How much space do you need?! ((Zoey))

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

Melody’s luggage tumbled haphazardly off the top of the Thestral-drawn carriage she’d been travelling in, as, after a long time of pulling at her trunk carefully – but to no avail – she grew tired of this measured approach and instead gave it a great big, reckless tug. Her trunk came down in an absolutely uncontrolled manner, narrowly missing her toes, and bringing with it Boris in his carry cage, who yowled as his cage fell and bounced a quarter of a metre away. A moment later, her broom rolled off and smacked her squarely in the chest. What fun, though she – a little winded – was this business of unloading luggage when you weren’t tall enough to reach it properly.

Once she had finished creating her disaster scene, Melody collected her scattered chattels off the ground and joined the crowd of students jostling around the steps up to the station platform. ‘Hogsmeade Station’, read a semicircular green sign with gold lettering over the wrought iron archway to the platform. Melody studied it appreciatively as she waited in line. The carry cage in her left hand rocked violently: Boris was grumpy after being dropped, but Melody didn’t dare let him out of his confinement in case he slinked off to punish her for her negligence and got left behind.

“Thoo’ll ‘ave to wait!” she told him, putting a finger through the grille to scratch the ginger tomcat behind the ear. He scratched her instead, and she sighed and withdrew her bleeding finger. Boris tested out his claws on the plastic of the carry cage, a very unpleasant sound; Melody began to feel inclined to leave him behind after all! Fortunately, he was rescued from life as a stray by the fact that she was finally able to board the train.

The scarlet steam engine shone in the July sunshine, and even the carriages, some a bit old and dilapidated, looked cheerful in the bright light. Melody pursed her lips as she realised that the carriages were going to get very hot over the course of the journey. The roofs of the carriages, painted pale grey, were metal, and sitting underneath them was just like being in a tin box: hot when it was sunny, noisy when it was raining. Morning sunlight slanted into her carriage: it was already beginning to bake. She decided to find a seat further down the train, in a carriage that had at least been shaded during its wait for the students, although she knew that it was only delaying the inevitable. She and her luggage trundled through several carriages until, near the back of the train, she found a compartment which was occupied by someone she knew: Zoey Shay.

Zoey and her luggage. The luggage was occupying far more space than was reasonable, but Melody supposed that was because her fellow third year hadn’t got it organised yet. She grinned happily to herself; she hadn’t many friends and Zoey was one friendly dorm mate whom she was keen to get to know better. Melody pushed open the sliding door to the compartment, stuck her foot in it and hailed the other Gryffindor.

“’Allo there! Room fer one more?” With her foot (the one not holding the compartment door), she nudged some of Zoey’s baggage further into the compartment to make enough room for her to step inside. She hauled her luggage with her, just to add to the chaos. “Or will thoo be needin’ all t’room fer thysel’?” she asked teasingly, grinning broadly at her little joke. “T’luggage seems to be travellin’ firs’ class at t’moment - it’s more leg room than thoo’ve got!” She bent down to let Boris out of his carry cage; hissing, he disappeared into a corner in a flash of ginger fur. She indicated again at Zoey’s luggage. “’d thoo like a hand wit’ some o’ this?”

[zoeyshay]

Zoey smiled at the thought of returning home. Almost every kid st Hogwarts had to have been doing the same after staying for yet, another year at the huge castle. She turned her body with ease in the thestral drawn carriage to look back to the castle. Only half of it was showing, the other half hidden behind trees, but the Gryffindor tower peeped up above it. She smiled slightly, half glad to be getting rid of the sight for a couple months, but half sad. It had been her home for the past year, and those two years before that, but she had also grown sick of the same scarlet and gold theme. She gathered her aimless thoughts and returned to looking forward.

The sun hit her and her carriage with no mercy as they came to the platform that the train was. Her eyes followed the billowing steam into the sky before she gave a slight cough form the faint smell of the steam. She drug her trunk and her two smaller suitcases out of the carriage peacefully and actually somewhat graceful before Gary, her owl, because screeching and flapping his wings violently in its cage. She jumped and snapped her head up toward the sound and accidentally tripped over her foot. She stumbled and regained her balance before heading toward him. He must have felt forgotten, Zoey figured. After all, he was the most jealous and attention wanting owl she had ever seen

"Oh, c'mon, I'm righ' here. I'm not leavin' anyone behind." she said, gently raising his cage up so that she looked him in the eyes. Gary's wings folded back and Zoey stuck a thin finger in between the bars of the cage easily to stroke his head. She stroked it a couple times before putting him down. "Now wait here like a good boy while I carry my stuff into the train." she instructed to him, straightening herself out. She turned, sending the black curls that hung loosely in her messy side swept ponytail into her eyes momentarily. She stumbled once again and tumbled into her luggage.

She quickly got up and brushed her clothes off before putting both her hands around the handle of he trunk. Her trunk was by far the heaviest of her luggage, probably weighing about as much as her, but then, she was very light weight. She lifted it to quickly drop it again at the sound of Gary's screeching. "Gary! Would you rather me carry all this before you into the train or I carry all of this, including you at once and drop you under the train and..." she slid her finger across her throat and made a slicing sound. Gary quickly shut up and Zoey gave a smile of triumph. She was glad to have a bird that seemed to understand English, or hand moments rather well, because her ears were ringing and anymore screeching probably would have drove her mad.

She got all her luggage into a cool compartment further into the train before running off the get Gary. He had to have been throwing a fit by now because Zoey had tried to organize her things before leaving, but she had no time. She just about tripped down the stairs of the train but she had made a leap and landed the landing amazingly. Luck... She let a small, silent laugh out and reached in the carriage to grab Gary. "Good boy!" she smiled, petting him. She was shocked that he had actually stayed quiet. She walked into the train and into her compartment, breathing heavily.

She slid in the door and put Gary onto the seat across from her before falling back into the seat behind her. She began fanning herself with her hand lazily as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes but then the sound of her door opening interrupted her. She opened her eyes, slightly greener than normal form the heat exhaustion and looked at the girl who was standing in the doorway. She instantly recognized her: Melody Bang-Bala. She was in the same year, same house, and same Quidditch team she was in, but some how, they had never really talked and became friends.

She listened to her before straightening to answer her offer to help. "A little would be nice, than' you." she smiled, getting up and beginning to move her things. She watched the flash of orange through the corner of her eye as Melody's cat ran to the corner. Gary's wings fluttered in nervousness as he watched it too. She returned her focus to the bags, knowing that if she let herself become distracted that she'd make a disaster scene. She struggled a bit with the focus and the moving. Focus was her main weakness. Her ADHD wasn't of any help, but luckily moving things weren't a big problem. She was plenty strong for her figure, but it was the art of getting her things to the shelves up above her. Her height didn't help her much here, and she looked down to Melody for a little help with that part.

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

Melody pulled a bit of a face at Zoey's answer, which was a little unhelpful as she was leaving it up to Melody to decide how to organise the whole thing. Melody would have preferred to be given instructions to follow.
"Aw, 'd thoo 'ave to go an' say yes?" she asked complainingly. "Ah was thinkin' thoo'd politely decline me offer an' Ah'd sit righ' o'er there an' put me feet up to enjoy the spectacle o' everythin' falling on top o' thoo... Ah've already 'ad all me own stuff squash me jus' getting it off t'carriage thoo know... look 'ere, Ah'm already getting a bruise on me arm. We've mebbe t'same problem, we're neither o' us very tall. But..." she concluded, giving a long-suffering sigh as she jumped up onto the seat with as much energy as she normally used to jump onto her broom, "... 'ere goes then. Pass some stuff up."

Standing on the seat was a good approach to getting the luggage onto the racks (or rather netting, in the case of this compartment) above their heads, and Melody made the best use she could of her strength as she took luggage from Zoey and hauled it up onto the racks. However, as the train fired up its engines and suddenly lurched forwards (had someone forgotten to put the brakes on, by any chance?), it became less of a wise place to be and Melody wobbled precariously, grabbing onto the rail at the edge of the luggage rack to stay standing. They continued loading luggage at a furious pace, but the Express started off on its long journey south with Melody still standing on the seat, and, again unable to cope with the sudden jolt, she found herself nursing a rather sore bumped head.

"Ow!" she complained repeatedly as she slumped into the seat she had been standing on so fatefully just a moment before. "Ah think Ah'll not bother puttin' me own trunk up there. It'll be grand as a foot rest fer an injured soul..." She plonked each leg onto her trunk heavily, each one thumping down with the height of drama. "What do thoo know, this is quite relaxing!" she admitted a moment later, coming to life again as the initial pain from her bumped head was forgotten.

"Ah'm lookin' forward to t'sweets trolley!" she told Zoey enthusiastically, rubbing her hands in anticipation. "Ah've not 'ad a Chocolate Frog in a while, an' they've added some new cards to the collection. 'arry Potter an' Professor Longbottom, an' t'Weasleys an' Professor Granger too! An' Professor McGonagall o' course, now she's actually Headmistress." Melody nodded eagerly. "What sweets do thoo like best?"

[zoeyshay]

Zoey smiled at Melody’s comments before she climbed up onto the seat. “Be careful!” she warned, handing the first bag of luggage up to her. On her tip-toes arms stretched upward and wobbling bit from the weight above her head, she strained, trying to get the bag as high as she could so Melody wouldn’t have to bend over and possibly fall. She continued iat the set pace, until the first jolt sent her backwards. Not yet off her feet, she quickly got back to her spot and lifted the last of her luggage up. She looked cautiously at Melody, worried she’d fall. She was already wobbling and gripping the railing for stability. She slowly lifted Melody’s trunk. But the engine roared and the jolt sent Melody off her feet and into the seat. Zoey herself wobbled a bit, almost falling into the wall behind her, but she luckily kept her footing. “You okay?” she asked right before Melody quit the job of stacking the last of the luggage. Zoey shrugged.

She smirked, watching Melody use her trunk as a foot rest. Zoey took a seat in front of her. Melody started the topic on candies and the trolley and she smiled more. It had been a while since she had last eaten some Bertie Botts, or a licorice wand or even a simple chocolate frog. School and the OWLS had gotten in the way of enjoyment the last two months or so, along with the House Cup and Quidditch. “Woah, they have all of them? I need them! I can’t wait to see the Weasleys, do you think they will have all of them?” Zoey asked, excited.

Her favorite candy? Zoey never really had any favorites in particular. But she was very fond of Pepper Imps…Along with almost every other candy. “I like all candy-“she laughed a bit. “But I really like Pepper Imps and Sugar Quills.” She nodded. “How about you?” she asked, looking toward the compartment door, hoping the trolley would come through soon so her sudden sweet tooth would be relieved. She turned her head toward the window but she heard the compartment door open and in came the trolley full of candy and that old lady. She was very old, and it always made Zoey wonder exactly how old she really was. “Hello dearies, want to but something from the trolley?” she asked, and Zoey smiled, standing up. She walked to the trolley, looking around. “I’ll take two licorice wands and five Pepper Imps. Do you want anything?” she offered, looking back to Melody and taking some sickles out of her pocket.