JJ Jordan

"You're going to Hogwarts! You're going to Hogwarts!"

"I'm stealing your room! I'm stealing your room!"

JJ Jordan woke up to his sisters poking him, one in each arm.

"You're not having my room," he said blearily, rolling over onto his back. His sisters swapped arms.

"You're not having his room, Georgie, I am, because I'm older!"

"Only by ten minutes, and I said first." Georgie stepped back and folded her arms, and JJ could see she was scowling.

"Neither of you are getting my room," JJ said firmly. "And quit poking me, Rika. I'm not going away forever – just to Hogwarts – so I'll still need my room in the holidays. So go away, both of you."

"Okay, but Mum says you need to get up or your breakfast'll be cold," Rika said, as the twins headed for the door.

"Yeah, or me an' Rika'll eat it," Georgie added.

The door clicked shut behind them, and JJ got up. He dressed slowly, in the clothes he'd left out when he packed his trunk. He wanted – no, needed – to make a good first impression; his dad had met his best friends on the Hogwarts Express. He wanted to portray himself as fun but not crazy, friendly but not desperate, sophisticated but not dull, grown-up but still eleven. He hoped he could pull all that off.

When JJ went down for breakfast, the rest of his family were already eating. As JJ sat down, his mum summoned his eggs and ham from the oven where they'd been keeping warm, and his sisters started talking about what he could expect from his first day as a Hogwarts student.

"First, you're gonna get on the train and make your best friends, and they're gonna be called Gred and Forge," Georgie grinned.

JJ helped himself to some pineapple.

"Yeah, 'cept we're girls and we're Fredrika and Georgiana really, aren't we, Georgie?" Rika said. "So anyway, when you get to castle-"

"-if you don't drown in the lake first-"

"When it's your turn in the Sorting, they'll call out Jordan, Jordan," Rika finished, giggling.

JJ sighed and glared at his dad. Why couldn't he have registered him as 'Joshua Jordan' like his parents had agreed, instead of turning it into 'Jordan Joshua Jordan'?

"Sorry, son," JJ's dad grinned. "You have to admit it's funny, though."

"Maybe for you," JJ grumbled, impaling a slice of pineapple on his fork. "You're not the one who has to live with it."

"Anyway, so then you'll get sorted into Gryffindor-"

"Yeah, coz everyone in this family is-"

"Define 'everyone'," JJ's dad said. "I think you'll find it's only me so far."

"And I didn't even go to Hogwarts," JJ's mum reminded them.

"You didn't?" Rika asked. "Why not?"

"Because I didn't grow up in the UK, remember?"

"Oh yeah..." Rika said.

After breakfast, the girls went to get their shoes, and JJ was left alone in the kitchen with his parents.

"Do they have to come?" JJ asked his mum. "You know they'll just be idiots, and show off and be embarrassing."

"If they don't come, one of us will have to stay here with them, and we both want to see you off," JJ's mum said. She hugged him. "Oh my JJ bay-bay, I'm gonna miss you."

"Mum, geroff," JJ said, wriggling free. "You're so embarrassing! You better not hug me at the station – that'd be even more embarrassing than Rika and Georgie carrying on."

"I'll hug you all you want," JJ's mum told him. "And, I might even kiss you."

"Ugh, gross," JJ said as his sisters came back into the kitchen.

"Right, girls, take my arms," JJ's mum said. "We'll see you in a minute," she told JJ and his dad. Rika and Georgie took her arms, she turned on the spot, and the three of them disappeared.

"Come on, then, JJ," JJ's dad said, reaching out for his hand.

"Dad," JJ said quietly. "What if I don't make any friends?"

"You will," his dad told him. "Maybe not straight away-"

"But you met Fred and George on the train," his dad said.

"I did," his dad conceded. "And I also met a girl called Joanna who I swore would one day be my wife, then we were sorted into different houses and never spoke again. The point is, JJ, you don't need to be me – Merlin knows one Lee Jordan is more than enough for this world. Just be you."

"Okay," JJ said, still uncertain, but nevertheless sure his dad wouldn't give him bad advice.

"Shall we?" his dad asked, extending his arm to JJ again.

Instead of taking the proffered arm, JJ stood on his dad's feet, like he'd used to to apperate when he was little. His dad smiled, they gripped each other's forearms, turned on the spot, and were sucked into nothing.

"Where were you?" Rika demanded as soon as they landed beside the rest of the family. "We thought you'd got lost."

"Well, we're here now, so no harm done," JJ's dad said breezily.

JJ looked around the platform in awe. It was all he had ever imagined and more. The gleaming scarlet engine – the Hogwarts Express – stood waiting, and all along the platform, families were saying their goodbyes, friends calling greetings, everyone waiting for eleven o'clock.

JJ tried to pick out other first years, looking for those who looked smallest, with the newest robes and no obvious house affiliation. But even some of them were stood around in little groups.

"You'll be fine," JJ's dad said quietly, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, look, there's George."

JJ watched his dad hurry away in the direction of his best friend.

Within minutes, Rika and Georgie had found another girl around their age and started a game of Aurors and Dark Wizards, dodging around people and casting spells with two sticks of rock and a twig. Those two could make friends anywhere, JJ thought bitterly. What if he couldn't make any friends at all?

"Joshy, baby," JJ's mum said, putting her arm around his shoulders – although Joshua had only ended up being his middle name, his mum still called him Joshy sometimes. "Put your friendly face on, and go and have fun. Okay?"

"Okay," JJ nodded. He let her hug him, but settled for a manly handshake with his dad when he came back. Then he turned his back on his family, squared his shoulders, and set off toward the train. Time to make some friends.

A/N: This is part one of four. I'm in the process of writing part two, in which I will introduce you to Matilda Knight, so I hope to have that posted soon. You'll be seeing lot more of JJ (and the other first years in Four Journeys) in Year Three, which I aim to start posting in June. As always, please consider leaving a review a letting me know what you think ~ Nat