AN: Okay, I'm going to say the same thing I said at the beginning of year two. You don't have to read the previous years for this to make sense. You just have to know a few things.

1. I have yet to introduce the term, 'Death Eater.' They call all of that Death Eater attacks, 'Raids' and the people who carry them out, 'Raiders.' Voldemort is also unknown, as of now.

That's all I can think of for this chapter. I'll put important info from previous stories in the AN's for everyone.

Now that I've taken care of that... I am so excited about this story! I've been working on it for the last month, and I'm (finally) posting the first chapter. I hope you all like it. Now, read away!

Chapter One: There's Nothing Like Family

"Mum," Petunia grumbled from the back seat of the Evan's family station wagon. "It's a Saturday morning. Why do I have to spend my last Saturday before my normal school starts in a car?" She made sure to cast a glare in Lily's direction here. "Yvonne invited me to her house so that we could enjoy what might just be the last sunny day of the year, but no-"

"Petunia," David Evans said from the driver's seat. It sounded like he was talking through clenched teeth. "We are taking your sister to the railway station. You can go to Yvonne's tomorrow."

"Or maybe you can go to Yvonne's later today." Rose Evans said with a smile. Credit had to be given to Rose Evans, she was exceedingly patient. "The trip shouldn't take too long."

Lily was pretty sure that if she continued to chew on her bottom lip like she had been doing since she got into the car ten minutes ago, she wasn't going to have a bottom lip by the time they arrived at Kings Cross. Lily hadn't been biting her lip this summer though, at least not when her parents were around. Petunia hadn't seemed to catch on to the fact that their parents didn't like it when she referred to her younger sister as a freak or said that she was abnormal.

Petunia huffed and took a nail file out of her handbag.

Lily's summer had been completely dismal. The only place she had gone to was Leyton to visit with her grandmother and, just like Easter earlier that year, Lily's grandmother had tried to convince Lily that she didn't need to go to a boarding school, she could go to school with Petunia so the girls could spend time together. Of course, Lily's grandmother didn't know that Lily attended a very special school for witches and wizards called Hogwarts. Lily had come very close to telling her during the two weeks they were visiting though.

She was supposed to go and visit her friend Savanna House, but Savanna's youngest sister had come down with Dragon pox a few days before she was due to arrive and Lily, not wanting to catch the disease herself, didn't end up visiting.

Her summer at home had been spent, for the most part, at the small playground that was not too far from her house. She and Severus Snape, who lived over at Spinner's End and also attended Hogwarts, had spent countless hours on the swings and taking walks around the small pond behind the park.

Another thing about her summer that was driving her mad was her lack of contact with the Wizarding world. Sev didn't receive the Daily Prophet, so Lily had gone almost all summer without any information about what was going on. Her friend, Mary McDonald had written to her a few times, but her family only had one owl and her dad, who was an auror, didn't like Mary using it very often in case he needed to send something important. And if Sev's friends had told him anything about what was happening, he hadn't told her.

"Can we listen to the radio?" Petunia asked, still filing away at her nails. Mrs. Evans complied and Young Love by Donny Osmond came on. Petunia started to sing along and Lily started grinding her teeth together in an attempt to stop a stream of insults from coming out of her mouth. Before this summer, Lily had still looked up to Petunia, still wanted to get along with her, but now, almost everything about her older sister annoyed her. She wasn't Lily's 'Tuney' anymore. She was Yvonne's 'Petty,' and Lily thought she was pathetic.

"Only two and a half hours left." Lily heard her dad mutter under his breath. She knew exactly how he felt.

oOoOo

Peter Pettigrew was already on the train at ten o'clock. His father had dropped him off at the station on his way to work. He barely had time to help Peter get his trunk on the train before he rushed off to Gringotts for some important task.

Peter was sitting with his back towards the window so he didn't have to watch all the families on the other side of the glass. He knew his father had to work, and that his job was very important, he had been told this ever since he could remember, but everyone else's dad had taken the morning off to see their kid off to school.

Peter's mother hadn't even come with them, his father hadn't allowed her to.

"He's not a baby, Bertha." William Pettigrew said, harshly. "He doesn't need his mother to come. I'm simply dropping him off and heading to work." He left the room after that and Peter's mum rushed over to Peter and threw her arms around him.

"I know you're not a little boy anymore, Peter." She said, patting his blond hair down. "But I'm going to miss you. I'm not going to see you again for months. But you'll have fun at school." She said. Peter wanted to tell her that he was going to miss her as well, and that he wanted her to come to the station, but his father walked back in.

His summer hadn't been all bad though. He had spent three weeks in France with some of his mother's family, a trip that his father had missed because he had to work. He had spent a week at James' house in August with his fellow Marauders so they could all attend a Quidditch game, and he had gone over to Remus's house for a few different weekends. Overall his summer had been alright, but he was glad to being going back to Hogwarts.

"Hullo, Peter!" Ian Bones said, sauntering into the compartment that Peter was sitting in, the last compartment, the one that the Marauders always sat in. Ian shared a dormitory with Peter and the other Gryffindor third year boys and he had been friends with Peter when he and the Marauders had had a falling out.

"Hullo, Ian." Peter said. Ian was taller than Peter now. By a lot, Peter had been afraid of that. When he had seen Sirius in August, he was a good three or four inches taller than James. Remus was taller than James now as well, and James was taller than Peter.

"Sitting here alone?" Ian asked.

"Just for now." Peter said, glancing out the window. "I expect the others will be along soon enough."

"Black and Potter do like to cut it close, don't they?"

"They'll make it." Peter said.

"Sure, sure." Ian said. "How was your summer?"

"Alright, I suppose." Peter said. "Yours?"

"Can't complain." Ian said. "I got see part of the Swedish broom race."

"Really?"

Ian nodded. "The course goes right over my aunt's house, she lives about twenty miles outside of Kopparberg and that's where the race starts."

"That's nice." Peter said politely, he honestly had no interest in the Swedish broom race.

"I got to go to the Wanderers' game in August too."

"I was at that game." Peter said.

"Too bad they lost, right?"

"I was actually cheering for the Tornados."

"Ian?" Another Gryffindor boy stuck his head into the compartment. "Ian, you've got to come see this. Benjy's got himself-" He looked over at Peter. "Well, just come and see."

"See you around, Peter." Ian said, following after the boy.

Peter sighed and leant back in his seat, waiting for his friends to join him.

oOoOo

"Are you ready?" John Lupin asked, walking into his son's bedroom. Remus was sitting on the edge of his bed reading a book and absentmindedly running a finger over a scar on his forearm that he had got earlier that week. He was still a bit tired from the night of the full moon, being at home made the healing process quite a bit longer.

"I finished packing last night." Remus said, marking his place in his book and standing up. He brushed his hair out of his face and stretched, every muscle in his body tried to shout in protest, but he knew that it would be worse if he let his muscles cramp up. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts so he could visit Madam Pomfrey. He had no doubt that she could fix him in about two minutes, simply because she had supplies at the school that the Lupins didn't have at their home.

"Well come down to breakfast then, your mum made pancakes, I made some bacon and we've got some toast and marmalade." He put his arm around his son's shoulders and led him through the hall and to the small kitchen.

"Morning, Remus." Caroline said, smiling widely at her only son. "Did you sleep well? Or were you too excited?" In actuality, Remus had been in too much pain to sleep well, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"I was rather excited." Remus said, which wasn't a complete lie. "Hogwarts is fantastic."

"I wish I could go back for a few days." Mr. Lupin said, sighing reminiscently. "It really is quite grand."

"Oh, quiet down you two." Mrs. Lupin said. "I'm sure it is marvelous, but some of us will never know."

"Sorry, dear." Mr. Lupin said, leaning over and kissing his wife on her forehead.

"I'm just teasing you. I did get to see it once, and it was beautiful." She said, kissing his cheek. Remus moved over to a cupboard, opened it and pulled out a plate. "They're over here, Remus." She said, motioning to a plate of pancakes, some a bit darker than they should be.

It was no secret that Caroline Lupin couldn't cook. She could burn almost anything and didn't have the patience for it. But every once in a while, on special occasions, she would make hotcakes and they weren't half bad, so both Remus and his dad pretended that they were the most wonderful thing they had ever eaten, simply because it pleased her.

"I fixed your robes, Remus." She said, bringing over a small plate of toast and bacon. "I can't believe how much you've grown since last year. If you grow much taller, I'm going to have to start looking up to talk to you."

"I'll be sure to bend down for you, mum." Remus said. Mrs. Lupin patted his head and laughed.

"I'm sure I'll appreciate that," She said. "But I'd like it even more if you just stopped growing." They all ate their breakfasts in silence for a while.

"It's almost ten-thirty." Mr. Lupin said, looking at the clock that was hanging up next to an old family portrait. "We should get going, Remus."

"Yes, we should." Mrs. Lupin said, also glancing up at the clock. And just for a brief moment, Remus saw her eyes linger on the family portrait. It was a muggle photo and it was taken before Remus's accident. "We don't want you to miss the train."

"I'll just go and get my trunk."

"I'll do it." Mr. Lupin said, standing up quickly. They never really spoke about Remus's affliction, but it was always acknowledged.

"If you could grab my book as well…" Remus said.

"Yes, of course."

A few moments later, the Lupins gathered in the living room and were ready to apperate to Kings Cross station.

oOoOo

Mary McDonald was angry. She was furious. She was unfathomably livid. And it was all her father's fault. Well, to be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault, but she was blaming him. She was standing on the edge of the platform with her mum and two step-siblings. Kelly wasn't completely horrible but Mary thought she was, and Tyler was a complete terror. And thanks to Mary's father, she had had to spend the last week of her holiday with her mum and step-family. And it was all because he had to go on some stupid Auror mission and couldn't get off for just one day to take Mary to the station.

"Mary, stop pouting." Her mum said, grabbing hold of Tyler's arm as he tried to make a run for it, again. Mary rolled her eyes, at Tyler and her mum.

"You dropped me off," Mary said. "You can go now. Go back to your nice fancy house and your nanny."

"Mary," Her mother said, taking a deep breath. "Why do you have to act like this?"

"Why did you have to bring them?" Mary said, motioning to Tyler and Kelly. Kelly stuck her tongue out at her and Tyler reached over and pinched her. Her mum pretended she hadn't noticed.

"They are your brother and sister." Her mum said, sharply. "They came to see you off to school, the same as me."

"They aren't my brother and sister." Mary muttered.

"I don't want to be her brother." Tyler said. "And I didn't want to come."

"Hush, Tyler."

"You don't have to be Mary's brother," Said someone from behind Mary's shoulder. "That's my job!"

"Ben!" Mary said, turning around and jumping into her older brother's arms.

"Hello, little brat."

"I'm not a brat." She said.

"Mrs. Selwyn." Ben said, nodding at Mary's mother.

"Ben." She said, nodding back. Mary and Ben's father had been married four times in the last twenty years. His first marriage, to Ben's mother, had lasted the longest, and his second marriage, to Mary's mother, had been the shortest. Both Ben and Mary lived with their dad most of the time. Ben visited with his mother occasionally and Mary visited her mother when she was forced to.

"I thought you said you weren't going to make it." Mary accused.

"You're getting far too old to fall for my lies." Ben said. "Why would I miss seeing you off?"

"You said you had to work."

"And that would be a good excuse if I hadn't been lying."

"You're going to get into trouble." Mary said. "You're supposed to be at work right now, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Ben said. "But I just wanted to say goodbye." He hugged her again and whispered into her ear. "And make sure you got onto the train with a smile on your face." She laughed and pushed him away.

"Thank you."

oOoOo

Regulus had had his friends over that summer. Friends from Slytherin. Friends that Walenburga and Orion Black approved of. And Sirius had spent the last few weeks of his summer locked in his room, avoiding the lot of them. When Evan Rosier and Marcus Yaxley had first come over, Sirius could tell that his little brother had been uncomfortable. Evan and Regulus hadn't got along very well last year, but after a few days, they were thick as thieves.

And now, the Rosiers and the Yaxleys were with the Blacks on the platform.

"Isn't it just wonderful that our boys are friends?" Mrs. Rosier asked, smiling fondly at her son. "It's so hard to find proper friends for your children these days."

"We should have got them together earlier." Mrs. Black droned. "It's important for young children to have proper influences. Their minds are so impressionable."

Sirius rolled his eyes and grabbed his trolley. "I'm going to get on the train now."

"Yes, alright." His mother said. "I'll see you for Christmas." She said, patting his shoulder. Sirius knew she only did that because people were watching.

"Cheers." He said, walking away quickly.

He picked up his owl and levitated his trunk out in front of him, stepping into the train and navigating his trunk into the last compartment.

"Oof!" Sirius walked into the compartment and saw Peter on the floor.

"You alright, mate?" Sirius asked, setting his owl down and helping Peter to his feet.

"I'm fine." Peter said. "Your trunk knock me over." Peter smiled at Sirius, expecting him to make some sort of joke about how clumsy Peter was or something, but it never came.

"Sorry about that, I didn't think anyone would be in here yet."

"My dad dropped me off at ten." Peter said.

"That's early." Sirius said. "Why?"

"He had to work." Peter said.

"Oh." Sirius put his trunk and his owl up in the luggage rack and then fell back onto a seat. "You're lucky you don't have a brother, Pete."

"What'd he do?" Peter asked.

"He got himself some git friends."

"Who?"

"Rosier and Yaxley." Sirius scowled. "My mum's so bloody proud."

"Sorry." Peter said, Sirius shrugged.

"How was the last bit of your summer?"

"Alright. I went over to Remus's last weekend." Peter said. "

"Lucky, sod."

