"Now remember, you have to stay with the Weasleys. Don't go running off." Mr Granger implored.
"You have to be careful," Mrs Granger continued. "You both saw that news report about Sirius Black. Besides, if he really is a wizard like your newspaper suggests, then you two could be in even more danger."
"We know mum," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"We'll be careful," Estella assured them, hugging her parents.
It was the day before September the first and the Grangers were inside the Leaky Cauldron, Mr and Mrs Granger saying goodbye before returning back home.
They had agreed to let Estella and Hermione stay in the inn overnight and catch the Hogwarts Express with the Weasleys the day after.
Estella suspected that had their parents not known Mr and Mrs Weasley - having met them the year prior - they would not have complied with this arrangement.
After coming back from their France trip, they had seen several news reports regarding potential updates and consistent reassurances on one Sirius Black, an apparent mass murderer on the Muggle news.
This news was made even worse when an owl swooped in with a Daily Prophet one day, featuring a moving image of Black on the front page.
Estella could still remember the way her mother had shrieked at the sight and how she had to be calmed down with a strong cup of lavender tea.
Presently, Mrs Granger was fussing over Estella's shirt, fixing the collar and smoothing her hair.
"Don't worry Mum," she consoled, "we'll be careful."
Mrs Granger gave her daughter a wry look and chuckled softly. "That doesn't stop me from worrying. You are my daughter after all."
"I know," Estella smiled, trying to make a happy expression cross her mother's face again.
"Alright Lottie," said Mr Granger. "We have to go."
Mrs Granger's smile drooped and she extended her arms as if she wanted to wrap her daughters into a hug and never let go.
She finally surrendered. "Stay safe dears," she said.
Mr Granger gave one of his infamous smiles and the two of them departed.
"Okay," said Estella, steeling herself, "let's go find Ron."
They walked around the establishment for a while until they reached a 'front desk' of sorts.
The seven Weasleys stood with Tom the Barman as they negotiated rooms.
"Ah, there you two are," Mrs Weasley said with a nurturing smile, beckoning them over. "Now, we've sorted all your rooms- Tom here's managed to put you and Ron on the same floor as Harry."
"Thanks, Mrs Weasley," Hermione and Estella said at the same time.
Mr Weasley came over, chuckling. "Just like Fred and George, aren't you?"
"It's our twin sync," Estella said solemnly.
"Couldn't have put it better ourselves," said an echoed voice and Fred and George appeared.
"Fred, George," Mrs Weasley greeted with a clasp of her hands, "can you help Ginny with taking her trunk upstairs?"
They nodded.
"And where's Percy...?"
"Probably polishing his Head Boy badge," Fred said, rolling his eyes.
Mrs Weasley turned to Estella and Hermione. "Oh yes, have you heard-"
"I already told them, mum." Ron appeared, looking incredibly freckly. He gave them a wave and grinned. He appeared to have gotten taller and his limbs lankier.
"Hey Ron." The two sisters walked over.
"Did you find Harry?" Estella asked, looking around.
Ron shook his head. "Tom said he'd already left."
"That's perfect then," said Mrs Weasley. "You three can go shopping for your supplies and maybe you'll catch him. If not, well we'll all meet back here at the end of the day."
They nodded, waved goodbye and went out to the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron.
Estella took out her ashwood wand, tapped the third brick from the left above the dustbin, and stood back as the archway into Diagon Alley opened in the wall.
They traipsed around, occasionally ducking into interesting-looking stores as they ticked off the items on their school list.
Ron got sidetracked for a couple of minutes as he stared longingly at The Firebolt, a new broom which had made its way to Quality Quidditch Supplies("0-150 miles an hour in ten seconds!") before Hermione dragged him away to buy their books.
Hermione, it turned out, had taken so many electives that she filled two bags with her books(another bag was later added to carry all her other supplies).
Estella and Ron however, only had to pick up the standard yearly books for each subject and their two elective textbooks(Estella figured with a spark of glee, that this meant that Harry would be taking the same classes too): Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky and The Monster Book of Monsters.
This book in particular was held, not on the shelves and propped up on the tables littered around the store, but in a large iron cage in the display window.
