Dear Dad,

School's fine, but Snape's a git, as always. He took off five points from Gryffindor just because my potion was teal rather than aqua! Shannon Weasley and I had another row today. It's like we're not even friends, or cousins sometimes! At least Zoë Zabini and Jared Finnegan are still friendly with me.

Anyway, I have to go to Transfiguration now. I hope you, mum, and Holly are doing okay!

Love

Ashley

Ashley thought that looked okay. Maybe her mother was really the person to talk to about fighting with her girl friends, but she wanted her dad to play a part in her life. Lately it seemed as though she and her father were becoming distant with each other, and Ashley, being the headstrong, "my-way-or-the-high-way" child in the family, was not happy with that.

She sighed, and slowly walked to the owlery. Her brown eyes focused on her tawny owl, Alex. He flew over and perched on her shoulder, and began nibbling on a strand of messy black hair. Ashley brushed him off and gave him the letter, along with a treat. She caught up with Zoë and Jared ("Hurry up, Ashley!" they had said), and together they made their way to old Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class.

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"Today, class, we will be learning how to turn a needle into a toothpick."

Snickers and whispering followed Professor McGonagall's statement.

"Now really!" McGonagall began indignantly. "That may seem easy, but once you try it, you will find that it certainly is not! The wand movements must be correct, the incantation must be stated fluently and clearly…"

By then, Ashley, Jared, and Zoë had completely tuned out. Who wanted to waste time listening to tedious lectures, anyway? Ashley had learned the Muffliato spell from her father before her first year. "It might come in handy during some of the less interesting classes," he had said with a wink. Ginny had scolded him for setting a bad example, but Ashley knew that she agreed.

After she had cast the Muffliato spell, no teacher or student nearby could hear their conversations. Jared, Zoë, and Ashley talked the whole class, and not a single person noticed.

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Claire sat cross-legged on her four-poster, her brown eyes staring out into space, red hair tied up into a ponytail. She was daydreaming. Out of all three of the Potter children, she was by far the quietest. Claire took the time to think before acting, making her different from her rather impulsive sisters.

"Hey, Claire, watcha doing?" Claire heard Julia Creevey's voice question. Claire groaned inwardly. Julia was extremely annoying, and rather nosy, too. When she had owled her parents about it, they had laughed and wrote back that Julia's father, Colin Creevey, was exactly the same. Their only advice was to try to ignore her.

"Nothing," Claire called, and went back to her daydreams. She thought back to the day she left for school.

Kings Cross Station, Platform 9 ¾ , 11:00 a.m.

"Bye Claire, goodbye Ashley!" Their mother had called.

"We'll miss you," Harry added.

"Bye dad, bye mum!" the siblings chanted.

"Have a good term, girls! We'll see you at Christmas!" Ginny called.

Harry just stood there, it seemed as though he was in his own world. None of his surroundings mattered, he just needed to get home. He didn't trust the Weasley twins with his Holly.

Claire watched her waving, tearful mother and her father's blank face. "What could he be thinking about?" she wondered. "Me? My first year at school?"

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As Claire thought back to that day, she felt so silly thinking that her father could even possibly be thinking about her. Of course, he was thinking about her little sister. Holly. Everything was about her younger sibling with him lately.

Claire thought about this logically. She realized that it made sense for her father to always be so worried about Holly- she was, after all, his youngest child, and Claire assumed that he treated she and her older sister the same way when they were small. She understood that Harry had every right to worry about Holly, but sometimes it made her feel left out. Harry James Potter would always care about all of his children, Claire was certain, but she knew that he couldn't help feeling different about his youngest child.

"Claire!" Rachel Longbottom called. "We're gonna be late! We have to leave NOW if we ever want to find Professor Flitwick's classroom!"

Claire smiled and began her journey to Charm's class with Rachel, already her best friend. How could anyone find his or her way through the vast Hogwart's castle? After all, there were numerous floors, and countless staircases!

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Ginny and Holly were reading a book together- Quidditch Through the Ages. Holly had grown tired of simply staring at the pictures, and had begged her mother to read the book to her. Ginny remembered this morning all too well.

Harry had gone to work early this morning; Ginny guessed around 6:30. As an auror, there were plenty of days when he had to get to the ministry early for early training. After all, Voldemort was still undefeated, and no one was safe.

She had remembered waking up that morning, and when she saw that it was only 8:00, had lazily flopped back into bed and attempted to fall back asleep.

"Why, oh why did Holly have to learn how to get out of her crib on her own?" Ginny muttered. That child was just too smart for her own good sometimes!

Holly had come in and woken Ginny up, and asked her to read Quidditch Through the Ages. Ginny was about to refuse and tell her to go back to sleep, or thumb through the book herself, but with one glance at her daughter's adorable, eager expression she got up and walked back to Holly's room with her.

As they were reading, Holly heard a quiet, but steady, "tap, tap, tap," She stopped focusing on her mother's calm voice and instead redirected her interest towards her bedroom window. There was her older sister Ashley's tawny owl, Alex.

Ginny noticed that her daughter wasn't paying attention to the book anymore. She followed her gaze to the window and saw her eldest daughter's owl.

"Coming, Alex, you can stop now!" Ginny said, irritated. Holly giggled. Her mother was funny looking when she was angry- her ears turned all red, and her brows furrowed, causing her freckles to blend together.

Ginny saw that the letter was addressed to her husband. She dropped it off on his desk, and continued reading to Holly.

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Harry came home late that night, starving and exhausted. His wife heard him pop home, and sneakily tip toed up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and when he noticed she was there, he hugged and kissed her hello.

"I missed you, Gin," Harry said.

"I missed you too, honey," Ginny smiled. "I have your dinner ready, it's over there on the table."

At the mention of food, Harry hungrily dashed over to the kitchen table. Ginny shook her head. Men and their food.