𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫

When Azalea first got her letter in the post, she wasn't quite sure what to think.

Azalea Lillian Edwards
37 Oakmoor Lane
Second floor
First door on on the left

Dear Miss Edwards,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31st July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress

Azalea had no idea what Hogwarts was. Or magic. She'd been brought up in a normal neighbourhood, went to normal school, and yet, suddenly, was now getting random letters from headmistresses of magic schools?

It wasn't real, she was sure it wasn't.

She soon, however, found out it was very much real, when this McGonagall payed the Edwards a visit. Her mother and father were so proud, absolutely swooning as soon as she left.

"Oh my gosh, we've got a witch in the family!" Her mother, Annabelle, smiled. "Lea, that's amazing!"

"Well done, kid," said her father, grinning as he clapped her on the back.

She didn't get a congratulations from her older sister, Daisy, though. They were split apart by two years, but despite that, were as close as anything. They looked nothing alike, Azalea having red hair and green eyes, Daisy a brunette with hazel eyes, but when she was younger, Daisy was Azalea's whole world. She taught her makeup, played dolls with her, and was the perfect big sister.

Azalea being a witch shattered all that.

"Congrats," was all Daisy gave her, rolling her eyes visibly and going back to her scrambled eggs, stabbing them roughly with her fork. Azalea gave her a small smile, hoping for more, but she didn't get anything.

It was the only downside of her becoming a witch, but it was a bad one.

✾✾✾

Platform 9¾ was amazing. People were milling about everywhere, and the Hogwarts Express was shiny and red and perfect, and life was just amazing.

Azalea was stood, trolley in hand, with a brand new trunk propped upon it, all the stuff she needed to buy inside it (the trip to Diagon Alley had been amazing). Her wand was in her pocket, a beautiful wand with a phoenix feather core, and her brand new owl was in her cage. She was a beautiful creature, looking at different colour everytime you glanced. Azalea had named her Belle. Partly a tribute to her loving, doting mother. Partly because she was beautiful, and deserved to be named so.

Before she boarded the train she said goodbye to her mother, father, and sister. Daisy had been growing ever sourer the more things her younger sister got, but she'd been made to come along today.

"I'll write to you," Azalea had told her.

"Yeah right you will," she'd replied bitingly.

But after hugging her parents tightly, and saying goodbye to them, Azalea boarded the train with a happiness in her heart. So maybe Daisy wasn't happy, maybe Daisy was jealous, but she couldn't do anything about it.

She, surprisingly, found an empty compartment to sit in, shoving her trunk up above and her owl, and resuming her read of her current book; Pride and Prejudice.

Naturally, it wasn't long until she was interrupted. Around twenty minutes after the train started to move, rolling through the mountains and fields, three boys walked, or rather swaggered, into the compartment.

Azalea had been expecting this. The train was only so big, and she couldn't have an empty compartment forever. She didn't even look up.

That was until one of the boys frowned at her. "Hello?"

Then she tilted her head up, looking to see three boys, all very different in looks, yet all with identical smirks.

The first boy, the middle one and the one that had spoken, had black hair and piercing blue eyes. He was looking Azalea up and down, his lips slightly parted.

The second boy, on the first's right hand side, had short flaming red hair, rather like Azalea's, and paler blue eyes. He was taller than the first, but only by an inch or two.

The third boy stood on the left, and he was very blonde with pale green eyes. He was the shortest, but again, not by a lot.

The first thought Azalea had was, I thought there might at least be some hot boys here.

"Hey?" She frowned, looking at the first boy.

"Let me introduce myself," he said, smirk practically splitting his face as he held out a hand. "I'm James Sirius Potter."

"Azalea Edwards," Lea replied, shaking his hand, before levelling her eyes down at her book again.

It was only the laughs that made her look up again, to see that the two boys on either side of this James were snorting, whereas he looked sort of wounded.

"What?" She asked, looking up at the three of them.

"You know," the red head chuckled. "I think that's the first time that's happened."

"First time what's happened?" Azalea snapped, raising an eyebrow.

"His dad's Harry Potter?" The blonde told her. "Girls usually fawn over him."

"His dad's who?" Azalea asked.

"Harry Potter, only the hero that defeated the darkest wizard to ever live!" James said. "And this is Fred and Louis Weasley," he said, pointing at the redhead and the blonde respectively. "Sons of the famous Weasley family?"

"So basically, you want me to drop to my knees and worship your ugly ass shoes just because of your famous daddies?" Azalea questioned, voice becoming sarcastic.

"What?" James scoffed. "Listen, Addie- or Anna-"

"Azalea," said the girl firmly. "And if you don't know what my name is, why should I bother to remember yours?"

On the contrary to what she was letting them believe, Azalea did actually know who Harry Potter was. She'd read in her book all about his famous final battle with evil wizard Voldemort, and how he won. She'd also read about Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry's sidekicks, who eventually married.

"Because I'm James Potter," James shrugged. "And because you look very pretty when you're annoyed."

Azalea rolled her eyes, scoffing. "Okay, Potter. I don't need you to validate me."

And with that, she picked her book back up, and resumed her reading. James, Fred and Louis seemed to get the hint and left the compartment.

Outside, Fred muttered. "Well, she was a bit of a bitch."

James, meanwhile, was staring through the frosted glass, at the outline of Azalea, mystified.

"She's amazing," he said.

"Not obsessed with you, though," Louis joked, causing James to hit him over the head.

"Ouch!"

"Shut up then, mate!"

✾✾✾

James, Fred and Louis weren't the only three Azalea ran into on the train, however.

Alice was another.

She was a blonde girl, absolutely beautiful, smiling and laughing and asking. "Can I sit here? My friends are being annoying and I need a break."

"Yeah, that's fine," Azalea, who was still reading, nodded with a smile.

The girl walked in, sitting down and saying. "I'm Alice Longbottom, by the way."

"I'm Azalea Edwards," the girl replied.

"I know, James hasn't stopped talking about you," Alice chuckled.

"Huh?" Azalea asked. "You know James?"

"Of course, our parents are friends," Alice shrugged. "But yeah, he's been going on and on about you. I think he's half in love with you by this point."

Azalea just shrugged. She didn't care if James had 'fallen' for her or whatever, because she'd only met him for all of two minutes and she knew he was an asshole.

"He was terrible," Azalea said honestly. "He came in all like 'I'm James Potter and I need an ego boost and you have to give it to me' and all that."

Alice laughed at the terrible accent she used to narrate her story. "He's always been like that," she said honestly. "His younger brother Albus is the complete opposite, but his sister, Lily, she takes him down a peg or two."

"Well, he needs it," Azalea shrugged. "How big is their family, anyway?"

And soon, she was getting a whole explanation of the Potter and Weasley family, which apparently, the Longbottoms were around a lot. Then she learned of Alice's older brother, Frank, and more people she knew were coming to Hogwarts this year.

Alice told her that her dad was the herbology teacher, and that the headmistress, McGonagall was strict, but lovely, and that the four houses were Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, which is the one she wanted to get into, and all the others.

She told her about quidditch, the wizarding sport, that was fast and furious and fantastic, and Azalea absolutely loved the sound of it. She was looking forward more than anything to when she got to Hogwarts, and found out her house.

✾✾✾

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The castle was beautiful, her year was okay, and Azalea had just been sorted into Gryffindor by a hat being placed on her head.

Which was good, because that's where Alice had been sorted into.

But also bad, because it's where James, Fred and Louis had all ended up.

Azalea sat down at the table, grinning from ear to ear as she chatted with Alice and waited for Professor McGonagall, the headmistress, to make her speech.

"Hey, Lea!" James called down the table, grinning.

"Azalea," the girl said firmly, looking straight back at him.

"Whatever, I'm calling you Lea," James grinned. "Glad you're in Gryffindor, though."

