Thank you so much, again, to everyone who is loyally reviewing our story, and for candyk8, who is proofing this for us! We love you all! There is one thing that I want to set straight. Lavender and Shamus's daughter: her name is Lilac, not Lavender. This might throw you off, but we made a mistake. Sorry! Without further ado, here's chapter five!

Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter, but we do have the rites to all the other characters that we added, that aren't part of the real story like Freddie, Cedric, and Jaclyn, and…yeah. We wish we owned Rupert though.

Dear Mum, Dad, Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, Lilly, and Hugo,

I made it into Gryffindor! I could hardly believe it then, and it seems surreal now! Dad, thanks for the advice you gave to me at the station. It really gave me a confidence boost, and I don't think I could have made it through without it! By the way, how is work? We were in the Quibbler again. Luna wrote a back-to-school edition, but you probably already saw it.

Mum, things are even better than I thought! The school is amazingly big, the common room is really cool, and the teachers seem okay. You'll never guess who the new Potions master is, though! I am forced to be taught by Draco Malfoy! I knew his son was going to be attending Hogwarts, but I wasn't informed that I had to interact with his father, as well! I was shocked when I heard the news, but even more shocked when I heard this: SCORPIUS MALFOY IS IN GRYFFINDOR. I thought the Sorting Hat had gone mad at first, but, later on, I talked to him in the common room, and he was actually quite kind. I know, I know, you're probably thinking that he was just joking, but he seemed exactly like Dad's godfather, Sirius. He said he was ashamed of his family's past, and that he would do whatever it takes to get away from them. Draco put up a pretty big quarrel with McGonagall, though. I think I might have made a new friend. Please don't be mad.

Aunt Hermione, guess what? I took your advice, and, after Rose finished it for the seventh (or eighth?) time, I am…sigh… reading Hogwarts: A History. It is actually a very good and interesting read, and I'm learning things I never knew about my school. Thanks for suggesting it. I also have my first Transfiguration exam coming up next week. Do you have any advice? It's kind of difficult; we're turning animals into goblets. Respond with tips: I need them!

Uncle Ron, I'm trying out for the Quidditch team this weekend. There is a vacancy for Keeper, and I really want to make the team. Dad said if I made it, he'd buy me a Firebolt 3000! That's my motivation, I guess. Thanks for helping me practice over the summer. I think those in-the-air suicides are going to make all the difference at try-outs. Wish me luck!

Lilly and Hugo, I miss you both a lot! My life is weird without you jumping on me every morning. I'm sending you a ton of pictures of the castle, and all my new friends. I hope you are having a great time back home, and I can't wait to see you over Christmas break! Keep Aspin for a few days, and you guys can feed him if you want. He seems a little drowsy lately, but I think your company will cheer him up!

Lots of Love, Albus

After proofreading it and making sure it was just right, Albus set off to the owlery to send off his first of many correspondences with his family. He missed them a lot, and would be waiting all week for a reply. He was enjoying his classes and time at school, however. Right then, he had a free period, followed by Potions with the Slytherins. He had chosen Rose to be his partner, but they had allowed Scorpius to sit near them. He was becoming friendlier and friendlier by the day. Al was beginning to wonder if he was adopted.

On his way over to the owlery, he was humming and taking his time. That is, until he ran into his new friend.

"Hey, Scorp! What's up?" said Albus, as if he'd known him forever.

"Oh, nothing. I'm off to the owlery to mail a letter to my mum. Even though my dad already sent her a Patronus, I still want her to know that I'm happy where I am."

"That's good. How's your dad been reacting to all this, anyway? Did he know that you didn't want to be in Slytherin?" asked Albus, curiously. If Draco had known all along that Scorpius was not, in fact, a reincarnated version of himself, then why would he have flipped out the way he did at the feast?

"He had some suspicions. Right before I left to get on the train, and he asked me to have fun, I answered vaguely. He seemed to get the feeling that I didn't want to go to school, not that I didn't want to be in Slytherin. Well, he certainly knows now, right?"

"Yeah, definitely," Albus replied with a laugh. "I was really worried that I would be placed in Slytherin, just because my dad was almost placed there. He gave me really good advice, though."

"Yeah?"

"He told me that, if I just thought Gryffindor, that's where I'd be."

"Wow! That's really cool. I didn't think the Sorting Hat worked that way."

"Me neither. I didn't even believe my dad, at first. I took his advice into consideration, and what do you know?"

