Melody Zucker had 24 hours to figure out how to get to platform 9 3/4 with no money and no knowledge of the wizarding world. All she had was an acceptance letter and a large black duffel bag with her personal belongings. But Melody was no ordinary 11 year old. She was brilliant, resourceful and unafraid to break the rules. In fact she seemed to go out of her way to break as many as she possibly could.

She hid away in the train station and found a bench to sleep on. It wasn't the first time she'd had to sleep on a public bench but she was hoping once she boarded this train that it would be her last. She woke up to the hustle and bustle of the train station in the middle of the day. Melody looked for clues, something to indicate a secret entrance. No train to an alternate world would be out in broad daylight.

It was then that Melody caught sight on a pudgy little boy and a thin young girl in a black and yellow robe rushing past her with a heap of luggage behind them. The boy had a large brown toad in a cage and a bag full of school books. "Hurry up, Craig or we'll miss the train" The girl walked quickly.

"Ok, I'm trying, Sophie" Craig spoke slowly out of breath as he pulled all his luggage behind him.

Melody followed them and watched from behind a pillar at platform 8 as they ran through the pillar at platform 9. They seemed to just dissipate through it. Melody knew right then they had to have been witches on their way to Hogwarts. She ran up to it but just before running through it she stopped. She slowly put her hand up to the brick pillar and felt it was hard. She knocked expecting to hear something hollow but it seemed to be a complete brick wall with no hidden doors whatsoever.

"First time?" A tall thin boy in the same black and yellow robes walked up to her and smiled.

"It's me and Rhys' first time also" A young girl with a toothy smile and a strong Welsh accent explained as she pointed to the stocky boy beside her.

"We'll show you how it's done. Right, Rory?" A Scottish girl with long red hair and a sweet porcelain doll face put her arm around the tall boy in the black and yellow robes.

"Yeah" Rory smiled back at at the redhead. "Amy will go first and then you just follow her right in. Don't be afraid... um.." Rory extended his hand for a shake.

"Melody" She took his hand and shook it vigorously.

"Alright, Mels." Amy took Melody's hand in hers. "Ready, go!" They ran in together and suddenly they were in a different train station and in front of them stood a big red train with the same crest on it as the one in Melody's acceptance letter. So she was on her way to Hogwarts as planned but she still didn't have any school supplies. She'd have to figure that all out later.

On the train was a compartment full of Ravenclaws and one Gryffindor holding his girlfriend's hand. Sally smiled as Billy nudged her. "Are you going to show them the mirror or what?" He asked.

"I was going to do a dramatic reveal in the dormitory but... fine" Sally took out the enchanted mirror Tosh had sent her before she left for Mahoutokoro. "We can reach Toshiko on this. It's a two way mirror."

"Is she there now?" Clara leaned in only to see her own reflection.

"She must not be looking through it now." Sally shrugged. "But we tested it before so it definitely works."

"I'm going to miss her this year." Martha smiled.

"She gave me her schedule for when she can use the mirror to talk to us." Sally showed them the paper with Toshiko's schedule.

"I'm so excited!" Clara jumped up and down in her seat. "I hope this year is awesome."

In the next compartment down Craig and Sophie sat together with no other students. "Looks like it's just the two of us." Sophie smiled.

"Yeah" Craig smiled back but there was a nervousness behind his smile.

Sophie had been Craig's friend even before they started going to Hogwarts. They were both muggle borns and received their acceptance letters at the same time last year. They've been close since they were hardly old enough for primary school. So the fact that Craig had developed a serious crush on Sophie worried him. He was more than certain that Sophie saw him as nothing more than a friend. Or even worse; as a brother.

Besides that, they weren't nearly in the same level when it came to looks. Sophie wasn't the sort of girl that might make most guys do a double take but she had a sweet smile and pleasing features. She'd always say her teeth her too big or her nose was too pointed but Craig was very quick to disagree. He's find a way to disagree with a casual "No, you look fine." When what he really wanted to say was "No, you're so beautiful I might kiss you." But he knew she didn't want to hear that.

Like most 12 year old boys though; he was dead wrong about what girls were thinking. Especially what his friend, Sophie was thinking. She was just as interested and just as shy about her feelings as he was. But after so much dancing around the issue; she was growing quite impatient. She softly placed her hand over his as she leaned in closer to him. "Do you want to get some sweets from the trolley?" She asked

"You don't have to ask me that. You know I do" Craig quickly took some galleons out of his pocket excitedly as he saw the trolley roll by completely missing how Sophie had placed her hand on his in hopes that he'd take it. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

Mickey Smith burst into Rory and Amy's compartment paying no mind to the 3 first years that happened to be sharing the compartment with them. "Guess who Matthew perfect-at-everything Smith is cosying up to in the compartment down the hall."

"Everyone this is Mickey jealous-of-everybody Smith. No relation to Matthew perfect-at-everything Smith" Amy chuckled as she introduced Mickey to the new kids.

"You really gonna let your girlfriend talk to me like that, Mate?" Mickey shot Rory a look.

"Amy, that wasn't very nice" Rory tried to hide his smile finding Amy's comeback rather funny but not wanting to hurt his friend, Mickey's fragile ego either. Rory changed the subject by introducing the first years. "This is Melody, Gwen and Rhys." They all nodded correspondingly.