Chapter 1 – The Letter and The Trip

Hermione Granger ran upstairs, hoping for an extremely important letter from her school, Hogwarts. She pushed through her bedroom to find a large, brown barn owl perched on the window's ledge with a large envelope in its beak. She reached into a brown, leather pouch on her desk, pulled out an owl treat and took the envelope. She turned it over and found the maroon seal. The seal itself was as magical as the place it came from. It was the size of a galleon and was inscribed with the letter 'H' and had a serpent, badger, lion, and raven on the crest

"Finally!"she exclaimed. She ripped the envelope open and pulled out a stack of papers.

"Booklist, subscribe to this and that, supply list, welcome back…" she muttered to herself. She took a look at the next piece of paper and gasped.

'Congratulations Ms. Granger,' it read 'you have been selected by your fellow Gryffindor to represent your house as prefect, please report to the prefect's compartment after you have boarded the train. You will meet the three other prefects from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, and once again congratulations!

Have a nice day,

Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress

"This is really quite wonderful!" she cried. "I'm a prefect. I've got to tell Ron and Harry." As if they heard her, a tiny, brown screech owl zoomed through the window, crashing into everything inside the room knocking over a picture frame.

"Pig! Look what you did!" This tiny nuisance was obviously Ron's owl because no other owl could or would ever have that much energy.

"Come here you!" She cried as she crashed into her desk, smashing her left shoulder. "OUCH!", "Pig!" When she finally caught the owl, she pulled the tiny slip of paper out, and tossed him an owl treat, and surprisingly Hermione managed to calm the ball of energy down a little bit.

Hermione,

How's your summer. I will be expecting more homework hints (just joking). Anyway you know that my dad works for the Ministry and uh, well they're department decided that experiencing the Muggle world will have a better impact on their department rather than watch them in a cage. So, dad got the great idea of canping or something like that. It's when muggles go into the wilderness and live there for a few days in a hut made of cloth, but you probably know all about it already, considering you're Muggle-born and you took Muggle Studies. Stupid if you ask me. Well we're going canping for 3 days and afterwards, we'll head back to the Burrow. A couple of days later, I think we're heading to Diagon Alley for our school things. Ask your parents and write to me soon as you get this letter.

Ron

P.S. Harry's here already, he can't wait to get away from those muggles of his.

'Canping, seriously what was he thinking!"

"Mum!"

"Yes darling?" her mum shouted from downstairs.

"Can I go camping with the Weasleys? Tomorrow?" she said as she ran back downstairs, but then turned back remembering that Pig was still in her room and that she would probably need him to write Ron back. "Pig stay right here." She warned him tossing him a couple more owl treats, than closing the window.

"Did they invite you?" her mum's voice came again

"Yes, they also told me to spend the rest of summer there! Can I please?" Now, she was finally downstairs.

"Certainly, but how will you get there?"

"Probably by Floo Network."

"Floo Network?"

"Yes mum, remember? Traveling by fire?"

"Oh yes, well OK then, what time will you be leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning around 11:00"

"OK, well you better tell Ron before that owl of his flies away!" she winked

"Oh right!" She hurried back to her room and pulled out some parchment and her favorite quill as she started her note back to Ron.

Ron,

I'm fine, but really Ron, it's camping not "canping' or whatever you wrote.. Honestly Ron you should have been the one taking Muggle Studies. I can go and can you ask your father to connect our fireplace to the Floo Network just for tomorrow?

See you then,

Hermione

P.s. Tell Harry I said hi

P.S.S. You really need find a way to control Pig!

She tied the note to Pig's twitching led with difficulty, then let him fly off. The next morning she got up early and started packing at 8:30 About an hour later, Hermione left her bedroom and descended down the staircase of the flat they owned.

She greeted her parents and went downstairs to watch television until 11:00. When the grandfather clock struck 11:00 she yelled upstairs to her parents.

"Mum, Dad I'm leaving!"

"Bye darling. We'll miss you." They both gave her a enormous hug and kisses. Her father helped her put her trunk into the fireplace as she stepped in.

"I'll be back for the Christmas holidays so don't worry," she told them. "Love you," she said as she took a handful of Floo powder and stepped into the fireplace, green flames licking at her feet. "The Burrow," she cried out. Seconds later she arrived at the Weasley's welcoming living room.

"Hermione! How was your summer?" greeted Mrs. Weasley with a warm hug. "Go on upstairs. Harry, Ron and Ginny are up there. To tell you the truth they think you're arriving at 2:00"

"But didn't I-"

"-Send and owl, yes but I was the one who received it and I thought I'd surprise them a little. Go on up"

She climbed the familiar squeaky stairs that lead to Ron's room. As she opened the door Ginny jumped off of Harry and ran over to Hermione with a bear-sized hug.

"Hermione, we weren't expecting you until 2."

"Uh, hey Hermione." Harry said nervously.

"Hermione you weren't supposed to come until two!" Ron said in very surprised voice

"Oh, I wrote to you, but your mum got the note; she wanted to surprise you three."

"Oh, right of course. Uh, so how've you been?" Ron said nervously.

"What's wrong with them?" She asked Ginny.

"Oh it nothing really-" but she was cut off by Hermione.

"Oh well, I'll find out sooner or later. Anyways I've go-" but she was interrupted by Ron.

"What do you mean what's wrong with us?" Ron said very suddenly.

"You know perfectly well what I mean, after five years I will always know that you two are up to something." She shot back.

"But that doesn't mea-"

"Guys, Hermione just got here and you two are already arguing." Ginny said breaking the glare the two were shooting at each other.

"Anyways I've got some news." She started again, still glaring at Ron.

"Is it good?" Harry asked

"Quite good actually-" she was then again cut off by Ron.

"Well hurry than, don't keep us waiting."

"I will, but then you interrupt-"

"Ron will you just shut up!"

"As I was saying, I've made prefect, I'm Gryffindor's new prefect."

"I told you!" Ron shouted happily at Harry. Hermione shot a confusing look at Ginny, who shook her head. Ron ran over to Hermione and gave her a big hug. "You just earned me 10 galleons." In return he got a smack on the head.

"YOU TWO WERE BETTING ON WHETHER I WAS GOING TO BE PREFECT OR NOT!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"You noticed that they were nervous the minute you stepped into the room." Ginny told the enraged Hermione, then she turned to the two boys, "I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU!" she yelled at them.

CRACK!

Two identical redheads appeared in the middle of the room.

"We heard some female screeching noises-" Fred said

"-and we knew you were here." George finished.

"You don't want to bottle up all that anger, let it all out, there might be someone 90 miles away who didn't hear you." Fred said. Hermione scowled at him.

"By the way congratulation on making prefect, we heard you."

"Thanks." She said through gritted teeth.

"So everyone all psyched up about the canping trip?" George said put an arm around Harry's shoulder and the other around Ron's.

"Camping trip George, camping trip." Hermione corrected.

"Dad said that other people from the Minstery will be going." Ron said shrugging George's arm off.

"Really, I thought it was only going to be the 11 of us?" Ginny said.

"11, but there's only 9 of us?" Harry responded.

"Charlie and Bill are com-." Fred started to answered.

BOOM!

The twins looked up as dust fell from the ceiling.

"Love to stay- " George started.

"- but we're needed upstairs." And with another loud CRACK the disappeared again. A second later they heard Mrs. Weasley's voice calling them for lunch. The gang hurried down and met Fred and George with black smudges on their faces and really messy hair. It was obvious that, that loud BOOM they heard had something to do with it.

"Fred, George what in the name on Merlin were you guys doing? It better not be another one of your silly inventions."

"Those silly inventions are going to make us rich someday." Fred whispered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing mum, we were just fooling around," said George.

"So are we going to eat or what?" asked Ron eying the sandwiches on the table.

"You guys help yourselves, Fred, George come with me."

"I wasn-"

"You need cleaning up before eating." She said scrubbing George's nose with a piece of cloth."

"Mumgetoff," they cried as they managed to get away from their mother. Ron and Harry already cramming as much food as they could down their throats, while Hermione and Ginny ate quietly.

"Boys! Slow down before you choke yourselves!" Mrs. Weasley chided. They merely nodded and started eating again. Mrs. Weasley sighed, but turned to Hermione and Ginny. "Hermione dear how is your summer so far?"

"Quite fine, I already got a letter from Hogwarts, and I'm Gryffindor's new prefect!"

"That's wonderful dear, I'm sure you'll be great! I know lets celebrate."

"Oh no, Mrs. Weasley, I don't want to give you any more trouble."

"Nonsense! We've got to celebrate, we did when Percy and Bill became prefects."

"Oh, alright then."

"Boy! Slow down for the sake of Merlin!"

"No need, we're done" the twins said together. "We're going to go out for some Quidditch." George said.

"Me too!" Ron followed, pushing his plate to the middle of the table.

"Thanks for lunch Mrs. Weasley." Harry shouted as he followed the three boys upstairs to get their broomsticks. Mrs. Weasley sighed. The girls finished soon after and helped Mrs. Weasley clear the table and wash the dishes. The boys played Quidditch all afternoon while Ginny and Hermione talked about what was going on in the wizard world. Before they knew it, day had turned into night and darkness took over once more.

"BOYS, TIME TO COME IN!" Mrs. Weasley shouted outside. About two seconds later four boy came tumbling in, sweaty and dirty.

"Gross," yelled Ginny dragging Hermione away from them.

"What for dinner?" Fred asked ignoring his little sister.

"Boys go clean up first, then you can eat," Mrs. Weasley said, not turning away from the roast beef she protruded out of the oven.

"But mum-" Ron started.

"You and Harry use the upstairs bathroom, and Fred and George can use the one on the third floor. Girls can you wash up for dinner please?"

"Where should we go?" Hermione asked politely.

"You and Ginny can use the one on the fourth floor."

"That's not fair!" the three Weasley brothers shouted. Harry and Hermione had a look of confusion on their faces.

"The restroom on the fourth floor is the best. It has basically anything in it and it is huge," explained Ginny. She started to drag Hermione up the stairs before Fred and George could get up there. Inside the bathroom, a huge white tub sat in one corner and hundreds of taps for soap surrounded it. Two hours later the girls went downstairs changed and ready to eat and were surprised to find the boys already seated in their spots. Hermione also noticed two unfamiliar redheads sitting at the table engaged in a deep conversation with the other four. She predicted these to be Bill and Charlie. One had short hair and looked much like a older version of Ron, the other had long hair in a ponytail and a left earring in his ear.

"Oh Hermione dear, I don't believe you've met Bill or Charlie. Bill, Charlie, come here." And as she predicted the two older boys came striding over. "Bill, Charlie this is Hermione." She introduced.

"So this is the famous Hermione. The same one that concocted polyjuice potion her third year." She one with the short hair said holding out his hand.

"Yes, pleasure to meet you…"

"Charlie."

"Pleasure to meet you Charlie."

"The pleasure is all mine." Hermione turned to the other boy.

"You must be Bill then." She said holding out her hand.

"Right you are." He said as he kissed the back of her hand. She hadn't seen this coming. Even though she did not meet the two boys, she thought Bill would be an older version of the stuck-up Percy, who was still in his room. They all settled down at the table, after ten minutes of waiting for Mr. Weasley to come back they decided to start dinner.

"Mum, what time are we leaving tomorrow?" ask Ginny reaching for the bowl of salad.

"Around nine dear." She answered handing her the salad bowl.

"Well, how are we going to get there?" she asked again, putting the bowl right next to George.

"You'll have to ask your father on that one."

Suddenly, the clock chimed.

The Mr. Weasley hand on Weasley's clock was pointing to traveling and five seconds later he arrived at the front door. Of course only the ladies and Percy noticed because the others were still caught up in a deep conversation on Quidditch. A chorus of 'Hi Mr. Weasley' and 'Hi Dad' came from the group that was paying attention.

"Ahem, can I have your attention?" Mr. Weasley said to the entire family. Only the ladies and Percy looked up. "Boys!" Six heads popped up looking for where the sound came from.

"Oh, hi dad, when did you home?" Fred said with an enormous grin plastered on his face.

"About ten minutes ago." Hermione answered shooting an annoyed look at the twins. "When you six were still talking."

"Anyways we're leaving at about 9:00 tomorrow morning, the Minstry has kindly let us borrow a car. There will be others joining us. And Oh! No magic allowed whatsoever."

"NO magic! Dad!" Fred and George complained to their father at the same time.

"Whoever uses magic except your mother and I, from tomorrow morning will be shipped back here before you can say canping!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and didn't bother correcting him.

"If that's the case I'll do magic the first thing tomorrow." Ron whispered to the two of them. Soon enough the tables were cleared and everyone went to their rooms to pack except Mr. and Mrs. Weasley (they were already prepared). Hermione, (who's been camping before) finished first and helped the others. Everyone was in bed and all lights were out. In the middle of the night Harry got up grabbed his invisibility cloak and headed towards the kitchen for a glass of water. When he got to the top of the first steps he heard voices, he stopped and listened and there were definitely voices.

'Aren't Mr. and Mrs. Weasley suppose to be in bed at this time?' He thought. Then he glanced at his watch, 3:30 am. He debated on whether or not to listen. Following the 'James' personality in him he leaned in to hear what their saying.

"Authur! I will not! I will not put…children or Harry much less, in danger!"

"Molly they are of ag-"

Harry tried to move down another step not remembering that the nest step was broken and squeaked horribly

"Shhhh, I heard something." They paused and listened. Harry held his breath and froze as Mrs. Weasley crept towards the stairs. Harry racked in his brain to find something to do as cover-up but like his body his brain also froze. Mrs. Weasley crept closer and closer. Harry shut his eyes and prepared for a long lecture from Mrs. Weasley. Closer and closer, she was three feet away from him now.

"Molly, nobody's there, come here."

Reluctantly Mrs. Weasley turned back and headed towards the kitchen again.

"Authur, I beg you, please don't do this."

"Molly, we already promised them."

"They're just kids!"

"They are of age!"

"Fine, fine I can't argue over you, but I will not forgive you if anything happends to my children or Harry.

"Molly, I assure you they will be perfectly safe. After all it's only a warning they're not positive. Now go to sleep."

Mrs. Weasley nodded and headed towards the stairs again. Harry crept silently but quickly upstairs. He shut the door behind him and got into bed.

'What did they mean?' ' Who is 'he'?' 'Why will we be in danger?'

Suddenly he felt a sharp, stinging pain slash across his forehead. Harry grabbed his forehead and shoved his head into the pillow, and fell into deep slumber.