Mrs. Smith looked skeptically at the solid barrier and then stumbled backwards in surprise when Toby's head appeared, seemingly detached, in the middle of it.

"Come on! It's amazing!"

Jane tugged on her hand and she reluctantly followed her daughter through. They had arrived over an hour before the departure time but the platform was crowded and chaotic by the time the Smith's finished giving Jane advice and hugs. Then Toby escaped as their parents lifted Jane's trunk onto the train and he suddenly looked miserable as they carried him off the train. So Jane went to reassure him that she would be back for the holidays and only barely got on the train before it started moving.

She began searching for a seat but all of the compartments were occupied. Most of the students were big teenagers and many of them were wearing robes so they had probably travelled directly from a magical household without entering the Muggle world. Jane suddenly felt intimidated. Everyone on the visit to Diagon Alley had been just as clueless, excited and curious as her. She had loved feeling like a tourist in an amazing but very different world despite being in London. But now she had to somehow become part of this world that she knew so little about.

Her arms ached from pulling her trunk. She wondered if she should have agreed to her mum's suggestion to use normal bags but she had to at least try to fit in and her bright red roller bag would not have helped. She was relieved to see students her age in one compartment but, when she knocked, a blonde-haired boy gave her a very disgusted look. She tried to think how she had offended him and decided that it was probably some etiquette rule only known to magical society. Later, she saw two boys deep in conversation with a rat asleep beside them but she didn't interrupt because in primary school all of her friends were girls and she was scared of another hostile reaction.

Finally, she spotted two Muggle-born students who had been with her in Diagon Alley. There were a few unfamiliar students in the same compartment but they all gestured for her to come in and a couple of them helped her lift her trunk onto a rack. Soon they were happily discussing what they knew about Hogwarts. One girl, Sarah, had a mother who seemed to have been to social events with almost every professor, except the one that taught potions. Jane and the two other Muggle-born students, Erin and Jack, were eager to hear more than what they had found in books and brochures.

"Can you do magic?" Erin asked suddenly. "I really want to try but I was told its illegal at home."

They all agreed and some complained that it was unfair.

Jack looked up from examining a chocolate frog card. "But we can do magic on the train, right?"

"It's not just about waving a wand. There is very complicated magical theory involved that we have to be carefully taught." Sarah explained condescendingly.

"Not for first-year spells," Jane protested. She had read most of her textbooks because she worried that other students would have been learning magic for years but the books were written as if all children mainly studied normal subjects before starting at Hogwarts. "They're mainly about focusing and getting the words and gestures right."

"Let's try something!" Jack said, reaching for his wand. "Let's make my trunk come down from that rack. I need to get my robes from it anyway."

"Heavy things are harder to move. And there are far more basic spells that would be better to start with," Sarah protested but Erin was already flipping through a textbook.

"Here's something! We can make it fly and then maybe lower it to the floor. You have to say 'wingardium leviosa" and do this with your wand." Erin made a complicated gesture. She passed the book to Jack who glanced through the instructions. Even Sarah looked excited as he attempted the spell but nothing happened.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to try. Several voices were saying the incantation at once and there were so many wands waving around the little compartment that Jane had to duck. She heard cries of surprise and leapt out of the way- unfortunately knocking over Sarah- just before Jack's trunk struck the floor with a loud thump. For a moment, they all silently looked up at the rack, which had warped and turned blue as if overheated.

"We can't fix that!" Sarah said despairingly and then suggested discretely leaving the compartment. After all, whoever cleaned the train could probably easily undo the damage and they didn't want to get in trouble before they even arrived.

Jane stared at her. "We have to tell someone. I don't think we broke any rules." She couldn't help imagining how disappointed her family would be if she were wrong about that. But if they didn't confess she suspected they would be caught with magic anyway.

Most of them reluctantly agreed with Jane and they eventually found a red-haired prefect who seemed oddly excited about being summoned. He easily restored the rack to its original condition and lectured them for some time. His main message seemed to be that multiple spells should not be directed at the same object and that prefects are important. When he finally left, Sarah stormed out after him.

A couple minutes later, the blonde-haired boy glanced into the compartment as if looking for someone, sneered at her, and moved on. Jane sighed and wondered how she had messed up so badly already.

"Try one," Jack suggested, offering her what looked like a bright yellow bean, "I'm guessing its yellow watermelon flavored."

"Or banana?" Erin asked.

"Too predictable." Jack argued, "Nothing here is predictable."

Someone peeked into the compartment and shyly asked, "Have any of you seen a toad?"