Chapter 4

Train to School

The morning came so quickly, that I felt like going back to sleep when I opened my eyes. I was just turning over when I noticed that someone was banging on my door.

"Sara, come on, get up, we have to leave soon."
"I'm up… I'm up…"

I climbed out of bed and chanced into my favourtie jeans and my blue blouse. I unlocked my door to find that Emily was just about to knock on my door again.

"Good, you're up. Now get down stairs and eat your breakfast. After breakfast you have to pack and make sure you have everything. Then we will leave at eight…"

I walked passed Emily as she went on about leaving for school. Emily was going into her third year, and was going on about the different classes she would be having. Alex was going into his second year, and all he could talk about was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Anthony was going into his fourth year, and was talking about some of his classes with Emily, though neither of them were listening to each other.

"Alright, everyone's awake. Good. Alright, finish eating than pack everything and we will leave around eight."

Mum finished putting the plates on the table and began eating her breakfast. We all sat down and began eating as well. I finished quickly, but slowly enough so I didn't choke on my food. When we were all done, we cleaned up and our plates and the four of us went back to our rooms to pack for Hogwarts.

"Sara, have you seen my…"
"On the dining room table, you brought it down with you this morning."
"Thanks."

I continued packing with my back to the door. I guess I should've known better than that, but with all the packing that Anthony, Emily, Alex, and I had to do, you'd think that Alex would be too busy to do anything, I guess not. While I was repacking after I found out that some on my books didn't fit; Alex decided it would be funny to sneak up on me while I was holding two of my heavier books.

"SARA!"
"Aah! Ow."
"Sorry, are you almost done, mum wants to leave soon."

I glared at Alex for a minute then went back to packing. I picked up the two books I dropped and tried to get them into my bag.

"The trick is to put the bigger books on the bottom and the smaller books on top. Like this."

And like that, Alex took my bag, dumped out the books, took the two books I was still holding and started to pack my book bag for me. Two minutes later, Alex was zipping up my bag and helping me bring my things down the stairs.

"Now, where is Silverbell?"

I looked around the living room, and saw a big white puff ball sleeping on the couch. I grabbed Silverbell, put a blanket around her, and went outside. As I got into the car, I noticed for the first time, that my parents looked worried. My guess was that they were hoping I did good in school, and mostly, that I was happy.

When we reached London, we grabbed four trolleys and unloaded our things onto them.

"Sara!"
"Hey Ron."
"Can you believe it? We're going to Hogwarts."
"Yeah, I can't believe it either. It's like it's all a dream and I'll wake up any minute and have to go to…"
"Sara, you forgot your cat!"
"Comin'. I'll see you later than."
"Okay, Bye."

Ron gave me a hug and went to catch up with his family. I ran back and grabbed the cat carrier, with my cat now in it, which I had left in the car. I put the carrier on my trolley and waited for Anthony, Emily and Alex to be ready to leave.

"Alright, everyone's ready. Looks like we're going to Platform Nine and Three Quarters… Sara, do keep up… Okay, Anthony, you first…Emily you next. Alex, come on, pay attention. Okay Sara, your turn… We'll see you all when school is out…"

And with that I was on Platform Nine and Three Quarters with Anthony, Emily, and Alex. Anthony helped me with my bags and then started going around looking for an empty room so the four of us could sit together. When we found one, we walked in and closed the door behind us.

"Okay, so we should get to school just a little after dark, that's around seven tonight. So Sara and I will change first, ten minutes before we reach the school. Then you two can get changed while I introduce Sara to my friends."
"Sounds like a plan."

The first three hours on the ride was kind of boring. Emily just read her books, Anthony looked over some notes he had made, and Alex was talking to some of the girls from the next room over. I just sat in my seat looking out the window, hoping that Ron would come by for a talk. After three hours of reading, Emily put her book in her bag and grabbed Alex from the other room. Anthony closed the curtains and pulled out a small board. When he set it down on a small table Emily had pulled out, the board grew until it was the size of a chess board. I guess I must've said something because Emily looked over at me and smile.

"The first three hours is when the train is just getting out of London, and now since we're out of London, we can walk around, and also play wizard chess. Oh, we forget to grab a second chess…"
"No we didn't."

Alex smiled and pulled out a second chess board and another small table for the chess board to be set on. Since Anthony was sitting in front on me, we played each other while Alex and Emily played each other. Four hours and forty eight games later, we put the chess boards away and started talking with some of the other students. I was just about to tell someone that I really like their hair cut, it was short with the front longer than the back, when a girl came to the door and pulled it open.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."
"No, sorry, I've been in here the whole time, but if I see a toad, I'll grab it and bring it to you."
"Thanks."

Neville and the girl walked away and I sat back down and continued talking with the three other girls that with me.

"OMG, did you hear her talk."
"She had a real bossy attitude."
"And did you see her hair,"
"Talk about last never."

The four of us started laugh and that's when Emily came into the room with two bags.

"Sorry, got to change. I hope I see you around."

The three girls nodded and went back to talking about the girl we just say.

"That's wasn't ever nice."
"What wasn't?"
"Talking about that girl. What if she had come back? What would you have done then?"
"She was a total first year, and I was sitting with one third year and two fourth year, I think I could handle myself."
"But it's still not nice to make fun of someone."
"Yeah, I know. So we changing or what?"

Emily threw my bag at me and went into the washroom stall. I went into the stall beside her and started changing into my uniform. There was nothing wrong with the uniforms; I just never really liked to wear skirts, not since the bee incident.

"How do I look?"

Emily looked over at me, looked me up and down, then walked over to me and pulled something off my shirt.

"Perfect. Okay, so you'll have to go a different way when we get off the train, but I'll be waiting for you at the Gryffindor table."
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."

Emily and I basically ran back to our room to let the guys know that they could get changed. When we reached the room, Anthony and Alex were grabbing their bags.

"Perfect timing. We'll be back in two minutes."

Anthony and Alex left the room leaving me and Emily by our self.

"Sara, will you be okay without us?"
"Yeah, I'll be as okay as I am now."

And with that I tripped over the cloak and fell face flat on the ground. As Emily helped me up, I couldn't help but to see three sets of feet run pass the door. Then I saw another pair of shoes, a girl this time; walk the opposite way the three boys had run from.

"Thankfully none of them saw that."

Anthony and Alex walked back into the room and just stood where they were. The train stopped a few minutes later and the four of us walked out of the train.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"
"Well, that's you. We'll see you later."

Anthony, Emily, and Alex walked away from me and I started walking towards the guy who was shouting. Now that I could kind of see him better, he looked like the large guy that I saw when I was at Diagon Alley.

"C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

As we followed the giant, we slipped and stumbled, but we finally made it to where he wanted to take us.

"No more'n four to a boat!"

When I finally got into a boat, I saw that I was sitting with three guys. I almost got up to leave when I noticed that all the other boats were full, so I just stayed where I was. It wasn't until the boy looked at me that I realized that it was Draco Malfoy.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec; jus' round this bend here."

All around me I could hear people going 'Oooooh!' I tried to see the school, but I had a tall body in front. When I finally did see it, I couldn't take my eyes off it. When we reached the school we all climbed out and just stood there.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?"
"Trevor!"

Neville grabbed his toad and then we all followed the man up a passageway. We walked for a few minutes then came to a stop.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

The giant raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the door.