I take credit for my original characters only. All other characters from the Harry Potter series, along with characters/names associated with the books are Copyright of J.K. Rowling.

Part One

It was a quiet, September evening in London. The bustling streets of the afternoon began to mesh with the nightlife. There was a thin blanket of orange on the horizon that peeked over tall buildings and shined into windows. On the corner sat a small coffee shop put in place by an immigrated Italian family, who for some time, had only sold coffee until business had become so bad that they were forced to sell tea to their English customers.

It was a few years after the Second World War. There were still remnants of the destruction in London here and there, which would take many more years to completely restore. It seemed that life was finally going back to normal for the once battered country.

Within this coffee shop sat a young woman, no more than twenty-four. At her table were papers scattered everywhere. Many of them were sheets of music with writing on them, others of childish scrawl. She was quite a beauty in her own right, blond hair that was once neatly curled now tied back messily, brown eyes scanned the papers in front of her with glasses resting on her nose. She was shapely and fair skinned. She had a few empty cups of espresso next to her with lipstick stains at the rim. She was in the very last booth in the shop, and no one else was there. Or so she thought.

She took a moment to sit up straight and rest her eyes when she noticed a young man sitting a few booths away from her. He had to have been the same age as her, facing in her direction. He was thin also, a bit on the lanky side. However, she was shocked that she did not hear the bell ring on the door, nor shuffling of feet. She looked around and saw the old woman who owned the shop sitting behind the bar, cleaning away at mugs. She looked back and noticed the young man already had a cup of what seemed like black coffee at his side. He looked exhausted, bags hung under his rather large eyes, his somewhat long, curled hair was just as messy as hers. He wore odd clothing, a mixture of a working suit with a brown cloak over his shoulders, they reminded her like long drapes on a window. The woman hadn't realized how long she was staring at him, for suddenly, his piercing blue eyes flickered and met her own. They were such an icy blue that she had not seen before, not even on the most handsome of Hollywood's men.

She quickly looked away, back at her own work, but she was only still seeing those eyes in her fresh memory. They were not malicious eyes, just tired, quiet eyes. She glanced back up for a short moment, but he was now looking back down at a newspaper in front of him. She could have sworn the pictures were moving on the page, but she blinked it away, probably seeing things from a lack of sleep. He seemed like he kept to himself, not wanting to know anyone or anything.

A few hours had past, the shop was lit up as the sun had gone down, and now it was pitch black. The young man had slowly flipped through his strange readings, and the young woman had gone through her large stack of papers, writing in red ink over the handwriting, placing an array of grades and a few in between. Suddenly, she heard shifting and looked up. The young man was standing and folding his paper. Again, she saw the strange pictures moving. He tipped his mug back, letting the rest of it's contents drain into his mouth before setting it down and turning slightly. He folded his paper and tucked it under his arm. For the first time, the young woman saw that his face turned into a friendly smile toward the owner of the coffee shop, tipping his head toward her in a silent thank you before walking past and leaving. Finally, the bell on the door that should have rang the first time chimed and he was gone.

"Rosa?" The woman asked.

"Ailene," the owner answered.

"Who was that man?" Ailene asked, trying to get a better look of which way he turned out of the window, but he was gone like thin air.

"I really do not know," A thick, Italian accent answered. Rosa came from behind the counter and cleaned up his table. She was a tall and slender woman, and her old face still resembled some beauty left behind. "Come and go, no name, very polite, one of the nice customers I have beside you."

"He comes in often?" She asked, looking incredulous at the older woman.

"Oh sì, come in almost every night and orders same thing, black coffee."

Ailene looked out of the window. "I've never noticed him before, not until tonight."

"Strange boy." Rosa said and disappeared into the back room. She reappeared and sat at Ailene's table. "One time, he leaving, dropped some coins out of his pocket." She explained in a very soft voice. "Pick up all— but for this..." She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a solid gold coin. However, it did not look like any coin that Ailene had seen. She reached her hand out and took it from Rosa, examining it. On the front was what appeared to be a dragon with the words "Unum Galleon" on the front. She flipped it over and an even more intriguing creature was on the back.

"What is that...?" Ailene let out a silly laugh, trying to decipher what she was looking at.

Rosa furrowed her brow. "Always wondered. I do not know what to do with it...it solid gold, real gold, husband thinks so too. I could exchange it, but then I close shop, go back to Italy...Villa on the Mediterranean!" Rosa exclaimed in her broken English.

Rosa laughed more than Ailene, who simply smiled.

"Now, you done with grades? Closing time."