Author's Notes: Um...hi. waves meekly I am so sorry for the lack of updates. It's been over a month, I know. Life has just been very hectic for me. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact I wanted to get a chapter out before I headed to Vegas for vacation, you might not even have gotten this! So yeah, here's the chapter! Just so you know, this first term of Hogwarts is sort of like Goblet of Fire: everyone is with the wrong person. :D

Disclaimer: Not mine, sorry!

One Step Too Far

Standing in the doorway was a petite looking girl, looking at both the boys curiously through light green eyes, "Excuse me, I was wondering if either of you could help me...?" She looked very hesitant, as if she really did not want to be asking for help, but knew she had to. She held herself with a reserved nature. To James, she just shouted 'Ravenclaw!'. Obviously a first year, James suspected her to be a muggleborn. Most pureblood, even half-blood, women he knew walked tall and were proud of themselves. The girl in front of him just stood there, twirling her blonde hair on her finger.

"Sure!" Frank said, glaring at James for a moment. It was then that James realised he should have said something instead of just staring at her.

"Oh, of course, how can we be of service to a pretty little girl like you?" James said, grinning coyly, hoping that she wouldn't mind him being rude.

Luckily, for James, the girl smiled. A small tint of red came to her cheeks as she spoke, "Well, I'm new here and I really don't know what I should be doing. Are these compartments reserved or can we sit anywhere?" Her voice dropped a few pitches, and she looked away as embarresed as she muttered, "I'm a...oh...what do you call them? Muggle, I think?"

James inwardly smirked. He knew she was muggleborn, "The term you're looking for is muggleborn. And no, you can sit wherever you like. In fact, I believe we have an open seat that you are more than welcome to sit in...that is, so we can help you with any questions you may have." He grinned at her again.

The girl giggled, "Well, thank you!" She started to drag her trunk in, just as James and Frank lept up to help her. With the three of them working together, they had it in it's proper place in no time. When they were all seated (James and Frank on one side, the girl on the other), she spoke again, "Now that you mention it, I do have another question. What are your names?"

Frank spoke up first, "I'm Frank Longbottom and this is my best mate," James waved as Frank pointed to him, "James Potter."

"What's your name?" James asked, realising he had no idea who she was.

"Rizi. Rizi Daniels. I'm pleased to meet both of you. It's so exciting, going on an adventure like this. I don't think I'll get used to all the funny things I've begun to notice. Like how your owls carry mail! Wouldn't it be much safer to just have a person deliver it?"

James shook his head, "No, owls are wonderfully intelligent and they're very fast. Besides, better not go around saying bad things about owls, one might hear you." Using only his head, James pointed to his pet owl, who seemed to be glaring at Rizi, "Now, now, girl, we have to be nice to our new friends. I want you two to put this fight behind you and be very mature...er...creatures. Alright?" Rizi nodded seriously, though the sides of her lips seemed to be curling upward just a tiny bit.

"I'm quite sorry...oh, what's her name?" Riza asked, turning away from the owl to look at James.

"Penelope. I like to call her Pen though."

Frank gave a merry chuckle, "James thinks it's funny to give everyone a nickname. There was a brief time when he would only call me 'Fra'. Watch out or he'll start calling you Riz."

James rubbed his chin pensively, "Riz...I like it. Okay, from now on, you are Riz."

Riza smiled, "I like it. What do you know about Hogwarts?"

Frank and James grinned at each other and began speaking at once.

"They have great food!"

"Huge library!"

"Little animals, called house elves who clean up"

"Wicked subjects!"

"All the food you can eat!"

"Yeah, lots of food."

Riza smiled, "I think I'll like Hogwarts a lot."

The three new friends barely noticed the train pulling out of the station. However, James was quick to know when the food cart lady came around. He actually stopped mid-sentence when speaking about Quidditch to buy something to eat. The pancakes seemed ages off. As he counted his money to see how much he could buy, he looked at the two others. Frank seemed to be pondering what to spend his hard-earned allowance on, while Riz looked confused again.

