1 September, 1996

Theodore stuffed his hands into the pockets of his robe and walked slowly down the length of the train. He was headed the front, where most of the older years tended to avoid. Theodore preferred it there, though. Less chances of seeing someone in his own year. He opened the door to an empty compartment and half-closed the door before settling in a seat by the window.

Tracey managed to get stuck right behind the sweets trolley as she walked down the aisle, stopping every minute at every compartment, scowling half-heartedly at some of the younger years.

Finally she squeezed past, but not before buying a few pumpkin pasties and a sack of peppermint beetles, and peered through glass doors until she found Theodore alone. "Ah hah!"

Millicent was wandering around the back of the train, looking for someone to join. She was hoping for Theodore, but he didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. She found Pansy, Daphne, and Heather, and in what might be termed desperation she stepped halfway through the door, giving them a weak smile. Of course, when their entire conversation ground to a halt, she didn't linger. Sighing, she headed towards the front of the train, still looking.

Theodore slowly turned his head away from the window. "Oh, Tracey." He said in a perfectly placid tone. "You startled me." He looked over Tracey once. "Are you going to come in?"

"If you don't mind," she said, her foot wedged in the door as both of her hands were full of sweets. "Take a pastie, won't you?" She held one hand out to him as she squeezed in through the sliding door.

Millicent neared the front of the train, her glances inside compartments growing shorter and shorter. She almost missed seeing Theodore, especially with Tracey partially in the way, but stopped to
look again before continuing on.

"Oh, thank Merlin," she said, following Tracey inside. "Thought I'd have to sit through the ride with some second years or something equally miserable."

Theodore smirked. "Equally miserable," he said, pointing to Tracey and himself. He watched as the two girls settled into the compartment, idly tearing the pastie wrapper to shreds. "Fancy?" he offered the unwrapped pastie to Millicent without a look at Tracey.

Tracey set down the rest of the snacks on the bench across from Theodore, scooting closer to the window to allow Millicent space, even though she wasn't sure where the other girl would prefer to sit and wasn't going to ask, either. She sat and glanced out the window before turning back to look at them.

Millicent made a bit of a face. "No, thanks. Way too early for me." She hesitated for a moment before sitting next to Tracey. "So... how were your summers?"

Theodore bit into the pumpkin pastie and shrugged, looking at Millicent and then Tracey expectantly.

Tracey shrugged too, but a nice shrug, with a smile. "It was pretty quiet, mostly. Went to some shows, did a lot of reading, nothing really special. You?"

Millicent made a noncommittal noise and drew one leg up, putting her foot on the seat and leaning her chin on her knee. "Spent most of my time at home. I read a lot, too. Not a whole lot else to do." She now looked at Theodore purposefully, awaiting his own answer.

Theodore chewed slowly before swallowing the bite of pastie. He set the entire thing, shredded wrapper and all, down on the seat next to him before replying. "My summer was decent. Quiet, too." He sighed with a detached air before picking up the pastie again.

"Sorry I didn't owl you this summer, by the way," Theodore said to Millicent.

Tracey leaned back in her seat, opening her bag of peppermint beetles. She popped one into her mouth, mulling over that last sentence to herself as she looked out the window so as not to appear to be
listening in.

Millicent blinked and glanced at Tracey for a moment, feeling suddenly vulnerable, even though there wasn't any way Tracey could know what she was thinking.

"It's okay," she said blankly. It was okay in that it was Theodore, and she would probably forgive him no matter what. But of course it had been painful not to receive any word from him for two months. After a few weeks of summer with no owl, she'd thought of perhaps contacting him first, but pride got in the way of that pretty quickly. Theodore was her friend, but if he wasn't going to owl her, she wasn't going to make him by making the initial effort.

She looked at the wall just over his shoulder when she spoke.

Theodore nibbled on the crust of the pastie thoughtfully. He looked at Tracey briefly before giving Millicent a small smile. "I've been really busy. Orthrus is taking care of everything with my father gone, and Laurence..." Theodore shrugged. "You know how Laurence is over the holidays."

Theodore's eyes wandered over to Tracey once more. "I didn't have a chance to owl anyone, really." He leaned back against the compartment wall and crossed his arms nonchalantly. "Wish you had owled me once though."

