I reached the platform and panicked. What happens if no-one likes me? What happens if I can't do all the magic we're learning? Mum calmed me though. She took my hand and spoke to me softly, "Honey, you'll be fine. You'll love it there, I did. I made the best of friends at Hogwarts and I learnt so much." Her words calmed me down as we ran at the wall to platform 9 ¾. I shut my eyes, ready for the pain of hitting the wall at full speed but nothing happened. I opened my eyes seconds later to find a scarlet steam engine waiting next to a platform packed with people. I looked up and down the platform and noticed family after family saying goodbye. I made my way down the platform with mum by my side and Lily (named after mums best friend), my owl, in her cage in my hand.
A horn blasted through the platform telling everyone that the train was leaving in two minutes. I hugged my mum goodbye and when I let go I saw tears streaking down her face.
"I'll be fine" I told her as I gathered my stuff together. "I love you." She replied back to me, blew me a kiss and I hurried onto the train. Most people had made their way onto the train by now as all of the compartments were full. I came to one in the middle of the train with only two people in it. They were looking out the window. All I could make out were two heads, on black haired and one ginger. Even though they were both boys, I couldn't roll my trunk any further so I knocked on the door.
"Um, hi. Could I sit here, all of the other compartments are full." I asked hopefully. They both turned to each other, turned back and nodded. I sighed with relief and started hauling my trunk up to the rack.
"I'm Jenny Fielding, nice to meet you" I said to them as I sat down next to the ginger haired boy.
"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley" The ginger boy turned to me and said.
"And I'm Harry Potter" The other told me.
"Are you really?" I asked in surprise. "Mum's told me all about you. She and your mum used to be best friends. I named my owl after her." Harry beamed at me, lips touching his ears.
All three of us got on really well and made conversation very quickly. Ron liked the same Quidditch team as me. Harry had no idea what Quidditch was so we explained all about the four balls, the best players in the world and everything.
There was a knock on the door and I turned to see a round faced boy looking worried.
"Have any of you seen my toad anywhere?" He asked us. We shook our heads and the boy left in a hurry.
At around 12:30 a woman came down the corridor shouting "Anything from the trolley" over and over again. I got up got my money out and bought some of everything.
Ron was explaining to us how he tried to turn his pet rat, Scabbers, yellow the day before when the boy came to the door again, but this time with a girl. She was already in the Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.
"We've already told him," Ron said, agitated "we haven't seen him."
The girl, who obviously noticed Ron's wand being out, asked us whether we were doing magic.
"Come on, let's see then"
"Er – alright." He cleared his throat, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." The girl looked unimpressed.
"Do you really call that a spell? Are you sure it's real, because, nothing happened. I've tried a few spells myself actually. Only simple ones though. No-one in my family is magic at all. It was all a bit of a shock when I got my letter, but my parents were thrilled. I've learned all of the books by heart of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger by the way. And you are?" She said it all very fast, I couldn't really tell what she was saying.
"Jenny Fielding"
"Ron Weasley"
"Harry Potter"
"Are you really?" I chuckled to myself and Hermione turned towards me. "What's funny?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just, that is exactly how I reacted when I heard his name."
She carried on, "You're really famous; did you know? You're in the Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Event of the Twentieth Century."
Harry looked shocked. "Am I?"
After her ranting on for about five minutes, she got up and left, the toadless boy in tow.
"So what houses do you guys want to be in?" I asked, intrigued.
"Well, whatever house I am in, I hope it's not anywhere near her." Ron pointed out of the compartment. I laughed.
"I want to be in Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw would be fine too. I do not want to get into Slytherin, because that is for Death-Eaters-to-be. And Hufflepuff is for the people who don't belong in any of the other houses, so no to that one too." I explained to the two boys staring at me.
"I don't know which I want to be in..." Harry said.
"Well, I wouldn't choose Slytherin. That's for mean people." I told him, and Ron nodded his head in agreement.
I looked out of the window as the conversation died down. The sky was very dark. I heard screams and laughs down the corridor and many people were running up and down the corridor. I felt the train slow down and I reached for my trunk to get my robes out.
"Jenny, what are you doing?" Harry asked me quizzically.
"Changing, I think we're probably nearly there..."
With that, I let the compartment to head for the toilet to get changed. As I changed and headed back to the compartment, a voice echoed through the train, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately.
My stomach lurched. This was it. Hogwarts here we come...
The train slowed as it came into the station and we made our way out onto the platform.
A loud roar came from along the platform. "Firs' years! Firs' years! Over here! All right Harry?"
A giant man stood in front of us. He had a large brown beard that covered his whole face and his hair hit his shoulders. It looked as though he hadn't washed his hair in years. He was about two men tall and four men wide.
"C'mon. Follow me." We walked for about two minutes and reached a large lake with lots of boats floating on the pier.
"All right. Everyone in. No more than four to a boat."
We got into the boat and, when everyone was in, the boats rowed themselves round the bend. Everyone let out loud a loud "Ooooh!" as Hogwarts came into view.
