Harry Potter, a young man of seventeen years of age, sat and listened to his godfather explaining over again what kind of pranks he should pull while at Hogwarts. Harry tried to listen really but he'd been hearing this same mantra since they had decided that Harry should go to Hogwarts. Sirius could go on and on about pranking without stopping and no one knew this better than his godson Harry.

The reason why Sirius was so excited was because Harry was finally going to go to Hogwarts to experience what he should have when he was eleven. Harry was only going to go for his seventh and last year but Sirius had just told him that it was better late than never.

Harry on the other hand wasn't that excited. He knew that the people attending Hogwarts would only appreciate him because he was famous and not because of who he was. Friendships were bound to be strong at Hogwarts and it would be hard for a new comer to just waltz in and fit in without attracting some attention and even worse gossip from the other students. Not that Harry really minded what other people had to say about him but he didn't want to start at Hogwarts on a bad note.

"Harry son, are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Sirius asked him. He knew that Harry was less than thrilled about going to Hogwarts but really, Sirius thought it was best for him and had asked him to go.

The past sixteen years of Harry's life had been spent trying to train him to be able to take on Voldermort and especially for him to come out alive. Not that they hadn't had any fun. They had it in large amounts over the past years. Sirius was a marauder after all.

They had spent periods pranking each other or going on exotic holidays, concerts or whatever they fancied at the time.

In spite of everything that they had gone through, Harry had still come out the best kind of young man that anyone would be proud to call their son. Sirius was proud to have raised him and couldn't be happier with how he turned out. He knew that Lily would've been extra proud as Harry had turned out to be a gentleman despite being raised by someone like Sirius.

"I'm sorry Sirius. I kind of zoned out. What were you saying?"

"Never mind that Harry. I'm sure you'll do me proud anyway. I know you didn't exactly want to go to Hogwarts but I know you'll have fun Harry. I just want you to do something normal for once. Go to school like a normal seventeen year old."

"I know Sirius. I just don't feel like I'm going to belong though. Most of those children have never really had to worry about things like surviving and destroying the darkest wizard there ever was. All they've ever worried about is homework and quiditch. How can I even begin to feel normal around that?"

Sirius had known that Harry had some reservations about going to Hogwarts but he didn't know they came from Harry feeling different from children his age. But of course he was different. There was no shame in that. Harry had gone through what most adult wizards had never nor will they ever go through in their lives. That didn't make him an outcast in his eyes though. He was just one of those people that you couldn't help nut love.

He had rid the world of Voldermort the previous year and deserved some normalcy and stability in his life. Sirius was determined that he would get that stability no matter what he had to do to ensure that.

"I know you've never exactly been around children your age but you'll make it work. No one in their right mind would not love you Harry. You're the best kid ever. Plus Hogwarts is the best place to make long time friends…and meet the girl of your dreams," he teased while ruffling Harry's hair.

Harry in turn rolled his eyes but with a grin on his face.

"You've told me that before. And look at you and Elle. You didn't meet at Hogwarts but still you're happy aren't you?" he teased.

"Well I'm a special case really Harry. Extra ordinary things always happen to me," he told Harry with a dramatic sigh.

Of course he had been lucky to have met Elizabeth and to have caught her attention. She was the most beautiful and down to earth woman that he had ever met. She made him smile when he was down; got him to do things that he didn't want to do without him even realizing so. And most importantly she loved both himself and Harry very much. Harry never usually liked the women that he would bring home in the past but he had liked Elle the very first time that he had met her.

That more than anything had shown him that Elle was someone that was for keeps and he had vowed not to mess it up.

"Yeah special case in deed," Harry said while rolling his eyes again.

"Gosh I'm going to miss the kids while I'm away," he told Sirius pensively.

"They're going to miss you too. Andrew will be so bored without you to hero worship and Emily will cry a lot for sure when you leave. You know those kids just adore you. They're going to drive us nuts without you here. You usually use up most of their energy when you play with them."

Andrew and Emily were Sirius' children. They were five and three years old respectively. Sirius had been ecstatic when Elizabeth had told him he was expecting on both occasions. Harry too was happy and excited to finally have someone to dote on. He loved those two little kids with all his heart. They made his life even brighter than it already was.

"Well, talking about energy, I better go and sleep so that I have enough energy tomorrow when I go to Hogwarts. After all I don't want to be late for my first ride to Hogwarts."

"Ok Harry. You're going to love Hogwarts, I swear."

"I'm sure I will. And I'll try my best to carry out the marauders legacy."

"That's what I love to hear Harry," Sirius told him while he hugged him.

Harry smiled up at his godfather and went up to bed.

Harry's room was quite big and had green colored walls. He had posters all over his room of his favorite music groups and quiditch teams. He liked both wizard and muggle music so his posters had both moving and still pictures.

He had a plasma on one wall and a sound system against another. He had one wall lined with cds, dvds and books. His room was the epitome of cool for a young man like himself.

When Harry got to his room, he quickly removed his jeans and shirt and crept into his bed in his briefs. He quickly slept immediately after his head hit the pillow.

….

When Harry walked into the kitchen the following morning, he saw that everyone was up. Elizabeth was already making breakfast and the kids were already fighting over something.

"Good morning everyone," he said with a smile.

"Morning Harry," Elizabeth said while she went to kiss him on his cheek.

"HARRY!" Emily screamed while throwing herself at him.

"Morning princess," he said with a kiss on each cheek.

"Harry, Andy told me that he's going to Hoggiwarty with you. Are you only going to take him and leave me here alone?" she asked with sad eyes. Harry had never known how to resist those big blue eyes that looked so much like Elle's.

"Of course I won't sweetheart and it's Hogwarts not Hoggiwarty," he told her with a sweet smile. He hugged her and kissed her once more and ruffled her hair.

"Andy," he started but they boy in question interrupted him.

"I was just joking Harry. I didn't mean it Em really," he told his sister.

Emily in turn just huffed and went to sit on her fathers lap causing Sirius to smirk while thinking how very alike his daughter was to her mother.

And Emily and Elizabeth truly did look alike. They both had big blue eyes with long lashes and pouty lips. The only thing that was remotely Sirius on Emily's face was her dark curly hair which was the opposite of her mother's blonde hair. She already knew how to use those beautiful eyes to her best advantage too. She had everyone wrapped around her tiny finger.

Andrew on the other hand looked just like Sirius. He had his grey eyes and his hair. He even tended to act like him too with all the teasing and pranking that he was inclined to do.

"You better be buddy. I don't want you teasing Em while I'm gone," Harry said even though he knew that was not likely to happen. Knowing Andy, he would do anything to get a laugh. He was just too much like his father for his own good.

"Ok Harry," Andrew said with an innocent smile on his face.

Harry just rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair.

"Harry sweetheart, can you please set the table for me," Elle asked.

Harry did as he was told and waited for breakfast to be served while entertaining the kids.

When Elizabeth served the food the whole family ate quickly while chatting about trivial matters. They quickly cleaned up and climbed into the family car and left for the train station.

Even though the family members were wizards through and through, they enjoyed some of the muggle luxuries. Cars were just one of those luxuries that the blacks could afford. They owned four cars already and Sirius had also bought Harry a Lamborghini for his sixteenth birthday. The Blacks were quite a rich family with combined wealth from both Sirius and Elizabeth. Harry too had inherited a small fortune from his parents and had just taken control of his wealth when he came of age.

And Harry, being the young man that he was, adored his car. He even gave it a name and took every opportunity to drive it places.

Harry and his family only arrived at Kings Cross Station with 15 minutes to spare. Harry quickly went to put his trunk inside a compartment and went to say goodbye.

"Take care of yourself Harry. I want you to have a normal year. I don't want any trouble ok? And I don't want to get a letter telling us about your pranks ok?"

"Don't worry Elle. I won't get caught," he told her with a twinkle in his eye.

Elle laughed and gave him a quick hug.

"Remember Harry," Sirius started with a devious grin, "get as many girls as you can, prank as much as you can and get the most detentions possible," he finished with a cry of pain as his wife hit him on the back of his head.

Harry laughed and hugged his godfather. He then turned to his siblings (in everything but blood really) and kneeled down to their level. Emily already had tears running down her cheeks while Andrew looked sad and obviously trying to hol

d back tears. He couldn't show weakness in front of his sister. He had to be strong just as he was supposed to be, being the big boy that he was. Well that's what he thought anyway.

"I'll write you constantly you guys. And I'll miss you loads."

"But why can't we go with you?" Emily asked.

"You'll get to go sweetie. Just not now. When you're eleven you'll be able to go and explore the castle with kids your own age," he told her gently while wiping away her tears.

"But that's ages away," Andrew complained.

"I know Andy but that's the way things are ok? Just be good to your parents and take care of Em ok?"

"Ok Harry," he promised.

Harry gave them both tight hugs and hugged Elizabeth and Sirius again and then ran to get on the Hogwarts express.

"Bye everyone!"

"Bye Harry!"

"We love you!"

"Enjoy yourself!"

….

Harry was sitting alone in his compartment reading a car magazine when a group of students entered his compartment.

There was a tall red headed male who looked about his age, a serious looking brunette and a gorgeous red headed girl.

"Hi, we're sorry to just budge in but all the compartments are full," the gorgeous red head said.

Wow so not only pretty but nice voice too, Harry thought. He had to suppress a blush at his thoughts of the red head.

"So can we sit with you?" she finished.

"Sure," Harry told them.

"I'm Hermione Granger," the brunette said, "This is Ron and that's Ginny Weasley. Me and Ron are in our last year here and Ginny is in her sixth. They're siblings as I'm sure you can tell. I've never seen you around so you must be new."

"Yeah I'm new," Harry said while wondering how the brunette…no Hermione could say all that in one breath.

"So what's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Harry." He said. He didn't want to tell them his last name even though it was inevitable.

"What year are you going to be in?"

"My last too I think."

"So Harry…Harry what?" Ron asked.

"Harry Potter," he said uncomfortably.

"For real mate? Wow!"

"I've read lots about you. Did you know-"

"Hermione…I'm sure Harry doesn't want to know if he doesn't know already,"

"But-"

"Hermione!"

"Thanks Ginny," Harry said with a smile.

The group was sitting chatting and getting to know Harry better when a platinum haired boy walked into their compartment.

"What have we got here?" he drawled arrogantly. "You must be Harry Potter. I'm Draco Malfoy. I heard that you were coming to Hogwarts this year. Of course I didn't believe that at first but oh well, I guess I was wrong," he smirked. "And you wouldn't want to associate yourself with the filth of Hogwarts. I can show you around and also show you the kind of people that you can associate with."

"It's nice to meet you Draco," Harry said while shaking his hand.

The other three in the compartment were looking at the two in various states of shock and dismay.

Draco smiled and returned the handshake.

"I guess it would be nice being your friend but friends don't tell friends what to do yeah? I think I can choose my own friends."

Malfoy just looked at him gob smacked and for once looked like he didn't know what to say.

"I guess you're right Harry Potter."

Harry smiled at him and couldn't help but offer him a place in the compartment.

"I'd love to but I can't really," Draco told him. "I have a prefects meeting in five meetings that I really have to get to."

"See you later then. It was nice meeting you Draco"

Malfoy nodded and walked out of the compartment.

"What was that Harry?" Ginny asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"That's Malfoy. He's the biggest prat in Hogwarts. I wouldn't trust him if I was you," Ron finished.

"No offense you guys but as I told him, I can choose my own friends."

"Well if you think so," Hermione said uncertainly. "Anyway Ron and I need to go to the prefects meeting too."

When they left Harry and Ginny were left in an awkward silence.

"So Harry, what it is that you were reading before we came in?" Ginny tried filling the silence.

"Oh this? It's just a car magazine. It's really cool to look at. I was just browsing through features for Eleanor."

"Who's Eleanor?" Ginny asked. She was just thinking that after being attracted so quickly to someone like she was to Harry, that it was a bummer that he was taken.

"She's my car."

"You have a car? And you named it?" she couldn't help but be relieved at the news that Eleanor wasn't some long time girlfriend though.

"Yeah. It's a great car. My godfather bought it for me as a gift on my sixteenth birthday."

"Wow! I don't know any wizards who have cars. We had a ford once but that didn't work out very well as dad tried charming it."

"I would never do that to my car. She's fine the way she is. And it's really fun driving. It's relaxing you know. And when you want to be alone, you can just drive alone while listening to music or something."

The two continued to talk until Ron and Hermione went back into the compartment to change into their school robes.

Harry couldn't help but feel that he would be great friends with the three.

The time he had spent with Ginny had been more fantastic though. They had talked while lightly flirting and Harry couldn't wait to see what would happen between them. He truly had never seen a more beautiful girl. Not that he had seen many, but still.

He couldn't wait to see what Hogwarts had in store for him. He couldn't help but feel that Sirius had been right about everything about Hogwarts.