Hi, I'm Morgan, and I'm one of your Authors for this fic.
This idea came from many a bored class! Needless to say, it's a little on the rough side for now… Hopefully that will improve over time =]
In Fair Warning, I think I should let you know that there are 5 authors scribbling away on various chapters in their free time, so the writing styles may vary…
"Wibbley Wobbley, Timey Wimey" Begins somewhere near the start of the fourth book… and we've tried to keep to canon as much as possible =]
All that said, I don't require your reviews (although some would be much appreciated), and I hope you'll enjoy it (or, y'know… just read it as something to kill time…). For the most part these characters are just doing their own thing in the back of my head whilst I write it down…
Okay! Well I'll stop rambling now… I hope you enjoy reading! =D
(PS: We don't own Harry Potter… All credit for canon characters goes to Literacy God JK Rowling. =D)
Morgan's POV:
Morgan McGlenn jumped out of the car, and waved madly across the car park to her friends, who were waiting outside the entrance to Kings Cross Station. Smiling to herself she hurried round to the boot and pulled it open and, making no attempt to move her suitcase, grabbed her new handbag, which she proceeded to swing over her shoulder. Her Dad joined her at the back of the car and hauled out her bag. Her mum had managed to get a trolley, which Mr. McGlenn then proceeded to heave the bag onto. It was SOOO heavy! She didn't know how she was going to get it anywhere once she arrived at school! "All set?" her mother asked, for what must have been the millionth time. "Yep," she replied. "Haven't forgotten anything?" "Nope." she said as she began to wheel her trolley towards the entrance. She could anticipate what the next question would be. 'Promise you'll write?' she thought to herself, just seconds before her mother voiced it. "Yep," she said once more. "Okay then." Her mother seemed to relax a bit now that she'd asked. They had reached the station, and before she could even say 'hey' she was smothered by hugs. 'It's good to see my friends again' she thought. 'Imagine all the fun we'll get up to this year!' Finally she was released, and the babble of four excited girls filled her ears. "Hold on," she said to them, turning away to see her parents. "Bye Mum! Bye Dad!" she grinned, hugging them, hard. "See you at Christmas!" They hugged her back, kissed her on either cheek, and chorused "Bye honey! Love you!" "Love you too!" She remarked, and turned to go, taking her trolley from her mother who gave her one last hug and said "Have a good time!" "I will!" she replied, "Bye!" Then she turned and wheeled her trolley to join the throng entering the station.
Morgan and her friends made their way, joking and laughing, through the crowd to platform ten, but there was no train waiting for them. Morgan looked up at the clock. Their train wasn't due for another twenty minutes! "WOW!" she exclaimed "We're early! It's only ten-to-eleven!" "OH-MY-GOD!" declared her friend Gwen loudly. "What?" asked Davina. Gwen looked around at them all, who were now looking expectantly at her. "Am I the only one who's realised this?" she asked incredulously. Taking in the blank looks on the others faces she muttered to herself "Apparently so..." "Care to expand on that?" Asked Morgan, bemused. "We're at Kings Cross Station." Said Gwen, as if they were missing something huge. "So?" Inquired Melanie. "We're at Kings Cross Station. At almost 11 o'clock. On September the first." Gwen reiterated. Morgan got it. "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She gasped, grinning. "HURRAH! AND WE HAVE A WINNER!" Cheered Gwen, clapping. "Oh Stop it!" Morgan grumbled, hitting her playfully. She looked around at the others. There was a combination of calculating and cunning looks on their faces. She knew what was coming next. "Don't you-" she groaned but was interrupted by a smirking Aislinn who announced the words she was expecting. "I dare you to run at the wall!" Morgan sighed. "Okay. Fine. Let's have another blood-nose before I even arrive at school!" she resigned. "That'll be a new record for me!" She knew that there was no way that she was actually going to get through the wall, and that the only results would be looking very stupid and lots of blood. 'Ah well' she thought to herself 'a dare is a dare, and there's no way out...' She shrugged, and handed her trolley to Davina saying "I don't really want to crash this..." she turned away, but then thought of something. "By the way," she said jokingly, "if, you-know, for some mysterious reason, I DO get through, send my trolley through will you? I'm going to Hogwarts!" she laughed. Then she did an about-face and strode towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10. She could feel her friends watching her. "oh what the hell..." she decided, and broke into a jog. 10 metres. The jog became a run. 5 metres. The wall looked very solid. 1 metre. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain that would come as she smacked into the brick wall at a run.
