Early in the morning, (about dawn) the Smith family piled up into the car that Mr. Smith had magically unpacked, loaded in Athenaia's trunk, and headed cross-country to King's Cross Station. Athena was so excited. This was going to be her first year at Hogwarts. Artemis was asleep the whole way while Ares and Athena may have dosed off once or twice. Shady was copying Artemis for the first half of the journey, then woke up and became her old self, lazily watching everything go past. At ten minutes to eleven, they arrived at King's Cross. Mr. Smith hefted Athena's trunk out of the car and carried it through the station. At the barrier in-between platforms nine and ten, her parents stopped.

?Now Athena,? Mr. Smith was saying, ?just go through this barrier and you?ll be at Platform nine and three quarters. We?re not going to be able to come with you because we need to stop in the Leaky Cauldron for some lunch before we head off. (they had packed breakfast to take with them) We?ll be arriving home at about the same time you get to school.?

They all said their good-byes (Artemis had been woken up) and Athena hugged all of them and kissed her mom and Artemis goodbye. Then, picking up Shady, who had stayed by her feet the whole time, she turned to face the barrier, and walked through. Athena set Shady down and stared around at the room around her with wide eyes. In the center was the biggest train she had ever seen. It was scarlet with the words ?Hogwarts Express? written on it. She grabbed a rope that she had attached to the handle of her trunk and tried to drag it towards the train. (she had forgotten a trolley and the trunk was heavy) Inching her way past everyone, with Shady hanging around her ankles, she examined the people around her. Some of them had already changed into their billowy, black robes, while others were still in Muggle clothing. Athena herself was wearing a Muggle dress that came down to her knees. It was white with blue flowers and had inch wide straps over her shoulders. The Muggles called it a ?sun dress.? She thought it was kind of pretty. Too bad most robes don?t have a pattern of some sort, she thought.

As she was walking along, she happened to notice a woman and a girl, both with fiery-red hair. The woman was kind of plump and seemed to be giving out last-minute instructions. Soon the woman turned and noticed Athena struggling to drag her heavy trunk towards the train.

?Dear,? she said coming to Athena?s side, ?do you need any help with that? Of course you need help, a little one like you trying to drag such a heavy trunk. My boys would be glad to give you a hand. Fred! George! Come over here!? she yelled at the train.

As Mrs. Weasley was calling the boys, the girl turned towards Athena. ?Are you a first year?? she asked, ?My name is Ginny Weasley.?

?Yes,? she said as Mrs. Weasley turned back to them, ?My name is Athenaia Smith. Call me Athena though.?

?Athenaia,? Ginny said pondering the name for a second, ?that?s a very pretty name.?

?Thank you,? Athena was curious about Hogwarts, so she started questioning Ginny. ?What year are you? What house are you in??

?Third,? Ginny said laughing, ?I?m a Gryffindor. You?re anxious about this, aren?t you??

?Yes,? Athena admitted, ?a little.? Just then, two identical boys with the same fiery-red hair as their mother and sister ran up.

?Whaddaya want mum?? asked the first one.

?Yeah, why?d ya call us?? commented the second.

?Fred, George, this is Athena Smith. Athena, these are two of my boys, Fred,? she pointed him out, ?and George.? She pointed to the other one. ?Boys, can you help Athena get her trunk onto the train??

?Sure!? both boys said in unison. They reached down and each grabbed one of the handles of the trunk. Shady saw them and started hissing. They both jumped back in surprise. ?Woah!? one of them yelled, ?You have a cat??

?Yes,? she said scooping up the hissing animal, ?Quiet!? she told the cat, ?They?re helping me!? Shady stopped, looked up at her mistress, and curled up in her arms. Fred and George lifted the trunk and started off towards the train, Athena right behind them, holding the cat.

?So, you?re a first year,? The other said, ?Do you want to know how they sort you into the different houses??

?Uh, okay,? Athena said uncertainly.

?You have to fight a dragon,? he said.

?A d-dragon!?

?Fred?s right,? replied George, ?a gigantic Welsh Green.?

Athena guessed they were probably making this up, but they seemed to be sincere about it.

?They grade you on how well you fight,? commented Fred, ?and what techniques you use.?

?Good luck!? They said as they reached the train and heaved her trunk into the cargo area.

?Don?t let the dragon eat you!? shouted George as the boys boarded the train.

