Alana "Grey" Sampson's Story

James Potter was a light sleeper. He liked to think that it came from a lifetime of sleepovers surrounded my a veritable horde of cousins (and one sneaky uncle) with an unwavering obsession with pranks and a very bare sense of restraint. He had received almost two decades of training, all so that he could snap off the muggle alarm clock beside his bed just a second after it went off. Groggily, he sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. The sun was barely starting to cast a greyish glow across the horizon and the house was silent.

Perfect.

James jumped out of bed, gathered a few choice items from his desk and slipped out of his room into the corridor. The Potter children shared the entire second floor of 12 Grimmauld Place. He crept past the bathroom, past Lily's room (he would come back to her in a moment), and stopped at the door closest to stairwell. Slowly, so as to be as sneaky as possible, James reached out and grasped the doorknob, testing it gently. Locked. James cradled his items in the crook of one arm and reached into the waistband of his pajama bottoms...

Oh, bugger, he groaned internally. Of course, after all of his careful preparation, he would forget his wand in his room. And it was entirely unreasonable to expect to sneak all the way back to his room. Luckily, James Potter always had a Plan B.

Quietly, James rummaged through his items for a moment before pulling out what looked to be a small, silvery sphere. He tapped a spot on the sphere and eight spindly limbs emerged, waving crazily in the air. James set the sphere on the ground and it toddled toward the door, squeezing itself underneath. James pressed himself against the wall next to the door and waited.

"Three," he muttered to himself gleefully, "Two... One..."

There was a terrific bang from inside of the room and a plume of thick, purple-black smoke billowed from underneath the door. James howled with laughter and pounded on the door.

"Wake up, ickle Alby!" he shouted in a sing-song voice. "First day of schoooooooool!"

He dashed back down the hall to Lily's room and happily kicked the door open, hard enough that the doorknob dented in the plaster (which had been magically repaired so many times that his mother didn't even get annoyed anymore).

"Rise and shine, Potter!" he shouted, throwing the rest of his stash of items into the air. As one, fifteen tiny figurines of their mother on a broomstick took to the air, zooming around the room, shouting obscenities in thin, squeaky voices at each other as they threw tiny quaffle back and forth. Ginny had flatly forbidden any of them to buy the souvenirs as soon as they'd been discovered on a trip to Diagon Alley a few weeks ago, and of course, James had bought fifty as soon as her back was turned. A few of them started throwing quaffles at Lily's nest of red hair. "Back to Hogwarts!" he bellowed, slamming the door and locking his sister in with the swarm of chasers. He strode quickly back to the bathroom, locking the door soundly. On the floor above, he could hear his parents shifting around, sufficiently awakened by all of the commotion. He sighed as he started up the shower.

He loved the first day of school.



When the gently knock came on the door, Grey was sitting in the window sill, sipping instant coffee, watching the city wake up. She glanced at the door, but didn't move.

"Wake up call, young miss!" The middle-aged muggle woman who ran the boarding house was clear and sweet. With a sigh, Grey crossed the room and pressed her forehead against the door.

"I'm awake, thank you," she called through the door. The woman hummed in acknowledgement and Grey heard her shuffling away down the hall. She drifted quietly back to her seat in the window sill. She had more than enough money to have put herself up in a magical boarding house, but Grey had always been oddly comfortable around muggles. There was something very... transparent about the whole thing.

It'd been one of the many, many things her mother... disapproved of.

She'd been awake for hours, since sometime just after three a.m. At first, the idea of being sent to a foreign school, away from her mother for the first time in her life, she'd been thrilled. It'd seemed like the answer she'd been searching for, the way out. Now, her stomach was rolling, her knees felt weak, and all she wanted was to go home. She hadn't exactly had any friends per se at the Academy... but she had been comfortable. The professors, at least, had liked her in their own way. She had a routine. Now, she was expected to do it all over again in a foreign country...

All alone.

The street below was starting to crowd up and Grey was seriously considering just crawling back into bed and charming the door closed for eternity, but suddenly, there was a sharp tap on the window. Grey's heart plummeted as she recognized the stately Great Horned owl balanced on the sill. With shaking fingers, she pushed the window open and untied the bright red envelope from the owl's leg. It flew off immediately, and the edges of the envelope started to smoke. Biting her lip, Grey ripped open the envelope and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the screaming. For a long moment there was silence and then,

Don't embarrass me, Alana. I'll be watching.

The voice was soft. Cold. Grey pressed her face into her knees and took great gulping breaths, willing her heart to stop fluttering so frantically in her chest. There was a soft thump and a meow and Checks pressed her face against her leg, purring loudly. Grey buried her fingers in her long fur and felt that familiar cold, numb sensation drift over her mind. Everything was easier to deal with when she just... refused to care.

