Second Marauders Chapter 1: To Hogwarts, a harry potter fanfic

June 1979

Albus Dumbledore was feeling every bit his age as he sat behind his desk. He had just come from an order meeting where he had found out they had just lost three more members and he had no possible way of seeing how the Light would win this war. The wizened old headmaster was broken from his musings by a knock at his door.

"Enter," he called.

Minerva walked through the door with a rare smile on her face. "Oh Albus, I know you're not exactly happy after meeting but I came across some exciting news that I thought might break even your current depression."

"Oh, and what might that be?" Albus asked with obvious interest.

"Well, you always say that the best way to honor the dead is to properly live. Luckily for you I have three pieces of exciting news for you. First, as you know, there are going to be three weddings next week. We know that Frank and Alice are one of them along with Lily and James but I have finally discovered that Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon are the third couple," Minerva said, practically bouncing in her seat.

"So Sirius and Marlene have successfully managed to agree that they belong together as we have been telling them for years. What of the other two pieces of news?"

"Well, they have decided that instead of having three separate weddings, that they would be honored to have you officiate three weddings in front of the Order. However, while that is the second piece, the third and final piece of news is that in light of the current situation, the three couples have decided that it would be best for the families they wish to start if the three of them lived together."

December 1980

Three babies played on the floor of a large manor while a group of adults close by spoke in a hushed whisper.

"You're sure that the prophecy you heard from that Trelawny person was referring to us?" Lily asked. "Well, I guess I should say our kids."

"You are the only set of parents that this could possibly refer to," Albus said with a sigh.

"Repeat it for me real quick," Frank requested.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… together with the pair born alongside him his life will be filled with peril and pain… one shall die, one shall fight and one shall rise alongside the one chosen… and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives…" Albus quoted.

"So, what you're saying is, you think one of the five month old kids over there is going to be targeted by Voldemort because of a prophecy, marked as his equal, have to kill or be killed when they grow up, all the while one of them will die along the way and the other one will rise along with the one that has to miraculously survive an encounter with Voldemort. Did I get all that or did I miss anything?" Sirius asked angrily.

"Sirius, calm down," Marlene said as she gently placed her hand on her husband's forearm. "Well, Albus, the man asked you a question."

"In short, yes and no. Fortunately, I placed a precautionary silencing spell on the room so I'm positive that only the seven of us know. For safety reasons I did remove the memory from Sibyll so as long as none of you speak about this prophecy to anyone then we shall be safe. There is no reason that this should come to pass. I merely sought to tell the people who would be most affected by this prophecy. I will have to warn you to take the utmost security when it comes to you and your children as there is evidence suggesting that there is a mole within the order."

October 31st 1981

Hogwarts was being emptied and the Order was being summoned to assist the staff while the Ministry was gathering the Aurors. All along the borders of the ancient school there were Death Eaters, werewolves, vampires and an assortment of other creatures all of which were hammering away at the wards.

"Albus, what are we to do?" Minerva asked.

"My dear, we have been at war for a good number of years. It was always going to lead to this. The only thing we can do now is utilise the defences and hope that we have enough to make it through this together," Albus replied wearily.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing we're here too huh?" James' voice rang out from behind the headmaster.

"James?" Albus asked as he spun around. To his astonishment, he saw Lily, James, Sirius and Marlene clad in their battle gear.

" Well, right now it's just the four of us. Frank and Alice went to the Ministry so that James and I would be able to help you out in the meantime. Any questions or shall we begin kicking some ass?" Sirius taunted.

"What of the babies?" Minerva asked.

"We sent them off to Fleamont and Euphemia with orders to set the maximum security wards as soon as they were home. Peter has gone to make sure Lupin was safe but he'll be here in a moment," Marlene explained.

"So what're we doing? Are we catching up or preparing for a fight to the death?" Lily asked.

Meanwhile at Potter Manor…

Voldemort stood just outside the ancient wards with a small team of curse breakers patiently waiting for his prey to return. First he was going to rid the world of these children, it would serve a dual purpose in showing that he was willing to go to great lengths when anyone dared stand against him while also completely demoralizing Dumbledore's pathetic Order of the Phoenix.

What he didn't know was that he would be enacting a prophecy that would spell either his doom or his eternal reign.

August 17th 1991

Harry was roughly awoken as his best friend Rose threw herself onto his bed.

"Wake up! It's time for us to go to Diagon Alley!" Rose cried.

"I'm up you crazy girl!" Harry laughed as he tied Rose up in his covers. "Vengeance for your birthday I take it?"

