[OPEN] All Aboard!

Katherine had returned to Hogwarts in order to turn in her final assignments for the year, having been home for a couple of weeks and improving a great deal. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she had gotten worse during the final exam period. The very idea of taking the floo made her feel ill, so she and her eldest brother had agreed that it would be best for her to ride the train with the other students, and he would pick her up on the other end. From there, he decided that they would go the Muggle route, taking a cab out to Reading, where his flat was located.

So she was standing with her suitcase, much smaller than the ones other students had after staying a full year at Hogwarts, hoping that no one would notice her pallor or how tired she felt.

When it came time to board, she tugged her suitcase along behind her, struggling to lift it up the stairs that had been set up for the students. Kit expected that they were meant for the younger ones with littler legs, but she was grateful for them either way. So she dragged it up each individual step, frustrated with herself, and tried to play it off like it was nothing despite the students waiting to board behind her.

Hoping they wouldn't become angry with her, she glanced up and frowned apologetically at the student behind her, kicking at the suitcase rather lamely as she got it up the last step. Swinging it around and pushing it in front of her, Kit started looking for a quiet compartment to settle down in.

All around him, students were celebrating and making plans for their summers and everything that came after. Ducky Baker found himself struggling to maintain his usual aura of cockiness, as he had no answer yet to what his life would be. He had failed Transfiguration and Charms, miserably failed, as in had to submit an appeal failed. He could not afford to retake the year, with his father's health failing and his mother struggling as she always had. He needed to move on, and he had written letter on top of letter in the hopes of getting some sort of summer class to retake the classes.

So it was this that weighed him down as he walked towards the train. Ducky somehow felt years older than his peers, just through the troubles that had plagued and aged him. He was stupid, and irresponsible, and immature, but he felt weary deep in his bones, his eyes haunted by images children should never see, his soul bracing for an unhappy life that would surely end too soon.

He looked up at the train and let out a heavy sigh. Nora had left early with her family, some sort of long-planned vacation taking precedence over their final train ride together. He could see Margo waving him towards her cabin, where he was certain Molly would be, as well as poor Fiona Grimm, he was sure. He nodded his head, managing a wide grin and a wave, all of which faded the second she slipped back into the compartment.

He stepped into line, his relatively light trunk bouncing against his leg. He glanced forward, curious as to the hold up, but only got a glimpse of it once he got on the actual train.

The blonde girl - the sick one. That's all he knew her as, as rumors had passed along quietly that apparently the girl was on her deathbed almost constantly. He wasn't sure of how true those claims were, but he could tell she was struggling with her trunk. Needing a reason the look cheerful, he pushed passed the student in front of him and reached the girl, Katherine... He was positive her name was Katherine.

He reached down and pulled up her trunk, the muscles in his shoulders moving beneath his shirt. "Where are you headed to?" he said, that lazily charming smile easily inching across his face.

The handle of her trunk disappeared from Katherine's hand, surprising her and pulling her focus from a seemingly empty compartment. She would have ducked inside and hoped that someone quiet was the only person who joined her. But the suitcase being taken from her was certainly a cause for distress, distracting her greatly.

Her gaze settled on a particularly familiar face, eyebrows lifting. Why would someone like Baker want to help her? Katherine couldn't work it out in her head, assuming that he was comfortable enough with his friends but hadn't taken much of a liking to her over the years.

Then again, she had been much too ill to even contemplate adventures like the ones Ducky and his group must have had on a regular basis. Kit wasn't sure she would've minded that sort of thing, nose-in-book or otherwise. But it hadn't been up to her.

His question was almost entirely ignored as she wondered what sort of mayhem he had been involved in that year, but she gathered her wits more quickly than even she expected she would.

"I hadn't quite decided," she told him. "I'm not particularly fussed which compartment I end up in, though. I was-" she hesitated, wondering how lame she wanted to sound. Did she really want to tell him - this boy who dripped charm and was actually talking to her when most didn't and when he hadn't before - that she was planning to ferret herself away in a quiet section, preferably by herself?

Kit cleared her throat. "I was looking for someone I recognized."

