Chapter 1

Alice Lyme had been up since dawn.

She normally slept in, but today was not a normal day, Alice reminded herself. It was almost exactly one month before she'd be off to Hogwarts, soon to be her boarding school for the next seven years. But Hogwarts wasn't a normal school- it was a school of magic. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school's proper name, suggested that all sorts of wonderful things happened there- as well as all of the…interesting things that come with having hundreds of pre-teens and teenagers in one place.

Alice was studying books- but again, these were not normal. These books were spell-books, full of moving pictures and instructions and information on spells. Alice had been reading since she had got up, unable to sleep from excitement. She had been itching to go to Hogwarts, to step into a school for the first time in her life. Her mother had homeschooled her in basic Muggle (non-magic people) standards, namely, math, writing, reading, science, etc., as well as a small bit of magical history that Alice begged her mum to say. Alyse, fearing any breach of the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy, had decided against sending either of her daughters to a Muggle school, for while they were untrained they would not be able to control their magic.

Suddenly, Alice stood up and rushed to the window. An owl swooped in front of her home. It may sound strange, but owl post was how wizards communicated. She slumped down back in her seat, uninterested.

In the next room over, Alice's mother, Alyse, saw it tapping at the window. She yawned, pushed a few of her curls behind her ear, and then beckoned the owl in.

"Honey, it's another owl!" She called.

Alice's father, Chris, yelled back, "It's probably for you, Alyse, unless it's one of Chrissie's friends again. I've already had several today, not expecting another."

"Alright, I'll get it." She took the scroll of parchment from the tube on the owl's leg, and carelessly tossed a few Knuts (bronze wizard money) in. She read the message, her eyes widening. "Chris, come here!" She shouted suddenly.

"Really, sweetheart, I'm very busy, and…" He trailed off and sighed. He got up from his desk and walked over to his wife.

"Look at this!" She thrust the letter into his hands.

Dear Mrs. Alyse B. Lyme,

Hogwarts' previous Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Wimble, has retired after many long years of service. A new teacher is necessary. You have been selected as the preferred replacement. Please send your owl to Hogwarts with your answer as soon as time allows. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Flora Zeller, Hogwarts Headmistress

Chris looked at his wife, bemused. "Wow….wait….Alyse…are you going to accept?"

"Yes, of course." Alyse replied, as a look of disbelief came across his face. She hurriedly continued, "But now we're all going to be at Hogwarts, the whole family, with Alice coming this year! You know, I didn't fancy being all alone at home." She kissed him on the cheek. "I would have missed you too much, darling."

Alyse began busily writing her reply. The owl stuck its leg out in anticipation.

"I get to see you every day, and the girls?" Chris said, still in shock.

Alyse laughed. "We can live together, the first time since you got your job!" She fastened the finished letter to the owl and watched it soar away.

"Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts…we do make a good pair." He grinned, and kissed her again.

Just then, Alice's sister, Chrissie, appeared in the doorway. "Stop it, Mum, Dad," she groaned. "It's nasty. Stop snogging."

"We have good news, honey!" Alyse said, smoothing Chrissie's straight hair, the absolute opposite from her own. "Go fetch Alice, please, dear."

"But, Mum, I…"

"You listen to your mother, Christina." Chris said firmly. "You'll like the news, now go on."

She stomped away grudgingly. "Parents…" she muttered.

Her parents turned to each other and said simultaneously, "She's your daughter." They burst into laughter.

A few minutes later, Chrissie reappeared with Alice beside her. "What is it, Mum?" Alice asked curiously. "Sorry I wasn't here…just studying Chrissie's old spell books, you know…Don't want to be awful when I go to school…Chrissie says it's really difficult, and Daddy expects a lot of us in Charms, so I was studying..."

Alyse turned to Chrissie and gave her a Look. "Don't scare your sister," She scolded.

"No, Mum, I wasn't scared…" Alice protested.

Chrissie rolled her eyes.

