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your mum will let you come back?" Saffron asked Olly on the last day of school, as they walked down to the Hogwarts Express. They had agreed to meet up the morning before the train was due to bring them back to Muggle London, then they could go back with the friends from their houses, as expected.

"I'm not sure, but if I know my mum as well as I think I do ... I don't think so," Olly said with a sigh, looking at her. He tried to make light of the situation. "At least I know you'd miss me,"

"Of course I would," admitted Saffron unabashedly. "It's like you said the other day, you're my only friend outside of Gryffindor, and well, my family too I guess," She frowned. "Maybe if you could explain to her that everything is normal in school again, that it won't happen again,"

"Oh, I'll try," Olly assured her, as they heard the pistons of the train arriving at the station in the distance. "I don't think normals going to be good enough for my mum, that's the thing. None of this is normal for her, I was lucky to even be allowed to go to school last year, after this, I can't see her letting me come back,"

"I wish I could do something to help," remarked Saffron sadly.

"You did a lot more than you know," Olly informed her. "Since you and your friends figured out what was going on, it stopped. I think that'll give me a chance, and I'll take a chance over no chance,"

Saffron shook her head. "They would have figured it out with or without us, but I know what you mean," She paused. "You know, maybe you could try and get one of your friend's parents to talk to her about it at the station. Maybe if they explained it to her, she'd understand why you have to come back,"

"I would do that," began Olly, which signalled to Saffron that there was no chance in this happening. "But my mums not actually meeting me at the station, she'll be at work. I live close to the station, you see, only a few bus stops away,"

"Then maybe a letter?" she suggested hopefully.

"That's probably my best bet," he paused. "Do you send many of them?"

Saffron shook her head. "The woman I live with, Ms Squire, she doesn't really let us do much, especially anything to do with magic. But I can respond with someone else's owl,"

"So would you respond to me?" He arched his left eyebrow at her when they reached the platform. Saffron spotted Lavender and Parvati standing next to one of the doors, apparently waiting for her.

Saffron bit her lip. "Yeah, I would,"

Olly nodded. "Okay then," Saffron then noticed that he too had people waiting for him, in the form of Terry Boot and Parvati's twin Padma. After getting her address, he gave her another nod and turned on his heel to go over to his fellow Ravenclaws. Not before turning on his heel, and offering her a wave. "Don't be a stranger,"

"I won't," Saffron called after him, another smile forming on her face.

She too turned away and set off in the direction that contained a glistening area of bright sunlight, which, perhaps, was an omen of a bright thing to come amidst so much darkness.

Walking only to the foot of the train, Saffron was already met by Lavender imploring to tell them everything about the treasured 'mini Olly', named so after his apparent namesake. To Lavender, he was suddenly more interesting and fanciable after the petrification, and yet again the girl assumed that he and Saffron had a relationship under a romantic light.

"Still just friends," Saffron insisted, very firmly, trying to make it abundantly clear that she and the Ravenclaw were very decidedly just friends. She couldn't see that changing any time soon. But, she still appreciated that Lavender and Parvati cared, and once she left them half an hour through the journey back to London, she left with warmth in knowing that Lavender and Parvati both seemed like friends she could rely on for years to come.

"Another one down," remarked Ron, when the Hogwarts Express gradually came to a halt, as some families who were waiting in the magical part of London were seen on the platform, came into view. "I never thought I'd be glad to have a break from Hogwarts,"

"Me neither," said Saffron in agreement. She truly did feel that way, which was shocking, because she never expected she would feel content with going back to Squires. But with the sheer stress and pressures that the year had brought onto her, she needed a mental break from the school.

"Meanwhile I barely got to experience most of the year," said a crestfallen Hermione.

