I am not J.K Rowling just yet but I am developing a Polyjuice potion that muggles can make. Please bear with me. Fred's death will soon have never happened.

I'm thinking of changing the names of Circe's pets. Any suggestions would be great because I can't think of anything to name a lion, a badger or an eagle. None of them have genders and I would like to keep it that way, though.

Chapter Six

The Journey From Platform Nine And Three Quarters

The twins' last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of them that he wouldn't stay in the same room as them, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut them in the cupboard, force them to do anything or shout at them, in fact, they didn't speak to them at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with either of the twins in it was empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.

The twins kept to their room, with their new owls and Circe's other pets for company. They were a pain to try and hide from the Dursleys, since they were life size and very noisy, but the twins were only glad that they didn't need to eat or to have any exercise. Harry decided to name his owl Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic and Circe decided to name hers Citatus after a random word she had picked out of a random passage in one of her books. As she read further on, she realised it meant something like 'fast' in Latin. Their schoolbooks were very interesting, which was a very new experience for both twins. They lay on their bed reading late into the night. Circe skimmed through the DDA and charm books, looking for descriptions of the dark creatures and spells that could be used for pranks, occasionally trying them out. Harry read the herbology and magical creature books, being amazed that Victorians had a language for flowers and that there were magical creatures that could be kept as pets. The owls were swooping in and out of the open window as they pleased, hooting softly to each other. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to hoover anymore, because they kept bringing in dead rats and mice. Every night, before they went to sleep, one of the twins ticked off another day on the piece of paper they had pinned to their wall, counting down the days to September the first.

On the last day of August, they thought they'd better speak to their Aunt and Uncle about getting to King's Cross station next day, so they went down to the living room, where they were watching a quiz show on television. They cleared their throats at the same time to let them know they were there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.

"Er - Uncle Vernon?"

Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.

"Er - we need to be at King's Cross Station tomorrow in order to catch the train to Hogwarts."

Uncle Vernon grunted again.

"Would it be alright if you gave us a lift?"

Grunt. The twins supposed that meant yes.

"Thank you."

They were about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon spoke

"Funny way to go to a magic school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

Neither of the twins said anything.

"Where is this school, anyway?"

"We don't know," said Harry, realising this for the first time. He pulled the tickets Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.

"We just take the train from platform nine and three quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.

Their Uncle turned round and stared.

"Platform what?"

"Nine and three quarters." copied Circe.

"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "there is no platform nine and three quarters."

"It's on both the tickets." insisted Harry, while Circe noticed how Aunt Petunia flinched every time the platform name was mentioned. It was weird, Circe though. No one would flinch just because they'd been somewhere. What happened there? And what was the relevance to Aunt Petunia?

"Barking!" said Uncle Vernon, "Howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you two to King's Cross. We're going to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"Why are you going to London?" Circe asked, extremely curious. Dudley hated London with all the shops and people that took no notice of him there.

"Taking Dudley to hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."

Circe woke at five o' clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to get back to sleep so she played with her pets for a while until a loud roar from Fluffy woke up the Dursleys ("STOP WITH THE NOISE BEFORE YOU GET MOVED BACK TO YOUR CUPBOARD.") and Harry so they had to stop before someone realised that elven year-old kids can't roar that loudly, or realistically. Harry couldn't sleep either, so they both got changed into jeans and a t-shirt because they didn't want to walk into the station in their robes – they'd change on the train. They checked their Hogwarts lists yet again to make sure they had everything they needed, saw that their owls were shut safely in their cages, and all of Circe's extra pets were in the red-carpet bag that Tom made for them, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, the twins' huge, heavy trunks had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry and they had set off.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped the twins' trunks onto a trolley and wheeled it into the station for them. The twins thought this was strangely kind, especially since Fluffy had woken then up so early this morning, until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.

"Well, there you are. Platform nine, platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, but, in the middle, nothing at all.

"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. The twins turned and saw the Dursleys drive away, all three of them laughing. The twins' mouths went rather dry, and Circe put an arm around Harry. What on earth were they going to do? They were starting to attract quite a few funny looks, because of their owls and the big, red-carpet bag. They'd have to ask someone.

