// NATHANIEL KINCADE //

Magic is real, wizards are real. 

He was a wizard.

He was shaken from his thoughts when the sorting hat announced the final student and he made his way to the Gryffindor table. 

Eventually the head of the school stood and made a speech and soon after that announced the feast. Gabe was confused, there was nothing on the table in front of him. Did the castle have a staff of servers to feed the hundreds of kids that attended? Seemed rather extravagant for a bunch of teenagers.

And then out of nowhere appeared the grandest feast that Gabe had ever laid eyes on. Gabe was used to the cheap meals his dad provided, usually tv dinner. He really didn’t know where to begin so without thinking he grabbed up the closest thing to him. Roast chicken leg, potatoes and the fluffiest bread rolls he had ever had. 

As he stuffed his face he looked around at the other students, primarily the other first years that he was now dorm mates with. He figured he should probably get to know them now, probably the best time anyway. 

"Such a timid one, aren’t you, dear? But you have a creative mind. So creative, and you’re interested in learning. Very curious. RAVENCLAW."

The Ravenclaw table clapped as she stood up and took a moment to find an empty seat before sitting down, her face pink. There weren’t many students left waiting now, only a small handful.

"Sternberk, Lina." Lina skipped over to the stool and enthusiastically planted herself down. The hat was dropped over her eyes.

"A fiery personality. Strong willed and sure of yourself, aren’t you? Ah, but I see you are clever, not one to go dashing off without a plan, no matter what it may be. Such a curious one, a good mind with a desire for knowledge. RAVENCLAW."

Lina skipped over to the steps, pausing for a moment to look around her. Her gaze fell to the Gryffindor table momentarily, and then over to the other side where the Slytherins sat, and waved happily before skipping down the steps and over to sit beside Sakura. Eventually, there was only one child left.

"Wier, Lachlan." He walked confidently up to the sorting hat. He had the hat placed on his head, and the voice whispered.

"Strong, athletic mostly. A little boastful and loves the spotlight. But you’re a loyal boy and brave, a fighter. GRYFFINDOR." Not all that surprised, Lachlan strode over to the Gryffindor table, and sat down.

Magical hair coloring couldn't hold his attention when Lina's name was called. His gaze snapped up to watch her approaching the stool. He crossed his fingers under the table. Gryffindor, he willed at the hat. She belongs in--

"RAVENCLAW!"

For a moment, Nathaniel was sure he'd looked quite as miserable as the boy with the technicolor hair. Lina looked quite happy as she hopped off her stool and headed to the applauding table, though, and when she glanced over towards the Gryffindors, he managed a small smile.

A few more first-years, and of course, loud Lachlan was joining the Gryffindor table. Joy oh joy.

Nathaniel looked around at his fellow Gryffindors. The other first-years were nearest, among them Lachlan, a grey-haired boy who seemed to share a similar brand of Lach's confident energy, and a long-haired brunet with a sort of wary air -- Nat already had lost track of their names. He caught sight of an older dark-haired girl further down the table who looked familiar, as well, though he wasn't quite sure why.

The headmistress, a stern-looking witch with horn-rimmed glasses, finished her speech and sat down, saying it was time to eat. Nathaniel half expected a line of dancing dishes to float in through the doors. What did happen was both less showy and more spectacular, as the food simply appeared out of thin air to fill the dishes before them. As the scents of a dozen different dishes reached Nathaniel's nose, his stomach gave a loud growl, and he realized just how hungry he was. He wasn't the only one, either, as other students not so shocked by magically-appearing food were already passing dishes around and digging in. Nathaniel quickly filled his dishes with a little of everything that passed him.

After a good ten minutes of wordless noshing, he felt a little awkward about the chatter being flung around them. Everyone who wasn't a first-year seemed so comfortable. Nathaniel swallowed a bite of roast beef, glanced at Lachlan across from him, then at the other two first-year boys.

And then finally, when he thought he had seen enough they brought out the sorting hat. This was unlike anything he had imagined when they told him about magic. It was in all senses of the word incomprehensible and yet here was the impossible singing a song and deciding the next seven years of Gabe’s young life. Which was both terrifying and awe inspiring.

It was enough to get his adrenalin pumping at least.

"Hernadez, Gabriel"

And that was it. His turn. Gabe sighed heavily and looked at Sakura and Angel.

