Harry Potter and the Story Without Delphi

Chapter Seven: When Did Teddy Become The Cool Uncle?

Albus had to wait barely a day for Molly Weasley to send her hurried reply.

Dear Albus,

I would be more than happy to accommodate your friend for Christmas! I am saddened to hear she hasn't had a good, proper Christmas, but I will make sure she'll have one with all the trimmings. Tell her she is more than welcome to stay at the Burrow for the duration of Christmas break, if that is okay with her brother. Nobody, especially a girl that young, should spend Christmas alone. We can even pick her up at the station.

Lot's of love,

Grandma

Albus couldn't really say he was surprised. When he showed Nova the letter, a scant few days before the break, she resumed her complaining.

"Albus I can't! Your grandmother seems like a very nice person, but I can't just waltz into your family gathering! Imagine how awkward it would be!"

"You need to relax," said Albus, dryly "She already said yes."

"Will you two give it a rest?"

Scorpius sighed at made a gesture at the clock.

"It's already quite late. We should all just go up and sleep."

"I don't even like you anyway," said Nova, her last comment as she climbed the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

"Apologize to your television for me."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, the trio was on the Hogwarts express. Nova was trying to use some sort of muggle technology to send a message to her brother. For once, it was Albus and Scorpius asking all the questions.

"What's that?" Scorpius asked when she had first pulled it out.

"You've never seen a cell phone before?"

"A what?"

She looked absolutely shocked.

"You seriously have never seen one? You call? You send text messages? You play addicting games?"

"I haven't seen one either," admitted Albus "But I might have heard about it from Hermione in passing."

"Oh wow. This is a major flaw in your education. Have you ever heard of a telephone?"

"I'm not stupid," replied Albus "Dad's called Uncle Dudley before. And there are payphones all over muggle London."

"Well imagine that amazing contraption, but portable. With the ability to send messages. Using words."

"Why would you even need one?" Scorpius asked, "Just send an owl."

"People in the muggle world don't send owls everywhere," she explained, losing patience, "And using the postman is a lot slower than a text message, which sends in seconds."

"Relax," replied Scorpius "You always ask questions about the wizarding world, it's only fair you answer ours."

"Who are you communicating with then?" asked Albus

"My brother," answered Nova, "I forgot to tell him you're forcing me to barge into your family celebration."

"You're telling him now?" said Scorpius, "He might be waiting on the platform already!"

"That's unlikely, as he is working at the moment. He only get's Christmas day off."

"How were you planning to get home?"