In the Leaky Cauldron, Aunt Jess greeted Tom, the barkeeper. Unfortunately, he spotted Harry was well and gasped, "Bless my soul! Is that Harry Potter? What an honor!"

He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed towards Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Suddenly, the other people in the place turned to stare at Harry. After a few seconds, they began approaching him and he found himself having to shake hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron. Aunt Jess looked very annoyed, and Matt and Stella rolled their eyes in disgust.

Hermione, who hadn't been told that Harry was famous in the wizarding world, gave her parents a confusd look, then turned to Crystal and whispered, "What's this all about?"

"Well, the Potters are sort of famous in the wizarding world," responded Crystal. "You know we told you about Voldemort and how he killed Harry's parents. Well, he was after Harry too, but Lily Potter died to protect her son." That was the truth, but not the complete truth.

Harry felt very uncomfortable, being the center of attention of so many people.

"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."

"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."

"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you. Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."

"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop." That had happened when Harry was nine and had been shopping for school clothes.

"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!"

Harry shook hands again and again - Doris Crockford kept coming back for more. A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.

Aunt Jess froze when she saw him. "You're Quirinus Quirrell! You were in two years below me in Slytherin!"

He nodded nervously and stammered, "I-I-I a-am the D-d-d-defense Against D-d-dark A-arts teacher a-at Hogwarts n-n-now." Then he turned to Harry and said, "P-P-Potter, c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you." He then added that he was there to buy a book on vampires.

Finally Aunt Jess had enough and said loudly that they needed to go and get school supplies. Doris Crockford gave Harry one last handshake and they left the Leaky Cauldron and into the back courtyard that had a dustbin and a few weeds. Aunt Jess pulled out her wand and counted the bricks in the wall above. "Three up, two across," she muttered. Then she tapped the three times with her wand. The brick she had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway on to a cobbled street which twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley," she said for the Grangers' benefit. The Drs. Granger looked around in awe, while Hermione could hardly contain her excitement. They stepped through and the archway shrank instantly back into a solid wall.

Susan Bones and Ernie MacMillian ran over to them. "Hi, everyone!" exclaimed Susan. "Ernie and I arrived about ten minutes ago and our parents just got our money from Gringotts."

They headed over to Gringotts just as the Weasleys and the Longbottoms turned up. Mr. Weasley looked excited upon seeing Hermione's parents and took them aside to ask them some questions about the Muggle world. After a few minutes, Mrs. Weasley dragged him away as they needed to make a withdrawal from their vault. The MacMillians stayed to help the Grangers exchange their pounds for galleons while the rest went down to get their money.

Harry had a vault of his own left to him by his parents, but Aunt Jess would pay for his school things as she wanted him to keep his vault for when he came of age. A goblin named Griphook took them down to the Evans vault in a large cart. When it opened, the kids were surprised to see a mound of galleons, piles of sickles, and stacks of knuts. "I didn't realize you had this much money, Aunt Jess," said Stella in awe.

"Most of the money I've earned from my job gets deposited, Stella. The money for your education and the household bills is paid for by the rather large inheritance I've gotten from my parents and grandparents." She swept some money into her large handbag, then handed some each to the kids as their spending money.

Back in the lobby, Neville and his grandmother had come up, but the Weasleys hadn't arrived yet. They decided to wait for them. While waiting, a giant of a man came in and Aunt Jess introduced him as Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. He greeted the kids, as well the Weasleys when they showed up a minute later, then explained that he was on business for Dumbledore. He had just gotten a package from Vault 713.

"What was the package you had to get?" asked Matt.

"Matthew Gabriel Lesley!" scolded Aunt Jess. "That is none of your business. Dumbledore asked Hagrid to fetch something, and that is all you should know."

"Sorry," muttered Matt. Hagrid nodded, bid everyone good-bye and then left, as he felt a bit sick from riding the Gringott's cart and wanted to get something to steady himself at the Leaky Cauldron.

First they stopped at Flourish and Blotts, where they bought their school books. The Weasleys had to by them second hand, and Ron had to make do with some of the old school books his older brothers Charlie and Bill, who had left Hogwarts used. Crystal and Matt bought Hogwarts, a History, as well, and Hermione bought that a couple of other books for background reading.

