A short brown-haired girl rushed through the station dragging a slightly battered case behind her. Several people shot her strange looks as she rushed past them and one older couple started to mutter between them about the cruelty of keeping an owl trapped up in a cage. The girl just gritted her teeth and ignored them, mind far more focused on the joys that lay ahead of her. Finally she came to a halt, staring determinedly at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Those few people who had been paying close attention to her rushed journey through the station stared at her more closely, wondering what this strange teenager was doing. But even their attention wavered and fell back to their previous conversations when she made no sign of moving. Once she was sure no one was playing too close attention to her, the girl smiled and rolled her eyes, walking briskly towards the wall and then straight through it.

The platform on the other side was almost empty; the big red steam train that would carry her to the school she longed to be back at sat there happily puffing out steam. Truth be told there hadn't been any desperate need for the girl to rush through King's Cross station in the way she had, most of the students hadn't even arrived yet, but she had people to meet and a tradition to keep up. One she wasn't in any mood to break. It was a tradition formed in her very first year and continued between her and her friends ever year since. It didn't take her long to spot two of that same group of friends, a petite black-haired girl and a tall, stunning blonde who seemed to emanate her own glow. A wide and warm smiled fixed on her face the girl made her way forwards, wavy brown hair bouncing gently in time with her steps.

"Hey guys." She grinned, waving brightly at them.

The two girls turned, wide smiles spreading across their faces when they saw her. The taller of the two rushed forwards and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Ouch. Crystal sweetheart, can you stop trying to kill me before we've even got on the train? I need to breathe!"

Her friend's voice was muffled by her arms but Crystal managed to hear it and took a step back, shining blonde hair seeming to glow in the sunlight.

"Anna, I missed you! I haven't seen you all summer!"

Anna sighed and nodded, running a hand through her messy brown waves. When she spoke her voice had a tired edge to it, as if she would rather not be reminded of the fact she hadn't seen her friends all summer.

"I know, I know, but my father wanted to do something with my step mother and we ended up camping in the Lake District for two weeks. And then there was the half of the summer holidays I had to spend with my real mother. I hardly had time to unpack my trunk, never mind organise a way of coming over to see you. I did send owls though, did you not get them?"

"Oh, I got the owls." She said brightly. "But I still missed you!"

Anna rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Samara, the pretty black-haired girl beside her, in an attempt to ignore her best friend.

"And how was your summer, Samara?"

Samara just shrugged. "Not too bad actually. I went to Egypt with my parents for a few weeks, my mum wanted to explore her heritage." She smiled. "It was pretty interesting. Not my mother's heritage of course, but we got to see a sphinx."

"I was just commenting that she looked even more tanned than usual." Crystal smiled, gesturing towards Samara's face. "Don't you think?"

Anna didn't have anything to say to that, mostly down to the fact it was near impossible to tell when Samara was tanned or not because her skin was golden anyway due to Egyptian heritage. She was just opening her mouth to say so when another member of their little group came skidding to a halt beside Crystal.

"'Sup guys?" She laughed, quickly sweeping her green eyes over them. "God Crystal, have those grown even more? And you're looking tanned, Books, been on holiday?"

All three girls turned and grinned broadly at her, Georgina, or George, was the only person who could get away with calling Samara 'Books', she was also the only person who tried. Anna and Samara glanced between each other, quickly raising hands to stifle their giggles as Crystal glanced down at her chest with a critical expression on her face.

"Possibly." She mused.

"Well you've already got the boys drooling all over you so I dread to think what this is going to do to them. We'll be casting full body binds on them all just so we can get between classes without being mauled." George laughed, gesticulating over dramatically.

"George, you are mad, amazing but mad." Anna grinned, her eyes sparkling. "Anyway, I don't think you have much room to talk, yours are getting as bad as hers."

Georgina shrugged. "Not really." She smirked. "But it doesn't matter anyway; Crystal will always be the boy magnet."

She ran a hand through her sandy brown hair. It had been cut a fair bit shorter since any of them had last seen it but the spiky boyish cut suited her and her face and figure were still feminine enough to stop her being mistaken for a boy, as Samara sometimes was. She crouched down and poked her fingers through the bars that (added the that) of the cage sat on top of Samara's case.

"So how have you all been?" She asked casually. "And you, Gingersnap have you been good? Are you looking forwards to seeing Sid again hmm?"

George was, despite her tough and tomboyish outward appearances, a complete softy when it came to cats or any animals in fact. It shocked most people when they first met her, it had shocked their little group the first day they'd met, no one suspected a punk-rocker like her to be cooing and practically drooling all over a tiny ginger kitten.

There was a loud mewling from the basket on top of George's trunk and Anna instinctively bent down and scratched George's tortoiseshell cat Sid under the chin. Sid gave a quiet 'meow'. happy he was finally getting the attention he craved.

"I've been alright," Anna muttered, her voice nearly drowned out by Sid's happy purring.

"I heard you went camping in the Lake District, have much fun?" George laughed. "I went with my parents last year."

Anna rolled her eyes, her expression giving away the fact that she did not particularly wishing to re-live this past summer. "It was cold. And wet." She grumbled. "But the ice creams were great. Rum and raisin is my new favourite."

"I'm not late am I? And what's all this about rum and raisin ice cream?"

George and Anna whirled around as a new voice cut across their conversation. Standing behind them was a girl with deep red hair and green eyes- Lily Evans, the fifth member of their little group. George grinned and flung her arms around the red-head's neck with Crystal a split second behind, squealing with joy and engulfing her two friends in a huge hug. Samara and Anna hung back a little until Lily was released, unwilling to be trapped in the bone-crushing group hug.

"Lily! How are you?"

"Fantastic. I've got some great news." She beamed, rifling through her coat pockets. "Look!"

"Oh my god Head Girl!" Crystal squealed, looking at the shiny badge.

"Mhm." Lily grinned, nodding. "I just hope I can do it right."

"You'll be fine, I'm sure we'll get away with just as much as we do now. Come on, now we're all here can we get on the train? I have bags to put away," George grumbled.

"Hold your hippogriffs, Georgina." Crystal laughed, earning her a punch on the arm. Excluding the professors no one called George Georgina any more, not unless they wanted a smack on the arm. "Alright, alright, we'll get on the train."

There was a slight ripple of laughter and the, talking and giggling between themselves the group headed towards the train. The conductor watched them ruefully from the platform, he'd watched this group form and stay strong over the last six years and a stronger group of friends was hard to find. They had been there on his first day of the job, starting their first year at Hogwarts and he knew them all by name and personality now, Crystal the flirt, Samara the quiet bookworm, George the troublemaker, Lily the level-headed decision maker and Anna. Anna was hard to describe, her personality a mix of all the others. Crystal, the leader of the group waved genially at him as she passed. He sighed; it would be strange not seeing them next year.

Now they had finally boarded the train, they wandered down the corridors looking for somewhere to sit, they passed several compartments on their way, most of them already full. While they had waited for each other and talked amongst themselves people had been boarding the train, taking most of the best seats. When we finally did come across an empty compartment there was a crash and four boys shoved past them to claim the free seats.

"Care to join us ladies?" One of them grinned.

Lily glared at him. "Potter, you are the most insufferable person I have ever met!" She snapped storming off.

"Take that as a no, we won't be joining you." George grinned, following her.

"And you'll have to try harder to get into her good books James." Crystal giggled, leaning against the doorframe. "See you around Sirius, Remus."

Anna watched Crystal tip her head to two of the other boys in the room then whirl away. Sighing and giving them a half smile, she followed after her quickly with Samara. That had been the Marauders, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, four of the biggest troublemakers in the school. They were all Gryffindors and James and Sirius were two of the biggest heartthrobs the school had. James was infatuated with Lily despite the small setback he had of her hating his guts, and Sirius was a known heartbreaker. Remus was the genius of the bunch, well he got the best grades anyway, and Peter just seemed to follow them along and agree with everything they said. They were a nuisance most of the time, but pretty clever and pretty nice guys. Sometimes.

At the head of the group Anna saw Crystal duck into an open compartment with a giddy squeal. She winced slightly at the noise and turned to look at Samara, cocking an eyebrow as she did so.

"Either she's found Hel or there are some guys in there she hasn't had her wicked way with yet." Anna chuckled, gesturing towards the open compartment.

Samara smiled softly, rolling her eyes. "I hope, for all our sakes that it's the former."

"So do I Samara, so do I. The question is, do we dare go and find out which one it is?"

After a few moments of what seemed to be careful deliberation Samara nodded slowly. Grinning to themselves the two girls tentatively followed their friends into the compartment. Anna couldn't help but release a sigh of relief when she saw a raven-haired Ravenclaw sat listening to Lily's complaints about James Potter.

"Oh Hel, I'm so glad we found you. I nearly ended up in a compartment with Potter!" She grumbled.

"Yeah, she's right; it is a good thing we found you. There would have been bloodshed otherwise." Anna laughed from the doorway. "Will we all fit in here?"

Helena looked up at the door and smiled, confusion flickering across her face.

"Hey Anna, hey Samara. Of course we'll all fit in here; we've managed it every other year what makes you think this one will be any different?" She asked.

"Well I think Crystal's chest needs a compartment to itself. I swear she's been doing engorgement charms while we haven't been looking," She teased.

Crystal gasped and pulled out her wand, pointing it directly at Anna's head.

"You have the audacity to question my respectability? Why, I should curse you right here and now!" She snapped, her glittering blue eyes belying the joke.

Anna played her part well, holding her hands up in mock surrender, although the grin on her face spoiled the effect somewhat.

"No, don't curse me O great Crystal. I apologise for ever doubting your… authenticity." She smirked.

Crystal chuckled as well, pocketing her wand again. With a slight nod to her friends Anna threw her trunk up into the overhead compartment alongside George's and lifted Scratch, her tawny owl's, cage placing him next to Crystal's snowy owl, Feather. Once her bags were all sorted out she ducked into the compartment, throwing herself right in Crystal's lap.

"Ouch, get off me!" She yelled, trying to push her friend off.

Anna just smiled at her innocently. "Why Crystal, is that a wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

With an indignant snort Crystal gave Anna a hefty shove that sent her sprawling onto the floor. By now the whole compartment was in fits of laughter, even Samara the most serious of us all was bent over double laughing.

"Oh no. Not you lot again. What have you done this time?"

From her less than dignified position on the floor Anna looked up to see Helena's boyfriend Max standing in the doorway. He grinned at the group and quickly grabbed the seat beside Helena before anyone else tried to claim it, not that they would. Hel and Max had been an item since the third year and everyone was convinced they were going to get married and have lots of amazing children. He had grown his hair out more since the girls had seen him last and it now hung over one of his eyes, although whether he'd done it naturally or by magic once he was out of the house was anyone's guess. Anna slowly got to her feet and sat down next to Crystal again, watching as everyone took their seats. Lily however did not take a seat, hovering by the door with her bags. She glanced at us all sadly, her eyes constantly flickering between us and the corridor ahead of her.

"Well I better get going; I have to sit up front with the prefects." She sighed. "I'll see you all on my rounds no doubt."

She cast George a disapproving look which George for her part returned with her most innocent smile. Lily sighed and turned to head down the corridor, looking up she paused and gave a half-wave. George, having the seat nearest the door leant out and peered down the corridor, only to return to her usual position a second later, a disgusted expression on her face. Moments later the rest of the cabin realised why as a hook-nosed, greasy haired teenager appeared in the doorway in front of Lily.

"Hello Lily."

"Severus, how have you been? I didn't see you all summer." Lily smiled.

"I know. I was away with my parents." He glanced into the compartment then down the corridor a little further, his face paling slightly more. He smiled sadly at Lily them muttered a quick farewell. "I have to go. I… er… I have stuff to do."

Lily's face fell a little. "Oh, alright. I'll see you in Potions then."

