She had her hair pulled into a little ponytail; her blue eyes were light, she was happy enough; and her 5' 8" frame could decidedly pull off a pair of hip-hugger jeans and a white tube top. But dragging this trunk along a train aisle-way, looking for a not-too-empty or preferably empty cabin was getting to be impractical. It wasn't as though she wasn't used to not knowing anyone on the first day of school. In fact; at age 16, she was used to it. Not that being used to it made it any better.

She decided it was time to just settle on one. To her right, the cabin was full; four men sat in the seats with a number of others obviously just visiting. To her left was a cabin with a red-haired woman who was deeply immersed in a book. As she slid the door open, the woman looked up.

"Um...may I join you?" the blue-eyed girl asked.

The red haired girl smiled and said; "Of course! I was worried no one would come in, and then James would have had a perfect opportunity to come in and bother me," she rolled her eyes, "and of course, then his...My God James!"

The blue-eyed girl jumped and turned around to see the four men from the other cabin trying to sneak into the one she was presumably going to share with the red-haired one.

She picked up her trunk though; already she felt like she was barging in. The other woman saw this however, as did one of the men. As she tried to back out slowly, she bumped into him.

"Don't leave," he whispered, "We don't bite."

The red-head joined in and said "Please don't leave! If you do, James will never go away! My name is Lilly by the way. Lilly Evans."

"James Potter" the tall one with glasses volunteered, "and this is..."

"Peter Pettigrew" piped up the blond one.

"Remus Lupin" said a haggard looking one.

"Sirius Black" said the one behind her.

She smiled, and relaxed a little. "Kalina. Kalina Daniels. Some people call me Kal."

"Nice to meet you Kal," said Lilly, "James. Take your friends, and cause trouble elsewhere."

"Us? Cause trouble? Surely you jest!" Sirius said, "We are perfect angels and..."

"No, she's right Sirius...we'll come back and bug them later" with an evil twinkle in his eye, James walked out of the cabin. Remus and Peter followed him out, but Sirius stayed for a moment.

"Would you like some help with that trunk?" he asked.

Kalina thought for a moment, then lifted the trunk up, and started to shove the it up into the rack. She took a step back, and started to fall backwards as she almost crushed a rat. Sirius was right there to catch her and her trunk as the rat went squealing away.

"Are you okay there?" he asked while pushing her trunk the rest of the way onto the rack.

"Yeah...ummm...I'm fine. Thanks...I wonder who lost their rat?"

"Yeah, me too," he said said nervously as he let go of her waist and pushed the hair out of his face, " I'll let people know if I see anyone missing one. I better go."

"Finally" Lilly said as Sirius jogged down the train aisle-way. "Those guys are such trouble-makers! And that James Potter! urgh!"

Kalina laughed as she noticed that the look in Lilly's eyes was not the attitude suggested in her voice.

"So, I haven't seen you before. What year are you...wait, you're my age! So what house are you in? Tell me about yourself." Lilly sat cross-legged on the seat, and Kalina sat down across from her.

Kalina told her about moving from her birthplace in England to the U.S. where she went to her first wizarding school in Colorado. Then ones in Michigan, Utah, and California. Then the one in New Zealand that she was at before she and her family came back to England.

They talked about school and bought snacks. James came back with Sirius, Remus and Peter just after the witch with the snackcart came around. Eventually they were close enough to the school, and Lilly threatened to jinx the boys if they didn't leave. The girls changed into their robes, and prepared to arrive at school.