If her mother's howler had done anything, it'd reminded her that she could do anything if it meant she didn't have to go back home.

She gathered her trunk and locked Checks into his carrier slowly, still fighting down sickness. It wasn't difficult to get her things down to the street or into the cab to take her to King's Cross Station. It wasn't even hard to navigate her huge store of belongings into a cart and make her way to the train platforms. It was however difficult to figure out which one was nine and three quarters. Obviously, the platform was hidden from muggle view, but she should be able to see it at least. She spent a long minute staring at the area where platform nine met platform ten. There had to be some kind of trick to seeing it or getting there... with a sigh, she leaned wearily against the brickwork pillar...

And promptly fell straight through, cart and all.

Checks hissed as her carrier fell from the cart with a snap. She snatched up everything that had fallen, face hot, and looked around to make sure no one had noticed her clumsiness. She definitely didn't see anyone laughing, but that certainly didn't mean much. She pulled her things onto the train without speaking to anyone, searching for an empty car. The train seemed to be filling quickly. The best she could find was a car with one girl who seemed to be about her age. There was a caged owl in the seat next to her... it didn't seem like she was waiting for anyone. Grey bit her lip, took a deep breath and knocked against the side of the open compartment door. She promptly felt stupid for actually knocking.

"Hi. Um, do you think I could..." she gestured dumbly towards the empty seat across from the girl. She could feel her cheeks warming up again. "Is that seat-- you know-- um, taken?" she stammered.

Dakota was just getting ready to stand up and check the train before it started to move when a girl came in and asked to sit down. Dakota smiled at the girl. "Hello!" Dakota greet the girl and watched her struggle. She gave a sympathetic look and just kept the smile on her face. "Please do sit down! I don't mind at all. I'm Dakota by the way, pleasure to meet you." She said and gestured to the seat across from her.

When the girl got settled, Dakota stood up. "I will be right back, I just have to check to make sure no harassment is going on in the train. Being a prefect here is a difficult job, with naughty second years." She said with a small laugh. "When i get back you can introduce yourself, and we can talk, and I am sure we'll make great friends!" Dakota said truly excited to see a new face around this train.

Soon Dakota shifted out of the compartment. She had noticed most of the train was in order and people were getting settled in their compartments. The late comers needed help, and thus Dakota had decided to help them. She had walked passed the bathrooms and heard something. "Just go down the corridor and the third compartment to your right should be free!" Dakota said smiling and turned to go into the bathroom.

It had seemed that it was someone in there. She listened first assessing the situation and it sounded like some ruckus going on and she shook her head, opening the door. She saw what was going on and immediately pulled her wand out. "Stupefy!" She called out and the three boys were knocked to the back of the bathroom. "I'll be reporting the three of your to your house heads' for appropriate actions to be done! Beating of another student will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Get on will you." Dakota said sternly and watched the three boys leave.

Once they left she sighed softly. "I really hate those guys, I wish they'd just leave you alone, come on lets clean you up." She said softly offering a hand for him to get up.

Dakota had just helped out Francis, who was one of the Longbottom twins, when the other half came in. Right away she could predict the turn of events. Life never got more interesting than when Alice went after who attacked her brother. She could understand in a sense. Her brother Skyler would send guys to the hospital if she was ever bullied. Luckily enough, Dakota only got name calling, but she learned to brush it off her shoulders. She knew she was better than what they were saying. Dakota knew her worth and that was made her untouchable in a verbal sense. Even if someone tried a physical fight with her in the magical realm, Dakota knew a whole spectrum of spells she could use. For instance the stupefy spell against the twits that had harassed Francis.

She had tried to clean Francis up, but he didn't seem to want part of it. The two were quite protective of each other. This was going to be a long year, Dakota could already tell. Sighing softly, she left the bathroom behind Francis. She'd follow them, but knowing Alice what she was going to do, if Dakota had seen it she'd have to report it, something Dakota didn't want to do. Dakota knew Alice was in the right, so she practically turned a blind eye to it all.

Going back into the bathroom she got a cloth out from her pocket and got it damp with warm water. Coming back out in time to see Alice and Francis reunited, she turned to them and gave them the warm damp cloth so Francis could clean off. When they both walked back to their compartment, Dakota turned and went back to the compartment she had previously been in.

Upon returning she had seen the girl who had entered her compartment previously. Sitting down next to her Whisper's cage she gave a small smile to the girl. "Sorry for the delay, there was a little tussle, nothing to fret about." She said and finally relaxed in her seat, knowing there was other prefects that would check the train again. "So, what was your name again?"

