Well, here's the next chapter! I'm so flattered by all the positive feedback I have received! Thank you so much!

Regarding Notepad girl, while she does seem a bit like Hermione now, as her character develops you'll notice the differences between the two. So keep sending in names! I've recieved some good ones so far, but I won't decide until the next chapter.

Overall this chapter isn't very exciting. It's really mostly for giving a little bit of background knowledge on Harry's life. It doesn't totally cover it though, but you'll learn more as the chapters progress. Sorry, no Tom in this chapter, but he is mentioned a couple of times

Now on with the fic!
"For the last time, I am not going!" Harry said, exasperated.

"But Harry you have to! These tickets cost a fortune!"

"Why do you want to go anyway Hermione? You've said it yourself that you don't believe in magic, so why go see a magic show?"

Hermione blushed. "Well…"

"Oh, I see how it is," Harry teased. "Honestly Hermione, I thought you were above crushes on celebrities. I mean, ever since the whole Lockhart thing-"

"I never had a crush on Lockhart!" Hermione exclaimed, blushing more.

"From what I recall, you could never stop talking about him and his 'accomplishments'. You were practically in tears when the whole scandal was revealed a few years ago."

"How was I supposed to know he lied about all the things he did! He had written so many books!" Hermione argued.

"Well, me and Ron could tell pretty easily that he was a phony and an idiot when you dragged us to his book signing twice," Harry muttered into his coffee cup before taking a sip, then grimacing. It needed more sugar.

"That's 'Ron and I' Harry," Hermione corrected, pushing the sugar bowl in his direction.

"Thanks," he said before adding two spoonfuls. "Anyway, Ron and I were right, and we sure weren't surprised when he was checked into a mental hospital."

"It wasn't his fault that he tripped and hit his head! All those reporters were chasing him!"

"They were chasing him because he was trying to leave the country after the scandal was discovered. Sometimes I think he just claims he has amnesia so he won't go to prison for all the stuff he did."

"That's a horrible thing to say!" Hermione chastised.

Harry sighed. "I know. Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Ron asked as he sat down at the table, stifling a yawn.

"It's about time you woke up Ron! Do you have any idea what time it is!" Hermione said.

"'s too early, that's all I know," Ron said, eyelids drooping.

"For you information we have to leave in ten minutes!" Hermione snapped.

"What! But I haven't had any breakfast yet!" Ron said, horrified.

"If you had gotten up earlier you wouldn't have to worry Ronald," a red-haired woman said from the kitchen, a disapproving frown on her face.

"Thanks again for the breakfast Mrs. Weasely," Harry said.

Mrs. Weasely's frown was instantly replaced with a smile. "Think nothing of it dear. You and Hermione are always welcome anytime. Besides, someone needs to make sure you eat properly!"

Harry sighed at the often heard comment. Mrs. Weasely had always chastised him for his weight, though much more when he was younger. He had been very scrawny for his age, and, even though his body had filled out quite a bit, he was still served second helpings whenever he ate at the Weasely household.

"Yes Mrs. Weasely," Harry said obediently. There was no use arguing with her.

The woman smiled again, placing a plate of pancakes in front of Ron. He instantly started eating, wolfing down enormous syrupy bites. "Would you like anything else Harry? Hermione?" the red-haired woman asked.

"No thank you Mrs. Weasely," they said, both very full from the massive amount of food the woman had cooked for them earlier.

Mrs. Weasely eyed Harry's slim frame for a moment before saying "I think I'll pack you a few muffins, just in case you get hungry along the way." She bustled off to get said muffins before either Harry or Hermione could protest.

Ten minutes later, they were rushing out the door, Ron snatching a few more muffins along the way. After bidding Mrs. Weasely a hasty goodbye, the three hopped into Hermione's car (it was her turn to drive) and they were on their way.

"Why are we leaving so early anyway?" Ron grumbled from the passenger seat.

"Because Harry forgot to grab his Biology book before we left for you parent's house yesterday," Hermione said, giving Harry a stern look through the rearview mirror. Harry rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oh, well that's okay then. I just remembered… I forgot mine too," Ron said.

"Honestly, you two are way too forgetful," Hermione said. "One of these days you're going to forget something really important and then you'll be in big trouble. You're just lucky that your apartment is only about a ten minute drive from school."

