A/N: You know the usual. Disclaimer and all. Yeah. Enjoy.

Hugo's first and second year came and went and soon enough the Granger-Weasleys were now going back to Hogwarts, Hugo for his third and Rose for her fifth. After the welcoming feast and sorting, the siblings were sitting side by side in the common room, both reading their own book.

"So when were you planning on telling me you had a crush on my best friend's sister?" Rose interrupted her now third year brother as he was in the middle of a novel by the Muggle author, John Green. It was his latest one and much to the disappointment of Hugo, was his last before he goes on an indefinite hiatus.

He seemed to jump at the sudden accusation that he had a tiny crush on Rachel Finnigan, which was true. But it would be an understatement to call it tiny. He learned a lot about Rachel over the past two years of Hogwarts, despite being from two different houses and Primrose getting in the way of her and Hugo. And he still had a lot more to learn about Rachel Shaylee Finnigan, like why she has a dozen or so stink bombs in her bag, or why she absolutely loves mashed potatoes, but hates baked potatoes.

Hugo blushed furiously as Rose pressed him for more answers, putting down her copy of "Memoirs and Memories: Stories from the Battle of Hogwarts." She was at her mother's chapter when she had talked about Rachel to her little brother. "More importantly, why haven't you told me about it?"

"Ro," Hugo, again feeling he was the more sensible and intelligent, yet younger Granger-Weasley, explained to Rose his reason. "One, I don't like Rachel like that. Two, if I did like someone, I wouldn't tell you because if you don't want anyone pestering you about Scorpius, what more me?"

Rose chuckled as she sat back onto the couch. "You're still in that stage of girls seeming attractive, but you're still going to go, "I'll never like her." But trust me, come next year, you'll be head over heels for girls. And I, being your amazingly brilliant," and very humble, "big sister, will be there for you, coaching you, believing in you."

"Making me happy by shutting up?" Hugo smiled that cheeky smile that Weasleys' are incredibly talented at making. Rose reached for her "Memoirs and Memories" and slapped Hugo on the head with it.

After three hits on the head, Rose dropped it on her brother's lap. "Learn about her parents. Her mum, Delaney McAdams—er Finnigan, is the Muggle News correspondent for the Daily Prophet, while her dad, Seamus Finnigan, works in the Ministry of Magic, something to deal with pyrotechnics, and might I add, is really fit. But don't tell Rachel or Lara I said that about their father, okay, Huey?" A shrug came from Hugo as he returned to his novel. "You do realize, you never denied that you like my best friend's sister."

"I never confirmed it either, Rosie." He stopped for a minute, to look at his sister, who casually went back to reading a different book, this time about the Death Eaters, a smile spread across her face as she turned to the Malfoy chapter. "But as long as you don't like Scorpius, I don't like Rachel."

As he walked down the hallway, to greenhouse 3 for Herbology with Neville, Lara chased after him. Though, he was not aware that the older Finnigan girl wanted to talk to him as all she did was run to him, not yelling his name. Startling him, she ran in front of him, blocking him from going anymore forward.

"Have you seen Rachel, Huey?" Now, the young Weasley boy had grown on Lara like a younger brother, but if she wanted help finding Rachel, it would have seemed more sensible to go to a Hufflepuff, like Primrose, Susanna, or Robert.

"I have Herbology with her next, don't I? She's probably in the greenhouse, with Primrose and Dottie." Hugo ducked under her outstretched arm that came up to prevent him from leaving and ran to the greenhouses, aware that he was almost late. "I'll tell her to see you!" He yelled as he turned the corner, Lara's voice calling for him now becoming less and less understandable as he created an even greater distance between them.

Panting, he entered Greenhouse 3, hoping to Merlin he was not late. As he entered, he looked around to see of Rachel was in class like he expected her to be. "Hugo, take a seat in front of Primrose, will you please?" Neville's voice broke his concentration and nodded.

"Today we will…" The words that came out of Neville's mouth seemed to mix in with the many thoughts in Hugo's mind, that he couldn't concentrate on anything. Rachel always sat next to Primrose in Herbology, and if the latter was sick, Dorothy. And Rachel had always been the one conscious of her health between the three girls, so she would never had been sick. It would be more likely for her to be run over by a centaur than be ill in the hospital wing.

As he poked the thorny olive green plant with a stick, Primrose, Dottie, and Robert watching if the plant would do something, McGonagall entered the room and immediately ran to Neville, worry written all over her face. Hugo tried to listen, at the same time tried not to get the plant to burst with all the poking he was doing. All he could make out were, "no," "yes," "are you sure?"

"Rachel?" Upon hearing the missing Hufflepuff's name, Hugo accidentally stabbed the plant with the stick and it burst, causing the green gooey sap to hit a few people. Primrose in particular seemed upset that her favorite Hufflepuff tie was ruined. Magdalena Reyes, another fellow Gryffindor who sat next to Dottie, looked at Hugo with utmost shock, but she wasn't angry. In fact, she smiled and called on Neville to see what Hugo had done.

Congratulations were apparently due to Hugo being the only one who was able to get sap from the plant, whose name has slipped the young boy's mind, albeit the wrong way, but Neville took what he got. Their next lesson was now going to be about how to prevent the sap from going everywhere, but with the whole Rachel fiasco, he wasn't really paying attention.

It all boiled down to one question however, "Where was Rachel Shaylee Finnigan?"

Rose watched, throughout supper, her brother carefully. He wasn't in a particularly positive mood, and his sister, feeling she was the smarter of the Granger-Weasley family, could tell why. "Haven't seen Rachel all day, have you?" She poked fun at him, knowing the obvious answer would be that he hasn't, but unknown to her, the matter was more serious.

Lara's usual mash potato mountain has now been downgraded to a molehill, (quite the opposite of what really was happening, as a simple missed class turned into a missing student.) And if Rose were any smart, she would have realized that not only Hugo was upset, but so was her best friend. "Lara, are you okay?" Much like how he had grown on the older Finnigan girl like a sibling, Lara had grown on him like an older sister. So, he did care if she was unhappy, much to the annoyance of his elder male cousins, besides Louis.

"Shut up, Weasel." She retorted back rudely, surprising everyone that was around her. The brunette Granger-Weasley was taken aback by this Lara. Timid no more, he supposed. A snarl was clear on her face. But that sudden anger turned into regret as the snarl dropped off her face faster than Rose can deny that she has feelings for Scorpius. "I—" She ran towards the entrance of the great hall before she could finish, confusing Hugo even more.

Rose looked at her brother, just as confused as he was. With her brows furrowed, she turned to Alice, who sat across from Hugo. "Do you know what's wrong with Lara?" She questioned, causing the boy to mentally slap his forehead at his sister's obliviousness.

Alice looked up from her Quibbler, being read with Spectrespecs. Though, you couldn't see through the lenses from an outside point of view, typically she had a dreamy dazed look. "I don't know, however, I did see Albus talking to someone who suspiciously looked like Rachel. Perhaps fraternizing with the enemy isn't something allowed on team Lara, either."

Ah yes, the fraternizing with the enemy rule. It had been a thorn to Hugo's side ever since he got on the Hogwarts express. They had declared wars on various people since then. After breaking Rose's heart, Liam Finch-Fletchey had been a secondary target of the Albus Army, primary having always been Lara. He was fine with ignoring the older Finch-Fletchey, it was his sister's heart he broke. But, he was good friends with Susanna, and the fact that the Albus Army had also included anyone related to Finch-Fletchey an enemy had irked Hugo.

The whole Wood clan (and there were a whopping seven of them) had been excommunicated, besides Quidditch times, because they were all Lara's maternal cousins. The reverse half-blooded Weasleys —what they're called by the Gryffindor Quidditch team— weren't even that bad, excluding Quinn Denny, the sixth year Wood, who was a bit loony and scary because she suffered mild head injuries brought about by Quidditch.

"You've probably seen her, huh Huey?" Dominique piped up, now scooping Lara's potatoes from her plate and placing them on her own. "Knowing that you LOOOOOVE her and all." Hugo perked up at his cousin's accusation, along with the prolonged love.

Again, though only thirteen, the level of maturity Hugo had was very high compared to most of his cousins. "For your information, I haven't seen her. I'm her friend, that does not mean I stalk her every waking hour." Come to think of it, no one has. There was an awful silence shared between the three girls who were just laughing or enjoying themselves only a few minutes ago. Alice lowered her Quibbler and placed her Spectrespecs with them. Dominique stopped gorging on the pile of potatoes. Rose was merely quiet, looking at the other two with worried brown eyes.

Quietly, they all got up and walked towards the exit of the great hall, pausing to notify their Ravenclaw friend, who had been talking to Fred number two. Elizabeth Savage, also known as Beth, was also friendly with Hugo, as her sister, Dottie, was a friend of his. She also, apparently, was not considered an enemy, even if she was not related to the Weasleys and was friends with Lara, since she and Fred had been talking for awhile.

Hugo noticed that Beth was hesitant in leaving Fred the Second's side, but did in fact leave with the girls. She bid goodbye to the ginger and ran along with her friends, a sad smile on her face.

The Rachel Situation must be more serious. Hugo thought solemnly as he returned to his unfinished plate of turkey and gravy.