"When I was about 6 years old, Mum and Dad started to act. odd" Heather
began, "They told me to limit my magic use and if I insisted on flying my
broomstick -which was my prized possession, and I had to fly it- that I had
to do it as carefully as possible, and they even made me learn how to set
up a ward around myself when I fly." At this point George interrupted.
"Hang on, isn't making a ward a bit difficult for a six year old?"
Heather shrugged, her hair falling around her shoulders, and said, "It took a lot of work! My parents wouldn't let me go anywhere till I perfected it." The Weasley's exchanged sympathetic looks but Heather didn't seem to notice.
"Anyways, the same kind of strange behaviour continued and escalated, until I was only allowed to use magic in emergencies, and fly only when my parents told me I could, which was rarely." Heather breathed in deeply, as if the next thing she was about to say was too painful for words.
"One night, one of the rare times that I was allowed to fly, I heard my parents calling me home. Before I did anything else, I put my broomstick in my room. It was a good thing I did. When I came downstairs (I had flown in through my window) my parents told me that we were leaving.
They said that I couldn't take my wand or broomstick. I was scared, but most of all sad. They told me to burn anything related to magic. Trusting me, they didn't make sure that I did it. I'm glad, because I didn't. I hid my wand, and used the guide that came with my broomstick to shrink it (it's a simple spell for travel). I took several magic souvenirs, and even stole our Gringott's key from my parents, I was sure they were going to destroy it. That night, my parents packed everything, and took the knight bus into the middle of a muggle neighbourhood. It seemed that they had been planning it for some time, because one of the houses had been bought in our name."
Heather looked up at the Weasley's who had been sitting and listening, obviously worried. "After that," Heather said in a sad tone, "we lived in that house. But my parents grew stranger and stranger. They were almost completely different people. One day, I just got so fed up. I decided to run away, hopefully go to Hogwarts, if they would have me. So I got on the knight bus and. well, here I am."
"Well, the only question is," Mrs.Weasley said, with a kind smile. "Where are you going to sleep?"
Heather gasped. "You mean I can stay?" she said, hopeful.
"Well of course you can dear!" Said Mrs.Weasley, obviously shocked that she had even ask. "It won't do for you to go back to your parents, and you probably don't have another place to go. Why, we'd be cruel animals if we didn't let you stay! Besides, when you were a little girl we told you that you were always welcome here, and we meant it."
"Now, I believe you'll have to sleep in Ron's room"
"What???" yelled Ron, "She cannot sleep in my room! Why doesn't she sleep in Ginny's room?"
"She would, but you know how mistrusting she's been since 2nd year. No, Heather will sleep in your room; you can sleep down here on the couch."
"Mum!" yelled Ron, but this time only half-heartedly. Mrs.Weasley gave him the evil eye, and he went upstairs to get the stuff he would need for the night. With a nod from Mrs. Weasley, Heather followed him up.
As she walked into his room, he looked up at her. He was obviously not expecting her, as he was in his pyjama bottoms and shirtless. She blushed and began to walk out but he grabbed her arm. "No, stay," Ron said. Obediently she sat on his bed. "All that stuff you went through, it must have been horrible"
Heather sighed, "It was, I couldn't have survived if I hadn't had my old stuff. I would take out a spell book I took from my parents and try to do the spells from them. That's why I ran away though. It just got to be too much."
Heather stopped, obviously not wanting to talk about it. Ron gave her a reassuring smile and walked out of the room murmuring a quick goodnight as he went. Finding her bag outside the room, Heather took out her pyjamas and slowly fell asleep, smiling.
*** When Heather woke up the next morning, she found she was the only one up except for Mrs.Weasley. It was 8 in the morning as heather walked down the stairs, in her pyjamas (which were simply a tank top and extremely baggy pants). She found Mrs.Weasley at the oven, cooking pancakes. "Good morning," Heather said brightly, "can I help with anything?"
Mrs.Weasley looked up at heather and smiled. "No thank you dear," I've got everything done. By the way, a letter came for you yesterday from Dumbledore (I swear that man doesn't miss a thing!) why don't you go open it?" With that Mrs.Weasley went back to her pancakes.
Curious, Heather walked over to the table. Sure enough, there was an envelope on it with the Hogwarts stamp on the back. Inside was a letter:
Dear Heather Snow, I have received word that you have run away from home and wish to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While it would be my pleasure to admit you, you have missed 4 years of school. Therefore, I have sent ahead all the spells and potions that you must learn in order to be in the 5th year. If, by the time school starts, you have learned most of these (we will ask Mr.Weasley to both teach you and provide us with a list of things you have learned) you will be able to go to 5th year. If not, you will have to go to the year that corresponds to what you have learned. Have a good day.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Heather was dumbfounded. How could he know? Never mind, she thought, I doesn't matter as long as I finish this in time for school. With that, she went to eat her breakfast. She would do whatever it took to go to Hogwarts, even as intensive work as the hundreds of pages of work that was on the table, waiting for her.
*** Heather sighed and flopped over on Ron's bed. She had just finished her last exam. Her last!! The past few weeks had been brutal. She had to do at least 20 pages of work each day. Some were spells, some dates of rebellions, and some were potions to brew. The day the letter had come, Heather and the Weasley's went to Diagon Alley to get her a wand, robes, and potion ingredients. Heather loved it, although she had been there when she was little.
Now she was done! All that work, no relaxing, nearly setting Ron (who was helping her) on fire several times, and now she was done. Heather sprang up and ran through the whole burrow, yelling "wooohoooooo! I'm done!!!" She was going to Hogwarts, and probably to 5th year too!
*** Heather was excited. More then excited, she was ecstatic! It was the day she had been waiting for, the day she would be going to Hogwarts. The week before she had received a letter, telling her that she had passed enough to get into the 4th year. Barely, but that didn't matter, she was in! She didn't even care that she was in a class that was a year younger then her. Professor Dumbledore wrote that if she caught up that she might be bumped up to 5th year.
Heather couldn't believe that she was finally going. After all she had gone through with her parents, no matter how much work there was, Hogwarts would be heaven!!!
Dressing, Heather knew she couldn't not attract attention. Still, she put on a gold miniskirt and fishnet stockings, a gold tube top and even magicked gold streaks into her hair. She could always put on a coat while she was in the muggle world. By now, everyone (ok, except the Weasley twins and Ron) had gotten used to her wild outfits, so she knew Mrs.Weasley would allow her to wear it.
Heather was especially looking forward to meeting Ron's friends, Harry and Hermione. Ron had told her a lot about them. How Hermione was a know it all (Ron's words, not Heathers).
And of course, Harry Potter.
Growing up in the wizarding world, Heather had of course heard of him, but because she was so young, she hadn't heard the whole story. Ron, among many other things, told her all about Harry and the dark lord (whom she always called Voldemort until Ron begged her not to) and what had happened.
Heather was fascinated and really wanted to meet him, not only because of his past but also because of Ron's description of him. He sounded like a really fun person to be around. Ron's description of the relationship between him and his friends was what really drew Heather in.
They were so... mature. Not bumbling idiots slobbering over girls, but good friends who were always there for each other. Plus, adventures seemed to follow them, which was never a bad thing, even when it put their lives in danger, because friends like that would never let each other get hurt.
Coming down, the stairs, Heather was aware of glances from the Weasley twins (who, being a year older then her, took on the roles of big brothers and seemed to live for critiquing her outfits) and from Ron. Heather had moved into Ginny's room. Ginny was really nice and very mature for her age. Heather loved talking to her, she was always there to talk, and was a good friend.
Ginny looked up at Heather and grinned. "Nice outfit," she said, nearly bursting with laughter as her 3 brothers flew down the stairs after Heather. Heather looked up and nearly burst out laughing herself. Ron had tripped over his own feet and flown down the stair, landing on his brothers. It was obvious that none of them were hurt, but they were all fairly stuck.
"Um, need any help?" Heather asked, giggling.
"No thanks, we want to be down here. Who wouldn't want to be stuck in a big uncomfortable heap?" Ron replied sarcastically.
Heather rolled her eyes. "You know, with an attitude like that, I might just leave you here," She said, but she went and helped them up all the same.
"Do you really think the muggles won't notice you when you're wearing that?" George asked, "I mean... it's really... noticeable."
"I'm going to put a jacket on, until we're out of the muggle world" Heather replied, "I mean, gold hair streaks aren't enough to get noticed in the muggle world these days."
Heather slowly pulled on her boots, which Mrs.Weasley had magicked to change colours, matching her outfit. She grinned with satisfaction as they turned a darkish gold colour. After zipping her boots, Heather pulled on a brown coat. It was remarkable the difference it made. While still pretty, Heather looked about as magical as a slice of bread.
"See?" Heather said, "I'm going incognito." Heather winked at Ron and walked outside to get some fresh air before we left.
Ginny exclaimed, "You should have seen your faces! It was hilarious! Seriously, she is just like us! The way you guys act around her, well it's ridiculous. You are being so overprotective!" Ginny snickered and followed Heather outside.
"Well, that's just bloody ridiculous," Ron protested, "I act just fine around her." He was about to storm off to his room, when he heard his mum.
"It's time to go! Hurry up, everyone!"
Heather and Ginny walked back in, following Ron and the twins into the kitchen. They still had no idea how they were going to get to Kings cross. Had Mr.Weasley bought another car? As it turned out, he had.
But this wasn't any car. It was a Volkswagen Beetle convertible, in lime green. "Hmm," murmured Fred, "So much for incognito...."
"Isn't it great?" asked Mr.Weasley, "I didn't even use any magic on it!" All the Weasley kids and Heather were trying their hardest not to laugh. It was, however, in vain. First Ron, then Ginny, then the rest, couldn't hold it anymore. Laughing hysterically, they all fell down into one big pile of people.
When they had finally gotten themselves under control, and shakily got up, they could see that Mr.Weasley look slightly hurt. It was because of this, perhaps, that Heather said, "It's great, Mr.Weasley. Isn't the colouring a bit bright though?"
"It's just so." George began.
"Green," Finished Fred.
"Yeah dad," added Ron, "It's really."
"Noticeable," ended Ginny.
"Nonsense," replied Mr.Weasley, "All the muggles are buying them. I saw one on the road today when I was driving it here!"
"If you say so, dad," said George. The 5 of them piled in to the car. It was a tight fit, and Ginny ended up sitting in Ron's lap, to his dismay. He kept on complaining about it until he realised how much amusement it was giving the rest of them, and shut up.
"Dad?" asked Fred, "Isn't Mum gonna come?"
"She had some business to attend to," answered Mr.Weasley, "but she left a note for you all to read. I'll give it to you before you go on the train. Oh, look, we're here!"
They were indeed there. Ron was very glad to finally get Ginny off his lap. Heather was just excited that they were so close to Hogwarts.
As they pulled into the parking lot, they saw a car that was familiar. Ron recognised it at once. "Brilliant!" He yelled, "Harry is here!" It was the Dursleys car pulling into the parking lot. Ron could see Harry, grinning and sitting in the back. The Dursleys were the exact opposite of Harry. Not only did they look boring and stuffy (to Heather and the Weasleys anyways) but it was obvious that they would have given anything not to be here.
Harry hopped out of the car at once. He took his trunk out of the car, and no sooner had he done this, the Dursleys sped away. He turned to look at the trail of smoke from The Dursleys car. He grinned "I guess they were happy to see me go," he said.
Heather looked him over with fascination. He was wearing glasses, which were fixed the year before by a handy spell Ron found (or so he said). His hair was messy and all over the place, giving him a bit of an edge. His clothes (a grey sweater and jeans) were hanging off of him. So much so, that he looked like he was covered in blankets.
