Howdy ya'll! Thank you so much for all of the awesome reviews. Those reviews are what fueled me to write this chapter quickly. I hope you like it. :)
Hermione didn't think she had ever been this excited in her entire life. Not even when she got her kitten the day before, although that was probably second on her excitement meter. She was excited because she was about to travel threw a magical channel. Something her father had called 'The Floo Network'.
Apparently while she had been shopping with Rosalie, Alice, Esme, and her mom, Alexander had sent an owl to the Weasley's asking them if they could come for a visit. Then he had contact some people from the Ministry of magic to see if he could get the fireplace in his office connected to the 'Floo Network'. He had assured Rebecca, when she almost lost it, that he had a special spell that only people that were expected could get into their fireplace.
It was all very interesting to Hermione, who hadn't been able to sleep. She keep trying to picture how it would feel to travel through a fireplace.
When the Weasley's had received Alexander's owl, they immediately sent back a letter with Damien, Alexander's owl, insisting that they come the very next day.
So, there she stood, trying to decide what outfit would make the best impression. She would be going to school with these kids and her mother had taught her from a young age to 'dress to impress'. It was still dark outside so she was trying to be quite, sure that her parents were still asleep. And she didn't really want the vampires to know she was up, fretting over clothes, although she was sure they knew. In fact, she though, I wouldn't be surprised if Alice showed up any minute. She walked back into her closet to look some more, when the door to her room opened.
"You sure are up early," came a voice. It wasn't Alice, but someone she loved just as much, if not more.
"Good morning, Mum," she greeted her mother. "I'm sorry if I woke you up."
"No, I was awake when I heard you get into the shower," she replied, smiling at her daughter. "Are you having trouble deciding what to wear?" Rebecca asked, looking at the different choices her daughter had laid all over her room.
"Yes, I'm just not sure what's appropriate to wear to a wizards house," she said, looking over her dresses. Rebecca laughed softly, causing her daughter to look over at her.
"What?" Hermione asked, getting a little upset with her mother for laughing at her.
"Dear, isn't your father a wizard?" she asked, smiling.
"Well, yes, but I haven't always known that he was a wizard," Hermione replied.
"I don't think that the Weasley's are the type of people who care what you wear," she assured her daughter. "What will you be doing today?" Rebecc asked deciding to approach things differently. She wanted Hermione to have fun with her new friends, not worry about what to wear.
"I'll be learning how to ride my Nimbus 2000," Hermione answered.
"So I don't think that the dress you are holding would be appropriate then, do you?" Rebecca declared, handing her daughter a pair of jeans and a shirt. Without she walked out of the room, letting her daughter get dressed.
"I have to do what?" Rebecca asked appalled a few hours later. They were all standing in Alexander's office, about to leave for the Weasley's. Alexander had been trying to explain how you traveled by the 'Floo Network'.
"Darling, its quite simple," Alexander replied patiently.
"You get a hand full of this powder, announce where you are going, and then throw it down."
"And I have to step in there?" she wondered pointing to the fireplace.
"Yes," she answered his wife.
"Mum, its not really a big deal," Hermione stated, trying to calm her mother down. She looked over at Jasper, raised her eyebrows and nodded toward her mother, silently asking him to calm her down. He smiled at Hermione and turned to Rebecca, who seemed to be having a mini panic attack.
That's the first smile I've seen on Jasper's face today, Hermione thought as she watched him work his magic. In fact, that's the first time I've seen him smile since yesterday evening, when he told me about today. He hasn't smiled either, she purposefully tried to keep Edward's name out of her thoughts, not wanting him to know that she had been observing him. How odd, she pondered as her mother finally stood up from the seat she had taken.
"This will be easy," Rebecca declared, laughing. "Well, what are we doing just standing around. Our adventure AWAITS!"
"I think you can lover it down a bit," Emmett snickered to Jasper, causing Rosalie to elbow him in the side.
"Alexander, you are sure its okay with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that we accompany you to their home?" Carlisle asked once again.
"Oh, yes," he declared, smiling. "Arthur said the kids nearly insisted it."
"So, whose going first?" Emmett wondered, eager to go see this house full of wizards. He was holding onto a Nimbus 2000, just like Hermione, Alexander, Jasper, Edward, and Alice. Alexander had arranged them to be delivered to the house while he was making plans for their visit to the Weasley's.
"I'll go first," Alice volunteered. She knew that Alexander wanted to make sure everyone got through alright and that no one would let Hermione go first, even though she knew that Hermione would have been just fine.
"Okay," Alexander agreed, grateful that Alice volunteered. Something was going on with Edward, who he had planned on being the first through the Floo. But with how he was acting, he couldn't trust him. "This is what you do," he started to explain when Alice cut him off.
"I take some of that powder stuff, say 'The Burrow' and then throw it down," Alice replied, grinning.
"What's 'The Burrow'?" Esme wondered, confused.
"'The Burrow' is what they call their home," Alexander explained.
"Oh," Esme replied.
"Well, here it goes," Alice said. Taking a handful of the powder, she stepped into the large fireplace. " 'The Burrow'!" she said loud and clear as she threw the powder down and with a big bang, away she went.
"Awesome!" Emmett exclaimed.
"Where did she go?" Hermione wondered.
"Is she okay?" Esme fretted.
"She's fine," Alexander said, patting Esme's arm.
"I'll go next," Carlisle announced.
"Alright," Alexander accepted, handing Carlisle the bag to get some powder out. Stepping into the fireplace, he threw the powder saying 'The Burrow' and off he went.
Excited, Hermione gathered up her courage and announced, "I'm going next."