The two friends shared a laugh, and were silently thankful for being placed in the same house. If they weren't they wouldn't have been able to share the wonderful, blossoming friendship that was unfolding right before their eyes.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Jessica Thomas had had it. She was not in the mood for doing homework, and the tantalizingly scrumptious smell floating through the common room from the kitchen was teasing her. She abandoned her unfinished DADA essay and decided she'd finish it after a nice, hearty supper. She trudged up the stairs to her dorm to pull on a pair of sweatpants.

Jess wasn't in the best of moods. She was feeling miserable, light-headed, and really down. She wasn't the school type, and was the complete opposite of her year-younger brother, Dan, who loved school and everything about it. The rainy weather wasn't helping her disposition either. After brushing her waist length hair, and spritzing on some perfume, she slowly made her way down the stairs to go find Freddie and Lilac. Even though Lilac was in her brother's year and house, she was still like a sister to both Freddie and Jess. They were exactly the two girls who could brighten any person's day, and they were the medicine that Jessica needed to cheer up.

After packing away her books and hopeless, unfinished essay, Jessica took her time getting out of the portrait hole, and even asked the Fat Lady how she was doing. When anybody did that, you knew they were stalling.

The reason Jess was stalling was…complicated. She had stayed as secluded as possible all day, and barely spoke to anybody, not even her best friends. They could tell something was up, but didn't want to approach her about it just yet. Jess was the kind of person that, if you let her alone for long enough, would eventually come out of her shell and confess what the matter was. Not today.

Every time she saw him, she hid or blushed and ran away. Every time they talked, she got all jumpy and was at a loss for words. Every time she heard his name, oh Merlin, she went insane.

Her problem was George Weasley. He was absolutely gorgeous, and pretty popular among the third years. Nobody had any trouble talking to him, and the other girls that liked him followed him around constantly, and never let him alone. Jessica was the complete opposite. She was jealous of those other girls, and she wished she could be like them, confident and energetic. Mostly confident.

Now, normally, this wouldn't bother her. She usually let this entire thing slide. She was used to being ignored by him, except for an occasional "Hey, Jess. What's up?" or "Morning, Jess." The one factor that set this instance apart from all the others was that he had a new girlfriend. Her name was Lilac.

Jess had never, ever told her friends about her crush (more like secret obsession) on George. Otherwise, Lilac would have checked with Jessica before agreeing to date him. However, with her feelings unknown and obliviously ignored, she felt even more invisible than she did before.

So, she thought to herself, scratch that. I need to find Freddie. Not Lilac. Just Freddie.

With her mind made up, she realized she had been standing blankly in front of the Fat Lady for ten whole minutes. She apologized for her brief hypnotic state of mind, and dashed on down the corridor. She tried to stop herself when she noticed her two-legged, living, breathing, chestnut brown-haired problem come dashing the other way, plowing her over.

"Oh my gosh, Li- I mean, Jess! Are you okay?!?! I'm so unbelievably sorry. I just have to meet Lilac, and I'm really, really late. I was in a hurry and – "

"It's fine. Forget about it. Gotta go," Jess said, in a hurry herself. She stood up, with much difficulty, and limped back the way she came.

She was, although, you couldn't tell from the outside, fuming. She was fuming to the point of bursting. To the point of explosion. To the point of tears. She felt alone, and miserable, and neglected, and hurt, and … the emotion parade marches on. All she knew was that, no matter how hungry she was, she could not go down to dinner.

She approached the Fat Lady once again, and mumbled the password. The Fat Lady reluctantly let her in, and watched her go, in despair and empathy. She remembered what it was like when the man three paintings down had rejected her. She remembered it like it was yesterday. Because it was.

Jessica stormed inside the common room, not even bothering to hide her frustration and anger anymore. She kicked her backpack, hurting her foot even greater in the process, and punched the back of the armchair she had been sitting in, not a half hour ago, writing her endless Transfiguration. If only she had some perseverance. Then, she would have finished her essay, and would have asked George out a long time ago.

She was almost in full rampage mode, when she noticed a shrunken figure in the corner of the common room. Freddie had her face buried in a large, thickly bound book, and seemed to be hiding in fear of being hurt. She looked up when she realized that the noise had subsided and offered Jess the spot next to her.

Freddie was, by no means, an idiot. She had known Jessica Parvati Thomas since she was born three days after George and herself. They had grown up in the same neighborhood, played together, heck, they were practically sisters. No matter how much Jess tried to keep her feelings hidden, Freddie could see right through her. She knew exactly what Jess was mad about. But, not who she was mad at.

"Who is he?" asked Freddie, with the same concern a mother would have for her baby.

