The last few days before school started passed like a flock of sheep crossing a road. Very slowly. With lots of horns being honked (AKA James and Albus almost bringing the house down every few hours with a new fight). And when the horn is honked, the sheep stop and stare at you instead of moving. Then you're stuck there for hours.

Anyway, the days passed slowly. Not even my first ever birthday party could speed things up. I was too excited to focus on anything for long. James and Albus seemed to share this feeling, but while it simply made me wander around listlessly, wondering what I could do, it made them fight even more than usual.

The only one who was unaffected by this was Lily. She looked incredibly sulky whenever Hogwarts was mentioned. She still has a year to wait, and it was obvious it was going to be a very long, very whiny year. I did not envy Mrs. Potter.

The waiting was like waiting for Christmas. It takes forever. You feel like every hour has been replaced with a whole year. But, eventually, the clock ticks down to midnight on the 24th, and it's finally arrived. And, normally, you're asleep then. If only that had been the case on the last night of the summer holidays that year.

I went to bed at a very unreasonable hour, much too early. In fact, we all did. None of us could stand one more evening of Lily complaining and James and Albus at each other's throats, so we all headed up the stairs earlier than normal.

It took a long time to fall asleep for me. I kept rubbing Wren's locket between my fingers. I hadn't thought about her a lot recently, even though I'd worn the necklace every day, and most nights. We hadn't learned anything, and I think James had been avoiding the subject, so I gladly went along with that. Why talk about something that would only make me upset? I didn't want to cry in front of James. I mean, James and Albus.

I began to think that I would fall prey to insomnia for the rest of my life, and that I'd never sleep again, and many other hopeless thoughts you think when it's the middle of the night and you can't sleep. I must have eventually fallen asleep at some point, though, because you can't dream when you're awake.

A girl with long, straight black hair was sobbing. Her hand was clutched around some piece of blue fabric. I instinctively walked over to comfort her, but as I did, the scene changed.

I was now in the middle of a battle. I recognized my surroundings immediately, which was eerie. I never thought I'd see Hogwarts on fire.

All around me, people were flinging spells and curses at each other. I watched as a woman with bright pink hair got hit by a curse, and I ran towards her.

A man nearby, who looked a bit like Teddy did sometimes, reached her at the same time I did. He was crying, just like that girl had been. Before I could even think about saying anything to him, I felt everything shifting yet again.

Now where was I? I had no idea. It was a large, old house. I could distantly hear a loud roar every few seconds. Was I near a zoo? The ocean? I walked towards the house, and I little girl burst through the front door, smiling and laughing. I recognized her immediately. Wren, of course, years ago.

A group of older kids walked down the road that passed the house, laughing. When they saw Young-Wren, one of them pointed and yelled, "Hey, look, it's the little freak!" All of them laughed cruelly. Young-Wren looked hurt, and as they started to walk towards her, I ran out to stop them. One of the kids walked right through me. It appeared that I would have to be content with watching.

The leader of the group had hardly opened his mouth before someone gasped and pointed at his head. Everyone's attention was drawn to his hair, previously brown, but growing more blue every second. Most of the kids screamed and ran, and Young-Wren fled back inside the house. I tried to follow, but once more, the scene changed.

A boy and a girl, maybe seventeen or eighteen, were sitting side by side on a bridge, in the middle of nowhere. The boy was waving his wand around casually, occasionally pointing it at an insect and muttering a spell quietly. The insect would proceed to drop to the ground, dead. The girl giggled each time. Based on how close they were sitting, and how the boy's arm was around the girl, I guessed they were dating.

The girl looked familiar, so I floated closer to her. Suddenly, I recognized what it was. The likeness was faint, but the girl looked like Wren. So did the boy, actually, though not as much.

I was close enough to hear the boy as he pointed his wand at another creature. This time it was not an insect, but a medium-sized, mangy dog that had wandered along the path towards them. It looked like a stray.

Before the boy could say a spell, the girl's voice said, "Crucio!" She laughed in what looked like delight as the dog started to howl in agony.

The boy smiled, apparently impressed. "Nice, Kat. You good at that one."

"Well, I hope so. I've been doing it since I was little."

He nodded, smiling ruefully. "Wish I'd had your uncle. Maybe not your parents, but at least him."

