Aurora tapped her ticket with her wand, and instructions magically appeared. She glared at it. "Why couldn't it be a secret door? Why a wall? This just makes me anxious."

"Why does it matter?" Drew cried exasperatedly.

"I'm worried that this is a trick," Ari snapped. "That this is just a crazy dream. This is my dream come true, do you realize? Getting away to a magical boarding school... how could this be real?"

Drew stared at her, annoyance quenching. "I see what you mean."

Their mother returned. "The conductor says the letter is right. You have to run through the barrier."

"See?" Drew said triumphantly. "Three different sources confirm it, including the letter McGonagall gave us. You don't need to worry."

"Alright," Ari mumbled, crumpling up the ticket in her fist.

They rolled their suitcases to the barrier between Platform 9 and 10. While Mum waved at them, Ari turned to Drew and gestured at the barrier. "You first."

"If you insist," Drew mocked. She ran at the barrier and in no time at all, burst onto Platform 9 3/4.

It was exactly the same as King's Cross Station, only older-looking, with a sign reading, Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock hanging above her head. Behind her, a wrought-iron archway bore the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Drew waited around for Ari to come, but when a half minute passed, she still hadn't. She was probably still steeling her nerves.

They were early because who on earth would risk being late to this? She had a small debate on whether to wait for Ari or not.

When Aurora burst through, Drew made a run for it. She yanked up the handle of her suitcase and rolled it into the train. Why were people so stupid and intent on bringing a trunk instead of a suitcase with some nice wheels on it?

Being so early, Drew found an empty compartment in no time flat. She put her suitcase by the window, then sat down beside it.

Before September, Drew had read up on some simple spells. She flung open her luggage, took out her wand, and poked her suitcase a few times. "Colovaria." She had to poke it a few more times, scold it, and say the spell six times until her suitcase changed from blue to a cross between red and purple.

"Wow," she turned her rowan wand over in her hands, amazed. Because of the Trace, she hadn't been able to test out any spells, but now she could.

She was in the middle of trying out Lumos when the compartment door slid open.

It was a tall girl around the same age as her. Drew noticed her hair first. It was razor straight and black like the dead of night, hanging way past her waist. She had on crisp black wizard robes like hers, and her pale gray eyes gleamed with the light outside.

"Hello," Drew said, smiling. She was trying to sound nonchalant, but this girl was pretty, with a soft face and smiling pink lips. And it intimidated her.

The girl set down her heavy trunk (cringe) and eyed her. "Hello. May I sit with you?"

Drew gestured at the empty seats. "Of course."

The girl pushed her trunk up against Drew's with her foot, then sat down across from her. She had to hold up her hair before she sat to avoid sitting right on it.

The girl held out her hand. "Eliza Skull."

Drew shook it. "Drew Getaway."

"You have a nice name," she commented, letting go. Drew noticed that she had slender fingers, with silver-painted nails.

Drew grinned at the compliment. "I love your hair." She meant it, and she did not throw out compliments lightly. "And your name, too. If you say it fast, it sounds like, 'here lies a skull.' "

Eliza stared at her. "I never realized that." She paused uncertainly. "That is dark."

Drew wondered why she had to point it out in the first place, and mentally slapped herself. "Yeah, let's talk about something else."

Leisurely, Eliza folded her arms. "My mother told me to make friends while I'm on the train. They say there is some sort of magic that brings people with matching personalities together. Hmph, I suppose that could be true. Which House do you want to get in?"

"Is there a difference?" Drew asked. She knew there were four Houses, but she didn't know anything about them.

"Oh yes, there's a difference. Slytherin's for the cunning and ambitious. Gryffindor's brave and chivalrous. Ravenclaw's wise and smart. Hufflepuff's kind and hard-working."

Drew thought for a while. "Either Gryffindor or Slytherin."

Eliza rolled her eyes at the first one as if it were a House in need of renovations. "I think Gryffindor is by far the most popular one. They say loads of great wizard are from there, and that all the evil ones are from Slytherin. Funny, because Dark Wizards are more evenly dispersed than people think. Bravery, brains, and loyalty do not guarantee a good person."

"Excellent point. What House do you want to be in?"

"Slytherin," she responded instantly. "I am glad you share the same wish. I was worried you would hate to get into that House." She sounded like she was pleased about Drew's response for a different reason, but Drew didn't really care.

"Then I want Slytherin too. Sounds cool. I think my sister would be in Ravenclaw though."

Her eyes widened with interest. "You have a sister? So do I."

"Yeah," Drew said unhappily. "She's my twin. She's very bratty, mind. I also have an older brother."

Eliza frowned. "You do not sound awfully close to them."

"I guess not," Drew sighed. "My parents fight a lot, see. Whenever they're in the same house it's just full of..." she trailed off, not wanting to make Eliza feel too bad for her.

