Today was the day eleven-year-old Brooke Weasley had been looking forward to for years. Her excitement showed as she practically danced around her room, her long red hair bouncing against her back and her dress tangling around her legs with each step. She didn't care, however, as she sang while moving around her room in search of her shoes.
"Shopping for Hog-warts! We're goooing shopping for Hooogwarts!"
Brooke danced her way over to her bed, pushing around the pile of stuffed animals and books as she tried to find her shoes. She was positive that she had kicked them off here after she came inside the night before, so they had to be around the window somewhere.
"Gonna get my wa-aand," Brooke continued to sing as she got on her hands and knees to check around the piles of clothes on the floor, "And where are you hid-ing, shooooes?"
"Brooke, shut up! Merlin, you sound like a banshee in here."
Brooke looked up, still on her hands and knees, and stared through a curtain of hair to see her older sister in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. People seldom believed that Brooke and Amelia were related, as there was very little in common in their appearance apart from their red hair and freckles. Amelia was pretty average in m height and build, while Brooke was awkwardly scrawny and taller than most her age, which meant Brooke was already starting to catch up to her sister in height.
"Have you seen my shoes, Amelia?" Brooke asked, sitting up and tucking her hair back, ignoring her sister's complaining.
"Why would I know where your shoes are?" Amelia asked, her blue eyes rolling towards the ceiling.
"Because last time my shoes disappeared it was because you decided to hide them in Godric's cage," Brooke said, referring to their family eagle owl—named Godric after one of the founders at Hogwarts. It was Amelia who had named him years before.
"Well, I didn't take them this time," Amelia said, "Maybe it was August?"
It was Brooke's turn to roll her eyes. August, Brooke and Amelia's brother, wasn't the type to pull pranks. He preferred hiding in his room, experimenting with Muggle things or playing Quidditch out in the yard with Henry—they were both part of their Quidditch teams, August for Gryffindor and Henry for Ravenclaw. Even though August could sometimes be absent-minded—half the time walking into a room and suddenly forgetting what he was doing—it definitely didn't go far enough that he'd mistakenly go into Brooke's room and, for some strange reason, steal her shoes.
"They were here at my bed," Brooke said, motioning around to the mess she was steadily increasing in her hunt for her shoes.
Amelia snorted, running a hand through her cut-short messy hair that she rarely seemed to ever comb down. She looked around at Brooke's mess, but didn't comment on it.
"I don't know where your shoes are," she said again, "But hurry up, Mum's nearly got breakfast done."
Amelia turned with that, leaving Brooke to her search. Brooke sighed, hoping that Amelia hadn't decided to hide her shoes again and continued her search. Luckily, she soon found them completely on the other side of the room under her desk that sat in a small nook under the only window to her room.
"Now how did you two get under there?" Brooke asked, sitting on the floor to pull the shoes on, fastening the straps, "I could have sworn you were by my bed."
Once ready, Brooke straightened her dress a bit and looked around the mess of her room. Her bedroom was small, with her bed against the wall and the nightstand between it and the door, and on the other side of the door the entire wall was taken up by her trunk and wardrobe, then the little nook to the front of the house where her desk sat at the window. Apparently, her room used to be storage space, until Brooke came along and they needed that extra bedroom. But Brooke liked her room. It was nice and comfortable and it suited her fine.
Brooke headed from her room, then down the stairs and into the dining room where Amelia was sitting with August. August and Amelia favored each other more than Brooke did, both of them being about average height and hair that stuck out at odd angles, though August often had his flattened down with a pair of Quidditch goggles he wore all the time for some unexplainable reason. Though, like Brooke, August's eyes were brown instead of the blue of Amelia's.
"Seems you found your shoes," Amelia said with a smirk as Brooke sat across from her siblings.
"About time, too," Bryt said as she scooped a pile of eggs on Brooke's plate, "That noise you were making up there, I was expecting to go up there and think a hurricane went through."
"Her room always looks like that," Ron said with a smirk.
"Wonder who she gets that from," Bryt replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, disappearing back through the door into the kitchen. Ron waited until Bryt was out of sight, then took a piece of bacon and held it down to feed the family's year-old dog.
"You better not be feeding Benny too much again," Bryt called from the other room.
"No, of course not!" Ron said quickly as he sat up. August and Amelia both laughed, and Brooke couldn't help but giggle herself.
In relation to their parents, Amelia was the one who looked most like their mother—despite not having the short and stocky stature, she favored their mother a lot in the shape of their faces—though she had the same red hair and blue eyes as their father and had an odd obsession with always wearing something pink. Brooke always thought it clashed horribly with her red hair, but Amelia insisted. August was more slim, like their father. Brooke was the one that took the most from the Weasley side of the family—and was often told she looked a lot like her Aunt Ginny, though her mother said she looked more like Ron. Both of these annoyed Brooke greatly. She hated being compared to others.
"Well, since Brooke's so great at finding things, maybe she can help me find my portable radio," August said, "It's gone missing, too."
The portable radio was relatively new to the wizarding world. Apparently, several years ago, a Muggleborn had been fascinated with wizard music but didn't like the radios that had to be shared with everyone in a room and the fact that he couldn't listen to the radio at home for fear of Muggle neighbors overhearing. After leaving Hogwarts, he had begun experimenting and finally created a portable radio with a Muggle thing called 'headphones' so someone could listen to music anywhere. Bryt once made the comment that portable radios looked a lot like something in the Muggle world called Walkmans.
"I'm sure it'll turn up eventually," Bryt said as she came back in the room, sitting down to her own plate of breakfast.
"Knowing you," Amelia said with a smirk at her older brother, "You probably should start looking in weird places. Like the bathroom or somewhere."
"That's not so weird," August said, wrinkling his nose, "I've left stuff in the bathroom all the time."
Brooke giggled, shaking her head as August and Amelia began arguing over what could count as a 'weird' place for August to have left his Portable radio. Brooke had to agree with Amelia on finding it, though. August often would put something down and forget about it for one reason or another, or mix things up on accident. Brooke had once found one of August's textbooks in the ice box, after all.
"Well, you don't need your portable radio today," Bryt finally cut off the older siblings.
"But—"
"No buts, August," Bryt said warningly, "You don't need it today."
August looked over at Ron, who shook his head, laughing.
"I'm not getting into this," he said, "Just do as your mother says. You can look for your portable radio when we get back home."
"Are we meeting up with everyone at the Leaky Cauldron?" Amelia asked, looking back to Bryt. Brooke looked up as well. She knew they almost always did shopping in Diagon Alley with the Potters and Garcías, and hoped today would be no different. Especially since her cousin, Albus, was going to be starting his first year too and Brooke was looking forward to shopping for school supplies with him.
"Yes, though I wouldn't be surprised if Hermione and Julio are already there with their kids," Bryt said, "Apparently, Henry made prefect this year."
"Hermione's going to be insufferable," Ron said with a groan, as if making a child making prefect was the worst thing to ever happen.
"Just be glad Henry did make prefect," Bryt said with a glare at her husband, "I'd hate to have been around Hermione and Julio if Henry hadn't."
Brooke had to agree with her mother. Both Aunt Hermione and Uncle Julio were very big on responsibilities. Aunt Hermione had even been prefect herself in Hogwarts, while Uncle Julio—who had gone to Salem Witch's Institute in the United States—had held the similar position of vice secretary, and later secretary, for his dorm. Henry seemed to take after them in both need for order and responsibility, and their brains—he had been Sorted into Ravenclaw, after all.
Brooke felt the first pang of nervousness since she had received her acceptance letter and school list. What House would she be Sorted into? And Albus? Would they even end up in the same House?
'Of course we will,' Brooke tried to tell herself, 'We're cousins.'
Though the excuse sounded lame even to her. She knew that families didn't always end up in the same House. After all, her Aunt Hermione had been a Gryffindor, but Henry was a Ravenclaw. Brooke's Uncle Drew, one of her mother's younger brothers, had been a Hufflepuff, and his son, Tyler—who was three years older than Brooke—was a Hufflepuff as well. Not to mention Uncle Percy's daughter, Molly, was a Ravenclaw.
'What if we don't get in Gryffindor? Or even in the same House?' Brooke thought, then with a sudden dread, 'What if we end up in Slytherin?'
Brooke had known that if she somehow ended up in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw that she would be okay as she had family in both Houses. But in Slytherin...Brooke didn't want to end up in that House at all. Not after the stories that her siblings and cousins kept telling her.
"Time to get going," Bryt said, pulling Brooke from her thoughts. Brooke got up, trying to push away the worry about what House she'd be in. It was easy enough, her excitement over getting school supplies taking control.
"Dad, can I get an owl?" Brooke asked as she followed behind her parents and siblings.
"Of course," Ron said with a grin, patting his daughter on the head, "Any owl you want."
Brooke grinned brightly at that. She had remembered, when Amelia got her owl two years before, seeing cages with small owls that she had liked. Amelia said that they were scops owls, and couldn't understand why anyone would want any type of owl the same size as a Pygmy Puff. Brooke definitely liked them, though, and planned to get one as her owl while in Diagon Alley.
"Ron, you first," Bryt said, pulling the jar of Floo Powder off the fireplace mantle and holding it out towards her husband.
Ron nodded, taking a handful of powder and tossing it into the fireplace, turning the flames an emerald green. He stepped into the flames and, with a clear "Diagon Alley", was gone. August followed behind, then Amelia, Brooke, and Bryt.
"Brooke!"
Albus Potter was the first person Brooke saw as she stepped out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, mainly because the boy had run up to her with an excited grin. With his messy black hair and bright green eyes, the boy looked a lot like his father.
"Hey Al!" Brooke said happily, "Can you believe we're finally going to go to Hogwarts? I can't wait!"
"Can't you two give it a rest already?" James, Albus's one-year-older brother, asked with a groan, rolling his brown eyes.
"Oh, stop complaining," Fí said with a toothy grin, ruffling James's dark auburn hair, "We were just as excited last year, remember?"
Fí García was Aunt Hermione and Uncle Julio's younger child. She had rather large front teeth, dark brown eyes, and a mess of wildly bushy brown hair that seemed to make her mother's seem tame. And, unlike both of her parents, Fí was mischievous, often loving to tease and prank others. Which was why she was such close friends with James.
Brooke noticed her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were waiting there as well, but not Uncle Julio, Aunt Hermione, nor Henry.
"Dad had to work," Fí said, noticing Brooke looking around, "Mum's at Flourish and Blotts with Henry. He's looking to see if there's a book for him to try and learn Norwegian."
"Why does he want to learn Norwegian?" Albus asked.
Fí shrugged.
"The Triwizard Tournament's at Durmstrang next year," August answered, "Henry just makes the cut to be able to go. He asked his head of House at the end of last year to ask what language he should start learning to get on better with Durmstrang students."
"Why didn't he get a book back then?" Brooke asked.
"'Cause Mum and Dad don't want him going," Fí said, "They kept putting off getting him the book and forbade him from getting it himself or getting a friend to get it for him. Probably hoping he'd give up. But when he made Prefect, they promised to get him whatever he wanted. He decided to get a translation book. They couldn't back out of it this time."
"Henry's too much of a bookworm to be a Hogwarts Champion," James said, "Sucks that by the time it comes back to Hogwarts, I'll have left. That just isn't fair."
"Especially since we'd miss it by only a year!" Fí added.
"Oi!" Ron called from the back door of the Leaky Cauldron, "What's keeping you? I thought you were excited to get school supplies, Brooke!"
Brooke exchanged a bright grin with Albus and the two hurried off after Ron while Fí and James followed behind. With the excitement of finally getting her wand, the thoughts of something that wouldn't happen for another year was pushed fully from her mind.
Their first stop was Gringotts. Neither of Brooke nor Albus liked riding in the carts, so they were allowed to wait outside—and only then because Henry and Aunt Hermione had returned from Flourish and Blotts so they could watch the two.
Brooke watched people walking by—and occasionally passing them on the steps on their way in or out from Gringotts—feeling annoyed. She and Albus were elven years old—and Brooke would be twelve in just a few months—yet their parents didn't trust them to do as much as sit by themselves in front of Gringotts for half an hour. Brooke glanced at Henry, who had already immersed himself in his translation book, apparently trying to mouth out the pronunciations as he read over it. Aunt Hermione was beside him, occasionally glancing at the book with an annoyed expression. At least Henry was enjoying himself. Though Brooke was sure that if he wanted to go off by himself somewhere, Uncle Julio and Aunt Hermione would let him.
"Okay, money taken care of."
Brooke and Albus both looked up to see their parents had come back out, James and Fí right behind them as well as the youngest Potter child, Lily. Two years younger than Brooke and Albus, Lily looked a lot like her mother, with the same red hair and dark brown eyes, and even the shape of her face was very similar. Brooke thought Lily, at least, looked more like Aunt Ginny than she did—despite what people kept telling her.
Bryt grinned as she looked over at Ron, "I'm going to go with Ginny to get their books, potion supplies, and all of that. Why don't you and Harry go with them to get their wands and robes? We'll meet up at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."
"Sounds good," Ron said with a nod. Bryt and Aunt Ginny both gave their husbands a quick kiss before leaving, Aunt Hermione and Henry going with them, despite the fact they'd just come from the bookstore. Fí and James both said something about wanting ice cream and headed off on their own as well, so that left Albus and Brooke with Ron and Uncle Harry.
As they headed to Ollivander's, Brooke and Albus began talking about what they were most excited for at Hogwarts. Brooke was eager for their Potions classes and both she and Albus were looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts, though Brooke was also a bit wary. James and Fí both insisted that Emily Hughes, the Defense Against Dark Arts professor, was a cruel and terrifying woman. Though Henry tried to reassure them that James and Fí were only trying to scare them, it still left Brooke on edge about the class. Of course, she would learn about it soon enough.
Besides their classes, both cousins were also looking forward to the Quidditch season, though Albus began to talk excitedly about starting to train up to try out for the team next year. Brooke was fine keeping her feet on the ground, however. She was terrified of heights. She much preferred to watch the sport than play it.
They reached Ollivander's and went inside, passing a mother and her daughter just leaving. The store was quite brightly lit and almost creepily clean, not a speck of dust or a single box out of place. It was a bit unnerving, really. Brooke couldn't help but think that there could be such a thing as 'too clean'.
"Hogwarts, both of you?" a young man grinned brightly as they came in. He was nicely dressed and seemed a bit eager to have customers.
"I don't remember you last year," Harry said slowly.
"Oh, no, I was just apprenticing then," the man said with a bright grin, "I'm John Ollivander. I just took over fully last month."
"Probably not the best thing to tell customers," Ron muttered behind Brooke. That suddenly made Brooke nervous.
"Don't worry, I'm quite good at what I do," Ollivander said, "And I'm fast. Most wands one of mine has had to try is five!"
He sounded very proud of himself at that and Brooke glanced at Albus next to her. She wasn't sure if she was reassured by that or not.
Luckily for them, Ollivander wasn't exaggerating when it came to the wands. The man really did seem to have a knack for picking out the right wand. After only three tries, Albus had his new wand—ash wood, twelve inches, with a unicorn hair core. Brooke received hers on the second—sycamore, thirteen inches, and a dragon heartstring core. The wands were paid for and they left the shop, Albus and Brooke admiring their own and comparing them to each other. Brooke couldn't wait to get home and try out some spells.
Robe shopping took a lot longer, mainly in the wait for their measurements to be taken, then several sets of robes to be made. Once they were finally done, they headed for Eeylops Owl Emporium. Brooke was quick to pick out a scops owl, whom she immediately named Tina—a name she'd had picked out for quite some time. Albus chose a long eared owl, but said he didn't know what to name him yet.
Once they had everything, Ron and Uncle Harry led the way to Uncle George's shop. This was Brooke and Albus's favorite place in Diagon Alley. It was always crowded and busy, but Uncle George always took a couple of minutes to say hello to his family. Brooke noticed her cousins Fred, who was three years older than herself, and Roxanne, who was four years younger than her, over by the cash register. Roxanne was sitting on the counter, talking excitedly, while Fred, wearing the magenta work robes, was helping a customer. Both were dark-skinned and dark-haired, taking after their mother, so they didn't quite match the description one got of a 'Weasley'.
