Alice Henley couldn't believe her luck. It was September 1st, 2017, and she was on the train to one of the greatest magical institutions in the world – Hogwarts. It was worth noting that until a few weeks ago, she had no idea that there was an entire world of magic living undetected beside them, but the fact that she finally might have found a place where she would fit in with the people around her had put a smile on her face. Her mother, who had been sullen throughout the entire time the Professor from the school explained to them who Alice really was, had finally relented when she saw the smile on Alice's face.
Finding an empty compartment, she settled down with one of her most interesting textbooks, A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, and pulled out her seventh gen iPod Touch, her eleventh birthday gift, deciding to relax her nerves by doing something she was familiar with. Just as she was getting settled, though, two others, already dressed in their school robes, burst through the door, one with bright red hair, and the other with darker brown.
"Can we sit here?" asked the girl with the red hair, fingering her shoulder bag.
Alice set down her book and shrugged. "Sure."
The two filed in and took seats beside each other, discussing something that sounded like 'kwitich'. Alice paid no attention to them and buried her nose in her book once more, barely noticing that her iPod wasn't working correctly. She also failed to notice the other girl that had joined the compartment, this one with dirty blonde hair. It didn't matter to Alice, though, not until the dirty-blonde haired girl noticed Alice's iPod.
"What is that?" the girl asked, peering curiously at the display.
Alice took out her earphones, not noticing the little shocks of static they were giving off. "What? It's an iPod!"
"An…eye pod?"
The red haired girl jumped in their conversation. "Yeah, I've heard mum talking about them before. They're some kind of a muggle device, Jenna. Though, I'm not quite sure what they do; it seemed like a lot."
The two girls looked at Alice, as though expecting her to explain. "Well, er…" Alice was at a loss for words. How could anyone not heard of iPods? "They play music, and if I can get a WiFi signal, I can go on the internet or play with some apps or…" she broke off, seeing bemused faces of the girls.
"Wyfy?" asked the girl named Jenna.
"Apps?" asked the red haired girl.
"Internet?" now the dark haired boy had jumped in the conversation too. "Rosie, aren't muggle devices not supposed to work around magic?"
Rosie, who was the red-haired girl, nodded. "But there can't be too much magic around the train, so it probably works alright." She looked at Alice, who shrugged.
"I haven't noticed anything…"
"I hope it doesn't go haywire when we're at Hogwarts, it doesn't look cheap," Jenna added. "But what's all that stuff you mentioned before? Wyfy, apps, intracage?"
Alice couldn't help but laugh. "Well…my mum, she's a technology professor, so she'd explain it much better, but WiFi is another way to say Wireless LAN, and it's an internet connection that you don't need a cable for. And it's not intracage," Alice giggled. "The internet is a connection of computers through fiber optics and it's where you share data and stuff. And 'apps' is a short word for applications, which are just programs, like a browser or a word processor."
The three other children looked at each other, clearly bewildered. The boy, whose name Alice hadn't yet caught, ran a hand through his hair. "Blimey…I didn't get a word of that!"
Rosie also shook her head. "I've always asked mum about muggle stuff, but she's never mentioned so much!"
Jenna, however, came and sat beside Alice. "Can I see it?"
Alice smiled and typed in her password before handing it to Jenna. "I'm Alice, by the way."
"I'm Jenna." She frowned and started muttering to herself, clearly looking for some kind of button. "Do I just press it? Or do I need a wand for it?"
Rose came to Jenna's other side and took the iPod from her hands. "I'm Rose. And that," she pointed towards the boy. "Is Al."
Alice gave a shy wave to Al, who was gazing at the iPod. He grinned back.
"You just have to touch it, right?" asked Rose.
Alice nodded.
"Then show us! This thing looks fascinating!" Jenna exclaimed, snatching it from Rose and putting it back into Alice's hand. All of the children drew closer to her as she showed the three children how to work her iPod Touch. Jenna, Rose, and Al were most fascinated when Alice managed to capture a 3G signal and showed them what the internet really was. She showed them how she would use Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia at home, and Rose was most intrigued with the fact that a computer of such caliber could be taken around places. None of the children noticed the random glitches and how abnormally fast the touch was working.
But by the time the lunch trolley came around, the girls were listening to Disney Pop and Al was sulking, never having gotten the chance to touch the iPod.
"Anything from the trolley?" asked the witch, beaming at them.
Al was the first to rush over, and asked for a bit of everything on the cart. As the witch placed everything in a bag, Alice walked over, peeking curiously at the treats on the carts. She tenuously picked up a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Jelly Beans. "Are these really…?"
"Every flavor?" supplied Al. He took the box from her hands and turned it on the side, where there was a rather large list of possible flavors.
"Oh my…Ear wax?" Alice shook her head in horror. She turned to the witch. "…erm, you wouldn't happen to have anything…edible?"
The witch laughed, handing Alice a small tin box. "I think you'll enjoy these, dear. Pumpkin Pasties, a sandwich, and Cauldron Cakes."
