A/N: As always I want to thank all my reviewers! You're a great help - please keep it up!

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September 1st, 1989

Alicia Spinnet was probably the only young witch at the age of eleven who did not want to go to Hogwarts. She wanted to stay at her parents', keep going to school with all her old friends – even if they were Muggles – and there was nothing her parents could say to make her change her mind. In fact, her mother hadn't even really tried to convince her. She had just told her daughter that she had to go.

"Every young witch your age goes to Hogwarts," she had said. "And so are you. End of story."

Her father had been more understanding. He was Muggle-born, after all. He had told Alicia a dozen times that she would soon make new friends, and that there was no need to worry because teachers were friendly. "And the food is not too bad, either."

"You will probably get to play Quidditch a lot as well," he had added one day and that, finally, had brightened Alicia's mood a bit.

She had only played Quidditch a couple of times before in her grandparents' garden, and she loved riding a broom. Her much older cousins, Sarah and Paul, had taught her some marvellous tricks and had both advised her to tryout for the house team of whichever house she was going to end up in. They had both played for their house, Ravenclaw, both as Chasers, but Sarah was already out of school and Paul had had to give up on Quidditch because of the outcome of his OWL exams.

Paul was now in his last year at Hogwarts and although Alicia didn't think she would see much of him in school, it was somewhat of a relief to know he was there. Alicia didn't have any older siblings, but more often than not, she wished that she had.

She arrived with her parents at King's Cross station at exactly half past ten. The platform was already crowded with young witches and wizards who were, like her, on their way to school and parents, grandparents and older siblings seeing them off. Many of the students seemed to know each other. There were hugs and cheers and everybody seemed to be simply thrilled to be there. Except Alicia.

She didn't know anybody. Even Paul was no where to be seen and all Alicia wanted to do was to go back home, crawl into her bed and pull the cushion over her head.

No, she certainly did not want to go to Hogwarts.

"Oi! You there! Blondie," said a voice behind her and Alicia knew that it was her who the person was talking to. She turned around to see who it was.

Before her stood a boy about her own age, who was grinning all over his freckled face. He was about Alicia's height, or maybe an inch or two shorter, and had lively green eyes that beamed at her. But the most eye-catching thing about him was his fiery red hair that set him apart from the people around them.

"Are you a first year, too?" asked the boy and Alicia nodded, still a bit shy.

"Do you play Quidditch?" the red-haired boy wanted to know.

"Yes," said Alicia more confidently now.

"What position?"

"Dunno. But I like Chaser best."

"My brother and I think we'd make quite good Beaters," said the boy. "We're both going to tryout for our House teams. We'll be in Gryffindor, of course – that's for sure. All of our family–" he interrupted himself and turned his attention on somebody standing behind Alicia. "Ah, there he is. Oi! Fred! Come over here!"

Alicia turned around and saw another red-haired boy coming towards them. Even a mile away anybody would have been able to see that the two boys were brothers but from were Alicia stood she could also see that they had to be twins, too. The second boy looked identical to the first.

"Here," said the first boy when his brother had arrived. "I found another first year. This is –" he paused, creased his forehead and turned to Alicia. "What was your name again?"

"Alicia Spinnet."

"Alicia," he repeated. The he indicated himself with his thumb. "I'm George Weasley," he said, then, motioning at his brother, "he's Fred. We're twins."

The one being named Fred looked Alicia over carefully. "Merlin's stinking old socks," he said, "are there only girls in our year?" And with that he turned around and was off again. His twin gave Alicia an apologetic look, shrugged and followed his brother, calling, "See you then!"

Alicia looked after him and sighed. Had she found a new friend? Or had he already forgotten about her? Not that she felt much interest in being friends with his brother, but George Weasley had seemed nice.

"Lissy?" It was her mother, who had been talking to a witch she probably knew from her own days at school. "Lissy, come over here. I want to introduce you to somebody." Next to her mother stood a girl with a round face and short light brown hair. "This is Sandra. Sandra Maddox. I went to school with her mother, Olivia."

Sandra was short and plump. She looked more like a little boy to Alicia than a girl, but maybe that was just because of her boyish haircut. At least Sandra seemed genuinely nice. She told Alicia that she knew a couple of spells already and that she really hoped to be sorted into Ravenclaw. She also listened with interest to Alicia telling her about wanting to play Quidditch at school. The two girls sat alone in a compartment the whole journey and Alicia enjoyed it so much, she completely forgot about not wanting to go to Hogwarts in the first place.

It wasn't until they arrived at the station in Hogsmeade that Alicia saw the red-haired twins again. They were now accompanied by a black boy with dreadlocks. Alicia remembered seeing him at the station in London, too. The three boys were in a heated discussion with an older looking red-head, maybe a brother of the twins. She couldn't hear what they were saying but the older boy was looking really angry.

