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HP Chapter 24: Summer Life
🕑 Added 2025-08-02 17:37:34 +0000 UTCAnne's twelfth birthday was wonderful. Even though Aaron was swamped with work during the summer, spring and summer being peak mating seasons for many magical creatures, and a time when wild magical beasts were either giving birth or becoming aggressive, he still made time to celebrate her birthday. He took a full week off, and he had never missed a single one of Anne’s birthdays. That was something he had always promised her.
“Anne, turning twelve is special. It’s your first birthday as a young witch,” he said, as he brought her to Heathrow Airport on the outskirts of London.
“You just came home yesterday afternoon and told me to pack right away. Where are you planning to take me for my birthday? I haven’t even told Fanny or Jill!” Anne called out as she followed behind Aaron, who was pushing two large suitcases.
Aaron turned his head and gave her a mysterious smile. “It’s a surprise! You can always write to your friends once we get there. I’m sure they won’t mind.”
Anne clutched the plane tickets in her hand. “You don’t need to say it, I already know. Tanzania, right? It says so on the tickets. Fine, I know you won’t tell me more even if I ask. But I bet it’s going to be amazing!”
Aaron muttered under his breath, “The Muggle world really is…”
When they arrived in Tanzania, Anne realized just how spectacular a birthday gift Aaron had prepared. She followed him across the African plains to witness the Great Migration. Every year from May to June, the grasslands of Tanzania’s Serengeti are gradually grazed bare. As the dry season stretches on, millions of herbivores, wildebeests, gazelles, zebras, migrate northward in a perilous journey in search of food and water.
Anne spent an incredible week in the Serengeti National Park. There were indeed wizards in Africa, though not many, most were concentrated in North African countries like Egypt and Morocco, where the economy was stronger and magical history more established. Most wizards active in Africa were Europeans conducting research or traveling. Only a handful of African countries had their own Ministries of Magic, and those few effectively governed the entire continent's magical community through a kind of African Wizarding Alliance.
But Anne wasn’t concerned with politics. She rode across the plains in an off-road vehicle driven by Aaron, shouting in excitement as they followed the migrating herds. She even camped in the wilderness in a magical tent, small on the outside but spacious as a two-story house on the inside. From Tanzania’s capital, she sent photos and postcards to Fanny, Jill, and Hermione, taken with an ordinary Muggle camera. There was also a small outpost of the African Wizarding Alliance in the capital.
When the week was over, and they landed back at Heathrow, Anne gave Aaron a big bear hug. “Uncle Aaron, this is the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten!”
Aaron’s mood was lifted even more when Anne didn’t dodge as he reached over to ruffle her hair. “Anne, I’ll be away on assignment for quite a while this time. Be good while I’m gone, alright? If anything comes up, just write to me. I should be back by August, right before term starts.”
After Anne promised, Aaron boarded another plane. Anne returned by car to their home in West London. Their two large suitcases were sent ahead through a British Ministry of Magic outpost at the airport.
Once home, Anne took just two days to settle back into her summer routine: tending to magical plants, recording their growth, conducting her own potion experiments, and helping Aaron care for the magical creatures in the basement. Honestly, the first time she had seen Aaron’s basement, she had been amazed, it even had different climate zones! There were around twenty kinds of magical creatures kept there at one point, but now only a few remained. Aaron had taken the more delicate ones with him.
Anne also used some of the climate zones to grow rare magical plants. Of the five species she was cultivating, three had been Christmas gifts from Fanny.
For reasons of privacy, or maybe just habit, Anne hadn’t told anyone else about her birthday, except for Jill and Aaron. A big part of it was that she didn’t know anyone else's birthdays either. She only remembered Jill’s from the orphanage. She didn’t know Aaron’s, Fanny’s, or even Hermione’s. It had always been this way, even in her past life. She couldn’t even recall her parents’ birthdays. Even if she remembered one year, she’d forget the next, lost in the distractions of daily life.
Two days after returning to London, Anne visited Jill’s house and spent the day there, bringing her some souvenirs from Africa. Jill was thrilled to see her and very envious that Anne had gotten to travel to Tanzania.
Another notable part of her summer was a thick letter she received from Hermione the day she returned. Hermione wrote about how jealous she was of Anne’s trip and was deeply fascinated by what Anne had mentioned about African wizarding culture. She asked Anne a flurry of questions, though the bulk of the letter, of course, was about studying and summer homework.
After reading it, Anne immediately regretted ever writing to Hermione. She had originally planned to only send postcards to Fanny and Jill, but Aaron had been beside her, nudging, “I heard you have three Gryffindor friends at Hogwarts, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. You should write to them too! Good things are meant to be shared! I know you went on that adventure and even earned twenty points for Slytherin!”
When Anne asked how he knew about that, Aaron vaguely replied, “Well, guardians are supposed to stay informed about the people they’re looking after.”
The summer passed quietly but quickly. Anne accomplished one other important thing, she bought several books about Chinese cooking, and Obby had already learned to make a few simple dishes.
Two weeks before the new term, Anne received her Hogwarts acceptance letter. Term would begin on September 1st, as usual, and students were to meet at King's Cross Station. What had changed was the second-year book list:
Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk
Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart
Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart
Wandering with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart
“What is this? Seven garbage books?” Anne muttered. “Oh, right. This is the year of the Chamber of Secrets.” She clearly remembered Lockhart’s pompous character from the films. “I can’t believe a person like him exists in the wizarding world, what a show-off. I really don’t want to waste money on these books…”
But she had no choice. Hermione sent her a letter inviting her to go shopping at Diagon Alley the Wednesday before school started. Aaron also wrote to say he could only spare one day that week and suggested Anne invite some of her friends along; he wanted to meet the Gryffindors she always talked about. He even added a line at the end: “My fellow Gryffindors.”
So Anne wrote back to Hermione agreeing to meet. She also asked Fanny, who replied:\
Sorry, Anne. My butler already bought all my supplies the day after the list arrived. But my grandmother did agree to let me take the train to Hogwarts this year.,
Your dear friend,
Fanny.
After reading Fanny’s letter, Anne sighed to herself again, some people really did live in a different world.
That Wednesday morning, Aaron arrived through the fireplace just as Anne was having breakfast, perfect timing.
At Diagon Alley, Anne and Aaron exited the general goods store and headed toward Gringotts to withdraw money. They hadn’t walked far when they spotted a familiar face.
Harry was covered in dust, one lens of his glasses cracked. Standing next to him was the towering figure of Hagrid. The two were chatting as they walked.
Anne was just about to call out when Aaron beat her to it. “Hey! Hagrid!”
Hagrid turned, beaming. “Well, if it isn’t Aaron! Long time no see! What magical creature have you been studying lately?”
He gave Aaron a big hug. Anne waved at Harry. “Hey, Harry! Long time no see. What happened to you?”
“Hey, Anne… I just… uh, had a bit of an adventure…”
Anne waved it off. “If it’s a long story, don’t bother explaining.”
After the greetings, Aaron turned to Harry. “So, you’re Harry Potter? Nice to meet you. I’m Aaron Hall, Anne’s uncle. I heard about what happened last term, you were very brave.”
Harry glanced at Anne. She nodded, so he reached out to shake Aaron’s hand. “Uh… nice to meet you too.”
Aaron noticed Harry’s broken glasses and quickly pulled out his wand. With a flick and a muttered spell, Harry’s glasses were good as new.
“Whoa!” Harry took them off to look them over. “Thanks, they’re as good as new!”
“No problem. I’m always happy to help a friend of Anne’s.”
As the four of them headed toward Gringotts, Anne asked, “Uncle Aaron, how do you know Hagrid?”
Hagrid jumped in eagerly. “Aaron’s a friend to magical creatures! When something goes wrong in the Forbidden Forest, the Ministry sends him to sort it out… Oh, we definitely need to grab a drink later! I still remember the last time we met, dealing with that…”
Aaron just smiled. Harry and Anne listened with interest, it wasn’t often they got to hear stories about the Forbidden Forest.
But just as Hagrid was getting into it, a familiar voice interrupted. Hermione came running down the steps of Gringotts. “Hey! Anne! Harry! Hagrid! You’re all together?”
Anne instinctively took a step back, she could tell Hermione was about to hug her. Sure enough, Hermione gave her a slight glare, as if scolding her for dodging.
“Oh, it’s so great to see you all! What are you doing together? Visiting Gringotts too? Harry, what happened to you? And Anne, who’s this beside you?”
Harry was overwhelmed by all the questions, so Anne stepped in. “We ran into each other on the way to Gringotts. And this is Aaron Hall, my uncle, he was in Gryffindor too.”
“Gryffindor?” “He’s your uncle?” Harry and Hermione both looked surprised.
“I assume you must be the clever Hermione Granger?” Aaron said with a charming smile. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Aaron Hall, Anne’s uncle.”
A faint blush colored Hermione’s cheeks. “Nice to meet you too.”
Before they could say more, heavy footsteps and a panting voice came from down the street. “Harry! Oh, thank goodness!”
They turned to see Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Arthur Weasley running over.
As they reached the group, Arthur’s eyes lit up. “Well, if it isn’t Aaron! What are you doing here?”
Anne blinked. Another person who knew Aaron? Just how many people did he know?
“Arthur! Long time no see. How have you been?” The two men hugged warmly.
Ron was stunned to see Harry. “Where did you go? Hermione? Anne? Why are you all together?”
“We just met on the street… I was just…” Harry began, but didn’t finish. Mrs. Weasley came rushing over, out of breath. “Oh, Harry… dear, where were you?”
After Harry explained everything, Anne finally understood how Aaron knew Mr. Weasley. “I interned at quite a few departments at the Ministry after graduating,” Aaron said, winking proudly at Anne.
Once inside Gringotts, Hermione’s parents caused another stir. They were exchanging Muggle money for wizarding currency, and Mr. Weasley, ever fascinated by Muggle things, invited them for a drink. He extended the same invitation to Aaron.
“See you in the lobby later,” Hermione said to Anne as they separated. The Weasleys and Harry were led away by a goblin, while Anne and Aaron followed another.
After withdrawing money, Mrs. Weasley took Ginny shopping for first-year supplies, while Mr. Weasley led the adults to the Leaky Cauldron. “Let’s give the kids some space,” he said. “They haven’t seen each other all summer. One hour, Flourish and Blotts!”
Anne was more than happy. Walking around in such a large group drew too much attention. Now she could relax. She, Ron, Harry, and Hermione wandered through Diagon Alley, enjoying ice cream and picking up parchment and ink together.
When Hermione asked Anne for more details about her trip to Tanzania, Ron and Harry perked up.
“What? You went to Tanzania? Blimey, I’ll probably never get to go anywhere like that!”
“Where exactly is Tanzania?”
Under their eager questioning, Anne gave a brief rundown of what she’d seen and done. By the end, she had made a silent vow, next time, she’d definitely avoid meeting up with this crowd again. Aaron wouldn’t have an excuse to see them again anyway.
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A/N: Just a fun fact, Anne is a Taurus, and Hermione is a Virgo. Hahaha.
