[color=MediumSlateBlue] [h1]Melanie Ariana Stryder[/h1] [/color]

The sound of her mother's voice calling her from downstairs jerked Mel out of her thoughts, it took her a moment to process why Anya Stryder's voice was so frantic. 6AM, she kept shouting loudly up the stairs, it's 6AM why wasn't Melanie downstairs?! Melanie's brow furrowed in a frown as she tried to remember what was so important about 6AM this morning. Why did she have to get up so early...? The only time she had to get up that early was to...the train! They were going to miss the train! She suddenly seemed to realise the error, and quickly leapt out of the covers to get ready as quickly as she could.

Grabbing her wand which she had set on the bedside table, a quick flick of the 12 inch yew apparatus and a few mumbled accio charms flung open the lid of her trunk and packed her clothes, books and other belongings inside. Thank Merlin she'd gotten the hang of that charm in fourth year or she would have been in a tight spot this morning. Melanie quickly rummaged through the remaining clothes left in her closet, finding something that would be both comfortable and acceptably neat to wear. Her usual pick of jeans with a simple shirt and a turtleneck sweater over the top would do just fine. What took her the longest of course, was coaxing Kindle, her pet snake, into the travel case that she and her mother had prepared for her. Not quite like the vivarium that she spent time in at the Stryder's house, it consisted of a small box inside of which Mel's mother had managed to place a complicated hot-air charm to ensure that the serpent had an adequate heat source while they were out in the cold air. Once they were on the train, it would be less of a problem because Mel could allow her out of the carrier (assuming anyone she ended up sharing a compartment with didn't mind the snake, of course. If they did Kindle would have to sulk in the carrier for the journey to the castle until Melanie had changed into her robes where there would be an appropriate pocket for the snake to remain close to her in) and the train would be warm enough. Quickly fixing the tangles in her hair with another wave of her wand, Mel grabbed Kindle's carrier and headed downstairs at a run, dodging around Peony, their family's house elf, who was polishing the bannisters this morning.

[color=Salmon] "Cutting it a bit fine, young lady."[/color] her mother scolded as she joined the older witch in the kitchen. Letting her trunk thump to the floor next to them, Mel stowed her wand away in her jeans pocket temporarily, so that she had a hand free to hold onto Anya's arm. She wasn't old enough to apparate herself yet, and so she would have to side-along apparate with her mother until she could take the test at the end of this year. The two quickly gathered a trolley to place Mel's belongings on (they couldn't very well float them along in front of a bunch of muggles, after all) and made their way through the wall when the coast was clear, arriving on Platform 9¾. 

Not wanting to waste any more time, Mel said a quick goodbye to her mother, promising of course, to try and write as often as she could, and to write to her father at St Mungo's too, if she got the chance, before they could visit him again at winter break. She grabbed a copy of the latest issue of the Daily Prophet as she boarded the train and wandered along the compartments to find somewhere to sit. She found Oliver Rivers and Mike Kholodov, two Hufflepuff students in a compartment near the front. Oliver was a little older than her, though they had spoken a few times, she thought she remembered him saying he was practising to be an animagus, which she thought was pretty cool; Mike was in her year, they shared a few classes too and she didn't see anyone else she recognised yet, so she stuck her head around the door and mumbled.
[color=MediumSlateBlue] "Hey Oliver, Mika."[/color] Mel greeted them politely.[color=MediumSlateBlue] "Do you guys mind if I sit in here with you?"[/color] the Slytherin made sure to ask before she simply sat herself down, in case they were saving space for anybody else who had yet to arrive to the train.