So this is something I originally posted about exactly two years ago - and decided to bring back to life with some much needed edits and changes in character about three hours ago. Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it!
ABOARD THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS
11 year olds Audrey Harper and Angelina Davison were walking the length of the fifth carriage of the Hogwarts Express, holding hands and nervously trying to avoid the intimidating throngs of older boys and girls. Finally finding an empty compartment at the end of the corridor, they quickly slid the door open and flung themselves and their luggage onto the seats.
"We need to put the bags on the rack, I think," Audrey said in her clear voice, pointing up at the steel shelves in the compartment.
"I suppose you'll need a hand then," a grinning blonde boy about their age had slipped into the compartment, and a copper haired girl followed behind him.
Never one to take kindly to anyone suggesting she couldn't do something on her own, Audrey replied icily: "I think I can handle a couple bags, thanks."
"What Louis means is, can we sit here? Everywhere else is full," the girl looked at them imploringly.
After sizing her up and exchanging a quick look with Angelina, Audrey beckoned the girl in. "Not him, though," she added to the boy.
"Allergic to good looking males?" he grinned at her.
"Just big headed ones," Audrey said sweetly, sitting down next to Angelina.
"Good for me that I've quite a normal sized head then. Louis Weasley," he smiled good naturedly and stuck his hand out to the girls. "I don't bite, I swear."
Angelina shook it and introduced herself, shooting her sister a look. Audrey rolled her eyes and turned to the girl. "You are…?"
"Lucy. Weasley. We're cousins."
"So are we! With different last names though. Audrey Harper," she smiled at the girl, and noticing the boy's raised eyebrows, shot him a questioning look.
"I took you for twins," he explained.
And it was easy to see why. Although Angelina was quite chubby and Audrey was almost only skin and bones, with their matching shoulder length chestnut hair, peachy skin, and almost identical cerulean blue eyes (Audrey wore glasses), the family resemblance was easy enough to be mistaken for that of twins.
Five years later, of course, their differences were more pronounced. Where their bodies had grown to be quite similar - slender, and of the same height, although Audrey's was more athletic - their faces were much easier to tell apart, though Audrey had taken to wearing lenses. Her skin was paler, and Angelina's more peachy and bright. Angelina's face was rounder, Audrey's more angular. Audrey's eyes were bigger, Angelina's were bluer. And though Angelina's hair had darkened it had maintained it's naturally straight quality, while Audrey's had transformed over the years into soft curls that she was quite proud of.
And that's what Lucy Weasley was thinking about in her tiny corner of the seat. Tiny, because what had started as a friend group of four had turned into eight before the end of their first year, and the older they'd all gotten, the more cramped sharing a compartment had become. "Shove off, Louis!" she pushed at her cousin, whose only response was laughter.
"Yeah, quit being an ass, Louis," Audrey pulled him off a relieved Lucy and fit herself neatly where he'd been sprawled moments ago, between his cousin and hers.
"If anyone here is an ass to people in their compartment, it's clearly you, Miss Harper, or do you not remember biting my head off in our first year?" Louis teased.
"I did not bite your head off!" Audrey snapped immediately, turning to her sister for support.
"You kind of did, actually," Angelina giggled, looking up from the book she was doodling in.
"Yeah you were being all defensive for nothing, like you are now," Lucy laughed.
"Traitors." Audrey narrowed her eyes at them. "Should've left you to the mercy of this ass." She sat back in her seat, folding her arms and glaring at the three.
"Get over it, babe. We all know there's things of bigger consequence to discuss right now," the fourth girl in their compartment, Leah Sterling, grinned mischievously from where she was sitting next to Angelina. She pulled her curly black hair into a bun, getting down to business.
All four girls, and three of the boys - Louis; Noah Bennet, a skinny boy with messy brown hair sitting comfortably at Louis' feet; and the large, broad shouldered Mason Goldstein, who was leaning against the compartment door - all turned to look at the fourth boy, Lucas Hartman, the sandy haired American leaning lazily next to Louis.
"Right," he cleared his throat. "So the party is set to happen in an empty charms classroom on the third floor, east corridor. There will be mostly 7th years in attendance -"
"Like your brother," Lucy interjected.
"And yours!" Audrey winked at Lucy, who shuddered in revulsion.
"First of all, he's my cousin -"
"And second of all, let him finish," Mason held up a hand to silence the two and nodded at Lucas.
"Right. So mostly 7th years in attendance, and a few select 6th years -"
"Like us," Angelina nodded.
