A/N: No violence or craziness in this one, just intro stuff. Next chapter is when shit starts hitting the proverbial fan.

September

Dear Julia,

I've been back at Hogwarts for exactly seven days now. Honestly, I thought Seventh Year would be much worse. I mean I know it's only been one week, but we've been given a pretty thorough description of what would be on N.E.W.T.s, and all I can think is that I got this. Of course, I've had you teaching me shit ahead of my years since I was eleven, so I suppose I owe you some sort of thanks.

I suppose.

Anyway, there hasn't been much else of interest. Scorpius is still dating Rose Weasley, which has been weird. I mean don't get me wrong, I like Rose, she's been a cool roommate for years, I just don't know her very well. I trust Scor's judgement, though. Speaking of Weasleys, I found out Flik has been screwing around with Louis Weasley since about halfway through summer! I can't believe she never told me. Well, I guess I get why she wouldn't, all things considered, but it's still weird.

I better get going now- I told the others I'd meet them for a picnic on the grounds. I'll write again soon!

All my love,

Mika

After finishing my letter, I headed outside to a spot about halfway between the castle and Hagrid's hut. A picnic blanket, on which sat four students, awaited me.

"Did you shitheads start without me?" I demanded as a loving greeting, dropping next to Felicity "Flik" Corner, my best friend since First Year.

"Sorry Mika, we needed the head start," Scorpius Malfoy smirked. "You have a tendency to inhale your food."

"That's rich coming from you," I scowled, reaching forward for the basket of food. "Ooo what do we have here?"

"I made cookies," Lucy Weasley informed me with a wide smile. "The house elves were a little wary about letting me use the kitchen, but I think that was mostly just because Fred once blew up an oven, and now they're sort of scared of any relations of his."

"As they should be," Trevor Spinnet laughed, throwing an arm around her lovingly.

She pouted. "No cookies for you."

I laughed at that. "I'll take his share, Luce, I fear no Weasley."

"Well that's just foolish," she laughed. "Have you not met Dom? Or even Lily, sometimes?"

"I can't say I've actually experienced an angry Lily," I said, tilting my head in thought. "Dom, however… yeah, I remember Dom's rage quite well." I shuddered slightly. "Fair point."

"Dom is terrifying," Flik muttered. I suspected she'd had to deal with some Dominique Weasley run-ins over the summer since she'd begun seeing Louis.

"Rose can be scary," Scorpius added, frowning. "But I suspect that's only because she's my girlfriend."

"It's definitely only because she's your girlfriend," Flik agreed, snorting.

"I don't know," Lucy said thoughtfully. "She's pretty scary come exam time."

"Is there just something in your genes, Luce?" Trevor grinned at his girlfriend.

She shrugged. "Maybe it comes with the red hair. The Potter boys aren't scary."

I made a face at that. "Easy for you to say. You didn't have one as your Quidditch captain for four years."

Flik laughed. "How many times did I find you crawling back to the tower after practices?"

"It was worth it," I said arrogantly. "We beat Scor over here into the dirt."

"You just wait for this fucking year to start," the blonde in question growled. "You lost some of your best players."

I had no retort for him. It was true; Gryffindor had lost both its Beaters (Fred Weasley and Sven Corner, Flik's brother) and one of its Chasers (James). All we had left now were Lily Potter and one of my roommates, Josette, as our Chasers, myself as Seeker, and Luke Finnegan as our Keeper.

The worst part was that Luke was an atrocious captain.

"I'll be honest, our chances for the cup are… not ideal," I said slowly. "But I can still beat you to the snitch, easily."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at me.

"Excuse me, mates, but what are the rules, here?" Trevor demanded. "No Quidditch talk at our picnics!"

"Sorry," Scor and I muttered. Though I threw in a quickly mumbled, "wanker" at the end, only to receive a glare from the aforementioned wanker.

Our little group was an odd one. We'd maintained a friendship since Third Year, when the five of us had been assigned together for a term-long Muggle Studies project. These days, Hogwarts was trying to blend house interactions as much as possible, so there'd been students from all the houses in that class.

