*Chapter 3*

Once again, I was awoken early by Womble. However, it felt nice to be woken by him, his first early morning with me. I walk over to his silver cage which rattles as he shakes left and right, his feathers twinkling in the early morning sun. I feed him some small nuts, which I hope fills his small stomach instead of becoming pellets. I hop onto my painted window sill, its glossy wooden surface is extremely cold as is the morning air; however the blazing sun rises behind the rows of houses, painting the skies orange and blue. I hear Womble rattle again, letting out a silent squeak and widening his shining eyes. I stroke his smooth feathers with the back of my hand, gingerly, trying not to press to hard in case I startle or annoy him. He relaxes his round body and wobbles gently. If Womble was a cat, he would purr, but he is an owl and the slow coos were indeed relaxing, especially on a day like this. I start everything today, my new life, my new future and I feel nervous. Of course, however, I am excited, but...
"Is this anxiety?" I ask myself, completely oblivious to what anxiety actually is. "Nah, probably not." I hop off of the window sill and change into my own clothes today, a warm black jumper with grey shoulder and elbow parts, dark skinny jeans and blue and brown leather shoes. I wore this at my leavers party in Muggle junior school, so it kind of feels right to wear it, yet a bit odd.

I walk down the stairs pulling my bright, white trunk down the stairs, banging and rattling as it hits each stair. I pull it in front of the door and enter the kitchen where I walk across the linen floor towards the kettle. I need tea this morning as it is one of my favourite drinks; I also have to make the others drinks. Tea for mum, coffee for dad and a herbal tea for Rachel. Callum just has water, because I'm feeling evil.

My mother comes down, not long after I have laid the table. She wears a skinny, knee length dress with a large black belt around her waist. A black suit jacket rests on her left shoulder and shiny, black leathered high heels in her hands. Her ginger hair is pinned high into a bun, not a single strand of hair is out of place.
"Someone is looking fancy today," I say to her, affectionately. She stalked up and down, wearily.
"I always look like this on these occasions," she replies, lazily. She sat down on her usual kitchen chair, smoothing down her dress. "I have to show the snobby purebloods that this half-blood dresses better than them, especially those bitchy Slytherin girls who I had a constant... disagreement with when I was in school."
I give her a kiss on the head and place her mug in front of her. "You can't have any ene- rivals in school okay? It will change your life, it isn't good..."
"I will try, but this will happen," I say to her, sipping on my tea from the kitchen counter.
"Well, when you are in any need of some very... nasty spells, just ask Rachel. She will sort it," mum says with a smile.

The drive to Kings Cross Station was long and quiet. We were all excited, but also dreading something. I sit in the middle seat, resting my tired head on Rachel's warm and sleeved arm. Callum stared out the window the whole journey, not saying a word. My mum looked in her sun shield mirror, putting on and taking off her makeup, redoing it over and over...
"Don, you look fine. Besides, those ex-Slytherin girls... you never see them, you don't need to prove yourself," my father mumbles, his eyes focusing on the road.
"You don't understand how much I do need to prove myself," she replies with a gasp. "They looked down on me my whole life, because I was smarter and not so pure of blood than they were..." She admires her nails and then quickly changes her expression. "At school all the girls looked down on me: Astoria Greengrass, Pansie Parkinson... those were the main... the main bullies. The school sluts more like!"
"They were all jealous of your beauty and intelligence, a brilliant combination they could never have," my dad butts in, stopping her from bringing up the past.
"Besides, Greenarse married Malfoy, had a son. Evil little bugger r'ckon, probably snobby n'all!" he barks, his face narrowing into a scowl. The car fell silent for a while and the small black car sped up. We arrived at a large, open car park with plenty of other cars parked up. We drove into the furthest available space and unloaded the car boot.

More clattering and banging came from the three trunks as they hit the stairs and rails of the station. Once at the top and on the main station Rachel, Callum and I each grabbed a trolley and lifted our large, heavy trunks onto them, a loud thud as I nervously dropped mine on. Mum handed me Womble in his cage, which I had decorated with star stickers and fluffy, coloured balls with sparkles; I'm such a great designer. We push our trolleys through the heavy crowds of people, the abandoned trolleys and general rubbish bins. We hurried on faster, keeping track of each station- Station One and Station Two- a crowd of women going on a hen party- Three and Four- a school football team pretending they are professionals (I hate football...)- a crowd of Muggles drinking- Nine and Ten, perfect.

