After many confusing minutes of looking for this supposed Platform nine-and-three-quarters�” Most of which involved Noah’s mother asking random people who constantly gave her the same strange look, Noah’s father trying to get his mother to quit asking the poor people the same ridiculous question, and Noah sitting beside his trolley full of books, kits, suitcases and a cage holding his owl, watching the rather amusing scene�” it seemed as though the platform did not exist and he began to wonder if it was a mistake to even hope that it did.
The train that had been there when they arrived at the station had left and a new one was pulling in as Noah’s parents began to talk in hushed tones in the background, glancing at him from time to time with worried looks on their faces. He knew what they were thinking and he didn’t blame them. A school that said it taught magic to its students and claimed that you needed to board a train at a platform that didn’t exist didn’t look very promising to him at the moment either.
Glancing up at the clock above his head, Noah read the time as eight fifty and sighed, looking back down at the sheet of paper in his hands that had written upon it the platform number, the train name and the departure time. He had all three memorized but he kept glancing back down at them all the same. Platform nine-and-three-quarters, the Hogwarts Express, nine o'clock… The last one made him feel sick in his stomach as he realized that in ten minutes all his hoping would truly have been a waste.
“Excuse me,” someone murmured behind him and Noah turned around to look up at a seemingly peculiar man in brightly colored robes and a plaid cap. “Are you and your parents looking for the platform?”
Blinking, Noah opened his mouth to answer but his father’s voice spoke for him.
“Can I help you?”
He glanced behind to him to see that his parents were no longer a few feet away, talking animatedly in hushed tones but rather standing behind him, his mother’s hand resting protectively on Noah’s shoulder and his father eyeing the man who had just spoken to him.
“I was just asking your son if you were looking for the platform,” he repeated to his parents this time and Noah couldn’t help but notice how soft and musical his voice sounded. “I know a lot of the first year students usually get lost on the first day. We’re going there ourselves.”
“Erm… Platform nine-and-three-quarters?” he heard his father ask behind him, obviously embarrassed to be uttering the number out loud from the many negative reactions they had already received.
“Yes,” was the simple reply given, uttered in such a tone that it seemed as though the man didn’t know any other platforms existed. “My Luna is joining Hogwarts as a first year, as well.”
At the mention of another person, there came a sudden movement from behind the man’s colored robes and a young girl emerged slowly, eyeing the people in front of her as who was viewing the world for the first time. Her hair was a long, pale shade of blonde, almost seeming white, and at the moment half of it was tied in a ponytail with a strange assortment of feathers sticking out in every direction from the core of the pony. Her face’s most stunning feature though was her blue eyes, framed with long eyelashes, that seemed just as light as her skin and hair, though rather large and set in a seemingly surprised look.
Hanging from each ear was a pair of feather earrings that matched the feathers in her hair, only smaller and different colours. Her choice of clothes was a pair of striped pants rotating in different shades of brown, a white t-shirt that seemed to have some sort of advertisement on it but was covered up by a blue jacket that appeared to belong as a part of a tux, and ending with a pair of converse. Noah could feel himself gaping at the girl’s apparel and feeling appalled by the fact that if this was the dress code, he was ready to reconsider going to this school.
Suddenly, a small white hand was being thrust in his face and he looked up to see the girl’s face only a foot from his own. “I’m Luna,” she murmured in a soft, silky voice that made him relax and even slightly drowsy for a moment.
“N-noah,” he stammered back and realized after a moment that he was still gaping at her and her hand was still held out just as high and ready for his as it had been a moment ago. She didn’t seem bothered by his obvious staring but instead seemed to be studying him as well until he took her hand timidly, attempting to shake it awkwardly.
Instead of shaking, though, Luna pulled them down by their sides so that they appeared to be holding hands, but the moment Noah realized what she was doing, he pulled his away. Luna didn’t look scathed in the slightest by his somewhat rude gesture but rather turned to smile at his parents and took her father’s hand beside her, while continuing to stare at Noah.
“So shall we be going?” Luna’s father’s voice seemed almost random and unwelcome as it interrupted his thoughts.
“Yes, thank-you,” he heard his mother’s voice reply and felt her hand squeeze his shoulder. “Are you ready, honey?”
“Yes,” he murmured, breaking eye contact with the pale-like girl before him for the first time since seeing her to look up and give both of his parents a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to see me off if you don’t want to.”
