The letters came consistently. On Mondays, Daisy told them of her adventures around the castle and campus. On Wednesdays, she told them of her lessons in Charms, Herbology, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. On Fridays, they received a summary of her lessons in Transfiguration, Astronomy, Potions, and Transfiguration.

Anita read them with some confusion whilst Dudley began to understand more and more of his childhood. Poppy read the letters until they were worn at the creases.

"Daddy, what's this word?"

"Let me see. Ah, well. It looks like Wing-ardium LEviosa. Says here that it's a lifting charm."

"Whatcha think that does?"

"Lift things."

Antia tsked in the background.

"Ah, I mean, I think you might use it to lift things that might be difficult to lift otherwise."

"Do you think Cousin Harry could show me?"

Dudley sat back. Since the children had gone off to school, their dinners had petered off. Poppy's school and dance classes had started once more, Anita and Dudley had picked up at work, as was usual with the summer hols ended, and the family dinners just hadn't happened. Now, it was nearly mid November and they hadn't seen one another since their dinner together waiting for the sortings.

This couldn't repeat, the separation between Potters and Dursleys, Dudley decided.

"I bet he could, dearest. Why don't you send him a note with Pig and see if they'd like to pop round for dinner?"

"Okay!" she squealed, and ran off to check on the little bird.

She'd grown quite fond of the owl, as had Dudley and Anita once they'd took the time to get acquainted with the spirited beast. Dudley had been seen to complain only on cage cleaning days, mutter over the advantages of being able to spell away the pellets as opposed to cleaning them up manually.

"Sent!" Poppy shouted, running down the stairs doing her best impression of stampeding wildebeests.

"Excellent. Now lets work on your maths."

"Aww, mother…"

Dudley chuckled, leaving Anita to battle over the homework.

~D~D~D~D~D~D~

"Now, do you know your role, Poppy?"

"Yes! I will answer the door and ask to take their coats."

"Excellent, darling. And I will escort them to the living room where your father will be waiting to offer refreshments, isn't that right, Dudley?"

Dudley grunted his agreement, remembering his mother preparing similarly with his father and himself for a dinner party that ended spectacularly with Harry dropping a pudding on a woman's head. He'd have to remember to ask Harry what on earth he'd been thinking, pulling that stunt. That was when he was convinced his cousin really was mental. The snake at the zoo could have been the fault of Harry, or perhaps it had simply been a mean snake. But dropping a pudding on an innocent woman? That had just been asking for punishment.

There was a loud knocking at the door.

"I GOT IT!" shouted Poppy, all decorum running out of her head.

"LILY!"

"POPPY!"

The two girls immediately ran off, leaving an amused Harry and Ginny behind.

"Shame they don't get on," Harry chuckled.

"Yeah, completely anti-social, the both of them." Dudley agreed sarcastically.

"Come in, come in," Anita gestured, guiding them into the living room.

When they were all seated with glasses in hand, Dudley surmised that it wasn't much different than any other dinner they'd had with Daisy and Poppy's friends' parents. They talked about the children's lessons, compared notes on what the children told them, discussed their hopes for academics, then moved onto the news and the familial goings-on since they'd last seen each other.

"James is thrilled to have made second string for Quidditch. It's about time they put in back-ups. When Gin and I attended, if we lost the Keeper, we had no goalie for the rest of the game."

Anita and Dudley nodded, too afraid to ask what "losing a Keeper" meant, imagining the worst.

"Albus is settling into Slytherin well, not surprising though. They take care of their own. I only really had one friend in Ravenclaw who was a bit… vague in describing life in their Tower. What's Daisy got to say about it?"

"Well, you had something more than a friend, too." Ginny said, nudging Harry's shoulder with a bright twinkle in her eyes.

"Merlin, no," Harry said, with a long suffering sigh. "We don't talk about her."

Anita raised an eyebrow at Ginny, universal women's speak for "Spill."

"Harry's first crush was on a Ravenclaw. It was a bit dramatic all around, but involved her crying quite a bit when they finally kissed. Needless to say, it didn't work out."

"No. It didn't." Harry said. "Now, what does Daisy have to say about the Ravenclaw Tower?"

"Loves it," Anita smiled. "Apparently there's a library that populates with whatever book the user needs. Some of the older years have told her that there are books that are banned for being too dark, but she hasn't run into any issues getting a book yet."

"And let us hope she never looks for one of those darker books," Harry said, shuddering. "There are somethings that are best left sealed between two covers, never to be read."

Harry rubbed his scar and Dudley squinted at him, as though he could uncover his cousin's secrets by sheer force of will.

"There's a study group that isn't for any particular subject. The students gather and each of them can ask a question. Whomever knows the answer can explain, or they all ponder on it and bring an answer with them the next week if they find one. Daisy really seems to like that they learn about things outside of class that are separate from their coursework. She seems especially fond of theoretical Charms."

"Morgana, she sounds like Hermione, doesn't she?" Ginny laughed. "She was always trying to learn new things, though I believe her knowledge was more book-based than theoretical."

"MUMMY!"

Poppy and Lily came crashing down the stairs.

"Lily made Pyg's cage fly! Also, there's a couple pellets on the floor. But it flew!"

"Wonderful, darling," Ginny exclaimed, giving Lily a big hug. "We'll make a witch of you yet!"

"I… I wonder if I've done any accidental magic." Poppy said, staring at her cousin as she sat on the loveseat.

Ginny coughed, choking on her drink. Anita bit her lip and knelt down before her youngest.

"Not that we've noticed, darling."

"And if you don't, that's okay, too." Harry said, standing up to put his hand on her shoulder. "The world needs magical folk and muggles alike. "Sometimes muggle families will produce a magical child, sometimes a magical family will produce a non-magical child. The non-magical folk who know about the magical world are our greatest allies in the muggle world. You help us stay under the radar, and can help us keep up with the modern age."

"Modern age?" Poppy asked, eyebrows scrunched.

"Did you know, instead of computers or pens and pencils, witches and wizards write with quills?"

"Of course. We had to buy them for Daisy. They look fun."

"They do look fun," Harry agreed, "But you have to constantly dip them to write. It's a much harder process than just using a ball-point pen."

"So, why don't they use ball point pens at Hogwarts?"

"Because the wizarding world is behind the modern age. They still use torches and candles at Hogwarts instead of electric lights."

At this, Poppy's eyes bugged out.

"But… but why? They even had electric lights in Downton Abbey, and that was a hundred years ago!"

"Like I said. They're behind the modern age. That's why we need non-magical advocates: to tell us when we're ridiculously behind on technology."

"I can do that," Poppy said. "No electric lights? No pens? That's silly."

"Agreed," Harry said, hoping that this would be a new start, a way to prevent a repeat of his mother and Aunt Petunia's situation.

Dudley smiled at his cousin, seeing exactly what he was trying to do.

They would get Poppy through this, Hogwarts letter or no.

A/n: thank you all for waiting on the slow updates. I'm glad for all of the new follows and favorites. Please, please comment. Your feedback is my motivation!