Kelly opened her eyes but was blinded by her own black hair. She brushed it out of her eyes and turned to face her alarm clock. 8:15. One more hour she thought. One more hour and I'll be on my way to Hogwarts.

"Kelly!"

Kelly got out of bed. "What is it Mum?"

The door swung open and Kelly's mum, a middle aged woman walked in. She was wearing a bright red blouse and a dark rich red skirt.

Kelly rolled her eyes at her mothers mismatching muggle attire.

"We have to go soon," said her Muther.

"Alright, when are we leaving?"

Her mum glanced at Kelly's clock. "Probably in twenty minutes. Hurry on up." She left the room and closed the door.

Kelly quickly got dressed in blue jeans and a dark purple shirt with a black eagle on it. She threw some of her books into her trunk and then headed down stairs rolling it behind her.

"Mum, I'm ready."

"Dear it hasn't even been five minutes yet!"

Kelly shrugged, "I know, I showered last night though so I'm ready to go."

"Oh well… I'm not… sorry, I'll be ready soon though!"

Kelly plunked down in a kitchen chair and looked around the room. The kitchen was almost completely red with a large wedding photo on the one empty space on the wall. The man and woman in the photo were laughing and the woman (Kelly's mum) kept leaning in against her husband looking up into his golden eyes. Kelly smiled at the magical photo and the man in it looked back at her and changed his excited smile to a warm comforting one.

"Okay I'm ready!"

Kelly stood up and started to pull her trunk behind her.

"Alright, let's get in the car!"

"Mum, can I drive?" asked Kelly.

Her mum shrugged, "Sure."

Kelly got in the car and pushed the key in. The engine roared to life and Kelly began to drive.

About three minutes later Kelly's mum had to get out her wand and started magically moving cars out of the way.

"You know honey you aren't exactly a brilliant driver you should have just let me drive," said her mom frustrated.

Kelly refrained from saying anything. She herself wasn't a good driver and she didn't even like doing it. But her muther was so much worse it was much easier to just put up with it.

"We're here!"

Kelly hit a pot hole and the car started to spin. She pushed the brake hard and were it not for her mum's quick wand work they would have crashed into the car in front of her.

"Damn pothole," muttered Kelly.

"Hey! Language!"

"Sorry mum."

"Right, so let's get your stuff!"

Kelly and her mum gathered the trunk and headed to the train station. When arriving in the central part of the station Kelly's mum received a lot of odd looks for her clothing but she paid no attention to them.

"Hey Kelly! Hey Mrs. Millins!"

Kelly and her mum turned to see a rather plump girl with long brown hair, rushing toward them.

"Hey Tiffany!" exclaimed Kelly.

"Can you believe it? It's our last year!!"

"You two girls better not get into any trouble!" piped Kelly's mum.

"Like we would ever get into trouble?" asked Tiffany.

Kelly and her mum laughed.

"Alright let's get through the barrier, quickly now!"

Kelly went first followed by Tiffany and lastly, Kelly's mum.

"Well you still have about fifteen minutes but I'd still get on the train if I were you," said Kelly's mum.

"Right," Kelly leaned forward and hugged her. "Love you mum."

"Love you too dear. And have a great year! You too Tiffany!"

Tiffany smiled, "Thanks Mrs. Millins."

Tiffany and Kelly hurried onto the train and found a compartment that was completely empty.

"So how was your summer Kelly?" asked Tiffany anxiously.

"It was alright, you?"

"Awesome! I took some summer classes in France at Beauxbatons Academy!"

"Oh really? And vat did you zink of them?" asked a cool calm voice from the door.

Kelly and Tiffany turned to face this new person. It was a girl with blonde hair swept into a high bun. She had bright blue eyes and was waiting impatiently for an answer to her question. "I said, vat did you zink of them?"

"Uh…" muttered Tiffany. "Well they were really good. We learned a lot of hardcore spell. And at the end of the class we took a test to see if we would get credit for them and I passed with an Exceeds Expectations!"

"Was there one teacher or several?" asked Kelly.

"Well there were two teachers and ten students including me. They were really good though! … of course the guy in charge of charms wasn't as good as Flitwick."

"Ha!"

Kelly and Tiffany turned to the girl again.

"I zink I know who you are referring to. Professor Calligo?"

Tiffany nodded.

"Zis, Flitwick you speak of cannot be better zen Calligo."

"So you attend Beauxbatons?" asked Kelly trying to change the subject.

"Did," said the girl sadly. "With you-know-who out and about my parents zought it would be vetter vor me to come 'ere."

Tiffany held out her hand, "Well then welcome to Hogwarts!"

The girl looked at it with suspicion and then took it.

"My 'ame is Jacqueline."

"So what house are you in?"

"What?" asked Jacqueline.

"What house are you in? Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin?"

Jacqueline looked confused, "I was not told what house I was to be in…"

"Ha! You'll probably end up in Hufflepuff then!" laughed Tiffany.

"Oh come now, Hufflepuff isn't too bad!" Kelly tried to sound serious but in truth her heart didn't mean it. It was a common fact that Ravenclaw students didn't exactly get along with Hufflepuff's… at least for the most part.

"What are these houses?" asked Jacqueline finally taking a seat.

"Well-"

A boy came into the room looking grumpy and upset. In his hand were four letters.

"Are Kelly Millins, Tiffany Arbory, and Jacquiline Fian here?" asked the boy in a frustrated tone.

Kelly nodded, "Yeah we're all here."

The boy handed one letter to each Kelly and Tiffany. "Professor Slughorn has invited you to a little party… or rather round two…"

Kelly was about to ask what the boy meant when he said 'round two' when he started to speak again.

"You Jacquiline." He thrust the remaining tow letter at her. "You need to meet with Professor McGonagall… and then you're to head to Slughorn's party."

"Is that all?" asked Tiffany curiously.

"Yes!" snapped the boy. He then left in a huff.

"Who is zis Ma-gone-e-gale?"

"Head of Gryffindor house and second at command at Hogwarts, next only to Dumbledore," replied Kelly.

"Ah," muttered Jacqueline I will see you at zis Slughorn get together then, no?"

"Yeah you'll see us there," muttered Tiffany in a bored tone.

Jacqueline hurried out the door and Tiffany let out a loud groan.

"What is it?" asked Kelly.

"Slughorn likes to 'collect' students. Get them in like a club you know?"

"You know my parents have mentioned him I think."

"I wonder who else he's invited…" wondered Tiffany.

"Well Harry no doubt…" said Kelly a bit of anger in her voice.

"Oh give it a rest!" exclaimed Tiffany, "Just because you think he's crazy-"

"I do not think he's crazy," interrupted Kelly, "And you of all people know that I believed Harry from the start! I just… fell he's a bit irresponsible."

"Do you think that The Prophet is telling the truth?" Tiffany lowered her voice, "You know about him being the chosen one?"

Kelly rolled her eyes, "Of course not! It's rubbish! Now… we don't want to be late to Slughorn's little party so let's go!"

Kelly and Tiffany made their way through the crowded corridors and then arrived at cabin C where a sign was hanging. "Professor Slughorn's Cabin; have fun and then we're done!"

"What the hell…" muttered Kelly.

The opened the door and walked in. The cabin was somewhat small and they noticed they were not the only invites.

"Ah! You must be Tiffany and Kelly!" boomed Professor Slughorn.

Kelly looked him over. He was an enormous man, at least side to side. He had a long walrus like mustache and in addition to the fact that he wasn't very tall, he had a shiny bald head.

"Take you seats!" he said encouragingly. "Well, well… everyone's here except," he glanced at the paper in his hands. "Except Jacqueline. Anyone know where she is?"

"She's in a meeting with McGonagall sir," said Tiffany brightly.

"Ah! Well then we'll just have to get started without her! Well let's all go around the circle and get to know each other! Just say your name, house, occupation, year and age!" Professor Slughorn beamed at the kids but most of them, Kelly included seemed a little amused by his… open friendliness.

"Well then I'll start!" he said, "My name is Horace Slughorn. I attended Slytherin house when I was a kid. And I'm going to be teaching at Hogwarts this year and maybe a few more!"

A little boy who couldn't have been in his fourth year raised his eyebrows."But sir what's your age-"

Professor Slughorn shot him a nasty look and the boy looked down. "Now… you next." he gestured to Tiffany.

"My name is Tiffany Arbory. I am in Ravenclaw, I don't have a job yet but I'm studying to become a curse breaker for Gringotts. I'm in my seventh year and I'm 17." She sat down and Professor Slughorn clapped animatedly.

"Well good for you dear!" he exclaimed, "good for you!"

Kelly hesitated as everyone turned to her. She was sitting next to Tiffany so it was her turn. But she was hoping she would be missed.

"Umm…," she muttered. "Well my name is Kelly Millins. I'm in Ravenclaw. I'm studying to be an Auror. I'm in my seventh year and I'm seventeen." She looked down at the floor and found it to be unusually interesting.

"Ah! An auror! Following in your father's footsteps are you, wasn't he an Auror?"

Kelly's stomach tightened. "He… he was one."

The compartment became silent at the mention of the word "was".

"Did he quit?" asked the same boy as before.

"Don't be thick!" snapped another kid.

Silence came back over them.

"Umm… is zis ze right compartment?" asked a voice form the door way.

The whole compartment turned to see Jacqueline.

"Aho!" cried Slughorn. "You must be Jacqueline!"

She nodded.

"Right take a seat there."

"Well!" said Slughorn forgetting all about the introductions they were in the middle of. "Now that Miss Fian is here I'll explain why you all are here. I take great pride in getting to know the best and brightest students better than I can just by meeting you in class. Which of course is why you have all been invited!"

"Why do our invitations say round two?" asked the small boy.

Kelly glared at the boy, he was becoming quite the pain.

"Well Mr. Wellington, it's because there were too many of you to fit in one compartment so I split you into two groups. The first round one. The second, you, round two. The first group I had was mostly Gryffindor's and Slytherin's."

"And likewise we're mostly Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's?" asked Kelly.

"Indeed," said Slughorn. "Though some of you are none." He added the last bit looking straight at Jacqueline.

Time went on and Kelly felt herself struggling to pay attention. Slughorn knew loads of famous people. Gweong Jones being only one who Slughorn had added, "You may get to meet!"

"Oh good gravy! You should have changed awhile go! Hurry back and change and I look forward to meeting with you later!"

Kelly, Jacqueline, and Tiffany made their way back to their compartment and changed. Tiffany especially found it funny that Jacqueline was wearing first year robes, Jacqueline however found it disgraceful.

"Zis is an outrage! Zey treat me like some child!"

When the trained stopped the three girls had to push their way through the crowds to find a carriage.

"Hurry get in!" exclaimed Tiffany.

"Hold on…" Kelly pulled out a bag of lunch meat and gave it to the two thestrals pulling the carriage. "I know you like raw meat but this is all I have okay guys?"

The thestrals nudged her with their noses in appreciation.

"Hury up!"

"I'm coming!" and with that Kelly slid herself into the carriage. Not knowing what would be next in this, her last year of Hogwarts.