"… and this is a rare one, Thaddeus Thurkell. I was really lucky to get him. Look, his story is on here: he had seven sons and each of them turned out to be a Squib. And then he turned them all into hedgehogs, he was that disgusted!"

"I know dad, you've already told that story. Like, about a gazillion times!"

"Well, excuse me for trying to entertain you ungrateful lot!"

"Come on, dad, she didn't mean it like that. We do like to hear about your collection…"

"… better than about granddad Weasley's Muggle stuff anyway…"

"… it's just…. It's just that we have heard some of the stories before."

"… like, all of them…"

"Shush, Rose! Ignore her, dad. It's just… we'd like to hear something we haven't heard before!"

"Hmh, demanding lot, you are! Something you haven't heard before… well, I don't know! Have I told you about the time there was a fight over the Falco Aesalon card, which Justin claimed to have?"

"Yes."

"Or, when Malfoy and your mother got into a fi… erm, discussion about whether cards of Giants, Goblins et cetera were 'real' chocolate frog cards…"

"Yeah, I remember mum having you redact that story."

"Speaking of, did I tell you how your mum once wrote to Zonko's to have them add cards of famous House Elves as well?"

"Yeah, you did. She did, as well. Quite a different story, as I remember."

"Erm, well, yes. Oh, how about when Ernie claimed that the Bertie Bott cards all had different flavours, like the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and they got Neville to try it out?"

"Yeah, and they all tasted like cardboard. You've told that one."

"Oh, erm, well, what about when I first met your uncle Harry, and he'd never seen a chocolate frog before?"

"Ye.. well, no, that's a new story. What happened?"

"Well, as you know, we met on the Hogwarts Express, on our first day of school."

"I thought it was on Platform 9¾?"

"Yeah, well, technically. But we first really talked on the train. And then, when the trolley lady came by, I had to help him with his money, cause until then he'd only seen Muggle money. And we might've gotten a little more sweets than usual…"

"… more like, a LOT more…"

"… hey, Harry! I was just telling the kids about your first encounter with chocolate frogs."

"Yeah, I heard. Could you maybe not corrupt them with that one?"

"Aww, uncle Harry! We want to hear the story!"

"Nope.

"Oh, fine then. But you'll have to tell us some story now. How about… how about what you collected as a child!"

"What I collected?"

"Yeah, like dad collected his Frog cards, and Hugo here his miniature Quidditch players."

"Oh… erm…. I don't know. I didn't really collect anything when I was you age. Except maybe chores from my aunt…. oh… wait…I did start collecting something when I met your dad."

"Chocolate frog cards?"

"No, well, yes, but that wasn't the most important collection. I started collecting friends, and your dad was my first."

"Awww, Harry! You're getting sentimental in your old age!"

"That's not a real collection, though, uncle Harry. It's silly!"

"Is it? I don't think it is half as silly as collecting, say, Pygmy Puff figurines. I mean, the real things are annoying enough, I just can't see why you'd want to surround yourself with fake ones as well!"

"Dad! Oh, you're impossible!"

"And there she goes, stomping away in a huff. Takes after her mother, that one!"

"I heard that!"

Five seconds later, Ron and Harry could compare scowls.