Lily Potter, age 12, sat on her trunk at King's Cross Station. Platform 9 3/4 was packed with adult witches and wizards hugging and kissing their children goodbye, while children were blushing and moving away from their parents in embarrassment. Owls screeched, toads croaked, and parents sobbed.

Lily kicked her foot against the stone platform and sighed. She looked up at her parents: they were chatting with her Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. Her aunt and uncle's three children, Harriet (age 11), and the twins, Robby and Paul (ages 15), were nowhere to be seen.

Lily's brother, Sirius, was nowhere in sight either. Figured. Why would a 5th year want to hang around his 13-year-old sister? "I'm almost 14!" Lily thought and held up her head proudly. Well, nearly 14. She would be turning 14 next April.

Not that it mattered. Her brother Sirius had lived up to the reputation that his name carried, in a good way. He was popular, the Seeker on the Qudditch team, and even achieved good grades in every class but Herbology and Potions, where he did not outshine everyone.

"Oy, Lily!" called a voice behind her. Lily whipped around to look behind her, causing her long reddish-brown hair, to fly out behind her in a big whoosh.

"Arisilla!" Lily cried to her best friend. Arisilla was coming towards Lily, pulling her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin, behind her.

Arisilla was the daughter of Remus and Tonks Lupin, and just like her mother, she was a Metamorphous. Unlike the long, honey-colored tresses, the pointed and sloped nose, and the almond-shaped gray eyes she had had when they parted after last year, she now had short, choppy dark brown hair in a rock-star feathery style, big brown eyes, and a cute, upturned nose.

"Ari, I am sooo glad that you are finally here!" Lily hugged her best friend. Ari could have traveled with the really popular kids at Hogwarts because of her ever-changing looks, cheerfulness, and perfect grades, but she chose to hang back with Lily.

"Me too. Hey, where is Sirius?" Ari glanced around, searching.

"Oh come on, Ari. Get over your crush, Sirius wouldn't date a third year. Anyway, as of a week ago in Diagon Alley, he is currently going out with Lin Chang." Lin was the daughter of Cho Chang, who had divorced her husband, Michael Corner, about two years ago.

"Oh…Lin is really pretty…"Ari trailed off. She shrugged, "Oh well, they'll break up soon enough. Lin is as fickle as she is pretty."

"Arisilla! Lily!" A male voice was coming from their right. Lily and Ari's other best friend, Thomas Longbottom, was running towards them, his light brown hair flopping into his eyes. Though his parents were not remarkable in the looks department, Thomas had come out as a true winner with his trademark crooked grin, handsome features, and tall height. He was not as brilliant in school as Ari was, nor as naturally clever as Lily, but he had a knack for remembering seemingly useless bits of information that came in handy later on, a great understanding of plants and their properties, and was a naturally great liar because he loved to spin great stories like his mother Luna, a famous fiction-writer.

"How was your summer?" Ari punched Thomas in the arm.

"Ow-wow-wow!" Thomas pretended to groan in agony and rubbed his shoulder. "Pretty boring, actually. Mum said we were going to go on this camping trip to the mountains and try and catch some Snuffly-Stump-Footed Monkey Lions, but dad forgot that he had an important report to finish for the Ministry about this new type of plant he invented. How about you two?"

"Boring as well. Didn't do much, though we did go to Southern France for about a week. I got fat from eating too many croissants," Ari rubbed her stomach, which was as flat as it had been at the beginning of summer.

"My summer was uneventful. Sirius went away to the "Oliver Wood's Qudditch Camp", so at least I had some time to myself," Lily said, shrugging.

"Hey, so listen, I got—," Thomas was cut off by a sneering voice.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the three biggest losers in the school: Potter, Longbottom, and Lupin," smirked Draco Malfoy Jr., the son of Lily's father's archrival.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the three students most likely to flunk out of the school: Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. And Zabini," Lily added, nodding towards a boy walking up to Malfoy's trio.

"Shut it, Potty jr. You wouldn't be so damn cocky if your pathetic friends weren't with you."

"And YOU wouldn't even be able to confront me without your pathetic friends. What, do they hold your hand when you have to go to the bathroom?"

"We're not even on the train to school yet, and we have already gotten into our first brawl," Thomas smiled, "I wonder if this is any indication to what the rest of the year will be like."

"Let's hope so!" Ari said fiercely, giving Malfoy a sharp, crazed look. Ari, the devious girl that she was, loved trouble.

"Let's just go," Lily murmured, taking her friends by their arms and steering them towards her mum and dad.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter looked oddly like the Mr. and Mrs. Potter before them. Harry Potter had the tousled black hair, tall stance that screamed "Qudditch player!" and round glasses. Ginny Potter had long, wavy red hair and a petite figure, and though she was small, it was obvious that she was tough and mischievous. Both were talking to Thomas' parents.

