Back again (open)

Karma felt... different.

She had come back this summer surviving going head to head with a muggle assassin, leveling a building, and coming to the shocking realization that she was not as good as she thought she was. It was alot to think about.

She pulled her trunk behind her, her ever present shadow, Nightmare, padding along at her heels. At least she was going back to Hogwarts. Maybe she'd see Cobalt. She missed her mentor, after finally feeling something that was alot like loneliness for the first time in her life. At least now she'd be around other witches and wizards.

Karma found an empty compartment, her eyes searching the platform outside for signs of friends before she put her trunk overhead. She sat down on the seat near the window, leaning her head against it and pulling her legs onto the seat next to her. Nightmare leaped onto her lap and meowed, curling up in a ball and falling into sleep immediately. Karma began to pet her, her mind far back in a half-destroyed house where she'd realized her greatest nightmare. It felt good to finally get back to Hogwarts.

Damian made his way onto the train. This was stupid. His stuff was already back at the castle - why'd he have to take the stupid train ride? This was stupid and pointless and he didn't understand why he had to.

The boy made his way into the first empty-looking compartment and flopped down onto the seat, letting his head fall back against the cushion... only to see that the compartment wasn't empty, at all.

Only a month before, Damian would have found himself both thrilled and flustered to be in a compartment with Karma Black. He had developed a huge crush on the girl. She was pretty and had a nice smile, and anyone who liked candy so much was well cool, in Damian's opinion. A month before, Damian probably would have blushed and greeted her with far too much exuberance.

Today, he just gazed at her impassively. His first crush, but he was still too numb to really feel anything.

Karma didn't notice the boy until Nightmare nudged her and meowed. Her eyes went to him, finally allowing her to see him. He looked so much... older. Karma didn't like the thought that the war was aging him, but then realized it was aging her too. It was aging both of them.

As Nightmare hopped off her to settle into the seat next to Damian, Karma pulled out a chocolate frog and held it out to him. "You don't like you're in the mood for chocolate." She explained quietly. "Which means, it's the perfect time for some. It'll make you feel... a bit better. I promise." Nightmare meowed, and moved closer to him, Karma's eyes sweeping him sadly.

Damian accepted the chocolate frog, murmuring a quiet, "Thank you." He leaned back in his seat, staring down at the package for a moment before his blue gaze turned to the cat. He reached out and petted it gently.

"What's her name?" he asked. "I used to want a cat. My parents wouldn't let me, though. Said they shed too much. Theo-" The boy broke off, scrunching his eyes shut as he drew in a sharp breath, his heart clenching in his chest.

"I've got an owl," he finished hoarsely. Who he hadn't so much as looked at for the past month. Damian turned his attention to the chocolate frog, picking at the package in a half-hearted attempt to open it. It would have been more polite of him to ask how her summer had been, but the boy knew the question would be turned back on himself, and he didn't want to answer it; not ever.

Karma smiled sadly, leaning back inher seat and curling back up into her previous position. "Her name is Nightmare." she said softly. When he choked on his sisters name, she wanted to hug him. She never had had that feeling before, so she pushed it away. "What's your owls name?" she asked, pulling out her own Chocolate frog. She slowly pulled off the wrapper, catching the frog when it went for an escape. She bit the head off it, feeling the warmth flood through her.

"Nightmare," Damian echoed, scritching the cat's chin. "It's a good name for her."

His inattentive picking at the wrapper finally caused it to give way and Damian tore it the rest of the way open. He idly watched it make a grand leap before reaching out to grab it before it could make another. The boy waited until it stopped wriggling before nibbling at it - it did taste rather nice. When was the last time he'd eaten chocolate? Damian was a bit surprised when he couldn't remember.

"His name is Maximus," Damian responded, a touch of feeling entering his tone despite himself. "I call him Max. He's a tawny - best looking bird in the owlery." The ghost of a smile pulled at his lips. He really was fond of his owl, even if looking at the bird made him remember his sister.

"Do you have an owl? Or just Nightmare?" The boy knew that some of the wizarding families had owls and several of them could frequently be found resting in the owlery between journeys.

Karma caught herself smiling as the fist sign of life from Damian flickered over his features. "I only have Nightmare." She frowned. "Anyone who wants to write to me just sends me their owl." She looked up at Damian, then away, back to the window. "There's really no need for an owl at all. There's no one to write to." She took another bite of the chocolate frog to shut herself up.

Damian's brows drew together slightly and he took a larger bite of the chocolate, chewing thoughtfully.

"I'd have written you," he offered quietly. "I mean, if I had known where to address the owl." He glanced up at her, his former curiosity sparking to life as he wondered why she had no one to write to.

The boy took the card from the package and looked at it. "Harry Potter," Damian said, sounding a bit grim. "I've got three of him, already. I can never get Severus Snape, though. Or Hesper Starkey. All the potioneers seem hard to come by, don't they?"

Karma looked up at him, something swirling in her gut as she stared at the boy who'd been nothing to her before now. He was offering her something no one else ever had; a companion, someone to write to on those days where lonliness was the only thing she recognized.

She shrugged it off, realizing she had been staring at him maybe a bit too long. "I live at Number 3 Grimmald Place, if you ever feel like writing." she said, pulling out her own card. "Alaster Moody." she said, reading it. "I've got tons of him, too. He and Potter are like, the two most popular cards. I have got a few Snapes though, if you want one."

Damian nodded. "I'll remember," he promised. He finished eating the chocolate, licking off a bit that had melted onto his fingers.

"Really?" the boy exclaimed, a grin spreading across his features for the first time in a month. "That'd be brilliant - thank you! If I've got any that you're missing, I'll trade you." The smile lingered on his face for a moment as he recommenced his petting of Nightmare, swinging his feet back and forth a bit.

Karma grinned. an actual grin. Wow, had she really forgotten how to smile? Her eyes swept him, and she decided she liked him better when he smiled.

"It's no problem, Damian." She frowned as she said his name. "Damian. huh. You need a nickname.... and not one that everyone else uses either. One for just me. I don't like sharing." Any ulterior meaning to her words went right over her head, as these things usually did. "How about Ian, or..." her eyebrows furrowed as she searched in her brain for something else that wasn't common. "That's all I've got..." she admitted, defeated.

Damian frowned in thought. "I like it," he said. "No one calls me Ian. I've been called Dame and D, mostly. Seth calls me Barty." At this, he grimaced and added, "Only he gets to call me that, though. I don't really like my middle name. Bartholomew. Ulgh.

"Should I just call you, Karma, or..?" Damian wasn't sure if special nicknames were meant to go both ways or not. They did with Seth and himself, but Seth was practically his brother.

Karma smiled. "Ian then." She said. She watched as Nightmare curled up on Ian's lap and began to purr. "She really likes you." She said, amazed.

She looked out the window. "My friends call me Candy, because... well.. you know." She said, remembering the day they met. "But I challenge you to find something else to call me."

"Okay," Damian grinned.

"Does she not like people, usually?" the boy asked.

He nodded. "That makes sense. Hmm..." Damian squinted a bit as he thought. "Um... I'm gonna have to think about it," he finally admitted.

Iris headed up on the express quite hurriedly. Excitement overwhelming her at the thought of coming back. To her home. To their home. She carried her luggage aboard the train while carrying the lively Vee. They were both aware why they're there. She searched for a compartment and some familiar faces until she saw two of them. It was Karma and the Hufflepuff boy she met at the start of the school year. She tapped the glass door before opening it slightly,

"Hey Karma! I mean Candy. And Damian. What's up? Can I join you two?" asked Iris and waited for their invitation. Vee purred softly on her arms and she patted her furry head.

Karma smiled fondly at the cat. "She doesn't like much of anyone." She said, her mind going back to all the times Nightmare had ignored and or attacked someone for looking at her the wrong way.

She sighed. "Yeah, its hard to come up with a nickname for me, I know."

