Nico Di Angelo at Hogwarts (book 1)

Platform 9 and 3/4

Disclaimer - I do not own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter

Harry's POV

My last few months with the Dursleys haven't been that great, but I got permission from Uncle Vernon to have a lift to King's Cross. I've been counting the days to escape from this life and into a new one of magic. Finally, the day came, September 1st. I woke up at five o'clock but I was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. I checked over my Hogwarts list again to make sure I had everything I needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to me and we set off. We reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped my trunk onto a trolley and wheeled it into the station for me. I thought this was strangely kind of him until he stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face. "Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" He was right, of course. I thought with a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. I turned to see them drive away, all three laughing. My mouth went rather dry. What am I going to do? I thought. I was attracting a lot of funny looks from people, because of my owl, Hedwig. I went up to a passing guard and asked him about the train (not mentioning platform nine and three quarters of course), but he had never heard of Hogwarts and got annoyed when I couldn't tell him which part of the country it was in. I started to get desperate and asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but he said there wasn't one. In the end, the guard walked off, muttering about time wasters. I was really panicking now. I was stranded in the middle of a train station, far from Privet Drive. Hagrid must have forgotten to tell me something. At that moment a group of people passed just behind me and I caught a few words of what they were saying. "-packed with Muggles, of course-" I swung round and saw that the speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like mine in front of them - and one of them had an owl. Heart hammering, I pushed my trolley after them. They stopped and so did I, just near enough to hear what they were saying. "Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.

"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl I hadn't seen earlier, also red-headed, who was holding her mother's hand. "Mum, can't I go..."

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first. The boy that looked the oldest marched towards the platforms nine and ten. I watched, taking care not to blink in case I missed it - but just as the boy reached the divide between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of me, and by the time they had passed the boy had vanished! "Fred, you next," the plump woman said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking I am Fred," said the boy and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up and he must have done, because a second later he had disappeared, but how had he done it? Then the third brother walked briskly towards the barrier and he too, quite suddenly, disappeared. There was nothing else for it. I approached the plump woman and said, "Excuse me."

"Hello, dear." she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She pointed to the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet and a long nose.

"Yes," I said. "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to-" I stuttered, before the woman finished my question.

"How'd you get on to the platform?" she said kindly, and I nodded. "Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barriers between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

"Er - OK," I said in slight disbelief. I pushed my trolley round and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. I started to walk towards it, people jostling me as I approached it. I started to walk more quickly. I started to worry, I was going to crash right into the ticket box! I broke into a run, trying to ignore the rising panic filling my head. The barrier was coming nearer and nearer, I wouldn't be able to stop. I was a foot away and closed my eyes ready for a crash...

Not much of a cliff-hanger, as you already know what happens next. I promised a Harry POV chapter, so here it is. I hope you enjoyed it, my little readers :)

It's funny, I just realised most of you are probably older than me anyway, not so little after all.

Thanks for reading