Slightly Amused

Chapter 2: Can't Spot Her Faults But She Spotted Mine

Finally, the summer holidays were drawing to a close. Tomorrow Harry would Floo over to the Burrow and tag along to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys. From then until the end of term, the Dursleys would be out of his hair. Harry finished off his last day of the year with his aunt, uncle, and cousin with a tense dinner.

"Will you be having breakfast with those people, or will we need to feed you?" Aunt Petunia voraciously asked.

"I'll leave early enough to eat with them," Harry replied. To this, his aunt and uncle cheered up. They started to talk to Dudley about how well he'll fulfill their expectations for this year. As usual, Dudley just stuffed his face and pretended to listen.

Early the next morning, Harry was dressed and more than ready to leave his uncle's house. He quickly carried his trunk full of school things down stairs and in front of the living room fireplace. Back upstairs for a second trip, Harry brought down Hedwig. His aunt and uncle were still asleep, but he didn't bother waking them up to wish them goodbye.

Waiting in front of the fireplace, Harry realized he must be up too early for the Weasleys. He was about to go find him something to eat real quick, but the stopped when he saw a green fire shoot up. Out walked the Weasley twins.

"Morning, Harry!" George said. Harry was surprised to see them; he thought they would be working at their shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. They must have noticed Harry's confusion from his expression, because they then explained that they were at the Burrow for the summer. Fred and George carried Hedwig's cage and Harry's trunk into the fireplace and it Floo'd off to the Weasley's home. Harry went next, followed by the twins.

Happy to again be in a place he can actually call home, Harry was greeted by a plump Mrs. Weasley and a bunch of other kids with red hair. Ron took Harry up to his room, where they talked about things they forgot to tell each other in letters.

An hour or so later, the Weasleys and Harry were walking through Diagon Alley, shopping for school books and other things they required for another year of Hogwarts. As usual, Ron only got a few new things, but everything else was used. Harry tried not to buy nice things in front of them, but Mrs. Weasley caught notice of it and told him not to worry about it. When all of the school things were bought, Mrs. Weasley let them all go off on their own to shop for what they want and to just hang out.

"Stick together, dears!" Mrs. Weasley called after them. She and her husband went off to chat with old friends. Just as expected, Fred and George asked Harry if he had done anything to Dudley over the summer. They were disappointed when Harry told them that he didn't bother with his relatives at all, and started to suggest what Harry should do next summer.

Just as Fred was telling Harry about a candy the twins invented that made the consumer's hair constantly turn ridiculous colors, two charming girls walked past the group of boys and Ginny. They were walking with a swift pace, but their movement was so smooth it was as though they were floating. One of the girls seemed familiar to Harry, and he didn't know why.

They were a cheery pair, laughing and chatting as they walked. Both in Muggle clothes, Harry saw why they stood out so much. They were pretty much wearing the same thing, just different colors. You don't exactly see girls in blue jeans and tanks in Diagon Alley every day, especially girls that look like this. What if they were Muggles and they just happened to get in somehow? They didn't seem to think the shops were weird, so they were probably just in Muggle attire. When they got to the twins, Fred spoke.

"Hello there, ladies," he grinned. "Having a nice time?"

The girls giggled. The girl in a blue shirt had hair soft-looking blond hair in loose curls. She smiled brightly and turned to the twins. As she continued laughing, Harry's heart did a somersault.

"You're cute," the one in blue said, pointing to George. Fred looked confused, and he then smiled at her.

"Well I guess we are!" he said, boastingly.

"No, no," said the other girl. She had on the same shirt, but a rosy pink color. Her hair was too in curls, yet a burgundy tone. "She meant him," and she pointed to George. Ginny laughed.

"You seem to be confused," Fred gestured toward George. "See, we're twins. We look exactly the same." The girls stared at both of them for a moment, and then laughed again.

"No, no," said the blonde. "He's cuter," again pointing at George.

"But -," Fred started. George jabbed him with his elbow and muttered teasingly, "Shut up, you're jealous." The girls left, and Ginny and George laughed at Fred. Ron looked disgruntled, and Harry had a quizzical expression.

"One of them seems familiar," Harry whispered to Ron, "but... I dunno. Something seems different."

"What's different?" Ron asked. Harry just told him to never mind, but Ron was already thinking of other things.

"I'm their brother, shouldn't I be cute too?" Ron said protectively. Ginny laughed.

"Of course not!" she spoke. It appeared she was listening to them. Ron told her to go away, and she stormed off with the twins to join them on their way towards a joke shop. Harry and Ron just walked around the alley, but soon they again saw the two girls, just a short distance from the ice cream parlor the boys were walking out of.

"Bye, Thaly!" The girls hugged and the one in pink ran off to who appeared to be her mother. The blonde was left alone and walked into the Apothecary nearby.

"What's a girl like that doing in there?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Dunno," Ron answered. "Perky ones don't exactly like shopping for frog spawn and such. Maybe she needs it for school."

"I've never seen her at Hogwarts. She's too old to be a first year, and too young to be finished with school."

"You're right," Ron paused for a moment. "Let's go in and see what she's doing." They walked into the Apothecary and found her over by the shelves of bright powders. She was too busy reading labels and stuffing things into the shopping basket to notice that there were two boys following her. They were clueless as to why she was there, and Harry wondered why they even bothered. She was just a stranger, it shouldn't matter to them. They left the shop and then heard someone calling for them.

"Harry! Ron! Over here!" They saw Hermione Granger waving frantically from a table in front of a little café, and they walked over to sit down with her. They talked together and had some tea and about an hour later, all three of them met back with the rest of the Weasleys. Hermione was to return to the Burrow with them, and they would all go to King's Cross together in the morning.