Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 4

Going back to Privet Drive after our visit to Diagon Alley was strange in a way that my brother and I never expected. It almost seemed easier to be around the Dursleys now that the secret was out. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hardly spoke to us, and Dudley never gave us a problem in the next month we spent with them. While this should have come as a relief, I felt like it was too decent to last and it became almost awkward to walk around the house when the Dursleys kept giving us sideways glances.

For the most part, Harry and I stayed in our rooms to avoid the strange looks that our aunt and uncle kept giving us. It was as if they expected Hagrid to come bursting back to the door at any minute. For the time being, we took care of our owls and looked through the books we got from Diagon Alley. During this time, we named our owls. Harry called his Hedwig and I named mine Icarus after the Greek god. While we both wanted to let our owls fly free, the Dursleys were very clear on not wanting them outside of their cages, and we felt it best that we stick to that rule for the limited time we would be spending on Privet Drive.

When September came around, we quickly discovered that we weren't really that sure how we were going to get to the train station that led to Hogwarts. Before we parted ways with Hagrid, he gave us a ticket to Kings Cross Station that we were meant to board on September 1st, but it was not until we got back to the Dursley's house that we realized that it was labeled for Platform 9 ¾. When the day finally came around for us to be driven to the station by Uncle Vernon, we finally got the courage to ask him about it.

"Uncle Vernon?" I said.

"What?" he grunted.

"Do you know where Platform 9 ¾ is in the station?" I asked.

As soon as I asked, I instantly regretted it. His face went completely red and he looked like he was doing everything he could to stop himself from screaming at me.

"Do you take me for a fool?" he asked.

"No, it's just that the train to Hogwarts -" I started.

"Enough!" he demanded. "I don't want to hear another word out of either of you."

We didn't bother asking any more questions. Uncle Vernon clearly couldn't help us with finding out where our train would be, and we were just going to have to figure it out for ourselves. It was clearly stressful enough for him to be taking us to the station alone because it forced him to recognize that his niece and nephew were to follow the same path as their parents - something that was unthinkable up until now between his wife and him.

When our uncle dropped us off and we got our things out of his car, he muttered a simple goodbye and took off without helping us into the station at all. Looking hopeless, we both decided to make our way with some carts we were given for our luggage toward Platform 9 and 10 with the hopes of finding out what we were supposed to do. When we got there, there was no sign for this Platform 9 ¾ we were supposed to be boarding.

"Do you think we should ask?" Harry suggested.

"I'm not sure," I said with uncertainty as I looked at one of the employees of the station. "Do you think they'll know what we're talking about? Just look how Uncle Vernon responded."

We looked up at the clock that was set up in the station and realized that we had very limited time to figure out how to get to our station. For the time being, we decided to continue looking around the station until we gave up and asked one of the employees, and he responded in the same way that Uncle Vernon did.

"I don't have time for jokes, kid," the man said to Harry when he asked.

With only ten minutes left before our train was supposed to take off, we parked our carts in between Platform 9 and 10 hopelessly.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked.

"I don't know," Harry sighed. "If the train leaves without us, we're going to have to call Uncle Vernon…"

Just as he said that, a bigger group of redheads walked through the station pushing along carts. In the mix of the other people swarming the station, this group stood out to me the most because the woman, who I gathered was the mother of this group of children, was rushing her children along and said something loud enough to catch my attention.

"Hurry up, we're going to be late for the train to school," she urged them. "Fred and George, would you please keep up! Platform 9 ¾ is just ahead Ronny, dear!"

"Harry!" I said pulling on his shirt. "Come on - we need to follow them!"

"What?" he said, clearly not hearing what they had said.

"Hurry!" I said as I took my cart and hurried toward them with Harry quickly trailing behind me.

We approached them just as they stopped in front of a pillar in between Platform 9 and 10 with their carts in front of them and without the look of confusion that was on our faces.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" I said trying to get her attention.

She looked around at all of her children for a moment in an attempt to figure out which one of them said something to her before she figured out that it was someone else. When she met my eye, she made a welcoming smile.

"Oh, hello!" she said with a laugh. "Could have mistaken you for one of my own with that hair. Can I help you with something."

"It's just that I heard you say you were going to Platform 9 ¾," I told her. "My brother and I have been trying to figure out where it is."

"Oh, yes!" she said. "Going to Hogwarts are you?"

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said as he stepped over next to me.

Just as Harry stepped next to me, I noticed a look from the woman's children that was becoming oddly familiar in recent days. In total, I counted four boys and one little girl, all with bright red hair and freckles all over their faces. Their parents, both redheads themselves, were leading all their boys to Hogwarts, but the youngest girl in the group seemed to be the only child who was not pushing a cart filled with suitcases and books.

"Wonderful!" she said. "I suppose it's both of your first years as well? My youngest boy Ron is just starting at Hogwarts too."

The younger looking boy's face went a little pink as we both looked at him and he gave a small wave before looking back at his mother.

"Okay, Molly," the man, who must have been her husband, said. "I think we better get a move on or we'll be late."

"Of course," she said. "The entrance is just through this pillar here - just watch the boys do it."

As she said this, the oldest redheaded boy stepped forward with his cart. Without much delay, he quickly pushed his cart forward and disappeared into the pillar without a trace. Both Harry and I were speechless.

"Don't think too much about it," the woman said. "Okay, Fred, George - get to it."

Two identical twin boys stepped forward and rushed forward, one behind the other, and disappeared into the wall. After that, the woman insisted that we go next so we wouldn't be the last ones to go. Feeling brave, I stepped up to go in front of my brother.

"Best to get a running start," the younger redheaded boy suggested.

Taking his advice, I looked at the wall and began running toward it with my cart in front of me. As I got nearer to the pillar, I closed my eyes and braced myself to crash into a brick wall, but I instead found myself continuing to race forward. When I opened my eyes, I was amazed to see an entirely different scene ahead of me.

Rather than seeing the bustling, ordinary train station, I instead found myself standing directly next to a large train that read The Hogwarts Express. Surrounding us now were students saying goodbye to their parents and gathering their luggage to board the train. Once I was able to get the full view of what was happening, I noticed that Harry was standing next to me with the same look of amazement on his face.

"We made it," he said quietly.

After thanking the woman, who we learned was Mrs. Weasley, Harry and I boarded the train to Hogwarts with our luggage in hand. We were certainly one of the later people to find our seats because there were virtually no vacancies in the compartments throughout the train. However, we ended up finding one empty compartment toward the back of the train that Harry and I took for our own.

Not long after we took our seats, we found a familiar face outside of our compartment. The youngest Weasley boy was looking in at us with a hopeful glance.

"Hello," he said. "I was wondering if I could sit with you all...all the other compartments are full."

"That's fine," Harry said.

"My name is Ron, by the way," he introduced himself as he took a seat next to Harry. "Ron Weasley."

"Nice to meet you," I said. "I'm Emily."

"And I'm her brother Harry," Harry said.

When Ron's mouth dropped, we both realized that we didn't need to say our last names for him to recognize who we were. Ron looked from both Harry to me in complete bewilderment.

"You're the Potter twins," Ron said with his face going a little red. "I heard that you two were coming this year, but I had no idea."

"I suppose we're the ones," Harry said.

"So do you really have...er...the scars?" he asked as his eyes scanned our heads.

Both Harry and I pushed aside the hair that covered our scars and Ron's face lightened up when he saw them. This reaction wasn't what I was used to in school. Most people were disgusted with them and said that they made us look stranger than we already looked. But this was probably because Dudley always told people that.

"That's so neat," Ron said.

Ron talked with both of us for a while as the train began to move forward. We learned a lot about his family and some new things about Hogwarts - including what Houses and Quidditch were. Ron had known about all of this stuff his entire life because he was raised in a house full of witches and wizards and his older brothers had all been there before him.

We also got the chance to try some strange kinds of candies and chocolates that a lady pushing along a trolley was selling throughout the train. Harry and I had never heard of Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (which really meant every flavor), or Chocolate Frogs before and we took the chance to try every piece of candy we could.

Just as we were reading a card we got from the Chocolate Frog container, which was one about Albus Dumbledore, our new headmaster, we heard a tapping on the compartment door that we went ahead and opened up to see who it was. To my surprise, I saw a familiar face - the girl from Flourish and Blotts with the large hair whose name was Hermione.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but a boy named Neville lost his toad," Hermione said and then caught my eye. "Oh, hello! I remember you from the shop - Emily, wasn't it?"

