Author's note: I started this story a few years ago and didn't have time for it so I took it down and now have edited all of it, hopefully you enjoy it.

The point of view changes multiple times a chapter and will be signified by the character's name acting as a divider between sections

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter world. I own the characters and story I create, the rest is JK Rowling's.

A New Beginning

Some people may say that I am lucky. I get a new beginning, a chance to be whoever I want to be. But I, Erin Riley O'Connor, like who I am.

I am a witch and a keeper for the quidditch team at my school, the New York Academy of Magic, or NYAM. I live in the suburbs of New York in a nice town that I have lived in since I was born. I do well in school, I have great friends, and I have fun. It's the life every kid wants. Right?

Not exactly. My life is not perfect. I'm just happy with it right now. I mean I'm not the most popular person in the world, I sort of stick with that group in the middle of social ladder. We can hang out with whomever we want in the school and it wouldn't be a strange sight. I also don't exactly have boys lining up at my feet. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to boys. Plus boys tend to be a wimp when it comes to me. I don't announce whom I like, and boys don't announce that they like me. I hear it through the best friend of course, although most of the time I know they probably weren't supposed to tell me. But being the wimp I am I never do anything. I'm the type of kid who can have fun hanging out with friends one night, and the next be perfectly happy doing absolutely nothing on my own. So you can see I'm not perfect and my life could be a little better, but I'm just comfortable with me right now.

Now I get a new beginning, one that I don't want. This new beginning means leaving behind all of my friends and family. What will I do without my best friend Caroline, who I have known since I was 6? Or my cousin Brendan, the loving teenager who will do almost anything for me. All right he may be a little over protective, but all the same I love him anyway. My family and I are moving to England because my dad got a job at the British Ministry of Magic. It may be a really good job and all, but I do not want to leave! Now I have to go to school at Hogwarts, which I know is a great school, but going there means leaving behind everything- my friends, my family, my quidditch team, my school, my home, and basically my whole life. Now who wants that?

Well maybe there is a bright side to the move. Some of my friends don't understand the move. My friend Laura is a bit thick when it comes to some things. She acts as if I'm the one who decided to move the family to England! In her opinion New York is the place to be and I'm not going to get anywhere if I leave. It's almost as if she thinks her snide comments to me will make me want to stay. So maybe this move has been good in letting me see who my real friends are. A lot of them are scared to stand up to Laura, but others have stuck by me and I'm thankful. But this makes me feel even guiltier leaving, now knowing how great some of my friends actually are.

I can't believe that I just had to say bye to my friends. I can't believe that my family just made me do that. They simply just told me that it was time to say goodbye to my friends forever like they were telling me to do something as easy as making my bed. I love my family, but they just don't get it! The people that I just said goodbye to for forever are the people that made me who I am today! They know my life... they essentially are my life.

We all promised to stay in touch forever, to visit as much as possible, and never change, but as much as I hate it, all of us know that that will not happen. We will talk for the first few months, but as time goes by we all know that we, or me and them, would drift away from each other. They will become strangers to me, and me to them, that by the time that summer comes around and it is time for those visits that we promised, that those visits will not happen. They will be complete and total strangers to me and I will be one to them. I know that while at Hogwarts I will change unwillingly into someone that Caroline and Krysta and Lauren and all the rest of my friends do not know. They will remember and know me as I am today, not who I am to become. I do not want that to happen. I do not want to leave.

"Erin come on. The portkey leaves in a few minutes," calls my older brother Bryant. Bryant is 21 years old and is also coming to England, but of his own choice. He graduated from NYAM a few years ago and had a nice job here, yet is coming along to stay with the family. He has already been promised a job, like my dad at the Ministry of Magic. My old sister Catherine, who is 18 years old, just graduated from NYAM and is also coming. She is going to start her life as an adult in the Wizarding world in England, and hopefully get a job at Saint Mungos Hospital as a healer.

Just a few seconds after I grab onto the portkey I feel a tug from my naval, and America and Erin O'Connor are no more. I am Erin O'Connor, I live in Great Britain, and I go to Hogwarts School of Magic.

Now as I get a first look at my new house I am left gaping. It is gorgeous. It is a very big, very beautiful, cottage. The cottage is located in the middle of a large hilly field with trees surrounding the property and scattered throughout the middle. The cottage has the prettiest red, pink, and white roses climbing their way of the house. The cottage, or "Rose Cottage" as I soon name it, is 3-stories high and has a charming stone walkway up to the front door. The door and shudders on the windows are all wood painted light blue. The actual cottage is beige with wide dark brown panels. England may not be so bad after all.

The next morning I find myself pacing my room, extremely nervous. Today is the day that I leave for Hogwarts. I look myself over in my mirror. I am 15 years old and I am about 5'6". I have eyes that change from green to hazel whenever they feel like it. My dad is three quarters Irish so I have freckles, but just lightly across my nose and cheekbones. My hair looks great with a straightening charm on it so that it is hanging just below my shoulders. My dirty blonde hair has little natural blonde strips in the front from the sun coloring my hair while up in a ponytail. I am wearing a green collared shirt that makes my eyes look really green and my favorite jeans that fit me perfectly. I have on a silver necklace that my best friends got for me before I left with a shamrock on it that is made up of 4 hearts. I look perfect. I just hope that Hogwarts thinks so. Even though I am changing into my robes on the train I want to make a good first impression on whomever I meet.

Draco's POV

"Draco, make sure you don't take anything from those pathetic muggle lovers..." Father drones on, repeating the usual speech I get every year before I return to Hogwarts. I stop listening once he begins, having heard it the past 5 years.

My fifth year. Another fantastic year having to drag around Crabbe and Goyle, those idiots. How I ever got stuck with them. Oh, right that would be of Father's doing. He realized during his years at Hogwarts that the seniors Crabbe and Goyle were idiots willing to do whatever he wanted, having no brain for themselves.

Another year of keeping up the charade for Father and the rest of the Death Eaters. I know that eventually I will be forced to join, and I assume I will just have to force myself to participate. To me the Death Eaters are just a bunch of grown men (and women) running around with imaginary power that they would never have if they participated in the real world. Even Father, his power is all based on his Death Eater connections.

My thoughts of the pathetic Death Eaters trail off as I see a girl walk onto the platform. She must be new, I have never seen her, or maybe I've just never noticed her. I quickly dismiss that thought; she is definitely someone I would notice. Looking a bit flustered I move to help her, but soon remember that Father is talking to me and that I must maintain my image and not help anyone.

As soon as Father finishes speaking I board the train where I saw the girl enter. I walk through the carriage hoping to find her. My wishes are answered when I spot her sitting by herself, reading a book in a compartment farther down the train.

Erin's POV

"Excuse me?" I look up to see a handsome boy standing in the door of my compartment smiling at me. "Is this seat taken?"

"No, no it's not," I somehow manage to stumble out.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, fifth year." Draco says with a charming smile, putting his hand out for me to shake. I take it gratefully, happy to have made a friend. Draco is a tall, pale, blonde boy who I can't help but be attracted to. He is wearing a navy blue dress shirt that is tight in the right places across his chest, and black slacks that, might I say, look great on him. "And you are?"

"I'm Erin O'Connor, fifth year transfer student from New York Academy of Magic in the U.S," I tell him.

"Ah you're from the states. Pretty cool, I've always wanted to visit there. Why did you move here though?" Surprisingly Draco seems genuinely interested, and he is pretty nice, not to mention gorgeous.

"My dad got a job at the Ministry of Magic over here. At first I really didn't want to come, but now that I am here I think that everything is going be okay."

"So how did you like the entrance to the platform?" he asks trying not to laugh, as I'm sure he is imagining how a first-timer must feel with no prior knowledge of it.

"Um, it was unusual," I answer laughing.

Draco and I talked like this for the majority of the ride. As he left he said something about having to go find his friends before the train ride ended. I wondered why he would sit and talk to me instead of his friends who he probably hasn't seen much since the end of the school year. Although I can't say I minded. Something in the way that he mentioned them gave me the idea that he wasn't really friends with them though. I couldn't figure out why, but for some reason it was easy to talk to Draco.

"Oh, hello." Snapping me out of my trance thinking about Draco I look up to see, standing in the doorway of my compartment, a bushy-haired girl and with a tall, red haired boy behind her. "I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ronald Weasley. We were just making our prefect rounds. Are you new here?"

"Um, yeah. I'm Erin O'Connor, I just transferred from the New York Academy of Magic in the United States." I say, quickly realizing that this will likely be spoken by me dozens of times in the next few days.

"Wow, I read about that school in a book once. It's supposed to be very nice. What was it like? What year are you in?" Hermione says very fast, her interest in learning about my school evident on her face and in her voice.

"I'm in my fifth year. And it was great. I'm extremely sad to be leaving there but I am sure that I will be just fine here. You probably know more stuff about my school after reading about it than I do after living there for 4 years." I could tell by the look on her face that she was a little disappointed at my lack of information. I probably could have told her some things about NYAM but I'm still in the 'mourning' process about leaving there and would rather not talk about it.

"It sounded amazing. We're fifth years too. Do you know what house you want to be in?" Hermione asks, once again very fast.

"Um... what are houses?" This is a little worrisome. No one ever told me about 'houses', whatever those are. It sounds like something I should have known!

