After being in Brazil for a year, on my father's sabbatical, I was finally back in England. I finished unpacking and took my younger brother, Connor, to a pick up Quidditch game with his friends. Then, I decided to stop by the Leaky Cauldron for a drink. I ordered an iced Butterbeer and sat at the bar, drinking it. I was exhausted from the international Floo Network trip back to England. An attractive male sitting a couple seats away noticed my exhaustion.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just got back from Brazil."

"Oh, how nice. I've been Argentina but never Brazil. I heard it's beautiful though."

"It is. I really like it there."

A song by my favourite band, the Headless Witches, started playing over the speakers. I hummed along to it and he grinned at me.

"You like the Headless Witches?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're great."

"What's your name?"

"Oh right sorry." I said, flustered. "I'm Bridget and yourself?"

"Robbie. It's really nice to meet you."

"You too."

Over the next hour, I found myself becoming more and more attracted to this guy. It turned out we had a lot more things in common and he was obviously quite intelligent. I excused myself to the bathroom and as I was walking, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and Robbie's lips came crashing down on me. I pulled him into the bathroom and we continued snogging. After exchanging addresses so we could owl each other, I got my brother and we went home.

I smiled again at the memory from two days previous as I was doing the rest of my last minute packing on the morning of September 1st. I was going back to Hogwarts for my 6th year and I was beyond excited. I sighed as I thought about Robbie. He was so sophisticated and worldly compared to the Typical Hogwarts boys I'm usually around. The Quidditch playing, preppy, prankster type. Namely James Potter and his gang of Gryffindor boys. I rolled my eyes at the thought of them; Freddie Weasley, Gabriel Finnegan, Aaron Davies, Jacob McLaggen, and James Potter were the most popular guys in Hogwarts despite only being in 6th year. I had had a long standing crush on James Potter and had distracted myself with a couple flings during the summer but my feelings had completely vanished with the arrival of Robbie in my life. I hauled my suitcase downstairs, still not being old enough to Locomotor it. My parents were waiting downstairs so that they could take Connor and me by Side-Along Apparition before individually apparating to their respective work places. Arriving on the platform, I immediately spotted Hailee Wood having yet another argument with her older sister, Charlotte. I hugged my parents goodbye and quickly walked over to where the sisters were standing to save Hailee from Charlotte's wrath. For as long as I've known Hailee, she and her sister have never gotten along. They fight constantly, mostly over boys or when Charlotte still attended Hogwarts, marks. It's like they need to constantly prove who's better than the other and it's sickening to watch. Hailee truly hates it but Charlotte thrives on it.

"Hey Hails." I said, warmly.

"Bridget!" Hailee exclaimed, hugging me tightly. Charlotte gave me a cool smile and I returned it with a gentle nod.

I pulled Hailee away from her sister and we went in search of our other dorm mates, Dominique Weasley and Rachel Longbottom. A pang went through me as I thought of the last dorm mate. Gwyneth Willams had become one of the most popular girls at Hogwarts the minute she had stepped into it. She had disappeared last year at our end of 4th year sleepover and hadn't been seen since. We had presumed her to be dead and left it at that but it didn't mean we still didn't miss her.

We found Dom with her large extended family and when James shot a smile my way, my heart didn't skip a beat like it had every other time I had encountered him. Then it was the three of us and we continued on a search for Rach. We found her chatting happily with her parents and when she saw us she squealed happily and ran at us.

We boarded the train and found our usual compartment. It was silent for a beat and then Hailee said, "It happened again."

Dom groaned, "Another boyfriend? Really Hails?"

"Worse." She said grimly. "A fiancée."

This was the third time that one of Charlotte's boyfriends had decided he liked Hailee more than Charlotte. The first time Charlotte had never found out about but the second time caused Hailee to live with Rachel for a few days because her parents were so angry. Now, it seemed that Charlotte's fiancée took a fancy in Hailee and decided to do something about it. Not a smart idea.

