The following weeks seemed to progress at a snail's pace. Now that I had acquired all of my school supplies, the reality that I was going to attend Hogwarts became much realer. Whenever I wasn't trying to train my new owl to fetch the morning mail, I was recounting everything on the list and packing and repacking to make sure everything fit in the suitcase. Going to school was, quite literally, all I could think about.

At last, after an eternity of waiting, the day had come. The train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was leaving at 11AM on September 1st, and I was going to be on it.

Despite the previous four weeks passing by incredibly slowly, the morning of the first progressed very quickly. Robbie and I gathered my things, double-checked them, somehow managed to convince Blumiere to get in his cage… and then we were off.

Since Robbie knew how to drive, that was how we arrived at King's Cross Station. The Muggles around gave us odd looks upon noticing my owl, but luckily they didn't peer for too long. We simply ignored them, and after their initial shock at seeing my new pet, they ignored us too.

Not even ten minutes had passed before we located Platforms 9 and 10. In between them, hidden, was Platform 9¾.

When I reached the brick wall, I looked back at my brother. He chuckled at my hesitation and waved me onward, the familiar half-smirk on his face betraying the fact that if I didn't go now, he would tease me about being scared to enter the platform later.

Eager to prove him wrong, I inhaled deeply and barreled straight towards the wall…

And was rewarded for my bravery. Before my eyes, the dreary brick walls of King's Cross seemed to shimmer and change. Now, they were lined with gold… which meant I had crossed into the other side.

When I had fully finished with the transition, I stopped short and stared. The wizarding side of the station was clearly being kept under better care than the Muggle side—and this was something I decided even before I looked at the train.

The locomotive itself was gleaming, a shining vision of scarlet, black, and gold. Upon its side were the clear and inviting words: Hogwarts Express.

It was exactly where I wanted to be, in that very moment.

Robbie pushed through the wall next to me, though he too stopped at the splendor of it all. The leer on his face became a genuine smile, albeit a nostalgic one. He looked at me and, seeing my excitement, rubbed a hand through my hair.

"What I would give to go back with you," he said with a light chuckle. "But my seven years have been spent. Now it's your turn."

I grinned and again faced the train—and promptly had the wind knocked out of me. My ankles gave out; my body collided into one of the brick walls as another cart crashed into me.

"Dear me, so sorry! Didn't mean for that to happen, I do hope you're all right," said a somewhat nasally voice.

Although the crash was likely to leave my ankles bruised, I managed to turn around and wheeze, "No problem."

Robbie had been watching the whole spectacle and began to cackle—until he too was smacked into by another cart.

I was able to get a good look at the person who ran into my brother. It was a redheaded boy that looked to be no older than I was. Freckles dotted his nose and cheeks, and he had brown eyes. Those eyes, however, were quite wide as he realized that he'd just bashed another person with his trolley.

"Bloody… ah, sorry," he said.

Robert laughed again and waved a dismissive hand, his trademark half-smirk on his face. "No harm done."

Before anyone else could come through the platform, we collectively decided it would be wise to retreat further from the wall. We did so just in time; right after we moved out of range, two identical redhead twins sprinted through.

The twins noted how tangled the four of us were and started snickering. One of them began berating the redhead who'd accidentally run into me with, "Oh, Perce, you ran into a first-year! Abusing your Prefect powers already?"

Perce didn't seem to like this much. He spluttered a bit as he retorted, "It was an accident, Fred! And everyone's fine. It's no big deal." He then looked towards me and asked, "It's okay, right?"

I smiled. The sides of his ears were red, as if he were embarrassed… and he had already apologized. "Yeah, everything's fine."

With a somewhat self-righteous huff, Perce glared at the twins, who just blew raspberries and started jogging their trolleys towards the train. Perce then scoffed and exclaimed, "Fred, George—wait up!" before struggling to follow them.

This left the youngest redhead out of the four—the one who'd run into Robbie. He glanced back at us and nodded politely before rushing off as well.

Now it was just Robbie and I, staring at the train once again. Without any more words, I started pushing my trolley towards it. He walked beside me, one hand on my shoulder.

Past dozens of families and students we went, as well as screeching owls and yowling cats. We fought the crowd all the way to the boarding and luggage area, which was just as crowded as the rest of the platform. Before Robbie helped haul my suitcase off the trolley, he asked, "Do you have everything?"

"Yes," I said, and with no small amount of confidence. I'd checked at least half a dozen times.

"Robes? Wand?" he prodded. I simply continued nodding. "Hair dye? Paints and canvases? Blumiere?"

"Blumiere is sitting right here! And yes, I have the rest of those things."