He nodded curtly and slimed off down the corridor. George fixed his retreating shape with her most burning scowl, her lips drawn tight as she battled not to yell an insult after him. By the looks on their faces the rest of them felt the same way, only Samara's chocolate eyes didn't burn with hatred. They glanced at each other nervously, all of them wanting to know the same thing – how could Lily and Samara stand that grease ball? The uncomfortable silence that fell over the compartment was broken at last by Helena.

"I can't believe it's our last year already."

"I know. We have NEWTs to look forward to, the joy!" George grumbled- she wasn't exactly in love with education. "Then again at least I only have four. I can't believe you and Samara took six."

Crystal grinned sheepishly, for once unsure of what to say. "Well, can't blame us for aiming high. Still, I don't think I'll get good grades in all of them."

"Crystal that is bollocks and you and I both know it!" Anna laughed. "You two always get good grades."

"Anyway, other people are taking six NEWTs too. Remus Lupin took six, and there are loads of people in other houses who did too," Samara covered.

"Yeah, I know several other Ravenclaw's taking six NEWTs." Max grinned. "Some are even taking seven. But five is more than enough for me."

Hel and Anna nodded in agreement; along with many others they believed that five NEWTs classes were more than enough for anyone. Then conversation fell to the school year and what fun they could have before they left Hogwarts forever and how to best leave their mark on the school. Talk of the Halloween party dominated the conversation for a while, butterbeers, firewhiskey and getting drunk the main plan for the night. Then the talk turned to the holidays yet to come and what fun they could all have together now they could all legally use magic out of school.

"You know what we really have to do before we leave Hogwarts?" Anna grinned, a wicked glint in her eye.

Everyone turned to look at her expectantly, catching the glint her eye and the wicked little chuckle she let off.

"We have to get our revenge on the Marauders and Alice Featherstone's little gang."

Around her everyone was grinning and nodding eagerly.

"You know I've been reading a few books over the holidays and I've managed to find this fantastic charm that makes people's hair fall out." Samara smirked. "I've been looking for a person to try it out on to see if I can work it properly."

Crystal winced, running a hand through her own long blonde hair protectively. "Ooh Samara you dark horse! Remind me never to get on the wrong side of you, alright sweetheart?"

Anna and George exchanged looks and burst out laughing.

"That is fantastic; we'll make a rebel of you yet." George grinned. "And what with all the free periods we have now I can spend some time in the library learning hexes to use on them. Not that you need many eh Anna?"

Anna just blushed and searched for a quick change of conversation.

When they stopped near Hogwarts it had seemed only moments ago they had boarded the train. Almost the whole journey had been spent deep in conversation; they had even managed to drag Lily in from her rounds as Head Girl and tell her of all their plans. Most of which she disapproved of on principle; although when George mentioned revenge on James Potter and Alice Featherstone her eyes had lit up. There had of course been breaks, the longest of which had been when the sweet trolley had arrived and when they had been told to get changed out of their muggle clothes and into their school robes. Out on the platform they heard the familiar voice of the school game-keeper Hagrid.

"Firs' years this way. Firs' years!"

Anna laughed, dodging several small shapes as they rushed past her towards the friendly half-giant, ready to take the boats across the great lake to the castle. She linked arms with Crystal and pulled her towards the horseless carriages that stood waiting at the other end, a skip in her step. Behind them raced George, Samara and Lily, leaving Helena and Max to catch up with their Ravenclaw house mates. They took a carriage together, just managing to all squeeze in before it set off.

When they got to the castle Anna stopped dead outside its large and ornate entrance, holding the rest of their group up.

"I can't believe this is the last time ever we're going to do this." Anna sighed, eyes seeming to search for every last detail to ingrain into her memory.

"Come on; let's get down to the Great Hall. I'm still hungry and Lily has Head Girl duties to do." Crystal smirked.

"Oh don't remind me." Lily groaned.

"You can at least take heart from watching terrified first years getting sorted." George laughed. "You'll do fine. Anyway, the sooner we get there the longer we have to think of something to distract us when the Marauders make their grand entrance to the Great Hall."

Anna started to laugh. "I'll bet a galleon on them strutting in again."

Crystal grinned at me. "I'll take you up on that bet."