The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow » Harry Potter

1.7 | Hogwarts Express

September 1st came around quickly enough, though that just might be Margaret feeling overwhelmed by the events of the past month.

Discover the existence of the Wizarding World? Check.

Turn out to be a witch? Check.

Get your Hogwarts letter at 16? Check.

Get a wand and practice magic with a werewolf, an Auror and an ex-convict straight from Azkaban although the werewolf kicked the Auror and ex-convict off the teaching team because they were goofing around too much? Check check.

So certainly, given the dramatics of her new life, Margaret Xenakis should be more than comfortable running through a wall in a muggle-filled station, right?

Wrong.

Trolley gripped tightly, trunk placed on it along with a shoulder bag on top, Margaret couldn't help but watch in amazement and fear as Harry Potter and his friends ran straight into the third pillar between Platform 9 and Platform 10 on the famous Kingscross Station.

When they had arrived, Harry had briefly disappeared with Sirius, halting their little party in their tracks to wait for him. Margaret knew that Sirius just wanted to say goodbye to his godson and give him the photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix. The time they took gave her an opportunity to admire the station. Safe to say, she was very impressed with British architecture.

"Come on now, Margie," begins Fred with the ridiculous nickname he had given the girl.

"You're next," George finishes, gesturing to the said pillar.

Noticing the look of hesitation, Molly Weasley was quick to come to her rescue with a comforting smile.

"Here," she says, pointing at the pillar with another hand on Margaret's shoulder. "You will go straight through."

Nodding once, holding the ever-composed expression in place, Margaret approached the line of the stone pillar. Eyeing it, she took one step towards it, then two, before breaking into a sprint as she had seen the others do, her trolley creaking along in front of her. She shut her eyes tightly, heart thudding loudly against her ribcage but the awaited impact never came.

Margaret was quick to open her eyes when the smell of coal smoke burned into her nostrils, not too much that it was uncomfortable. She slowed down to a walk when she heard the commotion of muggle Kingscross turned into a loud and blaring horn of a steam engine - ones that were uncommon where she was from.

If she had been impressed by muggle Kingscross, then the wizard one left her gobsmacked with awe. It was truly that beautiful; with ancient pillars, the crowd of witches and wizards and even some muggles who were here to wave their children off to school. On one of the pillars, a board was hung that said: 'Platform 9 ¾' and Margaret stared up at it in amazement.

Open-mouthed, the time-traveller stared at the enormous black engine and the red chimney, a bronze plate saying 'Hogwarts Express' in front of it, glimmering under the sunlight pouring in from the glassed windows and parts of the roof.

She really was here, wasn't she?

She came back to her senses and placed her trolley in the line where all students stationed theirs, knowing that her well-labelled trunk would find its way into the train with the help of the porters, and then to her new dorm in Hogwarts with the help of magic. She grabbed the shoulder bag from the top that contained her robes, a book, her diary, her wallet and some food and water for the journey.

Looking about the place that she had read about so many times in the books, the girl bumped into the familiar frizzy-haired bookworm, who was quick to recognise her.