The comment seemed to instantly wipe the smile off his mother’s face but before Noah could find out why, Luna’s father was pushing him along towards the stone archway before them and his father was wheeling his trolley beside him.
“Now watch this,” he heard the man say in his musical voice and he watched in awe as his daughter stepped forward with her trolley in front of her and ran without hesitation towards the stone pillar. Before Noah could cry out or even blink, she was gone. “Now it’s your turn.”
Noah gaped at the place where Luna had been only a moment ago and shook his head firmly. “I-I don’t understand,” he stammered and looked up at his parents to see if they were as confused as he was. They were.
“Oh, it’s simple. You’ll find my Luna on the other side. She’ll help you board the train.”
He felt a pair of hands gently centering him in front of his target and watched as his trolley was placed in front of him and someone guided his hands to grip the handle bars. Looking up at the man one last time, Noah noticed how cross-eyed he seemed to be and the white, shoulder-length hair that came spilling down past the cap, which he had failed to notice before. Then, without warning, he was being shoved forward and all Noah could do was run and pray that he didn’t die or make a fool of himself. Whichever came first.
Warm air seemed to surround him as Noah stood still, his eyes still closed for fear of the impact he was suppose to feel. The trolley had made no sudden jolt and no one seemed to be screaming and so Noah dared to open them only to find himself looking at a huge black and red train, half covered in steam but majestic looking non-the-less. What he assumed to be the steam’s heat for one moment, turned out to be something completely different as he turned to suddenly be looking into Luna’s grey-blue eyes. She had apparently been standing so close that her breath had been warming his neck.
A sudden movement from his right made him turn to see his parents emerging in the smoke and as soon as she saw him, his mother ran forward to envelope him in a hug. “Don’t you ever think for one second that we’re not proud of you or thinking about you,” she whispered fiercely in his ear and her hug suddenly seemed to be suffocating him.
“Yes, mum. I know,” he managed to whisper back and wriggled away to see her smile at him through watery eyes. Noah glanced up at his father and saw that he had been watching the whole scene from a distance, standing erect with the usual distant look to his eyes. As he made his way over, though, his father blinked and looked down at him. Then, without warning, he stuck out his hand which Noah took dumbly and shook for a matter of seconds.
This was truly the last time he would be seeing his parents before Christmas break and the thought seemed to hit him with a jolt. Though over the years his mother had been periodically gone and his father was always down in his office, they had been there for him, to encourage him with his learning and answer all of his questions. Only a moment like this seemed to help him grasp the full meaning and depth of that thought, and he turned away to prevent the knot in his throat from growing any larger or producing tears.
Luna was waiting beside her father, watching the entire scene with a rather blank smile planted upon her face. Both of their things had been loaded up onto the train and he had a feeling that she was waiting for him. Though he loathed human company and had been hoping to find a quiet place to finish reading his new text books, a quick glance at the windows crowded with the faces of children and teenagers told him that there was no such place, and so he felt a slight twinge of gratitude towards Luna. Not only did she and her father seem to know what they were doing, but her soft voice and rather quiet disposition made him hope that she liked to observe as he did, more than talk.
Starting off at a brisk pace that he hoped would make him look confident, Noah headed towards Luna who was boarding the train just as the warning whistle blew. His heart seemed to be hammering in his chest as the shock of it all hit him once again, and he realized that he was actually here, getting ready to leave. He had made it.
Noah climbed clumsily up the ladder with one last backwards glance at his parents, both of whom were waving like crazy at him. Then he ducked inside the door closing behind Luna and found himself not only in a complete change of setting, but the mood and everything else seemed to have transformed the moment he stepped through the sliding glass door.
The noise level of people’s voices and sudden random movements was almost overwhelming and he had trouble hearing what Luna was saying as she pointed farther down the hallway they were in and attempted to say something to him, though it was in the same soft tone she had used outside, making it impossible to hear. Noah simply nodded, wondering silently why she didn’t try yelling.
Children darted in and out of compartments as they passed by, yelling words behind them to their friends following in suit, or screaming in delight as they chased one another. Teenagers could be heard farther down, begging the immature youngsters to settle down and get back to their own compartments as the train began to hum and rock, preparing to leave.