Alice took the box and handed the witch nine sickles, which was the amount listed on the cart's price chart. She waited for Al to pay (16 sickles) before sitting down in her seat. Al sat down beside her, and started rummaging around in his bag. Alice opened her own box, revealing an assortment of pasties and cakes, as well as a corned beef sandwich. She started munching on the sandwich, staring beyond Rose and Jenna (who were chewing something Jenna had brought) to the rapidly moving countryside until she felt a box being thrown into her lap.
"I know you probably think we're all mad, but try some beans anyway," said Al, nonchalantly.
Alice set swallowed the last of her sandwich stared at the beans. "Er," she said, looking at the beans as if they were about to kill her. "Perhaps later? I wanna try some of the pasties, actually. Want one?"
Albus whipped out his own pastie. "Nah, I wouldn't want to take yours. But mine looks more tasty."
Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing. His pasty looked dry and flaky; hers looked soft and moist. "Nuh-uh! Mine's much, much better."
Al shook his head. "Nuh-uh."
"Uh-uh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-uh!"
The two went on for a bit, until Rose stepped in, nose wrinkled in irritation. "You're so childish! Why don't you just take half a pastie from each other?"
Al looked at Rose, who was now smirking, a smirk much like one he had once seen on his Aunt Hermione. "I guess," he mumbled, breaking off half of his pasty. Alice followed, scowling, and the two exchanged the halves as Jenna and Rose helped themselves to the rest of Alice's pasties.
As they ate, their compartment door opened, revealing a pale, haughty-looking boy with pale hair, pale skin, and pale eyes, that contrasted greatly with his darker school robes. Beside him stood another boy, also clad in the school robes, but smaller and chubbier.
"You're Scorpius Malfoy, aren't you!" exclaimed Jenna, seeing them.
Scorpius gave Jenna the tiniest of smiles. "You're Madam Longbottom's niece, Jenna." He, however, adopted a half scowl upon seeing the rest of the compartment.
"Hey, Rosie, isn't that who you're supposed to beat in all of your classes?" asked Al, remembering his Uncle Ron's comments on the platform earlier in the day.
Jenna giggled; Rose rolled her eyes. Al chortled into his bag of sweets; Alice looked on with interest.
"Well," Scorpius started, the discomfort in his voice apparent. "We're looking for an enchanted bit of metal, Ado here said he dropped- what's that?" The Malfoy boy's eyes fell on the iPod.
"I think it's muggle, Scorp," said the boy next to him, Ado.
"Are you sure it isn't the etch-a, er, metal thing? It sure looks like it."
"Noh," Alice noticed Ado's voice had a tendency to crack. Alice took the Touch and held it out closer to Scorpius and Ado.
"I dunno what muggle means, but it's an iPod…er, non-wizards use them for…stuff…and stuff…" Alice stopped at the look on Ado's face, a violent disgust.
"She's a mudblood!" Alice heard Ado hiss to Scorpius.
"OI!" cried Al, outraged.
"How dare you!" cried Rose.
Jenna's hands curled into fists.
But most surprising was Scorpius' reaction. He kicked his friend in the leg. "Adolphus!" And then he turned to Alice and apologized. "Sorry-"
"It's Alice," she said, not understanding why everyone had reacted so badly.
"Sorry Alice," Scorpius looked abashed, even though he hadn't done a thing. "I'm trying to get Ado to stop being so terribly rude. That thing looks cool, though, I hope it doesn't break at Hogwarts."
"Um, thanks?" Alice was even more bewildered.
"I'll see you, Jenna," Scorpius called as the two boys left.
After they left, all eyes in the compartment turned to Alice, staring at her in a tenuous silence.
Finally, Jenna spoke. "He called you a mudblood– "
"That's a bad name for someone who doesn't have any wizard parents or grandparents," Rose quipped, seeing the confusion on Alice's face.
"Oh..." Alice didn't care so much about the name-calling as did Scorpius' last words to her. "But he said…I hope it still works…"
Rose exchanged a glance with Albus. "I think he meant the iPod," explained Rose. "Muggle stuff, like electronics don't work at Hogwarts, too much magic in the air."
"Yeah," said Al, laughing. "Dad told us a story and he told us that in his and Uncle Ron's second year, they tried to fly in Grandad Weasley's car to Hogwarts and the car got a mind of its own!"
"And the car saved them later, from giant spiders," added Rose.
"I'll turn it off, then."
"Hey, guys!" Jenna was at the window. "We're nearly there!"
The children ran to the windows and to see the magnificent castle that loomed only a short distance away.
"You two better change then," said Rose, trying to sound unconcerned; her grin betraying her excitement.
All the kids looked at each other, anticipation and excitement etched on their faces. Alice turned back to the window, and set her eyes on the castle. Just by gazing up at it, Alice could feel the excitement that was to come. She knew she was going to do something big. She knew it.