If anyone is wondering which year I've set this in, I think the obvious answer is 2017. Duh. I mean, that's when Albus Severus Potter started his first year at Hogwarts. So this fanfic is present day...sort of...only two years off. And if it turns out that iPhones are obsolete in 2017, I'll come back and change that. I'll try to keep the references to pop culture things that won't be obsolete in two years, though.

By the way, did you know that you can look up what time the sun will rise? In London? On September 1, 2017? I do now.

Ok that was long, let's just get to the chapter!

~~~~

I woke up bright and early. Literally. Four thirty in the morning. But I couldn't fall back asleep, so at five thirty I finally decided to just get up, because staying in bed was boring and I wasn't going to sleep.

I rolled out of bed and stumbled, bleary-eyed, over to the window. Pushing back the curtains revealed that the sky still thought it was night. I was exhausted, but my brain refused to believe the evidence right in front of my eyes that the world was not awake yet. Mentally, I had been up for hours.

After I got ready, I did an extensive search of my tiny room for wayward belongings, but everything was already packed neatly in my trunk. My new cloak was flung over the back of a chair, ready for when I would put it on. Anastasia was sleeping soundly in her cage at the foot of my bed. I ended up pacing back and forth across the width of my room for a good hour before I heard signs of life downstairs.

I glanced at my watch. 6:30. Probably not too early to head downstairs.

It took ten minutes to drag my trunk to the stairs. I was trying to figure out how to get it down the stairs when an elderly witch passed me in the hall. She smiled kindly, uttered a charm, whisked her wand a bit, and my trunk rose several inches off the ground and floated down the stairs.

"Thanks!" I called over my shoulder as I chased after my trunk, which neatly set itself down with a thunk at the bottom of the stairs.

The only people in the pub itself were the landlady, Hannah Longbottom, and her husband. For a second, I wondered why he was up so early, but then I remembered something Albus told me. He was the herbology professor at Hogwarts, so of course he'd probably been getting ready to go. They both greeted me kindly as I dragged my trunk through the door, and Professor Longbottom walked over to help me.

"Excited for your first day?" Professor Longbottom asked as he set my trunk down next to my seat. Hannah produced a plate of bacon and eggs as I nodded eagerly. I was beyond excited, actually.

"How'd you sleep, dear?" Hannah asked, setting out two plates for herself and her husband across the table from me.

"Pretty well," I lied, but unfortunately, I was a rather terrible liar. Hannah raised an eyebrow, looking amused, but didn't say anything.

"Do you have any kids at Hogwarts?" I asked after a minute. Professor Longbottom looked about Professor Potter's age, so maybe he had kids going to Hogwarts as well.

Professor Longbottom nodded. "Two, actually. Arthur is in your year, and Andrew is a third year."

"And two more coming next year," Hannah said, beaming at nothing in particular. Was that what most mothers looked like when they talked about their kids? For some reason, I had a hard time comprehending a loving mother.

At that moment, four kids trudged into the room, looking incredibly tired. The two boys looked ecstatic in spite of the tiredness, though, and the younger boy bounced into the chair next to mine.

"Hi!" He croaked, then cleared his throat. "Sorry, didn't mean to scar your ears. I'm Arthur!"

I smiled. "I'm Astra."

"Oh, we know that," the older boy said.

"Andrew, Arthur, go eat please, so we won't be late for the train." Hannah stood up and led the children to the kitchen, leaving Professor Longbottom and me to sit and eat in silence.

As the pub started filling up, Arthur and Andrew ran back and forth between the family's apartment and their trunks, sitting by the door, stuffing in things they'd forgotten like socks and hats and a stuffed bear. I sat on my trunk next to theirs and watched interestedly.

Their two little sisters, identical twins, watching me warily from a few yards away, which was a bit uncomfortable. Finally, one of them said, "Your hair looks white."

I blinked in surprise. "My hair looks...white...?" I repeated, then reached around to pull a lock of it forward. It was very blonde, but not a really pale sort of blonde. In the morning light, I could see how they'd think that, though. "It's not white. It's blonde," I said matter-of-factly.

The girl stared at me. "Oh."

"It's pretty," her twin added.

"Thanks," I said, smiling.

Taking that as a sign of friendliness, the twins sat down on their brothers' trunks next to me. "Are you going to Hogwarts too?" asked the first, a hint of awe in her voice.

I nodded. "Yep. I'll be in Arthur's year."

"I'm Alyssa," said the first twin. "That's Anna." She pointed at her sister.

Anna sighed. "We can't go to Hogwarts until next year."

"You're lucky," Alyssa added.

I nodded. I wasn't quite sure what to make of these twins.

"What house do you want to be in?" Anna asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really know what each house is like, honestly."

Anna glanced at Alyssa excitedly, who was looking back at her, just as excited. "Well," Anna started, "Hufflepuffs are hardworking and loyal-"

"-Gryffindors are brave and daring-"

"-Ravenclaws are smart-"

"-And Slytherins are cunning. And evil."

"They're not all evil." Andrew had walked up. He made Alyssa hop off his trunk so he could stuff some cards into it. They looked like baseball cards.

"They are so evil!" Anna retorted.

"Severus Snape wasn't evil, was he? You can ask Professor Potter about him, he'll tell you." Andrew walked off again, acting incredibly superior.

Alyssa sat back down in a huff. "He thinks he's so cool, just cause he goes to school and gets new books and robes and has an owl."

"He's not that cool at all," Anna agreed.

I was saved having to comment by Professor Longbottom calling Andrew, Arthur, and me to bring our trunks out to the car. I hopped up and quickly dragged mine out, followed by the two boys.

We all piled into the surprisingly roomy car, and Professor Longbottom drove off. It was obvious he wasn't used to driving, since he had to ask me what the red light meant, but we got to King's Cross Station safely anyway.

Professor Longbottom found a cart, and we loaded our trunks onto it. As we walked through the station, I glanced at my ticket.

Platform 9 3/4

Whoa. Wait. What?

I stared up at the signs. There was 8....9....10. No 9 3/4. I turned to Professor Longbottom in confusion. "Where do we go?"

Andrew smiled. "Here, let's go ask the conductor!"

Before his parents could stop him, Andrew grabbed both Arthur's and my hands and pulled us over to one of the station employees, who looked at us uninterestedly. Until he saw the two owls sitting on top of our luggage. Then he gave us a weird, almost wary look. "What do you kids want?"

"Could you please direct us to platform nine and three quarters?" Andrew asked politely.

"Platform nine and..." the employee scrutinized us. "Look, kids, that joke is getting old. You and I both know there is no platform nine and three quarters. Stop wasting my time." We ran back to the Longbottoms, but I heard the employee muttering about "darned kids...every year...platform nine and three quarters..."

Professor Longbottom frowned at us. "Was that really necessary?"

"Definitely! Let's go!" Andrew turned and charged right into the brick wall between platforms nine and ten.

Only, he didn't hit it. It looked like he just...melted into it.

Hannah smiled at my shocked look. "It's hidden from the muggles. Just walk right on through. You and Arthur go together."

Arthur offered me his hand, but I politely declined. I didn't need help. He shrugged and we walked side by side through the wall.

I gasped when we walked through. The brick wall had given way to another platform. A sign above my head called it "Platform 9 3/4." Andrew was waving at us excitedly a few yards away, and we quickly stepped out of the way as Professor Longbottom emerged from the wall, pushing the luggage cart. A few moments later, Hannah walked through, holding each twin tightly by the hand.

We crossed the platform to the train, and Professor Longbottom unloaded our trunks from the cart, setting them down on the ground at our feet. Hannah looked like she was in danger of crying as she first hugged Arthur, then Andrew, then, to my surprise, me. As she kissed Professor Longbottom goodbye, the twins gave me and Arthur a group hug, then Andrew squeezed his way into the hug too. He ran off to board the train after a minute.

Hannah gave Arthur and me one last hug, then made us board the train before it left. Arthur wiped at his eyes discreetly and I pretended not to notice.

We weren't really in any danger of being left, and we certainly weren't the last ones on. Arthur led me to an empty compartment, and we stared out the windows, watching other families say goodbye.

Right under our window, I spotted the Potters, and pointed them out to Arthur.

"Can you believe one of our professors is going to be Harry Potter?" Arthur said with awe.

