Twilight to Dusk

Chapter One: Gripes

Ema Potter looked out of the dingy windows of her best friend's house. The best friend was formally known as Arwen DeLingues. However, calling Arwen by her true name meant bloody death while calling her Ari invited normal conversation. Ema was sitting on Ari's bed, toying with the feathers of a very large golden eagle that was snapping irritably at a dead mouse. The eagle - a beautiful female named Magic - had brought it and several frogs back just an hour before.

"Bloody hell, Ari, doesn't your mum ever clean the windows?" asked Ema attempting to see out of them.

Ari looked up from where she was scribbling a letter to their friend Jamie Lastroni. Next to her hand, lying on the old and crumpled pieces of parchment, slept Ari's kitten, Shadow. Shadow had been shrunk as a prank by a rowdy teenager and, when Ari adopted her, only measured three inches. Now, though longer by two or three inches, Shadow still only measured five or six inches at most.

"Eh?" Ari asked, slightly confused. "Oh, no, not really. See, she's too bloody busy reading Lord of the Rings and being bloody pregnant to bother with trivial matters like that. You'd think she'd learn the first time ... but no. She's just blind to the fact that there's still no father here."

Ema sighed. Mentioning Ari's mother at that point had probably not been a good idea. Ari was not particularly happy with her parental unit right now. She had come home for the holidays only to be told that her mother, Alexa Parker, was pregnant again. Without a husband ... again. Well, Miss Parker had been engaged to Mr. DeLingues - hence Ari's last name - but no one really knew what had happened to him. At least, Ms. Parker had never told Ari. But at that time it just seemed so embarrassing to Ari to have a Lord of the Rings-obsessed and a spacey, rash mother.

Not to mention the fact that Ari had to find out so late. Apparently, the baby was due in late September. This, as Ari constantly pointed out, meant that this had all happened back in December. "Doesn't she have the decency to bother telling me things like this when they happen?" she had snapped on the second day of the holiday. "I never even knew she had a boyfriend!"

To make all matters worse and more depressing for everyone, this boyfriend of Miss Parker's had run off just before Ari and Ema came home at the end of term. "So," Ari had griped, "she's going to be stuck as a single mother with two children. Why won't she get some sense?" No one dared argue.

Not that Miss Parker hadn't had her fair share of remorse over the issue. Ari reported that she spent most of her time now dissecting Lord of the Rings and pondering the meaningful issues in the books.

"She's going to put me off them for life," said a now thoroughly irritated Ari.

* * *

Basically, life is normal, though my mother went and got pregnant last year - the baby's due in September. I wondered why she didn't have me home for the holidays. I'm just worried that she'll go and name the poor kid Frodo or something. I'm going to tell her to at least name it Sam if she must. Of course, it could end up as Rosie if it's a girl ... or worse, Galadriel or Eowyn. Anyway, I know I'm babbling now and I'm sure you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. If you care, those are characters from the books.

We're meeting at Diagon Alley with Ronnie next Wednesday. That would be the 12th of August. If you'd like to come, that would be great.

Love,
Ari

Jamie read the letter and laughed out loud. Due to a certain three-week-long fight that had erupted the previous year between Ema and Ronnie Malfoy, the last of the Ravenclaw Four, as they called themselves, Jamie and Ari had been brought closer together, but so had Ema and Ronnie. Jamie started to scribble a reply - it was the ninth of August ... at least Jamie was pretty sure it was ...

"Jamie!" Her father's voice cut through her thoughts.

"What?" she yelled back, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

"Come down here please!"

Jamie sighed but didn't argue. She went down the stairs, assuming that she'd forgotten to clean up after her breakfast and was about to be told off. "What?" she said again, looking into the kitchen where her father sat, her younger sister Sarah on his lap. On the table were two envelopes made of thick, heavy, parchment.

"About time!" said Jamie. "I've got to go to Diagon Alley in three days to get my stuff with Ema and Ari!" She snatched up her letter but then her Ravenclaw mind caught up with her. There were two letters sitting there. She glanced at hers.

