Claudia stated at the wall in front of her. She had said her goodbyes to her family earlier because she wanted to do this on her own. But now that she was here, she started to have second thought. Lyssie had told her what to do. That wasn't the problem. Her problem was that she didn't know what would be waiting for her on the other side. She didn't have a chance to meet anybody at Diagon Alley because she had not gone there. Alyssa had with the rest of the family. That was before Alyssa had decided that she wasn't going to go back to Hogwarts. Claudia still couldn't understand why SHE had to take Alyssa's place. She was happy back in Salem.

As she continued to stare at the wall, she started to tear up. 'No I'm not going to cry. I'm tougher than Lyssie. If she survived a year here, I can too.' Claudia thought to herself. So she started to push her trolley towards the wall, when her fears overtook her and she turned around and headed away in the opposite direction.

His bottom lip quivering as he saw his Ambassador of Cuteness help out a young girl, vanishing through the barrier with her, Charles pulled his silver pocket watch from his pocket to check the time. He ought to be getting back to his flat and finish up those transfer papers. Tucking his pocket watch back in his pocket and was just about to turn heel and return to the streets...when he felt something in his pocket.

Pulling it out, his eyes widened. MERLIN NO! This was something far too important for his little sugarplum to NOT have!

With the reflexes of a panther, he removed his wand from his wrist holster and cast a silent Patronus Charm. The silver form of an opossum frolicked forth from his wand and leaped through the barrier. Rubbing his hands together while he waited, he noticed a rather nervous looking young girl standing off to the side, looking at the barrier anxiously. Merlin, is that how his little cupcake had looked back then? He had given in to his wife's plea to make their daughter go to Kings Cross alone, and it was a decision he still regretted. How different would she had been if he had done the right thing and taken her? Giving in to his wife's fear had only made his Ray of Sunshine think that her being a witch was more of a curse. This was actually the first time in all five years of her education that he had come to Kings Cross - and he had never come for his sons.

Chuckling to himself, Charles moved a bit closer to her and put on his best fatherly smile. "Not all tears are bad, young one," he said with a small nod. "But, I am sure that your tears will dry up soon for a LOVELY RAY OF ETERNAL SUNSHINE is about to come walking out from the barrier!"

STAAAAAARE!!

They expected him to do WHAT?! He must have got that wrong somehow. It was probably just 'knock and then a door will open' or something. NOT run straight ahead into a brick wall. That just couldn't be it. It couldn't be.

Standing in front of the wall that divided platforms nine and ten with his cat sitting at his feet and his suitcase standing next to him, Lewis continued to just look straight ahead, a doubtful look on his face. But then again, his dad had exactly told what to do. And that included running through into a wall to get to the train that was going to get him to school.

Were other people doing that too?

Adam gave the girl a small smile, noticing the small frown that appeared on her face. Er...perhaps he had offended her with the first year comment, but that had certainly not been his intention. "I don't think there's anything wrong with you," Adam said with a reassuring smile. He noticed that the girl was still holding on to his arm despite the fact that she completely upright and stable, but that was alright. She was kinda cute...in that little kid kind of way. "Alright, so, what you want to do is stand back far enough from the wall that you can get a good running start. As you're running towards the wall just think about how you want to enter the platform, and it should work," Adam said with a small smile. Well...that was what he did at least! "If you'd like I could run through at the same time as you?"

As Adam was about to ask he saw a girl running towards them, her greeting and mannerisms showing that she apparently knew the girl he was helping. "No worries," Adam said with a small smile.

Claudia stopped as she passed the gentleman who seemed to be talking to her. She didnt even know she has been crying until he had mentioned her tears. She quickly used her arm to wipe them off because she didn't want others to think that she was a 13 year old baby. She could quiet understand who the man was referring as his Eternal Sunshine but she stopped when she heard him say that whomever it was would be coming out from the other side.



