Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which are trademarked by J. K. Rowling
Dragons at Hogwarts: The Gift
(HP:PoA)
Chapter 2: Meeting The Boy Who Lived
"Four years is too long to not be seeing my godchildren!" scolded Aunt Molly after they all finished moving into their rooms. She was scolding Lin's parents more than she was scolding Lin. "Where is Ed?"
Edan, or Ed for short, was Lin's younger brother by one year.
"If everything goes fine with Lin at Hogwarts, I will move him here next year. That way, he will spend igual, sorry equal, time in Spain as Lin did and will know how to adjust by ejemplo, er, example." Explained Ignacio, Lin's father. He had a knack of mixing up words between English and Spanish when he felt nervous.
Molly and Arthur Weasley weren't really Lin's aunt and uncle, but she knew them her whole life and used these terms out of respect.
"Uncle Arthur, where is Ron?" asked Lin. She finally realized that a certain lanky red-head her age was missing.
"Oh, one of his friends arrived a bit before you did, so they are probably catching up. Oh, here he comes,"
Ron entered the room carrying his rat, Scabbers and looking like he was ready to go out.
"Hey Ron look who it is! Your wife!" Fred teased.
"Yeah and she's worried sick about you!" George added.
Lin and Ron both turned red, but of course Ron looked redder. Usually these types of jokes would have made Lin punch them. No punches were thrown, though, because she noticed a bushy haired girl behind Ron.
"Er, hi I'm Lin, Ron's friend," she said, giving Fred a stern look.
"Yeah, more like cousin or a sister," blundered Ron.
The girl giggled and stuck her hand out.
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger, nice to meet you," she replied.
Lin gave her a firm handshake. Her father always said "Firm handshakes make good first impressions!"
"Hey Mum, can Hermione and I go and look for Harry? Lin can come with us! We can all get our school stuff and Scabbers' rat tonic! He looks like Egypt didn't agree with him much," Ron asked.
"Oh! I can get Hector's forms finished!" Lin added.
"Alright, don't stay out late. I want everyone back by dinner!" Aunt Molly she said as they left the room.
The three of them went up, got Hector, who began yipping at their presence, and were on their way.
"Why do you need forms for Hector?" asked Ron.
"Hector is not an owl, cat, or toad, she needs the Special Creature Authorization Forms signed for him to be allowed at Hogwarts. You never had to do that because Percy already did before you," Hermione said.
Lin could tell that Hermione was intelligent and gave her a grateful smile. She thought Ron made an excellent choice for a girlfriend.
The three of them went shopping for their supplies and looking for Harry but as time went on, Lin was getting more and more nervous. Was she finally going to meet the famous Harry Potter? The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when he was just a baby?
They finished shopping and decided to have some ice cream outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
"Harry!" both Hermione and Ron yelled, waving.
Harry Potter ran over to them and smiled.
"We've been looking all over for you! People at the Leaky Cauldron said that you had already left!" Ron said to Harry. "Hermione just arrived this morning and-"
"Ron, don't you think you are being a bit rude?" Hermione asked, pointing at Lin with her head.
"Oh! I have known both of you so long, I almost forgot you didn't know each other! Harry, this is Lin, my parents' goddaughter," said Ron.
"Hi, I am Harry, Harry Potter," Harry said,
For the second time that day, she gave a firm introductory handshake, though this one was a bit sweaty. She was lost for words. She didn't know whether to say how sorry she was for the loss of his parents, or praise him for defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
"Harry here blew up his aunt you know" Ron laughed, breaking the awkwardness.
"It's not funny Ron, he could have been expelled!" Hermione retorted.
"I didn't mean to! And I could have been worse off, arrested!" Harry stated looking relieved.
"It's still pretty funny," Ron said, causing Lin to chuckle.
"I see you all went shopping," Harry said.
"Yeah I got a new wand!" exclaimed Ron, showing off his new wand to Harry. "And Hermione got a bunch of books for a ridiculous number of classes. I don't know how she is going to survive. She's taking every single class it seems-"
"Anyway," Lin said, trying to get the conversation away from Hermione. She didn't want them to bother her about classes because she understood how she felt. "Aren't we supposed to go a magical creature shop?"
"Oh yes! I want an owl! My parents gave me some money because of my birthday in September," Hermione said.
"I know my way around this place pretty well. I will take you," Harry said, leading them on.
They got to the Magical Menagerie, which had walls lined with tanks and crates of reptiles, rabbits, rats, and all sorts of other creatures. Their smells also seemed to engulf the place.
"Lin, you can do Hector first," Ron offered.
Lin set Hector down on the counter and the forms, she rang the bell and out popped a witch from behind a wall of bird cages.
"Ah, I see you have some forms for me. Let's get to it," she said, grabbing the papers. "Creature, seems to be a dog and wolf mix; color, black with lighter flecks of fur; health, looks healthy enough to me with its shiny coat! Right then, age and special powers?"
"Well, I am not sure what his true age is because my mum rescued him and my brother's from a forest in Albania a few years ago. His power also makes it difficult to guess. They seem to be intelligence and… well I will just show you," she said.
Lin put Hector on the ground and said "OK, you can stretch now."
In a few seconds, Hector grew into a large dog, dispersing fur everywhere as he shook his body. He gave one bark at Ron, and then sat at Lin's feet staring at him. Ron got startled and tripped over a cage.
"I see… I don't know if Hogwarts will permit a, er, 'pet' his size," the witch said, staring at Hector with surprise.
"He only turns when I tell him or feels threatened. I promise he will behave!" she begged.
"Hmm… I will trust that this Ministry Representative knows what they just approved. Fine, age: undetermined, powers: … changes size on command."
"And high intelligence," Lin added.
The witch stared at her but eventually wrote it down and signed the forms.
"Here you are. I hope you don't get in any trouble, missy."
Lin took the forms and went to Ron, who decided he did not want to be anywhere near Hector.
"OK you are free to go up to the counter now. Hector won't bite you, Ron," she said but she decided to shrink him anyways. "Hector, play time is over, sorry."
Hector shrank throwing even more tuffs of fur on the ground but the witch cleaned it all up with the flick of her wand.
Lin walked over to Hermione where she was admiring cats.
"I thought you wanted an owl?" Lin asked.
"I did, but then this cat caught my attention. I'm going to take him out and get familiar, I think," she said as she pulled opened the cage of a large, squash-faced orange cat.
As soon as she popped the cage open, the large cat burst out and jumped on Ron's head.
"CROOKSHANKS, NO!" the witch yelled as Crookshanks chased after Scabbers.
Scabbers ran off into the street and Ron and Harry followed without letting Crookshanks through the door. Crookshanks then jumped up into Hermione's arms and began to purr.
"Yes, I will take him!" Hermione announced.
"Are you sure? No one has ever wanted him before. Been here a long while," the witch stated.
"Even more of a reason then!" Lin said. She quite liked the cat, especially since it gave Ron such a fright.
Hermione gave the witch the money, and the witch gave her the cat's certificates. Lin purchased two stretchable collars, a blue one for Hector and a red one for Finley, Edan's white puppy and Hector's brother. They thanked the witch and went after the others.
"You bought that thing?! It nearly ripped Scabbers apart!" Ron exclaimed as they all walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"He didn't mean to! He just wanted some attention. He had been there for ages!" Hermione said. "And by the way, you forgot your rat tonic. Here, I brought for you."
They finally arrived at the Leaky Cauldron where they saw Uncle Arthur reading the Daily Prophet.
"I see you're all back, good. Ah, Harry! Doing well I hope?" he said smiling.
"Yes, thank you" Harry said. "I see they still haven't caught Sirius Black?"
"No. And the Ministry has put everyone to search for him," Uncle Arthur said grimly.
"Maybe we might catch him!" Ron said. "We could use the money-"
"Ron, he is the most wanted man in the country. I am sure none of us can catch him," Lin said.
"The Azkaban guards will catch him, you'll see," said Uncle Arthur.
Just then, Aunt Molly, Fred, George, Percy, and Ginny all came bustling through the door with many shopping bags.
"Harry, hope everything is going well for you?" Percy said pompously giving him a handshake.
"Very well, thanks-"
"Oh, what a splendid sight! Harry, very good to see you!" Fred said bowing in front of Harry, cutting Percy off.
"Sublime! Marvelous!" added George, taking Harry's hand in both of his.
Lin began to laugh out loud at the sight and Fred and George came up to her, trying to use her to steady themselves as they also laughed.
"That is enough," said Aunt Molly. "Percy is an excellent example for you all, unlike you both. Second Head Boy in the family! You two weren't made prefects I see."
"Mum, becoming a prefect would take the joy out of life!" said George.
"I am more than capable of being enough of an example for these children, Mother," said Percy. "I'm going to change for dinner."
Lin's parents arrived, and Lin decided to straighten herself out. She didn't want her parents to think of Fred and George as bad influences.
"We just came from exploring! Diagon Alley is such a lively place. Fascinating!" said Lin's father.
"We haven't been here enough times unfortunately, work and all," said Lin's mother chuckling. "We just came from-"
She stopped mid-sentence, staring at Harry. She looked completely shocked.
"Oh Adolfa!" said Aunt Molly, running to Lin's mother. "This is Harry Potter, Lily and James' boy."
She led her to Harry, who looked a bit awkward.
