AUTHOR'S NOTE:

FYI, this story is based on the BOOKS, and not on the movies.

You can picture the actors if you want, because I do nowadays.

Still, there are things from the books in here mostly, story-wise.

=P

****

After a good night's rest, we woke up bright and early and went to Gringotts Bank. Before that though, my mother French braided my hair, since my father had tried, and failed miserably. Fathers just can't do hair.

So we went to Gringotts. I had never seen a Goblin before, and they scared me quite frankly. I just stood up straight and tried to sound as reassuring as possible...well, my mother and father did the talking, because I couldn't get a word out of my mouth. Which I got to tell ya, is rare. We got my gold and sickles, etc., and headed out to the wand shop.

"So I'm supposed to get my school supplies there?" I asked.

We went into Ollivander's and I smiled at the old man at the counter.

"I'll give you a wand, and we'll see if it suits you." He told me.

He grabbed a wand from the shelf, and handed it to me. I pointed at a window, and it shattered. I quickly set the wand back.

"Sorry." I told him.

He shook his head. "It's quite all right."

He handed me another one, and I pointed at the bookshelf this time, but the books went flying.

"I'm really sorry." I said.

Ollivander just handed me another wand. I held it and a strange feeling overpowered me. It was my wand, and I knew it.

"What just happened?" I asked him.

"It chose you. If you want to know, it has a unicorn hair in it, and its 13¾ inches, and costs one sickle and seven nuts." Ollivander added.

I thanked him and went outside after paying for the wand.

"You should have seen your father's first time. He knocked one of the shelves over." My mother told me.

I laughed, and my father just shook his head.

"Lana didn't do much better." Chelsea said.

"Like you could." I told her.

"I could."

"Yeah right."

"Let's just get your books…and by the way, your brother broke five windows and knocked a shelf over." My father said.

I laughed. "That is way too funny!"

"So your books…" Father was saying.

"I can do it myself." I said. "It looks crowded. Give me the list."

My father was skeptical, but he handed me the list.

"Just take Chelsea with you." He said.

I sighed. "Come on Chelsea."

"No." Chelsea replied quite defiantly.

"Chelsea…" Dad began in his affirming "dad" voice.

Chelsea sighed and answered politely, "Yes, Daddy."

As we entered the bookstore, a very large man was blocking my way, and a boy about my age was with him. He was holding his things, and he had a strange lightening shaped scar on his forehead.

"Hagrid," The boy said, "I think I've got all of the books that I need."

I just pushed past them, and got my own books, then I turned smack into a blonde haired boy who just asked me to pick his books up for him.

"Screw you." I said. "Pick up your own damn books."

"Lana!" Chelsea said. "Dad said to watch your mouth."

The boy looked at me and scowled. "Do you know who I am?"

I nodded. "You're a rude spoiled little brat."

"She didn't mean it, I swear." Chelsea said quickly.

With that, I turned and headed out of the door, leaving him stunned and quite angry. My mother waved for Chelsea and me, and we ran to her.

"Now you can't miss the train." She said.

I nodded and we followed her to the train station. When we got there, she handed me the ticket. I glanced at it and frowned.

"Platform 9 and ¾? Mom, there's no such thing!" I cried.

"Honey, you have to run at that wall." My mother told me.

"WHAT?!?" I cried. "YOU WANT ME TO RUN INTO A WALL?!?"

Chelsea was laughing. "This should be good."

"Be quiet Chelsea." I said.

My mother shushed me. "Trust me, Lana."

"Fine, but if I get a concussion, then it's on your head." I replied.

"Well actually, technically it's on your head." Chelsea said.

I glared at her. "Shut-up, Chelsea."

She smiled. "Lana, calm down."

"Fine." I said.

"Just…write, okay?" Chelsea said. "I'll miss you no matter how jealous I am that you're leaving and I have to stay by myself. If you don't write, I'll hurt you."

I nodded and smiled. "Of course, Chels."

My mother kissed my cheek, and then my father hugged me, and Chelsea did as well. I turned towards the wall. Before I could run at the wall though, a group of red heads came towards the platform. They all seemed to be related, and the twins were kind of cute if I do say so myself. They all ran at the wall, and amazingly went right through it. Then I saw the same brown haired boy that I had seen in the bookstore, but the large man was not with him. They ran through the wall too, and then my mother nudged me, I ran at the wall, and appeared on the other side.

Before I had 'Hit the wall', I had heard a squeal from Chelsea, but I wasn't bruised or scraped, and that spelled out good in my brain. My mother and sister followed me in, and I turned to them.

"Well, this is it." My mother said.

She hugged me, I hugged her back, but then she kissed me, and wouldn't let go.

