occupied — angel

[Katherine Dankworth]

She was definitely not feeling like sharing a compartment. But the more she walked, the hopeless she became. All of them looked full, or at least occupied by people she couldn't stand. So, when she reached Angel's, she just decided to settle. At least it was one person, and hopefully, she wouldn't bother too much. Or maybe she would change compartments when she saw Katherine, that would certainly be funny. The main thing was, she didn't really know the girl. Angel being a transfer, and Katherine making zero effort to befriend anyone who didn't serve her purpose, they never really shared. So her hopes where put in the girl being, at least, bareable for the trip.

"Hello." without asking if it was occupied, Katherine put her trunk, and opened her book, showing no interest in engaging in conversation.

[Angel Malvaux]

Where did he go?

Angel sat alone in the compartment, one leg propped up on the cushion and the other firmly planted on the floor. Her gaze flicked toward the compartment door every few seconds, her foot bouncing impatiently. Elian had told her he was off to grab snacks, but that had been 15 minutes ago and there was still no sign of him. With a loud groan, she slumped back against the window.

He probably got distracted by a bug.

Still, the wait was wearing on her. Her skin prickled with restlessness, muscles twitching like they were begging her to move. Sitting still wasn’t exactly her forte. She needed movement, something to do. Someone to talk to. And okay, maybe there was one other person she had been hoping to see.  Just the thought of dark brown eyes made her stomach flip. She hadn’t seen Rocío since the end of camp, and fine, she maybe missed her.

The compartment door suddenly slid open, and immediately Angel’s attention — and hopes — leaped up to meet the figure coming through the doorway. But it was not Elian or Rocío who came inside. No, instead Katherine Dankworth stepped in—or, more accurately, skulked in.

Angel had heard plenty about Katherine during camp, especially involving the night Rocío had apparently lunged to rip the girls face off. Despite that, Angel’s lips reflexively unfurled into a bright smile as Katherine sat down. “Hi! I’m Angel.”

Wait— what was that? Angel’s smile faltered, and she blinked. “What is on your head?” She blurted out. It looked… gooey.

[Ephraim Prothero]

Ephraim's hands grabbed at both sides of the doorframe as he positively fell through the entrance.

He was in the middle of a sneezing fit, and it seemed they just kept coming, one after the other.

He had no trunk, he had no wand, and how the hell Katherine had managed to get her hands on her stuff while also dragging him with her he didn't even know. To be fair, he didn't much care either, where he lay on the floor gasping for air while one sneeze followed the other.

In-between some of them, he kicked at the door to make sure that it shut. After the performance that he'd just pulled in the other compartment, he'd rather they didn't see him this dishevelled. His hair now looked more than a bird's nest and his goodlooking, and highly expensive, suit was gathering dirt from the floor.

Finally, at some point it seemed to stop. But when he finally managed to gather the wits about him to look around the room, it appeared Kate had found the time to sit down and read.

And there was another girl there.

And he sneezed again.

[Katherine Dankworth]

Katherine offered Angel a fixed smile as she passed the pages of the charms book desperately, trying to look for something that would help her terrible hair situation. But deep down she knew the answers were not there, as she had taken the burden of reading all the books that her teachers had asked for the incoming term, and nothing about beauty enchantments was even mentioned.

“I’m Katherine. And what I have in my hair is the result of stupid people being allowed in Hogwarts.” She blurted to Angel, as she looked for a towel or anything remotely useful in her trunk. When she kept talking, it was mostly for herself. “If only they were more selective, like my father has been suggesting for years…”

It wasn’t difficult to infer what she was referring to when she said selective. William Dankworth III had always advocated for Hogwarts to only accept pureblood children, a cause started by his great-great grandfather, with no luck to date. And as Katherine was taught that blood purity tied directly with smarts, she was sure that if they listened to her father, none of these circuses would happen.

Once she had started cleaning her hair, she felt like she could worry about the person she brought with her. Turning to face Altar, she offered him a handkerchief, as he wouldn’t stop sneezing, in a way worse position than she was.

“Hey, use this.” A mild sneeze interrupted her. She got out rather quickly, but not just enough to completely avoid the dust. Then, charming as she could be when she wanted to —which, being fair, wasn’t very often—, she used her fingers to untangle Ephraim’s hair, offering him a little smile.

As for Angel, she was giving the poor girl the cold shoulder. Not that she did anything to offend her, but she was in such a bad mood that didn’t even feel like pretending to be nice or polite to someone whom she didn’t know. At least, for now.