A/N: More updates. Enjoy!

June 27th, noon, 'my' room.
(I stopped writing 'British time' cause I figured it was pretty obvious.)

Good morning world, and good morning England! I just woke up and is about to go downstairs for breakfast (or I guess lunch is a more appropriate word). I feel like I've slept forever, but I was so tired last night, and I'm majorly jet-lagged so I guess I'm excused. Looks like today is going to be a great day. Mom has promised to take me to see Diagon Alley, and I hope it's as good as it appeared to be last night. Talk about amazing place! I can't wait! Anyway, just wanted to check in before breakfast/lunch. Later.

June 27th, 7pm, my room again.

Wow, wow and wow! Diagon Alley must be about the most amazing place in the world! I've seen so many things today you have no idea. First I had lunch with mom and the Potters, which was great. As we were eating a large owl came flying through the window and no one noticed. I went crazy thinking it was a stray bird, but apparently it was "only the mail". Anyway, the mail was from Harry and Ginny's daughter Cassiopeia who said that because of some crazy stunt the senior class had pulled the whole school had to close a few days ahead of time and so they're all coming home tonight instead of next week.

There was also a note from Ginny's parents inviting us all over to a family dinner this weekend. The whole Weasley clan is supposed to be there and they wanted to meet mom again after not having seen her for so long. Now, I find this rather scary, meeting all these new people, but that is nothing compared to how mom reacted. When Ginny read the note mom suddenly dropped her toast, got very pale and she looked like she had just found out somebody had died. Harry and Ginny noticed this also, but apparently they were a little more prepared than I was at this display.

"Hermione are you ok?" Ginny asked carefully, looking at mom with worry.

"You know they would invite you over wouldn't you?" Harry asked.

Mum nodded slowly. "I did, I just, I just didn't think it would be so quickly."

"It will be ok, dear," Ginny said reasurringly.

"I'm not so sure," mom stuttered. "I can't just show up like that, can I? I had at least hoped I got a chance to talk to him first…"

"I'm meeting him tonight," Harry said then, not at all confused.

"Maybe Harry can tell him you wish to meet him," Ginny added. Apparently I was the only one without a clue at what was happening.

Mom was pushing her toast around at her plate uncertainly.

"I probably should do that, shouldn't I?" she asked then, not looking at anyone.

Ginny nodded. "I know he'd appreciate it."

Mom sighed. "I guess it's all for the best. Harry will you tell him I can meet him tomorrow for lunch or something?"

Harry nodded. "Of course."

I watched this exchange without saying a word, but when the conversation died down I saw my chance to maybe find out what was happening.

"Umm… mom?" I asked slowly. "Who is it you're meeting? Is it anyone I know?" Now, that was of course highly unlikely as I don't know anyone in this country other than the ones I have already met, but I figured I could start off with something obvious, something that was easy for her to answer.

Mom's head snapped up at my question. She looked at me as if she saw me for the first time, then spent quite a while trying to say something.

"It's… uhh…" She looked desperately at Harry and Ginny, but neither of them said anything.

"It's an old friend of mine," she said then. "Apart from Harry he was my best friend in school, and he is also Ginny's brother. His name is Ron."

"Ron," I repeated. "Never heard of him. Are you sure he was your best friend?"

"Definitely," she replied. "Or sometimes best enemy." At this both Harry and Ginny sniggered and mom turned red. I was still feeling very confused and tried to dig up some more info.

"So is he the same guy you talked about last night at the Leaky Cauldron? The one who had done something to make you upset or whatever?"

She nodded slowly. "That's the one."

"What did he do?"

"Honey you how sometimes you tell me not to ask so many questions?" Mom looked at me with a smile, although her eyes were anything but happy.

I nodded, knowing what was to come.

"Now I'm going to tell you the same thing. Alexandra, don't ask so many questions." And I knew that was the end of discussion for now.