Hermione looks a little surprised at my lack of information, then looks excited at the prospect of teaching me about them, "There are four houses at Hogwarts. They basically become your family. Each house has a section of the castle with dormitories and a common room, but no one really knows where the other houses are since they all have secret passageways and passwords. You not only live with your house, but also eat with your house, play quidditch on your house team, if you do, and take classes with your house. Although, houses are paired up together for classes. The houses are named after the founders of Hogwarts. They are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryff-"

"Everyone knows that Gryffindor is the best," Ron begins, cutting off Hermione. "We are in Gryffindor along with all of my family and Harry. We win the Quidditch and House Cup every year. There hasn't been a Slytherin that hasn't gone bad. You-Know-Who himself was a Slytherin. They are all stupid idiots. Slytherin is the worst house. Ravenclaw is for all the smart know-it-alls that have no fun and Hufflepuff is for the rejects, the kids that don't belong in any of the rest of the houses." All throughout this Hermione is giving Ron a disapproving look; I can tell that she does not agree with all of that. I just hope that I am in Gryffindor and not Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, especially not Slytherin.

"Not all of that is true. I mean I do love Gryffindor, but the other houses aren't that bad. You just haven't given any Slytherins a chance, Ron," Hermione says in a huff.

"Oh yea, name one Slytherin that is good, just one."

"Um-"

"See you can't!" Ron yells. "They are all evil! They are all Death Eaters and their sons." Ron looks ecstatic that he was able to prove his point, and Hermione was incapable of refuting his argument.

Hermione, not to be defeated that easily, continues, "Well in any case, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw aren't that bad. Hufflepuff is extremely loyal and Ravenclaw is for clever people, not that you are not smart if you are in another house. In Ravenclaw they are probably able to get some quiet study time, unlike Gryffindor where your brothers are always starting parties and causing other sorts of disturbances!" Just then I let out a little cough and Ron and Hermione looked around at me, as if noticing me the first time. "Oh Erin. I forgot that you were there. I am sorry its just Ron and I fight sometimes, we really are best friends."

"Yeah, don't let this effect your opinion of Gryffindor. Well, what do you think of the houses?" Ron questions me.

"Gryffindor sounds cool. Especially the quidditch part, I played keeper on my team back home."

"Really? Who's your favorite team? Mine's the Chuddley Cannons." Wow, Ron really seemed to jump on that topic.

"Well I like the Sweetwater Stars since they are from the US, but the Chuddley Cannons are pretty high up. My older brother Bryant loves them."

"They are the best, I mean they are going to make such a comeback!"

Ron and Hermione stay in my compartment for a majority of the remaining train ride, only leaving when Hermione manages to drag Ron out to finish the prefect rounds. Just before leaving Hermione tells me to change into my robes. I mean robes all the time! Muggle clothes are so much better! At NYAM we could wear whatever we wanted except for special occasions. But seriously, robes everyday?

Oh well, meeting people like Ron, Hermione, and Draco convinces me that maybe Hogwarts won't be too bad even if we have to wear robes all the time. I just hope the Slytherins aren't as much trouble as Ron, and even Hermione claim they are.

Oh my gosh. Hogwarts is huge. It's the most magnificent place I have ever seen in my life. Right now I am heading across the lake with the other first years and I cannot believe that I get to live here for the whole school year. It is amazing. It is so much better than NYAM. There we had a small campus with several buildings surrounding the quad. Here I am boating across a lake before this amazing, fantastic castle.

Before I can register it I am walking through two huge doors into Hogwarts and standing right in front of a strict looking teacher.

"Miss O'Connor?" Asks the stern looking woman.

Snapping out of my trance I answer, "Yea that's me."

"I am Professor McGonagall. You will wait outside these doors while the first years are sorted then I will call you in for your sorting."

"Okay." With that said she leads the first years through another set of massive doors and leaves me standing in the entrance hall.

"O'Connor, Erin"

Oh god. This is it. I open up the doors to the Great Hall, trying to take everything in at once. Looking up I am amazed that even the ceiling is a spectacle, being a replica of the night's sky.

Wow. I just realized how many people are staring at me and how nervous I am. I find Draco and he sends me an encouraging smile. Then I see Ron and Hermione also sending me a smile. Wait... they are not at the same table. What house is Draco in? Oh no, I wanted to be with all of them. Finally I reach the front of the hall where Professor McGonagall is standing with a ratty old hat and a stool. She beckons me forward and I sit on the stool. Just then she places the hat on my head.

TO BE CONTINUED

AUTHORS NOTE

So besides a short fanfic I wrote in the middle of writing this the first time through, this is my first story. With that said, ANY reviews are welcome, I know that this isn't all that great.

And I know I am a loser, but according to Wikipedia (where I got my info) the Sweetwater Stars actually are a team from the US.

So REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW