[IC] Hogwarts: Call of Darkness [Full]

[AbysmalDemon]

Callum Robertson | Kings Cross

Cal walked through Kings Cross Station, doing as he was told by his parents. Of course, they weren't there to send him off, because they were, 'to busy'. Cal was tired of it, and he was actually glad they weren't there, as he didn't want to have hear them complain about one of his flaws. As he went through the wall, The little wolf yipped in confusion, as to why they didn't crash into the wall. "It's magic, Ghost. You'll be seeing a lot of that where we're going." Ghost barked once again in response, what he said, was unknown to Cal. Now, Cal actually smiled. He never did, because most of the time, he was with his bothersome parents. Now, he was free from them. Cal ran a hand through his hair, just to make it a little more casual. He still wanted to look nice, just not prefect nice.

There it was, the Hogwarts Express. The whistle chirped twice, it was loud and shrill, but the sound made Cal happy, as this is what he always wanted to do, ever since he found out about it. The steam was rolling of the train like clouds. One puff when into Cal's throat, and he coughed violently, before placing Ghost in his arms, and walking into the train, giving his belongings to the porter. He sat down in Compartment 2. Ghost barked again, this time more impatiently, if, Wolfs could be inpatient. "Don't worry, we'll be there soon."

[Madly33]

"You be a good boy now you hear?" Hayes mother said patting his shoulder and adjusting his black wool sweater. She looked at the young boy, he green eyes shined at the young wizard. "You are such an amazing young man" She said, holding back tears and kissed his forehead. Hayes nodded and watched some young boys enter a seemly solid wall, though, from what he saw from some of his fathers books, this was the least amount of strange magic he is going to see.

He passed through the wall and his owl Albert moved restlessly. Hayes reached into his basket of things and grabbed a snack for the bird.
"Here Albert, eat this, I know you must be hungry" He said with a calm smile as he fed the bird nuts. He felt sort of strange speaking to his new owl as if it was a person, but he saw a boy who seemed his age speaking to his dog in the same manner.

As the station filed and split into students boarding the train and parents waving goodbye, the sounds and weeps filled Hayes' ears, he was so excited to finally be leaving, he had dreamed of this day for years.

He moved over to an open compartment, not paying attention to the number, he just wanted a seat. He sat quickly and looked out the foggy steamed window.

[LordofthePies]

Bishop shoved a cracker into his hoodie pocket for Veil as he glared at the bird across the car. He stroked the pale rat's head, earning a quiet squeak. Bishop glanced at the door, then looked out the window. He kept an eye on the owl, keeping a protective hand over the pocket with Veil in it. Waiting for other kids to arrive, he passed the time by watching the landscape and the second hand on his watch.

[Cruallassar]

Terrance Neston

Terrance burst through the magical barrier separating platform 9 3/4 from the muggle world, mere moments after bidding his parents an excited goodbye, see you later. As he reorients himself to the new area, he wonders...not for the first time...why it is that the platform is platform 9 and 3/4...why not 7/8, or why not 8 and a half? Or 3.7927, for that matter? Why that particular number? But as he passes his baggage trolley to a porter, that question leaves his mind almost as quickly as it had come, and he briskly boards the train with his carryon bag...without Shade, his carrier is back with the rest of his baggage, with the sleeping cat inside. Looking into the first compartment he sees, he sees that it seems mostly full...so he moves on to the second. Only one boy was already there, so he went ahead and spoke up, gesturing to the seat opposite him. "Hey, mind if I sit here?"

((@AbysmalDemon))

[TheHangedMan]

Karen strode through the floors of King's Cross Station, her face a mask of utmost calm. The small blonde's measured, graceful steps were well practiced, and each move as though choreographed for a ballet recital. Her smooth, impassive face gave of an aloof charm, and bestowed upon her a maturity she did not feel she actually had - nevertheless, perfection was what she sought, and well included how she looked. A child she may be, but she did not have to act like one, at least, not all the time; scarce were the times she would allow herself to act out in public.

