Disclaimer: Best not to mention the author's name given recent disappointing developments, alas, I am not her, and therefore do not own any of the characters, settings etc. Unless stated otherwise, everything belongs to the original author of the Harry Potter series! Nor do I own any rights to Ariana Grande's song 'Honeymoon Avenue' which, yes, the title (and the plot, to some extent) of this story was inspired by.

Chapter 1 – Prologue

I've always had high ambitions; I'm going to be a star. My dreams have always been big, and they just don't align with magic. You don't even have films or television over here. You don't have red carpets, and the West End, and the Oscars.

Magic is great, but I have always wanted to be a star. And I will do it.

I've seen how it works, and I am determined enough to go down the same road. I would give everything up to be a star—to trade Hogwarts for Hollywood. I would lose my friends, my family—I would completely lose myself. And though I know this, I will get no satisfaction until I'm there.

And once I'm at the top, they'll tear me apart. That's what they do. They rip you to pieces like you don't have feelings, like you're not a real person. They send you spiralling into despair until you're so consumed by your suffering that there's nothing of you left.

Nothing of the life you had before, nobody to support you, none of the strength and determination you used to have. You're just... empty. And I would still give everything I have for my moment in the spotlight—for my time to shine.

Why?

Because they said I couldn't.

Janine Lucinda Davington was married, at twenty-two years of age, on the first of August 2028, to Samuel Christopher Tyler.

The widely anticipated ceremony occurred after a two-year engagement, a five-year relationship, and approximately 5,972 arguments between the happy couple.

In attendance were the bride and groom's respective families (of both magical and non-magical blood), old school friends, a handful of celebrities Janey considered worthy enough to attend her wedding, and about a dozen reporters Sam wished had not been exclusively invited by his new wife.

Through the storm of blinding camera flashes, and the deafening roar of reporters angling for exclusives on the newlyweds' future, Sam and Janey gripped each other's hands tightly, smiled politely, and made their way back down the aisle, now united in holy matrimony.

The following day, they would prepare to leave for their honeymoon—a brief but beautiful period in any couple's life, full of romance and bliss, where their young love could flourish—before returning back to normality and embarking on their new life together.

Unfortunately, as we are all aware, honeymoons do not last forever.

Six months later, in the very heart of winter, both halves of the infamous couple set down their pens, the ink scrawled on the contracts still fresh, finalising their divorce.

Author's Note: Okay, so, this is the second spin-off story (still not a sequel) from my 200-chapter ScoRose story 'Rose and Scorpius: A Forbidden Love'—the first being 'The Delightful (and Disastrous) Wedding of Rose and Scorpius'—though they do NOT follow in chronological order. In fact, the course of this story will overlap with and exceed them both (hence why it's not strictly a sequel).

Unlike the other two stories I've written in this series, this story will NOT revolve around Rose and Scorpius but Sam and Janey instead. It's something I thought about a lot during the writing of the latter chapters of AFL, and something I was interested in pursuing and sharing. Rose and Scorpius are still in the story, of course, as are the vast majority of the usual characters, but please bear in mind that this story will centre around documenting the relationship of Sam and Janey.

Now, bearing that in mind, if you are a curious newcomer to this story, although it pains me to say, I would recommend NOT reading this story, purely because the characters and context will be unfamiliar. (If you want to go ahead and read my 200-chapter original story and THEN read this then I'll by all means encourage you, but good luck with that if you do!) It's just that AFL was incredibly complex in terms of plot and character development, and I don't want to dwell on establishing things in this story that were already set out in the others, because it would be very time-consuming.

But if you are new to my take on Next-Gen, and would still like to read this story without reading the others, then I very much encourage you! I hope it makes enough sense without the additional context and still reads as an enjoyable story. There are a lot of OCs obviously, and some unintentional slight deviations from canon. For example, the author recently revealed that James Sirius Potter is two years older than Rose, Scorpius, and Albus, whereas in AFL (which was written before this reveal), he's only one year older. In order to retain continuity within my own series, I've kept these slight deviations. Not that they're particularly significant.

SO

ANYWAY

As stated before, this story follows Sam and Janey. This is just a prologue to set the mood but isn't where the story will start off—if that makes sense? Chapter uploads will occur weekly and will be quite lengthy, around 4,000-8,000 words each.

I can't tell you for definite how long this story will be, but like with my original, I imagine it will be quite lengthy. Either a blessing or a curse depending on how you view it!

Okay, next point

The italicised section at the beginning of this chapter is an extract from Chapter 72: 'The Truth About Janey' from Rose and Scorpius: A Forbidden Love, as I thought it would be a good reminder to help set the tone of the story. I realise asking you to reread the entirety of AFL to refresh the context is a bit demanding considering the length, but I would definitely recommend rereading that chapter at least, and possibly the last ten if you're up for it.

It has been a while, after all!

Each chapter will feature an epigraph which will either be an italicised extract from AFL or, more likely, song lyrics. And each chapter will be named (other than this one) after a song that I feel sums up the content of the chapter. If you read much of my writing you'll know how inspired I am by music. (Taylor Swift references will be significantly lessened, though by no means absent!) But I'll establish this with each chapter.

A warning for this story though: This one's a bit more heavy-duty than the two that preceded it. What I mean to say is, the characters are older, I myself am a lot older than I was when I first started AFL. It's more mature, shall we say. A Forbidden Love was very romantic, the ScoRose wedding was very light and comical, and this one, though not entirely explicit, is certainly more mature.

Because of this, I have chosen to give it an M-rating. I feel the vast majority of the story is only a T, just as my other two stories in the series were, but because there is a noticeable difference between the style of writing and the themes explored once we get into it, I have no choice but to update. I obviously don't know who my audience are but bear that in mind if you choose to read. M-rated chapters will be flagged up at the start of each chapter whether to do with language or, *ahem* sexual themes. Nothing is overly graphic, but be wary.

I'll stop rambling now, as I realise the A/N alone is longer than the whole prologue...

Well, I really hope you enjoy the story!

~ Ever x

[UPDATE] As of September 2024, after an unexpected hiatus of over eight years, we are so back, baby...