For Bella, the summer between her second and third year at Hogwarts had been one of the best times in her life. Her father had won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw and so the family spent the summer in Egypt, visiting the eldest Weasley sibling, Bill. Not only did she get to see Bill but Charlie had come along as well and even though Ron was her twin, Charlie was always secretly her favourite sibling. Quicker than any of them would have liked, the summer drew to a close and there was only one day left until school started. To end the summer in the best way, the Weasley's decided to spend the last day and night in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Bella!" yelled Ron from the room across the hall. "Have you seen my jacket?"
All through the summer, Ron had gotten more whiney, clinging to Bella as much as she could. Although she could understand where it was coming from, it was beginning to become annoying the longer it wore on. Bella looked up from the book she was reading, a look of annoyance on her face as Ginny chuckled.
"No Ronald, I'm not your keeper, I don't know where your jacket is." she shouted back.
"Is he always like that?" asked Hermione from the doorway.
"Unfortunately." replied Bella.
Hermione and her parents had arrived that morning along with Freya and Emily and the three of them were spending the night at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasley's. They were all hoping to find Harry in the alley as they hadn't seen him since they arrived.
The alley was packed, as it usually was, with witches and wizards of all ages, making the most of the beautiful summer sun. Young wizards stood with their faces pressed against the windows of Quality Quidditch Supplies, oggling the new broom on the market, the Firebolt. Ron's face lit up and he crossed in front of the girls to go and ogle with them at the new broom. Bella caught his upper arm in her hand and pulled him away from the window.
"But Bella." he whined.
"No buts, Ronald." snapped Bella. "We're looking for Harry."
They tried in Flourish and Blotts; they hadn't seen him since last week. They tried in Madam Malkin's and the answer was the same as the last; she hadn't seen him since the week before. Everywhere they went the answer was the same; no one had seen Harry since the previous week.
"But Dad said he was staying at the Leaky Cauldron." said Ron, confused.
"Maybe he did all of his shopping early?" said Emily.
"Let's go and get some ice cream then we can try again." suggested Freya.
The five of them sat in the blazing hot summer sun, lapping up their rapidly melting ice creams. Bella looked around the alley lazily, watching groups of witches and wizards ambling along the street; and then she spotted it. The head of jet black hair and bottles glasses that could only belong to one person.
"HARRY!" she yelled loudly, standing from her seat.
Harry turned in their direction with wide eyes and sighed in relief, a huge smile creeping up his cheeks.
"Finally." sighed Ron when Harry took the seat beside him. "We've looked everywhere for you."
"I finished my school shopping last week." he replied.
"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" asked Freya in a low voice.
"I didn't mean it, really." replied Harry. Ron roared with laugher, attracting looks from everyone around them while the girls chuckled quietly. The only one of them not laughing was Hermione. She was looking at Harry with a serious look on her face.
"It's not funny." she snapped. "I'm surprised Harry wasn't expelled."
"So am I." replied Harry. "I really thought I was going to be thrown in Azkaban never mind expelled."
"Your Dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?" Harry asked the twins.
"It's probably 'cause it's you." shrugged Ron.
"Famous Harry Potter and all that." laughed Bella.
"Hate to see what the ministry would do to us if we blew up Aunt Muriel." said Ron.
"Mum would kill us first mind you." replied Bella.
"You can ask Dad yourself tonight though Harry." said Ron.
"We're all staying at the Leaky Cauldron too!" said Emily.
"Wicked!" replied Harry. "Have you got all your school stuff then?"
"Mum and Dad bought me a new wand!" beamed Ron, brandishing it proudly. "What about those monster book, eh?"
"Why have you got so many bags?" Harry asked Hermione, pointing at not one but three overflowing bags at her feet.
"Well I'm taking more subjects this year." she replied. Hermione listed off all of the subjects she was taking this year, leaving the rest of them gobsmacked.
"Are you planning to eat or sleep this year, Hermione?" asked Freya.
"Of course." replied Hermione, the others weren't convinced.
"I seen Seamus earlier." Harry said to Bella.
"Oh, really?" she asked, looking around the alley for him.
"Yeah. I bet he's still in Quality Quidditch Supplies." he replied.
Bella smiled in reply as the others chatted around them.
"Can we go to Magical Menagerie?" asked Hermione. "Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."
"You guys go on, I'm going to find Seamus." replied Bella.
They paid for their ice creams and parted ways, Bella heading off down to the Quidditch shop in search of Seamus. She didn't have to search long. Him and Dean were, as Harry said they would be, still in Quality Quidditch Supplies, debating over who was the best Quidditch team.
"Hello boys." said Bella appearing beside Dean in the aisle.
"Hi Bella." replied Dean.
Seamus stepped around him and wrapped his arms around Bella.
"Hi." he said softly.
"What werr you two arguing about?" asked Bella.
"This idiot really believes the Chudley Cannons would beat the Irish." replied Seamus, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at Dean.
"That's because they are." replied Dean.
"Don't let Ron hear you talking about the Chudley Cannons." laughed Bella, stepping out of Semaus' embrace.
The three of them left the store, trailing back to the Leaky Cauldron. Dean bought them Butterbeers as Seamus and Bella found a table.
"How was your summer?" Seamus asked when Dean brought their drinks over.
Bella told them all about Egypt and what she had gotten up to over there.
"You really went into those Pyramids?" asked Dean.
"Yeah, they were wicked!" replied Bella.
Not long after they had finished their drinks, Seamus' mother arrived to escort the boys home.
"It was lovely meeting you, Mrs Finnegan." smiled Bella.
"It was lovely to meet you too dear." Seamus' mother replied.
Seamus gave her one final hug, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.
"I'll see you tomorrow." he smiled.
"See you tomorrow." she replied.
"Bye Dean." she added , waving them off.
"Public displays of affection should be illegal." Bella turned to see who had spoken to her and Draco was stood behind her, stared over her head to where Seamus had just been, sneering.
"Just because you're too cold to ever have anyone fall in love with you." snapped Bella.
"You're in love? With Finnegan?" He laughed. "Oh come on, you could do so much better."
"And that's you, is it?" she asked, hands on her hips.
Draco's eyes widened, spluttering for a response.
"That's what I thought." she replied, stalking away from him with a huff of annoyance.
The others still hadn't returned from the pet shop and so Bella settled in her room with her book waiting for them to come back. She was excited to be starting her third year at Hogwarts but she couldn't help but think this year would be just the same as the previous; not a lot of school work and a lot of rule breaking.
