A/N: If you got a massive amount of emails because of this story, I'm sorry. I'm a perfectionist and I felt that I needed to fix some stuff so yeah. Sorry again.

The Hogwarts Express

A small strawberry blonde girl named Lauretta Demoire sat down on a bench in King's Cross station with a look of utter defeat on her face. She stared at her ticket with her long curls curtaining her vision past it. Platform 9 and ¾. How on earth am I supposed to get to a platform that doesn't exist? she thought.

"C'mon Mum! The train leaves in 10 minutes!" said a boy with dark shaggy hair and a trolley with an owl in a cage perched on top.

"I know! I know!" said a red haired lady who Lauretta assumed was his mum.

"How do we get to platform 9 and ¾? I don't see any signs for it." asked the boy.

"That's because there aren't any signs for it!" his mum retorted. "Now hurry along or we'll miss it!"

Lauretta perked up. These people were wizards! She stood up, stumbling over her trolley, and walked sheepishly over to the wizard family, unsure of what to expect. There was five of them. The father had dark hair that stuck out in all different directions, like both his sons, and bright green eyes. The daughter had fiery red hair like her mum.

"Excuse me, do you know where platform 9 and ¾ is?" Lauretta asked timidly.

"Oh, it's just through that brick wall!" the father called out.

"Through that brick wall?" she asked.

"Yes. It's best to run if your nervous," answered the mum. "Go on now train leaves in 8 minutes!"

"Umm ok…" she said and before she could think about it she was being pushed towards the brick wall. Expecting to crash, she closed her eyes and braced herself. But when she didn't crash she opened her eyes to see the gleaming golden letters that read Hogwarts Express. Behind her the family she was talking to appeared out of nowhere. All along the side of the train kids were sticking their heads out the windows to say good bye to their parents and Lauretta couldn't help but wish hers were there with her.

The family that was behind her had left and were standing by the train with the other parents, except for the oldest boy, and Lauretta decided she should probably board the train now. She handed her luggage over to a man with a wand out that was packing up everyone's belongings into a luggage hold beneath the floor of the train, that looked slightly larger than it should have. Then she gave her ticket to a woman by the door of the train, and proceeded to board.

She walked nervously down the aisles with her shoulder bag, looking for an empty compartment but to no avail. Every compartment was full of young witches and wizards smiling and eating unfamiliar sweets. Finally towards the end of the train she found a compartment that only had 2 boys that looked like first years in it and decided that if she had to sit anywhere it should at least be with people her age. Both of them looked extremely excited but scared out of their mind, exactly how she felt. One of them was the boy that Lauretta had walked in with and the other boy had curly light brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Is it alright if I sit in here? Everywhere else is full." she asked nervously.

The boys looked at her.

"Sure," said the boy with the curly light brown hair. "I'm Mathery Brenning, but you can call me Mat, and that's James Potter," he said pointing at the boy across from him.

"Hi Mat and James. I'm Lauretta Demoire." she smiled and sat down after throwing her bag onto the rack above the seats.

"What house do you want to be sorted into? Mat and I were just talking about it. I want to be in Gryffindor like my parents," said James.

"And I don't care what house I'm in as long as its not Slytherin," said Mat.

"House?" she asked stupidly.

"You were muggle born weren't you," Mat said.

"Muggle?" she asked still stupidly.

"It means a non magical person," answered James "Were you?"

"Oh umm… Well, to be honest, I have no idea."

"How can you have no idea? I mean they raised you, didn't they?" asked Mat.

"No. Not exactly… I never met my dad… I suppose he could have been a wizard. Every time I tried to ask my mum about him she would start crying… She was never the motherly type… Guess she was just massively depressed after my dad…passed…" she said solemnly with tears starting to well up. "I never saw her do any magic when she was alive though so she was probably a muggle."

"So your parents are…?" asked James.

"Yeah… they're dead…" she answered quietly.

"I'm sorry," James said.

"Its alright…" she sniffled and wiped her eyes. "So what are these said 'houses'?" she asked to change the subject. They were looking at her differently, almost pitifully, and Lauretta didn't need, or want, their pity.

"Houses are like your family while your at Hogwarts. Well that's what my mum says anyway." said James.

"There are 4 different houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." Mat added.

"So which house is the best?"

"Gryffindor," James and Mat answered simultaneously.

"It's for the 'brave at heart,'" James explained. "Ravenclaw is for the smart people, there's never been a dark wizard that didn't come out of Slytherin, and everyone who isn't brave, smart, or evil is in Hufflepuff."

"Well I'm smart I suppose, but not that smart. I like to think that I'm brave and I'm pretty sure I'm not evil so it looks like Gryffindor is the way to go," she reasoned.

"Wise choice young grasshopper," said James with a joking grin.

"Sweets from the trolley!" called a lady from the hall pushing a cart full of sweets Lauretta had never seen.

"Yes! The lunch trolley's here!" said Mat excitedly. He jumped out of his seat and practically ran to the compartment door. "I'll have a pack of Droobles and 2 chocolate frogs, please."

"Can I have a chocolate frog, a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and some Fizzing Whizbees?" James asked next. "Want anything Lauretta?"

"Umm… I don't know. What do you fancy?" she replied.

"Well the pumpkin pasties are rather good, not my favorite though." Mat said.

"What's your favorite?"

"Droobles. The best chewing gum in the world!" Mat grinned. "They never pop or lose their flavor."

"I prefer Fizzing Whizbees personally," James said as he sat back down. "But I don't think you'd like them."

"And what makes you think that?" Lauretta inquired.

"I don't know. You just seem more like a liquorice wand."

"I seem more like a liquorice wand?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "And in what world does that make sense?"

"Mine." he said quietly.

Mat and Lauretta laughed. James turned a deep red then pretended to fumble with something in his bag.

"Well then," she stood up and walked to the lunch trolley. "Can I have a Fizzing Whizbee, a liquorice wand, and a pack of Droobles, please?"

"That'll be 7 knuts and a sickle then."

She took out a small leather bag from her pocket and counted out the coins then handed them to the lady. "Thank you," Lauretta said as she received her sweets.

"Now then. You say I seem more like a liquorice wand than a Fizzing Whizbee?" she opened up the liquorice wand package and waved the wand around. "What does it do?"

"Nothing! It's just a fake wand that tastes like licorice!" laughed James.

"And I seem more like a fake wand than a Fizzing Whizbee?" she said fuming.

"Well its not just a fake wand. It also tastes like licorice!" said Mat.

James laughed and gave Mat a high five. Lauretta rolled her eyes.

"And what does a Fizzing Whizbee do that's so unlike me?"

"Allow me to show you!" said James as he ripped the top off his package of Fizzing Whizbees. He popped one into his mouth, chewed for a moment, and began floating out of his seat.

"Well that looks like fun! Are you saying I'm not fun?" asked Lauretta angrily.

"No, that's not what I was referring to at all!" said James with a stupid smile as he pretended to lay down in the air. He's such a git, she thought.

"Then what were you referring too?" she asked angry still.

"Well for one thing you can't float." he said.

With that she opened up her package of Fizzing Whizbees and popped one into her mouth. As she chewed it felt like someone turned off the gravity and she left the seat of the bench. "Who can't float now huh? That's right, Mat!" she said pointing at Mat who had his hands raised guiltily.

James and Lauretta laughed and after a while Mat joined in too. James' Fizzing Whizbee wore off and he fell on his butt in the middle of the compartment which made Mat and Lauretta laugh even harder. Then Lauretta moved over to her seat thinking hers would wear off soon too and landed back on it shortly after she had done so. Finally their laughing fit ended after what seemed like hours. Lauretta smiled. She hadn't laughed like that in a long time

"You're all right Lauretta. You know that? So are you Mat." said James panting.

"Wow! There it is! It's even better than I thought it would be!" Mat said pointing out the window at Hogwarts.

They all rushed to the window to get a better look at it.

"Wow. I can't believe we really get to go to school here! This is incredible!" said Lauretta.

"Yeah it is, isn't it," said James with wide eyes.

"We should probably get into our robes now," said Mat after they stared at it for a moment.

They all reached into the racks above their seats and pulled out the robes from their bags. Then they quickly slipped on their robes so they could go back to the window and absorb more of the castle as they rolled towards it.