Chapter 1
The Train to Hogwarts
"Have you gotten us lost again? I don't recognize this place at all…"said Misty nervously. "It's kind of weird here. Just look around! There's not a single pokemon in sight! And I don't see anyone who looks like a pokemon trainer anywhere…"
"We can't be lost! I was reading from a map, and the map can't have been wrong, could it? Oh! I see now! I was holding the map was upside down!" said Ash, grinning sheepishly. Suddenly, a breeze came out of nowhere and blew away the map he was holding in his hand. "Hey! The map, it's gone!" Ash blinked, staring at his empty hands.
"Arrrrgh! How could you have been so stupid? And now we're probably miles from where we were headed, and we don't even know the way back, now that you've lost the map!" yelled Misty, getting out her giant mallet to whack Ash.
"Come on guys, we'll probably find a way back soon. We can just ask someone around here where we are and find a way back to where we were before! And look over there, isn't that a train station? There must be a lot of people there who would know the way back, so let's go!" Tracey started running towards the nearby train station.
"Hey Tracey, wait up!" hollered Misty, as she and Ash started running towards the train station.
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"Wow, this place sure is crowded. Let's go and find someone to ask what this place is!" suggested Tracey.
They found a nice-looking, plump, redheaded lady standing with some kids. "Excuse me, ma'am, but could you tell us where we are? We're kind of lost…"said Ash.
"Why children," said the lady, talking in a British accent, "Don't you know? This is the Kings Cross Train Station in London! Are you here to get to Hogwarts, too? Don't worry, you're at the right place. All you have to do is walk through this barrier. Don't be afraid, you won't get hurt, take it at a run if you're scared."
"This lady must be crazy! How would people be able to walk through a solid metal wall? Let's go ask someone else," whispered Misty.
"Pika," agreed Pikachu, pulling on Ash's shoulder nervously.
"Okay," whispered Ash, as the three (or five, counting Togepi and Pikachu) slowly backed away. Unfortunately, they had accidentally backed right into the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. But all of a sudden, the barrier wasn't behind them, but in front of them! They had all landed unexpectedly on their backs on the other side of the barrier.
"What happened?" squeaked Tracey, completely shocked.
"Ow…" Misty said, while rubbing her bottom as she sat on the ground.
"Pika, pikachu?" "Togi, prii? Pikachu and Togepi were completely bewildered.
"Hey, is this some kind of trap or something?" Ash yelled as he looked around.
A pretty girl with bushy brown hair walked up to them. She looked at them and asked, "What are you doing on the ground? Get up, the train is leaving in half an hour!" She turned around and walked away. Just at this moment, the kids that had been with the plump lady walked through the barrier and, not seeing the people on the ground, trampled right over them.
"Ow!" said Misty.
"Ow!" said Tracey.
"Ow! We really should get up, I don't want to be trampled again," said Ash.
As they started to get up, the plump redheaded lady walked in right through the barrier with a little girl. "My, what are you doing on the ground? Get up, you'll get stepped on!"
"Yeah, I think we've already learned that lesson. We fell through the barrier…to here. What is this place?" asked Ash.
"This is Platform 9 and ¾. The Hogwarts express stops here to pick up students, and… Oh! I have forgotten to introduce myself! My name is Mrs. Weasley. This year my youngest son Ron is starting as a first year in Hogwarts, and my sons Fred and George are going there too. And this is my daughter, Ginny. She's not old enough to go to Hogwarts"
"Hi," Ginny said shyly. Then she turned around and said, "Mom, mom, look! It's him, it's really him! It's Harry Potter! Can I go see him, please?"
"Huh?" said Misty, all confused. "What's Hogwarts? Who's Harry Potter?"
"Yeah," said Ash, "and why are we here?"
But the lady had walked off, scolding her daughter for pointing. "Well, now we don't have anyone to ask. Maybe there's someone on the train over there we could ask about this Hogwarts business," said Tracey.
"Good idea, let's go!" said Ash.
As Ash, Misty, Tracey, Pikachu, and Togepi went on the scarlet-colored train, they went in search of some knowledgeable-looking people to ask questions. Soon they found a room with two boys and went in. "Hi. We were kind of lost, and somehow we ended up here. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions to clear things out…" began Ash.
"Shoot," said one of the boys, with red hair and lots of freckles. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Ron. Ron Weasley."
"Yeah," said the other boy, with round black glasses and messy black hair. "I'm Harry Potter."
