Fourteen year old, Leila Potter lay awake on her top bunk staring at the shadows the trees played on the ceiling. It wasn't that she didn't want to sleep, because she did. In fact she loved sleeping; but tonight it was that she couldn't sleep. Her twin brother, older than her by a mere eleven minutes, was below her was thrashing in his bed and muttering to himself. She just wanted it to stop so that she could go back to sleep. She had tried everything she could think of: pulling her pillow over her head, throwing a book at her brother…yet nothing seemed to work. After a few more moments (that seemed like forever) Leila heard her brother sit up in his bed and reach for his glasses that were placed on the desk beside their bunk bed. Leila flung the top half of her body over the edge of her bed so that she could see her brother who was drenched in his own sweat. Harry yelped in surprise at seeing his sister awake and hanging upside down in front of him. Leila crinkled her nose at her brother because she could practically smell him.
"Bloody hell, Leila," Harry hissed. "What're you doing?"
"I could ask you the same," Leila retorted.
"Couldn't sleep," Harry shrugged.
"Me either; but who could with your thrashing and muttering," Leila groaned.
"You heard that?" Harry questioned.
"No, I made it all up," Leila said sarcastically.
"I—I had a dream," Harry said hesitantly. "One of those kind of dreams."
Leila sighed before she motioned for Harry to give her one moment. She needed to reposition herself with all the blood rushing to her head. She pulled herself upright on to her bed once more before she jumped off and landed in a pile of Harry's dirty clothes that had built up during their summer holiday. Then, she crawled onto her brother's bed and positioned herself so that she sat right beside him. Leila pulled Harry's blankets up to her chest and turned her head so that she was looking right at him.
"You were saying?" Leila asked.
"It seemed so real," Harry began. "Wormtail was with Voldemort and some other man. Don't even ask who the other man was; because I'm not sure who the other man was."
Leila already could tell she wasn't going to like this dream. It had two people she definitely didn't like and whose names caused her stomach to flip and her bones to shake in terror. Wormtail, also known as Peter Pettigrew, had been her parents' friend. He was the one who had betrayed them and then for years he allowed Sirius Black, another friend and Harry's godfather, to take the fall. Sirius had been imprisoned in Azkaban for something he didn't do; but Pettigrew had gotten away leaving Sirius to live on the run; but that was a whole other story. They had found this out at the end of last year during their "normal year" at Hogwarts. Oh, who was she kidding? There was no such thing as a normal year at Hogwarts; that was something she knew for sure. And who could forget Voldemort, the one who had killed her parents and for years had been after her and her brother.
"Continue," Leila said.
"There was a darkened room with a rug and a giant snake on the hearth. Wormtail and Voldemort were talking…about us. About killing us," Harry said clutching his scar.
"It's hurting again, isn't it?" Leila asked avoiding what Harry had just said.
"Did you hear what I just told you?" Harry questioned.
"Of course, I just don't want to talk about us getting killed," Leila scoffed. "I'd prefer to focus on living, thank you very much."
"What should I do?" Harry asked. "It just seemed so real."
"Unless he's found another head to live on or another diary to possess, I don't think Voldmort is an immediate threat to us," Leila sighed.
"I know Hermione would say I should tell Dumbledore," Harry began.
"Next," Leila yawned.
"Ron would probably tell his dad," Harry continued.
"Maybe you should write Professor Lupin or Sirius," Leila yawned again.
"That's not a bad idea, Leila. I think I'll write Sirius, seeing as he is my godfather after all," Harry said. "Have you talked to yours recently?"
"I owled Professor Lupin day before yesterday," Leila muttered.
"You should go back to sleep," Harry chuckled.
"I don't think I can get back to my bed," Leila mumbled.
"You can stay here tonight," Harry smiled.
Leila muttered her thanks and instantly plopped her head onto Harry's pillows. She was asleep and softly snoring in a matter of seconds. Harry laughed at his sister before he gently pushed her hair out of her face. He placed a kiss on her forehead and tucked the blankets around her. Harry felt very protective over his little sister. Sure, they may have their moments when they fought; but he would fight anyone who would threaten to hurt the only family he considered worth having. Harry quickly penned a letter to Sirius before he settled back into his bed beside his sister and fell asleep.