But it never came. Morgan opened her eyes, and gasped. She was standing on a bustling platform. There were people everywhere, small children holding their mother's hands, and teenagers yelling hello's across the platform to each other. The train was bright red, and had the words 'Hogwarts Express' written along the side. An owl hooted, and a boy of about her age walked past, and smiled tentatively at her. "You have got to be kidding me!" she muttered, more to herself than to anyone in particular. Amazed, Morgan looked up at the clock hanging from the wall. 5 minutes to 11. This brought her back to her senses. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and quickly sent a text to Gwen. 'Huh,' she thought, 'Phones still work here...' Moments later, Morgan sprung into action, leaping to grab her trolley as it came racing through the wall behind her. She lunged for the handle and caught it, narrowly missing a very small boy already dressed in his plain black robes and talking excitedly to his brother who was evidently older, but almost as small.
"Sorry." Morgan mumbled and pulled her trolley around to one side, before turning to face the wall, waiting to see if her friends would get through. As she watched, the front of a trolley appeared, followed by a trunk that was brightly painted in red and yellow - Gryffindor colours. Instinctively, she knew that whoever was hurtling through the wall behind it had no control - they were going way too fast! Morgan tried to step back, out of the way, but it was too late.
The trolley collected her in the stomach, temporarily knocking all air from her lungs. "OOOFF!" The sound escaped her, riding on the last of her breath as it exited her body. The force of the trolley knocked Morgan to the ground. "Merlin's Beard! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" A round face swam into view, looking down at her and wearing a worried expression. She nodded silently, because she couldn't speak, what with the small complication of having no oxygen. She vaguely registered that he was holding out a hand to help her up. She took it gratefully and let him pull her to her feet. He was stronger than he looked and lifted her easily. "Thanks" She said, smiling. "Sorry I knocked you over," he replied, "Guess I was going a bit fast," he said sheepishly. Morgan laughed. "Maybe just a bit!" She grinned, rubbing her right elbow, which she had fallen on. She would have more than a few bruises later, but that wasn't anything unusual - She was always hurting herself. She often ended up with bruises and couldn't explain where she'd got them - not that she was clumsy, she wasn't. She just seemed to bruise easily...
Morgan realised that he had been standing watching her as she had been following this train of thought. Awkwardly, she stuck out her hand towards him, "I'm Morgan, by the way. Morgan McGlenn." She introduced herself, hoping that he hadn't asked her a question. He took her hand and shook it, saying "Neville Longbottom, Nice to meet you!" Morgan stared for a moment, before remembering her manners - it was rude to stare. "And you!" She replied, trying to cover up her momentary lapse. "OOOOOOH! Morgan! Have you made a friend already?" came a familiar voice from behind her. She turned to see that both Gwen and Davina had made it through the wall too, whilst she'd been talking to Neville. She gestured for them to come over and hurriedly made the introductions. "Gwen, Davina, this is Neville Longbottom. Neville, meet Gwen Whitby and Davina Salvadar." She heard their joint intake of breath, but they recovered themselves quickly and stepped forward to shake his hand politely.
"What year are you in Neville?" asked Davina, trying to assess how old he was. "I'm just starting fourth year." Said Neville, "What about you three? I don't think I've seen you around before..." Davina looked around for help. "We're starting fourth year too," Morgan jumped in quickly, so that it didn't look strange. "We're new." Said Gwen. Neville smiled at them and replied "Well, it was nice meeting you! I've got to go find my Gran, see you at school!" before turning and wheeling his trolley away into the crowd of passengers and their families.
