"Ron! Hermione!" Harry said in surprise, seeing his two best friends. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't you get our letters?" Ron asked, wiping water from his face. "We told you we were coming to visit!"

Caedmon raised an eyebrow. "In the middle of the night?"

"We came on the Knight Bus, and they took a wrong turn," Hermione explained. "We ended up near London instead of here."

"Bloody bus," Ron muttered. "I'll never be able to get into a moving vehicle again. Scared me half out of my wits."

Caedmon looked confused, but decided it didn't matter. "Well, since you're here, I'm sure you'd like to get dried off and change and get some rest."

"Oh, thank you," Hermione said gratefully. "I feel like a sponge."

"I can imagine," Caedmon remarked. "Harry, why don't you show your friends to the guest rooms upstairs? The doors will be open to show you which ones to use."

Ron and Hermione thanked Caedmon, and they followed Harry upstairs. Once they were in dry clothes, they joined Harry in his room for some quick catching up before bed.

"So how's it been, mate?" Ron asked, plopping onto Harry's bed while Hermione curled up in one of the chairs. "What's it like here?"

Harry considered this. "It's been interesting. There are all sorts of small fey running around, Caedmon's brother visited us earlier, and I met his grandmother. Beyond that, there's not much."

"Small fey? You mean magical creatures?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Well, I haven't really asked Caedmon who or what else is here besides us, and he just calls them 'small fey,' so I can't really say. His grandmother and brother are magical, that's for certain."

"What do you do all day?" Ron asked, looking around the room.

"I walk around outside, explore the house and moors, read, take Hedwig out, things like that. Beyond those things, I don't do much," Harry told them.

"Sounds quiet," Hermione said, examining the bookcase. "Aren't you bored?"

Harry thought about this. Was he bored? He couldn't recall being bored, but he couldn't recall having great adventures, either. No, he just kept busy, and he didn't have time to be bored. "Not really," he admitted. "I do things, just not very busy things, if you know what I mean."

"Oh. Do you like Caedmon?" Ron wanted to know. "Everyone in the Order wants to know if he treats you all right."

Harry laughed. "He treats me fine," he assured them. "We talk a lot when he's not working—he has work of his own, so he's pretty busy—but when he's not, we chat. He has plenty of books for me, and he treats me like I'm an adult, so we get along pretty well."

"Have you been to Diagon Alley yet?" Hermione asked. "I figured that we could all go down together one day and have some fun as well as get our things for Hogwarts."

Harry grinned. "That sounds good. We'll ask Caedmon in the morning."

Someone knocked on the door, and Harry hurried to open it. It was Caedmon.

"Are all of you still talking?" he asked. "It's almost one in the morning. You should be getting some rest."

"We were just catching up," Hermione said, smiling. "We were asking Harry if he had gone to Diagon Alley yet to pick up his school supplies when you knocked."

Caedmon looked as if he wanted to kick himself. "I forgot all about that. Tomorrow's…let's see, Thursday? Would you like to go tomorrow or Friday?"

Harry thought about this. "How about tomorrow, if that's all right? Friday is on the weekend, and there are more people there on weekends."

Caedmon smiled. "I understand. Good idea, Harry. We'll go tomorrow. If we're going tomorrow, we'll have to get an early start, so don't stay up much longer, all right?"

"All right," Harry promised. "We'll go to bed soon."

Caedmon accepted this and wished them goodnight, and Harry turned back to his friends. "Told you he was cool."

"Never doubted you, pal," Ron said, stretching and yawning. "I'm ready for the sack."

Hermione yawned as well. "Me, too, I guess. See you in the morning, Harry."

"See you," Harry said, as Ron and Hermione headed off to bed. Once he was by himself, Harry burrowed into his covers and reflected that Diagon Alley would be a lot more fun with Ron and Hermione around.