Chapter Four: The Hogwarts Express

The trip back home had been very quiet, and Willow had the distinct feeling that the rest of her family was avoiding her. Her new parents seemed to be trying to keep them all together, but except for Ron, none of them seemed to want to be anywhere near her. Willow thought they looked scared, but she couldn't imagine why.

After a trip through the green fire, they were back at home. Ginny immediately went upstairs to her room, and Fredngeorge went after her, calling her name to get her to come back. Percy regarded Willow briefly before quietly heading upstairs as well.

As for Ron, he simply looked a bit strange for a while, but he sat down in the kitchen and took out his new wand.

Willow joined Ron in the kitchen when she was sure he wouldn't leave, and their dad came to sit with them as well while their mom went upstairs to talk with the others.

"Dad," Willow began, "I know you said I didn't do anything bad, but why was everyone else acting all scared and being so quiet?"

Arthur sighed and pulled up a chair. "Ron," he said, "would you mind giving us a bit of time?"

"No!" Willow protested. "Please don't make him go!" She turned to Ron. "I'm sorry for whatever I did. Really, I am. Everything here is new, and I don't know the rules, and it's all so strange, and everyone's acting like I'm evil. But you're not, Ron. Y-you're still here. A-and I don't want to be alone."

Willow sniffled as she looked at her brother with teary eyes. "Please don't leave me," she pleaded softly.

"Willow," Ron said quietly after a moment, "you got me my own wand. I never thought I'd have my own wand. And that you don't need one… It's just so... You have no idea what this means to me. I can't be mad at you after you got me my own wand."

Willow smiled a tiny little smile. "Thanks, Ron. But, I don't get it. What's so special about a wand? Is it bad that none of them wanted me? They didn't seem like they were mad at me, but none of them wanted to be mine. Well, it's not like they didn't want to be mine. More like they weren't supposed to be mine, I guess."

Willow looked from her dad to her brother, and was shocked to see Ron's face sink. "Oh, no! Ron, did I say something bad? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I promise!"

"No, Willow," Ron said. "It's just… Everyone else in the family is special in some way, and I'm just me. Back at the wand shop, you did something that nobody's supposed to be able to do. And I don't think many people can talk to wands like you can. Right, dad?"

Willow looked to her new dad, who was looking very thoughtful. "Well, I think I need to explain to you, Willow, what a wand really is. It's not justa tool, you know. It means far more than, say, a spatula. They're both tools, so to speak, but what they stand for is totally different."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Willow, you have to understand that Wizarding society is incredibly different from Mug… From non-magical society. You remember Diagon Alley from earlier today, and you remember the trip to the museum. Do you think the people in one of those areas would really be able to understand the people from the other?"

"I was," Willow said defensively, but she knew that wasn't entirely true. She was far more comfortable in the world of the British Museum than she was in the world of Diagon Alley.

"That may be," Arthur said. "But you have one foot in each world, so to speak. Tell me, Willow. Is there one thing that Muggles – sorry, non-magical people – absolutely could not do without? That if you lost it, you wouldn't know what to do?"

That was easy. "Electricity," she said without blinking. "When the power goes out, we have to change everything until it comes back on."

"Eclectricity," Arthur repeated clumsily. "That's the thing that makes all of those neat little gadgets keep going, right? What plugs help with?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Well, magic is for us what eclectricity is for you. And for almost every single witch or wizard, the only way to use magic is with a wand. That's why they are so important. A wand isn't just a tool, Willow. It's a symbol for our very way of life. 'Wandless' is a bad word that some people use to be mean to those who can't do magic."

"And you got me my wand!" Ron said. "I'm a real wizard now, Willow, and I wouldn't be one without you! And Charlie gets to keep his wand, so he can keep on doing his job with dragons in Romania."

Now it made sense. Willow had done more than buy Ron a tool. She'd basically given him his key to his entire world. And it was a key that Willow couldn't use! "But I'm wandless, dad! That's a bad thing, isn't it? How am I gonna be a real witch without a wand?"

Arthur surprised her by chuckling gently. "Oh, Willow, dear. You're going in the opposite direction. There have been wandless witches and wizards in the past, but they've been very rare. You see, Willow, if you lose your wand, or if – Merlin forbid – it were to break, then you would be without any way to use your magic. Well, not you, but most wizards.

"But you, Willow, have no such weakness. You can use your magic without any help from a wand. It may make learning how to control your magic a tad more difficult, but if you work and study hard, then you'll come out ahead."

So Willow was special. She felt very bad for Ron now, and she turned to face him. "Y-you're not mad, are you?" she asked softly. "I mean, you always told me about how you felt bad because your brothers were doing stuff that you felt you had to live up to. A-and you were afraid at first that I was gonna be like them when I first got here. And now I'm here with this weird power that I don't understand but that everyone else does, and I don't want you to hate me, Ron!"

Arthur sighed and looked at his son with sympathy. "Ron, is this true. That you've been under this pressure all this time to live up to everything your brothers have done?"

Ron was suddenly maroon in the face, and Willow felt terrible. "Well, uh, yeah," he said quietly. "But I'm not upset with you, Willow. I mean, sure it was kinda scary seeing you with all that power back in Ollivanders. But you seem far more freaked out than I am. And you got me my wand! That's enough to make me never be able to hate you."

Willow got up from her seat and walked over to hug her brother. She felt Ron squirm a bit underneath her, but he chuckled a bit. "Uh, thanks, Willow. But could you let go for a bit?"

"Oh! Sorry, Ron."

"No, s'okay. Just that I'm not used to that from people other than mum and dad."

"Oh." Willow blushed. "Jesse and Xander and me used to hug a lot. O-our parents didn't really give us much of that." She hoped that Mister Giles had given her friends back home a way to contact her. If only the Weasleys had a telephone.

"Well," Arthur said, "it's been a long day, so why don't I get your mother down here so that we can get supper ready."

"Sounds good, dad," Willow said, though her mind was far away from food.

The morning of September 1st finally arrived, and Willow was awake before anyone else in the Burrow. She was too eager to start leaning her magic to go back to sleep for even a few minutes. While she waited for her new mom to make breakfast, she pulled out some of her school books and began to look through them.

The books with defensive spells interested her the most. She wanted to be able to go back to Sunnydale so she could protect Xander and Jesse from their parents, not to mention whatever else might try to hurt them, including but not limited to Cordelia Chase and other assorted bullies.

Willow looked at the defensive spells, but they all looked a bit too complicated for her to try on her own. So she switched to her Charms textbook. There was a spell to make light that seemed useful. Nights in Sunnydale seemed a lot darker than they did here in Britain for some reason, so learning how to make light could only be good.

Willow then pulled out her most beloved possession: her wand. Not that it was a real wand, but Fredngeorge hadn't been nearly as upset at her as she'd thought at first. They'd been a bit unnerved, but then they'd gone to the trouble to carve out a fake wand for her so that she could pretend to be like everyone else.

But her twin brothers had done more than just carve it with magic. They'd also made it shine as if it was fresh out of the box, and they'd put a spell on it so that it wouldn't break without a LOT of effort. They'd told her that such spells wouldn't work on a real wand, but they could do a lot with a fake one since there was no magic inside to get in the way.

Willow squinted to read the words in the book in the faint light of the rising sun, but she was finally able to memorize the simple words and wand movements for the spell. Willow picked up her wand and held it steady as she tried the spell. "Lumos."

Nothing happened.

Willow looked at her wand, then back at the book, and she shrugged and tried the spell again. And again, nothing happened.

This was an entirely new experience for Willow. Not magic, although that was certainly new, but learning about something new and failing to grasp it on the first try. Willow had always prided herself on her intelligence, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by her siblings and new parents. She was very smart for her age, and failing at something was just unacceptable. Her old parents would have scolded her something fierce if she had failed so miserably back home.

