Jordan carefully made their way on to the train. They carefully dragged their luggage along with them. As they passed different compartments, they could see friends chatting about. It was all full. Jordan quickly searched through the entire train to find seats. Near the end, they found a girl sitting by herself, facing the window.

Wait.

They recognized that person.

No.

It couldn't be.

Could it?

.          .          .          .          .          .

Present:

Jordan walked into the mostly empty compartment. Swallowing a deep breath, they slid the door open and the person sitting by the window turned around. They couldn't believe their eyes.

"Rose?" The girl with brown hair looked at them with wide eyes. "Jordan? Is that you?"

Rose tackled them into a hug. She was best known for hugs anyway, and loved giving them to everyone she knew. Her hair went to her shoulders and her bangs went close to her brown eyes.

Before all of this magic thing, which seemed like ages ago, Jordan and Rose were friends at the same school. They had never known that Rose was also magical. Another familiar face was always a good thing at a new school.

Jordan moved their luggage to sit across from Rose.

"So...how was your summer?"

There was an awkward silence...

"It was fine, yours?"

"Boring, as usual," Jordan said. "How is your family?"

Rose responded, "Pretty good, Maddie's got a boyfriend and she's a Ravenclaw prefect!"

They hesitated, "What's Ravenclaw? What's a prefect?"

"Oh right! You don't know! Okay, so basically, at Hogwarts, the school, there are four houses. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. And then at the beginning of the year everyone is sorted and then you stay with your house for the seven years of school. And in your fifth year the school picks "prefects" which are kind of like kids who are kind of in charge of the other students in their house. Like a Teacher's Assistant" Rose explained.

"Woah," Jordan sat dumbfounded, just like when they were first told they were a wizard. Four houses which students got sorted into. Jordan wondered how everyone was sorted. Was there some sort of test? They decided not to worry about it, not now. "Ok, I think I got it." They paused, "Boy is this whole magic thing confusing."

"Yeah, ha. But I think you'll get used to it. We can get used to it together! I can't believe we get to go to school together!"

Jordan chuckled, "It's crazy right?! So does your entire family know you're magical?"

"Yup! They were super excited when I got my letter."

"Wait, did an owl also fly into your house or was it just me?"

"Nope! My owl flew into the window. Like, literally into it."

Jordan paused to imagine it happening. They could imagine Rose's surprised expression, except maybe she already knew that the owl was coming. After all, Rose knew she was magical all along. "So owls flying into houses are supposed to be completely normal. Ok, got it."

They locked eyes with Rose, and with that, it was just like old times. No more awkwardness. And even though a lot had happened over the summer, they had a special kind of bond, one which couldn't be replaced. Both were laughing loudly, as if nothing changed at all.

Outside, the train was passing by a canvas of endless fields and rolling hills. Inside, the two old friends were chattering away. Jordan hardly felt comfortable talking with other people, but with Rose, the introvert side of them disappeared. The both of them talked on and on, switching from one subject to another. After what seemed like an hour, they relaxed and got out their journal. They decided to write a bit on the train.

9/1/18- 4:27

Right now, I'm on the train to... Hogwarts! I met a nice boy named Michael, who told me how to get on to the right platform. Went to King's Cross Railway station. I've been there before, but I was clueless on how to get on to the platform. I think I had a panic attack. I mean, HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO GET ON 3/4 OF A PLATFORM!!!! Turns out you have to run into a wall, crazy right? He had blonde bangs, and the coolest silver eyes. He seems nice; hope everyone else can be as nice as him...

Guess who I also met on the train, ROSE!!!!! I still can't believe she's going with me to the magic school, it was Hogwarts right? Apparently, she's got an owl too, and she's also explaining things to me, which is very helpful. I don't feel like a total stranger anymore.

~JK

Jordan looked up. Rose was reading a magazine, but the weird thing was, she was reading it upside down. Perhaps that was just another "normal" thing that they had to get used to. They rummaged through their bag and found a battered up sketchbook, which was starting to get full. Jordan drew everything they saw in that sketchbook. Well, not everything. Just the important stuff that Jordan remembered. They started drawing Platform 9 3/4. They could still remember the brick wall, and the hundreds of students crowded about. Jordan started remembering the billowing steam and the scarlet train. It was like their hand was simply just recording what Jordan remembered. They always got lost in their own world...

Suddenly, a loud shout came from further away. They panicked and looked up from their sketchbook. The loud noise was quickly pursued with laughing. Rose apparently didn't hear the noise. Huh, maybe they were just imagining it.