Ron just nodded his head absentmindedly, having heard the same speech a million times. Hermione huffed, then focused back on the road. A little while later, they reached the apartment, a four story building painted a light grey color. Hermione waited in the car while the two boys dashed out, Harry fumbling for the correct key to get into the building. Once inside, the two boys jogged to the elevator. The door eventually slid open and they stepped in, Ron hastily hitting the button for the third floor. They made it to their floor, and Harry walked over to the door with a brass number 304 on it, quickly unlocking the door then stepping inside.

The apartment was small. The walls were painted the standard white of most apartment buildings, and the view wasn't the best, despite being on one of the highest floors. The bedrooms were small, as were the bathroom and the kitchen. The plumbing had been very bad for a few months—the water would sporadically turn boiling hot to icy cold—but after much complaining to the apartment manager she had finally gotten the plumbers to somewhat fix it. Though the water pressure wasn't extremely strong and though there was no hot water after eight o'clock at night, it was much better. The furniture, though mostly secondhand, was all in good condition, and there was a computer sitting in a corner of the living room.

Harry went to his room to find his Biology book, and he could faintly hear Ron doing the same in the room next door. He frowned as he noticed the mess he had left yesterday as he had hastily changed to leave for the Weasely household (or the "Burrow" as it was affectionately called). Ron's eldest brother Bill had been visiting from Egypt, where he worked as an archaeologist, and there had been a huge family gathering for his short visit. Harry and Hermione had come as they were considered family, despite not having the flaming red hair and freckles that the Weaselys were known for. They had meant to leave that night, but it had gotten so late that Mrs. Weasely had insisted that they spend the night. This happened quite a few times when they went to the Burrow, so they had spare clothes to change into the next day.

Harry smiled at the thought of the visit. It had been great to see the many members of the Weasely clan again after such a long time. He hardly ever saw the two eldest Weasely children, Bill and Charlie, as they both lived and worked outside the country. Charlie, a particularly freckled fellow, worked on an animal reserve in Romania, but he had been staying at the Burrow for the past month or so to recuperate after an accident. When asked what happened, he had merely replied that he had "encountered a reptile with a nasty temper". He was due to start work again in a few weeks, despite his mother's fretting and insistence that he find a safer job somewhere closer to home.

The third eldest son, Percy, had not been there, but that had been no surprise to a great majority of the family. After graduating college and securing himself a decent position in a large company—the same company his father, Arthur, worked for—Percy had swiftly separated himself from his family. He never spared his father a glance at the office, only interacting with the man when it was required, which was not very often as they worked in completely different branches of the company. It had hurt his mother dearly, as she had been particularly proud of her hardworking son, and she had been heartbroken at the many unreturned phone calls and letters.

The next in line were Fred and George, identical twins who were known for their pranks and schemes. Both boys had dropped out of college during their second year, stating that it was too confining of an atmosphere for them. It had been especially bad for them as one of their teachers, a toad-like woman named Dolores Umbridge, had been one of the most vile teachers on the face of the planet. She was racist, homophobic, and any other type of prejudice you could possibly imagine. The twins played all manner of tricks on her in retaliation, mostly innocent pranks of course, as they had no desire to go to prison. However, after physically harming their best friend, a black boy named Lee Jordan, the twins had had enough. They secretly recorded her abusing various students and anonymously sent the evidence to the school board. She had been interviewed within a day of the information reaching the school board, and had been arrested two days later. It turned out that she had been threatening and blackmailing students to keep them quiet about her actions for the entire year that she had been teaching, and that she had harmed a fair number of students during her career.

The day of Umbridge's arrest, the twins had, secretly, set off a slime bomb within her classroom, coating her, the current students, and all her belongings in green, swamp-like mucus. Nearly insane with rage, Umbridge had instantly known who the culprits were, and had dived for the twins (who were in class at the time) in a blind rage to strangle them. At that precise moment, the Head of the School Board had opened the door to witness Unbridge's attack on Fred and George, and had alerted security. Umbridge had been dragged away and the twins were brought in for questioning. They got off scot-free, as the prank could not be traced back to them, and Umbridge was admitted into a mental hospital after she had started ranting and raving insanely, yelling about how the centaurs would get them all. No one knew why she yelled this, but doctors blamed it on a horse riding accident she must have had in her youth.

After this fiasco, the twins soon dropped out, stating that their dream was to open a joke shop. Their mother had been furious, telling them about how they were wasting their lives and ruining themselves by not getting any higher education. However, the twins had ignored her pleas, and had revealed their well thought-out plans to open the dream shop, including products the twins had invented themselves. All it needed was the money to get it started.

