A flash of dark, olive green swept past the mirror. If someone looked right, at last glance, they would have seen a huge amount of horrible white ruffles and lace. For a girl raised by a fashion designer and with looks even Aphrodite would be envious of, Victoire had the absolute worst dress sense known to the Delacours! Molly Weasley II fully believed that it was, anyway.

Molly turned and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her black curls were twisted here and there with silver flowers pinning them up, and her soft blue eyes were staring at her in disgust. There was more fluff and poof to the dress than the last time she put it on! Not to mention this particular shade of green made her skin look ghostly white and unhealthy. Nonetheless, as it was Victoire’s wedding day and Molly was one of Victoire’s bridesmaids, she couldn’t really complain.

She sighed and flopped into a tattered old chapel chair behind her. The dress shot up at odd ends, but Molly hardly cared. Honestly, she couldn't wait for the whole day to be over. Victoire and Teddy were too young to even consider what the word marriage meant, let alone follow through with it. Molly knew when her thoughts were wanted and unwanted, so she didn't say much to the couple, but she did let the rest of the family know about what she thought.

In fact, her opinion was so unwanted, it was half the reason why she was left alone in the dressing room. No one wanted to hear what the bridesmaid had to say about her best friend's and cousin's wedding. Her solitude did not last very long however, when someone rapped lightly on the door.

"Molly, babe. Are you going to be much longer?"

It was Noah Clark. Molly's boyfriend.

"Come in," she said, slumping even more so into the chair and placing her hand over her eyes as a sudden headache crept along the right side of her head. She peeked through her fingers as he walked in to see how much better his appearance was compared to hers.

Noah was clad in dress robes that nearly matched hers, with white ruffles but less lace. He was not a groomsman but Molly was glad she had someone to go along with the torture. The olive green didn't look any better on him than it did her, especially with his sandy blond hair untamed and gracing over his shoulders. His darker complexion didn't go well with it at all either. Although he spent the majority of his time inside reading books, the Australian tan stuck with him.

"Well, don't you look beautiful, babe," he complimented while extending a hand out to her. She accepted it and glared at him. "Aw, come on now, sweety. Cheer up! It's your cousin's special day, and you only have to wear the dress once." He grinned a very boyish grin and blew a strand of hair out of his face.

Molly went for her bag and pulled out a tonic for her headache, turning on Noah as she did so.

"That's all you have to say? It's my cousin's special day? Noah, she's walking down the aisle in less than an hour to the beginning of the next four marriages in her life! Merlin, she's only twenty years old. They've been dating two months and then all of the sudden we're standing here. If she thinks this is some romantic Disney princess deal, then she needs to realize she hasn't lived her life yet! Am I the only one worrying about this?" Tears were falling down her pale cheeks, but she wasn't so much as furious as she was terribly upset.

Noah lightly chuckled and tried to embrace his short-fused girlfriend but she jerked away from him. He sighed and looked down into her eyes.

"You're not really the person who’s worrying about this, but more of the only person who is making a big deal out of nothing."

"A big deal out of nothing? Noah, two months isn't-" Molly started but he interrupted.

"They broke up for two weeks after a four year relationship, Molly. I don't think it really counts for two months." He wiped a tear from her face with his thumb but she turned away and wiped it herself.

Sometimes she didn't know why she continued to go out with Noah because he angered her so often, but the thought of rejection bothered her more than her anger did. What he said, however, was not true at all. Yes, they may have been dating for four years before they broke up for two weeks, before getting back together again, but it was the reason why they broke up that bothered her. There was really no reason at all for Teddy to break up with Victoire at all, yet he still did. Molly thought that they were not mature enough for a married relationship.

A clock nearby started to chime five o'clock. They had thirty minutes until the wedding. She looked up at Noah and bit her tongue from arguing further with him.

"We'll talk more about this later. Right, let me fix your hair before we go out there. You're a mess."

"Are you seriously annoyed at me for defending them? I mean, come on, Molly I-"

"Noah, I've told you. I don't think they're ready, you don't want to stand by me on that issue and that's the end of it. Do you want me to fix your bloody hair or not?" Molly asked belligerently. She crossed her arms and glared at him. He still showed no real signs of anger, only of hurt and confusion.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, that she was actually irritated at him for sticking up for Teddy and Victoire. He shrugged and turned toward the door.

"My hair’s fine, Molly," he said. He opened the door and looked around to see her grab her bag and stomp toward him with her clacking heels.

"Fine." She walked right past him and continued to trudge along in the hallway. He shut the door and followed her.

"Seriously, Molly. Think for a moment about this wedding and why they're even having one in the first place. If you think long enough, I bet you'll find out that it's not just to make you hate them for eternity." He said as he caught up right behind her. Even though Molly was so short, he was finding it difficult to keep up with her.

Molly didn't stop, but turned her head to look at him momentarily before she answered him. It was more of a death glare, but sometimes she did that even when she meant to show true compassion to him.

"Is it to know what it's like to be young and attached forever to someone who leaves for no reason?" She retorted and faced forward again.

"Um, no..." He countered, grabbing hold of her shoulder and stopping her. He walked around her and faced her again, this time making sure that he didn't let go. "They're marrying each other because they love each other, Molly. You know how that is. They've been dating each other for four years. It’s about time they show that love by marrying."

"Four years is hardly enough time to decide if you love someone, Noah. Apparently Teddy wasn't so sure of himself two months ago," she replied, flushing. Still he didn't let go.

"Really? ‘Cause everyone has their hard times, Molly. And who even knows, maybe something happened those two months ago we don't know about. Either way, four years is plenty of time. I mean, look at us!" Noah smiled at her, his hands still on her shoulders.

She looked up into his brown eyes as if she was expecting something different to come out of his mouth after that. As though she thought he was joking.

"Look at us, Noah? What do you mean look at us? We've only been dating for three years. That doesn't mean that we're in love. And you'd better think twice if you ask me any time soon to marry you, because I do not plan on being the only Hogwarts sixth year married couple!" Molly was still looking up at him, but that was a mistake. Her anger fell almost immediately along with her stomach dropping.

Noah's face fell and his grip loosened until he let go of her completely. He didn't look away, but something was in his expression that wasn't there before.

"What's wrong now?" She asked. She was determined not to let her guard down completely but her voice quivered slightly and betrayed her.

He pulled her close to him and hugged her tenderly before whispering in her ear, "But I do love you, Molly."


~~~


The doors finally opened and the old dusty pipe organ began to play. No one was at the organ, of course, but it still played beautifully. The music wasn't nearly as beautiful as the woman walking through those doors, though. Molly watched as Victoire Weasley walked slowly down the long, silver carpet laid across the marble chapel floor.

Her cousin was being accompanied by Molly’s Uncle Bill, Victoire’s father, as they walked past rows and rows of family and friends. He too was wearing green dress robes, but Victoire was wearing a white dress with a huge olive green bow tied behind it and green sequins spiraling down the front. Of course Molly couldn't see how beautiful her face was because it was hidden behind a veil, but she was certain that her one-eighth Veela cousin was absolutely gorgeous in the horrid color, unlike anyone else.

Tears found their way yet again on Molly's face, but it wasn't because she was happy for her cousin. No, that was pretty much shown from the start that even though she thought her cousin was gorgeous in a wedding gown, she was far from happy for her. Nor did they start because of the bouquet of flowers she was holding that she was mildly allergic to. As Molly's eyes were following Victoire make her way down the aisle, she passed Noah.

He was sitting right behind Aunt Fleur, who was still very gorgeous even with her red blotchy face borne from the tears of joy for her daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law. Noah was looking at the bride, but his eyes were sad and he avoided following her any further once she was close enough to include Molly in his vision.

What should she have done? He told her just moments ago that he loved her for the first time in their three year relationship, and she just left him standing there behind her. It wasn't easy, but she did.

"I have to go and get ready before they start this dreadful thing without me." Was the last thing she said to him before she just walked away.

Victoire finally came to a halt in front of everyone and Uncle Bill removed her veil. Sure enough, her pale blond hair was curled elegantly and it framed her face just right. Her blue eyes were very bright and shiny with tears of joy as Uncle Bill kissed her and gave her away to Teddy. Soon, Molly's cousin would become Victoire Lupin, and all Molly could think about still was how she had just left Noah the way she did. With no answer at all.

Not that she had one for him.


~~~


"I do." Theodore Remus Lupin said to her.

"I do." Victoire Ginevra Weasley answered back to him.

"You may now kiss your bride." The priest said to the both of them.

Teddy kissed her, and at first she thought it was their first kiss again. It was just as lovely and passionate as their first, but she knew that it was the first kiss of their marriage and how he would continue to kiss her every day of their lives together.

When they finally broke apart, her new husband's hair, which was as close to normal as he could get for the wedding, changed from a mousy brown to a very deep purple. Victoire laughed and kissed him again as her family and friends stood and cheered for their new respective members of the family. Not that they weren't always family.

Victoire Lupin looked out into the crowd and smiled, clinging to her new husband, and tears were glistening on her cheeks. Thankfully, she wasn't the only one crying. One of her bridesmaids, Molly Weasley, was crying for her as well. Molly smiled slightly at Victoire and the new bride reached out for her cousin's hand and squeezed it gently.

"Thank you," she said softly and then turned her attention on her other bridesmaids and maid of honour, which were her sisters. The day ended up being absolutely perfect, and she couldn't be any more in love than she was now.

She and her new husband made their way back down the aisle and greeted family outside of the chapel. The reception would be soon, and the chapel was hosting that as well. Though her parents were fully capable of affording the whole wedding on their own, the Potters agreed to take care of it as long as the wedding was held in London. Victoire couldn't complain; it was an absolutely beautiful wedding.

"Darling," Teddy said, pulling her towards him and smiling down at her. His hair was still a dark shade of purple. "I love you." He kissed her again. And again. And again. She laughed and pushed away, winking at him and walking ahead of him.

"There will be plenty of that later during the honeymoon, dear." She teased and the two of them made their way to a small tent around the back of the chapel. "We have to celebrate with everyone else first."


~~~


"You s'pose she's pregnant?"

Molly choked on her Firewhiskey and sat up immediately from her stool to see her younger cousin, James Potter, smiling at her.

"Ugh-bluh-whu?" she managed to get out and put the glass down behind her.

"You know," James said looking directly at Victoire now, "they split up and all of a sudden they're getting back together and making sure they get married right afterwards? Seems a bit odd to me, ya know what I mean?" His attention went right back to Molly. He was still in his olive dress robes, too. He was Teddy's best man.

Molly hadn't thought of that. Her eyes were wide and she stared right at her newly wedded cousin.

"I- I never thought that!"

"Calm down there, cuz! I was only joking!" He laughed and then turned around to order a butterbeer. "Besides, you don't really think they'd do that sort of thing, do you? Not tell us, I mean."

"Well it does make a lot of sense, if you think about it." Molly wasn't about to let this theory down.

James laughed and spun around in his is stool. "Come now, Mols, look at her! There isn't an ounce of fat, er, I mean, morning glow on that woman! Aw, if only she wasn't my cousin!"

"JAMES!" Molly was revolted, and she slapped his arm, causing him to spill a little of his Butterbeer on his dress robes. He didn't seem to mind and just continued to laugh.

"I mean that in the most non-disgusting way possible, Mols. Trust me. I'd say the same thing about you if you had a better attitude most of the time. It's a mystery Noah can tollerate you as much as he does. What's going on between you two anyway? He’s been looking a bit bummed out for the whole wedding. Wishing it was his own wedding, eh?" He jeered and elbowed her side.

"Stop that! And- and no. Not at all. We just had a little argument, that’s all." Molly said quickly, returning to her glass and taking another swig.

James took a quick look at Noah and back to Molly. The Butterbeer must have been taking a real effect on him, because he was really beginning to get a bit loopy. The Potter's must have slightly tampered with it.

"Oh really? Wha' was it 'bout?" He hiccuped.

"How many of those things have you had, James?" Molly asked, taking the empty butterbeer bottle from his hands as he ordered another one.

"Huh? Oh. I dunno. Four? Five? I dunno but I'm loving it! Waiter!" He was absolutely beaming with nearly drunken joy. He was as weak as a House Elf when it came down to it.

"And why, may I ask, are you even drinking all of these anyway?" She demanded, taking the new bottle he just ordered from him and setting it on her other side.

"The same bloody reason you are, Mols! Celebration! If you 'aven't noticed yet, we just finished a wedding!" James staggered from his seat and grabbed for his bottle again and took a huge drink from it. "Ahhhhh. Nothing better than a good ol' butterbeer. Whatcha got there, anyway?"

"Firewhiskey." Molly answered, taking a drink of her own. "And I'll have you know, I'm not drinking for celebration. I'm grieving."

"Grieving? Godric's Sword, you make it sound as'if someone's died! No one 'as died 'ave they?" Complete shock overtook James as he waited for her answer.

Molly looked at him with disgust and took another drink.

"No, James. No one has died! I'm grieving because I don't think this wedding was done properly. They just sort of jumped into this whole thing. That answers your question too, by the way. Why Noah looks so annoyed. We're currently fighting over what we think about this wedding and we just simply don't agree."

"Tha's it? I though' you two 'ad broken up or somethin'. Tha' can' be it. Noah's totally whipped, he woul'n' be so bummed ou' jus' 'cause you two are figh’in'!" James went for another drink again, but found that Molly had it once again. "Ey! Give tha' back!"

"I'm finding it very hard to understand you when you're so drunk. You can have it back after you have a civil conversation and prove that you're decently sober. What do you mean, he doesn't looked bummed out because of a fight?" Molly asked suddenly, more concerned than she thought she would be.

"I dunno. Jus' though' that maybe the two of ya broke up or somethin'. Well, you broke up with 'im. He's too miserable to 'ave broken up with ya. Jus' doesn' seem whatever yer fightin' over is 'cause of this weddin'." James shrugged.

Molly tossed the butterbeer back at James.

"That's enough from you!" She groweled. Her heart was pounding and her face was flushed. "There’s nothing going on with Noah and I. We're just having a little fight and that’s all. We haven’t split up or anything. Now go on, and this better be your last one or else I'm telling Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry."

"Alrigh'! Alrigh'! I gotcha. Jus'... jus' lighten up, OK? Noah's a good guy, and he's been waitin' round on ya hand an' foot. 'Sides, whatcha gotta argue over this weddin' for? Seems perfectly righ' to me." James turned to watch as Victoire and Teddy danced in the middle of the dance floor. He was right. Everyone besides Molly was very happy to be at the wedding with one another. Everyone was smiling, laughing, and dancing.

Uncle Harry was dancing with his daughter, Lily, and Molly’s dad was sitting at a table making a toast with her mum while her sister Lucy waited patiently for him to take her to the dance floor. Some of her friends that weren't on the dance floor were chatting away at a large table with a silver cloth draped over it. Everyone seemed to be having fun. Everyone but herself and Noah of course, and the latter of the two was sitting at a table full of old spinster ladies and a few older gentlemen.

The piano was playing by itself again, and soon everyone was sitting or standing at the sides as the bride and groom danced by themselves while their wedding song filled the room. Soon, everyone moved onto the dance floor. Even James left Molly’s side and began to try and get his younger brother, Albus, to ask a girl to dance with him.

Noah caught Molly staring at him and looked at her. He didn't greet her with warm eyes or a welcoming smile, but with sad eyes and a small smile. Her thin lips formed into a smile as well, and he made his way across the room to her.

"You know," he said, "for a wedding that was a bad idea, everyone seems to be having a good time on the dance floor. Care to join me?" Noah asked, extending his hand out to her. She hesitated, but accepted it anyway. She didn't say a word while they made their way to the dance floor, and she laid her head on his shoulder as he rested his chin on top of her head.

That's how it was for a while. Silence. Nothing but the music playing in the background and the occasional distinct laugh she could pick out from an old aunt or someone, but otherwise they were lost on their own deserted island. Finally, Molly broke the silence.

"About what you said earlier-"

"I meant it, you know?" Noah said hoarsely, his chin still resting on her head. He felt her jaw clench against his chest. "About what I said earlier. You really do look beautiful in that dress."

"Oh..."

"Unless you meant what I said after that. When I said-"

"I know." Molly cut in, her voice choked. "I know what you said. There's no point in bringing it up again. Otherwise I'm just going to have the same answer as before." Her arms gripped him even tighter, as though she were hoping that no matter what either of them said, he wouldn't let go of her. It was these kind of things that she did that kept him from leaving her. It was these things that made him tell her that he loved her. Because he did. Noah loved her nearly from the moment she walked into his life in third year.

"OK." He said, kissing the top of her head.

The song ended and she looked up at him for the first time. She had been crying again, but she leaned in and pecked him on the lips before turning around and headed back to the bar. He stood there and watched her go, not sure of what was currently going on in his life. It wasn't until the next song started did he move to a table of friends and ordered his own drink of Firewhiskey.

He didn't really care about what Rose or Michael were currently arguing over at his newfound table. With one last look at Molly, he took a huge gulp of his Firewhiskey and finished the night listening to an argument about Muggles and children born without magical parents (because that's how Michael Dursley's sister was) and how they could not get along.

James Potter woke up feeling perfectly normal the next morning after the wedding. The butterbeer he drank the night previously was charmed to make him merely loopy, for the sake of celebration. Otherwise it had no effect in actually making him drunk. This was a good thing, too, seeing as how he would never hear the end of it once he stepped into the halls of Hogwarts with his shiny new Prefect's badge. There was only a week left until the new term at Hogwarts started and the Potters and Weasleys were celebrating everything like mad.

His little sister Lily and cousin Hugo were going to be first years this year, and so they wouldn't take part of today's festivities as they were at Diagon Alley with his mum and Aunt Hermione. Lily would be turning twelve a week after starting Hogwarts and already a majority of the things she needed were given to her as an early birthday gift. That, however, didn't stop the young girl from wanting to shop.

He dragged himself out of bed and pulled on a shirt lying across the back of a chair that he most likely wore a day or two ago without washing it. He pointlessly ran a hand through his mess of dark brown hair, which had a hint of red in it, and grabbed for his rectangular shaped glasses on his bedside table. He remembered being little and wanting to wear glasses like his dad, but decided against it when he started school known as 'Potter's boy through and through!'

With pyjama bottoms still on James made his way downstairs where he found the remaining members of his family and friends eating breakfast. Seeing as it was the weekend, no one had to be at work. So naturally after the wedding they all crashed at his place. His dad was by the stove top, cooking bacon and talking to Uncle Ron about something from work, and everyone else was fighting for the remaining food on the table.

James took a seat next to Rose Weasley, who was desperately trying to start a conversation with Molly. He grabbed the piece of toast from her plate since there wasn't any more anywhere else.

"That's mine!" Rose realised right away and gave up on Molly, who was sulking over her eggs and bacon.

"You could stop talking long enough to realise? I'm shocked," James pretended to get out of her way by sitting as far back in his seat as possible as she reached for her piece of cold toast. "Nice hair this morning by the way, Red." The compliment was for the already bushy wildfire hair on her head that was still untamed from when she woke up. She glared at him and bit at her toast in one quick bite.

"Be nice, James. Rose had a tough night with her boyfriend and all last night." Albus said as he came up from behind him with a plate and gave it to his older brother. He took the seat next to him and smiled cockily at Rose.

James turned to Rose in true shock this time. "What happened between you and your boyfriend?" He asked, shooting a quick glance at Molly and then back to Rose.

"Nothing, you idiot! That was..." She nudged her head behind her, gesturing to Molly.

Albus choked on his tea a little and apologised quickly.

"Sorry! How was I supposed to know? Word may travel quickly, but you lose track of who's being talked about in this family!" He defended himself. Molly started to sob silently and left the table to sulk. She went out of the kitchen and back upstairs.

"Now look what you've done!" Rose griped. James ignored her and took a look at the end of the charmed table to see Noah quietly eating his own breakfast and listening to something Fred II had to say. That probably wasn't a good idea since Fred would be making all the wrong jokes at the wrong time, but James felt it was best not to interrupt.

"Someone's a bit on her high horse seeing as nothing is wrong with her this morning." Albus argued in front of James while trying to make a grab for the older boy's toast. He placed a hand on Albus' face and pushed him away, and when he tried to do it again, James threatened him with a fork.

"Excuse me, but I shared a room with her last night and she spent the whole night crying!" Rose retorted. "So I’m sorry if I'm not an exact charmer for conversation."

"Where's Ted?" James interrupted, feeling like some names would start flying across the room if the conversation went on any further. Rose’s attention went to Albus suddenly, as he insulted her wild hair yet again. She stood up to leave but then she registered James’ question and sat down again with crossed arms.

"He's at the honeymoon. Obviously!" She huffed. She looked down at her nearly empty plate before deciding she was going to stand up again and leave the table. "Excuse me, but I'm going to go and pack."

"We have a week until-"

"Not for school, James. I spent the night here, remember? I don't live here!" Rose rolled her eyes and threw her hands into the air before turning on her heels and leaving.

"Oh. Right. Well then, that's a lovely dosage of female drama this morning, wouldn't you say so, Al?" James asked his brother, who was still fuming from before. It wasn't normally a custom for the Potter kids, or the Weasley kids for that matter, to fight with one another very often. Especially not Albus. Since Albus was a Slytherin, he decided a long time ago that it would be pointless to further the stereotypical lie that Slytherins could never get along with anyone else. "You all right, mate?" James asked his little brother.

Albus looked up and sighed.

"Yeah, just... I don't know. Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't expect her to get so annoyed with me, that’s all. I really didn't know that it was Molly who was having boyfriend trouble last night." He added, hoping someone would side with him on that issue.

"And why, may I ask," someone said directly behind them, "should it matter who is having troubles?"

James and Albus turned around to see Noah looking straight down at them. He wasn't smiling but thank Godric he wasn't angry. He was a bigger person than both James and Albus put together, almost like an Australian replica of their Uncle Charlie.

Albus stumbled for words to come up with a reason but couldn't find them and settled with, "Sorry, Noah," before retreating to his breakfast. The guy wasn't the least bit intimidating, but neither one of the boys wanted to pursue the issue. James finished off what he wanted from his breakfast and made an exit for the bathroom before any awkward couple talk was admitted to the breakfast table.

~~~

The fireplace was clean and there was no fire going on inside it. Mainly because it was just September, and the weather was not ready for the heat. The other reason was that fireplace's sole purpose was for Floo use. The fireplace downstairs was what assured any Muggles that the Potters were just a normal everyday family.

As if, thought Molly. The Potters had never been normal and everyone knew that. It mostly started with her Uncle Harry, but his dad had a few great stories here and there as well.

Suddenly, the fireplace lit up and emitted emerald green flames. The fireplace did this four times and each time one of her family members appeared. Molly calmed down a little once she realized it was her Aunt Hermione and Aunt Ginny, along with Hugo and Lily. Most of the time the fireplace produced people from the Ministry, and they weren't normally fun people to be around.

"Daddy! Daddy! Come and look what wand I got from Diagon Alley!" Lily squealed and ran out of the study with her wand extended up in the air.

Ginny chuckled and looked at Hermione, who was squeezing Hugo's shoulders and telling him, "Go on. Go and tell your father what wand you got." Hugo shot out of the room with an all black wand.

The two women embraced each other and began to laugh and talk about their little shopping spree. As they went to follow their children they noticed Molly sitting in the red chair in the middle of the room, trying to hide herself behind a book.

"Molly?" Hermione released Ginny and headed for the chair. "What are you doing up here all by yourself?"

Ginny stood behind her and asked, "Why aren't you celebrating with everyone while they're still here?"

Molly sighed and shut her book.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. Really, she had no idea why she was upset. She couldn't necessarily tell if she was having any real boy problems or not at all, but she knew that at the current moment she couldn't just waltz up to Noah and ask. She couldn't reply to what he said last night, so surely that was the cause for some sort of boy troubles. Wasn't it?

"You've been crying, dear. What is it?" Hermione sat down next to her in the chair and stroked her black curls, which thankfully were not as wild as Rose's. When Molly didn't answer Hermione, Ginny took that as a sign that it was nothing they could help with. Her two aunts shared a very concerned look. "Do you need to speak with your parents?"

"What?" Molly asked, shocked and somewhat horrified with the idea of talking to her father about boy advice. "No. This has been going on since last night. If I needed them, I would have asked them then, but no. I'm all right. I just wanted to read up on a few things while I still had time."

"If you're sure." Ginny said and headed for the door. "We could always go and get- I mean, I can tell your mum to come up."

"No!" Molly said quickly, her face puckering up. Molly would much rather have the 'birds and the bees' talk with her father any day than talk to her mother about simply boy advice. It wasn't that she couldn't stand her mother. Not that anyone really could stand how pompous her mother was. No, Molly just didn't think she would understand.

"Listen, if I promise that I'm absolutely fine and my tears are due to a few things in this book, will you promise not to tell my mother?" Molly asked, hinting at a smile and somewhat of a chuckle.

Hermione and Ginny exchanged glances again and warily agreed to come to terms with Molly. Hermione left Molly in the chair she was sitting in and was about to follow Ginny out the door until the fireplace took light again with the same emerald green flames. This time another family member of Molly's came out, but not to any of her relief.

"Ginny, go and get Harry." Percy Weasley commanded his sister. "Hermione, get Ron please. Both of you; hurry!" As he barked his orders, Kingsley Shacklebolt himself came in right behind Molly's father. She was completely unnoticed until he said, "Hello, Miss Weasley."

Percy looked at the same chair Hermione and Molly were sharing moments before and welcomed her with a tight smile.

"Sorry, dear, I didn't see you there. Listen, we're about to have a very important meeting with the Ministry members so if you could-"

"Got it, Dad. All you had to say was ‘leave’." Molly grumbled as she stood to her feet and snapped her book shut. She didn't mean to be so rude, but the fact he didn't even notice she was upset was a little more than upsetting. To make up for it, she went up and pecked his cheek before leaving the room just in time for Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny to file past her and enter the study.