"Let's go to in the other room." Chris interjected. "After you, ladies."

"Such a gentleman!" remarked Alyse with a hint of sarcasm. Alice giggled.

Chrissie sighed and reluctantly followed the rest of her family. "This better be quick," she said. "I've got to meet Lydia at Diagon Alley in half an hour."

"Are you buying your new spell-books?" Alice piped up. "I want to come too! I want to get my wand so I can start practicing for real." Alice paused and put on her most puppy-dog-ish eyes. "Can I go, Mum? Please?"

"No!" Chrissie cried.

"Chrissie, Alice, hush up and listen to your mother." Chris said, somehow resisting the power of Alice's eyes.

Alyse smiled at him while Alice scowled. "Well, girls, I got an owl today and..."

The girls looked at her, unsurprised. "And what?" Alice prodded.

"There was a letter with it."

"Oh my goodness!" "I simply cannot believe it!"

"Stop it, you two." Chris said, though he looked amused. "Go on, Alyse."

Alyse continued, "It was from Professor Zeller."

"What did it say, Mum?" Alice asked eagerly.

Chrissie sighed and looked at her watch. "I've got 20 minutes," She said pointedly.

Everyone ignored her.

"Girls, I've been asked to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts this year. And I accepted."

The reactions were immediate and deafening.

Chrissie wailed, "BOTH of my parents are teachers? What my friends will say…oh, this is horrible..."

Alice shrieked with joy, and squealed, "Oh, Mum, you're coming to Hogwarts! Oh, Mum, I'll get to see you every day. Oh, Mum!" She threw herself at her mother.

"Well, I'm glad one of my daughters is taking it well." Alyse turned and sat next to Chrissie. "Are you really upset, dear?"

"Not really, Mum." She sighed. "Just… it's hard enough with Dad there. Everyone else can do what they want to, their parents don't know every time they get a detention."

Chris looked stern. "Since when does my daughter get detention?" They all ignored him.

"I know it's hard, sweetie," Alyse said gently. "But we love you, and now the family will be able to live together."

"Oh, I suppose, Mum. But it is hard having Dad there. Everyone teases me, or complains when he gives us homework, and I have to uphold your reputation…"

Chris came and sat next to her as well. "It'll be alright, honey," Alyse comforted.

Alice took hold of the family togetherness and ventured, "Er…Mum? I thought you said we could go get my wand this week? Could we go today, maybe with Chrissie?" She asked hopefully, flashing her puppy dog eyes again.

Alyse opened her mouth with a skeptical look, but Alice barreled on.

"Even Daddy could come, he can finish preparing his lessons later…couldn't he?" Alice looked at her father pleadingly, full of longing. "He can't miss it, besides, we've only got a month, and I want to be ready…"

"You know what today is?" Alyse said suddenly. "You reminded me, Alice. A month from the train's departure, almost…It's Harry Potter's birthday. I need to send a card! He's what, 40 now? No, 39, a year older than me…yes, that's right..."

Her daughters' mouths dropped open. "You know Harry Potter?" they shrieked.

"Yes, I was an old friend of Ginny's at school long ago. Ginny Potter, Harry's wife. Ginny and I were fellow Gryffindors, same year, same classes, good friends…"

Chris turned to his reminiscing wife. "Isn't their daughter about Alice's age?"

"Yes, I believe she is. Actually…" she paused, thinking. "Oh, that's right, their daughter, Lily, is the one who was born two days before you, Alice." Alyse laughed at the awed look on Alice's face. "Maybe you two will be friends at Hogwarts."

"Let's see, don't the Potters have a son your age, Chrissie?" Chris asked thoughtfully.

"James," Chrissie said instantly, in a squeaky sort of voice. "He's in my year, yes…but he's in Gryffindor, of course…on the Quidditch team and everything…" Then she muttered so quietly that nobody but Alice could hear, "Hottest boy in the year…"

Their parents gave each other knowing looks over their daughters' heads. They knew what that squeaky voice meant. It's a good thing they didn't hear Chrissie's muttering, or things might have turned out seriously differently. Alice shot a swift but smirky glance at Chrissie and she narrowed her eyes into her dreaded, "Don't you dare" face.

