Chapter 2: Secrets Locked Away in Trunks

. . .

The house had gotten quiet, and the loud snores coming from next door told Harry that his aunt and uncle were still asleep. He had been waking up every hour, every time his chest felt tighter and his torso was in more pain.

Calla slipped out of the room with one last glance at Harry to try and pick the lock on the cupboard, knowing medical help was packed away in one of the pockets of Harry's trunk.

He watched her leave, hoping she didn't come back empty.

He fell into another restless nap that lasted twenty minutes and ended when he jerked awake, irritating some of his muscles and joints. He groaned, realizing that he had become increasingly nauseous. He held his hand to his forehead, in an attempt to ease his discomfort, and was surprised to find it damp with small droplets of sweat.

He focused on just breathing in and out, closing his eyes, ignoring the throbbing in his chest.

He opened his eyes a few minutes later and stared at the shapes of the shadows on his wall. Time inched by, each minute dragged on longer than the last one. Harry drifted in and out of sleep a few more times, and every time he awoke he only wanted to fall back asleep. Calla still hadn't returned, and Harry started to wonder about the start of school.

I don't think I would be able to hide this, Ron and Hermione would know something was up. Harry was used to wearing baggy clothing and coming up with excuses for a few minor bruises, but considering the way he felt right now, he wasn't sure if he could fake it well enough.

Harry eventually noticed that his hands and feet were starting to have this tingling feeling. He lifted one of his hands in front of his face and wiggled his fingers and wondered why that could be happening. He turned his head slightly but was overcome with a wave of nausea and lightheadedness.

His breathing quickened, but it felt like something was simply sitting on top of his chest, he just couldn't draw in enough air. His head continued to feel like it was spinning and at some point, he fell into an unconscious daze, and Harry's lost all sense of how much time had passed.

With a creak, Calla pushed open their bedroom door. Harry didn't stir, but Calla could hear him working hard to breathe, but it sounded strained. He was sweating, and his brow was furrowed.

"Harry?" Calla whispered.

He let out a faint moan and tried to lift his arm, but he felt sluggish as if his muscles had been replaced with dumbbells.

Calla's mouth was set in a hard line. "You look worse…" She put on the desk all the vials that she had brought up from Harry's trunk. Each one had a label with lots of scribbled writing.

I feel lightheaded and short of breath, or like I'm going to be sick, Harry thought.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you sent."

Harry tilted his head to dismiss her apology and said, "Lightheaded… short of… breath...very uh nauseous, and my head hurts"

Calla picked up the first vial she saw and scanned the writings. She was about halfway through the pile when she found one that read:

Internal Bleeding Expellant 1 Serving

Use for internal bleeding received from blunt trauma, symptoms include chest pain, shortness of breath, vomiting, dizziness, tingling in the hands and feet, swelling, bruising around the abdomen

"I think this might help, er, have you felt tingling in your hands and feet?"

"Mhmm"

Calla uncorked the vial and lifted it to her brother's lips. He swallowed the potion and closed his eyes. Calla sat down on the bed next to him and watched his expression.

He still seemed very out of it, so Calla continued to search through the vials until she found one labeled Blood Replenishing Solution and another labeled for headaches. She gave them both to Harry as well.

A few minutes later, Harry's breathing had normalized, and the potions appeared to have done their job. He opened his eyes and looked much less agitated. Calla handed him cream for bruising and allowed Harry to lift his shirt and apply it gently to his arms and chest.

"I think you had internal bleeding," Calla said as Harry wiped away the last of the cream on his forearms.

Harry held a hand to his stomach. "Glad I had that potion then."

"Yeah, where did you get all these? I didn't realize you had so many..." said Calla.

"I spent a few days in the hospital wing at the end of last year, and I nagged Mrs. Pomphrey and asked her about all of the potions she had and what ailments they were for. Then I wrote everything down on a label and took a tiny vial of any potion that I thought I would need this summer.

"Ah. Quick thinking on your part."

Harry raised both eyebrows, "Eh, I was just really worried about, trying to hide this…"

Calla looked down at her hands and nodded. They had never told anyone about any of this.

One time when a primary school nurse noticed a few bruises on Harry, she sent a letter home to the Dursleys. Vernon evaded any inquiries from their school and blamed it all on Harry's clumsy nature, but still beat Harry for not hiding it better. Vernon threatened that if Harry ever went to anyone crying and complaining about Vernon's methods for disciplining, he would pull him out of school and make his life a living hell.

