End of a Year

The rest of the term past quickly enough. They spent most of it in the hospital wing because, although Scor had regained the motor functions for the upper half of his body, he couldn't walk. He couldn't stand even. The first time he tried was such a drain on his energy that he collapsed and was unconscious for two whole days. It was the start of a long slow recovery process. Every day Andromeda, and Teddy on his days off from training, would come in the morning and help him out of bed. From here on they would have to help him regain his ability to walk. It was very much, Caly mused, like muggle physiotherapy. It seemed that this was something Madame Pomfrey had not been expecting this and she had wanted to refer Scor to St Mungos where they might have someone who had dealt with this before but Scor refused to go. He wouldn't say why but it didn't take a genius, in Caly's opinion, to figure it out. Something bad had obviously happened to him in St Mungos. In the evenings Caly, Rose and Al would come and take over the duties that mainly involved supporting him and walking with him. Helping his body become re accustomed to walking.

His mothers funeral took place the first weekend he woke up and was a very private affair. Scor was in a wheelchair, pushed by Teddy. Al had wanted to push it but Harry had said no so Caly, Rose and Al walked by him in silence. Harry was invited and so was James, much to everyone's surprise. Scor said it was because he had been there in the dungeons. He had been there. James had never actually met Mrs Malfoy because he'd come to the main place after she'd died but he didn't say no. That was it, just eight people. Scor said she wouldn't want anymore unless she'd known them. Mr Malfoy hadn't come.

After that weekend Scor had gone down hill. The fight that had been shown to get to the funeral, his desire to walk had just evaporated, floated out of the open hospital wing window and out into the grounds, away over the mountains. It was clear he couldn't find the reason to anymore. It was like being left with an empty shell instead of a real person. Scor did everything he was told to by Madame Pomfrey but he didn't want it, he didn't try and it made the entire thing counter-productive. It exhausted him. It was probably going to kill him, unless they did something. And they had tried. Caly had talked to Scor on many occasions, drawing on memories she preferred to keep locked away but it wasn't the same. There was one very big difference.

Caly had never known her parents. Caly didn't have anything to miss. She could miss the idea of them. She could cry over the fact she wanted them. Or she could read the dog eared, worn scrap of paper that was her only link to them. But she couldn't miss them like Scor could cry for them, and miss his mother. That didn't mean she didn't but Caly had learnt long ago not to dwell on the life she had been to young to remember. In the end most of the time Caly pretended she had never had parents. It helped with the pain. If anyone asked she had grown up in a care home her whole life because really she had. It was all just a matter of perspective. She didn't know how her parents had treated her when she had lived with them and as she couldn't remember should she count it as part of her life?

It had been two weeks of slow but sure disintegration on Scor's part before an end had been put to it. Caly hadn't been there when it had happened, none of them had, it had been in lesson time but it was one of Teddy's days off and so he came to help Scor walk. Teddy hadn't seen Scor since the funeral. He had been busy on some mission that was an essential part of his exam. So when he had seen Scor, pale and empty eyed it must have been quite a shock. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, just that when Andromeda had left the room Teddy had talked to Scor. Scor hadn't said what it was about. He hadn't said very much, because he'd been climbing into bed when they got there, pale, tired and wan but a small fire had been kindled in his eyes, you could just see it burning.

That's where they were sitting now, the three of them, in the hospital wing around Scor's bedside. Across their laps was the Charms essay Professor Flitwick had set them. It was, as he put it, 'a good marker of what is to come next year'. Caly didn't like it one bit. She figured that if it really got bad and Rose wouldn't help her she could get James to do it. James was very good at Charms, despite the fact he didn't work for it. Al groaned and slammed the book shut, deciding, too, that it was too hard. Rose glanced up and shook her head slightly and said she wouldn't help him, normally if that happened they'd turn to Scor who was much more laid back about copying but they couldn't do that here. Rose had one of Scor's hands resting on the piece of parchment that was shaming Caly and Al's work. Rose had become fiercely protective of Scor, it was sort of sweet and sort of funny. Especially the look on Scor's face when he woke up and found Rose curled like a cat a the bottom of his bed, something that happened a lot. Rose couldn't get over the fact that Scor had willingly given his life for her and varied between being furious at him to crying about it in fits of gratitude all of this was coupled with the fact that, except to go to classes, Rose never left the hospital wing. She was eventually allowed to sleep there when he woke up, another benefit of being a war hero's child. Rose being allowed to sleep there lead to Caly and Al sleeping there too, often in the visitors chairs their heads resting on each others shoulders.

