Harry was lying on his bed thinking about school and how he could not wait to go back. Suddenly Hedwig flew in with Ron�s response. It read:
"We are coming to get you tomorrow at ten o�clock AM. Wait by the fireplace. -Ron"
"Great! Now if I could only get to sleep!" Harry thought. Harry had not gotten a good night�s sleep at the Dursleys� since the summer after his third year. He was always frightened that Voldemort, or even Malfoy, was going to pop up and kill him.
The poem kept repeating itself over and over in Harry�s mind. What did it mean? And why did it appear in his dream?
"But I�m going to Ron�s, with Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley. If I can make it through this night, I�ll be safe," He kept telling and thinking to himself encouragingly, "And then, I�ll be going to Hogwarts, where Professor Dumbledore is. I�ll be safer there than anywhere else in the world." With these thoughts of safety and love, he drifted off to a soundly sleep.
Harry had a similar dream to the one the night before. He and Malfoy dueled, but then something different happened. A girl, resembling an angel appeared. She repeated the poem over and over again.
He woke up and looked over at his alarm clock. It read, "9:00." He got up, dressed, and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were ignoring him as usual. Harry ate his grapefruit quite hastily and scampered back upstairs.
Harry got his trunk, packed all of his stuff in it, and grabbed Hedwig�s cage. He ran downstairs. It was now 9:45.
"When are those people coming to pick you up, boy?" Uncle Vernon asked in a very disgusted voice.
"In about 15 minutes," Harry said while trying to catch his breath. He sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace. He heard Dudley go up to his room, too scared to meet Harry�s wizard friends. Aunt Petunia, too, went upstairs. Uncle Vernon said that he needed to go to the office to pick something up.
Harry sat there for ten minutes and then he heard Ron�s voice, "It�s this, right, Dad?"
"Yes, I�m pretty sure," Harry heard Mr. Weasley�s voice say.
There was a loud, "Bang!" and Ron came bursting out of the fireplace.
"Hi, Harry!" he said while trying to dust the soot off his robes.
"Hey, Ron, where�s your Dad?" Harry asked when another "Bang!" sounded and Mr. Weasley came bursting out of the fireplace.
"Hello, Harry. How are you?" he said.
"Fine and you?" Harry replied.
"Fine as well. Now Harry, where are your things?" Mr. Weasley asked while examining the lamp in the corner.
"Right here," Harry said pointing to his trunk and Hedwig�s cage.
"Alright," Mr. Weasley said, finally paying attention to Harry and his things, "You and Ron go first with Hedwig�s cage. Then I will follow, ok?"
"Yeah, sure," Harry and Ron both said. Ron went first with Hedwig�s cage, and then Harry followed. Mr. Weasley followed both of them.
"Harry, Harry, how nice to see you!" Mrs. Weasley�s voice pierced through the whole house. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley!" Harry replied.
"Harry, come one. We�ll bring your stuff up to my room," Ron said. Harry followed Ron up the oh, so familiar staircase to his room. They put Harry�s stuff down on the floor, and Ron sat down on the bed. Harry opened Hedwig�s cage and let her fly out the window.
"Oh, guess what?" Ron asked with excitement.
"What?" Harry said sarcastically.
"Ok, well, you know Malfoy?"
"Yeah�"
"Yeah, so there�s this girl, I think her name�s Erin�"
"Uh Huh�"
"And she is staying with him!�
"Alright, and you are telling me this because�"
"Well, she hasn�t been seen in the wizarding world for like 14 years, but some saw her about a year ago. It�s weird though, isn�t it? I mean, she just shows up at his house and stays? Oh yeah, and she�s coming to Hogwarts!" Ron said excitedly.
"What?" Harry asked in disbelief, "How�s she going to do that? She�d have to catch up on five years worth of work, even Hermione can�t do that!"
"I know it�s weird, Harry, but it�s true," Ron said.
"OK. Wait a minute! How do you know all of this?" Harry asked.
"Well, my dad still keeps in touch with his friends at the ministry. You know how Lucius Malfoy still works there? He�s been bragging about it for months." Ron said.
"Why would he be bragging about it?" Harry asked.
"Because," Ron said, "He�s the one who�s bringing back into our world. The whole family is really full of themselves."
"Um, Ron," Harry said, "I don�t think Lucius Malfoy would brag that much. Incase he gave too much away about something."
"Yeah, that�s the second part," Ron said, "My dad is working at the Leaking Cauldron, now."
"Alright," Harry said.
"Well, I was in there one day helping dad, and I over heard these two girls talking," Ron said, "They�re supposedly her best friends. They were talking about how she was going to be staying with the Malfoys. Also, they were talking about meeting her there in August. I think, one of them is in Slytherin, and the other is in Hufflepuff."
"Hufflepuff?" Harry asked puzzled.
"Yeah, don�t ask me," Ron replied.
Harry now felt a loud rumbling in his stomach, as he realized he was starving.
"Hey, Ron," Harry said, "Can we go get something to eat?"
"Oh, sure. Come on. Mum�s probably making breakfast now, let�s go." Ron said as he showed Harry out of his room.
They walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. There, sure enough, Mrs. Weasley was making breakfast.
"Well it�s about time," Mrs. Weasley said bitterly, "Your breakfast is getting cold. Now sit down and eat."
They happily sat down and ate first, second, third, and fourth helpings of eggs and bacon. When they were almost finished, Ginny, Ron�s younger sister, came into the kitchen and sat down at the table.
"Good morning, mum, Ron, and Harry," she said delightfully. She was not as shy around Harry as she used to be. You could still tell, though, that she was rather reluctant towards talking to him.
"Good morning, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said while putting Ginny�s breakfast on her plate.
"Hello, Ginny," Harry said.
Ron and Harry both got up. Ron said, "So, Harry, what shall we do today?"
It was not Harry who answered him, though, it was Mrs. Weasley.
"We�re all going to Diagon Alley to get your school things," she said.
"Alright, then mum," Ron said, "When are we leaving?"
"As soon as your Father comes and eats his breakfast," answered Mrs. Weasley.
"Ok. So, Harry, how about a game of exploding snap in the meantime?" Ron asked.
"Sure," Harry responded.
They sat down and started to play. A few minutes later, Mr. Weasley walked back into the kitchen.
"Sorry, one of the twins tongue tong toffees fell out of my pocket and that fat git ate it, again!" Mr. Weasley explained, astounded.
"Well hurry up and eat," Mrs. Weasley said, "We have to go to Diagon Alley for their school things."
"Ok, I�m finished. Let�s go," Mr. Weasley said. He got up from the table and headed over for the fireplace.
Ron went first, followed by Harry. Mrs. Weasley followed Harry, and then Ginny came. Mr. Weasley brought up the rear.
Their first stop was Gringotts. Harry was thankful to see that the Weasleys� vault was holding a lot more gold than their last visit. Obviously, Mr. Weasley was making more money at the Leaky Cauldron than he made when working at the ministry. After the Weasleys� vault, they went to Harry�s. Harry scooped up as many coins that would fit in his bag.
They headed out of Gringotts and over to Flourish and Blotts, when they heard a familiar and friendly voice.
"Harry, Ron!" It was their friend, Hermione Granger.
"Hello, Hermione," Harry and Ron said.
"How was your summer?" she asked.
"Great and yours?" Harry said.
"Fine. Harry have you been staying at Ron�s?" Hermione replied.
"Yeah, Hermione you should come and stay, too," Ron said, "We need help with our homework."
"Oh Ron, really," Hermione said, "Shall we head to Flourish and Blotts?"
"Yeah, alright," Harry said.
They walked up to the bookstore and went inside. They each picked up a copy of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6, An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration and several other new books they would need this year.
"Hey look," Ron said, "That must be her," he pointed up to the balcony.
"Who?" Harry asked.
"That, Erin girl we were talking about," Ron said still looking up. Harry guessed he was watching to see if Malfoy was there as well. Sure enough, he was.
"Oh, that girl who just returned to the wizarding world?" Hermione asked delighted, "Let�s go introduce ourselves!"
"And say what?" Ron said rudely, "Oh hi, Malfoy, we just thought we�d introduce ourselves to your friend, there."
"Exactly," Hermione said matter-of-factly, "We don�t want her to have the wrong idea of Hogwarts students, do we?"
"All right Hermione, let�s go," Harry said. They walked up the steps to the balcony. They walked up to Malfoy and the mysterious Erin.
"Hello, Malfoy," Hermione strained.
"What do you three want?" Malfoy said.
"We just wanted to introduce ourselves to your friend, Erin," Harry said. Harry could tell that Ron wasn�t speaking. He was probably doing this so he wouldn�t tackle Malfoy.
"Yeah, you don�t want her to go into Hogwarts only knowing you, do you?" Hermione said.
"Oh," Erin said airily, "You must be Hermione. And you must be Harry, and Ron," She continued, "But, just so you know, I have friends, and I don�t need your sympathy. Although, since came over here to introduce yourselves, I�m Erin Quinn." She smiled at them. Both Harry�s and Ron�s mouths went dry; they got tongue-tied, and couldn�t say anything in return.
"Shall we go, Draco?" she asked. Malfoy also gave them a smug smirk. They walked down the stairs and out the door.
"Whoa, there is definitely something wrong with that girl!" Ron said befuddled as the exited the store.
"What are you talking about Ron?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, you�re right Ron," Harry agreed, "I think she�s a veela or at least part veela."
"Honestly, Harry, she�s not a veela!" Hermione retorted.
"I know she isn�t," Ron said matter-of-factly.
"But then� What just happened?" Harry asked even more confused than he already was.
"She�s a pureblood witch," Ron responded loudly, "I heard her friends talking about it."
"Then why is she like that?" Harry asked.
"I don�t know," Ron answered.
"Alright, let�s change the subject and get some ice-cream, please?" Hermione pleaded.
"Ok," Harry agreed.
"Sure," Ron approved.
They walked on the street over to the ice cream store. Florean Fortescue�s Ice-Cream Parlor had been Harry�s favorite ice cream parlor since he had first been there. They walked over and were about sit down at a table with a colorful umbrella. Then they saw Malfoy and Erin again.
"Oh great," Hermione said sarcastically, "We can come back later, right?"
Harry very much doubted that Ron was going anywhere for a while. He was staring at them with a glare mixed of deepest loathing, deep admiration, and love.
"We can just sit over there," Harry suggested, "All the way over there."
They sat down at a table and started to eat their ice cream.
"Hermione," Ron said with a mouth full of banana split, "I�m serious about you coming over. You need more interaction between wizards in your off time."
"Well Ron," Hermione said, "I�m glad to see that you�ve widened your vocabulary to contain more than the word �food.�" Harry and Hermione laughed at this, but Ron seemed very offended. He, though, eventually laughed too.
They finished their ice cream and headed off to find Mrs. Weasley.
"I�ll just go and ask my parents about coming over," Hermione yelled while heading off in the opposite direction.
They met up again right in front of the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hermione, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "Will you be joining us?"
"Yes, thank you for having me," Hermione replied politely.
"Pleasure, dear, really," Mrs. Weasley added. They all traveled back to the burrow by Floo powder, to enjoy the rest of their summer vacation.
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