Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the brilliant mastermind behind the wizarding world in which I write the goings-on of this story. Anything you may recognize isn't mine and never will be, no matter how many wishes I make for that to be the case.

Title: First Days and Families

Time: September 2021

Fifth Year, First Day (Of Many)

Dee Collins was simple, sweet, and to the point, much like her name. In hindsight, the "simple" aspect was easily explained: her parents, the kind with no-nonsense policy, didn't put up with anything unnecessary unless it involved her brother. So naturally, she was raised accordingly.

She liked to believe being a Ravenclaw was reason enough to bury herself in books and parchment. It wasn't that Dee didn't have friends, she just preferred silent company. She left the bloody extensive amounts of gossip Hogwarts offered each year quite untouched, choosing instead to search the library for either an enticing Muggle fiction novel or a thrilling tale of a wizard and his bravery, or simply studying. Dee's outstanding marks were a reflection of just how much time she spent on her own, the perfect Ravenclaw stereotype

Needless to say, her past four years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were either spent in Ravenclaw Tower, the Great Hall, the library, or a classroom. That was it, really, and she didn't expect much more than the usual in her remaining years.

Dee Collins

Sitting in the Great Hall during breakfast with her roommates, Dee waited for Professor Flitwick to hand out the timetables. It was the first day of lessons in her fifth year at Hogwarts, and she felt a surprising bout of nerves. It was finally the year to take her O.W.L. exams.

"Miss Collins," Professor Flitwick said, handing over her timetable. "Miss Thomas, Miss Gray, and Miss Watson," he continued, passing out more timetables to Dee's dorm mates.

Looking over her timetable, Dee noted that Monday morning consisted of Charms, Muggle Studies, and a double Transfiguration until lunch, and then she only had double Potions before dinner. Those classes, along with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Arithmancy, were spread throughout the week. Her lessons were spaced quite pleasantly, which was a relief.

As soon as Flitwick walked away, Josie Gray sighed, "Charms first." Diana Watson laughed while Dee smiled sympathetically, for it was common knowledge that Charms was Josie's least favorite lesson.

"Well, we had better get going," Winnie Thomas said, glancing at her watch.

Dee took one last swig from her glass of pumpkin juice and grabbed her bag. She trailed behind Winnie, Josie, and Diana as they walked up to the third floor. Upon entering the Charms classroom, Dee split from her friends and took her usual seat alone. She realized long ago that she did her best work on her own, and besides, her fellow fifth year Ravenclaws were better friends with each other than they were with her.

The classroom soon filled with students. Dee was setting her ink bottle in front of her, when she was interrupted. "Do you mind if I take this seat? There aren't many left, and you seem like the least likely to bite," joked a friendly and definitely male voice. Dee lifted her head and met the eyes of a very familiar boy. Albus Potter's face displayed a pleasant smile as he stood at the end of her table.

She blinked, surprised by the company. "I don't mind at all," she replied.

Albus set his schoolbag on the ground and slid into the usually unoccupied seat beside Dee. "Great," he said, taking out a quill and twirling it in his fingers, looking very much like he didn't know what to say next.

"Morning, Al," a voice, female this time, sang. Dee caught a flash of red in the corner of her eye. Rose Weasley had joined her- or rather, Dee reminded herself, Rose joined Albus Potter, who happened to be right next to her. Rose plopped into the seat beside Albus, two down from Dee's, and huffed in annoyance. "I've about had it up to here," she pointed at her eye level, "with your brother. He's such an arse!" she bellowed.

To Dee's surprise, Albus casually leaned back in his chair and chuckled. "Has it taken you this long to notice that? Why, Rosie, you were supposed to be the genius in the family," he mocked.

"What, like you're the comedian?" she retorted. Albus rolled his eyes. "I was just saying James is being an utterly insufferable-"

"Oh, big words," Albus interrupted in a mutter.

"prat and I don't understand how you live with him! How do you do it?" She looked at him with wide, exasperated eyes, either not hearing his comment or choosing to ignore it.

"What did he do, exactly?"

"He took my diary and read it aloud near Malfoy and his friends," Rose mumbled, cheeks flushing.

Dee turned her head away and grinned, trying to hide her face from Rose, while Albus coughed in an attempt to conceal his laugh. "And how did he get your diary?" Albus asked.

"He probably charmed one of the fourth year girls into bringing it to him," Rose replied, frowning. "But that's not the point. I can't believe he'd dare to do something like that! It's a complete invasion of privacy." Rose crossed her arms and stared towards the front of the classroom, where Professor Flitwick was standing, beginning to address the class.

"She'll get him back for it, just you wait," Albus whispered to Dee, who grinned.

"That was positively riveting," Rose remarked, her bored voice coming from Dee's left. They had just left Transfiguration, which coincidentally, the three students had together as well as Charms.

"Well it is the first day back," she reminded Rose. "I'm sure we'll have lots to do soon."

"What do you mean?" Albus asked.

"Our O.W.L.'s are this year, or did you not get that from practically every lesson today?" Dee asked with her eyebrows raised. "There'll be piles of work eventually." When Albus didn't reply, she said, "I'm starving, so I'm going to head to lunch. I'll see you around."

"You can sit with us, if you want," Rose offered.

Surprised by the offer, Dee stumbled over her words. "Um, I actually... Well, I need to return my books to Ravenclaw Tower first, and I promised my dorm mates we'd meet up to eat." She gave a small wave in goodbye and scurried off towards her dormitory, laden down by her books and schoolbag.

