Chapter 3: Wait For Me

"Hey little train, wait for me

I was held in chains but now I'm free

I'm hanging in there, don't you see

In this process of elimination."

- O Children by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Lily awoke the morning of September first feeling oddly gleeful. She was glad to be going back to Hogwarts, glad to be seeing her friends. She washed and pulled on a cute little blue dress with silver flats and a blue headband to match. She thought the entire ensemble was entirely appropriate, but it appeared that others didn't quite share this view.

"Is that what you're wearing?" her father asked with a frown as she appeared in the kitchen, running a brush through her hair. She stopped where she stood.

"Yes?"

"Go put something over it," he said instantly. He was sitting on the kitchen table, his breakfast untouched, the paper in one hand and pumpkin juice in the other.

"There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Good, then you won't mind putting something over it –AL!" A muffled reply could just be made out from upstairs. "GET UP!"

Lily helped herself to some cereal while Albus threw himself out of bed and into the kitchen, still in his pajamas with his hair a mess. "Morning sunshine," she said happily. He grunted at her and helped himself to his own bowl of cereal.

"Half an hour," Harry said as he ran back upstairs.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" asked Lily when Harry had gone.

"Nothing," he mumbled. "Just tired."

"Or love-drunk," she suggested under her breath. He dropped his spoon. It clattered against the bowl.

"What?" he asked sharply.

"Oh, nothing. Seeing any nice girls lately?" she teased. He rubbed his eyes.

"Drop it," he said, and his voice was so sharp she didn't question it. They ate the rest of the meal in silence, broken only by the scraping of spoons against bowls.

Her father came back down fifteen minutes later, once Al was ready to leave. They clambered into the car, their trunks in the back, Meredith on Lily's lap while Al's owl Nitpick hooted happily from his cage. And they set off.

King's Cross Station was busy this time of year. Nobody seemed to notice that hundreds of children, currying trunks and uncommon household pets, seemed to fall through a solid wall. Al went first, falling sideways into the platform. Harry wrapped his arm around Lily.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. Harry pushing her trolley and her following closely behind, they headed through the barrier, coming out on the other side. The steam engine stood stationary, surrounded by fog. The voices of hundreds swirled around them, as Lily's eyes darted around, searching. Al was way ahead, probably already looking for a compartment. As they made their way through the smoke and crowds, Lily finally, to her relief, spotted the Weasleys. They waved as she appeared, Harry just behind her, and pulled her into a hug.

"Excited?" asked Aunt Hermione. Lily nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, you're going to have a ball," Ron said. "OWLs, best year I ever had."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not," Hugo frowned. Harry stepped in.

"It's not that bad," he said. "Just work hard and it'll be a breeze."

"And don't pass out," Ron said, getting a glare from Harry.

But Lily had spotted someone coming up behind the family. A tall man was a fair distance away, towing a blonde girl behind him. His hair was dark today, and though she couldn't see much else, she knew exactly who it was.

"Teddy!" shrieked the redhead as she barreled into his arms, her feet off the ground. He looked startled, but caught her anyway. He set her down gently. She pulled Vic into a hug. "Why are you guys here?"

"I'm here to see him off," Vic said, beaming up at Teddy. The rest of the family had caught up by now, and were coming up behind her, greeting them.

"Why?" Lily frowned, looking between the two of them. In that second, something snapped. "You're going to work at Hogwarts?"

Teddy nodded proudly, and Vic rubbed his arm. "Defence Against The Dark Arts," he said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked excitedly.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. Come on, I'm going to go find a compartment. See you soon, then Lils," he said. He picked up his suitcase and towed Victoire into the train, searching for a compartment. When Lily turned around, she saw Harry and Hugo lifting up Hugo's trunk and storing it in a compartment.

"Rose, let's find you a compartment," Hermione was saying. "Where's Al?"

"Ran off the minute he could," Harry answered.

Lily turned to Hugo. "I suppose we're sitting here, then?" she asked. He looked down sheepishly.