"I'm not glad you are," Azalea said pointedly, before turning her body round, ignoring Alice's chuckles, and continuing to talk with her new friend.

𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫

First year had been a blast. Azalea had learned to fly, she'd worked hard in all her classes, she'd officially found a best friend in Alice, and she'd thoroughly ignored James Potter.

This year, Azalea was determined to get him to stop talking to her, because it was really very annoying.

Daisy had been more distant over the summer, not speaking to her much, and not promising to take her out for ice cream like they usually did. It hurt Azalea a lot.

However, when on the Hogwarts Express with Alice, she didn't have time to think about it. She was too busy looking at James Potter and Fred and Louis out the train window, up above in a flying car.

"Is that James?" Alice asked with fear, as they saw a black haired boy dangling out the car, holding onto the door, and a red head trying desperately to hoist him back in.

"Probably," shrugged Lea. "Don't care much, to be honest."

And she didn't.

But that night in Gryffindor common room she did, when James came up to her and said with a grin. "Hey Lea, did you see us earlier?"

"It's Azalea, and yes Potter, I did," snapped Azzie.

"Wasn't it amazing?" Fred grinned along.

"No, it was a stupid stunt that you three probably only attempted to make you look cool," Azalea said, flipping a page of her new book and not taking her eyes off it. "If you're trying to impress me, Potter, try less."

And that was how they left it.

✾✾✾

Azalea had trained and trained and trained, and when the time came, she made the Gryffindor quidditch team.

But so did Fred and James.

James and Azzie became the two chasers the team wanted, and Fred became the beater. Azalea was annoyed at this, but didn't say anything.

The training was tough, but necessary. The matches were amazing. Azalea became very very good at quidditch that year, and was glad of it.

And if she accidentally (on purpose) rammed into James one night because he was too busy bragging about his Firebolt Two to pay attention, who really cares, anyway?

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫

This was the year when it properly started.

Azalea and Alice were just sitting on the Hogwarts Express when James, Louis and Fred took that as their cue to enter. Azalea wasn't even surprised anymore, she was just irritated.

But she was taken by surprise when James started talking.

"Hey, Lea," James said, stealing a chocolate cauldron from the stash Alice and Azalea were eating from. He turned to the redhead with an easy smirk and said. "Go out with me?"

Azalea was so shocked that her book tumbled from her hands onto the floor. She had just been expecting to lazily retort to James' comment, not this.

"What the fuck?" She asked, voice dangerous as she stood up, facing him.

"Would you go out with me?" James repeated, still smirking.

"The hell? No!" Lea didn't even have to think. "Why in the world, James Siriusly-arrogant Potter, would I want to go out with you?"

"Cause you love me, Edwards, like everyone else," shrugged James.

"Um, like hell I do!" Azalea shot back. "No, Potter. Just no."

James sighed, heading out the compartment with his back up guys. Once outside, he looked them in the eye and shrugged.

"Well, it was worth a try."

✾✾✾

And it seemed his trying didn't stop.

Everywhere Azalea went that year, literally every week, there was James Sirius Potter, grinning at her and saying. "Hey, Edwards! Will you go out with me?"

And what made it worse was that not only did he actively pursue Azalea, he also showed of all the time to all the other girls, messing up his hair, performing advanced spells, and being unnecessarily flirtatious.

It was in one transfiguration lesson that all this came to a head. McGonagall still taught transfiguration, despite being head, and somewhere, somehow, she thought it was a good idea to pair Azalea Edwards and James Potter up for the task of transfiguring a lizard into a crow.

In her mind, Azalea was a model student that worked hard, and James was a misbehaving student that still got top marks in everything, regardless of whether he tried or not. She hoped Azalea would rub off on him.

She was sorely wrong.

The project went to pieces because Azalea was determined to outdo James, and James was determined to outdo Azalea. On top of that, he kept making comments about how her hair was looking nice, or how they'd compliment each other so well.

Eventually, Azalea had thrown the lizard at him, yelling. "I will NOT go out with you, you ignorant git!"

