Aly stepped onto the Hogwarts Express and looked around, and to her surprise, heard nothing.

"Stupid, slimy, snake obsessed Voldemort," she muttered under her breath. For the second year in a row, she found the Hogwarts platform and train to be completely silent. Even the compartments had less chatter than usual.

"Of course, now everyone knows he's back," Aly mocked angrily, walking into the open compartment where her friends were.

"Who's back?" Hayden asked absently, looking up from his magazine.

"You-Know...Hayden, what magazine is that?" she asked, eyeing a picture of a girl in a bikini.

Hayden smiled cheekily at her. "Bikini Babes Monthly."

"Gross. I thought you had a girlfriend?" Aly said, sitting down next to Amanda.

"Nah. What happened last year was a twenty four hour affair."

Damien rolled his eyes and leaned back in the seats. "So...what happened earlier today didn't go that well, did it?"

"Way to start off a good conversation, Damien," Char snapped. "Just launch into it. No one wants to talk about that!"

"Well, it's been on everyone's minds, so we may as well talk about it while we have the time," Damien shrugged.

Amanda poked Hayden in the shoulder to get him to join the conversation, but he was too engrossed in his magazine.

"Hayden, stop staring at that girl's chest and jump into the conversation!" Damien snapped. Hayden blinked and looked up, slowly closing the magazine.

"How's Michael?" Aly asked Amanda quickly, attempting to change the direction of the conversation.

"Oh, he's peachy. He was so excited to take over my uncle's place at the Ministry," Amanda replied, catching on. "He seems really eager about this job."

"What's there to be eager about?" asked Char, helping them out. "Srimgeour's a madman. I can bet you that the Ministry's going to die sometime soon because of lack of leadership."

"And I just know that You-Know-Who's supporters are going to infiltrate the Ministry," Damien growled. "They're taking over, slowly."

"Have some optimism, mate," Char said sarcastically. Hayden resumed reading the magazine, seeing as how this was a topic that was not of interest to him.

"Well, eventually, we're going to pull through," Amanda added. "Maybe things will go back to normal."

"Yeah, like that'll happen."

The train started moving and they began to journey to Hogwarts.

Someone knocked on the compartment door.

"Come in!" Char called.

The door opened and Hayden looked up slowly and dropped his magazine. Kylie was standing in the doorway, looking shy. Her long was still long and blond, eyes still ocean blue.

"Hi," she said, smiling weakly at Aly. "Good to see you."

"Hey, Kylie," Amanda replied, flashing a quick smile.

"Hi. Have a good summer?"

"Somewhat," Aly shrugged. Char glared at her.

"Did you need something?" Damien asked rudely, crossing his arms.

"Actually...I wanted to speak with Hayden."

Aly's eyes widened and she looked at Hayden, who was staring at her dumbly.

"Oh...um..." he stumbled, "Ok, then."

He stood up and Kylie stepped aside. "We'll be in the compartment across the hall." Aly nodded.

Once the door shut, Aly wolf whistled and Char laughed.