Consequential Happenings
It was after lunch and all the first years made their way to McGonagall's office. The thirteen friends, all looking suitably apologetic towards the Deputy Headmistress for causing such grief barely two months into the term, arrived almost five minutes before the sneering Slytherins, who didn't look sorry in the slightest.
McGonagall fixed a stern expression on her face and addressed the lone Ravenclaw, Kerris, first.
"Miss Venturi, would you enlighten me as to the happenings of the afternoon?"
Kerris looked around nervously. "I think perhaps Lily and Alice would be more able to explain, Professor,"
The deputy turned her attention to the two Gryffindor girls.
"Lily and I were sat having lunch when we spotted Frank and Remus so we were waving to them, but in doing so we noticed that these four were also headed towards them. We ran over there and found the Slytherins surrounding Frank and Remus as everyone else arrived. Then everything kind of becomes a blur…"
"Right," McGonagall said. "What were you four doing with Mr Lupin and Mr Longbottom?" she asked the Slytherin boys.
Mulciber shrugged. "Nothing," he replied sulkily.
McGonagall refrained from rolling her eyes. "Detention for three nights starting tonight, and five points from each of you. Report to me this evening at eight pm sharp. If I, or any other member of staff or prefect, catches you doing anything like this again, I will not hesitate to incur a harsher punishment, is that understood? You will not be welcome here if you continue to attempt to intimidate your fellow classmates," she stated grimly.
The four boys said nothing as they filed out of the room, knowing they had been dismissed. Immediately the atmosphere felt lighter to the thirteen remaining first years, until McGonagall started to address their punishment.
"The incident in the Entrance Hall will go largely unpunished, as I believe all of you were completely innocent," she said trustingly. Nobody wanted to inform her Sirius had thrown the first curse. "I will take five points from each of you for participating in fighting; however, I will award ten points to both Mr Lupin and Miss Evans for your use of a shield,"
Nobody felt this was unfair, as the shields had been a fantastic use of magic and Gryffindor had lost the most points from their earlier indiscretions.
"As for the prank, however, each of you will serve a fortnight's detention, as you already know. I will select the groups in which you will work and inform you this evening, at precisely eight fifteen, with whom you will be serving detention. Maybe next time you will think more carefully when it comes to playing with your magic," A disapproving tone laced her words. "Dismissed," Her last words left no room for argument and the friends practically ran from the room.
"God, she's scary," Kerris murmured as they escaped down the corridor.
"Did you notice she gave us a later time than the Slytherins? She may seem like she's disapproving, but I bet their detention will be longer than ours," Alice grinned.
"I'll be sure to ascertain that when we're in our common room," Hunter also grinned.
"That doesn't ignore the fact we still have to serve fourteen nights worth of detentions," Frank sighed.
"Well, maybe you will think more carefully next time," Lily butted in.
"Evans, you played as much of a part in that prank than the rest of us, so shut up," Sirius told her.
"Both of you shut up," Alice snapped. "I'm fed up of the bickering. Either get on with each other or keep your mouths shut. And that goes for all of you,"
"Yes, Miss," James said solemnly, earning himself a smack on the arm.
Alice rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to History of Magic. I'll see you all there," she muttered. "Unfortunately,"
The others gazed after her.
"Ooooh," James whistled.
"Ergh. Shut up, Potter. It is things like your stupid comments which make us bicker, so just grow up and we can all move on,"
"She's got a point, James," Remus, ever the peacemaker, joined in.
"And I can see where Alice is coming from, too," Peter sighed. "I'm a little tired of being in the middle of one of your slanging matches. Especially when it's usually aimed at Evans and she's in our own House. Save it for the Slytherins,"
Hunter and Troy coughed.
"The nasty Slytherins," Peter amended.
"Yeah, it was rather nice to sit at Hufflepuff the other day and be able to converse without fear of setting somebody off," Mackenzey noted. "I mean, we have fun together, but you really should lay off Evans a bit,"
"I am right here!" Lily exclaimed, as James said "Maybe she should lay off us!"
"I can see we're getting nowhere here," Chris sighed. "Maybe we should all just cool off for a bit?"
"So you can get all cosy with everyone and shut us out?" James demanded angrily. "I don't think so!"
"That isn't what I said," Chris replied exasperatedly.
"But it is what you meant!" James cried.
"James, calm down, for Christ sake," Peter injected.
"Now YOU'RE turning on me?!"
Peter covered his eyes in frustration. "Let's just go to our next classes, eh? We're going to be late, and we can meet up at dinner and talk about things then,"
The friends split up so the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs followed Alice's earlier steps to History of Magic, and Kerris, Troy and Hunter to Transfiguration.
Privately, most of the friends had thought James was acting like a spoilt, immature brat, and they weren't far off. James' parents were older than most, and he had been an only child; hence, his parents had spoiled him more than they should. He had also inherited the Potter gene of having a short fuse and irrational tempers, and it all boiled down to what had just occurred. It was something James was going to have to learn being around so many other people his age.
James himself, meanwhile, spent the remainder of the afternoon fuming. He had spent two hours with the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs but refused to talk to any of them but Sirius, who didn't fully agree with his friend's issue but wasn't willing to put himself in the firing line, especially without any backup. Charms with the Slytherins had been no fun at all, not least because James' anger had sobered the whole group and they had to deal with the Slytherin's jeering whenever Flitwick wasn't paying attention. None of them were in the mood to deal with the Slytherins or James by the end of the class, but figured ignoring James would only lead to more tension, whereas they were all too happy to ignore the Slytherins.
"Is it just me or are we telling James to grow up a lot?" Mackenzey mused quietly as they seated themselves at the Gryffindor table.
"He's never blown up this badly before, though," Remus sighed. "Maybe he's more insecure than we thought,"
Lily resisted making a comment about the size of Potter's ego.
"Here they come!" Alice mumbled, as the group watched James attempt to avoid them just for Sirius to drag him over.
"Hey, James," Peter said warmly.
James just grunted a reply and sat facing away from them. Sirius shrugged apologetically.
"James, you know that I value your friendship above that of most people, right?" Chris said bluntly.
James turned to look at him in surprise.
"We all do," Ruby-Jane joined in. "We don't hang out with you just because you're friends with the rest of us,"
"And you can be a little immature," Alice grinned. "But we don't dislike you for it,"
"We do, however, dislike the constant bickering," Mackenzey said outright. "So could you ALL please try to get on, or just stay out of each other's way?" She directed this last comment at James, Sirius, Lily and Ruby.
It was that conversation which caused the shift in the friendships of the group. Alice and Lily, due to an unspoken agreement between the two girls, became more withdrawn from the group, preferring instead to spend time in the library, occasionally joined by Frank, Chris and Kerris. On the odd occasion, too, Mackenzey would come to them for help with her subjects, as she still found magic difficult to grasp and her other friends were far less inclined to give her the aid she required.
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter made their own, almost exclusive, club. Sirius and Remus maintained their somewhat special friendships with Ruby and Troy but this was usually restricted to classes they had together. Frank was somewhat frustrated to find he was usually paired with Peter in Potions, but he did find some happiness in the fact Peter seemed to be improving and was nowhere near as clumsy as he had been before.
Ruby, Mackenzey, Hunter and Troy also made their own group and chose to spend most of their time in the Hufflepuff common room. None of the other Hufflepuffs paid mind to the two Slytherins, and the foursome found that their friendship had not changed since before Hogwarts. In some ways each was glad they didn't have to share each other. They were joined, sometimes, by Kerris and Chris, who wanted to escape the dramatics of living with the four Gryffindor boys, and Ruby readily accepted that Peter had been fully accepted by them and she perhaps wasn't as sad as she should have been by the separation to her twin.
After the fortnight's detention, where two Gryffindors had been paired with one of each of the other houses to make four groups, during which the first years had been made to clean various areas of the castle manually and caused a lot of complaining, the friends had ceased to spend all their time together. Sirius' birthday was a relatively quiet affair since, outside of his dorm mates, only Ruby, Hunter and Troy bothered to make an appearance in the Gryffindor common room and Alice only had time to wish him a happy birthday before Lily dragged her to the library. James mostly commandeered Sirius, Remus and Peter's attention but still, Sirius had enjoyed himself.
The thirteen first years still communicated in classes with each other, but they no longer spent hours together sitting at the Gryffindor table or in the Gryffindor common room. Though they would never admit it, some were glad they no longer had to spend so much time in James' company. Since his childish outburst, they had all become more wary around him and were happier that the responsibility of keeping him happy pretty much lay firmly with Sirius, Peter and Remus.
