5th Year, Hogwarts Express
Annabelle's POV

The door to the carriage slid open and a girl with blonde hair peered in nervously.
"Hi, is this compartment full? It's just there aren't any others..."
"No, it's fine, of course," I smiled.
Her face was lit with relief. "Thanks."
Marina glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow in surprise as she recognised the girl.
"Hold on a minute....Brooke Windsor? In our compartment? To what do we owe the honour?" she asked sarcastically.
Brooke blushed. "I just wanted some peace and quiet," she mumbled, turning to leave.
"Wait - stop," sighed Kai. "Sit down, it's okay. So, what are you doing over Christmas?"
She gave Kai a shy smile and sat down gingerly next to me.
"Not much. Studying, mainly."
My eyes widened. "For what? Wait, do we have exams after Christmas?"
Kai groaned. "We better not. I'm past the point of caring."
"Oh, no," she replied, "I just...do extra stuff during the holidays. You know."
Marina scoffed, shaking her head. "Honey, I'll never understand you."
I could feel Brooke's gaze on me as I reopened my notebook. I blushed. I'd just done a couple basic sketches of Big Ben - none of them looked completely right and they were just messy doodles anyway.
"Wow," she breathed. "Where is that? It's beautiful."
I smiled to myself. "It's Big Ben."
"What's that?"
I blinked. "Big Ben? In London?"
Her cheeks burned crimson. "Oh, right, yeah. I knew that."
I shook my head, smiling, and took out my phone. Scrolling through my camera roll, I found the perfect photo of the tower. "Here." I showed her.
Her eyes widened as she saw the beautiful bell tower. I watched her carefully, my smile growing wider as I saw her fall in love with London, just as I had years before.
She looked up at me. "It's gorgeous," she whispered, wonder painted on her face. She stared at me, her eyes huge and searching, before she quickly looked away, biting her lip.
I started flicking through the other photos I had of London.
"This is St Paul's cathedral. It's next to the river."
"There's a river in London?"
"Yeah, the Thames."
"Wow. I've never been to London."
"What about Kings Cross?"
"Oh well yeah, but we always just disapparate home out of the station."
"Oh. This is Kew Gardens."
"That's so pretty, I really wanna go there."
"You should go."

A few hours later....

"And then I was like, are you serious? And he was like, yeah. So in the end I kinda punched him in the face."
"No way, really?"
"Yeah. Not, like, hard. But his nose did bleed."
"If I had done that I would have broken my hand."
"Nah, Brooke, you're strong. You're a strong independent woman who don't need no man."
"Ain't that the truth."

Marina leaned over. "Guys, we're literally like 5 minutes away, you need to pack up and get ready."
"Oops," I grinned. Brooke giggled, standing up and taking her case down from the shelf above our heads.
We packed away our stuff quickly. I took my phone from my back pocket. "Hey, what's your number?"
She blinked. "What?"
"Your number. Phone number. I was just thinking we could like keep in touch. But it's chill, if you don't want to."
She blushed. "Oh no, I'd love to, it's just I don't actually have a phone."
My mouth dropped open. "You don't have a phone?"
"My parents don't think I'm responsible enough to have one," she muttered. "Plus they hate Muggle devices."
"Oh," I replied, disappointed.
Her dejected face lit up in an instant. "But my father does have an owl! I can use that, as long as he doesn't notice."
I smiled. "Great."

5th Year, Hogwarts Express
Scorpius's POV

The screech of the train slowing down forced me awake, try as I might to slip back to the dream I was halfway through. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, smiling sleepily at Albus next to me. Yawning widely, I peered out of the window. We were approaching London - the towering trees and never ending fields had transformed into rows and rows of huge office blocks with graffitied concrete walls.
Just then all the air was knocked out of my stomach. I doubled over coughing, as Albus patted my back comfortingly while yelling at Annabel who I now noticed was lying on the seat opposite trying to stifle her laughter.
I glared at her. "What the hell was that?"
"Your case," she smirked, "I was just giving it to you."
I looked down to my battered suitcase lying on the floor. "Thanks," I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Are you okay?" asked Albus, concerned.
"I'm fine," I replied, scowling at Annabel.

The door slid open with a bang. Zac leaned in, grinning at us. "Come on, we're almost here!"
Naomi peered in, smiling at me and Albus before turning to Annabel. "Hey, have you seen my hairbrush? I think I left it in the Slytherin common room a couple of days ago."
"Oh yeah, I have it here," Annabel replied, rummaging through her case and pulling out a silver hairbrush.
I winced at the messiness of Annabel's case. How could she live like that? Her clothes were just piled up in an untidy heap, and all of her stuff was falling out the sides as she determinedly tried to force it shut. I shook my head in despair as she finally managed to wrench the clasps together, before noticing a pair of ripped jeans and a bottle of shampoo on the seat next to her. She groaned frustratedly.
Naomi giggled. "You could put some stuff in Zac's case. It's got loads of room."
"Does it?" Annabel asked incredulously. "How the hell-"
"I packed it for him," she smiled, winking at me. I smiled at her, gesturing to the siblings before rolling my eyes. She smirked, nodding.
"Fine," Annabel agreed reluctantly. "But you have to give them back before we get home. I need to pour half of the shampoo out so that Mum thinks I used it."
"Does she not know that we're given shampoo?"
"I have told her. Several times."
"She doesn't even check my case. Probably too scared of what she might find in there."
Naomi snorted. "I think we all are," she pointed out.

After the train had pulled into the platform I stepped on to the concrete and was immediately pulled into a hug from Albus. "I'll write," he whispered, before kissing my cheek lightly and then hurrying off to his parents. I smiled and started to search the platform for my own father. I spotted a flash of blond hair and pushed through the crowds to get to it.
I groaned as I got closer and realised that the tall blond man was not in fact my father. A slim blonde girl pushed past me and smiled at him. Ohhhh...so this was Brooke's father.
"Father, would it trouble you terribly if we just took a short look around London before returning home?" she asked nervously, tucking a strand of honey blonde hair behind her ear.
He frowned. "Why would you want to do that?"
She swallowed. "I just wanted to see the bell tower. You know, Big Ben."
"No, Brooke, we're going home. You have work to do."
She looked down as he took her hand and they disapparated with a sharp crack.
Just then I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see my father smiling at me.
"Hello, Scorpius. How was school?"
"Good," I replied. "Eventful."