Chapter Nine and Three Quarters
Platform Nine and Three Quarters
A sharp rap at the door, brought Sunset sputtering awake from her deep slumber. She didn't remember being able to get any sleep, but realized she must have if she had woken up. Each of them had decided to sleep with their pendants on, making it much easier to share the large bed with no conflict. She wasn't particularly surprised, since their clothes had been adjusted to fit their new size. Had they decided to go without them they would have had to sleep naked, which was probably a little strange in a room full of people. They hadn't particularly been explained how the sleeping situation in Hogwarts would be, but she had assumed the students slept in dorms. It would probably be best if they got used to wearing them at all times.
Noticing Applejack crawl out of the bed beside her, she decided to let Applejack get the door, taking the opportunity to lay back on her pillow and ignore the inevitable for another few minutes. It was only a moment before the door clicked open.
"Well, howdy, sir," Applejack's enthusiasm made Sunset want to punch her; the urge grew substantially as the lights were flipped on abruptly. She groaned in anguish as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Similar sentiments were shared around the room at the brightness, except Pinkie who seemed to easily adjust her mood with the lighting.
"Good morning, Applejack," Arthur said chipperly, stepping into the room, "Ready for the big day?"
"Ready as Ah'll ever be, Ah guess..." Applejack said uncertainly, "Uh... anythin' we need t'do before we go?"
"Nope. Just dress how you like, and make sure you bring all your things. Once you board the train, just have fun," Arthur said excitedly for her, "Just make sure that you're wearing one of your robes by the time the train arrives at Hogwarts." He looked around the room at the girls who were crawling out of their beds at various speeds, Pinkie and Applejack being the two who seemed completely awake at the moment. "Wait, we seem to be missing one of you. Where is Rarity?"
The last comment removed the last bit of sleepiness that was clinging to Sunset. She stood up quickly and looked around the room. She couldn't have... She quickly made way over to Rarity's bag. "Uh, hold on. I'll look for her," she commented before crawling inside. Sure enough, she found Rarity at her desk, absorbed in her work. The clothing rack beside her containing a large assortment of clothes. "Rarity..." she began across to room so she wouldn't startle her, "What's all this?"
"Sunset, dear," Rarity sounded exhausted, "I finished making the required couture, but then I figured that if I already had what was asked of us, it wouldn't matter if I also made a few more... creative ensembles in my free time." Sunset looked closer at the clothing rack, noticing an assortment of decorative clothing next to the smaller section containing the plain black uniforms. "Why, dear? You still not able to sleep?"
"Rarity..." Sunset began uncertainly, "It's morning, we're all getting ready to leave soon."
"What?!" Rarity jumped up from her seat, horrified. "I... I have to get ready!" She rushed over to her mirror to analyze herself, "And look at these bags under my eyes..." She pulled out her makeup kit and began cleansing her face to prepare herself. "You can go ahead, darling, I'll be up as soon as I'm ready." Sunset took her leave, as a frenzied Rarity began her daily rituals. She made her way back up the stairwell, shortly finding her way back up to the hotel room, where the rest of the group were busy taking turns in the bathroom to prepare themselves for the trip.
"Did you find her?" Arthur asked curiously.
"Yeah, she is getting ready," Sunset replied with a sigh. The bustle and excitement of the day finally arriving was enough to pull her from her usual morning slothfulness. She found herself waiting several minutes for a turn at the bathroom to take a shower, and change into one of her other few pairs of clothing she owned. Being stranded in a foreign world didn't particularly help someone come by material possessions. She had only been able to get these extra outfits by extorting money from her classmates at Canterlot high scool in the first place. That thought didn't particularly bother her, it beat the alternative, and she felt no particular attachment to anyone other than the current five girls she was with. After drying herself off and brushing her hair, she made her way out of the bathroom to be replaced by Pinkie, who took her turn after Sunset. It took about an hour for the group to be fully ready, each girl having a turn to freshen themselves up in the bathroom before all six of them found themselves ready to leave.
"Alright..." Arthur began to the group, who had their carts with them gathered around him at the door. "You all have your things... wait, where is your cart Rarity?"
"I left it downstairs in the lobby. All of my belongings fit inside my bag, so I'm sharing a cart," she winked at Applejack.
"Well... I suppose it does utilize the space nicely..." he began, at a loss to the fact that she had such an expensive bag in the first place. "Alright..." He glanced at his watch. "The train leaves in a few hours. It's only a few blocks from the hotel, so we have plenty of time to get you all boarded," he explained, giving each of them a meaningful look, "You all excited?"
"More like nervous..." Fluttershy mumbled to herself.
"Nervicited!" Pinkie blurted out energetically with an uncomfortable looking smile.
"Don't worry," Arthur comforted, "I'll make sure everything goes smoothly." A moment of silence passed between them before Arthur finally led them out of the room. "Okay, it's a short trip, but let's all stay together."
It was, indeed, a short trip, the group finding their way to the station in about a ten minute walk. Arthur led them into the station and down the walkway leading from one platform to the next. Sunset was extremely glad Arthur was there to guide them, the station was large enough where she figured that the group could have easily gotten lost trying to find their way. They all walked single file, pushing their carts behind one another, except Rarity, who walked beside Applejack, chatting with her as they walked, every once in a while the two of them burst out laughing at something they had said. Sunset, who took up the rear of the line, couldn't make out the conversation, instead deciding on looking around the station as she followed along behind Fluttershy. She stifled a curse, almost hitting Fluttershy with her cart, as the group abruptly stopped in a small area between platform nine and ten. She made a note to pay more attention as the group approached another small group already there.
"Molly dear!" Arthur said warmly, walking over to the woman who seemed to be in charge of the other group.
"Arthur!" she greeted him back in surprise before giving him a warm embrace. "I thought you had some special work to do today." She looked past him toward the group of girls behind him curiously.
"I do," he nodded in emphasis before turning back to the rest of them. "Girls, allow me to introduce you to my other half, Molly Weasley," he gestured to the woman beside him. "Molly, allow me to introduce you to my special work," he chuckled slightly before continuing, "We have Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, and the two in the back are Sunset and Fluttershy." He pointed each of them out as he named them, each of them greeting her with varying degrees of enthusiasm as he did.
"My... those are certainly some... odd... names," she commented lightly.
Arthur leaned into her before whispering, "They're American."
Molly gave her husband an exasperated look, "Honey, that doesn't... never mind." She shook her head in bewilderment, before putting on a warm smile again. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."
"And boys..." Arthur said happily, embracing several red headed boys, two of which being twins who stood beside Molly uncertainly. "I'm so happy I got to see you off on your big day," he looked around uncertainly, "Where is Percy?"
"He already went through," Molly replied, "You just missed him a few minutes ago."
"Oh..." Arthur looked sad at the news, but perked up again, continuing his introductions, "Girls, allow me to introduce you to my sons." He gestured to one of the twins. "...Fred," he said uncertainly.
"George," the boy corrected.
"Right, George," Arthur continued, "And the other is Fred."
"No, I'm George," the other boy corrected. Pinkie giggled madly at the situation playing out before her.
Arthur stared at the two of them uncertainly before continuing awkwardly, "Allow me to introduce you to Fred and George, whichever they may be..."
"Nice to meet you," they both said at the exact same time. It was pretty impressive, in a creepy way.
Arthur gestured over to the youngest of the three boys, "And this here is Ronald, my youngest son." He rustled the boys hair getting an irritated response. "This will be his first year too."
"You can just call me Ron," the boy greeted them awkwardly. Sunset felt slightly sorry for him, suddenly meeting six strangers like this, but he handled it pretty well.
"And that one over there hiding behind my wife is my little girl Ginny," he continued proudly, "She'll be starting school soon herself."
"Hello..." she greeted them quietly.
"Okay! Now that we go introductions out of the way, let's head through to the train. Fred, George, if you wouldn't mind going ahead first?"
"Fine with me," one of them shrugged.