For someone who never had his shit together, Ducky was really good about extending himself for other people. It was never anything particularly heroic or thoughtful, and it usually came in the form of offering his endorsement to those not as popular as him. Which, of course, always sounded pretty pretentious, but Ducky was not one to flout the fact that people liked him. He didn’t know why they did, he just enjoyed that they did because it made life that much easier. And he could certainly use some ease.

He did not know much about Katherine, which actually told him loads. Finn had coined the term ‘The Invisibles.’ The people that just didn’t garner any attention, so they had no reputation. These people had a few friends, usually also invisible in nature, and did as they were told but were kept from succeeding in any memorable way, though failure was also far too extreme. When Finn had explained this theory, she had claimed her knowledge came from experience.

He had set about uncovering every Invisible he met and getting to know them. Every single one proved to be interesting and lovely. Every. Single. One.

He could tell there was something embarrassed in her response, and he smiled. “Well, we’ll look for them. Or you might be able to do me a favor and keep some of my friends company. They don’t always all get along so I gotta keep ‘em separated.” He gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes, smirking. “Kids, am I right?” He smiled good-naturedly, running through his rolodex of people, as he was certain Molly and Margo were the wrong with a capital R type for her. Maybe Christia Zabini? The Fudge sisters? The Montoya girl?

Did he really only know Hufflepuffs?

Jenna couldn't help feeling disappointed about leaving Hogwarts. Oh sure, she'd graduated and everything, she was about to enter the real, grown up world. She even had plans and ambitions.

But honestly? It was scary. One summer and then she would be working. Not that getting a job would be difficult. She knew people in all the right places. No, the far more daunting task was... no, think about that later, not now.

And a good thing too, since the more immediate problem of Baker blocking up the corridor required her attention.

"Ducky, much as everyone here loves watching you attempt to flirt, I think we'd prefer you to move so we can find a place to sit," she said.

Katherine had been at Hogwarts for as long as Baker had, though it felt to Kit like it might've been longer. She felt far more mature than him, but then again, she shouldn't have been that way. She hadn't had much of a childhood, and probably wouldn't have anyway, even if she hadn't been ill. Her family wasn't quite the sort for adventures and mishaps. Maybe she would have been friends with someone like Baker, though, and ended up more carefree.

She wasn't actually going to smile, but when he did, she followed suit, unable to help it. People didn't really joke around when it came to Kit, and the change was really quite nice. She was preparing to agree to his suggestion when someone spoke up behind her and she turned to find Jenna there.

"It's my fault," she said, blushing a bit despite the lack of color to her skin those days. "We'll get out of your way," she said firmly, glancing over to Ducky and hoping he wouldn't change his mind now that a fellow Ravenclaw of hers had shown up.

She made to try and take the trunk from him so they could find a spot now that the train was starting to move. The last boarders must have been behind them and she hadn't noticed. Several were frowning at her around Jenna's shoulder and she wilted all the more. Embarrassment licked its way across her skin again, and she decided that she didn't even care if she had to sit by herself anymore.

"Nevermind," she said quietly, actually taking hold of the handle that time. "I'll just go in here," she offered.

With her other hand, Kit forced a compartment door open to her right. Just as it snapped into place, the train jerked and she tumbled forward, landing a painful hit to her head as she met the door of another compartment.

"What on earth?!" She gasped out, lights flashing before her eyes as she tried to make out Ducky's form or Jenna's face.

A voice sounded behind him and he spotted the one person in Hogwarts who probably disarmed him the most. Jenna was not someone you could just joke off, but if you tried to out-serious her, you were destined to lose.

So he just laughed and said, "Moving along!"

Kit tried to apologize and Ducky shot her a look with cross eyes and gritted teeth, hoping his message was clear. Don't engage with Ravenclaw prefect. Dangerous, dangerous.

She moved to grab the trunk but he just hefted it up, smiling, a promise he would not abandon her to fend for herself against Jenna. Perhaps he could find his friends - maybe she would survive them. She had to at least know Margo and Molly.

She reached for a compartment door and he followed, intent on delivering the trunk and her to a comfortable place. Before he could, though, the train let out a massive lurch, throwing all of them. He attempted to reach out for the blonde in front of him, but the heavy trunk spun him around, making him fall to the ground.

Completely floored, literally, he stumbled to his feet, letting the trunk lie where it was. "Whoa. Everyone okay?" He reached towards Kit to steady her, before glancing back at Jenna. "Jenna?"