These characters belong to J.K. Rowling

Chapter One: Year One

Diagon Alley and New Friends

The day I received my Hogwarts letter was one of the happiest days of my life.

Ever since I was six years old, I had patiently waited for them. That was the year Mum told Seamus and I that we, like her, were magical. Not only her, but our entire family on her side possessed the same abilities.

My father, who was a Muggle, sat there while she told us, shaking his head. Apparently, he hadn't known that Mum was a witch until a few years earlier.

At the time, Seamus and I were inseparable. Mum liked to joke sometimes that we had come out of the womb clinging to each other. Needless to say, we never found that very amusing. But she was partially correct since we had hardly ever been apart.

When our letters arrived, we were all sitting at the kitchen table, eating our breakfast quietly. Dad had to leave early for his Muggle job in town. Mum was humming softly to herself, probably a song her mother taught her. Just when I was about to stuff another sausage into my mouth, I heard the mail arrive through the slot in the front door.

"I'll get it Mum." I said quickly.

"Thank you dearest." She said, sipping her tea. I walked to the front door and found a large pile of mail. I sighed and picked it all up.

I didn't rifle through it, knowing full well it would only be bills for Dad. I set them on the table and returned to my breakfast.

A few minutes later, after her plate was cleared and her cup was empty, Mum hopped up from her place at the table and started rifling through the mail.

Suddenly she broke out into a huge grin. She started laughing her contagious laugh which got Seamus' attention.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, a perturbed look on his face. He never liked to be interrupted during breakfast.

Mum looked up at us and held out two cream colored envelopes. "Your school letters are here."

I let out a joyous cry and leapt from the table to snatch my letter from her fingers. Seamus followed quit and joined me in ripping them open.

My eyes scanned the letter hungrily as I read the words I'd been waiting to see for five years.

Dear Miss Finnigan,

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

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

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

I almost couldn't believe what I was reading. I was officially a Hogwarts student. Overflowing with happiness, I squealed and hugged Seamus tightly.

"Geez, Darcy." Seamus said, "You're going to kill me if you squeeze me any tighter."

I laughed, "I can't help it! I'm too excited!"

Seamus' face twisted as he attempted to hide his excitement but eventually, he burst. "I know! It's going to be great!"

"I don't think we'll be able to get to Diagon Alley until the week before you leave." Mum said, bustling around the kitchen trying to find her calendar to write down the momentous event.

"Why not today?" I whined.

She smiled at me. "Because…" She flipped through the pages of the calendar and scribbled something into a square in late August. "Your father is taking off for Belgium that week."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Seamus asked.

She sighed, "Do you really think your father is going to be comfortable in a place surrounded by magical people? It's better this way. Simple."

I nodded solemnly. "I guess."

I never really understood why my father had such an aversion to magic. Someday I wished he could see everything I saw in it.

At last the final week of August arrived. Our father left for his trip in a great haste, though he managed to make time to hug Seamus and I one last time before we left for school. He wished us a pleasant time and hoped we would get on well there.

The day after he left, Mum, Seamus, and I piled into our father's car and began to long journey to London. On the way, Mum told us we were meeting an old friend of hers who was also taking her children to Diagon Alley that day.

"Her name's Molly Weasley. She was in her fifth year when I got to Hogwarts. She instantly befriended me even though we were in different houses. She took me under her wing. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have passed Charms."

I looked at Seamus with a smile. We loved it when Mum talked about her old days at Hogwarts. It was so fascinating to hear of her peers and professors that she loved, and hated, dearly.

"She's got seven children." Mum continued. "Two of which are out of school. I believe one is in Egypt and the other in Romania. The third's in his fifth year, just became prefect too. The twins are headed into their…third year. One's joining this year and the only girl is still too young."

I whistled at how many children she had, "That's impressive. And you say the youngest is the only girl? So there are six boys? That sounds dreadful."

"I don't know." Seamus chimed in, "I always wanted a brother."

"But six of them?" I replied. "Imagine the mess."

"It can't be nearly as bad as your bedroom. You're an honorary pig."

"Says the fella who won't clear his dishes from the table even after Da's asked twice."

Mum laughed at our bickering, "That's enough you two. We're here!"

She parked on the street and, once we were all out of the car, began walking towards a tall, dilapidated building.

Seamus gave me a sideways glance, "You reckon she's a nutter?"

I laughed, "If she is, we all are."

As soon as we stepped into the Leaky Cauldron, the overwhelming scent of fermentation caused me to crinkle my nose. Many different flavors of food I'd never tasted before swirled and mixed in the air as well.

