A/N: I have time shifted the Harry Potter characters so they are contemporary with the Skins characters. I felt less guilty about this when I realised that the actress Hannah Murray (Cassie) was the same age as Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter). Also, Xenophilius Lovegood has not been killed.

Prologue: Loneliness

Sid had said a 'final' and melancholy farewell to his beloved Cassie about eighteen months ago after spending a couple of years with her, travelling around the United States. They separated following a proposal of marriage from Sid which Cassie declined. Cassie explained that if they had stayed together it would have to have been forever. Sid did not quite understand this as he felt that 'foreverness' was the essence of a loving relationship. However, since he loved and respected Cassie, he sorrowfully accepted this. They left no contact details and vowed never to try to find each other.

Within days, both Sid and Cassie deeply regretted their now irrevocable decisions. Sid, in particular was feeling very lonely indeed as Cassie had been his whole life. There was a deep Cassie shaped void in his heart which he just could not fill. He was getting more and more depressed. He held himself together as he did, despite his loneliness, feel that life had to go on. However, when he was alone at home, he could not banish loving thoughts about Cassie and tears were never far away. After leaving college, and his two years travelling with Cassie, he returned to his home city of Bristol and obtained a job as an administrative assistant in the Human Resources department of a little known government office in that city.

After leaving Sid, Cassie drifted back to New York, where she worked to earn enough for the flight back to Britain. When she reached London, she decided to look for work in that city. Despite her bitter regrets about sacrificing Sid's love, and because of her misguided decision never to see him again, she felt it would be harder for him to find her in London. She found work as a waitress in a small café in Hampstead. She also found a small but noisy bedsit reasonably near her work. She now had paid work and a roof over her head, but felt that there was an empty space in her heart. She now realised that she needed Sid. She spent her free time window shopping in Hampstead and particularly liked walking and relaxing on nearby Hampstead Heath. She found a favourite park bench where she would sit and watch the other people on the heath. She kept herself to herself, and avoided forming close relationships with anyone.

Following her return from her travels, Luna Lovegood obtained a posting in a subsidiary office of the Ministry of Magic in Bristol, which dealt with liaison between the Ministry of Magic and the Muggle World. She was also feeling down as she had said goodbye to Neville Longbottom about two years previously. She wanted to travel the world in search of strange magical creatures while Neville saw his immediate future as an auror with the Ministry of Magic in London. Like Cassie, she deeply regretted her decision to leave her partner. She had enjoyed her two years of exploration but kept thinking of her sweet Neville. On her return, she had assumed that he would have found a new lover and that meeting him with his new partner would have been too painful an experience. She felt it would have broken her heart. Despite her loneliness and because of her loyalty to her first love, she avoided making any new friends in Bristol until a happy accident brought her together with someone who would change her life.

After letting Luna leave on her research project, Neville had taken up the offer of the post as an auror with the Ministry of Magic in Whitehall. He carried out his work efficiently, but was increasingly haunted by longings for his sweet Luna. In order to try to suppress these, he would spend his lunchtimes in St James's Park and walk round Regents Park and Hampstead Heath on his days off. He also spent a lot of time learning as much as possible about London. Despite all this activity, he was acutely conscious of the empty space in his heart left by the absent Luna. In short, he too craved companionship.