"I can't believe it's the end of our first year!" Anna exclaimed as the Slytherin girls boarded the Hogwarts Express. Rose laughed. She couldn't believe it either. The year had gone by way too quickly. Was it only yesterday that she had faced the pressure of mid-year exams and then the final exams? She couldn't wait to start school again in September. But for now her thoughts were elsewhere. She just for now, couldn't wait to get back home!

"Hey Rose!" suddenly Rose felt herself drawn back to Earth by someone shouting her name.

"Rose!" Mel cried out again, this time louder.

"Huh yea?" Rose glanced at her friend who wore a bemused expression on her face.

She folded her arms and glanced around at the rest of the girls who were all looking at her.

"What?" she whined.

Sarah laughed, "Oh Rose you looked so funny. You were like in dream land or something. Your eyes were clouded over and your mind looked kind of faraway..."

At this point Sarah impersonated a "dreamy looking Rose" and everyone excluding Rose burst out laughing.

"Well excuse me for being excited to getting back home..." Rose muttered.

Claire, still grasping her stomach sighed, "Oh Rose you know we were just teasing." she said chuckling.

Rose couldn't help but smile. For all their flaws, the girls could always make her smile. "Yea" she giggled.

"Now let's find a compartment!" Mel announced and Rose realised they were all still standing in the hallway of the train, much to the disdain of several other students, trying to get onboard.

The girls, still laughing managed to find an empty compartment and they quickly hurried in. Rose threw herself on the seat nearest to the window. Glancing out, she watched as people quickly hurried onto the train, dropping off their luggage along the way. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of Hagrid. She smiled. He had been so sweet to her this year, dropping off little treats for her when she stopped by and he had baked a cake for her birthday. Swallowing any sense of self-consciousness, she opened the compartment window and stuck her head out.

"Hagrid!" she called out, waving her hand towards him.

She saw his head turn and his face lit up when he saw her.

Walking over towards her, she smiled at him.

"Ready to go' eh Rose?" he asked her.

She nodded.

Hagrid smiled.

"Well er, hv'e a gd hol'day" he continued.

She nodded again, "I will Hagrid. Bye"

Hagrid's eyes fogged up slightly.

"Ah twas like ysterday yo'r folks were telling me th't" he smiled.

Rose leaned out of the window as much as possible and enveloped him in a great hug.

Surprised at first, Hagrid hugged her back, she could hear him stifle a sniffle.

"I'll see you soon" she murmured.

He nodded as they broke apart and gripped her hand tightly.

"Yo'r a special gal Rose" he smiled.

Suddenly Rose heard the train whistle blow. Suddenly she felt panicked. She didn't want to go! Rose felt the wheels beginning to move but she did not let go of Hagrid's hand as the train began to pull out of the station. "Goodbye!" she called to him as she was finally forced to let go. "Bye!" Hagrid called back, waving to her as the train began to move faster and faster. Rose waved, almost as frantically as she had when she took her first ever train to Hogwarts. She saw Hagrid's smile and she smiled back. His face became blurrier by the second. Then the white steam from the train began to billow around her forcing her to close the window. She sat back down again sighing, leaving Hagrid and Hogwarts behind.

She looked up to see her friends smiling at her encouragingly. "Don't worry" Sarah said squeezing her hand. "We'll be back next year." Rose nodded. "So" Mel said, lightening the mood, "What are you guys up to this summer?" she asked. Anne and Claire suddenly became excited and began to chat about their upcoming trip to Romania. "No Way!" Rose exclaimed. She knew her Uncle worked in Romania but her parents told her that they would only take her and Hugo when they were older. "That's not fair!" she pouted. The twins laughed. "Hey don't worry Rose," Claire smiled. "Yea" Anna chimed in. "I'm sure you'll get to go next year." Rose smiled. "Well I better!" she playfully threatened the twins.

"So what are you doing Rose?" Sarah asked her.

Rose thought for a moment.

"Well I don't think we are going anywhere..." she began. "Mum and Dad didn't mention a trip."

Sarah nodded. "Well at least then you'll have loads of free time on your hands."

Rose laughed, "Yea I don't know how I'll spend it all! I'll probably waste my days away playing Quiditch!"

At the mention of Quiditch, Sarah's face lit up. "Yea!" she cried. "I think I'll do a little practicing. Promise you'll try out with me for the team next year?" she begged Rose.

