Thanks for the reviews, I really, really, really appreciate it. :) You keep this story going. I regret to say that I've lost my Pottermore account details. I am currently upset that Pottermore doesn't continue to the other books yet and I suck at making potions and spells. I was first a Ravenclaw on my first lost account, then a Slytherin.

"Lisa," Alex inquired, "How many moons did Professor Sinistra say Jupiter and Saturn have again?"

Lisa turned to her Astronomy textbook for knowledge, "It says here that there are 69 moons, 66 of which have been discovered by muggles. Saturn has 62 known by muggles but has a total of 64."

"Thanks."

It wasn't surprising that Lisa Turpin's favourite subject was Astronomy despite not being able to fully pay attention in their Astronomy classes (she ironically wasn't a night person), almost all of her belongings had stickers or pictures of moons, planets and stars on them, some of which were able to move like portraits.

Whenever Alex wanted to study he saw Lisa. He found that he couldn't study on his own or in the Gryffindor common room. He usually procrastinated for hours on end. He could always find her in the library every afternoon, either reading a novel or studying. There was also Hermione Granger to help him, but he found Lisa more approachable and less bossy.

"Can I join you?" whispered Tracey Davis, clutching a stack of books in her hands. She had little interest in school work, but generally joined them for the sake of it. She often openly complained about the other Slytherin girls and found that she frequently needed time away from them.

"You don't have to ask." Alex replied.

"Lisa, I've done all the Astronomy questions. Should we try History? I've found some books to be helpful, more helpful than that incompetent sleeping ghost Binns."

Alex almost jumped when he realised that Theodore Nott was sitting beside them all this time. It surprised Alex that he was still around them; he thought that his and Lisa's muggle born status (Lisa had a muggle born mother and didn't know her father) would have deterred him and that he would have made friends with the other Slytherin boys. Alex still thought Theodore was very strange, but was nice to him regardless.

"I suppose we should," Alex said reluctantly, "But I don't really want to."

"I couldn't care less about the history of house elves or trolls," Lamented Tracey, "Besides; I'm more worried about the Charms and Herbology homework due tomorrow."

"That's beside the point; if I fail any of my subjects my Dad will order Twitchy to stop giving me the sweets she makes."

"Who's Twitchy?" inquired Lisa.

"Oh, she's our house elf. She's called that because she has nervous ticks when she's under stress."

The stern librarian, Mrs Pince noticed that they were talking and made a small 'he hem' as she walked past. She was also known to kick students out if they were talking too much or too loudly – Tracey was almost banned for a month for laughing.

Alex wondered why he had found himself being friends with these three. As much as he got along well with the other Gryffindors, he found that he gravitated towards this group. It was seen as odd for a Gryffindor to have Slytherin friends, as there was always rivalry between these two houses.

'It's the curse of the Hogwarts Express,' Alex remembered Fred Weasley telling him (or was it George?) in the Great Hall one afternoon, 'The people who you sit with on the train on your first day are your first friends at Hogwarts. I've heard it from everyone. My brother and I sat with Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. We're all still great friends.'

It made Alex wonder, he also met Hermione Granger on the train as did a lot of people but Hermione spent most of her time alone. She came across as a bossy know-it-all and was sometimes teased by other students, even by other Gryffindors.

"Hey Alex, what's the famous Harry Potter like in person?" Tracey asked while reapplying some lip gloss, "Do you have anything to do with him besides sit next to him and Weasley in class?"

"He's actually quite shy. He came to Hogwarts knowing little about his fame. It turns out he was raised by his muggle aunt and uncle. I usually hang out with him, Weasley or Longbottom in the common room."

Theodore scoffed at the mentioning of Longbottom, "That Longbottom is absolutely hopeless. I would have expected him in Hufflepuff."

Alex frowned and refuted, "He's a nice enough guy. It's just that he gets picked on. Professor Snape's bullying doesn't help at all. Snape's always either picking on him or Potter."

Theodore thought about this before replying, "I have to admit he does have favouritism towards Slytherins. He definitely gives more house points to us like when I brewed our boil cure early he gave me more points than Granger who finished earlier."

"Snape's comments like 'You're just like your father' are quite harsh." Lisa commented, "Either way, we should probably make sure our homework for him is finished. We obviously don't want to be on his bad side."

This was something they could all agree on. Alex liked his mismatched group of friends; even though they were a completely different bunch they could always agree on certain things.

