People Watching.

Chapter Three.

Life at the Burrow was as different as possible from life at (Y/n)'s. Even with all the people in and out of her godmothers' house, things were very neat and ordered due to Valorie's need for such; 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!" The ghoul in the attic howled and dropped pipes whenever he felt things were getting too quiet, and small explosions from Fred and George's bedroom were perfectly normal. (Y/n) had developed an interest in makeup and was often experimenting with her femininity. One thing that became blatantly obvious to both Harry and (Y/n) was the fact that everybody there seemed to like Harry.
Molly fussed over the state of his socks and tried to force him to eat fourth helpings every meal. Arthur liked Harry to sit with him at the dinner table so that he could bombard him (and mainly (Y/n)) with questions about Muggles, asking him to explain how things like plugs and 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."

Hogwarts letters came one sunny morning about a week after they had arrived at the Burrow. Harry and Ron went down to breakfast to find Arthur and Molly, and Ginny and (Y/n) already sitting at the kitchen table. The moment she saw Harry, Ginny accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor with a loud clatter. Ginny seemed very prone to knocking things over whenever Harry entered the room. She dived under the table to retrieve the bowl and emerged with her face glowing like the setting sun. Sparing her the embarrassment, Harry pretended he didn't notice this and sat down and took the toast Molly offered him. (Y/n) had taken the rag she had used to clean the mess straight outside.

"Letters from the school," Arthur informed, passing Harry and Ron identical envelopes of parchment, addressed in green ink. (Y/n) already had her letter but had yet to open it. "Dumbledore already knows you two are here— doesn't miss a trick, that man. You two've got them, too," he added when Fred and George ambled in, still in their pyjamas.

For a few minutes, there was silence as they all read their letters ((Y/n) had an extra one). They were told the usual speel about catching the Hogwarts Express from King's Cross station on September first. (Y/n)'s eyebrows furrowed at the amount of books written by Gilderoy Lockhart she needed. In fact, she needed quite the load of textbooks seeing as she got all of the electives she had wanted. Finally, she turned to her extra letter.

Miss (Y/n) (Y/l/n),
With your high scores and achievements,
we have agreed to let you take all of your 
elected courses. At the start of term feast,
you will meet Professor Albus Dumbledore,
and your Head of House, Professor Filius
Flitwick and I to further discuss this matter.
Sincerely,
Professor M. McGonagall

(Y/n) beamed when she looked up. She folded the note and tucked it away. George, who was done with his own list, peered over at (Y/n)'s.

"Merlin, (Y/n)," he hissed. "That's a lot of books. Just what are you taking?" he asked. 

"Do we all have all of Lockhart's books down?" Fred, who was looking at Harry's list, asked. "The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan— bet it's a witch." He then caught his mother's eye and busied himself with the marmalade.

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

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

"If her textbooks were similar to mine— other than Lockhart's books, of course— she can have my old textbooks," (Y/n) chimed.

"Really? Are you sure? There are plenty of secondhand shops—" Molly began.