"Mia dear, come downstairs!" 

Mia hopped up off her bed and checked herself in the mirror one last time. Why was she doing this? She wasn't even sure. It was instinct after meeting so many new people when you travelled the world so much. So far, she had made it to every continent, excluding Antarctica. 

The Weasley's were staying at the Leaky Cauldron, with Hermione Granger, her brother Ron's best friend. "Coming, mom!" 

Mia hurriedly put on some lipgloss before grabbing her purse and exiting her room. Her parents let her have her own room, whereas the younger Weasley's all shared one room. 

"George!" Mia exclaimed, her feet stopping before the stairs as one of her twin younger brothers popped out of nowhere. Suddenly, an identical copy came out of nowhere. 

"He's not George, I am! Honestly woman, you call yourself our sister?" Fred or George said, pretending to be hurt. 

Mia stared at the two of them. "Nice try, Fred. You do realize you have a chocolate smear on you left cheek since yesterday? George didn't replicate it. Sorry, better luck next time." 

Fred and George frowned. "Hmm, we'll get you next time!" They said simultaneously. Mia shrugged. "Sure, see you in a few seconds!" She said as she quickly ran down the stairs, her long wavy bright red hair flying behind her. 

When she reached the bottom, she found her whole family sitting at the first table, gulping down breakfast. She wished her brothers Bill and Charlie were there, it didn't feel like a full family breakfast without them. 

"Mia, did you run into the twins? They were gone earlier." Mr. Weasley asked her once she sat down. 

"As a matter of fact I did," Mia said, scooping some scrambled eggs on to her plate. "They should be down soon." 

"Ok, here's the plan." Mrs. Weasley said. "After-" 

"Oh hello, you must be Mia!" A voice came from the stairwell. Mia turned around, as Mrs. Weasley smiled. 

"Oh hi, you must be Hermione!" Mia said excitedly. This was Ron's best friend, right? 

"I'm Hermione! Nice to meet you! Ron said you were on a trip, and you were coming today, so I was so excited!" Hermione babbled as she sat in between Ron and Ginny. 

Mia smiled more. She liked Hermione already. 

"Ok, the schedule for today is we're going to go shopping in Hogsmeade, then come back for lunch, then I'll you out of my view and you can go fun shopping." She looked at the twins, who were trying to quietly come down the stairs to scare the family.

"Zonkos it is!" Fred said, and George agreed as they sat down next to Mia. 

______________________________________________

"Ron? Ron?" Mia called out. "Mom wants to know if you got the books you need." 

Mia was walking through the busy streets of Diagon Alley, searching for Ron and Hermione. They had said they were going to Flourish and Blotts, but Mia hadn't found them there. She returned to Mrs. Weasley, who ordered her eldest child to find them and ask if they got their books already. 

Mia rolled her eyes. She just hoped Ron wouldn't do anything foolish with Hermione there. "Mia, is that you?" Came her younger brothers voice. Mia whipped her head around. 

"Mia, we're right here. Are you blind or something?" Ron said. Mia squinted. The sun was sure making things difficult to see, as usual. She suddenly spotted a bright mess of red hair peeking out from under the bright suns rays. 

"Ron! There you are." She hurried forward and saw the building that Ron was in front of: it was the Magical Menagerie. The place where you could get pets. 

"Oh hello there, Mia!" Hermione said pleasantly. Mia suddenly saw a mop of black hair in the shadows. 

"Look who we found, Mi!" Ron exclaimed. "We found Harry!" 

Ron shoved Harry forward. Mia's eyes grew wide. Ron's best friend was here? Harry Potter? Mia has been away all the times that Harry had come to stay with her family, but she had heard stories. 

Harry blinked. "Hi- um I'm Harry." He stuttered. "Hi Harry. I'm Mia, Ron's eldest, smartest and most fun sibling." Mia said jokingly. 

Mia looked at the building. "Checking Scabbers out? Poor soul. He looks like you've starved him for months." 

"No!" Ron said defensively. "Oh wait- yes. I am bringing Scabbers for a checkup. But Hermione wants to buy a pet. She has ten whole galleons to buy something!" 

"Oo, Hermione, what are you thinking?" Mia asked as they entered the building. Harry raced forward like an excited kid, looking through the cages at the owls. There were owls the size of Mia's hand, to owls the length of Mia's arm. 

Mia smiled sadly as she remembered the unknown disappearance of her owl Trinkey. It was the last day of her sixth year at Hogwarts, and Trinkey had gone to the Owlery for food. When she went there to pick him up, he was gone. Mia, Julian and Akira had looked everywhere for him, and asked everybody if they had sent a letter with him, but they came up empty. Mia had cried for weeks after, even when Akira told her that she would buy her another pet. 