As Claudia waited for the the gentleman's Eternal Sunshine to appear, she noticed another boy staring apprehensively at the wall. She kinda guessed what he was thinking too. So she took a deep breath and said to him,"First time crossing over too? Me too. My name is Claudia by the way. I hear that we're supposed to take it at a bit of a run. I'm not scared about doing that. I'm more worried about what I'm going to find on the other side. This is my first term at Hogwarts and I'm scared because I don't have any friends here." Claudia couldn't believe that she had said all that to a stranger, so she immediately stopped talking.

Maybe he should just turn around and walk away. Go back home. The REAL home. And back to Salem. He really really didn't want to be here. And the nice boy he met at the candy shop was nowhere in sight either. Frankly, he just wanted to go back home to Valerie. He missed her. Whatever they were now. This whole moving thing sucked.

O___o

All of a sudden there was this girl next to him, pulling him out of his reverie. And she was talking to him. A LOT. "Uhm." Lewis just looked at her for a moment, frowning slightly. "Lewis." He finally answered, gesturing to himself. "And yes, it's my first time too. Do we really need to go through...through THAT?!" He added to no one in particular, eying the wall again warily.

Claudia nodded."That's what I've seen others doing the last hour or so. So far no one has crashed on this side. I don't know. Would you like to try it with me? We could both run at it. I'll go first if you want me to," Claudia volunteered. Claudia wasn't sure it was a good idea but she wasn't going to tell Lewis that.

Hearing the guy's comment about nothing wrong with her, Erin's attention turned towards the hands that was still on his arms. Blushing a little about her awkward mannerism, Erin quickly removed it from the guy's. "I'm sorry about that," said Erin bowing her head slightly. Listening intently to the older boy's instructions, "So, what to think on how I will enter the platform?" Okay, tell her now! Tell her that she was such a slow person, the one who needed so much time to pick up instructions.

He would help? Oh Em Gee! Her eyes brightened and instantly said, "Really?"



"Kat!" Erin shouted! She hugged her the moment she saw her beautiful hair! She so missed her. Many many months passed with no Katrina in her life. And it was such a sad life. "I have so many stories to tell you! But that can wait until we get onto the train."

Hmm...apparently his fatherly smile hadn't done the trick. MERLIN! Was he losing his touch!? Was that why his little Princess of Goodness was slipping through his fingers? He thought that the hours he spent in the evenings perfecting it had done the trick. He needed to spend more time apparently.

Simply smiling back at the young girl, Charles began tapping his pant's pockets in anticipation. What was taking his little rosebud so long. It had already been...one minute since he had sent his patronus to go get her. Oh dear! What if something had happened!? What if THAT boy had done something to her?! Charles knew he didn't like him....

His heard turned to the side when he heard the young girl speaking with a boy...and his eyes narrowed. Boys...especially boys at THAT age were dangerous. Charles knew nothing about the boy in front of him right now, but he was keeping an eye on him...

Kurumi had been very surprised when a silvery opossum had appeared at her side, but she had not been surprised at all when her father's voice had come from it. Rolling her eyes, Kurumi had loaded her things to the train and then proceeded to make her way back towards the barrier, emerging from it and walking towards her father. What could possibly have been so important that she come back out?

Just as she was about to ask, she saw two unfamiliar faces standing beside her father looking more than a little nervous. "H-Hello," she said, offering the two of them a polite bow. Were they the reason her father had called her?

Oh, so he HAD heard correctly. Lewis wasn't sure whether to be happy or scared about that. It meant that he HAD to run into a wall after all. Plus, maybe this Claudia girl was wrong too. Well, he was going to find out soon enough since she'd volunteered to go first. "Yeaaah. You go ahead. I'm...uhm...right behind you." Well, probably not RIGHT behind her but close enough. Maybe.

Waiting for her to do something, Lewis continued to let his eyes dart around the place, looking for people running into walls. Suddenly he felt that somebody was looking at him, and with a small wince glanced around only to see that the man standing pretty close to them was GLARING at him. Or at least narrowing his eyes at him. Lewis immediately dropped his gaze to his cat on the ground, biting his lip and kneading his hands together nervously. What had he done wrong?!

