Disclaimer: Athena and all children during Athena's time belong to me. The rest belongs to J.K Rowling.

Note: Athena's owl, Bubo, belongs to creators of the movie "Clash of the Titans" (I think)

Thank you for all your reviews!

Chapter 5: The Hogwarts Express

Athena stared at her new school trunk and checked over and over again to make sure that she had packed everything: Her cauldron, (don't ask me, I don't know how did she manage to stuff that into her trunk) her school books, her wand, her new uniform, (which she folded carefully and put it on her books) her potions ingredients, her quill, her ink bottle..

Hm... And what else?

She looked around in her room and slapped her forehead. "Athena, you idiot! How can you forget that? Shame on you!" She scolded herself.

She walked across the room and picked up the framed picture of herself and her mother from her desk. She smiled, walked back to her trunk and put the picture neatly on her uniform. She frowned when she tried to close the trunk. "Uh oh." She said softly. "I should have bought the bigger trunk in Diagon Alley." She said to herself as she stared at the bulging trunk.

"Athena, it's time to go!" Her mother called from downstairs.

"Coming!" Athena yelled and stared at her trunk in panic. She suddenly thought of an idea and smiled. She took a seat on top of the trunk, bent down and closed the locks between her legs. There.

***

"Athena McGonagall! Will you please hurry up?" Professor McGonagall yelled impatiently at the door.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Athena said as she dragged her trunk down the stairs. "Where's Bubo?"

"Here." Professor McGonagall said, holding up the owl cage. "I will hold it."

"Thanks." Athena smiled but then frowned. "Mom, we have been to King's Cross Station for a lot of times but we have never seen a platform that have a number 9 ¾. Where is Platform 9 ¾?" "You will know when we get there."

***

Athena stared at the platform's number at King's Cross Station. Platform 9. She turned her head to the right. Platform 10. Where's Platform 9 ¾?

"Mom, I can't find the platform! What if I miss the train just because I can't find the platform?" Athena asked in panic, tugging her mother's sleeve.

"Athena, Athena, calm down!" Professor McGonagall said, putting the owl cage on Athena's trolley. "You will get the Muggles' attention." She whispered.

"Sorry. But..." Athena started.

"Look. All you have to do is to run straight at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10." Professor McGonagall said and pointed at the barrier.

"What?! No offense, Mom but I think I will suffer a slight injury if I do that." Athena said.

"Don't worry, just go." Professor McGonagall said, steering Athena towards the direction of the barrier.

"But..." Athena started.

"Go." Professor McGonagall said firmly, letting go of Athena.

"All right, here goes..." Athena said slowly, pushing her trolley hard and ran straight to the barrier. She squeezed her eyes shut, getting ready to crash.

CRASH

"OUCH!! Someone yelled.

Athena opened her eyes and found that she had knocked someone over with her trolley. "Oh, I am so sorry!" She said in panic, giving out her hand to help the boy up.

The boy slapped her hand away. "I don't need your help, girl. Why don't you look where you are going?"

Athena looked at the boy carefully. He has short, pale blond hair, icy blue eyes, a pale pointed face, and he was wearing long black robes.

"What are you looking at?" The boy sneered.

Athena shook her head quickly.

"New for Hogwarts huh? I bet that you are a mudblood." The boy said in a nasty tone. "Only mudbloods will act like idiots when they go through the barrier."

Athena opened her mouth to say something when she heard someone saying, "For your information, Malfoy, she is a pureblood."

Athena looked up. "Mom!"

Professor McGonagall, who was wearing her emerald cloak and her witch hat, smiled at her daughter.

"Do I know you?" The boy asked, with forced politeness.

Professor McGonagall stared at the boy sternly. "You don't know me. But I think I know your father. Is his name Draco Malfoy?"

"Yeah..." The boy said slowly. "But how do you know that I am a Malfoy?"

"It is easy. There's no need to ask your name." Professor McGonagall said, looking at the boy from head to toe. "Pale blond hair, pointed pale face and expensive wizard robes. You must be a Malfoy." She observed.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows.

"Now go back to where you come from, boy." Professor McGonagall said, folding her arms.

Malfoy sneered and left.

"Thanks Mom." Athena said, "That boy is worse than Ares."

Professor McGonagall smiled and pulled down the brim of her hat. "Well, the time is 10.57 pm. You have to go."

"Aw Mom, I will miss you." Athena said, hugging her mother.

"I will miss you too." Professor McGonagall said, holding her daughter tightly. Tears came flowing out of her eyes. "If it aren't for the dark wizards, I will go back to the wizarding world with you." She whispered to herself.

"What?" Athena asked.

"Nothing." Professor McGonagall said, letting go of her daughter. She wiped her tears away and sniffed softly. "Write to me after your first day of school. I want to see how is it."

Athena nodded vigorously. "I will." She said, blinking furiously.

"Athena! Athena!" Someone yelled.

Athena turned around and saw Elizabeth waving at her from one of compartments of the train. "Hurry up, the train is leaving!"

"Coming!" Athena yelled and hugged her mother again. "See you in the next summer." She said and got on to the train.

"If you managed to stay alive." Professor McGonagall thought sadly and waved goodbye to her daughter.

Athena waved to her mother sadly until she was out of sight and slumped down on her seat beside Elizabeth and James.