"See you on the other side," the other continued. The two gripped grabbed their carts and pushed it straight through the wall in front of the group, seemingly sinking into it, the spectacle drew a collective gasp from five of the girls. Sunset had just been through too much at this point to be surprised over something like this. The magic was certainly new to her, but was rather mundane in function. Once the surprise had worn off the group somewhat, Arthur and Molly began directing the rest of them one at a time through the wall.
"Excuse me," an uncertain voice came from behind Sunset. She turned around to find a young boy with jet black hair and emerald green eyes staring at her. He seemed worried and stressed. "Um... do you perhaps know how to get to platform nine and three quarters?"
Sunset gave his cart a glance, noticing it containing the same things as the rest of the group. A cage with a snowy white owl perched atop one of the boxes on the cart. She returned her attention back to the boy before answering his question, "To be honest, I'm not surprised you're lost if you never had any instruction." Sunset shrugged and gestured to the wall behind her, just as Pinkie disappeared through it. The boy's expression was so comical that she was almost happy the boy had approached her.
"Did... she just walk through the wall?" he asked in confusion.
"Yup," Sunset responded blandly, "Here, you can go ahead of me, that way those two can help you get through for sure. Seeing as that man's job is to help us get to the train for today, he won't leave us until we're all through." She returned her attention to the group ahead of her. It appeared that only Fluttershy, this new boy, and herself were left to travel through.
"Oh, my name is Harry, by the way," his voice brought her attention back to him, noticing his hand was outstretched to her as a greeting. She looked at it consideringly before shaking his hand.
"Sunset," she responded in greeting.
"That's a pretty name," he followed up politely.
"Uh-huh," she responded dismissively, gesturing to the wall behind him, "It's your turn, lady-killer."
Rainbow emerged through the other side of the wall, finding herself in a completely new, and very busy platform. A large golden plaque on the brick wall read out "Platform 9 ¾" in flowing script. Almost immediately a man called out to her, instructing her step out of the way of the entrance so she wouldn't get hit by any newcomers entering through. She followed the directions, approaching the attendant who stood next to a large passenger train. On her way to the man she overheard the two Weasley twins she met earlier as she passed by them.
"-ready for the Quidditch match this year?"
"I'm not sure. If we can't get a decent seeker, we'll be in the same place as last year."
She froze, finding herself listening into the conversation. Are they talking about Quidditch? Ever since she had seen the broom store in Diagon Alley, she had asked question after question to McGonagall, learning all she could about Quidditch and flying. It had only been a few days since the incident that happened out front of her old school, but she had never forgotten the feeling she had felt during it. She didn't know how, but during the incident she had somehow ended up with wings. The feeling of freedom she had when she flew through the air had plagued her mind, even finding its way into her dreams both nights since. She couldn't help be think that it was her calling, somehow.
"Miss!" the man called again, "If you'll make your way over here, I can help you board your luggage onto the train."
"Uhh, give me a second!" she called back, pushing her cart over to the twins instead. "Hey!" she greeted them brightly. "I heard you talking about Quidditch. Do you two play?" The two turned to look at her curiously.
"Oh, hey Rainbow." The one on the left greeted her.
"We're the Gryffindor team's beaters," the other answered her. Rainbow searched her memory trying to place the positions. That was the position who focused on keeping their team safe. Gryffindor. She thought she had heard the name before, must be the name of the school team.
"So... I take it you're pretty good at flying..." she continued the conversation coyly, excited at the revelation.
"We're not as good as our brother Charlie was,-"
"-but we're better than most."
"Good, good!" Rainbow could almost laugh with excitement. "Say, how would you two want to teach me how to use this thing?" she asked as she pulled out her prized broomstick. The two looked at each other uncertainly.
"First years aren't allowed..."
"Is that a Nimbus 2000?" The two stared at her in shock. "How did you afford that?"
She hefted the broomstick proudly. "Some old guy named Dumbledore gave me the money for it." She frowned slightly as she noticed their dumbfounded expressions. "What?..."