THE HOGWARTS TERM BEGINS

Platform Nine and Three Quarters was buzzing with activity, as on every September 1st. Students rushed about, some already in uniform, and some in muggle clothes, pushing trolleys with large cages balanced dangerously on top of luggage with their occupants screeching loudly, or going over lists of items with their parents. Every so often, there was a shout of, "Mum, did you pack my tie?" or "Dad, I think I've forgotten my spellbooks!" and there would be a crack as the parent disapparated to fetch whichever item had been left behind.

A small, slim, redheaded girl holding a battered trunk in one hand and a small grey kitten in the other was watching the activities with interest while her parents talked to another couple seeing their son off. The son was standing beside the girl, already in uniform, with a small brown owl perched on his shoulder. Every so often, his hand would casually slip into his pocket and come out clutching an owl treat, which was offered to the delighted bird, which would fly about his head in excitement.

Another two families emerged from the red brick wall which joined Platform 9 and Platform 9 3/4, and the tallest boy, again a redhead, called out to the two first years standing side by side.

"Andrea! Patrick! Glad to see you made it!" he called loudly, causing quite a few heads to turn as he rushed happily towards the new students. "Welcome to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, home to the Hogwarts Express!"

The girl, Andrea, smiled and turned to greet the speaker. "Hi Luke! I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Well, you wouldn't have done, I've been staying with Chad and Beth for the time being."

"Chad and Beth? I haven't seen them since I was six!" Andrea exclaimed. "Are they here?"

Luke turned and beckoned to the other family, who started to make their way towards the group. "Hey, come and see your cousins!"

A girl who looked around the same age as Andrea came running over. She had long red hair much like Andrea's, although hers was a lot brighter and she wore it tied back. "What is it, Luke?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "I just thought you'd like to say hello to your cousins! Remember Andrea?"

"Why, so I do! And you must be Patrick! Merlin, you've grown!" the girl said with a smile. "I'm Beth, remember me? And I'm sure you remember Chad," she added as another redhead joined them. "Chad's in Hufflepuff, came as a bit of a surprise for us!"

Andrea and Patrick greeted Chad warmly, who looked a little nervous as he shook hands.

Two older couples came over and greeted Patrick and Andrea's parents. Andrea looked around anxiously. "D'you think people will notice my Dad?"

Chad frowned. "Why would that matter?"

"Well-" Andrea paused. "He does tend to attract attention. I mean, being Harry Potter and all that," she added hurriedly. "Mum doesn't seem to mind, but-"

"I don't seem to mind what?" came an interested voice.

"Oh, nothing Mum, it doesn't matter, just…you know…" Andrea's voice tailed off into nothing.

"I think she's talking about me, aren't you, Andi," came a cheerful voice behind them. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. And no, your mother doesn't mind it now, but she used to, didn't you, Ginny?"

Andrea's mother flushed pink. "Well-not really, I mean…well, yes."

Luke's dad joined in. "Well Harry, this is all your fault! I always knew you were evil! Now, Andrea, if you need any help, we've got plenty of stock at 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes'. George and I will be happy to send some things into school if you're having any trouble at all, won't we George?"

George smiled. "Definitely, Fred. Just ask Beth if you need anything, she's always mucking around with our stuff, aren't you?" He smiled at his daughter, who grinned back.

Chad frowned again. "Dad, you shouldn't be encouraging them! You can't solve all of your problems with jokes!"

Beth rolled her eyes. "Chad doesn't like jokers,' she explained. 'He doesn't like the shop or anything about it, either. He thinks that the stuff is 'wicked'. Dunno about wicked, but I suppose you could call it wicked fun!"

Chad went red at the tips of his ears. "Well, it is, isn't it? How would you-"

"Not arguing, again, are you?" another voice butted in, and everyone turned around and exclaimed, "Ginger! How are you?"

'Ginger' laughed. "Just about fine, thanks. You're not arguing again, are you?"

Andrea smiled. "Yup," she said, "And this is the first time I've seen them for about five years!"

"Andrea! Gosh, you're not eleven already? And you, Patrick?"

Patrick rolled his eyes. "Oh, give over, Ginger!"

Patrick's father wandered over. "Morning, Ginger, morning Luke. Oh, and of course Chad and Beth, sorry, didn't see you there! Patrick, your mother and I have to go-we've got some urgent business to attend to." He hugged his son. "Harry, you've been called too," he muttered to his friend, who sighed and turned to say goodbye to Andrea.

"Be good, Andi! Your mother and I are so proud of you! Do well, and don't worry about being recognised, it'll die down." Harry smiled. "Come on Ron, Hermione, we'd better be going."

The three of them walked off together after waving goodbye to their children.

Patrick groaned unhappily. "Oh, it's not fair, why do I have to have both parents as Aurors? Andrea only has one, and-"

"And I only have one parent left altogether," interrupted Ginger, testily. "Stop complaining and look at the time! We'd better get going if we want good seats."

The students bade their parents goodbye and boarded the Hogwarts Express.

When they were all safely seated in one of the large carriages, Luke suddenly spoke.

"Anyone know where John is?" he asked casually, looking around, "He isn't here."

Chad sighed. "He's up at the front saying hello to all of the prefects."

"Jumped up fellow," said Luke cheerfully. "Just like his father! Uncle Percy is so involved with his work at the moment that John had to come with us. And Aunt Penny's not much better-"

He fell silent as another redhead entered. "Morning all," he said, seriously. "Ready for some hard work?"

"No," muttered Luke and Patrick, grinning at each other.

Andrea nodded and greeted John. "Where were you?"

"I was…I had some business to attend to," he said, awkwardly, and Beth laughed.

"Of course you did, John, we believe you." She grinned at Andrea. "So, which House would you like to be in? I fancy Gryffindor, don't you?"

Chad stood up. "Hufflepuff is just as good," he protested, and then made his way to the door. "I'm just going to see some of my friends," he explained, and walked off.

"What friends?" Beth said, but quietly.

There was a knock at the carriage door. Andrea opened it.

A tall, tanned girl with short brown hair and hazel eyes was standing there. "Er - I was wondering if there was any space here?" she asked, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "I can't seem to find anywhere else."

The others squashed up together to make room for the newcomer, just as the train gave a huge lurch and started to move, throwing Beth and Andrea's cat off their seats and onto the floor. When Beth stood up, her face was quite badly scratched.

Andrea gasped. "Oh, Beth, I am sorry!" she apologised, and lifted the cat off the floor. "Sirius, you naughty boy!" She spoke sternly to the mewling cat.

Beth laughed her infectious laugh. "Don't worry! I'll just start the first day of my new school in pieces! What did you say his name was?"

"Sirius," Andrea said. "After…" she glanced worriedly at the newcomer. "A…friend my father knew."

"Black?" asked Patrick, quietly. Andrea nodded and sighed.

Luke bowed his head and quickly changed the subject. "So what's your name then?" he asked the newcomer.

"Mirabel," she replied, "But I hate that name, so please call me Mabs."

Andrea smiled. "Nice to meet you, Mabs."

Luke grinned at her and flushed slightly, before introducing himself. "Luke. My name, that is. Your name is nice, really! Well-Mabs is nicer but-" He broke off, embarrassed.

Beth pulled out her sandwiches and made a disgusted face. "Cheese and pickle. Want to swap?"

Soon, everyone was swapping sandwiches, getting hungrier and hungrier but trying to save all the food for lunchtime. Presently, the food trolley was brought round to their compartment and, when each of them had bought as many sweets and cakes as their money would allow them, they started to eat. Andrea was used to all of the different sweets and cakes, but Mabs had never seen some of them before. "Gummy Rats," she read out from the back of one of the packets, and bit into one of the wriggling sweets apprehensively.

"Wow, these are delicious! I never have these at home!" she exclaimed, surprised, making everyone laugh.