"What's so special about him?"

Arthur gave me an "are you stupid?" look before turning back to the window.

I recognized the red-headed man with them from the joke shop yesterday, so he was either Albus's Uncle Ron or Uncle George. The brunette woman next to him, presumably his wife, was saying, "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"

"You're right, sorry," Ron/George said. Then he added, talking to the red-head girl at his side, "Don't get too friendly with them, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."

So that was the infamous Rose Weasley. She had bushy red hair, and reminded me of Merida from Blaise's favorite movie, Brave. I noticed that Albus was keeping his distance from her.

"Hey!" James appeared. "Teddy's back there," he said breathlessly, pointing over his shoulder. "Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!" He gazed at the adults, apparently disappointed by their lack of reaction. "Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing-"

"You interrupted them?" Mrs. Potter asked. "You are so like Ron-"

"-and he told me to go away. He's snogging her!"

Lily said something I couldn't hear, and I glanced at Arthur. "Is Teddy the one with blue hair?"

"I don't know, was it blue yesterday? It changes, Andrew says." Arthur kept his face pressed against the window.

"It's nearly eleven, we'd better get on board," I heard Professor Potter saying.

James laughed, then turned to Albus. "See you later, Al. Watch out for the thestrals."

"I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!"

James laughed again at Albus's horrorstruck look, then allowed his mother to kiss him before leaping onto the train. One second later he was standing at the door to our compartment.

"Hey Astra!" he called, waving merrily. I smiled and waved back, then he bounded off towards the front of the train.

When I turned back to the window, Albus and Rose were gone, and Mrs. Potter, Lily, and the Weasleys were waving to the train.

A few minutes later, Albus slid open the door to my compartment, obviously relieved to see a familiar face. He sank into the seat beside me. "Can you believe this is happening? Finally?"

"I don't know about finally. I didn't know about Hogwarts until three days ago," I said, shrugging.

Arthur beamed. "I can't wait. I hope I'm a Hufflepuff. Andrew is a Hufflepuff."

"I want to be in Gryffindor," Albus said. "And my dad says the sorting hat takes your choice into account, so that means I won't be in Slytherin!"

Before Arthur or I had time to answer, the compartment door slid open once again to admit a small dark-haired girl.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked, gesturing to the one next to Arthur. She had a very defined accent. Sounded American.

I shook my head. "Nope. Have it."

Albus stared at her. "What's up with your voice?"

She frowned indignantly. "Excuse you, my voice is perfectly fine."

I shook my head quickly, giving Albus a "what's wrong with you?" look. "He didn't mean it like that!" I explained. "He meant, what's up with your accent? Are you American or something?"

"Oh." She relaxed. "Yeah. I'm American."

"Why are you going to Hogwarts, then?" Arthur asked curiously. "Don't they have wizarding schools in America?"

"Well... There's Ilvermorny... But Hogwarts is the best in the world. My grandparents went here. Wanted me to, too. I'm Wren Predatel, by the way."

"Arthur Longbottom," Arthur said, smiling.

"Astra Lewis."

"Albus Severus Potter."

Wren's eyes widened. "Potter? Like, Harry Potter?"

"He's my dad," Albus said proudly.

I frowned. What on earth was so cool about Harry Potter? "Who's Harry Potter? I mean, he's your dad, obviously, but is he famous or something?"

My three companions gaped at me.

"You've never heard of Harry Potter?" Wren said finally.

I shook my head.

"Have you ever heard of Voldemort?" Albus asked.

I shook my head again.

"It's a long story. Wanna hear?" Albus asked.

"Well, of course. And don't be so shocked. I was raised by muggles, after all."

"Well, it all started a long time ago, before even my dad was born, when Voldemort first rose to power," Albus began. He told me the whole story of how Voldemort was the most powerful dark wizard of the last century, and how his dad got his lightning scar, outwitted Voldemort several times while at school, then finally defeated him.

At the end, I understood why Wren and Arthur were so awed by him. "And he's going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Sounds like the best."

"He's going to be our teacher?" Wren yelled, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry. But still, that's so cool!"

