"

"The Hogwarts Express"

The next few weeks seemed to crawl by as Mattie awaited September first, when she would finally be off to Hogwarts. She was totally engrossed by all her new books, and it was all her mother could do to keep her from trying new spells on everything from the sofa to the garden gnomes.

When the first finally did roll around Mattie got up bright and early; she was too excited to wait any longer, and expected to be the first one up. It was a great surprise to see both her parents, already up, waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Why are you guys up?" she asked.

"We have a surprise for you" said her mother, as her father scuttled off to the closet. He emerged holding a large cage, which contained a little white owl.

"So you can send us tons of letters from school"

"You won't have any excuse with an owl of your own."

"Thanks!" Mattie exclaimed with glee. She had never had a pet before. This was so exciting. What would she name him? She would have to think about this.

After half an hour of deep thought while packing up her things, she decided on the name Covington. It was the name of the town her Aunt lived in, but she liked the sound of it, so that was his name…Covington.

… … …

After she had everything packed, they headed out to the car. Even though they weren't muggles, they still had a muggle car for occasions such as this, with all this luggage and all.

The closer they got to Kings Cross Station, the more nervous Matilda became. She hadn't been nervous at all before. Just entirely excited. But now that the day had come, new fears, worries, and questions kept creeping into her mind, as hard as she tried to think good thoughts. Would she find any friends? What if she was worst in the class? Would her uncle like her? Were just a few of the many uncertainties she had realized she had.

The car slowed to a halt, and she realized they were there. Her parents un-loaded her trunk, and helped her get it on a cart. When they got to the platforms Mattie was confused

"There's platform nine, and there's platform ten. But where is platform nine and three quarters? What if it's gone missing? I'll never make it on the train."

"Platforms don't just get up and move," said her dad calmly "its right there" he said and walked up to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. He leaned on it casually and seemed to just fall through. It was very strange.

"You go next," said her mother. "But since you're new at it, take it at a run."

This seemed very risky to Mattie, what if she just hit the barrier? Her mother seemed to sense her fear, because she said,

"Just don't be afraid, and you will be fine."

So Mattie did as she was told. As she was about to hit the barrier she closed her eyes, but the crash didn't come…she kept right on going. Right through the barrier. She turned around, expecting to see the barrier, but instead there was an archway, and above it a sign that read "platform nine and three quarters" she saw her mother come through after her, and then turned back around to see her father waving at them.

Mattie's parents helped her get her trunk into one of the empty compartments. She wished them goodbye, and sat down in the compartment, as the train pulled out of the station. She didn't mind being alone…it was only that she wasn't alone.

"hi" said a voice from the other side of the compartment. "I'm Ginny Weasley," said the voice, which turned out to be a girl, with fiery red hair and freckles. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I thought I was alone in here…I'm Matilda, but everybody calls me Mattie. Where are your things?"

"I was sitting with my brother Ron, and his friends, but they kicked me out. My stuff's in there" Ginny answered. "Are you a first year? I don't think I've seen you before."

"Yeah. My parents were really surprised when I got in. How about you?"

"Well, I'm a third year this year. I kind of expected to get in though, cause all my brothers did"

"Really? How many brothers do you have? I'm an only child." Mattie asked.

"Six. There's Bill and Charlie, they already graduated, and Percy graduated last year. Then there's Fred and George. They're twins, and sixth years this year. And Ron. He's only a year older than me. I told you about him before."

The two girls made conversation continually until about three quarters of the way through the ride, when the door of their compartment opened, and Mattie bought a few things off the cart. "I was in such a rush this morning, I never had breakfast. Would you like a pumpkin pasty?"

"No thanks" Ginny replied. She told Matilda that she had brought sandwiches, but they were with Ron in his compartment, and she wanted to save room for the big feast anyway.

"Oh. That's when they do the sorting isn't it?" Mattie asked nervously.

"Yeah. I was really nervous when I got sorted, but it's not that bad. I'd tell you how they do it, but I think it's supposed to be a surprise." Ginny smiled. She remembered her sorting…everyone watching…expectations to live up to…but at least Mattie didn't have any siblings at Hogwarts. It wouldn't really matter what house she got into.

"What house are you in?" Mattie hoped she would be in Ginny's house. It would be nice to have someone to talk to that she already knew.

"I'm in Gryfindor, same as all my brothers. You never did tell me your surname. Maybe I'll recognize it."

But before Mattie had a chance to answer, the train had stopped, and it seemed as if someone was herding wild boars through the corridor. They both left the compartment, and were sucked into the stampede. Once outside Ginny yelled to Mattie "Bye! Hope to see you in Gryfindor!"

Just as Mattie was realizing that she had no idea where to go, a very large man came wading through the crowd yelling "firs' years this way!"