A small note: Italics=Japanese

August 26, 2003
Friday 5:14 PM
Above London Heathrow Airport

"Hello everyone, this is your captain speaking. We are about to land at the London Heathrow Airport in around 10 minutes; please set your watches to the current time of 5:14 PM."

The fluorescent lights of the airplane cabin dimmed, then went to full power. The lights flashed once again, signaling eminent descent, and more than likely attempting to wake up the rest of the still sleeping passengers.

At row 3's aisle seat, the redheaded girl with twin bell tails awoke, and turning to her left, whispered, "Hey, Negi-kun, do you think you could do that language spell on me soon? I'm not too keen on being stuck in England without knowing English."

"Sure, Asuna-san, right after we land, alright?" he replied smiling, glancing from her back to the thick tome of British literature on his lap.

Asuna looked at it in interest, but to her rather lacking grasp of the English language, the words appeared as if they were cryptograms.

"Hogwarts: A History," Fate, who was previously leaning on his arm and staring out of the window, suddenly supplied.

"Oh, that sounds…really interesting," she responded, interest dropping to a low. "Hey, wait, how come you can read it, Fate? Did you learn English in your free time?" With nothing to do and no one else to talk to, Asuna had nothing better to do than to engage in side conversation with an enemy now turned ally.

Sighing, the white haired boy reminded her of his incredibly useful ability. "I installed it, Kagurazaka Asuna. Surely you remember that I mentioned that as an artificially created entity, I do not operate on the same principles as a regular human does?"

"Ah yeah, you did. But isn't that kind of like cheating, since now you're the English teacher without even having to study?"

"By that logic, Negi-kun would also be cheating with his superior intellect, since he can obviously memorize faster than the average student," Fate rebutted.

The lights blinked again, this time was accompanied by the captain reminding everyone to fasten their seatbelts, and the body of the plane began to slope downwards.

Negi looked up, and glancing at his watch, announced, "It looks like we'll be able to take the London subway system to King's Cross and get onto the Hogwarts Express on time; we'll need to hurry though, international customs can sometimes take a long time. Heathrow is the busiest airport, after all." He started to pack his book back into his small carry-on backpack.

Asuna began to do the same with her belongings, and after zipping up her small bag, resumed the same complaints she had voiced when Ayaka had been unable to provide the three with a ride on her private jet.

Because travel by Portkey was deemed impossible, or at the very least extremely dangerous, with her finicky Magic Cancel, travel by mundane airplanes was required. However, private jets were also deemed out of the question because for some reason, Hogwarts was apparently reachable only by a single train, and the airport with easiest access to King's Cross Train Station, Heathrow, was currently undergoing renovations at its private mini-terminals. More irritatingly, Ayaka herself would be able to arrive by her private plane, as she was flying to a different airport the next morning along with Takamichi, Kotaro, and Kurt Godel.

As representatives of their country and goals, Negi and Asuna would obviously be expected to arrive first as the vanguard, so to speak. Fate had insisted on coming as well, and when Fate had announced his plans, of course the dog eared boy had to go too.

Another thing to worry about was whether or not Asuna would be able to pass through Platform 9 ¾, but apparently there would be Hogwarts staff on hand to take her by something called a threstral if that happened.

The plane completed its gradual descent, hit the tarmac, and after a few moments of no movement, started to taxi towards Terminal 3, otherwise known as The Oceanic Terminal. It continued towards Gate 24, and miraculously bypassing the unspoken rule of airplane flight timetables, was able to dock and release its passengers before the scheduled arrival time.

"Finally!" exclaimed Asuna once she was out of customs, "It's good to be out of those cramped lines!" Turning to Negi, she once again requested the translation spell.

Acquiescing, the redheaded boy held her hand and intoned, "Mutuum intellectum verborum", in a shushed voice to avoid curious glances from passerby.

"There, that's it, Asuna-san. Can you understand me right now? Your Magic Cancel shouldn't affect it, since the magic is uncomplicated and harmless," he said, switching to English.

"Whoa, it actually works!"

"Of course it works, Kagurazaka," Fate deadpanned. "I suggest that we get on going; the Hogwarts Express leaves in exactly 41 minutes. According to my calculations-"

"All right, all right, let's go then!" She started, and then realized that she didn't know the directions. "Err...Negi, which way do we go?"

Negi took off in a particular direction, and the two followed, while he explained, "We need to go down, there should be a tunnel or something leading to the Tube." Following the signs, he led them to a ticker, where they purchased tickets to King's Cross Station and proceeded to the platform.

Hurrying onto the subway train, the trio arrived at King's Cross with 20 some minutes to spare, and walked quickly, but stealthily, towards Platform 9 ¾'s imposing brick barrier, with Asuna praying that her Magic Cancel wouldn't come into effect. It didn't.

She, Negi, and Fate passed through the wall without suddenly getting trapped in solid concrete. Out on the other side, the platform was really quite empty. The students had been sent off this morning, so the only other people on the platform were a few students who had apparently missed the train, and the one staff member sent by Hogwarts to serve as a guardian and escort.

Negi waved at the man, and walked up to him with a friendly smile, probably not even noticing that the man was scowling at him.

"Hello, Mr. Severus Snape, correct?" the boy asked for confirmation. "I was told that you would be the one to meet us at King's Cross."

"That I am," Snape replied curtly. He pointed to the steaming train. "Well, feel free to help yourselves onto the Express, it will be leaving in 10 minutes."

Turning, he strode away from the group to the train, his cloak billowing dramatically. Then, as if remembering something, he turned back, and addressing the trio in a sardonic voice, said, "And let me prematurely welcome you to Hogwarts."

Well, that's it for the first chapter. Please review if you liked it, or if there are any horribad grammatical or spelling mistakes.