Lauren Matthews was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, barely paying attention to her surroundings. Her roommates Serena, Melanie and Amanda were all sitting near, but providing no good source of entertainment. They were all nice girls and were very friendly with Lauren, but none of them had ever delved deeper and tried to establish a true, lasting friendship.

Ever since her first year at Hogwarts, Lauren had relied on her older sister, Leslie. Leslie had guided her through the long and complicated hallways, helped her with her homework, given her the low-down on each of the professors and even welcomed Lauren into her own group of friends. In fact, the only reason Lauren had ever bothered to talk to any of the girls in her own year was because the school required her to room with them and they were the only faces she consistently saw during lessons.

It was pretty unfortunate for Lauren that this year her sister was gone; graduated and starting a new life, one separate from Hogwarts. She was sitting at the table, mindlessly eating some mashed potatoes when a voice interrupted her thoughts of self-pity.

"Hey," he said. "Can we talk?"

It was Alan Gilbert. He was a sixth year Ravenclaw prefect, chaser on their Quidditch team and her boyfriend of the last four months.

She looked up at him; those words did not seem promising. "Yeah," she said. "Here?"

He shrugged. "That's fine. I just – I don't think we should continue this."

"This?" she repeated.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I mean, I just don't think I'm ready for a serious relationship."
"Oh."

"I hope you're not mad," he said, "but we're young, we should explore our options."

Translation: he found a new girl. "Is that all?"

He looked slightly taken aback. "Er, Yes," he said and before the word was entirely out of his mouth, Lauren had turned her back to him and was now facing a table full of girls who were all pretending they hadn't just overheard her conversation.

She heard him walk away and looked down at her plate. It was still filled with the delicious food from the feast, but she no longer had much of an appetite.

"Girls," Lily Evans said. "Your dormitories are upstairs and to your right; Boys, the same to your left. All your belongings should already be in place."
The feast had ended and Lily was now finishing her prefect duties. The first years scampered off to their designated areas, excited to see where they would be living for the next seven years. Lily, however, plopped down on a chair at a table in the corner. Within the past five years she had spent enough time in her dorm to have it memorized.
Her friend and fellow sixth year, Eloise Faudel, sat across from her at the table.
"How was America, Ellie?" she asked.
When Ellie dove right into stories of all the boys she 'hung out' with during her family's two-month overseas vacation, Lily sighed. She should have known not to count on her to care about the culture or environment of the country. It's not that Lily didn't care about her friends' love life; it's just that it was always the same thing, just different boys in different places.

Who Lily really wanted to talk to was gone. The damned war with Voldemort had caused Kristen's parents to freak out and discontinue her schooling at Hogwarts. Mrs. Kayes wanted her children close to her even though the entire wizarding world agreed that Hogwarts was the safest place to be, especially with Dumbledore as headmaster. But parents are not known for being sane when it comes to protecting their children and thanks to that, Lily was unsure of what to expect in the coming year.

She leaned back in her chair and scanned the common room. She had caught up with many acquaintances during the feast, but she looked to see if there was anyone that she missed. She stopped when her eyes reached the center of the room. There, in front of the fire, sat the [self-titled] marauders. She was on pretty good terms with Remus because, like her, he was a prefect. She felt a deep dislike, almost hatred, toward James Potter. Sirius Black was James' best friend and partner-in-crime, so he was disliked by default. The last of the group, Peter Pettigrew, was relatively nice and friendly, but he lacked some respect from Lily because he acted as a sidekick, just following the others' every move.

She zoned in on James Potter. He was good looking. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't deny that. Since about halfway through third year, James had had a weird obsession with Lily. He was constantly asking her out and trying to impress her. Lily, however, just thought he was acting stupid and immature. She considered him an egotistical git for all of the harm he caused people, no matter how humorous it could be at times.
"Are you even listening to me?" Ellie asked.
Lily snapped her head back around. "Sorry, Ell," she said. "I'm just tired."

Three hours later, Analeigh Adams was still awake. Almost the entire rest of the school was asleep, prepping for the first day of classes. As she lay in her bed in the Ravenclaw tower, she felt more alone than ever. Her curtains were closed so she couldn't see it, but she could sense the emptiness of the room; the huge blank area that used to be occupied by Sarah's bed.

She read about her death in The Daily Prophet one morning in July. She cried for the rest of the day. By morning she had cancelled her subscription to The Prophet and had cut herself off entirely from the wizarding world. After that day, summer was easy. She just convinced herself that Sarah was at home, or on vacation. It was a method that had worked for her.

Until now, that is. Now the emptiness was getting to her. Now she was surrounded by everything she had ever shared with Sarah. They had been together, practically inseparable, since first year. The image of the dormitory with only four beds was constantly replaying in her head, burning itself into her skull.
She told herself to be strong. She had not cried since the day she found out; she could last one more night. She didn't want the other girls to wake up and see her like this. Ana did not cry in front of people, it just wasn't in her nature. Throughout six years of friendship, Sarah had never seen her shed a tear. 'Tonight will not be my weakness,' she repeatedly told herself, and eventually she fell into a fitful, but tear-free sleep.