It wasn't long before Shiro and his family were heading off to King's Cross on September 1st. While the guard was distracted, the Uedas disappeared through the column to platform 9 ¾ one at a time (well, the twins went together), Shiro and Satoshi pushing their carts carrying their trunks for Hogwarts. Platform 9 ¾ was packed with wizarding families, many of the parents crying with their kids glancing away in embarrassment. Shiro caught a glimpse of the boy with the glasses that had been looking at him in Diagon Alley, surrounded by a large family of red-heads.
He glanced back at his own family, realizing this would probably be the last he saw of them before Christmas break. The moment he turned around, the twins pounced on him affectionately. "Don't go, Big Brother!" they squeaked. Shiro gently ran each of his hands through their black hair. "It's okay, I'll be back before you know it." He noticed his mother dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.
"It seems like just yesterday we were teaching you how to walk… Soon enough you'll be taming dragons!" she sniffled.
Shiro felt himself blush, which caused Satoshi to grin. "Please, Mum, don't cry…" he muttered.
His mother laughed feebly. "Count yourself lucky. I'll be practically sobbing when the twins go off. Just thinking about it feels unsettling."
Shiro's dad gripped his wife's shoulder. "Now come on, Sandra, man up." He bent over and ruffled Shiro's hair. "Make sure to write us every week, since your brother managed to send us a total of 8 letters his two years at Hogwarts. Keep your grades up, impress the teachers, make some TRUE friends, not just a bunch of short term girlfriends… Basically, don't do what your brother does."
Shiro smirked, Satoshi's glare only making him feel better. "Got it, Dad. I'll make both of you proud."
"I don't doubt it," his parents said in unison.
Suddenly, the sound of a whistle echoed throughout the station and the Hogwarts Express rolled into view. "There it is…!" Shiro gasped, his heart rate increasing. Satoshi touched his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, li'l bro. I'll sit with you on th-"
"Satoshi!" a female voice called. Satoshi immediately whipped around to see a group of girls giggling and waving at him. Face lighting up, he waved back and reluctantly turned back to his family. "Gotta go! Love you guys, see you Christmas, stay out of trouble, yaddy yaddy yadda, bye!" He hugged the twins and his two other sisters- Sana and Sakura- then bolted off with his cart to join his fan girls.
Shiro rolled his eyes, kneeling down so his siblings could hug him easier. "Sakura, you're the oldest child now… Keep things under control, alright?" Sakura nodded, her eyes watering. "And try to make Mum and Dad stop snogging in front of the little ones," Shiro added in a whisper. Sakura chuckled, nodding again.
"Best be getting a move on," his father indicated. Shiro nodded, kissing all his siblings on their heads. He stood up, quickly checked to make sure everything was on his cart, then with a final hug for each of his parents, he headed toward the train.
Once he had all his luggage put away, except for Mischief's carrier, containing the cat herself, Shiro scanned the aisles for a free seat. He began to feel a little queasy when he walked through nearly the entire train and couldn't find a seat that looked welcoming. He passed a very familiar pale-skinned blonde boy who was sitting with two rather ugly, ape-like boys. He could certainly sit with him; they'd known each other since they were 3. Nevertheless, he quickened his pace when he passed the booth containing Draco Malfoy.
At long last, in the farthermost part of the train, he found a booth that appeared to be empty. However, once he got close enough, he saw it was taken by a girl with short blonde hair, blue eyes, and black glasses. She was staring grimly out the window.
"Excuse me, miss… Would you mind if I accompany you?" Shiro asked, hoping his voice didn't sound too shaky. The girl glanced at him and gave an almost unnoticeable smile. "Yeah, sure."
Nodding his head in appreciation, Shiro sat across from her and placed Mischief's carrier beside him. "I might as well introduce myself… My name is Shiro Ueda," he told her.
The girl turned to face him all the way. "I'm Blaze Alexanders. Nice to meet you." Shiro nodded, but felt a ping of uncertainty. He knew the name Alexanders, all too well… But, how? Who did he know with the last name Alexanders? And why did it give him such a painful feeling?
Blaze returned to staring out the window, causing a sense of awkwardness to flood over Shiro. He leaned back, folding his hands behind his head like a pillow, and closed his eyes. After all, he hadn't managed to get much sleep with night. He had just started to nod off when he felt something crawl upon his lap. Mischief started hissing furiously in her cage, while Blaze murmured, "Uh, Shiro…?" Shiro opened his eyes in alarm, suddenly wide awake. Before he could completely register that there was a decent sized, dark brown rat standing on his lap, a third person burst into the booth and clasped their hands around the rodent. A petite girl with milk-chocolate colored hair in pigtails was kneeling on the floor of their booth, her nose pressed against the side of Shiro's leg. Blushing furiously, she shot to her feet, almost falling backward in the process.
