Harry awoke with a strange feeling, one that he had never felt before, he felt as though something that was once very close to him in his childhood was coming towards him somehow. He wondered if this thing was dangerous and even if it was a what or a who. And the next thing he knew Ron's face was all he could see which wasn't very pleasant for Harry to wake up to considering Ron had extremely bad morning breath.
"Harry, your awake!" Ron said his facial expression looked as though he wanted to eat Harry. "Come on lets go get breakfast I'm starving!" Harry slowly got out of bed and Ron impatiently grabbed his wrist dragging him out of the room and down two flights of stairs to the basement. Hermione was already there her eyes planted on the door of the basement stairwell as if expecting someone to walk through at any moment. Harry and Ron sat down beside her and exchanged glances with one another. Suddenly the door opened producing a loud creaking sound forcing Ron and Harry to follow Hermione's widened eyes towards the door. A shadowed person walks through the door a smile starts to form on Hermione's face until the person walks forward so the trio could finally see the person's face, which happened to be Dumbledore.
"Oh damn it!" Hermione yelled causing everyone looked at her in wonder. "Umm…. I just really want to see my cousin." She explained.
"Yes Hermione we all do, but you must learn to be patient," He said with unusual calmness "Remus is looking for her in Romania as we speak and I'm sure that if you preoccupy yourselves time will fly exceedingly fast." He sat down and started his breakfast.
"Just as long as the preoccupying is not too loud, so you don't wake up Mrs. Black's portrait." Informed Mrs. Weasley, as she set down a plate full of delicious looking food. The three teenagers dug in until the food was gone, then they made their way up to Harry and Ron's room. Once they got there Ron got the wizards chessboard out from under his bed and Harry and Hermione teamed up against Ron producing a four-hour game, with Ron winning at the end.
"I bet my cousin would be able to beat you!" Hermione claimed.
"Yeah right!" Ron said in a very cocky tone of voice.
"Hermione?" Came a scared voice from the doorway. The trio looked over and saw a girl, the girl in Harry's dream, pale as death and too thin to be healthy. You could tell she hadn't eaten in a while; Harry started thinking of what Mrs. Weasley would do when she saw how thin she was.
"Rylee!" Hermione yelled as she got up and ran to her cousin, embracing her. Coming out of the embrace Hermione inspected Rylee with her eyes. "When did you last ate or better yet seen the light of day?" Rylee only shrugged as a reply. Rylee's shoulders were slumped and her head tilted downwards towards the ground. As Harry looked at Rylee her eyes met his then he remembered the pain he ever felt for his parents or that had been caused by Voldemort himself. Hermione followed Rylee's eyes and saw who she was looking at. "Oh how rude of me you must be wanted to know who my friends are. This is…"
"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley" she interrupted. All three of them looked at her with curiosity. "I was informed on the way here by Remus. I heard your fighting Voldemort, Harry, I would like to help you"
"Your not afraid to say his name?" Harry asked and Rylee shook her head.
"He is just a man who has a giant ego and kills anyone who denies his power." She said with disgust. She saw everyone staring at her with shock and concern, so she looked down and saw Ron's Wizard chess set " You have Wizard chess I haven't played this in a week, can we play please, please, please!" she said jumping up and down. After adjusting to the random change of topic, Harry then wondered where she got the sudden burst of energy, since she looked like she was going to fall over from weakness.
"Alright I'll play you," offered Ron " I hear your good, and I need a challenge" Rylee raised her eyebrow and dropped down to the floor in front of the set, Ron sat on the other side and they began. Harry and Hermione sat on the sidelines to watch. After they were halfway through the game it looked like Ron was going to win but then Hermione let out a soft gasp and a smile grew on her face.
"What are you smiling at?" Harry whispered so Rylee and Ron couldn't hear.
"This is her signature move" Hermione whispered back "She makes you believe that you're winning and then once you think that you've got her she kills your king out of nowhere. At least that what it seems like when you're playing her."
"Whoa!" Harry said in his normal voice so that Ron and Rylee look at him with a questioning stare. Harry then mouthed 'Sorry' so Ron and Rylee went back to their game. As the game went on Harry and Hermione tried to watched, as Rylee would distract Ron with one piece while the other moved closer to his King.
Then out of nowhere Rylee said, "Checkmate!" Ron looked at his King and saw her castle in only one move could get his king but he looked for escape routes but if he were to move his king out of the way it would in range of her bishop, knight, or queen. He had nowhere to go, the look of shock took over his once smiling face.
"How did you do that?" Ron asked in disbelief.
"A magician never reveals her secrets!" she said with mysterious mischievousness, "Are you going to move or forfeit?"
"Well seeing as that anywhere that I go I will be killed, I forfeit." Ron said
"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Rylee, Ginny" came a kind female voice from outside the door. "Time for lun…. OH MY MERLIN!" as Mrs. Weasley opened the door she saw how skinny and pale Rylee was and was horrified. Another girl about Rylee's age with red hair stood just outside and came in the room to see what her mother was yelling about now. "Rylee my dear you look as though you haven't eaten in weeks!" The red head girl rolled her eyes as her mother rambled on she could tell it would be one of those rants where Mrs. Weasley would tune out everything so she walked up to Rylee and stuck out her hand.