Flik and I were both Gryffindors, our other three roommates all being perfectly pleasant, but just never really close to us. Lucy was a Hufflepuff, Trevor a Ravenclaw, and Scorpius was in Slytherin.

Somehow, despite everyone having their own friends from their own houses, and a wide variety of different interests, we'd kept up our weird, ragtag group all the way up to Seventh Year. At some point during the year prior, Lucy and Trevor had begun a relationship, but it hadn't impacted the rest of us much.

"Those rules ought to be updated anyway," Scorpius frowned after a beat. "Trevor and Luce get to love it up at these ruddy picnics, shouldn't we get to bring in guests?"

"Why, so you and Flik could bring your respective Weasleys and leave me as a seventh wheel?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

He winced. "Sorry. I forgot."

"I guess we just have to find Mika a date then," Flik smirked.

"These aren't Slug Club meetings, Flik, we don't need dates," I protested, exasperated. Bloody pushy friends. I bit at my sandwich a little halfheartedly.

"Come on, Mika, let us set you up!" Lucy pleaded.

"For what it's worth," Trevor shrugged, "I'm pretty sure all of my dormmates are interested. Aside from Cook, maybe, but that's just because he has a girlfriend."

I scowled. "I've already dated one of them, and that was a nightmare if you recall."

Trevor smiled sheepishly. "That was… not ideal, I admit. The other three are nice blokes, though. More or less."

"I could ask mine, too," Scorpius supplied.

"No Slytherins for Mika," Flik countered. "You're a gloomy lot."

"Not true!" Scorpius exclaimed. "We're fun. I'm fun!"

"Keep trying to convince yourself, mate," I winked.

"It's true," he snapped, throwing the crust of his bread at me. It bounced off my face and fell into my lap, so I picked it up and ate it. "I'm fun, Zabini's cool, Al's great, and Goldstein's a laugh."

"Don't they all have girlfriends, currently?" Lucy questioned, her eyebrows drawn together.

Scorpius frowned. "Er- right. Forgot about that."

Flik snorted. "Just details to Scorpius." He simply shrugged.

"Alright, enough about my nonexistent dating life," I whined. "I just want to eat food and gossip about people that aren't me, if you don't mind."

Lucy laughed. "Well, we could talk about-"

Whatever gossip Lucy was ready to bring up was cut off by a voice calling out, "Oi!"

We all glanced over at the direction of the shout, and I stifled a groan. Rose and Louis Weasley were heading toward us, wearing friendly smiles.

I turned on my friends with an accusatory glare.

"I swear I didn't invite him," Flik held her hands up innocently.

"I might have mentioned to Rose where I'd be," Scorpius admitted. "But I didn't invite her- she and Louis probably just want to say hi."

"Figures," I snorted, throwing my food down and standing from the blanket. "I'll leave you lot to your triple date."

"Mika," Lucy frowned. "Don't go."

"We behave all the time," Trevor reasoned, gesturing to himself and Lucy. "These two can surely keep their hands to themselves for a meal."

I smiled at them. "Honestly, it's not a major deal. We'll have more picnics, won't we?"

Scorpius still looked guilty, Lucy and Trevor both looking a little apprehensive. Flik looked hopeful, though I genuinely couldn't guess at what outcome she was hoping for- she'd been a little scattered since she'd started seeing Louis.

"Mika," Scorpius started, but Rose and Louis had arrived by then.

"Alright lads and ladies?" Louis greeted cheerfully, dropping beside Flik and throwing an arm around her. She looked down with a blush, avoiding my eyes.

I shot Scorpius a knowing look as Rose joined him by his side too, though she looked a lot more hesitant. "I have a lot of homework to work on anyway," I informed them. "I'll be heading out now."

"We've been back at school a week," Lucy protested. "How much homework could you have?"

"Plenty," I shrugged. I sent them all an easy smile to alleviate their guilt. "I'll see you all later!"

"Bye Mika," Flik smiled sadly at me, the others all chiming in goodbyes of their own.

