"So."

"So?" Fred looked inquisitively at the girl in front of him.

"The beginning of the end."

"Seriously Summer, what are you on about?"

"It's the beginning of the last year of school! Honestly Fred, I used to think you were sharp."

"Well excuse me for not realising you were talking in bloody riddles."

Summer smiled her glowing smile, and leaned into Fred's side.

"It feels like a breath of fresh air to be going back to this place, but," she paused and directed her gaze at the vibrant hills rolling past them, "It's the first time going to school without Hayden being there too- feels weird." Fred stroked her hair gently.

"I'm here, and you can still write to him," he reassured her.

"I know, it just feels like the whole Kalen situation again..."

"Well it won't be, remember, you're all so strong, and I know he's going to get through it, the same way Kae did."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she relaxed her shoulders back to where they were before she brought up the subject, and they returned their attention to their friends who were having a more general conversation.

"Ooh they've finally decided to acknowledge us, good summer?" Alicia said, a smirk on her face.

"Yeah, after the whole Angelina thing, Lee told me that-" but she was cut off by the glass door slowly sliding open, and none other than said girl was standing there. Everyone fell silent, unsure of what to do or say. Her eyes swivelled around the carriage, until they fell on Summer and Fred, cosied up in the carriage corner.

"Hi guys," she started nervously, tapping her foot against the floor," I hope we can all forget about the little blip in summer and-"

"Little blip?" Fred straightened up and glared at Angelina. "You attacked Summer, and said a load more disgusting things."

"I think it's up to Summer if she forgives me, not you," she spat at him, and Lee put his head in his hands.

"I- I don't know." Summer had recoiled slightly at the sight of this girl, after having had several nightmares about her after the incident at her party.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Angelina crossed her arms.

"Ange, we all liked being friends with you, but now you're just acting, like, weird. Who knows what you're gonna do next if you could do that to Summer, and Fred," Alicia stood up and moved to stand over the other girl.

"That's such bullshit Alicia! It wasn't anything she didn't deserve, she just comes here and ruins everything, now she's kicking me out my own friendship group!" She looked to the rest for help, but they just stared solemnly at her.

"It's not Summer, it's you, come back when you can see that," Alicia almost hissed at her, and slammed the carriage door in her face. They heard a cry of irritation, then footsteps leading away from the door. Alicia breathed out loudly as she sat back down.

"Shit," she muttered, no one else spoke for a while after that, occasionally glancing over at Summer to see her reaction to all of this. She was just as glum faced as her friends, and Fred was whispering something in her ear, which appeared to have cheered her up, as she grinned widely, promoting the others to ask what was so funny.

"Fred repeated what he had said to the rest, and gradually, the bad feeling trickled away, and they were all talking excitedly again.

After their long journey to the castle, the group were finally sitting at the Gryffindor table, hoping that Dumbledore's announcements would be short, because they were starving.

"Who on earth is that?" Fred was pointing to a stout woman, who bore a lot of resemblance to a toad, Summer noticed. Ron and Hermione seemed to have had the same thought too, as she overheard Ron making a sort of choked ribbit, and Hermione attempting to stifle a laugh. The woman was dressed head to toe in pink, but not a subtle or soft pink, an unflattering, obnoxious, hot pink.

"Dolores Umbridge? Am I supposed to know who that is?" Ron said to Harry beside him. Summer almost felt like snapping her fingers in realisation.

"I thought I knew her, she works with my father at the ministry," Summer whispered to the twins, who nodded.

"Ours too, I think."

"Heard she's a real bitch, father used to talk about her at dinner sometimes, and you know she was only nice to him because he's a pure blood," Summer rolled her eyes, as did the twins. Dumbledore began speaking at that moment, and during his speech, she couldn't help but notice Fred and George's looks of disgust whenever they looked in the direction of Umbridge.

When dinner was over, and no student couldn't eat another bite, they received their timetables for the year.

"Ugh! I think this is the worst schedule I've had in all seven years!" Alicia exclaimed, shoving her piece of paper in Summer's face for her to see. Summer read over it and gave her a sympathetic look in return.

"Tell me about it," Lee moaned, "I've got triple Potions every Monday and Wednesday."

"Okay that's really bad," said George, who was looking over his own timetable.

"Bad enough that I'm seriously considering dropping out this year," Fred grumbled, "I have double charms almost everyday."

"I can confidently say, I'd rather die," Katie laughed from across the table.

"Yeah well you'll get your fair share next year," Alicia taunted back.

"What's yours looking like?" Fred peered over Summer's shoulder and rested his chin there for a moment.

"What! Yours is the worst of them all, and you haven't even complained yet? I'm impressed."

"Just give it a couple weeks," said Summer, "I'm sure that'll be enough to wear me down." Fred raised his eyebrows at her.

"Why's Summer's the worst?" Alicia asked.

"Because she has no free periods," Fred studied hers closely and saw her furrow her brow over her piece of parchment.

"Jesus Summer, how many classes are you taking?"

"Same as last year! Seven."

"But I'm only doing five to be an auror," Alicia said, recounting her subjects in her head.

"I just want to keep my options open, that's all."

"Well props to you, I couldn't do it, especially at NEWTS year," Katie patted Summer on the shoulder.

"Alright, I better go, I hear that Umbridge woman is really strict, I don't wanna be late. Do any of you have her too?"

"Yeah, we're all in the same class Alicia," Fred stood up and took Summer's hand, with George and Alicia taking the lead.

When they arrived, they took their usual seats, and faced the pink clad woman standing extremely upright by the chalkboard. Upon seeing the twins, she immediately indicated for them to stand. They did, looking confused that they had been singled out on their first lesson with this woman.

"Names?"

"Fred Weasley."

"George Weasley."

"Ah, I thought so. I've heard a lot about you two. The pair of you reek of trouble, and I want you to know that I will not stand for any misbehaviour in my classroom." The twins gave each other a humorous look, with Fred looking as if he would burst into laughter any second.

"Well if you think it's so funny, one of you can move your things to a desk at the other side of the classroom. Go on." Fred rolled his eyes and George reluctantly packed up his stuff to a desk in the far corner of the room, after glancing between his brother and Summer.

"Thank you," Fred mouthed to him, and placed a hand on Summer's thigh. However Summer quickly batted it away, giving her boyfriend a warning look and indicating in Umbridge's direction. "Right, sorry." He whispered to her, and they focused their attention back on the babbling of the teacher who had quickly become their least favourite.

The lesson seemed as though it was already off to a rocky start, when Umbridge said something that confused every single person in the room.

"Put your wands away, there is no need for them in this classroom, we will be doing book work only, I don't even want to think about what rubbish your other professors had you doing," she visibly turned up her nose as she said this, and Summer clenched her jaw.

"But don't we need to learn in a practical way? I mean after what happened last year?" A student from the front row inquired after putting his arm back down.

"What happened last year, was a terrible accident, there was no foul play involved, simple as that."

"Shouldn't we still be prepared?"

"Prepared for what? Who would possibly want to  hurt innocent children such as yourselves?"

"Y-You-Know-Who, if he really has, you know, returned."

"Nonsense! I will not have these rumours spread in my class!" The girl at the front let out a small whimper after being yelled at, and cowered over her desk. Summer let out a deep breath, but it didn't work, she couldn't keep quiet another second, no matter how hard Fred was letting her squeeze his hand.

"Well who killed Cedric then, hm?" Summer shouted over the chatter. Umbridge looked to her, a mixture of shock and disbelief on her face.

"How dare you shout at me like that! As I previously said, that was a tragic accident."

"Bullshit! He wasn't dumb, and he certainly didn't die of his own accord, and you know it."  Umbridge looked so taken aback that she seemed at a loss for words for a moment.

"That's it! Detention for a week!"

Summer opened her mouth to speak.

"Want to make it two weeks? I can promise I do not go lightly on students in my detentions."

Summer closed her mouth- using all the willpower she had in her to stay quiet, and slumped back down into her chair, resting her head in her hands. Fred caught her eye and tightened his lips at her.

...

Summer didn't know whether to include today's events in her letter to Hayden that evening. It was probably a good thing that he didn't know what certain people were saying about Cedric, and definitely wouldn't help him feel better. Finally, she decided to leave it out, and instead wrote about her schedule, and other boring stuff. After reading it through however, it was concluded that more would have to be added after at least a week, when something worth writing about had hopefully happened. Fred was sitting next to her, finishing up a letter of his own.

"Fred?"

"Mhm?" He moved his head in her direction, but kept his eyes glued to the parchment- simultaneously fiddling with his pen.

"Do you think people really believe that Cedric's death was an accident?" Fred put his pen down immediately, and now his eyes moved to meet hers.

"They're just scared Sum, fear makes people ignore facts to be in denial."

"I guess. It's just terrible that the only way they'd find out the truth is if You-Know-Who makes his 'official' return, and by then, it'll be too late for all of us."

"Come on, that's a little dark don't you think."

"Not really, just realistic, the last wizarding war killed so many people, I mean society still never fully recovered." Fred nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, you're right. But this time it's different, this time we know he can be stopped."

"How? Because of Harry?"

"Yeah, I mean if a baby had some crazy power to kill his body, then I'm sure him grown-up can do something." He picked up his pen again and held it against his mouth, and Summer nodded absentmindedly, meanwhile going deep into thought.

School had been back in session for a few weeks, when Summer and the twins found themselves in a crowded room above the hogs head inn. It was rather cramped, and everyone there seemed to be eagerly waiting for whatwver this was to begin. Excitable sounding chatters ran off the walls, and most people were fiddling with something or bouncing their legs up and down.

Harry shakily began his introduction to why they were all here. It appeared that most students were there to find out about the night of the Triwizard tournament it seemed, and Harry appeared to become agitated the more questions were asked.

"Yes. I saw him with my own eyes."

"It's true," Summer said, "I've learned some... things over the holidays that point to Harry telling the truth."

"Thanks Summer," said Harry, before reiterating his point about fighting back, however still, some kids were doubtful.

"Wait... Is it true that you can conjure a patronus? And that you fought a basilisk in your second year?"

"And the dementors in your third?"

"Well, yes. But facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school, if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow, but out there, when you're a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes, you don't know what that's like."

Everyone sat in silence, it was clear that every person in the room was thinking about Cedric, and a tear spilled from Summer's eye. It was all too much, hearing about his death from the last person to see him alive. Fred wrapped an arm around her, and she buried her head into his puffer jacket- blocking out everything else as she cried. The meeting went on a bit longer, as he rubbed circles in Summer's back, and eventually her cries subdued into sniffles, when the signup sheet was being placed on the table. Fred took Summer's hand, and together with George- who ruffled her hair when he saw her blotchy face- they stood in line. Fred hastily scribbled his name onto the paper, as did Summer, and soon they moved out of the way and back into the crisp air of Hogsmeade.