Just ignore him, Riley. The girl thought to herself, her eyes glued to the book in front of her. He's purposely trying to crawl under your skin, you know this. Though she tried to read the lines in her textbook, she couldn't seem to take any of it in. In fact, by the time she reached the end of the paragraph she realized she had no idea what she had just read. With an irritated sigh, she returned her gaze to the top of the first paragraph. And it was then that Rahn the Terrible set fire to-

Suddenly there was a loud bang, nearly scaring the poor girl out of her knickers. Her grey eyes snapped up to her disgruntled friend. His head was now pressed up against the window, hair tangled and messy, eyes closed tightly and lips pressed into an almost invisible line. "Evelyn," he whimpered pathetically.

With yet another irritated sigh, she snapped the heavy book shut. On the leathered cover read A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. The big textbook was old and worn. The corners were fraying and the pages beginning to tear. It was the book Evelyn had owned since her very first year at Hogwarts. "Yes, Blake, what is it?" She finally asked.

He looked up at her slightly, his big brown eyes resembling those of a puppies. "Can't we do something fun?" He whimpered.

The girl scoffed, "I was having fun, thank you very much-" but was cut off by an especially loud groan. Blake squeezed his eyes shut tightly again, whispering under his breath about 'a typical Ravenclaw.' "Fine then, what do you want to do?" Though she couldn't see what they were to do. There still had to be a good 40 minutes until the train would finally pull up at Hogsmeade Station.

"I don't knowwww." He whined, not moving from his uncomfortable position against the compartment wall. "Not study." Honestly, Evelyn thought, how did this boy expect to pass his O.W.L.S. with this kind of attitude? As if reading her thoughts, he replied, "We have all year to study, Evie-"

"Don't call me that." She warned, eyes narrowed at her friend.

"School hasn't even begun! Heck, we can't even see the castle yet!" Evelyn could see his point. Somewhat. Two small fingers gripped the bridge of her nose as she fought her oncoming headache, Blake took no notice and continued his tirade.

"Fine, fine." She snapped wanting nothing more than for the boy to shut up. "We won't study."

"Yesss," he fist pumped the air.

"Yet." He huffed, but begrudgingly agreed that that was good enough for him. "Now, what would you like to do?" Her hands didn't let go of the thick book, she knew she agreed not to study but if he couldn't come up with a plan in 2 minutes she would be forced to have her own fun.

1 minute and 45 seconds. They stared at each other blankly.

1 minute and 18 seconds. His dark eyebrows scrunched up in question, but Evelyn remained still.

1 minute.

"Are you counting?" He asked suspiciously. Evelyn gave him a quick nod.

53 seconds.

"How much longer?" He was panicked. He had never been a quick thinker, one of the many reasons he was not sorted into the Ravenclaw Evelyn supposed.

"40 seconds."

"Blimey!" He ran his hands nervously through his dark locks. Evelyn was used to seeing his hair all screwed up, it was a bad habit of his he couldn't seem to shake.

20 seconds. Her hands ran down the leather spine of her textbook, an dull expression on her face.

10 seconds- "I've got it!" He yelled, standing up with a finger pointed proudly in the air. He shot Evelyn a smug smile and grabbed her hand, successfully yanking her tall frame out of her seat. "Pssh," he grabbed the book from her tight grip and threw it carelessly back down to her complete and utter horror. He began to drag her out of the compartment, closing the door shut tightly behind them.

"Wait, wait!" Evelyn cried, failing miserably at tearing her hand from his grasp. After a moments struggle, Blake released her. Massaging her small wrist, she gave him a glare. "Where exactly are we going?"

"To get some candy of course!" Blake acted like it was the simplest thing in the world. Evelyn, however, was not so thrilled.

"You do realize that's on the complete other side of the train?" They had stationed themselves in one of the last few compartments on the train, as they had the previous semesters. It would take them forever to get to the trolley, not to mention the wait there probably was, and then they'd have to add in the time it would take for them to get back. She feared they might not even have time to change into their robes.

"Best we hurry up then." He sent her a cheeky wink and kept walking. If there was anything Blake was, it was stubborn. He could faintly hear 'typical Gryffindor' from behind him, but didn't look back. He knew she'd follow, he had already dragged her this far along.

Evelyn cautiously stepped around the people surrounding her in the tight hallway. Most students appeared to be first or seconds years, though she could spot a few people from her year and higher. Her arms were clenched rightly to her sides, Goosebumps covering them as a chill began to come over her. She merely sent a weak smile to the few that recognized her, seeing Blake ahead of her doing the same thing. No one stopped to talk to them though. No one came to ask her how her summer had been or how her family was doing, something she was incredibly thankful for. She was quiet. A natural wallflower. She preferred to keep it that way.

