The Wizarding World

1st of September, 1999


It was 10:45 am in London, and at this time hundreds of teenagers and tweenagers were boarding a train from the platform. But this wasn't any ordinary train, and wasn't any ordinary platform, nor were these ordinary children. For this platform was hidden from most, accessed by walking through a magical barrier and this train was going to a magical school where these magical children would learn magic!

One boy, not particularly large compared to those around him, carried himself as if he was ten feet tall. Dragging a suitcase along with him, Will Carter watched those around him bid farewell to their parents. His own father had been unable to make it, being abroad, but Will wasn't resentful; his father was a hero after all.

He heaved his trunk onto the train and located an empty compartment. The plus side of being alone was that he had first pick of the compartments whilst everyone else was saying their goodbyes. He tucked away his gear and sprawled over a seat as a sort of sign that he owned the area.

"But we're late Father," a girl with ridiculously long black hair was rushing towards platforms nine and ten. The man standing next to her, presumably her father, shook his head with a smile.

"We're not, really. The train won't leave yet Jennifer," he had an understanding tone, but slightly stern. Jennifer didn't seem convinced, but as she came to the barrier she hesitated, "Come now, won't you be late? Just run right through and you'll be fine," She took a deep breath, and shoved her cart through the barrier to the other side.

As her father followed behind her, they came to the station, "There's so many people here..." Jennifer looked around, having not seen this many people at once before. She quickly collected herself though, "Alright! I guess it's time I be off, then," she told herself that she'd be strong, that there wouldn't be any crying at all, and that there wouldn't be a long farewell. If it went quickly, she would be able to move on and it would all be over.

Her father had other plans as he pulled her into an embrace. He kept her from boarding the train for a full two minutes, which resulted in her being rushed to board the train as everyone else was rushing on as well. Now she'd have to fight over seats with everyone else, that was just perfect, she thought. Why did he have to get all emotional right at the end like that?

The Hambledons stood just outside the train of 9 and 3/4. It had been pure luck that had them bump into another wizard family who had so kindly told them how to get to the seemingly non existent station. By the confused looks of her parents, they seemed to still be adjusting to this magic thing. Not that either twin truly blamed them. They were still adjusting themselves.

"Now, I expect you two to behave and listen to your teachers," Their mother said in a stern tone as she bent down and adjusted the collar on Maxine's blouse, "Stay out trouble, okay?"

"Yes, mother," The younger twin bounced in place trying to look over her mother's shoulder and at the people boarding the train.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her." Maxine stuck her tongue out at her brother for this.

She then turned back to her mother, "Can we go now?"

"So impatient," Their father chuckled or rather guffawed in his deep, thundering voice. "We'll let you leave in a second. First, your mother and I have something to give the both of you."

He reached into their stack of luggage. Both twins stood on their tip toes to see what he was trying to pull out. Their curiosity getting the best of them. Maxine leaned further, practically on top of her brother's back.

"A camera?" The girl questioned, blinking in confusion.

Her brother then interjected, "I thought electronics wouldn't work while we were at Hogwarts."

"Ah, yes that is true. But you see, this is a special camera we picked up at Diagon Alley while you two were getting fitted into your robes. A magic camera," Their father twinkled his hands for emphasis which made his children exchange glances and giggle. He then noticed the time on his watch and quickly put the camera back into the luggage, "Looks like you'll be leaving soon, now come here and give me and your mother a hug goodbye before you go."

The twins complied placing a kiss on each other their parent's cheeks as well. Soon the whistle was blowing and the two had to hurry on board the train. Maxine lead her brother through the train looking for a compartment they could sit in. There didn't seem to be anymore empty ones as far as they could tell, but they did spot one with a single boy inside.

Maxwell knocked before opening the compartment door and peering inside as a polite gesture, "Is it okay if my sister and I sit here with you?"

Will nodded and grinned. "Yeah, sure," he replied, standing up and extending his hand. "I'm Carter. Will Carter." The two looked very similar, despite the differing sexes. Twins, he guessed; one was a pretty girl and one was a boy with an eerily calming presence that didn't belong to such a young person. "Are you first years too?" He asked.