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Lily had smiled when she had a small greeting by the Longbottom twins. Francis had told her that she was far from the devil and she chuckled, "Not what James will be thinking after this morning." She retorted with a smirk on her face. The morning had been horrible waking up early, but she knew she'd get the little git back, she just have to figure out how she would do it. Perhaps Alice could have some sort of inquiry on the matter. "Not so much he chose you over his barbie doll, but more so he agreed to let me sit here with you guys, plus you know the two haven't seen each other all summer, so I assume they want their time to themselves." Lily said in response to Alice and laughed a bit.

Soon enough Francis had gotten up to use the washroom. That was when she could feel Alice hold onto her hair and start to mention how Lily should take her old beaters clubs. Shaking her head she just laughed a bit. "I believe I can hold my own Alice, I don't doubt if something did happen, that boy would have a swarm of people after him." Lily said thinking about it. She knew without a doubt James or even possibly Alby would throw the first punch. Despite Alby and Lily not being the closest, they'd still hurt someone if they had to. Before Alice had gotten up to go check on things, which was undoubtedly Francis, Puck had sat in her lap. Smiling she pet the cat, while she was left alone in the compartment. She knew the twins would return.

Lily had thought about the year to come. She wished she had been at least a fourth year by this point, but sadly she was stuck as a third year. At least she could say she was a lot more mature than most third years at the least. It was a few minutes until Francis had made his way back in. He was bruised and a little bloody. Which made Lily angry, but she knew it was best not to ask him about it. "So how was your summer, Francis?" She asked him with a sympathetic smile on her face. She assumed it was best to move on from what happened in the bathroom.

James enjoyed the ride to the train. He would never admit it-- well, okay, he would probably admit it-- but he loved messing with his little siblings, arguing and bickering with them. Maybe it was because deep down, he knew that all of the words were just words. If there was ever need, the Potters would be there for one another in an instant. And given the temper of the younger Potters, they would be there for one another with some particularly spectacular results.

As they arrived at the train station, he made a big show of kissing his mother's cheek, picking her up with the force of his hug. She laughed and pushed him off affectionately. He hugged his father as well and then skirted a wide circle around Lily and Albus (who were world champion grudge-holders) before heading over to a group of friends. He hadn't mentioned it, but he felt... a certain way this time around on the train. There was something weird about the idea that this was his last first day of school...

When the time came, he climbed onto the train with everyone else. Of course, he had procrastinated and now most of the compartments were filling up. He passed a compartment Lorcan, Lysander, and his cousins Roxy and Freddie, but he just waved as he went past. It was a bit crowded in there, especially with everyone's pets milling around. He passed another compartment with Victoire and considered going in, but then he caught sight of his brother and Scorpius lounging across from her. Better to give Alby a bit of time... He thought the same thing as he passed Alice's compartment, watching her chat happily with Lily. Lily would forgive him more quickly than Albus, but still.

Finally, he came to a compartment with only one girl in it, although it looked like someone else had settled in there as well. A gorgeous barn hooted softly to his own barn owl, Dawn. He entered without knocking, stowing his trunk in the high shelves. He could kill a couple of hours here and then probably make his way back to Alice and Lily's compartment.

"Morning," James said as he threw himself down onto the cushions across from the girl, who looked a little flustered. "Don't think I've met you before. I'm James Potter." The girl cleared her throat, going a little pink, and was just about to speak when another girl bustled into the compartment.

"Sorry for the delay. There was a tussle, nothing to worry about." Now it was James' turn to go pink. Of course this would be Dakota Wood's compartment. He crossed his arms and for a moment considered bolting, Alby and Lily would get over it themselves, but Dakota was still in the doorway. "So, what was your name again?" she said to the girl. It seemed she hadn't noticed him yet.

[color=008000]"Oh--"[/color] his voice came out almost a squeak, and he cleared his throat. [color=008000]"Hey, Wood,"[/color] he said.




The girl-- Dakota-- jumped up, saying something about "prefects" as she left and Grey flopped down onto the bench, throwing her arms over her head. In the few weeks she'd stayed in London, she'd realized just how much she would have to deal with the language barrier. A surprising number of words here made absolutely no sense to her... Still, she was happy to be alone for a few minutes. She needed to collect herself. It was a strain, being around so many new people, knowing there there were still more completely new experiences ahead of her.

She was kind of starting to feel sick again just thinking about it.

