Crossing the Pond

Crossing The Pond

Chapter 3- Falling through the Walls

    Callie Summers awoke to a sharp pain in her ribs and the sound of Danaya's voice in her ear. "Wake up, dork!" she scolded, once again kicking Callie as she lay prone in her bed, covers over her face. Callie groaned and peered out from beneath her blanket, glaring icicles at her raven-haired friend.

    "Make me, loser," she mumbled in reply. Danaya grinned wickedly as she took Callie by the hands, yanked on her arms and pulled the girl out of bed and onto the floor. Callie's head clunked against the bedframe, and she squealed, kicking Danaya's feet out from under her and causing her to fall onto her rear. Danaya screamed happily, kidnapping a nearby teddy bear and chucking it towards Callie's face.

    "Dude!" Callie laughed, blocking the attacking stuffed animal. "It's freakin' six o'clock in the morning! Why do you have so much energy?"

    "It's September first!!" Danaya replied excitedly, climbing to her feet. "Time to go to school!! We have to get all of our stuff together and head to King's Cross station if we want to make the train. So wake up and get dressed and let's go!"

    Callie remained seated on the floor in her pajamas, staring up at Danaya with wide eyes. "Dude," she marveled, "You're acting like me."

    "I had coffee this morning." Danaya laughed again, then grasped Callie's wrists and pulled her to her feet. "Come on come on come on!! Let's go let's go let's go!" Spinning around and laughing, she threw a T-shirt at Callie and began to chant "Hogwarts!" as Callie reluctantly pulled herself together and started packing up her trunk.

    "So what are you wearing?" she asked absentmindedly, tossing a pair of black jeans on top of the T-shirt Danaya had chucked at her moments earlier.

    "You mean now? This." Danaya twirled, showing off her tight red jeans and black tank top that she had just purchased in London. "With my red sweater, of course."

    Callie shook her head, mind falling back asleep after its rude awakening. "We are going to look like such muggles."

    "May as well, considering we act just like them. Shut up and pack!" Without another word about muggle fashion, the two girls went to work stuffing Callie's life into a trunk, a suitcase, and a green backpack.

******************

    Four and a half hours later found the two teenage girls standing between platforms nine and ten at Kings Cross station. Electra Tada stood behind them examining the train tickets as Callie and Danaya made sure they each had all of their luggage on the trolleys in front of them. "Platform nine-and-three-quarters?" Electra stated questioningly. "Where in the name of Goddess is that?"

    "Maybe it's up," Callie offered hopelessly, trying to precariously balance her backpack on top of a suitcase.

    "Or maybe it's up your-" Danny's retort was cut off by a sharp yell from Ellie.

    "Danaya, you watch your language from now on, you hear?" she scolded, flipping the tickets over. "Great. No instructions."

    "So let's ask someone!" Callie piped up again, twirling around and looking for a guard. Danaya sighed and grabbed her shoulder.

    "Are you nuts? They'll think we're all insane."

    "But we are."

    "Shush. No one needs to know about the voices in your head."

    "But the voices say talk to a guard!"

    "Both of you!" Ellie's voice had gone up several tones from her already harsh status. The two girls shut up immediately. The three once again stood gazing into the air aimlessly, trying to figure out not only how to get onto the platform, but where on earth it WAS. Callie finally sighed, let go of her trolley and leaned against a nearby barrier.

    "This is so stupid," she muttered angrily. "The least they could do is tell us... eeep!" Callie was no longer in the hustle and bustle of King's Cross Station. Instead she seemed to have fallen right through the barrier and landed on her back in a new, hidden platform crowded with wizards and witches of all ages. Without changing from her prone position, she gazed around and laughed. "So that was it! All we had to do was walk through the barrier!"

    "What are you doing on your back?" George Weasley's freckled face suddenly appeared in Callie's line of vision, plastered with a silly grin.

    "I fell through the wall!" Callie giggled, propping herself up on her elbows and tossing her head backward to look at George. "But I found the platform, didn't I?"