"Erm, six chocolate frogs, three cauldron cakes, and a box of Bertie Botts, please." James waved his hand at Frank, telling him not to buy anything, for this was for them all to share. However, Frank ordered three Pumpkin Juices, which James totally forgot about. After they had paid and the lady left, the boys grinned at Riza.

"I think you know enough about Quidditch"

"For now."

"Right, so, we're going to explain food." James held up a chocolate frog, "These are the best kinds of candy in all of the Wizarding World. They're called a chocolate frog." With what seemed to be much practice, James opened the box in no time, "As you can see, they are chocolate, in the shape of frogs."

"Hence the name." Frank added.

"They're not real frogs, are they?" Riz asked, looking a little green in the face.

"No!" James quickly said. Sheesh, as if wizards were that barbaric, "It's just plain chocolate." He held the container with the frog in it out to her, "Here, try one. And once you pop it in your mouth, look at the card that comes with it. They're collectable."

Riz soon learned to love the chocolate frogs and was very excited indeed when the card she got (Merlin) scratched his nose, "I've never seen a picture move before!" Frank and James rolled their eyes, but ate their frogs. After ten minutes of switching and explaining the values of certain cards, they moved on to Bertie Botts.

"Now, as our guest," Frank began, "You must have the first bean."

"Well, alright," Riz said, reaching into the box to pull out a white and red striped bean. James was greatly disappointed, thinking that her first bean was going to be a candy cane. However...

"EW!" Riz shouted, spitting the half chewed bean into an empty chocolate frog container, "That was foul! It tasted like sweat!"

Ah, sweat sock. James had that once at the age of eight. He made his mother wash his socks repeatedly until they looked better than new, "That would probably be a sweaty sock then. Not very good, is it? No, of course not. Well, that was your first Bertie Bott's i Every /i Flavoured Bean."

"Sweaty socks? What about peppermint or green apple?"

Frank sighed, "Well that would just be boring."

"Not to me," Riz said, watching him dump some pumpkin juice into his cauldron cake, "Is it too late to go back?"

"Yes," The boys answered simatanelously.

As they were passing the countryside, the early rise (for Riz had been up since dawn from nerves) and the food were starting to get to them. James wasn't sure who was the first to doze off, but all he knew was that he was glad he was the first to rise. He did not want to be caught sleeping on Frank's shoulder, while Frank rested on his head. No, that would just look wrong to any passer-byer. He glanced over at Riz. She was sleeping against the wall, curled up with her legs underneath her, using only her hands for her pillow.

James then began to become more awake and tried to figure out what had waken him from his slumber. The answer soon became apparent. There were a group of people walking around the corridor in a group, that seemed to be saying something. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he realised they pulled their hoods over their faces so they couldn't be seen. As they neared their compartment, James opened their door just a little bit so he could hear what they were saying.

From what he could hear, it was just a group of people saying random things, but all getting the point across:

"Little mudbloods, come out wherever you are and play..."

"Dirty mudbloods, beware! He will get you all for disgusting this place!"

"You are not welcome, scum, leave the train before we get to school or else face the wrath later on!"

James quickly closed the door, hoping they didn't notice him. He looked over at Riz again, quite afraid for her. James wasn't stupid. He knew all about the maniac, Lord Voldemort, and how he was spreading panic about killing muggles and muggleborns. That was one of the few topics Frank and James did not wish to tell her about, though they knew they had to. Unfortunately, the time seemed to be now. Riz was staring at him, looking almost fearful, as though she knew something terrible just happened.

"James, who were they?"

With a sigh, James looked over at Frank. Best let him sleep. He could handle this by himself, "Riza, you have to realise something. The Wizarding World has its problems, just like the muggle world. There are some really bad people out there. People like...people like those kids who just walked by. They feel that anyone who isn't pureblood isn't worthy of their time and should be killed."

"Like me..."

"Yes, Riz, like you. So you have to be careful of them."

Riza took this news surprisingly well, "Okay...what was that word they were saying?"

