Ever twirled a honey blonde curl in her small finger as she sat nervously in an empty booth at her favorite ice cream shop; Ida's Ice Cream. Never had she felt so nervous meeting someone before, least of all her elder cousin, so the feeling wasn't pleasant in her system.

Harry was running late, but Ever had past the feeling of anger and humiliation – all she felt was a sort of fierce desperation. If Harry decided to not come, her life would be over.

"Would you like anything, Sweetie?" asked a sugar sweet voice.

Ever looked up to see the familiar face of Ida, the shop owner. She had bubblegum pink hair – something both Petunia and Vernon found disturbing – sky blue eyes, and round cheeks. If it wasn't for the wrinkles at the corner of her eyes, Ever would have thought she was only eighteen.

"Triple Chocolate Fudgie Buddies," Ever said, forcing a smile.

"So the usual then," Ida said brightly, not even bothering to scribble it in the small pink notebook she was holding in her small kid hands. "Where are you Mummy and Daddy, Sweetie?"

"Home," Ever said, wishing to be left alone.

"Escaped them, then," Ida winked a blue eye at Ever. "How did you manage to get away?"

"I'm eleven years old," Ever sniffed, her smile faltering. "I am able to go to a ice cream shop by myself."

Ida raised her eyebrows, which were slender and pretty. "Of course you can, Sweetie. I'll be back with your ice cream."

Ever watched as Ida wiggled her way through all the filled tables to the kitchen. Men turned their heads to watch her walk by.

Ever signed and sunk into the plush pink seat of her booth. Everything in this shop was pink. The walls, the posters, the light bulbs, the worker outfits, even the sprinkles on the ice creams. Ida made it known what her favorite color was.

Isabelle hated all the pink, but Ever, Olivia, and Lynette adored it. It was like entering a different world when you came in this shop – something Ever never thought she would like. Things that were different…. They didn't appeal to Ever one bit. But Ever had always liked this shop.

A few moments later, a large cup of ice cream was placed in front of her. Ever couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she took the spoon from Ida, who looked pleased with Ever's reaction.

"I made it special this time," Ida said proudly. "You looked a bit down."

"Thank you," Ever said politely.

Ida smiled there for a moment, and then seemed to hesitate. "Is there something wrong, Sweetie? Are you having family problems? Is that why you're here by yourself?"

Ever stiffened. Ida was a friend, an elderly friend, but still a friend nevertheless. But Ever already learned the hard way how easily a friend can turn on you.

"Nothing's wrong, Ida," Ever lied. "And I'm not having family problems; I'm just… waiting for someone."

Ida's eyes flashed, and the corners of her glossy pink lips turned down. "For someone? Are you waiting for a date, Sweetie?"

Ever felt her cheeks turn as pink as the sprinkles on her ice cream. "Uh – no, Ida. No, I'm – er – not."

Ida didn't seem convinced. "He's late, isn't he? I wouldn't wait for him, Sweetie. It's not worth it."

Ever felt it was odd that she was getting dating tips from Ida. When she had felt her first crush, it had been on a boy in her class – who was an inch shorter than her but still quite cute – and she had asked an older student for advice. She never did get to tell the boy how she felt.

The tinkling of the bell broke Ever out of her musings and both Ida and Ever turned their heads towards the door. A boy walked through, about Ever's age; he had messy black hair that fell over his emerald green eyes and framed his thin face.

"Well there's a nice lad," Ida said to Ever. "You should snatch him up."

Ever wrinkled her nose at this, and still looked disgusted when the boy approached.

"Harry," Ever said tightly, glancing uneasily at Ida.

Ida didn't look pleased that Harry approached, her earlier comment seeming to vanish from her mind. Now she looked at Harry as though he was a nasty bug that needed to be squashed.

"Well, you're late," Ida said harshly, making Harry blink. "What's your excuse for making a young lady wait?"

"Er…"

"Ida," Ever said before she could say anything that would scare Harry away. "Can we get some privacy, please?"

