Author's Note 1: All the cool stuff belongs to J.K.R. I just filled in some of the cracks.
Author's Note 2: Yes, the song is atrocious. I'm really sorry.
Author's Note 3: This story doesn't really have much of a central plot. It's gonna be more of a series of episodic stories about the same characters. Hope you don't mind.
Colin looked up at the huge scarlet train. A cloud of white smoke billowed out of the engine in a lazy sort of way, and miniature geysers of steam occasionally sprayed out of the sides. Colin was pretty sure that a train like that could never run properly, but then again, he wasn't sure what to believe anymore. A low rumbling, coupled with the hiss of steam, drowned out the din of other students boarding the train. Bags were passed around, kids yelled farewells to their parents; owls screeched, cats yowled, and a single frog resolutely croaked.
He looked to his left, then his right, where his parents should have been. Other kids were standing with the parents who loved them, the parents that would, perhaps not always gladly, but certainly willingly, bring them into this strange new world. No one was here alone, except him. He sighed and tried to force it from his mind.
With an amount of force that his frame could barely muster, Colin dragged his trunk up the stairs of the very back car and into the first empty cabin he could find. Just as he had stowed the trunk in the rack above his seat, a short, redheaded girl stumbled in, grasping a basket holding an extremely perturbed cat, disentangling her trunk from the crowd of people in the hall.
"D'you mind if I sit here? I don't want to struggle through that anymore," she asked, pointing her thumb over her shoulder at the door.
"No, go ahead," Colin said, gesturing politely at the opposite row of seats.
The girl shoved her trunk onto the rack with a surprising amount of strength, put her cat on one of the seats, and sat down opposite Colin, looking around with an energy that could only be described as intense.
"I'm Ginny Nicholson," she said without hesitation. "I'm new this year. Are you first year as well?"
"Ginny? Like, Harry Potter's -"
"Wife, yeah," Ginny interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Everyone always asks. She's my great-grandmother."
"Then why isn't your surname Potter?" Colin asked, confused.
"Because my grandmother was Lily, Harry and Ginny's daughter. She married Graham Nicholson, and they're my dad's parents."
"Oh," Colin said, trying to recall the little about Harry Potter he had picked up in Diagon Alley. "What about James and Albus? Do they have any great-grandchildren here at Hogwarts?"
Ginny scowled. "That - that's a long story."
"We do have plenty of time," Colin said, smiling meekly.
She grinned at that. "Alright well, it goes like this. Near the end of his seventh year, James fell in love with this Ravenclaw girl named Necra -"
"That," Colin interrupted, "is a really bad sign."
Ginny grinned again. "Yeah, it's a wonder the rest of the family didn't say anything, innit? Well anyway, they ended up getting married and having only one kid. But it turns out, Necra had been administering huge doses of love potion to James the whole time, and was really only in it for the prestige of the name Potter. She eventually gives him too much of the potion and his body breaks down from overdosing, and he goes straight to St. Mungo's for the rest of his life (which wasn't very long anyway, 'cos of the love potion).
"Albus, well, no one really knows what Albus did. He moved to America right after school and disappeared for a while, but came back to visit James when he was hospitalized. They have a huge fight, and Albus yells all sorts of nasty stuff about James ruining the family and producing a sadistic son (who was Slytherin, by the way, really nasty guy). After that, Albus takes off and no one hears of him again.
"So James' son, who's named Sirius, after Harry's godfather, falls right in with the old ex-Death Eater crowd after school, and gets very dubiously rich, and has a single son - Silas, and he's the same age as us. He's somewhere here too, and if he's not a Slytherin then Erwin here is a toad," she finished, scratching her cat in between his ears.
Colin sat silently, absorbing the information. Of course he'd get caught up in a drama of familial betrayal and intrigue as soon as he boarded the train. It was just his luck.
"What about you?" Ginny asked, interrupting his thoughts. "Are you a pureblood?"
"No, I'm a, ah, half-blood," he replied, having just heard the term in Diagon Alley.
"Ah. Which side had wizarding blood?"
"My father. Apparently, our family is very old wizarding blood." Not that he'd have ever told me, though.
Ginny frowned. "What's your name?"
"Colin Lynx."
"I've never heard the name Lynx before," she said.
