Chapter 6

Letters and Invitations

Saturday, 16th of July 1994


In the smallest bedroom of Number four, Privet drive Harry Potter paced rather anxiously. While the young man had many reasons to be anxious, it was starting to worry him that each year at school came with a few murderous caveats. Truthfully though, he was pacing out of boredom. The spark of frustration was beginning to take over. He loved his friends, though he would never say that out loud (he was just a teenage boy after all), they simply had no real understanding of what he went through each and every summer in Surrey. He knew they missed him, and missed each other immensely, but they had no idea what being alone for months and months at a time was like.

It wasn't that the Dursleys hated him, well it was that, but he was more than used to being around people who would rather he wasn't there. Professor Snape's classes, for instance, were like a sort of condensed summer holiday for him. No, it wasn't that he was hated, per say, it's that he had no one around who even liked him, let alone loved him in Privet drive.

He wasn't like Hermione, if she were in this situation, she could just find enough books to fill up the time. If he was like Ron, he could probably make some friends in Little Whinging, though the thought of Ron being capable of having long conversations with muggles was slightly difficult and quite humorous to imagine. Harry still remembered the phone call that uncle Vernon unfortunately picked up, pretty damn hilarious in hindsight.

While slightly envious of his friends (that they don't have to be in this situation and that they could probably handle it better than him), thinking about them truly made waiting through the summer worth it. Harry had no family, he had long since come to terms with that. Ron, Hermione and of course Hagrid were the closest he had for three years. And though he dare not believe it for a second, through Ron, he was always so welcome at the burrow, with what he considered to be the greatest family in the world, probably because they were the exact opposite of the Dursleys in almost every way.

Now he has Sirius, and he couldn't be happier. I mean they had only met once, and he did seem just a little bit stark raving mad at the time, but he could feel the connection they had. From that short and eventful meeting, and the subsequent letters, Harry knew that Sirius was someone who would protect him, could teach him how to be a man, and that he was someone Harry wanted to make proud. He wasn't too sure, but he thinks that's what a father is supposed to do.

Suddenly he had the funny image of him holding auditions for all the familial roles he needed to fill to make feel whole. Ron could be his brother, Hermione his sister, but they weren't related, that would just be weird. Mr and Mrs Weasley would be strong contenders for several roles, and Professor lupin could be his quiet but wise uncle. Even Dumbledore could be his nutter grandad. Yes, Harry had no family, but he had people around him that he loved, and that he is pretty sure loved him, or at least liked him, and he was pretty lucky, all things considered.

Sometime later, Pigwidgeon arrived carrying a package that was far too large for a bird that small to be capable of hauling on it's own. Perhaps it was part phoenix, Harry mused. Inside was Mrs Weasley's finest assortment of sweets, sandwiches and a couple of apples. Underneath it all, was a slightly squashed and large treacle tart, his favourite.

Along with the short note written by Ron, this would be enough to keep his morale this summer. The quidditch world cup was happening soon, with any luck he would be with Ron and Hermione in no time.


In a quaint neighbourhood near London, Hermione Granger sat furiously reading Ron's letter. She was on the third floor of her house, sitting at her desk in her spotless bedroom. A deep frown formed with her eyebrows, and passively she was biting her bottom lip quite hard. She quickly stopped, trying to break the habit, as she often caught Ron staring at her when she did that, probably trying to come up with some kind of hilarious joke about biting her lip off.

Ron's letter was nothing less than a rant. By the quality of the handwriting and she could tell he wrote this quickly, and with no small amount of passion. She understood why, the contents made her furious as well. Harry's family were just nasty, awful people, and the thought her friend alone, hungry and sad was enough to bring her to the verge of tears. But she didn't break down. Once upon a time she might have, but she wasn't the same person who ran away to cry in the girls toilets over some teasing.

She was stronger now, or at least she told herself, driven by determination and courage, two things she didn't feel like she ever had in her before she was sorted into Gryffindor. With that on her mind, she wrote three letters, one to Hagrid, one to Harry and one to Ron. In her letter to Hagrid, she requested more food be sent to Harry. In her letter to Harry, she tried to cheer him up, and help him keep his mind off it. She decided to send him a book, a muggle book called 'The time machine', which she thought would be quite a funny reference to last year's escapades.

Her letter to Ron was a little more difficult. She wanted to tell him what a good friend he was for organising this for Harry, but in the end, she simply told him what she had sent Harry, and waited for the inevitable jokes about how a book can't solve everything. It would probably be a funny one, she admitted to herself. Ron wasn't a very good writer, her proofreading of his assignments had proven that to her, but he did have a real way with the spoken word that she could never hope to emulate.

After giving these letters to Pigwidgeon, who had a nice little rest while waiting for her to write, which Hermione actively took her time doing so that the poor bird could recover from the long flights to Harry's, and then to Hers, the owl took off to deliver the letters with such rigor that Hermione could only marvel at the strange little thing. It was as if those trips had barely affected it.


Ron was truly stretching the definition of work when Ollie was there. Both of them had been given a set of tasks by Martin, which they completed in less that an hour. He honestly thought Martin just wanted someone to be at the store so he could run errands and spend time with Eddie and Ollie. But hey, if he had the money to spare, Ron wasn't complaining.

"You're getting quite good at this," Ollie said, interrupting his thoughts.

They both were dusting the tops of shelves to pass time, as music played quietly in the background.

"Well, it's not exactly back breaking work is it" he replied

Ollie smiled.

"Nah, I suppose not".

For a short time the quiet prevailed before Ollie spoke up again.

"Oh, by the way, dad told me to ask you if you want to take the day off tomorrow, to come to Eddie's birthday party."

"Doesn't he want me manning the shop"

"Probably, but Eddie asked if you could come" she told him.

"Really?" he asked

"Yeah, she likes you, and between you and me, Eddie doesn't have many friends."

"Why's that?"

Ollie hesitated for a moment, just long enough to let Ron know he was touching a nerve.

"Sorry, you don't have to-" he started

"No, it's okay. We don't know why, but the kids at school usually avoid her like the plague, apparently something happened not long after her mother Elizabeth died, and after that she had no friends. Even before then, she was bullied. Kids though she was, different".

Ron was a bit shocked by this, Eddie was a lovely person who was friendly with everyone she met. It would be hard to imagine anyone meeting her and them not getting along. But he remembered the stories Hermione had told him about her time in primary school, kids could be downright nasty to someone who's even just a bit different, and that was to say nothing of the treatment Harry faced.

"But she likes you, thinks you're funny, and you're nice to her, so we would all love to have you at the party."

Ron though for a moment before speaking up.

"I could bring my sister, Ginny. She's quite good friends with Luna, I reckon she and Eddie might get along".

"That's… actually not a bad idea" Ollie replied.

"Yeah, I'm full of those," Ron said, dryly.

Ollie rolled her eyes, then turned and looked at Ron with as a sincere an expression she could manage.

"Thanks Ron, she would love that. I'll tell her at dinner tonight".


The letters Ron had come home to see on his desk were short and sweet, much like the people who wrote them. He chuckled to himself at that little joke, remembering how he would tower over the two of them, looking like some gangly giant that they kept to scare away annoying fans and pesky students as they walked through the corridors of Hogwarts.

"Dinner's ready!" he heard his mum call out.

When he got down to the dining room, he saw his dad and Percy sitting at a table in the garden. His mum walked past him with a bowl of salad.

"I thought it would be a nice change to have dinner in the garden tonight"

"Yeah", Ron responded, giving her a warm smile "It's a nice night for it".

His mother beamed back at him, he knew it didn't take that much to make mum feel good about herself, so a big smile and a 'that's delicious mum' went a long way.

It was another very pleasant dinner for the Weasleys, but with a gentle atmosphere of the fresh air and smells of meats cooked on a small part of the table which dad enchanted to become a cooking surface. He wasn't listening very hard, but it was something like a heating charm and a spell to expel unwanted dust and bugs, as well as some sort of transfiguration to make the surface suitable for cooking. He didn't really care how it was done, it was bloody brilliant. His father is quite adept at these sorts of things, he will never know how he managed to get stuck in that dead end job.

Throughout the dinner, the gnomes had made their presence known to all, making obscene gestures and poking their tongues out at the family.

"These little pests!" exclaimed his mum, shooing them away from a piece of steak Ginny had dropped.

"Now Mollywobbles" his dad started, looking fondly at one of the gnomes, which was blowing raspberries at him.

"Oh Arthur, stop defending them".

Just as his mother spoke, one of them climbed up on the table and stole a sausage, prompting a fit of laughter from the twins, and for Percy to call out; "Look at the little bugger go!"

"Right, that's it!" his mother declared, "Arthur, tomorrow you will morning you are going to de-gnome the garden with…" His mum seemed like a wild cat eyeing up her prey. "Ron and Ginny."

The two groaned as the twins crackled at their misery, which started a round of teasing and jokes which even Percy had the sense of humour to crack up to.

As the sun set, the sky darkened and with their bellies filled, the chatty atmosphere had relaxed into something of a comfortable quiet. Slowly but surely, they all packed up the table, and helped mum clean up. Seeing as the two youngest Weasleys were to de-gnome tomorrow, his mum thought it only fair that the twins help with the dishes.

When the twins inevitably asked why Percy had no chores to do, his mother simply told them that he had no time for chores, as he was studying all the time.

Ron and Ginny walked up the stairs with the bickering of Fred and George slowly fading from their ears.

"Gin" Ron asked as they approached her room. "I've got this muggle friend, up in the village"

"Really?" she queried, her eyebrow raised.

"Yes, really". He said, with no small amount of irritation in his voice. "I've got two actually. And one of them is friends with that Luna girl".

"Oh, that's nice. It would be like Luna to go and make random friends in the village".

"Well we just wanted to know if you wanted to go to her birthday party with me tomorrow?"

"Really, I don't really know her…"

"So you'll get to know her." he responded. "Eddie, she's having a tough time at school, she doesn't have many friends… and neither do you."

Ginny immediately flared up with rage. "I do too!" she whispered loudly.

"No you don't Gin, you talk to Luna sometimes, and you hang out with Colin, but ever since-" he stopped himself. "You've been avoiding people little sister, and after a while they started avoiding you".

Ginny sighed. Ron hoped she could tell that he was just looking out for her.

"I really think you two would get along" he said firmly. "She's a lot like you you know, except that she's a…"

"A Muggle?" she finished for him. Ginny paused for a moment before sighing "Okay" she sulked. "I'll fucking come okay!"

"Jesus Ginny, language!" he said out of habit, surprised that his little sister was swearing.

"Why shouldn't I swear? You do it".

He had to admit, she had a point. They were standing outside her door now, and Ron was ready to retire to his room.

"So, how did you meet these muggles anyway?"

"Oh, I got a job working for their dad," he said, smugly.

"Wait, You got a job?".