When Leila awoke the next morning, she carefully crawled around her brother who was loudly snoring. He could probably wake the dead the way he snored. She got herself ready for the morning, putting on a t-shirt and jeans and pulling her hair up into a ponytail. Just as she was about to head out the door and downstairs, Harry awoke and looked at her through squinted eyes. She grinned at her brother before she left the small bedroom she shared with her brother. Leila practically flew down the stairs, skipping the last step before rounding the corner and heading for the kitchen. Aunt Petunia didn't like it when they were late for breakfast, not that you could really call a quarter of a grapefruit breakfast. Nonetheless, she preferred to avoid any confrontations with her Muggle relations and made sure she was in the kitchen before Aunt Petunia even began the proportioning of the grapefruit. The fourteen year old witch turned the handle on the door with a beveled pane of glass and walked into the kitchen. The door closed hard behind her causing her to cringe.
"Leave it open," Aunt Petunia said from the refrigerator.
'Yes, Aunt Petunia," Leila muttered.
Leila pushed the door open once more and propped it open before she walked over to the table where both Uncle Vernon and Dudley already sat. Uncle Vernon read his Muggle newspaper while Dudley sat pouting with his arms folded across his chest and a sour look on his face.
"Good morning," Leila said quietly.
"Not with freaks like you and your brother here," Dudley responded.
"Sorry for even saying anything," Leila muttered.
"Mummy, Leila's trying to use some of her freaky magic spells on me!" Dudley whined.
"I was not!" Leila hissed.
"You were too! I heard you!" Dudley shrieked.
"Girl, go get your brother!" Aunt Petunia commanded.
With a sneer that could rival her annoying Housemate Draco Malfoy's, Leila left the table and walked down the carpeted corridor for the bottom of the stairs. She stepped up a few stairs before she stopped and shouted for her brother to get his lazy bum downstairs. Harry had a habit of never showing up for breakfast on time, which angered the Dursleys. Breakfast and all meals were regrettably one of the requirements to spending the summer holidays with the Dursleys. Harry called back that he would be there in a minute and Leila turned to head back down the stairs.
"Don't shout in my house!" Aunt Petunia shouted.
"Can't do anything right," Leila mumbled.
In frustration, Leila ran her fingers through her long dark hair before walking back into the kitchen. She avoided eye contact with Aunt Petunia and walked straight for the table.
"If I wanted you to shout for your brother I would have told you to do so. I told you to go up and get him," Aunt Petunia said as she sat down at the table.
"Your aunt spoke to you, girl," Uncle Vernon interrupted gruffly.
"Sorry, Aunt Petunia," Leila sighed.
"Ungrateful girl," Uncle Vernon said from behind his paper.
A defeated Leila sighed and hung her head as Aunt Petunia began to portion the grapefruit. At just that moment, Harry walked into the kitchen with his hair sticking-up in all directions like he had just rolled out of bed. Leila looked to her older brother and rolled her eyes at his disheveled and late appearance. Harry nodded his head at his sister before taking his seat at the breakfast table beside her as Aunt Petunia cut the grapefruits. Dudley had been forced to go on a diet and they all were suffering from it. Except, when Aunt Petunia portioned them Dudley always got a piece larger than a quarter. He also got his breakfast from the fresher fruit, while Harry and Leila received pieces from the day-before's grapefruit, which Aunt Petunia conveniently forgot to leave uncovered.
Thankfully, Harry and Leila had friends who owled them snacks which they kept under the floorboards in their room. Harry's friend and Leila's enemy, Hermione Granger, had sent a box of sugar-free snacks. Hagrid had sent them his infamous rock cakes and Mrs. Weasley had sent them an enormous fruitcake as well as several assorted meal pies. Leila's good friend Cedric Diggory had sent some Wizarding snacks. On top of it all, they had received several birthday cakes on their 14th birthday: one from Granger, one from the Weasleys, one from Hagrid, one from Sirius, one from Remus, and one from Leila's friend Daphne Greengrass. Well, one more person did send Leila food: Draco Malfoy, but Leila refused to eat anything from Draco Malfoy. So anything he sent, she placed in Dudley's room which he would devour upon noticing it. Leila knew he wouldn't tell his mum about the extra food because her cousin too hated the diet.
