In Between The Lines

Chapter Two

Hermione's POV:

I woke up before either of my parents that morning, too excited to sleep in or sit still. My parents regretted asking me to pack the week before when they were awake and couldn't entertain me or calm me down, but they weren't mad. They were so happy to have a reason behind all of the unexplained things that happened around me that they hadn't yelled at me once since I received my Hogwarts Letter. When we went to Diagon Alley for the first time two weeks before, they spent most of the time looking at all of the shops in the same amount of awe as I did and we bought as many trinkets as we could. Luckily the goblins had been patient with us when we went to exchange muggle money for wizard coins. It was an amazing experience.

And now I was finally headed to Hogwarts, just a parking job, a little walk, and a train ride away now. Mum and Dad spent the whole car ride brainstorming why my ticket said Platform 9 and 3/4 while I just sat there staring at it, taking in my ticket into a world that will accept me for who I am after being treated as a freak by all of the muggle kids I knew. I was finally going somewhere where everyone would accept who I am and be nice to me.

I spent the whole month reading wizarding books so I wouldn't be behind the "purebloods" or "half-bloods" that grew up in the wizarding world. I knew everything I could about Hogwarts and the history of the Wizarding world, and it was all so amazing. I mean the Headmaster of Hogwarts defeated Grindelwald, an evil and extremely strong sorcerer that wanted to control the Wizarding world, and the most recent evil sorcerer was scared of Professor Dumbledore and wouldn't fight him. It was all so amazing I couldn't get full sentences out when I tried to explain it to Dad, so he just smiled and nodded.

"Nine and three quarters... nine and three quarters," Dad muttered under his breath, looking around Kings Cross for a clue or someone that looks magical, but the letter told everyone to arrive in muggle clothing so I didn't see anyone out of place.

"Dad!" I exclaimed, point at platform nine. He looks over hopefully, but his face falls and he opens his mouth to tell me that's not what we're looking for but I continue to point. "It has four pillars!" Both Mum's and Dad's faces lit up and they leaned down to kiss my head and tell me I'm brilliant before we hurried towards the third pillar. As we approached, Mum pointed to a Mother and her son running towards the pillar at full speed, and before they hit it, they both disappeared.

"Amazing!" Dad said in awe, smiling towards the pillar as Mum wrapped her arms around my shoulders and squeezed me to her. "Ready, pumpkin?"

I smiled and nodded in response, feeling my chest tighten, not in fear but in pure excitement. I was at a loss of words and they knew it. I wasn't scared, I was confident that whatever the Wizarding world held for me, it was something big and I could handle it. I was ready and so, so excited.

The three of us grabbed a hold of my trolley, and ran at full speed towards the third pillar. Mum and Dad winced and closed their eyes, but continued running towards the pillar. I kept my eyes open and watched Kings Cross disappear around me and a platform packed with people rushing around and a scarlet steam engine waiting to take all of them away to Hogwarts materializing around me. A sign overhead read "Hogwarts Express," and when my parents moved us away from the entrance, which was an iron archway, I saw a sign that said "Platform 9 3/4" above the entrance. I made it, I was going to Hogwarts, I was a witch.

The crowd was full of children and adults, who carried trunks, cats, owls, and rats, chatting with each other, yelling over the heads to talk to someone farther away, and mother's crying while holding their children who were eager to get away and find an empty compartment. Smoke from the Hogwarts Express floated above everyone's head, creating an even more mystical mood to my dream come true.