"So what do we have here," said a voice behind Alicia. It wasn't Sandra's. She turned around and found herself face to face with a big boy about her age who was sneering at her. "You look a right Hufflepuff," he said.

Alicia had no idea what to say so she simply shrugged and moved to get away from the boy. He, however, seemed to have other ideas.

"I'm talking to you," said the boy.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say," Alicia replied quietly. She tried to walk around him but he caught her arm and held on tightly. She tried to push him off. "You're hurting me!"

He laughed.

"Let her go!" said a voice suddenly and Alicia bent around the big boy to see one of the red-haired twins. He was pointing his wand at the agressor who was still holding on tightly to Alicia's arm.

The boy snorted. "You must be one of those Weasleys!" he said dismissively. "I'm not scared of you!"

"Maybe you should be," said the redhead with a grin. He waved his wand a little and mumbled a word Alicia didn't understand – and the next minute the big boy had let go of her. He was stumbling a couple of steps backwards, a pair of ugly pig ears growing on both sides of his head. Around them a few other students laughed and the Weasley (whichever he was) started to bow to them, looking very pleased with himself. "Anybody else who likes a pair of new ears?"

He laughed until a very big man came his way.

"What's goin' on 'ere?" The giant looked down at the Weasley, then at the other boy and finally at Alicia, then he shouted, "Oi, Charlie! Charlie Weasley, c'mon over 'ere, will ya?"

Another redhead appeared. He looked like a sixth or seventh year to Alicia, a bigger version of the twins.

"'tis your brother?" asked the giant.

The boy called Charlie let out a sigh. "Yeah." He turned to his brother. "What've you done now, Fred?"

The younger one grinned and shrugged. "I defended the girl," he said, pointing at Alicia, then at the boy who had attacked her. "He was bullying her."

Charlie shook his head. "You've barely arrived here, and already you're in trouble. Wait until Mum hears about this." He gave the other boy a look and with a flick of his wand made the pig ears disappear. "What's your name?" he asked.

"David Montague," growled the boy and his hands went up to the sides of head to feel for the ears.

"Did you bully the girl?"

"No."

"He did," said the giant. "I saw it."

A few more students had gathered around them. One of them, wearing the head boy badge on his chest, said, "I think we should wait until after the sorting then inform the heads of their houses about what just happened. They can decide what it going to happen. We'll have to hurry now – or they'll start the feast without us."

Alicia didn't enjoy the boat ride across the lake to the castle. The water looked dark and dangerous, and there was a girl in the boat – Angela or Angelina – who told stories about a monster that lived in the water.

Hogwarts Castle, however, made up for everything. It turned out to be beautiful and muchmore impressing than Alicia could have ever imagined it. She sighed. So this was going to be her home for the next seven years.

Inside the castle the first years were ushered into a room to wait for their sorting. Alicia started to feel very nervous again. Her cousin, Sarah, had told her that there was no reason to be afraid, but Alicia couldn't help it. What if she ended up in Hufflepuff? Or worse – in Slytherin? If it was up to her she would have chosen Ravenclaw – just like her new friend Sandra.

Around Alicia many of the other first years looked scared, too.

"Don't worry, you'll probably be in Gryffindor." It was one of those twins again, grinning at her.

"Do you really think so?" Alicia asked. Gryffindor didn't sound bad.

"I know that." He pointed his finger to his temple. "You look like a true Gryffindor."

Alicia nodded, hesitated and asked, "Which one are you again? I just can't tell you two apart."

He bent closer to her and whispered. "I'll show you something. See the scar?" He moved his finger to his right eyebrow, where Alicia could see a tiny scar. "I got it from a fight with stupid Muggle boy in our village last year. It's not very obvious, but if you know where to look you can see it." He took a look around and saw that his brother was busy talking to the boy with the dreadlocks. "Don't tell Fred I showed you – he likes people confusing us."

"And you don't?"

He smiled. "I do. But not all the time."

At that moment Professor McGonagall came into the room and asked the students to follow her for the sorting. On the way out Alicia caught George's eye and he winked at her. She couldn't help smiling although she was so excited her stomach felt queasy.

The sorting seemed to take forever. Her last name starting with S Alicia was one of the last to be sorted and the longer she waited the worse she felt. There were only a few students left, as she stood, watching Sandra being sorted into Ravenclaw. Not much later it was her turn.

The old hat was smelly and way too big for her. Fortunately she didn't have to wear it for long because it shouted almost at once, "Gryffindor!"

Alicia took the hat off carefully and placed it back on the stool. Among the students still left to be sorted one of the twins grinned at her. She didn't have to get close enough to see the tiny scar to know that it was George. When she looked over to the Ravenclaw table where Sandra was sitting, Alicia couldn't believe she hadn't wanted to come. It was only her first day here and she had already made two new friends.

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