King's Cross Station was disturbed by the shrieking of a child's tantrum.

"Why can't I ride it!" screamed five-year old, James Shin, obnoxiously. Two identical clones of the boy, Jordan and Bryant, were walking silently behind him. Their faces gazed upon the eldest son, the eleven year-old, Justin Shin, gauging to see how the boy would react. Justin paid no mind. The boy kept walking.

The second eldest, nine year-old, Kevin, grabbed little James by the wrist and tugged him hard but gentle enough so he wouldn't hurt his little brother. "Stop. Calm down," Kevin firmly commanded James.

James forced his arm out of Kevin's hand and began screaming to make a point. Justin finally turned around and gently smiled at his distressed brother. "What's wrong superhero? What got you so upset?"

"It's no fair, it's no fair! Why does Kayla get to be in a stroller!" James replied. All of a sudden, Jordan and Bryant began sprinting the opposite direction. Kevin went chasing after the boys.

Justin laughed at the other two triplets running and returned his attention back to James. "James... You're five. Kayla is two. She is a baby. That stroller is for babies."

Kevin came back with the two boys.

Justin wiped the tears from James' eyes, but the toddler pushed his hand away and began throwing a tantrum again. The other two of the triplets began running the other direction in which Kevin began chasing them.

The triplets froze. James stopped crying and the other two stopped crying and turned around. Justin was glaring at them with the power of the terrifying presence of the eldest sibling. Without a word, the triplets stood in a single file line behind Kevin.

Mr. Shin showed up holding Kayla, and pushing an empty stroller. Baby Kayla was on his shoulders with her face buried on his shoulder. He walked over to Justin and gave him his phone. Mrs. Shin was on video call.

"So you're off to be... ya know. A wizard!" Mrs. Shin said through the phone. A large gray catlike beast was cuddling with her.

Justin's eyes grew twice their size, "Is that a snow leopard?! How'd you even find one? How'd you even get it to cuddle with you like that? Those things are so rare."

Justin turned to notice, Kayla was crying. "What's wrong, baby?" Justin asked.

"Big brother leaving," baby Kayla said with tears coming from her eyes. Mr. Shin handed Kayla over to Justin.

"I'll be back, though," Justin said sweetly, while leaning his forehead on his sister's. "You'll have a wizard older brother. Isn't that so cool?" Kayla shook her head hard and began crying her face into Justin's shirt.

Mr. Shin had to force Kayla off of Justin. On the other hand, the triplets were fighting over who gets the empty stroller. Justin quickly said goodbye to his parents as Mr. Shin ended the call with his wife, and took the four babies back to the car. "I love you, boy," Mr. Shin said, one last time in the midst of the chaos.

It was just Kevin and Justin.

Justin acted like he was knighting Kevin with a sword. "I now give my title to you, Third in Command of the Shin family." He then stopped and glared and Kevin. "You touch any of my Le Sserafim posters, it's done. I'm ending you right there."

Kevin shook his head, "I don't care dude. That's all yours." He then looked at Justin with a grin. "About the posters under your bed that you don't use though..."

Justin smiled. "Take all that you want."

Kevin pumped his fist in excitement and thanked his brother.

Justin's face then glared at Kevin with a menacing look once more, "But not my Biggie poster or the Jordan Last Shot."

Kevin gulped as he nodded. "So... where's your train?"

Justin looked around. "So magic teacher told me I had to run towards the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10." Justin and Kevin dully looked over at the brick barrier.

"That's got to be a prank," Kevin replied. Suddenly, another Hogwarts student ran and went inside the barrier. Kevin rubbed his eyes, "Excuse me?" Justin and Kevin stared at each other, then at the barrier again.

Justin took out a coin and tossed it at the wall. It bounced off like any old regular wall. "Oh, nah. That's wild," Justin commented.

Kevin shrugged, "I guess you gotta run in. Seems magical to me."

Justin looked at the barrier and exhaled. This was nothing. If he crashed into a wall, that wasn't so bad right? Might hurt a little bit, that sucks. He didn't want to look stupid either. But his fit was clean today, so it might not be that bad. He looked down at his outfit. He had on a graphic hoodie of a cartoon raccoon with sunglasses and dark jeans with Red and Black Jordan 1s. He had a silver chain around his neck. Oh goodness. What if he scuffed his Jordan's while falling though?

"Okay, here it goes." He looked over at Kevin, who had taken out his phone to record. Justin glared and second eldest slowly put it away. Justin Shin took a deep breath and ran towards the barrier...

... he came out the other side. Suddenly, he was in the presence of many wizarding families and Hogwarts students, all busy trying to board their things onto the train. It was a completely different world. Even the clothes were very different than what he was used to in the Muggle world.

Justin looked back at at the barrier he just came out of. He missed his family already. His dad's cooking, his mom's animal facts, his pride and joy Kevin, the rowdy triplets, and of course sweet baby Kayla. A tear welled up in his eyes but he quickly wiped them away.

"Real men don't cry. I'll make the Shin family proud," Justin said out loud, with an optimistic grin.

WC:998

Theodora Green hugged her father.

“I’m going to miss you dad… And you too Max.”

She ruffled her hand through her little brother’s hair. He looked at her and smiled through his tears. He had cried all the way to King's Cross Station, but now he was a bit calmer.

“Ready to go? Didn’t forget anything?” Mr. Green asked.

“No, I didn’t forget anything. I’m ready to go.” Theodora replied. She felt slightly nervous, but mostly she was very excited.

Mr. Green sighed and smiled at Theodora. “You’re getting so big. And now you'll become just as great a witch as your mother.”

Theodora hugged him one more time, then she stepped away and turned her trolley towards the barrier between platform 9 and 10. She waved at her father and her brother. Then she ran right at the barrier and went through it.
Light blinded her for a moment when she got at the other side of the barrier. She shut her eyes tight and when she opened them again she was standing at platform 93/4. Her mouth fell open. There were so many people here. Thousands of students, some with family-members, others on there own. And the train! The train was breathtaking.


Theodora had been staring at the beautiful Hogwarts Express when she heard a voice right behind her. She turned around and saw a tall boy with black hair standing only one feet away from her. He wasn't looking at her. Theodora hadn't really heard what the boy had said and she wasn't sure if he had talked to her.

"Eh... Hi! Were you talking to me?" Theodora asked, eager to get to know this other student.

Justin quickly snapped out of his personal inner goodbye to his family, and turned to the girl in front of him. Justin stared blankly at the girl.

Hope she didn't see that. Wait... I didn't cry. Why am I trying to hide it? Justin thought to himself.

He blankly blinked a couple of times, causing a moment of awkward silence between the two first-years. "I... I wasn't talking to you," Justin replied, awkwardly.

It was a blond girl with a slim and round face. From the looks of her clothes, it was quite clear that she grew up in a wizarding household, rather than a muggle home like him.

I wonder if my outfits clean in the magic world. Justin thought to himself. The style is quite different here

"So uh... I assume we take that Polar Express train to Warthog?" Justin spoke up, trying not to make the girl feel awkward. Justin was bad with names of not just people, but things in general. He had no idea Warthog was actually called Hogwarts.

Normally, Justin was quite picky when introducing himself and making friends. He did not like wasting time with people he didn't even like. When new people tried to get close to him, he'd put up a wall. He would rather spend his time with his chosen people than make new ones... but seeing as he has none right now...

"I'm Justin by the way. Justin Shin," Justin smiled warmly. Please, don't be a weirdo Justin thought to himself.

WC: 252

Of course the boy hadn't been talking to Theodora. Stupid of her to assume he had been. It was quiet for a moment. Then the boy started talking again.