Suddenly, a dark-haired boy strode into the compartment, stowing his luggage and taking the seat diagonal to hers, next to the window. Grey sat up in a hurry. He had the kind of easy confidence that Grey had always envied, the kind that made other people flock to him. He introduced himself as James Potter and Grey went pink. She had met his father before, of course, during one of the millions of mixers her mother had dragged her to. She was just about to introduce herself when the other girl came back.

"Oh, I'm Grey. I mean, everyone calls me Grey." she told Dakota. She watched curiously as James blushed and fidgeted. "I just transfered."

Petting the cat in her lap she listened to Francis. She saw the look that Alice had given her and gave her a small smile in response. She knew it was best not to ask questions, and let things go. Apparently her cousin Dominique didn't think the same way. Lily watched as the compartment got a little full and she wondered if it would be better to join Alby after all. She loved the twins and she loved her cousin, but sometimes things would grow to be a bit much. Lily just went to her own state of mind and did a self calming practice, as she knew Dominique asking about what happened would trigger a conversation that may not be wanted.

Lily hadn't been able to answer Francis about the Potter household during the summer, as her cousin had walked in. Lily just sat there loving the cat that wasn't hers. Lily didn't have her own animal. She had one cat once, but it was a spoiled cat an they had to get rid of it. From that point on, her parents told her she'd just have to borrow James' owl or Alby's ferret.

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Dakota had been thanked by Alice for the damp cloth and she nodded in acknowledgement. After coming back to her compartment she had heard the girl introduce herself as Grey and that she was a transfer student. Dakota's face lit up and she was excited. "Ooh! A transfer student, we don't many of those." Dakota said and she was was about to shift over and sit in the window seat across from the transfer student, but she noticed someone was sitting there.

It took a few minutes to register, and her mind went in full panic mode. James Potter was in her compartment, that wasn't something that generally happened. Sure they spoke sometimes, but it wasn't like they were close friends or anything. Dakota shifted and she sat down beside Grey and beside the window. Across from James. She heard him greet her by her last name and she grinned, "Nice of you to join us Potter." Dakota folded her hands neatly in her lap and looked over to Grey. Guessing from her accent she wasn't from another part of Europe. "Are you a transfer from America?" Dakota asked a little intrigued at the thought. If so the poor girl had a lot of new terms to learn, and that itself could be overbearing.

| James Potter | Mission: Don't. Puke. |


| Grey Sampson | Mission: Effectively act like a normal person. |

Grey glanced between the boy-- James she told herself firmly, and Dakota. They seemed to be kind of... weird around each other, although they had both been pretty normal before. Still, she gave a small smile as Dakota beamed at her. This was going well. She was successfully having a successful conversation with one of her potential classmates. Hopefully, everyone at Hogwarts would be as nice as Dakota.

She pinked a little as Dakota asked if she was from America. "Yea I am," she said. "Is it really obvious?"

James nodded and patted his knees awkwardly. Of course, Dakota would be fast at work making the transfer student feel at home. She was a hufflepuff, after all and a pretty exemplary one. Even when they were competing in quidditch, she was always sunny and friendly after all was said and done. Which was why there was absolutely no reason for him to freak out like this every time he was around her. She was sweet and cool and a wicked keeper...

He looked to the new girl instead, trying to make his voice sound normal. "It's a little obvious," he said with a warm smile. "My dad has a muggle telly and we watch American movies all of the time."

Lily had watched as soon as her cousin came in Francis changed a bit. Lily chuckled to herself as she could already see the fondness the two had, and when Alice shot her a look about it, Lily gave her one back with a little smirk. Dominique hadn't even noticed them yet at this point. Soon enough Alice was sitting down beside her while Lil kept on petting the cat.

"Hey Minnie." She said to her with a smile. At least finally there was some attention shed on Alice and Lily. While Alice spoke a bit, Lily cleared her throat before she spoke. "The Potter house was an interesting time to be. Albus cheated at wizard chess, although if you ask he'll tell you that he didn't. What a bloody wanker. This morning James was absolutely vile, I plan to get the twit back. Alby is helping."

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Dakota sat there and she tried not to focus on the fact that James Potter was in her compartment. Taking in a small breath she heard from Grey that she had been an American transfer and asked if it was that obvious. That was when James had piped up again mentioning that it had been. "Well to be fair, accents are easy to pick up from this side of the world and usually you can tell. Also North Americans just have a certain accent, and then more accents within that." Dakota said realizing she had been ranting a little bit.

She fiddled with the loose strings on her clothes and she began to have a bit of pink put into her cheeks. She just didn't know how to act around guys sometimes. It wasn't something she was used to. James was a bloody brilliant chaser, much like his mother is. She wanted to make conversation, but what if she just began to stutter? She mentally slapped her self and kept her cool. If she kept last year in her OWLs then she could keep it now talking to a boy.