"And Reed and Wood, I'll bet," Louis noted.
"And Avery," added Mason.
"And Tyler," Noah said, speaking of his roommate.
"Right. All of them. And a few others," Lucas confirmed. "We should all be ready to leave our respective dormitories by 11 at the latest."
"Hear that, Angelina? 11 at the latest," Mason teased.
"I take full responsibility of her," Lucas declared, nodding at his house mate. Her pout turned into an appreciative smile, and she went back to doodling in her book.
"Excellent. So Noah and I will meet you on our way up from the Slytherin common room?" Audrey looked at Mason, then Leah, for confirmation.
"Near the kitchens," Leah nodded.
"As always," Mason added.
"And Ange and I will meet you on our way down from Gryffindor tower?" Lucas asked the Weasley's, who nodded simultaneously.
"So now that all of that's settled, it's about time for the prefect meeting, and we need to get changed. Boys, if you'll leave the room," Leah raised her eyebrows at the lot of them. After a few half hearted murmurs of complaint ('we need to change for the meeting too you know'/'why don't you girls ever look for another compartment and leave us?') the boys were all gone, and the girls quickly changed into their robes.
"I still can't believe all eight of us are prefects," Angelina mused out loud, sliding open the compartment door.
"I still can't believe all eight of us try to share a compartment for the whole journey!" Lucy exclaimed.
"We'll figure something out for the next time, buddy. Extension charm, maybe," Leah consoled her friend as she filed out of the compartment behind Angelina and Audrey.
"You always say that," Lucy muttered, following her out, closing the door behind her.
The prefect's compartment was in the front carriage, near the conductor, and was much, much roomier than any other compartment. So it was no trouble for the eight friends, and the eight 5th year prefects, and the six 7th year prefects and the Head Boy and Head Girl to fit comfortably inside for their first meeting of the year. James Potter and Jenna Carstairs, the new Heads, sorted out the schedule for rounds and briefed the prefects on their duties, and a short but fruitful twenty minutes later everybody stood up to file out of the compartment. Noah turned around to pull Audrey out, who had been too busy flirting with Laim Baker - a 7th year Hufflepuff prefect - to realise that all her friends had left, but they were stopped by James Potter: "Can I talk to you for a minute, Harper?"
She rolled her eyes and turned around. "Certainly, Potter." She gestured for Noah to go ahead without her, and he irritably stepped out, banging the compartment door shut behind him.
"What was that about?" Leah poked Noah's arm.
"What was what about?" he reacted, sharply.
Before she could respond, Angelina appeared, Mason trailing behind her. "Where's my sister?"
"In a private meeting with Potter," Noah grumbled.
"What for?" Mason frowned.
"Merlin knows," Noah responded with sudden, deliberate nonchalance. He shot Leah a warning look, who, in turn, shot Angelina an amused look, who bit her lower lip with anxiety.
"Let's find the others," Angelina decided, and turned around to walk down the train. After a last look at the prefect's compartment and its drawn curtains, Noah followed.
Harry Prewett and Andrew Van de Kamp had a whole compartment to themselves, but the two 7th years were sharing one seat so that they could both have equally easy access to the abysmally large mound of candy between them. Their opened trunks were on the seat across from them, and they were competing to see who could fit more of the sweets in his bag. To make room for the food, the Gryffindor robes that they were supposed to change into before they reached Hogwarts had been extracted from the trunks and thrown on the floor - they were too focused on their present goal to care. So focused, in fact, that neither of them noticed the entry of Angelina, Leah, Noah, and Mason, until Mason gleefully leapt onto the pile of candy between them. At this unsurprising display of affection for sweets, Noah shook his head, Leah chuckled, and Angelina rolled her eyes. Andrew immediately pounced on Mason, easily overpowering his deceptively weak friend, causing Mason to pout and Harry to laugh, until the compartment door slid open once more to reveal Audrey, bringing all the commotion to a sudden halt.
"Hey, Audrey," Harry greeted her, his emerald eyes twinkling. Andrew nodded gruffly at her, one arm still locked around a struggling Mason.
"Hi Harry, Van de Kamp," she greeted the latter neutrally. Inspecting the scene and inferring exactly what had been happening, she turned to her friends: "I'm going to find another, cleaner compartment, if anyone's interested." And with that she flounced away, followed immediately by Noah and Angelina. Leah waved them goodbye and found herself a spot between the open trunks.
Andrew let go of Mason ('about time, you git') and sat down, seemingly deep in thought, running his hands through his spiky dark brown hair and eyebrows furrowed together above his slightly lighter brown eyes. But he was brought back to earth with a jolt when Mason pelted him with a succession of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Andrew quickly angled his head and successfully caught the next bean in his mouth - his triumph turned out to be short lived, however, when he bit into it.
"Bloody hell! Why'd it have to be a horrible one when I decided to catch it?" he complained, spitting it out the window.
"Because I was eating all the nice ones," Mason grinned over a now empty packet of beans.
"What flavour was it?" Leah laughed.
"Let me guess," Mason interrupted. "Spinach?"
"Look at his face. He looks traumatised. Spinach isn't nearly bad enough," Harry pointed out.
"What's worse than spinach?" Mason exclaimed.
"SO many possibilities. Just because you hate spinach, doesn't mean it's the worst flavour in the world, Mase," Leah argued. "Liver?"
"He could do worse than that. Tripe?" Harry guessed.
"Worse than any of you can imagine," Andrew spoke, his face grim. "Vomit."
His companions sat in stunned silence, then suddenly burst out laughing together. Andrew looked at them, unimpressed. They held back their laughter and quieted down for his sake, until Mason pretended to heave out the window, sending Leah into a renewed fit of giggles, which lead to Harry literally rolling on the floor at her feet. Andrew gave up on his dourness and playfully whacked the back of Harry's head with a nearby textbook. But before Harry could retaliate, the book seemed to come to life, and proceeded to fly around the compartment, slamming rapidly and violently against everyone and everything around it.
"What the fu- OW!" Leah yelped as she got hit by the book.
Mason was hopping around with agility that only he possessed, trying to dodge the book. Harry curled into a ball on the floor with his head between his knees, and Andrew sat with an expression of shock until the book flew and hit him right on the nose.
"What the fuck?" he exclaimed, raising his hand to cover his face.
The book was fiercely attacking the compartment door when Leah came to her senses: "Deletrius!" she cried, at the same moment that Mason cast "Expulso!"
But with a frantic change of direction, the book dodged both spells and swooped in Andrew's direction. He screamed in terror and stood up to avoid the book, but Harry and Leah had both swung back into action. They cried out together: "Arresto Momentum!" "Avifors!"
Fortunately for Andrew, the spells hit their target this time, as the book first slowed down, then transformed into a very tiny, very red, very angry, very confused looking bird. It zoomed out of their compartment (which had no door anymore) and into the compartment opposite theirs (which had lost its door as well) and straight past the group of third years in it (their eyes had widened into saucers) and finally flew out the window.
With a loud sigh of relief, Mason collapsed onto the floor. Harry took Leah's hand and pulled himself up. Her eyes were wide and dazed. Andrew looked ashen. "What the fuck -" he started.
"- was that?" Harry finished for him.
Leah had a different question. "Expulso? Get your shit together Mason! Your target is a flying book and you choose to go with an exploding curse?"
"It isn't that different from disintegration!" Mason pointed out.
"Yeah and what the hell was Avifors, Sterling? You could have turned me into a bird! A bird!" Andrew's face was still white.
"One thing's clear. I'm the smartest person on this train," Harry proclaimed cheerfully.
"Oh shut up, Prewett," Leah grumbled.
"What? You've got to agree, a spell to slow the book down was a genius move!" Harry argued.
"Maybe you should've done it earlier, then, instead of cowering on the floor like a baby!"
"Basic self defence!"
"Basic cowardice! And you claim to be in Gryffindor."
The two were standing among the mess of clothes and sweets on the floor, bickering, when the train screeched to a halt, throwing Harry onto Leah, who fell backwards into a trunk. Laughing, Harry helped her up, and the four of them turned to look outside the window. Hogsmeade Station had arrived.
Surveying the mess around them, Harry and Andrew were struck by the same thought at the exact same second: "Shit!" they exclaimed in unison, and whipped their wands out to repack their trunks.
Mason and Leah were tip toeing their way out of the clutter, a difficult task, which turned out to be even tougher for Leah when Harry decided that right then would be a good time to change into his Hogwarts robes. He took off his tshirt and revealed his torso - incredibly well built from years of Quidditch and muggle basketball, Leah deduced, then cursed herself for even getting onto that train of thought. She took Mason's hand (he had managed his way out already) and let him help her out of the maze of the boys' belongings. Without skipping a beat, she sprinted off towards their old compartment. Mason waved goodbye to his friends and hurried after her.
Mason and Leah soon reached the clearing where horseless carriages waited to take students to the castle. A trio of Slytherins boarded one of the last few and set off, leaving six carriages. They spotted their friends at the far end of the clearing and headed towards them. On getting closer, Leah also noticed her sister Elena, curly haired and hazel eyed like her, leaning against Lucas, who had his arm around her. They'd been together for about two years now. The two were talking to Angelina, who was sitting in a carriage already, her legs swinging outside. Audrey, Noah and Lucy were leaning against another carriage talking to Albus Potter and Rose Weasley, Lucy's cousins and her sister's fellow fifth years. Louis was standing with Andrew Prewett, Harry's brother and another fifth year, who was trying to teach Louis how to dribble a basketball. On catching sight of Mason, he waved and ran up to them.
"Hullo Mase, senior Sterling."
Leah rolled her eyes at his use of the nickname she'd gotten as a result of being his best friend's older sister. "Shut it, Prewett," she rolled her eyes at the boy. He was smiling wide, and his eyes were twinkling, like his brother's often did. 'But Harry's are bright green. Andrew's are almost hazel,' Leah noted mentally.
"Have you seen my brother?" Andrew inquired.
"Wha- wh- why would I have seen your brother?" Leah sputtered in response.
"Because the two of you were with him on the train? That's what Harper told me," he raised his eyebrows quizzically.
Leah realised that his initial question had been for Mason as well. "Right," she replied. "Shit," she thought.
"They should be on their way - there they are!" Mason pointed at two figures in the distance coming towards the clearing.
"So since most of us are here," Louis and the others appeared behind Andrew, "I suppose we should all get going?"
"Someone ought to stay back for the two idiots," Mason gestured at his friends in the distance.
"I'll wait," Andrew decided.
"We'll stay with you," Albus and Rose stepped forward.
"Right. Who's left?" Lucas looked around.
"I want Mason and Louis!" Angelina suddenly piped up.
"I'll go with them, too," Lucy declared.
"So that leaves the five of us, then," Audrey looked at Noah, Lucas, Elena and Leah. "Let's go."
The five waved goodbye to the remainder, got into a carriage, and took off.
Next, Lucy, Louis and Mason got into the carriage that Angelina was already in, leaving the three fifth years behind.
As soon as the carriage had sped up and gotten out of the clearing, Angelina turned to the others, her face grave. "I need to talk to all of you."
"Okay, then," Louis nodded. Everybody turned to her, curious.
Angelina breathed in deeply, "This is serious, okay? And for now, it doesn't leave the four of us." She looked around at their nodding heads, and continued. "I think Noah likes Audrey!"
Everybody looked confused. "Is that it?" Lucy inquired.
"What do you mean, is that it? This is huge!" Angelina exclaimed.
Mason and Louis looked amused, while Lucy looked puzzled.
"I'm serious! He fancies her!"
"So?" Louis asked.
"So do you know what that's going to do to our group dynamic?"
Mason laughed. "Everyone's had a thing for someone or the other in the group, Ange. It isn't a big deal."
"What?" she exclaimed. "When?"
The boys turned to Lucy. "You're the one with the memory," they grinned at her.
Lucy sighed. "Well, Noah liked Audrey in the first year. She liked Louis, I think -"
"No way. She liked me!" Mason interrupted.
"I'm practically her twin. It was Louis," Angelina confirmed. "Continue."
"Right. And you liked Lucas."
"Did not!" Angelina gasped.
"Did too!" the boys sang.
"Anyway. Second year, I liked Lucas -"
"Oh my god, how didn't I know this?" Angelina exclaimed.
"- and Lucas liked Leah -"
"That one I knew."
"- and Audrey liked Tyler -"
"Noah's roommate?" Mason asked.
"Yes but he doesn't count as part of the group," Angelina stated.
"Right. Then in third year Leah liked Mason -"
"Bollocks," Mason scoffed.
"- and Mason liked Audrey -"
"That's bullshit!" he said emphatically; everybody ignored him.
"- and that's it. Oh and Louis liked Ange for a bit in fourth."
"Lucy!" Louis complained.
"Wait, you mean when I was going out with Grant Davies?" Angelina asked.
"Exactly then," Lucy smirked.
"You're enjoying this," Mason pouted.
"And how did I not know most of this?" Angelina complained.
