Chapter 1

She could barely breathe as she finally stepped onto the train. She was so excited she hadn't even waited for her brothers but climbed in ahead of them staring around at the compartments and students. She recognized and quickly avoided Draco Malfoy and his groupies. She was still pushing through the crowd when Fred and George slipped past her each grabbing a sleeve of her jumper yanking her through the crowd. They stopped when they reached a compartment with two of their friends inside that Ginny recognized from their stories. George shoved her inside. "Go wave to mum before she lays an egg." She couldn't help but beam as she stuck her head out the window waving to her parents. Her mom was frantically looking around though, it seemed as if she'd dropped something. Her dad was turned around, craning his neck to see over the crowd.

"Ginny-" Fred called. She pulled her head back in to look at him. "This is Lee," he pointed to the boy with dark hair and skin. "and this is Angelina. She's one of the best chasers Gryfindor's ever seen." Angelina blushed and swatted at him.

"Ok little sister, welcome party's over. Go find your own friends." George said, waving her off. She felt a little embarrassed but it was still really nice of her brothers to introduce her to their friends. When she entered the hall, it was mostly empty and all but one of the compartments was filled. The girl inside looked to be about her age but looked as different from Ginny as possible. She had long blond hair and wore what looked like radishes as earrings, had her wand tucked behind an ear, and wore the most spectacularly ridiculous glasses Ginny had ever seen. Ginny knocked lightly on the door. The girl inside looked up at her abruptly. "H-Hi." Ginny muttered shyly. "I'm Ginny. Mind if I sit down?" the girl shook her head and Ginny took the seat across from her.

"I'm Luna Lovegood." The girl said, reaching her hand out. Ginny shook it lightly, glancing at her magazine. "It's the Quibbler. My Dad's the editor. Would you like one?" Ginny nodded and took one. It seemed to be the most outlandish thing she'd ever read but she skimmed through the whole thing to be polite. When she reached the last page, she set it on the seat, watching the quidditch players in the ads zoom all around on new Firebolts.

"So. Are you a first year too?" Ginny asked her. Luna nodded, setting her magazine and glasses down to dig around in her bag a bit.

"Yes. My dad will be rather lonely without me but he understands how important proper training is to a young witch's mind." She pulled a handful of what Ginny recognized as Honeydukes candies and a small carton of chocolate frogs. "These were my going away present. He'd hoped I could share them with some new friends. Have some." Ginny blushed. She'd never had a real friend before, just brothers and cousins.

"What about your mum?" Ginny asked, unwrapping and sucking on a sugar quill.

"My mum liked to experiment with her spells. One day one of them went quite badly. I was nine." Ginny almost choked on her candy. She couldn't imagine life without her mum.

"I'm so sorry. Is she- did she-" Ginny caught herself, horrified. This must've been terrible for Luna to talk about and here she was asking questions. "No, I'm sorry, you don't need to answer that."

"No, no. That's okay. Yes, she died. It was rather horrible. But my Dad and I've got each other. That makes things easier." She said, chewing on a licorice wand. "What about you? What's your family like?" Ginny sucked on her sugar quill a bit before answering.

"Big. Really big. And fun. And silly." She said, remembering the year before. They'd sent her a Hogwarts toilet seat. Her mum had almost fainted when this big brown box carried by 4 school owls and Errol came soaring in through the open window and onto the table where they'd been folding clothes. "I have six brothers."

"Wow. Six? I don't have any brothers or sisters. Tell me about them?" Luna asked, settling into her seat, pulling her robes over her like a blanket and nesting a small pile of sweets in her lap.

"Well let's see," Ginny started. "Bill's the oldest- and might be the coolest. He has a ponytail and an earring with a fang in it. He's a curse breaker for Gringotts. He's in Egypt now, getting into tombs and finding all sorts of interesting things to bring back. Then there's Charlie. He left Hogwarts not long ago. He played quidditch. They said he was the best thing to happen to the team in years. He likes dragons. Works with them in Romania right now. Percy's in his fifth year now. He's my brother and I love him I guess but he's not very fun and can be a real prat sometimes. He's really clever but he likes to tell on the twins when they're up to something." Luna perked up.

"You have twin brothers? Do they look exactly alike?" Ginny laughed.

"Not exactly but mostly. I think Fred's probably got a scar from a quidditch accident in the field behind our house but I can't remember what exactly happened. He and George are third years. They love pulling pranks and sometimes let me help. Last year they sent me a Hogwart's toilet seat."

