Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor will I ever, it belongs to J. K. Rowling. Some of the content is directly copied out of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Don't sue me, I had to. Again, I own nothing.

Harry Potter was a very unusual boy in many ways. One needed to simply look at his room to see how very different he was. In the corner of his room, in a large cage perched a brown tawny owl named Hootie, who was currently fast asleep. On the floor right next to Harry's bed stood a large wooden trunk, which lay open revealing a number of rather strange things: A pewter cauldron, black robes, a pair of gloves that at first glance appeared to be made of leather, but were really made from dragon hide, a black pointed hat and assorted spell books with names such as Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling, The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger among others. On Harry's bedside table lay a very crinkled letter, written in emerald-green ink on thick, yellowish parchment. It read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Clutched in Harry Potter's hand as he slept, his glasses askew on his face, was a wand. 11 inches, Holly and Phoenix feather, ever since he had purchased it ten days ago it had become his most prized possession.

One might wonder why a young, seemingly ordinary boy of eleven would have such a collection of strange objects in his bedroom, but to Harry Potter, these things were quite normal, that is, normal for a wizard. Which is what Harry Potter was. And he wasn't the only one, Nearly everyone in Harry's family were witches and wizards. Harry's Father; James Potter, Harry's Mother; Lily Potter and Harry's little sister; Violet Potter could all do magic as well.

In fact, the only people in Harry's family who couldn't do magic were Petunia Dursley, her husband Vernon and their son. Petunia Dursley was Lily Potter's older sister. Harry's Mother had come from a Muggle or non-magic family, she was the only one in her family who was gifted with the power of magic, which made Petunia very envious of Lily. Since the two sisters got married and moved away from each other, they rarely saw each other. Harry had only ever met his aunt, uncle and cousin once, when he was eight years old.

His mother had thought that it would be nice if they showed up at the Dursley's for Christmas and tried to rekindle a sibling bond over presents and Christmas turkey. Petunia had only just reluctantly let them inside when she saw that there was no other choice, but Harry had a feeling that she wouldn't have even done that if it weren't for the fact that her neighbours were all outside enjoying the snow.

The Dursleys were all very snippy and rude, and their son Dudley, who was Harry's age, was even more so. Dudley Dursley was fat, blond, selfish and seemed to enjoy pushing Harry to the ground at every opportunity. Dinner with the Dursleys was extremely awkward and silent, until Violet (who was six at the time) turned Dudley's nose into a pig's snout when he stole her stuffing. After reluctantly allowing Harry's Father to change the pudgy boy's face back to its original state, the Dursleys screamed at the Potters to get out of the house and never come back or they would get a restraining order. Harry had unsurprisingly never met his muggle relatives since, not that he'd want to...

This year, Harry would be starting his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had been waiting for this all his life, when he had finally gotten his letter, he carried it around with him everywhere, reading and re-reading it constantly. He had barely managed to get to sleep at all that night because of it, and because the next day would be September first. In just a few short hours, Harry Potter would be on the train to Hogwarts, the place that he had been dreaming about his whole life...

"Harry!" Lily Potter's voice called from the base of the staircase. "Harry, wake up! We've got to get ready! It's a long way to London!" Harry's eyes snapped open, he sat bolt up right, his heart beating like a drum.

It was here! It was finally here! Today was the day he would go to Hogwarts! Harry jumped out of bed, fixed his glasses which he had forgotten to take off before falling asleep. He hurriedly pushed down everything in his large wooden trunk and closed it. Then he ran to the mirror and examined himself.

Before him, stood a very short and skinny boy with a thin face and knobbly knees. No matter how much food his Mother tried to feed him, his body just didn't seem to want to grow. Harry patted at his shirt to attempt to smooth the wrinkles caused by sleeping in his clothes overnight. When he finally gave up on the shirt, he turned to his face, beneath his bright green eyes were dark circles from lack of sleep. Nothing he could do about that... Next he turned to his messy black hair. He ran his fingers through it, trying to make it look even slightly decent, even though Harry knew it was an impossible task. His hair was always messy and unruly and going through it a few of times with his fingers wasn't going to change that.

Giving up on his appearance entirely, Harry turned away from the mirror and pulled on his runners. Then he grabbed his severely over-read letter and his wand which lay on his bed, stuffed them into his pockets, grabbed Hootie's cage, waking him with a start, and his trunk, then he began to make his way downstairs where his family stood, waiting.

James Potter smiled at his son with his familiar crooked smile that Harry knew so well. Harry's Father looked like a much older version of himself. They had the same black messy hair, the same thin face, they both wore glasses, everything about them was exactly the same. Except for their eyes, while Harry's were green, James' were Hazel.

