Compartment D: Gia, James, Lily, Roxanne

[Jennie]

[James Potter]

James was relatively happy-- he had successfully dragged Gia out of the compartment and to his. He would have brought Rose and Ace along as well, but that would have left Aisu alone, and he would have felt guilty enough. He assumed that Ace and Rose would be fine with it-- after all, they had the entire school year to hang out, and he had already seen Rose at a family gathering a few weeks ago.

His compartment was relatively close, and had let go of Gia, hoping she would simply follow of her own accord at this point. He turned, happy to see that she had stopped pouting and was smiling now. Sliding the compartment door open, he gestured for her to enter, citing "Ladies first." in mock gentlemanly manner.

He entered the compartment, aiming for the window seat and putting his feet up on the seat across from him. "Welcome to my humble abode." he said grandly, stretching his arms out wide to indicate the small compartment.

He had always felt comfortable around Gia. She was just a really fun person-- he could be himself around her, without worrying about being judged. He knew she was technically Rose's friend-- she was a year younger than him after all-- but nonetheless, she was probably the person he was closest to at Hogwarts.

[Gia Parker]

Gia followed James back to his compartment, where he had stopped to let her go first. "Such a gentleman today, don't I feel special," she laughed, stepping through the door into the compartment with James right behind her. He'd take it upon himself to snag both window seats at once, so she took the seat next to him instead.

She rolled her eyes at him, smiling at his formal tone. "Why thank you, Mr. Potter," she said. Gia was used to James' gentleman act by now, though it still always made her laugh. Then again, Gia laughed often with whoever she was with, and James had never been an exception. He was so easy for her to be around, along with the fact that he was just hilarious in general.

In the back of her mind, Gia was still worrying about Rose. Gia always seemed to be worrying about something or other, though she mostly didn't let it show. She really cared about what people thought of her, as well as caring about her friends' feelings; that was just a Gia thing. And at the moment, it was the reason she was concerned about Rose. She really hoped she hadn't hurt Rose's feelings by leaving with James.

[James Potter]

James smirked, nodding at her comments. He really loved making her laugh. It always brought a smile to his face. Yawning and stretching his arms out wide, he let out a sigh.

"Rosie seemed kind of annoyed, didn't she..." James said, glancing at Gia with a bit of a frown. Now that he thought about it, it had been sort of rude to pull Gia away and not inviting the other's along.

But Gia was important to him-- very important. Besides, he would make it up to Rose soon enough. He had some big plans for pranking this year, and he knew she would want a part of it. He'd have to try and win her over again at the banquet.

"So what'd you do this summer, Miss Gia?" he asked, again with the polite game. He had sent her a few letters over the summer, but it was better for her to tell her.

[Gia Parker]

Gia bit her lip at James' comment about Rose, something she always did when she was upset or uncomfortable. She was thinking about what the other compartment was like now, without her. Aisu was probably telling the others about how loud she was, and Gia just knew that Rose was pissed over this and would probably mention it to the others. She knew Rose and Ace were close; although Gia considered Rose to be one of her closest friends, she was more like a sister; they'd been in the same dormitory for six years now, and they'd always been there for each other. But Gia didn't doubt Rose would mention this to Ace.

"I think she was. It's kind of really bothering me; what's she mad about?" Gia asked, frowning slightly. "I mean, we talked a little bit, and I'm sure I'll see her at dinner, and later tonight..." she added on, thoughts running through her head about it. "Unless it's you she's mad at, but I don't understand that either, since I'm sure you two saw each other a lot over the summer..." she trailed off. Gia let out a sigh. She was trying hard not to get too worked up over this, but she hated when people were mad at her.

"Not really much. I hung out with Ethan a lot, we're getting along a little better now that he's not at Hogwarts. Although he wont shut up about me hanging around with boys, I think he's convinced himself that I'm a complete slut," Gia muttered, rolling her eyes. She was trying hard not to slip into a bad mood.

