Chapter 9
Violet stands quietly at the entrance of the compartment, it seems putting random kids together in an unusual environment doesn't make them the most talkative. There was a boy with brown hair and stormy gray eyes reading a book near the window. He seemed the most comfortable in the compartment but the least likely to engage in conversation. As he reads, he plays with a cork on a piece of string around his neck, it looks old. Violet couldn't read where the cork was from due to the faded lettering. Next to him sat a girl with a pink face and stringy brown hair pulled into twin buns on top of her head that seemed impossibly tight. Her eyes were brown, and looked past Violet rather than at her focusing on a specific spot on the wall. She had her head in one of her hands and was holding her stomach with the other. A boy sat across from them looking quite bored, he had a heavy-jawed face and was the tallest in the compartment. He had blonde curly hair, straight teeth, and round cheeks. He looked like a cherub or a doll sitting with the rest of them, the sun came through the window casting an angelic light onto his face. None of them noticed her for a minute. They all were still like an oil painting, after a few more minutes of awkward silence Violet couldn't help letting out a small cough to clear her throat, all three of them looked at her and she waves a small and awkward hello.
"Hi… my name is Violet Dursley i'm uh… first year" Violet stares at the floor before forcing herself to make eye contact picking at her nails nervously as she does so. The blonde boy looks from the window to her and gives a half hearted smile before dropping it.
"Uh… hi? I'm Merlin, first year." he nods, also introducing himself to the rest of the compartment.
"Merlin, like the famous Merlin?" the other boy asks, marking his place with a piece of paper before putting the book down. Merlin blushes slightly in shame his eyes flicker down to his hands
"Yeah but… you don't have to address me like that, it's only… My parents are fans." he mumbles softly and Violet's nerves disappear for a moment.
"Who are your parents?" she can't help asking, Merlin sighs deeply sinking in his chair a little.
"What about you two? What are your names?" He asks, bypassing Violet's question all together, the other boy doesn't question his motives.
"My name is Lorcan, My brother Lysander has been exploring the train for the last thirty minuets, so I'm sure he won't mind Nettle taking his seat." The girl next to Lorcan, presumably Nettle, huffed in response to him.
"My brother is a git, sander left to find him for my motion sickness pills forever ago!" she groans while squeezing her eyes shut,
"can't you go find him Lorie?" she asks softly, Lorcan sighs deeply placing a hand on the girl's back.
"Nettle we're fraternal twins, we're no different than any other set of siblings, I can't just go find him due to a twin mind link." He shakes his head and Nettle groans again under him.
"Then you're a git too…" she huffs softly, Violet looks to Merlin wondering if he knew these two as well or if he was just as much in the dark as her, the blonde shrugged to her and motioned for her to sit down with him.
"I can cast a sleeping charm for the rest of the ride" Lorcan offers and Nettle chuckles softly with a groan.
"We're first years, I am not letting your wand anywhere near me, or i'll end up barfing slugs ugh-" she groans again at the mention of barfing. Just as Violet sits down the compartment door opens revealing a boy who looks much like Lorcan, they have the same thin face and high cheekbones, although this boy's eyes were hazel and much wider. His hair was a dirty blonde and feathered at the base of his skull where it meets the top of his neck.
"Nettle! Delivery from your brother drake!" He hands her what looks like an over the counter pill bottle prompting her to open the bottle and take a pill almost instantly.
"You guys take pills? Like from a pharmacy?" Violet blurts out causing everyone's eyes to go to her.
"Are you a muggle born Violet?" Nettle asks after a moment of silence, Violet feels almost embarrassed by the question remembering her trip to the bank.
"Uh I think so?" she looks down at her hands as they clench the fabric of her uniform skirt nervously.
"Really? Why?" Lorcan asks as his brother slides in next to Nettle, Lysander reaches across the girl in between him and his twin and gives him a gentle shove.
"Oh my GOD Lori you can't just ask people why they're muggle born!" Violet puts her hands up defensively jumping to defend Lorcan.
