These characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Two: Year One

Hogwarts Express and Introductions

Three days later, our trunks were packed and we were headed for Kings Cross Station.

For hours, Mum had been crying. She kept going on about how she was going to miss her darling babies. As much as we tried comforting her, we knew she was going to be a train wreck for a while so there was no use in trying to calm her down.

On the way to the station, Seamus kept talking excitedly about our first flying lessons. He was a Quidditch fanatic. Ever since he'd learned of the sport, he kept up on stats and matches the Irish team had. Eventually, he passed his obsession on to me and we had both loved the sport.

We arrived at King's Cross around 10:45. Mum made us sprint through the station, our things nearly falling off of our trolleys. With ten minutes to spare until the train left the station, Mum ushered us quickly through the platform.

After I'd crossed over, I saw Seamus gripping his knees and breathing hard. "I'm never going to do that much running ever again."

I was panting pretty hard myself and needed to lean against a brick wall for a minute before I caught my breath. "Alright. Enough sitting around. Let's put our trunks away and say goodbye."

We found the car where trunks and cages were being loaded. Mum helped me place my trunk and Pandora's cage into the car. As she helped Seamus, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I whipped around and saw none other than Fred and George Weasley grinning at me broadly.

"Hello Blackbird. Are you excited for your first year?" Fred asked me.

I nodded, "Of course I am! It should be great. I can't wait until the first Quidditch match. It'll be exciting."

Fred and George exchanged a knowing look and then they smiled at me again.

"Wicked! Freddie and I are on the team. We're beaters." George explained.

"That sounds like fun. I wish I could be on the team." I lamented.

George shrugged, "You never know, stranger things have happened."

I nodded, "I guess. But I can't even have a broom."

He smiled, "That's not a problem, Fred and I have tons of extra brooms so if you want, you can borrow one."

"Where'd you get all the brooms?" I asked. I hadn't meant to be rude but the Weasley's didn't exactly seem like a wealthy family.

"Oh, well we like to steal them from the school's stash. They're not very good, but they come in handy when we want to play our own games."

I smiled at him. "Darcy! Let's go, Mum wants us to get on the train nice and early." Seamus said, tugging on my arm. I shooed him away, but he kept pulling so I gave George an apologetic look and followed Seamus.

"That was rude Sea." I told him.

He chuckled, "What? I think you were boring him."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right, I'm probably the most interesting person I know."

"You must not know many people then." Seamus joked. I laughed at him.

Mum was waiting for us by the entrance to a car. She held out her hands and we both joined her in a group hug.

She started crying again but this time I joined her too. This would be the longest I would be away from home ever. When Seamus saw that I was crying he groaned, "Don't be turning all girly on me now Darcy."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Shut up Seamus."

The train's whistle blew and Mum jumped. "Oh my. It's time, you two." She wiped her eyes and sniffled. "You must write me every week. Tell me everything!" I nodded and hugged her again.

"I'll miss you Mum." She hugged Seamus again and we were swept up into the current of kids walking onto the train. We waved one last time before trying to find an empty compartment.

We searched and searched, but none of them were empty. So instead we decided to sit with a compartment that was already housing two boys.

"Mind if we sit with you?" Seamus asked them. They welcomed us gladly and pretty soon, we were all well acquainted.

One of the boys was named Neville Longbottom. Seamus had chuckled at the name but I hit him before Neville could notice. Neville was a very nervous boy and was very shy but he soon warmed up to us. He talked about how he lived with his Gram and that he had already lost his toad, Trevor.

The other boy, a dark-skinned, tall one, was very loud, but also very smart. His name was Dean Thomas. He and Seamus instantly bonded over their love for Quidditch. Dean and I also talked about our classes and how we were already planning out plenty of time in the library.

We had been traveling a while when a girl came in. She was already in her Hogwarts robes.

"Hello. I'm Hermione Granger."

I smiled at her, "I'm Darcy Finnigan and this is my twin brother, Seamus."

Dean and Neville introduced themselves to Hermione before she continued.

"Have any of you lost a toad? It's been causing quite a ruckus throughout the train.

I glanced at Neville who was blushing a bright red. Seamus chuckled and Dean started laughing like a mad-man.

"It's Neville's." I told her. "Do you know where it is now?"

She shook her bushy head, "No, but we can start looking. Do you want to join me?"

I nodded and stood up. Hermione and I went from compartment to compartment, asking each of its occupants if they had seen Neville's toad. We eventually came upon a compartment with a two boys. One with messy, black hair and Ronald Weasley.

"Hey Ron!" I said cheerily. He looked up and smiled at me.

"Hi Darcy! What are you doing here?"

"Have you seen a toad?" Hermione asked, ignoring his question. "A boy named Neville's lost one."

Ron shook his head. Hermione was looking at him. "Are you doing magic?" She was referring to the wand Ron was holding in his hand. "Let's see it then."

She sat down next to him and I took my place next to the other boy. Ron cleared his throat before aiming his wand at the fat rat in his lap.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

The rat didn't do anything. He just kept sleeping on his lap.

Hermione looked rather disgusted, "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, right Darcy? I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough- I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She had said all of this very fast.

Ron looked at the black-haired boy with a crazed look. I glanced at them too. So I wasn't the only one who didn't memorize the course books?

Ron stuffed a sweet into his mouth, "I'm Ron Weasley."

Hermione looked him over and said dismissively, "You've got dirt on your nose." He glared at her and self-consciously rubbed at his nose.

"And I'm Harry Potter." The black-haired boy said.

Hermione and I stared at him in awe. I wasn't sure how she knew about him since she was Muggle-born, but Mum had told Seamus and I many stories about The-Boy-Who-Lived.

I could tell Hermione was about to start spouting more magical facts about the world so I quickly stood up and said, "It's so great to meet you Harry. It's good to see you, Ron. I've got to get going."

I returned to my compartment to find that the boys had changed into their robes. "Better hurry, Darcy." Seamus said, "We're almost at Hogwarts."

I squealed and grabbed my clothes and ran to the bathroom aboard the train.

After I changed, I ran straight into a sturdy figure. "Watch it, girl." The way the voice said it was like he was offended by my presence.

When I looked at him, I knew he would probably be a Slytherin. He had greased back, white-blonde hair. His skin was deathly pale and he had dark grey eyes. His mouth was turned down in a scowl.

"You watch it." I said.

He glared at me. "I'd watch what you say to me, girl. I have friends in high places. After all, I'm a pure blood."

I scoffed, "And that makes you all high and mighty does it?"

"Yes it does. At least higher than your sorry arse is going to be after my father hears about my mistreatment."

"Leave her alone. Malfoy, is it?" I heard George Weasley say from behind me.

The boy stared at George's height. "You must be a Weasley. Red hair...hand me down robe. My father has told me all about you."

"Oh really? And what are you going to do about it?" George sassed back. "Are you going to tell your dad? He can't do anything to me."

"Well...we'll see about that." He looked at me with a sneer. "I'd be careful with who you become friends with, girl."

The boy stalked away muttering to himself. "He's a bucket full of sunshine." I said, sarcasm dripping from my mouth. I already hated this guy.

George laughed, "Yeah,the Malfoy's are a particularly nasty bunch of 'pure blood' wizards who think they're better than everyone else. He's going to be in Slytherin, I can tell you that now."

"Really? How can you tell?" I asked him. We were heading back to my compartment as we walked.

"Because all the Malfoys have been in Slytherin. And if they don't make it in, they are practically disowned."

I shook my head, "That's harsh."

"True. But it kind of runs in the family. All of us Weasleys have been in Gryffindor for generations. But if you ask me," he said, leaning in a bit "I think Ron's going to be in Hufflepuff."

I laughed, "Why, you don't think he's brave enough?"

"Oh bloody hell, no. He's a wimp; scared of spiders."

I shivered, "Spiders are pretty scary."

He groaned, "Not you too."

I shrugged, "What can I say, spiders are not meant to be in this world."

He chuckled and stopped when we got back to my compartment. "Well, I guess I'll see you at the sorting ceremony."

I nodded, "Yep, see you then."'

I closed the compartment door behind me. And sat down in my place.

"What took you so long Darcy?" Seamus asked.

I sighed, "I ran into a guy named Malfoy."

Dean scowled, "I ran into him earlier too. Called me something that sounded horrid. He's a great guy."

We arrived at Hogwarts just as the sun was going down. Hagrid, a very tall man, guided us first years to a black lake where many boats were waiting to take us across. "No more than four to a boat." He said. "Come on first years, we don't have all day."

I piled into a boat with Seamus and Dean and some blonde girl with blue eyes I hadn't met yet. We stared in wonder as the boats traveled at a slow pace towards the castle. It was bigger than I had ever imagined. It was resting on a tall mountain with orbs of light illuminating the dark surroundings.

We were passing underneath a tunnel of ivy that ran through the bottom of the mountain. The tunnel was dark and a little spooky. Our boats came to a stop when they hit a shore line of pebbles and rocks. We all clambered out and Hagrid led us inside to a large staircase. No one moved. I guess everyone was too terrified of what lay ahead.

Hagrid started shoving us up and eventually we were able to walk on our own up the large stairs. We came to a stop in front of a tall, black-haired witch with emerald-green robes. She had a very stern face; I made a mental note to never make her upset.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

"Sure thing, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid nodded and lumbered away.

"Alright. Wait here until I am certain Professor Dumbledore is ready." Professor McGonagall walked away.

"So it's true then?" A heard a familiar voice say. "Harry Potter has returned to Hogwarts." Malfoy came out from the crowd and started talking to Harry. I didn't really pay any attention to what he was saying. I was more concerned with the fact that I was about to be sorted into a house.

"We are ready for you." Professor McGonagall said. "Please form a line and follow me."

I ended up next to Dean with Neville and Seamus in front of us. When we were about to move, a croak echoed throughout the room.

"Trevor!" Neville shoved Seamus aside and picked up the toad that had just been found.

McGonagall gave a disapproving look, "Let's continue. Welcome to the Great Hall."