Okay, guys, gals and non-binary pals. This is the beginning of Part II. There were some impatient reviews/comments so I'm just gonna go ahead and start posting it - just don't be expecting very regular updates; I promise I've been working on it, I just hav of other things going on atm.

Thank you all so much for your kudos and comments, believe me when I say that they are my motivation to write this story and that I cherish each and every one of them 3

Also, a note: read -any text like this- as a srikethrough. *shakes fist at FF.N's formatting shortcomings*

Without further ado!

Prologue: The Letters

Dear Harry,

Hello! How are you? I do hope your aunt and uncle aren't treating you too badly. I'm enjoying being home of course; Mum and Dad seem to be trying to make up for lost time in terms of spending quality time with me – so many museums! It's brilliant.

I hope you are getting a chance to do something other than just waiting for term to start again. If nothing else, I have faith that you're getting a lot of reading done – and before you say anything about not having the full reading list yet, I'm also sending you a list of books. The ones with the stars next to them have been on the reading list in previous years and the rest are just some that I think might be useful. Enjoy!

Please write back soon – as happy as I am to be home, I've started feeling sometimes that Hogwarts was something I made up or read in a book. I definitely need to keep in touch with the living parts of it (you and Ron) to banish that terrifying thought.

Love from Hermione

Dear Ron,

Hello! How are you? How are you enjoying summer with your family? Are they all well? I'm enjoying being home of course; Mum and Dad seem to be trying to make up for lost time in terms of spending quality time with me – so many museums! It's brilliant.

I know you're probably getting caught up in whatever mischief goes on in the Weasley household from June to September (I assume a large part of it is Fred and George's doing, but I suppose I'm highly prejudiced) but I'm taking this opportunity to also remind you that you should be doing some reading. I'm sending a list with this letter. The books with stars next to them have been on the reading list in previous years and the rest are just some that I think might be useful. Enjoy!

Try to write back soon, will you? As happy as I am to be home, I think I need to remind myself that Hogwarts was real sometimes!

Love from Hermione

P.S. - Don't try to put off reading until after your mum takes you to Diagon Alley, I know your brothers have copies of a lot of the books on the list, I checked with Percy.

Hi Hermione!

Good to hear from you. I'm going to write this while ignoring any reference to reading (IT'S SUMMER, STOP) and the fact that you're using Percy against me (like he wasn't hard enough to live with already).

Things are actually pretty quiet here – having Charlie and Bill away is a bit weird. Not that there's not enough of us left to keep Mum busy but Percy being the oldest brother in the house is a nightmare. It's bad enough for me – he keeps going on about choosing O. ? (WE'VE NOT EVEN STARTED SECOND YEAR YET) – but I feel really sorry for Ginny. I reckon he's trying to kill her buzz about starting Hogwarts. She's still bouncing off the walls, no matter how much he goes on about the rules and revision plans or how many horror stories Fred and George tell her. Good for her, I guess. She might as well feel good about it now, before she gets to her first lesson with Snape.

I suppose you're not playing Quidditch and degnoming all day… what do Muggles get up to in the holidays? Please don't tell me it's all museums, that sounds too much like MORE SCHOOL.

Ron

P.S. Have you heard from Harry yet?

Dear Harry,

Hello, hope you're okay. I thought I'd hear back from you before now… busy with the reading? That's a joke, I think. Ron's extremely offended that I even suggested it to him, and I'm beginning to realise you might feel similarly. Although I don't think that's a good enough reason to be ignoring me.

I'd rather that than some more sinister reason for your silence though. I'm sending this letter through the muggle post in case your aunt and uncle are stopping you getting things by owl. You know if anything really awful is happening you can send word to me or to Ron and I'm sure we could try to sort something out.

He seems to be enjoying his holidays – I suppose neither of us can imagine what it must be like to spend the holidays with such a huge family. Although if he's written to you, you already know that. I'm not jumping to conclusions about what you've read and who you're answering or who you're able to answer. If you can reply, do.

Love from Hermione

P.S. – If you are getting letters but can't reply, I'd just like to remind you that Hogwarts is real and you'll be able to go back soon. In case you need it.

Dear Ron,

We can agree to disagree about the reading I suppose. Just don't come crawling back to me when you don't know what's going on when we get back.

I can't imagine a world in which having seven people living inside a house equates to things being quiet. I'm sure Percy's not so bad, you and the twins are pretty cruel to him; maybe he deserves to be able to lord it over you for a while.

I forgot about Ginny! I can't imagine a Weasley girl, somehow. How has she survived this long around all of you? It's good that she's so excited, although I suppose watching every other one of her siblings go before her must make her beyond eager. I look forward to meeting her.