"What is it, Percy?" She heard Harry ask just as the door was shut behind her and the locks magically turned to keep her out. The light chatter from downstairs was hesitantly growing back to the roaring conversations they were once before. The occupants of the kitchen were most likely startled from the sudden interruption of their breakfast.

Molly leaned up against the wall and debated whether or not she should just go to her room Aunt Ginny provided her or downstairs, but something caught her attention through the door.

For the greatest wizards of their time, you'd think they'd remember to place silencing enchantments on the door, Molly thought. Something they said had her attention though. In a trice she had her ear glued to the study door. She wasn't planning on missing out on such a top secret Ministry meeting.

~~~

Albus found out that having a conversation about girl problems wasn't that bad. Well, at least not as bad as he thought they would be. After James left him awkwardly with Noah, he and the older boy had taken to talking about what happened the night before. He was genuinely surprised that Noah cared that much about his relationship with Molly in the first place. He didn't get a lot of details on what exactly was going on with the older couple, but he did know one thing was for sure, and that was that his cousin was pretty uptight about a lot of minor things.

When his mother and aunt came rushing into the kitchen, however, the entire room went quiet and everyone stared at them. Normally, this wasn’t out of the ordinary for the children, but the adults- at least Aunt Hermione and Albus’ mum Ginny- had never been ones for running urgently around the house.

"Harry, Ron, could you come upstairs please?" Aunt Hermione asked, still holding the door open between the kitchen and the hallway. Neither of the men asked any questions and did as their wives asked. Uncle Charlie took over the cooking and the silence in the room was rather grave. The bacon sizzled and it wasn't until Charlie asked who wanted more food did the conversation pick back up, focusing either on the wedding last night or school.

"And then I got this really cool folding pot that Mum was talking about." Lily had replaced James' spot as soon as she got back and was filling Albus in about her whole shopping trip. The conversation mainly consisted of her wand and robe fittings and how her mum wouldn't let her have any house-coloured clothing because she wasn't sorted yet.

"I'm sorry, Lils, but I've really got to use the loo," Albus interrupted and left the table. Nobody noticed him leave and Lily immediately asked Hugo what house he thought they'd be sorted into.

After all, Albus didn't really lie, as he did need to go to the bathroom, but he also planned on seeing if he could find out what his parents were up to. On his way, however, he saw someone had already beaten him to the punch.

"Molly? What are you doing?" Molly wasn't expecting anyone and she jumped as soon as Albus said her name. With sudden shock she pulled out her wand and cast a silencing charm on the door immediately.

Molly spluttered a combination of four-letter words that would disgust her mother as she realised immediately what she had done. "I'm going to be expelled! I'm going to Azkaban!" She looked so worried as she dropped her wand onto the floor, looking at it as if it were some sort of cursed item.

Albus went and picked it up for her.

"Our family is best mates with the Minister for Magic. I'm sure you're fine." He said and handed her wand back. She rolled her eyes and took it back and placed it in her back pocket. She glanced at the door in hopes that no one heard Albus before she placed the charm and sighed.

"I- I wasn't doing anything." She said. "I heard voices and I wondered who it was. I checked really quickly, and now I'm leaving." She began to turn around but Albus stopped her.

"You just wanted to hear who was in the room? Their little chat about garden gnomes is so intreging that you had to cast a silencing charm on the door? What are they talking about, Molly?" Albus was insistent. Call it a family trait.

"I told you," she said, "I was just startled. I'm going to go and get ready to go home. Um, why don't you go and tell James I'm sorry about earlier?" And with that, she turned around and ran down the hallway. He stared at the corner of the hall that she turned at and then at the door. He took is own wand out of his back pocket and took the silencing charm off the door before leaning in and placing his ear against it.

Soon he forgot all about Molly, the wedding, school, and what he was supposed to tell James later.

"Listen, Harry. Ginny. We think it'd be a lot easier if we could send a spy or two and see what becomes of this. With Albus, it'd be a lot easier." The voice sounded like Uncle Percy's and Albus found his ear was beginning to get very warm for how tightly he was pressed against the door to hear.

"I am not sending my son into something like this, Percy!" That was his mum. She sounded worried, but not angry. "Tell him, Harry! We can't do something like this. They're just children! It might not even be anything worth meddling with."

There was silence in the room for a moment before his dad answered. He sounded close, like he was right next to the door.

"Ginny, I think Percy has a point. They may be just kids, but you remember how Voldemort started. He was just a child, too. We can't underestimate children, dear. What say you, Kingsley?"

"As much as I agree we do need spies to check in on these children periodically, I can't say that I believe sending more children into this is a good idea. At least, not your son, Harry."

Percy spoke again. "But, Minister, Albus would fit right in! He's a pure-blood wizard, and by the sounds of it, that's who these children are recruiting."

"Don't go offering my own children as bait, Percy!" Ginny half shouted.

"I'm only saying, Ginny, that if we could send Albus into investigate-"

"No, Kingsley is right." Hermione interrupted suddenly. The room went silent. "If we send Albus in, they'll see something is up. Albus is the son of Harry Potter and Harry is the Head of the Auror Department. We'd be committing murder doing something so foolish. We do need spies, however. I can- I can investigate. I could see to it that the animals at Hogwarts are being treated fairly for a period of time. Every weekend should be about right, don't you think? Ron?"

"Yeah, and Harry and I could go in every once in a while to make sure everything's in order. We could say we heard some rumours going around outside Hogwarts and we need to keep things straight at the school. That should put a stop to whatever these kids are up to, right?" Ron suggested, agreeing with his wife.

Albus gulped. His hands were sweaty and his glasses were slipping from the end of his nose. Hogwarts was in danger. Last year there were some issues with bullies, but they never did anything major. What could be going on that they needed spies for? If they wanted Albus as a spy, it must have meant that whoever they were expecting it to be was a Slytherin.

"That's it then, isn't it?" Ginny asked hopefully. "If we can make sure that everything is going smoothly at Hogwarts ourselves, then there is no reason to get Albus into this. There’s no reason to get any of the children into this."

"I'm not sure if adult spies will completely do, Ginny but," Percy said matter-of-factly, "it should do for a while at least."

"If everything seems settled by the Christmas holidays, then we can resign, but until then I will need all of you, and a few of the staff members, to go along with this. You can’t tell anyone, especially your children," Kingsley said, his voice deep and authoritative yet soft at the same time.

"OK," Harry said. "I'll ask my top Aurors and see what they have to say. I'll have them start as soon as the term starts."

"We mustn't rush into this, Harry." Percy interrupted again. Albus was finding that his hands were shaking and immediately let go of the door frame to hold them behind his back. His uncle was definitely pissing him off, but he couldn't pry his ear from the door as easily as his hands. "If we do, they will assume something is up. I'm sure you can remember when we were in school and there were Aurors running around all over the place."

"That was different." Harry said, sounding off-beat and almost sad. "Everyone knew that Sirius was an escaped convict then and we needed the protection."

"The rumours are out there, Harry. Soon, even the children will know, but we mustn't rush them." Said Kingsley. He too sounded as if he was close to the door now and Albus realised that this little meeting would be over soon. Right before he left his spot of the past ten minutes, however, he heard his Uncle Ron's voice again.

"Just like old times, eh mate?" There was a thud and Albus was pretty sure that Ron had just clapped his dad on the back.

"Yes," his dad said solemnly, "but it isn't a good thing."

With those last words, Albus ran at the sound of the locks being turned. His legs had lost all feeling due to standing and shaking for so long, but he made them run anyway. He ran all the way up to his room and shut the door behind him. All the while, he was hoping to Godric himself that no one saw him.

The rest of the week went by relatively quietly. Everyone left the Potter's on the day of the interrupted breakfast around supper time, and started packing things up for Hogwarts. Noah, on the other hand, had an extremely quiet week considering he was having no contact with Molly at all since their dance. It wasn't that he never tried. She just refused to answer him.

His room was all packed up and nearly looked as if no one occupied it at all. His mother loved him with all her heart, but when he was gone, Noah’s bedroom became an excellent guest bedroom. Either that or a good room for his little sister to take over during sleepovers. His family was a long line of Muggles. Noah just happened to be the lucky freak who blew up a few lamps on accident and was sent off on a train to a magical castle where blowing things up was normal.

"Noah!" His mum sang from downstairs. "Come on darling, it's already around ten o'clock and we still have to stop for a quick bite to eat!"

"Coming!" Noah said, taking one last look around his room. It wouldn't be the last time he saw it, but it was always sad to leave home for nearly an entire year sometimes. Sure, there were always holidays, but most of the time he spent those with the Weasleys and Potters. "Well, I guess that may be changing this year," he mumbled to himself before he lifted his trunk behind him to drag it down the stairs.

"Wait!" Noah's little sister shouted at him as she hobbled down the stairs after him. She broke her right leg playing an awful game of rugby a few weeks back. Otherwise, she looked almost exactly like Noah. Only, she was thirteen and the differences were her slightly longer haircut and she had, well, she had she parts. "Are you leaving right now?" She asked while only making it halfway down the stairs.

"Well, in five minutes or so. So get ready," Noah said. He was looking at his watch and then he looked back up to his sister. She had a guilty expression on her face. "What is it?"

She twirled her hair a little and bit her lip. "I- I'm not going," she stammered. "I have a game today."

"What are you going to do? Sit on the bench?" He asked, slightly annoyed. As he was thinking earlier, he was hardly home and he hardly saw his family. She pulled back and looked down at the stairs beneath her, thumping the large cast on her leg against the base of the step she was on.

"It's a part of being included with the team," she said quietly. He regretted his comment, but he didn't have much time to apologise properly either.

"Listen, I'm sorry, kiddo, but I've really got to head out."

"Wait! Before you go, I have something to tell you!" She said quickly, her bashfulness forgotten. He felt the need to say something witty; that if she came they'd have plenty of time, but Noah decided against it when he looked at his watch again.

"What?"

"Well, it's about what I heard the other day. About... It was about your world." She motioned for him to step closer to her so she didn't have to say it too loudly. Noah was concerned, so he took his trunk down the remaining bit of the staircase and skipped a few steps up to her. "I was sitting on the bench during my last game," she started, whispering so quietly in his ear that he had to strain his hearing, "and I heard some people like you talking. At least I think they were like you. They were talking about Hogwarts. That is the school you go to, right?"

He nodded his head and felt her wobble under the sudden movement and he grabbed hold of her elbow. When she regained her balance, she continued.

"Well, they were talking about something happening this year. Something that may cause trouble at Hogwarts this year." She pulled back and looked at him. His expression never changed. Things at Hogwarts were always strange, even at its most normal times, and his Muggle sister wouldn't understand something like that. However, she did seem thoroughly worried about it.

"I'll keep an eye out," he promised quickly. He kissed her forehead and turned to head back down the stairs. "Stay out of trouble and I'll see you sometime during the holidays or after term!" With that last call, she waved goodbye, wished him well, along with warnings to be safe and stay out of trouble himself.

By the time Noah slid into the passenger side of his mother's black SUV he completely forgot about what his sister told him. At the current moment, he was a little more worried about seeing Molly for the first time all week and how their relationship would progress from there.

"Are you feeling well, sweetie?" His mother asked, not taking the risk of looking away from her rearview mirror until they reached a crosswalk with a few children crossing her path.

"What?" Noah snapped out of the small conversation between Molly and him he was having in his head and looked at his mother. She was a small woman and the vehicle looked more like it owned her rather than the other way around, but otherwise he inherited the rest of his traits from her. "Oh, no," he said quickly once he realised what she said. "Guess I'm just beginning to miss home all ready," he added to satisfy her question.

She stuck with that answer and the rest of the trip was made in silence. She only broke it to ask if he wanted anything to eat while she stopped at a drive-thru and he said he'd get something on the train. The relationship he had with his mother wasn't all that bad. It was just that things became very awkward when she remarried two years ago to a man she never wrote to Noah about and surprised him with a new step-dad when he came home over the summer holidays that year.

It wasn't that he didn't get along with his step-dad. The man just seemed a bit odd. He tried everything he could to be really cool, even to the point where it became stressing. Noah didn't always like sticking around him though. His real dad was still in Australia, where they left him over twelve years ago because he wouldn't follow along to England with them.

The awkward moments between him and his mum were due to the fact that she felt, somewhere deep down, that she had wronged her son. Noah assured her hundreds of times that as long as she was happy he didn't care what she did, but something was still strange between the two of them.

"We're here." She said. His mum stopped the car and turned to face him. It wasn't exactly as cheery as most goodbyes were, but he knew it'd be better to say goodbye to her there instead of inside. Inside King's Cross, he would only end up going through nine and three quarters and spending the rest of the time with his friends. His mum didn't mind his magical abilities, but she didn't feel comfortable about knowingly hanging around a lot of people like him.

Noah reached over the seats and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

"Goodbye, Mum," he said and began to unbuckle himself from the seat. Before he went to get his trunk however, he looked at his mum for a moment and gave her a small smile. "I love you."

His mother was taken by surprise at first, but then she composed herself and smiled widely. "I love you too, son! Are you sure you're OK?"

"Just peachy, mum," he said with a meaningful grin of his own. Then, with an awkward giggle or two, he shut the door and dragged his stuff along the paved lot and straight into King's Cross.

~~~

"Mum, I just want to get onto the train!" Lily Potter whined as she tugged at her luggage that was bundled with everything else on top of it. This was including her genuine, one-of-a-kind Firebolt 2000 from the Holyhead Harpies team. Long story short, it once belonged to her mother. Though it was an older model, it was still wicked fast. Technically she wasn't supposed to be carrying it around at Hogwarts, but she figured she could at least fly around the fields during free time if she couldn't actually play Quidditch.

"She doesn't seem worried at all about the Giant Squid initiation test I told her she'd have to pass before she even makes it to the castle." James informed his mother as he passed her on his own. Lily's eye twitched once before she stamped her foot and began to yell at him.

"There is no such thing, James!"

"Believe whatever you want, but you'll regret it later!" James then left ahead of everyone else when he saw his friends, Addie Sanders and William Troy. He straightened the Prefect’s badge on his Muggle shirt and trudged along.

"I bet he doesn't realise I've watched all of my family members go into Hogwarts before me and none of them have ever done a Giant Squid initiation test! There really isn't a Giant Squid initiation test, is there?" Lily asked, slightly panicked as she looked at her parents with hope.

"Of course n-" Ginny started.

"Well, that's because not everyone has the same test, Lily." Harry broke in. "Look at me. My test was against a snobby little git who tried to coax me into a house I really had no interest in at the time. I passed didn't I? They change it every year though, and this year it must be the Giant Squid again. Too bad about the last first year that failed that test when I was in school..."

"HARRY!"

"DAD!"

Ginny swatted his arm but couldn't help but laugh at her husband's gentle humour. Lily, however, didn't take it so lightly.

"I didn't study!"

"You're not spending your weekends at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's house anymore, Lils." Harry grinned.

"Don't worry," Albus chimed in, "at least you didn't have to fight off a dragon before the train even reached the castle. I took on the whole thing by myself!" Then he too ran off to see some friends crowding around a mutual friend's new owl.

"I don't remember anyone ever talking about these tests!" Lily cried, near panic now.

"That's because no one is allowed to tell the first years until the day of school. That way, they worry about not studying before it." Lily's Uncle Ron said as he suddenly came in from behind her mum and dad. Hermione had the same soft laughter Ginny did when her husband joked, but Hugo looked just about as terrified as Lily did.

"Honestly, you two. There's no point in scaring them. Lily dear. Hugo. There are no such tests. Just worry about having a good head on your shoulders when you're sorted, and you'll be fine," Ginny confirmed as she continued to hold on to Lily in the crowd of rushing people.

"That is, if you manage to keep your head on your shoulders after facing the Giant Squid!" Ron and Harry said at the same time. In turn, both wives scolded their husbands and laughed heartily. The laughter subsided when they reached the scarlet train at last and Lily tried to get on without saying goodbye.

"Hold on a second there, darling." Harry said while pulling out his wand to enchant her trunk and other belongings. "I've got your trunk, now you come here and hug your good ol' mum and dad properly." After Lily hugged both of her parents, a fellow first year walked by with wide eyes and pointed right at the family of red heads and Potters.

"That’s- You're- They're- You're- You're Harry Potter's daughter!" Said the very educated child as he ran off to tell a rather round, fat friend.

"Guess I've got to get used to that now that I'll be around people I don't know, huh?" Lily sighed. It was people like that kid who made her first year much less exciting. She knew they'd expect her to be some great Gryffindor like her father and company, but her older brother Albus was a Slytherin. The only reason he wasn't forgotten about was because he was the first Potter ever to be sorted there. If Lily were a Slytherin, the wizarding world would think the Potters were just making a bad brew of children. Anything else and she'd just be some other smart kid in Ravenclaw or whatever the heck a Hufflepuff was.

Harry knelt down on one knee, almost identical to what he did two years previously with Albus, only he kissed her cheek first.

"Lily," he said, "I wish there were things I could do to make that easier for you and your brothers. I wish I could make it easier on any of our family, but people just don't understand that people like you and I went and go through exactly what they go through. Just don't draw attention to yourself and you should be fine. If not, then just tell them you'll get your famous father who’s Head of the Auror Department to come and find their parents and have a talk with them, OK?" Lily laughed and then hugged her father goodbye. Her mother kissed her and then patted her bum before watching as Lily boarded on the train with Hugo following close behind.

"Be sure to write to us every day!" Ginny called out while Hermione told Hugo something about telling Professor Longbottom hello from the Weasley family. The train whistle sounded and everyone who wasn't on the train scattered in a hurry to board before they were left behind. Lily waved goodbye to her parents until she could no longer see them. What she missed, as the train turned around the corner, was the look the rather large family shared with one another of concern.

The train was loud and roaring on the outside, but inside Lily and Hugo found their walk to the nearest compartment very easily.

"So tell me," Hugo said once they walked into an empty compartment and placed the remainder of their things they carried up on the racks where their luggage magically appeared. "Do we really have to pass an initiation test?"

~~~

The compartment James was in was very full. In fact, he was sure if one more person were to come in the trolley lady would send them all out to find somewhere else to sit. He wouldn't have to worry much longer about how packed the compartment was, however, because soon he and two of his other friends would be leaving for the Prefects’ meeting.

Albus was sitting by the window in full conversation with Fred and Lucy, while Rose, Will and Dominique were talking about what it would be like the following year if Rose were a Prefect. The only other person in the room was one of James' best mates, Addie Sanders, who was contently staring at him with a warm smile. She, unlike James, was already wearing her Gryffindor robes and had the brand new Prefects badge pinned right below her left shoulder.

His plan was to surprise her and Will with his accomplishment, but she was ready to go and boast to the world about hers. Not that James really minded, but she really couldn't believe it when he showed her his. Ever since then, however, Addie couldn't seem to stop staring at him.

"Don't you agree, James?" Dominique asked, turned away from the conversation Rose and Will were having with her. When he didn't answer right away she tried again. "Don't you think Rose would make the perfect Prefect next year?" She asked with wide, hinting eyes.

"Um, yeah," James hesitated, looking from Rose to Dominique and at Will who was giving the clear heads up to agree. "If that's what the Head Girl believes, then yeah. Definitely." Dominique turned and looked at Rose with a very 'I told you so' pose.

"See? I told you people already saw you in a leading position," Dominique assured her.

"Yeah," Fred jumped in, "but that's just the nice way of saying that we all think you're an insufferable know-it-all." He high-fived Albus and Lucy broke into a fit of giggles.

"Take that back, Fred Weasley!" Rose threatened. That was as far as the threat reached because just then the compartment door opened and Brandon Nelson peeked his head in just far enough so everyone could see his Head Boy badge above his Hufflepuff badge.

James and Addie stood up abruptly, unsure of what to do in the presence of the higher authority. Dominique sighed and said, "I'll see you later, Rose. Then we'll talk more about next year, OK?" She placed the rest of her belongings and treats with her luggage above and followed the other three out of the compartment.

"Hello, Brandon," she said once they were in the hallways of the train and shut the compartment door. "I didn't realise that you were appointed Head Boy or else I would have come to say hello a long time ago." She added with her most sickly sweet voice James recognised as the 'there's no chance of that ever happening' voice.

"I'm sure, Dominique." Brandon said, not bothering to turn around. It was apparent to James in his previous years at Hogwarts that Brandon always had a little thing for Dominique, but his mess of brown hair and as-tamed-as-magic-would-allow acne were no match for what remained of Veela blood in Dominique. "It was announced in the letter you received over summer who was Head Boy, but I suppose you must've forgotten or jus-"

"Excuse me!" Addie interrupted. "But er, where are we going exactly? Are we going to some secret huge gigantic room in the train that I've heard about? Where are the other Prefects? And where-"

"I'm sorry?" Brandon turned around and raised an eyebrow at the much smaller girl. He was a very tall boy, nearly a head taller than James, but that wasn't saying much in Addie’s case, who stood unknowingly dumbfounded before him.

She spoke again, but this time faster. "It's just that someone once told me that all the Prefects met with the Heads on the train in some big elaborate room where they hold their meetings and pass out duties and everything! I mean, I've never seen this room once since I've been riding the Hogwarts Express, but that doesn't mean magic doesn't hide or conceal it somehow. You see, magic has this curious way of hiding things and I-"

"Oh! No, no!" Brandon was a bit overwhelmed and looked at James for help. James placed a hand on her shoulder and that immediately calmed her down. Addie's face turned an instant shade of red and she looked down at her shoes and decided they were very interesting to look at for the rest of the conversation.

"There are a few rooms like that, yes," Brandon said calmly after a moment or two of silence.

"But not for us, you silly girl," Dominique sneered. "We are just here to make sure you know to watch this hall from now until departure, along with the next carriage. That is all, and we have to tell you not to let anyone escape their compartments as we come closer to Hogwarts, as there have been troubles in the past with not getting off in time." Dominique winked at James and he knew she was directing her comment towards his father.

Addie looked up fiercely. Her bashful, unexpected persona ended the moment Dominique called her a silly girl. James knew she had a temper and she didn't control it well, but she luckily kept her mouth shut for the remainder of Dominique's speech.

"That is all." Dominique ended and then turned around, forgetting Brandon was right behind her and running straight into him. "Will you please move!" He shifted to the side and allowed her to pass by. He gave Addie and James a look as if to say, "I'm sorry about that, guys," and then went off to follow Dominique to do whatever the Head Boy and Girl do.

Addie and James were left in the aisle by themselves. When she still didn't say a word, James broke in with, "So, are you OK?"

She huffed and crossed her arms, making her robes look a size or two too big.

"I s'pose," she replied. "It's just she didn't have to be so rude! I know she's your cousin, James, but I'm not going to get along with her this year if that's how she is going to be!"

James looked at her for a moment, trying to take her seriously, and then began to laugh. Addie giggled, too. Neither one of them were very serious people, and neither one of them knew what Professor McGonagall was thinking when she appointed them their roles. Either way, they were role model students in a strange sort of way.

"You'll have to get used to her, Addie. She's a lot like my Aunt Fleur, who only used to get along with Uncle Bill and my dad for the longest time before she decided to, er, adapt the rest of our families into her life. Dominique takes after her mum, that’s all." James reassured her after the two had calmed down slightly.

Addie was still smiling and a hint of laughter was still in her eyes.

"I s'pose so, but she could have still answered me nicely," she commented as they began to move down the hallway and check to see if everyone was getting ready.

"Eh, they probably just go around gathering all of the Prefects just so they can tell them to patrol hallways, like what we're doing now," James pointed out.

"Do you think we'll patrol together often?" Addie asked, turning her head so she could see him behind her.

"We are both in Gryffindor," he reminded her. Addie blushed and turned around.

"Oh. Yeah." She said and then jumped a little right as a compartment door slid open next to them. "WHOA!" She jumped right into James and he caught her before she knocked both of them over.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Noah?" James asked in surprise. He looked in the compartment and saw no one else was in there. "Why aren't you with Molly? I didn't think things actually ended with you two."

"No, we're still together. I'm off to see her right now actually," Noah sighed. James didn't know if he should take his comment as a good or bad thing. Addie suddenly extracted herself from James' arms, realising where she was, and then she brushed her robes off.

"Right," she said officially. "You shouldn't be running off anywhere. We'll be at Hogwarts soon and you need to get into your robes!" She said promptly. Noah chucked and pulled on his robes to show her he had them on already. "Oh. Right. Well then you can't leave this carriage!"

Noah lightly pushed her and James out of the way with a large grin and turned back to look at them.

"She's just down a few compartments. I won't get lost, I promise, oh mighty great ones!" And he was off.

"Nice one, Addie," James smirked. She punched him in the arm and continued to go forward.

"Come on, oh mighty great one. We have to check the next cart." James laughed and then he led the way in front of her.

"Oh ha ha! Aren't we original! Mighty Great One!"

The second carriage wasn't as calm as their first one, unfortunately. It must have been the carriage all of the first years decided to sit in because everyone was going from compartment to compartment as they were looking for friends or siblings. One first year was even looking for a lost sock!

Girls were huddled together in a shared compartment while boys were in another so no one would see the other change, but others were still undressed and doing everything imaginable with their wands.

"What are we s'posed to do?" Addie asked, her own wand out as if she was defending herself against a group of Dementors.

James lowered her wand arm and opened the nearest compartment door.

"Follow my lead." James whispered. "Hey! You lot in here! If you're not dressed in those uniforms in the next five minutes, the Hogwarts Express will suck you right up in its luggage racks and take you back home!"

The compartment of first years who decided their robes weren't important at the moment hurried to their feet and started rummaging through their luggage bags. One girl even began to cry. Instead of apologising, James and Addie left them to change and went for the next compartment. The same sort of threats continued all along the row, making boys laugh and girls panic, while others stared blankly at them in their already changed robes. Addie had a blast, telling one lot that if they didn't get changed and in their compartments soon, Hogwarts would absolutely refuse to sort them and make them work in the kitchens all of term.

When they reached the end, the havoc died down and there was only one compartment left. It was Addie's turn to come up with the first year's demise, but when she slid open the door James heard her say, "Oh," and then she tried to turn around.

"What is it?" He asked, pushing past her. He immediately saw what it was. Lily and Hugo were completely dressed and ready to go, but what he also noticed was that their compartment was completely full as well. He recognised two of the seat occupiers as his brother Albus, who managed to sneak his way over to the compartment after they left, and another one of his cousins, Roxanne. Other than that, he didn't recognise any of the girls, who seemed to be ogling at him religiously. There was one boy whom he thought may be a second year, and he recognised him to be Joseph Bartly, but he couldn't be sure.

"Hi, James! Addie!" Lily chimed, in a very good mood. Hugo was sitting next to Albus and the kid that might be Joseph, and all of them were continuously making the girls squeal and giggle. The kid who may possibly have been Joseph was trying very hard to make Lily laugh at one of his jokes about some troll and a gargoyle, and it seemed to be working. Albus took no heed to it, but James stared at him for a while until Addie spoke up.

"We were just making sure you all were changed and ready to go. We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon!" She exclaimed, very enlightened.

"That's good," Lily said, "because Joseph told Hugo and I all about how there is no initiation test. None that he could remember anyway. Isn't that right, Joseph?" she asked him merrily.

Joseph sputtered for a moment under the pressure of James' intense staring. "Um! Yeah! Then again, I said, not that I remembered, Lils- I mean Lily!" Addie found the situation all too humorous and began to laugh and soon all of the first year girls stopped their own hysterics and glared at her. Apparently, due to Addie's size, they thought she was just some first year girl who was coming in trying to steal their amusement.

"It's OK, Joseph," Lily assured the young boy, with a quick glance at her brother, "he's just being stupid, that’s all. Don't be afraid of him. He still goes to bed every night by lullaby."

"Oh?" Joseph perked back up and then smirked right at James. James blushed but glared at his own sister.

"I see that this room has everything sorted out now, so I guess we'll just be going!" Addie said quickly, pulling James by the back of his robes out into the hallway and then sliding the door shut behind them. "Your sister is very pretty, James. At least you don't have to worry about no boy ever liking her."

"Why would I worry about some boy liking her? I've gone out and specifically bought potions from my Uncle Ron and George's shop to keep guys away from her! She's twelve, for the love of Godric!"

"Oh come on," Addie smiled and then pulled him by the hand. It was odd, he thought, that the slightest touch from him made her face flush, but she could touch him at will without anything happening. "We're done here now, and the train will be stopping soon. Let’s go back to our compartment."

