When they break apart, the girl beams at him.

'We shall stand and rise, tonight! We shall bring down the Mudbloods and the Muggles! We shall reign victorious!' she laughs manically.

'And of your family, my dear?'

'Pah! They are not my family! They shunned me – hid me from the world. From you, my love. Now I shall shun them,' the bitterness in her voice is unmistakeable, and the man smiles slyly.

'Then let us prepare the final steps.'

September

My first encounter with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry went as smoothly as it could have done, in my eyes. Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress, tested my skills in about every subject area possible and deemed me 'able to take OWLs'. Unfortunately I am now in Fifth Year, despite me being sixteen, so that I can sit them, and have an unreasonable amount of work to do so that I can pass them.

I didn't tell any of the teachers that I had a secret tutor for five years, and nor did I tell the Potters that. No one need know. It doesn't matter to me. Let them think I'm some sort of wizarding prodigy. Although I'm studying Transfiguration at the moment and it's hard. Of all the things I can do, I can't Transfigure anything. Professor McGonagall has me stuck on matches into needles, like the First Years.

'Whatcha doin'?' asks Al, coming to peer over my shoulder.

'The one thing I'm bad at,' I growl.

'It's because you're frustrated,' he says. 'It's always easier when you're relaxed. Hey, Rose!' Al beckons to his cousin.

Rose is so cool. Well, as cool as someone with the brain of computer can be. Her red hair bounces as she stalks up to us.

'Al, I'm trying to complete an essay on Felix Felicis. Make it quick.'

'Help Laoise to transfigure that match, would you? You're good at Transfiguration.'

'So are you,' she glares at him, but she sits down. 'Okay. The theory is that you need to want it to happen, because it would be useful to you.'

'I do want it to happen! It would be useful to pass this class!'

'Well then, say the spell and make sure you believe it will happen. That's the magic part. If you believe it will happen, it will.'

'What is this, a Disney movie?' I growl at her, but she simply beams at me, infuriating me further. I take a deep breath and point my wand at the match. I mutter the spell with my eyes closed, and with every fibre of my being hope that it has worked. When I open them, however, there is still a match lying there. I swear loudly, to gasps from some nearby First Years, who I silence with a glare.

'Try again. You'll be Vanishing objects in no time, trust me,' Rose smiles. Her faith in me seems to have restored by bruised pride, and this time, when I do the spell, it works. I breathe a sigh of relief.

'Now do the rest of the box,' she says, getting up. I huff, but oblige. Al follows her, begging for help with their Felix Felicis essay. James sidles up beside me.

'You're confusing the Second Years, doing First and Fifth Year work,' he says with a smile.

'Oh yeah? It serves them right, having done this already. They could've helped.'

'Which would have offended you – don't deny it,' he smirks.

'It's not fair! It's my first week here and I've barely unpacked before the work is dumped on me! You only have three subjects now; you're lucky. I have eleven.'

'Be grateful they accepted you! You got sorted into Gryffindor, which is lucky, you got to choose your subjects instead of having them thrust upon you and I'm letting you try out for the Quidditch team, even though you've never mounted a broom before!'

I snort at James's list of good things, 'You're letting me try out because you love me.'

'No, it's because I need a laugh,' he sighs. 'And most students who move here from being home-schooled or sent abroad have a hard time. Most people seem to like you.'

This is true – my relationship with James has blossomed and whilst he hasn't officially asked me out, everyone knows that we're together. Not that we can do anything or go anywhere until the next Hogsmeade weekend (the slip which Harry and Ginny thankfully signed). I have an amazing friend in Rose (when she's not working across the room at 'her' spot, which she always seems to be doing) and Al seems to be everyone's best friend. He's the most popular prefect, by far. If a kid's in trouble, it's him they go to. He seems to have become the epitome of Gryffindor-ness.

I'm still a loner. I snuck back home one night in August and got my stuff (I was suffering withdrawal symptoms without my iPod, and James' Granddad Arthur modified it for me so it would work with all the magic) so I sometimes just curl up on my new, luxurious, four-poster bed and play Chinese Patience with my old, burned out pack of cards, but most nights I'm down in the Common Room, laughing and joking with the rest of the Gryffindors. It makes a change to feel popular.

'So what are you doing this evening, then?' James asks, breaking the silence.

'Nothing. That matches thing was the last piece of work I had to do, thank God.'

'You do realise that nobody in the Wizarding world has ever, ever said thank God, right? That's a muggle phrase,' he smiles at me, and I roll my eyes. I can't change the way I speak. 'Come on. I want to show you somewhere.'

