That, or she could just be fooling herself. At the moment, she couldn't care of which exactly, but for once these people seemed to glow from the very moment she mentioned her name. Mistake or not, this was her chance…

"No, no… I'm not lost, ma'am. I'm just… I think I saw you at the bookshop the other day." she chimed in, quite proud at the fact that she started talking.

Two other lads, who were oddly exact copies, both snickered under their sneers before rubbing the youngest boy, making his red head of hair all messy.

"Already getting the girls now, like we predicted~" one taunted before he got away.

"Oh bugger off, Fred!"

"Nah, we're only jokin'!"

"Enough of you two!" the woman snapped back, nearly having her hat fly right off her head. "How rude to act like show ponies, the nerve of you… If it wasn't for the Express, I'd send you to the car in a wink! Oh, dear, please excuse these ruffians… They always love to have a go~"

"Aw, that's all right," Lyra laughed along, feeling quite welcome. "I can tell they're fun lovers,"

"Well that is a FINE understatement," she overheard a whisper before the second youngest piped up.

"Say, I saw you at Flourish and Blotts!" the ruffled haired lad spoke up. "You left in quite a hurry…"

"Ah-yes, I did… Sorry. My, um… my sire had a schedule to keep so we had to leave early."

"Aw, I can relate to that - Name's Ron. Ron Weasley." the boy smiled with a nod, soon holding his hand out for a shake. That was something she gladly took, with things becoming brighter by the second.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Lyra smiled with laughter in her voice.

"Pleasure is all mine!"

"Not even at school yet and already the popular one," snarked one of the twins, she forgot which was which already.

"Are you a first-year, like me?" Ron asked, fully ignoring the taunt as the two parents looked on.

"Yes! This is your first year? I-I thought I was alone here…" she mentioned.

"Bloody brilliant Hogswarts is, even with the rumors…" George winked before getting elbowed by his own mother.

"Enough, you two… The lot of you are going to scare the poor girl into oblivion."

Lyra's happily lit smile almost diminished at the mention of a rumor, however, this moment was a precious one to keep. This was a fine reminder though, there were things she had to keep very hushed. Her excitement could ruin that…

"Being this as your first time as well, it would seem that we are cutting it close on the clock!" the woman spoke up with a mere squeak. At that little reminder, Lyra took a quick look at the clock~ It was two minutes close to eleven exactly. "Come, dearie, let us make like babies and get you and the boys on… Everyone knows they leave like clockwork~"

It was the moment when she got a good look at the Express itself. A brilliant red and black engine, pumping steam into the hidden station with such a different crowd, all chattering about how ignorant Muggles were or if their owls got snatched among other curious mumblings. Along with the family, Lyra pressed on, smiling as she took it all in.

Indeed, the interior of this place looked like the typical express line, if not a little aged, but it was quaint yet a little tight since other children were mingling among one another besides bidding farewell to their families. Merely, it was just enough actually being able to see more of the world… so as soon as she got on board as soon as her trunk was packed in, along with Felix, she looked around the cabins.

One was not taken, so she and the lad Ron took it, quick before it was stolen away from them.

"Oi, that was a close one!" Ron laughed, taking a comfy spot by the window as the train began to get a move on.

"I seem to have a good eye," Lyra chuckled, tying her hair back with a spare tie. She took the seat across, exhilarated. "…for someone who hasn't been out much."

"Now that's saying something… It seemed that you knew what you were doing."

"I was just so glad to be here," she was about to say, seeing a bit of what was left of London as they continued to move. After a moment, she felt the charm on her finger warm up again and she was then reminded.

"So, your name is Prince? As in like… Professor Orpheus… Prince?" Ron began, trying to spark a conversation. "Heard tell from Dad that he's one of the tops there at Hogwarts, heard he's a scary one."

Lyra paused at that, trying to plan a way to dodge the topic. "He looks and sounds like he might hurt you, but he's anything but," she lightly replied to that.

"Heard he's one of the harshest teachers ever to come by, knowing that might hurt me… Or Mum might have a cow."

"I've had been through his kind of teaching. Surely it's not going to be bad…. I used to make potions with him when I was little. If he's so bad then I must be twice as much." she joked and the two had a laugh.

"Heard one named Mcgonagall was another to watch out for…" Ron continued.

"… Brilliant. I thought I was an anxious sort." she prodded back.

"Aw, you're right~ Think the twins are barkin',"

"They seem like good fun though~"

"Sure, if you want to wake up with thorns growing in your knickers…"

Lyra snorted just as this one kindly lady pushed through the aisle with a trolley of sorts, singing along that she had an assortment of edibles on the way.

"Somethin' off the trolley, dears?" came she with a welcoming smile and gleam in her blue eye.

Ron appeared to be a bit disappointed even after looking over all those delicious treats on display on the tiny cart. Lamely, he took out what looked like mashed bread all wrapped up in a basic cooking sticky wrap, which brought a mark of pity into the girl's heart.

