Carly pulled me into a headlock as we walked down Diagon Alley. "Just breathe in that good ol' English air, Lin. We'll get your accent changed before you know it."

I choked. "I can't breathe!"

Carly cupped her ear. "What was that?"

"I CAN'T BREATHE YOU SODDING TWIT!" I gasped for air.

Georgie and Jane burst into tears because they were laughing so hard. Carly clapped me on the back. "Close enough! I want to get a cat for this year, so I'll be in the Magical Menagerie if you need me. 'Ta!" She giggled as she slipped through my fingers and went off like a shot.

I groaned and massaged my neck. "I could have died."

Jane slung an arm over my shoulders. "You're so dramatic. You would have passed out, first, you know."

I rolled my eyes. "That makes me feel so much better."

"Come on, then." Georgie clapped her hands together. "Fancy some ice cream from Florean Fortescue's?

I giggled. "Try saying that five times fast."

Jane joined in. "I'll have a float with fudge."

And with that, we were roaring with laughter again.

The rest of the day we grabbed our textbooks and ingredients we needed for potions. I decided to get an owl and a cat, much to Carly's annoyance.

"You just had to one up me, didn't you?" She scowled at me.

I just smiled and patted her head. "Yup."

Jane swung her arms around Carly's and my waists. She looked at us semi-seriously. "Now, you two, behave, or else."

Carly and I glared at her. "Yes, Mum."

She beamed. "So, what're you going to name your lovely animals?"

Carly looked at the cat in its crate. It was a calico, with blue eyes. "I dunno."

Georgie stared at it. "Well, you could go with Stormy."

Carly snorted. "What am I, five? Nah."

Jane chewed on her lip. "What did the lady say she was named?"

Carly blushed. "Buttercup."

I giggled. "So just call it that then!"

Carly blushed harder. "I have a certain reputation to uphold, and I can't do that if I have a bloody cat named Buttercup!"

I thought about it. "What about Butterbeer?"

Jane and Georgie burst into laughter, but Carly beamed at her newly christened cat. "Perfect."

Jane wiped some tears from her eyes. "What about you, then? Firewhiskey, maybe?"

I laughed. My cat was pure black with yellow eyes. I had named it as soon as I saw it. "Nope. His name is Edgar."

All three of them burst out laughing again. Georgie slapped me on the back. "Good one, Lin. But seriously, what's its name?"

I scowled. "Edgar. You know, as in Edgar Allan Poe?"

They blinked at me. "Who?"

I sighed. "He's an American Author who lived a couple of centuries ago. I think he's brilliant."

Jane smiled. "No one but you is going to get that, you know."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "He's my cat, and I'll name him how I like."

Georgie put her arm around my shoulders. "Alright, alright. Don't have a cow. What about the owl?"

The owl was white, the whitest I have ever seen anything, except snow. "Holly."

Jane cooed at the bird and stuck a finger between the bars of her cage. "Holly. I like that. Because she looks like snow, right?"

I nodded. "Exactly!"

Carly looked confused. Georgie started to sing, "Deck the halls with boughs of Holly, Fa la la la la –"

"Oh!" Carly smiled. "It's perfect."

We walked in comfortable silence towards the Leaky Cauldron, trying to juggle the mass of bags filled with purchases. Unfortunately, none of us were 17 yet, which meant we couldn't perform magic outside of Hogwarts. This meant we were huffing and puffing by the time we deposited our things on a table once we finally entered the pub.

Carly threw herself into a chair. "This is stupid."

I nodded as I rested my head on the table. "Georgie, we're never listening to you again."

Georgie looked indignant. "Oi, I have a duty as a prefect to keep you lot in line."

Carly rolled her eyes. "That's in school, Georgie."

Jane muttered. "She just likes watching us suffer."

I giggled as I glanced over at the bar. Tom the barkeep was busy taking orders from the crowd of people that had wanted to escape the heat outside. I was debating on whether or not I should wait to order when I caught sight of the clock. "Jane, what time were we supposed to meet Ary?"

Jane leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. "Two, why?"

I groaned. "It's almost three!" The other three jumped up at that. I calmed them down. "You floo to my house to drop all this stuff off, and I'll go and apparate to the stadium to tell Ary." I winced. "The public floo in the area is called Patrick's. Is it okay if we meet there?"

They all nodded, so we shot up and headed for the fireplace. I pushed Carly, her purchases, and mine onto the hearth. "I'll meet you there," she promised as she threw down ashy-looking powder. "Longbourn!"

I looked to Georgie and Jane. "Will you two be okay?"

They nodded again. I quickly apparated.

"CAROLINE AMELIA BENEDETTO, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Ary's voice roared at me as I tried to regain my balance.