"No, you wouldn't have," Colin replied bitterly, earning a surprised look from Ginny. "My father worked for Death Eaters, secretly, for his entire life. He could coax information out of anyone, and the Death Eaters would pay him well for it."
Ginny sat, stunned, for a full beat. Then, "Why wasn't he arrested?"
"Cold feet. He bailed out a month before Voldemort died. He's kept hidden in the Muggle world since. I didn't even know I was a wizard until the letter came. He didn't let any owls near the house, so it gave it to me while I was at school."
"And he just let you go?" Ginny asked incredulously. "After all that?"
"No, of course not. I stole some money and ran off. He still had heaps of Galleons stashed away."
Before Ginny could reply, the compartment door slid open, and the tense moment dissipated totally when Colin saw the snack trolley and the old lady tending it. "Anything to eat for you two?" Colin was out of his seat in an instant.
The first thing that caught Colin's eye was a stack of blue and gold pentagonal boxes, with the words 'Chocolate Frog' printed across the top. He picked one up, saying, "What an odd name for a candy."
"Those are good," Ginny said, "go ahead and get a few."
A bundle of translucent, color-changing wands caught his eye. "What about those?"
"Licorice Wands. They are the best."
The process was lengthy, but the trolley lady waited patiently while Ginny helped Colin pick out a pile of candy.
"Sorry for the holdup," he said as he gave her a handful of Sickles.
"Not to worry, dear," the woman said, "there are only a few compartments left. But it's getting dark now, and we'll be there soon. You two had better change!"
"Okay, thanks," Colin said as he closed the door after her. When he turned around, Ginny was already pulling her jeans off.
Colin yelped and jumped back around to face the door.
"What?" Ginny asked around the Licorice Wand in her mouth.
"You could have warned me you were going to do that!"
"Oh come on, it's not like your eyes will burn out or anything."
"Just hurry up and change, please."
Ginny chuckled. "My brother's in third year, and he'd like nothing more than to watch a girl undress."
"So what, he'd just sit and stare at her while she stripped?"
"Well, probably not," she admitted. "He has slightly more manners than that. Alright, I'm decent, you can turn around now."
Colin gratefully moved from his spot and took some robes out of his trunk. "Your turn," he said, gesturing for her to turn around.
She rolled her eyes, grabbed another Licorice Wand, and spun to face the wall.
Colin stripped out of his Muggle clothes quickly, but had difficult with the wizarding attire. The weight of the robes dragged it down onto him, making it difficult to maneuver his extremities into their proper places. He finally got it on, but accidentally jammed his head into a sleeve, muttering angrily to himself.
"Need help?" Ginny asked.
"No, I'm fine," Colin said hurriedly. "Just stay where you are."
After another minute of struggling, he managed to free his head and successfully put both arms in their sleeves. "Okay, you can turn around now," he said as he sat back down.
"Finally!" she exclaimed, as if she had been waiting for five hours and not five minutes.
Colin ignored her and twisted in his seat to inspect the new candies, most particularly the Chocolate Frog. He picked up a box and opened the top face, which folded back to reveal a frog made of chocolate, standing on a card that was the same shape as the box. As soon as he opened it, the frog animated, looking expectantly up and him and croaking.
"I'm supposed to eat it?" Colin asked, horrified.
"Don't worry, it stops being a frog when you're about to eat it."
Colin carefully gripped it by the torso and picked it up. Just as Ginny had said, it froze solid, now only a frog-shaped piece of chocolate. It stayed completely lifeless while he ate it, but Colin still couldn't shake the feeling that he was devouring it alive. He decided to leave the rest of them until later.
Then his attention turned to the card in the bottom of the box. He turned the box over and shook it until the card came free and fell into his hand. Looking up at him was a man with bright blue eyes and shaggy red hair. The legend read "Ronald B. Weasley." He flipped it over and read to himself, 'Ronald Weasley is most known as a close friend of Harry Potter, and for assisting him in the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He later became an Auror and married Hermione Granger, another known friend of Harry Potter.'
"Does he have any great-grand kids in our year?" Colin asked, holding the card so Ginny could see.
