This is the first chapter of the second rewrite! Yaaaay! I only have until Thursday until I leave for India for a month, so I'm going to write as much as I can for now. This is the first chapter, which, instead of focusing on Harry, will focus on two more OCs. Enjoy!

The Second Year Begins

Monica sighed as she went back to writing. Her second year at Hogwarts would begin at the end of this train ride. Her newest friend, an Indian girl named Sonya, had told her off for working nonstop.

"Life is all about living! You have to strike a balance, Monica, between- Monica? Monica, are you even listening?!"

Well, she'd tried, at least, and that was more that Monica could say for many- especially that horrid, insolent boy, Harry Potter. There was nothing Monica would like to do more than to show him up. But, for some reason, people rarely ever noticed her. It was as though she turned invisible when Harry Potter was around. And he was always around somewhere. She hadn't seen him yet on the train, but everyone was always mentioning him. The never ending stream of hushed whispers and excited conversations as he walked past annoyed her to no end. Even Sonya was friends with him, and Monica knew that, somewhere, somehow, she would end up having to associate with him.

It wasn't always like this, though. There was a time when Monica would join into those conversations, and she would always look forward to classes that she shared with the Gryffindors. Just to see him walk in and work so diligently… YEAH RIGHT!!!

Harry Potter was no genius. The fact that he managed to destroy You-Know-Who was simply a fluke. He had no real knowledge of magic. He didn't do any work himself. It was all his friends bringing him answers, his friends bailing him out… He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the right people, as Monica learned last year. He wasn't worthy of Monica's emotions. And now, for wasting a whole year of her life on a worthless, baseless crush, Harry Potter would pay. With a smile too broad, she would announce to the world that he was … a fraud!

Ja wohl.

"Monica? What are you doing, sitting all alone?" a voice called from the compartment door. Monica looked up to find her eyes on Sonya's disapproving face. Behind her was a boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes.

"I'm working."

"Don't you dare repeat that, or I'll take it all away," Sonya scolded. "Monica, I'm going to go find Hermione, and Ron and Har- erm… yeah. I'll be leaving Ben here. No biting, Monica, he's perfectly good."

"Don't… bite…?"

But Sonya had already gone. Monica grabbed her things again and started up with her work again as Ben sat down. They sat in a slightly uncomfortable silence until Ben dropped something. He leaned over to pick it up when Monica saw it. On his hand.

The mark.

It was a momentary glance, and she did not see it again. They sat for a few more minutes until Sonya returned with Hermione. The train lurched and started to move as they came inside. Sonya helped Hermione with her stuff and they all settled down.

"All right. Formal introductions, then, shall we?" Sonya said to the other three. "Everyone, this is Monica Coriolanus. She's a Ravenclaw."

Monica glared at Sonya as the latter snatched away all of her things, but reluctantly gave a half wave.

"Hermione Granger. I'm in Gryffindor." Hermione said from the corner. She stuck out her hand, and Monica started to shake it when she saw it again.

The mark.

Hermione had noticed it too, on Monica's hand. The mark was a simple blot on the index finger, most likely caused by ink from a quill. Their eyes met and it was a mutual classification- both were outstanding overachievers.

"And this is Benv- erm, Ben Elendil, and he's also in Gryffindor."

Ben refused to look up, but stuck out his hand also. Monica and Hermione both shook it and both recognized that he also had the mark on his hand.

Ben looked up at Monica after she and Hermione had gone into a conversation about some odd thing or other. She was… interesting, to say the least. She had black hair in a small, tight bun on her head. The size suggested about shoulder length hair. Her eyes were brown almost to the point of being black.

"So, Ben, what do you think?" Hermione asked, hoping to reel Ben into the conversation. He, however, was fixated on staying in the background. Like every other Elendil (and Sonya knew them all), he was reading a book: The Two Towers to be exact. And he was rereading it, to be more exact. He shrugged without batting so much as an eyelash towards the others and read on. Sonya was also reading one of her own books. It was a thick volume, and although the others had no idea what it was, they also had no intention of finding out. So they passed the whole train ride, barely exchanging words except for the trolley.

Yeah… so… There you have it. This shows you a little bit of what happens with the others, and otherwise, I'll probably be starting in the middle of the second book or so. They've all got incredibly small parts… their real life "bases" decided against really involving them in the plot.