Nothing unusual about that. Then she looked at the other one.

"Sarah?" Jamie asked uncertainly.

Sarah just sat, staring wide-eyed, looking terrified.

Jamie took a deep breath. She really didn't want to open her sister's letter, but Sarah seemed yet incapable of any independent movement. Slowly, Jamie's fingers began to work on the thick parchment, forcing it open.

* * *

Ari was up relatively early, but she hid that from her mother. She lay in bed for a few hours, then got up and paced. She ate breakfast, checked her supplies list again, ate breakfast for a second time, and finally went over to the Potters'.

"She's not up yet," admitted Ginny upon opening the door.

Ari looked at her watch. The display told her that it was 9:50. "Yeah, I figured," she said wisely. "It's far too early, isn't it? Well, Jamie wrote and told us we have to meet at eleven at Gringotts."

Ginny laughed half-heartedly. "I'll go get her," she offered. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Sure." Ari shrugged. Why not? Two or three breakfasts a day couldn't hurt ...

* * *

"Ema, wake up!" shouted Ginny.

Her daughter did not stir.

Ginny made a little noise of frustration. Storming out of the room, she stomped downstairs, grabbed a horn, quite like the ones on a child's tricycle, and, dashing back upstairs, she blew it in Ema's ear. "WAKE UP!" she shrieked.

Ema woke with a start and sat up, looking ready to defend herself against the worst of all demons. Then, seeing her mother, she fell back on the pillow and groaned, "I just can't believe it - nearly killed by my own mother."

"Sorry!" said Ginny indignantly. "You were pretty much dead."

"It's the crack of dawn!"

"You say that all the time," said Ginny, sounding annoyed. "It's ten o'clock! Ten o'clock is not considered the crack of dawn!" She turned away and muttered, perfectly audibly, "At least for normal people."

"Fine!" shouted Ema. "You've made your point!" She seemed determined to remain in a temper as she grabbed her jeans and tee shirt and started tugging them on.

"Alright, be that way," said Ginny, shrugging. She went downstairs to rouse her husband.

* * *

Ema scowled as she shoved a comb through her straight hair. She surveyed her reflection critically. What she saw - a very skinny and rather short figure - didn't please her too much. Her red hair came down to her shoulders. It was so straight that she couldn't even pull it back; it would just stick out from her head like porcupine bristles.

As she left her room, Ema heard a howl from her parents' room. "GINNY! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

Ema grinned. It seemed that she wasn't the only one who had to take such abuse.

* * *

Ari was just starting a bowl of porridge when Ema came in looking more awake than should be expected for ten o'clock in the morning. For Ema.

"Ready to see Ronnie and Jamie?" Ema asked, sitting down and attacking some sausages.

"I am, certainly," said Ari. "I've missed them."

"Haven't heard from Jamie all summer," said Ema with her mouth full. "Is she only writing to you?"

"Em," said Ari exasperatedly. "Jamie doesn't have an owl and you've been hogging that eagle all summer. I wrote to her once and she replied ... here. Read."

Ema took the letter and read,

"That," said Ema, "was the most shortest non-descriptive letter I've ever seen."

"Most shortest?" asked Ari. When Ema gave her a look, she went on. "She was probably in a hurry. Anyway, we should get going. She says at eleven at Gringotts."

"Ut? O bury? I?" asked Ema with her mouth stuffed with toast.

Ari rolled her eyes. "When will you ever grow up?" she asked. "Please translate."

"I said," said Ema, "What? So early? Why? and now you're going to answer ... "

"So early? It's eleven o'clock! And because we want to see them! Honestly, your life is all three hours behind, isn't it? Watch. Your mum is going to say that it's time to go any second."

"And how does she know?" asked Ema, with a credible amount of politeness.

"I told her when I came in the door."

"Girls!" shouted Ginny. "Time to go!"

Ari gave Ema an 'I told you so' look, causing Ema to give her the dirtiest look she could muster while stuffing the rest of her breakfast into her mouth.

Ema jumped up, drained her cup, and, with the remains of milk all around her mouth, she followed her friend to the living room to floo themselves to Diagon Alley.

