The Other Witches

5. Aboard the Hogwarts Express

We shove through the crowd at King's Cross Station, our carts loaded with luggage. My barn owl, Maeve, hoots indignantly as she jostles around in her cage. Ella's and Von's cats are squabbling for no apparent reason. Kind of like their owners in that characteristic. 9 3/4. Where the heck is platform 9 3/4? I could have sworn it was in one of my books....

"There." Henson points to a column of bricks standing in the middle of the station, marked with the numbers 9 and 10. "Just walk toward that wall and you'll get to the platfrom. Run if you like, but it doesn't really make a difference." She then disappears into the crowd.

"YOLOOOOOO!!!!!" Lucy cries as she hurls herself against the brick. Then she's gone.

"Well, I guess it works," I say, pushing my cart at the barrier. An instant later, the smoke clears and I gasp as the glory that is the Hogwarts Express is revealed. The other girls come in a few seconds later. Lauren holds her squirming tabby kitten in her arms as we push the carts to the nearest set of doors. Hauling our suitcases to the luggage car, we turn with our uniform bags to look for a spare compartment.

Which there really seem to be a shortage of.

We finally find one, near the back of the train. As we sit down, Von starts to rummage through her bag. Suddenly she whips her head upwards with wide eyes. Worry fills her expression.

"My wand. It's gone!"

We all start searching through our bags, and then the floor. Then Von and I venture out into the train corridor and begin scouring the floor in the hallway. While Von heads towards the very back of the train, I head for the front, where she might have dropped her wand. I walk backwards, in case I missed it. As I turn to check where I am, I walk straight into a boy wearing a green and silver tie. Slytherin, I think it was.

"Sorry." I hastily try to turn back but he begins to speak.

"What's your name?"

I turn around. "Eliza. Eliza Glasswater."

"You're Glasswater?" He looks mildly surprised at my accent. "Do you happen to know a Siobhan Winsleigh? My friend Scorpius stole her wand and I came to return it because he wouldn't."

"Um, yes, she's one of my best friends... I'll take it back to her and tell her that you found it." I raise my head to see his bright green eyes watching me curiously.....and then I see a man with dark, messy hair and glasses kneeling in front of a boy that looks about eleven... and I'm looking at his eyes again.

"I'm.....I'm....really sorry," I say, turning on my heel and racing down the corridor, away from the Slytherin boy. What's wrong with me? What did I just do?

I try to compose myself as I approach our compartment. My friends are playing with a box of Every-Flavor Beans, and all three cats are asleep. Lucy's pygmy owl, Steve, is wide awake and bouncing off the walls. As I slide the compartment door open, he almost flies into my face. I hand Von her wand, and her face turns from a cringe to a bright smile.

"OMG, thank you! Where did you find it?"

"Um, some Slytherin boy gave it to me 'cause his friend stole it from you."

Von's expression turns dark. "Who stole it?"

"Some kid....Um...oh yeah, his name was Scorpius," I reply hesitantly. Von looks downright scary right now.

She doesn't say anything else, but goes back to snacking on her beans. Ella, Lauren, and Lucy are having an animated conversation about the houses at Hogwarts. They're mostly talking about which houses they'd like to be in, and what stereotypes there are about each one.

"I don't think I'd make Ravenclaw, I'm just not that kind of witch," Lucy says, "At least we're all doing this together, so at least two of us will be in the same house."

I'm mentally debating whether or not I should tell them what really happened when that Slytherin gave me Von's wand. I decide against it, mostly because it's probably not something that happens every day. I don't want to be thought of as weirder than I already am.

One by one, we take turns changing into the plain gray robes. They're really comfortable, considering that they're robes. I must be getting kind of tired, because I thought I saw a streak of red in Ella's black hair. But then when I looked again, it was gone. Oh well.

Suddenly the train screeches to a stop. A deep voice cries, "First years, over here! This way!" Looking out the window, I spot a tall wizard wearing long orange robes and holding a large lantern. A crowd of young witches and wizards timidly begin to walk towards him. My friends and I decide to get off the train while we still can.

Exiting at the nearest door, we struggle to find our way to the place where there are supposed to be carriages. But the man in orange spots us and begins to beckon us over. After a few minutes, we make it to him.

"You're the new ones, right? I'm Neswood, the gamekeeper. You five should follow me."

He leads us and the group of first years to a long dock crowded with boats. "Five to a boat!" yells Neswood.

Lauren finds an empty boat, and we all crowd in. I take in the Black Lake, the famous body of water that leads to Hogwarts. The boats begin to move, though no one seems to be rowing.

Then the group is enveloped by mist rising off the suface of the lake. It forms little droplets in my hair and dampens my robes. But the mist clears, and there is one word that describes the sight:

Hogwarts.

Hi wattpandas! I am SO sorry about the gaps between chapters. School is really weighing me down this time of year. Hope to upload soon!

-RedV