Sitting Alone (Open)

J. J. pouted playfully, "Well the translations in my head were much more fun."

The smell of handsanitizer filled the compartment and J. J. tried not to wrinkle her nose. Strong smells like that always went to her head too fast. That and too much suger were her weakness - give her either of those and she'd be out of it before long.

Leaning her head against the cool train window, she took a deep breath, and noticed for the first time Iva's hair.

"Oh my," she gushed, "I've been sitting her for far too long Iva and didn't notice anything different about you're hair. I really do think I went a tad bit bonkers over the summer."

She laughed at herself - as she was getting better at doing - and gave the girl a smile.

"I like it - it's very pretty."

"Oh," Iva blushed, embarrassed at her small vocabulary " I knew that. Of course,"

Iva laughed, waving her hand, glad to change the subject again, "You probably thought we were talking dirty or something!"

When J.J. mentioned her hair, Iva felt a lush creep across her face. "You l-like it? Really? My parents hate it." She looked at her auburn locks again meekly, "I think I will keep it dark,"

J. J. blushed and laughed, since in a sense that was one of the options her mind jumped to, "Well, I will never tell; that will be my secret - I shall take it to my grave. You can spend the rest of your lives wondering what I may have thought you said!"

"I may be exessively nice but I'm not a liar," she gave the girl a stern grin, "I think you should keep it that way - I really like it, and don't care what your parents say about it."

She paused thoughtfully, remembering a time last year, "I almost turned my hair orange once, on a whim."

Iva winked at J.J. before gazing out the window with a dazed look. Soon, they would be in Hogwarts and Iva would have to go to classes again. She frowned at the mere thought. Iva was certainly not a 'school' type, but she had no choice in the matter.

What a bummer.

"Thank you, J.J.," She smiled, "I think you would look good with the orange hair,"

Suddenly, Iva's stomach let out a rumble. She sighed and stood. "I am going to buy some food. Would you two like any?"

Karma opened the door of the compartment, noticing who was in it as she was walking by on the way back from the bathroom. Her skirts swirled around her thighs as she opened the door with way too much force than necessary. "Iva! Firstie!" She stopped and frowned. "You aren't a firstie anymore." she pouted.

Her eyes scanned the room before noticing a new firstie. Her face fell into a supierior mask. "Who's your friend? I don't know if I like you two hanging out with the likes of him, he could be..." she lowered her voice to a stage whisper. "Good."

She giggled before pushing Iva gently back into her seat. "Don't worry about the snacks, I've always got enough fo everyone."

She slipped into the seat next to the boy, placing her feet on his lap. "You can be my new firstie. Ian's too old now, and so's Double J." She gestured to JJ in explanation of the new nickname. "How do you do, Firstie?"

When the door opened, Iva was surprised to see her favorite Fourth year, Karma Black. "Karma, It is nice to see you again,"

Karma's theatrics were amusing, especially when she was talking about Dimitri. Iva was about to walk by her, but then she was pushed down. Smirking, Iva let out a chuckle and shook her head. She'd let Karma run the show; Iva was never the main attraction in a room and she was used to it. She thought. Adjusting her top, Iva forced a laugh again.

"I thought he was too good for you, Karma. I do not want you having a good kid as a "Firstie"!" She faked a sneer, "A goodie two- shoes, yes?"

J. J. laughed at Iva, "Really? Well perhaps then, next time that whim comes along, I won't be so quick to ignore it."

The girl looked up in a slight shock, and then smiled as she saw who had come in made the compartment her own, "Hello Karma."

"Double J Huh?" J. J. pertended to mull the new nickname over, even though she knew - from past experience - no matter what she said whatever name Karma gave her would stick, "I guess that will do - though I will miss Firstie."

She turned to give Dimitri a mock-stern look, "You better hold up that title Mister. I put a lot of effort in making sure there was a proper image to that title, I don't want you to ruin it."

Karma smiled a slow smile at her new firstie. She leaned foreward and stuck her nose in the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply. When she pulled away, she was smirking. She recognized the sickeningly sweet scent of her kind instantly. "Well, well, well." She purred. "It would seem my new Firstie is hiding something." She smiled. "Good to know there are more of us around."

She left it at that, her hands digging into her pockets for what she needed, before throwing a chocolate frog at each of them. "Here. pity candy. Its what I do." She pulled out bertie botts and placed four boxes on the floor of their compartment.

"I have to leave soon, my own compartment'll be looking for me." Her thoughts strayed to Ian, Eva, and Iris.

