A/N Aloha everybody! I decided to put this out there rather early, because all too soon I'll have everything swamping me :( On a brighter note, my friend & I somehow got out of getting after-school detentions in Art, when she gave 42 out to the other classes. I'm guessing she likes us better hahha. Anyway, first chapter of Year Five (I can't believe I'm on Year Five already! It's been like a year and three months?) and I hope everyone likes it!:) Please R&R like you did in Year Four, that was amazing! xxx

Chapter One

Moving In, Moving Out

"Amara, grab me zose boxes will you?" Fourteen-year-old Tally Reynolds called across the small kitchenette.

Amara Matthews brushed her hair that was falling out of her plait out of her face and looked up. Tally was pointing at the boxes next to her, all labelled with capital letters: 'KITCHEN'.

It was the fourth day of the summer holidays: Amara had had an eventful time, as a lot had happened in the four days she'd been home. Firstly, Jesse, Adrien, Fleur and Tally had all arrived from France with a lot of stuff and needing to move into their new (rather big) apartment in London. This meant Amara had to go help out and get them sorted, whilst all three of them had interviews for jobs, so Amara and Tally had to do the majority of the sorting out. Noah had not come over to England because he had gone on a magical-creature training course in America with two of his friends, which would last until the week before they returned from school. Without the extra pair of hands, unpacking was deeming to be quite difficult. Secondly, Amara had to cope with being at home with her father and Tally, because Amara's mother, Bryony, had taken Ethan and Tessie to Spain with Elisabeth for a holiday, because Tessie was getting too over-excited about getting her letter to Hogwarts. This meant a lot of microwave meals and dinner in front of the TV, because her father didn't really cook a lot.

Currently, Jesse had popped out to get groceries, Adrien had gone for an interview at the Ministry, in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes for a position as an Obliviator, and Fleur had gone to Gringotts to see when her work hours were, because she had got the job the day before.

So Amara and Tally had decided to sort the kitchenette out first. The apartment that the three eighteen-year olds now owned was a nice, modern one with a few Muggle touches. It was in Muggle London, but very near the Ministry, which was handy for Adrien and Jesse, who both wanted a job there. There was a nice lounge, dining area and kitchenette in the main part of the apartment, three reasonable sized bedrooms, two bathrooms (one for Fleur, one for the two boys) and a small study. Adrien's girlfriend, Celeste, was going to move in with them too, but she had recently broken up with Adrien because she wanted to travel around the world with her friend before she got a job. Adrien was still rather sad about it and didn't like to talk about it. Jesse and Fleur seemed to have avoided contact with Celeste too, even though she was their friend, because she'd dumped him in a harsh way. Some of her stuff had been burnt on the roof of the apartment block the day before. No one had caught them because they were at the top of the block and had a stairway to the top which made it feel like they had a private balcony, with, as Adrien said "no safety".

Amara hefted the rather heavy boxes over to where Tally was standing, putting the things away into cupboards. It took most of the morning to sort out the kitchen, and by the time Jesse came home, they decided to make a few sandwiches before starting on the lounge. They were letting Jesse, Fleur and Adrien to sort their bedrooms out by themselves, because Tally and Amara didn't really want to go through their things.

"I can't believe you're not going to be at 'ome anymore," Tally said, munching on her sandwich whilst she and Amara perched themselves on the breakfast bar. Her blonde hair had been put into a bun at the back of her head and her shirt sleeves were rolled up to her elbows.

"You can still come and visit," said Jesse, leaning against the fridge. "Once I get our Floo up and running properly, Amara can visit too."

"But I'm going to be in a different country," Tally moaned. "And you're close to Amara, 'Ermione, 'Arry and Ron."

"They're going back to Hogwarts though," Jesse pointed out. "And I'll be going to work if I get this job."

"You're still 'ere though," Tally muttered. "It's not fair; I don't want to go back to Beauxbatons."

"You can come back at Christmas," said Amara. "See us then."

"Suppose," said Tally. "Unless Papa decides to see 'is family."

"I'm not going home for Christmas this year," said Jesse. "We're all going to have Christmas here."

"I 'ave met ze man of my dreams!"

Fleur was back.

She glided into the room, a happy smile on her face.

