Disclaimer: What sane person would be writing for free instead of publishing books?
Here's the usual "just in case" language warning... There may be some innuendo later on, too.
"Parker, no matter how jittery you get, it will not make me het you to King's Cross any faster. Notice that even though it's his first year going to Hogwarts, Rupert is sitting still."
"Rupert has no nerves," Parker responded.
"I do too!" the youngster exclaimed from the backseat.
"You don't look excited or nervous, Rue."
"I hide it well."
"Gets that from me, 'e does," their father said with a laugh. "Too bad Summer had to work else I think she'd be going too."
"Nah, Dad, she said that if Fred's older brothers weren't going to be there, she was going to work."
"Your sister is a piece of work." He pulled into the parking lot of the train station several minutes later, and had to bawl Parker out for getting out of the car before it had stopped. He put the two heavy trunks on a trolley and called to his daughter, "Oi! Park, you forgot your bird!"
"I sent him to Fred a few days ago; I'm sure he'll remember to send him ahead," Parker answered. She lead the way to the barrier between tracks nine and ten and showed her younger brother how to get to nine and three-quarters. She smiled at the awe on his face as he saw the scarlet engine for the first time. Her attention wandered as she looked for a familiar head of red hair, and it took her brother a minute to get her to look at him.
"Parker! Parker! You need to show me where to go!" Rupert yelled over the noise.
"Right. Grab your trunk. Dad, we'll be right back." She took him onto the train and shoved his trunk onto the rack in an empty compartment. "A few people will eventually ask to sit with you since this compartment is mostly empty. It's up to you who you sit with."
"Wait, can't I sit with you and Fred?"
"No. First, there won't be any room for you. Second, you wouldn't want to be in there with us anyway; those of us sitting together are all couples. Lastly, as much as I love you, you have to remember that I am not your babysitter at school, you make your own friends and pretty much leave me be unless it's important. Rupert," she said when she saw his face fall, "I'm not bullying you. I am just trying to get you to remember that I am older and have my own life forming with people in my year. Plus, I have my N.E.W.T. tests this year, so I'm not going to be the most pleasant person to be around."
"Promise you'll make time for me, though?" Rupert asked quietly.
"I promise. Now let's go and say bye to Dad." Parker lead her brother out of the train to where she remembered her father to be. Instead of being alone, she saw that her father was talking to a somewhat tall, red-haired young man. "FRED!" she yelled. He heard her and turned just in time to catch her as she stumbled into him. "I missed you so much," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him.
"I missed you, too, love," he whispered back, holding her close. He let her go but kept her hand in his when they heard a not-so-discreet cough nearby.
"Dad, this is Fred Weasley, they guy I've been seeing and that you got tired of hearing about during the summer. Fred, this is my dad," Parker said, introducing them.
"I was just talking to Fred before you ran up and stole him," her father responded. "I approve, Park."
"Thanks," the teens said in unison.
"This little blond thing is Rupert. Rupert, Fred."
"PARKER!" Two girls and two boys were charging through the crowd towards them, knocking over first-years and startling owls. Atlade, Brooke, Jude and Drake converged on Parker and Fred and squashed them in a tight group hug. Mr. Levesque got shoved out of the way and nearly fell over onto a trolley piled with owl cages. They finally separated and George appeared only to have Brooke launch herself at him.
Parker and Rupert said goodbye to their father as they tried to ignore the very thorough greeting Brooke and George were engrossed in. Fred took it upon himself to rip his twin away from his girl, much to the young man's displeasure. Before George had a chance to retaliate, the train whistle blew its final warning to stragglers on the platform. A final kiss on the cheek and Parker ran from where her father was onto the train before it left.
The door closed and the train began to move when Fred grabbed Parker in a close hug and pressed his lips to hers. She responded just as enthusiastically, entangling her fingers in his lengthening hair. He broke off the kiss and buried his face in her neck. "You have no idea how mad I went without you," he whispered.
"I think I might have a general idea," she said back.
"Oi! You're blocking traffic up there!" an angry voice yelled. "Make wit' the romance somewheres else!"
Parker noticed a line of students trying to get past them and into the next car. Sighing, she took Fred's hand and lead him to the compartment where she'd stowed her trunk. Coincidentally, his and George's trunks had been put in there, too. Once more they kissed, but were unceremoniously shoved over when George, Brooke, Drake and Atlade decided it was time to come in. "Enough of that out of you two," Brooke said as she sat.
"This coming from the girl who was just about ripping her boyfriend's pants off right on the platform," Parker retorted, sitting between Fred and Drake.
"That," the girl said back, "was different."
"Not really," Atlade told her. "Park and Fred were actually being a bit more reserved than you two, and they've been dating longer."
"Shush, the lot of you," Drake said with a yawn. "It is too cursed early in the year for you to be at each other's throats. Besides, you've been away from each other most of the summer, so one would think you'd be happy to see each other."
"We are," the girls chorused.
"You have a funny way of showing it."
"There's a method to our madness," Brooke told her friend.
"Anyway. Where's Jude?" Fred asked.
"Off with Lee; he said something about the summer homework and that he wanted to ask Lee about it."
"We didn't have summer homework," Parker pointed out.
"I know."
"Hey, Park, why are you in here?" Fred suddenly asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Why are you in this compartment with us?"
Parker looked at him with a genuinely hurt expression. "I miss you all summer and this is what I've been waiting to hear, Fred?"
"Park, that's not- You took- That's not what- Please don't cry," he stammered.
"I'm not crying. And if you wanting me out of here isn't what you meant, then what did you mean?"
Fred looked at her and said, "When we met, you said you were a Hufflepuff prefect. I thought prefects had duties on the train."
The hurt disappeared from Parker's quickly. "Oh. That. I was hoping to deter you guys from whatever you were doing, is all."
"You lied?"
"So? You guys do it all the time." She punched him in the arm. "That is for making me worry you were about to dump me."
"I've been on the receiving end of one of those, mate," Drake said, his voice full of sympathy. "I know how hard she hits."
"She shouldn't be hitting anyone," Atlade said, shaking her finger at her friend. "But I'm not her mother, so I'm not going to do anything about it." She stopped and sat back in her seat.
"Thanks, Laddie," Fred said, rubbing his arm. "You're not much help."
"She's your girl. You take care of her," George pointed out.
George's comment caused all three boys to engage in an impromptu wrestling match, one which gave Drake two blacks eyes and had the girls laughing. Drake took himself out once his face had gotten hit, which left the twins struggling for dominance on the floor. Fred finally came out victorious, and George got himself up to look in his trunk for the bruise ointment he always kept there. They passed it around and were back to normal when Atlade suddenly asked, "Parker, what's wrong?"
"Huh?" Parker was startled from her stare out the window. "Nothing's wrong."
"You've been quiet for a while. You barely laughed at the boys."
"I'm fine."
"You just as well admitted something's wrong," Brooke said sternly. "We aren't dumb."
Parker opened her mouth to voice another denial when Fred said, "Spit it out or we'll keep hounding you until you give up."
She looked out the window again and heaved a heavy sigh. Her eyes were on the floor as she said, "I saw Tory over the summer."
"You did what?!" the rest of the compartment chorused.
"I saw Tory."
"Wait, you willingly saw the guy who tried to rape you?" Drake asked angrily.
"I had to," Parker answered. "I wanted to find out why he did what he did for my mother. So I went to his house."
Fred, George, Brooke, Atlade and Drake all began yelling at her. She'd expected as much, just like she knew they wouldn't understand why she'd done what she had. She listened to them call her ten different kinds of idiot, and stayed quiet when they asked angry questions that she had pretty much already answered.
"I'm disappointed in you," Fred told her quietly. "I thought you were working through whatever scars you had left from him."
"I was. I am."
"Than why would you even consider going to see him?" Brooke asked.
"When I found out from Summer that Mum had paid Tory to do what he had done, I wanted to know why. I wanted to know exactly what she had said to him and why he thought it was a good idea."
"And?" Fred asked.
"It was the money, he said. I guess he thought I was a nice enough bird, thought about approaching me, but then Mum stepped forward with her money and her idea. Tory told me it hurt him to do what he did, but he thinks the prison time he did was fair enough punishment." She felt Fred start to tense in anger beside her. "Fred, everyone, will you please forgive me? I only did what I thought to be right, even if it was satisfying my curiosity. But it made a scenario make sense. I know I should have either had someone go with me, or at least know where I was, but I felt that if any of you knew, you'd try and stop me."
"Too right we would have," they all chorused.
"Can we let it drop, then? I told you guys what I was hiding from you, you've all yelled at me, I feel justly punished."
"We'll let it go for now," Brooke cautioned, "but we're all going to have this talk in greater detail later."
"I agree," the twins said in unison.
The mood was rather subdued from that point on, but they were determined to make things a bit happier. Atlade made Parker think they'd left poor Rupert behind, causing her to panic, but got her to understand that one of them had made sure the boy was on the train. The girls then teamed up on the twins, mentioning that their robes looked a bit too new, and demanded to know how they had managed to replace their old ones. Neither Fred nor George gave up the secret.
They got into Hogsmeade and made the trip to the castle via the horseless carriages. Once at Hogwarts, they went into the Great Hall and split up to go their respective tables. After several minutes, Professor McGonagall lead the always terrified first years up to the stool set on the floor below the teachers' dias. She called them up after the Sorting Hat sang, and Parker felt her heart freeze when she heard, "Levesque, Rupert!" called up. She watched her little red-haired brother as the Hat settled over his face, and grabbed Drake's hand in a fit of nerves.
After what seemed like an eternity, the Sorting Hat finally proclaimed, "RAVENCLAW!" Rupert took the Hat off, breathed a visible sigh of relief, and walked over to the proper table to sit with Brooke. Parker, too, sighed, and let go of her best friends' hand. Drake smiled at her understandingly and turned his attention back to the Sorting.
The feast was filled with the usual good food, and good humor at being back at school. Dumbledore stood and gave his usual speech about rules and new teachers, and was unceremoniously interrupted by the new Defense teacher, Professor Umbridge. She gave a rather boring speech that had Parker, and the twins, causing minor mayhem at their tables. The tiny woman hardly noticed the smattering of applause she received, and the lack of attention that was on her. Dumbledore finished his speech and sent the students off to bed.
Parker caught Fred's eye and met him in the entrance hall amidst the mayhem of everyone going to their common rooms. She pulled him into a corner behind the giant hourglasses that marked House points and pressed her eager lips to his. She kissed him with such ferocity that he had to pull back. "Parker, what--" He was cut off by her kissing him again.
He pulled back from her again. "I missed you, too, love, but take it easy. I can break." Noticing where she had pulled him, he asked, "Aren't you... You know... Worried, at all? Being in the corner?"
Parker shook her head. "I got over my fear this summer."
"That quick?" Fred raised an eyebrow.
"Well, kind of. I'm a bit nervous, but I'm with you... So I feel safe."
Fred kissed her gently. "We have time to be all hot and heavy later, love. Right now I have the feeling we'll be caught any minute, which makes my blood go even more, but I'd rather not risk you getting in trouble. I will see you in the morning, you bet on that."
"But--"
Fred put his finger against her lips. "No arguments. Please? Go catch up with Drake and make sure the midgets get where they belong."
Parker smiled and kissed him sweetly. "If I must. Remember, I love you."
"I love you, too." He gave her a gentle shove into the hall and smiled as she joined the troop of badgers heading towards the kitchens. He thrust himself away from the wall and made his way to the tower so he, Lee and George could start on getting things ready for testing.
Sorry this took so long to post. My birthday came and went, so that had a part. Otherwise, it was just writing when I didn't feel blocked or when I had the time. I'll try to move faster next time, but be warned that the next chapter might go faster that you expect!