@The Elvenqueen@Ceta de Cloyes

Grinning Oliver looked at his companions for the time being. He never missed a chance to show off if he could help it, and Melani was practically begging to see how awesome he was doing with his animagus work. With one smooth movement he stood and flicked out his wand. "Why don't I just show you!" He declared. The young man beamed. Then with a mischievous grin he flicked his wand at the light, silently casting coloveria and changing then to a light shade of blue. All magic looked better under any shade of blue, and in his personal opinion it was never a good idea to try difficult magic without warming up your wand first. Even if the specific magic didn't exactly require a wand.

Taking a deep breath he shuddered and erupted into a mass of feathers. What was left was a huge bird, his eyes starring at the other two students in the cart.

The train whistled once again signaling their departure, a shake followed shortly after as cart by cart the train began moving, wheels thundering down the track toward hogwarts and another wonderful year.

Mike leaned forward slightly, he was interested in hearing more about Oliver's form too. He had done research into the subject himself, but he thought it was something better persued after Hogwarts than something he could achieve any time soon. Maybe Oliver would say something helpful? A clue Mike could use later to become an Animagi after he graduated?

Mike blinked, caught off guard and abandoning that train of thought at Oliver's bright expression. He has a nice smile, Mike thought, a slight grin curling his lips. A silent spell ejected from Oliver's wand, casting a blue lighting over the compartment. Mike's grin only barely receded as his brows drew together in confusion. Why the light?

In the end it didn't matter, Oliver turning into a giant bird shocked the question straight from Mike's thoughts. Why was he so huge? He jerked back, somewhat in surprise, but mostly just to make room in case he kept growing. There was something about the size, the beak, the talons, the eyes- the whole form in general really, that made Mike nervous. He dismissed the notion though, Ollie wouldn't hurt him, giant bird or no.

Still, Oliver was clearly excited by this and Mike neither wanted to make him feel bad nor to show his own slight fear, so he pasted on an impressed look and smirked. "Cool," he grinned, "looks like those 'raptors from those muggle films." he commented, suddenly feeling much better about that comparison. Velociraptors were cool.

@Classpet@The Elvenqueen

@Classpet@Ceta de Cloyes



Melanie leapt backwards in surprise, barely managing to stifle the exclamation that followed shortly after. The last thing she had expected Oliver to turn into was a giant bird with sharp claws. She wasn't sure what kind of bird it was, but it looked dangerous. After studying the bird for a few moments in silence, Melanie had to remind herself that it was still Oliver, and as such therefore wasn't dangerous. He would never do anything to hurt them.

"S-Sorry, I just...wasn't expecting a giant bird!" the Slytherin girl apologised with an awkward laugh. "That's pretty neat; how long did you have to practise to be able to do that?" she glanced across in Mike's direction as he mentioned something called a 'raptor'...she wasn't sure what that was either, but then again she didn't watch muggle movies, so how would she? Melanie's curiosity got the better of her, however, and she had to ask. "What's a...raptor? Is it a bird too?"

@Always @TheHangedMan @josephb



Emira glanced up at the brunette girl, watching taking her feet down from the seat so the girl could perch along side her. She scooted over to the other side of the car, closer to the door. She preferred the door anyways, made it easier to escape if something should happen. And knowing her track record, something was definitely going to happen.

"Yo." She called, "Emira Firestorm." She kicked off her shoes and tucked her bare feet up on the seat, leaning slightly so she was resting on the door.

The Hogwarts express lurched suddenly as it started to move towards its destination. Emira peered over Aly to take a glance at their surroundings. This was the last time she was going to see any of this. Annoyed by her own sentimentality, Emira forced herself to tear her eyes away from the window and shifted her backpack closer to herself, digging around inside. She grunted as she knocked over her books, and they thumped loudly as they clattered against her cauldron. "Shit." She swore, then poked her head inside the bag as she tried to fix her mishap. Moments later she pulled her head and arm out of the bag, holding a very tattered notebook and a pencil. She flipped open the notebook and stared at the pages. A list of her ideas for pranks, crossed off if she'd already done them. Pages and pages were filled to the brim with scribbles and scrawl. One of her personal favorites from fourth year was turning all of the water into honey for two hours. And then there was the one from second year where she filled water balloons with plaster and gave them to Peeves. This year. This year had to be a prank to beat all pranks. Maybe she should flood the entire third floor with salt water? That would be a start. She chewed on the end of her pencil thoughtfully before scribbling something about flooding a cooridoor with some kind of liquid. Her eyes glittered as she thought of another part of her prank. Dungbombs with wings.

