Chapter 1: A Brand New Journey

I was only six when it all finally came to an end, at the Battle of Hogwarts. My father would tell me stories about Harry Potter, the boy that ended up saving us all. Normal kids would go to bed and hear stories about the three little pigs or little red riding hood, but I heard stories about the boy Harry Potter and his great journeys at Hogwarts.

After the battle of Hogwarts the wizarding world thrived again with no sorts of powerful dark wizards like Voldemort. Before I get completely off track let me give you a rundown on my family, The Stubleys. There is my father Thomas who is tall but not in a disturbing way, as well as quite muscular. He has dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He works in Diagon Alley at the Leaky Cauldron. He is mostly a pureblood wizard. I say mostly because my great great grandmother had parents who were muggle born, but she was a wizard and everyone in my dad's family tree since then are all wizards. My mother is Rebecca also kind of tall like my father, with broad shoulders, she isn't much in the looks, but is very clever. She has dark brown hair auburn eyes and she works at the Ministry of Magic where she works in the Department of Magical Transportation for Broom Regulatory Control. My mother is a witch and one side of her family were wizards, the other muggles. I also have an older brother Andrew who you can tell by the look of him that he is easily going to be very tall. He has dirty blonde hair like our father and green eyes. He is two years older than me, very lanky, and is in Gryffindor. Last but not least I am Michael, I have dark brown hair like my mothers and dark brown eyes. I am very stocky, but much more agile than I look. Luckily neither one of us turned eleven before Voldemort was defeated. My mother and father both went to Hogwarts where my mother was in Ravenclaw and my father was in Hufflepuff. They became friends in their third year and were dating by their fifth. But enough about my family lets go back to me.

I turned 11 on April 14th 2003 which was the best day in my life so far because I knew that that coming September I would finally be off to Hogwarts! My parents gave me some of the best gifts including a real broom! It didn't really matter though because first years at Hogwarts aren't allowed to have brooms unless given special permission. Seeing as how it was only April and school didn't start till September though I had plenty of time to practice and maybe even try out for the Quidditch team. My father was on the team from his third year on as a beater on the Hufflepuff team. My mother was also a Quidditch player from her fifth year on as a chaser. My brother, now in his second year at Hogwarts, just made the Quidditch team as a Keeper. From the moment I got my broom, a Cleansweep Eleven, I did nothing but ride it. Luckily the place we lived at was so far away from muggles that I could zoom around on it and get decent height without muggles seeing me.

We lived out in a big open field with a really big house with six bedrooms and, thankfully, 4 bathrooms. We live in the United States and are one of the very few American wizarding families that work in the Ministry of magic. My parents travel to work using apparation every morning leaving me at home to ride my broom. Summer came and my brother finally returned from Hogwarts. I asked him if he would help me with flying because I really wanted to be on the Quidditch team like everyone else in the family, which he obliged. It's strange though, my brother used to be mean to me growing up and always picked on me, but when he started going to Hogwarts he became number one big brother. I'm not complaining, but it was weird. Anyway we spent all summer flying around and my mother, because of her job, was able to get us a quaffle to play with too! But I didn't want to play with the quaffle I wanted to get a bludger because I wanted to be a beater just like my dad. My brother always jokes that I am going to be in Slytherin and I'm going to be a seeker in Quidditch, because then my family would be in every house and have a player at every position in Quidditch.

The summer came and went and I had gotten to be a very good flier. A little on the big side I felt like if I had any chance of being on a Quidditch team I would have to be a beater because of my body size. And according to my brother only two houses would have openings for beaters, which are Gryffindor as both beaters were in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts, and Hufflepuff where one of the beaters were in their seventh year. It was coming to the end of July when on the 21st of July 2003 I received my letter from Hogwarts! I got with my letter a book list which I needed Standard book of Spells grade 1, A History of Magic, Magical Theory, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Potions, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.

When my parents got home that night I showed them and they were so happy for me. My dad told me he would take me to Diagon Alley tomorrow so I could get all my school stuff. My brother kindly accepted the role of taking me around Daigon Alley so I don't get lost or into trouble. That night I couldn't sleep, I was so excited that I was finally starting my process of becoming a student at Hogwarts! I finally fell asleep around midnight and had the most wonderful dreams of me being a Hogwarts student.

The next morning I woke up from my brother shaking me. "you know for being so excited about going to Diagon Alley today you sure are great at trying to sleep through it" Andrew said with a smirk on his face. Nothing could ruin today for me though, it was my first step towards Hogwarts! I ran downstairs while putting clothes on (not the best idea, do NOT attempt) and by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs I was miraculously correctly dressed and ready to head out. Since my brother and I are too young to Apparate we used Floo Powder. We got into the fire place one by one and all said loudly and clearly LEAKY CAULDRON! I still wasn't used to the Floo Network travel style as it isn't the most comfortable way. We all arrived safely in the Leaky Cauldron and as my dad went to start his shift my brother and I went on a journey in Diagon Alley. With a pocket full of galleons we went to all sorts of places buying all the things I needed for Hogwarts!

We first stopped in Flourish and Blotts to get my schoolbooks, after that we headed off to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions where we got my school robes and I met another soon to be Hogwarts student Dennis Clearfout. He had 3 other siblings all attending Hogwarts, and all in different Houses (every house but Slytherin). I told Dennis how my brother mother and father were also in all different houses. We talked for a while about what houses we wanted to be in (he wanted to be in Ravenclaw) and then we said our goodbyes as he was going to Flourish and Blotts, which we had already been to. We then went to Slug & Jiggers Apothecary where we bought our potions supplies that we needed and then went on our way to Potage's Cauldron Shop where I bought my Pewter cauldron.

We finally reached the best part of the trip, the part where I get my wand from Ollivanders! Unfortunately the previous year Mr. Ollivander died from old age and stress. His son had taken over, which everyone also calls Mr. Ollivander. As I walked into the shop an older man hurriedly came out from nowhere welcoming me warmly. I told him I was to attend Hogwarts and he immediately ran to get a wand. He returned handing me a wand saying "Black Walnut dragon heartstring 13 and a quarter inches!" I gave a little flick and Ollivander snatched it from my hand to get another wand. He returned moments later handed me another wand and said "Hazel, Unicorn Tail Hair 9 and a half inches!" Before I could even give it a flick he took it out of my hands and hurried away to get another. This went on for about fifteen minutes until finally he returned handing me a wand and saying "Redwood Phoenix Feather, 15 and three quarter inches. The second it touched my hand it felt right, I gave it a flick and beautiful sparks sprang from the wand in multiple different colors. I left the shop with my brother, which was very happy for me and a little jealous that I had a phoenix feather for my core, but still happy for me. We then went to the Magical Menagerie to look into me getting a pet. In there I found a display near the back corner that really sparked my interest. Forever Puppies: magical puppies that never grow up! Already house trained and very loyal! Price dependent on breed. I went up to the counter where a lovely witch was working and I asked her "How much for a golden retriever forever puppy?" "8 galleons my dearie!" said the witch who my brother couldn't stop starring at. "Are they allowed at Hogwarts?" I said wishing harder than anything they were. "Yes dear they just cleared the list this year as an acceptable pet there, so what do you say, would you like a Forever Puppy?" "Yes Ma'am I would please like this one!" I said holding up the golden retriever I had been stroking for the past 10 minutes. "Very good choice my dear! I can tell that puppy already loves you so much." We finished up the rest of our shopping and still had a rather large sum of galleons in our pockets so we went off to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes! Seeing as it was still quite early there were not that many people in the shop, but George and Ron Weasley were both there. George came right up to me seeing the slight look of confusion on my face and said "About to go to Hogwarts are you?" "Is it that obvious?" I replied felling a little down from the comment. "Hey don't worry mate! There is nothing wrong with being a first year. Me and my brother.." George trailed off, it still hurt him to talk about his brother. "I'm really sorry Mr. Weasley, I have heard stories about your family since I could walk. My dad always was a big fan of yours, always hearing stories about you guys from my Uncle, his brother Robert Stubley." I said feeling weird that I was trying to cheer up and adult. "Yeah I remember Robert!" George said sounding happy again as if he was never sad. "That bloke used to buy loads of our stuff! Great man that Stubley. Come on, I'll give you the tour! And give you a great price on our Skiving Snackboxes as your family is a longtime supporter!" We walked all through the shop as George pointed out all the great inventions him and his brother made. After leaving Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes our pockets were considerably lighter and we headed off towards the leaky cauldron. When we arrived I immediately ran towards my dad showing him my new wand. He was very impressed and proud of me for being the first known wizard in my family to have a wand with a phoenix feather for the core. My brother and I talked with dad for what seemed like hours until we finally went back home using the Floo Network. My brother and I got home and after putting all our newly bought stuff away my brother and I went right back to practicing flying and Quidditch. We played untill the sun started to fall at which time my mother returned home and ordered us inside to tell her all about the trip to Diagon Alley. After explaining the whole trip in detail and showing her Cooper, my new Forever Puppy, she gave me a big hug saying how happy she was for me and made it very clear that the dog was my responsibility.