A Little Bit of Love and Laughter

I passed through the platform to where the Hogwarts Express was waiting and smiled at the sight of the nervous, new first years. It was almost inconceivable that only five years ago, I had been in their place. A lot had changed since then.

They had already begun loading the train, and as I set my luggage down near the edge of the platform, I took out the newest edition of the Daily Prophet.

"TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP". The headline nearly made me lose my breath altogether, and I frantically read through the article, scouring, though certainly not hoping, to find any familiar names.

When I had last spoken to Fred and George, they had told me about the trip their father had planned for all of them to go to the Quidditch World Cup. They had been thrilled. Always Ireland aficionados, those two. They had promised to tell me all about the game upon our return to Hogwarts.

It was for this reason that the words on the page were particularly disconcerting to me. "Death Eaters, followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, attacked the site of the Quidditch World Cup. The fates of many of the attendees are unknown at this time."

Then came a scary thought. What if they weren't coming back to Hogwarts? What if their fates were unknown as well? What if...?

I couldn't even bring myself to mediate on the idea any longer. Instead, I reread the article, hoping for clues that might ease my mind. The voices behind me grew more and more distinct as they got closer.

"Hey, is that..."

"Could it be?"

"Maybe."

"Seems possible, I guess."

"Only one way to find out."

"Oi, Em!"

I turned around to see the familiar red hair and grinning faces and ran over to them, tossing the Daily Prophet to the ground. I wrapped my arms around Fred's neck and kissed his cheeks ecstatically, then moved on to George and did the same.

"What a greeting!" Fred exclaimed with a smile. He wiped his cheek clean of my lip gloss.

"Yeah," George agreed. "We should go away more often."

"I heard about the attack," I explained in deep breaths. "I'm just so relieved to see that you're both all right. How is your brother? And Ginny? How are the others?"

Fred chuckled, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Calm down, Em. They're fine. Everyone's fine."

"Harry nearly got locked up," George added.

"But that's a different story."

"Yeah, not quite a story for right now."

"Not to mention the fact that it's somewhat irrelevant."

I disrupted their back-and-forth with a stern look and a smile that seemed to undermine any effect that my strict glance had.

"You know," I said, dropping my stern look but maintaining my smile. "Just because you're Gryffindors doesn't mean that you have to keep going off looking for trouble. I don't think my poor, fragile heart can take much more of it."

"It's not our fault we're trouble magnets..."

"... Babe magnets..." The two shrugged and shot me a wink.

Rolling my eyes, I joked, "In your dreams, perhaps."

"You know you love us, Em."

"Don't even try to deny it." George had a joking smirk on his face, while's Fred's features bore a genuine grin.

I couldn't help but blush and make a rather pathetic attempt to hide my reddened face with my hair.

They picked up their luggage and insisted on carrying mine as we boarded the train. We sat together in an empty compartment, joking and catching up about the summer. It was good to be going back, and it was especially good to be back with my boys. Still, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that things were going to be different this year...