Hello all! Welcome to chapter two, enjoy. :)

EDIT: 1/29/2012

Yeah, grammar should be much better now. I also realize that in some (if not all) of my A/N's I spelt grammar wrong. Ironic seeing as it was right after I had attempted to edit it the first time. ;P

REVISED: 11/7/2013

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any song, book, movie, or show I make reference too...


Chapter Two: The Train Ride… Among Other Things…

By the time Andromeda had shown up at Madam Malkins, Riley had already said goodbye to Harry and Hagrid, but she was still grinning about winning the bet.

You see, when she and Tonks were younger, they had a fight over who would become famous first. The fight went on for days, until Ted told them that most famous people had famous friends. So in order to stop the bickering, he told them to make a bet; the first one to meet someone really famous, won. The loser had to do all of the winner's chores for two weeks.

Of course, Tonks had almost won when she had gone to Hogwarts because of Dumbledore, but Ted said it didn't count because she never actually met the man face to face. Riley was sure she won this time, though. I mean, you couldn't get much more famous then the Harry Potter.

Riley was still grinning like a loon as she told Andromeda all about her encounter with the unpleasant boy and Harry Potter. Andromeda then told her that she was actually related to that unpleasant boy. Riley then replied that it shouldn't count since it was such a distant relation.

"Well," Riley said with a mischievous grin, "I'm glad I never had to meet him before, because I don't think I could resist getting Uncle Mad-eye to turn him into a ferret. There's not much difference in looks really, I doubt his mother would notice. Although, ferrets are rather cute, so maybe she would notice."

"Riley!" Andromeda scolded while fighting back laughter.

"What? I'm only stating the truth," Riley said innocently. Andromeda just sighed and shook her head. She was far to used to the girls antics by now.

They finally found there way into a shabby little shop with a window display consisting of a single wand resting on a faded purple cushion. Inside, the walls were lined floor to ceiling with thousands of narrow boxes. Riley walked up to the desk and hit the little bell sitting there.

"Hello?" She called, ignoring the creepy feeling she was getting.

"Welcome," came a soft voice from behind her, making her jump. She turned quickly and came face to face with the ever so creepy Ollivander, "Looking for a wand? What's your name?"

Riley, more than a little creeped out by now, shook off the feeling and smiled. When in doubt, best to be polite. Riley thought. The polite ones usually don't get eaten by the creepy guys in the stories, right?

"Yes, hello. I'm Riley Langley."

"Ah… yes… hm…" he stared at her for awhile, as if contemplating something then abruptly started to measure her.

While the measuring tape did its thing by itself ("it's like magic"), the Creepy Man, as Riley so dubbed him, started to search his shelves. He pulled out wand after wand, box after box. It felt like she had been there for hours, as the pile of discarded wands just grew larger, (She was afraid the pile would fall over, and she would be crushed and never even get the chance to go to Hogwarts) until finally…

As soon as she took the wand, she felt warmth spread from her fingers to her toes. She gave it a simple swish and watched as bubbles shaped like rubber ducks flew from the tip.

Creepy Man smiled, "11 inches, cherry wood with a boggart hair core."

"Wait... What?" Riley asked dumbfounded. She had read lots of books on dark creatures, while trying to find some way to help Moony on the full moon and had run across a boggart. They were suppose to be shape shifters that, when confronted, turned into what you feared most… so how did he get a hair? She suddenly had a vision of Creepy Man, fist raised, shouting at the sky, over a broken wand. Then quickly grabbing it and crying out in triumph, as he stole the hair from the middle of the broken wand.

Riley shook her head, sometimes she worried even herself.

"Yes… boggart hair cores are very rare… they do well with invisibility charms."

Riley just stared at him for a bit, and then burst out laughing; it was just like her to get such a weird wand.

After she paid for her wand (still laughing, mind you), they were finally ready to go. She smiled brightly at everyone she passed as she continued to skip down the street. Only one more month and I will finally be at Hogwarts! Riley thought with so much excitement she thought she would burst.

When they got home Riley rushed to her room and immediately started to immerse herself in her school books. She may not like studying, but she knew in order to be a great prankster she had to know her stuff. And with that thought in mind, she started her search for good jinxes, hexes and charms.

~( )~

The next month seemed to drag for Riley, whose excitement grew more every day. It got to the point where Andromeda was contemplating slipping her something just to calm her down a bit.

Finally the day came; September first was here!

Riley got up extra early that day in all her excitement. If Andromeda had thought she was excited before, it was nothing compared to this, she practically oozed excitement. Riley danced around her room as she got dressed in her usual jeans and t-shirt, and hummed 'Happy Birthday' to herself.

She ran downstairs (only tripping once) and had a breakfast of double chocolate brownies, since she wouldn't get to have cake later. Then she turned to her little pile of presents and started to open them. The first present was a book on 'Best Jinxes and Hexes of the Century' from Moony. Riley grinned, knowing Andromeda was not going to be happy with him for that. Next was a lock pick set from Tonks with a note that said "wizards never expect the muggle approach". Riley felt bad for her family, because she knew they were going to be in big trouble with Andromeda later. The last gift was a Sneak-a-Scope from Mad-eye. Once she finished opening them, Riley took her presents upstairs and shoved them in her trunk.

While trying to haul her trunk out of her room, Riley paused as she spotted the picture of her mum and step-dad. In the picture, they were dancing in a park laughing and smiling.

Riley never thought she looked much like her mother. Where her mum's eyes were bright blue like the sky, Riley's were a stormy blue/gray. The only thing she shared with her mother was her deep red hair and freckles. She always just assumed she looked more like her real dad, with her sharper features that had an almost haughty look, and her pale skin. Tonks always joked that she was a hardcore ginger. She couldn't be sure about her dad, though, because no one would even show her a picture of her biological father.

She used to wonder if that was because they didn't know who he was, but later on, when she kept asking them about him, Andromeda finally budged and told her his name and that he was in prison. That was it. That was all she knew about him, and all he really was to her; a faceless name.

She didn't really mind, though. She had a wonderful step-dad that had loved her like his own, and she had loved him like a real father. After he died, Remus took that place. She didn't need the faceless name to be her father, because she already had two. At least... that's what she told herself.

Riley sighed and put the picture back down. Grabbing her trunk again; she rushed down the stairs. Well, she went as fast as she could while dragging along a trunk that weighed more then she did. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, without being crushed by the trunk, she gasped. Sitting in a cage in her Aunts arms was the most gorgeous black owl she had ever seen, with white around its face, making it look like it was wearing a black mask. Though looking back, she realized she may have just been biased as it was her owl.

Andromeda smiled and handed her the cage, "Happy birthday, Love."

Riley hugged Andromeda tightly and thanked her profusely. It was already turning out to be an amazing birthday.

~{ }~

When they got to King Cross Station, Riley was so excited she was practically bouncing with every step. She pushed her trolley onto platform 9 ¾ alone. Andromeda had gotten an urgent call from Ted and had to go. Riley was so distracted by her anticipation, that she wasn't even fazed by the fact that she was walking through a not-so-solid wall. Walking through the crowd, Riley grinned brightly. The scarlet train was awesome!

She quickly pushed her trolley towards the train and tried to lift her trunk up the stairs with no success. You would have figured that with her clothes being so small it wouldn't weigh that much, but no. Defeated, she looked around for someone to help, but didn't recognize anyone. Suddenly kids starting running past her onto the train and Riley finally realized the train was getting ready to leave.

"Crap!" she cried, kicking her trunk and jostling her owl making him hoot angrily.

"Need help?" A tall red headed boy asked noticing her predicament.

"Yes, please," Riley sighed in relief as the boy and what seemed to be his twin helped bring her stuff onto the train. As they turned to wave out the window, she attempted to calm her owl, whose cage had been knocked over in the rush to get on the train.

"Fine!" She snapped giving up, "Be like that! It's not my fault that people don't look where they're going."

"You know, usually when a person starts having conversations with their animals, it means they're on their way towards insanity," Someone said behind her, making her jump. She spun around and saw the boys who had helped her with her trunk watching her with amusement.

"Whoever said I wasn't already insane?" She quipped, making them laugh. The boys were both tall and gangly, had flaming red hair and blue eyes that shined with mischief, they kind of reminded Riley of Thing One and Thing Two from Cat in the Hat.

Thing One stuck out his hand, "I'm Fred and this much less handsome twin is George."

Riley laughed as George cried out in indignation and shook both their hands.

"I'm Riley, thanks for helping me with my trunk."

They smiled, "We always help a damsel in distress," George replied giving a slight bow.

"Ah, I see," She nodded, "Well then, I guess that makes you my knights in shining armor."

"Well, we must be off!" Fred said taking Riley's hand as George took the other, "Good day, my lady, may we meet again," They both bowed low kissing her hand. She stuck her nose in the air with a slight smile to show she was joking and said in a haughty voice.

"Off with you then."

They all laughed before setting off on their separate ways. Riley roamed down the train, looking for an empty or at least mostly empty compartment. It seemed like forever before she saw one with only two boys in it and opened the door.

"Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," she asked then smiled when she recognized one of them, "Oh! Hello, Harry! How are you?"

The boys looked up at her and Harry smiled. He seemed happy that someone he sort of knew was here. He greeted Riley then helped her with her trunk and just as they sat back down, the compartment door slid open again.

"Hey Ron," Thing One and Two were back, "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train— Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," The boy named Ron mumbled.

"Harry," George said, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley, and this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then," And with a last bow and "milady" to Riley they left. Riley just laughed as the boys looked at her confused.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out, after awhile.

Riley snorted at his lack of manners, though she honestly didn't have much room to talk, as Harry nodded.

"Oh – well I thought it might be one of Fred and Georges joke's," said Ron, "And have you really got – you know…" he pointed at Harry's forehead.

Riley rolled her eyes. Why did everyone act like that? It's just a scar. I mean sure she had heard his story but she wasn't going to hero worship him, he probably didn't even remember it anyway. He was only a year old at the time for goodness sake.

Riley remembered when Remus had told her the story when she was little. He never told it much because for some reason it made him really sad. When he did, though, he would always tell her that if she ever met Harry, not to make a big deal about it. Because who wanted to be reminded of the night their parents died all the time? She knew for a fact, that she would hate that.

Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning bolt scar. Ron stared. Riley didn't even glance at it; instead she started to try to calm her owl again. She gave up a few seconds later.

"What about you?" Harry asked, making Riley jump.

"What?" She hadn't been paying attention to his and Ron's conversation.

"Are all your family wizards as well?"

"No, I'm a half-blood. My dad was a pure-blood and my mum was a half-blood," She answered tilting her head thoughtfully, "I think her mum was a muggle. So I guess I'm a ¾ blood."

"What about your aunt? Is she a witch?" Harry continued, seeming genuinely interested.

"Oh, yeah," Riley nodded, "She's a witch. She's not my aunt, though; she's like my second cousin or something. I just call her that because it's easier. I've been living with her since the ministry decided on some stupid laws that made it so my godfather couldn't take care of me anymore."

Whoops! Said too much again. I really need to work on that. Riley thought warily.

"Oh," Harry looked confused but sympathetic. Before he could ask any more questions, Ron asked him one.

Riley decided she'd said too much already. So she got out a sketchpad and started to draw the boys laughing. She wasn't the best at drawing, but it was a good for passing time. She was so into her drawing that she didn't even notice the lunch trolley or the boy looking for his toad or the bossy girl who was helping look for the missing toad.

When she finally did look up from her sketch, it was starting to get late. Riley mostly just sat and listened as Ron told Harry about the break in at Gringotts and all about Quidditch and the different teams, only adding a comment here or there. It was dark outside, when the door slid open and in walked Blondie from Diagon Alley and a couple of goons.

"Is it true?" Blondie asked, "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you is it?"

"Yes," Harry said watching the goons wearily. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely bully like. Standing on either side of Blondie, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said Blondie carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking, "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Riley snorted; thinking of the tale's that Andromeda had told Riley about her nephew. Ron gave a slight cough trying to hide a snigger. Malfoy turned on them.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children then they can afford," Ron looked livid as Malfoy turned back to Harry, apparently assuming Riley was a Weasley, "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it, "I think I can tell who the 'wrong sort' are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

Malfoy went pink.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly, "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around riffraff like the Weasleys, and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

That was it. It was one thing, to judge people rudely, but making a dig about someone's deceased parents was uncalled for. Riley stood up at the same time Ron and Harry did, but with one fluid movement, she slapped Malfoy across the face. Everyone looked at her stunned, none more so then Malfoy.

"Get out," She ordered in a deadly voice. When they didn't move she growled, "Now!"

Deciding he didn't want to be slapped again, Malfoy and his bodyguards left quickly. Riley turned to the boys then. Both of whom, were looking at her with something akin to respect. She smiled at them and gave them high fives as they burst into laughter.

Just then, the door opened once more and Riley spun around expecting to see Malfoy again. Instead it was the bossy girl from earlier.

"What has been going on?" She said looking at the mess of candy that had fallen in their rush to stand up.

"You've met Malfoy before?" Ron asked Harry, ignoring the girl for the moment. Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly, "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who—"

"Voldemort," Riley interrupted, making Ron jump, and the girl squeak. Riley wasn't afraid of saying his name and took great pleasure in watching other people's reactions to it. I mean he was dead wasn't he? It's not like saying his name was going to bring him back. Remus and Isaac had made sure she grew up not being afraid of silly things like that.

"—disappeared," Ron continued like she never said anything, "Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go to the Dark Side." Then he turned to girl. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"I've been fighting, not them," Riley said calmly. The girl kind of reminded her of Moony when he was in 'prefect mode'.

"Alright— I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors, and you have dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?" The girl said to Ron who glared at her as she left. Riley snickered.

Soon Riley felt the train start to slow. She hurriedly threw her robes over her muggle clothes, as a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."

~{}~

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