Hello everyone, I'm officially out of hiding. I am SO sorry about not updating for a long time. School has been awful and my computer wasn't working most of the time, however now I have a new computer! I will hopefully be updating much more frequently because I have found my inspiration for this once again! Thank you for your patience!

As usual, I don't own anything except for my character.

A routine began after that one strange morning in which Annie would spend her days studying outside, usually in the courtyard or by the Black Lake, and spend her evenings in the Room of Requirement with Fred. Occasionally George would join them, and Annie was always sure to spend time with him as well. On one afternoon in particular, George had decided to join Annie by the Black Lake to study and hang out. She was writing out a final essay for her crash course in fourth year potions while George was working on another snack for their boxes.

"Oi"

At that, the two looked up from their work to see Fred and Angelina heading towards them.

"Hello you two", Annie said while smiling up at the two of them.

Angelina struck up a conversation with Annie while the boys talked about their inventions.

"So how have your classes been Annie?", Angelina asked with a smile.

"Good, hopefully I'll be at least close to caught up with you lot by the start of next term" Annie said.

Angelina nodded thoughtfully.

Just then Annie tuned in on the twins discussing potential names for the snack boxes.

"Naughty nibbles?", George offered.

"Too dirty", Fred answered while looking thoughtfully into the distance.

"Troublesome treats?"

"Not dirty enough", Fred said with a smirk.

"Mischievous munchies?", Annie threw in.

"Hmm, not bad…" Fred started.

"Skiving snackboxes?" George offered yet again.

"Skiving snackboxes", Fred repeated before breaking into a wide grin.

"I like it!"

Annie smiled and rolled her eyes at the two.

"Well anyways, we should be going Fred, lots to do" Angelina said with a wink.

"Right, see you two at dinner", Fred said before getting up.

Annie watched as the pair walked off. She smiled at the two of them sadly. She wanted to be happy for them. The sun that had been out and glowing brightly the last few days was suddenly covered in dark clouds. Annie looked at the sky in confusion, it looked like it was going to rain.

"We should probably get inside unless you wanna have to rewrite that essay." George said quickly while packing up.

"Right", Annie muttered, still distracted by Fred and Angelina as well as the random rain clouds in the sky.

After dinner, Annie went straight to the Room of Requirement without waiting for Fred, still confused about earlier in the day. She knew that it wasn't his fault that she felt the way she did, but it still felt like a personal blow every time she saw them together. Her and Angelina had been getting along alright, though Annie didn't think they would ever be best friends.

By the time Annie sat down in front of the piano, her head was swirling with thoughts. To calm herself down, she began playing Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie. Annie closed her eyes and let the relaxing music wash over her, trying to let all of her thoughts and unspoken feelings towards Fred go.

None of it matters, she thought.

I'm here to learn about magic, not get a new boyfriend.

And yet as she thought this, her heart still yearned for something more than what she currently had. There seemed to be a hole in her chest that nothing and nobody could fill.

Maybe Fred could fill that void.

That nagging voice in the back of Annie's head threatened to break the bubble of peace that she had tried to create. Annie just delved further into the music, pushing past her problems. Yet even the music had to end and as she played the last note, Annie was right back where she started. Only now Fred was leaning against the wall watching her.

"Are you alright?"

Annie jumped, having not heard him come in.

"Geez, you scared me!"

He just laughed and came to sit down next to her on the piano bench.

"That was a nice piece", he said with a smile.

Annie cleared her throat and inched as far away as the bench would allow, trying to put some space between the two of them.

"Thank you", she said quietly.

They stared at each other for a bit, neither really sure what to do or say.

"So, are you alright?", he asked again.

"Fine, why do you ask?", Annie responded quickly.

"You were quiet at dinner is all, and you took off without me."

Annie just looked at him, trying to see if he had any sort of inkling about how she felt about him. She saw nothing but sincere concern in his eyes.

Good, Annie thought.

The last thing she wanted to do was cause any discomfort between her best friend and herself.

She just gave him a small smile before turning to the piano and playing a few stray thoughts of a song.

"Just a bit homesick I suppose", she said absentmindedly.

Just then, her fingers picked up a random merry tune as Fred put an arm around her. She looked up at him with a shy smile before turning back to the keys. They stayed like that for hours, but to Annie it felt like just a few minutes. The bubble of peace that she had been desperately trying build up was finally there, but she decided to give up and just include Fred in it with her.

The third task had arrived and the sky was filled with grey clouds. Everyone walked to the quidditch pitch, excited chatter following in their wake.

"Look, all I'm saying is Cedric deserves to win. He's just so handsome and talented!" Katie exclaimed, gesturing wildly in frustration.

Annie laughed loudly at this, shaking her head at her dear friend.

"Just because he's handsome doesn't mean that he deserves to win Katie. Besides, I didn't say that he didn't deserve to win. I just said that Harry's going to win."

"Why do you say that?", Katie asked.

"Because that kid is lucky and somehow manages to scrape by every time. I've heard about the last three years at Hogwarts you know", Annie said with a smile towards Katie.

"Oh well whatever. I just can't wait for this tournament to be over! Except for the first one, these tasks have been rather dull to watch. I miss quidditch."

Annie just smiled and shook her head. As they trudged through the rather damp evening toward the stands, Annie spotted the twins. They were up ahead shouting for bets, Angelina following them and laughing enthusiastically with Alicia. She smiled lovingly at the sound of them shouting obnoxiously to a group of terrified first years as they passed. She had become quite fond of them during her time at Hogwarts and could no longer imagine life without them. She loved roaming the halls with them after hours causing mischief, sitting by the lake with George to study, and spending her evenings playing the piano with Fred. Annie didn't notice as Katie looked at her with a raised eyebrow, noticing her look of fondness and the way it zeroed in on one particular ginger twin.

The third task was well underway and Annie and Katie had taken to chatting about summer was taking an extended vacation in Paris with her parents, something Annie could only dream of. Katie looked at her in sympathy as she relayed that she would be spending the summer in the states working at her local coffee shop.

Suddenly everyone was on their feet cheering while the two girls looked around in confusion. Then Katie quickly got up and joined in.

"Annie get up! Harry's back with the Cup!"

But Annie couldn't move, she was suddenly frozen to her seat by what she felt. A chill ran through her body as she heard someone scream in the distance. She slowly got up and looked at the body that Harry desperately clung to. She watched with wide eyes as Amos Diggory ran to his son's lifeless body, mourning his loss.

Tears came to her eyes as Annie desperately looked around for some sort of comfort. Then she saw him. Annie locked eyes with Fred, who had been a ways down the stands to sit with Angelina. Then the floodgates opened in the sky and began to pour and Annie looked up at the sky with a heavy heart. When she looked back at Fred, Angelina was in his arms. As Annie turned and hugged Katie, who was sobbing, she could still feel Fred's eyes on her.

The rest of the term went by quietly. There was no talk of summer plans anymore, because there was someone who never made it to the summer and so it no longer felt right. So everyone parted ways in a rather sombre fashion, Annie to the states, Katie to Paris, and the twins to the Burrow.

Now Annie sat at the coffee shop down the street, reading her potions book disguised as a muggle romance novel. It was well into July by now and the death of Cedric Diggory still lingered in her mind, but she had begun to move on. The pure monotony of getting up and going to work had helped distract her from her life at Hogwarts. In fact, she hadn't heard from Katie or the twins in a while. Much had happened over the summer without them around, including Annie catching up to her seventh year friends in her study. Annie's feelings towards Fred had also changed as well. The first few weeks had been agonizing without him near. However with a bit of distance, Annie had found herself thinking a bit more clearly. Perhaps they just weren't meant to be, and she was okay with that.

Annie looked up as a rather tall boy came into the coffee shop, then smiled when she recognized him and he sat down next to her.

"Hi there stranger", she said with a smile.

The boy sitting next to her was James Grant, who worked at the coffee shop with Annie. They had grown rather close over the last two months and Annie was sure that they would be dating soon.

"Hey, what are you reading?" he asked, looking over her shoulder.

Annie quickly closed the book ad pushed it aside, throwing him a nonchalant smile before he could notice anything.

"Oh just a crappy romance novel, it's rather dull actually. Are you working today?"

She quickly changed the subject and they made small talk, laughing and chatting as though they had known each other for ages. After about half an hour, Annie started packing to go home, hoping to get more studying done there.

"Hey, before you go can I ask you something?" James said, grabbing her hand while she stood up.

She smiled at him and nodded, feeling her cheeks get warm at his touch.

"Would you maybe want to go out tonight? See a movie?"

Her stomach turned at his question. For just a second, Fred popped into the back of her mind but the thought of him was gone in an instant.

Annie raised her eyebrows playfully and and gave a heavy sigh.

"Well I suppose I can spare a little bit of time for you", she said with a smile.

He just shook his head at her with a smile.

"7 tonight then?"

"Sure," Annie said, giving James' hand a squeeze before walking outside with a small smile on her face.

The rest of summer flew by and Annie couldn't be happier. Things with James had gone extremely well and Annie was completely enamoured with him. She was constantly owling Katie and George, but there was a strange silence from Fred. At one point, Katie even came down to Texas for a weekend. Annie thought back to the days they spent gossiping and reading by the pool in her backyard…

"So, am I going to meet this James?" Katie asked, looking at Annie playfully.

"He's out of town this weekend with his family, but maybe during Christmas. That is if you still want to come back then?", Annie asked with a content smile, basking in the warm glow of the sun.

"Well of course I'm coming back, as long as I get to meet the dream guy you can't stop talking about. Speaking of boys, how are the twins?"

Katie noticed that Annie was avoiding her questioning gaze.

"George has been good, they had a pretty uneventful summer at the Burrow." Annie said quietly.

Katie paused, waiting for her to say more.

"Well what about Fred? Have you talked at all this summer?"

Annie sighed and looked at Katie with a sad smile.

"I think we burned that bridge. Things just got a bit awkward with us at the end of the year with all the unspoken feelings and his dating Angelina.", Annie said with a shrug.

The truth is Annie had been thinking about their friendship a lot as the date to return to school loomed ever near. She hadn't heard from him all summer despite the constant flow of letters from George and she wasn't entirely sure why. She had sent one letter at the beginning of summer but never received a reply.

"He's probably too enamoured with Angelina" Annie said quietly.

Katie paused, taking a good look at Annie and seeing that the thought of losing her friend was difficult for her to accept.

"Well," Katie started while getting up and stretching.

"Who cares about that tosser anyways," she said smartly before promptly diving into the pool.

Annie laughed and got up to join her.

Thanks for reading, please review!