star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER ONE

Thirteen-year-old Arabella Weasley was having the time of her life. Her father, Arthur, had won seven hundred Galleons and had used it to take his entire family to Egypt for the summer. The oldest, Bill, worked as a curse breaker for Gringotts bank in Egypt. The Weasley family, usually very poor, had never gone on vacation before, so when they finally did, someone from the Daily Prophet was sure to write about it. All ten Weasleys gathered for a photo, all wearing big smiles, as their picture was taken to be included in the newspaper. Arabella was simply delighted when she saw herself and her family in the post and kept the article as a memento to put up in her room she shared with her twin brother, Ron, when she got home a week before they went back to school.

The Weasley's spent their month in Egypt sight-seeing and exploring. Arabella, taking school very seriously and cherishing her ability to learn so easily, often stayed up at night later than the rest of her family to do her schoolwork her teachers had assigned for the summer. Even when she wasn't reading or writing essays, she loved to stare up at the night sky and admire the stars. Sometimes, her younger sister, Ginny, would join her in this, but Ginny didn't appreciate the night sky as much as Arabella did.

When Percy, the third oldest who would be starting his final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in September, received a letter from the school telling him he was the new Head Boy, his parents and older brothers celebrated with him. However, his younger siblings were not as thrilled. Percy could be very bossy and now that he had even more authority over them at school, Fred, George, Ron, Arabella, and Ginny were all very subdued thinking about how hard it would be to have fun with him breathing down their necks.

For Ron and Arabella, who would be beginning their third year at Hogwarts, the mood was lifted slightly when they got their Hogsmeade permission slips. Hogsmeade was a small wizarding village next to their school that students third year and up were allowed to visit on certain weekends. The village had many shops and pubs that one does not come across every day, and to be able to finally visit them made the prospect of starting their third year very exciting for the twins.

The entire time they were in Egypt, Arabella was writing to her best friends, Hermione Granger, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas about her experiences and sending them photos often. They would write back almost immediately and Hermione, who was also on vacation in France, and who also valued learning, would send her beautiful photos as well and advice on how to do certain assignments.

As planned, the Weasleys came home a week before term started. On the last day of their summer holidays, the family took their annual trip to Diagon Alley to get their new school books. While they were there, they found Hermione, who had been dropped off with all of her school things to spend the night at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasleys.

While in Diagon Alley, Hermione had used the extra gold her parents had given her to get herself a pet, and Ron was very upset to find out that the pet she had chosen was a large ginger cat.

"I'm warning you, Hermione," he said. "Keep that bloody beast of yours away from Scabbers, or I'll turn it into a tea cozy."

"It's a cat, Ronald, what do you expect?" Hermione said, annoyed. "It's in his nature."

"A cat? Is that what they told you? Looks more like a pig with hair if you ask me."

"That's rich coming from the owner of that smelly old shoe brush."

"Can you two pause your argument for long enough to greet your friend? I don't think Harry would like listening to you two fight over pets for hours on end," Arabella said, seeing Harry Potter come down the stairs.

"Harry?" Ron asked, confused. Then he saw him. "Harry!"

"Harry," Hermione repeated. She was now smiling at him like she hadn't just been arguing with Ron.

"It's nice to finally see you, Harry," Arabella said, hugging him.

"You too, Bella," said Harry.

That evening, Ron, Arabella, and Harry sat at one of the large tables in the dining area of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry, having only gotten one letter about it all summer, was asking questions about Egypt.

"Egypt. What's it like?" he asked.

"Brilliant. Loads of old stuff like mummies, tombs, even Scabbers enjoyed himself," Ron said.

"I, for one, enjoyed learning how the Egyptians got along," Arabella said. "It's really quite fascinating. I learned loads. I even wrote an essay about some of it. I can't wait to turn it in."

"Yeah, this one hardly got any sleep," Ron told Harry about Arabella. "She was up nearly every night doing school work. Bloody ridiculous. Her and Percy, never shutting up about school."

To save herself and Harry from having to listen to the twins bicker, Hermione said, "You do know the Egyptians used to worship cats."

"Yeah, along with the dung beetle."

"Not flashing that clip again, are you?" asked Fred, seeing the newspaper clipping out on the table.

"We haven't shown anyone."

"No, not a soul!" George mocked. "Not unless you count Tom."

"The day maid," Fred added.

"The night maid."

"The cook."

"That bloke who fixed the toilet."

"And that wizard from Belgium."

"Don't forget Seamus and Dean," Arabella said. "And besides, who wouldn't flash it? I mean, our family, in the post for something not having anything to do with enchanted cars flying through the air. It's a miracle." At this point, Arthur and Molly greeted Harry and Arthur took him aside.

"Yeah, thanks Ron."

"Oh, yeah, like I'm supposed to believe you would've done any different," Ron retorted.

"I would've waited for Mum and Dad," Arabella said.

"And we would've used the Invisibility Booster," Fred said.

"And landed a safe distance away from the Whomping Willow," George said.

"And not gotten caught by Filch."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" said Ron. "The Invisibility Booster was faulty and the engine died! We couldn't control where we landed!"

"For goodness sakes, it was a year ago! Let it go!" Hermione said, sitting at the table with Ginny.

"Seriously, you would've thought it had just happened an hour ago the way you two argue about it," Ginny agreed.

"Let's face it, Ron's never gonna live that down," Arabella said. "At least he's finally had that bloody wand replaced. I was beginning to think you'd be on the receiving end of rebounded curses forever! Good for you exams were cancelled last year, you would've failed so badly they would've thrown you out!"

"Thanks for that reminder, Bella, I had no idea," Ron said.

[word count: 1175]
[written: 4/23/20]
[published: 5/24/20]