Flying High

Flying High:

Chapter 2: Express Way

Why is it I am always woken up by people bouncing on my bed? This time though it wasn't Charlie…yeah you guessed it Oliver had randomly decided that at nine o'clock in the morning that he would run into my room and jump up and down on my bed just to wake me up or maybe piss me off…sometimes he acted like a big child.

"Oliver! What the hell are you doing?!" I groaned as I rolled over to the far side of the bed pulling my pillow over my head. I tried to get some more sleep however the endless bouncing of the bed and consequently my head hitting the mattress each time he jumped caused me to stay awake, I'd certainly have a headache today.

"I decided that I'd be your wake-up call." he said cheerily as he jumped down into a sitting position on top of my feet. Damn him to hell! If the bouncing wasn't enough he was now causing cramp in my legs! I threw a pillow at his head to get him to go away, but he just wouldn't shift his butt from it place on my bed. "Come on, it's a lovely day and the best thing is we are going back to Hogwarts! Now cheer up and get up."

He then proceeded to pull the duvet off my bed, which sent chills through my body, due to the quick change in temperature. And then to be a bigger pain in the ass he grabbed the pillows as well and chucked them away, leaving me lying on just a mattress.

"Five more minutes!" I groaned curling up into a ball. I thought he would leave me alone after that, however I underestimated the determination of Oliver Wood. He flung the curtains open, streaming light into my bedroom and yet again ruining my chances of falling back to sleep.

"No, no, Hannah get up, you need to get ready." he said, as he began shaking me by the shoulders, I swatted him away and unfurled from the ball I had curled into. I looked up through bleary eyes at my best friend…my topless best friend…god why does he always have to have no shirt on? Is it a thing with him just to lose the top layer of his clothing every now and then?

"Fine, I'm getting up. You win." I sighed as I flopped my legs over the side of my bed and walked over to my dresser, I grabbed my clothes before turning round to face a smirking Oliver. "What's that smirk for?"

"Nothing." he replied his smirk growing before he exited my room…wonder what the hell he was smirking at? I grabbed the rest of the things I needed, before heading towards the bathroom, I entered and locked the door, and twirling round to look in the mirror…didn't I look shockingly awful. My hair had a mind of its own, sticking up at all weird angles as if I had been electrocuted. My pyjamas were also in disarray; basically I looked like I had been in a whirlwind.

20 Minutes later

I walked out of the bathroom, to find Charlie holding a toothbrush and towel in one hand, the other was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he yawned.

"All yours." I said as I strolled back into my room, as I opened the door I found a completely tidy room, with my case sat neatly on my bed that had been stripped of the sheets. Mother had obviously been in here to tidy the place up so I'd have more time to make sure I had everything. I walked over to my case and began checking that everything was accounted for; I checked twice if everything was there. I placed some books that my muggle friends had bought for me as presents long before I was accepted into Hogwarts, sure they were sort of childish, but it reminded me of times spent in the muggle schooling system. I placed a book that I was currently reading as well into my bag along with some wizarding money, and a little bit of muggle money, just in case.

After routinely checking everything was in order I locked the case and picked up my small bag, before heading out onto the landing with both of them in hand. As I was about to go down the stairs, a hand stopped me.

"I'll carry that." offered Oliver, who then proceeded to take the case out of my hand and began walking down the stairs. I followed close by; he always did this the day we were leaving for Hogwarts, kind of like his own little routine in this house.

"You know I could have easily carried it down the stairs." I said, as I stepped off the final step and Oliver placed the case down by his next to the door. His case was extremely distinguishable by the Puddlemere United sticker on the top of the case…and the fact that in gold lettering down the side, above the lock, was his name.

"I know, but I felt like helping out." he said, shrugging his shoulders as we went through to the kitchen, mother was busily rushing round, making toast and what looked like some very burnt sausages. And at the table sat my dad, reading the Daily Prophet.

"Morning." he greeted, as I went over to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, before sitting down across from him, Oliver took the seat next to me. Mum came over with the toast, before offering everyone some of the charcoaled sausages…no one accepted them. Dad made an extremely funny face, somewhere between disgusted and amused, I tried to stifle my laughter behind my piece of toast and Oliver began coughing so that he wouldn't end up chuckling.