Ida sniffed bitterly, shooting Harry a nasty look. "Fine. But only because you asked."

Ida bustled away, her small button nose thrust into the air.

Harry sat awkwardly in the seat across from Ever, shooting Ida uneasy glances. He had never been in this shop, but he had heard the Dursleys talking about it a lot. The only reason he chose this place was because he didn't think Ever would like it if he said 'meet me at the Leaking Cauldron'.

"Ever," Harry said, looking at his cousin with unreadable green eyes that unnerved her. "What is it you need help with?"

Ever pursed her lips at the word 'help' but didn't comment on it. She took a scoop of ice cream from her cup and tasted it. The flavor exploded in her mouth – dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate all rolled in one – and it took her a moment to reply.

"I've received…. A letter," Ever said carefully to Harry.

Harry stared at her for a moment. "What letter, Ever?" he said impatiently, a tone he used when Dudley was being particularly slow at the moment.

Ever was slightly green and her hands began to clam up. "A letter… similar to yours."

Harry felt nausea rise in his throat but he denied the thought that surfaced in his mind at her words. "The letter you sent me by owl? Speaking of owls, how did you manage to get one?"

"It was on the roof," Ever said tightly. "And that's not the letter I'm talking about, Harry. I'm talking about that school letter. I've been excepted."

"For Smeltings?" Harry said weakly.

"For Hogwarts," Ever corrected, and a loud silence followed these words.

"No," Harry said, looking as though his worst nightmare was starting to come true. "No, you can't be a witch."

Ever winced horribly at these words and her small pale face looked pained. "I am one, though. It said so. Unless…. Unless it could have made a mistake?"

"Did it have your name on it?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Ever said. "And my address, my room…"

Harry looked sickened, and Ever looked ten times worse. Her blonde curly hair making her pale face even smaller than normal, her grey eyes wide and frightened. Looking at her, Harry was usually reminded of a lion with its mane of hair and emotionless expression, now he was reminded of a mouse – small, delicate.

Somehow this seemed to clear his head. "Er, are you planning on telling Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked.

Ever shook her head. The pink light bulbs made her hair look slightly orange, like fire.

"Are you planning on telling anyone?" Harry asked.

Ever hesitated, wondering if she should tell him about her ex-friends, but then decided that could be kept a secret. "No."

Harry didn't know what to make of this, on being the one to hold her secret, but he knew he would never tell – no matter how much he would have liked to.

"What do you want from me?" Harry said.

"Your help," Ever said. "Take me to the place you got your wizard stuff, help me keep it a secret from Mummy and Daddy, I need your help Harry."

The words burned her throat, but she knew she needed to say them. She reached out and grabbed Harry's hands and looked at him with large doe-like eyes, the same expression on her face she used on Vernon whenever she really wanted something.

Harry, who recognized this face, didn't melt into it like she hoped he would, but he nodded, and that was good enough.

"Thank you," Ever felt a rush of relief and she leaned back, very pleased with herself. "When are you going to take me?"

"I'll owl you," Harry said, a bit bitter.

Ever smiled and got to her feet. "Make sure your owl doesn't catch Mummy's and Daddy's attention," she told him, then took her large cup of ice cream and put the money on the counter. "I'll see you some time, I guess."

As Ever left, she seen Harry put his head in his hands and wondered – for the first time in her life – if Hogwarts was not only about wanting to learn magic for Harry, but a way to get away from her and her family as well.

Dudley was pulling at Ever's hair when Vernon and Petunia weren't looking, and Ever was poking Dudley hard in the stomach.

"Stop it," Dudley hissed, yanking one lock of hair.

"You stop," Ever hissed back, poking him at the side.

Petunia turned to them and they both stopped and began to eat their food as though nothing happened – Petunia didn't suspect a thing.

"How was work, Vernon?" Petunia asked, glancing out the window where Mrs. Next Door Neighbor was shouting at her new dog for doing his business in her rosebushes.