"Well the point is, nothing's going to happen to the 'group dynamic'," Louis sniggered.
"Besides, Noah had his turn liking Audrey in the first year," Mason added.
"OH MY GOD!" Angelina squealed. "What if he never stopped? Affection that's gone unrequited for five years is definitely dangerous for the group dynamic!"
"Okay first of all, stop saying 'group dynamic', I can't take you seriously when you do. Not that any of us is being able to take you seriously at all," Lucy bit back a laugh. "Second, why are you so sure he fancies her?"
Angelina looked offended, but shook it off. "After the prefect's meeting. James asked Audrey to wait back, and Noah practically blew his lid off."
"I was there too, Ange. You're being dramatic" Mason rolled his eyes. "He was fine."
"He was asking why James had made her stay back!"
"He wasn't, actually, that was me," Mason corrected. "It's all in your head, Angie."
Before Angelina could retort, Louis spoke: "Wait, do you like Audrey then?" he teased Mason.
"From the deepest dungeons of my shackled heart," Mason played along, clutching his chest dramatically.
"Do you have no regard for the group dynamic?" Louis looked shocked and offended.
"Sod off," Mason grinned.
Louis and Lucy burst out laughing, while Angelina turned away, her arms folded, still muttering about 'group dynamic'.
In another carriage, Leah was narrating the story of the violent book to her audience of four: Lucas was nearly in tears of laughter, Elena was holding onto him to avoid falling off her seat, Noah was clutching his stomach in happy pain, and Audrey was holding his arm and had her face buried into his shoulder.
"But where did that book come from?" Elena asked, out of breath.
"Nobody thought about that! We were all too busy pointing fingers at each other's spell choices!"
"If only Andrew Van de Kamp had been turned into a bird instead, Merlin!" Audrey let out another wave of giggles.
"Oh my god, I wish I'd been there!" Lucas moaned.
"So do I, mate, so do I," Noah clapped him on his shoulder, still laughing.
"Well, what were the rest of you up to, then?" Leah asked.
"I was with Elena and her friends. I met with them right after the prefect's meeting," Lucas frowned. "Wish I hadn't," Elena hit him; he put an arm around her and kissed her cheek.
"After the meeting I left to look for you guys," Audrey nodded at Noah and Leah. "Then I found you and decided to leave that compartment, oh my god!" she cried.
"Actually, after the meeting, you had your own little meeting with James Potter," Noah said, with a slight edge to his voice.
"Oh. Right." Audrey thought back to the meeting.
"What was that about, anyway?" Leah asked.
"Just catching up. We're good friends, you know that," Audrey shrugged.
Earlier, in the prefect's compartment...
James Potter and Jenna Carstairs, the new Heads, sorted out the schedule for rounds and briefed the prefects on their duties, and a short but fruitful twenty minutes later everybody stood up to file out of the compartment. Noah turned around to pull Audrey out, who had been too busy flirting with Laim Baker - a 7th year Hufflepuff prefect - to realise that all her friends had left, but they were stopped by James Potter: "Can I talk to you for a minute, Harper?"
She rolled her eyes and turned around. "Certainly, Potter." She gestured for Noah to go ahead without her, and he irritably stepped out, banging the compartment door shut behind him.
"Couldn't wait, could you, James?" Audrey smirked at him.
"It feels weird to use someone's last name after you're on a first name basis with them, doesn't it?" he ignored her question. Flicking his wand to shut the curtains, he set it down next to him and pulled Audrey onto his lap.
She leaned into James, one hand on his chest, the other wound around his neck, and kissed him on the lips. His strong hands circled her tiny waist as he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth. She raked her hands through his hair and down his back, as his wandered roughly up her sides and softly down her front. Her left hand snaked under his shirt and up his torso, which was hot to the touch, and he marked a trail of cold kisses down her chin, sucking hard at the crook of her neck. She tightened her legs around his waist and pushed herself into him as she pulled his lower lip gently between her teeth. His hands found themselves on her thighs, holding her firmly in place on his lap as he kissed her deeply again. He moved his hands up her body and to her wrists, which he held. He slowed down to small kisses on her lips and then leaned back in his seat and looked into her deep blue eyes.
"Well you couldn't wait either, could you?" James grinned.
The next chapter will be up soon. Do leave a review - that's the only way for me to know what you liked and what you didn't. Also if there's any typos you noticed, please let me know. I've proofread this about ten times but sometimes you just don't notice with your own work. Thank you!
xx