Aunt Petunia placed a grapefruit quarter on Dudley's plate and then Uncle Vernon's. Dudley looked at the unsweetened grapefruit in disgust, while Uncle Vernon still had yet to put down his paper. Aunt Petunia cleared her throat as she placed a grapefruit quarter on her own plate. Uncle Vernon muttered something about giving him a minute and turned the page of his newspaper. Harry and Leila each had to reach for their own somewhat dried quarter of grapefruit, which they placed on their plates. When Uncle Vernon finally placed his paper down, he looked at the small piece of grapefruit in disapproval.
"Is this it?" Uncle Vernon asked grumpily.
Aunt Petunia looked at him pointedly before nodding. Leila looked over at Dudley who had already finished his piece of grapefruit and was eyeing hers. When Dudley's eyes met Leila's, she slightly narrowed her eyes before raising her eyes at him. Dudley opened his mouth to say something but at that moment the doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon stood up and headed down the hall for the door. While Aunt Petunia turned for a moment to pour the tea, Dudley snatched what was left of his father's grapefruit. Leila rolled her eyes at her cousin, when someone laughing could be heard from the hall. Uncle Vernon was rather curt with the mailman and from the sound of things; he practically shut the door on the poor man's face. Uncle Vernon walked back into the kitchen with his eyes focused on the Potter twins. Aunt Petunia set the teapot down and looked to her husband who looked absolutely livid.
"You two, living room, now!" Uncle Vernon barked at the twins.
Harry and Leila looked to each other in confusion before quickly standing up and following Uncle Vernon out of the kitchen. He stopped just outside the kitchen door and with his eyes, he motioned the twins into the living room. Once they were into the hall, Uncle Vernon slammed the kitchen door shut behind them. Harry and Leila picked up their pace a little and sat down on the sofa in the living room before Uncle Vernon entered the room. The large man walked over to the fireplace and placed his hands on the mantle, leaning heavily against it.
"So," Uncle Vernon muttered.
Leila looked over at her uncle who was drumming his fingers against the mantle. She could see an angry expression on his face through the reflection on one of the pictures of Dudley dressed in his Smeltings uniform. Looking over to her brother, she mouthed the words "What did we do now?" to which Harry responded with a shrug. Uncle Vernon then slowly turned around and with his beady eyes examined the Potter twins as if they were suspects for a crime.
"So," Uncle Vernon said once again.
"So what?" Harry asked.
Leila quickly elbowed her brother, causing him to hiss in pain. Now was not the time to upset the overgrown man, especially when he was lacking his daily caloric intake.
"What was that?" Uncle Vernon snapped.
"Harry just had a tickle in his throat, isn't that right, Harry?" Leila said.
"Erm—yeah," Harry responded.
"This just arrived," Uncle Vernon spoke ignoring Harry and Leila's response.
He pulled a piece of purple paper out of his breast pocket and shoved it toward Harry and Leila's faces.
"It's a letter. A letter about the two of you," Uncle Vernon hissed.
"Us?" Harry asked.
"That's what I said, boy," Uncle Vernon furthered.
"But who would be writing you about us?" Harry questioned.
"Harry," Leila hissed.
Uncle Vernon glared at the twins before he began to read the letter to the twins.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,
We have never been introduced, but I'm sure you must have heard all about my Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny from Harry and Leila. As they might have told you, the final of the Quidditch World Cup takes place this Monday night, and my husband, Arthur, has just managed to get prime tickets through his connections at the Department of Magical Games and Sports. I do hope you will allow us to take both Harry and Leila to the match, as this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Britain hasn't hosted the cup in over thirty years, and tickets are extremely hard to come by. We would of course be glad to have the twins stay at the Burrow for the remainder of the summer holidays, and to see them safely onto the train back to school. It would probably be best for Harry or Leila to send us your answer as quickly as possible in the normal way, because the Muggle postman has never delivered to our house, and I'm not sure he even knows where it is.
