The platform had roughly a dozen people, parents and children, waiting for eleven o'clock when the Hogwarts Express would leave for the new term. My mother kept on looking around crazily, expecting some minion of You-Know-Who to pop out like an April Fools joke. Ever since the official news of his return, she had hardly let me out of her sight. It was embarrassing. I was sixteen; I could take care of myself. Plus, all that secret training in Potter's D.A. last year helped my skills.

Another pair suddenly appeared from the barrier between platforms nine and ten and Mother's eyes darted suspiciously.

"Give it a rest, Mom," I said.

She looked down at me, shocked. "I'm only worried for you."

"I'll be fine," I replied. "You know how safe Hogwarts is."

"Yes, yes, it's safe," She nodded, "but who knows what You-Know-Who might have at his disposal this time around, or who he's got in his service? All those mind bending curses…"

"I'm sure they've thought of that," I said dryly, simply hoping to drop the subject.

Eventually, around ten-thirty, Parvati and Padma showed up with their parents, giving me someone else to talk with besides my jumpy mother. I reintroduced them to her, since they were my closest friends at school. Apparently, the Patils were also a touch on the edge about security measures on the platform and, later, at school. They were not, however, as emotional as Mother, suggesting that each student carry proper identification on their person at all time.

Mr. and Mrs. Patil escorted their children to a wagon to relieve themselves of the luggage. During that time, a group of fifth year boys came on to the platform, all chatting about the latest broom model. Mother watched them, turned to me, and then put a small, almost undecipherable grin on her lips.

"Have you met anyone special yet?" She asked.

I sighed heavily; not this topic again.

"No, Mom. Not yet."

"Anybody you're keeping your eye on?" She questioned airy voiced and all.

"Even if I did, Mom, I probably wouldn't tell you," I replied.

"Aw, Lavender, I'm your mother!" She said. "You can tell me anything."

"Afraid not," I said under my breath, through grit teeth.

She didn't hear me. "Any names I can get off you? Something to remember?'

"Mom, please. Drop it."

"Your cousin, Samantha, found her fiancé in her fourth year," Mom rambled on.

"Yes, I know. You've told me."

"And… doesn't your friend see that Harry Potter boy?"

"Oh, Parvati? That was a one time thing, Mom."

"Good for her," Mother said. "She got out there and she took a risk. Getting to know new people is a good thing, Lavender. You should take a lesson from her."

I gave up. I couldn't take it any longer. Lucky for me, Parvati and Padma joined me again and we decided to find a compartment on the train. I quickly hugged my mother, said goodbye, and left quicker than the embrace. By this time, the platform was teaming with students and parents. One of the many waving arms could have been Mother's, but I could not tell which. All that mattered was the act of waving back, so I did.

The advantage of getting there early was that plenty of compartments were open. Parvati, Padma and I found one toward the front of the train and took our seats. We began catching up on what happened over summer holiday. Parvati and Padma spent a week at a beach house, which sounded extremely relaxing. Of course, I stayed home the entire break. Mother was never keen on vacations.

One of the downfalls of sitting near the front of the train was that the snack trolley comes rather quickly. I did not get anything, but after another half an hour of journeying to Hogwarts, my stomach began to growl.

"Oh, I could use a Cauldron Cake right now," I said, putting a hand on my stomach.

"You just decided this?" Padma asked.

"I wasn't hungry when that old witch came around," I replied, pouting.

"Come on," Parvati said, standing up and patting my knee. "Let's track her down; she shouldn't be down too far. She walks incredibly slowly."

She and I left the compartment and started heading down the hallway in pursuit of the snack cart. After a handful of wagons, we caught sight of the old witch and got her attention. She was happy we found her, or possibly more surprised. I got three Cauldron Cakes and a Licorice Wand for Parvati since she came with me.

On the trip back to our seats, two other students were coming in the opposite direction. They were Ron and Hermione, Harry's friends. Hermione looked slightly graven and Ron could easily been mistaken for sleepwalking.