She could practically hear her mom's voice in her head now. 'I thought we raised you better than this, Willow Danielle Rosenberg,' the voice in her mind said nastily. 'I thought you were an independent young woman. But you're nothing. And you wonder why your father and I never loved you.'

Willow would have broken down in tears if her old mom had actually said that. But that woman was dead, and Willow didn't clam up and cry like she would have at one point. She got angry, and it felt good. She got angry and let her rage build up inside her until she closed her eyes without meaning to and let her wand slip through her hand.

"Light."

It was a good thing that Willow had her eyes closed, or else she might have been blinded by the bright light that appeared in her outstretched palm. As it was, her eyelids blocked out most of the light, but she knew that she had gone above and beyond the intent of the spell. Shock kicked in and she realized that she had to get the light under control. She didn't want to blow up this house like she had her old one.

Willow began to breathe more steadily, like back in the wand shop. "Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out." As she calmed down, she found herself able to focus more on the light in her hand. She could feel the power flowing through her body and into the ball of light. With her eyes closed, she could almost see it in a way that wasn't quite seeing. Eventually, in her mind's eye, she could tell that the light was just where she wanted it.

Willow opened her eyes. The light in her hand was just enough to illuminate the room. "Wow." She looked at the light in her hand and could feel its beauty. It was more than just a ball of light. It was energy of the purest and rawest kind. Willow didn't know how she knew this, but it just felt right. She could tell that this power, the magic, was more than just energy. It was alive in its own way. Like the Force from Star Wars, she figured, it was a part of nature that could be manipulated, but it was more like a partner than a tool.

Willow was wondering how to go about this next step. "So, um, ball of light? Can you please go up in the air a bit? I kind of need to move my hand without accidentally burning the pages."

She felt the ball of light respond, as if it could hear her, but she could tell that it didn't understand.

"Okay," she told herself. "Concentrate, Rosenberg. If magic is like the Force, then you need to clear your head. You gotta be steady and really mean what you say."

She looked at the ball of light again, and she focused on what she wanted it to do. She raised her palm above her head as she closed her eyes and focused on the spell. "Up."

The light floated up gently out of her hand and held steady near the center of the ceiling of the room.

"Wow," Willow said breathlessly. "Thank you," she said to the light, and she felt something in return. Not appreciation, but understanding of a sort.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur. Willow didn't try any other spells, but she went over the light spell for a while. Sometimes she talked to the ball of light, even if it didn't respond in a way she understood.

After another half hour, she heard her mom get up and start to make breakfast. "Gotta go," she said to the light as she packed up her books. Once she was sure her trunk was all packed and ready to go, she looked back up at the ceiling. After her experience getting the spell to work, she had a feeling that the traditional spell for darkness wouldn't work.

"Lights out." The ball of light floated back down to her hand and winked out of existence. Satisfied with her success, Willow headed down to breakfast.

After breakfast and a long car-ride in the Weasleys' enchanted Ford Anglia – which was bigger on the inside – Willow and her new family arrived at King's Cross station in London. The place was packed, and Willow had to be constantly aware of everyone around her to keep from running her massive trunk into anyone else.

She heard her mom sigh. "Sometimes I think it's a mistake to always have the train leave on the same day at the same time. The station workers are bound to notice something. And it's always packed with Muggles, of course, so the chance for someone to find something out…"

"Is nonexistent in this crowd, mum," Fred said to appease her. Willow scowled a bit at Molly's use of the word 'Muggle,' but other she was too busy looking where she was going to turn back and berate her.

"Now, what's the platform number?" Molly quizzed them.

"Nine and three-quarters!" Ginny said eagerly from her spot beside Molly. "Mom, can't I go?"

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first," their mom said in an attempt to restore some order to her family in the midst of the packed station.

Willow didn't know how there could be a Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. There was a barrier clearly separating Platforms Nine and Ten. But there was something about that barrier… Willow could feel the magic coming from it. It called to her. And sure enough, Percy walked right up to the barrier, and then he walked through it!

"Fred, you next."

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," Willow's twin said in what seemed to be his favorite pastime. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? can't you tellI'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred." Willow giggled as Fred, followed closely by George, went up to and through the barrier.

"Excuse me."

Willow turned to see a boy standing next to them who she hadn't seen before. He had messy black hair and green eyes, and he was dressed, like Willow, in regular clothing. But he did have a trunk with him, and an owl in a cage, like Percy.

"Hello, dear," their mom said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron and Willow are new, too," Molly said, gesturing to Willow and her brother.

Willow gave the boy a small wave. "Hi," she said with a nervous smile on her face.

The boy nodded back, but seemed worried. He looked back up at their mom. "Yes. The thing is… The thing is, I don't know how to-"

"How to get onto the platform?" Molly asked kindly, and Willow felt a wave of warm pride in her chest for her new mom. She was far nicer than her old mom would ever have been. "Not to worry. All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. Don't stop, and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron and Willow."

The black-haired boy rushed off towards the barrier, not slowing down, and then he was gone.

"All right, then. Ron, you go next," Molly said.

Ron turned to Willow and grinned. "Just do it like mom just said. You'll be fine." Her youngest brother then took off for the barrier and disappeared like all the others.

"Willow," her new mom asked, "are you ready?"

"Yeah. I think so." Without waiting for any other signal, Willow walked ahead with a confidence she hadn't felt in a long time. The magic barrier was calling to her, and it was speaking so clearly. She just had to walk up to it like she was now, and then pass through, and there!

She emerged on the other side to see a whole new platform, like a train station within a train station, and it was clearly packed with wizards and witches as far as the eye could see.

A man on the platform ushered her out of the way so that others wouldn't bump into her, and a second later, Ginny and her mom appeared behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fredngeorge helping the black-haired boy with his trunk, which made Willow smile. They might be pranksters and cause their mom a lot of grief, but they were good people. They reminded her of Xander sometimes.

While some of the station employees – the Wizarding ones, at least – helped Willow and a bunch of other kids with their luggage, Molly looked around. "Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, mom," they answered, and shortly thereafter they appeared again. While they were disembarking, Molly started fussing with Ron. "Ron, you've got something on your nose."

Ron tried to get away, but Molly had him in her grasp, and he wasn't about to get out of it anytime soon.

"Mom! Geroff," he said in a muffled voice. To Willow's surprise, he managed to get free.

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" George teased.

"Shut up," Ron said quietly. Willow said nothing, but she sympathized with Ron.

"Where's Percy?"

"He's coming now," Willow said, pointing to her eldest brother – that she'd met so far – come down to meet them. He was wearing his school uniform.

"Can't stay long, mother," he said. "I'm up front. The prefects have got two compartments to themselves-"

"Oh, are you a prefect,Percy," Fred said as if surprised. "You should have said something. We had no idea."

"Hang on, George said. "I think I remember him saying something about it once."

"Or twice."

"A minute."

"All summer."

"Oh, shut up," Percy said, causing Willow to restrain herself from using her own magic to make Percy shut up. He might be her brother, but he was a real snob. He reminded Willow of her old parents in some ways.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" George complained.

"Because he's a prefect," Molly said proudly. Willow still wasn't sure what a prefect was, but she thought it was something between a student and a teacher. Maybe something like a hall monitor?

After kissing Percy fondly, Molly turned to Fredngeorge. "Now, you two: this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've… you've blown up a toilet or-"

"Blown up a toilet?" Fred said innocently. "We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea, though," George said with a straight face. "Thanks, mom."

"It's not funny," she scolded them as Willow and Ginny held in their giggles. "And look after Ron and Willow."

"Don't worry," Fred said. "Ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"And so're you, Willow," George said more fondly, looking at her kindly.

"Shut up," Ron said. Willow would try to talk to the twins about teasing Ron too much. She wasn't sure they realized how much they got to him.

"Hey, mom, guess what?" Fred said with a lot more enthusiasm. "Guess who we just met on the train? You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"

Willow's curiosity was piqued. "Who?" she asked.

