Chapter 10

Hogwarts Express

For the rest of the summer, I was sent back to my parents. This had to be the longest three weeks of my life. I couldn't go see Dudley since now I know Harry Potter lives there as well. If he were to recognize me that would completely blow my whole pureblood cover.

Neither of my parents took the fact that I'm a witch very well at all. They both just treated me as though I were some sort of alien. To be honest, I cannot wait to get the bloody hell out of here.

I heard a knock on my bedroom door followed by my mother's voice. "Melanie?"

"Yes."

She opened the door and walked in. I noticed she held a letter. "I received this from your aunt. It says I suppose to take you to Kings Cross station and you are to board the Hogwart's Express from Platform 9 ¾ at 11 am sharp."

Glancing at the clock I pointed out, "We better leave soon."

She nodded and turned around. Just as she was about to leave she turned her head back and looked me in the eyes. "Melanie, are you sure this is what you want? It's not too late to change your mind."

"Yes," I nodded without hesitation. "I'm sure."

Without another word, she nodded and slowing closed my room door, leaving me alone to finish packing.

As we prepared to leave, I bid father one last farewell, knowing it was unlikely I will see either of my parents until next summer. The car ride to Kings Cross Station was completely silent. Neither my mother nor I seemed to know what to say to one another.

When we arrived I noticed Platform 9 followed by Platform 10, but no 9 ¾. It did not seem to exist.

"Mom?" I looked up at her with concern. "Are you sure it said 9 ¾?"

"Yes, I'm positive," she replied clearly pondering hard. "There was some way to get to it, I just don't remember. I only went with your aunt her first year and I was a few years young than her."

"Perhaps we should ask someone that works here," I suggested.

"No, no. Don't do that! They would just think you've gone mental."

"Then what am I suppose to do?" I demanded in frustration.

Mother just stood there, unable to provide a solution, but then we heard a disgusted voice, "Honestly, there should we a better way for students to get on the express without having to go through all these muggles, I swear."

"Sounds like one of your friends," Mother muttered bitterly. "Do you know them?"

I looked to see two grown woman followed by three little girls, two of them with luggage similar to mine. They must be Hogwarts students.

I told mother I will go with them and gave her a quick hug goodbye before rushing over to them.

"Excuse me," I gasped rushing towards them. "Do you think you could tell me how to find Platform 9 ¾?"

"Hogwarts, dear?" asked one of the women without much of a smile.

I nodded.

"This must be your first year," the other woman commented sounding a bit friendlier. "It's both of our girls first year as well. This is my daughter, Daphne Greengrass, and this is her friend, Pansy Parkinson, and this is my younger daughter, Astoria. She'll be attending Hogwarts in a couple years from now."

"Melanie Chamberson," I introduced myself.

Pansy whispered something in Daphne's ear, then asked me, "Where's your family?"

I thought quickly. "My aunt and uncle were both busy so my caretaker dropped me off."

"I see." Mrs. Parkinson eyed me curiously. "Your aunt and uncle did not explain how to get to the platform?"

"They must have forgotten," I mumbled looking down.

Mrs. Greengrass smiled warmly. "Well, that's alright dear. We just explained to our daughters how it's done. Daphne, why don't you go first so Melanie can see?"

Daphne appeared slightly hesitant. "Can't Pansy go first?"

"Fine, I'll go." Pansy seemed a bit more confident.

Taking hold of her cart, she ran at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. The next thing I knew, she had disappeared right though the wall.

I gasped with excitement, anxious to try this out. Daphne, on the other hand still appeared nervous.

"Come on, Daphne, your turn," her mother encouraged, but she still wouldn't move. She just starred at the wall with anxiety in her eyes.

"Could we go together?" I asked Mrs. Greengrass.

"Well, I don't see why not." Mrs. Greengrass beamed at me.

"I'll go with you too, Daph." Her little sister looked up with her big sweet eyes.

"Now, Astoria. I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until it's your time," their mother said.

Daphne hugged both her mother and her sister before positioning herself next to me still breathing heavily.

"Are you ready," I asked her trying to sound comforting. "If Pansy can do it we should be able to, also, right? We are witches after all."

Daphne nodded. "Your right. I know I'm being ridiculous. I'm just worried something could go wrong. What if it doesn't work?"

I gazed at the wall. "If it doesn't work then we'll likely just crash into the wall and look like a couple of idiots."

She laughed and the said, "Alright, lets do this."

Together, Daphne and I ran towards the wall. I closed my eyes at the last moment. As I reopened them, I noticed my surrounding completely changed. There, right before my eyes was the Hogwart's Express.

"What took you two so long?" Pansy demanded impatiently, her arms crossed. "Now, we're probably not going to get a decent seat on the train."

Now, I could see what Lenora meant about Pansy being a spoiled brat. I looked around for Lenora and Draco, but did not see either of them. I then decided I had no better alternative but to sit with Pansy and Daphne.

"Come on," Pansy demanded as we got aboard the train. "Slytherins sit in the back."

"We haven't been sorted yet," Daphne pointed out.

"We'll be in Slytherin for sure, unless you two are blood traitors."

I wonder what she meant by blood traitor, but I didn't ask.

The moment we shut our compartment door, Pansy looked, directly at me and demanded, "So, is it true you can talk to snakes? Draco Malfoy claims he saw you do it."

I nodded glad this special ability seemed to make me more popular with my fellow classmates.

The door to our compartment suddenly slid open by a girl with bushy, dirty blonde hair. "Excuse me. Do you mind if I sit with you. I don't really know anyone here."

"Sure," I nodded sliding over.

"Wait," Pansy interjected. "What's your name?"

"Hermione Granger," the girl replied.

"I'm sorry. You can't sit with us," Pansy stated quite coolly. "You see we're saving these seats for our friends."

I looked between Pansy and Hermione at a loss of words. If I were ever this rude to anyone, I'd be grounded for at least a month.

"Fine," Hermione replied, her tone becoming cold as well. She left seeming to decide she did not wish to sit with us anyway, not that I could blame her.

"You need to be more careful of who you associate yourself with." Pansy looked at me sternly. "I suppose your aunt and uncle didn't warn you about hanging around the wrong sort."

"How do you know she's the wrong sort?" I asked.

"Did you recognize her last name? No, which means she's either half-blood or worse, a mudblood," Pansy explained in a tone of disgust.

"Pansy, don't say that word!" Daphne cautioned. "You could get in trouble here."

Pansy only snorted in response, and then looked back across at me. " So I heard you and Draco snuck down to Knockturn Alley."

"Yeah, Lenora Lane showed us around. He dad lets her go there anytime she wants," I commented with jealousy thinking of how good Lenora had it.

"I'd be careful around her if I were you," Pansy warned me. "She may be pureblood, or at least I think, but trust me, she nothing but a troublemaker. Her dad is a complete drunk, a disgrace to decent wizards."

Daphne looked over at her friend curiously. "What do you mean you think she's pureblood?"

"Well, I don't want to be the person that spreads around false rumors," Pansy started.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Pansy seemed like exactly the kind of person who would gossip about people behind their backs, whether or not the rumors were true.

Pansy continued, "But my dad said Lenora's mother disappeared shortly after she was born. No one knows what happened to her. He thinks that Lenora's father realized what a disgrace it was to be married to a muggle so he did away with her."

"Do you mean he killed her?" I asked horrified.

Pansy shrugged. "Probably. She was just a muggle."

"Still. Does that mean she should die?"

"We don't even know if any of this is true," Daphne added. "She could have actually been a witch and we just don't know who it was."

Just as Pansy began to say something else, the compartment door opened once again.

"There you are, Chamberson."

I looked up to see Draco Malfoy with two large boys standing behind him.

"Hey Draco," I greeted. "Are those your friends you were telling me about?"

He nodded and introduced them as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Have you seen Lenora," I asked ignoring Pansy's sharp gaze.

"I think she's with Blaise and Millicent," Draco answered indifferently. "Anyway, it turns out the rumors are true."

"What rumor?" Pansy asked.

"Harry Potter is aboard this train," Draco answered smugly. "We just saw him."

"No way!" Daphne exclaimed. "He's famous."

Draco appeared slightly irritated by her comment. "He's not a great as they say. Anyway, I cautioned him about making the wrong kind of friends, but he decided not to take my advice. Instead, he chose to hang around that Weasley boy. Oh, well. Can't say I didn't try to warn him. He'll probably end up like his parents."

I shuttered, but didn't say anything. These people kept talking about death as though it were nothing. I could not help but feel uncomfortable, but then again, maybe death is different for wizards and witches. There are still loads I have to learn about the wizardry world, but at the same time, I must try my best to conceal my ignorance from my new friends.