"Bye Ames!" May waves at me as she steps into the nearest compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Her best friend Lacey Luca, who is the younger sister of Natalie Luca, a Hufflepuff in my year smiles at me before following after her.

I chuckle to myself as I make my way down the trains narrow hallway, looking in every compartment for Marlee. I soon find her at the back of the express. I sigh with relief when I find her, I was beginning to worry she didn't make it, as the train was leaving in just a few minutes.

"Marlee!" I shout dropping my bag. She jumps up off her seat in surprise.

"America!" She embraces me. "I'm so sorry, I hoped you would find me, but this was the last empty one so I had to take it."

I laugh as I settle in, putting my luggage up top and plopping myself down on the seat next to Marlee.

"So...how was your summer!" She asks enthusiastically. I may have mentioned a boy in a letter I sent recently.

Honestly it was no big deal, just a small crush, but Marlee seemed to think we already had our wedding planned! I laugh again before answering. "Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!" She squeals, bouncing up and down in her seat. I blush and look down at my lap, not wanting to bring up what I was going to tell her now. But Marlee is too good, "please," she says desperately, grabbing my arm. "Who is it?"

"Oh," I say, swatting her arm away, pretending to be mad. She gives me a pouty face which makes me laugh more, so I give up.

"It's that Slytherin boy," I tell her, "you know the one with dark hair and green eyes?"

"I knew it!" She shouts, loud enough for the whole train to hear.

"Marlee! Keep it down!"

She just waves me away, "tell me more!"

I hesitate, I hope she isn't to upset by the fact that I didn't actually talk to him. Even though I live in the same wizarding village as him, I've only ever waved to him, but never had a conversation. "Well...there isn't much to tell."

All the energy drains out of Marlees face, and she slumps over, "America!" She complains, "I was hoping for a true love story!"

"True love?"

Her eyes go all day-dreamy, "a sunset walk, holding hands, special first kiss..."

"First Kiss! Marlee!"

She just grins, "what? It's supposed to be romantic!"

She makes a silly face at me and then we both double over laughing.

"What are you girls giggling about?" A familler voice says, as the compartment door slides open again making Marlee and I go quite. We both turn to face our good friend Georgia. "Georgia!" I say in suprise, getting up to hug her.

"America has a boyfriend!" Marlee tells Georgia when she sits down.

"I do not!" I say, hitting her playfully on the arm.

Georgia smiles slyly, "it's not that Slytherin boy, right? Aspen?"

I gasp, "how did you know!"

"Well, everybody has a crush on him," she says matter of factly.

Marlee giggles, "everybody? Your going to have to work hard, America!"

"Marlee!" Georgia and I both scold her, but she shruggs, and turns back to Georgia.

Georgia is a sixth year in Gryffindor, and she has been close to Marlee and I ever since we arived at Hogwarts. She's kind of think the mom friend in our little circle, so it will be hard in a couple years when she's gone.

"What about you G?" Marlee urges, "how's Augustus?"

Georgia smiles at the mention of her boyfriend, "he's fine. We spent a lot of time together this summer."

"That's nice," I say, reaching into my bag to grab the Quibbler. I block out my friends conversation for a little while as I read.

Dangerous Wizard On The Lose
Recently, Gregory Illéa, a prisoner who has been in Azkaban for several decades, broke out of his jail cell. We are currently unable to identify why this wizard was able to resist the dementors and how he was able to escape Azkaban in the first place. His cell was found empty this morning, however there was no sign of destruction to the cell itself. We have reason to believe that Illéa used magic without his wand, and is very powerful. Please, if you-

I stop reading for a bit. The article goes on to talk about why he was in Azkaban to begin with. But I skip it because reading about crimes makes me nervous. Georgia must have noticed my worried expression because she places her hand on my knee. "Are you okay America?" She asks.

I nod, but show her the article. "Wow" she says a few minutes later, "magic without a wand?" She looks up at me again and begins to say something but we're interrupted by the trolly lady.
"Oh goody!" Marlee shouts, "I'm starved!"

The trolley lady glances my way, and looks slightly shocked to see me, "prefects are supposed to be at the front of the train," she says.

"I'm sorry?" I say, confused.

"Your a prefect!" Georgia hops up out of her seat, "I totally forgot about the prefect meeting!"

Shoot, I think, giving my friends an apologetic look and a quick goodbye as I hurriedly slip past the trolly lady and start half running down the hallway. I scold myself for letting myself forget about something so important. My thoughts distract me for the moment and without realizing it, I run into someone who is walking out of their compartment. I don't fall, but I slightly lose my balance, and a strong hand quickly grabs me by the arm to steady me. "Thanks," I breath before realizing who it is.

"No problem," the boy says, "your America right?"

I nod hesitantly.

He holds out his hand, which seems a bit formal to me, and says, "I'm Aspen."
I almost have the urge to say I know, but that would be rude and awkward so I just shake his hand which is almost more uncomfortable. "Nice to meet you." I say.

He smiles warmly, "Your a prefect too, right?" I nod. "Well so I'm I, were a little late so we should probably get going."

"Uh yeah," I say and start moving forward, but he leans back into is compartment an blocks the hallway.
"Come on," I hear him say. There's
some shuffling around and eventually he pops back out, but this time there is another girl behind him, and they're holding hands. My face falls, but I try not to let it show. Did you really think you stood a chance? A small voice asks in the back of my head.

The girl smirks and I immediately recognize her. "Celeste," I spit.

|Thank you everyone for reading the first chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it! Future chapters will be a bit longer, and since America and her friends are in 5th year, there will probably be 3 books/parts!|