Ivy

"You two have everything don't you?" Aunt Hazel asked both Felix and I. "Because you know we won't be sending you anything you've forgotten."

Both Felix and I nodded. I don't know why Aunt Hazel and Uncle Harold were so terrible. They seemed to care about one another but it didn't seem to phase them if anything would happen to us.

"Enjoy school." Uncle Harold said. "Write is there is anything really important. We are very busy people."

We both nodded again.

Oh how I wished that Mum and Dad were here to see me off like they were for Gwen. Even with Carter they weren't able to be here but they spent the night before fussing over him. Aunt Hazel and Uncle Harold were awful. They didn't even try to be proud.

They said their final goodbyes and disappeared.

"Ivy." I heard someone call.

I looked around in hope of finding who was wanted to see me. Then I noticed Gwen.

I dragged Felix over to where Gwen was standing with another family. They must be the Potters. She had told me all about them and what living with them was like. I was glad that she was happy. At least this way some of us were.

When we got over to where they were standing Gwen threw her arms around me. It had been so long since I'd seen her. I missed her so much.

"Ivy, I've missed you so much." She said holding me close before stepping back. "How are you Felix?"

"Alright." He muttered. "Mum and Dad have been getting on everyone's nerves more than usual."

"Sounds like them." Gwen couldn't stop smiling.

Her eyes were bright yellow. It was nice to know she was happy.

"I wanted you guys to meet Lily." Gwen said indicating to a small red-haired girl beside her. "Lily's also in first year. Sorry Ivy but Lily's kind of become like another little sister to me."

I laughed. Only Gwen would apologise for something like that. I honestly didn't mind though. As long as Lily wasn't terrible we could share my sister.

"Lily Luna Potter." Lily said to me putting out her hand for me to shake.

"Ivy Anne Smythe." I responded.

Felix just groaned.

"Don't worry Felix, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione should be here soon with Rose and Hugo." Lily said to him.

Felix was confused. He was looking strangely at Lily. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"Hugo's my cousin." She explained. "He's also in first year."

I smiled at her.

"Come on, let's get on the train." A boy who I was sure must be James groaned. "I'm sure the others are waiting for us."

It looked as if Albus had already disappeared. Probably gone to find Carter. I missed Carter as well. I really wanted to see him. Hopefully I would while we were on the train.

"Well I do want to see Parker again." Gwen said.

James send her a glare.

"Come off it James." She muttered hitting his shoulder. "I've spent all summer with you and I've seen Louis, Molly and Fred multiple times. It's been ages since I've seen Parker."

James smiled and lead her off to the compartment where they would meet the rest of their friends. I smiled watching my sister go.

"Come on, let's get on the train." Lily said.

She had said goodbye to both her parents and the three of us were making our way onto the train. We walked down the carriage until we found a compartment that only contained a boy with mousy brown hair.

"Sorry Lils, Mum and Dad were bickering again." He said to Lily. "We were so late they sent Rose and I straight onto the train."

"No problem Hugo." Lily said as she sat down beside him. "This is Ivy Smythe, Gwen and Carter's sister, and her cousin Felix."

"Nice to meet you." Hugo said. "I'm Hugo Granger-Weasley."

"That's a long name." Felix muttered.

"Shut up Timothy." I whispered to Felix.

He just groaned. He hated his middle name. Apparently he'd had a really annoying teacher at his muggle school whose name was Timothy making him hate the name. I've been told that the teacher was never able to stay and topic and always randomly talked about his love life. Like seriously, you're a teacher, stop. It was still a strange reason to hate the name but I wasn't going to judge him.

"How much did James annoy Gwen over the summer?" I asked Lily. "She didn't really say much in her letters."

"He's actually been alright." Lily said. "He's been calmer than any other break and she doesn't seem to hate him."

That was strange. Gwen was always so irritated at James. Why had things changed now?

"Every time I saw them she wouldn't leave his side." Hugo said.

Okay, what happened to Gwen? Last time I saw her she couldn't stand James.

"I heard from Al that Carter's doing alright." Lily told me eventually.

"He was never as close with Mum and Dad as Gwen was." I said.

"What about you?" Hugo asked me. "How are you coping with it?"

"It's different." I said. "I guess having Felix really helped."

"I wasn't going to let you be mopey." Felix said. "It just makes me feel sad."

I shoved Felix and he let out a laugh. I saw Lily and Hugo smile. It was nice to have been able to make friends. It wasn't long before I heard the compartment door open. I looked over and noticed a group of three people standing in the doorway

"Ivy." I heard Carter shout at me.

"Carter." I said getting up and hugging my brother. "I've missed you."

"You too little sis." He said.

He sat down beside me. I watched as the other two sat down as well. There was a boy and a girl with him. Neither of them was the blonde that Carter had told me was Scorpius Malfoy or the red-head that he had said was Hugo's sister Rose.

"I'm Milla Dursley." The girl said to me.

"Ivy Smythe." I responded. "This is my cousin Felix Garcia."

"I think you probably already worked it out but Albus Potter." The boy said.

I smiled at Carter's friends. They were nice. It didn't surprise me one bit that Albus was a complete replica of his father. From what I'd heard from Carter all three of the guys in his group were like that. It was the one thing Carter hated more than anything. And I suppose his friends were the same so I wasn't going to comment.

"Have you spoken to Gwen yet?" Carter asked me.

"I saw her on the platform." I explained. "She introduced Felix and I to Lily."

"How is she?" He asked.

He saw her when she had shut down and was trying to hide from the world. He hadn't heard from her so he didn't know how she was doing now.

"She was fine." I said. "She was whining to James about wanting to see Parker."

"I'm sure James loved that." Carter said rolling his eyes. "He's still not over the Louis thing."

"What happened with Louis?" Hugo asked.

Carter, Albus and Milla all tried not to laugh.

"So I heard this from Molly but apparently Gwen convinced Louis to go on a date with her to Hogsmeade last year in order to try to get James off her back." Milla explained. "While they were on the date James and Parker followed them so they watched everything, which is kinda weird but also exactly what was expected of James. Then Gwen kissed Louis. James didn't see her pull Louis down to her so he thought Louis kissed her. The two haven't spoken since."

I knew about the fake date and everything but I didn't know about the kiss. It was weird. I didn't think Gwen was like that.

We all sat in silence for a while. We didn't really know what to say.

"I want to go see Gwen." Carter said eventually standing up and moving to the door.

"I'll come, I didn't really get to speak to her before." I said following him.

"Don't leave me with people I don't know." Felix said following us.

We walked along the train in search of Gwen and her friends. Carter had some idea of where we were going. Apparently Gwen always sat in the same compartment. Well, James made them all sit in the same compartment always.

When we reached the compartment Carter slid the door open.

"Gwen?" He asked.

When Gwen saw who was there she jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around Carter.

"I missed you so much." She said to him. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you."

"No, Gwen, it's fine." He said. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. You needed more support than I did."

"How was your summer?" She asked. "Are you alright?"

"It was fine." He said. "Scorpius needed someone. His mum died. I think me being there made it easier. Although he still did some stupid stuff."

I was confused. What would Scorpius have done?

"Ivy, Felix, come meet my friends." Gwen said noticing both Felix and I standing behind Carter. "You met James already. This is Molly, Fred and Louis Weasley." She indicated to the red-haired girl, the blonde boy and the darker skinned boy. "And this is…"

"Parker Peterson." Felix said seeing the last person sitting in the corner.

"Felix." Parker said looking at Felix.

Okay, what's going on?

"You two know each other?" Molly asked.

"He's my cousin." Parker said looking at Felix. "I haven't seen him in years though."

"I knew you were the same age as Gwen." Felix responded. "I knew there was something off when we stopped seeing you the same time Gwen went to Hogwarts."

I knew everyone was confused. I know for certain that Gwen, Carter and I were. Felix had never mentioned another cousin. And I'd certainly never heard anything from Aunt Hazel or Uncle Harold.

"You didn't say anything when you read my letter?" Gwen yelled at Parker.

"Gwen, calm." Louis said to her.

"Your eyes are red." Molly mentioned.

"I don't care." Gwen shouted at Molly and Louis before turning back to Parker. "You read the letter they sent me. It mentioned Aunt Hazel, Uncle Harold and Felix and even their last name. Either you're incredibly stupid for not working out it's the same people or you just didn't care that we share a cousin."

"You had enough on your mind Gwen." Parker defended.

"I think we should go." Carter said pushing Felix and I out of the compartment.