Luke, on the other hand, was eating everything in sight, whether he'd tried it before or not. He managed to get through two packets of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans quite safely, but the third proved slightly more…exotic. He came across 'Horseradish Delight', 'Old Sock', 'Dirt' and plenty of other flavours, spitting each out in disgust.

"These flavours shouldn't be allowed!" he said crossly after throwing his tenth one out of the window. "They're revolting!"

Andrea soon became tired and rested her head against the window, staring out at the darkening sky. Luke looked concerned, and went to sit beside her. "Andrea?"

Andrea sighed. She had a headache and just wanted to be left alone-and she was worried about what would happen if she ended up in Slytherin.

"Andrea, do you want to go and find a quiet carriage?" Luke spoke quietly so that the others could not hear. Andrea nodded and stood up, letting Luke explain where they were going.

She was glad that the corridors were deserted-it gave her time to talk to Luke.

"Thanks," she said, hesitantly, "For your help, I mean. It's just so stuffy in there!"

Luke smiled worriedly. "That's alright. I'll look after you. And you got me away from Mabs."

Andrea giggled. "Do you fancy her?"

Luke flushed so Andrea didn't pursue the subject. "Beth is nice, isn't she?"

"Yes, she's a really fun girl. You'll get on great! Watch out for her jokes though, she's just like her father-and mine, come to think of it."

"Does she work hard?"

"Do you?" Luke asked Andrea. Andrea couldn't tell whether he was joking or not. His face was serious, but there was something about his eyes that told her he might just be pulling her leg.

"Well-I-I try to…" she stammered, 'I mean, I don't always do well but- well…" She broke off, not knowing quite what to say.

Luke's face broke into a grin. "Silly, I was joking!" he said, putting an arm around her. "You remind me of Cassie." The smile slid off Luke's face and he looked sad for a moment.

"Cassie?" Andrea asked quietly.

"My…sister," Luke replied, sadly. "She died five years ago, when she was six. She would have started at Hogwarts this year."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Andrea, feeling guilty. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. Come on, let's go and sit in another carriage for a while."

The pair of them wandered down the train until they came to a carriage which was empty except for a boy with dark hair and a pale face reading a book.

"May we sit here?" Luke asked politely, "My friend here wanted a bit of peace and quiet."

The boy nodded and went back to his book. Luke raised his eyebrows and took the seat opposite, and Andrea sat down next to him.

Andrea rested her head against the cool windowpane and closed her eyes. Luke kept quiet, watching her anxiously, and, after a while, put his arm around the younger girl who was shivering. Drops of rain beat against the window, and there was a rumble of thunder from overhead.

After a while they could hear doors banging and a prefect poked his head into the carriage. "You'd better get changed now, won't be long," he commanded.

"Oh, hello there Luke! Your brother was bothering us

earlier, thought you'd be around! See you at dinner!" And with that, he was gone.

Andrea stood up rather shakily, yawned and then followed Luke into their old compartment, where everyone was trying to get changed at once-except for Patrick, who was already in his robes.

When the confusion had finally died down and each of the students was seated again, a voice from overhead announced, "We shall be arriving at Hogsmeade shortly. There will be no need to unload your luggage-it will all be taken up separately. Thankyou."

Immediately, Luke began cheering, much to the disapproval of Chad who had just joined the group again. Beth, for the first time, looked rather nervous and Patrick had gone white.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad!" Ginger said kindly, and Andrea managed a weak smile. "No, seriously! It'll be great! You'll love it! Nobody as far as I know has ever hated it there-well, apart from when Dolores Umbridge was in charge-but she's not any more, and Dumbledore has now turned down the position of Minister for Magic twice to look after the school, so he must like it. Stop worrying and try to enjoy it!"

Luke laughed and put his arms around Beth and Andrea. "Don't fret, little girls. And you, Patrick. You'll be fine. Just do as old McGonagall says and nothing will go wrong."