AN: I'd love to know what you think of it. I might also be interested in a competent beta, write if you feel up to the job.

Lily Evans conscience flooded with guilt as her mother tearfully waved goodbye and her father hugged her tightly

The 9 ¾ platform of Kings Cross was buzzing with activity. It was the first day of the semester and the Hogwarts Express was due to leave in another twelve minutes and 36 seconds. The platform was full of young witches and wizards greeting each other or loading heavy trunks onto the train. Tearful goodbyes and write-soons were exchanged everywhere. Some had their entire family, with grandmothers and great-aunts, with them to wave them off while others came alone.

A trained eye could sense a certain feeling of caution in the air. Parents were keeping their little ones close. Distrustful glances were exchanged between families and even the students seemed to board the train in closely knitted groups.

"Be careful honey"

"Write to us if you hear any funny rumours.."

"Avoid the Slytherins, they are never good news darling…"

Yes, there was definitely caution in the air, and with good reason. The last couple of months had been characterized by reports on weird disappearances and mysterious deaths. And there was a certain rumour flying around, a rumour about a new group calling themselves the Deatheaters…

Tension was running high in the wizarding world.

Lily Evans conscience flooded with guilt as her mother tearfully waved goodbye and her father hugged her tightly. Her guilt, due to the fact that she was not nearly as sad to part with her parents as she ought to be, got worse as her heart leaped with joy at the sight of the Hogwarts Express. Of course she loved her parents, they were immensely proud of her. She liked spending time in their little townhouse in Bayswater, London, well enough despite her sister's efforts to ruin her holiday.

The problem was that Lily thought too much. Her mind ,always whirring and buzzing with activity as it analyzed everything one time too many, had come to a conclusion. The townhouse where she grew up was not home anymore. Every morning when she woke up and saw the peach coloured tapestries of her mother's choosing she had wished they were scarlet hangings in a castle far up north. Hogwarts were home, the townhouse in Bayswater was only where she visited her parents. The magic world was home, and she missed it every single moment she spent in the Muggle world where she grew up. It saddened her, because she knew her parents thought that as soon as the graduated, she would come back to them, find a place nearby and be their little baby girl again. She knew she would never be their baby girl again, and for that she felt guilty.

"So how was your summer?"

The question, casually thrown out there, remained unanswered for a while. It was not certain who it was addressing. After greeting each other and squealing in delight (some) or raising eyebrows sarcastically at the squealing (others), the Gryffindor seventh year girls had boarded the train and found a compartment.

"Oh, it was awesome. Well, bits of it anyway. You can never guess what I ended up doing! You know how I was very depressed because Dumbledore obviously doesn't like me very much and wanted me to suffer during the holidays?"

Sheena decided that the question was directed at her and answered Lily. She was stretched out on the seat with a pink lollipop in her mouth and took up a lot of space for someone really petite. Lily noted that she looked good. Her once waist-long blonde hair was gone and only a halo of golden locks remained. The new hairstyle had a certain just out of bed-quality but suited her just fine. Lily also noted that she looked buff, more than usually even. Sheena always kept in shape but her shoulders and arms were more toned now than when they parted and her fair skin had a golden tan.

Sheena's summer plans were always undecided until last minute. Her parents were long gone, and she had spent every holiday since first year with different "aunts" and "uncles", to whom she was hardly ever related. Their one thing in common was that they all seemed to owe Dumbledore favours.

"He doesn't want you to suffer" Lily said carefully as they had been through this in June.

"Whatever. He left me with aunt Muriel, who is a horrible, horrible person, and totally old, at least 80. She has a lovely niece however, Molly, she was in Gryffindor and graduated a few years ago. She came over for tea, with her two little kids, once. Can you believe she married her classmate? It is so cute! She has two brothers and…"

"Rambling much, darling? Or was having tea all you did? Because the Sheena I know would hardly call that amazing…" The slow sarcastic drawl that was patented Sophia Nott added to the conversation. She was popped up in the corner, leaning against the window and altered between looking out and following the conversation.

"Shut up. Anyway, all aunt Muriel wanted to do was to go to Thailand and drink fruity drinks and look at boys a third her age. So she dragged me along, and it was okay. Did you know that the Trace doesn't reach beyond Europe? Muriel let it slip and I suppose it's true because I haven't gotten an angry letter from the Ministry yet. Okay, back to the point, in Thailand, what to do? Well, I saw a advertisement from a Thaiboxing camp and I Confunded the trainer so they let me join!"