Rose cringed slightly remembering her rejection from Quiditch this year but managed to hide it from her friends. She wouldn't appear to be weak in front of them. If she was, she would have to explain the entire saga to them which she wasn't in the mood to do. Instead she smiled at her friend.

"Yea of course!"

Sarah's hopeful face was now full fledged excitement. "Great!" she cried. "We need to practice. We need to coordinate. We need to..." before she could continue Mel stopped her.

"Whoa, slow down there Sarah! The tryouts aren't for at least 6 months! Don't pressure Rose." she chuckled.

Sarah looked at her glumly. "I was only trying to be enthusiastic... " she mumbled.

Anna smirked. "Yea we kind of got that vibe"

The rest of the girls burst out laughing.

Rose taking pity on Sarah, tried to salvage the conversation.

"Yea well it's ok Sarah. I mean we can practice at my place at stuff" she murmured.

Sarah acknowledging her efforts, smiled at her. "yea" she said.

"Just write to me and let me know when you're free. Then we set a date." Rose continued.

"Ok" Sarah nodded.

"In fact" Rose continued. "I should invite you all for a day at my place."

The girls all perked up at this suggestion.

"I'll just ask my parents for permission, then I'll owl you guys a date and time." Rose suggested.

"Yea!" Mel smiled. "That would be great to meet up in the holidays Rose. Plus I haven't seen your house." she added with a twinkle in her eyes.

The twins nodded. "Yea it would be nice. Just to let you know though, we won't be around for the first month because of Romania."

Rose nodded, mentally recording the information down. "Ok then." she stated.

The rest of the train ride was relatively uneventful. Rose fell asleep halfway through the journey after eating one too many of Bertie Botts every flavour beans. In fact she didn't realise how long she had dozed off for until she was being shaken awake by Sarah. "get up Rose" Sarah had muttered with excitement in her voice. "We're here!" Instantly, Rose had risen from her slumber and had glanced out the window. Sure enough, the train had come to a halt and there was platform 9 and 3/4 with hordes of parents waiting there for their children. Excited, Rose got up from her seat and followed the other girls out of the cabin.

People were pushing and shoving, especially the older students, to get off the train, everyone eager to see their families again. Rose tried to stick close to her friends and eventually they all managed to scramble of the train. The immediately went to grab their luggage and Rose was careful not to forget anything, gripping the bird cage with Athena inside. The owl, upon seeing her owner, had hooted in pleasure. Rose turned around to glance at her friends.

"Well" she began. "I guess this is goodbye?"

"Don't make it sound so sentimental Rose!" Mel exclaimed but her voice was thick with emotion.

Sarah didn't say anything. Instead she hurried over to Rose and gave her a huge hug. "Bye" she muttered. "I'm going to miss you"

The twins sighed. "Group Hug!" they called.

Instantly the rest of the girls were surrounding Rose and she felt all of their warmth and friendship surrounding her. She felt utterly at home.

Pulling away, Rose felt tears in her eyes.

"Only a couple of months." she reminded them.

They nodded.

Suddenly Rose heard someone call her name. She turned to see her parents waiting several metres away, waving to her.

"I gotta go" she told them.

"Bye!" they called.

She waved to them one last time, memorising their faces, before she turned and began to wheel her luggage towards her parents. Seeing her parent's faces, she smiled and as she pushed her luggage, she seemed to break into a half run. The next thing she knew, she was in her parents arms. She was laughing and crying at the same time. True she had seen them at Christmas but this time, it was completely different. She felt different coming home and she was glad that her parents were still waiting there for her, unchanged.

"Oh Rosie!" she felt her mother breath as she hugged her.

"I missed you" Rose whispered.

Her father gripped her tightly. "We missed you too precious."

Pulling away she saw her brother standing shyly in the background. She laughed. "Come her Hugo" she called.

Her brother suddenly was running towards her, enveloping her in a hug.

After a moment he seemed to realise who he was hugging and pulled away awkwardly.

"We're glad to have you home Rosie" her mother smiled.

"We're glad you topped your year." Ron smirked titling his head towards Scorpius Malfoy and his family.

Rose followed his gaze and her eyes met Scorpius'

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly and he raised his hand, as if to say, "Bye Weasley."

She smiled and raised her hand in response.

Then she looked back to her family.

They had not caught her exchange with Scorpius. Her mother was lecturing her father about teaching their children humility and Hugo was laughing.

Smiling at them, Rose linked arms with her parents, who stopped their fighting and gazed down at her.

Rose looked at them and sighed. "It's good to be home."