After a while, a witch came in pushing a trolley. It looked like it was filled with candy. Rose, squealed and went up to the cart. "Would either of you fancy a sweet?"

After looking around, Rose said, "Um, I'll have four chocolate frogs, and a pack of jelly slugs, please."

After exchanging some coins, the trolley witch turned to leave.

Curiosity filled them, "Wait," Jordan shouted. "Could I please take a look?"

"Sure, honey," The lady kindly said.

There were things like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean, Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Jelly Slugs, Licorice wands, and Pumpkin Pasties. Rose started commenting on the different candies. At the mention of slugs and licorice, Jordan scrunched up their face. Licorice was disgusting. Jordan was a really picky eater sometimes, but decided to try some of the stuff out. "I'll take the bean thing, the cauldron cake, the chocolate frog, the gum, and the pumpkin pasty, please."

"That will be 11 sickles."

Jordan got some of the coins from their pocket. The problem with photographic memory was that just because they could remember something visually, didn't mean they could remember every single information. For example, Jordan could remember faces, but they couldn't remember names.

Jordan stared blankly at the bronze, silver, and gold coins in their hands. After a while, Rose got the message and came over to help. "Sickles are the silver ones," she reminded them.

"Thanks," Jordan replied with a sheepish grin. The Trolley Witch rolled the trolley away to the next car, while Jordan slowly opened the packaging. Rose quickly described each of the candies, especially warning them about Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, because there really was every flavor. They opened up the Chocolate Frog, and it jumped out of the box. Inside was a card, which Jordan carefully examined. On the front of the card, there was a woman with bushy hair. Hermione Jean Granger. Suddenly, they dropped the card in surprise. The witch inside the picture had waved at them!!! Rose looked up and started laughing when they pointed at the moving picture. Apparently, moving pictures were also normal. After they got over their shock, Rose showed them her collection of cards.

Jordan started to carefully open the box labeled Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Rose exclaimed, "Ooh I have an idea. I used to play this game with my siblings. Basically, one person finds a really weird looking bean and the other person HAS to eat it or do a forfeit."

Not wanting to seem fearful, Jordan agreed.

They grabbed the first bean. It was orange pink. Jordan nervously gulped and swallowed it.

Rose looked at Jordan expectantly. There was no reason to be nervous, "I got peach!"

"Lucky," Rose muttered. She grabbed the next bean. It was bright green. As she chewed, she made a weird expression on her face. "Bleh, grass"

"I never knew that grass could be a flavor." Rose handed a black one to Jordan. Jordan chewed, then immediately spat it out, frantically looking for water or something to drink. The flavor wouldn't get out of their mouth!

Rose laughed at the reaction, "What was that?"

After Jordan drank huge gulps, they announced the flavor, "Licorice. Licorice is so icky."

Rose just laughed harder, until she was clutching at her sides. Jordan muttered embarrassed, "it's not that funny, licorice is horrible."

They kept on going. Rose seemed to get most of the pleasant ones, like lime, chocolate, peppermint, and pineapple. Jordan however, was very unlucky. Just to list a few, they ate spoiled milk, socks, wood, and the worst of it, boogers. But at least they didn't get...

Rose exclaimed in surprise, then proceeded to drink her entire water bottle. She made disgusted faces and spat out the brown bean. It was Jordan's turn to laugh. They laughed until tears started streaming down their face and no sound came out.

"Poop. Since when did that every become a flavor? I thought it was going to be chocolate."

It took a while for the both of them to calm down. Both of them kept on playing until they ran out of beans. Rose unwrapped another Chocolate Frog, while Jordan went on to try the Cauldron Cake. After Jordan finished trying all of their candy (they didn't like the pumpkin pasty that much), they went back to their sketchbook. 

Rose proceeded to go to the bathroom and change into her robes. Jordan decided to do the same, since she seemed like she knew what she was doing. Then, the train came to a halt, and everyone crowded off. Everyone seemed to be going to the carriages further out. 

Suddenly, a huge (but friendly looking) man with a scruffy-looking beard appeared, bellowing out, "Firs' years! Firs' years follow me!"

A/N

So I'm the last out of the Diary of a Hogwarts Student series to finish with the whole train scene. It was patriots day/marathon, but you know me, I love to procrastinate ;P 

If you've read Diary of a Slytherin Student, then you know what that sound is.

Thanks to SassyCC for writing the dialogue with me.

Who else hates licorice?🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