"Probably," she said. "Ron and Hermione only had a couple kids, but after that their family exploded. I know two that'll be here, but there's probably several more. I dunno how many will be called Weasley, though. And I don't know of any that are first years."
Coin nodded and continued his inspection of the candy, but he had only just eaten a Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Bean when Hogwarts appeared in the distance. All he could see were the tiny lighted windows, but they stretched into the sky, higher than Colin could imagine was structurally sound. Then the foul taste of petrol pervaded his mouth, and he gagged, spitting the bean silently into his hand and throwing it under the seat while Ginny was retrieving her trunk. He shoved the remainder of the candy into his trunk while the train was slowing down, and followed Ginny into the packed hallway once they had stopped.
Standing on the platform, they heard a loud bellow of "First years, over here!" in a thick Scottish accent coming from the left, towards the front of the train. He and Ginny joined the crowd of equally bewildered first years making their way through the crowd, towards the voice. Suddenly, he found himself face-to-waist with an incredibly tall and lanky man, who was shouting over the din. When he felt Colin bump into him, he looked down and assumed an impressively contemptuous expression.
"What are you lookin' at?" he growled.
"I was just... I didn't... It was..." Colin stuttered, slowly rambling away into silence.
The man glared at him for a moment, then smiled in a strangely morose way. "Just messin' with yeh. First years, are yeh?" he said, addressing the group. Without waiting for an answer, he said, "I'm Durn, the Keeper of the Keys 'ere at 'oggarts. Follow me."
It took a few seconds for the first years to follow, and Colin could understand perfectly why. Durn's voice was unspeakably sad; it made Colin feel very cold and lonely, even though he was surrounded by all of his fellow first years. From the faces of everyone around him, he knew he wasn't the only one.
They walked a short distance down a trail through the thick trees. When they emerged, they were on the bank of a broad lake, and Hogwarts' lights glinted on the other side. "Four to each boat," Durn called as he walked down to the water, where a veritable fleet of small boats was shored. Colin and Ginny climbed into a boat that already had two people in it - a tall girl with short brown hair, and a girl with inky black hair that fell in curtains to her waist.
"Hullo, Ginny," the brunette said in a sing-songy voice.
Ginny looked up. "Oh, hey Bri." As she and Colin awkwardly seated themselves, she said, "Colin this is Brianna Weasley. Bri, Colin Lynx."
Bri smiled brightly at Colin. "Hiya, Colin."
"I thought you didn't know about any first year Weasleys," Colin said.
"Well there's so many of them, I lose track of how old they all are," Ginny said, without a trace of apology. "I thought you were thirteen, actually."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Is everyone seated?" Durn called. When he got no answer, he sighed and said, "I s'pose that's a yes. Away we go." He pulled out an exceptionally long wand, and tapped his boat. It glided silently through the water, followed by the rest of the boats.
Ginny poked Bri in the knee and pointed at the black-haired girl, who was sullenly looking out across the water, hiding her eyes with her hair. In a series of mostly incomprehensible sign language, Ginny asked silently, Who is she, and why's she in our boat? Bri only shrugged.
Colin kept his eyes on the cluster of lights across the lake. As it got closer, the lights began to take on definite window shapes, and he could pick out someone pacing in front of one of them. He still couldn't see Hogwarts, however. A cloud was drifting over the moon, preventing light from reaching the castle.
Then the cloud passed, throwing the entire scene into sharp relief. Colin, despite himself, gasped quietly to himself, and Bri and Ginny both turned to stare. The black-haired girl didn't move.
The castle was built straight upwards, without any regard for structural integrity of any kind. The tip of the highest tower brushed the clouds, but, somehow, it failed to impose or loom over the surrounding wilderness. In fact, it looked almost delicate, with each piece very tentatively attached to the next, in a random, haphazard way. The more Colin looked at it, the more it resembled a living thing, like a tree made of stone. Colin could easily imagine that some wizard had simply grown the building out of the ground, and made it a school. He kept his eyes on it, enthralled, as long as possible.
He tore his gaze away and looked down, because his neck was beginning to ache. In front of them was solid rock, a jagged section of the peninsula on which Hogwarts rested, coated twice-over with dangling and creeping plant life. They seemed to be headed straight for it. Colin looked nervously at Ginny and Bri, who were also looking a bit unsure. The black-haired girl, predictably, did not react at all. Colin turned his eyes to Durn, who looked sullen and bored at the front of the group. Without even flinching, he guided his boat slowly toward the wall, closer and closer, until he finally hit it.