Even then, her movements were the least attention grabbing thing about her; more noticeable was the outfit she was wearing: A purple velvet dress that reached her knees, accompanied by silk bridal gauntlets of the same color. A thin silver necklace that carried a locket at its end, with an intricate symbol stenciled on it, and snakeskin ankle boots, that made distinctively loud clack-ing sounds with every step. All obviously expensive materials, and all obviously out of place attire in a regular train station.

Still more attention grabbing was the aged man in a butlers outfit hauling luggage behind her. The dapper silver fox kept pace with her all the way until Platform 9 ³/₄, when all the enchantments around it kicked in, and all the attention they had gathered at this point became meaningless. At once, everyone began minding their own business, scarcely paying attention to the unusual duo.

The trip to the train itself was uneventful, save for a few glances here and there. Karen stopped in front of the train, her hands on the railings.

"Milady . . . I'm sure, your parents would have wanted to be here." Karen's hands gripped tight against her suitcase.

"I . . . I'm sure they would have, Aleksi, I'm sure . . . " Her voice trailed off with a shudder, and in a rare moment of emotion, turned and wrapped her arms around Aleksi in a tight huf. "I'll miss you."

Left unsaid was: I'll miss them.

The old man patted her on the back consolingly. "I know, I know. Come on now, you'll have fun at Hogwarts, you've scarcely the time to be missing an old fogey like myself."

Blinking back unshed tears, Karen unwrapped herself from him, and nodded. With a small smile, she stepped into the train, Elijah trailing after her. Once inside, she entered the closest compartment to her, not particularly caring where she sat, so long as she was able to. She was unsurprised to find that it was occupied already; the door was closed, after all, usually a clear sign that someone had been through it.

^@Madly33
The occupant was a boy with light brown hair, with eyes of a similar color, if darker in shade. Karen cleared her throat to grab his attention, and gave a small curtsy.

"Good morning, is it too much to ask if I could share the compartment with you?" she inquired in a soft, yet clear voice, her light sapphire eyes locking directly with his chocolate brown ones.

[SouffleGirl123]

Anna-Jayne blinked almost as if she was confused. It was not logical, the seemingly solid brick wall that sat in Kings Cross Station lend to another platform entirely yet, like her grandmother's stories, she could go right through the magical doorway. Felix continued sleeping on top of her luggage rested on her luggage cart, the cat making no sign to indicate he knew what just happened.

"Come on dear, we can't have you being crushed by the other students now, can we?" her grandmother instructs. Until she spoke hadn't noticed she had come through already. Swiftly pushing her cart away from the wall, narrowly missing a passing student in the process, Anna-Jayne took a proper look around the area. It was not much different from your regular platform with the brick it's brick walls and large clock stationed high up. She glanced at each student for a brief amount of time, one of the girl's in a lavender dress, whom her eyes seemed to spot first, brought Anna-Jayne to think she was under-dressed in her old slightly faded denim jeans and short sleeved turquoise shirt but after scanning through other students found that wasn't so.

Following her grandmother Anna-Jayne purses her lips nervously, slowly pushing her luggage cart with Felix still asleep.
"I think you'll enjoy Hogwarts" her grandmother says gently, offering her granddaughter a kind smile.

"I hope so," Anna-Jayne mutters.

"Why don't I take your bags for you and you and Felix can bored the train?" Most days this would be an offer Anna-Jayne would have refused but, for some reason, today she felt inclined to let her grandmother do so. With a nod she moved herself from her bags and scooped up the sleeping cat who awoke and meowed in annoyance of his interrupted nap. Anna-Jayne's grandmother gave her a small kiss on her forehead before the pair said their farewells and she boarded the train, Felix in her arms.

She slowly wandered down the corridor before seating herself in compartment 5 which was, until now, unoccupied.

[Madly33]

Hayes' mind drifted off as he thought about his new life in a new world. He was brought back to reality from the sequel of Albert and the opening of the door. A young girl walked in and asked to sit. Her politeness amazed him, most girls he had seen or gone to school with at home were loud, and only cared about their sweets and dresses.
Hayes nodded "Yes, of course" he said tossing back a polite smile. He moved over and run his index finger over the overly excited owl in effert to calm the bird.
He looked back up to the girl, opening his mouth to say something but bit back his words. Hayes had always been a shy young boy, expecally around other children his own age, his mother would giggle and poke fun whenever there was a girl around.
He sat in silence fitting with his own hands as the rest of the students finished off boarding the train.

@TheHangedMan

[AbysmalDemon]

Cal was reading the daily prophet in the train car. On the front page was a picture of Askaban, as well as much smaller ones of at least fifteen inmates. Cal started to read about it.

Earlier today Askaban Prison there was a mass breakout of over fifteen inmates. Now the people are wondering of Askaban is really a secure place to store criminals. The ministry should use the most of the power they can to secure Askaban, to ensure a friendly safe environment for all wizards, and muggles alike.

It went on and on about the ministry and what it should do to keep Askaban safe in the future, but all Cal cared about, was that it wasn't safe how it was now. Over fifteen criminals on the loose and they could be heading anywhere, even Hogwarts.

A little while later a boy, around his age, came up to his compartment, asking if he could sit there.

"Sure, I don't mind. Cal wasn't good with small talk so he just sat for a few seconds before handing him the paper.

"I don't even know why they bother with Askaban anymore. I mean, with its history of breakouts... I'm Cal by the way."

@Cruallassar

[TheHangedMan]

_@Madly33

"Thank you." With a polite nod of her own, Karen crossed into the compartment, sliding her luggage into the compacts above them. Elijah, white tail swishing haughtily behind her, meowed for attention.

Smiling, Karen picked up the cat and cradled him in her arms as she sat down, stroking his fur. Silence settled into the compartment, though it was noticeably awkward, with the other boy opening his mouth, attempting to begin a conversation. He held back, seemingly too shy to go through with it. Karen understood - she herself had a distinct lack of experience when it came to social interaction with children her age; her family manor was rather distant from the nearest village - not distant enough to be inconvenient, but not close enough for her to be bothered to get up from her self-studies. Most of the time she talked with Aleksi or Uncle or any other adult that came by for business. Still, being unable to interact socially with her peers was - in her eyes - a weakness. An imperfection.

And Karen would be nothing less than perfect.

Before there would be conversation, however, introductions were to be had. They would never get anywhere if not. "Hello there, my name is Karen, Karen McGrave. It's nice to meet you . . . ?" She trailed off, waiting fro a reply.

[Cruallassar]

Terrance Neston

Upon affirmation of his question, Terrance slides easily into the seat opposite the other guy, plopping his small bag beside him, then leaning back and enjoying the comfort of the car. A second later, the other boy handed him the newspaper he was looking at.

"I don't even know why they bother with Askaban anymore. I mean, with its history of breakouts... I'm Cal by the way."

Terrance takes a brief look over the headline and a few highlights. "I'm Terrance, a pleasure to meet you. Azkaban used to be quite the holding pen...a lot of people in charge still remember it as the ultimate in wizard containment. And besides, we already know that there were extenuating circumstances to the first few...like the prison wardens helping in the escape? There is a reason Sirius Black was the first person to escape Azkaban in decades, if ever. That said...as you say, it has been broken out of a few times now, and I wouldn't be surprised if its defenses have suffered for it."

[AbysmalDemon]

Cal took a moment to consider Terrance's words.

"True, in some of the breakouts there were... Technicalities. Anyways, I just think that if they're gonna put dangerous criminals in Azkaban then they should at least give it some extra security."

A shrill whistle sounded, meaning in about fifteen minutes the train would be leaving the station, off to Hogwarts. Cal had grown up in the wizarding world, but he still couldn't stop thinking about going to Hogwarts, as well as all the adventures he would have and the friends he would make. He also thought of how fun it would be to fly on a broom. His parents said flying is immature for a 'sophisticated young man like him'.

