"Sorry, we're full."
The girl didn't look sorry, Remus Lupin mused. She had had a rather amused look on her round face as she looked around the compartment and told Remus that he couldn't sit there. But the compartment wasn't full, there was only a handful of bored looking Ravenclaws with their feet up on the chairs. Remus sighed. His parents hadn't said starting Hogwarts would be THIS bad. HE had entered several compartments in the hopes of putting down his heavy truck and sitting, but to no avail. The compartments were either full of seedy looking Slytherins or hostile-looking Ravenclaws who turned their noses up at Remus, the lone, wandering first year. Remus peered into the door of the next compartment. It was empty, save a brunette girl sitting cross legged on one of the seats, immersed in a book.
Remus cleared his throat.
"Erm, excuse me, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." The girl looked up from her book, her dark eyes meeting Remus' blue ones.
"'Course you can", the girl replied with a smile. "It took me a while to find a compartment I could sit in without some scary sixth year asking about my blood heritage." She made a face.
Remus nodded, diving into his trunk for a book of his own. He finally found one, a muggle book entitled The Concrete Jungle: Age of Technology. He sat down on the chair opposite the girl- feeling slightly embarrassed at having barged into this girl's compartment and barely said two words to her. But then, Remus was painfully shy. Once you got to know him, he was talkative and friendly, but before that, he was a clam. A very, very tightly shut clam.
Oh, what the heck. Remus thought. After all, his parents had always taught him to be polite, even if he didn't know the person in question.
"I'm Remus Lupin, by the way." He stammered. The girl looked up from her book, her chin rested on her hand.
"I'm Kate Whitman," the girl, or rather, Kate, replied. She smiled and returned to her book. Like Remus, Kate was shy around people she didn't know, and she certainly didn't know this boy. She had also planned to spend the train ride in peace, reading her book.
"Whatcha readin'?" Remus asked, peering over the top of his book.
"Oh, it's muggle work," Kate said, not meeting his eye. "Tin Cans, nothing interesting, y'know…"
"I'm half muggle," Remus blurted out suddenly. He felt himself go red. What the hell?! He thought.
"OH! Cool! I thought for a second that-no offence or anything- you might be one of those pureblood supremacists. 'Muggles are a waste of time, they are so idiotic and stupid, so inferior, blah blah blah.' You know the type," Kate shrugged and put down her book. "I'm actually pureblood myself, but my parents reckon muggles are just the same as us- without magic, of course."
Remus grinned, relieved. He had been warned by his parents that some of the students at Hogwarts would treat him as an inferior because of his muggle heritage, and he was relieved that Kate didn't mind.
"What house do you reckon you'll be in?" Remus asked, carefully placing his bookmark in his book and shutting it.
"Oh, Gryffindor, I hope. My parents were both in it," Kate replied. "You?"
"Same. My dad-he's a wizard- was in Gryffindor, too." Remus said.
"Mmm. So, do you play Quidditch? Well, backyard Quidditch, obviously, or, Quidditch to some extent… I have a tendency to talk too much." Kate laughed.
"Yup. Backyard Quidditch with my cousins. Always gives mum a kick to see us fly around on brooms," Remus chuckled. "Usually I'm seeker, though. How 'bout you?"
"Chaser, actually. Never really had keen eyesight, I suppose its from all the candlelit reading I do!" Kate said lightly.
There was the sound of wheels rolling slowly along carpet, and then the frosted glass door of the compartment rolled open.
"Do you want anything off the trolley, dears?" The woman pushing the trolley along asked. Kate and Remus left their seats to buy a couple of chocolate frogs and some cauldron cakes. They returned to their seats carrying their horde of sweets, and sat eating the cakes as the countryside slowly morphed into a dark forest full of dark leaves and twisted tree trunks.
After another hour or so of pleasant conversation and jokes between the newfound friends, the frosted door slithered open once more to reveal an older boy in Hufflepuff robes. His brown hair was done in a slick side-part and his uniform was immaculate.
"First years?" He asked, eyebrows shooting up into his hair. Remus and Kate merely nodded- the boy looked as though he would have given them a detention had they spoken.
"You'll be wanting to get changed, then. We're about fifteen minutes away." With a curt nod, the boy left, leaving Kate and Remus in fits of laughter.
"He looked like he forgot to take the hanger off his robes!" Kate cried in laughter. Remus didn't actually know why they were laughing, but they just kept laughing as they pulled their uniforms and cloaks out of their trunks.
"Here, I'll go to the bathroom and get changed, and you can stay here and change here." Remus said, heading for the door.
"M'kay, thanks." Kate nodded as Remus shut the door behind him. Remus walked down the carpeted corridor (Yuck. That's HORRIBLE carpet. Remus thought) and turned left at a sign with a little stick figure man dancing around on it. He pushed open the door, and gasped at the sight that met his eyes.