But instead of bouncing off, or splintering, the boat passed through without resistance. The formerly-still vines swung freely in his wake, revealing the wide cavern that they hid.
In the tunnel, it was pitch black. Only the weak lanterns in each boat provided any light, and that only stretched to cover each boat itself. They couldn't even see the water beneath them. But as they went on, Durn lit his wand with a mumbled incantation, casting a brilliant light around the tunnel. They were slowly approaching a gravel bank at the end as the tunnel itself tapered.
They slid into the stones smoothly, coming to a slow halt in a neat line. The first years got out slowly, stretching their stiff legs, then followed Durn out of the tunnel and onto the grounds. He led them through the main door and into an antechamber, where he took leave of them, humming tunelessly to himself.
Colin, Ginny, and Bri stood in a huddle by the wall. Bri was gazing up at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts, but Ginny was looking over Colin's shoulder, frowning. Colin looked back to see what she was scowling at.
A lone boy with long black hair was leaning on the opposite wall, far from the group. His arms were folded on his chest, and his left hand was tapping silent staccatos on his right arm. His very pale face, with thin lips and a long nose, wore an irritable scowl, which seemed to be directed at the room in general. His eyes were brilliant blue, with very small pupils. Despite the bright color, they were cold and calculating, the kind that could belong to an evil genius or a delinquent.
Colin shivered involuntarily. "Who is that?"
"That's Silas," she said, still glaring in his direction.
"James' grandson? Him?"
"Told you he was a Slytherin, didn't I?"
"Who're you talking about?" Bri asked, looking down from the ceiling.
"Him," Ginny said, nodding in Silas' direction.
Bri looked, but only for a moment. "He looks unpleasant. Who is he?"
"Silas Potter. Distant cousin."
Before Bri could respond, a teacher entered the room and shot a few sparks out of his wand to get their attention. He had brown hair that was long, lanky, and a little unclean. His bright green eyes were wide and he had the ghost of a smile on his lips, even while he talked.
"Hello there, first-years!" he called cheerfully with an American accent. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor Birenn, your Transfiguration teacher. But we'll get to that later.
"In a moment, you will be sorted into your houses. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house is great in its own way, but you'll find me a bit biased for Hufflepuff," he said, winking. "At Hogwarts, your house is your family, your team, you all work together and (hopefully) don't fight.
"Rewards here are based on a points system. Do something noteworthy and you get points for your house. Break the rules - lose points. The house with the most points at the end of the year gets the House Cup, which is pretty cool.
"Now, if you'll follow me, let's get you guys Sorted." Then he turned and left.
The group moved as one, filing silently after him. They walked across the Entry Hall and to a gigantic pair of double doors, easily ten feet tall and triply reinforced with impressive iron bands. Professor Birenn tapped one with his wand, and they swung open. A wave of sound blasted through the gap, the collective din of over two hundred students talking at once. As Professor Birenn led the first years into the Hall, the noise tapered down to the buzz of a hundred whispered conversations.
They had come in at the end of a magnificent hall. There were four long tables spanning its length, each full of students except for a handful of spots at the very front. At the other end of the hall was a raised dais with another table full of teachers, and behind that was a wall draped with five different banners - one, Colin assumed, for each house, and the center one was obviously representing Hogwarts as a whole. In the center of the Head Table was a tall, golf-leafed chair in which a wizened old man sat. Above the tables were thousands of floating candles, illuminating the hall. Above those was the ceiling.
Or what should have been the ceiling. What it really was was sky. The night sky, strewn with stars, was clearly visible above them. A cloud drifted lazily over the far left table.
"It's magic," Ginny whispered. "There's a ceiling, but we can't see it."
Colin nodded, awed. The line of first years was advancing between the two middle tables, towards the teacher's table. Then Colin noticed what was in front of the teacher's table - a three-legged old stool, and an ancient wizard's hat sitting upon it. Everyone was looking at it, and the hall was silent.
It did nothing for a moment. Then it shook itself like a wet dog, throwing dust in a cloud around it. Then a large rip in the side opened like a mouth, and it began to sing.