He also thought about the food trolley, and how much Ghost would love the pumpkin pasties. Ghost. He left him in his luggage trolley.

"Excuse me for a second, gotta get something real quick." He got up from his seat and went out into the hall, crowded with students, with any luck he would be back in time.

He finally was able to push past the other students and grab Ghost from his trolley. The husky barked happily to see his owner. Cal carried his cage back to the compartment, where he then unlatched it, and let the husky roam free.

[LordofthePies]

The small rat in Bishop's pocket wasn't half as uncomfortable as him himself. He silently wished the two children across from him would ride in silence. Bishop pulled his legs up to his chest, careful not to smash Veil. He raised an eyebrow at the purple dress, questioning why Karen felt the need to overdress. Bishop sneezed, and suddenly embarrassed tried to compress himself into the corner of the car.

[Weird Tales]

Isaak hurried along the platform towards the Hogwarts Express and was hoping that he wasn't too late so that he didn't have to hurry without saying goodbye to his family. This was going to be his first year at the magical school and he was really nervous about how he would be sorted into the houses. He hoped with all of his heart that he was put into Slytherin just like the rest of his family before him, but there was always a part of him that feared he would be placed in a different house. Once he got his things aboard the train he turned to face his family.

"Goodbye mom, goodbye and goodbye brothers and sister" he said to his family as they all came in to give a caring hug. Isaak was so grateful to have such a loving family and when he got to school he had high hopes of being able to show the rest of the school that Slytherins could be great and good wizards. Only ignorant Griffindors thought that all witches and wizards of the house became dark magic users. After he said his goodbyes Isaak got aboard the Hogwarts Express and went to find a compartment for him and his pet ferret Perun to sit in. He kept his ferret in a cage while they were traveling and preferred to keep the animal with him.

"Well Perun, we finally are on the train to Hogwarts" he said to the pet as he sat down and wondered how exactly he would be sorted into a house at the school. Please let me be sorted into Slytherin he thought to himself.

[SouffleGirl123]

Admittedly Anna-Jayne was glad that, so far, she was alone. She had never been the best at starting conversations but felt she'd have to do so if otherwise. She ran her finger across the red backing of her seat before looking out the window for what was probably the 20th time in the last five minutes. Felix, whom sat next to her still awake eyed his owner, it was obvious the cat wanted to fall asleep but didn't want to be woken again.

A whistle blew, the shrill sound filling the train like wildfire symbolizing that there was 15 more minutes before the train's departure. Anna-Jayne wised she had remembered a book or something to do on the trip to Hogwarts. She couldn't believe this was happening, she never believed in magic until the letter arrived, even then she wasn't completely convinced until the trip to Diagon Alley. That had changed her perspective quite quickly. She stroked Felix, running her hand down the cat's back bringing her to the receiving end of the cat's purrs.

"Well this will be an adventure," she mutters to herself

[Cruallassar]

Terrance Neston

Terrance heard the whistle blow. Fifteen minutes away...it seemed like far too long a time to wait. Hogwarts was waiting, with all its fantastic mystery and promise...yet first he had to get there. And it was taking forever. He was about to reply to what the other guy said, when the other guy...Cal...left and came back with a cage containing a little white...wolf puppy? Cool. Note to self, keep it away from Shade. "Hey, nice wolf. What's his name?"

[Classpet]

Brynn's mom had managed to get herself and her child to Kings cross station fairly early, a good thing since it took so long to figure out where the platform was. Brynn of course figured it out, not alone, she had seen some other kid walk through the wall, and after telling her mom she'd be back after school she went through as well. She only had to try twice, she figured the first time she wasn't going fast enough, and for that she was happy, having to try twice surely wasn't that bad. Finally she was on the platform, and with only fifteen minuets to spare!
She hurried onto the train looking for a spot, but of course most of the cars were full by that time. luckily she managed to find a box with only one other person it in, and she looked about the same age. Brynn took a deep breath and slid open the door poking her head in first, "um, excuse me, do you mind if my frog and I sit here? there aren't many other seats...?" She said with a shy smile, eyes fixed on the cat sitting in the seat.

(@SouffleGirl123)

[Dutchess Sarah]

Lavender arrived at King's Cross with her parents.
"Did you see that? That girl just walked through the wall" Mom nudged Lavender and giggled nervously. "Guess we're next."
"You go first, we'll follow together." Lavender smiled and nodded when her Dad suggested this. They had been watching people walk onto platform 9 3/4 for a while, and this seemed to be the right way to do it, if there even was one.
Lavender hesitated, she was a little nervous still. Then, she saw a man shove a hesitant boy through the wall. Realising she'd rather make it through on her own, somehow feeling like that would set the tone for the new year or something, Lavender took a deep breath, smiled at her parents, and pushed her trolley through the wall. She resisted the urge to close her eyes when she expected to hit the wall and walked straight in to her new life.

The platform was crowding with people. Most students were getting on the train, parents waving and handing almost forgotten items through doors and windows. Others had already boarded the trains, some parents were waiting, others were already heading back out. A few clusters of parents were standing around, talking to each other, obviously familiar with the situation. Only a few students were still on the platform, talking to their parents. Lavender looked around for the head mistress, but didn't see her. Just as her parents emerged onto the platform, a whistle sounded. Lavender looked around and saw students hurrying to get on the train. She looked at her parents, who had realised what this meant as well.
"Go on, honey, get yourself settled up there." Her parents gave her a hug and nudged her towards the train. They didn't hover, and Lavender appreciated that. Her dad helped her get her trolley on board, and then got back off, as her mom handed her the bird cage.
"Go have a blast!" Her mother said. "And don't forget to send us lots of news! April can handle the exercise."

Standing on the train, Lavender bent down to give her mom one last hug. Her dad ruffled her hair, "dad, please", and with a sigh and a smile, Lavender went looking for a compartment. She passed a few full compartments and, suddenly shy, moved on. After a while she came upon a compartment with only two students in it, a boy and a girl. The boy was already seated, together with a lovely cat, the girl was talking to him, or to the cat perhaps. could cats talk Lavender suddenly wondered or is she simply shy?

Lavender hesitated for a brief moment, looked at April for support and then opened the door. "Hello you two, is there room for us as well?"

@SouffleGirl123@Classpet

[caliban22]

Paul yawned as his mother fussed over him, on the way to the platform " Alright Paul, are you sure you packed everything?" she asked her son. Paul sighed "Mom...you packed everything... you would know..." he muttered. last night His mother had packed, unpacked, and repacked again everything her son would need. His mother frowned "Oh yes of course dear..." she said softly as they arrived at the platform. "I want you to know your father and I are so very proud of you." she said as she turned her son and hugged " your father and I are so proud of you sweetie." she said. smiling. Paul sighed. His mother often showered him with affection like that in public, it always bothered him. "Ma... lets load up the stuff..." Paul said after giving his mother a hug.

[LordofthePies]

Bishop mumbled to himself a, "bless you," and a "thank you," as he glanced at the boy's owl that was staring intently at him. Figuring no one else would be entering the car, he stretched his legs over the empty seat, staring down the bird. Bishop didn't like birds of prey, especially owls. It always seemed like the moment he stopped looking at them they would attack, which made it so that he never wanted to look away from the strigiforme.

[Madly33]

@TheHangedMan@LordofthePies

"I'm Hayes.. Hayes Foley" he said quickly and shyly. He had not expected any small talk, he looked over at the boy sitting in the corner that he almost seemed to just notice and nodded at him. "Um.. What's your name?" He said to him, trying to include him in the conversation seeing how Hayes friendly side began to come out.
He saw that he was staring at Albert.
"That's Albert, he won't bite" Hayes said in a joking manner.
He looked back to Karen, moving his eyes over the cabin watching both of them, he honestly had no idea what to say, he had never had this much interaction.
"I like your dress" he said with a soft smile to Karen.