Author's Note: I've always wanted to write a Harry Potter crossover. I also love writing about the members of my favourite band. Doing both at the same time allows me to write about what they were like as kids and view the world of Harry Potter from the eyes of someone other than Harry.

I plan to follow Matt and Josh mostly throughout their seven years at Hogwarts, but the other band members will get plenty of time as well.

Even if you don't like Marianas Trench (and really, you probably should), hopefully you can enjoy this story anyway.

Note: First Year takes place in 1995, AKA Harry's fifth year.

September first dawned cold and clear, and at quarter to eleven the platform was already bustling. Mr. Ramsay led his family through the crowd of wizards and Muggles alike, making his way towards the barrier that stood between platforms nine and ten.

"Mum! Dad! I see it, I see it!" Eleven-year-old Josh Ramsay bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, craning his neck to see over the heads of the taller people in front of him. In his left hand was a cage carrying a small owl; the owl reacted to his excitement, hooting shrilly and flapping its wings. "Quiet , Pipsqueak," Josh told it sternly.

"Calm down, Josh," Sara said from behind him, rolling her eyes. She was his oldest sister, and would be entering her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Next to her was Ange, Josh's other sister, pushing a trolley of her own. She would be entering her fourth year.

"It's my first time," Josh said, somewhat defensively. "Just because you're used to it by now…" Suddenly, the metal barrier that marked platform nine and three quarters loomed up in front of them, and Josh gulped. It looked much more solid from this angle. "Someone else can go first."

"'C'mon, Josh," his father said, pushing his trolley towards the barrier. "Nothing to be afraid of."

As he stood there, willing himself to move, a large family, all with red hair, walked in front of the barrier. They debated for a moment, before breaking off into pairs and stepping towards the barrier, disappearing through the other side.

Well, if they could do it…Josh took a deep breath, before tucking Pipsqueak's cage securely under his arm and running towards the barrier. It wouldn't hurt that much if he crashed, he comforted himself, before stepping through the metal wall and finding himself on the other side.

Platform nine and three quarters. Slightly in awe, Josh stood and looked around as the rest of his family burst through the barrier behind him. A scarlet red steam engine was waiting at the end of the platform, belching white smoke into the air. King's Cross was nearly as busy on this side as it was on the other; the air had taken on a slightly hectic feel as students and families loaded trunks onto the train and said goodbyes.

"I see Susan," Sara announced, giving her parents a quick hug before lugging her trunk towards her friend. A moment later, Ange spotted a friend of her own and also departed. Josh watched her go, feeling strangely lost.

"I don't know anyone," he said, looking at the crowds of people that seemed so much bigger than him.

Mr. Ramsay clapped him on the back. "I reckon that'll change real quick. C'mon, I'll help you load your trunk onto the train."

With his father's help, Josh managed to push his trunk on board. He stood at the edge of the doorway, looking at his parents.

"It's five to eleven," his father said at last, glancing down at his watch.

Looking distinctly teary-eyed, his mother said, "You'll be okay now?"

Josh nodded mutely. With a sigh, Mrs. Ramsay swept him up into a hug. "We'll see you at Christmas," she said. "It won't be that long, truly."

"You'll write?" Josh asked.

"Every day."

"Not every day," he hastily corrected. "People will think I'm a baby."

His mother smiled. "Not every day, then."

Josh looked at his father, before hugging him tightly. "See you," he said, once he let go.

His parents waved at him, and he waved back; the doors in front of him slid shut.

Sighing deeply to himself, Josh picked up Pipsqueak's cage in one hand and the handle of his trunk in the other. Slowly, he began to make his way down the train's corridor.

It was almost eleven o'clock, and most compartments were already full. He had almost reached the end of the train before he found one that was empty, except for one boy who looked to be his age sitting by himself and staring woefully out the window.

"Mind if I sit with you?" Josh asked, rapping on the compartment door.

The other boy jumped at the noise and turned around in his seat. He examined Josh for a moment before saying, "No, go ahead."

With some effort, Josh managed to push his trunk up into a ceiling rack. He then took a seat opposite the other boy and placed Pipsqueak's cage between his feet.

"My name's Josh," he said, somewhat awkwardly as the other boy had already turned to stare out the window again. "Josh Ramsay."

"I'm Matt Webb," said the other boy in a quiet voice. Beneath his unkempt brown hair, Josh thought his eyes looked a little red.

"Have you been crying?"

"No," Matt said, angrily wiping at his eyes before facing the window.

Josh watched him for a moment. "Aren't you excited?" he asked, curious. "We're going to Hogwarts!" When Matt didn't respond, he continued, "My sisters are in fourth and seventh years. I've been waiting for ages for it to be my turn."

"My sister's a Muggle," Matt said, even quieter than before.

"So you're Muggle-born?" Josh asked after a brief silence.

Matt nodded, looking morose.

"What's it like? Everyone in my family's a wizard or a witch, you know."

"What's it like being a wizard?" Matt shot back. "I didn't even know magic existed until I got my letter. Before that weird things would always happen around me, but I always thought it was because I was unlucky, or mad…" Suddenly he looked like he was about to cry again.

"Being a wizard is brilliant," Josh said earnestly, trying to cheer him up. "I mean, I wouldn't know because I'm not allowed to do magic yet, but it makes things much easier. Honestly, I don't know how Muggles live without it."

"My family managed fine."

"You do—you do want to be a wizard, right?"

Matt shrugged, and Josh stared at him, aghast at the thought of anyone not wanting to know magic.

"It's just—I'm scared," Matt admitted after a moment. "I don't know anything, and…what if I'm bad at it? What if they kick me out? What if I'm not a wizard after all?"

"Oh, you wouldn't have even gotten a letter if you weren't a wizard," Josh assured him. "Dumbledore would never make a mistake like that." At Matt's blank look he said, "Surely you know who Dumbledore is?"

"I told you, I don't know anything," Matt said, sounding a little cross.

"Dumbledore's the headmaster of Hogwarts. He's been all over the papers recently. The Daily Prophet's been calling him a crackpot for months. Of course, my family doesn't believe that. Dumbledore's brilliant. Best wizard of the century, maybe best wizard ever." Seeing Matt's confused expression, Josh forced himself to stop. "Anyway, they won't kick you out, unless you do something terrible. And there's lots of wizards and witches that aren't all that good at magic. The worst that can happen is you'll end up in Hufflepuff House."

"What's wrong with Hufflepuff?"

"Nothing, really," Josh hastened to say. "It's just for people who are average, really. But Hufflepuff's a million times better than Slytherin. All the dark wizards come from Slytherin—that's the house You-Know-Who was part of."

"Who?"

"Surely you know who You-Know-Who is!"

"I don't know who," Matt said, sounding frustrated.

Josh stared at him, somewhat in awe. "Wow, you Muggles really have no idea what's going on."

"Well, what is going on?"

"You-Know-Who is the darkest wizard of all time," Josh told him. "Dumbledore says that he's come back—that's why he's in the paper, because no one wants to believe him."

"Do you believe him?"

"Course I do. But I don't want to. It's scary, thinking that he's out there, somewhere. That's why no one else wants to believe it, because they know what he can do."

"Why is everyone so afraid of him?" Matt asked, too curious to be frightened.

"Years ago—before I was born, even—You-Know-Who wanted power, so he started building up an army of dark wizards…" Josh wrinkled his nose. Honestly, his parents hadn't told him a lot of the story, telling him he was still too young. "And a lot of people died," he finished lamely.

"You think he's going to do something like that again?"

"Probably. But it's okay, because this time around we have Harry Potter."

This time, Josh wasn't even surprised at the blank look on Matt's face.

"Harry Potter's the only one to ever survive the Killing Curse," he said. "It was cast at him by You-Know-Who himself. People are saying he's the Chosen One—the only one who can get rid of You-Know-Who forever. But a lot of people think he's mad, too, because he says he saw You-Know-Who return last year…"

Josh shuddered, remembering his sister's tales when they returned home early last year; tales of the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament, where Harry Potter emerged dragging the dead body of another student behind him.

"And just think," he said, shaking the memory from his head, "he's on this train somewhere right now. He's in Gryffindor House, of course, because that's where all the brave people go. It's the best house, I think. I hope I end up there, everyone else in my family has…" A look of worry passed over Josh's face.

"How many Houses are there?" Matt asked, looking amused. The seriousness of what Josh had told him seemed to have gone over his head, but Josh figured that was okay since he hadn't even known who these people were half an hour ago.

"Four. The other one's Ravenclaw—it's where smart wizards and witches go. It's a good house too, I suppose," Josh said candidly, "but not as good as Gryffindor."

"I wonder where I'll end up…"

"As long as it's not in Slytherin." Seeing the worry on Matt's face, Josh added, "Although I'm sure there are some good witches and wizards in Slytherin, too."

"Gryffindor sounds good," Matt decided. He smiled shyly at Josh. "It'd be nice if I could be in the same house as you. You're the only wizard I know—and my only friend."

"I've known lots of wizards, but you're my only friend, too," Josh said, smiling back. He was happy and relieved that making friends hadn't been as hard as he thought it would be. "Wanna play some Exploding Snap?"

Pulling a pack of cards out of his trunk, Josh laughed at the look of apprehension on Matt's face. "It's not dangerous," he said. "Well—not that dangerous, anyway."

Matt's yelp when the first card exploded reverberated down the train corridor and had Josh rolling on the floor with laughter.

At half past noon, the sound of wheels squeaking down the hallway could be heard. "Brilliant," Josh said, jumping to his feet. "It's the trolley. Do you want anything?"

Matt shook his head, but when the plump witch poked her head into their compartment Josh bought enough treats for the both of them. "Try something," he encouraged.

Tentatively, Matt reached out and took a package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans.

"Be careful with those," Josh warned. "Some of the flavours are absolutely disgusting." He opened his own package of beans and took out a grey one speckled with black dots. "Pepper," he guessed, pushing the bean through the bars of Pipsqueak's cage. The owl picked it up and swallowed it whole; a moment later he opened his beak to release a stream of smoke.

Matt looked apprehensive. "Are these safe to eat?"

"Absolutely," Josh assured him. He handed Matt a bean that was light pink. "This one's probably normal."

Josh had bought enough treats to keep them busy throughout the afternoon, as the train passed through open fields and mountain ranges. As the ride wore on, they took to sitting back in their seats and staring out the window, talking idly. Now it was Matt's turn to tell Josh about what it was like being a Muggle, a conversation Josh found fascinating.

"So, electricity—it's kinda like magic?"

"I guess you could say that," Matt agreed. "It's just science, really, although I'm not sure how it works."

"Science sounds brilliant."

Matt giggled. "How long until we get there, do you think?"

"Not long, hopefully."

As if on cue, a girl with bushy hair stuck her head in their compartment. She had already changed into her robes, and a shiny badge was pinned to them. "Less than an hour until we reach Hogsmeade Station," she said, smiling at them. "You might want to change into your robes now."

After she had left, Josh firmly closed the compartment door. "We're almost there!" he said. "Are you excited yet?"

"Maybe a little," Matt admitted with a small smile. "I'm nervous for the—what did you call it?"

"The Sorting," Josh said. "And don't worry—I'm sure you'll be fine wherever you end up."

Matt nodded, but he still looked fairly queasy. Josh attempted to cover up his own queasiness with a show of bravado.

"Come on—let's get changed now." Josh grinned. "Nothing like wearing wizard's robes to make you feel like a wizard!"

"Or like a girl," Matt grumbled after he had pulled his robe on. It was a little too big, its hem dragging on the ground. "My mum said I'd grow this year," he said in explanation. "Anyway, in the Muggle world boys don't have to wear stuff like this."

"Well, you have to wear it here," Josh said firmly. "It's not too bad, really." He pulled his trunk down from the overhead rack and set Pipsqueak's cage on top of it. Then he turned and stared out the window, where the lights of Hogsmeade could be seen twinkling in the distance but growing ever closer. His stomach was fluttering with anticipation and nerves.

Minutes later, the train was grinding to a halt outside of Hogsmeade Station. Josh pushed open the compartment door before dragging his trunk out into the hallway, Pipsqueak's cage tucked once again under his arm. All down the corridor, students were flooding out.

"Follow me," he called back to Matt. Carefully, they made their way through the crush of bodies to the nearest exit, waiting while assistants on the platform helped students with their luggage.

"First years?" the kindly-looking witch with iron-grey hair asked them as she took their trunks. They nodded, and she smiled. "Nothin' to worry about—you'll have a wonderful time at Hogwarts, trust me." She winked at them before turning to help the next set of children.

The sun had set and the air was cool, and Josh shivered as they waited. "What are we waiting for?" Matt asked.

"You'll see," Josh replied. He didn't want to tell Matt about the boat trip across the lake with Professor Hagrid—he wanted him to experience it for himself.

Except the voice that called them a few minutes later didn't belong to Professor Hagrid. Of course, Josh had never met Hagrid, but his sisters had talked about him a lot. He was supposedly twice the size of a regular man, but friendly and one of the most well-liked teachers, despite the fact that he could be kind of dim.

"First years, line up over here, please! All first years to me!"

Matt gulped, and looked toward Josh; he smiled, and together they made their way off the platform.

Author's Note: I'm not sure about the age difference between Josh and his sisters, so I made it up. I promise Mike and Ian will enter the story later!

Please review! Tell me what you think, and if you have any ideas for what these kids should get up to over the next seven years let me know and maybe I'll put it in somewhere.