Robbie chuckled at the mild exasperation in my voice. "Well, if you did forget something, then I'll send it to you through the mail. And never hesitate to let me know if you need anything, either."

I ran a hand through my hair and happened to glance at it. The edges of the red were starting to fade from the violent shade of auburn to a duller, more natural shade. Knowing that my roots probably betrayed my naturally blonde hair, I said, "Well… actually, I am starting to run out of hair dye. I'll need another box soon…"

My older brother laughed and ruffled with my hair again. "What was the color again? 'Vampire Red?'"

Surprised that he had remembered, I beamed. "That's the one."

"I'll make sure to write it down so I won't forget," he promised—before I could thank him, he tackled my head, making me shriek with both laughter and protest. "You redheaded raspberry freak."

"I like my red hair!" I exclaimed, eventually managing to shove his arm off my face.

"I know. I like it too. But I also like making fun of you."

That was the moment where I realized how very much I'd miss my brother while I was away at school. He had been all I had for the last four years; I was about to move away from all the certainty of my life and head into the unknown… I didn't even have an idea of which House I'd be sorted into.

Tears starting to form in my eyes, I opened my mouth—

And was immediately silenced by Robbie wrapping his long arms around me. He pulled me close into one of my favorite kinds of hugs—the kind that makes breathing difficult, but also makes you feel incredibly close to a person. I threw my arms around him too, hoping that I'd be able to carry the feeling of my brother's embrace until Christmas, when next I'd see him.

"Be true to yourself, Belle. Make your friends. Study hard. Do everything you've ever wanted to do, okay?" he whispered into my hair.

It was hard to swallow past the lump in my throat, but somehow I managed to say, "Thanks, Robbie. I will."

"Good." He kissed the top of my head and exclaimed, "Now you'd best get on that train. You have a school to get to."

With that, he released me and gently directed me towards said train. With a deep breath, I grabbed Blumiere's cage, walked forward, and ascended the stairs that led onto the vehicle. Upon reaching the door, I looked back at the crowd.

Robbie was easy to spot with his blond hair and bright blue eyes. It didn't hurt that he was also very tall—when I met his eyes, he grinned and waved. I returned the gesture before closing the door behind me and scuffling onto the train to find a compartment to sit in.

Most unfortunately for me, I had been one of the last ones to board the express, which meant all of the compartments were already full. Everywhere I went, other students were peering into the hallway, already sitting with their friends. Other first-years seemed to have started making friends already, too…

The first compartment that I came across that wasn't completely full was occupied by the two people of my year that I'd yet come into contact with: the black haired boy from Ollivander's, and the redhead boy that had run into my brother with the trolley. I figured that this would have to be the best bet I would get—and so I knocked on their door before sliding it open and saying, "Hi. Erm… is anyone else sitting here?"

"No, come right in," said the red-haired boy. He moved to slide open the door wider so I could budge inside and patted on the seat next to him.

"Thanks," I sighed, planting Blumiere's cage at my feet. Upon doing this, my little elf owl looked up at me and squawked. Raising an eyebrow, I muttered, "Hush, Robbie let me get you the big cage. You could be even more crowded than you are now, you know."

He blinked, one eye at a time, and was apparently satisfied.

"Cool owl," grinned the black-haired boy. He himself had a snowy owl sitting next to him as well.

"Thanks," I repeated. "His name's Blumiere. Yours is really pretty too."

He waved towards his owl. "Her name is Hedwig. Hagrid—erm, the person who showed me around Diagon Alley—bought her for me for my birthday."

I gasped. "So when I met you in Diagon Alley, it was your birthday?"

The boy smiled and nodded.

A grin was plastered over my face at that. "Cool. Whenever the trolley comes around, remind me to buy you a Chocolate Wand. And I'll get one for you, too," I added towards the redhead, "so we all might celebrate going to our first year at Hogwarts. At least, I think we're all first-years… right?"

Luckily for me, the boys both nodded in assent and returned toothy grins. It wasn't hard to see that they were as excited as me.

"Excellent," I said. I couldn't help but wonder which Houses they'd be sorted into: Gryffindor, who stood for chivalry and courage, Hufflepuff for hardiness and kindness, Ravenclaw for cleverness and intelligence, or Slytherin for shrewdness and ambition. Deciding it'd be best to ask for their thoughts, I inquired, "Where do you think you'll be placed during the Sorting?"

"Gryffindor," the redhead replied at once. "I've got five older brothers who all made it there. If I'm not there too, they'll take the mickey out of me for the rest of my life."

I laughed a little, if only because I knew both the joys and struggles of having an older brother. I then turned to the black-haired boy for his answer, but he merely shrugged.

