At 7:00 the next morning Alyssa�s mother shook her awake.
"Get up and get dressed Alyssa. It�s time to go."
Alyssa wiped the sleep out of her eyes and got dressed. She took all of her bags and her owl cage and walked downstairs. She placed her things by the door with all her parents� bags and went into the kitchen for some breakfast.
"Mom, aren�t we taking the furniture?" Alyssa asked, with a look of curiosity on her face.
"No sweetheart, our house is fully furnished. It came that way," her mother said absentmindedly as she packed up some of the papers and pens that littered the drawers of the kitchen.
"Oh, I see," said Alyssa with a frown. She liked her bed and their couches. Oh well, she thought, I�ll be at school almost right away anyway.
As soon as everyone was ready they grabbed their bags and walked out to the road. Her father stuck out his right hand and all of a sudden a triple-decker purple bus pulled up. A young man stepped off and started to grab their bags.
"Hello. My name is Corey James and I�ll be your conductor today."
He led them inside and her father paid him the money. They each sat down in a squashy armchair on the third deck and the bus got on its way. They stopped in many places across the U.S. to pick up other witches and wizards on their way somewhere.
As they got to Maryland they stopped to pick up some other people, and Alyssa moved down to the second level of the bus. She was still angry with her parents and wanted to get away from them. A girl about Alyssa�s age walked up to the second deck with a trunk and an owl cage. She was tall with long blonde hair and ice blue eyes. Alyssa noticed that the girl�s trunk was marked with the Hogwarts seal. She decided to try and have a conversation.
"Hi, my name�s Alyssa Porter, what�s yours?"
"My name�s Faith Broderick, nice to meet you."
"I see you�re going to Hogwarts," said Alyssa, "So am I. I�m transferring from Salem. I�m in my 6th year, what about you?"
"Hey same with me! Are you sorted yet? I�m not but I hope to be in Ravenclaw," Faith said.
"I�d love to be in Ravenclaw too. It seems like I�d end up there. The way they describe Ravenclaws is the way I describe myself."
The girls spent the rest of the way to England talking and laughing and getting to know each other. As they were about to land Alyssa asked Faith where she was staying.
"I got a room at The Leaky Cauldron." Seeing the look of confusion cross Alyssa�s face she added, "It�s a pub and an inn. You should ask your parents if you could stay with me. Then we can get our things in Diagon Alley. You get there through the wall in the back of The Leaky Cauldron."
"Let me run up to ask my parents," Alyssa squealed, "I�d love to."
Alyssa ran up the stairs to ask her parents for permission. They said yes and she grabbed the trunk she�d need, because it included her wand, some books, some magic things, and her broomstick, a Firebolt.
Just as they landed, Alyssa ran down the stairs with her stuff. "Let�s go!" she said and they both ran down the stairs and into The Leaky Cauldron.
***
Both girls had a great time in Diagon Alley. Along with buying all their school things (robes, books, cauldrons, potion ingredients etc. etc.) they hung out at the ice cream parlors and restaurants and they each got a vault at Gringotts wizard bank. Alyssa cringed when she saw how much she had in her vault compared to Faith, but Faith didn�t seem to notice, or else she didn�t care.
Then came September 1st. The girls called the Knight Bus and were taken to King�s Cross Station. They got there and found platforms 9 and 10 and were wondering just how to get on to Platform 9�. They soon saw a large family all with red hair and then noticed the Hogwarts seal on all the children�s trunks. The mother looked nice enough, so the girls approached her.
"Excuse me ma�am, we�re transfer students from the Salem Witches� Institute and we don�t know how to get to Platform 9�. Do you think you could tell us?" Alyssa asked cautiously.
"Oh of course dears," the woman said, "Now just so you know I�m Mrs. Weasley. These are my children. What year are you girls in?" She asked kindly.
"We�re both in the 6th year," answered Faith.
"Great. My son Ron is in 6th year also." Ron waved at the girls. "Now here�s what you do. You just walk towards that barrier right there," she pointed towards the solid barrier between platforms 9 and 10, "You�ll pass right through it. How about you watch Ron and then follow him."
The girls watched. Ron stood next to the barrier leaning casually against it. Then he pushed his cart through when there were no muggles around and passed right through the solid brick. Both girls gasped then followed what Ron had done and pretended to talk to each other as they passed through. They found themselves in an entirely different place with a large red steam engine in front of them. They looked up and saw a sign telling them that this was indeed Platform 9�. The girls went up to Ron and started a conversation.
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