Chapter 1

Laertes looked around again, hoping beyond all hope that i this /i time he'd find platform 9 ¾, but he didn't. There was platform 10 and there was platform 9, but nothing in between. He wanted to ask the guard but he was to shy and to sure that the guard would laugh at him to actually do it. He watched the other people bustle around, paying the young boy no heed and it made him even more frustrated, with an angry sigh Laertes leaned back on the wall between 9 and 10, figuring he didn't see any other children yet anyway.

As he did, however, instead of being supported by solid wall he fell through. Tumbling backwards still holding on to his cart he suddenly found himself in a totally different world.

Laertes blinked, looking around confused. There, not far above him, was a sign in bright lettering that said platform 9 ¾. A very small smile spread across his face before he moved away from the doorway. Children and their parents were littered around the courtyard.

Feeling quite alone, Laertes pushed his cart closer to the bright scarlet train. All around him parents were saying good bye to their children, again he had an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

However, pressing down the abandonment he felt he got his things on the train and began walking awkwardly down the hall of the train, unsure of where to go or where to sit.

As he was, he watched two of his classmates, not looking much older than him, arguing very heavily. They both were red-heads and looked remarkably alike though one was a boy the other a girl. They both were so absorbed in their argument they didn't notice Laertes. He tried to side step them, but it was too late, they both rammed into him, knocking him over.

The girl, seeing him, immediately threw her hands over her mouth, her blue eyes wide and guilty looking. The boy however, took a much more frank approach.

"Sorry mate, didn't see you there." He offered his hand down to Laertes who gladly took it. As he stood up the boy did not let go of his hand, instead began shaking it. "I'm Faux Weasley."

"Laertes, Laertes Flaunting."

By now the girl standing next to them had calmed down and she was reaching out to Laertes as well. Smiling slightly Laertes grasped her hand and shook it. "Gwyn Weasley" she supplied for him smiling back.

"So you are related…" he said quietly, almost more to himself then to them.

Gwyn nodded, "Yea, twins actually, it runs in the family." The three were than quiet for a moment, Laertes was unsure of what to say, but luckily Gwyn broke the tense silence.

"Would you like to sit with us?" She asked quite cheerfully, flipping her curly red hair over her shoulder. Laertes almost gapped at them, but nodded, more grateful then he could even vocalize. "Great!" She nearly punched the air but seemed to think better of it and grasped his elbow instead. "We're sitting down this way with two of our cousins. Come on!" With that she led him down the hall, Faux behind him, to a nice compartment with two other people in it.

One was a much older boy; the other looked their age, both of them had the same red hair as Gwyn and Faux. Gwyn slide the door open and nearly dragged Laertes in with her. Faux paid no mind to them and nearly jumped into the space next to the older boy.

"Hello Gwyn, who's this?" The older boy asked looking at Laertes with almost twinkling misty eyes. Laertes felt a bit uncomfortable under the boy's piercing gaze.

"This is Laertes, Laertes this is my cousin Peter," and before Laertes could even say something in response she'd drug him over to the open seats next to the other boy. "And this is another cousin, Lance. Here sit." She pressed him down in the seat and then took the spot next to him.

Laertes still bit uncomfortable just nodded and put his hands in his lap and looked down at the floor. Faux, however, was the one to bring Laertes out of his uncomfortable pose.

"Are you a first year then?" he asked pointedly.

Laertes looked up and nodded. "Yah, I well, I didn't even know about Hogwarts until I got my letter, apparently my mum's parents were a witch and a wizard…but I didn't know anything about it."

Gwyn was the one that spoke next. "Your muggle-born then? That's so cool! Our mum is, but our dad is pure-blood; so I guess…we're half-bloods you know?"

Laertes looked at her confused. "No, I don't actually…" he felt kind of stupid admitting it, but Gwyn seemed to take it all in stride.

"Well muggle-born means your mum and dad were both muggles, you know, no magic ability at all; pure-blood means both your parents were a witch and a wizard. And then a half-blood is when one of them is a muggle and the other is magical." Laertes nodded, doing his best to understand. "We're half-blood because our mum is muggle-born and our dad isn't; Peter is a pure-blood cause his mum and dad were too, and Lance, well he's complicated, or so Mum says."

For the first time the other boy their age moved, he looked uncomfortable about the subject but didn't say anything. Gwyn, however, paid him no heed. "So it's your first year then?" Again Laertes nodded. "Ours and Lance's too! Peter's a seventh year though…Although I'm sure it's much more exciting for you, we've got cousins and an older brother that already goes. So for us it's just a relief to finally be going…how's it for you?"

Laertes thought for a moment before responding. "Well, I'm really nervous…I didn't even know magic was real until this July…so, I don't know, I'm excited…I guess."

Faux actually went to respond but before he could their compartment door swung open and two boys stepped in, again they had red hair.

"Peter!" One of them nearly yelled, rushing over to the oldest boy. "Quick! Quick the stash!"

The other boy came in and nearly sat on Laertes before Gwyn yelled. "Arthur! Watch it!"

He turned around and smiled, as if just seeing her for the first time. "Gwynie! My baby sister! Awww look at you all grown up and sittin' on the twain? Is this your new boyfriend?" He asked suddenly pressing himself between them, wrapping his arms around the both of them.

Gwyn made a face and pushed out from under his arm. "No! He's a friend. His name is Laertes. Now what are you and Sirius doing?"