Then the party split up, with half going to Madam Malkins for the robes and the other half to the Apothecary for the potions supplies. In Madam Malkin's, Crystal was being fitted next to a boy with pale blonde hair and a pale pointed face. He looked at her and said, "Hullo. Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," replied Crystal.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"You're not supposed to!" exclaimed Crystal, looking shocked. "That's against the rules!"

"Not much of a rule-breaker, are you?" sneered the boy.

"I never break the rules unless there's a very good reason to," said Crystal haughtily. She was beginning to find the boy distasteful.

"Well, have you got your own broom?" asked the boy.

"Yes, I have a Cleansweep Six," answered Crystal.

"Play Quidditch at all, then?"

"I play sometimes with my friends and siblings, but I'd much rather read a book," said Crystal coldly. She pushed up her glasses.

"Bookworm, are you?" asked the boy. "You'll probably end up in Ravenclaw then. I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"No I wouldn't!" snapped Crystal. "It's a perfectly good house for those who are hard-working and loyal. Two of my friends have family who were in Hufflepuff."

"Sorry," said the boy, but he didn't sound it. "Your parents are our kind, aren't they?"

"They were witch and wizard, if that's what you mean," said Crystal icily. "What's your name?"

"Draco Malfoy," replied the boy.

"Well, I don't want to be friends with you, Mr. Malfoy," said Crystal coldly. "I've been told about the Malfoy family and I don't want be friends with a family that's into pureblood supremacy and the Dark Arts." Just then, Madam Malkin told her that she was done and she gratefully hopped off from the stool.

Matt took her place and said, "Hello."

Draco looked at him and said, "Hello. I hope you'll turn out better than the girl that was just here."

"That girl happens to be my adopted sister," said Matt.

"Oh," said the boy. "So you'll think like her, I suppose?"

"I don't know what you mean," responded Matt. "Crystal has her nose in a book most of the time, and I like to things besides read all the time. I'm pretty good at Quidditch, but she's more into watching it than playing it. And I'm willing to sometimes break minor rules, while she won't unless unless there's a good reason to."

"I mean about Slytherins and things like that," said Draco.

"I think Slytherins have a very bad repuation and that most of them live up to them," said Matt evenly. "There are exceptions, of course. I do not wish to talk anymore."

Fortunately, Draco was done with his fitting then, so he left and Harry took his place.

In the Apothecary, Matt and Crystal told about their run-ins with Draco Malfoy. Aunt Jess pursed her lips and said, "The Malfoy family claim to be a good family, but they're not. I'm certain they supported Voldemort, but Lucius Malfoy got off by claiming to have been under the Imperious Curse. A lot of nonsense, I say, but they give money to the Ministry and charitable causes, so they're mostly not bothered."

After buying the potiosn supplies, everyone met up to buy the cauldrons. Then they split up again, with one group going to buy wands and the other to by quills, ink, and parchment.

It took Harry a long time, but finally he found the perfect wand. It was holly, eleven inches, with a core of a phoenix feather and produced red and gold sparks when he touched it. Mr. Ollivander creeped everyone out, however, when he said that the brother of Harry's wand was the one that gave him the scar.

Then Crystal was next and after three wands, got one of vine, unicorn hair, ten inches. When she touched it, blue sparks came out. After was Matt and his wand (after a dozen tries), was birch, dragon heartstring, twelve inches. Then was Stella, and she took almost as long as Harry. Finally she took a wand of willow, phoenix feather, eleven inches. Green sparks shot from her wand.

Neville didn't get a wand, as he was going to use his father's, but Susan stepped forward to buy her wand. When they finished, they left the shop to buy their writing supplies just as the MacMillians came in. Ron was going to use his brother Charlie's old wand, but Aunt Jess wouldn't hear of it and insisted on paying for Ron's wand. When Mrs. Weasley protested, Aunt Jess said, "You've spent many summer afternoons helping look after my children while I was at work. This is paying you back, partly."

Then they stopped at Quality Quidditch Supplies and Harry stared longingly at the new broom that had come out, a Nimbus Two Thousand. He wished he could have it, but knew that he already had a perfectly good Cleansweep Five at home, and anyway, Aunt Jess would have already bought his gift.

At Eyelops Owl Emporium, Matt and Stella bought an owl. Harry wanted to by an owl as well, but Aunt Jess told him no. At Magical Menagerie, Crystal picked out a gray-striped tiger cat that she named Bastet on the spot, after the cat-headed Egyptian goddess. Hermione wasn't going to buy a pet, but Aunt Jess insisted on buying her one as an early birthday present (her twelfth birthday was in September), so she picked out a ginger cat that was a bit bow-legged and its face looked grumpy and oddly squashed, as though it had run headlong into a brick wall. The storeowner said he was named Crookshanks and that she had just gotten him a month ago.

"You picked out that cat?" demanded Ron, looking at Hermione as if she was crazy.

"Well, I think he's gorgeous," said Hermione in a dignified voice.

"Me too," said Crystal. Harry barely kept himself from snorting, because half the time Crystal acted like an absent-minded professor and couldn't care less about her looks, much less anyone else's. Once she had come down for breakfast wearing a green and red plaid skirt and a pink and yellow polka dot blouse. Matt had asked if she'd gotten dressed in the dark. Crystal had merely looked down at her clothes and said, "I'm decently dressed, aren't I?" Then she'd sat down and began eating her oatmeal, her nose buried in a book at the same time. It was a good thing that their school had required a uniform, or she'd have gotten teasing for her clothes.

Reanne had once remarked, "Luna might have weird jewelry and stuff, but she never dresses the way Crystal does." Harry had to agree. Butterbeer cork necklaces and radish earrings were a odd, but Luna didn't pair polka dots with checks or something similar. If you ignored the odd accessories, Luna looked presentable.

In the afternoon, the adults (except Aunt Jess), left and the kids celebrated Harry's birthday. Harry was quite surprised when he opened the present from Stella and found a snowy owl in a cage. He had an even bigger surprise when he opened Aunt Jess' present and found a Nimbus Two Thousand.

"Oh thank you, Aunt Jess!" exclaimed Harry, giving her a hug. "How did you know I wanted it?"

"You're as good at Quidditch as your father was, Harry," answered Aunt Jess. "It would be a crime not to give you the best broom. James would turn over in his grave if you didn't."

The rest of Harry's presents consisted of books, sweets, a poster of the Chudley Cannons, a wand case and bottle of polish, and a set of dress robes from Crystal, in a rather awful shade of magenta with yellow trim. He thanked his sister politely for the gift, but made a mental note to never wear the robes unless he had nothing else to wear. He wished she had gotten him a book instead, but supposed that she had decided against it after getting him books for his past two birthdays.

The next day, Harry had named his owl Hedwig, after someone he had read about when flipping through A History of Magic. Matt had named his owl Wulfric, after one of Dumbledore's middle names, and Stella had named hers Hestia, after the Greek goddess of the hearth.

In the afternoon, Hermione came in, clutching her copy of Modern Magical History. "Why didn't you tell me Harry was famous for defeating Voldemort?" she demanded. "You only told me part of the truth yesterday, Crystal!"

"We didn't want you to treat me any differently because I'm famous," replied Harry. "I used my mom's maiden name for my last name when I first met Ron and Neville and the rest. After they'd gotten to know me, then I told them the truth. It'd be pretty hard to get to know someone if all the focused on was that they were with someone famous."

"You were already over the moon when Aunt Jess explained the wizarding world to you and your parents and informed you that you were a witch," said Stella. "If you found out Harry was famous then, you might have behaved like those people in the Leaky Cauldron did."

"I would not!" snapped Hermione. "By that time, I had already know you guys for a few months and counted you as friends. I met the real Harry, not the Boy-Who-Lived. I wouldn't have treated you any differently, Harry, just because you were famous in the wizarding world. Though I do agree about not telling our other friends right away."

"Yeah," said Matt. "Ginny grew up hearing stories about the Boy-Who-Lived and how he defeated Voldemort. At the age of five and six, she already had a crush on him. But once she found out that Harry Evans was actually Harry Potter, her feelings changed."

"Which was a relief," said Harry. "I like Ginny, but only as a friend. Besides, I'm too young to start thinking of girlfriends and stuff." Then he gave Crystal a look. "But Crystal doesn't seem to have that problem. Going around at the age of seven declaring that she and Neville are to be married."

