Joey thought he woke up late that morning - he had after all, been up half the night reading his new school books. Before he had even opened his eyes he knew it was going to be hot. He could feel the sun through a gap in the curtains shining onto his face. It was probably that which had woke him, he thought as he opened his eyes, only to be half blinded by the brightness that shone onto him.
Putting his hand in front of his face, he pulled off the covers and rolled out of bed. Glancing at his bag, he could see his awful attempt at packing the night before. All he had managed to put in was his clothes and a few items he hadn't opened yet - his scales and telescope. He picked up the book he had fallen asleep reading off his bed - Hogwarts: A History - and tried to flatten the folded pages before snapping the book shut and putting it down with the rest of his books, next to his bed. He dressed quickly, putting on his favourite jeans and flannel shirt.
After picking up his books from the pile on the floor, he crossed the room and slotted them neatly into his bag, before looking round for the rest of what he needed. What did he need? He hadn't really thought about it apart from what was listed on his supplies list - he had all that from going to Diagon Alley a couple of weeks previously with his mum and the Hogwarts representative. He packed everything he could think of, quickly, but in an ordered way.
He picked up his bag, thinking it was extremely heavy, and proceeded downstairs where he presumed everyone woud be just about ready to go. After putting his bag by the front door he walked into the kitchen, glancing at the clock on the way in. It was only 6:15 - they didnt have to leave for at least another 2 hours.
He flicked on the kettle, put a tea-bag in a mug and waited for everyone else to wake up.


Joey said goodbye to his parents outside Kings Cross Station. He had been on many trains on his own, even going from Wales to Luton - where they had been staying to make the journey to London in the morning shorter - on his own in the past.
He walked into the station, weighed down by his over-sized bag, being jostled by people that didn't seem to notice him pushing his way through the crowd towards the departures board. He scanned the board looking for his train - platform 7; platform 8; platform 9; platform 10 - platform 9 3/4 didn't seem to exist. This didnt seem too much of a problem to him. After all, it was only 2 months ago he had found out the wizarding world existed at all! It's not as if it was advertised, he thought to himself, turning around and making his way towards platforms 9 and 10. He would have to figure it out when he was there.
Turning a corner, he saw a big 9 and a big 10, seperated by a section of brick wall. The platforms were getting busier and people kept walking in front of him. If he could only see, surely someone would do something. He thought to himself of a magical way to get to platform nine and three quarters - maybe there was an invisible door and you had to knock for them to open it. He started towards the two platforms, trying not to take his eyes off the area he thought something must happen soon.
He stopped and blinked. A girl with long brown hair had just walked through the wall like it wasn't there. He never imagined there could ever be a pretend wall in such a busy place. Surely someone would accidentally fall through it.
He walked closer, hoping there wasn't a special trick he had to do before he could dissapear into the wall. When he reached the wall, he stood in front of it and looked round to make sure nobody was watching him, lifted up his hand and put his finger straight into a brick. It wasn't solid. He pulled his finger back out quickly, not wanting to lose it in 'the void'.
Although he knew this was the way, he felt nervous. It was to be expected, he had never done it before, he thought to himself. Taking a deep breath he plunged forwards into the wall and went straight through, to be greeted by a scarlett steam train and a platform full of people hugging and waving each other. The girl he had seen dissapear through the wall was nowhere to be seen.
He stepped forwards just as someone appeared behind him through the wall. Full of excitement, Joey took a step over the gap and up onto the train. It was busy, but nowhere nearly as busy as the platform he noted as he glanced into the first compartment he went past. Noticing it was empty, he slid open the door, stepped inside, dropped his bag onto the floor and slid into a seat, admiring how he had figured out how to get onto the platform.

Gienna sniffed. It wasn't to hold back tears, she wasn't a crier. It was more like to hold back all of the past she didn't want to think about after she stepped through the barrier. Hogwarts wasn't some dangerous journey that she unlikely to return from, she was just heading off to school. But it was boarding school, which made a big difference. She wasn't going to come home every evening to complain about how annoying or how hilarious her day had been. She would have to reflect on how dumb she acted, how much she had to suppress the deep empathy for others that she had, just so she'd could keep up that menacing demeanor.

But she could really forget about her worries, she was in a new environment. The students didn't know her nor did they give a crap about her existence...for now, at least. While Gienna expected to be less of an antagonist and bit more friendly, she was definitely not going to let anyone step on her. At her old school she got into her own handful of fights, most of them caused by her, but she was planning on loosening up and breaking a genuine smile more often, followed by more friendly actions.

So that was what her sniff was for, to forget about the past, mostly, and relieve herself of any tension. She guessed that it was her own version of a cry, whereas she shared both grief yet ecstasy but let go of it in one, minuscule sniff.

