School! ((Sita, Aaron, and Gavin))

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Ingrid had been up since six in the morning, throwing things around in her room and writing her 'list of things' to give to Janine. Her blond hair was pulled into two pony tails and had beads clamped in them. Her lips were shiny with lip-gloss that tasted like cherries and she wore a jean skirt and a blue tank top. The nice outfit clashed, however, with her tennis shoes which she was lacing up now. There was glitter on her face, and she wore a necklace with a shark tooth on it that she had gotten the day they had gone to the amusement park. Ingrid sat on her trunk, lacing up her white shoe laces, and humming to a song she had heard from a show the night before. She finished her left foot, and then dropped her legs so they were swinging back and forth- bumping the trunk.

Everyone else was still asleep, and that bothered Ingrid. She was rarely the first one up. It was shocking how quiet it was in the Lewis household when everyone was sleeping. Ingrid looked around her yellow room and sighed as she jumped down from her place on her trunk. The night before she had decided to take a pocket-knife and carve her name in it. Of course, her mother found her with a knife and took it away from her. So only the remaining, "Ing-" appeared on the surface. Still, it was a work of art in Ingrid's eye and she would never get rid of it. This trunk was going to accompany her throughout her whole seven years of Hogwarts, and she wanted a memory of something that wasn't pictures of her first day. She was sure it was going to be frightening, but Sita was going. So was Gavin, and Aaron was too. That helped a little.

There was a croak from the little box that held her frog. Boe croaked again, and Ingrid giggled as she pet the box, "Don't worry, Boe. Soon enough you'll be able to hop freely. I promise." She kissed the box and then hopped out of the room herself. The hallways were still and empty, which amazed Ingrid. Maybe, since everyone was obviously in a deep sleep, they wouldn't notice if she slid down the banister. Ingrid bit her lip in anticipation and swung her leg over the railing. She then slid down almost noiselessly. She couldn't stop when she came to the end, though, and was preparing herself for a fall. It never came. Sliding down, Ingrid had closed her eyes, now she opened one to see her father glaring lightly down at her.

"How many times have I told you, Ingrid May? No sliding down the banister." Fred said as he set her down. Ingrid crossed her arms and smiled up at her father. She loved him very much, and knew he wouldn't punish her- because he loved her right back. Their relationship was something special. Her mother was the one who handled the discipline, her father was the one who pretended to be strict, but never was. Fred smiled and pulled her into a quick hug, he swung her around and then set her down softly on the floor. Ingrid grinned and pranced into the kitchen where, she found her mother and Kirsty having a quiet chat over a cup of tea. Anna looked up and smiled widely at Ingrid.

"Good morning, hunny. How'd you sleep?" She asked as she pulled out a chair next to her. Ingrid walked over and sat down next to her mother with a smile. She shrugged in response, truth was she hadn't slept. Her nerves had been raging around in her stomach, making butterflies- she didn't sleep a wink. Ingrid poured herself a glass of orange juice and took a sip as Janine entered the kitchen, Jason following her. Janine looked glum, and Ingrid frowned at this. Her sister was obviously very unhappy at the fact that Ingrid was leaving her. Jason looked as he always did these days, angry. They both sat down in their spots- which for Jason was unusual. Ingrid could tell this wasn't going to be a happy goodbye.

Breakfast was silent once everyone else arrived. She didn't eat. She shoved her fruit around on her plate with her fork, and only drank her orange juice a couple of times. By the end of breakfast, they were saying their goodbyes to the little girl and hugs were all around. Then they were on their way to the train station. Ingrid and Janine in the backseat, their parents up front. Ingrid cast looks at her sister a couple of times, but looked away before Janine could see. It hurt Ingrid to see how upset her sister was at her, of course Ingrid would probably forget about it once she stepped foot onto the train. Wait.

"Mummy? How do I get onto the train?" She asked slightly. She was curious. The ticket had said platform 9 3/4, but there was no 9 3/4 at King's Crossing. Ingrid pulled out the ticket to make sure she hadn't misread it. She hadn't. Anna and Fred looked at each other as Fred pulled into the parking lot of the station. That was a very good question. They pulled to a stop in a space, and piled out of the van. Ingrid looked at her father who seemed to be thinking. They didn't say anything, though, until they were inside- standing between platforms 9 and 10. Fred sitll had that look of concentration on his face.

