Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise (as much as I wish I did). I am merely letting my imagination run wild in a forest of ideas planted by J. K. Rowling.

I squinted as the bright morning light flooded into my bedroom windows.

"Emily! Time to get up!"

I groaned, not ready to face the day. I'm usually more of a morning person, but something about this morning just made me not want to get up.

"Come on. Em! If you don't get up soon we'll miss the train!"

The train... Oh! The train! Duh! Today was the first day of my second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I quickly jumped out of bed and scrambled to find some clothes.

"I'll be down in a few minutes, Remus!" I shouted in response.

Yes, I live with Remus Lupin. He's my godfather. My parents died when I was really little, just a few weeks old, so I've lived with Remus all my life, which, let me tell you, has been a little interesting. You see, Remus is a werewolf. Crazy, no? But it's true. So even though I'm only a firs- no, second year (going to have to get used to saying that), I can do quite a lot of magic. I had to be able to in order to defend myself in case anything ever went wrong during a full moon. Usually, I just fly out of sight, and make sure he isn't seen or near an unsuspecting muggle. Yes, I did say fly. I'm an Animagus, an owl to be exact. Remus thought it would be a good idea for me to learn so I wouldn't have to go far away every month. I began the process when I was six (I was given special permission by Dumbledore to be given a wand much earlier than normal magical children). It took a long time to master, but by the time I was ten, I was able to do it. I also know many advanced spells like-

"Emily, we need to leave in about a half an hour. Are you all packed up?"

"Yes, of course. Just need to grab a few textbooks and I'll be down."

I grabbed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration from off my night stand, shoved them in my already very full trunk, and headed downstairs. The smells of bacon, eggs, and toast floated through the air as I made my way to the kitchen.

"There's some food on the table and some tea on the stove if you want," Remus said as I entered the room, not looking up from the Daily Prophet he was reading in the living room.

"Mmm, looks good. Thanks," I said.

Once I finished eating, Remus made me open up my trunk to check that I had absolutely everything I needed.

"It won't be like last year, when I could just send you anything you forgot from home. You have to have everything, 'cause no one will be here again til Christmas," he reminded me.

Remus was going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year at Hogwarts, so he was coming on the train with me and living in the castle and everything! (If you can't tell, I'm just a little excited!)

"Alright, I think that's everything. Off we go!" Remus said before grabbing my hand and apparating to King's Cross Station.

"Right through the barrier like last time, right?" I asked.

"Just like last time," he replied.

I shut my eyes tight and ran into the brick between Platforms nine and ten, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the bright red Hogwarts Express waiting for me.

"Here, I'll take your things, go find your friends," Remus said from behind me.

"Thanks." I gave him a quick hug before running on the train.

"Emily!" my best friend cried when I finally found her compartment.

"Hey Ginny!" I said as I hugged my red-haired companion. Ginny and I were best friends ever since we were partnered in Potions first year.

"So, how was your summer?" I asked as the train began to move. We were the only ones in our compartment, not that people didn't like us, but we were both kind of the quiet little kids no one really talks to. Our only friends were each other.

"It was good, about the same as last year."

"Did Harry come over?" I asked, knowing all about her obsessive crush.

"No, actually.."

"No? Wow, that's a first."

"Well, there's kind of a reason..."

"A reason? Ginny tell me everything!"

"I don't know... It rather goes against your philosophy of 'never break any rules, always be prefect, get prefect grades'-"

"Ginny, come on."

"-'suck up to teachers, always be perfectly organized'-"

"Ginny!"

"Alright! He blew up his aunt," Ginny said quietly.

"He WHAT?"

" See, I told you you would over react!"

"Ginny! Finish the story!"

"OK, so his uncle's sister was staying with them for the week, and apparently she was saying some pretty terrible things about Harry's parents, so he got super mad and she blew up."

"Blew up... like exploded?"

"No! No, like a balloon!"

"Oh, right. Carry on."

"So, his aunt blew up, then he got one of those letters from the Ministry saying that is her ever did magic outside of school again, he would be expelled."

"Harsh much?"

"I know. He was still super mad about his aunt, so he packed up all of his stuff and ran away. Thankfully, he took the Knight Bus, so we could easily find him. Then, we met up with him at the Leaky Cauldron, and that was the end of it."

"Wow, anything else interesting or exciting?"

"No, that was about it. You?"

" Oh, nothing to huge. Spent a week in France with Remus. That was nice, but that's all."

"Are you excited about him teaching this year?"

"Oh, of course!"

"I would be too; maybe he'll give you free passes on homework and such. Maybe he'll give me free passes on homework because I'm your best friend! Or maybe he'll even- Emily, why has the trained stopped?"

And the train had indeed stopped. I immediately knew something was wrong, we couldn't possibly be at Hogwarts yet. Suddenly, all the lights went out and it got incredibly cold. I could see the windows start to ice up and my breath come out in foggy little puffs.

" Emily, do you think its-"

"Merlin, I hope it's not, I mean-"

"Why would they be on the train?"

Just at that moment, a black, boney hand reached for the door handle and a huge, hooded figure entered the compartment.

"Dementors" I whispered.

"Go away!" Ginny shouted bravely. "We didn't do anything wrong!"

"Expecto Patronum" I said weakly. I didn't produce much more than a small silver wisp, but it was enough to keep them away.

"I wonder what they are doing here," Ginny said, still looking terrified.

"Not a clue" I said, wondering what other strange things might happen this year at Hogwarts.

AN: I'm so excited, this is my first fanfic! Tell me what you think, please!