All of a sudden there was ANOTHER voice beside him. A girl's voice. There were definitely way too many people talking or at least looking (or glaring) at him for his like. Nonetheless he glanced back up and found himself looking at a quite pretty girl who seemed to be around his age. "Hello." Lewis returned with a small smile for her, trying to ignore the way the man was looking at him.

Oooh, she was wearing a Prefect badge. They were saved! She would know what to do. "I...I'm Lewis." He added, feeling the need to introduce himself before asking for directions. Or help. Or whatever.

He SAW that SMILE! What was the meaning behind it? Hmm? Was this boy planning on trying to become a little more than just friends with his little sugarplum? Charles eyes narrowed a bit more and he turned his attention back to his little girl and removed a small something from his pocket and handed it to her. "You forgot your charm," he said a little sterner than he had intended it to be. There was a SUSPICIOUS boy present.

Kurumi moved slightly to the right, positioning herself between her father and the two...just in case he tried to force them to look at pictures of her or something. "Oh, how could I have forgotten," she giggled as she accepted it. "Thank you, father," she said as she stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

She turned to walk away, but her father had a grip on her hand and certainly wasn't showing signed of letting go. Erm... "Father...it's alright...I'm fifteen now." That had done it. The man in shock, Kurumi turned around to face the two just in time for the boy to introduce himself.

"Hello, Lewis," she smiled, bowing once more out of habit. "I'm Kurumi." She looked at the girl with Lewis, offering her a smile as well before she noticed...A KITTY! "And who is this?!" she squeaked, kneeling down to get a closer look at the adorable little kitty.

The way that man was narrowing his eyes at him made him shuffle his feet nervously. Right now, Lewis wished he could be anywhere but here. Preferably back home. With Valerie. Sighing softly in relief when the Prefect moved to stand between him and the man, his gaze drifted back off and towards the wall they were supposed to run into.

Thank you, father. Oh that explained a lot. Not why the man was glaring at him though. No, not at all. He didn't even KNOW his daughter or anything so why was he glaring at him?! He couldn't help but overhear their interaction which caused him to smile a little. Overprotective parents. He had seen that one before.

Why was she bowing at him? Was that customary here? But no, he had read up a little on Britain and he was pretty sure that it wasn't. So in the end he just smiled at her once more, nodding his head in greeting. "Kurumi." Lewis repeated more to himself than to her in order to remember her name.

Just as he was about to open his mouth again to ask Kurumi how this whole getting-to-the-train thing worked, she noticed Vanilla. Without realizing it he took a step closer to his cat, almost protectively before he could stop himself. She was a Prefect, she wasn't going to do anything to her. Or so he hoped. "That's Vanilla." He introduced her, crouching down next to her as well.

Louisa's reaction made Eino happy, it made him feel like he deserved it, it made him feel like a prefect. Still, he was even more thankful that Louisa's cat decided to lick someone else's shoe. He chuckled at bit as she retrieved her cat then scratched its head while Louisa held it.

If it were up to him this would be the first time, but no. "No, it's not, but I always seem to forget which of them is the one." He said silently as he neared the girl. Eino took his trunk and his cat's carrier and quickly followed Louisa, she looked like she knew where she was going. Ah, and she did know it. He looked towards the place she had nodded to and then looked back at her. "Thanks so very much, I hope I can live up to yours and everyone else's expectations." He said as they reached the wall, then took a step to the side. "Ladies first.... Unless you want me to test it. You know, in case it isn't the right one I wouldn't want you to headbutt the wall." He said looking at it suspiciously. He trusted her but still didn't want her to hurt herself.

Kurumi glanced over her shoulder at her father who...well...seemed to be very much in shock still from their exchange moments ago, which was a very good thing for both her and the two students with her. Last thing she wanted right now was for her father to remove his album from his wallet and start showing baby pictures of her. It had been awkward enough to learn he had been in Sugarplums and tried to PAY with her pictures.

