The days pass quickly until we finally make it back to Hogwarts. Draco and I had met a few times after I broke up with him. We were still very close and he had some mutual feelings too. Our friendship and our dating relationships were very similar anyway. It didn't really change much since we were never comfortable enough to do anything beyond kissing anyways. After a few weeks of our breakup, we were back to how we were before. We were like siblings. I couldn't even imagine kissing Draco or liking him as anything more than a brother without gagging. Thankfully he felt the same way. Or so he said.
I made it to the train with the twins. We were in a cart with Luna, George, Fred, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Lee, and Oliver. They were talking about quidditch as always. Oliver never seemed to stop talking about quidditch. After a while, Ginny decided to join us. The train car was getting very crowded so I left with Luna.
"Where are you going, Blue?" Oliver asked.
"Probably off to snog Malfoy," Fred teased.
"Oh shove off Fred," I go to leave.
"Well, where are you going then?" George raised a brow.
"To find Draco," I mutter knowing they'd take it the wrong way.
I didn't tell them Draco and I wasn't together yet. It didn't matter much to me. People could think we were still together if they wanted. I'm sure Draco would tell people though unless he wanted to ward off Pansy. Luna walked towards his compartment as I caught her up on my summer and she told me about hers.
"You do realize Potter likes you, right?" Luna muses.
"Well, yeah. I've been told by everyone but him. I think it's just a small crush though. It'll go away, we don't even know each other that well," I shrug the thought of Harry liking me away. Nothing would come from it anyways.
"There are quite a few people interested in you. I reckon you'll get a lot more people approaching you to date once word gets out," Luna says.
"Please, I didn't get much in the first place. Doubt that will change."
"Well, I don't know about that. No one asks out first years but you were the quite popular second year before Draco."
"...Oh Gosh you're right. Still, nothing is going to come from them."
"Unless..." Luna smiles.
"Oh knock it off," I laugh and hit Luna playfully.
We make it to Draco's compartment and find Pansy all over him. He looks laughably uncomfortable. I move Pansy off of him and sit next to him with Luna at my side.
"I was hoping you had missed the train," Parkinson said.
"I was hoping you had gotten run over by one Parkinson," I roll my eyes.
Blaise laughs and Parkinson glares at him. We talked about our summer. Draco and Luna always kind of got along. It was only because I was friends with both of them though. If I hadn't been I don't even want to imagine the things he'd call her.
The lights flicker. Then I feel a cold shock run through the air. I can't move, can't speak, I can barely breathe. It's as if my bones have frozen. That's when I realised we forgot to close the train compartment door. I do my best to break out of my trance. I manage to lunge towards the door but it's too late. A dementor. None of us knew the patronous charm. Draco and I planned to learn it this year when I established a dueling club. The dementor enters our cart and I feel sad. Extremely sad, I couldn't even imagine a moment of happiness. I was stunned and extremely close to the dementor. Everytime I had ever felt true sadness flashed before my eyes and then the truly horrible parts began. The parts that never happened but as they flashed in my mind it felt like they had. The blood runs cold as I see my friends recieving the dementors kiss.
They were on the Hogwarts Express. It looked like a vision, like it was happening now. I knew it couldn't be. There was no way dementors were allowed to just do these things but deep down I was scared and worried. What if my friends were facing a fate worse than death and I was just here.
The dementor leaves our cart and floats to the next. I need to learn the patronous charm.
"Lumos," I cast.
I look at Draco and Luna. Draco's shaken but I knew he was safe. Heck I'm shaken but it's fine, at least it was over. Luna looked like Luna. She always looked like she knew exactly what was going on. Like life was a riddle but it's fine because she wrote it.
I hug Draco and tell him to watch over Blaise. Pansy too if he had to, I guess. Luna and I rushed to the train compartment with all our friends.
We run towards the compartment and I see two redheads leaving the compartment.
"Ash! Thank Godric you're safe," Fred runs towards us.
I laugh in releif and run to give him a hug. I jump into his arms and he lifts me so I can nestle my head in the crook of is neck. I was on my tippy toes but I hugged the life out of him. I embraced him as though he would fly away if I didn't. As if the dementors would come back and take him. If he was safe, everyone was safe. If Fred was fine then the vision they showed me wasn't real. That's why I wasn't letting go.
"They showed me a vision, you, everyone got the dementors kiss," I say breathlessly as tears brimmed in my eyes.
Fred lowers me so I can look up at his face. He looks sad for me. I hug him again and nestle my head into his chest and cry. I really thought I had lost them. It was different from anything else. Fred just hugs and pats my head while saying that everything is fine. I believe him I really do but it was really just too much.
"I'm never going to leave you love. Not any time soon," Fred runs his fingers through my hair to try and soothe me, "you-know-who would have to kill me himself."
"I'm sure a death eater could get it done just fine. Sorry about your robes. Got tears all over them," I force a laugh through the tears.
"It's fine darling. It's all alright," Fred coos.
"You're gonna stay with me? I wanna stay like this for a while."
"Mmmmm not too long. I've got other pretty girls to comfort. You wouldn't want to deprive them of me would you?" Fred runs his fingers through my hair.
"I'm your favorite one," I bury my head in his chest more in case he could see my blush.
He hugs me tighter, "was it that obvious?" he says into my hair.
"You're top 3 for sure," Fred moves his hands around my back.
I rest my head against his chest. He smelled nice. He felt muscular under the jumper. I could hear his heart beating over the noise of the train. It was quick, I hoped mine was slower, I'm cooler than he is. I felt his hands along my back and couldn't help but shiver slightly. Maybe I liked him a little more than George.
We stay like that for a while as I feel my heart race calm down. I give him one last squeeze and break away from the hug. I have to check on the others. I knew they were safe and they didn't get the kiss but were they okay? I walk into the compartment. They all had a piece of chocolate. Harry explained that professor Lupin had found them.
"I'm teaching all of you the patronous charm. As soon as Dumbledore lets me do this dueling club thing. I won't stop till all of you can conjure it in your sleep. If even one of you so much as thinks about not listening to me I will teach you a healing charm, you'll need it after I beat you to a pulp," I order.
"Practically strangle my brother and then threaten to teach us a life saving charm," George laughs.
"Do you want a crash course on that healing charm, Georgie?" I raise and eyebrow but laugh.
I sit down on the floor by Luna, Ginny, and Harry. There were too many people in the compartment for all of us to fit on the seats.
The train arrived at Hogwarts and we got out. I always found the sorting boring. I didn't know any of the new first years anyways. I skip it and make it back by the feast. I sat at the Ravenclaw table with Luna. I had my own Ravenclaw friends but the twins, Luna, and Draco were my closest friends. I eat and catch up with what my Ravenclaw friends have been doing. They talked and we laughed but overall their summers could be summed up as studying. I hoped I wasn't as boring but, I definitely was. I didn't do much that was sure. We compared our class schedules. Luna and I had all of our classes together. I would check later to see if I had any classes with my other friends but for now I was beyond overjoyed. I even heard rumors that the defense against the dark arts teacher would be good this year.