A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first Harry Potter story, so I'd love to know what everyone thinks about it. A couple notes about it: 1) I have changed some ages of the characters in the story. It's a Next Generation fic and I just thought about it like this, so I changed some ages. Name's are going to stay the same, with a bunch of OC's. But just know that some ages are changed. So, just let me know what you guys all think about this story.

Disclaimer: I own all my OC's. JK Rowling owns everything else.

Chapter 1
Nobody ever said life was easy. Lauren Buchanan was living proof of that. She grew up in foster home after foster home, never really staying long. Some of them were all right, with kids her age and nice foster parents. Others…were not, with obnoxious kids and mean, sometimes downright abusive, foster parents.

But she bounced the system because she had nothing else in her life. Her dad had died before she was born in a car accident and her mom had just run off, not ready to raise a kid by herself. Lauren hadn't seen her since.

A small wavy blonde haired girl with the bright blue eyes, Lauren never had much at all.

But when she turned eleven, things started looking up. She had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. So she bought her stuff using money she had earned through chores that she had been saving her entire life (she had quite a bit earned for an eleven year old) and left her latest foster home(which wasn't very upsetting considering the parents were abusive alcoholics) to go away for an entire year.

Her foster father George pushed her out of the car, along with her trunk, and roughly said goodbye before getting back in the car and driving away. She took a deep breath, to steady her nerves and walked into Kings Cross Station, searching everywhere for Platform 9 ¾.

"Are you all right, dear?" A brunette woman asked her. She was accompanied by two children, an auburn haired girl that looked around her age, and a red haired younger boy.

"I'm looking for Platform 9 ¾." Lauren frowned, realizing how stupid that sounded and waited for the woman to laugh at her. However, there was no sound of laughter from anywhere near her and the woman opened her mouth to speak.

"First year at Hogwarts?" She asked. Lauren nodded. "So is my daughter Rose." She gestured to the girl. "And this is my son Hugo." Her son waved. "And I'm Hermione Weasley."

"Lauren Buchanan." Lauren said. She tucked a piece of her golden blonde hair behind her ear.

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Why don't you and Rose go on through the platform? You just walk between Platforms 9 and 10. Hugo and I will follow."

Rose smiled. "Hi Lauren."

"Hi Rose." Lauren greeted her. She could tell that she and Rose would become good friends.

And they did. The two girls entered the platform and Lauren went on the train to get a compartment while Rose said goodbye to her family (apparently she had a rather large one).

They spent the entire ride talking. Rose talked about her crazy family and Lauren told her about her lack of one. They discussed how Lauren had no idea whether her parents were muggles (a new word for her) and Rose ranted for a bit about having famous parents and relatives because they saved the Wizarding World.

Soon they reached Hogwarts and were getting into the boats. Rose had made sure that they got in a boat that had two people already in it (Lauren wasn't sure why) but they ended up sitting with a moody blond boy who said nothing the entire way and an overly chatty brunette girl named Melanie Morris.

They were put in a room and before anyone knew it, they were being herded into the Great Hall.

Professor Longbottom was calling names loudly and soon he called. "Buchanan, Lauren." She walked up and sat down on the stool. The Hat was placed on her head and she heard. "Mhm, mhmm, hmmm, mhmm. Yep." Then it shouted. "GRYFFINDOR!"

As she was the first sorted into Gryffindor this year, the applause was loud and cheerful as she made her way and sat down at the table.

The next Gryffindor to be added went by the name of Thomas Corner, a brunette boy with navy blue eyes. Added soon after than was Danny Finnegan, a darker haired boy with hazel eyes. The two boys joined Lauren at the table.

Gryffindors had to wait a while after than to get another Gryffindor and the next one was no surprise. Professor Longbottom's (Head of Gryffindor House) daughter Alicia Longbottom was next sorted into Gryffindor. She was an average sized brunette with hazel colored eyes. Two people later, Professor Longbottom called out, "Malfoy, Scorpius".

The moody blond boy that had been in Lauren's boat walked up to the stool. He sat down and the hat was placed on his head. After about 30 long seconds, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" to the surprise of many. Even Scorpius looked surprised. The Gryffindors clapped for him, as they clapped for everyone, but many of them looked surprised.

Lauren looked over at her new friend Rose to find a messy, black haired boy whispering something in her ear. Rose nodded and smiled.

More names were called and then finally, "Potter, James". People began pointing and whispering as the messy black haired kid that had been talking to Rose walked up to the stool. The hat had barely touched his head before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

And that's when it began. People were shouting and hollering. Some kids were chanting, "We got Potter" over and over again. The applause for James was much bigger than anyone else put together, but Lauren didn't know why.

The next Gryffindor sorted was "Thomas, Natasha", who was a pretty dark skinned girl with dark brown eyes and curly brown hair. Soon the sorting was over and "Velardi, Andrea", a pretty chestnut blonde girl with green eyes, and Rose were the last of the Gryffindors sorted. Rose got a large amount of applause herself, though not quite as loud as James'.

The four first year Gryffindor boys were loud throughout the feast, talking amongst themselves freely, even Scorpius, who had looked even moodier than in the boat when he first sat down at the Gryffindor table, but was now lightening up a little.

The girls chatted lightly, all of them together. Occasionally, Rose and James would toss comments back and forth to each other, causing Lauren to wonder how they knew each other. Rose must have seen what she was thinking because she told Lauren the story of James.

"James is my cousin. His mum is my dad's sister and his dad is best friends with my parents. His dad is the one who really is credited with saving the entire Wizarding World and his family always gets a lot of attention because of their last name." Rose explained.

Lauren nodded. She didn't really know James that well but she had a feeling about him that she couldn't quite place.

The feast was absolutely delicious and Lauren was positive that she had never seen so much food in her life. After a few parting words from the Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, Lauren and the other first years followed two Prefects up to Gryffindor Tower, where all of the girls climbed into their room and quickly fell asleep.

The last thing Lauren thought of before she fell completely asleep was just how different Hogwarts was from her foster homes…and she absolutely loved it.

A/N: So, what do we think?