Harry Potter and Claire Smith's Adventures Book Two

Goldilocks at Flourish and Botts

Chapter 3: Goldilocks at Flourish and Botts

Life at the Burrow was extremely different from life at the Dursleys for Harry. The Dursleys liked everything neat and ordered; the Weasleys' house burst with the strange and unexpected. Harry got a shock the first time he looked in the mirror over the kitchen mantelpiece and it shouted, "Tuck your shirt in, scruffy!" What Harry found the most unusual about life at the Burrow, however, wasn't the talking mirror: It was the fact that everybody there seemed to like him.

Mrs. Weasley fussed over the state of his socks and tried to force him to eat fourth helpings at every meal. Mr. Weasley liked Harry to sit next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard him with questions about life with Muggles, asking him to explain how things like plugs and the postal service worked.

"Fascinating!" he would say as Harry talked him through using a telephone. "Ingenious, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic."

Harry heard from Hogwarts one sunny morning about a week after he had arrived at the Burrow. He and Ron went down to breakfast to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Claire, and Ginny already sitting at the kitchen table. The moment Ginny saw Harry, she accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor with a loud clatter. She was doing so well. Claire thought to herself. Ginny dived under the table to retrieve the bowl and emerged with her face glowing like the setting sun.

"Smooth." Claire teased. This earned Claire a glare from Ginny.

Pretending he hadn't noticed this, Harry sat down and took the toast Mrs. Weasley offered him.

"Morning, Harry, Ron," Claire greeted them.

"Morning," The boys replied.

"Letters from school," Mrs. Weasley said, passing Claire, Harry, and Ron identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink.

"Oh, great," Claire muttered in disappoint as she took her letter.

"Dumbledore already knows you're here, Harry- doesn't miss a trick, that man. You two've got them,too," Ron added, as Fred and George ambled in, still in their pajamas.

For a few minutes there was silence as they all read their letters. Their letters told them to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross Station on September first. There was also a list of the new books they'd need for the upcoming year.

Second-Year Students Will Require:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk

Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

Claire groaned as she finished reading the list. "You have got to be kidding me! Whoever this new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is must be one of those crazed fans of Gilderoy Lockhart! I don't see what the big deal is about him! I bet you anything he hasn't done a single thing he says he's done in his books!"

"That lot won't come cheap," George said, with a quick look at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive...."

"Well, we'll manage," Mrs. Weasley said, but she looked worried. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand."