Chapter One – Run Over by First Years

Blood is everything, yet, at the same time it is nothing. Blood is a bridge and a barrier – it keeps you alive yet it can kill you with little thought to spare. Blood is a reason to live and a reason to die; it's a reason to fight and a reason to fall.

Blood is a strength and a weakness all at the same time.

It is not chosen, it is a gift and a curse.

But in this world, Blood, is status. It determines who you are and who you will become – and who you are expected to become. But it means, absolutely nothing – parents are not clues as to who you are, they are tools for which you use to find out who you can be. Blood is neutral, it is nor good or evil or deranged, it is simply a life force, a reason to strive, to live, to die and to fight. Blood means strength, friendship, and family – but not necessarily the family you are born into, blood means the family you adopt as well and it means that you would die for them, live for them and fight for them.

The blood in your veins does not determine the kind of person you will be; what lies in your heart and in your mind does.

ͼᴥѠᴥͽ

Everyone knows that you don't earn your place amongst the Hogwarts students until your third year, but try telling that to the new second years who have boarded the train feeling entitled to a greater respect than they had in first year. A suggestion would be to beat them over the head with a spare bit of rolled up parchment – they don't like that very much. But then again, the intelligent second years turn tail and run at the sight of a seventh year.

Avalynn Crane was heading back to her compartment, her boots thudding against the carpeted aisle and she took note of the shockingly green vegetation that blurred passed the speeding train. She was too busy looking outside to notice that the box of sweets she carried was tilting dangerously close towards her fingertips, threatening to fall to the floor of the train. Avalynn was about to open the compartment door, the box swaying precariously on her left hand when a stampede of first years came hurdling down the aisle towards the food trolley. She attempted to flatten herself against the glass, without squashing the box of food, but instead, she was dragged across the glass door by the sheer momentum of twenty little bodies. It took great effort, but eventually she managed to grab onto the handle and pull herself back to the appropriate door.

"Well," She said breathlessly, taking quick shallow breaths to calm her raging heart, "you can always tell what kind of year it will be when you get run over by first years with growling tummies."

Alice gave an airy giggle and shook her head, placing a ribbon in her book to mark her spot. Avalynn chuckled when she saw that it happened to be a Muggle romance novel, probably something Lily had loaned her.

Avalynn dropped into the window seat across from Alice and threw her feet up onto the seat, taking over an entire side of the compartment. Alice's wand appeared to shut the glass door as the first years were making quite a bit of noise; she then pulled out her book again and started reading. The two girls stayed in these positions for a good twenty minutes and Avalynn closed her eyes, enjoying the quiet – this was what Avalynn liked best about Alice, she didn't feel the need to fill every moment with unnecessary chatter – she was just as content with reading as Avalynn was with sleeping.

Avalynn wished that she could have stayed like this until they got to school, but alas, the smell of food was getting to her and she pulled out a chocolate frog box and threw it at Alice, "here, I know you like these."

Alice's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas as she snatched the box from her lap. Avalynn watched her tear the packaging open vigorously and chomp off the head before the poor, charmed, edible creature could leap away to safety.

"So…" Avalynn trailed off while watching Alice, semi-wary of her own safety, "how many cards is that now?"

Alice paused, thinking hard while in mid chew and then swallowed the rest of her frog's body, "about seven hundred now."

Avalynn choked on the piece of pumpkin pasty she had just put into her mouth and coughed hard, "seven hundred? Where do you put them all?" Avalynn cried out while staring at Alice's tiny frame enviously.

"Well I didn't eat them all at once, silly!" Alice laughed, throwing the box back at her friend, "I'd get sick, and so would you if you tried to eat seven hundred chocolate frogs one after another!"

Snickering, Avalynn watched Godric Gryffindor rotate proudly in his little black box "wouldn't stop me!"

"Oh I know it wouldn't," Alice rolled her eyes, her head leaning against the seat cushion. "You're a bottomless pit!"

Avalynn stretched out across her side of the compartment with a small smile on her face and then popped the last half of the pumpkin pasty into her mouth. She chewed awkwardly through the filling and the pastry and then swallowed hard.

After two more pumpkin pasties she began to doze off, vaguely wondering if she had ruined her appetite for the feast when the compartment door opened violently. Avalynn jolted upwards, nearly rolling off of the bench and the two girl's head's turned sharply towards the door; Avalynn winced when she got whiplash. In the doorway stood Lily Evans whose face was screwed up in a mixture of anger and repulsion, and for a split second Avalynn had the wild urge to laugh at Lily's facial expression. The awkward war the expression waged was definitely a sight to see, but she thought better of laughing when she saw the violent spark in Lily's eyes, her hair crackling like the fire it represented so well.

"You will never believe who made Head Boy this year," she fumed, her chest heaving slightly, vaguely reminding Avalynn of a bull in a china shop.

Alice calmly placed her book on the seat beside her and placed her hands in her lap, "who did?"

Avalynn rolled her eyes at Alice because as brilliant as she could be, she was really daft for the most part; there was only one person in the school that could infuriate Lily Evans without even doing anything…

"Let me guess, James Potter?" Avalynn smiled sweetly, showing more teeth than necessary.

"Oh, I hadn't even thought -," Alice began and Avalynn shot her an exasperated look. "Of course it would be James Potter, you like everyone else."

"I don't like Black very much either."

Avalynn sighed loudly and squeezed the bridge of her nose, it was too early for frustration to settle itself in her bones, and she straightened sharply, staring pointedly at Lily.

