The 24th dawned bright and clear. All four of us were up with the sun and waiting in the kitchen when Mrs. Potter walked down the stairs in her bathrobe. She still looked half asleep.

James handed her a cup of coffee. "Made this for you."

"Liar," Rose said, frowning at her cousin. "I made it, Aunt Ginny."

Mrs. Potter smiled at them tiredly. "It tastes lovely, Rose."

It was almost two hours before everyone else was ready to go. James kept yelling up the stairs every two minutes, "It's time to go!" Rose was pacing in the hall, obviously excited about seeing Scorpius.

"Don't you think Mr. Potter's told your dad by now?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Trust me, I'd know if he had. Uncle Harry doesn't really like telling our parents things unless we actually did something wrong. It's cool."

"Dad is not cool," James said.

"He's on a chocolate frog card," Albus shot back. "That's like...the coolest!"

James sighed. "I meant he's not cool now. He was cool, but now he's just Dad."

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are idiots. Other than Professor Longbottom, he's the best professor at school. At least Sulcan isn't your dad."

They both shuddered.

"Professor Sulcan would never be anyone's dad," Rose stated. "No woman in her right mind would ever marry him."

I stared at her in surprise as the Potter boys burst into laughter. "Wow, Rose, I didn't know you were capable of bashing a teacher."

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't think so either, but Professor Sulcan is pure evil."

"It's cause he won't let you sit by Scorpius," James said, then made kissing noises and dodged a flying shoe, sent his way by Rose.

Eventually, everyone was ready, but instead of going outside to the car, we filed into the kitchen.

"What are we doing?" I whispered.

"Going by Floo, of course," Albus said. I glanced apprehensively at the fireplace. I'd only ever seen the Floo Network in action once before. And at that time I had been a bit preoccupied with the fact that a chandelier had just almost fallen on my head.

Rose quickly explained how it worked, putting a great deal of emphasis on the "speak clearly" part. Apparently, the first time Mr. Potter had used the Floo Network, he'd butchered "Diagon Alley" so badly that he wound up in some Dark Arts shop.

One by one, everyone stepped into the green flames of the fireplace, threw some Floo powder, and said, "Diagon Alley." Rose went before me, smiling encouragingly at me before disappearing in the flames.

"Ready?" Mrs. Potter asked, holding out the jar of Floo powder.

I gulped and nodded, then grabbed a handful of the stuff. Nervously, I stepped forward into the fireplace. At least the flames didn't hurt. They only tickled a little. I threw the powder down, and said as clearly as I could, "Diagon Alley."

It felt like I was being sucked down a drain. I was spinning, and briefly I remembered all the times my dreams had ended with spinning. I could barely hear anything; the green flames were surrounding me-

With a jolt, I stopped spinning and fell forward. I would have hit the floor if Mr. Weasley and Rose hadn't caught me.

Dizzily, I tottered out of the way as James appeared after me. He didn't fall out, though of course he'd probably been doing this all his life. Next came Albus, then Lily and Hugo together, and finally Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

We walked out to the street, and Mrs. Weasley asked, "Where to first?"

"Gringotts, I think," Mrs. Potter said, then turned to me. "Do you need to get some money?" I nodded. I didn't have any left from the last time I'd visited my vault last year.

Mrs. Weasley made everyone else come with her to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. I followed Mr. Weasley and the Potters toward the large marble building near the other end of the street.

We separated when we walked inside, Mrs. Potter taking me one way while Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter went another. Mrs. Potter said that their vaults weren't as far down as mine.

Once we'd reached my vault, I filled a small drawstring bag with Galleons and Sickles. Mrs. Potter looked just as nauseous as she had the last time we'd ridden down, and once we were out in the fresh air again, she had to sit down for a few minutes before we could go to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and join the others.

As soon as I'd stepped inside the shop, Albus grabbed my arm and dragged me over to one corner, where Rose and James were waiting.

"We still need a distraction," Rose whispered, though it really wasn't necessary. The shop was loud enough on its own.

"Leave that to me," James said confidently. "Al and I can make anything a distraction if we argue loud enough."

"Just tell us when," Albus added, looking much less confident than James but still eager to help.

"Astra, you come with me, okay?" Rose asked nervously. "I don't really want to sneak off alone..."

