Light. So much light. The girl slowly blinked a couple of times before finally realizing what had happened. The urge to shoot up immediately ran through her, but she was held back by a pair of delicate hands.

"Woah there, Missy calm down," Veronica's familiar voice warned. A smile immediately spread to both of their faces. Veronica slowly helped her up as the eager Alle began to scour the room for the two faces she wanted to see the most when a sudden pit of disappointment hit her. Of course he wouldn't be there, he couldn't. But why wasn't Avery there?

"Where's," she cleared her throat several times before words were able to be cohesively formed. "Where's Avery?"

"I don't know honey but you're okay now, it's going to be okay," Alle looked up and saw tears welling up in Veronica's eyes. As quickly as she could Alle threw her arms around the girl's neck.

"Thank you," Alle whispered.

"Come on… come on…" Avery stood on her tiptoes, trying to get a book to go into place. By the time she realized she could've just used a charm, she was already stuck. If she tried to let go, a couple thick books would rain on her head. "Just… go… in!"

"Need some help?" someone asked, amusement thick in his voice.

"No, I think I've got it cove-AH!" she yelped as the books started to slip from her grasp.

Suddenly a warm body was flush against her back, and arms were slightly caging her in as they quickly caught the books and put them back into their rightful places. She blinked in shock before abruptly turning around, coming face to face with a rather cute Gryffindor.

"Hi," he greeted with a warm smile. "Sorry about that; I just sort of acted before I could think. You're not mad are you?"

"Wha-me-me mad? N-no of course not!" A blush burned at her cheeks as she realized this boy saved her after she said she could handle it. "I guess I overestimated my strength a little bit."

"That's fine. Happens to the best of us. I'm Caiden by the way."

"Avery. And thank you. You probably just saved my life."

"I wouldn't go that far, but it was my pleasure. Anytime some books threaten your life, just holler for me. I'll come running in an instant."

"Well that's a very kind offer from someone I just met," Avery teased.

"What can I say? I'm a pretty nice guy." He smiled down at her, his cheeks turning slightly pink as their eyes met. "So, uh, this may sound really weird, but do you wanna hang out sometime?"

"You do realize school ends in a few days, right?"

"Oh, right, that it does. Well what about the train? Fancy sitting with me? I'll buy you sweets!"

And just like that Avery was agreeing to his offer. Who was she to turn down free sweets? That would just be rude and a waste.

"Great! I'll see you then!" Caiden started backing away, yelping when his hip bumped into the corner of a table. "I, uh, I meant to do that! I'll just… I'll just get going now before I embarrass myself more."

She laughed at how cute he was before suddenly remembering why she was returning those books. Alle would be getting unpetrified any moment! She started sprinting towards the hospital wing, forgetting all about her run in with the cute boy. Her cousin came before her hormones any day.

"ALLE!" she screamed when she burst through the doors. She barely skid to a halt before throwing her arms around her older cousin, sobbing into her shoulder. "Oh, Alle, I'm so sorry! I love you, I love you a thousand times over! I've missed you so much!"

"What are you apologizing for?" Alle asked, giving a soft laugh as she returned the embrace. "I'm fine now, aren't I?"

Avery leaned back and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, sniffling pathetically. "I just feel like it's my fault," she whispered. "Cedric and I snuck out of the dorms that night, and then you got petrified."

"I missed your birthday," Alle suddenly realized. "We were talking about surprising you with sweets and everything! We were going to set it up before going to bed."

"What, really?" Avery sniffled again, new tears springing from her eyes. "Thank you," she said to Veronica with a smile. "Thank you so much, Alle."

"But I didn't get to do anything."

"Doesn't matter. Like they say, it's the thought that counts." Avery shrugged indifferently. "I spent most of my birthday asleep anyways."

"Why were you asleep?"

"Um… not really important!"

"This little pup had to get sedated," Veronica told Alle. "She totally freaked out when she saw you. I swear, I thought she was actually going to kill Harry Potter."

"That's all you did on your birthday?"

"She also chewed out Nathan Malfoy, but then she fainted back here soon after, so yeah she pretty much slept her birthday away."

"Wait, you yelled at Nathaniel? Why?"

Avery's eyes widened and another blush painted her cheeks. "Well, I mean, probably wasn't my smartest move, but in my defense, I was very emotional, and he did kind of abandon you on patrol, so I would say I was pretty justified in giving him a piece of my mind."

Alle sighed and reached a hand up to run it through her hair, stopping when she felt wool touch her fingertips. She frowned when she pulled a hat off her head, not remembering ever wearing a hat the day she got petrified.

"What is this?"

"Oh, wow, I'm so sorry, Alle," Avery apologized, quickly grabbing the hat and hiding it behind her back. "Fred gave it to me as a birthday present, but I was afraid you'd get cold while petrified, so I gave it to you. See? Not very smart, am I?"

Alle smiled and patted her cousin's head fondly. "Thanks."