Lily entered Platform 9 ¾ wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Whatever she had seen in Diagon Alley, couldn't have prepared her for the thrill of the seemingly solid brick wall, the masses of magical children prepared to leave for school, and last, but not least, the splendour of the Scarlet Hogwarts train. The young girl dragged her trunk onto the train, and set off on the Quest of the Empty Compartment. She slipped smilingly into the last compartment on the train, the slightly bigger one taking up more than enough space for her and her luggage. She shoved the huge trunk into a corner, toppled a cage and a basket on top and dropped onto one of the soft seats, completely exhausted. But soon the permanent scratching and hooting threatened to drive her insane, and with a sigh she scooted over to the seat next to her belongings. She opened the silvery and black metal cage with practised fingers and let her black owl swoop out of the cage and perch on one of the luggage shelves above her head. A tiny white bird fluttered gracefully out after it, landing softly beside its new best friend up there close to the ceiling. Next Lily turned her attention to a basket. She quickly unclasped it, letting the lid spring of, and released her three year old, gigantic, furry, and now severely irritated, Main Coon cat. The pregnant cat, which had absolutely refused to stay home, now pointedly ignored Lily and sprang to the furthest seat for a nap. Lily rolled her eyes and dropped down in her seat again.
Unfortunately, the new-found peace wasn't to last long. Soon the door slipped open and two pairs of eyes were seen peeking in trough the gap. Some giggling was heard before the door slipped even further up and revealed a pair of young girls, one casually relaxing on top two trunks, the other standing with the door in her hand.
"Oh, sorry." The last one said, "But would you mind terribly if we joined you? We haven't' found another place to stay." Lily smiled welcomingly and shook her head.
"You're free to join me, as long as you can live with feathers and fur." They assured her they could, and entered the compartments, struggling their belongings in.
The girl who had spoken stored her luggage out of the way and seated herself with a basket on her lap. She had long, straight golden-blond hair and dark blue eyes.
"Do you or your cat mind of I let Minky and Dodger out?" She wondered, sending a hurried look towards Lily's huge cat.
"Nah." Lily said. "When she's like that, nothing bothers her." The girl grinned and flipped the lid open revealing a little grey mouse and a brown-tabby cat. The mouse climbed onto the cat with ease, before the tabby animal leaped out of the cage and onto the windowsill.
"I'm Helen Samiee, by the way." The girl smiled when she had disposed of the basket.
"I'm Lily Evans."
By now the second girl had managed to lure her baggage into the compartment, and had released a barn owl, which casually had flown up to Lilys Aphrodite and Eros, perching beside them on the shelf. The second girl also had blond hair, though in a softer, paler shade than the first. Her eyes were a stormy grey. She slipped into a seat and flung out a hand.
"Lisbeth Krownwell, at you service." She ginned. Lily shook it and repeated her own name.
"So," Helen started, "what's your family like? My mom and dad are muggles, so are Lisbeth's. We just met outside on the platform."
"Oh, mine are muggles as well," Lily grinned, "Quite the shock when my letter came!"
Before the conversation could continue, however, the door of the compartment barged open and four girls flitted inside banging the door shut. One of them, a tall girl with bouncy brown hair and mischievously sparkling chocolate eyes pulled out a wand and, pointing it at the door, said a spell Lily recognised from her charms-book to be a locking spell. Breathing heavily the four girls who had just arrived turned to the shocked girls in the compartment with apologetic smiles.
"Sorry," the bouncy-haired wand-girl mumbled between gasps, "But we had to flee from the wrath of Sirius and James." She grinned wickedly.
"It seems they run just as fast with dung-bomb-junk splattered all over them!" Two messy-haired girls, one black-haired, clearly Asian, and one brown haired girl with dark skin, turned to each other and high-fived with glee before sinking down to the ground. The bouncy-haired continued.
"My name's Dani Wind, this," She turned to the Asian girl "is Erika Chali, she" She pointed at the dark girl "is Drew Haberthon, and she" She turned to the last of the girls, one with lots of coppery-blond hair and ocean-blue eyes, "is Wiona Sheen." Lily smiled.
"You're welcome to join us." She said and watched with amusement as the four girls dragged themselves across the compartment and dropped into some of the available seats. When they had reclaimed their breaths, each of them pulled out what looked like miniature trunks, cages and baskets and let Dani, the bouncy-haired girl, return their belongings to proper size. Erika, the Asian girl with the black hair and the sky-blue eyes, released a dark brown owl from the boundaries of its cage and pulled out a strikingly orange lizard from her pocket, dropping it onto the floor. Dani released a reddish owl and a greyish cat. Drew released a young cat-owl and a six months old black kitten. Wiona produced a white owl and a white cat from its cage or basket, before sinking back and relaxing.
Lily gazed out in her drastically changed compartment. Her own cat, Zita, after trying and failing to greet four cats, a mouse and a lizard on the same time, had retreated to the safety of her basket. Her black owl, Aphrodite, and her white bird, Eros, where hooting and chipping with the newly released five owls. Lily shook her head with amusement. This promised to be an interesting ride.