Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry discussion

Carriage 1 Corridor

The corridor that connects the eight compartments of Carriage 1. Carriage 1 is only used by Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl.

[Enter Kat Åkerstedt-Swanstrom from Platform 9 3/4, message 7.]

Once she was inside the train, the chaotic noise of the first, second and even third years on Platform 9 3/4 became a dim hum in the background and Kat exhaled an inward sigh of relief. She remembered those days from not too long ago and while she had been very excited herself, she had, as usual, managed to keep her composure although she remembered that the ride to Hogwarts had been a strain on her delicate nerves. It had been on that train ride that Kat had decided she would become Prefect so that she could sit in a more secluded carriage. This year, being appointed Head Girl, meant that she would ride in the first compartment without being bothered by the Prefects unless she so desired. Even though the selection of people was far better now, there were still some she found rather... bothersome and chitchatty.

Kat liked to use the train ride to study in advance of the coming school year and she found it hard to read when others wanted to strike up a conversation. This year she'd put in her headphones.

[Enter Lori Lazar from Carriage 2 Corridor, message 2]

Lori smiled as she entered the first carriage, it was almost completely silent. One of the perks of being a prefect, and one that Lori was certain everyone enjoyed was the fact that they didn't have to sit on the train with the loud first and second year students. She debated quickly about which compartment to sit in before deciding that she would be social and go for the one through which she could hear people talking.

[Exit Lori Lazar to Carriage 1: Compartment C]

[Enter Bradley Xardel from Platform 9¾, message 18.]

"Kat!" Bradley exclaimed jovially upon finding the blonde in the corridor of the prefect's carriage. He beamed at her as words tumbled easily from his mouth. "How nice to see you! How was your summer?"

If she was startle or surprised, Kat didn't show it--not even when she turned at the sound of her name and saw--was that... Bradley? Sweet Lord, he grew! She didn't remember him being this tall in the spring. "Bradley," she replied smoothly and calmly, having to now lift her chin slightly to meet his eyes with her own ice blue ones. "It's... good to see you too," she told him politely, turning away immediately to continue down the hall. She wanted the first compartment on the carriage. "My summer was good," she said after a moment, able to hear him follow her. She frowned slightly at the idea of him sitting in the same compartment as her and in an attempt to steer him away, added, "I thought I heard Sage a few compartments down," she told him, hoping he would join his fellow House mate. Opening the door of the empty compartment, Kat then walked inside.

[Exit Kat Åkerstedt-Swanstrom to Carriage 1: Compartment A.]

Bradley nodded, following Kat down the corridor. "Yeah, her voice tends to carry." When Kat didn't say anything, he added, "Which is good for Quidditch, at least." He didn't need to say anything more to get his point across. Sage had a reputation for talking. A lot. Which in class, tended to get her in trouble. Undeterred, he followed Kat into the compartment.

[Exit Bradley Xardel to Carriage 1: Compartment A.]

[Enter Alexa Wong from Carriage 1: Compartment C, message 70.]

Once they were out in the hall, Alexa quickly glanced up and down the aisle and seeing that it was clear, she looked back over her shoulder and gave the other two girls a grin. "All clear," she told them.

[Enter Lori Lazar from Carriage 1: Compartment C, message 71]

Lori grinned smugly, "I told you so," She said to them, dusting off her jeans and sitting down in a cross-legged position on the floor.

[Enter Sage Roberts from Cairrage 1 Compartment C]

She sat next to Lori, leaving enough space for Alexa. She pulled out the cards from her pocket and set them out. "So, what version do you want to play?" Asked sage spreading the cards on the ground. There were many ways to play exploding snap. Her favorite version was the "patience" one.

There are three variants of Exploding Snap. The first one, the "Classical" Game, is quite simple, however it requires some reflex. The rules are simple: when you see two identical pictures, hit the card with the top of your wand – one point is yours. The player with the most points wins the game. The hard part is, the cards shuffle faster and faster. The second one, the "Patience" Game, is a bit harder. You have twenty cards and you reveal them in pairs. You have to find two identical pictures. Cards explode soon after you reveal them for the first time (of course, if you don’t find a pair before). The third variant is Bavarian Rules Snap. In this variant, cards are dealt in a circle, with identical cards to those already dealt being placed in the centre. The identical cards must be tapped in a limited time frame, or else all of the cards will explode.

[Enter Bradley from Carriage 1: Compartment A, message 21.]


"Hey guys," Bradley said, sliding into place in the circle between Lori and Sage. "Exploding Snap, I see. What version? May I join in?" He offered them his usual, beaming smile, and ran his fingers through his hair as he waited for a reply.