Harry stayed with the trolley next to the wall with the number nine on and Circe ran over to a guard. Circe could clearly see the exact moment the guard started to get annoyed. It was at the first syllable of the fifth word she spoke: platform. He obviously thought that Circe was just wasting his time, or maybe even covering for someone committing a crime. When Circe asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, he told her to go away unless she wanted to spend the night in jail.

When Circe went back to Harry with the news, they were both trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock on the wall over the arrivals board, they had ten minutes left to get onto the train to Hogwarts and they still had no idea how to do it; they were stranded in the middle of a station with two trunks they could hardly lift, two pockets full of magical money, two large owls and a massive carpet bag full of sparkly animals.

Hagrid must have forgotten to tell them something they had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. They briefly wondered if they should get their wands out and start tapping the ticket box between platforms nine and ten.

At that moment, a group of people passed just behind them, and they caught a few words of what they were saying.

"- packed with muggles, of course -"

The twins swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, each with flaming red hair the same shade as Circe's. Each of them was pushing a trunk, just like the ones belonging to the twins, in front of them – and they had an owl.

Hearts hammering, Harry pushed their trolley after the red heads. They stopped and so did the twins, just near enough to hear what they were saying.

"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.

"Nine and three quarters." piped up a little girl who could've easily been mistaken for Circe's little sister; they looked identical. She was holding her mum's hand. "Mum, can't I go..."

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."

What looked like the oldest boy marched towards platforms nine and ten. The twins watched, careful not to blink, in case they missed it – but, just as the boy reached the divide between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of them and, by the time the last rucksack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.

"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly woman, call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done because, a second later, he was gone – but how had he done it?

Now, the third brother was walking briskly towards the ticket barrier – he was almost there – and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.

There was nothing else for it.

"Excuse me," said Circe to the plump woman.

"Hello, dears," she said, "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."

She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, as tall as Circe, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet and a long nose.

"Yes," said Circe. "The thing is – the thing is, we don't know how to -"

"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and both the twins nodded.

"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run, if you're nervous. Go on, go now, you two, before Ron."

"Um - OK. Thank you," said both the twins.

Harry pushed the trolley round and stared at the barrier, while Circe held on to the bit of the handle that Harry wasn't. The barrier looked very solid.

They started to walk towards it. People jostled them on their way to platforms nine or ten. The twins walked quicker. They were going to smash right into that ticket box and then they'd be in trouble – leaning forwards onto their trolley, they broke into a heavy run – the barrier was coming nearer and nearer – they wouldn't be able to stop – the trolley was out of control – they were a foot away – they closed their eyes, ready for the crash -

It didn't come... They kept on running... They opened their eyes.

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead read Hogwarts Express, 11 o' clock. The twins looked behind them and saw a wrought iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three Quarters on it. They had done it.

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.

The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Circe pushed the trolley off down the platform with Harry following, in search of an empty seat. They passed a two round faced kids who were saying, "Gran, we've lost our toad again."

"Oh, Neville and Naomi," they heard the old woman sigh.

A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.

"Give us a look, Lee, go on."

The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.

The twins pressed on to through the crowd until they found an empty compartment near the end of the train. They put Hedwig and Citatus inside first, along with Fluffy, Squawk and Cuddles and then started to heave their trunks towards the train door. They tried to lift it up the steps but couldn't even lift one between the two of them and they kept on dropping it painfully on their feet.

"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins they'd followed through the ticket box.

"Yes please," Harry panted.

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"

With the identical twins' help, the Potter twins' trunks were at last tucked safely away in a corner of the compartment.

"Thanks," said Circe, stretching her arms above her head.

"What's that?" said one of the red-haired twins suddenly, pointing at Circe's scar where her sleeve had fallen.

"Blimey," said the other one. "Are you -"

"They are," said the first one, "Aren't you?" he added to Harry and Circe.

"What?" asked Harry.

"The Potter twins," chorused the red heads.

"Oh, them," said Circe. "I mean, yes, we are."

The two boys gawped at them, and the Potter twins felt themselves going red.

Then, to their relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, mum."

With a last look at the Potter twins, the red headed twins hopped off the train.

The twins sat down next to each other where, half hidden, they could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying, if Circe rested her chin on Harry's head like she had done before. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose."

The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.

"Mum - gerroff." He wriggled free.

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.

