Author's Note – The story focuses mainly on the girl, the one with long, wavy, brown hair

(though that might change soon enough ). So, most of the story is written from her point of view. I hope this chapter answers so of the questions left hanging at the end of the last chapter.

Disclaimers – I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters (with the possible exception of Mia, Charlie, Alexannah and a few more.) But I still wish I did.

Chapter 2 – The girl on the train

Mia Bridger tried to stand still as the surroundings of platform 9 3/4 slid in and out of focus. She rubbed her eyes and pushed a runaway strand of wavy brown hair out of her face, knowing perfectly well that it would fall back in two minutes. She wondered why she was so dazed all of a sudden.

'Don't get over-excited.' she warned herself. 'Just stay calm.'

Rubbing her temples with her palm, she glanced wearily at her watch. The train was bound to leave in five minutes, she thought. Sighing, she wrenched her luggage trolley from amidst a group of babbling redheads and hauled her luggage onto the train.

Dragging her overloaded trunk and owl cage across the train in search of an empty compartment was proving to be rather tricky. Her trunk was very heavy and her tawny owl refused to sit quietly in the cage as she heaved it across the train. Most of the compartments were occupied, seeing as she had boarded the train so late. Mia was on the verge of giving up when a cheery voice addressed her.

'Oi! Want some help there?'

The addresser turned out to be a tall boy with a pale, round face, tousled brown hair and charmingly brown eyes. He had a wide smile and was waving merrily at her.

'Er, I guess so.' she replied uncertainly.

He walked up to her obligingly and hauled her trunk across the train.

'So' she said, watching the boy laboriously drag her overloaded trunk down the train in search of an empty carriage, while she followed with the owl cage. 'Where's your stuff?'

'I found a carriage ages ago' he replied, hauling her wooden trunk into a small, empty compartment near the end of the train. He glanced at her apologetically. 'Er, its full so - '

'I understand.' said Mia breezily. 'Thanks a lot, anyways. You can go to your friends if you want to.'

'Nah' he muttered sitting down beside her. 'I'll stay for a while.'

She smiled at him, pushing the trunk under her seat as she did so.

'What's your name?'

'Charlie. Charlie Whitman. And yours?'

'Mia Bridger.'

They grinned at each other for a while and then Mia broke the silence.

'Can you tell me something about Hogwarts?' she asked him eagerly.

'Sure' he replied. 'I'll not tell you much though, it'll spoil the surprises.'

Mia nodded, urging him to continue.

'Well, Hogwarts is pretty huge. A sort of a castle, you know, ancient and stuff. You'll see what it's like today. You eat in the Great Hall and sleep in your house dormitory- '

'Tell me about the houses' Mia interjected. 'Which one are you in?'

'Ah, the houses.' he said rubbing his hands together.

'There are four houses and you are sorted into one of them depending upon the traits which you possess. The houses were established by four nobles witches and wizards. Or three anyways.' he added as an afterthought.

'There's Gryffindor - where all the brave go. And there's Ravenclaw – where all the intelligent ones are. Then Hufflepuff - they say that Hufflepuffs are hardworking and just, but everyone knows that they're basically losers.'

'What about the fourth house?'

'Slytherin' he mumbled. 'All the cunning and the shrewd and the nasty go there. Yes, even you-know-who was from Slytherin.'

'Who's "you-know-who"?'

'You don't know? Never mind. I reckon you'll find out soon enough. I just hope you're in Gryffindor. You know, my house. Come to think of it, just don't be in Slytherin.'

He got up, smiled at her and walked to the compartment door.

'Wait!' Mia called after the retreating boy. 'How are we sorted?'

Charlie grinned. 'You'll see.'

Mia sighed as the boy closed the compartment door. She turned to look out of the window as the speeding countryside passed by the train.

The compartment door slid open.

'Hello?' called an unfamiliar voice.

Mia turned to stare at the newcomer.

The girl was fairly tall with straight, strawberry-blonde hair that fell gracefully to her waist, like Mia's and piercingly azure eyes. A nervous smile was playing across her delicate pink lips as she surveyed the compartment and it's sole occupant.

'Epitome of beauty' thought Mia, smiling to herself.

'Sure' she said to the girl, getting up to help her. The blonde dragged an intricately carved ebony chest and small wicker worked basket. She heaved the basket on the seat beside her and pushed the trunk under her seat.

Mia held out her hand. 'Mia Bridger.'

The girl smiled wryly. 'Alexannah Giovanni-Ann Bellevua.' she said. 'Or Alexannah Marie-Ann Truman. I don't really know.'

Seeing Mia's blank look, she sighed.

'My parents are - well they don't live together.' she said quietly. 'We used to live in France when I was younger. They broke up when I was seven years old. I don't know exactly why they split up but they used to fight a lot. Dad had a terrible temper. My sister, Alexandra and I, we were scared to even talk to them after they had a row.'