I departed from the picnic that I'd scarcely joined in the first place as casually as I could manage. I opted to make for the kitchens- I'd barely eaten, after all.

Once inside the castle, I allowed my pace to slow to a trudge, to match the sullen mood that'd taken over the moment I'd spotted the Weasleys coming to join the picnic.

It wasn't that I had anything against either of them- in fact I rather liked them both- but I hated being the only single person in a sea of relationships. Trevor and Lucy revolved around each other like the moon around the earth, Flik and Louis were just disgustingly handsy, and Scorpius turned into a pathetic, mushy prat every time he was with Rose.

There's only so much a single girl can take, really.

I tickled the pear when I reached the familiar fruit portrait, and as always, the door handle appeared for me. I opened it slowly, my mood making every movement dragged out and sluggish.

I was probably being overly dramatic to be so sulky, but hey, I was hungry. In any case, my slowness in opening the door meant that the two people already inside didn't actually hear me coming, and a couple seconds later, I heard their voices.

"-but you're being unreasonable," came a girl's voice.

"How the fuck am I being unreasonable?" That one was a guy.

"Two years? You're willing to throw away two years because of one blip?" From the doorway I could see them: the girl was Melanie Winters.

"One blip?" That would be Albus Potter. "A blip? For fuck's sake, Mel, you fucked another bloke."

This was not a conversation I wanted or meant to overhear. I didn't know what to do- they hadn't heard me come in.

"I was drunk, Al," Melanie pleaded. "I was drunk, and it was stupid, but shit, I feel awful!"

Do I clear my throat? I thought. Pretend to trip and fall? Sing something?

"You bloody should feel awful!" Albus all but yelled back.

Shit, shit, shit, I shouldn't be here for this.

"Al-" Melanie started, but whatever plea she had prepared, it was cut off as I opted to simply loudly close the door behind me.

Both heads whipped around to see me standing awkwardly at the doorway. "Oh- er- don't mind me," I said lamely, beet red. "Just getting some food."

"How much of that did you just hear?" Melanie frowned at me.

"Can you give us a minute?" Albus asked me before I could answer her. "We're sort of in the middle of something."

"W-well," I stammered. "Here's the thing, I'm kind of- not kind of, actually- I'm very hungry."

They both stared at me, evidently waiting to say more. I wasn't sure what else there was to say, personally.

The awkwardness is palpable. Merlin kill me now.

"Right," Albus said, looking confused. "Well, we're in the midst of a breakup, so if you could just… wait a few minutes?"

"Break up?" Melanie repeated, looking back to Albus with wide eyes. I almost felt bad for her to an extent, she looked crushed. Although it sounded like she'd been cheating on him, so I couldn't really manage much sympathy. "Al, come on, you can't mean-"

"I can, actually," he cut her off, looking frustrated and tired of the conversation. "We're done, Melanie."

She gaped at him. "Albus…"

He just shook his head, stepping away from her attempt to reach out to him.

Melanie stared at him for a few more moments, visibly shaken. Then, abruptly, she turned and nearly ran out of the kitchens, brushing past me on her way out.

The door slammed behind her with a thud, leaving me alone with Albus Potter and a bunch of house elves.

I cleared my throat. "Well, that was… horrible."

Albus didn't look at me, instead dropping into a chair and dropping his face into his hands. I watched him uncomfortably, at a thorough loss as to what to do with myself. I awkwardly made my way forward a bit, just enough to get closer to the elves.

"Miss Hawke?" One of them, Ella, asked me with a large smile. "Can I get you some cereal, Miss Hawke?"

I beamed at her, relieved. "Ella, you're a lifesaver. That would be lovely, thank you."

She nodded a bunch, running off to procure me a bowl.

I turned back toward Albus, who was now sat face-down at his table. I couldn't very well sit with him, for Circe's sake, I barely knew him. I opted for a table a few meters away, sitting with my back to him to give him some privacy- although, to be fair, it was probably a little late for that.

Ella brought me a bowl of Cheerios a moment later- it was my usual request. I loved cereal, at all times of day. "Thank you, Ella, you're the best," I smiled at her.