"That's right," I said with a smile. "And this is my brother Harry - "

"Wait a moment," she said with wide eyes. "Harry and Emily - as in the Potter children? The ones who defeated You-Know-Who? I've read all about the two of you. My name is Hermione Granger - it's great to meet you two."

Embarrassed, Harry and I didn't know what to say. Being the only one who hadn't spoken up since her entrance into our compartment, Ron decided that he would be the one to break the tension.

"I'm Ron Weasley," he said as he bit into a Cauldron Cake that fell all over his lap.

"How charming," she said with a look of disgust. "Anyway, I'm going to keep looking for that toad. Would any of you care to join me?"

She looked at us all expectantly as she raised her eyebrow. Harry and Ron clearly had no interest in leaving all their candy behind for any reason at all. Feeling awkward and wanting an opportunity to walk around a bit, I decided to volunteer.

"I could help," I said as I stood up.

"Excellent," she said.

We exited the compartment without another word to the boys and walked forward.

"So what does this toad we're looking for look like?" I asked.

"It's sort of a brownish color, I believe," she explained. "Oh, here's Neville now."

In front of Hermione was a short, plump boy with dirty blonde hair and a panicked expression. He had just closed a compartment door when he saw us walking toward him.

"Have you found him?" he asked desperately.

"No luck," Hermione sighed. "But we have some extra help - Neville, this is Emily Potter."

In a manner completely lacking subtlety, Neville looked at me and his eyes immediately darted to my forehead. Seeing that this was yet another reaction I was getting from a stranger on this train, I decided that I was going to have to get used to this and just move along.

"T-thank you," he stammered.

I nodded and we then began to move forward to other compartments to ask if anyone had seen it. I wasn't having much luck when I ended up in front of a compartment filled with laughing people about my age. Everyone seemed to be listening to one boy who had blonde hair that was nearly white in appearance and a presence that clearly demanded attention.

"Excuse me, have you all seen a toad?" I asked.

"A toad?" the blonde boy scoffed. "Why would we have a toad in this compartment? Don't tell me someone brought a bloody toad to Hogwarts as a pet."

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" I asked.

"Only complete losers bring toads to Hogwarts," the boy said. "And my father only buys the best for me."

"Wow, okay," I scoffed. "I didn't realize I was asking a spoiled child."

"What did you just call me?" the boy asked, showing that I clearly struck a nerve.

"You heard what I said," I told him.

Neville walked up behind me then and realized that something was going on. I didn't know who this kid was, but I didn't get a good feeling from him already. He clearly thought he was better than anyone on this train, and I didn't want to hear any more from him.

"Oh, that explains it all," the boy laughed. "The toad must belong to Longbottom."

The compartment began to laugh along with the blonde-haired boy, and I looked over at Neville whose face was red as he looked at the ground.

"Shove off," I said as I pushed the boy backwards, instantly stopping all the laughter.

"Don't you dare touch me!" he snarled. "My father will hear about this."

"I'm shaking," I muttered as I slammed the door to his compartment and walked off.

"Thanks…" Neville whispered to me when we stopped.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "That boy was awful."

We eventually gave up our search to find the toad and I made my way back to the compartment with Ron and Harry who had nearly eaten all of the chocolate and candy we bought earlier. Before too long, the train finally came to a stop and I could hardly contain my excitement about going into Hogwarts.

When we got off the train, we were greeted by a familiar face who was calling for first years to make their way over toward him.

"Hagrid!" Harry said.

"Glad to see you two made it," Hagrid said. "Hope you didn't have any trouble."

After the first years got together, Hagrid made the announcement that the first years were going to make their way over to Hogwarts by boat. We all excitedly broke up into groups and got into our boats without much of a problem. Then, all at once, the boats began to move without anyone paddling.

Just as I began to settle with my amazement at the boats moving by themselves, I nearly leapt from my seat when my hand touched something slimy. Looking down, I saw a large, brown toad that was perched just on the side of my boat. Looking around, I noticed that Neville was on a boat just a few feet away from me.

"Hey, Neville!" I called over to him. "Is this your toad?"

I lifted the brown, slimy creature up so that he could see it and his face lit up.

"Trevor!" he said excitedly.

"I'll hand him over once we stop," I told him.

Right after he nodded, I was given a nudge by Harry who pointed ahead. When I looked where he was pointing, I saw it. Hogwarts. The castle was enormous and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. It looked like something that belonged in a storybook and I couldn't believe that I was here.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Hagrid announced.

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