Chapter 7: The Special Guest

"Albus! Rose!" A voice exclaimed as the stepped through the doors to the classroom. The three of whipped around towards the voice that had called them. Rose automatically ran up to the lady who had called out to them, while Albus stoof where he was, shocked to see her. "Albus! Don't just stand there like that! Come and give your Aunt Hermione a hug!" Now it was Riley's turn to be shocked as Albus headed over to Hermione, and hugged her. One of the most famous witches alive was at Hogwarts, in their classroom. Riley couldn't believe it.

"Riley!" Rose called towards her, with a huge grin on her face, "Come over here! I want you to meet my mum!" Quickly, Riley headed over to Albus, Rose and Hermione, so she could meet the famous witch.

Hermione stuck her hand out at Riley, a grin on her face. "Nice to meet you Riley, I'm Hermione." Riley grabbed her hand and shook it.

"Nice to-nice to meet you Hermione." Riley sputtered. She still couldn't believe she was meeting this famous witch, even though once she thought about it, being friends with Rose and Albus, it was bound to happen.

Hermione smiled, then turned her attention to Rose, "So you wanted to know why I was here?" She asked her daughter and Rose nodded. "Well, Professor Aliquam didn't find Professor Binns suitable to teach children anymore, because hardly anyone exceeded in the O.W.L.s for this class, and no one continued to N.E.W.T level, so now he's looking for a replacement teacher."

"And you're going to take his place?" Albus asked, wide eyed, with a grin on his face.

Hermione laughed, "Oh you flatter me. No, I can't say I am. The first subject you guys are supposed to learn about, is the Battle of Hogwarts. Professor Aliquam thinks it would be a good idea, while he finds a new teacher, that members of the Order, who fought in the battle, teach about the battle."

"So dad's going to be here on day?" Albus asked, excitement growing in his eyes.

"Of course!" Hermione exclaimed, "And so will Ginny, and Ron." Riley caught herself grinning when she realized she was going to meet Harry, Ron, and Ginny before she was even done with her first year. "Now take your seats with the rest of your class." Hermione pushed the three of them away, "You two," She nudged Albus and Rose, "See enough of me at home anyway."

Albus and Rose murmered, "Ok." and followed Riley to their seats.

Hermione was a fascinating teacher. Riley quickly found herself leaning forward in her chair, in order to hear better. She found the whole concept of the battle facinating, and Hermione explained it all in such great detail. Hermione described deaths she remembered, and how traumatic it was, to know some of your best friends were dead, and have to fight on. One name Hermione mentioned, Fred, stuck out particularly in Riley's head, and Riley remembered earlier that morning when Rose mentioned her Uncle Fred. Silently, she wondered if they were the same people, but was quickly pulled out of her thoughts, and back into the story of the war.

Too soon, though, class ended and Hermione finished her lecture. Riley gathered her stuff up, then went to join Albus and Rose, who were, again, talking to Hermione.

"Are you going to teach again tomorrow?" Rose asked, in a begging sort of tone.

"I can't. I'm sorry." Hermione apoligized. "You know as well as I do, if I leave your dad and Hugo at the house for longer than a day, I'll return to a big pile of rubble." Rose laughed. "I'll see you at Christmas though, and you can always send us an owl."

"I will." Rose promised, but then paused. "Wait a minute," she began, "How are you supposed to leave? The Hogwarts Express shouldn't return until christmas!"

Hermione laughed, "Well, I'll be apparating home." She said simply.

"You can't apparate out of Hogwarts!" Rose exclaimed. "You've mentioned it at home thousands of times."

"Yes, I was always correcting your dads when they were at Hogwarts." She laughed with the memory, then turned back to Rose, "I'm heading to Hogsmeade and leaving from there." Rose nodded in understanding, "Well, it's about I leave. I think Kingsley will be here for the next class you have."

"Don't go!" Exclaimed Albus. Riley silently agreed with Albus, Hermione seemed too fun to leave so soon.