Her eyes flicked back up when he repeated her name and...oh? He didn't have an accent like so many of her classmates. On the contrary, he sounded a lot more like Salander. Her eyes glanced towards the girl with Lewis. Sister perhaps? Kurumi had a hard time telling such things with Western looking people - they all looked so similar to her. "I'm...sorry if this is a rude question, but...you aren't from Great Britain, are you?" And if he was, then she would probably turn the color of one of the sofas in the Gryffindor common room. Kurumi herself had a bit of an accent, seeing as her father was British and her mother Japanese. Thankfully, her Japanese accent had faded over the years, but it was still there.

Kurumi's eyes widened and her face scrunched up like one does when they are making kissy faces to a baby. "Vanilla," she repeated, her voice going up an octave or two. "Aren't you just the most adorable little kitty." Walnut wasn't around, was he? Chances were the cat would pee on Lewis' luggage for that comment. "I have a cat as well, but he is waiting for me on the train right now."

Louisa gave the boy the raising-eyebrows look. He forgot which one was it? That was... ridiculous? How could he miss such a VITAL detail? Shrugging one shoulder after a moment, she spoke, "You can always mark it. Scratch something on its side." Where his hands wouldn't disappear and freak the muggles out. Or he could always wait for someone to run through it and follow. Not Louisa's way of doing things since it involved depending on strangers, but he didn't seem that kind of person so he could claim that last theory.

And then they were right in front of the wall. The girl tightened her grip on the purring cat and took a deep breath... before he suggested the headbutt. With a small laugh, Louisa looked at him sideways, "See that? That's the Prefect in you talking." Keeping others safe. "But, thank you." Another deep breath and focusing on the wall before her, "Meet you on the other side," she breathed before running forward the trunk bump!rolling behind her.

Katrina beamed at Erin. The next thing she knew, Erin had flung her arms around her. Whoa, that was quite tight. Maybe as tight as the hug Katrina got from Erin at the Balcony last time. Well after all the hugging from Erin, the Slytherin was to get used to it. Of course, Katrina hugged back.

"Okay, okay," Katrina giggled. Oh stories? Fantastic! Katrina shall share some too. "It's been a long time since I last saw you!"
The moment of seeing her friends again after a few months of vacation, Katrina kind of thought Erin grew a few inches? or maybe it was Katrina who shrank. Just kidding.

Aaron smiled, this was one of the best parts. Any other wall would hurt, A LOT. But this was like magic- He sniggered to himself, it was magic.
Right, right, he'd been coming here long enough to not get excited about running through a solid brick wall, but still A WALL!

He glanced around, grabbed a hold of his trolley and ran into the wall, not a single scratch on him or his trolley.
This would never get old.

That hug! Oh, it felt like, she was hugging her little sister, the one she was not in good terms as of the moment that may take a lifetime. Erin would really send her to Azkaban if she could. That brat! Ugh! Just thinking of her makes Erin so mad.

"Yah. Later 'kay? What we need to do now is to find a way to cross this thing," said Erin pointing at the wall, the Platform 9 and 3/4. She looked at Kat, she maybe could do it but Erin needed to do it with this guy. She'd rather be crashing with him than crash alone.

The hug went bit awkward when Katrina released from it. But yeah, it's been long. You don't expect someone to get used to it after a while, right? Yeah, okay.

"Yeah, later." Katrina nodded. "Just look for me in the compartments, 'kay?" Katrina took her bag and slung it on her shoulder and grabbed her trolley.

"Bye Erin," Katrina gave one last smile and ran to the Platform. Yeah she ran but that doesn't mean she's scared of it. Psssh...

The way she glanced up at him when he repeated her name made him bite his lip again. Had he mispronounced it or something?! But he was pretty sure that he had said it EXACTLY like she had said it. Well without her accent of course. Was that it maybe? Did it sound funny to her when he said it? But then she looked over his shoulder at Claudia who didn't really have anything to do with the conversation at all so maybe he HAD pronounced her name correctly after all. Hmm.

