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was set fully in motion.

Saffron would be accompanied by Rowan and Rachel into London, whilst Maya stayed in Holyhead, ensuring that they wouldn't be caught. The morning of Wednesday the seventeenth of August, Saffron was found to be shocked when she came to realise that Maya, Rachel and Rowan truly were serious about following through, on what they figured to be a well thought out plan.

It was surreal to see the sort of rebellious streak in all four of them simultaneously. Usually, one of the four would be more grounded, level headed and stern on obeying the rules stringently. However, since all four would be in Hogwarts in a fortnights time, all four were less concerned than they usually would have been in relation to getting in trouble. This time last year none of them would have dared try such a stunt, but with mere weeks left in Squires before an almost year-long hiatus, they dared it.

"Alright, this is it. Let's see if we remember everything perfectly, shall we?"

Maya's tone of voice was fuelled by authority and experience. In being the oldest of the four siblings, she was always the one trying to run their lives. She had agreed to her three younger siblings flooing to London on the condition that they follow the rules they had set in place. Them being that they arrive back no later than three o'clock, as Squire was bound to be home at that point. She was visiting her so-called 'youth witch' that day, a woman who essentially enhanced her appearance magically in an attempt to make her look younger.

The procedure usually took two hours but Squire always went out before or after it, usually to gossip with her friend Josephine, who was the lady's other half. Therefore, the Mitchells had that time frame to operate in. They just had to hope that Squire hadn't decided to go to Diagon Alley on that day of all days.

"We know, back just before three and stay together the whole time," Rachel repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time.

Maya nodded. "As long as the three of you stay together, you should be okay. Oh and remember to---"

"Keep the money for some floo powder in case of an emergency," Rowan finished for her with a nervous grimace. "We know,"

Maya sighed. "I know the three of you know, but I can't pretend that I'm nervous about someone getting hurt. Because if this goes wrong, someones getting hurt,"

"Nothing is going to go wrong," Saffron told her calmly. She completely understood Maya's anxiety but she wished she'd stop voicing it because it was making her feel sick to the stomach about what could go wrong. She had already owled Hermione promising to be there and she didn't plan on letting her down.

"Famous last words," remarked Maya through exhalation of breath. "Come on then, let's just get it over with,"

The three younger Mitchells followed Maya in a line over to the fireplace and watched on anxiously as Maya attempted to pick the lock to the gate that was guarding it. It was seldom used as most wizards just apparated to and from locations. Maya used a sharp hair clip and fiddled with the lock for only five minutes before it sprung open.

After a brief celebratory moment from the four Mitchell siblings, Maya reverted back to her seriousness.

"Okay, Rowan you first,"

Saffron watched on as Rachel and Rowan respectively took a pinch of floo powder, walked into the ever-growing flames and enunciated the name of their desired location. Both had an aura of excited nervousness around them. Those feelings correlated with how Saffron felt. She was eagerly anticipating getting to see her friends again but was dreading having to be on edge whilst with them in the fear of getting caught.

After a minute it was her turn. Taking a deep breath, Saffron pinched a small amount of floo powder and closed her eyes as she dropped the powder into the slowly kindling flames of the fire. Holding her breath now, she took a step into the fire. She had always hated travelling via the floo network but had practised it well enough to mess it up.

"Good luck," Maya said to her with a small smile. "Watch out for them,"

Offering her a short nod, Saffron promised herself internally that she would do so.

"Diagon Alley,"

Saffron let out a rasping breath as soot and tempered falsified flames surrounded her as she had successfully left Squires and had arrived in Diagon Alley, signalled by the sound of Rachel's voice as the other side of the fireplace.

Saffron felt dizzy as she made her way out of the fireplace and made her way to Rachel and Rowan, both of whom looked rather shaken after what they had just gone through.

"Are we good?" Saffron felt reminded of how Ron appeared minutes after he had come into a state of consciousness on the night of the Philosopher's Stone, she felt dazed and confused, with a rather sickly feeling in her stomach.

"Are you?" Rowan retorted, his eyes scanning the stumblings amusement. "Aren't you supposed to be in charge? You look like you're about to collapse,"

"Says you?" Rachel looked at her brother in disbelief. "You looked like you might throw up once you came out,"

Saffron interjected before they could continue. "Can we all just agree not to argue? I don't want my friends to think we're even madder than they already thought?"

