It was about 1 month into the school year and Riley had avoided getting detention, making a fool of herself in front of the whole school, or getting on the bad side of any of the teachers; she even managed to get through Snape who was hard to impress if your weren't a Slytherin. She kept in touch with all her friends and family back home and returned their mail right when she got them. It was a Saturday morning and by then all the students were accustomed to seeing Riley jog around the school grounds twice every morning. It was to bad that Discmans wouldn't work on Hogwarts grounds. She usually did her morning jog listening to music on it. But, she was quite happy with the sound of the wing whistling through her ears and the calm lake water rippling as the giant squid floated close to the top of the lake.

Riley jogged by Hagrid's cabin and waved to him and Fang. They waved back and Hagrid smiled at her happily. Riley had made good friends with Hagrid when Harry introduced her to him. He's been very good company for tea every now and then. Riley went down the grounds a little before she turned around to head back up for the school. Once she got to the portrait of the Fat Lady she immediately said the password in order to sit down somewhere quickly.

"Cat whisker." Riley panted the new password out.

"You are looking quite drenched young lady." The Fat Lady said, as she swung open. Riley walked into the common room and plopped herself and her sports gear and Nikes on a sofa next to the fireplace that wasn't letting out any fire at the moment, which was a good thing. From the couch beside her Seamus said, ---

"What? Out for another jog?" Seamus asked even though he knew the answer quite well.

"Petrificus merina!" Riley said as she grabbed his wand and pointed it to the table in front of them. A glass of ice water suddenly appeared and she drank it in one gulp.

"Are you okay Ri?" Leilani asked from another couch.

"Fine. Just tired." Riley panted. "I'm going to go and take a shower."

"Alright. We're all going to go and head for the Quidditch pitch in about 30 minutes so hurry up. Great news!" Leilani replied.

"What is it?" Riley asked.

"Harry got chosen for Gryffindor teams Seeker in Quidditch! Leilani announced.

"Seeker?" Riley questioned.

"Wood explained it to us when you were gone. You missed out on a lot. I'll tell you on our way over, all right? Now go take a shower. You look exhausted." Leilani commanded.

"Fine." Riley said and she turned around to head upstairs for the dormitories. She grabbed some clothes that a lot of the kids thought were "Wicked!" since they'd never seen the kind of clothes New Yorkers wear, and headed for the girls' bathroom.

~~~***~~~

"That's awesome!" Riley said as Harry flew by on his new Nimbus 2000 practicing for Quidditch.

"Isn't it?" Leilani replied. "At least you didn't have to ask how the game worked."

"I have an eye for noticing how it's done." Riley said still transfixed on Harry zooming around smoothly on his broom.

"Well, I think Riley's found a new sport." Leilani said to Tara, Jhene, Becky, Ron, and Seamus. "Volleyball, basketball, and softball are going to have to wait until summertime."

"Volleyball?" Ron questioned. "Basketball? Softball?"

"They're Muggle games Ron." Seamus answered.

"Don't explain, please." Ron pleaded.

"Sure." Seamus answered.

"I want to play on the team." Riley said.

"You can't. 1st years aren't allowed to." Tara replied.

"Then how come Harry gets to?" Riley complained.

"I don't know. It's his fault. He's the one who got in trouble during Flying Lessons yesterday and got himself the job." Becky explained.

"Maybe I should fly after that git Malfoy on a broom during Flying Lessons on Monday." And Riley started to tilt her head to the sky looking like her was thinking about the subject.

"You best not Riley-Mae." Leilani said sternly.

"Alright. I won't." Riley said giving up.

The group stayed and watched the practice and walked back to the castle with an exhausted Harry.

"See you girls later." Ron said and he, Seamus, and Harry walked up to the boys' dormitories.

"Bye!" Leilani said and she headed up the stairs after the friends.

~~~***~~~

"You guys could just give her a break you know." Riley told Ron, Harry, and Seamus looking at them nastily.

They just had a conversation about Hermione Granger. The girls were completely fine with hanging out with her but the guys didn't seem to interested. Riley was a little upset thinking that they had something against females forgetting that Ron, Harry, and Seamus were getting extremely close with about 5 of them.

"She's a teachers' pet!" Seamus complained.

"I really don't mind either. But, she sort of will get annoying, don't you think?" Harry said.

