We left Diagon Alley not too long after, laden with packages. I also had a cage, which contained my new owl, Camila. She was light brown, with gold, bronze and caramel strips through her feathers. I loved her already.
Too quickly, I was at home, trying to block out Justin Bieber while thinking about Hogwarts. Is it big? How many students attend? Random things like that were circling my mind.
Rosanna became tenser over the course of the next few weeks. Dad was getting worried. Lillianna was still spouting facts about Justin, but she was colder towards me. I noticed she had gotten a new iPod.
Camila was amazing. It was like she actually understood everything I said. Of course, that wasn't really possible, as she was an owl. But she was more than just a bird, personality wise. Her big, grey eyes looked at me much like a person would.
I spent much of the rest of my days at home, reading my school books. Lillianna would look at me venomously whenever I left my room, and she tends to blow up easily. So I took the option of not leaving my room often.
Finally, the day of my flight to England arrived. Did I mention that I have to fly there to get on the train? Alone? (A/N I know it isn't possible to fly international alone under 18 or whatever it is, but please just pretend) And it's a long flight. Dad drove me to the airport, because Rosanna was trying to calm Lillianna down again. She had another tantrum about me leaving. Because I'm special!
Dad checked me in, then went through customs. Gah, I really don't like customs. They annoy me. We finally got through, then went and sat at the gate. I still had another hour before my flight.
It passed quickly enough, and before I knew it, I was boarding the plane. "When you reach London, look inside your carry-on luggage," Dad whispered to me. I looked at him strangely, but nodded.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to see him until the school year ended, because the flights cost too much to come home every holidays. So I hugged him to death. Soon enough, I sat in my seat, looking out the window as we took off. The flight didn't take that long, to be honest. I pulled out my book and didn't resurface from the world of fantasy until the flight ended. Of course, I stopped reading long enough to eat my food, but the rest of the time, my head was in my book.
As I came off the plane, I saw the date on one of those screens. The 25th of August. Oh My God. It was my birthday. I completely forgot! I remembered what Dad had said about looking in my bag. I figured I would look at it when I got to where I was staying. The train didn't leave until the first, so I had to stay somewhere for a couple of days.
The next few days were boring. I got to the hotel place, found the present. It was a pouch of wizard money. That made me smile. I didn't do much except read.
The first came with astounding speed. One second I was arriving in London, the next I was at Kings' Cross Station, trying to find Platform 9 and ¾. It was hard, I tell you. It was like it didn't exist. It had to though; otherwise none of this magic would exist. And it had to exist, otherwise Lillianna iPod wouldn't have exploded. No. The platform had to be here somewhere. But where?!
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy with black hair and a boy with vibrant red hair run towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10. I turned fully, expecting them to run into the wall. But they didn't. They went straight through. Magic.
I decided to try going through that wall. And it worked. I went into the wall and came out onto a platform with a scarlet red train that had smoke billowing out the top.
I got onto the train, looking for a compartment. The only one I could find that had enough room for me held two other girls, both about a year older than me. They both looked up at me as I knocked on the compartment door.
"Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," I asked them. The one with red hair nodded at me, so I sat down opposite the red head and next to the one with dirty blonde hair. "My name is Mia Belle."
"Hey Mia! My name is Ginny Weasley, and this is Luna Lovegood. First year?" Ginny said, all in one breath.
"Yep." I had a feeling Hogwarts was going to be amazing.
"Wow, that must suck, having 6 older brothers," I laughed at Ginny.
"It does, trust me. Be glad you only have a younger sister," she shot back.
"Having siblings must be nice," Luna said to both of us in her dreamy voice.
"No way," Ginny and I chorused. We both turned to look at each other, then burst out laughing. It didn't last long though. A feeling of unhappiness spread through the compartment. The windows froze over.
Ginny stood up abruptly and walked over to the door. "I'll be back soon." Luna and I looked at each other, then out of the window. A black shadow crept past the glass, sucking the warmth from my body. An identical one glided out in the corridor. It passed our door, but kept going. The train stopped, the lights went out, and I grabbed onto Luna. She clung on to my arm equally hard.
It was over within minutes. The train was filled with brightness, and we were moving again. Ginny came back shaking, and I let go of Luna. Not as good as I thought it would be.