Chapter 1
The return
I didn't realize how much my life would change with that one letter.
The letter in question was the letter I received just after my 11th birthday telling me that I had been accepted in one of the most amazing wizarding school in the country, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
I'm Kimberley, but everyone just calls me Kim and I am a Muggle born witch. Muggle born means that I was born into a non magical family. A Muggle is what the wizarding world calls those who are non magical. I don't mind that my family isn't like me and they don't judge me for it, unlike some muggle's I know. My Mother, Chris is a music teacher at our local high school and my father, Robert runs his own mechanic shop, we're a pretty normal family.
It has been 5 years since I received that letter and I was about to start my 6th year at Hogwarts. A lot of things had changed including me. I was no longer the goofy, quiet little girl that started all those years ago. My frizzy dark brown hair had tamed into a nice wave, my chubbiness had filled out in all the right places and I finally had my braces removed. These little changes made me excited to go back to Hogwarts just that little bit more, this year I was hoping to finally attract the attention of a certain Gryffindor. I've had a crush on his since the first year, but he had always had eyes for someone else.
It was two weeks before school began which meant like the four summers before, I would be spending that remainder of the break at the Burrow with the Weasley family and my friends. Those friends being harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger. I wouldn't really call Hermione a friend, we didn't get along all that well, but we were nice to each other for Harry and Ron's sake. We were a lot closer when we were in our younger years, until we discovered we had feelings for the same guy. It all fell apart from there.
Things in the wizarding world were becoming crazier every day. The dark Lord Voldemort aka he who must not be named had returned to power causing the wizarding world to erupt in chaos. To make matters worse other than world domination, Voldemort wanted to kill my friend. Something he failed to do fifteen years before. You see Harry is no ordinary wizard, he is the only wizard ever to survive the killing curse and at the time he was only an toddler. It was the same night that Voldemort had killed Harry's family.
Harry was some kind of wizarding celebrity these days, many people knew him as the 'boy who lived', or 'the chosen one'. He hated it, the attention that is. In our second year at Hogwarts, a first year student had come up to him and asked for his autograph.
Of course there were plenty of wizards that didn't feel so kindly towards him. Take the Malfoy's for instance. Draco Malfoy attends Hogwarts with us and he absolutely loathes harry, but then again his mother and father are some of Voldemort's biggest followers. The malfoy's have always had it in for harry and it made life just that little bit harder for him and the rest of us.
To make matters worse for Harry, our previous school year ended with Sirius black, Harry's god father, being killed by one of vlodemort's most dedicated followers. We all knew Harry was taking it rather hard, I mean you would too if you had seen the only living family that cared about you was killed right before your eyes.
Being Harry's friend meant you got into a lot of trouble. Whether it be intentional or not, but he was a true friend and I wouldn't give that up for anything.
This year my parents were pleased to hear that the Weasley family would be picking me up. I knew it was for mine and my family's safety, but they were oblivious to what was happening around us. The minister of Magic had made sure that the muggles were unaware of the dangers that Voldemort was causing so that a world wide panic, magical and non magical would not break out.
My family liked the Weasley's, my father especially enjoyed Arthur Weasley's company. Mr. Weasley worked of the ministry of magic in the Misuse of Muggle artifacts section. He loved to fiddle around with Muggle objects to find out how they worked and well my father loved to show him.
It was around lunch time when I heard the knock on the front door. I made my way down the hallway to answer it. I opened it and was not at all surprised to see Mr. Weasley standing in the doorway with Ron and the Twins Fred and George.
I noticed I wasn't the only one who had changed over the summer. Ron had gone from lanky to quite muscular, his red hair had become shaggier, but he still had those gorgeous blue eyes that made my legs grow weak.
I blushed slightly when I realized I was staring. I noticed his ears turn slightly pink as I looked over to Mr. Weasley.
"Hi Mr. Weasley," I greeted.
"It's nice to see you again, Kim", he hugged me hello.
"There she is, our little munchkin", Fred teased as I hugged him too.
"See Fred I told you she would be any taller", George said as he ruffled my hair.
For as long as I had known them, the Weasley twins had always picked on me about my height. Well I was a short 5'2, but not all of us could be as tall as them.
"Very funny", I replied sarcastically as I turned to greet Ron.
"Hey" he said, running his hand through his hair.
I blushed even more as I hugged him hello.
We all heard footsteps coming down the hall; I turned to see my father walking over to us.
"Arthur, what a pleasure to see you again", he greeted Mr. Weasley by shaking his hand.
"And you to Robert" Mr. Weasley smiled.
"I was wondering when you would arrive, I have the most interesting device I'd like you to see, it's called a stereo"
Dad lead Mr. Weasley down the hall and out to the shed as they talked animatedly about the stereo. It was quite amazing how much technology was kept out of the wizarding world. It was just me and dad home at the time, my mum was out grocery shopping.
I turned back to the boys; they all shook their heads at their father. I couldn't help but giggle a little.
I took the boys into the kitchen, we had no idea how long it would be till Mr. Weasley would be back. We sat down at the table and caught up.
"So how has your summer been?" I asked them.
"Busy", all three replied at the same time.
We all laughed again. I had missed them a lot over the break, life just wasn't the same without them.
"Care to elaborate?" I asked.
"Well Fred and I have been run down with orders", George explained.
"Especially now it's getting closer to school beginning again", Fred continued.
Fred and George owned a joke shop in diagon ally. Weasley Wizard Wheezes, it was called. They had the best jokes and pranks around. They were always creating new things and coming up with new ideas and they were good at it. Fred and George were the biggest pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen.
"And on top of it all, we've been trying to perfect a new fake wand".
"Of course mum won't let us test it out at home".
Mrs. Weasley loved her boys, but she didn't like them testing out their practical jokes on the rest of her family or inside her house. There had already been too many explosions and trips to St Mungo's hospital to count.
"I see", I said as the boys went on.
I listened to them talk about their business, while taking secret glances at Ron when I thought no one was looking. On every occasion I found myself locking eyes with him.
"So Kim, you look all grown up now", Fred chuckled.
"Uh yeah I had my braces taken off in the first week of break," I smiled showing them my teeth before adding, "finally".
"Looking good aye Ron", George nudged Ron in the side.
It causes both Ron and I to blush furiously. Ron muttered something to George as I kicked him under the table. The twins always picked on me for my crush on Ron.
Before anymore could be said, dad and Mr. Weasley returned from the shed, still talking excitedly. We knew if we didnt leave now then we would never get back to the Burrow.
I grabbed my trunk from my room and the boys loaded it into the back of Mr. Weasley's enchanted ford Angela. I hugged my dad goodbye and told him to hug my mum when she got home. I jumped into the back of the car between Ron and George. My arm bumping Ron's while putting on my seat belt brought back the blushing in both of us.
I waved to my dad as we drove away and sighed. I couldn't wait till we got there so I could see Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. Ginny was the closest thing I had to a sister.
I didn't say much on the way there, I just listened to Mr. Weasley chatting away about what my dad had shown him, he thought it was remarkable.
When we arrived at the Burrow, night was beginning to set in. the twins removed my trunk from the boot and carried it into the house. Ginny came running form the house to greet me. I ran over as soon as I saw her.
"You're finally here!" she cried out as she hugged me hello.
"I missed you like crazy!"
She literally pulled me into the house where Mrs. Weasley was waiting with one of he motherly hugs.
"How have you been dear?" she asked kindly.
"I've been great" I smiled.
Before I could say another word, Ginny was pulling me up the stairs to her room. The twin had left my trunk and the end of the bunk bed that Ginny and I would be sharing. We sat down on the bottom bunk and talked about our summers.
"Oh my gosh, your braces are gone" she squealed.
"I know thank goodness" I laughed.
"And your hair isn't frizzy anymore",
"Look at yours, it's so long now", I pointed at Ginny's hair.
"Yeah do you think he'll like it?" she asked.
I already knew who she was talking about. Ginny was the only person I had told about my crush on her brother, the twins had just guessed, and in return she told me about the boy she had a crush on.
Ginny had liked Harry since the first day she met him. It wasn't because he was famous or because the dark lord was after him, no it was because of him. In Ginny's eyes there was no boy braver, or kinder than harry. He had even saved her life back in her first year.
"If he doesn't Gin then he is blind" I assured her.
"So have you and Ron talked yet?" she asked raising one eyebrow.
"No, why bother Gin; he's all caught up on 'her'".
"I dunno about that", she smiled slyly.
Before I could reply, Mrs. Weasley called us down for dinner. Ginny and I made our way down to the kitchen leaving our previous conversation in the room.
Of course the boys were already at the tabled scoffing down their dinners. Ginny sat down next to her father leaving the only empty seat next to Ron, just my luck. We ate and the Weasley's caught me up on what was happening in the wizarding world.
Mr. Weasley told us about the extra precautions the ministry was putting in place at Hogwarts to make sure we were safe. He didn't go into details, the order believed that Voldemort had spies inside the ministry and that they were spying on those close to Harry.
Mid conversation there was a popping noise that made us all jump. Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts had apparated into the Weasley kitchen. Standing to his right was none other that Harry Potter.
"Harry!" the room shouted in unison.
Mrs. Weasley grabbed harry into a tight hug. And ushered him to the table, placing a plate of food in front of him. Mr. Weasley took Dumbledore and took him into the living room to talk.
When they returned, we were told to grab our things and that we would be spending the rest of the break at the hide out of the Order of the Phoenix. So it was of to grimauld place. We grabbed our things and gathered in the living room. One by one we were apparated to the hide out.
There when we arrived were a few familiar faces. We were greeted by our transfiguration profeser, Minerva McGonagall. The werewolf, Remus Lupin sat at the table in the kitchen with Mad eye moody.
Literally as soon as Harry's feet hit the ground, Lupin grabbed and took him into the kitchen to talk. The rest of us were told to go upstairs and put our things into our rooms. Ginny and walked our things up to what would be our room. As I walked into the room I collided with something I fell backwards onto Ginny.
"ow geez!" said a voice. I rolled my eyes.
I rolled my eyes; Of course she would be here. I opened my eyes and saw that I had walked right into Hermione. I stood up and helped Ginny to her feet.
"Hermione", I said walking past her into the room.
She didn't reply, I assumed she was going to find harry or Ron. Ginny and I unpacked a few things and went over to harry and ron's room. Ginny and I sat on the floor at the foot of Ron's bed. Ron and Harry were sitting on Ron's bed, while Hermione sat on Harry's.
"So what are they talking about down there?" I asked
"I don't really know I was kicked out as soon as Snape got there" he answered.
"What snape's here?" Ron blurted out.
"Yeah, he got here while I was talking to Lupin".
"He's such a git", Ginny blurted out.
There were loud pops and the twins appeared in the room. It startled me just a little. I wished that they would announce themselves or something before just apparating into the room.
"Was that foul language we just heard little sister?" Fred smirked.
Ginny stuck her tongue out at him. She never did take her brothers seriously, but then most of us didn't.
"Well then we won't ask you if you'd like to hear what's happening", George dangled something in front of us.
"What's that?" I asked curiously.
"Well my dear, this is what we have been working so hardly on," George explained.
"This is an extendable ear," Fred finished.
The boys walked out the door, and naturally we all followed. We got to the top of the stairs and the twins paused and turned around to look at us all.
"Alright observe".
George lowered the ear down until it stopped just outside the closed kitchen door. We all gathered around and listened. At first we couldn't hear anything, and then the voices came.
"He has a right to know", Lupin's voice said.
"He's too young for this kind of thing to be thrown at him", that voice was Mrs. Weasley.
"Now is not the time for us to be discussing this", Dumbledore spoke, but before we could hear the rest there was an interruption.
Hermione's cat crookshanks began to play with the ear. She pulled at it until it fell to the floor and she ran off with it in her mouth.
"Bad crookshanks!" Hermione whispered at her cat.
"Bloody thing," I muttered.
Hermione shot me a vicious look, which I happily returned. That cat had been nothing but problems since she got it.
"Well our prototype is ruined," George said as he stood up.
"Back to the drawing board."
Hermione apologized for crookshanks, but the boys just waved her off. They headed back the down stairs. Ginny and I followed Harry and Ron back to their room, with Hermione following closely behind.
Things became very secretive around the place after that. No one spoke about anything to do with Harry or Voldemort. If the conversations drew upon those topics we were sent up to our rooms, no arguments.
It was a long two weeks at that house. We were all relieved when the day came that we would be going back to Hogwarts. Ginny and I had packed everything up the night before and made sure we doubled checked everything before going down stairs for breakfast.
The tension in the kitchen was unmixable. No one spoke unless spoken to, it was a little unnerving. Lupin spoke to Harry alone one last time before we left for the station. We said goodbye to the twins and then we were off.
We arrived at the station and walked onto platform 9 and 3/4 just in time. The scarlet engine was just starting to fire up. After a tearful good bye hug from Mrs. Weasley, we lugged our trunks down the train in search of an empty compartment. We didn't find one, but we found a compartment only occupied by our good friend Luna Lovegood.
"Hey Luna mind if we join you?" I asked.
"Of course you may," she smiled.
Ron and Hermione said goodbye and made their way down to the prefect's compartment. Harry helped us put our trunks into the compartments and we say down with Luna. She went back to reading her Quibbler.
The train ride was long and was spent mostly very quiet. We were joined by Ron and Hermione when were about half way there. I stared out the window while Hermione went on about O. results and the classes we would be taking this year.
Harry explained to us that Snape wouldn't be taking potions this year, which please all of us. Dumbledore might trust Snape, but the rest of us still thought he was up to no good.
When we could see the school out the window, Ron and Hermione went back to the prefect's compartment. We were finally back. We quickly changed into our school robes and got our stuff ready. The train slowly pulled into the station. We could see Hagrid standing at the end of the platform waiting for all the first years. They would be taking the boats up to the castle as usual. Harry. Ginny, Luna and I left our trunks with Filch and got into one of the carriages that took us up to the castle.
This was the beginning of what I knew was going to be a very eventful year for all of us, we just didn't know it yet.