"You did what?!"

"A what-now camp?"

Lily could hardly pretend to be surprised after seven years, but Dorcas Meadows looked shocked, Sophia confused and Cady McMillan just mildly interested.

"It is a muggle sport. It involved a lot of hitting, I think" Lily explained to the purebloods.

"And kicking" Added Sheena, positively glowing. "It was great, I spent a month there and a month by the poolside, with Sin Tak, a lovely boy who gave me massages and brought me drinks. You would like the Thai wizards Lily, all they ever do is making potions. It was boring, and I didn't understand a word they said so me and aunt Muriel mainly stayed with the Muggles"

"Well, you doesn't seem to be dead or dying so it must have been better than you thought it would be. How about you Cady?"

Watching Cadithia McMillan was certainly a peculiar experience. She was very petite and popped up in the corner her small frame only filled about half a seat. Perhaps she could be called pretty, with pale skin and auburn fluffy curls but what really draw people's attention was her eyes. The huge dark eyes were constantly moving in and out of focus. Cady would in the midst of a conversation stare at a point half a meter to the left of your head with a shocked expression. Or she would let out a surprised little gasp during the most dull lecture ever experienced. Sometimes she seemed to be lost to the world and it would take several minutes to catch her attention. She didn't talk much and it was hard to say if she listened or not, but sometimes she would give people little bits of advice or warnings. This all combined led many to drawing the conclusion that she was absolutely nutters.

Of course Lily had been the one to figure it out. Always one to connect dots, she had let out a shocked gasp right after Cady had let out a shocked gasp sometime in third year. Then she had asked "You are a seer, aren't you?" and everything seemed to fall into place.

"Well, yes I would suppose I am" Cady had answered indifferently. Ever since then Cady had been considered mostly sane and sometimes useful. They had soon found out that she had absolutely no control of what she saw and hardly could tell them what would come up on the next exam but they had also learnt to always take her warnings seriously.

"It was relaxing. I spent some time with my grandparents and met the strangest boy, Xenophilius. He told me I had nargles in my hair" Cady looked slightly confused at the thought of nargles.

"Oh my God! Cady met a boy!" Dorcas exclaimed clearly thrilled.

It was hard to shock, surprise or scare Cady McMillan. She took every surprise with the same expression of mild interest as always. Dorcas Meadows however, liked to have a little bit of drama to liven things up every now and then. Dorcas was a friendly, nice and constantly underestimated person. Surrounded by charismatic or sometimes plain weird friends, it was easy to overlook somebody who settled for being good person. Even though she wasn't smart like Lily, gutsy like Sheena, mean like Sophia or special the way Cady was special, Dorcas prided herself in other abilities. She was determined, she followed through and she would do anything for the people she cared about. In many ways she was more of a true Gryffindor than any of the other girls. And those who overlooked her usually paid for it during Defence Against Dark Arts, because the only person who could take her in a duel was Sheena and Sheena had the benefit of being slightly crazy.

They chatted away for the rest of the ride about Cady's possible love interest or if Sheena finally got hit over the head one time too many. The lovely snack lady stopped by with her trolley and sweets were bought and shared.

Sophia felt her eyes start to get heavy. She was really comfortable and that was a rare thing. At her parents everything was strict and stiff, the chairs were uncomfortable but good looking and the big rooms had really cold floors. She hadn't slept well since leaving Hogwarts. Sophia decided to rest her eyes for a little while and immediately fell asleep with her dark brown hair semi-covering her face. She was tall and willowy with high cheekbones and forehead and very light green eyes. Most people considered her a mean, scary person but Sophia argued that if they insisted on breathing her air they would have to withstand a few insults. She spoke with a slow drawl laced with sarcasm, no matter how sinister she were for the moment. However, there were people she both admired and liked. Lily for example, had a mind that kept impressing Sophia seven years into their education. She processed data like some kind of machine and Sophia always wondered how she managed to keep it all in her head. She supposed she really did love Sheena, in a completely non-sugary way. She considered McGonagall the best teacher to ever walk the earth but found Dumbledore a bit too peculiar. Dumbledore always seemed to know and understand a little too much, something Sophia was very uncomfortable with. Because she had not always been the girl who could make the first years cry.

When Sophia first came to Hogwarts she was excited and curious girl with two dark pigtails, eager to learn and experience. She arrived with her twin brother Solomon and another little girl, Cassandra Rosier. Cassandra had been her neighbour, confidant and best friend for as long as Sophia could remember. Their parents were close friends and the girls had altered between playing at the Rosier Manor and the Nott Manor for as long as either of them could remember. Sophia was afraid of the dark and would on some nights sneak out of her window, run over the lawn and climb the fence into the Rosier garden. Then she would climb the old oak, knock on Cassie's window, slip into the warmth of her friends bed and sleep peacefully until Mrs Rosier would wake them. They had fantasized about how going to Hogwarts would be ever since Sophia's older brother Theodore left for school when Sophia was five.

When Cassie was sorted into Gryffindor, Sophia demanded that the Sorting Hat would place her there too, even though her parents always said Slytherin was the best. Sophia's parents were not too excited about their daughter's House and Solomon, who got sorted into Slytherin, was the favourite twin ever since. But Sophia never regretted her plea to the Hat, the girls were inseparable also in school and got along good with their other housemates too. Sophia would still sometimes sneak into her friend's bed during dark nights.

Sophia loved school. She didn't miss her family terribly, like some first years did, because her family was Cassie and they were never parted. She did fairly good in her classes and found that she had quite a knack for charms. First and second year went bye so quickly, thinking back she would wonder where all the days went.

But Fate can be cruel. Cassandra left Hogwarts after her second years and never returned for her third. Sophia, having spent a few days at her grandparent's, returned home to find her mother looking like she was about to be sick. She told her daughter, newly turned thirteen, to please sit down and went on to explain how Cassie had been killed in a tragic magical accident under uncertain circumstances.

The pain was as distinct as if a limb had been ripped from her body but she didn't cry. Sophia never cried for Cassie. She didn't do anything either. Days became weeks and Sophia lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She would nibble at the sandwiches their elf Mimy brought her every once in a while and sometimes went to the bathroom. September approached and on the first Sophia got up, dressed and grabbed a few necessary items. She went down and asked her parents for a ride in a monotone voice. Sophia Nott returned to Hogwarts, but the carefree, happy child Sophia left as in June would never return.

If a love that had been hers for her entire life could be ripped from her in a moment, what love would not? She decided that it just wasn't worth the risk and never bothered to get close to anyone again.

Most people accepted that the dark haired Gryffindor girl wanted to be left alone and was dreadfully mean when confronted. She had a few rows with Lily, especially when she picked on the younger students. Dorcas sometimes glanced at her sorrowfully when she thought Sophia didn't notice and Cady would just look at her with a sad little smile and Sophia knew she saw a younger happier girl. But for most of the time the girls left her alone, except for Sheena. She was just seemingly incapable to back down from a fight or to let an insult slip. They were at each other for two entire years, like two bitches in heat. Not a week would pass by without at least a dual and probably a fistfight too, and of course endless scorn. Sheena would call Sophia "the bitch mother of all little bitches" and Sophia would retort with "little blonde ditzy lunatic" and the rest of the Gryffindors were so tired of them that Lily invented the Muffiliato-charm just to block out their voices.

The turning point came when Sheena got into a row with the two years older Bellatrix in her fourth year. Sheena was a good fighter, best in her year. She had been trained by her auror mother until her death and then by assorted "aunts" and "uncles" during her summer holidays. But Bellatrix was talented, more experienced and seemingly without any conscience at all and Sheena was only barely holding her own. Sophia could not, three years later, explain why she did it but she came to her nemesis defence.

To say that the girls were inseparable from that moment would be to push it beyond the breaking point. But something had changed. They still didn't like each other much but had come to the conclusion that they made a impressive team and might benefit from cooperating. Sometimes. When nobody was watching.

They had both lost a lot during their few years and they recognized something in each other that they seemed to share with few others. A kind of bitterness over the cards that life dealt them, a desperation that came from not really giving a shit. It took time and a lot of bickering but somehow they grew close over the years and bonds of friendship are ties that bind.

But none of this disturbed Sophia's dreamless sleep as the Hogwarts Express continued up north, bringing all of them home.

The sorting ceremony and the feast that followed were a familiar ritual to the seventh years. But before the food was served Dumbledore held a speech in which he said the expected welcoming words but also a few sentences that would stay in their minds for quite some time.

"My dear students, I wish you all happiness and prosperity long after your school years are over. But I fear that life as you know it is about to change for many of you. Time will tell if I am right in my worries but until we can dismiss them as an old mans foolishness, I would like you to carry these words with you. Dark times might be approaching, but these are the times that defines us. These are the times that defines us." He sighed and looked out over his horn-rimmed glasses.

"Now, let the feast begin."