Author's Note: I OWN NOTHING! ALL RIGHTS GO TO J.K. ROWLING!

Chapter One

Albus Severus Potter peered at his alarm clock. It was two in the morning, and he still hadn't gotten any sleep. He hadn't really expected to, yet he had vainly hoped he would. He knew the train ride would be long, and he knew he wouldn't want to sleep then either.

Oh, well.

Many hours later, his mum came in. "Albus," she called, throwing the curtains open and shedding light on his unusually clean room. He'd cleaned it only yesterday when he'd been packing for Hogwarts. It felt bare and lonely to him now. "We're going to be late for the train! The Hogwarts express doesn't wait for anyone." Her eyes glazed over, as though remembering something. "You're father and your uncle Ron missed the train once, because of a house elf. They had to fly Grandpa Weasly's old Ford Anglia. They were in so much trouble with the Potions master…they were almost expelled."

"Dad and Uncle Ron went to Hogwarts in a flying car?" He smiled. "Can I?"

"Absolutely not!" Ginny smiled wearily. "Get dressed. I have to go wake up James and Lily."

He sprang from his bed, dressing quickly into his new Hogwarts robes. They felt soft and strangely open. He was used to dressing in Muggle clothes, so the absence of pants encasing his legs was peculiar. He seized his trunk and his owl's cage and bounded down the stairs.

Harry was already in the kitchen. "Morning, Albus," he greeted him.

"Good morning, Dad." Albus sat down and poured himself a bowl of cereal. It was gone in minutes. He was too agitated to sit still, so he bounced in his chair instead.

Harry eyed him over his edition of the Daily Prophet. "Calm down, Albus. It'll be fine. I remember my first train ride to Hogwarts. I'd just met your Uncle Ron. We sat together. Neville Longbottom kept losing his toad, and Hermione was trying to help him find it. I remember thinking she was an annoying little know-it-all back then." He smiled, lost in the memory. Both my parents seemed very lost in memory today. "You'll do fine. At least you'll be able to sit with Rose. I knew no one. I didn't even know about wizards until my eleventh birthday!"

"Really?" Albus said, surprised. His dad never really revealed much about his past. He always told his children he would someday, when they were older. He also said that he was sorry to have to say this, and that and that the old headmaster had done that to him many, many times in his own years at Hogwarts.

Ginny rushed down the stairs, a grumpy Lily trailing behind her. Lily's arms were crossed over her chest in an angry gesture. She was still sulking about how she wanted to go to Hogwarts and how it wasn't fair that both of her older brothers got to go but she couldn't…

James followed after Lily. He too was dressed. He walked down the stairs with his usual swagger. Harry often said that James acted exactly like the first James Potter had at that age. James was dragging his trunk behind him, stuffed to bursting. He held his wand in his hand. His expression was somewhat dismal.

"What's wrong, James?" Harry asked, concerned.

"I'm just sad summer is over, that's all," he said gloomily.

Harry actually laughed out loud. "Really? I don't think I was ever sad summer was over. My aunt and uncle and cousin, the Dursleys, were truly horrible. I was always ready to leave for school."

They never talk about their school days, Albus thought. They must really be upset.

Lily ate slowly, deliberately, just pushing the soggy flakes around in the milk. She did this every year, and this year she seemed particularly melancholy. She was sad that yet another one of her brothers was going off to Hogwarts, and that she'd be all alone in the house with Harry and Ginny.

"Is everyone ready?" Ginny asked anxiously.

"Yes, Mum," James said.

"Let's get going, then," Harry agreed. "I'll load the bags."