Crystal blushed, but snapped, "What about the time when you were eight and started acting all nice to Susan, Harry? You brought her flowers from the garden and held open doors for her and stuff!"

"That was different," retorted Harry. "I liked her and just wanted to be nice to her. I didn't go around saying that we would get married when we grew up. Besides, I see Susan only as a very good friend, and not as a possible girlfriend right now."

Hermione quickly changed the subject to what she had read in Modern Magical History and Crystal left with her to discuss it.

The month passed quickly and soon it was September the first. At King's Cross Station, Aunt Jess explained to Hermione how to get through the barrier between platforms nine and ten to get to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. After a few minutes, everyone had gotten on the Hogwarts Express and Harry and his siblings leaned out the window to kiss Aunt Jess and bid her good-bye. She hugged and kissed everyone twice, and even did the same for Hermione, as her parents couldn't through the barrier.

"Now, behave," said Aunt Jess looking sternly at Matt and Stella. "And do your best and have fun at Hogwarts. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Reanne burst into tears. "I'll miss you guys very much. I wish I could go to Hogwarts now."

"You still have Luna, Ginny, Emma, and Daniel to keep you company," soothed Crystal.

Next to them, Mrs. Weasley was telling the twins, Fred and George, to behave and that she didn't want to get owls saying that they'd blown up a toilet or something. Finally the train began moving. Reanne and Ginny ran after the train, half crying, half laughing, until it gained too much speed. then they fell back and stood, waving.

Once the train was out of sight, Fred and George went to find their friend Lee Jordan, while Percy went to sit with the other prefects. Harry and the rest went looking for a compartment. The nine of them found one at the very end of the train. It was bigger than the other compartments they had passed, and was large enough to sit at least twelve or thirteen people.

They exchanged looks, then stowed away their trunks and sat down. At half-past twelve, a witch with the food trolley arrived and they all bought food. Hermione knew about a number of the sweets, but the others had to explain the rest to her.

When they finished eating, Neville realized that his toad, Trevor, had hopped away when they'd opened the door to buy food. He, along with Crystal, Hermione, Susan, and Matt went to look for it. The others had volunteered as well, but Neville had told them the five of them were enough and that they should stay in case Trevor somehow hopped back in.

After an hour, Neville, Hermione, Susan, and Matt returned, saying that they hadn't found Trevor. Crystal was still searching. At that point, Draco Malfoy and two other boys came in.

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

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing either side of the pale boy they looked like bodyguards.

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

"I know," said Harry coldly. "My adopted sister Crystal mentioned meeting you in Madam Malkins."

"Oh," said Malfoy, looking slightly surprised. Then he cleared his throat and said, "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. "Besides, I already have friends. May I introduce Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, and Ernie MacMillian?"

"You're friends with a Weasley?" asked Malfoy incredulously.

Ron stood up in a flash, looking angry, but before he had a chance to make an angry retort, Bastet jumped out from her carrier and landed on Malfoy, scratching his arm. Then she jumped down and hissed angrily at Crabbe and Goyle.

"I'll get your bloody cat for this!" snapped Malfoy.

Crystal had entered and said coldly, "You won't touch a single hair on Bastet, or you'll be sorry. Now you and your goons get out, Malfoy, or I'll hex you. I know some good spells already."

Malfoy turned to glare at her, then beckoned for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him out. "Neville, I found Trevor," she said once the three had left. "He was hiding in a box on the food trolley."

"Oh, thank you so much, Crystal!" exclaimed Neville, relieved. He took Trevor and held on to the toad tightly.

"You're welcome, Neville. The driver said we'd be at Hogwarts shortly, so I suggest we change into our robes." They all pulled on their robes over their Muggle clothes. Crystal picked up Bastet when she was done and said, "You darling cat. I'm proud of what you did to Malfoy." She fished in her pocket and handed Bastet a cat treat.

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."

They all gave a start, and Ron, Neville, Susan, and Hermione looked nervous. They all crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.

Neville, Harry, Ron, and Hermione clambered into a boat. Susan, Ernie, Matt, and Stella took another boat. Crystal sat in a boat with twin girls who looked to be of Indian descent, and a boy who introduced himself as Justin Finch-Fletchly. "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, "Right then - FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the castle overhead.

It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which had a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles.

Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?" Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

Author's note: Part of this is taken from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but the rest is all original.