Ok, this idea popped into my head, and I liked it enough to want to write it. It begins with conversation between Ron and Hermione, followed by a letter from Ron to Ginny, followed by supper at the Weasley home. So, this is still part of the story, but there are technically no notes in this chapter. Oh well, I hope you like it anyway.
Notes
Chapter 3
It was November, and Ron found himself sitting quietly in front of the fire with nothing to do. This situation occurred much more frequently now that Quidditch season had started. To Ron, that meant no Harry to play chess with or help convince Hermione to let him copy her homework. They always needed two people to convince her. Ron couldn't manage it by himself. He tried asking Dean and Seamus to play chess with him, and it had worked for a while. However, neither of them were interested long enough to last the two and a half hours that Quidditch practice spanned.
"Ron?" a voice asked behind him. He turned to find Hermione eyeing him with a look that resembled concern.
"My homework's all finished, Hermione. You checked half an hour ago." he replied.
"I wasn't going to ask about homework. I just noticed you looked bored."
"Well, I am." he sighed. "Seamus and Dean won't play chess anymore and neither will you, so I have nothing to do."
"I have an idea." Hermione said. "Why don't you write a letter home to your parents?"
"Nah, mum and dad already know what goes on here. They've gotten plenty of letters home from my brothers."
"Well, I'm sure they would still appreciate it if you wrote one."
"No, they wouldn't. And if they would, it's only because they would give it to Ginny."
"Ginny? Who's Ginny?" Hermione looked puzzled.
"My little sister." Ron turned his head to face Hermione. "She'll be a first year here next year. I thought I already told you about Ginny."
"No, I never knew you had a sister. I thought your family was all boys."
"It was until Ginny came. She's the first Weasley girl in generations."
"Oh?" Hermione seemed interested.
"Yeah." Ron went back to staring at the fire.
"You could write a letter to her," Hermione offered. "I'm sure she wants to know everything that's happened. You could tell her about the Halloween feast and the troll and Harry's new broom."
"Yeah, that's not a bad idea." Ron sat up in the armchair. "I can just go on and on about Harry, because she thinks he's fascinating."
"Well a lot of people do." Hermione reminded him. "I mean, he defeated You-Know-Who and only got a scar!"
"I suppose you're right." Ron said. "Alright, I'll write her a letter."
"That's good. Then you won't complain you have nothing to do."
"I wasn't complaining, Hermione."
"Just go write the letter."
"I will." Ron left the fireside and climbed the steps up to his dormitory to get some parchment and a quill. Hermione took Ron's chair in front of the fire and settled in with a book.
(A letter from Ronald Weasley to Ginevra Weasley, dated 10th November, 1991. Includes Ginny's thoughts as she reads.)
Dear Ginny,
I wanted to write to you because I thought you should know what I've been up to.
Well, and because Hermione told me to. She's a friend I met on the train, except we weren't friends yet.
I can't believe Ron's made friends with a girl! What girl would want to be friends with him?
I met Harry Potter on the train too. You remember when he came up to us to ask how to get onto the platform?
Do I remember? Of course I remember! Mum wouldn't let me go and see him on the train!
But we didn't know who he was yet. I asked him to show me his scar on the train. He did, but he seemed kind of embarrassed.
I want to see his scar! No fair! Ron's so lucky.
Then Hermione came in and asked if we had seen a toad. It belonged to some boy who lost it. But neither of us had seen it. Then she bothered me about some dirt on my nose. But I still say there wasn't any.
I remember there being dirt on his nose. Mum was trying to get it off before we left. He just doesn't want to admit it.
Anyway, so the train ride was fun. There was a snack cart with all sorts of candy on it like pumpkin pasties and chocolate cauldrons and bertie bott's every flavor beans. And Harry bought so much of it so he shared with me.
I wish Harry Potter would buy me some candy.
And then we got to Hogwarts and it's absolutely huge! Everything Fred and George and Bill and Charlie ever told us is all true! It's a big castle with a lot of towers and huge grounds. It even has a lake and greenhouses and this massive man named Hagrid taking care of the grounds. The castle has so many windows and when we saw it was all lit up and bright.
It sounds so pretty! I can't wait another year to go there!
And we got to ride across the lake on these boats to get to the castle. Only the first years did this, everyone else rode these carriages with nothing pulling them. Well, maybe they're pulled by invisible horses, I don't know.
