Over the next couple of weeks, I spent my time either reading, playing Quidditch with Corey, or visiting the Marauders.

Soon, Ainsley, Corey and I received our Hogwarts letters and book lists. (I was extremely excited that I'd been placed in Advanced Arithmancy, even though I had basically already known I would be due to my 'O' result in the class.) I wrote to the Marauders and we all coordinated what day we were going to Diagon Alley to buy our school supplies, even though I was going there with Mum. Mum had actually tried to force me to go to Diagon Alley with the boys, but I preferred to stay with my siblings.

I was anxious about seeing Regulus. I was both afraid and excited to see himーif he chose to go at the same time as I was going, that was. I just wanted to see Regulus's face since I hadn't seen him in nearly two months, but I hated seeing him with his parents. With them, he was so different from how he acted around me.

Regulus and I had continued corresponding through letters almost every single day. He had mentioned a couple of times that he was angry at Sirius for running away, but every time he did, I would quickly brush it off.

I didn't blame either of them and I could see why each of them was mad at the other. Sirius was angry at Regulus for not ever standing up for him to their parents, for not fighting harder to make him stay; Regulus was angry at Sirius for leaving him alone with their parents, for not trying to build a relationship with his younger brother. Neither was at fault; I just wished they could see from each other's points of view... which would never happen. They had already drifted too far apart and become too different.

***

One sunny Saturday afternoon, Ainsley, Corey, Mum and I used Floo Powder to get to Diagon Alley. Floo Powder wasn't my favourite way to travel—that place was reserved for flying on brooms—but it was one of my favourite ways. The idea of appearing somewhere by bursting into flames made me feel an inexplicable sort of satisfaction.

"Where are we going first?" Corey asked once we were all standing in the middle of Diagon Alley.

"Flourish and Blotts," I said immediately. "It's my absolute favourite shop."

All around us, people were bustling about. There were younger children that were clearly beginning Hogwarts this year and there were also a few older students here and there that I recognized from school in past years. Some were eating sweets, others carrying books or the pets they'd just bought. I craned my neck, scouring the crowd for any of my friends, though I didn't see any of them yet.

"Of course it is," said Ainsley, rolling her eyes. "Mum, can we go to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour later?"

"Yes," said Mum, "but before we go anywhere else, we've got to go to Gringotts first."

"I hate Gringotts! The goblins always creep me out," Ainsley complained.

"That's not nice," I mumbled as we headed towards the Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

"What? I'm not being mean, I'm just being honest... You know that goblins are cunning and sneaky."

"Yes, they're exactly like you," I said pointedly. "We all know you're sneaky and just a little evil."

Ainsley grinned at me wickedly, giggling.

"I like Gringotts," said Corey.

"I know, you always said you were going to work there," I replied. "If I didn't want to be an Auror, I would want to work at Gringotts too."

I glanced at Mum to see if she had a reaction to me saying that I'd be an Auror, but she seemed completely unfazed. I was glad that Dad had decided not to come, because it might've slipped out while he was around.

"That reminds me, Corey, you're already going into third year! That means you have to choose your class options," said Mum.

"He's taking Arithmancy," I insisted, looking at my brother.

Corey was very similar to me; more so than Ainsley was. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. I liked to think I was his influence, and he tried hard to be like me. He was more insecure than I was, but he still knew what he wanted and was hard-working.

"Let him decide for himself, Bianca," Mum tutted.

"I'm taking Arithmancy," Corey agreed with me. "Bianca told me I need Arithmancy if I want to work at Gringotts, so I'm taking it."

"OK, I would suggest not taking Muggle Studies," I whispered in Corey's ear. "I know Ainsley takes it, but that's not the best for you... We already know enough about Muggles."

Corey sniggered. "I can't take Divination, either," he said a bit louder. "It's not a reliable subject."

"You sound like McGonagall," I responded, putting my arm around him. "But I got an 'O' in it on my O.W.L.s, so that argument is invalid."

"Yeah, but Bianca... you can get an 'O' in anything," he said, putting his arm around me, too.

I was silent for a moment, before I chuckled and said, "Yeah, that's true. So you'll take Ancient Runes, then, Corey. That class always sounded interesting to me. Maybe you could teach me how to read some runes, hm?"

We finally reached the Gringotts Wizarding Bank and pushed the doors open. I was met with the sight of dozens of goblins sitting at desks. Mum went straight up to one of them and told him she wanted to make a withdrawal, handing him the key to the vault. We were brought up to our vault, gathered the gold that we needed (while Ainsley begged Mum to give her a few extra Galleons) and left Gringotts in a hurry.

"All right, time to head to—" Mum started.

"Flourish and Blotts!" I interrupted eagerly.

"Yes, Bianca," Mum said exasperatedly. "I haven't forgotten." We continued walking, and she finally nudged me. "Bianca, maybe later we could go to Madam Pimpernelle's Beautifying Potions..." she said suggestively.

"Well I'm not going there," Corey interjected.

"Good, because neither am I," I said.

Mum pouted, then rolled her eyes. "Fine. Ainsley will come with me."

"No," said Ainsley quickly.

She groaned. "Why are neither of my daughters like me? None of you even care what you look like."

"That's true," I said. "I mean, look at my hair: it's a mess. And Ainsley's tooーshe didn't even brush it this morning."

"Hey!"

I laughed. She pouted and tried to cross her arms, so I quickly linked my arm with her's.

Ainsley, Corey and I got along a lot better than most siblings. During the summers, when we actually spent more time together than we did during school, we were really close. Whenever someone saw the three of us together, and how well we got along, they would wonder why. Normally, siblings fought much more than we ever did. We could just tease each other playfully, and the odd times we did fight, it would all be resolved quickly because we couldn't go too long without talking to each other.

Since the incident where Ainsley had been in a library being burned by Fiendfyre, there wasn't a day I could look at either Ainsley or Corey without being glad that we were as close as we were. I remembered what had driven me to save Ainsley that day, and it was all because of the fact that I could never, ever, live without my siblings.

Each of us consulted our book lists and checked off the books we already had (they could both use my textbooks that I'd used in past years), purchasing mostly the books on my list since they were the ones we didn't have yet. Being in sixth year meant I could drop some classes, so I didn't buy the textbooks for Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy and History of Magic.

"I dunno if I'm still going to take Divination," I told Mum. "Should I?"

"Do whatever would be best for you, Bianca," she said.

"McGonagall didn't think I should take it when I had my career appointment with her," I said. "But I'm still not sure."

"What else are you dropping?" she asked me.

"History of Magic, obviously... Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy too, I guess. I need the core subjects to be an Auror; you know, Transfiguration, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Charms... and there's no way I'm dropping Arithmancy, because I like it way too much. I kind of like Divination, though, and I'm pretty good at it..."

"So take it, then," Mum stated. "I can tell you want to take it, forget what McGonagall said. If you like it, then take it. She probably doesn't like it because she didn't do well in Divination when she was in school."

We paid for our books. Next, we went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to buy new robes, because we had all outgrown ours—Ainsley more than all of us. She had been the same height as Corey a year ago, though now she was a few inches taller than he was. He had grown slightly as well, but he was still very short. (He was sort of self-conscious about his height, but I didn't think it should matter at all.) Then Corey wanted to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies, probably to admire some new models of broomsticks or something, so we headed over there.

I thought of the Marauders, wondering where they were. They must've arrived in Diagon Alley already... If there was anywhere James would be, it was a Quidditch supply store. That meant he was at either Quality Quidditch Supplies or Broomstix.

"BOOO!" someone yelled from behind me, jumping on my back.

I yelped in surprise, putting a hand over my heart, only to see my bespectacled friend standing behind me, looking as lopsided as ever.

"Merlin, James, you're so predictable!" I said. "I knew you'd be in here!"

"Of course I'm in here," he said. "I'm buying a new Bludger 'cause my dad broke one of mine."

"What? How do you break a Bludger?" I demanded incredulously.

"Beats me," he said, his lips twitching. "Get it?"

"Oh, you and your puns, James," I said, shaking my head, amused. "So where's the rest of the pack?"

"Dunno, actually," he said. "I reckon Remus is in some sort of book store, though I haven't met up with him yet today. Peter's most likely buying sweets or something. Padfoot ran off a while ago to get a new quill or something. He'll probably be back soon. What about you? Where's your crew?"

"Right there," I said, pointing to the other side of the room. "Corey wanted to come just to look at everything because he's nearly as obsessed with Quidditch as you are."

"He's only got to wait one more year before he tries out for team Keeper," James reminded me.

"Even that's too long for him to wait," I said, pursing my lips. "He's very impatient, my brother is."

"Not the first Reynolds who is."

I glared at him.

"So shall we find the others, then?" he asked. "We can get ice cream."

"Sure, let me just go tell my mum that I'm going with you," I said.

