"Platform nine and three-quarters?" Charles furrowed his brow at the train ticket. "Does that even exist?"
"Don't you remember what Professor McGonagall said? There's supposed to be a portal on the brick wall between platforms nine and ten that'll take us to where we need to be," Lydia reminded him.
Charles nodded, although Lydia could tell he didn't remember the stern teacher saying anything of the sort. It was no wonder really. After all the stimulation at Diagon Alley, her father had been tired and ready to crawl back into his library where he could focus on birds and gourmet teas and not anything that was remotely supernatural. He loved his daughter and was, if not thrilled, happy that she was able to develop her powers, but he much preferred the time when he didn't know such things as dragons, ghosts, and goblins existed. He had taken the envelope holding the ticket from McGonagall and left the Leaky Cauldron as quickly as possible.
"Yes, well, let's not dawdle," Delia said ushering them along towards platforms nine and ten. "I have a designer coming today and I don't want to keep him waiting." Lydia gave her father a pointed look that begged him to not let Delia ruin the house again, but Charles only gave a sheepish shrug in reply. Clearly, Delia was going to do whatever she wanted, which was typically what happened. Lydia was suddenly very glad that she wouldn't be home for a while.
The brick wall between platforms nine and ten certainly didn't look any different from any other brick wall that Lydia had ever seen, but she had witnessed Barbara Maitland make a door out of a chalk drawing so she had learned early on that looks weren't everything when it came to magic. She hesitantly reached out to touch it, just to make sure there really was an opening there before she rammed her luggage right into it. Her hand went straight through. "Well, I guess this is it," she said, dropping her hand away from the portal and turning towards her parents. "Muggles can't get through the barrier, so I guess it's time to say goodbye." Although she had been nothing but excited ever since she found out about Hogwarts, she was suddenly terrified of the thought of leaving her parents. At only eleven, she hadn't spent much more than a night or two away from them before. Now she was suddenly going to be separated from them for months in a completely new environment. Deep inside her stomach, she felt a tight knot of panic forming.
Some of that worry must have shown on her face because her father said, "Oh sweetie, are you sure you want to go? It's not too late to back out. I'm sure there's some way we can homeschool you if you're really not comfortable with going. I know things have been tough for you ever since, well, ever since you-know-who, but Juno promised that he can't bother you anymore, so you don't need to worry, okay sweetheart?"
Lydia nodded and forced a smile on her face. She had had a hard time getting over that awful ordeal that happened a year ago. She had nightmares about it for months afterwards, but, honestly, she hadn't thought about him at all since she got her letter. In hindsight, she probably should have worried about him a bit more.
She gave each of her parents a teary-eyed hug, and promised that she would write them every week. Then, with a deep breath, she went through the barrier. A bright red train was stationed on the other side. There was only a few minutes left until the train left, so Lydia decided not to waste any more time, and made her way onto the train. The first few compartments were full, but eventually she was able to find one with only one occupant inside.
The bushy haired girl looked up as she entered. "Hi! I'm Lydia Deetz," she smiled, offering the girl her hand.
"I'm Hermione Granger," the girl shook Lydia's hand and then smiled at her as Lydia plopped on the seat across from her.
"I am so excited to be going to Hogwarts! I could just scream!" Lydia grinned.
Hermione laughed. "Me too! I'm muggleborn so this is all new to me."
"Really? Me too! I wonder how many other muggleborns are in our year."
"Probably not too many," Hermione responded. "From what I've read, it's not a common thing." She pursed her lips. "Sorry, but aren't you American? I didn't think many people from overseas would be going to Hogwarts, let alone a muggleborn."
"I am American," Lydia said. "My parents and I just moved here over the Summer. I got my Hogwarts letter literally on my first day in Britain."
"Oh I see," Hermione replied. "Well, I'm glad you're here! Hogwarts is supposed to be the best magic school in the world."
"There are other magic schools?" Lydia asked, wide-eyed.
"Oh yes! There's Durmstrang and Beauxtbaton, and, um, let's see, what else" Hermione thought for a moment.
"Is there one in America?" Lydia prompted.
"Yes! That one is called Ilvermony."
"That is so cool! I wonder if I had stayed in America if I would have gotten an invite there?"
"I would think so," Hermione said. "It's supposed to be rather good, although I don't know much about it. I mostly read about Hogwarts. I was so excited when I got my invitation I read every book I could find about it!"
"Really? Then maybe you can tell me more about it," Lydia suggested. "I honestly don't know anything about the school."
"I'd love to!" Hermione beamed. "Let's see. The headmaster is Albus Dumbledore. He is quite famous from what I could tell. He's a big hero from the last wizarding war."
"There was a wizarding war?"
"Yes. Apparently there was a very evil wizard who hated muggles and believed that only pureblood wizards should hold any power. He had quite the following and killed a lot of people, but then eleven years ago, he simply vanished. No one knows what happened to him, but after he disappeared all of his followers either disbanded or were arrested. Most people think he's dead. Or at least they hope he's dead."
"That's horrible," Lydia said.
"Yes, but at least he's gone now."
"What else can you tell me about Hogwarts?"
"There's four houses that students get sorted into. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. Ravenclaw is supposed to be for the cleverest students. Gryfindor is for the brave. Hufflepuff is for the fair and hard-working and, honestly, for anyone who doesn't fit in any other house. Slytherin is supposed to be for the ambitious, but I've heard that it is also the house that has the most, well, less kind students in it. I really hope I'm not sorted into that house."
"They sort students based on personality? How do they do that? Do they have a test you take or something?"
"They have a magic hat that is supposed to read your mind and put you in the house that suits you best."
"A mind reading hat! Ghoulishous! I can't wait until we get there." The train carried them out of London and through the country side. Lydia watched the fields with fascination. "I've never travelled by train before," she admitted.
"Really?"
"Trains aren't a very common way of getting around in America," she said. "Unless you count subways, which I guess are kind of like trains. This is much nicer than a subway though."
Hermione laughed. "I'd say."
Outside their door and a smiling woman popped her head in. "Anything from the trolley dearies?"
"What do you have?" Lydia asked.
"Well we have lots of candies, Bertie Bot's and pumpkin pasties and the like. And of course there's sandwiches and crisps and soup and really anything you can think of."
"I'll take a sandwich," Hermione said. "My parents say that candy is bad for your teeth. They're dentists." Hermione explained at Lydia's curious look.
"I'll take a sandwich too." She wanted to try the sweets but didn't want to be rude and eat candy in front of Hermione.
The lady exchanged them sandwiches for a sickle each and then went on her way.
They had just finished eating when their compartment door was opened once again by a pudgy, round faced boy. "Have you two seen a toad?" he asked, near tears.
"No, sorry," Hermione said.
"Oh no," the boy cried. "He's a present from my Uncle. He will be so upset if I lost him!"
Lydia was by his side in a heartbeat. "Don't worry! We'll help you look for him! Right, Hermione?"
"Of course!"
The trio went to each compartment asking if anyone had seen a toad, but the answer was always no.
"I don't think we'll ever find my toad!" The boy moaned as they made their way to the last compartment.
"Don't give up, Neville!" Hermione encouraged him ."Yeah, we still have one compartment left to look," Lydia added. She slid open the door to see a short, pale blonde boy sitting on one side and two thickset boys with dark hair sitting across from him.
The pale boy gave the three of them a once over and sneered. "What do you want?"
Lydia narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. His attitude reminded her too much of some of the rich snobby kids at her old private school.
"We're looking for a toad," Hermione answered. "A boy named Neville lost one."
"A toad?" The boy scrunched his nose up. "What kind of buffoon would bring a toad? They're disgusting!"
"I don't know," Lydia replied. "I think toads are adorable. Much cuter than you by any means."
The boy stood up motioning the two other boys to do the same. They moved to either side of him like bodyguards. "What did you just say to me?"
Lydia smiled. "Oh what's wrong? Are you jealous of a toad? I know, I know! Warts are quite sexy, but not everyone can pull it off. I think that you're just going to have to accept being ugly."
"Ugly? You're the one who looks like a raccoon with all of that dark make-up on. Just what are you trying to prove with that look anyway? Don't you own any colors other than black?"
"Of course! I also own lots of dark purples and reds," Lydia responded. "It brings out the darkness of my soul."
The boys face turned from anger to confusion. "What?"
"What's your name by the way?" Lydia asked.
The boy crossed his arms with a smug smile. "Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
"Well, Draco, I think you should look up." Lydia pointed to the ceiling with a smirk. Draco gave her another look of confusion and then glanced up just as a toad fell on top of his head and let out a big croak.
"Get it off! Get it off!" Draco screeched just as Neville cried, "Trevor!" There was a tangling of limbs for a moment as everyone made a grab for the toad while Draco continued jumping around in panic but at last Neville caught it and held the amphibian to his chest. "Don't you ever run off on me again!"
Draco grunted and fixed his robes. "You three shall pay for this. Mark my words!"
Lydia rolled her eyes. "Oh please! You're so dramatic." Draco bristled at her comment but she ignored him and turned to Hermione and Neville. "Come on. Let's go. We need to change into our robes. We should be getting to Hogwarts soon."
"That was brilliant!" Hermione commented after they left Draco's compartment.
Lydia shrugged "I knew a lot of people like him at my old school. The really brilliant one was Trevor! He had perfect timing!"
The rest of the ride went by uneventfully. Neville thanked them for helping him and then left to change into his robes while the girls changed into theirs.