A little bit of romance, a little bit of sadness, and a whole new year of Hogwarts.

~Oh, right, I'm not J.K.R. Dammit, I guess I can wake up from that dream now.

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"Oh, mum please stop it." I complained as I tried to push my mother's face away from my cheek. "I'm fourteen. I don't wanna be seen being kissed by my mother."

Mum moved away from me. "You act like it's a bad thing."

"It is a bad thing. I don't need to be embarrassed by you in front of all my friends. It's bad enough being muggle-born." I mumbled, half under my breath.

Mum hated when I complained about being muggle-born so I averted my eyes from her. When I looked to my left, avoiding the glare I could now feel on me, I saw George Weasley and his family. All gingers. I gave a little chuckle.

"What's so funny, Kayla?" My dad asked of me.

"Oh. Nothing." I said, smiling in the direction of the Weasley family. I turned to face my parents again; mum's eyes had eased. "I'll see you guys at Christmas. Love you." I reached up and put either arm around my parents for a quick hug.

"You too honey." Dad told me.

"You too, Kayla. Tell Anthony we say hello since we didn't see him all summer." Mum told me.

"I will. Bye!" I was all ready rolling my trunk and running along towards the barrier.

I stood behind the Weasley family as they, one by one, took turns running at the wall. Fred and George were last to run through. Their mother gave them both a little peck on the cheek before telling them to run through. I snickered.

George turned around, probably hearing my snicker. "Nothing wrong with a little kiss from you mum, Kayla."

"Yeah, I'm sure you get them all the time." Fred said, turning around as well.

I shrugged. "A little too much actually. Go on." I waved towards the wall. "The train won't wait forever."

The twins turned around simultaneously and ran at the wall, Fred entering before George. I looked at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, giving them a smile of which they returned, and then ran at the wall.

Oh wow. Aurors. Lots of them. What's going on here? That was the first thing I thought of when entering the platform; not, I'm glad to be home, or, Wow I still love the color of that train.

"Oof." Someone grumbled behind me. They had hit my bum with their trolley as I walked towards the luggage compartment of the train. "Sorry Kayla."

I turned around. "Oh, hiya Harry. It's fine. I'll just have a sore bum for a couple days." I giggled.

Harry gave me a slight smile, not his normal laugh like he normally does.

"Are you okay Harry?" I asked him. "Oh, hi Ronnie." I waved behind him.

"Again with the Ronnie." Ron huffed and rolled his eyes. "Hi Kayla."

I gave Ron a short smile. "So, what's up Harry?"

"Don't you read the prophet?" He asked me. His eyes were wide and said 'how the hell do you not know what's wrong.'

I shook my head. "No. I don't."

"Well here. We're going to find Hermione. Read it for yourself. See you around." Harry handed me yesterday's version of the daily prophet.

Dark Mark Spotted, was the headline of the paper.

During the quidditch world cup, after a fantastic victory by the Irish, chaos broke out in the camps. Most believed this to be the Irish over-celebrating or maybe some Bulgarians and Irish men brawling over the wins and loses of the cup; but no. The dark mark, or the mark of he-who-must-not-be-named was spotted just above the camp after it had been ransacked by a group of death eaters.

The return of these dark wizards has stricken fear throughout all of the wizarding society. The dark mark was set off by someone unknown to us or the ministry, but, we can promise that we will find the culprit. Whoever has done this knows something, something that could put the fate of our world back into times of trouble and evil.

I stopped reading. That was enough for my mind. Being muggle-born and all, I couldn't even imagine the possibility of Lord Voldemort returning!

"C'mon Kayla, the train won't wait forever." I heard George Weasley yell from a window of the train.

The platform was just about cleared and the luggage department man was waiting impatiently for me to hand him my trunk.

I shook my head with a smirk at George's statement and rolled my trunk the rest of the way to the man.

"Thank you, miss." He forced from his mouth and grabbed my trunk from my grip.

Someone's moody.

I hopped aboard the train and skipped down the aisle, searching each compartment for Anthony. As I glanced at one I saw the familiar black haired boy and swung open the compartment.

"Oh. Michael, it's just you." I said disappointedly to Michael Corner. "You and Anthony look too much alike. Do you know where he is?"

"He's looking for you, but, he is sitting in here so come on in." Michael waved me in with him normal happy smile. "How was your summer?"

"Dismal." I answered with a huff. "I did nothing but sit in front of my open refrigerator." Michael gave me a puzzled look. "Refrigerator is something muggles keep food in." I specified. "And it's really cold so, I sat in front of that all summer pretty much. It was way too hot. How about your summer?"

"Great! Mine was really great. I went to the World Cup." He told me.

"How did that blow over? I read about the death eaters and the dark mark."

"It was pretty scary, but, my parents and I got to our portkey in time to get out."

"Did you hear about the dark mark?" Anthony asked, barging into the compartment.

"We were just talking about it." I told him. "You were there weren't you?"

Anthony nodded. "Yeah I was." His face got a little saddened as he sat next to me.

It's funny how that kid goes from excited to mellow.

"Alright?" I asked him.

He was looking down at his shoes toying with the untied string. His pupils were dilating and he looked like he could cry.

Michael kicked my toe. I looked up and he shook his head, giving me a sorrowful look.

I turned back to Anthony and put my hand over top of his. "Anthony, what happened?"

He coughed slightly, clearing his voice of being crackled with tears. "Albert was killed."

I didn't say anything. The only thing I ever said was it's going to be all right but obviously I knew it wasn't and wouldn't be.

Albert was Anthony's twin brother; he was a squib though. They had never gotten along ever since Anthony got a Hogwarts letter and Albert didn't. He had always been jealous of Anthony's powers and his parents' powers. I'm sure Anthony was torn up about this; they never got along even though Albert was his other half.

Anthony's eyes were cloudy when I looked back up at him.

"Hi everyone!" Miranda said, excited and bubbly-like, interrupting our moment. "Oh. I'm sorry." She put her hand over her mouth and entered the compartment, sitting next to Michael. "What happened?" She whispered to Michael.

Michael shook his head at her, knowing we shouldn't talk about it.

She put her head down and stayed quiet. "I'll just be quiet now." She toyed with the strings of her sleeveless hoodie and hummed quietly to herself.

"Wanna just walk up and down the aisle for a little?" I asked Anthony. "We can talk about it or just walk, if you want?"

Anthony nodded and said yes so quietly I don't think he even hardly heard it.

We stood up and were about to open the door when the train roared to life, blowing its whistle once, and moving down the tracks. Yay! Back to Hogwarts!

"Anthony, are you trying out for quidditch again this year?" Aidan Kiely asked, practically slamming open our door. "Oh, sorry." He backed up a bit. His and Anthony and my faces were directly in front of each others. "Well Ant, are you?"

Anthony shook his head no.

"But Ant, you're the best beater on the team!" I protested.

"Maybe next year I'll rejoin." He mumbled. "Just not this year."

Aidan looked upset. "Oh, okay then." He left the compartment doorway and went back into his own.

I heard Miranda giggle behind us. I turned around and her face was bright red. I gave her a little smirk and a roll of my eyes as I mouthed 'you like him.' She about got up and protested, but Anthony and I left before she could. She knew I was right anyway.

"Anthony, the team needs you though. You're the best beater they have. C'mon you have to try-out again." I was practically begging him. Quidditch was his favourite sport and it made him happy; and he needed to be happy.

Anthony shrugged. "Aidan's a good enough chaser for the team. He could probably be just as good a beater as I am too."

"Oh stop it, Ant. You're a great player and you know it. Oh hey Cho." I waved to Cho Chang as we slipped past her and the candy trolley. She gave me a friendly smile. "Anyway Ant, you're gonna need something to get your spirits up and quidditch is it."

"What if I just wanna mope about it though?" Anthony asked.

I knew he did. He would mope about this for weeks, no months, no maybe the whole year. Anthony wasn't going to take this well in any way and I had to think of something to make him smile.

"Oi Kayla!" Someone called my name. George Weasley. Again.

"What George?" I asked him, stopping in the middle of the aisle, holding Anthony's arm.

He eyed me and Anthony curiously. "I was gonna ask you something, but, never mind you two seem to be having a moment. Stop by my compartment before we get to Hogwarts, could you?"

I looked at him for a moment. "Yeah sure." I smiled.

George smiled as he went back into his compartment.

"You could've gone." Anthony whispered to me. "I don't mind."

"And I don't care if you don't mind, I'm spending time with you." I told him, almost forcefully, linking arms with him and walking towards the end of the train.

We stopped before reaching the Prefects compartment and turned back around. We were silent the whole time; maybe a word here or there, but nothing big. I didn't expect Anthony to talk much.

We were headed back towards our own compartment. I eyed George's compartment that was just a couple feet away by now. Anthony had unlinked our arms, opened that compartment and pushed me inside. I heard him snicker a bit outside the door and walk away. Well at least that made him smile.

"Dramatic entrance, wow that was just perfect." Fred was clapping.

I rolled my eyes. "You can thank Anthony for my excellent acting."

"Then I shall. C'mon Lee, let's go find Anthony." Fred said and grabbed Lee's wrist, rushing out of the compartment.

I watched them leave, my eyebrow raised. "Okay then." I nodded.

George let out a soft chuckle. "That's just Fred being Fred."

I smiled. I was still awkwardly standing in the middle of the compartment.

George patted the seat next to him. "You can sit, you know?"

"Right." I chuckled. "I knew that." I sat on the seat next to George. "So, why'd you ask me to come in here?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

"Okay."

George sighed and looked out the window for a moment. I started to feel a little awkward. Was he going to speak?

"Well actually," He started, still staring out the window. "I was wondering something."

"What were you wondering?"

He looked over at me, his eyes fixed on mine. He opened his mouth to speak but then instantly closed it. After another two seconds of staring, his eyes a perfect chocolate brown and mine a bright shimmering blue, we closed them and kissed. I was more surprised than anything, since George had moved in first for the kiss I had closed my eyes at the last second. I felt myself gasp a bit, but I still managed to kiss the ginger back.

I pulled back before George did, only because I was nervous. I looked at him for a moment.

"Sorry." He mumbled, sliding a little bit away. "I thought you –"

"I do." I stopped him mid-sentence.

"You do like me?"

"Yeah."

"Then why'd you pull away?"

I looked down, embarrassed about what I was going to say. "I was, uh, nervous."

"Nervous?" George asked, chuckling. "Why?"

"Because I've never kissed anyone before. Why else would I be nervous?"

George shrugged a little.

Well I guess this is it. I'm dating George Weasley.

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"Oh, God no George." I told him. "You're not trying to get into this Tri-Wizard crap."

"Why not? It sounds fun! Think of all the money we'd get too!" He protested.

I shook my head. "Shush, Dumbledore's speaking again."

We turned our heads to the front of the great hall, listening to Professor Dumbledore talk about the Tri-Wizard tournament.

He had mentioned something about no quidditch this season. Well that won't help Anthony's depression get any better.

"-no one under the age of seventeen is allowed to put their name in the cup." I heard Bartemius Crouch announce as I chimed back into the speech.

"That's rubbish!" George yelled.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Fred yelled next.

I put my forehead on my hands and shook my head. Of course they'd be upset about that.

"I like that rule." I hummed to myself.

George heard me and looked down at me. "Of course you do."

"Well, that means you can stay out of danger." I pointed out to him.

"All ready over protective and it hasn't even been a full day yet." George joked with me. He kissed me on the forehead and we began to listen to the rest of the speech and Tri-Wizard information.

You know, I've never thought about this, but now that I have a boyfriend I am. How do I explain to him me sneaking out in the middle of the night once a month? Oh Merlin, it looks like I'm going to be single again, soon.

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Thoughts? Comments? My name's a review box and I like words!