PART ONE

'Excuse me. Miss Cotton. I do not believe that those shoes are a part of the regulation school uniform.'

Allie looked down at her bright turquoise converse. 'Oh.' she said trying to sound as innocent as possible. 'Well they should be. Look how cool they are.' she wobbled on one leg holding up her foot for the teacher to inspect.

Professor O'Cedar turned his pointed face away. 'I don't care how "cool" they are. They aren't school uniform. Take them off.'

'Okie dokie.' Allie put on her cheeriest voice just to annoy him as she untied her shoes and swung them over her shoulder by their laces, skipping away in her odd socks back to the castle.

'Allie!' called a voice as she pattered down the corridor. She turned around, it was her best friend.

'Oh hey Louis.' she smiled.

'Where are your shoes?' he questioned as he approached her.

'Professor O'Stupid made me take them off.' she sat down cross legged in the middle of the corridor and put them on again.

'Ugh.' smirked Louis. 'Come on.' he grabbed her by the shoulder of her cloak and stood her up. 'Were going to be late for the banquet.'

'Alright, alright.' Allie shook free of his grip and they weaved their way through first and second years to the great hall.

Allie Cotton was an odd sort of girl. She had dark blue eyes and long brown hair which she wore her grown out fringe in two plaits pinned back out of her eyes. She loved to pull practical jokes on people and always had that mischievous glint in her eye. Allie was the least girliest girl ever and she did what she wanted when she wanted. That included always having some new brightly colored article of clothing or blaming the games-keepers dog for the lack of homework she handed in. But most importantly Allie was a witch. She was in her fourth year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry and in Gryffindor. Daring nerve and chivalry set gryffindors apart. She wasn't the most sociable girl, everyone loved her but she only had one best friend. And that was Louis Weasley.

Now Allie and Louis were as different as chalk and cheese. For a start Louis was a Ravenclaw. Everyone wondered why they were best friends and I guess it's just that some people seem to get on. Louis had light blonde hair sitting perfectly on top of his head. He had bright blue eyes framed by long eyelashes that he was always flicking his fringe out of. He had rosy cheeks and a slight tan. In other words he was gorgeous and basically all of the girls fancied him. He was clever like a Ravenclaw is and funny. He was also kind to everyone and was generally a really sweet, charming guy. Not surprising seeing as though he was part veela. He had two older sisters, Dominique who was in Slytherin in her fifth year and Victorie who had left Hogwarts a few years ago. She had been in Ravenclaw as well, in the same class as Allie's twin brothers Leon and Timothy.

'Louis...' said Allie as they entered the great hall which ceiling was scattered with shining stars in the inky sky.

'Yes?'

'Your good at transfiguration aren't you?'

'Yeah. I guess so.' he sighed and turned to look at her. 'You're not gonna ask me to do some kind of essay for you.'

'Pshh.' smirked Allie. 'As if I would do that!'

'Go sit down you nutcase.' he laughed pushing her towards the Gryffindor table as he turned and walked to the Ravenclaw's.

Allie went and took a seat on the long wooden benches and began to help herself to some of the amazing food. A boy from the year above, with dark brown curly hair and a cheeky face came and sat next to her, filling his plate with food as well.

'Hi Allie.' he said. 'How are you?'

'Im good thanks. And how is yourself?'

'Like a cool bean.' he smirked. 'You up for quidditch tomorrow so we can kick some hufflepuff butts?'

'Of course.' she laughed.

A girl with a yellow and black tie scoffed as she walked past, overhearing their conversation. 'You wish Potter!'

The boy Allie was sitting next to turned around to say something but she was already gone.

'To be fair Hufflepuff aren't hard to beat, James.' Allie told him.

'Yeah. I know.' he said. 'Hey Allie I was wondering...' He was about to say something else when he was interrupted by the sound of clinking glass and every head in the hall turned to the teachers table.

'Good evening children. I do hope you are enjoying this fine October night.' came the voice of Hazel Brent, Hogwarts current head mistress. 'We have a lot lined up for this term. Our first quidditch match is Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff, then winner verses Ravenclaw.'

There was a cry of cheers from the Ravenclaw table.

'Also, come December, we will have a Yule ball!'

The whole school erupted into exited applause.

'Yes, yes, settle down.' Professor Brent carried on talking about OWLs and NEWTs so automatically most of the students switched off.

After everyone could barely move because of the amount they'd eaten, they were all dismissed for a few hours before there curfew when they had to return to their common rooms.

Allie and Louis were wandering around the castle when Scorpius Malfoy, a Slytherin in there year, came rushing up to them.

'Hey Louis. And...' he paused for a moment. 'Allie? Right?' Allie nodded as he carried on talking to Louis. 'Is your sister single? I mean... Has she got a date to the Yule ball?'

'Um. No... I don't think so.' replied Louis.

'Cool. Thanks.' said Scorpius as he ran off smiling.

'I think he's gonna ask Dom to the ball.'

'You think?' smirked Allie. 'God for a Ravenclaw you really are thick sometimes!'

'Do you want that transfiguration essay done?' he joked.

'Okay okay.' she sighed. 'What should we do? We have two hours to kill.'

'Ah Allie. Never kill time. Hold onto it because it will become extinct sooner or later.'

'Since when did you become so inspirational?'

'Oh. I inspire you now, do I?' he laughed raising an eyebrow.

'Sure... Whatever!' she joked pushing him outside, then following.

Allie heard her name being called out from somewhere and she looked around to see James Potter running at her with a broom outstretched and a quaffle under his arm.

'Allie! C'mon were doing a quidditch practice.' he yelled.

'Okay one second!' she called back. 'See you Louis.'

'See you.' he waved as he was already turning away to go back inside the castle.

'Wassup James?' she smiled as she walked over to him and took the broom.

'We want the lions to be unbeatable.' he replied.

'Roar!' said Allie.

'Exactly.'

Allie played the keeper and James was seeker. There was also Milly Chang-Smith, Lorcan Scammander, Sonny Gold, Hugo Weasley and his sister Rose on the team. They already were unstoppable.

After an epic practice session the seven of them made their way back to the Gryffindor tower every single one of them completely drained of energy.

Allie walked up to her dorm with Milly who she shared with. And then collapsed on her bed and fell into a deep sleep. The days ticked on by like the second hand on a clock. Before anybody knew it, it was Halloween was here. Louis was right, time was not to be killed because it ran past quickly.

The whole school was assembled in the great hall and everyone was gawping at the feast before there eyes. Allie was seated between Milly and Hugo, opposite James as they discussed their tactics for the Hufflepuff match the next day.

'My dad told me about a troll that was loose in the castle one Halloween.' James said randomly.

'Really?' asked Milly.

'Yeah. There was.' said Hugo. 'My parents said something about it too. Some guy called squirrel or something let it in so that he could try and get the philosophers stone.'

'Thats so cool!' beamed Allie. 'I wish my parents had interesting stories.'

'Your parents came here, Allie?' asked James, slightly surprised.

'My dad did. He was a Gryffindor too and my mum is a muggle.'

'You should ask your dad about any adventures he had at Hogwarts.'

'I would if I could,' explained Allie. 'but he's dead.' An unwelcome silence swept over them and they shifted awkwardly, nobody knew what to say.

'Sorry.' said James. 'I had no idea.'

'No worries.' she smiled at him to show she was fine with it. 'I was only six, I don't really remember him. I'm sorry I kinda lowered the tone or whatever.'

'Yeah...' James tried to change subject. 'Well chin up, were going to absolutely thrash Hufflepuff tomorrow. I know we can do it.'

James was right. He managed to catch the snitch in just under two hours making Gryffindor win by 110-20. Even so, it was still a pretty intense game and Hugo, who was a beater, got sent to the hospital wing after taking a bludger to the face three-quarters of the way into the match.

'Go, Go, Gryffindor! I am a lion so hear me roar!' Came the chants of everybody who was wearing a scarlet and gold striped tie.

Allie looked up to see Louis running down from the Ravenclaw stalls his blue and silver scarf flying behind him. 'Well played Cotton.' he congratulated her.

'Why thank you.' she laughed doing a little bow.

Louis laughed too. 'I've said it before and I'll say it again. Nutcase.'

'I know.' Allie smirked. 'Come on. I am in the mood for some victory pranks... Let's go find Peeves.'

'Alright. I last saw him painting the banisters of the staircases with never-drying orange paint.'

'Awesome. We could help him with that!'

'This way.' Louis lead her too where Peeves, the schools poltergeist was humming a world war one nursery rhyme whilst bouncing up and down the stairs with a paintbrush and tin of paint.

He paused from his painting when he saw them approaching. 'Weasley! Cotton! Come to join me? These staircases won't paint themselves.' he said in a sing-song voice.

'Why else would we be here?' asked Allie, catching the brushes Peeves threw to them and passing one to Louis.

After they had successfully covered every staircase on the second floor with never-drying paint Louis yawned and stretched out his arms.

'Aww is ickle Lou-Lou's tired.' joked Allie.

'Shut up.' he laughed, flicking some paint at her face.

She wiped it off with the back of her hand. 'I will get you next time Weasley!'

'Hey. I just realized something... You beat Hufflepuff so you have to play us after Christmas!'

'Oh yeah. I am a lion hear me roar. Gryffindor is going to beat Ravenclaw!'

'In your dreams.' laughed Louis.

'Dreams can come true Louis. They can.' she smirked, skipping away up the stairs to give the fat lady the password and enter the Gryffindor common room.

There was only one person there when she clambered through the portrait hole. It was James, he was sitting in front of the fire staring into it.

'Hey James. Are you okay?' asked Allie.

James looked up, shocked to see her and put on a smile. 'Huh? Oh yeah... I'm fine.'

'Are you sure..? You seem a bit down.'

He stood up and brushed himself off. 'I'm up now.'

'Oh ha ha.' smiled Allie. 'But seriously... You'd say if something was up, wouldn't you?'

'Yes Allie. I would.' he reassured her. 'But what reason would I have to be sad? We just won the match.'

'We did! You played great, there seeker was so close to the snitch.'

'You weren't so bad yourself. We have to play Ravenclaw next... They have players who might actually be some kind of competition.'

'I want to win for the sole purpose of rubbing it in Louis' face.'

James chuckled at that. 'Why have you got paint all over your hands?'

'Oh that.' she looked down at her orange hands. 'I was helping Peeves redecorate.'

'Which floor should I steer clear of then?' he smirked.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Allie did her innocent voice again. 'And it's the second floor. Anyway, goodnight.'

She was about to climb the stairs to the girls dorm when James called her name and she turned around. 'What is it?'

'Um...' James looked at the ground and then back at her. 'Allie, have you... got a date for the Yule Ball yet?'

'No...' she replied, taking a step down.

'Oh.' said James, going oddly shy. 'I know it's a bit early but maybe... I was wondering if... I mean... Do you want to go with... Me?'

'Um...' said Allie. Standing there in shock. She hadn't even thought about the Yule ball yet but now she did she couldn't think of any reason why she shouldn't go with James. He was extremely good looking, they got on really well already and he was a cool, funny and charming guy. 'Sure. Of course I will James.' she smiled.

'Cool.' James smiled back, his usual confidence rushing back to him. 'Yeah. That's great.' he beamed.

'Yeah.' Allie grinned. 'Well... Goodnight... I guess.' she turned and went to walk upstairs again.

'Sleep tight.' James said and Allie smiled to herself as she went upstairs and climbed into bed.

On this particular mid-November Saturday, a few weeks later, Allie was wearing a bright yellow headband as she ran down to the stairs and into the Great Hall. She was rushing past when James held out an arm to catch her and spin her around.

'Good morning.' he smiled.

'Morning James. How are you this fine day?'

'Im super. And I do hope you are well.'

'Indeed I am.' laughed Allie.

'Thats good.' smiled James. 'What should we do today?'

'I don't mind. Just give me a sec... I need to go to the owlery.'

'Ok. Well I have a detention with O'Cedar so I will catch up with you later, yeah?' he kissed her on the cheek and quickly walked out of the great hall.

Allie walked straight past the Gryffindor table and tapped Louis on the shoulder. 'Do you want me to get your stuff from the owlery?'

He looked at her and stood up. 'Nah. I need to come anyway, let's go.'

They were walking down the corridor when professor O'Cedar stepped out in front of them.

'I know it was you two that did it. And that bloody poltergeist!'

'Im confused.' said Allie. 'What did we do?'

'You, young lady and your friend here, know perfectly well what you did. You painted the staircases again, even after last time!'

'Actually sir.' said Louis. 'That wasn't us...'

'Ha ha. Like I would believe you Mr Weasley.' laughed Professor O'Cedar sarcastically.

'You have no proof.' retorted Louis.

'I don't need proof. I just know it was you two.'

'Well until you find some evidence to back up your case Professor, we must be on our way.' he said and they walked past with no blame on their shoulders.

As they reached the owlery Allie made a clicking sound and her completely black owl that had large brown eyes came flying through an open window and perched himself on her outstretched arm.

'Hey Shadow.' Allie ran her free hand down the feathers of her owl. 'Have you got any letters for me?'

Shadow made a small hooting sound, flapped his wings and flew off returning a moment later with a few letters. He dropped them into her hands just as another brown owl glided into the room giving Louis his letters.

Allie had one from her mother, one from her brothers and another one from her three year old cousin Diego, who was the only other magical one in the extended family still alive. His mother was Allie's dad's sister but she had died during child birth and Diego's dad was murdered a few months before he was born by a killing curse. Since then Diego had been living with them and was basically Allie's little brother.

She sank down against a wall so that she could read them carefully. The first one she opened was from Diego. It was a moving crayon drawing of Allie, Leon, Timmy and Diego all holding hands walking along and a castle in the background with the word HUGWERTZ scribbled on it except from the G and the Z were backwards. He had obviously drawn it himself and she hugged it tight to her chest and then put it in her pocket so she could have it with her forever.

The next one was from the twins. They were telling her not to get into trouble (hypocrites) and do well in lessons because she had her OWLs next year. They also said that they would give her quidditch tips but had heard that it was Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw and they wanted Ravenclaw to win. At the end Leon had scribbled about something he needed to tell her but it would have to wait until Christmas.

The final letter was written in Allie's mothers elegant handwriting:

Dear My Allie,

I hope you are doing well and school and haven't got into that much trouble and are doing well in classes. Did you get Deigo's drawing? He misses you a lot whilst you're at Hogwarts. I have something very important I need to tell you but I will not send it via a bird so I will tell you in person when you come home for the christmas holidays.

~Mum~

Allie folded up her letters and put them in her pocket too and then gave Shadow a nut and he flew away. She looked across at Louis who had two letters, one from his sister Victorie and another from his mum.

Louis handed her one of the letters whilst he opened the other. 'Here hold this.'

Allie looked at the letter he had just given her. None of the words made any sense. 'How can you understand what's on this letter Louis?'

'Its from my mum. It's in French.' he explained.

'Oh. I didn't know that you understood French.'

'Well, my mum is from France. We all can speak it. Me, mum, Dom and Vic. Not dad though, he never got the hang of it.'

'That's so cool!' Allie exclaimed.

'Meh.' said Louis as he carried on reading Vic's letter. Allie took out Diego's drawing and smiled, she would want to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas if it wasn't for Diego.

December came around it was less than a week until the Yule ball and everybody was stressing out about it. Everybody except Louis and Allie who were sitting against a tree looking out on the black lake.

'What do you think the giant squid eats?' asked Louis.

'You mean that old things still there? I thought Hagrid killed it years ago.' said Allie.

'Allie, when would Hagrid ever harm a beetle, let alone kill some giant monster that he wants as a pet.'

'Good point.' Allie nodded. 'I think it eats merpeople.'

'Seriously?' laughed Louis. 'Whats wrong with fish?'

'Well fish everyday wouldn't be a very exciting meal.' she said standing up and walking to the edge of the lake.

'Only you.' he smirked, standing up too. 'Only you would come up with something like that.' he walked up and stood a little way behind her. 'Maybe it likes to eat normal people too!' he laughed pushing her in.

There was a splash as Allie fell into the water but she re-surfaced in a few seconds, pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. 'Damn you Louis Weasley!' she laughed. 'By Merlin's name I'll get you back.' she splashed a load of water over him.

'Ha ha!' he chuckled and then jumped in too, bobbing up next to her.

'I honestly do hate you.' joked Allie, splashing his face with water again.

'No you don't.' said Louis, treading water. 'You can never hate me.'

'And why is that?' she asked.

'Just because...'

'Just because? That's a pathetic reason.' she laughed, splashing him once more then diving underwater and then pulling herself up on the edge of the lake.

'You're a pathetic reason.' He replied smiling.

'Oooh, good comeback.' Allie smirked as Louis climbed out and sat next to her on the edge of the lake. 'Now I'm soaking thanks to you!' she began emptying her pockets taking out her wand, extendable ears and... 'Oh no!' she said in shock. She had had Diego's drawing in her pocket when Louis had pushed her in the lake. Now it was just a soggy, smudged bit of paper.

'What' the matter?' asked Louis.

'The drawing... that Diego did for me. It's all ruined now.' She held it up carefully.

'Merlin's beard! Oh my god Allie, I'm so sorry. This is my fault!' he looked so guilty.

'No..no... It's alright.' Allie tried to smile as she smoothed it out. 'You can still kind of see it.'

'Here, let me fix it.' Said Louis, taking it off of her gently and pulling out his wand. He murmured a spell as he waved his wand over the paper and slowly the water began to evaporate and the smudged crayon images began to move back into place.

'Thank you so much Louis.' smiled Allie as she took the drawing off him.

'No problem. It was kinda my fault anyway.' he smiled and flicked his wet fringe out of his eyes.

'Stop flicking your hair before I cut it off!' laughed Allie.

'But it's soaking.' he shook droplets of water from his head showing them all over Allie, then he took off his shirt and rubbed his hair with it. 'Its dry now.'

'And I'm not.' Allie smirked. 'Hey where'd that come from?' she asked, poking his six pack.

He looked down at his stomach, slightly confused then he looked up smiling, with a glint in his blue eyes. 'Oh that...'

'Ha ha ha. How many times have you been asked to the ball yet?' Allie joked.

'Well...' Louis began counting on his fingers. 'Only eleven this week...'

'Only? Oh Louis, have you met yourself?' she laughed. 'And you're going with...?'

'I don't know.' He said. 'Not one of the second years that asked me.'

'Well that's useful. Anyway, we need to get dried off, and back to potions.' She replied.

Louis re-drew his wand and pointed it at himself. 'Aqua licencia.' All the water siphoned itself off of him, then he ruffled his hair and he put his shirt back on. Allie did the same and the pair who were now dry wandered back into the castle and stood outside the dungeons waiting for Professor Glipped to arrive.

It was a Friday so after lessons were over it meant it was time for everybody above their third year to take a trip to Hogsmeade. Louis, James, Allie, Milly and Hugo were walking around the shops together, the blanket of snow beneath their feet crunching as they trod on it. The sun was shining extremely brightly through the naked trees and it reflected off of the snow making it shimmer. Hogsmeade was a truly beautiful place in the winter.

'Hey Allie, have you even got a dress yet?' asked Milly.

'Um...No. I haven't actually. I don't really like to wear dresses.' replied Allie.

'But you have to wear one! It's a formal dance!'

Allie let out a sigh. 'Fine.' And Milly grabbed her by the arm dragging her into a shop.

It was a pretty little shop, painted white with red swirls bordering the top of the walls and there were lots of moving paintings of models and mannequins with magnificent dresses on. A young witch, in her early twenties with dark skin and long black hair, red lips and red nails bounded up to them smiling, wearing a little red and white polka-dot dress.

'Hello girls. Getting prepared for the ball are we? Gosh, I remember my first Yule Ball.' She said. 'Anyway, how can I help you?

'Hi. My friend Allie here needs a dress for the ball because she hasn't got one yet.' Milly explained.

'Ah yes. Now what sort of thing are we looking for?' asked the assistant. 'A long pink dress? Or something a bit more sexy?' she laughed at the look on Allie's face and tapped her arm lightly. 'Don't worry darling. We'll find you something.'

It took almost an hour of trying on different dresses and hearing Milly and the assistant, whose name was Chloe's, opinions on all fifteen dresses before they found one that Allie would actually agree to wear.

It was the day of the ball and everyone was getting prepared by setting up decorations, or helping with food, or just spending forever getting changed; not a single person wasn't busy. The long house tables had been moved out of the great hall and it was replaced with ten circular tables draped with slivery, netted cloths and laid with piles of mouth-watering food courtesy of the house elves. The enchanted ceiling was covered with stars and there hung more silvery veils from the wooden ceiling bars. Also, there was a large Christmas tree decorated all silver and blue by Hagrid at the very end of the hall with four ice sculptures elegantly carved next to it. On one side was a lion and a snake, the other a badger and an eagle to represent the four houses of Hogwarts. As the clock turned to eight o'clock more and more people began to arrive and the atmosphere was nothing less than incredible.

Most people were there when Allie arrived at half past. She was wearing a simple little white dress that went to just above her knees with a white ribbon around the waist making the bottom skirt bit flow elegantly behind her. Around the collar of the dress there were seven small rubies sewn and there was also a red trim around the bottom of the dress. She had her hair down so it stopped just above her waist and it was all wavy with half of her hair pinned up with a ruby encrusted clip. She looked stunning as she walked down the steps to the great hall. Treading carefully with her red converse that she was wearing, the little silver anklet her dad had given her before he died fastened around her left foot, just visible over the top of her converse.

James was standing there in his dress robes with his usual curly hair scruffy but he still looked handsome. His jaw dropped when he saw Allie walking down the stairs and it took a few moments for him to actually move and go over to hold out his arm.

'Good evening beautiful.' He winked at her as she took his arm and they walked forward, engulfed by the crowd.

'Hello Prince Charming.' She giggled and an amazing piano song started to play.

'May I have this dance?' he asked still grinning.

'Certainly.' And they began spinning around slowly to the song looking at nothing but each other.

The song came to an end and they stopped spinning. 'Im so dizzy right now.' said James.

'My head feels like it's still spinning.' Allie smiled, shaking her head slightly.

James slid his hands to her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck as the next song started.

'We should spin the other way to even out the dizziness.' he said and Allie agreed so they span the opposite way to which they had been spinning before.

Other couples at the dance included Scorpius Malfoy and Louis' sister Dominique, Hugo Weasley and a brown haired Ravenclaw girl and a couple Allie did not expect; Louis and Milly Chang-Smith.

That song came to an end as well and she looked into James' mischievous brown eyes. 'Im still really dizzy.'

James didn't say anything he just smiled looking at her. Allie shut her eyes still holding onto him so she didn't collapse from dizziness when he kissed her. She smiled beneath his lips and opened her eyes just as they pulled apart.

'And now I'm even dizzier.' she said, the smile still wide on her face.

'Good.' James' eyes were dancing. 'So am I.'

The next couple of days involved packing up everything and getting most of the students ready to go home for Christmas. Allie was rushing around her dorm shoving clothes and random bits of parchment into her trunk. It was just under an hour before she had to be at hogsmeade station so she was doing her usual last minute packing. She sat on it to make sure that it shut and then tumbled downstairs with it.

'Here. Let me help you with that.' said James, taking it off of her carrying it as well as his own trunk.

'No James it's fine.' Allie took it back as James' little red-haired sister Lily, in her second year, came running down with her trunk.

'James! Help me with this.' she said, pushing her trunk towards him.

'Okay Lily.' he sighed, picking it up. 'Come on hurry up. Let's go find Albus.'

'Alright, is he at the Slytherin common room?' asked Lily, following her big brother out of the portrait hole.

'No. He's on mars.' James said sarcastically. 'Sorry Allie, I'll see you on the train.' he explained as he tried to carry both trunks.

'Its alright.' Allie told him. 'See you James, see you Lily.'

'Bye Allie.' said Lily, closing the portrait hole behind her.

Allie felt around in her pockets and realized that she had left her wand upstairs, she quickly ran into her dormitory and got it and then came back to the common room where she could hear someone talking to the fat lady outside. She picked up her trunk and owl and opened to portrait hole and climbed through it to see Louis and the fat lady deep in conversation.

'Oh hey Allie. You ready? Because we are already late.' Louis didn't give her time to answer, he took her arm and ran down stairs pulling her behind him to where the thestral drawn carriages were waiting.

When they finally got to hogsmeade station and boarded the train the real difficulty was finding an empty compartment. They soon discovered that they weren't going to find an empty one so they settled with sharing a compartment with Albus, Lily, James, Dom and Scorpius.

Lily was sitting there fussing over her owl and Albus looked like he could fall asleep at any minute. Dom already was asleep, or at least lying with her eyes closed, with her head in Scorp's lap and James was sitting as if he had been waiting and had saved seats for them. Allie went and sat down next to him and he put his arm over her shoulder.

'Sorry about leaving you earlier but someone...' he shot a look at Lily who just smiled innocently. 'was rushing me.'

'Its alright I was running late anyway.' said Allie.

'Hey Louis.' said Scorpius after he had made sure that Dominique was definatley asleep. 'I think your sister is really cool.'

'Thats nice.' Louis said. 'As long as you take care of her.'

'I will, I promise. That's why I was going to ask you...' he said shifting carefully and pulling a small box out of his pocket. 'Do you think she'd like this for Christmas?'

He opened the box to reveal a small silver bracelet with three charms on it. Two heart shaped emeralds and a little silver charm in the shape of a wolf, beautifully etched with a tiny emerald eye.

'Woah.' said Allie, staring at it.

'I think she'd love it!' exclaimed Louis. 'Where on earth did you get enough money to pay for this?'

'From my dad. We're not all like you Weasleys.' he joked. It was a good job that they were friends or else he might have found that offensive.

After a few hours the sky outside had turned pink and dusky. The sun, an orange glow behind the hill as the train eventually pulled up at platform 9 and 3/4 at kings cross station.

Before they got off the train they said their goodbyes to one and other.

'Have a good Christmas. Write to me, yeah?' Louis said as they did there special handshake and he followed Dom off of the train.

'Yeah I will. And a happy new year Lou!' Allie called after him and he walked away.

'You have to write to me too.' James told her.

'I promise that I will and I always keep my promises.' Allie smiled and hugged him receiving a kiss on her forehead then he pushed her forward.

'Go on. Find your family, I need to sort out these two.' he gestured to Albus and Lily.

Allie stepped down onto the platform carrying her trunk with two hands. It was only Timmy and Diego that came to collect her. Her mum and Leon must be at home.

Timmy came over to her and took her trunk. 'Merlins beard! What are you like?' he laughed.

'I don't know. What am I like?' smirked Allie.

A small dark haired boy came running forward and threw himself at her, arms outstretched. 'ALLIEEEE!'

'Hey Diego!' she grinned, catching him and lifting him above her head then bringing him down and holding him. 'How are you buddy?'

'I am awesome.' Diego replied in his little voice.

'You most certainly are.' laughed Allie, putting him down on the platform. 'Come on, let's get Timmy and go home.'

'Okay!' said Diego and he ran over to Timmy.

'Guess what Allie.' Timmy had a smirk on his face.

'What?' asked Allie.

'I passed my muggle driving test so now I have a car!' he was bursting with excitement.

'Congratulations man!' she replied. 'Thats so cool! Do you know what mum needed to talk to me about?'

'Yeah.' Timmy didn't look at her. 'But let's wait until we get home.'

The place where Allie grew up was nothing special just a semi-detached brick house with flowers and plants growing up the wall. The front door was painted brown with the gold number 7 on it and in the driveway there was Allie's mum's car and Timmy's car. Anybody that walked past wouldn't guess that it was the home to four wizards.

'Shes home!' Timmy called as he opened the front door, letting them in.

'Hey Albatross.' A boy who looked identical to Timmy came up to her smiling, it was Leon. He had given her the nickname Albatross after he had first seen her fly a broom. 'How is Hogwarts?'

'Its cool as ever.' Allie said, leaving her trunk by the door and going into the kitchen with her two brothers and Diego. Her mother was pottering around making dinner, she looked up and stopped cooking.

'Allie, honey!' she went over and gave her a massive hug. 'Im so glad your home.'

'Im glad to be home too mum.' said Allie, returning the hug.

A brown owl came and tapped it's beak on the window, it was Louis' owl. Allie opened the window and took the letter off of it's leg, opening it.

To Allie,

Hope you arrived home safely. Tell Timmy I said congrats on passing his muggle test or whatever it was. Anyway, Victorie and Dominique have both got people coming so I wanted to ask if you and your family would like to come for Christmas dinner at Shell Cottage. Send a reply back with my owl.

-Louis

'Hey mum. We've been invited to Christmas Dinner at Louis'. Can we go please?' She begged.

'Well... If it's alright with Bill and Fleur.' Allie's mother replied.

'Yeah it is. Thanks mum!' Allie ran upstairs to her room, opened the door and kicked some clothes out of the way, wiped some things off her desk and onto the floor then picked up a quill, dipped it in ink and scribbled on the back of Louis' letter:

Louis,

I'll tell Tim you said that. And thanks for the offer, we would love to come for Christmas. I can't wait.

-A

Then she rushed back down the stairs, tied the reply to the owl's foot and sent it off flying into the distance.

The mood in the Cotton household somewhat became gloomier as it reached the 23rd of December. Allie was walking barefoot along the landing when she heard sobs coming from her mother's room. She knew better than to walk in on her mother and she went back into her own room and sank down against the back of the closed door. She never took her anklet off but today she unclipped it and squeezed it tightly in her hand, kissing it and shutting her eyes. There was a light knock on the door and Allie stood up and opened it, letting Leon in, then they both went and sat on her bed.

'It hurts bad doesn't it?' Leon asked letting out a sigh.

'More than anything.' Allie's voice cracked and she squeezed the anklet tighter in her hand.

'I can't believe that it's been nine years already. Seems like only yesterday he was here with us, teaching us how to fly a broom and adjusting our ties before we got on the Hogwarts express and...' Leon cut off, looking down into his lap.

'Leon...' Allie said quietly. 'Leon I'm scared.'

'What are you scared of?'

'I was only young when it happened. I don't remember much of him... I'm scared I'll forget more things too.' she whispered.

At that moment Timmy and Diego came in. Timmy sat on the other side of Allie and Diego on her lap, snuggling into her chest.

'Don't worry Albatross.' Said Leon as he and Timmy both put their arms around her. 'We'll make sure you'll remember every detail, won't we Tim?'

'Yes we will.' Timmy agreed. 'Everything. Like how he used to make sparks fly out of his wand so we could chase them. Or how he could use a simple spell to heal a grazed knee. He'd use to go through the packets of Bertie botts and make sure that we never got a bad one. And then he'd used to sing to you, Allie, to send you to sleep at night.'

'I remember.' Said Allie.

'Close your eyes my little witch and shut out the world.

I'll protect you from the bad, my darling little girl.

Close your eyes my little witch, do you know.

The greatest magic there is, is to watch you grow.' Timmy began.

Leon then joined in. 'In the morning when you wake, you won't have to worry.

Everything to you, is oh so funny.

Promise me that, you won't ever grow up.

And forget that you have daddy's love.'

Allie felt the warm tear roll down her face as she began to sing the last verse with them.

'Close your eyes my little witch and shut out the world.

I'll protect you from the bad, my darling little girl.

Close your eyes my little witch, do you know.

The greatest magic there is, is to watch you grow.

Promise me that even when you grow up,

You won't forget you have daddy's love.'

She opened her palm and looked at the silver anklet, smiling weakly. 'I haven't forgotten Dad.'

The four of them sat there hugging in silence for a few moments. Allie hadn't heard that song for almost a decade but she still remembered every line. She could hear her father's voice gently singing it to her in her head and she got goose-bumps.

'Allie…' Diego said quietly. 'I don't remember him.'

This brought a smile to her face and another tear to her eye. 'Of course you don't Diego. You never met him. He died before you were born.'

'Oh…' he said. 'I'm sure he was awesome though.'

'He was Diego.' Said Leon. 'He most certainly was awesome.'

Christmas day arrived and after the grand present opening it was time to set off for dinner at the Weasley's.

'Are we going to drive?' asked Allie's mother. 'I don't know the way.'

'No mum.' laughed Timmy. 'Me and Leon will apparate us all there.'

'Oh god.' she replied. 'Is that the teleporting thing you two do?' Sometimes it got a bit annoying having a muggle for a mother but you can't choose your family.

'You take Diego, Allie. And apparate with me. Timmy, you take mum and make sure she doesn't throw up this time.' instructed Leon.

They all stood holding hands in the hallway of their home and there was a loud crack. They vanished. Reappearing moments later in front of a pretty little cottage on a cliff overlooking the sea. The house was covered in shells and there were flowers all over the garden and the all was silent apart from the gentle woosh of the ocean ebbing and flowing.

An elegant lady with long blonde hair, wearing a white blouse and blue skirt opened the front door carrying a watering can, she turned and saw them, smiling and waving.

'Ah you are 'ere!' she said, kissing all of them on each cheek. 'You eez a bit eerly but it eez oh kay. Come in, please.' she held out an arm guiding them inside of the cottage.

Allie had been here many times before but it looked even more amazing with fairy lights, tinsel and the huge decorative Christmas tree there. The dining room table had been stretched to fit at least 20 people and everything looked spectacular.

Louis came rushing down the stairs wearing a black shirt and trousers with his hair combed. 'Your here!' he said happily.

'Hi Louis!' Allie went over to him. 'Hows your holiday been so far?'

'Its been amazing. I got a new broom. A 1500 striker. Gryffindor better watch out.' he joked.

'Shut up! We're gonna kick your butt.' retorted Allie.

'If you say so.' he shrugged his shoulders. 'Did you get anything cool?'

'Yeah I got an iPod.'

'A what?' Louis looked confused.

'Its a muggle device that plays music.' Allie explained getting it out of her pocket.

She began to play music and Louis jumped back, shocked, then took a step forward and peered at it closely. He took the small thing and turned it over in his hands.

'Woah cool.' he smiled. 'Muggles don't need magic to make awesome things.' he tapped the screen and it began to play different songs, the look on his face was like a small child and a pop-up book. He obviously found it very entertaining.

Dinner was absolutely amazing. Teddy Lupin showed up and so did Scorpius Malfoy with his parents. You would think that there would be a lot of conversation at dinner with the amount of people there but everybody was too engrossed in there meal to do much talking. Allie looked up from cutting her bit of turkey, her mother was looking suspiciously at a moving portrait, Scorp and Dom were attempting to eat whilst holding each other's hands, and Vic and Teddy were feeding each other. Bill Weasley, a tall red-haired man with nasty scars all down his face kept on showing dog-like characteristics but that was only because he was once bitten by a werewolf and Leon and Timmy were attempting to control Diego who was building a house out of mashed potato. She looked up at Louis who was already looking at her, he quickly turned his gaze away and Victorie said something to him in French which made him tell her to shut up.

After dinner it was late and they decided it would be best to go home before Diego passed out due to exhaustion.

'You must come again. Eet was loovley to have you weeth us.' Fleur said, kissing each of their cheeks.

'Yes, we all had a great day.' Bill shook everybody's hands.

'Thank you very much for inviting us Mr and Mrs Weasley.' Allie smiled.

'Eet was no problem darling. Eet was my pleesure.'

'I'm going to say buy to Louis. There's something I need to give him.' She walked off and upstairs to go and find him when she heard arguing coming from his room. He was having a row with Victorie but Allie couldn't understand what they were talking in fluent French. The door opened and she hid against the wall, Vic came walking past shaking her head and didn't notice Allie.

Once Vic had gone into her own room Allie turned and stepped into Louis'. His room was very simple and modern with Ravenclaw banners hung on the white walls and moving posters of the Falmouth Falcons quidditch team as well as a corkboard with animated photos pinned to it. There were some of quidditch matches he'd been to, childhood photos of him and his sisters, a Weasley family photo and a few photos of him and his friends which a lot of the time was just him and Allie. Also, he had a desk with his owl sitting on and some quills and ink. His school trunk remained unpacked at the bottom of his bed, where he was sitting. His owl hooted and he looked up and saw Allie, putting on a weak smile.

'Hey.' He said. 'Are you leaving already?'

'Yeah, sorry. But we need to get Diego home.'

'Ah well. Have you had a good day?' he asked.

'Yeah.' Allie replied. 'It's been awesome.'

Louis smiled. 'That's good.'

'Here…' Allie held out a box wrapped in metallic silver paper. 'I got you a little something.'

'Oh you didn't have to! But that reminds me...' he stood up and rummaged around in his wardrobe then got out a little black velvet box. 'I got you something too.'

'Aww, thanks Lou.' She smiled, giving him a hug.

He seemed a little taken aback at first but then he hugged her too. 'Thank you. I guess I'll see you again when we get back to Hogwarts.'

'Yeah I guess so. I'll see ya.'

It was the day before they had to go back to Hogwarts and Allie was packing all of her stuff back into her trunk. Broomstick? Check. Wand? Check. Robes? Check. Homework…? Ah well. She couldn't pack everything. She had just locked her trunk when Leon came in, with a serious look on his face for once.

'What's up Leon?'

Leon stood in the doorway, considering whether to come in or not. 'In the letter I wrote to you. I said I needed to talk to you about something.'

'Yes…' Allie said. 'Is everything okay.'

'Well…' he began. 'Maybe I'm not the one you need to ask that. Come with me, I know mum has been trying to avoid bringing it up with you but you're going back tomorrow so it's now or never.'

'Leon? What's going on?' she asked.

'Come on, we'll go speak to her.' Leon lead her down to the living room where her mother was sitting on the sofa with her head cupped in her hands, staring at the television which was switched off.

Allie went over and sat opposite her. 'Mum? You said you needed to talk to me about something very important but you wouldn't send it by owl.'

'Yes. You see the thing is…' Allie's mother began.

'What is it?'

'Well honey I know how much you like it at Hogwarts. But things change and I have to get away from here, where he was… where he passed. So we'll be a little further away from it.'

'How far?' asked Allie and when there was no reply she asked again. 'How far away, mum?'

'You've got about two months left at Hogwarts.' Said her mother. 'I brought us a flat in Cannes, the south of France.'

Allie almost choked. 'WHAT!' she yelled.

'Look… calm down…'

'Calm down? How can I bloody well calm down?' Allie folded her arms and said defiantly. 'I'm staying here in England.'

'Don't be ridiculous Allie. Of course your coming with us.'

'And you left it until now to tell me? I cannot believe you. What am I supposed to do? Leave all my friends here? Leave the school I love so much and just give up my powers to move to another country and become a bloody muggle! I'll have to leave Louis and I can't keep in touch with James. Shadow would fall of exhaustion in the middle of the English channel. Plus, I can't even speak French! Did you even think this through? No. Because you never do. I don't want to leave my whole life behind in Britain just because you can't face coming home to the place where Dad was murdered. Well it's not just you it affecting Mum! We miss him too!' Allie's voice was hoarse and breaking.

She looked at her mother who was just sitting there, avoiding eye contact and Allie just stormed off up to her room, slamming the door behind her and sinking down to the floor, raging. After about half an hour of sitting there it occurred to her that she had not opened Louis' present yet. She still had the little velvet box sitting on her desk so she went over and picked it up, opening it carefully.

Inside was a long silver chain with a five-pointed star on it. It was a locket and when she opened it there was a picture of Louis and Allie smiling and laughing in it. It was the same picture Louis had on his corkboard. Allie smiled at it and turned it over and on the back, engraved in elegant letters was the words: meilleurs amis.

As Allie, Louis and Dominique stepped off the train onto the hogsmeade station platform the wind was bitingly cold. Hitting their faces like a thousand tiny needles, they pushed through it, there hair blowing in their eyes and after an equally cold thestral journey they were glad to be inside the warmth of the castle.

'Brrr. It's freezing.' shivered Dom, wrapping Scorp's hoodie tighter around her.

'Tell me about it.' said Allie rubbing her hands together to warm them up.

'Hey guys. Did you all have a good Christmas?' asked Albus, his jet black hair even scruffier than usual thanks to the wind.

'Yeah. It was super wasn't it guys?' Dom said enthusiastically and the others agreed. 'How was yours?'

'It was cool. We went to Uncle Rons and him and my dad almost set the kitchen on fire before Aunt Hermione had the sense to ban them from cooking.' he smiled at the memory of it.

'Sounds like it was entertaining then.' laughed Louis.

'Trust me, it was.' said a voice as someone came up and hugged Allie from behind.

'Hello James.' she said.

'Oh. How did you know it was me?' he whined.

'Who else would it be?' she asked.

'Ah well. We will catch up with you lot later.' said Dom as she and Albus walked off to the Slytherin common room in the dungeon.

The next afternoon Allie was sitting alone on a stone bench outside, ignoring the icy cold and thinking about the conversation she had had with her mother. How would she tell all her friends? How would she say goodbye to Hogwarts? How could she forgive her mum?

She watched her breath appear as a white mist in front of her and sat there trying to stop her teeth chattering. James came and sat next to her and immediately took his jumper off and wrapped it around her.

'Merlin's beard Allie your freezing!' he exclaimed. 'Is everything okay?'

She didn't look at him. 'Its been better.'

'Why? What's the matter?' he asked, concern flooding his voice.

'Its... hard to explain...'

'Try me.' he said.

Allie looked down at her hands and sighed. 'James I...' she gulped. 'I... I don't think it's going to work between us.'

'Oh.' he replied sadly. 'But... but what? How? Why? Allie, whatever it is I'm so sorry... I'll...'

'James listen to me.' she turned to face him, looking him in the eyes. 'Its not your fault. It's just easier now, for both of us...'

The look in his eyes was pained and confused, not like his normal cheeky glint. 'I don't understand...'

'I... I'm sorry.' she said, standing up and giving his jumper back to him. 'We can still be friends.'

'Yeah.' he didn't look at her, as she walked away back to the castle a wave of guilt washing over her and a lump rising in her throat.

About an hour later Louis came up to her in the corridor. 'Hey. What's up? I heard you broke up with James.'

'Yeah.' she looked down.

'Why? Last time I saw you were really happy together.'

'Its complicated.' she said. 'Louis... There's something I need to tell you. Just not here.' she looked at all the other passing students.

'Okay sure. Where then?' he asked.

'Meet me at our usual tree by the lake in about five minutes.' she said, walking off quickly in the other direction.

Louis was already there when Allie came back. He was standing with his arms folded, shivering. 'Seriously Allie. Tell me what's wrong.'

'Louis... I dont know how to tell you this and I'm not going to be here much longer... I'm moving... To France.'

'You what...?' his eyes widened with shock.

'You heard me.'

'I know I just can't believe it.' he said, still in shock. 'How long are you here for?'

'About two months... Maybe a bit less.' she sighed. 'But promise me you won't tell anyone!'

'I promise.' he sighed as well. 'This really sucks...'

'I know right.' agreed Allie, crossing her arms to stop heat escaping. 'Im going to miss it here. Everything. The castle, quidditch, the magic and even the lessons. I'll miss pulling pranks and getting detentions and coming down by the lake to mess about. And I'll miss everyone here, all my friends, the teachers and the people I've never spoken to.' she fell silent. 'I'll miss you Louis.'

'I'll miss you too.' he looked down. 'I'll have no friends if you leave.'

'What are you on about? You have loads of friends!' Allie told him.

'No. But that's just because there my family.' he said and Allie realized that he was right. Lots of people loved Louis but the main people they hung around with were all his family, other than Allie he didn't have many friends of his own.

'I'll owl you every day and you can come visit whenever you want even if it's 3 am...' she leaned against the tree.

'Allie.' he said, his voice hushed. 'Promise me that we will always be best friends. No matter what happens in France.'

'Of course we will! Nothing could stop us being best mates.' she wondered what could actually stop them.

'Promise?' he asked.

'I promise.'

That weekend Allie got an owl from her mother.

Dear Allie,

I know you may not be happy about us moving to france but it's going to happen wether you like it or not. You will be pleased to know, however, that you won't have to give up your powers because there is a magic school close to where we are going to live. I have also decided that you must leave Hogwarts next Tuesday because I will hire a French tutor and you need to be able to speak as much of the language as possible before we go there.'

See you on tuesday. -mum

Allie screwed up the letter and threw it at a wall in anger. It was at that moment when James came walking past.

'Allie?'

She turned around, shocked to see James there. 'James.'

'Whats the matter?' he asked.

'Its...nothing. It's nothing.' she said.

'Are you sure? You seem a bit… upset.'

'No. I'm fine. Honestly.' she told him.

'Well, if you say you are then...' he began but Allie interrupted him.

'I am.'

'Oh. Well, I'll see you around.' he said and carried on walking down the corridor.

Allie put her arm on the wall and buried her face in it. Four days. That was all she had left at Hogwarts. Four measly little days. Just because she needed to be tutored to learn how to speak French. Speak French. That was it! She could get Louis to teach her whilst still staying at Hogwarts for the longest time possible. Allie began writing a reply to her mother explaining that Louis would teach her. Then she ran off to tell Louis her plan.

'So you want me to teach you French?' he asked.

'If it's okay with you.' she replied.

'How do you know I speak it as fluently as I said I did?' he raised an eyebrow.

'Because you were talking to Victorie in fluent French on Christmas day.'

'You heard?' he asked, shocked. 'You didn't hear what we were talking about did you?'

'No of course not. How could I? You know I can't understand any of the language that's why I need you to teach me or else I only have until Tuesday left at Hogwarts.'

'Oh yeah. Sure, I'll teach you French Allie. On one condition...' he looked serious.

'Anything.'

'If anything, anything at all that seems slightly out of the ordinary whilst you're in France you will tell me and just stay at your home.' Louis said.

'Okay...' Allie was confused but one look at Louis' face she could tell that he meant what he said.

'Good. So we have a deal?' he held out his hand.

'Deal.' she shook it.

From that moment on, every day at 6 o'clock Allie and Louis would meet by the tree and Louis would attempt to teach her French.

'Salut!' said Louis as she came walking over one day.

'Hey Louis.' she smiled.

'Ça va?' he asked.

'Ça va bien, merci.' she replied.

'Thank Rowena we are finally getting somewhere!' he grinned.

It was about a week before Allie's last day, things had stopped being awkward between her and James, anyway, he was going out with Milly now. This particular February day it was a bit cold but the bright sun was shining across the lake making it all sparkle and Hogwarts looked even more magical than usual. Louis and Allie were sitting with their backs against the tree and by this time Allie knew quite a lot of French and could speak it almost as well as if she had lived in France for a year. But it still wasn't perfect.

'Okay, let's try it again.' sighed Louis saying something I'm French that Allie copied. 'Better.' he said.

'Why is it so complicated?' Allie asked, putting her head in her hands.

'It isn't really.' said Louis. 'Its easy when you get the hang of it.'

'No. Not the language. Actually having to move countries. I want to stay here at Hogwarts.' she looked up at him.

'Oh. I want you to stay too.' his eyes met her gaze, holding for a few moments.

A voice came from the distance. 'Louis just kiss her already you bum!' It was Hugo.

Louis span around to see his cousin running away in fits of laughter. 'HUGO!' he turned back to Allie, blushing. 'Sorry. I'm sorry my cousin is a MASSIVE IDIOT!' he yelled so that Hugo could hear.

'It's alright. He's thirteen and probably thought it was hilarious.' said Allie. 'Imagine if something did happen between us… Louis and Allie… that would be… weird.'

'Yeah.' said Louis looking down. 'Weird.

Eventually the dreaded day arrived and Allie had packed everything she owned into numerous boxes and suitcases ready to go to France. She sighed as she took one last look around her bedroom; the bare walls, the empty wardrobe, the curtains taking down. The carpet on her floor was completely clear and it actually looked tidy for once. She felt a lump rise in her throat, she was saying goodbye to her home that she had lived in for fifteen years. She sat down on her suitcase and thought about her last day at Hogwarts, last week.

It had been a Friday and she didn't go to any lessons because she had spent the whole day packing. It was twenty five past three and she was sitting on a wall, the sun making a feeble attempt to shine through the clouds, but it wasn't cold. She turned and looked up at the castle she had called home with its slightly lopsided stone towers and grand windows showing off the high-ceilinged structure of the building. She closed her eyes remembering every detail. The whomping willow, the black lake, the greenhouses, the dungeons. The great hall, the forbidden forest, the common room and the grounds. She pictured every event that had happened.

She was eleven with her hair in two long pigtails and her black Hogwarts tie done up to the top but slightly tilted, standing surrounded by other first-years in the Great Hall. Professor Brent called out her name and she stumbled forward to the stool and nervously perched herself on it as Professor Brent placed the battered old Sorting Hat on her head so that it slid down, obscuring her vision. After a lot of umming and ahing the hat eventually said: 'Tricky, tricky you could aspire in any house but there is one trait that strikes me as something more. You sure have wit but your courage is what shines, you'd best go sit with GRYFFINDOR!'

The next memory was of her a few days after the sorting ceremony and she was waiting outside for her first Transfiguration lesson. The Gryffindors had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws and that was how she first met Louis. They became best friends almost instantly and it had remained that way for four years. She was standing there at the back of queue and everybody else was talking to eachother except for a blond-haired Ravenclaw boy, who came over and introduced himself. 'Hi I'm Louis, who are you?'

Sitting back on the wall, she heard the bell ringing to signal the end of lessons and students started pouring out of the doors out into the grounds. Somebody came and sat next to her. It was Louis.

'Hey…' he said.

'Hey.' replied Allie. 'Louis… I'll miss you.'

'I'll miss you too.' He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face in his chest, trying not to cry. She muttered something that Louis didn't understand so he just patted her on the back. 'Come on.' He said. 'Let's go get your stuff from the Gryffindor common room.'

So they went up to the Gryffindor tower and the Fat Lady let Louis in too. Allie went upstairs to the girls dorm, whilst Louis waited at the bottom. He could get past the Fat Lady but not the charmed stairs. Allie picked up her trunk and looked round her dormitory one last time, sighing as she closed the door. She came down and let Louis take her trunk off of her, she was too depressed to hold it herself and then she nodded and took one last look around the Gryffindor common room, tears stinging her eyes as she followed Louis out into the grounds where Leon was waiting.

'I will see you again Allie. I promise.' he said sincerely, giving her trunk back.

'Of course you will. You can come visit and...' she trailed off looking at his face, his blue eyes said it all.

'I guess I'll see you.' he smiled weakly, as they did their special handshake before he turned and walked back to the castle.

And now she was sitting in her room, just waiting for someone to say it was time to go. It was still hard for her to believe, she gulped down the lump that was rising in her throat. Her heart was beating like rain on a metal roof as she stood up after Timmy called for her, one by one taking the boxes downstairs to the cars.

The journey to St Pancras station felt like it went on forever but they eventually got there. Allie was sitting down against a wall whilst Timmy was arguing with mum and Leon had gone to get coffee.

'Allie...' Diego came waddling over. 'Do you want to play I Spy?'

'Okay then Diego. You start.'

'I spy with my little eye something beginning with suitcase.'

'Hmmm...' Allie pretended to think for a while. 'I'm not sure but is it a suitcase?'

Diego's face lit up like a firework going off in the sky. 'How did you guess it so quickly? It's your go now.'

Allie looked around trying to think of something, her attention was drawn to the flickering lightbulb above their heads. 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with L.'

'Umm... Lion?' asked Diego.

'Lion? Where can you see a lion around here?' laughed Allie.

'I dunno... Is it a Lamborghini?'

'Because there's so many of them around...' smirked Allie. 'Come on Diego... This ones easy!'

'I know! I know!' Diego started jumping up and down excitedly.

'What is it then?'

'Its Louis!' He grinned and Allie followed to where his little finger was pointing at her best friend who was standing there smiling.

'Louis!' she exclaimed running forward to him. 'What are you doing here?'

'I had to say goodbye and there was something I needed to give you.' he told her.

'Well you're just in time. The eurostar is leaving any minute now.'

'I know but this is important.' he said, looking her in the eyes. 'Dominique and I have been talking... And she told me this specifically because you're going to France. And this might be completely irrelevant but what was your dads name?'

'Shaun Cotton.' she replied, confused. 'Why? What...'

'Allie do you know what happened when your dad died?'

'He was avada kedavra-ed. He tried to protect us.'

'Do you know why?'

'No... I never really thought about it...' Allie began to wonder now.

Louis handed her a rolled up bit of parchment, closing her fingers around it as he looked at the clock. 'This will explain. Just be careful Allie...'

'I will.' Allie was still confused.

'I don't know what I'm going to do without my best mate.' Louis smiled but there were tears welling up in his eyes and tears already pouring down Allie's face.

'I don't know what I'm going to do either. I'll miss you so much Louis. You need to buy a muggle device called a phone, then we can talk.' she told him through tears.

He pulled her into a hug, her tears soaking into his shirt. 'Goodbye Allie.' he pushed her away from the platform.

'Yeah... Goodbye.' she said as she joined her family in the train. Louis opened his mouth to say something but the doors had slid shut and Allie couldn't lip read.

The train began to slowly move off, and Allie took a final look at England, at her home, before it headed into the dark underground passage to France, to her new life.