~~~

Some girl Noah didn't know sat in the carriages pulled by Thestrals to Hogwarts with him. They were the only two, and she tried to start conversation with him, but he didn't feel like speaking at the moment. His little meeting with Molly on the train didn't go exactly as he planned.

He was sitting there in a compartment by himself, wondering when the best time to speak to Molly would be. She had completely ignored him at King's Cross, and he didn't see her board the train. It wasn't until they were nearly at Hogwarts that someone knocked on the sliding door and let themselves in. It was Luke, one of Molly's best friends, and he didn't look too happy.

"Meet me in my compartment. Four doors down." He told him, and then with that, he left. Noah didn't say anything to stop him, but he didn't get up right away either. When he did get up and out of the compartment, James and Addie were waiting outside for him. It wasn't until then did he realise that Molly might actually want to talk to him. He was genuinely excited to see her and apologise for everything he did the week before.

When he opened the compartment Luke told him to be at, Molly was sitting in the corner, next to her two best friends, Luke Matthews and Avery Masters. They were sitting right next to her so Noah had to sit across from them. Avery was reading, or cowering, behind a book while Luke was trying to look as big as he could while staring Noah down.

Noah watched him with curiosity as he sat down, and then looked right at Molly, who looked as if she were fighting tears and scared at the same time.

'Listen, Molly, I'm sorry about-"

"Noah, I think it's time you and I broke up." She said flatly. Her voice was faint, yet neither one of her friends moved. He had the feeling this was planned between all three of them.

"What? But, Molly, I-" he tried to speak. He tried to put sense to her words, but she closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Enough, Noah. It's clear that you and I don't have the same interests as one another, and that's not healthy in this relationship. I- I think it's time we split up and that's final."

Noah opened his mouth to argue, the smile on his face from moments ago long forgotten. He gave up and slumped in his chair. There was nothing more for him to say. Apparently there was nothing more for her to say either, because Molly stared out the window and avoided looking at him.

"I think you should leave," said a small voice that cracked. No one bothered to see who it was but Noah. It was Avery, peeking at him from her book and biting her lip. Her glasses were rammed tightly onto the bridge of her nose so they wouldn't fall off as she read, and her mousy brown hair hid most of her face. Noah looked at her, then at Molly, who still refused to look at him.

With one last look at Luke, he stood up and opened the compartment door. Then he turned back to look at all three of them. His anger had got the better of him, which didn't happen often, and he looked right at the back of Molly's head.

"I hope you know," he spat, "that I meant what I said that day, Mols. And I always will, too. I love you, and if you don't love me back that's fine, because no one asked you to. Doing this? Well it's just foolish, but whatever makes you happy I guess is fine with me. Just remember what I said, and don't let it bite you in the arse when it's too late!"

He heard her sigh and then he slammed the compartment door shut behind him, huffing off back to his own compartment.

"I know that you're not the kind to start friendly conversation, but I thought I'd let you know that we've arrived," said the girl who had been sitting with Noah all along in the carriage. She seemed very annoyed, and before waiting for his response, she stomped out of the carriage.

"Well," Noah sighed to himself, "that's two women I've manage to upset in one evening." He climbed out of the carriage and looked before him to see his old home. He smiled faintly and walked straight on to the castle doors.

Lily never knew that Hogwarts was so beautiful. All of her life everyone told her all about the beauty of the castle walls, but their words couldn't do it justice. Those were just her thoughts as Hugo and a few others rode in a boat with her on the way. The interior of the castle alone was more of a fairytale unknown to mankind.

Professor Flitwick, the Deputy Headmaster, was inside the Great Hall after explaining the expectations at Hogwarts while the herd of first-years waited not-so-patiently on the other side of the doors.

"I have a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling. Very bad indeed," some kid was mumbling behind her, manically rocking back and forward. His eyes were wide and his bottom lip was quivering in panic.

“And what, may I ask, is it that is so very bad?� Lily asked, intruding on the conversation the boy was having with himself. She shared a concerned look with Hugo.

The short boy was rubbing his plump hands together and his mop of red hair was sticking up all over the place, allowing his terrified brown eyes to look straight into her calm blue ones. “T-the initiation t-test!� the boy stuttered. “I d-didn’t study! There’s a t-troll in there! I kn-know it!�

A few of the other kids gasped behind him and a few others smirked. Lily, however, had to keep herself from laughing on the spot. To be fair, she too had been just as terrified hours before. Hugo, however, found laughing very appropriate at the moment. So much so that tears began to stream down his face.

“W-what’s s-so funny?� the boy demanded, nearly sent into hysterics.

"Are you daft?" Hugo asked. Knowing the truth, he gained a lot of courage in teasing the other kids.

"N-no!" the boy exclaimed, terrified of the other children and their laughing. How his parents even thought he'd survive away from his house was a mystery to Lily. "I'm Muggleborn!" he added, and then everyone had a right good laugh at his comment.

"Muggleborn, are you?" a girl said as she stepped up, a thin smile at her lips (which was abnormal for how tall her face was). Her nose was long with a rather large crook in it, and she had chopped up brown hair and freckles spread over her porcelain looking skin. In no means was she an attractive girl, but she was brave enough to step up. Everyone was paying attention to her now. "Well, that changes things, doesn't it?"

Everyone shifted looks from one to another, trying not to make their concern obvious. The loud-mouthed girl waited a moment before speaking again and then smiled a very toothy grin (much larger than her smile from before).

"Muggleborns have different kinds of initiation tests." That remark earned a few more gasps and smirks. It was becoming more and more obvious to Lily who would be in what House at this rate and she became less worried of what House she herself would be sorted in. "Your lot have a go with Devil's Snare and duel some big nasties and, well, I’d better not give the surprise away."

"Oh, come off it! All of you!" interrupted Lily. The other girl stared at her with narrow eyes. Lily ignored her and turned back to the plump boy. "There is no initiation test! They'll only place a hat on your head and it sorts you. The end! Unless you're too scared to do that?" she added with a hesitant look. He looked down at the stone floor and mumbled something that sounded like, "Thanks. No," and twiddled his thumbs.

"You've a mouth there for a Potter," said the girl with the chopped up hair. Her arms were crossed, but the crowd was beginning to consume around her again and Lily could hardly see her. "Sticking up for someone like him that is afraid of the world. Have you talked to your Daddy lately?"

Lily, who was trying her best to ignore the girl’s bucket face, looked up suddenly and felt her anger rise.

"I see you know my name, but I haven't had the pleasure to learn yours," she said, holding a hand out. Her father's words before she left were running through her head, and she didn't want the Sorting Hat to have any last minute changes. The girl snarled at her outstretched hand and backed away in disgust. She turned back and faced the doors and Hugo grabbed hold of Lily's shoulder to force her to turn around quickly as Professor Flitwick returned with a friendly face.

"Well, now that we're all friends," he said, looking around the crowd, "it is time for the sorting!"

The entire crowd of first years walked in, huddled behind the tiny man. Some of the students' eyes went wide with fear at the amount of students who were going to watch them. Lily and Hugo looked around all of the tables and waved at everyone they knew.

"That's my sister!" somebody yelled out from the crowded tables that were somehow supposed to make room for the oncoming first years. Lily turned as soon as she recognised the voice belonged to her brother James. He was standing and applauding and others were laughing as they tried to tug him down. Lily's face went slightly red but Hugo nudged her and winked. They were going to fit in fine, he thought. However, Lily wasn't so sure.

Above, in front of everyone, sat the staff of Hogwarts, and Lily was glad to see familiar faces in nearly every chair. Professor Longbottom was sitting in between Professor Hagrid and Professor McGonagall. Professor Firenze was sitting near the end of the table (standing really). Professor Longbottom noticed Hugo and Lily and waved. Hugo, who was entirely focused on the empty gold plates around him, knowing that they would be filled with food soon, didn't notice, but Lily smiled and waved at everyone in return.

The group came to a sudden halt and the students in the Great Hall whispered quietly, finishing the last little bits of conversations, before there was complete silence. Professor McGonagall rose from her seat and looked down upon them all.

"Students," she announced, "I recommend you all stay quiet until the Hat's speech is done, and then we shall begin the sorting!" She pulled the Sorting Hat into view and placed it onto a three-legged stool. As soon as the hat touched the stool it came to life and the seam of its mouth opened up.

"Welcome one!
Welcome all!
Here at Hogwarts we take the tall,
And even the small.
It's what we are all about, you know?

Together we are a family, but apart
That is not what we show.
For here we are,
Still four houses strong!
Not yet as one
Which we all belong.

Those four have made our past,
Our present, and our future
To do so differently now
Would break the human adventure.

So let’s begin and go back
To where this all started,
And see what has caused
The students to be parted.

Rowena Ravenclaw, as cunning
And smart as she may seem,
Has hidden her talents and
Will settle you here.
Yes smart you may be, but don't be fooled
By your once sallow dream,
That here is where they belong,
And that's the end of her song.

Onto noble Godric Gryffindor,
The bravest yet among all of thee!
Though now determined,
And almost predicted.
You'd much rather be here
And your innocent thoughts addicted.
Your hearts lead one way
And noble that may be,
One's boastfulness will lead to another's dying day.

Helga Hufflepuff, once so sweet and true
She takes you in,
And helps you with your problems through!
A warning heads to you
To keep watch out on your friends!
They see you not as one of them
To help them with a journey's end.

To cunning old Salazar Slytherin,
Who takes only those who are strong.
Be watchful of the words you speak,
Or else you will lose sight of what you seek.
Be wise and be gracious!
Allow those in, and start a new beginning,
To lose the spot so spacious!
Think once and you've made
Your very first mistake!
Think twice and you'll see what
Was once laid before you is fake.

And now, without further ado,
No longer will I sing
As you place me on your head.
Let the sorting of Hogwarts begin!"

One student tried clapping at the hat's song, but no one followed. No one had ever heard the Sorting Hat sing out a warning. Not in several years, at least. Most of the first-years’ mouths dropped, and the fat boy who was trembling behind Lily before had now fainted onto the floor. Nobody laughed, fortunately, but no one noticed either.

At last, the Headmistress surveyed the students and staff before saying, "With that delightful welcoming, let us move onto the sorting! Arndale, Chloe!" Professor McGonagall called out. The entire hall remained quiet, waiting to see what the first first year’s House would be.

A girl about the same height as Lily strolled past her. Her robes looked freshly ironed and she had black hair equally as straight and smooth. She had a lopsided grin on her face as she sat on top of the stool. Lily was almost certain the hat would have sorted her right away, because she recognised her as one of the girls hanging with Freckle Face, but Chloe's smirk slipped away after she was still sitting there longer than a few seconds. Finally, the hat came up with a decision.

