Hey, you decided to keep reading! Victory is mine. *coughs* Anyway, a bit of information on the McGinley family: The main character is Cathie. She has a twin brother named Cadence who has been bullying her since they were seven and their father walked out, leaving Cadence somehow convinced it was her fault. They have an older sister named Danica and their mother is Leanne. Leanne's sister is Jamie O'Rourk, whose husband died in the military just after Cathie and Cadence were born but that doesn't really come up much. Jamie's sons are Seamus, who is older than Danica, Tierney, who is between Danica and the twins, and Niall, who is between Tierney and the twins. Tierney typically spends a lot (read: almost all) of his time with the McGinley's and he doesn't ever really say it but it's generally accepted that he's closer to the McGinleys than the O'Rourks. Also he's gay but that isn't really important either. And the McGinleys have thirteen cats. And I think that's everything, but let me know if you think I left something out. I do not own Harry Potter or the song listed below.

Chapter 2: So Much to See

Date: Sun-Mon, 21-22 June, 1992

Theme Song: All Star by Smash Mouth

"Cathie! Cathie, dear, are you all packed?"

Cathie looked up at the sound of her name. "Almost, Aunt Jamie!" she called. She looked around the guest bedroom one more time. "That's it, right?" she muttered to herself, frowning. Then she remembered something. "Oh - my French textbook! Where'd I leave that thing…?" She darted about the room, peering at spots like under the bed and behind the dresser before finally finding her book inside the pillowcase on the bed. Wondering absently how she had managed to leave her things in such bizarre places, she put the book safely in her backpack, then equipped her backpack and suitcase and dashed out of the bedroom, through a hall and down a staircase, arriving a few feet in front of her Aunt Jamie. "All done," she announced.

"Excellent," Aunt Jamie commented. "So… may I ask what happened to that beautiful cat of yours?"

"...Wait - Ninja!" Cathie promptly dropped her things at her laughing aunt's feet and ran back to the bedroom upstairs, wincing at the irritated expression on Ninja's face. "Oh, quiet, you," she scolded. "I could just leave you here, you know that?" She could have sworn the insufferable feline was smirking knowingly at her. Scowling, Cathie picked up the cage and made her way back to her aunt, who had a similar expression to Ninja's. "Right, now I'm done," Cathie corrected herself.

Aunt Jamie nodded. "I'll just have to mail the other ten things you've forgotten to your new home in England," she teased.

Cathie grimaced. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Well, there's some leftover pizza from last night in the fridge, so you can help yourself. I have to go check on your brother - he doesn't normally take this long packing, so I imagine he's on his laptop again. Honestly, I keep telling your mother that she needs to start taking that thing from him. She doesn't keep nearly as tight a leash as she should on that child…." She trotted upstairs.

"You have no idea," Cathie muttered once her aunt was out of earshot. She headed to the kitchen, where the two brothers of her cousin Tierney (who was really more like her older brother) were chatting over pizza. They looked up at her entrance. Seamus, the eldest of the three, promptly began pretending she didn't exist. Niall, the youngest, gave her a nod of acknowledgement. This was quite possibly one of the friendliest greetings she had ever received from him - and the same could be said for Seamus, for that matter.

Speaking of which, since she was moving that day anyway, she might as well ask…. "So why do you not hate me anymore? Ever since I came back from, er, that boarding school, you've been a lot friendlier."

Niall tilted his head to the side, his expression thoughtful for a few moments, before shrugging. "You're more confident now, I think," he mused. "You were always a bit of a wimp."

"Was not!"

"Was t-"

"I'm nipping this in the bud right now," Seamus asserted firmly.

"...Was too." Seamus promptly pulled a Nerf gun out of nowhere and shot the side of Niall's head. "Ow! That hurt, you idiot!" Seamus shrugged. Niall scowled at him for a few moments before returning his attention to Cathie. "...So, you actually remember everything this time?"

Cathie shrugged. "Hell if I know. Honestly, even if I thought I'd forgotten something, there's every possibility that it's actually already tucked away somewhere in my backpack or my suitcase."

"Here, let me look," Niall offered. "I might notice if something's missing even if you don't."

"Okay, thanks." Surprised and grateful, Cathie handed over her bags.