Maxwell took his hand with a friendly smile and shook it, "Yes, we are. I'm Maxwell Hambledon, incidentally. And this is my sister..."

"Maxine Hambledon," Said girl interrupted, stepping in to take Will's hand next, "We're kinda new to this whole magic thing. It's quite exciting going to a school for witches and wizards."

"I used to think it was just fairy tales and myths," The boy noted as he started to put away their luggage, "It came as quite a surprise that we were, well, magical."

The younger twin moved to help her brother put away the rest of the luggage, but she didn't forget their fellow passenger, "What about you, Will?" She asked, wanting to know about the person they'd be travelling several hours with, "Did you know about magic before you got your letter?"

"Yeah," Will answered, "but we didn't really talk about it much, sorta the elephant in the room really, 'cause my dad knew I was but he's not a wizard. I heard that lots of fairy tales and myths are based on real magical stuff, like unicorns and dragons." At this point, the train departed from the station with a whistle and a lurch. "Aaaaand we're off!" Will announced in case everyone hadn't noticed.

"Have you looked at any of the books or anything?" He inquired to see swotty his new acquaintances were, having not done so himself and being somewhat prouder of that fact than he should have been. It really didn't matter, he mused internally, he wasn't going to go picking friends based on their dedication to studies, although he reasoned it would probably be easier to get along with people he had things in common with.

"I can't believe I have to carry my own bags like a commoner," muttered Gabriel, as he pushed the cart carrying his luggage towards the train.

Though it wasn't much work; the idea of being forced to do this himself annoyed him to no end. Next they would have him preparing his own meals; and making his own bed. He had house elves for that sort of thing.

His parents were not there to see him off; not that he minded. He'd known from a young age that his family's business came before him. He was sure his parents were doing important work; though he still wasn't quite sure what they did for a living.

To make his day even better; his owl would not be quiet for some reason. It was a Pernambuco Pygmy owl that his mother had spent quite a bit of money to acquire for him. He wasn't sure what use an owl that wouldn't even deliver packages was; but it was rare and expensive. And since it was rare and expensive; he simply had to have one. That was just how it went.

--

Laura stared at the wall where the platform was supposed to be; looking somewhat confused.  She was starting to think that there was no Platform 9 3/4; that this was all going to turn out to be an extremely elaborate and cruel prank.

However, her fears were lifted when she saw a boy with a cart full of luggage walk through the wall. 

"Guess that must be the way to go," she said, before grinning. "Alright then, here goes nothing!"

She grabbed her luggage, and ran towards the wall at full speed; not thinking about the possibility that someone might be on the other side.

With the lurch of the train, the twins nearly fell into their seat, plopping down across from Will. Maxine leaned back against the wall, placing her feet on her brother's lap. The boy in turn gave her a disapproving look but did nothing to move them.

The blonde girl shook her head, "I tried to skim through it for a fun spell to practice, but there was so many words and it was so booooring."

"I read some of it, the one on magical plants," Maxwell admitted, "I found it quite fascinating."

As the train went into motion, Jennifer was painfully made aware of the fact since she fell right to the floor. Well that was embarrassing. Ignoring the few snickers she got from one of the cars that just shut their door, she moved on to the next one. Oh here we go, there's seating in this one, only three people.

She threw open the door slightly more aggressively than she meant to, and started pulling her stuff in even before she asked, "Uhm, is it ok if I sit in here? There's not a lot of seats left except with the much older kids..."

Will's face contorted into an expression of distaste at Maxwell's admission. "Eurgh, enthusiasm! Stay away from me!" He exclaimed in mock disgust, as if good studentship was contagious. At least he had one ally.

Jennifer entered and Will shrugged his assent at the girl. "Sure," he replied to her not-request. "I did need a footstool," he added with a playful grin.

Maxwell furrowed his brow at Will's reaction, "There is nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about something you enjoy."

"That would be true for anything but gardening, even if its magical gardening," The younger sister had twinkled her fingers just like their father had at the word magical. It was then that a new girl popped into the compartment. Maxine waved cheerfully to her, "Hello, don't listen to Will, he'd never find a better footstool than my brother." She leaned up to pat his leg where her feet were resting.

