The thirty-first arrived and it was time for the trip to Hogwarts. A Muggleborn girl named Hermione Granger and her parents would be joining them, for Professor Dumbledore had asked Lily Potter to introduce the Grangers to the Wizarding world. James and Lily had exchanged looks after receiving the request. They remembered the books and wondered if Dumbledore had done this so that Hermione could become friends with the other kids. Well, if it happened, then there would be an equal number of boys and girls in Harmony's year-group. On the other hand, Lily was the Potions professor, and a staff member always was sent to explain things to Muggleborn students.
Hermione looked awed when she first saw Diagon Alley and Harmony and Katie took it upon themselves to explain everything. When the two discovered that Hermione loved books as much as they did, the three became instant friends. Unlike Hermione, however, Harmony and Katie weren't that serious about schoolwork and studying, though they weren't slackers either.
At Flourish and Blotts, Hermione wanted to get a number of extra books for background reading, but her parents set a five-book limit. She was disappointed until Neville suggested that the others also get a couple of extra books each and lend them to her at Hogwarts. Katie also added that Hogwarts had a large library and they could check out books.
Ron frowned slightly when Neville suggested buying extra books, but didn't say anything. He counted the pocket-money he had saved and then picked out a secondhand book, for he couldn't afford a new one. He looked very uncomfortable as he paid for the book. Harmony saw the look and felt sympathetic. While Mr. Weasley had a fairly decent salary from his job in Muggle Relations, the Weasley family was big and therefore not much money could be spared for unnecessary items. Things had gotten better since Charlie and Bill had graduated and got jobs of their own, but money was still a little tight.
The kids paused outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies and gazed at the Nimbus Two Thousand, the fastest broom that was out so far. Ron and Harmony explained Quidditch to Hermione and Kenny said he'd lend her his copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. Chris said wistfully that he wanted the Nimbus and Jake and Josh then said they wanted it as well. Their parents reminded them that they were too young and besides, they had perfectly good Comet Two Sixtys. The 'triplets' pouted and said they wished they were eleven, because Neville had gotten the Nimbus from his parents yesterday for a birthday present.
Getting wands at Ollivander's Wand shop took some time. Hermione found her wand (vine wood, dragon heartstring core) fairly quickly. However, it took longer for Katie. To save time, Kenny and Harmony tried the wands she discarded, but it look a long time for them as well. Katie felt as if she had tried at least a hundred wands before the perfect one choose her. It was ash, unicorn hair core, and twelve inches. After that, Kenny found his wand. It was ash, phoenix core, and twelve inches as well. Ron began trying wands and found his, which was ash, unicorn hair, and fourteen inches.
Harmony must have tried every wand in the shop before she found the perfect wand, holly, phoenix feather, eleven inches. Neville's wand was holly, dragon heartstring core, and eleven and-a-half inches.
After paying for the wands, the shopping was done. Everyone went to the Leaky Cauldron for Harmony's birthday party (even Hermione, who'd been invited). They went into a large room that had been reserved for the party, which was decorated in a Quidditch theme. After some games were cake, ice cream, and presents.
Harmony gave a sigh when she saw the pile of twenty-five wrapped presents. It would take awhile to open them, unless she asked her friends to help. Having a large family and several 'aunts' and 'uncles' with at least four children of their own (besides the Lovegoods) meant that she always got around twenty-five presents for her birthday and Christmas (at least since Maddie and Ryan turned three and were old enough to give presents). That was great, but sometimes she found it annoying having to open them all. The other kids also got as many presents when it was their birthdays, so they also had to deal with opening lots of presents.
Harmony finshed her cake and ice cream and then got started on opening her presents. She asked her friends to help her open them. The first thing she unwrapped was a Nimbus Two Thousand from her father. Next was a gold chain with a pendant in the shape of a musical note from her mother. Ron, Neville, and Hermione had gotten her a book each. Katie's present was a box of stationary and Kenny's a photo album. Her brother Harry had gotten her a new chess set. The triplets together had gotten a camera, two rolls of film, and a flask of the potion that would make the photos move. Maddie's present was a stuffed bear wearing a pink dress. Harmony wasn't exactly thrilled with this, but her sister was six and would give a present that was babyish.
Ginny and Lissy gave her a charm bracelet and Luna had gotten her a pair of earrings made in the shape of Snitches. Ryan's present, a toy fire truck, was more suited for a little kid like Maddie's was. Ally and Sarah had gotten Harmony a book each. Fred and George had gotten her trick sweets and Percy's present was a box of sweets. Bill and Charlie had sent presents as well. Charlie's was a book on dragons and Bill's was an amber pendant with a scarab beetle in it. Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur gave her a pale green scarf and a matching green hat. Aunt Beth and Uncle Sirius had gotten her a journal and a box of prank items. Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice had gotten her a set of red dress robes, with matching shoes and gloves. Uncle Phil's present was a four month's subscription of The Quibbler and a box of Chocolate Frogs. Uncle Remus's present was a snowy owl.
Harmony named the owl Melody at once. Since the owl was going to her pet companion, she felt that the owl needed a name that was related to hers. Melody hooted and seemed to like the name.
Harmony thanked everyone and then her parents magically sent the presents home. After that, the party broke up and everyone went home. Before they left, though, Hermione gave out her address as well as phone number so the others could contact her. The Potters and Blacks had phones as well, so Harmony and the Black twins gave Hermione their phone numbers too.
August passed quickly. Melody, Ron's owl Pig, Neville's owl Trevor, and Katie and Kenny's owl Athena went out many times with letters for Hermione and returned with her replies. Also, several phone calls were made, but not as many as the letters because none of the kids wanted to cause their parents to have a higher phone bill.
Harmony read through all her schoolbooks, which she found fascinating. She couldn't wait to actually get to Hogwarts and learn magic (the couple of spells Uncle Sirius secretly taught her didn't really count). She also wanted to brew her own potions, not just helping her mother with them. Her mother was the Potions teacher at Hogwarts, and Uncle Remus was the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, with either her father or Uncle Frank substituting on full moon days. Harmony wondered what it would be like having them as her teachers. All she knew was that they weren't going to favor her or her friends. She also wondered about the other teachers. As her mother was a staff member, Harmony and her friends had gotten to know the other teachers and liked most of them. However, the teachers couldn't show any favoritism, so classes with them would be different. She reminded herself that she had to call the teachers "Professor" and not 'aunt' or 'uncle' like she had done in the past.
Finally September the first arrived and it was time to leave for Hogwarts.
Authors' Note: Ron's owl was a present from Lily and James for his 11th birthday. Before he could come up with a name, Ginny came up with Pigwidgeon, like in the books. We also figured that no matter what pet Neville got, he'd name it Trevor, so long as the animal in question was male. We hope you don't mind that Lily became the Potions teacher after Slughorn's retirement. It's just that after Snape achieved his mastery, he went off to work in a famous Potions institute on the Continent. Since Lily's the only other adult character mentioned as being proficient in Potions, she would be the natural replacement. The curse on the Defense post is gone with Voldemort's death, so Remus took the job. Because of all the changes, we felt that Arthur Weasley would have a better job (though still connected with Muggles). However, since his family is big, while they can buy new things, it is mainly limited to the necessities.