CHAPTER ONE - RETURN TO HOGWARTS

There was something rejuvenating about returning to Hogwarts during the fall of every year. After only seeing your friends through writing or brief meetings that took weeks to organize it changes to getting to dine with them for every meal and shop in Hogsmeade. Getting to suck up to the new professors while mentally sighing when the least favorites appear in the classrooms. Even studying until the early morning for the test was something to look forward to, well, only for some.

One of those people was Althea Rhodes. She had been counting down the days until September 1st for the entirety of the summer. A dry-erase board hanging above her bed at home held the number of days until her return to school each summer, and it now said zero.

Which led Althea to her favorite part of the return to Hogwarts.

The ride on the Hogwarts Express.

Every year Althea found herself staring out of the window of the compartment she found herself in, taking in the views as she got closer and closer to her true home. Something about the trees blending with the clouds because of their moving speed enchanted Althea, not allowing her to look away for hours.

This year was no different, Althea would occasionally chime into the conversation her friends were having about their apparition class this year with nods of agreement or small "yeahs" but for the most part, her attention was directed towards the small glimpses of deer grazing for their dinner or flocks of birds circling home.

"Do you think it's scary?" Cornelia Clearwater asked, opening some chocolate she had just bought from the trolley lady.

Cornelia, Althea, Lily Evans, and Vienna Torres had snagged a compartment before the departure from the station and hadn't left it since. The group had covered many topics surrounding the upcoming pressure for their 6th year, and the current focus: learning to operate.

"My mum says it's easy and doesn't feel like anything," Althea responded, not turning to face her friends.

"No offense, but your mum is too intimidating to be a trusted source for this," Vienna added, petting her cat, Clemmie, on her lap.

Althea only responded with a shrug of defeat, her mother was quite horrifying to most.

"Statistically, it's only supposed to feel funny, not hurt." Lily chimed in.

For most of their ride, Lily had been reading some textbooks for her Astronomy class, each filled with information they wouldn't need until the winter. When Lily had offered to share with Vienna once she had finished one, Vienna responded quickly with the fact that she had read them all over the summer.

"So, Althea," Vienna started, "Did you go see Jules over the summer?"

Althea, who had already forgotten about their past conversation and had started dreaming up a scenario about her first trip to the kitchens in the middle of the night, was abruptly reminded of her current romantic situation.

"No, my parents forbade me from going to his place or him coming to ours." She said, giving up on her window and turning to face her friends.

During the past school year, Althea and one of her closest friends, Julian Fierro, had started fake dating because of a rash decision made in the library. Their friendship had barely changed, just the addition of more physical touch and terms of endearment. At the time, they had agreed not to tell any of their friends the truth, to prevent it from reaching the ears of Julian's prying fan club, but it had proved hard for Althea to keep such a secret.

"That sucks," Vienna remarked.

The group of girls fell into a few moments of silence, all absorbed with their own thoughts.

The compartment they sat in had overcome with a slight chill as the sun started to drop outside the window and the starts rain clouds started to form around the trees.

Althea thought back to the train ride to school before their third year when it had been pouring down cold raindrops as they rode in the carriages up to Hogwarts. Everyone had arrived with chattering teeth and drenched robes. As they had walked through the doors, those with a knack for charms started warming up their friends and within moments everyone was dry, thanks to the handful who had bothered to do their summer reading.

"Let's go say hi to the boys," Lily said, slamming her current reading shut and standing up.

By 'the boys', Lily meant Julian, Leon Carmichael, and the Marauders. There was a chance that Dionysius Milanesi would be with them too, but it was nearly impossible to predict his location.

"Sounds fun," Cornelia agreed, walking to the door with her.

"Just say you wanna see James," Vienna laughed, but still set her cat aside and stood up.

Lily blushed but didn't respond.

"I think I'm gonna hang out here for a little bit, I'll meet up with you later," Althea smiled, already curling up to stare out the window again.

The other three girls nodded quickly before leaving the compartment to search for their other friends.

* * *

Celia Bennett had spent her summer the same way she had spent the previous one, going to parties with other pureblood families. She was excluding the ones who had been deemed 'blood traitors', of course.

These balls were filled with only the families Voldemort trusted. Most often, they were hosted by the Blacks, who jumped at the chance to parade their home around.

Celia had no interest in making an appearance, but as the eldest child, her parents strongly suggested she tag along with them. Not that they glanced more than twice in her direction after they had arrived, instead they would go off to their friends and Celia would be left to seek out her own.

Which was never too difficult since all of the adults conveniently disappeared into the parlor after all of the food had been eaten, leaving a sea of students standing around in their nicest clothes.

Typically, Celia found the Black brothers and Nesrine Shafiq and the group would hide out in the kitchens or one of the other million rooms until their parents resurfaced to scold them. This year, the scenario changed halfway through, when it surfaced that Sirius had run away from home.

The Blacks didn't host another party after that.

"Do you think anyone else can smell this?"

Speak of the devil.

Celia had arrived at the station early this morning, partly because she was excited to leave her home and because her parents were happy to see their kids off for four months. Because of her arrival time, she had been able to secure a compartment at the beginning of the car, promising a quick exit.

It hadn't been long until Nesrine and Pandora Rosier filed in separately to sit with Celia. The three girls had much to discuss despite having seen each other countless times over the summer at the aforementioned parties. It was time to say their opinions without prying ears around.

Later on in the journey, Nesrine rolled down the window and brought out a cigarette, taking long drags every few minutes.

"Not if you remember to cover the smell before you leave," Celia responded softly.

"Hm, good." Nesrine sighed.

Nesrine had known better than to offer the cigarette to either of her friends, they had already denied her countless times in the past. Usually, Sirius was her smoking partner, but Celia could tell-even though Nesrine hadn't said anything-that he hadn't talked to her since he left home.

"So, have either of you talked to Regulus since..." Nesrine trailed off.

All three of them knew how Regulus would react to his brother running off. The key to surviving the summers and winters at home was latching onto the siblings who went through the same thing. Regulus had lost his key. And then proceeded to cut everyone else out of his life, except for a select two.

"I tried at the Malfoy party but he wouldn't give me the time of day," Pandora shared, fiddling with her robes.

"What a bitch," Nesrine exclaimed, gaining concerned looks from both of the other girls, "What? We've all had bad things happen to us and it's not like we did anything to him."

When neither of the girls responded, Nesrine threw her half-used cigarette out the open window and stood in a hurry.

"I need some air." She sighed before leaving the other two alone.

Pandora and Celia stared at each other, mouths open and eyebrows raised. Both of them contemplated going after her, and they both reached the same conclusion: it would be best to let her figure her stuff out by herself.

"So," Pandora started, hesitantly but in an attempt to rid the room of silence, "Excited for the Quidditch season?"

"Beyond. We're going to get the cup back this year." Celia promised.

The previous year, Slytherin had lost the Quidditch Cup to the Gryffindor team by a matter of points, further fueling the rivalry between the teams. There is suspected foul play from the Gryffindors, even though there is no outstanding proof.

"I can't believe it's our second-to-last year here," Pandora muttered, nearly to herself.

"I don't even want to think about life outside of school."

A silence draped back over the room, a reminder that there may not be a choice for either of them. With Voldemort on the rise, the pureblood families quickly promised their children's allegiance, Pandora and Celia were no exception.

* * *

"Lily only wrote back twice over the summer, do you think she's having second thoughts?"

James Potter had been ranting about his girl troubles to his friends for most of the train ride, receiving plenty of uninterested nods from some and advice from others.

"Probably, mate," Leon Carmichael chimed in from his seated position in the corner of their crowded compartment, "You've been obsessing over her for five years so she probably just kissed you back in June to get you to calm down a bit."

A groan sounded from James as he planted his head in his hands.

"It's ok, James, girls aren't everything,' Peter Pettigrew added, looking up from his pet frog he's been feeding.

"Yeah, he's just joking," Julian Fierro clapped his friend on the back, "Lily'd be lucky to have you."

"Says the guy in a happy relationship," Sirius Black chimed in from another corner of the compartment. He had been surprisingly quiet so far, only adding to the conversation when he had a stinging joke.

Julian let a grin take over his face and shrugged in happy defeat. The whole reason he had started (fake) dating Althea was to avoid any girl problems he would have at Hogwarts. Although Jules was never on the same end of love troubles as James, usually Julian got the discomfort of breaking the hearts.

