Arlene doesn't remember how she made it back to her dorm, all she remembers is that she was supposed to meet Sage at the Hufflepuff common room to hear about her date, but after going back to Hogwarts, she just wanted to climb into a hole and die.

Just as everything was okay again, life found a way to drop a ton of bricks on her face. It didn't help when Blaise, giving her a worried look, handed her the list of people going home for Christmas and reminded her that she needed to pack.

Bast seemed to sense that she was not in a good mood and entered her basket without protest and she was not alone, Pansy didn't make her usual remarks, which was lucky since Arlene was pretty sure she would have snapped.

When she was finally dressed in muggle clothing, all her belongings were back in the trunk, a few Knuts were in her pocket and Bast was asleep in her basket, Arlene opened her drawers to make sure she didn't forget anything and found them.

The photo she had taken from her mother's box and the Polaroid Sage had found. And then it was all too much, she broke down crying.

It seemed that her mother was right, going to Hogsmeade was a bad idea, just not for the reasons she thought.

Did her mother know? Was that why she was so afraid of Sirius Black ever coming near them? Because he had taken the love of her life and planned to take her daughter as well? For the hundredth time, she felt horrible for being angry at her mother.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, tears wouldn't do anything, and she had a train to catch.

She closed the drawer, leaving the pictures inside it, grabbed her trunk and Bast's basket, then left her dorm.

The castle was silent, everyone, with the exception of a few students, was going back home.

She found Sage in the compartment they always sate in, but Arlene had forgotten about her friend's ability to know something was up.

"What's wrong?" She asked almost as soon she sate down.

"Am I really that transparent?"

"No, I'm that Hufflepuff, spill"

So she did, she told her everything that she had been keeping to herself since the beginning of the year, the voices, Hermione's time traveler, Lupin, the infiri, the conversation at the leaky cauldron

By the end of it, Sage looked speechless, had this been a normal scenario, Sage would have probably yelled at her for going to Hogsmeade, but this wasn't a normal scenario.

"Oh god," Sage declared as she threw herself on the seats "I am such a terrible friend."

The Slytherin girl frowned "What? No! I'm the one who's been keeping secrets from you since September."

Sage looked even more wrecked "And I didn't notice! I thought all this was about the Quidditch team and Hogsmeade and Hermione."

"It is about them," Arlene was quick to say "and also my psychopath uncle and flashbacks of my dead father induced by literal soul sucking monsters, but you know."

Before Sage could blame herself again, the doors of the compartment slide open.

Miles, Marcus and Jade stood at the door, the three already in their muggle outfits with Miles wearing jeans and his Varsity, Marcus wearing a Beatles t shit and Jade wearing a little green dress.

"Someone looks sad." Miles announced as he invited himself in and sate down next to Arlene.

Jade and Marcus followed his lead and sate down next to Sage "He means that you look like your grandmother died."

Miles frowned "She didn't die, did she?"

Arlene rolled her eyes "I don't have a grandmother," she told them "and I'm fine."

"Yeah, and I'm in love with Wood." Marcus replied sarcastically.

Miles jabbed a finger at him "Hey, that could easily be true."

"Yeah," Jade agreed "whenever you two shake hands before a game, the sexual tension is so thick, you could cut it with a knife."

Marcus gave her a look "You're my girlfriend."

"I also have eyes."

Arlene laughed, from the corner of her eyes, she could see Sage giving her a worried look, obviously wanting to continue their conversation.

But she decided to be a little bit selfish and keep her teammates around longer.

Soon, Hogwarts had disappeared and all what was visible was the fields of Scotland as the train made its way back to London. The Trolley Witch had passed by a while earlier so now they were playing a round of Bean Boozled challenge with Berty's every flavor beans, with the center of conversation changing from Flint's pseudocrush to Jade's homeland, America.

"What's the difference between America and a cup of yogurt?" Miles declared, looking around the compartment.

Jade, who was outnumbered and looked as if she wanted to kill herself, sighed "What?"

Miles grinned "If a cup of yogurt was left alone for two hundred years, it will develop a culture."

The compartment was filled with laughter for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

Arlene checked her watch "We're going to be in London at any moment," she announced "I'm going to go change.

"I really don't understand the point of it all," Sage sighed "without the robes, it looks like a normal school uniform."