In less than a month, Alex found himself feeling quite at home at Hogwarts. He got along reasonably well with the other students and after getting past the very basics of magic, their classes were starting to become more interesting. Although, he still found wandless magic easier to control. He was told by Professor Flitwick that he would need a wand for more complex magic, but the Professor seemed rather impressed by his ability to control a feather in the air at will.

Alex sent plenty of letters home to Jack and Uncle Ian who both asked him lots of questions. He had no hesitation in answering any question they had. Sadly, he didn't and couldn't keep any of the promises he made to his old school friends and eventually forgot to write to them. There were no computers to send emails and it was unlikely that they would want to be sent a letter by owl. Besides, what would he tell them? He was forbidden to break the secret of magic and he didn't want to continually lie to them about what he was doing.

Jack's letters to him were always optimistic. She told him she was now studying digital media at university for something to do while he was away. She found it far more interesting than Law. Jack also included that she had been going out to dinner with his uncle and had started to do other things with him. As an eleven year old boy, Alex didn't really have a clue about what she was actually implying.

Uncle Ian didn't include a lot of detail into what he was doing; he preferred to ask Alex questions about Hogwarts.

Hello Alex,

I'm glad that you are starting to fit in at your school. I hope you haven't been too disadvantaged by not coming from a magical family. Nothing much has happened at work that is out of the ordinary. I was planning to sit back and watch one of my old DVDs with Jack tonight.

I was actually doing some investigation into where your magic might have come from and found something interesting about my father. He died from cancer when I was nineteen. He was already quite old when your father and I were born. He had a life of travelling, John and I often went with him as our mother had left without a trace when we were both young.

My father, Oliver Rider was a spy during the Second World War. It turns out he was originally a German by the name of Oberon Besenreiter before defecting to side with the allies. Apparently Hitler had sided with a man called Gellert Grindelwald. In the letter he wrote before his death that the biggest disappointment in his life 'was not receiving a letter from Durmstrang like his seven brothers and sisters,' but also said he overcome that disadvantage. I had no idea what he meant.

I was wondering if you could help me.

Uncle Ian.

When he opened this letter in the common room, Hermione Granger read the letter over his shoulder and unexpectedly (or rather rudely) gave her input.

"Wow!" Hermione said, "That's really cool! That would mean that I could be descent of wizards too somewhere. You know, Durmstrang is a European wizarding school and Grindelwald is one of the darkest wizards in history."

Alex found it hard to think of a reply, "Er, thanks."

Then Ron Weasley joined in, "Just to think, my mother's second cousin who's a squib could have wizard descendants."

This also made Harry Potter smile, something that didn't happen often, "I might tell my aunt that she has wizard ancestors. I wonder how she would react."

Alex had later told Theodore about this just to challenge his pureblood supremacist views and see how he would react.

He remembered Theodore's eyes had widened, "My father told me that muggle borns stole their magic, not that they were descent of squibs. Gellert Grindelwald is the second most infamous wizard in history, only after the Dark Lord and Durmstrang is a school of magic in Eastern Europe. My father considered sending me there because they don't admit muggle borns but decided against it because he wanted me closer to him after Mum died. They also give their classes in German and I was always too lazy to bother learning some German."

Alex wrote a quick reply to Uncle Ian and sent the letter via Screeches Too Much.

Alex and the most of the other first years ran onto the pitch with over-the-top excitement. It was time for their first flying lesson and it was evident that the majority of students that had never flown before.

"I mean, Mum and Dad had let me ride on toy brooms when I was younger and ride on one with them," said a blond Hufflepuff boy, "But they were always far too protective to actually let me ride a real one by myself."

"Then you haven't really lived yet," replied Ron Weasley, "It's the most awesome thing ever."

Alex could hear a Ravenclaw start to recite a strange poem, "Ever since man had the power to dream he has wanted to ascend into the sky. Scheme after scheme, man has proven that even without wings he was meant to fly. He has managed to go up higher and higher and into the celestial heavens.…"

"Thanks nerd." Seamus Finnigan replied and cut him short. He tended to be a bit rude to Ravenclaws, especially the ones that were a little odd.

Within earshot, he could hear someone boast:

"Well, my parents have let me do it loads of times. I've nearly had an accident with a helicopter…"

Alex couldn't be bothered to listen further. Even without looking, he could tell it was the platinum blond Slytherin Draco Malfoy. Alex's dislike of him came from when he first heard him refer to muggle borns as 'mudbloods' and his general arrogant attitude. From what he had heard from Tracey and Theodore, Draco only hung around the stupid Vincent Crabbe and stupider Gregory Goyle because his obnoxious and attention seeking behaviour annoyed the other Slytherins.

They were all trilled when Madam Hooch arrived to start their lesson. The first thing they were made to do was stand to the side of their broom. They were then instructed to call it by holding out your hand and ordering it 'up'. The first person who managed to get their broom to obey them was Harry Potter, whose broom obeyed him on first command. It took Alex three goes until the broom eventually obeyed him. However, most students took a lot longer.

The objective of the class was to eventually be able to fly through smoke rings conjured by Madame Hooch.

But, as with anything, things can go wrong. When Madame Hooch was teaching them to take off, Neville had lost control of his broom and fell off, breaking his wrist. Alex and most of the other students hoped he was alright. Madame Hooch instructed them to put down the brooms and stay on the ground.

When their teacher was far out of sight, Draco Malfoy held up what looked like Neville's remembrall, "If the great lump wasn't so stupid, he wouldn't have dropped this."

"Leave Neville alone, Draco!" shouted Parvati Patil.

"Leave Neville alone, Draco." Mimicked a pug-faced Slytherin girl in a silly, high pitch voice.

"Draco, give it here!" said Harry in a commanding voice.

Draco and his two cronies laughed. Draco got on his broom and started to fly higher. Although Alex didn't believe that Malfoy had a run in with a helicopter, it was obviously that he had previous flying experience.

He threw the remembrall up and down in a taunting way, "No, if you want it, you're going to have to get it."

Harry looked like he was about to get on his broom.

Hermione tried to deter him, "Harry stop! Remember what Madame Hooch said."

Harry only shook his head and went up to challenge Malfoy. He flew up with ease, especially for someone who had never previously been on a broomstick in his life. He and Draco chased each other for a few minutes before Draco threw the remembrall into the air. Harry quickly flew fast and caught it.

Everyone was cheering out of Harry's heroics and display of talent, except for four Slytherins (Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and pug-face). Harry greeted them on the ground with pride; nearly everyone had rushed over to pat him on the back.

That all changed when everyone noticed Professor McGonagall rushing to the scene. There would be consequences.

"Don't expel Harry!" called out Lavender Brown followed by a couple of others.

Harry was whisked away without a word. Draco and his cronies were still laughing.

"If he gets in trouble we're dobbing on you, Malfoy! You flew first." Ron Weasley called out.

Draco put his hand around his ear, "Sorry Weasel boy? I can't hear blood traitors."

"Why are you always such an asshole?" Alex blurted, it surprised himself and everyone around him. He said a bad word.

He caught Draco's attention, "You're Rider, aren't you? I don't have to take cheek from mudbloods."

Alex was aware that his muggle born status was a social disadvantage and a mark of inferiority in the eyes of certain people, but during his short attendance at Hogwarts he was already starting to prove himself.

Alex could only think of a simple reply, "Being pureblood does not make the wizard better, smarter or more powerful, Malfoy. Look at Crabbe and Goyle. Look at yourself."

This had obviously set them off. Malfoy's pale face turned bright pink. Both Crabbe and Goyle looked like they wanted to punch his lights out. He had just made mortal enemies with the biggest brutes in the school.

"Overkill mate," Ron whispered to him.

The pug faced girl was the first to respond, "You're a cocky little mudblood aren't you?"

"He has nothing to be ashamed of and neither do I." Hermione cut in. A couple of other student's agreed.

"There is only one way to settle this," Draco responded, filled with burning rage, "and that's through a duel. Me, Crabbe and Goyle against you, Potter and Weasel. Midnight, near the forbidden corridor. Be there or be a loser."

Malfoy and his gang then walked away. When Madame Hooch returned, the lesson continued as if nothing had happened – they didn't have any lessons afterwards anyway and accidents were expected. She didn't notice that four Slytherins were missing.

Other students gave him smiles and seemed to support him. He was troubled by an eerie feeling in his stomach, something wasn't right. However, Ron was already talking about all the spells he would throw at Malfoy.

"I wouldn't go if I were you," Theodore told him while mid-air, he seemed to support neither him nor Malfoy, "It's probably a trap to get you all in trouble. As our prefect Gemma says, 'Gryffindors can be foolish enough to accept any challenge, no matter how dangerous.'"

"I think so," Alex shrugged, "But Ron really wants to do this. I can't abandon him."

Theodore only shook his head in disapproval.

A/N: Just another chapter. I hope it's okay. I'm not giving away any plot details but Harry being in Gryffindor has been a good turn for the plot. I have found ways to place him with the trio as well as maintain his friendship with the mismatched group on the Hogwart's Express. If you spot any errors in grammar or plot just say so. Till next time, peace out. ~Allie