"Oh it's so very funny." mum said sarcastically as she put the sausages in the bin, before she brought cereal, milk and bowls over to the table.

"We love you…not your cooking." my dad said, to try and calm her down. As she sat down he gave her a quick kiss that produced a small smile on her face almost immediately. By this time Charlie had entered the kitchen, and was making a disgusted face at the antics of my parents.

"Eugh!" he exclaimed as he plopped himself down next to Oliver. My parents began laughing at the childish antics of my younger brother.

"Someday son, you'll learn." my father mused, taking a bite out of his toast. Charlie shook his head, vigorously yet again making everyone laugh. Breakfast continued as it usually did on the day that school started up again, idle chatter about the upcoming year, then the rush to make sure we had everything and that we'd be on time.

"Got everything?" my mother asked, as she buttoned up her coat, I nodded as did Oliver, Charlie then brought his case crashing to the floor. "Charlie Arnold Stockley, don't you dare damage my floor."

"Sorry," he mumbled, picking up the case and handing it to dad, who then loaded it into the car, mum insisted in buying a car although she was the only one who could drive the thing. Charlie then grabbed his coat and shoes and ran out and sat in the back of the car. My mother shook her head as she also headed out to the car, Oliver and I followed suite.

"After all these years, I never knew Charlie's middle name was Arnold." Oliver whispered, I nodded…I don't actually think my brother's middle name is Arnold, when my mother shouts at us she tries to say our whole name and if we don't have a middle name, she'd just make up names for us.

"It isn't, my mother just likes to add names." I answered, as we got into the back of the car.

"Right let's get going." my dad said happily as he entered into the passenger side and my mother put the key into the ignition and the engine roared to life. Twenty minutes passed before we arrived at the station; there was the normal hustle and bustle of the muggles as we entered. As we approached the barrier, we met up with Caris' family, which also meant bumping into the Diggorys. Now there is nothing wrong with the Diggorys, they're really friendly and Cedric is one hell of a charming bloke…it's because of the fact that he is a Quidditch player…and he's not a Gryffindor therefore he is an opponent to Oliver.

"Morning Amos, William." my dad greeted, shaking both their hands, my mother greeted Caris' mother, Eliza, with a hug. They began chatting as parents do, so Oliver, Charlie and I walked passed them with our luggage to where Caris and Cedric were stood.

"Hi, ready for another year?" I asked, as we stopped just before the wall in-between platforms nine and ten, they turned to face us, still attached to each other like a lovey-dovey couple. Charlie once again made a random noise to show his 'disgust' at their actions towards each other, though he soon went over to his own little group of friends.

"Yeah, should be fun this year. I can't wait to see the castle once again." Caris answered, smiling. I nodded enthusiastically, one of the perks of going to a magical school, Hogwarts especially, was the castle that was full of history and not your bog standard world history, but your magical history of secret treasures, back-stabbing, lost spells and dark magic. And not only the history of the castle made me like going back every year, it was an extremely beautiful castle and the fact that I could use magic within its walls was also a big plus.

"Aye, and this year feels like it is going to be one hell of a year." Oliver added, grinning. I knew what he was thinking and I actually I felt it too, something about this year made me think we'd win in Quidditch whether it be the Quidditch cup or just against our biggest rivals: The Slytherin Quidditch Team. Now some Slytherins are quite nice to be around for example Romulus Martins, he was cunning but he wasn't nasty or spiteful to any other house members in his year or any other year for that matter. Unlike the complete and utter jackass of a Quidditch captain: Marcus Flint…he gives me the creeps, with that weird perverted smile.

After a couple more minutes chatting, we decided to bid farewell to our parents and go through the barrier and get our seats. I was not about to sit on the floor which would be cold and hard and I would be sat with everyone's feet…anyway Oliver went first running with the trolley with both his and my luggage on, before I followed suit and the couple appeared after us.

"Quick, I'll find us an empty compartment!" I exclaimed dodging passed all the parents who were saying their farewells to their children. Once passed the crowd I pulled myself up onto the train, turning to see the rest of my merry crew slowly approaching the platform. Well they would be since they were carrying all the luggage…anyway I then began looking inside the compartments hoping to God that I wouldn't bump into Mr Troll and his happy minions. As I approached the sixth and final compartment in the car of the train, I found it to be empty. So as I generally did I opened the door stuck my foot in as a wedge and began to wave at Oliver, Cedric and Caris. Caris came briskly walking down the corridor with the lads traipsing behind carrying our luggage…oh what gentlemen they are.

Caris took the seat facing the right direction close to the window; Cedric took the seat next to her as I took the seat across from her. Oliver took the seat next to me. We began idly chatting about the holidays; Caris and Cedric had been to Rome for most of the holiday, Caris then proceeded to show us all their holiday photos, which Oliver and I quickly looked over. After a couple of minutes the twins appeared in the doorway, smiling as if they had set in motion one of their schemes once more…

"Morning!" everyone greeted, as they took the seats next to Cedric, although we were all matey, Cedric being Cedric and Oliver being Oliver meant there were slight tensions when it came to anything competitive…especially Quidditch so it doesn't help when the twins pretend to give away Gryffindor 'secrets'.

"Hello!" they greeted in unison as they turned to face Cedric a slightly mischievous glint in their eyes, we all knew what they were up to, however it still wound Oliver right up a tree. "Cedric, old buddy. Did you hear?"

"Err…hear what?" Cedric asked nervously, as he looked between Oliver and the twins bless him he didn't want to start a fight with Oliver over harmless banter, however just as the twins were about to answer, their older brother and prefect opened the compartment door. Would we ever find out what they were going to say? Probably, but the twins wouldn't say it in front of their older brother…or would they?

"Hi, Percy." I greeted, as he took a seat next to his best friend and roommate, Ollie. He eyed the twins suspiciously before looking back at me. Everyone knew you could never be too careful when the twins were around and none knew this more than Percy Weasley. Then again everyone in Gryffindor and most likely the entire school knew what the twins were capable of. "Thought you would be on prefect duty already."

"I've got my duties and they don't start till halfway through the journey, so I felt I would join the group if that is ok." he answered, I nodded he was always welcome unless he did something to absolutely piss everyone off, including Oliver. Sometimes Percy could be an absolute prat when he wanted to be especially when it came to following every rule as it was written down. Though he was a really nice guy for the most time I had known him.

"Aye, you're always welcome mate." Oliver replied, clapping a hand on his shoulder, the twins by now were whispering and looking at each one of us, before they began whispering again. I swear those two just want to go looking for trouble every time they can…and generally Percy would be there to stop them, if not Oliver would cease their meddling so that the team wouldn't lose two of the best beaters the house had, had for a while. Speaking of Quidditch we needed to look for a new seeker, Charlie had left last year, which left a big gap to fill. Charlie was one of the better seekers of the house…well the best since the time when my parents were at Hogwarts anyway.

After a couple more minutes, Angie and Willow had found us, Angie squished on the seat next to the twins and Willow took the seat next to Percy, making herself comfortable in the corner. Once more the talk of holidays was brought up; Willow had ventured into the South coast of Wales, the Weasleys had spent their holiday at home and Angelina had travelled to Barcelona.

"I think this is going to be a great year." I stated, nodding my head in a matter of fact way. Caris also agreed with me, although we had, had this conversation before we had boarded the train. Angelina also nodded in agreement though she seemed to think of something that could potentially ruin the year.

"Sure, though in terms of Quidditch we need to get a new seeker pronto." Angie offered, Oliver crossed his arms, and nodded. He knew the fact was true, without a proper seeker we were definitely not going to win against any of the houses. A Quidditch team without a seeker was like a bird without its wings.

"However, this year is important for studying too." Percy added, though he was right there were not many people in the compartment who agreed with him, sure this year would mean we had O.W.L.S, but we also had to have some form of fun, getting too stressed is never good for one's health.

"Percy, don't be such a bore." one of the twins groaned, even though they wouldn't have the stress of bloody exams this year, they still knew that work wasn't everything. To their comment, Percy crossed his arms and shook his head, he was about to reply before Willow came to his defence.

"Sure work can be boring, but without it how will you expect to survive school?" Willow asked, as she turned a page in her book that had just materialised in her hand.

"Spoken like a true, Ravenclaw." the twins mused, before chuckling, they were lucky that Willow didn't chuck her book at them. Sure she was quite the brain box however even she knew how to party.

At precisely eleven o'clock the train left the station and began it trek to Hogsmeade station and at precisely eleven o'clock Cedric and Caris bid farewell to the crew to go seek out their friends. Even though we are quite good friends with the couple, they are both several years below us…though there is nothing wrong with that…and they are in Hufflepuff…there isn't anything wrong with that either, it just means that they have other friends they want to greet and meet…thinking about it we wouldn't see them for most of the year now as they prefer to go to Hogsmeade without the rest of us, they sit at their own house table, unlike Willow who liked to join us most of the time, and of course they weren't in any of our classes. Willow on the other hand was in our year and even though she was part of Ravenclaw house she mainly hanged around with us, though if she wasn't she'd more than likely be with Stretton and his friends, including Roger Davies the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. When Willow first began hanging out with us…well it was eventful to say the least…

~Flashback~

It was the start of our 3rd year in Hogwarts, Oliver had become the keeper for the Quidditch team, I was still a chaser in the reserve team after joining in the 2nd year, and our new friend Angelina had joined this year as she was in her second year now, as well as Percy's devious brothers Fred and George. Unfortunately Oliver's new position on the Quidditch team caused a rivalry that would probably last his entire school life, if not carried to the grave, with Marcus Flint, a 4th year Slytherin who happened to be a chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Now why would a 4th year have a rivalry with a 3rd year, in my mind it was very bizarre…I don't think the Wood and Flint families had any particular rivalry between them…and then it was the fact that sure we were in houses that absolutely hated each other, but why would a 4th year decide that his rival would be someone younger than himself. The reasons that came into my head of course could not have been the reasons that Flint had picked Ollie out to be a rival…well I wouldn't exactly call it picking more like…well I don't exactly know the word…anyway, the reasons my mind seemed to think of were:

1. Oliver was the Gryffindor team.

2. He was a keeper, the natural enemy of the chaser.

3. He was better academically.

4. Oliver was much better looking than Flint.

Well, three out of four were probably close to the actual truth behind the reason the two of them became enemies, even though they had no classes what so ever with each other, and the only place they would interact if at all was on the pitch during a match. But whatever the reason, Oliver began to hate him more and more every day, whenever he would see him, I would always see a scowl find its way onto his features, I actually hated the feeling that sooner or later it would come to blows…and possibly get Oliver kicked off the team, or worse expelled.

It was round the time of the first match of the season, Oliver's first game to be precise. While Percy, Angie and I were travelling down to the pitch, Oliver, Charlie Weasley and the rest of the team had already headed out for their pre-match warm up, and the twins had yet to be seen by us, we bumped into a third year Ravenclaw. She had long flowing black hair…I couldn't place the name though, I'd seen her a few times around the school, however I'd never talked to her in all the three years we had been attending. Unfortunately for the Ravenclaw girl, some third year Slytherins, had decided to target her, being alone and someone they believed wouldn't fight back. I recognised one of the Slytherins as Graham Montague, a particularly nasty Slytherin who liked to pick on anyone, when they were not with their friends, or if they had no friends. I looked over at Percy who had also realised what the intentions of the Slytherins were, though he didn't seem too keen to intervene and to be honest I could see why he was apprehensive, there were always consequences when trying to help those who were being picked on by people like Montague…though I couldn't just stand by and watch as this girl was tormented.

"Oh! Look a sad lonely little Ravenclaw," one of them cooed as they circled the poor girl, I shook my head as I began walking over to them; Percy tried to stop me several times.

"Not hanging out with your study buddies?" Montague sneered; they then began to push her round as she tried to get away from them, though she didn't seem the type to resort to violence.

"Hey!" I yelled, grabbing their attentions, thank the lord they were not fourth years or above…even I wouldn't mess with them…then again in the heat of the moment I just might. "Leave her alone!"

"Seems the Ravenclaw has herself a wimpy Gryffindor friend." another cackled as he pushed the girl to the floor. All their attention was directed at me now; even the girl looked speechless at my appearance, right now what to do? I really should have thought ahead.

"What are you going to do? Eh Gryffindor" Montague sneered, pushing my shoulder so I slightly stumbled backwards, the gang of them began cackling hysterically. That cackling was always annoying, it could be heard throughout the day in the castle whenever there was someone being picked on and humiliated.

"You know it's really cowardly to pick on others." I stated, I tried to keep my eyes as steely as possible to try and not show any sign of nervousness or cowardice. "Do you know what they say about bullies? They're small and terrified children deep down inside." Should I have said that? God what was I getting myself into? It's not the time to think negatively! I've said what I've said let's see if these gits can take it. Oh and then my mind goes and tells my body to push Montague as hard as I could…shit…

"How dare you!" Montague screeched as he regained his stance after I basically pushed him to the ground…oh holy hell, I was in it now…without someone like Charlie that could get me out of this scrappy situation…but there was no backing down now…

"What? Not so tough now?" I asked, gaining confidence since I could see I was actually pissing this guy off and the fact that the Ravenclaw girl had joined me by my side along with Percy and Angie. Montague looked rather taken aback, obviously no one he'd picked on so far had decided to fight back against him, today wasn't his day. And it was about to get worse as I saw the distinct red hair of Charlie Weasley walking over towards us, although he was a few years ahead of us, he was a good friend of ours and of course he was Percy's older brother.

"Hey, you lot alright there?" he called as he approached the little group. Montague's friends ran off, obviously afraid of an older Gryffindor who would of course have something to say about them picking on a group of his friends. Montague glared at us all, before he also joined his friends as they ran down to the Quidditch pitch.

"We're alright thanks, Charlie." Percy replied a smirk plastered itself onto Charlie's face.

"Seems we've got a little fiery girl in the ranks." Charlie stated cheekily as he clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Great work scaring those slimy snakes; though as your Quidditch captain I have to disapprove…only if you're caught picking fights that is." He began laughing as he bid us farewell as he raced down to the pitch, Percy was shaking his head repeatedly, and I could see him making Prefect and even Head Boy someday. I'd almost forgotten the Ravenclaw, as Angie and Percy applauded my bravery for sticking up for someone I basically didn't know, we began walking down to the pitch before she stopped us.

"Erm…thanks…you know for helping me out, just one question…" the girl thanked, as she stopped me by pulling on the sleeve of my robes.

"Shoot." I said, smiling at the girl. She looked quite nervous…then I again if I was in her shoes I would also be nervous too.

"Why would you help me? You don't even know who I am…" she asked, I knew that was going to pop up, I'm not even entirely sure what came over me to stick up for her…maybe it was the fact I couldn't face just watching someone be picked on and not do anything about it…or maybe it was just that they were pissing me off by thinking they could get away with picking on someone…

"Well…even though I don't know you, I couldn't' sit round and do nothing, you know," I replied, she nodded, "And well I'm a Gryffindor we're supposed to be brave…name's Hannah, Hannah Stockley."

"Willow Martins, and thanks again all three of you." she said, as we all began walking down to the pitch. Percy and Angie smiled at her, although they hadn't done a lot of the leg work, numbers always frightened bullies.

"I'm Percy and this is Angelina." Percy introduced, only to be hit lightly on the back of the head by Angie, she always liked to introduce herself and well she hated people introducing her as Angelina.

"You can call me Angie though." she stated, before Percy apologised for introducing her wrongly. We continued walking down to the pitch talking about idle things like classes and what we liked to do in the holidays etcetera. Once we arrived at the stands, Willow went on her way to the Ravenclaw stands.

"Oh Willow!" I shouted, stopping her in her tracks. "It's Gryffindor's day to day!" she laughed before returning to find her place, she would surely be cheering for the lions after all we were playing against the snakes of Slytherin…what a great game for Ollie's first. However within the first two minutes of the game, a bludger hit Oliver in the head which caused him to black out and fall to the floor, in the end we won thanks to Charlie's skills as a seeker.

~End of Flashback~

I hadn't realised that I had fallen asleep, until Oliver pushed me into the cold window that was also very hard…since glass as I remember has always been a hard surface that generally is cold. I woke with a start and began flailing my arms…thank god the twins had disappeared, probably to find their friend Lee Jordan, during his first year he'd made quite a storm when he began commentating for the Quidditch matches…and boy was he funny, he was probably the most biased commentator, and because of that Professor McGonagall had to reprimand him constantly and of course the way he described all the players was hilarious…especially when it came to Flint's teeth…Eugh thinking about his teeth makes my skin crawl. Anyway thank the lord the twins were nowhere in sight as I am completely sure they would have made some sort of quip or joke or possibly even copied my extremely strange flailing. Angie had also disappeared, she'd possibly gone to find Katie and Alicia…I wasn't exactly the best of friends with Katie and Alicia, though we would go to Hogsmeade to find something to wear if we needed or just simply wanted it, we'd help each other out when it came to studying and dealing with Quidditch practise and of course there was always dating advice, typical girly chitter-chatter too…a welcome break to Oliver continuously talking about Quidditch and if it wasn't Quidditch it was another magical sport…the boy was obsessed…

"Alright there Hannah?" Oliver asked as he tried to refrain himself from laughing his Scottish arse off at me and my weird movements. Willow used her Doctor Who annual to hide the fact that she was also chuckling, Percy the final member of the compartment at that moment had taken to coughing to hide that he was indeed laughing as well.

"Yeah, if you hadn't have woken me up." I replied, pulling my legs up onto the seat so I could cross them and at the same time I pushed Oliver though it wasn't a successful attempt, he was so stubborn that he wouldn't move an inch…damn him! He began chuckling as I crossed my arms in a fake huff blowing my fringe up so that it would look as though I was having a child's tantrum. Everyone began laughing; it was such a nice feeling to have a laugh with my friends, though that soon ended when the absolute jackass aka Marcus Flint opened the compartment door, the laughing ceased and a glaring match ensued between Oliver and Flint. Willow always tried to avoid conflicts when it came to Flint and Oliver, it never really ended well…if there was no prefects or teachers…at least Percy was here, he's a prefect…Willow put her book up once more to act as though she wasn't there, Percy and I shared a look, we knew one of us was going to have to restrain Oliver and the other would have to make sure Flint left…I'd rather go with restraining Oliver…

"Well, seems I've stumbled on the compartment of the losers." Flint sneered, his teeth sticking out of his mouth like a beaver…a very weird looking beaver…Oliver's fists instantly clenched and my right arm grasped his elbow. He looked down at me his anger present in those lovely chocolate eyes, it was times like this that I was sure I'd never want to get on the wrong side of Oliver Wood…

"What the fuck do you want Flint?" Oliver ground out through clenched teeth, Flint smirked I swear he takes so sick form of pleasure at seeing people riled up…especially Oliver…thinking about it made my skin crawl once more…I'm sure that if he wasn't such a dick and that he didn't wind people up consecutively, he'd be an alright bloke…the teeth would still creep me out and he'd have to drop the 'Oh I'm the best' attitude, but I seriously doubt that he'd ever change in a billion years.

"Oh, just coming to see how the losers of the school are doing. So how was your summer Wood? Spend it with your god awful Quidditch team?" he jeered in reply, the nerve of this guy, every goddamn year since Ollie joined the team, he'd continuously try to peeve Oliver off…though it always generally worked and on several occasions a fight would break out between the two. And this was one of the times I was sure that Oliver was about to punch to Flint square in the face, he'd shaken off my grip on his arm and stood up. I looked over to Percy for help; he also stood up and shared hushed words with Oliver. I stood up and held onto the back of Oliver's shirt, though I was sure he'd easily shake me off…

"You can talk about me, it's all bull anyway, but don't you dare chat shit about my team and my friends!" Oliver roared as he began moving towards Flint, I began to pull him backwards though he easily pulled me forwards instead…thank god Percy intervened before things got hairy.

"Flint, I suggest you leave immediately, or once we arrive at Hogwarts there will be consequences, including your status on the Quidditch team." he reprimanded, Oliver stopped moving forwards as he watched Percy stand slightly in front of him. Flint seemed to contemplate what Percy had said, his eyes darkened and he seemed to grow angrier…something told me Percy wouldn't want to end up on his own anywhere near Flint…

"Fine, better watch your backs." he growled giving us all a deathly glare; he exited the compartment probably to find his goons. I sighed in relief, at least none of us were harmed by his 'visit', and I unclenched my hands from Oliver's shirt and sat back down. Percy put a hand on his friend's shoulder as he tried to calm him down, Oliver's hands kept clenching his hands.

"Oliver, calm down." I said in a calming tone, I hated seeing him riled up…he looked down at me his eyes were still ablaze with fury, he huffed once more before he closed his eyes and took his seat once more. He put his head in his hands and then raked them through his hair; he then leaned back on the seat. "Don't let him get to you."

"Aye, easier said than done though," he muttered, Willow had put her annual away and had come back into the room or rather compartment, since we had become friends she hated conflicts between any of us and the Slytherins or any other house…but it was generally Slytherins.

"He's always such a git." she stated, as she moved to stretch her legs. "I'm going to go see Jeremy, I'll see you soon." she opened the door and left the compartment, leaving the three of us alone…god I hope no one else tries to start a fight, that's all I need to start the new year off…Percy also began moving, must be his time to take on some prefect duties.

"We'll be arriving in another three hours that means I have prefect duties I must attend to. I'll see you two later, and try not to start a ruckus." Percy said as he left the compartment, I shook my head even if we were both in his house he'd take points of us for minor things…especially if the twins were involved, I always knew he'd become a prefect.

"Well, it's just you and I. Sorry 'bout before," Oliver said as he rested his feet on the empty bench, I shook my head. It wasn't his fault, it was Flint's if he didn't come purposely to rile Oliver up, and then Oliver wouldn't have got extremely angry.

"No worries, it's always that git's fault!" I said as I leant back into the corner of the compartment, Oliver nodded in agreement.

"Still, I know you don't like to see me get angry." he stated, as he began poking me in the arm. We began laughing as an all-out poke war ensued, but soon we got bored of trying to poke each other repeatedly. About an hour before the train was supposed to stop at Hogsmeade station, and after we'd gotten changed into our robes, Oliver's roommate and a friend of the gang opened the compartment door.

"Hi Aaron." I greeted as he took the seat opposite myself. Aaron was one of Oliver's best male friends, I never really knew if Aaron was his best mate or whether it was Percy. Aaron wasn't always extremely the nicest person you could meet…you definitely wouldn't want to anger him in anyway, a lot of the time unfortunately Oliver and him would argue over Quidditch or other minor things. And one year in particular was nasty…but that was another story for another day, zoning out while there was a possibility of a fight was never a good thing…

"Ready for a new year?" he asked, I nodded before Oliver began his tangent on how well his Quidditch plans were going and how we would be able to win the cup this year, however Aaron being Aaron pointed out the flaw, no seeker no cup. This sent Oliver into quite the depressed mood, another mood I never really wanted to see him in. I decided it would be better to change the conversation to something lighter than the possibility of us losing once more, and the bloody Slytherin team laughing in our faces another year.

"So how was your summer?" I asked, turning Aaron's attention from Oliver to me, though the smirk on his face told me I had asked the wrong question and I really didn't want to know what the hell went on with Aaron in the summer.

"Glad you asked babe." he started, god I hate it went he calls me babe…I find it, really derogative and actually coming from him it sounds quite creepy. But anyway he continued his explanation, and it was not something I wanted to hear really, but basically in a nutshell he'd been sleeping around…even Oliver wasn't exactly happy to hear what his mate had been doing, well he didn't seem to me like he liked hearing about it anyway. But his chatter had passed a whole hour away and we had finally arrived back at Hogsmeade and soon we would be at our home away from home.

"Right, well I'll see you later mate," Oliver said, as he helped me up off of the seat and guided me towards the door. Aaron simply nodded in reply, before he also ventured out into the corridor of the train. Oliver continued guiding me off the train and out of ear shot of Aaron. "Thank the lord."

"Let's find the others," I said giggling slightly at his remark, we began walking towards the carriages where the rest of our group were hanging about. I smiled as I looked between them and the castle. "Glad to be back."