Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or anything coming from JK Rowling's books. You should know what's mine and what isn't if you've read the books ;)

Chapter 1

A group of five hooded figures materialized out of the darkness. There was a faint mumbling heard and then the ends of four sticks lit up the night. They faintly illuminated a street corner. The sign at the edge of the street read Jenkins Way. The fifth hooded figure repeatedly tried to sneak away, but was pulled back every time.

Suddenly a large purple object came hurtling down the road. It swerved back and forth causing trees and mailboxes to leap out of the way. As it careened closer it could be made out as a double-decker bus. It came to a crashing halt in front of the small shadowy group. Its doors flew open and a tall man stumbled out.

"Mrs. Jenkins?" he asked, glancing at each cloaked figure in turn.

A slim figure stepped forward, carefully lowering its hood. A woman's face was revealed. Her dark gray eyes glimmered slightly against her pale perfect skin. She sneered at the man. "Right here."

A distinct whisper was heard between two of the other figures. "Filthy halfblood stands there like the insolent dunce that he is. Does he not know that he is speaking to a superior pureblood?"

A flash of hurt flowed over the man's features before his face-hardened. He stepped to the side and gestured for them to board. "Your chariot awaits your majesties," he said sarcastically under his breath.

One of the two whisperers gasped. Two figures boarded before this one. When this figure boarded it whispered maliciously, "You had better watch your back filth. Who knows what will be at your bedside late one night? You never know what day will be your last, but trust me, you just brought your last day closer."

Next came Mrs. Jenkins. She dragged the smaller cloaked figure forward. The hood fell off of the small person. It turned out that this figure was a girl. Her straight red-brown hair began to blow in the wind, obscuring her eyes from view. She struggled hard against Mrs. Jenkins's grip. Finally however Mrs. Jenkins pulled the stick from within her robes again and pointed it threateningly at the girl. The girl visibly gave up. Her shoulders slumped and she stopped her kicking. She followed the woman up to the bus. When she passed the man she turned her head and mouthed the word "sorry," guilt and sorrow evident in her eyes. With that she was roughly shoved aboard the bus.

As they walked past the driver he stood and pulled his hat off of his balding head. "Ah Mrs. Jenkins," he drawled, "always a pleasure. Who is th' young 'un? Surely not yours?"

"Actually Ted, this is my daughter, Alice Jenkins," she replied with forced kindness. Her family knew that she only spoke to this man because his father was a highly respectable man in the Ministry.

The girl immediately gained a sour look. "It's AJ," the girl breathed angrily. The grip on her shoulder tightened and AJ knew that it meant that she was supposed to move forward. AJ also knew that she would never make things that easy. She glanced up at her mother innocently. "Mother, your nails are quite sharp. I never realized." AJ nearly grinned when she heard the man who had ushered them aboard give a snort of laughter.

Mrs. Jenkins glared at her daughter warningly before saying through gritted teeth, "Darling I think it's high time we went to our seats. Please lead the way."

"Oh of course Mother." AJ led the way down the aisle. She slowly, very slowly made her way toward the back. AJ stopped at nearly every other seat to glance out the window or to gaze in interest at the occupants. Finally her mother jabbed her in the back.

"Alice," Mrs. Jenkins whispered, "if you do not pick up your pace then I will use my wand to force you and when we get home to the manor…" she let the ending hang, letting AJ's mind create a torture. AJ hurried along to the back where she quickly climbed the stairs, leaving her mother panting in her wake. She slid into a seat by herself in front of her aunt and uncle, two of the cloaked figures. Directly behind them sat a lone, cloaked figure that AJ knew was her father, Alan Jenkins.

Finally Mrs. Jenkins made it up the stairs and she sat gracefully beside her husband. She immediately began whispering with him. When AJ received a glare from her father and a smirk from her mother, she knew that she would be in trouble later.

To avoid the looks that she was receiving from her family she kept her eyes trained forward watching the other people on board. As the bus lurched forward her eyes fell on an interesting sight. A few rows up, on the right side were two kids that appeared to be AJ's age. There was a sandy haired boy sitting by the window, and next to him was a black haired girl. They sat quietly, every once in a while saying something quietly causing the other to look at them with interest.

AJ silently wished that she could be up there with them. She only ever saw adults, and these two even looked like they were eleven like her. It was a huge coincidence, but unfortunately there was no way that her parents would approve. These two were obviously not pureblood and thus, by her parents' standards, not even worth looking at.

Finally watching them was too much so AJ turned her eyes to the window. She watched as the bus rolled down an old country road, then with a crack they were thundering down a suburban road, She saw an old woman watering her flowers, a young couple sitting on a swing on their porch, a family sitting outside that consisted of a woman with red hair, a man with slightly graying brown hair, a daughter with bright red hair, and a skinny brown haired girl with a frown on her face. They seemed so at ease, AJ wondered if it were just a muggle thing. She had never met a magical family that at ease. She sighed as with another crack they ran across a bridge.

She looked at the boy and girl again. They already seemed more at ease with each other. The boy said something to the girl that caused her to grin then the girl responded and the boy smiled back. She glanced behind her and saw that all of the members of her family were asleep. It was then that AJ made to walk up to talk to them. She stood and began walking down the aisle. She sat in the seat across from them and said, "Hi. I'm AJ. I'm going into first year at Hogwarts, how 'bout you guys?"

The boy looked at AJ suspiciously. The girl, taken aback, answered quietly, "Me too. I'm Robyn."

After a nudge from the girl, the boy also answered, hesitant and equally as quiet, "I'm Remus. I'm in first year too." Just as AJ was about to continue talking, she saw Robyn and Remus glance over her head and she felt nails dig into her shoulder. She groaned, knowing what was going to happen next.

"Alice," AJ's mother began sweetly. AJ winced. "You need to move away from these," she glanced the two children up and down, "unworthy half-blood children." She then turned to Remus and Robyn, "And you two, stay away from my daughter." AJ hung her head. There go two more potential friends.

Her mother dragged her back to her seat and shoved her in. AJ watched as Remus told Robyn something, with an angry expression. Slowly it seemed, Robyn calmed him down, but he still kept shooting her dirty looks. Robyn never even glanced back. AJ watched on with envy as they both went back to talking comfortably.

She watched them until the bus lurched to a halt and her family stood. She noticed happily that Robyn and Remus also appeared to be getting off at this stop. They exited the bus and AJ took this as her chance to talk to the two. She walked snuck up and made her presence known.

"Hey guys!" Remus turned to her with an angry look. Robyn just watched on.

"What do you want? I thought we were under you?" Remus said, eyes flashing. At this Robyn grabbed his arm and whispered something in Remus's ear. He took a deep breath.

AJ immediately became somber. "Listen, I'm sorry about that. My mom is a bi-"

For the third time today, nails closed around AJ's shoulder. "What am I Alice?"

AJ's eyes widened in shock. This was not going to be good. The tone her mother was using spoke of trouble. "Mother! What a surprise!"

"Alice, do not kid me. What are you doing talking to these two? And what are you doing talking to my daughter?" The last question was directed toward Remus and Robyn.

"Well Mother, it's very interesting. You see I saw these two and decided to force my company upon them. They didn't want to defy you and so questioned why I was talking to them as I was above them." She glanced up and saw that Remus was looking angry and was going to say something. She used a weird signal to inform Robyn to shut him up and luckily Robyn understood and kept him quiet.

"Interesting. Well Alice I believe that it's time to get to the Convention." AJ was then dragged away before she could even say goodbye. AJ however was just happy that her mother hadn't yelled at the other two again.