Disclaimer: JK Rowling own Potter. I own nothing but the idea.
Chapter 2
Nothing could keep it out. As long as there was a tiny gap, an opening of some kind, it would find its way through. There, in one of the upper windows, that was its way in. Once entered, it slowly made its way across the open, though slightly cluttered floor, to the room's lone occupant. Nothing could keep it out, everyone would be its prey. It struck.
Harry Potter let out a sleepy groan as the light from a gap in the curtains fell across his face. Groggily, he rolled over, determined to sleep for as long as he could. It was summer vacation, and his birthday, so there was nothing in this universe that could get him up before he wanted to.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER, YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
Except for an irate mother, that is. Harry quickly shot out of bed, nearly tripping over the tangle of sheets at his feet. After fumbling with his glasses for a second, he exited his bedroom and made his way to the stairs. What he found when he reached them did not bode well in Harry's mind. Standing at the bottom with her arms crossed and tapping her foot was his mother, Lily. That was never good. And she had her wand in hand. That was even worse.
"Well," she said as he reached the foot of the stairs, gesturing into the kitchen, "Do you have anything to say about this?"
Obviously confused about what she was referring to, Harry looked into the kitchen, and then had to bit his tongue to keep from laughing out loud. There, sitting at the counter, was his little sister Alexandria, or Alex as she liked to be called, her once calm and dark auburn hair now a very vibrant pink and standing straight up. Obviously, judging by the way Alex had crossed her arms as she turned away, Harry hadn't quite been able to hide his amusement.
"Well?" his mother asked, reminding him of the situation.
"I didn't have anything to do with it, honest." Lily gave an exasperated sigh as she stepped past Harry into the kitchen.
"You may have not done it on purpose," she said as she waved her wand at her daughter, causing Alex's hair to return to normal, "But I know you remember me explaining accidental magic to you. Add that to the fact that you were upset with your sister last night and that is the result you get."
Harry grimaced. He knew his mother was right, plus it was a pretty silly reason as to why he had been upset with her. She hadn't deserved what happened.
"Sorry, Alex," he said, as he sat down at the counter nearby. His sister gave him an appraising look, and then smiled.
"It's okay Harry, I know you didn't truly mean it," she gave him a sheepish grin, "It's not like I haven't done the same, you know."
Harry did know, all too well in fact. He once made a mistake of laughing at Alex when, on one of her many walks in the wooded area behind the house, she had wandered into some poison oak. The next thing Harry knew, his entire body itched and he was covered with a rash from head to toe. It was not a pleasant experience.
As she set their breakfasts in front of them, Lily couldn't help but smile at her children. Harry and Alex had always been close; mostly because of how close they are in age, though it was in part due to other factors. As often as they argued, which, being siblings meant quite often, neither of them could stay mad at the other for long. Even after the worse incidents, usually similar to the one that happened this morning, it wouldn't take them long to forgive and forget. Of course, the fact that they knew these incidents were caused by accidental magic helped, she was sure. More than once she recalled that she and her sister, Petunia, would row for hours because of similar situations, not knowing magic was the cause. As depressing as thinking of her sister could be, Lily couldn't help but laugh when she remembered a time when Petunia had woken up with lime green hair.
"What's so funny mum?" Harry asked over a mouthful of bacon. Alex rolled her eyes and cuffed him in the back of his head.
"Don't speak with your mouth full."
"And you don't hit your brother," Lily scolded as she sat down with her own breakfast.
"Sorry mum," Alex said, "So what were you thinking about?"
"I was just remembering a time when I accidentally turned your Aunt Petunia's hair lime green. She had gone on and on about how perfect blonde hair was compared to red. I was so mad I was probably as red as my hair. And then the next morning, poof, her 'perfect' blonde hair was green," Lily smiled wistfully, "At the time we didn't know about magic, so she thought it was me. Petunia didn't talk to me for three days, about as long as it took her to wash it out of her hair."
"Mum?" Harry asked tentatively, he knew this was a touchy subject for his mother, "Are we, um… are we ever going to meet the rest of our family?"
Lily sighed. She should have know this question was coming. It usually did when she brought up her sister.
"I don't know, Harry," Lily said in all honestly, "My sister and I didn't part on the best of terms the last time I saw her. There are times when I think I have her convinced to come for a visit, but…
"Anyway," Lily said, not wanting to continue that particular conversation, "Enough of this depressing banter. I have a cake to make, so the two of you make yourself scarce from my kitchen."
"You know mum," Alex said, as she and Harry put there dishes in the sink "You could just use magic to make the cake, it wouldn't take nearly as long, or make nearly as big of a mess."
"But half the fun of baking is the mess," her mother said with a grin, "Besides, magic's for the clean-up.
"Now out!" Lily said as she gave her two children a gentle push with her wand.
