Journey of the Potters

by amethystdreamstar

Instead of just having Harry, Lily and James Potter had 2 children, Harry and his sister Journey Potter. This has a huge impact on the wizarding world as we know it, along with its saviour.

6. Chapter 6: Trains and Hats

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything that is underlined is taken directly from the book.

"talking"

'thought'

'written words'

I know I usually leave notes at the end but I decided to put this one at the beginning because it is slightly more important and people are more likely to read it.

I kinda ... toasted my labtop by accident. The part where the power supply sort of ... melted? So when I saw that my labtop would not charge anymore I thought 'hey I'll be smart about this and send it to myself' so I did. No problems there. I finished the chapter after adding on about 3000-4000 words and making a bunch of changes and saved before closing word. I then uploaded it to this site the next day and to my surprise IT UPLOADED THE UN-UPDATED CHAPTER! I searched and searched for the finished one but I could not find it meaning that I had to type the whole last section and re-do all of my changes all over again :'(

Okay I'm over that. The other bad thing about no labtop means I have to wait to get a new one and in the mean time I have to use our junky, slow, old computer instead.

Chapter 6: Trains and Hats

Journey had great fun the last month with the Dursleys before Hogwarts started. She had given Harry the wand holster when they got home from Diagon Alley as his birthday gift and he'd been delighted, strapping it to his arm immediately showing his appreciation for the gift. The next day, Harry had surprised her by giving her a present as well. He had bought her a couple of books from Flourish and Blotts while she had been off on her own, including Hogwarts a History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. Harry had been rather shy when he gave her these, saying it was nowhere near as nice of a present as a wand holster, but Journey quickly shut him up by giving him a hug and saying that they were absolutely wonderful.

The rest of the summer was filled with nothing but magic, besides the occasional run-ins with the Dursleys. Other than Dudley who ran out of the room if either Harry or Journey were entered it (Journey took great fun in this by sending Harry into a room to 'flush Dudley out' while waiting just so that he would run into her making him squeal in fright like the animal his tail represented) the rest of the Dursleys acted as if Harry and Journey didn't exist, which was perfectly fine with her since she still had Harry to talk to.

Harry and Journey mostly stayed in their room reading about and practicing magic in the company of Aurora, Shadow and Harry's owl that he named Hedwig from one of his books. Harry had been quite startled when he walked into the room to see a raven sitting on the windowsill (they had left the window open accidentally when they went on the wild adventure across the country) but Journey quickly explained everything to him. She told him how valuable it would be if they needed to send mail without everyone knowing immediately who it was from if they could get the bird to send it in secret (which Journey had no doubt was possible) especially since Harry was a celebrity. Harry grinned at the idea as he stroked Shadow's beautiful black feathers, before doing the same to Hedwig who looked slightly disgruntled at the lack of attention.

Aurora cuddled with Journey while she started making a dent into her new mini-library. She started by reading all of her textbooks, but quickly realized she didn't understand half the things they were talking about so she started reading some of the books she had mentally labelled as 'supplementary material'. As she read them, she made notes in her textbooks (she hoped the professors wouldn't mind) and into the notebooks she had bought the day after she got home from the nearby stationary shop. She had set up one book for each subject (according to colour) and had started making general notes on hints and tips for each subject, like writing the properties of various ingredients often used in first year for potions and the importance of visualization for transfiguration.

Journey would read all morning while Harry alternated between reading and practicing magic, which Journey did in the afternoon. First, they would try a spell with their wands, which usually took a couple tries. Both Harry and Journey noticed that every time they picked up their wands, a small trickle of magic would flow to their wand from their spine, even if they weren't trying to cast a spell. Harry reasoned that that's probably why certain things work with only a tap of the wand, since there was magic in the wand and Journey agreed.

They also noticed that their magic felt different for each spell they attempted. Certain types of spells like charms or transfiguration had similar feels to them but each and every spell was different. They had only been able to get a few spells to work. Journey found she had a much harder time getting her magic to cooperate for charms than any other type of spell while Harry had the same problem with transfiguration. Journey had mused that this was what Mr. Ollivander had meant by each witch or wizard having their own 'talents' (Journey had told Harry everything when they were on the train ride home).

After they had done a spell with a wand, they would try to the spell without the wand. It was extremely difficult. First they had to concentrate to call up their magic with enough power to actually do the spell, and while they got better at it each time, it was still a very slow process. Next they had to shape the magic into the spell they wanted, which was really difficult because that also required a lot of concentration and while they were concentrating on shaping their magic it would start to slip away. Finally, they would have to push the spell out of their body through one of their hands (Journey had entertained the idea of casting a spell out of her head at someone, but didn't know what would happen if too much magic passed her brain so she didn't try it). The twins found that trying to push the spell out of their non-dominant hand was nearly impossible until Harry had the brilliant idea of trying to use their wands with that hand so that more magic would flow through it. It was much more difficult than using their good hand, but they both thought it would be a useful skill to learn in case they ever injured their good hand in a fight.

They also worked on their abilities, which they still didn't know what to call since it didn't really look like a spell they'd seen in their books. Harry had suggested calling it 'Will Magic' since they did mostly everything based off of their magic and will power, and Journey decided that, for now, that would work.

Journey's 'Will Magic' was coming along nicely. By the end of the summer she was able to shape her ball of flames into other shapes and toss them around. She could even make the flames not burn something as she found out when she accidentally overshot her own hand (she was passing back and forth) and hit Harry. She had been so worried and kept thinking 'don't hurt him!' and miraculously enough, the flames did nothing but cause a pleasant cooling sensation. Strangely enough, when Harry picked up the cube of flames in his hands it had changed from silver and blue-violet flames to gold and green. Neither of them could think of a reason why and the best they could come up with was that Harry's magic touched it, it was 'claiming' it.

Harry's Will Magic was also progressing. His fire abilities were just as good as Journey's and he was able to change half of his head blonde in one go. All Journey could do with that ability so far was change a couple of her strands black, which actually looked kind of cool when she had looked into the mirror before her concentration broke.

The twins both found that the more they practiced magic, especially their abilities, the less they needed to concentrate. Calling forth magic was becoming easier and went from taking over ten minutes to only taking several minute. Shaping was also becoming easier as they were getting a feel for the different types of magic. Journey found that she could shape her magic as she was moving it to her hands, but it was really slow and would not be practical for regular use for a long while.

Harry and Journey both agreed to keep practicing while at Hogwarts, but to keep the ability secret. Every witch and wizard they had seen so far had used a wand for everything, so they didn't want to be singled out for doing something that might not even be normal. Harry agreed simply because it would make him more different than he already was, and he wanted to be as normal as possible.

Harry and Journey had a calendar pinned against the wall counting down the days until they went to Hogwarts. Finally, it was September the first and the twins both got up extra early to make sure everything they had was all packed. Harry had asked Uncle Vernon about getting a ride to the station the night before, and after laughing about the face that their ticket said nine and three quarters, he agreed to take them. Harry was worried that they wouldn't be able to find the station, but Journey figured that there would be other people heading to the station besides them and they'd ask them how to find it, which reassured Harry … mostly.

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They reached King's Cross station at ten thirty. Journey had sent Shadow off that morning to Hogwarts after telling him to only come to her when she was alone. He had looked at her with his onyx-coloured eyes letting Journey know he understood before flying off into the predawn light. The car ride that had followed several hours later had been very amusing for Journey. Dudley had tried to squish himself into the window away from the twins (they were going to the hospital to get Dudley's tail removed after they dropped Harry and Journey off) which didn't really work considering he had already been pressed against the door and Journey who usually scooted towards Harry to avoid touching Dudley, so all it did was give Journey a tiny bit more room.

Uncle Vernon had been suspiciously nice, loading their luggage onto the trolleys and pushing Harry's along, and when they got to platform nine and ten she realized why. After saying nastily that their platform didn't seem to be built yet and to have a nice term, Uncle Vernon gave them a nasty smile and walked away, leaving them alone on the platform.

Journey stopped a passing guard and asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock. The guard looked at her strangely and said that there were none. Journey thanked him and walked away since she knew he wouldn't be able to tell her where the platform was and she was wasting her time. Harry was beginning to panic beside her, saying that they were attracting a lot of attention just standing there with a trunk and an owl (or in her case a kitten), and it was starting to raise her own worries. 'What if there is another way onto the platform for wizards?' she thought worriedly, 'or maybe the entrance is underground or outside or …'

Her thoughts were cut off as she heard a passing group talking about Muggles. 'Bingo,' she thought as she grinned at Harry before pushing her trolley to follow the crowd which turned out to be a family with their mother consisting of four boys and girl with flaming red hair, similar to her own but with a bit more orange in it, and one of them had an owl.

Knowing these people were heading to Hogwarts, she followed them and listened to their conversation. She thought it was odd that the mother was asking for the platform number, when clearly some of her sons were old enough to have been at Hogwarts for several years, but didn't say anything to Harry about it. Something niggled at the back of her mind, a feeling that hadn't quite developed into a feeling yet, but it was too elusive for her to figure out what it was trying to tell her so she brushed it aside.

She watched as the mother told her one son, Percy, to go first. She observed carefully without blinking as he walked straight at the divide between the two platforms and – vanished.

Journey blinked, unsure if she had seen that right. 'Did he just vanish into the wall?' she thought, 'if so … magic is totally awesome!'

She laughed quietly at the joke the twins pulled on their mother (she knew that 'George' had been lying) and thought that they seemed like the type of people she would be friends with, pranksters. Having people around to help you pull off a prank or to be your alibi would be absolutely wonderful, and Journey really hoped she would be able to find friends like that at Hogwarts.

After the third boy had walked through the wall, Harry spoke up. "Excuse me."

The woman was very friendly and introduced them to her son, who would also be starting Hogwarts. He had the same red hair and freckles as his brothers, was taller than Harry and Journey by a good few inches and had a long nose that had a smudge of dirt on it.

After introducing her son, the woman kindly told them that all they had to do was walk – or run if they're nervous – straight at the barrier between the two platforms.

Harry and Journey both stared at the rather solid-looking barrier. Journey figured that if the barrier worked for the others, it should work for them, but what if it didn't?

She didn't have time to dwell on it any longer when Harry suddenly started walking towards it. Pretty soon he was running and just when it looked like he was going to crash, he vanished. Journey smiled at the spot her brother had just been in, 'never takes time to think things through … just charges headfirst into all new situations … literally in this case.'

Journey thanked the woman before turning to the platform. As she walked towards it she noticed a funny feeling, a feeling that she was starting to associate to the word 'magic'. Right when she was in front of the barrier she saw that it seemed to shimmer and almost … glow with spells and enchantments.

Seconds later, she was through the barrier and onto another platform where Harry was waiting for her. Next to the platform was a brilliant scarlet steam engine and a sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. There was an iron archway where the ticket box should have been that told them that they were, indeed, on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Harry and Journey both shared a wide smile and walked over to the train. Parents and students were milling about the platform while cats streaked around the ground and owls hooted disgruntledly from their cages. People were dragging their trunks to the train so Journey quickly took hers off the cart (she had opted not to shrink it in case Uncle Vernon asked where it was) and started to drag it to the train. Even with the lightening charm it was still sort of heavy and rather awkward to hold so it was much easier to just drag it in one hand and carry Aurora's travelling container in the other.

Harry copied her and soon they were heading down towards the end of the train since the front was already packed full of students waving out the windows at their parents. They passed a round-faced boy who had lost his toad making Journey think about what Hagrid said about toads, and a boy with dreadlocks holding a small box that people were trying to get a look at. Journey turned her head, curious, and almost missed the hairy leg that poked out amid the shrieks of the people around him. Journey wanted to go and see what it was, but knew that it was more important to get onto the train … afterwards she could come back and look.

Harry reached a train door first at the back of the train that looked fairly empty. He put Hedwig inside first and tried to lift the awkward trunk inside of the train. Even with Journey's help they couldn't get the trunk onto the train and Journey was just starting to get frustrated after having dropped the trunk onto her foot … again … when she heard a voice behind her.

"Want a hand?"

Journey whirled around to see one of the redheaded twins. 'George,' she thought as she looked at him. She didn't know how she knew, as far as she could tell the twins were completely identical and she couldn't find any distinguishing features, but she knew this was George.

Harry quickly said yes while she was still thinking and the boy called over Fred, proving that this was indeed George. With both of the twins' help they were finally able to get Harry's trunk onto the train and into the overhead racks followed quickly by Journey's trunk. There was a small awkward moment when the twins realized that they were in the presence of The Harry Potter, but thankfully their mother called them at that moment.

Journey was slightly discouraged that they had acted like that. 'Will everyone act like that around him?' she thought as she glanced worriedly at Harry while he stared out the window at the families on the platform. She hoped that it was only a small phase and that twins would get over it, they seemed like good people.

Journey sat down beside Harry and watched the family of redheads, wishing she could be a part of something like that but knowing it would never happen. The mother worried over her sons, making it painfully obvious to Journey what it would be like to have a mother that loved you. She couldn't understand why the youngest boy was trying to pull away from his mother simply because she was trying to take the dirt off his nose. She smothered a giggle at twins' antics, especially when they were finishing each other's' sentences about how pompous the older boy, Percy the Prefect, had been all summer. She shook her head as her mother told them to behave and not blow up a toilet or anything. 'Never give pranksters ideas,' she thought and sure enough, the twins thanked their mom for the idea.

Journey frowned a little when they started talking about him. She knew he was a celebrity to honestly, he was only eleven! She smiled as the mother became stern with them, forbidding them to ask anything about the night their parents died. 'At least someone has some sense around here,' she thought.

Just then a whistle sounded making the boys all clamber onto the train and leaving the girl alone with their mother. She smiled sadly as she watched the girl try to run with the train as it started moving until eventually it was moving too fast and she stopped to wave with tears pouring down her face. Journey wished that she had family, other than Harry of course, that could be there for her to see her off but because of Voldemort, that could never happen.

The train turned a corner and the girl and her mother disappeared along with the platform. Excitement bubbled up within Journey as houses began to flash past and a wide smile began to form on her face. Beside her, Harry looked the exact same and Journey knew that they were entering an exciting, brand new world where the Dursleys would not be able to do anything to them. For the next ten months, they were free.

Journey snapped her head around as she heard the door of the compartment slid open revealing the youngest redhead. He looked rather nervous but Harry, being the kind boy that he was, let the boy sit with them when he said everywhere else was full. Journey had to commend the boy's effort for not staring at her brother, he glanced at him once but definitely didn't gawp or stare. Right then and there Journey decided that this boy was alright. She had an inkling of a feeling that even though there would be rough spots, Harry would end up being good friends with this boy, and they would follow each other to the end.

The twins came back and told them they were meeting one of their friends at the center of the train and that he had a tarantula. Ron looked really uneasy at the mention of the spider and mumbled something, but Journey was excited.

"A tarantula?" she asked in an almost breathless voice. "That's what was on the platform! Do you mind if I come and see it with you?"

The twins looked undecided. 'Probably don't want to hang around with a first year,' she thought as her excitement dimmed, 'probably isn't 'cool'.'

As they mulled it over Journey decided to have a little fun with the pranksters and quickly slipped her hand into the pocket in her jeans, slipping a shock-buzzer into it. Harry grinned at her – he'd seen her pull this one many times since she bought it cheap with money she had scrounged around for several years ago – but didn't say anything.

She casually held her hand out to the twin closest to her. "I'm Journey, Journey Potter," she said with a charming smile, "I know you probably don't want to hang out with someone in their first year, but I was just wondering if I could look at the spider … then I'll come back to this compartment."

Journey knew she had a way with words – she had to considering all the times she used them to get out of trouble for all the pranks she pulled – and Journey had to hold back a smile when the twins grinned at her.

"I'm Fred," the twin closest to her said as he reached for her hand, "Sure you won't be scared firstie?"

"Positive."

"Gaaahhhh!"

Harry almost fell to the floor he was laughing so hard and Journey allowed a grin to break out onto her face as Fred suddenly screamed in surprise, making his brothers jump. He looked to his hand, then at Journey before he said, "What the bloody hell was that?"

Journey calmly flipped over her hand, showing the buzzer to the twins. "Muggle pranking toy," she said simply, "causes a small shock but no lasting damage."

She had said the magic words. As soon as the word 'prank' left her mouth, the twins looked at her in a new light. You could tell on their faces that she had gone from 'firstie' in their minds, to 'prankster'. She didn't know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing, they could start a prank war on her, a war she would almost definitely lose considering they had more years of experience and could cast many more spells than she could. All she had was a few Muggle tricks.

Fred looked at the buzzer closely. "May I see it?" he asked. Journey nodded and he carefully picked the buzzer out of her hand and started examining it.

As he did this, George started chuckling. "You're good," he said, making Journey feel a spark of pride within her. "No one has been able to prank us since we entered Hogwarts … not that they haven't tried. A lot of people want to prank us for all the pranks we've pulled on them and I think they'll be rather disappointed that they got beat out by someone who isn't even a firstie yet."

Fred held out his hand to his brother, who took it with a laugh. He didn't scream when he felt the buzzer since he knew what was happening, he just laughed louder. "That's quite a shock," he said after he let go. The twins shared a look and Journey thought that they might even be able to communicate to each other without words. Finally they turned and looked at her.

"Well –," started Fred.

"We've decided that –," continued George.

"Even though you're a wee little firstie –"

"You're cool enough –"

"To come with us –"

"To see –"

"The tarantula!" they finished together.

Journey was greatly amused by the way the twins spoke back and forth. 'Clearly,' she thought as she saw Harry snap his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match, 'their bond is extremely strong.'

"Great!" Journey exclaimed with a smile before turning to Harry not wanting to leave him behind, but he simply waved her off.

"Don't worry about me," Harry said reassuringly, "I'll just hang out with Ron. Spiders aren't really my thing anyways."

Journey smiled gratefully at Harry before she checked on Aurora. When she saw that she was sleeping she decided to just leave her there and followed the twins out of the compartment, shutting the door behind her.

The hallway still had several students milling about looking for friends and compartments. Journey passed two empty compartments and had to laugh at Ron's lie but didn't judge him for it. She wouldn't want to sit alone either. Just before they reached the right compartment Fred turned to her.

"Do you think I can use your buzzer to prank Lee?" he asked with a wicked grin.

Journey's grin matched his as she nodded. Fred turned away from and they walked over to the next compartment and opened the door.

The black boy with dreadlocks was there (Journey assumed he was Lee since he was holding the box), along with three girls. The first girl looked not much older than her, maybe a year and had light brown hair and brown eyes. The other two girls looked slighted old and both had dark skin with black hair and brown eyes. One of the older girls had her hair tied back in a ponytail while the other had hers braided.

The girls had all been bugging Lee to open the box but looked up when the compartment door opened. They smiled at Fred and George and raised an eyebrow when they saw her.

"Kidnapping first years?" the dark-skinned girl with the ponytail asked.

George answered her with a dramatic display of offence. "Us?" he asked in fake shock as he put a hand to his chest, "we would never do such a thing. You wound me, my dear Angelina."

Journey snickered. "Don't listen to a word he says," she said in a stage whisper drawing everyone's attention to her but she didn't hesitate, "they dragged me away from my brother kicking and screaming and only just managed to subdue me by threatening to hex me."

The twins looked mortally offended but didn't get to say anything since everyone had burst out laughing at her remark. The younger girl spoke up next.

"Oh, you poor thing," in a concerned voice (which didn't really sound concerned since she was still giggling), "don't worry we won't let the big, mean twins hex you."

Journey pretended to fall over her feet in gratitude as she made her way over to the girl. "Oh, thank you so much! I was so scared." Journey pretended to sob, making everyone laugh, besides the twins who were still looking slightly bewildered.

The third girl pretended to wipe a tear from her eye before she turned to the twins. "I can see why you like her, she's got the same personality as you two buffoons."

Journey let out a gasp looking mortally offended. "I do not," she said. Putting her nose up into the air, Journey pulled off her best impression of Percy the Prefect she could as she said snobbishly, "mine is much better."

Everyone let out loud snorts of laughter. Lee looked at the twins in fake awe, "And she even mocks your brother! Fred, George, she's brilliant! Wherever did you find such a priceless jewel?"

Fred and George let out a little bow before Fred went to clasp Lee's hand. "We were just as surprised to find her as you," Fred began, "it was rather shocking and went like –"

"Gaaahhhhh!"

George looked at his brother barely containing his laughter as Lee dropped his box, "Just like that, actually."

Everyone in the compartment looked rather shocked at first, but when they saw the twins and Journey laughing they realized that it had been a prank and joined in the laughter, even Lee. "What was that?" he asked as he rubbed his hand.

Fred help up his hand to show the buzzer and after Journey took it, gestured for her to take the floor. "It's a Muggle prank toy," she said with a grin, "it causes a small shock to go through the person and while rather startling, doesn't actually hurt them."

"She got Fred with it," George said with a snicker.

Fred pouted but everyone else looked at her in awe. Lee even got off his seat and started bowing repeatedly saying, "We are not worthy!"

Everyone snickered and Fred pushed him back into his seat before he sat down beside him. George sat on Lee's other side leaving Journey one of the two window seats. She took the one on beside George feeling slightly more comfortable with him than any of the girls. Journey didn't know if it was because her only friend had ever been her brother, but she got on easier with guys rather than girls. She found girls could be rather nasty and complicated at times while guys were much more upfront about things.

For a moment no one said anything before George spoke, "Let's see your tarantula."

Everyone murmured their agreement and Lee picked up his box off the floor. Journey noticed that the lid was slightly off, but didn't think anything of it until Lee pulled off the lid, looked inside and said in a slightly strangled voice, "He's gone!"

The reaction was immediate. The girls immediately screamed and jumped up onto their seats. The boys copied them, minus the screaming and started looking around frantically.

Throughout all of this, Journey just sat there with her eyes closed. She wanted to try something. After Hagrid had left them Journey had wondered about how she made the feeling about something being outside their shack change and become clearer. She eventually realized that if she tried hard enough, she could make herself know things. She thought it might be one of the 'gifts' Mr. Ollivander was talking about but she wasn't sure. It didn't always work, and oftentimes the feelings were even harder to figure out than the ones she got at random, but she knew it would be important one day and she had to get better at it.

Feeling that there was no better time to practice, Journey sat there with her eyes closed and started looking for the spider. No one paid her any real notice, they probably thought she was frozen in fear rather than doing anything weird. Journey tried to grasp something inside of her, but it remained elusive.

Finally, Journey felt something. It was so small she nearly missed it, but it was there. It was hard to focus on, especially with all the chaos around her, but Journey persisted. At first she got a general sense, it's on the train, but that didn't really help much, they all knew that one. She focused harder, tuning out everyone around her as she bit her lip lightly and furrowed her brow in concentration. Slowly the feeling got stronger, it's in this compartment, but it still wasn't enough. The world disappeared around her as she focused on the feeling and finally, it clicked.

Journey's eyes snapped open. Calmly, she stood up and walked over to the middle girl's seat and bent down. Everyone was breathing heavily as they looked at her weirdly. Journey suppressed a smile, 'probably wondering what the hell this little firstie is doing.' Journey ducked her head down to look under the seat and saw a bag that presumably belonged to the girl. She pushed aside the bag and sure enough, there was the missing tarantula. Self-satisfaction and a little bit of pride built up in her chest, she'd done it!

Carefully, she coaxed the spider out from beneath the seat. She didn't know if her ability to communicate to animals passed to large, hairy arachnids, but apparently it did because not a moment later it was crawling out from underneath the seat and onto her outstretched hand.

The middle girl who had been sitting over the spider let out a small scream at the sight of the spider but everyone else looked at her in awe. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, she walked over to her seat and started absentmindedly petting the hairy spider. For several moments no one spoke before someone, George, finally spoke.

"How'd you do that?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Journey paused, she didn't think that anyone had noticed her acting strangely. Deliberately keeping her voice light she asked, "Do what?"

Everyone stared at her, but it was Fred who spoke next. "That – that thing you did just now, with the spider! How did you stay so calm? I thought you were frozen in fear at first, but now I'm not so sure."

'So he didn't notice anything important,' Journey thought, relieved. She decided to tell him a half-truth rather than a full out lie. "I didn't think it would hurt me. From what I've read tarantulas don't go and seek out people to bite so I figured I was pretty safe if I just kept still."

Angelina spoke next, "How did you know where it was?"

Journey shrugged. "I dunno, just had a feeling I guess," she said with a slightly cryptic smile.

"How did you get him to come out?" Lee asked, "And you're so calm about everything! Even now the spider's just calmly sitting in your hands, not even trying to get away or – or anything!"

