"Lost. The only way to be in Kings Cross Station," Leia muttered hefting her backpack up on her shoulder. Her mom's lawyer had given her explicit instructions on where to go and what to do except when it came to her last train ride. She looked at her ticket again. The directory had shown no 9 ¾ on it. Leia didn't think asking would do any good either. Already she had gotten looks for being an American child traveling by herself.
She wandered to 9 and 10. Leia looked around. There had to be some kind of mistake…or maybe it was a trick. She glanced around at the people rushing about. All were wrapped up in their own worlds and too busy to notice the girl looking at them as if they held the key to an important door. There was another girl standing near a pillar. Though she was dressed normally, she seemed to be different from everyone else. Her eyes were scanning the crowd and it seemed as if she was nervous about something. Leia made up her mind and walked over to her.
"Hello," Leia said as she pushed her luggage cart near the girl.
"Hullo…would you be Leia by any chance?" the girl asked looking hopeful.
"Yes…who are you?"
"Your companion on your last train ride."
"Oh, then you must know where we are supposed to go. I figured the gate must be some type of secret or trick or-- Wha--" Leia stuttered as the girl pushed her into the pillar. She braced for a painful impact that never came. When she opened her eyes, she was standing in front of another train. The girl appeared next to her.
"Sorry, I had to catch you unawares or it wouldn't have worked." She said apologetically. "My name is Hermione Granger."
"Nice to meet you," Leia said as they walked onto the train. "Will they handle my luggage?" at Hermione's nod she continued, "Do you know my uncle?"
"Umm, he is one of my teachers." Hermione led her to a car and helped her put her backpack away. "Why are you visiting him?"
"Oh, I'm not visiting per say. When my mom died two weeks ago, he became my legal guardian. I have to go live with him." Leia paused trying to put her unvoiced thoughts into words. "Is he weird? I mean my mom was always complaining about him and how weird he was. I…this might sound strange, but I have this one memory of him and floating perfume bottles."
"I'm really sorry about your mom," Hermione said trying to stall as she thought of a way to phrase her response to Leia's question. "To your mom's standards, your uncle was probably very strange indeed. In our world though, he is considered somewhat normal." At Leia's questioning glance she added, "He's a wizard."
"That would explain the perfume bottles then, wouldn't it?" Leia shrugged. "Is he bad-tempered? My mom was. Bad-tempered and sometimes downright cruel."
"One might say he was a bit bad-tempered. I'll let you make you own decision about him though. I think I'm going to start on my make-up work for today." Hermione stated. Leia looked out the windows and waited for the moment she would meet her uncle after all these years.
Leia was startled out of her day dreams when the train came to a stop in front of a small train station. Two lone figures stood on the platform.
"Dumbledore and your uncle." Hermione said looking out the window. "We'd better get out there." Leia grabbed her backpack and tried to fight the tears. Seeing her uncle would not make her cry. No. A Snape never cried. She stepped bravely off the train and looked into the eyes of her guardian and uncle.
"Hello," he said stiffly.
"Hello," she replied. Then she dropped her backpack and ran to him. She gave him a hug then jumped back. "S-Sorry," she stated walking back to her backpack. Her father had never liked emotional outbursts. He said they made a person weak. Of course, her father was….She shook her head. That was in the past. Leia had the future to worry about now. She turned to face her uncle.