Dear Annie,

I apologize for my sudden disappearance. But given the circumstances, I had to leave and start making managements for the coven.

I know you wanted to question me from what had been happening, but I am sorry to inform you you'll have to wait until summer begins. It is unfair to you, but I ought to say this conversation cannot be written on paper. Is too much important and I fear the Ministry will start rummaging through everyone's mail.

I can only give you an advice: stay close to your friends

Please trust me,
N. Rosenberg.

PS. I will come for you outside the barrier on King's Cross.


"Do you think we'll ever just have a quiet year at Hogwarts?"

James snorted. "Is your school, you both should know by now."

Despite the grave events two weeks ago, the weather didn't continue to be dull and grey. As the month came to an end, the sun shone brightly above the clouds. I would like to often think Cedric was smiling upon us, as his almost brightened the bad mood in every circumstance.

Harry has desolated himself from the world, and his only company had been Hermione and Ron. We continued to talk, but I believe he did forcedly. The both of us couldn't help but always remember that night without seeing each other.

I tried my best to not let everyone see how this affected me. But I think people noticed the change. After all, when has Anya Barton been all cheerily, and worst, when Hogwarts was mourning?

With the help of Professor McGonagall, I was put into an Illusion Charm. No one was supposed to know about my involvement at all, and as the change of color in my eyes was quite obvious, people will become suspicious. Hence this, Mr. Dumbledore requested it to hide it to all the student body. The only ones whom could see the icy color were the caster and myself.

Currently, we didn't have DADA classes, so we had a lot of free time and Neville and I spend a our time outside with James (which he loves, by the way).

"Trolls, three-headed dogs, cursed diaries, dragons… I could keep going on and on, but – it is Hogwarts, after all," I announced from where I was resting. The three of us had taken a liking to the Lake, reason why you can find us either talking or sleeping here.

"Yes, you never know what will happen next," said Neville thoughtfully from my left side. "But, if it was normal, it wouldn't be home, after all."

"To believe I thought this place would be boring," James said from my other side.

"Aaahh!" I cooed. "Does that mean you'll miss us?"

"Nope. Only Neville."

"What about Ginny, then?" piped said boy. To my surprise, and to everyone's that are reading this, he blushed. Great Scott! He really blushed! And more brightly than a tomato!

"James likes Ginny, James likes Ginny, James likes Ginny!" Neville and I chanted. Grunting, James turned his back to us.

"Shuddup!"


The final evening on Hogwarts arrived. As much as I tried to avoid it, James convinced me to go this time.

"Believe me, it is worthy," he had said with a grim expression. "And bring something black."

Perhaps it was because I really had been trying to ignore all that I didn't understand why he asked me to wear black, and at the time I didn't question him. But the moment Neville and I entered the Great Hall; I realized with a pang on my heart the why.

Instead of the colorful banners of the Houses, I was greeted with gray. Gray walls. Gray table clothes. Gray banners. Even the ceiling was a cloudy gray. Except for the large banner with the Hogwarts' crest (which was gray) behind the teachers table.

I realized sadly, this was their way to pay respect to Cedric Diggory.

James was waiting for us with the rest of the Weasleys, the twins' friend Lee Jordan, Hermione and Harry. Each of them was wearing a black tie like me. Minus James: the snarky boy was wearing a black suit, and for once, he didn't make an obvious comment.

Mr. Dumbledore stood up, and if the Great Hall had been rather quiet before, it seemed that every soul had quieted down.

"The end of another year," he said slowly as his eyes swept around the Hall until they settled on the Hufflepuff table. There had to be the saddest of all of this, and I felt remorse because I hadn't thought of them at all. They had known Cedric longer than all of us. I didn't even hear of him until Oliver Wood had declared him a public menace for his win!

"There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight," Mr. Dumbledore continued, "but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," he gestured toward the Hufflepuffs, "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."

As one, all the students and teachers stood, the benches scraping as we got up. We all raised our goblets, and echoed, in a single, low, rumbling voice, "Cedric Diggory."

Through the crowd, I spotted Cho standing by the Ravenclaw table. Tears poured steadily down her face and she was sniffling. Once again, I felt remorse. Before, I had been jealous of her, but now… I felt ashamed…

"Cedric was the kind of person that exerted many of the qualities distinguished by Hufflepuff House," Mr. Dumbledore announced softly. "He was a kind and loyal friend, a hard worker, and he placed a high value on fair play. His death has no doubt affected you all deeply, whether you personally knew him or not. Therefore, I think you all have the right to know the exact cause of death."

I snapped my head towards him. Was he –?

"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

I think someone actually swooned. Panicked whispers – almost yells – swept the Great Hall. I looked around quickly, seeing many of the students staring at Dumbledore in horrific disbelief. He watched them with a perfectly calm expression as they slowly muttered themselves back into silence.

"The Ministry of Magic had not wished for me to inform you of such a thing," Dumbledore continued once more. "I know it's possible some of your parents will be furious that I have told you, either because they think I shouldn't tell students so young as you or because they do not want to believe Lord Voldemort has actually returned. However, I believe that telling a lie is not the presumable way of handling such situations, and that attempting to pretend Cedric died from some bizarre accident would be a great insult to his memory."

Except for Malfoy and his apes, every single student (albeit frightened and seeming reluctant to) focused all their attention on Mr. Dumbledore.

"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's death," Mr. Dumbledore went on. "I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter."

A kind of ripple crossed the Great Hall as a few heads turned in Harry's direction.

"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort," said Mr. Dumbledore. "He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him."

Like Mr. Dumbledore, I raised my goblet towards him and murmured his name. Everyone followed suit, except for all the Slytherins.

Once everyone had resumed their seats once more, Dumbledore continued on with his speech, "The aim of the TriWizard Tournament was to promote magical understanding between the nationalities and now, in the wake of Voldemort's return to power, such ties between our schools is more important than ever it was before."

Mr. Dumbledore turned his gaze from Madame Maxime and Hagrid, to Fleur Delacour and the other Beauxbaton students, to Viktor Krum and the Durmstrangs at the Slytherin table. All of them – even James – wore a weary expression, as if waiting for a verdict from our Headmaster.

"Every guest in this hall tonight," Mr. Dumbledore said, his eyes lingering on the Durmstrang students, "is welcomed back here at Hogwarts at any time they wish to come. I will say this once again to you all - in light of Lord Voldemort's resurrection we are all only as strong as we are united and as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift of spreading discord and distrust is very great. We will be able to fight it only if we show an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing if our goals are identical and our hearts open."

James sagged in obvious relief. Ginny rubbed his shoulder soothingly.

"It's my belief that we're all facing dark and difficult times ahead. A few of you here in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort himself. Many of your families could have been torn apart already. And yet just a week has passed since we have lost a student..."

"And remember Cedric, remember him how he was. Remember, should the time come when you have to make the choice between what is right and what is easy, remember the fate of the boy who was good, kind, and brave, because he strayed across Lord Voldemort's path. Remember Cedric Diggory."


I snapped shut my trunk. Sighing, I realized I had already packed everything: from my posters of Paramore and the Holyhead Harpies to my books and robes. Caleb was fast asleep on his small cage, and besides it, rested Billy the bunny.

Feeling alone (Hermione has already left), I grabbed it and walked over to the middle. Five sets of beds with each of them our initials glared at me. 'HG', 'LB', 'PP', one empty bed that didn't seem to be habituated at all, and mine 'AB'.

"So this is it?" I said out loud. "What do you think? Are we ready for another adventure?" I turned down to look at the plush toy.

It remained silent as the room.


Everyone was saying goodbye to their friends, and to Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students. I caught a glimpse of Fleur Delacour leaving her best wishes to Harry and smiling to Ron. Hermione was scowling at her, and I couldn't help but chuckle. Didn't she remember Fleur was a Veela, or what?

Shaking my head, I came to stop at Neville's side.

"What are you going to do this summer?" I asked.

Jumping, Neville looked at me in surprise.

"Well – I suppose I will be with my Gran."

I blinked. "That's it?" he nodded. "Neville, you haven't anything else to do? Go to somewhere, or –"

"– Neville, my dear friend, I would recommend you to start wooing the ladies. Believe me, that innocent face of yours will attract them like mosquitos!"

Rolling our eyes, we both moved a little aside as James put himself on the middle between us.

"The only mosquito here is you," I muttered.

"And Romilda Vane, it seems," Neville pointed out to a pillar. A second year girl with long curly black hair was staring from a pillar to where Harry, Hermione and Ron sat. And she was making goo-goo eyes at Harry. Though, she blushed brightly when she noticed the three of us staring at her. With a small wave at James, she disappeared as quickly as lightning.

"Why do we always seem to attract strange people?" I wondered. Both boys shrugged as we approached the trio.

"Wonder how the Durmstrang students are getting back," Ron was saying. "D' you reckon they can steer that ship without Karkaroff?"

James scoffed as we heard a voice say, "Karkaroff did not steer. He stayed in his cabin and let us do the vork."

"Now you all know why Karkaroff was a son of a –"

"James!" called a voice interrupting him. Something red hit me on the face, and next we all knew, Ginny Weasley was dragging away a bewildered James.

Neville smiled knowingly. "I better watch out if I were you, Ron."

"Wha –"

"Meaning you are going to beat him –" I pointed to the happy pair. Ginny seemed to be giving James a scroll and he in turn gave her a tiny bit of parchment. Surprising us, she jumped and gave him a hug. It was hilarious to see him gaping. "– to death." And for the dramatic effect, I pulled my hand into a gun and mouthed 'PUM'.

Ron frowned. Trying to figure it out, he didn't even notice Viktor Krum steer Hermione away.

"One would think he would understand this," Neville said smiling.

"But it is Ron, after all," Harry agreed.

Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw James.

"I already said goodbye to her," he started. Frowning, he scratched the back of his head.

"So, this is goodbye?" I nodded sadly. I may have known him for a short time, but I was going to miss him dearly. Even if he was a pain to me sometimes, this boy helped me a lot when he wasn't aware of it.

Except… there was this strange light on his eyes that I didn't like one bit.

"It is goodbye… right?" I stepped away from him, warily.

James smirked.

"It was nice to meet you, Potter," he shook Harry's hand, the smirk still on place. He turned to Neville. "Mate, I will write to you."

"Good to know," Neville commented.

"Oi… you didn't answer," I complained.

"Well Bunny, haven't you heard that little quote – what was it? Oh, yes!" he snapped his fingers. James was walking backwards, and I followed him closely. "'Is never a goodbye, only a see you later', or something like that."

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed. "Wait – James! Don't you dare to let me here!"

With a joyous laugh, James ran away from us. And I followed him close.

Last thing I heard from Neville was, "Here we go again."


Harry's POV

"Very clever, Granger," Draco Malfoy said. Flanking him as always, were Crabbe and Goyle. The three of them looked more smug an arrogant than before.

"So, you caught some pathetic reporter, and Potter's Dumbledore's favorite boy again. Big deal."

His smirk widened and behind him, Crabbe and Goyle leered at us.

"Are you trying not to think about it, then?" Malfoy asked softly, looking around the compartment. "Are you trying to pretend it hasn't actually happened?"

"Get out," I snapped.

Since I last saw him whispering to Crabbe and Goyle when Dumbledore made his speech regarding Cedric, I had been itching to punch him on the face. It sounded better than hexing him to oblivion, but just in case, I snatched my hand into my robes, the thin familiar wood settling perfectly on my palm.

"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!" He jerked his head at Ron and Hermione. "Too late now. Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well - second - Diggory was the f-"

Then everything exploded. I was reminded of the time I went to Annie's house; like that time, I couldn't see anything past the thick smoke, except hear the deafening yells on the tiny space. Bangs ricocheted on the walls, and when it all stopped, I had to look down.

The three Slytherins lay unconscious on the floor, each of them looking worse than before. The smoke was still surrounding us, Hermione coughed roughly.

"Aeris," someone whispered.

In an instant, the smoke flew to one side and we all saw each other's faces.

Fred and George had their wands pointed at the floor; besides George, Neville had his wand out too, and was possibly looking shocked that his spell had worked; at the head of Malfoy, Annie was pointing her wand to the roof, and the smoke suddenly went to her wand and absorbed it like Aunt Petunia's vacuum cleaner.

"Thought we'd see what those three were up to," said Fred matter-of-factly, stepping onto Goyle and into the compartment.

"We both just found you," Neville cleared. "And we found Malfoy –"

"– and that was all we needed to know that we found you," Annie finished.

"Interesting effect," said George, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"

"Me," I mumbled.

"Odd," said George lightly. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor."

Ron, George and me kicked the trio until they rolled to the corridor, and we all sat on the compartment.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" asked Fred, pulling out a pack of cards.

They were halfway through their fifth game when I remembered something.

"You going to tell us, then?" I said to George. "Who you were blackmailing?"

"Oh, that."

"It doesn't matter," Fred said, shaking his head impatiently. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."

"We've given up," shrugged George.

"Oh, come on, you can tell us," Annie said in a rather melodious voice. I almost gaped, but thankfully nobody noticed. "After all, haven't you both said it wasn't important anymore?"

