the original trio {a harry potter au}

Chapter 1

King's Cross Station has always been rather busy during the beginning of the school semester, but for some reason the amount of children with trunks and owls was alarmingly high, Nicole noticed. Mr. Smith said he had an important meeting before they left the house that morning, leaving Nicole with only her mother to see her off. Of course finding this mysterious platform was the first task presented.

Nicole, in all of her eleven year old might, approached the nearest guard asking him for directions to the platform and only received a scoff and an angered response.
"What is it with all of this ridiculous children asking me about a platform that doesn't exist?" To which Mrs. Smith hurriedly apologized saying her child was not of normal mental capacity, eliciting a frown upon the girls face. She wasn't stupid, and for her mother to use such an excuse irked her to no end.

While continuing to look for the platform, she couldn't help but spot other children running into the walls and vanishing in thin air.
" Mum look! I think I found it!" she exclaimed. Her barn owl, Matilda, made a noise of agreement as Mrs. Smith look disgustedly at the adults dressed in the worst outfits she'd seen since the days of her childhood.

Pushing through the throng of people trying to catch the 11 O'Clock train, Nicole couldn't help but notice the rather large family standing by one of the walls.
"Come on Percy, it's your turn! Hurry up!" A shrill voice cut through the bustling station.
The voice was traced back to a short woman with striking red hair, surrounded by a gaggle of red-headed children. Nicole saw the boy, presumably Percy, rum at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10, and vanished into thin air. Hmm she thought to herself, that must be the way to get onto the platform! I've seen at least five other people do it that way! Soon after Percy disappeared, the same woman called the names Fred and George, who must have been the two identical boys that ran through the wall next.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Nicole called to the mother.
"Why yes dear, how can I help you?" the woman responded with a smile that could warm the coldest of hearts.
"Could you please show me how to get on to the platform? My mum's not listening to me and we can't figure it out."
"Of course! You see, you must go through the wall and don't hesitate, best if you give it a bit of a running start," responded the mother like running at a brick wall was an absolutely normal thing to do.

Nicole let out a breathe and looked for her mother, who was watching from afar with a disgruntled look upon her delicate features. "Go ahead sweetheart, this is where I leave you, please don't forget to write"

This caused a momentary pause from the girl, as she hadn't thought her own mother wouldn't see her off. She was going to a school far away until Christmas, and the only goodbye was a half-hearted hug and an expectation to write? She could see the confused expression setting in on the red headed woman's face, who then turned to Mrs. Smith to assure her that she would get the little girl onto the platform.

With that, Nicole's mother turned on her heal and began walking back to the car. This is it, just breathe and run at the wall. She repeated this mantra to herself as she backed up and aligned her trolley to the bricks.

"On the count of 3 dear, ready? 1, 2,...3!" the woman called out.

Nicole ran towards the wall with her eyes shut tight expecting to come crashing into the worn out red bricks, but surprisingly all she noticed was the sounds of children, trains, owls, cats and toads. Opening her eyes she was amazed by the brightest red train she had ever seen.

"What's your name, dear?" The same red headed woman asked upon entering the platform right behind her.
"Nicole, Nicole Smith" she replied with caution, because her parents always told her not to be too friendly to strangers, yet this particular stranger didn't scare her in the slightest.
"Well, Nicole, I'm Mrs. Weasley, I'm assuming you're a first year, just like my boys, Fred and George!"