"Actually, Lily, the prefects have to go to this meeting…"

"Oh," she said. "Oh, right, whatever. I'll see you later then." She turned to her father and wrapped her arms around his neck as Hugo sped off. "Bye, Daddy." She pecked his cheek.

"Bye, sweetheart," he said, returning the hug. She grabbed her trunk and Meredith's cage and headed into the train with a quick wave to her father.

Nicholas held tight onto Cecelia's hand as he headed through the barrier. She winced, expecting a collision, but instead, she fell right through. It was not her first time by any means, but it always awed her when she saw the train, the fog, and the people.

A moment later, Oliver Wood headed through the barrier. He clapped a hand to Nicholas' shoulder. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I'm going to go find a compartment," Nicholas said. "Bye, Dad." He gave his father a quick hug, and then turned to Cecelia. "Be good, OK?" She nodded and sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Don't go!" she cried, pulling at his hand. He crouched down so his head was just shorter than hers. "Don't go!"

"I have to, Cee, I'm sorry. But I'll see you at Christmas, won't I? Be good for Mum and Dad. I'll see you so soon. Time will fly." He pulled her into a hug, and felt her arms wrap around him so tightly that he thought she would cut off circulation. When he pulled back, she was crying even harder.

"I'm gonna miss you," she mumbled, rubbing her eye.

"I'll miss you more, Cee," he said, and then pulled her for another hug. "I love you."

With that, he squeezed her hand and let go, turning away. He started towards the train with his things. Feeling like shit, he started to find a compartment, until – "HEY!"

Lorcan and Lysander popped out from behind a compartment door, smiling goofily, their blonde hair flopping around their faces. They were the mirror image of each other, almost. With drifty grey eyes and lopsided smiles, only a lucky few could tell them about. Nicholas was one of them.

"Hey," he greeted. They grabbed his trunk and owl, and stored it up with their own. He was about to find a seat when he noticed a small redhead in the corner, laughing at the boys.

"Look who we picked up," Lysander said, settling himself beside the redhead.

"A stray," Lorcan said.

"Poor thing," said Lysander.

"I'm not a stray!" She rolled her eyes, aiming a small kick at Lysander's ankle. "My friends are all Prefects," she explained to Nicholas. "So I was by myself. Until I found these boys."

"We've never met her," said Lorcan."

"She just jumped at us."

"We had to take her in. Couldn't leave her."

"I'm Lily," the girl said loudly over the boys. Nicholas sat himself beside Lorcan, right opposite Lily.

"We didn't introduce them!" cried Lorcan, smacking a hand to his forehead.

"Why didn't we introduce them?" agonized Lysander dramatically.

"Ah, we should have introduced them!"

"I wish we'd introduced them."

"The famous Lily," he smiled. "I'm Nicholas."

"Oh, the famous Nicholas."

"I didn't know I was famous," Nicholas shrugged.

"They mention you a lot," Lily replied.

"You, too."

"We call him Nicko," Lysander piped up. "Feel free to follow our lead."

"I wouldn't follow your lead if you tortured me, Sand," Lily joked. Finally, things were starting to look up.

Al dragged his trunk behind him as he made his way through the train. He gave a small wave to Michael Creevey in another compartment before trundling on. He didn't realize he'd died until he saw an angel staring at him.

"Hey!" Sarah greeted, beaming. "I was just looking for you! Listen our compartment is all the way – "

"Actually," he said slowly, feeling a flush creep up his neck, "I have to go the prefects' compartment, just quickly – "

"Oh." Her face fell.

"Yeah, sorry, it shouldn't take long, I'll see you at the end. Mind if I put my stuff…?"

"Oh, yeah, just go down the end," she smiled. "You can't miss it. I have to find someone." She left him standing there, and he sighed as he made his way up to the compartment.