Both she and James earned detention for that.

And McGonagall earned a look back into the past, because all she saw when she looked at them were James Potter Sr, and Lily Evans.

✾✾✾

The main attraction this year was the best of them all.

Well, it what caused it was bad, but the result was good.

Albus, James' younger brother, had been sorted into Slytherin last year. This had been a shock, and whilst it wasn't overly talked about, people were still surprised that a Potter was in Slytherin.

However, this wasn't the issue.

The issue was that James discovered that Albus was best friends with Scorpius Malfoy, and very nice Slytherin boy who was the son of Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter's old enemy.

Azalea, who had been walking through the grounds with Alice, had come across the scene of James telling Albus off, right in front of Scorpius, who looked like he was ready to cry.

"He's the enemy, and have you heard what his dad did to ours? To Aunt Hermione? To Uncle Ron?" James was yelling. "Al, you need to stop being friends with him, or-"

CRACK

It wasn't even Scorpius who had acted. Or Albus.

It was Azalea.

"You pompous git," she snarled at him, as James stumbled back, holding his quickly bleeding nose which was probably broken. "Scorpius isn't the enemy, you fucking idiot! He's a nice boy who is worthy of being Albus' friend! Much better than the likes of you, for one thing!"

"Edwards, you look cute when you're angry," was all James said.

Azalea wanted to punch him again, but she restrained herself.

"Stop being a rude, prejudiced idiot, Potter," she spat. "Albus and Scorpius have every right to be friends, and you can't say anything about it."

And with that, she turned, Alice by her side, and headed back up to the castle.

She ignored James saying excitedly. "She punched me! That means she willingly touched me!"

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫

Meeting Lily Luna Potter was quite possibly one of the greatest experiences of Azalea's life.

She was a beautiful redhead that completely owned James the same way Lea did, and she was absolutely one of the best people Azalea had ever known.

The first time she met her, Lily had hugged her tightly, saying. "I'm so happy I can finally meet you! James talks about you all the time!"

"I'm sure he does," Azalea sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "You here to tell me off, then?"

"No!" Lily shook her head. "I think it's amazing you punched him! Like, so cool!"

Azalea laughed in shock, looking at Alice, who shrugged.

As the year went on and Lea and Lily began to get to know each other better, their relationship began to remind Azalea of what her and Daisy had been like before all this magic and Hogwarts stuff. Now, they were cold with each other. Hadn't had a proper one on one conversation in years.

Lily helped Lea, though. She made her play the older sister role, something she was as yet unfamiliar with.

And the look on James' face when he saw them talking and laughing? Absolutely priceless.

Azalea wouldn't give it up for the world.

𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞

Azalea spent a week in the summer that year with the Longbottoms, and Alice spent a week in the summer with the Edwards. Both girls had loved it, and were only more enthusiastic as they walked along Platform 9¾ together.

"Hey, Edwards!" A single shout ruined everything, and James, Albus and Lily were soon walking towards them.

"Lea!" Lily said, running up to the girl. "Lea, I've got my broomsticks this year, I'm trying out for the team!"

"Amazing!" Azalea grinned, hugging Lily tightly. "I've missed you, Lils," she said when she pulled back.

"I've missed you too," smiled Lily. "I-"

"Where's my hug, Edwards?" James said, interrupting the moment.

Azalea rolled her eyes. "In hell. You would preferably be with it."

"Nice one," James scoffed. "Go out with m-?"

"No, fuck off," Azalea said, rolling her eyes and looking down at Lily. "Coming with us?"

The redhead grinned, following Azalea and Alice up the platform and laughing loudly, with no regrets.

✾✾✾

"This is your OWL year," McGonagall told a very angry, very pissed off Azalea Edwards and James Potter. "You are fifth years now, Miss Edwards, Mr Potter, and you are wasting every opportunity you get by doing things like this! Brawling during a quidditch match, I've never heard of the like!"

The quidditch game had actually been going okay. Lily was now the team's seeker, Fred was still a beater, and Rose, James and Azalea were the chasers. Everyone was fine in Lea's eyes except-

Okay, so it was true. Azalea and James had started fighting during the match they had against Hufflepuff today, over fifty feet in the air. They'd disagreed on the strategy, and then Azalea had got pissed off and thrown the quaffle at him (in a non sporting way) and stuff had just gone from there.

At this moment in time, however, James flashed a grin at McGonagall. "I'm sorry professor, she just can't handle me."

"Can't stand you more like..." Azalea muttered, causing McGonagall's lips to twitch almost interceptably.

"You each have detention. My office tonight at five pm," she told them. "Get out of here."

However, after James left, McGonagall said. "Miss Edwards?"

Azalea turned, looking at McGonagall with an indifferent expression. "Yes, professor?"

"I know you don't like Mr Potter, and frankly, sometimes I don't blame you," McGonagall told her. "But quite a long time ago, I knew two students very like you two, who fought and bickered, and the boy, he was very much after the girl."

"And what happened?" Azalea asked, hoping very much that this mysterious girl kicked the boy to a curb and got a better man.

But McGonagall just shrugged. "They fell in love."

𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱

Rose Weasley, Ron and Hermione's daughter, and Scorpius Malfoy being in a relationship surprised many, but Azalea was just so happy for both of them.

"Well done," she said, hugging Rose.

"Dad is going to kill me," she told her.

"He won't," Azalea wasn't speaking from experience, having never met Ron Weasley personally, but she knew he wouldn't. "Don't worry, Rose. If it's love, you should follow it."

Incoincidentally, this was just after Gryffindor emerged victorious from a Slytherin match that the two had announced this, so there was a celebration happening in the common room anyway. Azalea was having a fun time, actually, all because she hadn't seen-

"Edwards!"

"Oh, shit," Azalea muttered, as she faced a seriously tipsy James Siriusly-arrogant Potter. "Edwards, come on, let's dance-"

It was when he tried to grab hold of her, to dance with her, that Lea drew the line.

"No," she said, shoving his hands away. "You're drunk, Potter. And I wouldn't dance with you for a million galleons."

"You're funny," James said, words slurring slightly. "You did well in the match today."

Azalea rolled her eyes. "You didn't."

"Thanks," James said, reaching out a hand again. "Come on, let's dance... will you go out with me?"

There we go.

"No," Azalea said firmly. "To both. The dancing and the dating."

"Oh come on..." James whined, stamping his foot, even. "Go out with me, Edwards!"

Azalea couldn't help it; she laughed.

"No, fuck off Potter," she said through the chuckles.

"Lea!" He complained, stamping his foot again. "Please!"

And as Azalea looked at this idiot, with his fluffy black hair and sharp jawline and blue eyes and stupid smirk, she decided that maybe, just for tonight, she could give him a chance.

"Alright," she said, sighing heavily and clarifying as James looked up, eyes wide and excited. "To the dance, Potter. Not the dating."

She didn't know how to feel as she put her hands on James Potter's shoulders, or how to dance with him as he placed his on her hips. He swayed about like crazy, mouthing the words to the song that played in the background that Lea didn't know the name of.

And all their friends spotted them, absolutely shocked that James Potter finally got Azalea Edwards to dance. Alice and Lily were laughing, Rose was smiling with her head on Scorpius' shoulder, and Albus and Hugo were hooting and cheering and wolf whistling.

Azalea would give them all a middle finger later.

For now, she tightened her hands around his neck, smiled into his face, and tried to enjoy this.

But oh fuck, this was strange.

✾✾✾

At the end of the year, Azalea sat in a Hogwarts Express compartment with Alice, Rose, Lily, Albus, Scorpius, Hugo and Frank. James, Fred and Louis weren't present. She was talking and laughing with all of them, and it felt good.

She had no idea what was going to happen next year.

No idea what James was going to do. No idea how she would respond to it.

But she did know one thing.

Whatever happened, she would get through it. And she would do it with her friends.