"Mom. I can't go if you don't let go." I told her.

"My little girl's going to Hogwarts." She said.

I smiled. "Yes, I am."

"I love you." She told me, and hugged me and kissed me again.

"Mom, you're embarrassing me." I told her.

She smiled. "That's what mother's are for."

Chelsea hugged me, and I hugged her back.

"Keep Mom and Dad under control, Chelsea." I winked at her.

"I will. I mean, I'll be an only child for a year…it's all good." She told me.

Mom started to cry a bit.

"You've never been away from us for more than a night." She said.

"You've been through this. Did your parents cry too?" I asked her.

She nodded. "It's just that we won't see you the whole school year except for Christmas break."

I nodded. "I know, Mom."

The train whistle blew. I looked up at the train, and it said, 'HOGWARTS EXPRESS' on the top.

"I got to go now." I told them.

With one last hug and kiss from each of them, I took Arwen out of her cage, and hopped onto the train after a couple men had grabbed my luggage for me. I looked back and blew a kiss to them.

"Tell dad I love him!" I called.

Mom nodded, and she and Chelsea waved, and then I went inside the train, and I started to look around for a place to sit.

****

The first door that I opened had the blonde boy from the bookstore, two other boys, and a girl with short black hair. The boy looked at me and smiled, and the girl saw the smile and glared at me. Jealous much? What did I ever do to her?

"I see we meet again." The boy said. "I am Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. And this is Crabbe and Goyle."

I smiled. "I'm Lana. Lana Langston."

The girl was tired of waiting for Draco to introduce her.

"I'm Pansy Parkinson." She told me.

"Nice to meet you too." I said.

Okay, so Draco was REALLY cute. I wanted to sit with him, but the car was full. Draco noticed my face, and told Crabbe and Goyle to go get him something from the sweets cart. Pansy was going to sit next to him, but he offered the seat to me. I smiled and sat down, as Pansy scowled.

"So, I know absolutely almost nothing about Hogwarts." I told Draco.

Pansy snickered, but Draco glared at her and she stopped.

"Where are you from?" He asked me.

"I'm from New York City, New York. Or…America." I said simply, realizing that I had just lost Pansy.

"Well, I can tell you that there are four houses." Malfoy told me.

"Oh, well I knew that. Okay…so is there a particular house that I should want to be in?" I asked.

Draco nodded. "Why, Slytherin of course."

I smiled. "So you want to be in Slytherin, and you want me to come with you?"

Draco nodded, and Pansy pouted, but Draco took no mind. Draco seemed to get a look on his face like he had just come to a startling conclusion.

"You're going to be in Gryffindor." He said plainly.

Pansy seemed to be delighted, but Draco looked crushed.

"How do you know?" I asked. "I thought only the Sorting Hat knew."

"You're Lana Langston. Professor Dumbledore's niece. You have to be in Gryffindor." He replied.

I sighed. I didn't like Draco's sad face.

"Well, we can still hang out." I promised.

Again, Draco was excited, and Pansy was irritated.

"Just, pick up your own books next time." I added.

Draco laughed. Crabbe and Goyle showed up again, and I stood up.

"So I see this car is full. So I'll just push on." I told Draco.

I shut the door before Draco could object to it, and opened the door to the next car, which held three boys—one of which was my dear, dear brother! Scott was very attractive—like everyone in my family—and he had dark brown hair and brown eyes. I let out a squeal of excitement, and though Scott looked pleased, he also looked a little embarrassed.

"MATTY!" I cried, and flung my arms around him.

"Lanni…" I heard him say. "So you're a witch then."

"Of course." I told him. "You didn't think you would actually be something I wasn't, did you?"

"I'm a boy and you're a girl." He said.

I frowned. "Now is that any way to treat me?"

"Who is she exactly?" A cute blonde boy asked.

"This is my sister, Alana." Scott told him.

"Oh you did not just go there, Scottward." I said, placing my hands on my hips.

"Scottward?" A black-haired, dark skinned boy asked.

"I'm just kidding." I said suddenly, boring my eyes into his.

"Yeah! And she's just Lana." Scott said quickly.

"He's just Scott. So who are you two?" I asked.

"Carlos Zambini. My younger brother Blaise is coming this year to Hogwarts, so he'd be in your year." The black-haired boy said.

"People call me Peter Parkinson. My younger sister Pansy is coming this year too." The blonde boy told me.

"I just met her actually, she's following that Draco Malfoy kid around." I said.

"I see. Well he's a good kid." Peter told me.

"Yeah, so…don't you have any friends?" Scott asked.

"Um…not as of yet." I said slowly. "Will you guys be my friends?"

