Chapter One

I looked around at the room... The streamers and balloons were in place. The food was on the table. All of my brother's friends were mingling. I was waiting for Jason to ring, telling me that his flight was in. The last two months he'd been in Vienna on a sports tour for his high school, and I'd missed him terribly. The phone rang, and I answered it with a squealy 'hello.'

"Hey Sal," Jason said. My cheery face fell, and I started getting worried. His voice was troubled, and that couldn't mean anything good.

"Are you okay Jace?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "But Mike's not. He's in surgery right now, so some of us have to stay behind and wait 'til he's better until we can leave. I hope you didn't plan anything special."

I looked down at the outfit mum had bought me for Jason's coming home party. A single tear escaped my eye and fell down onto the table.

"No," I said. "Nothing special. Bye Jason."

"Bye Sal," he said. "See you soon."

I hung up the phone and sank back into the couch. I'd been so looking forward to my brother coming home. I'd organised this whole coming home party, not something terribly easy for an eleven year old to do. It had become boring with just my mother and me. Mum had been listening to the conversation, and she apologised to all the guests, and said goodbye to them as they left.

"Are you okay Sal?" she asked me once everybody had left.

"Yeah," I lied, getting up and crossing to the bookshelf. I pulled out my favourite book at the moment, and opened it to my page.

"Are you sure okay Sal?" she asked again.

"Yes," I lied again without looking up.

"Sally, please look at me," she pleaded.

I looked up, annoyed, and said "What?"

**

"Woah, Sally, calm down," a girl with bushy brown hair and buck teeth said. "I only asked what house you wanted to be in."

I looked around me, confused. That girl hadn't been at the party I'd tried to throw. I realised with a shock that I wasn't in my lounge-room anymore. I wasn't anywhere in the town I lived in. Where was I?

"Potter," somebody called, and I wheeled around at the mention of my last name. The caller was a skinny, pale youth with white-blonde hair. He wasn't talking to me though. He was talking to a boy with jet black hair, round glasses, and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. I realised where I was, but didn't believe, as I saw the light from the torch bracket dance across his face. I looked down at the book I was still holding, and closed my eyes, hoping to wake up from this warped dream I was having.

I opened my eyes, but it didn't help. "Sally, are you okay?" the bushy haired girl asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied, looking again at the book I was holding.

As the doors to the small room opened, revealing an elderly woman with emerald green robes, I breathed the title of the book under my breath.

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

**

The Sorting Hat: it sorts Harry into Gryffindor, although it was seriously considering Slytherin. Should I tell him this before he goes up to get sorted? He's going to be the next person up there. No, never mind, I thought as his name was called. A hushed silence came over the hall as Harry walked up to the stool that seated the aged hat. He put it on his head, and it only just stopped at his ears. It was going to be a few minutes before the decision was made.

I slid closer to the gangly red-haired boy that Harry would make good friends with: Ron Weasley.

"The hat's going to choose Gryffindor," I muttered under my breath. All he did was look at me weirdly and step away. I rolled my eyes.

"Gryffindor," the hat called out. Ron looked over at me with a funny look on his face as cheers erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry went to sit next to Ron's older brother Percy.

"Potter, Sally," Professor McGonagall called out. I noticed that Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, furrowed his brow, obviously noticing that something was wrong. Professor McGonagall however, was oblivious. I walked up to the stool and put the hat on my head.

"Mmm...." the hat said the second I put it on my head.

What was that for? I thought.

"You're not supposed to be here," the hat said to me.

I figured out that much already, I thought back. Do you know why I'm here?

"I have no idea," the hat said. "However, I do believe it has something to do with the Potter boy. Gryffindor suit you?"

Do I get a choice in the matter? I thought.

"Not really," the hat said. "Normally yes, but you're an odd case."

Thanks, I thought as it called out Gryffindor. I went and sat down next to the bushy haired girl that was Hermione Granger.

I didn't talk to anybody during the feast, nor on the way to the Gryffindor common room. The password was Caput Draconis, which, from the little I'd read, I knew had something to do with a dragon. I knew it was Latin anyway. I walked up to the first-years dorm with Hermione and I was given the bed at the top of the room. The first thing I did was get ready for bed. I took off my robes and hung them up in my wardrobe. There was one thing I didn't put away: my copy of the book I was now living.

A/N :O... Yikes, I kinda promised myself no fanfiction for two weeks, but that obviously hasn't worked out. Why is fanfiction so damn good??

So, the idea of this came to me when I was doing what I promised myself I would be doing: studying for my 'really long tests'. I don't call them exams, it scares me. I thought, what would happen if there was somebody that knew what happened? Would the trio listen to them? And that's when I started writing the fic. My friend's jealous. She can't write as fast as me.

Kidding Gabs.. You know I love you.

So, please review and tell me what you think. I can't promise I'll abandon it if people don't like it, but I might.

Actually, no I won't, but I still want to know.

Love Gabi xx