Family Ties

While Dee Collins was content with watching from the sidelines, her brother had to be in the heat of the moment. Lee, his name much simpler than his personality (dissimilar to Dee, who thought her name suited her quite well), had an air of security about him, a very rare find in this day and time. He attracted people, drew them in, and charmed his way into their hearts. It was this cunning and resourceful quality that got him into Slytherin, not a bad reputation or a supposed lack of conscience as those Gryffindors would say. Lee was a decent bloke; while he had a lengthy list of admirers, he didn't take advantage of them.

He was also very protective of his sister, considering how different she was compared to him; most people couldn't tell they were related until they they really thought about it. Dee and Lee both inherited soft features, along with dark brown hair. What set them apart (besides the obvious differences in character), however, were their eyes. Dee's were an frosty, muted blue that pierced through whatever was held in their gaze from afar, much like her father's, while Lee's warmer hazel ones, almost identical to his grandfather's, were perhaps the most trusting feature of his face.

Many others of the siblings' attributes were opposite each other. If Dee was plain, Lee was lavish; if Dee was studious, Lee was reckless; if Dee was alone, Lee was surrounded.

It was a big surprise to many how well they got along.

Dee Collins

Sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table for an early breakfast, Dee cracked open her latest acquisition, some Muggle fiction novel about a group of boys way back in the 1960's. It seemed relatively untouched, because hardly anyone went into the Muggle author section of the library. It was a shame, really.

A figure sat down across the table, interrupting her concentration and pulling her back into reality. "How was your first week back, Dee?" her brother asked, taking a piece of buttered toast from her plate.

"It was tremendously terrific," was Dee's deadpan reply.

"Have you made any new friends? Enemies?" he asked, that blasted sly grin never fading from his face. "Is there a bloke I need to punch the lights out of?"

"No, Lee," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "There will be no need for that."

"No need for what? Is he bothering you, Dee?" Albus asked warily, appearing suddenly by her side. He eyed her brother and said, "Hello, Collins."

"Potter." Lee's eyes narrowed in his sister's direction. "We'll talk later."

Once he was gone, Albus turned to Dee. "What was he doing over here with you?" She didn't like the mild disgust in his tone, but knew she had to accept it. While Dee was sure Mr. and Mrs. Potter raised their children well, there was no way of stopping the formation of house rivalries, especially when Quidditch was included (considering both Albus and Lee were on their respective house teams). But before she could respond, another voice joined the conversation.

"Al, what are you doing at the Ravenclaw table? And why was Lee Collins just with you?"

Startled, Dee spun around to see James Potter.

"I was visiting Dee, James," Albus replied. "Is that a crime?"

Catching Albus' point, James quickly changed subjects. "Anyways, I came over to remind you of Quidditch tryouts tomorrow, Al. You'll need to be there. And now that I have, I'll be going. Beth's waiting for me. See you, Al... and you, Dee." He waved and trotted out of the Great Hall.

"Who's Beth?" Dee asked.

"No idea. So what was Collins over here for, exactly?"

"Lee's my brother." Dee watched as understanding flitted across Albus' face. "He was, in his way, checking up on how I've been faring. He is the older sibling, after all."

"I never knew he had a sister. Sorry, I mean I never knew you were his sister." Albus corrected his blunder, but it wasn't anything Dee hadn't heard before.

"It's fine. Most people don't. We're not much alike."

The Authoritative Gene

Mr. and Mrs. Collins worked in the Ministry of Magic. Dorothy's job resided in the Improper Use of Magic Office, within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Dee felt her mum's career was a very stereotypical route to have taken, and sometimes had to stifle laughter at home because of how fitting it was. Just the thought of her strict, practical, a little old-fashioned and slightly overbearing mum sending letters about using magic inappropriately was enough to make anyone who knew her crack a smile at the very least.

However, Dee loved her mother very much, for she wouldn't be alive without her (or her father, for that matter.)

Dee's dad, Jude, was not nearly as tense and ambitious. To put it simply, Jude was cool (much like his name, as apparently everyone in the Collins family was, if you don't count Lee, which no one seems to do.) He too didn't tolerate excessive rule breaking or mischief, but was considerably more lenient than his wife when it came to their children. He worked in the Department of Magical Transportation, which Dee thought was bloody cool. To be fair, Dee thought everything pertaining to her father was cool.

Now bearing in mind the occupations of Dee Collins' parents, and her own morals, it would only be logical that Dee was made a Prefect.

Dee Collins

She was searching for Clive Donoghue, the Head Boy, because she needed to sort out the nights she was scheduled for patrol and whatnot. She supposed the issue could wait for when it was actually convenient, but Clive was definitely easy on the eyes so she didn't see the problem in venturing far from her dormitory in order to talk to him.

"Dee?" She stopped short, whirling around at the sound of her name. "What brings you out here? I thought you, of all people, would be stuffed away in the library with dusty old books," Clive teased.

"What, I can't wander outdoors?" Dee played along, although somewhat put off by his assumption.

"Well, I'd certainly be less suspicious if you were by the lake or something, but the Quidditch pitch?" he responded. "You haven't got a crush on Albus Potter, have you?" he asked, taking a guess as to why she was out and about. "The two of you seem pretty friendly."

Dee didn't really know what to say. Was Clive still teasing? And besides, why would it matter if she was friends with Albus Potter? "Well, actually-"

"Oh, hey, I've got to head to tryouts. We'll talk later, yeah?" Clive interrupted, already jogging off.

Dee indignantly crossed her arms, and though Clive couldn't see her, she made a face at his retreating figure. So much for that.

A/N: So I've realized I use a lot of those horizontal bar things... Oopsie daisy. I hope you enjoyed chapter 1! Stick around maybe? Also, if you'd like to see Dee's timetable in its entirety, it's on my fic blog (link in my profile.)

Revised June 2014