I watch the people bustle around Platform nine and three quarters, wondering who I would be spending the next year with. Parents hug their children and there are teary goodbyes for the first years. I don't get any of the normal goodbyes. Mother and father are talking with Tessa about her sixth year at Hogwarts. I turn to Rowan who is holding onto my sleeve tightly with no intention of letting go.

"Hey Rowan, you know I've got to go to Hogwarts. I have to learn something other than the crap that our parents are teaching us," I whisper to him.

"But why can't I go with?" Rowan asks. His voice is low and I know that if there was any chance that mother or father could have heard him then he would not have asked.

"Because you aren't old enough yet. Wait, in two years you'll be coming with me and we can stay at Hogwarts away from our parents. Tessa will have left by then too so you won't have to worry about her," I tell him.

Rowan gives a small grin, "Yeah, only an older sister who wants to humiliate me."

I laugh and pull him into a light hug before letting go. Ignoring the twinge in my left shoulder, I turn to my trunk to pull it on.

"Not so fast Annalisa. Your father and I have decided that you will be watched by Tessa while at Hogwarts. We do not like your phase of questioning our every belief, and with you doing that for the past five years we do not appreciate it," mother hisses, "We await your sister's owl of when you are sorted into Slytherin. You may be showing unwanted behaviors right now, but once you are around other Slytherins and purebloods then you will find yourself changing to their viewpoints."

Holding back a snort, I nod stiffly and give a proper bow and walk onto the train with my trunk following me. I can hear Tessa muttering under her breath behind me and know that she's complaining about having to 'babysit' me.

I glance behind me and see that her attention is on something else and slip behind a group of parents who are saying goodbye. Walking through the crowd, I feel my heart catch a bit at all the signs of affection.

'Get over it Ann, your family is Rowan and yourself, and you have to take care of him. Merlin knows what help your parents and Tessa are.' I think. Shaking my head slightly, I arrive at the end of the train and board it without pause. I find an empty carriage and place my things in the rack and settle down to look out the window. A few seconds later, my foot is bouncing up and down because I don't have anything to do.

I pull out my wand and cast a small charm. A dark purple mist comes from my wand and takes the form of a wolf. It paces around on the seat in front of me then sits down and looks up at me as if thinking 'I'm here without company, what do you want me to do?'

I sigh and cast another charm and a black wolf joins the purple one. They run around on the chair, playing and rolling around. I smile as I watch them and cast another wolf. This one is a more brown color and is quickly accepted by the other two.

The door slides open and I look up to see a paler skinny boy with tawny hair and amber eyes is standing there. His robes are second hand and he looks like he was sick recently.

"Can I sit here? Everywhere else has a bunch of people and well…I don't want them staring at me," the boy mutters.

I smile, "Come on in. I'd like the company."

The boy smiles slightly and enters. As he places his things away he notices my wolves running around. The boy blinks and then shakes his head.

"Sorry, I'm Annalisa Grimwood, but call me Ann." I offer my hand.

"Remus Lupin." He shakes my hand and gives another shy smile.

I sweep my wolves onto my hand and place them on the window sill. They look confused for a moment before they start playing again. I watch for a moment as the purple one tackles the black one and the brown one shakes its head as if thinking 'Why am I stuck with you two?'.

"Take a seat Remus, I don't bite," I grin.

Remus pales slightly, but smiles, "Right. Sorry, but I'm a bit nervous. My parents are extremely protective and so I haven't been around a lot of other people my age. They're the best parents I could ask for though. They care for me a lot and well…sorry, I'm rambling."

"Don't worry about it." The more he talks about his family the less I talk about mine.

The door opens again and a short, pudgy blonde boy looks at us nervously. I jump slightly when my wolves look at him and growl. Turning to them, I frown and wave my wand, ending the charm.

"Please don't let my wolves scare you. Can we help you?" I ask.

"Th-that's alright. I just kinda have a f-f-fear of wolves. Can I sit here?" he asks.

I turn to Remus, "Fine by me. What about you?"

Remus looks at the boy wearily but nods. Remus then looks out the window again, his face etched with caution.

I frown slightly, but turn to the new boy, "Well, this is Remus Lupin, he arrived a couple minutes before you. I'm Annalisa Grimwood, but call me Ann."

"W-w-why d-d-do you introduce yourself as Annalisa then?" the boy asks.

"Because that's what I was taught to do. Now will you tell us your name or do we have to guess?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

I nod and then smirk. Standing on the seat, I reach onto the rack and rifle through my trunk. After a moment, I pull out a pack of Exploding Snap cards that I had snuck. I hold up the cards and grin at the boys.

"Anyone up for a game?"

Remus tilts his head to one side, "Exploding Snap? It's been a while since I've played, but count me in."

"I'll play." Peter says. He doesn't stutter for the first time and I smile. Looks like Peter is getting more comfortable around Remus and me.

The three of us play a few rounds of Snap before the lunch lady comes and we buy our own assortments of candy. Remus buys a bunch of chocolate while ignoring all of the Bertie Botts. Peter does the opposite, buying a ton of the beans while ignoring the rest. I buy an assortment of the different types of candies.

A few moments after the lunch cart has left there's a commotion in the hall. I jump to my feet and look out the door, all the training and torture that I went through kicking in. I quickly note that the commotion is coming from the door of a compartment that is two ahead of mine. Two boys are facing another boy and a girl. The four of them look to be first years, but the boys facing the other dude and girl look like they're about to hex the one boy. At least they have their wands out and their shoulders are tense.

The girl has bright red hair and green eyes. Her face is set in a scowl and she's glaring at the other two. Her hands are on her hips and I can tell that she is shorter than I am.

The boy next to her has the greasiest hair I have ever seen and it is slightly disgusting. He has a long and slightly hooked nose. His skin is pale, and if I didn't know the other signs I would have thought that he was a vampire.

I can't tell much about the other boys, they have their back to me, but I can see that they are about the same height as me. One has extremely messy black hair, and the other has black hair as well, but it is more well-kept and elegant.

I pull out my wand and frown slightly. If these four decide to start a fight then someone could get hurt, especially since they probably have no idea what they are doing. I creep up behind the group so that I'm about five feet behind the other two boys. The people facing them are too mad to notice a first year girl walk up to the small crowd and I use this to my advantage. I flick my wand and a small red firecracker goes off above their heads. The group jumps and turns to me.

"Anyone care to explain what's going on or do I have to do that again?" I ask. I've got my face masked and look at them with an eyebrow raised.

"Why would you care?" the boy with the fly away hair asks. He has hazel eyes and is wearing glasses. His eyes widen when he sees that I'm the same age as them.

The other boy has silver eyes and a slightly aristocratic air about him. He looks familiar but I can't place where I would have seen him before.

"I care because up until you four made this racket, I was enjoying myself for the first time in a month," I tell them. It's the honest truth. Ever since I had gotten my wand my father and mother had been "training" me in magic. It was more like they had been attacking me until they got my wand away from me and then continued until I would fall to the ground with exhaustion.

The grease boy sneers at me, "Who are you?"

My eyebrow rises again, "Queen Ann of the Nile. Once again, why is there a problem?"

"Because these two," the girl points to the boys closest to me, "are nothing but arrogant bullies. They keep making fun of Severus."

"If they go to a different compartment will peace return to the train?" I ask.

"Only if they leave."

I turn to the other two, "Want to join me in my compartment? There are two other guys with me, and they seem to be pretty cool to hang out with."

The aristocrat boy nods, "Come on James, it's better to get away from the grease ball."

Fly boy shrugs, "Whatever. Let's get our trunks."

The two boys enter the compartment and come back out a moment later trunks in hand. I nod at them and turn around. Walking to my compartment, I hear the other two whispering. I shrug it off and open the door for them.

"Remus, Peter I'd like you two to meet some new people. The one with the glasses is James, but I don't know the other's name," I tell them.

The other boy looks up, "I'm Sirius Black."

James looks at Sirius, "You're a Black?"

"Yeah? And?"

"And I thought that you were alright," James grins.

Sirius smiles, "Well I can't say much about my family. But just remember that you are related to us Potter."

"Wow, just my luck to be stuck with a couple of rebels against the pureblood ideals," I sigh a light grin on my face.

"You two are purebloods?" Peter asks looking between James and Sirius.

James nods while Sirius gives a scowl.

"Wow…I am too, but I'm just a Pettigrew," Peter says.

I raise an eyebrow, "Who cares if you're a pureblood? Who cares if they're purebloods?"

Peter shrinks in his seat, "Sorry, it's just I…"

"You what?"

"Nothing." Peter's voice is nothing but a small squeak.

I glare at the boy for a moment before looking out the window. My mood turns slightly sour as I am reminded about my relatives. I also feel slightly guilty about snapping at the boy, especially since it's a typically normal thing to talk about.

"Ann are you alright?" Remus asks his voice low.

I turn to him with a pasted smile, "Yep, I'm fine."

Remus frowns, unconvinced, but turns back to the other boys leaving me to my thoughts. Sighing, I decided that it is best to not mope and join the conversation. They are talking about pranks and what could be done.

"A babbling potion in the drinks would be a good…also depending on what you did with it the person could start talking nonsense with certain words," Sirius muses.

"Do you know how to make a babbling potion?" I ask.

"Depends on which one you want, but yes I can." Sirius is lounged on the chair and grins at me before turning to James, "So what are you planning?"

James's eyes widen in mock shock, "Me planning something? What gives you that impression?"

"The fact that even though I've only known you for today I can pretty much tell what you are thinking," Sirius says.

"I'm not sure if we should do anything right away. We should probably spend a month making the teachers feel like we're just normal students," James explains.

I nod, "That could help having that little innocent façade. After all who would suspect a good student?"

Remus sighs, "Why do I get the feeling that you three will be causing a lot of problems?"

