Author's Note: New chapter. I am exhausted so don't make my work be in vain, review! Also, does anyone know a synonym for compartment? I'm getting horribly sick of that word.
The week continued to go slowly. She kept correspondence with Fred and Seamus daily, along with a good amount of letters to Parvati and Lavender. She even sent a few to George. When her father returned from work, it wasn't too bad. She would sit in his office and help with his work. Sometimes even Rob would sit with the while he worked. Her mother, on the other hand, remained shrouded in a veil of cold disinterest. One night, as she sat reading in the living room, Rob walked in. For a while, he was silent, writing something for work. Then he looked up.
"Mum and Dad used to talk." He said.
"What?" She asked.
"They used to have conversations. Sometimes, she'd even laugh." He told her.
"And then I came along and screwed it all up." Sasha sighed.
"They fought before you were born and they'll fight when you're back at school." He said. She went back to her book, but something was nagging her now.
"Remember when we used to get along?" She asked.
"Yes." He chuckled "We would drive mum and dad mad."
"And we used to go to the beach! But you scared me and told me that if I went in the water, sharks would bite my toes off!"
"And you cried and cried when dad tried to get you to go in. He ended up throwing you in, and once you realized there were no sharks, you wouldn't get out." She laughed thinking of that day. That was the day the picture in her room had been taken.
"What happened? We used to have such fun!" Sasha asked him.
"Dad got a promotion, so he was never home. I guess that's when he and mum...stopped, you know."
"Loving each other?"
"Yeah."
"What about us? We used to be friends." She said.
"I dunno." He said guiltily. "I went to Hogwarts, made friends, I guess I thought I was too cool or something."
"Yeah no one wants to hang around their kid sister all the time." Sasha said.
"I feel bad." He said "Mum and Dad were going through a rough time, and I left you all alone. It must've been horrible."
"I got used to it. At least I'm at Hogwarts now, and you don't even live here half the time." Her brother only stayed at her parents house for the holidays and sometimes not even then. He had an apartment in London where he preferred to spend his time.
"Now they're stuck with each other..." He said, deep in thought.
"I wonder if their relationship will last. After we're gone." Sasha said pensively.
"Only time will tell." Rob said. Sasha sat quietly, digesting what her brother had said. It wasn't like she hadn't know all of that, but no one had ever voiced it before. It was like something she had always hid in the back of her mind with little acknowledgement and suddenly, it was thrown in front of her face. Her brother put his hand on her shoulder. It wasn't much, but since they hadn't even said more than 20 words to each other in at least 5 years, the gesture meant a lot.
Soon, it was finally time to go home. Sasha couldn't exactly say she would miss the place. If anything, she would miss her room which she had spent much of the week decorating. It now looked like a cozy little sanctuary away from the scarily neat house. The only other place Sasha didn't feel completely uncomfortable in was her father's study. The smell of old books and leather chairs calmed her, and the sound of her father writing, quill against parchment was soothing. There was a large window behind his desk that towards the end of the day, bathed the room in a warm rosy glow. Sasha gave her room a final once over. She considered taking the picture of she and Fred, but in the end she decided not to. There was no point in taking the picture when in a few hours she'd see the real thing. She did however, take the picture of she and her brother. Since their talk, she and Rob had become a bit closer since their chat. Sasha descended the stairs. Her family stood waiting. Her father gave her a brief hug.
"It was good seeing you again." He leaned down to whisper to her. "Don't let your mother get to you. She means well."
"I doubt it, but thank you." Sasha said with a smile. Then she turned to Rob.
"Need help with your trunk?" He asked.
"No, I'm ok." Sasha said.
"Don't be a stranger. Write me. I'll miss you." He said. Sasha was a bit shocked.
"I-I will. I'll write you! I'll miss you too!" She said excitedly.
"Okay come one, let's go." Her mother snapped.
Sasha was overly thrilled to be on platform 9 3/4. Unlike the first time she had been here, she hardly felt overwhelmed. This time, she saw many familiar faces and was greeted by many. She turned to her mother.
"I guess I'll be leaving." She said weakly.
"I guess so." Her mother said. Sasha looked at her expectantly. "Don't get yourself into trouble. I'm done dealing with all this." Sasha sighed, it was too much to ask that her mother would forgive her. Any sad thoughts Sasha had were immediately washed away when she spotted Seamus. She ran over to him.
"Seamus!" She squealed.
"Sasha!" He said "I missed ya!" She hugged him.
"I missed you too!" She linked arms with him as they walked towards the train. She and Seamus entered an empty compartment and a few moments later, she heard girlish squeals.
"Sasha!" Lavender yelped as she rushed into the compartment.
"Lavender!" Sasha exclaimed. They hugged. Next was Parvati who greeted her with equal enthusiasm. They all immediately began gossiping about the past week.
"Um, t'anks Lavender, Parvati." Seamus said.
"Oh Seamus we missed you too." Lavender said hugging him.
"Where's Dean? I need to be aroun' real frien's." He groaned.
"Aww Seamus, you know we love you." Parvati laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He said.
A while later, Sasha walked down the train searching for Fred and George's compartment. She spotted Angelina Johnson, who was known to hang around them.
"Hi, Angelina right?" Sasha asked.
"Yeah. You're Fred and George's friend Sasha." She said, looking Sasha over.
"That's right. I was looking for their compartment."
"Oh yeah, it's just right down there." Angelina said.
"Thanks." Sasha smiled and walked over to the compartment. She began to walk down to where Angelina had pointed but someone stepped at a compartment right in front of her. It was Oliver Wood.
"Hey!" He said. "Is your owl sick?"
"What?" Sasha asked. "Is that some kind of dumb pick up line?"
"No. I assumed it must be since I didn't receive a single letter from you all week."
"Oh Oliver I'm so sorry! I didn't even think to write you!'
"It's fine." He laughed. "How was your week?"
"I don't even want to talk about it." She groaned.
"Hey, I'm hear to listen." He said.
"Maybe another time."
"Well, my compartment's right here. Want to sit for a while?" Sasha was incredibly tempted to sit with him. He was a very attractive and an older guy, but she really did miss the twins.
"I'm sorry Oliver. I would but..." She glanced down the hallway.
"I get it. Gotta go see your boys." Sasha detected a hint of resentment in his voice.
"I'm sorry. We can hang out when we get to Hogwarts." She said.
"Yeah ok whatever." He turned and went back into his compartment. Sasha thought for a moment. Had he come out of his compartment to talk to her? She thought he had just happened to stumble into her but now it seemed as though he had purposely bumped into her. She decided not to think too much about it. She reached the boy's compartment and knocked on the window. The twins looked up and grinned. Before she opened the door, she took a guess as to which one was Fred and which one was George.
"Left is George. Right is Fred." She said to herself just as she opened the door.
"You're late!" Said the left twin.
"Here he goes." Said the right.
"Okay. I was wrong." Sasha said to herself. The left was clearly Fred.
"Where were you?" He asked.
"Oh I was just talking to someone." She said with a slight smile. George went back to talking to Lee but Fred raised an eyebrow suspiciously. She shrugged at him. Fred nudged George and he moved to sit next to Lee, clearing the seat for Sasha. She sat down.
"How was it?" He asked.
"What? My week in Hell? Surprisingly, not as hellish as I thought it would be."
"Really?" Sasha had tried not to spend a lot of time complaining in her letters, so Fred was slightly oblivious to how her week had been.
"Well, my mother was, herself. But my father and brother were uncharacteristically kind." She told him.
"That's good right?"
"Well, yeah. My dad at least feigned an interest in my schoolwork and let me help him with his work."
"At least you had someone on your side."
"Yeah it was so odd. He stood up for me the first night at dinner." Fred grinned.
"That makes me feel so much better. I was afraid you'd be completely alone in your own house."
"No and Rob and I even had a bonding moment I guess."
"How so?"
"We just started talking about how things used to be and, I don't know he started apologizing for abandoning me I guess. He told me to write him. I feel like we left some stuff unsaid. I don't even know what to say to him though!" She let out a light laugh. Fred stared at her then suddenly, enveloped her in a hug. She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let go.
"Fred! Let go!" She squealed. Finally, he pulled away.
"What was that for?" She asked.
"You go through a lot. You needed it." He smiled at her but for once it wasn't his winning smile, it was a genuine sweet smile. She smiled back.
"Stop the love fest!" Lee groaned. He threw some Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans at them.
"Bugger off!" Fred said. He jumped up and tackled Lee. Sasha laughed as Fred attacked him.
"What? Feeling left out?" Said George and he pulled her into the mess. Sasha laughed and smacked him, trying to get away. Despite the fact she was getting "beat up". Sasha felt incredibly optimistic about returning to Hogwarts.