There I was, between platform nine and ten. How was I supposed to get to platform nine and three-quarters? This being my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I really didn't know what I was doing. Being a muggle born didn't help.

I was your average kid... until my eleventh birthday that is. I was just sitting down to my birthday breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast when an owl started beating furiously on the window. Mom got very scared, but Dad let it in and it dropped a note right on top of the butter and flew out. It was unusually thick and heavy and the address was written in green ink. Mom opened it in case it was some sort of a birthday prank... boy was she wrong.

It was my acceptance letter to Hogwarts, the finest school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in all of Europe. EUROPE?!? Why, I live in Illinois! The letter explained that I had much magic in me, and since there were no schools for witchcraft and wizardry in America, I would be going to Hogwarts, right in Scotland!

I looked around the platform, searching for a sign that wasn't there. Then, thank goodness, I spotted a boy who looked equally or even more confused than I was. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and it turned out that despite the odd mix of messy black hair, bright green eyes, and thick black glasses, he was kind of cute! But me, being the outgoing girl I am, wasn't all that fazed.

"Hogwarts?" I asked

He eyed me suspiciously, probably because of my American accent. When he squinted, I noticed a scar on his head. It was an unusual shape, kind of like a...

"Mmm," he answered nodding, interrupting my thought. "And you too I suppose..."

"How'd you know that?" I asked stupidly.

"Well it's not everyday you see one of those as a pet," he replied, nodding towards my snowy owl which was almost identical to his.

"Oh, Yeti. Looks like you have one too."

"Yeah, that's Hedwig. Just got her at Diagon Ally. Look! They seem to like each other!" he said, smiling slightly.

Headwig and Yeti were looking at each other hooting back and forth, almost as if they were talking.

"I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other then. By the way, I'm Aletta Lee Kalea Glynn Kendra Dakota Naveen Zara, just call me Aletta."

"Oh, I'm Harry Po..."

"I know," I interrupted.

He looked at me a bit baffled. I swiped away some of his bangs revealing a lightning bolt shaped scar. "It's not every day you see one of those either."

"Right," he said, blushing a bit.

"So," I said breaking the silence, "you know how to get to platform nine and three-quarters from here?"

"No, but I bet they do," Harry said pointing at a group of kids and a mother. Each kid had a head of fiery red hair and loads of freckles, and was accompanied by a trunk similar to Harry's and mine. We rolled our trolleys over to the mother who gladly helped us to platform nine and three- quarters. All you had to do was walk through the barrier dividing platforms nine and ten.

That's when Harry and me first met the Weasleys. You could always tell a Weasley from any other kid because they all had a head of bright red hair and face full of freckles. The youngest son was Ron who, like me and Harry, was attending his first year of Hogwarts. Though he was tall, thin, and gangling, with big hands and feet, he had a certain, um, charm to him.

As soon as we were on the Hogwarts Express, the two middle Weasley boys, who are twins, noticed who Harry was. You see, Harry isn't any ordinary wizard. His name is known to everyone involved in the magical world, though he himself didn't find out that he was a wizard or that he was famous until his eleventh birthday. I'll tell you why Harry is who he is.

Voldemort, a name many fear. Voldemort, though most people call him You- know-who or He-who-must-not-be-named, was the most powerful Dark Wizard in time. Once he decided to kill you, you were lucky if you got one more nights rest before you were gone. One night, Holloween night to be exact, he decided on a very unlucky wizarding couple. He got their whereabouts from an anonymous resource. One night, he appeared on the streets of Gordics Hollow, aiming to kill, to kill James and Lily Potter. Once in the Potter house, James tried to fight Voldemort off and let Lily escape with their one-year-old boy, Harry. Voldemort eventually finished James off and came onto Lily. Lily Potter died begging Voldemort to take her and to spare little Harry. Voldemort had one more aim, a simple murder, one of a helpless baby boy. He aimed his wand at the boy and said the fatal words "Avada Kedevra" not thinking anything could go wrong, but it did. A power was protecting little Harry, a power Voldemort would never understand. This was the power of his mother's love for him. It kept Harry safe, bouncing the deadly curse off Harry and back at Voldemort, making him almost nothing. That night, there was great rejoicing, for the Dark Lord was gone! Harry, now parentless, was sent to live with his only living relatives, the Dursleys, who were very "normal" and involved in no such nonsense as magic, thank you very much. Now, Harry, the boy that lived, was on his way to Hogwarts to learn to be a wizard. To most, he was a little celebrity, but to me he was just another classmate.

Once we (me, Ron and Harry that is) got onto the train and settled into our compartments, I decided to do a little walking so that Ron and Harry could get better aquatinted (it looked as though they both needed a friend). I was walking, more interested in the moving pictures on the wall then where I was going, when all of a sudden.

"Ooof!" cried a boy who I knocked down.

"Oh! Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. Let me help you," I said reaching down to give him a hand up.

"Th- thanks," the boy stuttered. "H-have you happened to see a toad?

"No I haven't, but I can help you look if you want."

"Thanks! I lost him over by car."

"There you are!" said a girl. She had bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and a stubborn, almost frightening look to her. "I thought I lost you as well."

"Am I missing something here?" I asked the girl.

"No, you aren't. Neville and I are looking for his toad, Trevor. You haven't happened to see him have you?" she asked.

"No, I haven't. I was just asking, um, Neville's your name?" I asked the boy, he nodded yes so I continued, "Neville, if he needed help finding his toad."

"No need for that. I'm helping him so you can go back to your compartment now," she replied bossily.

Of course, I wouldn't let her get away with this, but I also had to be nice as not to get on her bad side. "Well, three heads ARE better then two. I'm sure we'll have a lovely time finding him. Oh, Trevor!" I said as I ducked down to look for the toad.

"Who are you anyway?" the girl asked.

"I'm an American," I replied in a British accent, handing Neville the toad I had just found.

"Thanks!" said Neville beaming.

"No problem," I responded walking towards my compartment.

The girl followed me some ways until I got to where Harry, Ron, and I put our things.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To my compartment to change. You can come in if you'd like." I said twisting the handle of the compartment. Sure she seemed like a snob, but I always give people another chance.

"Sure," she said smiling slightly, "but only for a moment, I've got to change as."

She stopped dead in her tracks. I looked into the compartment to see what she was staring at. It was Ron and Harry changing into their robes! As soon as I saw this, I screamed and slammed the door. The girl looked at me for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"Wh- who was that?" she asked, shaking.

"That was Ron Weasley and." I stopped and started laughing too.

"WHO, WHO, WHO WAS IT?" she nearly shouted.

"Ha-Ha-Har." I was shaking too hard to get it out.

"TELL ME!" she said. She had stopped laughing and looked extremely cross.

"Ok. Ok." I said, breathing deeply. "IT WAS HARRY POTTER!"

The girl looked horror stuck and started blushing like mad.

"THE Harry Potter? You mean we just walked in on THE HARRY POTTER? DRESSING?" She shouted, looking totally shocked.

"Shhh!" I whispered, starting to laugh again. "He'll hear you!"

She still had that look on her face, while I, I was laughing so hard I thought my ribs would crack. Then I stopped suddenly and looked at her in the same, angry way she was looking at me. We smiled at each other for the first time and at the same moment we grabbed each others arms and fell to the floor laughing 'till we cried. That was the start of a long friendship with me, Aletta Lee Zara, and Hermione Granger.