…The Station…

"Come on. We'll be late if you don't pick up your feet." mum snapped for the fifth time this morning. Mum was rushing about making sure everything was good to go. "Fae you're scaring the kids." dad joked. "You get the kids situated then Sirius." mum replied putting her hands on her hips. I walked down to the sidewalk with my twin Isabella. I looked more like our younger sister Ava. We both had black hair and dark purple eyes. But Isabella looked just like Ava's twin Lucas. They both had honey and hazelnut hair and grey eyes.

Mum and dad finally got down the steps with Ava and Lucas in tow. We piled into the car and drove to the Leaky Cauldron. We were sent to go sit a table and wait for mum and dad. They went back outside and were talking to a giant man who had a thin boy by his side. "Do you think that's him, Charlotte?" Ava whispered. Lucas shrugged extremely bored and seemed more interested in floor. "She was talking to me and not you." i scoff smacking the back of his head. They came in and walked over. "Kids this is your cousin Harry." dad stated putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. Ava jumped up and hugged him. "Nice to meet you!" she shrieked gleefully. The boy was shocked and stumbled backwards. If the giant man wasn't behind him Harry and Ava would've fallen on the floor. Mum chided her lightly.

We introduced ourselves to Harry. Once everyone in the Leaky Cauldron had shaken Harry's hand we went out to the courtyard. Everyone went through the entrance to Diagon Alley together. Dad went with the giant man and Harry to Gringotts. "Mum who was that man with Harry?" Isabella asked patiently. "That was Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts. Now come along we need to go get some new travel robes." mum replied ushering us towards the robe shop.

We stayed in Diagon Alley with Harry while he got his school supplies. Hagrid bought him a snowy owl as a birthday present. Lucas and Harry went off to look at a Nimbus 2000 that was in a shop window. "I wish I could go to Hogwarts this year." Ava sighed in defeat. "You still have two years." Izzy told her as she helped mum pack the school supplies in a trunk. Dad and Hagrid were talking about something in a corner. They looked extremely serious. I'd rarely seen dad with that look, so it was probably something dangerous. I petted the owl and she hooted approvingly.

We said good-bye to Harry and Hagrid at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. We put our purchases in the car and headed home. Ava, Lucas, and Izzy all fell asleep. I pretended to be so I could listen in on their conversation. "It looks like he's grown up well, or rather as well as can be expected." mum whispered. "You know what Dumbledore said. We are not to intervene. He looks so much like Lily and James." dad whispered back. They both sounded on the verge of tears.

It was the morning of the train departure for Hogwarts. We arrived just in time to see the Dursley family drop Harry off. They looked like a bunch of haughty people. We went inside with Harry. I spotted a familiar red head. "Ginny!" I called running towards my friend. "Who's he?" she asked nodding her head at Harry. "My cousin Harry." I told her. "Harry? Harry Potter? That's him. The Boy Who Lived?" she asked eagerly. I nodded. I watched as Fred and George went through the barrier. Ron and Harry went next. I went through with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. Mum and Dad came through and Izzy and Lucas followed.

I stood to the side watching as Harry and the others climbed aboard the train. I laughed as Ginny tried to follow the train calling out to her brothers and waving. When we could no longer see the train, the crowd thinned as people went back home. "Do you think he'll be ok in his first year, Sirius?" Mrs. Weasley asked wringing her hands. "He'll be fine. Nothing will happen as long as Dumbledore is there." he stated confidently. Ginny, Izzy, and I walked back through the barrier.

Back at home I responded to some letters I'd gotten from some cousins. We had a big family and even though not everyone was blood related we still considered them family. Our parents had been friends for a long time and after that long of a friendship that makes you family.

There was Auntie Maddie and Uncle Seth, Auntie Xyla and Uncle Zachary, Auntie Zahara and Uncle Severus, Auntie Adalene and Uncle Jordan, Auntie Asayo and Uncle Fuji, Auntie Sofia and Uncle Elijiah, Auntie Emma and Uncle Liam, and Auntie Amber and Uncle Alexander. I looked over the piles of letters from the cousins. I organized them by Aunt and clipped them underneath their pictures.

The first that I responded to were Oliver, Emmett, and Mya Collins. The children of Auntie Maddie and Uncle Seth. They were nice but they were on the quiet side. Oliver had his mother's chestnut hair and his father's bronze eyes. Emmett and Mya had gotten their mother's Lilac eyes and father's blonde hair.

Next was Auntie Xyla's children Adaya and Benjamin Smith. They were twins but Adaya had caramel hair and silver eyes. Benjamin had coral hair and dark purple eyes.

I replied to Auntie Zahara's kids Aderyn, Keith, and Jessica Snape. Aderyn and Jess had black hair and lilac eyes. Keith had toffee hair and black eyes. If I was to be honest uncle Severus seemed a bit intimidating. Sometimes when they came over to visit mum and auntie Zahara would tell us to make sure dad and uncle Severus behaved themselves.

Next up was auntie Amber and Uncle Alexander. They had three kids Odeya, Kacela, and Edwin Smith. Odeya and Kace had coral hair and bronze eyes. Ed had blonde hair and silver eyes. I was tired of writing, so I left the international cousins for the next day. I cleaned up my desk and opened the curtains of room so the moonlight could come pouring in.

Early the next morning I awoke and went back to my letter writing. I started with the French cousins. I took the letters down from their picture. Auntie Adalene had two kids Aithley and Adrian Richards. Aithley had ebony hair and hazel eyes while Adrian had chocolate brown hair and emerald eyes.

Next up was Akio Sato, only child of auntie Asayo and Uncle Fuji. He was just like his parents always taking in his surroundings and listening. He had onyx hair and ebony eyes. I replied to auntie Sofia's kid next. Alastair Volkov was an only child just like Akio. He had blonde hair and clementine colored eyes.

Next, I wrote to the American cousins. Alexis and Anna Davis, the children of auntie Emma and Uncle Liam. Alexis had auburn hair and turquoise eyes while her sister had black cherry hair and gray eyes.

I stretched as I finished the last of the letters. I gathered them up and took them downstairs. Izzy came down the stairs right after me with a stack of letters. We laughed at our ink stained fingers before sending mum's owl Sadie off with letters.

We went into the kitchen and found mum cooking a scrumptious breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit, and waffles. "Morning girls." mum greeted without turning her head from the stove. "Morning mum!" we replied. I went to the refrigerator and got the apple juice out. I was pouring a cup for me and Izzy when Ava and Lucas tore through the room. Lucas chased Ava through the kitchen and back out into the hall. With Izzy's help we barely managed to keep the juice from splashing out of the cups as they shot past. Mum calmly put the spatula she was holding down and walked out after them. Two seconds later we heard her down the hall screeching at them for almost making her burn breakfast.

Dad walked in and snuck some food before sneaking back out of the kitchen with a mischievous grin. Kreacher popped up and started muttering under his breath. After the death of grandma Black dad inherited Grimmauld Place. We didn't go there very often because of her screaming portrait. It screamed at everyone. She'd call dad names and scream at him to get out while he just stared shaking his head, she screamed at mum saying she could've done better than dad, and just screamed at us, "You better be in Slytherin when you grow up!". It took a lot of visits to convince Kreacher to live with us. Mostly it was mum's convincing.

"How are you Kreacher?" Izzy asked putting the apple juice back in the fridge. "The hooligans are at it again miss Izzy!" he sighed exhaustedly. Ava and Lucas had been nightmares to control ever since they'd learned to walk.

We ate breakfast and went upstairs to study a bit. Mum homeschooled us and we'd never been to a normal school. I finished my lessons and went to find mum. She was in her studio working on the finishing touches of a portrait for a client. I heard from our aunties and uncles' numerous times that mum was smart enough to be a teacher and she'd been tutoring people from all over the world when she was in Hogwarts. I didn't get that gene, but Izzy did. She took after mum so much.

I knocked on the door to announce my arrival. She turned around. She smiled and waved me over. I walked up beside her. "Finished your work for the day?" she asked cleaning her brushes in water. "Yep. I've also sent my letters off to the cousins." I reported feeling proud of myself. She gave me a smile that said she was extremely happy. "Tomorrow you'll have dance, self-defense, and cooking lessons with me, okay" she said putting the portrait to the side. I nod my understanding. "You can go pick out 3 recipes you want to try out." she continued. I gave her cheek a quick kiss as I headed out. I went to the study where all of mum's books were.

She'd collected a lot of books and I had to search for 20 minutes before finally finding her cookbooks. I was searching through them when a picture fell out of one. It was a picture of mum with her sisters and auntie Amber and another woman I recognized as auntie Lily from the scrapbooks mum had. "Oh dear. That's where that photo was!" mum squealed happily from the door. I picked the photo up and handed it to her. She sat on the edge of the desk. "This was when we taught your auntie Amber to cook. It was the final day of her lessons and Lily had come over to see her progress. Amber was such a train wreck her first few times cooking but she's improved so much." mum reminisced. She put the photo in the scrapbook it had come from originally. "Did you find the recipes you wanted to try?" she asked turning to me. I rifled through the pages once more and picked out 3 recipes that I thought would be good. Mum wrote a list on a note pad. Tearing the list from the notepad she handed it to me. "Take Ava and Izzy when they've finished their work and get these from the store." she ordered. She handed me enough money to get the ingredients. I pocketed the money and went to find Ava.

Ava had been practicing her self-defense. I watched her attack the dummy in the garage. I shouted simple pointers to her which she incorporated on the spot. I clapped as she finished. She gave a bow and came over to where I was standing. "Go shower really quick. Mum's given us a food mission." I told her. Ava clapped her hands and took off up the steps to shower. Izzy had just finished her dance lessons and was tidying up. I informed her that we had to go to the store. She washed up and changed. When she was done, she joined me and Ava at the front door.

At the store we divided the items on the list up and got the items much faster than going together. We checked out and headed home. We unloaded the food and put it away with Kreacher's help. It was getting late, so I went to my room to read a bit while I waited for dinner to be done. "Charlotte?" Ava asked knocking on my door. I put my bookmark in my book and closed it. I turned to the door. Ava's hair was a mess. "I was trying to braid my hair and it got a bit messed up." she whined. I motion her over. I pulled a chair out for her to sit. We both had dad's wild hair, so it took me a bit to untangle her hair. Once I'd untangled her hair I put it into a braided bun. She hugged me and rushed from the room to show Izzy.