Disclaimer: I own nothing!

A/N: Thank you for all your reviews! I don't really know what to say for thanking you!

To Angel of the North: I will never stop thanking you for beta-reading!

1st September

Hermione and Lilian spent the rest of the summer talking about the wizarding world, Harry Potter and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

To be honest, it was more that Lilian was asking all the questions, and Hermione answered her patiently. Lilian, however, became more and more suspicious.

"Mom, how do you know all this? You're a muggle"

Hermione froze, cursing her own stupidity. She shouldn't know all this.

"I read about it, when I was a kid. I used to imagine I went there. Hogwarts: a history - there's everything you could want to know in there."

She looked very nervous, and started to bite her lips.

Lilian was unconvinced, but all she said was 'Hmmm' and asked nothing further.

By the 31st of August she was very excited, and ready to leave almost 24 hours before she had to. Hermione was happy about her daughter excitement, but it meant that Lilian didn't stop questioning her from early that morning.

"Do you think I'll be smart enough? I've read all the books. Will it be enough?" She spun off before her mother could answer. "I can't wait to see the castle. I wonder what house I'll be in. Not Slytherin, I hope. Did you know that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was in Slytherin? I can't wait to meet the professors. Did you kn-"

At 6a.m. this was all too much for her mother. She was only silenced by the pillow Hermione threw at her.

"Please, honey, sleep! Just sleep, or even better let me sleep-" she said in a sleepy voice. "OK, mom!" she said running to her room.

'I can tease her later!' she thought, grinning to herself. She double-checked all her stuff, which was already packed and ready to go.

The day passed very quickly after that, and that evening John came by to say goodbye to Lilian. They'd worked hard to explain why he couldn't possibly come to the airport to see her off onto the first flight for London. Hermione had been fairly persuasive to the point he gave up. Lilian privately thought that he was pleased to see her go, so he wouldn't have to share Hermione, something confirmed by the big smile on his face as he left.

The next day, at about 9.30 a.m., Lilian pulled her trunk into the fireplace and then she followed it.

"Good bye, honey! Be a good girl! And send an owl when you arrive!" Hermione said kissing and hugging her.

"Bye, mom! I'll miss you!" she said hugging her back.

Then she yelled "Platform 9 and ¾" and disappeared between green flames.

Platform 9 and ¾ was very crowded.

"First years, First years! hurry up!" A tall man was calling to all the students, keeping a particular watch on the first years.

Lilian sat alone in a compartment for about half an hour before the train left, so excited she could barely sit down.

After a while a red haired boy came into the compartment.

"Sorry, do you mind? The train is full and we can 't find a seat!" he asked politely.

"Sure!" she answered happy to have somebody to talk to. The boy entered and sat in front of her, then another one followed him and sat next to him. He had red hair too, the same colour as Lilian's.

"I'm Lilian Smith! And you?" she tried to break the ice.

"Nice to meet you Lilian! I'm Mark, Mark Weasley, and that's my cousin Alex!" the tallest guy said.

"Nice to meet you too!"

"Are you a first year?"

She nodded.

"Well, don't worry, Alex is too!"

"And you?"

"I'm a second year!" he said proudly.

Lilian opened her eyes wide like she has suddenly realized something.

"You're Weasleys!" she almost screamed.

They nodded with a puzzled look.

"Oh my gosh! I get to find out what a Weasley really looks like. I've heard so much about your family. Like all of you have red hair! And-"

"Hey! You've red hair, too, and you're not Weasley!" said Alex obviously amused at the strange conversation.

She continued as if she hadn't heard him "And there's too many of you to count. And one of the transfiguration professors is one of you as well."

They started to laugh.

'She is funny' Alex thought.

"Yeah!" Mark said between laughs "He is our uncle Ron!"

"What house are you in, Mark?"

"Gryffindor!" he said with a big grin.

"Oooooooh" was all Lilian could say.

Alex snorted "Every Weasley has been in Gryffindor. So I'll be there too." said Alex trying to draw her attention to him.

"It's not so easy. You have to be a Gryffindor for being sorted in Gryffindor, not a Weasley." said Mark seriously.

"Yeah!" he muttered.

"I hope I'll be in Gryffindor, too." said Lilian.

They went on talking about Hogwarts and Lilian thought she found two new friends. Well, they really became her friends when she shared with them the sweets she'd bought from the trolley.

They spent the rest of the travel answering at her questions and listening at her telling them about all the books she'd learned.

In the evening they reached the station and Hagrid accompanied all the first years to the boats. They were excited and very noisy.
Lilian was in the same boat as Alex and another girl.

They arrived at the other side and followed the path from the lake to the castle. Inside the castle they followed the stairs for what seemed ages.

Finally they arrived in front of a big wooden door where an old, tall and thin witch welcomed them.

"Welcome first years! I'm professor McGonagall, your deputy headmistress. Now if you would wait here until we're ready for you"

She disappeared beyond the door and after a moment they were allowed to enter the Great Hall.