Ah.. and then there was part of her who wanted to try the new candy she'd been developing. Using a few charms and Veritaserum, she'd managed to make a candy which made people sing the truth for about two minutes. She'd only tried it out on her uncle so far, and he'd sung about how he was secretly afraid of mice. The best course of action was to try it out on the people in the car with her. Then she could take a couple of notes and see if it was just silly truths or dark ones.

Emira tucked the book beside her, reaching into the depths and pulling out a bag of bright orange log-shaped candies, individually packaged in seran wrap. "So.. who wants to be a guinea pig?" She asked, holding up the candies so everyone could see them.

Megan put away her things once she heard the final whistle preferring to spend the trip from station to school relaxing which seemed like an easy task considering that she was alone in the compartment.

So using a spell she transformed the bench she sat on into a lounge covered in blue and bronze fabric cushions on which she lay back and started a bit of music to listen to. Then she waited for the trolley to buy a snack from as she listened to some music.

Elliot listened to Emira talk to him about quidditch. He laughed a little at the slightly dark sentence Emira told him, “All bludgers aimed in the general direction of your face or body aren’t meant to kill you. Just maybe maim or seriously injure you.”

Elliot replied with, “No, there’s no hard feelings.” Elliot smiled at her and continued, “You weren’t the first person who’s tried to take my head off with a bludger and I don’t think you’ll be the last.” He took a few seconds to think back to one of his first games, “In my third year, I remember someone from Ravenclaw catching me in the shoulder and knocking me off my broom, I didn’t really remember the next two weeks.” Elliot took a few more seconds and shook his head laughing. “To be honest our captain left, so it’s going to be hard to get back to our best. Hopefully I’ll be chosen to become the captain!”

Before Emira could reply another girl walked into the carriage, she was in the same year as Elliot but he’d never really spoken to her before, she introduced herself as Aly. Elliot simply just smiled at her and said, “ I’m Elliot. Are you alright?” She took a seat next to Emira, getting herself comfy.

A few moments later Emira started rummaging around her bag and pulled out some candies and told everyone. “So… who wants to be a guinea pig?”

Elliot was very intrigued on what she wanted people for guinea pigs for, “Why not? Might as well try something new.” He held out his hand, smiling childishly.

@The Elvenqueen@Ceta de Cloyes

Oliver began chattering, attempting to answer their questions, though unsuccessfully. In times like these he wished his animagus form was a parrot or some other animal that could talk, or at least convey a message. This form had its perks to but really none of them would really be that helpful until he graduated. For now it seemed he would just have to turn back into his human form.

The raptor shook, it's feather shedding and turning to dust before vanishing entirely. After a short time Oliver, the human, sat in its place. A few feathers still clung in his hair as he grinned at his friends. "Its a Bearded vulture." he concluded simply. "Actaully transforming did take very long to learn, all the animagus theory and rules are what take the longest. It only took me about a month to really get the hang of it." really he was still trying to work out the transformation bit, it never felt quite right, not to mention that he'd not figured out how to fly yet.

"Raptors are like big lizards, Muggles are scared they'll come back from the dead and eat them or something. It's really weird." he said casually, "My mom used to love muggle films about things like that-"

Suddenly the lights went out and the entire train was cloaked into darkness. Screams could be heard from rooms nearby as younger students were plunged into terror. "lumos"Oliver whispered as he crept toward the door, his wand glowing softly. footsteps could barely be heard over the noise, thudding down the corridor until the last scream stopped.

All ears were met with a strange silence. Peering around he caught sight of a small square of paper near his foot. He examined the cars flipping it over as he picked it up. Squinting he could just barely make out the golden lettering "Dearest students of Hogwarts," he stuttered, struggling to make out the words in the dim light. "if you endeavor to join our cause come to the shrieking shack on the first visit to Hogsmead. All will be explained there." He paused for a moment in disbelief. "signed the Cloaks”

Raising his wand from the paper he looked towards his friends questioningly.

@Classpet @Ceta de Cloyes


Melanie froze in place, her next question about Animagus cut off as suddenly the lights went out, whipping out her wand quickly before her brain could process any other reaction. She heard angry hisses coming from Kindle, who was curled up in the carrier on the seat beside her. Melanie hastily whispered a few soothing words to the serpent, careful to make sure the other two students in the compartment wouldn't overhear her. Finally able to think straight, she thought about conjoring a little light and trying to see what was going on exactly, that would make the younger students scream so much.

But it seemed Oliver had beat her to it, the Slythering squinting in the dim light cast by his lumos charm as he read from the piece of paper he had found. Unimpressed, Melanie stowed her wand back in her jeans pocket and settled her hands on her hips as she huffed loudly.
"They put all the lights out just for that?! Why not just charm them into little birds and fly them through the windows or something?" the methods seemed awfully suspicious for a witch and wizard movement that proclaimed to believe magic should be more openly used.

That wasn't to say, of course, that the Slytherin sixth year wasn't considering going. After all, despite what had happened to her father-an accident, her mother claimed, that the Cloaks were responsible for-she couldn't deny she was curious to find out more about their motives. A small voice in the back of her head warned her to listen to her mother's warning, but since when was Melanie Stryder known for thinking before doing things?

She looked across at Mike and Oliver warily.
"What do you guys think? You gonna go?

Megan was leaned back her eyes closed and listing to music with the lights went out and might have even been completely unaware of the event if not for Aunt Livonia.

"Megan! Your attention please" hissed the witches ghost that had haunted her since she was barely 10 years old

"Lumos!" urged Meg with an annoyed expression.

Not one to allow emotion to rule logic the young Miss Sprite surveyed the scene around herself before committing an action.

The at the base of the compartment door was a small square of paper which she retrieved without touching it.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she commanded causing it to flutter into the air and unfold it's self



It was an odd note and an even stranger delivery method and it was signed "The Cloaks" which caused Megan to smile.

She'd been privy to a bit of information on a new band of magic folk who held an odd belief which was as yet only speculation and a chance to Banish speculation with fact made her spirit soar.

So once she had put away the evidence Megan left her compartment to explore the train and investigate how far reaching this thing went

Mike was ready to dismiss the lights going out as a simple electrical error, this was a very old train run by magic after all, it wasn't that much of an assumption. Apparently he was alone in that judgement, the others were clearly startled, drawing their wands as if afraid they were going to be attacked. Mike followed their lead, slipping his vine wood wand from it's hiding place and muttering a quick "lumos" to wield the tool as a flashlight.

His friends were right to be suspicious; the lights weren't an accident, but instead a subtle display of magic used to deliver a message. Oliver read the words aloud, sounding uncertain as they discovered the paper was an invitation to the Shrieking Shack, probably to be met by a recruiter of some sort. It was... dumb, he decided after a moment of thought. They could easily turn the note in to a professor and get the recruiter caught- unless there were safeguards against that. What kind of magic could keep that kind of thing secret? Or did they care? Was it a trap? A test by the staff? So much could be off, but Mike found himself inclined to go anyway, because what if it was real?

He glanced at his companions, wondering at where they stood. Melanie seemed wholly unimpressed, but there was something in her eye that made him uncertain of that conclusion. Ollie was disbelieving, probably shocked at their audacity to recruit from a school of all places. Mike had similar thoughts, curious how bad things must be for them if they wanted support from underage wizards and witches. They both seemed to be measuring each other as much as he was them, trying to guess where everyone stood.

"What do you guys think? You gonna go? Melanie asked, rather bluntly in Mike's opinion.