* * *

Jamie sat at the breakfast table feeling rather asleep. Her sister was jumping up and down in her seat - if that was possible. Sarah certainly made it look easy. Jamie thought she needed about two hours more sleep, something she was not likely to get with her sister in the house.

"Jamie, Jamie!" Sarah had shouted at seven in the morning, waking Jamie from her nice, peaceful slumber. "Jamie! We're getting our stuff today! Wake up! Where do we go first? What's the bank like? Where do I get my wand? Will I have to touch gross ingredients? Like frog brains? Ewwwwww ... like llama spit."

"Sarah," Jamie had responded sleepily. "Shut up."

But now, at the breakfast table, Jamie's annoyance was ebbing away and she began to think that her sister was acting relatively cute, and that the questions were actually pretty funny. Just as she was about to swallow her pride and answer a question, their dad came in.

He sat down and grabbed a bowl of porridge, turning to Jamie. "So," he said, "you're getting school stuff today. You know, I really don't understand you."

Jamie smiled, knowing he meant it in an affectionate way.

"But I don't get it," said her father. "How do mages crop up in families like ours? What-do-you-call'ems. Muggles."

"I don't really know," said Jamie. "Some people think that you have to have a mage somewhere along the line, way back and it just shows up later. A lot of people think that if you were a mage in a former life then you'll be one in this life. And mostly people just think that when a Muggle is exposed to a lot of magic at a young age it'll, I dunno, awaken the magic in them." She said the last sentence in a mock-spooky voice that made Sarah laugh.

Her father smiled. "So, does it come from my side of the family?"

"I wouldn't know," said Jamie, stiffening, knowing what was coming next.

"Well, I'm certain it doesn't come from your mother," said Mr. Lastroni coldly. "She -"

"Daddy!" whined Sarah. "Stop! Me and Jamie don't like it when you talk like that."

"Jamie and I," corrected Jamie automatically.

"Whatever," said Sarah.

Mr. Lastroni took a deep breath, seeming to collect himself, then said, "I'm sorry, girls."

Jamie knew that he knew that his daughters didn't like it when he criticized their mother. The girls' hatred of their mother's new husband had caused them to live most of their time with him, but it was still hard for them to hear ill of their mum, because they still loved her, despite their step-father. "How are you getting there?" Mr. Lastroni asked, changing the subject.

Jamie stopped eating, putting down her fork and looking up. "Um ..." she said. "I hadn't really thought ... could you drive us to London?"

"Yes, I could. But will you know where the place is?"

"Yeah," said Jamie. "Once we get to London." Then she muttered, "Mum drove us last year."

Mr. Lastroni did not comment on her last remark.

* * *

Harry watched as Ema's hyperactivity increased.

"Where are they?" she was asking, jumping up and down, looking around the enormous Gringotts' hall. "I don't see them. Are they going to be late?"

"Ema," said Ari sternly, "Calm down. Jamie probably got lost, you know, what with her being at her dad's and Ronnie probably can't get away from her bloody dad long enough to sneak over here."

"Someone's got to do something about that," said Ema angrily, looking at her father for support.

Harry shook his head, though he privately agreed. His enmity towards Draco Malfoy had grown since he found that his daughter had befriended Draco's and that Veronica - Ronnie, as they'd come to call her - was as routinely mistreated as he himself had been, living at the Dursley's.

"Sorry Em," he said. "We can't tell other families how to set their rules. Not unless she's in danger."

Ema muttered angrily for a while, but all Harry could understand was the word "danger".

* * *

"Jamie!" shouted Ari suddenly.

Jamie had just walked through the doors, looking around. However, she was not alone. Behind her, trotting, jumping and practically tumbling, was a smaller replica of her. They had the same olive skin, same black, slightly curled hair, same stature. In fact, Ari noted as they came close enough to see, the only difference was in their eyes.

Jamie's right eye was a deep, deep blue and the left one was a dark, murky green. The other girl's eyes, however, where much brighter and more intensely different. The left one was bright blue-gray and the right one was emerald green, exactly the same color as Ema's.

