<𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫>

Analyn Cruz never liked using the term perfect, but her friends always joked about how her life was nothing short of it. With her extremely good grades, amazing friends, caring family and her overall cheerfulness, it certainly seemed like she had a perfect life.

Of course, there were moments in Analyn's life when her existence felt straight out of a nightmare. Those only came once in a while. Instead of perfect, Analyn described her life as lucky. For example, her best friends Fred and George Weasley's family was extremely poor. That didn't stop the Weasley's from being very welcoming and kind, and they loved all seven of their kids. Her other best friend, Madeline Granger, was muggle born along with her younger sister Hermione. She had to endure endless taunts from the Slytherins about her blood, thought Madeline and Hermione were as stellar witches as they came. 

And compared to Harry Potter, the who boy lived, who's parents were killed when Harry was only one, and he became an orphan. At eleven, he came to Hogwarts, and since then, he had faced You-Know-Who three times. Just two months before, Harry had dueled You-Know-Who, and told everyone in the Wizarding World that Voldemort had come back. Very few people believed him, and now everyone was giving him weird looks. Analyn was one of the few people who did believe him. 

Analyn dwelled on all of this while riding in the carriages that took all the second years and above to the magnificent castle. Analyn, Madeline, Fred and George were now in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. 

Analyn was seated next to Fred on one side of the carriage, and Madeline was sitting next to George on the opposite side. However, Madeline was turned around and was facing the carriage behind them, which housed her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, and his best friend, Leo Moore along with a few other seventh year Hufflepuff boys. 

Fred and George were Gryffindors, whereas Analyn and Madeline were true Hufflepuffs at heart. 

"Maddie, would you please stop craning your neck?" George whined. "It's annoying me." 

"And may I ask why it's annoying you?" Maddie said, twirling her head around. 

"Because." George said. "It's what you're looking at. " 

Analyn laughed. It was common knowledge and Fred and George didn't really like Cedric Diggory. 

"How's Isla?" Fred asked Analyn, referring to Analyn's soon to be sixteen year old sister. Isla was in Hermione's year. 

"She's good." Analyn replied. "All summer she was repeating fantasy story ideas that she claimed she had to write immediately." 

"Did she write any of them?" Maddie asked, actually sitting with her head straight. 

"Obviously, she's so impatient." Analyn said. "She got it all down on paper." 

"Look, we're approaching Hogwarts!" George exclaimed, pointing forwards. Analyn and Fred had to turn around to look. Analyn stood up to peek above the trees, as she was extremely short, and George took this time to look at the carriage in front of them that was carrying the girl he liked, Catalina Cohen, another seventh year Hufflepuff. 

"Hey, George distracted us!" Fred snitched. "He got you to stand up so that he could look at Catalina!" 

Analyn snickered, and Maddie started laughing. George blushed. "I was not looking at Catalina.." He protested. "I was really pointing out the castle." 

"Sure, sure, lover boy." Maddie said, tapping him on the shoulder. "Don't be ashamed to admit your feelings." 

"Oh yeah?" George shot back. "Who was the one who waited like, five months before she admitted to us that she had feelings for someone?" 

Maddie narrowed her eyes at George. Analyn shifted uncomfortably. They didn't know that she was currently hiding her feelings for someone. 

                                          ━─━────༺༻────━─━

Analyn, Maddie, and Catalina Cohen all shared a room together. All while Catalina was telling them about her summer, Maddie was biting her bottom lip and Analyn knew that she was trying to not burst out George's secret. 

"What about you, Analyn?" Catalina asked after she finished. "What?!" Analyn exclaimed. 

Catalina raised her eyebrow. "Uh, I was asking you about your summer-" 

'Oh, yeah, right!" Analyn said hastily. Analyn was too caught up in thinking of someone, that she didn't even catch what Catalina said. "I visited my cousins ​​and the place where my dad was born in the Philippines, that's all." 

"That's it?" Maddie said, her eyes wide. She leaned forward against her bed. "That sounds amazing!!" 

"What did you do?" Catalina asked Maddie. Maddie sighed. "Hermione stayed with her friend Ron at some secret location, whereas I was stuck at home with Mum and Dad." 

"She's lying." Analyn said immediately. "She went along as well." 

"Snitch!" Maddie stuck her tongue out at Analyn, and Catalina laughed. "Fine, I'll tell you what I really did." Maddie said. "I stayed with the Weasleys at the secret location, then went a visited Cedric a bit." 

Analyn was vaguely listening. Truth was, her stay at the Philippines certainly opened her eyes a bit. First, life there was way warmer and beachy than in England. Visiting the city where her father was born suddenly changed him. He became more distant from the family than he usually was, and was heard shouting in his office multiple times to nobody in particular.

He had even stopped taking his health boosters. 

 Analyn's parents were big on health. With every meal, they added a special health drink to their water, and it boosted their immune system. Tala Cruz, Analyn's mother, was a Filipino pure-blood witch, and Alon Cruz was a Filipino half- blood wizard. They moved from the Philippines to Britain a year before Analyn was born. 

Analyn's mother had become ever so protective of Analyn and Isla since their vacation, making sure they never left the house in the evening, and making them eat healthy food 24/7. She was even hesitant to let them go to Hogwarts for some reason.

"Did you see that stupid looking woman who's apparently our new DADA teacher?" Catalina said in a hushed voice. 

"Oh yeah." Maddie said, her eyes rolling. "She looks like a toad who raided a Barbie dollhouse or something." 

"What's a Barbie?" Analyn and Catalina asked together, and Maddie replied, "An American muggle doll that wears pink." 

"Oh, I get it." Catalina didn't get it. "Did you understand a word of her throne speech? I sure didn't." 

"Basically, the Ministry of Magic is trying to infere at Hogwarts," Analyn and Maddie said simultaneously. 

Catalina gaped at them. "How did you understand?" 

Analyn and Maddie just shrugged. 

                                  ━─━────༺༻────━─━

The seventh year Hufflepuff's started off their first day of classes with the nice Herbology. The seventh year Gryffindor's were also sharing their class with them, as they had done for the past six years of schooling. 

Professor Sprout decided to pair them up into partners. Analyn was paired with Angelina Johnson from Gryffindor, Maddie was paired with Fred, and the four of them watched as George was paired with Cedric Diggory. Analyn and Maddie were having a hard time cleanly snapping off the Lily flowers of their Asphodel plant while trying not to laugh as George was clearly annoyed.

"No, no!" George exclaimed, frustrated. "I said- no, wait, that goes- no, stop!" 

Fred was downright laughing, and luckily Professor Sprout was too busy trying to help a Gryffindor student get a pair of Shears out of their hair. 

Analyn and Angelina managed to get multiple stems of Lilies, and Professor Sprout was very impressed. "I will hand these over to Professor Snape, now," She said. Her face fell. "He's been bugging me for ages just to snap them off myself," 

Analyn waved goodbye to Angelina, and her, Maddie, Fred and George walked to their next class together. "You could have been nicer," Maddie said to George, who just rolled his eyes and said, "No, I couldn't. " 

Analyn could feel her heart beating exceptionally fast; she knew the reason, but nobody else did. 

As Analyn made her way to Defence Against the Dark Arts with Maddie, after waving goodbye to the twins, a few thoughts swirling through her head. 

They stopped in front of the door. Analyn pushed it open, and the DADA classroom formed in front of their eyes. She smiled to herself, eager to learn and see how the Ministry wanted Hogwarts students to learn. 

She didn't know the mess she was about to be in. 

Hey guys! I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter of this book, it was so much fun to write!! I keep leaving my audiences on a cliffhanger for all my books, lol it's kinda fun. I used some OC's from my other book, Roses, it's just one OC, Maddie Granger, so you can check that book out to learn more about her!! Thanks so much for giving this book a chance!! 

This chapter is dedicated to  Audrey!

-Isa :)