The train carried on loudly beneath her, its engine grumbling in complaint of the heavy load of students and their luggage- not to mention the squealing and screeching of their pets. The horn echoed through the countryside, which was rushing by, every once in a while. Angelica watched the land pass her in short flashes of colour; bunches of green- trees and stretches of grass,- sometimes the blue/green of a lake.

Even though the view had such colour and life, Angelica paid it no attention. She tucked in her earpods to listent to her muggle music and gazed boredly through the window. Her only thoughts were of her family back home in London.  She wouldn’t see the city again until Christmas, and that was months away. Until then, she would be stuck in that school with those students; she didn’t even want to think its name. She held back tears, knowing that pre-teen students were passing by her compartment window at that very moment, laughing merrily at inside jokes that they had created over the past years.

Angelica never had done well with other kids; she often tried, but would simply and wholly end up embarrassing herself. She was very close with her family, though, especially her sister, Jenny. However, Jenny wouldn’t be joining Angelica at Hogwarts. To her sister’s dismay, Jenny was what was called a squib, and would be carrying on her remaining school years in the muggle world, without Angelica. Even if she were joing Angelica at Hogwarts, it wouldn’t be for another two years, anyhow.

Angelica thought back to the day that her letter asking her to join the school had arrived. It had been a relatively silent day for the city, and Angelica could see the whites of the clouds sweeping quickly across the blue of the sky, making her quite dizzy. She and her mom had been sitting out on the balcony of their apartment, when there was a familiar swoosh of wings and hoot of an owl overhead. A letter dropped in her lap.

Her mother, who was tanning herself, said lazily, “Is it for me?” Angelica had thought it must have been, so she tossed it to her mom without looking, burying herself back into her favorite book of fiction.

Her mother yelped excitedly next to Angelica, making her jump.

“What? Come on, what is it, mom? Did Aunty Helena have her baby early?” Angelica gasped, expecting the best: that there would be another baby cousin in the family.

“No, no, Angy, it’s for you!” Angelica couldn’t tell why her mother was so excited; she hadn’t even opened the letter yet. She tossed Agnelica the letter like it was a hot potato, “Open it!” She squealed, shaking with excitement.

“Okay, okay, Mom. Letter is being opened,” Angelica had said.

Upon the letter, in emerald green writing, was her name, her address, and her apartment number. Angelica didn’t read the rest, but instead flipped over the envelope to find it sealed with a red wax stamp.

“Who uses wax stamps anymore?” Angelica said to her mother, laughing a little bit, “oooooh is this from old Uncle Steve with the chin mole?” She asked jokingly.

“Oh, come on just open it, you’ll see!”

Angelica looked closer at the seal, it had a big letter H in the middle and several icons that Angelica couldn’t decipher. She ripped open the envelope and her heart sank: it was her letter of acceptance to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

At that moment on the train, there was a knock on her compartment door. A stout boy with mousy brown hair and a freckled nose stood with his nose pressed against the window. He looked a bit younger than Angelica was.

He poked his head in and asked, “Can I sit in here with you? All of the other compartments are full.”

Angelica pulled out her head phones, “Oh… sure, yeah.”

“Thanks!” The kid said, but continued to peer at Angelica. “Are those… things in your head those muggle Head Phillers?” He asked.

“Oh, uh well I guess. They’re actually called headphones or earpods… or earphones,” She added when the kid continued to stare.

They sat still like that for what had to be another thirty minutes, not talking, and shooting nervous glances at each other.

Thenncame another knock at the door; it was the trolly woman. “Anything from the trolly, dears?” She asked, sliding open the door before anyone had waved her in. “I also have bottled pumpkin juice this year!” She sang, wagging a finger at the pair.

The other kid almost replied, but Angelica cut him off with a shake of her head to the trolly woman.

Despite the constant staring and occasional coughs of the mousy haired boy sitting across from her, Angelica began to doze off, when, yet again, she was interrupted by a knock at the cabin door.

This time, however, it was an asian girl who looked to be a bit older than Angelica. She had bushy blondish-brown hair (that could very well have been a very fuzzy cat) , a small round nose, and stubby wand sticking out of her robes. When Angelica looked up, the girl immediately slid the door open.

“Wow- it’s crazy out there!” The girl said airly, as if she had gone out to fetch them drinks a minute ago, “In the next hall over, the weasley twins have been setting off dung bombs in some compartments to try and, I dunno, smoke the girls out,” She said with a laugh, waving her hands to show the smoke, “Luckily, I rushed over here before they got to my compartment- may I sit here?” She added, but before Angelica could say no the girl already sat down. She was breathing heavily, and slumping against her seat, but was smiling with delight.

