Hello everyone here's a long A/N, you can ignore if you would like! This was probably one of the very first stories I've ever written. Just edited several times. It begins here with the 2nd and goes all the way to the 7th! I'm going to try to keep this realistic. By that, I mean I don't want to rush anything. There will be no falling in love at eleven and I really hope to keep everyone as close to character as I can.

Book in this series:

1. The Golden Emerald

2. Icy Moon

3. Flaming Truths

4. Heart of Darkness

5. Deathly Endings

Disclaimed for ALL chapters: JK Rowling invented this wonderful world and any of the amazing characters you recognize! She's a genius!

Also: Everyone always ask me to cast this series, but I picture Carlie as the girl on the book covers in a way! I couldn't find actors/actresses for the rest of the new characters, so just use your imagination & pick whoever you want.

Chapter One

First Year

"Up!" I heard a rough voice yell with a bang on the door. "Get up Scarlett!" This was my usual wakeup call from my father Desmond Nyx. I glared at the pounding on the wooden door. They never liked me, not from what I remembered. I wasn't obedient like my sisters Elvira and Avelina, I wasn't as interested in the Dark Arts as my older brother Dane was, and I definitely wasn't as perfect as my brother Silvius. I saw the world differently than all of them. I find muggles fascinating and think half-bloods have the best of both worlds. It was hard for me to keep my thoughts to myself, and most of the time they didn't like what I had to say. I couldn't find a difference between wizards who were muggles or wizards who were pureblood. And my parents most definitely did not agree with that. My mother treated me like some sort of curse, like a secret that no one was supposed to know about.

"I'm up!" I shouted back. I was isolated from the rest of the house. I was on the top level in the tower. It was the only room in our large manor that didn't have temperature control to it. Lucky for me, I always knew when to wear a rain jacket because due to the cracks in my roof the water would leak through. But nothing could bother me today, because today was the first day of my life that I was going away and not coming back for a long period of time. I won't miss my family, the only person I will miss is my brother Silvius. Silvius is fifteen and he is a fifth year at the Salem Sorcery Institute and is the only caring relative I have. Although he is kind-hearted, he holds 'similar' beliefs to my family. Silvius pretty much excels at everything he does. Basically, he's their golden boy. Soon I'll be on my way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'll probably be the only American there, considering most American wizards go to Salem. I don't mind though, I'm happy to go away. Far away.

I jumped up quickly from my small bed and glanced in the broken mirror on the wall. I cracked it when I whipped my brush at it once out of frustration, maybe that's why I've always had such bad luck. My dirty blonde hair was tangled and frizzy, it took me a few minutes but eventually I was able to get the knots outs. I quickly got dressed and happily left my room. Today will be a good day. No one was going to ruin it.

I dragged my trunk loudly down the steps, hoping to make a few dents along the way.  I entered into the large dark living room where the rest of my family was sitting with their own trunks. I got cold looks from my thirteen year old sister Avelina and my twelve year old sister Elvira who were both fixing their dark hair in the mirrors. I rolled my eyes and continued counting down the seconds to my departure. Dane, Avelina's twin, was too busy to notice me while flipping through his brand new Dark Arts book. His large ice blue eyes were staring intensely at each page. It was common throughout my family to have black hair and eyes the color of ice, all of them have it, every person in our portraits had those features. Except for me of course. My mother Rosalis was adjusting the pillow placements on the couch being the perfectionist she was. Desmond, yes I refer to my parents by their first names, was nowhere to be seen. Silvius smiled over at me I gave a small smile back to before I said, "So, can I leave now?"

"You know where the Floo powder is," Rosalis snapped at me without looking up. I just glared in her direction and made my way to the fire place while dragging my trunk. Silvius got up from the couch and started walking over to me.

"Stay out of trouble will you?" he joked and gave me a tight hug. "You'll be fine at Hogwarts."

"Right..." I laughed and then took a handful of Floo powder and tossed it into the fire. "See you next summer," I said just to Silvius, not wanting to say goodbye to the rest. "King's Cross Station!" I shouted and then stepped in without looking back.

I stepped out from the flames. There was an isolated part in King's Cross Station where wizards and witches could use the Floo network to travel. I pulled the ticket out of my pocket, Platform nine and three quarters? Was that even real? This was one of those times when I wish I had someone to help me. I began to wander off into the muggle area, intrigued by their strange choices of clothing and hairdos. I walked until I saw Platform nine and ten. I stared, was this some kind of joke? I must have been standing there for a while because people began to stare as they passed. "You don't happen to be looking for platform nine and three quarters, do you?" a smooth voice said behind me. I turned around quickly. A gorgeous boy that looked a little older than me with sun-tanned skin and dark hair was standing there. He was with three other boys. I noticed he also had an American accent.

"That's exactly what I'm looking for," I answered back, shocked with my current luck. I was beginning to think I would miss the train.

"You're from the US too?" he asked. "Haven't seen you around the school."

"Well I'm a first year," I replied with a shrug. "I'm from Massachusetts, where are you from?"

"Hawaii." The boy smiled. "Why didn't you go to Salem if it's right in your backyard? My friends and I were planning on going there, but it was kind of small. We also heard their rules were pretty medieval."

"Same reason," I lied, not wanting to tell them that I was really sent here so I wouldn't embarrass the family at Salem.

"We should probably get going before we miss the train," the boy said. "My name is Jake by the way, Jacob Ryfeld. All you have to do is run straight into the brick wall." I looked at him like he was crazy. "You don't believe me?" he asked with a fake hurt expression. He then took full speed at the wall and disappeared before I could blink.

"You should go," the boy with piercing blue eyes said. I nodded and then ran full speed towards the wall. I was waiting for a crash and then pain, but it never happened. I did not need another  concussion. I've hit my head so many times I'm surprised I can still remember my name. Opening my eyes, I found myself standing in front of a large train labeled Hogwarts Express. I gave my trunk to one of the workers and eagerly boarded the train.

As I stepped onto the train, I noticed that it was packed. Kids were running all over looking for seats. It sucks not knowing anybody. I began to walk around looking for a seat. Suddenly somebody slammed past me, knocking us both to the ground. Guess I spoke too soon about my falling issue. "Watch where you're walking," I muttered more to myself than anyone else. I stood up without looking back.

"Excuse me?" a cold voice said angrily. I turned around and saw a boy, not a bad looking one at that, who must have been just a year older than me with white-blonde hair and grey eyes. He did have that 'tough' guy look, the type of kid I saw walking around Old Salem Village, just looking for trouble.

"You heard me," I stated and held back my hesitation. One of my goals coming to Hogwarts was to not get stepped on. I got pushed around too much at home, I only hoped that'd be different here. Another goal was not to be hated like I am at home...so this was a bit of a dilemma.

"Who do you think you are, you little..." I felt somebody place a strong arm on my shoulder.

"Picking on girls again Malfoy?" Jake asked him and then looked at me. "Come on, we're sitting over here." I gave a smart smile at Malfoy then walked off with Jake. He opened the compartment door and I walked in to see his other three friends sitting there as well. I sat down on the seat nearest the door. "I never caught your name," Jake said while sitting across from me. I didn't want to go by Scarlett, it was too formal for me and I don't think it suited me well.

"Carlie Nyx," I responded, taking the Carl from Scarlett. Silvius came up with it, being the clever brother he was. He's called my that since I was a baby. No one else in the family would though.

"These are my buds. This is Cal," he said and motioned towards the guy with the shoulder length brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He looked like the biggest surfer of them all, he had a necklace of mini shells around his neck. "This is Gabe." He pointed at the guy with large muscles. "And this is Nico." The guy with the piercing blue eyes gave me a hello before the compartment door was opened up.

"Have any of you seen Harry Potter or Ronald Weasley?" A girl with bushy brown hair asked the guys. Did she just say Harry Potter? Harry Potter was at our school?

"No, we haven't seen him," Nico answered her. She sighed in an annoyed tone.

"Oh I hope they didn't miss the train," she answered. "I've been going from compartment to compartment. Alright, thanks anyway." 

The ride was long, but it was a lot of fun. This was the only time that I could be myself around people without getting in trouble for it. I realized the guys and I had a lot in common. They were always getting in trouble as well. They warned me to beware of Professor Snape and that Draco Malfoy was the schools biggest git, some British word for jerk they learned over the years. Jake explained to me what happened last year with the Philosopher's Stone. If Harry Potter really did go to our school, then I definitely wanted to meet him. "What house do you think you'll get in?" Jake asked.

"House?" I questioned him.

"There are four houses," Nico said, "Gryffindor." Jake coughed 'the best' "Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. We're all fourth years in Gryffindor."

"And how do you get put into these houses?"

"By the sorting hat." Okay, a hat decides which house you get into? None of this was making any sense to me. Nico must have noticed my confusion because he answered my thoughts. "When they put the hat on your head, it can read into your mind, it learns pretty much everything about you, and decides which house you'll do best in. It almost put me in Ravenclaw, but then it quickly switched me to Gryffindor. Gryffindor is for the brave, Ravenclaw is for the intelligent, Hufflepuff is for the loyal, and Slytherin is for the cunning." I just nodded.

"I'm not sure which house I'll be in, I guess I'll have to wait."

We continued to talk for the rest of the ride. The snack trolley came and the guys pretty much bought one of everything. We were about to arrive and we still had to change into our robes. They were going to get changed in the compartment so I went to go change into the bathroom. When I got there I realized there was a line. I stood behind a girl who was wearing her robes already. She had ash blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun, similar to my color, but she had dark blue eyes and a dash of freckles across her face. "Are you in line?" I asked her.

"No, I'm just waiting for my friend," she answered in an Australian accent. I nodded and moved past her, but there were still people ahead of me in line. "Are you a first year as well?" she asked me. She sounded very smart the way she spoke.

"Yeah," I answered back to her, "You too?"

"Yes, you must be from the United States," she stated, I nodded at that. "My name is Dasha Scott, what's yours?"

"I'm Carlie Nyx, are you from Australia or something?" It could have been New Zealand or South Africa, I wasn't very good at differentiating between those three.

"Yes I am," she replied nicely. "This is my friend Eowyn O'Connor, she's from Ireland. Our fathers worked together at Gringotts for years." She pointed to a girl who just came out of the changing room. This girl looked completely different from Dasha. She had red curly hair, green eyes, and piercing all over her ears. I smiled at the two of them. Dasha looked at her friend. "Eowyn, she's a first year too."

"Hello!" Eowyn said in a hyper voice and a strong Irish accent. "That's so cool maybe we'll all be in the same house!" Alright, I think this girl ate too many licorice wands because she was literally jumping. They both seemed nice though, maybe I actually will make some friends this year.

"Yeah, maybe," I responded with a smile. "Well I should probably go get changed, see you later."

 Hope you're enjoying the first chapter, there's many more to come!