Disclaimer: I own nothing of this story, except the plot and Ivy. All rights belong to J.K Rowling.


Ivy stepped on to the platform for the sixth time in her life. The uneven floor and brick walls looked the same as they always had, and the signs that signalled which area she was in hadn't changed. The nine and ten were still bolted to the wall, and the small column in between the two numbers looked as familiar as ever. To her, it never had felt right. She had always felt just that little bit odd when she lined up between the platforms; almost as though she shouldn't be there. She knew it must have looked peculiar just staring up at the partition in front of her, but she had done it so many times she didn't even think that the Muggles looked at her anymore.

She slowly made her way forward, her large luggage causing her to inch forward cautiously, not wanting her suitcase to veer off away from her wanted destination (she had seen that happen to first years more than once). She crept forward, walking faster now, and closed her eyes as she felt herself being pulled through the barrier. It was an odd feeling, as though one was being dragged by a very strong force, but once she was through the void between the platforms, everything came back to normal.

Ivy orientated herself again, unbelieving that her head would still spin even after experiencing the same feeling so many times. She glanced up at the large clock that hung in front of her, and registered that she only had two minutes to get on the train. Slowly looking up, and taking in her surroundings, she saw the same thing she did every year. Many witches and wizards, young and old, bustling about on the platform.

Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

She began to make her way through the crowd, which was filled with lazy seventh years, terrified first years, and worried parents. She smiled, lifted her suitcase, and weaved her way through the masses of people, before carefully placing her right foot forward, and stepping on to the Hogwarts Express.

As she shuffled down the corridor, she recognized the faces of some well-known students as they crushed past her. She had always thought that they should make the passage bigger, it could barely have two people walking alongside each other, and with the added space needed for luggage, the place was cramped. Ivy sighed as she finally got to an empty carriage, and hauled her case onto the rack with slight difficulty. She then sat down, and pulled an uncreased, new book from her bag.

The novel was a fairly long, and the condition showed that it had clearly just been bought; the corners of the pages were at neat right angles and the edges were a crisp white. Ivy smiled as she opened the paperback, her eyes focussing on the small words that flooded over the pages. Although the volume had an odd, off-cream cover, the title was a clear, gold script that read Muggles: The Myths, The Legends and The Downright Lies. She laughed to herself as she flicked through the various pages of the wizard book, which contained moving pictures of muggles in various and ridiculous cirmcumstances. Ivy had picked up the book in Flourish and Blotts one summer, and it had been one of her favourites since. She had always had a certain fondness for reading, not just because she managed to find interesting and sometimes simply hilarious books, but also because of the escapism she gained from her odd life. She quickly became engrossed in the chapters, her green eyes flitting quickly over each word. The prose was reflected in her glasses which magnified her eyes, a dark mahogany frame with a medium-sized lens which sat slightly on her cheeks. She tucked a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear, and continued reading.

Utterly engrossed in her paperback, she did not look up when a small gaggle of giggling girls entered the same carriage. They were all laughing over some private joke - probably about some of the boys in the year if their usual conversations were anything to go by. They continued speaking rather loudly, and Ivy rolled her eyes. She knew what their discussion was about, and was currently being enlightened about 'Parvati, Hannah and Padma's Cutest Boys In The School' list.

"Yeah…but what about Cormac? He's so cute!"

"Yeah, yeah, we all know about your 'thing' about Cormac…but Seamus! He's gorgeous!"

"No! Seamus! What about Draco? And Dean…"

"Then of course there's always the Weasley twins!"

The girls all burst in to screams of laughter, and Ivy simply pushed her glasses up her nose, trying to block out the irritating giggles by focussing on the words strung out in front of her. The rest of the journey seemed dragged out thanks to the sniggering of the three girls who had joined the carriage. They continued to titter about each and every boy in her year, discussing each one in great detail, listing their pros and cons.

Ivy sighed loudly as the train finally approached Hogwarts; this had to be the longest train journey she had ever experienced. And it had nothing to do with the time it took. As all of the terrified first year students clambered off the train and on to the platform, she picked up her luggage and made her way to the carriages that took her to the great castle every year.

