Chapter 1

That was four years ago. My first year was tons of fun. Met lots of new people. Made new friends. But my best friend was still Carson. He pretty much lives with us now. His parents have gone crazy. They've convinced themselves that they can resurrect You-Know-Who. Maybe they can. But I highly doubt that.

"I can't wait to get to Hogwarts," Carson said,"Then I will be free of my parents for a year."

"You already live with us," I said,"You're free of your parents all the time."

"Oh. Right."

Carson had changed a lot over the past four years. You could tell he had been through a lot, just by looking at his face. His dark red hair was messily combed, since he woke up about five minutes before my parents left for King's Cross. Good thing we had packed our stuff last night.

"Hey Travis," Carson said, looking slightly worried,"What if my parents actually can bring back You-Know-Who?"

"They won't," I said confidently,"But if they do, well, we've got no Harry Potter to save us."

Harry Potter, the savior of the wizarding world had died last week. He was 107.

"King's Cross," my dad said,"I'm going to find a parking spot. Maybe."

He got out of the car and waved his wand. We were all ejected from our seats, along with our luggage. Luna, my owl, squaked indignantly. And before you ask, the name has nothing to do with Luna Lovegood. I just really like the moon.

"Sorry Luna," my dad said.

She squaked again.

"Shush," I told her.

She just glared at me.

"Tom, you need to warn us before you do stuff like that," my mom said.

"I might," my dad said with a mischievous smile.

"Boys, don't get any ideas," she said,"Travis's dad is a terrible example."

"I can't promise anything," I said, smiling,"Now we should get in there."

We walked quickly into the station, heading directly at the column in between platforms nine and ten. No gave us a second glance since my dad had put some sort of charm on it. Ravenclaws are supposed to be smart. He definitely succeeded.

"Let's go," Carson said, and he ran straight into the column.

This definitely got some weird looks. But a second later they seemed to forget.

"You first sweetie," my mom said.

I ran into the wall, passing right through. It felt like I was running through a hologram.

"Hey Trav!" my other best friend, Paige, said.

"Hello!" I said.

She was standing with Carson by a door to the train. I said bye to my parents and ran over to them. Paige gave me a quick hug.

"How was your summer?" she asked.

"You wrote to me every single week this summer. I think you know how my summer was," I said with a smile.

She laughed,"It was a joke, dummy."

"Let's get on the train lovebirds," Carson said.

Both Paige and I blushed.

"We asked you not to call us that," I said,"And we're just friends."

"I am a teenager," Carson said,"It's my job to make those kinds of remarks to my friends."

I just rolled my eyes at him and pushed past him to get onto the train. Paige followed me.

"Why am I always the last one on?" Carson muttered,"It's always me."

"You are always the one that makes annoying remarks," Paige pointed out,"Which makes us push past you onto things."

"This car has minimal people in it," I said.

"Minimal?" asked Carson,"That means there's somebody in it."

"Well duh," Paige said,"Who is it?"

"Robby," I answered,"Hey Robby. Can we join you in here?"

"Oh hi Travis," Robby said,"Of course you can sit in here."

Robby was a Gryffindor and was their seeker. We had become friends last year during a Christmas party that my parents hosted.

"Well good," I said,"Because if you had said no, I would have jinxed you out of here."

"You Ravenclaws," he said, shaking his head,"Always thinking of the magic."

"It's my job," I said, walking into the cabin and sitting down.

I leaned my head back on the soft seat. I remembered the first time I sat on the Hogwarts Express. Then I only had Carson. But now I more friends. Paige, Robby, and a couple others.

"So how was your summer?" I asked.

"Pretty good," he said,"My dad put a muggle repelling charm on the field behind our house, so I got to practice my quidditch."

"So you'll beat us in the matches then," Carson said.

"We always do," he said,"Even when my dad went to Hogwarts, Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw. It's not hard. Gryffindor has the jocks, and Ravenclaw has the geeks."

"At least we usually beat Hufflepuff and Slytherin," I said.

"Enough quidditch talk," Paige said,"The train is about to leave!"

And sure enough, I felt the train lurch beneath my feet. I walked over to the window and saw witches and wizards waving, people running along with the train, and people running to jump on the train. Then it was all gone. The only thing we saw were car and people milling around London.

"London is so ugly," Paige said.

"Then good thing Hogwarts is in the middle of nowhere," Carson said.