Chapter One:

A Funny Farm Invasion

Fifteen-year-old Rachel Hekman was mowing her lawn on the hottest day of the summer, the bare Illinoisan sun sizzling anything it touched. So absorbed was the young witch in her Muggle labor that when a loud crack startled the neighbor's dog into howling, she didn't even notice.

That is, until someone tapped her on the shoulder.

The girl jumped, her frizzy brown ponytail whipping her in the chin, and barely stifled a scream when she recognized the last person on Earth that she expected to see. "Mrs. Finnigan?"

The pretty older woman, the mother of Rachel's good friend and classmate Seamus Finnigan, clapped her hands together under her throat and beamed. "Hello, love! I'd hug you, but you're a bit…"

"Sweaty? Yeah. What are you doing here?"

"Inviting you to join a clandestine operation," Mrs. Finnigan answered with a wink. "But my word is it hot Stateside!"

"Just in the Midwest, unfortunately," Rachel answered. "Here, let's sit in the shade. What's this 'clandestine operation' you speak of?"

Mrs. Finnigan lowered herself to the cool grass. "Seamus' birthday—his sixteenth birthday—is this September."

"Right."

"And I've decided to throw him a huge surprise party!" Mrs. Finnigan clapped her hands in excitement. "And nothing would surprise him more than seeing you and the other girls—he calls it the 'silly something-or-other'."

"The Funny Farm," Rachel answered with a grin.

"Exactly. So, I Apparated here to see if you girls'd come to stay with us for the last two weeks or so of summer holiday."

Rachel's jaw dropped. "In Ireland?"

"That's the one."

"Would we ever!" Rachel shrieked. "Yes! I'd love to! It'd be an excellent chance to observe the Seamus species in its native habitat."

Mrs. Finnigan hopped to her feet, grinning. "First rate! I'll go and talk to your parents, then. It's been ages since I saw your mum last."

"She'll be glad to see you," Rachel assured her.

As soon as the sliding glass door shut behind the other woman, Rachel let out a whoop, scaring the neighbor's dog again. Ireland, get ready for a Funny Farm invasion!

--

A/N: Welcome back to the Funny Farm, everybody! :D It's a short chapter, we know, but they'll get longer, trust us. ;D Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! That pretty button right below is beckoning, isn't it?