Harry smiled to himself as he stepped into the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron, new trunk pulled behind him. His birthday present from the Dursleys, as it turned out, was a new trunk that Aunt Petunia had actually gone into Diagon Alley to buy for him (holding his wand was apparently enough to let her see the Leaky Cauldron, whose location she knew from when his Mom had gone to get her school things) which had both expansion and featherweight charms on it to help him deal with all the school things he needed to take with him. Uncle Vernon had driven him here and dropped him off, and was currently waiting for him in the bookstore next to the Leaky Cauldron for when he had finished his shopping. It had almost looked for a moment that Vernon would accompany Harry into the pub if not the Alley, but Harry had seen how difficult it was for his Uncle and suggested waiting in the bookstore. Vernon had been obviously relieved at the suggestion, but Harry was touched that he'd been preparing himself to face down that much magic to support him. Tapping his wand on the correct brick, Harry focused on that happiness as he stepped into the Alley.

His first stop was Gringotts, where he gathered some funds for his supplies this year from his vault. He hadn't been sure how much to take - especially given how many books by a specific author he needed to get, one he didn't recognize - so he had asked his goblin guide for advice on how much he should take, showing the supplies list to explain his needs. The goblin had seemed both surprised and pleased to be asked, and after glancing around carefully for some reason, had indicated the expected prices of the supplies he needed to get, along with a few suggestions on what he could say if anyone tried to overcharge him. He'd happily thanked him for the advice...and wondered why it was that the goblins in the bank seemed to look oddly at him on his way out.

Any thoughts in that regard were wiped from his mind, however, when just outside the bank a familiar form all but tackled him from his feet in a tight embrace. "Hi Harry!" Penny squealed happily as she nuzzled into him yet again, Harry rapidly returning the embrace.

"Hey Penny!" he greeted warmly in return. "Doing your school shopping today, too?"

"Yup!" Penny agreed happily. "We're meeting the Weasleys and the Grangers, too! Mom's getting money from the family vault just now, and everyone else is waiting at Fortescue's! I came running when my compass pinged you, though!"

Chuckling at that, Harry turned to walk with her towards the ice cream parlor. "Somehow I'm certain everyone else already knows you found me, then." He frowned as a thought struck him. "They aren't upset about me not contacting them, are they?"

"Nah!" Penny hastily reassured him. "They were more concerned, honestly, but I was able to let everyone know that it was part of your agreement with your family not to send mail with Hedwig, and that regular post got delayed. It's a good thing I was able to let them know, though. Apparently, Ron was so worried about not hearing from you that he was this close to goading Fred and George into staging some sort of daring rescue, convinced your relatives had you imprisoned or something."

"Seriously?" Harry asked, torn between disbelief and surprised affection. Ron was one of his closest friends, but he hadn't thought Ron was the sort to get that overwrought just from a lack of contact.

"To be fair," Fred suddenly spoke up as the twins sprang up to either side of them as they came in sight of the ice cream parlor, "it was the fact you weren't writing to Penny that convinced us something was up."

"We know how annoying Ron can be without meaning to, so ghosting him was only mildly concerning," George added playfully, laughing as they all heard Ron's quiet mutter of, "Prats."

"But there's no way you'd not be in contact with Penny if there was a choice," Fred continued, nodding confidently.

"No way you'd miss out on owl delivered cuddles, that's for sure," George agreed with a teasing smirk.

"Hoo," Hedwig agreed as she flew in from somewhere, alighting gently on Harry's shoulder as she arrived, burrowing slightly into Penny's tail where it was wrapped around him.

"Maybe for next summer you should convince your Aunt and Uncle to at least let Hedwig deliver to Penny," Hermione pointed out with an amused smirk as the group arrived. "Somehow I doubt she'd run into whatever hurdle delayed the rest of your post."

"Hoo," Hedwig confirmed smugly, puffing up her breast and making her feathers fluff in pride.

"I swear, she must be related to Archy," Penny muttered under her breath.

"Archy?" Harry asked curiously.

"Great Uncle Merry's owl," Penny explained readily. "Oldest and smartest owl I've ever met, and the way Hedwig acts reminds me of him sometimes."

"Is he still active at his age?" Percy asked curiously. "I know Errol's getting on in years and has started having trouble with deliveries..."

"Oh, he complains plenty about pain in his joints or other issues, but that doesn't stop him from running deliveries if he's needed," Penny reminisced affectionately. "And heaven help anyone or anything he encounters that gets in his way." She tapped her chin in thought. "He never did explain where he got that feather he came back with from the Americas that one time, other than muttering about a young upstart. Great Uncle Merry uses it to run his centrifuge."

"Your owl talks?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Something he picked up over the years, apparently," Penny allowed with a shrug. Not thinking too much more about it, she dug in her pockets and pulled out her supplies list. "So who's this Gilderoy Lockheart fellow who wrote all this year's books?"

"He's a really famous adventurer!" Mrs. Weasley answered warmly. "He's faced off against dark and dangerous creatures all across the globe, and written about it all in his books!"

"Why are they course books, though?" Harry asked uncertainly. "Seems like an odd thing for school."

"Especially since it's apparently for all years," Fred pointed out with a frown.

"And all of them for all years," George agreed thoughtfully.

"Bet whoever the DADA teacher is this year is a fan," Ron pointed out dryly, setting the twins to chuckling.

Harry rolled his eyes at their antics as he took a seat, unsurprised when Penny immediately slipped into his lap. He did notice when the youngest of the red heads - a girl he hadn't been introduced to - gave the pair of them a very odd look, one he couldn't make sense of. "And you are?" he asked curiously.

The young girl let out a startled squeak before diving behind Mrs. Weasley, causing Ron, Fred and George to laugh. "That's Ginny," Ron introduced. "Pretty sure she's got a bit of a crush on you." Another distressed squeak echoed from behind Mrs. Weasley.

"That's adorable!" Penny cooed happily as she nuzzled into Harry...very confused when this led to several of the adults present laughing.

"Speaking of new members of the family," Percy began thoughtfully, "by any chance did either of you have anything to do with us suddenly gaining a house-elf?"

"What?" Penny asked in surprise as Harry blinked in thought.

"Wait...did Dobby actually switch families like Penny suggested?" Harry questioned thoughtfully.

"Apparently so," Mrs. Weasley confirmed, an odd frown on her face. "The poor dear showed up at our door and said that he was now our house-elf, and asked to be given his uniform so he could work for us. The poor dear was shivering and covered in injuries, and I insisted on treating them first."

"The look on his face when Mum gave him a Weasley jumper of his own for his uniform was...honestly heart-breaking," Fred observed thoughtfully.

"The way he's been acting...get the feeling whoever he used to work for deserves worse than whatever's coming to them," George added darkly.

"But he's safe with us now!" Ron confirmed fiercely. "We'll look after him, no worries there." He failed to notice Hermione directing a warm smile his way at his statement.

"Though I fear I will have to ask what he was talking about with his hobbies," Mrs. Weasley murmured under her breath, glancing into her coin pouch and frowning at the contents. "At least where all this came from...what under the sun is 'day trading' supposed to be...?"

Harry wasn't sure why Penny buried her face in his shoulder to giggle at that, but he wasn't going to complain or question. Already the new school year was off to an enjoyable start.