"Anyways, what are you reading now, Di?" Julian said, changing the subject before he said something that would get him in trouble.

Dionysius Milanesi sat curled up in the corner of the compartment, buried underneath his beige knitted sweater and dark brown slacks. In his hands was a thick book with yellowing pages.

The boy looked up from his book, an emotionless expression on his face, "Some gothic novel, Alice gave it to me."

Everyone else just nodded slowly, except for Remus, who asked to borrow it when Dionysius is finished with it.

A few moments later, a soft knock came on the glass pane of the door before it slid open to reveal three girls.

"Oh, thank Merlin," James muttered softly.

Lily, Vienna, and Cornelia stepped into the compartment, leaving the sliding door open because there were now three people too many in the room, leading to some slight claustrophobia for some around them.

"Scooch," Vienna ordered at Leon, who shuffled closer to Julian so there was enough room on the seat for the dark-haired girl to sit down.

"Too crowded," Remus announced, "I'm out."

"Yeah, I'll go with you," Peter said as the two boys squeezed out of the compartment.

That left the remaining eight teens just enough space for everyone to sit comfortably on the velvet seats, although it was a bit tight, much to Dionysius' dismay.

"So, Lily," James started, "How was your summer? Busy?"

"Well, my retched sister got married," Lily smiled at the messy-haired boy across from her.

"My cousin got married, too!" James exclaimed, "There is just something so romantic about weddings. Don't you just love weddings?"

"Ok, buddy," Julian interrupted, "Why don't you go find the trolley lady and grab some more chocolate frogs?"

Reluctantly, James nodded and left the compartment with a red flush visible on his cheeks.

"You've got to make your intentions clear, Lily," Leon suggested, running his hand through his hair, "For our sake."

"Well, I better go find him," Lily smiling sheepishly, standing up in a hurry, "Lia and Vi, be sure to find me before the carriages."

And with that, a fourth person left the compartment.

There was no doubt that these past moments foreshadowed how the rest of their year would look, with many different agendas rushing together as life started to feel a bit too real. And it's not like Julian had expected this year to be the same as the ones in the past, he truly hadn't but he hadn't expected it to change so quickly.

Sometimes, Julian wished he could time travel back to when they were all just first years, worrying about running into Mrs Norris on their midnight snack adventures. As much as everyone tries to avoid it, that's the least of their worries now.

"Thanks to you lot, I'm losing my best mate to a girl on the first day back," Sirius scoffed.

"You sound awful jealous there," Vienna drawled.

After her response, Vienna looked at Cornelia and the two seemed to whisper something silent enough that none of the boys heard the words.

"Last time I checked, you aren't going on any romantic dates either, Torres," Sirius retorted. "And I could have anyone in the school, I just chose not to."

"Sure. It would be depressing if I needed a partner to be happy," Vienna scoffed, "Besides, maybe I am dating someone."

"What?" Leon gasped.

Both of the girls broke out in giggles from seeing the confusion on the boy's faces. Both Leon and Sirius didn't know what to do with themselves when people weren't worshipping their feet.

Out of the corner of his eye, Julian saw a certain brown-haired girl walk past the door, her signature brown handbag swinging with her pace.

"I'm gonna go get some air, I'll be right back," Julian muttered, mostly to himself. From there, he hurried out of the room and chased after that girl.

"Fucks sake," Sirius muttered as the once-crowded compartment was almost barren.

Author's Note: Hey guys, finally the first chapter of APITW is here!!! I know it's been forever I'm so sorry for the wait, and while I'd like to promise that the next one isn't far behind.... I can't, I'm starting school so soon and then I'll be very busy with hardly any time to write, but I can try!! Ok now what did we think? As seen in this chapter, I'm not going to be ignoring the canon characters, as they will all have an equally important role in the story. As always, be sure to let me know if I go anything wrong about your ocs or if I'm writing them out of character. Honestly, I feel like I am for everyone but that could be my paranoia. Lastly, please answer the question below regarding your oc. I will be putting one of these at the end of every chapter so keep your eyes out! It doesn't have to be long, literally one sentence is perfect!

What does your OC plan/hope on doing after Hogwarts?: