Hogwarts Express

Those last 3 days seemed to pass very quickly in the Riddle house. Her father had been very quiet talking to Anya only when he had too, as for her mother she had been keeping her distance, this suited Anya why would she want to hang out with that fat, pink clothed, father stealing...person.

Anya was packed and ready when Prof. Humphrey appeared at the door, wearing a small smile and carrying a small briefcase. "Miss Riddle, I see you are ready to leave. The train will leave at exactly 11am. In London"

Anya nodded, she gestured to Prof. Humphrey to wait whilst she said goodbye to her father. He was sitting in his chair by the fire, gazing into the flames he hadn't even looked up when she walked in.

"Dad...Dad, I'm going now Daddy, aren't you going to say goodbye...I'll be back at Christmas...daddy?" Mr Riddle turned to look upon his daughter, his little girl who was going off to some freak school, his baby he swore would never know of this rubbish, never be infected. He couldn't help himself he quickly pulled her into a hug, holding her tight for maybe the last time. "Goodbye my Angel...be good..." He released her and turned back to the flames.

Anya taking this as her cue to leave turned to go out of the room. "Anya..." her father called, a tear running down his cheek... "You're still my little girl, whatever you become." She nodded and before she began to cry she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

The journey to London was rather uneventful; mostly they sat in silence, pondering their own thoughts. The silence was broken only when there train pulled into King Cross Station.

"Right Miss Anya, here we are...get your bags."

"But we're at Kings Cross sir; does the train really leave from here?" Anya was bewildered as far as she knew the wizard world was kept apart from the muggle world, why would the train leave for a magical world right in the middle of a muggle station?

"You'll see, now come along or else we'll miss the train." So Anya went along with him, picking up the basket with a sleeping Eclipse in.

They walked along the station once they were in between platforms nine and ten, Professor Humphrey handed her a ticket. Anya read it then laughed "There must be a mistake, it sees platform nine and three quarters, that can't be...can it"

"Yes, now follow me, we have to walk through the border of platform nine and ten." Seeing her alarmed look he added "it's perfectly safe, it's...magic" he laughed at his joke but added nothing more. Anya watched him walk calmly up to the wall and then disappear. "Well here goes nothing..." she ran straight ahead and braced herself for an impact that never came.

Instead she found herself looking upon a bright red and gold engine in a brightly coloured and light platform. Looking up she could see the sign "Platform nine and three quarters – The Hogwarts Express".

"See I told you..." came the familiar voice of her companion. "Now quickly get aboard and find a seat, the train will be leaving soon." The professor handed her, her bag and her ticket and gently pushed her towards the vast engine. "I'll be seeing you at Hogwarts, Miss Riddle, and good luck"

"Thank you sir, for everything..."

Anya walked through the corridors of the train. Every compartment seemed to be full; finally she came upon a compartment with just one boy inside reading a book. "Would you mind?" she asked walking in.

The boy looked up; he was slight with dark brown hair and a straight face, his eyes were a deep green. "Not at all, though I'm not good company." He stated, returning to his book.

"Don't worry" she replied, attempting to put her bag up in the compartment. It kept falling down narrowly avoiding Eclipse who was going to sleep on the seat. The boy sighed, and setting aside his book, picked up the case and placed it in the rack. "Thank you....um who are you?"

"No problem" he replied sitting down again, however he didn't pick up the book again, but fixed his gaze upon the girl before him. "I'm Zarian...Zarian Knight, and you?

"I'm Anya, Anya Riddle. Is this your first year at Hogwarts?" she replied making conversation this boy seems nice enough.

"No I'm in the second year. What house are you hoping to get into?" He asked this haughtily as though as a challenge.

"House? What do you mean house... I'm kind of new to this world." What did he mean houses, no one mentioned houses.

"The houses are Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and ...Gryffindor. I'm in Slytherin; most pure bloods belong in there. So I'm guessing you're a muggle born then?"

"I'm not sure...my dad's a muggle but I don't know about my mum, she left when I was a baby." She paused cautious that she had given away more information than was necessary. "My dad knew about this world though, he kind of flipped when he realised I was a witch."

"Oh, maybe...well you seem smart so maybe you'll end up in Slytherin. Were known for being rather sneaky but were loyal and have a high sense of honour." Zarian was rather proud of his house, but Anya noticed that he missed something of the list, they were really rather vain.

"Well i'll step out so you can change into your robes" he glanced at his watch, "we'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon"

"Thankyou" she said and started to change... Finally she'd be at Hogwarts maybe she would find out more about her mother and who this Slytherin person was... maybe.