Smiling, he handed the bad over to his daughter.
"Now, when you say where you want to go, you need to speak clearly," Alexander explained to Hermione.
"I can do that," she replied. She grabbed a handful of powder, took a deep breath and said, "The Burrow!"
The next thing Hermione knew, if felt as if she were falling. She keep her eyes closed, scared of what she might see. Proud of herself for not screaming, she waited for whatever would happen next. Suddenly, much quicker then she thought, her bottom hit something, causing her Nimbus to fall out of her hands.
"Look, she has one, too!" exclaimed a boys voice as Hermione opened her eyes to see where she was. Standing in front of her were half a dozen red heads and Carlisle.
"Wow," was all she could say as she tried to get up. She accomplised getting to her feet, but got dizzy when she bent to reach for her broomstick.
"Here, let me help you," came a kind voice and a sturdy hand.
"Thank you," Hermione replied, leaning against the person who helped her up.
"Here is your Nimbus 2000," said the younger boy.
"Thank you," Hermione said, smiling at the helpful family.
"I'm Ron," the younger boy introduced himself again.
"Hi," she said.
"You might want to scoot back from there," Alice said from across the room, where she was looking at a clock on the wall.
Barely out of the way, there came a loud bang from the fireplace. Then there was a pile of bodies laying on the floor.
"Cool, they got two grown people through the floo at the same time," Ron exclaimed, enjoying all of the excitement that was going on at the Burrow today.
"Why did you come together?" Hermione asked Jasper and Edward, who were dusting themselves off. Jasper looked over at Hermione, starting to smile, but froze when he saw the arm of an orange headed boy around her shoulder.
"Who are you?" Jasper demanded, stepping toward Hermione and the boy who helped her.
Hermione looked over at her savior and turned bright red, realizing that she still was leaning on him.
"Hello, I'm Fred," the boy said, grinning at the angry vampire.
"And I'm George," said an identical voice from behind where his twin was standing.
"No, you're not," corrected the little girl who sat near the fireplace, looking forward to see who would be coming through it next. "The one who helped her is George and the other one is Fred."
"Don't you just love little sisters?" asked George, to no one inparticular, drapping his arm back around Hermione.
"They are only good for bossing around," Fred answered back.
"Would you two move and leave our guest alone?" came the voice of Mrs. Weasley, who tried to shoo the twins away.
"Looking forward to talking to you more," George declared, winking at Hermione as Mrs. Weasley got them out the back door. Hermione blushed again, looking back toward the fireplace where Jasper and Edward stood, shoulder to shoulder, with their arms crossed. they had equal expressions of anger written across their faces. Not wanting to talk to them when they were angry, she walked over to where Alice was standing.
"What's wrong with them?" she whispered to Alice, watching as Rosalie appeared in the fireplace, actually landing on her feet, causing Ron to start drooling.
"I don't think they liked the fact that George had his arm around you," she answered honestly. Jasper and Edward could obviously hear them, but they were both pretending to listen to what Carlisle was saying to them and Mr. Weasley, who had joined them in the kitchen area.
"He helped me up!" Hermione exclaimed, not understanding why they were upset at all.
"Calm down," Alice instructed as Emmett appeared in the fireplace.
"That was AWESOME!" Emmett exclaimed from across the room, holding onto his Nimbus with one hand and slapping high five with Ron and Ginny withthe other.
"He did help you up," Alice agreed. "But he was still holding onto you several minutes after you were okay."
"He probably just forgot that he had his arm there," Hermione insisted.
"Do you really think that?" Alice asked, smiling.
"Yes," Hermione said with less enthusiasm. "Alice, he was just helping me up."
"Did you not see the way he winked at you on the way out?" she pointed out.
"What is the big deal?" Hermione asked, watching her mother appear in the fireplace. "Why would they care if he did hold onto me a little too long?" she wondered, getting angry.
"That was the strangest thing that ever happened to me," Rebecca replied, shaking as Carlisle and Mr. Weasley helped her out of the fireplace.
"Why do you think that they care?" Alice asked Hermione, wanting her to think and figure it out.
Hermione thought about it while Esme and then her father came through the fireplace.
Why would they care? Hermione wondered, looking over to where Jasper and Edward were pretending to talk to one another. What makes them think they have the right to tell me who I can be friends with? she thought, about to start pacing, but stopped herself when she remembered where she was. And why do they think they can determine who likes me? Is it a sin for a boy to like me? I'm twelve years old, for goodness sakes! And I'm not a child and I'm defiantly not YOUR child, Edward Cullen! She was practically screaming in her thoughts, which caused Edward to turn towards her. Not really thinking, she marched over to where he and Jasper were standing. You do not get to say who I am friends with. You have no control over me, she thought at him, poking his chest every few words. You aren't my dad and you are certainly NOT my big brother, nor will I ever think of you as my big brother. She turned to Jasper and poked him in the chest, startling him.
"And that goes for you too," she said aloud to him. Hermione held her head high, proud of what she had just done, when she realized all the adults in the room, plus Ron and Ginny were staring at her. Blushing, she looked at Jasper and said, "He can explain it to you."
Then she announced polietly, "I think I'll go outside and find Fred and George. I bet they can teach me to ride this thing," then, picking up the Nimbus and giving Jasper and Edward one last angry stare, she went out the back door.
So don't be mad at me because there is not kiss in this chapter. I promise it will be in the next one. This chapter was very much needed to get certain people *cough*Edward*cough* to BACK OFF. Please tell me what you think. And the end of this story is coming. But don't worry, Hermione Cullen Goes To Hogwarts will be next. :) Happy Reading.