~ 19th September, 1990 ~

I woke up and threw my long, platinum blonde hair into a messy bun, checking the overly-pretentious calendar that was sat on my bedside table. Today was the nineteenth of September 1990, and there was one thing marked down — 'Bookworm day'. I smiled, going over to my wardrobe as I thought about what was going to happen today. Bookworm day was my codename for the birthday of one of my secret friends from London, near the Leaky Cauldron.

I picked out some Muggle clothes and put them on — a pink knitted jumper, light blue jeans, and pink boots with glittery stars and hearts on them.

Then, I carefully put my wizarding, Father-approved clothes on over the top. Last Christmas had taught me never to let Father find out I'd been wearing Muggle clothes, and even though I knew he was out on Ministry business until later in the day, I didn't want Mother or Draco to accidentally let it slip to him. Smiling excitedly, I rushed down to the dining room for breakfast.

"Morning, Dora," Draco greeted me as I got to the table. He looked like he'd only just got down there himself, as his breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, cheese, and potatoes was hardly touched.

"Hey, Dray," I replied, grabbing an apple from the bowl in the middle of the table. "Sorry, can't stop, I've got stuff to do."

I left the room again, almost walking straight into my mother.

"Good morning, Dora. Where are you off to?" she asked.

"Oh, um, I'm going to see a friend," I said, an innocent smile on my face.

"Alright. Your father is going to get back at one o'clock, so be back before then, okay?"

"Okay!" I gave her a hug, then ran back up to my room to get the things I would need — some Sickles for the Knight Bus, a bit of Muggle money, and my friend's birthday present.

I walked down the drive and slipped through a hole in the hedge, not wanting to have to bother opening the heavy gates that kept the Manor separate from the outside world. I pulled off my wizarding clothes and put them into a box I'd hidden next to the hole; then, after checking there were no Muggles nearby (not that there ever were), I stuck out my left arm. With a deafening BANG, a purple triple-decker bus was suddenly speeding down the road, before coming to a sudden stop by me.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the—"

"Stan, it's me," I said, interrupting the conductor's speech. I'd heard it so many times before that I practically knew it by heart, and didn't particularly want to listen to the whole thing again.

"Oh, 'ello Pandora," the pimply young wizard greeted me. "Where to today?"

"Same place as usual please, Stan," I said, stepping onto the bus and giving him eleven Sickles.

I sat down in my usual armchair — the one right at the front, behind the short screen separating Ern, the driver, from the passengers.

"Hi, Ern," I greeted him, as Stan closed the doors.

Ern gave me a welcoming nod, not being one for small talk of any kind.

"Take 'er away, Ern," Stan said, sitting down in the armchair next to Ern's.

There was another almighty BANG, and we were suddenly rushing down a winding country road, with bushes and trees jumping out of the way as Ern seemingly struggled to keep the bus from driving into the fields on either side of us.

"Where are we?" I asked Stan interestedly, not at all perturbed by the violent motions of the bus, having got used to them after so many trips on it.

"Someplace up norf. Morland, right Ern?"

"Ar," Ern grunted. "Best go get Mr Jenkins, Stan, we'll be there in a minute."

Stan disappeared up a narrow, wooden staircase, returning about a minute later with a tall man in a black suit following him. I flinched almost imperceptibly backwards as this man passed me, drawing my legs up to avoid him coming into contact with them. This probably wouldn't have been necessary if I'd been sitting in the armchair properly, but I wasn't, so it was.

The doors opened, and the man in the suit stepped out, catching his black travelling case as Stan threw it out after him. Then Stan slammed the doors shut again, sat down, and the bus lurched into action once more.

***

"Thanks, Stan! Thanks, Ern!" I said happily, jumping the small gap between the Knight Bus and the pavement as we got to where I wanted to go — a small café near the part of London my friend lived in. "See you later!"

"Bye, Pandora!"

I silently opened the café door and slipped inside, looking around for my friend.

"Dora!" I heard a girl squeal, and the next thing I knew, my vision was obscured by a load of bushy brown hair as she hugged me.

"Hey, Mione!" I said, hugging her back, being careful not to squash the present I'd brought for her. "Happy birthday!"

We went and sat at a table in the corner of the room, tucked in a little alcove. I placed the present, wrapped in silver paper, on the table, pushing it over to Hermione as the waitress came over.

"What can I get for you?"

"Hot chocolate with whipped cream, please!" Hermione said instantly, a mischievous grin lighting up her face. Her parents were dentists, so she didn't often get to drink things like that, but she'd decided at our very first meet-up at the café that what her parents didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"Coca cola, please," I said quietly, giving a small smile.

As soon as the waitress walked away, I said, "C'mon, Mione, open your present!"

Hermione laughed a little at my impatience, and ripped the silver paper away from the box inside.

"Wow! Thanks, Dora!" she said excitedly as she looked inside the box and lifted out the things I'd got her — a silver necklace with an 'H' that had little blue sapphires set into it, a Muggle book that she'd been talking about wanting for ages, which was far too expensive for any of her family to buy, and a set of custom notebooks and coloured pens — the things Muggles used instead of parchment and quills.

I just gave her a warm smile as she carefully clipped the necklace around her neck.

"It's sad that you can't come to my party on Sunday," she said, stuffing the ripped-up paper into the box and putting the lid back on. "Are you sure you're not free?"

"Sorry, Mione," I said apologetically, by way of an answer.

Just then, the waitress came back with both of our drinks, placing them down in front of us.

"Thanks!" Hermione said happily, immediately taking a sip and giving herself a whipped cream moustache.

"Thank you," I said quietly, giving the waitress another small smile. She smiled back, then left again.

"Mum and Dad are going to take me to see The Little Mermaid next month," Hermione said, sounding excited at the thought. "They said I can take a friend with me, if I like! Do you want to come, as you can't come to my party?"

"What's The Little Mermaid?" I asked, sure that this was some Muggle thing I really ought to know about if I was actually a Muggle, like Hermione thought I was.

"A Disney movie." She looked a little confused now. "The trailers have been everywhere, haven't you seen them?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't."

"Do you want to come anyway? It looks really good."

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but I can't," I said, sighing quietly. "Father doesn't like me seeing Mu—" I stopped abruptly. I'd been about to say "Muggle stuff", which wouldn't have been good. I'd probably have got in trouble.

Hermione looked at me questioningly.

"—movies," I amended. "Especially ones with mermaids, and those sorts of things. He says I should concentrate on schoolwork, not made up things like mermaids and dragons."

Hermione nodded a bit sadly, and I gave a tiny sigh of relief. I hated lying to her about this — after all, I was fairly certain I'd seen her do accidental magic in the past — but it had to be done. If she found out about the wizarding world before she got her Hogwarts letter, everything would get a lot more complicated.

***
A/N: aksjakjjs this used to be the first chapter which is why it starts like Literally Every Single Cliché Wattpad Story Ever. I was too lazy to rewrite it when I added the chapters before it 😂

Word count: 1415