It was huge. Four tables with hundreds of student were placed in the middle of it. In front of them there was a big table with all the professors, and between the long tables and the high table was a stool with a hat on it.

"This is the Sorting Hat. It will decide which house you'll be sorted in. When I call your name, you'll come here and I'll put the hat on your head."

All the first years nodded.

"Ally, Sharon" A little blond girl walked out of the group.

"HUFFLEPUFF" screamed the Hat after a while.

"Bruner, Jordan" He was a short boy with black hair.

"SLYTHERIN"

The students sat at the table with green and silver decorations clapped their hands. All the other groaned.

Professor McGonagall called lots of other names, but Lilian was lost in her thoughts. She was observing the professors and some of them were staring back at her. A tall man with black hair and a pale face was looking intently at her.

"Randall, Josh" called the deputy headmistress.

A tall and not-bad-looking boy threw himself on the chair. He was quite normal, with curly blonde hair and blue eyes and he captured Lilian's attention.

"GRYFFINDOR" the Hat shouted. All the pupils at the red and gold table clapped their hands.

She knew that it was almost her turn.

"Smith, Lilian"

Professor McGonagall looked at her with a smile and she noticed also an old wizard, who had to be the headmaster, and a lady in nurse clothes who were looking intently at her, too.

McGonagall put the Sorting Hat on her head.

"Oh" she heard the Hat in her head "But with parents like yours you can be only a-"

"-GRYFFINDOR" it yelled.

All the Gryffindors clapped again their hands.

She went to the Gryffindor's table and sat next to the blonde boy. Some people, like Mark, shook her hand.

After some others it was Alex's turn.

Gryffindor, of course.

When also the last student was sorted, the headmaster spoke.

"I am Professor Dumbledore. Just a few announcements before we begin this excellent feast. I would like to remind you once again that the forest is forbidden to every-" Here his eye caught with someone else "-student here. I would like to further point out that the vault is also out of bounds. I would also like to introduce our two new professors - Professor Ron Weasley, who will be teaching transfiguration-"

A young man with red hair smiled and nodded from his place at the high table.

"-and Professor Potter who will teach Defence Against Dark Arts. Who can do this better than him?"

Another young man, seated next to Professor Weasley smiled at the Gryffindor tables.

"There will be no further changes - new students will meet the remainder of the teaching staff in their classes. And, I would like to remind you, knowing the new professors sympathies will be of no help to you." With that he smiled benignly to the Gryffindor table.

"Let the feast begin!" Then he clapped his hands and the plates filled with delicious food.

Everybody started to eat.Lilian couldn't stop herself asking questions of the Gryffindor prefect - a 5th year called Maja Greenhouse. It was this way that she discovered that the black-haired, sallow master was Snape, Head of Slytherin, and beloved of none but his own house. Professor Potter on the other hand was the object of affection for the majority of girls in Hogwarts.

'He is rather nice' she agreed privately, but it was Professor Weasley who really caught her attention. She felt as though she already knew him.

After the feast the prefects accompanied the students of their house to the dorms. Everybody was too tired for doing anything but sleeping.

However Lilian was too excited to sleep. And, then, she remembered she had to do something.

During the banquet she'd asked Mark the way to get to the owlery, and now she knew exactly where she had to go.

She reached it and chose an owl which looked strong and young, caressing its feathers as she spoke to it. "I know it's a long way, and it's late, but please take it to my mom."

The owl looked at her and then left without a noise.

'I'm so happy' she thought smiling and then ran to her dorm.

In the meantime, it was early evening in New York, and Hermione was contemplating her daughter, and her two best friends.

She sat at her desk, looking at her computer screen.

A secretary woke her up from her day-dream. She handed her a little card with a note from John.

It said:

Hey Love! What about a romantic dinner in our restaurant, tonight? We can celebrate Lilian's leaving!
Love, you know who!

'Celebrate?' she read astonished.

Then she wrote this under John's note:

I'm sorry John , but I'm very busy tonight! We can go out another time!
Audrey

She gave the note to the secretary and said "That's for Mr. Cliff! I'm going home, I don't feel very well."

The secretary nodded and disappeared beyond the boss office door.

Hermione went home and spend all the rest of the day waiting for an owl.

She stared out of the window, until she realized she'd fallen asleep by virtue of being woken by a knock at the window around 11pm.

Tapping on the window was a snowy owl with a letter in its beak. After opening the window to let it in, she took the letter, thanked the owl, and began to read.

Dear mom,
Hogwarts is wonderful! I'm in Gryffindor! Did you know that it's the best house? I already have some friends, their names are Mark and Alex! They are very friendly and are in Gryffindor too! My new professors, especially Professor Potter and Professor Weasley (they are handsome too!), are interesting; the potion master is gloomy, I don't think I'll like him! And especially I don't think he likes me!
Here the weather is nice and the trip from London has been pleasant!
I miss you!
Lilian

Hermione smiled

'I miss you too' she thought.