A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter, chapter 1 to be exact and thanks to my awesome friend FezzesRCool25 who reviewed and is just awesome anyway. Also to Chadders who is also awesome, you should read their stories (ten times better than mine and they have more than 2 chapters!)


We're back!

Chapter one – six years later

Charlie boarded the train at platform 93/4 for the seventh and final time of his life to go to Hogwarts, at one point in his life he had been scared to get on this train and leave behind his home at the burrow, not to mention his family. Leaving his little sister Ginny had been the hardest for him, he loved her and she adored him, he was the best big brother ever, in her opinion he was a god. And he was, he had gone from being one of the scrawny Weasley boys to being in a league of his own, he had worked and worked on getting his body to the best and fittest it could be, he had broad shoulders and a well muscled chest and abdomen, he also had well muscled arms and legs, he was the perfect specimen. His red hair had been bleached slightly from working out in the sun, it was now more brown with a tinge of red in it than as bright as his brothers'. His naturally pale skin was sufficiently tanned also from training outside, his freckles on the other hand had gone from being practically invisible to standing out but oddly enough worked with his tanned skin.

He sat on his own on the train, in his own compartment, waiting for his friends, he was early for the train this year, for the first time since the others had come to Hogwarts they were on time. One by one his friends arrived and filled the compartment. His three closest friends soon brightened up his mood, just seeing them gain made him smile, there was Thorne Stone his best friend. A tall willowy boy with jet black hair that covered part of his face. For what Thorne lacked in muscle he made up for in mystery and was always in demand with the ladies. Then there was Christian Harris, the joker of the group, he was always teasing one of them about something. He was smaller than both Charlie and Throne but was also slim and fitted in well with them, he had honey blond hair that fell quite long in small tight curls at the bottom. And then there was his only female friend Alexia Davenport. Charlie had nursed a crush on Alexia since the first time they had met, when they had both been sorted into Griffindor. Alexia was also tall, around the same height as him, she had long brown curly hair that she always wore loose, she was very beautiful with creamy unblemished skin and high cheekbones. She has pale violet eyes that got darker with her mood and moved with an unchallenged grace. She was a dancer and had been since she was three years old, she studied ballet and was frequently found practising in the common room. This earned her laughs from the boys and the nickname Twirlgirl, which she hated but she put up with it because she had nicknames for the rest of them. Thorne was sugarplum because it really wound him up. Christian was goldilocks because of his hair and Charlie was dragon boy because of his obsession with dragons.

"How are my boys?" Alexia asked teasingly and then laughed,

"Lex, we aren't your boys" said Thorne shifting his hair out of his eyes ever so slightly.

"Yeah, we kind of are" replied Christian fairly "I'll be your guy any day darling" he scooched closer to her and she swatted him around her head with a copy of the Daily Prophet that had been haphazardly left on the floor of their compartment. Alexia sat down next to Charlie and he stood up to help he put her things on the luggage rack, he noticed a new addition to her bags this year. Charlie stuck his fingers through the bars in the animal carrier.

"Who's this little guy?" he asked and snatched his hand back out of the carrier abruptly, "it bit me" he added on the end.

"I am so sorry Charlie, he doesn't exactly like his new carrier." She opened the carrier and pulled out a small black cat with startlingly green eyes that took up most of his face. "This is panther, my parents got me him over the holidays, we have trained him but he just doesn't agree that carrier" she laughed and everyone else joined in. As the only girl in the group she was respected more than the others, for example half way to Hogwarts the boys engaged in a Berty Botts every flavoured beans fight and she was carefully kept out and they all made sure none of them hit her.

"Oh my god!" she squealed when they were almost there, "We are seventh years! We have power and we take our N.E.W.T's this year!"

"I know, it's brilliant isn't it?" Charlie said a huge grin lighting up his face, "Hey, you'll never guess what! I'm the -"

"Captain of the Quidditch team this year." Finished Alexia for him, "I noticed the badge as soon as I came in, you are so lucky! You get to be a Prefect and the Captain of the Quidditch team!" She was genuinely happy for him and took it well, in his opinion she should have been the captain this year, she was the best chaser the school had seen, she was fast and agile and never missed a goal.

"It should have been you" he admitted guiltily, "at least we're both prefects again this year." She just rose an eyebrow and he knew that ended the conversation. The train slowed down and pulled into Hogsmede station, they all pushed their way through the crowds that were also trying to get off of the train, all the time Alexia kept a tight grip on her things in one hand and Charlie's arm in the other. When they finally got off the train they could hardly see a thing, they could however see Hagrid's looming figure which was followed by the bellow:

"Firs' years this way, all firs' years to me now … come on all of yer, get a move on!" Hagrid always took the new first years over to the castles in the boats, no one knew exactly why. "Oi, Charlie" he shouted after spotting Charlie in the fog, Charlie jogged up to him.

"Yes"

"Did yer get them dragon books over the holidays then?"

"Yeah, and I've read them all, they were brilliant!"

"An' you been keepin' yer strength up for yer practical N.E.W.T this year?"

"Training everyday, the others think I'm weird!" Charlie laughed and waved goodbye as Alexia pulled him away.

"Alright Lex, I'm coming" he said "are you ready for our practical care of magical creatures N.E.W.T?"

"I was born ready, what do you think it will be?" she replied still pulling him in the general direction of the carriages.