“I’m Gina Chang, by the way,” She said, sticking out her hand to Angelica, and when Angelica didn’t respond, she swept her arm instead towards the boy across the compartment from the two girls. “And you are?”

“McLaggen- Henry McLaggen.” He replied through a mouthful of chocolate chip cookies that Angelica hadn’t noticed that he was eating. “It’s really nice to meet you,” he said, his thick irish accent growing clearer. He smiled, showing chocolate that was stuck to his teeth.

Gina smiled at him, then turned back to Angelica and said, “Well, you’ve got to tell me your name now. I’m dying to know.” The new girl winked at Angelica and looked at her expectantly.

“Well, my name is Angelica Harper.” Angelica said, and plainly stuffed her headphones back into her ears.

“Well, Harper, I’ve never seen you before. What year are you in?”

Agelica irritadely pulled her headphones back out of her ears, “I supose I’ll be in my sixth year since I’ve turned sixteen just this last march. However, I’m a new student at Hogwarts. So I don’t know. That’s why you don’t know me, and why you’ll probably- no hopefully- forget me after this!” She said harshly, and thought that she would finally be able to start listening to music again. Yet, there came a tap at her shoulder a mere five minutes later. It was Gina.

“Well, McLaggen here is a third year and I myself am a sixth year as well as you ought to be, so we can teach you about the school. I guess you’ll be sorted today as well? Oh it’s very excting…” And Gina continued on like that for several more minutes, talking about the school and the teachers and subjects, Henry McLaggen piping in every couple of minutes to add a thing or two. Angelica took it all in, but wasn’t going to let them know that; she wasn’t in the mood to lose potential aquaintences with her awquardness right now, she was in the mood to listen to Ariana Grande.

Eventually, Gina asked something that actually required Angelica to respond, “What are those things with wires in your ears?”

“Headphones.”
“And what do you do with them?”

“I can listen to music from my phone with ‘em.”

“I guess you’re not really going to elaborate?” Angelica shook her head no, yet Gina continued, “Well, my guess is that you’re from a muggle family. Do you agree, McLaggen?”

“Oh, yes!” Henry said, on the edge of his seat and ready to continue, “My father works at the English Minstry of Magic and sometimes he has to take me through the underground to take me to his work. Muggle types are always wearing those. Me mum tried them out once, but they were all silent. Plus the wires dangled all over her supper.

“I heard a rumor that ya can’t use muggle technology on the grounds of Hogwarts so, you might as well pack that right up now, Angela.”

“It’s Angelica.” She said sternly.

“You best pack that up right quickly, An-gel-i-ca.” he corrected himself. Angelica giggled at him for a moment, and then Henry burst out laughing.

“S-sorry!” he said in between laughs, “I’m guess I’m bad with names.

Angelica and Gina glanced at eachother and giggled at his hystaria. “No, it’s quite all right, McLaggen, I think I will live. Oh, and by the way, I’m not from a muggle family. I guess I just grew up surrounded by ‘em for some reason.”

After several minutes of Henry saying Angelica and Gina’s name incorrectly and being corrected, plus the many questions that Angelica asked about Hogwarts, the trolly passed by their glass door again.

Gina jumped up and said in a moan, “Aw man, I haven’t had any candy yet. I’m gonna try and flag the trolly down. Would either of you like anything?”

Angelica asked only for a sugar quill, but henry piped up and ask for tow bottles of pumpkin juice, three chocolate frogs, a sugar quill, a box of burty botts every flavoured jelly beans, and finally a skivving snackbox.

“They sell those on the train?” Angelica asked incredilously after Gina ran out to find the trolly cart.

“What- a snack box?” Henry asked, “Oh, for sure. They’re technically not alowed on campus but that George Weasly fellow who makes ‘em found a way to get ‘em sold here. Apparently the headmistress has a soft spot for him.” He said, touching his chest.

“Huh. That’s pretty awesome! Can I have one of your puking pastilles if ya get one?” she asked him.

“Of course! I hate those, anyways. For some reason, my stomach ache won’t go away after I’ve eaten them!”

Several minutes later, Gina showed up cradeling two armfuls of sweats, and said that she had flagged the trolly lady down but had to ‘fight her for it’. The three kids enjoyed the rest of their trainride stuffing themselves silly with chocolate frogs, and dairing eachother to try jelly beans.