He made a loud smacking noise as he kissed her wetly on the cheek, ruffling her hair. "Nothing that concerns you little sister." As he said this the boy called Sirius apparently got what he wanted because he began to head toward the door and Arthur got up to do the same.

"Can I help?" Faux piped in looking at the other two hopefully. The boy named Sirius turned around and gave a mischievous smile.

"Nope, sorry cos. Better luck next time!" And with that the two were gone. Faux had a frown on his face and Gwyn was still rubbing hard at the cheek Arthur had kissed.

"Who were they?" Laertes asked, confused by the almost tornado effect the two had left in their path; it was the quiet Lance that answered him.

"That was Sirius and Arthur, Arthur is their brother, they're third years. Everyone likes them, but they get in trouble a lot, my dad told me to stay away from them."

Peter laughed, the eerie blue eyes glittering. "Lance your father tells you that about nearly all of us."

Lance suddenly looked insulted, "not everyone! He said I could be around Hamlet! Or you!"

Peter actually seemed surprised by this and the eerie twinkle immediately left his eye, making Laertes wonder if he'd been purposefully doing it. "Really, Uncle Percy said you could hang around me?" Peter's voice no longer held the aloof tone it had before, making Laertes sure he'd purposefully been strange before; instead his voice was surprised and almost flattered.

Laertes was confused. "Why does it matter, aren't you cousins anyway?"

"Well yes…" Faux said carefully, "but Uncle Percy, well, he…"

"He is very different from the rest of the family." Peter finished his voice still very clear.

"Oh…" Laertes couldn't think of anything else to say, but then unthinking, "how many cousins do you all have?" He directed the question toward Gwyn, as she seemed the most talkative.

He was right, as soon as he'd asked a huge grin appeared on her face as she turned to better look at him. "Well, there's what 16 of us?" She glanced at Faux for clarification.

"No, 17, unless we're counting us too, then there's 21."

Laertes eyes boggled, "21?"

Faux smiled, "yea. Well there's our family, with four of us. We have a little sister MJ, she'll start Hogwarts in 2 years…and then there's Peter's family,"

"There is me, and my two sisters, one older and one younger…" the creepy Peter was back, Laertes noticed the aloof twinkle in his eye and voice.

"Right, and then of course there's Lance,"

"But I don't have any brothers or sisters…"

"It's okay mate…sometimes I think that's better…" Faux said solemnly.

"Hey!" Gwyn said kicking out to hit her brother. Faux just laughed.

"Anyway, you've met Sirius, so there's him but then there's his four brothers, two sets of twins…"

"Told you it runs in the family!" Gwyn interrupted, but Faux ignored her and continued on.

"And then there's Uncle Charlie and Aunt Lizzie, they have Hamlet, Edwin, and Dora. Hamlet's a sixth year and Edwin's a fifth…but Dora's only four, so she's got awhile…"

"And then there's Uncle George and Aunt Alicia! Desi, their daughter, is a sixth year too! She's really nice, always keeps an eye on the littlest ones…"

"Don't forget about Uncle Fred and Aunt Angie…" Lance piped in a small smile on his face.

"Yea! There's Felix and Juliet and Jayme and Morgan! And Jayme is a metamorphamagi!"

"A metamorpha—what?" Laertes stared at Faux like he was crazy.

"Meta-morph-ah-magi. Means you can change your appearance at will. It's a rare gift, my dad says he used to know an Auror who was one but she died in the war…"

"Wh—?" Before Laertes could finish asking about the war and Auror's though, the compartment door opened again, but instead of it being any sort of red-head a pale black boy with a large bruise on his chin stepped in.

Everyone turned to him confused, as he saw them he got a 'deer caught in headlights' look and couldn't seem to move. Surprisingly it was Lance that got up. "Hi." He said quietly putting his hand out to the boy. The boy looked down at it, staring for a long moment before taking it tentatively.

"Hi…" the boy said back. "I'm, uh, I can leave if I'm intruding."

"No, no, your fine! Come on in!" Gwyn said jumping up to shake his hand as well.

Slowly the boy moved further in the room and after looking at Peter uncomfortably for a moment finally sat next to him.

"Thanks, I, well, I got kicked out of the last compartment I was in…"

"Is that how you got that bruise?" Peter asked lazily. The boy's eyes got wide and he got that expression again, as if he couldn't move, but quickly he shook himself out of it and nodded. "Ah, well, here," and Peter pulled out his wand and flicked it, suddenly the bruise on the boy's cheek began to shrink away until it disappeared.

Laertes gasped, this was his first up close experience with magic, however, his surprise didn't get much notice as Gwyn began to ask him questions.

"What's your name?"

"Tyler Jordan."

"Do you have an older sister, Alica, she's a prefect?" Peter asked his voice misty.

Tyler nodded looking up at Peter terrified. "Yah, I have an older brother too, he's a fourth year…Fern."

Peter nodded. "Yes, I've seen him, he's in Gryffindor." Tyler nodded again. "And Alica, she's a Ravenclaw?"

"Hufflepuff, actually."

Laertes was looking around at them confused. "Hufflepuff?" He asked, Gwyn again jumped at the chance to start talking.

"Oh! They're the houses! There's Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and Gryffindor and Slytherin! I'm hoping I get into Gryffindor all of the family has been, well my family."

"Hey now, there is nothing wrong with any of the other houses." Peter said, "not that I am complaining about Gryffindor, it has fit me well these past seven years…"

Gwyn rolled her eyes but had a smile on her face.