Chapter 1: Summer Fun

Dear Hermione,

I'm really glad you and Ron are having some quality time semi-alone before Harry and I get to the Burrow in a few days. I'm so happy here, if you'd believe it! So is Harry, if he hasn't told you already. Alone, I'm sure both of us would be miserable, but between the two of us, we're giving those idiots hell. Wish us luck in driving them to the loony bin so we don't have to come back next summer!

See you soon,

Mara

Mara rolled up the parchment and gave it to Mason. "Take it to Hermione at the Burrow, okay, Mason?" She petted the grey bird before watching it fly off.

"HARRY! MARA!" Dear God, that man made their names sound like curses. She was having fun tormenting them, but she couldn't wait to get out of here. Rolling her eyes, she stomped down the stairs, knowing it would make him madder.

"I told you, girl, never to stomp down those stairs!" He was definitely purple already.

"Fine, then. I'll use my broomstick next time." She stared him down, smiling sweetly. And she very well would. Her threats were never empty. And he knew it.

He grumbled something like, "Stupid boy… bringing home a girlfriend…"

She raised an eyebrow, ready to defend Harry, when he came down the stairs quietly. She broke out into a smile. After hearing him grumble, she knew what she was about to do would really make him even angrier. Of course, she would have wanted to do it anyway, but… that was a plus.

"Hey, Harry," she said, just before kissing him. When she pulled away a little, she whispered, "I've been having some fun with your uncle while you were gone… He's gone about 5 shades darker since I came down." They both laughed.

"What did you want?" He asked his uncle, who had a face now the shade of eggplants.

"I got a letter. From one of your friends, through the postman."

They exchanged glances. It was odd, and Mara had no idea who it could be from. Harry knew. He knew the address was Weasley, and the author was none other than Arthur, Ron's dad. He did love Muggle things…

"It's not from one of my friends. It's his father. And it'll be about Mara and my leaving to go to his house, in three days, until school starts. Just like every year."

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say. I suppose you'd like to read it, then?"

"I would," Mara said. "If you please." She snatched the letter out of his plump hands.

She scanned it. Harry was right. It was from Mr. Weasley, and they were to be leaving to come to his house… that night. Wait a minute, she thought. I thought it was in a few days, not a few hours!

"Harry…" She showed him that part of the letter. "We've miscalculated." She looked up at the eggplant-like man. "Sorry, Uncle," she said, grinning, knowing the nonchalant use of "uncle" coming from her would make him even madder. "It seems we're leaving in a few hours. Excuse us while we pack." Harry handed him back the letter, and they turned to the cupboard to gather their trunks. They trudged them up to their room.

Now, most people would think it scandalous for a boyfriend and girlfriend to room for a summer. But the Dursleys thought they were already… well, that intimate with each other, even though they weren't. So, the story had been that they were long-lost friends. That taking her in had been a favor to Harry's mother's memory.

And that the part about them kissing and such was because they had developed a relationship. Although, the Dursleys told their neighbors, they did not approve, and they had rooms on the opposite ends of the house.

They sickened her. She couldn't wait to get out – the only happiness here was Harry and, sometimes, annoying, angering, or scaring those idiots. And those little spells had gotten boring… except with Dudley. Using magic on the pig never lost its appeal. Especially when double teaming him. In their room, though, they found the annoying over-sized piece of bacon going through their things.

"Excuse me?" Mara asked him, leaning in the doorway. "What do you think you're doing?"

He quickly turned around at the sound of her voice – amazingly fast for someone of his size, actually. "I… I, uh…"

"That's what I thought. Now," she said, raising her wand and waving it, "Scuttle, scoot, remove, or else get the boot!" She made the phrase sound like a spell, and the idiot thought it was one. And, if his speed before was amazing… well, let's just say he got out of that room as if a snake were at his chubby heels.

"Or else get the boot?" Harry questioned, eyebrows raised.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Mara's eyes sparkled as she said this. "Besides, it got him out of here faster than the smell of frying bacon."

"When you're right, you're right." His gaze drifted to their trunks. "I suppose we'd better start packing, then?"

"When you're right, you're right," she parroted, and began stowing her magical items, books, and clothing into the large trunk. When she finished, she placed Mason's cage on top. She looked over and saw Harry, too, had finished. They sat on the bed. "Well," she said, "how long 'til we leave?"

"I'd say a good…" He glanced at his watch, but while he did, he heard a loud word come from his uncle. "Now."

"We're up here," she called down the stairs. She heard loud footsteps run up the stairs, and grinned at how it would be affecting "Uncle Vernon". She saw the twins and Ron. "Hi, guys!"

"Would someone like to explain why the gent downstairs looks so…" Fred started to ask.

"…Violently violet?" George finished. Or, at least, she thought it was Fred and then George. One could barely tell with those two.

"Oh," Mara grinned, "I've just been tormenting him, the stick of a woman Harry calls an aunt, and that tub of lard they produced all summer. He's been that color since I got in their car after getting off the train."

The twins smiled approvingly, and simultaneously said, "Good job!" Ron and Harry just grinned.

"Well," Ron said, "let's get you and these trunks to home before there's an explosion." Harry nodded, and helped them. Mara would have, but… Well, for one, she was "a girl," as they told her, two, she wasn't needed, and three, she didn't really feel like it.

And soon they were on the way to the place they had first met the lively, dark-haired, blue-eyed girl.