Disclaimer: See Ch. 1
"Herm! I can't believe it! Your room is so cute!" Cooper exclaimed, while she walked around, admiring all of Hermione's many books. "Geez! Do you have enough books girl?"
"I still need all of my, er, our books for this year. But Mrs.Weasley is taking care of that for us," Hermione said. She looked at Cooper's confused face, and then realized something. "Oh! That's right, I haven't told you about the Weasley's, or Harry, have I? That's so rude of me!"
"Okay, so I'm guessing you'd like to know about them?" Hermione asked, watching her cousin wander around the bedroom in circles, looking at everything once or twice. Cooper nodded her head as she looked at an old book laying open on the desk. "Right, okay. Harry Potter is one of the most famous wizards, even though he's only our age. That's because when he was a baby the most powerful and evil wizard, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, tried to kill him. But Harry survived, when even the most powerful witches and or wizards had not."
"Ron is my other friend. He's got 5 brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Fred, and then his younger sister Ginny. Bill works at Gringotts, which is a wizarding bank, Charlie works with dragons in Romania, yeah, there are such things as dragons," Hermione added as she saw the shocked look on her cousin's face. "Anyway! Then there's Percy; he works at the Ministry of Magic, and I'll get into that later. He's going out with Penelope. Fred and George are twins- they play Quidditch for my house's team, Gryffindor. They love to make different kinds of candy's, which are bewitched. Then there's Ron. He loves to play chess, and he's really good at it. He saved Harry and I in our first year, but that's a whole other story. Finally, there's his little sister, Ginny. She's a good friend of all of us. She's a Fourth year this year, and you will be joining Harry, Ron and I as fifth years. I think that's about it..."
Cooper took a seat on the bed, trying to understand it all, trying to remember it all. She looked at Hermione, and then just shook her head, saying "Whatever." Just then, a tiny fluttering thing flew in through Hermione's open window, and landed on the back of the desk chair.
"Oh my gosh! What in the world is that, that thing!? Why's it here? Get it away from me!" Cooper screamed, crawling backwards on the bed, towards the wall, trying to get as far away from the `thing' as possible.
"Calm down Coop! Its just Pig!" Hermione said as calm as she could. She grasped Pig by his tail. He was leaping around the desk, as if he were a cat trying to get his catnip, because he was always like that. "Don't worry Cooper! He's only a little owl. He's not going to bite you! And if he does, it won't hurt... much," Hermione added with a grin. Cooper started laughing as the owl began to nip at his holder. Hermione gripped the letter he was holding and let the little owl flutter to his perch in the corner of the room: the Cat stand. Crookshanks noticed something on his "house" and clawed at it, the little owl squawking as he leaped into the air, trying to fly away from the huge thing nipping at his behind. The girls had a good laugh while watching them play, and then Hermione remembered the letter. She walked over and sat in her favorite place, her window seat.
"What's that?" Cooper questioned, finally catching on that owls, and not mailmen, delivered letters in the wizarding world. She sat in front of her cousin, and looked inquisitively over at Hermione.
Hermione opened the letter, and looked at it slowly as she pulled out the parchment. She looked up at Cooper and then, seeing that she was interested in what it said, read it aloud.
Herm,
Bloody `ell! I've missed ya! How have you been? How was your cousin, and the states? Did you have fun? Oh blimey! I forgot! Harry's over, and I was wondering if you'd like to meet us at Diagon Alley. Mum's going to get all of our books, she said you didn't have to worry about it; she's more than happy to. Anyway- ask your parents and give us a reply. Hope to see you soon!
Love from,
Ron
Cooper had a surprised look on her face, and there were questions buzzing in her head, like `What in the world is Diagon Alley?' Hermione left the room in a hurry, and ran to her parents, Cooper following close behind. Christa and Nigel Granger were sitting comfortably in the living room, Crookshanks lying in front of the fire, resting after having chased Pig around Hermione's room. Hermione went and sat next to her parents, and Cooper sat in the chair to the left of them.
"Mum, Dad, remember Ron Weasley? I went to his house last year?" Hermione asked, looking at her parents.
"I remember his mom sent us an owl inviting you, which was very kind," her mom commented. Her mom had that mother sensor that alerts any mother when her daughter or son is going to ask for something, because her next question was, "Anyway, what do you want to do? Do you want to meet him and, who is that other young man... Harry?"
"Well, yes, I would mum, if that's okay with you and dad. They have invited me to meet them at Diagon Alley. Am I allowed to go? Please?" Hermione got down on her knees and begged her parents, and Cooper put on her best puppy dogface. Hermione's dad, Nigel, began to laugh, and her mom smiled.
"Of course you can `Mione, just make sure to thank Ron for his invitation," Nigel said, helping his daughter up from the ground. "Now go tell him your response. When were you planning on going?"
"A week before school starts," Hermione replied, starting to leave the room. "And Dad? Don't call me `Mione, please? You know I don't like it!"
"That's why its fun dear!" Nigel smiled, and then was hit playfully by his wife.
"That sounds fine dear. Does he know that Cooper is here? Is she invited also?" Christa questioned her only daughter, while looking at her husband with a smirk on her face.
"Why yes mum, of course!" Hermione said, while crossing her hands behind her back. The girls got back to Hermione's bedroom, and after she had sent Pig away with a response back to Ron, Hermione turned to Cooper.
"Herms, do you think its right to lie to your mom?" Cooper asked, worried that they might get in trouble. Cooper was used to getting grounded, but she had never heard her only good cousin lie through her teeth.
"Of course it is!" Hermione said distractedly. She looked Cooper in the face and said, "What my mum doesn't know won't kill her. Plus, you need to meet all my friends, soon to be all of our friends."
The next two weeks passed quickly for everyone. At last the day to go to Diagon Alley had arrived. The girls got dressed and gathered all of their money. Hermione explained to Cooper how wizard money worked, and let her borrow some. The Granger's and Cooper gathered in the car and drove to London, Hermione's parents leaving them there and telling them that to call them as soon as they were ready to leave.
Hermione and Cooper walked through the Leaky Cauldron, and into Diagon Alley. They had brought their letters from Hogwarts and went to buy their books first. As they walked out of Flourish and Blotts, Hermione heard her name being called. She turned to the voice and low and behold there was Ron, yelling it from Gringotts Bank. Hermione grabbed Cooper and ran towards him, Harry, and Ginny.
"Blimey! I missed you guys so much!" Hermione exclaimed, going to each of her friends, and hugging them all. Ron and she held on for a little longer than the others, but only Ginny and Cooper noticed. Cooper stood off to the side as all of this went on, just observing the four of them interact. "Oh! You guys! This is my cousin Cooper Landing. She's the one I was visiting in the states, but I found out while I was there that she was accepted to Hogwarts! How spectacular is that?"
Ginny immediately went up to her and hugged her. Ginny had grown up a lot over the summer. Her bright red hair had grown and faded to a very pretty shade of strawberry blonde, and her eyes were a gorgeous shade of green. She was around 5'5" now, and looked as if she were a 5^th year.
The boys stood to the side and took in the three girls, who were now talking about all sorts of things. Ron noticed how much prettier Hermione had gotten, as well as his sister. Hermione was a little taller than Ginny, but not by much. Her bushy hair had thinned out, and was a shade lighter due to all the sun she had gotten. Her eyes were still that same honey-brown color, and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. She was more sure of herself it seemed, and walked and talked with a state of grace. `Stop it!' he told himself. `She's one of your best friends!'
As Ron stood there stunned, Harry looked curiously at the newcomer. Cooper had extremely long hair that just seemed to keep going on and on. It was a rich chocolaty brown shade, with copper highlights that she had gotten previously to leaving her home. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue that sparkled every time someone said something interesting to her. She was Hermione's height too, and it was clear how close they were.
"Harry! Harry!" someone yelled, breaking him out of his trance. He looked to see who was calling him, recognizing the voice. He finally spotted the man, coming out of the Leaky Cauldron, and ran over to greet him.
"Oliver! Wow! I never thought I'd see you again!" Harry exclaimed, shaking hands with the wizard fresh out of Hogwarts. "What are you doing here!?"
Oliver looked around him, taking in the strange girl with Hermione. "I'm going back to `Ogwarts, to be an apprentice under Hooch. She's going to retire soon and she needs some help this year anyway. Nasty blow to the head over a summer Quidditch game she was refereeing. She's still a little out of it, y'know?" he informed Harry, still glancing every once and a while at the new girl. "Harry, who's that girl with Hermione and Ginny?"
Harry followed his line of sight, and said casually, "Oh, that's Hermione's cousin, Cooper Landing. I don't really understand it all, but she's going to be going to be joining us at Hogwarts this year. I suppose she thought her other letters were rubbish and then Hermione convinced her to come." Harry began to walk over to join the group once again, leaving Oliver alone.
Oliver just kept looking at her, entranced by her beauty, and how her aura gave off the feeling she knew she was pretty, but didn't go out of her way to show it off. He followed Harry back, and greeted everyone, his eyes lingering on Cooper. "Hello, I'm Oliver Wood. Chum of Harry's here. He told me you're Hermione's cousin, and that you're new here. How do you like it so far?" Oliver asked her politely, and shook hands with her.
Cooper was overcome with a feeling of shyness, which hardly ever happened to her. "Um, hi Oliver. Nice to meet you, I'm Cooper Landing," she replied, masking her strange feelings with casualness. "I like things here, its really different than in California, but that's okay. So, do you go to... Hogwarts?"
"No, um, actually I graduated last year from Hogwarts," Oliver said, happy that she had actually answered.
"Hey, you guys, lets all go get a butterbeer, okay?" Hermione asked, trying to give Cooper a way to sit and talk and become friends with everyone.
"That sounds great, Herm, but I actually have to get going- I'm due home soon now. Nice to see you all, and it was great meeting you Cooper Landing. I hope to see you again soon," Oliver said sweetly, giving her a smile, and waving good-bye to everyone else.
Everyone waved, and headed to the Leaky Cauldron, talking excitedly about the upcoming school year. Ron thinking of how different Hermione had become, Harry thinking of how wicked it was that Oliver was going to be back at Hogwarts, Ginny thinking of how great it was to have a new chum, Hermione hoping that Cooper liked it there, and Cooper thinking of how cute Oliver was, and then quickly disregarding the thought, becoming focused on the conversation the others were having, and wondering what a butterbeer was.
"Herm! I can't believe it! Your room is so cute!" Cooper exclaimed, while she walked around, admiring all of Hermione's many books. "Geez! Do you have enough books girl?"
"I still need all of my, er, our books for this year. But Mrs.Weasley is taking care of that for us," Hermione said. She looked at Cooper's confused face, and then realized something. "Oh! That's right, I haven't told you about the Weasley's, or Harry, have I? That's so rude of me!"
"Okay, so I'm guessing you'd like to know about them?" Hermione asked, watching her cousin wander around the bedroom in circles, looking at everything once or twice. Cooper nodded her head as she looked at an old book laying open on the desk. "Right, okay. Harry Potter is one of the most famous wizards, even though he's only our age. That's because when he was a baby the most powerful and evil wizard, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, tried to kill him. But Harry survived, when even the most powerful witches and or wizards had not."
"Ron is my other friend. He's got 5 brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Fred, and then his younger sister Ginny. Bill works at Gringotts, which is a wizarding bank, Charlie works with dragons in Romania, yeah, there are such things as dragons," Hermione added as she saw the shocked look on her cousin's face. "Anyway! Then there's Percy; he works at the Ministry of Magic, and I'll get into that later. He's going out with Penelope. Fred and George are twins- they play Quidditch for my house's team, Gryffindor. They love to make different kinds of candy's, which are bewitched. Then there's Ron. He loves to play chess, and he's really good at it. He saved Harry and I in our first year, but that's a whole other story. Finally, there's his little sister, Ginny. She's a good friend of all of us. She's a Fourth year this year, and you will be joining Harry, Ron and I as fifth years. I think that's about it..."
Cooper took a seat on the bed, trying to understand it all, trying to remember it all. She looked at Hermione, and then just shook her head, saying "Whatever." Just then, a tiny fluttering thing flew in through Hermione's open window, and landed on the back of the desk chair.
"Oh my gosh! What in the world is that, that thing!? Why's it here? Get it away from me!" Cooper screamed, crawling backwards on the bed, towards the wall, trying to get as far away from the `thing' as possible.
