Dear Miss Weasley,

For several weeks now, we have been in contact with the headmistress of the Salem Institute of Magic, regarding a possible transfer student, Miss Victoria Hornwood. This afternoon, we received an owl from Miss Hornwood that all the preparation from her side were complete. Yesterday, she and her father portkeyed to London, where they have rented an apartment for the rest of the school year.

We were hoping that you, as Head Girl, would take on the responsibility of helping Miss Hornwood find her way during the coming school year. She will also be a 7th year. We understand you will be busy with your studies and normal Head duties, but we would really appreciate it if you would try to be friends with Miss Hornwood, which would ease the transition for her. Mister Hornwood would probably appreciate some help with finding his way in London as well. We hope you can find the time to visit them sometime in the coming weeks and help them with whatever they need.

We greatly appreciate your continued commitment to Hogwarts, and look forward to seeing you on the first of September, as usual.

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Wizardry

When Rose finished reading the letter, she reread it. And then she reread it again. After reading the letter for what was probably the 7th time, she still couldn't believe it. It wasn't the fact that Hogwarts would have a transfer student for the first time since 1912. Or even that she came all the way from America, from the prestigious Salem Institute of Magic, where some of the greatest witches from the 21st century had been educated. It was the fact that the transfer student in question would be Victoria Hornwood, supposedly one of the greatest witches Salem had seen in years.

Her mother, Hermione, had traveled to Salem last year to give a lecture on Advanced Arithmancy. When she came home, she had told Rose about Victoria, commenting she reminded her of Rose and herself back when she was still in school. Her mother had told her she would love for the two of them to meet sometime. Neither of them had thought that it would really be something that would happen in the foreseeable future, though.

But it wasn't only Victoria she was excited to meet, but her Mister Hornwood as well. He was one of the leaders in the American potions field at the moment. Because of the lack of interaction between the American and European wizarding communities, it had taken some time for his research to get recognition here in Great Britain, but Rose had read some of his articles in the major Potions Journals her mother received every few months. His research was pretty much unpreceded, combining established potions knowledge with Muggle Science, leading to very interesting and satisfactory results.

To be able to meet both a witch her age, with whom she could have a decent conversation about her studies, such as Miss Hornwood, and a great Potions researcher such as Mister Hornwood, was a dream come true for Rose.

She pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment from the box on her right, and immediately started on a letter to this Victoria Hornwood.

Dear Miss Hornwood,

I just got an owl from our headmistress, informing me we would be having a transfer student coming school year. Let me just tell you what an honour it is to have someone over from the prestigious Salem Institute of Magic, especially someone as gifted as you.

My name is Rose Weasley, and I am this year's Head Girl at Hogwarts. As such, I will be helping you find your way around London during the summer holidays, and will also be available for any questions you have during your stay at Hogwarts. However, you will find that once we are at Hogwarts, there will be many others who can help you as well.

I imagine you and your father will have many questions regarding London, our wizarding community and the Hogwarts curriculum. I think it would be a good idea to meet as soon as is convenient for the both of you. I realise your apartment might still be in a state of disarray, and you are more than welcome to visit me at my family home if that would be more convenient. However, I also understand it might be a bit overwhelming for you to meet many new people at once, and our home tends to be a bit crowded with family.

Please owl back with what you would find preferable, and when. I hope to hear from you soon.

Rose Weasley

She looked over her letter once more and hesitated. She still thought the overall style of the letter might be a bit too formal, but she didn't want to risk offending Miss Hornwood, especially since she didn't really know what kind of treatment she was used to. Eventually, she decided too formal would always be better than too informal, and she carefully folded the letter and put it in an envelope. She copied the address Headmistress McGonagall had provided her with and beckoned over Archimedes, her own owl.

"Archimedes, could you deliver this letter for me, please?"

Archimedes turned his head, as if waiting for further instructions.

"I don't know if she will have had the opportunity to bring her own owl with her, or get a new one already, so please wait there a while to see if she wants to send a letter back to me, okay?"

The owl gave out a soft hoot in answer, before he picked up the letter and flew out of the window, into the slowly darkening evening sky.

AN: I was originally planning on finishing a couple more chapters before starting to post it online, but then I realised today marks the 15th birthday of the Harry Potter books. Exactly 15 years ago, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in the United Kingdom. I couldn't exactly let this moment go unnoticed, could I?

This is going to be my first multi-chapter, so I would love to hear what you guys think. In other words: please review! ^^