We followed after Mum only to see that she was now hugging a short, slightly chubby woman tightly. The woman was fiercely red-headed and was adorned with very bright cloaks over her stout figure. The infamous Molly Weasley, perhaps?

I walked forward slightly to make my presence known. Mrs. Weasley caught my eye and her face brightened.

"Why this must be little Darcy Finnigan. Your mother has told me all about you." She smiled and gave me a hug. "And you must be Seamus! Well let me just say, you look a lot like your sister over there. And you both look like your beautiful mother."

Seamus smiled with his crooked teeth. "Thanks M'am."

"Would you like to meet my boys? Percy! Fred, George, Ron! Come out from there."

A few minutes later, a boy with wildly curly ginger hair, like Molly, came running into the main room.

"Mum, Fred and George are at it again."

She shook her head, "When are they never at it? Here, meet Seamus and Darcy Finnigan. They'll be joining the Hogwarts family this year."

He nodded at us curtly before saying, "Hello, I'm Percy. I do hope you'll be in Gryffindor, I'll be your prefect." He held out his hand.

I immediately took it and shook it firmly.

He smiled at me nicely and turned his attention to Seamus who ignored him. He was too busy laughing at the scene that had just walked in.

A boy, around our age, had come in with a rat in his hand and water was covering him from head to toe.

"Mum..."

She frowned, "Did Fred and George...?"

The boy nodded grimly.

She sighed, "Alright, Ron, we'll get you cleaned up before we go shopping. Where are your brothers?"

"They're still in the other room laughing their arses-"

"Ronald!"

Ron blushed profusely and I laughed. He heard me and glared in my direction. "Who are you?"

I smiled and greeted, "I'm Darcy Finnigan. He's Seamus." I said pointing to my brother.

Ron nodded, "Are you starting this year too?" When I nodded he said, "Good, at least I've already met two people."

"Ah, there you two are. You should apologize to the Finnigans for keeping them."

"Oh Molly, it's fine." Mum said. "Besides, now that we have been graced with Freddie and Georgie's appearance, Darcy and Seamus can finally be acquainted with everyone."

One of the boys that had come in smiled, "Why thank you M'am. I'm glad our presence pleases you." He held out his hand to Mum, "I am Sir Frederick Weasley." Mum shook his hand and he moved on to Seamus who shook it rather hesitantly. He finally came over to me and he smiled like the Cheshire cat. "Why hello there. What's your name?"

"Darcy."

He grinned "I'm going to call you Blackbird." I looked at him confused until he pointed to my hair, "Your hair is pitch black my dear Darcy."

I made a face at him, "That's a stupid name."

He smirked, "Well some people say I'm a pretty stupid person."

"I could have guessed that for myself." I said.

He laughed, "I like you. I can tell we're going to be great friends."

"I'm George." said Fred. Or at least, he looked like Fred. "Fred's my twin." He said.

"We're identical!" They said together.

"Darcy's my twin." Seamus said.

Fred frowned, "Ah but where's the fun in that? You two look nothing alike? There's no way I'm going to get you two confused."

Seamus and I exchanged a look and grinned. This was going to be an interesting day.

And an interesting day it most certainly was. Both of the Weasley twins were the most annoying yet entertaining boys I'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. They were pranksters who had a knack for getting into trouble. Ron, who seemed to be tired of his brother's antics, was the target of most of them.

We were now in a store called Flourish and Blotts. Books covered the walls from the ceiling to the floor. The majority of them were text books that were available for students, but some were fiction tales of adventure and romance. I couldn't help but skim through them eagerly.

The group spent a long time searching for the books on the list that we would need for classes. And I guess every young witch and wizard had decided to come shopping today because the line for checking out was out of the door.

Mum and Mrs. Weasley told Fred, George, and Percy to take Ron, Seamus, and I to get our wands. A short flare of disappointment washed through me when I realized Mum wasn't going to be with me, but it was quickly replaced with the excitement of getting a wand.

When we arrived at Ollivander's, George held the door open for us. I'd heard so many things about this shop from my mother, but I certainly wasn't expecting nearly every inch of the place to be covered in boxes of wands.

As soon as we walked inside a chirpy old man showed himself behind a counter. "Why hello there. Do we have three young wizards and a witch in need of a wand today?"

We nodded quickly, anxious smiles on our faces.

Ron went first. He took a really long time. Finding a wand for him was probably the most infuriating thing for everyone in the room. Practically every wand he touched led to some disasterous thing happening. At long last, he found the perfect one.

