"See you next break, Dad."
"Goodbye, sweetheart. Don't kill anyone." He was mostly joking.
"I won't."
"Remember, it's the eleven o'clock. Say hi to Nary for me!"
"'Kay Dad! Love you!" She hugged him and he gave her the owl cage he'd been carrying. She walked quickly to the ticket counter. The employee there had a long white beard and a cheery smile. "One ticket for the eleven o'clock train please, sir."
"A sickle and four knuts." She handed him the money without much thought and he gave her the ticket. After about thirty feet, she stopped. Sickles and knuts? Since when does the trains take wizard money? She looked at her ticket. Station Nine and Three quarters, September first, eleven o'clock. Hm. Why do all the magic stations have to be between nine and ten? I remember when Hogwarts was the nine and five eighths.
As she went down to the platforms, she put on a pair of spectacles. Several people became outlined in different colored glows, red, green, yellow, blue, purple. She hardly noticed anymore that her glow was a rainbow of color. Nary was a rainbow, too, but hers was very dim.
Between platforms nine and ten she found a pillar that glowed silver on one side. She looked at her watch. Fifteen minutes to eleven. Hoping there weren't any passwords, she walked straight at the pillar.
And right through it. Thank the gods. Beyond this barrier was a blinding amount of magic. she took off her glasses. Once the spots had cleared from her vision, she saw hundreds of wizards and witches, some in regular clothing and some in robes. It was chaotic. Ignoring most of it, she got onto the train and started looking for an empty compartment. She was shy, snd didn't like to ask for anything from anyone, not even her sisters. She heard Hogwarts mentioned several times, and the feeling that something wasn't quite right increased.
She found an empty compartment and slipped inside. She put the owl and her bag on the empty rack above her and quickly transfigured her clothes into the basic black robes everyone else was wearing. She took a book out of her bag, Animangi, Werewolves, and Other Such Transformations, sat down, and began to read. A few minutes later, two girls opened the compartment door and came in, dragging their trunks. They were in conversation, and ignored her, while she ignored them.
The next words to reach her ears were, "Anything off the cart, dears?" She hopped up and walked over to the cart. There were Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and the like. She bought four Chocolate Frogs for eight knuts and went back into the compartment. One of the girls, she noticed, had gone.
She opened the Frogs one by one, letting them hop on the seat for a few bounces before catching them, eating them and opening the next one. "Unbelievable!" the other girl said.
"What?"
"You've got all four founders in one shot! That's unheard of! What's your name?"
"Cori, who are you?"
"Sophia," said the girl, scribbling quickly in a notebook. "New Hogwarts student by the name of Cori, finds all four founders cards in one shot! How does that sound?"
"Are your parents reporters?"
"No, Mom's in the Magical Mishaps department of St. Mungo's."
"Mm." They talked about things pertaining to Hogwarts and other magical places until Sophia finally asked, "What house do you want to be in? My vote's for either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor."
"I don't know. I'll let the Hat choose."
"You pure?" Cori nodded. "Don't most pures stay in the same house?"
"Most. Not my family."
"Do you play Quittich?"
"No."
"My mom taught me how and we've played a few one-on-one, but that's it."
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school seperately." Cori and Sophia jumped up and walked out of the compartment. Cori stopped to stroke her owl and whisper a few words. Her bag had transfigured itself into a trunk during the ride and she left it as she got off the train.