Harry must have felt her looking at him, because he looked up and grinned once again. "They're my Cousin Dudley's," he said, "Horrible, aren't they?"
Heather blushed. No wonder Ron likes Harry so much, she thought, he's fun! "I'm Heather Snow," she said, holding out her hand.
"Harry Potter. So we finally meet. Ron wrote quite a bit about you in his last letter. So you're living with the Weasleys now?"
Heather nodded. "It's great. I have Ginny to talk to, and Ron to annoy." Ron glared at Heather while she smiled innocently back at him. Harry laughed. He could see he was really gonna enjoy this year at Hogwarts. Heather was a lot like Ron, and Hermione, and even himself. She was a mix of the three of them, really.
"Harry! Ron! What are you doing, you're going to miss the train, Oh hello." A girl ran up to meet them. She had brown hair and blue eyes. Heather knew her instantly as the girl Ron had spent all summer talking about.
"Hello, you must be Hermione," Heather said with a smile as she stretched out her hand, "I'm Heather Snow." Hermione didn't seem surprised; it seemed Harry was not the only person that Ron wrote about her to.
"Oh, I cannot tell you how happy I was to hear I would have a girl to talk to. I mean Ginny's great, but she has her own friends. Being best friends with these 2, well it's not easy." Hermione smiled at Heather.
Heather smiled back, relieved that Hermione was so friendly. She had met a lot of girls in her life that just were not, and couldn't get over that suspicion.
"Come on now! This is no time for introductions! Get on the train and hurry!" yelled Mr. Weasley from behind them.
Getting their trucks, the Weasley's and company walked up beside platform 9¾. Ron had explained the barrier to her, so Heather wasn't confused, although a little frightened.
"Um, I'm not gonna like, splat against the wall or anything. right?" Heather said nervously, her sparkling blue eyes worried.
Her remark was met with a round of giggles, causing her to glare at everyone and take a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she ran through the barrier, her heart beating at the speed of light.
For a moment, all sound was blocked out... then. Heather hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she could practically hear the magic. She took a deep breathe, and slowly opened her eyes.
"Hang on, isn't making a ward a bit difficult for a six year old?"
Heather shrugged, her hair falling around her shoulders, and said, "It took a lot of work! My parents wouldn't let me go anywhere till I perfected it." The Weasley's exchanged sympathetic looks but Heather didn't seem to notice.
"Anyways, the same kind of strange behaviour continued and escalated, until I was only allowed to use magic in emergencies, and fly only when my parents told me I could, which was rarely." Heather breathed in deeply, as if the next thing she was about to say was too painful for words.
"One night, one of the rare times that I was allowed to fly, I heard my parents calling me home. Before I did anything else, I put my broomstick in my room. It was a good thing I did. When I came downstairs (I had flown in through my window) my parents told me that we were leaving.
They said that I couldn't take my wand or broomstick. I was scared, but most of all sad. They told me to burn anything related to magic. Trusting me, they didn't make sure that I did it. I'm glad, because I didn't. I hid my wand, and used the guide that came with my broomstick to shrink it (it's a simple spell for travel). I took several magic souvenirs, and even stole our Gringott's key from my parents, I was sure they were going to destroy it. That night, my parents packed everything, and took the knight bus into the middle of a muggle neighbourhood. It seemed that they had been planning it for some time, because one of the houses had been bought in our name."
Heather looked up at the Weasley's who had been sitting and listening, obviously worried. "After that," Heather said in a sad tone, "we lived in that house. But my parents grew stranger and stranger. They were almost completely different people. One day, I just got so fed up. I decided to run away, hopefully go to Hogwarts, if they would have me. So I got on the knight bus and. well, here I am."
"Well, the only question is," Mrs.Weasley said, with a kind smile. "Where are you going to sleep?"
Heather gasped. "You mean I can stay?" she said, hopeful.
"Well of course you can dear!" Said Mrs.Weasley, obviously shocked that she had even ask. "It won't do for you to go back to your parents, and you probably don't have another place to go. Why, we'd be cruel animals if we didn't let you stay! Besides, when you were a little girl we told you that you were always welcome here, and we meant it."
"Now, I believe you'll have to sleep in Ron's room"
"What???" yelled Ron, "She cannot sleep in my room! Why doesn't she sleep in Ginny's room?"
"She would, but you know how mistrusting she's been since 2nd year. No, Heather will sleep in your room; you can sleep down here on the couch."
"Mum!" yelled Ron, but this time only half-heartedly. Mrs.Weasley gave him the evil eye, and he went upstairs to get the stuff he would need for the night. With a nod from Mrs. Weasley, Heather followed him up.
As she walked into his room, he looked up at her. He was obviously not expecting her, as he was in his pyjama bottoms and shirtless. She blushed and began to walk out but he grabbed her arm. "No, stay," Ron said. Obediently she sat on his bed. "All that stuff you went through, it must have been horrible"
Heather sighed, "It was, I couldn't have survived if I hadn't had my old stuff. I would take out a spell book I took from my parents and try to do the spells from them. That's why I ran away though. It just got to be too much."
Heather stopped, obviously not wanting to talk about it. Ron gave her a reassuring smile and walked out of the room murmuring a quick goodnight as he went. Finding her bag outside the room, Heather took out her pyjamas and slowly fell asleep, smiling.
*** When Heather woke up the next morning, she found she was the only one up except for Mrs.Weasley. It was 8 in the morning as heather walked down the stairs, in her pyjamas (which were simply a tank top and extremely baggy pants). She found Mrs.Weasley at the oven, cooking pancakes. "Good morning," Heather said brightly, "can I help with anything?"
Mrs.Weasley looked up at heather and smiled. "No thank you dear," I've got everything done. By the way, a letter came for you yesterday from Dumbledore (I swear that man doesn't miss a thing!) why don't you go open it?" With that Mrs.Weasley went back to her pancakes.
Curious, Heather walked over to the table. Sure enough, there was an envelope on it with the Hogwarts stamp on the back. Inside was a letter:
Dear Heather Snow, I have received word that you have run away from home and wish to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While it would be my pleasure to admit you, you have missed 4 years of school. Therefore, I have sent ahead all the spells and potions that you must learn in order to be in the 5th year. If, by the time school starts, you have learned most of these (we will ask Mr.Weasley to both teach you and provide us with a list of things you have learned) you will be able to go to 5th year. If not, you will have to go to the year that corresponds to what you have learned. Have a good day.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Heather was dumbfounded. How could he know? Never mind, she thought, I doesn't matter as long as I finish this in time for school. With that, she went to eat her breakfast. She would do whatever it took to go to Hogwarts, even as intensive work as the hundreds of pages of work that was on the table, waiting for her.
*** Heather sighed and flopped over on Ron's bed. She had just finished her last exam. Her last!! The past few weeks had been brutal. She had to do at least 20 pages of work each day. Some were spells, some dates of rebellions, and some were potions to brew. The day the letter had come, Heather and the Weasley's went to Diagon Alley to get her a wand, robes, and potion ingredients. Heather loved it, although she had been there when she was little.
Now she was done! All that work, no relaxing, nearly setting Ron (who was helping her) on fire several times, and now she was done. Heather sprang up and ran through the whole burrow, yelling "wooohoooooo! I'm done!!!" She was going to Hogwarts, and probably to 5th year too!
*** Heather was excited. More then excited, she was ecstatic! It was the day she had been waiting for, the day she would be going to Hogwarts. The week before she had received a letter, telling her that she had passed enough to get into the 4th year. Barely, but that didn't matter, she was in! She didn't even care that she was in a class that was a year younger then her. Professor Dumbledore wrote that if she caught up that she might be bumped up to 5th year.
Heather couldn't believe that she was finally going. After all she had gone through with her parents, no matter how much work there was, Hogwarts would be heaven!!!
