A/N: Thank you Mary Knickerbocker, for being my first reviewer! The prologue indeed took place during Deathly hallows, the eve before the Battle of Hogwarts to be exact. The main story starts twelve years later.

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1 September 2010

"It's been twelve years and I still can't get used to magic." Mum could be so peculiar about magic. She almost seemed afraid of it. She wouldn't allow any magic in the house and only ventured out into the magic world when she absolutely had to. Like now.

They were at King's Cross station. Nora, her parents and her little brother had just passed through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. On the other side of the barrier platform nine and three quarters had already filled with families. Parents and younger siblings were helping students loading their trunks onto the train. Mothers were hugging their children goodbye, while younger children threw whistful glances at the bright red steam engine.

"But magic's fun! When I grow up, I'm gonna be the greatest wizard of all time, like Harry Potter!" little Matty piped in.

"Off course you will," dad grinned at Matthew. "First you'll have to go to Hogwarts though." Matty scowled at this. Just like every young witch or wizard he wanted to be able to use magic for himself. Not that they came in touch with magic often. They lived just like Muggles in a Muggle neighbourhood, but Dad would take Matty and Nora to Diagon Alley every once in a while, or bring them to work with him. The visits to grandmother and grandfather were also something to look forward to. Their whole household ran on magic.

And now, Nora herself would finally go to Hogwarts to learn magic.

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Terence Higgs wasn't sure how he felt. He was definitely proud that his litle girl was finally going to Hogwarts, yet he knew he was going to miss her very much.

"I'm still no sure if this is he right decision," Kathy whispered next to him, a look of anguish on her face.

"We've already talked about this, you agreed Hogwarts would be good for her." It would be good for Nora to have magical friends as well as Muggle, friends she wouldn't have to keep secrets from.

"I know, but... The things she will learn there... You know how terrible magic can be!" Terence loved his wife, but sometimes her fear of magic could be so frustrating!

"I do. I also know, just as well as you do, how much good can be done with magic. Besides, this is what Nora wants."

"But what if she turns out just like... What if she likes to... What if she becomes just like him?" Fear shone through her eyes.

Terence smiled. "Don't you know your own daughter?" He pulled his wife in his arms. "You know she's not like that and she never will be."

"It's in her blood, Terence," Kathy said, holding back from his embrace slightly.

"And so is magic, and if she doesn't go to Hogwarts, if she doesn't learn to control it, who knows what might accidentally happen!" Accidental magic was common in children, and although severe accidents were extremely rare, they knew Nora would be powerful and she needed the magical education. "Besides, the professors at Hogwarts are all trained professionals. They know what they should and especially what they certainly shouldn't teach young witches and wizards." Kathy relaxed slightly.

"You're right of course," she whispered and kissed him.

"Ewwww, that's gross!" Matty exclaimed next to them. Clearly the children had returned.

"I see you two managed to get the trunk onto the train, then?"

"Yeah, and it was heavy! Without me Nora never would have managed," Matty said proudly. Nora just raised an eyebrow at her little brother.

"Mum, dad, the train's leaving in a few minutes, I should get back on it," Nora said.

Kathy stooped to hug her daughter tightly. "Take care honey, and don't forget to write us."

"And don't get in too much trouble," Terence added with a grin.

Nora looked scandalized. "Off course I won't!" She gave Terence a quick hug and tousled Matty's hair. "I'll see you at Christmas." Then she ran off towards the train.

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After saying goodbye to her parents and little Matty, Nora boarded the Hogwarts Express and went to the empty train compartment where she'd left her trunk. She already knew some of the students, mainly the children of her dad's friends, but none of them were first years. They would probably prefer to sit with their own friends.

Nora's excitement suddenly disappeared. She wouldn't know anyone in first year and all her own friends were Muggles. She wished she could talk to her best friend Emma now. She had her mobile phone with her, the one her mum had given her after she'd gotten lost at the zoo once, but it wouldn't work in the magical world. For now, she was all alone.

And for now she preferred it that way. She wasn't good at making new friends. She'd known Emma for as long as she could remember, but around new people she was rather shy. Besides, she was used to solitude, it suited her quite well.

However, when she reached her compartment, she saw two others had joined her trunk there. A girl was leaning out of the window. She turned around to look at Nora for a moment to say hello, then went back to waving goodbye to her parents. A boy was fast asleep.

Nora sat down opposite the boy and pulled out her mobile phone. Whenever she was at a new place within the magical community she checked if it worked. Sadly, it didn't. One day she was going to find a way to make electrical appliances work around magic.

"What's that?" The girl came down from the window and sat down next to the boy. She pointed at Nora's phone.

"It's a phone, it's something Muggles use to talk to each other." The girl clearly wasn't raised in the Muggle world if she didn't recognise a Blackberry.

"Neat! You Muggleborn then?" she asked while rummaging through her bag. She clearly wasn't too interested in Muggle things.

"No, I'm not. I'm a Half-blood, but I grew up in a Muggle neighbourhood."

"Isn't that awfully boring?" Before Nora could answer the girl continued: "I'm Olivia by the way and this will be my first year at Hogwarts, and you?"

"My name's Nora, first year too." Pointing at the sleeping boy, Nora asked: "Do you happen to know who that is?"

"Nope, but I know how we can find out!" Olivia grinned mischievously. She took off her jacket and rolled it up in a ball, then she threw it at the boy.

The boy woke up with a yell. After looking around for a moment, he glared at the two girls. "What was that for?"

"To wake you up," Olivia said smiling, undaunted by the boy's glare. "This is Nora and I'm Olivia. What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you? I was trying to sleep!" Nora had to agree with him, she herself always hated it when someone woke her, especially in such a rude way.

"Because if you don't," Olivia's smile grew wider, "we'll have to annoy you and keep you awake the whole ride to Hogwarts until you finally tell us your name." She pulled a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans out of her bag and threw one at the boy's face. "I've got a few more boxes with me." Already, Nora didn't like this girl very much.

"All right! I'm Fred. Leave me alone now," Fred huffed.

"Sure. I'm going to look for my sister. Have fun you two!" With that, Olivia was gone.

A silence fell in the compartment. The boy glared at Nora for a moment, then he went to sleep again. Or at least, he tried to. Nora watched him for a while as he tried to find a comfortable position. He didn't seem to be able to find one. After some twisting and turning he opened his eyes and sat up straight again to stare out of the window.

The silence was getting a bit awkward, so in an attempt to break it, Nora asked: "Why are you so tired? Shouldn't you be excited about going to Hogwarts? Assuming you're a first year, of course. If you aren't, I guess it's not that special anymore. Oh! And you must hate me for assuming you're a first year! If you aren't one, that is, but you seem to be about my age, so you can't be more than a second year." Fred's expression was slowly turning from annoyed to amused. "I'm rambling, aren't I?" Nora was getting more uncomfortable by the second.

"Yes you are," he grinned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I tend to do that when feeling awkward."

"That's all right. You seem a lot nicer than that other girl, Olivia. To answer your questions, yes, I'm a first year. And I'm tired because I stayed up late last night." With perfect timing Fred yawned. "My dad threw a party for the whole family to say goodbye to me and wish me good luck and I was allowed to stay up until two in the morning! Mum wasn't too happy about it, but for once she let it slide. So now I'm trying to catch up on my sleep."

"Is your family big then?" Nora asked, starting to like this boy

"I have only one sister, but my dad has five siblings! And practically all of them have children, so yeah, my family is quite large. Yours?"

"Wow, I can't even imagine what it would be like to have so many cousins. I have a younger brother, Matty, but that's it. Neither of my parents have any brothers or sisters, so no cousins for me."

"That must be boring." For a moment neither of them said anything. Then Fred asked: "Do you know what house you'll be in?"

To be honest, Nora didn't know all that much about the houses. She knew her father had been in Slytherin and her grandparents had been a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw, but her father had been rather reluctant in explaining the houses to her. He didn't want her to be prejudiced against any of the houses. She knew the main traits of the houses, though. Slytherin was ambitious, those in Ravenclaw were eager to learn, Hufflepuff held loyal student and Gryffindors were brave.

Nora didn't feel very brave. She was actually rather timid and quiet, so Slytherin probably wasn't for her either. She was loyal to her friends, so Hufflepuff might be an option too, but mainly she wanted to learn and master as much magic as possible and become a great witch, so she could show her mother letting her go to Hogwarts had been the right decision. "I think I'd like to be in Ravenclaw. What about you?"

"Ravenclaw's all right I guess, but I want to be in Gryffindor! Practically my whole family has been in Gryffindor."

From there the conversation turned to the traits of the four houses and not long afterwards Fred tried to sleep again. Nora took out one of her school books, the one on Defense Against the Dark Arts, to pass the time until the Hogwarts Express reached its destination. The subject fascinated her.

Time seemed to fly and before she knew it, the door of their compartment was thrown open. Fred jerked awake, clearly startled, as was Nora. Olivia practically ran inside and grabbed her suitcase. "Quick, get changed into your schoolrobes, we're almost there!"

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.