Living at The Burrow was more fun than I ever expected it to be. Living with Charlie and Renee, it was boring and quiet. The Weasley house was far from that, it burst with the strange and unexpected. I remember one day, I was in the living room reading the first book of the 'Night World' series, when Harry looked in the mirror over the mantelpiece and it shouted 'Tuck your shirt in, scruffy!' making him almost jump out of his skin and making me snap my head up from my book laughing. The ghoul in the attic howled and dropped pipes whenever he felt things were getting too quiet, and small explosions from Fred and George's bedroom were considered normal, but it still gave me a heart attack when I walked past their room and heard a loud 'BANG'. Harry thought it was strange here too, but it was even more strange for him because he wasn't used to people liking him, and here at The Burrow, everyone liked him.
Some more than others.
*cough Ginny cough*
Molly fussed over the state of Harry's socks and tried to force him to eat fourth helpings at every meal. She did that with me too, but not as much. After all, Harry is the one who had been mistreated, not me. I just had fake parents. Mr Weasley liked Harry to sit next to him at the dinner table, and since I sat next to Harry, I heard what they were talking about. He would bombard me and Harry with questions about life with Muggles, asking us to explain to him how things like plugs and the postal service worked.
"Fascinating!" he would say, as Harry talked him through using a telephone. "Ingenious, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic"
We heard from Hogwarts one sunny morning about a week after we arrived at The Burrow. Me, Ron, and Harry went down to breakfast to find Mr and Mrs Weasley and Ginny already sitting at the kitchen table. The moment she saw Harry, Ginny accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor with a loud clatter making me glare at her. Ginny seemed very prone to knocking things over whenever Harry entered a room. Attention seeking I called it. She dived under the table to retrieve the bowl and emerged with her face glowing like the setting sun. Pretending we hadn't noticed this, Me and Harry sat next to each other and took the toast that was offered to us.
"Letters from school," Mr Weasley said, passing us identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink. "Dumbledore already knows you and Bella are here Harry - doesn't miss a tick, that man. You two've got them, too," he added, as Fred and George ambled in, still in their pyjamas.
For a few minutes, there was a silence as we all read our letters. Mine told me to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross Station on September the first. There was also a list of the new books I'd be needing for the coming year.
Second-year students will require:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk
Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart
Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart
Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart
Fred, who had finished his own list, peered over at mine.
"You've been told to get all Lockhart's books, too!" he said. "The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan - bet its a witch"
"What if it is Gilderoy Lockhart?" I ask and Fred raised his eyebrow at me. "I mean...no one can be that obsessed with him...can they?"
"Dunno...mum is. I sometimes see her staring at the picture of him on the front of his books and drooling" Fred grinned.
At this point, Fred caught his mother's eye and quickly busied himself with the marmalade.
"That lot won't come cheap," George said, with a quick look at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive..."
"Well, we'll manage," Molly said, but she looked worried. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things second-hand"
Oh yeah...I forgot Ginny was coming to Hogwarts this year. Mood ruined.
"Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny, does he sound happy? He better NOT sound happy!
Ginny nodded, blushing to the roots of her flaming hair, and put her elbow in the butter dish. No one saw this but me and Harry, and I held back a laugh as Percy, Ron's elder brother, walked in. He was already dressed and his Hogwarts prefect badge was pinned to his knitted tank top.
"Morning, all," Percy greeted us briskly. "Lovely day."
He sat down in the only remaining chair but lept up again almost immediately, pulling from underneath him a moulting grey feather duster - at least, that was what I thought it was until I saw it breathing. I gave a shriek and scooted my chair backwards.
"Errol!" Ron said, 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 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, Bella, and Harry if you're there,
I hope everything went all right and that Harry is OK and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble too. And I hope Bella didn't agree to doing it if it was illegal. You know better Bella! I've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let me 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 school work, of course -" How can she be?" I asked in horror. "We're on holiday!" - and we're going to London next 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
"Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too," Molly said, starting to clear the table. "What're you all up to today?"
Me, Harry, Ron, Fred and George were actually planning to go up the hill to a small paddock the Weasleys owned. I was going to stay with Ginny and do some girlie things, but I can't face her right now and I don't know if it's because I'm jealous. The paddock was surrounded by trees that blocked it from the view of the village below, meaning that we could practise Quidditch here, as long as we didn't fly too high. We couldn't use real Quidditch balls, which would have been hard to explain if they escaped and flew away over to the village; instead, we threw apples for each other to catch. We took it in turns to ride Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand since mine was back at The Burrow, it was the easiest flying broom; Ron's old Shooting Star was often outstripped by passing butterflies.
Five minutes later we were marching up the hill, broomsticks over our shoulders. We had asked Percy if he wanted to join us, but he had said he was busy. I had only seen Percy at meal-times so far; he stayed shut in his room the rest of the time.
"Wish I knew what he was up to," Fred said, frowning. "He's not himself. His exam results came the day before Harry did; twelve O.W.Ls and he hardly gloated at all"
"Ordinary Wizarding Levels," I explained to Harry, seeing his puzzled look on his face. "That's what I saw in the Mirror remember?"
His eyes winded, knowing that that's what everyone thought I saw in the Mirror Of Erised last year. I actually saw me and Harry when were older, cuddling and in love. I still don't understand it to this day. Of course, me, Harry and Dumbledore are the only ones who know the truth.
"Bill got twelve, too," George went on. "If we're not careful, we'll have another Head Boy in the family. I don't think I could stand the shame"
Bill was the oldest Weasley brother. He and the next brother, Charlie, had already left Hogwarts. Me and Harry have never met either of them, but we knew that Charlie was in Romania, studying dragons and Bill was in Egypt, working for the wizard's banks, Gringotts.
"Dunno how Mum and Dad are going to afford all our school stuff this year," George said after a while. "Five sets of Lockhart books! And Ginny needs robes and a wand and everything..."
I said nothing, still unhappy with the fact that Ginny would be coming to Hogwarts this year and there's a very high possibility that I would have to see her. I did, however, feel sorry for the Weasley's, and I wanted to offer some of my money so they could afford all the stuff they needed, but somehow, I can see them declining it. The Weasley's were a family who liked doing things on their own.
*
Molly woke us all early the following Wednesday. After quick half-a-dozen bacon sandwiches each, we all pulled on our coats and Molly took a flowerpot off the kitchen mantlepiece and peered inside.
"We're running low, Arthur," she sighed. "We'll have to buy some more today...ah well, guests first! After you, Harry dear!"
And she offered him the flowerpot.
Harry looked around at us all watching him.
"W-what am I supposed to do?" he stammered. Aw...cutie.
"He's never travelled by Floo Powder," Ron said suddenly. "Sorry, Harry, I forgot"
"Never?" Mr Weasley said. "But how did you get to Diagon Alley to buy your school things last year?"
"I went on the Underground-"
"Really?" Mr Weasley said eagerly. "Were there escapators? How exactly-"
"Not now Arthur," Mrs Weasley said. "Floo Powder's a lot quicker, dear, but goodness me, if you've never used it before-"
"He'll be alright, Mum," Fred grinned. "Harry, watch us first. You too Bella"
I saluted him, telling him I will.
He took a pinch of the glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire and threw the powder into the flames.
With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred, who stpped iright into it, shouted, 'Diagon Alley!' and vanished.
"You must speak clearly, dear," Mrs Weasley told me and Harry, as George dipped his hand into the flowerpot. "And mind you both get out at the right grate..."
"The right what?" I asked nervously, as the fire roared and whipped George out of sight too.
"Well, there are an awful lot of wizard fires to choose from, you know, but as long as you've spoken clearly-"
"They'll be fine, Molly, don't fuss," Mr Weasley said, helping himself to Floor Powder too.
"But dear, if they got lost, how would we ever explain it to their families?"
"They wouldn't mind," me and Harry say at the same time.
"Well...all right...you go after Arthur Harry, and then Bella will follow," Molly said. "Now, when you get into the fire, say where you're going-"
"And keep your elbows tucked in," Ron advised
"And your eyes shut" Mrs Weasley said. "The soot-"
"Don't fidget," Ron said. "Or you might well fall out of the wrong fireplace-"
"But don't panic and get out too early, wait until you see Fred and George"
Whilst keeping all that in my mind, I watched as Harry took a pinch of Floo Powder and walked to the edge of the fire. He took a deep breath, scatted the powder into the flames and stepped forward.
"D-Dia-gon Alley," he coughed and he vanished.
I sighed. "He said it wrong, didn't he?"
Molly and Ron nodded making me sigh again and the worry takes over my body. I quickly took a pinch of Floo Powder, walked up to the fire and scatted the Powder into the flames. I stepped into them, the fire feeling like a warm breeze.
"Diagon Alley!"
It felt as though I was being sucked down a giant plug hole. I seemed to be spinning very fast..the roaring in my ears was deafening...I tried to keep my eyes open but the whirl of green flames made me feel sick. After a couple of spinning, feeling as though my breakfast was going to make an appearance and seeing different rooms, the spinning stopped and I stumbled out of the fireplace seeing Fred, George and Mr Weasley waiting.
"Hey! Bella's here! How was your first Floo Powder trip?" Fred asked.
I took a deep breath, still feeling dizzy. "Oh, brilliant...pretty sure my breakfast made an appearance somewhere along the way.." Fred chuckled. "Where's Harry? Has he arrived yet?"
Mr Weasley stepped forward. "No...why? Was he supposed to?"
"Yeah...he left before me but we think he said it wrong..."
"He could be anywhere!" George said. "We need to find him!"