Way to put us on the spot... He thought grumpily, glancing uncertainly at Oliver. He tried to decide if he should give her the truth or not, but after only a moment of thought he knew it probably didn't matter. Still, he went with a less decisive answer, just in case. "Maybe. Might ask around first, see if it's real before I turn up." He could find a way to spy on the place, to make sure it was actual Cloaks holed up there and not aurors or professors. Already a plan was forming in his head.

@The Elvenqueen@Classpet

@Ceta de Cloyes@The Elvenqueen@Classpet



Meg walked the corridor of the train car her wand gently gripped in her left hand an on the ready; just because she had yet to hear of any potential danger she had little to lose by preparation.

She was the undisputed Mistress of the capture spell "Incarcerous" and her mind and wand hand held ready her intention. (She's got a Hair Trigger) But as tense as she was she was still under control so when she encountered three 1st years roaming the car ahead she was gentle and as non-threatening as a beloved older sister as she put them back in a compartment.

It was at the end of the car that she heard some familiar voices so she looked through the door glass and waved at the occupants.

Inside she saw Melanie Stryder a a tall gorgeous platinum blonde Slytherin girl know for her quick temper an keeps company with a snake. Next was Oliver Rivers a cute tall thin curly haired Hufflepuff boy who's reputation as a romantic butterfly is only exceeded by his reputation as an advanced expert on Avion species. Finally there was Mike as he was called by those that couldn't help but mangle his Russian name Mikhail Arkadiyevich Kholodov; personally she preferred Mika to Mike but thought she might be in a minority. A typical Puff on the outside Mika did seem to brood a bit at times and displayed at others the personality of an idealist or possibly poet.

*Two Badgers and a Snake, must be the subterranean club?* she thought to herself. *Oh well at least the Badger boys are a good sign that the Snake isn't without merit*

@RumikoOhara@Ceta de Cloyes@Classpet



Melanie turned sharply towards the door as she heard more footsteps in the car's corridor, slowly relaxing her tensed muscles when she realised it was only Megan Sprite, a Ravenclaw 6th year.
"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, Sprite." the Slytherin muttered. "What if one of us had thought you were one of these Cloaks? We could've hexed you." if she hadn't put her wand away only moments before, she might have tried it. Megan had got off lucky there, as far as Melanie was concerned. Not that it mattered now.

"Maybe. Might ask around first, see if it's real before I turn up." Mike answered, his uncertainly clear in his eyes.
"Well, I'm going." she continued, her blue gaze glancing briefly at Megan and Oliver as she waited for them to announce their intentions. "Couldn't hurt to find out more about what they're up to, or what they want." secretly, Melanie hoped that at least one of the other students would come to the same conclusion before the first Hogsmead visit, because she didn't quite fancy going on her own.

@The Elvenqueen@Ceta de Cloyes@RumikoOhara
Oliver shrugged at Mika and Melanie. He had to admit the Cloaks sure were weird if they thought a little bit of magic like this would impress anyone. Whoever turned off the lights had some spunk though. It all seemed more like a prank than an invitation. "I kinda want to go, just to check things out." He said.He wasn't about to miss out on something that could be interesting. As far as he understood these Cloak figures could be history in the making.

He gave Megan a small wave as she entered. She was pretty cool for a raven claw in his opinion. "Hey Meg." he greeted,"did you get the letter too?"

@Always @TheHangedMan @josephb



A smile spread across Emira's face as she dropped the candy in his hands. "That might have been me. Honestly, I've lost track of how many people I've sent spiraling to their doom. Though that could have also been Irving. He's the other beater. He graduated last year though. Man, its going to be weird beating alongside someone else." she laughed. "Who knows who the captain of the Quidditch team will be this year. Not me though, that's for sure. I don't think i could be the leader type."

But before they could say anything else, the train was cloaked in darkness and the screams of younger, less experienced students were heard echoing through the train. Emira let out a string of angry curses, setting her candies on the seat beside her and lighting the tip of her wand. "Lumos." She heard footsteps outside of the doorway, and narrowed her eyes, leaping up from her seat and slammed the door open just in time to see what looked like a cloaked someone sprinting down the hallway, dropping squares of paper before each car door. "Accio." She called, and one of the papers zoomed from in front of one of the other compartments. She opened the paper, skimming it quickly, her eyes narrowed as she read and she snarled. She crumpled the paper and tossed it aside, sprinting down the train hallway. She reached the end of the hall, slamming open the car door. But the cloaked person was long gone. She narrowed her eyes, cursing under her breath as she shuffled back to her compartment, in a foul mood.

She picked up the crumpled paper next to the door and chucked it into the compartment before lighting it on fire with a silent flick of her wand. Silver fire burst along the paper, and it was gone in a flash. She did however, leave the paper outside their door intact, so the others could read it if they wanted to. "How dare they do this to me? The Shrieking Shack has always been my hideout!!! It's where i've planned most if not all of my pranks. It was supposed to be a place free from political agendas. Now i have to find a new place to hide out." She groaned, reaching up to rub her forehead. This sucked.. this sucked so much. The Shrieking Shack had been her hideout since she was in second year. She'd seen the Whomping Willow and decided she was going to climb it. Of course, the first three times she'd climbed it, she'd been severely injured.. and she'd been given detention.. but she was determined to get what she wanted. And then.. she'd discovered the knot behind the tree. And it had stopped the thing from whipping. And her and her brother had gone up into the tree.. found that it lead to the Shreiking Shack and decided to make it their hideout.

Actually, Emira had left some of Marcus' stuff in the Shreiking Shack, sort of as a shrine to him. The idea of anyone being in there besides her now.. made her insides twist uncomfortably and burn like fire. As she got angrier, her features grew slightly sharper and bird-like.

"Accio." She summoned the second paper, unfolding it mid air with a flick of her wand and allowing everyone to get a good look at it as she stuck it to the window with a sticky charm. "I don't know about you, but I am going. If nothing else, i can get my stuff out of the Shrieking shack before they stain it with their political agenda.." she snarled.

In her personal opinion, the Cloaks were a bunch of idiots. Sure, the idea of exposing the wizarding world to the muggles was good in theory.. but there were many things working against them. For one, they weren't thinking about how destructive muggles could be. How it was possible the muggles could get jealous and turn on the wizards and a war would sprout between wizards and muggles. How if they discovered mythical beasts existed they would try and kill them just as they did in the days of old. She'd paid attention in history class enough to hear something about how muggles had once fought and almost eradicated all dragons. That it was only because of wizards that dragons even existed.

She could see the muggles rising against the wizards in jealousy.. she could see the muggles treating wizards as second class citizens or vice versa. There was a reason that the laws separating magic and the real world existed. Not all muggles could handle the truth. And since muggles were not magical.. what was the point of letting them know about this stuff's existence. It would almost be cruel.. like showing a person who couldn't walk bionic legs which they could never afford. Not only that, but Emira had a feeling something similar to this had happened before.

The Cloaks only spelled disaster for the entire world. Though she wasn't about to face off against them either. They could believe what they wanted. She would have to make a nice little prank for them as payment for taking over her hideout. 'dungbombs with wings.' just that thought was enough to relax Emira and make her features return to normal.

Karen took a look at the new comer and gave a her casual smile. "Karen, nice to meet you Aly," she said with a nod.

Her greetings done, she leaned back to relax, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She didn't really do much during these train rides. She'd rather relax and prepare for her return to the castle. Still, she'd participate in conversations as much as she could.

"I wish you the best of luck," said Karen with an light tone, "I won't promise you that you can make captain, but I'll cheer you on, Elliot."

Her eyes still closed, Karen poked one eye open as Emira brought out a bag of candies, asking them if anyone wanted to test it out for her. She debated on accepting the offer, but Elliot beat her to it. He was a Griffyndor indeed, it seemed. Lying back down, Karen paid close attention to the outcome of whatever it was that Emira concoted.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance.

All of a sudden, the train halted in its tracks and nearly through her to the floor. Owing to her reflexes, Karen planted her feet on seats on the other side, preventing her from jerking downwards. Then, the lights went off and the screeches of other students reached her ears.

Immediately, Karen got on her feet, and snatched the letter outside their door and read it, before nodding and exiting the compartment. She didn't have time to think about this, she had more important things to do.

