Visiting the Burrow
Hermione had written Harry and Ron to tell them about Maria's acceptance to Hogwarts. For two weeks following their letters, Hermione taught Maria everything she knew. She couldn't teach her anything practically, because magic was not allowed during the holidays and Maria didn't even have a wand. But Hermione and Maria went through all of Hermione's books, so Maria felt a bit more prepared for the magical world.
Two weeks before the first of September, Ron had sent Hermione an owl.
Hey, Hermione!
This is awesome! First you get a sister, then she gets to come to Hogwarts with us! Mom wanted to know if you and your sister wanted to come to Diagon Alley tomorrow, then go back to the Burrow with us for the rest of the holiday. Harry's already coming, so we're just waiting for word from you! Maria can come to the Burrow, too.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Ron
P.S. Ginny made prefect! Mom's freaking out again.
"Congratulation's, Ginny." Hermione said under her breathe, smiling. Hermione could just see Mrs. Weasley fussing all over Ginny, asking her what she wants for accomplishing something so miraculous.
"Who's Ginny?" Maria asked.
They were reading A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, which was on Maria's list of school books.
"Ginny is Ron's younger sister." Hermione explained. She turned to her parents. "Mom, dad, do you mind if we can all go to Dagon Alley tomorrow to get our school things, then maybe spend the rest of the holiday at the Burrow?"
Elizabeth stopped washing the dishes and Mark stopped reading the newspaper. They both turned around to Hermione. They didn't want both of their daughter's leaving, but they knew that was what Hermione wanted to do, so they didn't argue.
"Of course you can." Elizabeth said. Mark smiled, then went back to reading the newspaper.
"The Burrow?" Maria inquired.
"Oh, that's where Ron lives. Do you want to come?"
"Definitely!" Maria said, grinning. A magic house! How cool would that be?
Maria could not wait for the next day, and it certainly came quick enough. Hermione and Maria had packed up all of their belongings so that they were ready to leave for the Burrow right away after they retrieved their things.
Mark and Elizabeth drove them straight to Diagon Alley, and it didn't take them long before they found Ron and Harry, or rather, Ron and Harry found them.
"Hermione!" A voice called.
Hermione spun around, and there she saw Ron, Harry, and Ginny all running towards her. She smiled as one by one they all hugged her, and also introduced themselves to Maria.
Maria felt extremely young. After all, she was only entering her first year, and Hermione's friends were all in their fifth and sixth years. Mrs. Weasley had probably told Ron to invite her because she felt sorry for poor, young Maria.
However, Maria did not show any signs of the thoughts that were running through her head; on the contrary, she smiled and tried to jump into the conversations as the five of them headed onwards towards the heart of Diagon Alley, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley chatting to Mr. and Mrs. Granger a few feet behind them.
Once Maria had retrieved almost everything on her list, she came to the last item: a wand.
"Oh, I still need my wand." Maria stated, stopping abruptly.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Hermione offered, kindly. Since they all had their wands, they had no need to visit Ollivanders.
"No, it's fine." Maria said, ushering Hermione to go ahead. "You go on, I'll go by myself."
"Okay." Hermione said, rather apprehensively. So, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the adults all headed towards the Leaky Cauldron while Maria made a sharp left towards Ollivanders.
"Hello?" She called as she entered the musty old shop. The rows of long, thin boxes lined the shelves, dusty and dirty but giving off an aura of light magic. Maria smiled, extremely excited at what she was about to receive.
"Hello, dear." Said a voice deep within the rows of boxes. The voice emerged as a silhouette, but as the person came into the light Maria realized that he was just an old man.
"Oh, Maria Thompson. I think I know just the wand for you." Mr. Ollivander said, quickly turning and going back into the eeriness of the shelves.
Maria, dumbfounded at the fact that Mr. Ollivander knew her name, thought it best not to ask how he knew and just wait until he returned with a suitable wand.
"Here we go. Eight and a half inches, maple and dragon heartstring."
Maria gave the wand a quick wave, just like she saw in the movies. She wondered if she should say hocus pocus or abra kadabra, but was saved by the choice when the wand sent a light, warm feeling through Maria's body to the tip of her fingers.
Mr. Ollivander grinned broadly. "Perfect! Now let me get this packaged up for you and you can be on your way."
Maria left Ollivanders five minutes later with her eight and a half inch wand. She unpackaged it quickly and stuck it inside her pocket, just as she had seen Hermione do with her own wand. Maria was aware that she is not allowed to do magic outside of school, but since hearing the terrifying tale of Lord Voldemort, she felt that it would be best to be armed at all times, even if she did not know one ounce of magic.
Maria headed straight for the Leaky Cauldron, and she spotted her party right away.
"Got your wand?" Hermione asked, smiling.
"Yup." Maria said.
"Are you ready to go back to the Burrow?" Mrs. Weasley asked, kindly.
"Sure." Maria replied.
"Okay, let's go." Ron said, leaping up and gathering together all of his purchases.
Mark and Elizabeth took Hermione and Maria aside.
"We're going to miss you two." Mark said.
Elizabeth had tears gleaming in her eyes. She believed that having another child would be great, because she would be around all the time. However, since the Hogwarts letter, Elizabeth's dream was shattered. She was extremely proud of Maria, but just a tad disappointed for her own selfish reasons.
