Daisy shuffled her owl into her other hand as she helped Viktor grab her trunk. Since their last year at Durmstrang had been Viktor's seventh and final year, he had come to London with Daisy to help her off to Hogwarts.

Their friendship was a strange one, filled with differences in age, upbringing, and even personality. Viktor was 18; Daisy was only 15. They had been three years apart at school, so Daisy was entering her fifth year now that Viktor had graduated. She was of Irish blood and had been born in Ireland, but had also lived in Lithuania, Germany, and Norway before coming to Bulgaria to start school at Durmstrang. Viktor had been born and raised in Bulgaria. He focused most of his time of Quidditch and schoolwork, whereas Daisy was more carefree and laidback.

The one thing they had in common was their love of Quidditch. They would often practice with friends on weekends; Viktor would get a chance to play positions other than Seeker, but he was never as good at those. Daisy loved being Keeper, which gave their friend Alexander Poliakoff plenty of practice at his position, Chaser. They all dreamed of playing on the national team, but so far only Viktor had achieved their goal, since Alexander was no good at catching and Daisy wasn't quite sure which country she could play for. She was an extremely skilled Keeper, though.

The owl Daisy carried had been a going-away gift from Alexander. She had decided to name the bird Pepper, because of its gray and black feathers. With an owl, she would still be able to keep in touch with Viktor and Alexander. Viktor had given her a photo album with lots of moving pictures of the three of them playing Quidditch, and a few others they had taken the summer before and when they had first met, in Daisy's first year.

Daisy glanced at her ticket again with a confused expression. Platform 9 ¾? How would she ever find that? She turned to ask Viktor, only to see him break into a smile and yell out, "Hermione!"

A girl with dark bushy hair turned around, grinning when she saw Viktor. He and Daisy quickly dragged the trunk over to where Hermione was standing with six red-haired people and one boy with black hair and glasses. She knew who this boy must be.

They put the trunk on a trolley and Viktor grabbed Hermione in a huge embrace.

Daisy took a second look at the family with flaming hair. There were four children, most likely students at the school, and a couple, who were obviously the parents. The youngest child was the only girl who Daisy thought looked a year or two younger than she was. One of the boys was about her own age and was standing next to Harry Potter. As she looked at the other two boys, she realized that they were twins, probably about seventeen years old.

She looked at Viktor and Hermione, noticed that they were still holding each other, and then glanced awkwardly at the others. She thought to herself that the twins were extremely good-looking, as was their brother. When Hermione and Viktor broke apart at last, Viktor grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her over to Daisy.

He looked at Daisy and said "Daisy Keane, this is Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is Daisy."

Daisy smiled at Hermione and said, "It's wonderful to finally meet you after hearing Viktor talk about you all summer."

Hermione went pink. "He's also talked a lot about you. All good things, of course," she added, returning Daisy's smile.

"I'm glad to know you will be with Hermione," Viktor said cheerfully. "You're in good hands now. Daisy, where is your owl?"

"My.? Oh! Pepper!" Daisy glanced around, finally noticing a soft hooting from behind the twins. When she gave them a questioning look, they both grinned maniacally, one turning as red as his hair.

"Fred! George! Give the girl back her owl!" the mother yelled at the twins. One of them, the blushing one, walked over to Daisy and handed Pepper's cage to her.

"Thank you," She said to him.

He replied with nothing more than a muttered "Sure" as he stepped away, still looking at her with a glazed look on his face.

His twin hit him playfully in the stomach, knocking his senses back to him. "Come off it, George! You haven't been this quiet since Charlie put that curse on you in our first year!"

"Come on now, it's almost 11:00," the father called out. "We've got to get you lot on the train. Fred, George, you two go first."

The twins rolled their trolley over to a brick barrier, moving almost at a run. Surely they would crash, Daisy thought to herself. She was ready to turn her head when, without warning, the twins simply ran right through the wall. Harry and the other redheaded boy immediately followed.

Hermione turned to Viktor. "Viktor, you go on with Daisy. You can just Apparate back home when the train leaves."

Viktor grabbed Pepper's cage and motioned for Daisy to follow with her trolley. They walked towards the wall. Daisy braced herself for the crash that never came.