Hey guys! This is my first multi-chapter fanfic (I have a oneshot called Invisible, check it out!), so please review and give me any advice as to how to make it better, what you like or don't like, etc.

This is a James Sirius Potter/OC fanfic. It also has Fred the 2nd/OC, and Dominique /OC.

Later chapters have mature situations that are vital to the plot, so please, read at your own risk!

My chapters are long, but there aren't many of them in the story. This is an approx. 11 chapter story, not including epilogue.

Also, I'm not going to say this every chapter, but I only own my characters. Anything you recognise belongs to the lovely JK.

Chapter One

Guy Neighbours and Other Shenanigans

I bent down to pick up Hobbes, my barn owl, and stuffed him into his cage. I packed up my trunk, and carefully placed my robes and red-and-gold tie on top of my new books.

"Kaitlyn!" Dad called from the bottom of the stairs. "There's an owl here for you!"

I rushed down, knowing that the letter was probably holding the results of my OWLs. Living on a tiny island off Ireland, and my owl getting distracted way too easily, I always got my owl post weeks later than the other students at Hogwarts. The only thing that I got early was my book list, which Professor McGonagall gave me at the end of each year. And, considering that I was going to Floo to King's Cross in about a half hour to get onto the Hogwarts Express, they were even later than usual.

"Thanks, Dad." I pecked him on the cheek and read the letter. "Brilliant! An O in Charms, Es in everything else but History of Magic and Divination."

Dad, a Muggle, furrowed his brow in confusion, probably trying to remember what I told him about the wizard grading system.

I explained quickly with an eye on the clock. James had told me the story of his dad and uncle getting to the barrier late and it being closed off, resulting in them driving a flying car and crashing into the Whomping Willow. Not my plan. "O is Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations is next, then Acceptable, which I got in History of Magic. Then the failing grades: Poor, which was my Divination mark, Dreadful, and Troll."

Dad sighed heavily and nodded his slightly-greying head. "Magic confuses me, Kaitlyn. You know that." I hugged him and he chuckled. "Go get your trunk, I'll get the fireplace ready."

I jogged back up the stairs and grabbed Hobbes' cage and my trunk. "Where are Mum and Amy?" I asked, looking around the empty kitchen.

"Mum's still not feeling well, and Amy's got violin practice for that concert in Dublin that's coming up," said Dad as he pulled out a near-empty pouch of Floo Powder from the kitchen drawer (living so far from everyone, I practically lived on the stuff).

I nodded, a bit disappointed that my little sister and mother couldn't see me go. "I guess I'll see them at Christmas, then," I said with a sigh.

Dad pointed at his watch. "Hon, train leaves in 15 minutes."

I picked up my trunk and a hooting Hobbes, hugged my dad good-bye (with thousands of promises to send owls as much as possible), offered to help him Floo so he could come to the train station (which he declined – he can't stand the Floo Network), and stepped into the green flames.

Within seconds, I was at Platform 9 ¾, the huge brick wall behind me. I threw Hobbes and my trunk onto the train and began to search for my friends.

"Kaitlyn!"

"Oi, Moore!"

"Good Merlin, Kaitlyn, how can you survive on only one trunk?"

I turned and grinned when I saw Vee, Fred, and Dominique standing not too far behind me. I attacked each with a hug.

"It's been ages!" I laughed.

Vee and Fred agreed, although I had seen them during the third week of August, as Dom rolled her eyes. "You owled me every day."

I hugged her again. Under her I-couldn't-care-less exterior, Dom was really a teddy bear inside. "Where's James?"

"Helping Lily with her luggage," Fred said with a shrug. "Her first year, you know."

I nodded. "Reckon she'll be Gryffindor? Or Ravenclaw, like Albus?"

Vee shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter. I mean, last generation of Weasleys was 100% Gryffindor, but then Al, Lucy, and Molly were put into Ravenclaw and Roxanne went to Hufflepuff. Everyone's kinda over it."

