The morning came bright and early at The Hourglass, with Jess up before dawn packing her trunk with the last of her essentials, except for a small bag in which she put a change of robes for the evening, and a few books to study for school. After that, she went into her parent's bedroom and woke them up before waking her aunt and uncle. Once all of the adults had coffee, they loaded themselves into John's Range Rover, which had an undetectable extension charm on the boot, so fitting Jess's trunk and bag was no problem.
Jess held Rafe in his cage on her lap while sandwiched in between Donna and the Doctor, while Rose had the passenger seat in front as John drove. Once they got to King's Cross Station at nine, and they walked over to Platform 9 3/4. Once they were there, Jess loaded her trunk into the train and waited for her friends to show up. Neville and his grandmother were the first to arrive, and once Neville said goodbye to his Gran, they found a compartment that hadn't been reserved by one group or another and laid claim to it.
Jess said to Neville once they had gotten settled "I've got another friend that might come and share the compartment with us, so I'll be back in a bit. Just... Don't freak out when he comes in?"
"Sure. You're a little bouncier since you've met this fellow. If he hurts you in any way, I'll knock his block off." Neville had been a big brother to her ever since she and her family had moved next door. For one reason or another, he felt very protective of her and would protect her as long as he lived.
"Ok. I'll see you in a bit." she hugged him and ran off to find Draco and her other long-time friend Luna Lovegood, the daughter of the owner of the Quibbler.
She found Luna first, and after sharing their usual greeting, told her where to find their compartment.
Soon after, she found Draco arriving with his parents. She immediately introduced herself like a gently bred pure-blood girl of impeccable manners. "Hello, Lord and Lady Malfoy. My name is Jessica Smith. Your son Draco met me briefly when he was having his robes let out at Madam Malkin's in late July. I came over to greet you, and to relay a message from my Aunt, Potions Mistress Donna Noble. She told me to tell you that she had hoped that you could have joined us for a social evening last Sunday, but you had declined rather impolitely. She forgives you and hopes that our families could become better acquainted in time."
Draco's mouth had fallen open at Jess's speech and manners, but quickly pulled himself together once he'd seen the look of fury on his father's face at the missed opportunity of meeting the veritable Potions Mistress, the youngest ever to come out of Hogwarts, surpassing even the genius of the current Potions Professor at Hogwarts.
The Lord nodded his head politely and said "Draco, I hope you have a beneficial year of study at school. Do not disappoint me." He then dismissed his son and went back to the Floo chimney and waited for his wife.
She smiled at her son and said "I will always be proud of you. Have fun at school, dear." She walked over to her husband and they left.
Draco stared at his friend and said "How did you do that?"
Jess shrugged "I've seen what works on different people. Your father is of the type that is all about blood status and prestige. I focused on that when speaking to him." Smiling brightly she said "C'mon, I've already got a compartment reserved for us, so we're all set. I've got two friends to introduce you to, so be nice."
Draco looked at her with a shocked expression on his face "Since when am I not nice?"
Once they arrived at their compartment, Neville jumped up in surprise when Draco followed behind Jess into the compartment.
"He's the new friend?" Neville yelled at Jess. "He's a Slytherin!"
"And a perfectly normal person!" Jess yelled back at him. turning to Draco, she said "Here, I'll help you with your trunk."
Neville looked at Draco and muttered under his breath about Slytherin and issues of trusting a snake. Draco looked at Neville and said "I'm sorry."
Neville looked at the scion of the Malfoy family "Sorry?"
Draco took a deep breath and sighed "I'm sorry for what I did to you and your friends over the past year. Over the summer I met Jessica and we became friends and exchanged letters. She told me all about how you acted as a big brother to her when you two were growing up, and I found a new respect for you as a person. However, I'd already began to respect you after that incident with the potions master last year. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the person who sent you potions robes was Jessica."
Jess glared at Draco as she said "I told you to call me Jess."
Neville sighed and said "Well... I guess you aren't as bad as I thought either. But I am warning you. If I hear of you hurting Jess in any way, I will cause you physical harm without my wand shooting spells at you, so be good to her."
"Fair enough. May I be seated?"
"Yes."
"Good. Oh, and we better look out for Crabbe and Goyle. I'm parting ways with them this semester." Draco hid behind Jess in mock fear to make the others in the compartment laugh.
After a bit Jess wandered the train looking for her brother, Harry. When she returned to the compartment bearing sweets and sandwiches for all, she said "He's not on the train."
"Who isn't?" Draco said through a bite of one of the sandwiches.
"My brother." Jess replied. Draco and Neville nearly choked on their sandwiches.
After Draco stopped coughing he said "Come again?"
Jess sighed. "My older brother isn't here. He's in your year. And no, we look completely different from each other. I was going to wait until we got to school to tell you, but here it is." She took a deep breath and said "My full name without my adopted parents' last name on the end is Jessica Rose Potter. I'm the Girl who Lived, and My elder brother defeated Voldemort when he was a little more than year old and I was three months of age. I was adopted by Rose Tyler and her husband Doctor Smith. Doctor is his first name. I don't know why. I turned eleven on the thirtieth of July."
"I knew it all along." Luna said in the corner, softly smiling.
Neville said "Wow. My neighbor is the Girl who Lived. Don't worry." he said, seeing Jess's panicked expression "I won't change because you're suddenly a celebrity."
"And neither will I." Draco declared, suddenly very protective of the small, red-headed girl in front of him.
"You better not." she said darkly, punching both Draco and Neville in the arm, eliciting identical yelps of pain.
She then sat down and pulled out her copy of the first year's books and began to study them again. The boys looked at each other and shrugged.
Neville asked "Care for a game of Exploding Snap?"
"Don't mind if I do."
Luna shook her head as she moved next to Jess and read over her shoulder their course materials.
Once they began to near their destination, the girls evicted the boys from the compartment and put on their robes. Once they were done, They let the boys back in and left so they'd have privacy of their own.
Once they pulled up to the train station, Jess and Luna followed the other First Years to the boats and waited on the steps in front of the closed doors leading to the Great Hall.