I looked at mum, her eyes were watering. I squeezed her hand and she helped me push my cart towards the platforms, which were nearly in view. 

"This is far as I can go honey." she said, choking up a bit. I smiled. She works as a nurse at a hospital not far from here, and she used her lunch break to see me off.

"Love you mum. I will write as much as possible. I promise to get good grades and stay out of trouble. Everything will be okay. Take care of Rosie for me."

She hugged me tight, and told me she loved me, before I walked towards the platforms. I had only been walking a little while when I realized what the ticket said.

"Platform 9 3/4? That's not real!!!!" I exclaimed. 

Right as I was about to freak out, I saw a group of red heads, and one had an owl nearly identical to mine. I noticed a family behind them, and a boy who seemed to be my age was holding a Hogwarts ticket. I headed towards them.

"Excuse me," I said, "I seem to be having a bit of trouble, can you help me find Platform 9 3/4?" 

"Oh yes dear!" replied what I took to be the mother of the group. "We were just showing this young fellow to it as well, my name is Molly Weasley, and it must be your first year at Hogwarts as well. So nice to meet you dear!" She spoke with a bright smile.  I looked at the boy she was talking about. He had messy black hair and stunning green eyes, he looked quite mischievous. 

There were five children with Mrs. Weasley, and I looked at each of them individually. They all had bright red hair, and the eldest seemed to smell something bad, like he didn't approve of the idea of his mother providing charity. There were two identical boys who weren't that much older than me, and they were the opposite of their brother. They both had constant smiles on their faces, and I could tell that they laughed a lot. There were two more, a boy who looked about my age, and an obviously younger girl who was hanging shyly around her mothers skirts. 

The twins, whose names turned out to be Fred and George, found it quite fun to have a girl in their presence. They talked and laughed and smirked in my direction, and each time I rolled my eyes. Teenaged boys can be quite frustrating.

At last we arrived at a stone wall in between platforms nine and ten. I gave the dark haired boy a questioning look, but he just shrugged. 

Molly explained that all that had to be done was to run straight at the wall, and we would get to the right platform. I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head. The twins laughed at my surprise. 

"Don't worry love, we'll show you." one of them said. 

The pair ran straight into the wall, disappearing before my very eyes. "Now," Molly said, "I didn't catch your name dear." 

"Ariella," I said with a grimance, "Ariella Merlin." 

"Alright honey. You and Harry here can go together, and my son Ron will go right after you." 

I looked at the dark haired boy and smiled. With that crazy mane, the name Harry suited him. 

We ran as fast as we could at the wall, and I braced myself for the cart crash. But it never came. When we came out on the other side, we were greeted by an extravagant black and red train, with steam pouring out from the top. It was completely grand, and I heard Harry gasp next to me. 

I turned to him. "Would you like to sit by me on the train?" I asked sheepishly, "it's just that, I don't know anyone and I-"

He cut me off. "That would be fine with me," he answered with a grin. "I don't know anyone either."

We walked to the train side by side, neither one with anyone to see us off. This is going to be quite the adventure.