.o.O. The Hogwarts Express .O.o.

To say that Rapunzel Corona was simultaneously excited and terrified of traveling to Hogwarts would have been the understatement of the year. She crossed off the days on the calendar with an almost religious obsession. She checked off her book list twice and packed everything neatly into her trunk, only to unpack everything when she thought she'd forgotten her history book. She hadn't, but it never hurt to check. She constantly had butterflies in her stomach and had mood changes that swung from finger-tingling excitement, to sinking dread. Her pet toad, Wilhelm, apathetically watched her pace in her attic room from his tank on her desk. His lumpy skin changing color with her mood swings.

On the morning of September the first, Wilhelm's skin was a bright, butter yellow. Rapunzel was humming an upbeat tune as she skipped to the London cab parked outside her family's house. Her mother was sitting in the back, neat muggle clothing freshly laundered for today. Her father was helping the driver lift Rapunzel's trunk into the boot of the taxi, the novelty of muggle travel bringing a smile to his lips, even as the two men struggled under the weight of the trunk.

Rapunzel was still humming as the cab parked outside King's Cross Station, Wilhelm croaking along inside her pocket. She insisted on rolling the trolley through the station. It was harder than it looked, but Rapunzel refused to complain. She was going to Hogwarts, she was going to enjoy it and she was going to make loads of friends. It was going to be the first time she spent any significant time away from her parents; a thrilling and terrifying prospect for the eleven year old.

Out of sight, Wilhelm's skin shifted form a bright, sunny yellow, to a queasy-looking orange.

"Are you sure you don't want a hand Rapunzel?" Asked her father when she narrowly avoided crashing into the guard on platform eight.

"Yes, thank you father."

"They are finicky little devices though aren't they?" Mr. Corona looked at the wheels under the trolley uncertainly. "I remember when I was starting at Hogwarts; we used to come through a back door system." He paused as he watched a brother and sister pass them out, the sister riding on top of the luggage while her brother pushed the trolley that looked far too big for him. "It meant we could load up the train with magic and none of this trolley business."

"Honey, that was the maintenance exit. They had to close that when too many students started going through the employees' lounge." A woman holding a cage with a white barn owl hurried past them after the brother and sister.

"Well, yes. But the point is ... What was my point again?"

Rapunzel giggled as her mother rolled her eyes. "We're here dear."

Indeed there it was the gateway between platforms nine and ten. A flat, red-brick pillar, the plastic numbers nine and ten in metal frames on either side. They were being scrutinized by a small, brown-haired boy, who looked from one to the other, then the pillar between them and repeat. Beside him, his oversized trolley was parked, sister still perched on top of a trunk, now holding the cage with the white barn owl and giggling at her older brother's 'serious' face. Their mother, looking up and down the station, noticed the small family approaching them.

She smiled at them, noticing Rapunzel with her trunk on the trolley, and walked over to the trio. "Excuse me, could you help us?"

"But of course! I'd be most happy to help you!" Mr. Corona answered a little too loudly, sunny smile lighting across his face. His wife gave an apologetic smile to the mother who was blinking in surprise at his enthusiasm.

"Do you need getting help on to the platform?"

"Yes, please." The woman, possibly a muggle smiled gratefully at Maria's mother.

"It's simple really. You just walk straight at the wall between the platforms." Mrs. Corona nodded at the very solid looking pillar that the woman's son was now rapping at with his knuckles. "If you want, we can all go together."

"Yes thank you." She smiled at the family. "Do you mind if we go first? It's just that-"

"WOAH!"

The mother snapped her head back to the pillar just in time to see her son stumble through the solid stone. Leaving his sister on her perch, staring open mouthed at the red-brick wall. The owl in her arms started shrieking shrilly and wildly flapping her wings.

"Oh bloody, bloody Hell." Without a further word, she rushed back to the trolley and grabbed the handles. Looking back at Mrs. Corona, she made one last check.

"You just walk straight at the wall?"

"If you're nervous you can do it at a run." Mr. Corona answered, looking very hard like he was trying not to laugh.

The strange woman nodded and started trotting towards the pillar. A crowd of muggles, rucksacks on their backs, walked across their vision. When the last back-packer walked past, the mother with her daughter and trolley had disappeared. Mr. Corona chuckled slightly and shook his head. "You've got to admire her moxie."

"What's moxie?"

"Spirit honey." Rapunzel's mother answered a little smile in the corner of her mouth as she turned to her husband. "You see dear? This is why the gateway's here. Everyone can find it."

"Alright, alright. No need to rub it in." He was smiling as he and his wife turned to his daughter. "Ready princess?"

"Dad!"

"Okay, on three. One, two ..."

Three.

Together, they walked to the gateway. The wall came closer and closer, they were going to crash! Rapunzel shut her eyes tight for the inevitable chaos.

It never came. Instead she opened her eyes to see a crowded platform. Parents in muggle clothing were waving and helping their sons and daughters onto the train. Cats of every shade and color ran rampant underfoot, while owls sat in cages, hissing at any feline that came too close. Students crowded the windows and doorways onto the carriages behind a huge scarlet steam engine, waving to parents and younger siblings alike. Some were anxiously glancing up at a large clock that hung from the wall as they struggled to heave their trunks up the crowded steps. Through the white smoke belching out of the steam engine, the large, white clock face counted down the seconds to eleven 'o clock.

"Come on honey, we've only got fifteen minutes." Rapunzel's parents wove through the crowd with surprising agility, now that magic was permitted. She saw her mother tap the side of her trunk and she nearly lost control of the trolley again when the small hovering charm took most, but not all of the weight of the trunk off of the trolley. She rolled her trunk over to one of the middle carriages and her father lifted it up onto the train. Rapunzel promptly followed, hopping onto the train with a spring in her step.

Grinning, she turned to her parents beaming at her from the platform. Her mother blew her a kiss, while her father mimed writing letters over the noise of the platform. Rapunzel waved, before ducking into the carriage and making her way along the corridor, dragging her trunk along behind her. She opened the first empty compartment she found, not quite ready to make friends yet, and wrestled her trunk into a corner of the compartment.

Rapunzel was now alone in the compartment with no one but Wilhelm to keep her company. She smiled and took him out of her pocket. He was a bright, lime green, usually a sign that he was hungry. Grinning, she leapt on the seat and placed Wilhelm next to her while her legs swung in the air. She was going to Hogwarts, she was going to Hogwarts. She peeked out the window to glance at the time. Five minutes, Rapunzel grinned, and sat back into her seat as Wilhelm crawled up into her lap. She absent-mindedly stroked him as she gazed out the window.

Outside, parents crowded the platform, last minute goodbyes and forgotten books being exchanged through half-open windows. She smiled when a witch strode over and fished out three red-heads from the crowd of students. Obviously the brothers were trying to smuggle themselves onto the train, they nearly got away with it to. Rapunzel tucked her legs up on the seat, getting comfortable as the strict-looking mother scolded the three of them. The three brothers eyed the train, sulking. Rapunzel had to wonder who in their family was already on the train.

With that thought, the train began to surge forwards. Rapunzel pressed her nose against the glass, trying to peer through the sudden clouds of steam that covered the platform. She saw her parents, waving at her from the platform. She waved to them but she wasn't sure that they'd seen her.

Rapunzel jumped slightly when a small hand slapped her window from the outside. Looking down, she saw the three would-be stowaways running alongside the train. Their three red heads bobbing and weaving through the crowd, banging the windows as they went along, they eventually had to stop when the train picked up too much speed. They waved at the train as they suddenly vanished when the Express shooting through a tunnel, to emerge in an overcast day in London.

Rapunzel watched the urban grey of London go by. Her stomach was bubbling in a potent mixture of nerves and excitement. She rocked her legs from side to side as the train passed by an estate on the borders of the city. She was debating in her head whether to get a book out of her trunk, when the door to her compartment slid open.

A tall gangly girl Rapunzel's age with a mane of red bushy hair leaned into the compartment and noticed Rapunzel and her vacant seat. She pointed at the empty one. "Anyone sittin' there?"

"No."

The other girl smiled and promptly sat in the seat opposite Rapunzel. As she did, Rapunzel realized that she was already in her school robes. The red-haired girl noticed her stare. "My mum made me change befer' I got on the train. I'm Merida by the way."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Rapunzel Corona." Rapunzel held out her hand. Merida took it with a raised eyebrow at the formal greeting. "Sorry!" Squeaked Rapunzel, embarrassed at her own manners.

Both of Merida's eyebrows rose at that. "What're yeh apologizing for?"

Rapunzel blushed "I don't know." She admitted her face was now as red as Merida's hair. "Sorry." She said again, staring at the floor.

They were still shaking hands.

"Sorry!" Rapunzel let go quickly. What was wrong with her? One person and she was already tripping up over her own manners. She looked up from the floor; the other girl was smiling at her.

"Nothin's broken don't worry about it!"

Rapunzel felt a little better and in her lap, Wilhelm changed from a dark purple to a royal blue. Merida noticed and her eyes went wide. "Woah, that's really cool." She continued to stare as Wilhelm turned purple again at the praise. Rapunzel smiled, gaining more confidence.

"His name's Wilhelm. My mother gave him to me when I got my letter." That was a very proud moment for Rapunzel; she almost framed the letter on her wall.

Merida's face went a little gloomy. "My mum didn't want ter get me an animal." There was a little smirk on the corner of her mouth though, as she reached into her pocket. "She said it that I had ter focus on my studies wi'out any distractions." She pulled out a bundle of brown fur with bright black eyes and a twitching nose. The brown rat scurried up her arm to Merida's shoulder, nearly hidden by tangles of flame-red hair. She smiled at Rapunzel. "Dad helped me sneak him in though."

Merida watched the other girl waiting for a reaction. She didn't know whether to be pleased or disappointed when the painfully shy girl's eyes lit up.

"Awwww! He's so cute!" She had a big smile and her green eyes were shining in admiration. Merida held out her hand to Rapunzel and the rat ran up her arm to sit in Merida's palm, while Rapunzel stroked him. "Does he have a name?"

"'Course he does. 'is name is Puck." The rat in question was lazily closing his eyes and leaning into Rapunzel's touch, as if he was enjoying it. Rapunzel didn't stop stroking him, but she did eye Merida questioningly.

"Didn't the letter say that we could have an owl, a cat or a toad?"

"Yeah." Merida shrugged, "But wha' the teachers don't know can't hurt them."

Even with the nonchalant way she said it, Rapunzel suddenly felt like she was being tested. She replied carefully, "Good luck with that then."

It seemed like the right thing to say, if she was one to judge Merida's smirk at that moment. She smiled back and went back to striking Wilhelm, who was flashing a jealous red. Puck scrambled back up Merida's arm to hide on her shoulder under her tangles of red hair. Rapunzel secretly hoped that no one would ask her where the rat was; she was a terrible liar at the best of times. "So your mother doesn't know about Puck?"

"Nope, and it's goin' ter stay that way." Merida shifted a little on her seat. "I think she suspects somethin' though. Max was breathin' down my neck the moment I stepped onto the platform."

"Who's Max?"

"Prefect from Ravenclaw. He's an alright guy I s'pose." Merida shrugged, "'E's a little too close to Mum though. I recon tha' she tipped him off, or he's lookin' fer brownie points from Mum." Merida scrunched her nose at the thought. "Wouldn't put it past them actually. Either way, I'm really hopin' tha' I'm as far away from Ravenclaw as possible, Hell, I'll even give Hufflepuff a try."

Something clicked in Rapunzel's brain. The school robes, the forbidden pet, first name terms with a prefect. "Wait, is your mother a teacher?"

Merida's expression was strained when she looked back up at Rapunzel. "Yeah, she's the transfiguration professor and head of Ravenclaw."

"That must be cool." Rapunzel rolled the new slang around in her mouth. It felt weird.

Merida snorted, "Yeah, ye'd think that."

Rapunzel frowned in thought, absentmindedly stroking Wilhelm's lumpy back which was back to its original lime green color. "What house do you want to get into then?"

Merida grinned. "The best one," she stood up and passionately punched the air, "Gryffindor!" Puck squealed as he fell off her shoulder and onto the seat. The two of them laughed at his bewildered expression. He squeaked at them, but still climbed back onto Merida's shoulder when she sat back down.

Rapunzel was beginning to like Merida. She 'admired her moxie' as her dad would've said. She ignored the twist in her stomach, probably the first sign of homesickness. She turned to Merida determined to forget the queasy feeling the moment it reared its ugly head. "Do you know how we get sorted?"

"Nah. Mum refused to tell me. Maybe we 'ave to fight a troll!"

"But we can't use magic!"

"Even better!"

Both girls laughed, albeit a touch nervously.

"So what 'bout you?" Merida crossed her legs on the seat and rested her chin in her hands, tilting her head to the side.

"Me?"

"Yeah, what House are you hopin' ter get in?"

"I don't know." Rapunzel watched Puck nestle in Merida's hair on the top of her head. "I guess Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad, but I don't think that I'll be put in there." She shrugged, "I don't think that my parents would mind where I go, they're just happy that I'm going to Hogwarts."

Merida frowned slightly, "Why, did they think ye' were a squib or somethin'?"