But what he saw surprised him. It was not an empty compartment, as he had stupidly assumed. Instead, it was almost completely full. Albus recognized almost all of them at once as people in his year whom he got on well with, but hardly liked. His stomach jolted dramatically when he saw Elizabeth sitting beside a McLaggen, an annoying git in his year. He hadn't expected to see that at all. She turned to look at who had just entered, and her face fell when she saw him.

"Hey, Albus," she said quietly. "I didn't know you sat here."

"Yeah, just for today." He grabbed his trunk and heaved it up into the rack. "I didn't know you sat here, McLaggen."

"I don't usually. I'm waiting for my girlfriend."

"Your – "

Suddenly Albus was pushed into a seat as someone bustled into the compartment, falling onto McLaggen's lap. Al saw a streak of blonde hair and his stomach hit the floor as he watched Sarah passionately kiss McLaggen. She pulled away and press her cheek to his, addressing Al.

"Hey! Met everyone?" she asked brightly.

"Yeah, I have to go though… excuse me…"

He pulled himself out of the compartment and stumbled down the corridor to the other end of the train. He didn't know what was worse: Sarah having a boyfriend, or the idea of Elizabeth getting a boyfriend so quickly, like he'd first thought. He decided on the former, and heaved gloomily into the prefect's compartment. The compartment that he was in charge of, which was full of only the boys (a few of the Slytherin boys Al recognized from his parties, and instantly disliked – possibly since he had seen them locking lips with his sister at said parties. Not that that was rare, if he hated everybody who kissed his sister he'd have to hate the entire male population of Hogwarts). He sighed, stared down at the list he had gone over with Willow Gregory, the Head Girl, earlier. "Alright, we may as well begin…"

Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she reached one of the last compartments in the Slytherin deemed area of the train. A blonde sat inside, his face against the window, watching the train pull away from the station with a dull expression in his eyes. Rose slid open the compartment door, but he didn't move. She sat on the other seat and patted his knee. He lifted his eyes to her but didn't smile.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he mumbled back.

"Good to see you being social," she commented lightly. "We wouldn't want you to sulk alone."

His lips twitched into an almost-smile. She rubbed his knee. "Hey," she said softly. "Don't be mad. I'm sorry, OK?"

"It's fine," he said, but as he spoke, his knee jerked out of her grip. She exhaled and sat back.

"It's clearly not. Let's talk about it."

"Nothing to say."

"Well, let's at least go to the Prefects meeting, OK? You skipped out last time, they were really pissed, remember?" She stood up and reached for his hand, and after a moment, he took it and let her lead him to the meeting. There was so much to fix, but it was a start.

Just as Hannah had predicted, Friday morning was busier than ever. Ginny, as she had promised, stayed upstairs, leaning against the staircase railing to hear a familiar voice. The place was packed, and everybody seemed to be talking at once. The sound of the entrance bell went off every few seconds. Ginny could just make out what some people were saying.

"He's so big, I can't believe it, he's already at Hogwarts," a woman blubbered.

"My son, Tobias, he's in his third year."

"Yeah, she was nervous, but not as nervous as some others."

"They didn't linger. Disappeared the moment we went through the barrier. It's been a long time since they needed a hug from me to see them off."

The last voice had Ginny swaying on her feet, her throat constricted. She could have recognized that voice anywhere. It was the one reason she knew she was not allowed downstairs. But he was so close… A few steps and they would see each other again, she knew it. But the sound of his voice had her so close to tears that she knew she wouldn't be able keep it together if she saw him. And he was talking about her children… her children, who had just left for Hogwarts… Al must be at least in his seventh year, preparing for NEWTs. Lily would be stressing over OWLs. She imagined seeing them off in her head. The crashing reality occurred to her when she realized she couldn't imagine their faces.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs made Ginny jump and back away from the banister. She had only made it three steps down the hall when a voice made her turn around.

"Ginny?" It was Hannah. Ginny took a deep breath and turned around to see Hannah's raging face. "I thought I told you to make yourself scarce."

"I am scarce. I haven't been downstairs at all."

"Ginny…"

"Do you need me to go do any bartending?" she asked hopefully. Hannah's lips twitched into an almost smile.