"Why didn't you come?"

"I couldn't." Sirius said. "Mum and dad didn't want me leaving the house."

"Sirius, Peter." A third boy said, entering the compartment with his trunk.

"Hullo, Remus." Peter said.

"Remus." Sirius greeted.

"Have you seen James yet?" Remus asked.

"Nah, not yet." Sirius said. "He'll get on the train right after the whistle blows like always."

"Probably." Remus said. He took the seat next to Peter and looked at Sirius. "Did you hear anything?"

"'bout what?"

"Carlee."

"Last letter I got was at the beginning of the month and she said, 'I don't know.'" He sighed.

"Same with me." Remus said. "I suppose we'll see."

"Suppose we will." Sirius said.

oOoOo

"Gisele!" Savanna shouted, running through the brick wall after her eleven year old sister. "I told you to wait for me!"

"Sorry." Gisele said, looking down at her shoes. "I'm just excited."

"I know, but wait a moment longer, yes?" Savanna turned around, facing the magical entrance and waited for her mother and sisters to materialize on the platform. She didn't have to wait long.

"I will never get used to that." Her mum said, shaking her head. "I just ran through a brick wall."

"It's magic, mummy!" Hazel said, tugging on her mother's arm.

"I know its magic, sweetheart. Well, we didn't miss the train." She said, looking up at the large scarlet steam engine. "That's lucky."

"It's not my fault." Violet grumbled, the fifth member of the House family to walk through the wall. "I didn't mean to spill my orange juice."

"No one said it was your fault, Violet." Her mum said, patting her shoulder. "I was just afraid we were going to be late."

"It was Vi's fault." Gisele whispered to Savanna.

"Shh." Savanna said, shaking her head. Savanna House was the oldest of four girls and at age thirteen, she was far more mature than most girls her age. Her dad had left when she was eight and her mother was a muggle who was left with four witches and not a clue about magic, so that left a lot of responsibility on Savanna's shoulders. She had to look after her younger sisters and make sure they weren't causing too much trouble with their underage magic.

Gisele was eleven, and starting her first year of Hogwarts. Violet was the second youngest at age nine and then there was Hazel, the baby of the family by only a year. She was eight years old, but acted more like she was five or six. Always hanging onto her mother and having other people do things for her.

And all summer Savanna had had to put up with their moaning and fighting and yelling but not anymore, today was her first day of her third year at Hogwarts and she couldn't be more excited to get back to the world she had left behind in June.

"Gisele and I should get on the train." Savanna said, absentmindedly zipping up Hazel's jumper. "If we want to get a compartment that is." She pulled her youngest sister into a hug. "I'm going to miss you, Hazel." She said. "You'll be sure to write to me, yes?"

"I'll draw you pictures." Hazel said after a moment of deliberation. "I'm not very good at writing."

"Well, it'll be good practice than." She turned to Violet. "Come here." She said grabbing her arm and hugging her. She thought about telling her to behave herself will she was at school, but didn't want to start a fight before she left. "You better write to me as well."

"I will." Violet said.

"Mum," Savanna said, turning to the last person she needed to say goodbye too. "I'll bring Gisele back in December for Christmas." She said.

"Don't worry about your sister too much. And don't worry about us," Her mum said, kissing her cheek. "We'll be fine. Good luck with school and be sure to write, you know we don't have an owl. The only way I can talk to you is if you send me a letter first."

"I always write to you." Savanna said. "But we really should get on the train." She glanced over at the large clock that was hanging in the middle of the platform. It was ten to eleven.

"Yes, alright." Her mother said. "Good luck! See you at Christmas."

oOoOo

James' morning had been oddly calm. On the last two first days of school, the Potter house had been a bit hectic. James had been scrambling to find all his school things and his shoes, for some reason his school shoes always got misplaced during the summer, but not this year.

This year it wasn't James' first year of school. Nor was Sirius Black, one of James' best mates, going to the station with the Potters. No, this year James had spent the entire last week of his summer holiday alone. The only thing he had to do was pack for school, which he had done very slowly as to prolong the process.

His father was a healer at the wizard hospital, St. Mungo's and he was also on the hospital's board that dealt with the Ministry. Lately the sub-department of the Ministry that had influence over the hospital's rules and regulations, had been trying to make it illegal for healers to treat muggles within St. Mungo's or for muggles to even enter the hospital. This outraged Charles Potter who was a firm believer that having magical capabilities did not make an individual any better than someone without magic.

Anyway, that had left James' dad very busy for the last few weeks.

His mother was busy as well, as she was vying to be head of the D.M.L.E., or the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. James knew that she really wanted this job, and he wanted her to have it as well. He was not the only one who thought that Liza Potter would make a much better department head than George Fawley.

However, both his mother and his father had taken the morning off to take him to platform 9 and ¾.

"I'm so sorry, James." His mother said, once again. It seemed to be all she had to say to him lately. "I've spent hardly any time at all with you this summer."

"That's not true." James said, even though he knew it was. "We spent time together. Besides, you were busy."

"But you're my son!" She said. "I shouldn't be too busy for you."

"Stop being so hard on yourself, Liza." Mr. Potter said.

"Listen to dad, mum." James said.

"Oh, you two." Mrs. Potter said. "You're making me feel like a ninny."

The warning whistle blew, and all the students still on the platform started rushing around, saying last minute goodbyes and hoping on the train.

"Let's get your trunk on board, James." Mr. Potter said, flicking his wand. James trunk levitated off the trolley and towards the train. "The last compartment?" He asked.

"Yes." James said. He turned to his mother. "I'll see you at Christmas." He said, picking up his owl cage. "And, I'll write. I promise." He took a step towards the train.

"If you think you're getting on the train without hugging me, you'd better think again." She said, with her hands on her hips. He sighed and put the cage down. She pulled him into her arms and kissed the top of his head.

"Mum!"

"Oh hush." She said. "I'm going to miss you, James."

"I'll miss you too." He said, stepping away from her, picking up the cage and following his father towards the train. "I'll see you later, Dad." He said, giving his father a one armed hug.

"Goodbye, James. Make sure to write to your mum."

"I know, I know." James said.

"Have fun."

"You know I will."

oOoOo

The train had already started moving, and most of the students were in compartments, there were only a few who we still in the narrow corridor. Carlee Baker was one of them.

She stood at the front of the train, her trunk and owl cage behind her, and looked down the line of compartments, slowly clenching and unclenching her fists and trying to work up the courage to move.

Her older brother Dylan had offered to let her sit in a compartment with him, but she hadn't wanted to impose; besides the sooner she got this over with the better. She didn't know why she was so nervous. They were her friends. She was just going to see her friends. She had nothing to be nervous about. They weren't going to ask her questions that made her feel uncomfortable or make her feel guilty for not coming back to school last year. They were going to be happy she was back. Dylan had tried to convince her of this but she remained skeptical. People were curious, of course they were going to ask questions, and normally that would be fine, except she had no idea how to answer them.

She took a deep breath and walked towards the first compartment door, peeking in the window but making sure to keep her face out of view from those inside.

Sure enough, a large majority of the Gryffindor third year girls were inside along with a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws whose names Carlee had forgotten. She went through the nine girls who she had shared a dormitory with first year, making sure that she remembered their names and prolonging the moment that she would have to enter the compartment.

Taking a deep breath, she slid open the door. The noise from inside quickly died down as all heads turned to see who the new arrival was. Carlee looked down at her feet, feeling uncharacteristically shy and embarrassed, especially when she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Carlee?" A familiar voice said. She looked up and saw Lily walking towards her with a large smile on her face. She dropped her trunk just as the redhead wrapped her arms around her. Carlee returned the hug, somewhat awkwardly as Lily had pinned Carlee's arms down at her side.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?" Savanna asked, getting up to hug her. Mary joined as well. The four girls stood in the doorway for a few minutes before Carlee started to feel more uncomfortable than she had when she walked in.

"Okay," Carlee said, trying to wiggle free. "Enough of that." She said, taking out her wand and levitating her trunk and owl cage to the luggage rack. "We don't need to get all emotional."

"We've really missed you." Lily said. "But you didn't answer Savanna's question."

"Hmm?" Carlee looked over at Savanna.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?" She asked again, sitting back down next to some girl with a Hufflepuff tie on.

"I didn't know I was for sure until Wednesday. And it takes an owl more than three days to fly from my house to any of yours."

"Fair enough." Savanna said.

"What changed your mind?" Lily asked.

"My brother. He wasn't as understanding this time around."

"Good." Lily said. "Do you remember everyone? Or do you want me to reintroduce you?"

"That would be wonderful." Carlee said, smiling gratefully at her. She looked around at all the people in the room and couldn't help but feel a bit silly for being so nervous, but that feeling silly didn't make her any less nervous. "I'm really glad I'm back."

"We're all glad you're back too." Mary said, putting her arm round Carlee's shoulder.

Thank you for reading, I hope you leave a review for me because I am particularly fond of reviews. I like feedback and I would like you to tell me if there are any mistakes, it's easier to fix them now then later when I have more chapters to scour through.

The next chapter will be up soon, but until then, stay wonderful!