You're Still Standing By This Sinner's Side.

The Jameson family stood on the station, the two children Tobias and Evanna saying goodbye to their parents before they headed off to school for the year. Evanna, the eldest was going into her sixth year, Toby was going into his fifth. "Be good," their father told the both of them, and Evanna nodded. Tobias who talking to their mother didn't hear.

"We will," she told him with a small smile, and he nodded back at her. This year was going to be different, with Dumbledore gone, and Snape as the new headmaster. Evanna was looking forward to it, she had not been particularly fond of Dumbledore, and had always enjoyed her potions classes. If you were good at the class, and didn't aggravate him, Snape was a fairly good teacher. There would also be a lack of muggle born children at the school, and that was always a good thing. Everything was a little different, now that Voldemort had taken over the ministry, and through that the British part of the wizarding world.

The train signalled that the children needed to board, a collection of students hurried onto the train, busy talking and saying goodbye to their parents, and family members who had either finished school, or were not yet old enough to start. Evanna bade her father goodbye, and kissed her mother on the cheek. "Come on Toby," she said glancing towards her brother as she grabbed onto her trunk, and picked up her owl in her other hand, heading over towards the train.

Frowning, Toby grabbed his stuff, too, and followed his sister onto the train. Unlike her, he wasn't exactly looking forward to how this year would be, and it was probably bound to be a disaster. Not to mention, he wouldn't have his best friend that year, since he was a Muggleborn and wouldn't be allowed back in. That put a definite damper on things.

Not that he would tell anyone that. They wouldn't understand.

He wasn't fond of the way things were turning out, and he just wanted everything to go back to how it'd been before. This new way of life was complete and utter crap. Hell, the only reason he wasn't more worried about the entire mess was because of his family. They were the one thing keeping him somewhat safe... for now.

Sighing quietly to himself, Toby walked down the corridor of the train behind Evanna, looking for someone to sit with that he knew so he could escape for a while.

Evanna headed up the train, glancing into the compartments as she walked past, looking for her friends. She wanted to dump her stuff in the compartment before she headed up to the front of the train, where the prefects met up at the beginning of the trip. She wasn't really planning to spend too long doing rounds, but she needed to turn up at the very least.

Finding her friends, she glanced behind her to still see Toby behind her, looking for somewhere to sit. "I'll see you later Toby," she told him with a smile, and pulled her trunk and Inglebert the owl into the compartment, with a grin at her friends.

"Hey Vanna," they chorused, with either Evanna, Vanna, or Evan as the variable.

"Hey," she replied, sitting Bertie on a seat, and putting her trunk up above the seats with some difficultly. "I've got to go up the front, but I'll be back."

She heard one of them yell out 'boring' as she slipped out of the compartment, she laughed and closed the door behind her. Heading back up the train, keeping an eye out in case she passed Toby, he'd been quieter than usual lately.

Tired of lugging his stuff around, Toby had given up on finding his friends and just found a place to sit by himself. It would be a lonely trip unless they stumbled upon each other, but there was the add bonus that he could stretch out across the seat he was on. Maybe he'd get a nap in before they got to school. That would be nice, since he'd been up since all hours that morning, unable to sleep from the thoughts racing around his mind.

He settled Eames on the seat with him so that he could stroke the owl's feathers while he lay there, mind wandering again.

Normally, he wouldn't have given up so quickly on finding company, but this year just felt wrong and it hadn't even started. Or maybe it was the fact that there would be an obvious gap in the group and Tobias just didn't want to put up with that right now. It would be bad enough once they got to the dorms. He could spare a little loneliness to give himself more time to get used to the idea.

He was just about to close his eyes for his attempt at a nap when he saw his sister through the glass of the door.

Spotting Toby, she frowned, wondering why her brother was sitting on his own, rather than finding his friends and sitting with them. One of them was gone, a muggle born, but there was still the rest of his dorm mates. She hesitated outside the door, wondering whether to enter, or continue up to the prefect's carriage.

She opened the door. "Hey," she said quietly, carefully closing it behind her, and going to sit down on the seat across from him, she couldn't sit next to him, seeing as his owl was doing that. Her rounds could wait, it wouldn't matter too much if it took her a little longer to get there. And Toby was her brother, she wanted to make sure that he was okay. "You alright?" she asked him, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Why aren't you with your dorm mates?"

She'd been hoping that heading back to school, and seeing his friends again would pull him out of whatever mood he had been in since part way through the holidays. But there wasn't too much luck of that when he wasn't even searching them out, content to spend the train ride on his own.

Tobias looked up from Eames when his sister walked in the compartment, but he didn't reply more than a shrug. He wasn't feeling very talkative either. He hadn't even spoken to tell their parents goodbye at the station, just nodding and obligingly kissing his mother on the cheek in farewell.