Maxwell sighed, deciding it better to not to argue the odd compliment, "Don't mind them, you can come sit with us," He smiled pleasantly at the girl, "And if he uses you as a footstool, I'll make my sister trade seats with you. We'll watch them fight over who gets to be the footstool."

As Laura searched for a seat; she noticed a car with only one other person in it; and rushed forward. She had been searching for a seat for quite a while; as she had barely arrived on time to board the train.

She was quite surprised to find only one boy sitting alone in the car; when most of the other seats were taken. She opened the door, and opened her mouth to ask the boy if she could sit down.

"Hello, fellow first year! Mind if I sit with..."

However, the boy didn't let her finish.

"I refuse to sit with common trash such as yourself. Get out of here before I hex you,"

Laura quickly left the boy alone. Though she was fairly certain he wouldn't really hex her; she felt it would be best not to press the issue.

So she continued searching for a seat; until she noticed a girl around her age entering one of the cars. Hoping that this one wouldn't be empty, she rushed towards the car.

She walked up to the girl, preparing to introduce herself in the least awkward way possible. She failed on all counts.

"Hi there!" she said, rather loudly. "I'm a first year; and I'm looking for a place to sit and the only other place I could find was next to this boy that threatened to curse me and I don't know anyone here and I really just want to sit down... can I sit with you?"

It occurred to her that her introduction had been rather two the point and rude. For one thing, she'd completely forgotten to introduce herself.

"I'm Laura, by the way. Laura Langley," she said.

"I am nobody's footstool," Jennifer said, though she sort of caught on that it was probably just a joke. She's had very few friends in life but she had enough to know how to interact with other kids. She gave Maxwell a glance and said, "Thanks," before setting her luggage on the floor to get ready to start putting it away.

Another girl came up behind her and Jennifer gave a sidelong glance back towards her, and tried not to look at her directly as she answered, "I suppose you can, but I wasn't here first," she started sticking all her stuff into the compartments above the seats.

"Fight? Oh please, of course she'd be the footstool!" Will replied to Maxwell, although he was staring at Maxine with a huge Cheshire smile that was equal parts challenging and cocky. 

Will turned away and grinned at the company and introduced himself and his compartment buddies to the newcomers. "Sure, the more the merrier, this is Maxwell and Maxine..." Will said and he turned to the twins in question, "a twin naming theme? Really? That's soooo cliché!" And kind of cool... He added silently, lamenting the fact that he had no siblings and no relatives of his age to speak of. 

He noticed that Jennifer hadn't introduced herself and he so he asked her. "What's your name short and haughty. Or shaughty. Geddit?" His grin got even cheesier.

"Hah, in your dreams, you'll be begging at the honor to be my footstool," Maxine crossed her arms over her chest, challenging his chesire smile with her own shit eating grin.

The older twin tried not to groan outwardly at Will and Maxine's antics. It would be rude no matter how terrifying it was to have two of them in the same compartment. Instead, he turned his attention to the next arrival, greeting them with the same kindness that he had Jennifer, "Please, come in. You can sit with me and my sister."

He gave a meaningful glance to which his sister looked back as if to say 'what?'. Pushing her feet off his legs, she seemed to finally get the memo as she scooted over closer to her brother to give Laura room to sit.

"Hey!" The girl shook her fist playfully at Will, "I quite like our names," She stuck her tongue out childishly as if to emphasize her point.

"Thank you," said Laura, sitting next to Maxwell. "It's nice to meet you all,"

It was around this point the strangeness of her situation occurred to her. She was currently on board a magical train; soon to be on her way to wizard school. Oh, and she was a wizard. Or witch. Whatever the term was.

It occurred to her that now would probably be a good time to learn as much as she could about the magical world.

"So are any of you guys...what's the word they used... muggle-born like me?" she asked.

Arcruss Seckendorff rushed on the trains hallway looking into each compartment looking for seat, " Got any room?" He asked from each compartment and each one shaking head as refusal. He was slowly starting to lose his hope to find any room in any compartment, draggin his bag behind him. Stopping infront another compartment. "Excuse me, do you have any room in here?" He asked his repeative question.

"EW NO!" Jennifer shouted, though she realized how loud she was it seemed because she almost seemed to jump at her own voice. But this didn't stop her from continuing, "I am from an elite family of Gryffindor-bred pure bloods, going back many generations. I am not born from muggles,"

"Woah, what's wrong with being muggle born?" Maxine gave the other girl a sharp look. Sitting up straighter, her hands tightened into a ball in her lap. The pure blood's overreaction was far to reminiscent of the playground bullies who used to pick on her brother.

Speaking of said brother, he placed a hand on her tense shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze,"We shouldn't make a scene. It's probably a misunderstanding?" Though he didn't sound as if he believed it himself.

Will gave a similarly distasteful response. He straightened up simultaneously with Maxine and his brow furrowed. Thinking of his muggle father and muggle-born mother that he'd never met due to supremacists of the pure-blood variety, and, more immediately, his new friends, Will became angered.

"What's up with that?" He growled at Jennifer. The young boy had always been taught not to hit girls. That didn't mean he didn't want to.

Gabriel glared at the boy who had asked to sit with him. He considered whether it would be a good idea on his part to let the boy in. Though he would have liked to tell him off; it occured to him that sitting alone all the way to Hogwarts might give people the wrong idea about him.

Though he didn't really care what most of the school thought of him; there were a few people aboard the train he was hoping to make an impression on. And 'unpopular loner' was not the kind of impression he wanted to make.  
Especially not in the social circle he was currently aiming for.

"I suppose there is room for one more," he said. "Though if I find you annoying, I will throw you out,"

--

For a moment, Laura was stunned to silence. Jennifer's reaction was so blunt and hurtful that she had no idea how to respond. It was, however, only a moment. After that, she thought of several things she could say to the pureblood; but none of them were very nice, so she kept them to herself.

She'd heard that there was some prejudice against muggle-borns; but she hadn't expected this extreme a reaction. 

"Maybe I should switch seats," she said, quietly. "I mean, if you find muggle-borns to be so gross that you're first reaction to us is 'eww'; then it would be better for you not to be around one,"

"Well..." Jennifer tried to think of the proper answer to what was wrong with being a muggle born, but then she finally caught on to the hostility from everyone around her. She blushed as she went on, sounding just as angry, "Well, being a mud-blood basically means you're incapable of perfection. It's like being dirty," Where had she heard that? She actually forgot. She also forgot where exactly she'd heard mud-blood before. But she knew it was true, after all, she and her family were certainly capable of perfection with their pure blood status.

However, right now, she simply wanted to say something like that because everyone in the room seemed to turn against her. Why would they do that? They weren't all mud-bloods were they?

It happened in a flurry, the younger sister stood raising her clenched hands up into the air. The brother quickly grabbed the girl by her waist and pulled her into his lap, restraining her from further violent action. He clenched his teeth as she struggled against him, noting that his sister's face was red with anger. Neither of them knew what mudblood meant but it didn't take much context clues to guess it was an insult.

"Let me go," The girl practically growled.

Maxwell shook his head, "No, I'm not... ghk... letting you get yourself in trouble," He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep his hold on her. There was also the matter of the other two, knowing they probably wouldn't take the insult lightly either. The boy took a deep breath and exhaled before turning his troubled gaze to Jennifer.

"You should probably go," His words were neither accusatory or forgiving. He just hoped she'd head his words, while he definitely didn't appreciate the insinuation that he was lesser than her, he didn't want to see her get hurt over it either.

Will, sprung to his feet and, in a moment of inspiration, pointed his wand at Jennifer. His father had said never hit a girl, but he'd failed to cover shooting spells at them. Suddenly, a thought struck Will - he had yet to learn a spell. He'd have to rectify that - being powerless was something Will just couldn't abide by. "I think Maxwell is right, you should go," Will snarled, his hands hand whitening from the grip on his wand. Unlike the other boy, Will's tone was definitely accusatory.

He wouldn't tolerate stuff like this - it just wasn't going to happen. To stop it, he'd learn to fight because really, the only way to stand up to bullies and bigots is to fight back.

"Alright, thank you, I promise not to be annoying." Stepping inside and placing his bag to a secure space. before sitting down right opposite of the Gabriel. It came right to him that boy wasn't really a talkative sort and most likely preferred to keep it that way. It felt like he was in presence of tight lipped shopkeeper who didn't wan't to be bothered in work.

