A/N: Welcome back!! I'm so glad you have decided to continue this story. So if you are ready to go, let's make a trip to Hogwarts aboard the Hogwarts Express!!! All aboard!!!
Chapter Two - Platform 9 3/4
Erica helped Lillian carry in everything they had bought. They carried it upstairs to Lillian's bedroom and set it down. Erica yawned and dismissed herself to go take a nap. Lillian sat in the middle of all the things. She sighed and began unpacking. She could use magic since she was of age, but decided she would rather do it the Muggle way to get a better look at what she had bought.
After everything was unpacked, she went to her closet and pulled out her trunks. In one of them she placed her shoes, clothes, and the uniforms she had bought. In the other, she placed her school supplies. After packing everything she would need for school including a carry on bag packed with a school uniform, a winter cloak, a couple of books, and some spare money, Lillian laid down on her bed to take a nap. That nap, however, turned into a good night's sleep.
"Wake up, sleepy head," Erica called from the door.
Lillian opened her eyes and threw her pillow at Erica.
"Come on," Erica laughed. "I've got to go to work and you have to be at the train station by eleven."
Erica went back downstairs to cook breakfast. Lillian sighed and rolled out of bed. She made her bed and picked up the Muggle outfit she had laid out. After showering, she dressed and went downstairs. After breakfast, Lillian and Erica carried Lillian's things with a little help of magic of course. Outside, however, they had to carry it to keep nosy, Muggle eyes from seeing too much. The phoenix cage and her carry on bag were the last things she took out.
It was still early when they arrived at the train station. They quickly found a baggage cart and unloaded the car. Lillian placed the covered phoenix cage on top of the trunks and placed the carry on next to it. Lillian pushed the cart toward platform 9 3/4. Erica walked next to her. When they finally arrived, Lillian walked over to the wall between platform nine and ten. She placed her hand on the wall and felt it sink in slightly.
"This is it," said Lillian. Erica sighed and smiled at her.
"Well, kiddo," Erica said with a hint of tears, "I'll miss you."
Lillian smiled at her and walked over to her. Lillian wiped away the tears from her own eyes and threw her arms around Erica's neck.
"I'll miss you, too," Lillian said. "I'll write whenever I can and besides, I'll be home again before you know it."
Lillian let Erica go. Erica stood back and watched Lillian walk through the barrier and vanish before returning to the car.
Everything was a blur of bricks before Lillian emerged on the other side. A scarlet train sat upon the tracks waiting to carry the students to Hogwarts. The platform was empty, but she was early. It was only eight o'clock and quite a while before the others would be arriving. A rather skinny attendant walked over and loaded Lillian's things on to the train. Lillian picked up her carry on and climbed up the steps onto the train after him. She walked to a compartment near the middle of the train and went in. After the man had secured her trunks he left. Lillian opened her travel bag and took out her revised copy of Hogwarts: A History.
After an hour of reading, she heard the sound of others boarding the train. Lillian stood and closed the door to her compartment to drown out the noise. After she finished reading her book at ten o'clock, she returned it to her bag. She started to pull out another book, but was surprised to find the crimson back book in her carry on. "I thought I put this in my trunk," she thought to herself. She flipped through the pages, hoping that something had appeared since the shop, but it hadn't. She concluded that it must be a diary or a defective book. She glanced down toward the golden corner. She rubbed her fingers over to clear the dust. When the dust was cleared, the corner appeared to sparkle and change colors. Lillian felt dizzy and fainted.
Lillian felt herself spinning uncontrollably. She plummeted through the darkness toward a light. The light seemed to draw her in and she let it carry her. As she reached it, a white, cloudy like mist swirled around her. The light itself grew brighter and brighter. As she drifted out of the last bit of darkness, the sound of thunder reached her ears. The light changed to a menacing red. Blue flames leaped around and Lillian felt afraid. She knew at that moment, that whomever this book originally belonged to had experienced fear beyond anything she could imagine. She felt that the person must have died a very sticky death.
Lillian tried to move away from the flames, but it seemed useless and they reached out like arms trying to grab at her. Lillian screamed as she came face to face with a horrible looking creature. Its eyes were filled with hate and she knew without a doubt that it was Voldemort. Voldemort let out a horrible, high pitched and deeply evil laugh. He reached out and began pulling at her. Lillian thrashed around trying to escape his grasp, but it seemed hopeless. The only thing that managed to wake her was the sound of the compartment door opening. Lillian sat upright and swallowed. Her breathing came in gasps and she felt tiny beads of sweat on her forehead. Thankfully, due to the amount of people that entered, she was able to compose herself before they noticed her state of being. She closed the book and put in back in her bag.
"Good morning, Lillian," Mr. Weasley said when he spotted her. "Is it okay that we come in?"
"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Lillian greeted. "And yes, sir, you may."
"Morning, dear," said Mrs. Weasley before turning back to the teens behind her. "Let me help you settle in before I leave," she told them.
"Come on, mum!" said the red haired boy. "We can do it."
"Oh, Ron, hush up," she snapped. "You can't even wash your face properly."
Mrs. Weasley, spit on a handkerchief and began to rub at Ron's face. Ron went pink as the others laughed a little. Ron pulled away. Seeing her brother's grief, Lillian listened as the young red haired girl asked her mother to come help her instead.
"Oh, alright, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said. "Arthur you help them and I'll be right back."
Mrs. Weasley followed Ginny out of the compartment and down the hall toward the front of the train.
"Is this compartment good enough for you, Ron?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"It's fine with me," Ron snapped. "It's Hermione you need to ask!"