"I'm surprised you're sneaking off at all," James said frankly.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Trust me, it won't happen again."

"Come on, Rose, where's your sense of adventure?" I asked.

"May I remind you that it was you and James's 'sense of adventure' that almost got you killed on multiple occasions last year," Rose hissed.

Immediately, she looked like she regretted it. And with good reason. Neither James nor I even bothered retaliating to that. I just looked at the floor. She knew that wasn't something to bring up; not like that...

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Forget it," James said, shrugging. "It's the truth, isn't it?"

I sighed. "Yeah, anyway, it's fine, Rose."

She frowned at me. Obviously, it was clear that it wasn't 'fine.' She finally just nodded. "Okay, then, let's go..."

It took a while, but we finally convinced Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Weasley that the best thing to do right then would be to go buy our new books. We dragged them out of the store, and all of us started scanning the crowds for the Malfoys.

We saw them in Flourish and Blotts, and quickly Rose pointed them out to James. Immediately, he started flicking Albus.

"Stop it!"

James flicked him again.

"Mom, he's flicking me!"

"James, stop..." Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Weasley were preoccupied with our school lists.

James started sorting through the books on the shelves, then picked out a few and dumped them into Albus's arms. I only caught a glimpse of the titles, but one of them was How to Poison Someone Effectively. Albus promptly screamed and dropped the books like they were diseased.

That got their attention. Immediately, James and Albus broke out into what sounded like a yelling competition. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Weasley were doing their best to make them shut up. James accidentally bumped into Lily, who joined the yelling without a second thought, thankfully. Rose and I took the opportunity to slip off.

We weaved our way to the back of the store. When I caught sight of Scorpius, he had one eyebrow raised in a smirk. "That's your distraction?"

Rose nodded sheepishly.

"You can probably hear that from Hogwarts," Scorpius said, his smirk turning into a smile. "It's good to see you again. You too, Astra."

I rolled my eyes and backed up a bit, giving them some space to talk. Unfortunately, I backed up right into someone else.

"Oh, sorry," I said, turning to see a girl behind me, clutching a copy of Hogwarts, A History like the world would end if she dropped it.

"Sor-" she started, then she looked up at me and her mouth dropped open. She dropped her book.

"You okay...?" I slowly bent down and picked her book up, then held it out to her. She didn't move.

Scorpius stepped over and waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Hello?"

"You're...you're Astra Lewis..." she breathed.

I frowned and took a step back. "How'd you know that?"

"Oh, I read about you in the Prophet, of course."

"The Prophet...?" I looked at Rose for an explanation.

"The wizarding newspaper. There was an article about you and James in it after...everything... I thought I'd told you about it..."

"Nope."

"I thought James would send you a copy of it, anyway."

"I bet he meant to, then his narcissism kicked in and he decided to keep it," Scorpius said. "It's probably framed and hanging on his wall."

The girl was literally bouncing by now. "Astra? How'd you do it? You're so brave.."

I smiled at her, completely uncomfortable. "Um..." No way was I going to discuss that night with some random girl. I needed to change the subject, and fast. I held her book out to her again. "You dropped this."

Finally, her gaze dropped to the book, and she slowly took it back. "Sorry..."

"It's fine." I breathed a sigh of relief. At least the attention was off my 'heroism.' "Are you starting at Hogwarts?"

The girl nodded eagerly. "I hope I get in Gryffindor, like you. I'm Adalyn Lostry, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Adalyn," Rose said quickly, stepping up next to me and holding her hand out. "I'm Rose Weasley."

"Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius said, moving to stand next to Rose.

"Hi," she said, beaming at me. I was starting to feel uncomfortable again.

To alleviate the awkwardness, I turned away from her and started browsing the shelves. "Are you excited about Hogwarts, then?"

In my peripheral vision, I could see her nodding her head vigorously. "Definitely. I want to be just like you..."

"Ambitious, I see," Scorpius said, winking at Rose and me. "Are you sure you don't want in Slytherin?"

Adalyn looked appalled. "I don't want to be evil!"

Scorpius looked a little hurt by that, but Rose frowned. "Slytherins are not evil. You happen to be speaking to one right now," she gestured to Scorpius, "and he's not evil, is he?"

