A/N: Hello all! So, it's been forever since I've updated, and I'm sorry, but such is life. Good things to those who wait and all that. So yeah, here's the second chapter, and I'm sorry it took so long. I'm such a procrastinator! If you have any plot suggestions, feel free to share, though my storyline is pretty set. I will happily take any scenario requests. For example, if character A and character B were to kiss, how would you want it to go?

Sigh. Not Jo, am I, loves?

Love you all,
Annu B

We arrived at King's Cross fifteen minutes before the train left and I quickly dashed through the barrier with my parents. The platform was crowded, everyone busy putting luggage on the train and double checking everything. My family and I went through the same thing. Blake helped me find an empty compartment where we stashed our stuff, and we came back out to say goodbye. My mom was looking teary, and my dad was gruff-voiced as they wished me good luck in the year. I was a little sad, but mostly excited, as I hugged them both and promised to write weekly. Blake and I each got last-minute hugs before boarding and we promised Camilla great stories.

When we got on, we sat in our compartment, and waved out the window until our parents disappeared around the bend in the tracks. I plopped down in a seat across from Blake, shaking my leg.

"Excited?" He asked, grinning. I nodded, smiling as well. "Good. Hogwarts is lots of fun, Ria, you'll love it."

"Thanks, Blake," I said, grateful for the reassurance. He nodded, and smiled at a blonde-haired girl as she walked in.

"Hi, can I sit here?" She asked us. We nodded, and Blake helped her put her trunk on the rack. "My name's Melody, this is my first year." I smiled.

"This is my first year too, my name's Azaria, and this is my brother Blake. He's a third year." She nodded at him, and took the seat next to me. Her bright blue eyes examined me, and she smiled when I asked if she wanted to play Exploding Snap.

"Sure, I love that game!" We were about to play when the door opened again. Two other girls walked in, lugging their trunks. One had dark curly red hair, slightly dark skin, lots of freckles, and blue eyes. The other had dark skin, darker than mine, black hair, and brown eyes. They also asked if they could sit down, and as we agreed, they introduced themselves.

"Hi, I'm Callista Jordan; this is my first year here." Said the darker one.

"I'm Roxanne Weasley, my first year too." I grinned at her name.

"Nice to meet you. This is Melody, and my name is Azaria, we're first years too. My brother Blake here is a third year. Roxanne, how closely are you related to George Weasley?" She looked a bit startled at my question.

"He's my dad," she said hesitantly. I grinned.

"Wow, you're so lucky, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes is so cool!" She grinned and nodded.

"Well, yeah, it is, but don't you want to know if I can get you my Aunt Hermione, Aunt Ginny, Uncle Ron, or Uncle Harry's autograph?" I laughed.

"Not really, they're probably sick of that kind of stuff, I know I'd be miffed by now." She and Callista laughed.

"Yeah, they are," she told me, as Blake stood.

"Looks like you found people to hang out with, Ria, so here I take my leave," he said, tugging his luggage off the rack. I hugged him quickly.

"Thanks for hanging around, Blake." He hugged me back, grinned at me, said bye, and walked off to find his friends. We had got cards out to deal a round of Exploding Snap when Roxanne delayed the game by stating a conversation with me.

"It was really nice of your brother to hang around until you found other people to sit with. Don't get me wrong, I love all my cousins, but we are all ages, so I mostly hang out with my doof of a brother, who, unlike yours, has abandoned me. Probably for my cousin James." The door slid open after she said this, and two boys stood in the doorway.

"Not so!" said one who looked very like Roxanne, with the same hair, skin and eyes. "James and I just got sidetracked by a couple things; I was following you this whole time!" The other one grinned, and nodded.

"It's true Roxy; it's mostly my fault anyways." She rolled her eyes.

"When is it not your fault, James?" She asked the boy with dark copper-colored hair, tan skin, and a light dusting of freckles. He laughed.

"When I can manage to pin the blame on someone else." At this we all laughed, and I decided to introduce myself.

"Hi, I'm Azaria Zabini; this is my first year here." Mel caught on too, and introduced herself.

"My name's Melody, first year too." Once again, no last name.

"Well, hi. I'm Fred Weasley, the wonderfully witty twin brother of Roxy here," said the one who was indeed very similar looking to Roxanne.

"I'm James, the devilishly handsome cousin of Fredwin and Roxanne, nice to meet you two." Said the coppery haired one, as Fred exclaimed, "My name is not Fredwin, it's Fred, you dolt!" We all laughed again, and finally got the chance to play a round of Exploding Snap (which Fred lost, and nearly caught on fire in the process). Then the door opened again, revealing two people I actually knew, for once.

"Hi Lorcan. Hi Lysander." I greeted the Scamander twins. I had met them a few times at parties my family had been to for the ministry. They nodded at me in a friendly manner.

"Hi Azaria, how's it going?"

"Good, do you want to sit with us?" They accepted and sat next to James and Fred. We all sat and talked about Hogwarts and stories we had heard until the trolley came. We all jumped up to buy ourselves some candy, and I bought four of my favorites: Chocolate Frogs. As I was eating them I examined the cards I had gotten. One was James Potter, another Sirius Black, the third Remus Lupin, and the last was Fred Weasley. I smiled at heroes of the two Dark Wars. James, who was sitting next to me, saw which cards I had and grinned.

"Hey, it's me!" I laughed, shoving him lightly.

"No it's not. This guy is much more devilishly handsome than you are." James laughed.

"Eww, that's my grandfather you're talking about!" I laughed too.

"I know, I'm just teasing you," I said. "It must be amazing to be named after him." James looked at me questioningly. "He's a war hero, and supposedly a great person." I elaborated.

"Yeah, well, I do enjoy being named after the two greatest pranksters of all time!"

"You aren't named after Dad and Uncle Fred!" Fred exclaimed. James shoved him as I laughed.

"I meant my grandfather and Sirius you doof!" James said.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"My full name is James Sirius Potter," he told me. "Sirius Black was my dad's godfather, and I'm also named after him," I nodded.

"That's really cool. I think it'd be really cool to be named after people who were great people like James Potter and Sirius Black."

"Are you named after anyone?" James asked me. I shook my head.

"Nope. I am Azaria Zabini the one and only!" I joked. James laughed. That was how James became one of my best friends. As the train ride wore on, I met all of Fred, Roxy and James' older cousins that were at Hogwarts. It was a bit overwhelming and somewhat intimidating to meet so many older people, but they were all nice. I met: Victoire (a sixth year) and Dominique (a third year), who insisted I call them Vicky and Dom because French names are a mouthful; their younger brother, Louis (a second year); and Molly (a fifth year) and Lucy (a fourth year), who both had bright red ringlets. I also met other family of my new friends, such as Callista's brother Leo Jordan (a second year) and James' godbrother Teddy Lupin (a seventh year).

After I had met all these new people, and they had all cleared out, we kicked the guys out into the hallway so we could change into our school robes. As soon as all the ties were straight, belts tight, and socks folded, we let the guys in and waited in the hallway for them to finish changing. It was at this point in time that I began to get nervous. I knew most of my new friends would likely be sorted into Gryffindor, but as a Zabini, I didn't expect to be. I hoped for Ravenclaw, and not Slytherin, though my brother was a Slytherin. I wanted to be separate from my family's history, and being in Slytherin would ruin any and all chances of that. Melody was also looking a little green and I stood next to her in silence. Eventually she turned to me.

"Azaria‒" I cut her off.

"Call me Ria," I said with a smile. She nodded.

"Ria, then. Will you still be my friend after the sorting ceremony?" She asked me. I looked at her, startled.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well‒" she started, but was cut off by Fred yelling for us to come back in. Once inside, I motioned for her to continue, but she just shook her head and stayed silent. I was confused, and eyed her worriedly. What could make me not want to be friends with her? Why was she so worried?

The rest of the train ride passed uneventfully, though I continued to worry about Mel, as she got more and more silent the closer we got to Hogwarts. She was pale and mute by the time we stepped off the train. I heard a voice calling:

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years!" It was the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Hagrid. He grinned down at our clump.

"James! Fred! Roxy! I was wonderin' if I'd be able to find yeh. Though with all that Weasley hair, I shouldna had a doubt!" They laughed. "And is that Lorcan and Lysander I see?" The Scamander twins nodded, also smiling. "This'll be a fun year then, eh?"

I will not pester you all for reviews, because that would be hypocritical of me, I never leave any. But, they would be appreciated, since I like to know that people read my story and have opinions on it.

And my awesome quote of the chapter is: If you say, "Pay me or I'll suffocate you," it's a threat. If you put your hands over their mouth and nose and say, "I'll sell you oxygen!" it's a sales tactic.
I made that one up. :P