The next morning we were all sitting in the kitchen eating our breakfast when we heard an Owl screeching. Hermione jumped up and shrieked.
"They're here! Oh, our results are here!!!" Hermione turned into a complete basket case as she sprinted around the room, freaking out over her results. "I just know I messed up Ancient Runes," she muttered as her hands started running through her hair.
"Mione calm down!" I said getting up.
"I definitely made at least one serious mistranslation. And the Defense Against the Dark Arts practical was no good at all. I thought Transfiguration went all right at the time, but looking back -"
"Hermione, will you shut up, you're not the only one who's nervous!" barked Ron, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Mum. "And when you've got your ten 'Outstanding' O.W.L.s ..."
"Don't, don't, don't!" said Hermione, flapping her hands hysterically. "I know I've failed everything!"
"What happens if we fail?" Harry asked.
"We discuss our options with Professor McGonagall. Mum got up and opened the window and in flew four owls, each holding a large square envelope addressed to each of us. I was the first one to get the results off of the owl followed by Harry, then Ron, and lastly Hermione managed to get her results off of her owl.
"Well, go on! Open them!" Ginny pressed. We all rapidly tore open our O.W.L results and scanned them.
(Here is Lori's results)
"How'd you do, Lori?" Ron asked peeking over my shoulder. "How did you manage to get an E in Divination?!"
"I don't know, Ronald." I sassed back. "You think I knew half the stuff I spouted out in the Practical exam?"
"Well, no."
"Then don't ask me," I said looking again at my results. I knew I was good at most of my subjects but like seven Outstandings and two Exceeds Expectations, making a grand total of nine O.W.L.s, I was in complete shock. Hermione then snatched my results and scanned them.
"Seven outstandings! Lori these are fantastic!"
"Seven?!" Mum rushed over and looked at them too. "Oh, Merlin! Nine O.W.L.s! Ron, how many do you have?"
"Seven, Mum."
"Sixteen O.W.L.s! Oh, this is brilliant! I must write your Father immediately!" Mum rushed out of the kitchen muttering happy things under her breath.
"Guys, we have to send an Owl back about the classes we want to continue on with," Hermione said reading the second page included in our letters.
"Well, I can continue with all of them if I wanted," I said scanning the list, "But I would rather not have so many N.E.W.T.s."
"What are you wanting to be?"
"A Charms Professor, either at Hogwarts or another wizarding school."
"Well, then you should continue Charms, obviously. Definitely Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and if you wanted you could probably continue Astronomy."
"Well, McGonagall was supposed to see if I could get a late start on Arithmancy, but other than that I know what I wish I could continue."
"What is that?" Harry asked. Before I could answer, Mum, came running back in and gave the note to Pigwigeion and sent the note to Dad at the Ministry, however, I noticed there were two notes and both were addressed to different offices at the Ministry.
"This is great!" Ron said, now that the anxiety is gone, we can finally go play some Quidditch!" Ron grabbed not only my hand but Harry's and dragged us out of the house and to the broom shed where our Quidditch supplies were.
"Damn!" Harry said halfway to the shed. "I left my broom at the Dursley's!"
"Can't you just write for them to send it?" Ron asked. I sighed and slapped him on the head.
"Do you honestly think the Muggles who hate the wizarding World will willingly send a broomstick out of their house in a Muggle neighborhood?"
" ... no ..."
"Thought so," I said rolling my eyes slightly. Gosh, Ron could be so idiotic sometimes, but I guess that's what makes our sibling relationship work. He can be dumb or smart whereas I am normally smart (on occasion I have been dumb/dense but anyway).
"I guess you'll have to make a trip back to Privet Drive to get your broom then, eh?" Ron muttered, kicking a pebble. "Well, I could always hope that -"
"Harry!" We all looked over to see, Sirius standing in the doorway of the house.
"Sirius!" Harry sprinted across the lawn and crashed into his godfather. I watched as Sirius took Harry inside both smiling wide as ever.
"That just makes me so happy," I said wiping away a tear that started to fall.
"Same." Ron took my hand. "How about we go in and watch the joyful family, eh?" I nodded my head and we skipped over to the house and saw that Sirius and Lupin were sitting on either side of Harry showing him an album, and Harry was crying.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked Ginny who was sitting on the kitchen counter, watching them.
"Sirius and Remus found an old album from their Hogwart's day when moving the last of Remus's stuff to the new house." Ginny said, "By the way, Harry's reacting, there must be a lot of pictures of his parents in there."
"That's just, beautiful," I said hugging both Ron and Ginny. "Now I'm getting all emotional about my family."
"You're just always emotional."
"Gee, thanks Ronald," I mumbled releasing him and entirely hugging Ginny, for he ruin the twin moment.
***
A week later we got our letters and book lists for the next year and planned for a trip to Diagon Alley! Granted from what Bill and Dad said about the place, it wasn't the same anymore. The Ice Cream Parlor was closed, so was Ollivanders, and there were rumors about the other shops closing as well.
"That's just sad," Ginny said after Dad told us that the Alley wasn't as colorful or cheerful as it has been in the past. "It's almost like You-Know-Who doesn't want us to get an education."
"He doesn't." I said, "He's probably scared we're going to find a roadmap to his demise or something." I said jokingly. The room remained quiet.
"Just eat your food kids then head to bed." Mum said, "We've got a few members of the Order coming over later and it is a current student-free meeting!"
"Oh, Mum!" Ron and I whined at the same time.
"I don't want to hear it!" Mum shouted banging the table, causing some drinks to spill. We quickly finished our dinner and ran up the stairs.
"Blimey, you can't even joke with her anymore," Ron remarked as he and Harry disappeared into his room.
***
"C'mon kids! Let's go!" Mum shouted up the stairs as we got ready to go to Diagon Alley by Floo Powder. One by one we went through the fireplace and appeared in the Leaky Caldron, where we were greeted by none other than Hagrid!
Once we were all there, we walked through to the brick wall entrance and decided to split up. I decided to go with Mum and Ginny to get the books and other things, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione all went to Madam Malkin's to get new robes. Since I didn't grow too much since last year, my robes could wait for another year.
"Girls we need to find, Advanced Potion Making, three copies," Mum said reading the list.
"Three?" I said, "But it's only me and Hermione continuing on, Mum. Ron didn't get an O in Potions."
"Oh? Well, he was signed up to take Potions I thought."
"He might have forgotten the rule with Snape, and signed up," I said finding the books and pulling down two copies. "If you really want to spend it, we ould get a third just in case."
"No, just get two. If Ron does need it he can send for it from the school." Mum remarked crossing off the books and moving on to the next books. I placed the Potion books in her basket.
"Now Herbology ... Herbology ..." Mum muttered walking off down another row of shelves. I started to follow but felt my arm get yanked pulling me not just behind another shelf, but out of the store and around a corner. Suddenly my back was thrown against the wall and Draco Malfoy was standing in front of me.
"What the fuck, Malfoy?!"
"SHHHH! Do you want to be caught with me?" he whispered viciously. I shook my head in reply. "Good, now listen. I don't know how much time I have but ..." he glanced uneasily over his shoulder.
"Draco? Are you okay?" I asked, he not only seemed to be worried about people seeing or hearing us, but he was thinner and his hair was combed back tighter than it has ever been.
"Not really, but that's not why I am talking to you right now. Lori, you need to keep an eye on your back every time you leave either your home or the school grounds. Bella, she's -" he stopped as the sounds of some people walking by scared him, once they passed he resumed talking. "Bella she's dead set on bringing you to You-Know-Who herself, and has said she will go to any lengths to do so."
"Why are you telling me this? Aren't you like putting yourself at risk by doing this." I asked, looking into his cold grey eyes.
"What's life without a little risk?" he said with a small smile before shoving me out into the street basically telling me to get back before someone notices I'm gone. As I walked back into Flourish and Blott's I found Ginny standing by the restrooms.
"There you are! I had to tell Mum you went to use the loo! Where did you go?" she asked as we walked back towards Mum.
"Oh, I saw someone and had to say hello," I said.
"Well, don't do that again," Ginny said as we got to Mum who was purchasing the books. Once that was done we met up with the others and headed off towards Fred and George's joke shop. As we walked I learned that Draco not only two minutes prior to meeting me had been in Madam Malkin's and called Hermione a Mudblood once again.
"You're telling me you would rather have Malfoy call you a - that name -" Ron asked Hermione as we approached the Joke Shop. "Then have us hex him?"
"Yes, Ron. Now drop it." Hermione snapped.
"We really haven't got too long," Mum said. "So we'll just have a quick look around and then back to the car. We must be close, that's number ninety-two ... ninety-four ..."
"Whoaaaa." Ron and I said at the same time, as the shop came into view.
Set against the dull, poster-muffled shop fronts around them, Fred and George's windows hit the eye like a firework display. Casual passersby were looking back over their shoulders at the windows, and a few rather stunned-looking people had actually come to a halt, transfixed. The left-hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced, and shrieked. The righthand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the Ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters:
𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓
𝐘𝐎𝐔-𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖-𝐖𝐇𝐎?
𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓
𝐔-𝐍𝐎-𝐏𝐎𝐎 -
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍!
"They'll be murdered in their beds!" Mum whispered staring at the sign.
"No they won't!" said Ron, who was laughing with Harry. "This is brilliant!"
We all entered the crowded shop and looked around in awe. Towers of boxes piled to the ceiling: Here were the Skiving Snack boxes that the twins had perfected during their last, unfinished year at Hogwarts; Nosebleed Nougat was most popular, with only one battered box left on the shelf. There were bins full of trick wands, the cheapest merely turning into rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, the most expensive beating the unwary user around the head and neck, and boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, and Smart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd, and I shoved my way through and finally saw Fred and George standing on the stairs that led to their flat above the shop.
"Step up! Step up! We've got Fainting Fancies, Nosebleed Nougats, Puking Pastilles, and just in time for school!" They shouted together. They spotted someone who sampled the Puking Pastilles and slid down the banister and landed in front of the boy.
"Into the cauldron handsome." They handed him a cauldron as he started to turn green. I quickly waved at them before Hermione yanked on my arm so hard, I swore loudly as she dragged me over to their Love Potions.
"Hello, ladies." Fred and George spoke as they approached.
"Love potions, eh?" Fred said leaning on my shoulders.
"Yeah, they really do work" George added seeing the skeptical look on Hermione's face.
"Then again, the way we hear it, sis," Fred said with a smirk. "You're doing just fine on your own." Ginny glared at me causing me to shrug, I didn't tell anyone.
"Meaning?" she finally verbally retorted.
"Are you not currently dating Dean Thomas?"
"Oh, she's dating him alright," I muttered. "Unless they are just shagging for the fun of it."
"What was that, Ri Ri?" George said turning to look at me. I opened my mouth to say it again but Ginny slapped my shoulder.
"It's none of your business, who I date." She spoke sassily to our brothers before placing the potion vial on the display before walking off. I chuckled and shoved Fred off of my shoulder and grabbed a vial to look at it.
"Not that you need a love potion either, Ri Ri." Fred grabbed the vial out of my hands and placed it up high. "Neville is head over heels for you and you are for him."
"Who said I was going to purchase one?" I said looking up at him. "Can't I just admire my genius brothers?"
"No." They said together before peeling off to go bug, Harry. I followed Hermione around for a few moments, saved her from nearly falling into one of Fred and George's pranks, and then helped her get away from the playboy of Gryffindor house.
Cormac McLaggen.
"Ugh, what do girls see in him?" Hermione said as we hid behind a pile of boxes.
"I have no clue, Mione," I replied, we ducked down further as someone walked over and pulled something off, however soon we realized it was Ron when he asked a question.
"How much for this?" He holds up something towards Fred and George who were climbing the stairs.
"Five galleons," they replied in unison.
"How much for me?" Ron asked again.
"Five galleons." the twins responded standing firm on their price.
"But I'm your brother." Ron scoffs and states in annoyance.
Fred and George share a small shrug with each other before smiling wickedly and retorting simultaneously.
"Ten galleons." I snicker as I reached for the same product that Ron had and stand up.
"How much for this, Freddie? Georgie?"
"For you?" George started gutting.
"Five galleons seems too high-" Fred added.
"How about -" George pondered.
"Free!" they both said with a smile.
"Awe, thanks!" I tucked the box into my pocket causing Ron to get very irritated.
"That's favoritism! I'm your sibling as well you know."
"You may be our sibling, Ronnie," Fred said walking down.
"But Lori helped us with many of these things, so she can have one free item per visit," George said hugging me.
"Per visit?! That's not -"
"Ron, I'd shut up before they shove a Nosebleed Nougat down your throat," I said pushing my twin away from them. Ron, being irritated at them just walks out of the shop with Harry and Hermione leaving me standing alone. I looked around scanning for Ginny or someone, and finally saw someone who was busy stocking a shelf and not even interacting with the people.
"Lee?" I walked over and he scrambled off the ladder.
"Lori! Oh, how have you been! I heard from Fred and George you got nine O.W.Ls and seven of them were Outstanding!" Lee was talking waaay faster than he did during Hogwarts, so I had some issues understanding him at some points but eventually, he just wrapped me in a hug. "So glad to know you're going to have a good future."
"I could say the same for you, Lee," I said with a smile. "George said you were thinking about trying to get a job with The Quibbler?"
"Just a thought, not so sure if Xenophillius would like me so I may just stay working here. The pays not too bad, and occasionally I crash with George upstairs so. It's a win/win situation, I get to have a job, and George and Fred get to have their best friend with them ninety percent of the time."
"Who wouldn't want that." I joked just as I heard Mum's voice calling for all of us. I bid Lee adieu and went over to Mum where I found Ginny holding a small little Pygmy Puff.
"Ohhhh, she is the cutest thing!"
"It's a boy, Rinda," Ginny said tickling the top of his head. "His name is Arnold."
"That's just so cute!" I said petting him, "Hello handsome."
"Oh, girls stop fawning over the Pygmy Puff, and let's go find your brother, Harry, and Hermione," Mum spoke ushering us out of the shop. We ran into the three of them outside, and all of them were muttering about something.
"What did I say about leaving the shop!" Mum spoke at Ron.
"That we shouldn't. But Mum -"
"No But's Ronald," Mum said. "When we get home it's straight out to the garden, you're pulling out all the vegetables for supper tonight."
"Yes, Mum," Ron muttered kicking some dirt in the street.
"Now let's go," Mum said leading us out of the alley and back home to The Burrow.