"I'm going to check the other compartments to see if their okay," she said. Her next words came in a whisper, with the same calm and measured tone that she had used to speak with them, but there lay an undercurrent of rage, a hate that was so in contrast with her usual airy attitude that for a moment Karen, who was shadowed in the darkness, looked downright demonic: "How dare they. There are children here. This is their first day going to Hogwarts for some. It was supposed to be a happy event. How dare they try to ruin this for them with their childish antics."

Karen walked outside the compartment, wand out and eyes blazing.

"Lumos Maxima Tria," whispered Karen, swishing her wand in a wide arc.

Immediately, three extremely bright balls of erupted from the tip of her wand. One stayed where she was, illuminating the area where her compartment was, while the remaining two flew from one end of the train to the other, providing light for a wide length of the train.

"Locomotor Autos."

In response to her words, the three balls of light began moving back and forth, as if patrolling the length of the train.

With that, Karen shot off to the nearest compartment to make sure the one's inside were okay. For any children she encountered, she assured them that it was all part of the experience, and that sometimes the higher years liked to play pranks like these. Hopefully, they would believe her and take things in stride. She'd hate to think that their first time to Hogwarts was ruined by something as stupid as a recruitment scheme.

In her mind, she made sure to make note of this. She would attend that meeting, and she would force them to kneel down and apologize for this.

@Ceta de Cloyes@The Elvenqueen@Classpet




Megan looked at Melanie with a delighted expression as she flicked the fingers of her left hand an put away her own wand with the performance flair of a muggle stage magician.

"I shall then consider my good fortune I was not hexed" she answered the tall Slytherin babe choosing flirt over threat as a response.

Then when Melanie said she was going an glanced at Meg Miss Sprite winked.

Then she found herself looking at Oliver an Mika so they didn't feel ignored.

"Yes I did find an invitation" she said with the smile of a cat spotting an inattentive sparrow "Intriguing, Nes'pa?"

She stepped aside for any who were exiting her excited expression practically causing her to glow. She had such great plans already forming in her head for an in depth review of the Cloaks and whether she aided or exposed them depended on the facts and their overall effect.

Mike glanced up when the door opened, for a second he was concerned it was a professor here to chew them all out, but he relaxed when he saw it was just another student looking for answers. He was a little relieved the message was widespread and not limited to just their compartment, he wouldn't know how to take it if their compartment had been singled out. A quick exchange occurred between the others and Mike grinned slightly when he realized they were all undoubtedly going to show up. From what he'd heard of them Mike was pretty sure he agreed with everything they stood for, but it couldn't help to listen first.

Still, it was rather stupid of them to rush in blindly. He silently came to the decision to share his findings with them once he knew something more. He wouldn't let them walk into a trap or a set up, and it might ease their minds if he could find out it was real and told them he was going too. For now though, he wasn't giving any certainties, not until he knew more.

[color=eeba33]"Yeah,"[color] he agreed with Sprite, intriguing was one way to put it. "I think I'm gonna wait and see how it plays out before I judge them though." It was down to a waiting game now. Would the Cloaks be able to cover their actions here today from the authorities? Would the meeting be a recruitment or a trap? How would the student body react? He paused, a dark thought in his mind; how would his parents react? He grimaced, that was not going to go well.

He decided that was enough thinking and glanced out of the compartment's window, picking out a couple familiar sights as they passed. He shook his head, standing again and moving out the door. "I'm going to change guys," Mike excused himself before they could question him. He flicked his wand, prompting his trunk to open and his school robes to leap out seemingly of their own accord and land perfectly in his outstretched hand, then he was in the hall and the door shut behind him.

@RumikoOhara@Classpet@The Elvenqueen

@Ceta de Cloyes@RumikoOhara@Classpet


"Yes, intruiging indeed." Melanie agreed with Megan's statement, only briefly looking in Mike's direction as he rose from his seat to change into his school robes. She studied Megan with some trepidation, the Ravenclaw seemed far too eager about this whole affair and she wasn't sure whether that should concern her or not.

Melanie sighed in relief as Oliver agreed to go as well, at least she would know someone. "I think it's worth checking out, for sure. I don't see what Mike's so worried about..."