"The coffee is horrible," Vernon grunted in answer.

Petunia looked cross. "Really? I always wondered how people could be so stupid as to not know how to make a simple cup of coffee."

"I agree," Vernon said, looking really angry. "I don't know why I ever hired those morons in the first place."

Ever poked Dudley and he yelped.

Both Vernon and Petunia looked at Dudley, whose watery grey eyes were glaring at Ever.

"What is it, Duddie-kins?" Petunia asked worriedly.

"Ever keeps poking me," Dudley said, pointing a sausage finger at his sister.

"What! No I'm not!" Ever lied.

Petunia and Vernon glanced at each other, confused. This usually happened before, one would accuse the other and the other would say that they were lying – usually Vernon would blame Harry, but Harry wasn't here today.

Now they didn't know what to do. On one hand, Ever could have been poking Dudley – but Ever was an angel and wouldn't hurt a fly – on the other hand, Dudley could be lying – but Dudley was an angel and would never lie.

"Are you sure, Dudley?" Vernon asked.

"Yes!" Dudley said.

"But it doesn't seem like her to do that," Petunia reasoned. "Maybe it was something else."

Dudley, seeing that they didn't believe him, put on a face. He was about to throw a tantrum. Petunia hesitated.

"Dudley, why would you say that?" Ever said, her eyes wide and innocent. "We were having a nice and normal family time. We don't want to end up like those other siblings, fighting every day, do we?"

Petunia gasped, her hand flying to her throat. "We would never end up like that family, right Vernon?"

"Right," Vernon grunted.

Dudley scowled at Ever and she smirked at him.

Suddenly, there was a clattering sound upstairs, making the family go silent.

"What was that?" Vernon demanded. "If that boy came back…"

Ever paled and pursed her lips. What sort of owl did Harry send her? Making that much noise?

"It's probably nothing," Ever said, getting up from her seat. "I'll go check on it."

Her family stared at her. She never volunteered to do stuff, especially if it might concern Harry, so it shocked them all.

But Petunia smiled at Vernon. "Look at Evie-Poo! She is helping. What a fine young lady."

Ever wondered how she was a fine young lady but still had those atrocious nicknames, but she decided to not note on that, she never did.

Ever raced up to her room, passing her families bedrooms as she did so, and when she made it to her room she found a round little brown owl with wide ember eyes that reminded me too much of Lynette's. It was fluttering around the room, twittering happily, and thankfully not doing its business.

"Shh!" Ever hissed at it, closing the door behind her and glaring at it. The ugly brown color of it clashed horribly with her orange room wallpaper. "Do you want to get me in trouble?"

The ugly brown owl tweeted in answer.

"I said, get down," Ever climbed on her bed and jumped on it, trying to grab it in her fists. But the owl, though small, was very fast and seemed to think this was a sort of fun game. "What is wrong with you?"

After a slight struggle, the owl got bored with the game and took refuge in Ever's curly blonde hair. It was even bold enough to scrap its feet against her locks as though it were making a nest. Petunia would have feinted.

"Aurgh!" Ever said, falling on her bed in exasperation, but the stupid ugly bird clung to her head. "Get off you-"

"Ever-Kins?" Petunia's voice sweeped into the room, but she didn't enter. Ever made sure her whole family knew to give her privacy. "Is everything alright? Did you find the noise?"

"Yes, Mummy," Ever said, keeping her voice light and innocent. "It was nothing; I just left my television on."

"You have a television?" Petunia sounded uncertain.

Ever looked at her dresser, where her television used to sit. She had thrown a tantrum because her teacher had given her a D on a report card, and her television had paid the price. But Petunia and Vernon gave her so many presents that they didn't even keep track of it anymore – and they weren't allowed to enter her room anyways…

"Of course," Ever lied. "Don't you remember? It was at Ted's TV's and I said I loved it, so Daddy got me it."

"Oh, right," Petunia said, as though she actually remembered. "I have forgotten. Turn down the TV, then, Ever."

