A Leisurely Summer Vacation

The letter Harry sent from Diagon Alley was soon delivered to Ron's house by Hedwig. In it, Harry wrote about the strange house-elf he had met, and Ron quickly wrote back to say he would come and get them.

Harry stayed at Aya's house for only a day, during which Duoduo fed him until his stomach bulged at every meal. He spent the next day playing in Diagon Alley with Aya, and that evening, Ron and Mrs. Weasley arrived in Diagon Alley by fireplace. Mrs. Weasley looked a little disheveled after squeezing through the gap in the wall leading to Aya's house, though.

"Dear, you've lost so much weight!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, hugging Harry with concern. They were in the living room of Aya's house, and Ron was staring at it in shock.

"I thought you were living somewhere Headmaster Dumbledore arranged for you. I didn't expect you to have your own house, and in Diagon Alley too!" Ron rushed around the first floor, envious. The house was small and out of the way, but it was in Diagon Alley!

"Hmph, of course I have my own home!" Aya lifted her chin. Before Mrs. Weasley arrived, Harry had covered the mirror in the entrance hall with a sofa cover, and Aya was now looking at it with displeasure.

"Mom, are we still taking Harry home with us, then?" Ron stood in front of the sliding door to the backyard, looking at the reasonably well-kept little garden outside. He turned back to ask.

"Of course!" Mrs. Weasley said. "Come and visit us, and Aya can come too! You can all play together!"

"Me?" Aya pointed at herself. "I have Duoduo. She'll take care of me."

"Come to our place with us. Whatever else you might say about our house, it's lively," Ron said, touching this and examining that. He even picked up a Muggle toy Aya had bought and fiddled with it.

"Hmm..." Aya hesitated, then turned and called upstairs, "Duoduo, can I go to Ron's house to play?"

With a pop, the house-elf appeared on the first floor, an iron in her hand. "Of course. Wherever Aya goes, Duoduo goes."

"All right, then I'll come with you!" Aya immediately felt better.

Mrs. Weasley led the three children and the elf to the public fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron. After teaching Aya and Harry how to use it, she had Ron go first.

Harry went second, and Aya third.

Aya stepped into the fireplace, lowering her ears as she smelled the soot inside. She scattered a handful of Floo Powder at her feet. "The Burrow."

Green flames rose from beneath her feet, and the world spun around her. When Aya lost her footing and tumbled out, George, who was waiting by the fireplace, caught her. "Oh, our Miss Cat has come too!"

Fred had an arm around Harry's shoulders nearby. "Welcome to the Burrow!" he said happily.

Aya shook her head and cleared it a little, then greeted everyone one by one. She also said hello to Ginny, who was hiding behind Fred, although she looked a little shy.

Aya flicked her tail, shaking the dust off it, and was pulled a little farther away. Flames flared in the fireplace twice more, and Duoduo and Mrs. Weasley came out.

"Merlin, it's a house-elf!" The other Weasleys were evidently more interested in Duoduo and crowded around to get a better look. Duoduo screamed in fright. "Aya, Duoduo knows the way now. Duoduo will go back and finish ironing the clothes!"

With a pop, Duoduo disappeared before Aya could answer for the first time.

"You scared her," Ron said accusingly. Harry nodded too. In just three meals, he had grown considerably fonder of Duoduo.

It was still early, and Mrs. Weasley didn't send them off to rest. Aya curiously examined the unfamiliar house.

The fireplace was next to the kitchen. The kitchen was small, and the many dishes and ornaments made it look quite crowded.

In the middle stood a long wooden table, wiped spotless, and several chairs. A clock hung on the wall opposite the table. It had only one hand, and instead of numbers, its face bore phrases like "make tea," "feed the chickens," and "you're late."

Above the fireplace were three stacks of books and a mirror. Aya glanced at the books and saw that they seemed to be about household magic. She wondered whether she could have Duoduo read them.

There was also a radio beside the sink, still playing a song.

Aya went to look at the living room, as though inspecting her territory. The room was furnished cozily. Almost all the furniture looked old, but it was well cared for and beautifully arranged, all in warm colors. Aya also spotted some little wizarding toys moving on the cabinets and bookshelves.

Nice, excellent!

After Harry moved in with the Weasleys, he finally got back in touch with his friends. Aya often came over to play during the day and went home to sleep at night.

