The Hogwarts Express arrived at Platform 9¾ on a late December afternoon, just a couple of hours before sundown. As soon as the train doors opened, a blizzard of students came flocking out. Among the lively crowd was Ashley who, surrounded by her adequately large circle of friends, immediately headed towards the luggage car to retrieve her things. Once she had all her personal belongings accounted for, she glanced around before subtly shrinking them to fit into her pocket, leaving only Hedwig’s cage (and Hedwig) for her to carry. She embraced each of her friends before wandering off to search for Sirius and Remus. Lucky for her, it didn’t take too long.