Author's Note: This story will be written from both Alex and Sara's point of view. For each chapter, you will get to read both girl's perspectives. The order will go Alex, Sara, Alex, Sara, and so on. I did not write Sara's stories, my best friend did. But don't worry! She has given me permission to post them here.

There may be some parts of the story that are in Sara's story that are not in Alex's. This is because Alex has bad memory and can be very forgetful, especially when she feels uncomfortable.

Now, let's join Sara as she experiences the Hogwarts Express for the very first time!

Chapter 1, Year 1

Where is my ticket?

Sara frantically patted all of her robes, tore through her cart, and whipped her head around so that the pinwheel of braids tied atop her head spun like half-hearted helicopter blades. This was it. She'd screwed up and all she did was walk through a brick wall. Should she go back through and see if her mother had it? Keep the heid, Sara, keep the heid.

Suddenly, someone tapped on her shoulder:

"Are you looking for this?" A boy with a horrible haircut but nice glasses asked. His school robes looked really new. He was holding her ticket! Sara gratefully snatched it. "Thenk ye! I was so warried I-"

"You're welcome, you're welcome." He said, quickly turning and pushing his cart to the left.

"Ey! I don' get a name? Nuthin'?" Sara called. He turned around and half-heartedly waved, then hurried along. Must be a busy bloke, she thought.

The huge train, which Sara seemed to have just now become fully aware of, seemed to be glistening with magic, as if it were alive. The whistle blew, encouraging straggling students to board. Children coaxing their reluctant magical animals, parents adjusting their first years' black, unmarked ties, and siblings with colorful emblems on their well worn uniforms snatching pointy black caps off one another's head crowded her sight. It was chaos, but everyone was smiling. Sara sighed. Observing the crowd of wizard families once more, she boarded the Hogwarts Express.

It was crowded, as everyone was looking for a boxcar with their buddies. Flashes of shiny emblems on black uniforms snuck out and around as the bodies of excited children tried to make order. Sara felt that she may get squished by all the older students, and sought out a boxcar eagerly. A very obnoxious girl with bright pink hair was shoving many people, shouting "Has anyone seen my bag? It's new, my mother just bought it! Has anyone-"

Sara quickly wanted to get out of the girls path before she was bombarded with the same question. While passing many windows she spotted a lanky blonde girl alone in a cabin to the left, and for some reason she did not feel it would be rude to ask to sit with her. Trying not to be too loud when sliding open the door, Sara reminded herself not to talk too much.

"Ey, can I sit with ye?"

"Um, okay, sure" the girl replied in a quiet voice.

"Thank ye!" Sara felt like she was getting too excited, but she couldn't contain herself. The quiet girl's brown owl hooted softly as Sara climbed the dark velvet seat to place her luggage overhead.

"Name's Sara, I'm kinda new a' this 'ole wizardin' thing," she grunted while attempting to swing the heavy trunk up.

"Oh, my name is Alex. I'm a bit new to the Wizarding World too, but my mum has told me a lot about it. My dad had many stories," Alex said, looking a bit flustered. Sara wondered if she conversed often.

"Your da' is a wizard, then?"

"Yes, I'm half-blood."

"Wha' does tha' mean?"

"A half-blood is someone who has one magical parent, and one non-magical parent. I think non-magical people are called Muggles," explained Alex.

"So then, wha' is it called if ye only have Muggle parents like me?" Sara asked, squinting a little in anticipation.

"I believe you're called a Muggle-born," Alex responded, titling her head slightly in thought.

"Oh, tha's creative," Sara joked, to which Alex laughed a little.

"There are also people with an all-magical families, called Purebloods," Alex continued.

During this pleasant conversation, Sara had been eyeing out the window of their compartment to make sure that the obnoxious bag-seeker would not bother to open and ask. But suddenly, she'd spotted the boy who had found her ticket. He was hurrying again, flicking his head back and forth between windows, and he spotted Sara and Alex's compartment. He then flung open the door, making Alex jump a little.

"Could I please join you?" he said, looking over his shoulder. Alex shrugged.

"Well o' course," Sara beamed, and slid over to make room for him.

Quickly, he put away his belongings with greater ease than Sara had.

"Yer name now, if ye please?" Sara inquired.

"Isaac," he replied politely, turning to Alex as well. He was answered with a proper "Sara," and "I'm Alex."

"So, anyway, is there anythin' else I need to know abou' this blood thing?" Sara asked, returning to the subject. "Ye were explainin bloo' types? What abou' A, B, an' O?"

Isaac began to explain more blood related things to Sara, but as he said something about not letting others call her mud-pie, a woman with a cart rolled up to the door.

"We have Treacle Tarts, Cauldron Cakes, some Butterbeer, and many other things," the lady announced brightly as she slid the door open.

"Wha' are all those things? Munchies?" Sara inquired, to which Isaac began to describe the colorful treats. He seemed to have now taken the position of informer from Alex. Although she was not quite sure, Sara could have sworn a look of newfound passion grow on Alex's face, her pale eyes locked and dilated on the candy cart. She looked like she had mouthed the word "chocolate", but then seemed to regain her composure,

"Sure, I think I have a bit of wizard money left," Alex said, but Isaac sheepishly pulled out his own sack of coins.

"My mum always gives me an excessive amount," he mumbled while purchasing shareable snacks.

"We also have a fresh supply of Cockroach Clusters," said the nice cart lady, whom Sara was beginning to perceive as not so nice. as she lifted a translucent sack of the detestable creatures that were so sacrilegiously adorned in a coat of sugar, Sara did what only seemed natural in such a horrific situation. She promptly screamed and flipped the cart off its wheels with one hand, sending countless creature snacks flying and scaring the wits out of Isaac and Alex's owl.

"I'm migh'y sorey, bu' I really hae' them creatures," Sara apologized, half laughing, just as quickly as she had turned on the cart.

Alex had sat down quickly and stared, but seemed to distantly agree with Sara's choice. She then began to almost instinctively pick up the scattered candy, to which the calm cart lady thanked her but promptly used her own wand to right the mess herself. "It's alright sweetie," she chuckled while turning to leave their compartment. "Have a nice trip!"

The sweets Isaac had purchased now lay on the empty space between Alex's owl and herself. "Chocolate!" she shamelessly exclaimed, and picked up a hexagon shaped tin that read "chocolate frog". It was now her turn to scream, for the frog leaped from the tin the moment she freed it and onto the window sill. Isaac, who was no longer shocked but found their reactions a bit humorous, quickly caught the leaping treat and returned it to the tin.

"It isn't actually alive, it's just enchanted." he said. He did a lot of explaining. "Please don't scream anymore though, we could-"

Of course, at that moment a very unpleasant scream resounded in the hall of the compartments, and as Sara noticed the pink hair, she cringed. Isaac was in a discussion about houses and flats and ravens with Alex she assumed, although she had no idea why. Her goal at this moment was to close their compartment curtain as inconspicuously as possible-and that failed misreably.

"What are you doing?" Alex questioned as she released the curtain. And as the compartment door forcefully slid open, Isaac's expression of horror matched Sara's at the sight of the pink hair.

"Have any of you seen my-!"

"No, I'm afraid we haven't" Isaac's voice sounded clipped, but the girl seemed to not be feeling it.

"I'm sorry, but that bag is probably the most expensive thing-"

"An' how unwise to sen' tha' wi' an eleven-yea' ol'", Sara commented while trying to usher the girl out the door, who was still rambling.

"It says Caty on the side, and if you find it please-"

"We will," Sara and Isaac promised in unison. Alex looked perfectly uncomfortable, and Sara was sure Caty made her all the more so by saying "My, aren't you quiet!"

Maybe she actually thinks she's being friendly, Sara thought. Caty was surprisingly hard to urge out the door.

"Can I stay in here?" she asked.

"'Fraid not, there's no room," Isaac said while subtly spreading the treat trash over Alex's seat cushion.

"Nice meetin' ye, an' thank ye fer yer time," Sara said, forcing the compartment closed.

She then huffed and plopped in the seat next to Alex, shoving trash out of the way.

"That girl was very abrasive," Alex commented.

"Yes, she certainly was," Isaac agreed as he peered out the window. Sara swung her feet to sit criss-cross, and kicked something under the seat in the process. Leaning over to inspect, she noted that it was painfully pink and had sparkly kitten paws that seemed to be moving, probably by magic. Alex and Isaac turned to look as well.

"Don't tell me that's…" Alex sighed as Sara rose from sitting and crouched to pull it out. In a blinding lime green, Caty was etched across the handle.

"Oh dear," Sara breathed, hefting it up. "Shoul' we return it t'her now?" she asked, glancing at her two compartment mates.

"There's only an hour or more of this trip left," Isaac said as he got his trunk down from the overhead luggage carrier. "Let's just wait until then." he smiled.

"We're just gonna let her freak out for another hour?" Alex asked.

"Yes, exactly," he responded, "She better not get the same house as me…" he continued.

"Houses? Wha?" Sara said, suddenly interested. Isaac and Alex took turns explaining again; they were not talking about actual houses earlier, but the magical sorting process they would experience when they arrived at Hogwarts.

"My dad says that the Sorting Hat sticks it's thread in your ears to connect with your brain and suck your information out," Isaac joked, to which Alex turned paler so that her freckles stood out."He's jus'bein'a dunderhead," Sara laughed. And as the worry of the pink bag was kicked back under the seat, the three first year wizards began to share stories about the Wizard and Muggle world alike; the last hour of that train ride was the most pleasant Sara has remembered in all her train experiences, discounting the fact that she was on her way to a magical castle. And because of that newfound ease on the Hogwarts Express, any of the jittery apprehension that may have been hindering her outlook on her new life fled. For if there was one thing she was sure of, as the train strained to a stop, life would never be the same again.