The Next Hogwarts Generation: The Beginning

Author´s note: Erm... this is a completely rewritten version of my story about the Raspberries and the other students from the generation after that of Harry Potter. Among other characters, I also feature the children of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.. At least, the ones who began their Hogwarts career in the 2017-2018 school year. Gwen, Felicia, Fern, Daphne, Janine, Christina, and Lucia are the Raspberries. *shudder* I can´t believe I´m using netspeak *anywhere*, but.. You´ll see what I mean towards the end of the story..

*A prologue/storyish sort of thing*

It was a hot, muggy sort of July day in England. One could interpret the weather as it longed to rain, but just couldn´t. It was July 31^st, 2017... the 37^th birthday of Harry Potter, the boy who lived.

Indeed, Harry Potter was no longer a boy, he was now a grown man. He still had the same messy black hair he had always possessed, and he still wore glasses. He was thin, and of the stature of 68 inches. He was no longer the shrimpy sort of male he had been as a boy. He was still slightly below average in height, but he wasn´t really short.

Harry Potter was now married to Hannah Abbott, who had been a Hufflepuff in his year at Hogwarts,. During his 5^th year, Harry had sat with Hannah in Herbology, angry at Ron and Hermione over a slight squabble they had, about a very pointless subject. They had been telling Harry that they didn´t think he was being cautious enough, and he´d been offended. Harry wasn´t the overly cautious sort of person.

Harry had spoken animatedly with Hannah throughout the period. She had a different temperament then himself, yet he thought she would turn out to be a good friend. Hannah valued trust and loyalty above all else when it came to friends, something Harry saw and appreciated. She, too, was annoyingly over-cautious, yet Harry knew it was because she cared. She was opinionated and possessed a temper, which intrigued Harry weren´t Hufflepuffs supposed to be mild? Little did he know that he actually had things in common with Hannah.

Hannah had convinced Harry to make up with his two best friends, by pointing out that the only reason that they were lecturing him to be careful was because they cared about him and didn´t want him to be lost to the world. And with this, Harry realized he´d misjudged her in earlier years. Or had she merely changed as a person? Hannah didn´t seem to be the airhead, the gossip, the true blonde that he had judged her to be. Instead, she was a sweet, honest, loyal, and perhaps even brave, kind of person.

Although she was in a different house, although they had different sets of friends originally, Harry and Hannah had grown close. Harry came to know some of Hannah´s deepest secrets. One day, Harry had spotted Hannah crying in a hallway, not noticing anything that was going on. Concerned for his newest friend, Harry walked over to her and rested a hand on her thin shoulder. Indeed, Hannah was rather skinny. She was a tall blonde, and she wore rather thick glasses, which she had gotten during the summer between fourth and fifth year.

"Hannah, what´s the mater?" Harry asked awkwardly. He just couldn´t figure out the feminine mindset. Did his friend have a boyfriend he hadn´t known about, had Hannah just gone through a bad breakup or something?

Shaking, Hannah held out a letter for Harry to read. Taking it, he turned rather pale. The letter was signed, "Anne Abbott." The letter was very harsh, accusing Hannah of turning into a spoiled brat, and not caring about somebody named Bryce and someone named Edwin.

"Who are Anne, Bryce, and Edwin?" Harry asked, bewildered. Judging by the fact that they had the same surname, they were probably related to her.

"M-mm... f-family m-members," Hannah sobbed, finally looking up. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. "Anne is m-my m-m-mother, and B-Bryce and Edwin are... are m-my b-b-brothers." She was stuttering rather badly through her tears.

Harry looked awkwardly at the tall blonde, shocked that anyone would talk to their own daughter like that. The tone of the letter strongly reminded him of the Dursleys. Harry just kept his hand resting on Hannah´s shoulder, until the girl finally desisted. Then he decided to press the matter a little further.

"Why would your own mother talk to you like that?" Harry asked, rereading a line in horror. "I wish you had never been born."

"She hates me, she always has," Hannah said grimly. "She favors my brothers. Bryce is a third year here, and Edwin is three. She always makes me look after them. They can get away with murder, while if I look at her the wrong way... she starts screaming at me. Sometimes she even slaps me." Hannah was pouring out a secret she had never divulged to anyone. She could feel an indescribable hatred awakening inside her, as she poured out her story. She told of how her brother was a complete idiot, and how she was blamed for his antics. "Once he decided to pile up gunpowder and light it on fire. It exploded, and he got burned. She was home, I wasn´t even baby-sitting. I was just sitting on the swing set. She came out and started screaming at me, asking why I´d let him do it. I wasn´t even paying him any mind, I was just daydreaming and swinging. I didn´t see, or I´d have warned him not to do something as abysmally foolhardy as that."

Harry looked at Hannah with a sort of pity as she poured out her emotions. He could definitely sympathize, her situation at home reminded him of how he felt staying with the Dursleys. They had one very sad thing in common: they were both loathed by those who were supposed to love them, considered lower than a lug, abused.

Eventually, Hannah grew to be more than just friends, and then fell into love. They married shortly after the end of seventh year, but their troubles weren´t over. Something happened that could have killed Hannah, and that caused Harry to quit professional Quidditch for her sake. A dreadful thing came to pass, something that would change their lives forever. (OOC: I will not go into it at this point)

Despite everything, they overcame this hurdle and Hannah miraculously became pregnant. She gave birth to her daughter Fernanda Jean on September 13^th, 2006.

Hermione Granger also fell into love, with a Muggle man by name of Michael Belasca. Being a Muggle-born, Hermione had absolutely no inhibition about marrying Michael. On July 4^th, 2006 she gave birth to her first-born, a girl named Felicia Patricia. Six years later, on December 16^th, 2012, she had her second-born, a boy named Thomas. About this time, Hermione made the error of revealing her secret to her husband. She knew he was a devout Christian, but she didn´t think he would be offended by her identity, so, over a romantic dinner at home one night, while the children were with their maternal grandparents, Hermione spilled the beans. Horrified, Michael rushed upstairs. The next morning, Hermione found a heartbreaking note from Michael saying he´d gone for good, and he wanted nothing to do with magical folks. Taking this blow very hard, Hermione arranged for the children to stay with her parents for a month while she collected her thoughts. Felicia never quite forgave her father for this dire betrayal.

The third of the trio, Ron, also found true love after Hogwarts, with a girl from another wizarding school. In a Hogsmeade pub one night, Ron spotted a red-haired young woman sitting by herself. Ron thought to himself that the petite redhead was gorgeous, and, summoning his courage, asked if he could join her. Blushing, the girl gave her consent. After talking, Ron learned, through a thick French accent, that her name was Meredith Zwing, and she had attended Beauxbatons Academy. Remembering Fleur, Ron was originally apprehensive about the girl, but he got over it and proposed in 1999. Shortly before the wedding, their firstborn, Erin, was born. After Erin, they had a few more children, including Daphne, born in January of 2006.

"You know what, ladies?" Harry Potter was in the living room of his small one-story house with Hannah and Fern. It was still his birthday, and he´d made a decision of his celebration. "I reckon we should visit Diagon Alley tomorrow, for a belated birthday celebration. We can get Fern´s things, and then we can get lunch and dinner there. It will be a sort of celebration for both my birthday and Ferns, as she won´t be here for hers; she´ll be at school." Harry kept quiet about the other part of his plan.. That he had planed a reunion with Ron and Hermione exactly for this occasion. He had kept in touch with them via owl post,, but Fern had never met their kids, and he wanted to change that before she began school. He had taken into consideration Fern´s shy nature; she could easily have difficulty making friends, and her famous name wouldn´t help. She was likely to act withdrawn and antisocial if approached by others and put through the third-degree about her family. His daughter was a very private sort.

"Sure, that´s great, Dad," Fern said, grinning. She understood the fun in stretching a birthday, having done so the previous ear by inviting a couple of school friends over a couple of weeks after turning ten. The skinny girl ran a hand through the blonde hair she had inherited from her mother, a smile still pasted on her pale face. She glanced at her bespectacled mother, wondering how come she didn´t need glasses while both her parents did.

"Hannah? May I please have your feedback? What do you say we do this tomorrow?" Harry asked, looking at his wife pointedly. Noticing his expression, Hannah gave her consent.

On the same day, Gwen Meek bounded into her house, her face flushed. Perspiration was pouring down her face, as she´d been out jogging with her father. Gwendolyn Meek considered running her all-time passion, and she was exceptional at it too. She was the fastest runner in her school, and her dearest ambition was to become a professional track star. Just a couple of weeks, Gwen had won the first place medal for the local junior league. Gwen´s heart swelled with prides as she spotted her medal, posted on her own bulletin board along with her certificate for exceptional clarinet-playing and one for her artwork. It was a wonderful feeling, knowing she was good at so much. Her nickname at school was "Little Miss Perfect." At the same time, Gwen wasn´t conceited, making others love her even more. She rarely bragged about her accomplishments, and she recognized and worked on her shortcomings. Glancing at her smiling school portrait, Gwen thought, I have a lot going for me. I wonder what this year´ll bring.

While lost in her thought, Gwen heard the click of the copper mail slot. As both her parents were out back, Gwen sorted through the letters... junk mail... more junk mail, including an advertisement striking her as very funny. "Who the heck would want a nose hair clipper?" Gwen mused aloud, chortling. Underneath the ad proclaiming, "Be Hairless...Free nose hair clipper with the purchase of 5 tubs of wax!" was a curious-looking envelope indeed, addressed to Gwen so specifically that it even listed her attic bedroom. It struck her as ominous that some random person knew where she slept,. But, her curiosity getting the better of her, she tore open the envelope with a long fingernail. Her jaw dropped as her turquoise eyes skimmed the letter.

"Mom! Dad!" the tall, sandy-haired girl hollered. "Come here.. you´ve got to see this!"

At the Cooper residence in Wales, 11-year-old Janine was n the computer, which she thought of as her second home. Janine was in a group chart with her close-knit group of friends.

Jgrrlness: OMG, its hot 2day, I dun blieve this.

Sarapara22ms: it´s been worse, dun u remember last year?

Jgrrlness: O. True ture

Jgrrlness: *true

XXiamthexeniaXX: Janiene can´t spell

Sarapara22ms: LMFAO

Iamcoffeehigh: Janiene?

Jgrrlness: lol, u should talk xenia lmfao

XXiamthexeniaXX: OMG my virgin ears!

Jgrrlness:ROTFFFLMFAO

Sarapara22ms: ?

Iamcoffeehigh: what, Janine?

Jgrrlness: r u still hi on caffiene Cassie?

Iamcoffeehigh: Hell yeah

Sarapara22ms: *Janine

Jgrrlness: good job Sara u figured out how 2 spell my name.

Sarapara22ms: shut the @#$% up Janine

Iamcoffeehigh: I think Xenia died

Jgrrlness: me 2, hey, h/o, where´s Donna

XXiamthexeniaXX: naw, my ears just burned by the foul language

Sarapara22ms: Donna´s brbing, dun u remember?

Londonluvaoo: n/m I´m back, did I miss nething from b4?

Jgrrlness: naw

Sarapara22ms: naw

XXiamthexeniaXX: lol were u 2 typing @ the same time?

While thinking of a wisecrack to say to Sara, Xenia, Cassie, and Donna, Janine heard her bratty brother, Bryn, calling from the stairwell. Sighing with disgust, Janine typed "brb" and posted her away message.

"What do you want, brat?" Janine asked. Laughing, Bryan replied that her father had called for her. Punching her brother on the shoulder with a medium-skinned hand, the auburn-haired girl ran downstairs, jumping the last couple of steps.

"We have to go to London today," Mr. Cooper told his chubby daughter. Janine frowned.

"Since when?" She´d wanted to spend the whole day chatting with her posse.

"You´d better get used to not being on that silly computer, you´re not going top be able to access one at Hogwarts, they don´t work. So log of, we´re going to Diagon Alley."

"Fine," his short daughter said, scowling. She ran back upstairs to the computer room.

Jgrrlness: I g2g, I´m going 2 london

Ondonluvaoo: u lucky!

Sarapara22ms: y?

Jgrrlness: no idea, g2g, dad´s having a cow

XXiamthexeniaXX: aww

Sarapara22ms: bye

Jgrrlness: l8ta, bbl

Janine logged off and trudged downstairs, still irked over the loss of online time. As she passed the wooden mirror in the hall, she briefly stopped to brush her wavy auburn hair with her fingers, and continued on her way.

"Blimey, it´s hot!" Christina Zzra was walking along the twisted, cobbled streets with her brothers Curtis, Craig, and Carson. Sweat was pouring down her olive-skinned face, and she continually had to shove her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose, as they kept slipping. She was shopping for her first-ever term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and was too scorched from the sweltering heat to observe much of the fascinating stores from Ollivander´s to Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Hold on," Curtis said, grabbing the strap of his younger sister´s tank top. Whirling around, her black eyes glaring at her brother, Christina said, "What?"

"Chris, you need a wand." Christina scowled, loathing being called anything besides her proper name. Making a futile attempt to smooth her flyaway auburn hair, Christina entered the shop, closely followed by her brothers. They were always entertained by watching somebody trying out a new wand. The Zzra siblings coughed slightly from the dust as they waited.

"Good afternoon, good afternoon to you all," a scratchy voice came from somewhere behind Christina. Startled, she whirled around to find herself facing a wizened old man with wide, pale eyes that were oddly illuminated in the dismal shop. "And who might be trying out a wand, getting one of my creations? Ell, actually, the wand chooses the wizard, but.. right, then..." Christina assumed that this frail old man was Mr. Ollivander, the mysterious owner of the shop. The man´s mysterious demeanor gave her a strange feeling about him. When his silvery eyes fastened on her, she hoped he´d look away.

"Erm, excuse me, I´d like to purchase a wand," Christina said, rather timidly for her usually outspoken character.

"Aha. I thought so, you look about the right age to be starting a new term, you do." Christina nearly laughed out loud at this, people ordinarily told her that her small stature made her look about nine instead of eleven. Mr. Ollivander, having spoken, removed a tape measure from the pocket of his rather frayed robes and began measuring the small girl. After encircling her head, Ollivander began speaking of how no two wands were the same as he took out boxes. Christina, although in a state of mystified bewilderment, did notice that the tape measure, now closing itself around her neck, was operating by itself, most likely via magic. Christina wondered why Ollivander was measuring her when she was shopping for a wand, not wizard´s robes.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Felicia Belasca felt ready to scream from her younger brother Tom´s incessant whining. The Belascas were taking an impromptu car trip to Wales from their home, and Tom did not seem pleased. Felicia turned around from the front passenger seat to whack her brother on the head with a rolled-up magazine.

"Felicia..." Hermione said reproving, watching her bickering children with distaste while trying to watch the road. The car contained some enchantments, but Hermione was still a stickler for the rules. Her children were trying her patience.

"Mooom, Tom´s kicking the back of my... ow, cut it out you brat!" Felicia said fiercely as one particularly hard kick caught her in the small of her back.

At the end of her tether, Hermione pulled over to the side of the road, furiously glowering at her two children, wondering at the sibling rivalry. "Kids, this car is not moving again until you two knock the fighting off."

Lucia Finch-Fletchley was laughing in a particularly loud fashion. She and her sister Daria were seated at the table, playing an enthusiastic round of Slapjack and listening to the Wizarding Wireless Network. There were two reasons for the mirth. One was that the deejay had just told a joke which struck her as particularly amusing. The other was that she had jut managed to slip her hand under that of her younger sister´s as the jack of spades came up. "What do you know, even a chubsterette like myself can have the reflexes to win at this," Lucia said, still chortling. She was rubbish at sports, so the part about reflexes had been self-mockery. After her sister and she took their hands off the messy pile of cards, they automatically began to shuffle and lay on the table, facedown. It was nice how the cards conveniently shuffled by themselves after a round was over so they wouldn´t have to worry about the fairness of it all. The pale brunette smiled at her tanned sister. "What shall we play now? Spit? War? Exploding snap? Gobstones?"

"OOooooh, gross, I don´t want to play anymore!" a small redhead cried with disgust as one of her Gobstones spurted its rank liquid directly into her face. Wiping the stuff off with a cloth, Daphne Weasley smiled at her 9-year-old sister Miranda and their cousin Orange. "I mean it, that stuff is disgusting, this is the fifth time I lost!" The truth was, Daphne Weasley was a sore loser, and always insisted n switching games when things didn´t go her way.

"Why not break out a deck of cards then?" Orange said, wiggling her skinny body in the chair. She deliberately flung a gobstone at her elder cousin. The stone rolled off the round table onto the ground and rolled underneath. Sighing with disgust, Daphne ducked underneath the table to retrieve it, deciding against making Orange get it. "There, I`ve got.. Oh, my frikking gosh, that hurt like hell!" Daphne said as she cracked her head against the bottom of the table. She crawled out, one hand clasping the game piece, the other over the sore spot. Miranda had her head on the table, and was snickering. Flicking the back of her sister´s head, Daphne ran into the house to get the Exploding Snap game cards. Glancing at the calendar, he saw words flashing which hadn´t been there before for August first... "Visit Diagon Alley" Daphne blinked, surprised at this sudden decision of her parents to suddenly buy everybody´s school things tomorrow.

(OOC: and here´s where I leave off... until next time!)