++++++ Chapter 26 marks the start of the second year.

I've been toying with the idea of having Ginny in another house other then Gryffindor. At the moment I'm like 30% another house and 70% Gryffindor.

Tell me what you think.

Enjoy the chapter.

I do not own ++++++

Twenty-Six

"Linny! Tiff!" Remus shouted the moment their feet hit the ground of Potter Manor.

Two house elves appeared in the room with a crack. "Master Remus called?"

"Take the kids trunks up to their rooms," Remus ordered, removing his coat. "Kids, follow your trunks, the decorators finished with your rooms."

Dudley and Harley looked to each other with huge grins and ran up to their rooms, ignoring the elves shouts of protest. Prongs chased after Harley as fast as his little legs would carry him.

The pre-teens got to Dudley's room first, it was completely changed from the gaudiness that was the Gryffindor colours and replaced with the more natural colours of earthy yellow and black for Hufflepuff. The walls were pale yellow with brighter yellow splashes across the wall, the carpet was a thick, lush black. The old bed in the middle of the room had been replaced with a modern queen sized bed with a Hufflepuff themed bedspread. The lamps on the nightstands either side of the bed were black and matched the nightstands themselves as well as any other furniture in the room. There was a black wooden desk underneath one of the windows all ready for any and all kinds of studying. In the corner of the room there was a cage and stand for Hank, Dudley's owl. The room had been separated into two, the second part of the room there was a three seater lounge and two arm chairs-both black with a glass top coffee table. Behind the lounge set there was a second door that led to a completely white bathroom.

"This is so cool," Dudley grinned. "Let's see your room."

The two went to Harley's room and opened it to a beautiful blue toned room. The walls were painted in royal blue with what looked like bronze leaf splattered about the place, the Ravenclaw house emblem on the wall above her bed, the carpet was a light blue, thick and sprang back up underneath their feet. The bed was a mahogany four poster bed with a blue canopy and blue curtains with a Ravenclaw themed blue bedspread. The lamps on the mahogany nightstands were bronze with a steampunk base with sapphires embedded in the metal. All of the furniture in the bedroom were made from mahogany including the chest of draws, cupboard and the desk. In the corner of her room was a set up for Prongs including a bed and two bowls-one for water and the other for food. His name was written on the wall above his bed. Harley's room was set up like Dudley's with a three seater lounge and two armchairs made out of blue velvet. Near the door to the bathroom decorated in white was a three door screen made from bronze for her to change behind.

"Wow," Harley grinned. "These decorators did a really good job."

Dudley nodded his agreement. "I'm gonna go unpack."

Harley, noticing her trunk now at the foot of her bed, picked it up and started unpacking all her clothes. There was room in her cupboard to hang her uniform and put her shoes on the floor. She unpacked all her first year books at put them on the shelf where as soon as she did, shelf in front of the books glowed and the words 1st Year appeared on a plaque.

"Cool," she grinned, bending down to put the rest of her clothes away.

She had finished unpacking and changed into a skirt before taking Prongs down to the library to see her parents.

Lily and James Potter were having a discussion with Remus about Dumbledore and Sirius when she came in holding her familiar.

"Lady bug!" James grinned upon seeing his daughter.

Harley grinned. "Hey dad, mum." She hugged Remus. "Thank you for the room, Uncle Moony."

"No problem, Prongslet," Remus grinned.

Harley sat down in the floor in front of her parents. "I guess Uncle Moony told you what happened?"

James nodded darkly. "Yes. I suppose we've all been blinded one way or another by Dumbledore but for this…I need to talk to my old friend."

Remus glanced down at Harley. "I'll send him an owl inviting him for tea tomorrow," he nodded. "Don't stay too long, Harley. Cindy wants to talk to you and Dudley outside in the stables. I'll check on dinner."

"How was your last day of term, lady bug?" James inquired.

"Good," she shrugged. "Slytherin and Ravenclaw won the house cup this year. Professor Snape asked me to work with him a week in the summer holidays, just need a permission slip signed. Oh-and this is Prongs," she grinned, showing her parents the black panther in her lap.

James beamed. "You named your new pet after me? You do realise I got my name from my animagus form that being a stag?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "She name him after you, idiot. Not the size of you antlers."

"He's my familiar," Harley explained. "I found him in the Forbidden Forest."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "A familiar? That's fantastic lady bug."

Harley told her parents about what happened after returning to school after the Christmas break and about her detentions with Hagrid and Snape every Saturday. She told them all about the spiders in the forest and how she felt sad and her chest hurt when she felt him. She then explained to her parents about Sirius and the trial and how he showed up at Platform 9 ¾ with Dumbledore who had been suspended for his actions in bringing a dangerous artefact to a school full of students.

By that point in time James was furious and muttering an all manner of curse words under his breath, threatening to curse the headmaster if he had been alive that is. Lily sat there silently fuming over the headmaster and his treatment of their daughter.

Prongs was busy chasing a mouse. Food! Food! Food! The animal giggled as he ran around.

"Excuse me, Miss Potter?" Tiff spoke, sticking her head through the door. "Miss Cindy is about to apparate home to her fiancé. She wants you and Mr Dursley to go to the stables now."

Harley stood up. "I'll be back, come on Prongs." The witch and her familiar made their way out to the stables where Cindy was in the yard with Athena and Daisy, and Belladonna and Zeus. "Hello, Cindy."

Cindy waved at her as Dudley came up behind Harley. "Hey you two. I was just about to head home. I have an idea that would help you get more involved in the family business. Raising Pegasus is one of the main sources of income for the Potter family-that is of course alongside the Corvus Common and Rare Potions Ingredients business your great, great grandparents set up."

Dudley frowned. "What's your point?" he asked.

"Zeus and Daisy," Cindy replied, "they're my point. What you two are going to do is train them. After a year it customary for the foals to be taken from their mothers care so when you both get back from Hogwarts next year you will be training Zeus and Daisy. Nightshade and Belladonna will be retired by that point and Athena-although she's still young, she's getting sold to a breeder in Italy."

"That's cruel," Harley stated.

"That's the nature of business," Cindy told her. "I try not to get involved but I've been with Nightshade since he was just a foal. When your father brought him I came across from another farm in Australia." She gave the two mothers an apple each before she climbed over the fence. "What do you say?"

Harley and Dudley looked at each other with a grin then turned back to Cindy and nodded. "Yes, Cindy!" they chanted.

Cindy grinned. "Well goodie. So tell me-who won the house cup?"

"Slytherin and Ravenclaw," Dudley told her.

Cindy grinned. "I'm a Slytherin girl myself," she explained.

"You?" Dudley asked the purple haired girl.

She nodded. "Yup. You wouldn't figure me for a pureblood would you?" Cindy laughed. "Ran away the moment the train pulled into the station after my seventh year. My mother was a Malfoy you know? Before she married. So I'll see you kids tomorrow?" she asked. "We've got a new Pegasus coming in. Black Flash. He's only young so needs to be broken in. Care to watch?"

Harley nodded.

"Sure," Dudley agreed.

"Well off you go," Cindy ordered, "I've got dinner waiting."

Harley and Dudley walked back towards the manor discussing what they were going to do for the summer.