NOTE: This chapter basically just serves as a filler to get us through most of the summer and set up the events for the next school year (Hello Yule Ball *.*), so sorry if there's not much happening.

"I'm so glad this is done," Juana sighed heavily as she let herself fall on the ground next to Jayla.

"How was it?" Jayla asked.

"It wasn't even that bad, to be honest. I think I even did well in Potions, thanks to your last minute help. You'll definitely be a great teacher."

That comment warmed Jayla's heart. She had been scared Juana would think she's boring when she mentioned that she wants to do well in her O.W.L.s because she's planning to stay at Hogwarts as a teacher, but her friend had been nothing but supportive, which Jayla was really grateful for.

"Freeeedom," a chorus of different voices came from behind them.

Upon turning back, the girls saw Lee, Fred and George running down hill to the lake. Panting, they stopped in front of the girls, Lee and Fred planting themselves opposite them, while George sat down next to Jayla. Their smile was so infectious Juana and Jayla couldn't help but grin too. George gently pumped his shoulder against Jayla's.

"Everything okay, future Professor Rosier?" he asked.

Jayla just nodded and let her head rest against his shoulder.

They spent the rest of the day sitting like that. George, Lee and Fred planning some last minute pranks they were planning to pull off during the last week in Hogwarts, while Juana told Jayla more about her summer plans with her Muggle parents.

The last week was over in a blink of an eye and the five of them were sharing a compartment in the Hogwarts Express on the way back to London. While the others were excitedly talking about upcoming trips and the Quidditch World Cup which was going to take place this summer, Jayla's stomach turned with every mile they put between them and the castle. Despite the stressful exams, this year had been the best Jayla had ever had at Hogwarts. Sure, the summer holidays only lasted for two months, but what if her friends would forget her during that time and it just won't be the same next year? Jayla couldn't even bear the thought of losing them again.

"Oh we're almost there," Juana exclaimed, a lot sooner than Jayla had wished. The other four excitedly grabbed their bags and trunks and headed out the door, while Jayla still remained seated. As soon as Juana realized Jayla was staying behind, she stopped in her tracks and turned around.

"You okay?" she asked gently.

"Yeah…I…" Jayla swallowed. "Just promise me we'll still be friends after the break, alright?"

"Oh don't be stupid!" Juana scolded her and pulled her into a hug.

Fred and George were sticking their heads back into the compartment too.

"Don't think you'll get rid of us this easily," they said simultaneously.

Jayla hugged each of them goodbye before grabbing her own stuff.

When leaving the train, Jayla saw the three of them immediately being greeted by their family, which made her smile and tear up at the same time. She quickly turned away from them and ran through the barrier to the Muggle part of King's Cross. Noone was waiting for her, as always, so she made her way to the tailor shop near Charing Cross Roads where she had spent last summer, helping out in the store and getting a room for free in exchange. She had left her parents' mansion in the middle of last summer and had never turned back. Her parents, glad they were rid of the bad patch in their family tree, had never objected or looked for her. Jayla had of course had to magically tweak some official documents a little, so she was officially of age in the Muggle world, enabling her to take on a job and rent a room. And if she was honest, she had loved being in the Muggle world over summer, away from anyone who might know her or her family's name. Here, she was just a random girl, working in a tailor shop in the middle of London over the summer month. During the last summer break, she had even started to love sewing. She loved creating things with her own hands, without any magic at hand to make it easier. She usually spent a lot of her free time at Hogwarts sketching out designs she could then sew with the leftover fabric the shop owner always offered her. This summer she'd definitely spend a bit of time sewing herself a Quidditch robe.

About a month had passed when Jayla was juggling a few yards of fabric through the streets of London. The tailor shop had run out of this specific one, so Jayla had been tasked to roam the fabric stores in the city to find it. It was this beautiful dark green soft tulle. And as summer was wedding season, it was one of the more popular ones at the moment. She was just trying to make it across the street without getting run over by a bus or bicycle, when she heard someone shout her name behind her. She turned around and saw Fred and George excitedly waving at her. Jayla took a step back from the street and put her bags of fabric down to greet them properly. They were accompanied by a man with ginger hair, Jayla assumed to be their father.

"Dad, this is Jayla. She's in our year, but in Slytherin," Fred explained.

Jayla cringed at the immediate mention of her house, expecting a remark from the man, but he just smiled and shook her hand as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Hello Jayla, I'm Arthur. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Jayla replied, smiling.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"Oh, we're just accompanying our dad to the ministry. He works there," George said and continued explaining which department their dad worked at and what he was doing here. Jayla was only listening half-heartedly though. She had thought she wouldn't see the boys for months and couldn't believe they were just standing right in front of her now. So she just stood there, smiling like an idiot, unable to make her brain focus on the conversation.

"But what are you doing in Muggle London?" Fred got her out of her thoughts.

"I live here." Jayla bit her lips. She hadn't told anyone from the magical world where she lived over summer. But she felt like the two of them deserved to know.

"I moved away from home last summer for obvious reasons and now I'm staying and working at this tailor shop sewing dresses over the summer break. I get a bit of pocket money as well, which enables me to buy my school supplies and a few nice extra things for myself," Jayla explained, ready to continue, but Arthur interrupted her: "You know how to use a Muggle sewing machine? That is amazing!" His excitement confused Jayla. Usually wizards thought Muggle things to be far superior, but their dad seemed genuinely curious about it, so she tried to explain a few of the functions to him and what she was doing at the shop. Arthur kept asking the weirdest questions, while Fred and George were shooting her apologetic looks, but after a while he looked at his watch in shock.

"Blimey, how time flies during interesting conversations!" he exclaimed. "Come on, boys, or we will be late!"

"It was nice seeing you again," Jayla said to Fred and George before they were ushered off by their dad.

A few days later, Jayla was just putting the finishing touches on a bridesmaid dress, when the bell above the shop's door rang, announcing the arrival of a new customer. As she was alone in the shop, Jayla got up from her table and walked to the front room.
"Welcome, how can I help…? Juana! What are you doing here?" Jayla immediately ran to hug her friend.

"Fred and George told me you work in a tailor shop in London and as I live here too I thought I'd check out a few to see if I can find you," she explained. "Sorry if I've overwhelmed you, but I was just so excited when I heard that one of my friends from Hogwarts is in London too as everyone else usually lives in magical communities. Oh all the exciting things we can do! Do you like theatre or musicals? Or we could go to the zoo or just shopping or…" Juana was talking so fast Jayla had a hard time following her.

"Woah, calm down," Jayla laughed. "We have more than enough time this summer and in the coming ones."

"True," Juana admitted. "You're still invited for dinner at my place today when you get off work, though."

Jayla just shook her head and smiled.

"I get off at 5 today."

Jayla was just as excited as Juana to be have a friend to spend the rest of the break with, it was just something so new to her that she wasn't sure how to react. And Juana's own excitement confused her a bit. She seemed to have quite a few friends at Hogwarts, so why was she so invested in her friendship with a Slytherin instead of any of the popular girls like Angelina.

Shortly after 5pm, Jayla was standing in front of the address Juana had given her. She had never been invited over to a friend's house, unless it had been for one of their parents' fancy dinners that were just about showing off how noble everyone was, so she was really nervous. Hesitantly, she pressed the doorbell as was greeted by a short kind-looking woman in her 30s. "Oh, you must be Jayla. Nice to meet you! I'm Leanne. Nice to meet you," the woman greeted her. "You can just go upstairs to Juana's room and I'll call when dinner is ready. I hope vegetable pie is okay for you?"

"Sounds perfect, thank you," Jayla replied before she walked up the stairs. Juana was already waiting at the top, leading Jayla into her room. The girls let themselves fall onto Juana's bed, both feeling a bit awkward with no idea how to start a conversation. Jayla was looking around the room, trying to find something she could use as a conversation starter.

Both of them were saved by an owl tapping against Juana's window.

"Oh that's the Weasleys' owl," Juana said. "It's the one that brought me the letter telling me about you being here in London."

Juana went to the window and took the letter. The owl patiently waited until he had taken a biscuit out of one of the drawers before it flew off again.

"This is actually addressed to you," the Hufflepuff announced, while handing Jayla the letter.

Confused, Jayla turned the envelope. It indeed had her name on, but Juana's address and had been sent from the Burrow. Her heart started to beat a little faster when she recognised George's handwriting and she tore the letter open:

Hey girls.

I'm sure you're having a lot of fun, but we might have something even more exciting to tell you. Mum and dad have tried to stay secretive about it, but there is apparently something huge going on at Hogwarts next year, which includes a ball. At least they went dress shopping with Ginny and got our dress robes altered. So you girls might want to plan a shopping trip sooner rather than later.

P.S. We didn't know what the Muggles at your place would think of an owl coming by, so we thought it'd be safer to send it to Juana's.

P.P.S. Tell you're Muggles that you'll need a few days off starting on the 18th August. Meet us at King's Cross at 7am.

Stay mischievous,

Fred and George

"Oh my God, a ball at Hogwarts?" Juana, who had read the letter over Jayla's shoulder exclaimed. "What do you reckon the big event is?"

"I have no idea," Jayla said

"Anyway, the much bigger question is, who of the twins will be your date?" Juana asked with a huge smile on her face.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be asked by anyone," the Slytherin shook her head. "I'm sure we'll all have fun hanging out at the prom together, but I definitely won't be anyone's official date."

Juana didn't look too convinced, but let it drop.

"It's pretty clear who are you going with, though, isn't it?"

"What, me?" Juana asked confused. "Oh, you mean Jaxon? No we definitely decided we're just friends."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jayla replied.

"It's okay. We're definitely better off that way. I never really fancied him to be honest, but you know…" Juana hesitated.

"Know what?" Jayla raised an eyebrow.

"Well…I've never been the most popular girl at Hogwarts, in fact, I actually get bullied regularly, so just having a boy interested in me felt super new and exciting," Juana explained.

"But you have so many friends!"
"You are pretty much my only really close friend," Juana admitted. "I mean, I hang out with Angelina and her girls and sometimes with Fred and George, but I'm pretty much just following them around. You're the only one I have deeper conversations with."

Jayla had no idea what to reply. It now started to make sense why Juana had been so excited to find her at the shop. She had always felt like maybe Juana was just hanging out with her because she wanted to be nice, but hearing that she was pretty much in the same boat as Jayla made her appreciate the girl even more.

"You know what?" Jayla started, wanting to swing the conversation in a happier direction. "Let's grab some papers and start designing our dream dresses for the ball. We're gonna have the best time there together and look fantastic!"

That put a huge smile on Juana's face.

From then on, the girls spent almost all of their time designing and sewing the dresses, talking about everything while being almost drowned in the heaps of tulle Jayla decided to use for her dress. Their first meeting might have started off a little awkward, but now the girls never had a problem finding a topic to talk about. Being with Juana just felt so natural to Jayla as she could just really be herself.