In terms of what I'm up to, you're right to assume the severe lack of Quidditch and degnoming(?) although it's not as though I do much of the former in term time either. I don't think the locals would really be able to cope with that. I'm slightly offended at your dismissal of museums as a quality pastime. They're fascinating, and I'd highly recommend you visit one if you're actually interested in muggles and their lives and history.

I'll admit that a lot of what we do is quiet. I read. We watch BBC dramas. We go for walks. They'll have to go back to work soon so I'm just enjoying their company. Although – we did do Monopoly the other day that got pretty heated. Mum wouldn't talk to Dad for the rest of the day. It makes him pretty brutal sometimes.

I've not heard from Harry yet. I wrote him a letter when I sent you that first one and I'm writing another now. Has he talked to you at all?

Love from Hermione

Hermione,

Don't worry about me not knowing what's going on, no one reads like you do and we all get by. I've never seen Fred holding a book and him and George both get really good marks.

Please don't pity Percy. You've got no clue what it's like living with him – trust me when I say he deserves everything he gets. He's like you but a million times worse. I found his old textbooks on my bed the other day, Hermione. HE'S COMING INTO MY BEDROOM TO LEAVE ME SCHOOL READING AND I BLAME YOU ENTIRELY.

I wish I could forget about Ginny too, to be honest. She won't shut up about Hogwarts and about Harry, of all things. She's obsessed. It's more of a case of us surviving her than the other way around – she can take care of herself. A little too well if you ask me, which she never does.

I'd tell you what degnoming was but I feel like I should be allowed to enjoy the fact that I know something you don't know for as long as I possibly can. Remind me to show you when you come over. Speaking of which, Mum keeps going on at me about inviting you over. I've told her about your quiet time with the parents but she's saying I should still offer. If you get bored of books and walks, let us know and you can get a head start on meeting Ginny.

If 'doing monopoly' makes your parents violent I don't know if you should carry on. Is it some kind of muggle potion? I didn't think your parents were the type to let you start drinking so soon.

Harry's not answered my letter either. Do you reckon something's really wrong at his house, or if it's just his Aunt and Uncle being the usual amount of horrible to him?

Ron

Dear Harry,

I'm not really expecting an answer back now but I'm going to carry on sending you letters in case you are getting them and are just not able to reply. It's going to start feeling like I'm writing in a diary if you don't respond but you needn't worry too much about be divulging any scandalous secrets – I don't have any.

So what to say? I've been pretty busy myself. A lot of reading, as you'd probably expect. A lot of spending time with my parents, reading and going for walks. We played Monopoly the other day – I told Ron about it and he seemed to get the impression that it was a hard drug. I suppose you know about Monopoly? Maybe I'll try to teach him to play when we get back, although it would probably be a challenge just to pull him away from a chess board.

Stay safe, Harry.

Love from Hermione

Dear Ron

I'm keeping that letter, and a month from now when you're asking for my help with homework, I'm going to wave it in your face and you're going to tell me to stop looking so smug but I won't. On a side note, I don't think you should be using Fred and George as role models for academic success. Natural talent can only get you so far. Percy's got the right idea – it takes hard work. Time management. Drive.

Ginny sounds amazing. You can't blame her for being fascinated by Harry – weren't you as curious when you first met him? The Boy Who Lived himself, sitting across from you. I'd only read about him in that last year after I found out I was a witch, I can't imagine what it must be like for people who've been hearing about him their whole lives. Really, it's remarkable he gets along as he does in school, though I suppose you get used to celebrity.

It's really sweet of your mum to offer but I think I'm going to make the most of the time I've got with my parents. I will definitely take you up on that offer someday soon though. I might even bring Monopoly.

I don't know about Harry. I don't think we should worry too much. From what he said about his aunt and uncle, I wouldn't put it past them to be stopping him sending Hedwig out. I don't think they'd do anything to really hurt him though. They hadn't so far, had they? Before he came to Hogwarts, I mean. It's more neglect than cruelty… I'm sure he's fine.

Love from Hermione

Hermione,

How would I know the difference between your usual smug face and a particularly smug face? I didn't think you had any control over it, honestly.

Fred and George are well chuffed that you said they've got natural talent by the way. And they read out what you said about Percy too, so he's walking about with a head twice the usual size too. I think the twins are using your letters as a weekly entertainment, they keep quoting stuff at me. I think they know what Monopoly is – they must have found out from Lee – and they find it hilarious that I don't BUT WON'T TELL ME. Honestly, Hermione, you're lucky you don't have siblings.

Oh, Ginny says she's excited to meet you too. The twins told her about taking down that troll that Halloween and it looks like you're on the same level as Harry on her idolizing scale. I keep reminding everybody that it was me that did the actual magic that knocked the thing out but they all mysteriously go deaf every time I point it out.

