"Snowflake, get in the cage!" Maria lifts up the silver barred cage to try and hoax her snowy owl into it. However, the bird lifts her head like a princess and refuses to make eye contact with her owner.

"I think it's scared of the dogs." Maria's younger brother, John, says as he walks into the room. "They keep barking at it."

Maria grunts in frustration and throws the cage at her feet. "Which is why I told you to not open my door and let her out! I didn't want her to get scared!"

"Maria!" The eleven year old's mother stumbles into the living room, out of breath from carrying a large trunk filled with Maria's school things. "Here's your wand and train ticket. Now remember, no magic outside of school. I want you to behave and listen to your professors."

"Ok, Mummy, but Snowflake isn't coming down!" Mrs. Sears lifts the cage off of the floor at her daughter's complaint and whistles a certain toon. Slowly, the owl walks forward a few steps before flying into the open cage. The dogs bark but are unable to chomp on their prey due to the metal gate separating them from the bird.

"Alright, lets go or we will be late. The train leaves at exactly 11:00." Mrs. Sears lifts up the trunk once again and walks with Maria out to the car.

The ride to the train station is full of excitement, but also of anxiety. Maria feels the same way she did back in Diagon Alley. She wants to go to school - she's been waiting for this day ever since she got her letter. But now, she feels she could probably wait a few more days.

Part of the reason is that she didn't read any of her books. She just didn't have time. Maria has been watching over her eight dogs and two little brothers when her parents aren't home. And when her parents are around, she still hasn't read anything because she feels as if only her mother is okay with her being a witch. She doesn't want her dad to catch her reading about goblin revolutions or potion ingredients.

Mrs. Sears drives through London for about twenty minutes before they reach the train station. The two load Maria's things onto a trolley and wheel it over to Platform 9 ½. Maria looks at her ticket, now confused. "It says nine and three-quarters."

"Here, let me see your ticket. It might be typed in wrong..." Maria gives her mother her train ticket and looks around worriedly. She spots a clock on a wall and her heart beats faster when she sees that they have ten minutes until the train leaves.

Suddenly, Maria catches the voice of a little boy. She doesn't know why his voice stands out among the others, but the way he talks is a bit funny. "Muuuuum! I want to go on the train too! Why do I have to wait three more years to go to Hogwarts?"

Hogwarts? That confirms it. Maria quickly makes her way over to the boy, ignoring her mother's words of protest. She gets up to him and sees that he's with a family of five. There's a girl among them who looks to be around her age. While she's got their attention, Maria quickly gains her courage to ask, "Can you help me f-find Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?"

Instead of looking at her weirdly like Maria expected, the mother of the group smiles and puts a hand in her daughter's shoulder. "It's Julia's first time too."

"Come on! We can show you the way to the train!" The girl, Julia, grabs Maria's hand and pulls her along with the family. Before she can get too far away, Maria turns around and waves her mother over.

The now group of seven stand in front of a brick divider separating Platforms 9 ½ and 10. Mrs. Copper takes her daughter's hand and together they walk right through the wall. Maria can't believe her eyes. They just walked through the wall like there was nothing there!

"Alright boys, lets go!" Mr. Copper pushes Julia's trolley into the wall and he disappears behind it. The two younger boys follow their father.

Her anxiety getting the best of her, Maria feels tears prickling at her eyes. "Mum, I don't want to go!"

Mrs. Sears smiles softly and wipes Maria's tears away with her thumb. "I promise that you're going to have so much fun, you won't even think of me. That girl Julia is in your year, so go and be her friend. If it doesn't work out, then we can write to each other every day until I come to pick you up for the summer."

Maria nods, knowing she at least has to try this new school, and hugs her mother. The eleven year old breaks the hug to wipe the rest of her tears away. She takes the handle of her trolley and follows the Coppers into the wall, saying goodbye to her mother one last time.

Julia quickly finds an empty compartment and rolls down her window. She waves at her family and they wave back. Mr. Copper has a loud voice, so he is able to drown out the rest of the crowd. "Don't get into any trouble! Well, at least for the first week!"

Julia giggles and Mrs. Copper elbows her husband in the side. "Don't listen to your father, Julia. I know you'll behave!"

From atop Mr. Copper's shoulders, Andrew yells, "And you better tell us what house you're in right away! I don't like waiting."

The train starts to move, but Julia is able to hear one last message from Ethan, "And you better not be Slytherin!"

Julia laughs and waves out the window until she can't see her family anymore. She closes the window and puts her trunk on the overhead rack. A couple moments later, a girl around her age with long blonde hair peeks her head into the compartment.

"U-um, excuse me, but everywhere else is full. Can I sit here?" Julia recognizes the girl as the one who asked for help getting to the train platform.

Julia gleams in happiness at the fact that the girl wants to sit with her and excitedly gestures for her to enter. "Yes! I'll help you put your trunk on the rack."

After they get their luggage situated, Julia holds out her right hand and stands up proudly. "My name is Julia Copper! I'm the oldest of the Copper kids! What's your name?"

Maria feels her anxiety go away with every second she spends with this girl. She holds out her right hand and shakes Julia's. "I'm Maria Brown. I'm kind of the only witch in my family, so I don't know a lot of people."

"Oh you're Muggle born?" Julia sits down and takes out her wand, eager to start some magic now that she's not home.

"No, my dad was a wizard, but he's not... with us anymore. I live with all Muggles." Maria decides to put it simply, and she hopes Julia doesn't ask anymore questions about it.

Julia can sense the topic is touchy and quickly thinks of something else to say. "Have you ever seen magic?" Maria shakes her head, never recalling seeing a spell performed by any magical human. "You want to see some?"

"I thought you can't use magic outside of school." Maria says nervously. She doesn't want her only friend at school to get expelled before they even get there.

"That's just a law so we don't accidentally use magic in front of Muggles. It's fine now that we are on the train. You still want to see some?" Julia knows she won't get in trouble for performing magic on the train, as she's heard from her older cousins that students do it all the time.

Maria gets excited and nods enthusiastically. Julia takes a white feathered quill out of her pocket and sets it on the seat next to her. Before she can do anything though, a girl walks in their compartment. "I've been looking everywhere for you, Julia!"

Maria and Julia look toward the doorway to find a short, young girl with light brown eyes. Her straight, light brown hair is in a ponytail just as it always is. Julia squeals in excitement and pulls the girl into the compartment. "Maria, this is Hannah! She's my cousin, and she's in our year."

"Hi Hannah, I'm Maria." The two shake hands and Hannah sits down next to Maria.

"Oh, are you doing a spell?" Hannah notices the dark brown wand in Julia's hand and the quill on the seat.

Julia nods. "Yeah! My dad has been using this spell a lot in the kitchen and I want to try it." The girl clears her throat and swishes her wand in a certain pattern before saying, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

To Maria's amazement, the feather starts to fly. Julia smiles, proud of herself, and points her wand at Hannah. The feather floats over to her cousin and lands in her hands. Hannah claps and gives the quill back to Julia.

"That was amazing!" The three girls look over at the door to the compartment to find another girl there. This one has long, blonde hair and bright green eyes.

"Lauren!" The girl, who's name is Lauren, walks in at the sound of Julia saying her name. She sits next to the short haired brunette, and Julia notices Lauren is a bit out of breath. "Was Alex chasing you again?"

"Yeah, but I managed to lose him back where some second year Slytherins were sitting. That magic was really cool, Julia." Lauren compliments the girl before turning to the person in the compartment she has never seen before. "Hello, I'm Lauren. Julia, Hannah, and I met at Diagon Alley."

Maria remembers the place vividly. "I'm Maria! I met Julia at the train station and she helped me find the platform."

"Oh yeah, this train is tricky to get to. It's a good thing you ran into Julia then." Lauren thinks back to when she boarded the train. All she had to do was follow her older brother, so she didn't have any troubles. Hannah also recalls boarding the train with her two older siblings, while her dad and four younger siblings waved them off.

"So, what house is everyone going to be in?" Julia puts her hands in her knees and leans forward, eager to know everyone's answers.

"Ravenclaw without a doubt!" Lauren crosses her arms in front of her chest and lifts her head while smiling. "My brother is a second year Ravenclaw, and I'm going to join him!"

"That's so cool! I could never be a Ravenclaw. I'll probably end up in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor." Hannah shrugs, not really knowing which house she'll be in.

"I'm not really sure either, Hannah. I just hope I'm not in Slytherin." Julia crosses her fingers and rolls her eyes when she mentions the green house. She knows from the stories that her parents told her, that Slytherin is filled with bullies.

"Why? What's Slytherin?" Maria feels bad that she doesn't know about the houses as much as the others, but the three other girls don't mind explaining at all.

"My dad was bullied by Slytherins. He was a Gryffindor, so they were rivals." Julia explains why she doesn't like the house.

"There are four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." Lauren counts the houses with her fingers and continues, "Gryffindor is filled with brave people, Ravenclaw are the supposed smart ones, Hufflepuffs are kind and loyal, and Slytherins are cunning and secretive."

"My brother is in Gryffindor and he gets in fights with the Slytherin Quidditch team a lot." Hannah sighs, knowing that David tends to be very passionate about his Quidditch team. She hopes he makes it on the team this year.

"I think I'd be in Hufflepuff then." Maria scratches her chin, thinking of the best house for her. "But can we still be friends if we are in different houses?"

"Of course! And we might have class together!" Hannah jumps in her seat and puts an arm around Maria's shoulders.

Another question raises inside of Maria's mind, and she now has the courage to ask immediately because of how nice these girls are. "So, what's Quidditch?"

"QUIDDITCH?!" The four girls jump at the sound of a newcomer. They all turn toward the door to find a girl their age standing there. Her face has a huge smile plastered on it, and her bushy brown hair is about double the size of her head.

"Hey, Agnes! What took you so long?" Julia invites Agnes into the compartment, and Agnes sits on the other side of Maria.

"I was getting sweets off the trolley for us! I didn't realize there would be three other people though, so there might not be enough." Agnes turns out her pockets to reveal many sweets which include: chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, and licorice wands. "I didn't know what to get since I have never had magic food before."

"Oh, that's plenty! We can share." Julia takes a chocolate frog. Right when she opens the wrapper, the frog jumps out. Julia expertly catches it in her mouth, which surprises Maria.

"Are those real frogs?!" Maria hopes that the answer is no so that she doesn't gag.

"Nah, the lady selling them said they are just charmed to jump." Agnes chuckles and playfully nudges Maria's arm. She takes a licorice wand and takes a bite. "Anyway, I'm going to play on the Gryffindor Quidditch team!"

"You can't play this year! First years can't play." Hannah points out, remembering when her brother David told the family about how he thinks that rule is stupid.

Realizing that Maria is still confused, Lauren decides to elaborate. "Quidditch is a wizard sport. The rules are kind of hard to explain, but it's played on broomsticks and is super fun to watch."

"And I'm playing for Gryffindor next year!" Agnes jabs her thumb into her ribs to dramatically point at herself. "Oh, I'm Agnes by the way. I've known Julia since second grade. I just found out I'm a witch, so I've been looking at wizard sports. I'm gonna be the best Quidditch player in the world!"

Lauren, Hannah, and Maria introduce themselves to Agnes. The five talk about the rules of Quidditch while eating the rest of the sweets. After awhile, the prefects come around to let everyone know they will be arriving in ten minutes. The five girls in the compartment get really excited, and hastily close the door and shut the curtains to put on their school robes.

"Alright, let's stick together." Julia puts her hand out in front of her right when the train stops. Hannah puts her hand in top of hers, followed by Maria, Lauren, and Agnes. The five cheer and together exit the train.

"No more than five ter a boat! First years, o'er here!" Lauren finds the source of the voice calling first years and leads the group over to him. A very tall and big man stands there, waving all the little first years over. He has think, stringy black hair all over his face. His clothes look like they haven't been replaced in years, but the night sky makes the lighting too dark to tell for sure.

Agnes hops into a boat and gestures for her friends to follow. Julia climbs in, and helps Maria and Hannah step in behind her. Agnes grabs Lauren's hand to help her keep balance as she climbs in last.

When everyone is loaded, the boats start moving. Julia, Hannah, and Lauren point out things to Agnes and Maria, since those two have never even heard about magic until around a month ago. When the boats turn a corner, a big castle is revealed. The five girls stare at it in awe, having no words to describe the massive school before them. Towers climb up into the clouds, and most of the windows are lit up making the water glisten gold.

"Wow..." Agnes wants to say something more, but the sight of the castle takes her breath away.

"It's so beautiful..." Maria puts her hands over her mouth and her eyes start to water.

"This is it, guys. No turning back." Julia smiles as she gazes at the castle, and she puts her hands on Maria's and Agnes' shoulders.

"I can't wait to learn magic!" Lauren feels her belt and her fingers brush against her wand. She just wants to take it out and cast spell right now, but she knows she has to learn them in class first.

"This will be the start of a great adventure!" Hannah stands up and points to the sky. And she's right, this perhaps could be the start to a fantastic and exciting school year.