A/N: OK, this chapter is dedicated to my one and only reviewer, Sallymander. And thank you for your praise. People, if you're reading it, please please please review!!! Thanks and enjoy the story! And this chapter has some swears in it, hope you don't mind as the FanFic is rated PG-13.

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The next morning, Alex woke up at 10:00.

Damn! How could I sleep in this late? I still have to pack! Alex thought frantically, looking at the clock on her nightstand. She jumped out of bed, picked out her clothes from her dresser, a purple peasant shirt and black capri's, and threw them on. She darted to the bathroom and brushed her hair and teeth. She also pulled her mid-back length hair into a ponytail. Then she practically flew back to her room, running into her mom.

"Whoa Alex, slow down! There's still time until we have to leave! Why don't you pack and then come down for some breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all," Alex's mum said.

"But Mom, I just brushed my teeth!" Alex whined.

"Since when has that ever stopped you from eating? Speaking of dentistry, did you know that your dentist has a daughter about your age?" Mrs. Mauro said with a smile.

"Really? How'd you find that out?" Alex asked. "But I'd bet you she doesn't go to this school so I'll probably never see her."

"Well, you never know, do you? After all, Miana doesn't know that you're a witch. We got the letter 5 years ago and she still doesn't know. She thinks we've moved because I got a job opportunity here. So if your best friend doesn't know, it's not likely that you'd know if Dr. Granger's daughter goes to Hogwarts. Now hurry up and pack!" Mrs. Mauro explained.

Alex went back to her room and hurriedly threw things into her trunk. She finished in five minutes and sat on it to make it close. Then she lugged it downstairs.

"What's for breakfast?" she asked.

"What would you like?" her mother answered.

"Ummm… toast and scrambled eggs, please," she replied.

While Alex's mother was busy making Alex's breakfast, Alex paged through a magazine that was on the table.

"Wish I could look like that…" muttered Alex under her breath, looking at a picture of a model for bikinis.

"What's that?" her mother asked, setting a steaming plate in front of her daughter.

"Nothing," Alex answered, putting the magazine aside and digging in to breakfast. "Mmmm, this is good." she commented.

"Thanks," Mrs. Mauro said. "Now hurry up and put your luggage in the car, it's time to go."

"'K mom," Alex mumbled, her mouth stuffed with scrambled egg. She shoved the last bit of toast in her mouth and swallowed a couple of times. Her mother watched in amazement.

"How can you eat like that?" she asked.

"Must be a teenage thing, everyone I know does it," answered Alex, walking towards her trunk. "Now come on, I don't want to miss the train," she said, picking up her trunk and dragging it across the stained hardware floor to the door. "Come on, mom!" she called back.

"Well, you're certainly ready to go. Let me get my keys and then we'll go," Mrs. Mauro said, laughing.

"Hey, I thought I was driving!" Alex argued.

"Nope, sorry. I want to keep myself alive until you come back for Christmas, which won't happen if you crash before we even get to King's Cross," her mom teased. Alex blushed.

"Just because I've backed into the mailbox a couple of times and drove over the trash can once, both when I was just learning how to drive, does NOT mean that I'm going to crash!" Alex protested indignantly.

"Whatever, just get going, we're going to be late!" Mrs. Mauro said, taking her keys off a hook in the wall.

"Somebody's stressed…" Alex muttered to herself, walking out the door.

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Alex and her mother walked through King's Cross Station looking for Platform 9 ¾, the platform that Alex's ticket showed on it. They stopped between platforms 9 and 10 and looked in the middle. All there was was a strong-looking brick barrier.

I wonder…Alex thought as she studied the barrier as well as she could from 10 feet away. She walked forward.

"Alex, where are you going?" her mom called after her. Alex ignored her and pressed her hand to the barrier. It went through as if there were no barrier at all. She couldn't help gasping, though she had been expecting it, or something like it. A voice from behind her made her turn, startled.

What are you doing?" a girl with bushy brown hair asked sharply.

(A/N: I was tempted to stop it right here… but as right now, without the first author's note, it's only 732 words long, including the page break… and I need it to be a lot longer than the last chapter, which was pitifully short… I'll try not to make any of them that short again – I had just thought it had been a good place to stop, when Alex was asleep.)

"Why do you want to know?" Alex shot back.

"Have you ever heard of Albus Dumbledore?" the girl countered. Alex thought back. The name sounded familiar… but she didn't know where she had heard it. She toyed with the ticket in her pocket. All at once, the name made sense.

"Yes, I have," Alex answered with certainty.

"Good. Then, are you looking for the platform? It's through there," the brunette witch said, gesturing through the barrier.

"Cool! I can walk through solid things!" Alex exclaimed lightly. The other witch laughed. "Mom, I found the platform!" Alex called back to her mom, who had been watching the exchange between the two girls. She hurried over. "Oh, and my name is Alex Mauro, in case you were wondering."

"So do we just walk through?" Mrs. Mauro asked the witch. The witch nodded.

