Velia Sampson took a deep breath and thrust herself forward. Her feet were running across the platform, her hands pushing the large trolley, and her heart was beating fast. The barrier in front of her rushed towards her and she winced as she closed her eyes.

The impact that would have come, didn't. A weird sensation came over her and immersed her in a tickling feeling, awkward but strangely pleasant. As quickly as it had hit her the feeling went and her body lurched forward. Even though she'd done this so many times before it was still a shock. Especially every time her eyes were met with the sight before her.

There was a massive maroon coloured steam engine sitting in the station that just appeared for her. It was chucking out billows of white steam which was creating a dream-like quality to all the hustle and bustle that happened around it. People were standing, walking and running around the platform, talking, laughing and crying as parents sobbed goodbye to their children. Velia had already said goodbye to her parents who had just dropped her off at Kings Cross from the car. She didn't want to be included in any touching little farewell scene. She hated goodbyes. And anyway her parents were just muggles, just ordinary people with no magic. But Velia was lucky, she had magic. She was a witch. And she attended Hogwarts school for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Velia moved from her stationary position, so other people could get through the barrier behind her leading to the platform, she was now standing on, called platform nine and three quarters. She's never really understood why it was three quarters and not a half, because the entrance is exactly in between platforms nine and ten back in Kings Cross. The barrier would surely just be separated in half and not into quarters, she always mused as she took her usual glance at the weathered sign hanging above her giving the platform its name.

The bird cage balanced on the top of Velia's trolley was starting to shake as the small screech owl inside it commenced to get excited at all the life going on around it. It's little beak was producing a screeching noise.

Velia started to meander between the crowds of witches, wizards and muggles, looking out for any of her fellow sixth years. They must all be on the train, she thought and then began looking in the windows as she past them.

She walked first past the front of the train which included the carriages where the Ravenclaw students usually sat. She then went by carriages where younger students were hysterically talking and generally being excited. The next compartments included a mix of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, but none of her friends. She continued past the next part of the train which held gloating, stuck up Slytherins boasting of their excellent holidays or what strange dark artifacts they had discovered. She was reaching the end of the train when she heard a shout from behind, that she couldn't decipher over all the other noise.

The person shouted again, "Velly!" she heard it this time and turned round to see a girl with flaming red hair hurrying towards her. It was Ana. She knew Velia hated being called Velly, but it was just her way of saying she's pleased to see her. She bounded up to Velia and gave her a hug so that she got a faceful of that bright ginger hair.

"Hi, how are you then?" her best friend squealed with delight.

"Ana hi, I'm okay. How was your holiday?" Velia smiled back knowing that she was bursting to tell her all about what had happened over the summer.

The friends began to walk to the nearest train door while Ana reeled off the events she attended and the things she did, hardly stopping for breath. They unloaded their trunks and dragged them through the door into a compartment which only had two other people sitting in it. They then went back for their cat and owl.

When Velia and Ana were seated and with all their luggage on the rack the train gave the tell-tale signs of it starting to move off.

"Where are Layla and the others?" Ana said looking down at the golden watch on her wrist. "It's just gone 11, I hope they're on the train." Velia hoped so too, it wouldn't be very good if her other friends missed the train and then couldn't come into school.

"It'll be fine, they could get to Hogwarts other ways if they've missed it." Velia tried to reassure her.

Ana stood up on her seat and started rummaging in her trunk. She pulled out a phone and sat down again.

"Why did you bring that?" Velia asked, knowing that all electronic devices went haywire and wouldn't work in the grounds of Hogwarts.

"For safety," she replied simply pressing a few buttons. "My brother would probably steal it if I left it at home, now he's big enough to walk around the house on two feet without falling over."

Ana continued to type on the device staring into the screen.

"What are you doing on it?" Velia questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Texting," was all she said as her eyes scanned the words on her mobile.

"Who?" Velia inquired.

"Sam."

"Sam?"

Well that was news, knowing that Ana was in contact with a boy, called Sam, who didn't go to their school.

"As in a boy? As in a muggle?"

"Yup, met him at a convention in Leeds."

"Okay" Velia answered leaning back in her seat. She thought about this new information, and realised that it would be happening to some people. They would start liking boys, and couples would be sprouting up everywhere. She just wasn't sure whether she expected her friends to change so quickly, without her even knowing.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Velia staring out of the windows at the city rushing past. The other two people sitting opposite them were eating sandwiches. The smell in the compartment was approaching a toxic level of egg mayonnaise.

"I'm just gonna go and look for Layla," Velia told Ana who just grunted in answer. She got up and drew back the compartment door, stepping out into the slightly cooler and more pleasant smelling corridor. Most doors to the other compartments were shut, only a couple were open where people were sticking their heads out to talk to others sticking their heads out. Velia stepped her way down the train and peered in at the compartment windows. She went from carriage to carriage, relishing the fact that she was going back to Hogwarts, and that she was surrounded by everyone magical again. Having muggle parents was sometimes frustrating.

Velia was soon passing the Slytherin compartments and was a bit more careful to remain unseen. Suddenly one of the doors ahead of her opened and out came Blade Acutus, the Slytherin renowned for everything bad. Behind him came Keiran Simons, Scorpius Malfoy, and Kerr Prone, three tag along Slytherins of not much importance in themselves. They had an air about them as if they were going to go and teach a youngster a lesson.

Velia quickly flattened herself against the train corridors wall as they barged towards her. Blade, being so big, knocked her as he stormed past, and the others made a point of doing so to. As Scorpius nudged her he grunted "sorry" so the others couldn't hear. Velia was so shocked she even thought 'I guess not all Slytherins are completely ill-mannered' but quickly took her thought back because her arm now ached from the four pushes she had just recieved.

She carried on down the train and glanced into a compartment and finally saw a black curtain of hair that was covering the face of the friend she was searching.

Velia slid open the door and looked in saying "Layla! We thought you'd missed the train."

Layla turned her head and smiled awkwardly at Velia. And she could tell why. The companions sharing her compartment were a little of an unusual mix. There was Lysander Scamander, a strange boy with dirty blond hair; Pete Rushbrook, a small boy with several spots; and Toby Spheres, who was sitting next to Layla, gazing at her in admiration.

"Err, Toby wanted me to sit next to him," she said. She was giving Velia a look as if to mean 'get me out of here!' and so she did.

"Layla can you come and talk to us about the homework Professor Binns gave us, you know the one about the rise and fall of the Scottish gobbstone club, and how they all got sent to Askaban." Velia lied, emphasising the more boring parts of that sentence.

"Yes ok. Toby I'll see you round school, I need to check that my essay's correct," Layla said, sarcasm and joy hardly being concealed from her voice.

They heaved Layla's trunk out of the compartment and Layla laughed. "Thanks Velia, that was hell, but he made me promise last year that I would."

"Oh dear. My two best friends are getting too much boy attention," Velia replied giggling as well.

"What?" Layla stopped. "Ana has boy attention?"

"Yeah, I know. Some muggle called Sam apparently." Velia sighed lifting the other end of Layla's suitcase and proceeding down the walkway.

When they reached Velia's original compartment they shoved Layla's luggage with the others and sat down. Ana had put her phone back because of lack of signal apparently, and Layla got out a magazine.

Velia sighed in content and looked at her best friends, rejoicing the fact that she was with them again, and that she was heading back to Hogwarts.