A/N Thank you all for the support I have gotten with this story! I apologize if it is a bit of a slow beginning, but hopefully it starts to pick up. This chapter is the Hogwarts Express and we will get to meet some new faces. I hope you guys like, please Review so I know what to do going forward.

Chapter 3 - Crossing the Barrier

Although it was still 6 months until September 1st I couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts. The hardest thing I had to do was tell my friends I would be going to school in England from now on. It broke my heart when I told them, they looked like they were going to cry.

"What are we going to do without you E," Sasha cried as tears started falling down her face.

"You're our best friend," Marie wailed after.

I felt my heart break and the tears come streaming from my eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much! You girls mean the world to me!" I cried as I rushed to hug them.

We cried for what felt like forever (but was really only 30 minutes). Finally, I wiped my eyes and grabbed their hands.

"You are my bestest friends, and I won't ever let that change. My new school doesn't have internet (I giggled at the horrified looks on their faces, because I knew the thought. How can they have no internet?) But, they use owls to carry letters! I even got my own! Her name is Helga! So she will bring my letters to you so you can know what I am doing!"

This seemed to settle them down and we spent the last 6 months spending as much time as possible together. When I wasn't with Sasha and Marie I was talking to Papa Weasley on the phone.

When I told him I had magic he was ecstatic. He told me he always dreamed magic was real. He was 4 when he was dropped off at an orphanage with only a bag of clothes and a note with his name on it, but he said he used to pretend he had a twin brother named Arthur who was magic.

Me and Papa Weasley would talk every day about what we thought Hogwarts would be like. I said I thought it was going to be a beautiful castle, Papa thought it was going to be like a house that was bigger on the inside.

Finally the day of August 29th arrived, the day me and my parents were flying to England! We were flying overnight and would get there by breakfast time on the 30th. Mom said that we would need a couple days to get over "jet lag" (whatever that meant), so we were spending the last days of August in a Hotel in London.

I was so excited I didn't sleep at all the entire flight and was exhausted when we landed in London (this must be jet lag mom was talking about). We got a taxi to our hotel and checked in. As soon as we got to the room I fell asleep.

The next couple days flew by and suddenly it was September 1st! I woke up really early (according to mom when I jumped on their bed to wake them up). I was so excited!

Mom and dad called a taxi to take us to King's Cross Station at 9:30am and we arrived at 10 am. We wandered around until we found the train platforms and began looking for platform 9 ¾. But we didn't find one!

It was now 10:30 and I was starting to feel like this was all a joke. I could tell mom and dad were thinking the same thing. Then I heard the word Hogwarts and immediately looked up. Coming towards us was a family of 5. The mom had bright red hair and was very beautiful in my opinion. The dad had messy black hair, bright green eyes, glasses, and to my shock a lightning bolt on his head. There were 2 boys playfully pushing each other behind the parents, and a little girl between her mom and dad pushing a cart with an owl on it.

I tugged on moms sleeve and pointed to the family. Mom seemed to get the message and immediately walked up to the family.

"I'm sorry to bother you but would you be going to platform 9 ¾?" Mom asked and the red-haired lady nodded. Mom sighed in relief. "Would you mind helping us, our daughter is starting her first year and we have no idea how to get there."

The man's eyebrows had raised at my mom's accent, but immediately he smiled. "Of course, it's a bit strange and hard to believe but we can help you. What you need to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. James, Albus, would you mind demonstrating?"

I couldn't believe it, he wanted us to walk at a wall! But just as I was starting to freak out the 2 boys came around and walked, yes, straight through the wall!

I felt my jaw drop, and looked up to see mom and dad had done the same.

"Oh don't worry, it will be fine! It's Lily's first year as well." The red-haired lady said nodding towards her daughter. I smiled at the girl and she smiled back. "Why don't you girls go through together?"

We nodded and lined up at the wall. I began to walk, and at the last second closed my eyes, still expecting to run into the wall. But I didn't! When I opened my eyes I was standing beside Lily looking at a beautiful red steam engine train! For the second time I felt my jaw drop, and I heard Lily beside me giggle.

"It's amazing isn't it? I guess I should properly introduce myself, I'm Lily Potter." Lily stated and held out her hand.

I grabbed it, "I'm Ellani Weasley." I didn't understand why now her jaw dropped.

"Weasley?" Lily asked.

"Yuup, I'm from Canada! My mom and dad aren't magic though, just me!" I told her excitedly.

That was when my parents and Lily's came through the barrier. I saw Lily's parents looking confused that Lily was staring at me with her jaw on the ground. Luckily my parents interrupted.

"Thank you so much for your help! We're from Canada, so we were already lost. I was worried Ellani wouldn't be able to make the train." My mom said to Lily's mom.

"Oh, don't worry about it! We're glad to help." Lily's mom said with a radiant smile. "I'm Ginny Potter by the way, and this is my husband, Harry. And Lily is our daughter, and our 2 rascals of sons are James and Albus, but Merlin knows where they have taken off to." Mrs. Potter said holding out her hand to my mom.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Mom said as she took Mrs. Potter's hand. "I'm Margaret Weasley, and this is my husband, John." And just like Lily, Mrs. and Mr. Potter's jaws dropped.

Me, mom, and dad shared confused looks before Mr. Potter shook his head and started laughing. "We're sorry, but I think you should come with us and meet Ginny's family so you can understand our reaction."

Confused, we followed the Potter's through the crowd (which oddly was easy as everyone seemed to move out of Mr. Potter's way and stare at him) to a large crowd of people, a lot of which had red hair.

"Oi you lot, here are some people you should meet," Mr. Potter shouted over the group, and everyone stopped and turned to us. "Weasley's meet the Weasley's" he said pointing first at the large group and then at us.

Oh, I get it now, that's why the Potter's were shocked at our name. Their whole family has the same name. I suddenly felt self-conscious as all of the people in the group stared at us.

"Hello," I squeaked, "I'm Ellani Weasley, we're from Canada and I'm a first year."

Lily quickly ran over and put an arm around my shoulders, "Ya, and she's going to be my best friend." I couldn't help but smile, I loved having friends. Just as the whole group began to speak at once the whistle blew, and Mrs. Potter shooed all of the kids onto the train.

We all rushed to the nearest window to wave goodbye to our parents. I was hanging out the window waving until I couldn't see the platform anymore. Slowly, I pulled myself back into the train and started looking for somewhere to sit. I found a tiny compartment full of red-heads, and some brunettes, even some blonds. I recognized Lily trying to squeeze her way out to me, towing along a red-head, a tall skinny brunette, and a shy blonde kid.

"Ellani, these are the other 1st years of our lot, let's go find a compartment just us. We can meet everyone else later." Lily said to me, and I nodded, following her down the aisle.

We found an empty compartment and sat down. I sat by the window beside Lily. The red-head sat on the other side of Lily, the blonde sat across from her, and the brunette sat across from me. "Ok, so I'm Lily, but all of you know that." Lily said boldly, "now it's your turn."

I decided I would speak up next. "I'm Ellani Weasley, yes Weasley. I'm from Canada, hence why I sound different. My parents aren't magic, just me."

The red-head looked up sharply at me, then looked down again. "I'm Hugo Weasley, I'm not from Canada, my parents are magic, and Lily is my cousin." Ok, so that makes sense considering the big scene on the platform.

The blonde held his head up, trying to seem confident but I could see his hands shaking. "I'm Caelum Malfoy, but you can call me Cael. I am a pureblood wizard so every generation of my family has been magic. My brother, Scorpius, was the first Malfoy not in Slytherin and my dad was a Death Eater." Ok I had no clue what "Slytherin" or "Death Eater" was so I just nodded.

Finally, the brunette looked me straight in the eye, "I'm Frank Longbottom. Both my parents are magic, and war heroes. I am expected to be in Gryffindor and to be brave."

I kept looking him in the eye and said, "I have no idea what Gryffindor is, but you are brave." I turned to Scorpius, "I have no idea what Slytherin or Death Eater is, but I can see you're strong and you are going to do great things." I turned to Hugo and said, "You're hard to read, but I definitely see a lot of confidence and bravery." Finally, I turned to Lily, "I don't know you very well, but I know you are going to be my best friend. You are very smart, I can see. And I can see you have pressure, like the others, to live up to your family name, but I think you are going to strike a new path." I smiled at everyone and finished, "As for me, I have a lot to learn. But, I am loyal, and I will do anything for my friends, and I think we are going to be great friends no matter what."