Laura Tisdall (13) and Polly Tisdall (11) in Didcot, Oxfordshire
The moment the Hogwarts Express steam train finally puffed into Didcot Railway Centre last Saturday with JK Rowling on board was just totally magic. We’d been waiting for ages and ages with hundreds of other people, clutching our copies of the new Harry Potter book.
We had sat a mock Hogwarts School Exam at Ottakar’s bookshop in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and won a golden ticket each, which meant we could meet our favourite author.
A queue of excited kids and their parents stretched down the track. To keep us entertained, a man was juggling fire sticks. Then, at last, the maroon Hogwarts Express chugged in. There she was: JK Rowling herself!
When it was our turn, we almost ran down the corridor and entered her compartment. She said she liked our T- shirts; one had a dragon on it, the other a lightning bolt, like the one on Harry’s forehead. She was really friendly, not rushed. She gave the answer to one of our questions about the second book, which we’d been dying to know. Then she signed our new books.
A family we had talked to in the queue had come without golden tickets. Luckily they got in, after waiting for 3 hours. Their mum said: “It was well worth it.”
We thought so, too.