Life at the Burrow was very different from life on Privet Drive. While everything in the Dursleys' house was neat and orderly, the Weasleys' house was very strange and unexpected. Violet was shocked the first time she looked in the mirror over the kitchen mantelpiece and it shouted, "Brush that bird nest you call hair, scruffy!" The Ghoul in the attic howled and banged pipes whenever things were a little to quiet for him. And every hour or so, there was an explosion from Fred and George's room. What both of the twins, however, found most unusual, was that the Weasleys actually liked then.
Mrs. Weasley made a fuss over the state of their socks and always tried to force them to eat fourth helpings at every meal. Mr. Weasley liked for Harry and Violet to sit next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard them with questions about life with Muggles and Muggle inventions. "Fascinating" he would say as Harry explained how telephones work. "Ingenious, really, how Muggles have found so many ways to live without magic."
The twins heard from Hogwarts one sunny morning about a week after they had arrived at the Burrow. Harry and Violet went down to breakfast to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Ginny, already sitting at the kitchen table. The moment Ginny caught sight of Harry, she accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor. It was normal, for Ginny was always knocking things over when Harry entered a room. She dived underneath the table to retrieve the owl and sat back up with a face redder than tomatoes. Violet nudged Harry, almost as if mocking him, and they sat down to eat.
"Letters from school," said Mr. Weasley, passing out identical envelopes of beige parchment, addressed in green, to Harry, Ron, and Violet. "Dumbledore already knows that you're here. Never misses a thing, that man. You two have got them too" he said as Fred and George stumbled in, still in their pajamas.
For a few minutes there was silence as the children read their letters. Harry's and Violet's told them to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross station on the first of September. Enclosed was also a list of the new books that they'd be needing for the coming year.
SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2. By Miranda Goshawk
Break with Banshees. By Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghouls. By Gilderoy Lockhart
Travels with Trolls. By Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages with Vampires. By Gilderoy Lockhart
Wandering with Werewolves. By Gilderoy Lockhart
Fred, who had finished his own list, peered over at Violet's list. "You have to get all of Lockhart's books, too!" He said. "The new DADA teacher must be a witch." Mrs. Weasley sent a glare towards Fred, who looked away and worked to finish his toast. "Well that lot won't come cheap," said George, with a quick look at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive. . . ."
"We'll manage," said Mrs. Weasley, a worried look on her face. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand." "Oh, you're starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny. She nodded, blushing, and accidentally put her elbow in the butter bowl. Fortunately, no one saw this except Harry, because just then Ron's elder brother Percy walked in. He was already dressed, his prefect badge pinned to his sweater vest. Violet dropped her spoon and tipped over her cup of Orange Juice. Quickly, Mrs. Weasley used magic to put the juice back where it was and wipe the table. Fred and George snickered.
*"Morning all," said Percy, looking at the Orange spill with amusement. "Lovely day?" He sat down in the only remaining chair (which was beside Violet) but leapt up again almost immediately, pulling out from underneath him a gray feather duster---well atleast that's what it looked like. But it was breathing. "Errol!" said Ron, taking the letter from under the limp bird's wing. "Finally! He's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try to rescue you two from the Dursleys." He carried Errol to a perch beside the back door and tried to stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again so Ron lay him on the draining boards instead, muttering, "Pathetic." Then he ripped open Hermione's letter and read it out loud:
