In a place far from the United Kingdom, a good thousand miles away in fact, the Amazon rainforest lay sprawled for just over two million square miles in Southern America. It was dense- every inch filled with luxuriant flora and an abundance of varied fauna. And it was for that exact reason that the Piccinni family found themselves trekking to the heart of the forest in the midst of numerous mossy vines and crawling creepers. Mrs. Piccinni had worked with Magizoology for years, and had found the perfect summertime activity for her family; cataloguing species of both magical and mundane animals, in a region where nature was flamboyant with its expression of life.

Maribella Piccinni, the eldest of three children and every bit as enthused by the idea as her mother, was ready to go before Mrs. Piccinni had even finished her proposal. She had taken after the older Piccinni, inheriting both her darkened physical features and passion for everything that grows, and a holiday amongst the richest place- naturewise- was just what she wanted.

Her younger sister, Giovanna, was more reluctant to go. She had missed Maribella all year while the girl had been away, attending her first year in the wizarding school Hogwarts, and would be going back there soon. Anna desired to spend time with her sister doing normal activities the two enjoyed, like flying around on their old brooms and hunting for gnomes in their backyards. Not to mention that the nine-year-old was most definitely, almost, maybe really really close to a breakthrough discovery on lycanthropy, something she had been researching exhaustively. Anna had to be home for that. She tried arguing her points, but her pleas fell on both her sister's and mother's deaf ears.

Marco, the baby of the family, loved his oldest sister unconditionally and usually sided with her, but his little toddler mind was full of insecurities, and he was unsure. He was going through a phase where everything was both exciting and terrifying. However, tales of the Brazilian dwarf Curupira and his treacherous tendencies convinced him at once. So Mr. and Mrs. Piccinni gathered all their savings, bought the family a nice two-bedroom-and-one-kitchen tent and off they went to South America.

Despite all the mosquitoes and the humidity, the trip was a pleasant one. The family followed a trail framed by lush foliage and marked by sludge on the forest floor, with each family member in a line one behind the other, walking to the chorus of chirps, hoots, and screeches. Mr. Piccinni hiked ahead, wand swishing with the Severing Charm, cutting away any stray plants and roots in their way. Tesoro walked proudly by his feet, hissing at the tree frogs and hunting small rodents to play with. Maribella was next, a water bottle in hand and sweating all over, enthusiastically taking mental notes of everything she saw and carrying on her back a small bag with all her belongings. Next on their single file was Anna, arms crossed and sulking, a foil to her sister.

Maribella was growing more irritated by the second, tired of constantly bickering with her sister. Not only was the constant snappishness ruining a perfectly good trip, a sinking feeling was settling into her skin; a disappointment that she and her sister were at odds after having been separated for so long, obfuscated only by the exasperation. The two girls quarrelled constantly, until Mrs. Piccinni, last in line, shushed them in fear of the noise scaring away nearby animals. The sisters snapped their mouths shut at their mother's fierce look and insistent shushing, each giving a quiet huff of indignation and both missing the little smile on Mrs. Piccinni's face as she turned back around to continue walking. Her girls were growing up and she knew they had to work this out on their own, coming together again in their own time; it would only strengthen their bond as sisters. Right this second just wasn't the right time to be making a noisy fuss.

Just like Mr. Piccinni, Mrs. Piccinni too had her wand out. In front of her and floating in the air was Marco, who had gotten tired from walking on the first kilometer of their path. Now, he was having the time of his life, little fingers up in the air and skimming low branches on trees as he bobbed along under the low canopy. Hovering overhead, and occasionally bumping into Marco's little bottom, was also a backpack, holding inside their tent and other various objects owned by the family; Mrs. Piccinni's working tools, which included magnifying glasses, a thick encyclopedia, and test tubes, general personal and hygienic items, and, most importantly, Marco's favorite blanket.

"Mama," Marco exclaimed from his place high above, "Tesoro catch animal!" He pointed at their pet, and sure enough the kneazle was holding a small lizard in his mouth, furry chest puffed, obviously pleased by the catch.

"That's an Amazonian Salamander," said Mrs. Piccinni, taking it from Tesoro. "Watch this, bambini," she called out to the children, gesturing conspiratorially for them to join her, and pointed her wand at the salamander. "Incendio," she said, and a hot flame was directed towards the small lizard. Even Anna was interested by this, eyes glued to the scene before her. The salamander didn't wiggle or squeak in pain. In fact, it seemed like it wasn't feeling the burning fire around it at all.

"It's immune," Maribella breathed, startled. The fire ceased, and Maribella seized the lizard, holding it up on eye-level. It struggled, and Maribella let it go, not wanting to be the source of its discomfort.

"Mhmm," Mrs. Piccinni hummed in agreement. "Very good, tesoro." Tesoro, the kneazle, took the compliment to himself and purred proudly.

"She meant me, Tesoro, it's my pet name," Maribella said with a roll of her eyes, but bent down and scratched the kneazle's ears, anyway. Then directing herself to her mother, "Tell me more about it, Mama!" she requested excitedly.

"Did you see its coloring?" Mrs. Piccinni asked and Maribella nodded. "Muggles that have previously spotted it deducted that it was a simple camouflaging technique, but Brazilian wizarding communities have reported-" they conversed in whispers, so as not to disturb the wildlife, until Anna interrupted just as they reached a clearing.

"Can we stop here, Papa?" she asked, appealing to their father, as Anna knew the other three members (four, if one were to count Tesoro) of their group would much rather keep going. "I'm tired." And then thunder roared overhead.

"Guess we have no choice, sweetheart," Mr. Piccinni said with a chuckle. "Let's set up camp here."

The adults started setting up their tent, and the children played nearby. A movement nearby caught Maribella's eyes. It was perched high on a tree, observing the family with squinted yellow eyes. A snake.

"Mama," she called quietly, "what species is that?" she gestured to the reptile.

Mrs. Piccinni looked away from the already assembled tent, where she and Mr. Piccinni were placing incantations that would keep the family safe during the night. Anna also looked up from where she was playing with Marco and Tesoro.

"An emerald tree boa," Mrs. Piccinni informed. "They're quite common here in Brazil."

"Is it- is it dangerous, Mama?" Anna asked, her voice quivering slightly.

"I'm not sure," the older witch admitted. "If you were to ask me about Horned Snakes, or perhaps the common English Adder viper, I'd-" The snake moved its head and Anna screamed.

"Giovanna! Calm yourself, you'll just scare the animal. The last thing you want to do is scare a dangerous animal that you know very little about." Mrs. Piccinni chided.

"It's scaring me, Mama."

"Anna," Maribella said in a patronizing tone, "it's practically harmless."

"It's practically harmless to you," Anna said, pouting, "you turn into an animal every month anyway. It can probably sense it." Giovanna meanly and childishly referred to the fact that Maribella had been turning into a wolf-like beast every month ever since she was seven years old.

"Giovanna Piccinni-" Mrs. Piccinni started angrily.

"You're safe too, then," Maribella retaliated feeling rather vindictive. "It can probably sense how much of a little snake you are, you-"

"Girls," Mrs. Piccinni bellowed, finally silencing the two sisters. "Enough!"

Maribella and Anna mumbled meaningless apologies to each other.

"Good," Mrs. Piccinni said, clasping her hands in front of her. "Now onto the snake, the poor thing." She approached the tree the snake was on, with Maribella hot on her tail. Anna chose to maintain her distance. "It's an arboreal snake, so it is most likely aggressive," said Mrs. Piccinni. "but not venomous. Look at the shape of its head," she continued, tracing into the air a triangular shape.

"How about its eyes, Mama?" Maribella asked. "Look, slitted pupils."

It was Mr. Piccinni who answered, from behind her.

"You must never look into a snake's eyes, Maribella," he said, his voice light but with clear warning. "They are enticing. Look too long and it may be the death of you." Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Ale!" Mrs. Piccinni said, shaking her head as Anna cried "Papa!" and ran inside the tent, clearly upset.

"Don't listen to him, Mari," Mrs. Piccinni said, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulders. "You see, while elliptical eyes usually mean venom, in this case-"

But having taken her father's words to heart, Maribella was no longer listening.

Maribella eventually retired inside, while Mrs. Piccinni carefully transferred the snake somewhere else, so as not to scare Anna. Maribella made sure Marco had eaten before grabbing a banana to herself and moving inside the room she'd share with her siblings.

"I call top bunk," Anna yelled from the kitchen counter.

"Not if I get there first!" Maribella called back and sprinted into the room. There was a bunk bed and one mattress on the ground. Maribella quickly climbed the ladders and settled in comfortably in the covers.

"No fair," Anna whined as she came into the room just a few seconds later.

Maribella rolled her eyes and pulled a blanket on top of her, covering her head. She could still hear Anna complaining, but at least it was muffled by the covers. She laid on her back and closed her eyes, trying to at least get some sleep. She knew she'd need to be in her best shape tomorrow when they continued their hike.

Days later, on the 30th of July, Maribella sat down by a riverbank to write her friend, Harry Potter, a birthday letter. Admittedly, it wasn't the best place to write, as the water kept on sprinkling and blotting her paper. She didn't mind it so much, though, as writing in the middle of nature, with her feet in the cool water, was one of the best sensations she had experienced. Her family was nearby, ankles deep in the water, playing around and, in Anna's case, cautiously looking out for Anacondas

"They tend to prefer marshes and swamps, Anna. If I were you, I'd worry more about piranhas and poisonous frogs," Maribella shouted out, but Anna wouldn't listen. Maribella shook her head at her sister's paranoia and turned to her letter, reading what she had written.

Dear Harry,

Sorry I haven't written you (ink spot) summer. I've been quite busy. In fact, I'm not even in England! I'm in the Amazon forest, in Brazil. Can you believe it? I'm having so much fun! The other day we were hiking up and (the paper was damp at this point, and the ink had blurred together, making it impossible to read)

You must be at the Weasley's, right? Ron wrote me a while back and he said he'd pick you up at some point. Happy birthday, by the way! You'll see that I've sent you with this letter a macaw feather, you can use it as a quill if you want. I was going to make you a cocar- it's a Brazilian indigenous plumage headdress, like warbonnets- but my dad thought it'd be disrespectful to their culture, and besides taking all those feathers from one single bird… I couldn't do that to the poor animal. Anyways, I hope you find some use for it. It's quite exquisite, don't you think?

We'll be back about a week before term starts and Ron, Hermione, and I will be going up to London to get our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?

Miss you lots,

Mari P.

Satisfied with it, she sealed the envelope and sent it on a tropical bird to England. Maribella thought nothing of it when, even weeks later, Harry hadn't replied to her letter. After all, she was in the middle of a forest. The letter had just gotten lost. Probably.

As promised, a week before the first of September, the Piccinnis arrived back in England. One by one each member of the family stepped off the fireplace. The adults immediately set to work, organising the house as one would after travelling- unpacking bags, setting the table for a nice meal after a long day, and other adult-ly chores Maribella had no interest in.

"Home sweet home," Mr. Piccinni said, stretching and brushing off some Floo powder from his clothes.

"We have so many letters," Mrs. Piccinni grumbled, walking towards the kitchen table, where sure enough there were a collection of letters. She put Marco, who was perched on her hip, down and started flipping through the letters. In the midst of all the bills and work notes, she picked one with the Hogwarts emblem. "This is for you, Maribella."

"Thanks, Mama." Maribella said, grabbing the letter just as Anna brushed past her and rushed off to their room. Maribella poked her finger under the envelope's corner flap, sliding her fingers from one edge to the other, before the seal popped open. The letter contained her school list. She scanned it slowly, her eyes widening. "Our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has to be mental," she told her parents. "The entire Lockhart collection is listed as obligatory books for the course."

"Mm, maybe they're just a big fan," Mrs. Piccinni said, looking through the papers she had in her hands, but not really reading them.

"And understandably so," Mr. Piccinni added, sending his packed bag up to his bedroom with a wave of his wand, "the man's a genius."

"I thought his book on werewolves to be a bit too fictional-sounding," Mrs. Piccinni said, piling the letters up and pocketing them for later. Maribella tensed up. She didn't want to read a work where the author would bash on werewolves, and consequently her.

"Fair enough," Mr. Piccinni said, now stopping Marco from stumbling into the fireplace that burning with hot yellow fire. Marco had little to no understanding of how the Floo Network functioned. To him, you could step into the flames in one place and come out in another. Tesoro sprung into action, carrying the boy out of the room by his shirt collar.

"It's nothing offensive, Mari, don't worry," Mr. Piccinni comforted, seeing the look on her face. "You'll probably get a laugh out of it."

"Maybe. Must be a witch teaching me this year," Maribella commented. "You know how they all swooned after his fourth consecutive win of the Most Charming Smile award."

"Oh, I know it too well," Mrs. Piccinni jested. "Your Papa swooned the most out of all of those witches."

"I did not!" Mr. Piccinni said defensively. "I just recognize and admire his heroic deeds. He did after all save a whole lot of people from a whole lot of inconveniences."

Maribella and her mother sniggered behind their hands, sharing a look.

"Well Papa," Maribella said with a grin, "since you admire him so much, maybe you could take me to Diagon Alley this Wednesday to help me buy his books"

"What do you think, Fatima?" Mr. Piccinni asked. "How does Wednesday sound?"

"I'm so busy this week, Mari," Mrs. Piccinni said apologetically to her daughter. "I have reports to write, samples to hand-in… The Ministry didn't just give me almost two months of vacation for nothing. I'll be spending the entire week there, informing them of our discoveries. I can't come with you to Diagon Alley."

Maribella already expected this.

"It's ok, Mama," Maribella said.

"Maribella and I will have a jolly time at Diagon Alley," Mr. Piccinni said, clasping a hand around her shoulders.

"I heard Sugarplum's just restocked Liquorice Wands," Maribella told him excitedly, "and they're selling a whole bundle for two sickles."

"Remember those roasted chestnuts we got last year from a street peddler?" Mr. Piccinni asked just as eager. "Maybe they'll have those again."

"Flourish and Blotts, guys," Mrs. Piccinni said with a pointed look. "Don't make me regret letting you two go all by yourselves."

"Letting us?" Mr. Piccinni said, indignated.

"Don't worry, Mama, I'll keep him in check," Maribella grinned. "It'll just be me, Papa, and Lockhart's masterpieces."

A.N./ Hey there! Welcome to any newcomers, and welcome back to those of all who're familiar with the first installment of this series, "New Moon". This is your typical summer-before-school chapter, and I hope you've enjoyed their familial interactions! Next chapter, we'll get to see some friendly faces that we all know and love.

Edit: thanks to those who have already reviewed, especially the Guest who also left quite a nice comment on both this fic and my last one, and to whom I unfortunately can't reply privately. I love your reviews.

On that note, don't hesitate to leave me a comment!