"SLYTHERIN!" the Sorting Hat announced and Chloe's face showed a lifetime's worth of relief as she stepped down from the stool and ran over to the roaring crowd of Slytherins waiting for her to have a seat at their table.

"Just think," Hugo whispered by her side as some of the kids behind them revived the now pale and sweaty kid from the floor. "Being so young and being deemed evil!"

"Slytherin does not mean evil!" Lily hissed. "Albus! Remember? My brother?"

"Oh. Right. But still? She has to worry about who she talks to, or something like that, according to that hat," Hugo added, his voice hoarse.

"Carson, Niel!"

Lily was sure her face looked a lot like Sir Faint-A-Lot’s behind her.

"Something tells me that Chloe Arndale isn't worried about not making friends, Hugo," she whimpered.

"Something the matter, Lils?" Hugo asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. Lily had the feeling that Hugo didn't get the full meaning of the Sorting Hat's message.

"I'm sort of afraid of my sorting now," Lily told him honestly. "Seems like no matter where we get sorted, it's not exactly better than the other."

Hugo looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said something Lily didn't expect for him to say. "I think maybe that's what it was supposed to mean."

"What?" Lily asked, whipping her head toward him.

"Well, if we all have something to worry about no matter which House we go in, we're equals, aren't we? And seeing as how that entire song pretty much said if we don't work together with the other Houses, then all of those bad things will happen, won't they?"

Lily didn't think of it like that, but in many ways it made sense. Her nerves were calmed. Somewhat.

"Moracy, Caleb!"

When nobody stepped up, Lily looked around along with everyone else. The fat boy that fainted earlier was looking at the floor and trembling violently. Hugo grinned and then pushed him forward. "Go on, Caleb!" he said, and everyone else got out of the way.

Caleb stood in his spot for a moment with his eyes clenched shut.

"How did his parents expect him to survive away from their house?" Hugo whispered to Lily, and she giggled.

Caleb trembled wildly and he refused to open his eyes. Professor McGonagall stepped forward and placed a hand behind his back, lightly pushing him forward. "Come along, Mr. Moracy," she said and then led him up to the seat. Not only did he squeak when his bum made contact with the stool, but he screamed nearly as soon as the hat touched his head. Hopefully, not many people heard, because the hat roared, "HUFFLEPUFF!" just as quickly.

"Poor kid," Hugo said, still laughing to himself. "I wonder if he realises he can let go of the stool now?" Caleb, who could have still saved himself from years of terrible teasing, would no longer be saved since he was still clinging onto the stool while students all over the hall laughed at him.

Professor Flitwick grabbed hold of his hand and led him away. He never opened his eyes, but Lily was sure that if he did he would have been terrified of who was holding him.

"Oliver, Benjamin!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Omar, Trevor!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, Lily!"

That was it. There was cheering for her before she made it to the stool, but she was sure that was helped out by being related to half of Hogwarts. She took a deep breath, a last look at who remained in the small group of first years, and then everyone vanished as the Sorting Hat was placed over her red hair and covered her eyes. All of the sudden, she knew just how Chloe and a few other students before her felt.

"The last Potter? Hmm, this should be fun. Your parents were both Gryffindors, along with your brother James. But what about you?" the hat jeered in her ear.

"Albus is a Slytherin!" Lily reminded it.

"I've not forgotten. Is that your wish as well? Another Potter headed to Slytherin? You know? It is not as bad as you may think. I offered to put your father in Slytherin, but he refused. Your brother took his sorting. Your father still loves him. Yes?"

"I donot think Slytherin is bad! My brother is good!"

"Your brother and I understand this, but do you?"

"Of course!"

"But after my warning?"

"I..."

Lily found herself speechless.

~~~

"GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat roared and Professor McGonagall removed the hat from Lily's head. She ran straight for the Gryffindor table where James was waiting for her and cheering her on. When she joined them, her face was flushed. The cheering died down as she took her seat and the next victim walked up.

"Way to go, Lils! You're a Gryffindor now! Wait ‘til Mum and Dad hear about this! Took a while though. What did that old hat have to say?" James asked while he pointed out to everyone that Lily Luna Potter was in fact his little sister.

"Just thought about putting me in Ravenclaw," she said as she glared up at him for embarrassing her.

"Really?" James wondered out loud. "You're smart and all, but has anyone who’s blood related to us been in Ravenclaw? That would have been weird!" he said, pointing out the obvious.

"Yeah. Who would have thought? Dad did say I should spend less time with Aunt Hermione," she said thoughtfully.

Rose, who was sitting three seats away, was smiling as she congratulated Lily. Even though the two girls were only cousins, they looked more like siblings than James and Lily did. Dominique was too far away and was entirely uninterested in Lily's sorting all together.

"Congrats, Lils," Fred winked, nudging Roxanne, who was missing out on the sorting completely to talk with her friends.

"Oh! Hi, Lily!" she said and then went straight back to talking again.

Addie was sitting right next to James and he felt that she might have been a bit too close. She was deep in conversation with Noah, who seemed to be smiling and nodding in all of the right places.

"Weasley, Hugo!"

"Shhh!" Rose and Lily said at the same time. James looked at her with a sense of pride, but instead of looking right at Hugo afterwards, he shared a quick glimpse around the room at his brother. Albus was smiling and nudged his head towards Hugo, gesturing James to watch just before their younger cousin was sorted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Great!" Lily squealed, and she stood up, clapping excitedly. James patted him on the back once he came to sit down next to Lily at the Gryffindor table. "Hugo, what did that hat say to you?" Lily asked him.

"Um, nothing really," said Hugo, looking around at the plates, seeing if any of them and produced any food yet. When none of them did, he looked disappointed and finished telling Lily. "Just that I was a cheeky lad that could probably have a go with the Ravenclaw lot if I didn't want to get into Gryffindor so badly. I told it, 'Mr. Hat, sir, I don't mind that Ravenclaw lot, but I don't much fancy being sorted there.' So he sorted me into Gryffindor. What about you? Your sorting went on for ages!"

"The same," Lily said quickly.

"Winters, Hayden!"

The ugly girl that looked more like a boy from earlier stepped up to the Sorting Hat and sat down. As soon as the hat touched her head it shouted out, "RAVENCLAW!"

"What?" Lily and Hugo said at the same time.

"I was sure she would have been sorted into Slytherin as soon as the hat touched her head!" Lily exclaimed. "Didn't you, Hugo?" she turned on him quickly, catching him off guard from the shock he was momentarily put in.

"Yea!" he managed to spit out.

"Winters?" James asked, watching as Professor McGonagall called the last student up and there were only a few seconds of waiting before they were placed into Hufflepuff. "That might be Jackson Winter's little bro- er, I mean, sister? He's a sixth year this year and a part of some Slytherin lot who think being snarky in the back of classes is really cool. Not much to them, but their family has a pretty bad rep."

"Aren't they the ones whose mum went crazy a few years back? Killed off their father and was shipped off to Azkaban afterwards?" Lily inquired.

James looked at her in disbelief for a moment. As far as he knew, Lily was far too young to remember that ever happening. She was maybe around two or three at the time.

"Dad told me," Lily reassured him without his asking and smiled up at him. "That is the Winters family, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "Now they live with their grandmother, last I heard. I wonder what Jackson is thinking now that his little sister is in Ravenclaw."

"Is it really all that good to be in Ravenclaw this year? You heard what the hat said," Lily pointed out. "'Yes, smart you may be, but don't be fooled by your once sallow dream.' It sounds like we've all been fooled by what Ravenclaw really is, at least by these new members."

"I'd hope not, they considered putting you in there, didn't they?" James pointed out. Lily blushed and nodded weakly. "Anyway," he continued, "the Sorting Hat doesn't really just sing a song all about the first years. It's more of a warning to them. To everyone really. It seems like something weird is going on this year if the hat is singing that sort of song, anyway. I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. If it were too bad it would’ve started warning us years ago. If there is any trouble, it's only just beginning."

He could see that Lily wanted to make a remark on this, but she hesitated.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Well, wouldn't it seem that if the hat is warning us this year, it's not beginning but has been-"

"Welcome to those of you new here at Hogwarts, and, of course, welcome back to those of you returning!" Professor McGonagall was standing from her seat at the table and looking out towards all of the students. James' attention went from his sister and right to the Headmistress.

"Before we begin this lovely feast, there are a few things in order. Though we are not joined with their presence this evening, this year at Hogwarts we will have occasional visitors to check up on the magical creatures of Hogwarts to be sure that we, as staff, and you, as students, are taking excellent care of our creatures and friends. This occurs every other century, so be sure to be very hospitable to our guests from the Care of Magical Creatures Centre and Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Anyone seen being uncaring towards any creature, including those outside of our grounds, will be expelled."

"Also," Professor McGonagall continued, "on a lighter note, please be sure to recognise your fellow classmates Dominique Weasley," she paused and motioned towards the Gryffindor table and Dominique stood up with a slight bow, � and Brandon Nelson," she said as she motioned towards the Hufflepuff table, where Brandon stood up reluctantly and looked at all the students. "These students are your Head Boy and Head Girl. Please get to know them in the course of this year if you have any troubles, and if not, please try and stay away from them when it comes to mischief. I am sure all of you would like to win the House Cup, so try you best to win as many points as possible for your House. With that, let the feast begin!"

The golden plates on the tables sprouted food from nowhere and Hugo began attacking all of the dishes nearest him.

"You can sit down now, Dominique," James shouted across the table to snap his cousin out of her Head Girl world. She looked around for who yelled at her and locked eyes with James as she took her seat.

"Sod’you fink Mum’ll be ‘ere? A’sool?" Hugo asked James (with his mouth stuffed with a roll James was sure he wasn't going to bother chewing). "Sorry," he said somewhat unapologetically after a huge swallow. "So do you think Mum will be here at school?"

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement? Aunt Hermione might be here every once in a while at the least," James answered honestly. She was head of that department, so he didn't think they'd see much of her, but she would try as often as she could with her children and family there.

"I've never heard of a check up on the creatures here at Hogwarts!" Addie added.

"Well, I don't think you've been around two hundred years either," James mocked. She wasn't annoyed, but it looked like she was racking through her brain and trying to remember.

"I've never read about it either, though," she said. "Well, with what I have read," she added.

The feast continued on and James grabbed onto what he could without his hands being torn off by Hugo. Hugo eventually stuffed himself and by the time desserts popped up, he was groaning with delight and pain. He didn't think he would be able to eat another morsel despite wanting to devour the desserts. Lily seemed to have forgotten all about what may have possibly been bothering her from earlier, and James checked on his brother at the Slytherin table. He was talking and drinking something frothy from his goblet that James couldn't identify from his distance.

It wasn't until Professor McGonagall stood up again and everyone's food disappeared on their plates that the Great Hall became quiet. "Heads and Prefects, please go on and take the first years to their dormitories. Do watch for Peeves! He's been seen lurking around the third floor!"

"Come on you two, I know a shortcut that will come in handy for all of you in the long run!" James winked at Lily, who smiled mischievously at him. Hugo, on the other hand, looked confused and tried asking Lily what was going on.

"Oh, nothing," she answered. "Nothing a little mischief won't solve on the first day at Hogwarts at least!" And with that, James, Addie, Dominique, and all of the first years filed in behind them and rushed to keep up with them so they wouldn't get lost with the following remainder of the students.

~~~

"Remember my warning!"

The voice echoed back in Lily's head over and over again. The shortcut James showed her, along with the tour of the common room, was enough to subdue the voice, but in the girls' dormitory the thought swam through her mind.

When she told James the hat considered putting her in Ravenclaw, she had lied. The hat never stopped trying to coax her into Slytherin. It went so far as to sing the words of Godric Gryffindor again as she sat there on the stool.

"Onto noble Godric Gryffindor,
The bravest yet among all of thee!
Though now determined,
And almost predicted.
You'd much rather be here
And your innocent thoughts addicted.
Your hearts lead one way
And noble that may be,
One's boastfulness will lead to another's dying day�

Yet she still insisted on being in Gryffindor. She could only hope that what James said about it being a warning to all, and not just her, was true.

A week went by and nothing out of the ordinary was going on, much to Albus' luck. It was the first weekend and there was no sign of his dad, uncle, or aunt. As far as he could tell, things were fantastic. Three of his classes, two in the morning and one after lunch, were with his best mate Christopher Jacobs. He also hadn't been bothered by any of the crazy first year girls who thought he was 'Oh So Hot!' Unfortunately, his fantastic week was not going to last much longer.

"You know," said a girl with impeccably straight, black hair and fine-pressed robes as she sat directly between Albus and Chris at breakfast on Saturday morning, "this entire week went by and we didn't have a single class together. I wonder why that is?" Albus didn't know this girl, who crossed her legs and batted her eyelashes at him, but he'd seen her lurking around him.

"Dunno," Chris interrupted, halting the conversation the girl was trying to have in between bites of his waffle. "Maybe its because he's a third year and you're a first year? Just a thought."

