"Au revoir, maman. Au revoir, père." Elsa could only stand there with her Hogwarts cart and giggle as her mother tried to correct her informal language and fretted over her clothes. King's Cross Station was pleasantly cool, and Elsa was glad she had set out in some Muggle clothing she had bought from America. "I will be just fine, maman. Très bien,"she added for emphasis.

Elsa's mother sniffled dramatically. "Mon bébé est tellement grandi.Anna is still only 15, but you are 'ere - 17 and going off to your last year of school. You are even 'ead Girl!" Elsa tried not to stiffen at the mention of her younger sister and tried to smile at her mother's slight accent. Elsa's sister mentioned in a conversation made her feel fidgety. The explanaion behind this behavior was something that Elsa had rarely spoken of (only her father and a few close friends knew) and didn't intend on repeating; all in all, she had suffered enough over the summer to believe that she should be spared from talking about Anna the she-devil.

"Emilié," Elsa's père, Edgar, laughed softly. He sensed his daughter's discomfort. "Elsa has been through enough of this in her years here. We should go." Her father turned to whisper in her ear, and she listened intently. "Be good, yes? Send an owl as often as possible." Elsa nodded obediently, her parents turning to kiss her on the cheek before waving goodbye.

"Je t'adore!" Elsa called. "I'll see you at home for the first few days of holiday!" She then gathered her wits together, checking to see that the new Head Girl badge was still secure on her shirt before heading off toward the train.

"Hello, Head Girl," a pleasant, masculine voice said from behind her. Elsa turned around, caught by surprise.

"Eli!" Elsa embraced him, taking in his scent. "How are you, my dear Head Boy Wood?" she playfully asked.

"Très bien,Elsa." Elijah smiled cheekily. Kissing her on near her temple, he made a gesture to follow him with her cart. "Wait," he halted, "let me push that for you." He placed his own trunk next to hers on the cart and gracefully took it off her hands.

Elsa walked beside him while carrying their bookbags. "Where are we going?"

"Gathering with our party-crazed friends," Eli replied, making Elsa laugh.

When the pair approached their friends, Elsa couldn't help but grimace when Molly Weasley's sister Lucy popped up out of nowhere. The younger girl had developed a deep dislike toward Elsa over the years, which their friends suspected was based on jealousy. "Eli, I didn't know that Lucy would be sitting with us on the train."

"She's only ogling at Jack," Eli laughed. "Lucy's going to be sitting with her own friends on the Express. Does she still make you feel uncomfortable?"

"Of course. Jealousy or not, the way she glares is pretty unsettling."

Eli laughed so hard that Elsa could see the gleam in his eyes shine bright. "You're adorable," he complimented. Elsa flushed a deep pink, letting some of her hair fall into her face. He swiftly brushed it out of her eyes.

"Elijah!" James whooped. "Hey, Elsa!" The rest of their friends - Liza, Molly, Roxanne, Evan, Claude Zabini, Emma McLaggen, and Kevin Duncan - were surprised to see that the two were standing closer together than ever before. James had known, of course, thanks to Lily; Jack had seen them on a date himself.

"I guess we have another couple to go on dates with, Ev," Roxanne said. Her boyfriend chuckled in agreement.

"Come on, guys. Let's get on the train before it leaves us here and we're left needing rides from some angry parents," Emma joked.

Molly, Elsa noted, was eager to get rid of her younger sister. "Look, Luce - you should really be going now." The redhead looked around. "There's your friend.. Aruet. That's her name, right?"

"It's Ariel,Mol!" Lucy corrected, flouncing off. "Bye, Jack! Don't miss me too much!"

"Doubt that that'll ever be a problem," Elijah whispered into Elsa's ear.

"Don't we know it," Elsa replied. Unbeknownst to the two, Liza and Kevin were off to the side silencing a bristling Jack. He'd had enough of the public displays of affection, but no one, save for the two currently quieting him, had noticed.


"Jack, I thought you knew that they were together. Eli is one of your closest friends and this is unfair to both him and Elsa." Liza's face hid nothing with her no-nonsense attitude - she wanted him to drop the act and never had to say it aloud. Jack couldn't help but feel just a little ashamed of himself for being upset from the moment he'd seen the couple together. It hadn't even been Elijah's fault that he'd "stolen" Jack's dream girl because Jack had never told him about the crush.

"C'mon, mate. It's not all bad. You know Elsa - maybe timing's just the key here," Kevin offered.

Liza sighed, "Regardless of timing, you are not getting in between them. We all know Elsa deserves the happiness."

"You all sound like Lily right now," Jack remarked. Except, he was confused. He had no idea what Liza meant by Elsa "deserving happiness". From the looks of it, Kevin was confused too.

Liza noticed the two looking somewhat dumbfounded. "It's nothing that I can say to you right now. Don't even try the rest of her friends because they won't tell you." Jack's face fell even at this small denial. "Jack, what is it now? You can handle not knowing," Liza said, exasperated.

"You're keeping secrets," he pouted. The dark haired girl frowned when he started laughing. "I always love messing with you, Lizaloo. Your grumpy face is so endearing!"

"Frost, you sicken me." Despite the words, Liza's face lit up with a half-annoyed smile. "Sorry for being impatient with you." From Liza, that said a lot. "Get onto the train before we're abandoned, like Emma said earlier."

"C'mon Jackie Frost. I'll take care of your hair," Kevin teased.

"Not funny, Kevin. Don't blame me when you wake up with a Puking Pastille in your mouth after calling me that too many times."

"Then I'll throw out your hair products," Kevin retorted. "Claude would help me, too."

Liza rolled her eyes. Boys were so childish sometimes.


On the train, the whole group of friends was catching up. "You two are the Heads?" Claude asked Elsa and Eli. "Not much of a coincidence, if you ask me. Maybe Professor Longbottom and Professor Flitwick planned this. "

"What?" James asked, confused.

"Didn't you know?" Roxanne quipped. "The Heads share a dorm."

"They still do that?" Jack asked, bewildered.

Evan nodded. "Yeah. It's always been a thing."

Elsa was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable at the scrutiny, so she changed the topic. "Hey, who're the Quidditch captains this year?"

Eli wrapped an arm around her. "It's Evan for your House, Alice Longbottom in Hufflepuff, Scorpius as Captain for the Snakes, and me for the Lions."

"The nicknames for Slytherin and Gryffindor are way overused, Eli," Molly chuckled.

"I know," he replied, poking his tongue out. "Any of you on the teams this year?"

"I'm still a Chaser," Elsa supplied.

"Beater," Jack added. Next was Evan, the Keeper; Roxanne, the Beater; Claude, the Chaser; and then James, the Seeker. "I'm wondering how the teams will turn out this year. I heard Lily was trying out for Chaser."

James nodded. "I think she's fantastic. She inherited some of my mum's skill."

"That's great," Elsa said genuinely. "She's a tough opponent."

"That can be easily remedied," Jack laughed. "Tryouts aren't for a few weeks. Brush up on your skills."

"Jack, I was already planning on that!" Elsa grinned. Glancing at her watch, she pulled Eli and herself up from the seat. "We have to go meet up with the prefects and patrol for a bit. We'll be back in about 45 minutes or so."


In the Prefects compartment, Elsa and Elijah found themselves surrounded. The prefects included Rose, Scorpius, Elijah's brother Karson, Alice Longbottom, and a few other fifth years they weren't particularly close to. "Alright you guys. Most of you know the drill, but we need to go over these rules anyway." Elsa glanced at her checklist, refreshing her mind. "You all patrol the corridors at nighttime - two pairs every night. You'll cover half the castle; each pair. Try to corral the hallways during the daytime, too, if it's too rowdy."

"Prefect bathroom privileges, as always. However, we won't do anything too bad to you if you lend the password to a friend in need," Eli grinned. "Speaking of passwords - Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw don't operate on 'em - Professors Longbottom and Slughorn have the passwords for their Houses. You guys, as prefects, need to ask for them and inform your House Mates. Have fun patrolling the train, guys. If you need anything, Elsa and I will go from the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, then Slytherins. Pair up however you'd like. We'll meet you guys by the split where the First Years and the rest separate; we'll figure out who's going where from there."

Elsa and Elijah left the Prefects compartment holding hands, patrolling with leisure. None of the students wanted to bother the two and managed to suppress their wild-child urges, for while passing through the train they didn't see any one setting off a prank from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. They chatted amiably, laughing whenever the crossed paths with a rogue chocolate frog.


As soon as Elsa and Elijah left the compartment, Lucy came in. Molly audibly groaned. "Wow, I've been waiting for them to leave for ages," Lucy gushed. The rest of them rolled their eyes.

"Lucy, please stop. No one cares how much you dislike Elsa," Molly said, annoyed. "Dad doesn't like hanging out with you for a reason," she said under her breath so that only her friends could hear.

"Never mind that then! Hello, Jack," Lucy purred. Jack didn't know whether to gag or run for the hills. Lucy scooted closer to Jack and he felt a bit claustrophobic. "Did you miss me?"