"I’ll see you on the other side then?" He smiled through the fear and parted his way through the students and made his way up to the stage. 

On the stool he sat and the hat placed upon his head, which drooped to below his eyes. He was actually fairly thankful that he didn’t have to see the crowd the same time this was happening. 

I see, very loyal, that’s interesting. A strong will power for one of your age which is nice but also rather foolish. And drive, lots of drive.

"GRYFINNDOR!" 

He shuffled out with the rest of the first-years and into the massive Great Hall. Four tables, and so many faces staring at them from under pointy robes. Nathaniel wiped his clammy palms on his robes.

The Sorting, however, was nothing like anyone had suggested. It was just... a hat. A hat that proceeded to sing, and then told each student in turn where they would go. Nathaniel found himself wondering what exactly it was looking for, but the train of thought was quickly derailed by his nerves. He at least felt a little better at seeing that he wasn't the only nervous one -- some of his fellow first-years were actually shaking.

"Kincade, Nathaniel!" came the call.

Nat gulped and walked up to the stool. As soon as he had sat down, the hat was dropped over his head and fell over his eyes. It must have belonged to someone with a very big head.

"Mmm, yes, good," said a voice in his ear, "a sharp mind, forward thinking... Slytherin would do you good..."

His heart gave a leap as he remembered his father's words, You'll be Slytherin Prefect in no time. He remembered being pushed into a fire not three days ago.

No. The rebellious thought rose up, unbidden but loud. Not Slytherin.

I won't be what he wants.

"Is that so?" The Hat sounded almost amused. "In that case, GRYFFINDOR!"

Nat felt a great swell of not only relief, but something like triumph. He took off the hat and walked to the red and gold table. He couldn't help but to grin as he took his place.

Behind them were their classmates. A pale white haired boy, a tanned boy with grey hair. The pale boy was followed closely by a mousy Asian girl. Behind them was the blond girl and the cousin companions and the rest of their year.

They were led onto the slippery rocks, and a somewhat beaten trail up to the grasses that would lead right beneath the castle. Lina was still bouncing. She stepped onto a moss covered rock, gasping as she fell backward. She braced herself for a hard landing, but found it to be rather soft and warm. She looked around to see Nathaniel behind her and her face broke out into a wide smile.

"Hey. Thanks."

"Yeh alrigh’?" The large man asked. He pulled his lanturn around to illuminate her and Nathaniel. She looked to the blond again as she straightened herself up and smiled.

"Yeah, I’m good."

What would the classes be like?

Nathaniel's attention came back down to earth in order to address Lina ahead of him. She was literally bouncing up the stony steps. Clearly, he wasn't the only one excited. He opened his mouth, but hardly had the words started to form when Lina suddenly lurched backwards, her foot sliding out from under her. Nathaniel's hands shot out to steady her as she fell back into him.

"Careful!"

She grinned at him. He smiled back. Something in his gut fluttered. A pool of light fell on both of them as the man leading them made sure she was okay.

And he was following her, again, up the stairs and through the massive oak doors and into an entrance hall that was bigger than half the buildings Nathaniel had ever seen, and lit with flaming torches. It was like something out of a fairy tale.

A rather imposing robed individual in a pointed hat met them in the hall. "Thank you, Hagrid, I'll take them from here."

The wizard, or witch, or vampire or who even knew, Nathaniel couldn't really tell at this point, probably a teacher at least -- the teacher gestured to the first-years and then swept off down the hall. "Go on," Hagrid said encouragingly, a grin just visible under his bushy beard, and patted a girl's back, nearly knocking her over in the process. The first years left Hagrid and followed the new teacher.

They were lead down the grand entrance hall, past the rumbling sounds of what had to be the rest of the school gathered, and into a small chamber that barely held all of them. Once they were all crowded in, the teacher looked around at them, silencing the chatter with a cleared throat.

"Welcome to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," the teacher said, with the air of one reciting a practiced speech. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but first you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony: During your seven years at Hogwarts, your house will be your family. You will sleep in your house dormitory, take classes with your house, and spend your free time in your house common room. Your triumphs will earn your house points, while trouble-making will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the honor of the house cup.

"The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own history, its own claims to fame, and each has produced great witches and wizards who have made their marks on the world. I know that no matter which house each of you comes to belong to, you will be a credit to it and to the noble names that came before you.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes before the whole of the school. Please wait quietly, I will be back for you shortly." The teacher swept out. As soon as the door shut behind them, a murmur of voices arose again.

Nathaniel shifted nervously, looking around the room at the many other eleven-year-olds. If every year was as big as this one, and there were seven of them... that was a lot of students to watching this Ceremony. Nathaniel's stomach did a somersault and he gulped. Last time he'd had to do anything in front of an entire school, it was a small part in a play and he had a script. What was he supposed to do here?

Lachlan snickered at this. “A nervous, twitchy bowling ball rabbit.”

With the addition of another passenger, the boat pulled away from the shore and started its way. Lina and Lachlan were only too happy to talk excitedly to each other. Lina would make small talk with Nathaniel and the other kid as well, though Lachlan made no effort to entertain the blond at least.

Lina watched the castle grow larger as they approached. The lights and the sheer magnitude of the castle was enough to awe her.

In the other boat, David laughed and waved as if to knock the question away. "No harm done." He smiled at the girl. "I'm David. This is Tyler. Do you like ferrets?" He reached up to his shoulder and lifted a long white ferret from it, which he held out to the girl. "This is Volga."

Everyone was aboard, and the boats drew away from the shore without any apparent source of propulsion. Nathaniel only half-listened to what Lina and the other kids were saying, too entranced by the view of the great castle ahead of them, its towers and walls sillouetted against a clear starry sky. He kept expecting the boats to take a sharp turn and the real Hogwarts to appear. No way that massive castle was a school -- no way something that cool was at the end of this nightmare.

But the sudden turn never came. The boats drew up to a landing on the other shore and the kids disembarked. The castle towered overhead. "That's really Hogwarts?" Nathaniel whispered breathlessly.

The students were led to carriages, which as anyone would notice, had no horses. However, that didn’t seem to hinder anything, as a carriage was seen being pulled by seemingly nothing.

A pair of blondes were seen toward the front of a carriage. The girl, younger and likely a fellow first year, was petting the air. The boy, likely a second or third year, was doing something odd with his hands. It almost looked like he was feeding a horse, if there was anything there.

Lina and Lachlan found their way down to the boats. Lead by a very inhumanly large man and were chatting away happily, waiting for the seats around them to be filled so they’d be on their way.

The beautiful redhead and her black haired friend had found their seats in a carriage, which were quickly taken up and they were on their way. The grand castle could be seen over the tops of the trees, and a peek of the marvel to come could be glimpsed through the branches.

"Firs' years!"

There was a moment of general confusion, and then the crowd split, most continuing towards the carriages while a handful followed the cheery booming voice, which turned out to belong to exactly the sort of man you would expect to produce such a voice. Lantern held high, he led them down a narrow path to a collection of boats at the edge of a body of water. "Four to a boat!" he boomed.

Nathaniel managed to tear his eyes away from the massive castle in the distance and look again for the only two people he knew, however briefly. He spotted them already in a boat and rushed down, nearly knocking over a skinny black-haired boy in his haste. It paid off, though: he managed to claim a seat near Lina.

"Well, uh… Not all wizards in Sytherin end up pieces of work. You don’t seem the type." She finished placing her cat carriers on the seats and turned to Nathaniel. "You look a little tense."

A grin spread on her face and she wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll all love it here. Come on, we don’t wanna be the last ones off the train.” She took his hand and gave a gentle tug before letting go and joining the other students.

When Nathaniel left the compartment he was almost immediately pushed into the hallway walls by the other students, who also seemed to be parting - at least the men.

'Pieces of work' was how she chose to describe it. Nathaniel didn't have to ask what she meant by that. He only had the one example of a Slytherin -- of a Hogwarts student at all -- and right now that was more than enough to convince him that their disgust was completely justified. Nathaniel's shoulders slumped. He'd always been a mama's boy, but now he really didn't want to turn out like his dad.

Being as his gaze was directed carpetward, the hug caught him off-guard. Nat blinked for a second -- she released him before he could decide how to react, tugged on his hand, and disappeared.

Nathaniel smiled. For the first time since his father had arrived yesterday, he grinned. Maybe this 'wizard' thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Hey, wait for me!" he called, diving out after her.

He expected it to be crowded, but he'd only gotten a few feet from the compartment door before he found himself with nowhere else to move but backwards. There couldn't be that many students, could there? He hadn't really been in a mind to notice back at the platform.

But no, another moment and he realized that the lack of space was due to a concerted effort to clear a row down the entire middle of the train car. It was being accompanied by an invisible wave that struck dead all conversation in its path, though the chatter started up again in earnest behind it. Pushing his way between two larger students, Nathaniel was able to see what all the commotion was about.

A girl. An older girl, by a few years at least, with a green-striped tie under her flowing school robe. Every boy in the train car, including Nathaniel, was entranced -- it wasn't that she was beautiful, although she most certainly was, but there was something else about her that refused to let you tear your eyes away. Her eyes -- a brilliant shade of green -- slid his way for a moment and he felt his heart flutter.

Both Lina and Lachlan were talking about the school. What it might be like, what their parents had said about it, and the houses.

"I don’t know what house I’ll be sorted into." Lina said. "I doubt anyone knows for certain."

"I know for a fact I’m going to be in Gryffindor." Lachlan said, puffing out his chest a little. "I’m also going to sign up for Quidditch next year, too."

"You have to actually learn how to ride a broom first." Lina pointed out. "Have you even touched a broomstick that was enchanted?"

"Once. It was dad’s old Swiftstick." Lachlan said. Lina blanched.

"Your dad had a Swiftstick? Those are cheap brooms. And old."

"Yeah yeah. Well, dad said it was a little old even when he got it."

Their conversation had barely ended when the train halted. Outside, they could see other students coming out of their compartments and scuttling toward the exits. Lina bolted back up, grabbing her things and piling them up.

That was one high point of this ride, at least. There were cats.

All too soon, and yet not soon enough, a voice from nowhere announced: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." Soon after, the train ground to a halt and there came the commotion of many students moving outside the compartment. Nathaniel looked on sadly as the ragdoll cat was lifted away from his lap.

"It’s just a spell." Lachlan said through his fits of laughter. "They enchant the chocolate to make it move."

"Ah, Angel, no!" Lina said, grabbing her cat before she could bite the head off the frog. She picked it up and handed it back to Nathaniel.

At least then maybe he'd end up back at home with his mom.

He felt a sick feeling in his stomach that had nothing to do with the various weird and questionable sweets. His mom. How long was it going to be before he saw her again? Or his little sister? He'd never have thought he'd miss his dumb little baby sister.

His eyes stung, but he had just enough will -- and little-boy pride -- to keep from tearing up. He wasn't gonna be a baby and cry in front of these two.

Lina was holding the frog out to him. Nathaniel took it, mumbling a 'thank you'.

It still moved its legs a little, but weakly now. Nathaniel stared down at it for a long moment before dropping it back into its box and shuffling it all aside. He wasn't feeling very hungry.

"Cauldron cakes are basically cupcakes. They just are designed to resemble cauldrons. Same with pumpkin pasty. It’s a a pastry that is pumpkin flavoured. Licorice wands are just licorice." Lina pointed to each.

"Take the experimenting out of it why don’t you, Lina." Lachlan said, watching the two of them. Lina folded her arms across her chest.

"He looks like he’s done quite a lot of that, considering he only recently found out he’s a wizard."

"Yeah yeah. You should have bought some jelly slugs, Nat."

"Gummy worms." Lina told the blond. "But slug shaped instead of worms."

He looked askance at Lachlan's suggestion of the chocolate frog, though. Lachlan seemed to be insistent on him trying gross stuff. What was it, an actual frog coated in chocolate, like those bug candies?

He wasn't about to back down from the challenge, though. Setting aside the pasty to finish later, Nathaniel picked up the package and opened it.

"I didn’t find him. He found me. Or rather nearly knocked me to the ground." Lina said, pushing her hand into the box and took out a small handful. "Not really the best way to get to know a girl."

Lachlan laughed, retreating back to his seat. Angel got up from Lina’s lap and walked over to Nathaniel’s, sniffing at him. She then sat down and started kneading to get his lap suitable for her presence.

"You may not like sweet things, but you should still consider yourself lucky. Those are wizarding snacks. Bertie Bott’s every flavour beans. Take the name seriously because they mean every flavour. My brother doesn’t like them much either. He found a vomit flavoured one when he was about our age and threw up. Turned him off of them for quite a while." Lina took one in her mouth. "Cheese."

