"Why must you coddle him so?" Gerald asked irritably, coming into the room with ruffled hair and bleary eyes.

"I love him..." I said, cuddling Blake closer. "I mean, he is my little brother."

"I never did that with Orele when she was born, and she turned out just fine," he said.

"Oh, so that's why you two never got along! You never showed her any love! Let me guess – you mostly ignored her while growing up?" I said

Gerald rolled his eyes, and walked away.

I looked at Blake. "I know I'm right," I told him softly.

"I heard that!" I heard Gerald shout as he went down the stairs.

Grandma came into the room and smiled, "Here now, I'll take Blake." I handed him to her, and he started making baby noises while smiling. He liked grandma best. "Ah," she sighed as she looked me up and down. "Dear, you're still in the clothes you wore yesterday."

She's just about the only one who can remember things like that.

"I was up all night," I said. "I didn't think about changing into pajamas..." I really wanted to change the subject. I was up all night only because I knew Wormtail was coming, and he didn't even have to tell me! It started happening in July where I just knew what was going to happen before it did. Professor Trelawney – the Divination teacher at Hogwarts – did say I would get my Inner Eye, but I hadn't actually believed her. I looked at Blake, seeing my new topic, "He only talks with you. It's like you're a therapist and he's spilling his deepest darkest secrets to you!"

Grandma laughed. "Gerald's noticed that, too. But he has no right to complain about it, because he never watches Blake unless there's no other choice."

A knowing smile came on my face, "Well, that's Gerald for you."

She gave a small chuckle, "Go get changed now, dear, you've got some work to do today. I'll let Orele sleep in... she needs a break."

I nodded in agreement and left to my room. On my bed was my cat, Bodoujn, sleeping soundly. He awoke and sat up when I came in. I pet his soft black, furry head and went to my wardrobe for something to wear.

When I finished, I looked to my bedside table, there was my list of supplies I needed to get for school.

FOURTH YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

Dress Robes (only for special occasions that will occur through the year)

The Standard Book of Spells; Grade 4 by Miranda Goshawk

The Standard Book of Spells; Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection

Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard

Rune Dictionary

Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms

Spellman's Syllabery

Advanced Rune Translation

I already had all my books. But mom had promised that, before I left for the Quidditch World Cup, we would go to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and get me fitted in dress robes. I had a feeling she was going to take me today when she woke up – take me away from the wand shop... I still haven't told any of them that I'm seeing things before they happen. Anyways.. what in the world did we need dress robes for, though? Something fancy is going to happen…

Along with this had been a letter from Professor Snape. He was short and precise as always. All it said was that I only need the Rune Dictionary for this year in my Ancient Runes class, but he was allowing me the more advanced books – and the fifth year books; The Standard Book of Spells; Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk and Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard.

I went downstairs where grandpa ate his breakfast cheerfully – bacon and eggs. I didn't want anything with such a strong smell so I took some bread and put it in the toaster.

The toaster clicked, and I had just taken it out when grandpa said, "Let's go!" He then proceeded to grab my arm and instantly Disapparate to the shop. Good thing I didn't decide on a bigger breakfast, I thought, taking a bite of my toast as I went to the door and unlocked it.

We stood around in the shop for most of the time. There was surprisingly very few people that came in. They usually waited until close to the last minute, so they were possibly waiting until the very, very last minute. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

"Looks like you didn't need to come today," grandpa remarked. "No crowd."

"I love doing this with you, anyway, so it doesn't really matter…. While I'm gone to the Quidditch World Cup, do you think Gerald would help you out here? At least for a couple of days, surely he won't mind." I said hopefully, but grandpa voiced the same opinion I had.

His snort said his thoughts clearly. "Oh yeah, and while he's working his hardest, Orele will suddenly find the perfect man and ride away into the sunset with him."

I burst into almost non-stop laughter. Haha priceless! Now all I need is for mom to come in –

Mom walked right in to the shop. I really couldn't help my laughter by that point, it only got worse.

She gave grandpa a curious glance, but he just snickered and shrugged his shoulders.

"Lunch break, Melody," she said.