Merlin's Snake: The Philosopher's Stone

To Hogwarts

A thin, young girl with dark red hair and bright green eyes, the age of eleven walked into the busy train station pushing a trolley with a trunk in it and adjusting the knapsack she took with her wherever she went.

'Platform 9 3/4' She thought to herself. You see, on August 24th of that year, her birthday, she had gotten a mysterious letter from an owl. Her guardian, a wizard whom she lived and traveled with recognized the letters sender and grinned as he told her to read it. She was a witch! After a day of celebrating they traveled to Diagon Alley. ("Diagonally? Really?" "Yes, child. And Knockturn Alley, and Horizont Alley.") to obtain her school supplies, including her wand.

Her wand, had taken quite a while for her to find because she had to go through all of the wands in the shop to find it. She had finally found it in the first wand Ollivander had ever made. 12 3/4 In. with an unbending flexibility, an elegant mix of vine wood and aspen wood with a dragon scale and a unicorn horn sliver, freely given, as a core. It was a perfect weight for her, and it fit her personality perfectly.

She looked at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, spotting a red-headed family with an owl. She quickly walked up to them, noticing the skinny black-haired boy standing next to them nervously. She cleared her throat and two of the red-headed boys turned to look at her.

"Why hello!"

"I'm Gred"

"And I'm Forge"

"Are you"

"Attending Hogwarts"

"Too?" They asked, alternating lines quickly, so that if it weren't for the slightly different voices, she would have thought it were one person. Quickly, she nodded and stuck her hand out.

"I'm Faye, Faye Adder. First year, I suppose." The two boys, too similar looking to be anything but twins, shook her hand.

"Mom! We've got another firstie!" They chorused, and Faye snorted as the kind looking woman looked over at them.

"Oh! Hello dear!" She smiled warmly. I'm Molly Weasley. I hope those tow wasn't giving you any trouble. Quite the pranksters, those two." Faye gave a short laugh.

"I figured that when they introduced themselves as Forge and Gred. I take it they're named Fred and George?" She smiled when Mrs. Weasley nodded, then turned to the boys. "Fred, George," she looked pointedly at each boy as she said their names, and reveled in the shocked look she got when she named them correctly. "If you prank me, you're asking for a full our war, and I don't go easy." She gave a mischievous grin, and it only widened when she got the same look back.

"Missus Weasley, do you think you could tell me how to get through to the platform? My guardian told me it was between platforms 9 & 10, but he was called into work and didn't have the time to tell me how to get on." She fidgeted nervously, no matter how much time she spent around human beings, she was always more comfortable around creatures. Both magical and mundane. The woman smiled at her.

"Of course, dear! You just have to do is walk straight at the barrier 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. You can do it with this young man. Go on, now before Ron." She gave a small nod and lined her trolley up in front of the barrier, next to the black-haired boy, and together they started walking, then jogging, then running, and Faye smiled when she stepped on the other side of the barrier.

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. Faye looked behind her, noticing the boy doing the same, and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. They had done it.