"I swear, Christmas holidays are getting shorter and shorter every year."

Victoire could agree with that, nodding as she followed her sister and brother onto the Hogwarts Express. It honestly felt as if they'd all just arrived home, but now they were shipping back off to school for another long term. Summer seems ages away.

"Here's an empty compartment," said Louis, sliding open the door and venturing inside. Dominique followed him and Victoire had been about to leave them to their own friends when she hesitated. She thought of Whit; how she'd probably enjoy spending a bit of time on the train ride with Jack, though she'd never seek it out on her own. If Louis was here, Jack would find his way here too.

"You're riding with us?" Dominique asked, seemingly surprised when Victoire entered the compartment and sat.

"I am," she said. "I have a feeling Whit and Jack may want to hang out."

Dominique shrugged, though Louis was already nodding from his spot by the window. "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me." He started looking out the window. "Speaking of Jack, where is he?"

"Around somewhere, I'm sure," Dominique offered, already pulling out her latest Quidditch magazine and settling into her spot.

Louis suddenly sat up straight and started tapping on the window obnoxiously. Victoire watched him curiously. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get Jack's attention," he said before he stood and walked toward the door. "I don't think he saw me. I'll be back."

She watched him go before she glanced over at Dominique, who couldn't be bothered to take any attention away from her magazine. Feeling slightly restless herself, she decided to flip open her own magazine that she'd brought. She started flicking through page after page in search of something interesting to read.

The sound of the compartment door opening again made her look up. Jack and Louis were making their way inside, lugging Jack's trunk behind them.

"Hi, Jack," Victoire said as she pulled her feet from the seat she had propped them on.

"Hi," he said with a grunt as he and Louis pushed his trunk onto the luggage railings. They both laughed once they managed the task, then they plopped down on the opposite sides of the compartment from each other. Jack nudged Dominique to say hello, seeing as she'd said nothing since he entered, but she did nothing more than hum a bit and not look up from her magazine.

Seeing Jack made Victoire suddenly wonder what was keeping Whit. She had been keeping relatively quiet on the subject of her and Jack since the night of Victoire's birthday; Louis and Dominique never did get their answers out of her. In fact, if the topic did happen to come up, she'd often change it abruptly to something else. The only information Victoire had managed to get out of her was that that the pair of them had hugged goodnight and said they'd see each other at school.

"Just hugged?" Victoire had asked.

"Just hugged," Whit said in a disconnected tone. "What exactly did you expect?"

Victoire shrugged, now considering what she knew about Jack's dating past. He had briefly dated another girl called Holly during his fourth year—she was in Victoire's year—but that was the extent of it. She knew nothing of how he usually went about this sort of thing or of how interested he really was.

"I'm nowhere near as aggressive as you can be," said Whit. "I'm taking things day by day."

"I'm not aggressive," Victoire said as she thought about the boys she had pursued over the years. There was Malcolm Abernathy, her first boyfriend during her fourth year, but that didn't last very long. She distinctly remembered him taking the initiative and her following along.

Then there was David Thorpe during her fifth year. In this case, she remembered being far less shy and more confident around him, so perhaps she did approach things more actively. Still, she wouldn't consider herself aggressive.

"Is the snack trolley open before the train leaves?" asked Jack, his voice interrupting Victoire's thoughts. "Or not until we get going?"

"Just wait it out until it comes along," Dominique said, sounding irrated by everything.

"I'll go and see with you," Louis offered, standing then and nodding for them to investigate. "I want to say go and see who's here."

"Probably everyone," Dominique muttered, not looking up from her magazine. "It is the train to school…"

Louis threw her a look and flicked her magazine as he passed her on his way into the corridor. It caused Dominique to try and kick him.

"Anyone want anything?" Jack offered.

They both shook their heads, and the pair left in search of the trolley. Victoire turned back to her magazine and began to take a quiz that determined " What Kind of Witch Are You?" when she heard the compartment door open once again. She also heard Dominique let out a low groan.

"Hello both of you," said Natalie once she poked her head inside. "Have you seen your brother?"

"He's run away," said Dominique as she flipped the page. "Forever."

"He and Jack went to find the snack trolley," Victoire said, only half paying attention to her. She was trying to determine what her idea of the perfect date was given in the choices in the quiz. Did she prefer a long walk down the beach or a picnic on the mountain side?

"Oh," Natalie said as she entered the compartment and took a seat. Dominique let out another low grumble of a noise, though Victoire gave Natalie a polite smile. Apparently, she was going to wait here for Louis.

"Is that the newest 'Young Witches' magazine?" Natalie asked after a long silence.

