Hoppity Clementine Smirkett fell out of the floo of the Headmaster of Hogwarts' sitting room. With her came several boxes of luggage for the holiday. She tried to tidy her messy hair, and brushed the soot off of her Muggle garb. She had shed her Wizard robes in favour of a long, shapeless dark teal dress. She was so excited! A job at Hogwarts and a holiday to America, she was so lucky!

She turned to her luggage and regarded it. One large box for clothes, another for her necessary Muggle devices and textbooks, and another smaller bag with random things she wished to keep near her. It really would be rather inconvenient and cumbersome to carry it all around with her. Oh! She should have shrunk them before using the floo. She wanted to smack herself for being so thick, and quickly shrunk the two larger boxes before anyone came in and saw what she was doing.

Then she placed the shrunken luggage into the smaller bag and picked it up. She was sure that she was prepared, she had even jumped over to Gringott's and exchanged some of her money into American dollars. Carrying her bag, she walked over to the closed door to Albus' office, and lifted her hand to knock.

Before her hand impacted with the door a loud, "Come in!" was heard. She wondered how he did it, and entered the office. Her great uncle was sitting behind his desk, playing with some contraption, and beaming with a large smile.

"Welcome back, my dear! So glad you could make it."

She felt another thrill of excitement at that and hurried over before the desk. "Oh, Uncle Albus this is brilliant! Thank you so much for allowing me to do this!"

"Not at all, not at all. I just hope that you enjoy your holiday. It will give a new dimension to your Muggle studies' resume as well." He put down the object that he was playing with. "Well please sit down."

She sat down in a conjured armchair in front of the desk.

"I suppose I should give you the details now. The two Wizards whom I need to hide are key players in the current war efforts and need to stay safe until school starts." He paused before continuing. "I've made plans for you to pose as a Muggle family."

Oh. He hadn't mentioned that earlier, but it didn't seem that big of a deal.

"One of the Wizards has been deaged so it would please me if you looked after him. He has grown up in a Muggle environment so he should adapt easily. I arranged for Muggle flight to transport you to America. There also are arrangements made to enroll the boy in a local year round school and to give you a job there so that you will able to be near in cases of emergency.

“He has taken Dusky's Second Childhood Tonic so he will be able to act his true age if he needs to, but it would still be best if he is close to either you or your partner at all times just in case."

Hoppity nodded and pretended that she remembered what Dusky's tonic was. Oh well, her uncle's description seemed to explain it well enough. The secretary job was news to her, but she was confident that she would be able to pull it off. When she had spent the two weeks in Muggle society for her class, she had been a personal assistant, which was probably similar.

"The other Wizard who will be accompanying you is Hogwarts' Potions professor. Just so you are informed, he will be working on some special potions projects for me during the holiday."

A small door opened at the other side of the room and they turned towards it. An adorable little boy entered, wearing Muggle trousers and a dark blue shirt with three cartoon frogs smiling on the front. Each frog was a different shades of green, one was teal, and there was a caption that said "Ribbit!" below them. The boy had dark, messy hair, large eyes that she could tell were green from here, and looked a little flushed.

"Hoppity, meet Harry Potter." Wait, Harry Potter?! Her eyes moved up the forehead to barely make out a scar hidden by his fringe.

"Harry this is your new mum." By the look of his expression, Hoppity could tell that the child had not been told of this earlier either. Smiling, she left her seat and crouched down so that she was eye-level with the boy and offered her hand.

"Hello, Harry. My name's Hoppity. I'll be taking care of you." She said kindly, feeling a little strange.

The boy took her hand and shyly smiled back. "My name's Harry."

It was then that the office door sprung open to reveal the ugliest man she had ever seen. She stood up to regard him. He was slim, with a hooked shaped nose and dark dirty hair tied back from his pale face. He wore black slacks and a long sleeved buttoned down white shirt. It was a little old fashioned, but Hoppity gave him points for trying. He had a small case held in one hand. Was this the man that she had to pretend to be married to? She had to remind herself why she was doing this again. The Muggle Studies Professor position, the Muggle Studies Professor position...

Dumbledore rose up to greet him. "Ah, Professor Snape. We were just having introductions."

"Hoppity, this is Professor Severus Snape. Severus, Hoppity Smirkett, the tentative Muggle Studies Professor."

She approached and offered her hand for him to shake. The man ignored it and crossed his arms. He gave her a look of contempt. "Hoppity? Did your parents mistake you for a House elf when you were born or is that some inane nickname?"

Rather offended, she answered hotly back. "Hoppity is my real name, but you don't have to use it if you don't like it!"

Harry piped up, his fights balled up in anger and his brow furrowed. "Wait! Snape's going to be my new father?" Poor lad.

Snape sneered. "A little slow on the uptake there, Potter?"

"Enough!" Dumbledore was a spectre of anger from behind his desk. "You will cease any disagreements here and now. There is absolutely no room for any animosity or childish rows on this trip." Her Great Uncle was as serious as she had ever seen him. It was unsettling. "I expect you to get along to the best of your abilities."

He took a breath and donned a more relaxed countenance. He motioned with his hand. "Shall we try this again? Hoppity this is Severus Snape. He will be joining you on holiday. Severus, this is my great niece Hoppity Clementine Smirkett."

She resolutely offered her hand again, and this time Snape took it and gave a curt nod over it.

Placated, the old man turned to Harry next. "Harry, Professor Snape will be escorting you for your safety as well as his own. I hope that I am correct in assuming that you will be able to show him the proper respect while he is looking out for your welfare?"

The boy had a sullen look, but relented. "Yes, Sir."

Albus clapped his hands. "Good. Now I have some things for you." He pushed over a medium sized box across his desk that she hadn't noticed before. "Hoppity, this is a tea set. I've been told that it would be useful during your stay in America." He then opened a top side drawer and took some items out. He approached Snape, handing him a pocket watch and a ring. He then turned to Hoppity and gave her a matching one. His eyes twinkled. "I feel that these would be essential."

They put the rings on and Hoppity watched as Snape opened the pocket watch and looked at it, making a disgruntled look before pocketing it.

Albus' eyes twinkled more brightly. "I do not expect you to have a need to use them, but in an emergency, the rings can be used as a portkey to Hogwarts. They will only activate if the phrase 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon' is uttered in Latin. I can only stress the importance that they only be used in an emergency since they will consume a great deal of energy from the travelers, as well as from Hogwarts. A portkey trip for such a distance will not feel at all pleasurable, and you will most likely faint upon arrival. If possible, it would be best to use them while they are touching each other to augment their power and lessen the affects."

Oh. No wonder they were going to travel by Muggle means. The customary Wizard travel for long distances could be tracked and the only untrackable option seemed to be quite painful.

Albus then walked over to Harry. "My boy, if I may see your wand?"

Harry looked taken aback, but slowly pulled his wand from the waistband of his trousers, and hesitantly handed it over. Her great uncle then pulled out a short wand from the folds of his robe and handed it to the boy. It was a medium-dark wood, looked no longer than a pencil, but was just as thick as the normal kind.

"This is a temporary wand, Harry, made especially for your use. I'm sorry but in your current state, it would be all too easy for you to misplace or loose your regular one. This temporary wand is strong enough for a Stupefy or Expelliarmus, but does not have the same potential for complex or powerful spells as a real Wizarding wand."

Albus peered at the boy from over his spectacles. "Harry you are still being monitored for the Decree of the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, so please refrain from doing any magic intentionally for the remainder of the holidays. Even when you turn sixteen, you will still be in a six year old body and the Ministry may not be able to tell the difference." His eyebrows lifted as if he had just thought of something. "In any case, I don't believe that any messenger owls would survive the flight over the ocean."

The little boy's eyes widened at that, but Albus had already turned to Snape and handed him Harry's wand.

Harry made a sound of disbelief and outrage before his mouth fell open in shock. "Why are you giving it to him?" The Potions professor seemed to think the same thing, but took it nonetheless, and slipped it up a sleeve before looking at the boy with a superior air.

"Harry I have every confidence in Professor Snape's ability to look after it for you. In this way, it will be close to you just in case."

Harry shut his mouth and fumed, his fists clenched. Oh dear.

The old man then extracted some papers and documents from a voluminous fold in his robes. "Your new last name is Biggerstaff. Here are your new Muggle IDs and airplane tickets." He handed them to Hoppity and after looking at them briefly, she placed them in her bag. "Your flight will leave at nine o'clock so you best get a move on. I'm told that an Agent 'D' will meet you when you arrive and take care of any other arrangements."

Albus then walked around to the front of his desk, and pulled out a stripped purple and red sock from the top drawer.

"Your portkey to the airport." He then shook Snape's hand, hugged Hoppity and patted the head of a still scowling Harry. "Alright, then. Hold on!" He held out the sock, and she and Snape held on to it. Harry still hadn't budged, so she grabbed his hand and pulled him over. Albus smiled kindly and then exclaimed, "Oh wait! Let's not forget that tea set."

With movements that defied his age, he picked up the box still on the desk and deposited it into a surprised Snape's arms. "All set then?"

Harry reached out and grabbed the sock.

"Farewell, I'll see you when the school year starts. Activus Portensias."

And with that, Hoppity felt the familiar navel pull as the portkey activated and set her on her journey...