<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/3XPXIM1.jpg)</div><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/A5xScp0.png)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><br/><strong>NAME:</strong> Addison Snow (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=299655.msg14660328#msg14660328)<br/><strong>HOUSE | YEAR:</strong> Hufflepuff, Seventh<br/><strong>BLOOD STATUS:</strong> Pureblood<br/><strong>WAND:</strong> 11 ¼ inches / Dogwood / White River Monster Spine / Surprisingly Swishy and Flexible (https://i.imgur.com/ZLtC9NW.jpg)<br/><strong>WEARING:</strong> Just like her photo.<br/><strong>DATE | TIME:</strong> September 1st, late morning<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong> On the train to Hogwarts<br/><strong>CONTENT:</strong> Addison is reunited with ferret and friend.<br/><strong>MOOD MUSIC:</strong> The Few Things (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt5FDgIIAs8)<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong> Cai Hildebrondus</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>The rhythmic thrum of the train tracks always bewitched Addison, encasing her with a warm comfort she had spent the entire summer without. Here, in her private train car near the caboose, she sat with her shoulders pressed against the bulkhead and watched the view blur by in a stream of green landscape streaked with grey rain. It was a familiar scene that never bored her.<br/><br/>They were hours yet from the school, and while Addison had experienced this trip eleven times prior -from her junior years at Hogwarts through her days in university- it remained to be one of her favorite sights. Something about the empty landscape that was a heavy reminder of distance. It never failed to make her eyelids heavy and coaxed her shoulders to a more relaxed position. She was getting further and further away from home, closer to a place that had always captivated her heart and made her feel like her own person. The train did wonders for the body and the spirit. It didn’t take long until she was aware of her slow, relaxed breathing. Addison yawned into the back of her hand and curled her arms around her middle.<br/><br/>There were other sounds as well; laughing students in the hall, the trolly lady offering sweets in exchange for coin, and every so often a shriek followed by laughter as someone showed off the latest wonder they had learned to their friends or frightened some of the younger students. Somewhere on the train were her friends, people who would be all too happy and eager to see her and catch up on the time they had missed. But this year she was feeling a little more weighed down than usual, hoping to burn every experience into her brain so it wouldn’t be forgotten. This would be her last year. The last train ride. There was a difficult decision to be made and she was worried about the choices she would have to make.<br/><br/>Exhaling through her nose, the woman pushed her fingers through her short white hair and tried some of the exercises Professor Worthy had drilled into them in order to clear the mind. Divination wasn’t a class Addison thoroughly enjoyed, but it did wonders for keeping her level headed and her thoughts clear when it mattered the most. Such as now, when she didn’t want to<em>think</em>and only wanted to be in the moment. She didn’t have the ‘eye’, but there had been worth to those classes even if others couldn’t see it.<br/><br/>Another slow exhale, but this one ended in a sigh as she closed her eyes and rocked her head back. Cai was out there, somewhere, with a handful of a ferret in his hands, or perhaps tucked inside of the jacket of his coat. Her Ravenclaw friend had been with her when they discovered the greedy little fiend raised by Cornish Pixies on an internship. Over the past couple of years, they exchanged the ferret as if in dual custody of the creaton and she never failed to miss the tube-rat. He frustrated her. He often got Addison into a heap of trouble, and it was because of this trouble she had been forced to practically throw him at Cai to save his life.<br/><br/>It wasn’t just the wine cellar. Or the missing jewelry, or even the fire that started in the study. Addison had fixed all of Fez’s mistakes and, perhaps, these experiences made her magic better through repetition and creativity. “Too distracted,” they had said, “not focused on what was important.” The final straw happened a few weeks ago when she had been undergoing dueling practice with her father. His outrage had been terrifying, swift, a blur of motion and adrenaline that she wasn’t ready to process. Moving on impulse, Addison had grabbed Fez, apperated to Cai’s house and splinched herself in her rush to save him. It hadn’t been as terrible as it could have been, but her last impression to Cai had consisted of no dialog, a shaken ferret, and part of her leg in a gory mess before she<em>popped</em>back out of his room. She couldn’t imagine what he must have been thinking, but she hadn't bothered with sending an owl, either.<br/><br/>When she apparated back, Addison had closed herself off from everyone and fell into a passive role of defeat. She had lost the energy to fight, she had needed time to heal.<br/><br/>Maybe that was the underlying reason why she selected this private train car. She didn’t have the energy to keep that smile on her face, either, or to laugh with people she loved. But the lull of the train was soothing, the rain-streaked window helped her focus on the things that mattered. This was her last year at Hogwarts. There was still time to be who she wanted to be. All that Addison needed to remember was to keep her head clear and keep pushing forward. Whatever that direction might be.