"LET GO POPPY, IT'S MINE!"

"I JUST NEED TO SEE IT FOR - URRRGHHH- ONE SECOND!"

His girls were going to drive him to the madhouse, Dudley was certain of it.

"Are all girls like this?" he asked Anita, rubbing his temples vigorously.

"I didn't have sisters, love. I'm not certain." Anita patted him on the shoulder and passed him his tea, two lumps of sugar already stirred in. "But I know that my friends who despised their sisters as children grew to love them as adults. So, you can have hope for the future."

"The only thing I'll have in the future is hearing aids," Dudley grumbled.

"Mummy, tell Poppy to leave my wand alone!" Daisy trundled down the stairs, sounding like a small elephant.

"But I need to put it near my iPad again! I think the aluminium kept the screen wobbles away!"

Anita rubbed her eyes. It had been like this all summer. There was only 10 days left until September first, and then Daisy would be back at school and Poppy could focus on her football and robotics clubs.

And she and Dudley could have some peace.

Anita put up a hand, and both girls quieted, glowering at one another.

"Poppy, you know you shouldn't touch the wand. Daisy, you can't use it at the house yet, so it wouldn't hurt you to let it sit on the desk near the electronics, untouched. However, neither of this matters as the Potters will arrive any minute to carpool to the Alley."

Daisy harrumphed and stomped back up the stairs to get the list that had arrived the night before. Poppy brightened at the thought of going to Diagon Alley and immediately asked if she could bring her "phone" (a retired thing, unconnected to the mobile service, but still able to play games.)

"I will bring your phone and keep it in my bag. You can have it while you wait for your sister to get new robes. It will not be used at the Leaky or whilst your wandering the Alley. I don't want you getting lost or running into people, understand?"

"Yes, mum!" Poppy said brightly, sprinting up the stairs and only tripping once on the way.

~D~D~D~D~D~

If someone had told Dudley Dursley even a year ago that he would be sitting in a car with Harry, talking about the Chudley Cannon's surprising Quidditch win last weekend, Dudley would have pointed them towards an asylum.

And yet, that was exactly what he was doing.

"Ronald is convinced that the Cannons will make it into the finals this year," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "One win and instantly visions of glory dance through his head. Barmy, he is."

"You have to admit, that feint at the end was a smart move," Dudley said.

"It was," said Harry, "Though I did something similar in my school days."

"Oh yes," Ginny said in a pompous voice, "let us never forget that we have the great Harry Potter, youngest seeker in a century, triwizard tournament winner, dragon vanquisher, Dark Lord defeater in our midst."

"Ginny," Anita said quietly, "Didn't you play professionally?"

Ginny laughed.

"Yes, yes," Harry agreed, "To my wife, the glory."

Dudley and Anita chuckled with them as the kids squealed, "We're here!"

Trunk after trunk was pulled from the boot of the car by the children as Harry cast what he called a "notice-me-not" charm subtly.

"Keeps the Muggles from wondering how we fit all those trunks in the back. It's the little things that can get our world outed."

Dudley thought that his pig tail was a rather large thing that could have outed them, but perhaps the Ministry had heard and covered that up as well. He wasn't sure how to determine whether or not the Ministry was "in" on the little adventures of his childhood with Harry.

"Look, Mummy, it's working!" Poppy squealed as they made their way onto the platform. Dudley had never seen a child so excited to see their digital device go wiggly and wonky.

"Watch THIS!" Poppy folded a bit of aluminium around the back and edges of the device and suddenly, the wiggles were gone and the square application icons reappeared.

Dudley stared, impressed at his child's ingenuity.

"It's like magic," Poppy said, to no one in particular.

"Perhaps we put her in a coding club?" Anita said quietly.

"No, no, that's not coding, love. That's engineering."

"Engineering club then," Anita said.

~D~D~D~D~D~

As it turned out, computer engineering clubs for adolescents were hard to come by in Little Whingeing. Petunia, however, had found a "My First Computer" kit in an online shop and Poppy had taken to building electronics like a fish took to water.

"Look, Mummy! I added more RAM and look how fast it goes now!"

"Yes, yes. Very fast," Anita said. Poppy had begun to speak an entirely new language consisting of words like "RAM" and "Gigs" and "SSD" and Anita, whose computer abilities covered word processing and not much else, was baffled by it. Poppy, however, was happier than a Kelpie in water.

Poppy and Daisy had made up via owlpost and Daisy had sent her sister all of the notes she could find on magical interactions with electricity.

These days, Poppy's room was a mess of wires and chips and drives, little green plastic thingies were strewn everywhere. Dudley's bellow could have woken the neighborhood when he'd accidentally found one with his foot.

Poppy had apologized to her father, and whisked the offending piece up to her bedroom where she spent even more time than usual. If it weren't for the joy that Poppy seemed to get from her constant tinkering, Anita would be concerned that her daughter was still depressed over her distinct lack of magic.

And she was, though not nearly as badly as she could have been. Dennis Creevey had been a blessing in that at least. However, Poppy had been so certain of her powers after Lily's attempt at helping, that the lack thereof was still disappointing. She channeled that disappointment into her hard drives and Dudley and Anita did their best to support her and let her know that just because she was different from her sister did not mean she was not as capable: her talents just lay in other places.

A sharp pinch to the foot had Anita hopping across the living room on one foot to remove the offending item, breaking her from her thoughts. She glanced down to find the perpetrator.

There, on the floor, was another bit of green plastic wrapped in some thin metallic material.

Anita sighed.

"POPPY!"

A/N: Sorry for the delay guys! Crazy crazy couple of weeks. Thank you, as always, for your patience. PLEASE please please review!