"Bye Marcus, see you later, I'll write as soon as I can OK?"

These are the last words I hear before the Hogwarts express rounds a bend in the track, and my single hardworking mother disappears from my sight. I pull my hand back in through the window, my arm now tired from waving. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I continue down the train, looking for a spare compartment. After passing half a dozen compartments that are mostly full, I find one that only has one boy in it.

"Excuse me," I say, "is this seat taken?"

"Oh, no. You can sit there if you want."

"Thanks."

"So, first year?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Same."

"What House do you want to be in?" I ask.

"Ravenclaw I reckon, like my dad. Though I wouldn't mind Gryffindor."

"I want to be in Gryffindor, like my mum. Failing that though, I'd like to be a Ravenclaw, then Slytherin, then Hufflepuff. Actually, I think Ravenclaw and Slytherin are a draw."

"Really? I've heard that Slytherin is a bad House."

"Not really, it's just that more Dark Wizards come from there than any other House. The other Houses do produce Dark Wizards though."

"Oh."

We go on talking about different things in the wizarding world, and apart from our House preference, we're pretty alike. Soon enough the trolley lady arrives, carrying lots and lots of lollies and candy.

"Do you want some uh..."

"Griff. Griff Hornby."

"Do you want any candy Griff?"

"No thanks, not hungry."

I nod, then hand over 6 silver sickles in exchange for 2 chocolate frogs.

"Thankyou dearie, oh and you might want to change into your robes boys, we're arriving soon." said the trolley lady before she disappeared to serve the next compartment.

"You sure you don't want a frog, I've got two now and you get a Famous Witch or Wizard card as well!"

"Oh, alright." says Griff, smiling as he reaches for a frog.

After stuffing the frog into my mouth, I look at my card.

"I've got Dumbledore!" I say, "who have you got?"

"Uh P..t...Ptolemy...yeah, I think that how you say it." says Griff haltingly.

"Wow, he's supposed to be really hard to get!" I exclaim, "well, we better get changed now. The trolley lady said we were close to Hogwarts." I say, looking out the window.

Griff copies me.

"Look, there it is!" He yells.

We then scramble to get changed before the train stops.