On the first of September at 7:00PM, I was ready to apparate to Kings Cross Station. The train left at 11:00AM - but that was UK time. 

Mum and I stood in our backyard. I was clutching tightly onto my trunk (which had been delivered last month). 

"Ready?" Mum asked. 

"Yeah." I replied. 

The moment I grabbed onto Mum's arm she, I, and the truck were whisked into a whirlwind of colours and shapes. Two seconds later, we were standing in a deserted alley. It was light here, but at home it had been dim as it was evening.

"Just a short walk to the station now!" Mum said cheerfully. 

We set off for King's Cross Station. We arrived in good time, with twenty minutes until the train left. I got a trolley and as I was walking through the station with it, I wondered about the platform number - 9 and 3/4. I knew, though I rarely caught the train, that in Australia, we only had whole numbers for platforms. Was this some British thing? It turned out it wasn't, because we had reached the divide between platforms 9 and 10 and there was nothing in the middle. Had there been a mistake on the ticket?

"Alright Daisy, you've read your letter. Know what to do?" Mum asked. 

I thought for a minute about the instructions on the letter and suddenly remembered that it told me to 'walk straight through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10' and, 'If you are nervous, do it at a run.'

"Well, looks like I'm running through the barrier!" I sighed. 

"Go for it, Daisy," Mum advised. "I'll be right behind you. 

I bent low over my trolley and ran towards the barrier. I was wondering what all the people around me were thinking, I was bracing myself for the crash and I was fully ready to be bruised, scratched and hurt . . .but when I was at the barrier, I felt myself sliding through to the other side. I kept on running and opened my eyes. I was standing on a different, cleaner, busier platform, full of children and their parents, with a sign above me with 9 and 3/4 on it.

Mum emerged behind me. "Look," she pointed. There was a gleaming scarlet steam engine puffing smoke. "The Hogwarts Express." 

~~~

Mum helped me find an empty carriage and helped me lift my trunk onto one of the seats. There was a small space beside it to sit. 

"Do you want me to stay? Or should I wait on the platform?" Mum asked. 

"You can wait on the platform. I'll wave you goodbye!" 

"Alright darling. You've got your clothes?"
"Yes."

"Moneybag?" 
"Yes." 
"Minerva slash Athena?" 
"Yes." Maybe I should've decided on one name. 

"Okay, I'll go now." Mum hugged and kissed me then left. I sat down and waited for something to happen. I looked out the window and saw Mum looking around, pretending not to be looking at me. 

Suddenly I heard the door open. 

"Hello," the newcomer said. "Do you mind if I sit here?" She pointed at the seat opposite me. The girl had curly red hair, freckles, and a smile. 

"Of course!" I replied. "Sit down! Oops. Sorry. That wasn't meant to be patronising. Sorry."

The girl sat down. "I'm Ellie Draper. Pleased to meet you. Are you Australian?" 
"Oh yeah, I forgot that everyone here's going to be surprised. Yes, I'm Australian. I'm Daisy Tuckfield. Quite a British name, I guess."

"How did you come here? Isn't there an Australian school of magic?" 
"There is, but I got in here. I didn't even know about magic at all until a month ago; I went to Muggle school and had no idea my mum was a witch!" 
"What about your dad?" 
"He's not around, but Mum told me he was a Muggle. What about you?" 
"Well, I have one older brother, Archie and one older sister, Harriet. My sister's a prefect this year, and she's well on her way to becoming Head Girl, and my brother's a really good Beater on the Hufflepuff quidditch team and Harriet's definitely going to get top OWL marks, probably all Os. She's taking every subject there is to take, too." 

"Big family," I commented. "Os? That sounds bad." 
"Oh, it's actually the best you can get. O is Outstanding, E is Exceeds Expectations, A is Acceptable, and then there's the fail grades, P is for Poor, D is Dreadful, and T is Troll." 

"Oh," I replied. "What house are the rest of your family in? My Mum went here and she was in Ravenclaw."

"We're ALL Hufflepuffs," Ellie said. "Mum, Dad, Harriet and Archie. They say Hufflepuff is a load of duffers but it's ACTUALLY loyalty and kindness and hardworking. Which is good. I hope I'm in Hufflepuff. I don't know what I'll do if I'm not. Well, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor wouldn't be bad but none of my family are in them but if I get in Slytherin I am actually going home." 
Slytherin seemed to be extremely disliked. 

"I don't really mind what I'm in as long as it's not Slytherin," I commented.

"I hope we're both in the same house!" Ellie said enthusiastically. "We would share a dorm too!" 
"That would be fun," I answered. 

~~~

We chatted for a while, and I decided that I really liked Ellie. She was funny, interesting, and really nice. 

Soon we heard a rattling and a voice. "Anything off the trolley? Aaaannnyyyything off the trolley? Our compartment door opened. "Anything off the trolley dears?" A plump woman asked, smiling. I pulled out my moneybag and stood up. "Do you want anything?" I asked Ellie. 

"It's alright," she replied, pulling out some sandwiches, then looking morosely at them. "I'm all set."

"Ok," I said, then turned to the trolley. "Hmm. Could I please have four pumpkin pasties, two liquorice wands, four cauldron cakes, a large box of chocolate frogs, and a large box of the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans." Mum had told me to buy lots of things on the train as there wouldn't be much opportunity at Hogwarts.

I handed over the money and the trolley witch put all the food on my trunk. "Thank you!" I said. 

I sat down and began to open things. The pumpkin pasty was delicious, so I offered one to Ellie. "Pasty?" 

"No thanks, really, I'm fine with the sandwiches."
"Go on, have a pasty, they're so good!" 

"Oh, all right," Ellie relented, taking it from my outstretched hand. "Wow, these are fabulous!" 

We continued to eat all my lollies (or 'sweets', as we were in Britain). Ellie's sandwiches were now forgotten underneath all the wrappers. "What are these?" I questioned, holding up some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. 

"Oh, be careful!" Ellie warned. "They're actually every flavour. There's all the ordinary ones - strawberry and peppermint and everything - and there's also vomit, Brussel sprouts, and earwax." 

"Okay," I said cautiously. "I'll try . . .cassata." 
"What's that? The bean you have is Tutti Fruity. It's really good!" 

I bit into it and soon had it all down. "It's amazing!" 
We had a fun time trying to guess the flavour of the beans, and Ellie was unlucky to get rotten egg. I quickly found her water bottle in her trunk and gave it to her. 

"Ew!" She coughed. 

~~~

After a couple more hours, we decided to put our robes on. Ellie told me that we only had to have the robes on over our regular clothes and that we'd wear our full uniform when we actually had somewhere to change at school, once we'd got our dormitory and everything. I trusted her and I saw students that were walking past were wearing the same. 

Ellie's robes were more grey than shining black and she looked sadly down at them. "They're hand-me-down. From Harriet originally, but then they were Archie's. Same with pretty much everything else except my wand and shoes." She looked downcast but tried to cheer herself up. "What's your owl's name?" 
"Er, she has two I names," I said sheepishly. "Athena or Minerva. One of them is the Greek version of the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and one of them is the Roman version."

"Oh," Ellie said, looking a little confused. "I'm not very knowledgeable about Muggle legends." 

Soon we slowed down. Ellie and I crammed the last of the sweets into our pockets and waited for the train to stop fully.

"We are about to reach Hogsmeade Station. Please leave all your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the castle for you," a voice said all throughout the train. 

When we stopped, Ellie and I stood up and stuck together as we exited the train.

"El-lie!" A voice shouted. "MOVE!" 

"Ugh, Archie, I can't!" Ellie shouted back. 

We shuffled through the carriage, following the crowd to the door. When we exited, we heard a voice. 

"First-Years over here!" A man called.

Ellie and I followed the sound and found a crowd of First-Years standing in front of a man. "I'm Joshual. I'm the groundskeeper." 

When everyone was there, Joshual started walking out of Hogsmeade Station. We all followed. 

Soon we reached a little fleet of boats and a lake. "Four to a boat!" Joshual announced.

Ellie and I got into the boat along with two others. We sat side by side in the middle and the other two sat at the front and the back. Joshual took out a wand and waved his arms. "Foward!" 

The person at the front held a lantern on a stick high and they illuminated a large towering castle with many turrets and towers. "Welcome to Hogwarts!" Joshual said.