September 1st, 1994, Avery was striding through Kings Cross Station, pushing a trolley which bore her over-sized school trunk. Today, sporting a platinum bob and green eyes, she walked with a sense of determination towards the barrier separating platforms nine and ten. She was alone, as she had insisted on taking a taxi on her own to the train station. It was the first day of her fourth year at Hogwarts, and she was determined for it to be a better year than the previous one. This seemed to call for her to make the trip to the Hogwarts Express alone as to avoid an awkward trip with either- or Merlin forbid both- of her parents, which would undoubtedly set her year off to a bad start. Luckily for Avery, they had been more than willing to allow her to make the trip on her own. They had more pressing things to attend to, it seemed.

Of course, thoughts of the previous year floated to her mind as she went, but she did her best to bat them away, as if they were persistent flies that she could eventually deter, rather than her own inescapable and erratic thoughts.

What if I see… them? She thought.

Then you'll ignore them like you did the entire last half of third year, Came another, more confident voice in her head.

After she had destroyed all recipes and prototypes for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes last January in a fit of rage, things inevitably changed between her and the Weasley twins, who she had previously considered her best friends. She had thrown all their work into the fire, momentarily feeling triumphant and that they had deserved what they got for wrecking her chances of making the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. For lying to her and manipulating her for their benefit. But then she felt a mounting panic that maybe she was sinking to their level by destroying their work, by destroying their dream. But by the time her anger had ebbed away and she thought of this, it was far too late. The parchment had turned to ash and the taffies had been melted into unrecognizable bits of goo. She knew no way, magic or otherwise, to set things right. After a few more tears, she reasoned to herself that what was done was done and that it was certainly no worse than what they had done to her. Although she never really convinced herself of that, she left the room of requirement that night and maintained that they deserved their lot to this day.

It surprised Avery that the twins did not chastise her for what she had done the following day, or even the day after that. She had expected them to try to find her and scream at her in the corridors or at meal times. But, they were instead attempting to apologize to her. They even offered to tell Cedric what they had done and try to set it right. Avery ignored them. She would dart into classes to avoid them, or leave the Great Hall hungry. She felt there was nothing they could say to make it up to her. And, even if there was, she wouldn't want them to do it, because then she would really have to feel guilty over wrecking the snackboxes. Finally, on the third day following her decimation of the skiving snackboxes, Fred confronted her. From the way he was yelling it seemed that they had only just went to the room of requirement and discovered everything was missing.

"What. Did. You. Do?" he snarled at her as she was leaving her Charms class, heading for Defense Against the Dark Arts. She stared at him blankly.

"Where is everything? The recipes? The prototypes? What have you done with them?" he growled at her. Other students were jostling by the pair, frozen in the middle of passageway, giving them reproachful looks.

"I burned them," Avery glowered back, trying to keep her voice even. Fred started yelling, mostly things that Avery couldn't remember now- or perhaps had repressed- but she remembered very vividly how he looked her in the eye and cried "How could you do that to us?"

Avery held his gaze. It was difficult to look into his hazel eyes, which she had always so liked. They were filled with hate and malice for her now. But, she determinedly lifted her chin and echoed his words back to him: "There. We're even now."

She did not know if the significance of those words hit him or not. If he realized she had been quoting him the night he and his twin helped her retrieve Cho Chang's notes from the library. She doubted, especially now, if she would ever know. It was the last interaction Avery had with either of the twins. The rest of the year, Avery avoided them as best she could. Of course it was inevitable that they should sometimes pass each other in the corridors or see each other at mealtimes, but they kept their distance from one another. Avery did notice, however, that George sometimes seemed to be trying to catch her eye. She had gotten the feeling that he did not blame her for taking her revenge, or, at least did not blame her quite as much as Fred did.

Avery attempted to be stealthy as she leaned against the barrier. She did not want to attract attention from the swarms of muggles who were hurrying around her on the way to their own trains. When she was sure no one was looking, she slipped through the barrier with her trolley and found herself on platform 9¾s. Avery hurried along the train, eventually finding an empty carriage and heaving her trunk into it. She took a seat and sighed. She looked about the compartment, and then out onto the platform. Normally, she sat with Marilyn on the way to school. But she wasn't friends with Marilyn any more, either. Like with the twins, Avery had done her best to avoid her former best friend the latter half of her third year. However, this had been considerably more difficult since they shared a house and a dormitory. Nonetheless, that hadn't had a real conversation since their Divination lesson, where Marilyn told her what the twins had done. Their relationship had been relegated to pleasantries, and, like her relationship with the twins, she doubted it would ever improve.