"I need you to stay out of the way."

Ginny sighed. "Fine. Sorry, Hannah."

Once again, he'd slipped from her reach.

"I spy sadness."

"Lysander, that's not how you play. You have to have a thing – and you can't say what it is."

"Then I spy… Nicholas."

Lily buried her head in her hands to stop herself laughing too loud. Nicholas rolled his eyes and sighed. They'd been explaining for hours how to play simple time passing games for an hour while the train rushed through the countryside. Unfortunately, neither Lorcan nor Lysander could sit through all their terrible ideas. Lorcan pulled out a Gobstones set, but it had been jinxed so the pieces constantly flew off it and rolled around on the floor; they tired of exploding snap. Lily had a few of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that lasted for a half hour. At this point the trolley came round offering sweets, and the boys stacked up. Nicholas offered her a licorice wand, but she refused and stepped out of the compartment.

"Where are you going?" asked Lysander, who was high on licorice and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. He hadn't hesitated as he ate the whole packed, regardless of flavour.

"I might go see some other friends," she shrugged. "I do have them, you know."

He waved her off and said, "I'll save you some chocolate frogs." But she'd slammed the compartment shut before she heard.

She made her way through the compartments, until she looked into one and found her friends. She pulled open the compartment door and beamed at them. They were all playing with a pygmy puff of Phillipa Benny's. They all greeted Lily as she pulled up next to Phillipa.

There were only three in the compartment this time. It seemed, at least. All of them were Slytherins. In the corner was Briony Parkinson. Petting the pygmy puff was Phillipa, and beside her was Josie Rosier. Josie, of all of them, was Lily's best friend. She was shy and quiet, but she knew how to act, all the time, to get what she wanted. She had light brown hair that fell straight beside her face and a fringe that fell just before her eyes. Her face was kind and soft, and she'd been Lily's first friend at Hogwarts, when she was first sorted into Slytherin. She'd been nice, almost as scared as Lily was, since her whole family had been in Hufflepuff. And they had expanded their friendships, and well… here they were.

"Hey," Josie said to Lily as she reached out to pat the Pygmy puff. "Where were you?"

"I was hanging with the Scamanders and their friend," she said casually. Briony looked up.

"The Scamanders? Why?" This was nothing new to Lily, who knew Briony to be as ugly inside as out. She had dark hair to match her dark eyes, and it hung limply around her face. Nevertheless, Lily looked innocently into Briony's face that slightly resembled a dog and told her.

"Because they're my friends," she said sharply. Briony sneered but said no more. Josie giggled.

"They are weird, though," agreed. Phillipa. Phillipa was rather large, but half as mean as Briony.

"You just have to get to know them."

"And have you been, you know, getting to know them?" asked Josie, wiggling her eyebrows. Lily stuck her tongue out at her.

"That's sick, they're my friends."

"So we've heard."

Lily shook her head and looked outside. The sun was still high, but the country whirred past them. "So none of you got prefect?" she asked, changing the subject. They all shook their head.

"It was Arietta White," said Josie, flashing Lily an innocent smile. "She got it."

"Of course she did," sighed Lily. Arietta White was an overachiever. She was always right in everything, she always did well, she was everybody's favourite.

"We all said it would be Jose, didn't we?" said Briony. Lily laughed with them.

"Who wouldn't have thought it would be Josie?" Lily agreed. Josie frowned at her.

"I wrote you and told you it wasn't me, remember?"

"Vaguely," winked Lily. And once again they immersed themselves in idle chatter about who was where, what boys were cute, who to hook up with, who was taken, and why nobody was off snogging the nearest boy…

The prefects meeting dragged on for hours, it seemed. Rose sat there, listening to Willow and trying to stay alert. Her mind constantly flew over to Scorpius. How she would fix this. They fought all the time, and they always resolved somehow, but this time it was different. He wasn't giving in with a bat of her eyelids.

