Compartment C: Ace, Aisu, Briony, Rose

[Jennie]

Go ahead and role-play yourself into the compartment if you belong here...you can start role-playing once everyone in this scene is here.

[Aisu Oki]

(I find this funny and ironic. Because this is the compartment I had Aisu in originally. And this introduction was pre-made, so I know it kind of sucks.)

A young male had already found an empty compartment, said young man was sitting in compartment C, not that he knew what compartment it was, as he couldn't see the letter. The young male was currently 16, who sat alone in the compartment, he was sitting on the right hand side, and staring out the window, even though, looking out the window, was pointless, as his white orbs showed him nothing but darkness and ever-lasting blackness.

The young man who was sitting along in said compartment was none other then Aisu Oki, also known as the blind wizard. Said sixth year was currently in his Hufflepuff robes, as he had gotten changed before he had gotten onto the train. As usual Aisu wasn't wearing shoes or socks, because they were much more of a hindrance than an asset, at least to him they were. His wand was currently in the sleeve of his robe, where his hands were currently hidden, in his sleeves of his robe, his arms were currently across his chest, his left hand wrapped the handle of his wand, ready to be pulled out if need be, ready to be used if the need for it accrued.

From the window stared Aisu's reflection. His white hair was pulled into a neat ponytail, with a golden yellow ribbon keeping the ponytail in place. The ponytail was clearly done by magic, as it always had been since the second semester of his second year at Hogwarts. His white eyes stared blankly back at him. Aisu didn't move from his position in his seat, his feet lightly touching the floor. His right shoulder and arm were pressed again the cool metal of the wall, the side of his head lightly touching the window, his back and neck pressed back into the seat. He was keeping his distance in this empty compartment. However whether if someone comes to sit with him or not, was their choose.

[Ace Salvatore]

Ace slid into the seat across from Aisu in Compartment C.
"Hey, Signore Oki." There was a real reason she called him that. Aisu always referred to her using her much-hated full name, Acrecia. So, until he stopped, he was Signore Oki.
She absentmindedly played with her robes, particularly the hem of her right sleeve where she hid her wand. She'd changed into them before getting on the train because Mary had wanted to see her in them. She didn't mind obliging the younger of her two kid sisters; Mary was still too young to realize that her big sister disliked her robes as much as she disliked her name. Reminded of her sisters, she suddenly felt guilty. Were Aurelia not always bedridden, this would've been her first year at Hogwarts. That might've been hard on the kid; Aurelia didn't speak any English at all. Mary spoke some, as did their mother, but Aurelia had never seen fit to learn it. She said that she disliked the language, calling it crude.
She wondered if Aisu would be in flying class again this year, but decided not to ask. She only hoped that he didn't hurt someone if he was. She knew how annoying the first years could be, scratch that, were....

[Gia Parker]

Gia turned and waved to Ethan one last time, then boarded the Hogwarts Express to find a compartment. She couldn't get rid of the grin on her face if she wanted to; it was so great for her to see so many familiar faces. She pushed her hair out of her face, not really in the mood to deal with the long, brown waves today; they were in the way. She smiled and waved at a few people as she walked down the aisle, dragging her trunk and owl cage (she has a barn owl named Bailey) behind her. She glanced through the glass doors of the compartents as she passed, looking for someone to sit with. One of her best friends, GG, was probably off cursing her brother Grayson somewhere, so Gia didn't expect to be seeing her any time soon. She was also looking for Rose Weasley, who was practically her sister, but so far she hadn't seen any of the Weasleys or Potters around the station.

She peeked into the next compartment and saw another friend, Ace. She almost wanted to jump up and down and scream, which was sort of a Gia thing to do, but she stopped herself and tapped on the glass excitedly instead. She waved at Ace, smiling at her, and also noticed Aisu Oki in the compartment, a Hufflepuff. She didn't really know him that well, but they'd been classmates for years. Gia had a lot of respect for him, considering he was blind; she didn't think she'd be able to even get around the school if she was in his situation, but he always handled himself well.

Gia slid open the compartment door and dragged her stuff in, then gave Ace a hug. Gia loved hugs. She was one of those happy people that gave everyone hugs even if she only saw them five minutes ago. But she hadn't seen Ace all summer, so this time it was definitely called for. Ace was one of her younger friends, going into her 4th year, but Gia thought she was pretty awesome. She was really cool to hang out with and they always had a good time together at parties.