[James Potter]

James knew Gia was slightly upset, even before she had gone and bit her lip. It was a dead give away that she was upset about what happened, and it made James feel a bit worse as well. He considered offering that they go back and apologize, but they had already left-- going back would only make things worse in his opinion.

He made a point of saying, "Rose'll be fine. She just needs to blow off some steam and she'll forgive us. I'll let her in on the new prank I'm planning." he said, raising a brow, hoping this would at least peak Gia's interest and take her mind off of Rose.

Gia told him about her summer-- nothing too interesting, but James still nodded intently. "My summer was boring as well. The usual, you know? Visiting the rest of the family, suffering through Aunt Hermione's food, the usual." he said, giving a grimace at the mention of the last part.

That was why he was so confused as to why Rose was upset. He'd only seen her a few weeks ago at the very most. And they had the whole year to spend pranking and such.

[Gia Parker]

"I guess you never with Rose...she might just be a little bit mad, but if she's actually pissed at us then she probably won't forgive us right away," Gia said. At least, that was normally how it worked with herself...not that Gia got mad very often, but it did happen occasionally. She forgave maybe a little bit too easily, but not right away if she was really offended by something. But then again, she didn't often get offended in the first place; she just let most things roll off her back.

But this was different. The roles were reversed; Rose was the one who was mad, not Gia. And Gia really hated this kind of situation, because it made her feel like she was at Rose's mercy or something. No matter what she said, it was up to Rose to forgive her, which might not happen so easily if Gia really had hurt her feelings. I should've just told James to stay in our compartment, what the hell was I thinking? she thought to herself. She tried to pull herself together a little. Worrying about it is only gonna make it worse. It's already happened she reasoned to herself, deciding that there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, even though she desperately wanted to fix everything.

Gia tried to concentrate on James and the conversation to distract herself. "Oh jeez, now what are you up to?" she asked, faking skepticism. "It's your last chance James, you have to go out with a bang," she told him, the smile slowly returning to Gia's face.

[Roxanne Weasley]

It was the last train ride she'd ever take to Hogwarts for the first day of classes.

Whether it was a good or bad thing, Roxanne didn't know. She'd have to take a NEWT level class or two, but she wouldn't have to face school ever again. But then once she did graduate, she inherited a list of responsibilities. It was more of a double-edged sword. Such was life. That was many, many months away, however, and there was no use fussing over matters she couldn't control.

She passed by many compartments of poor, naive first years. The trend was to clump together, but she couldn't really blame them. Hogwarts was something new and exciting and cause for nervousness. Her pride would get in the way of associating with them on cordial terms, but a sense of apathy told her not to care.

The next somewhat open compartment yielded familiar faces, her cousin, James, and his friend Gianna, a Gryffindor a year lower. Why the hell not...

Without knocking and without hesitation, Roxanne pulled open the compartment door and waltzed right in. Subtle entrances were far too dull. Roxanne desired the window seat, but a pair of feet were already occupying the opposite one.

"Move your feet, Potter," she snapped. "You don't own the compartment now, do you?"

Using a surname was almost always effective, even if he was her cousin. He'd probably just keep them there just to piss her off. "Besides my rudeness, I ought to say hello," Roxanne started. "So hello James, hello Gianna."

She left it at that. A "How was your summer?" question was far too common and expected. It always resulted in frivolous, useless answers. No need to ask... really.

[James Potter]

James shrugged off the comments about Rose. If she was really upset, she should have protested or said something. She shouldn't just go around assuming that everyone knows what she wants and can read her mind. But James was not the kind of person who would get frustrated about this sort of thing. He tended to live more in the present-- rather than the past.

"As for my plan..." James said, smirking mischievously and tapping the luggage above his head, "It is definitely going to let me go out with a bang." Her smile was back, at the very least, James noted. Better than to not ruin their train ride like this.

It was then that Roxanne entered. She was always one for flashy entrances, so it didn't exactly phase him when she entered without a greeting, and simply demanded the seat across from him. He purposefully repositioned himself so that his long legs took up even more space in the seat.