They looked ferocious: torn pages were flying everywhere as the books grappled with each other, locked together in furious wrestling matches and snapping aggressively.
As Estella surveyed the truly grieved expression on the shop manager's face when they asked for three copies, she knew that she would never want to work there in the future.
Thankfully, Mrs Weasley seemed to have forgiven Ron for the flying car incident last year, and they accompanied him to Ollivander's to buy his new wand.
Eventually, around lunchtime, they gathered all their supplies and made their way to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour to grab a sweet treat after their long day of shopping.
They had(unfortunately) not seen Harry in the crowd throughout the entire duration of their trip.
They all placed their ice cream orders and Estella leaned back into her seat, carefully surveying her own bag of supplies beside her to make sure nothing would happen to it - it was, after all, not exactly cheap.
She had just gotten used to the silence, peering around at the colourful stores when she spotted someone.
She grabbed Hermione's arm and pointed, which also alerted Ron.
The three of them started yelling his name and waving frantically, hoping to catch his attention.
He turned and smiled, jogging over.
Estella found herself staring at him as he came closer. He(like Ron) had grown taller and his hair looked messy and wind-swept like always.
She couldn't tell exactly what it was, but he looked good. He didn't look so much like a child any more; they had all grown up.
"Finally!" said Ron, grinning at Harry as he sat down next to Estella(she tried not to smile too much about that). "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's and-"
"I got all my school stuff last week," Harry explained.
"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" said Hermione in a very serious voice.
"I didn't mean to," said Harry, while Ron roared with laughter. "I just- lost control."
Estella who had been muffling her giggles with her shirt sleeve stopped and frowned. "You said she insulted your parents, right?"
Harry nodded, looking away.
"It's alright Harry," she said, patting his shoulder. "What does she know anyway?"
He gave her a small smile which she mirrored subconsciously.
"It's not funny, Ron," said Hermione sharply. "Honestly, I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled."
"So am I," admitted Harry. "Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested."
This time, Estella laughed out loud. "I'm sure it would've been fine though. After all, they reversed it right?"
Harry nodded. "Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?" he directed towards Ron.
"Probably 'cause it's you, isnt' it?" shrugged Ron, still chuckling. "Famous Harry Potter and all that. "I'd hate to see what the Ministry'd do to me if I blew up an aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum would've killed me."
Estella grinned and mimicked in a falsetto voice, "If you put another toe out of line-" she ducked as Ron swatted at her.
He groaned. "Don't remind me. Anways," he continued to Harry, "you can ask Dad yourself this evening. We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow!"
"We'll be staying there too," Estella added, gesturing at herself and Hermione.
Hermione nodded, beaming. "Mum and Dad dropped us off this morning with all our Hogwarts things."
"Excellent!" said Harry happily. "So, have you got all your new books and stuff?"
"Look at this," said Ron, pulling a long thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand-new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. And we've got all our books" - he pointed at a large bag under his chair. "What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted three."
"What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked, pointing at the three bulging bags in the chair next to her.
"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I?" said Hermione. "Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes-"
"The Ancient Runes book is so thick!" Estella cut in with wide eyes. "I flipped through it and there were so many translations!"
"-Muggle Studies-"
"What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" said Ron, rolling his eyes at Harry. "You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"
"But it'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view," said Hermione earnestly.
"She's an overachiever," Estella filled in. And I guess I'm just an under-performer.
"Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year, Hermione?" asked Harry, while Ron sniggered. Hermione ignored them.
"I've still got ten Galleons," she said, checking her purse. "It's our birthday soon and Mum and Dad gave us some money to get ourselves an early birthday present."
"How about a nice book?" said Ron innocently.
"No, I don't think so," said Hermione composedly. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig, Estie's got Alora and you've got Errol-"
"I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He pulled his pet rat out of his pocket. "And I want to get him checked over," he added, placing Scabbers on the table in front of them. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him."
Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers.
"There's a magical-creature shop just over there," said Harry. "You can see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl."
Estella nudged him playfully. "I suppose you've got the entirety of Diagon Alley mapped out by now."
Harry grinned. "Just about."
