It. Rained. The. Whole. Practice! "Oh my gosh!" Hermione called, running to me. I was covered in mud. I don't mind, except that Fred and George put it down my shirt. And Ronald. Oh ho, he's going to die! He tackled me after practice, and I got mud, places mud shouldn't be. Harry hasn't stopped laughing since.

"Shut it Potter!" I snarled, looking at him. He shut up immediately, but I could still see the laughter in his eyes. He shook his head, laughed some more, then walked away. "I need a bathe Mione!" I whined, walking out of the hall. She followed behind me, we stopped at the door to the bathes.

"Go ahead in, throw your clothes over the door, I'll take them to laundry, and bring you some fresh clothes." I nodded, got into a shower, closed the door and undressed, throwing my clothes over to Mione. "I'll be back!" I sighed when I heard the door close. I turned on the water and began my 'process'. Yeah. That's what we'll call it.

I sent my letter to Dumbledore, and today he wasn't here. Maybe he went to deliver it? 'Hoo hoo!' I spun around, my owl had a letter and was on top of the stall door. I giggled to myself and took the letter. It had loopy handwriting that was new to me. I'm sure it's Dumbledore. Speak of the devil I guess.

Ms. Gracie,

Definitely Dumbledore.

Your father has received your letter and will be writing back soon. You'll have it by Monday. He was shocked, to say the least. But he was also quite thrilled. Have a good weekend!

Yours truly,

Albus Dumbledore

Awe! Yours truly! Wait! I'll have a letter, from my father, by Monday? That's the day after tomorrow! That's in two days! The day before the match! I whooped with joy, Hermione walked in on me though, and wanted to know what I was doing. I finished showering quickly and got dressed. I walked over to the mirror and brushed my hair.

"Mione this is a ginormous secret and I'm not telling anyone but you. Okay?"

"Of course! I won't tell a soul!" She said, wide eyed.

"Lets go to our dorm! I don't want anyone to over hear!" She nodded and nearly ran as fast as I did to get out of there.

The boys were in the common room. "Hi Ron, hi Harry! Bye Ron, bye Harry!" Hermione waved as I spoke but we never stopped. Just kept running up the stairs. I locked the door behind me and Hermione charmed it so no one outside the room could hear.

"Do you remember when Dumbledore asked me to his office?" She nodded. "It was about my parents!" I let that sink in as she stared at me, wide eyed.

"Do you know who they are?"

"No. He said he didn't know my mum, she took off the day I was born. And Dad is who knows where. He couldn't tell me that either. He said I wasn't ready. But he let me write a letter to my dad, and he delivered it. I'll have a response Monday!" I squealed. Hermione hugged me, releasing a squeal of her own.

"That's great Gracie! I'm so happy for you! What did you say in the letter?"

"I basically told him about my life." I shrugged my shoulders. "I told him about living with the Weasley's and all the boys. And I told him I'm eleven an a first year. I told him how you and Ginny are my best girlfriends and how you, Ron, Harry and I are inseparable. I told him I'm in Gryffindor and that I made chaser and I told him about the match against Slytherin.

I told him about the teachers and such and my grades. I told him how I got us docked twenty points. I told him what I looked like and offered to send him a picture if he wanted. Then I tried to get him to tell me my full name!" I finished and she smiled at me so I smiled back.

"I'm so happy for you Gracie! I can't wait till you get a reply. You said by Monday right?" I nodded, grinning because I knew what she was getting at. "So there's a chance he'll be so excited you get it tomorrow?" I nodded again, jumping on my bed and doing a happy dance. Hermione laughed and danced with me.

Mione had given me pajamas so I didn't have to change before I got to bed. Hermione and I talked a little more about what we thought he'd say. Then we went to bed for the night.

"Night Mione!"

"Night Gracie!"

*******************************************

Sunday I sat in the common room. Mione and I jumped at everything coming and going, hoping for an owl. Fred and George were in Hogsmeade and Oliver took Harry down to the pitch to practice. Ron had detention with McGonagall because he was late again, and Katie and Angelina went with Fred and George. So it was just us. All by our lonesome.

We went to dinner and sat in complete silence. When the mail came through we both searched and searched for an owl. I caught Dumbledore's eye at one point and he was chuckling at me and Mione. I huffed, then turned back around.

"Is Professor Dumbledore laughing at us?" Mione looked shocked. Of course I was too, but not as much.