"What about you?" the redhead asked me.

"No idea," was my reply, and this much was true. Robbie had been in Ravenclaw, and with good reason. He was certainly one of the smartest people I'd ever met. My mother had been in Hufflepuff, but my father had attended Durmstrang, not Hogwarts. "We've been pretty spread out in my family."

The redhead nodded before asking, "So the person you were with, that I accidentally ran over with my trolley—was that your… dad?"

His confusion made me chuckle. Robbie always dressed professionally, making him seem older than he was. His sharp blue suit probably made more than a few people assume that he was my father.

"No, that was my older brother. My parents are… not with us anymore." These last few words were hard to eke out. Throughout the day, I'd somehow succeeded in pushing away the thoughts regarding how my parents might've reacted when I left for my first day of school…

Until now, anyway.

The redhead clapped a hand on my shoulder in support. The black-haired boy, however, said something that I wasn't expecting.

"Mine too."

I blinked and looked at the two of them, deciding in that moment that I liked the pair of them immensely. With a weak yet gradually growing smile, I said, "I'm Belle. Belle Skylar."

"Ronald Weasley," introduced the redhead. "But you can just call me Ron."

The black-haired boy fidgeted in his seat. "Harry Potter."

My eyes went wide. I'd been sitting and conversing with the Harry Potter the whole time.

I was about to ask to see his scar so I could verify that he was telling the truth, but just before the words escaped, I stopped myself. The hesitancy in his eyes, the way he was slightly hunched over, and the smile that was actually a grimace, convinced me to stop and think.

If this really was Harry Potter, who survived You-Know-Who's killing curse and was raised by Muggles, then everything he was experiencing—everything—was new and overwhelming. He was famous, but had never known he was. The confusion he'd emanated when I met him in Diagon Alley now made perfect sense. It had been his first time in a wizarding venue at all.

So I stopped, breathed, and extended my hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Harry."

Harry's grimace melted into a real smile. He seemed relieved, more than anything. He reached out and firmly took my hand for the handshake. Once that was done, I turned to Ron and gave him the same statement.

Ron grinned and shook my hand too.

That was when the compartment door opened, and in walked trouble.

Standing at the doorway were four people: three boys and a girl. The ones who stood in the middle were undoubtedly siblings—twins, if I wasn't mistaken. Their expressions were nearly identical, filled with some sort of scorn, curiosity, and what looked like awe.

The boy in the middle was the first to speak. His silver eyes darted amongst the three of us for a brief moment before he announced, "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

Harry raised an eyebrow before exchanging looks with Ron and I. We all came to the same conclusion: we didn't like being outnumbered in our own compartment, particularly by the two beefy guys standing on the ends like bodyguards.

Noticing our discomfort, the boy waved a loose hand towards them. "Oh, right. That's Crabbe on the left, and Goyle on the right. And this is my twin sister, Elizabeth."

"Lizzie," corrected Lizzie with a scowl towards her brother.

The boy ignored it, instead opting to say, "And I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy."

Ron sniggered into his hand. The sound was not unheard by Draco Malfoy, either. He whirled toward Ron, the sneer now openly upon his face, before muttering, "Think my name is funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me that all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

I inhaled sharply. I was liking this Malfoy character less and less. The dislike only grew when he extended his hand to Harry and said, "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Harry took a glance at Malfoy's hand before raising his eyebrow and coolly replying, "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks."

That made me raise my own eyebrows. Despite my contempt for this Malfoy character, I knew I couldn't outwardly show any animosity towards him. I knew nothing about him yet, much less whether or not he would be valuable as a friend despite his condescending nature.

As I was considering what to say or do to Malfoy, he turned towards me and asked, "And who are you?"

"Belle Skylar," I answered, careful to keep my voice clear of any bias.

Malfoy nodded, the edge of his lips curling upward into a smirk. "So, Belle. I can offer you what I offered Potter. What say you?"

His hand made its way to my general location—I looked directly into his grey eyes and answered, "I appreciate the offer, Draco. I would, however, like to make some impressions of my own once we reach Hogwarts."

I shook his hand once before leaning back in my seat.

"Fair enough," Draco replied. He then glanced to his cronies and declared, "Come on, guys. Let's clear out."

And then they were gone.

A brief silence filled the compartment as Harry, Ron, and I all glanced around at each other. Noting how long it was going on, I decided to break the silence by scoffing, "What a prat."

They laughed with me until the trolley came along. True to my word, I bought the three of us chocolate wands. Harry, however, decided to one-up me and all but cleared out the trolley… needless to say, we had a most entertaining remainder of a ride.