Disclaimer: Not JKR, don't own HP.

Andi stared at the spot where she had been for a second, then rushed inside, lugging her heavy bags. Her mother was reading a book at the table. She looked up when Andi shut the door behind her.

"Andi! I was beginning to wonder when you'd get back. It's nearly supper now; go wash up."

Andi ran upstairs, washed her hands, then ran back down to find her family seated at the table.

As they ate, Andi's mother asked, "Well, Andi, how was Diagon Alley?"

"It was awesome, Mum! There were all sorts of things. There was the huge bank, goblins were running it, and we had to go down under it to get money to buy my stuff. Then, I got robes, and schoolbooks, and a cauldron to make potions, and an owl."

"What was your favorite part?"

"My wand! See," she said, carefully taking the medium-brown wand out of her pocket and showing it to her family. Leo looked at it in awe.

"What type of owl did you get?" asked her father.

"A barn owl! His name is Nutmeg."

After supper, Andi ran upstairs, grabbed her owl, and walked back down. She took Nutmeg out of his cage and showed him to Leo and her mother; her father was washing dishes. Leo gently patted him, and her mother held him for a minute before Andi put him back in his birdcage for the night.

That evening, sitting on the couch playing a board game, Leo asked Andi so many questions that her head buzzed trying to answer them all. Eventually, she pleaded exhaustion and went to bed, though she sat up late into the night, sitting in the sill and watching the quiet street, thinking about the events of that day: learning she was a witch, visiting Diagon Alley, meeting Professor McGonagall.

The next morning, Andi read the first of her books, Magical Theory. It seemed fairly interesting, though slightly tedious. As she was reading about the importance of wrist movements, Leo ran in, stark naked.

"Leo! What are you doing!"

"Hide me from Mum!" Her brother was dripping wet. He must have escaped the bathroom; Leo hated baths and their mother had to come find him frequently after his escapades.

"Nope, sorry." Andi was firm.

"Andi, pleeease?" he begged.

"Hide yourself."

"Yes!" Leo squeezed between the wall and her bed, on the side with the window. Andi threw a towel over him.

"Hey!" he protested.

"Keep it on," Andi said. Eventually, her mother came in.

"Andi, have you seen your brother?"

"I plead the fifth and have not aided in any way the escapee," Andi said jokingly. Her mother looked around her room until she found Leo, whom she carried back to the bathroom, squealing and wriggling. Andi watched as they went and smiled to herself.

The next month and a half flew by. Finally, it was the thirty-first of July. Andi was bouncing around her room, packing, unpacking, and repacking her trunk, making sure her books were in the right order, and quizzing herself on everything she had read.

"Mum! Have you seen my red jumper?" she asked, not finding it in her trunk.

"It's on the couch, Andi! Exactly where you left it!" her mother called. "You were planning to wear it tomorrow."

"Thanks, Mum!" Andi said, retrieving the jumper and laying it out where she would find it the next morning.

Finally, that evening, she reexamined the ticket.

Hogwarts Express
from
King's Cross Train Station, London, England
Platform 9 ¾
11:00 AM

Platform 9 ¾? What is that supposed to mean? wondered Andi. What if I can't find it! I'll miss the train for sure.

Finally, Andi decided to go to sleep, knowing that they would have to get up early the next morning to drive to London.