I'm back in the groove! Woo-hoo! I needed that break, tho. Anyway, read!

To make things easier for me, I'm going to pretend that this story is going on right now, for movie and music purposes. After all, it could, because they never mention a year in the real books. And anyway, this is fanfiction. And because I feel like it, Hermione listens to the same music, and lets say life hasn't changed much! Or something like that.

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Ding, dong.

"I'll get it!" "No, I will" "Ow, stop pushing!" "Haha, you lose!"

Lily opened the front door to three strange people she hadn't seen before. In the middle, there was a tall woman with long black hair and strange dark eyes that looked purple in the sunlight. The girl on her left, who was about 15 years old, had thick black hair that was considerably lighter than (Lily assumed) her mothers. The girl had a very bored look on her face, although her light blue eyes were flashing daggers at the boy on the woman's other side. He had black hair, also, but his eyes were truly black.

"Rose, or is it Lily?" Oh, duh, thought Lily. These must be my aunt and cousins. They were coming to take shopping for our school stuff.

"I'm Lily. This here is Rose." She gestured to Rose, who was standing behind her. "Um, do you want to come in, or something?"

"No, I don't think your mother would like it very much. We... aren't close."

"I see. Well, maybe you could wait a minute while we gather up our stuff..."

"We'll be right here." The woman nodded politely as Lily shut the door.

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"Hermiiiiiiiiiiiiione!" Hermione's best friend called from her doorstep. "C'mon, let's go shopping!"

Hermione ran down the stairs and out the door. Arachne grabbed her arm and pulled her down the street. "Arachne, are you trying to get us run over? Stop!!!" Arachne grinned.

"Up, up, and away, haha!" She grinned but stopped yanking on Hermione's elbow.

"So... where exactly are we going to get our stuff?"

"Diagon Alley!"

"Diagonally... whaat?"

"Never mind. We're taking the train into London. Then from there... " she shrugged. "Let's go!" And she took off again.

Hermione shook her head. She loved Arachne to death but she could be... overexurberant at times.

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Rose was surprised that the Blacks had a car. They were, after all, a wizarding family, weren't they? Didn't they ride, like, magic carpets or something-or-other?

"Flying carpets were banned years ago. They still use them in the East, but it sort of a tradition there." Luna, as they'd been intructed to call her ("Stop calling me Aunt. Just Luna. Aunt makes me feel old.), was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel and humming tunelessly.

Rose realized that they were at the front of a long line of cars at the stoplight, when just a minute ago they had been at the back. I should've known, she thought.

"Mom," said Sirius, the boy next to Lily, "Can you please turn on the radio?"

"I don't mind," said Lily.

Luna just pressed the button and kept on humming.

"... And this is WWN, the one and only Wizarding Wireless Network. Coming up..."

"Mom," said Artemis, the girl in front. "Can we not play WWN? We've been listening to the same stuff all morning. Can we play the CD instead?"

"Sirius?"

"Hmmm? Oh, I don't care."

She put on the CD player.

"... didn't know that, you were so cold and, you needed someone to show you the way..."

"I love this song!" exclaimed Lily.

Rose sighed inwardly. Not that Lily was bad at singing, in fact she was great, but she had heard this song soooo many times...

"... when the time comes I'll take you away..." Now Artemis joined her. They actually sang very well together.

"If you want to, I can save you, I can take you away from here... So lonely inside, so busy out there, and all you wanted was somebody who cares..."

Rose caught Sirius' eye, and rolled her eyes, cocking her head at Lily.

"... your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on..."

Sirius shugged, and joined in the chorus. Rose shook her head and sang as well. They all let Lily do the little 'diva' variations.

"...Ohh woahhhh..."

"... all you wanted..."

"... where you're going you're gone."

"It's on shuffle," Artemis remarked.

"She's his yellow brick road..."

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"...walking fast, faces pass and I'm homebound..." Hermione was listening to her portable CD player. They were on the train on thier way into London. Hermione had onyl been there a few times... she had been to France more. Well, she had relatives in France. She could even speak French. That was cool, because Arachne could speak French too, and no one else at their old school could. It was fun.

"...just making my way, making a way through the crowd..."

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"... leading him on, and let him go as far as she lets him go..."

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"... and I need you... and I miss you... and now I wonder..."

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"... In my mind everything we did was right, open you eyes I'll still be by your side..."

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"...If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by..."

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"... how could I ever have been so blind? You give me something to sleep to at night."

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"... cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight."

*~*~*~*

"Hi mum."

"Hello mum 2." Hermione knew Arachne's mom so well she was, really, a second mother to her. She had always liked her a little better than her real mom. Morgana Wynn Malakov was certainly a lot more interesting than Sarah Granger.

Currently, 'Mum 2' was having a drink with the bartender. He seemed very excited about something.

"Really?" Morgana sounded soooo thrilled. "Well, that's amazing. I wish I was there. But I have to go get my daughter's school things. It was nice talking with you." She got up from the little table and herded the two kids out the back very quickly.

"What was that all about?" Arachne wanted to know.

"Turns out that Harry Potter was here just a week ago."

"Harry Potter! As in, THE Harry Potter?" Hermione didn't have a clue what they were talking about.

"Yes, him. Well, I was certainly interested at first, but hearing about it for a few hours is enough to make anyone sick."

"Is he going to be in our year?"

"Seems so."

Arachne squealed. Hermione rolled her eyes. Arachne could get way too hyper sometimes.

She was too busy quieting Arachne down to notice what Morgana did, but when she stepped back there was an archway leading to...

"Diagon Alley."

Hermione gaped. Her eyes darted all over the scene, too overcome to notice one particular thing. She was overpowered. She had only felt this once before, that was when they had first gone to a marketplace in France. She must've been... what, six?

"Wow."

Arachne took Hermione by the arm and dragged her through the arch. Hermione let her. She was too busy looking around. Morgana came up behind the two eleven-year-olds. "Well, to Gringotts!"

This was the first time Hermione had ever freaked in her life.

Unfortunately, it would not be her last.

"OH MY GAWD!!!! THIS IS SOOOOO COOL! WE GET ALL SORTS OF CUTE THINGS!!!!! Oh, look, the hats are pointy.... EEEEEEE this is soooo awesome... I'm going to learn MAGIC! WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hehe. Hermione flipped. Haha, that's fun. I think that's why she was so calm and cool about it later: She's had enough of a freak-out before.

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Especially all the songs... Credit to Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton. PLEASE PLEASE review!

Thanks to all my reviewers! Here y'all are:

Erin Potter - Just for you!
Emili Potter - Woah, two Potters. Cool.
Peppermint - I agree, Cleon should just fall off a cliff and die...
Ginny - They both got letters. Also, as I explained in the beginning of this chapter, it doesn't say what year it's in, so...
The Golden Snitch - Thanx!
Princess Cora - Wonder who this could be...
Maria Magdalena - Yeah Squire is a real book... it's awesome!!
Lady Louisa - So do I!
woofyness - Next part! Yay!
heart2heart - Hey Sammy! Wazzup! Did you actually read this? wow...

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