A/N: Wow, thank you all for the reviews! I fixed the whole confusion with the word 'wand' and 'magic' (thanks FatallyUnique!) and I read the other reviews... thanks to everyone who read or reviewed! Now enjoy this chapter!
The Burrow was filled to the brim. It was 8:00 pm, the evening before Hogwarts; dinner had just been eaten. This year, the children had begged their parents to spend the night at the Burrow, and Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur, the permanent residents of the Burrow, said they would be delighted.
Aunt Fleur was helping Grandma Molly wash the dishes in the kitchen. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny were still sitting by the dinner table, talking to each other about work or current events. The rest of the family was sitting in the living room: Hugo and Louis were playing Wizards' Chess, even though Louis was losing by a lot; Lily was next to them, watching; Lorcan and Lucy were both reading books; Aunt Audrey—Lucy's mother, Aunt Luna—Lorcan's mother, and Aunt Angelina—Fred's mother, were talking; Lysander was sitting on a chair finishing up his summer homework; Rolf Scamander—Lorcan and Lysander's father—George, Bill, and Percy were also conversing together; Fred and James were waving their wands and making things fly away from the other kids, much to the annoyance of the rest of the family; Rose and Albus were whispering things to each other in the corner of the room, occasionally taking glances at Fred and James; Teddy and Victoire had disappeared upstairs, probably to go snogging or something like that; and Dominique, Roxanne, and Molly II were simply sitting on the couch and relaxing.
"Today's the last day of rest before another busy year," Roxanne said, yawning. "I wish we didn't have to go to school."
"How could you say that?" Molly asked. "School is so much fun! True, it's a lot of work, but we get to see all our other friends and learn stuff."
Roxanne shrugged. "That's true… Not the learning part, but the seeing our friends part."
"You know, you should really start packing," Dominique told Roxanne. "Molly and I both packed; your stuff is still on the bed."
"You sound like Mum," Roxanne replied, sliding further down in the couch.
"No, but honestly, you should," Dominique said. "You're the slowest one here."
Roxanne sighed but stood up. "Alright, I'll go pack. Are you coming too?"
"I might as well," Dominique said. "I have nothing else to do except watch Louis fail miserably at Wizard's Chess."
Dominique and Molly followed Roxanne up the steps toward the room that the three of them shared. They passed the bathroom, where some giggling was coming from. "Gross," Molly said as she walked past the bathroom. "Let's walk faster."
They reached the third floor and entered Percy's old room. The floor was strewn with all sorts of things; books, articles of clothing, etc. "This is giving me a headache," Dominique said, looking at the floor. "And it's mainly all your stuff, Roxanne."
"I feel like a Muggle," Roxanne replied, kneeling onto the floor and picking up some books and putting them into a suitcase.
"Be glad you won't have to be a Muggle in half a year," Dominique said. "Then you'll be of age and able to do magic whenever you want."
"Yeah, well, there are still eight more months to go," Roxanne answered. "So why don't you two help me pack instead of just standing there?"
"Fine," Dominique said, and bent down to help Roxanne pack her stuff. The three girls quickly managed to clear the entire floor and put all that stuff in Roxanne's suitcase instead.
"Wow, that was good," Roxanne commented, standing up and observing the floor. "Everything's perfectly clean. Now let's go back downstairs." Before Molly or Dominique could reply, she had already left the room.
Dominique and Molly exchanged looks but followed Roxanne back down the stairs. There was shouting and loud voices coming from the living room.
"What's going on?" Dominique asked when she got to the bottom level. Roxanne, standing in front of her, shrugged.
"Louis lost his diary!" Hugo shouted back. "And now we're all trying to help him find it because the adults aren't helping us by just summoning it."
"You have a diary?" Roxanne asked in shock.
"It's a journal!" Louis called back, currently looking through the crack between the cushions in the armchair. "I just write about things that seem interesting in life."
Dominique laughed. "Louis is just strange like that," she said, referring to her little brother.
"James and Fred are so mean," Molly said. "They're just standing there with smiles on their faces like they know where Louis's journal is all along. And they won't help summon it."
"Oh, I know that face," Roxanne said. "Fred! Give Louis back his journal right now!"
"I don't have it," Fred said in an innocent voice, but Roxanne gave her older brother a glare. Fred faltered under it. "Okay, fine." He took out the journal but flipped it open to a random page and began reading. "Whoa, Louis. I didn't know you were ever in love with anyone."
"Give that back!" Louis said, running over to Fred. "That's private."
"I thought you said it wasn't a diary," Fred replied, but tossed the journal toward Louis. "But anyway, next time, don't leave it lying around the house. It was literally lying right next to me; how could I resist?"
Dominique shook her head as Hugo and Lily confronted Louis with whispers of 'You love somebody?' "They're so young and innocent," Dominique said, watching the two of them.
Roxanne snorted. "I still can't believe your brother has a diary. And that'd he write something like that."
"I told you, Louis is just… Louis," Dominique replied. "That's just the way he is."
"Where's the prefect's compartment?"
"Near the front," Lucy replied, pushing her way through the crowded corridor to get toward the front of the train. As usual, the whole Weasley family had waited until the last minute to get onto the train, and the corridor was filled with people.
"Excuse me," Lucy said to a seventh year, who moved aside to let her pass. She reached the first compartment that was the one reserved for the prefects. Lysander quickly walked up too and slid the compartment door open.
Inside, three people sat, looking awkward. "Is this the prefect's compartment?" Lucy asked.
The oldest girl nodded. "Yes. I'm Maeve Robinson, the Head Girl."
"I'm Lucy Weasley," Lucy said.
"Lysander Scamander."
"Nice to meet you," Maeve said, smiling at the two fifth-years. Lucy smiled back and took a seat next to Jessica Lewis, a fellow fifth-year in Hufflepuff. Lysander took a seat across from Lucy, next to Andrew Young.
"Hey Lucy," Jessica said. "How was your summer?"
"It was good," Lucy replied. "How was yours?"
They talked about their summers for a couple of minutes until the rest of the prefects walked in. They all seemed to have the same reaction Lucy had when she had discovered that Lysander was prefect.
"You're a prefect?" Daniel Thoreau, a Slytherin, asked as he walked in and spotted Lysander sitting there.
Lysander shrugged. "I was surprised too."
"Is everyone here?" Maeve asked, looking around the compartment. They all nodded. "Alright. So, basically the duties of the prefects are to patrol the hallways every night. You take shifts, of course, but it's always in pairs. At first, we'll try to pair you with older students so you get to know them better, but later on you can chose your own pairs."
"So we patrol once a week?" Andrew asked.
Maeve nodded. "About that often. In addition, you have the responsibility of making sure that all the students behave. You have a lot of power, such as docking points, but you need to make sure you don't abuse your power. If we discover you're abusing it, we may take away your privilege. Also, when we arrive at school in a few hours, you all need to take turns helping the first years of your house to the common room."
"Is everyone clear?'
They all nodded.
"Can you all say your names, so I can get to know you?"
For about ten more minutes, Maeve told them a bit more about being prefects and their duties. "Stay here for a second," she said, and got up and left the compartment.
"So," Daniel said. "Prefect duty is going to be busy."
"Yeah, but it's worth it," Angela, another Slytherin, replied. "We'll get so much power."
"And we get to use the prefect's bathroom," Jessica added.
"How are we supposed to divide when we use the bathroom?" Lucy asked. "It's not like we can all use it at once."
"Why not?" Lysander said innocently. All the girls glared at him.
"You devise a schedule after some time," Maeve said, walking into the compartment again, this time with somebody else. "Everyone, this is Oliver Brown, the Head Boy. If you ever have questions, you can ask him or me. You could even ask the sixth year prefects if you want."
"Hi," Oliver said, staring around the compartment.
"Hi Oliver," Lucy said. Oliver was her cousin James's best friend, and he often showed up during holidays at the burrow. He smiled at Lucy.
"If you don't have any questions, you can go," Maeve told the prefects. "Just remember to help the first-years after the feast."
Lucy stood up and followed the two head-people out of the compartment. "Let's go find Louis and Lorcan," Lysander said as they walked down the corridor while the other prefects went their separate ways. During school, Lucy didn't spend much time with the people from other houses; she mainly talked with the Scamander twins and Louis, fellow Gryffindor fifth-years.
"Where are they?" Lucy wondered, walking down the corridor and peering into every compartment. She reached the end of the train, still without seeing a sign of the other two.
Lysander shook his head. "I dunno. You think they missed the train?"
"Maybe we just missed them or something," Lucy replied. "Well, let's just sit with… how about Rose and Albus?" She pointed to a compartment right in front of them.
"Sure," Lysander agreed. They walked toward that compartment and opened the door.
"We can use the Room of Requirement, like Dad did," Rose was saying. She stopped, seeing the door open.
"Mind if we sit here?" Lucy asked. "Our prefect meeting just ended and all the compartments are really crowded… and we couldn't find Louis or Lorcan."
"It's fine," Rose replied. "We have a lot of space anyway."
"Thanks," Lucy said, sitting down next to Rose. Lysander sat down across from her, next to Albus. Scorpius Malfoy was sitting on Albus's other side.
"So, what were you talking about?" Lucy asked Rose. "Something about the Room of Requirement?"
