end of summer

August 24th, 1992

HARRY YAWNED AS he took a seat next to Ron at the breakfast table. He looked around, feeling something was off, and asked, "Where's Daisy?"

"Her school starts today," Ron answered, taking an extra chicken leg from the centre of the table. He tore a small bit out and threw it into Scabbers' cage. His pet rat. "She'll drop by later. Usually at four."

"Oh, okay."

"Why? Missed her already, Harry?" Fred asked teasingly.

"N— No," Harry replied, "I just... Often forget that she doesn't live here."

George shrugged and commented with his mouth full, "Mo' as where be."

"George, swallow your food first!" Mrs. Weasley scolded. She gave Harry a plate filled with two loaves of bread and a beautifully poached egg, "Help yourself, dear."

Harry smiled gratefully, "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley."

George gulped down his food and repeated in a clearer voice, "I said, might as well be."

✿ ❀ ✿ ❀ ✿

August 29th, 1992

THE BOYS DECIDED to use their last Saturday at home for another Quidditch practice.

There was a small paddock the Weasleys owned up hill, surrounded by trees that blocked it from view of the village below, which meant they could ride their brooms there as long as they didn't fly too high.

Of course they couldn't use real Quidditch balls, which would have been hard to explain if they had escaped and flown away over the village, so they threw apples for one another to catch. Harry's arrival this Summer added some spice to the Weasleys' usual game —his brand new Nimbus Two Thousand, that was— and the game stretched on for hours.

Daisy stayed on the ground with Ginny. She let the latter played with her hair as she read the book Ms. Sloan had lent her to read throughout the weekend, called To Kill A Mockingbird.

"Daisy?" Ginny called out.

Daisy replied with a soft hum.

"Do you think Mum and Dad will get lonely when I go to Hogwarts?"

Daisy paused for a few seconds to think. She closed her book and rolled over, facing the youngest Weasley in the eye, "They will certainly miss you. Me, too."

"It's okay. When I get back next Summer, I'll still help you with your science assignments."

Daisy just smiled. She remembered Percy, promising to stay as his eleven-years old self —ready to engage in smart conversations and give inputs to her literature papers— only to grow up anyway. "Thank you. Just... Promise you'll write me a letter once a week."

Ginny frowned, "That's a bit too often, doesn't it? I have school, and friends—"

"Okay, okay," Daisy bubbly laughed and ruffled Ginny's hair, "God, you're a big girl now! My little Ginny! Once a month then. Twice, if you love me."

"Stop that!" Ginny's ears turned pink as she frantically patted her head down.

Daisy smirked knowingly. "He's not looking this way. Chill."

"W— What? Who?"

"Oh, should I say his name out loud?"

"N— No!"

"Hello, ladies!" A figure sped by them, blowing winds through the loose strands of their hair, then circled a few feet above their heads before turning back down. Fred skidded to a stop on Daisy's right, grinning. "Care joining our team today?"

"N—"

"Of course, that would be a stupid question. Daisy and physical activities," Fred interjected quickly, "But it's not an invitation, really. Just a warning. Gin, you're with George —Hop on, Dee."

"No, thank you."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Frederick!"

"Daisy Jane, yes!" Fred grabbed her wrist and mustered his most pitiful look, "Please? It'll be fun!"

Daisy squinted her eyes in annoyance. Nope. The Fred Weasley charm couldn't work on her anymore. "Still no."

She ended up scoring a few points, by the way, but everybody knew that Ron let some apples past just so she could feel like she was getting better.

✿ ❀ ✿ ❀ ✿

September 1st, 1992

SO, DAISY AND sports could never stand in the same sentence without the word 'hated' between them, but science... Well.

Daisy loved science, because (in her own words) science was the magic of Muggles.

Sure, Fred could turn a spider into twice its regular size, flew on a broom, instantly grew a bush of daisies, and sent messages through fireplaces. George said he could levitated stuffs, harnessed lights, petrified someone, and repair all sorts of things with his wand, though they couldn't show her all that until they were both seventeen.

But she could make toys that ran on sun's energy.

She could control a miniature plane's flight by changing its wings' design.

She could make rainbows.

She could create makeshift elevators by applying Pascal's Principal.

She could... Well, Ms. Sloan said there would be countless explorations and inventions to participate in if she decided to pursue Physics in college. Limitless possibilities. Thousands of hours spent just to see the math behind every event on Earth. Maybe even Magic.

"But have you talked to your father again about that?"

Daisy merely shrugged without lifting her gaze from the literature analysis assignment she was focused on doing.

"Have you talked to him since... How long has he been gone on this trip? Six weeks? Seven?"

"Sure."

"Jane..." Ms. Sloan said slowly in a warning tone, "No slouching."

The fourteen-years old girl automatically straightened up her back.

"He checks up on me every once in a while."

"You can try reaching out to your father first," Ms. Sloan pointed out, "Your future is something you should discuss together."

"Knowing Father, it wouldn't be much of a discussion. More like... an ultimatum. A sentence," said Daisy.

"So, he's still aiming for HLS, then."

Harvard Law School, yes.

Daisy decided to reply with a statement of silence and straightened lips.

The next half-hour passed by without anyone speaking. Daisy had her mind completely occupied by her essay (Atticus Finch: the God of Harper Lee's Masterpiece) as she picturesquely sat on her mother's antique writing desk under the golden sunlight, right by the window of the Allens' library, while Ms. Sloan —despite the awkward conversation she previously had with her student— was the type of person who could actually enjoy silence.

"Done."

"Okay," Ms. Sloan took all four pages of paper from her hand. As the former skimmed through the lengthy content, Daisy hurriedly tidied the reference books she had scattered all over her desk.

"You're saying..." Ms. Sloan paused, "That Atticus Finch was the epitome of man with advanced mind, and that the world in general do not support the possibility of someone being that humane, smart, kind... and admirable. It's too fictional, you say."

"Yes... More or less."

"Oh, we're going to have a very long argument, Jane—"

"But you promised, since I can't take a day off, I can excuse myself at ten!"

"Calm down, I remember!" Ms. Sloan chuckled, "Which is why I am going to have fun writing back a reply for you tonight."

"May I say, Ms. Sloan, you have a very uncanny taste of fun."

"Uncanny is subjective."

As always, Daisy escorted Ms. Sloan to her car and waited until the copper-coloured Honda Accord disappeared behind the curve of the road before she dashed excitedly into her bedroom. Swiftly, she put on a denim jacket over her white sundress, caught the strap of her shoulder bag, and made a run towards the Weasleys' residence.

"Good morning, Lucy!"

Lucy, one of the Allen's maids, looked up from her tray only to see Daisy fleeting by for a split second.

Daisy greeted the gardener on her way out, hopped over every root and boulder she remembered all too well for passing through this street almost daily, until a familiar blue Ford Anglia came into view. She could see the Weasley children scurrying around from every see-through windows, hear Mrs. Weasley's bark from inside the Burrow, and spot Harry Potter helping Mr. Weasley with the trunks out front.

"Hello," Daisy beamed through heavy breaths, "Sorry, I'm a little late. This... is the fastest I could run."

"Good morning, Daisy!" Mr. Weasley paused and patted the crown of her head in affection, "No worries. Everyone is still up and about, anyway."

Daisy opened the door to the back seat and sat sideways with her feet dangling. As she rested, she watched Mr. Weasley opened the car's trunk and winked at Harry, whispering, "Not a word to Molly."

Harry stared at the magically expanded space with his signature clueless look.

"It's a secret between me and Daisy."

"None of the others have been in normal cars before, so they don't know how much it's supposed to fit," Daisy added in explanation, "But, Mr. Weasley, I think Percy knows."

Mr. Weasley raised his eyebrows, "How come?"

"Logic, I guess," Daisy shrugged.

Fifteen minutes later, nine people, six large trunks, two owls and a rat comfortably fit into the small Ford Anglia.

Mr. Weasley started up the engine. They barely made it out of the yard when George announced that he had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. They had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she'd left her diary.

By the time she had clambered back into the car, they were running very late, and tempers were running high.

Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife. "Molly, dear—"

"No, Arthur—"

"No one would see— this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed— that'd get us up in the air— then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser—"

"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight!"