In the Blink of an Eye

You'd think the first day of school at an entirely new place and with entirely different subjects, would be terrifying for an eleven year old girl, especially since she had just found out that she wasn't a muggle as that man had called her dead adoptive parents. She was a witch, at first she didn't want to believe it, how could that be true? How was there even a magical world to begin with? And most of all how could she be part of it? And not only as a muggleborn or halfblood ... she was what he'd called a pureblood. Her parents were both magical beings ... and she had never known that about them. Then again why would she? They had abandoned her and her sister when they were just babies.

But having grown up as a muggle, this was all so hard for her to process. Even now she didn't believe that she was a witch. But what that man had told her gave her an uneasy feeling. Could be he right about everything? But what if she wasn't a witch and she ended up in the school he told her about? Was that even possible? Maybe it was ... or maybe they would kill her for knowing about their world when muggles weren't supposed to know apparently. But what he'd told her made sense ... There were things that happened to her that she couldn't explain, up until she found out about the Wizarding World that is.

Now she stood in front of a huge train, with her sister. Both of them being eleven and purebloods, they both had to go to the school ... to Hogwarts. She was scared but she hadn't shown it at all since everything happened. She stared down at the letter in her hands and read through it. Everything that was on the list she had gotten, and now she held the kitten she had gotten in her hands as she put the piece of parchment away. Her sister was having a bit more trouble getting used to everything ... if that was even possible. Her hands were shaking and the grip on her kitten was even stronger than the grip Hitame had on hers. The little kitten stared to mew in pain and Naomi finally loosen her grip on it.

The whistle on the train blew and Hitame grabbed her sister's arm. It was time to go ... She began to ran past the crowds of students and parents, not stopping to look because she knew if she did, she would begin to feel sad and lonely because she didn't have parents to wave goodbye too as the train pulled out of the station. She thought it wasn't fair ... that she had to grow up the way she did, because her parents were horrible people. Once they were inside the train, they looked for an empty compartment to sit in. Once they found one, the two girls sat down and let their kittens run around the compartment as the felt the train begin to pull out.

Kai was still reeling, which I suppose was acceptable considering he was a muggleborn, and had just walked through a stone barrier. It had been one thing to watch the bricks move out of the way when he first walked into Diagon Alley, but this… this was much different. His eyes flickered nervously over the swarm of students, parents, and younger siblings, while he nearly had a death grip on the trolley before him. He could feel the conflicting emotions of everyone on the platform. Some joyous at seeing friends again, or learning more about magic, while others were nervous, or angry, or any one of a million other emotions. Kai was fairly sure he was going to be sick. He closed his eyes, letting his head dip forward and rest against the metal cage Aldric sat in. The barn owl offered a comforting hoot, and Kai gave a soft sigh, shaking his head hard before grounding himself a bit further, forcing the waves of emotions to roll off him.

He could do this. Mentally, he began listing herbs, and their properties. Something to concentrate on, he’d be alright. The small boy (for that’s what he was) made his way onto the bright red train with a surge of panicked students as the train blew it’s loud whistle, signaling it was going to be pulling away in short order. Kai threaded his way down the line of compartments, glancing in. Many were occupied by older students, and Kai flinched away from those. He didn’t want to end up in a compartment of loud, obnoxious people considering the butterflies already dancing about his stomach, but he also didn’t particularly want to be entirely alone. It was a dilemma he found himself facing often, no matter where he went.

Finally, he found a compartment with two girls about his age. He poked his head in warily, taking in Hitame and Naomi, as well as their little feline familiars, rather quickly. The cats wouldn’t bother Aldric, hopefully. He could feel Hitame’s unease, and probably a certain amount of wariness at this whole situation. Then again, that might have been his own. He realized he was still standing there, with his head poked into the compartment rather stupidly when Aldric nipped one of his fingers. He gave himself a shake, then offered a small smile to the two girls.

“Heya. D’you two mind if I join you?” his head tilted to the side slightly, “Lotta the other compartments are full of older kids, but I don’t wanna take this ride all by myself either. I have an owl, but he’ll probably be quiet if your cats leave him alone…”

Staring out the window of the compartment, Hitame took in the view of the large body of water they were passing as she felt a chill run down her back. She felt her body stiffen and she glanced at Naomi, who watched the two kittens play around, and she relaxed. She was just being paranoid ... That was it, she was just being paranoid. Being in a new place like this was unsettling and she really didn't like it. Every time she turned her gaze back to the inside of the train all she saw was older students walking around, talking to each other. It made her feel very uncomfortable and that was a feeling she hated getting.

Another chill suddenly ran down her back and she immediately looked back into the compartment. She felt her eyes narrow slightly as her eyes fell upon a boy around her and Naomi's age and she stared at him. He stood there rather awkwardly, poking his head into the compartment, which only caused Hitame's discomfort to grow. Her eyes fell onto the boy's owl as she though she heard the animal say something. Her head tilted to the side and she finally heard him say something. Her eyes glanced up to the boy and then down at the owl again, as she heard it say something again. She closed her eyes and looked up at the owl's owner, opening her eyes again.

"It's fine." she said, trying her best to offer him a smile. "You can take the ride with us." she said. "Don't worry about the kittens. They won't do anything to your owl. I can assure you of that." she told him softly, picking up Katniss in her hands again. She stroked the kitten gently and sighed. "Our kittens are well behaved ..." as well behaved as eight month old kittens could be. she lowered the kitten onto the seat next to her and she glanced over at Naomi and her kitten, Peeta. The two of them had fallen asleep and Hitame chuckled.

"I think you'd be better off sitting here next to me." she said. "My sister will freak out if she sees you sitting next to her when she wakes up." she sighed softly. It amazed her how fast Naomi could fall asleep, and how fast her hyperactive kitten could fall asleep right next to her.

Kai gave a rather grateful smile. “Thanks,” he said, rather quietly. He slipped into the compartment, managing to stow his trunk away with no little amount of effort. He cursed his small physique the whole while, but finally managed to get it on the rack where it belonged. He carefully pulled Aldric from his cage, letting the owl perch on his arm as he tucked the unwieldy cage up with his trunk. At Hitame’s suggestion to sit next to her rather than Naomi, the blue eyed boy inclined his head, and plopped down on the seat. He kicked his scruffy looking sneakers off, and pulled his feet up on the seat, wrapping his arms around his knees.

“Yeah, I would rather not freak anyone out,” he commented, “I think there’s enough freaking out going on without someone waking up with a strange boy and his owl sitting next to her.” He cracked a grin, turning his attention briefly to watch Aldric. The barn owl had settled on the back of the seat, stretching his wings and flapping them a couple times before settling, and fixing Hitame with an almost curious look. “Don’t be rude, Aldric,” Kai said, lightly running a hand over the bird’s feathers, “You’re not suppose to stare. Not that you can help it, I suppose…”

He found himself going back over the events of the past few days once again in his mind. A whirl of activity, a last minute trip back to Diagon Alley when he had realized he’d forgotten possibly the most important thing of all. His hand slipped to his pocket, resting on the length of slim elder wood that poked out from the front pocket of his jeans. Elder. Sambucus nigra. Protection from negative energy and lightning, evil spells and disease. A sign of a sacred space, but also associated with death… Kai shook himself from his thoughts, knowing he could be occupied with the properties of Elder for a long while. It was a curious wood, at any rate. He finally looked to Hitame once more, looking a touch sheepish as he realized he had completely ignored her after sitting down.

“My name is Kai Trenary. This is Aldric," he introduced himself, then the beautiful barn owl perched on the seat behind him, “I'm a first year. You and your sister are first years too, I'm guessing?"

"No problem." Hitame smiled at the boy. She turned back to the window for a moment, noticing that the body of water was gone and that they were now surrounded by a vast forest. She sighed, feeling a little bit more comfortable at the sight of the trees. Where she had lived up until she was six years old with her adoptive parents, was always surrounded by trees and she and Naomi grew up climbing trees and exploring the forest and all the wildlife that lived in there. It as no wonder some thought she was a freak by the way she acted. Still, it wasn't like she could help it, she grew up in the forest basically, not in some huge manor or something of the sort.

Her attention was turned back to the boy when he began to talk again. "Don't worry about it though." she said. "My sister gets freaked out by the simplest things, so it wouldn't be your fault if she freaked. That's just the way she is." Hitame chuckled softly. The eleven year old tilted her head again and looked at the owl as it stretched it's wings and flapped them. She smiled and looked down at Katniss, who had curled up in her lap, but she hadn't fallen asleep. The kitten was looking at the barn owl, her eyes filled with curiosity. Hitame smiled and looked up at the owl again when she felt its gaze on her.

Her eyes locked with the owl's and she held her gaze at it for a long moment, before the boy told his owl that it wasn't supposed to stare. She looked at him with a puzzled look. She could've sworn the owl said something to her while they stared at each other. She wasn't sure if it had really said anything though, like seriously, how could an animal speak? But she did hear something, and she wasn't sure if it had been hungry or peppy. Peppy would just be weird to say ... even for an animal that she wasn't sure could speak or not. She blinked a couple of times and she looked at the boy as he introduced himself.

"I'm Hitame Higurashi. This is Katniss." she said, and then indicated to her kitten as she introduced her. "That's Naomi and her kitten is Peeta." she introduced her still sleeping sister and kitten. "Yeah, we are first years." she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Then she looked back at him again, remembering what she thought the owl had said. "Have you fed Aldric?" she asked him a little suddenly.