Chapter 3

Later that evening, we retired to the living room, where much joking ensued. It was fun listening and laughing and occasionally saying a little bit, but mostly I just listened. I was still shy around the people I'd only just met.

It began to get to be near bedtime for us younger ones, and Mrs. Weasley herded us off to our rooms. As we went up the stairs, I saw Victoire and Teddy sneaking outside together. Of course I had to discuss this with Ella and Rose.

"Probably snogging," Rose said, "I've seen them before. Actually, we all have, at some point. They do it all the time. James was the first one to catch them, and when he told us, no one was surprised. It'd be great if they got married. He'd actually be related to us then!"

There was a knock on the door. Rose opened it and let Al in. "Ella, Mae, I want to show you something. Before the adults go to bed," he said, motioning for us to come with him.

"That won't be for awhile…," said Rose, but she came anyway.

"What is it?" Ella asked as we quietly walked up more stairs.

We arrived at a door to a room we hadn't been in before. "This is my parents' room, and before that, it was Sirius's room."

Ella and I exchanged glances before entering. We'd heard all about Sirius Black. He was accused of being a mass murderer for ages until everything was explained after the fall of Voldemort.

The room was tidy, with light blue wallpaper decorated with shiny swirls covering the walls and cream coloured curtains and bed coverings. "The wallpaper covers the posters Sirius put up with a Permanent Sticking Charm. Well, it covers everything but this."

Al pointed to a small framed picture. It showed four teenage boys, which Al explained to be James Potter, who was Al's grandfather, plus Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Teddy's father Remus Lupin.

"Mum cut a hole in the wallpaper and framed it. Dad was really pleased," Al said, looking intently at the moving photograph.

"It always makes me so sad," Rose said. "They look so happy. None of them knew what would happen to them. Now they're all gone."

"Let's go," I said. "I don't want to get in trouble."

"We won't… well, maybe we would, but let's go anyway," Al said.

We returned to our room and fell asleep to the soothing sounds of drunken laughter.

The next day I was awakened by a loud bang, followed by a lot of yelling from Mrs. Weasley. Rose, Ella, and I all jumped out of bed and raced towards the noise, coming from the front hall. Mrs. Weasley was shouting at a tall ginger-haired man, who was laughing hysterically. The rest of the family soon appeared, some looking confused, others tired, but most were amused.

Mrs. Weasley was roaring, "-going to wake the whole house! Oh, look, now you've done it! You're lucky we got that dreadful screaming portrait out of here or we'd never be able to shut her up! What were you thinking? Never mind, you weren't, of course…"

"Just like old times," Uncle Bill said, grinning as he stepped forward and wrapped the man in a bear hug. "Great to see you, George."

Mr. Weasley was close behind, and Mrs. Weasley's ranting faded until she smiled and hugged her son.

"Uncle George! Uncle George!" Lily and Hugo pushed their way through to their uncle. "We've got new friends to show you!"

George smiled and allowed Lily to tug him by the arm to Ella and me. "Hello, new friends," he said. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought of what it would be like if there were two of him.

"This is Ella, and this is Mae," Lily said, looking as though she felt very important. George barely had time to shake our hands before Hugo was dragging him off to see something in the room he was sharing with Al.

"Al, girls, why don't you change, and then we'll have some breakfast," Mrs. Weasley said to us.

"What 'screaming portrait' was Mrs. Weasley talking about?" I asked.

"Oh, that," Rose said, waving her hand dismissively, "There's this portrait of Sirius Black's mother that used to hang at the end of the entrance hall, and if you made any noise the curtains flew apart and she'd start screaming about Mudbloods. They couldn't get it off the wall because there was a Permanent Sticking Charm on it. Finally, they just tore down the wall and then rebuilt it."

"Where's the portrait now?" Ella asked.

"In Azkaban, with all her precious 'purebloods' that turned out to be Death Eaters," Al answered.

We dressed quickly and rushed to have a large breakfast with "Uncle George". Rose was right: he was hilarious! Ella laughed so hard pumpkin juice came out of her nose, causing another fit of laughter for everyone else.

The next several days where brimming with amusement and fun. I most enjoyed visiting the Burrow, home of the Weasleys. We passed most of our time playing Quidditch in the backyard. The teams were always James, Ella, and Lily against Al, Hugo, and me. Al had inherited not only Harry's looks, but also Harry's Seeker skills. James was a better Chaser, and so was I. Ella had a dead-on aim when it came to being the Beater, but she much preferred Chasing or Keeping. Lily and Hugo were still learning how to ride a broom, and spent most of the games aimlessly chasing each other until they fell off.

Because we spent so much time together, Rose had become quite good friends with Ella and me. It was fun to talk about girly things late at night, and with another female friend, I still had someone to talk to when Ella had already fallen asleep.

All too soon, we had to go home. Ella and I said goodbye to the Potters and Weasleys, and left the pleasantly noisy house to return to our quiet homes. We owled each other all summer to keep in touch. My poor owl, Layla, became quiet exhausted and had to be given a long holiday from flying.

One morning, I found a letter from Hogwarts waiting for me on the table. It was my second year school list. I owled Al and Ella right away, and by late afternoon we arranged to meet at Diagon Alley the next day.


I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Of course, all Harry Potter characters belong to JK Rowling. All other characters (aka Ella, Mae, and such) are mine.