PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

31 || Birthday

A distant sound of the loud rumbling of an engine woke Katie from her deep sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she rolled over and got a gentle puff of cold, fresh air on her face. The soft chirping of happy birds reached her ears and she finally opened her eyes, finding herself lying on the same sofa-bed that she had been sleeping on for the past two weeks.

Katie was invited to spend three weeks over her summer holidays staying with her friend Hermione Granger in the Muggle world. Three weeks seemed like an awful lot of time for Mr and Mrs Granger to try and put up with Katie, but when the girl really thought about the situation, it made sense. Hermione's parents were both Muggles, so it was only natural for them to want to learn as much about Hogwarts and Hermione's friends who were, in their eyes, strange.

Katie quickly discovered that Mr and Mrs Granger were the friendliest couple you could ever have the pleasure of knowing. They would constantly check up on Katie, asking if she needed anything and letting her know that she could go home at anytime if she grew uncomfortable. But Katie didn't think she would ever get bored of Hermione's home. It was an average sized townhouse, accompanied by a row of other houses of the same style, and nothing in the house was magical, except, of course, the two young witches.

Katie swung her legs over the side of the sofa-bed and yawned loudly. Looking across the room, she saw that Hermione's bed had been deserted. Katie assumed that Hermione had already gone downstairs for breakfast. Slowly and with weak, half-asleep arms, Katie pulled on a pair of white fluffy socks that she had rolled up on the floor next to her bed. She then swept her hair back into a messy ponytail and started to make her way downstairs. She thread lightly, not wanting to risk waking Mr and Mrs Granger up.

As quietly as possible, she creaked open the kitchen door, only to jump back out into the hall with a yelp of shock.

"SURPRISE!"

Hermione and her parents were all standing in the centre of the kitchen wearing brightly coloured party hats and sporting huge, goofy grins. Katie smiled broadly and brought her hand up to cover her mouth.

"Happy birthday, Katie!" Mrs Granger beamed. Hermione skipped over to Katie and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Mrs Granger was holding a large stash of pink and green coloured balloons, Mr Granger was holding a small package wrapped in golden paper, and Hermione had been holding a plate of cookies before she placed them down to attack Katie with a hug.

"You really didn't need to do all this." Katie said, but she couldn't stop the laugh of joy that rolled off of her tongue.

"This isn't even the best part," Hermione replied, finally loosening the hug. A mysterious twinkle flashed through her eye as the corners of her lips twitched suspiciously.

***

No more than two hours later, Katie found herself strolling down Diagon Alley, her arm linked with Hermione's. The Slytherin girl had asked the Grangers what they were doing there, to which Mrs Blair replied with an explanation that it was Katie's birthday surprise.

The small group came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the steps of Gringotts. Katie glanced around curiously, nut couldn't seem to spot anything strange or out of place that screamed surprise.

It was then that she heard it.

Her name being called by the familiar voice of her little brother. Katie wheeled around to see Leo bounding up the street towards her. His dishevelled, dirty blonde hair ruffled in the wind as her ran.

"Happy birthday!" Leo said and flung his arms around his older sister. Katie smiled happily and hugged Leo tightly. Looking on, she saw the rest of her family — Chris and her parents — making their way towards her. They were all wearing identical, glowing smiles.