Invisible horses? This place keeps getting more exciting.
When we went inside, the entrance hall was enormous! And everyone went into the great hall for the feast, and first years got sorted. The sorting wasn't scary at all. Fred and George made it seem terrifying. I got into Gryffindor, of course. So did Harry and Hermione.
Harry's a Gryffindor! I really hope I am in Gryffindor next year. What if I turn out to be a Slytherin?
The food was incredible! They had everything you could ever want for supper, and then when you were full, there were so many desserts you could still choose from! I've never eaten more in my life.
I hope the food's anything like mum's cooking. Then it'll be the best!
The classes are alright. I like Defense Against the Dark Arts a lot. But I don't like Potions or History of Magic. Professor Snape doesn't like Gryffindors, so in Potions he always is taking points off. He seems to particularly hate Harry. I don't know why, though.
Who would ever hate Harry Potter? I don't understand that at all. I mean, he killed You-Know-Who!
And Professor Binns, he's a ghost! Hermione said that one day he fell asleep in front of the staff room fire, and he got up the next day to teach and he left his body behind!
A ghost for a teacher? That's brilliant!
But his class, History of Magic, is really boring. Binns just rambles on about goblin wars and such and we have to take loads of notes, but Harry and I just copy off Hermione's. She probably takes the best notes in the class. She certainly is a know-it-all.
He certainly seems to like her if they're friends. And he won't shut up about her…hmmm.
Then there are the flying lessons, which are brilliant! Our first one especially was. We were about to lift off when Madame Hooch counted to three, but Neville, he's the boy who lost the toad on the train, he took off too early. He lost control of his broom and fell off and broke his wrist, I think. So when she left to take him to the hospital wing, she told us not to move. But Malfoy, he's this nasty Slytherin boy, he stole Neville's remembrall which he left on the ground.
I really hope I'm not a Slytherin. Then Harry won't ever like me!
So Malfoy took it and flew up in the air and was going to throw it. But Harry flew up after him. He had never flown before! But, he was a natural!
I knew Harry would be excellent at flying. He's probably excellent at everything.
Malfoy threw the remembrall and Harry soared after it. He caught it a foot above the ground! And he landed just fine! It was amazing! But McGonagall, she's the Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor house, she saw him catch it and came out and took him inside! We all thought he was going to be expelled.
He wasn't expelled, though, was he? They wouldn't do that to Harry Potter!
But then it turns out McGonagall thought Harry was brilliant and he got onto the Quidditch team! The youngest player in a century, he told me. He's the new seeker for Gryffindor. It's amazing.
He didn't get expelled at all! He got onto the Quidditch team instead! He really is brilliant.
So one day at breakfast when the post came, all the owls swooped in to deliver their mail, and Harry got this long package from someone. We went upstairs to open it, because he knew what it was. Guess what it was?
Ooh, maybe a … a … uh, I have no idea.
It was a Nimbus Two Thousand! Brand new, too! He let me have a go on it, and it was bloody brilliant! Right now he's at Quidditch practice, that's another reason I'm writing you, because he's not here.
Harry really gets everything, doesn't he?
Another thing that was really exciting was Halloween! There was a huge feast, as big as the start of term feast. And in the great hall there were real live bats and floating Jack O Lanterns!
That sounds amazing! I wish I could have been there!
In the middle of the feast, Professor Quirrell, he teaches Defense, he came in and yelled that there was a troll in the dungeon! And then he fainted onto the floor!
"Ginny! Come downstairs and help set the table!" came her mum's voice from the kitchen.
"In a minute, mum!" she replied hastily, her eyes not even leaving the parchment. "I'll be right there!"
So we all left the hall to go upstairs to our dormitories. But, Harry remembered that Hermione wasn't with us. She wasn't our friend yet, you see, and she had gone into the lavatory because of something that upset her, and Harry said we had to warn her about the troll. So we left the group to go back down to the girls' lavatory and we saw the troll in the hallway!
Oh, I would have run away! I would have never left the group anyway. It would be too frightening!
Then it went into the lavatory and we followed it. Then we were fighting it! Harry jumped on its back and I knocked it out with its own club!
How brave of them! I can't believe Ron knocked out a troll by himself! What would mum think?
Then a bunch of teachers found us and we almost got in serious trouble, but Hermione saved us by telling a lie to the teachers! She said it was all her fault, and they believed her, and we got five points total for Gryffindor. We would have gotten ten, but they took away five for Hermione.
They didn't even get in trouble for it! They must be really lucky.
That's pretty much the most exciting thing that's happened to us so far this year. Wow, this letter is really long! You should be grateful that I wrote this long letter for you, because you probably won't ever get another letter from me for a long time.
What a prat. He should be grateful that he even goes to the school and isn't sitting at home!
You probably shouldn't let mum or dad read this because I don't think they would like the whole thing about the troll. So make sure mum and dad don't see this, especially mum. She'd send me a howler for sure! Keep it somewhere safe or get rid of it, but not in the rubbish bin. They might find it there. Don't even tell them I wrote you. That's for your own good as well as mine.
From,
Ron
P.S. The owl's name is Hedwig. She's Harry's owl. He got her for his birthday.
Wow, Harry has a beautiful owl. But, I can't believe that Ron insists on putting "From" on a letter to his sister! Oh, well, I better keep this hidden from mum and dad or Ron will find out. Besides, I don't want to get him or Harry in trouble! I know, I'll hide it in the secret floor board under my bed. No one should ever find it there.
(At the Weasley household)
Ginny Weasley sat up on her bed, looking over the two-foot piece of parchment her brother had written her. It had only taken her ten minutes to read and re-read. She yawned, falling onto her back. Then she smiled wistfully at the thought of going to Hogwarts next year. It had only been slightly over two months since her brothers had departed, leaving her alone with her mum and dad.
"Ginny! I told you to come down here ten minutes ago!" her mum's cry jolted her out of her reverie.
"It was only five minutes, not ten, mum!" she shouted, leaning over and stuffing the letter under the loose floor board, throwing the envelope in the rubbish bin. Then she noticed that Hedwig had left some droppings on her window sill. She fished the envelope out of the bin, cracked open the window, and used the envelope to brush the droppings out of the window. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"
She made it downstairs before her mum reached boiling point. The stew they were having for supper, however, was boiling madly in its pot.
"Now, look, Arthur! You distracted me so I let the stew boil!" shouted Mrs Weasley at her flustered husband. The stew overflowed onto the table. "Oh, hello, Ginny dear. Fetch me that rag, will you please?"
Ginny obeyed, wishing she could have summoned it over with the wand she did not have yet.
"I'm so sorry, Molly," Mr Weasley apologized extensively. "but this really is fascinating when you take the time to see it." He held up his newly finished report concerning the use of Muggle battery-powered flashlights.
"Arthur, I know how much you adore Muggle eclectrionics or whatever it's called—"
"You mean electronics."
"Yes, well, you know you mustn't bother me with that foolishness while I'm making supper." She sighed, passing Ginny a bowl full of stew and a plate of bread. Ginny looked at the stew with a mixture of curiosity and disgust. "Oh, come now, Ginny, we've eaten this stew plenty of times. You love it."
"That was when it wasn't overcooked." Ginny sniffed hesitantly at the bowl of mystery in front of her.
"Well, you have your father to thank for that."
"Now really, Molly, you can't blame me for wanting to share my first-class report with my lovely wife. It is my work, and my passion, and—"
"And supper is ready now, Arthur." she said, cutting him off. "You know the rules about work discussions during supper."
"No talking of work or school during supper unless it is absolutely urgent and of the utmost importance and cannot wait until after." recited Ginny.
"Exactly. Thank you, dear." Mrs Weasley smiled at her only daughter. "Let's just enjoy our supper."
They ate in comfortable silence for the majority of the meal, only breaking the silence with an occasional, "Delicious supper, Molly." or "Pass the bread, will you please?" or "Can I borrow your butter knife, mum?"
After several minutes of silence had passed, Mrs Weasley asked, "So, Ginny, dear, what exactly were you doing upstairs when you wouldn't come down?"
"Oh, just … thinking." she replied offhand.
"About what, perhaps?"
"Oh, about Hogwarts." She suddenly frowned. "Dad? Are there invisible horses at Hogwarts?"
"Not that I know of, dear," he said smiling at her. "Wherever did you hear that?"
"Oh, nowhere, I was just wondering." Ginny said, dipping her bread into her stew. I'll have to tell Ron about that, now won't I?
After supper had ended, Ginny went back upstairs to her room.
Brrr! She shivered. Why is it so cold in here?
Then she noticed that her window had been left open the whole time.