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Jerkchicken
DojiBoyFeeling triumphant by Damian's agreement, Piper grinned.
"Yeah trust me. You don't wanna get hit by one of those," the Ravenclaw shuddered. Piper stopped petting the very disappointed Barnaby to imitate a small swinging motion with her hands, like she was hitting a Bludger.
"Gee, thanks Piper. Glad to know you got my back," Halle replied with her tongue poking out. Piper settled on giving a cheeky thumbs-up with accompanying brow wiggle.
"Always," she nodded, hands once again finding the edges of Barnaby's cage. This time very careful not to put her fingers between the bars, mind you.
Feeling a gaze boring into her, Piper shot a glance at Jaxon who was currently signaling her something with his look. Piper was an observant girl, sure - one of her more Slytherin-like features - but she wasn't always as intuitive in figuring out nonverbal messages sent. It was this time, however, that Piper didn't need to struggle to figure out what Jaxon was trying to communicate. Giving the boy a nod of encouragement and a discreet thumbs-up, Piper tried to let him know he was doing brilliantly. The social situation might've been a bit burning, if not downright odd: even though Piper knew most of these people, Jaxon couldn't say the same. Maybe Halle's bubbliness was sort of intimidating in its own way, if social situations weren't your forte to begin with. Piper made a mental note to try and nudge Jaxon a bit more, and to include him in conversation. Her own medicine to fear of social situations was just diving headfirst into them, and she believed that in this particular instance it wouldn't hurt Jax either.
The conversations came to a halt when the train gave a small nudge before slowly getting on the move. Piper could hear all the parents' shouts of goodbyes and the steam of the train as it picked up speed. Halle, ever precious, squealed in excitement. Damian gave a shrug and a 'I guess we're off' just as the ever so nostalgic steam whistle blew off, announcing their departure. Piper smiled and leaned back in her seat. She couldn't wait for the sweets cart to reach them, although that would take a while because they were in the back of the train.
Seeming to have build up confidence, Jaxon piped up: "If anyone needs help with a subject, feel free to ask by the way. I um... Well, I do a lot of tutoring anyway, so you can always jump in!" Piper thought he sounded almost his normal self, an air of carefully contained arrogance to him, while trying to sound very casual. It seemed to work, since Halle was the next to talk, bringing up Potions.
Piper herself had always found Potions to be one of the less challenging subjects. Well, in theory, at least. She was quick to learn new potions and everything seemed so easy on the text, but when she actually tried making a solution... they never seemed to agree with her. Her hard studying paid off though, and she was always on the heels of others. It was exhausting to never seem to be quite good enough, but Piper never stopped trying. Maybe someday, she thought to herself with a sad undertone. Maybe someday she'd be simply enough.
It seemed that her years spent in Slytherin had really rubbed on her. She wasn't quite the same, happy, unconditionally kind girl she had once been.
Piper then noticed Gawain had begun to make threatening gestures towards her Barnaby. Surprised by this, Piper glanced at Barnaby. The dumb bird seemed totally oblivious to these threats, his big eyes looking out of the window as the scenery went by. The messy brunette chuckled at this. Poor Gawain, her little Bee was a lousy fighting partner.
"Oh hey, I almost forgot! I got new stones during the summer!" Piper remembered, her face lighting up. She looked at Jaxon who was quite probably familiar with Piper's gem collecting hobby, as she often told him about it when they were duelling. "A red beryl was my favourite of the bunch. They're quite rare, you know, so I was really lucky to get my hands on one," Piper explained with enthusiasm that not many people might share when it came to a subject like this. Piper was a girl of many weird hobbies, anyway.
"Oh, and also? If any of y'all buy a chocolate frog, please consider giving the cards to me. I've almost completed my collection, I'm only missing a few wizards and witches," Piper added.