"My dad got bellybutton lint once. My very first one was overcooked cabbage. Seriously, overcooked? What a weird flavour to have!" Lachlan popped a bean into his mouth and almost immediately put his hand to his mouth and doubled over, spitting out the bean he ate. "Ugh, soap!" Lina laughed at him.

The door opened after a while, and an old lady pushing a trolley full of what looked like food poked her head in. “Anything off the trolley, dears?”

Lina dug into her pants pocket, taking out some of her coins. “I’ll have some pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs, sugar mice and toffee eclairs, please.”

Lachlan was behind her, getting licorice wands, cauldron cakes, sherbert lemons and more every flavour beans.

"Why would you eat something like that?" Nathaniel eyed the jellybean box. That was gross. Vomit? Cheese? Cabbage? Soap? Wizards were weird.

Wizards were weird, and he was one. He held out his hand. "Can I try some more?"

Of the handful he got, he could identify curried chicken (not too awful), hair gel (rather bland), sweet potato (actually quite enjoyable), banana (blegh), blood (disturbing), jalapeno (also decent), and earthworm, at which point he decided he'd had quite enough.

He was petting the cat and largely staying out of the conversation when the plump, pleasant old lady opened the door. Nathaniel blinked at the trolley piled high with unfamiliar packages. Lina and Lachlan seemed eager to order, but Nathaniel didn't have the first idea what any of it was.

"Uh... I don't know." He didn't feel especially hungry right now, between his nervousness and the questionable jelly beans. "Licorice wand, pumpkin pasty... and a chocolate frog?" Those were the only things that Lina and Lachlan had ordered that sounded any good. What even was a 'cauldron cake'?

Nathaniel dug in his pocket and produced a handful of coins. "I-- I hope that's enough?" He looked nervously at the collection of silver and bronze.

"Hey, it’s the kid that was scared to get on the platform!" Lina looked over at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I was behind him. No one could get through because this guy was having a hard time getting onto the platform. ‘Dad, I’m going to crash!’" Lachlan sunk into his seat, his hand covering half his face and laughed harder. "His dad looked right ticked he did."

Lina frowned at her friend. “Come on, don’t tease him. He’s a halfblood like us, so he probably doesn’t know that much.” Lina looked to Nathaniel. “Right?” She patted the space beside her for Nathaniel to sit down.

There was a white angora cat sitting contentedly on her lap, and what looked like a ragdoll between her and the side of the train. There was another cat at her feet, still in it’s cage. It looked a lot different from the other two, with a pointed face and long triangle ears ending in tufts and a glaring expression.

"We’re both halfbloods, too." Lina said. "My mom’s a witch. She was honest with dad from the start after things got serious between them. That’s what dad told me. I actually have an older brother who graduated from Hogwarts a couple of years ago. He was in Slytherin."

"My dad’s a wizard." Lachlan said, sitting back up. "When he learned I was also a wizard he told me to keep it a secret from mum for a few years until I got older. He was afraid she’d freak out. He was right. She fainted."

"Oh, I’m Lina, by the way." Lina held out her hand for Nathaniel.

"Lachlan." Came the other’s only response.

"This is Angel," Lina said, looking down at her angora. "Over here is Permian, and here is Hitchens." She tapped the carrier lightly with her foot. "Hitchens is staying in there until we get to the castle because he’s not the friendliest. I thought he’d be happier in there in case anyone came in."

Lachlan sat up, and leaned forward, a smirk on his face as he looked up at Nathaniel. Reaching into his pocket, he took out an oddly shaped box, being careful to hide the majority of the words under his fingers. But the name ‘Bert’ could be seen between.

He smiled when Lina took his side. "Y-yeah, I'm kind of... new... to all this," he said as he took the offered seat. There was a cat curled up on her lap and he resisted the urge to reach out and pet it. So many cats. His mom's landlord didn't allow pets; she was always promising that they'd find someplace new and get one, but it never happened.

The other two seemed to know what they were about. Nathaniel fidgeted with the edge of his shirt. "I... I guess my dad's a wizard. We thought he was a salesman. He showed up yesterday and said I was one, too. And my sister. I think he told my mom a couple weeks ago but she thought he was playing a joke."

The two introduced themselves. He already knew Lina's name, the tall boy was Lachlan. "I'm Nathaniel." The cats were introduced, as well, and Nathaniel took that as an invitation to hold his hand out to the white one to sniff. "They're pretty. I always wanted a cat."

Then the boy leaned forward and offered a box of something. Was he being nice now? Nathaniel didn't really like sweet things, but it would be rude to say no. "Sure. Thanks." He took one, a white-colored bean, and popped it into his mouth.

As for Lina herself, she displayed magical potential at a younger age. Her parents didn’t tell her until she was old enough to properly comprehend her position and could keep it a secret from others. She met Lachlan in her second year of public muggle school and soon they both discovered they were halfbloods. They’d been close ever since, always talking about what their life at Hogwarts was going to be like among other things. They also had occasional trips to places like Diagon Alley, or wizarding towns.

It was Lachlan that Lina was impatiently waiting on just past the barrier coming into Platform 9 3/4 when someone unceremoniously bumped into her and knocked her nearly to the floor. Managing to catch herself, she shook her head and looked at the invader of her personal space.

"Hey, watch it!" The walking disaster hastily apologized.

A rather befuddled looking blond about her age stared back at her, seeming confused at the very notion of passing through an entrance way. What was apparently the boy’s father followed after, bumping what looked like a heavy cart into the boy’s back.

She watched silently as the man berated the blond before disappearing into the crowd. Lina couldn’t help but laugh. “So, you’re a halfblood, then. Same here.”

Lina gestured to her own cart a few feet behind her, which was filled with just as many suitcases and boxes. She didn’t have a cage with an owl, but there were three cat carriers sitting up top. Lina moved to Nathaniel’s cart, waggling her finger at the owl.

"Cool, you have an owl. I was wanting one, but mom and dad weren’t sure I’d be able to handle an owl and my cats. They said if I wanted to send letters, I’d just borrow one of my friends’ owls." She looked back at the boy and smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Your owl’s a bit funny looking though, isn’t he?"

"Lina!" Her attention was taken from Nathaniel and the owl as a slightly taller boy approached with his own cart. He also had a cage with a much more impressive looking eagle owl. He held himself proudly with his head held high at an angle, and looked down somewhat smugly at Nathaniel’s fish owl.

"Finally, you’re here. I was wondering where you got off to." Lina said, walking over to the other boy. He had somewhat long dark brown hair and a narrow, handsome face. He was somewhat thick despite his height, though it was clear he led a more active than sedentary lifestyle.

"She's, uhm, a..." he struggled to remember the name the shop owner had told him. "A fish owl. Black... Black-something?" Just another among the slew of words being thrown at him yesterday.

He wanted to ask about her cats (plural? as in more than one?), but there was another voice from behind him that drew her attention. Nathaniel looked back at the other boy. Taller, stronger, more confident -- even his owl looked better. Nathaniel watched as his one point of friendly contact wandered off with just a wave and a smile. "Uhm... bye..."

And he was alone. Father had said to stay put, so he did, fidgeting quietly beside his cart with only his fluffy huge funny-looking owl for company. He didn't dare touch his books. One had snapped at the bookstore-owner and had to be belted shut. The others were quiet, but he wasn't about to take any chances.

After a small eternity Max finally melded back out of the crowd, followed by another man who he directed toward the cart. While the man took it away, Max knelt. "Here's some money. You remember what I told you about it?" Nathaniel nodded. Really he couldn't remember a thing about the weird coins, but he didn't want to admit that. "Good." Max reached out and straightened Nathaniel's collar. "You're my son. You'll do fine. You'll be Slytherin Prefect before you even know it." A rare smile flitted over the man's features and he ruffled Nat's hair. "Now get boarded, or the train will leave without you."

Nathaniel rushed onto the nearest car, sparing just one glance back. Rows of people were waving to their kids, but Max just stood there, arms crossed, the ghost of a smile on his face. He made a shooing motion with one hand. Nathaniel took the hint and dove into the car.

All the compartments he passed seemed to be full -- full of kids of all ages chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Everyone seemed to have somewhere they fit already. Nathaniel felt keenly how out-of-place he was here.

Finally he found a compartment that wasn't full. Only two kids... and they were the kids from before, Lina and the tall boy. They seemed to be just as friendly as everyone else was, their conversation only faltering to look up at the interruption.

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