"Alright! We've got everything?" Ginny exclaimed as she helped Lily and Al lug a couple of trunks into the back of an old 2003 Kia Sedona.

"Yes Mum." said Lily. "Everything on the list!"

"Owls?"

"Yes, all there." said James, poking his head out of the front shotgun seat's window.

"James get out, that's where your mother's sitting." said Harry as he checked his watch.

Mikoto was standing next to the van as well, wearing a black shirt titled "Weird Sisters" on the front, and a set of blue denim shorts. Of course she was there to see Al and Lily off.

"Say, after we're done at the train station, why don't we go to Diagon Alley, find some Owl Treats for Mizuchi?" said Ginny, trying to lift Mikoto out of her blues.

"Yeah, that would be nice." said Mikoto, her heart lifted at the chance to see Diagon Alley, which apparently was like a large open air mall for wizards.

"And don't worry about where she is now." said Harry. "I should know, those owls are pretty smart when finding their way back to their owners. That particular species is especially adaptable too."

"Alright, everyone in the car." said Ginny as she got in. "James, back seat next to Al.. Lily, furthest seat next to Mikoto."

As they piled into the car, Mikoto was stunned to find that the inside of the vehicle had been magically expanded to be bigger then the outside. Which pretty much violated all laws of physics considering the laws of space time.  Then again, as an Esper who naturally violated laws herself, perhaps this wasn't too big of a revelation.

Mikoto sat comfortably next to Lily, having plenty of leg space as Harry started up the van and began driving out of Ottery St. Catchpole, which apparently housed many wizarding families.

It took several hours to reach London due to an absolutely terrible traffic situation. As they were caught in the standstill, Mikoto would look around and wonder if she'd see anybody she knew from the 'Magician' magic community, many of whom were associates of her certain idiot friend.

"Looking for Necessarius?" Harry asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

"Huh?" Mikoto said, a little stunned.

"The ministry tracks well known associates of them, you're included on the list." said Harry. "They're fine. Naturally, they're not involved with the esper genocide situation."

"Oh." said Mikoto.

"Disappointed?" asked Harry.

"No, it's not as if I knew them well.. but I'd think they'd at least try to help the friend I'm thinking of." Mikoto said. "Especially since he's guarding a certain stupid silver sister.."

Mikoto blushed and pouted at the thought of the 'silver sister' she had in mind.

"Oooh, methinks I sense a disturbance in the jealous female force." said James with an arched eyebrow.

"James, unnecessary." said Harry.

"Fine." James said with a sigh, folding his arms behind his head.

"Anyways, this 'sister' you talk about is precisely why we keep an eye on them." said Harry. "The Auror office in particular. Some of the Grimoires she possesses are in the restricted section of Hogwarts Library, and for good reason."

Al turned fervently to look at Mikoto. "I-is it true that Necessarius keeps a chained up Erumpent in their basement?"

"I don't know." said Mikoto.

"Is it true that they put Dragon's Blood in their soup?"

"I don't think so.. but I don't know that either." said Mikoto. "Look, I'm not a part of the organization, I was just introduced to them by my idiot friend.. well more like ran into them while I was with my idiot friend, but you get the picture. But I have fought magicians before, and won.. kind of."

"Whoa." said Al. "Like who?"

"Well.. there was this guy named Thor I briefly clashed with.. had a bit of a taste for lightning like me.." Mikoto muttered trying to list the magic foes she fought. "Er.. some girl named.. Cendril-something? Cinderella? No.. er.. I remember she was in Hawaii, and  huh.."

Mikoto's eyes widened slightly with surprise. "That was a huge event.. why don't I remember it that well? It only happened so recently!"

Harry looked concerned by this, but he quickly hid this. "I'm sure it's fine, you've had a lot happen to you in the past weeks, so it's probably masking over everything else."

They remained silent for the rest of the trip, and all the way through King's Cross station. It wasn't till they got to Platform 8 of the station that Mikoto spoke. "Um, so, what platform is this train?"

Mikoto looked around, expecting to see a train that was disguised to look as muggle as possible.

"Platform 9 and 3/4." said Lily.

Mikoto frowned. "Wait.. what?"

"right there." said Lily, pointing at the support beam column between Platforms 9 and 10.

Mikoto wondered if this was a joke, or some other magical thing.

"I know, I didn't get it at first too." said Harry.  "Why don't you and me go first?"

"Go.. do what?" Mikoto asked as Harry took her hand and guided her in front of the pillar.

"Now.. run and don't stop." said Harry. "Close your eyes if you're nervous, ready?"

"Wait, WE'RE RUNNING INTO A-!?" Mikoto managed to scream before Harry hurried with her right at the space between 9 and 10.

"FOOM!" Mikoto felt as if she were passing through a layer of air. Sort of like when you walk into a Macys at the mall and they have the ginormous air fans over the entrance. When she opened her eyes , she was standing at a completely new train platform, where a large old fashioned train labeled Hogwarts Express, stood steaming.

Mikoto's jaw dropped as she looked all around at the countless parents and children in this apparently isolated area of space. Forget the car, this was a TRUE violation of all laws of physics, unless going through the wall somehow teleported her to an entirely different location.

"Welcome to Platform 9 and 3/4." said Harry as the rest of his family came out of the wall behind them.

"Well, I've seen weird time and time again, but this is new." said Mikoto.

"The schools in Japan ride some sort of big animal to school I think.." Al said as he pushed his trolley holding his luggage towards the crowd. "Hey, I see Scopius, gotta go!"

"Don't be ditherin Slithering Slytherin!" James teased with a chuckle. "tell scorpy-"

"James." Ginny warned.

"Fine fine.." James said with a sigh. "Can't joke about anything anymore."

"Can I go explore a bit?" Mikoto asked Harry. "I mean, what's the harm? Not like anybody's gonna try to kill me with witnesses all around right?"

Harry seemed skeptical, but he nodded. "Alright, but only around five minutes alright? You're around school age, and I don't want people wondering why you're not on the train."

"I'll be safe." Mikoto said as she began walking off. "Anyways, I wanna say goodbye to Al and Lily, not going to miss that am I?"

Mikoto whistled as she strolled through the crowds, eying all the different aged wizarding children.  She stopped at one point to admire something a boy was showing to his friends in a box.

"Give us a look Gil." said one kid, as the boy named Gil removed the lid.

Several younger children sighed with interest as a furry creature with a long nose sniffed its way out of the box, holding gold coins in it's little paws.

Gil, a blonde boy with a rather mischievous grin, nodded at Mikoto. "Hey there! Wanna pet him?"

Mikoto shrugged and moved over to pet the little animal. "What is he?"

"A Niffler. God useful, they find shiny things and treasure for you!" said Gil. "This one's named Henry. He likes girls the most, but he's mighty loyal to me all the same. You like animals?"

"Yes, cats especially, but they don't like me." Mikoto said.

Unfortunately, Mikoto's ability always emitted a weak electric field that cats found irritating.  Indeed some of the cats of other students nearby were struggling in their owner's arms, wanting to get away from Mikoto.

The Niffler on the other hand was loving Mikoto, letting out affectionate sniffs as she pet it. "So you're allowed to bring him? I thought only cats, owls, or toads were allowed."

"Are you kidding?" said Gil. "I'm sneaking him in. Henry's going to help me find all the secret treasure in Hogwarts! I'll be the most famous 4th year alive!"

"Riiight. " Mikoto said. "Let me know how that goes." (Mikoto just remembered what Lily told her about Nifflers being inadvisable to keep indoors around shiny objects.)

"Hey." said Gil defensively. "At least it's not a dragon egg I'm bringing. I heard the Hogwarts games keeper has all sorts of weird stuff at his house!"