The girl glared at him and fixed her hair as if something was wrong with it. She uncrossed her legs and stood. "I suppose I'll have to ask you at a time when the entire world isn't butting in our conversations. See you later, Albus," she said. With that, she turned and walked toward the giant doors of the Great Hall and left.

There was a moment's pause before Albus finally decided to ask, "Chris, who was that?"

"That was Chloe Arndale. She's a first year and if you ask me, she's a bit mental." Chris smirked and added a mountain of strawberries and syrup on a fresh batch of waffles.

"She was pretty, though," Albus noted, not making a grab for the new display of biscuits.

"Yeah, for a stalker. She's been following you around all week and hasn't worked up the nerve to talk to you. I wouldn't be surprised if she was dared to actually talk to you today," he said. Or, at least, that was what Albus thought Chris said with his mouth full of steaming food.

"What do you mean?"

Chris went to explain again but Albus raised a finger, waiting for his friend to finish his current mouthful, before allowing him to speak again. "Just be glad you don't have to have her in any of your classes. I don't like how she acts around you."

Chloe's porcelain face was in Albus' thoughts along with her sweet smile. He didn't see anything stalker-like about the girl. "Maybe we're always at the same places at the same time?" Albus suggested. He stood up from the Slytherin table and began walking without waiting for his friend. As he predicted, Chris begrudgingly left his food heaven and caught up with him.

"Not likely, Al. I think she goes out of her way to be around you." The doors swung open to let them through and they continued straight until the doors to the courtyard swung open as well. "Just you wait, she'll be waiting for us down in the common room."

"Really?" Albus smirked. "I see two things wrong with your theory, mate. For one, I'm sure she has more to do on her first weekend at Hogwarts than hang around in the common room. Second, last I checked, there is no us with her. Seems like she could live the rest of her life without regret if she never saw you again."

"Thanks, mate," Chris said sarcastically and turned just before the bridge. When Albus didn't follow, Chris stopped and asked, "Where are you going? Dungeons are this way."

"I have better things to do on my first weekend back than hang about in the common room," Albus chided. "I'm going to visit Hagrid. Gotta tell him hi for my mum and dad and all."

"Al, you had him in class three times this week! You could've said hi any one of those times he was trying to sick one of his creatures on us."

"He wasn't sicking them on us," Albus defended. Most of the students thought like Chris did. They thought Hagrid wasn't fit to teach, but if he was able to last this long, he was credible enough for Albus. "And those were classes. This is a personal visit. You're welcome to come if you'd like," he offered.

"No way!" Chris exclaimed. "Lesson time is enough danger for me. I'm not going to willingly walk to my death. Let's just say that I hope that Care of Magical Creatures Department comes soon. It's about time that giant oaf is properly fired."

Most of their entire first and second year consisted of Chris talking about Hagrid this way. A lot of those talks involved loud fighting and minimal hexes. Albus couldn't remember what solved most of those fights, but he didn't want to start one today. Especially since every one of those fights resulted in a detention and he didn't want that one week into term.

"Whatever," was all he said as he waved him off. He made his way across the bridge before he could be angered further by anything else that Chris had to say. He took a deep breath and put the argument aside.

It was clear and wonderful outside according to Albus, who was wearing his normal Muggle clothing. If it weren't for his dad, his entire family would have no idea how to dress. A few other students were hanging around practicing spells, and a few first years worked on levitating pebbles only to succeed in blowing them up. Albus recognised a few of them and waved as he strolled to Hagrid's, trying to calm down. It wasn't until he heard a very familiar voice calling his name did he stop and groan.

"Albus! Hey!"

Mia Dangers was sprinting to catch up with him. The fourth year had brown, wavy hair and blue eyes, and as she came closer Albus noticed she lost some weight in her face. Admittedly, she was very pretty. So pretty in fact, Chris couldn't help but fall for her. She wasn't exactly Albus' type, but he had a feeling she wasn't exactly catching on to how he felt.

"Hey, Mia," he answered dully once she caught up with him. "You got taller!" he pointed out in an attempt to sound happy to see her. Albus wasn't a tall third year at all, so with Mia in comparison, he looked ridiculously short. Mia came from a very, very tall family.

"Don't remind me," she groaned. "It makes wearing heels pointless. I swear I must have some faint bloodline of giants in me!" she joked and he smirked at the thought of his previous conversation.

"Right," he said and began walking again as she followed. "I'm heading to Hagrid's. What about you?"

"'Oh hey, Mia! How's it going, Mia? How was your summer, Mia?' Hey, Albus! My summer was great! Went to America for a month and saw New York. It was great! I missed you, too. What did you do this summer? Wow, Al, sallow much?" she teased, ruffling his hair. It was this sort of behavior that made Mia utterly undesirable to Albus. He could hardly stand her, let alone start brewing her love potions.

"Nothing really," he answered honestly. "My brother Teddy had a wedding before term. That was fun."

"Wow, you Potters are such a bore. Is Teddy really your brother?" she asked, completely disregarding her first statement.

"God-brother," Albus answered with gritted teeth.

Mia was waving at some boys playing Exploding Snap by a large stone. They looked like a group of seventh years with a lot of free time on their hands. One of them noticed Mia and waved her over.

"I've got to run!" she said, and she was off in an instant. Albus could care less what she did, and he sighed with relief as she left his side. He made his way through the stone circle and he heard another low, familiar voice nearby.

"Why don't you come over here and I'll help you with your practice, first year." The voice was false, and he knew it was never used before by the owner. He watched as Jackson Winters, the owner of the voice, pulled the first year girl he was talking to under his arm. Even though Chris reminded him of her name earlier, and her face had yet to leave his mind, Albus couldn't recall it at the moment.

Albus stopped walking as soon as he was on the other side of the rock they were hidden behind and hid behind it to hear what they were talking about.

"Chloe," That's her name! he thought. "Thank you for meeting me here." Jackson's false act from before was gone now. Albus could hardly hear him and was about to use a sound enhancing charm, but Chloe didn't seem to catch the sense of privacy.

"Well, meeting in the Slytherin common room would have been too much of a hassle," she blurted, beyond slightly annoyed.

Jackson was caught off guard for a moment before he spoke again. "We don't need the whole school to know about our business."

"Right. So why don't we just stand here, where the entire school is? I really don't think this is going to help," Chloe said harshly. Albus would’ve laughed at her sarcasm if he didn't feel, deep down in the pit of his stomach, this conversation was actually going somewhere (not to mention he had to remain quiet so they didn't hear him).

"Listen," Jackson barked, "you didn't have to come if you didn't want to."

"You mean I had a choice?" she asked in mock surprise. "I wasn't aware a threat on my life wasn't important enough. I'll keep it in mind next time, though."

Albus dared to switch rocks and see the quarreling couple. Chloe was trying to walk away but Jackson grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back.

"That threat only sticks if you leave now!" he said, and he cringed, as if he didn't really want to be saying these things.

"Listen!" Chloe said hastily, "I've got homework I should be getting done now. The next time I catch you smuggling in love potions, don't threaten my life not to tell, and I'll be more willing. I won't tell, and now I've got to go!" With that, she pulled her arm from his grip and stormed off for the dungeons. Jackson stood there stupidly for a moment before realising he was ditched and made his way down the hill.

Albus, who was still confused by Chloe's sudden change of mind (and it seemed as though Jackson was, too) left his hiding place and followed him quietly so he wouldn't gain suspicion. He was glad the conversation had nothing to do with what he thought it would (the conversation behind the door), but he was sure Jackson wouldn't appreciate eavesdropping on any of his conversations.

Finally he saw the targeted hut and bolted past Jackson to get inside. Catching his breath for a moment, he knocked on the door and danced with anticipation until Hagrid opened the door to allow him in just as Jackson caught sight of him entering the hut. Albus slammed the door shut and smiled as though he hadn't been up to mischief and said, "Hey, Hagrid!" before he found an empty seat nearby and sat down.

"Well 'ello yerself, Albus!" Hagrid beamed and picked the small boy up in his arms for a greeting hug. Just before Albus passed out from lack of air, Hagrid put him back down in the chair and, he too, ruffled his hair. "So, 'ow yeh been?"

~~~

Not believing how stupid someone like Jackson Winters could be, Chloe made her way down the dungeon staircase and shouted out, "Fortune is fame!" before the bricks in front of her collapsed and allowed her passage. She was sure if it was possible for steam to blow through one's ears, hers would be steaming.

The common room was practically empty, except for a fifth year helping a second year with an essay. She ran upstairs to the girls' dormitory to grab her bag and books. Her excuse to get away from Jackson wasn't a lie. She really did have homework, but the urgency of it came suddenly due to Albus Potter eavesdropping on their conversation.

What provoked Jackson to meet her at the stone circle was beyond her. She knew exactly what the meeting was for because she wasn't stupid like Jackson. The day was clear and beautiful, no one would be in the common room today, and he decided to have a meeting outside! Chloe stomped down the spiral staircase and threw her bag onto a small table nearby.

"Not a surprise," a man in the portrait above commented as he sighed and strolled out of his portrait. She grunted and pulled out parchment, ink, and a quill. She had an essay for Charms on how a wand's core helps in charm-work.

The most simplistic moron I've ever met! Chloe started insulting Jackson in her head as she wrote down the beginning of her essay. Was he wanting someone to hear? Not that we couldn't use Potter, but what about everyone else? Then he had the audacity to threaten me no less! I've known what this plan was for ages, and he threatens me? The nerve!

The ink splattered on the parchment. She cursed and pulled out her wand to suck all of the ink in her wand and produce it back into the tiny vial.

If I can do a spell like that, I can most certainly understand his precious plan. She smirked and dared to have a go with her quill again. Not like they've necessarily kept things quiet about it. I'm going to have to do something about that. Idiots! Can't even run things right!

She must have been mumbling and making strange noises while she wrote because the two students working before she came in were now staring at her. The fifth year cleared his throat and gave her a concerned look. She grimaced and shrugged them off, getting back to her essay and scrawling away.

When they hear about this, Jackson is sure-

"What are you working on there, dove?"

Chloe nearly jumped out of her seat. She was dipping her quill into her ink just as she was startled, so her ink dumped all over her essay and the table. She looked up and cringed at the owner of the voice.

"You are the last person I want to see right now, Winters!" she spat.

"Oh, come on now," Jackson said smugly and he sat on the table to watch her clean up the mess. "It wasn't all that bad. If you ask me, Potter bought it."

Chloe, who was hunched over her parchment in hopes to ignore his presence, looked up with annoyance.

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't think I'm that much of an idiot, do you?"

"Actually, I-"

"You know what I meant!" he snapped, losing his cool for a moment. Chloe smirked then continued with her writing. "Either way, Potter bought our little act."

"What act?" she asked and her writing slowed. "What are you on about, Winters?"

He placed a hand over her parchment and forced her to look up. When she saw him smiling with the fire illuminating his face, he looked like he actually knew what he was talking about (in an evil genius sort of way).

"We had Albus on the back of that rock the entire time, didn't we?"

"You noticed and you didn't do anything? You idiot!" she said, looking directly into his eyes (which was easy to do since he was leaning on the table.)

"Shhhh!" the fifth year interrupted rudely since she ignored him earlier. She shot him a nasty glare and he nudged at the second year to relocate elsewhere.

Jackson laughed and positioned himself more comfortably onto the table before answering.

"Winters!"

"Now now. No need for last names, Chloe. We're all friends in this little organisation. You are the best of those friends after all. I'm sure a little thing like a first name shouldn't be that hard to say?"

He waited for a moment, and when he didn't say anything else, Chloe rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. Jackson, tell me what the hell you are talking about. Now."

"That's a good dove," he winked and stroked her hair with one hand.

"Urgh! Don't touch me!" she grimaced and pulled back, running her fingers through her hair as quickly as possible.

He chuckled once
more and raised his hands in surrender before crossing them again and continuing his story.

"Either way, I called you out there in hopes Potter may show up. If he came, all the better, if not, well, we would have tried again some other time. He came and heard, you ended it when you noticed him, which was good since we were getting a little further than I thought we would, and he ran to that giant oaf. With a little luck, we should have him spying on us more often."

Chloe looked at him as if she couldn't believe her eyes. In many ways she couldn't. However, she kept reminding herself that he was in charge of several things in this plan for a reason.

"So you went off on chance and your stupidity?" she asked at last when she could find the words.

"Chance, maybe, but I wouldn't exactly say stupidity..."

"The plan is to tell Albus eventually anyway! Why get his suspicions rising in rumours when we can just tell him and do something about it if he tells!?" she fumed, knocking a book off the desk without care. His smirk was wiped off his face almost immediately. "And the next time you want to make some high and mighty plan that might work, let me know about it so I can tell you just how stupid you really are!"

"You're doing a fine enough job at that already," he mumbled. If she wasn’t so angry at him, she might have laughed in his face, but she wasn't calm enough yet. She let out a cry of aggravation and turned sharply on her heel before she ran up the staircase once again to the girls' dormitory.

