MMM: Well, here I am you guys, with a new chapter ready for you. I've been typing all day. Yesterday, I tripped on this stupid crack- which I call a pothole- in the sidewalk in front of my school and twisted my ankle. And after having it immobile through the night, the muscles stiffened up and now I can't even walk on it without feeling pain. Talk about a great way to spend the holidays, huh? And just before my big 20th b-day too. :( So not cool.

Anyway, let's just start the chapter, huh? Try and take my mind off it? Please?

AC: I know the same problem. Remember back in my 1st year? Devil's Snare ring a bell?

MMM: Yes, but you had magic to heal it within the same night you got hurt. I have to let it heal on its own.

AC: Yikes.

Disclaimer: Too tired and too sore to say it. But you know what it is.


Ch. 53 To Hogwarts, We Go

Anya was busy helping Mrs. Weasley take care of peeling potatoes for dinner. Hell, she would have been ready to sort trash. Well... almost. Really, it was just something to do to take her mind off things.

Tonight, Moody and a couple of the other Aurors had gone to Privet Drive to get Harry and bring him back.

As it turned out, Harry had performed underage magic in front of a muggle earlier that very same day. Although the adults hadn't wanted them to know the details, Anya and the others found out thanks to the extendable ears- a magical string device with an ear on each end that could let them listen in even from upstairs on the fifth floor of the house, created by Fred and George with the money Harry had won from the Triwizard Tournament last year and gave to them- that the young wizard had been attacked by dementors. And even though he had no choice but to use magic to defend himself, the Ministry didn't believe that he was attacked and so they planned to expel Harry from Hogwarts.

Luckily for Harry, Shacklebolt was able to convince the Minister to have a hearing before a sentence could be passed.

"Is everything alright, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked the younger witch.

"I'm fine," Anya replied with smile.

Truth be told, Anya wasn't all that 'fine' as she said she was. She missed her family and friends back home in the States. Because Number 12 Grimmauld Place was pretty much a safe house for the Order to meet, it was mandatory that no one sent letters out in case Death Eaters were to try and find them. And with that, Anya hadn't been able to keep in touch with anyone back home. She lost count of the times she went to send one to her parents, just to find out if they were alright at the least, but she would always find herself ripping the letter apart and throwing the pieces into the fire. She didn't even get to celebrate her birthday with them, the first time ever in her life. They had always spent it together- it was tradition.

And the other thing that she hated about this whole thing. During the entire summer, Anya hadn't been able to make any kind of contact with her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy. A lot of times, Anya would find herself wondering just how they wound up together. They were always so different: a Slytherin boy from one of the wealthiest pureblood families in the wizarding world, and the Gryffindor girl from a simple muggle family.

That fact was the reason no one in the Order would allow Anya to keep in touch with him over the summer, because of his family. According to most of them, the Malfoy family had been very dedicated followers of Voldemort, and they would have bet every Galleon they owned that the family was back to being the Dark Lord's lapdogs.

A clatter from the hallway sounded, snapping Anya from her personal thoughts. "They're back," Sirius commented from his spot at the table, flipping through the Daily Prophet. Only Tonks could keep being clumsy in this house.

Setting down the potato peeler, Anya wiped her hands on a towel before rushing into the hall. Sure enough, standing at the other end was the small group of Aurors with their cargo. "Harry!"

"Anya!" Harry beamed, rushing forwards to hug the auburn haired girl. "It's great to see you," he told her.

"Likewise," Anya replied before pulling away. "And I do mean that literally. If you kept growing that hair out any more, you would have changed your name to 'Cousin It'." She reached up and ruffled his hair, now cut so short, he might as well have just shaved it off. But it looked good. One of his better looks.

"Very funny," Harry laughed.

Anya perked up. "Oh! Harry, you've got to meet someone here!" she giggled, grabbing him by the sleeve and dragging him into the room she was just in. 'Time for a little reunion,' she thought.

,:~:,

Meanwhile, in a giant mansion in the countryside of Wiltshire, a certain young wizard was getting anxious with each passing day.

Draco Malfoy was never one to lose his cool, but right now, one would have thought otherwise. He was pacing back and forth in front of his bedroom window, waiting for his pet owl to return while he nervously fiddled with the pendant around his neck.

It had been two months since he had last talked with his girlfriend, Anya Collins. He had kept his promise, sending letters every day. But every time his owl came back, there was no reply. At first, he thought that maybe she was just busy catching up with her muggle friends and her family. But when it got closer to the end of June and she still hadn't replied, he started to worry.

Had something happened to her? He had read about a lot of disappearances around the world. Had she vanished? Or was she avoiding him? Had he done something wrong? He didn't remember writing anything upsetting in his letters. His stomach churned. Was it possible that she was seeing- No. Anya would never do something like that. She would never cheat.

A light knock on the door brought Draco back to reality. "Come in," he called to the person on the other side of the door. "Good afternoon, mother," he greeted her once she walked in.

"Is everything alright, Draco?" Narcissa asked, walking over to stand beside her son. She saw him tuck something under the collar of his shirt before he sat down in an armchair by the fireplace. "Anything I can do?" she offered.

"No," Draco sighed miserably. The only thing that could make him feel any better was to see Anya's smiling face, but that wouldn't happen for another two weeks.

Suddenly, Draco's pet owl swooped into the room, landing on the solid gold rod set into the wall where it slept. Not wasting a second, Draco shot up and rushed over to see that the owl, once again, had nothing for him. Narcissa saw her son's shoulders droop.

"Draco, darling," Narcissa began, walking back to the door. "Would you like to have Pinky send some food up?" Draco just shook his head. "Perhaps some tea then?" Again, the young wizard shook his head. "Alright then. I'll leave you to your thoughts." And with that, she gently closed the door behind him. With another miserable sigh, Draco flopped down onto his bed.

These next few weeks were going to be hell.

,:~:,

So the next few weeks before school were actually rather pleasant for Anya. Sure, she still couldn't keep in touch with anyone from back at home, but at least the Golden Quartet was together again.

Of course, that good feeling was gone within seconds when they got to King's Cross station on the first of September. Almost every older witch or wizard they passed by gave Harry a glare that could freeze hell in a second. If Remus hadn't have been one of the members of the Order that had been there to escort the Harry and the others to the Hogwarts Express, Anya would have hexed some snob of a witch that muttered 'little bastard' at her friend as they passed by. As it was, it took Remus all of his ability to hold the American witch back.

As Anya descended the stairs, she noticed the familiar black dog that scurried down the steps ahead of her, followed closely by Harry. Taking the stairs two at a time, she hurried after them to see Sirius slip into a deserted sitting room and turn back into his human form. Figuring that he and Harry needed a moment alone, Anya leaned against the frosted glass window and crossed her arms.

"We're wasting time," Moody growled and Anya silently rolled her eyes. The man clearly needed to get a life... or at least get laid. She couldn't help but snicker at her private joke.

After goodbyes were exchanged and promises to visit during Christmas break were made, the Golden Quartet along with the rest of the Weasley children boarded the train. As they did, Anya was almost knocked down by a short blur of black and green.

"Hey Vi!" Anya wheezed as the air was knocked right out of her. "Long time no see."

"Well, what do you expect?" Vi shot back as she pulled away, hands on her hips and a glare on her face. "You disappear hardly a week into summer break- no calls, no letters! It was like you just vanished or something. Your parents didn't tell me anything."

Anya knew that her friend was going to cause one hell of a scene if she kept shouting. The last thing she needed was for people to get suspicious and possibly find out she'd spent her entire summer with the Order of the Phoenix, so she needed to come up with a distraction fast. "Is that a new shirt?" she asked, eyeing the emerald green top the Irish girl was wearing.

It worked. The angry look on Vi's face quickly vanished and stroke a pose. "You like it?" she grinned as she twirled, showing off a back that had bow-styled cutouts running along the length of the back. "Just got it last week."

The train ride to Hogwarts had never seemed so long. Any time a fellow student would pass by their compartment, Anya would see them glaring in Harry's direction. She would have figured that at least some people wouldn't believe in the garbage that the Daily Prophet was writing about her friend, but it looked like convincing people would be a lot harder than that. Not that she could really blame them, after all. Who would want to believe that a dangerous dark wizard was somewhere out there, ready to attack at any given moment?

But eventually, the train finally arrived at the station on Hogsmeade village. Anya was a little worried when Harry said he saw some kind of creature pulling the carriages, but there was nothing there. But she couldn't help but laugh when Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw student who seemed to be permanently stuck between reality and fantasy, told him that she could see the creatures too and that Harry was just as sane as she was. It seemed a little funny to hear that from a girl who always wore radish earrings and a necklace made of bottle corks.

Once they had all returned to the Great Hall in their proper uniforms and the new students were sorted into their houses, Professor Dumbledore began his announcements.

"She was at my hearing," Harry whispered to Anya as the Headmaster welcomed a toad-like plump witch dressed completely in pink, from the odd hat made out of tiny plastic pink bows right down to the high heeled shoes on her feet.

"Dolores Umbridge. I heard that she's the Senior Undersecretary to Cornelius Fudge," Hermione whispered back.

"She's sure got the 'senior' part down," Anya joked under her breath.

What really surprised everyone was when 'Professor' Umbridge stood up, causing Professor Dumbledore to stop in the middle of his speech, and began with one of her own. Anya could hardly believe what she was hearing! The way how this woman was describing how the school 'should' be run sounded like a military school.

After dinner, everyone went off to do their own thing. Hermione was already going to get a head start on the upcoming work that they would have, Vi was going to go write another letter to her boyfriend, Ivan, and Harry and Ron would probably just talk about Quidditch. As much as Anya loved her friends, she had to admit that they were a little… predictable.

Anya let out a sigh as she slumped further back into the couch, running her fingers through her auburn hair in frustration. As she had predicted, practically every other student in Gryffindor house had isolated Harry and sent him glares the moment the four friends walked through the portrait hole. Anya could only imagine how long this would last. But she knew that it would only stop when people- and more importantly, that idiot of a wizard for a Minister- realized that Voldemort was back, and although she didn't want to see her friend be called a liar anymore, Anya didn't think the alternative was any better.

"Hey Anya" The American witch opened her eyes to see the familiar younger face of Colin Creevey, along with his little brother Dennis, standing there before her. When she glanced at the younger boy's face, she noticed that his cheeks grew pink.

"Hi guys. How was your summer?" Anya asked in polite conversation. Out of everyone in the school, she liked these boys the most, for they were the only ones who continued to put their trust and loyalty in Harry even when no one else did.

"It was alright," Colin replied. "Sorry we can't stay long to talk, but we need to get an owl back to Mum and Dad- Dennis forgot some of his books again. We were asked if we could deliver this to you." He held out a small envelope.

"Thanks."

"Well, see you later then! Bye! Dennis, say 'goodbye'," Colin whispered to his brother.

"Bye," Dennis mumbled, cheeks now matching the red of Gryffindor's colors, before he hurried off.

Anya shook her head. 'It would seem that the younger Creevey boy is possibly developing his first crush,' she thought before she opened the letter.

Anya, can you meet me in our usual place? 7 o'clock?

Draco

Glancing down at her watch, Anya saw that she only had five minutes to get to the Astronomy tower located at the other end of the castle. Letting out a high 'yip', she flung herself off the couch and out the portrait hole, hiding from the teachers on patrol as her legs carried her as fast as they could. When she finally got to the tower, she found Draco pacing by the door. "Hey," she greeted him.

Draco stopped pacing to see her standing there. With a smile, he walked right over and pulled her into his arms. Anya instantly melted into his embrace, her arms wrapping around his waist as she breathed in his familiar scent of hair gel and cologne. She could feel the tension of the day already begin to drift away.

"Are you mad at me?"

Anya looked up into silvery eyes, wondering what suddenly brought this on. "Why would I be mad at you?" she asked.

"Because I haven't heard from you all summer," Draco replied.

Anya knew that this would probably happen. She had promised to keep in touch over the summer and she hadn't even talked to her parents, let alone her boyfriend, for the two months. Luckily, she had already come up with a story. "I'm sorry Draco. It's just that my parents and I went to Australia for the summer and we only got back a week before school started. I did get the letters." And that she did. When Anya had returned home at the end of the summer break, there was a giant pile of letters on her bed, one for every day of the week, 'I know I should have tried getting back to you sooner, or at least sent a letter saying where I was, but Mom wanted to have a 'family only' summer this year."

The lie seemed to work because the worry in Draco's eyes vanished as he smiled again. Anya returned the smile and rested her head on his chest, hiding the sadness she felt. It seemed so wrong to lie to him, but she had promised.

"I've got a surprise for you," Draco announced when he pulled away. Taking her back the hand, he led Anya into the room and Anya saw the most endearing thing. Draco had set up a red and white checkered picnic blanket on the ground, a small dish of her favorite deserts sitting beside a thermos of white hot chocolate. The soft light from the lit candles along with that of the moon and stars bathed the area in a warm glow.

"Oh Draco," Anya whispered, fighting back the tears. As much as she loved the attention he gave her, the endearment only made her feel worse about lying to him. She felt as if she was taking all his kind and caring gestures and throwing them back in his face, even if he didn't know it.

"There's something else," Draco smiled, thinking that the tears in her eyes were the result of how happy he made her. He led her to sit down before he hurried to the corner to return seconds later with a guitar in his hands. Taking a spot beside Anya, he gently began strumming the instrument before he began singing.

You know I'd fall apart without you
I don't know how you do what you do
Cause everything that don't make sense about me
Makes sense when I'm with you
Like everything that's green, girl I need you
But it's more than one and one makes two
Put aside the math and the logic of it
You gotta know you want it too

Cause I wanna wrap you up
Wanna kiss your lips
I wanna make you feel wanted
And I wanna call you mine
Wanna hold your hand forever
And never let you forget it
Yeah, I wanna make you feel wanted

Anyone can tell you you're pretty,
And you get that all the time, I know you do
But your beauty's deeper than the makeup
And I wanna show you what I see tonight

When I wrap you up
When I kiss your lips
I wanna make you feel wanted
And I wanna call you mine
Wanna hold your hand forever
Never let you forget it
Cause baby I wanna make you feel wanted

As good as you make me feel
I wanna make you feel better
Better than your fairy tales
Better than your best dreams
You're more than everything I need
You're all I ever wanted
All I ever wanted

And I just wanna wrap you up
Wanna kiss your lips
I wanna make you feel wanted
And I wanna call you mine
Wanna hold your hand forever
And never let you forget it
Yeah, I wanna make you feel wanted
Yeah, baby I wanna make you feel
Wanted
Cause you'll always be wanted

Anya did feel wanted. With Draco, she always felt loved and appreciated, as if she really was the only girl in the world. She was just worried about how long it would take until her lies caught up with her.


AC: This is seriously going to bite me in the ass, isn't it?

MMM: Can't tell you. You'll have to find out for yourself.

AC: *thinks on it* Yeah... it's gonna bite me in the ass. *walks off*

MMM: Hey! Hold on a second here! I need help walking! *limps off*

R&R! I'll try and have another chapter ready for Sunday.

Nancy (aka megamatchmaker)