A/N: I would just like to thank Aspieturtle and I eat Slytherins for breakfast for her wonderful review (:

Chapter Five

Finally it was time to board the train. Rae found her train ticket and held it tightly in her hands, reading it through. Then she noticed something odd. Platform nine and three quarters? Since when had there been one of those in Kings Cross? She just thought they went up in whole numbers. Furrowing her brow and frowning, she read it through again but it hadn't seemed to have made a mistake, the ticket looked very prim and proper. She shrugged it off, must be a wizard thing, she thought.

She dressed in normal clothes, not wanting to attract attention by wearing her robes, and finished packing the rest of her things, although she found it a bit hard to close her trunk this time round. Plugging her earphones into her ears and hiding the wires underneath her long-sleeved button up shirt again (although this one was emerald green) she put on The Gaslight Anthem and shoved the iPod into the front pocket of her black skinny jeans. Someone knocked on her door just as she was pulling on her black and green converse. "Come in!" she called. The door opened a minute later, revealing Albus.

"Are you ready? We're going for breakfast now and then we're leaving for the train station," he said. Rae nodded and went to get her trunk, "don't worry, dad and uncle Ron will come and get that for you." Thinking that was a good idea, considering how heavy the trunk had now become, Rae followed Albus downstairs and once again got a couple of slices of toast. Everybody seemed very happy this morning, apart from Lily and Hugo who were unhappy about not being able to go to Hogwarts too. James was teasing Albus about what house he was going to be in and something called a 'Thestral'. Harry noticed the confused look on Rae's face when he mentioned them.

"They're magical beings, like reptilian horses sort of. People say they're bad luck and that you should be afraid of them, but don't be, they're very gentle," Harry reassured her, "anyway, you can only see them if you've witnessed someone pass away, and you shouldn't see them this year anyway because you'll be going to the school in the boats." Rae lowered her eyes and plainly said – "oh." And returned to her meal. Harry looked at her a little oddly but decided he'd upset her enough and returned to his own breakfast.

An hour later, everything was packed in two cars (one belonging to Harry and one to Ron). Rae was going in Ron's car because Harry's would be full, which was fine with her. She sat next to Rose, who was a very pretty girl with auburn-coloured bushy hair and hazel eyes. She was the first one to notice the strange noise coming from Rae's ears. "What's that noise?" she asked curiously. Rae pulled out her iPod, wondering if wizards knew what they were. "Oh right, I know what they are. They play music, right?" Rae nodded and realised she'd attracted the attention of the whole car, although the only one who looked as if they knew exactly what it was, was Hermione.

"Electrical items won't work in Hogwarts; didn't the professor who came to get you tell you that?" Hermione asked. Rae nodded and replied:

"Yes, but I'm very attached to it so he said he'll try and bend the rule," she smiled at the memory. Abel was a very nice man. But then she gasped, "I never asked about my hair straighteners!" Rose laughed, seeming to know what they were too and quickly said:

"I'll be in your dormitory and know all those sorts of things so I'll do your hair for you if you want. I can curl it, straighten it, flick it out," she began playing with Rae's hair fondly, "you could do so much with your hair, you know! It's soft and shiny; it'll probably conform to any sort of style. Do you do much with it?"

When Rae replied 'no, I usually just straighten it and leave it' Rose gasped, told her that was a crime and immediately started up a conversation about hair. She didn't seem like the girly type but she was very interested in hair, Rae decided.

*

Kings Cross was quite busy that day. It took Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny a while to get all of the trolleys back to the children and the load trunks, owl cages and whatever else on to them. Lexxie was curled around Rae's neck today; the car journey had made her tired. Hurrying up to platforms nine and ten, Rae wondered where this platform nine and three quarters was – though she didn't think she'd ask in case it was obvious or something. "Okay James, you go first," Harry said to his son. James looked more than happy to go first but Rae had no idea what this meant or where he was going. A second later, she knew.

James tightened his hold on the trolley, winked at Rae and then started toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Rae held her breath, wasn't he going to crash?! But, just as a swarm of students passed, he disappeared. Harry noticed Rae's puzzled look and laughed, remembering how he looked when he first saw someone disappear through the barrier. "It's magical," he said, "you just walk up to it and pass through it, easy as that. Though if it's more comforting you can take a run up, just make sure no Muggles see you. You can go now Rae." She didn't really like the idea of going now. Who knew what was on the other side? She nodded, biting her lip, but then went to stand directly in front of the barrier and took in a deep breath.

She was off. The barrier came closer, closer – she was going to crash! Rae closed her eyes and held them shut; waiting for the collision, she ran and ran – where was this collision?! Then something made her stop:

"Whoa, whoa!" someone yelped. Opening her eyes, she looked around and found herself on a platform jam-packed with people. A scarlet steam engine stood waiting for everyone to get on; some people had already and were hanging out of windows to talk to their families. Then she saw the source of the yell – it was the boy from the clothes store. She must have almost run him over with her trolley in her blind panic.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to almost run into you!" she apologised quickly. The boy named Scorpius shook his head and smirked – he really was very pretty, Rae thought.

"My dad will be here soon. But before he is, I apologise for anything he does or says which may offend you. You see, we come from a very old family that is full of purebloods and he was brought up… well, not being very fond of Muggleborns. I'm not really meant to either, but you're not too bad," he smirked again, but it disappeared in an instant. His father had shouted his name. Scorpius turned to go, but then looked at Rae and said: "see you around."

"See… you," Rae said slowly. Just then, Harry and Albus had burst through the archway behind Rae and they all moved out of the way as Ginny and Lily came through, then Ron and Rose and finally Hermione and Hugo. They all went to the train to load the trunks on the train when they found an empty compartment near the end. Rae's things were being taken care of, and she noticed that Lexxie had woken up. The platform was very loud, Rae reasoned, looking at all the trunks being scraped along the floor, thrust into compartments, people chattering loudly, owls hooting in a disgruntled manner and cats of all colour slinked between legs and other obstacles.

Rae could see Lexxie's bright green eyes watching the owls and other cats. Suddenly, a whistle shrieked and everyone made a move for the train. Rae was pulled into about four or five hugs and then helped onto the train by Harry before she really knew what was happening. Albus grabbed her hand and pulled her into the compartment where they waved at the adults, Lily and Hugo as the train began to move.

"Ah I can't wait to try out for the house Quidditch team this year; dad said he's sending my broom with the post next week… hey! Rae, what house do you think you'll be in? With all that green someone might think you want to be in Slytherin," James joked, Albus wasn't very impressed as he said:

"She was wearing red the other day! Didn't mention anything about Gryffindor then, did you?" James rolled his eyes at his brother.

"What's Slytherin, and Gryffindor?" Rae asked, confused.

"They're houses," James replied, "We're all in Gryffindor – that's for the brave and courageous. Ravenclaw's for the smart ones, Hufflepuff is for the really nice, honest ones and Slytherin are just for the ones who deserve to be hung."

"James!" Rose exclaimed irritably. He just smirked at her, and she decided she better carry on. "Slytherin has some good people in it. Though they're mostly made up of purebloods, some aren't, and it's gotten quite diverse recently. People only think Slytherin's bad because it used to churn out dark wizards by the second, and the people in it weren't very nice. Voldemort was from that house, and if you ever hear of Draco Malfoy, he was too and he and my dad and mum and Uncle Harry hated each other." Rae thought of Scorpius and his father, he didn't seem very kindly towards her, when she thought about it.

Albus piped up next: "but don't worry if you're in Slytherin, my dad says I was named after two Headmasters of Hogwarts and he said my middle name, Severus, was perhaps the bravest person he knew," Albus smiled softly at her, and Rae suddenly felt a connection with that house. "Although Slytherins and Gryffindors still don't like each other very much, so if you're in that house, your housemates and ours won't be too happy with us being friends."

"And I'll bet everything I own that little brat Scorpius will be a Slytherin, just like his dad. Both of them are going to be as slimy as each other, I bet!" James said contemptuously. Rae could have thrown something at him; Scorpius was very nice to her on both occasions that they had bumped into each other. She felt a strong urge to tell him that she'd love to be in Slytherin and that she'd be best friends with Scorpius if she could help it! This little annoyance caused her to be quiet for most of the train ride, only speaking when someone asked her something. Most of the time she was playing with Lexxie.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" a plump, elderly woman with a kind face asked when she slid open the compartment door. James was the first to the trolley, he'd been complaining of dying of hunger for the past ten minutes. When he'd finished, Albus went and bought enough of everything for the rest of the compartment. Rae was expecting liquorice allsorts, Mars Bars, Haribo and other sweets she knew but instead she was presented with Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans, Pumpkin Pasties, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Liquorice Wands and Cauldron Cakes and an assortment of other strange things she'd never even heard of. Albus passed her a Chocolate Frog.

"Thank you," she said, opening it very carefully so she didn't miss anything. Inside was, as expected, a solid chocolate frog and a card. Albus told her that they were Famous Witches and Wizards cards and you collected them. Rae turned hers over and laughed out loud, showing the others a smiling picture of Harry Potter. A second later she screamed and the card tumbled to the floor. "It moved!" the compartment roared with laughter, which Rae didn't find so amusing. Pictures weren't supposed to move.

"I forgot Muggle photographs don't move," said James, wiping a tear from his eye, "you'll see when you get to Hogwarts, even the staircases move," this, she thought, wasn't too reassuring.

Chapter Six Preview:

Rae closed her eyes as the hat dropped over her head, falling past her ears. When she opened her eyes, she stared out at the black insides of the hat. All was silent for a moment before a small voice whispered in her ear. "Ah… we have a difficult one here, don't we?" it said. Rae's eyes widened and she gulped, gripping the edges of the stool. "You're a very smart, witty girl, I can see that. Ravenclaw would be very proud to have you, looks and brains – just like her. Though you're brave and not afraid to speak your mind, you stand up for what you believe in and will fight to the end as Gryffindor would. Though I see Slytherin more clearly in you than many people. So… where shall I put you?" Suddenly, her uncle popped into her mind and the conversation she had had with Albus about he being in Slytherin. But then she thought of Albus and Rose, they were in Gryffindor – but Scorpius! She bit her lip. The hat seemed to sense her confusion and quickly screamed…