It's been a while. I'm glad to see you people again, please enjoy the next installment.

Some of the dialog was taken from the philosopher's stone, and of course I don't own Harry Potter or its characters. Cheers.

The train was noisy. We hadn't been here long, shy of five minutes ago I had said my goodbyes to a teary eyed mother, who forced me to promise coming back at the holidays – which she had always called yuletide for some strange reason – despite me having no previous plans not to. I was perhaps in the middle of the number of carts that composed it, and the loud chitter of children confined in closed spaces could be heard. Of course, the door to the compartment I sat on was still open, so perhaps once I closed it and the train started it wouldn't be so bad.

It had been some time since that strange dream where I felt something be burned unto my wrists, that something was, as I thought, a tattoo. It was also that night where I learned that I could hide it by wishing it gone, and sometimes I couldn't believe I could do that. In those times, I would roll up my sleeve and will it back, to stare and ponder just what it meant and if it really was there. This was one of those times.

Sure enough, even though I doubted it would for a scant time, a circle came into existence, with formations akin to horns protruding from it. I had gone to a forest some time ago, and walking through it I heard the answer, which despite being vague, it felt it was sufficient. Walking through, the forest whispered as it had in my dreams, Father's mark, it said, and by now I had learned that I must be insane, or trees really could talk. Even so, the marks were a fact, and it didn't end there.

Just as I could make my marks disappear, and my arms for that matter as I did within the dream, so could I make my body vanish. I decided to try it once more, wondering if the couple times I had done it before were just flukes, and so with a little exertion and the focused wish of 'not-being-seen', as sudden as I thought it, I was no longer there.

Except I was there.

Ugh, magic was just confusing. However, this could have its uses, and just as a pondered this, a red headed child, a boy, peeked around the border of the compartment door, confused at the emptiness of it.

"I was sure she was here," he muttered, then shrugged it off and ran along. Who could this be, I wondered?

And so the train began its movement, marking the start of a long trek. I was prepared, as mum had packed me sandwiches and apparently I had enough gold in my bag to buy food for a month, so I settled back into my seat comfortably, and willed myself back into visibility.

It was strange, I supposed, that it took this long for someone to knock on my door looking for a place to sit, after all this was the middle of the train and it was more likely people sat here than at the end, alas it had taken… two hours? Before I had contact with anyone. That was good, yet bad, as I suppose I should strive to make friends there, but I was happy with the quiet once I had shut the door.

"Have you seen a toad here?" Came the question, a bushy haired girl that clearly wasn't much older than me, looked at me, then the compartment, as she queried.

"I'm sorry, but no." I answered, and it was true since after all, I hadn't seen any toads, nor frogs, this far. If I had, the whole train would know about it, from the shriek that would come from my throat. Alas, this was not the time to let myself be lost in thought, as this girl could be my very first friend!

"Ah, very well, Neville here lost his toad Travers, and it could be anywhere, so I thought I'd check." She flashed me a little smile, and then introduced herself; "My name is Hermione, by the way, I'm a muggleborn." Pride seemed to seep from her words and I wondered what she would feel if she met some of the more radical kids and said this.

"I'm Jennifer, A half blood," was my reply, simple, curt and to the point, as some people liked it. Conveniently, it was also how I liked it.

Another smile and she said her farewells, and then continued on her path.

I took this as my cue to eat my food, as I was quite hungry by this point. I couldn't understand how some people didn't like ham, it seemed unfathomable.

Ham was good.

I had never been so far north in my life, but it seemed nice. The country side outside the window was beautiful as the sun sank unto the horizon, and I wondered how much longer it would be until we got there, as I really wanted to enjoy this sight as much as I could.

Alas, a short time later and the sun were down, the moon rising into nightfall and the train rolled to a stop. I took it as the cue to get off, of course, my owl and trunk carried in my hands as I joined the throng of young people exiting the train.

"Firs' years 'ere! Firs years!" I heard the bellows in a strangely accented voice, and looked towards the source as I was, indeed, a first year. It was a huge man, the tallest I had ever seen, and quite round, perhaps simile of a balloon inflated just below its bursting point. The crowed moved along, and I moved with them, a slight fear of being trampled in the back of my head. Then he counted heads, and we swiftly moved along towards what seemed like a shoreline. A lake, perhaps? Upon laying eyes on the boats loosely fit upon it, I confirmed that yes; it could only be a lake. Then we were told to mount ourselves atop them, and then we were once more off. I was handed a lantern, and with me there were four other children on the boat, a girl, with long red hair that reminded me of my mother's, a blonde girl with pigtails, and another two whose dark hair I couldn't tell the shades in the dim lighting.

It was only polite to introduce myself, right?

"Hi, I'm Jen," I said, and immediately the thought of how lame I sounded came to mind. Of course, I tried to ignore this and move on since what was done was done.

"Hi! I'm Susan," Piped up the redhead, with a slight smile planted on her face. She seemed excited. "And this is Hanna;" she pointed to the girl with pigtails that sat next to her, "get ready to be impressed, my aunt says the first sight of the castle is magnificent!"

I couldn't blame her enthusiasm, I guess, but I was moderate, my thought remained itself to wait and see. "So says my mother," piped up one of the dark haired girls; "She said it was more impressive than the Eiffel tower, from the many times she's gone to Paris."

A nod, and she carried on, "I'm Greengrass, Daphne; this here is Tracey, of house Davis."

The other girl tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow, a gesture that seemed fit for an older girl, rather than the eleven, maybe twelve year old girl that she ought to be, "What house are you from, Jen?" and she looked intensely at me, as if trying to come up with the answer by herself.

"Potter;" was my reply, they had given me their full names, and it was only polite to do so as well, right? I thought it was no problem. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's just curiosity," she said, and smiled. "I like to know everything I can."

"Look! It's over there!" Piped Susan, pointing a finger across the bend of the hill, and sure enough there it was, a structure that looked quite ancient, a castle, with many lights, and battlements and towers among it, with the stars and the moon as backdrop, it was absolutely magnificent.

"...Yes, mother was correct," Came the voice of which I recognised as Daphne, "This is quite impressive. Adequate, I'd say, for the respected mages that go here."

I wasn't hearing her anymore, truthfully, for the gentle blowing wind had other words for me, they were vague, they were faint, but they were full of meaning. Future, home, enlightenment, Father.

The rest of the girls chittered amongst themselves, with me contributing slightly every so often, as we approached what seemed like the port for the castle, other children who got there first already disembarking and climbing up the stairs, then they seemingly vanished from sight after they rose to the curve hidden behind a large rock. They did not seem to be there after it, as there were other stairs perfectly within sight that had to be part of this one.

Suspicious, I thought.

We disembarked, and as I walked they walked alongside me, deep in conversation in their little designated pairs, sometimes interchanging words before turning back to what seemed to be their friend from before Hogwarts. I of course took part in both, but not as much as I possibly could have, far from that, no, I was too concerned with where the other students had gone as I still could not see any in the rest of the staircase. As we climbed up, my nerves were rising slightly, what would happen if this was a trap and they were getting captured and hurt right after that bend?

Ridiculous, I thought, we came here to learn and it was, as it said, the safest place in magical Britain. Why would anyone hurt us?

But this didn't quell my nerves entirely. Soon enough, we were just before the bend, and as we crossed, I took one step to continue… and I wasn't in the staircase anymore, well, I was, but it definitely was not the bit of staircase I was on before. There was a wide hall with large doors right in front of me, and my foot was planted on what looked like the last step on the staircase.

Suddenly, Susan seemed to blur into existence right next to me, and it startled me. A little yelp, and her hand shot out to grab mine, preventing my tumble down what looked like a lot of steps. Suddenly, I was thankful for the existence of both whatever made us get here faster, and the girl who had yet to let go of my hand.

"Are you okay, Jen?" She asked, and I nodded with a slight nervous smile. She then pulled me off the last step and pushed on into the hallway, where she finally released my hand. She smiled back, and said; "Thank the Father I saw you, that would have really hurt!"

I once again nodded, with a broader smile, perhaps this girl would be my actual first friend in this castle.

By this point, the rest of our little group had joined us, and others were popping onto the steps right behind us, and so we trudged down the hall onto the gates where a stern looking old woman waited.

"Welcome to Hogwarts;" She said, she seemed quite happy to see our group together; perhaps she was truly devoted to teaching? "Now, in a few moments you will pass these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses."

This was, and wasn't, news to me. My mother said she was a Gryffindor in school, and I assume this was what she meant, the house that is.

"The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." She stated, and then carried on, "Now while you're here, your house will be like your family, your triumphs will earn you points, any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup –

I know she wasn't finished, and I know it's rude to interrupt, but just as she was speaking, a toad jumped into sight. I heard it drop down, and it was close to me, and it was ohsoterrifyingpleasemakeitgoaway!