"Thinking of Trinkey?" Ron asked, bringing her back from her memories. Mia realized she was gazing at the gray owl cage. 

"Oh. Um, yeah." 

Hermione went to check out the owls. "An owl would be nice." She responded, looking at the gray owl. 

Harry was looking at the tiny rats on the counter, as Ron approached it. "Hi." He said to the witch at the counter. "Can I have some rat tonic for my rat?" 

The witch peered over at Scabbers. "Hmm, how old is this rat?" She asked curiously. 

Ron took Scabbers out of his pocket and placed him on the countertop. "He's been in my family for twelve years." 

Mia smiled to herself as she remembered Percy getting Scabbers for the first time, his excited face as his eagerly took it to his room.

"What magical powers does this rat have?" The witch asked. Ron furrowed his eyebrows. "Um, none." 

The witch's eyes widened. "Twelve years with no magical powers? That's very unlikely. You sure he hasn't displayed any powers?" 

Ron nodded. Suddenly, Mia noticed a large orange something unlock the lock on his cage, and started to jump. 

She back up, and noticed it's jump was to land on Ron's head. "RON!" She shouted. Ron looked at Mia, and the orange mass landed on his head. "AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ron screamed in fear. Scabbers took it even worse. While Ron was prying the orange creature off his head, Scabbers took off from the counter and scurried out the door. 

Mia started to run after the rat, as did Harry, who had stopped looking at other rats on the counter. As Scabbers used his little legs to run out the door, Mia followed, Harry trailing behind. "SCABBERS!" She heard Ron shout. "DON'T WORRY! COME BACK!" 

Scabbers turned on the streets, straight for Florean Fortescues Ice Cream Parlour. Mia leaped, but missed, narrowly avoiding the empty seats and tables, and crashed head first into the ground. "Ow." 

Harry stopped chasing Scabbers to look at Mia, but Mia waved him off and told him to continue going after Scabbers. 

While Harry ran after the runaway rat, Mia pulled out her wand and pointed it at her bloody face. "Episkey." She muttered, felt the familiar tingling sensation, and got back up. Ron was close behind, as she heard a "HA!" 

Harry came running back, a wriggling Scabbers in his hands. "Good job, Harry!" Mia and Ron said at the same time. 

"Thanks," Harry grinned. "We should get back to Hermione, and see what pet she picked out."

When they arrived at the Magical Menagerie, they sat on a bench outside, waiting for Hermione to emerge. 

When she finally did, she was holding a familiar orange fluff ball. "HIM!" Ron shouted, jumping up. "He's the one who jumped on my head!" 

Hermione glared at Ron, and looked adoringly at the fluff. "He didn't mean it Ron! The witch said that nobody wanted to buy him. Poor Crookshanks." 

"You bought that monster?!" Ron asked, aghast. 

"Yes, isn't he beautiful?" Hermione answered. Mia blinked, and squinted to see the creature. Closer up, she realized it was a cat, with a weirdly squished face and the messy orange fur. 

She saw Harry doing the same thing. "I wouldn't call it beautiful." Ron muttered, as they started to walk away from the Magical Menagerie. 

Hermione started to talk about something else. "Mia, Ron said that you're teaching Astronomy this year, is that true?" 

Mia nodded. "Yup, it's true. I applied for astronomy, because I need a real job instead of travelling the world and being a tour guide, and Professor Dumbledore gladly accepted. My best friend Julian from school is the Arithmancy professor." 

"Oh yes, Juliannnn." Ron said teasingly. Mia narrowed her eyes, and Ron shut up. "Oo, I'm taking Arithmancy this year!" Hermione exclaimed. "So we'll have you as our Astronomy professor?" 

"Yup!" 

"That's pretty cool." Harry interjected. "But since you know us, maybe you could boost our grades?" He added jokingly. 

"Ha ha." Mia responded. "I'll think about it. Not." 

While they were walking back to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, Mia started excitedly thinking about how much fun it was going to be to teach her favourite subject to kids. Especially her younger brother! She had already promised Mrs. Weasley that she would: A. Make sure Percy was alright. B. Make sure the twins get no more than five detentions. C. Keep a close eye on Ron, Harry and Hermione, as they have a history of trouble finding. D. And finally, make sure Ginny is fine for her second year, as her first year was more than eventful.

One thing was for sure: she hoped this year wouldn't have as much drama as the last.