Theodora smiled a little when the boy spoke of the Polar Express, she thought he was joking. He has a good sense of humour. Theodora thought.
But when he went on and spoke of Warthog and still didn't show signs of it being a joke, Theodora frowned. Was he being serious? She wasn’t sure.
Theodora wanted to say something about it. She wanted to tell him what the train and the school were actually called, but what if the boy indeed was joking? Theodora would look quite stupid if she took this so seriously.

After a few seconds Theodora decided that she was going to say something. She didn’t really care if she would look stupid, she just wanted to make sure that the other student knew the actual names of the train and the school. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he spoke again.
He told Theodora that his name was Justin.

"Nice to meet you, Justin.” Theodora said. She held out her hand for Justin to shake. “My name is Theodora. Theodora Green."

Theodora hesitated for a moment, then she added: "You do know that it’s the Hogwarts Express and not the Polar Express, right?”

Justin shook Theodora's hand and laughed out loud. It wasn't Warthog. It was Hogwarts. Of course, he, of all people would mistake the name of a famous wizard school with an African boar.

"Polar Express was a joke. Warthog wasn't," Justin cracked up. "My bad. I'm a muggle-born. You probably don't know what the Polar Express even is, huh. I promise I am funnier than this."

Justin had no idea if he was being rude or not. It seemed like the muggle world and wizard world definitely had different social norms... wizards having magic and all. Also there was definitely some slang in the muggle world that never made it to the wizarding world. He called a shopkeeper in Diagon Alley "big dog" once and had gotten a quite negative response. The boy had to explain his intentions to calm the shopkeeper down. What did he call Justin? Mudblood or something? Justin remembered saying 'thank you' to the shopkeeper because he thought it was a cool nickname.

In the chaos of the students trying to board the train someone accidentally stepped on Justin's Jordan 1s. The boy quickly bent down and cleaned his J's. He got up and his eyes were filled with vengeful anger. However, the person that stepped on his shoes had disappeared into the crowd.

"You didn't get to see that kid's face did you?" Justin asked Theodora, as he menacingly glared into the crowd.

WC: 242

So the Polar Express had in fact been a joke. Still, Theodora was glad she had been able to help Justin by telling him the name of the school. She laughed with him. She was happy she had been able to get into a conversation with another student so easily.

"But if you're a muggle-born, all of this is really new to you, isn't it? It must be quite a culture shock. My dad is a muggle but my mother is a witch so I grew up with a little of both worlds. I don't know a lot about muggles though… and you’re right: I indeed don't know what the Polar Express is."

Suddenly a big group of students hurried past Theodora and Justin. Theodora looked at the clock at the platform. We’ve got to hurry. The train is going to leave soon... Theodora thought.

Theodora looked back at Justin when he started speaking again. He was asking her if the had seen the face of a kid…

"What? Eh, no." Theodora said. She had no idea what kid Justin was referring to. "I think it would be wise to get on the train. It would be a shame if it left without us. Shall we go find a cabin together?"

Justin stopped glaring into the crowd and snapped back to reality. He turned to Theodora. She had just asked to find a cabin together in the Hogwarts Express.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not."

A half-blood, huh. I could really use her help to translate wizard behavior into muggle logic. Justin thought to himself. I guess we're... at least more than strangers. If I want to be better friends with Theodora though, I better get to know her.

"I'm going to be real with you, Theodora. I got zero experience in the wizard world, except that one time I went to Diagon Alley to get school supplies. Honestly, I don't even know how much of that was real and how much of it was my imagination," Justin recalled, as he began boarding the train.

The train whistled, indicating that it was going to depart soon. "Oh, shit. We just made it in time," Justin laughed.

He strolled along the compartments to look for an open cabin. Justin opened a cabin door without thinking, and there inconveniently, was a cabin with no open seats. All the students in the cabin stared at him.

"Ah," Justin replied, nonchalantly. "Sorry bout that," he waved casually. He turned to the next cabin and it was empty. "Shall we sit here, my new friend?" Justin asked Theodora.

WC: 226