"What?" She asked, oblivious to any other opinion of James Potter than her own.

"Have you ever thought, little Flower, that there is a reason for James being Head Boy this year?"

Lily blew at a strand of hair that was trespassing across her vision, "aside from Dumbledore intentionally making my life miserable."

Alice patted Lily's hand sympathetically, "I don't think that he wants to make your life miserable…"

Avalynn nodded and pointed enthusiastically at Alice, "yes, finally someone sees my…"

"Perhaps Dumbledore hopes that some of your responsibility will rub off on James," Alice continued and Avalynn clenched her hand into a fist, resisting the urge to smack her forehead with her palm.

"James is responsible enough; he wouldn't have been given the position otherwise." Avalynn stated bluntly, "Dumbledore is not about to waste time on hopes and prayers for the responsibility level of James Potter to sky rocket. He needs someone who can emit authority amongst the rambunctious students…"

"But you've seen his… wicked sense of humour; he'd go to any length for a laugh – even at the expense of another student!"

"He's been Quidditch captain for two years now, surely you are not still under the impression that James Potter cannot keep students under control – he's won us the past two Quidditch cups during his reign as Captain."

"Avalynn, are you on my side or not?"

Avalynn glowered at her best friend, fuming over the choice of sides – her infuriatingly stubborn best friend, or a boy whom she has never even spoken too. By all rights Avalynn should dislike James as much as Lily does based solely on the fact that she despises his bullying ways just like Lily does. Avalynn had barely even noticed that Alice had been treating their argument like a tennis match, her head rotating back and forth.

"I trust that Dumbledore picked a good candidate this year, he always seems to know best and are you really up to challenging Albus Dumbledore's decision?"

"James Potter is an arrogant, bullying toe rag. And even Dumbledore can make foolish decisions – everyone does and he is not exempt."

Avalynn chuckled at Lily's frequently used insult to describe James. This year, Avalynn had a feeling that the two would end up together some way or another – pairing the two of them together as Head's is definitely not a coincidence.

"I completely agree, Potter is arrogant, he is a bully… but he's certainly not a toe rag. I mean look at him – if he's a toe rag, I've never seen a nicer looking one."

Both Alice and Lily looked at her with stunned faces, both were slack-jawed and Avalynn laughed hard at their faces – sometimes they could be all too oblivious.

ͼᴥѠᴥͽ

Gryffindor gained six more students this year, and Avalynn smiled warmly at the newest additions, she remembered how she felt on her first night at Hogwarts as her first feast appeared in front of her. It was very similar to the looks that this batch of first years had now – surprised, impressed and even delighted at the sights of all their favorites. No story told by parents, older siblings or family friends could ever compare to a first year's initial encounter with magic, even for the pureblood's who grew up around wands and Quidditch. Hogwarts was something special – only to be found by individual experience.

Avalynn could already feel the nostalgia settle under her skin as she dug into her second piece of pecan tart. It's a shame really¸ Avalynn thought, popping a piece of tart into her mouth and chewing slowly, Hogwarts was just starting to feel like home.

After Dumbledore's good night speech, the Great Hall filled with scraping benches, and hundreds of students – some chatting and some yawning – filed through the doors in singles, pairs and in packs; all heading to their warm and welcoming four poster beds. Avalynn strolled towards the Gryffindor common room at ease with her full stomach and drooping eyes, Lily and Alice walked arm in arm behind her and the three friends were pushed and pulled by the lazy waves of students. The silence between them was openly welcomed, so imagine their aggravation over the sound of Lily's name being called over the low buzz of the students.

"Evans! Hey Evans wait up, EVANS!"

Avalynn heard Lily groan and she turned to watch Lily lift her head from Alice's shoulder reluctantly, "why can't he just leave me alone so I can wake up tomorrow and find out that the Head Boy is actually Frank Longbottom or someone else – anyone else, hell, I'd even willingly pair up with Nott if it meant I didn't have to listen to -,"

"Evans, you sure walk fast."

"Potter!"

"Think you could spare a moment, I was thinking we could talk over – briefly that is – the schedule for the Prefect's rounds as well as ours for the year. The earlier the better."

Avalynn's mouth crooked upwards at the corner when Lily blinked, blindsided at James' display of responsibility, she turned back to face her friends and Alice linked her arm through Avalynn's, "we'll see you in the morning Lily," Alice chirped, already dragging Avalynn from the scene.

She stumbled and then called out mockingly, "don't stay out too late Flower, it is a school night – you wouldn't want to be late for your first day!"

Alice smacked her shoulder, "play nice, Ave."

She laughed loudly and slung my arm over Alice's slender shoulders, "you think this is the year she'll cave?"

Alice and Avalynn briefly looked back in Lily's direction and they took note of her body language; it was all too obvious that Lily was keeping herself as far from James as possible.

"Doubt it," Alice remarked and continued walking. Avalynn, however, remained where she was, just watching her best friend. She smiled at the fact that, yes, Lily was positioned away from James while he talked animatedly, but Avalynn could see that her shoulders weren't as tense like they usually were around him, and she nodded in vigorous agreement.

"Are you coming or what?" Alice yelled and Avalynn jogged quickly back to where she had stopped. Alice shook her head at Avalynn and she shrugged.

"I think you're wrong about them, Alice. If they don't get together this year, I might just lose my mind."

Alice shot her a look, "I was under the impression that you've already lost your mind, Avalynn."

"Oh shut up!"