Journey One: Cabin Two [S]

"One of these days I'm going to learn that language of yours and you'll have nowhere to hide, Mr Causer."

Jessica bowed her head and rifled through the rucksack she had brought with her items for the train. She finally pulled out a book, deciding it might fill the time while the guys seemed to be into a bit of good ol' Slytherin bashing. Though she was partial to that sort of conversation herself, Jessica decided she'd far rather take some sort of moral highground in the situation. And, of course, proving that she was the sort who would read on a train gave what she thought was an air of intelligence she was determined to give off.

It was something she certainly needed to do when in the same compartment as a Ravenclaw

"I quite look forward to it Jess. then we can have a real conversation, without me trying to sort through English meanings" he snorted and looked at her book. "what on earth are you reading? thought you liked bashing the snakes" he propped his head on his chin and looked at the two boys. "alright, since she's reading and Molly's ignoring us, I promise to be civil as long as the talk is interesting" and them being ravenclaws he had high hopes it would be

Todd smirked, cocking his head and scratching his chin. "Okay, Muscles, I'll play nice." Though he had suspected Fionn would be the one to stir up trouble if any came. "How's about we learn a bit about each other? Like, I suppose you have allergies too, since you keep a bottle of meds with you?" he mused, sitting back and half-closing his eyes. "They seem to be working, by the way. No more sniffles."

"actually, no. I don't. I just take care of several younger siblings. the twins have allergies, I keep meds on hand for them" he gave a slight laugh. "it's just such a habit I often end up with meds and storybooks and stuff in my bags when I come here" he leaned forward and tilted his head. "so, what's the thing with you, then? I haven't seen you around. you must be the kind to stay out of danger when if at all possible, right?"

That news kind of threw Todd off. It was hard to imagine Fionn with little kids, being all brotherly and warm.

He shrugged. "Not really. I mean, yeah, you could say that's one of my goals, but I just don't find myself around 'danger' very often. I just kind of stay to myself. I just don't...get out there, y'know?" He didn't particularly like the direction this conversation seemed to be headed in, so he brainstormed for other topics. "So what is your deal anyway? You seem nice enough most of the time, but the jerk-ish-ness rears its head quite a bit - n-not trying to get a rise out of you, either, mate."

"what, are you Australian? cut with the 'mate' crap" he shrugged. " fluke in my personality I guess. I really don't need friends right now and I want people to know that. although it's hard to look at some people without seeing someone to remind me of a sibling" he gave a sharp laugh. "guess that's the price of being one of twelve" he raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "so you're a good boy who doesn't get in trouble a bunch and stays with the right crowd. how boring is your life? seriously, I might prefer books and studying over friends, and beat downs over parties, but even I know that a few 'bad' kids to hang with makes life a bit more fun"

"What? My whole family talks like that." Todd frowned, running a hand through his ginger hair in frustration. "I don't really hang out with any crowd. I mean, sometimes I tease people who, I dunno, seem like they wouldn't be too bothered by it, but there's not like a group of people besides my House that I sorta fit into." He paused, sitting up and trying to gather his thoughts. "I mess with people sometimes, but I don't really make lots of connections or whatever..." He glanced out the window again, wondering how the conversation took such a turn for the depressing. "So, what? You hang out with the 'bad kids', then?" he asked, anxious to get the focus from himself.

Fionn looked over at Molly and Jessica. "well, these two may be annoying, but they aren't bad...I keep my distance from others you'd say were like me" he shrugged, not feeling like going into it. "alright, so you're one of the middle kids. good to know. stay out of the deserted classrooms if you don't want to get jumped. sound alright?" actually, some of the deserted classrooms was where he practiced and he much preferred doing that in privacy without anyone snooping around

Jim shared the same thought as Todd. It felt weird picturing Fionn taking care of siblings. Half the time, Jim was thankful he was an only child. He preferred being alone most of the time, having given up on making any friends years ago. But this Todd guy seemed like a nice guy. At least he kept his head around a bully, something Jim wasn't very good at doing. He smirked at Fionn's comment about the empty classroom thing. That had happened to him on more than one occasion, and it never failed to make his day go down the drain.

"Giving advice? How kind of you," he said offhandedly. "You should come write a survival manual. And you could speak from personal experience, at least, from the bullying side." It looked like the blonde girl was absorbed in her book, whatever it was. Jim wasn't that much of a reader himself, except if it had to do with school work.

Fionn blinked looking at their shocked faces, a little uncomfortable. "what? I'm not all bad, but they do know not to get on my bad side, or grandmam's or Mam's bad side, so that makes it easier to handle them" if you let him, he could go into a long and animated talk about his family, and the longer they stayed on the subject of him being a good brother or not the harder it was to resist doing it.
Fionn shrugged. "what? can't I give a helping hand every now and then? this IS the train ride there, that means I'm not technically a bully...yet" he smirked and looked at the two, eyebrows going up at the survival guide thing, going into momentary panic about the 'speak from experience' did Jim know?! wait...no...from the bully's perspective. alright. "yes, I suppose I could write a book and I bet it would be a best seller too. but if I don't feel like revealing the secrets of the bully?"

Todd chuckled at their talk of the 'survival manual'. Getting imaginative now, weren't they? He felt a bit uneasy as Fionn brought up the fact that this was merely the train ride there, and that things would be different once they arrived at Hogwarts. He hoped making himself known hadn't been a mistake.

"If you didn't want to spill all your secrets, you could do completely the opposite: plant false information so the defenseless victims will have the wrong advice. That would make your 'job' a lot easier, wouldn't it?"