~~~

To Rose, the library was the only place one could study. That may be a habit that she picked up from her mother, but she knew for sure the Gryffindor common room was too full with fifth and seventh years doing their own studying. No one, of course, was in the library. As far as she could see at least.

Madam Pince nodded her head as a welcome gesture as Rose walked in with an armful of books. Rose smiled at her in return then found her usual seat towards the back of the library. When she arrived, she spread the books out evenly and opened each to the pages she would need to start on. She had both History of Magic and Transfiguration homework so she safely assumed she would be in there for the next few hours.

She was just beginning to get the rest of her things out when a voice from behind spooked her.

"Perfect way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning, isn't it?" Scorpius Malfoy mocked her, looking over her shoulder. "Why do you have so much homework anyway?"

"Scorpius? What are you doing here?" Rose asked, disregarding his questions. Her face was flushed and she wasn't sure if she should be angry or pleased. Scorpius had been making her feel that way recently and she wasn't sure if it was good or not. He seemed to have enjoyed her surprise and sat down next to her with a simple grin on his pale, pointed face.

"Nothing much. Decided to get some homework done." he said while looking over to see what books she brought. The butterflies in her stomach appeared just as they always did when he made her feel good like this. "Besides, if I get it out of the way now then I have plenty of time to hang out with you tomorrow." There was a moment before Rose understood what he meant and her face flushed as bright as her red, wild hair that she didn't even bother to tame before coming to the library.

"Are you asking me out on a date, Scorpius?" She felt like a young school girl for having to ask; well, a younger school girl. He arched his eyebrows and leaned in closer to her.

"What do you say, Miss Rose?" he asked, eyeing her books then her. The same smile he wore from before was still planted on his face.

Rose didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she could say anything. Her grin stretched from ear-to-ear and goosebumps rose on her pale, freckled arms as soon as Scorpius reached out to run a hand through her hair. His actions made her immediately aware of her hair and she pulled back to frantically brush at it with her fingers.

Scorpius stood up and leaned in to give her a kiss. She was stunned and at a loss of what to do. She decided her hair was a lost cause and sat there awkwardly, waiting for him to complete the kiss. When he was nose-to-nose with her, her body froze and her lips automatically puckered as they both closed their eyes. He was moving slowly, but Rose couldn't tell if time itself had stopped or not. Everything was going by too fast. Too fast to be true, in fact.

When Scorpius was just close enough Rose could feel his hot breath on her lips, he opened his eyes and frowned. He then proceeded to pull back and sit back down in his chair.

“I don't believe it,� he said, pounding a fist onto the table. "I just don't believe it! Rose, why didn't you tell me?"

Rose, who was confused and wasn't sure what was going on, found herself searching for words. “I- Well, I didn't- You know that I- Wait, what?�

Scorpius groaned then put his head in his hands and Rose noticed his pale blonde hair stuck up at odd ends for doing so.

"They told me at the end of last year and I didn't believe them. I told them, 'No way! Rose and I are just friends. Of course she doesn't like me!' Now here it is, obvious to the world, and you never told me!" Scorpius rambled on without stopping and Rose wasn't sure what to do. It was true that Scorpius and Rose's relationship had been progressing over the last two years, and she worked hard at keeping her true feeling locked inside, but they were best friends.

In their first year they could hardly stand one another and Rose lived with her father's words playing in her head, 'Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains.' In fact, those words not only led to a long year of perfectly marked tests, but to everything in her life that year.

In their second year, however, they gained a little shred of sense and started talking to one another. In other words, they were forced to be partners in Herbology lessons. Professor Longbottom never heard the end of that from her father either.

"What are you talking about?" Rose finally found the words to say after a long pause. Her face was flushing again, but this time it was out of anger.

Scorpius hardly looked up at her before he resigned his head again and shook it in his hands. "I was so sure you didn't like me."

"Of course I like you, Scorpius. You're one of my best friends!" Rose argued, still confused about what he was going on about.

"Not like that, Rose. I meant that I didn't think you liked me that way!"

There was another elongated silence once she realised what he meant.

"Oh." She uttered and slumped into her chair. Finally, he looked up at her with a sour face.

"Listen, I'm sorry, Rose but I had to-"

"Is that the way you made sure?" Rose asked suddenly. Her eyes were shut as she was trying to hold back tears.

Scorpius realised this and made to wipe away any tears that would fall, but she sensed the movement and stood up before he could touch her.

"Is that the way you made sure?" she repeated. "By toying with my emotions and making it some sort of game so you could make sure?"

"I was going to ask you but I thought it'd be too weird. I figured that if I pretended to have feelings for you like you do for me, it would be less awkward..."

"Pretended?" Rose spat. The word was too simple and she almost didn't know what it meant at first.

“Yeah,� Scorpius said slowly. He stood too to give her a hug but she pulled back again. "I didn't think you'd react this way, Rosie. I'm sorry."

"Just leave me alone," she snapped, turning to pick up the things she unpacked only moments ago and made to pass him.

"Where are you going?" he asked desperately.

"Far away from you, Malfoy!" she hissed and then turned the corner bookshelf.

"Oh, come on! There is no need for that!" he shouted out to her. Rose stopped in her tracks and wiped away a stray tear. She turned around and peeked her head around the corner.

"Just so you know, I do like you. Thanks for asking!" she added and then stomped off to the seventh floor. As she passed the library doors her cousin James and the Prefect girl he was best friends with walked right by her. They tried to greet her, but she was too busy sobbing and ran on.

~~~

If there was one thing about girls Addie understood, it was boy trouble. Addie never tried to get herself mixed in with other girls' troubles, but lately she was able to easily relate with them.

"What do you suppose was up with her?" she asked James, having to look up as she strolled beside him. His cousin Rose just ran right by them without saying a word. Not that she could have said anything with the amount of tears and choked up sobs she had.

"Who knows," James shrugged.

Madam Pince came strolling from behind a shelf and didn't look too friendly.

"Make sure you stay quiet!" she snapped before charging off to some shelves to replace books students either misplaced or returned.

James led Addie to the shelf the angry librarian came from and to their surprise, they saw Scorpius Malfoy packing his things up. He too, was very angry looking and shoving books into his bag. If Madam Pince came back right now, Addie knew she would suspend him from ever walking into the library again.

"Malfoy?" James asked, his fists clenched. When Addie noticed the motion she wished to take hold of one of those fists so she could calm him down. It took all of her inner strength to restrain herself from doing so.

Scorpius glared up at them and sneered at the sight of James. "What do you want, Potter? Come to jinx me for that cousin of yours?"

"That explains Rose's crying," Addie whispered to James, standing on the very tips of her toes just so he could hear her. To the best of Addie's knowledge, Rose and Scorpius actually tried to make a friendship work (despite their parents' wishes). She thought they were doing a really good job at it, too, but today said otherwise.

"As much as I'd love to jinx you just for the hell of it, that's not why I came here. I'm here to study. As for Rose, what did you do to her?" James asked curtly. She'd seen him serious before, but the hate he had for Scorpius was growing stronger by the second.

"Look, the way things are with our parents, we can't be friends. You and I both know that. Blimey, even she knows it! She's just too stubborn to admit it!" Scorpius exploded, dropping his bag to the ground and gesturing to where they entered. The books he dropped started to hover from the ground and went out to find their proper spots within the library. The bag, however, continued to float out of the library.

James, who looked about ready to kill, was held back as Addie grabbed hold of his arm and directed her gaze to Scorpius.

"You best get out of here before Madam Pince realises one of her spells has taken effect and traces it to you." Addie’s blue eyes bore into his grey ones until he took her hint and huffed past them. James fidgeted under her grip, but she didn't let go.

They made their way to the table and he threw his bag onto the table. Addie set hers in the chair next to where she would be sitting and glanced up at him. "Careful, or else your bag will do the same thing," she mused and tried her best to infect her smile onto him.

"I don't have any books in there," he barked and then shoved himself into his seat.

Addie, who was not accustomed to quiet, started pulling her own books out and then started up a conversation.

"I can't believe it's fifth year already. Can you believe how much homework they're piling on us for OWLs?" James wasn't into conversation at the moment. He didn't pull anything out of his bag or get up to get any books. "Something on your mind?" Addie asked, giving up and plopping her elbow onto the table to rest her head on her hand.

His fists were clenched again. "Its what he said!" he boomed.

"Shh!" Addie warned, perking up and looking around for Madam Pince before she let him continue.

"Sorry," he rolled his eyes and continued. "Rose and him can't be friends because of their parents? I like their friendship as much as my Uncle Ron does, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go around and end perfectly good friendships because of it."

Addie thought about previous conversations the two of them have had about Scorpius and Rose and bit her lip before she hesitantly spoke.

"In some ways, this is what you sort of wanted isn't it?" James looked at her, his face hard at first, but then he took one look at her innocent blue eyes and calmed down at once. His face relaxed and his fists became flattened palms on the surface of the table.

"Yeah," he admitted. "But you saw Rose! She wasn't crying, she was sobbing! Whatever he did, he didn't let her down lightly."

"Well, to look at his side, she's always been hard to deal with- not that I'm on his side!" she said quickly as James arched an eyebrow at her. He grinned and laughed a little. Feeling the tension breezing past them, she laughed too. "Maybe she just didn't want to take it the light way."

"That's Rose for you," James admitted and then stood to reach for a book he found on the shelf before him.

Addie started writing something about human Animagi when James sat down next to her again and said, "It is weird, huh?"

"Sorry, what?" she asked, looking up from the three words she had written down so far.

"One week into term and they're working us as if we were stepping out into the big wizarding world by ourselves tomorrow!" he laughed, sliding her ink cartridge over to the middle so they could share. He shared a look with her that also told her he would need to borrow a quill as well.

"Honestly," she chided, "what is in that bag you brought?"

"Oh, the usual. The Marauder's Map, the invisibility cloak, my pointed hat, just in case they actually ever make us wear those things again, and a tub of my mum's delicious brownies to share," he winked. Addie beamed and grabbed the bag herself, reaching right over him and his work to get it.

"You should have told me before!" she demanded while she was pulling the Muggle Tupperware container from the brown bag.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he responded, laughing even more as he pushed her away. She knew all too well if they didn't quiet down soon Madam Pince would come over and confiscate the brownies. Food wasn't allowed in here, but his mum made the best brownies ever! She would know, because he had shared them with her many times before. "Who said you could have any?" he teased, pulling the tub away from her.

Addie made a pouting face and placed her hands underneath her chin as if she were a puppy and began to make whimpering noises.

"You know? That's not very productive. You're never going to get your homework done in time if you keep this up!" said James, and he stuffed a brownie into his mouth and closed his eyes as he entered the chocolatey heaven his mum discovered some time ago.

"James Sirius Potter! As Prefect, I am confiscating those brownies from you!" Addie reached over and took the tub from him and stuffed one into her own mouth.

"Five points from Gryffindor for thievery!" he objected.

"Five points for Gryffindor for having a mother that's brilliant in the kitchen!" she said quickly.

"You know," James chuckled, "you just made a woman's rights joke."

Addie's eyes went wide and the brownie she was about to take a chunk out of was frozen inches away from her mouth.

"James, how could you say such a thing!" she cried before throwing the soft, moist brownie in his face. One day, the two would learn to put a silencing charm near them whenever they entered the library. Then maybe they wouldn't be kicked out for having a very messy, but very delicious, food fight by an infuriated Madam Pince.

The dynamic duo were still laughing in the hall once they finished cleaning one another up with flicks of their wands.

"Did you see her face?" James asked and mimicked the librarian by wagging a finger at her as if she were a household pet.

"No, ‘cause I wasn't right there or anything," Addie said as she rolled her eyes and shouldered her bag. "I really needed those books, too," she sighed, the dying laughter still in her voice. "S'pose I'll have to check them out again next week when the essays are already due."

"I'd say sorry if you hadn't started it," James said, nudging her shoulder with his elbow and looking down at her.

"Shut up."

Once they made their way back to the common room, and Rose was nowhere in sight to blubber about the events from downstairs, they relaxed in front of the fireplace. They completely neglected the fact they were even trying to study for their OWLs. When Addie suggested it, James just shrugged it off.

"Eh," he said, "I don't need OWLs to become a Herbologist, do I?"

"You want to be a Herbologist?" She was surprised. James never said what he planned on doing outside of school before, and a Herbologist was not what she expected. "Well, perhaps an O in Herbology would help, but what do I know?"

"Oh, hush up," he pushed her before placing his hands behind his head and relaxing with his feet up. "What do you want to be anyway? Journalist? Auror? High Inquisitor?"

Addie laughed at all of his ridiculous guesses and shook her head. "No. I want to be a Healer."

"Really?" he asked in complete shock. She nodded her head and propped her feet on top him while leaning against the armrest. "Huh, I never would have thought you would be the healing type. Maybe you should be studying for those OWLs now."

"Nah. It's not like I'm going to be stepping out to St. Mungo's tomorrow or anything," she teased.

"Hey, guys!" Will, their other best friend, fumbled in from the portrait and stood behind the red, tattered sofa. "Miss out on anything fun?"

James and Addie shared a look.

"Just studying," Addie said, and then made room for Will to sit in between them.