Last time...

"About that." She grimaced. "I live with magic hating muggles? Owls might be a problem."

"You're a problem, Potter." Draco countered. She'd just snorted, grinned like a loon, and left for her table. He looked back to Blaise. "What just happened?"

"You just made a potential ally of Potter." Blaise replied, almost sounding impressed considering Draco had in no way engineered that. "That's what just happened."

Chapter 7

"Harry Potter." the little creature whispered reverently, standing on her bed…wearing what looked like a pillowcase. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, Miss…Such an honour it is."

She was going to have to send a message through that vanishing box thing. Whatever or whoever this was had managed to get through the wards. Could she have them upgraded? She should at least be able to justify having additions to them. That something could invade her home like this did nothing to make her feel secure. To be fair, nothing about living with the Dursleys made her feel secure, and she was pretty much on high alert all the time.

"Uh…who are you?" Hera asked, backing into the door, eyes wide as she stares at the intruder.

"Dobby, Miss. Just Dobby. Dobby the house elf." the creature stated enthusiastically.

"I wasn't really expecting visitors, or else I might have tidied up a bit." She replied somewhat awkwardly. "Is there a reason why you're here though?"

"Oh, yes, Miss." Dobby nodded earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you…it is difficult…Dobby wonders where to begin…"

"The beginning is usually best, unless you want to start in the middle, which might be awkward. Starting at the end works too, but only if you're willing to go through the pain of prequels." Hera replied without thinking. She wasn't sure the little guy was aware she was being sarcastic, but it was too late to turn back now.

"Harry Potter has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn her…" Dobby whispers almost ominously. "Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."

It takes her a minute to even process that.

"Uh…Why?" Hera asks.

"There is a plot, most dangerous. Harry Potter must not go. Must stay where she is safe." Dobby insisted.

Okay, so it's going to be one of those days. They seem to happen a lot now. Oh well. Only one way to deal with it.

"Alright." She agrees. "Harry Potter will not go to Hogwarts."

He's so delighted that he gives her the mail he'd been holding back from her, and pops away without another word. She's kinda shocked she actually had mail, partly because she had warned people that the Dursleys were magic haters, and would view owl post as an infringement on their normalcy. She'd agreed that Harry Potter would not go to Hogwarts. After all, She was not Harry Potter, and she would be going to Hogwarts. Perhaps he should have stuck around to see her write a note to Gringotts about the loop holes in the Blood Wards she lived under, sticking it in the vanishing box they'd given her for secure banking purposes.

"Psst." She looks up, and suddenly Ron's head is sticking out of thin air. "Flying Ford Angela, invisible at the moment. You want in? We're staging a rescue."

Well, today was certainly eventful.

"My stuff is downstairs, locked in my old ro…I mean the cupboard under the stairs." She whispered back.

She'd only managed to keep the vanishing box, her wand, and her cloak away from Dursley hands. The trunk wouldn't have fit in her bag, and she wasn't sure if she could shrink it and expand it at home with the whole no doing magic at home thing. The Vanishing box was small enough to fit in a pocket. The cloak she'd hid in Dudley's old cast offs, and it wasn't like they had thought to strip search her. She'd put the wand in a fake seam, after transfiguring a stick to look like her wand at school.

That had been a good thing too, because Uncle Vernon had snapped it as soon as they got home, right before locking up the trunk, and threatening to kill Hedwig. Maybe she could ask someone about the shrinking and unshrinking charms for her trunk,…and get a fake trunk so Uncle Vernon could still feel important when he threw it out. It would have been too suspicious to come back with nothing, and would be even more so if she suddenly had nothing to bring home.

"Not a problem." One of the twins whispered back.

"They're having a dinner party!" She hissed back.

"Okay. Maybe a slight problem." The same twin amended. "Hang on, coming in." Then he's through the window. "Lead on."

The car is quiet, so quiet she hadn't even heard it before Ron called for her attention, but she agrees and hesitantly opens the door to her room.

"If you can keep things quiet, I can keep us unseen." She whispers to him. The twin nods, but then his jaw hangs open when she whips out the invisibility cloak. Fred then. George already knew about the cloak, and had been sworn to secrecy. "Remember, not a sound."

Fred casts a spell over them, now that they're covered, and the two cautiously make it down the stairs. She holds the cloak over them while he picks the lock on the door, casts a few charms on the trunk that has it floating a bit, carefully closes the door, locks it back, and they make their way back up the stairs. Ron helps Fred with the trunk into the invisible Ford Angela. She'd taken off the cloak and stashed it before they entered her room again, and gives a sharp look to Fred, which he'd nodded in understanding. A surprised Ron would not be able to hold back from asking about it, and that was the last thing they needed right then.

Being in that car, even though she can't see it, is the safest she's felt all summer, and she manages a bit of sleep. At least, she had felt safe until they got to where Ron called 'The Burrow'. With an angry shouting red headed woman in full rampage mode, Hera did the only thing that made sense. She panicked, somehow winding up in a small enclosed space she hoped no one could find her in, and passed out. When she came to, it was to the soothing smells of tea and biscuits. Mrs. Weasley was cautiously bringing a tray of things to her, and Hera found herself camped out on the settee.

