Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter's world, including - but not limited to - Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, and Wingardium Leviosa. If I did, I would simply publish another book and make some money, rather than posting this story online for free. But alas, I am but a poor waitress...

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Books: check. School robes: check. Six years' accumulation of red and gold accessories: check.

Everything seemed to be in order; or at least, all of the necessary school supplies and articles of clothing were packed away in a somewhat haphazardly fashion inside the large, heavy trunk. With a grunt, Mandy forced the lid down on her possessions and, after a few seconds of determined struggle, managed to latch it shut. With a sigh, she turned and sat on top of the difficult piece of luggage, closing her eyes in exhaustion for a moment. She was not a morning person, and 8AM was – in her opinion – a most indecent time to be awake. Aside from being spoiled by the lazy days of summer, she had put off all her packing until the night before. Which, inevitably, led to her growing bored halfway through and leaving the rest for this morning.

A loud rapping on her door caused her eyes to snap open.

"Are you ready in there yet? We need to hurry if we're going to make it to the station on time." Mandy's mother, Mrs. Kendrick, was a highly organized woman who loved nothing better than scheduling every day down to the minute and absolutely never procrastinated anything. These were all skills she had failed to pass on to her one and only child, a fact which antagonized her to no end.

"Almost, mom," Mandy called back. "I just want to double check everything one last time before we go."

This was what Mandy liked to consider a white lie. Yes, she wanted to double check, but it wasn't her school things she was concerned about. After all, if she forgot anything, she would just ask her mother to send it to her via owl. Nothing worth stressing over, really. What Mandy was checking was herself.

She moved in front of her mirror, smoothing out microscopic wrinkles in her shirt and checking out her own backside. Hmm, still small, she thought critically before turning her attentions elsewhere. That wasn't something she could do anything about. Things that were in her power included fixing her makeup (not that she wore hardly enough to be noticed, but hey, a girl's got to preen), making sure her hair fell the way she wanted it to, and twisting the strand of her necklace so that the clasp was behind her neck. Finally satisfied with her minute and generally pointless adjustments, she smirked at her reflection.

Hogwarts, you're going down.

~*~

Somewhere between home and King's Cross Station, her arrogance slipped away and transformed into an eager nervousness. It had been a while since she'd seen most of her friends, and she'd been looking forward to seeing them again all summer. Lily had been in France with her parents for the past two months, making anything beyond owl correspondence impossible. Mandy had gotten a part time job in Mr. Kendrick's office, and thus hadn't been very good at keeping in touch with Kate and Marcy. Even though they'd stayed home for the summer holidays, Mandy had only seen them twice. She might have felt bad, but she knew that they were closest with each other anyway.

Beyond that, Mandy wasn't close enough to anyone to really care about getting together over the summer. Once, when buying produce for her mother in an outdoors market, she ran into Remus Lupin. They had exchanged pleasantries, but the boy was so quiet and timid without his more rambunctious counterparts that there had been no further catching up beyond that. Another time she might have spied a girl that was a couple years younger than her, but she was on the other side of the park from her and couldn't be sure.

Despite her lack of contact with her magical friends, the summer hadn't been bad. Mrs. Kendrick took her on several outings with old family friends, and Mandy had reconnected with some of her childhood playmates. Not that they had much in common any more, what with them being muggles and her being a witch, but it had been nice, nonetheless.

Plus, Mandy liked to think that she had done a bit of growing up since she left Hogwarts a few months ago. Having a job – albeit a part time one – had given her a new perspective on what life after graduation would be like, and she was proud to purchase new dress robes with money that she had worked hard to earn. She felt that she had matured a little physically, too. She may not have grown vertically in the past couple of years (it seemed she had reached a barrier at 5'4"), but her body was no longer that of a little girl and Mandy was quite pleased with the way things had proportioned themselves.

The sound of a car door being shut pulled her out of her thoughts, and with a start Mandy realized that they had already arrived at the train station. Mrs. Kendrick was struggling to pull the heavy trunk up and out of the small car, and Mandy hurried to unbuckle and help her mother.

Not ten minutes later, the two were standing at the magical barrier between platforms 9 and 10, through which Mrs. Kendrick could not pass. She hugged her daughter tightly, saddened by the fact she would not see her again until Christmas. While Mandy may have loved going to school so far away, she would never understand how hard it was on her parents to send their only daughter away for months at a time, into a world they couldn't begin to fully comprehend.

"Be safe, get good grades, and try to keep your things tidy for your roommates' sake," were the same words Mrs. Kendrick imparted every September.

"I promise not to blow myself up, it's not like I'm going to university now, and they love my clutter," was always the reply.

With a quick exchange of kisses on their cheeks, Mandy shoved her belongings through the stone wall and onto platform 9 ¾.

Any lingering butterflies flew away when she caught sight of a flash of fiery red hair. This was her world, these were her friends, and she was about to be on her way home. She made her way towards her best friend, smiling and waving to other students as she made her way through the crowd.

"Lily!" she called out when she got closer. The girl whirled around at her name, looking for the source. When she spotted Mandy, she bounded across the few remaining steps to tackle the shorter girl with a warm hug.

"Mandy!" she nearly squealed as she squeezed the breath out of the little brunette.

"Good to see you too, Lily," Mandy gasped out, giving a small pat on Lily's back, "but can you please let go? I'm finding it rather difficult to breathe, you see."

"Sorry," Lily said, with a grin that was anything but apologetic, "but Merlin, it's good to see you again! How have you been? Did you like working? Have you seen Kate and Marcy yet? I can't find them, and if they miss the train –"

"Lily! Lily, breathe!" Mandy interrupted, laughing at her friend's excitement. "I've been good, working was a great experience, and I haven't seen Kate and Marcy," she glanced around at this last statement in case they suddenly appeared, "but I'm sure they'll make the train. They always have before, and you know they like to push deadlines even more than I do."

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sudden arrival of one James Potter.

"Hello, Lily. Can I help you with your trunk?" he said smoothly, in a suave voice that Mandy was sure he had spent his entire life trying to perfect. She gave a small snort and crossed her arms over her chest, though her eyes were twinkling in amusement. Meeting the gaze of Sirius Black, James' partner in crime, she nodded her head towards James and Lily and made an exaggerated roll of her eyes. He grinned in response.

The not-quite-romance of James Potter and Lily Evans was a constant source of entertainment for their closest friends, and, if James was feeling particularly cocky, the whole school got to enjoy the drama as well.

The two hadn't exactly gotten along for the first several years of their time in Hogwarts, although things had begun to significantly improve last year. Poor Potter was completely smitten with the redhead, and Mandy had her suspicions that Lily harbored similar feelings for the dashing Quidditch star. Not that you'd ever hear Lily admit that, of course. And thus, sixth year had passed with James doing everything in his power to woo her, while Lily calmly tolerated his attentions with outward amusement and secret pleasure.

"Don't you need to worry about your own trunk?" Lily asked, not unkindly.

"Already on the train," he replied in an almost smug tone. Just because James had done some growing up in the last year or two, didn't mean his arrogance was completely weeded out. It still liked to pop up at the most random moments. "Come on, let me help you with it."

And with that, he grabbed up Lily's belongings and headed towards the train, Lily starting after him. She threw Mandy a quick but significant glance over her shoulder, then shrugged and followed along behind the man who would do anything for her.

Mandy watched them go, then turned to Black and raised an eyebrow at him. "Five galleons says she gives in by Christmas."

He gave a hearty laugh, holding his hand out to hers. "I say it'll only take until Halloween! Make it ten and you're on."

"Deal," Mandy said with a smirk, reaching out to shake on it. "Who wins the money if they never get together?"

"Ha! Have you seen the way he acts around her? No one can turn down that level of adoration forever."

Mandy chuckled appreciatively, then grabbed her trunk and the two began walking towards the scarlet train to find their respective friends.

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Author Notes:

I know this is starting out slow, but I'm trying to just introduce all the main players right now. Next chapter will be more of the same, with the background of starting classes up.

Please leave a review, I've never posted a story before and I'd like to know how I've been received. :)

Thanks for reading!

- Sara