Once lunch was over Ginny, mom and I went out to Diagon Alley to go shopping. We went everywhere, and met all kinds of interesting and weird people. Mom of course went straight to the bookstore (Flourish and Blotts), which left Ginny and me to ourselves for a couple of hours. It was great fun walking around with her. She is such an interesting lady, and I don't think I could have had a better guide. She showed me everything, we even went to a place called Madam Malkin's to get me robes. See, in the wizarding world you don't have different stores that sell clothes, there's just one place, you go in and they take your measurements and you pick out the fabric and then they do all these fancy wizarding things before your robe is finished and you pay and leave. I got the prettiest robes. They are light blue and in a really comfortable material. They're kind of long and I feel like a princess in them. At first it was a little weird to walk around in a dress, but then once I got used to it it was just nice. Besides I blended in a little more, which is always a good thing.

After we left Madam Malkin's we went to a place called Fortescue's or something like that. No matter the name, what's important is that they had the greatest ice cream ever. Ginny and I sat outside on a bench eating our ice creams and she told me about herself and her family. Ginny is the youngest of seven siblings, and she's the only girl. Her oldest brother Bill is married and has two children who are also grown up. Then there is Charlie who lives in Romania and works with dragons! Imagine that. I never even knew there was such a thing as dragons. Anyway, he is married and has three kids. Her brother Percy died during the war, but Ginny says he was a great guy, although a little stuck up. I'm guessing if he was anything at all like Ginny, though, he couldn't have been all bad. Next in line were her twin brothers, Fred and George. Once they were out of school (actually before the were truly done) they started a joke shop called Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. Apparently it's situated in Diagon Alley and she promised me we would go visit them. Then there is Ron. Now, because of everything that had happened the same morning Ron was the one I was the most interested in. Ginny told me that he and mom had been very good friends in school, although they had spent ninety percent of their time together yelling at each other. I couldn't help but laugh at that and I told Ginny about my dad. She found it very funny, but said she wasn't too surprised. According to her, yelling is mom's way of making sure she has a worthy opponent in a guy. If he can't match her yelling then he can't match her in any way, either. I guess she has a point. Anyway… she said that everyone thought mom and Ron would end up together, that they were as good as married the day they met. The only people unaware of this, though, were themselves. They were best friends, but that was it. Until one day, during the end of the war when Ron went missing. She didn't reveal too many details, but apparently it was at this point mom had realized how she felt about Ron, and when the war was over she confessed her true feelings to him (obviously he must have come back from wherever he was, but I never really understood that part). Now here is the big problem. Ginny says Ron acted like a big wanker (nice British word, that) and told her (mom) that he didn't feel the same way, even though it was obvious he did. Mom of course got very hurt because she had honestly believed that Ron really liked her as more than a friend, and when he said he didn't he broke her heart. After this another year went by, but mom and Ron's friendship was never the same. And then that spring Ron announced that he had met a girl and was going to marry her. Mom was absolutely heartbroken, and that summer she decided that she didn't want to stay in England any more and so she moved to the States. Once mom was gone Ron finally realized what an ass he had been (Ginny's words, not mine) and he spent a lot of time trying to persuade mom to come back. But she wouldn't come back unless he broke up with his girlfriend, which of course he didn't, and so mom stayed in the US, and a little later she met dad and I was born.

"So is Ron married now?" I asked Ginny, trying to wrap my head around the fact that my mother, the very rock on which my life depeneded, had once been thwarted in love.

Ginny shook her head. "No he's not. About six months after your mother left for the States, Linda, that was Ron's fiancée, came in the middle of a Death Eater attack at the Ministry of Magic. They tortured her and then killed her. Poor girl. The war was over and we were all sure nothing like that could ever happen again. And it only happened once and she was caught in the middle of it."

"Wow," I said quietly, chewing on my spoon from the ice cream. I knew enough about the Wizarding War and Lord Voldemort to know that being caught in a Death Eater attack had to be anything but fun, and that being despite the fact that Voldemort was killed in the war.

"You can say," Ginny said. "Ron was a mess for a very long time, but he got over it eventually, but he never met anyone else. I guess deep down inside he has been waiting for your mother to come back ever since. I truly believe he still loves her, and if I'm not completely mistaken she doesn't exactly hate him, either."

I looked at Ginny with a frown. "Are you saying you think mom and Ron will get back together?"

Ginny shrugged. "I don't know, dear. Your mother is a very proud woman, and I'm not sure she has ever really forgiven Ron for what he did to her. But I guess time will tell. Besides, you're the most important person in your mom's life now. She wouldn't do anything that you didn't agree on."