Fred's lip twitched slightly. I wasn't the only one who noticed the change. Neville was staring at Annie as if trying to figure it out.

"All right," Fred sighed. Annie didn't blink, but there was a glint of triumph in her altered eyes, "all right, if you really want to know… it was Ludo Bagman."

"Bagman?" I turned sharply to them, all change on Annie forgotten. "Are you saying he was involved in -?"

"Nah," said George gloomily. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."

"Well, what, then?" Ron asked annoyed.

Fred hesitated, then said, "You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"

"Yeah," we said slowly. Neville was blinking confusedly between all of us.

"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."

"So?"

"So it vanished, didn't it? By next morning, it had gone!" Fred snapped.

"But - it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" said Neville. Hermione nodded enthusiastically beside me.

George laughed very bitterly.

"Yeah, that's what we thought, at first. We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."

"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," said Fred. "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."

"So we asked for our money back," said George glowering.

"He didn't refuse!" gasped Hermione.

"Right in one," said Fred.

"But that was all your savings!" Ron exclaimed.

"Tell me about it," George sighed. "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"

"How?" Annie asked, slightly looking interested.

"He put a bet on you, mate," Fred nodded at me gloomily. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."

"So that's why he kept trying to help me win!" I exclaimed. It all actually fit in! "Well - I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"

"Nope," George said, shaking his head. "The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task."

George sighed deeply and started dealing out the cards again.


Anya's POV

Too soon for my taste, the Hogwarts Express arrived at King's Cross. I wished there was more time to spend with my friends, but I too wanted to get away from all this drama.

Following Hermione and Ron outside – and trying to not get hit with their trunks – Neville and I sneaked to where all the trunks were usually put.

"Unbelievable," I muttered as I held Caleb's cage. "Hours travelling – and you still are asleep!"

Neville chuckled as he clutched Trevor on another cage. "I wished Trevor was that way," he said fondly.

"Well, your toad is just a bachelor," I waved a hand, dismissing it. "He likes his freedom too much for his own good. And this little one," I pointed at my owl, "he's too lazy for even trying that."

"Neville!" a woman's voice called.

Turning around, I saw an old woman looking sternly all over the station. I had to blink a lot of times to see if I was not seeing hallucinations. Neville didn't exaggerate one bit when he put some exotic clothes on Boggart Snape on our third year. In fact, the woman was wearing the very same vulture hat that he had imagined.

"That's my Gran," Neville sighed. "I better go."

I nodded and stepped to give him a hug. Awkwardly, he did the same.

"Write to me, okay?" I mumbled on his shoulder.

"Count on it," he told me. With a last wave, he disappeared through the crowd.

When I passed through the barrier, I quickly distinguished Harry's uncle and Mrs. Weasley (whom was standing a few feet away) and hugging Harry.

Once I was beside Hermione, Ron clapped his back saying, "See you, Harry."

"'Bye, Harry!" said Hermione, and she did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Harry - thanks," George muttered, while Fred nodded fervently at his side. I raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior, but then dismissed it as it was my turn.

"Hope to see you soon, wonder boy," I whispered when hugging him. And like Hermione, I kissed his other cheek. My lips lingered there for a few seconds until I stepped away. No one noticed my slip.

After saying goodbye to all the Weasleys and Hermione, I went to sit to a bench to wait for Natasha.

"Bye Anne!" Dean Thomas yelled from across the platform. He was waving energetically his arm. His mother slapped his hand down once she noticed everyone was looking at him with scolding gazes.

Smiling, I waved back.

After that, I became bored. Minutes passed… and still, Natasha didn't arrive. Tapping my foot against the pavement, I watched as a family of four walked by. The father had his son on his shoulders while the mother had their baby on her arms. They were all smiling.

Would it end? What change would bring Voldemort's return? The Muggles weren't aware of the Wizarding World, and our wars would probably damage any normalcy they knew.

And as I remember now… what would his return meant to me?

The dream with the mirror – it had been Tom Riddle whom I saw there. It wasn't my dad at all. This thought only added my want to question. Why dad looks like Riddle? They obviously aren't the same person. Could it be they are related?

The mere answer held too many secrets to reveal. It all made my head hurt.

Someone tapped my shoulder, making me sigh in relief.

"Hey, what took you so –"

I froze.

It wasn't Natasha like I expected.

"Professor?"

TO BE CONTINUED…


Wait for Anya and her friends' next adventure.

Anya Barton Book Five: Just One More Lie