"Trevor!" a kid bellowed, who I later assumed was the named Neville that Hermione had mentioned before, and thus Trevor would be the name of the hellspawn creature of hatred and wrong that was currently scaring the daylights out of me. Of course, cue the shriek out of my throat once my brain finished registering there was a toad in my presence, and a little jump just to be caught by someone, who had already caught me before. I cowered, and she hugged me, and it was strangely comforting. I had only let mum hug me before, should I be letting this girl hug me? I knew who it was, her hair was red, and there was only one girl in our group that had red hair. Thus, only Susan could be her.

"It's okay, it's okay!" she said quickly, and hugged me tighter, "it's been put away, you can look now," and as I looked, the before mentioned Neville had the toad in hand and I let go of a breath that I didn't know I was holding, I sent an unnoticed death glare at the boy that said 'keep it away from me or I'll hurt you', but the oblivious child was too busy with the stare he was receiving from the obvious teacher in front of us.

He apologized, and turned back into the group, and so she carried on.

"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily." Was all she said, and turned her back on us gesturing to follow.

"It's true then." Someone said out loud, "What they were saying on the train. Potter has come to Hogwarts."

Whispers rose amongst us, and the girls that had been with me on the boat had knowing looks and in the case of Tracey, smug grins.

"This is Crabbe, and Goyle." The boy who called my attention nodded towards two other boys who were quite large for their age, "and I'm Malfoy."

He walked towards me, to stand in front of me, "Draco Malfoy," a little snicker was heard, and the boy whipped his head towards another red headed boy that was near; "Think my name is funny, do you? I don't have to ask yours." A little sneer, "Red hair, hand-me-down robes, you must be a Weasley." Then the boy turned back towards me, and continued on, his rude expression once more gone off his face. "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't wanna go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

A hand was extended, intent to be shook, but I knew I didn't want to hang around this boy. He seemed like the 'wrong sort' to me.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks, and I think I've found a good friend by myself already." I turned towards Susan and a bright, beaming smile was rewarded to me. Apparently, she was very pleased by that statement.

The boy seemed to want to bark back at my reply, but before he had the chance, the stern looking professor was behind him and addressed us after tapping his back with a rolled up paper that looked very much like parchment, seriously, what was with mages and parchment? Did they not use notebooks like everyone else?

"We are ready for you now. Follow me." And thus we did.

It wasn't very long after, we were put into a line and walked into a quite large hall filled with people and four long tables, banners hung from the ceiling supported apparently nowhere, as when I looked up what appeared to be the night sky of Scotland looked back at me. "It's enchanted," I heard a girl say somewhere near us, below the sky floated countless candles and braziers lined the sides of it, providing the light for what seemed to be the place everyone took their meals. Impressive. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A history," I only caught the tail end of what she said after what I first heard, but it seemed like this girl was quite into reading. Maybe she could be a friend if I knew who she was.

The end of the tables were empty as we walked along the path left between the two middle ones, and right before us stood a single stool, with a patchy old hat which seemed positively ancient perched upon it. The witch that led us turned back, and stopped us right before the rise towards what seemed to be the head table, "Before we start, the headmaster has some words for you."

"I have a few start of term notices that I wish to announce," came as he stood up, a rather big man, with a large beard that reached the middle of his stomach. From what I could see, his hair also went past his shoulders, and it was completely white; how old could this man be?

"The first years please note, that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students, also our caretaker, Mister Filch," he pointed towards a man that stood at the doors, he looked quite uncaring of himself, his skin looked rather filthy and his head was balding, hair looking like an unwashed mutt's furcoat rather than a person's hair. He looked and oozed unpleasantness with his presence, "Has asked me to remind you, that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not want to die a most painful death."

A thank you resounded on my ears but my mind was entirely focused on something else, a most painful death? Why would there be something capable of causing such things in a school? It made no sense at all.

"I'm gonna call your name," her accent flared, "you will come forth and I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and thus sorted into your houses."

"Abbot, Hannah!" rang, and the girl with blonde pigtails walked forth, then sat upon the stool. It took not long at all. "HUFFLEPUFF!" Came the bellow from the hat itself, this was quite surprising and once again I found myself jumping. Susan, who seemed to have taken it upon herself to stay behind me at all times, held me steady once more.

