Platform 9 ¾

King's Cross station was packed with people. There were families coming home from their holidays, smiles plastered over parent's tired faces, comforting their children who wished they were back at the sea-side and smartly dressed people, their eyes already dull. The air was thick with the stench of diesel coming from the ancient trains and sweat caused by the masses of people pushing their way through the station.

The last couple of weeks for Skye had flown by. She had read every magical book she could get her hands on as well as some sketchy stuff online which was most likely a fake. Skye didn't want to be left behind by everyone who had grew up in the magical community, even though Professor Longbottom had said many were muggleborns like her and even the ones who had grew up with magic knew very little. Skye had read all about the history of Hogwarts, all the way up to the final battle of the Second Wizarding War and the death of Voldemort at the hands of the famous Harry Potter. There had even been mentions of Professor Longbottom and his role in the battle.

That morning, they had gotten the train down to London King's Cross with Skye's massive trunk and a new companion who was presently sat in her cage like a queen. The black cat sat staring out over the crowd her green eyes bright against her stuck up black fur. Skye had tried to brush it but no matter how much she tried it stuck back up into the same place. The day Skye had found out that she was a witch when they had talked in the garden; the mangy black cat had come up to Professor Longbottom and started purring at him. He had been very shocked at the sight of the cat and exclaimed that it was "part kneazle" and "to keep her, she's a clever cat,"

So now Skye was stuck with a bad tempered giant cat that could most likely kill a mouse with one look.

As they walked Skye thought about the excuses she'd made up to tell Gemma and Fa about her moving to a different school. She'd told them that she'd gotten a scholarship to a boarding school in Scotland, which was better than going to the Catholic school. Skye had thought she would be sad to be leaving her friends that she had had since nursery, however all she felt was anticipation of entering a new world and really, they hadn't looked that upset either.

Skye read the ticket again. "Platform 9 ¾," she muttered "Where the hell is it?"

Professor Longbottom had explained to her mother that it was 'the 3rd brick column past platform 9' however there was a lot of brick columns and Skye didn't want to knock herself out running into the wrong one.

"Hey, Skye!" her mother called out to her, "Look, they've got owls! Who else would have owls other than you Hogwarts lot?"

Skye's mother grabbed her trolley and started pushing it towards the family of witches. Skye started after her still watching the family who had stopped two columns in front. Stood next to the column, there was a young woman with silver-blonde hair, similar to hers, which flowed past her waist, who stood talking to a young man with bright blue hair. Next to the silver-haired girl, there was an older version of her who Skye assumed was her mother, and was talking to a girl who had curly ginger hair. The ginger hair was clearly inherited from her father, who was leaning against the wall holding a little blond boys hand.

Skye squinted and moved to the side as the sun went in her eyes, but when she looked back at the father and little boy, they had disappeared.

Skye's mother gasped slightly staring at the spot they had vanished from.

"Well at least we know which one it is now," Skye said grinning. Skye watched as the blonde girl and blue haired boy ran at the wall with their trolleys and instead of crashing they disappeared through it.

"Hurry up Dominique, there's only a few minutes until the train goes!" the blonde woman exclaimed with a slightly French accent.

"I am mam! Stop worrying about me!" said the girl whose name was Dominique as she started running toward the barrier and vanished as well.

The blonde woman glanced behind her and noticed us.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't realise anyone was waiting," she said as she walked up to the barrier. "Have a nice year at Hogwarts!"

As she disappeared Skye looked up at her mother.

"Come on mum, better get this over and done with,"

Skye's mother groaned but took hold of the trolley with one hand and held onto Skye's hand with the other.

"Yes, lets,"

They both stared walking towards it quickly, trying not to hit anybody. As the brick wall got closer and closer, all Skye could think was that she had hallucinated it all and she was going to smash into it and die.

"3…2…1…" Skye closed her eyes expecting impact but instead she felt nothing. Opening them she found herself on a busy platform with a dark red sign proclaiming that we were on Platform 9 ¾.

The smoke from the train drifted overhead as Skye and her mum pushed their way through the jumble of parents saying farewell to their children. Skye got to the train and a man in a train uniform grabbed her luggage and made it vanish. Skye blinked confounded.

"Don't worry, it's just gone to the luggage compartment, it's easy to find when you need to get your robes out to change," the man said smiling at her confusion.

Skye lifted the cage with Ira in it and put it on the floor and hugged her mum.

"I love you. Learn loads, make friends and remember to eat and drink!" Skye's mother said with tears in her eyes.