"Hey, we just met your mom outside, Ron. She was helpful, but didn't really explain much…" said Misty. "And you're Harry Potter? Ron's little sister was talking about you…"
"See, I told you that you were famous, Harry!" grinned Ron. "Even Ginny knows about you."
"Are you famous?" inquired Tracey. "But why? You're so young…"
"First, ask your other questions. Maybe it'll clear things up," interjected Ron.
"Okay. First of all, why could people walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10?" asked Ash.
"To get to platform 9 and ¾, where the Hogwarts Express Station is, of course!" answered Ron casually.
"Okay…then what is Hogwarts?" asked Misty.
"You don't know about Hogwarts? Then why are you here? Everyone must know about Hogwarts… Oh well. I suppose I should explain about Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a school for witchcraft and wizardry…"
"What?" interrupted Ash, "But that's impossible! There can't be a school for witches and wizards, can there? And if this school is for magic people only, then why are we here?"
"That confuses me also," said Ron carefully, "how could you have fallen through the barrier? Normally only people who are accepted into Hogwarts and the people with them can fall through, and if you didn't even know about Hogwarts, why were you three accepted through the barrier?"
"Maybe we should leave now… We shouldn't meddle in things we aren't supposed to meddle in…" said Tracey cautiously.
"No, wait!" shouted Ron after them. "You must have been accepted into the station for a reason, and if it was a mistake, then you need a memory charm performed on you!"
But Ash, Misty, and Tracey had already bolted for the door. However, right before they reached the door out of the compartment, the train started moving and they were thrown sideways into the wall.
"Oh no!" panicked Misty. "Now what do we do?" They watched dejectedly through the window as the scenery started speeding past. "We'll never get back now…"
"Looks like we'll just have to stay on the train and go to Hogwarts," said Ash unhappily. "How will I continue my pokemon training at a wizarding school?"
"Well, since you're stuck on the train, we might as well explain everything to each other. Maybe when we get there we'll find a way to get you guys back to where you came from," said Harry calmly.
"Okay, good idea," said Ash as they all sat down in the seats.
"First, explain everything about Hogwarts. I'm still kind of confused about it," said Misty.
"All right," said Ron. "As I said, Hogwarts is a school for wizards and witches. We're wizards, and so we're going to begin our first year at Hogwarts to learn the art of magic. We call non-magic people Muggles, and normally, they aren't supposed to know about our world."
"That's so cool!" said Misty enthusiastically. "And what about Harry? Why is he famous?"
"Well there was this really evil wizard that lived 20 years ago…we call him You-know-who."
"He's called Voldemort," interjected Harry.
"Right," said Ron, grimacing. "Anyway, You-know-who was terrible. He killed a lot of really great witches and wizards, and once, he set out to kill Harry here. He did manage to kill Harry's parents, but…"
Misty gasped. "You don't have any parents? You poor thing," she said sympathetically as she reached out to pat Harry's hand.
"Harry here survived, and Voldemort hasn't been back since!" finished Ron proudly.
"Wow, you must have been a really strong wizard," commented Ash admiringly.
Harry blushed. "Actually, I don't even remember any of it, except for this green flash." Suddenly, Harry noticed the little yellow rodent sitting next to Ash. "What's that?" he said, pointing.
"It's a pikachu, of course! Don't you have pokemon in the magical world? Pokemon are pretty magical themselves!" said Ash, affectionately stroking Pikachu.
"Yes, and this is a togepi! Isn't it such a cutie?" said Misty.
"I've never seen anything like those! They're definitely really cute!" smiled Ron
"What? You don't have any pokemon in your world? Then I'm definitely not gonna get anywhere with my training!" whined Ash.
"You never get anywhere with your training, anyway," said Misty, narrowing her eyes at Ash.
"Yes, I do! I'm gonna be the worlds number one Pokemon Master!"
"Puh-leeze. From the way you're training your Charizard, it looks like you're becoming the number one Pokemon Battle Loser!" said Misty.
"Who asked you?" retorted Ash, embarrassed.
"You did!"
"No, I didn't!"
"Oh yeah, you did!"
"No, I didn't!"
"Yeah, you did!"
"Guys, guys, cut it out!" said Tracey, sweatdropping. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were looking on, amazed at how long Misty and Ash managed to keep it up. "Looks like we're gonna have one long train ride…" sighed Tracey.
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