"Alright, Mummy," Ever said, hoping she would leave.

To Ever's relief, she heard the rhythmic steps Petunia had – she always made sure everything about her was perfect.

Ever grabbed at the little bird in her hair and started yanking on it, but its little feet seemed fond of her hair and refused to leave.

"Get out of my hair, vermin," Ever hissed. "I need that letter!"

The bird tweeted and seemed to like the sound of it because it did it for a few more moments as Ever kept trying to yank it out of her hair.

I'm going to have to wash my hair after this, Ever thought bitterly. And then re-wash it, and then re-re-wash it.

The birds tweeting was getting louder, and much more irritating. Ever got up from her bed and went to her mirror; she gasped at the sight.

Her hair wasn't the same wild that she liked it – curls so thick and smooth that it looked like a lions mane – now it was just messy. And it was all because that little owl sitting right in the middle, tweeting as though it wasn't about to get thrown across the room.

"Alright, little vermin," Ever said to it, feeling a bit stupid for talking to a bird. "If you don't shut up, I'm going to rip off all your feathers and feed you to my brother."

The little owl ignored her and twittered, its ember eyes that looked so much like Lynette's flickering around the room with lively excitement.

Ever hissed, "shut up."

To her surprise, it actually did shut up, but its mouth kept working as though it were still making noises. It didn't seem to notice that it couldn't talk anymore because its eyes still flickered in every direction.

Something flickered in Ever's mind, and she stared at herself in the mirror. It had to be her imagination, because she could have sworn she looked a bit different, it was a subtle difference but very noticeable – to her, anyways.

She had her honey blonde hair, her grey eyes, her pale face, but it was more of a transparent. Maybe the way she stood there, maybe the look in her eyes, Ever didn't know – but she looked somehow… powerful. She knew she had always been powerful – how could she not be if she got her parents to do everything for her? – But this was a different kind of power, almost…

Magical.

Ever flinched at this word and horridly turned away from the mirror. She was disgusted for thinking such a thing, but she couldn't ignore the fact that she had felt a stir of pleasure in her at the mere thought of it. But not anymore, now she felt a bit queasy.

"Get off my head," Ever said to the bird harshly. "Get off my head now."

The bird rolled off Ever's head, blond strands of hair stuck to its feet. Ever rubbed the spot the hairs were ripped from and glared at the little bird, who was still trying to make noise.

Stuck to the little birds feet, was a small piece of paper – the old fashioned heavy kind, the one Harry used and the one Hogwarts used. Ever reached out and started to untie it.

The little ugly bird looked down at her hand and took a bite of it, making Ever hiss and pull her hand back. The bird didn't seem to think anything by it, because it started looking around the room again.

Ever suddenly realized why Harry chose this bird to send.

Ever reached out again and untied the parchment. The bird mustn't have liked the taste of her because he didn't try to bite again – not that she wasn't complaining. That bloody hurt.

The letter was short and simple, like the last one.

I'm waiting at London.

Ever disposed of the paper (threw it in her trash) and felt a bit distressed. It would be easy to get to London, all she had to do was say that Isabelle was there waiting for her and Vernon would take her there straight away, but it was getting tiring to pretend. Was this her life now? Lying and pretending to her friends, family? It was sad, she didn't feel like herself anymore, she didn't know what she felt like but it wasn't normal.

Ever remembered reading a girl's diary in front of everyone in the playground when she was little. The girl had been undeniably pretty and she was popular; naturally, Ever had felt threatened. So Ever had stolen her diary and read all the girl's deep and dark secrets. The girl had some juicy stuff in there, too, a secret crush and family problems, and she wasn't as rich as she told everyone she was. In fact, she was really dirt poor. The girl had been humiliated and shunned, but Ever wondered if the girl had been a bit relieved that the secret was out. Did it feel good to not keep secrets?

Ever didn't know, she never would. This secret, the one of her being a rich, would remain hidden. No matter what.

"I love you, Daddy," Ever said, giving him a kiss on his cheek. That wasn't something Ever normally said, but she had never felt as though he could be ripped from her so easily before. "Thank you for taking me."

Vernon smiled at his daughter and didn't seem to notice the strange behavior with her. Ever didn't know why, but she felt a strange sadness at this. Shouldn't parents know something was wrong with their children?

Ever shook this thought out of her head and climbed out of the car. Ever head in the street turned in her direction. Ever was a bit pleased like this, having seen this happen many times when Ida walked by, but then she realized that everyone was looking at Vernon's car – which was new and shiny – and she felt deflated.

The street Vernon had taken her was the exact one they usually went – Harry came here many times too, which made Ever think that this was what he meant by 'London'.

It was a crowded little place, tall shops with sparkling glass windows that showed what they sold. One shop held cute little dresses Vernon always avoided and Isabelle always seemed to fly to, another shop held ugly dresses and sweaters Petunia would force Ever to go to, and another shop held layered cakes Dudley and Ever would show to her parents. The people in the street didn't glance at each other as they walked back, didn't wave hi like old friends, but that was only to be expected. In this part in town, no one knew each other – no one cared. If there was a wailing child saying he missed his mummy, people would pretend they wouldn't hear.

Ever walked through the street, wondering exactly where Harry would have wanted to meet up. They didn't know each other well, not really, they had never spoken and the only memories they shared were walking by each other in the house and eating at the same table; so trying to understand where Harry would go was complicated.

A man walked by Ever, surrounded by elder ladies wearing weird cloaks. He was a handsome man, Ever noticed, her cheeks flushing when he flashed her a smile, with his golden hair curled and his eyes as blue as the sea; but he was soon surrounded by even more strange women in cloaks and Ever could no longer see his gleaming smile. He looked a lot like Ever would imagine Prince Charming resembled.

Ever was pushed and shoved by women holding glossy books with the man's face on it – did he move? – as they tried to get him to sign it.

Ever scowled and moved away from the man and his fan club. She forced her mind back on her mission: find Harry. Ever amused herself at how much it sounded like Dudley's favorite game: Harry Hunting. Not an imaginative name but very catchy.

What does Harry like? Ever tried to remember. What were his interests?

Ever thought this was ridiculous. It was never liked she spent any time with him. It wasn't like she ever cared – she still didn't, in fact. So why was he making it so complicated to find him?

Maybe he wasn't trying to make it difficult. Maybe he just thoughtEver would know where he was. Maybe he thought it was so obvious that Ever would know immediately.

He was wrong.

Ever passed a small shop that sold party supplies and stopped at the shop next to that one.

Wanda's Wizards' Works. It was a shop the Dursleys avoided like the plague. It wasn't really a wizards shop, but it was for little kids who believed in stuff like that. There were a bunch of fake eyeballs and fingers in jars in this shop; kids put it in the cauldrons and mixed it together, pretending they were really making a potion but were really only creating a nice minty smell that the parents loved.

Maybe Harry thought it was a good joke, but Ever felt a bit annoyed. This was serious and Harry thought it was amusing. Ever remembered the look on his face at Ida's Ice Cream and knew that he didn't think it was amusing, but picking this shop to meet up was not cool.

Ever opened the shop and the little plastic witch with red eyes and a hooked nose that stood next to the door starting cackling when she walked past it. The kids that were near it jumped and laughed, but the parents rolled their eyes in annoyance – obviously sick of the witch already. Ever didn't blame them, the witch kept on laughing until she left.

The shop smelled like different scented candles, the jars that stood on the counters filled with a bunch of yucky stuff like eyes, fingers, green mush, worms (all fake, of course). There was a row of black cloaks and witches hats there too, for kids who wanted to dress up while making a potion. Like Ida's Ice Cream shop, they seemed to think regular light bulbs were overrated because instead of being yellow, they glowed neon green, giving the plastic witches who stood on shelves a sort of eerie aura that crept Ever out a bit.

Ever looked around the shop, trying to find the familiar mop of jet black hair, but all she seen were a bunch of cloaked figures and red haired people. The red hair seemed to tug at a memory, but it must have been insignificant because no matter how much Ever tried, she couldn't remember.

Ever looked at each face of the person, but most of them were wearing masks. It didn't matter though, Harry's eyes had always been strangely unique – abnormal, Petunia liked to say – so even if he was wearing a mask, which Ever strongly doubted, she would know it was him.

Suddenly, a hand came and tapped her on the shoulder. Ever jumped and whipped around, ready to lash out if this guy was a weirdo. Thankfully, he wasn't an elder person, but a boy. A boy her age.

He had a flare of red hair and pretty blue eyes, but he also had a long nose and freckles – not even the cute freckles but freckles that almost looked like some kind of disease. Still, he had something about him that seemed a bit cute.

"Yes?" Ever asked, smiling and fluttering her eyes a bit. She didn't know why girls did this, but she had seen people on TV do this many times when they see a boy, so she did it too.

This seemed to affect the boy somehow because his ears turned red and he stuttered. "Er – would you be – erm… Ever?"

Ever felt a jolt of shock that this boy knew her name. "Yes?" it came out like a question.

"Erm…" the boy glanced behind him, like he wished someone would come and help him. "I'm Ron."

"Hi Ron," Ever said, not really having anything else to say.

"Hi," Ron said. "Can you come with me?"

Ever felt a bit uneasy. Maybe kids her age could be weirdoes. There was a first for everything, right?

"My Daddy said I shouldn't go anywhere with strangers," Ever said, guarded. "So unless you tell me what you want then I'm going to have to leave."

"I'm Harry's friend," Ron said. "You remember me, right? You've seen me in the flying car. You were the girl sitting on the roof."

The memory surfaced and Ever realized why the red hair looked so familiar. "Oh," Ever blinked. "What do you want?"

"To take you to Harry," Ron said, looking less awkward. "He's over there, he's waiting for you."

Ever hesitated but then followed the boy deeper into the shop. All the red haired people she had seen before were gone.

"What happened to all the red haired people?" Ever said out loud.

Ron looked embarrassed for some reason. Maybe he was self-conscious about his red hair. "Er, I told them I'll take you to Harry and they went back to him."

"Are you all family?" Ever felt doubtful. There had been a lot of red hair.

"Yes," Ron said. "My parents, brothers, and sister."

"Oh," Ever said, and didn't need to say anything else because she caught sight of the familiar green eyes shining through the darkness of the shop. The eyes didn't look excited.

"Hi Ever," Harry said, getting up. He was surrounded by the red haired people Ever had seen around the shop, they were all giving her a cautious inspecting look.

"Hi Harry," Ever didn't take her eyes off the red haired mother who was giving her a very bitter look.

"These are the Weasleys," Harry felt the need to introduce. "This is Mrs. Weasley," he pointed to the red haired woman. "Mr. Weasley, Fred and George, Percy, Ginny, and that's Ron."

Ever nodded to them, not saying anything.

"Harry…. Can I talk to you?" Ever asked quietly.

Harry followed her a little way away from the Weasleys, far enough so they could hear but close enough that they still seen the green in his eyes.

"You told a whole family about me?" Ever hissed, furious.

"They're wizards," Harry said. "They would have known when you turned up in Diagon Alley anyways. And I can't lie to them."

"I've been lying to Mummy and Daddy for days," Ever hissed. "And you're saying you can't even avoid the subject of me at this stupid wizards' house!"

Harry's eyes flashed with indignation at the word 'stupid' but he didn't comment on it.

"How else am I supposed to take you to Diagon Alley?" Harry said. "I wouldn't be able to get there by myself."

"How did you get to Ida's Ice Cream?" Ever demanded.

"I told them I needed to help you with something so Mr. Weasley drove me over there and picked me up afterwards," Harry answered.

Ever looked at him in disbelief. He didn't even think of lying about it in the first place, he just told the outright truth. Ever found this unbelievable and odd.

"They would have known anyways," Harry reminded Ever. "Do you still want my help or not?"

Ever pursed her lips in a way that reminded Harry of his Aunt Petunia. But unlike how it made Petunia look like a horse, it made Ever look just plain irritated – it was a bit intimidating.

"Fine," Ever snapped, crossing her arms as though she was cold. She still felt all the Weasleys' eyes on her. "But tell them to stop looking at me like that."

"They can't help it," Harry shrugged, then walked over to the Weasleys, Ever following him bitterly.

The red haired man who stood next to his scowling wife was the only one not giving her an odd look, instead he smiled and thrust out his hand for her to shake. She shook it.

"I'm Mr. Weasley," he said, though Harry had already introduced them. He looked like the typical father; jolly, balding, and thin. "You're Harry's cousin, right? Ever, was it?"

"Yes," Ever said softly. "Ever Dursley."

"Interesting name," Mr. Weasley looked bemused in a way that made Ever indignant. Like Weasley was a normal name. "Well, you know how to take the Floo, right?" Ever stared at him blankly and he slapped his forhead with his large hand. "Oh, yes! You're a Muggle! Of course you don't know how. Percy, why don't you show her?"

Ever was wondering if Muggle was an insult when the tallest red haired boy (who looked a bit nerdy. He was the sort of boy Petunia would want Ever to date when she grew older) took a sack from his father and took out a pinch of dull grey dust. Percy, as Mr. Weasley had called him, stepped into the empty fire place Ever had thought was fake but seemed to turn realistic the second he went into it, and said loudly and clearly, "Diagon Alley!" he threw the grey dust into the fire. Ever screamed.

Emerald green fire erupted at his feet and consumed him, but he didn't seem surprised or scared. He let it lick at his face and soon you couldn't see any inch of him. When the fire died down, he wasn't there.

"It's alright," the boy named Fred said, obviously amused at Ever's expression. Fred was obviously the twin of George, both identical to the last freckle. "He hasn't really burst in flames."

"Yeah," George agreed, the same amused glint in their eyes. "It just seems like he did."

Ever didn't think this was funny, and she was worried that becoming a wizard would make her go mad too.

"Fred, George!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, then turned to Ever, the scowl still present on her face. "The Floo is like feletorting for you Muggles. He's not hurt, he's just appeared in a different fire place."

"What is feletorting and why are you calling me a muggle?" Ever demanded, irritated with this witch.

"She means teleporting," Harry explained. "And muggle means non-magical people. That's not you now, though."

Ever pursed her lips. "Teleporting isn't real."

"You didn't think magic was real," Ever took a sharp breath at the 'm' word but Harry ignored it, "but it is."

Ever looked uneasily at the place Percy had burst into flames.

"Maybe I should go again," Ron said bravely. "Just to make sure she seen it right."

Ron took a pinch of grey sand and stepped into the fire place, that morphed into a realistic form again. He grinned at Ever, then flushed when Fred and George sniggered. He cleared his throat and said, "Diagon Alley!" He let the sand fall onto the charred wood at his feet and soon he too disappeared within the green flames.

"Alright, Ever," Mr. Weasley said brightly, as though two of his sons hadn't just been consumed by dangerous flames. "Your turn. Remember, say it loudly and clearly, unless you want to end up in a random fireplace."

"Say Diagon Alley?" Ever asked nervously.

"Yes," Mr. Weasley smiled. "Don't worry, it's easy."

Ever wasn't convinced but took a pinch of sand anyways. She walked towards the fireplace, which looked fake again, and stuck her foot out to it. To her amazement, it seemed to sink in the closer her foot got. Soon, it looked like a realistic fire place.

She cleared her throat and said in a voice she used when she read that girl's diary to the kids in the playground, "Diagon Alley!"

And all she seen was green.