I've been talking to Fred and George about-

Okay Mum says I have to tell you the offer still stands about coming to stay if you change your mind, -happy now?-

-about Harry and they think we might have to go and rescue him from his family. I don't really know what you mean about neglect and cruelty – aren't they the same thing? If he's having a bad time of it we need to help him out! Aren't you worried about him?

Ron

Happy Birthday Harry!

I can believe you're only turning twelve now. I'm thirteen in a couple of months! Ah, to be young and foolish.

No but really, I hope you manage to have good day, no matter what your aunt and uncle – and your cousin, actually – do to try to make it awful. I'm still optimistic that you're getting these letters, even if you can't write back. I won't risk sending you a birthday present but I swear I'll give you something when we get back to Hogwarts. Or if I see you sooner than that.

Ron seems to think you need rescuing. Fred and George are likely feeding his paranoia. They probably think it would be a bit of a laugh to show up at your aunt and uncle's and whisk you away but I don't know if they realise that doing that might make things worse for you. Ron's accusing me of not caring about what's happening to you, like I'm not worrying about this. Ridiculous.

I know you've survived them this long, though, and I know you'll probably have to survive them a good while longer. I'm not sure having more wizarding friends aggravating the situation would be the most helpful thing. I really hope Ron and the others don't do anything to make the rest of the time you have to spend over there harder than it has to be.

Sorry, I don't mean to be so pessimistic. It's your birthday! You should be happy. I hope you are.

Love,

Hermione

Ron,

Ha ha. The frequency with which I have opportunity to use my smug face should just tell you how often I am so right. Something to think about. Be prepared to beg for mercy, Ronald.

Speaking of Weasley boys being entirely wrong, I never said that Fred and George had natural talent. My point was that you have to work to get somewhere in life, and that the fact they they're not right now doesn't mean they'll never have to!

I don't appreciate being a running joke, by the way. I didn't realise my letters to you were being shared with the whole family. As that seems to be the case, I might as well talk to them individually:

Mrs Weasley, thank you so much for your kind offer. I really appreciate how lovely you've been to me.

Percy, you're quite right to feel good about yourself, you work hard and you deserve credit for that, and your siblings will regret their actions if they don't follow your example soon.

Ginny, I wouldn't believe everything your brothers tell you but I am looking forward to meeting you and I do hope we can be friends.

Fred and George, I never said you had natural talent, you should take no compliments from my previous letter.

There. As for you Ron, I don't appreciate you implying that I'm not worried about Harry. Of course I am. But you can't save him from something he's already been living with for eleven years. He can handle himself, and anything you do now could make it worse! Please don't do anything stupid.

Hermione

P.S. – Fred, George, stop encouraging him. This isn't a game, this is Harry's life.

Hermione,

You're not right all the time, but you are a nightmare most of the time. Something for you to think about. I wouldn't bother arguing with Fred and George if I were you. Like I said, they're pretty good at ignoring things they don't want to hear.

I won't reply to the bits of your letter that weren't addressed to me. If any of them want to write back they can use their own parchment.

-And don't get-

Except Mum, who says it's no trouble and that you're always welcome.

And don't get hissy at me for sharing your letters. It's not like I announce them and call everybody in – do you know how hard it is to find a private space for letter writing in this house? Believe me when I say it's affecting me more than it's affecting you. I notice you haven't told me what a Monopoly is, by the way.

I don't appreciate you talking to me like I'm a kid. You can think whatever you want about Harry and his awful family but if there's something I can do to get him out of there, then I will. Fred and George have got it figured out. If he doesn't write back in the next week, we're going to go get him. It might be a bit tricky but with the three of us… We'll be fine. Sorry.

Love,

Ron.

Dear Hermione,

I'm just writing to say how lovely it was for you to mention me in your last letter to Ron. It's nice to get appreciated for once! Good luck with the reading for next year and I hope to be in your extremely pleasant company again soon.

Yours sincerely,

Percy Weasley

Hey Hermione!

It was really nice of you to talk to me in Ron's letter. You sound like someone I'd love to be friends with. I'm crazy excited to meet you – make it soon?

Yours,

Ginny

Granger,

You can't take those words back. We have it here, in black and white – your favourite and most trusted form of information: Paper and ink. "I don't think you should be using Fred and George as role models for academic success. Natural talent can only get you so far." It's heavily implied that the second sentence is linked to the first. So there. We'll take all the compliments we want.

About Harry, we know you're worried that we're not taking this seriously but we are. Well. As seriously as we take anything. But really, you should stop underestimating us. We, Ron and Harry, safe and sound, will be seeing you soon.

Love and kisses,

Fred and George

P.S. – We noticed you didn't tell Ron what Monopoly was either. We know you're on our side, really.