"Shut up," said Ron.

"Where's Percy?" said their mother.

"He's coming now."

The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes and the twins noticed a shiny silver badge with the letter P on it.

"Can't stay long, mother," he said. "I'm up front, the Prefects have two carriages to themselves -"

"Oh, are you a Prefect, Percy?" said one of the red-haired twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something; we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other one. "Once -"

"Or twice -"

"A minute -"

"All summer -"

"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the red-haired twins.

"Because he's a Prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term – send me an owl when you get there.

She kissed Percy on the cheek, and he left Then she turned to the twins.

"Now you two – this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl saying you've - you've - you've blown up a toilet, or -"

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea, though, thanks mum."

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, Ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already, and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.

"Hey, mum, guess what? Guess who we saw on the train?"

The twins leant back quickly so they couldn't see them looking.

"You know that black haired boy and the red-haired girl who were near us in the station? Know who they are?"

"Who?"

"The Potter twins!"

Harry and Circe. heard the little girl's voice.

"Oh, mum, can I go on the train and see them, mum, oh, please..."

"You've already seen them, Ginny, and the children aren't some poor animals you goggle at in a zoo. Are they really, Fred? How do you know?"

"Asked them. Saw Circe Potter's scar. It's really there – like lightning."

"Poor dears – no wonder they were alone. I wondered. They were ever so polite when the asked how to get onto the platform."

"Never mind that. Do you think they remember what You-Know-Who looks like?"

Their mother suddenly became very stern.

"I forbid you to ask either of them that, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though they need reminding of that on their first day at school."

"All right, keep your hair on."

A whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leant out of the window for her to kiss them goodbye, and their younger sister began to cry.

"Don't Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, mum."

The train began to move. The twins saw the boys' mother waving, and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train, until it gathered too much speed; then she fell back and waved, too.

The twins watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. The twins felt a great leap of excitement inside each of them. They didn't know where they were going to – but it had to be better than the world they were leaving behind.

The door of the compartment slid open, and the youngest red-haired boy came in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."

The twins shook their heads and the boy sat down. He glanced at the twins and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. The twins saw he still had a black mark on his nose.

"You are allowed to look at us, you know." said Circe, making his ears go as red as a couple of tomatoes. Luckily for him, he was saved by one of the red-haired twins poking their head into the compartment.

"Hey, Ron. Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordon's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry and Circe," said the other twin, poking his head through the doorway as well, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye," said all three of the eleven-year-olds. The Weasley twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.

"Are you really the Potter twins?" Ron blurted out.

They both nodded.

"Oh, well, I thought it might have been one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got – you know..." he pointed at Harry's forehead and Circe's arm.

"Harry pulled back his fringe and Circe pulled up her sleeve to show their lightning scars. Ron stared.

"So, they're where You-Know-Who -?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"But we can't remember it." added Circe.

"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.

"Well - we remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at the twins for a moment.

"Do you mind if we let our pets out?" asked Circe.

"No. I quite like owls." Harry let Hedwig out, while Circe let Citatus out, and then went to the carpet bag and let Fluffy, Squawk and Cuddles out.

"What in the name of Merlin's most baggy pants!?" exclaimed Ron. "Who made them?!"

"I did." said Circe modestly, "though I'm not sure how to get rid of them, and, even if I did, I wouldn't want to, to be honest. And I couldn't leave them at home: the Dursleys, they're the people who look after us, would blow up the house if they found them, and they're not usually very quiet."

"That's bloody brilliant!" After a few minutes, where they just watched the creatures chase each other and play, Harry, who, along with Circe, found Ron as interesting as he found them, said,

"Are all your family magical?"

"Er - yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think mums got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we don't really talk about him much."

"So, you must know lots of magic already," Circe stated.

The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale brat in Diagon Alley had talked about.

"I heard you two went to live with muggles," said Ron, "What are they like?"

"Horrible - well, not all of them. My Aunt and Uncle and cousin are, though. Wish we'd had four wizard siblings. No offense Harry, but you don't count 'cause you knew as much about magic as I did." Harry shrugged it off.

"Six," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was captain of the Quidditch team. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good grades, and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five older brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat."

Ron reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a fat, grey rat, which was asleep.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless; he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a Prefect, but they couldn't aff – I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears went pink again. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he started staring out the window.