He then put his finger up, and walked over to the barrier in between the two platforms. And without hesitation, he stuck his arm through, quickly pulled it back, and nodded; "That's how." He handed his daughter her trolley and bag, then kissed her cheek. Janine hugged her stiffly, and Anna wouldn't let her go. When they had pryed Ingrid from Anna, Ingrid waved and then ran into the barrier. She came out the other side and looked up at the large engine in front of her. She had to keep her balance, because she had almost toppled over, "Leapin' lizards..." She whispered as she pushed her cart to the correct car. Her trunk was placed inside, and then she stepped onto the first car. Figuring that was the safest. She found an empty compartment and sat down, wondering who would sit with her- hoping Sita would be able to find her.

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Hogwarts! Hogwarts! Finally! She'd been waiting for this all summer, getting more and more excited every day, especially now she knew for sure that her best friend Ingrid would be coming with her. She'd always been fairly certain she'd be going to Hogwarts, because her mum and dad hadn't made any secret of her magical background, but she hadn't been certain Ingy would be coming with her. Up until the moment that she had seen the owl delivering the letter next door. That had made Sita's heart leap with joy, because now she could tell Ingrid everything and share it all with her. She'd wanted to for so long anyway... but her mum had said she couldn't and she didn't like to disobey her mum. Her mum usually talked a lot of common sense. Sita didn't know what she would have done had Ingy not got the letter... she'd worried about it lots of times until her fears that Ingy wouldn't get the letter had been proved invalid. So she might as well stop worrying about it now, too.

Hogwarts! She was finally going! The joyous peal rang out through her head again and Sita gave her mum a big, excited smile. Her mum smiled back although it looked a bit wobbly, and squeezed her hand too, letting it go just as quickly as she'd taken hold of it. Sita sought the hand out and squeezed right back, smiling up at her mum and then looking behind her to where her dad was huffing and puffing with her trunk, pretending he couldn't manage it, even though she knew very well he'd put some kind of spell on it to make it really really light. She gave him a big smile too, and he returned it right back. He'd said, last night, just to her, that he was proud of her for being a good, sensible, brave girl and going off all on her own, and she hadn't known what to say so she'd just hugged him. But she'd been glad that he'd said it, she liked to think that he was proud of her. He'd said he'd miss her too. That was important too. But he was wrong to be proud of her for going off all on her own! She wasn't going off all on her own! Ingy was coming with her too! She didn't know quite what it'd be like to be without parents, and when it came to it, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to leave it, but at least she'd have one of the people she was closest to in the world with her!

It was all going to be a big adventure, and it started right here, King's Cross Station. She'd been visiting one set of cousins in London, along with her parents, and they'd all been very excited that this would be her first time going to Hogwarts. There weren't any other first timers though, because although cousins were one thing she did have plenty of, unlike siblings. The problem was that they were so far away. Okay, so London wasn't all that far away from Mossley, just the width of England. But it didn't matter really, since they got there by the Floo network. But they couldn't get to India by Floo Powder! India was very far away. So she didn't know her cousins in India as well as she knew the ones in London. Her mum and dad had said they knew how to get to Platform 9 3/4. And so they had! They'd just walked through a solid ticket barrier, luggage and all.

Sita took her time to say goodbye to her parents - after all, she probably wouldn't get to see them again until the Christmas holidays. To the side of them, the huge scarlet steam engine with its little plaque showing it to be the Hogwarts Express belched out its steam, which seemed a little too sparkly to be none magic. Sita looked at it with excitement, before hopping on to the train as her dad handed her bags up. And they were very light. Magic was a very useful thing! She was glad she was a witch. She made her way through to the first compartment, as she and Ingrid had agreed to meet up there, and there indeed was her best friend, sitting there and looking around her in her usual way. Sita slid open the door and grinned at Ingy, putting her trunk up as high as she could reach to push it on her tiptoes before bouncing over to sit down next to her friend.
"Enjoy yourself while I was away?" she asked brightly, and then, pressing on because she simply couldn't wait for an answer when she had so much to say to her friend, "I'm really excited about going. What do you think it'll be like? I know what my mum and dad have told us but they really won't tell me enough to be useful. They say they don't want to ruin the 'surprise'. I like surprises, but I really want to know too."