𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝐼𝐼.

     

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙤

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝑨𝑵 𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑶𝑹 so later, Jacob and Caroline had finished greeting everybody and dropping their belongings into their rooms. Caroline would be staying with Hermione and Ginny, and Jacob had a bed in Fred and George's room.

        Hermione and Caroline walked down the stairs into the main room in The Leaky Cauldron to see a horrible sight. Crookshanks, Hermione's cat was running down the stairs chasing Scabbers, Ron's rat. Caroline's cat, Penny was sitting peacefully on the table, licking her paws. "Crookshanks, no!"  Hermione shouted, lunging towards her cat and scooping him up.

        Ron grabbed his rat, horrified. "Scabbers!Look what you've done! You've horrified him!" Ron babbled, Caroline rolling her eyes.

        "Oh, Ron, he'll be fine." Caroline said.

        As Hermione went to defend her cat, Caroline approached Penny, picking her up and holding her as she leant against the table. She caught the last bits of the arguement. "I'm warning you, Hermione. Keep that bloody beast of yours away from Scabbers, or I'll turn it into a tea cozy." Ron threatened.

        "It's a cat, Ronald. What do you expect? It's in his nature." Hermione retorted, stroking Crookshanks' orange fur.

        "A cat? Is that what they told you? Looks more like a pig with hair if you ask me." Ron said, and Caroline chuckled.

        "That's rich, coming from the owner of that smelly old shoebrush." said Hermione, glancing to Caroline for backup.

        Ron noticed the looks exchanged between the two girls. "No, don't look at her. Caroline's cat is an angel, yours is a demon." he said, pointing at Penny, curled up in Caroline's arms.

         Hermione scoffed. "It's all right, Crookshanks. Just ignore the mean little boy."

        "Harry!" Ron said suddenly, making Caroline stand up straight and whip her head in the direction of Ron's eyes. Harry Potter was standing on the staircase, smile gracing his face as she watched the argument happen.

        "Harry!" Caroline smiled. Penny jumped from her arms, rushing to Harry, who scooped her up happily.

        "Harry!" Hermione turned around and greeted the boy.

        "Hi!" Harry said, decending the stairs completely and putting Penny back in Caroline's arms, smiling at Caroline as he did so. As they all settled down at one of the long tables, newspaper in front of them, Caroline couldn't help but let her eyes stick on Harry. They had lettered each other the most out of all their friends over the summer, overworking Hedwig immensely. With each letter, Caroline found herself imagining how Harry would look when she saw him next. Surely he would grow more like Hermione and Ron had, but she was curious.

       He had certainly grown more, and he looked mature, with a finally decent haircut. Harry thought Caroline had changed too, in a good way, of course. The always short girl had grown quickly, and now was the same height as Harry, minus an inch or two. Her hair was braided and much longer than it was the year prior, and her face was defined. In other words, she didn't look quite like a child anymore. Harry thought she looked great.

        "Egypt, what's it like?" Harry asked Ron while Caroline dropped Penny to the ground, letting her explore. The two boys had themselves in front of a newspaper picture of the Weasleys in Egypt, fawning over it.

        "Brilliant! Loads of old stuff. Mummies, tombs. Even Scabbers enjoyed himself." Ron said gleefully, gesturing to his rat.

        Hermione leant forward in her seat next to Caroline, across from the boys. "You know the Egyptians used to worship cats." said the girl smugly.

        "Yeah, along with the dung beetle." Ron sneered.

        Fred and George appeared with Jacob, walking towards Ron. "You're not flashing that clipping about again, are you, Ron?" George said, teasing.

        "I haven't showed anyone." Ron defended as the boys came closer.

        "No, not a soul." Fred joked.

        "Not unless you count Tom..."

        "The day maid..."

        "The night maid...

        "The cook..."

        "That bloke who came to fix the toilet..."

        "And that wizard from Belgium!"

        By now, the twins and Jacob had arrived at Caroline's side of the table, which was now practically empty since Hermione had gotten up and left. As Mr. and Mrs. Weasley greeted Harry, the twins sat down on either side of Caroline with Jacob next to George. "Well, Miss Carol, we think that Jacob here will do very well at Hogwarts, under our care of course." Fred said, winking at Caroline, who widened her eyes.

        "Please don't teach him to break the rules. I told our parents we would stay out of trouble." Caroline begged, looking from Fred to George, back to Fred, then to George again.

        George scoffed. "Well, he's going to need someone in Gryffindor to teach him the ways." he said, and Fred agreed.

        Caroline furrowed her brows. "Who knows if he'll even be in Gryffindor." she brought up, and Jacob went pale.

        "Let's make a bet out of this. Five galleons says Jacob will be sorted into Gryffindor." said Fred, winking at his brother over Caroline's head.

        Caroline pondered the proposal for a moment. "Alright. If Jacob's in Gryffindor, I'll give you both five galleons, but if he's in any other house, you'll each give me ten galleons. Deal?"

      Fred and George each grabbed one of Caroline's hands, shaking them up and down. "Deal." said the twins in unison.

        Jacob stood up and walked over to Caroline, tapping her on the shoulder. "Am I going to learn spells and charms like you did?" he asked, making Caroline roll her eyes.

        "I think so, buddy."

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —