The interior of the train was the first new thing that James saw that year. Slightly dimmer than the bright outside world that lay beyond him, he handed off his trolley and began to take in his newfound surroundings.
Much like the station, many students were bustling in and about, trying to find a spare compartment. As he trudged on, the eleven year old found himself fighting off a bit of apprehension growing in the pit of his stomach. What if he couldn't find Teddy? No, he shouldn't think of such nonsense. With as many relatives that he had, finding at least one of them shouldn't be too difficult.
But as he glanced into each compartment in search of the sixth year, James wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him and promptly ran into something. Or rather, someone.
Falling to the ground with a thud, James groaned, rubbing his forehead. Merlin, it felt like he had just been hit by a bludger. When he looked up, he found another student in a similar condition.
"Oi, watch where you're going." He said, brown eyes narrowed in annoyance. Of course, it wasn't his fault that they had smacked into each other. He had simply been looking for his relatives.
A girl sat across from him, an equally irritated look in her vibrant hazel eyes. With light blonde hair just a hint darker than his cousin Victoire and a purple muggle jumper on, she was clearly a stranger to him. Most of the friends he had made growing up had been his cousins or his parent's friend's children.
"Why don't you?" She muttered back, standing up and straightening out her clothes. Tossing her another glare, James shoved past the blonde and kept looking around for Teddy.
About ten or so compartments later, he found him in one of the back compartments, along with Victoire, Fred, Roxanne and Dominique.
"Bout time you got here, James." Fred smirked, his slightly darker hand clapping him on the back. "We thought you might've missed the train."
"Yeah, wouldn't want to be the only new Gryffindor in our family this year." Roxanne teased, her dark copper hair falling over her shoulder as she leaned into her smirk. James felt a chuckle in his throat.
Roxanne was only a few months older than him and she had almost as much mischief up her sleeves as he did. He remembered many a time when the two had been younger and nipped desserts from the Christmas reunions.
Now at eleven years old, she was like a smaller more feminine form of Fred. Between her African American mother and her English father, the siblings had been rather gifted with tan skin, chestnut brown eyes and dark coppery hair. The only thing that kept them from being twins was the age difference and the foot of height that Fred had over her. And the fact that she was a girl of course.
"Please, I wouldn't miss Hogwarts for the world." James boasted, head held high with soon to be Gryffindor pride.
Feisty as ever, Roxanne didn't hesitate to playfully punch him on the shoulder and offer him up one of her cauldron cakes.
"Well you're lucky the train didn't leave without you." Dominique sighed, continuing to read from her newest copy of Witch's Weekly.
"Don't you have prefecting to do or something?" The first year retorted with a roll of his eyes. While he didn't hate Dominique (partially because he wasn't allowed to), he wasn't overly fond of her either. Putting smarts and beauty ahead of bravery, she had ended up in Ravenclaw house along with her older and much nicer sister Victoire.
To say that she and James differed in opinion was putting it nicely. The boy had told her on more than one occasion that if she wanted to be a proper Weasley, she ought to quit worrying about her 'strawberry blonde' hair and play some bloody Quidditch.
The advice hadn't been received too well and she had completely ignored him for the entire visit. It was not to say that she didn't have her nicer moments, they were just rare and limited.
"Hey you two, try not to blow each other up before we even get to Hogwarts." Teddy chastised lightly. Luckily, between James's respect for the metamorphagus and Dominique's interest in her magazine, no casualties were caused during the train ride to Hogwarts.
Instead, Fred took it upon himself to show Roxanne and James every single candy the Hogwarts Express had to offer. Chocolate frogs, cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, jelly slugs, licorice wands, and of course, Bertie Botts every flavor beans. Teddy's head turned a ghastly shade of green when he happened upon an vomit flavored one, which earned a round of laughs from all the Weasley and Potter children.
"That's it. I give up one these." He grimaced, handing the box back to a giggling Roxanne. "From now on, I'm sticking to pumpkin pasties and chocolate frogs."
"Bloody git, I've only got one frog left." Fred replied, but James had already snuck it out of his hand by the time his cousin turned back around and promptly ripped it open. A small dark brown frog burst from the casing and onto his head, giving a satisfied croak before leaping across the compartment. Once it stilled, Fred quickly stuffed the chocolate into his mouth with a satisfied grin.
Rolling her eyes, Roxanne turned to her cousin.
"Well which card did you get James?" She asked curiously. Glancing down, he plucked the pentagon shaped card from the package, turning it over.
"I got my dad." He said with a look of surprise and confusion. "That's strange. I thought only famous witches or wizards appeared on these cards."
He was met with silence among the four older students. Even Dominique had taken it upon herself not to say a word. Just when the eleven year old was about to make a suspicious remark, Victoire, who had originally remained rather quiet, broke the awkward silence.
"Well, your father is famous. I mean, he's head Auror of the Ministry of Magic. Between him, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, I believe they all have Chocolate frog cards." She told him with a practiced smile gracing her lips, much like the ones she gave to her family when they wanted her to do something, like not visit Teddy.
