Journey One: Cabin Nine [P]

First Journey
Teachers Cabin.
Seats Four.

Jonathan had just sent his boy off, allowing him to board the train so soon in his eagerness. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched him jump and climb over people and he couldn’t help but think how he had some of his mother in him. Trying not to think too much on that thought, because it would only make such a joyous occasion sad, he turned around and searched the crowd for his other family members.

A smiled crossed his face once more as he spotted a familiar trio. The elderly figure of his mother-in-law, the tall and lanky one of her male nurse, and then the short red headed figure of his niece. “Molly, Sylvia, Ted!” He called out, his voice reaching different pitches for each name. He walked over to them, in the confused and gangly way that he always did. Molly had turned around and smiled, calling out his name as he finally made it over to them.

John grinned and patted Molly on the head, ignoring her obvious glare for having done such. He smiled at his mother-in-law and reached out his hand to gently shake hers. It was bony and cold, but was the same hand he had shaken all those years ago on their first (and rather unfortunate) meeting – telling her that he was marrying her daughter because he had gotten her pregnant was not always the best way to meet an in-law.

“Oh Jonathan, I’m unsure as to whether or not I’ve seen Peter yet. Will you be sure to tell him I wish him luck in his first year?” John smiled in return to her comment and nodded. As stated earlier, Peter had been too excited to stick around to see his grandmother.

“Of course, Sylvia,” He told her simply, not giving much more than that. They had a strained sort of relationship. Sylvia nodded and there was silence. The silence lasted for about two minutes before Sylvia got a strange glint in her eyes. John took a sharp intake of breath, having seen this once or twice before. He glanced down at his niece and knew that she had to deal with this on a daily basis.

“Helene, honestly, what have I said about doing such tragedies to your hair? Red, darling? Your naturally brunette hair is much more appealing on you and I wish you would curl it more often, it frames your face nicely that way,” Sylvia reached out and tugged on Molly’s bangs. John was rather surprised, though, at how easily she seemed to adopt her late mother’s persona, feeding Sylvia’s delusions.

“You’re right, Mother, I’m sorry. I thought it would be fun to change things up a bit, but I’ll try and fix it before the end of the year,”

“Oh, and where is your sister? Has she already boarded the train? Without even saying goodbye?” Sylvia asked, looking out into the crowd as if to find her youngest daughter. John took in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. There went the chance of not thinking about her. He opened his eyes, unaware of Molly studying his features, and made his face as blank as possible.

“Yes, she was so excited, Mama, that she rushed to go get a good compartment.” John held back a bitter snort. Just like Peter… he thought.

“Of course, that’s little Annie for you. Make sure that she keeps her potions grade up. I’d rather not have another incident like last year.” John started to feel antsy and almost felt like running away at that moment, but he would not allow himself to do such. If Molly dealt with this on a regular basis, he should be able to handle the last few minutes. “Oh darling, you’re going to have a wonderful last year. I wish your father was here, but he got caught up with work.”

“I know, give him my love will you?” John could hear her trying not to cry; she didn’t cry in front of anyone, even her family. John may have seen her cry a total of one time, when she tripped and skinned her knee at age seven.

“Mrs. Jones, I’m a professor at Hogwarts. I’ll make sure to take good care of your daughters for you,” John interrupted, putting a smile on his face. Sylvia looked up at him and smiled back. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder and John wondered if maybe it was a good thing she didn’t recognize him.

“Well thank you very much, Professor. I appreciate it,” she replied. The train whistled its warning call, telling them it was about time to get on the train. John looked back at the train while Molly said her final goodbyes.

He was rather excited for the new school year and to be honest, he couldn’t wait to get back to the school to see a certain ghost. Thinking about her made him smile a little bit, though feel slightly guilty about it as well. It seemed that those he loved seemed to die… perhaps he was cursed or something.

“Are you okay?” John finally broke the silence, looking down at Molly. She looked up at him and smiled, nodding in silence. John reached out and rubbed her shoulder in an attempt at comfort, the best he really knew how to do. “So, your sixth year, huh? I better not have to give you any detentions.” He joked, trying to lighten up the mood.

“Haha, you better not give me any detentions, Uncle,” his niece joked back. John wagged his pointer finger at her whilst standing tall and attempting to look regal.

“Ah, ah, ah, Molly dearest, that’s Professor Smith to you,” John corrected her. He watched as Molly smirked and placed her hand on her hip.

“Yeah, but I think I’m gonna have to continue to call you Uncle John or maybe even Uncle Johnny,” Molly smiled widely. John smirked, already having something up his sleeve.

“Call me that and I’ll have to address you as Molly-Dolly in front of everyone.” John knew he had won when Molly’s face paled visibly. It was the one nickname that he was sure she didn’t want her friends to hear.

“You wouldn’t… you couldn’t… that’s not fair! Everyone would start calling me that!” Molly whined. John snorted at her childishness, proving that maybe the nickname was more appropriate.