"Why?" Luna asked puzzled. Ginny shrugged.

"No idea. To see if they could get away with it. Or maybe just to irk mum. They're on the quidditch team too. They're both beaters. I've been trying for years to let me practice with them but they never do. Ron's in his second year now. He's a big quidditch fan but isn't on the team yet. He's best friends with Harry Potter." Ginny blushed deeply.

"I'd heard he was at Hogwarts now." Luna said, examining the chocolate frog card she'd just pulled out of her box.

"He spent the last 4 weeks at my house in Ottery St. Catchpole." Ginny said shyly.

"Really?" Luna asked, jolting upright. Ginny had expected people to want to hear all about what it had been like to spend so much time with Harry Potter. "I live near Ottery St. Catchpole too!"

"Wow." Ginny'd never met any of their neighbors before. They all lived rather far away. "My house is really tall. We've several stories piled on top one another because there's so many of us. There's a ghoul that lives in our attic."

"My house is rather tall also. We've a stream behind our house and dirigible plum bushes next to the door."

"What are dirigible plums?" Ginny asked. Luna tapped her earring with a finger.

"They're a fruit. They enhance the ability to accept the extraordinary." She took another chocolate frog from the box and passed one to Ginny. "So you've told me about your brothers. What are your mum and dad like?"

"My dad works at the Ministry. He's the head of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. Kind of crazy about muggle things, my dad. My mum stays at home. Until this year, I was always home with her. This will be the first year she hasn't had any of us in the house in years. She's got it pretty bad for Professor Lockhart but would never admit it. Made a bit of a fool of herself in Flourish and Botts over him a couple days ago."

"I saw that in the Daily Prophet. He is rather handsome, but he doesn't seem very clever does he?" Ginny laughed loudly. She'd have never expected anyone but Ron to say something like that about a Hogwarts teacher.

"No, I suppose not, but it's not like they have people lining up for the job, have they?"

"Lining up for what, might I ask?" A small boy poked his head into their compartment, a camera swinging around his neck. He looked even younger than they did.

"We were just talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and how hard it's been for Dumbledore to find anyone willing to take the job." Ginny answered him. She shoved her knapsack to the floor and motioned for him to join them.

"Well, he's very famous. Have you read his books? Of course he wouldn't be afraid of some cursed job when he's taken on banshees and werewolves."

"True I suppose. But I guess we'll see at the end of the year if the curse is real or not. For his sake, I hope he fares better than the last DADA professor." Ginny replied, waving her chocolate frog card for emphasis. "For our sake too! I don't want anyone with You-Know-Who sticking out the back of his head teaching classes!"

"You-Know-Who?" the boy beside her asked. Both Ginny and Luna looked at him like he had grown a third head.

"Yeah. You-Know-Who. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. One of the darkest and most powerful wizards of all time?" Ginny stated, staring at him, stunned. She'd never met anyone who didn't know You-Know-Who.

"OH, Him!" the boy shouted, nearly jumping out of his seat. Ginny half expected him to hide under his seat. "Yeah I read about him. Suppose he was a pretty bad guy, huh?"

"You suppose?" Ginny asked angrily. You-Know-Who's followers had killed two of her uncles and countless others, including Harry's parents. The young boy had the grace to look sheepish.

"Sorry. I forget. My parents are muggles. I'm still learning everything." Ginny had only ever met one other muggle born before, Ron's friend Hermione. Her dad would be thrilled. She stuck out her hand.

"Forget it." He shook her hand. "I'm Ginny Weasley. This is Luna Lovegood." Luna waved to him with a chocolate frog before tossing it into her mouth and passing him one.

"I'm Colin Creevey."

"Do you know what house you want to be sorted into?" Ginny asked him.

"I want to be a courageous Gryffindor." He announced, straightening his back regally. Luna snorted. Ginny privately thought he'd make a better Hufflepuff. "What about you two?" he asked, settling back to stare at his chocolate frog box in wonder.

"I think I'd like to be in Ravenclaw, like my parents. Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." She recited the last part proudly, like it was a line from a play. She looked hurt when Ginny didn't understand what she was talking about. "It's the motto of Ravenclaw's house."

"Oh. Sorry," Ginny replied quickly, "but my family's been in Gryffindor for as far back as anyone can remember."

"Does that mean you will be too?" Colin asked excitedly.

"Not really. My dad says even though every Weasley for years has been in Gryffindor, the hat doesn't always put families together. It's all about you as a person, what your personality is like."

"A hat can tell what your personality is like?" Colin asked, bewildered. Ginny laughed.

"Yeah! Of course!"

They swapped stories until the sweets trolley came by. Colin bought a package of Bertie Botts Every Flavor beans but both Luna and Ginny –both knowing better, from past experiences- refused when he offered to share. Ginny had pulled out her sandwich her mum had made for her when Hermione poked her head into their compartment. "Ginny. There you are. Have you seen Ron or Harry?" Ginny blushed at Harry's name and tried to answer her around the bite of sandwich she'd just taken.

"Doh. Oo habent been dem?" Hermione shook her head.

"Honestly, you must've learned that from Ronald." Ginny cleared her throat and coughed.

"No. You haven't seen them?" Ginny felt a little concerned. Harry and Ron had practically talked about nothing but Hermione over the past few weeks. Why would they now not want to spend time with her? Hermione looked worried.

"No. Not since… well since the platform really. Neville and I have been searching for them for a while now."

"Maybe they're hiding. Might be trying to pull a prank on Fred and George for once."

"Maybe…" Hermione still looked anxious. Ginny could very clearly imagine Ron shaking his head declaring: "That girl worries too much." She smiled.

"I'm sure they're fine, Hermione." Hermione nodded and said goodbye. Ginny stared out the window a bit, nibbling on her sandwich some but had somewhat lost her appetite. The fields outside the train were turning to woods rivers and hills. She wondered if anything might've happened to them.

"Don't worry, Ginny." Colin said. "Your parent's have got magic. They'll find them. That is, if they're even lost at all. They're probably just busy or playing a joke. Here, have some beans. We can make a game of it." Luna perked up.

"What kind of game?"

"Well we each reach in and pick one at random and eat it, no matter what it looks like. Then we have to guess what flavor it is." Luna set down her chocolate frog cards.

"Okay."

Ginny shrugged, "Sure." He held the bag out to them.

They found broccoli, chocolate, bubble gum, grape jelly, bacon and baked beans before Colin found one that tasted like dirt and Luna one that she reckoned was soap. They spent quite a while explaining each candy to Colin and how it tasted and where to buy more while he took pictures of his new friends and the train compartment. Before they knew it, Percy slid open the compartment door.

"Ginny. Get your robes on. We're nearly there. And have you seen Ron?" Ginny again felt that strong twinge of worry. She shook her head. He huffed, frustrated and stomped off, complaining about something. As they each pulled their robes on over their clothes, Ginny felt silly in her faded robes that were too long. She was nervous about everything it seemed- about Ron and Harry's disappearance, about her sorting, about starting classes and trying new spells, and about learning to ride a broomstick. Though she wouldn't admit it, she was equally excited as frightened of riding a broomstick. She'd always loved quidditch and though her brothers never taught her to fly, she'd snuck out at night and during the school year sometimes to fly their brooms without anyone knowing. She felt she did fairly well but was so afraid of being caught by her mum it wasn't nearly as fun as she'd hoped. They were shoveling the remains of Luna's candy into her trunk when the train rolled to a stop.

They filled through the thick crowd and onto a small dark platform. Ginny pointed to a lamp bobbing in the distance and grabbing Colin and Luna's arms. "That must be Hagrid! He's gamekeeper and really close to H-Harry-" she finished shyly. "He'll take us across the lake I think."

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Follow me!" They followed Hagrid down a steep and narrow path. As they neared a bend in the road, Hagrid called back to them again. "And- Now there's yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts." Most the group gasped in awe as they stared at the massive castle across a great black lake. "Now pick a boat, no more'n four in one!" Colin, Ginny, Luna and another student climbed into one, shivering. It was very cold being so near the water. "Everyone in?" Hagrid questioned, turning around in his own little boat. "Right. Now- FORWARD!" With that, the boats moved off at once, gliding across the lake, toward the castle. There was almost no noise. Everyone seemed to be enchanted by the castle.

Hagrid ordered them to keep their heads down as the boats carried them trough a curtain of ivy hiding a wide opening in the cliff below the castle, through a dark tunnel, until they reached a kind of harbor, built right into the sides of the tunnel. They clambered out of the boats and followed Hagrid up a passageway, each of them having to take several steps to match one of his. At last, they arrived on the grass right outside the huge front doors of the castle, climbing the stairs and crowding around Hagrid. He glanced around "E'ryone still here? Havn't lost anyone have we?" When he seemed satisfied, he lifted a huge fist and knocked on the door three times.

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