"Yeah," Rose replied. "Albus had this idea at the end of last year; he wanted to start learning new spells on his own for fun. I thought that would be a really cool idea. It'd be sort of like Dumbledore's Army, when Dad was around, but it would be totally legal."
"That sounds cool," Lucy commented. "But you'd need some older people to teach you, wouldn't you?"
"Well, we were planning to teach ourselves…" Albus explained. "But I guess we could get more people to join, such as James or Fred."
"I'll help, if I'm not busy," Lucy answered. "It sounds fun."
Rose's eyes lit up. "So you'll help?"
Lucy nodded. "Sure."
"Yes!" she shouted. She turned to Scorpius. "Do you want to help me find James and the rest of my family and tell them about this?"
Scorpius looked hesitant. "I don't know… maybe Albus should go instead. I don't really know your family that well."
"If you really want…" Rose replied. She and Albus left the compartment, leaving Lucy, Lysander, and Scorpius awkwardly sitting together.
"So…" Lysander said, attempting to make conversation. "How was your summer?" he directed it to Scorpius.
"Fine," he responded.
There was silence again. Lucy and Lysander could usually talk on and on for a long time, but Lucy couldn't find anything to say when Scorpius was around. Instead, she dug into her trunk and pulled out a book to read. She tuned out the awkward conversation to read.
She read a couple of pages but was interrupted when the door opened again and Rose reappeared, Albus behind her. Her red hair was in frizzles around her face, and she slammed the compartment door closed as she walked inside.
"What happened?" Scorpius asked.
"Fred!" Rose said angrily. "Honestly, he's the most annoying person in the world."
"What'd he do this time?"
Rose just shook her head. "It doesn't matter."
The Hogwarts Express rolled towards a stop and the doors to the outside sprung open. The corridors began to crowd again as all the students left their compartments to reach the outside.
Lily moved with the flow to get toward the nearest exit. Unlike last year, there were some people smaller than her, but most of the population was still taller and bigger than her. There was no way she would manage to push through like some of the seventh years were doing.
Finally, the crowd flowed down the steps and out into the night sky. Lily took a deep breath; the air tasted clean and relaxing. The Hogwarts Castle shimmered in the night sky a few kilometers away, with yellow windows illuminating the rest of the area surrounding it. Nearby, the Great Lake reflected the full moon.
"Where do we go?" Lily asked Layla Longbottom, Neville's daughter and her best friend. Layla pointed toward the row of carriages up ahead.
Hugo opened one compartment and got in. Lily and Layla followed. Lily heard the sound of running footsteps and a cry of "Wait!" as she was about to close the door. She opened the door wide again to see Elena Mills, another Gryffindor second year, running towards the carriage. "Can I sit with you? I was sitting with Olivia—" she referred to another Gryffindor second year "—but she disappeared."
"Of course, sure," Lily said, allowing Elena to climb into the carriage. A few seconds later, more footsteps came up and Olivia Gould came running toward the carriage too.
"Sorry, Olivia," Elena quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to desert you."
"It's fine," Olivia said.
Hugo groaned. "I think I'll just leave right now," he said. "There are too many girls."
"Have fun, Hugo," Lily said jokingly as Hugo left the carriage. A few minutes later, the carriages started moving toward the castle.
"You know what pull the carriages?" Olivia asked.
Lily nodded. "Yeah, thestrals."
"What?" Elena asked. "What're thestrals?"
"They're basically horse-like creatures with wings," Lily replied. "The only difference is that you can't see them unless you've seen somebody die."
"Do they really exist?" Elena wondered, looking out the window. The line of carriages was moving along as if nothing was pulling them.
"Well," Layla replied. "If you ever see somebody die, which hopefully you won't, you'll know. My father can see them, so I know they're real. He wouldn't lie."
In a couple of minutes the invisible thestrals pulled the carriages up to the castle, and all the students disembarked. They all piled into the great hall, which was filled with candles, and enchanted to look like the outside sky. The four second-year girls found a spot at the Gryffindor Table, near the front. It was the first time Lily ever would see a sorting (that she didn't participate in); it seemed exciting.
After everyone was settled, the door to the great hall opened and Professor Anderson, the Transfiguration professor, led a row of first-years down the hall toward the front of the room. They all stood there with wide eyes, some nervous, some excited.
"They look smaller than we did last year," Lily whispered to Layla. Layla nodded in agreement.
"When I call your name," Professor Anderson said, "Please step forward and try on the Sorting Hat.
"Adams, Rebecca!"
A girl made her way out of the group of first-years and quickly walked toward the hat and pulled it on. The old hat covered her eyes as it whispered some inaudible dialogue to the girl. After a few seconds, the hat screamed "Slytherin!" and the girl took it off, running to the Slytherin table.
Lily watched her sit down next to some older people in the Slytherin table. Nowadays, Slytherin wasn't as bad as it had been before, but the people in it were still ambitious. She bet Rebecca Adams would have a good time.
The roll call continued, as more people tried on the sorting hat. Soon, the crowd of first-years was halfway gone.
"My sister should be up next!" Elena whispered to Lily from across the table. "I hope she's in Gryffindor."
As Professor Anderson called "Mills, Emily!", a small blonde girl made her way up toward the hat. She looked really nervous as she tried it on.
"Did you not tell her about the hat?" Lily asked Elena.
"I did, but she didn't believe me," Elena replied. "I don't think she understands this whole magic aspect of the world." Elena was a muggle-born, so her family didn't know much about wizards and witches.
After a few minutes, the hat opened its brim and shouted "Gryffindor!"
"Yes!" Elena shouted, as she and the rest of the Gryffindor table applauded. Elena moved down the bench to give room for her younger sister, but Emily shook her head, walking past Lily and her friends toward some first-years.
Soon, the last first-year was sorted and the feast begun. The tables were filled with all sorts of food, and Lily happily filled her stomach until it was contented. The girls began talking about how their summers were, but they were interrupted when the headmistress McGonagall stood up. Immediately, the whole hall quieted.
"Welcome back!" Professor McGonagall said. "I hope you have all enjoyed your summers. Hopefully you haven't forgotten too much information."
Lily and Layla exchanged smiles; they hadn't done much work during the summer, choosing to play with each other instead. Some of her other cousins, like Rose or Lucy, had actually gotten a lot of work done.
"All the professors from last year are still here this year," McGonagall continued. "However, we have received an application from Matthew Watson, applying to be History of Magic Professor. We have interviewed him over the summer, and he seems extremely skilled at teaching, but we did not want to let our previous professor go, because he, er, has done an excellent job—"
"How in the world can Binns be considered excellent?" Layla whispered to Lily.
Lily shook her head. "I dunno."
"So we are splitting up History of Magic," McGonagall was saying. "First, third, fifth, and seventh will go with Professor Binns, as we believe that it is better to let him teach OWL and NEWT year, since he's been teaching for a while. Professor Watson will teach second, fourth, and sixth year. In addition, he will be helping with Quidditch lessons in his spare time.
"Please welcome Professor Watson," McGonagall said. All eyes turned to see a man on the far right of the staff table stand up. He was wearing new black robes, but he looked like he was still in his mid-twenties, considerably young compared to the rest of the staff. He had short, curly brown hair and hazel-colored eyes. Professor Watson smiled at all the students, and quickly sat down.
"I hope he'll be better than Binns," Lily said.
"Anyone is better than Binns," Layla replied. "I'm glad we have a new teacher. Now I won't need to sleep during class."
"Quidditch tryouts will be held in the first week of October," McGonagall said. "The Forbidden Forest is out-of-bounds, so that all new students know, and students should all be in their common rooms by 9 pm."
"Well, I think that is all," McGonagall finished. "You may all go to bed."
Lily stood up and stretched as the rest of the students prepared to leave. She could see Lucy and Lysander trying to find the first-years, while the rest of the older students were pushing their way through the younger ones to leave first. "Let's just follow Lucy," Lily told Layla. "I don't know what the password is."
Layla nodded, and the two of them managed to follow the group of first-years up the stairs and toward the common room. The first-years didn't ask them anything, as Lily and Layla were about the same height as they were.
When Lucy and Lysander finally reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, they pointed toward the picture. "This is the Fat Lady," Lucy told the first-years. "To enter the Gryffindor common room, you must tell her the correct password to let her in. The current password is 'Treacle Tart.' The password changes every month, so make sure to keep track of the password or you'll be locked out."
"Treacle Tart," Lucy told the Fat Lady, who swung open to admit the two prefects and the first-years inside. Lily and Layla waited until all the first-years where inside to walk through the portrait hole and back into the common room. There was a fire blazing in one corner of the room, and armchairs were surrounding it. On the other side, there were tables and desks for working.
"We're back again," Lily said, watching the common room. She yawned. "I think it's time to go to bed."
She climbed up the steps to the second-year girls' dormitories, where Elena and Olivia were already unpacking their trunks. "Where were you two?" Elena asked.
"We followed the first-years," Lily replied, opening her trunk, which was already on her bed because of the house-elves. "What did you do?"
"My brother told me the password before," Olivia replied. She had an older brother who was a sixth year. "So we just went up directly."
Lily nodded. She yawned again, and quickly pulled out a pair of pajamas. She changed into them and climbed into her bed, which was already covered with sheets. "I'll unpack tomorrow," Lily said. "I'm too tired."
Layla laughed. "Good night, Lily."
Lily quickly fell asleep.
It'll get more exciting soon, I promise! Please review?