It was only when Lily was off with Snape that Alice had any free time to herself, and she spent that time catching up with all her other friends, even venturing into the Hufflepuff common room to converse with other girls her age who didn't just talk about homework and how annoying Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin were.
Both Ruby and Troy, who had experienced a similar connection with Remus as Ruby had to Sirius, were glad that they could spend time away from the boys as it meant they could enjoy being children still instead of worrying about what the connection would entail once they were more grown up. Perhaps they would mention it to their parents at Christmas.
Christmas was drawing closer, and it was only the group crossovers that let everybody know what the rest were planning on doing for Christmas. Although they had discussed possibilities back in September, some were missing their families more than they had first thought.
As it turned out, James, Lily, Hunter, Mackenzey, Chris and Kerris returned home for Christmas and the other seven revelled for the two week break in having neither James nor Lily around. The seven again began to spend time in Gryffindor tower, seeing as so few students stayed behind for Christmas. The friends were quite happy to spend time with each other and each spent an equal amount of time with each friend, making them happy that there were no favourites. The girls even went so far as to steal the other beds in the Gryffindor dorm, Alice promising them that Lily and Mary need never know.
The return of James and Lily didn't dampen the mood too much as the friends were all comfortable in the idea that they need not spend twenty four hours a day together to remain such good friends. Having James and Lily around just served to entertain the friends when neither was around.
Lily spent an increasing amount of time with Snape after Christmas, as they had spent a lot of time together at home over the break and she realised how much she missed him. He had never questioned her about the prank, which now seemed so long ago. She still felt guilty for lying and let bygones be bygones, but she wondered now why she had bothered to own up to the prank when all it did was get her practically ostracised by the other students anyway. Not that she cared, mind you; she had better things to be doing than playing nice with James Potter.
It was approaching Easter when Mackenzey suggested to the others in the Hufflepuff common room that they hang out with everyone again as she'd missed spending time with the Gryffindors. The only time they'd even hung out together at all was at the various birthdays, of which there had been seven, throughout the year, and even then Lily and James had been suspiciously absent for the most part except at their own. The others agreed and broached the subject with the Gryffindors during class.
Remus, Peter, Frank and Sirius readily agreed, but James was hesitant because he hadn't gotten reacquainted at Christmas and hadn't really made any effort since November, whereas Lily didn't care to spend time with any of them because, in short, she wasn't fond of any of them, except perhaps Frank and Remus, who she could talk to within her own house. Indeed, any event with all of the thirteen in attendance had been a tense affair, and this was exactly why some of the first years wanted to resolve it. In the end it was Alice who dragged Lily along, and told her in no uncertain terms that if she started or even participated in even the slightest disagreement Alice would send her to Coventry.
"How have you been?" Mackenzey asked Lily brightly, noticing that the red headed witch still had yet to say something and had been sitting with a sour look on her face throughout dinner.
"I've been okay," Lily replied shortly, her unwillingness to be there outweighing the knowledge that Mackenzey had often come to her for tutoring. Upon noticing Alice's glare, she added: "It's been good catching up with Severus,"
"I can imagine," Mackenzey sighed. "I still miss being with Hunter, Troy and Pete all the time. Sometimes I wish we were still pre-Hogwarts, just so I didn't have to only catch my friends during classes and before curfew,"
With a jolt, Lily suddenly realised that she wasn't the only one who missed her childhood friends, and she was glad someone else understood. Someone who understood that Severus wasn't a Slytherin to her; he was her best friend. She warmed to Mackenzey, who soon encouraged her to join a wider circle of conversation.
Alice caught her smile before Lily could see it. She knew the other girl enjoyed herself with most of the wider group. She was just an extremely stubborn mule and, Alice conceded, she may have a point about Sirius and James.
Remus had managed to calm both James and Sirius down about further planning for pranks, successfully convincing them otherwise so far by letting them do small pranks on unsuspecting students, and he was finally starting to hope that they had given up on the idea of another school-wide prank, at least for this year. This hope was dashed when, at dinner, THE dinner they had decided to hang out with everyone again for the first time in months, James decided to spring another prank on them.
Instantly Lily was upon him, like a blazing ball of fury, and most of the others looked decidedly unhappy with the idea.
"Are you out of your mind?" Lily yelled at him. "Have you learnt absolutely nothing since you somehow got sorted into Gryffindor?!"
"Calm down, Lil," Alice told her quietly, before she also turned to James. "James, really, now is not the best time to plan another prank. We have to start revising for end of term exams soon,"
"Which is precisely why now is the best time," James concluded.
Lily wisely heeded her friend and stayed silent. Her argument, however, was still put forward by Frank.
"I, for one, don't want to get into any more trouble with McGonagall," he said, frowning.
"I'm just not that keen on the idea of another prank," Mackenzey added.
"And most of us still aren't in our parent's good books either," Peter sighed. "We need to ace our exams to prove ourselves, apparently,"
"Ergh, fine," James rolled his eyes. "Can we plan one for the Welcoming Feast in September then?"
"A bit eager, aren't we?" Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"I'm boredddd!" James whined.
"Then why don't you tutor those less magically inclined than you?" Lily asked mockingly.
"We're not all perfect Saint Evans," James sneered.
"More's the pity. God knows we need more egotistical, arrogant, spoilt prats running around, so it's a good thing you fill that criteria, isn't it?" Lily replied scathingly, completely ignoring Alice's warning look.
"They're going to set each other off again," Troy mumbled.
"Sherlock," Hunter managed to mutter back before having to dodge out of the way as James launched himself at Lily.
The two students were still being restrained, spewing insults at each other, when McGonagall arrived.
"Detention, both of you. This is unacceptable behaviour and I will not stand for it! If you insist on acting like five year olds, I shall treat you as such," McGonagall said, her voice steely.
As McGonagall walked away, Lily muttered, "Thanks, Potter," and Alice, Frank and Kerris dragged her away before she could do any more damage.
"Stuck up cow," James spat as he brushed himself off.
"You're just as bad as each other," Ruby told him.
"That, that chit, is nothing like me!" James bit out in disbelief.
"You both rile each other up, on purpose, so, yes, you are just as bad as each other," Remus said.
"Well, if she wasn't so boring…" James tried to reason.
Everybody rolled their eyes.
"Potter," Troy addressed James, "You should know Evans' habits by now. She's not boring, she's sensible. And, in case you hadn't noticed, pretty much everyone else wasn't entirely on it with your prank either. So don't go hating on Lily just because she told you some well needed home truths,"
James gaped at her.
"Well said," Hunter approved, ignoring the glare James sent him, but turning to him to say; "You can be incredibly childish sometimes,"
"What is this; hate on James Potter day?" Sirius asked.
"Well, he shouldn't give out what he can't take," Ruby replied seriously. "I'm not Evans biggest fan but you have got to stop getting into it with her whenever you're in the same vicinity,"
"She's really not half bad," Peter agreed. "And she has a point with the tutoring. I, for one, could do with some extra help without having to lean on Remus the entire time,"
"I get it, I get it," James snapped.
"We're only trying to help," Remus interjected, although it didn't make James feel any better.
"I think I liked it better when we just spent time with our smaller groups," he muttered.
"Well, the one time we met up and weren't distracted by cake and other party happenings ended in disaster, so you may just get your wish," Ruby said miserably.
"I suppose that's my fault?" James said viciously. He didn't wait for a response before he stalked out of the Great Hall.
"Time to do some damage control," Sirius muttered, giving the others an apologetic look before he followed his best friend, Remus and Peter on his heels.
"So, that went well," Ruby covered her face with her hands.
"Did you really expect anything else?" Troy asked. "Even before the prank, it wasn't exactly rainbows and butterflies,"
"And James and Evans occasionally get into it in the Gryffindor common room, even now," Chris added. "I think we just have to face it; this whole friendship group just isn't meant to be,"
"Why would anyone not want to be friends with us?" Hunter grinned.
"Where do you want me to start?" Ruby asked smirking. "It's a pretty long list,"
"Pffft!" Hunter replied.
"I don't think it's us who are the problem," Mackenzey sighed.
"Why have you all got faces like slapped arses?" Jack Blue asked them as he joined them at the Gryffindor table, ignoring the dirty looks being sent his way.
"Our friends don't get on so it makes it really hard to hang out in a big group," Mackenzey told him.
"Ah. I know that. There's nothing you can really do. Maybe wait a few years so everyone matures and see where you're at?" Jack advised wisely. "From what I can see, you've all got your close friends anyway, so don't dwell on it too much,"
"Yeah, guys, at least we have each other still," Ruby said brightly.
"Always the optimist," was Troy's dry remark in response.
So, the first years suffered through one more birthday, Mackenzey's, before the end of year exams hit. It had been another tense occasion and neither Lily nor James had bothered to even wish Mackenzey a happy birthday despite her neutral stance. The celebrations had ended up being with just Ruby, Troy, Hunter, Chris, Kerris and Frank, with the addition of Abbie and Chantelle, who were more than happy to improve the whole mood of the day with their perkiness.
It seemed there was a lot of growing up to do within the group, and even the most optimistic of them gave up trying after the half-heartedness, or just simple ignoring of Mackenzey's birthday. Mackenzey, as a result, no longer sought Lily's help with homework, instead preferring to prod Kerris, Chris or Frank whenever she found something particularly difficult.
The groups seemed even more ostracised than before as fewer of the first years bothered to interact, even in class. Most of the Gryffindors kept to themselves, although Alice, Remus, Pete and Sirius spared their classmates a few smiles from time to time in an effort to let them know they hadn't been forgotten. Their friendship was more on hiatus, as it were.
The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins spent most of their time together, occasionally joined by Abbie, Chantelle and Kerris, and Chris and Frank when they felt the need to escape the confinements of being friends with their fellow Gryffindors. This suited them just fine, however, because it enabled them to keep their ten year friendship ever strong, and they found themselves less and less bothered by the separation between the first years. After all, the issue wasn't really down to them and if their classmates wanted to act so immaturely and petty, then weren't they really doing them a favour by not speaking to them?
The exam season started and tempers were more fraught, resulting in more bust ups between James and Lily especially. One particularly bad fight ended up in Sirius, Pete and Remus attempting to find cover in the Hufflepuff common room, and Ruby amusedly granted them access. It was only catching up with the other houses that made the Gryffindor boys realise just how much they had missed their friendship and all three independently resolved to fix things between James, Lily and everyone else.
When they voiced this, however, the others were reluctant, stating that they had been much happier within their own group, and to be honest, they weren't all that bothered about either James or Lily's friendship, regardless of whether the sniping stopped.
"We don't mind you three, don't get us wrong," Mackenzey said.
"Especially because Pete's my brother," Ruby grinned.
"It's just… Both Potter and Evans are being petty and immature," Troy said bluntly.
"And we were much happier without having to deal with their issues, especially when neither is actually that keen on us either," Hunter finished.
"I see your point," Remus said eventually.
"But WE miss you guys!" Sirius whined. "We need you to get on so we can hang out with you and not make James erupt again,"
"Sorry…" Hunter said, not looking at all apologetic.
Ruby suddenly started laughing and everyone stared at her in confusion.
"Sorry!" she gasped out. "I just had a sudden thought about creating like a 'friendship timetable' to schedule time with everyone,"
Peter cracked a grin. "We're not that desperate for your friendship,"
"Don't lie,"
"Don't you two start!" Troy told the twins.
"Are you actually comparing us to Potter and Evans?" Ruby asked, outraged.
"Maybe," Troy grinned.
"I'm actually insulted," Ruby sniffed.
"We're insulted on James' behalf," Sirius added. "He's much better at fighting than these two,"
"No need to say that as a compliment," Remus commented dryly. "That's why we're in this predicament,"
"Well, that, and the fact he has the emotional maturity of a three year old," Ruby remarked.
"I am so glad there is less than a one per cent chance he heard you say that," Pete responded.
"Regardless, it's true," Hunter said, unforgiving. "He couldn't even bring himself to say happy birthday to Kenz, and she's pretty much the only one outside Gryffindor who's not said a word against him. He could at least appreciate the effort she's made to be his friend,"
"He's pig headed," Sirius tried to excuse his friend.
"So? We all came to his birthday and wished him a good day," Troy pointed out.
"That was before the last bust up," Sirius tried to argue.
The others around him rolled their eyes and shook their heads and he sighed.
"All right, we'll speak to him. If he apologises, will you at least give us a chance to hang out? Even if it's like once a month?" Sirius begged.
"Depends what you get him to apologise for," Mackenzey said stubbornly, still smarting slightly from the lack of acknowledgement from both Gryffindors she had tried to defend.
"And, to be fair, it's almost the summer so we wouldn't have to come to any agreement until September,"
"Unless we meet up during the summer?" Sirius suggested hopefully.
"If we did that, we could do it secretly and Potter need never know," Hunter counteracted.
"That's just cruel,"
"Yeah, at least give him a chance to apologise,"
"He gets a chance," Mackenzey compromised. "But he's got a lot of work to put back in. I get that he's an only child and spoilt, etcetera, but he's okay with you three and Pete and Remus spoke out against him. We're not buddying up with Evans, either, but we're still being treated as pariahs by him,"
"But," Hunter added. "If he doesn't apologise, we reserve the right to meet up during the summer without him,"
"Or even with him, if he likes," Ruby said compassionately. "If he can't apologise now, maybe when he's thought about it he'll be more ready to calm down and join the rest of us again?"
"You're giving him an awful lot of chances," Remus noted.
"Well, James may not be top of my list, but you are our friends too, and we'll try as long as we can to get on,"
"Thanks," Pete said in relief. He had missed his old friends and had been wishing for a while that he could have the best of both worlds without disputes.
The Gryffindor boys left and the remaining friends looked at each other in silence.
"Well, that was eventful,"
"I don't think eventful is the word I would use,"
"Traumatic?"
"More like it," Ruby grinned.
"I'm not sure whether I'm more hoping they'll fail or succeed," Mackenzey said.
"Regardless, there's nothing we can do now, so may I suggest we go back to revising Charms?" Hunter stated more diplomatically than usual.
"Swot!" Troy smirked as the friends bent over their parchment once more.
The first year exams finally finished, after what seemed like weeks of hard work to some and time that had seemed to pass as a blur for others. The first years were exhausted, despite some of them knowing more advanced magic than the rest and they all looked forward to the long awaited summer holiday.
There had been no apology from James thus far, but his friends were optimistic that he would come around soon. Their friends were sceptical but didn't back down from their deal. James still had time to come to his senses.
The Hufflepuffs had spent the night before packing and Mackenzey had lamented how her mother had managed to fit everything into her trunk because she certainly couldn't.
Chantelle, in a moment of her former self, had then stated rather snootily that that is the exact reason she had had the foresight to bring two trunks. Seeing the other girls' amused faces, she had turned red and mumbled a sheepish apology before running, to the sound of the other girls' giggling, to rescue her toiletries from the bathroom and out of the others' sight.
The foursome had proceeded to spend the night chatting and finishing up the last of the candy and chocolate they had stashed away, and it was with warm hearts that Mackenzey and Ruby said goodbye to Hogwarts for the first time.
They managed to snag a carriage with Remus and Sirius, as Abbie and Chantelle distracted James and Pete into their own carriage. The girls each gave thankful waves to each other, Abbie a light shade of red at the prospect of being in such close proximity to James Potter.
Lily made sure to get only Alice and Mary into a carriage before slamming the door shut, to the amusement of Troy who had been standing nearby. She and Hunter avoided the other Slytherins and jumped into a carriage joined by Frank.
Chris and Kerris, meanwhile, got stuck in a carriage with Christie Jacob and Sally Ireland, and both willed themselves to be anywhere but there the second the door shut. The two other Ravenclaws wouldn't shut up and Kerris gratefully shoved the door open when they reached Hogsmeade and practically ran from the girls.
Chris discovered her hiding amongst their friends, Pete, Remus and Sirius already having been dragged off by James. Three of the foursome had waved cheerily as they disappeared onto the train.
"I suppose we should find our own compartment,"
Agreeing, the first years got onto the train together, shoving their trunks in front of them. Chantelle struggled with her two and Hunter eventually took pity on her, at which she smiled gratefully.
Frank was dragged off by Alice soon after, and Abbie and Chantelle soon spotted Warwick Oliver, Joseph Stebbins, Aubrey Bertram and Davey Gudgeon, who gestured for the two girls to join them.
"Seems like it's just the six of us again," Chris muttered good naturedly.
"Oh, that's not so bad," Mackenzey replied.
"We just can't get rid of each other,"
"Yeah, I've had to spend all my time with you lot!" Ruby said with mock exasperation. "Nonetheless, it's been a pretty brilliant year, a pretty great start to Hogwarts!"
The others concurred and there was a very enthusiastic "I can't wait until next year!" from Kerris.
"Now, what are we doing about summer?"
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