"Calm down Coop! Its just Pig!" Hermione said as calm as she could. She grasped Pig by his tail. He was leaping around the desk, as if he were a cat trying to get his catnip, because he was always like that. "Don't worry Cooper! He's only a little owl. He's not going to bite you! And if he does, it won't hurt... much," Hermione added with a grin. Cooper started laughing as the owl began to nip at his holder. Hermione gripped the letter he was holding and let the little owl flutter to his perch in the corner of the room: the Cat stand. Crookshanks noticed something on his "house" and clawed at it, the little owl squawking as he leaped into the air, trying to fly away from the huge thing nipping at his behind. The girls had a good laugh while watching them play, and then Hermione remembered the letter. She walked over and sat in her favorite place, her window seat.
"What's that?" Cooper questioned, finally catching on that owls, and not mailmen, delivered letters in the wizarding world. She sat in front of her cousin, and looked inquisitively over at Hermione.
Hermione opened the letter, and looked at it slowly as she pulled out the parchment. She looked up at Cooper and then, seeing that she was interested in what it said, read it aloud.
Herm,
Bloody `ell! I've missed ya! How have you been? How was your cousin, and the states? Did you have fun? Oh blimey! I forgot! Harry's over, and I was wondering if you'd like to meet us at Diagon Alley. Mum's going to get all of our books, she said you didn't have to worry about it; she's more than happy to. Anyway- ask your parents and give us a reply. Hope to see you soon!
Love from,
Ron
Cooper had a surprised look on her face, and there were questions buzzing in her head, like `What in the world is Diagon Alley?' Hermione left the room in a hurry, and ran to her parents, Cooper following close behind. Christa and Nigel Granger were sitting comfortably in the living room, Crookshanks lying in front of the fire, resting after having chased Pig around Hermione's room. Hermione went and sat next to her parents, and Cooper sat in the chair to the left of them.
"Mum, Dad, remember Ron Weasley? I went to his house last year?" Hermione asked, looking at her parents.
"I remember his mom sent us an owl inviting you, which was very kind," her mom commented. Her mom had that mother sensor that alerts any mother when her daughter or son is going to ask for something, because her next question was, "Anyway, what do you want to do? Do you want to meet him and, who is that other young man... Harry?"
"Well, yes, I would mum, if that's okay with you and dad. They have invited me to meet them at Diagon Alley. Am I allowed to go? Please?" Hermione got down on her knees and begged her parents, and Cooper put on her best puppy dogface. Hermione's dad, Nigel, began to laugh, and her mom smiled.
"Of course you can `Mione, just make sure to thank Ron for his invitation," Nigel said, helping his daughter up from the ground. "Now go tell him your response. When were you planning on going?"
"A week before school starts," Hermione replied, starting to leave the room. "And Dad? Don't call me `Mione, please? You know I don't like it!"
"That's why its fun dear!" Nigel smiled, and then was hit playfully by his wife.
"That sounds fine dear. Does he know that Cooper is here? Is she invited also?" Christa questioned her only daughter, while looking at her husband with a smirk on her face.
"Why yes mum, of course!" Hermione said, while crossing her hands behind her back. The girls got back to Hermione's bedroom, and after she had sent Pig away with a response back to Ron, Hermione turned to Cooper.
"Herms, do you think its right to lie to your mom?" Cooper asked, worried that they might get in trouble. Cooper was used to getting grounded, but she had never heard her only good cousin lie through her teeth.
"Of course it is!" Hermione said distractedly. She looked Cooper in the face and said, "What my mum doesn't know won't kill her. Plus, you need to meet all my friends, soon to be all of our friends."
The next two weeks passed quickly for everyone. At last the day to go to Diagon Alley had arrived. The girls got dressed and gathered all of their money. Hermione explained to Cooper how wizard money worked, and let her borrow some. The Granger's and Cooper gathered in the car and drove to London, Hermione's parents leaving them there and telling them that to call them as soon as they were ready to leave.
Hermione and Cooper walked through the Leaky Cauldron, and into Diagon Alley. They had brought their letters from Hogwarts and went to buy their books first. As they walked out of Flourish and Blotts, Hermione heard her name being called. She turned to the voice and low and behold there was Ron, yelling it from Gringotts Bank. Hermione grabbed Cooper and ran towards him, Harry, and Ginny.