"Ugh, that would be the ultimate form of trolling," Jim said, his eyes glancing upward. "But then people would want a refund, and things could get sticky after that." He laughed a little, finding it funny that they were talking about this. He hoped that Fionn wasn't getting any serious ideas, or it could mean bad news for Jim and any other victims around the school.

Fionn snorted. "why would I do something so stupid? even mice are freaky when they go after you in a giant mob. besides, not worth it. I don't have the money to spare" besides, he was better at music than writing, and ironically he'd be part of his target audience, because in a book like that he could speak for himself, but he'd pay through the nose to figure out what went on in the minds of Jason Todd and Moses, among others. "why don't you two write the stupid thing if you're so into it? I'd rather write about...I dunno...mating habits of basilisks than about something like that" he made a face. "hey, heard a rumor Filch has a kid. what's your opinion? supposedly it's a first year"

Todd shrugged, sitting back and crossing his arms. "How did that even happen though? I mean...Filch's spawn...? Someone actually made a baby with Filch." His spine prickled uneasily at the mere thought. "I mean really."

"His daughter does seem to be okay enough, though. Looks normal enough, not too Filch-y," he murmured, struggling to stifle a yawn fighting up his throat.

"Jeez, I didn't know basilisks could mate," Jim said. "Or Filch, for that matter." It sounded kind of impossible to him. He looked over at Todd. "So, she's not all cantankerous and crabby? Please tell me she doesn't have a cat. Mrs. Norris can make any person feel uncomfortable."

Todd made a face at Jim. "No cat, thank goodness. Ms. Norris's diet consists of souls and broken hearts," he muttered, absently flicking the zipper of his coat back and forth. "I only saw her - the daughter, that is - for a second on the platform, but she actually seemed to be all bubbly or whatever. Must take after her mother."

"yea, I thought nobody would want him, but apparently the librarian did. you know, the craky woman who goes awol if we so much as sneeze near a book?" he shuddered, thinking of the two nightmares having a daughter really just rubbed the wrong way. "well, she was raised by her uncle I hear, so their crankyness didn't rub off much, and I think it's an owl named Newton" he shrugged. "even I'm not stupid enough to bother her, but I wonder about the Slytherins. Filch is a Squib you know, and we all know how their treated. worse than house elves" he shook his head slightly. "if she isn't a crabby little girl now, she will be"

"Great. A Mrs. Filch for the future generations," Jim muttered. "What a bright thought." Hopefully, the little girl would have a some-what positive experience and not turn out like her dad. Who knows how that would make everyone feel. "Do kids of Squibs show up often at Hogwarts?"

"Well, it was such a shock when everyone found out about Filch, I doubt it. 'Course, they might be too scared to admit it even if they did - really sad, actually..." Todd sighed. "The Slytherins will have a field day with her, that's for sure. Poor thing."

After Jessica had come in, Molly had sat down and gotten lost into her thoughts. She had been contemplating a lot of things, mainly things to do with her family. Once she had gotten into that rut, it was really hard to come out of it. By the time she had shaken herself from her thoughts and returned to the conversation, she was absolutely completely confused. "Wait... who are you guys talking about?" She asked curiously as she looked at the quiet boy - had he told her his name, she was unsure.

Todd glanced over at Molly. His lips twitched into an amused smirk and he shrugged. "Filch's kid - Pippa or something like that. Wonderin' how she'll do because of the whole half-Squib thing," he said, sweeping his gaze briefly to the little window in the door, wondering if the trolley would be by any time soon. He'd been in too much of a rush this morning to get any breakfast.

"Well, hopefully she'll get some friends to make sure she does okay," Jim said. That hadn't exactly happened to him, but he hoped it would for Pippa. Although their situations weren't quite the same. Everyone would probably find out that Pippa was half-Squib. Nobody knew that Jim was a werewolf. "You know if we'll be getting anymore interesting witch and wizard varieties?" he asked. "I mean, I heard that some have, like, Veela in them or something."

"well, I can keep the other bullies off her back, and she seems hyper enough to be on the good side of Moses" he looked at the ceiling and began listing them off on his fingers. "half-veela teacher, two vampires, there's been a rumor of a werewolf student for years, but nobody knows who it is" he glanced briefly at Jim, wondering, then shrugged it off and continued. "there's Pippa, of course, I heard there were some dwarf student hybrids, but I've never actually met them. not to mention the animagi and stuff..." he grinned. "it'll be an interesting year, that's for sure"

"Aw, well, I'm sure she'll make lots of friends. Not everyone can be cruel to her," Molly shrugged. She knew she wouldn't. If Pippa ended up not getting any friends, which she highly doubted, then she'd definitely be friends with her. She then looked at Fionn and chuckled. "I think you just wen from bully to Mr. Softy," She stuck her tongue out childishly at him.

"That's quite a lot, actually," Molly mused. Two vampires? A Half-Veela teacher? Even a werewolf? That was quite insane. She knew there were animagi, seeing as she was one of them, but she wasn't sure who the others were. She slouched down in her seat, getting more comfortable, and then crossed one leg over the other in habit.

Todd leaned his head on the window, pursing his lips in thought. "Yeah, I reckon she'll be okay. She seems outgoing enough, so there's that," he murmured.

"I didn't expect there to be so many - though maybe it's always like that, and I was just too ignorant before. Mr. Softy has taught me a lesson in wisdom that I will never forget," he conceded with a snort. He closed his eyes for a few beats, finding the swaying of the train rather soothing.