I looked about wildly feeling my claustrophobia act up even more in the crowded train station. Alright Alivia, deep breaths, it's okay. For the billionth time, I looked at the train ticket that had come along with the letter accepting me to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately, it still said that I was to get on the train through platform nine and three quarters.Where the heck was that!
"James Harold Potter! Stop it" I heard a woman shout "Or I'll put a silencing charm on you mark my words." Silencing charm I thought magic…they must be going to Hogwarts as well. Maybe they know how to get to this platform nine and three quarters. I started towards them as they approached the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
"Excuse me" I said in my soft voice "Could you please….I mean….um the platform" my voice trailed off and not knowing what to say, I showed the woman my ticket. She smiled at me.
"Ah, first year?" she asked "So is James." She pointed towards the boy who had a mischievous smile on his face.
"All you gotta do is run at the barrier between platforms nine and ten" piped up a small girl who was holding the woman's hand "Watch James, it's easier than it sounds." The boy, James smirked at me and then ran straight at the barrier. I scrunched my eyes up not wanting to see him smash into the barrier, but he was gone. It was like the barrier had swallowed him up. Okay, this is so impossible.
"Why don't you go next?" asked the tall man with the same hazel eyes as the boy, James. My heart rate kicked up a notch and I felt adrenaline flood my veins. I swallowed hard, closed my eyes, and went toward the barrier at a run. It was getting closer...closer…I was going to hit the wall, the solid hard wall, and die. I opened my eyes expecting piercing pain, but instead I was again standing on another crowded train platform, but this time the sign above it said nine and three-quarters. I had done it! I turned around intending to head for the train, but ended up crashing into a pale looking boy with brown hair.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" my voice trailed off as I saw the shape of James appear suddenly, as though by magic oh yea it probably was and slap the boy I had knocked into on the back.
"Hey Remus! What's up?!" he shouted. Gosh, was that boy always so loud?Then to me "Oh hey, we meet again!" I nodded slowly still trying to figure out how he had gotten here so suddenly. Then it hit me right in the face.
"Okay, this is going to sound totally ridiculous" I began "But by any chance do invisibility cloaks exist in the magical world?" James stared at me incredulously.
"Wha…wait….how?" he stammered.
This time I smirked. "You have one don't you? That's how you got here so suddenly and without anyone seeing."
James nodded dumbly.
"Are you SERIOUS?!" I asked excitedly.
"No, I am" said an approaching boy. "Sirius Black at you service m'lady" he said "You are?"
"Alivia Herezin" I answered.
Then Sirius turned to James "She's a clever one mate, lets hope she isn't a stickler for rules." The pale boy, Remus, smiled at me.
"If she is then you two are DEAD" he said I grinned back at him. Of course I didn't care about rules! They were made to be broken. That was, is, and always will be my motto.
"Why don't you two trouble makers ask me yourselves if you care so much" I said.
James turned to me. "Okay, will you snitch on us about the cloak, or any activities that might happen under the cloak?" he asked.
"Nope" I grinned. "Well as long as I am allowed to participate in these said activities."
James grinned and the four of us chatted until we heard James's and Remus's mothers calling. The two walked away, James with an embarrassed expression on his face of course he's embarrassed…his mum called him JAMSIE. I stood with Sirius feeling kind of awkward and wondering why none of his parents called him, and why my parents had left so abruptly after dropping me off. I motioned towards the train as Remus came back. James was still with his mum.
"Shall we" I asked. "Better get a good compartment before they're all gone. Remus nodded and followed me. Sirius motioned towards James with his head.
"I'll wait for dear old Jamsie" he said.
I grinned and dragged Remus towards the train. We boarded and found a compartment. By now my claustrophobia instinct was screaming for me to get off. As I slid shut the door of the compartment, I noticed another boy sitting there. He was rather rat-like.
"Hey Pete" Remus said. Rat boy, Pete, whatever, squeaked a hi in response.
"Alivia this is Peter Pettigrew, Peter this is Alivia" Remus said. I nodded in response, but I honestly couldn't care less. I didn't trust this boy at all. There was just something about him…
Suddenly feeling like the walls of the stupid small compartment were closing in on me, I opened the door and a window trying to get the compartment to feel more open. Stupid claustrophobiaRemus looked at me funnily and closed the door again. The walls started closing in on me again, and feeling weak, I stumbled onto a seat, one far away from rat boy and concentrated on taking even breaths. I didn't want Remus or rat boy to get concerned. Before I knew it the door opened again and James and Sirius walked in. I welcomed the burst of air which seemed to open the compartment a bit more and was thankful that they didn't close the door again. That's when I noticed that Remus was staring at me concernedly. Oh great he noticedhowever, when James and Sirius sat down, he turned to them to ask why they were late.
For the rest of the train ride, Peter, Remus and I listened to James and Sirius's chattering. James seemed particularly infatuated with a red-head named Lily, who apparently hated him. I sat back in my seat and listened to my friends talk until Peter got up to go hunt down the snack trolley. That stupid rat boy closed the door. My claustrophobia seemed to attack me just then. The room spun crazily. I think I let out a low moan as I curled up into a ball because in about a millisecond Remus, Sirius and James were on the floor in front of me.
"Motion sickness?" asked James
I managed to shake my head. The room was spinning, the walls were closing in on me, I felt my breath come out in crazed pants; I was having a full scale panic attack. I shut my eyes trying not to pass out as the compartment door opened again. This time however, it didn't help much. I faintly heard my friends talking franticly and an older person talking calmly to them. Then she came to me.
"Claustrophobia?" she asked I managed to nod, and then regretted it as I felt the spinning of the room get worse. I let out another moan. The older girl waved her wand and muttered something and I began to feel a little better. I uncurled myself weakly and murmured thanks to the girl. She smiled at me.
"Here's the spell" she handed me a slip of parchment "It's really simple and will probably come in handy." Then as an after thought "Have fun at Hogwarts, and I'll hope to see you all in Gryffindor!" With another smile she waved and departed.
James approached me cautiously. "You okay mate" he asked. I sighed and nodded. Stupid claustrophobia then I looked at my watch and gasped. All of that happened in a total of five minutes I turned around so I could see all three of my friends.
"If any of you mention this stupid incident I will hex you into the next millennium…as soon as I learn how." I growled. Sirius sighed in relief.
"She's still the same" he said only half joking. I grinned and pocketed the parchment that the savior girl gave me. Once Peter came back with his plethora of sweets, and we ate them all, I stretched and stood up, still feeling kind of shaky. I noticed Remus looking at me in concern and smiled reassuringly at him.
"I'm gonna go change into my uniform" I announced and departed.
~*~
I made my back towards the compartment I was sharing with the boys, still trying to find a way to tie my tie. Stupid tieI thought why do girls need to wear them anyway? I stepped into the compartment again, leaving the door open. I was still kind of shaky.
"Yo boys" I called stepping over a wrapper of a chocolate frog "Who knows how to tie a tie?"
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter took one look at me and burst out laughing. I groaned.
"Fine I'll go find a nice girl to help me!" I exclaimed, rather sour. As I walked to the door, I slid on some of the boys' clothes and candy wrappers and fell to the floor in a massive heap of person, clothes, candy wrapper, and tie. Somehow in all of this mess, I ended up with my tie tied correctly. I groaned.
"Now, how do I do this tomorrow morning?" I asked to no one in particular. The boys were now rolling on the ground with laughter. I sighed and picked up a book from my trunk and sat down and tried to read ignoring the laughing idiots that were rolling on the ground.
~*~
"Alivia, wake up" someone was shaking me. I opened my eyes and looked up to see James "Come on, UP! We're going to get our first view of Hogwarts in about a minute..." Whatever he was going to say was lost on my ears as I saw the magnificent castle gleaming in the dying light. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe that I was going to live there for the nest nine months. It was like a dream come true. As the train screeched loudly to a stop, I took one last look at the castle and stepped out into the corridors. As I fought my way out of the train and onto the platform, I heard a loud voice calling to the first years. I made my way over while trying to find the slip of paper the older girl gave me. My claustrophobia was acting up again.
"WOWO" that was the only coherent word that came out of my mouth. Standing in front of me was a nine foot tall man with an extremely shaggy beard.
"The name's Hagrid miss, an' yours is?" he asked.
"Alivia" I said now truly in awe "Nice to meet you Mr."
"Ar' it's just Hagrid Alivia." I grinned.
Then I noticed the boys hurrying towards me. They stopped dead when the saw Hagrid who just smiled down at them and introduced himself once more, and invited us down for tea the following Friday. As soon as all the other first years gathered around Hagrid he pointed toward the boats.
"No more'n five to a boat, come along now get in get in get in!" he shouted. The four boys and I climbed into a boat together as it began to move away from the bank. Remus looked at me with concern again and I sighed getting kind of frustrated.
"Remus we're out in the open air" I said "I'm fine, claustrophobia hits in ENCLOSED SPACES." he nodded looking sort of embarrassed but relieved that I wasn't going to freak out again nonetheless.
"We'll be gettin' the first close up of Hogwarts in a mo' now" Hagrid said. At this, I eagerly leaned out of the boat hoping to feast my eyes on the castle once more, but ended up rocking the boat.
"Ali STOP" I heard all four boys shout, but it was too late. I had fallen out of the boat.