"I dunno, something good though, hey have you seen some of the first years? They're tiny!" he said abruptly.

"No, no they aren't, you're just huge." She stated matter-of-factly and then they laughed. Finding the carriage where there friends waited proved to be just as difficult as they had anticipated, in the dense fog that clouded the area but they managed eventually and were happy when they got to the castle out of the fog, where they could see everything clearly.

The four friends sat down together at one end of the Griffindor table, they had grown so used to this process that it was second nature to them, all eyes looked forwards as the awestruck first years were lead, in a single file line, to the front of the hall by Professor McGonagall who was carrying an ancient three legged stool and the even older decrepit looking sorting hat. Professor McGonagall was a tall thin witch with her black hair pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head, she was the transfiguration teacher and the head of Griffindor house. As soon as the hat was set on the stool it burst into life, anticipation filled the room a smirk set itself in the tattered black material mouth in the brim of the hat and it opened wide. It sang to the room, more of a riddle than a song but it was one of things everyone was waiting for.

This year,

There is a change ahead,

Something new,

For gold and red.

Three houses of the four,

At peace

One in shreds,

The one you would expect least.

So do not join together,

And all will be strong,

But do unite,

And it could go wrong.

A fatal balance of the scales,

Cannot tip, cannot fail,

If it does good will fall,

Bad will rise and hurt us all.

A dark shadow,

On the sky,

A badly kept secret,

All leads to the lie.

The whole hall sat in a shocked silence, the sorting hat always, without a doubt told everyone to unite to stop evil among them. Not once before this had the hat told the school to divide and keep to their houses. Slowly but surely whispers spread across the tables and more and more people came out of silenced shock to talk feverishly about what the at had just proclaimed. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and all reluctant eyes turned back towards the hat. Everyone was waiting to see what new students they got in their houses this year. One by one first years were called to the stool in alphabetical order. All they had to was put on the sorting hat and wait for it to tell them which house to go in to. For some absurd reason this was a lot more terrifying than it sounded. When the last first year had been sorted the hall erupted into excited chatter about different subjects people were taking and about friends catching up with what went over the holidays. Professor Dumbledore rose from his throne like chair in the middle of the staff table and cleared his throat. Within seconds you could have heard a pin drop, Professor Dumbledore smiled and opened his arms wide, as if to embrace the whole room.

"Ah, to the first years, welcome to Hogwarts and to old faces welcome back, now I am aware that we are all waiting to start our excellent feast and I will deny you that privilege no longer. Dig in!" He said and food appeared on the gold plates around the tables, bowls filled with vegetables, plates filled with meats, jugs of gravy and plates of bread sprung up in front of them and Charlie did not waste any time in grabbing what he wanted and piling it onto his plate, all of his friends had done the same, apart from Alexia who had accomplished this task with much more elegance and manners and before long they were all tucking into the schools amazing food. After they were all sitting sleepily, stomachs full, waiting to be dismissed Professor Dumbledore stood up again and sighed contentedly.

"Ah, well that was by far the best feast I have ever had!" He proclaimed happily " Now I have a few announcements before I can send you all to your beds, Mr Filch has asked me to remind you that there is to be no duelling or any spells cast in the corridors, also that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds as some of our older students still seem to need reminding. And finally I would like to introduce you to our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Davenport."

"Oh no!" Alexia breathed in Charlie's ear as a tall dark haired man stood up, inclined his head towards the audience of students and sat back down. The students clapped and waited eagerly for the word that meant they could go to bed and sleep off the fatigue that came with a filling meal.

"And I wish you all a good night's sleep, off you go now." Professor Dumbledore dismissed and sat back down to talk to Alexia's father. Charlie and Alexia herded the Griffindors (mostly the first years) up the moving staircases, the shortest way (that they would know) to the common room. On the way Charlie caught Alexia by the arm and they pulled ahead of the chattering first years,

"Was that your dad?" Charlie asked, a glint of humour in his eyes.

"Do not get me started, I didn't want him come, this is going to be the most embarrassing year of my life!" Alexia breathed angrily

"I'd be more worried about the fact that Defense against the Dark arts teachers never last more than one year." He whispered feverishly. Alexia's face fell and looked at him in horror.

"Oh my god, my dad!" She cried but Charlie immediately told her to shush and pulled her closer.

"Your dad'll be fine, Lex he'll be fine, I promise." He whispered looking sideways at the group of first years trailing behind them, he let her go and turned to look the fat lady in the face.

"Right you lot, listen up, this is the entrance to the common room, all you have to do is tell her the password and she'll let you in, this week's password is Veritaserum. Don't forget it." He turned to the fat lady once more and repeated the password an she swung in to reveal the common room, painted richly in scarlet red and decorated with gold.

As soon as Charlie and Alexia had sorted out all of the first years they sat with their friends in front of the fire, in their favourite squashy chairs. The fear for her father still at the back of her mind but dying down as she relaxed with her friends, she felt a sense of safety there sat on the arm of Charlie's chair because Thorne had taken hers. They all went to bed shortly after that and in the dark Charlie thought of Alexia and then of her dad who would be teaching them lessons, a smile stretched across his features and he fell asleep like that.


A/N: SO I finished another chapter, I guess you noticed. Review now please! I mean it right now, I don't care if you're eating soup, soup can wait.