I nodded. Felix was shocked. He'd never seen Gwen angry before. Which was probably a good thing. An angry Gwen was not something that people should have to deal with on a regular basis. When Gwen got angry she was out for blood.

We made our way back to the compartment we had previously been in. The others were all still there.

"We should get back to our compartment." Albus said when we got there. "At least make sure Rose and Scorp haven't killed each other."

"I think I'd be more worried about Scorpius being bald." Milla laughed.

"She didn't seem to like it too much." Carter said. "Even had the nerve to blame me."

They had shut the door before we could hear anything else they had to say.

"What was that about?" Felix asked Lily and Hugo.

"Scorpius died his hair brown with muggle box dye." Hugo said. "It was something about not wanting to be a mini Draco anymore I think Albus said."

"Apparently Rose had a fit and the others thought they should leave the two of them alone." Lily said. "Not sure how that would help but they seemed to think it would."

"I mean we walked out when Gwen started shouting at Parker." I shrugged. "Although all their other friends were there."

"Gwen shouting is rather scary." Lily agreed.

"You've heard her?" I asked.

"Gwen and James living in the same house and sharing a room for two months." Lily explained. "It happened at least once a week."

"She shares a room with James?" I asked in shock.

I shared a room with Felix but that was different. We are cousins. Gwen and James are not. And from what I've heard James is in love with Gwen. I don't see why Mr and Mrs Potter thought that was a good idea.

"She was in my room the first night but she started having nightmares." Lily explained. "The only person who could calm her down was James. She won't even tell anyone about them. Well, maybe James knows but if he does he's been sworn to secrecy."

"Sounds like Gwen." Felix said.

I'd always tried to imagine to roof of the Great Hall when Gwen and Carter had described it to me. In my head it had always been amazing but it didn't even compare to the real thing.

"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." The teacher up the front told us. I'd been informed that his name was Professor Longbottom. I'd also been told he was a close friend of Lily and Hugo's families. He seemed like he'd be a nice teacher. At least, I hope he would be.

I tried not to think about where I could be placed. Gwen and Carter were both in different houses and Mum had been in a different house to where both of them are. I could end up with one of them, in Mum's old house or, even worse, all by myself in a house where I knew no one.

Lily and Hugo were so certain they were going to be Gryffindor. Both of them had two parents who had been in Gryffindor so it made sense. Also one of Lily's brothers was there and so was Hugo's sister.

Who knows what Felix was thinking. He really confused me sometimes. But still, I wasn't as removed from him and Gwen and Carter were. I suppose being the same age we were closer than we would have otherwise been.

"Garcia, Felix." Was called up.

I watched as Felix made his way to the front and sat on the stool. He didn't look nervous at all which was strange. I thought he would have been. I was. I was terrified. After a short while the hat called, "GRYFFINDOR" and Felix got up and headed to the table I knew Gwen was at.

Oh no, that meant if I was placed elsewhere I wouldn't even have Felix.

"Granger-Weasley, Hugo." Was the next one from our group.

I heard a few whispers around the hall at his name. He smiled at Professor Longbottom as he sat down. Hugo wasn't there for long before the hat called, "GRYFFINDOR" again. Hugo walked off and sat down beside Felix. Although the two of them were rather quiet I had a feeling they were going to be pretty good friends.

The next one from our group that was called was "Potter, Lily."

She walked up to the front smiling. She too flashed her smile at Professor Longbottom as she sat down. Her sorting was probably the quickest I saw. The hat had barely touched her head before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR" causing the girl to walk over and sit opposite her cousin.

I was just praying more than anything at this point that I too would make it into Gryffindor. At least then I would have friends and my sister.

"Smythe, Ivy." I heard.

As I walked up to the front I could feel everyone watching me. I sat down on the stool and felt the hat get placed on my head. Then I heard a voice in my head.

"You're not a very complicated one." The voice said. "I'll put you in GRYFFINDOR."

Yay. I was with my friends. I handed the hat back to Professor Longbottom, thanking him, and headed over to the table to sit beside Lily.

I noticed Gwen sitting further down the table. She sent me a broad smile and mouthed 'congrats' to me. I smiled back at her. It was nice that I got to be in the same house as my sister and my friends. At least now I could enjoy myself with the friends I'd already made.