Freakish *ON HIATUS*

Chapter 8

She didn't hit the barrier. She didn't bounce back and fall with her luggage on top of her like she had thought she would. Instead, she kept running for a while. And then she stopped.

What she saw was another realization crashing down on her that proved that magic existed, as though she hadn't had enough.

There were too many people at the platform, way too many. Faces were almost indiscernible in the sea of black tall pointed hats. The luggage these people carried looked nothing like hers. She carried two pink suitcases, they carried huge brown trunks. Almost all of them were dressed in cloaks instead of normal people's clothes. In the air, differently colored sparks flew as some of the older wizards decided to entertain their young ones with a show of magic. All in all, the platform looked like it was a scene plucked out of a Middle Ages witchcraft-era movie.

Leah stood near the barrier stunned for a few minutes when she saw a couple of witches looking at her luggage curiously, and her embarrassment jump-started her forward to find an unused trolley and set the suitcases on it, taking off her coat and draping it over them, hoping that nobody would see.

She turned around to the front of the station, and the train caught her eye. It was a red steam engine which had the words 'HOGWARTS EXPRESS' written in gold across the cylinder body of the boiler. It stretched on for a while, with at least twenty carriages attached to it. The train in itself looked old, but had somewhat of a rustic, elegant look about it. Her excitement flared up again, but she didn't let it take over. The consequences of going were devastating to her, and, as childish as it may seem, she wanted to focus on them for a while.

The clock ticked ten thirty, but Leah made no effort to move from a bench where she had stationed herself. Being in this platform, she already felt so far away from her own world. She didn't know what she would do if this surreal feeling was multiplied by thousands when she would go to the actual school, surrounded by teachers and students who were openly practicing magic. Leah's hand traced the part of the cloak under which her wand was kept and she bit a smile. Her wand. Her wand. The item which possessed such great magical power which she would use to her benefit. What couldn't she do? It was an incredible thing to think about!

Just then, a young girl, even younger than her came by, her tiny hands lost in her father's large fists, laughing joyfully as he swung her to and fro.

The sight looked like the images captured in the perfect pictures fixed in the ready-to-buy photo frames, put in their for the sole purpose of being cast away so that a more realistic version of life can be showcased in it.

And even that "realistic" version gave people the wrong impression of how simple and good life can be, full of smiles and good memories, not as confusing as how it really is, punctured with holes and incompleteness.

Seeing that duo together, her momentary happiness vanished, and she drowned again in the gut-wrenching pain of how broken her family was because of her.

"Hi."

She jumped at the voice, looking around and wondering why everything was so blurry.

She wiped the tears that had been building up in her eyes for God knows how long and looked straight ahead to see the two twins that she had noticed before entering Platform 9 3/4 standing in front of her.

Looking at them closely, she noticed how strikingly alike they were - in the way their noses were shaped, their eyebrows were parted, and their lips were quirked into a kind smile as they waited for her to respond.

"H-hey," Leah was able to say.

"Are you okay?" Asked the girl in an accent. American, thought Leah.