"This is so pointless," He said.

"It's our duty as prefects, Ron," Hermione replied.

"Yeah, yeah," He mumbled. "This long, though?"

Hermione grunted to herself, before spotting Parvati and I coming their way.

"Oh, you girls aren't supposed to be out in the hallway," She said.

Ron nodded absentmindedly, obviously not caring too much. "Yeah."

"Since when is that against the rules?" Parvati asked.

"New this year," Hermione answered. "I know it's a bit ridiculous, but…"

She shrugged.

"Well, we're on our way," I said.

"Cheers," Ron flashed a thumbs-up lazily and continued to patrol the corridor.

Hermione quickly walked after him, looking over her shoulder to make sure Parvati and I kept moving. For some reason, before Parvati took a step, I reached out and grabbed her sleeve.

"Stay here a second," I whispered.

"Why?" She whispered back.

I felt myself slowly grin. "Not sure. Just do it."

Before long, I heard Hermione's voice.

"Lavender, Parvati…," She waved at us to start moving.

I nodded and grabbed Parvati's sleeve once more and started back to the compartment.

Halfway back, Parvati glanced at me, and then laughed.

I laughed too. "I'm sorry."

"Why? Did you see the look on her face?" Parvati said. "It was great."

"I don't know what it is about her!" I exclaimed. "Can't put my finger on it, but she just irks me."

"I understand," Parvati agreed. "I'm sure she's nice once you get to know her, but it's so hard to get past that rigid shell of hers."

"Yeah, I don't know how Harry and Ron did it."

"There must be something there," Parvati said. "Fourth year, that Yule Ball, they both kept such a watch on her. It was very strange, and frankly, annoying. Something's got them rapt."

She rolled her eyes.

By then we had reached our cabin. Padma asked why we took so long and we quickly told her of our encounter. She didn't think much of it, but she had less contact with Hermione Granger. However, she understood completely on Parvati's comment on the Yule Ball, since she was Ron's date, after all. Said he was the biggest bore.

"Yeah, you two are in her house, so she must cross your path quite a bit," Padma said.

"Yes, and no," I said. "But whenever she does…"

I made a low scream in the back of my throat.

The twins laughed.

"It's so strange," Parvati added, "a girl like her, having two best friends who are boys?"

"Maybe the problem isn't with her, it's with them," Padma suggested. "You know, Harry and Ron."

Parvati and I snorted, causing Padma to follow. Apparently, she did not even believe in her own statement. Then again, all three of us could be correct and that famous trio was one huge dysfunctional problem.

The Hogwarts Express soon rounded on Hogsmeade Station and everyone exited the train as soon as they could manage. The platform was packed with students carrying trunks, owl cages, cat baskets, and trolleys. First years were extremely confused and prefects from all houses were trying to usher them towards the boats on the lake. Two prefects ran by so swiftly that one bumped into my shoulder. She turned around to apologize, and it turned out to be Hermione once more.

"Oh, Lavender, I'm sorry," She said quickly, insincerely. "By the way, have you seen Harry anywhere?"

"No, I haven't," I replied.

Parvati and Padma shook their heads as well.

Hermione's eyes opened wider and rushed after Ron.

"It's hard to tell who's holding the handle and who has the leash around the neck," Parvati said.

We found ourselves one of those horseless carriages to take us to the castle. The whole ride there, Parvati stared at a spot just beyond my shoulder, an odd smirk on her face. I tried to get her attention by moving over the place she was concentrating so hard on. However, her eyes never faltered. She must have really been thinking.

Padma left for the Ravenclaw table while Parvati and I took our seats at Gryffindor. The feast went by smoothly. Once the main courses were through, a blur of Harry Potter entered the Great Hall. His face covered in blood and dressed in Muggle clothes, he didn't look too happy to be here.

"Wonder how that happened," Parvati thought aloud.

"Dunno," I replied. "Honestly, don't care too much, either. He's always getting into some sort of dirt."

"That's true," Parvati nodded. "Sometimes it seems the dirt finds him instead, though, doesn't it?"

"I guess."

"If I were him, I would be sick and tired of all the attention."

"Me too," I agreed. "Do you think Hermione and Ron feel the same?"

"You'd think so. I mean, being the best friends of the 'Chosen One'?" Parvati lifted an eyebrow. "That's got to be one awful shadow to follow."

I thought on that for a moment.

"Hermione does quite well with it, if you ask me. Her academic skills get her plenty of recognition. But Ron, he's … average."

Parvati giggled shortly. "He got some nice attention when he helped the Quidditch team win the cup last year."

"Yes, but I can almost guarantee most of the school has forgotten about that," I said. "I mean, you don't hear the name Ron Weasley unless the name Harry Potter is said in the sentence previous, the same sentence, or the one following."

Parvati laughed. "Well, Hermione seems to like the average opposed to the famous."

"Really?"

"You haven't noticed?" Parvati asked.

I looked at her, a bit confused. "I wasn't paying attention; didn't see the point."

"Oh, it's not like I was trying," Parvati quickly said. "It's just that they're so obvious, it's hard to miss. They're like an old married couple, arguing left and right over nothing."

"And just because they argue means they're—"

"You don't believe me?"

"Well,"

I gazed down the table, as if Hermione would nod a yes or no answer to me.

"Trust me," Parvati continued. "She may be forward enough, but when it comes to him, she clams up. I'm sure if anything ever started to interfere, she'd cave."

"Or just become a cross mess," I said.

"Oho," Parvati laughed. "That would be fun to see."

There was a pause between us. Desserts materialized in front of us and we each grabbed for our favorite. I took a large bite from my chocolate gateau happily. I loved eating at Hogwarts, mostly because I didn't have my mother breathing down my neck saying how fat I was going to get if I ate too much chocolate and sweets.

"You know what?" Parvati said quietly. "We should do it."

"Do what?" I asked.

"Make Hermione flip like that!" Parvati grinned maliciously. "All we need to do is find someone to grab Ron out from under her nose."

"You're not serious, are you?"

She shrugged. "Sounded like a fun trick. Get her back for acting all high and mighty all these years."

I shook my head, laughing under my breath. "You're really serious."

"Wouldn't it be fun?" Parvati said. "The problem is, I doubt we could find someone to go through with it. I mean…"

I leaned over in my seat, trying to get a glimpse of Ron.

"…if he hasn't done anything for what, five years?"

I saw Ron grab for a piece of chocolate gateau, a childlike grin on his face.

Suddenly, I heard my mother's voice from this morning: Have you met anyone special yet? The look in her eyes as she gazed down at me, disappointed that I had not acted like Parvati and "taken a risk", burned in the back of my mind. I was not sure if it was a desire to finally please her, or to get my own type of revenge on her insensitivity as she never let me take my time.

"I'll do it," I said.

Parvati almost gagged on her rhubarb and custard.

"Lavender?" She questioned.

"I said I'll do it," I repeated. "Well, I'll give it my best shot."

Parvati sniggered. "Seriously?"

"What? You weren't serious before?" I asked, worried.

"I was," Parvati stuttered, "but, you really want to try?"

"Why not?" I said. "Give ourselves some entertainment for a while."

"Alright," Parvati nodded joyfully and returned to her dessert.

That night in the common room, everyone was reacquainting themselves. First years were sitting in a corner, possibly afraid to venture any further. Parvati and I sat down at our usual table near the window closest to the fire. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in their usual spot as well, the couch and armchair in front of the hearth. I kept on checking on Ron out of the corner of my eye. Awkwardly, one time I looked, he happened to be peering through the window I was sitting in front of. Thinking quickly, I waved my fingers lightly. He did not react, but kept his gaze my way a second longer before returning it to the fire.

"Getting a head start?" Parvati whispered.

"Maybe," I said.

"So, you're actually going to go through with this?" She asked.

I took another quick peek at Ron sitting on the couch next to Harry.

"Yup, I think I am."