Aah! The first chapter of year two is here! I had no clue how to start this chapter, but I managed to write this down and I am fine with it. Sorry if it's a little short. I hope the next chapter will be better! Thanks for joining Rachel and I again, I really hope her second year will be just as interesting as her first year!

Chapter 1

Summer Letters

It was quite busy at the Haney household; after a long discussion with their parents, twins Rachel and Lukas had managed to convince them to let them get their separate rooms. Now that they were twelve years old, both of them would like a bit more privacy. Lukas would be getting the guest bedroom that was beside their previously shared bedroom, which would be Rachel's.

But with moving rooms came renovating, for Rachel didn't fancy a half-blue half-yellow bedroom, and decided to paint it all gray. Meanwhile, Lukas wanted his room dark blue. So they had gone out and gotten the paint and brushes, and they had been working for a week to paint everything, first white and then their chosen colours.

Rachel was painting the wall by her window with the final coat of gray, being careful not to get paint on the windowsill. She wanted to put blankets and pillows on the windowsill and make it like a seat, almost, but it was too small for that so Mr. Haney had gotten wood and nails and made a little extension for it.

Mrs. Haney walked into the room, carrying a tray with a glass of juice and a plate with a bacon sandwich.

"Rachel, dear, you should take a break," said Mrs. Haney. "You've been painting all morning!"

"I just want it done," said Rachel, shrugging as she painted underneath the windowsill. The window was wide open to let the smell of paint waft out and to let fresh air enter the room.

"I know," said Mrs. Haney. "But you've got more than a month now to finish it off!"

Downstairs, Rachel's little brother Jeremy called for Mrs. Haney, so she put the tray with Rachel's lunch on Rachel's bed, which had been shoved against the wall that was already painted, and rushed off downstairs to see what Jeremy wanted.

Rachel took a break to eat her lunch and then went back to painting. She was almost done with the final coat, and then she'd just have to let it all dry and move her furniture back into place.

"Rachel!"

Lukas rushed into Rachel's room, his long brown hair a mess from running up the stairs. He was clutching a few letters in his hand.

"Mail?" said Rachel, turning and putting away the paintbrush after finishing up the final coat.

"From Ron, and Hermione's sent a letter too," said Lukas, sitting down on Rachel's bed. Rachel walked toward him.

"And from Harry?"

Lukas shook his head, "Nothing."

Rachel sighed.

She'd been writing to her friends Ron and Hermione. Ron Weasley, a tall, red-haired boy with many freckles and a long nose, had been nagging at them to come over to his house because he was bored. Hermione Granger, who had bushy hair and large front teeth, had been concerned quite a lot since Harry Potter hadn't written them anything at all the entire summer. Ron had also been concerned about this.

"I wonder if he's all right," said Rachel, taking the letters from Lukas.

"We'll find out in September, I guess," said Lukas.

Rachel sat down and opened the first letter, which was from Hermione.

Dear Rachel,

Good luck with your room! By the time this arrives you've probably already finished it, but let me know how it goes and let me know what it looks like soon. I wish I could paint my room, but my parents would rather I kept it as it is because it's quite nice.

Anyway, Ron's been really worried for Harry and I think they're going to do something stupid soon, because he wrote to me to visit him even if he's in trouble. Don't be surprised if he wrote that to you, too.

I'll see you on the 28th, won't I? Don't bother writing back—we can just talk once we see each other. Oh, and Ron made me promise that we would meet at Diagon Alley. We haven't decided a date yet, but I think we'll be writing while you're over at my place.

Can't wait to see you again!

Love,

Hermione

"What did Ron say?" asked Lukas, picking at the leftover bacon on Rachel's plate after he and Rachel had finished Hermione's letter.

Rachel opened Ron's letter.

Dear Rachel,

We're going to do something stupid. I didn't tell Hermione much because I know that she would freak out, so please don't tell her, but we're going to get Harry out of Privet Drive. Fred, George, and I. I don't know yet how we're going to do it, but Fred said he had some ideas so I'll trust him on it. Just make sure to visit us, even if our mother locks us up in our rooms, or something.

I hope you and Lukas are doing well. If you aren't able to come over to my place during the summer, let's meet at Diagon Alley. Hermione agreed to it already, but we haven't decided on a date yet. I hope that Harry's going to write soon, too. Haven't seen any letters from him all summer.

Ron

"Well, that's something," said Lukas, chewing on a piece of cold bacon. "This is gross, bacon is supposed to be warm."

"It would be warm, but it's been laying on that plate for twenty minutes already, so I don't really know what you expected," said Rachel. She picked up her glass and drank the last of the juice. "Wonder what's up with Harry."

Lukas snorted, "Maybe he forgot how to write."

Rachel glared at him, "Not funny, Lukas."

Two weeks after Rachel had gotten the letters, she and Lukas got their trunks packed and their pets in their cages. Remo, the black cat with a missing paw that Rachel had fallen in love with when she first met him, was purring while Lukas' owl, Adam, hooted loudly from the backseat as Mr. Haney took Rachel and Lukas down to Hermione's house, which was an hour's drive away.

The whole ride, Lukas was stuck in the backseat with Jeremy. He'd changed a lot since Christmas, when they came back home over the break from the magical school Hogwarts. His hair was longer and he had grown a lot.

Hermione lived in a cul-de-sac in Hampstead, with a large backyard. She met with Rachel and Lukas on her driveway and helped them get their stuff inside her house. Jeremy, who would be spending a week or so with his friends Annie and Jacob in France, met Hermione and then said good-bye to Rachel and Lukas. They watched Mr. Haney drive away with Jeremy waving in the backseat, and Rachel couldn't help but feel sad that she wouldn't see her family until Christmas again.

Hermione's room was nice; it had three grey walls and one white wall, pinned with pictures of Hermione's childhood. There was a bookshelf next to her window, and a desk stood against the window. On it lay her schoolbooks and various assignments.

Rachel and Lukas had told Hermione everything that had happened so far; how they moved rooms, Jeremy whining for their parents to get a broomstick so he could see them fly, and that they went camping for a weekend in northern Scotland.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger were very nice; Mrs. Granger came up an hour after they'd arrived with tea and cookies and Mr. Granger offered to drive them to the store when they were bored.

"I wonder what's going on with Harry," said Hermione, after they'd gotten another letter from Ron that said that he hadn't heard anything from Harry still.

"We'll see him on the train, I hope," said Rachel.

Lukas, who sat on Hermione's desk-chair, shrugged and flicked through one of Hermione's Muggle books.

"Oh, Mum and Dad want to take us to the zoo tomorrow," said Hermione.

"Sounds fun," said Rachel. "Can I have the letter? I'll start writing back. Do we know yet when Ron wants to meet up at Diagon Alley?"

"Probably after we get our list of new books," said Lukas.

"Yeah, I knew that," said Rachel, rolling her eyes as she took a piece of paper and a quill and began to write back to Ron.

They spent their evening in the backyard, looking at flowers and butterflies and talking about their upcoming year. Hermione was very excited for their classes to start again, while Lukas wondered who their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be.

"I hope someone cool," said Rachel. "Someone that'll teach us a lot."

"Quirrell taught us a lot," Hermione pointed out.

"He had You-Know-Who on the back of his head."

"Right," Hermione looked down at her feet. "Forgot about that issue."

"I can't believe that actually happened," said Lukas, playing with a few sticks and tossing them to the fence at the back. "A teacher with You-Know-Who on the back of his head. I don't even want to imagine what that looked like."

"You could ask Harry," said Rachel. "He was the only one that saw, after all."

"Tell me again why you two couldn't go with him?"

"There wasn't enough of the potion for more than one to drink," said Hermione. "And you couldn't go through the black fire without that potion, so Harry took it and we went back to warn Dumbledore."

Lukas nodded. He'd heard the story many times by now because Jeremy always asked Rachel to tell him what had happened in the chambers below the school, but Jeremy had never been interested in the potions and the fire, claiming that logic was boring and he liked the magic-parts of the story.

"Anyway," said Rachel. "Back to the new teacher. They better not have someone else living on the back of their head."

There was a small silence.

"Do you think Quirrell had to feed You-Know-Who himself?" said Lukas quietly, and the three burst out laughing as they imagined the stuttering Quirrell trying to feed the face on the back of his head.