Chapter 1

The Magical Disappearances

Disclaimer : Nothing about Harry Potter do I own. It is all from the brilliance of JKR.

"Sean! Sean, come here this instant!"

"Coming, Mother," said Sean as he wheeled back toward his parents at the entrance of the train station. Once he reached them, his mother grabbed his arm and dragged him with the rest of the family into the station.

"What have we told you about wondering off alone while we're vacationing?" she asked him severely, not letting go.

"What have I told you about me being 18," Sean mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say?" asked his father.

"Nothing." Even though Sean rounded his height at about six foot three, his father could still reek havoc on his thin frame if he really wanted too. Therefore, he never back talked his dad. It just wasn't something he wanted to deal with. Not that his father would do anything to hurt him, it's just if he wanted too, he could, easily.

"Don't ever wander off like that again, do you hear me?" asked his mother. She let him go. Both parents stared at their only son. "Now, your father and I are going to roam the Train Station and you better not get into any trouble, young man!" They walked away haughtily and started staring at some maps on the walls.

Sean shook his head in disgust. First they yelled at him for wandering off. Then, they leave him to do his own thing. It just didn't make sense to him. Parents. What was a teenage guy supposed to do?

Glumly he loitered the walkways at the Station. What a great way to spend his few free days before school started, he thought to himself. He was all alone, in London, England. Instead of being on this lame family vacation (which consisted of only him and his parents), he could've been back in the States with all of his friends enjoying the beautiful summer weather instead of this moody rain. If there was one thing he would always remember about this trip to London, it would be that it always rained.

Looking around he found out that this "Train Station" was called King's Cross. For some reason, loads of people were there. These people were not only rushing around like maniacs with giant trolleys with huge trunks on them, but these people also had owls in cages on these trolleys and the adults wore very strange clothes. It was almost as if the adults didn't know how to dress themselves properly for this world, because the kids were dressed just like him, only they were the ones pushing the trolleys with the owls.

Sean, being the ever observant and nosey guy he was, followed a few of these odd looking groups and watched what they did from a corner, in an attempt to look as if he was "minding his own business." These people were walking straight into the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 and then magically disappearing. Sean had to watch about three groups accomplish this before believing that he was, indeed seeing what he was seeing and not just hungry.

He looked around King's Cross, making sure his parents were out of sight and that no big group with the gigantic trolleys were coming anytime soon. Hesitantly, and a little bit twitchy (but he figured that was just from the adrenaline rush he was experiencing), he reached out and felt the barrier through which these people were walking through. It was solid brick. He hit it with his fists, causing a few scratches on his hand, but still it was solid brick. He went to hit it again, but this time a guard grabbed his hand.

"What do you think you're doing, lad?" asked the large, round guard, giving Sean a very curious glare that read "this kid is trouble and stupid."

"Ummm. . . .nothing," said Sean, feeling his face heat up.

"Why don't you move along," said the guard turning him the other direction. "You don't sound like you're around here (Sean scoffed, well gees, yeah, I guess the American accent would give it away, now wouldn't it?) Why don't you go find your party and get on with your vacation?" The guard pushed him away.

Now, Sean was never one to take orders well from people who he thought were undermining him, so he did what any egotistical teenage boy would do. Once he was about ten feet away from that barrier, he ran straight back at it, but this time, he didn't feel hard brick. . . . .