The twins didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, they'd never had any money in their lives until a month ago, and they told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting any proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.

"... and, until Hagrid told us, we didn't know anything about being magical or our parents, or Voldemort -"

Ron gasped.

"What?" said Harry.

"She said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you two, of all people -"

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Circe.

"We just never knew you shouldn't," continued Harry. "See what we mean? We've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first-time something that had been worrying them a lot lately, "I bet we're the worst in the class."

"You won't be. There're loads of people who come from muggle families, and they learn quick enough. And you're twins and, look at these," he motioned to the animals that were now laying at Circe's feet and occasionally buffing her legs.

"But Circe made them. I'm definitely going to be the worst in the class, while Circe is way better than me."

"No, you both made them," argued Ron, "I don't know that much about twin magic: no one does, but I do know that, when a twin casts a spell the other one is casting it as well, no matter how far away they are. It's only confidence that changes the power of their spells."

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.

Around half past twelve, there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

The twins, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to their feet, but Ron's ear went pink again, and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. The twins went out into the corridor.

He'd never had any money for sweets with the Dursleys and, now that they had pockets rattling with gold and silver, they were ready to buy at least five of every sweet there was – but the woman didn't have mars bars or twixes or galaxies. What she did have, were Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice wands and several other strange things the twins had never even heard of. Not wanting to miss anything, they got some of everything and paid the woman eleven sickles and seven knuts altogether.

Ron stared as the twins brought it all back to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.

"Hungry, are you?"

"Starving," Circe said, her mouth already full of a Pumpkin Pasty.

Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches in there. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"Dig into this then." said Circe, pointing at the pile of sweets with her mouth full of another bite of her Pumpkin Pasty.

"I couldn't. The only thing I could give you is this, and you don't want it; it's all dry," said Ron "She hasn't got much time, you know, with five of us."

"I couldn't eat it anyway 'cause I'm a vegetarian, and Harry can't stand beef. Anyway, think of it as an offer of friendship. Also, you expect us to eat all this! Even with the two of us, we'd end up hunched over toilets all night. Go on." she chucked him a Pumpkin Pasty, which he only just caught. When he took a bite, his hair turned a neon pink and grew about three feet.

"Sorry!" Circe squealed, "I was about to give that one to Harry, but I forgot." Ron was speechless for a second, and then he started laughing.

"How did you do that without anyone seeing, and in such a short space of time. You really don't have to worry about being bottom of the class. But seriously, how do I make my hair normal again?"

"It has to wear off, sorry. It'll last about two hours."

It was a nice feeling, sitting there, with Ron and all his new hair, eating their way through the twins' sweets (the sandwiches lay forgotten) and even watching Circe levitate the box of jellybeans for her pets to chase, until she lost concentration and dropped it onto snuffles snout, where it got stuck until Ron managed to pull it off.

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a Chocolate Frog packet.

"They're not really frogs, are they?" asked Circe after seeing what he was holding up. She was starting to feel that nothing would surprise her.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know – chocolate frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect – famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Harry unwrapped his chocolate frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore halfmoon glasses, had a long, crooked nose and flowing silver hair, beard and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name, Albus Dumbledore.

"So, this is Dumbledore!" exclaimed Harry, making Circe look over his shoulder.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa – thanks -"

Harry turned over his card and read

Albus Dumbledore, currently headmaster of Hogwarts.

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern

times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for

his defeat of the dark wizard, Grindelwald in 1945,

for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragons

blood and his work on alchemy with his partner,

Nicholas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys

chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his and Circe's (who was still looking over his shoulder) astonishment that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.

"He's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect him to stick around all day," said Ron.

"He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again, and I've got about six of her... do one of you want it? You could start collecting."

Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of chocolate frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

"Help yourself," said Circe, grabbing one, "but in, you know, the muggle world, people just stay put in photos."

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"

Circe smiled and looked at her card, then laughed. "I've got Circe! 'Circe was an ancient Greek who lived on the island of Aeaea and was an expert at turning lost sailors into pigs.' She sounds cool. I can see why a child would be named after her."

Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the famous witches and wizards' cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them, and Circe was just as interested in both. Soon, they had not only Dumbledore, Morgana and Circe, but also Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Paracelsus and Merlin. Circe's pets caught the frogs that ran away. Though, so they still got to eat them. Harry finally turned his eyes away from the druidess, Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a pack of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned the twins. When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour – you know, you get all the ordinary ones, like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey flavoured one once."

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully and bit into a corner.

"Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."

They had a good time eating the Every Flavour Bean. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee and sardine. Circe got pineapple, eggs, rotten eggs, noodles, hot salsa, wood, blood, old socks and even dared to eat a grey one whole that the boys wouldn't even touch – it turned out to be black pepper.

The countryside, now flying past the window, was becoming wilder. The neat fields were gone. Now, there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door to their compartment and the round-faced children the twins had passed on Platform Nine and Three Quarters came in. They looked tearful.

"Sorry," the boy said, "Have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, the girl wailed, "We've lost him! He keeps getting away from us!"

"He'll turn up." said Circe, consolingly.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."

They left.

"Don't know why they're so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad, I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.

"He might have died, and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow, yesterday, to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway -"

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time, he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville and Naomi've lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told them we haven't seen it." said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at his hair.

"What on earth have you done to your hair? I'm sure that won't be allowed at Hogwarts."

"It was my fault. I gave him a pumpkin pasty that I'd cursed. It should have worn off by now, actually, and I don't think there's a counter charm." Circe said thoughtfully. "I guess I cast the spell too strongly."

"Oh Merlin! I'm going to stay like this forever!" exclaimed Ron.

"Don't be silly," said the girl, "There's always a way to counter a spell. Here, let me try one." and before anyone could protest, she walked up to Ron with her wand, that had somehow appeared out of nowhere, out and said, "Finite Incantatem." Ron's hair started shrinking back into his head and getting darker and redder. Within seconds, it was back to normal.

"Er- thanks?" Ron said.

"You're welcome, but you should always practise the spells that help you, first, rather than the ones that, well, do that. And you shouldn't make a habit of it either. All the spells I've tried are safety ones, just in case, and none of them have gone wrong yet. Nobody in my family's magic so it was ever such a shock when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of magic there is, I've heard – I've learnt all our schoolbooks off by heart, of course, I just hope it'll be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

She said all this very fast and it amazed Ron and the twins that she was able to go from telling them off to telling them about herself so fast and so casually.

The twins looked at Ron and were relieved to see from his stunned face that he hadn't learnt all the set books off by heart either.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Circe Potter," Circe said.

"Harry Potter," Harry said.

"Are you really? I know all about you, of course. I got a few extra books for back ground reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Magical Events of the Twentieth Century.

"Are we?" Circe asked, feeling dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know. I'd have found out as much as I could if it was me," said Hermione."

"It wasn't really the most important thing we'd found out at the time, Hermione. We were raised by muggles as well, you know." Circe explained

"Oh. Do any of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor. It sounds, by far, the best. I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville and Naomi's toad. You three had better change, you know. I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking the toadless twins with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it.," said Ron, "Wanna see a spell now. It's probably a dud mind you; George gave it to me." he pointed his wand at the sleeping rat, cleared his throat and said,

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, and nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.

"Stupid spell - Knew it was a dud."

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Circe.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and dad were in it too, and there's no way Ginny isn't going to be a Gryffindor. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be bad but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Voldemort was in." Circe stated and Ron visibly flinched at the word Voldemort.

"Please don't say his name!" Ron pleaded, "But yeah." He flopped back on his seat, looking depressed.

"Sorry." said Circe, not sounding at all sorry. "You know, I think the ends of Scabber's whiskers look a bit lighter." she said, trying to take Ron's mind off of houses.

"So, what do your oldest brothers do now they've left, anyway?" Harry asked. Both the twins were wondering what sorcerers did once they'd finished school.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa, doing something for Gringotts." said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with muggles – someone tried to rob a high security vault."

The twins stared.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"What happened to them?" finished Circe.

"Nothing. That's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful dark sorcerer to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone thinks You-Know-Who's behind it."

The twins turned this piece of news over in their minds. Harry was starting to feel a bit nervous every time You-Know-Who was mentioned, and Circe started to feel angry. They supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying 'Voldemort' without worrying.

"What're your Quidditch teams?"

