Addie yawned softly, settling into the train's carriages as she plopped onto a green couch, looking out the window onto the crowded platform, witnessing good byes and farewells from many parents and guardians, hers unable to come to the station. She was a student of Illvermony first and foremost, but her father had gotten orders to transfer, so she had to move her educational career as well across the seas to the prestigious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Thankfully, the letter had already consulted with her Illvermony headmistress, gotten all of her grades to the school, and assured her she wouldn't have to buy new items all over again. Her parents were Muggles, and couldn't afford such expensive shopping trips all the time.
One very good thing also was she was allowed to keep her precious Marshmallow, a very fluffy white Pomsky with bright blue eyes and pink tongue. She had him listed as a service animal for herself to help her panic attacks, and thankfully the schools were all right with her keeping the dog. Illvermony even extended two gifts to her as well before leaving: her Applewood wand with unicorn hair and a small pendant of a carved pendant revealing her old house, Pukwudgie. She had adored her school, made so many friends with both staff and other students, had finally found a home when the orders had come through that she had to transfer over to the new school. Somehow she found comfort in that each student that transferred to Hogwarts actually found plenty of new friends, improved their education, and always came out with brand new jobs appointed to either the English Ministry of Magic, or even their native land's Ministry. She knew there were schools all over the world, even having researched a few over the summer out of pure curiosity, and she loved hearing the stories of the schools and their students performing new magic, scoring Quidditch world records, and creating new benefits for both the wizarding and Muggle world.
She jumped lightly from her thoughts as she heard light knocking on the carriage door, turning around as she saw a short, pale student wearing beautiful silk robes of cherry blossom pink and Oriental designs, somehow avoiding the color white in all its colorful menagerie. She got up, going over as she opened the door, greeted by the student politely bowing to her.
"I'm so sorry, but everywhere else is full. Is there any way I can join you in the room?" the student asked, revealing a soft feminine voice as Addie shrugged, opening the door wider as she waved the student into the room. She watched the figure carefully smooth out the robes, settling into the seat as they held a basket where it rustled under the blanket, revealing a brilliant golden fox head poked out.
"Sorry, he's really restless on long journeys… This is my Shinigami, or my familiar, a kitsune. He's not that old, only five tails since that's how many years I have in the magical school. I'm a transfer from Mahoutokoro in Minami Iwo-Jima," the student explained, offering a pale, almost fairy-like hand as Addie gently shook it.
"I'm Addie, I'm a transfer too! Only, I'm from Illvermony, the North American magical school. I'm getting transferred to Hogwarts because of my dad's job, he got transferred to Germany, so Hogwarts was the closest I had next to Beauxbatons. I didn't really want to go to an all girl's school though, didn't sound very fun," she added, gaining a soft smile from the new student. She sat back, taking out a thermos of tea as she poured herself a cup, blowing on the hot Earl Grey as she watched the new student from the corner of her eyes.
"The student wasn't very tall, the shoes actually giving an extra inch or two to the overall height, but the robe was hiding any sign of gender identity. Addie knew it was the twenty first century, anyone can be anything, but she felt uncomfortable not even knowing what pronoun to address them by! She saw short black hair streaked with pink and purple twisting within the bangs, wide blue eyes under a pair of thin glasses, pale skin with the slightest hint of make up on their eyes, hiding dark circles and the slightest hint of wrinkles on the corner of their eyes and mouth. She glanced down, noticing the hands were thin and held long fingers, but also had callouses and traces of bruising and cuts, showing manual labor or possible violence. She wondered if this was a violent student, or perhaps an abused one, but she didn't feel in danger around them, no hints of anxiety or nervous stomach twisting. Addie actually felt calm around this student, relaxing and even sipping her tea in peace, not even her tiny Pomsky in her lap even stirring in its deep sleep.
"May I ask what your name is…? I know it's a bit rude, but it might help?" Addie stammered, blushing as the student glanced up at her, smiling faintly as they hid their smile behind the robe sleeve.
My name is Ren… I'm a boy, if it helps. I was just born like this, a weird mix between male and female. My dad was English while my mother, well… deceased mother, was Japanese. He remarried and they're moving to England, so I'm attending Hogwarts until I graduate. I'm honestly hoping to move back to Japan, I miss it very much…" Ren admitted, glancing down at his fox familiar that chirped, nibbling his finger as it crawled up towards his shoulder, snuggling around his neck as Addie noticed its five golden tails swirling excitedly. She smiled softly, petting her small white cloud on her lap as they glanced up, hearing a cart rattle as an older lady came across with a trolley filled with many different candies and treats Addie had never seen!
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" Addie got up, going over with her small purse as she went through the items, humming as she picked out a cauldron cake and a packet of Bertie Bott's, paying the older lady as she sat next to Ren, offering a piece of candy.
"Here, have some. The beans are a little dangerous, they have all kinds of flavors both good and bad, but I've always been lucky with some of them. There's even a game in the States where you take out all the beans, sort them by color, and whoever gets chosen picks a bean that another person has to eat a bean of the same color. They either get a good bean or a bad bean, and you get scored by how many good beans you eat!" Addie explained, handing Ren a small white bean as he timidly nibbled it, making a slight face.
"Ugh... kettle corn. I'm not a big fan of sweet popcorn, but it's not the worst." He glanced over, seeing Addie eat the same color as she spat hers out.
"Nope, nope! Ugh, that was soap... ew," she groaned, taking out a notepad as she wrote a tally for Ren and a minus 1 for her score.
"That's the whole game, shall we? It'll pass the time," she offered, smiling as she showed Ren the colorful beans as he sighed, picking out a red bean.
"As long as it kills time but not my stomach." He smiled, trying the candy as the transfer students played on the train ride, becoming quick fast friends in time for a new school year at Hogwarts.