Chap 2

Dear Phoenix,

I actually had a bump in with Harry today. He'd gotten the room numbers mixed up and I found him sleeping in my bed. There was a little mishap but nothing big. He doesn't know anything about me—my name registered nothing, as far as I can tell. Draco Malfoy barged in with Ron. Bad news: Bloor's has been closed temporarily. Manfred showed up just in time to hypnotize me. I woke up in a few minutes. It turned out that Charlie Bone is distant cousin of Ron Weasley's, and is staying with them for the summer. If this means what I think it means, the Bloor's and the Yewbeam's are coming to Hogwarts. That's the only place they'll be able to go. At least, the endowed kids might. I don't know enough yet. I'll keep you posted on current events.

Fox

"Looks good," Muttered Lairy. She took her letter and folded it, stuffing it in an envelope and giving it to her new owl. "Maybe I should call you Luke?" The owl hooted appreciatively and took off out over the dark streets of London.

Lairy shrugged and picked up her decoy wand. Percy time.

As she neared Percy's room she began weaving her fingers in and out. An image slowly appeared in front of her. Penelope Clearwater looked large as life, standing in the hallway. Of course, it was a bit flawed. You could see through her left leg, but luckily the wall behind her jeans had blue wallpaper color.

"Percy, dear?" She called, making her voice higher. Percy poked his head out the door and nearly fell over. "Penelope! I'm not speaking to you!" He scowled and slammed the door in the illusions face, clicking the lock behind him. Lairy snickered and sealed the door with a flick of her wrist. Not wanting to waste time, she dashed down the hallway and into Hagrid's room. He was sleeping so peacefully she nearly didn't have the heart to lock him in. Nearly.

Lairy could hear Hagrid's snores echoing in the hallway as she nodded to Tom and opened the door leading outside the leaky cauldron. Harry, Charlie, Jenna, and a very flushed Ron and Hermione were waiting outside for her. Jenna grinned and gave her a high five.

"So, where are we going?" Said Harry. Lairy threw him a wicked grin, winked, and said, "Ever heard of Treefox Alley?" Harry blushed.

Lairy led them all the way to Hyde Park, at which point most of them were exhausted. She stepped into the middle of this grove of trees and told everyone to close their eyes. At this, Jenna sighed exasperatedly but nodded, reinforcing it. Harry closed his eyes, wondering suddenly if this could be a trap from Voldemort to capture him. His eyes snapped open and there was a fox where Lairy had been standing, busy with something in the ground. Harry's eyes widened and he squeezed them shut again, making a small gasp.

Lairy turned around, ears twitching. Her beautiful multi-colored bushy tail whipped around as she turned, nearly knocking her off balance. She'd sworn someone had made a sound. But no, they were all still standing there, eyes squeezed shut. Lairy shrugged as well as a fox can and finished the button code, stepping away. She could feel her ears already sliding back into place and rounding, and she turned yet again to face the company. As soon as she felt her tale diminish, she said, "Right-o. Come on then."

It was an impressive sight. A great, stone archway rising up out of the ground like it had always been there. Hermione gasped and Ron, Charlie, and Harry merely stood there gaping. Jenna was grinning from ear to ear. "This is the best part," She breathed.

"Welcome to Foxtree alley, the Alley for the animals. Here you'll find things and creatures you never though possible or plausible. As we step into the entrance, may I ask you to greet everyone nicely and with respect—or you may regret ever hearing of this place."

She stepped through the archway and into the alley beyond.

It was breathtaking. The walls were lined and stacked with tiny shops, and everything was covered in a thin layer of ivy. The cobblestone street was covered in moss, and there were animals scurrying around.

"Impossible," Whispered Hermione, bending over to take a closer look at a two-foot tall bakery. "Look it, they even have miniature croissants in the window display!"

"Want one?"

Hermione stared at her. "Are you an animagus or something?" Said Ron. Lairy glanced at him, startled. "No, no, no, haven't you people learned the shrinking charm yet?"

They looked blankly at her. As an answer, she grinned and pulled out her wand. She didn't really need a wand, of course, but no one needed to know that, did they?

"The spell is called…Shrink Me." As she said this, she pointed her wand at her temple. Like, well, magic, she shortened to the size of the small buildings doorway.

"Harry, um, pick me up will you? And be very careful!"

Harry raised an eyebrow, still stunned, but bent down and held out his hand to her. She giggled nervously and stepped on, clutching his thumb.

"Whoa, that feels freaky." Said Harry, eyes wide. "Are we supposed to do that too?"

As he said this, a large yellow-eyed dog came bounding around the corner and knocked Harry over, sending Lairy flying out of his hand.

"Merlin, what was that? Lairy! Where are you?" Said Ron, helping Harry up.

Jenna quickly preformed the spell on herself, and looked around. Lairy was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey you guys! Come on down!" She called up. Harry and Ron preformed the spell quite easily, but Hermione was still hesitant. "What's the matter Hermione?"

"Well, it's kind of unnerving to just now learn of a spell I've never even heard of before. I mean, I…" Ron was raising his eyebrow.

"Oh, all right. Shrink Me," Hermione shrunk down to the exact height and looked around. The others were a ways away, and she started towards them.

"Why are we so far away?" She said, as she approached them.

"Well, because we were so big when we started out, and now that we've shrunk we don't occupy that much space anymore. So we stayed in the same place but shrunk smaller, so we're really not that faraway at all." Said Jenna, moving a clump of large, leafy leaves out of her way, so she could look into in alley.

"Has anyone seen any sign of Lairy?"

This was answered by a stream of hideous curses from somewhere above their heads. "Lairy, is that you?"

"Damn right it is. Ooh, Asa is in for it now. That little snotrag…" They saw her upper body protruding from a rooftop. She had grass stains all over herself for some reason, and her hair looked worse than ever.

"Are you all right?" Jenna called up.

"No. My dignity is in pieces, and I think I've broken my wrist…"

"Crap. Ok, well, is that a roof or what?"

"It's a roof alright, but it's a garden up here! This whole thing is covered in herbs and…" She disappeared, and they heard a series of growls, and shuffles of claws against wood.

"Ok, Ok, I'm sorry, really, I didn't--- hey let go of me! Ahh!" A second later Lairy fell from the rooftop with a sickening thump, a hedgehog sticking its head out and bristling its spines.

There were many cries of distress as the group hurried over to Lairy, who was groaning and clutching her wrist.

"It seems I'm the target of everything lately!" She shouted, shrugging off Harry's help to get up.

"Where did you learn those swears?" Said Ron, furrowing his brows. "I've never heard any of them." Hermione elbowed him in the side.

"Ha, you wouldn't have, Ron…" Said Lairy, shaking her wrist out. "I don't think it's broken."

"What do you mean I wouldn't—!" Hermione cut him off by smothering it in a kiss. Harry looked shocked, and Lairy, Jenna, and Charlie all sported raised eyebrows.

"Lairy!" Yelled someone, swooping down on Lairy and nearly crushing her in a hug. "Why haven't you come to see us anymore?" They could see it was a male fox, a quite handsome one, with surprisingly human features. He was Lairy's height, walked on his legs, which were human, and sported fur and a lush brown-red tail. Lairy pulled away from him, blushing; she turned to her friends. "Uh, guys, this is Zeik Rosethorn. He's half werefox." They seemed very surprise, but she continued. "Zeik: this is Harry, Ron, Charlie, Hermione, and I believe you've met Jenna."