"How did I…" Hera starts, but then groans when she realizes she's done something freakish again.

"Best to take is slow, Dear." Mrs. Weasley advised as she sat the tea service down on the coffee table. "You had a burst of accidental magic, I think, and apparated into one of the upstairs closets."

"Mate, that was bloody brilliant!" Ron crowed, bursting into the room at that moment, only she startled…and it happened again.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! What did I say about barging in here like some common hooligan?" She hears as she curls in on herself in what must be the pantry.

"How did she survive Gryffindor Tower last year?" One of the twins asks, cutting through their mother's no doubt lengthy rant on Ron's manners. "I don't remember her being so skittish."

"I don't room with her, for one." Ron replied nonchalantly. "Mione says Hera is always the last one awake in the dorm, but somehow the first one up. I don't think she sleeps much."

"Hera?…" Mrs. Weasley softly called, now much closer to the pantry than before. "Can you come out now?"

"I don't think I can move." Hera admitted sheepishly, causing a flurry of snickering as Mrs. Weasley opened the door.

That began her introduction to the Weasley clan. She already liked Fred and George, or Gred and Forge as you like, pranksters extraordinaire. She seemed to gain a lot more respect from Percy with that rant at the end of last year. Ginny had blushed the moment she saw her, which was nice and awkward all at once. Bill and Charlie were out of the country, all grown now, but Molly didn't need to know that Hera had already met Charlie. The only one she hadn't met practically right away was Mr. Weasley, who asked all kinds of questions about eclectictry.

"You're the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts?" Hera asked, trying not to let her doubt show on her face. She weeps internally for the state of the rest of the Ministry.

"I have a shed filled with muggle things, if you wouldn't mind taking a look with me? I'd love a perspective from someone who's actually grown up in a muggle home." He replies enthusiastically.

"Arthur! I'm sure she doesn't want-" Mrs. Weasley began, but Hera can already see the resignation in his eyes. He's used to having his enthusiasm stomped on by well meaning family members.

"I'd love to!" Hera blurted, unable to stand seeing that look. She took him by the arm, and lead him out before Mrs. Weasley could stop them. "While we're at it, I'll go over how they pronounce certain things, so you don't go raising suspicions from muggles while you're out. I imagine that's a hazard of the job."

The man instantly looks like he's been given the best Christmas ever, so she feels a little guilty for thinking so scathingly of him before.

The next day…

"De-gnoming a garden?" Hera's ever present curiosity really wants to know what that is, and how to go about it.

As it turned out, garden gnomes were nothing like those things people put in their yards. They were small leathery looking things, with knobby bald heads that sort of reminded her of a potato. She'd gone to try to inspect one closely, and discovered that they bite. The de-gnoming made a lot more sense now. Ron showed her what they do; which was pretty much just get them dizzy, and then toss them as hard as one can.

She wouldn't have tried to throw the first one she found so hard had Ron not also made the comment about girls not being able to throw very far. It was an offhanded comment, and to be fair she still had noodles for arms, but it annoyed her nonetheless. Grabbing the first gnome she found, Hera swung it enough to get it dizzy, and then tossed it for all she was worth. The little thing soared well beyond the hedge they were using as a goal point, and far into the next field. The Weasley children sort of stopped what they were doing, and stared at her in shock for a moment.

"Uh…Oops?"

The air was soon thick with flying gnomes, each trying to out do Hera's throws.

There were many things about the Weasley household to marvel at. The bathroom mirror mouthed off at her before she was fully awake to understand there wasn't someone behind her. The ghoul in the attic howled and dropped pipes whenever he felt things were getting too quiet, and hearing explosions coming from Fred and George's room was a regular occurrence. What she found most unusual wasn't the talking mirror or the ghoul: It was the fact that everyone there seemed to like her.

She was convinced Mrs. Weasley was trying to make up for all the meals the Dursleys never let her have. It was a shock that a family actually wanted her to sit at the table with them, let alone to eat with them. School was different somehow. Mr. Weasley quizzed her on muggle items, and how things worked. One day, she hoped that she could get him to not talk about muggles like they're fish in an aquarium. He doesn't seem to realize he's doing it, so it's hard to be mad at him for it.

Ginny is nervous and shy around her, but Hera quickly confides in her that she isn't friends with many girls, and it would be nice to have another friend. After that, the younger girl talks with her a little bit more. She's still shy, still blushes whenever she catches Hera's eyes, but it's a start. Percy doesn't talk much either, keeps to his room most of the day, only coming out for meal times. He's civil with her, if unsure of how to react to her.

"Mrs. Weasley, would it be alright if I buy Ginny her wand?" Hera asked, as Mrs. Weasley was worrying over all the books they were going to have to buy. She was weird about money, and knew they would be too, so she'd have to tread carefully. "It's just…You've all been so nice, letting me stay here…"

"You don't have to do that, Hera dear." Mrs. Weasley explained, looking a bit flustered.

"I know, but I wanted to do something nice, and I'm sure it will help her with her casting to have a wand attuned to her. That counts on grades." Hera insisted. "Besides, I'd like to stop by Ollivanders anyway, see if they have anything for wand care and theft prevention."

"I really don't want you to think you have to buy us." Mrs. Weasley stated, a little uncomfortable about it. "We're nice to you because you're a good kid, and you're friends with Ron, not because you're rich and famous."

"I wasn't trying to…I just…You weren't expecting me, and you've been so nice…"

She was still getting use to people being nice to her at all, that she hadn't thought trying to be s generous guest would be seen like that, and now she was the one blushing in embarrassment. This was awful.

After their venture into Ollivander's, Mrs. Weasley let them lose on Diagon Alley. Knowing she wouldn't get the chance to do any Christmas shopping when the time came, unless she asked Professor McGonagall for assistance again, she took this time to buy gifts she hoped would be appreciated. She was dreading the visit to the book store, a trip she would normally look forward to, having seen the crowd of people swarming the place. Hera didn't really care for crowds all that much. In fact, when they got there, Hera ducked behind the bookshelves rather than deal with the crowd at all.

It's from this vantage point that she sees Gilderoy Lockhart announce that he'd be taking the position of the DADA professor this year. Hermione looks absolutely starstruck, and Hera sighed in exasperation. She thought she had smarter friends. To be fair, she also hadn't expected Mrs. Weasley to be taken in by such a cad either, as she seemed to be a no-nonsense sort of woman. There's something about him that just pings wrong to her.

It is also from this vantage point that she can see the fight Mr. Weasley gets into it with Mr. Malfoy. Even if Mrs. Weasley loudly objects to the fight, and scolds him afterwords, the way he made Mr. Malfoy's head snap back like that was impressive. She also sees it when Mr. Malfoy slips in a small black book in with the others of Ginny's cauldron. It is the easiest thing in the world to offer to help carry Ginny's things on their way back, to take the little black journal that had been hidden in one of the books. She had not, however, anticipated getting caught.

"What are you doing?"

She tensed before turning around, holding the diary she'd meant to replace the black book with.

"I got these at the book shop, and I wanted to sneak it into your cauldron before you noticed. It's a diary, charmed so that it never runs out of pages, and once you open it, it will attune itself to your magic." Hera explained nervously. "I remember what it was like when I first got to Hogwarts, and I wished I'd had something like this. In fact, I bought one for me too, and another for Hermione."

She pulls out another one from her bag.

"I was going to sneak this into her bag later."

"And you're sneaking around about it because…" Ginny asked, suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at her. Okay, to be fair, the story was weak.

"I'm not used to having money, and my friends are weird about me buying them gifts, like they think I'm trying to buy their friendship." Hera groaned, slumping her shoulders. "I didn't even know that was a trap I could fall into, or that other people would try to exploit it. I just want to be nice. Have a diary."

And with that, she quickly shoved diary she'd tried to sneak into Ginny's cauldron into the girl's hands, and ran out of the room.

So the little creature Dobby had caught on to his mistake, she realized when they could not get onto the platform. They weren't going to get to school that way, and for some odd reason Mrs. Weasley had gone ahead of them. She wouldn't be able to make it back that way. Ron and Hera shrugged, and made their way back to the Ford Angela to wait. Maybe it would let Mrs. Weasley back through if they were gone.

"You ever drove a car before?" Ron asked, eyeing the car in contemplation.

"Read the manual a bunch of times, because I got bored at the Dursleys." Hera shrugged. "You?"

Ron shook his head. "Mum would never let me. Watched Fred and George muck about with it though. I think I could remember what they did."

"But your Mom and Dad…" Hera countered. "How will they get home?"

"They don't need the car! We do!" Ron exclaimed impatiently. "They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with…what are you doing?"

"Writing a letter to send with Hedwig." Hera replied, already digging through her trunk.

"Why can't we just take the car?" Ron groans in frustration. "By the time they even get the letter, we could have been there already."

"You want to take the car? Go for it. I am not risking expulsion just because you want to take your dad's car for a joyride." She snapped. Ron huffed and crossed his arms, settling in for a good brood against the car.

...

"Still would have been cool." Ron grumbles under his breath, some time later. Hera sighs, but doesn't deny it.

"Yes, it would have been cool, but can we save that stunt for when we actually know how to drive?" She allows, and the two share a small grin. "Hermione would kill us otherwise."

...

Several hours later, and nothing's happened. No one has come for them. Hedwig had left ages ago. Every so often, Ron would suggest the car. Every time he did that, Hera would say no. Ronald was beginning to lose his temper, and Hera didn't know how much longer she could stand listening to him.

"I say we should take the car." He declared.

"And I said no." Hera shot back.

"It's my families car, not yours!" Ron shouted, having finally lost his temper. "If I want to drive it, I will!"

"I should hope not, Mr. Weasley." Came the cold voice of one Professor Snape, as he strolled up to them. "Now, someone will be along to pick up the car shortly. You two will be coming with me."