"What?" said Jesse.

"Ze man o' my dreams!" Fleur said again. "'E is wonderfully good looking! And 'e works at ze bank wiz me!"

"What's his name?"

"I 'aven't spoken to 'im yet," said Fleur. "But I saw 'im at 'Ogwarts – 'e waz visiting 'Arry."

"Bill?" Amara said, gobsmacked.

""Bill"?" said Fleur. "'E 'as long 'air – eet eez red, like your friend, and 'e ez tall …"

"Definitely Bill," said Amara, grinning.

"You know 'im?" Fleur said excitedly.

"He's Ron's brother," said Amara. "I met him last year, at the World Cup."

"Really?" said Fleur. "I cannot wait to get to know 'im."

"He is twenty-four," said Amara.

"What does zat matter?" said Fleur. "'E is perfect."

She went off to her new bedroom to tidy things away, leaving Amara, Tally and Jesse snorting into their sandwiches.

"Can't believe she fancies someone already," said Jesse, shaking his head. "We've only been here three days."

After lunch, because Jesse, Fleur and Adrien were doing all the paperwork, Amara and Tally decided to go to Diagon Alley. The situation of the flat was only ten minutes away from the bustling street, and so Amara wanted to go get an ice cream from Florean Fortescue's. It was another hot day – Tally and Amara were both clad in t-shirts and shorts, as it had been hot ever since they had arrived home.

The short walk lasted a bit longer than it should have been because Amara and Tally got slightly lost and they had to backtrack so they could get to the right place. Soon enough, they reached the Leaky Cauldron, hidden from Muggles but blatantly there in the middle of the street.

They entered the pub, noticing that it was still rather busy, which Amara could still not get her head around, because it was as if nothing was going on and everything was at peace. It was like Voldemort hadn't returned.

Amara and Tally went to Florean Fortescue's and purchased Raspberry and Chocolate sundaes. They sat and watched people going on with their normal lives. Jesse and Amara had explained to Tally about Voldemort's return, which she'd believed instantly, however it was still weird to see how people were so naïve and ignorant about things, because the Ministry was still covering things up.

"It's weird, seeing them just normal like this," said Tally. "Like nothing bad has just happened."

That was true, Amara remembered it clearly: a week and a half ago her boyfriend Cedric had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. She'd tried to cover it up during the day, but at night, the horrors of the day rushed back to her, and all her blocked thoughts that she'd ignored in the day came to haunt her again.

It was the same nightmare: but sometimes it was worse. Cedric came back as a ghost and turned on her, and everyone blamed her for Voldemort's return, which didn't make sense. But Cedric's cold, dead face was there every time her eyes closed.

"Hey – look at this," Tally was waving a copy of the Daily Prophet in her face, which had been lying on the table.

She ruffled to the middle of the newspaper.

…and hopefully, Derek Jenkins' injuries have not left him with a scar … or else he'll be asking for much more than a few drinks.

"They're not … they're not referencing Harry are they?" Amara frowned. "That's …"

"There's more," said Tally. "Listen: a tale worthy of Harry Potter … all is well in the Wizarding World, admits Fudge, Harry Potter vying for attention – is he really just the Boy Who Lies?"

"That's awful," said Amara. "Why would they post this stuff? It's one thing saying they don't believe him, but then spreading horrible rumours? They're just building on Rita Skeeter's stuff."

"Eet is ridiculous," said Tally. "Poor 'Arry."

"I wonder if he's reading this," said Amara. "I don't think he's been getting a subscription. I have, but Dad's been reading them."

"Jesse needs to do 'is," said Tally. "But 'e 'as to do 'is paperwork and interview first."

Jesse wanted to go into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, as he had achieved outstanding grades in all his tests, and he'd decided to go for an interview straight away, before anyone else had the chance to go in.

"Hope he gets it," said Amara. "Or else he'll be annoyed for a month."

"Too right," said Tally. "And I'm staying 'ere ze 'ole summer; I'm not spending my time listening to 'is whines."

Amara giggled. "He'll probably go whinging to Hermione."

"Yeah," said Tally. "'Ave you 'eard from her or Ron yet?"

"No," said Amara. "It has only been four days though," she added. "Hermione said something about visiting her Grandparents, and Ron mentioned Bill still being here, so he'll obviously be doing something with them."

"But what about you-know-what," said Tally.

"I don't know," said Amara. "Snuffles was getting people from the 'old crowd' and Bill was getting Mr Weasley to get people from the Ministry. I wonder what they're doing?"

"Sounds like zey're making a group," said Tally. "Zat fights You-Know-Who. Maybe zey 'ad one before?"

"Maybe," said Amara. "Dumbledore's probably doing something."

"What about 'Arry?"

"Dumbledore said he has to go back to Privet Drive for a while," said Amara. "Hopefully he won't be there for very long."

"Isn't it odd just sitting around whilst everything 'as 'appened zat should affect everyone?"

"Yeah," Amara sighed. The two of them lapsed into silence. They stayed at the table for the better half of the afternoon, and only got up when they decided to look around the shops, and Amara wanted to transfer more of her own Muggle money into Galleons.

"Why don't you open an account?" Tally asked as they walked up the stone steps to Gringotts.

"I don't know," said Amara. "My Dad made me a building society account, maybe we'll transfer that over when I'm older?"

It was weird going into Gringotts without an adult. The Goblins working there looked even more menacing than usual, and Amara and Tally stayed close to one another as they walked up to the front desk. Seeing as it was the middle of the week, no one else was in there converting or getting money out, so Amara got served quickly.

The goblin was sullen as he transferred Amara's money from muggle to wizard. Once they had finished, Amara and Tally decided to go shopping.

They were half-way down the hall of Gringotts when a voice called through the muffled silence.

"Amara?"

Amara turned and saw Bill Weasley hurrying towards the two girls.

"Bill?" said Amara. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a desk job," beamed Bill. "To be closer to everything, it's a shame about the tombs though."

"I bet," said Amara, hugging him. "How is everyone?"

"Fine," said Bill. "I expect we'll all be seeing you soon – oh, who's this?"

"Tally," said Amara. "My cousin – Tally Reynolds, she came to the World Cup."

"Oh yes! Of course," said Bill, smiling. "Your brother is with Hermione right?"

"Yeah," sighed Tally. "I get reminded every day."

Bill laughed, and looked around. "Tell you what, I get off at four, if you're still around I can come join you?"

"Sure," said Amara. "Meet you in the Leaky Cauldron? I expect information!" she called at him as they made their way out.

"I can totally see why Fleur fancies 'im," said Tally. "'Ow come Mr and Mrs Weasley 'ave such good-lookeeng sons?"

Amara raised her eyebrows at her.

"Well," said Tally blushing. "Zere's Bill, and ze other one – Charlie, and ze twins, and, and Ron." She blushed harder.

"What about Percy?"

"The annoying one?" Tally scrunched her nose up. "No thanks."

Amara giggled. They went into Twilfitt and Tattings to see if they found any nice robes (Tally got some blue ones) and then they browsed the many different shops Diagon Alley had. They got different coloured inks, a few books and some sweets too. They decided, as they still had an hour to burn, to go into Muggle London to buy some more clothes there, and drop off all their shopping bags at Jesse's new flat (the three of them were still finishing forms and connecting themselves to the Floo Network) before heading back to the Leaky Cauldron.

The sun was still beating down as they entered the cool shade of the pub. It seemed darker than usual, but it was still bustling with life, with Tom the landlord cleaning glasses and fumes from the pipes being smoked by witches was crowding the air. They found an empty table and were soon joined by Bill, who ordered them butterbeers and tea.

"Anything happening?" Amara said immediately.

"Nosy, aren't you?" said Bill. "Keep your voice down though, I can't say anything here, it's too risky."

"Why?" said Tally, looking around.

"Because anyone could be a spy," said Bill.

"You could come back to Jesse's place," said Amara. "Fleur and Adrien decided to check out the city when we got back."

"Who's Fleur and Adrien?" said Bill.

"Fleur Delacour and Adrien Page – they're Jesse's friends," Amara explained quickly.

"Fleur Delacour … she came in this morning," said Bill thoughtfully. "The blonde, pretty one? She's got a job at Gringotts hasn't she?"

"Yeah," Amara grinned, watching Bill's expression. "Are you going to tell us anything?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you something," said Bill. "Guess who's a prick?"

"I don't know," said Amara, rather confused.

"Percy," said Bill, an annoyed look on his face.

"What's he done?"

"Walked out on us," said Bill, an ugly look replacing the annoyed one.

"What?" Amara gasped. "When?"

"Yesterday," said Bill, shaking his head. "He came back last night all proud with himself. Turns out he's been promoted –"

"Promoted?" said Amara. "After all the stuff with Crouch?"

"We wondered that," said Bill quietly, so no one around them could hear them. They were in a secluded table and there was a lot of noise in the pub, so Amara doubted anyone could hear them. "He told Dad he'd been promoted to Fudge's office – Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be impressed – as it's his first year and everything.
But obviously Dad wasn't, because Fudge has really started to stomp around the Ministry and getting people for being in contact with Dumbledore. His name's mud in the Ministry at the moment, along with Harry's."

"We saw the articles in the Daily Prophet," nodded Amara.

"Yeah – anyway, Fudge obviously suspect's Dad, because he's been friendly with Dumbledore for ages. So Dad said what we were all thinking: that Fudge wants Percy in his office to get closer to the family and be able to spy on Dumbledore."

Amara closed her eyes.

"And what did Percy do?"

"Went mental," said Bill. "He said – he said horrible stuff to Dad, stupid stuff. He told us all how his loyalty lay in the Ministry now. He packed up yesterday night and left. I think he's living here at the moment."

"He seriously just left?" said Amara, gobsmacked. "He really put his job before his family?"

"Yeah," said Bill hollowly. "Mum's in a right state, she was crying this morning. Dad's no better, he just breaks the nearest thing he has. I doubt he'll like calling him his son now."

"That's awful," said Amara. She had never really liked Percy, but she'd never have thought he'd just give them up in an instant and leave them for a job. "He's way too ambitious."

"Got it in one," Bill sighed, finished his butterbeer.

Tally, who had been silent the whole way through, spoke up.

"Ce une bite," she said. "Il ya une telle piqûre."

Amara snorted, as she understood what she was saying. Bill, however, seemed rather confused.

"Guessing what she said was rude?" said Bill, grinning.

Amara nodded.

"Let's hope Percy's not near Jesse, because I'll have to kick his ass," said Amara. "Are you sure you're not allowed to tell us anything?"

"Sorry," said Bill apologetically. "Even Ron doesn't know much. I suspect you'll know very soon."

"How long is "very soon"?" said Amara.

"I dunno, a week?" said Bill. "I've got to go, Mum's cooking dinner and I'll have to help her, she's still rather upset."

"We'd better get back too," said Amara. "We're treating Fleur to her first take-away pizza."

"Sounds great," grinned Bill. "Get home safe though, won't you? Mum'll kill me if she finds out I left you."

"Of course," said Amara. "It's only ten minutes away, and Jesse can Apparate us back."

"Sounds good, I'm using Floo," said Bill, getting up and stretching. "See you soon, alright? It was nice meeting you again Tally."

Amara and Tally left the pub and made their way down the London streets towards Jesse's new flat. They had been talking to Bill for a while, and the two of them had started to get hungry again. Once they entered the flat, the smells of the pizza wafted towards them, and they saw the three eighteen-year-olds eating the pizza quickly (Adrien and Jesse scoffing it, and Fleur eating it more gracefully).

"Leave us some," said Tally, jumping next to Adrien and grabbing a slice.

"We've got another box," said Jesse, taking another slice and offering Amara one.

There was a lull in conversation as the five of them ate their way through three boxes of pizza. They soon found themselves on the sofas and armchair talking about what Jesse, Fleur and Adrien were going to do now they were in a different country.

"'Ow'd your interview go, Addie?" asked Tally. Her nickname for him did not faze him. From what Amara had found out, Jesse and Adrien had been friends since they were five, so Tally had grown up knowing him. When Jesse and Adrien went to Beauxbatons, they made friends with Fleur and some of her girlfriends too. They'd all been friends for the most part of seven years, but according to Jesse, Fleur had disliked them for the first few years and warmed up to them in their third.

"Great," said Adrien. "Zey were extreeemly supportif of moi, and zey zink zat eef I work zere I can work on getteeng my accent better."

"It's still quite French," said Jesse, whose accent was masked and was actually now very accurate.

"Eet will be a few weeks till I get somezing back," Adrien said, rolling his eyes. "But eet means I can explore ze city."

"And I can see Hermione," said Jesse.

"When are you seeing her?" said Amara.

"I'm planning to go to hers on Saturday," said Jesse, flushing.

"What're you gonna do?" grinned Amara, and Tally snorted.

"It's getting late," said Jesse, clearing his throat as the rest of them laughed. "I'd better get you home."

Amara and Tally groaned in annoyance.

"Bedtime kiddies," grinned Adrien.

"'Ey!" Tally said, affronted. "I'm fourteen! And Amara's sixteen in November!"

"Whatever," said Jesse, walking to the door.

"Bye you two!" Amara called.

There were the normal series of farewells from Fleur and Adrien, before Jesse, Amara and Tally headed outside and down into a little patch of grass in front of the flat, with a few trees obscuring their view. Jesse had made a charm so no one could Apparate directly into the flat, as it wouldn't be safe, so they'd decided to use this patch to Apparate from until they got the Floo ready.

"Hold on tight," said Jesse, and Amara and Tally gripped onto his arms.

Amara had only done side-along Apparation for the first time two days ago, and she had not enjoyed it very much. It felt like she was being squeezed through a very thin tube that wanted to cut off her oxygen supply.

They said goodbye to Jesse in her backyard, and Amara and Tally walked into Amara's house to say hello to Mr Matthews.

"Nice time?" he asked them as they walked into the kitchen, where he was making a cup of tea.

"Tiring," said Amara.

"Cup of tea?"

"Yes please," said Amara gratefully.

It was surprising how little she resembled her father. Tessie was the only one who had inherited his dark blue eyes, whilst Amara and Ethan had received their mother's hazel ones. Amara resembled her mother, with the same nose and face shape, but Ethan had seemed to have got the Matthews' boy gene. It was only their hair that was similar, and even then, Amara's was a shade darker.

Mr Matthews was also slightly taller than average, which Ethan and Tessie had got. Amara hadn't, and was annoyed that Ethan was catching her up, even though he was only starting his third-year in September.

Amara had always gotten along well with her father. When she was younger, he'd take her swimming and to football matches. It was a shame how she didn't spend that much time with him anymore. She was out for most of the year, and away for most of the holidays. They never said anything, but Amara knew both her parents missed her. And with Ethan and Tessie going too, it would a very quiet house.

"What are you guys doing these next few days?" Mr Matthews asked them.

"Well, we're helping Jesse again tomorrow," said Amara. "Their new sofas are arriving and they need help with them, getting them up the stairs. They would do it by magic but it's a muggle building."

"Ah," nodded Mr Matthews. "I would help, but I have to work." He worked as a building designer, not an architect, but close. He loved his work and always told Amara what he made or designed that day.

"No problem," said Amara. "We're going to do our own thing in a few days, because Jesse's visiting Hermione at her house."

"Lovely boy," said Mr Matthews absent-mindedly, putting milk in their tea. "Perfect match, don't you think?"

"Yes," said Amara, grinning. Hermione and Jesse were a perfect match, even though currently Hermione was only fifteen whilst Jesse was eighteen. They didn't let it get to them at all, and Amara knew they already loved each other.

"'E doesn't stop going on about 'er," said Tally, rolling her eyes. "Are zese for taking Oncle Daveed?" She pointed at the cookies in the box.

"Oh yes," said Mr Matthews. "We'll all have one, Bryony made them for us. I got a movie from the store today: Forrest Gump. It was in cinemas last year."

They spent the rest of the night watching the movie and steadily making their way through the box of cookies. It was a sad film, and Amara had not seen it yet, and Tally hadn't either, so it was nice for the both of them to watch it. Amara used to go to the cinema fairly often, but now she wasn't able to.

It was so relaxing, watching the movie with her father and Tally, that it felt like everything was normal, and that Amara was a muggle again, unaware of anything strange in life and the word 'Voldemort' was foreign and confusing on her.