"Ah Roxy. So mannered as always." James said with a sarcastic smirk. "There's some lovely seats, there, there and there." He said, pointing to the empty seats. He ignored her greetings. It was a bit late for that at the moment.

[Gia Parker]

Gia grinned up at James, knowing he was being secretive about his pranks on purpose. Gia didn't mind; she had never been much of a huge pranker herself. She preferred to just hang back and watch without really getting involved because the reaction of the person being pranked was so much funnier from a bystander's point of view. In Gia's opinion, anyway, but James obviously would rather be right in on the action pranking people himself. She would just have to wait and see, she supposed.

Roxanne Weasley suddenly entered their compartment; Gia couldn't help but laugh when she demanded that James move his legs off the seat. Gia and Roxanne differed that way; when James' feet were in her way, Gia just picked another seat next to him. Roxanne was quite a bit more forward, because she particularly wanted that seat. Gia couldn't really care less, and usually that sort of attitude in situations like this avoided drama. Not that she expected Roxanne and James to get into a bitch fight over the stupid window seat, but still.

"Hey Roxanne," Gia smiled. She liked Roxanne and had never had a problem with her, but Gia was starting to get the feeling that there were Weasleys everywhere she went. A good chunk of the upper classes at Hogwarts these days was taken up just by the Weasleys and their various cousins. She didn't really mind it most of the time...but sometimes it got on her nerves. Gia got paranoid about this type of thing; was James only hanging out with her by default because there weren't many other people near his age in Gryffindor other than his cousins? Of course, Gia knew that this wasn't really true, but sometimes she took the "what ifs" a little bit too far; another example of the fact that she worries herself over everything.

"Honestly, I don't know who forgot to teach him who to use manners," Gia teased, trying to just relax and enjoy the train ride. Though she knew another 3 or 4 Weasleys would pop into the compartment by the time they got to Hogwarts, chances were. It was like some sort of club that Gia could physically never break into; she knew how much the Weasleys and the Potters valued family, and she was one of the few people who hung out in their group that wasn't part of that family. It was frustrating.

[Roxanne Weasley]

"You're such a prat," she said flatly, rolling her eyes. "I'm not going to acquiesce to your proposal, now, I'm going to get the window seat even if I have to share it with your feet."

Roxanne did as she said, sliding down as far as she could until his feet blocked her way. She was going to get her way.

Gianna returned her greeting, and she promptly turned to strike up light conversation. "Lovely shirt you're wearing, Gianna. Where'd you get it?" she asked, slouching back against the wall. It felt good to be back. "Oh well, I'm sure he didn't learn his manners from me or anyone else in the family."

It had been quiet, except for her arrival, between the pair. Most likely she had not caught them in a break in their conversation. Not that she was urging to eavesdrop, but more or less not wanting to be the awkward wrench thrown in the middle.

"Go on with your conversation," Roxanne said, shrugging. "I know I'm rather charming, but I don't mean to distract you from your previous conversation. I'm not entirely that rude."

[James Potter]

James whined as Roxanne lowered herself onto his feet.

"Roxy, you're crushing my poor little feet." he said childishly, giving her a pout. He knew it wouldn't work, so he side, wiggling his feet so that they could escape the grasp of his cousin's bottom. They had a classic cousin relationship-- almost sibling like in their teasing and tormenting. It was all good natured of course.

James glanced over at Gia's shirt as Roxanne complimented it, noticing vaguely that it did look nice-- well as nice as he could suppose a shirt could look. He didn't really understand fashion in a feminine sense-- despite showing off certainly female assets, he didn't see how shirts could 'look nice' on a given person.

He was used to his relatives being everywhere-- after all, there were so many Weasley's in Hogwarts at the time, and he was on good terms with pretty much all of them, and they were as close as family could be. But he had always felt closer to Gia in a different way than the way he felt with his family.

