Getting There

Keiba moved swiftly down the carriage of the empty train, black kitten trailing at her feet. She passed cabin after cabin of empty seats, strangely enough not stopping for any of them. Keiba had just returned from speaking to the driver, and was heading back to her already claimed compartment - which happened to be down the other end of the Hogwarts Express.
She reached the cabin, slid open the door and flunked onto the seat. She readied herself for two hours of boredom before the train left the station. Keiba pulled a book out of her napsack and started to read, black-and-tortie kitten purring on her stomach.

When Humphrey reached the end of the train he found a compartment that had a girl that appeared to be his age in it. He knocked only the compartment door. "Hello, I'm Humphrey, may I come in?" h

"Who are you?" he asked her while situating his things.

Keiba looked up from her book and smiled. "Hello, Humphrey! I'm Keiba. Have a seat," she invited, sitting up and gesturing at the empty seats around her. She looked him over as he put his things in the bag racks. He had dark hair, was really quite tall, and seemed to be very fit.
Keiba smiled again as he sat down. There was a small, disgruntled 'meep' from beside her as Milly, her black and ginger cat stared at her in distaste with big amber-green eyes.
"Sor-ry," Keiba said reproachfully, as the little kitten humphed and stared purposefully away from her.

"No worries Keiba. Do you know what house you want to be in at Hogwarts?" he asked her. Personally, he wanted to be in Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw was his second choice was Ravenclaw.

Keiba thought for a second, mulling over her options. "Hmmm... Ravenclaw, if not that, then Gryffindor," she replied.
"So. Have you any brothers or sisters here?"

"No, not a soul." Humphrey replied to Keiba's question. "My only living relatives are my Uncle Billy and Aunt Julia, and they have no children. If I have any relatives at Hogwarts, it is somebody I am unaware that I am related to them. It is highly unlikely though, since I'm a muggleborn." he explained.

"Same," Keiba said warmly. "My parents were visiting Irish relatives when we got my letter. They said I could stay here for convenience, while they went back to Australia with my sisters. Sometimes I visit. What about you? Where are you from?"

"I'm from the United States of America, and live in the state of Ohio and am from the Dayton area. I moved to Edinburgh, Scotland though after my parents were killed in a car accident when I was eight years old. I live with my Uncle Billy and Aunt Julia since they are my only living relatives. They are my legal guardians." he explained to Keida.

"The only person I have ever talked to about my parent's deaths was my best friend arnold, but somehow even though I just met you I feel like I can trust you. I miss them, a lot. The feeling of emptiness and loss I have felt since they died has never gone away. It is always sitting there, in the back of my mind and weighing heavily on my heart. Their deaths caused me to develop serious trust issues, and a lot of emotional pain and scarring. I don't think the pain or sense of loss will ever fade. At least, it hasn't yet. It still feels as if they are right there, just out of reach, watching me. But I can't see them for many, many years to come. I refuse to kill myself to join them; so, I will simply have to wait for the natural destroyer of life, time, to end my life." he said with a frown on his face, and his emotions went from being very happy to intensely depressed as he thought about his dead parents.

But, ever so slowly, as he talked, a weight seemed to slowly and gradually lift off his heart. The sense of loss in his heart and in the back of his mind vanished. Replaced by a different feeling, joy. Why he was happy, he would not have been able to tell you. He did not figure out until much later that the cause of that joy had been confiding in his new friend Keiba Namid. "Thank you for not interrupting me, I needed to get that weight off my chest." he said, looking at her gratefully. His eyes lit up as she stared back at him with compassion in her eyes.

Keiba was pretty shocked at his story. She didn't know how she did it, but she had a knack for getting random people's life stories, and they often ended up being interesting or tragic. His was no different - interesting AND tragic. She smiled compassionately at him. "That's really horrid. If I were to interrupt you that would have been incredibly rude of me," she explained. "But everyone needs a listening ear once in a while!"
Suddenly the train's whistle blew and then they jolted into motion, the steam train puffed as it gained speed. Keiba watched the scenery fly past, flashes of green and blue, houses tiny in the distance, cows and horses spotting the countryside when they moved out from the city.

"Still, thank you. I don't care if you had heard a hundred tragic life stories exactly the same as mine. It was still extremely kind and courteous of you to let me pour out my soul to you, an almost total stranger. Most people would have interrupted after the words dead parents. In fact, almost everybody does. But not you Keiba Namid, I wonder why that is.,," he said and shrugged after the words left his mouth. "No idea on my end of things, you have any ideas?" he asked her.

"Nope, not really. But I guess it's cause I'm not in a thinky mood right now," she joked. "I'll probably get something later in the week though."

((OOC: Sorry I couldn't think of anything else -.-))

"Fair enough. Send me an owl or tell me in person when the reason for this odd experience strikes you, okay?" he asked.

"I'll come find you. Who knows, we might be put into the same house!" Keiba agreed. She grinned. Keiba liked this kid. He was really quite nice.

"An excellent point, Keiba. But you are too much of a Ravenclaw at heart I think. And I believe I fit the Gryffindor mould fairly well. But we will still see each other regularly, I'll make sure of that." Humphrey told her.

"I guess so. It depends what the sorting hat thinks - I read about it, it's how we get sorted. It seems pretty absurd, if you ask me, but I guess that's magic," she said, letting her bookwormishness get the better of her. "Anyway... oh damn. I was going to say something else... but I can't remember it. Stupid, stupid me." She slapped her forehead. She did that ALL the time.

When Humphrey heard Keiba call herself stupid he woke up from a daydream. "Don't say that! Ever! You are one of the most intelligent people I have ever met Keiba. If you start calling yourself stupid it is just a downright lie, and I don't want to hear the words come out of your mouth." he told her sternly, reprimanding her for her offhand comment about herself being stupid.

"Sorry," she said meekly, "But it alwaaaayyysss happens to me, and I hate it. I really am the worst person for remembering things!" A crooked grin crossed her face, and she started laughing.

"I highly doubt it Keiba. You don't perceive how you come across to people very accurately." he explained to her.

She slapped her hand against her forehead again. "I was kidding. What we Aussie's do best, you know?" She grinned slyly at him, suddenly feeling very awkward.

"Ha, Americans are the jokes of the world." he said, implying a double meaning he thought she would catch. "Sorry, I do miss a thing every now and again. Even I'm not perfect you know." he winked. "You don't have to try so hard to be funny though. Just let the occasional joke happen naturally." he told her.

"I wasn't eve trying... I am naturally funny," she retorted, not getting the double meaning he was implying so deciding to leave it. She was hilariously slow at times.

"I wouldn't say that. If you were naturally funny I probably would have laughed at your attempted joke. Most of the time you are pretty funny but definitely not a natural. I am not either. So don't feel bad about it. We are the talent of the school. We can leave the class clown job to somebody else." he stated.

"That's not fair. I AM funny. You just don't have my sense of humor," she replied, slightly offended. Keiba pulled her two braids over her shoulders and crossed her arms at Humphrey.

"I never said you weren't funny. I said you weren't naturally funny. There Is a difference. Natural funny people are absolute riots and can keep joke after joke coming without a moment's hesitation. You have to think a little bit more like me to come up with a good joke. And I do too have a sense of humor Keiba." he said and crossed his arms right back at her.

"Well," she sniffed, "You don't have to be so rude about it. And I AM naturally funny, as I said before, but I'm only super hypo around people I've known for a long time and feel very comfortable with."