I smiled. "You're probably right. I hope."

"I'm sure I am. But Alex?"

"Yes?"

"Don't tell Hermione I told you all these things, ok? I don't know if she would be too happy."

"I'm guessing you're right. I won't tell her a thing."

"Great. Now then, should we go to Flourish and Blotts and see if we can make sure you guys still have some money to spend for the remainder of your trip?"

I laughed. Apparently Ginny knew my mom very well. "Let's. And just so you know, I am not carrying all those books around all day!"

Still June 27th, still my room, but it's now 11pm.

The other entry was cut off kind of abruptly, but I had to run because Harry and the Potter children were back. He had gone to pick them up at King's Cross, and when they came home I had to go downstairs to meet them.

There are three kids, two boys and one girl. The two boys are called Percival (Percy) and James (Jimmy). They are twelve and fifteen, and they both look exactly like their father, only Jimmy has red hair. It's almost hilarious, really. Even the eyes are the same. The girl is called, as I already have said, Cassiopeia. I guess I can't blame her for that. I still don't see how such apparantly reasonable people as the Potter's could call their daughter Cassiopeia. Anyway, despite her name she happens to be about the most stunning person I have seen all my life, and I felt unbelievably short and pudgy next to her. She has gorgeous auburn hair, green eyes and a figure that makes you want to rip her throat out. What's worse is that she's not only the prettiest girl I've ever met, she's also the nicest. God, I swear, had she not been the daughter of my mom's best friend I would have hated her right away. That is not an option, though, so instead of running away like a scared rabbit, when I met her I smiled and shook her hand, and before long she had dragged me up to her room where we talked while she unpacked.

"So how do you like England?" she asked once we were inside her room.

I shrugged. "I haven't really seen much of it yet," I confessed. "I love Diagon Alley, though. It must be the greatest place ever."

She nodded. "I know. When I grew up I was sure that nothing in the outside world, both wizard and muggle, could be as good as the Alley. I had everything I wanted here, and if there was something I couldn't find here I was convinced I really didn't need it. It was a good life." She smiled at me sadly, and I frowned.

"You don't feel that way now?"

She looked at me for a while. "I don't know," she said and closed the lid of her trunk before sitting down on it. "I mean, I love London, and I love the Alley, but at the same time there are so many other things I wish to experience. I just finished school, I was one of the top students in my class, and yet I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. By the time my parents were my age they had been all across England, fought countless battles, and then defeated the most evil wizard of all times. And like that wasn't enough they had also fallen in love, decided to get married and was planning their future together!" She sighed heavily, then laughed. "What a way to welcome new guests, eh? I'm sorry I'm so moody, I guess it's just finally starting to hit me that I'm actually done with school, you know?"

I nodded. "I definitely know. When I was applying for university I thought I was going to freak out. It seemed like the entire world knew what they wanted to do, and here I was, this scared girl with no aspirations for my future other than live through high school!"

Cassiopeia grinned. "I know how that feels. Only we did job applications, not university. I can't believe I'm done with Hogwarts, though. It's been my home for seven years and now all of a sudden I'm not allowed to go back in September."

"So what are you going to do in the fall?"

She shrugged. "No idea yet. I guess I'll worry about that when I get there. For now I have every intention of doing as little as possible, spend as much money as I can, and maybe try and get some sleep."

I laughed. "Sounds like something I could have planned also. Only I'm on the other side of the world with my mother, of course."

"But no one says you have to spend every waking hour with her, though?" Cassiopeia asked.

I looked at her with a grin. "You are so right."

"Brilliant! This Saturday my grandparents are having a family party, and after that my cousins and I are going to this party a friend of mine is having. Why don't you join us?"

"I'd love that!"

Cassiopeia got to her feet with a smile. "Now there's a plan. A good one at that. Only one thing, though."

I looked at her. "What?"

"Please call me Cassie? I'm convinced my mom was on drugs or something when she gave me my name."

I laughed so hard at that, but I couldn't very well tell her I had thought the exact same thing the previous day. And then before we could say much more Ginny called us down for supper and we left Cassie's room both of us laughing, but not really knowing why. I think it was because I knew I had just gotten a new best friend. Or at least a good friend.