"Of course. We're also running low on supplies. Did you want to ask my dad or did you want me to ask yours?"

"Well, it depends on what we're low on, is it potions supplies, recipes, joke stuff or books?"

"Now that you mention it, yes." Rose said as she finally freed herself from the covers. "Think about it while you get dressed. I'll make a list but after that we'll divide and conquer."

Harry, now suddenly very excited for his trip, hurriedly got dressed and ran down stairs where he saw Rose and Neville whispering quietly while their younger siblings ran around.

"Hey you two, what's the plan?" Harry asked.

"Well, I'll take the book and recipe lists since a lot of it has to do with plants and my parents won't care," Neville said.

"I'll handle taking the joke stuff to your dad Harry and you can handle getting the potions stuff while you're with your mom. This way we attract less attention and we can still get all of our stuff for school," Rose explained.

"Perfect. While we're there let's each try to get an owl so we can each start owl ordering the supplies. Lately we've been asking to use our savings and allowances a lot at Diagon Alley and while I know my dad and Uncle Sirius are fine with pranks and all, Uncle Remus and Aunt Alice are more than against it," Harry added.

"Well, it's a good thing we have plenty of pockets then, now let's go," Rose said.

Harry, Neville and Rose had each worn a pair of cargo pants and jackets with plenty of pockets. Their goal was to get enough supplies to make sure that the Weasley twins had a run for their money as far as the most skilled pranksters went. Already, they had managed to get their hands on the Mauraders' Map courtesy of Rose asking James on her birthday. Remus had gifted them each an enchanted mirror on Neville's birthday so that they could stay in touch and Harry had received his father's invisibility cloak on his birthday but secretly so that Lily wouldn't know he had it.

As it was, the three of them had received tutoring in separate areas and then shared their knowledge with the other two. Harry was taught in wandless magic by his father and potions by his mother, right now all he could do was levitate or summon small objects and unlock doors that hadn't been spelled shut but he could brew potions quite well thanks to his mother teaching him that brewing a potion and making soup weren't very different. You just had to know why you added certain ingredients, what they did and how they mixed with the rest. Needless to say, Harry was also quite adept in the kitchen.

Rose was taught Occlumency since it was a Black tradition to start learning how to protect your mind from the age of seven. While she was receiving instructions, she would take notes on the important aspects of it and give her notes to Neville first, then Harry.

Neville was very gifted in the garden, so much so that he was given his own set of small greenhouses which he used to grow different plants under the tutelage of his entire family. With a total of four greenhouses, seeds brought from Diagon Alley and some of the rarest Herbology books his family could find, along with an extraordinary amount of standard Herbology books, Neville was by far the most educated of the three when it came to potions. In Greenhouse 1, Neville grew all the most basic potions ingredients which allowed him to brew any first year potion. Greenhouse 2 was used for more select plants that needed a much warmer climate, and also happened to be needed for a number of joke related potions. Greenhouse 3 was reserved for plants that had a distinctly medicinal use only, in fact, the potions that each of them practised with were medicinal potions that were capable of being lightly modified without having a cauldron explode. Greenhouse 4 was just for fun though, it contained rare flowers and vines that gave it a feeling like Spring year round.

While they would share their knowledge, there were some things that one of them couldn't learn. Harry, try as he might, couldn't retain much of anything Remus tried to teach with theory which meant history and a lot of transfiguration went completely over his head. Rose was awful at keeping a plant alive no matter how closely she followed Neville's notes. Neither Neville or Rose could do any wandless magic, though that was more by choice than anything else since learning it required an awful lot of patience and meditating to get started with.

"Well, I'll take the book and recipe lists since a lot of it has to do with plants and my parents won't care," Neville said.

"Well, it's a good thing we have plenty of pockets then, now let's go," Rose said.

When the group finally arrived in Diagon Alley, they were met with the entirety of the Weasley clan. Since the group now numbered twenty-five they decided to split into smaller groups. Arthur and Molly would watch Ginny, Kyle Black and Leon Longbottom; Sirius and Marlene would keep Cameron and Brianne; Frank and Alice would keep Alex; Bill was going to helping James and Lily handle some business at Gringotts; Percy would be on his own while Fred and George would be keeping close; and Charlie was going to guide Harry, Rose, Neville and Ron.

"Well you three, looks like I'll be taking you around today. By the looks on your faces, you kids are planning something," Charlie said with a knowing smirk. "Living with Fred and George gives one enough practice. So give me your lists and I'll help you guys get what you need provided none of it gets used on me."

The trio passed over their lists eager to get that portion of shopping done so that their parents wouldn't know about it.

"This is some serious stuff kids, what are you hoping to do?" Charlie asked. "From the looks of it you're as serious about this as the twins."

"Well, Ron's told us about some of the stuff that the twins have done so we wanted to see if we could surpass them. We know that they want to own a joke shop one day so we want to start a little competition with them and see if they're worth funding," Rose explained.

"We have some pretty high standards since our dads were their inspiration," Harry added.

"Honestly, I get some cool plants and lots of skills from hanging around these two. Not to mention the laughs, but really I'm just in it for the sweet potion practice and rare plants," Neville said.

"Well, then it sounds like you three are going to be needing some serious equipment that you don't have on this list. I'll make you a deal: I'll buy the heavy artillery and if you guys can make the twins admit defeat, you don't have to pay me back but if you three admit defeat you have to pay me double. Deal?" Charlie offered. "I'll give you guys two years to get it done."

The three of them smiled and agreed. Two hours later, they had their pockets loaded up with shrunken supplies, spare galleons and all of their school things minus their wands. Noon was approaching so they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron and met up with their families.

"So, for our children heading off to school, we have come to an agreement," Lily began.

"We have decided to buy every student going to Hogwarts this year their own owl," James finished. This statement was met with a cacophony of noise from the students.

"The rule on this is that you will each be in charge of consistently completing their chores. However, as long as the kids who aren't going to school continue their chores they will get an owl as well but everyone who has an owl will have to pay for their owls needs," Sirius called over the roar.

"Now, after this, we will be heading down to get wands for Ron, Harry, Rose and Neville so the rest of you kids will be going back to the Burrow and we'll meet up there in a couple hours okay?" Marlene asked. "Bill, Charlie, Percy, you three will be in charge while Fred and George are to be shut up in their room because I don't trust them around anyone under ten."

After making sure everyone else had flooed away, the Potters, Blacks, Longbottoms and remaining Weasleys headed into Ollivanders.

"Quite a large group aren't you. Well, why don't we start with Mr. Weasley?" Ollivander asked. The frail looking old man disappeared into the many shelves for a few moments before coming back with a large stack of boxes. After a few tries, Ron ended up with a fourteen inch willow wand with a unicorn hair core. "Not nearly as difficult as William was. I remember having to go through a good few dozen before he was finally settled. Now Mr Longbottom, let's take care of you next."

The process repeated itself once more though it took a few more tires than Harry thought it would. Finally, after about ten minutes, Neville was paired with a ten inch cherry wand that also had a unicorn hair core.

"Now, Ms. Black, let's see what I can do for you," Ollivander said with a smile. Once again, he disappeared into his shelves for a few moments before returning with a large stack of boxes. "This time, I would like you to merely hold your hand out and hover it over the boxes until one calls out to you."

Rose hesitantly approached the counter and did as she was asked, though once she had gone over every box he had brought out and didn't grab one, the old wandmaker merely smiled and brought out another stack. Once again, Rose held her hand over each of the boxes but this time she pulled out a thirteen inch yew wand with a dragon heartstring core that shot out gold sparks at her touch.

"Very well, Mr Potter, it seems it is already your turn. I remember it like it was yesterday when your name became the stuff of legend, though I daresay that has fallen out of style now. Here, why don't you try a few of these?" Ollivander asked as he motioned to the mountain of boxes on the counter. Slowly, Harry began to go through wand after wand. None of them felt right to him, so Ollivander would disappear with a stack and reappear with a few more. Every so often there would be one that nearly felt right but it wouldn't work when he tried one of the few spells he knew.

"I see you're going to be as tricky as your mother was. Why, she went through two whole shelves before she was finally matched. Already you've gone one and a half, try some of these," the old wandmaker said as he motioned towards another stack. About halfway through there was one that nearly burnt Harry's hand and he wound up throwing it back into the shelves.

"Sorry about that sir," Harry mumbled. "I didn't expect it to be so hot."

"Ah, well one can never be sure but that wand has a brother, you see. The phoenix who's tail feather resides in the wand you just threw, gave one other feather. The wand that holds that feather though, gave you that scar," Ollivander seemed to hesitate. "There was as much of a chance of that wand accepting you as there was of it rejecting you, though I must say I have never once seen a wand burn the hand of a wizard that doesn't have a previous allegiance."

Harry, now very nervous about what could happen, slowly began making his way through the pile once more. Wand after wand denied the young wizard until finally Harry had tried every wand on the many shelves.

"Well, I only have a few more wands in the back but I have never seen anyone go through this many wands young man, but I am grateful for the experience. Allow me a moment to fetch the wands from the back and we shall see if they accept you, otherwise I will need to make you one from scratch which I haven't had to do in many a year," Ollivander said as he replaced the last few wands.

When the old man disappeared James spoke up. "Why don't the rest of you head back to the Burrow? The three of us will meet you there soon."

"Dad, can I please stay? You and mum promised that I would be able to see Harry get his wand," Rose begged.

"Well Jamie, do you fancy a fourth member?" Sirius asked.

"Why not? Can't have the old dog break a promise. You guys go make sure the kids aren't taking over the Burrow and the four of us will be there as soon as this is finished," James said with a smile.

Just as the door of the shop closed, Ollivander reappeared. "Here we are, Mr. Potter, the final twelve wands within my possession. These wands are not your ordinary wands however. You see, eleven of these were made by my ancestors and one was made by me. After a century of running this shop and mastering the art of wand crafting it is tradition for the Ollivander in charge to make his magnum opus: his perfect creation. The wood of each wand comes from a tree at least three hundred years old and the core of the wands are unique, though I will not list them off. The runes carved into the handle denote equal power to each branch of magic and at the base of each wand is a gem used as a focus. Please Mr. Potter, select a wand."

Harry reached out and picked up the first wand, it still felt a little off. As did the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth wand. The seventh wand however, jumped into his hand before he even touched it. Once it came into contact with his hand it launched solid gold sparks and sent a warm sensation up his arm.

"That, Mr. Potter, was the first wand made by a master wand crafter in my family. You see, it was an experiment that my ancestor was unsure of and decided to test. The wood comes from an elder ebony tree that grew in the back of my family's home but the handle is made from a basilisk fang that has been coated in phoenix tears. The runes are of an ancient elven dialect that existed before Merlin's time and is rarely even seen today and they match the bloodstone focus perfectly. However, what really makes this wand unique is that it has two cores, it contains the heart of a chimera and horn of a unicorn fused using the blood of a gryphon and the venom of an acromantula. The mere fact that it did not explode upon creation was a miracle and with a lot of time and practice, that wand can take you very far," Ollivander said almost reverently. "Though it will be pricey, I'll throw in three standard wand holsters for your friends and a fourth, special, holster for you. The holster I have in mind for you is crafted out of thestral hair, making it invisible to others, lined with mermaid scales making this holster only capable of working with that wand. All of the holsters will be on the house of course. Though the wand will be one hundred fifty galleons."

With the wand finally paid for, using a voucher for a transfer between accounts, The four of them headed to the burrow with Harry eager to show off his wand. James and Lily however, were wondering why Harry had received such a special wand. They flooed to the burrow and were met with the usual sounds of an overfilled house. Harry and Rose ran off to find Neville and Ron while James and Lily sat down at the kitchen table with the rest of the adults.

"What took you so long?" Sirius asked.

"Harry's wand. Have any of you heard of a wand with two cores?" Lily asked.

"They're exceedingly rare and horribly difficult to make but every wand shop has a handful of them. It's considered to be the mark of a master wand crafter to be able to make one," Arthur explained. "From what I've learned, a wand maker will spend years learning how to craft wands, then they are taught about what materials can mix together and why. Finally, when they have made a certain amount of wands or have been making wands long enough, they are tasked with a self imposed challenge to make the most powerful wand they can using multiple sources."

"I don't think anyone in my family has ever used a wand with two cores though," Molly added. The Weasley matron was busy cooking once again and had to shout over the noise she was making.

"So, what's Harry's wand made of?" Marlene asked.

"Well, the wood comes from an ebony tree that was already three hundred years old when the wand was made but it has a handle that was made from a basilisk fang that was coated in phoenix tears," James explained.

"I did run across a wand like that on one of my curse breaking jobs in South America," Bill said. "Apparently the combination denotes the potential of the wizard rather than the outright power."

"That's not all, apparently there's a bloodstone focus on the bottom and the thing is covered in ancient elven runes from before Merlin himself," Lily added.

"Focuses like that were pretty common in staffs back before wands. They were used to strengthen the allegiance of a staff since that was when witches and wizards had to create their own staff during their apprenticeship," Sirius said. "Runes are used all the time though, the language rarely makes much of a difference unless you're trying to achieve a specific effect."

"The strangest thing is that Harry's cores are the heart of a chimera and horn of a unicorn that were fused using acromantula venom and gryphon blood," Lily said.

"Well, that's not something I think any of us have ever heard of," Arthur put in.

"So, how much do we have left?" Rose asked. She, Ron, Harry, Neville and Ginny were all out behind Arthur's shed.

"Looks like we have nine galleons, three sickles and a knut. Though we didn't empty the hidden savings before we left so I'm not sure how much the final total really is," Harry said.

"Good, when we get to Hogwarts, we're going to need a place where we can safely brew and store our stuff. Harry, you're going to be in charge of doing the brewing, find a spot that nobody can find that's not going to arouse suspicion," Rose said.

"Neville, I'll be leaving you in charge of preparation, no matter what happens I know you will be able to think of an excuse for why you have a weird plant. Ron, you're in charge of planning the time and place when we need to strike. Ginny, you have the most important job of all. You'll be our person on the inside, we know Fred and George are willing to clue you in on their plans so keep us posted," Harry explained.

"By the way, what house do you guys want to be in?" Neville asked.

"What?" Harry and Rose asked in unison.

"We don't care about the houses," Rose said.

"Yeah, we'll keep our group together no matter what. Besides, we have the mirrors and Uncle Remus can send us the list of charms that he used to make them so we can make more," Harry said.

"I would like to be in Gryffindor," Ron said and Ginny nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't mind Gryffindor or Hufflepuff," Neville replied.

"Fine, if you guys want to focus on which house you're in, be that way. All I know is that if we let what house we're in come between us then I'll never forgive you," Rose said.

"Honestly, no matter what, we can't let stupid house rivalries tear us apart. Though, if we had friends in every house then we could set up a network so that we always know what's going on," Harry pointed out. "I'm going to go see when we're getting our owls though."

"I'll come with you, I have a few things I want to start setting up," Rose said as she got to her feet.

"What kind of owl do you want?" Harry asked.

"I want a horned owl. They've always looked like royalty to me," Rose said. "What about you?"

"To be honest, I was hoping you would have named a few so I had a little more time to think about it but a tawny owl would be nice. Though I suppose a snowy owl would make spotting my mail easier," Harry said. "You don't think that they're really going to let house boundaries split us up do you?"

"I hope not but I've heard Ron get really riled up about Slytherin, so as long as none of us end up there I don't see us splitting up. How do you think the students will handle having the famous Harry Potter around?" Rose challenged

"Probably the same way they'll feel about having a relative of Bellatrix. Shocked at first, astounded that we're best friends and then they'll get over it. The only thing I can say for sure is that I want to be in the same house as you," Harry said.

"Really going all in on our promise of together forever aren't you?" Rose asked giggling. "Though it does help that you're the only one who remembers I'm a girl and not just one of the boys."

"Hard to forget with a name like Rose and catching you reading that romance story."

"Hey, just because I want a nice strong wizard to sweep me off my feet so we laugh together for as long as we both shall live, doesn't mean that I'm going to wear dresses and makeup to remind people that I'm a girl."

They finally reached the back door of the Burrow only to see Arthur about to come through it.

"Oh I'll go grab the rest of them then, but you two head inside. Your owls have arrived," Arthur said as he stepped aside to let the two of them in.

Harry and Rose rushed into the living room where they were met with the sight of seven different owls. They quickly took a seat next to each other and were shortly joined by the rest of the kids. Harry looked around at everyone's faces and it seemed like everyone had already decided on which owl they wanted. Percy took a barn owl and decided on the name of Hermes immediately. Fred took a nice screech owl while George took a tawny owl but neither of them had chosen a name for their birds. Ron chose a small pygmy owl and tried to name it Chudley but either the owl didn't hear him or didn't like the name. Harry nudged Rose and she chose an eagle owl that she named Barry. Finally, Harry got up and selected the only remaining owl which was, much to his surprise, a snowy owl. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite worked out a name for her yet.

That night, back in his own bed, Harry found sleep difficult as thoughts of Hogwarts plagued his mind. As he tossed and turned he started thinking about what house he thought each of his friends could be in and how it could affect them. It made sense that Ron would be in Gryffindor, especially since he and his brothers had so much in common and they were already there. Neville could be in Gryffindor as well, he dreamed of being an auror like parents, though he preferred gardening over anything else which was a lot of hard work meaning Hufflepuff wasn't out of the question. Rose was really smart and enjoyed reading so she could be a Ravenclaw, though she was also really ambitious which could have her put into Slytherin. Though, if anyone was meant for Slytherin, it was probably Cassiopeia. Cass was a pretty stuck up girl who thought that since she was named after the queen constellation that she should be treated as such. She had her family's white hair, ice cold blue eyes and thought she was better than anyone else so it was really hard for Harry to really call her a friend. What made Cass so much worse was her twin brother Draco though they never really got along with each other either, the Malfoys were the definition of Slytherin.

Even with everyone else's house thought about, Harry himself couldn't figure out where he belonged. Gryffindor was an option since his parents and a lot of their friends were in Gryffindor and Harry was kind of interested in becoming an auror, you had to be brave to fight evil people. Though Ravenclaw wasn't out of the picture because Harry did like to learn, after all the more he knew then the more he could do, plus reading wasn't bad as long as the information could be learned. His loyalty to keeping the promise he made to Rose might mean that he could be a Hufflepuff too and Harry was no stranger to hard work either. The part that scared him was that he thought he was rather ambitious too. He wanted to be a professional quidditch player and that required a lot of ambition.

After that near sleepless night, the days began to blend together until it was finally time to board the Hogwarts express.

Harry was standing on the platform at half ten on September first, still a little nervous about the sorting. His mother seemed to have noticed his nerves and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Harry, honestly, the sorting isn't anything to be afraid about," Lily said. "You'll be able to keep your friends no matter what house you're in, and, you might even make a lot more friends from each of the other houses."

"I'm not really worried about where I get sorted, I'm worried that we'll all get sorted into a different house which would make staying friends really hard," Harry explained.

"Don't worry about it kiddo, as long as you remember to put an effort into keeping your friends, then you'll all be just fine," James said. "Speaking of, here's Rose now. Why don't you go make sure she's relaxed."

Harry nodded at his father before setting off towards the familiar sleek black hair, twinkling grey eyes and odd jacket. Hopefully she was at least a little nervous, the last thing that Harry wanted to hear was that she still didn't care about it at all.

"Hey Harry, how are you feeling?" Rose asked. She was a little paler than usual and seemed to be holding her backpack a quite a bit tighter than was necessary, if her white knuckles were any indication.

"I'm a bit nervous about where we'll all end up but I know it'll work out," Harry replied. He couldn't add to her worries. "How are you feeling? You look a little anxious yourself."

"It didn't really hit me until last night, you know? I thought the houses didn't matter at all but I was wrong. I asked the twins about it and they told me that there are a lot of times where people have to be in their common rooms. If we can only get together on weekends and breaks then I don't know how we'll get through this," Rose whispered.

"We have the mirrors. Problem solved," Harry said. "Think of it like this: there's a chance the four of us will get separated but there's also a better chance of us sticking together. If we get split up, we use the mirrors every night we can. If we need to study then we can all meet up in the library. Like I said though, there's also a chance that we all stay together and if we do then there won't be a problem. We'll be able to go to classes together, keep each other up on homework, prank our house or the twins. We don't have to worry about any extra classes for a couple years so we should be able to follow the plan easier."

"I hope the others get here soon," Rose said. "Why don't we get on the train then, we can get a compartment ready and maybe meet a couple of people."

Harry and Rose said their goodbyes before boarding the train in search of an empty compartment. Eventually they found a sizable compartment in the middle of the train. They got their trunks into the racks and their backpacks placed at their feet before dropping side by side onto one of the benches.

"So, what's the plan Harry?" Rose asked as she placed her feet into Harry's lap. "Assuming that we all get sorted into the same house, what is this year's plan?"

"Okay, so I want us to know the school well enough that we can get started early on setting up a hidden base somewhere," Harry said. "The important thing is that we need to befriend the house elves as soon as we can, then we should be able to ask one of them for help with it. I know that the map was made in our parents fifth year but seven years really isn't enough time to find all the secrets of a place the size of Hogwarts."

"Hey you two," Neville greeted as he slid the door open. "What are you two on about?"

"We're just going over the plan for this year, did you think of anything?" Rose asked.

"No, I've been getting my plants dried and prepped for the potions this year. Gran let me in on a secret that the ministry can't track who does magic in a magic household so I've been pretty efficient about all the prep. My gran also said that she would watch my greenhouses for me. I also have a little money that we can add to the pot," Neville said as he pulled a few coins out of his pocket.

"Finally found you lot," Ron exclaimed. He tossed his trunk up and flopped down next to Neville, opposite of Harry and Rose. "Fill me in, what did I miss?"

The train finally started to depart and the four friends started planning out their adventures for the year until the snack lady came in and offered up treats. Loaded up with candy and treats, the four resumed their discussion in relative peace until a girl with bushy brown hair slid open their compartment door.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know anyone was in here," she said in a rush.

"Well, why were you looking for an empty compartment halfway through the train ride?" Ron asked. "What's your name anyway?"

"I'm Hermione Granger, and the reason I was looking for a different compartment was because the previous one was filled with rather loud people," Hermione explained.

"Well, I hate to say it Hermione but you picked one full of people who're probably just as loud and far less caring with the softer rules," Rose said. "But feel free to stick around if you want to be thought of as an accomplice."

"We haven't even arrived at the school yet and you four already want to flaunt the rules?" Hermione asked in shock.

"It's not about flaunting them at all, all we're trying to do is put our knowledge to use in a way that will bring a smile to everyone's face," Harry explained. "I'm Harry Potter, this is Rose Black who has her feet on me, the redhead is Ron Weasley and the one next to him is Neville Longbottom."

"I'm Hermione Granger, pleased to meet you all," she said politely. "What do you mean by using your knowledge to make everyone smile?"

"We've been receiving some tutelage from our parents," Rose explained.

"Well, you three have," Ron interjected.

"Yes, but we share our notes with you too Ron," Neville pointed out.

"Besides, a lot of what is taught to us is supposed to be family magic anyway," Harry supplied. "Which explains a lot about why I am further along in some areas but you guys are further along in others."

"I'm not!" Ron whined.

"That's because you refuse to study at all Ron," Rose teased.

While the four friends ran through their familiar banter, Hermione managed to get Rom to scoot over enough for her to fit on the bench as well. As much as she wanted for them to tell her about their family lessons she was far more intrigued by the fact that they were laughing as much as they were arguing. From her perspective, Ron and Neville were a good team and complemented each other's weaknesses. Harry and Rose though, seemed to be really in tune, like they were sharing one mind. Harry could start a sentence and Rose would either finish it or support it by giving an example. I was certainly odd to watch and intrigued Hermione to no end.

"So, are you two a couple?" Hermione asked during a lull in the conversation.

This caused the four other occupants to freeze.

"No," Harry sputtered.

"Yes," Neville said with a chuckle.

"Not yet," Rose said with a blush.

"They may as well be," Ron practically shouted.

Unfortunately, the four of them answered at once so for Hermione it sounded like nonsense but Neville and Ron both caught Rose's statement. Rose and Hermione were staring at Harry who seemed absolutely frozen in place.

"Um, Rose?" Harry asked very slowly. "What do you mean 'not yet?'"

"Well," Rose began, luckily she was interrupted by the compartment door sliding open.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" asked the cart lady. Harry mechanically stood up, pulled a list along with some money out of his pocket and bought a good bit of the cart. When the transaction was finished he retook his spot on the bench and looked over at Rose.

"Do you want to talk about this now or after the Sorting?" Harry asked.

"After the Sorting please," Rose croaked out.

"Well, are there any classes you guys are looking forward to?" Hermione asked as a desperate attempt to break the awkward silence.

"Harry's dad teaches transfiguration and his mum teaches potions. Rose's dad teaches defense against the dark arts and her mum teaches history of magic. So we're all looking forward to charms," Ron replied.

"Though, aren't there more classes being started this year?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, there's alchemy, dueling, political history, quidditch is opening up more, wand lore, herbology is being expanded, divination is being dropped and has to be taught on by a case by case basis, there's tournaments every year for money, there's trade classes but I don't remember all of those," Harry listed.

"Well, for trade classes there's only wand crafting, clothing and armor creation and architecture," Neville said.

"That's a lot of classes," Hermione said. "Honestly, that's a lot to do in general. How are you supposed to do them all?"

"That's just it though, you're not supposed to do them all," Rose explained. "There are the core classes-"

"-defense against the dark arts, history of magic, charms, potions, astronomy, herbology and transfiguration," Harry continued. "Those are the ones that you have to do for at least five years. The electives though are something that you have to sign up for-"

"-which are ancient runes, arithmancy, care of magical creatures and muggle studies. It used to be that you could only sign up for them after your second year but now you get six months of career preparation and three months of each class to give you a feel of what your strengths are so that at the end of this year you get to pick your classes." Rose finished.

"Alchemy, dueling, wand lore and crafting, architecture and clothing and armor crafting are weekend courses that are offered from third year and up. Though you can drop out of those classes at any time, you can only drop a core class after you have completed an O.W.L. in it-" Harry started again.

"-as for your elective courses, you can't drop out of those but you can transfer into another one during your third year but only once and you have to self study up to the point you're trying to transfer to and then after that you have to take a test to see if you can even transfer to begin with," Rose finished.

"So is there a way to do every class?" Hermione asked.