Gienna rushed towards the barrier—a breath later she was on Platform 3/4, surrounded by many other wizards and witches. She heard hoots, croaks, and meows—and was that a hiss?—but she didn't care, little blond was looking for her family.

All of them had since made their way through the barrier, left waiting because Gienna had insisted on taking her time, living in the moment. Her mother would be annoyed, and her brother Stephen as well, but they knew that Gienna could care less; right now she was going to give all her attention to them.

After exchanging hugs, friendly banter, and a few jokes here and there, Gienna finally said goodbye, kissing her parents fair well and giving wet ones to her younger brothers, she headed onto the train. The porter was there waiting somewhat patiently and took her luggage and other bags. Gienna barely handed them off before climbing aboard and disappearing into the train.

She thought it was kind of lame to wave at people through the window so she didn't but Gienna managed to catch a wink from her father and a blow kiss from her mother, who sure enough so her. Gienna sucked her teeth but smiled, ducking her head to really disappear.

Gienna didn't care where she sat, as long as she wouldn't be bored to death by any horrid loners, bookworms, or blabbermouths. She wanted to sit with someone decent, chill but also interesting, and she had to be quick because the jolt of the train signaled that it was beginning to move. A lot of the compartments were crowded so Gienna, desperate, entered the nearest one, nearly colliding with it's sole occupant.

"Sorry," she muttered, as she barely avoided falling into the boy. Gienna quickly sat down in the seat across from him, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Hullo..." The girl glanced from him to his baggage then back up. He actually was not bad-looking but that didn't make her want to be especially kind to him. "Gienna Koski, you?"

"I'm Joey", he said, giving the girl a faux-confident smile. He looked at her, trying to figure her out, something he knew he wasn't very good at.
"Have you been here before?" he asked, adding "I mean, is this your first year?"
He was torn between hoping she was - so he knew someone in his year before he got there - and hoping she wasn't - so he could ask her how it all worked. He had a million questions to ask the first person that was willing to answer them.
He looked around the compartment - it was very much like the outside of the train, although it wasn't red. There was room for, Joey guessed, six grown adults to sit on the bench like seats - on on each side. There was a big glass window to the side of him, between the seats, with a smaller window at the top, which was open.
The seats themselves were very sort a comfortable, green and high-backed. Everything in the compartment seemed to be made of very well polished oak, and reminded him of the various muggle steam trains he had been on in the past.
Looking back towards the girl he noticed she didn't have a bag or trunk with her and wondered if he'd missed something and was supposed to have left it somewhere.

Gienna nodded with a raised brow. "Yeah I'm new here—what of it?" she asked in a threatening tone but there was humor in her eyes. "Just kidding...maybe."Even though he clearly asked just out of curiosity, and perhaps a bit out of unease, by the looks of him, she had the urge to be aggressive. It was funny to see people blanch and get apologetic, even if they hadn't meant harm at all. In this case it would probably leave her feeling guilty later, being in the same situation as him, but Gienna wanted to relieve some of her own pent up anxiety.

She took a look around the compartment, too; it wasn't much but they'd be in it for the next few hours so they had to get used to it. Gienna wasn't one for room decoration outside of her own so she merrily pursed her lips. "You look my age so you're probably a first year like me. Where you from?" Usually Gienna was good at judging whether people fit more on the coward side or the courageous side, even for people older than her, but he was a bit difficult. Joey didn't look like a weenie, more like some average guy doing average everyday things but probably had some hidden some of hide, like being especially talented or especially clever. Gienna wondered what he was thinking of her. He probably thinks I'm a creep, she thought, snickering.

Joey wasn't all that impressed by the girl. She seemed a bit smug and hadn't even told him her name, but thought it polite to try and start a conversation.
"I live in Wales, right in the middle", he didn't think he needed to share the fact he was muggle born just yet, "and this is my first year too!".
"Don't you have any luggage?", he asked, again thinking he was supposed to have done something with his before getting on the train, despite seeing the wooden-railed luggage racks above his head.
The train had left London by now and the mass of towers and high-rise flats behind. It was whizing through the countryside, passing the odd village or hamlet or skirting around a dense forest. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, bar a few whispy flecks of white, slowly getting smaller and disappearing one by one, into the blanket of light blue that lay behind it.
Joey wondered how far they had come - how far was left to go? He realised he didn't even know where they were going, apart from it was called Hogwarts, he had found the platform he was departing from and had got on the train, without questioning it. He thought of the life he would be leaving behind - the local High School he would never go to, the friends he would never make there. His thoughts quickly changed to what lay ahead - his new school, a new life, magic - he could hardly wait.