I looked around. I was now in the country side and closer to Oxford than I was to London. The small town which housed the pitch for the Harpies' was entirely magical, and thus was extremely small. I was smack dab in the middle of it, though, standing in front of a huge quidditch pitch, the outside of which was painted in the same color of green that the Holyhead Harpies' robes were. Speaking of which, I had just turned around to face Ary when I saw those green robes fly at me.

Ary's hug was smothering me, and so I tried to pound on her back to get her to let go. I almost broke my hand in the process, but she realized what she was doing and got up off me. I still lay on the ground, gasping for air. "Are you on steroids?"

She looked at me with a confused expression on her face. "What are 'steroids'?"

I grasped her hand and pulled myself up. "Nothing, never mind." I rubbed my neck, which had suffered the worst part of Ary's arms. "Been training much?"

She grinned at me and clapped me on the back. I staggered forward. "Oh, definitely. McGonagall let me use the quidditch pitch for practice during the summer, so I wouldn't lose form."

I glared at her. "Have you even started training with the Harpies?" I looked at Ary again, but more closely. She was as tall and willowy as ever, but she had bulked up, and her face was equal parts tanned and sun burned. Her hair was sun-streaked, and in a ponytail instead of a braid. "You look different."

She smiled at me. "Well, so do you." She started to walk towards Patrick's. "And for your information, I have indeed been training with the team. For two weeks!" Her smile quickly faltered. "Which reminds me, where is everyone?"

I sighed as I tried to keep up with her. "In Patrick's, by now, hopefully. I apparated here first to try and make you feel better."

She swung an arm around my shoulders. "Well, I do. I've missed you, Benedetto."

I smiled as I opened the door to Patrick's. "And I, you, Wood. Or is it Garrason yet?" I teased.

She punched me in the shoulder as we made our way to the table I spotted Jane, Georgie, and Carly at.

"What'd you do now, Lin?" Jane laughed as Ary and I pulled up seats.

"I just asked her if Garrason's made an honest woman of her yet."

Everyone but Carly tried to smother their laughter. Ary smacked her in the back of her head. "Just because we've moved in together, doesn't mean we're getting married, you gits."

We teased her for a while longer, but soon the topic moved in other directions. When she started arguing with Carly about whether or not Puddlemere would win the Cup, I took the opportunity to whisper to Jane, "By the way she's acting, I'm guessing she's waiting to be proposed to."

Jane nodded. "Better owl him soon, Lin," she muttered. "She's getting antsy."

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO LAUGHING ABOUT?" Ary roared at us. "AGREE WITH YOUR FRIEND HERE?"

I groaned. "CARLY!"

Carly sniggered. She had charmed her shirt to read 'Puddlemere forever!'

The other patrons in the bar moved closer to us to see what was going on, and…

"… And that's how we got thrown out," I explained to Eddie later on.

He had graciously come to our rescue, after Ary had gone back to her apartment to ask him for help. We had just emerged from the bar, seeing as how after the bar fight Carly had caused simmered down, the owner determined us, or, rather, her, to be the blame.

Eddie helped carry Carly as Jane and I leaned on each other. I was sore everywhere, and I was positive someone had tried to bite my elbow. Thankfully, my bloody nose had dried, but the remnants of it were all over my shirt. Georgie, Jane, Carly, and Ary looked pretty much the same as I did. Like we had just been through hell. Which I thought was a pretty accurate description.

He sighed, looking at Ary, who was sporting a black eye and all but dragging Georgie along. She was ahead of us, as though she was ashamed to be seen like this, with blood all over her robes. "Well, at least she didn't desert you."

"Thank you for that, by the way. Before you started dating her, she probably would've," Jane told him honestly. There was blood dripping from her lip.

He frowned at that. "Why would a bunch of blokes beat up school girls?"

Jane and I turned red as we exchanged glances. "Actually," Jane spoke up, "they were mostly women."

"Plus, we got in a lot of good punches, too!" I cried indignantly. "I actually managed to knock out two!"

Eddie looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. Carly remained still in his arms. "Really?"

I scowled at him. "If you're going to laugh, do it." I glared at the still quiet Carly.

He noticed my glare. "When did she get knocked out again?"

Jane laughed. "Oh, I did that. It's a simple spell, you know."

Eddie looked at her confusedly. "Why?"

I stopped him. "Eddie, she was wearing a Puddlemere shirt in Harpies territory, and she wouldn't charm it back. Plus, she was practically egging the mob on, standing on a table, singing Puddlemere's theme song."

Jane sighed. "Plus, she's so angelic when she sleeps!"

I snorted.

XxXxXxX

A/N: I almost wrote the bar scene, but I was busy. I think, though, I'll write it and post it after I'm done with the story, as a kind of bonus chapter.

Thoughts?