Eliza got the idea and inclined her head sadly. "That is terrible. They do that while you and your siblings are in the house?"

She shrugged. "He rarely comes home so it actually doesn't happen too often. And I see him so less it actually doesn't affect me much. Because of all this, Aurora — my sister — she ignores me and everyone else. She keeps in her room and yet constantly tries to get attention when she's out of it."

Eliza looked at a loss for words. "Merlin. I... I have an older sister. She graduated from Hogwarts last year and became a Ministry worker. She was in Slytherin. I'm pureblood, by the way." She glanced at Drew's suitcase. "Are you half-blood? Just wondering."

Drew shook her head. "Muggle-born."

"Ah." Eliza straightened a little and leaned backwards. "Sorry, I'm a little tired. I haven't woken up early in a while."

"Oh, that's alright. I'm the same way."

They continued to chat for a long time. Eliza knew a lot about Hogwarts because her sister had told her about everything. Drew hardly even noticed when the Hogwarts Express took off. The wizarding world fascinated her, and so did Eliza.

They were interrupted four times: once by a redhead with freckles all over his face. Drew had flatly refused to let him sit with them.

Then came a bushy-haired girl asking for a toad, then the witch with the trolley, and then, of course, the Gryffindor prefect Percy Weasley, who politely told Drew to not throw items out the window.

By the end of the ride to Hogwarts, Drew would say that she'd made a good friend.

* ° * ° *

The boats rocked dangerously when Drew carefully stepped in. Eliza came after, holding her arms out to keep her balance.

Eliza sat down and made herself comfortable. "The water looks freezing."

Drew stuck her hand into the lake. "It really is. I wonder if people would die if I shove them in."

Eliza wheezed. "What?"

"Hi," a voice said.

Drew looked up to greet the newcomer. "Hey — oh, hi."

It was Wilby Blue, her classmate from her old Muggle school. They'd never really talked, but he'd seemed like a nice person. Drew was glad to see a friendly face.

"You're a wizard too?" Drew asked. It was a dumb question, but it was the first thing that came out of her mouth. She had been starting to separate the Muggles and wizards in her mind. Turns out it doesn't work that way. Anyone could be a wizard, apparently.

Wilby peered down at himself like he might be insubstantial. "I think so."

Eliza blinked at them. "Er, do you know each other?"

"We were classmates," Drew explained.

"This is unacceptable!" someone shrieked, just about breaking their eardrums.

Then spun around the see a golden-haired girl in the back of the boat, her head high and filled with the helium of superiority. She was also having a meltdown. "I asked for a boat with some decent people, and I get — I get you three! You're all Muggle-borns I'll bet!"

"I'm a pureblood," Eliza corrected immediately.

"Half-blood," Wilby said after a pause, for some reason not eager to share the information.

"Muggle-born here," Drew said. She stared at Wilby, having thought that he was Muggle-born like her.

The girl's eyes zeroed in on her before she could ask him. "I cannot believe that that wretched Dumbledore lets in your kind."

Drew glared at her. "Do you always emphasize every third word?"

"Yes — no. Anyway, I go by Isabell, but my full name is Isabella Lorelei de Montmorency. No way you lot would recognize that name."

Drew was amazed at her levels of hatred going this girl's way. She usually took at least five seconds longer to hate someone.

"And I'm Eliza Skull," Eliza said, with a cold air of condescension to match hers. "You're not one of the famous families, are you?"

Isabell turned pink. "I'm related to Laverne de Montmorency. Heard of her?"

Eliza had to think for a moment, and her face slowly changed. "You're descended from the inventor of Love Potions?"

She smiled, pleased. "Yes."

Drew glared at her. "Is that really much to scream about? There are people who invented computers. That's amazing."

"Love Potions are far more superior than your stupid computers! Whatever they are!"

While the argument fired up, Wilby just sat there staring at the Castle and tapping his fingers on the boat.

He had more to stare at when Isabell fell overboard. Or rather, when Drew slammed her hands into Isabell's chest, pushing her off the edge of the boat.

Isabell barely had enough time to scream before she submerged. Eliza's eyes went wide, and a concerned Wilby looked over the side like he wanted to save her.

The blonde came up gasping. She paddled to the boat and nearly tipped it over when she grabbed it desperately. She screamed when a giant blue tentacle snatched her up by the waist and set her gently onto the boat. She slapped the giant squid and glared daggers at all three of them, along with any other student who dared glance at her.

Eliza and Drew exchanged a sideways smile, which Isabell saw.

"You... you..." Isabell looked like she wanted to curse them, but couldn't find a suitable swear word or spell. "Watch your backs."

Wilby began humming Bad Blood by Taylor Swift. Isabell and Drew shoved him at the same time, but the squid raised a slimy tentacle and pushed the boat so he didn't fall out.