Chapter III: The Train Ride

The next morning Charles had to be woken up at eight, even though everyone was suppose to have gotten up at seven. 'That bastard'

"Charles! You fogging ice hole! Get up!" Nikki screamed as she broke down the door to Charles's room with one swing of a bear paw she had transfigured her hand into.

"Wha'? Huh? Why don't I have a door?"

"Charles, get up, you were suppose to be up over an hour ago." Brad said calmly as he started throwing Charles's possessions into a suitcase.

"Oh, crap!"

"Ya, c'mon, let's go, we need to get to the train station before noon and we still need a way to get there."

"Hey, Brad, Hagrid's not here. All I found was this note and our tickets for the train." Said Josh as he walked into the room.

"Well what's it say?"

"All it says is 'here are your tickets, when you're ready to leave just have everyone touch the bottle Bernie'll give ya.' That's it."

Two hours later Brad had everyone assemble at a table with all their luggage. Sam then brought the bottle to them and explained that it was a portkey and that all they had to do was touch it and hold on to everything for dear life and they would me magically transported to their destination. At that, they grabbed their luggage and each other and touched the portkey. After feeling like they had been put in a dryer on high speed, they found themselves standing in front of a train painted black and red except for the last coach which was painted white and red.

"Well I guess the odd- ball one's ours." Sable pointed out.

They boarded the coach and split into two groups, one for each of the two compartments. The first group consisted of Brad, Brandi, Josh, and Sable. As the second group got on the first group shed mercy on them for having to put up with Charles for the whole ride. After putting their luggage away they met in the hall and decided they should explore the rest of the train and meet some of their new classmates.

The closer to the front of the train they got, the more people seemed to be wandering the halls. Up ahead a fight was breaking out between a tall red- head and an unnaturally blonde kid. As they got closer, they could hear what the two were fighting about.

"Give it up Weasley," said the blonde "you couldn't beat me, even with a working wand!"

"Shut it Malfoy," said the red- head "I'm as good a wizard as you'll ever be."

"Yo! What seems to be the major malfunction here?" Brad interrupted.

"Unless you want to get blooded up as Weasley here is about to, you'll leave this to us. Bloody first years, always think they know everything."

"Oooo, you really shouldn't have said that to him. He's kinda easy to annoy, trust me, I would know." Said Charles.

"Alright, you, me, right now, I'll kick your ass up one side and down the other." Said Brad.

"Well, if you're that confident, then you must be a member of Potter's fan club. OK, I'll duel you, in fact I'll even go easy on you, since you're a new kid. SERPENSORTIA!"

"Oh dear! A snake! How will I ever defeat you if you have an army of snakes at your disposal?" Brad said in the wimpiest voice he could muster.

"Ha! He's scared already, that must be a new record!"

"Wait, I know, I'll fight snakes with a snake!" Brad said and an evil voice as he closed his eyes and transfigured into a basilisk, with his eyes closed, the only threat was his bite.

"Ah, you freak!" Malfoy screamed as he ran away to his compartment in terror.

"Brad, you idiot, now everyone knows we're shape shifters!" Nikki said as she hit Brad and he changed back.

"Well I don't like it when I'm put into fan clubs without my consent. By the way, who's this Potter kid any way?"

"I am, I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

"Well, why do you have a fan club?'

"He's the boy who lived! Where have you been living for the past four years, a dumpster?" said a brunette as she and a red- head girl came out of the compartment they were standing in front of.

"Well excuse us for, wait, did you say 'the boy who lived?"

"Yes, is that so amazing that you can't comprehend?" said the red- head girl.

"Wait… Ron Weasley… Harry Potter… Ginny Weasley… Hermione Granger… OMFG! Uh, you guys wait here; we'll be right back. My guys, back to the compartment."

"Dude! We just met Harry Potter! What kind of creepy is that? I thought those were just books!" said Brad as they got back to their compartment.

"They were just books, but apparently they really happened, and we got dropped in the middle of one. But which one?" Josh said in total and utter amazement.

"Hey, are you guys OK?" Hermione asked as they returned to the hall where the fight started "Cause some how you know our names but we don't know yours, and you act as though you know more about us than we do."

"Ya, uh we just might. Uh, what year are you in?" Nikki asked abruptly before anyone could stop her.

"Well, we're fourth years this year, why?"

"Well, you see, there are these books in our world that are basically the biographies of your life. Before you ask, no we will not let you read these books because we don't think you should know the terrible things that are going to happen. Well I guess you can read the books before your fourth year since those have already happened and we're pretty sure that, now that we've shown up, the books'll change." Explained Brandi.

The train had left the station and had been traveling for over an hour by now, yet it felt like only an hour with all the excitement going on. After fifteen minutes of quizzing the newcomers on the events of the past Hermione, Harry, and Ron told them to go and get in their school robes and get ready to go to the school.

When they arrived at the school they were beckoned over to Hagrid who led them to an enclosure where seven hippogriffs stood. "What are we suppose to do, ride them?" asked Derek with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Exactly." Replied Hagrid as he walked away to join the first years on their trip across the lake

"Well, apparently he thinks we know how to ride these things." Said Charles angrily

"Well, apparently you didn't bother to do a little studying before getting on the train." Katy said as she and everyone else bowed to a hippogriff that each bowed in return. Charles watched in amazement as they all got on hippogriffs.

"Since you seem to be utterly clueless, first bow to it, when it bows back you have its respect and you can ride it." Nikki explained to Charles. Though instead of following directions Charles walked straight up to the remaining hippogriff and was attacked. After receiving a large gash on his leg Charles followed directions and bowed. After Charles got on his hippogriff, Brad walked his over to him and healed his leg by saying "Waíse heill". After that fiasco, they all jumped into the air and flew in a v- formation along side a carriage pulled by seven Pegasus. As the other students watched in amazement, an enormous ship rose up out of the lake.