How It All Began

How It All Began

King's Cross Station is one of the great locations in London that's always bustling with people who traveled to and from London in the various trains running from the station. It's also a great place to view the cross section of the diverse communities living in London.

Joanne loved the station more than any other else, because her parents had met in this very station, fell in love and got married. It was her dream to meet someone special in the same way. So she had always loved to visit King's Cross whenever possible. Her parents had brought her to the station to pick up her Aunt and Uncle, who were coming there for a visit. It was at the end of the summer vacation, and school would be starting on the following day.

Joanne was quite a smart girl, and she always topped all her subjects. She was just tall enough for her age and had blonde, bushy hair. She however did not have many friends, as her classmates always considered her very bossy. Despite that, she wouldn't stop telling off people who are constantly breaking the laws. So her classmates normally tend to stay away from her to avoid trouble. However, she was her teachers' favourite student.

Joanne looked around at the station and the numerous passengers with great awe even though this wasn't her first visit.

"C'mon dear. Here, hold my hand," called her mother from a distance.

Joanne hurried towards her mother with her cat in her arms. Her parents had given her the cat as a present for her eleventh birthday, which she had just celebrated. She loved the cat very much and took it to all the places. Since it was the end of the summer vacation, the station was terribly crowded, and Joanne struggled to keep up with her parents, what with her cat constantly trying to get off her hands.

As she hurried along the crowds towards her parents, her cat finally managed to escape her and ran towards one of the platforms. Joanne ran after the cat, knocking down several passengers and their luggage in the process. She ran after the cat for several minutes, but when she reached the platform 9, she lost track of it. She looked around in all the directions but there were no signs of it. Tears began to form in her eyes. Just as she had given up hope of finding her cat again, she heard a shriek.

"Get off me, you silly bugger!"

She heard a voice screaming alongside the purring of her cat.

She hurried towards the source of the sound and found herself between platforms 9 and 10, watching her cat vigorously trying to catch something in a boy's pocket. The boy looked as if of the same age as her. He had bright red hair and was taller than her. He also had a lot of freckles on his face. He was trying to frighten the cat away and was holding the pocket of his robe-like-dress with one hand and shooing off the cat with the ven tried to kick the cat but the cat was too good for him.

He looked up at her and yelled, "Is this your cat? Get him off or I'll kill him."

"What?" Joanne trembled. She tried to calm her cat and catch him. But the cat was determined to have a go at whatever the boy was holding.

"Are you going to catch him or not?" roared the boy. His face was now turning equally red as his hair. He had also taken out a stick, which was small and was holding it as if it was a weapon.

Joanne finally caught hold of the cat after some valiant effort. Now that the cat was safe in her hands, she looked at him and the cart next to him, which seemed full of books, robes and some other weird looking stuff.

"Well, well, a teacher's pet, aren't you?" questioned the boy with a nasty grin.

Joanne could not take any more of that and she turned around hastily and walked away from the boy. She could feel the piercing look of the boy in her direction. As she walked away, she suddenly realized that she had lost her parents and had no idea which platform they were in. Joanne was smart and also resourceful, but suddenly she felt very weak and afraid. She looked around and stood there, not knowing which way to go.

"Well, well. Looks like our Miss Know-it-all is lost," came a voice from behind her. The boy with the red hair was standing next to her.

Joanne, who already felt bad by getting lost could not stand to be reminded by a boy, whom she hated, that she was not as smart as she thought herself to be. She became angry burst into tears. The boy had not expected this and clearly did not know what to do next.

"Don't worry. I'll help you find your way," said the boy slowly.

"I don't want your help. I can find my way by myself. Thank you very much," said Joanne amidst her sobs.

"Ok then. Bye," he said and disappeared from her sight.

Joanne then tried to remember where she had been before her cat escaped and decided to retrace her path. Whichever direction she went, she always seemed to come back to the same location. Joanne realized she would not be able to find her way without some help, and scolded herself for not taking the help of that boy. But again, she reminded herself, that he was so inconsiderate and rude.

Anyway, she started looking around for the boy and could not find him. She was surveying the whole platform for any hint of red hair, when a voice startled her.

"Looking for me?"

She turned around to meet the eyes of the boy, who was smiling impishly. She felt as if she was never gladder to have met anyone.

"No, I was not," said Joanne too proud to admit it.

"Well, It seems you haven't found the way yet," asked the boy still with the same smile.

"I will," said Joanne.

"Ok. I don't have much time. My mum will be waiting for me. Let's go and find your way."

"Oh. Mum's boy, aren't you?" quipped Joanne and imitated a crying baby calling out for his mother.

"Cut it out," said the boy and his smile had vanished.

Joanne immediately stopped the imitation and felt bad for doing it. The boy did not talk for a few moments and the look on his face told that he was still angry. But he composed himself and asked,

"Who are you here with?"

"I am with my parents," said Joanne

"Ok, where are you traveling to?"

"We are not traveling anywhere. We are here to receive my Aunt and Uncle."

"Oh, in that case do you know where your Aunt and Uncle are coming from?"

"Yes I do," she said and told him the name of the place.

"Ok, I don't know much about how these muggle system works..." and he stopped abruptly afraid that Joanne is going to explode on hearing Muggle again.

Joanne decided not to react and just gave him a thoughtful look.

"Do you know what time they are coming?" asked the boy

"No. I don't," said Joanne, ashamed for not even knowing that information.

But the boy did not seem to be disturbed by it.

"Ok then, we have to try platform 6 first and then check the other."

He came up next to her and unexpectedly took hold of her hands in one hand and pushed the cart with the other. Joanne felt the warmth of his hands and simply followed him without a word. The boy did not seem to know much direction either and stopped every now and then muttering something under his breath.

"What do you have in your pocket?" asked Joanne.

The boy who was looking at the signs intently turned around and asked, "What?"

"You were holding something in your pocket which my cat was trying to get. What was it?"

"Oh. That," said the boy looking at the cat with great distrust. He let go of Joanne's hands and took out a small rat from his pocket.

Joanne gasped on seeing the rat and her cat started violently to get off her grip. But Joanne held on to him.

"Keep that monster away from my rat!" shouted the boy.

"Who carries a rat in their pocket anyway? No wonder the cat ran for it," said Joanne trying to defend her cat.

"Well... er... he is my pet," said the boy.

"Pet? A Rat?" said Joanne with surprise.

"Well, you will not understand," said the boy and turned to look away as if to end the conversation.

They again became silent and the boy, finally figuring out the way to platform six, dragged her towards it with hurried steps.

"Who are you here with?" Joanne asked the boy.

"I too am here with my parents."

"Won't they be looking for you?" asked Joanne worried that his parents may also be looking for him.

"Yes, they will be, if I don't go back within 10 minutes, I will be in big trouble."

"Thanks" said Joanne thinking for the first time that the boy was kind enough to help her even though he might get into trouble with his parents.