He went through her things with Seamus oh-so-subtly peering over his shoulder, and after finishing with her suitcase, fixed her with an incredulous stare. "Is Ninja supposed to live off of dust particles?"

"Ack - the food! Oh, I always forget the food," Cathie complained, smacking herself in the forehead.

"And I suppose she'll be stuck drinking puddles off of the floor," Seamus put in mockingly.

Cathie frowned. "You two sound just like Tierney and my mom."

"Please, don't associate me with those hooligans," Tierney requested cheekily as he strolled into the kitchen and sat in the chair next to Seamus. Seamus immediately scowled and refused to look at his younger brother. Cathie winced. That had been going on for quite a few weeks - ever since Tierney had graduated from college five years earlier than the norm.

When Cathie's mom had first decided to homeschool her children (not that Cathie could remember that - she had only been three), the nine-year-old Tierney had taken an interest in the method Cathie's mom was using - the 'unschooling' method, in which children were given the freedom to choose when and what they learned, and subsequently enjoyed learning and actively sought it out. Tierney had always enjoyed learning - just not school, exactly. He begged Aunt Jamie to let him try homeschooling, but Aunt Jamie had always been a conformist, and had therefore been much more inclined to trust the traditional option of public school rather than the unschooling method.

Furious with his mother, fourth-grade Tierney, in typical Tierney fashion, had promptly decided to take the extreme route and began studying so much he seemed to eat, drink and breathe textbooks. His photographic memory helped quite a bit. By the end of that school year, he had convinced a middle school teacher to give him a test meant for seventh-graders and, well, let's just say his mom had been suitably convinced. He began homeschooling the following year, and his Aunt Leanne was only too happy to assist him in building an advanced curriculum that was based on his learning pace rather than any set time measurement. When he was thirteen, he took the SATs, and with a score that rivaled that of the average eighteen-year-old, he started college.

Seamus had never quite gotten over his bitterness at being a high school freshman while his younger brother was a college freshman, but he had been especially bitter since Tierney's graduation.

Niall was also a little bitter, but for entirely different reasons. Tierney had chosen his major, computer engineering, so that he could one day join his Aunt Leanne's company. Now that his Aunt Leanne was moving to England and had decided to branch out and give her company some roots in England too, Tierney had opted to follow her and help her. Following this decision were several tense, stressful weeks that Cathie had luckily skipped by being at Hogwarts. In the end, Aunt Jamie had reluctantly, grudgingly conceded to support Tierney's emancipation petition. Niall had not approved quite so much, being rather attached to his older brother. Seeing someone mostly only at night was, after all, much different from living across an ocean from them.

Cathie's twin brother and arch nemesis Cadence chose that moment to trudge into the kitchen, his packed suitcase rolling across the floor behind him. "If you're going to eat, you ought to do it now," he informed Cathie and Tierney. "Mom and Danica will be here in an hour, and they're running late, so we'll have to be waiting outside for them and jump right in the car." Danica was Cathie's and Cadence's older sister.

"Alright then, I'll - wait - that's right, the food and dishes!" Cathie dashed out of the kitchen without a backwards glance and sped back to the guest bedroom before opening the second drawer on the left on the desk and pulling the dishes and cat food out. Must've forgotten to check the desk, she thought. She did a quick search of the rest of the drawers to make sure she got everything, and discovered her laptop charger in one drawer and a mug in another. She pulled out the mug and inspected it, truly bewildered. She knew she recognized the mug - it was her favorite, the one she always used for tea at home… but she didn't understand why she had chosen to bring it along when Aunt Jamie had invited her and Cadence to spend their last week in America at her house.

Shrugging, she made her way downstairs to where two empty paper plates sat on the table and one paper plate sat with a slice of pizza on it. Tierney, Cadence, and Niall were gone; only Seamus remained, washing dishes. "Is that yours?" Cathie asked.

She could practically hear Seamus's eyes rolling. "No, doofus, I already ate. Cadence left that for you."

Cathie blinked. "...Oh." Shrugging again, she sat down and started eating.

