Things were looking up for Harry. Hogwarts was everything he had hoped for and more. Harry had found a home in this strange and odd castle. He conversed frequently with the talking paintings and ghosts, and found the shifting staircase frustrating, but endearing. With moving knights and enchanted ceilings, the feeling of magic was everywhere. Harry felt as though a missing part of him was found every time he held his wand; A hidden past that was being revealed to him with each spell he cast.

Ron was his best friend. Sure, he could be blunt and obnoxious sometimes, but he always stood by Harry. He had helped him stand up to Malfoy and offered to be his second. Though Harry had no idea what that meant, he appreciated the gesture. Turned out Malfoy was too much of a coward to show up to the duel anyway. Not only that, but they were able to evade the teachers and a giant three-headed dog without getting caught. Talk about luck! Then, to top it all, when he stood up to Malfoy a couple of weeks ago, he was chosen to be the first 1st year to join the quidditch team in the school's history.

His hand caressed the woodwork of his new ride, the Nimbus Two Thousand. Harry smirked, remembering Malfoy's stunned face when he first saw the broom. This year couldn't get any better, Harry thought. He shifted his gaze over at the bushy-haired girl sitting across from him reading a book. Well, almost couldn't get any better. Hermione had been with the boys when they discovered the three-headed dog, and she did not enjoy her near-death experience. Since that night, she would often send condescending glares at the pair in hopes that they would feel a sense of remorse for breaking the rules. Her efforts were ignored.

A tapping on the glass brought Harry out of his musings from his place on a plush armchair. Looking over at the window, he spotted Hedwig waiting patiently but tiredly for admittance into the common room.

Blimey, that took way longer than I expected, he thought, unlatching the window. Hedwig hopped in and flopped onto Harry's lap in exhaustion. Laying on his lap, the owl poked her foot up in the air and looked at Harry expectantly. Harry quickly untied the letters attached and gave her a fond pat. The owl remained in his lap tiredly with her wings spread out. Harry took a moment to stare at the normally graceful bird in shock at her careless display of fatigue. He tore open the first note and knew from the neat loopy handwriting that it was Jazz.

Harry,

I miss you so much! Middle school is so much better than elementary. So far, we started learning about the brain in Science class. Did you know that many cases of mental illnesses are due to an imbalance in the chemicals that are released throughout the body? And negative emotions like fear and sadness trigger our memory connections which cause us to remember bad memories more than our good ones. Not only that, but fear can even distort the happy memories we have. It's given me a lot to think about on how I can help my future patients. It'll be an uphill battle, but I'm excited to accept the challenge. I'm really looking forward to using the information to guide my research. We'll have a session when you come home for Christmas ;)

We all miss you here at home. Danny spent the first few weeks moping around, but it looks like he's finally adjusting to the change. Dash is in his class this year, but it looks like he's the only one in there that picks on him. Recently, Mom and Dad have been spending time outside of the lab. I think they are taking your absence hard too and decided to spend more time with us. It's a nice change. Though, Mom's cooking is still a life-threatening disaster - literally!

Having class without you is really strange. Hank asks about you a lot. Wants to know why the only semi-normal Fenton left. If only he knew you went off to a magic school to learn about casting spells and making potions! How is Hogwarts? From your letter it sounds like you are doing well and making friends. I'm really glad you're finding your place there and it seems like you are excelling. That's my little brother!

Love,

Jazz

P.S. Thanks for the chocolate! Looks like Danny ate most of it, but the chocolate frogs were delicious, though hard to catch. I think I'll pass next time on the jelly beans. The first one I ate was vomit and then I got dirt - bleh!

Harry chuckled and traced a hand over Jazz's letter. He missed having her comfortable and confident presence around. He'd love to see her and Hermione in the same class setting. He couldn't decide if they would be best friends or archnemeses, but it had to be one or the other. He moved onto the next letter. Its messy handwriting, that was quickly written on the backside of an old piece of homework, screamed Danny.