Rapunzel shook her head quickly. "No, nothing like that!" She squirmed in her seat, "I, uh ... They, um. They're worried that I don't make enough friends." Merida looked a little confused, Rapunzel elaborated as the countryside flew past them as a green blur in the window.

"My parents both work for the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of International Co-operation. So when I was smaller, we moved around a lot. By the time I was six I had been to about three different schools and was starting my fourth." Rapunzel shrugged, "At that point we'd moved back to London and my father had gotten a permanent position in the Ministry and we didn't need to move around anymore. But I guess, it's kind of been hard for me to fit in anywhere 'nd I think my parents are worried that I'm lonely or something."

Merida's eyes were wide and shining in admiration. Rapunzel felt her face heat up a little, after spilling her life story to a girl she barely knew. She fidgeted and rubbed the back of her head staring down into her lap.

"Woah." Merida paused, "That's a lot to take in. Gotta' admit tha' I've never even been tha' far outta Scotland before." She leaned back thoughtfully.

"What about you?"

Merida raised an eyebrow, "Me?"

"Yeah." Rapunzel crossed her arms, feeling a little more confident, "I've just told you my sad story, what's yours?"

Merida shrugged, "Ye know that my Mum's a teacher. She used to work in the Ministry; I think it was somethin' 'bout muggles. Anyway, she met Dad through her work, don't know how, since he's a muggle, an' Mum won't tell me the full story and Dad's no' allowed to tell me." Merida shrugged a shoulder as if to say, 'nothing I can do about that.' "So they got married, had me, Mum resigned from the Mins'try to teach at Hogwarts and then had my brothers." Merida reached up to stroke the sleeping Puck in his nest of hair in an unconscious imitation of Rapunzel from only moments ago.

"You have brothers?" Asked Rapunzel, who as an only child was immediately fascinated.

Merida nodded grimly, "Aye.'The Three Devils' as I like te' call them."

Rapunzel thought back a moment, "Wait, were they the boys who were running after the train?"

"Ye're asking 'cause o' the hair aren't you?"

Rapunzel blushed at Merida's deadpan. "I was just guessing ..."

"Good guess." Merida smiled, "No, really. Everyone in my family has red hair, 'cept my Mum."

There was an awkward pause that was thankfully broken by a rapping on the compartment door. Merida immediately pretended to be asleep, cushioning her head with her arms so that Puck couldn't be seen. Rapunzel slid open the door, to see a friendly smiling witch wheeling a trolley stacked with sweets and goods.

"Anything from the trolley dear?" The trolley lady asked, noting that Rapunzel was the only one to ask. But not seeing the lime-green Wilhelm hop down off the seat.

"No thank you." Smiled Rapunzel, "It all looks really good though. Did you make them yourself?" Damn, her manners were getting away from her again.

The lunch lady smiled back, "Oh no dear, just the pumpkin pasties."

Merida's stomach erupted into a loud growl. Rapunzel pretended to wince with hunger. "You know what? On second thought, could you please wait for a minute?" Rapunzel nearly tripped over her own feet making her way back to her bag neatly placed by her trunk. She rummaged around looking for her purse as the trolley lady waited patiently for the polite girl and Merida continued to pretend to be asleep.

No one noticed a lime-green toad flashing irritable shades of color as he hopped on the trolley unseen.

Least of all, Rapunzel, who was now trotting back to the trolley opening a small purse as she did. "May I have two pumpkin pasties please," she paused to look at the selection again, "and, uh two cauldron cakes as well please."

"That'll be sixteen Knuts please. Thank you. That everything dear?"

"Yes, I think so. Thank you again."

"You're welcome dear. I'll be in the hallway if you want anything else." With that, the door slid shut and the trolley trundled down the hall, unknowingly taking a little passenger along for the ride. Rapunzel returned to her seat after placing a cauldron cake and one of the pumpkin pasties on Merida's side of the compartment. The girl in question cracked open one eye as Puck crept off her head and back into her robe's pocket.

"Oooh, the teachers're goin' to love you." She saw the two pastries on the seat next to her, her eyes widened. "Are those fer me?"

Rapunzel nodded, taking a bite out of her own pastry as she did so. "'Course it ith." She mumbled around a mouthful and swallowed. "You sounded like you need it." She nodded pointedly at Merida's stomach, which growled again. Loudly.

Merida gave her a broad grin, and tucked into her own small lunch. "Thanks."

"So what are your brothers like?" Rapunzel bit into her pumpkin pastie again and chewed as Merida answered.