Journey decided to be truthful in this case. If these people were to be her friends – and she hoped they would – she didn't want to keep too much from them. "I'm not sure how I did it," she said completely honestly, "I've always had a way with animals. They seem to understand me, I guess."

Everyone looked the spider in her hands which was, indeed, sitting quite calmly as she pet its hairy body. Angelina seemed rather excited at what Journey had just told her.

"That's wicked!" she exclaimed, "Can you understand them?"

Journey let out a small smile. "Kinda, it's not like, words or anything like that. I sort of just get … feelings I guess you could say, of what they are trying to tell me. I have a kitten, named Aurora, and I think she's really magical because with her, it's almost like talking to someone who can understand you."

A couple of the others in the compartment copied Angelina's expression of "wicked" before formal introductions started. Journey learned that they were all third years except Katie, the girl in the middle seat, who was a second year, and that all of them were in Gryffindor. She learnt that Lee commentated Quidditch matches for the school and that the girls were all Chasers for the Gryffindor team minus Katie (although hopefully not for long) and that Fred and George were beaters.

Journey felt very stupid after the introductions when she asked, "What are Chasers and Beaters?"

The entire compartment looked scandalized, before they remembered that she had told them she grew up with Muggles (she hadn't told them her last name yet because she wasn't sure how the others would react to her being related to the Boy-Who-Lived). The entire compartment all started talking at once, trying to explain to her the awesomeness that was also known as Quidditch.

By the end, Journey was amazed. 'Quidditch sounds so amazing,' she thought excitedly, 'I can't wait until I can learn how to fly.'

Katie was just in the middle of explaining that the only reason she wasn't on the team was because first years aren't allowed to try (the school was afraid they would either get injured or would not be able to keep up their workload) when the compartment door slid open.

Standing in the doorway was none other than the boy that Harry and Journey had met at Diagon Alley in the robe shop. He was standing there already in his robes, flanked by to large boys that looked more like bodyguards than friends. He surveyed them all with a critical look on his face and his nose in the air as he said, "I am looking for Harry Potter. He's about this tall –" he gestured to a height that was much taller than Harry, making Journey snort and drawing his attention to her, "–and has black hair. Have any of you seen him."

He was looking directly at Journey as he said this, so Journey decided she should probably answer him. "Yeah," she said slowly, "I've seen him. And while he may have black hair, he's actually about this tall." She brought her hand up to just over her height, making Fred and George snicker and the blonde boy flush pink on his pale cheeks. "I also know," Journey continued, "that he's not too impressed by you. You reminded him of my spoilt-rotten Muggle cousin, who complained this year for only getting thirty-seven presents."

By this time, everyone in the compartment was giggling uncontrollably as the boy turned red, clearly visible because of his pale skin.

"You're the girl from the robe shop," he accused, "you called me rude."

It was everything Journey could do to keep from smirking as everyone began to giggle louder as they tried to stifle their laughter. For her part, Journey just shrugged and said, "Guilty as charged. I stand by what I said too. You haven't changed my impression of you at all. You barged in here without knocking and without introducing yourself or your … companions, which is quite rude."

The boy sniffed and drew himself up to his full height (which wasn't really that impressive since both of his bodyguards were still several inches taller than him) and said in a haughty voice, "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, a pureblood. Who are you with your Muggle cousin to speak to me in such a way?"

Everyone had stopped laughing. Journey didn't even try to draw herself up like Draco Malfoy did as she said, "Journey Potter. So I'd be careful what you say Draco, I can tell my brother anything I wish about you and he'd believe me."

Immediately, Draco changed his tone. "It's Malfoy," he said in an almost friendly tone before he gestured to his bodyguards, "This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. I apologize for my rudeness. I thought when you said you had a Muggle cousin, you meant you were nothing but a Mud-Muggleborn." He looked around the compartment where everyone stiffened as if he had almost said something awful, "You don't need to sit around riffraff such as them, come and join me and my friends in my compartment, where everyone is pureblood instead of bloodtraitors and low, filthy Muggleborns such as –"

SMACK!

Everyone stood there in shock, even Journey as she watch Malfoy drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes from her punch. His two bodyguards stood there in shock, not knowing what to do without their leader giving them orders. Draco looked up at her in shock, blood pouring from his nose which looked suspiciously broken and Journey finally found her voice.

"I think I'm fine right here Draco," she said venomously, stressing his name since he specifically told her not to say it. Anger filled her like never before as this boy she barely even knew insulted her new friends and her mother. As anger coursed through her veins she felt her magic begin to stir with it and to her shock some was already residing in her fist. She didn't dwell on it but forced herself to calm down so that she wouldn't do something stupid … well, more stupid than punching this prat in the face. Finally, she calmed down and spoke in a cold voice, "I'd rather not associate with people who insult Muggleborns all day. In case you forgot, my mother was one of these 'filthy' people and I don't like to hear her spoken of in such way. You have no right to come into our compartment and speak of these people like that. If you ever even think of coming near me again, you had better change your attitude. And if I ever see you insulting my mother's memory again … you will not like the consequences, got it?"

Draco stared at her in fear as he scrambled to stand up, even Crabbe and Goyle looked scared. He was about to leave the compartment when Journey grabbed the front of his robes. "Got it?" she hissed threateningly.

"Yes," Draco squeaked. Journey let his robes go and he hurried out of the compartment without a second look, slamming the door behind him.

Journey gave a self-satisfied nod and turned around, to see everyone staring at her with strange and unreadable expressions on their faces. Journey was unnerved, 'what if they all think like Draco and think that Muggleborns are scum? What if they actually know him and are friends with him or something?' She knew she wasn't thinking rationally, Draco clearly insulted everyone in the compartment, but she was still coming down from her adrenaline rush and was worried she'd done something wrong.

"You threatened –" George started still in a daze.

"Lucius Malfoy's son –" Fred said.

"After punching him –"

"In the face –"

"YOU'RE AMAZING!" the twins shouted together. Apparently even when in a shocked stupor they could still finish each other's sentences.

This seemed to shake everyone out of whatever state they had been in. Fred, George and Lee all started bowing while the girls clapped. She found out after she had sat down that Lucius Malfoy constantly insulted Mr. Weasley (Fred and George's dad) and was a suspected Death Eater (supporter of Voldemort) until he bought his way out. Only Fred and George had personally met the man (when they had gone with their father to see the Ministry) but they had told everyone what he was like and they had all heard stories about him. Apparently, Draco was the carbon copy of his father in looks and personality (according to the twins).

After they had finished talking about the Malfoys they began talking about Quidditch, this time about all the different teams in the league. They had been talking for a good while and were passing buy large fields in the countryside when the compartment door slid open to reveal a smiling little witch carrying a cart full of food. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked politely.

Everyone, including Journey, stood up and headed for the door. Journey was starving and she hoped that they at least had some Skittles (she loved Skittles, especially the sour ones) or something decent.

Turns out there weren't any Skittles on the cart. In fact, Journey didn't know what anything on the cart was. The only thing that looked remotely normal was Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and the Liquorice Wands. There were Pumpkin Pasties that looked like really, mini pumpkins, and Chocolate Frogs (she really hoped they weren't real) and many things she had never even seen before. Deciding to splurge a little, she bought a little bit of everything and paid a handful of Sickles for it.

Everyone stopped eating to stare at her as she brought in her arms-full load of candy. 'Maybe I went a little overboard,' she thought.

"Bought enough candy, Journ?" Fred asked.

Journey gave a little jolt when she heard the nickname. No one had ever called her that besides Harry when they were alone and it was weird to hear someone else say it.

"I don't know Fred," she said sarcastically to cover up for her silence, "I should probably go back out and get some more, what do you think?"

Fred rolled his at her sarcasm while everyone else sniggered.

"Besides," Journey said as she sat down and dumped the candy onto the seat opposite her, "I wasn't planning on eating all of this. I'm sharing it with you guys. I haven't tried any of this before so I wanted to try a bit of everything."

Everyone perked up at the mention of candy (they'd finished theirs already since they only bought a little bit and Journey had taken so long to get hers). The rest of the ride was spent with lots of jokes and laughs. Everyone was telling Journey all about their Hogwarts exploits while they ate the small mountain of candy. Journey got a real shock when the Chocolate Frog jumped out of his package and made a break for the window, but she quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into her mouth. Thankfully it stopped moving as soon as it entered her mouth. She got the card 'Agrippa' to Lee's envy since he had been looking for that on for ages. They played a guessing game with the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, trying to figure out which flavour they were going to get before they ate it. And do they really mean every flavour. Journey was fortunate to only get good flavours such as strawberry, lemon, chicken, milk and beef stew while others got gross flavours such as lead and salt water.

