Chapter 1 – A new arrival.

It was the beginning of September. I had been pushing through the crowds in the train station when suddenly I had a bit of a dizzy spell. Everything appeared blurred and I was worried I might pass out. After about 30 seconds it stopped and everything went back to normal. My legs felt a bit wobbly so I went to the nearest wall and leant against it and shut my eyes.

When I opened them again there was a family watching me looking annoyed. They were all blond and looked quite arrogant. "Hurry up, some of us would like to go through the barrier today you know," said the boy and pushed me hard.

I stumbled but managed to keep my balance by leaning on my suitcase. When I looked around I saw that I wasn't in the train station any more. There was only one platform with a long steam train. I thought I must be going mad or at least hallucinating. There were lots of people with packages getting on the train. I thought maybe this was a film set but I couldn't see any cameras and it still wouldn't explain how I had got here. Running the whole length of the platform was a brick wall. The only way of this platform was to get on the train. I had some spare money to but a ticket to the next stop so this is what I decided to do.

Unfortunately the train didn't appear to be stopping anywhere. I had been on it for at least 3 hours and there had been no stops. God know where I was going to end up. At least I had a compartment to myself. The train appeared to be full of kids, who all seemed to want to make as much noise as possible. Also there was no signal on my phone so I couldn't text my friends and let them know what was happening. Luckily I had expected to be on a long train journey so had packed some lunch a drink and some magazines. I also had my music and my laptop just in case I got bored.

It was getting dark when the train finally started to slow down. When it stopped I checked through all my things to see if I had everything but couldn't find my purse. It must have fallen out of my bag when I had during the journey. I quickly searched the compartment and finally found it under the seat. I then collected all my stuff and left the train. By this time most people had left. I found myself on another long platform but at least this time there was a path leading from it. I appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. God know why all those other people had come here. I headed up the path. After a while it took a turn and I saw a large castle. What the hell was going on here? I had an annoying niggling feeling that I had seen it before somewhere. Even when I continued walking it wouldn't go away.

As I approached the castle the feeling got stronger. I found the entrance and followed the noise. By this stage I was sure I had seen it before and was pretty certain where I had seen it even though it was completely ridiculous. When I pushed open the doors to where all the noise was coming from my suspicions were confirmed. There were four long tables full of kids and one head table with some adults. Everyone had gone very quiet and was looking at me. I was just waiting for someone to jump out the shadows and tell me it was all a big joke for one of those TV shows but no-one did anything.

Finally the guy that looked like Dumbledore stood up and walked towards me. He looked surprised that I had barged through the door but not surprised to see me.

"Hello, we weren't expecting you," he said smiling.

"I wasn't expecting to be here either," I replied. "What's going on here?"

"What do you know," he asked.

"I just got on a train and ended up here. Is this some kind of strange cult?"

"Why would you think that," he asked, his eyes twinkling.

"You're all in a castle with loads of candles and no electricity. When are you going to enter the 21st century?"

"It isn't the 21st century. It is only 1999. What year did you this it was?"

"I am not answering that," I said swaying slightly. This is getting more and more bizarre by the second.

"Well, you're here now why don't you sit down and have something to eat," he said walking back to his table. He turned to Snape and said "You keep complaining you don't get anyone interesting in your house. Now you have. Meet Mia." How did he know my name? This is crazy.

Snape also looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"She is a Slytherin. She has been sorted before." He answered.

"How is that possible? I haven't even been here before."

"Not yet, you haven't," he replied mysteriously. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," I said breezily. "I am just in a coma like the guy in Life on Mars or having a very bizarre dream but tucked up safe in bed."

For anyone who is confused Dumbledore knows a lot more than he is letting on but that will be later on in the story. Please review.