Next, Harry turned to his mother. She was looking very impatiently at him with her bright green eyes, exactly the same as Harry's, same colour, same shape. However, if it weren't for their eyes it would be nearly impossible to tell that the two were related at all. Lily's hair was long, neatly brushed and a fiery shade of red. Her figure was very slim, though not nearly as slim as it was in the pictures of her from before Violet was born. Not that he'd ever even think of saying that. He valued his life too much.

Then, Harry turned to his nine-year old sister Violet. She was the complete opposite of Harry. While Harry looked like his father with his mother's eyes, Violet looked like Lily and had Jame's hazel eyes. Violet was also quite brilliant, just like Lily had been at her age, she was able to consciously use magic without a wand, though to no great extent, but it was something that Harry had never managed to accomplish All of his magic had always been accidental. His feeble attempts always led to much teasing from Violet. Harry loved his little sister as much as any other older brother, but she wasn't his most favourite person in the world. When Harry had said this to his Mother once, she had told him that Violet was much like James when he was younger in that way and that she would grow out of it eventually, just like their Father had.

"Finally!" said Lily Potter in an exasperated voice. "You're the one who's supposed to be going to Hogwarts and you're the last one ready!"

"Sorry Mum!" Harry said.

"Come on Lily, he's ready now isn't he? So let's just go." resoned Harry's father.

"...Alright." said Harry's Mother with a sigh. "Everybody to the car." James groaned. He hated cars. He always said they were too slow. When they had been driving for only ten minutes James gave a loud groan and said,

"I don't understand why we have to drive this painfully slow muggle contraption! Broomsticks are so much faster-"

"-And much less indiscreet " Lily interrupted. "How would we look flying through the air to King's Cross station? Besides," said Lily in a suddenly hushed voice, "You know that Violet hates flying." James sighed and said,

"I know. It's just... me, Remus and Sirius made a bet about who would get to the station first and at the rate this piece of scrap metal's going, I'm going to lose!" Harry smirked at his Father's stupidity and lack of planning or thinking ahead. It was a trait that they shared.

Remus and Sirius had been Jame's friends since their first year at Hogwarts together. Harry hoped that when he got to Hogwarts that he too would make such good friends as Remus and Sirius were to his Father. Sirius Black was Harry's Godfather. He was a tall, good-looking man with long dark hair that fell elegantly at his shoulders, a feat which neither Harry nor James could pull off with their unruly hair. Remus, on the other hand, was a rather shabby looking man who often wore very old, tatty cloaks. His light brown hair, which was flecked with bits of grey, made him look older than he really was. Remus always looked tired and a bit ill. Most believed that he was just sick most of the time, but those who were closest to him knew the truth. Remus Lupin, was a werewolf

It wasn't his fault though, he didn't ask to be bitten when he was a very young boy, he didn't choose to turn into a monster once a month under the full moon. Even still, many wizards are very prejudiced against werewolves. Harry really didn't see why, werewolves are just normal people except for one night a month. James and Sirius had thought the same things when they found out that their friend was a werewolf.

They had even become animagi so that they could be with him when he was a wolf. Animagi are witches and wizards who can turn themselves in an animal at will. Harry's Dad was a stag and Sirius was a great black dog. Normally when a witch or wizard becomes and animagus they have to register at the Ministry of Magic, but they didn't and were animagi illegally so that they could be with Remus. They were registered now of course, though. Harry's Mother had insisted they register once the Ministry rightened itself again after the fall of a powerful Dark Wizard called Lord Voldemort, though most wished to call him "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". Harry had never really seen what was so horrible about just saying his name, his parents and Remus and Sirius said the name. They had also encouraged that Harry and Violet say it too, saying that fearing his nam would just increase fear for the man himself. Despite this, many still feared to speak his name despite the fact that he was defeated many years ago, when Harry was only a year old.

The story of Voldemort's defeat was famous. Ten years ago, Voldemort decided to go after the Longbottoms. Frank and Alice Longbottom died fighting him, but when he turned his wand on their son, one year old Neville Longbottom, for some strange reason, the spell didn't work and instead, Voldemort was destroyed, leaving Neville with nothing more than a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. Ever since then, Neville has been famous. He was widely known as "Neville Longbottom, The Boy Who Lived".

Neville was going to be starting Hogwarts this year along side Harry. Maybe he could become friends with Neville Longbottom! But probably not, after all Neville was famous and he Harry, was nothing special. He wasn't-

"We're here!" Harry's thoughts were interrupted by his Mother. Harry looked out of the window and indeed, they were at King's Cross station. The four Potters got out of the car and began to make their way towards Platforms 9 and 10. The train that Harry needed to catch led straight to Hogwarts, so it had to be inaccessible to muggles, lest they discover that witches and wizards existed. So, the Platform where the Hogwarts Express was, was Platform 9 3/4. A Platform only able to be reached by walking through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10.

When the Potters reached the barrier, Lily whispered in Harry's ear,

"Don't worry Harry, it's really simple. Just run straight at the wall and you'll be on the platform. As soon as you're in, me, your father and Violet will join you." Harry nodded to show that he understood. He grasped the trolley that now held his trunk and Hootie's cage, firmly and then, he pushed it forwards. Faster and faster he ran, he couldn't stop now even if he wanted to. Harry closed his eyes as his body passed through the barrier. When he opened them, he was looking at a huge scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a platform packed with witches and Wizards seeing their children onto the train. Harry stared at the train in awe, this was the train that would take him to Hogwarts. In just a few short hours, he would be there.

Harry turned to look behind him as his Mother, then his Father and sister passed through the barrier to meet him. The moment his Father had walked onto the platform there came a very familiar voice from behind them.

"You lose, James!" Harry turned back around, it was Sirius. He had a smile of triumph upon his handsome face.

"Not necessarily, where's Remus?" James said with a crooked smile.

"Over here, James!" called the voice of Remus Lupin from within the crowd of parents and children. He ran over to them and said, "You lose James. Pay up." Harry's Father swore loudly as he pulled out nearly a dozen golden coins from his pocket, that were called gold Galleons. Wizarding money was made up of three different coins; gold Galleons, silver Sickles and bronze Knuts. There were seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle. James Potter gave five Galleons to Remus and five to Sirius.

"You bet ten Galleons on who would get to the station first!?" Lily exclaimed.

"Yep." said Sirius pocketing the coins. "And now he's lost ten Galleons." Lily looked as though she was going to start yelling again, but Remus interrupted before she could.

"Perhaps you and James could continue this at home, Lily. Right now, we're supposed to be seeing Harry off on his first trip to Hogwarts. It's ten-to now and the train's leaving at eleven." Lily sighed as a tall red-headed boy with glasses and many freckles passed through the barrier, he looked no older than fifteen.

"You're right Remus." she said, "I'll deal with you later!" she said pointedly to her husband, eyeing him viciously as another very freckly, red-haired boy came through the barrier, this one was younger than the last, no older than thirteen, perhaps.

"Thank you!" James mouthed to Remus as a third red-headed boy, identical to the one previous down to the last freakle, came through the barrier. Then as Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Violet, Remus and Sirius began walking towards the train Harry quickly turned around to follow them, but not before he saw a fourth freckly, red-haired boy come through the barrier. This boy looked to be about Harry's age.

Harry continued to follow the others onto the Hogwarts express and then through the train. It seemed as though all the compartments were already full. Finally, the group reached an empty compartment that was near the end of the train. Sirius and Remus helped Harry with Hootie and his trunk. Then, they all turned to him and one by one they each wished him luck.

"Good luck Harry." said Remus solemnly.

"Good luck Harry," said his Mother. "And say "hi" to Severus for me, will you?" Sirius snorted.

"Lily, he hates the boy!"

"He doesn't hate him!" Lily rebuked, "He just -"

"Hates that he looks like James!" said Sirius. "Harry can't just go and say "hi" to Snape! He hates him!"

"No he doesn't!" Harry's Mother protested, but Harry had to agree with Sirius. Snape did hate him. Harry had known Snape all of his life and he had never once said a single kind word to him. When Harry's parents had been in school, both James and Snape loved Lily. This had made James and Snape mortal enemies. Unfortunately for Snape, he had been on the losing end of their little love triangle and Lily chose James. Snape and Lily were still friends though, Lily had even made Snape Violet's Godfather. Snape was very fond of Violet, Harry was sure that it was because she looked like their mother, but Snape hated Harry, he could see it in his eyes. All because Harry looked like James, the man who had won the heart of the girl he loved. Harry would almost feel bad for Snape, but Snape hated him and didn't seem to care about his feelings, so likewise Harry thought that it was only fair that he wouldn't care about Snape's feelings either. Snape also just happened to work at Hogwarts, he was the Potions Master.

"He doesn't hate him!" Lily said in a tone that meant that was final.

"Alright, if you say so Lily..." said Sirius in a voice that showed that he didn't believe her one bit. "Anyway, good luck Harry. I'm sure you'll be brilliant. Just like your parents were." Harry smiled.

"Thanks Sirius." he said.

"Mummy!" screamed the annoying voice of Violet. "Why can't I go to Hogwarts this year too? I'm already way better at magic than Harry is! Can't I go?"