"I'm not going to say one word to her. Nope. You can't make me." Ron said confidently.

~~~***~~~

"Hi Hermione." Ron said lowly. Riley smiled at him and nudged his side thankfully.

"Hello." Hermione replied.

"Hermione, if you don't mind me saying, you haven't really hung out socially with anyone but that Neville Longbottom. So, we were all wondering if you'd like to come and hang around with us?" Riley asked nicely.

"Sure!" Hermione said hopefully. "No offense to Neville. He's a pretty good guy. But, he's a bit annoying really after awhile. Goes on and on about his gran!"

"Well, I don't think we'll annoy you. At least if you ever get annoyed of one of us you always another 7 people to choose from." Riley said turning around to all her friends.

"Thanks for even noticing that I was alone Riley. I really appreciate it." Hermione said sort of nervously.

"No problem. I just don't like to see people alone. It makes me feel really bad. But, even with that, I have full confidence that you would of had done fine even if I didn't notice." Riley said kindly.

"Thanks." Hermione said not able to find better words.

"Well, we're all going to play tackle football out on the school grounds. I brought my ball with me so we could play. Want to join us?" Riley offered.

"Sure! I love football! Back home no one likes to play with me though." Hermione said sadly.

"Don't worry. We will." Riley said. You might need a rubber band or something though. Your hair might get in the way." And Riley ran upstairs to go and get some extras for Hermione. "Here." She said holding out two rubber bands in her hand.

"Why are there 2?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I was going to out your hair up in a ponytail but thought that since it's sort of bushy it would get in your face anyways. So I brought another one to put in a bun. You don't mind me doing do you?" Riley asked.

"No problem. Just don't pull my hair. I was never good with hair." Hermione said.

"Alright. Turn around. Ah crud! Hold on. Riley pulled out her wand from her sports bag (It wouldn't fit in her back pocket.) and pointed it towards the stairs going up to the girls' dormitories. "Accio brush!" and her brush came whooshing down into her hand in a flash. She brushed Hermione's bushy hair back and was surprised to feel that even though it was bushy it was untangled. She tied her hair in a neat ponytail and then brushed the loose hair. It was a little tangled from being pushed back but other than that it was all right. Then she twisted it around the base of the ponytail and tied the rubber band around it. "There."

Hermione turned around revealing her face to everyone. They all looked stunned.

"What? Does it look bad?" Hermione asked patting the top of her head with her hand.

"Well, it doesn't look bad." Ron said first.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"What? It doesn't." Ron said looking around at everyone with his eyes wide open. "Let's just go and play football. I don't even know how to play yet." And he turned around and headed for the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry and Seamus shrugged being guys and trying not to believe what just happened. Tara, Jhene, and Becky followed them whispering their way out and Riley and Leilani smiled at each other and they walked out with Hermione.

~~~***~~~

"That was fun." Hermione said smiling as they all walked into the Gryffindor common room.

"Exhausting." Ron said as he sat down on a chair.

Everyone in the common room turned around as the group entered making a very loud entrance. Most of their eyes were fixed on Riley who was twirling the football around in the air casually not knowing everyone was watching her.

"I'm going to go upstairs and take a shower. Bye!" Riley said to the rest of them.

"Bye Ri!" Seamus said.

"You called me Ri." Riley said turning around at the foot of the stairs.

"So." Seamus said. Riley shook her head.

"Hey Riley! What's that?" Lee Jordan a 3rd year and friend of Fred and George asked from across the room.

Riley looked at him and then turned to Leilani.

"You better not." Leilani commanded getting the picture.

"Catch!" Riley said as she threw the ball across the room to Leilani who caught it having no other choice. "Ask Leilani."

Lee Jordan turned around to Leilani. Riley giggled.

"I'll get you Ri!"

~~~***~~~

"So, is Friday night okay? 8:00 on the Astronomy Tower roof?" Malfoy's voice came through Riley's ears in horror. She was just walking down to the Gryffindor common room early for dinner and still wondering where Tara was. She knew she was about to find out.

"Sure. I don't know how I'll get there but I'll try somehow." Tara's voice answered. Riley's worst fears of her friends answer had come true.

"What're you doing Tara?" Riley asked herself.

"I don't think you're going to tell your friends, are you?" Malfoy asked.

"Well, it's not easy keeping something from them. A whole 4 days not telling them is going to be hard. But, I'll try. For you." Tara replied.

"For you." Riley mimicked to herself. "I've never heard Tara talk like this."

"Alright. I have to go. I'll see you in Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow." Malfoy said and Riley heard his fancy shoes click away down the hall.

She walked casually around the corner startling Tara.

"Riley!"

"Where have you been, Tara?" Riley asked suspiciously.