Welcome, children, to Hogwarts, First there were these two great wizards They built a school, the likes of which Gryffindor, noble Gryffindor, Fair Ravenclaw, she only had And now to Sort the students
The greatest school of magic.
I'll share with you our history,
Although it's rather tragic.
Who then met two great witches.
"Let's make a school!" they decided,
And pooled all of their riches.
Had ne'er been seen before.
And then they made the houses,
So the students be cleft in four.
Accepted true of heart.
Slytherin took only those
Of sinister, ambitious arts.
The quick of wit and mind.
Hufflepuff took for her own
Those generous and kind.
While the Founders are all dead
Is me! So try me on,
I'll peer inside your head!
Colin clapped along with the other students, but he was feeling more nervous than ever. He had to try it on in front of the whole school? With everyone watching? What if it couldn't decide, or something? He was starting to feel a little sick now.
Professor Birenn walked over to stand beside the hat. "I'll call your names in alphabetical order, by last name. Just put the hat on and sit on the stool. It'll sort you into either Slytherin," he pointed at the table to the first years' far left, "Ravenclaw," the table to their immediate left, "Hufflepuff," the table to their immediate right, "or Gryffindor," the table farthest to the right.
Then he held up a piece of parchment in front of himself and called, "Arricson, Aric!"
Ginny giggled quietly as Aric walked up to the hat. "Bit of a cruel joke by his parents, innit?" she whispered in Colin's ear. Colin just nodded, watching Aric intently.
He walked briskly, not appearing nervous, but his movements were slightly too jerky for a normal gait. He picked the Hat up, sat on the stool, and put it on.
Almost instantly it yelled, "SLYTHERIN!"
He jumped up, put the Hat back, and strode to the Slytherin table, which was heartily applauding him.
"Arricson, Helga!"
The girl in line behind Aric made her way up to the stool. She, too, was declared a Slytherin.
"Amherst, Alexander!" was announced. A short boy with dark hair came up from the back of the line, positively brimming with energy. When he put the Hat on, it slipped down and covered his face. The Hat considered for a moment while he quivered in place, then yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table exploded into cheers. Alexander walked very fast over to the table, obviously reining himself in.
Colin's attention wavered as the next several first years were sorted, starting to wonder fearfully what house he would be Sorted into. He didn't care very particularly, except he was certain that he didn't want to be a Slytherin. Looking over at their table, he could tell. Dad would fit right in with them.
Then "Luther, Isabel" was called, and Ginny poked him in the back, whispering, "Get ready." His heart beat into a crescendo as she was declared Slytherin.
"Lynx, Colin!"
He forced himself forward, trying not to betray what he felt like - running away.
The walk seemed to take forever, but he couldn't help feeling that it wasn't long enough. Soon he was looking down on the Hat, perched patiently on its stool. He lifted it gingerly, as if it would dissolve. Turning around and sitting down, he realized just how many people were there, all of them watching him.
Slowly, he put the hat on his head. It fell down to his nose.
Ooh, a challenge, a voice in his head echoed. So much Slytherin blood in you. It's so obvious...
How can you tell?
A sort of weird chuckle echoed in his skull. It's so easy to see the signs, when you're a magic hat. Not to mention, I believe I Sorted your father, and he was as Slytherin as they come.
But I'm not my father, a tiny voice in Colin's head said defiantly.
True enough. But there is so much desire in you, so much ability...
That's not me! I'm not Slytherin, I'm not evil!
Evil? Slytherin isn't evil, boy. Just... misunderstood, as they say.
I don't care. Put me somewhere else.
Don't order me around, boy. I have the power to do exactly what you don't want, I have the power to do this...
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Colin pulled the hat off and set it back down, relief washing over him, and gratefully stepped off the platform and rushed to the Gryffindor table. A red-headed boy halfway down the table was waving at him and pointing to an empty seat beside him. Colin rushed over to sit with him.
"Ignotus Nicholson, how d'you do. I'm Ginny's brother," he explained, shaking Colin's hand in a very buoyant (and probably mocking) way. Colin felt he would have said a lot more, but Professor Birenn called "Mackenzie, Sean," who was sorted into Hufflepuff, and they both turned to watch. Then, "Nicholson, Ginevra."
