At the space between platforms 9 and 10 at the Kings Cross station, a young girl stood alone. She was only eleven, with lovely red hair in soft curls and stunning green eyes. She carried a large duffle bag and a massive suitcase, yet she seemed very small and alone among the crowds of people. "Excuse me?" she asked an old man wearing the garb of a station worker and pushing a broom, "Where is Platform 9 3/ 4?"

The grizzled old man just looked at her and sighed. "Missie, there ain't no Platform 9 3/ 4, there never was a Platform 9 3/ 4, and there never will be a Platform 9 3/ 4! How many foolish younguns have I had to tell that to today?" The shriveled little man turned around and kept pushing his broom, muttering all the while about the gullibility of children these days.

She sighed softly, nearly in tears. She had gotten a letter of admittance to go to a school of magic. Her parents had let her go, even though her sister was totally against it, and now she was here, at the train station where she was supposed to be, but the platform wasn't there!

Then, suddenly, she saw something that gave her hope! There was a boy, about her age, walking right towards the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10, but that was not why she had noticed him. A week ago, her mother and father had taken her to get her school clothes. Those clothes did not look anything like the uniforms at her old private school, but instead more resembled black bathrobes or graduation gowns. She had packed hers in her suitcase. Well, that was what the boy coming towards her was wearing!

"Excuse me?" she whispered tentatively, hoping not to get yelled at again, "Where is Platform 9 3/ 4?"

Fortunately, the boy didn't yell. He just smiled at her. He looked, well, nice, she thought. His black hair was messy, like he had never combed it in his life, and he wore glasses over his brown eyes. "You've never traveled on the Hogwarts Express before, have you?" She just shook her head. "Don't worry, it's my first time too," he said with another smile. "By the way, I'm James, James Potter. What's your name?"

"Lily Stevens. It's nice to meet you, James," Lily said shyly. Then she frowned a little. "How do we get on the train?"

"Oh, it is supposed to be easy," James said with a shrug. "All you have to do is walk through the wall."

Lily squeaked, "Through the WALL?!"

"Oh, it's simple. Watch!" James took a running leap, and flew right through the wall, disappearing. Then he walked back out again with a cocky grin. "Ta-dah! Why don't you try it?"

Suddenly very nervous, Lily grabbed her bags and charged the wall, her eyes squeezed shut. She felt herself hit a wall, not hard, and nearly started crying. Fortunately, she opened her eyes almost immediately, and then Lily realized she had crossed through the wall after all. She was on a new platform, with a train, painted fire-engine red, there. Golden letters on the wall behind her said "9 3/ 4". At last!

The boy, James, ran through again. "Can we share a train-car for the ride?" he asked. The brash boy suddenly seemed a little shy.

"Of course," Lily replied with a smile. The two grabbed their bags and boarded the Hogwarts Express.