"Oh, Isaac, your parents just don't understand..."

"Yeah. And they never will. As soon as I can, I'll make them see."

I woke up suddenly, not sure if I was awake or if this was still a dream. I had to get up, walk over to Lily, and touch her to convince myself I was truly awake. I walked back over to my bed and pulled my blanket around me.

That was the most sporadic dream, or succession of dreams, I'd ever had. I blinked up at the ceiling, trying to sort through everything. I only remembered bits and pieces of what had happened...

I was asleep again before I knew it.

~~~~

The next morning passed with surprising swiftness. It felt like seconds between the time I woke up and the time I was running through the wall of a Platform 9 3/4. I stayed with the Potters as we weaved through the crowd.

We ended up next to the Weasleys, and Rose squeezed past her parents to come stand next to Albus and me. "Excited?"

"Of course."

"I guess so," Albus said, glancing around at the crowd nervously. "What if our new headmaster is awful?"

I hadn't given our new headmaster one thought over the course of the summer. I knew our previous one, Professor McGonagall, had retired last year, but I'd never thought about who might be her replacement. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'd had a hazy idea that it would be Professor Longbottom. He was the deputy headmaster, after all.

"Isn't it going to be Professor Longbottom?" I asked.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Of course not! Headmasters aren't allowed to have children at the school. They'll be too tempted to show favoritism."

"Oh..."

Albus nodded. "But what if he's terrible?"

"He won't be," I assured him quickly. "The school wouldn't hire someone who's terrible."

Before we could speculate anymore about the subject, Mrs. Weasley called Rose over and gave her a hug. Albus hugged his mom and Lily, and I did too, then they shooed us away to get on the train.

James, who had disappeared while we were crossing the platform, appeared at my side once more. He helped Rose and me load our trunks onto the train, then we all found a compartment together.

"I can't wait to go to Hogsmeade," James said, staring out the window.

"You know third years only get about four Hogsmeade trips during the whole year, right?" I asked.

James rolled his eyes. "That's four times more than second years get, Ms. Know-It-All."

Before we could argue anymore, the compartment door slid open, revealing Dominique Weasley. She quickly hugged me, then sat down next to us.

"Hey, Dom," Albus said, sounding dismal.

"Hey Al," she said, copying his tone exactly. Albus managed a smile.

"Why aren't you with your friends?" James asked irritably. He must have still been annoyed at me.

Dominique snapped, "I can sit with my cousins if I want to!"

"How's Teddy?" asked Rose quickly.

"Good, I guess. He came over for a few days, but I never saw him really. He and Victoire spent most of the time in her room." Dominique shuddered.

"I hope they get married," Rose said dreamily.

"Then he'd be part of the family officially!" Albus added.

Dominique crossed her arms. "I can't stand any more of them."

I giggled. "You guys are all so weird. Isn't Teddy already practically family?"

"Well, yeah, but it's not official," Rose said stubbornly.

"It's the thought that counts," I said, shrugging.

Before anyone else could comment, the door slid open and Victoire poked her head in. "Hello, cousins! Oh, and Astra!"

A chorus of hello's greeted her, and she beamed. "Did you hear? I'm Headgirl this year!"

"Congratulations!" Rose exclaimed.

"Thanks," Victoire said, beaming proudly. "Well, I've got to go meet with the prefects! Bye!" And she was gone.

Rose stared longingly after her. "I want to be just like her."

Dominique rolled her eyes. "Please, no. I can hardly handle one of her. She's been telling everyone about being Headgirl!"

"Well, it's sort of a big deal," I said, shrugging. "There's only one Headgirl every year."

"But she's been like this all summer! I can't stand it!"

Albus started inching away from his cousin. I'd never seen Dominique upset, but I'd heard horror stories from Al and Rose. It sounded to me like she had anger issues, and a visit to a nice muggle doctor would help, but that probably wouldn't happen. Pureblood families tended to stick with wizard doctors.

"Hey, at least you aren't in the same House as her," James said, shrugging.

Dominique ignored him. "All summer, it's been 'Headgirl this, Headgirl that.' She keeps showing that stupid badge to anyone who has eyes, and even things that don't! I just want to take that Headgirl badge and shove it down her Headgirl throat!"