".....Just out of curiosity... Which one of the houses you wish to be placed in..?" He asked, carefully treading the ice.

"Obviously Slytherin," said Gabriel. "It's where all the great wizards go,"


It seemed odd to him that this commoner would ask him which house he was going to. It was the same house his father had gone to; and it was there that his father had forged some powerful connections. He wouldn't settle for any other house.


--


Laura looked around the car nervously. Right about now she was beginning to regret asking that question. Has she known that it would cause such a tense standoff; she'd have kept quiet. She felt that she should say something to ease the tension; but she wasn't quite sure what to say.


She turned towards Will and Maxine.


"Please don't kill her," she said. "I won't tolerate violence in this train car!"

Jennifer finally realized why they were so angry. They were all mudbloods themselves! Not just the newcomer, but all of them, "Hmph! Fine, I didn't want to be stuck in a car with a bunch of mudbloods anyway!" She turned away from them all, grabbing her things and started working her way around Laura. She was trying her best to hide her face because she knew she was blushing terribly. She felt like a fool, but she told herself that she knew better. She was a pure blood! They weren't. She pushed her way past Laura, almost violently, though before going through the door she uttered an apology for pushing Laura. It was quiet like she didn't want to say it but it was more of a habit. Finally she made her way down the train.

What was she going to do now? Everyone was surely settled and sitting comfortably with friends or people they just met. She'd have to be careful what she did now, she couldn't be picky any more. She searched for a car that wasn't completely full, and also didn't have particularly older students in it.

"Then I will presume you're from family where everybody has been a slytherin, just like my family, so I hope to end up there as well."
Arcruss said. Digging out one of the text books and deciding to read until either arrival, or that his conversatio partner would proceed further self.

Will looked around and sighed, retaking his seat. The atmosphere was tense and there was an uncomfortable silence, which the boy just HAD to punctuate. "Soooo... it's my birthday today," he announced, starting a conversation but he knew that they were all wondering the same as he was: just what would muggle-borns be facing at Hogwarts?

---

'Hogmeade' a sign informed Will as he looked for clues as to his locations. "Here we go!" He declared cheerfully, hauling his suitcase out of the train onto a dark platform. 

"Firs'-years! Over here!" Boomed an absolutely enormous man, easily the biggest Will had ever seen by a large margin. Will wondered if he was a giant. Rather underwhelming really; now that he thought about it, Will wanted building sized giants but oh well. A large group of people that were around Will's age, including his new train buddies and newfound foe, gathered around the man. "Looks like yer all here. Follow me," he instructed, leading them down a narrow path. 

The weather was cool and the sky was dark and Will was grateful that it wasn't raining. Eventually, they reached a large lake that was blacker than the night sky. Across from it was a vast castle, illuminated by the moon. "Beautiful, isn't she?" Hagrid -as Will discovered his name to be - commented in a slight daze, and Will couldn't help but agree. Hagrid snapped out of his reverie and instructed them to get in a number of boats - four per boat. Conveniently, Will and his compartment mates made four, and he beckoned them over to the closest boat.

When everyone was in and seated Hagrid - taking a full boat to himself - called "FORWARD!" and the boats all departed simultaneously.

"That's bloody massive," Will commented to his buddies, awe stricken.

The Humbledon twins made their way out of the trains, pulling along their respective suitcases. They blinked and looked around them, trying to get a bearing for their surroundings. Distracted by their observance of their stop, they didn't notice the gigantic man nearby. So they jumped when they heard his loud, booming voice and looked up at him with wide, curious eyes.

"I..." Maxine was at a loss for words as she stared quite openly and rudely at the man. It wasn't until her brother elbowed her quite hard that she pulled her gaze from him.

"Come on, we need to get to the boats," The boy said tugging at his sister's sleeve. Glaring at him to project how displeased she was by the elbow to her gut, she followed behind him. It didn't take them long to find Will who as just getting into a boat. The twins jumped in with him, sitting on opposite ends of the boat. 

Both twins agreed with Will's statement with a simultaneous, "Yeah." Neither couldn't find anymore words to say. All of this was a bit overwhelming for the both of them.