Authors note: Hey everyone! How do you like my story so far? I realize it's been a bit slow going, but I promise that it will speed up soon! I would really appreciate your input! Please review! Now for the always present Disclaimer…I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters or places from the book. All original things are mine. I don't intend on making any money from this and it is not likely that I would anyway…please don't sue. That being said, on with the story!

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Chapter 6 : Getting to Know the Weasleys

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Celia spent the next week getting to know the Weasleys and Harry and Hermione. Owls had been sent the first day to Dumbledore and Celia's parents to inform them that she had arrived safely. They had eaten what was left of the famous pudding for dessert, and all the stories of the past few days had been told. The next day, Ron began to teach Celia how to fly her broom. As it turned out, she didn't need much teaching. The second she had mounted the broom, she felt a weightlessness about her. With the slightest push, she was lifted off the ground and made her way to Harry who was already in the air, waiting for her on his Firebolt.

'Flying!' She thought. It felt amazing, she darted around, flying in circles above the ground and swerved in all directions. The Hermes seemed to respond to her thought rather than touch. It moved as though it was an extension of her body. When she reached Harry he was amazed.

"It looks like we won't have to teach you much," He told her. "You're a natural."

"Thanks." She said. "What kind of broom is that?" She asked him looking at his handle.

"A Firebolt." he answered "Not as good as yours, but close."

"I think it looks pretty cool." She said. Harry brightened.

"Are you going to try out for the house team?" Celia didn't understand.

"House team? Team of what?" Harry very nearly went into shock.

"Ron!" He yelled down to him "Get your brothers and get Oliver's old broom! She doesn't know what Quidditch is!" Celia could see the expression on Ron's face even from all the way up in the air.

"I assume that's a bad thing?" Celia asked smiling at the way Ron ran towards the house, as though in a state of emergency. "What's quidditch?"

"It's a wizard game, I figured Fred and George would have mentioned it, they're beaters on the Gryffindor team. I'm seeker." He could see that Celia needed it from the beginning.

"Ok, lets see…I suppose you might say it's a cross between dodgeball, football and capture the flag." Harry thought that was a good start. "There are 3 kinds of balls," Harry went on. "One big red one, called a quaffle, 2 smaller ones called bludgers, and a little gold one called the snitch. Are you with me so far?"

"Red quaffle, 2 bludgers, golden snitch, got it. How do you play?"

"Well, you play on broomsticks, in the air." Celia's face lit up. "There are 7 players on a team. Three Chasers, Two Beaters, One Keeper, and a Seeker." Celia nodded and Harry went on. "You play on a quidditch pitch. It's kind of like a football field except instead of goals on either side there are 3 hoops." Celia nodded again.

"Okay, I have it so far." She confirmed.

"Good. So, the chasers try to get the quaffle through one of the other team's hoops. A goal is worth 10 points. The keeper defends the hoops."

"What do the beaters do?" Celia asked.

"Well, first you'd have to know about the bludgers." Harry told her. "The two bludgers fly around trying to hit the players off their brooms, and trust me, they hurt." Harry said suddenly holding his arm.

"Were you hit?"

"Yeah, a rogue bludger smashed my arm into bits in my second year when I was reaching for the snitch." Harry remembered wincing. "I still got the snitch though." He finished showing off.

"What's a rogue bludger?"

"It's a bludger that follows a specific player around and tries to knock them off their broom. It doesn't happen unless someone tampers with them. Don't worry though," He added in hurriedly, seeing the shocked look on Celia's face. "Madame Hooch has kept all the Quidditch balls locked up in her office ever since I got hurt." She stared at him wide-eyed.

"So," She began after a minute. "then, the beaters have something to do with the bludgers right?" She asked, trying to stop from thinking of herself being knocked off her broom.

"That's right," Harry answered. "It's the beaters' job to protect the rest of the team from bludgers. They chase after them and hit them towards the other team, or just away from their own team, with clubs."

"And I'd say we do a pretty good job of it too!" Fred boasted flying up with Ron and George, to join them. All three could fly very well.

"Oh really?" Celia teased "If you're so great then where were you when Harry's arm got smashed up?" Celia finished effectively popping his brag-bubble.

"So how's the flying lesson going?" Fred asked quickly, a guilty smirk on his face. Celia laughed.

"Fine," She answered.