    "Well done!" George laughed, clapping and offering her a hand up. At that moment, Danaya and Ellie popped through the barrier, each pushing a trolley.

    "Callie, I knew we could count on you!!" Danaya cheered, releasing her trolley. Ellie quickly flicked her wand to keep it from bashing into a group of unsuspecting second years. With the help of Danaya and George, Callie was soon on her feet and dusting herself off. "I knew your uncanny sense of stumbling into things would help us out eventually!"

    Callie shook her head. "Dan, we're not even at school yet. I think it's a little too early to be crediting things to my uncanny sense of stumbling into weird situations." The girls were clearly giddy with delight, and didn't even notice when the other Weasley twin came to join the group.

    "What's going on?" Fred asked, staring pointedly at the two giggling Americans. The girls detailed a quick re-telling of their adventures in finding the platform, including a re-enactment of Callie's falling flat on her back through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Fred mentioned that they would have to try that next time while Electra tried to keep the two trolleys under control. Finally, after much pandemonium and shouting, each girl had their own trolley and was pushing it towards a car at the back of the train. As their luggage was loaded on, Callie rescued her green backpack and a beige animal carrier from her trolley. Fred bent down to peek inside the holes of the carrier, and found a pair of bright green eyes staring back at him. "What's this?" he asked.

    "My kitty Kyo," Callie replied with a grin. "He weighs 29 pounds."

    "Holy cricket!" George exclaimed unexpectedly. "What do you FEED him??"

    "Engorgement potions," Danaya answered. "She's got this goal to have the fattest cat in the world-"

    "Oh, I do not!" Callie stuck her tongue out at Danaya for lack of a free hand to hit her with. "We really don't feed him anything. He just... well, he just gets bigger and bigger. I don't know what's going on with him." A terrified squeal emitted from the carrier, and Callie suddenly melted into a big puddle of goo. "Aw, Kyo-baby-schmookum-pie! It's okay sweetie, we'll be on the train soon and you'll be out of that stinky cage!"

    Danaya and the twins watched this display with a mix of disbelief and astonishment at the quick personality change. "Wait until you see the animal in real life," Danaya whispered to Fred, who stood to her left. "It's FREAKIN' HUGE. I bet she takes it out on the train."

    "God save us all," Fred muttered in reply, still grinning wildly.

    "Well then!" George Weasley walked pompously towards Callie and hooked her right arm, helping to hoist her backpack onto her shoulder. "Shall we begin our journey to the happiest place on earth?"

    "We're going to Disney World?" Callie asked happily. George arched an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

    "Muggle thing," Danaya answered. Fred had followed suit and taken her left arm. "Just ignore her, she does that a lot." The twins nodded, then grinned at each other as they escorted the girls onto the train, finally happy to have a lovely lady on each arm.

******************

    Harry Potter slid the door to his compartment shut as Ron and Hermione made themselves comfortable in the small room. The English countryside began to slowly chug past their window as the Hogwarts Express set off for its destination. Hermione sighed and dropped her tote bag on the seat next to her.

    "Wow, it's nice to be going back to school. I felt like my brain was losing everything over the break," she mused, gazing out the window. Ron and Harry shot each other looks of disbelief.

    "Hermione, that's what summer holidays are for," Ron answered frankly. "To let your brain ooze out every useful thing you learned at school."

    "Maybe to some people." Hermione wrinkled her nose, tapping her fingers on The Standard Book of Spells, Level 5. "My parents both decided to go on vacation without me this summer, and I was left at home with nothing to do but play with Crookshanks."

    "We went to a Cannons game," Ron said happily, ignoring Hermione's griping. "They lost, but that's all right, the season is young." Hermione made a face.

    "Is Quidditch seriously all you two ever think about?!?"

    The conversation was cut short by a shriek, a thump, and a wild yowling sound. Harry jumped to the door and flung it open, finding Callie flat on her stomach holding an unbelievably fat cat in a half nelson on the floor. She looked up and grinned at the black haired boy. "Hi!" she chirped, rising to her knees and holding tightly to her cat. "Guess I should put him back in the carrier, huh."

    "Dear god, that's a huge cat!" Harry responded, mouth hanging open. Hermione and Ron joined him at the door, jaws dropping as well.

    "What do you FEED that thing???" Ron demanded. "His body must be five times bigger than his head!"

    "We don't feed him anything!" Callie insisted, struggling to hold onto her squirming cat. Danaya and the Weasley twins had now entered the car, and were all laughing loudly.

    "Callie, that cat's bigger than you!" Fred exclaimed. George walked forward and helped to lift Callie to her feet, taking the cat from her arms and slinging him over his shoulder. The cat growled, but eventually settled down onto George's shoulder and began purring. Callie once again melted.

    "Awww! He looooooves you!" she cooed, standing on her tiptoes and mussing George's hair. George's face turned as red as his hair.

    "Oy! What're you doing?" he demanded. Ron laughed loudly.

    "Wow! You made him blush! George never blushes!" he stated with a grin.

    "I have mad skills," Callie replied coolly, nodding her head. Danaya rolled her eyes and grinned as Hermione suppressed a giggle. Harry reached up to scratch the cat's ears, then glanced at Callie.

    "So what are you two up to?" he asked.

    "Just hangin' with the cat," Callie answered. "And these two loons," she added gesturing to the twins, one of whom was still grasping a madly purring ball of black and white fur.

    "We were just about to start a game of exploding snap, want to join us?" Fred continued.

    "Ooh, explosions!" Callie cheered. "I like explosions."

    "How about we blow you up, then?" Danaya asked, reaching up to extract Kyo from George's arms. "That'll be amusing. Callie flakes!" Callie made a face.

    "I don't think I'm very high in fiber."

    "We could always try."

    The Weasley twins glanced at each other again, wondering if they really did know what they were getting into. The trio followed suit. It was true; Americans really were a few twigs short of a broomstick.

    As the group continued to squabble over what would be exploding, cards or people, the door at the end of the train car opened and a blonde boy, flanked by two larger boys on either side, swaggered in. He stopped as he saw the mass of redheads blocking the aisle. "Oy, Weasleys," he called. "Too many of you to fit into a compartment?"

    All heads turned to Malfoy, who had stopped walking and was now standing with a smirk twisting his lips. Callie smiled and waved wildly.

    "Draco!" she called. "Wassup?"

    Malfoy looked disgusted. "Excuse me?"

    "What's up? What's hangin'? How's it goin'? What's on the move?" At this point Danaya looked absolutely mortified and the Gryffindors were trying not to collapse into giggles.

    "What's wrong with your cat?" Malfoy asked Danaya, ignoring the previous comments from Callie.

    "He's not mine," Danaya answered. "He's Callie's." Silver eyes flew to Callie, who nodded smugly.

    "Aha." Draco paused meaningfully, studying Callie's face as if he was memorizing it for later use. "Mind clearing out the hallway? Some of us would actually like to get through." He began to walk forwards again; as if on cue, Crabbe and Goyle followed. Malfoy stopped only inches away from the group; Crabbe and Goyle were so surprised they nearly knocked into him. "Although I suppose you're USED to close quarters, aren't you, Weasleys?"

    Ron looked ready to lunge at Malfoy and break his neck, but Hermione quickly grabbed his collar and stopped him.

    "Go screw yourself, Malfoy," Harry hissed. Malfoy gave him a look to kill, opened his mouth... and said nothing. He simply shrugged and stalked off.

    Harry watched the three retreating figures with morbid interest. "What was that?"

    "What do you mean, what was what?" Callie asked, now thoroughly confused. "Aren't you friends?"

    "Are you MAD?" Ron shrieked. "He's Draco Malfoy! He's a filthy evil bastard!! He's-"

    "Being civil," Harry mused thoughtfully. "For a Malfoy, anyways. He hasn't spoken to me once yet. He just... walks by or looks at me or puts up with it. Even in the robe shop he didn't say a word, good or bad. He hardly looked at me. You'd think the place would've been destroyed the way he usually goes after me."