Al looked at Caly as she too closed her Charms text book and rolled up her essay.
"What are you doing this summer?" he asked. Caly looked up at him surprised then rolled her eyes.
"Nothing, I'm going back to the care home. I have six weeks of boredom ahead of me, so promise you'll write." Rose nodded but Al just looked thoughtful "What?" she asked as he continued to stare at her. Rose looked over at her cousin who met her eyes and tilted his head once towards Caly and then at himself. Rose frowned then her face split into the first proper smile in weeks and she nodded vigorously.
"What?" said Caly, annoyed that the two of them could communicate like that.
"Well I was wondering because, Scor is going to live Andromeda's don't forget, if you would like to spend the summer at mine."
"What?" she said surprised. Al fidgeted nervously. Caly knew about the whole thing with staying at the Burrow but summer was one of the two times his family got to see him, when he wasn't hurt, did they really want some, well not stranger, but other person intruding?
"Well not all the time, but it can be if you want. 'Cause I know you don't have any friends at this home of yours and well that doesn't sound like a great way to spend summer. And James and my dad like you and you could share a room with my sister, she likes everybody, though she'll bug you like hell about Hogwarts I'll have to give things you're not allowed to tell her. But yeah, anyway, I was wondering. And I thought my family over Rose's house because, well, I suggested the idea to my dad 'cause he kind of knows about that and he was fine with it and well you know my family better than Rose's." He tailed off looking at Caly apprehensively.
"Um." said Caly "Do you mean the whole summer?"
"Yeah like from the moment we get off from Kings Cross you can come back to mine till right up until we board again on September 1st." Caly could barely contain her excitement, the thought of having a good summer, a summer where she might actually enjoy herself seemed too much to ask but of all the things that had happened, definitely one of the most normal.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" said Al, if possible a little exasperated. "It'll be fun I hang round with Rose like every other day and if Scor's at Andromeda we'll be able to meet up all the time."
"And I thought there was actually a possibility of getting away from you nutters." she said shaking her head, the grin creeping across the face helping to clarify any doubts. Al smiled to and Rose let out an excited squeal and hugged her across Scor. Madame Pomfrey came out to tell them to stop disturbing the patients. To which Caly responded that they couldn't. When Madame Pomfrey had frowned she had said there is only one person here, meaning it would be stop disturbing the patient. Madame Pomfrey had huffed off talking about the cheek of children whilst they dissolved into laughter.

After that night things had taken a definite U-turn in the right direction, whatever Teddy had said had worked wonders because Scor was doing everything properly. He wanted to walk. He had this fierce determination back, the look of hopelessness when he failed, the days when he pushed his body too far. But it wouldn't kill him anymore, it was under control. He had more visitors now, he had had a lot to begin, or people who had wanted to see him but Scor didn't want people to see him in his state so he had turned them away. Now he would let in the Weasley family, the rest of the Quidditch team and the rest of the first years. He was, of course, greatly admired through out the school and Peter's father, Justin Finch-Fletchly, who was the Minister for Magic, though no one had bothered to tell Caly this, had come and offered him an order of merlin but Scor had turned it down. He had said he was honoured but he didn't want it, he didn't want to be reminded of what had happened down there.

