The crisp autumn air surrounded the four Potters as they walked through the noisy and sooty station. People casted strange glances at the trolley that held a large trunk and sleeping snowy owl in a cage. Eleven year old Harry Potter walked alongside his sister, Amelia, as his father pushed the trolley. Amelia and Harry continued their conversation they started when they arrived at the station.
"Harry, do you have to go?" Amelia pleaded.
"Amy, I promise I'll write to you every week," Harry said.
"Couldn't you wait two more years so we could go together?"
"Nah, you'd get sick of me." Amelia sighed.
Finally the family arrived at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10.
"Are you sure we're supposed to run through the barrier?" Harry asked.
"Positive," James said with a grin.
"It looks pretty solid," Amelia said.
"Loves, it's best to just run through the barrier and get it over with," Lily advised.
Harry grabbed his sister's hand and ran through the barrier, without a second thought. They braced themselves for a impact, but when there was none, they both opened their eyes.
The air was full of a thick steam, but a scarlet steam engine was just visible. Many young witches and wizards raced about, calling out to friends, placing luggage in the back or saying goodbyes to their parents. Harry and Amelia had just gotten out of the way before their parents slid in from the barrier.
"Mum, do you know where Neville is?" Harry asked.
"Harry, we got here pretty early, give them a minute," Lily said. Harry huffed.
Suddenly girl with waist length, straggly blond hair tapped Harry on his shoulder. She had large and bright silvery grey eyes, a wand tucked behind her ear and was wearing a necklace of Butterbeer caps. As soon as he turned around Harry recognised her as Luna Lovegood.
"Harry Potter," Luna said with an airy voice, "you might not want to stand there, I sense many Klippo's are there."
"Oh, um, okay." Harry stepped aside from the spot he was previously standing.
"That's better. Klippo's can be nasty creatures." Luna skipped away towards the train. James blinked.
"I always knew the Lovegoods were strange, but not that strange," he said.
"James!" Lily said and whacked her husbands arm. "The Lovegoods are lovely people."
"By lovely you mean loony," James muttered. Lily sent him a glare.
"Look, there's Uncle Remus!" Amelia said and pointed at a figure in the mist. As the figure came closer, they noticed it was two people.
"Wotcher, Harry, Amelia, James and Lily!" Nymphadora Tonks said happily, arm in arm with Remus Lupin.
"Tonks, what are you doing here?" Lily asked. "And where are Matthew and Shawn?"
"I wanted to come and see Harry off and Remus took me. Your other two kids are with Sirius and Lauren- don't worry," Tonks added at the look of horror on Lily's face, "Lauren's great with kids."
"Moony, will you help me with Harry's trunk?" James asked, grinning.
"Sure." Remus walked unsurely over to James and pulled the other end of Harry's trunk up.
"So, Moony…" James said with a mischievous look in his eyes, "you want to add to why Tonks came?"
Remus blushed bright red. "W-what? Pssh, no. I don't even know Dora all that well. Plus she's like 13 years younger than me." He said all of this very fast.
"You lie, Moony. You like her, don't you?"
"Shhh!" Remus cried and glanced over at the laughing Tonks. "Okay, maybe a little- but you can't tell anyone! Not even Sirius or Lily."
James snickered as the two men heaved the trunk into the carriage. Remus sent him a warning look as Amelia looked to see what was so funny.
"Look, it's Neville!" Harry cried. He gave his sister a hug, let his mother kiss his cheek, gave his father a large hug, Tonks ruffled his hair playfully, Remus gave him a hug and Harry raced off to find his friend.
"Neville! Neville, hey!" Harry yelled as he ran towards his friend. Neville looked up and when he saw Harry running towards him, he waved in a greeting.
"Hey, Harry! How was your summer?" Neville asked.
"Fantastic! How was yours?"
"Mine was good. I got a new wand. Can you keep a secret?" Harry nodded. "My wand has a brother core to Voldemort's" -Harry flinched at the name- "wand, and apparently the phoenix that gave us our cores only gave two feathers."
Harry gasped. "Are you serious?" he asked.
"Dead serious. Olivander kept muttering 'interesting, interesting' over and over until Gran told him that he sounded like a Muggle tape recorder stuck on replay."
"That's crazy, Neville. Are you sure that you and You-Know-Who are the only two with feathers from the same phoenix?" Neville nodded. "That's mad."
"I know. Let me go say goodbye to Gran and then we can get on the train."
"Alright."
Neville went off in search of his grandmother, leaving Harry. Neville saw his Gran talking to a friend whose name Neville couldn't think of.
"Bye, Gran," Neville said and gave her a hug. Augusta patted his back stiffly.
"Have fun, and stay out of trouble," she warned her grandson.
"I will, don't worry!" Neville said and ran back to Harry. "Come on, let's go."
To Neville's and Harry's dismay, the only compartment that wasn't full belonged to Luna Lovegood.
"Can we sit here?" Neville sighed.
"I just sprayed the air for Finir Gikkles," Luna said seriously. "They tend to make anyone sitting near them act like goblins. You can't see them, you can only smell them. The smell like strawberries."
Harry and Neville exchanged glances.
"Right, um, thanks for that. Can we sit here?" Neville asked again.
"If you desire."
Harry and Neville reluctantly sat down. Luna stared at them with her bright silver eyes.
"You're Neville Longbottom, aren't you? I can see your scar," Luna said. Neville self-consciously flattened out his bangs.
"Yeah, I'm him," Neville said and raised a hand.
"Many people think that you have violet eyes, but I can see that's not the case, unfortunately. I'll have to tell my father." Luna fingered her Butterbeer cap necklace.
"Can I sit here?" a boy with bright orange hair asked from the door way. Harry recognised him as Ron Weasley.
"Sure!" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself. Luna moved over to make room for the newcomer.
"You have many freckles," Luna said, staring at Ron's face.
"You have large eyes," Ron retorted. Luna shrugged and looked out the window.
"So, what House does everyone want to be in?" Neville asked.
"Gryffindor," Harry and Ron said at the same time.
"The Gryffindor common room has Dansherals in the carpet," Luna stated gravely. "I want to be in Ravenclaw."
"I want to be in Gryffindor, both of my parents were in it," Neville said.
"Blimey, are you Neville Longbottom?" Ron asked, just now realising who the boy sitting across from him was. Neville nodded his head. "That's so cool."
"Aren't you Loony- I mean Luna Lovegood?" Ron asked.
"Yes, I suppose I am."
"I'm Harry. Harry Potter," Harry said from beside Neville.
"Yeah, my father knows your dad from work," Ron said.
Just then, the train started with a lurch. The four eleven year olds stuck their hands out the window, waving goodbye to London as they started their adventure to Hogwarts.