Disclaimer: I did it! I got to Europe, stole the rights to Harry Potter, and got back! I OWN HARRY POTTER! But wait, what is that annoying beeping sound? (AuthoressMegz wakes up from dream and pounds on the snooze alarm) Aww, man! I don't own Harry Potter! Stupid dream!

A/N: Alright, this is chapter TWO! Yay for chapter two! Keep on reading! As always, I appreciate your reviews!


Chapter Two: A Shopping Trip to Remember

Aria's POV

I glare at my mum all through breakfast on the day of my birthday. Last night was a blast, but Meghan and Jess both had to leave early this morning. Jess is going to her great-grandmother's ninety-eighth birthday party and staying there for the rest of the week, and Meghan has to babysit her two little brothers today.

"What?" Mum asks when she catches my glare. I don't answer her. I'm still not speaking to her. How can she expect me to just leave all of my friends to go to some stupid school to learn magic? It's just not fair!

"Aria," she says in a warning tone, but I ignore her. "Aria, listen to me," she snaps. I turn my head to look at her, but I still don't say anything. "Aria, I know you don't want to go to Hogwarts – when I was your age, I didn't really want to go to a new school either, but you know what? Those seven years at Hogwarts were the best years of my life, and I'm not just saying that. I mean it. I had two of the best friends I've ever had there. It's an amazing opportunity for you. I'll make a deal with you alright?" she asks. Great, she's bribing me now. But she has my attention.

I nod to show I'll agree to her deal, but I still won't say anything. "I want you to go to Hogwarts. And I think, after spending time there and getting to know people, you'll grow to love it even more you're your current school. So you go there for one year, and if, after that one year, you don't like it and you want to go back to your Muggle school, I won't stop you. Deal?"

I have to think about it. One whole year away from all my friends and my classes? How will I keep up with my regular curriculum? And what the heck is a muggle? "Why?" I ask softly.

"Because I want you to see if you like it before deciding where you want to go to school for the rest of your school career," she informs me. I know what she's thinking. She's thinking that in one year I'll have made too many friends to want to come back to muggle school (whatever that is). Well, I'm gonna prove her wrong! I'm not going to make any friends at Hogwarts, and then in ten months, I'm coming right back to my regular school with my regular, non-witchy friends! That'll show her!

"How about half a year?" I try. Ten whole months really is a long time.

"It's not open for negotiation, Aria. One entire at Hogwarts, and then, if you want to, you can go back to your old school."

"I just have one question," I say. She raises her eyebrows at me, giving me the go-ahead. "What's a muggle?"

Mum just gives me a smile and laughs a bit. "Let's go," she says, picking up a small drawstring pouch that had been sitting on the table right in front of me. Funny how I haven't noticed it until now.

I start toward the front door to get in the car, but Mum grabs my arm and pulls me toward the living room. She stands in front of the fireplace, looking at it as if it's the best thing in the world. And I thought she was weird before.

"Erm… Mum? Why are we standing in front of the fireplace? Car's that way," I inform her, pointing over my shoulder. She just laughs. I really think she's lost it now.

"We aren't taking the car," she says matter-of-factly, rolling her eyes. Ouch. That kinda hurt. But I can bounce back. I mean what am I, a wimp?

"Well, we can't exactly ride the fireplace there, Mum," I say in a very mean tone. She hates it when I talk back to her.

"Are you sure about that?" she asks with a wink. It really bothers me when she winks like that. I dunno why.

"Mum, you're crazy," I say.

"Alright enough of that," she snaps. "You are a witch, Aria! You can do magic! And we are going to travel using Floo Powder."

"Does it give you the flu?" I ask, unable to help myself.

"No. Floo! F-L-O-O. Now listen. You take a pinch of it, throw it into the fire place..." I jump back in surprise as green flames leap up from the previously cold and empty fire place. "…and you say where you want to go. We want to go to Diagon Alley. Repeat that."

"Diagon Alley," I mutter.

"No, not 'Dargon Illy'. Say it right," she prods. "Die-ah-gone Alley."

"Die-ah-gone Alley," I repeat, feeling stupid now. "Why is my speech so important right now?"

"Because if you don't say it right, you'll end up in the wrong place. I had a friend who once wound up in the wrong alley because he said Diagon Alley wrong. Do you want to end up in Knockturn Alley?"

I think about this. "What's Knockturn Alley?" I ask at last. Mum rolls her eyes.

"A place I never want you to see. Now say it right."

"It right," I say, just to annoy her. Her glare tells me not to push my luck. "Sorry. Diagon Alley."

"Good. Now, you throw in some Floo Powder, step into the fire place, and say 'Diagon Alley'. You want to go first?"

"Not really…" Now I'm nervous. She wants me to stand in those flames? Is she nuts?

"Alright I'll go first, but once I'm gone, you come right away, understand me? No dawdling! If I have to wait for more than ten minutes, I'm restricting your computer from now until you leave for school, understand me?" she says, looking extremely serious now. I nod. She must mean it if she's threatening my computer usage.

"Alright, Mum, I won't "dawdle"," I say. She smiles in a somewhat annoyed way at my use of air quotes.

"Okay, now watch carefully." She grabs some flu powder or whatever it's called, and throws it into the fireplace. The green flames leap up again, and she just goes over and stands in them as if it's the most natural thing in the world. As if everyone's mum stands in their fireplaces on a daily basis. "Diagon Alley!" she says clearly. And she's gone. Wow. Cool. My turn!

I grab some powder. It's soft and ashy, and it feels kind of like sand. I throw it into the fireplace and the flames appear again. Feeling really stupid, I go to stand in the fire, preparing myself for the hot flames. But I don't feel anything. Just a little warmth! Weird… Oh, right. "Diagon Alley!" I say.

Suddenly I'm spinning, my elbows clunking against the sides of what seems like a stone chute. I tuck my arms to my sides to protect my already-sore elbows. As I go, I catch glimpses of other tunnels branching off from mine, and I can see into other people's houses for short periods of time. I wonder if I'll see Meghan or Jess's house, but it occurs to me that they aren't witches, and their fireplaces probably can't transport people all over the place.

All too soon the spinning stops and I find myself shooting out of a different fireplace – and landing on something that is clearly not the floor.

"Oomph!"

"Sorry," I groan as my elbow hits the stone floor with a burst of pain. The person pinned underneath me groans back when my other elbow digs into their stomach. I push myself off of them and try to sit up, but I'm still slightly dizzy from my trip, and I fall backward. I hear a chuckle, and I push myself up on my elbows to see who I have amused.

The guy – for when I look properly, I can clearly see it's a guy (a pretty cute guy with shaggy dark brown hair at that) – that I had fallen on grins at me and stands up. He reaches his hand down and helps me up. I stagger and he grabs my arm so I won't fall again.

"First time using Floo Powder?" he asks knowingly. I grimace.

"Is it that obvious?" He just laughs.

"What's your name?"

"Aria. What's yours?" I ask, gracing him with a smile. He smiles back.

"I'm –"

"JAKE PARKS!" an angry woman's voice interrupts. The guy in front of me cringes.

"That's me," he says softly with a grimace as a short lady with graying red hair marches up to him.

"Jacob Parks, what have I told you about running off?! Your mother has entrusted us with you, and if we lose you, you are not going to be the only one in trouble! You understand? From now on, you stay with someone!"

"Mrs. Weasley, c'mon! Diagon Alley is just about impossible to get lost in. And besides, it's not my fault I got held up!" the guy – now revealed as Jake – looks over at me meaningfully. I feel my ears burning and I silently thank God for giving me long hair.

The angry lady – Mrs. Weasley – looks over at me, and her face goes from angry to understanding to surprise. "Wh-what did you say your name was, dear?" she asks softly.

"It's –"

"Aria! There you are!" Mum says, racing up to me. She gives me a quick hug. "Don't make me worry like that!" she scolds. "I told you not to dawdle at home!"

"I didn't! It's not my fault I got held up!" I say, repeating Jake's words of defense. Jake smiles slightly.

Mum looks over at Jake and then to Mrs. Weasley. She pales visibly and grabs my arm roughly. "We're going. Come along, Aria," she snaps, dragging me along. I look back to see Jake looking confused and Mrs. Weasley looking very sad.

"Mum!" I yelp as her death grip tightens painfully.

"I don't want you talking to that boy again," she snarls, finally releasing me. I rub my upper arm as I try to keep up with her breakneck pace.

"Why not?" I ask indignantly.

"Just don't!"

"Do you have some prejudice against people named Jake Parks?" I ask, feeling my lip curl into a sneer. I quickly wipe the look off my face as she turns to me.

"What did you say his name was?"

"Jake Parks?" I question, confused.

"Oh. Well, I still don't want you to talk to him," she says, recovering from whatever shock she'd received.

"But Mum –"

"No. Now let's go get you fitted for your robes," she says, abruptly changing the subject.

"Robes?"

"School robes," she answers as we head toward a shop marked 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. If you ask me, this Madam Malkin needs to shorten the name of her shop.

We go in and a tall skinny teenage girl with long black hair hurries over. "Madam Malkin is with another customer right now. My name is Kara. I'll help you out," she says to me, giving me a smile. I smile back and follow her toward the rear of the shop.

"First year at Hogwarts?" she asks conversationally. I nod as she brings some black robes over and helps me into them. Then she kneels down and starts pinning up the hem.

"You'll like it there. I loved Hogwarts. There, that'll do. Now your sleeves," she says, straightening up. She's done within five minutes, and she helps me out of the robes again. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere," she says with a smile.

Five minutes later she's back with my robes all wrapped up in a package. She hands the parcel to me and goes to talk to Mum. Mum pulls some silver and gold coins from her purse and hands them to the girl.

"Come on," Mum says, directing me toward the door. She looks around. "Alright. You go down to that shop over there and get your wand. Here's some money for it. The gold ones are Galleons, the silver ones Sickles and the bronze ones Knuts, understand? It won't be hard to figure out. I'm going to go buy your cauldron and potions supplies. Meet me by the ice-cream place in one hour understand? You're welcome to wander the alley by yourself if you get done early. Just be back here by eleven o'clock." She hands me some money and heads off in the opposite direction.

Shrugging, I start toward the wand shop. 'Olivander's' it says. I go in somewhat uncertainly. "Hello?" I call out. An old man appears behind the counter. He smiles at me.

"First year?" I nod, and he comes toward me. "Which arm is your wand arm?" he asks.

"I'm right handed…" I say uncertainly. He nods and a tape measurer appears out of nowhere. He starts measuring. After awhile he leaves, but the tape measurer keeps on measuring. The man goes to the shelves upon shelves of long thin boxes behind him. He grabs four or five and comes back to the counter.

"That's quite enough," he says. The tape measurer drops and coils at my feet.

"Try this one. Willow, unicorn hair, nine inches. Nice and springy. Give it a wave," he says, handing it to me. I barely raise it before he grabs it out of my hand.

"No, not that one. Alright, this one. Eight and a half inches, oak, good and sturdy with a dragon heartstring core." This time it hardly leaves his hand before he snatches it back.

"Alright, how about this one…" It continues like this for awhile and before I know it, I've gone through at least twenty wands.

"You're a hard one to please," he mutters, going back to the shelves. "Ahh, yes this one is very nice," he says, pulling a box down. He takes it gently out of its box. "Thirteen inches, kind of long, but very nice structure. Made of the finest Ebony wood. Unicorn hair core. Try it out," he says, handing the long black wand to me.

I take it, and I feel a warmth in my hand immediately. I wave the wand and silver and gold sparks come flowing out if it. The old man grins. "Very good!" he exclaims.

I smile and pay for the wand. "I'll clean these up," I offer, gesturing to the twenty-some wands I've tried. He smiles.

"Thank you. I'll be right back," he says, disappearing into the back of the store.

I have about four wands back in their boxes when the bell over the door jangles. I look over my shoulder to see Jake Parks come in with a group of red-haired people. Mrs. Weasley isn't with them. There's a tall man and three kids – not including Jake – and they all have flaming red hair. Jake grins at me, and I smile back.

The tall man looks at me strangely with a look of wonder on his face. "Her –" he starts, but he's cut off by the door banging open.

My mum stands there, looking really, really mad. "Aria, I said one hour!" she growls. She glances around and sees Jake, and her face becomes even angrier. Then she catches site of that man, and her face becomes chalk-white. She comes forward and grabs my arm. "Have you paid?" she asks. I nod. "Good, we're leaving."

"Hermione?" the man whispers. Mum ignores him and drags me toward the door. "Hermione!" he calls after her, but she doesn't look back. I glance over my shoulder and cast an apologetic look at Jake and the man.

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Hermione's POV

I'm so mad at my daughter right now I can hardly think straight. I realize it isn't her fault that she kept running into that Jake boy today, but the second time, he was with… with Ron! Seeing Ron again… Well, I really don't want to think about how seeing Ron again after all these years made me feel. Especially not since he had four kids with him. And he recognized me!

Right now Aria is in her room. She's getting excited about school now. I know she is because the first thing she did when we got home was take all of her school stuff upstairs and start unwrapping it and looking at it all again. But that doesn't mean I'm not frustrated with her.

I told her to stay away from that boy! It doesn't matter why I don't want her around him; she shouldn't need a reason! The reason of course is that while I doubt he's related to the Weasleys – with a name like Parks, and the fact that he had brown hair, I honestly don't see how he could be immediate family. Possibly a distant cousin… Anyway, it isn't that I think he's related to them. Just that he's associated with them. And I don't want my daughter meeting any of those Weasleys. She doesn't need to know anything about them.

I suppose it's kind of unfair of me to have such a strong dislike of them really. I mean, I was the one who left. I ran away. I kept big, life-changing secrets. But he could have come after me! He could have tried to find me! He just let me leave!

Okay, I need to calm down. Thinking like this isn't going to change anything. Taking a deep breath, I glance at the calendar. Aria leaves for Hogwarts in a week. I only have one week left with my daughter.

In one week, she's leaving. And then she'll be surrounded by magic and new people … and Weasleys… I may just have to give up on keeping her from them. I mean… it's not as if she can learn anything from an eleven-year-old boy. Nothing important anyway. Nothing that would even make her think she was in any way related to… Stop it! Just stop thinking about it!

-.-.-.-.-One Week Later-.-.-.-.-

Today Aria is leaving for Hogwarts. Right now she's finishing her packing. In ten minutes, we'll get into the car, and we'll drive to King's Cross. And then she'll get on the train, and she'll leave me. And the house will be empty again.

Oh Merlin I'm not ready for her to leave. It seems like she was just learning how to walk and talk yesterday. No, I'm not going to cry. She'll be home for Christmas. And next summer. And maybe she won't like Hogwarts and she'll decide to go back to Muggle school. Yeah, your parents made you the same deal remember? You never wanted to go back to Muggle school after your first year. I ignore the annoying little voice in the back of my mind as I hear footsteps coming downstairs.

"Mum, I'm ready!" she calls, bouncing into the kitchen with her trunk and owl in tow. She loves that owl. It's almost funny how attached she is to him already. I think her love of owls probably comes from that stuffed one I gave her when she was little. It's the only stuffed animal left in her room.

"Let's go then," I say, forcing a smile. She grins and starts toward the car. I sigh and follow.

The drive to King's Cross is full of her chattering about what she'd learned from her textbooks in the last week. I was right about her being good in school – she's already memorizing spells and charms. It's hard to be mad at someone I love this much.

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Aria's POV

At King's Cross, I follow Mum through that apparently solid brick wall and onto Platform 9 ¾. It's pretty cool walking through a wall. The platform is swarmed with people. I spot Jake with the red-haired family. Mrs. Weasley is hugging and kissing him and another guy. The other two kids are standing around looking bored.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Mum says, pulling me into a big hug. I smile up at her.

"I'll be home for Christmas," I promise. She smiles.

"If you don't want to come, you don't have to," she whispers, kissing me on the cheek.

"Yes I do," I answer, kissing her back. "I love you, Mum."

"Have a good year. I love you too. You should hurry," she says, giving me one last hug. I'm kind of expecting her to tell me to stay away from Jake, but she just kisses my forehead and pushes me gently toward the giant scarlet train. I look back and wave. She smiles and waves back.

On the train, I wave out the window to Mum until it starts moving and rolls out of sight. Then I set about trying to find a compartment.

"Aria!" a voice calls. I look around to see Jake and that other boy sitting in an otherwise empty compartment.

"Hey," I say, suddenly feeling shy. I walk into the compartment, and Jake helps me store my luggage up on the rack. The other guy – who I assume is related to that one red-haired man because he has red hair too – smiles uncertainly at me. I smile back just as uncertainly.

"Aria, this is my friend Sean Weasley. Sean, this is Aria… Aria… Hey, Aria, what's your last name?" he asks. I smile.

"Granger. Aria Granger. Nice to meet you," I say to Sean. He smiles. I smile back and sit down across from him.

We spend most of the train ride just talking about our families. I find out that Jake spends all his summers with the Weasleys because his mum is a close friend of Sean's aunt, and she travels a lot for work. Or at least, that's what she tells the Weasleys. According to Jake, his mum is always "traveling" for "business" when she's really on vacation with a new boyfriend. Jake also says that before this year – his first year at Hogwarts – he spent almost all year round with the Weasleys. Poor guy. I couldn't imagine not seeing my mum all year.

Sean's dad apparently knows my mum. According to Sean, they were friends back in school. Weird. Why didn't she even say hello to him in Diagon Alley the other day? In fact, when she saw him, she looked almost afraid.

"Look, we're almost there!" Jake exclaims, his nose pressed against the window.

The train jerks to a stop not five minutes later. We all but run out of the train.

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years!" a gruff voice calls. We walk toward it. A giant man is waiting there. "Ter the boats! Four ter a boat! C'mon now, no fighting," he says, prying apart two boys who were arguing over a spot on one of the boats. Finally we're all sorted out and we're all in boats. Sean, Jake, me, and another girl with long curly blonde hair are all in a boat.

"What's your name?" the girl asks.

"Aria. What's yours?"

"Skyla," she answers. "Skyla Janes."

We all fall silent as the castle comes into view. It's so big! It's absolutely sparkling with light. It's so amazing! And I get to go to school here! I can hardly wait!


A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! Please review! Love, the lovely AuthoressMegz. Cheers!