Miranda Black and the Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 3 - The Hogwarts Express

"Hullo Hermione! May we sit with you?"

"Of course," she replied, moving her bag off the seat so we could sit down, "It's good to see you again. Where's Ron and Harry?"

"We're not sure," Ginny said as she took a seat next to Hermione. I slid into the opposite side. 

"Yeah, we didn't see them on the platform. I'm sure they'll come and find us soon," I agreed.

The train began to pick up speed, and soon we had left King's Cross station far behind and were travelling past rolling fields. Harry and Ron never appeared. We filled the time talking about Hogwarts, Hermione full of stories about the lessons and teachers, with lots of homework advice too. 

After about an hour, an older lady with a kind face and a trolley full of candy came knocking on our compartment door. Using some of my remaining coins, I brought some candy to share. One of my purchases had been some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. I cautiously picked up a brown one.

Ginny said, "That could be chocolate!"

I raised my eyebrows at her and cautiously had a nibble. A taste so vile filled my mouth, causing me to spit it out straight away.

"I'm guessing that wasn't chocolate?" asked Hermione. I shook my head and we all laughed, choosing to put the jellybeans aside for now. Instead, I picked up another item - a Chocolate Frog. I opened up the packaging and a brown frog hopped onto my hand. It was just like a real frog, except made entirely out of chocolate.

"Eat it before it gets away!" Ginny told me hurriedly. I snatched up the frog, who was about to jump out the window, and stuffed it in my mouth. I picked up the box it had come in to find that there was a card inside.

"What's this?" I asked.

"A card - each box comes with one. They've all got a famous witch or wizard on it. Ron collects them. Who've you got?" Ginny asked.

"Morgan le Fay," I replied, "Morgan, like my owl!"

Hermione smiled. "She was a very powerful witch in our history. Ron and Harry love those Chocolate Frogs,"

Fred and George suddenly appeared at the door. I offered them a chocolate frog each, which they gratefully took.

"I thought Ron would be with you! We found one of his books in my suitcase, I thought I'd return it. Can't find them anywhere," Fred said, clutching a Grade 2 spell book in his hand.

"I'll take it," Hermione said with a worried expression, "I'm sure they'll show up at the Sorting.."

Hours passed, and we filled the time with more tales about Hogwarts. Hermione knew many legends and historical stories. We played as many rounds of Exploding Snap as we could until we got bored. As it began to get dark, Hermione checked her watch and told us we'd be arriving soon. We decided to get changed into our robes, acting under Hermione's advice. 

We arrived at Hogsmeade Station not too long after that. Hermione had told us all about her first year, so Ginny and I were relatively confident we knew what we were doing when we stepped off the train. I stood on my toes to look for Harry and Ron amid the large crowd of students.

"Any luck?" Hermione said. I shook my head.

All of a sudden, a booming voice yelled out, "Firs' years o'er here!" Ginny and I made our way towards the voice.

Even though Hermione wasn't a first year, she followed us and hugged the man. I instantly recognized him as Hagrid, the man who had found Harry and broken up Lucius and Arthur's fight in the book shop. 

He asked where Harry and Ron were. Hermione answered, saying that none of us had seen him. Hagrid didn't seem too bothered by this. There were so many people going past us that it was easy to lose a person.

Ginny and I farewelled Hermione, and she ran off to join the crowd moving in the opposite direction. Hagrid then called out, "Firs' years! Buddy up and hop in a boat!"

I paired up with Ginny, and we hopped in one of the small wooden boats that was pulled up on the lake shore. Moments later, it started rowing us along the black lake, although there was no motor or paddles.

The water beneath us was black in the night, and once or twice I thought I saw a pair of eyes watching me. I grinned over at Ginny despite feeling uneasy with the thought of creatures in the lake. My stomach was doing somersaults, and I almost felt like throwing up - but on the other hand, I was really excited to start my new life at Hogwarts.

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I was gonna write more but all of that will be in the next chapter, sorry it's short. Hope your enjoying!

Bye (: