Rubiey crawled through the portrait hole and breathed a sigh of relief as she straightened up, brushing her skirt down and glancing around. After a year away, Rubiey had feared everything would have changed somehow, but as her green eyes roamed the room, it was evident everything was exactly the same as it had been when she left after her second year.

Rubiey, however, had changed rather a lot since she had walked out of that portrait hole just shy of two years ago. Gone was the red hair and cute, shy smile; in its place were long brown locks and a face hardened by the sights she had seen over the past year. But her bright green eyes were the same, darting around the red common room and hoping to spot one of her friends. She had so much to tell them it was unreal, but she let out a soft sigh as she failed to see them.

Rubiey slumped into one of the comfy armchair sofas in front the fire with a small smile erupting over her features. "If my friends aren't here, I'll wait for them to turn up." she thought firmly, staring into the dying embers of the fire and thanking Merlin she was back at Hogwarts.