Time flew by as Journey began asking questions about the wizarding world. Why did the pictures on the chocolate cards move? Were classes hard? Who were the good teachers and who should she watch out for? Question after question rolled off of Journey's tongue, questions that the Gryffindor's were happy to answer. They seemed to have accepted her as a part of their group after pranking the unprankable twins (or at least, one of them) and punching Draco Malfoy in the face. After her questions had, temporarily, been exhausted, they started talking about their families.

When they were almost at Hogwarts the compartment door opened one last time to reveal the round-faced boy that Journey had seen on the platform looking for his toad along with a girl with a lot of bushy brown hair and large front teeth.

"Have any of you seen a toad?" she asked in a bossy voice, "Neville's lost one."

They all shook their heads but only Journey spoke. "You should check the bathrooms," she said in a kind voice speaking directly to Neville. The girl's tone of voice didn't sit too well with Journey, she sounded too much like a mix between Aunt Petunia and some of the girls at her primary school for her to be comfortable. "Toads like dark, damp places, so he probably went to hide in one of them."

The boy gave her a watery smile while the girl huffed. She caught the fact that Journey had overlooked her it seemed. "I'm Hermione Granger. Who are you?" she asked bossily.

"Journey Potter," Journey said casually, "nice to meet you."

Immediately, the girl brightened. "Are you really? So that mean's your brother is the Harry Potter. I know all about him. I bought extra books, for background reading of course, and he's in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century." She said this all really fast and without taking any breath.

Journey didn't allow herself to be amazed by the girl's ability to spout off a lot information in one breath. Instead, she felt anger begin to creep into her again. "What's his favourite colour?" Journey asked in a deceptively calm voice.

Everyone turned to look at her and Hermione paused halfway through her second speech (Journey counted it as her second because she took a breath between them) about what house she wanted to be in to look at her in blankly. "Pardon?" she asked, confusion lacing her tone.

Journey almost smirked at the girl. "My brother," she spoke slowly, almost in the way you would speak to a young child but not quite, "You said you know all about him. If you know all about him, what's his favourite colour?"

"I-I don't –" Hermione looked confused and seemed to have lost her voice.

"Don't know that one?" Now Journey couldn't hold back her smirk even if she wanted to as she said, "It's green. Let's try another one. What's the name of his owl?"

Hermione could do nothing more than open and close her mouth like a fish while she tried to think of something to say.

"Guess your precious books didn't tell you that one did they? How about his favourite food? Or his least favourite subject in primary school?"

Hermione was trying to say something now, but it seemed to not be coming out. Journey narrowed her eyes. "You should be careful about what you say," Journey warned, "people tend to not like know-it-alls … which is exactly how you're acting. Harry and myself were the only people there that night who survived … besides maybe Voldemort –" everyone flinched but Journey kept talking "– and he's not really in any shape to talk to anyone. I don`t recall ever going to an interview and neither does Harry so how could that information in all those books be correct? My brother may be famous, but he's a human being too. Don't presume to know anything about my brother until you've actually met him and had a conversation with him."

Hermione looked almost scandalized that Journey had insulted books. She had the decency to not say anything about it and to mutter out a small 'sorry' before she fled the compartment.

Everyone in the compartment looked at her strangely. "What?" she asked defensively, "She was going around as if she knew my brother just because she read a couple of books about him that probably weren't even right. And she was acting like the girls in my elementary school who used to bully other girls because they thought they were better than everyone just because they got good grades."

"It's not that," Alicia said in a quiet voice, "I agree with you about how she acted. I think everyone forgets that your brother is just a boy sometimes rather than the hero our parents make him out to be. It's just …. you said You-Know-Who's name!"

Journey grinned, relieved and decided to have a bit of fun with this. "Who's name?" she asked in a clueless voice.

Lee gaped at her. "You know," he said, trying to tell her without saying anything, "his name."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." Journey was quite proud of her honestly confused looking expression. It had taken her months to get it perfected.

"You said – you –" Katie couldn't even finish her sentence. Everyone shared a look, how could she not know?

"I said a lot of things guys," Journey said as if she was speaking to someone slow … like Crabbe or Goyle.

"You said Voldemort's name!" Fred and George both half-shouted, before they clamped their hands over their mouths as if they had just uttered a vile word in front of their mother.

Journey finally allowed herself to grin as she said, "Now that wasn't so bad was it?"

The twins, and everyone else, gaped. "You mean," George said slowly, "that you knew what we were talking about the whole time?"

"Yep," Journey said smugly, "I just wanted to see one of you guys say his name. It wasn't so bad was it? Voldemort didn't suddenly appear screaming bloody murder and lightening didn't strike you were you sat. Quite an accomplishment for such a taboo names don't you think?"

Everyone gaped at her smug expression. "Besides," she continued, "it was so amusing to watch you guys struggle to try and tell me I shouldn't say Voldemort's name without actually saying it." Everyone flinched at his name, but it wasn't as bad as before. "And," she said with a mischievous grin, "it's funny to watch people flinch at his name. It's almost like a joke that never gets old."

At that, the twins looked contemplative. Fred spoke first, "she's right you know, George."

"I know Fred."

"We're still alive even though we said his name."

"That's true."

"And Dumbledore says it all the time."

"We're not Dumbledore though."

"I know … but if this little firstie can say V-Vol-VOLDEMORT," he said the name very loudly as if he was forcing himself to say it, "then I think we can too.

"Right, V-VOLDEMORT!"

After the initial shouting of the name, the twins had much less trouble saying Voldemort. They laughed with Journey when the others kept flinching at the name – they weren't reckless enough to actually try it but they didn't stop it. The twins kept on saying the name and with Journey, they even turned it into a bad song to the tune of some Muggle song Journey told them about. They even made up nicknames for Voldemort like Moldyshorts, Goldilocks (vold sounded like gold and the rest was history) and even Moldywart. Journey personally like the name Moldyshorts, and said that if she ever saw him she would call him that just to see what he would do. Everyone had a good laugh because really, how likely was it that Journey would meet Voldemort?

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When the train finally came to a stop, the sky outside was dark. Journey had gone back to her compartment when the conductor announced that they would be arriving soon to get changed. Harry and Ron were already changed and waited outside the compartment as she quickly donned her robes.

As they waited for the train to come to a complete stop, Harry told her about his trip. Apparently Draco had made to his compartment after getting someone to fix his nose (Ron looked at her in awe while Harry just laughed when Journey told them the story about what happened) and so did the bushy haired girl and Neville. Hermione had given pretty much the same speech that she gave Journey. Apparently she was disregarding what Journey told her about treating her brother normally.

They finally pulled into the station and left their luggage on the train. After making their way through the crowded hallway they got to the door of the train and hopped onto the dark platform. Journey could see a lantern overtop of the heads of the students and connected to that lamp was –

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry, Journey?"

Hagrid's smiling, bearded face shone from the light of the lantern above the sea of students. He called out for the first years to follow him. They followed him – with lots of stumbling since the path was so dark – in virtual silence through a wooded area. Hagrid called out to them that they were about to see Hogwarts and sure enough just around the next corner was –

Hogwarts. It was better than anything Journey could have ever imagined. High up on a mountain was a beautiful castle that they could make out from all of the lit windows. The poor lighting did not hide its many towers as it stood proudly over the lake but that wasn't all.

Journey had never seen so much magic in one place. If the doorway to platform nine and three quarters was glowing, this was absolutely blinding. The very castle itself shone like a beacon and Journey knew that no one, other than maybe Harry since she knew he could sense the magic at Ollivander's as well, could see it. Around the castle in a giant globe-like shape was more magic. It was bright but transparent, and Journey figured that these must be the wards she read about in Hogwarts A History.

Journey realized that while she had been staring at the castle, everyone was getting into boats. She quickly climbed into the boat Harry did, and was followed by Ron and Neville leaving Hermione Granger (who had been following Neville) to find another boat.