"How nice it is to finally meet you," Lin's mother said, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "I am Adolfa, Lin's mother. I was also the cousin of one of your parents' dear friend and was a few years above them. I became friends with them after we all left Hogwarts… I do hope my couple of photos got to you."
"Yes. I got all the photos Hagrid received in an album. Thank you, I really appreciate them," Harry said, giving her a handshake.
Everyone looked at the scene in silence, Aunt Molly sniffling into a handkerchief.
"Well," Uncle Arthur said, breaking the silence, "let's get to dinner, shall we?"
Lin introduced Hermione to her parents and then they all sat down. The adults and Percy sat in one half of a long row of tables, and the rest in the other.
They started eating and the adults began making small conversation.
"A muggle-born? Fascinating!" Lin heard her father suddenly exclaim.
"Oh no," Lin said. "If my Dad excessively questions you about Muggles, just cry for help and I will try to rescue you. Like Uncle Arthur, he finds Muggles 'simple fascinating,'" Lin apologized.
"It's fine. I have gotten used to it," Hermione answered, laughing.
"Have you thought about what House you might be in?" asked Ginny.
"Well, I'm not sure. Mum was in Ravenclaw, you all are in Gryffindor, and I know people in the Hufflepuff and Slytherin. I don't know where I see myself," Lin answered.
"Who do you know that's in Slytherin?" asked Harry.
"Draco. Draco Malfoy. I don't think you may have heard of him. He was a private boy when I knew him," she said.
They all looked at her, then started making gagging and huffing noises.
"Just how do you know him?" Ron scoffed.
"His parents used to invite us to dinner through my dad. Is he that bad?"
"The worst," said Harry. "He was probably told to keep quiet because his parents wanted to gain your Dad's favor for influence. Otherwise, he might have ruined everything."
Lin thought about this and then believed it would be plausible. He did seem quite haughty.
"Anyway, I'm sure you will make Gryffindor," Fred said after momentary silence.
"Or we will shred that mangy old hat to bits," said George.
"You would be in class with us three, right?" asked Harry, motioning at Ron and Hermione.
"Well, for some reason, the children of the 'noble', basically pure-bloods families with money in Spain always start school one year before the other students their age do. I suppose it's a power thing. They think themselves royalty. Anyway, I will be starting my fourth year not my third… Sorry," Lin apologized after she saw Hermione's face fall a bit. Lin guessed she didn't have many female friends her age.
"You know, you should join the Quidditch team! Heard you were in one at your old school," said Fred.
"And I am sure Oliver would love to have the daughter of Xabi Loco!" said George.
"Who's that?" asked Ron, confused.
"Goodness Ron, don't you read? Xabi Loco is the name Lin's father used as an alias while playing Quidditch for Spain since his family did not allow him to do it freely. It is a play on the name of his younger half-brother, Xabi, and his goal. His brother's unfortunately loco, or crazy goal is to become Headmaster of DIMA. It's crazy because he is a half-blood, and only purebloods get high positions, like Lin's father would," Hermione explained.
Lin looked at her, stunned. She knew all that just by hearing Xabi Loco?
"So, why didn't your dad work for DIMA or the ministry? -" said Ron.
"They did offer him a job, but my dad didn't want it. His uncle asked the Headmaster to give him a teaching position, but my dad decided he wanted to work in a place with more freedom and less prejudices. He met my mother, then left Spain... Anyway, how long have you and Hermione been together, Ron?" Lin said trying to change the conversation.
Harry, Fred, George, and Ginny all started laughing uncontrollably. Ron and Hermione blushed.
"We are not together!" retorted Ron.
"Just friends, fortunately," said Hermione. Then, she started giggling, "Why did Fred call you Ron's wife?"
Fred and George howled with laughter as they tried to explain the story.
"One day dear little Ginny and Lin were playing a game of house-"
"-when Ginny said 'I wish you were my older sister-'"
"-Ron happened to walk by-"
"-and Ginny married them!"
They laughed some more.
"That isn't everything though."
"Ed, Lin's younger brother, wanted to see what was happening-"
"-and Lin married Ginny and Ed!"
"We forgot tell you Harry,"
"You have competition!"
"Oh, come on! We were like seven!" Lin said.
Now Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Lin were all blushing and Lin gave Fred and George proper kicks under the table.
"So Dad, how are we getting to King's Cross?" asked Fred after composing himself.
"The Ministry is providing us a few cars for the trip," Uncle Arthur answered.
Everyone stared at him.
Why the sudden obsession with transportation from the Ministry? Just yesterday we used our own car to travel, but suddenly, they prohibit it when they heard we were coming to the Leaky Cauldron? Lin thought. Then she saw a wanted poster of Sirius Black on a wall and suddenly realized. Harry.
"Why?" Percy finally asked.
"Well because of you!" said George sounding serious. "A whole cavalry will come actually, and they will carry flags with HB on them-"
"- for Humongous Bighead," said Fred.
Everyone snorted except Percy and Aunt Molly. Even Lin's mother had to admit the joke was pretty funny.
"Why is the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked again.
Uncle Arthur and Lin's father looked at each other.
"Well because your dad, Adolfa, and I all work in the Ministry of course. They wanted to treat us for working hard," Lin's father lied, covering for Uncle Arthur.
"There are so many of us too," Lin's mother added.
"And imagine how we would have looked in the Muggle Underground with all your luggage! Everyone is packed I hope," said Aunt Molly.
"Well, Ron hasn't finished packing and dumped everything on my bed," complained Percy.
"Ron, you better go and pack. Everyone should double check too, we don't want to leave anything tomorrow," said Aunt Molly.
Lin heard a familiar rhythmic clink of fork on plate. She looked at Fred and he winked. She remembered that this was the signal Fred and George made when they wanted to discuss a prank as children.
"Well, I think we are going to do just that, Mum" Fred said as he and George rose from the table.
"Weren't you going to give me some notes you had from last year?" Lin asked them, trying to make an excuse to leave with them.
"Oh right! Thank you for reminding us," said George.
"You know Lin, I have an organized set of notes from my previous years I could lend you. I don't think these two have ever taken notes before," said Percy pompously.
"They are more like tips really," said Fred.
"Yes, I think we've got this covered," added George.
"Okay, make sure everything is packed then," Lin's mother said, eyeing them suspiciously.
They went up and decided to discuss things in the two boys' room.
"You remembered the signal! Brilliant! So, we heard that Percy made himself your official babysitter-" said Fred
"-and we had a feeling you would help us pull a small prank on him, for good measure," said George.
"Well, I don't do that anymore. I only followed you to tell you this," said Lin.
"Don't tell me you've gone soft!" said Fred.
"What happened to the girl that loved to pull pranks on Ron and Percy?" asked George.
"She was beaten out of me at DIMA, and I grew up too…" she answered.
"Come one, this one last prank!" Fred pleaded.
"For old times' sake!" George begged.
"Fine. The last one! No more after this, you hear?"
"Great! We were thinking that while we distracted Percy-"
"-you would go in, swipe his Head Boy badge, and we would improve it-"
"-to read Bighead Boy!"
They laughed but Lin somewhat smiled.
"Like I said, I straightened out. I won't just go in and steal his badge," she said.
"That is exactly what Percy believes! It's perfect," said Fred.
She looked at them and opened her mouth to say something, but they heard people coming from downstairs.
"Okay go! Too late for me to back out now I guess," she said.
They all went to their places. Lin sneaked into Ron and Percy's room, took the shiny badge from the bedside table, and left without disturbing anything. She met with Fred and George back in their room, they waved their wands at it, and it changed right in her hands. She couldn't help but laughing along with them and handed it to Fred.
"May I leave now? I don't want to be around when Percy finds out it's missing," Lin said.
"Yes, you may rest my lady. The deed is done," replied Fred.
She rolled her eyes but smiled and left the room. She entered her own room, but noticed her mother sitting on her bed, looking annoyed.
"Up to your old habits again Belinda?" her mother scolded her is Spanish.
"Don't know what you're talking about. They were just telling me a few things about Hogwarts."
There was a commotion and the voice of an angry Percy came from down the hallway.
"Right. Look Lin, I am warning you now, any problems at Hogwarts and I will hear of it, believe me. You are there to get an education, not cause disruption. Fred is a nice boy, but you can't spend too much time with him and his prankster reputation," Lin's mother said.
"You do know George is always there too? They kind of make up a package," Lin said, chuckling at her mother and opened her trunk to check over it.
"Yes, but George isn't the one you kissed two days before you 'married' Ron. That is why Fred is bitter and brings it up you know, you kind of hurt his feelings," her mother said, amused.
"Oh come one, kisses and marriages don't count at that age. Plus, George and I were playing a game of who can make the other one laugh first. I won," laughed Lin, proudly.
"Attracting pranksters runs in my side of the family, Lin. Your dad, Fred, a boy from school, unfortunately,-"
"-What? Who?-"
"-were all ensnared despite our smarts and reluctance. It doesn't have to be romantic, but when we arrive, they come," Lin's mother said chuckling as she got up to leave. "Just remember my warning. I will know what you're up to! To bed."
She closed the door and left Lin completely confused. What had she just heard from her mother? She began to laugh hard.
"Yeah, no. I don't think I will ever have a romantic relation with any of the Weasleys! I am too close to them!"
She got into her pyjamas and climbed into bed.
"This is going to be one interesting year," she said, and then drifted to sleep.
Thank you for reading! I will try to dish out a couple chapters every week.