Returning for her last year of Hogwarts didn't feel right without the twins. The idea of them working in their shop instead of being here made her miss them immensley. And after the chaos of last year, she wasn't sure she wanted to go back. But even so, she was waiting on the platform like the rest of them. Harry gave her a weary look, which she returned gladly.

Harry's summer had been no picnic either. He spent every moment he could away from the Dursleys, and hated the cruelty of fate. The one chance he had for being free from them was ripped away. And this made him and Hazel linked somehow. Neither of them with family who they could truly call theirs, and between the two of them they made one half person.

The train conductor gave the signal and everyone began piling on the train. Hazel didn't have any desire to rush for a compartment. She figured no one would want to sit with her anyway. She slid into an empty one and looked out the window. She recalled her first meeting with Cedric on this very platform, and how he had become her first real friend. She remembered how full of promise he was and began to wonder what would have happened had he survived.

"Don't do this to yourself." Ced was placing his hand on hers, but it went straight through it.

"Oh, so you read minds too?" She teased, refusing to look at him.

He shook his head in dismay. "I've known you longer than George or your dad. I know when you start wondering what if."

"So what if I am?" She asked, practically yelling. "Why can't I wonder since everyone I have has been taken?"

"You still have Fred and George." He reminded.

This wasn't what she wanted to hear. "They have their futures ahead of them. You saw their business and how happy they are. I am not bringing my bad luck into that."

"Bad luck?"

"Yes." Hazel felt sick. "Bad luck." Everything Hazel felt was amplified and she was about to explode.

And then Cedric's hand grabbed hers.

They both stared in shock. She could feel his hand, although it was cold and dead, and she could feel his fingers grasping at her. "Ced..." Hazel couldn't even move. This wasn't possible, surely. She couldn't physically touch the dead.

"Send me back." He panicked.

"Ced?"

"Send me back!"

And she did. His panic and fear set her teeth on edge. This was all far more than she could have ever imagined, and she knew that this was the beginning of the end for her.

The train moved, and she found herself curled up on the seat, wallowing in her loneliness. But the train door slid open. Luna's perky face popped around the door. Seeing Luna made Hazel feel more relaxed. Somehow Luna had that affect on her.

"I heard that when people eat pumpkin pasties, their faces turn orange for days." She stated, holding them in her hands. She was full of such amazing things.

And she stayed with Hazel until the train pulled up. Hazel was so immersed in her Quibbler, she didnt even notice. The beauty of the Lovegoods. Luna smiled and went to hand out more copies of the Quibbler, whilst Hazel got off the train and slowly wandered inside.

The great hall somehow looked smaller to her. Being in her final year, Hazel knew that it was her last time to see all of this before the end of the year. Before, she knew what she wanted, but now it all seemed pointless. She didn't even know if she'd have a future. Sitting at the Hufflepuff table, she let the night move around her as she picked at her food. Helga Hufflepuff must have been so intimidated by the others and their large personalities and values.

Hazel looked up from her food for a moment. A plump woman was stood by the wall as Dumbledore gave his yearly scare-tactic of a speech. Her kind smile and strong aura was comforting. And then she saw the glow.

"Helga.." She whispered. She needed to control herself. If she kept randomly dragging ghosts from the 'other side' she was going to cause some mayhem. Hazel closed her eyes and focused. When she opened her eyes the woman was gone, and she was left staring into her food once again.

That night, she dreamt of the founders and their arguments. She dreamt of snakes and rats. She dreamt of deatheaters, ripping out her heart and feeding it to a dragon. And when she was done dreaming, she lay there staring at the ceiling.

Everything she had experienced and seen, she knew that everything meant something. She also knew she couldn't do this by herself. Not anymore.

She needed her family.

Her real family.