"So, if you see a student running around at odd hours, you know what to do," Willow finished. "Any questions? No? Ok, I suppose you'd all better go. We'll be there in a few hours." Breathing a collective sigh of relief, the prefects filed out of their compartment, meeting up with those in Al's compartment. Rose scanned the crowd of prefects making their way to the front of the train, searching madly until she saw a glint of silvery blonde hair heading up the train, a few paces ahead of her. She squeezed through the crowds and reached for his hand. He jumped and looked at her, his jaw set.

"Hey," she smiled. He said nothing, but didn't take his hand away. They were silent as they headed back to the compartment and sat down. It was still completely empty. "Hey," she said again. "Talk to me."

"I don't want to talk, Rose," he said sharply. She reeled back like she'd been hit.

"Please? I'm sorry about what I said. I was just a little pissed, and I was meddling. You were right." The words tasted sour.

"Fine. I was right," he said casually. She leaned over and kissed him on the lips. He hardly made an effort to kiss back, but did not deny her.

"Then we're good?" she asked.

"Perfect," he smiled. But his smile didn't reach his eyes that had gone very cold.

October 4, 2015

She left Bill's early the next morning. Before any of the family members had awoken, she dressed herself in the clothes she had packed, muttering a quick spell to clean the pajamas Fleur had lent her for the night. The sky was a pastel pink and orange colour as the sun rose slowly in the sky. Nobody in the house stirred. It was completely silent.

Ginny grabbed her purse and gently slid open the door. With a quick scan around the room, making sure she was quite alone, she pulled out her wand and conjured a quill and some parchment. She scribbled a note, left it on the table, and gently slid out the front door. She didn't allow herself to think of what she had just done.

As she Disapparated, she only focused on where she needed to go. She didn't think of Harry, lying awake somewhere. She didn't think of her children, waiting for her, hoping she'd walk through the door. She didn't think of her parents, crying in their home. She didn't think of Bill and Fleur, waking up to a note with only an apology and thanks. And she didn't think of the older brother, enjoying his night in his house in Romania, only to be disturbed by the little sister he hadn't seen in years.

Hugo pushed his way through the crowds that were slowly thinning as people disappeared into compartments. Hugo poked his head into each one, looking for Lily, but he couldn't find her in any. He'd gone a fair way up the train when he was shoved roughly from behind. He spun around, annoyed.

"What's your problem?" he asked angrily. He found himself inches away from Rogerson Nott, a tall, lanky, dark haired figure who loomed over him. Beside him was Togas Davis, a weedy looking kid. Both were rarely seen without the other, so it was unfortunate that Togas was not a prefect.

"Move," Nott grunted. Hugo complied, only because he didn't want to start a fight. Nott pushed past him and opened the door to the compartment beside him. Relief filled Hugo as he saw who sat in the compartment.

"Lily," he called as the boys slid into the compartment and Nott instantly started to snog Briony. Lily sighed and a chorus of "Aw, bye!" echoed in the compartment as she stepped out.

"Nott's a freak," Lily said as they headed away from the compartment, looking back in disgust.

"I thought you liked him," he frowned.

"I said I could relate to him, not that I like him," she clarified, crossing her arms. "His dad left."

"How sad," Hugo said, though he hardly sounded compassionate.

"It is sad. Where are we going anyway?" she asked. They'd been walking mindlessly, though Hugo seemed to have a location in mind. He stopped and nodded into a compartment to his left. Lily looked into it and saw who was inside it.

Louis was laughing at something Teddy had said, and was trying to get a chance to attack Teddy. They seemed to be learning a form of Kung Fu, or at least they looked like it. Lily looked at Hugo.

"I can't," she said simply, taking a step back. "I'm meeting Lorcan and Lysander."

It was not at all that she felt compelled to meet the boys. She knew that holed up in a small compartment with Teddy, she could not avoid him as she had been doing for the last few days. Teddy knew her as well as Hugo did. Better than anybody in her family. The difference was that Hugo was thick, and Teddy could see right through her. She knew as soon as she looked him in the eye, he would know something was wrong, that something inside her had broken. Hugo was never as perceptive.

