Disclaimer: I do not own the story or any of J. K. Rowling's characters.
"Dad! Max! Get out here! We are going to be late! I promised Rose I would meet her on the platform at 10 and it's now 10:30!" I hollered and blared the horn of our car.
I sighed and sank back into my seat. Finally the door to our town house swung open and my dad, Myron Wagtail, lead singer of the Weird Sisters swaggered out—in Elton john sunglasses and furry dress robes.
Then my older brother Max stepped out, lugging his trunk behind him. When people saw my brother and dad together, they thought they were twins; they were both skinny and tall with shaggy, light brown hair, and pale blue eyes. Growing up, I had so often wished I looked like them, instead of my California girl, Weird Sisters groupie, ditch-your-kids mother, with a petite build, sun-bleached hair and chocolate brown eyes.
Finally, my dad decided to help carry my brother's trunk, and they crammed themselves into our tiny VW Bug. "Dad, seriously, lets get a move on!"
"Ivy, my doll, 'can you dance like a hippogriff?'" Dad started to sing.
"Dad, no! Not this song again! We have to go! The Hogwarts Express isn't going to wait for us just because our dad is lead singer of the Weird Sisters!"
"Yeah, Dad, James said his cousin Victoire will be there, and she's French!" My brother whined, thinking about the lovely, French, goddess he might have pulled.
Dad finally started the car and we sped off to Kings Cross Station. As we pulled our luggage along through the station, people turned to stare at my dad—even muggles knew whom he was.
When we finally made it to Platform 9 ¾, I scanned the crowd, looking for the huge group of gingers—the Weasley-Potter clan. As I was looking down the platform, I ran into a solid wall. Looking up, I saw that that wall was in fact, my brother's best friend James Potter. He smiled down at me with his dazzling smile, his reddish-brown hair falling into his emerald-green eyes—standing so close to him, I noticed his broad shoulders and how much taller he was than me—almost a foot taller.
I shook away the sudden, unexplained haze clouding my thoughts. "Geez Pot-head, watch where you're going!" I huffed, and avoided his grasp as he reached to ruffle my hair.
"Excuse me, Poison Ivy, I believe it was you not watching where you were going. Next time, if you want to feel my abs of steel, just ask, I'd be more than happy to oblige." I scoffed and walked off. James Potter was an arrogant jerk.
I kept scanning the crowd and finally found my best friend, Rose Weasley standing with her cousin, James' little brother, and my other best friend, Albus Potter. They both waved with glee when they saw me, and I ran over to grasp them in a huge group-hug.
"Yay! You're here…Finally!" We all jumped around and talked over each other. With the Weasley-Potter clan taking a family vacation to Godric's Hollow, we hadn't seen each other all summer. Rose was as beautiful as every, with her long legs, wavy, red hair, and gorgeous hazel eyes. Albus looked like a mini clone of his father, with jet-black hair and crisp blue eyes behind his Buddy Holly, black-framed glasses.
"Your brother just accosted me, I feel very violated." I shuddered to Albus.
He and Rose looked at each other and shook their heads, used to mine and James's hate-hate relationship.
Just then, Rose's mum and dad shuffled over to us. They smothered Rosie, reminding her to be on her best behavior, keep up with her schoolwork, and mind her Prefect duties. Rosie sighed and kissed them both good bye. Sometimes I was so thankful my dad was famous for his voice, and not for saving the world like Rose's and Albus's parents.
I went to find my father, who was standing with Max and James. He gave a huge squeeze, said he would be sending me a care package, wished me luck on my quidditch tryouts, and sang, "Don't forget to dance like a hippogriff, Princess!"
Max and I cringed, but James wrapped his arm around my neck, trapping me in a noogie, and told my dad he would watch our for "Princess". I pushed them James away and went to find Albus and Rosie on the train.
I found them sitting in a compartment with Scorpious Malfoy, Albus's best friend. Albus is the first in his family to have been sorted into Slytherin. Back in first year, when the Weasley-Potter clan was coming to terms with a Slytherin in the family, Scorpious befriended Al—showing him that not all Slytherins were evil. That act of kindness when Al was so lonely and hated himself has always made me admire Malfoy.
I sat down next to Rose as the train began to chug out of the station. Soon the English countryside was flying past and we settled into our compartment. The boys went to put on their Slytherin uniforms, and Rosie and I pulled on our Ravenclaw uniforms. I loved being a Ravenclaw. Although it had a very nerdy stereotypes, the Ravenclaws were really just quircky, driven students who cared about school, but also liked to have a good time. Whenever I pulled on my gray sweater with the Ravenclaw seal, I felt like I was finally home.
The boys came back, and as I watched them settle back in, I had to admire how handsome they both were. As fifth years, they had grown into their bodies, both tall and broad. Scorpious was so obviously handsome, with silver-blonde hair curls and warm gray eyes. I looked over at Rose, and noticed that she was staring at Scorpious as he chatted with Al about quidditch tryouts. She saw me watching her, blushed and looked at her watch. "Scor, we've got to get to the prefects meeting!" He stood up, waved to Al and I and held the door open for Rose, letting her walk ahead of him.
I sighed, "Those two belong together. They look so pretty, with her red hair and his dazzling smile. It's too bad neither of them knows, or will admit how they feel" Al just shook his head, not one for girl talk. I quickly changed the subject, bringing up quidditch tryouts, and how I thought Ravenclaw really stood a chance this year with Charlie Wood as our captain. He retaliated, stating that either Slytherin, with Al and Scor on the team, or Gryffindor, with James as the captain would win the Quidditch Cup.
As we drew closer to Hogwarts, Scorpious and Rosie returned to our compartment. They had been paired for evening rounds on weeknights.
Finally the train slowed to a halt. And all the students shuffled off the train. Scorpious and Rose again left to help guide the first years to the boats, and Al and I caught a carriage with Charlie Wood and Stephen Bell, two seventh years on the Ravenclaw quidditch team with me. Just before the carriage took off, James hopped on.
"What are you doing? I thought the Head Boy had to help the first years." James ignored my question and began chatting with Charlie and Stephen about quidditch.
Before we got off the carriage, Charlie asked me if I was planning on staying with the quidditch team this year, then he complemented me on my flying last year, saying he wished I was on his team. I blushed and then looked over to see James glaring at me. As we got off the carriage, James helped me down, but before he let go of my hand he grumbled, "Really Ivy, you can do better than Wood, he's such a nerd." I snatched my hand away, pretending to ignore him and went to catch up with Al.
As we entered the Great Hall, Al went off to the Slytherin table, and I joined my friend Maggie at the Ravenclaw table. As I sat, I glanced down the table and saw Charlie smiling at me, I smiled back—swooning at his dark brown hair and blue eyes—he looked like the perfect Ravenclaw. I looked around the Great Hall for my brother and found him sitting with James and some other seventh year Gryffindors. Max waved at me, and when James looked over to see who had caught my brother's attention, he glared at something behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Charlie standing awkwardly.
"Hey, Ivy, I didn't want to ask you this in the carriage, but would you like to go with me on the next Hogsmeade trip?" I gawped—this was unexpected. "Um, ye-ye-yeah, that would be nice." He beamed at me and shuffled back to his seat down the table. I snapped my head to look for Rose, but realized she hadn't yet arrived with the first years. What the hell? Charlie Wood asking me on a date! Was this an alternate universe?
Suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall crashed open and I saw Scorpious and Rose walk in with the little first years. As the first years began their sorting, Rose came to sit down next to me, and I whispered that Charlie had asked me on a date. She gasped and the people around us looked over, annoyed. As a first year was sorted into Slytherin I watched her walk over to join the table and saw that all the Slytherins were hooting and hollering, except for Scorpious, who was staring over at the Ravenclaw table at a certain gorgeous ginger with a dreamy look on his face. He caught me looking, smiled slightly and returned to the Sorting.
Finally the Sorting ended and the feast began. Everyone was talking about their fun, adventurous summers. I began to broach the subject of Scorpious liking Rose, but she wouldn't have it and changed the subject to quidditch tryouts. I was nervous, and hoping to gain Seeker, since the last Seeker had just graduated.
After Headmistress McGonagall made her opening speech, all the students began to shuffle to bed, and Rose and Scorpious were on duty again. I walked to the Ravenclaw tower with Maggie. We got stuck behind a group of first year Gryffindors being lead to their own tower by James. Maggie giggled when she saw him and sighed, "he's so hot! Omigosh Ivy, you are so lucky he's your brother's best friend, you get to spend so much time with him!" I scoffed, yeah being farted on and given wedgies all the time was super fun, and I just loved playing quidditch with them, when it was two against one—they always made me practice with them. Although recently, when it was too warm outside, James had taken to practicing with his shirt off, and I had caught myself staring at his incredible body more times than I would like to admit. But just because he was handsome, didn't mean he was an arrogant jerk who treated me like his little sister.
James saw me walking behind his group, glared, and told his first years to hurry up. Where was this asshole behavior coming from, what was he glaring at? Maggie and I continued on to the Ravenclaw tower, and then up to our dormitory that we shared with Rose and Lucy and Liana Lovegood. I looked around at the five four-poster beds covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns. I was suddenly exhausted, and could hardly keep myself awake long enough to see Rose. When she finally got back, she mumbled her apologies, stating that Scorpious had walked her back to the tower and they had chatted for a while. At this she blushed—of course she wouldn't specify what had made her blush, but when she fell asleep, I saw that she was smiling dreamily.
As I fell asleep, I thought of the randomness of Charlie asking me to Hogsmeade, and James weird behavior, and why it was making me feel so weird. Why did I care what my brother's best friend thought, he was just arrogant James Potter, Head Boy, quidditch extraordinaire, and hunky dreamboat—wait, hunky dreamboat? This was going to be a long and very confusing year.