Morgan turned to Gwen and Davina. "OH. MY. ROWLING!" She exclaimed and they laughed. "That was NEVILLE-FREAKING-LONGBOTTOM!" "We know!" they chorused, mirroring her look of excitement and astonishment. Just then Aislinn and Melanie came running through the wall, their contrasting hair flying. Aislinn was tall and naturally tanned, with dark eyes and long dark hair, whilst Melanie was small and slight with shoulder-length wavy blonde hair. "What took you so long?" Demanded Gwen. "Oh, some kid's owl got out of it's cage" Melanie replied brightly, staring around her at the packed platform. "It was quite funny actually. So this is real then? We're actually standing on platform 9 ¾?"
Davina smirked at her, "If by 'We're actually standing on platform 9 ¾?' you mean that somehow, magically, we've entered the most awesome wizarding train station on the planet, and in doing so, fulfilled almost everybody in the world's childhood dream and we just met Neville-freaking-Longbottom, then yes, we're actually standing on platform 9 ¾." She said very fast. "Wait. Hold up. Did you just say you met Neville Longbottom?" Interjected Aislinn. "Yep," grinned Morgan "he ran me over!"
Aislinn and Melanie began to laugh, gasping between breaths "Mental... Picture..." and "So... you've finally... met someone... as accident-prone... as you!" Morgan waited for them to calm down, and then posed the question that had been weighing on her mind "So, what now?". Her friends turned to stare at her. "What do you mean 'What now'?" Questioned Gwen. Morgan shifted uncomfortably. "Well," She said "we got through the barrier," she checked the clock. "The Hogwarts Express leaves in two minutes, the question is whether or not we are on it..." They stared at her wordlessly, making her feel compelled to continue. "We got through the barrier, right, so that must mean something - muggles aren't supposed to be able to get through," she reasoned "we have all our stuff, and we were going to Scotland anyway, so I guess that points to yes. But, we have no school robes or books, no train tickets, and, most importantly, no wands. We are meant to be starting fourth year, and we probably know all the spells, but have no practice with them, so maybe it's a bad idea. We're sure to be noticed. What do you guys think?"
There was a beat of silence before anyone spoke up. They glanced at each other, considering their options. Then Aislinn grinned deviously. "I say we go to Hogwarts!" Gwen and Davina shared a look - words were not necessary. "Us too!" They announced. Melanie, on the other hand, closed her eyes, trying to think. "Guys... You know I'd love to go, but are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, we could get into a lot of trouble... and we don't have any stuff or anything..." Gwen, Aislinn and Davina turned to stare at Mel. "What?" She asked, registering their incredulous looks. "Melanie Eleanor Donovan. Do. Not. Tell Me. Honestly. That you are going to stand there and miss and opportunity like this!" Gwen said, disapprovingly. Mel shrugged, but it was Morgan who answered Gwen, "Oh, She couldn't. Come on. There is no way any of us could pass this up. She's just trying to rationalise so she doesn't feel like she let her inner crazy make the decision!" She smirked at Mel, who stuck her tongue out at her. The Train whistled, interrupting their conversation, and Morgan looked around at her four best friends. "So we going?" She asked, though the question was somewhat unnecessary.
One minute later, the train whistled again and there was a great flurry of movement, as the last stragglers bid their families goodbye and pushed their way to the doors. Morgan, Melanie, Gwen, Davina and Aislinn heaved their trunks inside, just as the whistle blew one last time and the doors slid shut behind them. "Phew!" exclaimed Aislinn, leaning against the wall, and looking around her. "Come on, guys!" Davina encouraged, excitedly, "Lets find some seats! We don't want to be standing here the whole way!" With that she grabbed the handle of her trunk with one hand and Gwen's arm with the other and took off down the corridor, practically dragging the petite blonde after her. Laughing at the smaller girl's enthusiasm Morgan collected her things and followed them down the train.
They wandered down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment. From the open window, they could hear parents and siblings calling their goodbyes to students all along the train. It would be christmas before they would see each other again. Then at last, the train's wheels began to turn and the people on the platform began to wave. Her friends were chattering eagerly, too thrilled with their luck to even consider containing their excitement. "Whatever happens when we get there, I wouldn't change this for the world!" Morgan smiled to herself as the shining red train gathered speed and pulled away from the station.