He looked crestfallen and annoyed. "Fine," he said, and his voice was a mix between the two, as though he couldn't decide what to feel. "I'll see you later then."

"I'm sorry!" she said as she turned around and started back to Lorcan and Lysander's compartment.

She found, when she slid open the door, a strange scene. Wrappers scattered the floor and the seats. Lorcan and Lysander were asleep, leaning on each other, snoring loudly. Looking completely unperturbed was Nicholas, who was sitting in the same spot, with a copy of Which Broomstick? in his hands. He smiled politely at Lily as she sat down, moving some candy wrappers to get to her seat.

"They conked off about half an hour after you left," he explained. "Too much sugar, I think. I shouldn't've let them buy it." He shook his head, grinning.

"Yeah," Lily agreed, watching Lysander. She gently pushed a piece of hair out of his eyes. "They can fall asleep anywhere. I've always been jealous of it."

"Ah, yeah, same," Nicholas said. Suddenly he reached behind him. "They saved you some frogs, true to their word."

She accepted them gratefully, ripping one open and grabbing it before she lost it. Nicholas pulled out one of his own.

"I've been collecting since I was about five," he said as he opened his. "Ah! Damn. I got another Hermione Granger. Do you need her?" Lily shook her head.

"I have enough of her at home," Lily said.

"Oh," he laughed. "Right. I forgot. Who'd you get?"

"Rowena Ravenclaw. Here, have her." She handed Nicholas her card and sat back.

"Thanks, I have none of her. Heaps of Harry Potter, though, would you believe. I bet you've got enough of him. You don't collect?"

"No. I know half of them anyway, why do I need to read about them?" Suddenly she spotted the magazine he'd discarded. "Oh, you play Quidditch?"

"Yeah, my whole family's into it. My dad plays for Puddlemere United."

The passed the hours talking about Quidditch, which seemed to carry them far. He loved it as much as she did, which was appropriate since he was Quidditch captain for Ravenclaw. They talked about their parents (Lily conveniently forgot to mention her mother) and their families. Their conversation paused only when they changed into their robes. As the train started to slow and Hogsmeade station came into view, Lily found herself wishing that they had a few more hours. They prodded the boys awake and got ready to go.

"Does Lily hate me or something?" asked Teddy. He looked at Hugo who had just settled himself into a seat and was watching Louis try to pull one on Teddy.

"Nah, she's just popular, don't take it hard," said Hugo. He reached over and grabbed a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from beside Teddy. "That's just her."

"Yeah, well – Louis, stop, you got me, mercy – I don't blame her. Who'd want to hang out with a teacher?"

"What, you think I'm here because I have nothing better to do?" asked Hugo, feigning offence.

"Aren't you?" cheeked Louis.

Hugo's ears went red. "No, I have friends besides Lily. I'm here because I want to be," he said proudly.

"It won't get you any extra credit, I'm afraid," Teddy chuckled. Hugo chucked a Bogey flavoured bean at him and missed.

"Do you miss Vic yet?" asked Hugo.

"More than you could imagine," said Teddy. Hugo and Louis pulled a face.

"How?"

"You'll know one day, Louis, when you fall in love."

"Nah, I doubt it. I'm a solo man."

"Another way of saying you repel girls?" Hugo said. Louis kicked him.

"No fighting, boys," Teddy scolded, though his eyes were light.

"Sorry, Professor," said Louis.

"There's no way in hell I'm calling you professor," Hugo said.

"You will if you don't want detention every night," said Teddy.

"You wouldn't put us in detention! It won't even be boring. It's impossible for you to make anything boring."

"If you mess about, I might. And not with me. With Filch."

Hugo and Louis both gave loud moans of complaint. Suddenly, Hugo noticed Hogwarts coming into the distant view. "We're nearly there," he announced. "I have to go patrol. Sorry, boys."

Louis gave a loud boo as Hugo left the compartment to patrol the corridors.