OH! Was that the reason she had looked at him like that? "No...no, I'm not." Lewis replied softly shaking his head a little. "Are you?" Her father didn't look too foreign but then again you never knew. And he wasn't that good at smalltalk so he had learned that the best way to blend in was to just return the question. So here he was, doing just that. At least her father had stopped shooting daggers at him.

Lewis chuckled softly when Kurumi started talking to his cat which, purring, lifted its head slightly to look at the new person but was way too lazy to actually get up to say hello. "Oh. Maybe they'll get along." He commented with a smile before focusing on the second part of her sentence. Talking of which..."So, where IS the train?" He asked, glancing back around at Claudia before returning his gaze back to Kurumi.

Had there not been a ridiculously adorable kitty in front of her, Kurumi may have found the awkward glances they were exchanging to be, well, awkward. But, that was not the case as fluffy kitties always made everything better. And Vanilla was just so adorable, especially now that he was purring.

Kurumi smiled when her suspicion was confirmed. Merlin, was she ACTUALLY making a decent first impression? No running into someone. Stepping on toes. Blurting out something that she pretended to pass off as being lost in translation...Maybe these were all signs that she was indeed growing up? Being a fifth year didn't seem so bad after all. "I thought so," she replied as she reached to scratch Vanilla behind the ears. "The way you talk reminds me of my friend from America." She frowned a bit as the realization that Salander and the other seventh years wouldn't be back this term washed over her again. Kurumi glanced at her father whose ears seemed to have perked up a bit when Lewis asked his next question. "I'm half-Japanese and grew up in Japan. Father attended Hogwarts, so he wanted my brothers and I to attend it as well."

Father? Charles' daydream state broke and his eyes snapped in the direction of the BOY and his Ambassador of Cuteness. Charles may be an overprotective and obsessive parent, but he didn't like making a scene when his little princess was around. It usually made her hair turn white from fright, and he knew how uncomfortable that made her. Still, this didn't mean that a few harmless glares here and there weren't out of the question...

"The train," Charles interrupted. "Is right through that barrier there." He pointed for emphasis...only he wasn't pointing at the one between Platforms 9 and 10, rather the one between 8 and 9. "I suggest going at it with a bit of a run."

Kurumi sighed and sort of pushed her father to the side, gently. "S-S-Sorry about him," Kurumi said as she bowed in apology. "The platform is right though THAT barrier," she said pointing at the correct one this time and shooting her father a slightly annoyed look.

Merlin. If her father was acting like this around a boy that she hardly knew, what would he do if he ever ran into Jonathan? Kurumi shook her head. She really didn't want to think about that...ever.

Aww, he liked her smile. Why exactly she was smiling, Lewis wasn't sure but he liked it nonetheless. Not that he showed that in any way. Especially not with her father standing nearby. He was starting to believe that he just didn't like him talking to his daughter. Not that he had anything to worry about with him.

At her mention of her American friend, he smiled softly, not really at her but rather to himself, averting his gaze down to Vanilla. "Well, I am too. From Lincoln, Nebraska actually." Lewis replied not completely sure if this was interesting for her, but sharing it anyway. When she mentioned growing up in Japan his green eyes flickered back up at her face. "Oh, so you speak Japanese then?" It was one of the language that had always fascinated him.

Getting up from his crouch again he was quite surprised to hear Kurumi's father answer his question. He purposefully did not look at him, though - the man scared him. A LOT! - but instead followed the direction he was pointing at. Platforms 8 and 9? He was pretty sure it was 9 and-

Oh. Ha yes, very funny. What had he done to the man to make him him so much?! Frowning slightly Lewis picked up Vanilla and placed her on top of his suitcase so she didn't have to walk but he also didn't have to carry her in his arms. "Thanks." He mumbled into Kurumi's general direction as he took a couple of steps towards the CORRECT wall, pulling his suitcase after him. So he was going to have to do this alone after all.

Since Kurumi's father CLEARLY didn't want him near.