Duoduo also came to the Burrow during the day, avoiding the young wizards and doing housework and cooking delicious food with Mrs. Weasley. At Aya's request, Duoduo read all the books about household magic on the mantelpiece and became very interested in The Magic of Baking Bread. For several days in a row, she and Mrs. Weasley experimented with all sorts of strange breads.

Aya loved the Burrow. Outside the house was a large yard where a few plump chickens roamed freely. Every day, Aya either took Xiaohua to pounce on gnomes for fun—those things could actually talk—or stared at the fat chickens in the yard. Fred even laughed that her eyes had turned green.

In the end, Mrs. Weasley saw her like that and killed a chicken that evening to add to the fun.

Aya's eyes grew even brighter.

After the family lost a chicken, however, the Weasley children often dragged Aya outside to play on flying broomsticks. Even Harry offered his beloved broom for Aya to use. After eating that fat chicken, Aya had shown no restraint at all; her eyes grew even greener when she looked at the remaining chickens. She even frightened one sensitive chicken so badly that it didn't dare go outside and stopped laying eggs.

Although her home in Diagon Alley was quite nice, it was in a busy commercial district, after all, and there was no space wide enough for wizards to race around on brooms. This was Aya's only chance to play on a flying broom since the holidays began, not only because there was room here, but also because there were brooms.

And so the Weasleys' only daughter who hadn't yet started school, Ginny, got to watch a fancy broomstick performance: riding headfirst, riding in spirals, spiraling upward on a broom, free-falling on a broom...

"Don't copy her, understand?" George said affectionately. "That's not what the Quidditch team wants."

"Unless you can make sure your head's completely empty, playing like that will only make you forget your own name by the time you get off," Ron said confidently.

"And you don't have a tail," Fred said, holding back Ginny, who was eager to try. "You'd just fall, and then, bang, you'd be dead."

Ginny gazed enviously at Aya, who looked as though she had become one with her broom. "I'm just watching," she said, without meaning it.

Of course, Aya had also met the man of the house, Arthur Weasley. But since she usually came over during the day, she rarely saw him, only meeting him when he came home from work at dinnertime. He and Molly Weasley were very close, and every time, Aya curiously watched them snuggle up together as soon as he got home.

After a week of playing at the Burrow, Aya received the booklist sent by the school while she and Xiaohua were crouching in wait for gnomes. For Xiaohua's outstanding gnome-catching achievements, Mrs. Weasley had rewarded Xiaohua with a plate of crispy fried dried fish, but unfortunately, Xiaohua didn't need to eat, so Aya ate every last one. As Aya looked over the booklist, Harry and the others beside her said they had received theirs that morning.

After receiving the school notice, Aya's quest was also complete.

[Pass the final exams and advance successfully to second year: completed]

[Level increased to 25]

[New quest: Successfully find the school-year boss during the second school year]

As usual, Aya glanced at the quest panel and closed it.

"They're all-Lockhart's books," Ron said from nearby, wearing gloves as he pulled weeds. "Fred says the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor must be a fan of Lockhart's books, maybe even a witch."

"And none of them are cheap," George said. He and Fred were crouching together, wearing gloves but doing hardly any work.

"They're not just not cheap, they're too-expensive." Fred was playing with pebbles he had picked up in the yard. Not only was every one of Lockhart's books expensive, but each person needed several of them, and five people in their family would be going to school this year. That meant five sets! Almost all the books at Flourish and Blotts had Anti-Doubling Charms on them, so there was no other way. And because Lockhart had been so famous lately, his old books were hardly ever seen in secondhand bookshops.

"Oh, Ginny's starting school this year too." Aya blinked and turned to look at little Ginny, who was crouching beside her. The whole group of children were crouched in the garden, looking just like a row of little mushrooms.

"Yes, I'm starting first year this year. I want to be in Gryffindor too." Ginny nodded. She wasn't wearing gloves; she had simply come over to join the conversation.

"That's good, then. We'll be together." Aya nodded in satisfaction. That way, everyone here would be on the same side, and she wouldn't have to worry about hurting her friends in any sneaky faction battles later.

"Our whole family will be in Gryffindor." Ron had no doubts.

"Where's Scabbers?" Harry asked, changing the subject. When they had been in their school dormitory, Ron had always held the rather ugly old rat, but since coming to the Burrow, Harry had only seen Scabbers in Ron's bedroom.

"Well, Aya comes over every day, so Scabbers doesn't want to leave the room," Ron answered unconcernedly. Scabbers was an old rat anyway, so it was understandable that he didn't like moving around.

