Chapter 2: Platform and Sorting
The next day, James and his father left for platform nine and three quarters at Kings Cross, carrying all of James's things, while his mom stayed home with the two littler boys, because she didn't want to have to drag the little kids through the crowded train station. James was excited and nervous at the same time. He was excited to finally be going to Hogwarts to learn, but nervous because he didn't know anyone that was going there at all. He was just hoping he could find some friends on the way over to Hogwarts on the train.
"This way son," Brad called out, leading the way toward the platform, "We are almost there."
"Dad, there isn't a platform nine and three quarters." James said as they finally approached platforms nine and ten. "Look, there is just a nine and a ten."
"No, son, it's there. Follow me, but not too close." James's dad warned him. "You will go through the barrier between the two."
"But it's a wall; you can't just walk through a wall. You're magical, not a ghost!" James said as he watched his father walk at a decently fast pace toward the wall and just as he was about to hit and certainly crash and fall, he was gone. James was starting to get a little scared now, it was just him and he kept thinking what would happen if he walked toward it and he was deemed not magical enough to go through?
Finally, James mustered up enough courage to start moving. He couldn't stop now; he would look like a fool. So he kept going, picking up speed as he went, until he was sure that he would smash headfirst into the wall. Then, he wasn't in Kings Cross anymore. He had left the crowded area and appeared on a new platform with a huge train waiting for everyone to board.
"It's about time, James, I thought I had nearly lost and would have to go back." James's dad yelled over the chattering crowd.
"Believe me, I though you would have to come back too." James said with a smile.
"Well then, you should get on and grab a compartment before it fills up too much. You don't really know many people coming here so get out and meet some people okay?" Brad said, looking around to see if he recognized anyone from his days at Hogwarts. "Stay safe and your mother expects an owl by the end of the week. Trust me, if she doesn't receive that owl she may actually show up at Hogwarts and bring you back home."
"Ok, no problem." James said without thinking, he also had started to look for someone that may be a good person to befriend. There were groups of people everywhere. James took his luggage on the train and placed it into a compartment, then came back by his father. A short boy with dreadlocks walked right past where James and his father stood. James looked toward the entrance of the platform and saw that the next people starting to come in appeared to be a red-headed family. First two identical twins walked through the barrier, then three older boys, and finally a mother with two younger children, a girl and a boy.
"Fred and George, you two need to behave yourselves. If I hear that you two do anything wrong, I will have you both sent home! Dumbledore has enough on his plate, he doesn't need two more problem first years running around." James heard the mother telling the twins.
"Hear that George? You blow up one toilet and we are automatically problem students. Mom, we aren't a problem, we just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." The twin that must have been Fred, told her.
"Once? Yeah, you may have blown only ONE toilet up but—" The mother had started back at them, but James missed the rest of the sentence because at that moment his dad started to usher him quickly onto the train because it was about to leave. James noticed that five of the seven children in the red-headed family boarded the train.
"Stay safe! Have a good term!" Bradley called after James as he boarded the train.
"Of course!" James yelled back right before disappearing from view.
On board the train, James went to the compartment he had placed his trunk in. Inside the compartment were the red-headed twins and another kid with dark brown, almost black hair and light brown eyes.
Thinking this was a good opportunity to possibly make friends, James sat down next to the kid with brown hair and said, "Hello, I'm James White, what are all your names?"
"We are Fred and George Weasley," one of the twins said, "I am Fred. You can tell us apart because I am the better looking one."
"You are not the better looking one, we are identical," the other twin, George, said, "The real way to tell us apart is that I am the funnier one."
"I'm Austin King. Your voice, are you American?" The boy next to James asked when he got the chance to speak when the Weasley twins stopped fighting.
"Yes, I just moved here from the United States. Why do you ask?" James replied.
"I just didn't know there were any Americans that came over here to Hogwarts, or wizards at all in America. I guess I figured if there were, that America would have its own school." Austin said.
"I don't know either if there are many wizards or if America has their own school. My parents just had gone to Hogwarts, so I just figured it would be better, especially since my parents tell me the headmaster is a great wizard." James told Austin.
"Your parents are right, Dumbledore should be the Minister of Magic, but everyone knows he doesn't want that job." George jumped in.
"So which house do you all want to be in?" James asked deciding that the conversation was over, after a bit of silence.
"I don't really care; I will take any of them." Austin replied.
"Our whole family has been in Gryffindor, so we will most likely be there," Fred responded, "Which isn't a bad thing, what about you, James?"
"I would like to be in Gryffindor, that is the house my dad was in, but I don't really care either, as long as it's not Slytherin." James said.
James, Austin, Fred, and George talked the rest of the way to Hogwarts, telling jokes and just having fun. When they finally reached Hogwarts and got of the train, there was a huge hairy man waiting for them, yelling for first years. Apparently, his name was Hagrid, because that is what the Weasley twins had called him. They all boarded a boat together and rode off toward Hogwarts. James was stunned, he had dreamed about this day for two year, and now it was finally here. He had pictured what Hogwarts would look like in his mind, but that wasn't even close to what it really looked like and the amazement of the castle in front of him right now.