Arlene chuckled as she fished around her bag and grabbed the first thing she saw "Well, you know, statue of secrecy and what not."

As she made her way to the bathroom, Arlene checked the clothes she had taken, a little skirt and a tank top, not bad.

The bathroom was full, it was a smart move for Jade and the others to change immediately upon entering the train as almost everyone was going home for the holiday.

Arlene sighed in despair, today was not her day.

When she returned to the compartment, Sage's 'we have to talk' look made her almost glade for all the time wasted at the bathroom. Almost.

Noticing Jade's coat on her seat, Arlene rolled her eye and balled the piece of clothing, then turned and threw it in the other girl's face.

Jade, being the perfect chaser that she is, caught it without hesitation "Somebody's having a bad day." She mused.

Arlene avoided her eyes and instead chose to focus on the little loose string at the hem of her black skirt "I'm fine." She mumbled.

She probably would have pressed further and she probably would have succeeded, if it weren't for Jane and a guy with a forest of dark hair, an infinite amount of freckles and a green Slytherin scarf around his neck.

Said guy opened the compartment door like he owned it and leaned on its side "Miles, Jade, Marcus."

Judging from Miles' 'this is gong to be fun' expression, the guy was a friend.

"We sneaked a few bottles of firewiskey." He declared, his annoying grin still plastered across his face.

Jade arched at eyebrow at Jane "Aren't you a prefect?"

The memory of the Potter Drinking Game surfaced, bringing a smirk to her face.

"Oh that hardly matters to Jane." Arlene, crossing her arms and leaning back on her seat, announced.

The girl's face turned a bright red as she realized that Arlene, one of the few that knew that the girl was involved in the Slytherin alcohol poisoning incident, was there.

Sage, who had her nose stuck in some muggle newspaper and seemed to be stuck in her own world, looked up "You should go, it sounds fun."

"Getting drunk on a train?" Marcus questioned.

"There are still four more hours, and nobody said anything about drunk, just a few rounds of 'Never Have I Ever'" The boy added.

Suddenly, Arlene realized why Sage wanted to get rid of the others.

She winced internally and mentally prepared herself as her teammates left.

"Why didn't you tell me about all of this?" Sage questioned as soon as the door closed behind them, discarding her newspaper.

Arlene flinched "I meant to! But there wasn't anytime, something would happen and I'd be like 'okay, I need to tell Sage' then something would happen that would discredit the thing before and I'd be like 'okay, no need to tell Sage' but then a third thing would happen that would discredit the thing that discredited the first thing and I'd-"

"I can't believe this," Sage cut off her rambling "you've been dealing with all of that and there I was worrying about the Hogwarts Weekly and Lee."

"How was the date? You never told me." Arlene interjected.

She gave her a look as if she was crazy "Arlene, this isn't what we're talking about."

Arlene crossed her legs and put her hair up in a ponytail, as if she was about t do a great task "Sage, I already told about it all, talking about it is the only thing we can do right now and it makes me more miserable. Let's just talk about meaningless things to pass the time."

Sage stared at her for a full minute before giving up.

"Fine," she sighed "it didn't go very well."

Arlene's eyes widened "Oh no, were you guys too different or-"

"No no, we had lots in common, we both wanted to work in media and we both liked a lot of the same things..." she trailed off, looking down at her thumbs

"But?" Arlene questioned.

"But it didn't feel different than talking to you, or the twins, or anyone in the castle, it felt like two friend hanging out rather than two people out on a date. But I like him, a lot, and he said that he likes me too, but there is no chemistry." Sage collapsed back in defeat and bit into a chocolate frog miserably.

The other girl frowned "So where are you two now?"

"We're just friends, like before, but it's a little awkward." Sage sighed again "I mean, I wanted this since the day I started doing the commentary with him, but now that I have it, I don't want it anymore."

Just then Sage did the unexpected, she started to cry.

That was the last thing Arlene was prepared for.

"I'm sorry," Sage wiped her eyes with the back of her hand "it's so stupid and-"

"No no no, hey." Arlene put a hand on her friend's shoulder "Listen, you're going to have a lot of crushes and broken hearts before you meet the one, just think of it as one broken heart closer to the love of your life."

Sage nodded and sobbed even harder as Arlene pulled her into a hug.

"W-were you quoting W-wizards of W-weaverly P-place?" She mumbled as they hugged.

"Shhh, don't ruin the moment."