"Yeah, Rowan, let's be happy you're not serving tea to Squirrel and Josephine, and not make it look like you'd rather be doing that," sniped Rachel, with the usual venom she could only even conjure towards her brother. Those two would fight and forget about the fight until the day they died. Unlike Saffron and Maya, their fights never seemed to go away.

"Let's not talk and just walk, okay?" Saffron said loudly, over Rowan's huffing. "Hermione said she'd meet us at Gringotts, and she's never late,"

The three siblings walked slowly through Diagon Alley, watching the different and lively shops go about their everyday routine. It had been a full year since Saffron had last been in the alley and it was as colourful and alive as she remembered. It had been a year since she last graced the streets of the place and as a result, she viewed it with a very different perspective. Everything was normal to her now, whereas beforehand almost all aspects of magic were foreign to her as a result of her sheltered childhood.

"Ron actually has a younger sister," Saffron informed Rachel and Rowan, as they passed Ollivander's wand shop. "Ginny, she'll be in school with you two so it'll be good to get to meet somebody, don't you think?"

"That sounds good," said Rachel excitably. "It'll be nice to get to see what other students are like, I've been worried about not liking any of them,"

"You'll find somebody you like," Saffron assured Rachel and Rowan, who had an apprehensive look on his face at the thought of meeting somebody who will be in school with them. "I mean, you already have each other which is lucky, not everyone's going to have that,"

"I guess so," Rowan eyed Rachel awkwardly, and his twin nodded.

"Yeah, we are lucky,"

Saffron smiled. As often as they fought, she knew how much the twins loved each other. They had never spent one day of their existence without each other. Saffron and Maya figured that they actually relied on each other far more than they ever let on. The tension between them was a byproduct of that.

"Saffron!"

Saffron, Rachel and Rowan all jolted at the high pitched yell calling one of their group. Saffron's heart skipped a beat when she came to the realisation who the voice belonged to. Looking over her shoulder she saw her, hair bigger and bushier than ever with a wide smile etched across her face, Hermione Granger stood in front of the wizarding bank Gringotts waving her over, enthusiastically.

"Here we go," Saffron said under her breath to the twins. She beamed at Hermione and led her siblings over to them. Without any hesitation, Hermione flung herself around Saffron's body, taking her into a warm hug.

"It's been too long," whispered Hermione brightly. "How are you?"

"Good," Saffron nodded, noticing her siblings standing off awkwardly. She cultivated a conversation revolving around them to make them feel included and less awkward at meeting a new person. "This is my sister Rachel and brother Rowan, the twins,"

"I've heard so much about you both," Hermione greeted them merrily, offering both of them her hand to shake, which they returned with smiles. "You all look so similar, I would have thought you were Saffron had I not seen her first, Rachel, minus the ribbon, though,"

Rachel laughed. "We get that a lot,"

"Are your parents here?" Saffron asked Hermione conversationally.

"Yeah, they're just in the bank," nodded Hermione in response. "They're exchanging pounds for galleons and whatnot. Did you make it here okay?"

"It wasn't too bad, but floo is never a good way to travel. Dean Thomas said it was like a rollercoaster muggles go on, you feel sick afterwards," replied Saffron. "Have you seen Harry and the Weasley family yet?"

Hermione shook her head. "They ought to be here in a few minutes unless they somehow got held up," She turned to the twins. "Are you two getting all your school supplies today?"

"We got it all a few weeks ago," Rowan informed her.

"Yeah, we're just here to get out of Squ--- Holyhead for a bit," Rachel amended her sentence upon starting to say Squires. Talking about the care home was cause for embarrassment on the occasion, whether justified or not.

"Well, where better than Diagon Alley?" said Hermione rhetorically. She opened her mouth to expand on the subject but closed it again when her eyes locked onto someone in the distance. "Harry! Harry! Over here!"

Accompanied by the man Saffron hoped she never see again Rubeus Hagrid, Harry walked through the street looking shaken and on edge. His clothes were inordinately dusty and his glasses were broken.

Saffron took Harry into an embrace when he reached them at the steps, as Hermione began to talk "What happened to your glasses? Hello, Hagrid - Oh, it's wonderful to see you two again,"

"It's great to see you too," said Harry, he turned to Saffron's siblings who both eyed him in a mixture of amazement, shock and nervousness.

"I suppose I best introduce you all," Saffron told Harry briskly. "Rachel, Rowan, this is Harry. Harry, Rachel and Rowan, my sister and brother,"

"Hi," uttered a nonplussed Rowan.

"It's nice to meet you," smiled Rachel weakly.