She shook her head sadly.

'Then, Mom could take it no more. They broke up and Dad agreed to take care of Alexandra, while Mom came back to England where she was born and educated. So Dad's still in France, his homeland with Alexandra, and Mom and I are in England.'

'Dad was educated in Beauxbatons so Alexandra goes there as well. We're still in touch you know' she said smiling suddenly. 'Like pen pals.'

'But I don't remember you asking me my life story.' she said grinning cheekily.

Mia shrugged. ' I didn't have the heart to interrupt you.' she said. She was wondering what Beauxbatons was. 'Probably a school in France' she thought.

'Well, what about you?' asked Alexannah candidly.

'What about me?'

'Honestly!' Alexannah snorted. 'You know, where you were born and stuff.'

'Er, I think I was bought up at an orphanage. I don't remember much, to tell you the truth.'

'You don't remember where you were twenty-four hours ago?' she asked incredulously.

'It is strange' Mia thought. 'I cant even remember how I got on the platform in the first place. Or how I got my owl. Or books.'

'HELLO?'

Mia snapped out of her reverie.

'I really don't remember anything about my past.' she said softly, wondering suddenly if she was suffering from some short term memory disorder or something.

'So do you have any siblings?' Alexannah piped up.

'No.'

'Oh. So you went to Diagon Alley alone?'

Mia could clearly remember the colourful streets of Diagon Alley, the shops, the people…

She had been walking with a tall woman…

Who was the woman?

Who had she gone with?

'I really don't know.' said Mia miserably.

Alexannah stared at her disbelievingly.

'Whatever you say.' she said sceptically. Mia could tell she did not believe her. 'I do think you should see the matron, once we reach Hogwarts.'

'Yeah, maybe I should. I was feeling kind of dazed on the platform.'

'Maybe you're just excited. You might remember tomorrow.' said Alexannah bracingly.

Mia smiled at her new friend gratefully.

Their silence was broken by the arrival of a plump lady with the food trolley. She waited patiently while they placed an enormous order of Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Mice, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and Acid Pops.

'Well' said Alexannah through a mouthful of Chocolate. She had taken all the cards so far, Mia had insisted on this, since she didn't collect them anyways.

'What?' said Mia carefully picking up a red coloured toffee from the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. So far she had come across lime, apple, spinach and chicken Alexannah hadn't been so lucky, she had come across an ear-wax flavoured one and hadn't taken touched the box since.

'Do you know who "you-know-who" is?' Mia asked her, suddenly remembering what Charlie had said earlier that day.

Alexannah almost spat the chocolate on her face.

'You don't know "you-know-who"?' she asked incredulously.

'How am I supposed to know?' she said crossly. 'And why do you keep calling him "you-know- who"? I don't even know him. Or her.'

Alexannah's cheery face darkened considerably. 'He's a Dark wizard. Evil and ruthless, he is. He's killed loads of people. 'specially Muggles and Muggle-borns. He has supporters too. Death-eaters, they're called. There are terrible as he is. The whole wizarding community lives in fear of him. No one has been able to defeat him yet. The only person who probably can, –'

She stopped mid-sentence, pulled out a Chocolate Frog Card from under the mess of wrappers and empty boxes and thrust it at Mia's face.

'Albus Dumbledore.' she said happily. 'So while he's here, we're safe at Hogwarts.'

Mia took the card from her friend and read,

' ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
Currently Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.'

She turned the card to see a picture of an elderly wizard smiling serenely at her. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, piercingly blue eyes, and flowing auburn hair, beard, and moustache.

'Can I keep this?' she asked Alexannah, who had been eyeing her intently.

'Sure.' she replied.

Mia and Alexannah spent the rest of their time playing wizard chess, which Mia was rather bad at. When darkness had engulfed the speeding countryside outside, the compartment door slid open for the fourth time that day. Mia looked up to see Charlie smiling at her.

'You girls, better put on your robes.' he said. 'We'll be there in half an hour.'

'Thanks, Charlie.' Mia called out to him.

'Your friend ?' Alexannah asked her as she pulled out her robes from her trunk.

Mia nodded as she pulled on her black robes, wondering what surprises the remainder of the day would bring her.

A/N:Hope you liked the chapter. I didn't. I had written it in another way at first, but I had to change it. Then again, I didn't have the heart to rewrite the whole chapter, so I just made some changes. So, some things probably don't fit in as well as they should. If the reviews are bad I'll probably rewrite the chapter. The details may seem unimportant, but they are crucial for the story as a whole. The next one will be up, as soon as this one is reviewed, cause I have to know if the details fit in or not. Reviews are always appreciated (and sorely needed). Thanks for reading!