"Hey, as a matter of fact, do you mind if I keep this one?" Teddy asked, glancing at the card. "I haven't gotten your dad yet."
The youngest wizard shrugged and tossed it over to him, sensing the strange familiar feeling that he was not being told the entire truth.
Before he could really ask any questions, however, the door opened, revealing a tall girl already dressed in her Hufflepuff robes. The flaming red hair and splash of freckles over her nose clearly marked her as a Weasley.
"Afternoon Molly." Fred nodded to her.
"Hello Fred, Victoire, Roxanne, James." She smiled kindly to each of her relatives, before training her eyes on Dominique. "Dom, we need to head to the prefect compartment. They're going over some new rules for this year."
The other girl nodded, stowing away her magazine and following her cousin without another word.
"Thank Merlin, I thought she'd never leave." James sighed, stretching his feet over to Dominique's previous seat. However the death glare sent by Victoire told him otherwise and he quickly removed them.
"Why don't we all get changed? We'll be at Hogwarts soon." Teddy offered, standing up and stretching his legs. James and Roxanne followed suit, heading out of the compartment with the others to change.
It took James not but five minutes to do so, staring at himself and the other first years in their new robes. Without a house, the uniform seemed rather black and dull. He eagerly awaited the sorting that would take place at Hogwarts and add some color to them.
He pondered going back to his cousins, but as soon as the train doors opened, the only thing on his mind was freedom.
"Hey, don't run off without me you git!" Turning around, he found Roxanne's copper head bounding towards him.
"What's the matter Roxy? Can't keep up with my charm?" He grinned, only to be elbowed in the side.
"Please. You wouldn't know charm if a unicorn hit you upside the head with it." Chuckling, the two raced off the train, shoving past other students to get a glimpse of the new surroundings. After glancing about, they were rather disappointed when they didn't immediately see Hogwarts. They did however, see a man three times their size.
Rubeus Hagrid had been a family friend for as long as James could remember. The half giant was often seen during the holidays and the summers. He seemed to be especially fond of Harry, and therefore fond of the Potter children.
"Blimey James! I haven't seen ya since las' Christmas." He beamed, pulling James up and off the ground for a hug. Oh yes. He was very fond of James, much to the eleven year old's dismay.
"Alright Hagrid, you're crushing me." He muttered against the man, blushing. He prayed to the high heavens that nobody was watching the transaction. He had already gone way over his capacity of hugs today. To his relief, Hagrid put him down and smiled at the two.
"And hello Roxy, been a while since I seen ya too." She smiled at this and exchanged pleasantries with him while James got the feeling back in his arms. He knew Hagrid was the gamekeeper as well as the professor of Care of Magical Creatures class, but he hadn't expected to see him immediately after the train ride. However, this time, his question was answered instantly.
"Firs' years! Firs' years! Follow me down ter the docks!" Hagrid bellowed, causing dozens of small heads to look up at him in awe and shock.
James and Roxanne shot each other identical grins at all the expressions, feeling rather proud that they knew Hagrid at that moment. They followed the rest down to the docks, where dozens of large wooden boats lay on still water. James was surprised to find the only thing on them was a large lantern in the center. No paddles.
Shrugging it off, he stepped onto the boat, taking a seat towards the front. Roxanne followed suit right behind him.
"Excuse me." James glanced up to see another boy looking at them from the docks. "Mind if I join you?"
He was a tad taller than James, but not by much, with light brown hair and matching eyes. But it was his expression that made James curious. There was no skittishness or hesitance in his voice. He was being polite, but wasn't the least bit nervous, a good thing because James probably wouldn't have let him on if he was.
"Sure." A smile broke out on the boy's face and he jumped onto the boat, sitting beside James. The sudden rocking of the boat rose a chuckle out of Roxanne and he held out his hand to James. "Name's Dean by the way."
"I'm James." He introduced himself, shaking Dean's hand.
"Roxanne." His cousin stated when the boy looked over to her.
In the course of ten minutes, it was quickly decided that James and Dean would be brilliant friends. Dean enjoyed Quidditch, mischief and pranks almost as much as James himself. The two spent about half the boat ride talking about Puddlemere United and their latest game against the Appleby Arrows.
"I knew they were going to win, but it was brilliant!" James stated after discussing the final two minutes of the game.
"That bloke of a keeper never saw it coming!" Dean boasted, a triumphant grin on his face.
"Then again, every keeper's a bloke compared to Wood."
"Quite true."
"Oi, Quidditch idols." Roxanne broke them off from their conversation as she pointing in from of her. "Look there!"
When they turned around, both boys' jaws dropped in awe. There, on top of a small hill, stood Hogwarts.
The castle was tall and majestic, small lights illuminating it against the still waters. Though seemingly ancient looking, no student could ignore its sense of magnificence and magic. Noticing the silence now filling the boats, Hagrid chuckled to himself.
"Ah that be Hogwarts, firs' years!" He called out. "Take a good look a' it. She's to be yer home for the next seven years!"