"Well ... They're called 'lil' devils' fer a reason." Merida took a large bite out of the tart, chewed and swallowed thoughtfully as she thought. "They're triplets and are the biggest group o' pranksters ever born," she shrugged, "when they're not bein' stupid."

Rapunzel was tucking into her cauldron cake when Merida sprung her own question. "You moved 'round a lot right?"

"Yeah?" Rapunzel had to speak around a mouthful of caramel. She'd never realized how hungry she was.

"Where were ye'?"

Rapunzel paused long enough to swallow. "Mostly around central Europe, so I ended up speaking alot of German." She tucked a brown lock of hair out of her face as she thought over her time there. "I think that my mother was considering enrolling me in Beauxbatons, since I did make a few friends over there. Most of them were going to Durmstrang though, so Dad talked her out of it." She'd never called her father 'Dad' before; it felt just as weird as 'cool.'

Merida's face was scrunched in confusion. "Beaubata-wha'?"

"It's another school. I think it's in France."

"Oh. Hey Pretzel,' do you have a quidditch team?"

And so the conversation continued, Merida talking about her team, the Holyhead Harpies while Rapunzel talked about the teams in mainland Europe. Rapunzel had to admit, it was nice having someone to share with as they spoke around mouthfuls, like having a friend that wasn't a toad. She absent-mindedly reached to her lap to stroke Wilhelm.

He wasn't there.

Rapunzel had a little thrill of fear root through her stomach as she looked at her lap, then her feet, then the floor. She checked the seat next to her, then swung her head around and looked on her other side. She was her knees on the ground looking under the seat before Merida realized that something was wrong.

"And Ashley's got this brilliant corkscrew move tha' I tried ter do in the apple orchard bu'- Rapunzel?"

The brown haired girl's face turned up to Merida's, eyes wide with panic.

"Wilhelm, he's gone!"

.o.O. Author's Note .O.o.

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE CHAPTER!

So I don't quite know how the 'story alert' subscription works on this site but I have the feeling that the few people who read 'A Potteriffic AU,' (APAU) the first time were probably never told that I updated the previous chapter. What I did the last time was upload half the chapter, and then posted the other half to the chapter. So those who saw this the first time got as far as 'Hiccup and Gobber walked into the bank' before the chapter ended.

The 'story alert' only seems to work if I post up a fresh chapter, like I'm doing now. Which in a way makes sense because I didn't update the story so much as I edited the chapter. So if you didn't see the previous chapter's update, I urge you to do so now.

For everyone else, (heh, heh, heh) welcome to the first half of chapter two. I'm posting this because it may be a while before you see it in its completed form; and when I say a while, I mean "end of summer" while. Even then I've no idea when I'll get this up. This is happening for two reasons;

1) I have a very busy time ahead as this month draws to a close. I'm getting the results of a test back next week which may or may not allow me to get into college. If I get in, I'll be busy preparing for college. If not, I'll be busy looking for employment, and as much as I know you all want to see me update this story, I'd rather not do so as an unemployed school leaver. I need your support bros! (and sises!)

2) Yesterday I bought 'Skyrim.' I have been playing that masterpiece of a game for the past six hours. It was well into Hour Four, as Anyelse the Kajiit was wrestling spiders that I realised that I may have a bit of a problem. So my gaming addiction is affecting my motivation to sit down at a screen and type out a 'cute widdle stowy' when all I want to do is violently pummel a dragon to death, pissed off at the fact that it ate my horse ten minutes after I bought it for 1000 coins. (By the way, wierdly enough, I don't think that they have a name for the currency in Skyrim. That's a bit of an oversight isn't it?)

But don't panic! This doesn't mean that I'm giving up on this Fanfic. On the contrary your wonderful support via follows, favourites and reviews is giving me brilliant motivation to keep this going. Every. Single. One.

Even you Elakayon Grimm, don't think that I didn't see what you were doing there. (Thanks for all the favourites and follows.)

This is simply how I've ended up working on the story. Type out one half, post it. Type out the second half, and mush the two together. Last time I did this I updated the story within a week, so who knows the same thing could happen here.

On a final note I'd like to thank my wonderful, fantastic Beta who helped me not only to edit awkward moments out of the chapter, but also helped me with the pet names. Fire-Goddess-Raven came up with Puck's name. It is a GENIUS name and I will give a virtual cookie to anyone who can tell me why.

Right, that's everything that I can think of a the moment. I'm going to wrap this up before the 'Author's Notes' are longer than the actual chapter.

Until next time,

Anyelse