Knowing full well that Jamie hated it when people commented on her eyes and assuming the smaller clone felt the same, Ari didn't say anything about it.

Ema, seeming to somehow manage to pick up on Ari's train of thought, followed suit.

"Jamie! Who's the midget?" asked Ema, earning herself a knock on the head from Ginny. "Ouch! What did I do?"

"Be nice, Ema," scolded Harry.

"I'm being nice!"

"Shut up, you two," snapped Ginny, though she was laughing.

"This is my sister," said Jamie, smiling at Ema. "Sarah, say hello."

"I'm not a baby, Jamie!" protested Sarah.

"Never said you were," said Jamie, smiling affectionately at her sister.

"Hi," said her sister grudgingly. "I'm Sarah."

"Ema Potter," said Ema grinning.

"Arwen DeLingues, but call me Ari. And that's an order," said Ari, smiling also.

"She doesn't like being called Arwen," explained Jamie.

"There's an understatement," laughed Ema. "Sarah, just watch it, okay? Ari will personally murder anyone who unwisely uses her true name."

"I know that," said Sarah indignantly turning to Jamie. "You told me. Remember?"

"Oh, but do you know about that incident?" asked Ema. "You know, a boy in Hufflepuff called her Arwen and she dissected him and took out his spleen and -"

"Shut up Potter, don't scare her." said Ari, causing Sarah to say, "I'm not a five-year-old! I'm bloody eleven!" Which caused all the second years to smile indulgently at her as though she were their daughter.

Ari giggled and changed the subject before Sarah embarked on a plot to execute them all. "Jamie, have you seen Ronnie?"

Jamie looked around. "Yes," she said, pointing.

"Ronnie!" shrieked Ema, all non-existent dignity forgotten. She ran across the hall, sending several people flying, and smashed into Ronnie, nearly knocking her to the floor.

"Ack! Bloody hel - heck. Potter! G'roff me!" Ronnie shouted, extricating herself from Ema's grip, laughing.

Ema led Ronnie over where Ari couldn't help but think that Ronnie must feel very flat, in a literal sense, because of all the people hugging her. It was good to have the four of them together again.

Ronnie pulled away and laughed, exchanging teasing remarks with Ema and Jamie.

Ari took the opportunity to examine Ronnie. She knew that Ronnie lived in a less-than-satisfactory family and it wouldn't have been the first time if she'd spotted signs of abuse. But Ronnie looked relatively healthy. A bit thinner, it was true, and paler, though she'd always been pale. Her hair was a light, dull blonde that she wore in a braid. But, despite this, Ari noticed that Ronnie had grown about an inch, and that her hair seemed a bit thicker - nicer looking, somehow, than it had been the previous year. And the absence of cuts and bruises was always a plus.

Satisfied that Ronnie was in good condition, Ari tuned in just in time to see Ronnie notice Sarah for the first time.

"Hey, who's the midget?" asked Ronnie, smiling and making it perfectly clear that she knew already, something Ari thought Ema could try sometime.

"This is my sister, Sarah. Sarah, Ronnie Malfoy," said Jamie.

"Hi Sarah," said Ronnie. "Heard about you. I'm surprised you two get along so well."

Sarah muttered an incoherent reply that made Ari think that Sarah probably knew about Ronnie's home life and was reluctant to get into it.

"MONEY!" shouted Ema, making them all jump.

"Ema, was that absolutely necessary?" asked Jamie while Sarah giggled.

"Yes," said Ema promptly, grabbing her mother like a two-year-old and dragging her toward the counter.

"Ema," came Harry's sharp voice, "if you can't behave in a proper way today, I'm sending you straight home and there'll be no Hogwarts supplies for you."

Ari attempted to hide her grin. Failing, she turned back to Ronnie and Jamie.

"Meet you back here!" called Jamie to Ronnie, who nodded, grinning as well and trotting after Harry and Ema.

"Jamie, Jamie," said Sarah, jumping up and down, clutching Jamie's arm.

Jamie rolled her eyes and turned to Ari. "She always jumps when she's about to ask a question. Don't worry, she's not always this hyper." Turning back to the small figure that looked about to break her arm, Jamie asked, "What, Sarah?"

"Huh?" Sarah was staring at the Goblins that were seated all around the great lobby.

Jamie sighed, exasperated, and shook her head at Ari. Then she looked at her sister. "Sarah! Earth to Sarah!"

Sarah looked around. "What?" she asked.

"Sarah, you were about to ask me a question," said Jamie irritably. "What was it?"

"Oh. Why aren't we going with Rondie and Ema?"

"Ronnie," corrected Jamie. "And it's because they have vaults here, where they keep their wizard gold. We don't because we're Muggle-born so we just exchange our money over here." She dragged Sarah over to the queue.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, all five girls, Ginny, and Harry were standing in the slight drizzle outside Gringotts. "It just had to rain, didn't it?" griped Ema.

"You just have to gripe, don't you?" said Harry, mimicking Ema's voice so accurately that Ari was a bit scared.

"Of course I do," said Ema, trying in vain to put on a 'cute-little-girl' look.

"Right. Where are you lot going first?" asked Ginny. "Ema, give me your book list and we'll get them for you. You know what, we'll just get all of yours. You can pay us back. Sarah, I'll need yours too."

They all handed over their book lists and waited for instructions.

"Okay," said Harry. "I'm pretty certain that we will be slaughtered if one of you gets lost." He addressed all of them, but Ari couldn't help thinking that Draco Malfoy couldn't really care less what happened to his daughter.

"So," continued Harry. "Stay together. Ema, behave. And," he added in a low voice to Ari as Ema made to skip away, "Make sure someone stays near to Sarah."

No fear of that. Ema and Sarah were already getting on exceedingly well. They were walking on ahead, Sarah skipping along beside Ema, chattering incessantly. Birds of a feather, thought Ari in amusement, though it wasn't quite true. While Ema acted like a six-year-old purposefully and forcefully, Sarah acted that way genuinely and innocently.

After much discussion - it didn't have to be so much, in fact, but with Ema, Jamie, and Sarah all trying to talk at once, it took longer than necessary - they decided to get Sarah's robes at Madam Malkin's first.

"Just as well," said Ari. "I need new robes as well."

"Alright, oh Tall-and-Superior-One," said Ema, who was about a head and a half shorter than Ari, who was by far the tallest of the four. Only Ronnie came close to her height.

"I don't particularly like being tall," said Ari irritably. It showed, too. Ari tended to walk a bit slouched over, as though trying to hide herself. It was really only noticeable to Ema and Jamie because she never did it in crowds - there was no need; Ari might have been tall for a twelve-year-old, but she wasn't tall by any other standards.

"Well," retorted Ema, "I don't like being short."

"Me either!" piped up Sarah, who was swinging off Ema's arms.

"You're not short, Sarah," said Jamie. "You're only eleven. You're meant to be shorter than us."

They lowered their voices as they entered Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Sarah was quick enough in getting her robes sorted out but it took a while for the woman doing Ari - who seemed to be around their age - to sort out where the waist-line was supposed to be.

"You've got impossibly long legs," she told Ari, who did not look overjoyed at the news.

From robes they moved on to quills and parchment. Ronnie exceeded herself by buying parchment with a built-in spell check and Sarah nearly spent all her money on a handful of quills that apparently helped your handwriting. Ari got a quill that she could dictate to; she said she was sick of her hands seizing up when she wrote essays. This, of course, caused Ema to go on a long tirade about how Ari spent way too much time thinking about her school work.

Jamie surprised everyone by getting a quill that changed the ink colors to whatever you asked it to. "What?" she said, seeing their surprised faces. "I'm allowed to have a little fun, aren't I?"

"What? Fun? Okay, what have you done with the real Jamie?" said Ema.

"Shut up Potter," snapped Jamie.

After what Ema called, "Ridiculous School Supplies Shopping", they headed to the Apothecary.

