Muggles
Are
Greatly
Involved
Casters

Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express

Kuki Sanban was hopelessly trying to figure out where Platform Nine and Three Quarters was. She was sure she was at the right place: King's Cross Station. But she couldn't see the Hogwarts Express anywhere.

She had been trying to ask the people around her, but all of them stared back at her as if she was crazy, especially since she had a trolley with all sorts of weird contraptions on it.

You see, Kuki was a Muggle-born witch, which meant that she knew nothing about the Wizard world and how it all worked. The first time she had ever heard about a witch or wizard was when a mysterious letter arrived at her doorstep at the beggining of summer, announcing that she was to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on September the first.

At least she hadn't changed into her robes yet, that would've been embarrassing. It was a miracle she had managed to get them in the first place. Being Muggles, her family didn't know where to get her supplies. Luckily, they had stumbled upon a friendly plump witch with curly red hair who introduced them to Diagon Alley.

There, she had bought her robes, books, potion ingredients, and as a gift, a beautiful burrowing owl which made her little sister, Mushi, really jealous. She had named her precious pet Sunny, because she liked to have her cage near the window and soak in the sunlight.

She began to panick as she checked her watch. Only ten more minutes till the train left, and she still didn't know where it was. Suddenly, someone poked her shoulder. She turned around to see a slightly chubby boy with light brown hair, a blue buttoned-up shirt, brown pants, and a pair of sneakers. She tried to make out the color of his eyes, but they were hidden behind some yellow pilot goggles that he wore over them.

"You too?" he asked, looking around. He too was pushing a trolley, the first thing you saw being a fat green toad in a minuscule cage.

She nodded. "You a muggleborn too?"

"Nah, I'm a half-blood. My mom never knew my dad was a wizard," he replied.

"Was?" Kuki couldn't help but ask. She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.

"Uhh, yeah. He... He passed away a couple of years ago," he answered uncomfortably.

Kuki looked down at the floor. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I've gotten over it," he ended. He then cheered back up and asked, "So, how did your family react?"

She smiled, giggling a bit. "They went crazy. They tried to sue the postal service, but then some old woman named Proffesor McGonagall cleared it all up and told my parents the truth. My mom and dad didn't like the sound of me going to a boarding school to learn magic, but they said that a talent like mine shouldn't be wasted. And then you should've see my sister! She was pouting all day because she wanted to be a witch too. I'm not sure she will be though. It was a pretty awkward goodbye. They decided to do so in the parking lot."

"Nice. The same here with my little brother, Tommy. He made mom make him some robes, then he grabbed a stick from the backyard and pointing it at things saying the weirdest things. I hope he doesn't explode before I get back," he chuckled. "We were running late so we didn't have a proper farewell. She still had to drop off Tommy at school."

She nodded, but then checked her watch again. Now, she only had 7 minutes. "If we don't hurry, the train is going to leave without us!"

"Well, no one seems to know where it is!"

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'm Kuki by the way. Kuki Sanban."

"Call me Hoagie," he introduced himself in turn.

It was getting really uncomfortable, now that there were two of them. Some of the little children wanted to poke their fingers into Sunny's cage, but their mothers shooed them on.

When there were only 5 minutes left, they saw a dark-skinned family (a mom, dad, and what seemed to be two sisters) rushing by, all of them pushing a pair of trolleys between themselves.
Hoagie instinctively caught Kuki's eye, and so they both ran after them, their trolleys slowing them down. They followed the family, making all of the other people move out of the way unless they wanted to get run over. Finally, the two saw the family disappear into a pillar between Platform 9 and 10.

"Woah! Did they just run into that thing?" Hoagie wondered aloud.

"I think so. I'll go first," Kuki offered.

"Um, okay."

Kuki gripped her trolley tightly, waited till no one was looking, and then sprinted straight forward as fast as she could. The wall got closer and closer until, finally, she broke through it. She opened her eyes to see a magnificent scarlet steam engine, kids hurrying onto it as they bid their families farewell.
Hoagie soon appeared beside her, urging her to get herself, and her things, on the train.

"C'mon, Kuki! The train is about to leave!" Hoagie exclaimed.

Sure enough, there were only 2 minutes left. Kuki quickly pushed her trolley and tried to pull up her stuff all at once. Hoagie tried doing the same, but they both needed more time.

"Here, let Abby help."

Kuki peered sideways to see the younger dark-skinned girl she had seen earlier. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white stripes on the sides, white buckle shoes, and on her head, a red hat. She also wore some golden hoop earrings, and her black hair was tied back in one long, yet neat, braid.
Abby helped her heave her trunk onto the train, as well as pass Sunny's cage over. She then did the same for Hoagie and so they finished at the nick of time.

The train blew its horn, and Kuki had to help Abby up. She could see the students waving goodbye to their parents from the windows, and she whished her parents had been there too. "Maybe next year..." she thought.

"Thanks for helping," Kuki said appreciatively.

"Yeah, I don't think we would've made it in time without you," Hagie consented.

Abby shook her head. "Nah, it was no biggie. I'm Abigail Lincoln, but I go by Abby."

"I'm Kuki, and this is Hoagie."

Abby offered her hand, which the others shook one at a time.

"Nice to meet ya. I saw you chasing us over there. I would've helped but we were late. Cree insisted she needed to look her best." At this time, she made a disgusted face. "You guys muggle-borns?"

Kuki nodded, but Hoagie just crossed his arms. "Half-blood," he corrected.

Kuki and Abby both rolled their eyes.

"Whatever. We should probably get a compartment, though. I don't want to be standing in the hallway the whole ride," Abby suggested.
The other two agreed, and so they walked towards the end of the train since the rest were all occupied. They finally found one at the very end, and so they all seated themselves and got comfortable.

Kuki was glad that she had already made some new friends, and she was eager to tell them all about herself, and to hear what their lives were like as well, especially Abby's; she wondered what a wizard family was like.

"So, what house do you think you'll be in?" Abby asked, mischievously.

"I don't know, I have a feeling I'll be a Ravenclaw," Hoagie shrugged. "What about you Kuki?"

"House?" she puzzled. She didn't even know what they were.

"Yeah, your house. Oh wait, muggle-born. Right," Hoagie remembered. "I did a little reserach once I got my books. Well, at Hogwarts, there are four houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. I read about them over the summer. You're supposed to take some sort of test, and that determines which house you'll be in. It all depends on your personality and how you act."

Abby nodded. "My sister said that they put something called The Sorting Hat on your head. That's how they find out."

Kuki kept this information in her head. She would have to learn a lot this year. "So, what are the houses like?"

"Well, Hufflepuffs are loyal and friendly, Ravenclaws are the smart ones, Gryffindors are the brave ones, and Slytherins are the sly and cunning ones, but most of us just call them the evil ones," Hoagie explained.

"Yeah, You-Know-Who and most of his followers were in Slytherin," Abby concurred.

"You-Know-Who?"

Abby leaned in closer, since Kuki was in the seat opposite her. "He was the darkest wizard of all time."

Kuki shivered at the thought. "Oh. In that case, I hope I'm not in Slytherin."

"Thankfully, he died 30 years ago in the hands of Harry Potter, the boy who lived," Abby assured her. "You've heard of him, surely?"

Kuki found herself scanning her brain for any mention of Harry Potter. "No, I don´t suppose I have. But I'm sure I´ll learn about him eventually."

"Yeah, I guess so, but you're not the one who should be worrying," Abby whispered, then sighed."My mom was a Ravenclaw, my dad a Hufflepuff, and my sister is a Slytherin. I don't want to end up with her. I could end up anywhere!"

Hoagie patted her back. "You'll be fine. I heard that if you ask the hat, it'll put you in the house you want to be," he encouraged.

"That's nonsense. Abby doesn't believe in that kind of stuff." She didn't even consider the thought.

Kuki wanted to help cheer up her new friend, but couldn't think of anything to say. "Well, it's worth-"

Just then, she was interrupted by two boys, one extremely shorter than the other, that burst into the compartment, closing the sliding door swiftly behind them. As soon as it was secured, a fuming boy with flippy blonde hair stormed past.

"Man, that was close," one of them said in a foreign accent (Australian, she guessed), as he wiped the sweat off his forehead which was covered with neat, blonde, bowl-cut hair that partly hid his sparkling green eyes from view. He was wearing an orange hoodie, some jeans, and white tennis shoes. He was quite short for his age, but Kuki found that adorable.

"Yeah. Remind me never to pull a prank on someone with you again," the other replied, picking up some black sunglasses that he had dropped during their escape. He was taller than his friend, with a bald head, blue eyes, and a genuine British accent. He wore a red turtleneck shirt along with brown shorts, white woolen socks, and brown boots that made him look like he was going to war.

Kuki, Abby, and Hoagie, just stared at them, as if wondering if they should say something.

"Excuse me?" Abby finally confronted rudely, clearly annoyed by their interruption.

"Oh sorry," the short one said, seating himself on Kuki's right side. "We were running away from this one Slytherin fourth-year. We pulled a prank on him, putting a whoopie cushion on his seat so that it sounded as if he was farting, and right in front of his girlfriend too," he sniggered.

Hoagie laughed and raised his hand for a high-five. "Good one." The kid smiled and accepted the high-five, although he had to jump a bit to reach it.

"I'm Hoagie, this is Abby and over there is Kuki," Hoagie then introduced his new acquaintances.

"Cool, I'm Wally, and the workaholic over there is Nigel."

Nigel punched Wally on the arm playfully. "I am not a workaholic."

"Whatever you say," Wally answered, unconvinced.

"Well, we were just talking about what house we thought we'd end up in. Do you guys have any idea in which one you'll be in?" Hoagie asked.

Wally shrugged. "My parents were both Hufflepuffs, but I don't think I'm anything like them. Hufflepuffs are just a bunch of ninnies if you ask me. My uncle Lou was a Slytherin though. I hope I don't end up like him; he is such a loser."

"I want to be in Gryffindor, like most of my family," Nigel said, puffing up his chest a little. "I doubt I'm up for it, though."

Kuki didn't know which house she would prefer. All of them sounded nice, with the exception on Slytherin of course. She wasn't the smartest, or the bravest, and although she was friendly, there were a few times when she really lost her temper and went on a rampage. Only time would tell where she would end up.

And so the five of them started taking about other things, eventually buying some delicious wizard treats from a lady pushing a food cart. When they almost arrived at Hogwarts, they changed into their robes, and awaited their arrival at the school.

This would be a year to remember.