This was what he hoped she wouldn't ask, "They were saying 'Mudblood'. It's a bad word and it means anyone who's blood is less than 'pure'." James felt it sufficient to use his fingers to quote the word pure. He hoped he could make light of the situation, but no, he had to be serious, "If anyone says that word to you, they are not your friends, alright?"

Riza nodded and the two stared at each other for a moment, before looking elsewhere. James chose to look at Frank, who was still snoozing away, not aware at all at how the situation changed. James envied him.

The rest of the journey to the castle went fairly smoothly. Once Frank finally woke up, they taught Riz how to play Exploding Snap. They played a few rounds (James won three times, while Frank and Riz both won one apiece.), then went back to eating the left-over food. Frank took the last cauldron cake (James didn't eat his since he found them disgusting.), while James and Riz worked on the beans.

"Okay, now I'm going to teach you a trick I picked up a while ago. If the bean looks really nasty, it's probably really good. If it looks good, don't eat it! As I'm sure you already know," James said, nodding to the chocolate frog box that still held her half-chewed bean, "So, for example, this green looks really nasty, but I'll try it anyway." After popping the candy into his mouth, James chewed a few times, then swallowed, a pleased smile coming to his face, "Watermelon. See what I mean?"

Riz picked up a pink one, and stared at it for a while, "I can't tell if this looks healthy or not. I suppose there's only one way to truly tell." She popped the bean in her mouth, then made a face, "Soap! And I know it's soap. My mother made me eat some once."

James smirked, "Hey, Frank, looks like your mother has some competition." Frank just smiled slightly, not saying anything.

When they reached the platform, the three friends noticed one thing. They forgot to get changed. This wasn't a problem for the boys, all they had to do was put on their robes and hats. However, Riza had to change into her skirt. They decided that the boys would put on their robes, go out first, then block the window so no one could see as she changed.

Unfortunately, they were the last off the train, and everyone had left without them. The three had to run to catch up and had most likely missed some important information. After they did finally catch up, they fell into line with everyone else, walking to who knew where. It quickly became apparent when they reached the lake. They got a great view of the castle and James felt his jaw drop. Sure, it was pretty and everything, but it was i huge /i He would really get lost. There was no time to lose though, everyone was climbing into a boat.

James climbed into one of the last boats, Frank following him, and Riz following him. Nothing happened until another boy climbed in. He was a very tall boy with black hair that seemed it hadn't seen a brush in years.

"Hi," Frank said, trying to break the ice, "I'm Frank Longbottom, and this is James Potter, and this is Riza Daniels."

"Severus Snape." And he would say no more.

They reached the castle ten minutes later, though it felt like hours due to the silence. The giant of a man who seemed to be in charge knocked on the door three times and a lady who seemed to be the most strict woman alive greeted them, "Follow me." She led the group into a little room, "Welcome, new students. I am Professor McGonagall and I will be teaching you all in Transfiguration. In a moment, I will lead you inside the Great Hall where the older students are already gathered. You will join them soon, but first, you must be Sorted. There are four houses you can be Sorted into: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While at Hogwarts, you will attend classes, eat, and sleep with your house members. They will be like your family. Be warned, any rule-breaking while you are at this school will lose house points, a contest where houses compete for the most points. You can also win points for your house. Now, I must leave you to tell the others you are here. While I'm gone, fix yourselves up." She left and kids all around James were starting to panic.

"How will she Sort us?"

"We have to do this in front of the whole school?"

"I think I'm going to be sick."

After about five minutes of this annoying chatter (Frank and Riz didn't say anything, since they both looked too sick to even open their mouths), Professor McGonagall came back.

"We're ready for you."

Author's Notes: That looks like a good place to stop. I wish I could have gotten further with this chapter, but I'll need a whole chapter for the next part. Get ready, guys, the next chapter will probably be on of the best. Well, it'll be one of my favourites, at least. We'll get the Sorting and we'll get to meet all of MWPL. :D Yaaay! Hopefully, I'll get this next chapter out soon. Dependable on how long it takes for me to get done being the Easter Bunny tomorrow (The sad thing is, I'm serious), I might get another chapter out tomorrow. If not, I'll get one out next Friday when I get back!