Chapter 1

Friends and Foes

Dark...

That's all I could see, I held my hand up in front of my face and wiggled my fingers.

Nothing.

"Rose?" A small, scared voice came out of the darkness, "Rose, are you awake?"

"Lily!" I groped around in the dark; I could feel the air around me... Fog? Or maybe smoke? I inhaled... Damp. Not smoke then, that was a relief, when you're in a scary situation, it's always good to know you're not going to burn to death.

There, a hand "Lily? Is that you?"

"Yeah," she sounded really scared

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" I asked urgently

"M-My leg, I think they broke it." Her voice was strained with pain. I slid my hands down her side until I found her leg, running my hands gently over it. I could feel the break; luckily the bone hadn't gone through the skin.

"Lil, I'm gonna have to set your leg and it's gonna hurt." Usually I wouldn't have to resort to the muggle way but I didn't have my wand and we didn't know how long we were going to be here so I didn't want it to heal crooked.

"Ok, just... do it quickly." Even though I couldn't see her, I knew Lily had closed her eyes.

I placed my hands on either side of the break and braced myself.

CRACK! Lily let out a cry of pain I crawled back up so I was sitting beside her and pulled her into my arms "Thanks, Rose, That's so much better."

"It's ok." I replied and Lily began to cry,

"Oh, Rose, what are we going to do? Will they kill us?" she sobbed

"It's going to be ok, I promise." Please let it be ok, I prayed.

Then I heard it, a terrifying sound, the most awful sound I think I've ever heard and it was coming closer.

Footsteps

~O~

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I rolled over in bed and groaned Bleh, Morning, I hate mornings. They wouldn't be so bad if they were in the afternoon, but here we are, at the start of the day and it's Morning.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Fine, I'm getting up." I grumbled and pulled the covers over my head, "In five minutes."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Arrgh!" I threw of the covers and stumbled over to my dresser to turn off my alarm clock.

"Well I'm up now, may as well get ready. ARE YOU HAPPY?" I fumed at the small silver clock, it just sat there, looking at me (not that it actually has eyes, which would be a bit weird, although not as weird as the time Fred charmed all our plates to talk, dad got so sick of them all telling him to watch his weight he threw them out) I poked my tough out at it and grouched off towards the bathroom.

When I reached the door I screwed my face up into the ugliest expression I could think of and walked into the room, this was a ritual I picked up from one of my best friends. By using this technique, I always felt that I looked better than I actually did because my first glimpse of myself in the morning was a terrible one and compared to that I looked awesome.

I quickly brushed my teeth and retrieved my clothes for the day from my dresser (blue skinny jeans and a pale green top). Then I showered, got dressed and went downstairs, grabbing my wand on my way out the door.

In the kitchen, mum was standing over the stove "Is it supposed to be smoking?" she asked as I entered, poking the black lump in the fry pan.

"Here, mum, I'll do it." I took the spatula out of her hand, turned the heat down and threw the burnt pancake into the bin. My mum was an amazing woman, but she couldn't cook to save her life. Because of this I had learned to cook at a very early age. My dad had taught me, but he was a full time Auror (or Wizard Cops as I prefer to call them) so he wasn't around enough to cook for us all the time. We saw him heaps, it wasn't like we were deprived children who only saw our dad on the weekends or holidays but when he did get home, he was so tired he didn't want to cook.

I slid the last pancake on to the pile just as dad walked in, followed by my younger brother, Hugo who was still in his pyjamas.

"Mmm, is that pancakes?" Dad asked, sitting down at the kitchen table with mum.

"Morning." He leaned down and kissed her.

"Eww, gross." Hugo complained sitting down on the other side of the table from our parents as I placed the stack of pancakes down in front of them.

"Oh, come on, it's better to have them snogging all the time than fighting." I laughed at his reaction, bringing the plates, ice cream and chocolate sauce over to the table and sitting down at the table next to him.

An hour later we arrived at Kings Cross Station. "Come on, we haven't got much time!" Mum called to us as we tumbled out of the car.

"Mum, it's ten forty; we have twenty minutes until the train leaves." I told her

Dad went to get the trolleys and we loaded our trunks and owls onto them, my owl, Oswin, squawked indignantly as I placed her cage on top of my trunk, she didn't like travelling very much she hated being couped up. "I'll let you out when we get to school." I told her she fluffed up her feathers indignantly and squawked at me. She wasn't going to be happy with me when I let her out, she'd probably sulk for a few days.

We arrive at the barrier between
platforms nine and ten, "Hugo, you go first." Dad told him and he nodded then, when the coast was clear he leaned casually against the wall and disappeared through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters. Followed by me and then mum and dad.

I hugged mum and dad goodbye and rush off in search of Alice, my best friend. I found her in a compartment with my favorite cousin Albus.

"Ally!"

"Rosie!" Ally hugged me; she was average height and had inherited her mother's long blonde hair and her father's love of Herbology. Ally is the daughter of our 'Uncle' Neville, who teaches Herbology at Hogwarts. I was on the other short, with curly red hair and freckles. Ally and I have been best friends since we were babies and Uncle Neville is Hugo's godfather.

"Hey Rose." Al grinned at me as I sat down next to Ally

"Hey Al, so what were guys talking about before I rudely barged in?"

"I was telling Al about France" Ally blushed she's had a huge crush on Al since 5th year.

"Oh yeah, how was it?" I asked,

"Great, I loved it there" she answered "it was really amazing, especially the food"

We talked about our holidays as train began the journey to Hogwarts. After a little while the conversation turned the year ahead.

"So do you think will be head boy?" I asked

Al grinned at me

"You already know don't you?" I narrowed my eyes at him

"Yep" he grinned some more

"Go on then, tell me."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's going to be a lot more fun for you to find out from him."

"Why? Who is it?"

"It's me, Red," said a smug voice from the doorway.

Crap.

~O~

Malfoy sauntered into the compartment like he owned it and sat in the seat across from me, next to Albus "Hey, man." He greeted Al, who nodded to him; they'd been best friends since first year when they were both sorted into Slytherin and discovered they both supported Puddelmere United.

Scorpius looked over at me, his silver-blonde hair falling into his eyes,

"This year is going to be awesome – we'll be sharing a dormitory, Red." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at me.

"Okay, first of all, you are absolutely disgusting, "I glared at him, "secondly, I know well be sharing a dorm, I'm not stupid, Malfoy." Merlin I hate him, it was going to be hard to get through this year without murdering him.

"I've heard from many girls that I'm far from disgusting, Red, and after a few weeks, maybe you'll change your mind about me." He smirked

"Malfoy, you're delusional, maybe you need a doctor?" I feigned concern, reaching over and feeling his forehead, "Merlin, I'm surprised you could get through the door with a head that big, you need a good dose of Shrinking Solution."

"C'mon, Weasley, you know you secretly love me." He smirked,

"Only in your dreams, Malfoy" I sneered at him, "C'mon Ally let's go find Stella." I said walking out of the compartment; Ally followed me, smiling at Al as we left.

Stella was our other best friend; she was tall, dark and pretty. She had inherited her mothers good looks and boys flocked to her.

We found her in a compartment at the start of the train, sitting with the Scamander twins, my cousin Lily and two girls from our year, Milly and Tilly. I've known Lysander and Lorcan since I was a baby, because their mum, Luna, is one of my parents' best friends. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny named Lily; Lily Luna Potter, after Luna. When I first met Milly and Tilly I thought they were twins too, but they're only cousins. Their mums are twins though, and so are their dads, ironically. My parents also went to school with their mums, Parvati and Padma (Parvati is Milly's mum and Padma is Tilly's).

"Rose! Ally!" Stella squealed when she saw us, leaping over the others for a three-person hug.

"There's not enough room here for seven, let's go find an empty compartment. Bye guys!" She called over her shoulder

"Apparently we're leaving, so hi and bye then!" I called to them

"Bye!" they chorused as we left.

While we were wandering around looking for an empty compartment, (or at least a semi full one) Ally and I filled Stella in on the previous conversation between me and Malfoy.

"Why don't you go out with him, Rosie?" she asked me, "You'd be so cute together, and he obviously likes you."

"Stells, he's a stupid git and anyway -" I stopped, realising what she had just said, "Hang on… Did you just say he likes me? That's absurd! Have you heard the way he talks to me? He hates me and the feeling is mutual!"

"I don't think so, Rose," she frowned, "He's always making suggestive comments and stuff. That's the first sign that a boy likes you, trust me I know." It's true she does, she's always got a flock of boys vying for her attention, but none of them are ever 'right' according to her.

"He's just disgusting, that's all", I protested

"Maybe so, but he's always staring at you, in class and at meals and stuff" Ally piped up

"What?!" I spluttered

"He does it all the time, I thought you noticed." She said.

"It doesn't matter, I hate him. So even if he likes me, which he doesn't. Nothing would change!"

"Whatever you say, Rosie," replied Stella, checking yet another yet another compartment "Full" she announced, sliding the door closed

"Why don't we just go back to Al's compartment? There's room there." Ally pointed out hopefully.

I groaned

"Rosie, there's no space anywhere else, so we're going!" Stella grabbed my arm and pulled me down the train. I knew Stella well enough to know not to resist.

A/N

Thanks to SiriusUntilTheVeryEnd for my inspiration! I used her story as a touchstone.

P.S Drop a review for Jeff, he likes to eat them :)

Edited 28th of August 2013 (1/4 of edit complete and uploaded! 3/4 to go!)