Megan Hooper's Story

Fifth year. The year when O.W.L.S took place. The year that could make or break her future career depending on her scores. Of course, Megan wasn't extremely worried on that aspect. She was reasonably confident that she'd pass the classes she needed for next year, but it never hurt to take precautions. Megan wasn't going to be one of those promising students that went down in flames just because they thought they would breeze through these exams.

"Are you sure that you remembered to pack everything?" Megan looked over at her mom in the driver's seat and smiled. Her mother always insisted on driving her to Rhiamon Way just in case Megan actually ever did forget something. This was probably the third or fourth time she'd asked that, each time sounding more worried than the last. She didn't quite understand her mother's concern. It wasn't like this was her first year attending Gaol. It wasn't even the first time she would be buying her last-minute supplies by herself. Megan had started wandering Rhiamon Way on her own two years ago.

"Yes, I'm sure Mom. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." The car stopped near the entrance and Megan jumped out. She opened the back seat and pulled out her trunks and pet carrier. Her mom stepped out of the car and silently hugged Megan. Before Megan could respond, she was already back in the car driving away. Goodbyes had always been hard for her. Megan waved until the vehicle was out of sight, and then she turned towards Rhiamon Way with a smile on her face. She'd already gotten everything she needed over the summer, so there wasn't any need to go shopping. A good thing, too, because the bookstore looked completely packed.

Once at the ship, Megan found an empty compartment and placed her stuff above the left side window seat. She always chose to sit near a window whenever possible. Watching the water gave her something to do while they were traveling to Gaol. Megan turned towards the door in time to see a small gray blur rush past with something in its mouth. "What the heck was that?!" She rushed to the door and stared after the thing, finally realizing it was just a small cat. Not really anything to get overly excited about, especially since it was now a ways away. Megan grinned and was about to go back to her newly-claimed seat when someone suddenly slammed into the back of her.

"Oof!" Luckily, the wall had kept her from falling to the ground, with the expense of receiving a large bump on her forehead. Megan turned around quickly and saw Thomas Erener on the ground, looking stunned. He was mumbling something, probably an apology, but Megan couldn't quite tell. What if he had a concussion? "I'm so sorry, Thomas! I should have been paying more attention." She held out her hand to help him up. "Are you all right?"

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Megan sighed in relief when Thomas was able to easily bring himself upright. She watched him carefully as he seemed to get his bearings. He looked fine, and he wasn't keeling over or anything, so no lasting damage must have been done. "I'm sorry... I wasn't paying attention." Megan waved away his apology. Apparently there was a distinct lack of awareness today already. Hopefully this problem wasn't an omen for how the rest of her year was going to go.

Thomas still hadn't answered her question, but Megan figured it would be strange to ask again. She looked him over one more time, just to make sure, and was about to say goodbye when he finally responded. "Oh yeah, sorry. Yes, I'm okay." Megan smiled. "That's good to hear. But maybe I should stop popping out of my compartment and you should stop chasing after cats. At least until we get to Gaol." She realized that her statement, meant jokingly, could be taken offensively and Megan bit her lip. "Sorry." It was quiet for a minute or two when Thomas suddenly asked if she was okay.

At that moment, the cat that had caused the two to crash ran past them in the opposite direction. Megan didn't even have time to try and grab it before it was almost out of sight. "Sorry... The er-- That cat has my wand." She grinned as Thomas began to pursue the wand-nabber. Megan waved and called out, "Good luck!" before gently feeling her forehead. Yep, there was already some swelling going on. If she didn't find ice fast, her head was going to grow two sizes! But Megan had no idea where to get it from.

Megan walked a little bit down the hallway to the next compartment and looked inside. It was Carella, a girl in Cerva as well. "Maybe she will know." Megan knocked on the door before opening it slightly. "I'm sorry to bother you, but do you know where I could get some ice? I ran into the wall."

For a few moments, it seemed that Carella wasn't going to respond. But then she pulled out her headphones and looked up. Oh, her music must have been too loud to properly hear her. Megan was about to repeat the question when Carella repeated the last part. "Ice? I think there will be some in the kitchen." Megan would have facepalmed herself if that wouldn't have caused her forehead to swell even further. How had she not thought of that? "What caused the swelling?"

She was about to answer when Carella took her by the hand and brought her to the kitchen. Surprisingly, they didn't pass anyone on the way. This seemed a little odd. Wasn't it almost time for the boat to leave? Maybe her sense of timing had been thrown off. Once at the kitchen, Megan looked around for a worker. There had to be somebody around that knew where to find stuff. Carella seemed to know what she was doing, however, and quickly found a bag of ice. "Thanks. Now my head won't explode." Megan grinned. Carella seemed to be waiting expectantly for something, but before Megan could ask what, they were off again. They quickly made it back to Carella's compartment and re-entered. The door was wide open, which might have accounted to the girl's swiftness in moving to the kitchen and back. Nobody likes getting stuff stolen.

While Carella cleared a space on the bed, Megan glanced around the room. It was definitely neater than hers would ever be. "How did you get your place to look so clean? All I've done in mine is put my stuff in it, but it already looks messier than this?" Megan sat down on the edge of Carella's bed. A sudden trickle of ice-cold water in her hand reminded her that she had an ice pack for a reason. Megan carefully held the ice against her head. "Thanks again." Now that they were settled, she had enough time to properly answer Carella's question from earlier. She giggled quietly. "I had just put all my stuff into my compartment when a gray cat ran past the door. I stepped out to see what was going on, and a boy in my year slammed into me. He fell down, but luckily the wall kept me up." Megan gestured towards her head. "With a little bit of a price, mind you."