The following morning, Molly comes charging in, "Honey, have you seen Fred, George and- oh" she stops as she sees all of them sitting together under the makeshift tent.
"I'm sorry Molly, I had another nightmare," Sam says with a sheepish smile.
"Oh, no worries, my love. Are you all packed and ready? We will be leaving for King's Cross in an hour!"
"Well, you see-" Fred begins.
"Oh you too! Get up and finish or we will leave you behind!" Molly exclaims exasperatedly before leaving the room.
"Don't worry boys, I'd never leave you behind," Sam encourages.
"I would, see ya!" Ron laughs.
They all stand and the boys head back to their rooms. Within the next hour, they all bring their trunks down and set them in front of the door. They are all gathered around the dining table, finishing up the breakfast Molly made for them. Sam's nerves get progressively stronger the closer they get to leaving the Burrow. They won't be back here until Christmas break.
"Alright everyone, it's time to go!" Molly informs while simultaneously trying to push them all out the door.
By the time they reach King's Cross, Sam's nerves are at top notch. Molly is rushing them towards the portal in the wall leading them to Platform 9 ¾.
"It's the same every year, packed with Muggles, of course. Come on. Platform 9 ¾, this way." Molly announces.
They all push their carts, following closely behind. Sam walks beside Ron, with Fred, George and Percy walking in front.
"Alright Percy, you first."
Percy gets a tight grip on the handles of his cart and rushes towards the wall, disappearing right as he steps through it. Not one of the Muggles seems to notice.
"Fred, you next."
"He's not Fred, I am." George states, "Honestly, woman, and you call yourself our mother," Fred jokes.
Ron and Sam turn to each other and chuckle, knowing it's another one of their pranks.
"Oh, I'm sorry George," Molly says with slight frustration that she couldn't tell them apart.
Fred steps up to run at the wall, "I'm only joking. I am Fred." He announces with pride that they tricked their mother.
He runs right through the wall, with George following closely behind. As they watch them disappear into the wall, they hear a young boy call, "Excuse me." They all turn to look at him. He pushes his cart up to Mrs. Weasley.
"Could you- Could you tell me how to...?" He asks while nodding to the wall. It's the boy she had seen at Diagon Alley. That feeling of comfort washes over her once again. Sam notices that he isn't accompanied by anyone. It must be his first year too.
Molly places a hand on his shoulder, "How to get onto the platform? Not to worry, dear. It's Ron and Sam's first time to Hogwarts as well." She motions to her son and adopted daughter. As the boy turns to look, Ron gives him a close lipped smile and Sam gives him a heartwarming one. The boy immediately notices her and his heart beats a little faster. Looking into her eyes, he knew that she was the same girl he had seen when he went to Diagon Alley with Hagrid. Her eyes were mostly brown, but he could see that both of her eyes were tinted green. They were kind and welcoming and he knew that he had seen them before. His mouth falls open only slightly.
"All you've got to do," Molly continues while pointing at the wall, "is walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Best to give it a run if you're nervous."
The boy nods and runs straight at the wall and disappears like the others. Ron, Sam, and Molly follow suit. As Sam stairs at the beautiful, bright red train, she feels her nerves fade into excitement. It seems the dark haired boy next to her shares the same feeling.
Molly hugs Sam and Ron, "Good luck, dearies. We will see you at Christmas."
She gets a little emotional and hugs the two of them tightly. They make their way onto the train and find a cabin close to the back. Ron helps Sam put her trunk onto the bars above. They both sit close to the window on opposite sides of each other as the train takes off. The raven haired boy, walks into their cabin.
"Can I join you? I don't really know anyone else," He asks sheepishly.
Sam smiles and motions for him to sit down next to her, "Yeah, of course."
He gives a shy nod and smile and sits down next to her.
"I'm Samantha, by the way, Samantha Jackson, but call me Sam. And this is-"
"Ron, Ron Weasley," he says as he holds out his hand for the boy to shake.
"I'm Harry. Harry Potter."
Ron gasps.
Sam rolls her eyes, "Oh, honestly Ron, don't get starstruck."
"So it's true! I mean, do you really have the...?" Ron points towards his own forehead.
Harry looks with confusion, "The what?"
Ron leans forward slightly and whispers, "The scar?"
Harry chuckles, "Oh." He pulls his hair up to show the scar in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"Wicked!" Ron exclaims, "You know, Sam's mum was best friend's with yours."
Harry turns quickly to the girl. She smiles and looks toward the ground, "My mum used to talk about your mum, Lily, all the time. And you, of course! We used to play together when we were little." Sam gave a comforting smile. "I'm really sorry, by the way. Your parents seemed lovely."
Harry gives a small smile, "I never really knew my parents."
Ron speaks up, "Sam didn't really either."
She lets out a breathy laugh, "Yeah, I'm not exactly ginger like this idiot."
"Hey!"
"I noticed," Harry laughs, "I mean, not that you're an idiot, I'm sure you're not! I just meant that she's got really dark hair."
Sam chuckles as Harry fumbles over his words, "My mum died the same way yours did, only she died when I was six. My dad left when I was little."
Harry gives her a small, knowing smile, "I'm sorry, that must've been hard. You actually got to know your parents for a while."
She shrugged, "Mum was amazing."
Right around this time, the trolley swings by their cabin, "Anything off the trolley, dears," an elderly woman asks.
Ron raises his crushed sandwich looking disheartened, "No, thanks. I'm all set."
Sam gives a small, close lipped smile. Harry looks between the two and reaches into his pocket pulling out a bunch of Galleons, "We'll take the lot."
Ron looks in amazement, "Woah."
As the train continues on its journey, they sit and eat the loads of candy and snacks.
"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?" Harry asks.
Sam chuckles, "They mean every flavor."
Ron pipes up, "There's chocolate and peppermint and there's also spinach, liver and tripe."
Harry looks disgusted as he pops one into his mouth.
"George sweared he got a booger-flavored one once." Sam laughs.
Harry cringes and pulls the chewed up candy out of his mouth and places it in an empty wrapper. He picks up a new candy.
"These aren't real frogs, are they?" He asks.
"It's just a spell. It's the cards you want!" Ron exclaims.
Sam nods in agreement, "Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard."
"I've got about five hundred meself," Ron says.
Harry's chocolate frog jumps out of the box and onto the window. It climbs up the side and hops out the window.
"Oh, that's rotten luck. They've only got one good jump in them," Ron states.
Harry looks at his card, "I've got Dumbledore!"
"I've got about six of him," Ron says and he takes another bite of his taffy.
Harry looks back down at his card, "Hey, he's gone."
Sam laughs and shakes her head, "Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you?"
A small squeaking noise sounds and Harry looks to Ron's lap where a rat is pushing its head into an empty box.
"This is Scabbers. Pathetic, isn't he?" Ron says with disgust.
Harry shrugs one shoulder, "Just a little."
"Fred gave me a spell to turn him yellow. Wanna see?" Rons says excitedly.
Harry smiles, "Yeah!"
Ron sits up and clears his throat as he pulls out his wand. Sam rolls her eyes. Just as Ron's about to start, a bushy haired girl walks up to the cabin and looks in and around the seats.
"Has anyone seen a toad, a boy named Neville's lost one."
They all shake their heads, signalling 'No'.
She looks at Ron, "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see, then."
As Sam looks at the girl, she notices her light brown hair which is quite frizzy and her nose is turned up in a know-it-all way. Sam isn't one to quickly judge a person, especially by first impressions. She has a habit of seeing the best in people.
Ron clears his throat, yet again, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He shakes his wand violently, but nothing happens. He turns to Harry and Sam with a slight shrug. Harry gives a shrug back.
"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it."
Sam doesn't like the way the girl says things, but despite that, she tries to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Ron looks at Sam and Harry and nods his head to the girl, in a 'Is she serious?' sort of way.
"I've only tried a few simple spells, myself, but they've all worked for me." The bushy haired girl walks into the compartment and sits down next to Ron and turns to Harry, noticing his slightly broken glasses.
"For example:" she says as she points her wand at Harry's face, "Oculus Reparo." Immediately, Harry's glasses shape up and look brand new.
"That's better, isn't it?" She asks. She turns to Sam with an accomplished smile, Sam gives an impressed one back. The girl might be a little snooty, but Sam could surely remedy that.
"Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger." She states and turns toward Sam.
"I'm Sam Jackson." She gives a polite smile.
Hermione turns to Ron last with a disdainful look, "And you are..?"
Ron turns his nose up ever so slightly, "Ron, Ron Weasley."
Her lips turn into a tight line, "Pleasure." Hermione turns back to Harry, "You three better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon." She stands and begins to exit the cabin, but turns abruptly and looks to Ron, "You've got dirt on your nose. Did you know?" She points to the side of her own nose, "Just there." She walks back down the corridor as Ron quickly rubs his nose.
Harry turns to look at Sam with an incredulous look and Sam gives a light chuckle.