After walking up the creaky old stairs, Iris suddenly gasped.

"What?" Aurora asked, turning her head frantically for the problem.

"WE'RE NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS!" Iris screamed, jumping up and down.

Aurora palmed her face, smiling, as a door next to her own room opened. She looked up to see Lyra Blackwood peeking her head out curiously.

"LYRA!" Iris screamed again, charging straight at her.

Lyra desperately waved her hands, trying to keep Iris from colliding against her, but it was too late.

Iris Goldinson plowed straight into Lyra, giving her a tight bear hug.

"Ow," Lyra managed, looking rather uncomfortable in the hold. "Can't-breathe-"

"Oh! Oops!" Iris let go as her friend took a deep breath to retrieve the air she lost.

Once she steadied herself, Lyra let out a soft laugh. "Shhhh!" she scolded quietly. "It's late! Here, come into my room and we can talk."

She opened her door wider to let Aurora and Iris in.

Her room, which was identical to every room in the Leaky Cauldron, was small and rickety, yet warm and cozy.

It wasn't much compared to either of their lifestyles back home, but it was a good place to stay the night before taking the train to Hogwarts.

Lyra sat on her bed, dressed in black, silk pajamas, and gestured to a small loveseat on the other side of the room.

Aurora and Iris sat down immediately, not realizing how tired their legs were.

"Where have you guys been?" she asked, twisting something small on her finger.

Aurora shook away the thought as Iris answered Lyra's question. "We took a trip to Flourish and Blotts and then we went to the Magical Menagerie, and then- OH MY GOLLY AURORA TELL HER ABOUT PEB-"

"Iris, quiet down!" Aurora interrupted, praying that no one had woken up yet. "I'll tell her."

"RIGHT! SORRY!"

Lyra looked between the two of them with an extremely confused look on her face. "Tell me what?"

Aurora set down the cloth covered cage and with a deep breath she pulled the black blacket off the top of it.

The tiny cat, Pebbles, stuck it's head up, looking as if they had just woken her up from a nap.

Lyra grew a big smile and knelt down in front of the cage. "What's its name?"

"Pebbles," Aurora replied proudly.

Lyra stuck her finger through the cage and rubbed its little head. "You should let her out."

Aurora looked at her uneasily. "What if your cat attacks it?"

Her friend laughed. "She won't. Kaya!"

On her bed, a slender black cat with sleek fur and bright yellow eyes, looked up, yawned widely, and stretched as it stood up and lept off, padding towards Lyra. She stroked her shiny fur and looked at Aurora, gesturing to Pebbles's cage.

Aurora took a deep breath and carefully opened the cage.

Pebbles slowly stood, surveying the room. She warily stepped out of her cage and instantly stiffened up when she noticed Kaya.

Kaya stared her down as if she was prey.

Lyra and Aurora glanced at each other.

Iris folded her hands and held them to her lips like she was praying intensely.

After a long stand-off, Kaya's tail puffed up and she let out a long, defensive hiss.

Pebbles mewed and lept into Aurora's arms, shaking, terrified of the black cat.

Kaya, who looked proud of herself, rubbed against Lyra's knee innocently.

Iris shifted. "Well...that happened."

Lyra stroked Kaya not looking surprised. "Yeah...deep down I didn't think she was going to like Pebbles."

"You knew?" Aurora asked, comforting her new cat.

Her friend shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

Kaya hissed again, making Pebbles tense up in her arms.

Lyra smirked. "You guys might want to get to bed. We have to wake up at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

Aurora and Iris's jaws dropped.

"Six o'clock," Aurora breathed.

"Well, I'm going to bed," Iris concluded as she walked out of the room.

There was a moment of silence.

"Right then," Aurora stated, putting Pebbles back in her cage.

Lyra sat back down on her bed. "Cya tomorrow," she said as Kaya jumped up next to her.

Aurora smiled, nodded, and left her friend's room, back to her own.

* * *

Aurora's room was identical to Lyra, only a few minor details were different.

She set Pebbles loose, though she stayed inside her cage, and Aurora changed into her sleepwear. She then climbed into her bed and as soon as her head hit her pillow, she drifted off to sleep.