Saffron took her into a one-armed hug as they made their way off the train, truly signifying the end of the year. "There's always next year and it surely can't be as bad as these last two have been with murder plots around every corner,"

Hermione, however, was staring at Harry, who looked inordinately more crestfallen than she did, after he had handed Ron a phone number. She pouted and tried to supply him with some comfort:

"Your Aunt and Uncle will be proud, though, won't they? When they hear what you did this year,"

Harry shook his head with a small grin forming on his face. "Proud? Are you mad? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious!"

Saffron bid goodbye to Harry and then Ron and Ginny, then she regrouped with Maya, Rowan and Rachel, all of whom looked rather disgruntled, with Rowan in the middle of the two girls looking very stressed. Saffron would have asked them what was wrong immediately but her initial priority was to bid her goodbye to Hermione

"Make sure you write to me," Hermione said simply, beaming at Saffron sadly. "I'd be awfully lonely if you didn't, I can't rely on Ron and who knows if another house elf will intercept any message I send to Harry,"

"I will," nodded Saffron, she too beaming, but happily. For, she had the confirmation that she was going to get letters from both Hermione and Olly frequently. "It's going to be boring as up in Holyhead for two months,"

"Perhaps we could try and make plans again," Hermione suggested hopefully. "If Ms Squire doesn't mind, maybe you could stay with me for a week or so,"

Saffron sighed. "If I was Rowan or even Maya, I'd say there'd be a chance. But Squire has a particular dislike for Rachel and me," She paused, feeding into Hermione's hopefulness. "I'll try, though. You never know, maybe a year apart will have warmed her heart up a bit,"

Once Hermione left with her parent, Saffron walked a couple of feet until she reached her siblings. They still seemed to be immersed in conversation, with Maya looking over her shoulder every few seconds to see if Squire was in sight.

"What's wrong?" Saffron asked them concurrently.

It was Rowan who answered.

"It happened," he mumbled. "I felt it, mum spoke to... .in the Grey. It was horrible, everyone thought I was having a fit,"

"But you're okay now?" Saffron questioned, placing her hand on Rowan's shoulder consolingly.

"Yes, but it's just embarrassing," grumbled Rowan, looking even more visibly upset after being asked. "Everyone thought I was crazy, I was talking to myself, about some voice in my head. They're hardly going to want to talk to me after that,"

"They'll have a Summer to forget about it," Saffron assured him. "Don't bother---"

"She's here!" Rachel cut her off, and Saffron looked up from Rowan to see that both Maya and Rachel were looking off to the distant, where Saffron too could see the frail, small figure that belonged to one Agnes Squire. "Can we just go right now and get it over with? I've been thinking about this moment far too long, I really don't want to think about it anymore,"

"Yeah," Maya nodded, she gestured to Saffron and Rowan to hurry. "Come on,"

"It's going to be okay," Saffron told her brother firmly. She took him by the hand and started to lead him after their sisters. "We'll forget about it all when we get back home, it'll be okay, I promise,"

While Saffron felt confident in that specific promise coming to fruition, she felt that the overarching one had far more of a Grey area. Both literally and figuratively. As when Rowan mentioned him entering the Grey, she felt a sensation that she hadn't felt since the night in the Chamber of Secrets. A feeling of a soon to be newly found part of herself just waiting to burst out and consume her. However, she didn't truly recall what exactly the feeling correlated to, as, just as Dilip promised, that memory had been wiped from her system.

She had to find it herself, despite not knowing what it was, or even knowing that she had to search for it.

In comparison to everything else the Grey and the real world had put her through, surely this new task that was unbeknownst to her wouldn't rival what else she had gone through? Right? Wrong.

A/N: Similarly to book I, I'm not sure if anyone has read this far. If you have: THANK YOU! If not, that's okay because I love writing these fanfics and I have some storylines up my sleeve/drafts that I cannot wait to write into a fully-fledged fanfic.

The next book will progress into the Prisoner of Azkaban & will follow Saffron and her siblings during a time of realisation about their parents troubled past, as figures from their early years (in addition to Amanda) come into play.

If you're reading this, I'm sure the book is out so please continue to read (or don't- entirely up to you :p ) that would be brilliant!