Darkest Before the Hope • Harry Potter ❥ Terence Higgs

03: Flourish & Blotts

A week after arriving at the Burrow, Cassia and Ginny entered the kitchen to eat breakfast. Mr and Mrs Weasley were already there.

"Here's your letters," Mr Weasley said, passing a piece of yellowish parchment to Cassia and Ginny.

Cassia sat down next to Mr Weasley and noticed that the letter was from Hogwarts and it had the address of the Burrow on it. She opened her letter, setting the Hogwarts Express ticket to the side. She looked at the booklist and balked at it.

Second-Year Students Will Require:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshank
Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gildeory Lockhart
Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

Apparently Gilderoy Lockhart loved alliteration.

Ginny looked over, "You have to get Lockhart's books, too?"

"Yeah," Cassia replied still balking at the books.

Ron and Harry entered the kitchen. There was a clatter and Cassia looked over to see Ginny diving under the table. She got up, glowing.

"Letters from school," Mr Weasley said, passing two letters to the two boys. "Dumbledore already knows you and Cassia are here – doesn't miss a trick, that man." Fred and George entered the kitchen. "You two got them, too."

There was silence as the three Weasleys and Harry looked over their letters. Fred looked over at Harry's list.

"You've been told to get all of Lockhart's books, too!" Fred exclaimed. "I bet the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a fan – bet it's a witch!"

Cassia looked at him and Fred busied himself with the marmalade.

"That lot won't come cheap. Lockhart's books are expensive," George said.

Cassia almost winced at the thought. She knew that the Weasleys are poor.

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

"Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny.

Cassia looked to see Ginny blushing and she put her elbow in the butter dish. Percy walked in, wearing the Hogwarts prefect badge.

"Morning, all. Lovely day," Percy said, briskly.

"Morning, Percy," Cassia responded, smiling. "It is a lovely day." She noticed Ron giving her a look. "What?" She was a Hufflepuff after all.

"Errol," Ron said, taking a limp owl from Percy. He extracted a letter from under Errol's wing. "Finally – he's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going try and rescue you from the Dursleys."

Cassia frowned as Ron walked off to the back door as he read the letter out loud. She looked at her supplies list. Apparently they were going to meet up with Hermione on Wednesday. She figured that she can try to contact her friends to see if they can meet up in Diagon Alley.

Mrs Weasley started clearing the table, "What're you all up to today?"

"We were going to go up to the paddock to practice Quidditch," Ron said.

"I was going to ask my friends if we can meet up in Diagon Alley on Wednesday and I wanted to finish my homework," Cassia said.

"You're just like Hermione," Ron said. "You do schoolwork while we're on holiday."