Louella looked at the wall dividing platforms nine and ten with unease, to her it didn't matter how many times Professor McGonagall had assured her that she would be alright and that she wouldn't crash headfirst into the barrier, it didn't matter that she had seen weirder things the month before when she went to Diagon Alley, it didn't matter that every now and then people with trunks on carts would disappear through that barrier, Louella refused to believe that she wouldn't smack head first into that thing.

Louella looked at the barrier between platforms nine and ten once more and she let out a sigh. If she ever wanted to go to Hogwarts, if she ever wanted to leave that orphanage, she would have to make a fool of herself. Mustering as much courage as she could, Louella moved back a bit and took a running start at the barrier, bracing herself for an impact that never came.

Instead, she kept on running until she saw a scarlet steam engine with smoke billowing out of it. There was a sign that read, Hogwarts Express 11:00. Louella's jaw dropped as she took in the sights, forgetting that if she stayed there any longer she would block someone else, so she moved along, making her towards the train, trying to ignore all the families struggling to say goodbye to each other, the overbearing mothers refusing to let go of her children no matter how much they begged to be let go, the siblings either crying about having to say goodbye or about the fact that they want to go to Hogwarts now, or both.

Louella struggled to lift her trunk off the cart and drag it up the train door, hoping that some older student would see her, take pity, and help her, but no one came and Louella was forced to drag that trunk all the way down the train, looking for an empty compartment. Luckily for her, there was an empty compartment at the very front of the train so she didn't really have to walk around as much. She struggled to put her trunk up, almost dropping it on herself. Louella let out a shriek and jumped back in surprise, she stared at her trunk and decided to shove it to the end of the compartment, under the window, she stared at it and she started to feel dread welling up inside her as she realized she would have to go through this again when she arrived at the Hogwarts. Not wanting to dwell on what was to come any longer, Louella sat down in her compartment and started digging around her bag in which she had put her separate things for the ride, like one would do when going on a flight, and pulled out her robes, she stood up and walked out of the compartment in search for a bathroom so that she could change, feeling too uncomfortable to change in the compartment.

When Louella returned to her compartment she found that it was no longer empty. Inside the compartment sat a girl staring out the window that seemed to be the same age as Louella, she seemed taller than Louella and had light mid-length, wavy, light brown hair and brown eyes and a round face and she was also wearing her Hogwarts robes, she had managed to put her trunk up as well as Louella's. She looked up when she heard the compartment door slide open and a smile found her way to her face, "Hi, I'm Laurie Fawley, nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand, expecting for Louella to shake it. Louella looked at her hand and hesitantly took it, "Louella Alexander, likewise."

Laurie smiled once more and said, "That's a pretty name, but it's too long for me. Do you mind if I call you Lou instead?" Louella shrugged and said, "Call me whatever you want, I don't care," and she went and sat across from Laurie and looked out the window. They fell into a silence as they waited for the train to start moving, Lou tugging on her blonde locks anxiously because the brunette sitting across from her was staring at her intently. After a few awkward minutes, Laurie finally asked, "So what house do you want to be in?" "Huh?" "What house are you hoping to get?" Lou paused, thinking about what Professor McGonagall had said about the Hogwarts houses, "Any are fine really, as long as I get to stay at Hogwarts, I don't care," "Oh, well, I'm going to Slytherin, that's for sure." "Why is that?" "My whole family's been in Slytherin, that's why."

Louella thought about this, "Which one was Slytherin again?" Laurie looked at her and asked, "Are you a muggle-born?" "Muggle..? Oh yeah, I guess so," Lou answered awkwardly, "Should have guessed, judging from your last name. Anyway, Slytherin is the house of the snakes, the evil people." Lou raised a brow, "Evil people?" "Yeah, home of the death eaters, you-know-who, etc." "Death...eaters? You-know-what?"

Laurie shot Lou a sympathetic look, "You-know-who is this massive blood purist that believes that all purebloods should rule over everyone else, muggle-borns and muggles especially. His followers are called death eaters and most, if not all of them are in Slytherin, you-know-who himself was a Slytherin." Lou looked terrified but she couldn't stop herself from asking, "You-know-who was the guy's name?" Laurie laughed and said, "No, he has a name but no one calls him by that, they're too scared to, his name is a taboo." "Does he...does he kill people?" "I don't think you-know-who himself kills people, probably thinks he's too powerful to actually do his busy work himself, his followers, however, do kill people, lots of people."
Louella's face must have paled because Laurie suddenly looked sympathetic and said, "Don't worry, you'll be fine, Lou, you're going to Hogwarts after all, it's the safest place in all of the magical world, s' long as you're there you'll be alright." "You said that you were definitely going to Slytherin, are you calling yourself evil?" Laurie looked at her and said, "No, I'm not like my family, unlike them, I don't actually care about blood status, but I do have to go to Slytherin if I don't my parents might actually kill me."

As Louella contemplated what Laurie said the train started pulling out of the station and she looked out the window. "Say, Louie, if I do end up going to Slytherin, which I will, and you end up going somewhere else, which you will because you're a muggle-born, will you still be friends with me- if you want to be friends with me in the first place, which I doubt you will since you know who my family is." Lou smiled and said, "I'd love to be friends with you, and I'd like to continue being friends with you, even if you do end up going to Slytherin." Laurie smiled at Lou's reassurance and quickly began another conversation.

Louella and Laurie were in the middle of discussing Quidditch, Laurie was desperately trying to explain the rules to Louella who looked even more confused the more Laurie tried to explain it, when the trolley witch approached their compartment, "Anything from the trolley, dears?" She asked with a kind smile on her face, Laurie immediately stood up and made her way to the trolley cart, turning to Louella briefly asking, "Want anything, Louie?" Lou shook her head and said, "I'll get a stomach ache, better off not eating anything." "We have a very long way to Hogwarts, you're going to get hungry and then you'd get a stomach ache anyway, you might as well eat something, something light at least, some Chocolate Frogs, maybe some Pumpkin Pasties?" "Oh, alright," Lou relented.

Laurie came back with a handful of Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties and something called Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and something else called Sugar Quills. "The Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties are for you, the every flavour beans and Sugar Quills are for me, but you're welcome to take some." Lou nodded appreciatively grabbed a Chocolate Frog, "They have cards of famous witches and wizards inside them, you can, you know, start a collection of them." Lou nodded and unwrapped the Chocolate Frog, eating the candy first before acknowledging the card, by the time she got to the card she saw that were there should have been a photo was a blank space, she raised her brows, "You took too long so she left," Laurie provided.

Lou immediately looked up, "The pictures move?!" She exclaimed, "Well, duh," said Laurie so casually she could have been talking about the weather. Lou still looked astonished as she looked back down and saw that the picture was supposed to be of a woman named Alberta Toothill, she quickly turned over the card and read her description. "Want some?" Lou looked up and saw that Laurie was offering some jellybeans, probably some of those every flavour things she got. Lou was about to accept when Laurie remembered something, "Oh, wait, I wouldn't eat those if you have sensitive taste buds, they're serious when they mean every flavour." Lou quickly retracted her hand and went to grab a Pumpkin Pasty instead. Laurie and Lou started talking about the classes they were going to take at Hogwarts, Laurie sharing her wisdom that she got from her pure-blood family and Louella completely entranced in everything she was saying, making little comments here and there and before they knew it, the sky was darkening and the train was slowing down.