"Well, I'll see you on the other side," calls Rachel as she runs off into a crowd of people. I miss her, running through the wall. Oh, yes! This is how you get to magical places since forever, you run through walls. Yeah, sounds painful... It's not. It is painless, but I like to say it tickles, makes it sound interesting. But really, you are one place first and another next, by magic of course, very simple, but exciting.
"Well Callum, you're next," my mother said, gleefully. She smiled, showing to very cute dimples and placed her hand on his back.
"Best to take a run," my dad said, smiling also. "If you're feeling nervous, that is." Callum must've been nervous as he shook a bit whilst lining himself up to a railed wall with a ticket machine attached. The two black plastic signs high above the ticket machine, on either side of the wall, had large, gold like numbers on them, 9 and 10. Callum shrugged off the small fear, narrowed his eyebrows at the wall and grinned, not taking either eye off the wall. He pushed off and ran; Muggles dodged and avoided him. Suddenly, as quick as a flash, he disappeared into the wall, no trace left behind. Now, it was my turn.

I am ready, I told myself. I don't understand though, I still feel nervous. All those times before that I had rand through that wall when Rachel went to Hogwarts, I had felt fine. What was so different now?
"I'm a little nervous..."
"Everyone gets nervous, Charlie. We just need to learn to overcome these fears, like a true Gryffindor," dad whispers to me, his hand placed gently on the back of my head. He ruffles my dark hair and nudges me forward. I take the hint; we are going to be late if I don't get on the train. I position myself, just like Callum did, eyeing the brick wall. I push off and dash towards the wall, Womble screeching in terror. He wobbles frantically, left and right. The wall gets closer- Muggles avoid me, cursing as they jump back- the wall edges closer, closer.
"Go on, my little Ravenclaw!" shouts my mother, countering my dad's last words to me and suddenly I see the scarlet red train, smoke filling the glass covered ceiling.

"Can't we just agree that he will be in Hufflepuff then?" I hear my mother mumble to my dad. "I don't even care if he is in Slytherin!"
"And if he is in Slytherin?"
"Then we must love him just the same!" My mother barks, slapping my dad as he lets out a hefty sigh. I walk towards the train, avoiding the running students and cats, watching the owls fly overhead and the ferrets climb the train, avoiding to be pulled off by the station guards. I push my trolley, frantically trying to find a free compartment, or at least one that isn't occupied by people who seem to be the complete opposite of my nature; so I'm finding a compartment towards the end of the train.

I come to a compartment that is actually almost in the middle of the train. I open the shining red door, in which I can see my grinning face, and load Womble's cage inside. I let Womble out for a bit, a little exercise before the journey. I load in a small bag I have and then stare at my trunk. Perfect, I think, Just perfect.
"Need any help?" comes a deep, articulate voice from behind. I turn around and see a tall, muscular and blue haired boy standing behind my trolley, his arms crossed.
"Yes please." He grabs one side of my trunk whilst I grab together, and with a joint effort (perhaps more effort from him) we lift the trunk onto the train. "Thank you," I say, smiling at him.
"Not a problem," he says, placing a hand on my shoulder before walking off towards a dirty blonde haired girl.

I look around for my parents, spotting them hugging Harry, against his will. He pushes away and waves as he walks off. They turn around to see me and hurry towards my compartment.
"I'm excited now, mummy,"
"I knew you would be," she replies to me. She straightens my coat, doing it up a bit further. I don't reject this, as I wouldn't be seeing her for a while. "I've packed a baguette and lots of paper with ink in your bag. The baguette for eating, the ink and paper for writing to me- us I mean and-" she stops herself when she sees my dad raising an eyebrow. "Sorry, I don't mean to annoy you..." she said to me, her face dropping to a sad expression.
"You're not, it is fine," I say as she kisses my head, a few tears dripping down onto my head.
"Now, son, you do me proud. No matter what house, do me proud. I want good exam grades from you, unlike your brother," my dad says, rolling his eyes at the thought of Callum's grades.
"I will do you proud, even if I am in Slytherin," I reply with a wink. His face seems shocked that I overheard their conversation, then returns to a smile.
"I'll love you not matter what," he says, kissing my check and rubbing my head. A loud whistle blows from each side of the train and my dad lifts me onto the scarlet compartment. He pulls down the window before closing the door. The clock dings and the train begins to move. "Bye!" they both shout to me.
"Bye-bye!" I shout, waving frantically.
"Remember, if Callum annoys you too much just owl us, we will send him a howl-" my mother shouts, but I am too far to hear her. They both continue to wave and I wave back also. The clocks dings and eleventh time and my compartment is almost out of the station when I see a speckled man touch a scar on his forhead, just as the train turns a corner. All seemed well.