Lightning Strike,

You left at a good time. Mom found it upon herself to start cooking again. As if cooking once a year on Thanksgiving wasn't bad enough! The first few nights were awful. She made hot dogs for dinner that came to life and started rampaging through the kitchen. They fought us, each other, and for some odd reason the toaster (I'm not complaining about that last one - good riddance). They armed themselves with forks and knives and ran, or I guess hopped, out to terrorize the neighbors. Needless to say, it was a long night and now the neighbors hate us even more than they normally do.

Don't freak out, but I started hanging out with some classmates this weekend. Their names are Sam and Tucker and I'm not sure if we're friends yet, but we went to Nasty Burgers after school on Friday, and I went over to Tucker's house to play DOOM with them yesterday. It was a lot of fun. We plan on hanging out again after school tomorrow too.

Thanks for the candy! They were quite un frog ettable! I'm hopping for more! Get it? Ha! The jelly beans were really fun! They weren't kidding when they said they had every flavor. I gave some to Sam and Tucker under the guise that it was a candy Mom and Dad invented. We had a blast trying out all the weird flavors. My favorite was grass. It was gross, but freshly cut gross!

Harry laughed and imagined his brother wiggling his eyebrows as he playfully wrote down his terrible puns.

Dash is in my class this year, can you believe my rotten luck?! I've been trying to keep my promise, but it's harder than it looks. I stopped him trashing on Tucker, but then he just turned around and trashed on me. I'll keep doing it, but the bruises are going to be hard to hide, especially now that mom and dad are starting to care all of a sudden. They miss you, we all do.

Also, thanks for telling mom and dad all about the ghosts at school. I have really enjoyed listening to their rejuvenated and never ending spiels on the inner workings of ghosts and how they exist. I just love being forced to build ecto guns on a Sunday afternoon. I didn't have anything better to do in my spare time, certainly not trying to have a life over here!

Seriously though, why'd you have to tell them you believe in ghosts? It'll break their hearts when they find out you were joking around, and I'll have to listen to their ramblings to cheer them up. Your obnoxious joke just signed me a death wish. I mean, just because you're not here, doesn't mean you get to pull these kind of pranks from across the pond. Annoying brother rights only apply if we're in the same country!

Anywho, how's school? What does Ron look like? Will we ever get to meet him? Tell him I said hi and ask him what his favorite space mission is. Speaking of which, I flew our summer rocket into a tree. We had a memorial service for it last weekend. It was tragic. Please send more food!

Love,

SpaceAce

P.S. Hedwig arrived on Friday (September 19th), and we sent her back to you on the 21st. I tried to get her to stay longer, because she looked really tired and slept the entire next day, but she wouldn't let me. I don't think we should be sending her out very often since the travel takes a lot out of her. You should be taking better care of her at school! Give her a big hug from me when you read this cuz I know she's somewhere near you right now looking exhausted.

Glancing down from his letter he noted that Hedwig was still in his lap sleeping as he continued to stroke her feathers. I'll give her a hug when she wakes up. Harry looked back at the letter with a growing smile. Danny's finally making some friends. His smile suddenly turned. I wish I was there to meet them. A feeling of homesickness stirred in Harry and he gazed out the window into the foggy Scottish air.

"Whatcha thinking about, mate?" Ron asked from the armchair next to him. They were both working on a Charms essay when Hedwig arrived.

"My family. They're probably going to buy pumpkins soon to start the annual 'Fenton Ghost Carving Extravaganza'.'' Seeing Ron's confused face he continued, "It's when we all carve ghosts in pumpkins and my adoptive dad carves himself in an attack position so that when you put them all together it looks like he is attacking the ghosts next to him." Ron blinked and then burst into laughter.

"Man, your family's brilliant!" he chuckled.

Harry smiled back. "Last year Jazz, who is the most vocal disbeliever among us, refused to partake in the tradition. Instead she carved Jane Gooddall and wedged it between Danny's ghostly astronaut and my ghost dragon. Dad was broken-hearted for weeks until Jazz finally caved and carved a small ghost behind the woman." He smirked at the memory.