Alice hastily changed the subject. "Mum, I knew you were in Gryffindor, but I never really thought about it. Do you think I'll be in Gryffindor too? Then I'll be with Lily, wonder if she'll like me!" She exclaimed.

"You don't know that Lily will be in Gryffindor."

"Yes, I do, Mum. Her dad's Harry Potter."

"I know that, thanks."

"Mum!" Alice said, exasperated. "But I can't be in Gryffindor, Dad's head of Ravenclaw; I've got to be in there…"

"And what does that have to do with anything? In case you've noticed, you take after me much more than your father; you could very well be in Gryffindor!" Alyse remarked.

"Mum…you're being impossible…"

Alyse turned back to Chrissie. "They have another son, right?"

"Yeah…something with an A…he's a little third year though, I don't know much about him…he's in Gryffindor too."

"Not little," Alice huffed. "Only two years younger than you. When you were a third year, you thought you were so big. Don't call him little." Everyone ignored her.

"Albus, that's his name." Chris said suddenly.

"Yes, Albus, that's it." Alyse looked at him. "How'd you remember that?"

He shrugged. "I remember all sorts of random tidbits; you know I'm strange like that, dear."
Alyse left, smiling at us, and sent an owl to the Potter's. When she came back, everyone were all was still sitting in the same places they'd been when she left. She said impatiently, "Are we going to London or not? C'mon, let's go, you lot."

Half an hour later, the family was standing at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. The Leaky Caldron, a grubby little pub, served as the entrance to Diagon Alley, the wizarding row of shops and stores where most new Hogwarts students bought their supplies for the oncoming year. Outside Ollivander's Wand Shop, Alice gulped, took her mother's hand, and entered the building.

"Ah, you're here for your first wand?" Ollivander said brightly. He was extremely old, eccentric wizard. Alice instinctively shrunk back at the sight of him. A magic measuring tape began measuring her. "That's always an exciting event. Here, try this one. It's elm, 9 4/5 in., unicorn hair, springy, good for Transfiguration."

The magic measuring tape stopped at once. Trembling, Alice took the wand and gave it a feeble sort of flick.

"No, no…let's see…how about this one, black-horn, dragon heartstring, 7 ½ in., particularly good for jinxes?"

Alice again waved it, feeling foolish.

"No, no…here," he said, handing her another. It also received a 'No, no' from Mr. Ollivander. After several tries, all apparently wrong, Mr. Ollivander grinning more with each of her failures, he handed me another box. "This one looks promising…birch, nice spring to it, 8 2/3 in, unicorn hair?" He handed it to her, muttering, "Very like your mum's. Hers was birch too…dragon heartstring though…"

When Alice took this wand and flicked it, it felt different- it tingled down to her toes. It was smooth, and fit perfectly in her hand. Ollivander examined her. "That's your wand, that is," he said simply. Alice took it, grinning. Chris handed Mr. Ollivander some Galleons and the family left the shop.

They bought robes, a pointed hat, spell-books, dragon-hide gloves, a telescope, a cauldron, potions ingredients, a set of scales, and even a tawny owl that Alice immediately named Athena, after the Greek goddess of wisdom whose symbol was an owl. Athena ruffled her feathers importantly and approvingly of her name. Alice was beaming. "Thanks for getting me all of this!" She gushed. "Do I have everything now, Mum? Do I, Dad?"

Chrissie said, "She has everything I had when I started." She ruffled her sister's hair, to the astonishment of all of them. She was not acting like the 15-year-old they knew.

Alice looked at her sister and grinned. Then she turned to her mum and said, "Mum, do you think I'll be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw? I want to be in both, I honestly don't know!"

"It's all right, sweetie, we'll love you no matter what House you're in," Alyse replied.

Chrissie started, "As long as you're not in Sly…"

Alyse said firmly, with a piercing look at her elder daughter, "No matter what."

"I've got to go, Mum," Chrissie said in a slightly annoyed tone, giving her mother a dark look, back to her regular self. "I'd told Lydia I'd be late- but it's already been an hour- please?"

"Oh, alright," Alyse sighed. "Will you be back for dinner?"

"I suppose I'll try to be." She said, as if it would be an enormous effort on her part.

"Well, come on, let's go back now." Chris said. "Chrissie, you get home somehow. We're not picking you up."

Irritated, Chrissie said, "Whatever, Dad. Goodbye!"

On the morning of September 1, nearly a month after their Diagon Alley trip, everyone dashed frantically around the house, trying to get ready in time. Alyse had made chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast, and although they were delicious, nobody but Chris ate more than a few bites. He had plateful after plateful.

"You should cook like this more often, Alyse!" he said between mouthfuls. "This is the best thing I've eaten since my birthday dinner!"

Alyse laughed. "Christopher Robert Lyme!" she said sternly. "Are you suggesting that I haven't made any thing worth eating since June?"

He said nothing, but leaned over and kissed her.

"Stop that!" Chrissie interjected, annoyed.

Alice came into the room, protesting, "C'mon, we can't miss the train, we…"

Chrissie interrupted, "You two are so disgusting! Besides, we don't have time, we're going to miss the train, and Alice won't be Sorted with the others, and…"

Their parents reluctantly broke apart. "So there's time for you to write letters to all your friends, even though you're going to see them in a few hours, but we don't have time for a quick kiss?" Chris asked innocently.

"Honestly…you two…parents," Chrissie muttered. "Lydia's parents don't snog in the middle of the living room; they at least have to courtesy to do it in private…" She stalked away.

Alice piped up, "I don't care if you snog, but we need to get going, Chrissie's right, I can't miss the Sorting!" She looked anxiously at her parents.

"You two are so funny!" Alyse laughed, while Chris chuckled.

Alice looked hurt. "I wasn't trying to be funny, really, you don't understand." She stomped off as well.

"What did we do to them?" Alyse said indignantly. "Honestly…children…"

A shout of, "We are NOT children!" came from the girls in unison (a rare occurrence that they agreed on anything).

"I am a teenager…" yelled Chrissie.

"And I am a pre-teen!" Alice announced.

"And besides, Mum, you're acting just like us," they said reproachfully.

Chris chuckled again. "How many times have you three had this fight this summer? Honestly…women…"

"Don't you start, Dad!" was mixed with, "Now, now, Chris, dear," exactly the same as all the other times.

As everyone gathered up their luggage, laughing, Alice sat down on her bed for the last time as an uneducated witch. Alice was very excited to go to Hogwarts and learn magic, but she was also very nervous. She was having an internal argument over how she felt.

Best school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world!

Everyone's going to except me to be as good as Mum and Dad.

I get to learn real magic!

All the teachers will compare me to Chrissie, even Mum and Dad.

I'll get to meet the Potters!

I'll always be singled out.

I'll make tons of new friends!

If nobody likes me, then I'll have no place to go. I'm stuck there for seven years.

I get to see Mum and Dad every day!

Mum and Dad will always know exactly what I'm doing, and when-er, if-I get detentions or in trouble or in a fight.

No matter what House I'm in, they'll be like my family. Plus I'll always have my real family!

If I'm in Hufflepuff nobody will know what to do with me. If I'm in Gryffindor, Dad will be disappointed. If I'm in Ravenclaw, Mum will be disappointed. If I'm in Slytherin, everyone will be disappointed and will probably hate me.

This is it, Alice thought. Today is your chance to prove yourself. It's your chance to live up to everyone's expectations….or to not to. You can never have a second first impression.

Alice took a deep breath, grabbed her trunk, and followed her family out the door.