"No," said Lily. "You're still too young and it's not nice to speak like that, young lady. Just for that, you will de-gnome the garden when we get home." Violet groaned and said something under her breath that Harry couldn't hear, but his Mother did and she grabbed her wrist, leading her off the train whilst scolding her for whatever she had said. Then James turned to Remus and Sirius and said,

"You go on ahead. I've got something I want to talk to Harry about." Sirius and Remus both nodded and started walking away. When they were out of sight, James turned to Harry and said,

"Now Harry, I need you to swear to me that you won't tell your Mother."

"Tell her what?" Harry questioned.

"Just swear it, and then I'll tell you." said James vauguely.

"Okay, I swear." said Harry, curiosity bubbling inside of him.

"Good." said James. "Now Harry, I want to give you this." Then James pulled from his pocket a long, shining, silvery cloth, the appearance of it seemed almost fluid somehow. "This," James continued in a hushed sort of voice, "Is my own invisibility cloak. My Father gave it to me just before I started Hogwarts and I think that now is the time that I pass it on to you. I would have given it to you sooner but your Mother would never allow you to have it."

"You... Your giving this to me?" Harry asked his Father disbelievingly, as he reached out to touch the strange silvery cloth. It felt strange, almost like water woven into material.

"Yes." said Harry's Father with his familiar crooked smile. "It's yours. Now don't tell your Mother I said this, but I expect you to use it. Explore the castle and discover all of its secrets. I would give you the Marauder's Map as well, but Filch confiscated that long ago." James had told Harry about the Marauder's Map before. It was a magical map of Hogwarts that he, Sirius and Remus had made when they were in school, which contained all its secret entrances and passageways. It also showed where everyone in the castle was at any given time. Filch was the old caretaker at the school, according to Harry's father he hated the students. "But maybe it's better this way." said James. "You'll be able to find everything on your own, maybe even make your own map. You might even discover more about that school than we did. Good luck Harry. And remember, keep this between us."

"I know." said Harry. "Thanks Dad." then, James put the cloak on Harry's lap turned around and walked away. Leaving Harry alone. Harry quickly stuffed the cloak into his trunk, he would test it out at Hogwarts. He didn't want anyone to see it. He was pretty sure that invisibility cloaks were against school rules.

Suddenly, Harry's attention was caught by a commotion outside of the train. The fourth and youngest red-haired boy who Harry had seen just minutes before was struggling against a plump, red-haired woman who, Harry assumed, was his Mother. It seemed like she was trying to clean something off of his face as the twin red heads and a little redheaded girl watched. The boy finally managed to wriggle away from her when one of the red-haired twins said,

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?"

"Shut up," said the red-haired boy, who Harry assumed was named Ron.

"Where's Percy?" said their Mother.

"He's coming now." said one of the twins as the oldest red-head who wore glasses came striding into view He had on his black Hogwarts robes already and Harry wondered if perhaps he should change too. Then Harry noticed that the boy called Percy was wearing a shiny red and gold badge with the letter P on it. A Gryffindor Prefect's badge, Remus had one just like it from when he was in school.

"Can't stay long, Mother," said Percy the Prefect in a dignified voice. "I'm up front, the Prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"

"Oh, are you a Prefect, Percy?" one of the twins interrupted with mock surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"

"Or twice -"

"A minute -"

"All summer -"

"Oh, shut up," said Percy as Harry laughed. Those red-headed twins reminded Harry of his Father and Sirius.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.

"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there." Then she kissed Percy's cheek and he left. She then turned to the twins.

"Now, you two – this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet or -"

"Blown up a toilet?" interrupted one of the twins. "We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea though, thanks, Mum." said the other.

"It's not funny." said their Mother while Harry laughed and made a mental note to ask his Father if he'd ever blown up a toilet. "And look after Ron."

"Don't worry," said one of the twins. "Ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up." said Ron again. He was nearly as tall as the twins, Harry noticed and his nose was pink from where his Mother had rubbed it.

"Well the three of you should best be getting on the train now, it should be leaving shortly." she was right, no sooner had the boys gotten on the train that a whistle sounded. They leant out of the window for her to kiss them goodbye and the little redheaded girl, who Harry assumed was their sister, began to cry.

"Don't, Ginny," said one of the twins. "We'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, Mum."

Then the train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train. Harry suddenly spotted his parents, sister, Sirius and Remus all waving at him from right in front of the barrier. Harry smiled and waved back as the train gathered speed. Harry watched his family, Sirius, Remus, the little redheaded girl and her mother all disappear as the train rounded a corner. Houses flashed past the window and Harry felt a great leap of excitement It was finally happening! What he had waited for his whole life! He, Harry Potter was going to Hogwarts.