Dressing, Heather knew she couldn't not attract attention. Still, she put on a gold miniskirt and fishnet stockings, a gold tube top and even magicked gold streaks into her hair. She could always put on a coat while she was in the muggle world. By now, everyone (ok, except the Weasley twins and Ron) had gotten used to her wild outfits, so she knew Mrs.Weasley would allow her to wear it.
Heather was especially looking forward to meeting Ron's friends, Harry and Hermione. Ron had told her a lot about them. How Hermione was a know it all (Ron's words, not Heathers).
And of course, Harry Potter.
Growing up in the wizarding world, Heather had of course heard of him, but because she was so young, she hadn't heard the whole story. Ron, among many other things, told her all about Harry and the dark lord (whom she always called Voldemort until Ron begged her not to) and what had happened.
Heather was fascinated and really wanted to meet him, not only because of his past but also because of Ron's description of him. He sounded like a really fun person to be around. Ron's description of the relationship between him and his friends was what really drew Heather in.
They were so... mature. Not bumbling idiots slobbering over girls, but good friends who were always there for each other. Plus, adventures seemed to follow them, which was never a bad thing, even when it put their lives in danger, because friends like that would never let each other get hurt.
Coming down, the stairs, Heather was aware of glances from the Weasley twins (who, being a year older then her, took on the roles of big brothers and seemed to live for critiquing her outfits) and from Ron. Heather had moved into Ginny's room. Ginny was really nice and very mature for her age. Heather loved talking to her, she was always there to talk, and was a good friend.
Ginny looked up at Heather and grinned. "Nice outfit," she said, nearly bursting with laughter as her 3 brothers flew down the stairs after Heather. Heather looked up and nearly burst out laughing herself. Ron had tripped over his own feet and flown down the stair, landing on his brothers. It was obvious that none of them were hurt, but they were all fairly stuck.
"Um, need any help?" Heather asked, giggling.
"No thanks, we want to be down here. Who wouldn't want to be stuck in a big uncomfortable heap?" Ron replied sarcastically.
Heather rolled her eyes. "You know, with an attitude like that, I might just leave you here," She said, but she went and helped them up all the same.
"Do you really think the muggles won't notice you when you're wearing that?" George asked, "I mean... it's really... noticeable."
"I'm going to put a jacket on, until we're out of the muggle world" Heather replied, "I mean, gold hair streaks aren't enough to get noticed in the muggle world these days."
Heather slowly pulled on her boots, which Mrs.Weasley had magicked to change colours, matching her outfit. She grinned with satisfaction as they turned a darkish gold colour. After zipping her boots, Heather pulled on a brown coat. It was remarkable the difference it made. While still pretty, Heather looked about as magical as a slice of bread.
"See?" Heather said, "I'm going incognito." Heather winked at Ron and walked outside to get some fresh air before we left.
Ginny exclaimed, "You should have seen your faces! It was hilarious! Seriously, she is just like us! The way you guys act around her, well it's ridiculous. You are being so overprotective!" Ginny snickered and followed Heather outside.
"Well, that's just bloody ridiculous," Ron protested, "I act just fine around her." He was about to storm off to his room, when he heard his mum.
"It's time to go! Hurry up, everyone!"
Heather and Ginny walked back in, following Ron and the twins into the kitchen. They still had no idea how they were going to get to Kings cross. Had Mr.Weasley bought another car? As it turned out, he had.
But this wasn't any car. It was a Volkswagen Beetle convertible, in lime green. "Hmm," murmured Fred, "So much for incognito...."
"Isn't it great?" asked Mr.Weasley, "I didn't even use any magic on it!" All the Weasley kids and Heather were trying their hardest not to laugh. It was, however, in vain. First Ron, then Ginny, then the rest, couldn't hold it anymore. Laughing hysterically, they all fell down into one big pile of people.