Sarah could barely bring herself to look at the ingredients, let alone touch them so it took forever to get out of there. This was mainly due to Jamie attempting to 'help' her sister. "Sarah," she said sternly. "Touch the frog eyes."

"No!" said Sarah. "They're gross."

"Sarah, you'll never survive Snape's classes if you can't touch the ingredients. Fine. Try the grass snake."

"I won't do it!" snapped Sarah.

"Jamie, leave it," said Ronnie wearily. "She'll just fail."

"Be nice!" complained Sarah.

Jamie rolled her eyes and bought the ingredients for her sister.

"Wand shopping," said Ema, looking exhausted.

Ari was not looking forward to this part of the trip. Nor, it seemed, was Ema. Both of them remembered forcibly going to buy their wands.

Ema had somehow managed to produce the Ravenclaw Eagle - a humungous blue and bronze bird with an eerie song. It had soared above their heads and then, all because she was left handed, Ari had not even been allowed to try her wand, but had simply been handed one and rushed to Ema's house. There they had been quite calmly told that they had a deadly prophecy hanging over them.

Over Ari, mostly, it seemed because she was the one who was supposed to change the school's opinion about Ravenclaw House and, while she was at it, defeat the Dark Lord Margothten. For now it was also understood that 'Gothy', as they called him, was after Ema, though they honestly didn't know why.

As they walked into Ollivander's Wand Shop, Ari felt Sarah tense with excitement that she could easily relate to. Being a Muggle-born, it was hard to believe you could do magic until you saw for yourself. "Jamie -" for the first time that entire day, in Ari's opinion, Sarah broke off, looking around the shop.

It was dark, far darker than any other shop in Diagon Alley, and the walls, all the way up to the ceiling, were covered with shelves that contained thousands of tiny boxes.

"Good afternoon," said a voice out of the shadows. Mr. Ollivander appeared, glancing swiftly around at the five girls and resting his eyes on Ema, who glared back, as though daring him to mention their last meeting.

"Jamie Lastroni," he said, looking away from Ema and to Jamie. "Ten inches. Oak. Containing one dragon heart string. Am I right?"

Jamie nodded, but looked away, seemingly to stop herself looking into Mr. Ollivander's pale blue eyes which Ari for one thought was ridiculous seeing what Jamie's eyes were like.

Sarah didn't look away, however, and it was clear that Mr. Ollivander noticed her eyes immediately. "And you are ... ?" he said questioningly to her.

"Sarah Lastroni," said Sarah in a small voice.

"Ah, of course. Another Lastroni. Well. Your wand hand is ... ?" It seemed that Mr. Ollivander was in a mood to ask open-ended questions.

"She's right handed," said Jamie quickly as Sarah looked at her questioningly.

"Very well," said Mr. Ollivander, moving away to the dusty shelves and beginning to take down boxes.

The magical tape measurer began to measure Sarah from every angle possible, and some that weren't, in Ari's opinion.

"Try this," said Mr. Ollivander as the tape measure appeared to try and measure the distance in one of Sarah's ears and out the other. "Holly, Phoenix feather, ten inches, whippy."

Sarah took the wand but it was immediately snatched away from her.

"Willow, Dragon heartstring, twelve inches ... no. Oak. Unicorn hair. Eleven inches. No, not that either. Tricky. Tricky."

He suddenly stopped, staring into Sarah's eyes, then into Jamie's. His eyes widened. Jamie and Sarah seemed nonplussed, but Ema gave Ari a look that told her that Ema, at least, recognized that look too. It was the look that he had given Ema when the Eagle of Ravenclaw had flown from her wand, the look that was given to Ari when she had told that she was left handed. It meant that he knew something about the sisters, that because of his knowledge he knew Sarah's wand.

"Give me your wand," he said to Jamie, seeming to be vague, though his slightly fearful eyes gave him away.

Jamie handed it over, looking confused.

Mr. Ollivander examined it for a moment, then nodded. He handed it back to Jamie and headed to the back of the shop.

Jamie turned to the others. "What was that all about?" she asked.

Ronnie shrugged. "I honestly don't know," she said, looking at Ema and Ari.