Well, you couldn't blame the man for trying, right? Nervously, Charles took another peek at his pocket watch and sighed. He really needed to get going to finish off that paperwork. Reluctantly, he swept his little cupcake up in the most fatherly of fatherly hugs and snuggled her for a moment. "You have a good time, pumpkin," he said. "Don't let that boy do anything to you." WHICH boy he was referring to, well, that he would leave up to everyone's imagination although he really meant every boy at Hogwarts.

After giving her once last kiss on the forehead, Charles began to walk away towards the restrooms so he could use a stall to Apparate out of here.

Giggling, Kurumi waved good bye to her father and then turned her attention back to Lewis. "S-S-Sorry about my father. He means well...just...he is very protective." Poor man felt he had to be after everything he and his children had been through, but this certainly wasn't the time or place for that sort of talk.
Lincoln? Nebraska? Those were sort of funny sounding names and, truth be told, Kurumi could hardly remember where New York was. America was such a big place and one of the States, California if she remember correctly, was actually bigger than her entire country. "Is it..nice there?" Kurumi really knew nothing about America besides New York due to her summer abroad there two summers ago. "I do," she nodded. "Mother insisted that my brothers and I learn Japanese first and then English." Which is why she still had a bit of an accent.

Kurumi looked at the back towards the barrier now and then glanced at the clock. Probably should get Lewis through there before they both missed the train. "Keep both eyes open," she nodded. "I closed both mine my first time and...well...that really didn't end well."

Lewis hadn't really got very far. Only two steps closer to the wall than before he had stopped, staring at it apprehensively. Claudia had disappeared to who-knows-where and now he just had to trust Kurumi enough to actually run into a wall. Was she really THAT trustworthy? But then again she was a PREFECT. Wasn't it like a mortal sin for Prefects to lie to other people? Yeah, he was just going to believe that. It felt reassuring.

Too lost in his own thoughts he completely missed Kurumi's father saying his goodbyes and leaving. All of a sudden Kurumi was next to him again, and he dared a glance over his shoulder at her father's retreating figure. Phew. Finally. "He wanted me to run head-first into a brick wall." Lewis pointed out quietly in reply to her apologies without looking at her. But he couldn't really be angry with HER, it wasn't her fault after all. Not really.

Nodding a little sadly to himself at her question about his hometown, Lewis glanced up at her briefly. "I wish we hadn't left." Was all that he said however, and he was pretty sure that that was enough of an answer. Oh, that was amazing. Maybe she could teach him a couple of words some time. Simply smiling genuinely at her Lewis didn't want to voice his suggestion just now, however. He didn't know her that well after all.

He took a deep breath, his gaze back on the wall he was about to run into...or if what Kurumi was saying was true, through. "Why what happened?!" Whirling around to face Kurumi he stared at her rather anxiously as she admitted that something could indeed go wrong.

Waiting until her father was completely gone in the distance, Kurumi eventually returned her attention to Lewis and tried to study him without looking like she was actually doing so. She was usually a pretty good judge of character, well, reading people was the better term really. From what she could tell, Lewis was really nervous...perhaps even regretting being her. She laughed softly to herself. Just like she had been at first. Just like most students at Hogwarts it seemed. They were all in good company.


She laughed nervously. "Yeah...s-s-sorry about that," she said again, rubbing the back of her neck. "Father has always been very protective of me...I'm the only daughter...and...he just doesn't want to see me get hurt anymore." A small frown appeared on her lips, but it was only momentary. Just be lucky that Lewis was someone she had met just now and wasn't anything more than someone seeking her help as a prefect.

His tone didn't escape her ears, and she instinctively put a hand on his shoulder. "I am sure that Hogwarts will become like a home to you," she said honestly. "It has for me."

Kurumi took a step forward, but stopped when he spoke again. "Oh...um...well...I shut both my eyes and missed the barrier all together. Crashed right into a non-magical couple and there trolley." One of the more embarrassing moments of her first year to be sure.