"Well, I'm afraid I must." She apoligized. "Oh, and if you'd like, Professor Aliquam offered to set up a port key so you can come to the Weasley's this weekend. Would you like that?"

"Yes!" shouted Albus immediately after she got the words out. "Is James coming too?"

"If he'd like to. I didn't get second years today, so it'd be wonderful if you'd ask him for me." Albus nodded excitedly.

"What about Riley?" Rose asked.

"Oh," Hermione turned to look at Riley, "Yes, of course." Riley and Rose both grinned. "But, she has to write and owl to her mum asking for permission. Can you do that?" She asked Riley.

"Yes!" Exclaimed Riley. "I'll do it tonight."

"Ok, good. I really have to go now guys, I'll see you three this weekend. Just tell Professor McGonagall you're going and Professor Aliquam will have the port key ready Saturday morning."

Rose, Albus, and Riley were all bursting with excitement as they headed to the Great Hall for dinner. Riley was hardly paying any attention to what she was eating, and piled food onto her plate. Finally, after what felt like hours, they were dismissed to their common rooms.

Riley, Rose and Albus burst into the common room, and Riley quickly scribbled down some stuff on a peice of parchment, asking for permission to go to the Weasley's house that weekend. Then, she realized she had no way to deliver it, the students weren't going to be allowed out of the common room until the next day, and she had to get the letter to her mother as soon as possible.

Suddenly, after Riley explained her problem to Albus and Rose, Albus had an idea. "We could use the map." he suggested. "It shows everyone. We could use it to avoid everyone on the way up to the owlery. The only problem may be the ghosts, I'm not sure if the map shows them, and we wouldn't want to run into Peeves." Riley remembered the ghosts complaining about Peeves the other night before the sorting ceremony, and agreed it would be best to avoid him.

"It shows ghosts." Rose confirmed, "I remember seeing Nearly Headless Nick's name on the map when I looked at it earlier, and there's not a high possibility there's a student here named Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington."

"Then that's perfect!" Riley cried, "I can send an owl to mum so I can go to your house this weekend. I'll go get the map." She turned towards the stairs, and almost left the common room when Albus stopped her.

"Wait." He said and Riley turned around. "We can't just go now. Even if we have the map, a Gryffindor is likely to spot our absence. We need to wait until everyone is asleep."

Riley groaned, "But that could take ages!"

"I know, but it would also take ages to sneak around the castle with half the school out of their dorms." Albus argued.

Riley considered this. "Fine." She finally agreed, stubbornly, "We'll meet down here at midnight. Everyone should be asleep by then because we've all got classes tomorrow. I'll bring the map with me, and we'll use it to sneak to the owlery. We can mail the letter, and then, if we aren't tired yet, Albus can come up to our dorm, and we can work on turning the map off."

"Ok, that sounds like a plan." Albus said, and the three of them each went up to their dorms.

Rose and Riley each said goodnight to Albus, and hurried up to their room. Riley quickly ran to her trunk, unlocked it, and grabbed the sock containing the map. She plopped down on her bed, and guestured for Rose to join her. Rose did, and Riley pulled the curtains around her bed, so no one would know about the map. Neither Rose, nor Riley knew any spells to create a light, so Riley had to get out a flashlight, which facinated Rose.

They watched the map and giggled until, at last, their clocks read midnight. Silently, they tiptoed out of bed, and down the stairs, where they found Albus waiting on the couch, staring into the fire.

Albus looked up when he heard them, and his face broke out into a grin. "Ready?" He whispered excitedly and Rose and Riley nodded. Albus eyed the map and the said, "Great. Let's go."

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my last chapter, and thanks to Lazaraz for being a fan fiction inspiration! 7. I'm not going to slow down how often I upload, and upload a new chapter every Monday. That way, there will be less spelling mistakes, and longer chapters! 7 7

QUESTIONS:

How do you think getting to the Owlrey will turn out?

What do you think Riley's mum'll say?

Were you glad Hermione was the guest speaker?