“That would be the point, Molly-Dolly.” He chuckled in response to her face, which she scrunched up in annoyance and disgust. “Go get on the train and try not to get in trouble yet.” He waved her off.

“You suck, you know that?” John laughed once more and watched as she boarded the train. He had started to turn around when he heard her yell, “Oh, and say hello to that girlfriend of yours!” John cringed and glared at her. How in the heck did she know anything about that? He hadn’t told her… He continued to glare as she stuck her tongue out and rushed into the belly of the beast.

Gathering his own stuff, John headed toward the Professor’s area of the train. He climbed the steps into the train and searched around for a suitable cabin to occupy. He ducked down and looked into each cabin, deciding on some of them that they were too crowded or had people who just didn’t seem like he would enjoy chatting with. He was finally satisfied when he reached an empty one. With a smile on his face, he squeezed in and placed his trunk in the appropriate place.

John stretched for a moment before sitting down next to the window; he wanted to be able to watch the beautiful scenery pass by. Occasionally, he would glance at the door just to check whether or not someone else was coming in.




[Again I can't believe this is so long. Mainly because my first one was long and this coincided with it... but OMG. >_____> don't let it scare you because this doesn't happen all the time... I just couldn't stop writing.... <_____< omg. I don't even know.]

Holli sighed and knew that this was going to be fun with her teaching her favorite subject. As she boarded the train with her suitcase she looked up at the sky and smiled. She knew she was going to meet handsome men and have fun with them. Holli then looked around to find children in their carts. Holli made a smile and said hello as she passed by them and said hello back to her. Holli then saw a man with chestnut brown hair and tapped on the door to wave hi to him.

Eventually, John got lost in his thoughts; his head up in the clouds, as his school friends used to refer to it as. He was so focused on them, thinking things a mile a minute, that he had stopped paying attention to the door of the cabin and the people outside of it. When someone tapped on the door, he jumped, obviously having been startled. He turned his head ever so slightly to see a young woman, maybe around his age, with bright blonde hair.

John blinked for a moment before smiling politely and waving back in a greeting. He wondered if she had a cabin already or was still searching for one. If the latter, he would gladly share with her. He waved her in, it was only him in the cabin after all.

Holli opened the slide door and asked with a slight smile, "Um can I sit with you? It seems almost the professors's carts are resevered for other professors."

John continued to smile and nodded in response to her question. "Of course; I'm not one to hog a whole compartment. I'm John Smith, professor of Transfiguration, relatively new I suppose is how you would put it. Visited here over the summer to get a feel for things, but other than that I haven't really gotten to much yet," John rambled on, as he often did. Sometimes he could go on long tangents in a stream of consciousness sort of way without even realizing it; even his thoughts did this. "And what might your name be?"

Holli lightly laughed and said with a smile as she set down her suitcase and sat down in her seat, "I'm Holli. Holli Would. I'm the new professor for Divination and the Headmaster asked for me personally because of my unique divination ability. I hope that one day everyone at Hogwarts benefits my wisdom of Divination. Tell me John, what do you like to do for free time?" Holli then asked curiously, "May I read your hand?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Holli Would," John smiled. He listened intently as she told her brief story and nodded, an impressed look on his face. She must be something else, something really special to be requested for specifically by Headmaster Dumbledore. That man had many secrets and many different reasons for bringing certain people in; hopefully it would all end well, was all John could really add to that. "That's quite impressive, I must say. I wasn't requested for or anything, just wanted a different sort of job and this allows me to be close to my son, Peter." He paused for a moment before picking right up in his speech. "What do I do in my free time? Huh, well, I suppose I do quite a lot of things. Thinking, mainly, I do that one a lot. I'm currently working on a book, though it's not really progressing very far. Perhaps I'll be able to continue onward with it and get more done now-" Though he really doubted Vanessa would give him much free time between classes to have some peace a quiet; not that he minded, at all. "-but I suppose I don't really do anything too special." He shrugged.

John eyed Holli for a moment. She wanted to read his hand? That was definitely something new. To be honest, he wasn't all that interested in Divinations. He had never excelled in the class and the moment he was able to drop it, he did. He preferred studies that relied more heavily on facts than on visions and what's on the bottom of a teacup. However, he supposed he could be polite and agree to the simple hand reading; what could possibly go wrong with that? "Well, I suppose I could allow that," He gave her a small smile before reaching out his right hand towards her, palm upwards as he supposed she needed to see it.

[-sigh- I need to hit the hay (I've got a major test tomorrow morning and I need my sleep). I will be on though, tomorrow, so I promise to reply as soon as possible~ can't wait to see what Holli will get from the reading! :3]

Holli looked at his hand closely and said seriously and curiously as she pointed his life line, "This says that you are strong and you will live a long life." Holli then said as she looked at his head line, "Well you have a long head line which means you are very intelligent." Holli said with a smile as she pointed the heart line, "Now this is line says that you have someone who watches you but is from another world and she likes you or loves you." Holli the said seriously as she pointed his fate line, "This line says you are very responsible and you have a hidden talent within you." Holli then said with a smile as she pointed his apollo line, "Now this line mean you enjoy your work and you have good luck."

John watched as Holli pointed to the different lines on his hands - lines that he figured had no meaning and were just creases from where the skin would fold over when the hand was in a fist. He smiled a bit, glad to hear that it said he was strong (though he wasn't always, both mentally and physically speaking) and that he would live a long life; there were some mixed feelings about that, but that was a whole different conversation there.

"Well," John chuckled at the intelligent thing. Such was true, though that wasn't too hard to figure out. He was a brilliant man who enjoyed learning. He was thinking this was all in good fun until Holli mentioned that he had someone watching him from another world. He took a sharp intake of breath and nodded slightly, trying not to let his ears turn red. "Mm, well, it's good to know she doesn't hate me all the time," he tried to add in good jest as well as to not stay on the subject - it wasn't quite out in the open yet, whatever 'it' was.

John pursed his lips then. "Oh, and might you know what that hidden talent might be? Or do I have to figure that one out all on my own; isn't that how it goes? One must find it within themselves and so on and so on," John smiled. He was curious though. If Holli was able to guess about Vanessa, then perhaps what she was speaking was the truth.

He nodded then; he did enjoy his work very much. It was quite fun, actually, and he couldn't wait to be in the front of the classroom teaching children of all ages about Transfiguration. He then shrugged. "I don't know about the good luck thing, but the rest seemed pretty spot on. You're very good, I can see why Headmaster Dumbledore would want you. Now, did you go to Hogwarts yourself or did you go to another institution?"

Holli said with a smile, "I was a student at Hogwarts, got an O out of most everything in the subjects." Holli then sighed and said sadly, "My family hated me for being different because of my Divination ability. You see I can see the future every time i glowed with a white light around my body." Holli then let go of John's hand and said with a slight smile, "To family I was unusual but Hogwarts was always my home. A place where I don't feel alone." Holli looked at the sky and lightly laughed. Holli then said as she rubbed her eyes, "Sorry you had to hear that I never told anyone before."

"Oh, so you went to Hogwarts as well? So did I," John smiled. He wondered what house she had been in. She looked rather similar in age and he wondered if perhaps he had seen her around, that is, whenever his head wasn't up in the clouds as it had always seemed to have been. He paused and listened to her as she continued. It sounded like she had had a pretty rough home life; John couldn't imagine what that was like. The worst he had ever gotten was a snappy mother-in-law who wasn't particularly fond of him, but by then he was seventeen.

Jonathan gave her a soft smile. "It's fine, really," John told her gently. "I'm glad you were able to open up and talk about it, though it's very sad. Hogwarts seems to be a welcoming and homey place for most students and even teachers." He was silent for a while, a little unsure of what to say next - which was a rather surprise for him, because the main problem seemed to be shutting him up.

"So, what house were you in?" He asked after a little while.

Holli lightly laughed and said with a smile, "Hufflepuff. Mostly my family were in the Hufflepuff house and some were in Ravenclaw. But I was going to be in Hufflepuff and most of the boys at the time were drooling all over me because of my looks."

Evaine walked all the way down to the last cabin as she sighed to herself thinking what an idiot she was to over sleep then ALMOST missing the train "Stupid sisters not waking me up now i can;t even find a place to sit." she thought to herself "i'll never make friends if this keeps up." mumbling she poked her head inside cabin nine "Um you guys have room for one more person." she asked shyly holding her backpack tightly "all of the other cabins are full.". The young black hair girl glanced at the young adults waiting for a reply before sitting down.

Holli said with a smile as she brought the girl in, "Oh all of the student cabins are full, huh? I think it'll be okay...What do you think John?"

Evaine followed Holli inside the cabin "Sadly yes i almost didn't make it on the train cause i overslept hehe." she said using her index finger to rub her nose as her cheeks turned a light pink feeling embarrassed

Holli said with a slight smile as sat down, "Well I'm sure that the Headmaster will let this one slip."

Evaine sat down next to Holli "Im Evaine by the way, Evaine Moonblood but you can call me Eva." she said kindly holding her hand out towards the nice blond hair woman

Holli smiled and said as Eva sat next to her, "I'm Professor Holli Would. I'm the new Divination teacher and I hope you'll join my class."

"Oh so your the new teacher everyone's been talking about." she giggled "Well im glad we have a smart teacher this year and Divination is my favorite class."

Holli said with a smile, "Well I hope you find my subject worth your while Miss Moonblood."

"well i hope i can make you proud." she said thinking to herself 'hope she doesn't compare me to my older sisters.'

Holli asked curiously as she looked out the window, "So what do you expect for this year?"

Evaine looked down as she played with her black hair letting out a huge sigh "To make friends.. it's lonely being alone with no one to talk to, but no one seems to want to get to know me or be around me."

Holli said with a smile as she looked back at Eva, "I'm sure you'll make friends. After all you might meet someone who might understand you."