"I know, we should steal some of the pumpkins behind Hagrid's hut and carve our own version of your tradition," Ron snickered. "We could carve your dad chasing a baffled Sir Nick and an angry Grey Lady." Harry laughed at the idea.

"You just barely got out of getting killed by disregarding the rules, and now you want to steal pumpkins?! I don't suppose you know what those pumpkins will be used for? Do you even plan to steal said pumpkins in the day, or are you going to go waltzing in the night like you did before?" Hermione seethed from her perch on the sofa.

"Lay off Hermione, I'm just trying to cheer Harry up," Ron said defensively.

Not wanting to succumb to Herminione's reprimand, but also not wanting to risk his life so quickly since the last time, Harry said, "Thanks Ron, but I think Hagrid uses the pumpkins for the feast." Hermione scowled and Ron shrugged. His mouth watered at the thought of pumpkin pasties.

"I can't wait for the feast!"

"Troll! In the dungeon! Thought you ought to know!"

At Quirrell's frantic announcement, chaos Harry reached down to grab his bag that had been tossed aside during the rampage, a glint of metal caught his eye. He blinked at the dangling spaceship on his bag and the world seemed to freeze as thoughts of the past month came rushing through his head.

It had been easy to let Ron deal with Hermione. Harry had been too busy learning how to play quidditch or enduring Malfoy's nasally taunts. Hermione was just plain annoying and she wasn't well liked by her classmates. Her superior intelligence in class and high regard for the school rules instantly had her pegged as a teacher's pet by her peers. For reasons beyond Harry, she insistently kept talking to him and Ron, despite it always ending with Ron turning red in anger and Hermione storming away in a huff. Harry swallowed thickly with guilt. Some of the things Ron had said to get her to leave were meant to be hurtful.

Hermione had skipped out on the Halloween feast and was overheard in the bathroom crying because of something Ron had said in the hallway. 'People find differences in others and they use it to alienate them from the group. This will happen to some poor soul down the line. When it does, you have to be there to help.' Harry's words to Danny floated through his mind as guilt and shame sank in. How can I tell Danny what to do when I've been acting the exact opposite of what I said? Harry regretfully thought of all the times he could have stopped an escalating argument or spoken up for Hermione. Ron was his friend, and it was a friend's job to help better each other. Harry gave one last look at the Apollo 11 keychain and summoned some courage.

As his classmates continued to hurry out of the Great Hall, Harry looked up at his redheaded friend with worry. "Ron, Hermione's still in the bathroom. She doesn't know about the troll and we're the reason she's in there."

Ron paused in his attempt to grab a pumpkin pastie before fleeing and looked guiltily back at Harry. Squaring his shoulders, Harry said with determination, "Let's go get her when no one's looking."

Their heroic success in defeating the troll was a defining moment in the lives of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They often described this memory as the time the three became true friends. Maybe it was when the boys fearlessly barged into the girls' bathroom without a second thought, or tried to get the trolls attention so Hermione could run away; maybe it was when Harry embraced his inner muggle and tackled the troll, shoving his wand up his nose in the process; or maybe it was when Ron successfully levitated the troll's club out of his hand by using a spell he and Hermione argued over previously. Whatever the cause was, the three left that bathroom with a bond so strong that the most powerful spell known to man couldn't hope to penetrate it.

"Are you going home for Christmas, Harry?" Hermione asked during dinner one late November evening.

The month of November went by rather quickly for the Gryffindor trio. Harry won his first quidditch match despite the surreptitious incantations of a certain potions teacher, the interruption of which coincided with Harry being able to regain control of his broom. Now they were almost certain that Snape was after whatever is being hidden on the third floor.

"Yeah, but only for the first week. My parents are going to go to some fancy science company to ask for funding on a new design they're making," Harry grumbled between bites. "They're going to try to open a hole to the land of ghosts. According to Nick, it's a real place, but it's impossible to force open."

"Well, mankind has done stranger things. That's a shame you can't stay longer though," Hermione said sympathetically.

Harry sighed. "On the plus side, I only have to bear their annual Santa fight for a week, and when I'm back here I can keep an eye on Snape."

Ron's face brightened. "I'll be here for Christmas too, mate! Mum and Dad are going to visit Charlie so me and my brothers are staying. We'll keep you company," Ron said cheerfully.

Harry grinned. "Brilliant!"

Their conversation was brought to a halt when an owl plopped on the table in front of Harry's plate. Startled, Harry poked the owl to make sure it was still alive. It nipped at his finger angrily and brought out a foot with a parcel attached. Harry quickly unwrapped the packaging and looked at the parcel. 'DO NOT OPEN THIS PACKAGE IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE!' was written in Danny's messy handwriting on the top of the package.

"Your family's pretty dramatic," Hermione commented, leaning over the table to read the note. She noticed how tired the owl was and concluded that it must've come from America.

"That's just Danny," Harry replied, tearing open the envelope attached to the package.

LightningStrike!

Happy Thanksgiving! Thought you should join in on the Fenton holiday fun which we will no doubt be having when you get this. That's right, in this package are living hotdogs - fresh out of the oven! Or, at least, it was fresh when I sent it. As much fun as they were to wrestle to the ground and box up, I figured you shouldn't miss out on our family traditions even when you're not here. Consider it some delicious pay back for the ghost letters you keep sending Mom and Dad.

Speaking of which, or in this case writing - I'm so frustrated that Mom and Dad are back to their ghost obsession shenanigans. They can't even postpone their trip to Axion Labs one week so that you could stay with us longer (Jazz and I will try to make up for it when you come!). Well at least the brief month or so of them caring was nice. I'm back to buying the groceries and Jazz has been cooking when Mom's too busy - which is most nights.

Anyways, have fun getting rid of those hotdogs. If I'm being frank with you, it could be wurst! At least it's not the turkey I'm probably chasing down right now. Oh! You should unleash them on Malfoy for a good laugh! You'll have to tell me his reaction if you do.

See you soon!

SpaceAce

Harry smiled at the letter. Since the British did not celebrate Thanksgiving, he hadn't even noticed that the holiday was approaching. At this point, the turkey had probably already reanimated and caused enough havoc that the Fentons were probably going over strategies to lure the entree into the trash bin. They'd probably spend most of the night wrestling it to the ground. Once they finally had succeeded, they'd probably end up ordering Chinese take-out. Looking down at his stationary steak and kidney pie he sighed in content. He did not miss fighting his food.

Harry was stirred out of his thoughts by the sound of ripping paper. When he saw Ron opening the package, he panicked.

"RON STO-'' It was too late; the box flung open and hotdogs burst forth. They quickly spread out and violently latched onto anything or anyone nearby. The table was in a frenzy. Spells and food flew into the air as students tried to get rid of the hotdogs.

Harry looked frantically at Hermione who was fruitlessly waving her wand to try to stop the fighting meat. "Do you know any spells to get rid of ectoplasm?" he asked her.

"Harry, I don't even know what ectoplasm is!" she replied, throwing another spell at the closest hotdog. Instead of killing the dang weiner, it grew twice its size and ferociously bounced on top of Neville, sending him sprawling onto the floor. She screamed and threw another spell at it, and it successfully shrunk the hotdog to the size of a pinkie finger. "'Reducio' works on them!" she cried triumphantly.

Harry tried the shrinking charm on a hotdog gnawing on Lavender's hair. Instead of shrinking the hot dog, he shrunk Lavender's nose. The hotdog continued its attack undeterred, and Lavender shrieked at her shrunken nose. Harry growled in frustration. "I'm gonna kill him!" he yelled, not sure if he meant Ron or his brother.

Ron, who rescued the tired owl from consumption by hotdog, held it high in the air as two hotdogs worked together to catapult another one toward the owl. Instead it landed on Ron's head and began to climb his arms. Ron scrambled to get the hotdog off his arm only for it to latch on to his hand instead.

Meanwhile, the other houses watched the Gryffindor table with mixed reactions. Some tables, mainly the Slytherins, openly laughed at the Gryffindor's misfortune, while others tried to assist from a distance. Most students however, sat there gawking at the commotion before them.

The chaos continued until Dumbledore walked into the Great Hall, saw the chaos, and shouted "Immobulus!"

Every hotdog instantly flew dazed in the air. Professor McGonagall, who walked in right behind Dumbledore, looked at the hotdogs in confusion.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked the Gryffindors sternly. Everyone turned and looked at Harry who gulped in fear. McGonagall looked at Harry expectantly.

"I-It's Thanksgiving, Professor, which is a holiday back in the states," he stammered, as if that explained the commotion. Seeing his professor's confused expression, he continued, "My brother sent me those out of tradition, but they weren't supposed to be released. It was an accident."

Dumbledore's eyes began twinkling at the explanation. Professor McGonagall, however, narrowed her eyes. "Is it a tradition to have mutated food attack innocent people during this so-called 'Thanksgiving'?" she asked skeptically.

"I-It's more of a Fenton tradition, Professor, not a normal Thanksgiving tradition," Harry explained, giving her a sheepish smile.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore announced enthusiastically before McGonagall could continue. "I once had dinner with a family that insisted everyone hang spoons from their ears while we ate." His eyes sparkled at Harry. "Such family traditions should be treasured, Harry."

Harry and McGonagall both stared at Dumbledore, bewildered. Dumbledore returned their stares with a content smile.

"Now, I think a vanishing spell shall rid us of this particular tradition. Evanesco!" he said cheerfully. The hotdogs that were still floating aimlessly vanished into thin air. The Gryffindors cheered loudly and dinner resumed its course. Dumbledore looked down at Harry. "It would be best to tell young Daniel to refrain from any living deliveries in the future." Harry nodded wordlessly. As Dumbledore and McGonagall walked to the staff table, he watched them leave in shock. Despite the headmaster giving off omniscient vibes, Harry was surprised that he knew about Danny. In addition, he marveled over Dumbledore's power, since he got rid of all those hotdogs within seconds of entering the Great Hall. Harry shook off his stupor and returned to his seat with the Gryffindors.

"I'm gonna kill him!" Harry repeated in a growl, this time he knew he was talking about his brother. His ears were red with embarrassment. "What was he thinking, sending a box of angry hotdogs overseas?!"

"Well, I want to know why someone thought it was a good idea to open a box that clearly says do not open !" Hermione said sternly, glaring at Ron, who also turned red.

"I thought it was a joke," he said indignantly.

"Are any of us laughing, Ron?" Hermione snapped.

Ron's shoulders slumped. "No," he replied dejectedly.

"That was wicked!" Fred exclaimed, taking a seat next to Harry. "I want to meet your brother."

"He only did it because he thought I was pulling a prank when I told our parents that ghosts are real. He didn't realize I was speaking the truth," Harry grumbled back.

"Vindictive, I like him already," George cracked, taking the seat across from Fred. "Why would telling your parents that ghosts are real be considered a prank?"

Harry groaned. "Because learning anything and everything about ghosts is their only goal in life. They've never seen one so I wanted to raise their spirits and give them a little hope." Harry sighed. "But I forgot that when they get a lead, their obsession consumes them and takes control of their life. Danny and Jazz probably spent the past month listening to their crazy rants and now it sounds like our parents are back to ignoring them in favor of their research."

"Wish mum would pay less attention to what we do," Fred commented lightly.

"Then the house would be in shambles," George retorted. The twins laughed at their own banter and the trio rolled their eyes.

Ignoring the twins, Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. "He usually pulls pranks when he's having trouble handling Mom and Dad. I should probably send him a letter." He furrowed his brow. By the time Hedwig got to Fentonworks, Harry would be arriving at home a few days later anyway. Deciding that he should save Hedwig the trip and bring her home with him during the holidays, Harry scarfed his mangled dinner.