I batted my eyes and though Peter and Carlos looked like they were going to cave, Scott got up and started to shove me out of the door.

"Go make new friends. It's easy." Scott said.

"I love you, Matty." I sighed.

He kissed my forehead. "I love you too, Lanni. Now get out."

I wandered down to find another compartment, and I found one with one of the red headed boys from the group at the train station that I had seen earlier, and the black haired boy from the bookstore.

"You know, I think fate is pushing us together." I told the dark haired boy. "I've seen you in the bookstore, at the train station, and now here. Mind if I take a seat? Everywhere else is full."

The boy smiled. "Have a seat."

I smiled, and closed the door behind me.

"So what's your name?" I asked the red headed boy.

"I'm Ron. Ron Weasley." He told me.

"I'm Lana. Lana Langston. Nice to meet you, Ron. And you?" I asked.

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter." He said.

I smiled. "Nice to meet you Harry."

We sat there for a few moments staring at each other, and then Ron couldn't take it anymore.

"Don't you know who he is?" He asked me.

"He's Harry Potter. He just said that." I said.

Was this Ron kid mental or something?

"Yes, but he's the only survivor of You-Know-Who." Ron said.

"You-Know-Who?" I asked.

"Man, where are you from?" Ron asked me.

"New York City, New York. America." I said.

Ron looked relieved. "Oh. I get it now. Well, You-Know-Who tried to kill Harry and his parents, and succeeded except for killing Harry. Harry was just a baby and he got away with only a scar."

I was impressed. "Wow. I didn't know. I'm really sorry."

Harry smiled. "That's okay. It was nice that at least someone didn't know who I was."

"I know that it might be painful, but who's You-Know-Who, cause I don't know who." I asked.

Ron's mouth gaped open, and Harry smiled.

"I had that same reaction. You-Know-Who's real name is Lord Voldemort." Harry told me.

Ron shuddered at the name.

"No one says his name, though. He was the most powerful Dark Wizard there was." Ron said.

"Was?" I asked.

"Well, most say that he died, but some believe that he's still alive, living off of others." Ron told me.

I shuddered. "Oh."

"But don't worry, we're safe at Hogwarts." Harry smiled.

I smiled back. As a baby this kid was quite powerful, so what was he like now?

"Hey, you guys wanna see me turn my rat a different color?" Ron asked.

We nodded, and then a girl who was shorter than me opened the door. She had less curly and lighter hair than me as well, not to mention it was shorter. It was down around her shoulders, and mine was in a French braid at the moment.

"Have any of you guys seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." She said.

"Neville? Like Neville Longbottom?" I asked.

Let me explain something here: Neville and I knew each other when we were really little. He moved away when I was six, and I hadn't ever thought I'd see him again. This was turning out to be incredibly fun and full of coincidence.

She nodded, and then looked at Ron and her eyes went wide. "Oh are you doing magic? Let's see then."

She plopped herself down next to me, and we all looked at Ron.

"Sunshine, daisy, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow." Ron said.

We watched, but the poor rat only got shocked on the nose, and stopped eating the Jellybeans that Harry had graciously shared with us all.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well it's not very good. Is it?" The girl asked.

"At least he tried. I don't see you doing anything." I told her.

"I only do simple ones myself." The girl said, ignoring me. "Oculus Repairo."

We watched as Harry's glasses got fixed before our eyes. I swallowed. She had made me eat my own words.

"Holy Cricket! You're Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger. And you two are?" She asked, not really caring.

"Ron Weasley." Ron said.

"And I'm Lana. Lana Langston." I told her.

"Pleasure." She said.

"Nice to meet you too." I told her. "Ron was just telling me why Harry was so famous. I see that you knew who he was."

"Who doesn't? Where do you come from?" She asked me.

"America." I said simply. "I didn't even know wizards existed until yesterday, and my own uncle is Albus Dumbledore."

Hermione gasped. "You are the niece of Albus Dumbledore and you didn't even know that he was a wizard?"

"Is that a problem?" I asked her.

"Of course not." Hermione said quickly.

Ron was speechless.

"Ron, I'm not that special." I said.

"Your uncle is the greatest wizard of all time." Ron told me.

"At least the attention is off of me." Harry said.

I laughed, and Hermione stood up.

"You should change into your robes. I expect we should be arriving soon." She told us. "You have dirt on your nose. Did you know? Right there." She told Ron.

Ron reached up to touch his nose, and then she left the car, closing the door behind her. I opened the door and called to Hermione.

"Where do we change?" I asked her.

Hermione smiled. "I'll show you."

She led me to a room in the back of the train, and I changed there. I thanked her, and she smiled and left the room.