"Whoa, Dom, calm down, okay?" James said, as carefully as if he was diffusing a bomb.

"SHUT UP, JAMES!"

"Shut up yourself!" He glared at her.

Dominique stood up and started towards James. Without thinking, I jumped up and grabbed her arm. "Snap out of it!"

Dominique glared at me, then seemed to realize it was me, and not one of her cousins, and her glare slowly faded. "Sorry..." she muttered, then stood awkwardly in the middle of the car. After a minute, she slipped out the door, saying she was going to find her friends.

Another minute of silence followed. James stood up after a while. "I think I'm going to go find Marcus and Colin. See ya." He quickly stepped through the door and slid it closed after him.

I turned to look at Rose and Albus, sitting across from me. "So..."

"I wonder if Scorpius is here," Rose said quickly, standing up.

I jumped up and grabbed her arm. "Nope, you are not leaving. He can find us."

"Anyway, of course he's here, Rose." Albus looked very smug. I'm sure everyone did when they corrected Rose, the self-proclaimed "infallible" genius. "He can't get to Hogwarts unless he rides the Hogwarts Express."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I know that."

Albus smiled, almost a smirk, but I don't think he was capable of a smirk. "Sure you did."

Rose apparently gave up on arguing the point, which was just as well, because I'd heard enough arguing in the past week to last me a lifetime. I'll admit, I had been arguing as well as the boys. Just not as much.

Scorpius did manage to find us. Albus quietly switched seats to the one next to me, so Scorpius sat down next to Rose. She smiled at him. "Hi."

"Hey, Rose. How's it going?" She shrugged. "Astra met any more fans?" he asked, turning towards me with a smirk.

"No, I have not," I said shortly. The fact that I had a fan was weird enough. This might sound mean, but I was desperately hoping that Adalyn Lostry would get placed in any House except Gryffindor.

A knock sounded on our door, and we all turned to see who it was. The first person to slip in was a Tardis-less River Towning. And behind her, joy of joys, was Adalyn herself.

"Mind if we sit in here?" River asked. "Neither of us really knows anyone, except you, and everywhere else is full."

"Sure," I said, sighing. "Why not?"

River took the open seat next to me, which I was grateful for. Adalyn looked a bit disappointed, but sat next to Rose.

"I'm so excited," River said, bouncing next to me. She was wearing a distractingly colorful skirt, and I could almost feel Albus about to comment about how she was wearing a parrot.

Rose caught my attention from across the compartment. She nodded towards River, then mouthed Who's that?

"Oh, right, guys, this is River Towning," I said quickly. She smiled and waved at them. "River, this is Scorpius Malfoy, Rose Weasley, and Albus Potter."

"Potter?" asked Adalyn. "Like Harry Potter? Or James Potter?"

Albus frowned. I knew he didn't mind being identified as "Harry Potter's son," unlike James, but being called "James's brother," as a way to identify him was a terrible idea.

"Yeah, that's him," Rose said carefully, glancing at her cousin.

Adalyn stared at Albus in awe. At least she'd finally stopped staring at me.

River rolled her eyes. "Really, Adalyn, you're going about being a fangirl completely wrong. You're supposed to be calm around the person, then freak out and fangirl and idolize afterwards, with your fangirl friends. Trust me. I'm a professional, Tumblr-certified."

Adalyn blinked. "Oh..." I don't think she understood any of that. I had never heard the word "fangirl" used so many times in one breath.

We chatted the ride away, and when Adalyn could get over freaking out about me, she was pretty nice. The problem was, she wasn't able to get over freaking out about me much at all. If she got put in Gryffindor, I was in for a long year.

~~~~

Wednesdays are not the best days for me to write. I have piano lessons right have school, then church, then any homework I didn't do in the car on the way to my piano lessons. Because of how hectic Wednesdays are, I'm going to change my original schedule. Instead of Wednesdays, I'll now be updating on Thursdays.

Hope that works for all of you! I'm just too brain dead on Wednesdays to even write a good chapter.

Random note: It is a known fact that I have never watched an episode of Doctor Who in my life. The only experience I have with it is a few obsessed friends. And so, I created the character River Towning long before I realized there was an actual River in Doctor Who. So, that was a coincidence. But a good one? I don't know. Is River a good character in Doctor Who?

Vote and comment!

Love you guys!

~Ellie