"Nana, why do you call me 'mon papillon'?"

"Because butterflies… mon papillon… they can cause a storm."

Thunder clapped outside the window. A storm was brewing.

"Nana, come on!" My hand held tightly as I ran with my grandmother, trying to catch up with my brother and sister as they disappeared into the crowd on Platform 9 3/4. "We're gonna lose Dan and Daisy!"

"She's too excitable. I blame you." Nana Mere said to my dad, shaking her head. "Too much Scottish blood in her. Not enough French."

"You and your daughter both chose to marry Scots. It's not my fault, is it?" I heard him say as he picked up my trunk, attempting to pick up the pace. Nana Mere smacked him on the head, clicking her tongue. "Ask her yourself, Meredith. She's a Scot through and through."

I looked behind me to watch the show going on between Nana and my dad. I always enjoyed watching them banter back and forth. When I was smaller, I didn't understand much of what they argued about, but they way they moved intrigued me. There was nothing more fascinating to my young mind than watching Nana Mere, a witch, fight against my dad, a muggle. Even when I finally understood what they talked about, I still enjoyed watching them interact.

Nana looked back at me, smiling devilishly. For an old lady, she had a fiery spirit within her. Had she gone to Hogwarts instead of Beauxbatons, she would have been put in Gryffindor, like my mother. "Delaney, pouvez-vous parler français?" She asked me.

"Oui, Nana Mere." I responded in a very poor French accent. Summers with my grandparents may have taught me French, but living with my dad in Scotland built my accent.

"Très bon, mon papillon. I don't see her speaking Gaelic." Nana said triumphantly and I smiled at the use of my nickname. She always called me her papillon, her butterfly. My dad simply rolled his eyes as we charged on through the crowd, chasing after my siblings.

We finally reached them; Dan talking to Daisy near one of the train doors. He was getting antsy, with my sister holding on to his jumper, keeping him from jumping onto the train without me. "Daniel McAdams, you seem excited to board." My dad said, dropping my trunk. "Don't you want to give your dad a hug before you're off? We're lucky Daisy's here to keep you grounded or else you'd have been gone til Christmas!"

"This is what happens when my daughter and I marry Scotsmen, isn't it, Aidan?" Nana asked my dad, who nodded, smiling. She returned her attention to my brother, who was trying to release himself from our older sister's grip. "Dan, this is Delaney's first year at Hogwarts. Please keep her safe. Also I know Augusta's grandson, Neville, started this year too, say hi if you see him."

"Nana, je vais être trés bien." I responded, hugging her. I don't know how I particularly learned that phrase, but as soon as I first said it to Nana Mere, it comforted her. Whenever I felt her distress, I would say that I was going to be okay, and the distress would fade away. "I'll be okay. I promise I won't get into too much trouble." I moved to hug my dad, who hugged me back tightly. With Dan and I gone to Hogwarts, Daisy's the only child he'll have in the house. "You know I'm going to break that promise, right dad?" I whispered to him, laughing.

He chuckled a bit as I released my embrace, but he didn't. "I know, Del, but I also know you'll be okay. If only I could send Daisy to watch over the two of you, then I'd be able to rest easy." He joked as he released me. "Love you. Stay safe."

"Well, at least you got me at home." Daisy chimed in, letting go of Dan, who quickly hugged Nana and dad and then ran off to who knows where. "Should I chase after him?"

Nana shook her head. "No, he'll be fine. And your sister will be too." Nana looked at me, beaming. "Je t'aime, mon papillon. I wish your mother could see you now."

I waved one more final goodbye to my family before taking my trunk and heading off into an adventure.

I didn't know where my brother was. He abandoned me for his friends leaving me all alone on the train. I wasn't scared, just intimidated. I wasn't used to being alone. I always had someone with me, Nana Mere, Papa Douglas, my dad, Daisy, even Dan. But I was on my own at that point, and I didn't know where to go. I supposed I could find Nana Mere's friend's grandson, Neville.

"You look lost." Someone said from behind me. I turned around to see a sandy haired boy around my height. I wasn't one to appear weak, and someone noting that I was lost made me upset. My first instinct was to run away, but as much as I hated it, the boy was right. I was lost. wouldn't have known where to go. "Don't worry, I am too." He gave me a goofy grin.

"I'm not lost." I lied, holding my head high.

"You're an awfully bad liar." He commented, and all I could respond with was an irritated 'hmph.' "Look, I just wanted to make friends with you is all. So, d'ya mind if we stay lost together?"

His blue eyes were friendly, and his posture open. I could tell that he was just like me, not used to being alone. Now I had a choice, stay with this boy, or look for another. "If you want to, I suppose we can." I responded, making my way down the train to look for an open compartment. "But I mean, I prefer not being lost, but being together."

He followed me, making small talk along the way. "My name's Seamus, by the way." He introduced himself. "And you are?"

"Delaney McAdams." I replied, stopping to look back and shake his hand. He took my hand for a shake. "You got a last name, Seamus?"

"Finnigan." We continued on down the train, trunks in tow. "Seamus Finnigan. And you have no clue where you're going, do you?"

"My hope was that we find my brother, actually. Doesn't seem to be going well."

"Have any other siblings we can look for?" He suggested, scratching his head with his wand as we looked for any familiar faces, or at least an empty enough compartment to sit in.

I shook my head. "My sister doesn't go to Hogwarts." I noticed small wisps of smoke coming from his wand. Before anything could come from it, I brought his arm down, hopefully saving him from any harm. "Perhaps don't do that, Seamus." I laughed as he stared at his smoky wand with confusion. "What about you? Anyone you can be looking for?"

"No. Not really. Got no siblings, but many cousins, almost all of them muggles. You know us Irish folk with the big families and all." He joked. "Can barely memorize my family tree."

We continued our journey down the Hogwarts Express, conversing about ourselves. We learned we were both half-bloods, both with muggle fathers. His dad learned his mam was a witch after their wedding, while my dad had learned the very day he and my mother went on their first date. His mam had gone to Hogwarts, but was a few years younger than my mother and was in Hufflepuff.

"I don't really know which house I would like to be in." He told me, as we continued to walk down the train, still not finding a good enough compartment to sit in. There were a few compartments with enough space for the two of us, but I didn't quite like the people in them, so I would pull Seamus away before he could sit with them. "Mam said she'd like me to be in Hufflepuff, but my cousin Fergus told me I'd be better suited in Gryffindor or Slytherin."

Before I could comment, a boy, alone in a compartment, spoke up, coming into our conversation. "What are the houses again?" He asked, excitement in his voice. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I can't seem to remember all the houses."

"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." Seamus answered back. "My name's Seamus Finnigan." He introduce himself, as he did with the other students in the other compartments.

"Mine's Dean, Dean Thomas." He responded, outstretching a long limb towards Seamus to shake hands. Based on his lack of knowledge of Hogwarts, I assumed him to be a first year just like me and Seamus. He acknowledged me, swinging his arm towards me so that he could shake my hand too. "And what's your name?" He asked.

Unlike most people other compartments, I had a good feeling about Dean. He was the type of excited that was always coupled with nervousness. Perhaps I also felt sorry that he was alone in that compartment. "Delaney McAdams, pleasure to meet you Dean." I shook his hand, smiling, something I never did with the other compartments. "Any reason why you're alone?"

Dean shrugged before answering, "I've a feeling it's because of my blood." I reached the conclusion that Dean must be a muggle-born wizard based off his answer. "I guess having muggle parents aren't much good."

"Nonsense!" Seamus exclaimed, pushing Dean aside to sit down beside him and setting his trunk below the seat. "My dad's a muggle and so are most of my cousins. I think that I'm pretty good. And I'm sure Delaney thinks so too, right Del? You're fine with me calling you Del, right?"

I sat down across from them, not wanting to overcrowd the seat, placing my trunk below me. "As long as I can call you Shay, I suppose it's all good."

"And you both can just call me Dean. It's short enough." We all laughed, getting comfortable in this new environment. I liked this choice in compartments. "This is still all so new to me. One day I'm an ordinary boy playing football, and all of a sudden-"

"You're a wizard." Seamus finished for him bringing out his wand again. It was still smoking, but I decided against telling him to put down the wand this time. "How'd your parents take it?"

Dean scratched the back of his neck. "My mum was so shocked, she asked to talk to the professor in private." He admitted. "But Professor Sprout seemed nice enough. She even took me and my family to the shop place… what's it called?"

"Diagon Alley?" I supplied, remembering all the times Papa Douglas brought us there. Nana Mere would sometimes insist that we shop closer to the cottage, but she ultimately gives in to my grandfather's request. Bringing us grandkids to Diagon Alley reminded him of when they used to live in London and he would bring my mother and uncle there.

"Yes! Diagon Alley!" Dean exclaimed, excited. "Professor Sprout, she helped me get all my stuff ready for school." He said, patting his trunk. "She teaches Herbology. Still not quite sure what that entails, but she said it deals with plants, and I do help my step-dad in the garden quite a bit, so I'm hoping I'll be good at it."

"You sound like you could be a Ravenclaw." Seamus quipped. "Or a Hufflepuff like my mam."

"Which house do you reckon you'll be in, Seamus?" Dean asked.

Having heard this before, I'm tempted not to listen again, but seeing Seamus light up when he talked about his mam made me smile as wide as he did. Happiness was infectious after all. "Mam really wants me to be in Hufflepuff like she was, but my cousin Fergus, one of my few wizard cousins, said that I would probably end up being a Gryffindor or a Slytherin. He was a Gryffindor, like my uncle." Seamus turned to me. "What about you, Del? Which house do you think you'll be in?"

"My grandfather says I'm just like my mother so, I suppose I'd be a Gryffindor just like her and my brother." I shrugged. I really didn't know if I would fit in any other house. I had only really known of Gryffindor. My Uncle Logan was a Ravenclaw, but I barely saw him; he lived in the United States with his American wife Rachel.

"Wow. This is all so exciting!" Dean exclaimed. "I hope we'll all be in the same house. And look at that! The train's starting to move."

Seamus and I moved to the window to see that the train was just pulling out of the station, with all the parents waving goodbye to their children. I spotted Daisy, who saw me and waved goodbye, grabbing my dad's and Nana Mere's attention and directing it towards me. Beside them stood a sandy-haired woman who I noticed was looking towards our compartment too. Since Seamus was waving back to her, I could only assume that his mam.

"Now I wish I hadn't looked outside, I forgot I got queasy on trains." Dean said regretfully as he sat back down, looking sick.

Seamus, whose smoky wand was out once more, beamed. "Ooh! My dad's always getting sick on trains too, so my mam would always do this one spell on him." As he waved his wand, he opened his mouth to cast a spell, only to have his wand explode in the compartment, filling it with smoke.

"Maybe I should have told you to put that away." I commented as I coughed, waving smoke away.

Out in the corridor of the train, I heard a familiar voice yell out, "Trevor, don't run away again! It was just an explosion!" I looked outside to see that it was Neville Longbottom, my grandmother's friend's grandson. A frizzy brown haired girl followed after him, stopping by different compartments to ask if they'd seen a toad. She took one look at our compartment and simply moved on, realizing that ours probably wasn't the compartment Trevor was hiding in.

"I'm sure that won't happen again." Seamus declared as he finally put away his wand. "But I mean, you've got to admit, that was fun."

"I suppose you're right." Dean, who was too busy coughing to feel queasy, shrugged. We all laughed as we readied ourselves for the years ahead at Hogwarts.

1 September 1994

Nana once said the smallest choices we make have the biggest impact. She also called me her butterfly, because butterflies cause storms. I never quite understood what it all meant until now thinking back to all the things that have affected me becoming friends with Seamus and Dean.

They're sleeping in front of me as I write, probably because they were awake all night last night. But I couldn't help but think that if Dan hadn't left me alone that day, or if I had opted to look for Neville instead, I wouldn't have met Seamus on the train. Not meeting Seamus would mean not meeting Dean. And while I could have met them after sorting, after the three of us were all sorted into Gryffindor, would it have been the same?

I don't think so.

I suppose that all just means that we wouldn't have been there together on the night of the Quidditch finals.

A/N: So this is a rewrite of one of my old fics. I'm not going to be bothered with writing out accents. As usual, disclaimer, I don't own anything except my original characters.