Forty-five minutes later, Cathie, Cadence, Tierney, Seamus, Niall, and Aunt Jamie were gathered on the front lawn, awaiting Danica and Cathie's mom's arrival. Danica had stayed behind to help her mother pack. It wasn't too long before they got there - Danica driving a van, her mother driving a regular car. The van was empty save for Danica; the other car, however, was stuffed with luggage, save for an empty passenger seat. Aunt Jamie and her family would be accompanying them to the airport; Aunt Jamie used to borrow the van whenever she needed to transport more than just her family, so Cathie's mom was simply leaving it behind for her, and Danica's car would be left for Niall when he was able to drive it in a couple of years.

Aunt Jamie nodded to them all, then headed to Cathie's mom's car and slipped into the passenger seat. The younger generation made their way over to the van. Seamus automatically went into the passenger seat of that car, and Cadence sat in the seat behind him. Cathie, Tierney and Niall slipped into the back, with Niall directly behind Cadence, Tierney on his left, and Cathie on his left. Cathie snickered at the tower of twelve cat cages in the trunk, which was visible from her seat. The second they were all buckled in, Danica started driving. "So, how late are we?" Cadence asked cheekily.

Cathie saw Danica grimace into the rearview mirror. "Half-an-hour," she admitted.

"Oh, we're so not making this flight," Tierney groaned. "How'd that happen?" The car came up to a red light. Danica took the opportunity to show off her forearm, which was lined with bright red scratches. "How'd that happen?" Tierney demanded as everyone stared in disturbed amazement.

"I sort of tripped over Anubis and grabbed Thor's tail to stop myself from falling," Danica admitted. Anubis and Thor were two of the cats. "Suffice to say he didn't appreciate it much. Anyway, Mom and I had to stop the bleeding before we could leave."

The light turned green just then, and they started moving. "Alright, Danica, you better speed if we want to get there anywhere near on time," Cathie urged. Danica, of course, rolled her eyes and ignored her.

But then something strange happened - lights started turning green as they arrived at them, and slow cars would drift to another lane or suddenly speed up. And though she had never believed in such things, Cathie had to wonder for a moment if perhaps it was fate at work.

They reached the airport only eighteen minutes late, by some miracle, and quickly unloaded as fast as they could. Then Aunt Jamie turned and hugged Tierney tightly, smiling sadly, and hugged Cathie's mom, too, and then the rest of them. The kids exchanged hugs as well. Cathie was a bit surprised to receive hugs from Niall and even Seamus, but then again, they probably wouldn't see each other for another year, so it made some sense.

Then Aunt Jamie and Seamus drove the cars away, with Niall waving goodbye from the passenger's seat in Seamus's car. Cathie's mom led Danica, Tierney, Cadence and Cathie away through the airport.

The next morning, when Cathie awoke, she wondered for a moment why she was sleeping on an air mattress instead of a bed. Then she remembered; she was in her new home in England. She was excited for a moment; then she recalled the big pile of work inhabiting the kitchen and grimaced. She got out of bed and frowned in bewilderment. The air mattresses had been set up in the living room, so that was where Cathie was currently standing. To her utmost dumbfoundment, she was standing in a perfectly functional living room, equipped with a couch, a TV, an array of video games surrounding the SNES, and all sorts of things that a proper living room ought to contain. Only, when she went to sleep, it had been very, very far from a proper living room.

"G'morning," Tierney mumbled from his place on another air mattress. He wasn't under covers or on a pillow or anything, just splayed across it in his regular clothes. He rolled over onto his back and stretched. "Are we the last ones up?"

Cathie looked around and saw that the other three air mattresses were empty. "I suppose so. How did all this happen?"

He sat up and frowned. "I… have no idea."

"Oh, that was me." Cathie's mom walked out of the kitchen, half-full cup of coffee at hand. "I decided to stay up and fix it all up - looks rather nice, don't you think?"

"But… you must be exhausted!" Cathie exclaimed.

Her mom simply shrugged. "It really wasn't as hard as it looks." Before Cathie could question her further, she continued, "So, we ought to plan out this summer, because you and Cadence are both very intent on having a large amount of friends visit us, and also on visiting a large number of friends."

"Fred and George said that Ron plans on having Harry over in August and just keeping him until school starts," Cathie informed her. "So they suggested I visit them then and stay till school as well."

"That'd work for you, Mom," Cadence put in as he walked over. "Draco's family already offered to bring me."