    "So you're not friends?" piped up Callie once more. Many heads shook in reply.

    "Not in a million years," Hermione sniffed. "So what about exploding Snap?"

    The group burst into conversation again, trying to put the latest Malfoy incident aside, and finally sat down in the middle of the hallway to play their game. Many explosions, both of cards and laughter, followed the train on its way to Hogsmeade station.

******************

    The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade just after twilight. The sky was still tinged with pink as the excited students poured from the train doors out onto the platform. Everyone down to the last first year had changed into his or her school uniforms. A line of black carriages with no horses stood along the road next to the platform, while a giant man holding a lantern was waving and screaming something inaudible over the general cacophony. All around old friends greeted each other with warm hugs and gleeful voices. Harry, Ron and Hermione descended from the train car as a group, each grinning enthusiastically. "Let's run and get a carriage together," Ron yelled, pushing his way through the crowds towards the line of vehicles.

    "What about Callie and Danny?" Harry asked, but his voice was lost in the hustle as he tried to keep up with Ron and Hermione.

    Callie and Danaya stepped off of the train sometime later, struggling in their long black robes. Callie's backpack kept knocking into people, and frightened squeals emitted from the animal carrier every few minutes. "Ack, this is pandemonium!" she shouted, trying to keep a grip on the back of Danaya's robe while passing her cat to an old, kindly conductor who promised to make sure Kyo arrived safely in the school with her luggage.

    "Nice big word," Danaya answered. She herself was looking frantically around above the mass of students, trying to find directions. "So... where do we go? The carriages?"

    "I suppose. But-" Callie's thought was cut off when the booming voice was suddenly made clear-

    "First years, this way!"

    "Erm..." Callie turned Danaya around and looked at her. "Aren't we first years?"

    "Well, I... no! We're sixth years!"

    "But it's our first year at Hogwarts." Callie adjusted her backpack and began to make her way towards the unbelievably large man. "Look, it never hurts to ask. Let's just go find out."

    "Fine. You go talk to the jolly giant and I'll check out the carriages. I'll meet you over there in a few minutes if you don't call me." Danaya grabbed Callie's hand and shook it once. "Good luck, soldier!" Callie winked, saluted, and scampered off through the crowd towards the giant. Danaya turned once again towards the carriages and followed the flow of the crowd in their direction. Within a few seconds she caught sight of a shock of red hair climbing into the doorway of one. "Hey, Weasley!" she called, unsure of who's face was attached to the mop of hair. Ron turned around and looked at her.

    "What?" he asked, somewhat perturbed at being called by his last name.

    "Do you know what we're supposed to do?" Danaya asked as she fought her way into earshot of Ron. "We're completely confused."

    "Where's Callie?" Ron was now hanging out of the carriage door, gazing out at the crowd.

    "She went to talk to that huge guy over there," Danaya answered, pointing. "He says he's for first years only, but we're not sure if we count as first years or not."

    Ron was about to answer when Hermione stuck her head out of the door beneath him. "Go talk to Hagrid," she answered. "The carriages won't leave for a while anyway, so if you're supposed to be here you'll have plenty of time to get back." Danaya nodded and waved, shouting her thanks to the pair as she was once again swarmed by a group of students. When she had regained her balance, she skipped over a tote bag that had fallen to the ground and started working her way back towards the accumulating group of first years. Callie stood proudly at the front, staring up towards the large man's face. Within a few minutes Danaya had arrived at Callie's side and lightly punched her arm.

    "What's going on?" she asked. Callie smiled and gestured towards the giant.

    "This is Hagrid. He says we count as first years, so we're with this group." Hagrid smiled cordially at Danaya, black eyes squinting up.

"Good evenin', Miss Ayanada," he boomed. "You doin' okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Danaya answered politely. Gazing around, she observed the large group of eleven year old, somewhat frightened children. Danaya couldn't help but giggle.

    "Callie, look, they've put you in a group with the same maturity level as you!" she laughed. Callie slugged her best friend on the arm in response, turning slightly pink. Hagrid laughed as well, clapping Callie on the shoulder and causing her knees to bend as he made sure all of the youngest students were in the right place.

    "All right then! Let's head off!" he shouted, waving his lantern high. Danaya and Callie ended up leading the line of first years into a wood and down a slippery path, the light of the rising moon obscured by thick tree branches. As they walked, a little boy approached Callie and tugged on her sleeve. "Excuse me," he asked timidly, "but how old are you?"

    "Sixteen," Callie replied with a smile. "We're exchange students, so we're first years too, in a way. What's your name?"

    "Jason," the boy answered. A beam of moonlight showed off a head of nicely trimmed, sandy blonde hair and green eyes. "My dad says I'm going to be in Slytherin. What house do you want?"

    "I don't know. Gryffindor, I guess." Callie started for a moment as she caught her toe on a tree root sticking out from the ground. As she regained her composure, she looked up and found herself facing a large, glowing, sprawling castle across a placid lake. "No way," she murmured, frozen in place. Danaya stood beside her, just as mesmerized.

    "It must be at least four times bigger than Montgomery," she breathed, completely taken aback. The whole group of students stood utterly still as if hypnotized by the sight of the castle against the blanket of stars in the sky. Hagrid, once again bringing the first years back to reality, broke the spell.

    "All right, four to a boat, hurry up now!" Callie and Danaya snapped out of their awe-filled state of mind and noticed for the first time the line of rowboats at the edge of the lake.

    "Yes! Boat ride!!" Callie squealed, lifting her robes above her feet and half skipping, half stumbling down the incline towards the shore. Danaya was quick behind her, and the two girls climbed into the boat at once, each taking a seat as close to the front as possible. "Aw, SWEET!" cheered Callie, gazing up at the castle. She once again started banging her fists together in excitement. "Danny, I can't BELIEVE this!! Look! It's actually happening, we're actually here!!"

    "Of course we are, Doof," answered Danaya. However, she was unable to hide the utter giddiness in her voice. The boat shook as two more first years climbed into the back, joining the two girls up front. One of them was Jason; the other was a mousy little brunette with clear blue eyes.

    "Amazing," the brunette squeaked. "I've heard all about it from my brother but I never thought it would be this spectacular!"

    "It's all shiny!" Jason cheered, taking Callie by the arm. He looked up at her face, bathed in moonlight. "What do you think?" Callie smiled and sat down on the seat.

    "I think it's the most fabulous place I've ever seen in my life," she responded. The rowboats were now full, and had begun their trek across the lake towards the brightly lit castle. Excited whispers danced over the water's surface, which reflected the starry sky in circular ripples. Jason and the other first year were kneeling in the front of the boat, while Callie and Danaya had situated themselves towards the back so the younger children could have a clear view. Danaya, smiling contentedly, rolled up her sleeve and gently dragged her hand through the cool water. A sudden sensation of something slimy and solid made her shriek and jump backwards.

    "What? What? What bit you?" Callie demanded immediately, staring wide eyed at her friend.

    "Something big and gooey!" Danaya gasped in reply. "Ick! Ick! Icky icky ick!"

    "It's probably just the giant squid," the young brunette girl replied calmly, gazing back towards the pair. Danaya's face fell.

    "There's a giant squid in the lake...?"

    "I don't think anything will surprise me anymore," Callie muttered, still gazing forward towards the castle. She couldn't get enough of the sight; it was like she was trying to drink it all in with her eyes.

    Far too quickly the boats arrived at the other end of the lake, magically pulling up on shore. The students hoisted themselves up and out of the vessels, congregating on the solid ground. Hagrid made his way up towards the front, his lantern illuminating a large wooden door. He lifted his huge hand and knocked heavily three times. The door swung open, revealing an impossibly large hall lit by torches on either side of a giant staircase. Callie's breath caught in her throat, and Danaya gripped her best friend's hand. This was it. The moment they had waited for all summer. The two girls looked at each other, smiled, then stepped together through the threshold and into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.