Platform 9 3/4

[Gifted]

"...I'm in the way of a poll?" Nikki asked, confused.
"Nikki, you've gopt ten minutes," Her mother fretted. "Oh, if you miss the train..."
"Mom, calm down, I'm fine." she said quietly.

[Raven]

Evangeline sighed in annoyance. "Of the platform! Get out of the way!" she hissed.

[Gifted]

Nikki was shocked. After a long minute, she stepped out of the way and looked up at her parents.

Meanwhile, a woman walked briskly through Kings Cross. "Sending a perfectly good child off to boarding school is not in my job description," she muttered. "Especially not a boarding school for freaks,"
"It's all right, really," Andrea said to the woman from the orphanage. "I want to go," The woman was under the impression Andrea was a model child, very nice and respectful to the other kids, always minded her manners, always followed the rules. In the womans eyes, there was no finer child anywhere.

This was exactly what Andrea wanted her to think. If you talked to the other kids, they'd tell you different. Or at least, they would if they weren't so terrified of Andrea and her little sisterhood. As Andrea knew firsthand, the easiest way to get power among the adults at the orphanage was through model behavior, and the easiest way to get power among the kids was through fear. She'd achieved on both counts. Now she just had to learn how to achieve power at her new school.
Suddenly she saw people talking up ahead, and looked up at the signs above her. She was standing at the barrier between platforms 7 and 8. "Leave me here," she said urgently to the woman.
"What? But Ms. Mcready said I was to escort you to platform nine and three-"
"I know, but please, I'd really rather you left me here. Getting onto the platform may not be as easy as it sounds." When the woman looked confused, she added "Magic, remember?" and smiled her most innocent-looking smile. Really, she wanted to get a sense of how things worked around here and felt these people would make the perfect test subjects.
"I don't know...."
"Don't worry about me, I have my kitty to keep me company," Andrea smiled, pointing at the cat in the cage, which looked rather like Ms. Norris. "Please? I'll be fine, I promise,"
"Well...Alright. You be safe, Andrea,"
"Of course." The woman walked away and Andrea settled in to hear the conversation happening at the next barrier.

[Raven]

Without hesitation, and without checking to see if any muggles were watching, Evangeline ran straight at the barrier, feeling a slight tremor of fear since it was her first time. But it was the kind of fear she had learned to ignore, and it almost always paid off. Like now, when she arrived unscathed at the Hogwarts station.

[Gifted]

Nikki's eyes lit up in wonder when Evangilene dissappeared through the wall. Her parents gasped. "I... think he found the platform," Nikki said, smiling.
"Nikki dear, do you have your cell phone? And your robes and things?" They'd bought Nikki a cell phone when they'd heard she'd be away most of the year, wanting to be able to communicate. She'd asked for an owl, but they'd refused, wanting instant communication.
"Yes mom, I've got everything."
"Alright, I want you to call me once you get there, alright?"
"If I can."
"Bye sweetie. We've given you a little leaving present, you'll find it in your trunk on top of your other things."
"thanks"
"Goodbye honey!" her mom looked to be on the verge of tears, and Nikki was quite glad when her father steered her mom out of the train station. She took a deep breath to compose herself, then pushed her trolley through the barrier.

Well, Andrea hadn'ty gotten anything useful out of those two, but she did see them go onto the platform. She'd just gather her information on the train. She pushed her trolley through the barrier as well.

[Raven]

Evangeline had scanned the crowd by the time Nikki made it through. "Pretty cool, huh?" Evangeline asked her, glancing up.

[Gifted]

Nikki nodded. "Wow!" She said.
Just then, Jesse pushed past them. "Out of my way, Mudblood," She muttered under her breath, annoyed at them holding her up. She quickly got up to the train and made her way to the prefects compartment.

[Raven]

Evangeline frowned. "Don't mind her," she said to Nikki. "Do you want to share a compartment with me?"

[Gifted]

Nikki smiled and nodded. "Thanks," she said quietly.

[Raven]

"Were those people your parents out there?" Evangeline asked, pretending not to really care as she followed the other students who were beginning to board the train.

[Gifted]

"Yeah. I'm supposed to call them when I get to school." She nodded. "What about you? Your parents let you wander around Kings Cross by yourself?"

[Raven]

"Yeah. I learned to function on my own pretty well," Evangeline answered.

[Gifted]

Nikki nodded. "Shall we... find a compartment then?"

Just as Andrea was about to walk through the barrier, a couple of idiots came running down the hall.

"Coming thrrrrrrooooouuuuuuggggghhhh!" yelled a voice, and a pale brown-haired boy dressed in a white long-sleeve shirt and jeans came barrelling down the hall with his trolley, the large white and brown barn owl stretching it's wings as wide as they could go in the cage in excitement.
The boy turned at the last second and screeched his cart to a halt, just barely avoiding hitting anyone.
Laughing, another identical boy came running down the hall with his cart almost as fast. he was more cautious, screeching to a halt several inches from the people. "Come on bro, we're drawing all the muggles eyes," he said between laughs.
"Oh, come on, Tanner, so we wait a few minutes, who cares?" Wesley laughed, high fiving his identical twin brother. There was a sound of running as their parents tried to catch up.
"Oh mom's soooooo going to kill us," Tanner said worriedly.
"What can she do? We're not seeing her till Christmas!" Wesley laughed loudly.
"Wesley and Tyler Just!" their mom yelled, running down the hall. She was dressed in a buissness suit so she could go to work straight after, wheras their dad wore jeans and a blue turtleneck. "You are in BIG trouble!"
"We should probably split now," Wesley said, grinning.
"There are eyes on us, no way," said Tanner in an undertone. "This is your fault,"

Andrea was annoyed. Of COURSE, now these two idiots had her trapped out here now too, waiting for the people to stop staring.

Tanner sighed, as his mom continued to shout insults at them. Wesley was right, Mom couldn't really do anything to them. "Shh, it's ok Alba," he said, stroking his freaked-out barn owls feathers. "Wesley, calm down Tito, he's freaking,"
"Are you even listening?" Their mother demanded.
"No," said all three boys in the family at once. Even the mother laughed at that one, though she quickly became stern again.
"Alright, wait until the Muggles stop watching and then hurry through te barrier you two. I'll see you at Christmas."
"You got it, mom!" Wesely said, and Tanner nodded. The family hugged, and as the Muggles went back to whatever they'd been doing, both boys slipped through the barrier.

Andrea followed them, confused about the word she'd just heard.

[Sar]

August reached into her pocket and, with a hissing noise, out came Ngaio. Ngaio was a lizard and, though not an approved Hogwarts pet, she felt he would still be perfect with her, especially being so well concealed. The reptile crawled up her arm to her neck and used her as a running coarse as he reached her other hand. "Good boy," She said softly, stroking the top of his head.

[Raven]

"Lets," Evangeline said. "Im Evangeline by the way."

Ryan finally boarded the train, managing to slip away from the other Gryffindors to an empty compartment.