A well-worn maroon sneaker stepped out from the fireplace in a small, two-story family home, its owner stumbling onto the living room carpet, rubbing her head after having bumped it on the mantle. Her blue-green eyes turned back to glare ruefully at the fireplace before she started dusting herself off.

Remington didn't use the floo network often, and it showed. From somewhere on the second floor, the sounds of some Muggle band streamed at what she was sure was a laptop's top volume. On the couch a few feet away, a black tomcat was sprawled luxuriously on a pillow, waving his tail in welcome. Rem was fairly certain, other than the teenage witch upstairs, the cat was the only inhabitant of the house at that time. Natalie's parents would be off at work at this time of day, and Nat's thirteen-year-old brother Ezekiel would be at summer school.

It was only a couple days after she'd said goodbye to Hogwarts for the summer, and she was surprised that her mother had let her go so easily. It was hardly worth all the fretting that she did as they drove back to her house in her mother's Lincoln Town Car. She'd always hated that car. It felt too clean cut. Her father's SUV was so much cozier-

She didn't bring up the idea of her staying with Natalie until they'd almost reached their destination, not wanting to bring it up right away and have to spend the remainder of the car ride with a sour Marissel.

"So I guess Celeste's older brother is getting married in a few days..." Remington remarked off-handedly, as casually as she could, though her insides were jittering like hell.

"I saw the invitation." Marissel replied, not with too much coldness.

"Yeah, Natalie said they'd sent one to both of us, since I was away at school." Rem nodded. "I brought the possibility up to Snape that I might be able to-"

"Stay with the Ravscroft girl for a short time?" Her mother finished for her.

"So he told you." The knowledge pleased her. Snape had actually honored her wishes and informed her mother. Maybe he did care. A little, tiny bit.

When her mother deigned not to respond, she pressed, "Well?"

"I suppose I could allow you to go," Her mother drawled reluctantly, "Just until the wedding is past, anyway."

Only about two weeks had been won on her part, but it was two weeks that might actually seem somewhat normal.

She headed up the steps slowly, walking to the last door on the right, where Natalie's room was located. She inched the door open, ducking as a winged alarm clock made a swipe for her head. The sound of music intensified. A tall, lean girl with pale blonde waves sat on a bed made with a violently green and pink comforter and multi-colored pillows. She was hunched over a beaten laptop, making exaggerated facial expressions as she sang along with the song.

As she tried not to laugh at the other girl, Remington was smacked in the back of the head by the flying clock.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed, waving an arm at the thing as she rubbed the back of her head.

The blonde's attention had been effectively pulled from her computer as she looked up to find out whose voice had interrupted her singing. "REMS!" She squealed, lunging off the bed to tackle Remington. Just when she thought she was going to suffocate, she was released so that Natalie could get a good look at her. "You look a bit different." She remarked. "You look... more mature."

"Well thanks. It's been a while since you saw me. I'd hope I've gotten a bit older." Remington said, her expression becoming slightly concerned as her friend stared at her, a slow smile making its way onto her face.

"You sound really different, too." Nat said, "All British and everything."

Rem frowned. "I spent nine months in the UK, you'd expect me to sound a little different."

"It's alright, you'll sound American again before you go back." Nat said cheerily, "No worries!"

It took a while, but they eventually got Renaldo the flying alarm clock to stop trying to attack Rem, and caught each other up, Remington telling her all about the recent scare at the Ministry of Magic, along with most of the other stuff that had happened that year, and Natalie informing Rem that she was now dating a seventh year boy, and that their Quodpot team had won the finals this year.

"Alright, Rems. You knew this was coming." Natalie said, spooning up some ice cream that she'd fished out of the freezer, trying her hardest to get the big hunks of chocolate and peanut butter without Remington catching onto her antics. She wasn't doing a very good job, but then again, she didn't have a very good track record of pulling things over on Rem. "Boys. Found any you like? You've got a whole new flock of fish to pick from." She shoved a massive gob of ice cream in her mouth. For a moment she seemed fine, then she opened her mouth and started waving her hand in front of it as if it would raise the temperature of the ice cream.

Remington gave her a disapproving look, but carried the conversation. "Flock is when you've got birds. Fish are schools." She corrected. "And I suppose I've met a few boys. Had a few misadventures. There was this guy named Seamus. He was okay, had a crush on me and all, but I wasn't really interested in him like that. Then there was Draco-" Even though she had been with Draco in a much more romantic light much more often than Seamus, she knew what Seamus had felt for her and what she'd felt for him. Draco... was a totally different story. She had nearly no clue what he wanted from her. She had never really thought specifically about what she wanted from him. At first it was just the need for another human being, but then...

"Draco?" Nat prompted, smiling slyly at her as she tried scooping up another large spoonful of ice cream, obviously having learned nothing from her previous experience.

"He's the pure-blood type that thinks he's God's gift to the world. You know, completely selfish and egotistical," Remington said, with all honesty. "But I think I'm in love with him." She had come to the conclusion and it seemed to make all the sense in the world. She may be only sixteen, but it couldn't get much more apparent when she'd unhesitatingly trust Draco with her life, no questions asked. She might not know why, but she knew it was true.

Natalie choked on her ice cream, making a sound that was likely meant as a question, but came out as, "Gwauh?"

"I think I'm in love with him. It's totally crazy, and horribly improbable, and anything but reasonable, but-" She shook her head, "I can't get enough of him." She quickly stuck a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, hoping it would buy her some time before she had to answer any more questions.

"Are you high?" The blonde demanded, viciously shoving her spoon deep into the carton and thrusting her hands onto her hips. "Please tell me this isn't because he's your baby daddy."

Remington's eyes widened and she swallowed quickly, "God, Nat! Hell no!" She nearly exclaimed. Did her friend really think so little of her?

"So you haven't slept with him?" Natalie inquired, yanking her spoon back out of the ice cream and eyeing the other girl dubiously.

"Of course not!" She replied, still scandalized.

"And you're in love with him?" Nat continued.

"Where are you going with this, Natalie Silvana?" Remington asked, using the girl's full name, which she knew her friend hated.

The blonde huffed, picking up the ice cream carton, sitting up straight, and glaring down her nose into it as she picked out the bits she wanted. "It's quite the announcement to say you love someone."

"I know what I'm talking about, Nat." She insisted.

"Well," Natalie said reluctantly, "You always were the reasonable one." She proceeded to interrogate Rem about Draco. ("What's his last name?" "Does he have a brother?" "How far have you two gone?" "How the hell did he become a prefect?")

And it felt just like being back at Nexxford. The déjà vu was killing her.