Jack didn't think that September 1st would actually come. He'd been anticipating and dreading the moment for almost a month; he would have to leave his mother and sister. When the morning finally dawned, Jack couldn't look into his mother's watery eyes or even at Rosie's smile, knowing it would be the last time seeing them until Christmas.

King's Cross Station was flooded with people, all walking quickly with purpose. Jack held up the little ticket he had gotten from Professor North and looked at it carefully. "It says... Platform Nine and Three Quarters?"

His mother frowned at him. "What did you say?"

"Platform Nine and Three Quarters."

Rosie laughed. "That doesn't exist, silly! Look, there's Nine and Ten, but nothing in between!"

A cold feeling settled in Jack's stomach. Here he was, in the middle of London, with a trunk full of wizard tools and magical coins and he didn't even know how to get on the platform.

"I don't know," said Jack, furrowing his brows as he stared into space. "Mum, did Dad ever say anything about it?"

As it always did when Mr. Frost was mentioned, his mother's lip trembled. "No. We never... we never talked about... Hogwarts."

Just as Jack felt like drowning in hopelessness, he saw a crowd of rough looking people, all with trunks, talking animatedly and coming in their direction. They were all muscular, with weathered skin and mean expressions, but it was the cages of owls that were most peculiar.

"-just came in last night to send them off to Hogwarts-"

They were wizards!

Jack searched desperately for a friendly face in the crowd, but they were all pointedly ignoring the ordinary Muggles around them... all except one.

He was the shortest and scrawniest in the group, with curious eyes that met Jack's.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" The words tripped out of Jack's mouth in a mad rush, but the other boy didn't look surprised.

"Yeah," He glanced at the Frost family. "Don't know how to get on the platform? Muggle family?"

Jack nodded and the boy grinned. "Come with me, then. But you might want to say goodbye to your family first."

His mother clenched his shoulder tightly and Rosie grabbed his waist. "Promise you'll write?" She asked, tears threatening to fall.

"'Course I will... look after Mum, okay?"

"Okay." said Rosie sadly.

Mrs. Frost hugged her son tightly and whispered in his ear, "I love you," before letting go and pulling his sister back.

His guide waited politely until Jack was ready, and escorted him to the wall between Nine and Ten.

"All you have to do is run right between," He said, pointing at one of the people in his group, who had vanished after hitting the bricks. "Pretty easy. I'll go with you if you want."

"Sure," said Jack, trying to act casual. The two positioned themselves directly in the middle and started to run, trunks in front. Jack closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the impact, but there was none.

Instead, he opened his eyes and there was a scarlet steam engine waiting next to a platform packed with people. There was a sign dangling overhead that said Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. He had done it.

"That wasn't so bad," said the boy, panting beside him. "I'm Hiccup, by the way."

"I'm Jack."

"Nice to meet you, Jack." said Hiccup, looking awkwardly back at the group he had come from.

Jack noticed and his face went red. "If you want to go back with them-"

"Actually I'd rather not..." Hiccup muttered. "Wanna see if we can find an empty compartment?"

Jack was hoping he'd say that. "Alright... Could you help me with my trunk?"

The two boys lifted Jack's up, and then Hiccup's, before climbing on board. Most of the first carriages were already full with chattering students, catching up from the long, summer break. They managed to find an empty one somewhere in the middle, and collapsed into opposing seats.

"What's it like living with Muggles?" asked Hiccup after a minute of silence.

Jack shrugged. "It's been good. I only found out I was a wizard a month ago."

"Really?" Hiccup looked like he was trying to absorb this information. "My whole island's full of magic." For some reason, this made him gloomy. "They all expect me to me a great wizard, but I don't think I'll be any good at it."

"Me neither," said Jack, looking out the window as the train started to gather speed. "But at least you know more than me."

OoO

Down the hall, Rapunzel was shyly looking at her new seat companion: a tiny and bird-like girl, with short, colorful hair and wide violet eyes. She was chattering away, nearly oblivious.

"And some people are more partial to chocolate, but I've never really liked chocolate, isn't that funny? You'd look at me and almost immediately think, 'I bet that girl really likes chocolate', but you'd be wrong because I don't. In fact, one of my aunts got me an enormous tin of chocolates for Christmas last year, the really good stuff from Hogsmeade, but I didn't eat any of it! It turned out alright in the end though, because I traded it with my little sister and got some chewing gum. I absolutely adore chewing gum, and sometimes I just like chewing it, but mostly I like blowing bubbles, and I would always pop them in my sister's face and one it got caught in her hair and-" The girl paused and took a deep breath, and Rapunzel managed to get a few words in.

"I've never had chewing gum before!"

The girl looked quizzically at her. "Really? It's absolutely fantastic, and-" She stopped again and laughed. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even tell you my name! I'm Isla Kinnara , but you can call me Tooth."

"Tooth?"

Tooth smiled brightly, showing off her pearly, white teeth. "They've always been my best feature."

"My name is Rapunzel." said Rapunzel, happy now that they at least had a conversation going.

"You have really long hair, Rapunzel." said Tooth. "Maybe you should go by Hair."

Rapunzel wasn't sure if she was kidding or not, but laughed anyway. "Maybe. Have you ever been away from home before?"

"Oh, yes. Loads of times. But I'm still a teensy bit nervous, you?"

"I just hope I fit in alright."

Tooth flashed her perfect teeth again. "Of course you will! Oh look, here comes the trolley!"

"The trolley?"

A portly man knocked on their glass door and gestured towards the piles of brightly colored sweets piled high on his wooden cart. Tooth immediately jumped over to buy as much gum as she could, while Rapunzel's eyes shone with delight. She'd never been allowed to eat candy before!

"Anything for you, my dear?" asked the old man kindly, noticing her awe. Rapunzel nodded and bought a mound of Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes eagerly.

"Oh, you're a chocolate fan, aren't you?" accused Tooth, as she blew an enormous pink bubble. "That's alright. Now we can trade!"

Rapunzel smiled and bit into her treat, savoring the sweet cocoa taste.

"What classes are you looking forward to?" asked Tooth, mouth full of gum.

Classes? Rapunzel had forgotten about classes. All that mattered to her was the escape, and she hadn't even thought about learning magic. "Um... I'm not sure."

"I haven't decided either! I don't know if I'd be any good at casting spells, but I've never tried before and I don't think anyone else has either, although some of the pure bloods might've, you never know, and then there's also Herbology and Astronomy, which sounds really boring, and we don't get to predict the future until third year, my cousin told me-"

Rapunzel was happy enough to let Tooth talk as she stared out the window, watching the green and brown farmland zoom by. She waved to some spotted cows and sighed when she saw two elegant birds soaring in the bright sky. The two birds could be her and Tooth, flying away from the boring life of before, and diving into the exciting world of today.

OoO

For the first time in his life, Hiccup was talking to someone who actually enjoyed his company. It was a strange feeling, but one that he definitely liked. Jack didn't know much about the world of magic, and Hiccup was only too happy to show off his knowledge.

"Where're you from?"

"Berk. It's an island up north in the middle of nowhere. We're either getting rained on or hailed on or attacked by dragons—"

"Dragons?!"

Hiccup had forgotten most wizards, let alone Muggles, had never even seen a dragon. "Oh yeah, they call us Dragon Wizards because we fight 'em off so much. It's the reason we go to Hogwarts: to become good at killing dragons."

"But you don't want to." guessed Jack.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "It doesn't really matter if I want to or not. It's tradition. Sort of different, being Muggle-born." He paused. "You are Muggle-born, aren't you?"

"My dad was a wizard, actually."

"Oh," Hiccup was surprised, then realized Jack had used past tense. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I never knew him."

"I never knew my mum, either. She died a long time ago."

The compartment was sad for a minute before Hiccup remembered he had a set of Gobstones in is bag, that he quickly got up. "Here! Let's play a few rounds."

Jack had taken to the game surprisingly quickly and they were shouting and laughing by the fifth game, especially when it was Hiccup who finally got hit wit the putrid shot of liquid. Apparently, they were being too loud, because around that time, two older students rapped on the door and opened it.

"I told you they were first years, Gaston," said the shorter of the two, sweating under the dim light overhead. "Just messing around-"

"These stupid first years were annoying me, you idiot!" snapped his tall, burly companion. "And no one annoys me!"

The short one coughed and put on a mean expression. "You've messed with the wrong person! Gaston is the bravest, strongest, most dangerous student at Hogwarts that you'll ever meet! No one flies like Gaston, no one casts spells like Gaston-"

"Shut up," said Gaston nastily. He turned his attention of the two silent boys. "Listen up. You two better shut up and hope you don't run into me at school, not like you two wimps will be in Gryffindor anyway. Gryffindor doesn't tolerate obnoxious little..." He struggled to find something to say, and it would've been funny if it didn't look like he could bench press five hundred pounds. "First years."

Gaston turned around and slammed the glass door, nearly shattering it and Jack and Hiccup exchanged a wide eyed look.

"What..." Jack swallowed. "What's a Gryffindor?"

Hiccup, relieved he could talk about something that simple, was glad to answer. "It's one of the four Hogwarts houses."

"Houses?"

"Like your family at Hogwarts. You room with them and take classes with them and stuff like that. There's Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Once we get to school, they'll sort us."

"Sort us? How?"

Hiccup shrugged. "I dunno."

"What if I get put in Gryffindor?" Jack whispered, face even paler than normal. "I don't want to be rooming with anyone like him!"

"My whole family has been in Gryffindor, practically all of Berk." said Hiccup miserably. "What if that means I'm in it too?"

They were quiet and noticed the sun was sinking, turning the light inside the train into a musky glow.

"Well, we just won't let that happen." Jack decided firmly.

Hiccup laughed quietly. Jack seemed like a decent guy, someone he wouldn't mind being friends with at Hogwarts. The words of the psychic started to ring in his ears. Could Jack be one of the friends he was supposed to make, here at the crossroads?

OoO

While Hiccup and Jack were discussing how awful it would be to be in Gryffindor, Merida and her new friends were doing the exact opposite.

"Of course I want to be in Gryffindor!" Merida roared, when asked by one of the twins, Ruffnut or Tuffnut, she couldn't remember which. "Where the brave of heart dwell! The courageous and noble!"

The others in the carriage agreed loudly. "I bet I'll be the bravest Gryffindor there ever was!" boasted one of them with dark hair and a cocky expression. "The name Snotlout Jorgenson will go down in history books!"

"I'm sure it will," said the other girl scathingly, a pretty, but tough blond with straggly hair. "Followed by the words 'Always had to have his butt saved by Astrid Hofferson'."

Snotlout flushed pink, but took this to mean that she actually cared about his wellbeing, which was a start at the romance he had planned.

Merida laughed and turned to the twins. "Sorry, I can't remember which is which again."

"I'm Ruffnut, and this is my dopey brother, Tuffnut." said the girl, punching him in the arm.

Okay, the R was with the giRl. She could remember that. "And I'm Merida Dunbroch. I think we'll be seeing each other a lot."

"I sure hope so!" The last boy was pudgy and had a baby face, with jittering eyes. Merida frowned; he seemed the most unlikely to get into Gryffindor.

"We all know your going to be in Ravenclaw, Fishlegs." said Tuffnut. "All you do is spout off trivia on dragons, like that's going to help you in battle."

"Wait," Merida held up her hand. "You all fight dragons?!"

"'Course we do!" said Snotlout proudly. "We only belong to the finest troop of dragon wizards that ever roamed the earth! Or we will, once we graduate."

"Do you live in Berk, then?" asked Merida.

Snotlout beamed. "You've heard of it?"

Merida frowned. "Actually, I think one of my distant cousins lives there. He's starting Hogwarts now too..."

"You mean Hiccup?" Astrid rolled her eyes, and turned from the window. "I don't know where he vanished off to, but it's good riddance."

"He didn't seem like much of a dragon wizard." said Merida, remembering their brief encounter at Diagon Alley.

"He'd not much of anything really."

"His dad's so disappointed."

"Always manages to mess things up."

Astrid looked out the window again as darkness took over. "Hiccup doesn't 'get' things. He's smart, I guess, but he doesn't 'get' it, you know?"

"Yeah." said Merida, who didn't 'get' it either, but wasn't about to say so. "Should we get our stuff ready? It sounds like the train in slowing."

The group hastily shoved Muggle clothes back into bags and swept away the crumbs from the sweets eaten hours ago. Merida led the way out of the train when it finally stopped, and looked around once outside, unsure of where to go.

"First years! First years! Get yer tiny little butts over here! C'mon, we don't have all night!"

"Shrek!" admonished a female voice. "Sorry- First year students, please come this way!"

When Merida wound her way around the crowds of students, she was faced with a very tall man and a very tall woman, both almost too big to exist. Then man crossed his arms grumpily and the woman had taken over his job of calling the first years over. "Alright, is that everyone? Follow us!"

The pair led them down a steep, narrow path, and the thick darkness pressed on them from either side.

"You'll get your first look at Hogwarts around this turn!" said the woman cheerfully, and the man grunted.

There was a sharp intake of breath from the students as they round the bend. The narrow path opened suddenly onto the edge of a glittering black lake. On the other side, an enormous castle was perched on a high mountain, windows sparkling like stars.

"No more than four to a boat!" Shrek boomed, gesturing to a fleet of wooden boats on the shore.

There was a mad scramble and somehow Merida and Astrid ended up with two other girls, one with long blond hair, and the other tiny and bird-like. "I'm Tooth and this is Rapunzel." whispered the shorter girl.

"Astrid and Merida."

The rest of the journey was in silence, as all the first years stared up at the great castle. All the boats traveled in unison over the smooth water. They ducked their heads under a rocky cliff that jutted out by a curtain of ivy, and were led seemingly underneath the school itself. Finally, the boats reached the sandy shore and they all stepped out, without a single word.

"Aw, don't be so nervous." said Shrek with a grin. "The sorting doesn't hurt that bad."

"Shrek!" admonished his partner, but the damage had been done. Those who looked even remotely brave before were now cowering as they walked across the damp lawn and up a flight of stone steps to the grand, oak door.

Shrek raised his boulder like fist and knocked the door three rattling times. Merida gulped and looked at Astrid, who had a steely look in her eyes. This was it.

OoO

Hope you all enjoyed and will let me know with a review :) The Sorting chapter is next and I hope everyone enjoys it.

See you next week!

owlgirl16