"She's a natural," Harry elaborated. "I hope she gets Gryffindor, it'd be a job playing against a Hermes." Harry didn't mention her playing for the team. There was only one spot open since Wood left, and he knew for a fact that Ron was going to try for it.

"What do you mean?" Celia was asking.

"Everyone at Hogwarts lives in a house. In your first year, you have to be sorted. They have this big old hat that they put on your head and it decided on what house you should be in depending on what's in your head; your personality and the like." Harry explained.

"Everyone here is in Gryffindor, Hermione and Ginny are too. So were my brothers and parents." Ron told her.

"Wow, I hope I get into Gryffindor! I don't want to be alone!"

"Don't worry," Harry told her, "Something tells me you will be." Celia smiled at his comment.

"What other houses are there?" Celia asked. "What exactly do you mean by house anyway?"

"There are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." George told her. "And your house is really just the dorm you'll be staying with, but you have classes with your house. You really stay with them a lot, so you should make friends with them. Whatever you do though, don't get Slytherin. They're all a bunch of sneaks." He finished.

"All of them? You can't be sure they're all bad." Celia protested. George shrugged.

"Haven't met one that wasn't yet." He told her "You can see for yourself when you get there, still I'd be careful is all, they can be really rotten." Celia accepted this and nodded, making a mental note to watch herself.

"So, we gonna play or what?" Ron asked.

"But how can we?" Celia asked, "We only have the 5 of us, we're two short, and we have no one to play against. Not to mention that there's no pitch." She stated remembering all that Harry had taught her.

"Wow, you do learn fast!" Ron said surprised.

"Nice job Harry." Fred complimented.

"Thanks." Harry said smiling. "Well I guess we can just play around a bit," He added turning to the twins and Ron. "Did you bring the balls out?" Fred pointed down. Hermione and Ginny were standing around a chest waiting to start. Ginny had found an old broom of someone's inside, and had brought it out as well.

"Wait!" Celia remembered suddenly. "You didn't tell me about the snitch! What does the seeker do?"

"What? Harry I thought that'd be the first thing you'd tell her!" Ron exclaimed shocked. "The seeker tries to catch the snitch. It flies around and it's fast. The seeker who catches it first gets 150 points to their team and ends the game. In the pros, a game can go on for months, and depending on the score, the snitch doesn't always bring a win, but in school, games don't usually get that long, and no one usually scores that many points." Celia understood now and really wanted to begin playing. Hermione had given the twins, who flew down to her, their clubs, and she and Ginny released the bludgers and the snitch. As soon as they threw the quaffle up into the air, Celia grabbed it and the bludgers began chasing victims. They played all day, alternating players and brooms so that everyone could have a go on the Hermes. Celia had never had more fun in her life. Every so often they would all switch positions and try something else. Celia liked being a chaser most of all. She wasn't bad either. Of course having the Hermes didn't hurt, but even on George's Cleansweep she wasn't half bad. She watched Ginny and Harry compete for the snitch a bit. She was no match for him, it was easy to see that, but that was with Harry on the Hermes and Ginny on Ron's Cleansweep 11. Celia flew over to Ron, who was on Harry's Firebolt and asked him a favor.

"Hey, Ron, I'm curious about something, can you go switch brooms with your sister?"

"Yeah sure, what for?"

"Just curious." She watched Ron fly over to Ginny and they switched brooms in mid air. Eventually, Ginny and Harry got back to chasing after the snitch, and Celia noticed Ginny's skills had improved greatly. Harry was still a bit ahead of her on following, but Ginny was keeping up for speed now and, Celia noticed, wasn't watching Harry's movements, but she too had her eyes on the snitch.

The group played a bit more before Mrs. Weasley called them in for dinner. Celia went to sleep that night musing over how it happened that the 7 of them had become such great friends in such a short amount of time. She felt, and was sure that the feeling wasn't entirely one-sided, as though she had known them forever. She drifted off into a wonderful dreamless sleep. And for the first time in a long time, she woke up without a heavy heart.

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Authors note: Hey everyone! Hoped you like it! The next chapter should be up tomorrow or the next day. A preview of what's to come: Celia sets her eyes for the first time on Diagon Alley! And has her first meeting with a Slytherin, Draco Malfoy. Oh I'm sorry, Malfoy, did I injure your pride a bit? That'll teach you to insult MY friends! Coming soon!

Chapter 7 : Diagon Alley