Compartment Number 8

In this compartment sat a small girl--she barely looked her age (eleven and a half), and rather than some other people in her years, she simply looked... cute. Not pretty, not gorgeous or striking or anything. Just cute. She had ringlets of black hair in two ponytails that fell to her shoulders, and short bangs that poofed out slightly. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, and her big blue eyes stared out of the window, observing the platform and people milling around in it.

Yes, like all good sisters, Libby had left Holly Brown to sit by herself in a compartment.

And, then, by the scruff of her first-year robes, in came Selia. Literally, Serenity was holding her up. "Stop loitering in the hallways, and stop talking to my friends. Or enemies. Here's a person in your year, stay in here, don't get in trouble!" Serenity shouted. Serenity dropped Selia and stomped off. Selia stared blankly at Holly. "Er, hello. My name is Selia Rosensteel."

Holly smiled weakly. It was a little awkward for someone to drag another person into a compartment. "I'm Holly. Holly Brown. Uh, you can sit here, if you want..."

"Thank you very much. My sister.. she's a bit overbearing. It's wonderful to meet you, Holly. I'm, uh, very excited for Hogwarts, I suppose. Do you have any older siblings? I only have Serenity.. She's horrid." Selia said. Her voice was very quiet, but she was certainly talking more.

"I have an older sister, Libby, and an older brother, Drew. They're alright... your sister doesn't really seem too pleasant though." Holly had a louder voice, and wasn't as shy, but she was nowhere near Libby-level of gregariousness.

"She often comes in my room and throws my stuff on the floor when she's angry." Selia remarked. "But she can be really nice. Once she did my hair and makeup for fun, and it looked really nice.. I don't usually like makeup."

"I only use powder and foundation... I don't really use anything else. Just to even out my skin and stuff," Holly smiled. "You don't need anything, though, you're pretty as-is."

"Oh, thank you. That's quite a coincidence, because I was thinking your hair is just lovely, and you have such great eyes. Sometimes I think my mother cheated on my father, because I don't look very much like my sister or her at all. Their hair is so much lighter, and my eyes are a completely different color."

Holly blushed. She never really had people tell her she was pretty. "Thanks... hm, that's odd. Do you look like your dad at all?"

"Oh, he's alright. What about you? Do you like your sister and brother?" Selia asked, staring at Holly. She hadn't blinked for quite a long time, and it was bound to get unnerving.

It WAS unnerving. Holly looked out the window to keep from looking at this girl that didn't blink normally. "They can be really... weird sometimes, but Libby's pretty cool. She's in her second year, so it's kinda nice to have someone close to my age."

Selia finally blinked- but it wasn't like Holly could see. "That does seem nice. So last year was her first year.. What's Hogwarts like? Do you know for certain? I'm kind of scared."

"I don't know, she didn't tell me anything about it besides the fact that it was big and scary."

"Oh.. That's exactly what my sister said." Selia said, looking down in her lap. "Gosh.."

"I'm kinda scared," Holly admitted.

"Oh, that's great! Well, great because we can be scared together. We should stay together the whole time." Selia said, rather seriously.

"Good idea!" Holly nodded vigorously, her curls bouncing. "We'll get lost together!"

Fry slid the door open. "HI HOLLY!" he yelled, and plopped right down next to her. Being so tall, though, he took up a lot of space and kicked his legs out on the seat across from him. He was wearing old ripped tennis shoes, and they put dried mud crumbs all over it. "Hi, you!" he said waving at Selia.

"Hi, Fry!" Holly greeted him, smiling widely at him. Over the summer, they had become pretty good friends. "How are you?"

"Oh, just fine. You know, I'm so EXCITED to start school! Magic! Thank goodness I had you as a friend though, because now I'll know EVERYTHING there is to know."

"Um, I don't really know much about Hogwarts," Holly shrugged, missing the fact that Fry was actually talking about magic in general, not just Hogwarts.

There was the sound of the door being thrown up, rather dramatically, and then, Karin Moreno marched in.

"Everywhere else was full." she said as a greeting, and she took a spot next to Fry.

"Oh not just about Ho-....." Fry looked at Karin. "Oh, hi."

"Hello." she said politely, not realizing how awkward the atmosphere had become since her entrance.

Fry groaned. "I am the only guy in here... Did I really want to end up like this? NO. Do you know how much this sucks? I'm already the only guy at my house, now this!" he said angrily, fuming.

But at that moment, another boy entered. He had very short hair, and big grayish eyes, and tanned skin with a slight spray of freckles over his nose. He was quite cute and posh looking. "Umm.... is there space... oh there isn't," he mumbled, a slight trace of Italian in his speaking. He turned around.

"NO STAY!" Fry insisted loudly- moreso a demand than anything else, and the boy turned around with a grin. "O-okay!" he said, and sat across from Fry.