Natalie was walking down the corridor of the train, looking for the compartment that contained her friends when she heard someone call her name.
"Hey, Nat!" the voice said, coming from the open compartment door she had just walked past. She turned around and smiled at the boy sat there.
"Hey, James," she said, moving to lean on the doorframe out of the way of other students trying to make their way down the narrow corridor. "How was your summer?"
"Pretty good, didn't really do much. I made captain!" he beamed. A smile lit up Natalie's face as she saw how happy her friend was.
"That's great! I knew you would. Congrats, James," Natalie said. "Well, I'll see you later," she smiled again at James and nodded at the other boys in the compartment, turning to enter the corridor once more.
She found her friends a few compartments down the train and joined them, sitting in the empty seat by the window.
"Hello, Nat," Nathan greeted as she sat down.
"And hello to you, Nat," she replied with a laugh.
"That has never been funny," Benjy put in from next to Nathan, eyes glued to his book. Nathan and Benjy had been Natalie's best friends since she first met them on the train, and never once were they deterred by their being put in different houses. Benjy was in Hufflepuff and Nathan in Slytherin, with Natalie in Gryffindor. Some may think it would be difficult to continue a friendship like that, but the three made it work, alternating whose table they sat at during dinner, spending most of their time hanging out in the grounds and studying together in the library.
"James made captain," Natalie notified the boys, who in turn groaned in sync. "Hey! I'm just informing you of important updates regarding my quidditch life," she defended.
"Yeah, and you definitely weren't going to follow with 'oh I knew he would, he's so amazing at everything and looks sooo handsome with the wind blowing through his hair as he flies and-" Benjy teased.
"Ok, I get it! Shut up!" Natalie cut him off, laughing. "And I don't sound like that!"
"You do, Nat, you can't deny it," Benjy laughed and began mimicking her again. "Doesn't she, Nathan?" Natalie looked to the boy in question who was staring out the window and not even remotely paying attention to the two of them.
"Ben's right, Nat," Nathan said, still staring out the window at the hills whooshing past.
"Pfft, you have no idea what Ben just said, Nat. Traitor," Natalie said sticking her tongue out at him.
"Bickering like children as usual?" a voice came from the door.
"Hey Lils, good summer?" Natalie said to her redheaded friend stood at the doorway.
"Ugh, no," Lily sighed as she plonked herself on the seat next to Benjy, who immediately turned red and looked at everything except the girl beside him. Natalie rolled her eyes at her unsubtle friend. "My sister got married to that awful boy and she didn't even ask me to be a bridesmaid! My own sister! She chose Gwen, our second cousin who we haven't seen in 12 years over me, her only sister."
"Merlin, that's awful!" Natalie exclaimed, moving in front of Lily and taking her hand.
"I guess I should be used to it by now. She hasn't said more than 3 words at a time to me in about 5 years. I just thought maybe she would get better about it as we got older," Lily said, smiling sadly.
"Some people just can't change," Benjy said from beside her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Lily turned and smiled at him in thanks.
"Anyway," Lily said, wiping her eyes. "We need to go to the prefect's compartment," she said to Benjy as she stood up.
"Oh, yeah, I'll see you guys later," he said as he, too, stood up and they left the compartment together.
"See you," Natalie said and Nathan gave a small wave, still staring out of the window. "They'd make a cute couple," Natalie said, looking at the door from where the two left. She turned to Nathan and rolled her eyes. "What's up, Nat?" Nathan finally turned to look at Natalie and shrugged. Natalie sighed, stood up and put a silencing spell on the compartment so no one could overhear.
"Come on. Spill," she said returning to her seat in front of Nathan. He sighed and learned forward a bit, so he was closer to Natalie.
"Do you promise not to tell anyone? Not even Ben?" He said seriously.
"I pinky promise," Natalie said holding out her little finger. Nathan shook it with his own.
"Okay, I, uhm," Nathan said awkwardly. "I kind of …fancy someone?" Natalie's eyes lit up.
"Ooh! Who is it?" she said excitedly. "Do I know her? I could help set you up, or you could just ask her out. This is so great." Nathan blushed and looked at the ground.
"That's the thing, Nat. It's, um, it's not a her," Nathan whispered the last word. Natalie's eyes widened and then she smiled.
"Nat, it's ok. I don't care. You're still my Nat," she said taking his hand, trying to catch his eye. He looked up at her and gave a small smile.