"Ace! It's so good to see you! How was your summer?" Gia asked, then glanced over at Aisu. "Hey Aisu! How are you?" she asked. Her and Aisu weren't exactly best friends, but Gia liked him as a person and wouldn't be mean to him or ignore him anyway. She hoped he didn't mind her sitting with them.

[Rose Weasley]

After Rose had departed from her family, she was walking along the compartments with Albus, until he found a compartment full with his own friends. She sighed, reminiscing the years when they were so close; they were still remarkably close for cousins, but they used to be joined at the hip, united against their siblings, always on the same team. Rose didn't dislike his friends at Hogwarts, but as they had grown older, they had found their own niches and people to be close with. After she waved to him, she proceeded down the train to find her own friends.

Finally, she found a compartment with Gia, Ace ,and Aisu in it, relieved, she stepped in, smiling happily. She loved this part; the reuinting, the catching up from over the summer, talking about any new developments of gossip. It was an opportunity to be with her friends on the way to school without having the stress of all of the classes behind them.

"Well, look at this...Gia, Aisu, and Ace, it really is a party in here!" she greeted them, grinning, looking from person to person; Gia, who was like a sister to her, Ace, a friend from her House and year, and Aisu, who she considered to be among her closest friends. It looked like it was going to be a pretty good train ride, whether or not Albus was with her.

[ggcarter]

GG felt the exhilaration of the Hogwarts Express pulling out of the station and towards her home for the year, and skipped along compartment to compartment, saying hello to various friends, and more importantly, various boys. It always took her a while to settle on one compartment; sometimes, she decided to sit with a particularly cute interest, but most of the time, she sat with one of her closest friends, Gia, who she was looking for once she was done with all of her flirting.

When she finally reached compartment C, she was pleased to see that there was at least one guy sitting with them. Aisu. She was acquainted with him, like she was with most people, but was mostly fairly indifferent. What she couldn't deny, however, was that he was pretty cute.

GG burst into the compartment, saying, "It's alright now, you all can breathe again...I'm here!" she was grinning to indicate it was a joke, but raised her eyebrows when she noticed Rose Weasley had also just stepped into the compartment. It wasn't that she didn't like Rose...but, she didn't particularly like her. She knew she was very close to Gia, so she tolerated her, but GG knew what Rose thought of her...basically, that she was nothing more than a whore and that her life was a complete joke. Well, GG knew what she thought of Rose too...that she was a stick in the mud who didn't have any fun in her life whatsoever. But she tolerated her, for Gia's sake, nonetheless. She also smiled at Ace; she liked Ace fine, she didn't know her incredibly well, but she had nothing against her. "I don't suppose you mind if I sit here?" she asked Gia sarcastically after she'd seen that Rose was just beginning to sit down.

[Aisu Oki]

Aisu didn't even blink when he heard the compartment door slide open, and he heard the steps of someone enter. Sitting calmly in her cage beside the young man, was Sable, his black barn owl. He already had his trunk stowed away, via magic.

The male turned his head away from the window. He recognized the girl by her scent, and no, he'd rather die a painful death then ever say that he could recognize someone by their scent alone. Aisu's ears perked up as he heard a voice. A voice he recognized easily. Also the dead give away was because there was only one person who ever called him Signore Oki. Aisu knew it was the voice of Acrecia, his friend.

Aisu bit back a sigh. He hated being called "Signore Oki". Looks like he'd have to compromise with the girl, who was his friend. "Ace-san, if you stop calling me Signore Oki, and call me Aisu, I will stop calling you by your full name, alright?" He said striking up a deal with Ace, hoping she'd take it so he wouldn't be called Signore Oki anymore. If he was lucky that is.

The blind wizard turned his head to look at the person who had walked in, when he heard the compartment door open again and he heard the thumps of footsteps and a trunk being lugged behind said person, even though he couldn't see the person, he knew it was polite to look someone in the eyes when they spoke. Aisu didn't know who it was, at least not until she spoke. It was Gia, Gia Parker. He hadn't expected to be spoken to, but it seemed like he was going to be spoken to anyway, by Gia. "Hello." He said calmly. "I'm fine." He said. He decided to ask the same question that had been asked of him. "How are you, Gia?" He questioned.

Aisu's sixth sense kicked in. He could tell something was troubling her, that or maybe she didn't know what he thought about her sitting with them, or maybe she was wondering if he'd be bothered by her sitting with them. He gave the girl a knowing smirk. He didn't know or care if this unnerved, freaked or amazed those who got their unasked or silent questions answered by him. But it was something he enjoyed doing, wanting to see what their reactions were. Well for him, it was to hear their voices stutter and quiver when he did such things. "I don't mind you sitting with us, after all it's a free compartment after all, and the more the merrier, as the saying goes." He said chuckling slightly, as he answered her unasked and silent question.

Aisu blinked owlishly when he heard the compartment door open again, and then close, and then he heard the voice of Rose Weasley. "Heh, party, yeah sure let's call it that." He said chuckling slightly. "Hello Rose, how was your summer? Good I hope?" He questioned to the red haired girl, as he heard her voice first.

Aisu tensed up when the compartment door was thrown open and burst into, as GG Carter barged into the compartment. However that was half of the reason he had tensed up, the other half was because of tension he could feel coming from Rose and GG. He forced himself to relax, and let go of his wand and removed his hands from the folds of his robes and set them in his lap. When he heard GG's voice however, he wanted to roll his eyes. "That was so funny I forgot to laugh." He thought in bemusement. "Sure we can." He answered sarcastically. "So how were your summers?" He asked. "My summer was fine." He added with a small smile.

Aisu finally realized something and let out a silent chuckle. He was the only guy here, stuck with four other girls. Wasn't that an interesting thought, at least for him it was.

[Gia Parker]

"I'm pretty good, so excited for this year!" Gia replied, always her happy self, even if she was a tiny but unnerved by Aisu. She bit her lip at his other response, raising an eyebrow slightly. It was as if he'd read her thoughts. She assumed this was a blind-person thing...she'd heard that when people are stronger in their other senses if there's something wrong with one of them. "Oh, well thanks," she said, sitting down in a seat next to Ace.

She jumped up again almost as fast when Rose came in to give her a hug. "ROSE!" she practically squealed. Gia and Rose had kept in touch over the summer through letters, but still, it was always good to see her in person. Gia sat back down in her seat, but once again had to start to greet GG, who came in right after Rose, and hugged her, too.

It looked to Gia like this was going to be a really awesome train ride; three of her good friends, plus Aisu, who really wasn't that bad. She couldn't stop smiling. The only problem was the GG/Rose conflict. It was weird for Gia being between them, since she was close to both of them, but they didn't exactly like each other. Basically, Rose thought GG was a whore, and GG thought Rose was incredibly boring. They just had really conflicting personalities, and Gia could tell right away that there might be some tension throughout the day.

ooc/ Ace's turn?

[Ace Salvatore]

(OOC: Yeah, I couldn't get on the computer long enough to reply last night. Sorry.)
"Yeah, okay. If you stop calling me Acrecia, I'll stop calling you Signore Oki," she agreed.
She smiled when Gia, Rose and GG came into the compartment. Rose was a friend from her house and year; Gia was older, but she and Ace had a lot of fun together, and she liked GG fine. Granted, she didn't know GG too well, but she seemed alright. She knew that GG and Rose weren't too fond of each other, though; there was going to be some tension between those two...well, Ace didn't particularly mind, so long as they didn't try to kill each other.
"Rose! Gia! GG!" She hugged the three girls, laughing.
"My summer was great! I hope yours were, too!" Gia, Rose, Aisu and GG were actually the only friends Ace had left at Hogwarts; most of her friends had been seventh years, so they'd all moved on to other things over the summer.
When Aero began pecking at the bars of his cage just loudly enough to remind her that he was there, she sighed.
"You remember my old bird, Snow? Well, he had to retire. He was getting too old for Hogwarts, so he's currently at home, happily living out the rest of his days without children. This is his replacement, Aero. He's the world's first bi-polar red-tailed hawk." Over the years, they'd all had an experience with her eternally-grumpy bird, Snow, but at least he was consistent. Aero went from being very pleasent to psycho in less than a second...