Athena stood there with a sour look on her face. They?re probably lying to me, she thought, but what if they?re telling the truth? Would the headmaster allow beginning students to face dragons? She went onto the train at the opposite end of the twins, so she wouldn?t have to see them for a while. The car she chose was empty except for a blonde haired girl who was busy paying attention to a thick book, so she didn?t see or hear Athena come in. This was all the better, because Athena didn?t feel like talking to anyone at the moment.

She dug into her bag. Pulling out a thick, battered book, she looked at it, stuck it back in, and pulled out a different one of about the same thickness and quality. Scowling slightly, she stuck that one back in her bag and pulled out a third with a smile on her face. It was the first part of a trilogy, what Muggles call a set of three books. Athena loved the Muggle books in the categories called fantasy and science fiction. There were so many different ways that Muggles portrayed magic. The books that Athena pulled out were the trilogy Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. She had read these books so much that she practically had them memorized.

When she was halfway through the second book a loudspeaker sounded saying, ?We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes? time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.?

Athena looked up and noticed that the blonde-haired girl was gone. She quickly threw a robe on over her dress, because she had lost so much time, and it was getting cold and rainy outside. As soon as she had done so, she heard a knock on the car door. She opened it and saw an older boy with a worried expression on his face.

?Have you seen my toad?? he asked her, ?He got away from me again.?

?I haven?t seen it, but...? Athena trailed off, ?Shady? Where are you?? She heard a loud hissing coming from in between two seats. ?Shady?? Sure enough, it was Shady, who had a large toad cornered in between the seats.

?Trevor!? the boy cried, ?There you are!? He picked up his toad. ?I?m Neville Longbottom, by the way,? he said as he walked out of the compartment, leaving Shady?s smug, yellow eyes looking at Athena as if to say, I knew the toad would come in handy. Athena thought for a moment about that, but her thoughts were interrupted by the train stopping. She scooped up the smug cat, and got ready to leave the train.

Athenaia joined the crowd as it rushed out of the train. Big storm clouds swamped the station and drenched everyone.

A huge man was calling out, ?Firs? years over here! Any more firs? years? Come along now! This way!?

All of the first years followed the ten-foot tall man down a muddy path, slippery with rain. Athena slipped, and dropped Shady. The cat raced on, following the path.

?Shady!? Athena called, but her voice was lost in the howling wind. When they reached the bottom of the path, she tried to inch her way through the crowd to the man leading them. At the bottom of the path sat a fleet of small boats.

?No more?n four to a boat,? he told the group as they all crowded around. ?My name?s Hagrid. He informed them as they all clambered into the boats. ?I?m the Hogwarts gamekeeper as well as the professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class.?

As all of the other first years scrambled into boats, Athena saw her chance.

?Mr. Hagrid?? she quickly walked over to him. ?Mr. Hagrid, have you seen my cat??

?Yer cat?? he asked.

?Yes,? Athena answered. ?I slipped on the path, and she fell out of my arms and ran away.? Just as she said this a soaking Shady bounded up and started pawing at Athena?s leg. ?Shady!? She scooped up her cat.

?I don?t think yeh need any help findin? her,? Hagrid told her. ?She?ll just come back of her own accord. Yeh migh? want ta find a boat now.?

Athena scrambled into the last boat. It contained two boys and another girl. The boats started heading out onto the water of their own accord. One of the two boys started trailing his hand in the water. Something in the water must have caught his eye, because in the next minute he fell in. A few seconds later he was propelled back into the boat. Athena saw a tentacle pulling back into the water as the boy landed.

?Yeh all righ? there?? Hagrid asked him, handing the boy his huge moleskin overcoat.

?Yeah,? the boy replied meekly. Athena focused her attention on the rest of the trip..

?Yeh?ll get yer firs? sight o? Hogwarts in a sec,? the huge man called over his shoulder, ?jus? round this bend here.?

They all let out a loud, ?Oooh!? at the sight of the gigantic castle.

When they reached the enormous castle, they got out of their boats and Hagrid pounded a big fist on the door three times. An old, strict looking witch with black hair opened the door.

?The firs? years, Professor McGonagall,? Hagrid said.

?I will take them from here,? Professor McGonagall told him. She pulled open the huge oak door and led them into a small chamber off to the side of the great hall. They all huddled together nervously, and they all were dripping wet.