Unusual friendship and need for family time...

The compartment door slid open, and Kar looked up to see the intruders who had disturbed her peaceful reading time.

Three boys entered inside, one after the other in a hurry. They closed the door behind them and turned to the three original owners of the compartment.

"Kar, please hide us. Percy will kill us if we get caught," one of the three kids pleaded to the girl, who silently read from a thick book before the disturbance.

Karalyn closed the book that she was holding and sighed as if she was used to it. She took out her wand and waved it before the three kids. The three seemed to fade. And after a few seconds, they were nowhere in sight.

The compartment door slid open again after a few seconds, and a tall redhead entered. He still had his robes on, unlike many students, and carried himself as if he was better than everyone.

"Excuse me. Sorry to disturb you," Percy spoke without a hint of guilt.

Kar looked at him with a bored look on her face, "How can I help you?"

"Have you seen Fred and George? You see, those two caused trouble and ran away, and as a prefect, it's my duty to catch them," Percy spoke while puffing his chest so that the batch there shined.

Noah coughed to hide his laughter while Olivia pursued her lips and used her hand to hide her smile.

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you, Percy, but we haven't seen those two after getting on the train," Kar spoke with a fake sympathetic smile.

Percy looked around the room for a few seconds, then spoke, "Inform me if you see them."

"Ya~ sure," Lia spoke while waving her hand behind Percy as he turned and left the compartment.

After the door slid shut and they could hear Percy's footsteps fading, the three intruder kids reappeared. Everyone in the compartment burst out laughing while Kar just shook her head.

"What have you done this time, Fred, George?" Karalyn spoke to two of the kids. They were red-headed like Percy but shorter and stockier than him.

Fred looked at Kar with an innocent smile on his face, "Nothing. We just freed Scabbers."

"Something that we should have done years ago," George continued while nodding his head wisely.

Kar sighed at that. But she could not stop herself from smiling when Fred started impersonating Percy.

"Oh. Thanks again, Kar," Fred came and sat beside Kar after a while. The others started ordering from the Trolley that had just stopped outside their compartment.

It was hard for everyone at Hogwarts to believe that the two troublemakers were friends with the quietest girl. Because of this friendship, people could never find any evidence against Fred and George. Ever. Kar always had their back.

Karalyn looked at the two. They were one of the few people who managed to look past her expressionless face. She still clearly remembered their first conversation.

___

Twelve-year-old Karalyn walked with her head buried in the book, balanced over a small pile of books that she was carrying. After she had come to Hogwarts, the first thing that she did was to start going through the Hogwarts library. And there were so many books that she failed to finish even one-fourth of them in a year. But well, that was the fun of it.

"The Polyjuice Potion is a complex and time-consuming concoction that enables the consumer to assume the physical appearance of per- ahh!" Kar exclaimed as her feet suddenly sunk into the floor.

She took deep breaths to calm herself while adjusting the pile of books in her hand.

Suddenly, two redheads jumped from the side corridor and shouted together, "Caught you, Jordan."

But they froze on seeing Kar standing there looking at them expressionlessly.

"We're so sorry."

"We didn't mean to do that to you."

"We were just trying to prank-"

"Our friend Lee Jordan."

The two spoke continuously, one after the other. It was so funny to see the two trying to explain that Kar laughed lightly.

The Weasley twins stared at her cautiously.

Karalyn looked at her foot, sunk into the floor. She pulled at it, and it came out dry and clean, just like before. Kar crouched down on the floor after that and observed the area where her feet had sunk.

"That was some advanced and interesting magic you used there. Mind sharing?" she looked at Fred and George with curiosity.

The two nodded numbly. Since the two had come to Hogwarts, they had never seen this girl talk much. Charlie had warned them about the people they should never cross. And Karalyn White, who was four years younger than Charlie, had been on the list.

According to Charlie, though the girl was so young, she was very good at jinxing people. In her first year, she had jinxed Marcus Flint, a fourth-year, because he had purposefully ruined her homework to irk the Ravenclaws. Since then, everyone at Hogwarts knew not to cross Karalyn White.

___

"What are you reading, Kar?" Fred came and sat on one side and George on the other.

"It's a book animagus," Kar answered while returning to her book.

"Ooo. We read about animagus-"

"They sound so cool-"

"Fred, should we try becoming animagus?"

"That opens us to many new pranks George."

"I hope you're not thinking of trying it anytime soon. Otherwise, I'll have to get your head straight," Kar gave them a sweet smile while twirling her wand in her hand.

"Of course not," the twins spoke in sync while shaking their heads innocently.

"What are you guys planning to do this summer?" Noah spoke up after a bit of silence.

Fred and George looked at each other then started speaking.

"We're planning to think of new ideas for next year-"

"And scare Ginny. You see, she is starting at Hogwarts next year."

"And it is our responsibility to ensure that she is completely nervous when she boards the train."

The two nodded wisely after that.

"Oh, Ginny is starting next year? Isn't Sierra too starting next year, Kar?" Lia asked her best friend.

Kar looked up from her book and nodded, "Yup. Sia is starting next year."

"Sierra? Your sister?" Fred asked.

George frowned at that, "How do you know her?"

"I ran into her in Diagon Alley two years ago," Fred answered.

George whined, "I too want to meet little Kar."

"Hehe. Sierra is so cute. She looked like a little version of Kar," Fred teased George.

Kar shook her head. She returned to her book again while the twins continued bickering with each.

_____

Al hugged Kar, Sia, Sten, and Sam before taking his leave with his parents. The Knight couple adored their only son more than anything. For them, he was their whole world. And unlike the usual cases, Al was not spoiled by the excess love. Instead, he ended up becoming more responsible.

"How was your year, mum, dad?" Al asked as the three got comfortable in the car.

"The Ministry is as hectic as it always is. I made some foreign business trips with your mother, though." Alpheus' father, Jacob, said light-heartedly.

"I joined a sports club and decided to help Sophia with herb supply. After all, Herbology was always one of my favorites," Chloe continued after her husband stopped.

"How was your year, son?" Jacob asked.

"I gave some kids detention and started working under Madam Pomfrey. Oh. And yes, I studied," Al summarized.

"No girlfriend again," Chloe sighed dramatically.

Jacob joined her while shaking his head and wiping a fake tear.

"Mum! Dad! Stop fooling around like little kids," Al exclaimed at the two with a smile.

"You should always stay a child at heart, my son," Jacob said.

The two burst out laughing.

"Mum, Did you bring my phone?" Al asked his mother.

Electronics stopped functioning at Hogwarts due to the concentrated magic present in the air. But in areas with less magic, electronics worked as they should. Otherwise, imagine how disastrous it would be with the number of muggle-borns.

"Yes, as you requested," Chloe took out a phone from her purse and passed it back.

"Thanks," Al took the phone and opened his messages.

Gringotts introduced the siblings to a muggle-born wizard who worked in the muggle share market to manage their finances. The transactions took place through Gringotts, but the person who managed everything was this wizard, Oscar Smith.

'I'm back in London today. We should meet up soon when you are in the city. Inform me the date so that the others would also be ready.' Al typed a quick message and kept the phone in his pocket.

He stared at the traffic outside the window. In the last two years, the muggle investments had reaped huge profits. And now that Alpheus had turned seventeen which was the legal age in the wizarding world, they could start implementing their plans more smoothly.

And one of the top things on the list was buying apartmentS, like in different countries, to serve as a hideout if something happened. They also planned to work on something for communication now that things were getting serious.

But right now, he needed some time with his family. Last year, though they had not helped actively, they had to stay on constant lookout. They had to ensure that everything went smoothly without a hitch.

It was tiring. Just the thought of it made Al sigh.

He pushed his specs up and looked at his mother.

"So, what's for lunch today?" he looked at his mother and asked.

"Something you will like," Chloe gave a mysterious smile.

"I look forward to it," Al played along.

"Before I forget to mention, don't fix any meetings for this weekend, Al. Your mum and I planned a trek for the three of us," Jacob said.

"That sound's fun. We haven't gone on trekking for so long," Al nodded.

_____

Okay, I think there we can get confused in parents' names. So let's sort that.

Sia and Kar- Valerie and Michael White.

Sten and Sam- Sophia and Edward White.

Al- Chloe and Jacob Knight.

_____