Seeing what Karma did the Dimitri, she jumped up, " What are you doing, Karma?! That is creepy!"

Then the chocolate frog hit her face. She was thankful- until the other candies were put on the floor.

Disgusting

"Do not pity me," Iva huffed, picking up the candy from the floor and rubbing it off on her cloak and dress. Opening the jelly beans, she threw her head back and tossed a whole handful in. Grimcing at the taste, Iva struggled to swallow.

"Earwax... bacon... mold... cupcakes... frosting... and... Lima beans?" She gasped, "It is gross,"

"Oh will you relax, Iva? I only sniffed him." She smirked. "And what on earth are you going on about? They're in boxes, and the floor is perfectly clean. I even used a clean up spell when you weren't looking." She smiled a mean sort of smile. "I could have just, you know, dumped them all on the floor and made to eat them..." her innocence came back with a force. "But I would never do that to you, 'specially if the rumors are true..."

Karma raised an eyebrow at him. "Firstie, you're eleven. Though there are certain things I could use you for, I doubt they would be all that exciting." Karma's eyes went distant. "You know, you were more interesting before you started talking. I have to go." She swung her legs off of the seat and stood. "Alrighty then, Iva, Firstie, Double J, see you guys at Hogwarts!" And with that, and a quickly thrown brand new box of Bertie Botts at Iva, she left to go back to her compartment.

Iva huffed, her shouldered bunched up in a sort of blind fury. "Thank you, Karma, for not dumping the on the floor," Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

She sneered at Dimitri's wink, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "Do not look at me like, you filthy troll," She spat, "I do not do after people under my social status,"

Then Karma went to leave. "It is just a rumor, you know" She whispered to Karma as she left, catching the box with one hand, "And thank you,"

Iva turned to Dimitri again, then sighed irritated. The first year had a sad face on and she guessed she was a little harsh.

Only a little.

"Do not make that face!" She sighed, "It makes you seem like a muggle- pitiful. Toughen up!"

Then Iva remembered something important. "What are you twos opinions on the war?" She shrugged, "Just wondering,"

J. J. watched the other three go about with mild amusement. Karma's comment - and sniffing - seemed odd and curiosity made it stick in her brain.

She felt a tad bit sorry for Iva with the frog thing but made a large effort to not let any of it show on her face, or make any comment. She knew the Slytherin girl to be proud and any sign of her normal sympathies would only come off as an insult to her.

And she really didn't want to insult one of the few friends she had actually made in the past year.

She offered Dimitri only one small smirk for his comment; he amused her, and she felt that the other girls reactions were a tad bit harsh, but again she reserved most of her sympathy - beyond a slight glance - Dimitri seemed more like the Slytherins than herself, and she certianly didn't want to interfer with any Slytherin pride at the moment.

J. J. felt her face go slightly slack with shock over the muggle comment, and the following question, but made a quick effort to cover any of that up.

She turned back towards the window, breathing on it slightly to great some fog and then started doodling with her finger.

The war; her denial was wearing off, it was true. She accepted that it was coming, but she was still struggling to find her place in it. She often felt such pressures from her school to remain loyal to magic, and most of her family did seem to push her towards it, but everytime she thought about it an image of Zach would pop into her head and she just couldn't convince herself that all muggles were evil.

She would have to decide sometime but for now...

She gave a noncommital shrug and continued with her doodle, "I'm on whatever side won't get me killed."

Iva shrugged as well, unaffected by the awkward air around her friend, who has fallen quiet after her comments. Iva wished she could be nicer and quieter like J.J., but that would be hard for her; living in a traditional Russian home had left her cold and standoff-ish in some ways.

"I have not picked sides either," She looked out into the hallway, " Two of my brother protest for keeping the peace though."

Shaking her head, she let out a chuckle. " They are so funny. I miss them greatly, but I am not sure if they are right. Maybe I will never know,"

J. J. bit her lip as she listened to the other two say they weren't on eitherside yet either. She would admit to herself she was slightly surprised - and releaved; she knew it was stereotypical but she had expected their house to make them more prone to a 'kill the Muggles' bend. Of course, she didn't say anything about it, and if it had shown on her face it would have been hard to notice because her hair had fallen over her face veiling it over the rest of the compartment.

She moved it slighlty to smile at Iva, "I miss my brother too."

Mentioning her brother made her again think about her semi-secret Muggle sympathies. Maybe this wasn't the place but... J. J. wasn't sure if she'd ever be around anyone at school that would be more sympathetic to her musing of Muggles. She already knew saying anything to Dame would be stupid, and she was pretty sure Karma was in that feild too... and that covered most of her aquientances at Hogwarts.

She nervously flashed the compartment a glance, before going back to the window, shaking her head so her hair fell down on her face again.

"I'm not saying what Muggles are doing is right," she started slowly, hesitantly, "because it's not - it is awful, but.. well, it isn't all of them, and its... it can be really scary when you think the world is one way, and suddenly their is this whole other world, a powerful world, that you not only didn't know exits, but know nothing about...

"It can be terrifying... trust me I know..."

She paused another moment to put a small line in her window doodle, before a thought that she had been mulling over for a while slipped out of her mouth.

"Maybe they just don't understand."

Iva closed her eyes, smiling dreamily. "My brothers used take me into the muggle part of Saint Petersburg and we buy Fried pelmeni and we would go pet the lion statues. Then they would play rugby and tackle and punch me," Iva shrugged, as if this was normal. "What is your brother like?"

Something was odd about J.J. She seemed sad filled with disconnectedness, but Iva couldn't help but continue.

"The muggles" She growled, "Kill wizards too. They kill each other over oil and let each other die of AIDS and diseases. In Soviet Russia, Ukrainians were starved to death- eating each other and grass near the end."

Iva paused, partially for affect, partially because her voice had become loud. She never knew how strongly she felt about this. The English words escaped her for a second, but then she continued," And how is it that we are... more threatening than them when we have never done things like that? Wizards are more affected. We used to hide from them. Now we are out. And maybe it is better like this,"

"All of this is simply....genotsid- Genocide." She sighed, "Maybe no one will survive,"

J. J. listened to Iva silently. The girl definitely had strong opinions, and she couldn't deny her that. Not to mention the points that the girl made did hold true.

Muggles had been fighting with each other for year, but... couldn't wizards, if they had the people do the same? She didn't know enough about wizard history to try and articulate such a point anyways.

God she hated fighting - war was just an imbelished form of such thing. She curled into the window, pulling her knees up onto the seat.

"War's just..." she trailed off, knowing whatever she said was just going to sound stupid anyways.

Wanting to get off the topic that caused her such discomfort, J. J. picked up on the first thing that Iva had said.

"Your brothers sound really nice," Well, J. J. wasn't sure she'd be up for the rugby thing, but she knew other cultures were different, "What's Zach like?"

She paused a moment a fond smile taking over her features as she thought about her brother.

"He's a complete goof - and understanding... and kind," she gave a small smile and a shrug, "I didn't make friends very well as a kid... he was always there for me; he was - is - my best friend."

"-Disgusting," Iva finished J.J. statement. Seeing the girl's slight discomfort, she continued with the brother thing.

"My brothers are horrible- Yours sounds nice and normal," She said, playing with her robe, "What year is he? I would like to meet him,"

J. J. flashed Iva a rueful glance, "If you care about your brothers - which I know you do, I heard it in your voice, than they aren't horrible."

"Zach is more 'normal' than you think," she flashed her another small grin then went back to her window, "He's fifteen so I guess he'd be in fifth year... if he had magic..."

She certainly wasn't ashamed of her brother or her background, but considering where they had just come from converstaion wise, she wasn't really that thrilled to be putting it out into the comparment right now.

Iva sighed, her forehead crumpled with frustration. "My brothers are not nice. I love them, but they are not nice people most of the time,"


Iva blinked in surprise, sneered, and then smiled. "Your brother is a...squib then?" She asked, not drawing the conclusion.

J. J. chuckled.

"Fine, let me rephrase my statement then," she gave the girl a pleasent smile as she did so, "It is nice that you care for your brothers, but should I meet any of them I will never in any ways possible assume that they would be nice to me or anyone else."

Tilted her head to the side J. J. looked at Iva for a long moment before answering. She really thought that her being Muggleborn came off as something quite obvious, but now...

Either it wasn't as obvious as she thought, or Iva's brain was just wasn't wired to think about Muggles at all.

The latter one worried her, but J. J. had already claimed earlier that she wasn't a liar and she certainly wasn't going to lie now.

She shook her head softly, "Nope, not a squib, just a Muggle."

She gave a little shrug and turned back to her window - it was really becoming her favourite point of focus durning this ride.

"I'm the unusual one in my family." Abby's favourite new nickname for her - freak - ran through her head, but she didn't say it out loud. She was done with Abby for the year, and she wasn't going to waste anymore thoughts on her sister.