𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 ☼ 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆

↘︎ chapter twenty-three

23 | Diagon Alley and Egypt presents

As the Weasley family entered the Leaky Cauldron, Marley Mаcmillian's heart jumped with joy. Mrs. Weasley, with her iconic red hair, immediately spotted her and Harry Potter talking to each other a moment ago. She went to them and hugged them quickly, apparently happy to see them. Then came Ron who kept his rat Scabbers in his hands and smiled at Harry and Marley, Hermione Granger was here too. She hugged the older girl and then Harry.

Marley turned her head for a moment, trying to see if Noen was coming down the stairs, but instead she saw two familiar figures of red-haired twin boys walking straight toward her. The girl could not restrain herself, but literally threw herself at them, hugging them. In the summer, they had grown taller (not that they weren't tall before), but now they were at least one head taller than her.

"You look like our true admirer. We like it." grinned Fred and for a moment Marley looked at him badly, but then her smile appeared again. The twins liked to ruin all their friendly moments quickly, but at least it didn't last long. They were lucky that Marley forgave them for the bullshits they were doing, otherwise they would be lost without her.

George handed Marley a large and beautiful three-dimensional souvenir in the shape of one of the Egyptian pyramids. It was Cheops and Marley gasped because she was very beautiful. Of course, she hadn't insisted on a gift, she was only joking, but the boys seemed to take it seriously.

"Woah, so you really brought me something?" she took the pyramid without hiding her smile. "Thank you. It looks... fabulous. I like it."

"To be honest, we have been wondering for a long time what to buy you. Fred offered a magnet, but we remembered that you didn't fall for magnets much." said George with a smirk on his face. He had really grown tall and if he was tall like a tree, Marley felt herself like the grass. She wasn't really growing and she didn't expect to be that tall one day.

"Then mum suggested that we could buy you traditional clothing, but we decided you wouldn't need it if you didn't want to dress like Cleopatra for All Saints by accident." Added Fred.

Marley laughed sincerely and glanced again the pyramid in her hands. It was small and beautiful. She was so happy with the small but valuable gift that she hugged Fred and George again. She knew they weren't really keen on hugging, but she liked hugging people because with this gesture she was showing her love.

"You know, if we weren't good boys, you wouldn't hug us." said Fred when they broke the hug. "You should be grateful we allow you to hug us."

"And you should be grateful I forgive you the last time we got in a fight." Marley smirked, proud she came with a good comeback. The ginger twins just laughed but didn't asnwer. They knew pretty well they didn't have anything to reply with.

"Fine, you got us." playfully rolled his eyes George. Marley noticed that most of the walls had posters glued to them asking if anyone had seen Sirius Black. She had managed to forget for a moment all the commotion around Noen's escaped father while she was with the twins, but obviously that wouldn't stop her forget it forever.

Mrs. Weasley was very cautious. Even though Diagon Alley was very safe, she kept her daughter Ginny out of sight and when Marley, the twins and Noen went out to buy things for school, she almost dragged them along with her. At the end of the day, everyone returned exhausted to the pub, and Hermione got a new ginger cat, Crookshanks.

In the morning, everyone was in a hurry and left the Leaky Cauldron with their luggage early and went to Kings Cross Station to catch Hogwarts Express for school. After all these goodbyes, Mrs. Weasley began giving sadnwiches to absolutely everyone (even for Marley, Noen, Harry and Hermione).