"I'm sure he does, it's Hogwarts right?" Mikoto said. "But weird doesn't necessarily mean smart where I'm from."

"Where are you from?" asked Gil. "Come to think of it, you look around my age, yet I've never seen you before in school."

Mikoto froze. "Uh.. I'm.. an exchange student."

"Oh, alright." said Gil. He cleared his throat. "Well, should you want to see Henry some more, you're welcome to."

Mikoto frowned as she noticed Gil blushing slightly. Why was it wherever she went, at least one person tried to hit on her?

"I'll consider it." Mikoto said nervously, backing away. "Now.. er..  bye."

Mikoto began to make her way back to the Potters. That was too close a call.

But as Mikoto began to walk back in the general direction the Potter Family had been in, she noticed something dreadful.

A girl with tea colored hair was leaning against a support column, staring at her phone, which some of the wizard children seemed interested by.

Mikoto knew who this girl was. the last time they met was in a diner in Academy City where Kuroko and another girl named Frenda had engaged in a rather embarrassing interaction. And before that, the girl had tried very hard to kill Mikoto.

Mikoto looked around nervously. She didn't know what the 4th strongest Esper was doing here, but if the two of them got into a fight in an area this crowded, it would be mean plenty of casualties.  How could she pass without being noticed?

Suddenly, the girl looked up, and she seemed to notice Mikoto through the crowd.

Mikoto turned away quickly. "Damn, need to hide."

Mikoto searched around quickly. She then saw an open door on the Hogwarts Express. Right! The train wasn't due to leave for a while. She would just hide out in one of the compartments until the girl passed.  No biggie.

Mikoto hurried into the crowd as the girl blinked, trying to ascertain the familiar face she just saw.

Mikoto struggled through the door of the train, as she did, she passed another Asian girl who had chestnut hair like hers. She was exclaiming loudly to anybody who would listen.

"I can't believe that my parents are making me attend Hogwarts 4 years late! Me, Tatsumi Aya has to take tutoring just to catch up with the 4th years! How stupid!"

"S-sorry!" Mikoto stammered, accidentally pushing aside Tatsumi, and causing her to fall on her butt.

"What!?" said Tatsumi indignantly. "How dare you peasant! I-.. eh?"

The other esper, aka, Shizuri Mugino, the Meltdowner, had grabbed Tatsumi's wrist just as Mikoto shut the door behind her.

"AHA!" Shizuri growled. "Wait.. huh? Who are you?"

"Unhand me!" Tatsumi stammered. "What are you doing!?"

"Sorry, you looked like somebody I know." said Shizuri in Japanese.

"You're not from around here are you?" said Tatsumi.

Suddenly, there was a train whistle.. the sound of Mikoto having for once, estimated wrong about how much time she had left before the train was supposed to go.

"Oops." said Shizuri as the train began to move, and Tatsumi's jaw dropped.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!" Tatsumi screamed as the train moved out of the station, leaving one Hogwarts Student behind.

Shizuri sighed. "Look I'm sorry about that."

Tatsumi rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I didn't want to go anyways. I'll just pretend that I'm in school while I party around in this dump of a city, it's not like my parents care anyways."

______________

Mikoto couldn't believe her bad luck. She peeked over to look through the window as the mountains began to race by. No way.  This wasn't happening. Were Mr and Mrs. Potter going to be furious with her? Or out of their minds with worry!? They had to be!!

"Baka!!!!" Mikoto squealed in Japanese, drilling her fists into her head. "Baka, baka, baka, baka, BAKA!!"

"Well, well, well. We meet again exchange student."

"Oh crap." Mikoto muttered under her breath, as Gil entered the compartment with his Niffler in his arms.

Gil looked around. "Don't see your trunk anywhere, did you forget it?  That why you're all in a fritz?"

"Yeah." said Mikoto. "Th-that's the reason. Nothing else."

"Hmm, it'll be fine, you can just send home for them right? And besides, I'm sure some of the girls will let you borrow their robes." said Gil, sitting down.  "I'm in the compartment next door. Come on, I've got a friend whose sure to help."

Wishing every second that she could refuse the boy, Mikoto followed him to the door and the two of them moved through the hall to the other compartment.

The only other person in the compartment was a young dark skinned girl with straight black hair, who already had changed into her robes.

"That's Tasha Anderson." said Gil. "She's my girlfriend."

"No I'm  not." said Tasha, rolling her eyes. "He just says that cause he's trying to make you jealous.."

Tasha smiled at Mikoto. "He thinks you're cute by the way."

"OH COME ON!" Gil stammered. "Keep it subtle!!"

"I just don't see the point of keeping it secret when you can just ask her out and be done with it!" said Tasha. "Jeez, boys."

Mikoto just continued to stare.

"Sasha, you've just weirded her out.. " Gil muttered.

"N-no, nothing like that." said Mikoto.  "Sorry, it's nice to meet you, I'm.. I'm.."

Mikoto fell short. Firstly, she had almost forgotten how to traditionally greet somebody in European, which wasn't something that happened often since she was very well cultured.

Secondly, this was resulting from the nerves exploding within her. The Ministry protecting an Esper wasn't supposed to be known by anybody but the family watching her.

But, how long could she keep a lie up all the way to Hogwarts?

The truth was all she had in the face of these complete strangers.

"I'm Mikoto Misaka." said Mikoto, bowing now. "It's nice to meet you."

"Was looking for a handshake actually." muttered Gil.

Tasha kicked Gil in the shin, glaring at him. "She's Japanese obviously, get over it."

Mikoto sat next to Tasha, who despite her rather blunt attitude and overly honest look, seemed like the more understanding of the two.

"Look." Mikoto whispered, turning her head left and right. "I lied about being an exchange student, I'm actually not supposed to be here!"

Gil raised an eyebrow as Henry the Niffler tilted his head curiously. "Uh-huh?"

"I'm a.. er.. " Mikoto stammered. "From another Wizarding school! Yeah that's it!"

"No, you're a Muggle aren't you?" said Tasha.

Mikoto just stared again, feeling like her brain was turning into dish soap.

"It's a bit obvious." said Tasha. "Everything here seems pretty new to you."

"Are you kidding?" said Gil. "Since when was any of this obvious?!"

"Well, it's true, most of the bumbling people in this train have terrible observation skills." said Tasha. "But I tend to notice things."

"And that tends to get you in trouble." muttered Gil. "That and you're too honest."

Tasha glared at Gil, but didn't respond, obviously unable to contradict Gil. "True.. sometimes this gift is rather tedious and makes me, er.. brash."

"Not many willing admit their mistakes though." said Mikoto. "That's something I have a tough time with. A-anyways. Now you understand, I can't be here.. is there any way to make the train stop? or.. something?"

Gil shook his head. "I'm afraid you're going all the way to Hogwarts. But.. I have an idea."

Tasha looked mortified. "Gil! She's a muggle, she needs to be obliviated, you know that right?"

"We can't let that happen!" said Gil. "Look, she obviously knows more about our world than most muggles do, she must've known for a long while!"

"And that's a reason to break the law!?" stammered Tasha.

"If you can't help me, then it's fine." said Mikoto. "I won't let you get in trouble because of me."

At these words, Tasha gritted her teeth, then let out a huge sigh. "You know, I'm terrible at keeping secrets, but fine, let's hear this plan of yours Gil. "

"Just pretend to be a student till the welcome feast is over." said Gil. "Then when the feast is over, hurry back on the train and ride it back to London!"

That sounded okay. Mikoto could pretend to have fallen asleep somewhere, or something. That would put minimal trouble on Al and Lily, and though Mr and Mrs. Potter would be frustrated with her, it would put them in less trouble with the Ministry than if she were suddenly discovered miles away in Hogwarts.