"Well, look at this! What we've got here is a junior D.A. league!" chuckled Mr. Longbottom as the threesome approached. Lily, Thomas, and Ari all groaned together. Sure, their parents were famous. Lily's dad had defeated Voldemort. Ari's parents had been fighting Voldemort even longer than Lily's dad. Thomas' parents had fought alongside the Potters. But they were sick of hearing the stories. The teachers at Hogwarts already looked at them differently than they did the rest of the students.

Even worse, all of the children of the original D.A. and Order of the Phoenix had been placed on a pedestal above the other students. Who had suffered from this? Ari made a list in her diary (she is an avid historian, as she likes to think).

Lily and Sirius Potter

Harriet, Robby, and Paul Weasley

Arisilla Lupin

Thomas Longbottom

Lyla and Kasey Weasley (Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley's son and daughter, who have unfortunate French names that they are very proud of)

Lawrence Thomas (Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown's son. Thomas hangs out with him when he gets tired of silly girl talk)

Connor, Dana, and Kendall Weasley (Fred Weasley and Angelina Johnson's son and two daughters)

Catherine, Dane, and Kameron (George Weasley and Verity's (the young woman from HBP who worked in the joke shop) daughter and two sons)

And that was the majority of them. There were a few others, but Ari did not deem them worthy enough.

The whistle on the Hogwart's Express sounded, causing all of the parents to pause in their weeping and chattering, except for Ginny Weasley. She scooped Lily into her arms and said, "Now Lily, promise me that you will have a good year. Study hard, but…" she turned to her husband, who smiled and finished the sentence, "But have some fun." He winked at his daughter, who smiled in return. Lily had no doubt that other than her uncles Fred and George's children, she and Sirius were the only students encouraged to embrace their troublemaking side.

After a farewell to their parents, Lily, Ari, and Thomas dragged their luggage onto the train.

"Fancy finding a compartment?" Ari huffed as she struggled to pull her trunk through the teeming mass of students, all greeting each other and trying to stuff themselves into compartments.

"Yeah, lucky us if we find one," Thomas said feebly. A third year had just accidentally rammed their elbow into his stomach as they were trying to get through a compartment door.

The threesome made their way towards the back of the train, only to find that all of the compartments were crowded.

"Well, it looks like we'll just have to stay the entire time in this hall--," Lily was cut off by a familiar voice, lightly hilted with a French accent.

"Cousin Lily, bonjour! We have space in ze last compartment. Come and join us!" cried Lyla Weasley, a fourth year, in her singsong voice. All male heads turned towards her as she called out to Lily. Lyla looked just like her mother, who was part veela, and had the same naturally beautiful looks and long, pale blond hair.

"Damn, I don't want to go!" Ari whispered to Lily and Thomas.

"There's nowhere else to go!" Thomas whispered back in an exasperated voice.

The threesome reluctantly made their way to the back compartment. Much to their dismay, Lyla's brother Kasey, who was also part veela and was a second year. He was even more annoying than his sister, and was so overly arrogant sometimes that it was hard to believe he was kind Bill Weasley's son.

Also in the compartment were Harriet, Robby, Paul, and Sirius.

"Hello, Harriet. Are you excited about the Sorting?" Lily asked her cousin kindly. Harriet gave her cousin a slightly nervous look, but otherwise looked excited.

"Oh, I do so hope to be put into Gryffindor or Ravenclaw! I mean, the majority of you are in Gryffindor, so it's my first choice. That is, if I could choose."

"But Lyla and Kasey are in Ravenclaw," Ari pointed out, a sly smile on her face. Harriet shuddered and threw a furtive glance at her two French veela cousins, who were speaking in fast, fluent French together.

"Um, that's quite alright."

Lily smiled at her cousin. She was incredibly smart for an eleven-year-old, and treated Lyla and Casey as if they were the ones that were younger than her.

Lily settled back into her chair, Ari and Thomas across from her. Sirius and Lawrence were sitting together by the door, and Harriet was curled up next to Lily. Robby and Paul, however, were stretched out on the floor, whispering.

"What are you two up to?" Lawrence inquired.

"None of your business, Thomas," Robby said with a devilish grin.

"You can't call him by his last name, idiot, since my first name is Thomas," Thomas said indigently to Robby. "What are you guys doing, anyway?"

Paul heaved a great, dramatic sigh. "Nothing that you would find interesting. At least, not until some Slytherin annoys us."

"You two are more like Uncle Fred and Uncle George than their own children!" Lily laughed. She was rewarded with two Cheshire grins.

"We'll take that as a complement. Genes are odd, they are. I mean, look at you and Sirius," Paul nodded towards Lily and then her brother. "Both of you resemble your parents, and yet the two of you are nothing alike."

Lily shrugged, and was about to respond when there was a tap tap tap noise on the compartment door.

"Hey, look who it is!" Sirius shouted in glee.