She watched several familiar faces, as well as many students she didn't recognize, walk about the platform and say goodbye to their families. She was distracted from watching what she guessed was a first year wishing a tearful goodbye to their parents when she heard her compartment door sliding open.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" said a small girl with huge brown eyes and mousy brown hair. It was Anne, the girl who had beaten her out for Hufflepuff Keeper the year before. Avery had lent Anne her broomstick for the school year when she was awarded the position, and Anne had always been very friendly with her after that.

"Of course," Avery said with a small smile. "Need any help with your trunk?"

"If you wouldn't mind!" Anna replied gratefully. Avery stood and helped her lift it onto the shelf above her seat.

"Thank you, um… Sorry, I don't think I know your name," Anne said. Avery chuckled.

"It's me, Avery Stone."

"Oh! Of course. Didn't recognize you today. Did you have a nice summer?"

Avery shrugged in response and returned the question.

"I got a new broom! A Nimbus!" Anne beamed in response. This clearly was an affirmative answer. "I can't wait for this season! Are you trying out again?"

Avery very nearly snorted in response, but she was able to stop herself just in time. She didn't want to be rude to or take out her frustrations on Anne. She was a sweet girl and had done nothing wrong. She was a good flier and a good keeper. Though Avery liked to think things would be different if Fred hadn't confunded her during her try out, that fact was undeniable and there was no sense in begrudging Anne her talent.

"I don't think there are any positions available," Avery replied quietly.

"Actually there is! I mean, it's not for keeper. But Tamsin decided not to play this year. She wants to focus on her NEWTS. I think you should go for it!"

Avery stared at her. She hadn't heard that Tamsin was quitting the team. And while chaser was not the ideal position for Avery, who had always focused on training as a keeper, it was still better than not being able to play at all.

"You know, maybe I will," Avery told her, smiling. Shortly after, the train lurched forward and they were on their way back to Hogwarts. Anne and Avery made polite conversation, mostly about house matters and Quidditch. Eventually Anne asked if Avery had attended the World Cup over the Summer.

"No. I was pretty disappointed at first, but after I found out what happened…" Avery began, shuddering. The Cup had been disturbed by Death Eaters, wearing their old masks and robes, terrorizing a muggle family, and someone conjuring a Dark Mark in the sky. Avery had read about this incident and the chaos that had ensued in the Daily Prophet.

"Same here," Anne said with a grim expression. "Can you imagine? What sort of people would do something like that?"

At that moment Avery couldn't help but notice a group passing by their compartment- the majority of them were Slytherins, but she also noticed a pale skinned girl with freckles and dark brown hair walking with them; Marilyn, one of her ex-best-friends.

"You'd be surprised," Avery said with a sigh, turning back to Anne and raising her eyebrows.

The rest of the journey passed by without much incident. A few times the carriage door slid open and someone said hello to Anne. When this happened, Avery took to staring out the window at the passing countryside. She thought about potentially trying out for the quidditch team again. She thought about the classes she would be starting, and what identities she might assume and for what purposes- she tried hard to think about anything other than seeing Fred, George, or Marilyn, and how to act if she did.

Avery was still staring out the window when the door slid open again. This time, the voice that rang out was familiar.

"Hello, Hufflepuffs," she heard Cedric say. She could he was grinning as he said this, even before she spun around to see him.

"Hello, Ced! How was your Summer?" Anne replied, with a small wave.

"Alright, alright. And yours?"

"I got a new broom! A nimbus!" Anne said again. Avery had a feeling Anne's motivation in asking people how their summer went was in large part so she could squeak out this exciting bit of news when they reciprocated.

"Wonderful! I suppose that means you'll have your broom all to yourself this year, Avery," Cedric said, turning to her. "Plan on trying out with it?"

"Erm," Avery stammered. Cedric was smiling at her, genuinely. She had expected him to hold a grudge against her since she had been caught by him wandering the castle after dark last year, holding a bottle of firewhiskey. However, Cedric seemed to have forgotten this incident rather quickly. For the first couple days after Avery burned the skiving snackboxes, Cedric had been somewhat chilly towards Avery in the common room. Not that she went out of her way to interact with him, anyway. But, he didn't beam at her like he normally did, or make polite conversation with her while she cajoled the plants in the common room for answers to her homework. But, the third day, her had been the one to step in and break up her row with Fred.

After she had told him they were even, Fred broke into a loud stream of curses. He was redder than Avery had ever seen him, but she was determined to hold her ground. She heard Cedric telling other students get out of his way behind her. He was trying to get over to them to break it up. She didn't really realize it was him though until her had made his way through the crowd and stepped between them. Avery vaguely remembered Fred saying something about Cedric being a "pretty boy," "a git," and that he should "mind his own," but Cedric insisted that Fred leave Avery alone, or he would give him a detention. Fred threw up his hands and stormed away from them.

When he'd gone, Cedric turned to her and asked her if she was alright. Avery nodded numbly but said nothing.

"Mind if I walk you to class?" Cedric asked. His earlier frostiness seemed to have subsided upon seeing Fred cursing her. Avery shrugged and Cedric took that as assent. He walked her to class, reassuring her that if she wanted to take the matter to their head of house, or to Fred's head of house, he would go with her as a witness.

"No, it's alright, Ced. I deserve it," Avery finally said as they came upon her Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"No you don't, Avery. Don't talk like that," Cedric told her firmly. However, he never brought it up again. Avery half wondered if Cedric had put things together. If he had realized that it was due to the Weasley twins that she had been out late that night and gotten the firewhiskey from them, and that this probably wouldn't be a problem any more since their friendship had clearly ended. But, whatever he had realized or not realized, he did revert to how he had treated her before the incident, and Avery was grateful for it.

"Erm, I think I might," Avery said, nodding to Cedric, who was still standing in the doorway of the compartment, smiling down at her.

"I'd be glad if you did. I'll let you know when we're holding tryouts. Anyway, I'm on patrol duty so I better get back to it. See you at the feast!" He waved and shut the sliding door behind him.

"I hear he and Cho aren't seeing each other any more," came Anne's voice from across the carriage. Avery turned her head to look at her, surprised.

"Oh?"

"Yup," Anne said, smirking. "It was never really a serious thing, anyway. She was seeing another boy from her house while she was seeing Cedric last year, and after a while they just sort of… Stopped seeing each other."

"Alright… Thanks for the information but I don't like the way you're smirking. Just quit it, alright?" Avery said, flushing pink. "I hate that it's that obvious."

Anne said nothing, but she did stop smirking.

Shortly after, the two changed into their robes, and only a few minutes after that their train pulled into station. Together, the two exited the train and set about finding a carriage. Avery always hated this; to everyone else, they were horseless carriages which propelled themselves up to the castle. Avery, however, could see that it was actually thestrals pulling them along. They were skeletal, horse-like creatures that one could only see if they had seen death. Avery hated being reminded of what she had seen.

They climbered into a carriage with a few other Hufflepuffs, and were soon after taking their seats at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall. After the sorting, Avery and the other students ate greedily. When the remnants of dessert had magically dissipated from their plates, Dumbledore stood and began making announcements. It was only after he had already made a few regarding Filch and the forest being out of bounds that Avery really began paying attention.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Avery's head whipped up to look at Dumbledore. She heard murmured around her from her fellow students, who also all seemed to be waiting for the punchline to this awful joke. Dumbledore continued.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy- but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

At that moment, the thunder rumbled overhead and the doors to the Great Hall opened with a great bang.

A man in a cloak was standing in the doorway, and began making his way up toward the teachers table. Every other step the man took made a clunking sound, and Avery was able to see his face, illuminated by lightning. It was Alastor Moody, or Mad-Eye Moody as he was better known. An Auror with the ministry of magic, Avery recognized him from seeing him around the ministry or talking to her parents, as they interacted often due to their overlap at work.

After Moody had taken his seat and Dumbledore introduced him as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he returned to his prior announcement.

"We have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"YOU'RE JOKING," came Fred's voice, ringing through the hall. Avery couldn't help but whirl around and look at him. He was sitting not far from her, across the aisle at the Gryffindor table. He looked as handsome as he ever did, even with the shocked expression stretching his features. Dumbledore had gone on to tell him he was not joking, when Fred began to turn, presumably to his twin, when he saw Avery looking at him. He paused and looked back at her. He did not seem angry to see her, but Avery assume this was because he was distracted with the news of the tournament, and averted her gaze.

Dumbledore went on to explain what the tournament was to those who didn't know, and that a new rule had been initiated, disallowing anyone who was under 17 to submit their names to the tournament. He then dismissed them, and everyone began to stand. The Hufflepuffs were already whispering excitedly, several of them clapping Cedric on the back and telling him he ought to submit his name. Avery also overheard George at the next table saying "they can't do that!" and Fred stubbornly saying "they're not stopping me entering."

Avery shook her head. She was disappointed that, once again, there was no chance of her being able to play for the house quidditch team. However, as she watched more Hufflepuffs approaching Cedric on his way to the common room to insist he enter, she was excited at the prospect of what potential the year held for her. She hoped herself that Cedric would enter the competition, and that she might have the opportunity and the courage to grow closer to him. But, yet again, Avery did not pay attention to the telltale storm raging on the magical ceiling.