"You too," said Harry politely.

"Are you not supposed to be with the Weasleys, Harry?" Hermione asked in confusion, looking around to see if they were following him but to no result.

"I was," Harry furrowed his brow. "But, well, I've lost them,"

"It won't take yeh long ter find 'em," grinned Hagrid.

On cue, Ron's dad, Percy, Fred, George and Ron himself were all found to be dashing up the street. Looks of relief were on each of their faces.

"Harry," Mr. Weasley huffed, nursing a stitch in his side. "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far. Molly's frantic - she's coming now -"

"Where did you come out?" questioned Ron

"Knockturn Alley," Hagrid answered for Harry.

"Excellent." chorused Fred and George.

"We've never been allowed in," said Ron, sounding jealous. Saffron hadn't the faintest as to what Knockturn Alley even was, but Hagrid provided some insight with his answer.

"I should ruddy well think not," said Hagrid loudly, but didn't add onto the sentence as Ron's mother and younger sister Ginny had made their way over to them. They too looked relieved to see Harry.

"Oh, Harry - oh, my dear - you could have been anywhere -" Saffron had always gotten the impression that Mrs. Weasley was a motherly woman and that image was further instilled by how she immediately got to work at sweeping the soot off of Harry's clothing whilst Mr Weasley took the broken glasses and repaired them in an instant.

Meanwhile, Saffron gave Rachel and Rowan reassuring glances, for the twins looked uneasy with the situation unfolding in front of them. Hagrid announced that he was leaving, and once satisfied with ridding Harry of dirt, Mrs Weasley came over to introduce herself to Saffron, Rachel and Rowan.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, dearie," Mrs. Weasley offered Saffron a hug, which she accepted with a smile. It felt like the hug of a mother, a sensation Saffron hadn't felt for essentially a decade, which translated to ever due to her not remembering anything real from that period of time. It had all been morphed into shattered memories that were more than likely almost entirely manufactured by herself. "Ron's speaks so highly of you,"

"It's nice to meet you too," Saffron raised her eyebrows. Ron really spoke highly of her?

"And twins," enthused Mrs. Weasley with a chortle. "Always a handful if my two are anything to go off, you two are starting Hogwarts with Ginny, then?"

Rachel nodded. Mrs Weasley practically dragged Ginny over to them, as the girl had been standing behind them. Rachel went on to say, "That's what Saffron told us, we're starting in September,"

"Rachel and Rowan are going to be in school with you, Ginny," Mrs Weasley told Ginny, as though Rachel hadn't said that mere seconds beforehand. "It'll be great for you all to get to know each other before you go, won't it?"

"Yes," Ginny mumbled. Saffron could tell that she was a very shy girl.

"If you two want to spend the day with Ginny and I whilst we get her school things that would work for us," Mrs Weasley looked to Saffron. Something in the way in which she looked at her told Saffron that Mrs Weasley knew a lot more about them than she initially thought. This realisation shouldn't have taken her by surprise but nonetheless, it did. Mrs Weasley wasn't looking for parents or a guardian to make the decision, she was looking to her.

Saffron swallowed a dry lump that had formed in her throat. "Oh, well I think the three of us need to stay together, we have a specific time we have to be back by,"

"And what time is that?" Mrs Weasley enquired.

"Three," answered Saffron.

"Well, we certainly won't take that long," Mrs. Weasley assured her with a sweet smile. "If you want to go off with Ron and the others, the four of us can do our own thing and I'll personally make sure the three of you are back home for three. How does that sound?"

"It sounds good to me," With uncertainty, Saffron turned to Rachel and Rowan. "What do you two think?"

"I'm alright with that," said Rachel confidently.

"Um-hum," Rowan's short nod was the definition of succumbing to what his twin wanted, but the look he gave Saffron a moment later told her that even though he was unsure about it, he was okay with it.

Saffron turned back to Mrs. Weasley with an appreciative smile. "That would be brilliant, thank you so much, Mrs. Weasley,"

"It's no bother at all," Mrs. Weasley waved off the thanks, alluding to it being unnecessary. "It gives these three the perfect opportunity to get to know each other." She lowered her voice, in order to talk to Saffron specifically. "Don't be worrying yourself about them, they're in experienced hands,"

Saffron grinned. She didn't doubt her at all. Seven children was a remarkable feat. Mrs Weasley's words eased her mind slightly. She was right, there was no point in worrying over the day in front of her. She had to enjoy it and Saffron was cautiously optimistic that she would do just that.