"Lexi!"

"Only joking, Marjorie."

The buses began to move. Nathan saw Marjorie and Lilly half laughing, half crying, and running to keep up with the buses until they gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.

Nathan watched the girl and her mother disappear as the buses rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.

The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest blond boy came in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Nathan. "Everywhere else is full."

Nathan shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Nathan and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Nathan saw he still had a black mark on his nose.

"Hey, Samuel."

Liam and Lexi were back.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the bus. Leonardo Jackson's got a giant tarantula down there." said Lexi.

"Right," mumbled Samuel.

"Nathan," said Liam, "did we introduce ourselves? I am Liam Foxkin. And this is Samuel, my brother.

"And I'm Lexie Fulkins, Liam's girlfriend. I am not a part of the Foxkin family, but I live with them because my parents are traditionalist muggles from Salem, Massachusetts who kicked me out of the family when they found out I was a witch. See you later, then." said Lexi.

"Bye," said Nathan and Samuel. Liam and Lexi slid the compartment door shut behind them.

"Are you really Nathan Torrance?" Ron blurted out.

Nathan nodded. "Oh well, I thought it might be one of Liam and Lexi's jokes," said Samuel. "And have you really got, you know…" He pointed at Nathans forehead.

Nathan pulled back his hair to show the fireball scar.

"So that's where the Unnamable One struck…" said Samuel.

"Yeah but I have no memory of that" said Nathan.

"You don't remember anything?"

"Nothing"

"Wow" said Samuel.

He sat and stared at Nathan for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Nathan, who found Samuel just as interesting as Samuel found him.

"Yes, I think so," said Samuel. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already."

The Foxkins were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.

"I heard you went to live with Normles," said Samuel. "What are they like?"

"Horrible. Well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I had two wizard brothers."

"Four," said Samuel. For some reason, he was looking gloomy.

"I'm the fifth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bobby and Carl have already left. Bobby was student president and Carl was captain of Fitchitch. Now Thomas's a prefect. Liam messes around a lot, but he still gets really good marks and everyone thinks he's really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with four brothers. I've got Bobby's old robes, Carl's old wand, and Thomas's old mouse."

"What's a prefect?"

"Oh, Newtards was founded by wizards who came here from England, so they use the prefect system, which is where each of the four houses has two prefects, students of 5th year or higher who have the responsibility of making sure students follow school rules. Anyway, here's the mouse I got from Thomas." Samuel reached inside of his suitcase and grabbed a sleeping white mouse.

"Her name is Selania. She's useless, rarely even awake. This year Thomas was given a new owl because he was made prefect. But they couldn't affo… I mean they wouldn't bother giving me one, so they gave me Selania instead." Samuel's ears went pink. He went back to staring out the window.

Nathan didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Samuel so, all about having to wear Uncle Robert's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Samuel up. "… and until Hallie told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Tormonod…"

Samuel gasped. "What?" said Nathan. "You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Samuel, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people…"

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Nathan, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got so much to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'll be the worst in the class."

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Normle families and they learn quick enough." While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of Chicago. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.

"Where is Newtards anyway?" Nathan asked Samuel.

"Liam told me it was on a secret island near Beaver Island, Michigan. The island has an enchantment on it so it only appears to wizards and witches, or a Normle who has been told of its existence by a wizard or witch."

Around an hour later, there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Nathan, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Samuel's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Nathan went out into the corridor. He had never had any money for candy with the DeLaces, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Snickers as he could carry but the woman didn't have Snickers. What she did have were Bethany Buster's Every Flavor Gummies, Dodrick's Best Bubble Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Tarts, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Nathan had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eight blue Sinicles and five orange Citrils.

Samuel stared as Nathan brought it all back into the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.

"Hungry, are you?" "Starving," said Nathan, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin tart.

Samuel had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like mayonaise.."

"Swap you for one of these," said Nathan, holding up a pumpkin tart. "Go on…"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Samuel. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with four of us."

"Go on, have a pasty," said Nathan, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Samuel, eating their way through all Nathan's tarts, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches laid forgotten).

"What are these?" Nathan asked Samuel, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know. Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Nathan unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a middle aged woman's face. She had a long nose and flowing blonde hair. Underneath the picture was the name Allison Merryweather.

"So this is Merryweather!" said Harry.

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Merryweather!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa. Thanks"

Harry turned over his card and read:

ALLISON MERRYWEATHER CURRENT HEADMASTER OF NEWTARDS

Considered by many the greatest witch of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for her defeat of the dark witch Gregoriana in 1985, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and her work on alchemy with her partner, Nancy Famolius. Ms. Merryweather enjoys country music and bowling.

Nathan turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Merryweather's face had disappeared.

"She's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect her to hang around all day," said Samuel. "She'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting."

Samuel's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

"Help yourself," said Nathan. "But in, you know, the Normle world, people just stay put in photos."

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Samuel sounded amazed. "Weird!"

Nathan stared as Merryweather sidled back into the picture on her card and gave him a small smile. Samuel was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Nathan couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Merryweather and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bethany Buster's Every Flavor Gummies.

"You want to be careful with those," Samuel warned Nathan. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor, you know, you get all the ordinary ones like lemon, apple, and orange, but then you can get broccoli and beef and soap. Liam has even told me he had a booger flavored one once."

Samuel picked up a green gummy, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. "Ewwww, see? Spinach." They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Gummies. Harry got lemon, cat food, pineapple, laundry detergent, and more.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the baby-faced boy Nathan had passed at the bus station came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Nathan.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Samuel. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quickly as I could. Mind you, I brought Selania, so I can't talk."

The rat was still snoozing on Samuel's lap. "She might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Samuel in disgust. "I tried to turn her yellow yesterday to make her more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"

He rummaged around in his suitcase and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. "Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway.."

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Newtards robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Nevada's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy dark black hair, and a very long nose.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Samuel, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er — all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Selania stayed white and fast asleep. "

Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just to practice. Everyone in my family is magical, so it was not a surprise when I got my letter. I've learned all our course books by heart, of course. I'm Annie Carter, by the way, who are you?"

She said all this very fast.

Nathan looked at Samuel, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.

"I'm Samuel Foxkin," Samuel muttered.

"Nathan Torrance," said Nathan.

"Are you really?" said Annie. "I know all about you, of course. I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Nathan, feeling dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Annie "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Owlfur, it sounds by far the best; I hear Merryweather himself was in it, but I suppose Suddleputt wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Nevada's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Samuel. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell. Liam gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Lionspur," said Samuel. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. So is Lexi. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Owlfur would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Suddleputt."

"That's the house Tor…, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah," said Samuel. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"You know, I think the ends of Selania's whiskers are a bit lighter," said Nathan, trying to take Samuel's mind off houses.

"So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"

Nathan was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school. "Carl's in Nevada studying dragons, and Bobby's in Texas doing something for Sangretts," said Samuel. "Did you hear about Sangretts? It's been all over the wizarding news. Someone tried to rob a high security vault."