Tracey glanced over at Theodore, resting her elbow on the window sill and her chin on her hand, then glanced back out the window. She wasn't going to correct him.

Shit. Millicent grimaced internally, realising not owling Theodore was stupid. Especially with his dad in Azkaban... She'd been rather more interested in maintaining a sallow mood over the summer, though, as it kept her from getting too frustrated, somehow. "Sorry. I – was grounded," she lied. "For not being like Daphne, or something. You know my mum."

"Right," Theodore nodded. It seemed like a flimsy excuse. Millicent would have owled him even if she was under punishment. He didn't pursue it, though, especially since he was lying about not owling
anyone.

Theodore decided to turn his focus on Tracey. "You're going to eat all of that?" he said somewhat condescendingly, as if Tracey was overweight and greedily working through a bag of fudge trolls.

"Stocking up," Tracey said mildly, looking up from the window. "And peppermint beetles last a long time. Besides, I bought them to share."

Millicent looked away. She was glad she'd found Theodore and Tracey, but on another level it might have been better to spend the ride zoning out in a compartment with obnoxious pre-teenagers. That wasn't an unfamiliar feeling -- Theodore usually made her simultaneously pleased and regretful, at least in the presence of other people.

After a moment she looked back at Tracey. "Make sure you hide them from Pansy, Daphne, and Heather. They might throw them out to get rid of the temptation."

"Ha ha," Theodore grinned.

Tracey broke into a smile. "Yeah, that's true. I didn't buy to share with them," she said.

"That's good. Not as if they need the extra excitement in their lives. I'm sure their summers were eventful enough." Millicent worked hard to keep any resentment out of her town, and almost succeeded. She wasn't jealous of the way Heather, Pansy, and Daphne were, exactly, just that
they always seemed to get what they wanted.

"Well," Theodore said, crumpling the remains of the empty pastie wrapped in his hands, "Let's not spoil our train ride with talk of the Clackers. We'll have enough of them once we get to Hogwarts." Theodore reached over and grabbed a few peppermint beetles from Tracey's bag. He bit one in half and looked out the window.

Tracey snorted and nearly spat out her own beetle at that comment, then clapped her hand over her mouth and nose, trying to have some sort of ladylike... niceness. Instead she just gave Millicent a guiltily naughty look over her hand.

Millicent grinned slowly, amused as well. "Clackers?" she asked, glancing between Tracey and Theodore.

"Yes, you know," Theodore waved a hand vaguely in the air. "The sound of their little heels. Clack-clack-clack all over the damn dungeons." Theodore turned away from the window and looked at the two girls. He shook his head and let his lips curl into a semi-smirk. "Oh, like the two of you won't be using that term later."

"With all full credit to you, of course," Tracey said, composing herself a little more.

"Yes, of course." Millicent smirked back at Theodore. "Clever, that one. Why didn't you tell me about that earlier? Think of all the fun we could have had deriding them behind their backs."

"Millicent, Millicent," Theodore composed his face, though his lips threatened to curl up again. "I can't reveal my great wit to you all at once. I have to slowly phase it out, reveal it in parts. I wouldn't want to stun you, after all," he said.

"That's just too much wit," Tracey said, crossing her legs at the knee. "Dangerous amounts of it."

Millicent rolled her eyes, still smirking. "Please. As if you're really concerned about my well-being. Your wit can hardly do more harm than your cigarettes."

"Awful habit. I was hoping you'd quit over the holidays." Theodore addressed Millicent. He propped one of his legs up on the seat between the two girls and turned his body slightly so that he was facing Millicent and not Tracey.

Tracey uncrossed her legs, turning away again.

"Liar." Millicent shifted, putting her leg down just to bring her feet up and sit cross-legged on the seat. She was vaguely aware that they were shutting Tracey out a little, but Tracey didn't seem to mind -- at least, she wasn't speaking up, and right now Millicent had shifted from the depressing Theodore moods to the good ones, and she wasn't going to give those up so soon.

