Since the arrival of Harry's Hogwarts Acceptance Letter, everyone had been in quite the celebratory mood, even though it was to be expected that he would attend the school when he became of age. But to James and Renata, it was a rather bittersweet moment for the couple as their eldest was preparing to head off to school. He would be gone for months at a time, something they had hardly thought of until the letter arrived. And it was hard for them to come to terms that little Harry really was growing up.

Even with his eleventh birthday coming up, some days, Renata still saw the toddler version of Harry that she came to meet years ago. The one that had stolen her heart and taught her everything she knew about being a mother. Despite everything that had happened in his earliest moments of life, Harry had been such a kind and loving little boy, something he still carried with him as he grew older.  And Renata loved looking back on memories, such as Harry helping them cook the first few times in the kitchen or when he absolutely refused to wear his glasses.

But her favourite was probably when he first called her "Mummy." At the time, the word seemed so taboo, simply because Renata hadn't even come to terms with her own feelings. She had been terrified of James' reaction, however, looking back on it currently, it brought a smile to her lips.

And when it came to James, he had always looked forward to the moment where Harry would set off the school, placing all his money on the idea of Harry being sorted into Gryffindor. However, now that the time had come, he simply couldn't believe it. Time moved faster than he expected. He remembered his parents saying such things when he was younger and he always thought that they were being a little on the dramatic side, but as a parent himself, he finally understood it.

One day, he had been holding his first son, only minutes old, terrified in every way that somehow he was going to end up dropping the newborn and seemingly the next, Harry was jetting off to school.

As he looked in Renata's direction, he figured she was thinking something along the same lines. They exchanged silent smiles so that they didn't interrupt Harry reading his list of supplies out loud at the table.

Harry didn't seem overly enthusiastic when it came to the idea of wearing a uniform, but when he got to the second list of items, his eyes lit up in excitement.

"One wand," he said, " does that mean we can finally go to Ollivander's and get it? That's where Huxley went to get his!"

"Of course," James answered, "I think the Potter family has always been loyal to the Ollivander name. And besides, it's pretty much the only reputable wand shop around here. Although I think you can still find some Gregorovitch's around."

Harry didn't really care about any wand business rivalry, all he knew was that he wanted to get his wand from the same place as one of his friends. And he also wanted to get it sooner rather than later because Huxley told him that it had been a lot of fun getting to try out some wands before finding his.

Unfortunately, Neville and Ron didn't get to share the same experiences, as Neville was gifted with his father's wand shortly after getting his letter. And Ron had been kept in the family tradition of getting his older brother Charlie's wand passed down to him.

"We can go get your supplies on your birthday," Renata told him at one point, " we can go out in the morning and you can come back to your party. How does that sound?"

"Perfect."

For the rest of the day and the rest of Sirius' and Adelmo's visit at the cottage, Harry and his siblings were delighted to hear all sorts of stories about the Marauders' time in Hogwarts. Although Renata made note that certain details were left out, and she was thankful because James and the others hadn't exactly been goody-two-shoes during their time in school. Harry and his friends already had their little moments of mischief, she didn't think it would be a good idea to give them ideas.

Luckily, there was no mention of their illegal animagus training and their trips into the Forbidden Forest on nights of the full moon...yet.

"So if Daddy and Zio Paddy were in Gryffindor, what house were you in, Mummy?" Ilaria asked at one point. "And Zio Momo!

Renata and Adelmo exchanged looks with one another, both of them wishing they had the same school experiences as James and Sirius.

"Well," Renata began softly, " your zio and I didn't go to Hogwarts. We went to a different school when we were younger. We didn't have separate houses or a Sorting Hat. It depended on what you wanted to be when you were older. So if you wanted to be a Healer, you would be around the other Healing students and take different classes."

"Momo," Monte looked in his uncle's direction, " he's a Healer."

"That's right."

"What about you, Mummy?" Ilaria continued her questioning. "Did they have cooking classes?"

"Oh, I wish they did," Renata chuckled, "would have saved me some trouble. But there was something else I wanted to be before I became a chef. And I had to come all the way here to be it. And it has always been my favourite job."

"What's that?"

Even Harry was confused until Renata wrapped her arm around his shoulder and brought Monte closer to her as well.

"I became a mother first," she smiled, " and it's the best job ever because I get to work with the best people."

Ilaria turned to Sirius and her father. "Mummy is such a Hufflepuff."

"That's not a bad thing at all," James told her, " don't forget your grandmother was a Hufflepuff."

Until Sirius and Adelmo left, Ilaria and Monte decided to pretend that they were all at Hogwarts and Ilaria pretended to be the Sorting Hat. Monte would walk her around and she would place her hands on everyone's head before shouting out one of the houses. Eventually, though, the two tired themselves out with all the sorting and decided to settle down for naps. Which meant they passed out on the sofa, with Leone curled up in between them for warmth.

After his uncles left, the household became relatively quiet and after Harry returned from placing his acceptance letter in his room, he found his parents outside. The two of them were settled in one of the rather large hammocks that they had. He quickly made his way over and decided to join them, climbing in and nesting into Renata's side.

She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on top of his. "Can you believe it, James? He's off to Hogwarts."

"I can't believe it actually," James admitted, " but you're going to have a lot of fun, Harry, trust me."

While Harry wanted to believe his father, there was something that had been on his mind since Ilaria and Monte had played their Sorting Hat game and placed him in Slytherin.

"What happens if I don't get into Gryffindor?" he asked. "What if I end up in a different house?"

"Then that's where you belong, Harry," Renata said, " and there would be nothing wrong with that. You're still going to be the wonderful Harry we know. Besides, it's just a house, I don't think it would mean too much, right?"

As much as James wanted to agree with his wife, part of him knew that there was ingrained importance when it came to the four different houses. People often took it very seriously, even long after one left Hogwarts. It opened doors for some and closed doors for others, based on house prejudices and stereotypes. But he also didn't want to worry Harry either, he was sure that Harry was going to end up in Gryffindor, he had been hoping for it since Harry was just a couple of days old, but it was never set in stone.

"No matter what house you get into, you're going to have a great time, don't worry about it. You're still going to have your friends," James told him. "You've all been friends since you were in nappies, I don't think different houses would keep you all apart."

It seemed to reassure Harry enough that he didn't bring it up anymore, but it did become awfully quiet afterwards until James cleared his throat.

"Oh, Harry?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts...."

A smile quickly appeared on Harry's face as well as Renata's.

"Hoggy, Hoggy, Hoggy!" Harry called out.

James looked at Renata with a grin. "Teach us something please, whether we be old and bald,
or young with scabby knees. Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff, for now, they're bare and full of air, dead flies and bits of fluff..."

"FLUUUUUUF!" Harry bellowed just as he had done as a toddler when he was first learning the song.

Renata could vividly remember when she had first been introduced to the Hogwarts School Song. Harry was small enough to be carried on his father's shoulders as he and Renata walked alongside each other.

"So teach us things worth knowing, ring back what we've forgot. Just do your best, we'll do the rest, and learn until our brains all rot."

And just as they did every other time they sang the song at the end, the two closed their eyes and stuck out their tongues at the same time.

"BLEGH!"

As she always did at the end of their performance, Renata clapped her hands together, calling out "bravo" and "encore." However, she was stopped when Harry poked her in the side.

"Come on, Mum," he said, " you know the rules...Hoggy?"

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts...."

They probably sang the song a million different times that evening, to different tunes, changing the words around to make it even sillier, but eventually, Renata went inside to get dinner started after she heard Monte calling from inside the cottage. It left Harry and James outside, but just as Harry went to follow his mother inside, he was stopped.

"Before you go inside, Harry, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," he said in a low voice, taking a quick glance over his shoulder, " I just didn't want to say it in front of your mother. It'll just be between you and me..."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Well, your mother doesn't want you getting into trouble when you go to school, which respectively, I don't want either, but if you do it right, you shouldn't get in trouble."

Nothing more needed to be said in order to persuade Harry to listen, he was in, no matter what.

"What is it?"

"You see, back when I was in school with your Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus, we were...very busy individuals. But there is only so much you can do in a day's time, Harry, especially with such things as a curfew. Sometimes we wanted to go to the library when we were really supposed to be in bed, and we needed a way around that. So we created something that helped us get in our extra study time, if you will."

"What did you create?"

"It was a map of sorts, a very special map," James said in an excited whisper, still looking over his shoulder every so often as if Renata would show up at any second. "Anyways, this map, showed where everyone was in school. It helped us get to...the library...a lot. And I was thinking, should you need some extra time, in the library, this map would benefit you...and the boys."

"Why do you keep winking at me?"

Suddenly, James grabbed Harry gently by the shoulders. "Listen to me, Harry,  the map is very valuable if you wish to get around without getting caught. And we found plenty of secret passageways in the castle that-"

"Secret passageways?!"

Harry's mouth was quickly covered. "Not too loud, don't want your mother to hear. But yes, all the good stuff. However, in our last year, we lost the map to the caretaker and we weren't able to get it back because there were a lot of other things going on at the time in the world. But I think, you, Neville, Ron, and Huxley can get to it...with a little help of course. You'll probably need it for the library-"

Harry stared at his father for a moment quietly. " Why do you keep bringing up the library? Are we really going to have to do that much studying?"

"Um...what I have in mind is more of an extra credit assignment."