Hagrid, Journey noticed, was in a boat all to himself as they glided across the lake. Journey stared in awe at the castle until a terrible thought came to her, 'If the magic of the castle is already this bright and I'm so far away, how will I be able to see when I'm inside the castle?'

This thought plagued Journey the rest of the boat ride and the steps up the castle. Looking at Harry, Journey realized that he could see it too by the way he was starting to panic slightly as well. Desperately, she tried to will away her 'magic vision' similar to the way she would try to will fire into her hands. She was about to give up when she passed into the wards but, she was finally able to dim how bright the magic was. She could still see it a little bit, but it didn't hurt her eyes anymore.

"Will it away," she whispered to Harry, who was squinting so badly that Journey was surprised he could even see where he was going away. Hagrid walked up a flight of stone steps and Journey waited with Harry at the bottom as he tried to will away the 'magic vision'. He got it faster than she did, probably because she had been trying to do it while walking. Only a minute after he had shut his eyes Harry opened them, completely, and smiled up her. They caught up to everyone else just as Hagrid knocked on the castle door three times.

Immediately, the doors swung open to reveal a tall witch with black hair wearing emerald-green robes. Journey's first impression of the stern-looking witch was that she was very strict and not someone to cross. Something else niggled the back of Journey's mind as she looked at the witch, Professor McGonagall as Hagrid had just introduced them, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She opened the doors widely for them, allowing the students to get their first glimpse of the inside of Hogwarts. The entrance hall alone was so large that Journey could have picked up the Dursleys house and plopped it in here with room to spare. She couldn't even make out the ceiling it was so high and flaming torches were on the walls around the room and leading up the marble staircase that led to other floors.

As they walked across the floor, Journey could hear the drone of loud numbers of voices coming from behind a large door to the right. Instead of leading them through that door however, Professor McGonagall led them into a small anti-chamber off of the entrance hall. They crowded into the small room. Everyone besides Journey was looking around nervously, even Draco, she noticed, but Journey was too excited to be nervous for two reasons. Firstly, she was about to become an official student of Hogwarts, and secondly, after they were sorted they got to eat!

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said warmly.

Journey listened to the pre-planned speech and was slightly impressed and disappointed. She was impressed because of the way Professor McGonagall could hold a crowd and disappointed mostly because of the house cup. When Professor McGonagall had spoken about it Journey had raised her hand.

McGonagall paused mid-speech to stare at Journey. It took her a moment before she was able to call on her, "Yes, dear?"

"What do we get if we win the house cup?" Journey asked curiously.

Professor McGonagall looked shocked and everyone started murmuring, wondering what she was talking about. "I beg your pardon?"

"You know, like a reward," Journey tried to explain, "at my old school, we had a point system for each class but it was reset monthly. At the end of the month each student would get a prize like some candy, special privileges or a gift certificate to a store if they were older. What do we get if we win the house cup?"

The students all looked up eagerly at the professor, wondering what they would get if they won.

Professor McGonagall on the other hand, looked rather shocked. "That idea has never come up," she said honestly, "I will speak to Professor Dumbledore about it. Normally, house pride is enough to make people strive to achieve getting the most points and winning the cup."

This greatly disappointed Journey, and many of the other students were as well if the disappointed groans were anything to go by. After collecting herself again, Professor McGonagall finished her speech and told them to wait quietly while she went to see if everyone else was ready for them.

She heard Harry ask Ron how they sorted students and snickered at his response.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

Harry looked really worried after Ron said that, especially when Hermione Granger started listing off all the spells she'd learnt over the summer. She tried to reassure him by saying that they wouldn't make the test anything dangerous considering they haven't learnt anything yet, but Harry only looked moderately relieved.

They had been standing there for several minutes and the boredom was just starting to creep in when all of a sudden there was a scream. Journey turned around to look and saw –

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Ghosts. More than twenty ghosts had just floated right through the back wall! Harry gasped when he saw them. He had never seen anything like it. He looked over to his sister and saw that Journey was just as awed as he was.

'One thing's for sure,' Harry thought as he looked back at the ghosts who seemed to be arguing, 'we're definitely not at the Dursleys anymore.'

Just then Harry heard a sharp voice behind him saying, "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Harry turned to see that Professor McGonagall had returned. The ghosts all floated through the opposite wall they came in from – it was rather bizarre to watch – and Professor McGonagall ordered them to form a line.

Harry's nerves returned as he got into line behind Journey and in front of line. His legs seemed to be made of jello and he thought they would give out from underneath him, yet at the same time they felt extremely heavy and it took all of his effort to keep moving towards the double doors that led to the Great Hall.

As if sensing his hesitation, Journey turned around to give him a reassuring smile. Harry tried to smile in return, but he was sure that it looked much more like a grimace than a smile. When the doors swung open he watched as Journey turned back around and looked around to stare at the Great Hall without looking even the slightest bit nervous. 'Wish I could be as calm as her,' Harry thought, 'then again, she probably knows what's going to happen so she doesn't need to be nervous.'

Harry was cut off from his musings when he finally entered the Great Hall. It was one of the most spectacular sights he had ever seen! Thousands of floating candles illuminated four long tables were the entire student body was sitting. There was another table at the top of the hall were all of the teachers were sitting and all of the tables were set with golden plates and goblets. Fires hung by gargoyles were around the hall to give it even more light.

They were led to the front of the hall where Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool down and put a dirty, patched-together, pointed wizard's hat. Professor McGonagall led them to the staff table and made them face the stool and the students, which were all currently staring at them.

To avoid having to look at the hundreds of staring faces Harry looked up to the magnificent ceiling Journey had told him about when she read Hogwarts A History the first time. Harry knew the ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky without Hermione Granger's help but still couldn`t help but think that it looked like the roof simply opened up to the heavens.

For a while nobody spoke and Harry felt his nerves begin to creep in again. Everyone seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the hat and for a wild moment Harry thought that they might have pull a rabbit out of it, or something. Just then, a rip near the brim of the hat opened as if it were a mouth and the hat began to sing a song about the four houses.

By the end of the song almost all of Harry's nerves had vanished. 'We just got to try it on,' Harry thought as he looked at Ron who was muttering about Fred and trolls, 'I can't believe he fell for his brother telling him 'wrestling a troll'... granted I was just as worried as he was.'

Thinking back on the song, Harry started to feel more nervous. Harry didn't feel brave or cunning or any of the other traits that the hat mentioned. 'What if they can't find a house for me and I get sent home?' Harry thought worriedly as Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a large scroll. A horrible thought occurred to Harry for the first time since he heard about the houses, 'What if Journey and I get in separate houses? Will we still be able to see each other?'

Harry cast a quick look at his sister who was slightly down the row from him as Professor McGonagall explained the sorting to them. Journey wasn't looking at him at first, but she seemed to sense his look and brought her eyes away from the first girl to be sorted (Abbot, Hannah) and looked at him. She seemed to sense his worries and gave him a small smile. Just like that Harry knew that no matter what houses they were placed in, Journey would never abandon him.

Relieved, Harry turned back to the sorting just in time to hear the hat shout "HUFFLEPUFF" for the blonde, pigtailed Hannah. Harry watched as student after student tried on the hat and were sorted into the four houses. Harry noticed that sometimes the hat was very quick to decide where to put the student yet other times it took quite a while. Harry thought the record had to be 'Finnigan, Seamus' who sat for a full minute on the stool with the hat on his head until it shouted "GRYFFINDOR".

Harry only recognized a few of the kids who were being sorted. The bushy haired girl from the train went to Gryffindor (much to Ron's annoyance) and so did the boy who kept losing his toad. Harry felt bad for him when he got laughed at for running off with the hat in his nerves and hopped that he wouldn't do something as embarrassing. Malfoy got Slytherin almost before the hat even touched his head and so did Crabbe and Goyle.

Finally, Professor McGonagall called Harry's name.

"Potter, Harry!"

Immediately, whispers broke out amongst the students. Harry tried to ignore them as he walked to the stool but all the same he wished he didn't have to. Just as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head Harry saw a few students actually standing up to get a good look at him.

Harry couldn't see anything besides the inside of the hat since it was so large. He waited for something to happen and was not disappointed.

"Well," a voice whispered in his ear, "you are a difficult one. You have plenty of courage even though you haven't had a chance to show it. You stand up for what you believe is right and fight for what you believe in. Gryffindor would suit you well.