"Mum, I'm not stupid!" Skye said letting go of her mother. "I love you too,"

Skye boarded the train just as the whistle screeched and the doors closed. The train started moving slowly and Skye leant out of the door window and started waving along with many of the rest of the students. The train gathered speed and soon Platform 9 ¾ was just a blot in the distance.

The Journey

Skye walked through the train corridor with Ira, passing compartment after compartment full of people. Finally she found an empty one near the end of the train. Skye sat down in the corner and put Ira's cage opposite her, who looked resentfully at her.

"Don't worry, I'll let you out later," Skye said patting the cage.

A noise outside the compartment made her jump and she heard muffled shouting. Skye caught some of the argument "-I want to make new friends Victoire, not sit with yours-"

Another person replied irritated "-fine, go sit with James or something-" and the sound of annoyed footsteps got quieter.

"Just like the muggle world," Skye muttered. Just as she sat back down, the girl, Dominique, from the train station, put her head round the door.

"Is it okay if I sit in here? Everywhere else is full."

"Oh, yes, of course. There's only me and Ira in here," replied Skye politely. At the sound of her name Ira turned to look at the newcomer and promptly hissed.

"Ira! Stop it!" embarrassed Skye apologised. "Sorry. She's not a people person. Well I don't think she likes anyone really,"

Dominique laughed and sat in the seat next to her.

"It's okay, our cat at home's the same,"

"Sorry, I'm Skye Bishop," Skye said smiling.

"Oh, and I'm Dominique. Dominique Weasley, but call me Dom. It's nice to meet you,"

"Same to you," Skye said not sure what to say, but Dom broke the silence first.

"Are you a muggle-born?" asked Dom "I'm one-eighth Veela myself, from my mum's side, but my dad's a pure-blood."

"I don't have any magical family, no. Well that I know of at least." Skye shrugged. "Do you know what house you want to be in?"

For the next couple of hours the pair talked about Hogwarts, with Dominique telling her all that her sister Victoire had told her about it. Dom wanted to be in Gryffindor where most of the 'Weasley clan' got sorted into, but she didn't mind being in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw as long as she wasn't in Slytherin. Dom had said "Most of the evil witches and wizards have been in Slytherin,", so Skye had begun to worry about the sorting.

Skye had let Ira out and she was curled up in the seat opposite her.

"How many people are in your 'Weasley clan'?" Skye asked Dom curious.

Dom snorted.

"There's a lot. At the moment, just at Hogwarts, in my family there's me, my sister Victoire, who's the oldest, my cousins Molly, Lucy and Fred, and James Potter who's also my cousin. And then there's Teddy too, whose part of the family, he has blue hair." she explained.

"Lord. You do have a big family!"

"Yeah, it's a pain, but family is family." Dom answered. "What about you?"

"Just my mum and me" Skye said.

Dom laughed.

"Well, I couldn't imagine having such a small family,"

A tap at the door made them both jump. Skye got up and opened the door.

"Anything from the cart, dears?" asked a smiling old woman pushing a trolley filled with sweets. Dom jumped up and joined Skye in picking out some Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. They slid the door shut and sat back down with their newly bought food. Dom had already started eating a Pumpkin Pasty.

"I'm so hungry, god, I didn't even realise," she said with a full mouth.

Skye opened a Chocolate Frog and the frog hopped onto the seat opposite her, onto Ira, who looked at it with disgust. Skye grabbed the frog and bit its head off.

Skye pulled the card out, read it, and looked at Dom and smiled.

"Ron Weasley?" she read aloud "You're uncle by any chance?"

"Ah yes. Uncle Ron." Dom said "Keep it and start collecting them. I have about 100!"

"Oh cool!" Skye said.

A couple of hours went by, and the only interruptions had been from Victoire checking up on her sister. Ira had fallen asleep eventually and it was going dark outside. The train went over a bridge when Dom thought out loud.

"I wonder how long until we get to Hogwarts? We must be there soon!"

"Yeah. I think we should put our robes on,"

They both got up and found their trunks in a large luggage carriage at the end of the train. They pulled their Hogwarts robes out and got changed quickly and walked back to their compartment just as a voice echoed through the train: 'We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to school separately.'

Skye looked at Dom nervously who looked like she was going to throw up. They joined the crowd of people getting of the train, the older ones shouting at the younger students to be quiet.

"Well, this is it, we're nearly there," Dom whispered to Skye with an air of nervous anticipation.

"Yeah." Skye whispered back, "Let's hope it's everything we hoped for,"

A/N: I congratulate you on getting this far, thank you! Please review, it makes me go to sleep at night!