Victoire nodded as she checked off an answer with her quill.

"I read that from cover to cover yesterday," she said, still talking. "I was so bored after I finished packing my trunk."

Victoire continued to offer a polite smile before returning to her quiz.

"I took that quiz," she added, watching Victoire. "I got 'Sweetest Witch.'"

She looked up again. Natalie obviously wanted to talk. It wasn't even that she really had anything against Natalie; it was just that she constantly wanted to talk. There was no such thing as a quiet moment when Natalie Young was in a room. The only problem was that, besides Louis, the two had very little in common and often had very little to talk about. She tended to remind Victoire of a kinder and more thoughtful version of Penelope Shears. Boy crazy, very girly, slightly dim, and easily influenced by stronger personalities.

"I got 'Bitch Witch,'" Dominique said without flinching.

Natalie didn't seem to know what to say to that. "You...did? But that wasn't an option..."

"No shit," Dominique said. "Obviously. I don't take dumb magazine quizzes. I'm not an idiot."

"Well, I do," Victoire said, throwing her sister a look and attempting to cut her off before she could set in on Natalie. "And I'm not an idiot. I'm actually—" She flipped to the last page of the quiz, "I'm an 'Independent Witch.'"

Dominique stood, grabbing her Quidditch magazine and throwing Victoire a look. "Well let me allow you the opportunity to be that much more independent and do this on your own." She glanced at Natalie before smiling at Victoire; then disappeared out into the corridor.

Victoire looked back at Natalie, who seemed a bit confused as to what had just happened, though not surprised. She and Dominique had never got on, though it was entirely Dominique who drove that wedge. She offered Natalie a "what can you do?" sort of shrug before flipping to another page in her magazine.

"Hello there," said a familiar voice as the compartment door slid open again and Whit stepped inside. "I knew you'd be here first."

"I was wondering what was keeping you," Victoire said.

"You know me," she said as the train's whistle blew loudly to signify its departure. She suddenly screwed her face up and, in a very Colleen Lynch like tone, exclaimed, "I just couldn't be one of the first people here, Vicki. That would have just been pathetic."

"That was almost eerily accurate," Victoire said. "Not a fan of that impersonation."

"Who was that supposed to be?" Natalie asked. "I think I know, but…"

"Take a guess," Victoire said as the train lurched forward and began its long trip back to school.

She hesitated. "Colleen Lynch?"

"Ding, ding." Whit smiled. "Glad to see I can do her justice."

"I thought you and Colleen were friends?" Natalie asked Victoire.

She let out a short laugh. "We are—" She took her fingers and made air quotes, "'friends.'"

"What do you mean?" Natalie asked, looking concerned, though as she spoke, the compartment door slid open again and Louis and Jack reentered. Their hands were empty, which indicated that they clearly hadn't found the snack trolley.

"Hey!" Louis said as he went and sat down next to Natalie. "You made it. I was looking for you on the platform."

"Ran a bit late," she said as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Victoire smirked at her brother, a part of her feeling amused, but also a bit jealous. She missed the simplicity of having someone who would happily greet her upon seeing her; quick kisses of hello and smiles that she knew were meant only for her. Witnessing it from the outside when she didn't have that herself was a bit of a pinch in the side.

"Alright, who wants to play cards?" Louis offered up, glancing around at everyone.

"I will," Jack said, having sat down across from Louis and next to Whit. He turned towards the latter and asked, "Do you want to play?"

Whit seemed game to play along, which made Victoire grin. At the same time, Natalie suddenly leaned into her and said, "You didn't finish telling me why you're not friends with Colleen anymore?"

"Because she's evil," Louis muttered.

"It was a long time coming," Victoire cut in. "I'm mostly tired of the way she treats people. Tired of the way she treated me."

Natalie nodded, but she still looked rather surprised. "I thought you were close."

"We were never close. We may have seemed that way at times, but it was all an act. I never trusted her as far as I could hex her."

"Really?" she asked. She sounded genuinely surprised.

"We had some fun times, sure," she said as she stared out the window. "When I was younger and didn't know any better. Funnily enough, hanging around her made me more confident. You'd think it'd be the opposite, what with how she hurts everyone in order to keep herself on top—"

"Rumor has it she likes being on top," Louis joked. Natalie swatted him.

Victoire rolled her eyes at her brother. "One day, I just realized what she was doing and I got sick of it all. She and I started arguing, then once I started challenging her more, she got annoyed. It all came to a head last year when she went all out to get back at me."

"What happened?" she asked with extreme interest.

"She started a rumor about Tom Haines and me."

"You mean that's not true?!" Louis asked as he blatantly faked being shocked. Jack snickered and Victoire grinned.

