Rose and Savin each rose on the 1st day of September in 1983 knowing that it was an important day, the day that they were leaving for Hogwarts. Each experienced a range of emotions as they packed up their last few things and got ready to leave for King's Cross Station. For both children, excitement for the start of a new adventure was foremost in their minds. Savin was also looking forward to the prospect of time without his parents looking over his shoulder every minute (or more accurately, a time without other people looking over his shoulder and reporting back to his parents). Rose, though, was also feeling somewhat nervous, both about leaving behind her family and about whether she'd be able to fit in. While neither Rose nor Savin had ever had any close friends growing up, in Savin's case it had been because he spent little time with other children at all, and when he did it was often in controlled formal situations. He had little doubt that he would be able to make friends once he had the opportunity, and was looking forward to that prospect as well. Rose, on the other hand, had been given plenty of opportunities to make friends, plenty of exposure to other children, yet had still never managed to make long-lasting friendships due to her shyness around strangers and her studious ways (considered odd and unnatural by the average school children). Nonetheless, she hoped that Hogwarts might be different, and maybe there she could find at least one true friend.

Rose arrived at the train station first, having insisted that her family leave the house much earlier than necessary to get to London, to make sure they would have extra time in case anything went wrong. Professor McGonagall had explained to the Aurums how to access platform nine and three quarters when she had delivered the girl's Hogwarts acceptance letter, and they made it onto the platform with no trouble and plenty of time to spare. John hadn't been interested in seeing his stepsister off to school, so it was only Dan and Jenny who accompanied Rose. They helped her carry her suitcase (an old one of Dan's, still quite serviceable despite a slightly beat-up appearance) onto the train and stash it in a compartment after Rose retrieved a set of robes to change into. The train was beginning to fill with other students, and some parents helping with the large wooden trunks that most of the students seemed to use, so Dan and Jenny bid their daughter farewell at the train door and went to wait outside and wave from the platform. Rose, seeing that a number of the other students were already changing into their robes, took the opportunity to put her own set on over her regular clothes before turning back towards the compartment where she had left her suitcase.

The Silthers arrived at the station slightly after the Aurums, having not left quite as obsessively early due to Lord and Lady Silther's familiarity with the process from their own time at Hogwarts. While Rose's parents were helping her carry her bag onto the train, Savin's began socializing on the platform with the other parents they knew. Savin, with no interest in interacting with his parents' social peers, made his excuses and slipped away at the earliest opportunity, dragging his school trunk behind him with one hand and carrying his owl's cage in the other. By this point, with only a few minutes left until the Hogwarts Express left the station, many of the compartments were already filling up with students, but Savin found an empty one at the very back of the train. He left his trunk on one of the seats after realizing very quickly that he couldn't lift it high enough to put it in the luggage rack above the seats. Gandalf's cage was much lighter, and he got the owl settled in the luggage rack above his trunk without too much difficulty. Belongings settled, Savin quickly changed into his black school robes before returning to the platform to say a last goodbye to his parents.

It was on his way back to that compartment, just as the train was starting to move, when Savin passed the open door to a compartment full of girls. He glanced inside as he passed, recognized several of the occupants as the wealthy pureblood daughters of his parents' friends, and began mentally preparing excuses in case they noticed him and asked him to share the compartment. As he started to move past, he noticed another girl in the compartment, one who he didn't recognize. Rose (for of course it was her) stood against the window, backed into the corner by the other girls, who seemed to be teasing her for her worn-looking robes and the suitcase on the seat beside her which was clearly of muggle design, and not terribly new itself. Taking in the situation, Savin decided that he needed to intervene. Rose appeared to be almost in tears, and was not making much effort to defend herself, her natural shyness making her shut down in the face of the other girls' taunts. He, on the other hand, had known these girls for most of his life, and had no issue with telling them to stop, throwing in a comment that he doubted any of their governesses would be impressed to hear about their behavior. He helped Rose carry her bag out of the compartment, introducing himself as they went, as the other girls blushed and tried to apologize or explain themselves to Savin, despite it being fairly obvious that he wasn't listening.

