"Hey! I'm waiting as well!"
Theodore jumped as an arm grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. The girl's face was so close to his that he could almost see her pupils dilate with the blazing sun of this warm July day.
"Do you think I enjoy waiting all morning only for you to pass in front of me like you own the store?" she said without taking a breath.
The girl's eyes were round and a deep shade of brown. Her hair was curly and black, and her eyebrows were thick, but somehow elegant. Her nose was round and in the shape of a button, with light freckles on the tip.
"Are you all right?" asked the girl to the boy.
As a prepubescent boy with week experience socializing with attractive girls his age, Theodore mumbled a weak response to the girl's question, hiding the words didn't mean to in between timid and fumbled sounds.
The girl's right eyebrow lifted after hearing Theodore's response, a look of mockery she was trying to hide could be seen on her face.
"You aren't very good with words are you?" she asked with a laughing smile.
"Oh uhm, I was just..." hesitated Theodore, not wanting to reveal that he tends to freeze in place in some social situations; wouldn't be the best way to come across. "Sorry I just didn't realize you were waiting as well." he replied, remembering that that was what started their conversation. "Have you really been waiting all morning?"
"Yes..." the girl answered. "Though I wish I hadn't. There are so many other things I could have seen—or bought."
She briefly showed Theodore her shopping list. Only one item was crossed off out of roughly twenty.
"The only reason I'm waiting," the girl started once more, "Is because my father is making me. My sister acts like she is a gift to wizardkind, and this summer she took it upon herself to try out for Slytherin's quidditch team. Therefore she demanded a new broomstick— I know, pathetic, am I right? —And because she usually forces me to buy her school supplies each year, I'm stuck waiting for hours to buy her this stupid new Blink I."
"You're waiting to buy a Blink I?" asked Theodore with tremendous excitement. "Oh please let me wait with you! I've been wanting to see one all summer ever since they came out."
The girl was obviously hesitating, but Theodore wasn't going to abandon easily.
"Please?" he asked once more. "Look, I'll even buy you some of your supplies, I have more of mine to buy as well."
"You want me to trust a complete stranger with my money and my shopping list? That's ridiculous, I don't even know your name!"
"My name is Theodore," he answered.
"Penny," she then answered.
Theodore could tell that the name exchange didn't help his cause, but after frequent future "pleases" from him, she finally handed Theodore her long list.
"Here's my money pouch. If you do anything besides buying the supplies I need, I swear I will come find you on the train."
Theodore thought she was joking at first, but the look in her eyes made him think otherwise.
"I'll be back here in around an hour, hopefully you'll be next in line by then!"
"Have fun shopping!" she said with a smile.
"Have fun waiting!"
"Ya right!"
Theodore left Penny and the broomstick store, and headed up north the main street, towards Flourish and Blotts, in search of the many books he needed on his now elongated list. The addition of Penny to his non-existing list of acquaintances from Hogwarts left a smile on his face.