"I remember hearing that," Natalie said slowly. "I didn't think it sounded right. You and Tom..." She shook her head.

"It never happened," Victoire said. "But Colleen will do whatever it takes to knock down anyone who she thinks is in her way."

"Which means shit is going to hit the fan once this whole Stu Reynolds thing gets played out," Louis said, discarding several cards onto the ground.

Victoire shrugged. "I don't care anymore."

Natalie seemed to consider all of this in a thoughtful sort of way—almost too thoughtfully when Victoire really looked at her. She seemed almost lost in the thoughts until she finally spoke.

"When I was in my third and fourth years, I used to want to be friends with your group so badly. I thought you were all so cool."

"We weren't," Victoire said. "You're better off."

Natalie grinned a little, though Victoire detected that she didn't quite believe her. "How did you all even become friends with them?"

"It's a long story," she said.

"We've got loads of time," Natalie encouraged.

That was true. They really had nothing but time on this train journey and perhaps she had the energy to tell this story one last time. If only to help deter Natalie from thinking this was some sort of ideal situation she'd been in.

Victoire's memories began drifting back to the Hogwarts' library. Back to the day she should have just walked away. "I was thirteen…"

A third-year Victoire had suddenly sat up very straight. She was watching three boys enter the library and make their way over to a nearby table. Two of the boys were older, probably fifth-years. The other boy—the one with the dark blond hair that she'd been noticing all over school latel—she knew he was only a fourth-year. She also knew he was in Ravenclaw and that he played Chaser for their Quidditch team; she'd seen him last week when they played Slytherin. That was all she really knew about him. She didn't even know his name, although she'd like to.

She smiled a little as she watched them grab a table by the window and laugh about something that was probably very funny. The librarian, Madam Pince, shot them a dirty look from nearby, but they didn't even seem to notice.

"Hi, Victoire," said a girl who passed her table, smiling and waving at her.

"Hi," she said brightly, though not sure she actually knew who that was. It was funny, really. Ever since her third-year had started, people seemed more and more interested in talking to her. People she didn't even know were greeting her in the corridors and at meals. She had wondered if it was because of her haircut—she grabbed the ends of her hair and examined it—but that couldn't have been it. She hadn't really cut that much off over the summer.

The boys over at the far table laughed again. It was an infectious sort of laugh that made her want to laugh as well, even though she had no idea what the joke was. She watched as Madam Pince scolded them for being disruptive. They certainly took notice this time. as they all opened their books and rolled their eyes.

She frowned slightly. She wished the boy with the dark blond hair would be one of the ones who randomly stopped her to say hello. She slowly began to smile as she pictured how it would go. She would learn his name, and he hers; then she was sure she would be able to interest him with her witty jokes and comments. She was sure it would be that easy. It was that easy in her head, at least.

"Hey, Vic," said Ted Lupin as he startled her out of her daydream. He plopped down in the chair across from her and grinned. She had to blink a few times to adjust her eyes to him. His hair was an obnoxious shade of bright green today. "What are you doing?"

"Um," she stammered as she glanced down at her open book on the table trying to remember what she had been doing. "Oh, I have to write a ten inch essay on the Goblin Rebellion of 1612."

He made a face. "Fun."

"What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "I have to grab a book for a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay I have to do later. Then I've got Gobstones Club."

She made the same face he had. "Fun."

He shook his head. "You used to love playing Gobstones."

"I still like playing," she said. "Just…" she hesitated, "not enough to join the club."

"Why not?"

"Because it's practically like asking people to laugh at you."

"Nobody laughs at me."

"Not to your face," she said with a smile. "But I'll have you know that behind your back, I'm laughing at you."

"You don't count," he said. "And why do you care what other people think?"

"I'd like people to like me."

"People aren't going to not like you just because you're in a club."

"That's not true," she said, picking up her History of Magic textbook. "Clubs and organizations can often grow larger and more powerful, and if set upon the wrong pretenses, terrible things can happen." She flipped to the end of the book and pointed to a specific page. "Look at the Death Eaters."

"I don't think they were a club," Ted said. "And you're really reaching with that one—"

"A group of people with common goals and interests who meet to share and partake in said interests is a club," she said in her best instructional tone. "Just because they didn't call themselves 'The Death Eaters Club' doesn't mean that they weren't, in fact, held to the same standards that clubs are."

He stared at her.

"It's all right here," she said with a playful smile as she held up her book to him.

He shook his head. "Somehow, I don't think that the Gobstones Club is going to grow to try to destroy all of magical society."

"You never know," she joked, right as Ted's friend, Simon, came hustling over to the table.

"Hey," he said as he struggled to catch his breath. "You find the book yet?"

"I haven't even looked," Ted said, standing up. "I've been having it out with the queen of debate here."

Victoire laughed, just as Simon said, "Hi Victoire," with a sweet sort of smile. "You look really nice today."

She had been about to say thank you, but Ted was already swatting at Simon and rolling his eyes at his comment. "Come on," he said. "Let's go find it already so we can get downstairs to Gobstones." He glanced back at Victoire. "There's still time to change your mind."

She politely smiled and shook her head slowly. She was not changing her mind.

He shrugged and followed Simon off into the large shelves of books, muttering something to him about how some people didn't respect the skill required to play a proper Gobstones match.

Victoire laughed to herself before she picked up her quill and started scribbling some random facts down about goblins. Ted and his Gobstones…One of these days, he would stop asking her if she was ever going join the Gobstones Club, and that would definitely be the day that—

"Hello, Victoire," said a voice.

She slowly looked up. Standing in front of her was Colleen Lynch, a pretty and popular fourth-year girl, who along with her friends, were the group that everyone always talked about. She was Muggleborn and her parents were apparently very wealthy—super wealthy. Her family had a huge mansion house in the country where—rumor had it—they kept a tiger as a pet.

"Hi," Victoire said.

She smiled at her. "Mind if I sit?"

Victoire shook her head, though as she took the spot across from her, Colleen was already introducing herself and informing her that they were in the same house.

Victoire nodded a little. "I know."

"Of course you do," she said sweetly as two more girls approached the table giggling about something. "And these are my friends." She pointed to the taller girl with curly hair. "I'm sure you've seen Penelope around the common room as well. And," she pointed to the shorter one with dark hair, "this is Aspeth. She's in Slytherin."

They both smiled at her and pulled out the remaining two chairs. Victoire noticed they didn't bother asking.

"You don't mind if we all join you, do you?" Colleen asked.

She shook her head as Aspeth picked up the front of Victoire's book to see what it was. She made a face as she dropped it back on the table. "Ugg, I hate History of Magic. Binns is such a bore."

"I wish they'd toss him already," Penelope added.

"Can you even toss a ghost?" Colleen asked with a derisive laugh. "They probably don't, because if they hired someone new, they'd have to pay them."

All three girls laughed as Victoire smiled a little. She was still very curious as to why they were sitting with her when there were plenty of open tables. Even stranger still was the fact that they hadn't at all made an attempt to take out any books or parchment from their bags.

"So, Victoire," Colleen said with a smile, "I was thinking just the other day how interesting you seemed."

"You were?"

"What do you like to do for fun?" she asked.

She blinked. She suddenly felt as if she was being interviewed. "The usual stuff, really. Hang out with friends and…" She paused, trying to think of something interesting to say. "Whatever."

Colleen smiled and nodded her head. "That's what we like to do as well. All of that."

Alright…? She was still unsure what was happening. However, Colleen was one of the most popular girls in school, so she felt almost obligated to listen.

"You seem like a really fun girl," Aspeth added from beside her. "And we're looking for more fun friends."

"You are?" she asked.

"Of course we are," Colleen said. "Who wouldn't want more fun people around?" She looked Victoire up and down. "You've got everything we look for in a friend."

"Which is what?" she asked slowly.

Colleen looked at her other friends, as if wanting them to fill in the blanks then.

"You're pretty," Penelope said.

"You're social," Aspeth offered. "People like you."

Victoire didn't know what to say to that. Were those reasons to want to be friends with someone…? Those reasons really didn't give much away about who she was.

"We've heard boys talking about you," Colleen finally said.

"You have?" she asked, immediately intrigued by this comment. Who? What had they heard?

"You can't blame them, really," Colleen offered while the other two girls nodded. She suddenly sat up straighter, "So, with that being said, we wanted to know if perhaps you'd like to hang out with us some time? Around the common room or Hogsmeade. You know?"

"Really?" she asked, finding herself both confused and flattered by the offer. "But you barely even know me."

"Which is why we want you to hang around," Colleen said obviously. "So we can get to know you."

"Obviously," Penelope quipped.

Victoire didn't know what to say to this either. Here were some of the most popular girls in school, and they wanted her as a friend? Why her? What had she done that was so special?

"Before you agree to this though," Colleen continued in an almost business-like tone, "there are a few things you have to know."

"What do you mean?"

"Guidelines," Aspeth offered.

"First," Colleen said, "if you are going to start hanging out with us, you've got to always look your best. No jumping out of bed to go to class without fixing your hair and making sure your clothes are always neat and pressed."

"Alright," Victoire said with a nod. That was easy, since she already did that.

"Second," Aspeth said, "you can only date boys that are of a certain caliber."

"Caliber?" Victoire asked.

Colleen laughed. "It's not as bad as it sounds. Of course, there are the fit boys who are always acceptable, and after hanging out with us for a bit you'll realize exactly who they are. Then there are the boys with potential, who you can date but you should check first to make sure they're worthy."

Victoire arched her eyebrow skeptically.

"Then," Colleen said with a heavy breath, "there are the boys who are completely unacceptable and…" She paused and laughed. "If you don't know who they are already, then we've got loads of work to do with you."

"So, I can't just go out with whomever I want?" she asked.

"Trust us," Penelope said. "The only boys you'll want to date are the ones that are acceptable."

"Exactly," Colleen said before she turned and looked around the library. "Do you see that table of boys over there?" She pointed to the table where the Ravenclaw boy with the dark blond hair sat.

"Yes," Victoire said, staring straight into the back of his head.

"Those are the acceptable kinds of boys," she said with a smile. "And…" She turned around and started scanning the library. At that very moment, Simon appeared from the shelves with a book in his hand.

"That one," Colleen said, pointing directly at him. "The pudgy Hufflepuff one? He's the unacceptable kind."

Victoire didn't know what to say to that. Simon had always been very sweet to her; while she didn't fancy him, she hated hearing him called unacceptable. No one deserved that. But…

She looked back toward the boy with the dark blond hair. Could being friends with these girls get him to notice her?

"Why is the kid with the funny hair staring at us?" Aspeth asked.

Victoire turned away from the Ravenclaw boy to where Aspeth was staring. Ted was looking directly at her with a look of utter surprise and confusion on his face. It almost looked as if someone had hit him upside the head with a Bludger.

"Everyone stares at us, Aspeth," Colleen said without even bothering to turn around.

"Yes, but it's an odd look," Aspeth said. Colleen turned to see for herself.

"Oh, he's my friend," Victoire said. "He's probably just surprised to see me…" She stopped short of saying, 'with you girls.'

"You're friends with the funny-haired kid?" Colleen asked.

"His name is Ted."

Colleen made a face as if she could not have cared less.

"Isn't he Harry Potter's godson or something?" Penelope asked. "I thought I heard that somewhere."

"Is he really?" Colleen asked, turning around to look at him once more. By now, he had turned away and followed Simon to check their book out.

"Yeah, he is," Victoire said. "I've known him my entire life through Harry Potter. He's my uncle."

"That kid is your uncle?" Penelope asked.

Colleen's eyes rolled heavily into her head. "I think she meant Harry Potter was her uncle."

"Is he really?" asked Aspeth.

"I thought Harry Potter was an orphan?" Penelope said. "How do you have nieces and nephews if you're an orphan?"

"He married my dad's sister," Victoire said very obviously.

"Ohhhh," Penelope said, nodding thoughtfully. "That makes sense. I think…"

"Well," Colleen said, looking tired of Penelope then. "I suppose the kid with the weird hair has something going for him, then."

"His name is Ted," Victoire corrected once more.

Colleen stared at her, apparently amused by her spunk. "You're funny. At dinner tonight, you really should come and sit with us."

She stared at her. She was already weighing the pros and cons in her head of becoming friends with these girls. On one hand, they didn't seem to be able to see past people's appearances; they often judged them based on their looks alone. On the other hand, they were popular and commanded a lot of respect around the school.

And at that moment, the boys from the far table stood up and started gathering their things. As they started to walk out, one of them detoured and made his way over to their table. The other two quickly followed.

"Hey, girls," said the one with dark hair as he passed by and smiled.

"Hi, Tobias," Colleen said, smiling. "Hi, Dave. Hi, Stu."

"Hey," said the other two boys, including the dark blond one. The one standing next to him—who was also quite cute—suddenly pointed straight at Victoire.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"Oh, Dave, this is Victoire," Colleen said with a glance from him to her. "She's a third-year and our new friend."

"A third-year?" he asked with a laugh. "I would have at least pegged you for a fourth-year."

Victoire immediately blushed.

"That's Dave," Colleen said as she watched Victoire's face with amusement. "The taller one is Tobias, and this one," she playfully grabbed and the dark blond one's arm, "is Stuart."

"Hi," Stuart said with a friendly smile. Victoire was suddenly very happy she was sitting down.

"So, dinner then?" Colleen asked Victoire once more.

Victoire managed to tear her eyes away from Stuart to Colleen again. She stared at her blankly for just one moment. "I'll be there."