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Hey everyone! This is chapter 2…… as you can tell…..hopefully….. anyway, hopefully it's starting to look a little better, cuz I know Chapter 1 was sorta boring. It will get better, you gotta trust us on this one. All right, you people NEED TO REVIEW MORE! Even if it's a flame, hey, it's better than nothing! We'll really really appreciate it! Thanks to those who did! Enjoy the story, and ignore the really cheesy parts, we're were just having some fun with Harry's mind…. :Þ

Chapter 2-

The rest of the summer went surprisingly well- much better than Harry had expected. This was due to the fact that the Dursleys were treating him in amazingly kind fashion. At first, Harry couldn't understand this, then found out the reason as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon started hinting to Harry: "Well, you know you and Dudley are related… he really does belong in that school of yours, maybe…"

The thing was, Harry realized, that Dudley wasn't being accepted to any schools, and their last resort (after even St. Brutus's School for Incurably Criminal Boys had just turned down their last letter request) was that Harry would take Dudley with him to Hogwarts. Harry just about died when he heard this. Did they really want Dudley at Hogwarts? Harry was about to shout, "YEAH, RIGHT!!" but he restrained himself, because he didn't want his nice treatment from the Dursleys to turn back to their normal cruel treatment. So instead he pretended he hadn't heard this remark, and went on licking the ice-cone Aunt Petunia had bought him while Dudley (still on the starvation-diet) looked on enviously. Finally September 1 started drawing closer, and Harry was looking more and more forward to escaping the Dursleys, who were growing so sickeningly sweet that he could barely stand it anymore.

Finally, as the Dursleys were unloading Harry's bags for him right in front of the Leaky Cauldron, which looked more inviting than ever, Uncle Vernon muttered, "Oh, yeah…um…Harry… you wouldn't mind…no, of course you wouldn't…" Harry quickly picked up his trunk. "Could you just take your dear cousin Dudley with you to your school? I'm sure they'd…er… welcome him there." Harry, who had expected this, was ready with his answer.

"Uncle Vernon- you've been really nice to me the past few weeks, but NO." And with that he stammered a hurried good-bye and lugged his trunk through the door of the Leaky Cauldron. He could hear Uncle Vernon outside, muttering, "Oh, come on, boy…that stupid kid…why wouldn't he…" and then he heard the door of the car slam and they drove away.

"Harry!" greeted the toothless owner of the pub.

"Tom! How have you been?" Harry ran up and shook hand with his old friend. Just two years ago Harry had lived here for a whole week.

"Well, right into the Alley now, I believe the Weasleys and Hermione are waiting for you near the Starbucks Café. [editor's note: I couldn't think of any other name! It just came to mind! :Þ Don't get us in trouble for it, please…] If I'm remembering right."

"Thanks, Tom. Good to see you again." Harry waved and headed for the courtyard, where the entrance to the Alley was.

"Oh, and Harry?" Tom was standing in the back doorway, only a silhouette against the light.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be staying here tonight?"

"No, I'd love to, but I'm going with the Weasleys." The innkeeper's face turned serious.

"Harry, I want you to, well, watch out for yourself, hear me?" Harry laughed, then cut off as he saw Tom's eyes get a stern look in them. "Harry, one of my friends, Henrietta, she was one of those who saw… You – Know – Who."

Harry nodded solemnly, for he recognized the name.

"Henrietta… yeah, she was the first, right?"

Tom nodded and sighed.

"Yeah, I'll be careful, of course," Harry assured the innkeeper. They said good-bye and Tom disappeared into the pub as Harry turned back to the wall where he tapped the correct brick with his wand and the wall vanished into a gateway to Diagon Alley. Harry loved being in here again, for he had been deprived from the wizarding people for a whole summer and begin to drink in all the familiar sights. He strolled down the Alley, his mind more at ease than it had been for the whole summer. On his way to the café, he chatted with a few fellow students that he knew from Hogwarts. Everyone looked a bit shorter than they had the year before – or had Harry just grown?

When he reached the café, he hurried to the first table his eyes met, for wherever he saw that eye – catching red hair, there, he knew, he would find the Weasleys. But when he reached the table, his jaw dropped. There, under the red hair, was a beautiful girl about Harry's age. She was sipping a Serena's Stupendous Strength building Shake, that made her able to lift the whole book- covered table, with only a pinky, and laughing as if she had never seen such a thing in her life. Harry's jaw dropped again, though he had never picked it up in the first place.

[editor's note: this last sentence was not supposed to be there! We left it there on accident! It was a joke! ]

She was sitting across from another younger girl, also unknown to Harry, and next to her sat a kind, pleasant-seeming man who even so looked amused at the idea of a strength-building potion milkshake. The older girl was, as mentioned, amazingly beautiful with flaming red hair, dancing green eyes with a strange gold ring around the pupils, and an entrancing smile. She was not a veela, for she did not look a thing like one, but she seemed to have the same effect on Harry.