"Here, I'll go first. My name's Hermione Granger, by the way," the brunette added as she walked forward towards the barrier. Alex and Mrs. Mauro did a double take when Hermione mentioned her last name.

"Well, that answers our question," Alex said to her mother.

Alex then walked straight at the barrier. She knew she would go through the barrier, as her hand had, but it was still unnerving to be walking into a seemingly solid brick wall. She shut her eyes because it was too weird to be seeing, although she was curious as to what the inside of the barrier looked like. When she thought she had gotten to the other side, she opened her eyes. She gasped. There was a magnificent scarlet steam engine billowing steam on a track on one side of the platform. The rest was filled up with people, students saying their goodbyes and getting on the train and their families saying goodbye and waving. Alex jumped out of the was as her mum also walked though the barrier and had the same reaction Alex had had.

"Well, it's already 10:55, I should get on the train," Alex said wistfully. She had never really been separated from her mom for a long time before, just for things like sleepovers with Mi. She pulled her mom into a tight hug. When they pulled away, Mrs. Mauro had tears glistening on her cheeks.

"Oh Alex, it seems like yesterday that you were so scared to go to kindergarten, even though Mi was going with you. And now you're all grown up, a big 16-year-old, and going off to a boarding school, really. I'll miss you, Alex," her mum said, reminiscing. Alex laughed and waved as she walked towards the train. She was used to her mom saying things like that, as Mrs. Mauro tended to get a little bit emotional sometimes.

"Bye, Mum!" Alex called over her shoulder.

"Bye, Honey!" her mum called back.

Alex climbed on the train through a door (duh). She rolled her trunk on the handy wheels that the manufacturers put on. She went to every compartment but they were all full. Finally, she came across a compartment that Hermione was in. It wasn't full, though there were other people in it.

"Hermione, is there any room here? All the other compartments are full," Alex asked nervously.

"Sure, sit down!" Hermione answered. "This is Alex Mauro, I met her near the entrance to the platform. Alex, this is Harry Potter," pointing to a boy with messy black hair, bright green eyes, and glasses, "This is Ron Weasley," gesturing towards a tall boy with bright red hair and freckles, "This is Ginny Weasley," pointing to a girl with the same bright red hair as Ron, only down to her waist, "This is Neville Longbottom," pointing to a rather chubby boy with dark hair, clutching his toad, "And this is Luna Lovegood," gesturing towards a girl with long blond hair like Alex and a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Nice to meet you," Alex said, heaving her trunk up to the overhead bin (or wherever they put their luggage, I've never even been on a train before). She took a seat in between Hermione and Ginny.

"So Alex, what year will you be in?" "I've never seen you before, are you a foreign exchange student?" questions bombarded Alex from all sides, mostly from Harry and Ron.

"I'll be in sixth year, no I'm not a foreign exchange student, it's a long story as to why I haven't been at Hogwarts before. Let's just say that I got my letter when I was 11 like all of you and couldn't go," Alex answered. "What years will all of you be in?" she asked, hoping to get the topic off herself.

"We'll all be in sixth year too, except for Ginny and Luna, they're in fifth year," Hermione answered.

"Cool. So what should we do?" Alex asked as the train lurched forward and began to move. "How long is this train ride, anyway?" she asked.

"Well, it usually lasts about 7 or 8 hours," Neville spoke up for the first time.

"Thanks," Alex told him, and went to her trunk to pull out a book. She sat back down and began to read.

"What book is that?" Hermione asked. Alex showed her the cover. "Violet Eyes, by Nicole Luiken," Hermione read off. "Is it good?"

"Mmm hmmm," Alex answered, her eyes on the book.

After a while Harry asked, "Does anyone want to play a game of Exploding Snap?" This was followed by a chorus of "yes" from the people in the compartment.

"How do you play?" Alex wanted to know. Everybody looked at her in disbelief.

"You don't know how to play? Oh, I forgot you haven't been at wizarding school, this is how you play…" Harry explained how to play to Alex. She agreed to play, and they played until the snack cart lady came. Harry bought some of everything, and they all shared the candy.

"What else can we play?" Ron wondered, "I'm kinda bored of Exploding Snap."

"I have an idea," Alex volunteered. Everybody looked at her in surprise, she had been very quiet this whole train ride. "We could play Truth or Dare or Kiss and Tell. My friends and me back home, we always used to play it every time we got some free time. It was really fun…"

"Sure, I'll play," Hermione agreed. "Is anyone else going to play, or are we going to have to play with only two people?" she asked, looking around the compartment. Everyone agreed, and they all settled in a circle.

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A/N: How was that chapter? I wrote it mostly during school and got yelled at regularly by teacher for not paying attention o_0 But anyway, this is typed up at like 11 pm and I've been awake since 6, so I'm tired. But I'll try and get the next chapter up probably tomorrow. Next chapter: Truth or Dare or Kiss and Tell. Chapter after that: The Sorting, the Feast, and the Dormitories. Again people, please review!!!!