There was a feeling growing deep in his gut that something awful was going to happen this year. Ha! The thought made him chuckle slightly. Like things weren't already awful... The world was falling apart and getting overrun with stupidity. Couldn't get more awful than that.

Evanna frowned lightly at her brother, and leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees and her head on her hand. "You okay?" she asked again, worriedly. Then realising that that was a silly question, because it was obvious that he wasn't. Something was on his mind. She changed the the question to. "What's wrong?" And hoped that he would answer it, answer her, with more of an answer then a shrug. Which really wasn't that helpful. She was worried about him. "Toby," she said with a sigh. "Talk to me yeah? Please." She wasn't quite sure what else to do, if he wouldn't speak to her.

"I'm fine, Evy," he said quietly, looking at her with a neutral expression. "Just tired. I couldn't sleep last night."

It wasn't the whole truth, but it also wasn't technically a lie. He hadn't slept well, but that wasn't the only problem. Tobias knew that much was probably obvious, but he was hoping that Evanna wasn't feeling particularly invasive today. At times she could be just like their parents, and there would be no hope of her understanding just what was bothering him.

He didn't want to go back to school, almost. That's how strongly he felt about the changes the wizarding world had taken. What was the point? They weren't going to be getting properly educated, not by a long shot. It would be all slander and Dark Arts. He wasn't stupid.

But, Toby knew that he had to go to school, if only to keep up appearances. Regardless of what was happening to the world, OWLs and NEWTs and all of that was still important. It would get him somewhere someday... he hoped.

A frown crossed his face as he thought about it. What if things progressed so badly that those wouldn't help him? What would he do then? There were still a few years to go, but it was on his mind now. It had to be with everything that was happening.

There was one for sure thing that Toby could think of, and that was that he would never change for anyone or anything. He was who he was and the rest of the world could suck it i they disapproved.

She eyed him for a few moments, tossing up his words, and then nodded at him. She wasn't too sure whether he was being completely truthful, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to get anything out of her brother right now. If she pestered him, he'd just get annoyed at her, and completely close up.

"Maybe try and get some sleep on the way," she suggested, the train trip was a long enough ride to get a decent amount of sleep in, or nap and catch up with friends if one felt like it. She'd napped once or twice on the way to Hogwarts, she'd always been woken up by her friends being loud, and supposed it would be easier for Toby if not surrounded by his friends.

"I should go do my rounds," she said. "Get some rest, then maybe go find your friends, I'm sure they'll want to see you," she gave him a small smile and got to her feet, adjusting her skirt as she did so. "I'll see you later Tobias."

Evanna was hoping that it wasn't something too big that was bothering him, something that would be resolved soon, though with a glance at him as she opened the compartment door, she wasn't too sure about that. She just hoped, because this year would be different enough, without the added anxieties of something else.

Once Evanna was gone again, Toby finally closed his eyes and tried to release the tension in his muscles so that he could hopefully drift off to sleep for a while. He had absolutely no intention of finding his friends, even if he couldn't sleep. They would understand, he was sure.

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time, he finally stopped thinking and drifted off for the rest of the train ride.

Not too long later Evanna made her way back to her compartment, she passed Toby's on the way and saw the napping boy, before she continued onwards. She wasn't about to wake him, when he was sleeping. She reached her compartment, to find her friends playing a game of exploding snap. Sitting down on the chair, she watched her friends play, and shook her head when they offered to deal her in. "Maybe next round," she said leaning back into the chair.

"I think, we'll be at Hogwarts soon," one of them said, sometime later through a yawn. Evanna glanced out the window, she was horrible at judging how close they were to Hogwarts, and had come to rely on one of the others pointing it out, before they started to get ready.

"This year's gonna be different huh?" Rosette asked, once they had all settled down again after getting ready.

"Least Dumbledore's gone at last," Liam murmured, there was a murmur of agreement with him.

"Him and all the mudbloods," Jon said, patting his robe pocket to make sure he had transferred his wand over to it.

"This years getting better already," Charlene said with a grin.

"To a good year," Esme held up an imaginary cup.

"To a good year," they chorused and pretended to clink their imaginary cups together, with grins at each other.

"And we're here," Rosette said as the train stopped, and they all stood up to gather their belongings.

The jolt of the train stopping is what woke Toby up. He glanced out the window at the darkness of the sky and wondered just how he'd managed to sleep the whole trip.

He stretched a bit, taking his time with straightening out his clothes and gathering up his things. The corridor was a mess of people anyway. Yawning slightly, Toby shrugged on his outer robe, having already made sure to be in his under uniform clothes before they boarded, just in case this were to happen.

Getting out of the train was difficult, because no one seemed inclined to let anyone else through or pass. Each as impatient as each other to get outside, and aboard the carriages that would take them up to the castle. Charlene who exited the compartment before Evanna had absolutely no control over her trunk, and it kept swerving up the hallway, causing her to stop every few feet to set it right again.