The rest of the ride passed quickly. Wren, Arthur, and Albus were all nice, and Wren and Albus were really funny. At some point, Arthur went to go find Andrew, saying something about a new chocolate frog card. James found us not long after.

"Thought I'd find you in here, Al. Having fun with your new girlfriend?" he asked, indicating me.

"She is not my girlfriend!" Albus said hotly.

"James, that's childish," I said, trying to act superior. I guess that doesn't work when the person you're trying to act superior to is half a head taller than you and laughing his head off.

We introduced him to Wren, and they hit it off immediately. Soon we were all doubled over laughing.

After a while, James pulled something out of his bag. "Look what I found in Dad's office-"

"You know we aren't allowed in Dad's office!" Albus hissed.

"Relax, he won't know it's gone." James showed us a blank piece of parchment.

"Wow...that's really amazing, James. Blank paper. So cool," I said sarcastically.

James rolled his eyes. "It's got to be magic, or it wouldn't be in a locked drawer."

"How'd you get it if it was in a locked drawer?" Wren asked suspiciously.

"Simple. Alohomora."

"We aren't allowed to use magic outside of school..." Wren said in the same tone.

"The Ministry probably thought it was Dad. Anyway, who cares? Let's try to figure out what this is."

"I know what it is," Albus piped up.

"Sure you do," James said sarcastically. "I'm being serious."

"Me too. I know what that is. I saw Dad using it when you started school."

"Well...fine. What does it do?"

Albus took the parchment from James, tapped it with his wand, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

James laughed. "Awesome try, Al, but..." He trailed off as thin lines of ink began to spread like a spiderweb from the place where Albus had tapped it. They curled out into every corner of the parchment, and words began to blossom across the top. They read:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Making, are proud to present:
The Marauder's Map

"Whoa..." I breathed.

James looked ecstatic. "Do you know what this is?"

"No..." Wren said.

"It's a map of Hogwarts! Look, there's Headmistress McGonagall! And Hagrid! And Professor Flitwick! And they're moving!"

They were indeed. Tiny dots labelled with names were moving around the castle. Headmistress McGonagall was strolling down one of the corridors, Hagrid was walking from the castle towards the Forbidden Forest, and Professor Flitwick was pacing in the entry hall.

"This is amazing!" James breathed.

"I don't see how," Wren said, dosing us with reality. "If you're caught with that, I bet you'll get expelled."

"You're a first year, aren't you?" James asked her suddenly.

"Yeah," she said, shrugging. "So? I bet you're only a second year."

"He is," I said, and James sent a glare my way.

Turning back to Wren, he said, "Well, once we get to Hogwarts, you'll find that I'm notorious for pranking, mischief-making, and basically causing harmless trouble. I certainly know where to keep this out of harm."

"You don't need to," Albus said. "You can just turn it off."

"You can?" James frowned at the map.

"Yeah, like this." Albus tapped it again, and said, "Mischief managed!" The map appeared to wipe itself clean, like one of those toddler magnet drawing boards, where you slide the handle and it goes blank.

James stared in awe at the map. "This is amazing! Do you know what we could do with this?"

"Hopefully nothing against the rules," Wren said. Albus nodded.

James glanced at me. "Please tell me you're up for a little magical mischief-making?"

"As long as no one gets hurt," I said, shrugging.

James looked like he wanted to hug me, but restrained himself. "Well, anyway, see you guys at the feast. If you're in Gryffindor, at least." He hopped up and strode from the car, probably thinking of all the trouble he could cause with that map.

"Maybe I shouldn't have showed that to him..." Albus said nervously.

"Relax, if he gets expelled, he gets expelled. Probably your dad will find him first," I said, trying to comfort him. Albus smiled brightly.

"Let's get our robes on," Wren said, staring out the window. "I think we're almost there."

~~~~

I hope you guys don't think that was too easy, but J.K. Rowling herself said that James probably snuck the map out of his dad's office, and it seems like Harry and Ginny would watch his dot on the map, at least on his first day.

Anyway, how is the story going? Too cliche? Boring? Long? Any complaints at all, please tell me. I'll never get better if you try to spare my feelings by withholding criticism.

Vote and comment, please!

~Ellie