The Train Ride Home., Open to anyone that is not VH23. Options

[Cassandra Murray]

*This is open to anyone who is not VH23 because this is a train ride home from Hogwarts*

Cassandra wasn't ready to begin her summer. It had all happened to fast. The First Year flew by. She was sad about that. She was mostly sad though, because she'd be alone for most of the summer. She no longer had parents and her close friends were all going home. It wasn't fair. Though Cassandra knew one thing. She was a stronger person because of it.

She dropped her trunk off on the Platform and made her way to an empty compartment. She was one of the first ones on the Express, so she got dibs on which compartment she wanted. She knew the exact one. It was the first one she ever sat in. It was the one where she met Melanie Kwon. She hadn't seen Melanie in awhile, but she was such a nice, sweet girl.

Putting her Satchel on the seat, she scooted over so she was near the window. She could hardly wait to watch the Scottish countryside roll by. She thought of so many things. She thought of not wanting to be friends with Twila when she had wasted half her year trying to gain her friendship. It didn't matter anymore. The way she looked at it was this; it was Twila's loss. Cassandra was a wonderful person and she was missing out on a true friendship. It didn't matter, Cassandra had lots of other friends anyhow.

She thought of the trip she'd be making this summer to find her father. She was going to Australia for two weeks and he was going to meet her there. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. Mark was supposed to be going with her, but now that they were no longer together, he wasn't going. She was too young for a serious relationship. She had her whole life to meet boys, why not have some fun?

She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the door open.

[Yuvonne McKiddie]

Bonnie McKiddie wasn't thrilled to be leaving Hogwarts, but she was happy to be going home. Bittersweet, they called it, and this was the first time in her young life that she was able to properly use the word. Leaving Hogwarts for the second year in a row reaffirmed the thought that this was not going to get easier as the years went on. But on the other hand, leaving Hogwarts meant that she was going to see her mum, dad, Aunt Tracy and her cousins Elinee and Teo. Because as much as she wanted to deny it, those two annoying cousins were actually growing on her. And there was also the fact that she now considered Teodor Nevski her actual cousin.

This summer would be brilliant. Elinee and her parents along with Atanas and his parents, were going to be traveling to England to visit. They were going to be on her turf. She was the subject matter expert on the lay of the land. As far as things went, her word was going to be law and golden. Past trips to France were boring as they had to do what Elinee insisted. Other trips to Bulgaria were ruled by Teo. This trip to Chelsea, London was going to be run by Bonnie whether they liked it or not.

Bonnie walked down the corridor of the train passing compartment after compartment. She was deep in thought over the things she was going to make her cousins do. Trips to Diagon Alley, of course, as well as a supervised trip to Hogsmeade (provided that Aunt Tracy didn't mind being the chaperone). And Bonnie was deciding that she was going to have Teodor come along for trips for the girls to do some clothes shopping. That should cope with the injustice of having to run around town with him and his boy friends during the previous summer holiday.

The young girl couldn't stop smiling as she opened the door to a compartment and took a seat. All the mean (though good natured) things she was going to do to Teo were making her more happy than she had expected to bne.

[Cassandra Murray]

When she finally snapped out of it, she noticed a familiar girl she saw around the Common Room sitting in the Compartment with her. She knew that she was older than Cassandra, perhaps a year or two. She also knew the girl was strikingly beautiful with her chocolate skin and gorgeous eyes. She was exotic. Cassandra liked exotic. However, she couldn't remember her name.

She decided to greet the girl. "Hi! I'm Cassandra, I'm going to be a Second Year. I know you are in my house but I'm a bit embarrassed, I can't remember your name." Cassandra blushed profusely. Hopefully the girl wasn't too offended. Cassandra meant no harm. Her blue-green eyes sparkled. Perhaps this girl could become a friend? "So are you looking forward to your summer? Any big plans?" Cassandra smiled and threw her blonde hair over her shoulder.

What a pretty girl, she thought.

[Yuvonne McKiddie]

Bonnie felt a bit taken aback at the fact that this new second year was not familiar with her name. But then again, Bonnie did spend loads of time in the library during the past year. And when she was seen in the common room, which was quite rare, she was often studying. If her second year at Hogwarts could be summed up in one word, that word would be studying.

However, Bonnie knew who this girl was. Her name was Cassandra. But that's as far as it went. She didn't know who she hung out with or if she had favorite classes. She wasn't even sure if she was on the quidditch team or not. But then again, when it came to quidditch, the only name that seemed to come up was Brigitta Spinnet. That girl could practically be the entire team if she wanted to.

Bonnie shook those thoughts away along with the ones of how she was going to be spending the summer holidays. "Hello, San." she smiled, forgetting that not every person in the world named Cassandra adapted the name San as a nickname. "I'm Yuvonne, but you can call me Bonnie." she extended her hand as she tilted her head a bit letting her curly hair bounce around as it adjusted to the new position of her head.

Bonnie was silent for only a moment as she thought about the question that San had posed for her, any big plans for the summer. Well other than hanging out with her cousin, Elinee, and trying to mercilessly torture Teodor, she had no big plans. Perhaps it would be just a quiet vacation away from Hogwarts.

"I won't be doing much." she shrugged as she stared out the window for a quick moment. "Just another holiday at home. How about you?"

[Cassandra Murray]

Cassandra didn't mind the nickname one bit. Bonnie! That's right. Now she knew who she was. Smiling at the girl, she realized perhaps she was too eager. Cassandra was always eager and sometimes it annoyed people. Bonnie sounded like she was happy to be going home. Cassandra sighed. She really wished she had a home to go to for the Holidays.

Looking at the girl, she said, "I'll be going to Australia for two weeks. I'm from Australia. I'm going to meet the man who I'm 99% sure is my father." Was Cassandra excited? Sure. Was she nervous? Without a doubt. What if he wasn't her father? Then what? She knew she had nothing to worry about though. This man was definitely her father. "The rest of the summer I'll be staying at the Leaky Cauldron Inn. That should be interesting." She smiled the best she could. She really didn't want to stay there.

Hopefully Bonnie wouldn't think she was strange or anything. At the moment, Cassandra felt very much like a little girl and not like the pre-teen she was. She wanted to cry but would hold back. Why were all these things happening to her? Perhaps because she could handle them. Cassandra had come out insanely positive because of it all. Hopefully she could be a light in everyone else's life.

[Yuvonne McKiddie]

Bonnie listened to every word that the girl said, but her mind was still lingering around the fact that San Cassandra was from Australia. That was one of the countries that Bonnie had wanted to visit for years after seeing an older movie about a talking kangaroo named Jack. The movie was quite rubbish, to be truthful, but the scenery was very beautiful and it seemed to have lots of cool things to do. What interested her most was the Sydney Opera House. The young girl was sure what she would do in order to go.

Not wanting to be rude, Bonnie opened her mouth to contribute to the conversation but stopped herself short. Cassandra was being a bit open with her, but she wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond. To free up the silence, Bonnie asked "Do you make it home to Australia often during holidays or do you stay about on this end?"

That was a genuine question that the young girl was indeed curious about. There were a few students here and there that were not from Eastern Europe but rather the United States and elsewhere. Surely it would cost parents loads of money to send their children to a foreign country.

[Cassandra Murray]

Cassandra smiled at Bonnie. She loved to talk about Australia. "I don't go back home often, no. I was born in Melbourne, Australia. When I was nine my mother moved me here to London. I have no idea why. I've missed Australia ever since. She died a year ago, and it's been my mission to get back to Australia ever since. I miss it so much." Cassandra really wasn't sure if Bonnie understood or not. "Where are you from?" She hoped that wasn't a bold question.

One thing she hated most was making people uncomfortable. She really liked this girl and didn't want her to be uncomfortable in the slightest. It was easy to do with her though. Seems like Cassandra made several people uncomfortable. She liked to consider herself popular, but she knew it was for the wrong reason. "So Bonnie, what are classes like the Second Year? Any different ones than First Year?" She hoped so. She needed variety.

[Yuvonne McKiddie]

"I'm from London also!" Bonnie nearly shrieked. "I was born and raised about in Chelsea."

Bonnie enjoyed living with her parents in Chelsea, London, but there was a part of her that wished that the family stayed at the McKiddie family estate out in the country. Bonnie's father believed that she'd have a more enjoyable childhood spent in the city. His sister, Bonnie' aunt Jodie, had the same thought when it came to raising Elinee. She opted at not living at the family home also and chose to raise her daughter in a suburb just outside of Paris, France.

Bonnie thought about the past year. With the exception of not having to take flying lessons, it was as if her first year had been repeated. Even though she learned new material that was just a tad bit more challenging than the first year curriculum. "You're going to have to set yourself up for quite the boring year." Bonnie shrugged. "There's going to be new material, but it's going to seem like you learned it already in first year."