Suzy Reynolds shrugged off her rucksack, sank down into the armchair and buried her head in her hands. She groaned loudly.

"It's not that bad," Angela said exasperatedly, sitting down next to her and rolling her eyes.

"How much homework are they giving us?" said Suzy. "Four essays, three translations, those OWL questions to answer for McGonagall, and that stupid drawing of a Knarl Grubbly-Plank wants us to do." She swung her legs over the armrest and propped up her head on her arm so that her brown curls exploded around her elbow. "I hate OWLs. I wish I was Hermione."

"I don't," said Angela. "Come on, how hard does she work? She took Muggle Studies in third year. She has muggle parents!"

"Why didn't you take Muggle Studies then?" asked Suzy, tilting her head up to look at her best friend. "You'd have been brilliant at it."

"I'd be rubbish; I haven't a clue how a fridge works," retorted Angela. Suzy decided it was best not to ask what the hell a fridge was, and let her head fall back onto her arm.

Suzy and Angela had been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts, now about five years ago. They had bonded over being so lost when they went down to breakfast together that they were unable to find the Great Hall, accidentally forced their way into Filch's supply cupboard and had then become stuck in a trick staircase from which Jake, Suzy's elder brother, and his friends had had to rescue them, all helpless with laughter.

Angela was muggle-born; Suzy's father was a pure-blood, her mother a half-blood. Suzy found Angela's life in the Muggle world endlessly fascinating. She loved going round her house, where Angela introduced her to things like the television and electricity, and muggle stories of witches and wizards. Due to Angela's love of history, both wizarding and muggle, Suzy knew perhaps more about Muggle history than anything Professor Binns had taught them. Suzy had also met Angela's muggle friends, but she could hardly say two words to them; Angela's muggle friends spoke about things like GCSEs and television shows, and spoke about subjects like Art and Drama, which Suzy couldn't help but find funny, the idea that you would go to school to learn to act. It surprised her, the differences between muggle and wizarding worlds. She often wondered about Angela's life before Hogwarts.

Angela, meanwhile, had been equally enthralled with Suzy's home. The large cauldron in the kitchen, the moving pictures around the home, the enchanted iron and washing up brush, the way the mirror had complimented her on her shirt as she went by, and the way that everything popped, whizzed and banged. The toilet that burped loudly had also surprised her, but Suzy and Jake had explained, through giggles, that it was Jake's practical joke, and not a normal wizarding occurance.

Angela had opened her mouth to reply when Hermione burst in through the portrait hole, carrying her bag over her shoulder and a heap of books and scrolls in her other hand. She made a beeline for Suzy and Angela.

"Hi," she said quickly.

"Hermione!" greeted Suzy happily. "We were just talking about you." She smiled sweetly when Hermione's eyes met hers. "Nice things," she said hurriedly.

Hermione shook her head impatiently. With a sinking sensation, Suzy recognised the gleam in Hermione's eyes that only appeared during the build-up to exams, when Hermione would annoy them all by asking why they hadn't started revising yet before showing them all her thick stash of perfectly written notes.

"It's about Umbridge," said Hermione. "Sort of. It's really about Defence Against the Dark Arts." She leant forward, propping her elbows on her knees. "Harry, Ron and I were thinking of starting a Defence group, where people could practice Defence properly. You know how bad Umbridge is as a teacher. So we thought if we started a group, where people could really learn Defence, it would be useful."

"Is this just for OWLs?" asked Angela.

"No," said Hermione. "It's mainly about…well, about…" she seemed unsure whether to continue or not, and her eyebrows knitted together. "It's about practical application of Defensive magic in the real world," she said eventually, having decided. "We'll tell you more about it at the first meeting. I just wondered whether the two of you would be interested."

"Will we have to wear badges?" asked Suzy, raising her head.

Hermione paused. "What?" she said shortly.

"What, it's a fair question," said Suzy defensively. "That elf group you kept banging on about last year, you made badges for that."

"It's called SPEW," snapped Hermione. She got up and swung her bag back onto her shoulder. "And no, I haven't made badges," she said, walking off.

"Hermione! Hey, Hermione!" called Suzy, but Hermione had already walked off to talk to the Creevey brothers.

"Do you want to go then?" asked Angela. "To her defence group?"

Suzy wrinkled her nose. "Dunno. Depends who else is going."

"I might," said Angela casually. "Neville mentioned something to me about it this morning."

Suzy grinned wickedly. "Oh, well, if Neville said it, then it must be amazing," she drawled.

Angela grabbed the cushion from behind her head and threw it at Suzy, who, laughing, caught it and hugged it to her chest.

"Anyway, Ang, you joined SPEW. And then made me join SPEW. And then Hermione made me wear the badge, and I had Millicent and Pansy trailing after me making vomit jokes for a month."

"One, shut up about Neville, I don't like him in that way, and two, SPEW wasn't so bad," protest Angela, her face going bright red and shining brightly beside her short blonde hair.

"Oh, of course, I forgot, you like Jake that way," nodded Suzy seriously, and then creased up laughing as Angela grabbed the cushion again and threw it at her again.

Back in their second year, Angela had developed a crush on Suzy's brother, who had been in his fifth year at that time. Suzy hadn't been able to not tell Jake about it, which led to Jake winking and flirting exaggeratedly at Angela whenever they met, making Angela go bright red whenever she saw him. Suzy wasn't quite sure whether Angela had ever forgiven her for that, but then Angela had told everyone in their year (excluding the Slytherins) when Suzy had developed a crush on the new bartender in the Three Broomsticks. She reckoned that made them equal.

Seeing Angela take out the Care of Magical Creatures homework, Suzy joined her, and soon Seamus and Dean, Parvati and Lavender had also joined them, and the small group began using copious amounts of parchment as they attempted, most very badly, to copy the tricky sketch of a Knarl from the textbook.

Jake Reynolds lay flat on his back on his bed, lazily tossing an old Quaffle up to the ceiling and catching it expertly. The ball thudded rhythmically against his hands. He threw the ball up in the air one last time, before folding his arms back behind his head and closing his eyes, puffing out his cheeks with boredom.

Jake had left Hogwarts only last year. He had thought it would be the best year, what with the Triwizard Tournament and all, but instead it had all ended horribly. He had known Cedric Diggory – had helped discuss Quidditch tactics with him (making sure no members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, his house, knew) and had liked him.

But then Harry Potter had come out of the maze clutching Cedric's dead body, and Jake couldn't get the image of Cedric's glassy, lifeless eyes out of his mind.

It didn't help that most of his days were spent like this – holed up in his old bedroom, not having anything to do. His best friends, Mike and Sophie, had both got apprentices for jobs as soon as they had left Hogwarts, but Jake didn't have anything. His mother and father kept getting job interviews for him, but Jake hadn't even tried at them.

It was then, as a shaft of sunlight hit his face, that he remembered.

He was halfway off his bed, getting ready to Disapparate, that his bedroom door swung open and his father stood there, blocking the way out, still in his work robes.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at, Jacob?" his father snapped.

Jake rolled his eyes and flopped back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He knew this would be coming.

"Do you know how hard it was to get you that interview?" his father continued, his loud voice echoing around the small bedroom. "I had to pull a few strings to do it, but I thought that it was worth it, as it was a fantastic opportunity. But then I find out that you are such an egotistic, self-centred brat that you don't even bother to turn up to the interview."

Jake didn't move. He began to pick out patterns in the ceiling as he fixedly stared up at it.

"You need to start getting your head screwed on, Jacob. You can't just scrounge off your mother and me for ever. You live here, you start paying your rent."

"I am trying!" Jake burst in, raising his head. "I just-"

"Well, you're doing a shitty job of it!" His father shouted back, and Jake let his head fall back onto his pillow, pressing his lips together.

"Now," said his father. "I've managed to persuade Madam Edgecombe to give you another chance. Your interview is on Saturday. This time you had better go, because otherwise you are destroying my reputation at the office. I will accompany you to make sure you go, do you understand me?"

Jake rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

"Jake!" His father prompted.

"Yes," Jake muttered.

His father left the room, slamming the door behind him.

With his father gone, Jake rolled over to his stomach and closed his eyes. Over the past few months, his father had forced Jake into more job interviews than he could remember. Herbologist for St Mungos, secretary for the Department of Magical Games and Sports, the Improper Use of Magic Office (all his job there would involve would be sending snotty letters to underage school kids), a desk job overseeing security at Gringotts. Jake had failed them all, secretly horrified at the idea of any of those jobs. He didn't want to have to be stuck in some office at the Ministry, where his dad would most likely keep checking up on him to make sure he was actually working.

The reason his father was so angry was that for the latest interview he had set up, in the Department of Magical Transportation for the Floo Regulation Authority, Jake had forgotten to go to. Instead, he had gone out flying with his friends Mike and Sophie and completely forgotten about the interview until it was too late. And now he would actually have to go to that stupid interview again.

Jake hadn't told his mother or father what he really wanted to do. Quidditch. He wanted to train a Quidditch team.

It had been weird, living at home without his sister there. He sorely missed Hogwarts, missed his friends and the Quidditch stadium, the castle itself and even the lessons. More than anything, he missed Suzy. It was easier in the family with her there; without her, the awkwardness between him and his father increased until they were yelling at each other in the kitchen.

Jake rolled over again, picked up the Ouaffle, and began throwing in up in the air once more.