________
When he heard the doorbell ring a few hours later, Harry knew exactly who it was. After shouting out that he would get the door, he quickly made his way down the stairs from his room where he had been reading his copy of Quidditch through the Ages. Normally, he would have been sitting in the living room reading, but the guests they were expecting were non-magical people, or Muggles, so having any references to magic laying about was a big no-no, in fact he and Alex had spent the last few hours scouring the ground floor for anything that could be seen as non-Muggle.
He had barely opened the door when a mop of curly brown hair came rushing towards him as his best, and probably only real friend, Hermione Granger gave him a big hug. Harry had to laugh at her enthusiasm as he hugged her back; it had only been a few days since he last saw her.
"Happy birthday, Harry," Hermione said as she released him.
"Thanks Hermione," Harry said with a smile. He turned to welcome the other two guests as Hermione moved to hug Alex, who had just entered the entryway.
"Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger," he said, "Thanks again for coming. I know you tend to be busy with your practice and all."
"Nonsense Harry," Mr. Granger said as his wife leaned over to give Harry a much gentler hug than her daughter had, "We wouldn't miss this for the world."
As Harry led them into the sitting room, his mother was coming in from the other entryway, Harry's gifts, or at least the gifts he could open at the moment, in her arm. She smiled at the Grangers as she set down the gifts. Hermione and Alex were already sitting on one of the couches, talking.
"Emma, Daniel," She said as she hugged them each in turn, "It's good to see you again."
"You too, Lily," Emma Granger said as she and her husband sat down across from her daughter, "We really should get together more often than we do."
"I know, but between your practice and my consulting, I was surprised that we could even get together for this," Lily said, "But enough talk. Harry, how about you open your presents and then we can have some cake."
Harry smiled and did as he was asked. It only took a few minutes, but in the end of it he had gotten some sweets from both Mr. and Mrs. Granger (sugar free, of course), a new history book from Hermione on battle tactics of British generals throughout history, Alex had gotten him the Risk board game, and his mother had gotten him a glass chess set. Harry smiled. Earlier in the year, probably shortly after his last birthday, Harry had began having an interest in tactics and strategy, so he was glad his gifts reflected that.
After cleaning up all the wrapping paper, it was time for cake and ice cream. It was then, as Mr. Granger was telling of a rather embarrassing situation in which two teens had gotten their braces stuck together when they kissed, that a letter came spinning out of the fireplace and landed on the coffee table. Rather thick, made of yellowish parchment, with the address written in emerald-green ink, Lily knew instantly that it was Harry's Hogwarts acceptance letter. She put head in her hand, suppressing the urge to groan, missing the significant look that Mr. and Mrs. Granger shared. Now she had to either come up with an explanation of why that would happen, or maybe even be forced to Obliviate…
"You got one too?!" Hermione squealed, her excitement palpable to everyone in the room.
"What?" Lily asked confusion clearly evident on her face.
"I know what that is!" Hermione said, her smile threatening to split her face in two.
"And what would that be, dear?" Lily asked carefully, trying not to hope. She couldn't be that lucky, could she?
"It's the acceptance letter to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Oh, Harry," she said as she jumped across the couch to hug her friend, "this is so great! Now I can tell you all I've found out about a thing called the wizarding world!"
It took a moment for Lily to fully comprehend what Hermione had said with as fast as she was talking. When she did, she couldn't help but laugh, catching everyone's attention.
"Oh thank Merlin," she said as she slumped down in her chair, "Now I won't have to come up with some silly excuse or even Obliviate you."
"Obliviate?," Mrs. Granger said startled, "Good heavens. What does that mean? Nothing horrible, is it?"
"Nothing of the sort, the name of the spell sounds far worse than what it does," Lily said as she sat up, "It's just a charm that erases parts of a person's memory, or more specifically, it would have been your memory of seeing Harry's letter."
"Wait," Hermione said as she let go of Harry, "Spell? Charm? Does that mean that…?" Hermione looked quickly between Harry and Lily.
"Yes," Lily said with a smile, pulling her wand from where she hid it behind her back, "Thirteen year ago, I graduated from the very same school that both you and Harry will be attending in the fall."
Harry couldn't help but grin at the shocked expression on Hermione's face. "I've actually know about the wizarding world most of my life. In fact, why don't Alex and I show you some of the books and other items we have in our rooms?"
As her children lead a still pleasantly shocked Hermione upstairs, Lily turned toward the other two people still in the room, obviously shocked as well, but smiling. A good sign.
"When did she get her letter?"
"About a week ago," Mr. Granger said, setting his bowl of ice cream on the table, "A Professor Flitwick came to talk to us about Hermione being a witch, where to go to get her supplies, and the like." Lily smiled.
"Yes, Filius would make a good choice if Albus or Minerva couldn't do it themselves," she said as she leaned back and got comfortable, "Now, even though I'm sure he answered most of your question, I'm sure you have plenty more now that you've had time to process that information."
