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A subtle knocking could be heard through the window pane of a two story house in London. The inhabitant of this bedroom was so deeply immersed in sleep that the tapping continued for at least ten minutes while the sun rose gently to the east. Finally the tapping began to rise in volume as it was made clear no one was going to get up. The increased volume had the desired affect as suddenly the teenage girl in bed sat up in frustration. Bed covers were tossed aside and bare feet touched cold hardwood before the girl ran across her bedroom in annoyance and threw the window open. A small gray coloured owl flew through the open window and landed on a perch not far from the window. The owl then ruffled his feathers in what one would assume was an angry manner before ducking his head under his wing leaving the girl standing by an open window in only her pajamas.

"You're lucky I like you Bart." The girl scowled dismally over at the sleeping owl, Bartholomew, before quickly shutting the window with a clatter. She had to step on tip toes to reach the clasp seeing as she was very slight in stature but she managed to close the window and lock it firmly. Turning around she noticed the trunk sitting open beside her wardrobe looking rather full and inviting. This trunk reminded her of the impending trip to a new school.

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The idea of going to a new school absolutely terrified Katherine Harrison. She was not a very social person, she did not mingle well with people her own age especially. Kat had problems even going to the supermarket because of the off chance she would have to hold a conversation with the cashier. Going to a boarding school and sleeping in a room with three other girls was not something she particularly wanted to do. She enjoyed moving around with her parents and little sister all over Europe and being homeschooled. She had bad memories of boarding schools, Beaxbaton had been Kat's first experience and it had scarred her enough to literally cause nasuea at the thought of Hogwarts.

The girls at Beaxbaton had been cruel to her. They made fun of her height, her weight, and her odd complexion. They hadn't allowed her to eat with them, do homework near them, or even have friends. In the middle of her second year Kat's parents pulled her and her younger sister out of school to join them on their trips. She was no longer the mousy haired eleven year old who was afraid of her shadow and a little on the heavy side. She was still short, very short but she had filled out everywhere else. The year was 1976 and Kat was nearing her sixteenth birthday and today she would be beginning her sixth year of school. Needless to say Kat was not looking forward to leaving.

"Katherine Harrison! You better be awake and packed or I'm going to send Daisy in after you!" Jacqueline Harrison was not a woman to play with so Kat pulled herself away from the window where the sun had fully risen and over to the door.

"I'm up Mum." She called through the wood and heard the satisfied clacking of her mother's heels leading away from her door and towards her sister's. She ran a hand through her messy waves and glanced over at the clock. It was almost seven fifteen and she still needed to get ready to leave by eight thirty.

Showered and dressed Kat stood before the mirror hanging on her wardrobe door Kat inspected her appearance fretfully. Her caramel blonde hair had recently been shorn from waist length to a modest shoulder blade length. The bangs that framed her face closely flattered her heart shaped face dearly but Kat still felt odd without the familiar weight of hair. Her shoes were uncomfortable in height but gave her the much needed advantage of taking her from four feet eleven inches to five foot two. Her jeans were old and comfortable as was her light blue tee shirt. She particularly liked this shirt as it drew attention to the vibrance of her eyes. There was nothing she could do about the paleness of her complexion or the odd glow she seemed to give off. It was the curse of having veela blood and it wasn't one Kat appreciated. She liked nothing that drew attention to her in any way. She would much rather fade into the background but her appearance did not allow that.

Suddenly there was two quick knocks at her door before the door was flung open revealing a tall, pale girl of about fifteen. The girl was dressed in tight faded jeans and a flowered tube top with hemp flip flops. Her platinum blonde hair was stick straight and parted down the middle in the fashion of the muggle hippies flattering her overly large violet eyes which were narrowed down at Kat.

"You used all the hot water." The girl accused moodily placing both hands on her hips. Kat smirked up at her sister and widened her own eyes innocently.

"Oops." Kat said in a saccarine tone earning a sound of disbelief from the girl.

"Bullocks. You always do this." The girl whined unhappily before marching into the room.

"Stay out of my stuff Aly. What are you doing?" Kat demanded and Alyson sat herself down at Kat's vanity table and glanced up at her older sister.

"Do my makeup. Its the least you can do after making me take a freezing cold shower." Aly pouted perfectly and widened her eyes in the form of little sister begging.

"Fine, if it'll make you leave. Besides I doubt that you've even begun packing. You're so lazy." Kat frowned as she began applying blush to Alyson's pale cheeks. Aly was no where near as pale as Kat.

"Mum's making Daisy do it." Aly said breezily mentioning the family's houself Daisy. Daisy was a mean spirited creature despite her friendly sounding name. She had been abused by her previous masters and in turn it caused her to be very spiteful to anyone but a member of the Harrison family.

"Poor Daisy. You're room's a disaster zone."

"Blah blah blah. You're so judgemental." Aly pouted bored as Kat began spreading eyeshadow across her eyelids. Alyson was only ten months younger than Kat. It generated both closeness and annoyance between the siblings. Such closeness in age proved to be both a blessing and a curse. Kat was often mistaken as the younger sibling thanks to Alyson's vibrant personality, height, and dominating behaviour. Alyson loved to be the center of the attention and she was always a great hit wherever she went. Kat preferred to stick behind with a book or her wand rather than have to mingle with people.

"And you're so immature." Kat fired back teasingly earning a gasp. She added the final touch on Aly's makeup before the call to breakfast was heard.

"Girls we leave in thirty minutes." Jacqueline sighed as Kat and Aly made their way into the kitchen. Kat's stomach dropped as she heard that. She was absolutely terrified of Hogwarts.

"Kitty, darling. Eat. You can't go off to a new school without eating." Benjamin Harrison followed his two daughters into the kitchen stopping behind his eldest to drop a kiss on her head and to coax her into eating.

"I'm not hungry." Kat muttered as her father dropped a piece of toast into one hand and a glass of orange juice into the other.

"Its a long time until the feast tonight." Benjamin told her reprovingly and just to appease her father she bit into the toast. Jacqueline looked over from her own breakfast to send Benjamin a look of trepidation. Both parents were nervous for their daughter, they prayed she'd accept and be accepted at Hogwarts. Jacqueline herself had attended Beaxbaton for all seven years. She was a veela and that blood had been passed onto her daughters. Benjamin and Jacqueline worked in an obscure branch of the Order of the Pheonix designed to help those who've been affected by Lord Voldemort. They had spent the last four years traveling Europe with their daughters going wherever they were needed to help familes destroyed by the war or by any other means of magical horror. Finally they had decided that they could no longer risk their daughters as the threat of Lord Voldemort grew even stronger. It was a miracle that they had survived this long without coming up on You Know Who's radar as it was. They decided to give in and hide until their daughters were grown, they took desk jobs at the Ministry to preserve safety but still felt the need to send Kat and Aly to the safest place they knew. Under the care of Albus Dumbledore. The one man Lord Voldemort feared.

Neither of their daughters understood the danger they were possibly in, and that was for the best. Hogwarts was just another school for them. Hopefully they would love it as much as Benjamin had when he went there. Benjamin had known Dumbledore personally both as a professor and in the Order. He knew that Kat and Aly would be perfectly safe there, so all they had to worry about was the happiness of their eldest daughter.

"Daisy? Could you get the girls' trunks into the car please?" Jacqueline asked after about fifteen minutes of breakfast. Kat looked up in horror. Fifteen minutes was not enough time. Aly on the other hand looked nervous but excited. It was clear she was looking forward to this new school.

"It'll be great Kat." Aly whispered comfortingly as the sisters climbed into the back of the car around twenty minutes later. Kat merely nodded not trusting her voice as the car rumbled to life. Kat's eyes fixed on a spot on her jeans as they slowly pulled out of the driveway. The thirty minute drive to the train station seemed to fly by too quickly as did the process of reaching the platform.

"I don't see it." Aly said narrowing her eyes in frustration as they stood in front of a brick wall separating platforms nine and ten.

"That's because its in the wall dimwit." Kat rolled her eyes sullenly earning a pout from Aly.

"Be nice girls. Now watch your mother." Benjamin scolded before Jacqueline demonstrated the best way to make it through the passage. Aly's jaw dropped and she began shaking her head in denial.

"Kitty, have a good year. Hogwarts isn't bad I promise you'll love it. I love you, write often. You first darling, I suggest you take it at a run." Benjamin whispered into Kat's hair before letting her go and giving her control of her trolley Jacqueline hugged her and whispered words of luck to both Aly and Kat before they were gone, late for work. Kat gulped in refusal before she began pushing on the heavy trolley. The trolley was taller than her and it seemed as though she wouldn't have the strength to even get it moving. But soon she found that it was moving too fast and there was no possible way to stop it now, any moment now she was going to crash directly into a brick wall. Closing both eyes and clamping down onto her bottom lip Kat found herself instead of crashing sliding through an invisible barrier and continuing forward at a formidible speed. In absolute horror Kat realized that she had no way of stopping her trolley and that she was about to crash into someone directly in front of her. Veering off course she tried in futile to miss the boy standing in front of her but to her dismay she found herself hurtling into him.

Trunks and bodies flew before coming down none too gently in a heap. In fact Kat found herself partially on top of the unfortunate boy, groaning in pain she lifted her head up only to meet the most beautiful set of smoky gray eyes she had ever seen. Flushing a pale pink she realized that not only was this boy's eyes gorgeous but the rest of him was as well. His face seemed carved out of one of her romance books with everything flawlessly proportioned. His hair was sleek and dark as it fell gracefully into those molten silver eyes. Blushing even harder Kat jumped to her feet and bit her lip hard as the boy made his way to his feet as well.

"Je suis dsol, je n'ai pas signifi pour vous frapper " Kat stammered in her native language, French as she looked up at the boy standing before her. This boy was at least a foot taller than her and Kat could feel her face burning up as she realized she was speaking French. The boy was looking down at her in absolute confusion as he rubbed his head.

"What?" He asked creating a deeper embarrassment for Kat. Looking around she realized that nearly everyone on the platform was watching her and this mysterious boy.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you." She repeated in embarrassed English this time before gathering her trunk up and rushing off towards the bright red steam train. She could hear laughter behind her that not only fueled her embarrassment but also her speed. Looking back once she spotted Aly shaking hands with the handsome boy, Kat felt anger bubble up in her stomach. Not only did she just embarrass herself completely in front of a gorgeous stranger but her perfect little sister was now flirting with him. Aly never seemed to think of anyone but herself once a cute boy makes his way into the picture. Kat dropped her trunk off in the hold before searching desperately for an empty compartment.

"Hey Moony! Over here!" James Potter shouted loudly over the rumble of the train in the background. Sirius Black turned quickly to see Remus Lupin making his way through the crowd to join James, Sirius, and Peter Pettigrew.

"Oy. It seems there are more people every year." Remus sighed tiredly once he had reached them. Sirius barked out a laugh and clapped Remus on the back cheerfully.

"Don't be such a wanker Moony. Look at all the new girls." Sirius's eyes gleamed appreciatively as he looked out over the crowd of students and their parents.

"Only you would have any interest in that, and they're not new you just haven't gotten to them yet." Peter Pettigrew muttered sullenly as he pulled out a rusty looking wand.

"And you're a prat Wormtail but I don't comment on that regularly." Sirius responded cheekily.

"Have you seen Evans. Because I thought I saw her earlier but I couldn't tell." James asked Remus hopefully.

"Sorry no mate, but I've just gotten here. Besides I'll see her on the train. We've got prefect meetings." Remus said warmly and James looked downtrodden for a moment. Sirius hooked an arm around his best friend's neck before grinning.

"No worries mate, she'll hate you just as much as she always has. Why rush back to that?" Sirius asked and James growled pushing Sirius away.

"Hey Padfoot, lets go get a compartment. Besides there's no point in staying out here. We're bound to run into someone we don't need to." Peter said earning looks of agreement as Alice Ginder stalked by with her posse causing Sirius to duck behind James.

"You and Alice over?" Remus asked interestedly as they began walking towards the train.

"Utterly. I don't think I could take another moment of her shrill bitching." Sirius scowled looking back over his shoulder at the sultry blonde.

"Thank the Lord." Peter rolled his eyes playfully causing James to nod in agreement.

"She was a class a cu.nt." James said solemnly. Looking down Sirius realized that his shoes were untied to he paused behind his friends to bend down and retye the laces. Straightening up he only had a moment to look forward into James's wide hazel eyes before something large and hard crashed into him throwing him down in a tangle. Someone else was tangled up with him as he pulled himself back together. Looking up he found himself staring into two very large, very blue eyes. He barely had time to register the level of sapphire he was looking at before the girl was on her feet staring down at him, pink creeping across her cheeks in a flattering manner. He plled himself to his feet and found himself towering over this blue eyed blonde girl. Her blush deepened visibly before she stammered out something in what he could only guess was French.

"Je suis dsol, je n'ai pas signifi pour vous frapper" Her voice seemed to float over him as he looked down at her in confusion. Her face deepened in colour as she seemed to realize her mistake.

"What?" Sirius asked in absolute confusion. She bit down on a plump pink lip sparking a reaction in Sirius, she was truly attractive.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you." She repeated in musical English, her voice too high and too quiet before she grabbed onto the trolley that had hit him. He watched her run off towards the train. His brain felt like mush as he shook his head quickly. What had just happened. Peter and James were laughing when he turned around earning a scowl from Sirius. The girl clearly did not enjoy being laughed at.

"What did you do to my sister?" He jumped in shock as another girl arrived on his right.

"Huh?" He questioned looking down at someone who was very clearly related to the first girl. Dark violet eyes replaced electric blue but the features and pale skin mirrored the tiny girls. This girl was taller, average height but clearly younger and equally pretty.

"My sister? What did you do? I haven't seen her that embarrassed in years!" The girl asked lifting her eyes to his in a not so friendly manner.

"I didn't do anything! She hit me!" Sirius yelped looking down wide eyed at the girl.

"Well, you must have done something." She said in an unamused manner tilting her head to one side and allowing white blonde hair float onto her cheek. It was a very persuasive mannerism that seemed more natural than forced. Something told Sirius this girl wasn't to be messed with, and that she had her experience with flirting.

"James Potter." James arrived clearing up the awkward situation with an outstretched hand and a wide smile. The girl looked up at him and allowed her eyes to look over him before a bright white smile appeared and she shook his hand.

"Alyson Harrison, you can call me Aly though." She said sunnily.

"Remus Lupin." Remus offered smiling softly shaking her hand as well once she looked over at him in question.

"And thats Sirius Black there, and Peter Pettigrew beside Remus." James hurried the introductions along as the Hogwart's Express blasted twice signaling it was time to get on.

"Charmed I'm sure." Aly said dryly glancing up at James and tiliting her head prettily to the side again.

"What's your sister's name?" Sirius asked suddenly as the girl turned to gather her things.

"Katherine." Aly said shortly but smiled at Sirius none the less.

"How old are you two?" Remus asked.

"I'm fifteen and she's nearly sixteen." Aly smiled, "I've gotta go. Maybe I'll see you later?" She worded her last phrase as a question to show that it was up to them. Sirius turned around and looked at James in wonder.

"What is wrong with the world? I just got blamed because some girl hit me!" Sirius shook his head sullenly earning laughs from his friends. The conductor called for stragglers and the boys ran towards the train in a hurry. It wouldn't do to be left behind in the station.