He nodded and I bolted off to let Mum know.

"I just saw James and he wants me to go with him and the others," I said. "Can I go?"

"Of course!" she said a little too happily. "You can stay with them as long as you want."

I smiled and left to meet with them. I suspected Mum was still used to me not having friends and still wasn't quite used to the fact that I now did. She had endured four summers before this one, during which I'd been friendless.

James and I skipped off to find Sirius, Remus and Peter. Running through the crowded streets, we weaved through the throngs of people.

"OI! PRONGS! BIANCA!"

James grabbed my arm and we whirled around, seeing Sirius and Peter standing behind us.

"You passed right by us!" said Sirius. "Ran right by us! We were waving and everything. You've both got no peripheral vision."

"Hello to you, too," I said sarcastically.

"Look who I found on my way to Scribbulus Writing Implements," said Sirius, ignoring my last words and gesturing to Peter.

"Hey, Wormtail," said James.

"Hi, Pete," I said.

"Hi guys," he replied. "Chocolate Frog?" he asked, holding one out for me.

"Ooh, yes," I said, taking one. "Thanks."

"Now we're only missing one," said Sirius. "Where do you think Moony is?"

"Like I told Bianca before, probably in a book store of some sort," James said.

"Perhaps we could... lure him here with Chocolate Frogs," Peter suggested.

I laughed. "OK, we should check any bookshops," I said.

"Right," said Sirius. "What are some bookshops here? I haven't really been paying attention for the past five years."

"Well, there's Flourish and Blotts, Obscurus Books... the Second-Hand Bookshop... oh, and Whizz Hard Books. Let's try Flourish and Blotts first, though."

We checked there, but Remus wasn't there. Then we went to Obscurus Books, but he wasn't there either.

"Maybe he isn't even here yet," said Peter. "Maybe he didn't even get to Diagon Alley yet."

"Or maybe he is just in a different store," James pointed out.

"We still have more bookshops to check!" I said. "There's still a chance he's in one of them."

"Imagine he leaves just as we get there, and we just miss him?" said Sirius. "That would be annoying."

We made our way to the Second-Hand Bookshop next, and left disappointed. Finally, we found Remus to be in the last store we went in: Whizz Hard Books. When we spotted him, however, he was bent over a book, looking both thoroughly concentrated and sad. His elbow was rested on a shelf and his forehead was rested on his arm. His eyes were glazed over as he read whatever book he had in his hands. He looked as though he was about to cry.

"What—?" Sirius started.

I tried to get a closer look at the book Remus had in his hands without allowing him to see us. I was able to decipher the title: Hairy Snout, Human Heart.

"Aww," I cooed, feeling a pain in my chest.

"What?" Sirius demanded loudly.

"Shh!" I hissed.

I gestured for James, Sirius and Peter, who all looked very confused, to follow me. I led them away from Remus and towards another bookshelf, searching for the book Remus had been reading. I finally found it after a while and read the synopsis. According to the book, it was about one wizard's experience as a werewolf; and about his battle against lycanthropy. My heart broke for Remus when I remembered how his eyes had been glazed over as he read it. I felt like I was invading his privacy for some reason by looking at this book... but it actually sounded really interesting.

I hesitantly handed the book to Peter. Sirius and James looked over his shoulder and read the back of the book as well. They were left speechless. Peter dumbfoundedly handed it back to me.

"Should we just leave?" Peter asked. "I'm not really sure what to do..."

"I don't want to leave," said Sirius. "Let's go greet him. He's our best mate! Let's just talk to him, yeah?"

"Yeah," James agreed, still looking mesmerized. He flattened his hair and fixed his glasses.

We made our way through bookshelves until we finally came to the one Remus was leaning on.

"Moony!" said Sirius.

Remus's head snapped upwards. His expression changed quickly and he gave us a small smile, trying to hide the book in his hands behind his back.

"Oh, hello," he said.

"So..." said Peter. "What're you doing?"

"Nothing," he said quickly.

I strode towards him. "Remus," I said, lifting the book I was still holding onto tightly and showing it to him. I gave him a pointed look and he appeared embarrassed. My heart clenched. "No, don't be embarrassed. It sounds like a really good book, actually."

Remus sighed. His eyes grazed over the book as he pulled it out from behind his back. "It was, er, written by an anonymous author... and published last year, actually."

"You should get it," said Sirius firmly.

"I... I don't think I brought enough money to—"

He stopped talking abruptly when James plucked the book out of his hands and ran to the cash to pay for it himself.