It was the last week of term and there exam results had just come out. Caly, Al and Rose were hurrying to the hospital wing, they wanted to give Scor his results. It had taken quite a bit of persuasion to get Professor Longbottom to give them to them but after pointing out that there was no one else he could give it to and that they wouldn't read them because that would be rude and there would be no point because Scor would tell them anyway. Professor Longbottom had sighed when he stared into the three set expressions on the 11 year olds faces, of course Scor would tell them his results. There was no point denying that, and Rose would never break that kind of rule, she was far too much like her mother for that. He watched them go and wondered if he was going to survive as their Head of House, he resolved to talk to Professor McGonagall later, after all she had dealt with Harry, Ron and Hermione and the Weasley twins. If anyone knew about troublesome Gryffindors and how to deal with them she was the person to ask.

"Scor!" shouted Rose as they came flying through the hospital wing doors, Rose in the highest spirits, of course. "Scor we got are-oh." Rose let out a long gasp at what she sees and she jerked immediately to a halt. Al and Caly crashed into her but Caly could immediately see what had caused her to stop, Scor was standing up all by himself. Teddy and Andromeda were either side of him watching carefully. He looked up at his friends, bitting his lip in nervous anticipation.

Caly felt her jaw drop as Scor took a step forward. It was slow, it was laboured, but it was a step. She could feel the grin that was forcing it's way onto her face, and nothing could pop the bubble of true happiness she felt as she watched the smile slowly spread across Scor's face as he took another step. Then another. It was like a baby, learning to walk and they were like parents, awe struck, thrilled. Scor crossed the room and stood before them his face triumphant, jubilation etched across the once pale features. Slowly, slowly they followed him back to his bed and when he reached it he collapsed onto it with the appearance of one who had just run 10 miles. With a distinct effort he swung his legs around and pulled the blankets up, nothing masking the joy of finally being able to walk again.

For awhile the friends were speechless. They couldn't think of anything to say to Scor. Rose had his results clutched tightly in her hand but she had forgotten about them, the shock of seeing him walk by himself had blown everything from their minds. Scor was slumped back breathing slightly heavily but he didn't look like he was going to pass out or anything which was an infinite relief to Caly. After a couple of minutes sat in silence Andromeda and Teddy got to their feet.

"We should be going." Andromeda said. She bent down and hugged Scor and Teddy gave him a slap on the back
"Told you it was worth it." he said. Scor looked up into Teddy's eyes and he smiled.
"Shut up." They both waved goodbye to their friends and headed off towards the doors and it was as they were waving Rose remembered the envelope she had clutched in her left hand.

"Wait!" she called, they turned and frowned but came back to the bed. "We got our exam results today. I got yours, don't worry I didn't read it." she added as she handed it to Scor, who rolled his eyes.
"It wouldn't have made a difference."
"Yeah you're right 'cause we're pretty sure we know what you got."
"How?"
"Just read we'll tell you after." said Al.

Scor opened the envelope and read the results with a held breath. When he got to the end his face relaxed and he flung the paper at Andromeda who immediately took it with Teddy peering over her shoulder.

"Let me guess." he said "Rose was joint top of the year with me." Rose nodded "She also came top in Transfiguration and History of Magic where as I beat her in Charms and Astronomy." Rose allowed herself a tiny, but friendly scowl.
"Then Caly came top in Herbology and Potions and Al came Defence Against the Dark Arts." there was more nodding and then a short pause broken by Teddy
"How the hell are you lot not in Ravenclaw?" he asked incredulously "When I was here the people that came top in the year were always Ravenclaws and look at you, four Gryffindors who beat all the Ravenclaws, bet they'll love you." The foursome smirked between themselves and Teddy felt like he'd stuck his foot into some sort of private joke.

"What is it?"
"Well we were all nearly put in Ravenclaw." said Scor honestly "In fact we could have been in any of the houses except Slytherin."
"Apart from me." said Al. "I could have been a Slytherin but the hat was more keen on Hufflepuff. It went on and on about loyalty and how loyal I would be to my friends and then I told it that loyalty is all well and good but what's the point if you have no one to be loyal too? Then I ended up in Gryffindor."
Teddy stared at him for a moment "You were nearly a badger."
"Hey so was I." said Scor
"And me." said Caly.
"I wasn't." said Rose "It was more keen on Ravenclaw." Teddy blinked
"So the hat didn't actually want to put you in Gryffindor."
"No it said I could be." said Caly "It told me I showed great courage in the grounds, it was my choice in the end. I choose to be with my friends."
"Same with me. Well it didn't tell me I showed great courage in the grounds because nothing happened to me there but it said I had shown great courage in my childhood. I was brave and I stood up for what was right, in the end, like Caly, I got to make my own choice."
"You chose Gryffindor, despite the fact you no friends there." said Teddy.

"Yeah, because you have to admit if there was ever a way to change people's views about the world it was by being sorted into Gryffindor and well my friends followed, I call that win, win." Teddy shook his head. It was weird, here were three people, it seemed pointless to count the friendship between Rose and Al because they were cousins and had known each other for their entire lives, that had formed such strong bonds of friendship in just one day, one train journey and they were already making choices that would effect their lives based off each other. It baffled his mind.

The end of term feast was the first time Scor had left the hospital wing. He hadn't moved back into his dorm but Madame Pomfrey had deemed him strong enough to walk down to the Great Hall for dinner, he would sit for the most part. The hall was decked out in blue and bronze, the colours of Ravenclaw. The competition had been quite close between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw what with Gryffindor winning the house cup but when at the end of the year Gryffindors slacked off and caused trouble that lost their house points, Ravenclaws pushed harder to finish the year at their best, which earned them points. That and the disastrous end of year prank of Freddie and his friends. They had been caught stealing the staffs robes out of the wardrobe. What they had wanted to do, they wouldn't say but they had been docked a load of points. This had placed them in third place in the end because they had won the Quidditch Cup.

The feast was enjoyable because and the first years found themselves bunched together at the end of the table laughing and talking. All of the occupants of dorm 2, with the exception of Phil who had always been nice to him, were being much nicer to Scor. Martin was even being relatively calm, he at least wasn't talking at 100 miles per hour about a subject they all knew nothing about. James drifted over for part of the feast with his friends, Colin and the Scarmanders. They came over on the pretext of stealing the chocolate gateaux that had appeared at Roses elbow but really James wanted to make sure that the four of them were coping, needless to say this was the longest any of them had spent in the great hall in a very long time.

When the plates had cleared and everyone was full Professor McGonagall got to her feet. Caly could see Vic swelling with pride over at the Ravenclaw table where she sat next to the head boy, the head girl badge pinned to her chest.

"Firstly I would like to congratulate the Ravenclaw house on winning the house cup through hard work, intelligence and study." There was cheering from the Ravenclaws and polite applause from the rest. There was something funny about the way she had worded it, something was coming, a but or however.
"However." Bingo, thought Caly. "I have some points I would like to award." She could hear a rustling of whispers and she turned to raise her eyebrows at her friends. Where had they heard this before?

"Firstly to Mr James Potter who showed loyalty to those close and distant in the face of danger, I award 30 points to Gryffindor." James' mouth dropped open. Every head at the Gryffindor table turned to look at him. 30 points! James got points few and far between and the ones he did get were eclipsed by the amount he lost. Eventually they burst into applause and everyone close patted him on the back.

"Secondly both to Mister Albus Potter and Miss Rose Weasley for placing themselves in great personal risk for a person they did not know I award 50 points, each to Gryffindor." The cheering grew louder this time and the four of them exchanged small taught smiles, knowing what was to come.

"Next to Miss Catalina."
"Caly." she said with a pained look on her face, her friends laughed
"Hautly, for the continued pursuit of good, no matter what the cost. 75 points to Gryffindor house." Caly breathed out a gasp. 75 points! They were in second place!
"And finally to Mister Scorpius Malfoy who made the ultimate sacrifice I award Gryffindor house 100 points!" The Gryffindors went wild. They'd won the house cup. Scor was bright red in the face as he was buried under his house mates.

"Now I will change the decorations but I have made some slight alterations." said Professor McGonagall. Everyone looked up as the banners changed from blue and bronze to red and gold and saw that each one contained a long strip of black, a commemorative to Scor's mother. Professor McGonagall inclined her head to Scor and he met her eyes and a silent 'thank you' and 'your welcome' passed between them.

The addition of the black sent a rather subdued silence through the hall, the Gryffindors all calmed down, their excitement forgotten. Their eyes focused on the four younger students at the end of the table whose eyes were hard. They looked very much like the veterans of the war on the anniversary of it, they were three 12 year olds and one 11 year old, but they'd faced and in Caly's case seen death already. It had been about 20 years since anyone had been killed on Hogwarts grounds. Nothing of the sort had happened since the final battle between Harry and Voldermort and as a result the students paid their respects to a person they had never known. Eventually the noise picked up and the students got to their feet preparing to head to bed, their last night in the castle. Caly stood up and waited for Scor to do the same. He seemed energised after being out and about but also the respect being shown. Things were changing.

Professor McGonagall sat down into her chair with a sigh and looked back around the IC, inner circle, as they had coined themselves. They were waiting for Harry to arrive, the only non-staff member who was party to all the knowledge. Things were changing in Hogwarts, she thought with a heavy heart. No trouble, well no serious trouble, until now. There had been three deaths. The two others were members of staff no less. Hardingly's was easier to hush up thanks to the fact that they were Siamese twins. The ministry knew of course you couldn't hide a death but she hadn't wanted them to know just how involved one of her students had been in the death. The other one was a shock. Professor McGonagall could honestly say she barely knew the man who taught arithmancy, none of them did. He was the only one who didn't always live in full time. No one missed him but it was like losing a part of you. It just shouldn't happen. However no serious inquiry was being made as there was no proof that he had been killed on the school property.

Harry stepped out of the fire place with a sigh and brushed the soot of his robes with a sub conscious gesture. All the teachers in the room turned to look at him.

"Well?" asked McGonagall.
"Nothing." he said. "There's no link between Jack Winters and Voldermort. He was in America when Voldermort came back." Harry rubbed a hand over his mouth. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe he just found it." said Neville.
"Maybe, but if you found a wand that was compatible with you, what is the one thing that you would do?"
"Priori Incantatum." said Slughorn.
"Exactly. It wouldn't take much to realise who had owned the wand even if he had been in America for the war." There was a pause then Neville said
"Does it matter though? The wand is snapped in two and Winters is dead. Does it matter anymore?"
"I guess not." said Harry. "I just wanted to know."
"We all did." Harry nodded. "Things are changing here." he said, not sounding at all enthusiastic.
"Maybe we found the perfect recipe for trouble." said Neville. "One Potter, one Weasley, one Malfoy and one muggle born student." There were a couple of appreciative chuckles at this.

"Gerald is still out there and he will come after Caly and most likely the rest, they did sort of spoil everything for him." Professor McGonagall said this soberly "But as long as we are prepared then there should be no problems about facing him when he does." Harry nodded.

"Well better be going home gotta set the house up for one more." he said with a smile. "Lily's going crazy about having someone to share her room with who goes to Hogwarts. She's bouncing off the walls, literally." He smiled. "Her accidental magic is pretty insane." All the teachers laughed. He walked to the fire. "Hopefully I won't see you in this office too soon. Otherwise see you soon." With a cheerful smile he vanished in a woosh of green that matched his eyes. Professor McGonagall watched him go with approval, he was doing what she had hoped he would, not worry too much and enjoy his life, whilst keeping an ear to the ground and being the first on hand if anything happened.

"Right." said McGonagall. "I think that's it. I need to read a couple of CV's for the post of Arithmancy and Transfiguration professor. I'll keep you all updated on my choices as the summer goes on and your input is more than welcome." They all nodded and left her office feeling disconcerted but generally reassured.

"Are you packed?"
"For the 100th time yes."
"Good because we need to pick up Scor from the hospital wing early, so you can't do it in the morning." There was a silence as Caly climbed into bed.
"Are you sure you're packed?"
"I've packed, Rose!"
"Sure?"
"Christ what do think I spent the last 2 hours doing?" There was another silence.
"Who's Christ and what does he have to do with packing?" Caly let out an angry growl and wrenched the hangings round her bed shut.

The next day they went and picked up Scor from the hospital wing and accompanied him down to breakfast. Al, along with the rest of his dorm, had packed his trunk last night. Luckily for them Scor was very neat and it wasn't a difficult job at all. Caly felt a bit queasy eating breakfast for the last time in the great hall and looking at Scor's pale face, she could tell he felt exactly the same. They were leaving home to go stay with their friends and whilst they were looking forward to a good summer, Caly was going to miss this place.

Then there was the fear of moving in to a new house. It wasn't a fear, more an uncertainty. What if Lily didn't like her? According to Al she was very excited, but still what if she didn't get along with her? What would she do then? Al had told her this was really stupid as Caly was the one who got on with everyone and if she didn't get along with Lily she could just move in with Rose, probably. And if that didn't work they had a whole host of places she could stay, like Dom's, Vic was moving out so there was a spare bed. Scor wasn't so nervous as he knew his Aunty Andromeda, as he had started calling her, very well and he was perfectly happy to live with her but he was worried about his father popping up or Andromeda not wanting him anymore. This time Caly had told him that this was stupid. Firstly if his father turned up there was nothing he could do, Andromeda was a blood relative and Scor wanted to live with her so he had no court case. As for Andromeda wanting nothing to do with him anymore, well she had sat by his bedside every day for the past couple of weeks, why would she do that if she didn't genuinely care for Scor?

Soon they were in the little fleet of boats that Caly had missed on the journey there. It was quite a sight to see Hogwarts shrinking away from them, seated magnificently on the rocks. The sun shafting through the glass sparkled on the water and they had fun splashing each other once Hogwarts was out of sight. Scor, who hadn't been out in days, greatly benefited from the sun and the play and looked almost healthy when the boats drew to a halt. Whilst Rose and Al said goodbye to Hagrid, Caly and Scor located their luggage and had found a compartment for the four of them. Caly sat with her nose pressed against the window watching the station shrink away, feeling a pang of longing for the castle already.

The rest of the journey passed smoothly. Her friends bought loads of sweets for them all to share and they played exploding snap, traded chocolate frog cards and talked as the countryside flashed by their window. Vic came in on her last ever round as a Hogwarts prefect and was rewarded with a face full of melted chocolate, Al had left a chocolate frog packet in the sun. They all had a good laugh as she wiped it off and pointed out there was nothing she could do. Vic tried to verbally discipline them but all the while the corners of her mouth kept turning upwards. Freddie, Nick, Maise and Kay pranked them by somehow swapping their packet of Berite Botts Every Flavour Beans for a packet that contained beans that made you make farting noises every time you spoke. The effects took about 30 minutes to wear off. James also dropped in to 'check up' on them but this time he wasn't being so nice, it was funny because Caly had rarely seen the prankster side of James, that was slightly cruel, in action. In fact all the times he had spoken to her he had seemed genuinely concerned. His joke was not so funny or obvious but somehow Al ended up attached to the ceiling by his tongue. It appeared there was quite a crowd outside waiting for the spectacle to occur. They all laughed rather cruelly and James went off with them leaving the three other first years trying to figure out how to get him down. In the end Rose had found a spell in her textbook and after several goes Scor had pulled it off.

