A/N: Thanks reviewers for all your support and so on. This chapter has been altered a little, thanks to a remark made by a reviewer. I'm grateful, really. Anyway, I hope this is less clichéd or whatever so read and review.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the Harry Potter books belongs to JK Rowling.

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            First days are always tiring. Especially for me as I had never seen magic being done before and do not know what to expect. I always thought we just had to wave a wand and make up rhymes. It turns out to be harder than I had expected.

            At 9.00 a.m., Gryffindor first-years had Charms. So, off I trotted with Zoe, May and Ashley after breakfast, in search of the Charms classroom. We ended up in the dungeons somehow. By then, we were about to give up. Fortunately, a friendly lady in a portrait guided us to class. We were fifteen minutes late. Thank goodness the professor (Flitwick, I think his name was) was understanding. We didn't get detentions!

After the Charms class was over, I decided that I liked it. I was told that my wand was good for charm work. It turned out to be true. I was the first person to be able to levitate the feather. Zoe seemed disgruntled but she got over it as soon as she managed to make her feather hover.

After Charms, we had Transfiguration. That was the all-out definition of difficult. Professor McGonagall was strict and gave us lots of notes but no matter how she explained it, I wasn't able to turn the pin into a needle!  In the end, only three people managed it, James Potter (a messy-haired boy), Remus Lupin (the belching boy!) and amazingly, Zoe! It was my turn to be disgruntled. I only managed to lengthen the pin and make a tiny hole appear at one end. Sigh…

Herbology in the Greenhouses at 11.00 a.m. was not fun. It was hot and stuffy enough with only us in it, but as luck would have it, we had the class with Hufflepuffs. Professor Plantherb, a middle-aged woman with graying hair, spent the whole hour explaining the syllabus to us. I decided to study the Hufflepuffs instead of paying attention. I mean, people were falling asleep! How could I concentrate?

There was a wispy-haired girl with adorable eyes called Elaine. She looked positively bored and she was having fun doodling on her notepad. She was quite a talented artist I could see.

Beside her sat three girls who it appears are best friends already. One of them was short like me with short curly hair but was remarkably tan. She hardly spoke but just listened to her friends chatter quietly. I couldn't catch her name but I know her friends were called Kelly and Natalie.

The boys were much less interesting to watch. Two of them kept snickering silently and pretending to pay attention. The other two were actually paying attention! They were scribbling notes and occasionally, discussed the lesson in mutters. I was shocked.

Finally, the clock struck twelve and we packed up our books as fast as we could and rushed into the castle where it was much, much cooler. Oh, if I thought Herbology was bad, History of Magic was fatal.

Professor Binns just droned on and on monotonously, I could die of boredom. And I'm sure my fellow Gryffindors and Ravenclaws felt the same. If I wasn't watching the clock, willing the time to fly by faster, I was watching the Ravenclaws.

There was Nicky and her new friend, Rachelle, who was an outspoken girl with not much hygiene but she totally worshipped Nicky. Not that Nicky enjoyed that. The other girls were Amy and Sarah. They were busy sending notes to each other.

The Ravenclaw boys were all one big group of friends except for a plump (very plump, actually) boy called Benjamin who was industriously taking notes. I had a feeling he, Jason and Daniel would be very good friends.

The group of boys consisted of Joey, Renji and Gary. They were an outspoken bunch and they livened up the class with their sarcastic remarks and jokes. Looked like James and his gang were too bored and sleepy to rival them. 

As soon as I was about to lose my sanity, the lesson ended and everyone rushed out in relief. It was lunchtime. And I was very glad of it too. I was starving!

After that, we had Defense Against The Dark Arts, which turned out to be quite interesting. Professor Swordsman was an animated young lady with great ideas and she had the best sense of humour too. I guess I could safely say that my two favourite subjects were Charms and Defense Against The Dark Arts.

Just after an hour of fun, we had Potions. It was terrifying. Professor Cauldron, an aging man, was absolutely strict but what made matters worse was that he was the Head of Slytherin. That meant that he hated us Gryffindors. I shudder every time I think of his class. If your concoction was not the right shade of colour, he was all over you. I got lectured several times in that torturous hour.

