When Victoria finished reading the letter, she looked up to the owl who had delivered it. "Is she always so formal?"

The owl turned his head to the side and kept staring at her, as if waiting for something.

"You want a reply, don't you?" she asked the owl. She held out her arm, waiting for him to perch itself on top of her hand. The owl, however, only kept staring at her.

Victoria grinned. "I'll just need to discuss some stuff with my dad before I can write a reply. I have some owl treats downstairs if you come with me," she said, once more holding out her arm.

This time, the owl did hop onto her hand, and let itself be carried downstairs.

o0o

Victoria didn't see her father anywhere downstairs, so she supposed he was working on some of his research in his potions laboratory. "Busy as always," she mumbled, half to the owl, half to herself.

She opened a kitchen cabin and took out some owl treats to give to the owl. She put them on the table, and let the owl onto it as well. "Wait here, okay? I'll have that reply ready as soon as I can."

The owl let out a soft hoot before it turned its attention to the owl treats.

Victoria left the owl to finish his treats and walked to her father's laboratory. She carefully opened the doors, making sure she wouldn't startle her father if he was working on something that needed all of his attention, and was greeted with the familiar smell of potions brewing in various cauldrons. Her father was bent over one of the bubbling cauldrons, a stirring rod in one hand, notes in his other. After several minutes had passed, he put out the fire beneath the cauldron and turned to her.

"Sorry, I needed to finish that. The last part is always tricky with that one. Did you need anything?" he asked, while taking off his coat and putting it away.

"I know how potions brewing works, dad. No need to explain it to me," she said, smiling. It was funny how he always kept explaining things to her, even some of the most basic stuff. But then again, he hadn't had her education when he was younger, so he couldn't really be blamed for not knowing what she knew and what she didn't.

"I just received an owl from the Head Girl of Hogwarts. The Headmistress seems to have told her about us, and she is asking when it would be convenient to meet us. She's willing to help me pick up my supplies for the school year."

"Ah, that's great, Victoria. Just let her come over whenever you want. I don't think I will have the time to talk to her anyway, I think I'm on the verge of discovering something interesting with my latest research."

"And when do you have time to explain to your daughter what kind of research you are doing? Or do I have to wait for the article to come out?" she replied, grinning.

"I'll tell you everything when I am sure this time it won't turn out useless," he said, smiling. "So go write a reply to that Head Girl, and then I can continue in here."

"Yes, yes, go back to your research. I'll have dinner ready in an hour. Please try not to forget it this time," she said, and walked out of the laboratory, closing the door behind her.

o0o

After she had sent out the letter with Archimedes, Rose went downstairs, looking for her mother. She would be thrilled to hear Rose would be meeting Victoria. "Mum? Mum? I need to tell you something!"

"Hermione is still at work, Rose. I don't know when she will be home. Can I do something to help?" her father, Ron, answered from the living room.

Rose walked over towards the couch, a bit disappointed, and sat next to her father. "I got a letter from Headmistress McGonagall."

"A letter from Minerva?" her father asked. "But she already sent you your annual supply list, as well as your Head Girl letter. What else would she write you for?"

At that moment, the fire in the fireplace turned bright green, and Hermione Weasley stepped out of it.

Rose immediately jumped off the coach. "Mum! You won't believe what happened today!"

"Wow, Rose, give me some time, will you?" her mother said, grinning.

Rose waited till she had shed out of her outer robes and put her bag away. She gave her some more time to sit down on the couch beside her father, but then she couldn't contain herself any longer.

"Mum, you remember going to the Salem Institute of Magic last year? Where you gave that lecture on Advanced Arithmancy?"

"Yeah, sure I do. But what does that have to do with anything?" her mother replied, looking confused.

Next to her, Rose's father also looked at her with raised eyebrows. "So, what did Minerva want from you?"

"You got a letter from Minerva?" Hermione asked, curious.

By now, Rose was practically skipping from excitement. "We will be having a transfer student from Salem this year! Victoria Hornwood will be finishing her last year at Hogwarts!"

She could see her father didn't really get what she was so excited for, but that didn't really matter to her. After all, it was her mother's reaction she was waiting for.

"Victoria Hornwood? That's wonderful, Rose! I never expected you two to meet so soon."

"And that's not all!" Rose said, her face split in a wide grin. She waited for her mother to figure out what she meant, and, as always with her mother, she didn't have to wait long before comprehension dawned on her face.