Harry mulled over in his head what he had told himself for years. Nobody talks about how their parents discipline them, that's just weird, so I'm not going to either. It's only gotten worse recently because Vernon is so terrified of magic, and it's not like I can stop having magic, so I'm just going to have to live with this. Calla is good at staying out of trouble, and as long as I make sure she isn't on the receiving end of Vernon's temper, we can get through each summer no problem.

Calla could see an angry uncle Vernon at the forefront of his mind and she could feel Harry calming his anxieties, she knew he was mulling things over in his mind. Harry had always said that things would be much worse if they ever try to make a fuss, so keeping quiet is just saving them from even more pain. Harry knows what's best for me, Calla reassured herself.

Harry looked at his sister saying, "Don't give me a pain-relieving potion yet, I only have a few servings, and I need to save those. I'll be fine for now."

The younger Potter sister looked skeptical but moved all of the vials into a drawer in Harry's desk. Harry suddenly noticed a few other things Calla had put down on the desk: The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch, Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.

"I'm glad you thought to grab those, you picked some of the more interesting subjects. Just don't let Vernon see them," warned Harry.

"I won't," Calla replied cheerfully.

"So you were able to pick the lock that he put on the cupboard?"

"Uh, actually no… I'm no good at picking locks. I um… snuck into Vernon's room and took the keys."

"What?!"

"Shhhh, Harry, don't wake them up!"

Harry sat up quickly, but winced, remembering that he hadn't taken anything for the pain. "Ahhhrrrg, not ready for that," Harry said through a few prolonged breaths, squeezing his hands into fists. Calla put a hand on his shoulder to encourage him to rest. Harry slowly relaxed from his doubled-over position and shifted back onto the pillow.

He spoke in a low whisper with harsh consonants. "You snuck into their room?! What if they woke up Calla? Vernon would've flipped out!"

"I know okay, I know it was a risk, but you needed the potions."

Harry glared up at Calla. "Promise me you'll never do something stupid like that again."

"I was looking out for you, it wasn't stupid."

Harry looked up at the ceiling. "Thank you," he paused for a moment. "But I'm still not okay with you… taking risks like that."

"You do it all the time." Calla knew that sneaking into Vernon's room could've ended badly, but she wasn't going to apologize. I was successful, wasn't I?

"How'd you know where to find the keys?" Harry asked.

Calla scrunched up her face. "It was a lucky guess-well actually it was pretty unlucky. A few weeks ago I noticed that while Vernon was telling Petunia where he hid Dudley's tv remote, he was thinking very vividly about underwear. I didn't understand why at the time, but when I was thinking about it tonight, I thought why not check his underwear drawer? Turns out that is where he hides everything."

"I'm sorry you had to witness that man's briefs," Harry sniggered.

"It wasn't pretty," Calla said laughing quietly.

. . .

The very next day, Vernon spent most of the afternoon working on the security measures of Calla and Harry's bedroom. He put bars on their window and installed multiple locks outside their door. While he worked he reminded them that he would never allow either of them to go back to Hogwarts, giggling to himself as he worked.

Harry and Calla spent the next few days confined in Harry's room, only being let out to use the restroom. Petunia came once a day to give them some water, but she ignored their request for food. Harry used the time to rest and heal, applying more of the bruising cream to his skin. Almost all of the bruises that would have been visible under his Hogwarts robes had faded. The cut on his forehead would be gone after one more application of the cream. Harry still refused to take any pain reliever potion, determined to ration it out when he needed to keep up appearances, but that has made his time at the Dursleys more than a little uncomfortable.

Calla had been busy pouring through Harry's old textbooks, of which she found transfiguration to be the most intriguing.

One evening, as the sky outside turned to dusk, bored from the last week of being shut inside the same four walls, Calla asked Harry if she could practice reading into his thoughts.

"What did Dobby call it again?"

"Legilimency," Harry finished.

Calla wagged a finger in the air. "That's it. Well, go ahead, don't fake any emotions yet, just think of something."

Harry closed his eyes and envisioned Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

Calla bit her bottom lip. "Eh, I don't know what color it is. It's magical?" Harry made a gesture. "No, so it's kind of magical. It's a package, a little square...Christmas gift!"

"You're just guessing."

Calla, with a mildly irritated expression, exclaimed, "Okay, well I know you're feeling happy about it. It's food! It's something edible!"

"Yeah. Hold on, can I make it easier now?" When Calla nodded, Harry brought to mind his first train ride to Hogwarts, the first time he had ever tried one of these beans. He remembered his excitement about every new thing he learned about magic, his nerves about making friends, his embarrassment about his fame, and the sweet joy of trying the different beans and laughing with Ron about all the quirky flavors.

"Candy, you're trying candy for the first time…" Calla continued to try to read Harry's thoughts.

"Where was I?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, you were one place but you were everywhere, there's a lot of green, there are so many places at once… how is that possible? Aw, did you think of a really hard one?"

Harry shrugged. "Maybe. I was thinking about Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean, and the first time I ever tried it while riding the train to Hogwarts last year."

Calla put one hand to her face, "Ohhh you were on a train, I can see it now. You were trying the candy with Ron, right? I can see his red hair. No fair, I've never heard of that candy before."

"Hey, my brain has heard of it, and you're the one reading my mind," Harry teased back.

They kept practicing for a while and fell asleep early in the evening.

The clock had barely passed midnight when the bright headlights of a Ford Angela lit up the interior of Harry's room. Hedwig screeched and Calla bolted awake and shielded her eyes so she could see out the window.

Harry swung his legs over the side of his bed. "Ron! Fred, George, what are you all doing here?"

Ron beamed at his best friend from the backseat. "Rescuing you of course! And Calla, hi-ya!"

"You guys share a bedroom?" Fred asked.

George added, "Not that we would judge, Mum's got our buns fitted tightly into a bed wherever there is space at the Burrow."

Calla was gawking at the fact that there was a car hovering a few inches from her bedroom window. "How- what?"

"Calla makes for a cleaner roommate than Ron, I'll tell you that, but the Dursleys only gave us one bedroom."

"Fair enough," George shrugged.

Ron waved at them both, "Grab all your stuff, Harry, you're not staying one more day with them!"

"Brilliant!" Calla said. "But some of our stuff is locked in a cupboard downstairs…"

"Not to worry Calla Potter, George and I can pick a lock," Fred tapped a finger to his head.

"Oi, you'll have to show me how sometime! And be careful not to wake the Dursleys," Calla replied.

They drove the Ford Angela to the driveway of Harry's house and snuck in to grab his stuff, working in silence. Harry and Calla packed up everything in their room as quickly as they could. Harry was moving stiffly, as any movement agitated his injuries.

Calla recommended he take some pain reliever potion, to which Harry obliged. He sighed as the potion took effect within moments. And he smiled as he felt significantly better than he had in a week.

The Weasley's finished collecting Harry's things from the cupboard and flew the car back over to Harry's window. They ripped the bars off of his window using the acceleration of the car, but the loud BANG tore the Dursley's from their peaceful sleep.

Harry and Calla furiously opened the window and put Hedwig's cage and the rest of their stuff into the trunk of the car as quickly as possible.

"POTTER!" Vernon growled, keys jangling as he unlocked every lock on the door.

"Open the side door, hurry Ron!" Harry urged. Calla climbed through the window and into the car and turned to hold her hand out to help Harry do the same.

Vernon burst into the room, and upon seeing Harry said, "Petunia, he's escaping!" Harry threw his body into the car, and Ron and Calla grabbed onto him. Vernon leaned out the window and took hold of Harry's leg.

Harry yelled at his uncle to let go. Ron hollered at his brother to drive. A few seconds later, Vernon was flung out the window and the Ford Angela sped away from Privet Drive. Harry, breathing fast, shut the door behind him, and straightened out his shirt, discreetly rubbing at a few bruises that were sore after that whole experience.

"I'm glad we could get you outta there, Harry," Ron remarked.

"Me too."

"And it's good to finally meet you, Calla! Harry's told us all about you!"

Calla smiled at the red-headed boys, "And I've heard lots about the Weasley's!"

. . .

They made it back to the Burrow by morning, and after a scolding from Mrs. Weasley, Harry and Calla brought their things in from the car and settled into the Burrow.

Ron was busy setting up an extra bed for Harry to sleep on when Harry excused himself to use the restroom.

Harry entered the bathroom and found what he was looking for; he scanned the contents of the medicine cabinet, amazed at the wide variety of potions. He only took a few portions of each potion that he needed to conceal his injuries until they had fully healed, although he felt a pang of guilt for taking from his friend. He had thought about asking Mrs. Weasley but was not about to answer any questions as to why he needed them. This is better, so I don't make any kind of a fuss. I'll take care of this myself. Harry closed the cabinet and drank some pain reliever, just enough that moving or a slight bump on one of his bruises wouldn't cause him to react abnormally.

He put the rest of the vials back into his trunk, and made his way downstairs,l

What the Weasley Burrow lacked in coordination and tidiness, it made up for in warmth and originality. Harry couldn't help but smile every time he passed the sewing needles that moved on their own, or dishes that cleaned themselves. The bookshelves on the left and right of the fireplace were full of information on magic; although, as Harry leaned closer, he noticed not all of the books were in languages he recognized.

"Looking sharp, Harry," Fred said as he walked by, orange juice in his hands.

"Oh, yeah, good..." Harry spun around to return the greeting but Fred was already in the hallway and moving quickly away.

Mrs. Weasley moved through the kitchen without pause, cleaning, cooking breakfast, humming to herself all the while. The smell of bacon and biscuits quickly drew the Weasley boys to the kitchen, and Calla sat down beside Harry. They all began putting food onto their plate and chatting away.

"You look far too skinny for a boy your age, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley piled more eggs onto his plate. The sound of footsteps clomping happily down the stairs preceded the entrance of the youngest Weasley, Ginny.

"Mum, have you seen my jumper?"

"Yes, dear, it was on the cat!"

Ginny's eyes grew wide when she saw Harry. Calla waved, excited to meet a girl that would be in her year, but Ginny didn't seem to see her.

Calla noticed immediately the embarrassment, surprise, and nervousness that Ginny felt. She was thinking about a boy, smiling, he had black scruffy-looking hair, glasses, and a lightning scar-wait, Harry?

Calla quickly looked away, feeling bad that she had looked into her mind. Does Ginny have a crush on my brother? It doesn't matter to me either way, but that's a strange thought for me to read, oops. Ginny backed out of the kitchen and rushed back upstairs.

"That's Ginny. She's been asking about you all summer," Ron told Harry.

Well, I suppose in the Wizarding World, Harry is really famous, Calla reminded herself. Hopefully, she still wants to be my friend.

Later that day, while the boys worked on de-gnoming the garden, Ginny introduced herself to Calla, and they talked about their excitement to go to Hogwarts.

"Hopefully we can both be in Gryffindor, and have classes together and everything!"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Ginny agreed, but Calla saw her nervousness. What if…? Ginny thought, and Calla sensed a torn-up hat smiling evilly, the tables in the Great Hall stretching on endlessly, the color green, snakes, silvery banners waving at a quidditch match, the enemy of Gryffindor...

Thoughtfully, Calla added, "Of course, we still have to be sorted, and I'm really nervous about that part."

"You are?"

"Sure! Harry got put in Gryffindor, but what if I don't? The thing I keep telling myself is that no matter what house I get put in, I'm still going to enjoy my time at Hogwarts, I'm going to make a lot of new friends, and Harry is still going to be my older brother."

"But Fred and George have told me horrible stories about what it's like to be sorted, all kinds of tests, and creatures," Ginny said.

"I think the bravest thing you could do is walk right into the Great Hall and be ready for anything to happen! Bravery doesn't mean you never get scared, it just means that you don't let fear stop you."

Ginny smiled at that.

Calla added, "And stop listening to Fred and George, anyway. Harry told me about the sorting ceremony, and all we have to do is put on a talking hat."

"Really? Why couldn't they just say that?" pouted Ginny as Calla laughed.

. . .

A week later, Harry has joined the Weasleys on a shopping trip to Diagon Alley and after getting lost in Knockturn Alley, bumped into Hermione, his best friend from Hogwarts.

"What have you done to your glasses? Oculus Reparo!" Hermione fixed Harry's glasses with a wave of her wand, and Harry took them off his face for a second to admire her skill.

"Thanks, I really need to remember that one."

"No problem! And besides all the dirt, you look terrible, almost skinnier than when I last saw you, are you alright Harry?"

"I'm fine, I got a nasty stomach bug this summer, so I haven't eaten much these last few weeks. I'm over it now, and a good thing, Mrs. Weasley is an excellent cook."

Harry and Hermione walked up towards the bookstore in Diagon Alley, although they only made it as far as the doorway, the entire store was full of people.

"Oh Harry dear, there you are!" Mrs. Weasley said, brushing the dirt off of Harry's robes.

Calla stood with all of the other Weasley children, feeling overwhelmed with all these people around her when she heard Harry's name being mentioned. She turned and Harry smiled at her.

"I was wondering where you had ended up! The floo network is really something…" Calla said reflectively.

"Tell me about it."

Hermione introduced herself brightly to Calla. "Hi, you're Calla, right? Harry's told me all about you!"

"Hi, then I'm guessing then you must be Hermione?"

"Are you here to see Professor Lockart too?"

"Professor?" Harry asked.

Hermione brushed her hair behind her ears as she said, "Yeah, he's going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year!"

Hermione moved further into the bookstore, eager to see her new Professor. Harry tried to hang towards the back of the room with Calla, but the crowd just pushed him farther into the room.

Calla could feel the shifting, drifting, anxious thoughts of all the people in the room, the images blended together, and many people had the same thing on their mind: a charming man with a winning smile and dirty blonde hair. That must be Professor Lockhart, she thought.

Calla tried to block out the minds of the people in the bookstore but was only somewhat successful. Calla glowered but honed in on a few intriguing thoughts. Someone off to the right was buried in a book, feeling excited as they flipped through each page, someone stood next to them, feeling impatient, and thinking about leaving to go get lunch. This people store is so crowded with books, I can't even see the names written on the people's foreheads, Calla heard someone say, but before she could even process those words, Calla saw an image of a hungry person ripping a page out of the book and stuffing it down their throat, thrilling, exciting-

Calla held a hand to her head and closed her eyes, scowling.

"You all right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I'm just getting all the thoughts confused, there are so many people-" but she was cut off by a roar of applause and everyone's attention turned to the front of the bookstore. Gilderoy Lockhart strutted onto the stage and smiled as someone took his picture.

"We don't have to stay in here then, we can wait outside. Try to just tune out everyone's thoughts if you can. Also, I wanted to tell you about what I overheard after I came out of the Floo Network," Harry said.

"Oh yeah?"

Harry and Calla stepped out of the bookstore, leaning against the brick exterior of the shop.

Harry looked around for a second before saying, "You remember me telling you about Draco Malfoy? I saw him and his father trading a few items in a shop in Knockturn Alley. I'm not sure what it was all about, but apparently, they have been doing raids on wizard households, looking for dark magical objects."

"Okay, wow, I guess I'm not surprised they're involved in shady tradings. So they were trying to get rid of a few things that they wouldn't want the Ministry to find?" Calla wondered.

"Seems like it. I wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy had chests full of illegal, dark, magical objects, Ron's told me about how he did all sorts of terrible things during the First Wizarding War."

"I wonder what kinds of magical objects are illegal," said Calla honestly.

Harry then described a few of the strange objects he had found as he wandered around the shop, much to Calla's excitement.

There was another roar of clapping coming from the inside of the shop.

Calla glanced back into the shop, feeling each mental mood shift as everyone fawned and gasped at Lockhart. Harry looked around at the other witches and wizards bustling about, shopping and talking and scanning shelves.

A few minutes later, Ron and Ginny stepped out of the shop and squinted at the bright sun shining into their faces.

"He certainly was a character wasn't he?" Ron commented. Behind him, a photographer stepped out of the shop and put on a few spectacles and started to write a few things down in a small notebook. Ron added, "Lockhart loves getting his picture taken too."

Draco Malfoy suddenly emerged from behind the photographer. Calla narrowed her expression as she instantly picked up on the coldness of his thoughts. He held his chin high, believing to be better than anyone else, and cruel comments and jabs cluttered the front of his mind. He was a spoiled kid, too, and his father was incredibly hard on him. She struggled to read much else other than hostility, so she stopped attempting to interpret anything from his mind, and instead shot daggers with her eyes at him.

"Well if it isn't Potter and Weasley. I'm sure your mum's in there figuring out how much of your house you'll have to sell just to pay for your school books," he smirked in Ron and Ginny's direction.

"I'm sure your dad's off trading away all the illegal things he's got in his house," Calla said boldly. Ron and Ginny looked shocked. Harry just smirked.

"Pardon me, who are you? I like to know the name of people that have a habit of falsely accusing my father," scoffed Malfoy.

"I'm Calla, Harry Potter's little sister."

"There are two Potter children?" The photographer behind Malfoy suddenly perked up, and took a step toward the group, listening intently.

"Yes my parents had two kids, unlike your family who after one child, realized they had made a mistake," Harry fought back, arms crossed.

"Ha!" Ron didn't bother to hold back his surprised laugh. Even Ginny was smiling next to him.

"Well, unlike your family, Potter, both my parents are still alive."

Ron chimed in, "Oi, that was a low blow."

There was a bright FLASH! And all the kids blinked at the blinding light and looked to see the photographer grinning from ear to ear and holding his camera.

"What are you-" Harry started to argue.

"No, it's alright, I wanted it candid. You'll see it in the paper tomorrow!" He scribbled away in his notebook, muttering to himself about a 'long-hidden secret'.

"How fitting. Harry Potter buying his school books is always newsworthy, but Harry and his fiery sister standing on the street doing nothing-together, you'll make the front page!"

Ginny looked bravely up at Draco. "Leave them alone."

"Look at that Potter! Got yourself a girlfriend?"

"Draco, play nicely," a smooth voice sounded. A wizard with long bleach blonde hair joined their group outside the bookstore. He held a cane at his side with a crystal clear jewel adorning the top of it.

The photographer snapped one more photograph of Harry and Calla before shuffling quickly away, his cape flapping behind him.

"I don't appreciate him taking our picture, and he was feeling way too happy about it," Calla said under her breath to her brother. At that moment, Hermione stepped out of the shop and stood in between Calla and Ginny, peering at the two blonde wizards across from them.

"Mr. Potter, I don't believe we've met." Lucius reached his hand out as if to shake Harry's hand, but instead brushed away Harry's hair to reveal his scar. At his touch, Harry withdrew, ever so slightly. "Remarkable, the history you represent, but as the presence of the camera also suggests...there is still some Potter history that the Wizarding World has yet to learn?"

"Hey I'm not history, I'm standing right here," said Calla.

One of Lucius's eyebrows twitched upwards. "Clearly."

"She's my sister," Harry stated.

"Yes, at least you have one member of your family left. Pity about your parents, but it's curious that both of you managed to survive that night. Curious, too, that I've never heard a mention of you."

"It's shocking, I know. I admit that I have remained a well-kept secret until now and I too have spent the last ten years in denial about my own existence," Calla shot back.

Before Lucius could respond, Mr. Weasley stepped outside of the bookstore, followed by Hermione's parents.

"Arthur," Malfoy said, and Mr. Weasley returned the greeting.

"I'm surprised you have time to shop, it's such a busy time at the Ministry, all those raids. I hope they're paying you over time, it's obvious you could use it." Malfoy reaches into Ginny's cauldron, removing a very old, battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"It's been a welcome break from work actually," Mr. Weasley replied, not losing his smile.

"Yes, I'm sure, and it will be back to work soon for us all, hmm? School is just around the corner. Draco enjoyed meeting his classmates all last year, I'm assuming you must be Miss Granger? Yes, he's told me all about you… and your parents. Muggles, are you?" Lucius could barely disguise his distaste for them.

"Yes." Hermione stuck her hand as if to shake Mr. Malfoy's hand. Mr. Malfoy looked down and slowly moved towards returning the greeting but Hermione said, "Oh excuse me, I was hoping you would hand back Ginny's book now."

"Hmm," Lucius sneered, looking more displeased than ever as the defiant young witch simply flared at him. Lucius ignored Hermione's outstretched hand and put Ginny's books back into her cauldron.

"It's still rather crowded outside of this bookshop, why don't we continue shopping elsewhere, Harry, Ron, girls?" Mr. Weasley urged the kids to walk elsewhere.

Mr. Malfoy lifted his staff. "Come Draco."

"See you at the Ministry, Lucius," said Mr. Weasley.

"See you at school," Draco said to his peers.

Harry, Calla and the Weasley's turned and started walking away from the bookstore. Calla went up to be next to Ginny.

"You were brave back there to stand up to Malfoy."

"You too, Calla. I think we'll both be in Gryffindor!" Ginny said beaming. Her cauldron was full of books and hanging at her side, making a little clunky sound as they walked down the cobbled street.

. . .

So, how do we like Calla and Ginny as friends…? Sidenote, I will be moving through the events of the second book with each chapter, and for some scenes, instead of simply re-writing them with Calla, I might just summarize, or show a different scene that happens around the same time. In this chapter, I frankly didn't feel like re-writing the scene with Lockhart, so, that's one example of it. Some of the hurt/comfort scenes in the second book I will be keeping :)