Hoping to see Harry and Leila soon
Yours sincerely,
Molly Weasley
P.S. I do hope we've put enough stamps on this.
"Harry and Leila, why's it always Harry and Leila. Why can't it be Leila and Harry?" Leila questioned.
"You're concerned about the order of our names, really?" Harry responded.
"It's not fair," Leila pouted.
"Enough!" Uncle Vernon shouted "Look at this!"
Uncle Vernon dug into his breast pocket once more and pulled out a colorful piece of paper, but upon further inspection it was an envelope covered entirely in stamps except for a small square where Mrs. Weasley had addressed the envelope to the Dursleys. Harry fought back his laughter, but a chuckle escaped Leila's lips. She immediately regretted doing so when Uncle Vernon's glare turned to her; but Harry quickly came to her rescue.
"It seems she did put enough stamps on then," Harry said. "It's a simple mistake anyone could have made."
"The whole bloody thing is covered in them. The postman took notice too. He was very interested to know where this letter had come from, he was. That's why he insisted on ringing the doorbell. Seemed to find the situation rather funny," Uncle Vernon seethed.
Leila knew why Uncle Vernon was making such a fuss over the enveloped. It wasn't normal and God-forbid the Dursleys be anything other than normal. They didn't want any extra attention given to them, especially not because of the two freaks they took in thirteen years ago. They even made up excuses for Harry and Leila's disappearances during the school year. Apparently, they were attending a school for the deranged, not that Leila minded. It gave her an excuse to act "crazy" if Dudley's school chums ever got too fresh with her. Uncle Vernon still glared at the Potter twins silently. Leila looked at Harry and then back to Uncle Vernon.
"So, can we go then?" Harry asked.
"What?" Uncle Vernon spluttered.
"We were just thinking that you could be rid of us sooner, it would be two less weeks of us freaks under your house. You can go back to normal two weeks sooner if you allow Mrs. Weasley to take us off your hands," Leila explained, trying to make it sound better for the Dursleys than it would be for the twins.
"Exactly, what she said," Harry agreed.
"Who is this woman?" Uncle Vernon asked with disgust in his voice.
"You've seen her before. She's my friend Ron's mother. You would've seen her meeting her family off the Hog—" Harry began but Leila elbowed him again.
"The school train at the end of last term," Leila finished.
"What was that for?" Harry whispered.
"Are you really that thick? We don't want to make him more upset my mentioning our freakishness," Leila whispered back.
"That dumpy sort of woman?" Uncle Vernon hissed. "With the lot of children with red hair?"
Harry's face quickly turned into a frown and he clenched his fists at the insult of Mrs. Weasley. Leila gently squeezed his arm and gave him a warning look not to come up with a response that would only upset Uncle Vernon further.
"Yes, sir," Leila answered timidly.
But Uncle Vernon didn't hear his niece because his face was once again buried in Mrs. Weasley's letter.
"Quidditch, what is this rubbish?" Uncle Vernon muttered.
"It's a sport played on a broom," Harry snapped.
"All right, all right! Shut it!" Uncle Vernon shouted. "I will not have this nonsense in my house!"
"Do you ever listen?" Leila muttered.
Leila face-palmed her face as Uncle Vernon continued to read the letter.
"Send us your answer…the normal way?" Uncle Vernon spat. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Normal for us," Harry responded.
"What Harry means, is the owl post. That's what's normal for our kind," Leila finished carefully explaining.
Uncle Vernon stared silently at the twins with his eyes slightly narrowed, but Harry felt the need to further.
"You know, witches and wizards," Harry hissed.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to mention your freakishness under my roof?" Uncle Vernon bellowed.
"You really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut," Leila mumbled.
"You sit there, in the clothes your aunt and I have put on your ungrateful back…" Uncle Vernon began.
"Only because Dudley's finished with them," Harry retorted.
"Spoke too soon," Leila groaned.