She ended up seated in a coach with Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas and the Patil twins, but had managed to go the entire ride without speaking to anyone, and just spend the time catching up on more "muggle myths". She couldn't believe that some wizards believed certain things about muggles - the examples in the book included the fact that muggles were in fact, not allergic to elm, neither were they afraid of cats, and yes, they did use broomsticks to sweep the floor. Ivy attempted to contain her laughter when she read that some people even believed that muggles originated from a different planet. She had a muggle mother and aunt, which meant she spent a large amount of her time behaving the same way that they did. She however, stopped reading as Luna began to ask her if she had spotted the "greater tailed Niffle" that had just flown past the carriage. The journey didn't last too long, and before she knew it, Ivy was being herded out from the vehicle and hurried into the castle, where she placed her belongings and made her way to the Great Hall for the beginning-of-term speech from the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

She made her way to the Hall quietly, not conversing with anyone apart from Luna, who was informing her that "greater tailed Niffles" lived in forests and enjoyed to eat dirt as it had wonderful nutritional value. Ivy grinned and nodded before bidding Luna goodbye as they sat at their different House tables. Sat at the end, Ivy listened with great enthusiasm throughout the speech, always willing to know what had changed over the summer. She noticed that there were a few new teachers, and as always, one of them was a Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, who had made quite an entrance when coming into the Hall, by not only coming in late, but also managing to stop the enchanted ceiling from raining down on the students. She noticed that he had a false eye, and also what appeared to be a false leg. He was introduced as Professor Moody.

After the usual parts of the speech were over, Dumbledore began talking about a special honour that Hogwarts would have this year. The Triwizard Tournament. From what Ivy picked out, it was a very dangerous competition between three schools, and the students involved would be entered into three very treacherous tasks, from which they could not back out of. She made a mental note not to put her name in the large goblet that sat at the front of the Hall, which was called 'The Goblet Of Fire'. Small blue flames flickered from it, and it was sat on a large concrete stand, making it rise above even the tallest of students.

It was revealed that the two schools joining us were Beauxbatons Academy, and Durmstrang. Ivy knew about these schools from what she had read and heard, but was not ready for the entrances that they made when coming into the Great Hall. The Beauxbatons girls - who were all what looked like Veela - made all of the boys swoon with their good looks, long hair and silly little dance. The Durmstrang boys were all tall, strong and muscular, and performed a sort of warrior dance as their introduction. Although it was impressive, Ivy raised an eyebrow and thought it was all a bit over-the-top. The rules of the Tournament were quickly described, and, much to the dismay of many students in the school, it was said that no under-seventeen year olds would be allowed to enter the competition. This caused outrage among the Gryffindor boys, who were all clearly under the impression they would be entering and winning the Tournament. Most of all, the Weasley twins seemed most unimpressed, and consisted to make loud huffing noises and sighs throughout the last few minutes of the feast. After the last words were said, every student was issued with their timetable, and then hurried off to bed. The first years were always the best part about coming back to Hogwarts, as they were all so scared and always looking for direction from their Heads of House or Prefects. The look on their faces when they were asked to do something they couldn't was utterly priceless.

As she sloped back to the Common Room, Ivy studied her timetable very carefully. She noticed that she had all of the lessons she wanted, and also had a fair few free periods, which she decided, she would spend trying to either get ahead on the rest of the class to save her trouble later, or possibly to sit outside by the Lake, which was one of her favourite places in the castle. She quickly muttered 'balderdash', and stepped through the portrait hole, still studying the paper in her hands.

"Muggle Studies?" She murmured. "Great. Nobody even pays attention in that lesson anyway." She noticed that the class would mix all of the Houses, but was for sixth years only, as the school thought it would 'use the students free time wisely'. "Waste of time." Various groans and moans of the same nature were heard amongst the sixth years as they gathered back in the Common Room.

"Muggle Studies?"

"That sucks!"

"Who actually cares what they do?"

Ivy sat down on the nearest armchair and drummed her fingers on the soft, red fabric, trying to remember her timetable so she wouldn't have to constantly check back to it between classes. After an hour or so, and her lessons for at least one day remembered, she made her way up to her dormitory, and noticed two of her fellow Gryffindors sitting on their beds, chatting away. She inwardly groaned as she recognized the voices immediately.

"Yeah, but, like, I still totally think that Cormac is cute!"

"That's so what Hannah said, you totally can't steal her crush! Like, Oh my God."

"Well, I do still agree with you about the Weasley Twins!"

They burst into fits of giggles. Although it was now only Lavender and Parvati's list of cute boys, Ivy realised that the train journey was not the end of the misery. She slumped down on her bed, unnoticed by the tittering girls, and, without getting changed, placed her glasses on her bedside table and pulled the covers over her head.