A/N: I am working on two stories at the moment, so don't have me :) R&R! JKR owns Harry Potter! Okay, I said that the last chapter was short, then I read this one. Sorry.
Year 3 (current year):
She met up with the Weasleys in Diagon Alley the day before the term started. She immediately fell in with the twins. They went and got their school things and then went and got some ice cream. They met up with Lee at Zonko's joke shop, then they stopped, at Hermione's request, at the magical pet shop.
They walked around the shop, admiring all of the animals that they saw. Hermione's eyes kept on the cats, but she didn't see one that she really liked.
Harry, who had run away from his home and was staying at the Leaky Cauldron until tomorrow, and Ron had met up with them at the shop. Hermione took a minute and walked with them while the boys looked at toads. When Ron was finally checking out at the counter, she found the perfect cat. He was orange, and after Ron and Harry walked out, the shopkeeper explained that he had been at the store for ages.
She walked over to the twins, holding the orange cat in her arms. She was grinning, and held him up to show them. They looked at the cat, then at Hermione before they each broke out in large grins.
"So.. what do you think?" She asked, looking from the twins to the fluffy orange cat in her arms. The boys looked at her then at eachother.
"He's perfect." They said in unison. They took turns petting the cat, running their long fingers through his hair.
"You like the cats because you've been one, don't you?" Fred teased, and she laughed a bit. She admired the cat in her arms, he snuggled into her neck a bit before she looked back up at the boys.
"Should we get going? I'm sure your mum will want to sit down for dinner soon." She suggested, and the boys nodded. They followed her out of the shop and back to the Leaky Couldron. She showed her new animal off to the Weasleys. Everyone but Ron told her how perfect her new cat was. He referred to her cat as a monster, and said that it would try to kill Scabbers, which she told him was crazy.
Ron then told her that as long as the cat was around, he wouldn't be hanging around. They got into a bit of a row about it before she stormed off. She went and sat down between Fred and George, who took turns holding Crookshanks while they ate dinner. She then fed him before they all went upstairs to bed.
The next morning, they were all in a rush to get to the train. Fred and George helped her get everything together while Crookshanks ran around the room. They had their hands full keeping him away from Ron and Scabbers.
Once they were all on the train, Hermione sat in the compartment with Fred, George, and Lee. Ron was still being a prat about her new animal, and she didn't quite feel like dealing with him the entire train ride. She was happy, sitting next to her best friends again. She was looking forward to this year, she was thinking while listening to the boys plan out some pranks for the start of the year.