"Hi I'm Ginny Weasley" said Ginny shaking Rylee's hand "You must be Rylee" Rylee nodded as she looked at Mrs. Weasley with a little distress "Oh don't worry she does this to everyone she's just very maternal. Ask them." Ginny pointed to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who nod vigorously. "Mom!" Mrs. Weasley doesn't respond. "MOM!"
"What?" says Mrs. Weasley looking around seeing everyone's faces and the in the mist of the silence Ron's stomach growled. "Oh thank you for reminding me Ronald, let's go down to lunch" She exited the room and everyone followed, Rylee and Ginny were the last ones out staying behind a little bit to talk to each other. They made their way downstairs to the basement careful not to wake Mrs. Black's painting. Rylee sat In between Ginny and Hermione as they waited patiently for the food to appear in front of them. Mrs. Weasley waved her wand and the plates flew out of the kitchen and landed before the kids. It was beef smothered in gravy with a side of mash potatoes. Rylee looked at the plate with marvel and amazement and then looked up at Mrs. Weasley. "Is something wrong with it dear?"
"No nothings wrong with it, it's just…." Everyone looked at Rylee with surprise "My mom wasn't a very good cook."
"Oh well I hope you enjoy the taste as much as you enjoy the appearance." Mrs. Weasley smiled and finished placing the meal on the table with her wand.
"Oh I am sure that it will taste much better." Rylee said as she picked up her fork and dug in like an animal that hasn't eaten in weeks. Everyone copied her actions and once they were all done they had all started laughing at Ron who had dropped his plate in his lap. When a noise on the top of the stairs brought silence to the table as everyone looked to the top of the stairs to see two tall red headed boys running down the stairs with a laughing Dumbledore following slowly behind.
"Don't worry Severus, I know that type of paint, it comes off very easily." said a male voice from the front hallway.
"Gee, I wonder how you figured that out Remus." Snape said sarcastically.
Dumbledore finished coming down the stairs and look at the curious eyes staring at him and the two boys. "It appears that Fred and George spilled some Sticky Icky Blue Ink Paint on Severus… but no worries Remus is helping him remove the ink." his eyes wondered over to Rylee and down to her plate which was empty "Rylee, may I speak with you privately?" Rylee nodded and got up from her seat and followed Dumbledore up the stairs, where she disappeared from everyone's view. After they were finished with their lunch they went upstairs and Ginny joined Harry and Hermione in the effort of playing Wizard Chess against Ron but they keep losing. An hour later Rylee reappeared from her discussion with Dumbledore just when Mrs. Weasley called Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to help cleaned the drawing room leaving Rylee and Harry alone.
"So, can you teach me how to beat Ron at Wizards Chess?" asked Harry, who was trying to come up with something more to say.
"Sure, but first I need to know your weaknesses so you need to play me… don't worry I'll go easy on you." Rylee smiled slyly as she set up the chess pieces on the board. As they played Harry tried to distract Rylee by striking up a conversation.
"What's the boarding school in Romania called?" Harry asked.
"There isn't one, in fact there's no wizarding school in Romania..." Seeing the look of confusion on Harry's face she continued, "I was home schooled by my mother."
"Well then Hogwarts is going to seem a little weird to you at first." Harry said while he took her bishop.
"Not necessarily, if Hogwarts is going to seem like my home and I'm being taught there..." Harry gave her a puzzled look. "It would be exactly like home schooling only my mom won't be teaching me."
"I have another question for you."
"Shoot" Rylee said as she took Harry's queen.
"It's kind of off topic, but I notice that when you were playing chess with Ron earlier that your thinking process is more outside the box then the average Wizard... or Witch." Rylee giggled and Harry turned pink now embarrassed with what he said.
"My mother told me that when I was little..." All of a sudden the brightness that was in her eyes darkened to a sorrow, which made Harry regret ever saying a word to her. "Check." Harry didn't hear her last word, just wanting to sit and stare at the board but his mouth had another idea.
"Do know why Voldemort is after you?" Rylee looked up shocked at the sudden change of topic and shook her head. "Sorry, it just came out." She smiled to reassure him that she was fine.
"It's fine I really don't care why Voldemort is after me. Just as long as he doesn't kill anymore of my family, not that there's much more family for him to kill... Oh and by the way check mate." Harry looked down at the chessboard in alarm.
"Hey! I thought you were going to go easy on me!"
"I did!" She said trying her hardest not to laugh at him.
Later that night while Harry lay in his bed listen to Ron's powerful snores in the bed next to his. He realized something about Rylee made him feel more complete then he had been before, like hole created from his parents death was slowly filling up. He thought all night about her arrival and the way she lit up when she noticed the chess game and when she quickly sat down on the floor the way her hair floated down slowly and gracefully. And then it hit him he had a crush on Hermione's younger cousin! He smiled as he slowly fell asleep fully content.
The next morning Harry felt hands grab his shoulders and shake him until he opened his eyes to find Rylee kneeling next to his bed. He immediately felt his face heat up and he assumed that his face also turned a red color, causing his heart rate to speed up. Rylee stop shaking him and sat back on her feet waiting for him to wake up fully before speaking.
"Mrs. Weasley told me to wake you up for breakfast." She told him as he reached for his glasses and put them on. He notice that Rylee was already dressed and wearing her shoes.
"Why is breakfast so early?" He asked, rolling over so that his side was on the edge of the bed as Rylee stood up.
"Well one of the reasons is that we are going to Diagon Alley today to get our school supplies." Harry nodded, acknowledging that he already knew this. "But the reason we are going this early is because Mrs. Weasley wants to back before lunch."
"Why?" Harry half whined. He was pretty much annoyed that he had to wake up early during the summer.
"Because it's my birthday today..." At that Harry jumped causing him to move an inch forward falling out of bed. After a moments pause to adjust to what just happened Rylee continued slowly. "And she wants time to make the cake before she has to start dinner. Are you okay?"
"It's your birthday today? And no one told me!" Harry yelled.
"Harry, calm down" Came a female voice from the doorway. Hermione had heard the thump from Harry falling off the bed and had rushed up the stairs to make sure everyone was all right. "You still have time to get her a present at Diagon Alley and you could still give it to her today, since her birthday is for a whole day not just an hour." Harry glared at Hermione resulting Hermione glaring back.
"Okay guys lets give the glaring a rest and go eat breakfast." Rylee said as she stepped in between Harry and Hermione. "Harry just get dressed and meet us downstairs so we can go." Rylee said as she pulled Hermione out of the room. Harry got dressed and ran downstairs making as little noise as he could until he got to the basement where he sat next to Rylee. "Wow you get dressed pretty fast" Rylee said to Harry "That was like two minutes…. Where's Ron?"
"He was brushing his teeth the last time that I saw him" Harry replied
"Well now I'm down here about to eat my breakfast." said Ron as he finished walking down the stairs.
"Well I know why Ron dressed really fast," Rylee watched Harry as she spoke "It was because he was really hungry, but what was your reason to do so, Harry?"
"I don't know I guess I just did it with out knowing" Nodding she accepted his answer and started debating homeschooling and boarding school with Ginny. Hermione leaned closer to Harry, so she could whisper in his ear.
"I guess you really want to get her a present" Harry blushed and looked over at Rylee to see if she heard Hermione, but she was to deep in a debate with Ginny to have heard any thing so Harry sighed in relief. As soon as everyone was done with their breakfast they slowly made their way up to the fireplace, where Mrs. Weasley grabbed a handful of flu powder and gave it to Rylee.
"The place is called Diagon Alley, make sure you speak the words clearly." Rylee nodded and stepped into the fireplace.
"Diagon Alley" She shouted as the flu powder was thrown down and the green flames engulfed her body. Once the smoke cleared Harry stepped in next repeating every deed Rylee had done before him and disappeared. Next was Ginny then Hermione, Ron, and finally Mrs. Weasley. They walk out into Diagon Alley where Rylee looked around with awe as Hermione pointed things out to her on their way to Gringotts. Once they got their money Mrs. Weasley brought them outside of Flourish and Blots book shop and turned to face them.
"All right now this is where you can part into your different groups but remember to be careful and stick together."
"But Mrs. Weasley we don't have any magic permanent stick glue!" Harry looked at Rylee as she said this with a very serious face and looked back to Mrs. Weasley who shook her head with a smile creeping upon her lips.
"Come on Rylee since you're in my year we can get our stuff together." Ginny grabbed Rylee's arm and pulled her away into the store. Rylee's head turn and she wave at the trio before she vanished.
"Wow looks like Rylee has made a friend already." Harry look astonished at Hermione as she finished speaking.
"Well what you expect she's friendly, she's observant, she's funny, she's…"
"Yeah we get it Harry you basically have a crush on my cousin" Hermione started walking towards the bookstore. Harry shook his head smiling as he and Ron followed Hermione into the bookstore and the rest of their destinations as well. "Well I think we're done let's go back to the bookstore to meet everyone." Harry remembered something and stopped.
"I'll meet you guys there I forgot to get something." And with that Harry ran off in the opposite direction as Hermione and Ron. Hermione shrugged and dragged Ron back to Flourish and Blots where Mrs. Weasley, Rylee, and Ginny were waiting patiently.
"Where's Harry? I thought I told everyone to stick together."
"Hey mum maybe they ran out of glue." Rylee and Ginny start laughing until Mrs. Weasley gave them a stern look. Hermione noticed that the two of them where having trouble holding in their laughter.
"Mrs. Weasley, Harry told us that he had forgot something and that he would meet us here I'm sure he'll be along any min…"
"Sorry bout the wait I had to grab something at Fred and George's" Harry had appeared suddenly making almost everyone jump. Rylee's eyes wondered to a medium sized box with holes on the top that Harry was holding.
"What's that?" Rylee pointed to the box.
"Curiosity killed the cat you know." Rylee rolled her eyes at Harry and followed Mrs. Weasley to the chimney of which they had entered and they Flooed back to the Grimmauld Place.