"No! It's ok, I was… born to normal parents?" All four of them look at her with confused faces, Merlin nudges Violet to get her attention.
"Sorry doll but in this case, you're the one with weird parents not us." Lorcan opens his book again, while Nettle and Lysander start with their own conversation again.
"Are… non-wizzard parents not normal at hogwarts?" Violet asks and Nettle shrugs,
"Not in the last few years, I don't know much more than that from my father." Merlin's brows furrow,
"The ministry has been pushing back muggle borns for some reason my mum…" He trails of at the end blushing slightly
"Does your mum work for the ministry?" Lysander asks and Merlin's face contorts in a shameful secretive look.
"Not… exactly? I'm not supposed to talk about it." Lysander's face crinkles in response to this, screwing up in thought.
"That's not cryptic" Merlin laughs nervously in response, he changes the subject back to Nettle,
"Your father works at Hogwarts?" the blonde boy asks her and she nods with a smile,
"Yeah my father teaches Herbology, He was actually AT the battle of Hogwarts, Lori and Sander's mum too of course." Violet feels jealous that Nettle and the twins have people they know at the school.
"So you guys have known each other long?" She asks, Lysander nods as Lorcan answers.
"Our parents went to Hogwarts together, Nettle's dad even killed He who must not be named, we've known each other probably our entire lives." Merlin's brows furrow and he purses his lips.
"I thought Harry Potter killed He who must not be named? Otherwise my brother was named after the wrong person." Concern Prickles through Violet, had her older cousin Harry actually killed someone? What world was she living in? Nettle sighs deeply,
"My father doesn't seem to care but in my opinion HHMNBN would have never been killed if it wasn't for him beheading the snake and therefore the death goes to the destroyer of the last Horcrux" Violet doesn't understand the conversation and doesn't have the courage to ask,
"So we're abbreviating it now?" Larcan asks Nettle not looking up from his book, He gets a glare in return and chuckles to himself.
"Well I'm not saying the whole thing every time." Violet is confused by how the people around her are speaking, she doesn't understand any of their lingo.
"Who is… HNM…N?" Lysander chuckles a little at her failure to remember Nettle's acronym.
"It's just some political history from forever ago don't worry about it" Merlin waves off Violet's question,
"Only some old boring political stuff" the other three nod in agreement not easing Violet's confusion at all. She doesn't have time to ask anything else before there's a knock on the compartment door before it slides open.
"Anything from the trolley… d-dears?" a young lanky boy looked down at them, he seemed to be in his late 20's a peculiar mix of shame and embarrassment fell over his expressions at different moments of time.
"What happened to the trolley Witch?" Nettle asks, looking the boy up and down.
"My brother told me she was old as dirt but you're not a witch or old what gives?" she asks and the embarrassment returns to the boys face,
"My mother said my grandmother was too old, she was forced to retire and I… was forced to take her job, you guys going to buy anything?" He sighs, a tired look overcoming his face.
"What was the Trolly Witch's name anyway?" Lysander asks Nettle who shrugs.
"Irene…" The new Trolly Wizard sighs to himself but no one was listening anymore.
"I'm not sure, do you know Lori?" Nettle turns to the other twin who shrugs and turns a page in his book.
"Funton" The Trolly Wizard says again leaning on the trolly, Violet notices his defeated expression and assumes he can't leave until they answer his original question.
"What's your name?" Violet asks softly as the other four discuss the past trolley witch and what snacks they maybe should buy.
"I'm Finnigan Gulls" He sighs out idly messing with some wrappers on foods and candies that Violet has never seen, the rest of the party was now talking about something else vaguely related to the past topic.
"I'll take something, whatever you suggest" Truthfully Violet didn't recognize any of the candies on the cart, she took out the small purse of Wizard money her mother had given her before she left digging around in it.
"Don't worry about it, here." Finnigan hands Violet a small package with about ten cylindrical blue balls in it, he package is labeled "Drooble's",
"Thank-" before she can thank him properly, Finnigan has closed the compartment door and walked away with a tired look on his face.