He stands up and takes my hand. We battle our way through the hoard of students crammed into the tiny room and out of the hole in the wall. Apparently this is what people call it, but I still have to remind myself every time that in the wizarding world there's no such thing as a cash machine.

We get out and he throws a cloak over us.

'What's this for? It's not exactly cold, James,' I frown.

'It's an invisibility cloak. Technically it's Al's, but I use it more often so I don't get caught by teachers when I go out to see Hagrid. Al only has to say he's on Prefect Duty and he gets away with it. It was my dad's originally.'

So this is the fabled cloak of Harry Potter. I examine it with my hands in wonder. It's incredibly beautiful and old. I think back to something I've heard about some Hallowed objects with a cloak like this. But they aren't, can't be real. It's impossible!

James starts walking and it jolts me back to Earth. I follow him carefully and soon he pulls out a roll of parchment. Seriously, the guy is screwed up. The parchment's blank.

'I solemnly swear I am up to no good,' he whispers, tapping the parchment with his wand. Where his wand touched it, lines sprout in every direction and before long it is filled with a perfect map of Hogwarts, with the words 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs' written along the top. There's more, but I can't read it because James is looking for something on it.

'Okay, Filch is on the third floor Charms corridor, but we don't need to go that way. Come on,' he mutters, grabbing my hand and dragging me back up the corridor.

'What is that thing?' I ask incredulously.

'It's the Marauder's Map. It shows where everyone in the school is right now, plus all the secret passageways in and out. I stole it off my dad and have been using it ever since,' he grins at me. I laugh quietly and we keep running.

'Stop!' he whisper-yells. 'Slughorn's coming this way. Move in and don't breathe,' he orders.

'But if I stop breathing, I'll die!' I whine. A fleeting grin passes over his face but it's stopped short when we see Slughorn turn the corner.

We back into the wall as quickly and quietly as possible and watch anxiously as he walks past, apparently in a daydream.

'We should go back – we're going to get caught!' I breathe at him.

'Who's the voice of reason now? Stop acting like Rose and come on. There's not far to go now.'

We go up yet another flight of stairs, creeping past Mrs Norris, the caretaker's whacko cat, and dashing along a final corridor. James begins to pace and I start to worry for his sanity, because I'm pretty sure Mrs Norris saw us, and anytime now Filch will turn up.

Abruptly, a door appears.

'Come on,' he smiles at me, and leads me into the room. 'Welcome to the Room of Requirement. A place of wonder. Over here we have -' I interrupt his tour-guide speech by hitting his arm. He grimaces.

'Someone will hear you!'

'No they won't. No one can get in, not whilst we're in here anyway. I've sealed it.'

'Wow.'

'I know. It's cool, right? You can make it do anything you want. Dad says he used to hold these club meetings in here when he was fifteen, and it was a hideout during the Second Wizarding War. Apparently it was destroyed by Fiendfyre – that's cursed fire – in the Battle of Hogwarts, but it seems to be tougher than it looks because it's still here, and Professor Longbottom says it works better than ever, except for the permanent burning smell.'

'That is very cool,' I approve. 'Another secret hideout for you, then?'

'Yeah. A place to work, a place to sleep – an escape, really. I like it.'

'What's that?' I ask, pointing to a large cabinet that dominates the Room, apparently the only thing that doesn't look burnt or even tarnished.

'Vanishing cabinet – one of a pair. It's got protective spells on it though – I can't get rid of it.'

'Didn't the fire destroy it?'

'You'd have thought so. Fiendfyre can destroy heaps of things – spells, Horcruxes and stuff, but apparently not a Vanishing cabinet.'

'Random.'

'Tell me about it.'

'What's a Horcrux?' I'm on fire. There's so much I want to ask him, about Hogwarts and wizards and does he like me like that and the Marauder's Map and the Room and I find myself sitting down and listening, for the first time since we met, to everything he has to say. He tells me about Horcruxes and his Dad's story and how his parents are broken hearted by their losses from the war but they lived so they move on and Transfiguring matches and Polyjuice Potion. I'm fascinated. There's so much I never knew about anything. I've spent my life researching Harry Potter, but hearing it from James makes it seem real.

There's a pause in the conversation and abruptly, James kisses me. I'm momentarily surprised but I kiss him back.

I love you, I think. I shake my head – that's stupid, I've only known the guy a month. I'm just dizzy from that (amazing, my heart thinks) kiss.

'Sorry.'

'Don't be.'

We sit there in a beautiful silence for much longer however, and it takes me the entire time until we leave to realise that we're still holding hands.