However much steam had been outside before, there was twice as much now and Noah didn’t even try to find his parents through the dense white fog outside the window as he and Luna continued to walk further and further down the hallway. She still seemed just as serene and calm as ever, moving casually out of the way as an enchanted feather or paper air plane flew past their heads. Noah, on the other hand, found that all the movement not only gave him a headache but made him jittery as well. He had never traveled without his parents before and he had just met Luna, making him not entirely sure of her character or usual traits.
As they passed the different compartments, he found himself glancing in each of the windows, to see who happened to be there. Most of them all looked the same, either containing a group of giggling girls, small boys stuffing themselves with candy or taller and more mature looking boys, who were either sleeping or talking quietly as well.
As they neared one compartment, the door happened to be open and Noah could hear a girl yelling as they approached.
“What were you doing in here?” he heard her yell and as they passed the open door, he glanced in and was slightly taken aback by the scene that awaited them. The girl who had obviously spoken was standing with her arms crossed and a bemused frown upon her face, as she awaited a response from the other person in the room. Once in view, Noah saw that it was a boy, standing there with a surprised look upon his face as an open, pink duffle back lay on the seat beside him (which was hopefully not his) and a pair of flowery underwear sat upon his head.
Blinking rapidly, as though to help remove the image from his head, Noah continued on at a slightly faster pace, though Luna seemed not to have noticed the past scenario.
As they neared another compartment, the door was closed but when he peered in, there didn’t appear to be anyone inside. “Hey,” he hissed to Luna and she turned to look at him, a rather dreamy and distant gaze upon her face. “I think this one’s empty.”
“Oh good,” she said with a sigh. “I was afraid we were going to have to sit with the luggage.” Noah highly doubted that they would have had to do something that drastic, rather they probably would have had to simply share a compartment with someone, but Noah chose not to say so out loud, mentally deciding it was best to drop it.
As soon as they entered the small room, he heard a noise to his left and turned to see a boy looking around 16, lying on top of a girl looking around the same age. Low moans seemed to be coming deep from within each of their throats as they kissed each other. Noah had never seen such a thing before and for a moment, he could only stare. Their bodies were pressed together so tightly that he wondered how they were not smothering each other or suffocating, but a few jackets and a belt were laying on the floor, making it appear as though the couple had tried to fix that problem. The girl’s arms were wrapped around the boy’s neck, playing with the collar of his shirt as his mouth appeared to be devouring hers, his own fingers stroking her upper thigh.
Then, reality seemed to shake Noah and he blinked, feeling himself to begin to blush furiously as he realized that he and Luna shouldn’t be here. Attempting to turn around, Noah felt his foot catch on the bottom edge of the seat opposite the busy couple and he could only watch himself fall sideways onto the boy beside him.
A gasp could be heard but Noah didn’t look to see the expressions on their faces. Quickly, he stood again, mumbled his apologizes to the floor and walked quickly toward the door where Luna was waiting, smiling at the girl and boy as though what they had been doing was cute. He grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room with him, back into the hallway as the girl could be heard yelling, “Pervert!”
“That wasn’t very nice,” Luna stated matter-of-factly but Noah continued to walk in silence behind her, not bothering to look into the compartments anymore, but trusting that Luna would find one on her own. A few minutes passed and then she stopped suddenly, forcing Noah to stop as well but running into her all the same. She cast a dreamy smile behind her and turned to point at the open compartment door beside them. “In here,” she murmured and stepped through, leaving him slightly dazed and blinking for a moment before he followed her inside. “Shut the door, will you?” she asked as soon as he had entered and he hesitated for a moment before sliding the door shut and hearing it click with finality.
Noah sighed quietly as he collapsed onto the cushioned seat across from Luna, closing his eyes and inhaling the smell of the train. Steam and a strange flavor of mint were the only things he could seem to detect and he opened his eyes to find Luna staring at him once again. For some reason it made him squirm when he caught her doing it.
“You have lovely eyes,” she spoke suddenly; her voice calming though her comment caught him off guard. “Just like your mother, right?”
“Er… yeah,” Noah stammered, blinking again at the mention of his mother. This girl seemed to constantly catch him off guard with her random statements, making him nervous and uncomfortable, though her voice was peaceful sounding, making it something he liked to listen to rather than answer. “So does your father know a lot about the wizarding world?” he asked, hoping that she would talk awhile.
“Oh yes,” Luna said, sounding as though she was about to say quite a lot and Noah sat back to rest his head against his chair. “Though a lot of people who go to Hogwarts either have at least one Muggle parent, both of mine are wizards.”
