough to be a seventh year…” Eirene trailed off warily as she realized she was correcting an older student. Most of the students looked old enough to be seventh years, to her, so it was hard to judge with the smudges on his face and the cocky grin.

Eirene felt nervous for a moment, wondering if she should have kept her mouth shut and hid in another compartment while this boy took the other first year’s money. It was just so difficult to stay quiet when she knew she was right! Her cat curled around her neck and blinked at the boy, meowing miserably at him.
 
The boy also reminded her slightly of Keegan, which couldn’t be good. So Eirene zeroed in on another person in the compartment: Mairead. Mairead and that mangey mutt resting at her feet. It lifted its head and wagged its tail at her, making Eirene feel guilty for what she was about to do. However, she had to divert attention somehow! And the guilt didn’t last long.

“Mairead,” she began with a smug look on her face. “You do know that you’re not allowed to bring a… I suppose you call that creature a dog. You’re not allowed to bring a dog to Hogwarts. It said so in the supply list. Only one cat, a rat, an owl, or a toad is permitted,” she quoted, lifting her nose up in the air. “That means no dogs.”

Charles got up as the 5th year came in. " No-one pay him. I have Prefect for an older brother, and there is no such fee. Besides, if there was, they'd have the Prefects collecting it, not an ordinary student." Charles said to the compartment at large. Then he turned to the student who had tried to extort money from the other students. " You would be well advised to leave now. After all, who other than me has the surname Harcroft? I doubt Josh will be too happy, so with him being a Prefect now..." Charles let the threat tail off. he knew Josh was nearby, as he had heard his brother talking when whoever this idiot was had come in.

" Actually, the list you are given isn't an exhaustive list of animals allowed. provided the dog doesn't attack anyone else's pets, he'll be allowed in. After all, Pygmy Puffs aren't included on that list, and they are permitted." Charles said to the girl with her nose stuck up. " And change your expression. people'll think you're a purist." he added, as a little joke.

Arown hooted, and for a brief moment, Oliver wondered if she could understand the boy.  But that was impossible! 

Wasn’t it?

Discarding the thought, he narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not giving you anything,” his voice came out edged with iciness.  That didn’t happen often, but the moment the blonde-haired boy had stepped into their compartment, he reeked with trouble and mischief.  It shone in his eyes, and obviously in the way he demanded them give him money.

He thought about scaring him off by brandishing his wand - which was tucked safely in the pocket of his jeans - but decided against it.  That would only get him in trouble.  So, he clenched his fists and sat there, glad to see that they outnumbered him four-to-one.

Eirene wasn’t helping the situation, either.  Oliver knew that she wouldn’t try anything - this was blatantly obvious from the way she acted in the Magical Menagerie - so maybe this would turn out to be a case between Mairead, Charles and himself against this obnoxious youngster.

He bent down and patted the dog’s head, shooting Eirene an icy stare.

“Leave her alone,” he said exasperatedly.  Sitting up again, he added,  “No one asked you to this part of the Express, you know.”

 Fiana had been on boats and in automobiles, and had even once been on an airplane! But never in her eleven years of existence had she yet ridden a train. This made the whole thing very exciting, and she had spent some time exploring the Express with her new all black kitten, Merlin. Now, however, she was ready to find a place to settle down and sit comfortably, and had begun to look around for a suitable compartment - hopefully one filled with people her own age.

 After looking through several compartments in car 2, she came upon compartment three and discovered there was something of a commotion going on inside. There were several students her age in the compartment, and one older student. The younger students looked upset about something. Curious, Fi poked her head in, deciding to watch for a moment and find out what was going on before she went in and joined them.

Pushing past a girl with long, dark hair, Adley's spectral gaze settled immediately on Mairead. Since the second encounter in Ollivander's, where he'd been introduced to a whole knew branch of the wizarding population, and a curious wandmaker who was more like the brazen gypsy child than any witch or wizard he'd met in his sheltered life, he'd been keen to get to know her better. He'd made surprisingly fast friends with the other muggleborn boy, Keegan, too, and the three of them together were bound to get into any number of interesting situations.

It only helped that, currently, there seemed to be a dispute involving none other than the number one plaything of his arch nemesis. "You're standing in my way, Antonopoulos," he informed, brushing around the girl and dragging his trunk and owl cage, each of which sat upon a handsome trolley, and had been charmed by Martine to be collectively as light as a shoebox. The kitten on her shoulders had not escaped his eyes even as his attention was drawn elsewhere, and he hoped to ruffle the thing in passing.

Antonopoulos. Who in the world had chosen such a surname? However far back her family tree traced, they were sure to be as ridiculous.

He offered a sort of knowing, close-mouthed smile to the Irish girl, before finally glancing around at the others. A pair of boys his age, one of them the child who had inexplicably defended Eirene in the menagerie. An older boy who looked conniving, despite Adley not having heard his demand for money. And the girl behind him, half-blocking the entrance to the cabin. He perceived her to be quiet, and couldn't decide whether it was the calculated sort-- the kind he might use-- or whether she was simply a mute.

And a dog.

Mairead's dog, presumably. His eyes appraised the creature for a long moment. They weren't allowed dogs, or if they were, it was news to Adley. But for some reason, it drew him further to the girl, whose alliance, along with Keegan's, he enjoyed. If Effie had tried to bring a dog on the train, he would have made quite the (seemingly) uncharacteristic scene. "What's his name?" He asked, speaking as if there were no one else in the compartment, and automatically assuming the dog was a male. His own owl, however, was a female, and he liked her just fine. They'd talked about so much-- so many strange muggle things-- that he couldn't remember whether she'd mentioned the dog, though Adley was fairly good at remembering for an eleven-year-old boy.

He became aware, soon enough, that something had transpired already in the minutes before he'd boarded the train. That look on Eirene's face. The nose that begged to be brought down to earth by someone's wand. "Shouldn't you be sitting with Euphemia?" His stare roamed her face, and then the tiny kitten using Eirene as shelter. "I hear dogs love cats... for lunch."

Turning back to Mairead, he added, "We'll have to disguise him." There had to be a way to get the dog into Hogwarts. Where was Keegan? Certainly, he would help. They would find a way, the three of them. Calix would have been able to do it, Adley thought, which only made him more deteremined.

...Or would his brother have been disappointed in Adley, setting himself up for potential reprimanding before even the Sorting Ceremony? His eyes flicked only toward the older, unfamiliar boy, sure that if anyone was going to stand in their way, it would be he.

Figaro shrugged, and snapped his fingers again for payment.  Josh Harcrofts little brother was eleven times more obnoxious than he was - but then, everyone was annoying when they were ten years old.  The girl in the corridor with the cat as well.  As he spoke, more half-pints were pooling around him, so he had to raise his voice.

"Look, mates, real sorry.  You all know our dear old Headmaster Greyfriar is out and some violent new hag is in - Headmistress Snark's changing the game.  So you lot better fall in line.  I wouldn't be surprised if they collect your pets at the gate and the caretaker keeps them in a Seven-Lock Trunk until Christmas holiday."

They were still staring at him with skeptical expressions. What was the world coming to? Weren't little kids afraid of big kids anymore? Wasn't like he was fixing to be a wicked bloke - just some friendly hazing was all.   

"Look, it's not that much.  I've already paid mine.  It's far better than getting a detention your first week, right?"

Mairead lifted an eyebrow at the first boy who'd entered the train car - this Charles Harcroft.  Her first impression, it seemed, had been pretty close.  The pompous declaration of generations of Gryffindors seemed to match the clean clothes.  "Well, I'm a mudblood," she declared, proudly before turning towards Oliver. 

"I hear ye can eat anything ye dream of," Mairead started to explain, enthusiastically, to Oliver.  "And, ye can have seconds and even-" 

The compartment door slid open again and, to Mairead's surprise, Eirene Whateverolous was standing there, a kitten wriggling in her arms.  Eithne's ears pricked forward and she leaned forward, curious about the cat.  Mairead couldn't blame the cat - if Mairead had found herself entrapped in Eirene's grasp, she'd be fighting to get loose, too.  Mairead was about to ask what the girl wanted when an older looking boy rammed into Eirene. 

Mairead grinned at the boy but it faded, almost as quickly as the boy started to talk.  Pet fee?  She hadn't heard about any pet fee.  And, the school knew she couldn't pay it - most of the school fees were covered by the scholarship.  While all of the younger students seemed to deny the demand for a pet fee, it was Eirene's insistence that dogs weren't allowed that had caught Mairead's attention. 

"I'm ... what?"  Mairead said, puffing up her chest defensively.  She ignored the apparent insult towards the dog - as long as Eirene didn't start threatening to feed her dog to snakes, it seemed less important.  "Well, ye got to bring yer bloody lizard to school and that's not on the list," Mairead said, nodding towards the cat in Eirene's arms.  "Bugger off," she said, leaning back in her seat, glancing towards Charles as another girl - and then Adley - stopped by the room.  Hopefully, Charles was right.

Mairead grinned at Adley as the boy pushed his way into the compartment.  "Her name's Eithne," she answered, putting a slight stress on the pronoun.  "Me family has Oisin's and me godmother's dog at home so I got to bring her with me."  Mairead grinned, leaned over and scratched the lurcher's head as Adley advised Eirene to leave for her cat's sake.  "Disguise him-her I mean?  How can we do that?"  she asked.  "Do ye think someone can use magic and make her invisible?  Or something like that?"  She looked, pointedly, at the older boy.  But, rather than offering some useful, magic-laden solution, the boy was persisting about these pet fees. 

Modifying an old tactic for evading trouble when caught on trains without a paid card, Mairead replied, casually.  Either the boy was lying and would know she was, too.  Or, he wasn't and (perhaps) wouldn't know the difference.  "I already paid me fee.  Me mum sent it to the school.  So, me dog's fee is paid and she's official."  Mairead looked pointedly at Eirene and nodded.  The older sure didn't seem to have any clipboard or other sheet of paper that might list who'd paid.  "Is the fee paid for yer lizard?" she asked - more than willing to take advantage of this boy's story, whether it was real or not.