We will meet again ~ Fred Weasley

- Old Friends, New Scars -

"The people I loved were finally together again. The problem was that none of us were the same people we had been before."

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As students began splitting off towards their respective House tables, Katherine said a quick goodbye to Ron and Hermione before making her way towards Slytherin.

The familiar sea of green and silver stretched across the Great Hall beneath the enchanted night sky, candles floating lazily overhead as hundreds of voices blended together into a deafening roar of excitement.

Normally, Katherine loved this part.

The first night back.

The familiar faces.

The feeling that, despite everything that happened outside of Hogwarts, some things never changed.

But tonight, the moment she looked towards the Slytherin table, everything else disappeared.

A flash of pink caught her eye.

Katherine froze.

For a moment she wasn't entirely sure she was seeing correctly.

Because after over a year apart, after countless unanswered letters and months of wondering when she might finally come home, there she was.

Veronica.

Her pink hair had grown much longer than Katherine remembered and it had washed out to a very light shade, cascading over her shoulders and standing out amongst the dark Hogwarts robes surrounding her.

But that was where the familiarity ended.

The girl standing near the Slytherin table looked thinner.

Paler.

Older.

Not older in years.

Older in experience.

There was a tiredness in her face that Katherine had never seen before.

A sadness lingering behind her eyes that seemed entirely out of place on someone who used to be one of the loudest, brightest people in the castle.

For a second neither of them moved.

Then Veronica looked up.

Their eyes met across the crowded hall.

The smile that spread across Ronnie's face wasn't the carefree grin Katherine remembered.

It was smaller.

Almost disbelieving.

As though she wasn't entirely convinced Katherine was really standing there.

"Katherine..."

The word barely left her mouth.

Then they were running.

Neither cared about the hundreds of students watching.

Neither cared about Dumbledore, the professors, or the fact that they were supposed to be finding their seats.

Katherine practically launched herself across the hall.

"Ronnie..."

Veronica laughed through what sounded suspiciously like a sob.

The moment they reached each other, they collided in a fierce embrace.

Katherine wrapped both arms around her instantly.