"Harry Potter!"

Willow could have sworn she felt eyes on her family at that moment, and she looked up towards a window on the train. Was someone there, listening? No, it was just her imagination, Willow told herself.

Ginny seemed quite excited. "Oh, mom, can I go on the train and see him? Mom, oh please?"

"You've already seen him, Ginny," their mom scolded her. "And the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo." Willow remembered that Harry Potter had lost both of his parents as well, and he had only been a baby at the time. "Is he really, Fred?" her new mom continued. "How do you know?"

"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there: like lightning."

"Poor dear!No wonder he was alone. I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked to get onto the platform." Willow felt suddenly sorry for Harry Potter. Here was everyone, talking about him like he was, as her mom had said, something you goggle at in a zoo. He did seem really quiet when he was trying to get onto the platform earlier.

"Never mind that," Fred said. "Do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

"I forbid you to ask him, Fred!" Molly said very harshly. "No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."

"All right, keep your hair on," Willow's brother protested.

"Shut up, Fred," Willow said coldly.

Everyone looked at Willow, then at Fred. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He then smiled at Willow and ruffled her hair. Willow tried to keep her face stern, but she was having a hard time at it. "Okay, fine. Speak up again."

"Thanks, Will."

Just then, a whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" Molly said, and they all scurried onto the train, save for Ginny. They all leaned out the window so that their mom could kiss them good-bye. Poor Ginny began to cry.

"Don't, Ginny," Fred said. "We'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, mom."

"I'll write to you too, Ginny," Willow said. "I promise."

Willow waved goodbye to her mother and sister until the train had disappeared from the station entirely. When she turned around and looked down the corridor, she thought she caught the sight of a familiar head of blonde hair. A warm feeling of something she couldn't identify rose up inside of Willow.

"Hey, Ron, I'm gonna go and explore a bit. A-are you gonna be okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. I'll just be around here somewhere."

"Okay. Thanks, Ron!" she said, beaming, before taking off down the corridor.

Willow had to make sure not to run into anyone. Everyone was looking for a place to sit, and it was all very crowded.

At the end of the car, there was a compartment with two people sitting in it: an unfamiliar boy and a familiar girl. Willow knocked and slid the door open. "Hey there," she said. "Um, is it okay if I sit in here with you?"

"Oh. Sure," the girl said before looking up. "Oh! Willow! Hi there!"

"Hey, Tara," Willow said to the girl who gave her a strange feeling in her stomach.

The boy was looking under one of the seats for something. "Is everything okay?" Willow asked.

"Huh? Ow!" the boy said as he bumped his head into the seat.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Willow bent down to help him up into a seat. "A-are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," he said. "Sorry about that. I can't find Trevor. My pet toad," he explained.

Willow shivered. "Scary," she whimpered.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked kindly.

"Y-yeah," Willow said quietly. "Just that toads and frogs scare me," she said with a nervous giggle. "Weird phobia, I know. But it's mine."

"Oh." The boy didn't seem to know what to say to that. "Well, I'll try to keep him away from you when I find him. I-I'm Neville, by the way."

"Hi, Neville. I'm Willow. A-and this is Tara."

"We've met," Neville said with a smile. "My gran is friends with her aunt and uncle."

"Neville's really nice," Tara put in. "E-even if you don't like toads. Not that I don't like them. J-just that you wouldn't want to not be friends because of a pet, right?"

"No!" Willow protested. "I'm not gonna leave just because of your pet, Neville. I might hide and run away for a little while, maybe. But I'm not gonna stop being friends with someone because of their pet. That would be kinda stupid."

"Oh. Well, thanks," Neville said, looking relieved. "It's just that I haven't… Well, I haven't always had the easiest time making friends."

"Why not?" Tara asked.

"I dunno," Neville answered honestly. "I guess gran's always been really harsh about me living up to my family legacy. Doing right by my parents and such, and I get nervous that I'll let them all down."

"My brother's like that," Willow said. "Ron's a great guy, but he has a bunch of older brothers who he feels like he has to be better than, or else he's a failure. And it's not fair, because he's really nice.

"What about you, Tara? What's your family like?"

Tara looked suddenly nervous. "W-well, my mom's side of the family goes back a while, and th-they've been doing magic for years. My aunt and uncle have been really supportive, but I don't… I mean, I'm just a bit…"

"Hey," Willow said softly, putting a hand on Tara's arm. "Is everything okay? I didn't mean to upset you or anything."

"S-sorry," Tara said nervously, but she didn't pull away from Willow. "I-it's just that for the longest time, I had to be convinced that my magic wasn't e-evil. That my mom w-wasn't a d-demon."

Willow paled as her eyes widened. "I-I thought that I was evil too, at first. I blew up my old house, and I thought God was punishing me."

"That's silly," Neville said. "There's nothing evil about magic," he said with certainty. "Y-you can do all sorts of good with it. I want to be a Healer when I'm done with Hogwarts. Help mend injuries. Treat people who have nowhere else to go. Or maybe an Auror would be nice."

"What's an Auror?" Willow asked.

"Dark wizard catcher," Neville said. "They protect us from anyone out there who might try to hurt us. My dad was one," he said quietly.
Willow got the distinct impression that it would be a bad idea to ask further about Neville's dad right now. "So, um," she began hesitantly. "Have there been any really big, bad dark wizards since Voldemort?"

Neville gasped and Tara's eyes widened in fear.

"Sorry!" Willow said immediately. "Did I do something wrong?"

"N-no. Not exactly," Tara said. "It's just that the name is really frightening," she explained. "Most people don't use it because they're too scared. They just say 'You-Know-Who' or else 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.'"

"Huh. Well that's kinda stupid," Willow said. "I mean, it's just a name, right? What's so bad about saying Voldemort?"

She noticed that Neville flinched, and that Tara had started to shiver.

"Oh. I… I thought that you were making up that fear stuff. Or that maybe you were exaggerating it. I'm not trying to scare you. I just never knew it was bad to say the name."

Willow started to sulk. "I don't know much at all about this world. Everything is so much simpler back in the normal world."

"You're Muggle-born?" Neville asked.

Willow scowled. "Why do you have to use that word? It's insulting. And my parents weren't magical, if that's what you mean."

"Sorry," Neville said shyly. "There's nothing wrong with it or anything. I mean, my family has been all wizards for a long time, but for a while, we all thought I didn't have any magic at all."

"Well," Tara said, "m-my dad wasn't magical, but my mom was. I guess I've sort of gotten used to both worlds. They're both normal to me. In their own ways, I mean. Like, I've gotten used to the difference between wizard photos and movies."

Willow and Neville both looked at Tara strangely.

"Oh. Well, you see, Wizards develop their photographs in a certain solution that makes it so that they move. But in the non-magical world, they take a bunch of photos one right after the other and shine light through them and add sound to make a movie, and it usually tells a story for an hour or two."

"Wow." Willow and Neville both spoke together, each amazed at what was normal for the other.

The three new friends spent the rest of the train ride talking enthusiastically about the differences between the worlds they lived in.

When it started to get dark, they all changed into their school robes, though Willow kept a pair of pants on underneath so she wouldn't start to feel cold.

Once the train came to a stop, they found a huge man with a great bushy beard directing them over to a lakeside. "Firs' years over here! Firs' years, this way!" he called.

Willow, Tara, and Neville found a small boat that they all climbed into together which moved forward along the water with a bunch of other similar boats at the large man's command. But Willow's eyes weren't on the boat, the lake, or her new friends. She was transfixed by the grand castle they were approaching. It was like something out of a fairy tale.

They passed under a curtain of ivy, then through a stone tunnel, and docked at a small stone harbor. The giant man walked up to a large door and knocked three times.

NOTE: Some dialogue from this chapter is lifted verbatim from Chapter Six: The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-Quarters from the novel 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.'