"I'm not ready to tell you yet," Jess said defiantly.

"Well, when you're finally ready to tell me, I'm here for you, you hear me?"

"Mmhmm." Jess gave her friend a huge hug, and didn't let go until she heard Freddie choke. "Sorry. I'm gonna go to bed now, okay?"

"But, it's only five o'clock. You sure you don't want dinner? I'll go Lilac and Geor – "

"REALLY. I'm fine. Night, Fred."

Freddie watched her friend go up the stairs. Man, she thought, whoever this is is definitely causing her lots of stress. I am not going to let her go so easily. I'm gonna need all the help I can get, though. Freddie smiled a satisfied smile, as she concluded that she would come up with a brilliant plan to lure Jessica out of the trap that stress and turmoil had laid for her. She just needed to figure out who it was that was stealing her best friend's light and energy. Whoever that was, Freddie hated. Little did she know that this mystery man was the one that Freddie loved even more than Jess.

Meanwhile, Jess threw open the door of her dorm room, relieved to find that it was empty. She stripped herself out of her uniform and into a comfortable pair of pajamas. She hurled herself onto her bed, closed the curtains that surrounded it, hid under the covers, and cried, sobbed, bawled the night away. Nothing could make her feel better. Nothing.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

God, I hate him. God, I hate him. This was the one and only thought running through the mind of James Potter. He knew they were cousins and everything, but, seeing him sitting there with her, at that moment, he despised George Weasley.

James had been in love wit Lilac Finnigan since the first time they met on the Hogwarts Express a year ago. He had been chatting with a few of his friends in a compartment, when she popped in with her second year friends, Jessica Thomas and Freddie Weasley. Their brothers, Shane, Dan, and George, along with Freddie's boyfriend, Cedric, were there, and they came to wish them well. James couldn't keep his eyes off her ever since.

Now, seeing her sitting there, arms linked with George, him whispering something into her ear, her giggling, them sharing a kiss… it was unbearable. He simply didn't deserve her. James looked down at his untouched mashed potatoes and beans, and decided to leave and get a head start on his homework for the weekend. He would probably go to bed early too, and contemplate the confusion of relationships in his head, a last thought to carry him off to sleep… sleep…

"James? Jaaames? Huh, you've left me no choice. Jimmy!"

"WHAT, SHANE? You know I hate the name Jimmy!"

"Sorry, man. It's just, you only sport that face when you're daydreaming about a girl. Who is she?"

"Uhhh…nobody. Nobody at all. What is your problem lately?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Look, when you're ready to tell me what's up, I'm here. Okay?"

"Geez, Shane, you sounded like such a girl just then. I'm off to bed, alright? Before you start all the 'you need a hug' crap."

"It worked last time!" Shane called after him. Shane, like Freddie, was no idiot. He knew something was wrong with his best friend, but he didn't know why. All he knew was that it involved some girl. Whoever it was, he hated. Little did he know…

This was all getting very complicated.

James, not even paying attention to where he was going, was in a whirlwind of emotions. He knew emotions and feelings were such girly subjects, but he needed consoling, and he needed it know. He couldn't talk to his dad, because he was never that helpful when it came to girls. His little sister? Hah! She would laugh in his face and sing, "You like Lavender! You like Lavender!" The only other option was his mother, and she's the one he'd been avoiding talking to all his life. Don't be fooled, James loved his mom, it's just, he never felt comfortable talking to her. She said he could come to her for anything but, aren't all mothers supposed to say that?

James decided, tiredly, that he'd let his emotions rest for the night. He scampered down the hallway until he reached the portrait hole.

"Krimpet," he sighed. The Fat Lady let him in, mumbling something about teenagers, and James threw himself in an armchair. He noted vaguely that there were Quidditch tryouts tomorrow, and that he was supposed to be helping out, but he couldn't sleep. No, not after all the events of the day. He heard faint crying sounds coming from the girl's dorm, and couldn't believe that someone could be having a worse day than he him.

As he drifted off to sleep, one thought stayed firmly rooted in his subconscious: Love stinks.

And, that's a wrap! Wow, so much: six pages on word! The whole love triangle thing kind of fell into place as I wrote it. Here's how it's supposed to be: Freddie and George are twins, Lilac and Shane are twins. Lilac and George is the couple. Freddie's best friend Jessica likes her brother. Shane's best friend James likes his sister. Very, very confusing! But, more on this to come if you…R&R! It's not that hard! Just click on the Submit Review button, and submit a review! You know you want to!

iheartron547