Ari glanced at Ema before coming to a decision. "Couldn't tell you," she said as lightly as she could.

"No idea," said Ema, seeming to understand Ari's train of thought. Maybe, if they didn't mention it, it would go away.

Jamie and Ronnie looked skeptical but before they could prod and poke anymore, Mr. Ollivander was back with an interesting dusty box.

Ari's hearts sank. The box was green and blue. On the green half there was an eagle but it faded into a serpent on the blue half.

Seeming to sense Ari's gaze, Mr. Ollivander whipped out the wand and tossed the box aside, handing the wand to Sarah with a bow. "Maple, Phoenix tail feather and Unicorn hair."

Sarah took the wand and waved.

Ari let out her breath as a shower of blue and green sparks shot out of it. Nothing unusual; no animals flying over their heads ... no questions. Thank heaven, too. If something had happened, if Mr. Ollivander knew something - they had no adults to help them out of any odd situations.

* * *

"Where have you been?" snapped Ginny, five minutes later, outside Flourish and Blott's bookstore. "I'm soaked through. I thought we'd meet here ... you took far too long. Ema, what have I told you about dawdling?"

"Honestly, Mum, I wasn't - ow. Damn it, Mum, will you listen?" snapped Ema as her mother knocked the back of her head. It was clear to Ari that tensions were running thin and that it was time to call it a day.

"Good God, Gin, calm down," said Harry, putting an arm around her. "Wand shopping takes forever. You know that."

Ginny smiled slightly. "Yes, I know. Sorry Em." She gave her daughter a one-armed hug. "I think it's been a long day and we're all a bit testy."

"Speak for yourself," grouched Ema, proving her mother's point. "Mum, can Ari come over?"

"Ema! That's rather rude!" said Ginny, gesturing to Ronnie and Jamie hovering in the background.

"It's okay, Mrs. Potter," said Jamie. "I've got to go anyway. Thanks for taking me. Sarah. What do you say?"

"Thanks," muttered Sarah, kicking Jamie in annoyance.

"Bye," said Ari, wondering a bit whether Sarah was immature or whether Jamie merely treated her that way, or both.

"See you," said Ema, grinning at Sarah and hugging Jamie.

"See you," said Ronnie reluctantly. "I guess I'd better go too."

The others nodded. "Bye," said Ginny and Harry.

"See you in three weeks," said Ari.

"Have a good -" Ema stopped herself. There was no way on earth for Ronnie to have a good rest of the holiday. There was an awkward pause. "See you," said Ema apologetically.

Ronnie smiled. Sadly, it was true, but she smiled nonetheless, turning and walking down the wet street towards the Apothecary.

* * *

"So, can Ari come over, Mum?" nagged Ema as they headed back to The Leaky Cauldron.

"Yes, yes, yes," said Ginny distractedly, looking around.

"What's up?" asked Ema.

"I don't know. I just have a feeling -" she was interrupted by a loud beeping. "That that was going to happen," she finished, pulling a small, round, green object out of her pocket and swearing as she looked at it. "Harry," she said to her husband. "Take these two back home for me, okay? I've got to go to the office."

"Right," said Harry in a voice that made Ema sure he knew what was going on.

"What's going on?" she demanded as they approached the fireplace in the pub. "It doesn't concern you," said Harry shortly, handing her the floo powder.

Ema gave her father a look of pure anger - something not often seen on Ema's face. She grabbed the powder, threw it into the flames and stepped inside shouting, "The Hollow," much more violently than was necessary.

* * *

"What did I do to deserve that?" asked Harry when he was sure Ema was in no position to get back.

Ari shrugged. She knew very well what Ema was miffed about. They had their own mystery to solve - and she wondered if it was about Sarah that Ginny had been called. It was clear that Ema thought so. "She's probably just in a bad mood," said Ari. "Big change," muttered Harry. "I thought that she wouldn't turn into a griping teen till she was at least fifteen." Ari grinned. "I doubt it's that." The smile slid off her face. "At least I hope not," she added to the flames as she stepped into them, heading back to The Hollow.