Passing Through Barriers

Passing Through Barriers

Chapter One

It was the strangest most wonderful feeling I had ever experienced in my entire life. It was like a breath of fresh air and walking through a swimming pool all at the same time. And to think I did it by accident.

We were on vacation, my first trip ever to London. My parents are school teachers and with the idea of sending me to college looming ahead in a just a year, we decided to splurge on a big vacation before it just wasn't affordable anymore. As we stood waiting for our train to take us somewhere my mother had made arrangements to go to, I meandered around taking in the people around.

"Megan?" my mother called.

I perked up and replied "What?"

"Don't wander too far."

"I know. Don't worry, I won't..." I trailed off as I noticed a boy with raven black hair walk by with a cart full of things, most noticeably a snowy owl. Not far behind him was a family of red heads all with carts that carried similar items as the raven-haired boy. Needless to say, my interest was peaked. As I started to walk toward them, another girl joined the group with long cinnamon brown hair pushing a cart of her own. I wouldn't have thought it so strange, but I suppose in my American mind trunks and snowy owls are a strange sight to see.

My mother's warnings forgotten, I walked in their direction and as I watched, the raven-haired boy disappeared. I rubbed my eyes, opening them to see the cinnamon-haired girl disappear as well. I stared just long enough to see the red heads vanish after kissing what had to be their mother before I rushed over to the area. I looked around the barrier between platforms nine and ten and saw no visible signs of them. I could see the top of the head of the red-haired mother as she walked away before I looked down at my watch. It was almost 11:45. I sighed and leaned back against the barrier. Then there was that feeling. I turned around to see a huge train with other kids like the few I saw vanish running around with similar items. Some of them were wearing what had to be robes and some even had pointy hats. I wasn't at the same train station I had just been in, of that I was sure. The raven-haired boy must have seen me and noticed my confusion and walked over to me.

"Hello," he said as my head jerked up.

I cleared my throat. "Hi."

"Is this your first time going to Hogwarts?"

"Going where?"

"Hogwarts."

"What's Hogwarts?" I asked, feeling rather stupid.

Now he looked a little worried. "Well, I'm Harry. Let me call over my friends to see if we can't straighten this out. Wait right here."

I stood, slightly fidgety as I waited for him to return. My parents! My mother's probably worried out of her mind! They're going to kill me!

Harry came back in the next moment with his friends. "This is Ron," he said gesturing toward the red head. "And this is Hermione," gesturing toward the cinnamon-haired girl.

"I'm Megan," I said shaking their hands. We all seemed to be about the same age. "Can I just ask where I am?"

"You're on platform nine and three quarters, where young witches and wizards come to get the Hogwarts Express," Hermione told me.

"Beg your pardon? Did you just say witches and wizards?"

"Yes."

My faced must have paled because as Hermione asked if I was alright I heard Ron talking to Harry. "You don't think she's a Muggle, do you?" Harry just shrugged.

"What's a Muggle?" I croaked.

"Sit down," Hermione pointed to a nearby bench. The train's whistle blew.

I didn't sit. "You guys are going to miss your train."

"What do we do?" Ron asked. "We can't just leave her here."

"But my parents..."

"We'll write them and tell them what's going on." Harry said as he started to walk to the train.

"And talk to Dumbledore as soon as we get there," Hermione added to Harry as she urged me and the two boys to the train.

"How would you write them?"

"Write a note and send it with Harry's owl," Ron replied

"Owl?" He nodded. I raised my eyebrows and wondered how my mother would take having an owl dance in front of her bearing a note.

We boarded the train and the three of them managed to find an empty compartment quickly and ushered me into it. We all sat down Ron and I closest to the windows with Hermione beside me and Harry beside Ron.

"I wonder how she could pass through without having any magical powers." Ron wondered aloud after a few minutes.

"Who says she doesn't?" Hermione asked with a slight bite to her voice. "Maybe she just doesn't know she has any. It could happen you know."

"Considering she's our age, someone somewhere must've messed up if she does. Besides, I was just wondering to myself, Hermione," Ron replied with some heat behind his voice as well.

"Anyway," Harry said slightly louder than usual as he handed me what looked like parchment paper and a quill to compose the note to be sent to my parents via his owl, making both Ron and Hermione look away sheepishly. "Are you alright, Megan? You aren't saying a whole lot."

"I don't really know what to say. It's the last thing I expected to happen today to say the least." I scratched down quickly to my parents where I was, who I was with, what happened, and that I'd get back to them soon. I made sure to mention that they shouldn't worry.

"Understandable. It's a lot to take in all at once I suppose."

I nodded and handed back the parchment and quill.

He shifted over to where his owl sat and I noticed what looked like a lightening bolt scar on his forehead. Must've had an interesting accident to have had that happen.

"What's that on your forehead?"

The three of them all lifted their heads and looked at each other. Harry pushed his glasses back farther toward his face and took in a deep breath. "It's a scar," he said walked to the window to send the owl out. "I was hoping you wouldn't see it."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. To give you the short version, it came from a very bad wizard who killed my parents. This is what was left on me when he tried to kill me. This all happened when I was a baby."

"Wow," I said softly. "That's rough stuff."

"Yeah."

I looked at the other two, and Hermione mouthed that she would fill me in more later. I nodded back.

"How long until we get there?" I asked looking out the window.

"Probably a half an hour," Hermione replied. "I suppose we should pull out our robes so we don't forget." The other two murmured their agreement. As they moved around pulling out and putting on their robes, I watched the landscape outside fly by. When I turned my head back they were all settled back in their seats, decked out in their school robes.

"What kind of courses do you take at your school?"

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione, appearing to defer the question to her. She must be good at school if they're letting her take this one.

"Magic courses like Potions, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Charms and Divination," she said with a hint of distaste.

"Sounds more interesting than Government and Economics any day." The three laughed.

Suddenly, the train seemed to slow down. "We must be here," said Ron. They stood up, preparing their belongings they had with them to be taken off. When the train stopped, all the students on the train left their compartments en masse to exit the train. The trio had put me between Hermione and Harry with Ron bringing up the rear. After we got off the platform, I noticed it was dark. A booming voice off in the distance was calling the first years to him. I glanced up and noticed what had to be Hogwarts silhouetted against the dark sky on the hill above. It was very majestic looking and quite the site to see.

"Let's all grab a carriage and go up. We can get McGonagall's attention up there," recommended Hermione. We all nodded and started heading toward the group of students boarding the carriages.

"Hi there, 'Arry," came a booming voice from behind us.

I turned around to see a huge man of at least nine feet looming over us. A giant! He had dark brown hair and a beard that came partway down his chest. I backed up a few steps, ignoring the chorus of hellos from my friends around me.

"Megan?" Hermione asked, worried. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I mumbled before my eyes rolled back and I promptly passed out.