Ella looked flustered. "No trouble for Ella, Miss Hawke, never any trouble."

She shuffled off to return to working with the others, leaving me alone with my cereal and my blatant avoidance of looking behind me.

The only sounds in the kitchens were the house elves moving about, cleaning and preparing whatever meal would be served at dinner that evening, in addition to the occasional clang of my spoon against my bowl. I was working very hard to avoid slurping the milk. That'd be downright embarrassing in the same room as Albus Potter.

Having been engrossed with my own thoughts, I was startled when he suddenly spoke. "Cereal? In the afternoon?"

I glanced back, my face heating up as I met his eyes. "Oh- well, yeah. I didn't eat lunch, and I was hungry, so I came here for some cereal."

"Probably shouldn't have skipped lunch," he commented. His chin was resting on his folded arms atop the table. I wasn't entirely sure how to treat him; his eyes were a little red, like he'd been near tears, and now his expression was just blank.

I went for a shrug. "Well, I was supposed to have lunch outside with some others, but it- it got cancelled."

His eyebrows furrowed. "The picnic got cancelled? Why?"

I tilted my head a little. "You know about the picnics?"

He sat up, looking just slightly less lifeless. "Well yeah," he said like it was obvious. "My best mate and my cousin go to those."

To be honest, I'm not sure why I hadn't realized that myself. "Oh right," I said stupidly.

"Who cancelled it?" he asked. "Everyone alright?"

Shit, I thought. Someone will tell him it wasn't cancelled and he'll think I'm a right nutter.

"Alright, so cancelled might have been a bit of a stretch," I admitted, wincing slightly.

His features shifted slightly, and he looked downright confused. "Okay…"

I grimaced. Complaining about my own problems to someone who had just broken up with his girlfriend of two years because she'd cheated on him made me feel like a bitch. "Well I was at the picnic, like usual, and your cousins- Rose and Louis- came down to join. And so I left."

Albus looked defensive. "What's wrong with Rose and Louis?"

I shook my head quickly, my arms moving with me so quickly that I accidentally knocked over my cereal. "Shit," I cursed. I cast a quick charm to clean it up before turning back to Albus. "Nothing's wrong with them, I like them," I assured him. "It's just that Lucy and Trevor are dating, and Scor and Rose, and now Flik and Louis…" I trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence.

A look of understanding crossed his face. "I see. Seven's a crowd, then?"

I smiled sadly. "Afraid so."

"Sorry."

I snorted. "You're sorry? I just witnessed your breakup. I'm sorry."

The corners of his mouth twitched at that. "Fair."

"And I'm also sorry for not leaving," I frowned at him. "I didn't mean to seem nosy or anything. I really was just hungry. Social situations are not my strength."

He smiled fully at that. "No problem, Hawke. Just do me a favor and don't spread anything you heard around school?"

I nodded. "Of course not."

"Not that it matters," he sighed, leaning back onto his arms. "It'll be all over the castle by tomorrow, I'd wager."

I wasn't sure what to say. Things could be worse, I thought. But he doesn't want or need to hear that.

If there was one thing I knew, it was that nobody's sadness should be discredited just because someone else might have it worse. That was something I had a lot of experience with.

"I'm sure it won't be too bad," I finally said. "Maybe at first, but give it a couple weeks and they'll find a new piece of gossip."

He pondered that for a beat. "Yeah, that's probably true." And then he smiled again. "Not to mention Scor will hex anyone he hears talking about me."

I snorted. "You Slytherins and your violence."

Albus raised an eyebrow at you. "Aren't you the one who punched a thirteen-year-old last year?"

"He tried to feel me up," I mumbled, my cheeks heating up again. I didn't realize Albus knew about that- we were familiar enough from classes and our shared friendship with Scorpius, but otherwise we really didn't know each other well.

Albus chuckled at that. "Yeah, us Slytherins are the real maniacs."

"Maniac is a little strong." I crossed my arms and pouted at my now empty bowl, more than a little put out at my food having fallen.