"Problems? Never!" Sirius smirks.

James opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted by the door opening. A blonde boy with a pointed face and a permanent sneer looks around the room, his eyes gleaming with malice when he sees me.

"Annalisa, I saw your sister who told me you are on the train. Why didn't you come to say hello?"

"Malfoy," I hiss, standing up and pulling my wand out at the same time. Remus and Peter watch me and Malfoy, James's eyes narrow, and Sirius comes out of his relaxed position and glares at Malfoy.

"Now, now, aren't you going to introduce me to your…friends?" Malfoy looks down his nose at Remus and Peter and James, but turns to surprise upon seeing Sirius, "A Black? Well, that's a surprise. I'll see you at the sorting Annalisa."

Malfoy turns to leave but looks at me again, "Oh and save me a seat will you?"

I growl and flick my wand. Before Malfoy even exits the compartment, he is hit with a large blasting spell and thrown out and into the wall. I step over to the door and glare down at him with cold eyes.

"Get out of here Malfoy, before I really curse you," I growl and shut the door. When I turn around I see four boys watching me with various looks on their faces. Sirius looks like he's stuck between approval of what I did and disgust of Malfoy. James looks shocked. Remus looks pensive and slightly surprised. Peter looks terrified.

"What?" I ask with a clipped tone.

"Nothing, we just didn't think that you'd be that useful against Malfoy." Sirius spits out Malfoy's name, which tells me that he would like to take care of the blonde boy as well.

I shrug and grab my book bag with my uniform in it, "I'm going to change into my uniform. I suggest you do the same, cause we'll be there in a little bit."

Leaving the compartment I weave through the students to change. A bunch of older girls are talking, but they sound like a bunch of little songbirds in the morning. Really annoying. I shake my head and look at what I've got on from my uniform. Pants instead of a skirt, the sweater is off, tie is hanging untied around my neck, robes are open and top button of my shirt is undone. I'm about to leave the compartment when the older girls stop me.

"You're wearing pants? Oh my god, you look so tacky and like a guy," the girl tweets.

"Is that so? And why do you think I care?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes at me, "Stupid first year."

I raise an eyebrow, "Ludicrous fifth year."

She turns to her friends asking them what ludicrous means and how I knew she's a fifth year. The girl really is an idiot. She's wearing a prefect's badge that isn't scratched or nicked so she has to be a fifth year. As far as her intelligence goes…I'm not even going to comment.

I leave the compartment and once again merge with the crowd. I'm a few doors away from my compartment door when a hand lands on my shoulder. I glance in the reflection of one of the windows. Tessa is waiting for me to turn around, but I grab her wrist and twist it.

"Annalisa! Let me go!" Tessa hisses.

That's right girly never lose your decorum. "What do you want?"

"Here, mother and father handed me this to give you as a gift for going to Hogwarts," Tessa snarls holding out a long black box.

I let go of her wrist and cautiously take the black box. Tessa gives me a glare then stalks off to terrorize some second years. Frowning I continue to the compartment and enter. Sirius notices my mood this time and frowns.

"What's up Ann? You look like you met my mother."

I pause for a moment before shaking my head, "Nope, just my sister. She gave me this, said that my parents wanted to give it to me."

James sees the box and smiles, "So open it!"

"I'd rather burn it."

"It can't be that bad, come on! Open it!" Peter says.

Remus raises an eyebrow, "I really think this should be Ann's decision."

Sirius nods, "I agree with Remus."

"What? You don't want to see what she got?" James asks.

"Hey, it's from her parents. Besides if it's anything good she'll let us see it," Sirius reasons.

I sigh, "No I'll let you guys see it. It shouldn't be too bad…I hope."

I sit down and slowly open the box. Inside is a black lace choker with a silver charm on it. Remus gives a small wince and I frown. Sure seeing my family crest engraved on silver isn't the best thing, but it's not worth a wince. I close the top of the box, open the window, and chuck the whole thing out the window.

"I should have known better," I mutter.

The compartment is unusually quiet and I look up to see four boys watching me. Remus and Peter look confused, James looks intrigued, and Sirius looks weary.

"You're a Grimwood?" he asks.

I freeze when I realize what he's saying. It basically translates into 'You're a Grimwood, so are you psychotic like the rest of your family? Will you tell my relatives that I'm not acting like a proper pureblood? Can I trust you?'

I sigh, "Unfortunately. The only person in my 'family' who I actually consider my family is my little brother, Rowan."

Sirius nods and his eyebrows come together, "You have a brother named Rowan?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The name sounds familiar."

I shrug and turn to Remus. I'm about to ask him about his reaction, but something about how he looks me in the eye stops me. I can ask him about it later when there are less people around.

"A Grimwood? Do I have an attractant for children of obsessive pureblood families on?" James asks.

"Nope, just good luck when it comes to attracting black sheep."

"Though since I'm the black sheep of the Black family does that make me a white sheep?" Sirius asks.

We pause at his question and then laugh.