Seamus stepped up next.

"10.5" Mahogany, Unicorn hair..." Ollivander said, passing the wand to Seamus. Seamus took it in his hands and waved it around wildly. Instantly, box flew from the shelves and hit George in the head. He began cursing.

"No...try this... 12.5" Yew, Dragon heartstrings"

When Seamus took it, a warm wind blew through Ollivander's.

"Well, looks like you are next Miss Finnigan." I looked up in surprise. It definitely hadn't taken long for Seamus to find his perfect match.

He mumbled as he shifted through boxes. "Try this. 9" Willow, Phoenix Feather"

I took it in my hands and waved it around. Fire spurted from the end and hit Seamus on his cheek.

"Ow!"

"Sorry Sea." I called, and set the wand down.

We tried many more wands, time had passed by slowly and I still had yet to receive my wand.

Just when I was about to give up, Ollivander handed me a wand that was a light brown color. It had light bluish tint to it as well and shapes that looked like snowflakes were etched into the wood.

"It's a 8.5" Ash, Hippogriff Talon. Very expensive. I imported it from Greenland. Very rare,very very rare."

I stared at him for a moment, a little freaked out by his words. But then I got over it and waved it and a chilly blast nearly knocked everyone over.

"That's the one." Ollivander muttered, "Interesting. Well it'll be 10 for the young Irish lad's, 9 for the red head's and 15 for the pretty lady's." We handed him the money and thanked him as we walked out of the store.

"Sea, let's find Mum." I said. Seamus nodded and helped me looked around.

We walked through many streets. The entire time, I was carefully watching everything around me, soaking it all up. I just couldn't believe that this was real and that I was really there.

"Children!" We turned to see Mum and Mrs. Weasley holding our books. Mum was also pulling cart with two cages on it. I grinned when I saw what was in the cages.

"A present for you." Mum said, presenting our new pets.

In the first cage, a large owl with dark brown feathers spotted with white flecks and huge yellow eyes hooted. Seamus poked his finger in the cage and stroked the owl's feathers.

"Wow. He's great, Mum."

"What are you going to name him?" I asked him.

He shrugged, "I'll decide when it comes to me."

Mum had gotten me a cat. This cat had white fur and gray ears and tail. Her eyes were a gorgeous blue and she looked up at me with a look that told me she was a very curious cat. Her name came to me almost immediately.

Fred and George came over to me and started petting her fur.

"She's really soft." George mused. "What's her name going to be?"

I considered this and then grinned, "Pandora."

Fred leaned down to her face, "Hello, Pandy.

"Alright children, it's time to continue our shopping." Mum said, dragging us out of the middle of the road.

It took the rest of the day to finish our shopping but we managed to complete our list and break for liunch around noon. Unfortunately, Pandora was a very loud cat who like to meow a lot.

"That cat is going to be a pain." George grumbled as we walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.

I shot him a glance and said, "Then you two should be great companions."

Fred laughed and rustled George's hair. "She got you." George didn't reply, only rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath.

The Weasley's were kind enough to escort us back to our car even though they had Flooed into the Leaky Cauldron from their home. Mrs. Weasley demanded that the boys help us load the car with our newly bought Hogwarts gear.

George and I happened to reach for the same pile of books at the same time. Our collided and I instantly pulled back, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry. You can take them."

"Would you rather carry them?" He asked, hold them out to me.

I shook my head, "Not at all."

"Here, just take them-"

"No I really don't want to. I'll take something else."

I rolled my eyes, "It's fine. Here." I picked up my set of robes, "I've got this. No big deal."

After I placed them gently in the back of the car, I sped to the passenger side. "Shot gun!" I called.

"Hey! Darcy, you got shot-gun last time." Seamus said.

"Snooze you lose!" I teased. "Come on Mum, this car isn't going anywhere until you put the keys in."

She scowled at me and hugged Molly again before climbing in next to me. "I was talking."

"I know, but we're hungry. So drive!"

She laughed and waved one last time to Molly and the boys. She pulled out of the parking place and we began our long journey to home.

We didn't get home until very late. Seamus and I had fallen asleep in our seats. Mum woke us up and made us carry our belongings inside the house and put them in our rooms for her to pack in our trunks later.

As soon as I did that, I happily put on my pajamas and brushed my teeth. I walked into the bathroom and was delightedly greeted by a sleeping Seamus who was snoring on the loo. My brother is pretty classy.

With a shake of my head and a quiet chuckle, I brushed my teeth and slid into bed. The only thing that ran through my head that night were dreams of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.