Fred groaned. "Speaking of Al, he better not try out for Ravenclaw Seeker. He got all of Uncle Harry's Seeking talent. We'll need an incredibly talented Seeker to beat him."

"What about my dad?" I heard a familiar voice coming from over my left shoulder.

"JAMES!" I shouted happily, turning quickly on my heel and whipping blonde hair into his face. Despite his disgusted look (I think some hair went into his mouth), I hugged him tightly just before the train whistled.

Dom shouted, "Let's get a compartment before we're stuck with Lorcan!"

Lorcan Scamander is Lysander Scamander's twin brother. Both Ravenclaws, both absolutely identical, but completely different otherwise. Lorcan takes a lot after his mother, Luna Scamander (née Lovegood) – he believes in imaginary creatures and whatnot (he once told me I had some Nargles in my hair). We all love him to bits, but sometimes, it could get on our nerves, and 5 hours in a train with him was a mistake we wouldn't be repeating for a while. Lysander is a heartthrob, party-lover, and one of the most popular kids at Hogwarts, even though he was only going into fifth year. Even though Lorcan was every bit as attractive as his brother, his unusual talk kept the girls far from him. Despite being polar opposites, the Scamander twins were inseparable.

We dived into the first empty compartment and immediately began talking, much to Vee and Dom's dismay, about the Quidditch World Cup in two weeks. It was being held in Brazil, and the final game was Canada versus Japan. James and Fred were rooting for Japan (their defence was that the Canadian team wasn't as skilled at dodging Bludgers, causing them to have more injuries), but I was firmly rooted on Canada's side (they had much better Chasers and an incredible Keeper, Québecoise Marie-Soleil Légault, who was MVP last season and had only let in two goals this entire tournament).

"James, aren't you Quidditch Captain this year?" Fred asked.

James looked positively giddy as he pulled out a shiny badge, adorned with red and gold.

I smiled slyly. "So... I'm guaranteed a position on the team?"

"You and Fred are the best Beaters in the school since Uncle George and Uncle Fred," James pointed out. "I'll still have to try you out – for all I know, there could be someone even better out there somewhere."

I scoffed. "As if."

Fred smirked but nodded. "When are tryouts?"

"I'm thinking Saturday. It's Sunday today, so you have a week to practice. Plus, the earlier we can have the team organised, the better. Two of last year's Chasers and the Keeper graduated last year, so I'll definitely need new ones."

We heard a tap on the compartment door and James hid his head. A smart move – by now, usually his fan club would try to swarm him. He had nothing to worry about, though, since it was Madge, the candy trolley vendor.

"Anything from the trolley, darlings?" she asked with a kind smile.

"How much for three Chocolate Frogs, Madge?" I asked as I counted my money in my palm/

"Three Galleons, four Sickles, and a Knut."

I handed her the three gold coins, four silver, and one bronze with a thanks, sitting back down to let everyone else get their own treats.

"Fred!" I called from across the compartment, where Dom, Vee, and James were standing in between us. His red head popped up and I saw his freckled face look in my direction. "Get everyone's money for a large pouch of Bertie Bott's!" I tossed him a Sickle, which he caught as he sucked on a Sugar Quill.

Vee, Dom, and James pulled out their share and together we bought a pouch of the famous candy.

"So, we remember the rules?" James asked as soon as everyone was seated around the plate I had levitated with the pouch, open and waiting. "Close your eyes and take a Bean. On the count of three, we eat it, and tell the others what flavour it is."

"We've only been doing this since first year, James," Dom pointed out as she chewed on the end of a Licorice Wand.

Fred leaned forward and rubbed his palms together in anticipation. "Alright. Close your eyes."

I shut my eyes and picked one bean. Vee's voice counted down, and when I popped the candy in my mouth, I made a face.

` James coughed. "Salt."

Dom, always the lucky one, smiled and announced, "Peppermint."

Vee panted. "Jalapeño!" she managed.

Fred looked disappointed. "Water."

"Merlin, that's boring," I remarked. Fred nodded sadly. Vee patted him comfortingly on the back.

James turned to me. "What about you?"

