Esther turned her head and unexpectedly locked eyes with Draco Malfoy.
Naturally, he paid absolutely no attention to the curious girl staring at him.
His lips curved in a smug little smile, his eyes alight with delight and self-satisfaction. Chin lifted, expression dripping with superiority, he watched the children gathered around the Nimbus 2001 display the way a wealthy landlord might look at peasants admiring things they couldn't afford.
"Draco, we're leaving," Lucius reminded his son, who was currently immersed in silently displaying his superiority.
"Yes, Father."
With their platinum-blond heads held high, the Malfoys swept out of the shop under the staff's most respectful tone.
Esther knew exactly why they'd come.
In Draco's second year, Lucius Malfoy had lavishly sponsored the entire Slytherin Quidditch team with brand-new Nimbus 2001s to celebrate his son joining the team. What a gesture.
Curious, Esther squeezed forward to peek at the broom's price tag and couldn't help clicking her tongue.
No wonder he's Lucius Malfoy. If he spends money, it's only ever in grand style.
A flying broomstick was practically a luxury item for students. Luckily, Esther wasn't a mere student-and even more luckily, she was rich.
Her father, David, had been a well-off heir in the non-magical world, so she'd grown up with a very comfortable life. She'd secretly brought some of her savings today to exchange at Gringotts.
She hadn't brought too much cash-paper money was inconvenient-and she worried the goblins might refuse a large exchange. After all, Galleons were real gold.
So she brought exactly a thousand pounds. After pulling Ernie and Justin out of the Quidditch shop, she marched straight to Gringotts.
Ernie didn't know the exchange rate; he'd barely even seen Muggle currency before.
Justin, however, did. He explained, "At Gringotts, five pounds gets you one Galleon. So with a thousand pounds you could get two hundred Galleons-but the goblins won't let you trade that much at once. The maximum is fifty Galleons at a time."
Ernie gasped. "Fifty Galleons is already loads!"
It truly was.
One Galleon weighed about fifty grams. Fifty Galleons came to roughly 2.5 kilograms of gold-yet that amount of gold cost only 250 pounds. No wonder the goblins resisted large exchanges. By any logical standard, Gringotts was losing money.
The wizarding world's cost of living must have been bizarrely low for the rate to make any sense.
But Esther didn't mind. As long as she wasn't losing anything, all was well.
After completing the exchange, she lifted the heavy bag of Galleons-and instantly stood a bit taller.
Her mood soared.
Ernie, meanwhile, stared at her with sparkling envy.
Had he known she was this rich, he never would've acted like a big spender earlier. Now he was drowning in regret.
They'd been out for quite some time, and worried their parents might start fretting, Esther suggested heading back to Flourish and Blotts.
A devastated Ernie nodded blankly, his shiny blond hair looking oddly dull now.
Fifty Galleons... he had never seen that many Galleons at once.
Justin had already bought his books and didn't want to squeeze back into the busy shop, so he split off to explore on his own.
As Esther and Ernie approached the entrance, they noticed a commotion inside-plenty of onlookers enjoying what was clearly some kind of incident.
The Malfoy father and son, whom they had seen earlier in the Quidditch shop, no longer looked glamorous. Lucius's immaculate hair was slightly disheveled, and there was a bruise on his chin. Even though he tried hard to maintain his aristocratic composure, the fury on his face couldn't be hidden.
As for Draco, the legendary prince of arrogance, his face was chalk-white, and his pale blue-grey eyes were wide with panic, stripped of all earlier pride.
The pair hurried out, brushing past Esther and Ernie.
"That's Malfoy and his dad. What are they doing here?" Ernie muttered, confused.
Esther knew exactly why they were here-and which story event this was.
Inside the bookstore, none other than Harry Potter himself and the entire Weasley family were gathered.
She took a deep breath.
Oh wow, she was actually excited.
Dragging the still-chattering Ernie with her, she entered Flourish and Blotts.
"I'm telling you," Ernie continued, oblivious to her distraction, "Malfoy's in Slytherin, and you really don't want to mess with that bunch. Especially him-he's arrogant, and he's got two bodyguards built like castle walls. Best avoid him when you can."
Esther didn't hear a single word.
Her mind had room for only one thought:
She was about to meet the main characters.
Although she'd already promised herself she wouldn't interfere with the main plot, that she'd happily remain a background character, it didn't mean she didn't want to see the heroes up close.
She had read the books and watched the films countless times. She loved even the side characters (well... except a certain pink-clad toad and a certain traitorous rat).
How could she not be excited to meet the protagonists?
Harry, Ron, Hermione...Mommy has arrived!!
Trying to suppress her excitement, she stepped further into the shop.
The first thing she saw was a cluster of redheads and beside them, a boy with messy black hair and glasses. And the bushy-haired girl next to him.
Their faces didn't match the actors she remembered, but she recognized them instantly.
She froze, and Ernie collided with her back.
"Ow...Esther, why did you stop?" he complained, rubbing his head. Then he looked up and spotted Harry and the others.
"Whoa...the Weasleys are here? And Harry! That's Harry Potter!"
His voice was loud enough to draw immediate attention.
Harry glanced over, curious, his bright green eyes surprisingly striking.
Esther felt rooted to the floor. She couldn't move.
She'd been so excited moments ago, but now that they were right there in front of her, she was overwhelmed.
Just like the strange nervousness you felt when finally arriving home after a long time away.
She was the embarrassed one, but Ernie was completely fine.
He marched forward, dragging her along, and greeted Harry cheerfully: "Hi, Potter! Buying books too?"
Harry seemed to recognize him. Shy but warm, he smiled. "Hello. You're Macmillan from Hufflepuff, right?"
Ernie lit up.
"Yes! I can't believe you remember me!"
Two hands suddenly dropped onto Harry's shoulders-one from each side.
One of the Weasley twins drawled dramatically, "Oh look, another devoted admirer of the Boy Who Lived."
The other gasped theatrically, "Oh my! How can anyone be so incredible? I adore him!"
Beside them, Ginny's face turned crimson.
It was obvious they were mimicking her.
Harry sputtered in embarrassment, cheeks warming.
Esther looked from the twins to Harry, then to Ron and Hermione.
Too many characters were appearing at once-her brain spun.
"I think... I need to calm down."
She grabbed Ernie's sleeve, muttered this, and then toppled forward as though fainting.
Of course, she didn't actually hit the ground-the shop was far too crowded for her to find anywhere to fall.
***
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