"Blimey! I missed you guys so much!" Hermione exclaimed, going to each of her friends, and hugging them all. Ron and she held on for a little longer than the others, but only Ginny and Cooper noticed. Cooper stood off to the side as all of this went on, just observing the four of them interact. "Oh! You guys! This is my cousin Cooper Landing. She's the one I was visiting in the states, but I found out while I was there that she was accepted to Hogwarts! How spectacular is that?"
Ginny immediately went up to her and hugged her. Ginny had grown up a lot over the summer. Her bright red hair had grown and faded to a very pretty shade of strawberry blonde, and her eyes were a gorgeous shade of green. She was around 5'5" now, and looked as if she were a 5^th year.
The boys stood to the side and took in the three girls, who were now talking about all sorts of things. Ron noticed how much prettier Hermione had gotten, as well as his sister. Hermione was a little taller than Ginny, but not by much. Her bushy hair had thinned out, and was a shade lighter due to all the sun she had gotten. Her eyes were still that same honey-brown color, and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. She was more sure of herself it seemed, and walked and talked with a state of grace. `Stop it!' he told himself. `She's one of your best friends!'
As Ron stood there stunned, Harry looked curiously at the newcomer. Cooper had extremely long hair that just seemed to keep going on and on. It was a rich chocolaty brown shade, with copper highlights that she had gotten previously to leaving her home. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue that sparkled every time someone said something interesting to her. She was Hermione's height too, and it was clear how close they were.
"Harry! Harry!" someone yelled, breaking him out of his trance. He looked to see who was calling him, recognizing the voice. He finally spotted the man, coming out of the Leaky Cauldron, and ran over to greet him.
"Oliver! Wow! I never thought I'd see you again!" Harry exclaimed, shaking hands with the wizard fresh out of Hogwarts. "What are you doing here!?"
Oliver looked around him, taking in the strange girl with Hermione. "I'm going back to `Ogwarts, to be an apprentice under Hooch. She's going to retire soon and she needs some help this year anyway. Nasty blow to the head over a summer Quidditch game she was refereeing. She's still a little out of it, y'know?" he informed Harry, still glancing every once and a while at the new girl. "Harry, who's that girl with Hermione and Ginny?"
Harry followed his line of sight, and said casually, "Oh, that's Hermione's cousin, Cooper Landing. I don't really understand it all, but she's going to be going to be joining us at Hogwarts this year. I suppose she thought her other letters were rubbish and then Hermione convinced her to come." Harry began to walk over to join the group once again, leaving Oliver alone.
Oliver just kept looking at her, entranced by her beauty, and how her aura gave off the feeling she knew she was pretty, but didn't go out of her way to show it off. He followed Harry back, and greeted everyone, his eyes lingering on Cooper. "Hello, I'm Oliver Wood. Chum of Harry's here. He told me you're Hermione's cousin, and that you're new here. How do you like it so far?" Oliver asked her politely, and shook hands with her.
Cooper was overcome with a feeling of shyness, which hardly ever happened to her. "Um, hi Oliver. Nice to meet you, I'm Cooper Landing," she replied, masking her strange feelings with casualness. "I like things here, its really different than in California, but that's okay. So, do you go to... Hogwarts?"
"No, um, actually I graduated last year from Hogwarts," Oliver said, happy that she had actually answered.
"Hey, you guys, lets all go get a butterbeer, okay?" Hermione asked, trying to give Cooper a way to sit and talk and become friends with everyone.
"That sounds great, Herm, but I actually have to get going- I'm due home soon now. Nice to see you all, and it was great meeting you Cooper Landing. I hope to see you again soon," Oliver said sweetly, giving her a smile, and waving good-bye to everyone else.
Everyone waved, and headed to the Leaky Cauldron, talking excitedly about the upcoming school year. Ron thinking of how different Hermione had become, Harry thinking of how wicked it was that Oliver was going to be back at Hogwarts, Ginny thinking of how great it was to have a new chum, Hermione hoping that Cooper liked it there, and Cooper thinking of how cute Oliver was, and then quickly disregarding the thought, becoming focused on the conversation the others were having, and wondering what a butterbeer was.