Make Me.

Book 1 - Chapter 5

The remainder of Ellie's summer seemed to move excruciating slow due to mounting excitement for Septermber 1st. Ellie had packed, unpacked, and repacked her school trunk at least a hundred times, so many times Remus had resorted to moving her trunk into a spare room and locking the door to stop her from doing so. However, this solution only worked for a mere few days until Ellie scoured a book of charms and successfully unlocked the door; with a tap from her new wand and a whisper, Alohomora, she dragged her trunk back to her room, and repacked it again. 

The rest of her summer was occupied by reading and re-reading her school assigned books, making sure there wasn't a detail she had missed and filling the margins with notes and tips that she had received from her father. Upon returning from London, she also had spent a few days trying to convince Remus to take her out again, but to no avail. He seemed unwilling to budge at the subject and when Ellie questioned why, he gave the same answer every time: "To keep you safe, darling." After hearing this response for a few days straight, Ellie gave up on asking. 

 ~~

September 1st hadn't come soon enough. On that morning, Ellie had woken earlier than she had ever woken before, bounding into her father's room and insisting he woke up too. During breakfast that morning, she could barley sit still. Excitement and nerves were practically seeping out of he ears. She had decided to eat a small breakfast (to avoid another floo incident) and instead sat (im)patiently in her seat while her father slowly sipped his coffee, a tired look on his face. 

She checked her school list twenty times before bringing her trunk downstairs, her father waiting for her in the kitchen. Despite her urge to wear her new school robes, her father told her to wear regular clothes on the journey to the station, and that she could change on the train. Sliding her wand up the left sleeve of her sweater and dragging her trunk behind her in her right hand, she slowly made her way downstairs.

Upon reaching the kitchen, Remus's eyes darted toward the girl, a solemn look on his face. He could not describe the feelings he was feeling: misery, worry, loneliness, from his daughters imminent departure, but also joy, excitement, and a little bit of nostalgia, from seeing how excited and happy she was to be going. With a quick hug and kiss on the forehead and the heave of a trunk, they set off. 

~~

A bit of apparition, another sickening floo journey, and short ride on the tube later, the pair had reached King's Cross Station at quarter past 10. Ellie held her ticket in hand as Remus carried her trunk, walking together down the station towards platforms nine and ten. Looking down at her ticket as they reached platform nine, a puzzled look began to take shape on Ellie's face. 

"Platform nine and three quarters?" Ellie asked, craning her neck to look between platforms nine and ten. "But - nine and three quarters doesn't exist."

"No?" Remus questioned, indicating his desire for her to go on. 

"No! There's platform nine," she said, pointing to the number nine on the sign hanging above them. "And then, platform ten!" again pointing to the sign with a big 10 on it. 

Ellie's eyes shifted down from the signs, watching the people buzzing around them, hurrying to their respective platforms. At a quick glance, Ellie had thought she saw a few people appear and then disappear, but there were so many people, she must have been seeing things.

"Remember," Remus started, standing at his daughters side, the weight of her trunk now starting to take a toll on his arms, "You're in a magical world now. Things may not always be the way they seem." Ellie looked up to her father, an unimpressed look on her face, one eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"So what? You're telling me there's a magical platform in between nine and ten that we just can't see?" Ellie asked.

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm telling you. You can't see it yet?" Remus asked, his gaze shifting over to a brick wall in between the two numbers hanging above their heads.