"Come on," Jon muttered impatiently from behind Evanna.

"Shush you," Charlene called back, cursing at her trunk and giving it a hard yank.

Once out of the train, Evanna spotted Tobias and pulled her trunk over to him, dodging around the other students. "Feeling better?" she asked him, placing Bertie's cage on top of her trunk.

Yawning and still trying to wake up all the way, Toby only managed a slight nod. "Somewhat," he muttered. "Not so sleepy anymore."

He ran a hand through his already sleep-tousled hair and rubbed his eyes to get the last of the sleepiness away. It wasn't often that he was woken up and made to function right away, but he could mostly manage it. He'd gotten himself and his stuff off the train, after all.

"That's good," she murmured as they headed off towards the carriages. Judging by the fact that he wasn't surrounded by his friends, she guessed that he hadn't gone to search for them during the train ride. She decided not to pester him though. He'd have his reasons. "I'm starving," she said, wondering how long it had been since she'd eaten lunch on the train. Some way back. Dinner should be good, it always was, especially on the first night.

Evanna's commented made Toby quite aware that he hadn't eaten on the train at all due to being asleep. His stomach gave a little growl that was covered up by all the noise on the platform, but reminded him even more nonetheless. "Yeah, me too," he said. "Haven't eaten sine breakfast, since I slept the whole way."

She glanced sideways at him. "Have fun getting to sleep tonight," she said as they dragged their trunks towards the carriages, and got in one. "Though," she said stifling a yawn. "Once I get some food, I'm looking forward to sleeping. Long day," it always was. No one else entered their carriage, and it set off towards the castle. Her friends were probably wondering where she had disappeared off to, unless they had seen her head over towards Toby. Didn't matter, she'd see them in a few minutes again anyway.

"There are potions for sleeping," Tobias said simply, as though it were an obvious solution to his problem. He stifled a yawn. "Besides, I'm still kind of tired, and food will only make it worse." The chronicle tiredness made him wonder just how much sleep he'd gotten in the last week. It wasn't normally this bad... But he'd managed to sleep on the train, so maybe, just maybe, being back at school would help him get back into the habit of sleeping through the night. Or at least through some of the night, he wasn't going to be picky.

"That's true," she admitted, glancing out towards the castle. It was good to be back at the school, for the most part she enjoyed her time at Hogwarts. Even if classes got busy and stressful, at least this year she didn't have any major exams. She didn't envy Toby for that. "Hopefully your sleep gets all sorted out then," she said turning back towards her brother, she'd noticed that he'd seemed tired the past week or so, didn't seem to be sleeping well. "You're going to need your sleep this year."

Tobias shrugged. "I can survive without if I need to," he said. "I've done it before. Three hours a night is definitely doable if it comes down to it." He didn't often like to brag about himself, but as a Slytherin it was sometimes expected, although when he did so it usually just made him sound like a very conceited Ravenclaw.

Evanna frowned lightly. "Doable but not very good," she said. "You're in for a busy year, you need your sleep." Though needing it, getting it was difficult with all the work that the higher years got given. She was not looking forward to the next year, both for that it would be her last year, and the amount of work and study she was going to have to do to prepare for her exams. "Maybe go talk to the matron, she might be able to give you something to help fix it." She was very glad there was magic to fix illnesses, and sores. Otherwise they'd all be in for a lot worse time.

"Only if it becomes detrimental to my health. I can survive on little sleep and do just fine in my studies. I don't need some stupid, magical remedy every time something goes wrong," Toby said somewhat testily. "Fixing things magical all the time makes us weaker as a group, lowers our immune systems, because they don't fight to keep us okay. And then some giant epidemic will show up and wipe out all magical beings except for the ones too smart to fall into such an obvious disadvantage."

Evanna blinked at him. "Right," she said slowly, wondering what had caused that spiel. "Why not use magic for what we can though? We've got it, we may as well. We've always been able to fight epidemics with magic. That isn't going to stop," she leaned back in the seat she was sitting in, and observed her brother. "What's the point of having magic, if you aren't going to use it? Why suffer through an injury or illness, when you don't need to?"

"Fine. When a future outbreak mutates to be resistant to magic, don't come crying to me because I was right," Toby said rather pointedly. He rolled his eyes and looked out of the window of the carriage as the castle grew closer and closer. If he was going to have to put up with stuff like this all year, he was going to be in a permanent bad mood. It was already ridiculous and he had a rather long-fused temper.

Evanna raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Wondering what had put him in such a bad mood. She followed his line of sight towards the castle, and wondered just how different this year was going to be. At least Gryffindor wasn't likely to win the house cup, not with Dumbledore gone where he couldn't give Harry potter a hundred house points, because he bloody felt like it. The cart came to a stop, and Evanna got to her feet, wobbling back as the carriage moved forward another inch.