Harry picked at the over-sized t-shirt and saggy jeans that weren't even close to hanging properly on his body. Leila was thankful that she had stopped wearing Dudley's leftovers years ago. The creepy neighbor lady Mrs. Figg would sneak her girly clothes every once in awhile, which she herself would sneak up into her room since she was seven. Not to mention that once she got to Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley would knit her articles of clothing and Daphne would give her the clothes she had outgrown. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never questioned what she was wearing; they probably never even noticed that she was no longer dressed in Dudley's clothes.
"I will not be spoken to like that in my own house!" Uncle Vernon shouted.
By this point, Uncle Vernon was shaking with anger. Harry stood up and looked Uncle Vernon straight in the eye before he took a deep breath.
"All right, we can't see the World Cup. Can I go now? I've got a letter to Sirius I'd like to finish. You know—my godfather, the mass-murderer?" Harry scoffed.
"You—you're writing him?" Uncle Vernon spluttered.
"Yeah, I am," Harry answered. "It's been a while since he's heard from me. If he doesn't hear from me, he might start thinking that's something's wrong. Hey, Leila, have you written you're godfather Remus, recently? You know, the werewolf? We wouldn't want them to get the wrong impression, now would we?"
"Harry," Leila groaned once more.
Leila was all for intimidating her Muggle relatives, but Harry was going about it the wrong way. You needed to manipulate them, not just come out and attack them. That was one area where she and her brother were different. Harry was all about attacking first, while Leila preferred to strategize and find her enemies weakness first. But either way, Harry had Uncle Vernon cornered. The older man was mulling over the situation, trying to figure out his best plan of attack; but the only reasonable thing for him to do was to retreat.
"Fine then, you both can go to this ruddy…stupid World Cup thing. Write and tell these Weasleys that they're going to have to pick you up. I haven't got the time to go running all over the damn country. But then you need to spend the rest of your summer there. Another thing, both of you need to tell your—your godfathers that you're going," Uncle Vernon gave in.
"All right," Harry smiled.
"We'll get right on that then," Leila said standing up beside her brother.
With his eyes, Uncle Vernon excused them from the living room. Leila grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him from the living room and into the hall. Harry grinned as Uncle Vernon's eyes followed them out of the room. When they got into the hall, Leila tripped over Dudley who had been lurking outside the entrance to the living room. Harry didn't grip her as she fell, causing her to fall face first into the carpeted floor. Surprisingly, both Harry and Dudley chuckled at Leila's expense, but when Dudley saw the grin on Harry's face his own face soured.
"Why are you grinning, Potter?" Dudley questioned.
"That was an excLeilant breakfast, wasn't it? I feel really full, don't you?" Harry grinned.
Harry laughed as his cousin spluttered for words and stepped over his sister to head upstairs. Her brother took the stairs three at a time as Leila remained on the floor.
"Harry James Potter," Leila hissed.
"Meet you upstairs," Harry called.
"Ugh, some brother you are," Leila groaned.
Leila pushed herself up from the floor at dusted off her shirt and jeans. Dudley stared at her, unable to form any words. She knew that she shouldn't say anything, but weighing the consequences in her head, now that Uncle Vernon had given her permission to go, he really couldn't do anything to her if she did say something to Dudley. He was terrified Harry's "mass-murdering" godfather or her own werewolf godfather would ruin their perfectly normal lives at this point. A grin overtook Leila's face.
"Better luck next time at getting me in trouble, Dudders," Leila whispered.
As Dudley once again spluttered to find a decent comeback, Leila headed up the stairs pretending to look innocent. She too could get her jabs in at people, but hers were more calculated than her brother's. Leila opened the door into the room she shared with Harry when a small ball of feathers came flying at her. Harry jumped and quickly shut the door behind her and yLeilad for the owl to calm down. Upon further examining the owl, she realized it was Pig, Ron's owl. Ron used to have a rat named Scabbers, but Scabbers turned out to be a human rat: Peter Pettigrew, the man who had really ratted out her parents to Lord Voldemort. Anyway, Ron now had an owl and it was terrorizing her bedroom. Pig knocked the pieces of parchment which were letters from her friends from her bed causing them to fall to the floor. Leila quickly ran over to pick up her papers from the floor.
