The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 6 - The Platform

                  

Two days later, Grace found herself walking through an extremely busy Kings Cross Station, pushing a large trolley containing her suitcase which was filled with all the belongings she had packed the day before. Expertly balanced on the top of the trolley was a brass cage with her owl inside, who screeched loudly every time she steered the trolley sharply to one side, which she had to do quite a lot to dodge all of the muggles that filled the platform. Many of the muggles looked at her and her parents with pure confusion: it wasn't every day that you saw a young girl pushing around a trolley with her pet owl inside.

When they finally reached the column of bricks between platforms nine and ten that Grace had heard so much about, she was nearly bursting with excitement.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Her father asked from behind her. She smiled up at him, before pushing the trolley so that it was perfectly lined up with the column. She ran as fast as she could, and gasped as she passed through the bricks, nearly running into a 6th year Slytherin on the other side.

"Sorry," she smiled at him, but he sneered at her in response, flicking his long blonde hair over his shoulder as he walked away.

Grace heard a noise behind and turned to see that her parents had come through as well. Alexander was grinning so much that she was scared he was about to explode.

He then noticed someone in the crowd that his attention. "Oh Merlin's beard! It's Fleamont Potter. Monty!"

"Alex!?" a voice replied, and Grace could see a man with unruly jet black hair made his way through the crowd towards them.

Her father hugged the man and the two of them launched into conversation about everything that had happened over the past twelve years since they had seen each other.

"So what brings you here?" Fleamont asked him.

"Dumbledore offered me a job. I'm going to be teaching Care of Magical Creatures!" Alexander replied proudly "And my wife, Paula, is going to be a fill-in teacher." Paula smiled at the man who she had already heard so much about. Despite being in two different houses, Fleamont and Alexander had been best friends during their time at Hogwarts, often sneaking into each other's dorms using Fleamont's invisibility cloak.

"Dad, when does the train leave?" A young boy that Grace hadn't noticed previously said. "This is my son, James," Fleamont put his hand on the boy's head and ruffled his already messy black hair that was exactly like his father's. It obviously ran in the family.

The boy laughed before moving his head out of his father's reach.

"He's starting his first year had Hogwarts this year!" Alexander gasped "So's my daughter, Grace!"

Grace smiled at James, who smirked in response, before another boy with long dark hair appeared behind him.

"C'mon James, let's get a compartment before they're all full." The boy then ran off, and James tried to follow him but his father pulled him back.

"Forgetting something?" James laughed and hugged his father before running off as well. "And don't forget to write!" He called after his son.

"Well Grace, I think we'd better get going as well." Grace gasped and went to grab her suitcase, only to find that it was missing. Her mother, noticing her confusion, told her "I put our suitcases on the train already!"

After saying their goodbyes to Fleamont, Grace picked up Frodo's cage and boarded the three of them boarded the train. "We're going to go sit up the front okay?" Her mother told her, before they walked away.

Grace began walking the other way when she saw a familiar face.

"Abbey!"

"Grace?"

She entered the compartment and sat down next to a boy with golden hair, across from Abbey, setting down the owl cage on the empty seat. In Abbey's arms was a small bright orange shape that blended in with her hair. Grace gasped "Can I...?"

"Yes, of course!" She dropped the little fox into Grace's lap and she gently stroked his head as he slept.

"Oh, and this is Ely. Ely, this Grace." The blonde haired boy smiled at her shyly, and Grace returned the smile before turning to Abbey. "So, which house do you want to be in? I want to be a Ravenclaw, just like my dad!"

"Your dad? I thought you were Australian?" Abbey asked her. "Well, you see, my dad used to live here before he moved to Australia and met my mum. They're both coming to Hogwarts to teach actually!"

"Really?! Wow!"

There was a bit of silence, before Ely spoke up "I don't care what house I'm in."

Abbey smiled at him "Yeah, me neither. Although, I think I want to be in Hufflepuff."

"Why would anyone want to be in Hufflepuff?" A voice said from outside the compartment door.

The three of them turned to find a boy with curly black hair and brown eyes standing outside. "Sorry, I was just passing by, and for a second there I thought I heard someone say that they wanted to be a Hufflepuff. That was a joke right?" The boy said, opening the door and looking at Abbey, who stood up and looked him straight in the eye.

"No, not at all. I was being completely serious. Hufflepuffs are known to loyal and kind and hardworking and that is exactly what I want to be. You're just jealous because you're never going to be good enough for Hufflepuff."

The boy shuffled back a bit, shocked by what just came out of this kind and quiet looking girl's mouth. He'd never been spoken to like that before.

"Y-Yeah, well, I'm going to be in Slytherin, just like the rest of my-"

"Horrible prejudiced family." The boy was suddenly cut off by another voice "Just get out of the way Sam, you're blocking the corridor."

The owner of the voice walked appeared in the doorway of the compartment as well, and Grace recognises to James' friend whom she had briefly seen on the platform.

"Oh hello, dear Sirius," The boy whose name she now knew as Sam sneered in the voices' direction, before continuing down the corridor.

The second boy, Sirius, smirked at them before closing the door and entering the compartment opposite theirs.

"That was amazing, Abbey!" Grace exclaimed, turning to her friend.

"Yeah, did you see the look on his face?" Ely added, chuckling to himself "He looked like he'd been slapped!"

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So I somehow managed to accidentally unpublished this story...
Sorry folks