"Come on, it's all right." Elizabeth said, "You will get used to it. I felt the same way last year."

Athena nodded slightly.
As the train went on its way to Hogwarts, Elizabeth and James tried to cheer Athena up by buying some of everything from the woman on the train and offered them to Athena.

She smiled a little. "Thanks." She looked at the snacks. "I have never seen any of these before."

"You haven't?" Elizabeth asked in shock as she picked up a Chocolate Frog. "Oh, I get it. You are a Muggle-born, am I right?"

Athena shook her head. "My parents are both magical. But I don't know that I am a witch until I got my letter."

"Why?" James asked.

"James, don't be such a busybody." Elizabeth said sternly.

"Hey, have some respect will you? I am the older one." James scolded as he picked up another Chocolate Frog.

"It's all right that James asks me that question." Athena smiled.

"See? She doesn't mind." James said, sticking his tongue at Elizabeth.

"My mother never tells me that I am a witch." Athena explained.

"What about your father? Doesn't he tell you anything?" James asked.

"He died before I was born." Athena said quietly.

"Oops." James said softly while Elizabeth said, "You and your big mouth."

"It's all right, I don't mind." Athena said, waving her hand. "At least I know that he is a wizard. And he once owned this pendant." She said, showing her pendant to her friends.

"Cool!" Elizabeth and James said in unison.

"Tell me about your father, what's he like?" Athena asked in interest.

"He is a Quidditch player." Elizabeth said proudly.

"What's Quidditch?" Athena asked.

"Let me explain it to you." James said, with his eyes shone with excitement. He cleared his throat. "Quidditch is easy to understand. Each team has 7 players: 3 Chasers, 2 Beaters, 1 Keeper and a Seeker. There are 3 kinds of balls. Oh no, I can't explain it without drawing it out...wait a minute."

James reached for his trunk and took out an ink bottle, a quill and a small piece of parchment. He put the parchment on his lap and the ink bottle on the space beside his seat. He dripped his quill into his bottle and began to draw 4 balls, 2 bats and a Quidditch pitch. He put back his things when he had done drawing.

"There. Now where was I? Oh yeah, there are 3 kinds of balls. This..." He showed Athena a big shaded ball in his picture. "..is called the Quaffle. Now the Chasers handle the Quaffle, and try to put it through..." He pointed at the hoops, which he had labeled: 50 feet "...these 3 hoops."

"50 feet?!" Athena exclaimed in shock.

"With a broomstick." Elizabeth said.

"That's awesome!" Athena said in awe.

"The Keeper, defense the hoops. With me so far?" James asked.

"I think so. What are those?" Athena asked, pointing at one of the smaller shaded balls.

"Bludgers. Nasty little things. They rocket around trying to knock players off their brooms. The Beaters' job is to protect their team from the Bludgers and try and knock then towards the other team by using these." James explained and pointed at the bats. "The Bludgers are pretty rough, I remember Dad said that he took a Bludger in the head two minutes in during his first game and woke up in the hospital a week later."

Athena's mouth dropped open. "Is he all right now?" She asked in concern.

"He's ok. It's nothing, you can't help getting those kind of injuries from a Quidditch match." Elizabeth said.

"And this." James pointed at the last ball. "Is the Golden Snitch."

"I like this ball." Athena said, looking at the small ball with wings.

"Ah, you like it now, just wait. It's very hard to catch and damn impossible to see." James warned.

"What did you do with it?"

"The Seeker catches it. Before the other team's Seeker. Once a Seeker catches it, the team will gain 150 points. Once the Seeker catches it, the game is over." James explained.

"Wow. So what's your father's position?" Athena asked.

"Keeper. He is one of the players in Puddlemere United. Mom used to be a Chaser in that team too..." James said.

"...Until we were born." Elizabeth ended. She looked at her card from the Chocolate Frog. "Hey I got Harry Potter!" She exclaimed. She gave it to Athena. "Here, you can keep it. I have got 2 of him already."

Athena stared at the picture of a man with green eyes, messy black hair, round glasses and a lightning scar on his forehead. She turned the card and read the description:

Harry Potter (used to known as The Boy Who Lived) is famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Voldemort....

"Hey, I got Dumbledore!" James said, looking at his card. He gave it to Athena too. "I have got 3 of him already."

Athena studied at Dumbledore's picture and frowned.

"What's the matter, you don't like him?" James asked.

"No, just that he....he...looked oddly familiar. There's something special about him, I just don't know what. As if I have known him..." Athena trailed off.

"Maybe you have seen his picture in your History of Magic textbook." Elizabeth said.

Athena's frown deepened. "No, I haven't seen his picture in the textbook." She thought.

***

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!" A voice shouted from the outside when the train had stopped at a station.

Athena stepped out excitedly in her new robes and waved goodbye to Elizabeth and James. She heard that the first years were going to have a boat ride to the school when they were on the train.

"Athena! Athena! Hi!" A voice called out.

Athena turned. "Hi Lethe!" She shouted.

Lethe joined Athena after pushing her way through the crowd of first-years. "Isn't this exciting? I say, look at that man!"

Lethe and Athena stared at a man who was as big as giant standing in front of them. He had a long shaggy hair and a wild beard and was holding a lamp.

The giant looked down, shone his lamp at them and smiled. "Long time no see, Athena."