[Rose Weasley]

"My summer? Oh, you know...nothing too eventful happened, so dull as usual," Rose sighed, but then immediately perked up again, "But it's so good to be back with all of you guys again!" Well, most of you guys, she thought sullenly, glancing at GG. Why did she have to be in this compartment with her friends? Rose looked at Ace, "Well, I'm sorry that Snow isn't here with you this year, but at least...er...he'll get some rest," Internally, Rose wasn't too upset about the absence of snow-although she'd never been incredibly close to Ace, she knew the grumpiness of the bird, which was never pleasant to deal with in the mornings when the post was delivered-especially if Ace wasn't at the table yet. Rose looked to Aisu and smiled, although she knew he couldn't see it, "I'm glad you had a good summer, Aisu...anything particularly exciting happen?" she questioned.

[Aisu Oki]

Aisu twitched slightly. "I just called you, Ace-san, Ace, now stop calling me Signore Oki, before I make you regret it." He said, completely serious. Aisu just stared straight ahead, as there was no point in trying to pinpoint where everyone was, as everyone was moving, and frankly it was giving him a headache trying to figure out where everyone was. The blind wizard smirked when he felt how unnerved Gia was when he had said that. She'd get use to it. Everyone, or at least his friends got use to it eventually.

Aisu winched when Gia squealed out Rose's name. "Don't squeal! Some of us have better hearing!" He snapped out, his ears ringing from Gia's squealed shriek. He didn't didn't understand why girl's were such squealers. Nor did he get why they shrieked at every little thing. It was enough to make his headache worse.

The blind wizard sighed and rubbed his temples. "That's good." He commented on their responses to his question about how their summers were. "I'm sorry to hear that, Ace. But I'm sure Snow will enjoy retirement, and I'm sure Areo here will be an interesting animal to interact with." He said in a calmer tone of voice.

"Yeah same here. It's great to be back at Hogwarts. I just hope that the first years this year in Madam Hooch's class, are bettered mannered." He said with a sigh. "My summer was fine, so nothing real exciting happened." He said answering Rose's question.

[Gia Parker]

Gia frowned slightly at Aisu's words. She hadn't really thought about Aisu and his better hearing, and now she felt bad for annoying him. She made a mental note to keep it down when she was around Aisu. She didn't always have a censor on her volume; she was a generally happy person who just got a little over excited sometimes, but that was Gia for you.

"I'm sorry, Aisu, I'll shut up now," she told him, sounding sincerely sorry. Sometimes Gia was just too nice for her own good. She added the whole loudness thing to her list of things she needed to change for people to take her seriously. She wanted this year to be different, and this was a good place to start. Inside voices, Gia she thought to herself sarcastically, feeling like a primary school teacher.

Gia really hoped Aisu wouldn't be annoyed at her for the whole train ride; that would just be miserable, and she hated being miserable. Gia was not a miserable person, period. She was smiling again like usual, and then she remembered that Aisu was a Prefect, so he would be leaving soon anyway for a little bit. She hoped he would have forgiven her by the time he got back. Gia relaxed a little, bringing her attention back to the conversation.

[Ace Salvatore]

Ace laughed.
"Ok, ok, don't hurt me Aisu! And Snow needed to retire; he was getting kind of old."
Ace sighed and brought her knees up to her chest, staring out the window. She actually had a lot to think about, but none of it concerned the other people in the compartment with her, so she wouldn't say anything. It was probably better that they didn't know anything, actually...
'Damien...where are you?' she thought. Her distant cousin had disappeared somewhere in Romania over the summer, and they hadn't yet regained contact with him. Ace and Damien were very close, so it had her kind of worried.
She smiled at Gia when Aisu snapped at her. At some point in the years since she'd met him, Ace had gotten used to it and could laugh it off, but not everyone could, and she knew that.
"Try not to kill the first years, eh Aisu?" she laughed.

[Rose Weasley]

Rose looked around at her friends, feeling slightly out of place. It was unreal to finally be around them, basking in the aura of their attitudes, although anything beat more time with her parents. "Hey guys," she probed, realizing she'd forgotten to ask, "Are you signing up for Apparition lessons?"
As the words left her mouth, she flushed slightly at her idiocy. Of course, only she and Aisu were old enough to even attempt that dangerous art.
Although she hated to admit it, having friends who were exceedingly younger then her put a plethora of mental strain upon her exhausted mind. To distract herself, she realized, she could walk out of the compartment--take a look around, say hello to everyone, maybe steal some Chocolate Frogs. The question was how to leave.
It wasn't that she adored the people around her--she did, in her own way. But her own way was numb and superficial at the moment, not filling the void that she needed to fill. But that void was something that could never, ever, be satisfied, never stop nagging at her heart.
"Trolley cart must be held up," she finally added.