"What the bloody hell is Pig doing here?" Leila asked.
"Ron sent a note. They'll be here at five o'clock tomorrow," Harry commented.
"Not soon enough," Leila muttered.
"Hang on a minute, how do you know Pig's name?" Harry asked.
"Ginny told me about the name in one of her letters," Leila shrugged.
Harry bent over and picked up one of Leila's letters and examined it. Judging by Harry's expression, he wasn't too happy with what he saw.
"Diggory? You've been writing Diggory this summer?" Harry questioned.
"His name is Cedric and he's my friend," Leila said as she snatched her letter back.
"Couldn't you find other friends?" Harry asked.
"Would you prefer me to be friends with Malfoy?" Leila scoffed.
"No, I was just thinking maybe this year you could finally…" Harry began.
"Every summer you tell me to be friends with Granger. When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I don't like her and never will?" Leila questioned.
"If you'd only give her a chance," Harry furthered.
"She's bloody annoying, so it's not likely," Leila commented. "Besides, I happen to like my friends."
"I don't trust those snakes," Harry said.
"Harry, Slytherins protect their own," Leila retorted.
"And Parkinson and Bulstrode are prime examples?" Harry furthered.
"Well you certainly can't expect everyone to like you, now can you? Besides, the only reason Parkinson hates me is because Malfoy likes me better than he likes her and Bulstrode's a daft bimbo who goes along with anything Pansy wants. So you really can't count them," Leila argued.
"I just think…" Harry began.
"I'm not befriending Granger, so get over it," Leila groaned.
Harry sighed and walked over to the desk and reached for a quill to send a note back to Ron with Pig. Leila set her letters back on her bed and walked over to Hedwig's cage, where Pig sat perched on top. She reached for one of Hedwig's treats and held it out for Pig to grab. Eagerly, Pig gulped the treat down in one peck and looked at Leila as if he expected more from her. Leila chuckled and turned to her brother who was scribbling furiously.
"Can I read Ron's note?" Leila asked.
Harry grunted and pointed to the piece of parchment on the corner of the desk which Leila reached for. Harry didn't even look up at Leila but continued to finish his note to Ron instead. Leila sighed, she knew Hermione Granger was a sore spot with her brother, but he was being completely unreasonable about this. She and Granger were water and oil; they didn't mix…at least not very well. Sitting on the bottom bunk, which belonged to Harry, Leila turned her attention to Ron's note.
Harry(and I suppose you'll read this too, Leila)—DAD GOT THE TICKETS—Ireland versus Bulgaria, Monday night. Mum's writing to the Muggles to ask you and Leila to stay. They might already have the letter; I'm not sure how fast the Muggle post is. Thought I'd send this with Pig anyway. We're coming for you guys whether the Muggles like it or not, you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway. Hermione's arriving this afternoon. Percy's started work—the Department of International Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you. Tell Leila I say hey and that I'll see her soon.
See you soon too,
Ron
As Leila finished the letter, Harry stood up and walked over to Pig. He attempted attach the note to the bird's leg, but he was stubborn and refused to ask for Leila's help in the matter. After several failed attempts to attach it, Leila walked over to her brother and gently convinced him to let her have a try. She rubbed her hand down the owl's neck, which caused him to settle down for a moment. A moment which Leila's small and nimble fingers quickly attached the small note to Pig's leg. Harry opened the window and Pig zoomed out of it into cloudy sky. Leila then handed Harry back his note.
"I can't believe Granger's going to be there. She doesn't even like Quidditch," Leila groaned.
"Like Mrs. Weasley said, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Harry commented.
"I'm not explaining anything about the game to her," Leila retorted.
"I think Ron and I can handle it," Harry said.
"I mean really, she's dead-awful at anything flying related," Leila added.
"I get it Leila, just don't rub it in when you're around her, please," Harry asked.
"I'm not making any promises," Leila muttered.
"Well, I'm going to finish writing Sirius. You should probably tell Remus too. I'm sure he'd like to know that you're going to the Quidditch World Cup," Harry commanded.
"I was already planning on writing Remus, thank you very much. You're only doing it because you said it as something to intimidate Uncle Vernon. I on the other hand, being the more responsible twin, already planned on doing so. Besides, I wrote him the other day," Leila retorted.
"Whatever," Harry scoffed.
Harry sat down once more at the single desk in their room, so Leila climbed onto her bed, the top bunk, and reached for one of her school textbooks she kept buried in the crack between the wall and the bed. Placing a blank piece of parchment on top of the book, she wrote her letter to her own godfather: Remus Lupin. She had only discovered last year that Remus Lupin, her DADA professor last year, was in fact her godfather. He had been friends with her parents during their Hogwarts days, thus paving the way to being her godfather. At first she wondered why Remus didn't take her and Harry out of their personal hell known as the Number Four Privet Drive; but after the events of last school year, she understood. Her godfather was also a werewolf and he didn't trust himself to be able to take care of two children, especially during a full moon. So, they were stuck here during their summers, but he always responded to her letters which made her feel not so much alone.
Professor Lupin,
I know I just wrote a few days ago, but I have a surprising update. Arthur Weasley, (Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny's father, in case you've forgotten) has come across tickets to the World Cup! So, the Weasleys have asked Harry and I to go with them! I'm very excited to finally be attending a professional Quidditch match, even if the English National team did suffer a terrible defeat. Either way, Ireland has some excLeilant Chasers but will they be able to outscore Krum before he catches the Snitch remains the question. Just thought you should know that Harry and I will be there and then spending the remainder of our summer holidays at the Burrow. Also, I think the Professor Lupin thing is getting rather formal, don't you think? How about Uncle Remus? I always wanted an uncle…well, a decent one anyway. I hope you're doing well and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Your goddaughter,
Leila
Leila carefully folded the parchment as Harry was about to let Hedwig out the window.
"Hold on, you prat," Leila groaned.
"I'm sending my note," Harry said.
"What about mine?" Leila asked.
"Dunno, should've thought of that first," Harry shrugged.
"You're the one who told me to write it," Leila shot back.
"No, you said you already planned on doing it," Harry chuckled.
"Whatever, I'll send it when we're at the Burrow. It can wait a few days," Leila said rolling her eyes.
Harry shot her a look before Hedwig flew off his arm carrying his note for Sirius. Harry then crawled under their bunk bed and loosed up the floorboard. He pulled out one of the birthday cakes and handed Leila a piece.
"Thanks," Leila muttered.
Just as Leila was about to take a bite out of her piece of cake an owl landed on their windowsill.
"What are we, Kings Cross for owls, today?" Leila muttered.
Harry unattached the small package from the owl's leg and it instantly flew away. He examined the package and found that it was addressed to Leila so he tossed it up to her on her bed. Leila reached for the package and stared for a moment at her name. She recognized the scrawl and groaned.
"This better not be who I think it's from," Leila muttered.
She opened the small note to find that her assumption was correct. The package was from Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin prat who wouldn't leave her alone…the pompous arrogant git. Leila wasn't sure there were enough adjectives in the English language to describe how bloody annoying the prat was. She looked at the note and rolled her eyes. I know they're your favorite. Ugh, Leila rolled her eyes as she unwrapped the package: Pumpkin Pasties. Leila jumped off the bed and opened the door out of their room.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked.
"If it's poisoned, I might as well give it to Dudley," Leila answered.
"So you're the reason he hasn't been losing any weight," Harry chuckled.
"It's a win-win situation. I make sure it isn't poisoned and he gets his sweets, even if he doesn't know that they come from our freaky world," Leila smirked.
Harry shook his head as Leila tip-toed down the hallway toward Dudley's room. She knocked on the door and didn't get a response, so she snuck in and placed the Pumpkin Pasty on his bedside table and quickly left. She then headed back to her room where she was going to prepare for her departure the next day. She wasn't like Harry who normally packed at the last minute, she liked to get it over with so that she could check and recheck that she had everything packed. So when she got back to her room, she excitedly began to pack for her departure from Number Four Privet Drive.