Chapter 2

Albus and I grinned at each other as we exited our Astronomy exam, knowing we had done well. We were joined by Rose, who fretted non-stop about answers she knew she "could have done better in" and Roxanne Weasley, who was another cousin of Albus's. Roxanne and I were good friends, and I loved her adventurous spirit, which all her cousins said she got from her father, George Weasley. Currently, she was complaining about her older brother, Fred Weasley II, who was best friends with James Potter and Louis and Dominique Weasley. Apparently she was "fed up with the amount of girls he's snogging".

"Let him have his fun!" Albus laughed. "I mean, he's not forcing the girls to snog him, I'm sure they are all more than willing" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Roxanne pretended to throw up. "Who would be willing to kiss that?" she shuddered.

"Well he's not exactly unnatractive" Rose added.

Roxanne made a face of disgust. "You're his cousin! You can't say that!" she gasped.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Roxanne, we can still judge other people's attractiveness even if they are related to us, there's nothing wrong with that"

Roxanne sighed "I guess, but it's kind of weird that anyone would find Fred attractive"

Albus laughed. "Maybe you're just jealous that he can get all the girls to kiss him yet you've only had what, two kisses this year?" he winked at her.

Roxanne pulled the finger at him. "It's still more than you've had this year" she said sassily.

Rose and I "oooohed" at Albus's defeat.

"Hey guys!" we heard a shout from behind us, and turned around to see Scorpius Malfoy sprinting across the grounds towards us.

"Hey what's up, Scorp?" Albus asked as he reached us, only slightly out of breath.

"Just finished my Arithmancy exam, how was Astronomy?" he asked us, falling in step beside us.

Scorpius was in Slytherin, yet over the years we had all bonded and formed a friendship many people talked about, as when Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione, and Draco Malfoy were our age they had been mortal enemies. However, since the war had ended and we had grown up in a less discriminating environment against wizards without pure-blood, our inter-house friendship wasn't the only one.

"The Astronomy exam went alright" Albus was saying.
"Yeah it was easy stuff we learnt at the beginning of the Year like identifying Jupiter's moons and things like that" Roxanne told Scorpius.

"But the Practical is tonight" I added. "So we're all nice and tired tomorrow morning for our History of Magic exam!" I said in a bright, sarcastic way.

Scorpius laughed. "I'm so glad I swapped to Arithmancy," he said.

I looked over to Rose who had been silent since Scorpius joined our group. "You okay, Rosie?" I asked.

She looked at me with slightly pink-tinted cheeks and nodded quickly.

I frowned. What was up with her lately?

"Is that Parker over there…. With Molly?" Albus interrupted my worry for Rose.

Everyone looked towards the tree Albus pointed at. Sure enough, under the tree was yet another Weasley cousin in our year, her body entwined with that of a boy in her house, Hufflepuff, kissing him voraciously.

Rose tried to stifle her laughter behind her hand, while the rest of us weren't as polite, bursting out into laughter.

"Get him, Molls!" Albus shouted over towards them.

Molly and Parker looked up, startled. When she recognized us she rolled her eyes and pulled Parker behind the tree, out of our line of sight.

"I didn't even know she fancied him" Scorpius said.

"Neither did we" Albus laughed. "Not quite sure how I feel about those two though"

"You're probably feeling jealousy" Roxanne told him, a smirk playing on her mouth.

Albus snorted. "Why would I be jealous of kissing Parker?"

"No, I mean that you haven't had as many kisses as Molly has this year" Roxanne answered, grinning.

Albus glared at her. "So? I still have… two whole school days left"

Roxanne laughed. "Just admit that you've gotten less girls this year than cousin Molly has managed to get guys"

Albus continued glaring at her.

"I'm going to miss you all this summer" I laughed.

"Where are you going again?" Scorpius asked.

"Yeah, you haven't exactly explained where you're going, mind telling us again?" Albus said sarcastically, making fun of the countless times I'd told him about my plans for the holidays.

I rolled my eyes. "My parents and I are going to France, Greece, China, America, Brazil and Australia" I answered Scorpius.

"That's heaps of places!" his eyes widened. "Mind taking me with you?" he asked with a wink.

I laughed "Sorry Scorp, I already promised Albus a place in my suitcase"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I should have guessed. How come you're travelling the world though?"

"My parents' business thing" I answered simply. "Which means that they'll be busy most of the time while I can go and do whatever I want, like shopping and snogging foreign boys" I grinned.

"Bring me back a fabulously fit Brazilian bird, would you?" Albus asked.

"Me too please" Scorpius grinned.

"And you're welcome to bring me back a French or Greek hottie, Ava" Roxanne told me with a sweet smile.

"And what lad would you like me to bring you back, Rose?" I asked her, playing along.

Her cheeks went red. "I don't mind" she squeaked.

I frowned. My darling Rosie was definitely not acting herself.

"I'm exhausted" I complained to Albus, who looked just as tired as me.

We were all lining up for our last O.W.L, History of Magic. Our practical Astronomy exam had caused many of us to look like we needed a few more hours of sleep, yet the prospect of almost having finished for this school year gave us the motivation to get up.

"We can get through this, Sophie" Albus smiled tiredly as he wrapped one of his arms around me and I leaned into him.

The History of Magic exam was one of the easiest, even though I hardly payed attention to the corresponding classes in the past five years. Most of it was the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the Warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join. I was almost buzzing with excitement as I wrote the last few lines of my essay answer, the joy of being so close to the end of term feast, the train ride home, and what was going to be the most exciting holidays for me yet.

I put down my quill to see that I still had half an hour of my exam left. I looked around to see Rose still scribbling furiously, Roxanne looking completely bored with what she was writing, a girl in my dorm, Jennifer, who was staring at the large clock counting down the minutes left, and Albus, who had just put down his quill and locked eyes with me. He grinned, and I made sure that the examiners weren't watching before grinning back at him, as to not get accused of communicating in the exam room and "cheating". Albus winked at me and put his head down on the desk, and I realised he was taking a nap in the last thirty minutes of the exam. I grinned, putting aside my own papers and letting myself fall asleep.

Gina, a girl in Ravenclaw who was sat behind me, gave my chair a subtle nudge with her foot, and I jumped up, immediately awake. I saw the examiners addressing everyone, saying well done for trying hard and that it would pay off and what not, before dismissing us. The fast pace the Great Hall emptied was unbelievable, and once outside everyone burst into loud chatter and celebratory screams that we'd finally finished our exams.

I hugged Rose, then Roxanne, Jennifer, Scorpius, Albus and many others out of happiness. "Now we have a whole day to ourselves!" Roxanne grinned.
"Most of it will be used to pack our trunks" I laughed. "And I'll probably have to help Albus pack his trunk too"

"Talking about me?" Albus appeared behind us as we made our way up to the Gryffindor common room.

"She's just explaining how you still can't pack your own trunk" Roxanne grinned.

Albus laughed. "I can actually pack my own trunk, Ava here just likes doing it, so I let her"

"We'll see about that when I'm not there to pack your trunk at the end of the holidays at yours, seeing as I'll only be back the day before the holidays end, and I'll need to pack my own" I grinned.

"Prepare to be surprised at my trunk-packing skills" Albus grinned.

"I'm eagerly awaiting it" I grinned.

"Let's go for a swim!" Albus suddenly suggested.

I nodded eagerly, however my friends didn't seem as excited.

Roxanne nudged me, and told me to go if I wanted to.

"Are you sure?" I asked her. "I won't be seeing you for like the whole holidays!"

"Don't be silly, I'll see you in an hour again anyway!" She laughed.

Albus grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the portrait hole.

"Albus wait!" I giggled. "I need to get changed to go swimming first!"

"No you don't," he said impatiently. "We don't need our school robes again until next year!"

I rolled my eyes and tried to protest, but kept following him anyway.