"Lucy," Jack moved away, "I saw you less than an hour ago."

"Do you like my shirt? Don't I look pretty in it?" Jack almost started sweating in anxiety. Lucy was too close for comfort. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roxanne and Emma stifling their laughs. "Jack? I asked if-"

"Yeah." Jack let out a breath in relief when she lifted herself off of him. Yes, she was pretty. Excessively bold, touchy-feely and pushy, however, were also a yes. Jack had had a fair share of girlfriends and knew that Lucy was far from his type. He got up and moved closer to James. "So, Lucy, what classes are you taking this year?" There was no way that he was going to tell her to go away without being frowned upon. Well, at least frowned upon by his aunt Astoria.

"Nothing too out of the ordinary, but I got all of my combined classes with the Hufflepuffs!" Lucy rolled her eyes. "Headmaster Barnaby wouldn't accept my transfer requests. He said that 'inter-house unity must be stressed'. Some speech there."

"You know, Lucy, the Hufflepuffs aren't bad," Evan said. "As a Ravenclaw, you surely can see that. Wasn't Teddy Lupin a Hufflepuff?"

"Darn right he was," Molly confirmed.

"Lucy, get out," someone suddenly said. Everyone in the compartment looked up in surprise as Lily Luna Potter held the door open, waiting for her petulant cousin to remove her body from the perimeters of the small space. "I need to talk to James."

"Why do I have to leave when everyone else gets to stay?"

"Because they don't have a big mouth is why," Lily snapped. She then softened her tone. "Luce, we don't have all day." The second sentence was definitely friendlier than the first.

Lucy relented. "Okay, Lils." She sighed and left.

Lily took a seat next to her older brother. "I feel bad for Luce sometimes."

Molly snorted. "Trust me, Lily, we all get that period of doubt. Luce can be a total conniving diva. She was plotting how to sneak some hair dye into Elsa's shampoo bottle before I caught her looking at the pamphlet for hair colors just a few days ago."

"What color was she planning on for the dye?" Liza asked. "Because I don't think Elsa can pull off bright hair colors."

"That's exactly it - Lucy knew that!" Molly exclaimed. "She wanted to buy some bubblegum pink hair dye! It's stupid, seeing that dye is so expensive. Lucy said she needed dye because it's permanent and would humiliate Elsa. 'Molls, charming her hair wouldn't be enough!' she said."

Roxanne erupted into giggles. "Well," she said, sobering up, "what'd you need, Lily?"

"Just some sickles," Lily admitted. "I'm craving some Cauldron Cakes and Sugar Quills right now."

James frowned. "Isn't Albus sitting closer to your compartment than I am?" James was sitting in the mainly-Ravenclaw cabin, while the Gryffindor cabin was at the opposite end of the train.

Lily smiled sheepishly. "Well, yeah." Catching her brother's odd expression, she explained. "It's just that Rose and Scorpius are patrolling together, and they both stopped by Al's cabin right when I wanted to borrow some money from him. I saw them two talking in front of the door and I bolted."

"What about Dom?" Jack asked. Dominique was usually by the Gryffindors.

"Dominique's the other Slytherin Prefect," Lily reminded.

"My baby sister is so consumed by jealousy!" James blurted.

Emma looked at him oddly, refraining from having a good laugh for the sake of Lily. "You justrealized after her being here for five minutes?"

"I never put these kinds of things past him," Lily teased. When she realized a few minutes had gone past, she prodded James again. "Can I have the sickles now? My friends can only stall the cart for so long."

"Sure, Lily." James handed her 10 sickles. "Bye Lily Luna!"

"Bye, James. Bye, guys! I'll see you later at the feast!" Lily left with a flourish and Jack chuckled.

"Your sister's the best, James," Jack said enthusiastically.

"I know," Emma agreed. "Lily's so cute!"

Claude chuckled, "I don't think a fifteen year old would like to be labelled as 'cute', guys."

"Will pretty work?" Kevin chortled.

James rolled his eyes, "I don't think that'll work on my watch."

"But it's true," Liza said. She looked out the compartment window and saw some prefects going into the one opposite theirs. "I think we're getting closer to Hogwarts. We should robe up."

Molly stood up and stretched, helping the others grab their school robe bags. "Robe up sounds silly, but it works."

"Liza just has a way with words," Jack laughed.


translations: "Au revoir, maman. Au revoir, pére." Goodbye, Mother. Goodbye, Father.

"Mon bébé est tellement grandi." My baby has grown so much!

"Trés bien." Just fine.

"Je t'adore." I love you! (in a familial way)

* I used Google Translate for some of this, so excuse my errors.