“Wait�”“ Noah interrupted, though grudgingly. “What are… Muggles?”
“Oh, you must be new to all this,” she said, some slight realization showing upon her face. “Muggle is simple a term we magical folk have for you non-magical folk. It’s not bad, just a term.”
“So what do magical people do for a living?” Noah asked, now clearly confused since he had assumed that everyone on the train was coming from the same type of background as he was: Living their whole lives, not knowing they were missing out on something more and then one day receiving a mysterious letter like his that told them about a school that taught magic. He had had no idea that there were people out there somewhere, living and performing this stuff.
“Well, my father owns a magazine called the Quibbler,” she said with a smile that showed she was quite proud of that fact. “We choose to write about things other than news and the average ordinary things,” she mused.
“What do you write about?” asked Noah hesitantly when an awkward silence filled the air and it still didn’t appear as though she was going to continue. Luna was staring off in space with a blank look upon her face, and it bothered him slightly that her train of thought seemed so detached.
“Oh the ordinary things,” she murmured, still looking out the window before turning slowly to look at him with those pale blue eyes, a faint smile playing at her lips. “Nargles, Crumple-horned snorkacks…”
Noah blinked and watched to see if she was joking. She wasn’t. This not only made his feel slightly confused, but aggravated as well. He had finished reading his Care of Magical Creatures book before the train ride and of all the creatures mentioned in it, he knew that ‘Nargles’ and ‘Crumpled-horned snorkacks’ weren’t on the list, which made him sure that either the girl before him had a very dry sense of humor or she was even stranger than he thought. “I don’t remember reading�”“ he began but Luna cut in.
“Oh, don’t worry,” she said with an obvious smile this time. “There are a lot of unbelievers out there. But my father and I know they’re real, and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?”
“Not exactly,” Noah said slowly and he eyed the girl for a moment before starting again, sighing slightly. “Don’t you think you could get in trouble for printing false evidence? I don’t think it’s a good idea to be writing about made-up fantasies and actually getting paid for it. That’s not fair to the other people who are working hard to find real evidence for everyone else out there. Do you even have any proof?”
It was as if she hadn’t heard anything that he had said. She was still smiling just as bright as ever, but she had gone back studying him again, making Noah feel frustrated.
“Forget it,” he muttered, turning back to the window to watch the scenery go by. Trees and rolling hills appeared to be the only things in site, with the occasional farm occupying a few horses or pigs. The train seemed to be going at an almost unnatural speed, forcing someone to concentrate if they were really interested in the passing things, otherwise they would miss them. Since Noah really wasn’t interested, it all looked like green and more green, simply zooming by and thankfully bringing their destination closer every second.
“Do people have proof about God and his existence?” Luna asked suddenly and he looked back at her with surprise. She wasn’t looking at him, but concentrating on fixing the feathers in her hair.
“What?” he asked, though he had heard her the first time.
“That’s something you muggles believe in, right? A religion called Christianity?”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “And yeah, they’ve found a few things. Scrolls, documents, stuff like that.”
“Well don’t worry,” she said, not letting her ruined example dampen her spirits. “We’ll find evidence, too.”
“How can you if they’re not real?” Noah pressed, trying not to let his aggravation show in his voice. He knew he was being ornery but he couldn’t stand knowing that she really and truly believed in such fantasies. He normally avoided people like this.
“Why couldn’t I?” she asked, completely avoiding the question and making him frown. It was clearly pointless to try and talk to Luna about her obsession and still try and get any sense out of it. She was just an oddball, though that had been apparent from her clothing style as well. Glancing over at her one last time, Noah saw that Luna was now examining the cushion of her chair, leaning over so that her face was almost pressed against the fabric, her fingers running over it repeatedly.
Quite bemused by the sight, he leaned toward her until his face was inches from hers to wait for the explanation he was sure would come.
“I thought I saw a spinzie,” she said, still looking at the fabric.
Noah didn’t talk to her for the rest of the train trip.
When Impossible becomes Reality by beautyfades
Chapter Notes: Thanks so all the people who reviewed for my first chapter of this. So far I've done all of this without a beta and it's going pretty well, but that also means I don't have a second opinion before I submit these. I've tried to make them at least entertaining and maybe even (dare I suggest it) funny, but your reviews defanitly help me know how well I'm doing. If chapter one was slightly boring for you, hopefully chapter two will be better. Enjoy and review!