I grimaced. "I think it was pot."

All three faces in front of me looked shocked. Dom spoke first. "Are you sure they'd make one weed-flavoured?"

I shrugged. "I guess, but I won't be getting high off it."

This went on for a few hours, until we had run out of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Rose, James, Fred, and Dom's cousin, knocked on the compartment door.

"Hey, Kaitlyn! Hey, Vee! Haven't seen you two yet!" she greeted with a pretty smile.

I grinned back. "Hey there, Rose! How's tricks?"

"Hugo's getting Sorted today," Rose told us, looking excited for her little brother. "Dad reckons he'll be Gryffindor, like me, but Mum kinda wants a Ravenclaw."

"He better be Gryffindor!" Fred announced with a grin. "The more, the merrier!"

"Anyway, I came by to tell you – Fred, Vee, and Dom, that is – Al needs to talk to you."

Reluctantly, the three got up.

"Why me?" Vee asked Rose. "I'm not even related to you Potter-Weasleys!" Behind her, the compartment door shut with a loud bang, leaving James and I alone, sitting across from each other.

I jumped across to sit next to him, and I pulled my robes from underneath the red leather seat. "I'm gonna to change into my robes," I informed him. "We can't be too far from Hogsmeade."

"Kaitlyn, wait." I had gotten up to leave and he had put a hand on my arm. I waited for an answer, but suddenly, James seemed to realise what he was doing. He picked up his hand and just said, "Nothing." I nodded, silently worried and wondering how his amazing mood had switched so mysteriously and suddenly. I quietly left the compartment to change in the bathroom.

When I returned, everyone had changed and were back in the compartment, playing Exploding Snap. James seemed to be acting like himself again, which confused me even more.

"Hey, guys," I said, pointing out the window. "I think I see Hogwarts! We must be close to Hogsmeade."

Sure enough, in the distance, we could see the majestic, huge old castle looming ahead. Within minutes we were in the Great Hall, listening to McGonagall's welcome-back speech. As usual, it was excruciatingly long, and the whole school was hungry.

"And lastly," the Headmistress wrapped up, "I would like to remind all of you that the Forbidden Forest is FORBIDDEN."

"Go figure," a starving Fred muttered. James snorted in agreement and my stomach grumbled loudly. Dom glared at her two cousins.

"Now, have a pleasant and enlightening school year. On to our Sorting – Professor Longbottom?"

The Head of Gryffindor, and the Deputy Headmaster, pulled out a list and an old hat. Before reading the first name, Longbottom had a sort of reminiscent look as he looked over the Sorting Hat. It was understandable – the whole wizarding world knew the story about how he pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of it when he was 17.

Longbottom cleared his throat. "Abridge, Jeremy!"

A small, shy, dark-haired boy scurried to the stool and shoved the Sorting Hat onto his head.

"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat announced, and the table next to ours cheered. I saw Albus, Molly, Lucy, Lorcan, and Lysander clapping as the beaming boy sat among them.

The Sorting continued, and we increasingly got impatient waiting for both our food and Hugo and Lily's sorting. But, considering that this was no doubt the biggest first year group in a while, and that we were still far from Potter or Weasley ("Daniels, Christopher!" "SLYTHERIN!"), Dom and I tried to pass the time by whispering to each other.

"Did you get your OWL results?" she asked, brushing some of her pale blonde hair out of her eyes.

I nodded. "They came about half an hour before I Floo'd to King's Cross."

Dom rolled her eyes. "And I suppose you got an O for Charms?"

I blushed.

Dom scoffed. "Kaitlyn, you know that you're best in the year. You should listen to Professor Connaghan's praises."

"Well, you got an O in everything else, no doubt!" I retorted. Dom is one of the smartest witches at Hogwarts.

"Maybe, but I only scraped an E in Charms, and Connaghan just let me in, so I'll need your help."

"SHH!" a Hufflepuff prefect, Emre Jensen, glared at us. We shrugged and brought our attention back to the Sorting, which had really picked up (I guess there were a lot of J last names this year).

"McLennan, Anna!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" Our table cheered loudly, and when I looked around, I noticed a few new faces that I hadn't heard being Sorted.

"McRowens, Andrew!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Monroe, Lydia!"

"SLYTHERIN!" (Our table glared at the raven-haired girl.)

I heard my stomach rumble and forced myself not to think of food. I reminded myself of the time I broke my arm (before I knew about magic) and had to wear a cast. It itched so much, and I couldn't stop complaining about it. My mum just said, "Whatever you do, don't think about pink elephants." So, obviously, that was all I could think about, and I didn't even notice my arm. To draw attention away from my hungry belly, I thought, Pink elephants, pink elephants, pink elephants.

"Olivers, Sara!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Partridge, Adam!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" We applauded and welcomed the confident-looking young boy.

"Petersen, Olivia!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" We cheered again for the blonde.

"Picks, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Potter, Lily!"

I squeezed Dom and James' hands as the small, excited ginger ran enthusiastically to the stool and slammed the Sorting Hat onto her head as it flopped over her brilliant green eyes – her dad's trait.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Lily looked absolutely beyond happy as she ran to join Anna McLennan, one of her best friends. On the way, she hugged James, Fred, Dom, Louis (Dom's brother), Rose, Vee, and me. She waved at a slightly-disappointed-looking Al who clapped along at the Ravenclaw table. Soon, we had to stop cheering and watch the rest of our students get Sorted.

"Rainer, Benjamin!"

"SLYTHERIN!" (Some glares from our table.)

"Richardson, Katherine!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Rosenthal, Ryan!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" We cheered as a tall, brown-haired boy made his way to our table.

I had to keep reminding myself, pink elephants, pink elephants, pink elephants. Even so, I could feel my hunger seeping in through the weak barrier.

"Victors, Gregory!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Von Hagen, Katrina!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Finally, Longbottom called out, "Weasley, Hugo!"which meant two things: first, obviously, Hugo was about to be Sorted, and second, the Sorting was almost over. There were only two others after Hugo.

Hugo walked up shyly to the stool and sat as the Hat fell onto his brown bushy hair, covering is eyes and nearly hitting his nose. Soon, the Hat announced, "RAVENCLAW!"

Rose, Fred, Dom, and James looked surprised, but they cheered along with the Ravenclaws. Al looked happy to have another Weasley in his house other than Molly and Lucy, and frankly, they were utter prats.

The entire, starving Great Hall was waiting for only two other new first years to be Sorted, and every student could feel the impatience in the room.

"Young, Evangeline!"

We held our breaths as the Hat pondered. In a few seconds, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and we accepted our student happily.

The entire school was eerily quiet as Longbottom read the last name (although it was kind of pointless, since there was only one kid left). "Zabini, Darren!"

"SLYTHERIN!" The last table on the left cheered. Soon, the whole Great Hall joined in as food finally appeared on our golden dishes.

"FOOD!" Fred and James shouted in unison. I was too busy cramming my fame with turkey as Vee politely chewed on a boiled carrot and Dom picked through her meal.

"My Godric, this is delicious," I managed with a mouth full of mashed potatoes.

Dom looked disgusted. "Honestly, Kaitlyn, how can you eat like that?"

"More importantly," Vee joined in, swallowing some pumpkin juice, "no guy's gonna date you if you eat like a starving Hippogriff."

I rolled my eyes. "Please, I've had plenty of boyfriends." This was true, I have had many relationships, and they just never last too long.

Longbottom came to our part of the table and gave us our timetables as he welcomed us to a new school year.

"Brilliant!" I shouted once I saw my timetable. "Free hours! And we've got one tomorrow! And double Charms later!"

Rose shook her head. "Kaitlyn, you'll want to use those for studies."

I gave her a look. "Once you've gone through OWLs, you'll be thinking differently," I assured her.

` "My OWLs are next year!" she protested.

"Still." I turned my eyes back to my new schedule.

"No!" Vee cried. "First hour tomorrow's Potions! I'm useless at Potions, and besides, Safford despises me!"

"You're not useless," Dom pat her shoulder. "At least you got to Advanced Potions. And Safford does not hate you."

Vee nodded. "She does! Besides, you know I only got to NEWT-level because you had three all-nighters with me before the Potions OWLs, both theory and practical."

I checked the timetable. "Well, on the bright side, we have Defence with Professor Hawkes afterwards."

James nodded, an assuring smile on his face. "Hawkes is always fun."

"Yeah, and then Transfiguration!" Fred grinned. "Ross loves you!"

Vee shrugged. "I guess, when he's not piling the homework on so much that we can't breathe."

We finished our feast and made our way back to our dorms. "Hey, prefect," Fred said while nudging Dom once we were in front of the Fat Lady.

I blinked. "Wait, what? Dominique Gabrielle Weasley, you never told me!"

Dom shrugged. "Oh, yeah. I'm a prefect, forgot to put the badge on. Password's 'Mandrake'."

The portrait swung open and Vee furrowed her brow. "It's you're Gryffindor prefect, then who's helping the first years?"

Dom smiled mischievously. "I convinced Gabriel to do it." He must be the other prefect for Gryffindor this year.

James breathed in the warm, cinnamon scent of the Gryffindor Common Room. "Home, sweet home," he said with a reminiscing smirk.

We said goodnight to James and Fred, and Vee, Dom, and I entered our dorm.

"Hey, guys!" greeted one of our other dormmates, Sabrina MacGrimm. She was close friends with us, but she never sits with us on the train or at the welcoming feast due to a tradition with her long-time friend, Michelle Wilde, who was in Hufflepuff. The fifth of us, Isabella O'Leary, had passed away in third year from Spattergroit, and we always kept an empty bed where she should have been, her favourite spot, right by the window. Despite three years passing, it was still a delicate subject for all the Gryffindor sixth years.

I noticed Hobbes was perched on my usual bed, across from Sabrina's. He had probably flown over from the Owlery. I scratched between his wings for a few seconds, then let him fly back.

"How was your summer?" Sabrina asked, folding her Gryffindor scarf and putting it in her drawer.

"Hello, Sabrina the Teenage Witch," I said with a smile. Us being the only Muggle-borns in our dorm, no one else understood the reference. "Summer was good, you?"

Sabrina grinned the way she always did when there was a boy-related story: huge smile, raised eyebrows, dancing hazel eyes.

Dom caught her look and gasped. "Spill!" she urged enthusiastically.

"So, about halfway through July, I was at one of my Muggle friend's pool -"

"Wait, what?" Vee asked. Dom nodded, a confused look on her face.

I explained. "A Muggle sort of artificial body of water... they usually have them in their backyards."

"Anyway, she and I were in her pool. Then, her GUY NEIGHBOUR-" we squealed in excitement "- came over, and he was crazy hot. So I started to flirt with him. He asked me out before the hour was over. His name's Tyler Scott, and long story short, by the end of August, he asked me to be his girlfriend!"

We screamed – thank Merlin for Hogwarts' sound-proof walls - and hugged Sab.

Dom stopped suddenly. "Wait. Does he know about magic?"

"No, I just told him that I went to a boarding school down south." It sounded strange for Sab to say that Hogwarts is "down south," but Sab was from Aberdeen, and Hogwarts was rumoured to be somewhere near Ayr, which was indeed, south.

I hugged Sabrina again. "Awesome!"

As Sabrina told us more about Tyler, I cast an Unpacking Charm on my things and changed into pjs.

"Alright, guys, I'm happy for Sab and all, but we have Safford tomorrow morning. I'd rather not start off the year with Gryffindor in negative points," Vee reminded us.

Sab nodded, her motherly side kicking in. "Vee's right. Off to bed!"

I shut the lights with a flick of my wand and grinned in the darkness. I was finally back.

How'd you like it? This was kinda just a starting-point chapter, no real plot points mentioned. Please R&R, and tell me what you think!

Love, Sophie 3