Once outside the girls' compartment, Savin turned in the direction of the compartment where he had left his trunk. Rose followed him, a little hesitantly, wondering why he had decided to get involved. After all, it was clear that he had known those girls, and had never met her before in his life. She opened her mouth, half planning to ask him outright, but thought better of it and instead only introduced herself and thanked him for his help. Savin brushed off the thanks, admitting with a grin that he'd been wanting to take those girls down a peg for a long time, and was grateful for the excuse. As he pointed out, this way he came out as the chivalrous gentleman defending a girl's honor, whereas pushing an obnoxious heiress into a puddle at a garden party was considered bad manners, even if she was infuriating to be around. Rose admitted that she'd never been in that exact situation before, not knowing any heiresses, but couldn't really argue with the point. By the time Rose and Savin reached the last compartment on the train, which they were pleasantly surprised to find unoccupied, both of them were struggling to hold back their laughter at the image Savin had described.

They went into the compartment, and Savin dumped Rose's suitcase on one of the seats, opposite the seat where he had left his own trunk. The two children sat down across from each other, pushing their bags over so they could look out the window. They were both impressed by how fast the Hogwarts Express was moving across the countryside, neither of them having ridden a real train before. Savin had usually travelled with his parents by floo powder or portkey, or on one horribly memorable occasion, side-along apparition. He mentioned this to Rose, curious why she had never been on a train either, since her parents couldn't have traveled by any of the magical methods his parents used with him. She shrugged, replying that they hadn't traveled much as a family, and when they did they would just use the car. From there the two launched into a discussion of other differences between the wizarding and muggle worlds, for Savin was just as curious about the world Rose was leaving as she was about the one he had known all his life, having had even less exposure. Rose at least had been able to read up a little about the wizarding world in the months since Professor McGonagall knocked on her door and changed her life, and had been given a bit of a crash course by the professor, but Savin knew almost nothing about the muggle world.

Swapping tales kept them occupied for much of the ride, with a brief interlude for sharing candy. Savin had plenty of pocket money to buy candy when the trolley came by, but Rose's parents had sent her off with some treats of her own, which she gladly shared with Savin in return for a taste of the more exotic magical candy. Of course, the chocolate frog cards reminded Savin that he'd heard muggle pictures didn't move, something he didn't really believe until Rose pulled out a few of her family photos to show him. As he explained to Rose, who was trying to hide her smile by letting her long hair fall in front of her face, it wasn't that he didn't believe the muggle world could be different from the one he knew, it was just that he'd heard muggle technology was able to do a lot of things magic could, and he would have thought they'd have "moving pictures" by now. At that point Rose started laughing outright, trying to explain to Savin through her giggles that muggles did have "moving pictures," but that movies really were very different from wizarding photographs in both their length and purpose.

Soon enough, lamps were lit inside the train as the sky outside the windows began to darken, and not much later the train began to slow. With their faces pressed against the window, Rose and Savin watched the approaching lights of Hogsmeade, and strained for a first glimpse of the castle beyond. The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station, and students began to pour from their compartments and hurry towards the exits. Older students, mostly prefects, tried to keep some amount of order, shouting reminders (mostly to the first years) that they should leave their belongings where they were. Rose and Savin stuck close together as they let themselves be pulled along by the crowd. Outside the train, the older students were getting into carriages which looked as though they should be drawn by horses, though no horses were visible. The first years found themselves called to the side, where a huge man who introduced himself as Hagrid waited to lead them to the castle by boat. Rose whispered a question to Savin, wondering why on earth anyone would think it a good idea to send a bunch of 11-year-olds across a squid-infested lake in the dark. He thought about it for a moment as they made their way towards a boat, then admitted that he had no idea and it was probably just a tradition. The pair of them got into a boat, and were quickly joined by a couple more boys who weren't able to find another one with empty space. Once all of the children were settled in their boats, the little fleet set off across the lake, propelled by magic.