"Hey," she greeted Harry, looking up from her milkshake. "What's up?" She had a strange accent, so Harry could tell that she must be from the U.S.

"Uh…um…nothing, sorry, I was just…"

The girl laughed the strange, clear and lovely [again, could we get any more cheesy? This is fun!], and said, "My name is Calli. Are you a student at Hogwarts, too?"

"Oh, um, yeah." Harry shook himself out of his trance. "Yeah, 5th year there. My name's … Harry."

"Awesome! I'm a 5th year too! My sis here's name is Marie. She's gonna be in 2nd year. Say hello, Marie."

The little girl was much smaller than Calli, and had curly, dark brown hair and blue eyes, and looked much more like the man, who Harry assumed to be her father, than like Calli.

"Hello," squeaked Marie quietly, and shrunk into her chair.

"She's kinda shy sometimes," whispered Calli. "But don't mind her. Also this is my Dad, Marcus." She gestured to the man, who smiled kindly at Harry and waved.

"Well, um, see you tomorrow, I guess," said Harry. "Nice meeting you."

"Oh, and you too, Harry. Bye!"

And Harry marched off, dazed, to find the real Weasley's. His eyes spotted them right away, and he headed for another table with 6 red heads at it, no just one.

"HARRY!" shouted Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley at once. Ron and Hermione jumped up and embraced Harry, and stood back.

"Woah, woah, back up!" chuckled Harry, and stood back. "Wow," he said, seeing Ron and Hermione. Ron, who had always been taller than Harry, was now as tall or taller than Mr. Weasley himself. And Hermione had grown, too, although she still wasn't as tall as Ron. But Harry still did a little jump as he saw her, for she no longer seemed the bushy-haired, skinny, small Hermione he had always known. Now she seemed, well, different. But what surprised him most was that he himself was almost as tall as Ron now. They both grinned at him, and Hermione gasped,

"Harry! Jeez, did you have like a major growth spurt or what?"

Harry laughed and said, "I see you've both done your fair share as well."

And they stood looking each other over until Mrs. Weasley said, "Well, come on and have a seat Harry, and tell us about your summer!" So they sat down and ordered some drinks and Harry told them all about his torturous summer.

"And those sightings didn't bother you at all?" asked Hermione, exasperated.

"Yeah, of course they did a little, but not so much because Dumbledore seemed to trust that I'd be okay at the Dursley's, and what can I say? I'm alive!" He went on to tell them about Dudley's expulsion and their request to send him to Hogwarts. Fred and George thought it especially funny.

"Ha!" laughed George, "I can just see him fitting right in with Crabbe and Goyle, huh?"

"Yeah," agreed Fred, "He'd be surprised that finally he's the one in danger of being beat up."

"Well, let's get on shopping, shall we?" said Mr. Weasley. "Ron, you, Hermione and Harry can go off by yourselves, if you're careful."

"Right, thanks, Dad!" said Ron, and the three of them headed off towards the bookshop, with Ginny looking on jealously, especially at Harry.

As they paid for their regular old textbooks, Ron whispered to Harry,

"Hey, who was that girl you were talking to at that other table?"

Harry sighed. "Well, I went over there thinking it was you, you know, the hair. Anyway, she sounded American, and she's a 5th year too, and wow, is she gorgeous-"

"I know," laughed Ron, "I saw her on the way here! Hottest girl I've ever seen!"

"For your information, lover-boys," cut in Hermione "her name is Callista... um... something, and she's from the United States as an exchange student. Professor McGonagall called me to tell me that I might want to show her around or something. She also owled Lavender and-"

"And her eyes!" continued Ron, ignoring Hermione to aggravate her.

"I know!" said Harry.

"You two are useless and immature," snapped Hermione, and she snatched up her books and headed for the next store, Ron and Harry following, chuckling.

But the three of them soon forgot about the new girl as they strolled around, buying their new school supplies and listening to Hermione tell about her summer at the Krum's (though she wouldn't even give a hint as to its whereabouts).

"So, I suppose he proposed, did he?" joked Ron.

"Why, you-" began Hermione, but Ron continued with:

"So, do I get to be best man? Or does Harry? Take your pick... or should Harry be the made of honor, he'd look lovely in a frilly pink dress, wouldn't you say?"

Harry winced, waiting for Hermione to start blowing up, but she just laughed. "If I was going to have a wedding, believe me, Ginny would be the Maid of Honor, and you two could be the janitors. Sound good enough?" Perhaps, thought Harry, she has finally gotten over her rage on this subject and Ron will stop bugging her about it. They headed into the next shop.

"I wonder who the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be this year?" said Ron as they paid for the supplies the teacher had asked for- shiny new vampire stakes (and they came in several different fluorescent colors as well!), The Guidebook to Medolocris and other rare, dangerous magical conditions ("Wow!" exclaimed Hermione as she flipped through this, "There's a lot of diseases in here I've never heard of!") and other various objects having to do with Dark Arts. And then there were also books on the list that Harry didn't understand the purpose of, such as My Story- a Sale of Dark Magic by Frederick McGonagall (a new bestseller!)

"I have no idea," said Harry in response to Ron's question about the teacher. "But he's asking for some random stuff!"

"Oooooh," squealed Hermione at the sight of My Story- A Tale of Dark Magic. "A novel! I heard this is really good!"

"You mean to tell me," exclaimed Ron, "that there is a book in this whole world that you haven't read?"

"It's by Frederick McGonagall," continued Hermione, with a dangerous glance at Ron, "I wonder if he could be related to the Professor. But why haven't I heard of him? Before this book, that is." Ron and Harry shrugged and continued to fake stab each other with the plastic, multi-colored stakes, and, of course, faking horrible deaths. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued looking over her list of books, muttering,

"Wow, have I got a lot of catching up to do with this reading! A summer away really does put you way behind."

And just at that moment, the new girl and her little sister walked by, giggling at the sight of Ron, clutching his supposedly bloodstained neck and making horrible choking noises as his limp hand dropped the hot pink stake. Harry nudged Ron with his foot to signal the approach of watching eyes. Ron straightened upright and became suddenly absorbed with one of Hermione's precious novels he snatched from her hand. Hermione leaned over irritably to Ron and whispered furiously,

"Hey, Ron, you sorta have the book upside down!!" Callista and Marie passed on and Hermione continued in an exasperated tone, "Jeez! Why do you two always have to embarrass me by acting like such idiots? I was hoping you would grow up a little over the summer!"

Ron snorted. "Aww, come off it, Hermione. Just 'cuz you become a snob over that Krum guy," and here he made little smoochy noises through puckered up lips, "doesn't mean we can't have a little fun!!"

"Oh, yeah?" laughed Hermione, and she pulled out her lime green vampire stick and held it with a playful threat at Ron. "If you say anything, Harry, you'll get it too!" And the three of them laughed as they packed their books into their bags.

They did not encounter the girl or her family again that trip to Diagon Alley, much to the boys' dismay.(Hermione rolled her eyes when they mentioned it.) They finally met up with the Weasleys at 4 O'clock, and all headed to their house for supper, using Harry's most un-favorite way, Floo Powder, as transportation.

Dinner that night was as entertaining as usual. Fred and George kept poking fun at Percy, who looked more worn out than the year before. Ron explained that this was because Mr. Crouch was still 'missing', for Fudge, for some stupid reason, still refused to believe what had happened, and Percy was forced to work harder than ever before. And so the family's conversation turned toward the subject of Voldemort's return.

"Why won't he Fudge acknowledge it?" said an outraged Mrs. Weasley. "I mean, please, he saw what You-Know-Who did to Harry! He heard his story! Would Dumbledore lie?"

"Yeah," agreed Ginny. "Haven't the papers reporting the Sightings of You-Know-Who shown enough proof?" And she sighed. "I just don't get it."

"Well," explained Mr. Weasley, "Mr. Fudge is a very proud man-"

"In other words," Ron interrupted, "He's an idiot who is too embarrassed by his crummy leadership to lower raise himself to deal with someone who is WAY above his power level."

"Oh," said Ginny, apparently satisfied.

"Ron-" started Mrs. Weasley, but instead joined the others in laughing.

"I looove this dinner, by the way, Mum," said Fred.

"Oh?" said Mrs. Weasley, uncertainly.

"Um, yeah, Mum!" exclaimed George, meeting Fred's eye, "Just delicious."

"Alright, what are you two up to?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, Mother, I'm hurt! Just because I gave you a compliment doesn't mean we're 'up to something'!"

"Oh come now, is there something you'd like to tell us, dear?"

"I'm offended by your accusations," declared George. "It's just that we liked your dinner, though I'm not sure I do anymore!" And he pushed his plate away and stood up, Fred following his example.

"Oh, may we please be excused," grunted Fred.

"Fine," said Mrs. Weasley, and they started for the stairs. "But NOT before you clear your plates." The twins simultaneously turned and pointed their wands at the plates, which soared across the room.

"BOYS!" Mrs. Weasley yelled at the backs of the retreating twins, "No magic until tomorrow!" She sighed and turned back to the others.

The whole scene reminded Harry of the year before when he had visited them.

"W.W.W.," whispered Ron into Harry's ear. Harry nodded. It must mean Weasley's Wizards Wheezes, thought Harry, for last time he had been there that had been their project, and at the end of last year, Harry had given them some of his prize money won from the tournament to their store. Uh-oh, thought Harry, here goes another exciting year with the Weasley's...

Alright, so there's the second chapter. And now that you've read it, which we LOVE you for, REVIEW!!!! Please? We would love you forever… and ever…. Come on, stop reading and click on the little box below, please! THANKS! Chapter 3 coming soon….