This issue had been solved quite unbelievably. After being cheated out of a good deal of their savings, the twins had just about given up hope of ever opening their shop. Unsure how to make them feel better, Harry had suggested that they buy a lotto ticket, that they might win the money that way. The two boys' spirits had been lifted briefly, only to fall again as they realized that they had no money to buy one. Unwilling to give up, Harry had given them five dollars (that was all the money he had had on him at the time) and dragged them to the nearest convenience store. When picking numbers, Fred and George had argued over the last one, when Harry—exasperated at how long it was taking them—finally shouted "Just pick a seven! It's supposed to be a lucky number!" Shrugging, the twins agreed and paid for their ticket.

One week later, a very groggy Harry was awakened at five in the morning by a very excited Fred and George calling him. He could only make out them yelling "We won! We won!" as the background noise was too loud. Later when Harry was more awake, he was informed that the twins had won the jackpot prize, and that it had been Harry's number that had won them the money. Fred and George opened their shop within the year, and had dubbed it Weasleys' Wheezes. The twins, of course, sent Harry tons of free merchandise for his contribution, as he would not accept any money from them except for the five dollars that they had first borrowed.

The second youngest out of the Weasely children was his best friend Ron, who he had met in Middle School when he was eleven. Harry could still clearly imagine in his mind's eye the fateful day when he had met Ron. He had been sitting alone on the school bus, when a shy boy wearing hand-me-down clothes with red hair and freckles asked him if the seat next to him was available. Smiling, the younger Harry had warmly invited the other boy to sit with him and by the time the school day was over Ron had been inviting him to come over after school. They had been best friends ever since.

Last but not least of the children was Ron's younger sister Ginny. Having grown up with all brothers, Ginny knew how to take care of herself, and her red hair only accented her feisty personality. When she was younger, Ginny had had a crush on Harry, and she would always act incredibly shy in his presence. As years passed, she grew out of her crush and her true personality was no longer hidden from Harry behind flushed cheeks and stammering sentences. They had grown much closer because of this, and Harry considered her to be his own little sister; Ginny, in return, considered him to be another older brother.

Harry was quickly snapped out of his musings when Ron yelled at him from the living room, wondering what was taking so long. Locating his missing book by his bed, Harry snatched it up before running out of his bedroom. Harry and Ron made it back down to Hermione a few minutes later where they were yelled at for taking such a long time, then the trio continued on their journey to school.

"…now remember, your essays are due next lesson. I sincerely hope for your sakes that they are better then the last ones I received. They are to be typed, double-spaced, in size twelve font. If you do not have a computer I suggest you either take a trip to the library or use a friend's. No handwritten essays will be accepted. Class dismissed."

A great majority of the students let out a sigh of relief, and they quickly packed up their belongings. Harry was just heading for the door when the teacher said, "Just a moment Mr. Potter. I would like a quick word with you."

Wondering what he did wrong, Harry turned towards his English teacher where she was sitting at her desk. "Yes Professor McGonagall?"

The teacher's normally stern features softened just the tiniest bit. "No need to look like you are heading to the gallows Mr. Potter. I merely wished to inform you that I was quite pleased with your assignment last lesson. Your answers were both well thought-out and explained thoroughly. I hope that this new improvement will be consistent throughout the term."

Surprised and a more than a bit shocked, Harry could only nod before Professor McGonagall bid him a good afternoon, an obvious dismissal. He returned the farewell, and made his way into one of the many hallways of his school. He debated with himself before deciding to go outside, feeling the sudden need for some fresh air. After many twists and turns and staircases, he could finally sigh in relief at the cool breeze that swept across his face. Checking his watch, Harry noted that he had a good fifteen minutes before Hermione would be done with her current class; Ron's class would be done about ten minutes after hers. After walking for bit, he decided to seat himself on a grassy hill overlooking the campus grounds.

He pulled out his half-finished English essay, meaning to get a paragraph or so written before Hermione showed up. Normally he wasn't so diligent with his schoolwork, but he honestly did not feel like leaving it to the last minute, as he had done so in the past. Tapping his pencil eraser on his chin, he thought over what to write next. Toying with an idea, he scribbled out a few sentences. Soon, however, Harry found his concentration wavering. Allowing his eyes to wander, he found himself surveying his surroundings.

His eyes traced the school as they had a million times before. No matter how many times he traveled to school each day, he was still awed by the sight that greeted him. A castle fit for a king. The ancient bricks seemed to hold countless stories, while the high towers caressed the sky. Harry lovingly looked upon his school, Hogwarts University.