[James Potter]

It had been a long and rather irritating good-bye at Kings Cross earlier in the day-- but being the oldest had it's perks. No sooner had they arrived had James pecked his mother on the cheek, grabbed his father in a quick embrace and off he had sprinted. His father had called out something after him, but James had merely waved it off, making a b-line for the scarlet train.

Hence why James had-- until recently-- been sitting in his compartment alone. While others had formed groups and went off to their compartments together, James had foolishly seperated himself from the rest of the student body.

At first he had rather enjoyed the peace-- a bloody summer with his parents, siblings, and the rest of the extensive Weasley family had left him half dead. He had kicked his feet up onto the seat across from him and stretched out wide, enjoying his freedom. And then-- rather quickly, for James didn't have quite the long attention-span-- he had grown bored. He was fidgity, and couldn't sit still, constantly shifting in his seat. He finally got fed up with it all.

Now, after searching the compartment, he had found the one he wanted. Sliding the door open, he entered with a large grin.
"Ladies!" he said happily, not noting the singular other male in the room at the moment.
He took in his full surroundings in a moments glance. "And sir." he added quickly, looking slightly embarressed. "Sorry to interrupt, but I came to steal that one away." he said, gesturing to Gia.

"Oh, 'lo Rosie. 'Lo Ace." he also added quickly, noting their presence. He had seen Rose over the summer, and gave both girls a greeting nod and smile.

[Gia Parker]

"Oh right, Apparition lessons are this year! I've been looking forward to that," Gia said happily. She wondered where her brain had been this summer; she had honestly completely forgot about Apparition, even though she'd been wanting to try it since she first saw her father do it years ago. It looked easy enough, but Gia wasn't sure if she had it in her to concentrate like that. Every time she pictured herself trying to Apparate, she also pictured herself cracking up in the middle of her attempt, and never actually getting anywhere. Which is funny, because that was probably exactly what would happen to Gia every time she tried.

Gia was starting to get bored in this compartment. It wasn't that the people in here weren't great, because they were...but she was too busy worrying about Aisu being mad and annoyed at her to really concentrate on anything else. And Aisu wasn't exactly one of her best friends that she told everything to, so she was't about to start up a conversation about boys or other super fun things like that while he was around. It would probably just piss him off more.

Just as she started to wonder vaguely where James was - he was her best friend, and she still hadn't seem him today - the compartment door slid open, and James came in. A happy grin spread across Gia's face as she jumped up out of her seat. "James! Where have you been?" she demanded excitely, stepping over to him and throwing her arms around his neck in a hug, trying not to knock anyone over. It wasn't that Gia was clumsy or anything - she was a dancer, for Merlin's sake - but sometimes she just got a little bit enthusiastic over things. To everyone else, this probably looked slightly funny, since Gia was so short and James was so tall; though they were probably used to this by now, because Gia hadn't grown in years and most likely would never continue.

[Aisu Oki]

Aisu blinked and sighed softly to himself. Now he looked like the asshole no doubt, "I'm not mad, if that's what you're thinking Gia, it is what you're thinking, isn't it? Anyways, it's just annoying when girl's squeal and shriek, to me it's like nails on a chalk board." He responded, swiftly, feeling the need to explain himself. "I'm sorry I snapped." He added sincerely, meaning the apology.

He blinked as Ace spoke up and then Rose, and it was hard to keep up."Good." He said simply toward Ace in her response to his going to hit her. "That is true." He agreed with what she said. He smirked slyly at the thought of striking fear into the first years once again. "Don't hold your breath. You all know how irrationally pompous they can be, when it comes to disrespecting those older and wiser then they are. Especially when they rub it in my face that I failed Flying six times. It's only natural I want strangle them." He said innocently, as he never started anything, and in all honesty, he had never once started any of the fights, those were always the first years doing.

The blind wizard's attention was grabbed when Rose said something about Apparition lessons, which was quick to catch his interest. "I'm totally signing up for that." he said with small smile. The idea of it, just sounded... well it sounded great to be honest. He blinked clueless when Rose said something about the Trolley cart. He shook his head. "It probably is." He said shrugging his shoulders in response. He wanted something sweet from the trolley cart himself, but he wasn't quite sure what that something was yet.

Aisu stiffened ever so slightly, when the compartment door opened up, and he heard the voice of.... James Potter. Aisu wasn't sure what to make of the older Gryffindor. As they had never spoken much, and Aisu didn't really have that good of a relationship with Albus Potter, then again he had on Albus' pranking list a few times and had gotten pranked, by the Slytherin, especially on that stupid April Fools Day, also known as April First. Oh how he hated that day, almost as much as he hated Halloween. "Hello James." He greeted politely. He had made an effort to be polite to the older male, after all he was his senior and Rose's cousin. Aisu tried to push the male's embarrassed feelings away, but it was kind of hard to not feel it, since his sixth sense was as strong as it was.

The blind wizard blinked openly. "Don't point, Potter. I can't see who you're pointing at." Aisu said calmly, out of habit, as he had felt a slight wind coming from where the other male had just pointed at. "Now which 'her' do you want to steal? Ace, Rose, Gia?" He couldn't help questioning, wondering who the older Potter wanted to steal, as he couldn't see or tell what or who the older male was going to be stealing/borrowing from the compartment. Aisu blinked cluelessly about what was going on around him, as he wasn't gifted with sight as the others were. So he had no idea of how silly Gia looked hugging James like she was. And even if he could, he probably wouldn't make any notion of it at all.

[James Potter]

James had heard a few mumbled polite greetings for the most part-- but those were shoved away to the back of his mind all most immediately as Gia pounced on him.

It had always been quite an awkward phenomenon, when she hugged him. It was simply because of the undeniably large difference between their heights-- but still, James had never minded that much. Gia had honestly always been like this, and as she was his best mate, he had never really thought twice about it.

"I don't remember you being so short." James joked as he squeezed her tightly, then released her. He had been making short jokes at her for years, ever since he had grown a good six inches third year. They were always good-natured however.

"Anyway, sorry about the ruckus and whatnot." He said this quickly, hoping to appease Aisu, who had made some polite yet clearly annoyed comment. "I'll try not to, next time." he promised.

He glanced back at Gia then grinned wide. "I got on board early and saved a whole compartment," he said raising a brow at her but still grinning, "since I figured you would try and find your best mate to sit with." He knew it was a little childish, using the guilt trip, but in his experience, it tended to work.

"Anyway, if you want, you're more than welcome to come join.... Scratch that, you're coming with me." he said, reaching out, grabbing her arm, and starting to pull her toward the door.

"See you all at the banquet." he added, throwing a wave behind him to the rest of the compartment.

[Rose Weasley]

It took all of Rose's calmness not to hex her cousin right there in front of her entire car. If it hadn't been for her, James and Gia would never have met. Either way, he /should/ have wanted to spend time with her, right? Or at least Gia should have pushed for spending some time with one of her "best friends".
The jealousy nagged at her, like a loose fiber in her new school sweater, but she was determined to obtain the upper hand. Exhaling quietly, she forced a smile onto her face, "Well, have fun!"
The enthusiasm in her tone was palpable, but she knew that the other two weren't listening hard enough to care about it. In fact, they probably wouldn't notice. Which, come to think of it, was even more hurtful. But Gia clearly didn't care about /her/ feelings, nor did her cousin.
Maybe it was petty, in fact, it was absolutely petty, but she wanted revenge. Luckily, her aunt had prepared her for this--although probably not meaning it for these targets.
As she began to take out her wand to hex the pair, she sighed and put it down. She knew that she was weak--too afraid of the consequences. So she watched them go, her face placid.

[Ace Salvatore]

Ace smiled tensely at Rose. She knew that her friend was upset over Gia and James just walking out like that; truthfully, Ace was a little annoyed herself. She pushed it to the back of her mind, though. She didn't want to start the year by getting into a fight with Gia and James; it just set a bad tone for the rest of what should be a good year.
She chose to reply to what Aisu had said, instead.
"Yeah, they are kind of irritating. Just don't commit murder, okay?" She meant it as a joke, but she wasn't sure if the tone she'd said it in told Aisu that. At that point, though, she was past caring. She hoped that Aisu knew her well enough to know when she was joking and when she was serious.
She continued to monitor Rose out of the corner of her eye, hand resting on her wand. She opened Aero's cage and absentmindedly began to stroke his head to calm him down; he hated traveling.
"It's okay, buddy," she cooed softly. "Calm down; we'll be at the school soon enough."