"What happened?" Rachel asked Hailee.

Hailee sighed, "We were talking outside and suddenly he's like 'I picked the wrong sister' and kissed me. Charlotte came outside before I could break away so she's terribly angry at me."

"Did you try telling her that it was his fault?" I asked.

"Oh of course but you know Charlotte, it's always my fault."

"I had an interesting summer too." Rachel broke in.

"Go on." Dom said.

Rachel took a deep breath, "Isnoggedthenewgirlnextdoor."

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Dom said.

"I snogged the new girl next door." Rachel repeated.

The three of us looked at her in shock. I had always known Rachel was a bit different but I definitely hadn't expected this. Not that it was a bad thing, I just hadn't expected it. We continued catching up and although I told them about my year in Brazil, I decided not to mention Robbie. I wanted him to be my little secret for now.

Several hours later, we arrived at Hogsmeade and headed to carriages to go up to the castle. I had missed the castle so much. The school in Brazil was much more modern and did not hold the same kind of beauty and elegance that Hogwarts did. The girls and I walked into the Great Hall and took our usual seats right in the middle of the Gryffindor table. It felt strange not to have Gwyneth there because I had never been at Hogwarts without Gwyneth but the other girls had seemingly gotten used to the change. Professor Saunders led in the timid and nervous first years.

"I swear they get smaller every year." muttered Dom.

One by one, the Sorting Hat was placed upon each of their heads. Finally, 'Zabini, Reannon' was put in Slytherin. Headmaster Phillips placed his hands together and began his speech,

"Welcome and welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. As usual, I ask that you do not enter the Forbidden Forest and try to keep from doing magic between classes. Now, I'd like to introduce two new professors this year. Ahh but it seems one of them is late. Well anyways, give a warm welcome to Professor Rennenbaum who will be teaching Herbology now that Professor Sprout has retired."

A breakout of loud applause erupted in the Great Hall to welcome the new professor. Just as the headmaster was about to speak again, the doors of the Great Hall opened.

"Sorry I'm late!" A man said as he walked towards the high table.

Whispers broke out through the Great Hall as many girls, and some guys, took a long look at their very attractive new professor.

"The new professor's hot." Hailee said. I turned around to look at him just as Headmaster Phillips announced, "This is Professor Cunningham, the new DADA professor."

Professor Cunningham gave a wave around to all the students and then stopped dead in his tracks. The look on his face matched the same one as mine did.

"Holy crap." He exclaimed, staring at me. Some students swivelled around to see what he was looking at but they couldn't figure out what it was. Professor Cunningham cleared his throat, reached the high table, and took a seat.

I was in shock. A professor? He's a professor? With a jolt, I realized that I didn't even know how old he was. I kept silent throughout the rest of the feast, much to the confusion of my friends, but I brushed it off. Even after the feast ended, I sat rigid in her seat. I raked her hands through her hair. I can't believe it. I put her face in my hands for a few moments and when I looked up again, only one other person was still in the Great Hall. Robbie.

He walked slowly over to me and took a seat across from me.

"You never told me you still went to Hogwarts." He said, slowly.

"You never told me you were going to be a professor at Hogwarts." I shot back. I shook my head and continued, "Nothing's changed. We're still us." I took a hold of hands but he pulled them from my grip.

"No Bridget. I'm your professor now. This is not right. You're an amazing girl but I just can't, okay? I'm sorry."

He left without another word. My heart ripped to shreds. My perfect guy was now my DADA professor. I walked slowly up to the Fat Lady's portrait and then stupidly realized I didn't know the password. Just my luck, Rachel came out.

"Oh we were about to send out a search party." She said. "What took so long?"

"I was just sitting in Great Hall. You know how much I like looking at the sky and using it as inspiration for my sketches."

Rachel grinned, "Too true. Oh, I've really missed you Bri." She swept me up into a big hug. She then turned around, said the password "Dumbledore", and we both climbed in through the portrait hole.