Prologue:
Avery's view:
"There is so much noise" is the first thing that pops into Averia's head as her eyes gaze around the platform. The bustle of the crowd makes even more chaos, parents yelling at children and the train's whistle for its passengers breaking through her thoughts. She blinks rapidly and feels her legs begin to walk towards an entrance. Averia's hands sweat a bit on my suitcase handle and she aches to wipe them on her coat, the feeling causing her to give a small noise of disgust as she does not care much for getting filthy. She ignores it and walk faster, the whistle breaking through the bumble of the people and Averia hear even more shouts, these of being goodbyes.
She jumps onto the train, her feet landing on the stairs and she catches her balance. The suitcase and backpack collide into her and she almost looses her feet once again. A slight embarrassed blush appears but she composes herself, the feeling being buried down. Averia turns around and watches as more parents and children bustle around. A mother and father hugging their child makes her heart twist in pain, this time her emotions betraying her a bit. Wanting to not cry, she turns away quickly and practically speed walks into a random coach before shutting the door loudly behind her. As she is turning around, her eyes land on her companion, a calico cat named Lucille, laying on the seat to the right. But she is not alone; two other cats are with her, a black cat with green eyes and the other being a mix of orange and brown with yellow eyes. Avery starts before she processes her thoughts.
"Lucille? Have you already made some friends?" Her voice has a teasing tone to it as she addresses her cat. Lucille blinks at the voice, her tail swaying slowly before the cat yawns and lays down with the other two companions. Avery sighs and sits down across from the small pile, watching as they all cuddle together. "They have to be companions, otherwise the train has a bit of a rodent problem."
Avery's thoughts are interrupted by the shouts of the conductor and the last train whistle, signaling that they are about to depart soon. She leans back into the couch, the threading being made of a nice fabric, but she still moves around to get comfortable. Her eyes take in the outside of the window, the day being rather nice for England weather. The sky is clearer than normal, letting the sun beam through any clouds and giving the usually gray landscape some more color.
The train starts to move, the wheels making a loud screech before they begin to move. Her body leans a bit forward before settling back rather quickly and hard. A small "Oof" comes out of her mouth before she moves around again.
As she settles again, more shouts are heard outside of her coach. Before she can react, the door is slammed open and a girl is standing there. The girl is shorter than Avery, as she probably stands at around 5'3". Her skin is a rich shade of brown, reaching more towards black than any other shade. The curls in her brown short hair bounce with the stranger's breathing, almost as if they have their own life. The girl's golden eyes search Avery before scanning the rest of the coach. Those same eyes light up as they spy the trio of cats laying down, a loud exclamation of "Hah!" before she strides over.
"I found them Elena!" At the name, Avery turns back towards the entrance of the coach, where another girl has now taken the past girl's presence. This girl is lighter skinned, much lighter than Avery is. She is also shorter than Avery, but she has about an inch above the first girl. This "Elena" has short blonde hair and light brown eyes, a contrast to the sharper features of the other. The light brown eyes also examine Avery before her gaze turns to the other girl in the coach. "Abella, this is ridiculous. I can't believe we had to give up our coach because your cat decided to kidnap mine and run off!" The other girl, now identified as Abella, huffs and picks up the orange and brown cat, which growls a little from being moved before it is shushed. Elena sighs and goes to get the black one, which Avery supposes is hers. Feeling that her warmth bed is disturbed, Lucille growls a bit before she jumps onto Avery's lap and settles down on it. The other two girls gaze at Avery now, much more with curiosity and judgement. The tense atmosphere causes said girl to cough before saying, "I'm sorry. Lucille likes to sleep. I guess your companions wanted to join her for a nap." She laughs awkwardly, trying to escape the tension.
Elena laughs a bit as well, but Abella continues to study her. Avery then makes a movement of kindess, offering them the opposite seat. "If you want to, you could…." Her sentence dies off as they both sit down anyway, Avery thinking "Alright then."
More awkward silence follows the group before Abella suddenly says "What's your story?" Elena elbows her a bit but Abella keeps the serious face, making Avery twitch a bit and fidget with her hands. The habit of biting her fingernails comes into her mind and she quickly ignores it. "I'm Averia Jones, but everyone calls me Avery for short." I smile after this and offer a hand to them. "What may I call you?" Abella looks at the hand a bit hesitantly before she takes it, her hands feeling callused and yet soft.
"Abella Bruneu." The "r" is rolled, and it catches Avery's attention that this girl has a French accent. Before she can say more the other girl takes her hand and introduces herself. "Elena Hathaway."
This girl also has an accent, one Avery cannot place quite yet. Elena continues talking, asking "Are you American? Your accent is very clear, but I want to make sure." Avery nods shyly and pulls at her hair a bit, a little embarrassed about her accent and the strangeness it has in the British Isles. Abella sniffs at the question, her hand brushing the cat gently while it purrs.
The view outside the window passes by as the girls sit together. They continue with small talk, such as interesting books and shows they are fans of (Avery had found out that Abella is a Halfblood while Elena is a mugblood. While Avery is a pureblood, she grew up in the Muggle world with an elderly Muggle friend of the family's), such as the famous shows like Merlin and Sherlock. Abella mostly rolled her eyes as Elena and Avery would gossip and "fangirl," but she would join in on the conversations. She has also discovered that these two have know each other for quite some time, as they kept had met when they had arrived earlier for the school year. Avery could not help but feel relaxed with these two; true they both were very ambitious and full of more determination than she ever really had, but they also seemed to calm down when they were beside her. "At least I won't be going in solo."