He laughed. "Well, Hawke," he stood up. "It's been interesting, but I should head back to the dungeons. No point in brooding in the kitchens all afternoon."

"That's fair, brooding is much more effective in a dorm," I smiled.

"Who says I'm going to keep brooding?" He challenged.

I laughed. "It fits the mopey Slytherin stereotype, I suppose."

"You have some poor misconceptions about my house, you know."

"True," I conceded. "I don't know very many Slytherins, honestly. Scor must just set a rubbish example."

Albus cracked a grin at that. "He must."

I smiled. "Well good luck with everything, Potter. Sorry again, about eavesdropping and the whole girlfriend-cheating-on-you thing."

I probably shouldn't have brought up the last bit. Luckily, he looked more amused than affronted. "Thanks, Hawke. See you around."

Albus Potter nodded once more before exiting the kitchens, and I was left alone.

October

Dear Julia,

It's October! Gods I love Autumn. Remember the pumpkin patch we used to visit when we were little? I wish I could go back.

Oh, I've decided I ought to join a club! There are so many new student-founded ones these days, it should be easy to pick something. I'll see what sort of flyers are up in the common room. You were in a Muggle film one, weren't you? Maybe I'll see if that's still going.

The others felt bad about the picnic, but they're going about righting things all the wrong way. They're still hell-bent on setting me up with someone. It's part of why I want to join a club- I need to get away from those loons for a bit.

At least Flik is willing to buy me some chocolate in Hogsmeade today! That should be fun.

Well, here I go. Fingers crossed that I figure my shit out!

Love always,

Mika

I signed my letter before hopping off my bed. Flik was waiting for me by the door.

"Finished up?" She asked me, but not unkindly. My letters were among the few things for which she had any patience.

"Yeah," I smiled. "All done."

"Great," she beamed. "Let's get to Hogsmeade then, I'm bloody starving."

I grabbed a jacket and threw it on a little lazily before tugging on the closest shoes.

Flik raised an eyebrow at me.

"What?" I frowned, looking down at myself. "Am I missing something?"

"No," she smiled. "I like the ankle boots though. Putting in some effort today, I see. Finally going to let us get you a date?"

I made a face. "Fuck off, Flik. They were the first things I could find. You wear heels all the time." She was wearing them as we spoke, actually. She could pull them off much better than I could- then again, Flik could probably pull off a large plastic bag, with her stupidly pretty blonde hair that held perfect ringlets and her hazel eyes.

I've tried to curl my hair- even with magic, it won't hold.

"I'm five-foot-two," she rolled her eyes. "I need them."

"Fair enough," I conceded. "Shall we?"

We left for the common room together, our other roommates already gone. Rose was an early riser, Josette was dating a girl from Ravenclaw and usually slept there, and our last roommate, Anna, was all over the place.

"Oh," I said as we neared the portrait hole. "Hang on, I was going to look over the club postings."

"You're joining a club?" Flik asked in surprise. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Julia told me last year that I need more hobbies. I figure I ought to take her advice."

A flash of concern crossed her features for a moment, but it was fleeting, and I was grateful for that. Flik knew how I felt about pity.

Prideful Gryffindors and all that shit.

"Well, maybe I'll join you," she commented. "I don't even have Quidditch- Godric knows I could use more things to do."

"And take away from snog time with a certain Weasley?" I smirked at her. "I'll believe it when I see it."

I stood by the bulletin board, scanning the ads and postings. Charms Club, Dueling Club, Muggle Film Society, Wizards Chess Club, Star Gazers, Flying Club-

"Flying club?" Flik questioned.

"Some people like to fly, but either didn't make the Quidditch team or just don't care for the sport," I explained.

-Magical Creatures Critters, Brewmasters-

"Are they referring to Potions or alcohol?" Flik wondered aloud.

"I can't imagine they'd put an alcohol club ad out in the open," I snorted.

-Castle Crashers, Murder Mystery Parties, Gobstones Club-

"Blimey, there are so many clubs here," I frowned. "What even are some of these? Castle Crashers?"

"I've heard of that one, actually!" Flik exclaimed. "It's for kids who stay at the castle over Christmas Break; they play widespread games of stupid things like hide-and-seek or capture-the-flag, but because the castle is so empty over the holidays, they get to use the entire grounds and play them on a huge scale."

"That's awesome," I grinned. "It's almost too bad that I go home for the break."

"Honestly," Flik agreed.

None of these others seemed particularly appealing, though the Murder Mystery Parties probably could have been fun. Nonetheless, I figured I'd look back over them later.

"Hogsmeade?" Flik smiled at me.

I looped an arm through hers. "Absolutely! I need chocolate."

Flik and I began our day at Honeydukes, as she'd promised. I may have milked the abandoned-best-friend thing a little much, as she spent a lot of money on me. I felt guilty, of course, but who was I to deny her wishes to buy me candy?

Next, we hit Gladrags. Flik and I had always particularly enjoyed browsing their weird shirts and socks. They had a wide variety of graphics, ranging from Muggle references to famous Wizards.

"You should get that one," I pointed at a shirt of Harry Potter flossing between his legs with a snake. "I bet your boyfriend would love snogging a girl wearing a shirt with his uncle on it."

Flik's eyes bugged out of her head at the sight of it, and we both broke out into sniggers like the mature seventeen-year-olds we were.

I wound up buying a gray tee that spoofed Abbey Road- rather than the Beatles walking down the crosswalk, it depicted a house elf, a centaur, a unicorn, and a mermaid (the mermaid was more or less dragging itself on the ground). Flik took one look at it and burst out laughing again.

We browsed Zonkos for a bit as well. There were so many new products, I didn't know where to start. There was one particular wall of goods that I liked the best: it was full of items that resembled classic muggle gags, but with wizarding twists: whoopie cushions that were charmed to throw the person who sat on them out of their chair and electric shock handshake buzzers that would make your hair stand up as if you'd really been electrocuted.

I picked up a pair of glasses that had a nose and mustache attached, that apparently temporarily concealed the identity of whoever wore them. I also grabbed some other more conventional things, like dungbombs, sugar quills, and a stick of gum that would supposedly make the chewers inflate themselves.

Finally, lunchtime arrived, so Flik and I headed over to the Three Broomsticks to meet Scorpius and the others.

The pub was crowded per usual, but I still easily spotted his blindingly blonde hair near the back. "There they are," I pointed out to Flik, who followed me over.

As we got closer, I noticed that in addition to Scorpius, Rose, Lucy and Trevor, Albus Potter sat beside them as well. I hadn't talked to him since the kitchens incident, so I couldn't help but feel a little nervous about seeing him.

"-ridiculous, Al," I heard Lucy saying once we were close enough.

"I don't care," Albus shrugged at her. The five of them were spread around a large, round table, with two open seats waiting for Flik and me.

"Hey guys," Flik waved to everyone.

"You made it!" Lucy beamed at us. "We waited for you, sit down!"

Flik took the seat between Scorpius and Trevor, leaving one more open one between Lucy and Albus. I bit back a grimace and instead smiled as I sat down.

"How's everyone's trip been?" I asked, looking around the table.

"Mostly good," Rose said, though she was frowning. "Until finding out that our cousin's an idiot."

"I am not," Albus protested, while Lucy nodded vehemently in agreement with Rose. "I don't want to go home for Christmas, what's so wrong with that?"

"When have any of you lot ever not gone home?" Scorpius questioned.

"Well up until this year, none of us had ever had a cousin sleep with someone we were dating," Albus shot back dryly.

My eyes widened. I knew he'd been cheated on, of course, but I hadn't realized it was with a relative of his. Flik looked similarly shocked.

"Al," Rose frowned. "Fred wrote you like a dozen letters explaining himself. Melanie told him you'd broken up."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Even if that's true, it only makes it all marginally less shitty."

"He feels awful," Lucy chimed in, looking distraught. I suppose in such a massive, yet close-knit family, fights affected pretty much everyone.

"He should," Albus retorted, crossing his arms and leaning back.

"I'm going to grab a drink," I said quickly, standing up. I felt weird listening to the family argue. "Anyone want anything?"

Evidently everyone wanted something, so Albus, eager to get away from the conversation, offered to help me carry stuff back.

"Thanks," I said as we walked to the bar.

"No problem," he replied, sounding a little exasperated. "I know my cousins mean well, but I could use a break from the interrogations."

"Fair enough." I opted not to say much more on the matter. I'd never been cheated on, but I could imagine that it made someone feel pretty shitty. I wouldn't want to talk about it either.

We ordered a round of butterbeers for the table, save myself getting rum, and Albus getting Firewhisky. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're drinking rum, Hawke, don't judge me," he smirked.

"Rum has nothing on that shit," I laughed. "Firewhisky makes me do awful things."

His smirk only widened. He leaned against the bar while we waited for the drinks and looked at me sideways. "What sort of awful things?"

"Trevor's shithead roommate, for one thing," I frowned at the memory.

"Which one? Davies?"

I nodded, screwing up my face. "Somehow he got it into his mind that a drunken hookup meant I wanted to date him, and I was too embarrassed about the night before to set him straight right away."

"Didn't you date for like a year?" Albus asked, looking thoroughly amused.

"Right away, a year, same difference really," I waved a hand. Albus laughed at that. "He ended up gradually turning into more and more of a git, so I ended things eventually."

"What was your breaking point?" He asked. "After a year of enduring that arse, I'm surprised you didn't just cave in and marry the bloke out of sheer awkwardness."

"I contemplated it," I grinned wryly. "But he ended up crossing a line one day, and I wound up breaking his nose."

"Fucking hell," Albus exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up. "What'd he do?"

"He broke my broom," I scowled. "He claimed it was an accident, but it was obvious he'd done it to mess with our Quidditch final."

"What a tosser," Albus rolled his eyes. "That's just poor sportsmanship."

"And that's coming from a Slytherin," I grinned cheekily, just as Madam Rosmeta brought us our drinks.

He snorted. "You're right prejudiced, aren't you?"

I gathered three of the mugs in my arms, while he somehow carried four. "Hey, Scorpius tried to get my team's tactics out of me during our picnics like four times last year," I defended myself as we headed back to the table.

"Scorpius is single handedly ruining any progress Slytherin had made toward becoming reputable."

We reached the others and distributed drinks.

"Al, are you drinking Firewhisky?" Rose asked disapprovingly.

"Shit, I should have ordered one too," Scorpius frowned. Albus grinned at his best mate while Rose elbowed him.

"It's better than that gross rum Mika loves so much," Flik sniggered.

"The only person I've seen enjoy that rubbish is my sixty year old father," Trevor agreed.

"You lot have poor taste," I sniffed, holding my mug protectively.

They laughed at me, unsurprisingly. "Anyway," Lucy said as the laughter quelled. "We were saying while you were gone, Al, that you should still come stay with one of us during the break. I know you probably don't want to be home, since Fred's usually there with James, but you're welcome at my place."

"Mine too," Rose added.

"Hell, come stay at the Manor," Scorpius said.

Albus sighed heavily, taking a large swig of his Firewhisky. "Thank you, honestly. But I want to stay at the castle. I've never seen it devoid of most students- should be fun."

"That just sounds lonely," Trevor commented.

"And depressing," Flik added unhelpfully.

"Yeah, what are you going to do all day, Al?" Rose asked. "Brood?"

"Well, you know us brooding Slytherins," Albus smirked slightly, looking pointedly at me. "I'm just playing the part that's expected of me.

I nearly choked on my sip as his cousins shot me accusatory glances. "Oi, I was joking! Don't implicate me, here," I exclaimed as Albus chuckled.

"Would you lot relax?" He demanded. "You're making this into far too big of a deal. Just lay off, yeah?"

"I guess," Lucy said, looking worried.

"Just think about it," Rose requested.

"Fine," Albus rolled his eyes. "I'll think about it."

It was plenty obvious to us all that he was full of shit, but no one pushed the subject any further. Instead, we shifted the conversation to happier topics, which grew easier after several more drinks and some food.

Eventually, it was agreed that we ought to head back to the castle. Rose wanted to do homework, Flik wanted to find Louis, Trevor and Lucy probably wanted to shag, and Albus and I had both become a little too tipsy to be in public.

This was confirmed as I stumbled over my feet on our walk to the carriages.

"You have enough rum, Mika?" Flik asked me, her eyes wide with false innocence.

"Nope," I shook my head with a smile. "Absolutely not. Lucky for me, I bought some bottles to bring back." I gave my small bag a pat, grateful for the extension charm on it.

"Great," she groaned, looping an arm through mine. "Do I need to babysit you?"

I laughed. "No, no, go snog your boyfriend. I'll find a nice safe spot to drink."

We'd reached the carriages by then. One by one, our group climbed up into the carriages. Albus held a hand out to help me up, which I took graciously. Very graciously. Good god that bloke is dishy.

I found myself chancing a glance at him again during the ride back, while the others returned to conversations of their own.

He was smiling at something Rose was saying, and I found that I rather liked his smile. It was a little crooked, and kind of wry, like everything was an ironic joke to him. Some might have found it a little off putting, because it was the kind of smile that screamed "I can't take life seriously, and I'm probably inwardly laughing at you," but somehow that just made it more attractive to me.

We hit a bump at some point during the ride. "Ow," Trevor whined as we all landed with a thump. "What happened, we hit a rock?"

"I think it was a tree branch," I corrected. "The thestral made a weird veer to the right to avoid the thicker part of it."

Albus, who'd been talking to Rose off to his left, turned back to me sharply. Flik sent me a troubled look before busying herself with picking at some chipping nail polish.

I frowned, wondering what I'd said.

"You can see them?" He asked in wonder.

Shit, I thought.

"Oh," I said lamely. "I- yeah. I lost a, um, hamster, once."

Rose frowned. "Is that true? I didn't think animal deaths would impact whether you see them."

"I was very attached to him," I responded quickly, hoping any sweat on my face would be chalked up to the alcohol I'd consumed. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

They let it go, to my relief, but I noticed Albus kept sneaking suspicious looks at me for the rest of the ride. I know this because I was essentially staring at him for the duration of the trip, much like a creepy fangirl.

What can I say? He was nicer to look at than the ugly death horses, as cruel as it sounds.

A few minutes later, and after lots of drooling and staring on my part, we found ourselves back at Hogwarts.

Before departing to find Louis, Flik pulled me to her side and whispered, "You should stare a little harder, I don't think you've made yourself out to be a complete stalker yet."

I scowled and smacked the back of my hand against her arm. What a bitch my best friend was.

Dear Julia,

I had a fair bunch to drink tonitetonigt t onight, and let me just say, I fucking miss you. I had a great day otherwise; I bought so much shit, Mum would be so annoyed if she knew. Working at Dad's shop last year over the breaks paid off big time, literally, because I had tons of gallons? galleons to blow.

But beyond that, I had so much fun with everyone! Flik didn't bring Louis, which meant I had my best friend to myself for the first time in months, and I got to have some interesting chats with Albus Potter once again. I ought to talk to him more often, though I think I definitely stared too much.

Anyway, I feel a little pukey if I'm being quite honest, so that's it for tonight (spelling is difficult under the influence).

Love and miss you so much,

Mika

A/N: Alright, here's the introduction! No blood or anything yet, just wanted to get everyone acquainted with Mika and her friends before I bring on the chaos. If you're confused about the letters, don't worry, it'll be explained later. Let me know what you think, especially of Mika and Albus! They don't know each other too well, but obviously have chemistry, so I'm trying to write that realistically. I'm so excited to get to the next chapter. I have it written, so it'll be a quick update after some editing. Next chapter, shit starts to get a little (a lot) nutty. I'm aiming for fewer chapters that are each just really long, but let me know if this was too long and I'll look into fixing how I break stuff up.

-K

Disclaimer: Anything or anyone you recognize belongs to JK Rowling.