Stepping onto platform 9 3/4 was like something out of a movie of Maisie's imagination. The platform was littered with schoolchildren of all ages and their families. Some were happily hugging them as they stepped on the train, some clinging to their parents, desperate not to part from them.

"Alright Mais, you got everything?" asked Rachel, crouching down so she was on Maisie's level. Maisie simply nodded with a big grin on her face.

They both looked to the Hogwarts Express as the train sounded, signalling to everyone who was still on the platform that it would be leaving soon. Maisie instantly whipped around and wrapped her arms around Rachel, as if she was going to disappear forever.

"That's your cue!" Rachel spoke to her, quickly wiping the tear from her eye. She told herself it was just hay fever.

With one last quick hug, Maisie made her way to the train entrance which was closest to them and stepped into the vehicle. She turned around to face Rachel who she had left on the platform and gave her a bittersweet smile that was accompanied by a small wave. It now dawned on her that this would be the first time she was completely by herself. Of course, she had felt alone on that night of her parent's death, but she had Rachel with her.

As the train began to move, she was torn out of her thoughts as she was jolted to the side of the small entryway, banging her shoulder on the wall.

"Geez woman, watch it there," said a voice from behind her as a hand slid the door closed. "Am I going to have to keep an eye on you or do you not plan to almost fall onto the tracks again?".

Slightly shocked by the sudden speech directed towards her, Maisie turned around to see a boy who was slightly taller than her, standing in the corridor of the train. The sun reflected through the windows of the door on his sepia-coloured skin. He had dark black dreadlocks which ended in the middle of his forehead and was now looking directly at her with his brown eyes.

"I don't plan on falling to my death any time soon, no" she quickly replied. As she said this, it was followed by a silence that prolonged much longer than she would have personally liked.

"Are you going to thank me or just stand still as you have been for the past 3 minutes?" he asked, a hint of humour lacing his tone.

Maisie raised her eyebrows and let out an over-the-top sigh. "Thank you, kind sir, I wouldn't know what I would have done without you".

"Lee Jordan" he replied, sticking out his hand in a friendly manner to Maisie who happily accepted it.

"Maisie Heart" she responded, shaking the hand which was now held in his grip.

"I'm guessing by the amount of luggage you're a first year too?" he asked, seeming almost hopeful that her answer confirmed his thoughts.

"You would be correct"

"Oh thank Merlin, I've been walking up and down this bloody train for like 10 minutes not having a clue where to go. Now, at least I won't look like as much of an idiot because someone else in the same position will be with me".

Maisie laughed at this, maybe this year wouldn't be as daunting as she thought. Lee seemed like someone she'd want to be friends with. She walked with him down the train as they both tried to scout out a compartment with nobody in it. After a couple of minutes, Maisie spotted an empty compartment and they both made a direct beeline for it, not wanting to take any chances. Lee slid open the door, allowing both of them to step into it. Maisie instantly slouched down on one of the cushioned seats, gently placing her suitcase and the cat beside her.

"Nice cat, does it have a name?" he asked Maisie.

"No", she replied, "she remains nameless for the time being".

"Fair enough" Lee replied. "I could never deal with such a big pet like a cat, they look like so much effort to look after. My pet, Malcolm, is tiny. He could fit right in my pocket"

"Aw, he sounds cute" Maisie replied, wanting to know more about Malcolm.

"He is. His fur is so soft, it's relaxing when I get a chance to stroke him" Lee responded to her.

"Do you have him on you now? He sounds lovely" Maisie asked him politely. Lee nodded and took the backpack he had been wearing off of his back and pulled out a clear, plastic container.

"MERLIN!" Maisie yelped as he fully lifted the container out into the open. She pushed herself further into the back of the seat she was on, desperate to get as far away from the animal as possible. Inside the container was the largest tarantula she had ever seen. It had blue undertones on its hairy back and remained still. "Keep him away from me, thanks" she spoke, hesitantly moving back to the position in which she had been previously sitting.

"That's quite alright, my whole family is scared of him too. Poor little guy" he said as he double-checked the lid was on securely.

Before Maisie could reply to this, the door of their compartment was harshly bolted open by two familiar boys, excitement prominent on her face. As Maisie looked at them closer, she suddenly realised where she had seen them before. 'Diagon Alley!' she thought to herself. Of course. Where else would she have seen hair as red as theirs?

"Which ones Jordan?" asked one of them as they both stepped inside without any warning. Maisie instantly pointed towards Lee, as far as she was concerned, those two caused trouble and she didn't want to be any part of it.

"Rumour has it, you've got a tarantula somewhere lurking about in here" the other one stated, looking expectantly at Lee.