"You have quite the intelligent mind even without your strong memory … what's this? You can cast wandless magic – or 'will magic' as you call it. That is a very rare gift Mr. Potter and your sister was right to keep it silent, magic of this calibre hasn't been seen since I was created. You have a desire for knowledge but I feel you are much too temperamental to be able to feel at home in quiet Ravenclaw.

"You are fiercely loyal to your friends and those you see as family. However, I think that you enjoy taking breaks from your studies far too much to be well-suited for Hufflepuff.

"You have much talent oh and I can see a great thirst to prove yourself. You have many fine qualities and could do well in any house even though you would do better in some over others … So where shall I put you?"

Harry knew that he didn't want to be in the same house as Malfoy or the house Voldemort used to be in so he thought repeatedly, "Not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the voice, "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that – no? Well, if you're sure – better be GRYFFINDOR!"

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Seconds ticked by as Journey watched Harry sit on the stool with the hat on his head. After two minutes the brim of the hat finally opened wide and shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

Journey smiled, happy that her brother got into the house of courage. She knew that there was no better place for him to go and that he would be thrilled to be in the same house as their parents. Sure enough, Harry was beaming when Professor McGonagall took off the hat to the loud applause of the Gryffindor table, definitely the loudest applause yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand with a pompous air and Fred and George were yelling 'We got Potter!' for laughs. Harry sat down opposite to a ghost who patted his arm, making Harry give a funny expression that almost made Journey laugh out loud.

When the Gryffindor table had finally calmed down, Professor McGonagall resumed the sorting.

"Potter, Journey!"

There were a few whispers around the hall as Journey walked to the stool but Journey paid them no mind. She held her head up and stared the hall down until the hat covered her vision of them.

"Ooh, two challenges in a row," whispered a voice in her ear. Journey felt a strange pressure and tingling in her head, almost as if her mind was being tickled. The sensation was rather annoying so she mentally tried to push at it so it would go away. It worked for a moment and Journey felt relieved as the pressure lifted. Suddenly, the hat laughed and she was pretty sure the whole hall heard it. Why had the hat laughed? It hadn't laughed for anyone else.

Just then the pressure returned with a vengeance. "This is unusual." The hat chuckled gleefully, "I only use a small amount of Legimency to look into a person's mind to sort them but even so, you were able to push me out without knowing anything about Occlumency! I recommend getting some books on the subject because it appears that you are quite a natural … oh and I can see why! If your gift gets any stronger – and it probably will since you're still young – you may be able to actually see the future and we can't have just anyone invading your mind to see it as well! Imagine the devastation it would cause!"

'Aren't you getting a little bit off topic?' Journey thought to the hat, 'aren't you supposed to be sorting me?'

The hat huffed. "All right, all right. One more thing, look at the books that you bought at that strange shop. The one about magical theory will tell you how the Ministry tracks magic … and how you and your brother can get around it and the one on wandless magic will give you the answers you seek about your 'abilities'."

Journey's annoyance at not being sorted was cut short. 'What do you –'

The hat ignored her and started to actually sort her. "Now let's take a look at where you belong shall we? My, I don't think I've ever seen such protectiveness, you would really do anything for your brother wouldn't you? Don't get sarcastic with me! That type of loyalty will be very important for the future and would make Helga Hufflepuff demand that you be sorted into her house. Sadly, you don't extend loyalty to others very easily, even today when you punched that boy in the face it was more out of anger towards his remarks towards your parents rather than for anyone in that compartment.

"You bravely take punishments for your brother, but it is hard to tell if that is because of loyalty or on your bravery alone. You don't seem to fear anyone either, but that could be taken as stupidity rather than courage. Gryffindor would suit you but I feel you would clash with many of your female housemates.

"You have a lot of ambition here! And your cunning rivals that of any Slytherin I've seen. You use any means to get what you want, even manipulating people by making them feel sorry for you! Salazar would love to have you in his house but I fear you would be ostracized because of your connection to your brother and your firm beliefs on Muggleborns…

"But what's this? Your thirst for knowledge knows no bounds! Even Miss Granger's love of books pales in comparison to your thirst to learn, for you learn not only from books but also from people and your very surroundings! You also have the power to back up that knowledge, and will stop at nothing to learn something new.

"So that leaves two choices, Ravenclaw or Slytherin … no preferences I see? Well then, I guess I'll put you in SLYTHERIN!"

Journey smiled, she was in the house for the ambitious and cunning! She waited for Professor McGonagall to come and take the Sorting Hat off of her head like she had for the other students but after several long moments where nothing happened, Journey decided to just take that hat off herself.

Journey almost wished that she had kept the hat on when she saw the shocked faces of the entire hall. No one was clapping. She didn't expect a large applause like Harry, but she thought that she would have at least gotten the polite applause that all of the other first years had received.

Then the whispers started.

It sounded as if someone had let lose an entire colony of bees into the great hall. The sounds of so many students whispering created a constant buzzing noise and Journey began to feel slightly nervous. She looked at Harry, 'surely he won't hate me … right?' She didn't have any prejudice against the houses, but she knew that most people did and she hoped her brother wouldn't be one of those people.

Journey's heart clenched when she saw Harry's shocked look. 'He hates me … because I'm in Slytherin,' Journey thought dejectedly. She had thought Harry would be able to look past prejudices for her, but apparently not.

At that moment the shocked look on Harry's face turned into a bright smile. Just like that, Journey knew that Harry didn't care she was in Slytherin. Journey's heart lifted and she walked to the Slytherin table with her head held high, ignoring all the whispers that followed her. It didn't matter to Journey what anyone else thought about her sorting, all that mattered was that Harry accepted her.

After Professor McGonagall finally regained herself, the last few students were all quickly sorted (Ron went into Gryffindor and Journey was relieved that Harry would have a friend there) before Dumbledore stood up. He gave them a small welcoming speech ending it with, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Journey snorted at Dumbledore's odd words, making the first years around her look at weirdly. "Why would he teach us those words?" Journey asked in slight confusion.

"What do you mean?" a dark-skinned boy with slanted eyes who was sitting across from her asked.

Journey looked over at him and said, "Well, it's just that those words are old or lesser-known insults. He headmaster of the school, so why would he teach a bunch of kids new words to insult each other with?"

Those who had been listening shared a smirk or a small laugh. "I don't think you have to worry about that," the same boy answered, "I think that maybe two or three other people understood what those words meant. Besides, they don't sound insulting enough for most of the hot-heads, especially the Gryffindors, to use."

There was an odd, tense silence and Journey knew she was being tested. To give herself time to think of an appropriate answer she started to pile food onto her plate. She had been partially surprised to see the food suddenly appear but then thought that you could expect nothing less from a magical school.

Finally, Journey figured she had a decent answer. Normally she would have defended her brother from the slight but, she was surrounded by Slytherins, many of whom would be living with her for the next seven years. She didn't want to push any possible away when her brother actually was a hothead.

"That may be," Journey finally said, "but, I think you should ask your fellow Slytherin Draco Malfoy about being a hot-head. He looked like he was about to blow before I shut him up."

"That was you?" a thin, weedy-looking boy asked amid the laughter. "Draco came into our compartment with a bloody, broken nose begging my brother to fix it."

Everyone had a good laugh at Draco's expense, making Journey glad that he was sitting a ways down the table from them and couldn't hear them.

After that, formal introductions were given. Blaise Zabini was the one who had asked her about the insults, while the weedy-looking boy was Theodore Nott. There were three girls sitting around Journey as well. Daphne was sitting on Journey's right and had blonde hair and icy-blue eyes. Tracey Davis was sitting on Journey's other side and had long, brown hair and brown eyes. Finally, Lilith Moon was sitting beside Theo (he refused to let anyone call him anything but) and had short, black hair and brown eyes behind her glasses.

"What did you do to Draco, and why?" Daphne asked after introductions were finished.

"I punched him in the nose," Journey started, creating another wave of laughter with Theo crying out 'Draco got punched by a girl!' before she continued, "and I did it because he was insulting my mother by saying that Muggleborns are filthy."

Silence. 'This will be the real test,' Journey thought as she watched the other first years glance around awkwardly. Journey refused to be friends with people who did nothing but insult Muggleborns and though she thought all of the people around her were pleasant, she would not hang out with them if they were like Draco.

Tracey spoke first. "Well then," everyone looked at her but she did not falter under their gazes, "good on you for punching Draco then. I'm a halfblood myself, and I was afraid that being in Slytherin I'd be surrounded by rude, arrogant, pureblood gits. I'm glad to see that I was wrong."

Journey smiled at Tracey but didn't have time to say anything to her when Theo spoke up. "I may be pureblood, but I know what it's like to face prejudice. Ever since I was old enough to go out, people always call me 'Death Eater' or similar variations, simply because my father was a – a suspected Death Eater. I vowed to myself to never show the same prejudice, even if it meant going against my father's teachings that Muggleborns are scum."

Journey was grateful that two of her new friends didn't hate Muggleborns, but she knew she couldn't hope to expect the same from all of her new friends.

She was right.

"I don't like Muggleborns," Blaise said almost apologetically, "but not for the same reasons as Draco who hates them simply because his father told him to. I don't like them because they come into our world and try to change it. We were here first so they should have to accommodate to how we run our world or go back to the Muggle world. I don't mind bloodtraitors except for the fact that they are always trying to protect Muggles. Muggles outnumber use probably a thousand to one, if anyone needs protecting it's the magical world. I can tolerate Muggleborns if they can accept our world, and I don't actively seek out Muggleborns to taunt, but I don't think I will ever actually like any. If you can accept my views on Muggleborns, I will respect yours."

Journey nodded at him, it was more than what she had expected.

Daphne and Lilith were somewhere in between the two views. Neither had actually met a Muggleborn or a Muggle and all they had to go on was what their parents had told them. They were willing to give them a chance but until then, they would go by what their parents had told them while keeping an open mind.

Journey was happy that all of her new Slytherin friends could at least tolerate Muggleborns. She thought that they were probably some of the only Slytherins who thought this way, but she didn't care.

Conversation soon drifted to classes, what they expected from them and even the school itself. The others all relied on what their parents or older siblings had told them but some of them (Journey especially) had to rely solely on what they had learnt in books. Journey learnt that their Head of House was Professor Snape and that he would publically support them but in private, they would receive their punishment because Unofficial Slytherin House Rule Number 1: Slytherins stick together.

Finally, the magnificent feast was over and Dumbledore stood up to make another speech about the rules of the school. Many of the rules Journey planned on breaking straight away like 'no casting magic in the corridors' or 'no going into the Forbidden Forest' but the last one she wasn't sure about. She didn't feel like dying, especially not painfully, so she'd have to do some snooping around first to see if it was actually worth going into the third floor corridor on the right-hand side.

Before they were dismissed, Dumbledore gleefully told them that they had to sing the school song. Journey had to laugh at the teachers' suddenly fixed smiles. Not one to miss a chance to annoy teachers' Journey sang the song to the tune of a show she had seen her cousin watch about a strange, yellow mouse that could shoot lightning at people. She was the second last one to finish (everyone else was trying to finish the song quickly) and was beat only by Fred and George who were singing the song to a slow funeral march.

After the song was over, they were dismissed. An upper year in Slytherin who was a prefect according to the badge led them out of the great hall and into the dungeons. Journey and the other first years tiredly followed behind her, too tired to even talk amongst themselves. Journey tried to keep tabs on where they were going so that she would be able to find the great hall again but everything looked so similar it was rather difficult.

After what seemed like forever, the prefect finally stopped at a wall. It looked the exact same as any other piece of wall that they had passed but Journey could sense the magic surrounding it.

The prefect turned and spoke to them in an authoritative voice. "This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room. No one is to know the password – which will be changed biweekly and posted on the notice board. If anyone is found to have given the password to someone who is outside of Slytherin, the consequences will be … most unpleasant. Currently the password is: 'Zeus'."

As she said the word, the wall opened up behind the prefect. She walked in and everyone quickly followed behind her. Journey was much too tired to examine the common room around her but could tell that there was a lot of green. The prefect led them to two archways on the other side of the room and said, "Boys dormitories or through the archway on the left."

After the boys had left, the prefect looked over the girls. "Now," she said quietly, "Girls dorms are down the right archway. Boys cannot enter the girls' dorms but we can enter theirs. However, there is a slight problem. Dorms can only support five people. Either one of you will have to bunk with the second year girls who have an empty bed or, you will have to split yourselves into two groups and have two rooms. Which will it be?"

A girl who looked remarkably like a pug spoke up. "I don't want to share a room with filth," she said in an awful, high-pitched voice, "So Milicent and I will have one of the rooms. Greengrass and Moon are welcome to join us."

Journey looked worriedly at Daphne. 'Will she want to room with them since they have purer blood?' she thought as Daphne looked over at the pug-faced girl.

Turns out she didn't need to worry.

"Lilith and I do not wish to room with animals," even the prefect had to hold back a laugh at Daphne's reference to the girl's pug-like looks and Milicent's ape ones, "so we will room with Tracey and Journey."

The girl looked scandalized but the prefect didn't let her get any words in. "Well then," she said when she saw a possible fight brewing, "I'll go tell the house elves. You can follow behind me after a few seconds, they are quite quick." And with that she turned and walked under the right archway.

There was a tense moment of silence. Journey was afraid that the pug-faced girl would start a fight with Daphne, but turns out she didn't have to worry. All the girl did was stick her nose in the air and walk under the archway, Milicent following dutifully behind her.

"You know," Journey said slowly making the remaining girls look at her, "if she keeps walking around like that she'll walk into something."

It wasn't remarkably funny, but it was enough. Everyone broke into small snickers as the tension broke before they too, walked under the archway. They passed all of the dorms for the upper years in descending order before they finally came across a door that said 'First Years' along with their names written underneath it on a silver plaque.

When they walked inside they saw that their trunks were already placed against the beds. Much too tired to move them, the girls decided to just sleep on the bed where their trunk was. Journey ended up getting the bed near the window (which was completely black at the moment) and in between Daphne and Tracey, leaving Lilith on the other side of Daphne near the door. The girls all quickly changed into their pyjamas and crawled into their four-poster beds.

Journey tiredly said goodnight to everyone and received similar responses. Journey crawled under the covers and peacefully shut her eyes, not knowing that her sleep would be anything but peaceful …

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amethystdreamstar: Well there is chapter six, all 14800 words of it. This chapter was quite annoying to write because I only lost it and had to retype the last couple thousand words about four times -.- After I lost it the first time, I started to re-fix and re-type a bunch of it, and lost it again! I lost it two other times but those times I had only written a little bit. Still, it was really annoying …

Surprised that Journey is friends with the twins? Don't worry, just because she is now a Slytherin (which was really last minute I had already made her a Ravenclaw before I decided to change it) the twins will still be her friend.

Draco will make another appearance soon, as will Hermione. Don't get me wrong, just because I wrote them in an unfavourable light doesn't mean I don't like them. Draco just doesn't know anything other than what his father has told him. I actually love Hermione I just thought she was really annoying in the beginning. Her speech is almost identically to what was in the book and I was rather surprised/disgusted to see that one of the first things she said to Harry was 'I know all about you'. She sounded like a crazy fangirl.

The words Dumbledore said are actually insults by the way :P I'm pretty sure all of you can guess the tune Journey sang to and if not, shame on you :P I actually sang it in my head and it worked out … well it worked out until I couldn't sing the song without confusing the words with the actual words :P

I hope you like my Slytherins cuz I spent a lot of time looking them up :P Some people have it so that an entire group of Slytherins is pro-Muggleborns but I think that that's unrealistic. Having two plus Journey is a lot, and Blaise acts rather anti-Muggleborns and Bloodtraitors in the books. I chose these particular Slytherins because while they were in Slytherin, most of them didn't follow Draco's crowd and were quite loners. The girls followed Pansy around a bit, but I think that's mostly because she probably scared them into it.

Thanks to all of my lovely reviewers :) MarkerBarker78, you were honest as always and I know I misspell a lot. I have been reading these chapters though but I guess I just miss some of them … okay a lot :P I did have someone reading the chapters but I haven't hung out with him in a while and we will be going to different schools this fall in different cities so he won't be able to proofread anymore :'(

Also, thanks to 123abc-harrypotter for all of your lovely reviews, they were greatly appreciated :)

About going to school, I'm off to university in the fall so my updates will probably slow down. School is very important to me and I don't want to waste the eleven thousand I'm paying just for first term for the sake of writing a bit faster :P Updates will probably slow down until Christmas time, then they will pick up again since I'll be on a co-op term.

Please review and tell me what you think :D