After returning home, Aya handed the booklist to Duoduo and asked her to do the shopping. Duoduo was quick, and even bought Aya a few new clothes. When she got home, though, Aya heard her say that a letter had arrived from Hermione, which she had found in the mailbox by the door.

Aya sat lazily on the sofa and opened the letter. She took one look-Hermione was asking whether she had finished her homework.

Aya jolted in fright, her fur almost standing on end. She really, truly hadn't written a single word yet, but—she looked at the calendar and relaxed. There were still more than two weeks before school started, so there was no hurry.

A week passed quickly. Early on Wednesday morning, Aya heard someone knocking at her door. The little house had windows at both the front and back, so Aya could even hear Duoduo opening the door. She pulled the blanket over her ears.

"Aya, your friends are here," Duoduo said, coming upstairs and knocking on Aya's door. "There are several of them. What should I do?"

"Tell them to wait in the living room!" Aya called back, then lay down peacefully again.

Before long, however, Aya's ears twitched, and she heard Fred, George, and Ron's voices coming from her backyard garden.

"There aren't any gnomes at her house!"

"She has Duoduo and Xiaohua. How could there be any gnomes?"

"Merlin, I almost thought Ron had brought us the wrong way just now. It's so out of the way."

"But it's really hidden. When we were farther away, we didn't even notice the house."

"Maybe it's magic?"

"That's good magic. Doesn't look like many people live around here either. The best hiding place is in the middle of the city!"

Aya scrunched up her face, flung off the blanket, and got out of bed. She pushed open the second-floor balcony door and looked down. "What are you doing here? I was still sleeping!"

"Aya, come downstairs! Our family came to Diagon Alley to buy books today. Come play with us!" Harry was standing with Ron. Hearing the noise on the second floor, he looked up, saw Aya, and spoke to her.

"But I was sleeping," Aya said.

"You're awake now!" Ron said, looking up too.

Aya changed clothes resentfully and went downstairs. A perfect morning had been ruined just like that.

In the little dining room on the first floor, Duoduo had already prepared her breakfast: milk, bread, fried meat, and a vegetable salad. It was nutritionally balanced and a decent portion too. Aya bit fiercely into the soft, moist bread as she watched Duoduo ask the visitors whether they wanted something to eat. Fred and George immediately said yes.

"Didn't you eat?" Ron asked, a little disdainfully.

"Oh, little Ronnie, we're at the age when we're growing taller. Those few sandwiches this morning couldn't fill us up." Fred took a huge bite of Duoduo's buttered bread with fried meat before speaking.

"Besides, we were in such a hurry that we didn't even taste them-" George didn't stand on ceremony either, accepting his portion.

Harry had eaten three meals in this house, so he said yes when Duoduo asked him too. Once Ron, the great glutton, was the only one left, he naturally couldn't resist at all. Seeing everyone having a second meal, he shamelessly sat down as well.

After brunch at Aya's house, they went back through the gap in the wall—the Weasley brothers even moved sideways in an exaggerated fashion. When they reached Diagon Alley's main street, Hermione came looking for them too. She had also come to Diagon Alley that day and had just met Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny at Gringotts. She had followed their directions to find them.

"Oh, good morning!" Harry greeted Hermione happily, and Ron and Aya nodded too.

"Good morning, Ron, Fred, George. Good morning, Aya. Um, why do you look so tired?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"Because she was still in bed thirty minutes ago," Ron said. After greeting Hermione, Fred and George planned to go to the Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, where they wanted to have a look around. They had arranged to meet Lee there and had only followed Harry and the others because they were curious about Aya's home in Diagon Alley.

"Have you bought your books?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Not yet. I'm buying the other things first. What about you?" Hermione asked.

"Mom told us to meet her at Flourish and Blotts in an hour when we left," Ron replied. "What shall we do now?"

"I've already got my money. Now-shall we go get ice cream?" Harry suggested. Ever since eating the ice cream Hagrid had bought him on his first visit to Diagon Alley, he had loved the taste at that ice cream parlour.

"Sure." As long as there was food, Aya no longer cared whether she had gotten up early or late.

The friends went together to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, where Harry treated them to four identical strawberry and peanut butter ice creams. The four wandered around Diagon Alley, licking their ice creams.

It was mostly Harry and the other two who wandered around. Aya had lived here for months and had already scoured the place countless times. When school started, she could pay Snape back.