"Do you mean.." her mother started, her eyes wide. "Is her father coming with her?"

Rose gave her a huge smile and nodded. "He's renting an apartment in London for the duration of the school year!"

"Oh my! That's amazing! It would be so wonderful to meet him!"

"Could one of you two please explain to me what you are getting so excited about?" her father asked, clearly annoyed he didn't understand the two of them.

Rose looked at her mother, who looked back at her, and they both started grinning.

"Don't worry Ron, we're used to you not understanding us," Hermione said, her voice sweet as honey. Rose couldn't help herself, and burst out laughing at that.

"Not funny, you know..." Ron grumbled, and glared at the two of them.

"Sorry dad," Rose said, unable to stop grinning.

"You remember me going to Salem last year, right?" Hermione started. When Ron nodded, she continued. "There I met this Victoria Hornwood, who was in her 6th year at the time. She reminded me of myself in those years. After class, I talked with her for a bit, and I mentioned she would get on well with Rose. She seemed interested in meeting someone with the same academical drive, if you know what I mean, but I never really expected the two of them to actually meet. At least not this soon."

"So, this girls like you and Rose? Overly obsessed with school and everything? And after talking to you, she is now going to attend Hogwarts for her final year? And that's what the two of you are so excited about?" Ron asked, still slightly confused.

"Well, yeah, but not only that. Her father, Alan Hornwood, came with her!" Rose noticed she was practically skipping up and down again, and forced herself to take a few deep breaths and calm down.

"Uhm, am I supposed to know this guy?" Ron asked.

"I suppose you wouldn't know him," Hermione answered. "He's one of the biggest names in the potions field at the moment. He is combining his potions knowledge with his knowledge of Muggle Science, and so far, he's had some pretty interesting results."

"Wait a minute," Hugo said, walking into the living room. "Are you telling me we will get another girl like Rose next year? We really only need one person nagging us about homework, you know."

"Oh, shut it, Hugo," Rose replied, rolling her eyes. Grinning, she added: "I realised long ago our family doesn't seem interested in grades. Especially if the alternative is Quidditch."

"Oh, don't pretend you're better than us," Hugo countered. "You enjoy Quidditch just as much as the rest of us."

"And Quidditch still is the best thing about Hogwarts. No denying that," Ron said.

Hermione glared at Ron. "Hogwarts isn't only about Quidditch, and you know that, Ron. There's more to life than Quidditch."

"Just because you don't like Quidditch doesn't mean we can't like it, mum," Hugo said.

"I do like Quidditch. I just don't like flying," Hermione replied. "And why does everything always turn to talk about Quidditch?"

Rose shrugged. "Comes with being a Weasley. It's in our blood."

At that moment, something tapped against the window, and they all turned to see Archimedes waiting on the window pane outside. Rose hurried over toward him and opened the window. Archimedes flew inside and landed on the coffee table, dropping the letter on the table as well.

"You go read that letter, dear, then I'll start making dinner," Hermione said, already halfway to the kitchen. "Oh, and Ron, could you please help me out?"

Rose turned her attention back to the table and picked up the letter, carefully opening the wax seal.

Dear Rose Weasley,

I would like to thank you for your offer of help, it is greatly appreciated. London (and England) already proves to be very different from America. I'm sure that in the same way Hogwarts will be very different from Salem as well.

As for meeting, would next Saturday work for you? My father will be busy with work, so he won't be able to meet you, I'm afraid. Maybe we could pick up school supplies as well? If that's alright with you of course. It's just that school starts in two weeks, and I'm afraid I won't be able to find everything by myself.

I hope to hear from you soon,

Victoria

Next weekend. That would do. It was too bad Mister Hornwood would be too busy to meet her. Of course his research was more important than meeting a random witch. She could understand that, really. But she could still be disappointed, right?

"Mum, I won't be picking up supplies with the rest of you, okay? I'll pick them up with Victoria next Saturday."

"That's alright dear. Do try to keep an eye out for Rita though. It would be a shame if Victoria ended up on the cover of the Prophet before she even had a chance to start fresh at Hogwarts," her mother replied from the kitchen.

Rose cringed at the memory of last year's shopping trip to Diagon Alley with the family. No, it would be better if they didn't ran into Rita. Or any reporter for that matter. Far better.

AN: So, two chapters in one week. No idea if I'll be able to continue like that, but we'll see. I'll try to upload at least a chapter every week. ^.^

Big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Would love to get some reviews for this chapter as well.