Chapter 1

James grinned and looked around at his fellow Gryffindors in the compartment. The Hogwarts express had just left the station and James had just said goodbye to his Mum and Dad. The train was headed towards James' second year at Hogwarts.

He was standing just outside the compartment his friends and two cousins were sharing. The five of them were all really close. Louis (Uncle Bill's son) was a year older than them but the Weasley/Potter family tended to stick together. Roxanne - Uncle George's daughter - and their two friends Troy and Erica made up the rest of the gang.

"Oi, Potter!" Said Troy as James was entering the compartment. "Have a good summer?"

"Of course," James replied "Spent the time annoying Albus and dreaming up new ways to get detention."

They all groaned, James was infamous for his ability to get detention from every professor – even the nice ones. In his first week only, he had managed to get six detentions. James smiled cheekily at them and sat down next to Erica.

"Hey James." She smiled at him. Erica was a very pretty brunette with blue eyes and the main reason James hadn't failed his end of term exams. "Did you do the summer reading?" The ever studious girl asked.

"There was reading?" James replied shocked. Although he wasn't really that concerned, he could just copy off of someone later if he needed too.

"Of, course there was! You don't think the teachers would just let you stay home all summer coming up with new ways to torture them?" Erica asked.

"Me, torture the teachers? Never!" James said in mock outrage. They all laughed. He caught Roxanne's eye and winked. They had in fact, spent the summer coming up with new pranks to use this year. They had lots of ideas too, Uncle George was full of them and occasionally Uncle Ron or his Dad would tell some stories as well.

Oh yes, he thought. It's going to be a great year.

This is it, Albus thought, his first ever year at Hogwarts was beginning. Albus was feeling a mixture of emotions, he was nervous and excited at the same time. He was happy that Rose was here with him and that they were experiencing this together. He and Rose had always been very close. They were sitting in a compartment with their older cousins Fred, Lucy and Dominique.

Albus was staring out the window, watching the English countryside go by. Rose was chatting with Lucy, so he had time to think for a bit. His dad had just told him that the sorting hat takes into account what house you want to be sorted into. This relieved Albus a bit but nevertheless he was nervous. What else had his dad said? It had taken into account his choice too? What could that mean? Surely there was no doubt his Dad would have been in Gryffindor, right?

The sound of the compartment door opening interrupted his thoughts. Albus looked up to see a blonde girl with freckles who looked to be about his age.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" She asked. "All the others are full."

"Of course." Said Albus as the girl sat down across from him.

"My name's Abby by the way, Abby Mellark." The girl said.

"I'm Albus Potter." Albus replied. Her mouth opened in shock. That was a bit of a stretch, Albus thought. His name was weird but there was no need to look so surprised!

"You're Harry Potters son aren't you?" She asked him.

"Yes," Albus answered slowly. "How did you know that?"

"Well you look just like him! Except for the scar and glasses of course." The girl said. She then proceeded to prattle on about houses, quidditch and whatnot. But Albus was only half listening. How did she know all that? He thought. I guess dad is pretty well known – he is the head of the Auror department after all and he's married to Mum who played seeker for the Holyhead harpies. It was still weird that she knew what he looked like though…

Rose smiled in excitement. She knew they were getting close. This was it, her chance to prove herself, prove that she wasn't just another Weasley. Rose knew she would do well in her classes, she would work hard and make sure she was at the top.

"Are you ready Rose?" her cousin Fred asked.

"Are you worried about the sorting?" Lucy asked.

"Not really." Rose replied. And she wasn't, she knew where she belonged and that was in Gryffindor with the rest of her family. No hat was going to tell her she didn't belong there. The train was slowing down now and Rose glanced over at Albus who was deep in conversation with that blonde girl – what was her name again? Abby? She seemed nice, a bit over-talkative though.

Albus looked up, almost as if he had heard her thinking about him. The two cousins were very close as they were almost the same age and had grown up together. The train had come to a complete stop now and they all stood up.

"Ready?" asked Albus.

"Of course!" Rose said as they were being shepherded onto the platform.

"Firs' years this way! Firs' years come with me." Bellowed an enormous man with a shaggy beard and twinkling eyes. This must be Hagrid she thought. The man spotted her and Albus and winked at them.

They walked awhile and were soon at the edge of the glittering, black lake. Rose clambered up onto a boat along with Albus and Abby. At the very last second, a boy with platinum blonde hair boarded as well. Hey, Rose thought, isn't that the boy from the platform, the one her parents were talking about?

Rose didn't pursue that thought because any thoughts Rose had had at that point disappeared. She had just gotten her first glimpse of Hogwarts and it was breathtaking.

The thousands of windows twinkled as they were lit up like a Christmas tree. The castle itself was sprawling with towers and turrets as far as they eye can see. "I'm going to live here!" Rose thought excitedly. "This is my new home."

A/N This is my first ever fanfic and I'm not entirely sure about it. Review if you want, I'm open to anything. If you don't want to review that's cool too. :)