Wizarding World, Visited for the first Time

Chapter 1

J.K. Rowling sat on a bench in King Cross Station, near platform 9 and 10 in 1995. She was in a predicament, and was going to her sister's house for a rest period between jobs. Even though she had been an avid writer in grade school years, she now had almost no time and little hope of ever writing a book. She sighed, and continued to wait for her train to come in the next couple of hours on Platform 10. She had been sitting on her bench for thirty minutes.

All of a sudden, at a few minutes until eleven, she noticed a crowd of red heads wheeling trollies toward where she was sitting. The mother of the bunch was talking loudly, and gesturing for the members of her family to follow. The father of the bunch, who had on a conspicuous shower cap and was fiddling with a portable radio, followed reluctantly. A young boy with the same shade of red hair held fiercely onto his younger sister's hand. Two twin boys walked together, talking about some sort of cribbage, or quiddage, or some other sort of nonsense. Two older boys led the way.

The family stopped a few feet away from the barrier between platforms nine and ten, and waited until everyone got situated.

"Hurry, hurry, we're not getting any younger!" the woman said. "Through the barrier. For all we know, the train could be leaving soon!" The two older boys stepped through the barrier.

Rowling rubbed her eyes. How could this be happening? It must be a trick of the light- one of those holograms the news was talking about last night. No way possible that this could be real.

The mother, father, boy, girl, and twins stepped through the opening themselves. She heard a faint "Drat!" and then saw a hand reaching out for a leftover trolley. Before she could think, she grabbed her suitcase and walked over to examine the wall. It seemed sturdy enough. But- maybe- possibly- MAYBE- she could walk through like the others?

She cautiously stepped through, and saw the huge red engine, for the first time, of Hogwarts, steaming, puffing, and whistling loudly. A hoard of students were stepping onto the train, and before she knew it, she was being swept onto the train and toward one of the compartments. As she struggled to get towards the door of the train, she heard it seal shut and saw the boatloads of giggling girls and boys crowd on with their friends onto the compartments.

She felt like fainting. This was so fascinating! A few moments ago she had been waiting for a train to Devonshire to visit her sister, and now all of a sudden she was on a train to God knows where. Moreover, she got there through a wall that had seemed extremely hard a second ago!

A compartment opened. One of the red-headed twins stepped out.

"Oh, hi, miss," he said. "Are you one of the new teachers? I didn't think the school needed any new ones, though I heard Professor Trelawney would be retiring from Divination next year."

She stared at him, then smiled and nodded politely. Obviously there was something strange about these people. It was best she let them think she was one of them.

"Oh, yes," I was just about to go into my compartment. Pleased to meet you, Mr..."

"Weasley, Fred Weasley, but strangers call me George." He grinned, and stretched out his hand. Then he continued on down the hallway toward the engineer's compartments.

Rowling opened up the door to the compartment, and, to her relief, found it unoccupied. She dragged in her suitcase and sat on one of the red leather seat cushions. She must have dozed off, for, before she knew it, a kindly looking woman was offering her snacks off a cart. Even though she was extremely hungry and thirsty, she didn't ask for anything.

She leaned deeper into the seat and gazed out the window at the country passing by. Green hills were flashing past, and off to the corner, she thought she could see a dragon running loose. Where was this train taking her?

And why did she feel like it was her destiny to go there?