Chapter 1

For Meg there was nothing unusual about the fact she would soon be traveling from Kings Cross to an enchanted magical castle by the name of Hogwarts. It seemed only natural that there, she would once again be learning the ins and outs of magic, accompanied by mysterious creatures and discerning professors. It had been like any other year, except that it was her fifth year at Hogwarts School of WItchcraft and Wizardry and she had been chosen as prefect according to a note she had received just earlier this evening. This meant she had been noticed above her fellow classmates for her outstanding marks and friendly spirit. Although Meg had to admit she was slightly proud, it paled in comparison to the pride her mother was showing in a toothy and lasting grin.

"Meg, My sweet girl. Made a prefect. I knew you could do it!" Jill Quillen, Megs mother, gleamed. Her face was a tad dewy from the explosive cheerfulness that the news had brought her. She had always been proud of her son, Donny, who was Meg's older brother. As head boy and captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team he always had a way of outshining her. Ever since she could remember, Meg had to live in his brilliant shadow and try to keep up in anyway possible. She had succeeded in grades and popularity and now had become prefect, but still she felt like she was always one step behind him. Both her parents had fervently taken notice of this, and now were trying in every way possible to show their appreciation for her. Meg thought that maybe it had even been a little too much. Still, her emerald acorn infused eyes glowed with pride as her mother congratulated her once more, now heavily weeping.

"Were just so proud. Aren't we Edward?" Jill shrieked and then blotted a napkin to her almond shaped eyes. Jill was a beautiful woman. Short and plump with thick brown hair she wore in a bob and huge eyes that appeared disproportionate to the rest of her features. Her face glowed when she talked, and she had a certain mystified beauty that filtered over as an aura that shown through her. She had given Meg most of these traits as well, except she had her father Edwards lanky height and his strong face frame matched with a dimpled chin.

Edward looked mystified as he glanced up from his copy of The Daily Prophet, sipping his tea unnoticeably. "Hm - Oh yes… yes, definitely proud" he blindly stuttered. Edward was an inquisitive and ingenious man. He had once attended Hogwarts where he had met , except he had been placed in Ravenclaw while Jill had been in Gryffindor. had always teased that it was his gentle nature and wit that had won her over. She, on the other hand, was quite loud and sociable. Everyone was shocked to see the two fall for one another, as Edward had always naturally stayed to himself. Although quiet, he was a determined and successful wizard as the Head of the Ministry of Magic's department of internal magical relations. But most importantly, was a kind and caring father.

"Thanks mum ... dad" Meg glanced at her two beaming parents when suddenly her owl, Paddy, affectionately began to peck her ear.

"You too Paddy. Your proud of me too, huh?" Meg patted her grey spotted owl, as it cooed in approval.

"Meg, do you know where your brother went?" anxiously sputtered after quickly realizing her son was absent from this small gathering. nodded absentmindedly, sticking his nose back into The Daily Prophet.

"He's probably off with Batarius causing some sort of mischief." Batarius was Donny's best friend ever since they had first met on the Hogwarts Express. He and Donny were mostly inseparable, expect for the fact that Batarius was in Gryffindor and Donny was a proud Hufflepuff. Still, they were the best of friends. Batarius was muggle born, meaning both of his parents were muggles, or non wizards. This meant mostly that he liked to stay with the Quillens whenever he got the chance to stay in the magical community. His parents didn't mind much either, as his father ran a muggle company that supplied large machinery and they were always traveling. So Batarius was mostly part of the family. However, one thing seemed to get in the way of this. He had always been in love with Meg. Ever since they were children Batarius would tease Meg about her large eyes and dimpled chin until she cried. He, always being naturally muscular, tall, and brawny, would pick her up and hang her upside down to her dismay. Then as they got older, he began to treat Meg as if she were a Goddess. He was always complimenting her, defending her from her brother and gawking silently at her beauty. Everyone in the family, beside , who was mostly clueless with this sort of a thing, could see it. It made Donny wholey uncomfortable, who would passive aggressively take it out on Batarius. Still, Batarius never had yet confronted Meg about it. And Meg, being completely uncomfortable about the whole situation, silently had hoped he never would.

Just then Batarius and Donny had rushed in the front door, which echoed into the kitchen. They were laughing hysterically, probably from playing one of their famous tricks on muggles, Meg thought. Batarius stalked in, glanced at the table where they all were seated, and drew silent. Donny followed, chuckingly anxiously.

"Mum, i'm sorry we forgot about dinner. But you won't believe all the great stuff me and Bat were practicing for quidditch. Hufflepuffs sure to take the cup this year." Donny words stumbled out of him breathlessly.

"By Hell you are! Everyone knows Gryffindor's about to win it again!" Batarius chimed in. Looking teasingly at Donny.

"Hey, Slytherins got a good chance to you know!" Meg added quickly, not wanting her house to go amiss in the sputter.

"That's all very well." snapped, "But it's your sisters congratulation dinner for being made a prefect. I told you this earlier." She shook her head in light disapproval, as if she had already accepted her defeat.

"I'm sorry mum, really am! Is there anyway me and Bat could get some of your famous magical stew." The stew changed colors based on the wizard or witches mood of who was eating it.