Lily's stomach gave an excited jolt as she grabbed her trunk and Meredith's cage.

"Cute cat," Nicholas said as he picked up his own trunk.

"Thanks," Lily said. She peered into the cage. Meredith seemed to be asleep with her bum towards Lily. "I think she's mad because I didn't let her out."

They shuffled through the corridor and out onto the station. The sky was almost dark, and the light from the train illuminated everybody. The familiar "firs' years over 'ere, firs' years," came every closer as Lily found herself being dragged by the crowd towards Hagrid. He waved as she followed the crowd.

"Alrigh', Lily?" he called as she passed. She nodded and waved, but could not stop. She didn't know who was behind her, she didn't know where she was being led, but she was confident it was towards the carriages. Finally, she felt the crowd start to thin as people filed into carriages. Lily turned, her eyes searching madly in the half-darkness for a familiar face, preferable Hugo or Josie, when a bright, slightly dazed looking Lysander appeared in front of her.

"Here," he said, opening the door of one of the carriages and climbing in. Lily was about to climb in afterwards when something stopped her. She recoiled.

Standing in front of the carriages was something Lily had never seen before. They had not been there years before. But Lily new exactly what they were. She had been told, numerous times, that they were there, that she would never be able to see them, hopefully, but they were harmless… But the black, skeletal winged horses looked hardly harmless. In fact, they looked rather ugly. Al and James had both tried to scare her with them when she first started Hogwarts, teasing her and saying that if she turned her back, they'd eat her. But her dad had told her they would not. She couldn't see them, but most of the adults could. He didn't say why, but it was not hard to figure out. But as she stared into the black eyes, well aware that Lysander was watching her like she was insane, she could not help but remember the reason she could see them. Bile rose up from her stomach as she tried to suppress it –

"Hey, you coming?" Nicholas asked from behind her. She spun around. He was standing in front of the carriage door, looking at her. Lysander's blonde head was popping out of the carriage, giving her the same look.

"Yeah," she mumbled, following Nicholas into the carriage and moving over for Lorcan. She didn't mention what she'd seen to anybody the whole ride up to the castle.

Louis popped up behind Hugo and grabbed his robes, a cocky grin on his face. "We getting in this one, then?" he asked, nodding at one of the carriages that was right in front of Hugo. Hugo didn't answer. His eyes scanned the crowds, looking for Lily. He couldn't see anybody. At one point he saw a flash of ginger hair and gasped, until he realized it was only Rose.

He sighed and pulled himself into a carriage beside Louis. He was surprised when Teddy climbed in after him. He hadn't seen him appear.

"Can't shake me that easily," Teddy winked as he shut the compartment door and the carriage started to trundle up the road to the castle. Hugo said nothing as he watched the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates pass them, and they entered Hogwarts castle. It was completely dark by now, and the looming cast was a mass of twinkling lights against the dark sky, almost indistinguishable.

The carriage rattled to a halt in front of the stone steps and Hugo climbed out, his stomach twisting anxiously as he watched students from other carriages head up the steps. In the darkness, there was no hope of seeing Lily. Followed immediately by Louis, Hugo headed up the steps before he realized Teddy wasn't with them.

"Where's Teddy gone?" he asked Louis, who shrugged.

"Maybe there's a special teachers entrance. Come on, I don't want to miss the sorting." He grabbed Hugo's arm and pulled him up the steps with the rest of the school. As he made his way through the entrance hall, ablaze with light and noise, he kept his eye out. He gave up when he entered the great hall.

The four tables were already half full, beneath an enchanted ceiling that reflected the starless sky above it. Hugo headed over to the Gryffindor table and took his place next to his fellow Gryffindor and friend, Mark McGuire. Louis headed over to the other seventh years and took his seat with them.

"Hey," Mark greeted. "How was your holiday?"