"That's fine then," Cathie's mom agreed. "What about your other friends? There's a Daphne, isn't there, that you're both friends with? How should we plan that out?"

"We are not spending time with her together!" Cathie and Cadence stated firmly in unison, so horrified by the thought that they didn't even scowl at each other afterwards.

"Okay, okay!" Cathie's mom held her hands up. "Here's an idea; Cadence, you can go to your friend Theo's house and Daphne will come here while you're gone, and then Cathie, when Cadence comes home, you can go to Neville's house while Daphne stays here."

"I was actually thinking Neville would come over at the same time as Daphne," Cathie suggested. "And then when Cadence comes home, Neville would just go home then."

"I see. Then - let me think - was there another friend whose house you were invited to?"

"Katie wanted me to come over for a week or two."

"Alright, so here's how this summer will go; Cadence, you can leave on the twenty-eighth to Blaise's house for a week like he wanted you to, and Daphne can come over and spend that week with Cathie, and Cathie, you can invite Neville over for that week too, and then you can go to Katie's for a week or two when Cadence comes home and Neville leaves, and then when Daphne leaves - not immediately after, but at some point afterwards - Cadence, you'll go to Draco's, and Cathie, you'll go to Fred and George's. Sound good?"

"Perfect," Cadence declared.

"Same here - oh, and Lee's having a party on the tenth of July. He has one every year; his parents don't like him to have people over, so they agreed to let him have a bunch over for one day."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem; I imagine you'll be free by then."

Cathie counted the days in her head. "No, I'd still be at Katie's, but that works anyway since she's going to the party as well."

"Fine by me," Cathie's mom agreed. "Now, why don't you go find Danica, and the three of you can go introduce yourselves to our new neighbors?"

A grin threatened to split Cathie's in half. "Of course, of course," she said, her eyes glinting mischievously.

"Someone say my name?" Danica wandered into the living room.

"Yeah - you should go take Cathie and Cadence to introduce yourselves to our neighbors," Cathie's mom repeated.

"Oh, yeah," Danica recalled - Cathie's mom had informed them all that they ought to do this back when they had been preparing for the move.

"You three have your cover story ready?" The three kids nodded. "Excellent. Tierney, how about we go see about purchasing a building to host my business?"

Danica led Cathie and Cadence out of the house. "Well then," Danica mused, "where should we start introducing ourselves, Cathie?"

Cathie grinned. "How about Number Four? Always like the number four. I'm sure Cadence likes it too - it represents the number of brain cells he has."

"More than you, at least," Cadence shot back.

They walked over, and Danica knocked on the front door. A thin blonde woman answered the door.

"Hello, ma'am," Danica greeted the woman politely. "My siblings and I just moved from America into the house over there - " she gestured to their new home - "and we're introducing ourselves to all our new neighbors. My name is Danica, this is Cadence, and this is Cathie."

"I'm Mrs. Dursley," the woman said. She looked thoughtfully at Cathie and Cadence. "Oh, you two must be about the same age as my boy - Dudley!" She turned back towards the inside of the house. "Dudley, come meet our new neighbors!"

Harry certainly hadn't exaggerated when he told her how very large his cousin was. "Um, hi," Cathie said to him uncertainly. "I'm Cathie, and this is my brother Cadence and my sister Danica."

"Hello," Dudley responded, shaking all of their hands in turn. He turned to his mother. "Mum, Harry's only just finished with the dishes."

"There were a lot of dishes," a very familiar voice mumbled. Cathie looked over Dudley's shoulder and spotted a pair of quickly widening emerald eyes.

She smiled brightly, feigning surprise. "Oh - Harry!" she exclaimed. "Don't I know you? Yes, yes, that's right - I met you in a zoo when I was on vacation last year in June."

Mrs. Dursley and Dudley turned to look at Harry in shock, and he hastily composed himself. "Yes - uh - yes, I remember - it's good to see you again, Cathie."

"Yes, and you too." Cathie turned to Mrs. Dursley. "Mrs. Dursley, would it be alright if Harry came over to my house? My mom's not home right now - she's out looking at properties for her business, you see, she has a very large company, and we came to England so that she could expand the business - but anyway, Danica's of age, she can keep us out of trouble."