"I have no clue what you're on about" he replied to them, his expression not changing once.

Unsatisfied with the answer given to them, they noisily began to look around the room Maisie and Lee were both sitting in, trying to find any signs of the small animal. Becoming slightly agitated, Lee got up and ushered them both out of the compartment. One of the boys looked up to face them at the last minute and looked her directly in the eyes.

"Hey! Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked rather hurriedly as they were pushed out of the room.

"Nope!" she replied and shut the door in their faces as soon as they were out. Lee returned to his seat and once more, pulled out the plastic cage.

"They're going to be bad news if they carry on saying I have Malcolm on me" he spoke, sighing in relief that Malcolm was now out of harm's way, for the time being. Maisie furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why it would be bad for people to know about Malcolm's existence. Lee shook his head. "Spiders aren't on the list of pets you can bring to Hogwarts, they're classified as too dangerous", he explained to Maisie, "Malcolm on the other hand, wouldn't hurt a soul".

Maisie watched as Lee opened the lid, allowing the tarantula to crawl into his hand. Lee lifted up his index finger on his other hand which was followed by Malcolm lifting up one of his legs, almost looking as if he was giving Lee a high five. Maisie had to admit, as gross as Malcolm was, that was kind of cute.

"Bunch of idiots", he muttered under his breath, "they've terrified him" he spoke in a frustrated tone, placing Malcolm back into the container and placing the lid on top.

Maisie glanced out of the door, noticing a blonde-haired girl stop in front of their compartment and slide open the door with a soft smile. Maisie's eyes flicked down to her robes where she saw a shiny badge which said the word 'prefect' on it. She instantly looked to Lee who shared the same expression as her, both worried she had come here to ask about Malcolm.

"The train will be stopping soon, I'd suggest you two get changed into your robes now" she finally spoke after a couple of minutes and closed the door after her, continuing up the train to tell the other students the same news. The two eleven-year-olds let out a sigh, relieved.

"Well, I'm going to go and get changed and leave you to console Malcolm" Maisie spoke, a hint of harmless sarcasm in her voice.

"Har har", replied Lee with a smile, "you go do that".

So she did.

Maisie slid out into the hallway of the train and walked down to where the sign for the toilets was, her robes dangling over the side of her arm as she neared it. As Maisie reached her destination, she pulled open one of the cubicle doors and locked it s nobody could get in. Now, it actually felt real.

As Maisie finished getting changed, she brushed down her robes slightly to smooth out any creases, unlocked the door and stepped out into the hallway. It was now visibly a lot busier compared to the last time she was there. It was filled with students bustling around, some going to the many cubicles to get changed and some looking for their friends to say their brief goodbyes.

She made her way back to the compartment where she was met with Lee who was already dressed in his robes.

"You're just in time," he said, motioning towards the window where Maisie could see a platform of a train station slowly coming into view. As the Hogwarts Express came to a stop, floods of people were instantly seen from the window that was filing out on the concrete floor. Lee and Maisie began to collect all of their belongings and join the rest of the students.

They were soon both ushered out back into the fresh air and grouped together with all of the other first-year students by a rather jolly man. He was particularly larger than all of the rest of the professors that she could see and he had a black beard that was covering most of his neck.

"Yer alright?" he asked to a group of nervous first years who quickly nodded their head and hurried to the rest of the group who was standing just a little behind him. As the platform began to quieten down, he turned to the now large swarm of first-years and gave them all a big smile.

"Alright students", he began, "I'm Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts. Now I know some of yer will be worried, but not to worry, I might be a bit bigger than the rest but I won't bite!" he spoke, attempting to make a joke which was only received by very few nervous laughs among the crowd. Letting out an awkward cough, he then instructed everyone to follow him and held up a lamp to guide everyone in where they were going.

"It's a bit dark down here, isn't it. What's the chance he's leading us to our death?" joked Lee who was nudging Maisie in her side with his elbow. She sniggered at this. They were both interrupted as a light tap on the backs of their shoulders was felt. Maisie and Lee turned around, confused as to why someone would have done that. As they did so, they were faced with a group of three girls, two blonde's and one brunette who had the harshest scowls on their faces that Maisie had ever seen.

"You know, that isn't something to joke about. It's a very likely thing that could happen, it's very insensitive. My friend was already nervous and you've just made that ten times worse" one of the blonde girls spoke.

Lee simply scoffed and pushed Maisie further away from them, not bothered at all by their unnecessary rudeness.

"I bet they're fun at parties" he commented bluntly, causing Maisie to snigger even louder. She could practically feel the death stares burning into her back.