By the time 4.00 p.m. arrived, Ashley was seething with anger and muttering swear words under her breath. May was bright red with embarrassment, and Zoe's hands were trembling and she was trying very hard not to cry. I was shivering with fear and my heart was pounding very hard for fear that my potion did not turn green as it was supposed to. It didn't by the way. So that was 10 points off Gryffindor. Urgh!

I collapsed on my bed in exhaustion, half hearing Ashley swear and curse. I was never so tired in my life. The rest of the week flew by and then a month. I decided that I liked flying after all and was looking forward to Quidditch season. I had never seen it played and according to Zoe, it was a wonderful sport full of action and fast moves. I could hardly wait.

When the day finally arrived, I could hardly sit still in excitement. The first match was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. I was clutching my seat the whole game. Gryffindor Catchers and Keeper were very good but so was the Hufflepuff Seeker. In the end, Gryffindor won, thanks to a Bludger that stopped the Hufflepuff Seeker and the Snitch flew into the Gryffindor Seeker's hand. Everyone cheered except the Slytherins. Surprised? No.

I quickly turned into an avid fan of Quidditch and researched all the World Cup teams. Zoe called me crazy and said that Quidditch wasn't that interesting. So says the person who practically grew up with Quidditch.

Pretty soon, it was Christmas. I was to go home. Zoe decided to stay at Hogwarts because her brother was and her younger sister at home was annoying. May was going home too because she needed to help take care of her many brothers and sisters. Ashley was going to spend her holidays with Nicky. Apparently, they used to go to the same school before Hogwarts and they were best friends. Zoe was a bit apprehensive about staying in Hogwarts without her friends, but she went on with her plan anyhow and said that she would get to know the other students better.

It was with a heavy heart that I departed for the Hogsmeade Station and onto the Hogwarts Express. Although I was keen on seeing my family again, I know Petunia would just ignore me and that would spoil everything.

When at last, the train halted, it was almost dark. I was tired and hungry, and my stomach growled impatiently as I slipped through the barrier and started looking for my parents.

I skimmed over the crowd, squinting to make out the people at the back. With each passing minute, I felt more nervous. I gulped several times and looked harder. But there was no sign of them, red hair or long neck. Where were they?

I pushed my trolley down the platform, my ears reddening when the people turned around to stare at me. 'Poor lost girl,' each one thought, but none made any move to help me. I kept biting my lower lip and my hands were trembling.

I reached the end of the platform and still no sign of them. I blinked furiously, trying to keep the tears from flowing. I did tell them, didn't I? Yes, I owled them. Maybe something happened and they couldn't come, family emergency or something, like my grandmother was sick. Or something. Or maybe they were just stuck in a traffic jam! That must be it!

I lingered for a while before finally approaching a young, friendly looking porter. I asked him for help, stammering nervously. He smiled at me and took me to the manager's office. There, he called up my family, and assured me that my mother was on her way. I thanked him gratefully and sat down to wait. 

At last, after half an hour, my mother arrived, her hair disheveled from the wind. I hurriedly gathered up my things and followed her to the car.

We drove home in silence. At least, it was silent until I blurted out, "Why are you so late?"

She turned to glance at me and swallowed nervously. She looked away.

"Well, we have guests, dear. Your grand-aunt and family decided to visit today…and…well, we were entertaining them," she said, not looking at me.

"So…you forgot all about me," I said softly.

"That's rubbish! We were just…busy," she said, still staring ahead.

"Didn't anyone realise that I wasn't there? Didn't Aunt Gretchen realise?" I whined.

"We were busy, Lily," she finally turned and looked at me. This time, I looked away.

I knew it was stupid to keep thinking about it, but I couldn't help it. 'They just don't care.' The thought kept slipping across my mind. It was stupid. It was dumb. But somehow, I felt betrayed.

A/N: It happened to me once! Call it fluffy if you like, but if your parents just forgot about you and you were all alone and embarrassed, you wouldn't forget it in a hurry. Please review! =)