"Well, if you think about it, yes," began Harry. "Though it'll be a lot of self study and you have to register every test you wish to take with the Ministry. I want to do every class too but during the school year, there's just not enough time. So, the way I'm going to do it is I'm going to take the seven core classes, take three electives and attend every weekend class during the school year. That'll let me do the harder things with the support of the full Hogwarts staff. That would leave me with only muggle studies left to do on my own. Though I might not take arithmancy or ancient runes since those are things that I can just buy the books for and self study much easier than muggle studies or care of magical creatures. In fact, during the first weekend of school I'm going to see how much the Hogwarts library can help me with that."

"How many staff members are there?" Hermione asked.

"There's Headmaster Dumbledore, Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, transfiguration Professor Potter, potion Professor Potter, defense Professor Black, history Professor Black, charms Professor Lupin, herbology Professor Daniels, muggle studies Professor Burbage, astronomy Professor Sinistra, ancient runes Professor Babbling, arithmancy Professor Vector, care of magical creatures Professor Kettleburn, Gryffindor Head of House and alchemy instructor Professor Haynes, Hufflepuff Head of House and architecture instructor Professor Sprout but she is only instructing the class until Daniels has his license to teach on his own before she takes her herbology position back, Ravenclaw Head of House and dueling instructor Professor Flitwick, Slytherin Head of House and one of the quidditch coordinators Professor Snape, tournament organizer Madam Bagshot but it's not the Bagshot that wrote our history textbooks, primary quidditch organizer Madam Hooch, librarian Madam Pince, healer Madam Pomfrey, groundskeeper Hagrid and the janitor Mister Filch," Ron rattled off. He was immediately met with shocked expressions from his friends. "What? I've had a lot of siblings go through Hogwarts already and some of them are attending still. I listened to what they said about the school."

The resident redhead was saved from further interrogation by the announcement of their impending arrival. The five of them quickly changed into their robes and made their way onto the platform eager to get their night over with.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" came a booming voice. Harry and his friends hurried over to the docks where they were guided into small boats.

Finally, the time had come for everyone to be sorted and the group of five were quite nervous. After a couple of people were sorted into Hufflepuff, Rose was called to the stool.

'Ah, what do we have here?' a voice asked into Rose's mind. 'You my dear are certainly interesting.'

'Mr. Hat?' Rose asked with her thoughts.

'If you wish to make a request please wait until I have had a moment to see where I should put you. Now, I see plenty of loyalty but more to protect what's yours rather than to people you see as friends so Hufflepuff isn't an option. You're plenty ambitious but you're not quite subtle enough for Slytherin. There's plenty of bravery but there's also quite a lot of intelligence. I see, I ought to put you in Gryffindor but you had a request for me did you not child?' asked the hat.

'Well, I was going to ask that you not put me in Slytherin but I know that Harry wishes to complete all the courses offered here,' Rose thought.

'You wish to keep your friend close then? Well, I can't promise to place you and him in the same House. Though, I hope you forgive me if I'm wrong about this, I'll use your thoughts of him to try and predict his House for you. Brace yourself child,' the hat paused for a moment. "Ravenclaw!"

Rose hopped off the stool and walked quickly to the table under the blue banner hoping Harry followed her. Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor shortly after Rose. When Neville was called up, the other four stood, or in Rose's case sat, a little straighter to watch the young boy get sorted into Hufflepuff. After a few more students were sorted Cassiopeia Malfoy was called up and quickly sorted into Ravenclaw, though her twin brother Draco was sorted into Gryffindor and that certainly was something that raised a lot of questions. Eventually, it was Harry's turn to be sorted.

'Hello Mr. Potter, let's see where to put you. You have plenty of courage, you're not afraid of hard work, you're cunning and very ambitious, though you also have a great thirst for knowledge. Difficult, very difficult. Very rarely do I come across a mind as well balanced as yours. Do you have a preference?' asked the hat.

'Well, from what I hear Ravenclaw and Slytherin students get a room all to themselves which would be very nice. Though I also hear that Ravenclaw also has its own library,' Harry replied.

'You know, you can justify it to yourself as much as you want but I can see the real reason you want Ravenclaw. With that kind of loyalty I should put you in Hufflepuff but I suppose' "Ravenclaw!" called the hat.

Harry felt the hat be removed from his head and took that as the signal to walk to his new house. He quickly took the seat offered to him by Rose to watch the last of the sorting. Ron was predictably sorted into Gryffindor and by the time Blaise Zabini was put into Slytherin, Harry was starving. Luckily, Dumbledore was quick with his welcoming words and the plates were filled with a fantastic assortment of food.

After the feast was over, Dumbledore gave a few a little bit of a speech before releasing the students from the Hall.