"You're so skittish, Jen." She giggled, and I found my cheeks heating slightly. I was most definitely not skittish!

Well, perhaps a little.

Cheers and claps sounded around us from the table of students with yellow trimmings, while respectful claps seemed to come from the rest of tables.

"Bones, Susan;" and she moved past me in a delicate yet slightly rushed way, nerves clearly written on her face as she sat down and the hat was sat on her head, this one took longer, and I took the time to wander with my sight towards the teachers. One of them was staring squarely at me.

"GRYFFINDOR;" Came the bellow, and loud cheers came from the tableful of teens with red trimming. I also clapped for my friend, and her face seemed quite happy although perhaps a bit concerned for not being with her friend, yet she beamed as she ran to the table so I was pleased.

The names of course, ran on.

Until it was such a time that it was my turn.

"Potter, Jennifer."

And so I moved on ahead, apprehension was clear in my face, would I be put with someone I know already? Daphne and Tracey had both gone to Slytherin already, but so had that ponce Malfoy. Then there was Hannah in Hufflepluff, but she had been quiet towards me and so I didn't get that much of an impression of her.

I hoped I would get Gryffindor, so I wouldn't be with so many strangers.

I sat, and the hat sat upon me, and immediately I felt something going into my head, but it didn't seem harmful, yet I was still wary of it.

The hat spoke out loud, "Difficult, very difficult…" then the conversation shifted onto thoughts. I could hear the hat speak, but the hat wasn't speaking, so this must be just like what the forest had done sometimes. Very strange.

"You are quite intelligent, and very observant, perhaps you belong amongst the children of my mistress Ravenclaw? But you are also quite persuasive, and seem to want to achieve many things, you would be great in Slytherin, you would. Then, there is this massive amount of courage you have, you seem very predisposed to protect others, aren't you?"

The thoughts swirled, and I decided that it couldn't hurt… "Can I go to Gryffindor?"

The hat hummed. "Why, child? You would be a fine addition and fit in quite well there, yes, but you would also fit quite perfectly in Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Is there something else pulling you towards there?"

My thoughts went fast, lonely, friend, as I looked towards the Gryffindor table and saw the two girls I had shared a few words with looking at me, smiles and anticipation on their faces.

"I see, then you shall be…" and it stopped speaking in my mind, to instead boom out of its rim; "GRYFFINDOR!"

Once more the table in red erupted into cheers, while the rest politely clapped. Two redheaded teenagers stood up and began chanting 'We got Potter, We got Potter', why my name seemed so relevant I was unaware of. Alas, that wasn't quite important, so I walked towards the table. I noticed that where she sat, in front of Hermione, she asked the boy beside her, Finnegan I think, to scoot over, and they all made space at her wish, impressive. I made my way there, and sat right next, and her excited chatter began with me as the sole target.

I felt a smile crawl unto my face.

"Aren't you excited to finally be at Hogwarts!?" she excitedly chirped once the sorting was finally over, not long after a boy made the now-remembered Seamus scoot over once more and introduced himself as Ronald Weasley, the boy who almost got into a fist fight at the stairs.

"I am, but apparently not as much as you, Susan," and it was true, I didn't have nearly as much time as she could have to anticipate this, after all, it'd been only a month since I received my letter, and three since I knew magic was real. My mother hadn't seen fit to tell me, apparently happy with giving me this surprise.

"Why is that? I couldn't stop thinking about it since I got my first accidental magic!" She seemingly lost herself in thought for a moment, her smile widening,

"Well, I didn't actually know it existed until last month."

"You didn't know!?" came from the boy that now sat next to me, the one who called himself Ronald, as if he was personally offended by that. "But you're the daughter of James Potter! The hero of the last war! How could you not know of magic?"

"My mother didn't tell me," was my flat toned reply, apparently the boy was quite passionate about what he thought, and that was fine, really… as long as he didn't try to force his thoughts on me. I turned back, and resolutely ignored his incredulous look on his face.

"So you're basically a muggleborn, then, Jen?" she said, and there was a glim of what I could only call curiosity in her eye; "You must know so many things of the muggles! You have to tell me everything, there's so much I want to know," and so we carried on talking as we ate our fill, and not long after the food disappeared from in front of us, a boy who looked quite older than us stood and asked us first years to follow him, and so we were on our way towards what would be our dorm for the next seven years. We climbed many stairs, that moved by themselves and wove a somewhat confusing pattern between them, passing through the landing of the corridor that was said out of bounds. The portraits hung about the walls, and pointed at us, their inhabitants, was that the right word? A quick question to Susan confirmed yes, the inhabitants looked at us with gleaming smiles and claps as we were the new generation of Hogwarts, just beginning our education, as they must have seen hundreds if not thousands before us.

Soon enough, at the seventh floor, we came upon a painting of a Lady in pink, she seemed aristocratic and rather plump, and with a singsong voice she asked the lead for the password.

The prefect, as he was to be called, uttered it loudly and clearly, intent on it registering unto our memories as best as we could do so, and then the portrait swung open, and we trooped inside.

The room was rather comfortable looking, there were tables, love seats, long couches, armchairs, a pin board with what seems like notifications was on one side, broad windows towards the grounds on the other, and book cases lining the walls, all in a pleasant shade of burgundy.

We were then split in two lines and led towards two staircases that were one aside the other, the left side for the girls, right for the boys, and so we were on our way towards our dorms, in another set of stairs that curved upwards.

The girl prefect, who had waited for us on the staircase, led us first years to the fifth floor of the stair case, which would now be our dorm. As we were let inside the circular room, armoires with mirrors, and little desks filled the space, with chairs in front of them to serve as study places, and medium sized four poster beds finished the assembly. All of us present, Hermione, Susan, a couple of girls by the name Parvati and Lavender, a girl named Fay and myself, looked between the beds and desks in the room for our belongings that had been sent up already, and I ended up nestled between Fay and Susan.

Parvati and Lavender seemed well acquainted already, incessantly chattering in variable tones as everyone settled themselves and their belongings while Hermione busied herself with filling the top of her desk with books. I decided on unpacking my clothes and making use of the old but beautiful looking – antique probably was the word – armoire that was provided for us, glimpses on the mirror of myself every time I reached down into my trunk to pull more clothes out.

Soon enough, it was time for all of us to settle into bed, as some of the girls retired and the rest quieted down to let them sleep, the lights were eventually put off, and curtains drawn.

Hermione had said that the curtains were enchanted so no noise came into the bed area, so I had purposefully left mine not completely drawn so I could hear if anything was going wrong, and thus I could hear the slight snoring of Fay that had perhaps unintentionally done the same. I got myself up, and finished drawing her curtain so as to not be bothered by her snoring after about thirty minutes of it, it took a quick mental debate on whether it'd be better to close hers or my own, and it seemed that all of the other girls were asleep already. As I settled back into bed, I was proven wrong when Susan slipped out from within her curtain and stepped towards my four poster, soon enough she was sitting cross legged right next to my legs, and she apologized, "I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep." She said, "I'm not really used to being by myself, I've never slept anywhere other than my bed."

"Me either," my reply was honest, and truly I didn't know if I could sleep here if I tried. It was quiet, yes, but truthfully it was the first time I slept without knowing my mum was nearby and only a yell away. It felt rather uncomfortable once I realized this.

"So… since we can't sleep, what can you tell me about muggles?" she said as she finished closing the curtain, apparently she did not want to bother the others, nevermind that their own curtains were shut and thus couldn't hear us, but it was the thought that mattered.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Did you go to muggle school?" I nodded, "How was it? Did you have a lot of friends?"

"It was… nice, I guess." I replied with a little uncertainty, how do you explain school to someone else? It seemed so unreal. "I didn't have all that many friends, I always liked being by myself."

"Oh…" in the dim lighting, almost pitch dark really, I couldn't see much of her expression, but her words seemed a bit sad, "Well, now you have a friend for life, I promise!" and then she lunged into hugging me, falling right on top of me in a tumble.

"Oof," left my lips, as some of the air was pushed out of me, and she giggled and apologized, but did not let go of me. "Too much enthusiasm!" I cried, "but I appreciate it, I really do."

"Jen… do you mind if we keep talking? I really can't sleep, and I know you need to but…"

"It's okay, I'm sure we'll be fine in the morning."

And so, she kept asking, and I kept answering, at some point in the night she shuffled under the covers and I began asking my own questions, who knew wizards used brooms to fly? Certainly I didn't. Next thing I know the girl was yawning, and soon enough she had fallen asleep right next to me, cuddled into my side. I decided this wasn't bad at all.

And so the night finally took me.

Didn't think I'd squeeze out this much, but here it is, I'll try to get the next one out much sooner. Reviews appreciated.