"Well kind of, but I guess we probably do look silly!" I pointed out. Then looked out the windows of the Great Hall. No classes today. What shall we do? "So Hermione, whatcha wanna do today?"

"Your coming to the library with us!" Harry sat down beside me as he spoke, and Ron sat beside Hermione. The library does not sound fun!

"Why?" I whined, taking a bite of my food.

"Because Snape gave us all that essay. Remember?" He used that 'duh' tone again. Of course I remember, I had it too!

"I remember. But what does that have to do with Mione and I?" I looked over at her as I spoke. She looked smug haha.

"Please help us Gracie? Please?!" The puppy dog eyes. Not the puppy dog eyes. Ah the puppy dog eyes. Dang. I sighed and nodded in defeat. Hermione sighed beside me. I guess I can finish my essay though. I'm over three quarters done. I just need a conclusion.

"Alright well I'm going now. Are you coming or not?" I asked, standing up. Ron groaned but followed me, as did Harry. "Quit whining Ronald, you asked!"

"But I didn't get to eat!"

"Oh hush! We have to stop by the common room because I have to get my essay. I need a conclusion and I might as well make use of my time!" I pushed open the doors of the Hall as I went. I had Harry and Ron on either side of me and Hermione on the other side of Ron. Then came the twins!

"Where are you going?"

"The library?" I meant to sound confident but it came out a question. They gave each other a look then turned back to us.

"Boring!" They chorused. "Now where are you really going?"

"No. Seriously. We have an essay due tomorrow!" I said, trying to sound innocent. Ron nodded beside me. And I think Hermione did too.

"Tomorrow? Waiting till the last minute are we?" They wiggled their eyebrows when they talked. I giggled, but shook my head no. Then Mione cut in.

"We didn't," she reached over Ron and grabbed my arm, pulling me over beside her. "but these two did!" She threw in a disapproving look. Just for their benefit. The twins laughed a bit but left us alone.

"Have fun!" Then they left.

"Lets go! The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can go back to the common room and enjoy our weekend!" I kept walking, not looking at them as I spoke.

*******************************************

We spent all evening in the library. And I finished in five minutes. The boys didn't understand what I was trying to tell them either. So that made everything more difficult. On the way back, we stepped on the staircase right as it decided to move.

"Where are we?" I asked, stepping off and into the corridor.

"The third floor!" Hermione screamed, but I don't know why she's screaming. I walked towards a door and opened it.

"Uhm Gracie. I don't think we're supposed to be here!" Ron whispered beside me. The room was dark and quite creepy.

"That's because we're not! It's not allowed! This is the third floor! The one Dumbledore said to stay away from in his speech!" Hermione stepped in front of me and tried to keep me from walking. But that's not happening. Filtch's cat just showed up, which means he's not far behind. We took off running and found another door.

"It's locked!" Ron whined, shaking the door knob. Mione an I had a moment worthy of the twins. We did everything perfectly together.

"Oh move over!" We chorused, throwing Ron aside. "Alohomora!" We chorused again. The locked clicked so we grabbed it and ran inside, Ron and Harry following.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" He whisper yelled. I rolled my eyes and Harry told him to be quiet. I could hear Filtch talking outside the door. Harry locked it back so when he rattled it, the door didn't swing open. I sighed, turning around. Then Harry. Then Hermione. And finally Ron. Then we screamed.

There was a giant, three headed dog behind us. And it just woke up. I lunged for the door, unlocked it and took off running. We made it all the way back to the common room when I finally broke the silence. "Wicked," I mumbled, I was still out of breath from running.

"Wicked? Bloody insane! What are they thinking? Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school!" Ron's face was priceless. It truly was. I wish you could have seen it.

"You don't use your eyes do you?" Mione and I chorused. I decided he could finish. "It was guarding something. There was a trapdoor beneath its feet!"

"It's feet? I was busy looking at its heads! In case you didn't notice, THERE WERE THREE!" He shouted. Harry and I covered our ears because he was quite loud. Like Mum.

"Shut up Ron! It's after hours, your going to get us in trouble!" Harry hissed, releasing his ears.

"I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another brilliant idea to get us killed. Or worse, expelled!" She accented the word, 'expelled'. She grabbed my hand and dragged me upstairs to our dorm.

"Night guys!" I waved over my shoulder.

"Night!"

I changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth. "Night Mione!"

"Night Gracie!" But I didn't fall asleep right away. Tomorrow I'll have my letter from Dad. And what was up with that dog? What was it guarding? One way or another, I'll find out.