"Oh, hey, Bradley, how are you?" Alexa greeted the Gryffindor Prefect cheerfully as she sat down as well, crossing her skinny legs underneath her as she glanced from him to the compartment he had come out of. "Where you just sitting in there by yourself?" she asked with a laugh. She pulled out her multicolored wand that so resembled her rainbow hair (today it had a small furry trinket attached to it) and absentmindedly tapped it against her thin hand as she waited.

"Of course you can join in!" Lori smiled at him. "We are the friendly ones." She said, looking up at him from her spot on the floor. She shifted to give him some room, then patted the ground. "Sit." She commanded, moving her hair behind her ear.

Sage moved closer to Alexa, leaving room for her fellow Gryffindor Prefect to sit between her and Lori. "I'm thinking about playing the classic option? What do you all think? It's ok if you don't want to play that one though, there are plenty of other options. Well actually just two. Which would you guys prefer" Sage rambled giving her opinion. She wasn't very good at classic, and she didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of Bradly- but alas, that's what usually happened to her.

Bradley grinned, giving Sage a friendly nudge with his shoulder. "I'm up for whatever," he said, "so you guys decide."

"Me too," Alexa agreed. "Wanna lead us through it, Sage?" she asked the brunette with a bright smile.

"I don't really care. I'm amazing at all versions." Lori said with a laugh, "No, I actually kind of all around suck at this game." She admitted.

Sage laughed at their responses. "Let's just do the classic game. There are three variants of Exploding Snap. The "Classical" Game, is quite simple, but it requires some reflex. The rules are simple: when you see two identical pictures, hit the card with the top of your wand – one point is yours. The player with the most points wins the game. The hard part is, the cards shuffle faster and faster." Explained sage taking a deep breath after she explained the game. "I hope that made sence..." She said a little awkwardly.

Bradley was nodding eagerly, even before she finished speaking. "Most definitely. I'm ready to defeat the rest of you whenever you care to start." His cockiness was clearly in jest, and would soon be proven as such, for the truth was this game was not his strong suit. Not by a long shot.

"Oooh, I wanna play the classical version!" Alexa squealed excitedly as she bounced up and down on her crossed legs. Fluidly, she lifted herself up so that she was now kneeling while sitting down on her Conversed feet to give her a better angle to lean forward. Impatiently, she waited for the game to begin, her wand ready in action.

Lori pulled out her wand and sat more forward, staying cross-legged. "Classical is fine with me." She verified, she would probably suck at any version that they played.

"Alright cool. Get your wands ready then. And get ready to get creamed." Sage laughed out. She gave Bradley a light nudge back.

""Ready set.... Go!" She said loudly as she dropped the cards into the floor of the carriage. The cards magically began shuffling themselves around, waiting for someone to make a match.

"Oh geez," Bradley muttered, looking anxiously for a pair. They moved so fast, and he'd forgotten to pull out his wand ahead of time. "HA!" he proclaimed, finally getting a pair. "YOU SHALL NOT DEFEAT ME!"

Alexa laughed brightly at Bradley's explosion of words but it didn't break her concentration. Reflex games were her specialty and although she couldn't spot the cards as quickly as she'd like, every time she saw a pair, she was right on them. Whack, whack, whack!

Lori flushed a little as she continually tried and failed to hit the cards with her wand, always just a bit too slow. She put her wand down beside her for a second, shaking her hand out. She had been clenching her wand in her fist and her hand was starting to ache.

Sage tapped the cards skillfully, she made a match at least every five seconds. She and her father had played quite a lot over the summer, even though they had practiced the 'patience' one. She smiled and bit her lol when the cards began shuffling faster, so sage could barley see the symbols on them.

"Oh goodness," Bradley commented, tone dry. He gave up, and sat back, his wand resting idly in his lap. "Nope."

"Come on, Bradley, you can do it!" Alexa laughed encouragingly, her eyes never leaving the cards. Sage was extremely skilled at the game, her eye picking the matches out much faster than Alexa could. Luckily, when the cards started shuffling faster, it slowed the Gryffindor down and Alexa narrowed her concentration to making her hand react as quickly as her eyes did in an attempt to hit more matches.

"I agree with Bradley, actually." Lori sighed and leaned back. The ache in her hand combined with the strain on her eyes just wasn't worth it at this point. She didn't want to end up needing glasses.

Now it was down to Alexa and Sage. Sage focused her concentration on the cards. She stalled her wand as Alexa would make a match, then strike. She would keep going, making matches, as long as she could till Alexanwould make a match.

Bradley grinned across the small circle at Lori, offering a shrug of condolence. "This doesn't appear to be our strong suit," he said, taking that moment to appreciate how pretty Lori was. It was different from Kat's icy beauty, but lovely all the same.

Alexa laughed happily as she continued to play and finally when all the cards had disappeared, she held up her arms and gave a loud whoop, shaking her rainbow colored hair. "That was fun!" she sighed. "Who won?" she asked.

"Definitely not." Lori laughed and smiled. It didn't really matter to her which of the other two girls had won, so she started to tune out the conversation. "I'm better at wizard chess, myself, what about you?" She asked him, genuinely curious.

"I'm not sure, I wasn't completely keeping track- just making matches." Said Sage genuinely. She liked the game, but not enough to make a competition.
She shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands.

Bradley shrugged. "Don't look at me," he said, though no one was looking at him, "I gave up a long time ago."

"Aw, oh, well, I guess it doesn't matter," Alexa said with a bright smile. Standing up then, she placed her wand back on the inside of her jacket and shifting from side to side, she glanced at her watch and then pumped the air with her fist. "Yay, the train is leaving soon!"

Lori smiled and leaned back against the train wall. "Finally." She sighed, "And then we only have the whole rest of the trip on the train. I hate trains." She added, sighing again.

"Thank goodness. Trains are ok, I prefer broomstick. Broomsticks are much better- even though you are exposed to the elements and on a train you are safe and warm. On a broomstick there is a certain kind of thrill you get when you fly really fast- that's why I like it so much!" Exclaimed Dage in a long winded monologue. She turned to face Bradley. "What about you Bradly?" She asked her fellow Griffendore.

Bradley shrugged, leaning back against the windowed wall behind him. "Variation is fine. Plus, I'm used to this ride by now." He grinned at the girls around him, adding, "With the right company, it flies by!"

"I love both, too!" Alexa beamed, completely oblivious of Bradley's flirtatious comment, still staying on her feet as she shifted from side to side. She couldn't sit still for too long and most of the time on the ride to Hogwarts, she could be found hopping from compartment to compartment or skipping up and down the corridor.

Lori wondered which company Bradley meant, one of the girls, two or all of them. She drummed her fingers on her leg and fiddled with her wand, thinking on the subject. She was being almost unusually quiet.

Sage nodded her head in agreement. "Definitely." She said in regards to Bradly's comment. Sage stood along with Alexa and streached her arms out.

"Shall we go find a compartment?" Bradley inquired, hearing the familiar whistle of the train—they were about to leave the station—not realizing that the three had been sharing a compartment earlier. He'd joined them in the hall, so that's where he kind of assumed they were the whole time.

[Enter Val Romanovna-Nyström.]

Although Val had been on the train for quite awhile now, she only just made it into the Prefect carriage after making sure that Caleb was safely tucked away on another one further down the line. With birdcage in hand and her fall pea jacket unzipped, she poked her head down the hall and saw what appeared to be a party happening outside a compartment. "Well, hello," she greeted softly, exhaling as she stepped up. Gathering her flaming hair in one slender hand, she pushed it out of her face and said, "What's up, guys?" Before anyone could answer though, she heard a compartment door open and Kat's white blonde head appeared. "There you are," she said to her friend.

Smiling, Val replied, "Sorry I'm late. Caleb was in a mood."

"As usual," Kat rolled her eyes, nodding to the inside of the compartment for Val to scoot her boot.

Giving the Prefects another wave, Val followed Kat inside the compartment, grateful for the opportunity to put Einstein's cage down.

[Exit Val Romanovna-Nyström to Carriage 1: Compartment A.]

"We can just go back to our bags- same compartment as earlier?" Lori suggested, getting up to her feet and brushing off her jeans again.

Sage nodded her head. "Good idea." She agreed. Since she was already standing sage opened the door for the other people.

"Oh!" Bradley's grin gained a sheepish quality as he uncrossed his legs and stood up. "Got it." He slipped through the door Sage had opened into the compartment they had apparently been in before.

[Exit Bradley Xardel to Carriage 1: Compartment C.]

With a hop and a skip, Alexa followed suit, thanking Sage for keeping the door open.

[Exit Alexa Wong to Carriage 1: Compartment C.]

Lori walked over to the door, second last to enter the compartment, as Sage was still holding open the door. "Thanks," Lori told her as she walked by.
[Exit Lori Lazar to Carriage 1; Compartment C]

Sage nodded to the three walking in. "No problem" she added.

[Exit Sage Roberts to Carriage 1; Compartment C]

[Enter Bart Llewelyn]

Bart ambled leisurely through the corridor, with his signature sure, rolling gait. He was quite aware that girls on both sides of the corridor were drooling as he passed, and smiled smugly to himself. It was nice being Head Boy, after all. Basking in their admiration, he made a deliberate effort to straighten his slouching posture, and to tousle his already messy hair. Yes, it was quite fun to be an authority figure.

He glanced at the sky outside. Nasty weather, really. The sky had begun to cloud over and the foggy mist had obscured the usually indomitable radiance of the sun. Finally coming to a prefects' carriage, after a while searching, Bart heaved open the door and went inside.

[Exit Bart Llewelyn to Carriage 1; Compartment A]