Adalyn blinked, surprised by Rose's outburst. "S-sorry... I suppose they aren't all evil..."

"Only a select few are, really," Scorpius said. "Nico, really, and Ciara can definitely be a prat to you guys, and I think that's it in our year." Rose nodded in agreement.

Adalyn apparently didn't know how to respond to that, so she turned back to me. "Could you help me find the rest of my books, do you think?"

I sincerely did not want to help her find her books. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any reason why I couldn't, other than being mean, and that wouldn't work. I sighed, and shrugged. "Sure. I've got to get my own, anyway."

Rose and Scorpius started talking as we walked away, and before long I was wishing they hadn't let us wander off on our own. Adalyn wouldn't shut up. She kept complimenting me on just about every thing, most notably my "bravery." Which was only a side effect of anger, because if Luna hadn't been attacked, I would have been much too scared to chase her attacker. The jabbering was getting annoying, and I was having a hard time not snapping at Adalyn to shut up.

Finally, Albus saved me by telling me we had to leave. Adalyn promised she'd find me on the Hogwarts Express, then dashed off to find her own parents.

"Who was that?" Albus asked as we walked out of the store.

"Don't ask," I muttered.

"Oh, she's Astra's biggest fan," Rose said, giggling. I supposed her talk with Scorpius must have gone well, because Rose never giggled.

"Maybe she'll start a fan club with my sisters," said someone behind us.

We whirled around to see Arthur following us. He grinned as we all hugged him.

"Were you following us?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, I was going to surprise you, but then you said that and I couldn't resist. Do you know how obsessed my sisters are with Astra? It's so annoying."

I rolled my eyes. "It can't be as bad as Adalyn Lostry."

The rest of the Longbottoms were sitting in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, and our party went over to join them. Anna and Alyssa squealed when they saw me, and I almost suffocated when they hugged me. Arthur just muttered, "Sorry 'bout them. Sisters are stupid."

After an ice cream break, Albus, Rose, Arthur, and I wandered off down Diagon Alley by ourselves, promising to stay in sight. We made a beeline for Sugarplum's Sweets Shop. It had been several months since I'd had any wizarding sweets, and Arthur had decided that was far too long.

When we opened the door, a little bell jingled, and we were greeted by the delicious smell of candy. There were jars of it everywhere, and it was too much to take in. Slowly, we all wandered off in different directions.

I was walking down one aisle, staring around at everything, when I caught sight of the most muggle-ish girl I'd ever seen in the wizarding world. She was staring at a display of chocolate frog boxes, moving her mouth silently as she read the labels.

When I say she was the most muggle-ish girl I'd ever seen, I mean it. She had a floral skirt with leggings on, with boots, and a long denim-like shirt. There was a flower crown in her hair, and she could have stepped right out of one of Mara's magazines, except for the mockingjay pin on her shoulder, and Tardis backpack.

"Hi," I said.

She glanced up. "Hello." She went back to reading.

"Are you muggleborn?" I asked after a minute.

She looked up at me again, looking worried. "Is it really that obvious? I promise, I'll be just as good as everyone else..."

"I don't doubt it," I said quickly. "I grew up with muggles, too. I was just asking because I don't think many witches watch Doctor Who."

"Oh," she said, then laughed. "Yeah, I guess they don't. Mum says I have to leave all my fandom merchandise at home when I go to Hogwarts, so I'm parading it for all its worth until then." She held up her wrist, showing a charm bracelet. I dimly recognized the symbols from Divergent, one of the only books Mara actually read and liked.

"I'm Astra Lewis. I'm a second year," I said. I knew nothing about fandoms, really, except that Mara thought fangirls were insane. That automatically made me think they were great, of course. "You're going to be a first year?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, and I can't wait! We only just found I'm a witch a few weeks ago. It was such a surprise. I think my sister's jealous. I don't care, though, really. She's just being annoying. I'm River Towning, by the way." She stuck out her hand, which I shook, smiling.

"Are those any good?" River asked, pointing to the chocolate frogs.

"Yeah, they're great. And they come with little cards of famous witches and wizards."

"Sweet!" She picked up about eight boxes.

"River!" a man called from the front.

"Coming, Dad!" River shouted back. "Seeya, Astra!" She dashed off, carrying the chocolate frogs up to the register.

I jumped as Albus walked up behind me. "Another avid fan?"

"Nope," I said, frowning. "Don't sneak up on me like that, Al, you'll give me a heart attack. Then I'll die and it will be entirely your fault."

Albus looked incredibly worried for a moment until I started laughing and assured him I was joking. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, ready to go? It's almost lunch time, and Mum doesn't want to wait too long for a table at the Leaky Cauldron."

We walked up to the register, where Rose was buying a small bag of Bertie's Every Flavor Beans (disgusting things, I don't believe I've ever gotten a candy flavored one). Once she'd paid for them, we walked back outside into the sunlight, which didn't seem incredibly bright compared to all the color in the store.

~~~~

"Only a week till school starts," Arthur said, sighing. "Anna and Alyssa are starting this year."

"What House do you want to be in?" I asked the twins.

"Hufflepuff," they said in unison.

"Oh Merlin, I hope not," said Andrew, sitting a bit farther down the table. "I bet you won't, anyway."

"Alyssa will get Ravenclaw," Arthur said firmly.

"I will not! I'm not even that smart," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but you love learning about history, and the only requirement to be in Ravenclaw is to love learning," Arthur countered.

"True," Rose said. "The hat almost put me in Ravenclaw, actually, but I wanted to be in Gryffindor."

"I won't be in Ravenclaw," Alyssa said stubbornly. "I don't want to be in Ravenclaw."

"Well then, you probably won't get put in Ravenclaw," I said. "The hat considered me in Slytherin-" everyone shuddered, except Rose "-but I refused to let it. I'm sure it'd work for you, too."

The Weasleys left before we did. Rose waved and promised to write before stepping into the flames and saying her address. Hugo gave me a hug, which was strange, because he hadn't spoken to me much. Lily said he was just quiet naturally.

Mrs. Potter needed to get some last minute things, so we walked back out into Diagon Alley. As we were walking, we passed another family, and I recognized Clarissa Rogers.

"Hey!" she called, smiling and walked over, trailed by her family. I smiled and waved at her as she stopped in front of us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Potter stiffen as Mrs. Rogers said, "Harry! So nice to see you! And Ginny!" Mrs. Potter smiled, a smile I'd come to recognize as fake. It fooled Mrs. Rogers, though.

"How've you been, Cho?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Wonderful, ever since your son saved Clarissa last year. I don't know that we'll ever be able to thank him and Astra enough."

As the adults talked, Clarissa pulled a boy, her little brother, over to us. "This is Astra and James. Remember? And that's Albus. Guys, this is my little brother Cedric." Cedric smiled shyly. "He's starting Hogwarts this year!"

"What House do you want?" James asked.

Cedric shrugged. "Ravenclaw would be cool, but I'll be fine with anything that's not Slytherin, really."

"If you're in Gryffindor, we'll make sure you're welcome," I said, smiling.

"Thanks, and thanks for saving Rissa, too, because I don't really know what I'd do without an annoying older sister." He laughed and dodged as Clarissa tried to flick his arm.

Albus laughed. "I know exactly how you feel, only I've got an annoying older brother."

Lily rolled her eyes. "At least you only have one."

"At least you don't have a sister," James countered.

"Time to go!" Mr. Rogers called. Clarissa and Cedric waved and walked away with their parents.

After Mrs. Potter picked up a few things, we made our way back to the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron and used the Floo Network to get back to the Potters house. I felt like it had been forever since we'd left, but really it had only been a few hours. Suffice to say, I fell asleep immediately that night, and slept like a rock.

~~~~

So, there you go, a ton of new characters, and some old. I can promise you that this year will have a lot more interesting friendships (or at least {nonromantic} relationships) than last year.

I am still accepting characters for this book! I'll let you know when I'm not, but once it closes for this book, it will open for the next! It's hard to make a lot of interesting characters for every book, and I add the bare minimum (about forty) every time. So, help is appreciated. It's much easier to work with a character that has actually had some thought put into him/her than one that is literally just me generating random names

Yes. That is how I do that.

So, vote and comment!

You can ask questions, as well, that will be answered in the Q&A at the end of this book!

~Ellie