"Lexy, is your trunk all packed?"
"Yes mum," Alexa Davies replied, as she scrambled off her bed to shove all her books, her potions kit, and all her clean clothes into her tatty trunk. Lexy liked all things that looked old-fashioned or worn out. That's why she chose to buy her books and trunk second hand, although she couldn't stand the idea of wearing second hand clothes.
It was August 31, and tomorrow, Alexa would be starting her third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was the only person in her family to have gone to this particular school because, as far as she was aware, the rest of her family were muggles. Alexa lived with her mum, Tracy, and her little sister, Lucy, who was ten years old, and had not shown the slightest hint of magical powers. Alexa had never known her father. According to her mother, Alexa's father had been arrested for some serious crime when Alexa was only about a year old. They had never heard from him again.
"Right, time for bed dear. You don't want to be tired for your first day back at school."
Alexa rolled her eyes, "Mum, we don't even have any lessons tomorrow! Besides, I can always sleep on the train."
Her mum laughed, "Well, you ought to get some beauty sleep anyway. God know you could do with some."
"Hey!" Alexa threw her pillow at her mum who ducked out of the room, giggling.
Alexa changed into her pyjamas and wriggled under her covers, but she was far too excited to sleep. She grabbed her torch out from under her pillow, which she had returned to her bed before trying to settle down, and dug around in her trunk until she found one of her new school books (Standard Books of Spells – Grade Three). She lay there reading for about half an hour when she heard a gentle creek and a soft patter of footsteps. It was her black cat, Boggle. She loved being a witch with a black cat. She loved that cliché. She went back to reading her book as Boggle leaped onto her bed, and snuggled up on her lap. She stroked him absent-mindedly for a while, until she fell into a deep slumber.
The darkness was closing in around her. She could just about make out a man's face, a face which she thought she should recognise, but couldn't quite place. A heavy rattling breath, the cold, the ever-lasting misery. The man vanished. She tried to reach out for him, but the frozen-darkness was moving in. All she could think about was her misery. She was sad. So, so sad…
Alexa woke with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. It was just a dream. So why had it felt so real? She rolled over and checked the time on her rickety old clock. Ten past five. It was way too early to be awake, but if she fell asleep, she might have that dreadful dream again.
She lay there for another ten minutes or so, trying to remember the face of the man, but it was slipping away, just like it had in the dream. He had looked fairly young, maybe nineteen or twenty at most, his face was pale… Who could he possibly be?
Alexa got up and started to get dressed. She found some navy jeans in a crumpled heap on her floor, the same jeans she had been wearing for the past fortnight at least. Once she had found some clean underwear and a top, she checked her room one last time, to make sure that everything was packed, and tip-toed downstairs for some breakfast.
The kitchen was small and messy, with cat food all over the floor and dirty dishes covering half of the work-top. Alexa emptied the end of a box of cereal into a bowl, sloshed some milk on top, grabbed a spoon and trotted into the living room, where she clumsily slumped onto the sofa to eat her slushy breakfast. Just as she was finishing the last couple of spoonfuls, she heard the creak of the stairs and her little freckly sister toddled into the room, accompanied by a furry, black, squirmy thing in a doll's dress.
"What have you done to Oggy?" Lexy yelled in annoyed surprise, "He's my cat, not yours! Have you been in my room again? How many times do I have to tell you to leave my stuff alone, especially my school things?" The youngest girl burst into tears and dropped the beloved cat who scampered away to hide somewhere in complete shame. This is what Alexa hated about coming home for the holidays. She love being at school. She didn't have to worry about her magic at school. It wasn't safe for Lucy to be touching her school things. Muggles aren't allowed near magic. It wasn't just the fact that Lucy had dressed her pet cat up like a baby that annoyed her, but if Lucy had accidently found Alexa's wand, Alexa could be in serious trouble.
Hurried footsteps on the stairs announced the waking of their mother. Alexa suddenly felt really guilty. She realised that she shouldn't have shouted, but she didn't like people messing around with her possessions.
"Alexa Louise Davies, what on Earth do you think you are playing at? It's quarter to bloody six in the morning!" Tracy's hair was messy, her nightdress crumpled, sleepy-dust still around her eyes.
"Sorry mum, I didn't mean-"
"It's not me you should be apologising to. You upset your sister! I don't care if you are off to school today, if you don't sort out your attitude you might never see that place again! Do you understand me?"
"But-"
"I said do you understand me?"
"Yes, but-"
"Good, now apologise to your sister, and you'd better mean it, because she isn't going to see you for months, and I don't want you leaving her upset like this."
Alexa took a deep breath. She honestly couldn't wait to leave this house. That wasn't true. She always missed her family while she was at school, but it was easier to stay out of trouble when she didn't have her little sister bugging her all the time.
At ten o'clock, Alexa helped her mum lift her heavy trunk into the boot of a taxi, and scrambled on to the back seat, next to her sister, for the journey to King's Cross Station. Boggle did not seem to enjoy this little trip very much, because he clawed Alexa's face for most of the journey.
When they got to the train station forty-five minutes later, Alexa hauled her trunk onto a trolley and sat Boggle on top, and then the three ladies trundled into the station, towards the ticket barrier between platforms nine and ten. As they got near to the barrier, Alexa recognised a few friendly faced, fellow Gryffindors. Harry Potter (the Boy Who Lived), Ron Weasley (that weird ginger guy who always pigs out) and Hermione Granger (Alexa's very intelligent dorm-friend). The other Weasleys were with them and they were all about to go through the barrier to the magically concealed Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Harry went through the barrier first with Mr. Weasley, they were followed by Ron's older brother, Percy, and younger sister, Ginny. Then went Ron's older twin brothers, Fred and George, Ron and Hermione, and finally Mrs. Weasley.
Alexa stepped forward, in line with the concealed gateway. She gave her mother one last good bye hug, and then turned to her little sister, who had begun to cry again.
"Don't cry, Luce. I'll be back for Christmas; it'll go so quick that it will be like I haven't been away at all." She gave Lucy a bear-tight hug, and as they parted, Lucy sniffed and said, "Lex, I wish I could go to magic school with you."
This made Alexa feel really uncomfortable. She didn't want to upset Lucy anymore, but she knew that Lucy wouldn't even be able to see Hogwarts. All muggles saw was some old ruin – according to Hermione Granger, who had read some old book about the history of Hogwarts.
"Yeah, I wish you were a witch too, then you would be able to join me at school next year." Then she leaned closer to her little sister again and whispered, "I'm going to miss you Lucy-Lou." They shared a final hug, then Alexa stepped back to her trolley, bade her family good bye, and slid through the gateway, back to the world of her equals.