Rebecca Warren and The Third Wizarding War

Chapter 7: Platform 4

September first arrived and it felt like home for once since Rebecca had been here.

Kate was up bright and early. She was in a mix of cooking breakfast and getting herself ready. Rebecca decided to help out with the cooking so she could go brush her hair.

Isabelle was running through the apartment saying loudly, "It's today! We're going to school!"

If any muggles were listening, they'd have thought Isabelle was nuts. School for muggles in New York started in a few more weeks according to the TV reporters on the news.

Rebecca got caught up in listening to the morning show. They were actually live in the middle of Times Square with a band. Some sort of rock music. It sounded good to Rebecca though and she listened carefully as she flipped pancakes.

"Becky, we're going to Ilvermorny today!" Isabelle shouted from the living room.

"Issy, keep it down." Rebecca said sharply. "The muggles next door will hear you."

Isabelle clapped her mouth with her hands like she said a bad word. She let go and started parading around the couch  saying quietly, "We're going to you-know-where today!"

Rebecca finished with pancakes as soon as Kate finished in the bathroom.

After breakfast, they left in the car and drove to Kate's workplace. Pennsylvania Station was a few blocks down from her work so they didn't have to sit in traffic for long, however, they still had to leave early because New York City traffic was the worst. Rebecca couldn't understand why muggles wanted to live in such close quarters like this. She wasn't fond of living in a mansion back home, but at least it was far away from people.

On the walk, Rebecca had to keep Isabelle moving. She wanted to stop to listen to every person who was talking about selling things. Newspapers, food, art, some were even playing music for money. There were way too many distractions here.

Finally, they arrived at Pennsylvania Station and headed in. Their witch stuff was already grabbing muggle attention just as it would at King's Cross Station in London. However, Rebecca and Isabelle did not have their cats with them.

Before Rebecca and Isabelle left Britain, before their family went into hiding, Mathaius had given an order to raid the Warren Estate. Ministry Law Enforcement attacked them without much warning. During the raid, Rebecca's cat, Bandit, and Isabelle’s cat, Zee Zee, had ran off. Rebecca had always told Isabelle that they only ran for a while and would come back. Rebecca figured that they were long gone by now, maybe even dead by some creature.

After a while of walking around the station, Rebecca thought for a second someone was watching her. A woman reading a newspaper at a bench seemed to keep looking over it to glance at them. Rebecca thought at first it was just a muggle who was curious about their luggage, but why try to be discrete?

Kate led them to Platform 4. The time was 11:55. Rebecca noticed a lot of kids were here too. All of them seemed a bit out of place if you paid very close attention. But it was her and Isabelle who they thought looked different.

"Well, here we are." Kate finally said. "Certain that this is the right place?'

Rebecca nodded. She seen a boy with his friends playing with a pack of Exploding Snap and a group of girls were talking excitedly about quidditch- or at least about brooms flying. The rest of what she heard didn't make sense.

The woman Rebecca seen had shown herself again and stepped onto the platform. Rebecca couldn't see her face, but her posture showed she was looking for someone.

Finally, the train arrived. It was silver and the front did not look anything like the Hogwarts Express. In fact, there was no indication that this train was going to Ilvermorny. The only way Rebecca figured it was the correct train was that it was twelve o'clock and that the kids were all cramming into the back three cars as Rebecca's letter instructed.

"That's it!" Isabelle pointed out. She turned to Kate and gave her a hug. "See you soon! Come on Becky. We don't want to be late."

Rebecca turned to Kate as well and also gave her a hug.

"You girls have fun and be safe." Kate said to them.

Rebecca and Isabelle trucked their luggage to the back car. There was no conductor to greet them so Rebecca assumed they were supposed to just walk in and find a seat.

The graffiti painted outside of the train looked rugged and dirty, but on the inside, it was magnificent to say the least.

Inside, the train had way more room. Compartments were lined on either side of the aisle. The walls had a burgundy velvet layer covering it and the floors were a light blue carpet. Where the floor and wall met, as well as where the ceiling and wall did too, it was lined with gold. The doors to each compartment were glass but they too were lined with gold. At least six students could fit into each compartment and there were about five on either side. Rebecca did the math, and surely not every student that attended Ilvermorny would be able to ride this train.

Nevertheless, Rebecca and Isabelle lugged themselves to a compartment and walked in. They were greeted to three of their fellow students. Rebecca thought they might have been her age or a little older. They all stared at them. Of course Isabelle spoke first.

"Hi there." She said with a wave and a smile.

Neither of the three students said anything.

"Issy, let's find somewhere else to sit." Rebecca said.

Isabelle didn't argue. The two girls turned around and headed away, but just before they got out of earshot, Rebecca heard one of them say, "Thank Merlin. Did you hear that accent?"

Rebecca had stopped and began to turn around and head back, but was stopped because someone was behind her. And it was someone she knew. Albus Potter.