When they had finally gotten themselves under control, and shakily got up, they could see that Mr.Weasley look slightly hurt. It was because of this, perhaps, that Heather said, "It's great, Mr.Weasley. Isn't the colouring a bit bright though?"
"It's just so." George began.
"Green," Finished Fred.
"Yeah dad," added Ron, "It's really."
"Noticeable," ended Ginny.
"Nonsense," replied Mr.Weasley, "All the muggles are buying them. I saw one on the road today when I was driving it here!"
"If you say so, dad," said George. The 5 of them piled in to the car. It was a tight fit, and Ginny ended up sitting in Ron's lap, to his dismay. He kept on complaining about it until he realised how much amusement it was giving the rest of them, and shut up.
"Dad?" asked Fred, "Isn't Mum gonna come?"
"She had some business to attend to," answered Mr.Weasley, "but she left a note for you all to read. I'll give it to you before you go on the train. Oh, look, we're here!"
They were indeed there. Ron was very glad to finally get Ginny off his lap. Heather was just excited that they were so close to Hogwarts.
As they pulled into the parking lot, they saw a car that was familiar. Ron recognised it at once. "Brilliant!" He yelled, "Harry is here!" It was the Dursleys car pulling into the parking lot. Ron could see Harry, grinning and sitting in the back. The Dursleys were the exact opposite of Harry. Not only did they look boring and stuffy (to Heather and the Weasleys anyways) but it was obvious that they would have given anything not to be here.
Harry hopped out of the car at once. He took his trunk out of the car, and no sooner had he done this, the Dursleys sped away. He turned to look at the trail of smoke from The Dursleys car. He grinned "I guess they were happy to see me go," he said.
Heather looked him over with fascination. He was wearing glasses, which were fixed the year before by a handy spell Ron found (or so he said). His hair was messy and all over the place, giving him a bit of an edge. His clothes (a grey sweater and jeans) were hanging off of him. So much so, that he looked like he was covered in blankets.
Harry must have felt her looking at him, because he looked up and grinned once again. "They're my Cousin Dudley's," he said, "Horrible, aren't they?"
Heather blushed. No wonder Ron likes Harry so much, she thought, he's fun! "I'm Heather Snow," she said, holding out her hand.
"Harry Potter. So we finally meet. Ron wrote quite a bit about you in his last letter. So you're living with the Weasleys now?"
Heather nodded. "It's great. I have Ginny to talk to, and Ron to annoy." Ron glared at Heather while she smiled innocently back at him. Harry laughed. He could see he was really gonna enjoy this year at Hogwarts. Heather was a lot like Ron, and Hermione, and even himself. She was a mix of the three of them, really.
"Harry! Ron! What are you doing, you're going to miss the train, Oh hello." A girl ran up to meet them. She had brown hair and blue eyes. Heather knew her instantly as the girl Ron had spent all summer talking about.
"Hello, you must be Hermione," Heather said with a smile as she stretched out her hand, "I'm Heather Snow." Hermione didn't seem surprised; it seemed Harry was not the only person that Ron wrote about her to.
"Oh, I cannot tell you how happy I was to hear I would have a girl to talk to. I mean Ginny's great, but she has her own friends. Being best friends with these 2, well it's not easy." Hermione smiled at Heather.
Heather smiled back, relieved that Hermione was so friendly. She had met a lot of girls in her life that just were not, and couldn't get over that suspicion.
"Come on now! This is no time for introductions! Get on the train and hurry!" yelled Mr. Weasley from behind them.
Getting their trucks, the Weasley's and company walked up beside platform 9¾. Ron had explained the barrier to her, so Heather wasn't confused, although a little frightened.
"Um, I'm not gonna like, splat against the wall or anything. right?" Heather said nervously, her sparkling blue eyes worried.
Her remark was met with a round of giggles, causing her to glare at everyone and take a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she ran through the barrier, her heart beating at the speed of light.
For a moment, all sound was blocked out... then. Heather hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she could practically hear the magic. She took a deep breathe, and slowly opened her eyes.