"You don't think I'm a freak?" he said timidly.
"Of course not, you can't help who you love. Trust me, if people could choose, I definitely would not have chosen James Potter," Natalie laughed. Nathan chuckled along with her. "So? Are you going to tell me who he is?" Natalie giggled. Nathan laughed.
"Merlin, no!" he said.
"What? Why?" Natalie gaped at him offended.
"Because you can only keep one secret at a time and I'd rather it be the gay thing," Nathan laughed.
"But it's basically the same secret! Come on, you know who I fancy!" Natalie pleaded. Nathan snorted.
"Nat, everyone on earth knows who you fancy," Nathan said.
"Well, clearly not everyone," Natalie mumbled.
"Yeah, well he's an idiot so he doesn't count," Nathan smiled at her.
For a while the two sat in a comfortable silence, Nathan reading a book and Natalie flicking through Quidditch Weekly.
"Ugh, Robin Hunters is so hot," Natalie said staring at the Appleby Arrows player flying around on the page.
"He's a beater, right?" Nathan asked. Natalie nodded. "Not really my type." Natalie raised her eyebrow.
"So who is your type? Keepers?" she laughed. Nathan shrugged.
"Chasers, I guess," he chuckled.
"What's that about chasers?" Benjy said as he entered the compartment. Nathan looked at Natalie in a panic.
"Nathan was just saying that beaters weren't really his type, that he's more of a chasers kind of guy," Natalie explained. Nathan gave her a look that said what the hell are you doing? Natalie returned with a look that said chill, I've got this. "Because I mentioned how much the blue of the Harpies uniform suits Liza Dickens better than the yellow did when she was at the Wasps. See?" Natalie said holding up her magazine to show said Harpies beater sporting her new blue robes. Benjy sat back in his seat next to Nathan.
"Are you kidding, you don't think Liza Dickens is hot?" Benjy asked Nathan incredulously. He shrugged.
"Like I said, not really my type," Nathan said and Natalie had to cover her mouth to stop her from letting out a laugh.
"Your loss, mate," Benjy said, pulling out the book he was reading earlier.
"So, how was prefecting?" Natalie asked. "Has Lily fallen madly in love with you yet?" Benjy glared at her.
"No, I got paired with Remus Lupin again for rounds this year. It's like Dumbledore hates me," he grumbled. Natalie laughed.
"Well, at least you're a good friend who shares information about who you fancy with me," Natalie said, looking pointedly at Nathan. Benjy turned to look at Nathan and then back to Natalie.
"I know who Nathan fancies," Benjy said nonchalantly. Both Nathan and Natalie whipped their heads around to look at Benjy.
"You do?!" they both said in unison.
"Mate, you couldn't be any more obvious about it," Benjy laughed.
"Who? Who is it? Oh gosh, please tell me, I hate being left out," Natalie pleaded.
"Are you absolutely certain you know who it is?" Nathan asked Benjy sceptically. Benjy leaned across and whispered something in Nathan's ear. Natalie was ready to burst with longing to know. Nathan laughed at whatever Benjy had said.
"Ben, you are way off, trust me," Nathan said laughing. Benjy looked confused.
"Really?" he asked.
"Really," Nathan confirmed.
The rest of the journey went as it has done for the past 5 years: chatting about summers, playing exploding snap, stuffing faces with sweets. All the usual fun things teenagers do. Natalie said her farewell to the boys as they entered the Great Hall, the welcome feast being the only time they don't sit together, and sat down at the Gryffindor table between Lily and Peter Pettigrew.
"Hey, Nat?" James said once the sorting had finished and the food appeared. He was a few seats away her, next to Remus Lupin who was in front of her. She looked up from her plate and smiled at him. "I'm thinking of doing try-outs on Saturday, considering we basically need a whole new team and so will need plenty of time to train them before the first game. It'd really help me out if you were there, being the only remaining member of the team." His eyes always lit up when he was talking about Quidditch, Natalie noticed. It was very distracting.
"Yeah, sure. Sounds good," Natalie answered, trying to stop herself from getting lost in his eyes.
"So we'll gather the newbies on the pitch after breakfast?" James suggested.
"It's a date," Natalie replied. She winced as soon as she said it, but James didn't seem to notice, just smiling at her and returning to his dinner. Could you sound any more desperate? Natalie thought to herself. She caught the eye of Remus, who gave her a sympathetic smile. Great, he noticed my pathetic pining. This is going to be a long year.