"Oh - um - " Mrs. Dursley seemed terribly conflicted. On the one hand, from Harry's descriptions of her, Cathie was sure she didn't want to let Harry go have fun and would rather keep him cooped up working all day. On the other hand, Cathie had slipped her mother's wealth and importance into the conversation, and Cathie could also infer from Harry's descriptions that Mrs. Dursley would be delighted to get into Cathie's mom's good graces, even if it had to be through Harry's happiness. Finally - as Cathie had hoped and suspected she would - Mrs. Dursley conceded, "Yes, that would be lovely."

"Oh, thank you very much!" Cathie beamed. And to reward this good behavior - because all humans were just dogs waiting to be trained in her mind - she added, "And perhaps, later this week, your family would join us for dinner? I'm sure Mom would love to meet our new neighbors."

Mrs. Dursley beamed back. "Oh, of course, dear, we would be delighted."

"Excellent. Come on, Harry, let's catch up. It was wonderful meeting you, Mrs. Dursley, Dudley!"

"And you, dear."

Dudley nodded mutely, seemingly still in shock. Danica led Cathie, Cadence and Harry away towards their new house.

"Cathie," Harry breathed, looking at her in awe, "when you said you were going to come move to Privet Drive, I thought you were joking."

"Well, it's the best option for both me and Cadence," Cathie reasoned, "because Cadence doesn't have to set up his little kingdom of bullies, it's already set up for him, and he just has to befriend your cousin."

"Ha, ha," Cadence retorted dryly. "I'm going to go work on my homework, Danica, there are too many Gryffindors here." He picked up speed as he headed to the house and away from them, leaving his two sisters rolling their eyes.

"Is he normally so pleasant?" Harry asked curiously. "Back at Hogwarts, you're always at each other's throats when you're together."

"Danica's presence usually tames us a bit," Cathie admitted. "So, how's your summer been?"

Harry wrinkled his nose. "I'm living with Dursleys, so not very good."

Cathie grimaced. "Yeah, I suppose you can't really have a good summer with relatives like yours. But seeing as my mom's rich and high-class, I don't think they'll have a problem with you hanging out at my house."

They reached the house, and Cathie headed to the kitchen. "Hungry?" she asked as she moved to open the fridge. "I am - I haven't had breakfast yet - " She paused, frowning at the contents of the fridge. Or, rather, lack thereof. "...Never mind, it just occurred to me that we only moved in last night and don't have any food." She turned to Danica, who was watching her with a raised eyebrow. "Hey Danica, can we go shopping for groceries?"

Danica snorted. "We didn't ask his aunt for permission to bring him anywhere," she pointed out. "Just to have him come over - so unless you want to leave him here while we go out…."

"Oh, they won't mind," Harry assured her. "Trust me, they'd be thrilled if you just never sent me back."

Danica gave him a long look through narrowed eyes, as if trying to determine whether or not he was serious. "...Well, regardless, it wouldn't be very polite," she settled for eventually. "How about I just order takeout? Is that okay with you two?"

"Takeout works," Cathie agreed, only slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be cooking.

Harry glanced between the two of them uncertainly. "Uh… I mean - you don't have to go to any expense for me," he said hesitantly. "I can just go home if you like - "

"No, no, no," Danica interrupted exasperatedly. "None of that nonsense. I already have to live with two of the most melodramatic preteens I've ever met. Don't be another one. Please."

"I am not melodramatic!" Cathie huffed, and so did Cadence as he rejoined them, in perfect sync.

"You are too melodramatic," they taunted each other, and with great frustration, settled for glaring silently, lest they accidentally synchronize once more.

"Do they do this often?" Harry asked Danica, wide-eyed. "I've only ever seen Fred and George - my friend's older brothers, they're identical twins - I've only ever seen them do that, and it's usually on purpose."

"Oh, you'll get used to this," Danica assured him. "They always do this when they're offended or mocking each other. I've never met such a dysfunctional pair of siblings, let alone twins."

"It's his fault," Cathie accused immediately, "for being a Slytherin."

"No, it's your fault for being a Gryffindor! And - And anyway - what about Daphne, huh? You're great friends with her?"

"Well, the difference there is that she's not a bi-"

Danica sighed and half-heartedly covered Harry's ears, and in a voice that implied she really didn't expect anything to come of this, she intoned exasperatedly, "Language."