"Um," Lyra began as she began to search her pockets for a Knickle or Galleon or two… Her green lit up when she got some luck in finding a few.

"Don't worry about me, miss, I'm all set~"

"But why settle for moldy sandwiches when you can have a bit dessert to reward yourself after struggling to hork it down?" she smiled, having her eye on one bright box of what looked like colorful jelly beans.

"May I have a box of those, please?" she kindly asked.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavors!" the lady commented, brightly. "Be wary though, one just might catch your tongue on fire…"

Lyra chuckled before Ron got to pick a blue, triangular box that had neat ornate designs all over the box. "I'll just take this then~" he said, seeming rather mundane.

"That'll be one Galleon, please… Enjoy yourselves, dears!" the woman said, sweetly, before going on her merry way to the other.

"Bloody thanks, Lyra! Saved me tongue from being tainted for the rest of the day… Mum insists on 'healthy' eating."

"So does my Sire. He worries when I lack an appetite, so he urges me to eat fruit at least or some toast in the mornings. Would you care to share my sandwich? It's a simple ham and cheese…"

"Don't know why she is so keen on smashing it into one shape an' all," Ron complained, taking a bite of his

"Trade half then?" Lyra offered.

"Sure!"

After a moment of eating these sandwiches, one beautifully made while the other was combined into a mass, hilariously so… Eventually, they got to their candies~

"I am shocked you went for those! I am personally afraid of them…"

"What's so bad? Jelly beans give me fond memories,"

"The muggle ones, maybe. Not these. When it says Every Flavor, they MEAN every flavor. There's grass, apple, and tripe and then there is mud, crab, and bile. George swore he got bogey flavored one once!"

Lyra's face twisted into disgust prior to spitting the chocolate one she had in her mouth.

"Could you have told me when I bought this set…?"

"Thought you knew!"

"When she said 'burn your tongue', I thought she meant the spice of the cinnamon ones. Prince rarely buys me candies, so no, I did not know of the horrors of these beans… I should have gave your sandwich back as punishment…" Lyra mumbled. "Maybe he spared me the agony— should've known. I should have stuck with my orange. I wasted my Galleon… Good for me," she was stating as she munched away.

After a few minutes when the saw that they were now moving along into the countryside, Lyra noticed this huge rat seeming to come out of one of Ron's travel bags, making the girl want to hop up onto the seat in her surprise.

"Don't mind him!" Ron spoke. "… it's only Scabbers. Pathetic, isn't he?"

"Scabbers? He's yours then? I am not fond of rats…"

"He's all bark, no bite! Hey, wanna see me turn him yellow? Fred and George taught me a spell…Wanna see?" he asked, taking his crooked wand out of his trousers.

"Those barking mad twins?" Lyra smiled. "You sure about that, Ronald?" she asked when another girl almost passed their cabin. She had a full head of frilly dirty blonde hair and her brown eyes looked vexed.

"Have either of you have seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one…" she groaned.

"No?" Ron answered with a bland shrug.

This girl's brown eyes lit up as if it was Christmas day.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then!"

Ron drew a look to a silent Lyra who was almost as ginger headed and worried as he was before he cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, Daisies, Buttonmellow… Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

Something seemed to spit awkwardly out from the tip of his wand, smacking the rat dead on the nose! But nothing came to be except one perturbed fluffy rat. Lyra gave a hidden laugh at that before she shook her head.

"Pff, I told you, silly!"

"Is that a real spell?" the other girl smirked. "Not very good now, is it?"

"Bah, we didn't ask you, frilly know-it-all, ~"

"Enough name-calling," Lyra prodded, soon standing up, picking up her new wand. "Prince taught me this one… Lumos!" she called out lightly, with a swift swish of her wand.

A dawning near violet hue appeared to erupt from the tip of the new Pheonix core wand, as bright as the North star. The smart-mouthed lass stood there, simply agape for a moment before blinking awake.

"Prince? As in Orpheus Prince?" she threw out. "Hogwarts' Most Brilliant?"

Lyra sighed, letting her light go out. "It would seem he's popular…"

"Holy crickets, you have no idea! Read he is one of the rare magical prodigies of this century~ of not the harshest teachers out there — I'm Hermoine, by the way. Hermoine Granger."

"Call me Lyra." she smiled back as the two shook hands.

"And now, you are?" Hermoine shrewdly looked at Ron as he still had a mouthful of Chocolate Frog.

"R-Ron Weasley," he croaked.

"…pleasure. Now, in about two hours' time, I expect that we are arriving soon, so you might want to dig around for your robes." Hermoine smartly announced before turning to go her way to the next cabin. But, just before she went out, she pointed out. "Oh, you have dirt on your nose, by the way. Right here," she pointed to her right side.

Ron sourly rubbed his nose, in a pout.