"Mum, hurry up, we're going to miss the train!" I yelled down the stairs. "It's my O.W.L year and I'm the Slytherin prefect! I don't want to miss a thing!" I groaned internally when nobody replied still. "Mum!" I screamed again.

There was an answer this time. "Juliet April Gaunt, don't be so hard on your mother. Remember, I won't see her in a year." I rolled my eyes, knowing no one would see me. Steve was cool for a stepdad, but sometimes he was way too overprotective of my mother.

"Well she isn't supposed to be late either, you know. How bad would it look if the Muggle Studies teacher and her daughter showed up at Hogwarts an hour or so after the train arrived. I know I'd feel like a complete fool walking in the Great Hall with everyone staring at me!"

"Juliet", Steve started again before he was interrupted by Mum.

"No, dear, she's right. It wouldn't exactly boost either of our reputations if we missed the Hogwarts Express." I snorted a bit. It would be second year all over again, except Mum and me in the flying car instead of Ron and Harry.

"Well let's go," I said, lowering my voice considering I was closer to them, having been lugging my trunk all the way downstairs with one hand, and holding my owl, Willow's cage in the other hand. Mum nodded and gave Steve a goodbye kiss before leaving through the open doorway.

"Goodbye!" she called as I looked back to see Steve standing in the doorway, which was still open. "I'll come back for the winter holidays!"

"Are we going to do this every year?" I grumbled. Mum smirked and shrugged.

"Are you ready?" she asked. I nodded.

"I've been ready for ages while you and Steve said your lovey-dovey goodbyes." I then took her outstretched hand and we Disapparated. Apparation isn't fun, let me tell you that. It feels like there's something pressing down on your lungs making it hard to breathe as you spin through black nothingness, but Side-Along Apparation is the worst, because you have no idea when you're going to stop.

We landed with a little jolt in a stall in the ladies' restroom of King's Cross Station. Mum peeked out, said "Clear," and we both grabbed our bags and walked cautiously out. Mum stuck her head out of the door to the restroom and said "Clear," again, so we grabbed our bags again and headed out, trying to look as inconspicuous as one can be while carrying a large trunk and a cage with an owl in it.

I practically had to drag Willow in his cage along, for he was quite obviously trying to make himself as heavy as possible by digging his head into his body and firmly planting his feet on the floor. He never exactly liked being in there, and this was his way of brooding.

A lot of dragging and lugging afterward, we reached the platforms. "Do you have your ticket?" Mum asked. I nodded and pulled the ticket out of my Muggle jeans just to prove it. "Good," she said. I could hear her muttering the platform numbers as we walked by them. "One and two, three and four, five and six, seven and eight, and… ah! Here we are, platforms nine and ten."

We stood there and propped our carts against the wall to make ourselves look inconspicuous again. I then started to simply lean on my cart of luggage and I passed through when no Muggles were looking. I walked through a hollow brick wall until I came to the other side. I watched for Mum to do the same.

She walked past, and then headed on the train, seeing as she had to be in her compartment early. She smiled and handed the wizard standing in front of the train her ticket. She stepped in, looking back at me and smiling once before she walked further into the train, making it hard to see her, and then impossible to see her.

Usually, I would've walked onto the train without waiting for anyone, but today I had someone to meet, and I owed him one so I couldn't just bail. I looked around for the familiar red-headed Weasley prankster, but I didn't see him. I waited until there was only ten more minutes to get onto the train, but I didn't see him. I was starting to wonder if he had bailed on me.

I turned around to head onto the train, rather disappointed, when someone behind me tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around again, hoping to look to hopeful. I frowned when I saw who it was.

It was Draco Malfoy, my ex-boyfriend, as of last year when he lied to me about his father being a Death Eater or not. Draco said he wasn't. I said he was. I was willing to believe him until I had proof that he was a Death Eater after what happened in the graveyard last year. Draco opened his mouth to speak, probably going to try to make amends, but I briskly walked onto the train before he could say a thing.

I was about to head to the prefect's compartment, when I quite literally bumped into someone. I was about to mumble a sorry when I realized I recognized that someone. I raised my eyebrow. "Fred or George?" I asked just to see if he would pull one over one me.

"I'm George," he answered. I rolled my eyes.

"Nice try, Dumbo, but you have a huge letter F on your shirt," I answered.

He looked down at his shirt. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I forgot about that."

I snickered. "This is why you're not in Ravenclaw," I pointed out.

He shrugged. "So where were you?" he asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Well, I waited for about half an hour but you never showed up so I figured you bailed. And in all due respect, you do have a reputation as I bailer."

"I do, don't I? Sorry, I was a bit late, but it's not as if we haven't seen each other at all this summer. I left Grimmauld Place just yesterday."

"Yeah, but I wanted to ask you something all summer and I finally got the nerve up to do it today."

"Then ask away."

"Okay I will. Juliet, will you go out with me?"

I stood there, dumbstruck for a moment, then I remembered I was supposed to answer. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure if I could, but I nodded frantically.

… "But we're not stupid; we know we're Gred and Feorge." –The Sorcerer's Stone