They walked past so many compartments and worry was beginning to dawn on her. They had been gone exactly 15 minutes already. That meant that school was only 25 minutes away. If they didn't reach the trolley soon, she was bound to turn back. She refused to be the only student not dressed for the first feast of the year. To her immediate relief they finally stumbled upon the trolley. There wasn't even a line! Someone was surely watching over her.

"Anything from the trolley?" The kind old woman asked. Evelyn stood back as Blake began to shift through the many treats arranged on the cart. She tried not to be impatient, but she couldn't help the quick tapping of her foot as time went by. Nearly 5 more minutes passed before Blake handed the women a few coins and turned to face his friend with a small bag full of goodies. Evelyn rubbed her arms again quickly, slightly confused by the sudden change in weather. It was only September, but it felt like it was nearing December. She was beginning to see her breath as she let out a few shuddering breaths, wishing she had brought her sweater.

"I hope you're ready. We have to hurry back to the compartment and change." Evelyn was quick to turn on her heel much to the amusement of the man beside her. He knew not to take her temper to heart, she was always this strict about being on time. He followed her short strides with his long ones.

"I bought you something, Evie."

"Evelyn." She corrected, chancing a glance back at the bag he held. "What did you get me?" He smirked and held up 3 chocolate frogs to her complete delight. Chocolate frogs were her absolute favorite. She snatched one out of his hand before he even had time to blink and tore open the gold packaging. She was so focused on examining the card on the back that she nearly toppled over a few small first years to her embarrassment. Her ears turned bright red, but she didn't stop to apologize. It was hard to ignore the sniggering from behind her as Blake watched the scene before him. "Shut up, we only have 8 more minutes until we're docked."

"Yeah, yeah. Calm down, we'll make it." She scoffed at him. It wasn't the most attractive habit Evelyn had, but she couldn't seem to refrain herself around the boy. She had her doubts about his reassurance, but she couldn't waste time arguing it. The train suddenly lurched to a halt much to the surprise of the students. Blake's burly frame fell heavily into her backside causing her to fall helplessly onto the floor. Blake was helping her to her feet in an instant, his eyes wide and full of concern.

"What was that? Why has the train stopped?" Panic was evident in Evelyn's voice as it shook with the cold and the bubbling nerves. They were still a while away from school, there was no reason for the train to stop. The lights began to flicker and Evelyn gripped tightly to Blake's bare arm, glancing quickly around the train cart at the other anxious students. In only a matter of seconds, everyone was encased in pitch darkness. The only lights were the stars shining in through the small windows to her left.

There was sudden shutter to the whole train and a terrified squeal left Evelyn's lips before she could stop herself. After a few seconds, there was another one. And then another one. It felt like someone, or something, was trying to topple over the whole train.

"Hey," a male voice whispered, successfully breaking Evelyn out of her thoughts. She turned towards the voice, mentally scolding herself when she found that she couldn't see anything. The stranger was quick to whisper a spell and a light lit up at the end of dark ebony wand. Evelyn could barely make out a strong jaw, deep set eyes, and short blonde hair between the dark shadows. "Best you two come in here. Something strange is going on, wouldn't want any one in harms way."

Blake didn't have to be told twice and scurried the frozen woman inside the compartment. She could see the flash of yellow on their robes and noted that the majority of the students crammed in this compartment were Hufflepuffs. Blake ushered the girl into a seat, but did not sit himself. He was quick to stand next to the Hufflepuff male and focus his attention on the hallway of the train. The stranger, however, tore his gaze from the dark aisle and watched Evelyn with a close eye.

"Are you alright?" He asked, seeing the girl frozen stiff in her seat. She only nodded, moving her gaze from her stiff friend to watch the shorter stranger. He flashed her a reassuring smile, "I'm sure things will be back to normal soon. The train's usually on a tight schedule, they wouldn't stop for too long." Evelyn again nodded, but knew there was something more going on. The train didn't just stop for just any reason. And what was all that commotion a few minutes ago?

It was nearly ten minutes later when the lights finally came on and the train started up again. The nice stranger, whose name she learned was Chance, offered to escort the two back to their compartment. Blake declined the offer though and said they could manage. Evelyn still found the offer nice though and briefly wondered if all Hufflepuffs were this kind.

No one knew what had happened on the train, but most seem to just shrug off the strange event. Blake was already acting like his usual cheery self, offering different flavored candies to Evelyn as she walked by his side. She accepted a few to keep her mind off her puzzling thoughts, it felt as though her mind was racing at the speed of light. She didn't have any clue on the situation. It was maddening.