So they paid for their ice-creams and crossed the street to the Magical Menagerie.
There wasn't much room inside. Every inch of wall was hidden by cages. It was smelly and very noisy because the occupants of these cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing.
The witch behind the counter was already advising a wizard on the care of double-ended newts, so Harry, Ron, Estella and Hermione waited, examining the cages.
"What about you Stella?" Harry asked, semi-yelling over all the ruckus. "What are you getting for your birthday?"
She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't really need anything, and nothing really caught my eye while we were shopping. I might just save it."
Harry nodded absently, thinking as the double-ended-newt wizard left and they moved up to the counter.
"It's my rat," Ron told the witch. "he's been a bit off-colour ever since I brought him back from Egypt."
"Bang him on the counter," said the witch, pulling a pair of heavy black spectacles out of her pocket.
Ron lifted Scabbers out of his inside pocket and placed him next to the cage of his fellow rats, who stopped their skipping tricks and scuffled to the wire for a better look.
Like nearly everything Ron owned, Scabbers the rat was secondhand(he had once belonged to Ron's brother Percy) and a bit battered. Next to the glossy rats in the cage, he looked especially woebegone.
"Hm," said the witch, picking Scabbers up. "How old is this rat?"
"Dunno," said Ron. "Quite old. He used to belong to my brother."
"What powers does he have?" said the witch, examining Scabbers closely.
Estella frowned, moving closer to peer down at Scabbers. Truth be told, he had never shown the faintest trace of interesting powers.
The witch's eyes moved from Scabber's tattered left ear to his front paw, which had a toe missing, and tutted loudly.
"He's been through the mill, this one," she said.
"He was like that when Percy gave him to me," said Ron defensively.
"An ordinary, common or garden rat like this can't be expected to live longer than three years or so," said the witch. "Now, if you were looking for something a bit more hard-wearing, you might like one of there..."
She indicated the black rats, who promptly started skipping again. Ron muttered, "Show-offs."
"Well, if you don't want a replacement, you can try this Rat Tonic," said the witch, reaching under the counter and bringing out a small red bottle.
"Ok," said Ron. "How much- OUCH!"
Ron buckled as something huge and orange came soaring from the top of the highest cage, landed on his head and then propelled itself, spitting madly, at Scabbers.
Estella leapt backwards, dodging its ginger, furry tail.
"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" cried the witch, but Scabbers shot from between her hands like a bar of soap, landed splay-legged on the floor and then scarpered for the door.
"Scabbers!" Ron shouted, tearing out of the shop after him; Harry and Estella followed.
It took them nearly ten minutes to find Scabbers, who had taken refuge under a wastepaper bin outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron stuffed the trembling rat back into his pocket and straightened up, massaging his head.
"What was that?"
"It was either a very big cat or quite a small tiger," said Harry.
Estella grinned. "Thanks, Harry. Real helpful."
"Where's Hermione?" Ron wondered.
"Probably getting her owl."
They made their way back up the crowded street to the Magical Menagerie. As they reached it, Hermione came out, but she wasn't carrying an owl. Her arms were clamped tightly around the enormous ginger cat.
"You bought that monster?" said Ron, his mouth hanging open.
"He's gorgeous, isn't he?" said Hermione, glowing.
Estella was on the fence about that matter; the cat's ginger fur was thick and fluffy, but it was definitely a bit bow-legged and its face looked grumpy and oddly squashed, as though it had run headlong into a brick wall. Now that Scabbers was out of sight, however, the cat was purring contentedly in Hermione's arms.
Estella stepped forward and stroked its fur, smiling as it snuggled into her hand. "Aw," she said softly, "It is kinda cute."
"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" said Ron.
"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" said Hermione.
"And what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing at the lump in his chest pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"
"That reminds me, you forgot your Rat Tonic," said Hermione, slapping the small red bottle into Ron's hand. "And stop worrying, Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours. What's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages: no one wanted him."
"I wonder why," said Ron sarcastically.
Estella, sensing a brewing argument said quickly, "Let's head back guys."
Hermione glared at Ron for a bit longer but she eventually relinquished and the four of them headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.