Hermione looked at him darkly. "Well, Ronald!" Hermione snapped. "I didn't want to set next to Millicent Bestrode and I about guarantee you didn't want to be near Malfoy!"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Hermione, if you..." Ron began again, but was cut off by the black haired boy.
"Please, quit fighting," the boy said.
"Oh don't bother, Harry," Hermione sighed in frustration. "It's a loss cause and besides, we need to go up front. Come on, Ronald!"
Lillian shook her head. She had fought many times with her friends, but nothing as harsh as that. Lillian silently wondered if there wasn't more to their friendship. Harry helped Mr. Weasley load the trunks into the overhead compartment and in the space just under the seats. Harry placed a cage next to the window. It was covered with an old fashioned dress robe. Lillian had heard Ron mutter something about the hidden creature. It had begun to screech when he first entered the compartment. It was Ron's fault that the creature was upset. He had knocked it against the door as he entered. Lillian remembered Ron referring to the poor, frightened creature as stupid ball of feathers.
After a while, Mrs. Weasley returned and she and Mr. Weasley bid farewell to them. Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a peck on the cheek causing him to blush. Once they were gone, Harry and Lillian sat in silence for several minutes before Ron and Hermione returned.
"I can't believe they still have Malfoy as Prefect!" Ron hissed. "After what he did last year, I am surprised they didn't expel him."
"We can't change Dumbledore's decision" said Hermione. "He still thinks that it was Lucius that pressured Malfoy into taken the Death Eater's mark."
"Dear old Lucius may have pressured him into taking the mark," said Ron. "But he sure as hell didn't make him..."
"It doesn't matter if he did or didn't," Hermione cut him short. "It matters what Dumbledore thinks and his decision is final."
Ron slumped down in his seat and didn't comment any further. Lillian heard his thoughts, though, and she hoped that Dumbledore wasn't half the things that Ron was thinking him to be.
"Whom may I ask is this Malfoy?" Lillian asked.
"Oh, he's in Slytherin house," answered Hermione. "He is a rich, spoiled brat who thinks he is everything because he is a pure blood. He has been a thorn since the day we met him."
"I should stay away from him then?" asked Lillian.
"Yes you should," said Hermione. "He is absolutely wicked and nothing but trouble."
"You will have to point him out then," said Lillian. "Just look for the blonde haired boy with a sour look on his face," chuckled Ron. "I think he takes it after his mother."
Everyone laughed slightly. Anyone who knew Draco's mother, Narcissa, knew that there was an on going joke about her facial expression being caused by Draco's stench."
"So," Hermione began after awhile. "You seem to know our names, but I don't think I've heard yours."
"I'm sorry," Lillian said. "My name is Lillian Den...Er...Lillian Praisley."
Hermione gave her an odd look with the hesitation of her last name, but Lillian was relieved to see that she let it pass. The questions continued, though.
"Where are you from?" asked Harry. "I don't think I've seen you around school before."
"Oh, I am transferring to Hogwarts from Salem Institute in America," answered Lillian.
"You sound English," stated Hermione.
"I am," said Lillian. "My family and I moved to America when I was ten."
"Why did you come back here?" asked Ron. "I mean, didn't you like America?"
"I loved it there," Lillian said feeling the tears swell up. "I had no choice, but to come back. I don't want to talk about it." Lillian stood up and moved toward the compartment door trying to hide the falling tears. "Please excuse me." Lillian left the compartment and closed the door behind her.
Lillian wiped her tears as she made her way toward the back of the train. Each compartment was full of students, but she finally found one in the main back. She went in and lay down on the seat letting the tears flow. She allowed her memories to flash in her head. She had so many unanswered questions and no one to answer them for her. She closed her eyes and wished everything away and before long sleep invaded and her memories changed to dreams.
Lillian awoke nearly an hour later. Her eyes were slightly swollen and her head hurt. From down the hall, she could hear a witch calling, "Anything from the trolley?" Lillian stood up and looked out the window. The countryside flashed by. "I had forgotten how beautiful the English countryside is," she said aloud. "You know, talking to your self isn't a good thing," a voice said from behind her. Lillian turned around to find herself facing the black haired boy from the other compartment.
"Oh, Er...what was your name again?" she stuttered.
"Oh, Er...Harry, Harry Potter," he said surprised that she didn't know.
"Are you...I mean...Er...are you really?" Lillian fumbled with her words.
"Yeah," Harry said smiling.
"I have wanted to meet you for ages," Lillian said a little more enthusiastically than she meant too. Lillian blushed. "I didn't even recognize who you were even after seeing all the pictures in my friend's room for the past six years."
"Your friend's have pictures of me?" Harry asked surprised.
"In America," she began, "most of the girls at my school have some kind of picture or newspaper clipping of you hanging on their dorm walls. One girl, in my dorm room, would kiss your picture every night before going to bed."
It was Harry's turn to blush.
They continued talking about everything from Lillian going to Salem Institute to everything that had happened at Hogwarts for the past six years. Before they knew it, the lights outside had faded into darkness and it was time to change into their school uniforms. Harry and Lillian walked back to their original compartment. On entrance, Ron and Hermione apologized, but Lillian assured them it was just a sensitive subject that she would be willing to share with them at a later time, but it was still too soon. They all changed into their school uniforms and within ten minutes time, a call came that they were almost to Hogsmeade Village, a village just below Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
A/N: We arrived safe and sound all ready for a new year. Lillian has made a few friends and although it didn't start off to well with them, they will learn to be there for each other in the darkest days of their lives. We'll be entering the Great Hall for the sorting next and we'll find out where Lillian will be placed as well as listening to the Sorting Hat's song. Please review and check out the next chapter: )