Al sat on the seat scowling as he made funny noises with his tongue. Caly sat with her head tilted to the side whilst Scor and Rose bickered about something they'd found in the book.
"Hang on. Winters knew James." said Caly, they all turned to look at her, the noise ceasing.
"What?"
"Winters, Healer Jackson Winters." Scor winced realising what she was talking about.
"What about him?" asked Rose
"He told me he knew James. How?" Rose shrugged looking confused but Al's face cleared up.
"Didn't I tell you."
"Tell us what?" asked Scor.
"I'll take that as no. James got Healer Winters fired at the end of last year. Hogwarts referred James to go see him about his behavioural problems and, well, James isn't the best behaved at the best of times but being referred to the psych ward at St Mungos really made him angry. I don't know what happened but James made Winters loose his job it was something really bad, I think dad hushed the whole thing up though."
"Oh so that's why he hates them both, makes sense." said Caly.
"Yeah."
"Can't believe you forgot to tell us something like that though." said Scor.
"Sorry I thought 'I'll tell them' but it was sort of distracting what with you being unable to walk and then you never brought it up so I guess I just sort of forgot about it and assumed you knew."
"You are aware that those two things are contradictory." said Rose.
"Not really." challenged Scor "He assumed we knew so he forgot. Cause and effect."
"Yes but it wasn't worded that way it implied…." Caly rolled her eyes with Al as the two got into their next argument.

They had all changed into muggle clothes and had packed away all the possessions that they had used to occupy themselves as the train began to slow and pull into platform 9 ¾. Through the window and the steam she could see the families of the Hogwarts students gathered on the platform, tightly packed waiting to see, their children at long last. They jumped to their feet as the train jolted to a halt. The four heaved their luggage down from the racks and were about to leave when Scor turned back towards Al and Rose.

"I just wanted to say thanks." they looked at each other.
"For what?" they asked
"For giving me a chance." said Scor. "You're the first friends I ever had and it hasn't been easy for you. You've had a rough ride."
"Not as rough as you." said Al
"Besides it's all Caly she convinced us you were nice by springing to your defence." added Rose. Caly smiled as they all looked at her.
"You know." she said "I know a lot of." she gave a half glance at Scor "Bad things happened because we're friends." Scor nodded. "But I dread to think what would have happened if we weren't." Scor nodded absently, and both Rose and Al grinned some more. "In the end I think it worked out okay." the four of them stepped of the train and Rose and Al were immediately buried in their family and Scor was swept up by Andromeda. Caly found herself carried along by the whole thing.
"And why's that?" asked Scor as the four of them turned to face the barrier that separated school from summer.
"Why do you think." she shouted as the four of them broke into a run. "We have each other!"

Kings Cross is a very busy station, there are constantly people rushing around trying to catch the trains before they leave. Because of this no one noticed the four kids leaning against the divide between platform 9 and 10, all out of breath but smiling. There were people waiting for them. An old women with her blue haired grandson. A tall red haired man, with his wife who had bushy brown hair and ginger son. The last family a small red haired daughter, a son a little older than the four children who had black hair and brown eyes, the women had red hair and the man had green eyes framed with round glasses and messy black hair that hung over a cut on his forehead. The four children got off the wall and walked towards them, separating but not before hugging each other long and hard.

The blonde boy walked over to the old women and the blue haired boy. The older boy clapped him on the shoulder and commandeered his trolley. The girl who had brown hair that was hinted with red walked towards the red haired man and brown haired women. She was embraced and gave the boy a little shove, that was clearly playful. The black haired boy wondered over to the last family accompanied by the very short brown haired girl. For one moment the 13 people standing there felt an odd sense of satisfaction. They could be anyone. The scene was being played out all over the station. Then the spell of the moment was broken by the older boy who cried

"Lily's a snake!" and ran towards the exit. The little girl burst into tears and her mother put her arms around her to comfort her and the other two women bent down to fuss over her. The ginger boy started trying to make her laugh. The black haired man ran off to berate his son. The other two men decided to leave the scene quietly with the trolleys and the four other children were left standing there laughing their heads off.

A/N: That is the end of this book but I am going to write a sequel, I should have the first chapter up quite soon as I'm on holiday, yay! Please leave me a review on how you thought this book was and if there's anything you think I should improve on for the second book. It will be imaginatively titled 'The Second Year' so look out. Just a quick thank you to all the people who reviewed, story alerted and favourited. I had a lot of fun writing it and I'm glad you enjoyed reading it, too.
Thanks for reading.
From,
Sopphires