Theodore shrugged at Millicent's playful accusation. The train compartment shook a bit and he casually used the movement to take a look at Tracey. He felt slightly remorseful about the way he was treating her. But it wasn't as if Tracey was objecting, and he would most likely make up for this later.

Theodore bit another peppermint beetle in half. "Milli," he started, "Do you want to go for a fag before the feast?"

Tracey watched the scenery go by, stretching her legs a little before tucking them under herself.

Millicent smiled, genuinely this time. "Yeah. Bet we can sneak into the courtyard after the carriages take us up. And there's always a lag between when everyone goes into the Great Hall and when the speech begins."

"Alright." Theodore said before lapsing into silence. He looked over at Tracey under the pretense of looking out the window. He thought of something to say. "I wonder if the Squad is still going to be around. Probably not."

Tracey looked at him, then looked back out the window. She assumed he wasn't talking to her anyway, and so she didn't answer.

Millicent shrugged. "I doubt it. With Umbridge gone, there's nobody to direct it. Just as well... Draco was the only person in our year involved who I'd actually want to spend time with. It's just the 'Clackers' otherwise." She grinned a bit.

There was a slight delay in his response. "...And Goyle. I like Goyle. And Crabbe," Theodore said, his eyes still in the direction of the window. It was obvious that Theodore's attention had shifted from the conversation.

"Right," Theodore mumbled, turning his head to face Millicent, "We could well have a Ministry appointed Dark Arts professor though." He shrugged. "Not that it really matters."

"They're fine." Millicent shrugged. She frowned a little, noticing Theodore's shift. "We could. I don't know if they'd want the Squad still. Or if I'd join again." She hadn't known Theodore thought about it so negatively. "Do you think the Ministry has put in someone new again?"

"It's possible." Theodore said. "I was hoping you would have a better idea." He looked at Millicent, and then down at his left hand. He still had four peppermint beetles. Theodore sighed and then set them on the seat beside him, next to the pastie wrapper. "I haven't exactly been keeping up with the news."

"Me neither," Millicent admitted. "If they printed anything about it to begin with." She glanced at Tracey, suddenly feeling awkward at the conversation she and Theodore just had without her.

"Where do you live, Tracey?" she asked, looking for another topic.

Theodore opened his mouth to reply for Tracey, but then closed it.

Tracey looked up, a little startled. "Oh. I, ah. In London. You?"

"Staffordshire, in the middle of nowhere, mostly. I just realised I couldn't remember, is all." She paused. "Must make it easier to do things when you're bored over the hols, yes?"

"Probably," Theodore cut in. "More things to do in London than at our homes," he gave Millicent a smile. "What did you do to amuse yourself this summer?" Theodore asked Millicent.

Tracey pressed her lips together and crossed her arms, sitting back.

"Surely more." Millicent shrugged. "Read. Wander around. Learn and practice almost totally useless spells. Ministry doesn't register underage magic if I'm in or close to the house, since it's a Wizarding home. Also, finding ways out of going to events with Mum or meeting the people she thinks I should know. That's always a pretty creative process."

"Right," Theodore agreed. "There're only so many times you can break your ankle."

"Or any other body part. She tried to bring me along even when I told her my wrist was broken." Millicent rolled her eyes slightly. "But there are plenty of illnesses to fake, including invented ones. Not like Mum knows any better."

Theodore gave Millicent an indulgent smile.

Millicent blinked and smiled a bit back. "What about you? You must have had plenty of things going on if you couldn't owl."

Theodore reached for a peppermint beetle and popped one into his mouth. He rolled it over in his mouth slowly before answering. "Helping Orthrus with the expense accounts and the investments. Just that, but it was a good amount of things to look over."

"I can imagine." Millicent's father took care of all that, but of course Theodore's couldn't at the moment. She was entirely sympathetic to his situation, thinking of how awful it would be if Alexander Bulstrode were arrested. It wasn't even as if they were terribly close, but it would still be a mess and difficult to deal with. "Investments going well, though?"

"No clue." Theodore said, his voice slightly more cheerful. "I assume Orthrus knows what he's doing, because I don't." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter." Theodore opened his mouth to change the subject but he couldn't think of a single conversation topic. He closed his mouth.

"No, it doesn't, really," Millicent agreed.