"I am so, so, SO sorry! M-my rat escaped, a-and my parents spent a lot of money on him and he's become such a good companion that I just c-couldn't bear to lose him…" The girl was so obviously embarrassed that she looked like she would either burst into tears or flames at any moment.
A light bulb turned on in Shiro's head. "Oh, hey, you're that girl from Diagon Alley!" The girl blinked, clutching the rat to her chest. She gave a little gasp.
"Oh, my! H-hello! Thank you again for helping me out back there, a-and I'm still sorry about pouncing on you like I just did…"
Shiro shook his head, smiling kindly. "It's alright. I would've done the same if I was in your situation. Why don't you sit?"
The girl seemed to calm down a few levels. "S-sure!" She hesitantly sat beside Blaze, looking like she half expected Blaze to grow fangs and bite her.
"Your rat is GORGEOUS, if I do say so myself. The picture of health. What's his name?" Shiro asked.
"His name is Tar. Cheesy, I know, but I thought it was kind of cute…"
"Yeah, it is. For that matter… What's YOUR name?" Shiro added.
"I'm Konata. Konata Verdent. It's an honor to meet you…"
"Same. My name is Shiro Ueda, and that's Blaze Alexanders." Blaze nodded her head a little. Konata smiled sheepishly, her blush returning.
"So, I um… What houses do you guys think you'll be sorted into? I don't have a CLUE what I'll be…" Konata said.
Blaze uncrossed her legs and replied, "I think I'll be a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw. I'd even settle for Hufflepuff, just ANYTHING except Slytherin. I hate Slytherins…"
Shiro nodded slowly, feeling like someone had punched him in the chest. "Actually, I uh… If not Ravenclaw, I was hoping to be a Slytherin…" Blaze looked at him in shock. "B-but only because my father was a Slytherin, but turned out to be a great man. I don't want him to be the only good person to come out of that place. All the other Slytherins I know of, I sort of want dead," he added quickly.
"I'd NEVER be put into Slytherin. Aren't they all obsessed with blood status and stuff? I'm a Muggle born," Konata indicated.
"Are you now? I'm a pureblood, but I don't think that matters," Blaze responded.
"My father was a pureblood, but he also didn't care about blood status. I mean, he married a Squib."
"A Squib? What's that?" questioned Konata, tilting her head.
Shiro opened his mouth to answer, but Blaze interrupted with, "A Squib is someone who has at least one magic parent, but has no magical powers themselves." Konata nodded.
As the train continued on its way, the three learned more and more about each other. They learned that Konata and Blaze both had no siblings, so that Shiro had 5 stunned them. They also discussed that though all 3 of them had British accents, Blaze was the only one who was 100% English. Shiro's father was solely Japanese and his mother was British. Konata wasn't quite positive about her family's nationality, but knew they had at least SOME British in them. "I don't understand why they gave me a Japanese name, since there's not a drop of Japanese in their blood… Though, had my name been correctly Japanese, it would be pronounced koh-nuh-tuh. They decided to pronounce it kah-nuh-tuh. Strange, but I don't argue it."
The trio chatted, drank hot chocolate, and ate Every Flavor Beans ("Why do I keep getting the unstomachable flavors?" Konata had shrieked unhappily) until people in neighboring booths started gasping, pointing, and shouting "There it is!" Blaze, Konata, and Shiro simultaneously turned toward the window, and gaped. They had reached Hogwarts Castle.
"Just like Father and Satoshi described it… But, better," Shiro whispered. Konata's green eyes were bugging nearly out of her head, and her tongue refused to allow her to speak. Blaze, too, was silent, grinning out the window in awe. They came through long enough for Konata to slide Tar into her pocket and Shiro to pick up Mischief's carrier, while Blaze slipped off to fetch her owl (she was a Snowy, named Xalia). All the students flooded out of the train to see a rather large, bearded man calling out instructions to them. "Firs' years to the boats!" he was shouting.
"Shiro, wait, don't let me get separated from you! We already misplaced Blaze…" Shiro wrapped his free arm around Konata's shoulders, ushering her toward a boat. Their blue-eyed blonde friend trotted up to them, carrying Xalia's cage in both arms. After putting Mischief on a seat, Shiro took Blaze's hand and gently pulled her into the little boat. He sat beside Konata, who was shaking with excitement. "Here we go…!" she squeaked.
As the boats progressed across the water magically, Shiro tried to look calm, but couldn't help his voice from cracking when he said, "Yeah. We're finally going to Hogwarts."