A lake was situated near Hogwarts, as was a forest that the students liked to call the Forbidden Forest. It had a real name, but nobody bothered to remember it, so the nickname stuck. The school almost seemed to be cut off from the rest of the world, as the grounds, lake and forest included, all belonged to the school. For years people had offered to buy the lands, but all offers were declined. The closest town, Hogsmeade, was about ten minutes away, which was where a great majority of the students who didn't live in the dorms lived. The town had prospered due to the people that came to see the school, and they had named a large theatre built there in honor of the great school. The Hogwarts Theatre was well-known for the great performances it featured there.

At the moment the grounds seemed to be in their prime. It was the middle of spring, and Mother Nature was working overtime as the flowers bloomed and the grass became a fresh shade of green. The sun was shining brightly, yet the cool breeze kept the temperature from becoming too hot. The Forbidden Forest—which was normally dark and intimidating, leading to its name—seemed to light up from within. The lake sparkled merrily, beckoning wayward students to come and relax by its soft shores, and Harry found himself very tempted to do just that.

He had just gotten up to move when a shout of his name had him turning around, where he saw Hermione heading towards him.

"Sorry I'm late, but I had to talk to Professor Vector about our exam next week," she said, slightly out of breath as if she had ran all the way from the Calculus classroom, which was located on the other side of the school.

Harry nodded, not very surprised that he had been in a trance-like state for nearly the entire time he had been waiting for her. "That's all right. How long until Ron's class is over?"

"Probably about five minutes, but knowing him he won't show up for ten or so," Hermione said crossly, sitting down.

Harry sat back down as well, sighing tiredly. "Well as we wait for his royal slowness to get here, what are your plans for the weekend?" he asked.

Hermione smiled innocently. "You, Ron, and I are going to go see that magic show this Sunday, remember?"

"Hermione…" Harry started warningly.

"Oh come on Harry, it'll be great!"

"Why don't you take Ginny instead? I'm sure she'd love to go see it," Harry grumbled.

"Because Ginny already has plans," Hermione stated. "Honestly Harry, I don't understand why you're so against seeing a magic show. I can't wait!"

"That's because you think that the magician guy is good-looking," Harry said.

Hermione looked thoughtful. "Okay, he is handsome, there's no denying it, but that's not the reason why I want to go see the show."

"Good," Harry said, smiling mischievously. "I'd hate to deal with a jealous Ron all day."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione said, huffing. "Ron and I are just friends, so there's no need for him to be jealous."

Harry snorted. It was extremely obvious that his two friends were in love. Ron had always despised all other boys who showed interest in Hermione. It had been particularly bad when they were sixteen and Hermione had had a foreign exchange student named Viktor Krum staying at her house. Ron had been so jealous of Viktor that Harry had believed that he would suddenly turn green. Also, when Ron had been dating one of their classmates named Lavender Brown, Hermione was always making up excuses to leave so she didn't have to see Lavender hanging off his arm. Luckily, Victor had gone back to Bulgaria (though he and Hermione still wrote each other every so often) and Ron had broken up with Lavender after a particularly vocal argument, where Harry knew he had heard Hermione's name mentioned several times.

"Whatever you say Hermione," Harry said in a disbelieving tone.

"Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I don't want to go see the show because Tom Riddle is easy on the eyes; I want to go because it is supposed to be an amazing show. Viktor mentioned in one of his letters that it was the best shows he had ever seen in his life, and he's very hard to impress."

Harry sighed. "There's no way that I'm getting out of this am I?" he said tiredly.

Hermione smiled cheerfully.

Harry groaned.

"Fine! You win! I'll go see the stupid show!"

"I knew you'd agree eventually," she said cheerfully. "Look there's Ron! We'd better get going then." She stood up, looking down at Harry who was still sprawled grumpily on the ground. "If it makes you feel any better, we'll stop for ice cream on the way home."

Harry glared at her halfheartedly as he stood up. "You're buying."

"Deal," she said pulling him towards the impatiently waiting Ron. Harry allowed the motion with minimal complaint, his mind on other things.

What harm could there be in a magic show?

Hehe, wrong thing to say Harry.

Is it bad that I had two characters sent to a mental hospital? Yes? Oh well, they can play cards together or something...

I really wanted to keep the name Weaselys' Wizard Wheezes, but Wizard made no sense, so I had to omit it. I kept the rest of the name the same, as no other W word sounded good.

Yes, there will be no jealous bitch!Ginny in my fic. I don't mind her when she keeps her hands off of Harry, and I honestly think that they see each other as siblings.

Please review! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

Chippy