"Oh, we sort of finished our conversation." James said decidedly, figuring he could always tell Roxanne about his plans once he was better prepared. He glanced at Gia, hoping she wouldn't say anything just yet. He frowned for a moment, noting that he was quite hungry. He had missed the trolley-- it had passed by a while ago-- and hoped they would arrive at Hogwarts soon. The banquet was going to be fantastic.

[Gia Parker]

Gia glanced down at her shirt when Roxanne complimented it; she'd already forgotten which one she was wearing. It was a lacy dark red one, almost like a tank top but not quite as casual. She wore it with an ivory cardigan that she had taken off, seeing as it was still quite warm for September, and her favorite jeans. She didn't like wearing red, even though she ended up wearing it often because of Gryffindor spirit...she thought it made her like like Christmas because of her deep green eyes.

She then remembered that they were nearly at Hogwarts, but she still hadn't changed into her robes. Gia didn't have the best memory, clearly. That, added to the fact that she tended to get distracted or preoccupied easily, wasn't exactly a good mix.

"Thanks Roxanne! I actually don't even remember, I feel like I've had it forever. Though I probably have, because it's not like I've grown in the past three years," she said, laughing. It was only funny because she was being completely honest. She wished Roxanne would stop calling her by her full name; she was one of the very few people who did, and Gia usually just brushed it off. She didn't even like the name Gianna...she wished her parents had just named her Gia, and she knew for a fact that Gia by itself was actually a real name.

Gia had to laugh at James; his feet were anything but poor and little. "And don't worry Roxanne, you didn't interrupt anything. We were just talking about plans for this year," Gia told her, remembering that Roxanne was a 7th year as well.

[Roxanne Weasley]

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you've experienced worst pain during Quidditch," Roxanne remarked, smirking. Of course she was getting her way. And there was only a few people she could give attitude to and get away with it, and her cousin James happened to be one of them. He also got to do the same with her. Perhaps the closeness in age and frequent sightings at home and in classes did factor in, but their personalities meshed nicely. He did tend to get a bigger discount at joke shop than the rest...

Most of the journey to Hogwarts was completed by the time she had reached their compartment; she would take advantage of their hospitality and stay until they reached their destination. There wasn't much more floating around she could do, but she was rather liking James and Gianna's company at the moment.

"That's a shame, I'm really quite envious," Roxanne replied. "You must take me shopping some time."

Roxanne spent her money unfairly between interests, her clothes and shoes low on the list. Plus, there weren't much of a variety of places between Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade to choose from. She considered Gianna to be on good terms will her; hell, anyone with a great fashion sense and a mutual interest in Quidditch could be friends with her any day.

"Alright, if you two insist," she continued, shrugging. "I fear that the train is arriving shortly, but I'd like to inquire about those 'plans' later if it's not too bold to ask."

Being nosy was not something new, but if it included James in any way, it was a guaranteed prank of some sort. And Roxanne was not going to miss that.

[James Potter]

James shook his head like a puppy. "Nope, never been in worse pain in my life. Worse than the time I fell off my broom third year diving for the quaffle." he lied, faking a puppy-eyed look at Roxanne before shifting back into a grin.

The girls were talking about fashion again, and James zoned out a bit, noticing that the train was slowly coming to a stop. He stood up, grabbing his bag so that he could make a quicker escape once everyone started leaving. He crossed with his bag to the door, sticking his head out of it. A group of minuscule first years tried to pass him, but he stuck a foot out, smirking.

"Hope you all practiced your curses for the sorting." he said with a mischievous grin. "Only the best make it to the actual school year." The first years looked terrified and scurried past, whispering frightfully to one another. He sighed slightly. It was the last time he was ever going to be able to do that, but he still had to move on to bigger and better things.

Pausing for a moment as the train came to a complete stop, James smiled and turned back to Roxanne. "When everything comes together, than I'll let you know, Roxy." he said with a wink, then gestured to Gia. "Come on. Gotta go start the year!"