"Harry came before me," Lauren answered as Percy came spinning out.
"Is Harry not here?" Percy asked, looking concerned.
"No, he never arrived," Samantha answered as Ron joined them.
"Who never arrived?" he asked, brushing ash off his nose.
"Harry," Samantha said, beginning to panic more.
"Oh no," Lauren said.
"Oh no what?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Harry's not here," Samantha said frantically as Ginny came.
"Harry's not here?" she asked as her dad fell out.
"Harry's not here?" questioned Mr. Weasley.
"Quick, we've got to look for him!" Mrs. Weasley cried.
The family took off running, with Mrs. Weasley, who was holding Ginny's hand, the last in the group. They ran down the street, looking for Harry in every nook and cranny.
Finally, as they raced down another street, they spotted him.
"Harry! HARRY!" Samantha shouted.
Harry turned to see them running towards him. Hermione was standing next to him. Samantha engulfed him in a huge hug once she got close enough.
"Harry, where were you?" Fred asked.
"Knockturn Alley," Harry answered.
"Where?" asked Samantha.
"Lucky, we're not allowed," George grumbled.
Just then, Mrs. Weasley came panting down the street, Ginny just barely holding onto her hand.
"Oh thank goodness you're alright, I hoped you had just gone a grate too far," she panted. She pulled tissues out of her bag and began wiping the soot off Harry.
They then went into Gringotts, where Harry told them all how Lucius Malfoy had come into a store called Borgin and Burkes to feel sketchy items.
After that, they split up. Mrs. Weasley was taking Ginny to look for second-hand robes, Lauren was going with Sarah and her mum to get everything but the books, Percy muttered something about needing a new quill, Samantha and Max had found Leslie and were off to get Potions ingredients and look for Bella and Elias, Fred and George had found their friend Lee Jordan and went to buy joke shop items, and Mr. Weasley insisted on taking Hermione's parents for a drink.
"Okay, but everyone meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy books!" Mrs. Weasley instructed.
It took no time at all to find the other two, and after quickly getting Potions ingredients, new robes, and anything else that was not a book, they stopped to get ice creams on their way to Flourish and Blotts. The bookstore was extremely crowded, something Samantha had never seen before.
"Sam! Sammy, over here!" Lauren called, and Samantha, with Bella, Elias, Max, and Leslie, hurried over to her and the rest of their group.
When Samantha saw Lauren, she was holding a crate and laden with more than the usual first year supplies. "What's that?" Samantha asked her sister.
"I got a cat, Sam! Look, isn't she cute? I saw her in the window and couldn't help it, she was just so adorable!" Lauren gushed.
Samantha kneeled down to look inside the crate Lauren held and saw a tiny kitten hidden in the shadows. She was multicolored with grey as the base coat and different shades of cream splattered around her fur. Her soft, light green eyes were wide as she stared around the loud and crowded shop.
"What's her name?" Samantha asked, standing back to her regular height.
"Meadow," Lauren answered happily.
"Oh!" Samantha said suddenly. "I got you something!"
"Huh?" Lauren asked, knitting her eyebrows together.
Samantha reached inside her bag and pulled out a pair of soft, black gloves. Lauren of course had gotten dragon hide gloves, but those weren't the same thing. Those gloves were protective, for classes. These were everyday type of gloves. "To help with the thing," Samantha said, handing them to Lauren. "Consider them a late birthday present."
"You didn't have to," Lauren said, taking the gloves and examining them.
"I did," Samantha told her, smiling softly.
Lauren took them out of the package and put them on, then reached shakily out to touch Samantha.
"I don't feel anything," she said happily.
Samantha bit her lip, smiling. "I'm glad," she said. "Why is this place so busy, anyways?"
Lauren pointed at a sign on the door Samantha had previously ignored. "Gilderoy Lockhart, the author of all of those books on our list, is doing a book signing today," Lauren explained.
Samantha sighed. She hadn't seen Gilderoy before then, and thought he looked rather obnoxious. "That explains it," she said exasperatedly. She then realized she hadn't introduced Bella or Elias to Lauren. "Oh, by the way, this is my friend Elias, and this is Bella. Bella and Elias, this is. my sister Lauren," she said.
"Hi," Bella and Elias said together.
"Hello," Lauren said softly.
"We'll be able to see him in a minute," Mrs. Weasley told the group. It took Samantha a second to register that she was talking about Gilderoy Lockhart. Mrs. Weasley looked flustered and kept smoothing out her hair.
Slowly, they came closer to him. He was surrounded by posters of himself smiling gallantly, which Samantha thought was rather stupid.
"Big deal," Samantha heard Ron mutter. She looked up. So did Gilderoy Lockhart. He looked at Ron, then at Harry.
"It can't be Harry Potter?" he said, sweeping forward. He took Harry but the arm and led him to the front. "Smile big, Harry," he instructed, pointing at a camera. Harry did something resembling a pained grimace while Lockhart had a huge, dazzling smile.
He looked around, spotted Samantha and Lauren, and ushered them up as well. "Come on, all the Potters and me, we'll be worth the front page!" he said happily. Samantha wore a rather convincing smile, while Lauren's was very unsure.
"When these young children stepped into this shop, they were simply hoping to purchase a copy of my autobiography Magical Me," Lockhart announced to the crowd.
"Not true," Samantha whispered.
"But them and their schoolmates will be getting much more than that. They will be getting the real magical me. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that I will be taking up the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor next year at Hogwarts," Lockhart said, still beaming. The crowd clapped and cheered. Samantha groaned.
After the crowd died down Lockhart gave all three of them complete sets of his books. Samantha fought her way back to the group, where she handed her books to George, the closest Weasley to her. "Take these, I'll buy my own," she said, and saw Harry give his to Ron and Lauren give her set to Ginny.
"I can't-," George protested.
"Shut up and take the books, Weasley. I don't need 'em," Samantha told him, and walked back to her group.
"That looked awful," Bella said, chuckling.
"It was," Samantha answered. "I can't believe we're having yet another incompetent Defense teacher" she groaned.
"In his defense, he has a lot of experience," Leslie said.
Samantha looked skeptically over to Lockhart, who was showing off his blindingly white teeth while posing for more pictures. "Doubt it," she said.
There was a sudden, loud bang and Samantha's head shot in the direction of it. There, a few spaces over, Mr. Weasley and Lucius Malfoy were engaged in a fight. Lauren's cauldron, holding all of her books, was pushed over and all of her supplies, including cat food and toys, were pushed over onto the ground where the two men were wrestling. There were cries from Mrs. Weasley and the twins, and store assistants yelling "Break it up!".
There was a booming voice that rose above the rest, a call of "Break it up, gents, break it up!" and Hagrid was pulling Mr. Weasley and Lucius apart.
Lucius glared at all of them before grabbing Draco's arm and pulling him from the shop.
With the crowd staring at them, they bought all of their books and left the store. Mrs. Weasley was muttering about the fight all the way back to the fireplaces, where they bid goodbye to the Grangers and got some Floo powder.
"Mrs. Weasley, Max is having all of us at his house, so I'll come round tonight," Samantha said.
"Alright, dear, have fun, we'll see you then," Mrs. Weasley replied.
Samantha, Leslie, Bella, and Elias all hung out with Max in his room for the remainder of the day, eating dinner with his family. His house was large and fancy, very different from the house the Weasleys lived in. The marble floors and soft carpets joined smoothly and the furniture all matched.
"How many rooms does this place have?" Leslie asked as they walked down the hall on the third story where Max's room was.
"Eleven bedrooms, a living room, a family room, a kitchen, a dining room, and seven bathrooms," Max answered casually.
"What do you even use them for? It's only four of you living here. You could fit comfortably in a two bedroom house," Bella pointed out.
"Why would we when we could have this?" Max asked. "Anyways, there's the music room, my parents' office, mine, Margot's, and my parents' rooms, two guest bedrooms, and then we each have a kind of hangout room for ourselves" Max explained, leading the way into his room.
Samantha, who had already been there multiple times, was accustomed to this, but her friends looked around in wonder. The room was high-ceilinged and comfortable. He had bean bags in the corner, a window seat, a bookshelf full of wizard and Muggle books alike, a dresser Samantha knew housed his school robes, a table with a chess game set up, another bookshelf stuffed with wizard games and pranks, and his trunk was against the wall, full of all of his school books and other supplies.
"If all of this is in there, what's in your room?" Elias asked.
"His bed, obviously, a dresser with his Muggle clothes, a desk, the fifty pairs of shoes he owns, an extra stack of blankets and pillows, and even more books, but the good ones," Samantha answered.
"Fifteen," Max corrected.
"Still eleven more than you need," Samantha said.
"What are the four necessary pairs?" Elias asked curiously.
"Dressy shoes, running shoes, shoes that match everything, and slip-ons," Samantha listed. "Of course, having an extra pair that goes with everything or of running shoes can be nice, but no one needs fifteen pairs of shoes."
"You're just mad I own more pairs of shoes than you," Max said haughtily.
"I would buy some, but then the Dursleys would ask for our money if they noticed," Samantha countered.
"Keep them here," Max said softly.
"I don't live here. Plus, I already have the four pairs. I don't need extras," Samantha said.
"I'll buy them," Max offered.
"You're very kind, but I can buy my own shoes, thank you very much," Samantha said.
"Can you two please stop talking about shoes so we can actually do something," Bella asked sarcastically.
Samantha smirked at Max. "We're done. Let's go," she said.
The five of them played with all of the games Max had for the next few hours, eventually having dinner with Margot and her friend Stacey. Their friends then all headed home, leaving only Samantha as a guest.
"I'll walk you to the Weasley's," Max said.
Samantha smiled. "Great," she said.
The two started their talkback to the Burrow in silence. The sun was halfway set, casting a golden glow on the land around them.
"We get to go to Hogsmeade this year. Margot says it's awesome," Max said after a little while.
"Shoot!" said Samantha.
'What?" Max asked.
"I didn't get it signed," Samantha told him. She sighed. "I'll just forge it. There's no way they'd know my uncle's signature."
"You sure? Won't they have some sort of enchantment to detect forgeries?" Max wondered, looking skeptical.
Samantha shrugged. "Hopefully not. We'll have to find out," she said.
"That'll be one thing to look forward to," Max commented. "Seeing as we've got Lockhart as a professor."
"He seems too concerned with the newspaper pictures to worry about anything else. Maybe he'll teach us all how to pose for pictures and whiten our teeth so they blind people whenever we smile," Samantha joked.
"If he does, that'll be interesting," Max said. "Maybe the first useful Defense lesson we've ever had."
Samantha chuckled. "Honestly, what is it with Dumbledore and hiring incompetent idiots as our professors for the most useful subject? First we've got Cemp, scared to even say my name, then Quirrell, who had Voldemort on the back of his head, and now Lockhart. I know we've barely met the guy, but... well, the meeting we did have wasn't very promising," Samantha said, cringing.
"Yeah, it definitely wasn't," Max agreed. "Oh, we're here," he said.
The pair had made it to the Burrow. They bid goodbye and Samantha went inside.