An added hush fell on the hall. All but some of the first year Muggleborns had heard of Ginny Potter, and those who knew Ignotus were well aware of who it was approaching the Sorting Hat.
Unsurprisingly, she failed to appear nervous at all. She strode confidently up to the stool, grabbed the Hat, sat down, and pulled it onto her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted instantly.
The students around Colin erupted into cheers, Ignotus the most raucous of all of them. Ginny, outwardly pleased, made her way over. Instantly spotting Ignotus' tall figure and Colin sitting next to him, she went around to the far side of the table and sat across from them. She opened her mouth to say something, but "Pellegrino, Maria" was sorted into Gryffindor, and she was quiet as they all watched the rest of the Sorting.
Colin, tired as he was, didn't listen much and tuned out altogether when "Sloan, Elizabeth" became a Ravenclaw. He was even too distracted to notice the horribly tense silence that accompanied Silas Potter's walk to the Slytherin table. What had the Hat meant, that he was really a Slytherin? He never wanted to be like his father, and if his father had been 'as Slytherin as they come'...
Then, suddenly, there was food in front of him, and noise all around him. He helped himself while listening to Ginny and Ignotus argue. After a couple of minutes he decided that Ginny was probably exaggerating about Ignotus' lustiness. He seemed quite friendly and almost formal when talking, even to his sister (although, again, Colin had a sneaking suspicion he was really playing a sort of joke on everyone around).
Then Ignotus mentioned their parents, and Colin's stomach dropped. He would have nowhere to return to, when the year was over. He sullenly contemplated the grain of the table, no longer hungry, wondering what he was going to do.
"Hey, Earth to Colin! What's up with you?" Ginny asked, kicking him in the shin.
Despite himself, a small smile tilted the corner of Colin's lips. "I don't have anywhere to go when the year is over."
To Colin's surprise, Ginny's face lit up. "You could stay with us! I'll send an owl to Mum in the morning, I bet you she'll agree!" At that, Colin's morose thoughts ended, and he continued eating, much more cheerfully.
"Woah, wait, why hasn't he - ow!"
"Shut up. I'll explain later."
"There was no need to kick!"
But Colin couldn't help it, a smile stretched across his face as he watched Ginny and Ignotus kick each other under the table.
A hush suddenly spread through the Hall, and even Ginny and Ignotus looked around at the teacher's table. The old man in the golden chair had stood, and was looking around at the students with a weird, unpleasant expression.
"Well, now that we've all gorged ourselves," he said, in a voice that was remarkably strong, "I'd better say a few things before you all fall comatose in front of me. Firstly, I'm Headmaster Bebbith, and I am responsible for your safety and well-being. Reassuring, eh? To first years and returning students alike, please remember that the Forbidden Forest is called that for a reason. Don't go in there, or you will probably die."
Colin glanced to his right and saw that Ginny was wearing a perfect expression of absolute shock. Ignotus was giggling in a mad sort of way.
"Next, don't use magic in the corridors. Magic does weird stuff, and we like Hogwarts and its students how they are. Smoking craters are not acceptable as replacements for hallways, nor black smudges on the wall for students."
"Honestly, he makes it more than worth it to come back every year," Ignotus whispered, still giggling. Colin could only wonder how this strange man was allowed to take charge of Britain's magical education.
"Lastly, there are a few new items added to the 'Prohibited Item List.' This brings the total length of the list to four-hundred twenty and five sixths."
"Eh, sir, shouldn't you mention what the new items are?" Professor Birenn spoke up.
Bebbith glared at him. "Probably, but I don't know what they are.
"Anyway, that's it. Prefects, please help the first years find their dormitories." Then Bebbith sat down in his chair. The students and teachers alike began applauding at once, which solicited only a grimace from the Headmaster.
"Come now, you two," Ignotus said solemnly, already standing. "I fear it is my duty to escort you to your royal chambers."
Ginny stood up and followed the boys down the other side of the table. "You sound like an idiot," she said cheerfully.
"As you say, my lady."
"Although I could definitely get used to having my older brother as a royal slave."
"Of course, my lady." Ginny pushed him into the wall while she and Colin followed the other first years out of the Great Hall.