Charmolypi

Chapter 54

The scene changed, showing everyone sitting at the table, eating breakfast. Mrs. Weasley was passing out buttered toast and placing a new kettle full of hot tea on the table.

"Letter from school," Mr. Weasley said, passing the kids their letters. Everyone received letters from the school except Ginny and Thea. "Dumbledore already knows you're here, Harry. Doesn't miss a trick, that man." He said with a smile, but the smile instantly dropped when he realized that Thea didn't receive a letter.

Just as Mr. Weasley was about to make a comment consoling the girl, Athie flew into the room and gently placed a parcel with a letter next to Thea. The envelope contained two letter, the official Hogwarts letter, and a letter in the hand writing of her Godmother, Minerva McGonagall.

My dearest Thea,

I hope this letter finds you well.

Thank you for all the letters you sent over the summer. I cannot lie when I say that your correspondence made my summer better.

To thank you for all the treats you sent, I sent with Athie a pack of the biscuits you like so much.

I'm looking forward to seeing you this schoolyear.

Take care,

Minerva McGonagall.

James stood up and hugged his favorite Professor.

"Thank you for everything you do for her, Minnie. I'll never be able to pay you back for all of that," James whispered before letting go and going back to his seat.

"You've been told to get all Lockhart's books, too!" Fred said, peering over Harry's shoulder and reading his booklist. The sudden statement got everyone's attention. "The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan, bet it's a witch."

At this point, Fred caught his mother's eye and quickly busied himself with the marmalade.   

"That lot won't come cheap," said George, with a quick look at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive..."

"Well, we'll manage," said Mrs. Weasley, but she looked worried. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand."

"Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny.

She nodded, blushing to the roots of her flaming hair, and put her elbow in the butter dish. Fortunately, no one saw this except Harry, because just then Ron's elder brother Percy walked in. He was already dressed, his Hogwarts prefect badge pinned to his sweater vest.   

"Morning, all," said Percy briskly. "Lovely day." He sat down in the only remaining chair but leapt up again almost immediately, pulling from underneath him a molting, gray feather duster, well they thought, until they saw that it was breathing.

"Errol!" said Ron, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under its wing. "Finally! He's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you two from the Dursleys." He carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again, so Ron laid him on the draining board instead, muttering, "Pathetic." Then he ripped open Hermione's letter and read it out loud: "'Dear Ron, and Harry and Thea if you're there, I hope everything went all right and that Harry and Thea are okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get them into trouble, too. I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl, because I think another delivery might finish your one off. I'm very busy with schoolwork, of course' -How can she be?" said Ron in horror. "We're on vacation! - 'and we're going to London on Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley? Let me know what's happening as soon as you can. Love from Hermione.'"