"Bye Hermione." Elizabeth said, giving her eldest daughter a tight hug. She did the same to Maria. The girls took turns hugging their father, before he gave them a couple words of wisdom.
"Just be careful." Mark advised. "You know what's going on out there in your world, and it sounds dangerous. If there is any sign of danger, I hope that you'll come straight home."
"Sure, dad." Hermione said, rolling her eyes. If there was any danger, Hermione would be standing beside Harry and Ron fighting it, not running from it.
Maria had silent tears rolling down her cheeks; she had just gained a family and now she would have to leave them. However, the prospect ahead of her was so amazingly unreal that she could not just turn away from it.
"Bye!" Everyone waved as Mark and Elizabeth left the Leaky Cauldron, only to go back into the muggle world.
"Okay, let's go by Floo Powder." Mrs. Weasley instructed.
Maria's eyes widened, but she did not want to ask what Floo Powder was. Instead, she settled on watching everyone else and she would just do what they do.
Ron took a handful of powder that Mrs. Weasley obtained from her purse, walked into the Leaky Cauldron fireplace, called out "The Burrow!" and disappeared into the great, emerald flames.
Maria's eyes widened even more, but it didn't look too difficult, so she tried not to be too panicky.
Once Harry and Ginny had disappeared through the fireplace, Hermione bend over so she was almost level with Maria.
"Do you think you can do this?" She asked.
Maria took a deep breath, and nodded. So, she walked up to Mrs. Weasley, who was smiling kindly at her, and took a handful of the Floo Powder.
Mrs. Weasley and Hermione began telling her all sorts of tips, like speak clearly, and Maria tried to take all of these into consideration as she closed her eyes, threw down the powder and roared, "The Burrow!" Suddenly, she had been thrown out of the fireplace from the Leaky Cauldron and emerged out of the fireplace of what appeared to be the Burrow. Harry, Ron, and Ginny all sat watching Maria appear, grinning.
"Good job!" They all praised.
"The first time I traveled by Floo Powder, I turned up in Knockturn Alley, a really dodgy place." Harry confided, blushing a bit.
Maria laughed. "So I suppose I should be proud then."
"Definitely." Ginny nodded. "Harry was lucky that Hagrid turned up, or something could have happened to him."
Ginny and Harry shared a meaningful look; Ginny looked scared at the thought that anything could happen to Harry, and Harry looked appreciative that Ginny seemed to care.
Maria thought that she sensed something between the two of them. "Are you guys dating?" She asked.
"Of course they're not!" Ron exclaimed. "Humph, my best friend and my sister. How gross is that?"
Harry and Ginny laughed uneasily; obviously they did want to rule out the possibility that they may eventually get together.
Ron, however, did not notice this uneasiness; he was too busy laughing himself silly at the thought of Harry and Ginny dating. He was laughing so much that he did not even see Hermione and Mrs. Weasley emerge from the fireplace.
Maria cautiously looked around. This house was amazing; dishes that washed themselves and clocks that didn't tell time, but the location of the Weasley children instead. There were endless magical objects in every direction.
The clock had drawn Maria's attention, though.
"Who are all these people?" She asked, indicating the nine hands on the clock.
"Well, those three there are Ginny, mum, and myself." Ron teased.
Maria blushed, embarrassed. "What about the rest?"
"The twins are my older brothers, Fred and George." Ginny explained. "They're both seventeen and just left Hogwarts. They own a joke shop now."
Ron grinned. Then he turned back to the clock. "That one there is Charlie; he's the oldest. He's studying dragons in Romania."
"That there is Bill." Ginny pointed to a handsome, redheaded man with a long ponytail. "He works for Gringotts Bank."
"That's Mr. Weasley, or Arthur." Mrs. Weasley said, fondly pointing at her husband, whose hand was pointed at Work.
"And who is that?" Maria asked, pointing at a nerdy looking boy wearing horn-rimmed glasses and an expression of utmost dislike towards all of the people staring at him upon his face.
Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips, then muttered some excuse about having to wash Ginny's robes so she could escape the tense kitchen.
"That's Percy." Ron explained. "He kind of left the family. He's very ambitious; apparently the Ministry of Magic is more important to him than his family. He abandoned us."
"That's horrible." Maria said, sympathetically. She thought Percy was rather stupid; he had a wonderful family like the Weasley's, and he abandoned them because of work.
"You guys want to play Quidditch?" Ron asked, trying to avoid the subject of Percy.
"Yeah!" Harry said, excitedly.
"Okay." Ginny agreed; she looked as though she only agreed because Harry did.
"Oh, I suppose. Harry, can Maria have a ride on your broomstick?" Hermione asked.
"Sure." Harry said, kindly.
"Wow, a broomstick! Just like the movies!" Maria cried.
"What's a movie?" Ginny inquired.
"Pardon me? What's a movie?" Maria replied, astonished that Ginny did not know this.
"Never mind, Ginny." Hermione laughed. "Just some muggle entertainment."
"Ah." Ginny said as she followed Ron and Harry out to the backyard for an afternoon of Quidditch.