"Pleasant enough." He said distractedly. The racket of conversation and footsteps echoed throughout the hall, and the constant stream of students coming into the hall made it difficult to see the Slytherin table. Hugo squinted for a flash of red hair. Finally, he spotted her, sitting at her house table in her Slytherin robes. She had her feet tucked under her (he assumed so – unless she'd magically grown three inches over the train ride) and was pushing her hair out of her eyes as she frowned in concentration. Talking in her ear was a boy Hugo recognised as Sid Flint. Finally he stopped, and she sat still for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and mumbled something back. Hugo turned away, feeling, like he had been more often, like he had been left behind.

As soon as he turned back around, the doors to the entrance hall opened. Professor Winters strode into the hall, followed closely by the terrified first years. Professor Winter was a middle-aged, strict woman, who always cut her blonde hair very short around her very thin face. She'd taught Muggle Studies for as long as Hugo could remember, and was Head of Hufflepuff house, not to mention Deputy Headmistress. This accounted for the fact that he never saw her, since he was not in Hufflepuff and did not take Muggle Studies. In her hands, she held a stool and on top of that stool was the sorting hat.

Hugo heard a first year near him say: "I think I'm going to fail."

His friend seemed to have some comforting words, though. "Yeah, and they'll kick you out."

A girl near them whispered, "It asks you questions, and makes you do all these quests. And if you miss one of them, you go to Hufflepuff. My sister told me – she's a Ravenclaw."

Hugo couldn't help but laugh at this one. She had quite an imagination. The Sorting hat began to sing its familiar song, in which he talked of the four houses and their origins. The first years stared in awe, but Hugo rested his chin in his hands and waited until it was over. Occasionally he glimpsed over at Lily, but whenever he did, he saw her listening intently to something someone was trying to whisper to her, all clearly growing bored of the song.

The sorting took place even more slowly. Hugo twiddled his thumbs as he waited for it to end with 'Bleu, Emanuel' being sorted into Hufflepuff. Finally, it did just that, and Professor Goldsmith, the headmaster, stood up.

Professor Goldsmith had been there since before even Teddy started. He'd taken over from Professor McGonagall, whom Hugo had never met but knew all about, when she retired in 2008. He was a small man, and in Hugo's father's opinion, 'more of a nutter than Dumbledore, but without the wisdom'. He was middle-aged, with a receding grey hairline. He'd been in Ravenclaw when he attended, well before his parents or Uncle Harry had attended. That was the reason Ravenclaw had become almost as respected as Gryffindor.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," he announced in a loud voice, beaming at the students. Hugo heard Mark's stomach rumble. "To those who are joining us – welcome. And those who are joining us again – welcome back. Without further ado, I give you – the feast!"

The gold platters that littered the table were suddenly alight with food, and the first years at the end of the table dropped their jaws. Hugo helped himself to a bit of everything, occasionally turning around to check on his cousin. She was still talking, or rather listening, and picking at her chicken with her fork. Hugo turned away when she gave a loud laugh, and looked up at the staff table for Teddy. He was there, his hair a respectable gold colour, and he was immersed in a conversation with Professor Flitwick.

Hugo couldn't help but feel even more annoyed when the feast ended, and Professor Goldsmith sent them off to bed. Having to lead first years to the common room was the last thing he wanted to do. He let Myer Carmichael do most of the work. She was his co-prefect and took her job very seriously. She pointed out everything they needed to know, and occasionally Hugo perked up with something to add, but let her do all the work.

When he was finally relieved of his duties and his corridor patrol, he headed straight to bed. None of his dormitory mates were there – he knew they were all in the common room. As his head hit the pillow, he found himself thinking about all the shit he'd gone through that day. The fun of summer was clearly gone, and he'd enjoyed having Lily all to himself. It was nice, having a friend like her, but now that she was back here that wasn't possible. She had too many to make time for him. And with OWLs approaching this year, he already knew he was in for a ride. He found himself almost wishing he hadn't boarded the train at all.

Ta da. Thank you if you reviewed or read :) I'm sorry, this is the last time I'm changing the summary... I think...

xx Juls