Selene Walker and the Sorcerers Stone (Book 1)

Chapter 2

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. 

Selene looked behind herself and saw a wrought-iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three Quarters on it. 

There was no turning back now. 

Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. 

Owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of wayover the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. 

The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. 

Selene got onto the train and made her way down the hall of the train to find a seat. 

She passed a round-faced boy who wassaying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again." 

"Oh, Neville," she heard the old woman sigh. 

A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. "Give us a look, Lee, go on." The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms and the people around the boy shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out along, hairy leg. Selene shivered. *at least it isn't a rat* she thought to her self. 

Selene pressed on through the crowd until she spotted a boy. He had black hair and vivid green eyes. Her heart nearly stopped as she caught sight of him. She watched as he put a caged owl inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk towards the train door.

 He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot. Selene moved to help him but stopped as two red headed boys appeared. 

"Want a hand?"

 "Yes, please," Harry panted. 

Selene moved a little closer and watched them with a slight smile. 

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment. 

"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. 

"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar. Selene tilts her head trying to get a look at what they were seeing.

"Blimey," said the other twin. 

"Are you –?" 

"He is," said the first twin. 

"Aren't you?" he added to Harry. 

"What?" said Harry. 

"Harry Potter," chorused the twins. Selene's heart jolted a little hearing the last name. 

 "Oh, him," said Harry. Selene raised an eyebrow at his words "I mean, yes, I am." Harry replied. 

The two boys gawped at him and Harry felt himself going red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. 

"Fred? George? Are you there?" 

"Coming, Mum." With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train. 

Harry sat down next to the window where, half-hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. 

"Ron, you've got something on your nose." The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.