Lily stood next to Ayla in flying class, holding her broom in one gloved hand. "What have you been so happy about all day?" Lily asked suspiciously, catching Ayla smiling to herself for the second time that day.

"I realized..." Ayla inhaled deeply, fiddling with her scarf. "I love Albus. I mean, I knew that, but I'm in love with him."

"You mean like you were 'in love' with Liam?" Lily asked sardonically. She sighed and gave her best friend a reluctant smile. "Alright, Juliet, what happened this time?"

Ayla beamed, holding her hands close to her heart. "Last night, we were walking on the ledge of the astronomy tower, and Albus nearly fell," she explained, struggling over the end of the sentence. "I jumped up and grabbed him before he fell, but the feeling I had..."

"Well, Ayla, that's just human instinct. You would have felt that for anyone."

"No, it wasn't, though. Afterwards-I know this sounds cliche-my heart literally hurt just thinking of what could have happened to him. I don't know, it was in that moment that I knew...I can't be without him."

Lily rolled her eyes theatrically. "Yeah, for now," she said teasingly.

"Lily, I'm serious, I really love him. It's like he knows me more than anyone has ever known me in my whole life. Liam...Liam was really sweet, but I never felt like he understood me completely. And I'm not blaming him; I'm a tough person to get to know and I realize that. But Al...he just found a way to know me."

Lily cracked a smile at her best friend. "You wanna know who I got to know better yesterday?"

Ayla squealed and grabbed her arm. "My plan worked?"

Lily beamed. "We talked in the common room for a while. He's kind of having some...changes in feelings for Natasha."

"See, and now you were there for him while he was with Natasha, and he'll remember that for when those two are done," Ayla explained simply.

The two girls turned to look at Bradley, who was jumping on me end of his broom in an attempt to catapult Liam across the field. His broom shot up and smacked him in the nose, causing him to drop to his knees clutching his face. Ayla burst into giggles followed by Lily, earning a glare from Madam Hooch as she helped Bradley to his feet.

Brad waved Madam Hooch away and wiped blood from his nose. He looked exasperated as she ushered him to the hospital wing. Liam glanced over to see Ayla looking in his and Brad's direction. The smirk at his friend's stupidity faded and he lifted the corner of his mouth awkwardly, raising a hand in a halfhearted wave.

Ayla smiled just as stiffly as she waved back.

"Regrets?" Came Natasha's cold voice and Ayla turned, arms crossed.

"Not one," she returned calmly while Lily demanded what she was doing lurking around a first-year class.

"Uh, my boyfriend is in this class, in case you haven't noticed," Natasha returned.

"Yeah, well, in case you hadn't noticed, he just got taken to the hospital wing. If you'd actually come here to watch him, you would have known that," Lily told her and Natasha brushed past her, bumping Lily's shoulder roughly. Lily glowered after her and returned to Ayla's side with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"I hate her," Lily growled and Ayla nodded. "She hates you," Lily added and Ayla laughed.

"Yeah, she makes no secret of that."

"Class dismissed!" Madam Hooch announced. "I need to see you in your broom a bit more, Miss Potter," she said sternly as she walked past Ayla and Lily. Lily groaned and Ayla looked at her comfortingly.

"Don't worry about it; you'll catch up next class."

Lily smiled at her and followed her inside, to the hospital wing to check on Brad. Liam and Hugo were already there when they walked through the doors, filling an ice bag for Brad.

"This is so bloody stupid; can they just let me out?" Brad said angrily, pressing the ice pack against his face.

"Don't worry, we've got you," Ayla assured him, walking away to find Madam Pomfrey's new assistant, who handled the releasing of patients. She returned a few moments later and nodded to Brad. "You're good to go," she announced and Bradley's jaw dropped.

"No way, how did you do that?" He demanded.

"Are you kidding? That new assistant; he graduated last year and he has no idea what he's doing. But, uh..." She glanced around. "You might want to get out before Pomfrey sees you."

Bradley tossed the ice pack aside and dashed out of the hospital wing followed by his friends.

"Wait! Young man, come back!" Came Madam Pomfrey's voice as the door shut behind them.

"Crap!" Ayla whispered through her laughter, pulling her friends around the corner as they all huddled against the wall.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" James and Albus asked, walking down the hallway towards them.

"Shh," Ayla hushed, grabbing Albus's hand and pulling him towards the wall. "Madam Pomfrey is after Bradley," she explained through her suppressed laughter.

"Man, you better run!" Albus ushered Bradley along. "For someone her age, she is crazy fast."

Bradley took off down the steps, with Ayla and Albus at his heels, followed by Lily, James, and Liam.

"You guys want to go get some food before last period?" Brad offered and they agreed, heading into the Great Hall.

Ayla and Albus slowed down to walk with James.

"So, James..." Ayla said slowly, looking up at him. "Any girls in your life lately?"

James blushed. "Why would you ask me that?"

"I like to keep tabs on my friends' love lives!" She said brightly, smiling, not noticing the drop in James's face at the word friends. "So,your answer?"

James sighed, sitting down at the Gryffindor table with Ayla next to him and Albus next to her. Ayla and Albus leaned towards him eagerly.

"This one girl," he admitted.

Ayla smacked his arm excitedly. "Details, James, come on!"

James sighed, finally smiling. "Her name is Bridget."

"Aw, that's so cute!" Ayla squealed, making a face that made both Albus's and James's eyes melt into softness. Albus's heart swelled as he looked into Ayla's eyes, and felt broken just a moment later when he saw the devastated look on James's face, knowing exactly how he felt.

"Y-yeah, we should double sometime," James suggested, struggling for words.

"Yeah, we should! I'd love to meet her!" Ayla exclaimed happily and James smiled sadly.

"I-I'd love for you to get to know her," James managed.

Ayla looked at her watch and groaned, leaning her head against Albus's shoulder tiredly.

"I don't want to go to astronomy," she moaned and Albus kissed the top of her head.

"I'll be waiting by the door when you get dismissed," he promised, stretching out his hand. They said goodbye to everyone and walked slowly up to the astronomy tower.

"Bye," Ayla murmured when they got there, holding both of his hands and looking up at him.

"I'll see you after class," Albus said, gazing down at her, meeting her wide, dark eyes. He leaned down to kiss her slowly, stretching out the kiss for several seconds then pulling back and hugging. She felt his firm chest against her as she hugged him.

She felt him move as Brad slapped him on the back as he walked past them. Ayla smiled at Brad then turned back to Albus.

"I'll see you later," she said, kissing him once more. He smiled at her, walking backwards until he nearly fell down the steps, earning a gasp that turned into a giggle from Ayla. When he was gone, Ayla walked back into the classroom, sitting down next to Lily.

"I don't know, Lily," Ayla said in a dreamy voice, smiling. "It's this weird feeling...I miss him even when we're just apart for one class. I spend all class just counting down until the next time I can see him."

"Everyone counts down till the end of class, Ayla," Lily teased.

Ayla shook her head, the faraway smile on her face not fading. "It's different," she said softly. "I mean it."

X.

James ran his hands through Bridget's long blonde hair, his lips crushed against hers, his shirt laying on the floor next to them. His eyes opened for just a moment and he gasped at what he saw.

Ayla gazing up at him with her big eyes, completely...

James shook his head frantically and returned to reality to see Bridget looking curiously at him.

"James? You okay?" She asked, her hand on his chest.

"Y-yeah, I gotta go, Bridge. I, uh, I'll talk to you...later." He picked up his shirt and ducked out of her dormitory, leaving her confused behind him. He heard her yell after him as he dashed into his dormitory, into the bathroom, and splashed water on his face to rid his eyes of tears. "Get it together, James, stop thinking of her that way," he ordered his reflection. "If you do anything stupid, you'll never get her and you'll lose Albus, too!" He continued, staring at his teary eyes in the mirror.

X.

Ayla, Albus, James, Bridget, Brad, and Natasha all crammed around a small table at the Three Broomsticks with their butter beers sitting on the table in front of them.

"I ran out of black eyeliner this morning," Bridget announced. She had been the only one talking for-Ayla glanced at her watch-thirty-seven minutes.

Albus nodded slowly, inhaling deeply, rotating a sugar packet in his fingers, doing his best to pretend he wasn't bored out of his mind listening to Bridget.

"Wow, what happened next?" Bradley asked with mock interest and Bridget looked genuinely excited that someone was listening to her stories.

"I got my daddy to send his owl to drop off more," she assured the group as if they had truly been worried. "So it's all okay."

"Thank God," Albus said sarcastically, earning a stifled laugh from Ayla. He suppressed his own laugh and put his arm around Ayla.

"Oh, and then, my flat iron wouldn't work, but then I realized it just wasn't plugged in!" Bridget exclaimed with a high-pitched giggle that made Albus feel as though his eardrum had been shattered. "I have to pee," Bridget declared. "Do you want to come with me, Ayla, Natasha?"

"Sure," Ayla said, standing up. Natasha stared at her for a moment before reluctantly following.

Albus watched them leave and waited until the door to the bathroom swung shut before turning to face James.

"Dude, what are you thinking?" Albus demanded.

"I'm thinking...you know what I'm thinking."

"Man, she hardly has he vocabulary to hold a conversation, and when she does, it's with herself. It might be fun now, but you are not going to want to be around that in the long run."

"Yeah, Al, well, why does it have to be the long run? Why can't I just be with someone just to have some fun?" James retorted and Albus sat back, holding up his hands.

"You can do whatever you want," he told his older brother. "I'm just warning you."

"I don't need your help," James said simply and Albus nodded slowly, looking down.

"I think she's hot," Bradley commented casually with a shrug. "Nice one, man." James stuck out his fist and bumped Brad's.

"You two are disgusting," Albus said incredulously. "You can't even hold a conversation with her, she-" he stopped as the girls returned from the bathroom.

"Oh, my gosh, the soap in the bathroom smells so good!" Bridget enthused, smelling the backs of her hands.

"I rest my case," Albus said calmly, then turned to Ayla. "Come on, I want to show you something," he said, taking her hand. Ayla followed him curiously as he led her up a stairwell in the back. "Welcome to the roof of the Three Broomsticks," he announced, gesturing around.

Ayla looked around the roof to see a small table with two chairs in the corner, two lounge chairs in the center and a dusty light by the ledge.

"You can see the castle from here," she noted, pointing ahead.

"Yeah, you can," Albus said softly, following her gaze.

"How did you know about this?" Ayla asked and Albus shrugged mysteriously.

"Helps if your family knows Madam Rosmerta."

Ayla laughed. "It's really nice," she observed. "Thanks for showing me. Oh, and thanks for getting me out of there," she laughed and Albus grinned.

"Anytime. Seriously, if you want out of anything, I promise you I will be there to get you out " he promised sincerely.

"Anytime?" Ayla repeated, looking up at him hopefully, biting her lip uncertainly.

"Of course," he replied immediately. "What do you have in mind?"

"Class tomorrow," she admitted. "I'm already two weeks ahead in my studying and I's rather spend the day with you," she explained, interlocking her hands behind his neck and peering up at him.

"Oh, easy, no problem," he said without hesitation. "And I like the sound of that." He kissed her softly. "It's the last day before a holiday weekend, so we have four days off. I'll get you out, no problem."

Ayla beamed and kissed him again.

X.

Albus strode confidently into McGonagall's office with Ayla by his side.

"Hello, Headmistress," he greeted her politely and she smiled thinly.

"I'm going home to visit my family for the holiday weekend and I'd really like to show Ayla here around my Dad's office. Purely education," he added assuringly. "But it's closed for the weekend so I wanted to know if the two of us could be excused from class tomorrow."

Professor McGonagall sifted through a drawer in her desk for a few moments before pulling out a blank blue slip. She quickly scribbled a signature and held it out to Albus. "Say hello to your father for me," she requested.

"Can do, ma'am." Albus shut the door behind them and Ayla hugged him immediately.

"Oh, my god, Albus, you are a genius!" She exclaimed.

"Wow, you know you're doing well when Ayla Torres thinks you're a genius!" Albus returned teasingly and she shoved him playfully.

"Where did you come up with that excuse, though?" She demanded, impressed.

Albus pulled two train tickets out of his back pocket. "Surprise!"

Ayla gasped, grabbing the tickets. "We're actually going to visit your family?"

Albus nodded, grinning. "Do you like it?" He asked apprehensively and she threw her arms around him, kissing him excitedly.

"Thank you, thank you, I love it!"

"I love you," Albus declared, staring into her eyes. "I love you, Ayla."

Ayla gazed into his green eyes for several seconds, her own eyes lit up with excitement. "I love you too!" She cried, hugging him tightly, feeling his smile lifting his face. She gazed into his green eyes and smiled hugely. He kissed her again, both of them smiling against each other's lips.