Her eyes rose to Iris. "Hey I." She said in greeting. Realizing she was going to act more Slytherin like with a Slytherin there, she invited her inside on the heels of a lie. Merlin knew what Cobalt would do if someone let it slip that she wanted to be alone with a boy, nevermind if it was Professor Chaos's boy. "I don't really mind, what about you, Ian?"

"I'll think of one," Damian grinned.

"Hullo," he greeted. The boy shook his head. "I don't mind." He continued petting Nightmare, the back of his mind still turning over possible nicknames.

Evangeline walked into the cabin seeing two people from her house and a Hufflepuff. "Is it alright if I sit in here?" she asked hopefully, and then as one of them turned she saw it was Candy, who was of the few people she talked to in the previous year. "Hey, it has been a while!"

"Evie?" Karma asked weakly. Well, there goes peace and quiet. She shook off her discomfort and moved her legs to the floor. "Hey guys. How was your summer?" She asked with a dazzling smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Faking, she was good at, moving on, not so much.

Damian smiled politely as another girl joined them. He didn't know her name. Again, he shook his head to indicate that he didn't mind if she joined them. He opened his mouth, but any greeting he might have uttered got caught in his throat.

How was your summer?

The question hadn't even been directed at him; not yet, in any case. Damian didn't even remember who had spoken it. All he knew was that his heart clenched in incredible agony and it was suddenly difficult to breathe.

How was you summer?

It had been the worst summer of his life, was how it was.

A strangled sound escaped his lips as he started breathing again. Quickly swiping the back of his hand across each eye, Damian then gently lifted Nightmare onto the seat beside him so he could stand.

"I'm gonna go find the trolley," he murmured hoarsely, forcing a smile that wasn't the least bit believable. Ducking his head, he hurried from the compartment.

Karma's hand went to her mouth. Shit. It had been a horrible summer for the both of them. "Ian..." but he was gone. She looked at the two girls and offered a weak "I'll go for the trolley too. Stay here, we'll be right back." before walking to the door to look back and forth down the hallway. He was walking away from her fast. She slid the door closed behind her and walked toward him. "Ian!" She called.

Damian slowed to a stop when he heard Karma call him. He didn't turn around, however, trying to calm the breaths that were coming out half-sob. He was tired of crying. It seemed like that one of the only things he did, anymore. Grinding the heels of both hands into his eyes, he bit down on his lap.

Stupid summer. Stupid muggles. Stupid train. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

"Ian..." Karma walked up to him, pausing at his back. "Ian I'm so sorry..." She walked around him, taking his hands and pulling them away from his face. She met his eyes and offered him a sad smile. "I promise she's in a... better place." She choked up, knowing that no matter what these words wouldn't matter. They hadn't when her mother was taken from her, and they wouldn't now.

Karma was not used to... caring... for others, but this summer had more than opened her eyes. It had made her realize that nothing- absolutely nothing- was safe, and absolutely nothing was forever. She had to be uncaring. It was apart of the deal. But a few moments of caring weren't going to hurt anyone. At least, anyone that wasn't herself.

Karma wrapped her arms around Damian, pulling him into a hug.

It was the first hug she had ever given anyone.

Iris smiled and went in. She waved at Evie and settled her luggage on the rack. She sat and gave an apologetic glance at the crying Damian and the touching scene with Karma. She decided not to disturb them and instead, opened the latest Prophet she had and let her eyes swiftly read the articles. Every now and then, she sighed about what she's reading and continued on patting Vee. There was nothing more than the war and stuff. Obviously.

She became that silent again. A side she has ought to avoid. She didn't want to talk and change the topic. Let alone that Damian is suffering much pain already. She peeked at the top of the paper and the control of not asking came into her, "Hey. Is there any way I can help besides being quiet? I kinda feel guilty of just sitting here. I'll try my best to understand though." said Iris invitingly.

(( OOC: Not exactly sure who you think your talking to, iris, seeing as me and Damian are in the hallway and you couldn't have seen any of what just happened... ))