The rest of the family was already in the crowded store. Brooke saw Amelia had noticed her friend, Willow Wood, over by self-inking quills and the two girls had started chatting. August was by himself, intently studying the shelf of invisible hats as if he could figure out how they were made just by staring at them long enough. August did that a lot, Brooke noticed. She always thought it was weird.
Fí and James were, unsurprisingly, making their way through the store, both of them already holding armloads of supplies. Henry was over in a corner, again unsurprisingly, reading. Lily was over with Aunt Ginny, looking at the pigmy puffs, and Brooke saw her mother and Aunt Hermione talking near the register. Bryt kept looking towards Fí and James, however. Brooke had a feeling her mother was trying to run interference and keep the two from buying too much to sneak to Hogwarts.
"What do you think Uncle George will put in our kits?" Albus asked quietly, making sure they were out of earshot of their parents.
"I don't know," Brooke shook her head, "Though from what I've heard, I hope there's some daydream charms. Those will come in handy in History of Magic."
Uncle George did this with all of the family during their first year at Hogwarts. He called them his "Hogwarts Survival Kits". He'd give each of them a kit of assorted Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes 'carefully hand-picked to custom-fit each child, niece, or nephew'.
"I'd prefer a box of Skiving Snackboxes," Albus said, "A whole mix of them."
"Oh, those would be good..." Brooke said slowly, grinning, "I'd love some fake wands."
"I could use some spell-check quills..."
"Just be careful," Brooke said, "Dad told me they wear off after time."
The two continued to theorize on what they could be getting when the moment finally came and Brooke heard her Uncle George calling for her and Albus. The two grinned at each other, then worked their way through the crowd towards where their uncle was in the back corner.
"Now, I hear you two are starting your first year of Hogwarts," Uncle George said with his usual mischievous grin, "And something every young Weasley, or Potter, needs is a Survival Pack. Something to help them live through the dullness of classes."
Brooke and Albus exchanged an excited grin. The moment they were both waiting for.
"Of course, your parents wouldn't approve of this," George said, "And they've caught on after James and Fí last year, so I'll have to send you two yours by owl once you're at Hogwarts—but don't worry, you'll both get them before you start classes."
"Can you at least tell us what's in them?" Albus asked eagerly.
George chuckled.
"Where's the joy in surprise if I tell you?" he asked, ruffling Albus's short hair, "Now hurry on, before your parents start coming over here to ask too many questions."
George hurried off to a nearby customer and Brooke looked back at her cousin.
"I can't believe we have to wait until we're at school," Albus said with a groan.
"Remind me to clobber James and Fí," Brooke looked over, glaring at the two, "If they'd just been a bit more subtle, we'd have our kits now."
"Those two are never subtle."
Brooke couldn't help but agree. James and Fí were the type who thought if they weren't attracting the attention of half the street around them, then it wasn't worth doing. They excelled at getting in trouble.
"Ready to go, Brooke?"
Brooke looked over her shoulder to see her mother had come up to them. She also noticed that James and Fí looked quite put out, leaving the shop empty-handed. It looked like they got caught trying to get away with getting a bit too much from Uncle George's store.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Brooke said with a nod. Bryt grinned at her in response.
"Okay, let's go," she said, starting for the door, "And I hope that I won't be receiving letters from the school about the trouble you're causing with whatever it is your uncle will be sending you," Bryt said.
Brooke glanced at Albus next to her. The way mothers knew when something was up despite the fact there's no way they should was always creepy. Brooke wasn't going to say that, though.
"I'll be perfectly well-behaved, Mum," she said instead.
"I'll believe that when I don't get the letters."
"What trust she has in us," Brooke muttered and Albus snorted next to her.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, Mum," Brooke said with a grin as they left the store. The rest of the family was already there—except for the Garcías. Uncle Harry said that Aunt Hermione wanted to head on home so the kids could get an early start on packing.
Bryt watched Brooke for a moment, with that 'mum look' that made Brooke squirm and want to blurt every wrong thing she'd done in her life, from sneaking the parts of her food she didn't want to their dog, to sneaking out of the house with her dad's wand that one time to try and practice magic. That resulted in a nice hole in the fence near the garden, which Brooke avoided even getting into the conversation of how that one had happened.
But then Bryt looked away, leading them back down the street and Brooke breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted.