Alecto POV
1 September
Today I am going to Diagon Alley. It's my first time there; Teddy said he will show me around because mum and dad are going to be at a Quidditch game most of the day, but Hermione said she will show me her favorite book stores, Teddy doesn't like reading much.
First we are going to George's store, Weasley Wizard Wheezes; he said I can have anything for free because I'm his favorite niece. He does that to his other nieces too, but I think I probably am his favorite.
All my cousins are stuck up; they think they are better than the rest of us, even though they definitely aren't. Teresina and Violetta are especially stuck up but so is their mom, Aunt Fleur, Uncle Bill is okay though. Teresina, who is thirteen and Violetta, who is twelve years old go to Beauxbaton School. My only other cousin who is in school is Maisie she is fourteen years old. Her dad is uber self absorbed Percy and Audrey. I have four other cousins that are young and really annoying.
Grandma woke me up first thing in the morning. I was in mum's old room. It was a small dark, dusty room with two beds. In the other bed was Maisie, she slept here last night too and was going to Diagon Alley with her dad. Maisie was still sleeping, through Grandma's loud yelling to wake us.
When she saw that I was awake she shrieked, "Alecto! You are sleeping through the day! Everyone has been up for hours!" Right after she finished Teddy slowly ambled past the doorway in his pajamas, still looking like he was asleep.
I jumped up, suddenly feeling very awake. Grandma moved on to waking up Maisie now, who was apparently awake and covering her head with her pillow. I caught up with Teddy; he was still walking down the never-ending stairs.
"Hey! Did you just get up?" I asked Teddy energetically. He just looked at me sleepily. "I saw the school last night. It was marvelous, I love it. I can't wait, can you? I smell food. Do you want breakfast?" I attacked him with question after question.
"I just woke up." Teddy stated like that answered all three questions. He continued down the stairs without saying another word. He was several steps in front of me now. I ran my hand along the wall and skipped down the rest of the stairs; I kept my hand on the wall as I turned the corner into the kitchen.
My uncle Percy was sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet and eating bacon his wife and my aunt, Audrey was outside walking up the path to the door. Percy hadn't looked up from his newspaper yet. Then I noticed that Teddy had disappeared; right as I was about to ask Percy where Teddy went he walked in from the living room, eating bacon on toast. Audrey walked into the house, she normally tended to her garden in the mornings, or grandmas garden today; she laid two big red tomatoes on the table and took off her gloves. Percy finally looked up from his paper and said, "Oh, good morning everyone." And put his nose back into the paper.
On the front page there was a familiar picture of a boy about seventeen years old, I studied it for a moment until I realized it was a picture of my dad when he was younger. The head line above the picture said: Harry Potter's daughter finally attends Hogwarts. Audrey saw me eying the front page so she turned to read what it was. "Perce, the front page." My aunt said, I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a question or just a statement. Percy looked at the article that I had noticed and raised his eye brows.
"It's just a story," he started, unsure of what to say about it, "Do you want to read it?" He said but didn't wait for an answer before he handed me the whole page.
"Is it about me and dad?" I asked curious. Percy didn't answer but he was enthralled in the newspaper again, and probably didn't even hear me. I started the article:
Harry Potter's daughter finally attends Hogwarts
By Rita Skeeter
The infamous Harry Potter's daughter, Alecto 'Alex' Potter will go to her first year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Many wonder if she will be the same reckless adventuress kid her father was at her age. Parents are afraid that she may disturb the other students at school; some parents have already filed complaints with Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. She does not wish to comment on what her plan of action for this situation is.
Just last night Argus Filch, the caretaker at Hogwarts, caught Alex Potter wandering around the castle while she was supposed to be in the Great Hall. While at the same dinner Alex was rude, demanding the food to be brought out, before the rest of the guests arrived, because she was hungry; she yelled at teachers and her parents for not calling her by her nickname.
Some are concerned that Alex will be pompous and selfish like her dad, "the boy who lived.
I stopped reading there although the article continued on for a while. I was shocked, who was this Rita Skeeter woman, and how did she know about all of this that happened just last night? Why would everyone think that dad and I were reckless, adventuress, pompous, and selfish? I looked up, Audrey wasn't in the room anymore and Teddy was just walking up the stairs to his bedroom. I looked around to see who, other than Percy, I could talk about the article with.
"Where are mum and dad?" I asked, I wondered if dad had read the article, although I rarely saw him reading the Daily Prophet; every now and then I saw him reading the Quibbler, a magazine, but that was very different than the Daily Prophet.
Percy actually heard me and responded, "They left early for the Quidditch game." He put folded up the paper and set it on the table, he probably finished reading it. "How was the story about you and your dad?" my uncle asked like he hadn't read it and known it was about how I might be like my dad, in a bad way, and it could affect the learning environment of other students at Hogwarts.
"Well, I didn't really like it; I actually didn't like it at all," I pouted, "Did you read it? How could you let me read it?"
"Rita Skeeter wrote it, you shouldn't believe a word she says. When you dad was at Hogwarts, she-" Percy paused for a moment then said, "Never mind. Your father should tell you that." He stood up and walked to the stairs where he straightened out his maroon button down shirt and swept a hand through his bright orange hair, then proceeded up the stairs.
When he was on the first landing, I said, "So, I shouldn't let it bother me?" Percy hadn't turned around but just stopped there.
"No. Not one bit." Then he walked up to his room.
My stomach started growling; I realized I hadn't eaten yet. I took a plate that was on the faded pink tiled counter top and filled it with cold toast, bacon, and eggs. As soon as I sat down I heard someone hopping down the stairs. It was Maisie finally coming down, I noticed that the Rita Skeeter story was on the table still; I didn't want Maisie to read it so I panicked and quickly ripped it out and put it in the pocket of my sweatshirt.
The paper was stashed before Maisie had reached the bottom step. She had already taken a shower and was dressed, wearing dark blue jeans and a plain green tank top; her dark brown hair was still wet from her shower and in a high pony tail, but her long hair was still touching the top of her back. Maisie got a glass of water and sat down at the table across from me.
For a moment it was quiet then I asked, "Where are Glenda and Roger?" referring to her ten year old sister and six year old brother, who were both not old enough to go to Hogwarts.
"They have been visiting Charlie most of the summer," Maisie said in a matter of fact way. Charlie my uncle lived in Romania with his two children Fabian and Gabrielle.
"Oh, right," I said like I just forgot, even though I had no clue where they had been all summer, "Are you looking forward to school?" I asked starting to get excited again to finally being able to go.
"I guess, I mean, what else would I do all year?" she said, not caring. Maisie took a sip of her water. I just nodded.
I remembered suddenly that we were going to Diagon Alley today; I got fired up all over again; my breathing deepened as I tried to hold it in. I looked frantically around the crowed walls for a clock. There were almost as much pictures on the walls here as at Hogwarts; it was almost as dusty here too. I never could find a clock; it always seemed to be somewhere else whenever I came to the Burrow, which was quite often. I only spied the two "clocks" that said where everybody was. On one the hands had Grandma, Grandpa, and all of their kids, like mum, Percy, George, Ron, Bill, Charlie, and also Harry and Hermione. The other clock had Fleur, Angelina, Audrey, all my cousins and of course me on the hands.
I heard someone pounding down the stairs loudly but quickly, it was Grandma. She stopped as soon as she got off the last step and looked around like a fox. She asked, "Have you eaten, girls? We have to leave soon," to Diagon Alley I finished in my head and nodded to her, "How about you Maisie, did you have anything other than water?"
"Yes," Maisie lied sounding polite. She dumped half the glass of remaining water in the sink and left the glass there; she twirled around and jogged up the stairs. I was left alone with Grandma.
"Er-" I started not knowing how to ask my question.
"Yes?"
"Er, uh, well, how do we get to Diagon Alley?" I asked not wanting to sound stupid because it was my first time there, but I wanted to know.
"We go by fireplace of course."