"So how was your summer?" Dakota asked to the both of them.

(Sorry they're short.)

| James Potter | Mission: Control these damn emotions! |


| Grey Sampson | Mission: Maintain normality. |

"So," Dakota said, "how was your summer?"

And just like that, Grey's mood-- which had been tentatively optimistic-- plummeted. She had spent her summer being tormented unceasingly by her mother and recovering from a anxiety attack that had been so terrible that she'd lost control of her magic in a way that she never had before and coming to terms with the fact that even if her life was an unbearable, irredeemable mess, it had to be better than starting over at a different school, in a different country, on a different continent.

Grey forced herself to take a deep breath through her nose. Her heart was thundering in her chest and she felt the telltale prickle at the corner of her eyes that meant that she was close to crying. She clenched her hands into fists, clinging to the little sting of her nails digging into her palms. The one thing normal people did not do was burst into tears after being asked completely innocent questions by nice girls on the train. "Oh, it was okay," she said, forcing a smile onto her face. "I spent some time in London." Alone, wallowing in a muggle hotel, refusing to show her face among humans because she just screwed everything up anyway. "I got all of my shopping done here too. Diagon Alley is really different from the wizard shops at home." And she only humiliated herself completely trying to understand the thick accent of one of shopkeepers before she left empty-handed. She took another deep breath. She was still feeling a little out of control, but the urge to cry was receding.

James nodded and smiled, completely oblivious to Grey's discomfort. "My mum took us along to a few of her games. My dad couldn't come, something really big came up at work..." he frowned a bit, remembering the tense conversations he'd overheard between his mum and dad. Something terrible had happened to a muggle-born girl and everyone at the the Auror Office was tense and tight-lipped about it. "Did you get any training done over the summer?" He turned slightly to Grey, trying to include her. "Dakota and I are captains of our house quidditch teams. I'm a chaser and she's a keeper."

| James Potter | Mission: Juggle coolest cousin and potential boyhood crisis |


| Grey Sampson | Mission: Maintain normality. |

James jumped a little as two little foxes dashed into their compartment and leapt into his lap. They snuffled and fidgeted for a few moments before they promptly curled up in a pile with each other and fell asleep. James lay a hand over one of them, immediately recognizing them. Where Mia and Ava were, their owner was never far behind...

Roxy laughed and crossed her arms in the door of the compartment and James grinned back at her. "And there's my favorite Weasely! Roxy, if you really wanted to see me, you could have just done it. No need to use Mia and Ava as an excuse," he teased, scratching Mia gently behind the ear. "You remember Dakota Wood," he said, hoping fervently that he wasn't blushing. "And this is Grey. She's a transfer from America. Future Gryffindor for sure," he said with a wink towards Grey. "This is my cousin, Roxanne. She's the nastiest chaser out there. Don't have to worry about a bludger knocking you off of your broom. Roxy will do the job herself."

Grey looked up at the girl who had just entered. She was about her height with gorgeous brown skin and long, gently curled hair. Even though she was little, there was something... intimidating about her. Grey smiled half-heartedly. She'd had more than her fair share of bullies at home. It was hard not to see a potential tormentor in everyone now, especially when she was looking at a girl like Roxanne who was pretty enough to make Grey look plain and apparently talented enough to have won James' admiration. "Nice to meet you," Grey said weakly.

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( TIME SKIP. )

The Hogwarts Express left King's Cross Station at 11:00am. After a few slightly dramatic events over the six hour period of the drive, they had now reached Hogsmeade Station in Scotland at exactly 5:00pm. No earlier and no later. The first years went off in their boats right away to head to the castle. But, the other students had ten minutes to stay in Hogsmeade as the last few Thestrals were getting prepared to travel the children to the school.

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After talking to James and Grey for the last stretch of the train ride Roxy hopped off the train and looked around to find Freddy, it always helped that he was so tall, made it easier to find him. She quickly pushed through the crowds of people toward him and Lorcan and Lysander, "Well don't you boys look spiffy!" she said with a smile.

Freddy smiled proudly and patted Mia and Ava on the head. "I see you found your creatures." He said nodding toward the two foxes in Roxy's arms. "You want me to carry one until we get to Hogwarts?" He asked noticing she was having a hard time holding on to them both with people bumping into her.

"Please!" Roxy handed over Mia to Freddy who curled up in the crook of his elbow and just sat there watching the crowds of people.
"I don't really need anything here do you guys?" Roxy asked looking from Freddy to Lorcan and Lysander.

Freddy shook his head and looked at the twins as well, smiling softly at the slight tent of red on Lysander's cheeks.