"What's Quidditch? We asked Hagrid, but he got a bit side-tracked."

"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait; it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking the twins through the finer points of the fame when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville, or Naomi, or Hermione Granger this time.

Three boys entered and the twins recognised the middle one at once; it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at the twins with much more interest than he had shown back in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that the Potter twins are in this compartment. So it's you two, is it?" Everyone stayed silent so the boy continued. "Anyway, I was thinking of giving you two a second chance, and I could save you from hanging around with this filth."

"You know, I was wondering why they were saying that a walking piece of dog poo was coming this way." Circe said coolly, glancing at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. Ron gave a slight cough that sounded like a snigger. The boy looked at him.

"Think that's funny, do you? No need to ask why. My father told me all about the Weasleys: red hair, freckles, more children than they can afford and are stupid blood traitors."

Circe whipped her wand out and pointed it at the boy's neck.

"Do. Not. Insult. My. Friends. If you are too stupid to think of something smart to say, don't inflict your stupidness onto your poor victims. They might start getting stupider just from being in your presence. Do you understand or do you need me to say it slower?"

Malfoy was too terrified to say anything to that since Circe's wand had dug deeper into his neck for each of the first four words, so he just nodded. Circe's pets, who could feel her hidden anger for the boy, could contain themselves no longer. They came out from under the seats, where they had obediently hidden every time someone came in, and chased the three intruders, screaming like babies, out of the compartment and Scabbers woke up and bit one of the burly boys' ankles.

"You've met that pale git before?"

The twins explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.

"He sounds like a Malfoy," said Ron darkly. "The Malfoys were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the dark side,"

After a second of silence, Hermione Granger walked into the compartment.

"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets that had fallen on the floor when Fluffy, Squawk and Cuddles hurried back under the seat and Ron picking Scabbers up by his tail.

"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to the twins, "No - I don't believe it – he's gone back to sleep again."

And so he had.

Ron turned to Hemione.

"Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and get your robes on. I've just been up the front to ask the driver and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"It wasn't us fighting; it was Scabbers and -" said Ron, scowling at her, but Circe elbowed him in the side to stop him giving away information about her pets. She wasn't sure they were allowed, and she didn't want to risk having to get rid of them because the teachers told her to.

"Would you mind leaving while we change?" Harry covered. Hermione gave them a suspicious frown, but left it.

"All right. I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly: racing up and down the corridor," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

Ron glared at her as she left. The twins peered out of the window. It was getting dark. They could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.

Them and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him; you could see his trainers underneath them.

A voice echoed through the train: we will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." The twins' stomachs lurched with nerves and Ron, they saw, looked even paler under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. The twins shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and the twins heard a familiar voice:

"Firs' years. Firs' years over 'ere! All righ' there 'Arry n' Circe?"

Hagrid's big, hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

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

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down a steep narrow path. It was so dark either side of them, that the twins thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. The other pair of twins in their year, the kids who kept losing their toad, sniffed once or twice.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "Jus' round this bend, 'ere."

There was a loud 'Oooooh!'.

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great, black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its window sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many towers and turrets.

"No more 'n four ter a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry, Circe and Ron were followed into their boat by Hermione.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, "Right then – FORWARD!"

And the little fleet of boats moved off, all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. Out of the corner of her eye, Circe spotted the Malfoy boy's boat, which he was sitting in with a pug faced girl and the two boys he was with earlier. She grinned and pointed her wand at it.

"Ventus," she murmured, just as Hagrid yelled,

"Heads down!" as the first boats reached the cliff. A gust of wind hit the Malfoy kid's boat and turned it over and Hermione tried to shoot Circe an angry glare, while they passed through a curtain of ivy, but she had to duck before she hit her head, so the sternness was lost.

"HALT!" Hagrid shouted, while the three wet boys tried to doggy paddle towards their boat and the girl gracefully swum up to it and climbed in. After they climbed in, Hagrid resumed the boats and they were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to the rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you two there! Is this your toad?" asked Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried the other twins blissfully, Neville holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. It seemed that the four occupants of the bout that had been tipped over had found a way to magically dry themselves because they weren't wet in the slightest, despite their shivering earlier.

They all walked up a flight of smooth stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone 'ere? You two there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knock three times on the castle door.