Mikoto nodded. "Let's give it a shot."

Tasha rummaged through her trunk and brought out a pair of spare robes. "Put this on, they're Gryffindor ones, just stick close to me when we disembark."

"So.." Mikoto muttered as she pulled the robes on over her clothes. "What now?"

"Hours until we get there right?" said Gil with a grin. "Exploding Snap anybody?"

Mikoto never thought she could feel like she was in so much trouble, and yet have so much fun. After burning cinders all over the compartment with Exploding Snap cards, a lady came by the compartment, pushing a cart filled with sweets.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" asked the kind faced witch.

"Give me one of everything." said Gil, standing up and taking out some odd looking coins from a pouch in his pocket.

As the lady rolled the cart away, Gil tossed a few Pumpkin Pasties to Mikoto. "Go ahead and take as much as you like. I suspect Muggle sweets are different from ours. "

"Got any Snickers?" Mikoto asked.

"Never heard of that." said Gil.

"Figures." said Mikoto, taking a Chocolate Frog box and opening it. "Heh? What is this?"

"Oh, every Chocolate Frog comes with a trading card with famous witches and wizards." said Tasha. "Take a look, see what you've got."

Mikoto blinked with recognition as she stared at the face of Harry Potter. "Wow, he's famous?"

Mikoto began to read the description. "Whoa, so, he survived a Killing Curse, killed a giant monster in his second year, was the youngest seeker, whatever that means, and.. dang, defeated a Dark Wizard.. alright then, I have to say, he never told me ANY of this."

"You KNOW him!?" stammered Gil.

"He's been looking after me." said Mikoto

"That's it! This is a sign that we HAVE to help you out!" said Gil. "A muggle that is an associate of Harry Potter! That's huge!"

"But.. Harry Potter wouldn't break the law.." muttered Tasha.

"No he wouldn't, the situation's kind of complicated." said Mikoto.

Mikoto looked down at her card, then stared. "Uh, wasn't there like a picture here earlier? Not an empty frame?"

"Well you can't expect him to stick around all day can you?" said Gil.

As Gil said this, Harry moved back into the frame of his card, and scratched his nose a little before letting out a small yawn.

"freaky." Mikoto muttered.

"The trio spent hours talking afterwards. It had almost gotten completely dark, when Mikoto saw something fluttering next the window of the train.

Mikoto narrowed her eyes, then her heart skipped a beat when she realized that it was a very familiar looking Great Horned Owl.

Mikoto opened the window of the train quickly to let Mizuchi flutter into the compartment.

"Mizuchi! You're back!" Mikoto said, petting the owl as it nibbled her ear affectionately.

"You even own an owl?" said Tasha. "It's like there's more Witch in you than Muggle."

Mikoto took the letter that Mizuchi had tied to her leg, it was addressed to her in Japanese, and said it was from.. from.. Kuroko!

Mikoto opened the letter quickly.

Dear Onee-Sama,

We're all okay, mostly intact. Out of Academy City right now. that's too dangerous to go back to. We're on our way to your location. I won't tell you how we know where you are in case this letter is intercepted. Cute Owl by the way.  Don't worry, when I find you I will-

Mikoto stopped reading here, having not the mind right now to see all the strangely suggestive things that Kuroko wanted to do with her. Her friends were weird.

Mikoto folded the letter up. This was an immensely private matter for her. She didn't know if Gil or Tasha could read Japanese, but she didn't want to find out, she was just relieved that her friends were okay.

Gil and Tasha both seemed to have at least enough tact not to ask Mikoto about the letter, instead, Tasha pet Mizuchi, a little before looking out the window and nodding. "We're here."

Mikoto stared out the window. In the distance, she could definitely make out the image of a large castle, with lights twinkling in it's windows.

"Alright everyone.. operation Fake Hogwarts Student is a go." said Gil.