"And some pumpkin juice too please!" Batarius added dim-wittidley. He smiled anxiously, and then sat down on the white leather dining room chair next to Donny and across from Meg. Everything in the house in fact was white or grey or black. It was a very large and modern looking house, one most muggles would fancy. It was all decorated according to the latest muggle trends as had quite the aptitude for muggle interior design.

all served them a hearty amount of her famous magical stew. They all began to slurp it down as fast as possible, mindlessly eating in silence. Meg studied the color of her stew, which had turned a gloomy and greyish shade of blue. Meg knew from years of her mother interpreting their soup colors that this shade meant she was sad or lonely. Although Meg loved her family dearly, she couldn't help but miss all her friends at Hogwarts. Especially Patallius Black, or Tilly, who had been her best friend ever since their first year in Slytherin together. However, unlike Batarius and Donny, Tilly came from a very noble pureblood family. This didn't matter to Meg, except for the fact that Tilly was always with her family during the summer holiday. They mostly traveled to magical locations around the world, where Tilly always had stories of great adventures for Meg when they returned to Hogwarts.

Meg glanced over to everyone else's stew colors, where she noticed Batarius was a vibrant tulip pink. This made Meg blush wildey, knowing very well why Batarius magical soup had taken it's shade. She saw Donny expression also darken, having also noticed his best friends soup color. looked uncomfortable, glancing every which way as she stumbled upon something to say to start conversation. It was who, being clueless about these sort of things, broke the treasured sound of soup slurping and silence.

"Bat, I see someone's in love. My soup hadn't been that shade since my honeymoon." chuckled as Batarius's face turned the exact shade of his soup.

"What's that supposed to mean Edward?" jokingly protested. The two began to bicker in a teasing manner while Batarius's eyes lay glued to his stew. Donny's soup suddenly turned from a mellow green to an angry red. Meg's blue soup began to transform suddenly into a mint misty green that Meg understood to be embarrassment.

In that moment, Meg wished she more than anything for an invisibility cloak. She wished she could disappear, and felt wholly uncomfortable about Batarius's liking of her. If there was anyone Meg wished to be romantic with it was...Meg quickly banished the thought from her head as soon as it came. It was too painful, as she could sympathize with Batarius on the whole idea of unrequited love. Meg had fancied a certain wizard at Hogwarts since she first was sorted into Slytherin. The two had been the best of friends there first two years and then suddenly, he had vanished from her life completely. He now avoided Meg whenever he saw her in lessons or around the Great Hall. He completely pretended she didn't exist, and Meg never understood why. But Meg knew it was best to not wallow over what might of been, so she slurped her now green soup with fervour.

The rest of the dinner progressed in an almost too ordinary of a fashion. discussed boring ministry assignments he had been staying late at the office to complete, while spread the weekly local witch gossip. Donny and Batarius had seemed to have put aside the recent embarrassing encounter and talked non stop about the upcoming season of quidditch. Meg chimed in now and then, but not being a quidditch player herself didn't have much to add. Soon the bunch finished their meals and were released to spend their time as they wished.

Meg climbed the elegant wooden stairs to her bedroom as soon as she had the chance. Her bedroom was not the most cozy of rooms, but Meg had always felt at home in it. It had white marble floors and high white walls, and was accented by a large gold King size canopy bed that was focused at the center back wall of the room. From the center ceiling hung an elegant chandelier, which was dazzled in elegant crystals that glimmered through the light.

Meg quickly undressed into her nightgown and tucked herself under her white linen comforter cushioned between gold pillows. She wasn't sure if she had drifted off or not yet when she heard a startling knock on her bedroom door. She jumped up and cautiously answered,

"One second!" She slipped on her two pink slippers that matched her light pink silky nightgown and apprehensively cracked the door open. Meg was shocked to see a largely built and muscular dark haired familiar face staring down at her.

"Its eh - me." Batarius answered quite nervously as he tucked his hands into his own pockets. He stared for what seemed like a century down at Megs nightgown and grew a shade of pink that resembled his stew from supper.

"What's the matter?" Meg questioned suspiciously. She silently prayed it had nothing to do further with the awkward encounter they had from dinner. Batarius's eyes flickered, as he seemed to build up the courage to gaze directly into Meg's unusually large eyes.

"I… I wanted to tell you something. Something for awhile now, I just haven't had the courage. But….I mean you must know. I mean of course your whole family knows." Batarius stuttered foolishly, unbecoming of his age and stature. Meg once again wished she had owned an invisibility cloak more than ever as he continued on.

"I...well I have feelings for you Megara. I mean more than in a big brother kind of way. I have for sometime now and I just knew I had to tell you. Donny knows and isn't happy about it. We talked about it for the first time tonight, and he thought it best I tell you flat out. I'm...well I think...I know I'm in love with you." he finished looking as if he had just single handedly come face to face with a basilisk. Meg could tell his breathing had stopped as well as her own. She felt frozen as if her body was no longer hers and she was watching her life from the outside looking in.

"Bat...I...well I don't know what to say." Meg began hesitantly, searching her very shortened current vocabulary for the right words. How could she tell him she didn't feel the same way? Would she break his heart? She couldn't bare the thought of putting someone under the agonizing pain of heartbreak that she had come to know herself so well.

"Meg, you don't have to say anything." Batarius quickly interrupted. Meg couldn't help but feel relieved at this prospect.

"I just needed to tell you. I just needed you to know. I feel...so stupid." His eyes looked like he was in pain and his expression turned pale. He laughed nervously, and suddenly Meg felt all of her natural confidence and courage return.

"Don't feel stupid Bat. I love you too. Just maybe not the same way right now. But I'm glad you told me. I wouldn't want you to keep that sort of a thing in." Meg calmly responded sounding more composed than she would have thought possible. She could see Batarius's sad and grim expression start to soften, as a grin slowly appeared upon his angular face.

"So this doesn't change anything between us, right?" Batarius questioned hopefully.

"Of course not Bat." Meg lied smoothly. For everything had changed.