A silver bell at the top of the door jingled as Professor Lupin stepped inside. When he first let himself into this area of town, he thought he'd found a nice, quiet, empty place where he could sit down and grade his most recent exams. Instead, he had come across a quaint little Muggle bookstore with a crowded cafe and no other chairs throughout the entire building.
Great.
He sighed audibly as he made his way over to the "young adult" shelves of the store. "Young adult"? Does that mean teenagers or people my age? Muggles were strange, and that definitely showed in the design of the store. He just shoved the oddity of it all out of his mind and looked around a bit more.
After a few minutes, Lupin managed to navigate over to the other side of the "young adult" shelving. He had been looking at the different titles and colors, finding things like The Outsiders and The Lord of the Rings. Was the idea of people living outside that uncommon in the Muggle community that stories about it made popular books? And what about that book about the rings? Collecting things must have been abnormal, as well.
On the opposite side, there were even more unusual titles. One in particular was called To Kill A Mockingbird. "A best-selling book about killing birds? Muggles are such mystifying individuals," Lupin thought aloud, unaware he wasn't alone.
A small voice giggled at the other end of the row. Glancing over, he caught a glimpse of bright pink hair and a rather petite young woman. She was paging through another book about a cuckoo bird and its nest, or something of the sort, and smiling. Something about it made him think that she wasn't smiling about the book.
The woman must have felt him looking because the next thing he knew, she had locked eyes with him. A sparkle hinted behind her dark irises, their color very similar to the fur he grew every full moon. The sparkle reminded him of the night sky, splattered with shining stars.
She was the one to break the gaze, exiting the area and leaving Remus slightly upset, although he didn't consciously know why. He replaced the mockingbird book and left the aisle.
Cashiers were shouting out orders of "large Seattle's Best with extra sugar" and "medium cappuccino with vanilla cream", foreign words and phrases to the English wizard stuck for the moment in a small town in America. All the noise in the cafe made him assume it was still full so he made for the door with the silver bell.
Four strides from the door, Lupin felt a dainty tap on his left shoulder. He turned around and came face to, well, air, until he looked down into those warm brown eyes again.
"You know, there are some empty tables now," she said quietly. "I don't mean to sound like a creep, it just seemed like that's what you were looking for when you first came in here."
When he looked over, he definitely noticed open tables, just like she said. He looked back down at the small woman with the bubblegum hair and smiled. "Thanks," he said, starting over to the closest table, table four.
Lupin sat down in the cushioned metal chair and flopped his grading binder onto the round table in front of him. "Neville Longbottom," he read, after slight hesitation. "Nice penmanship, kid." Subconsciously, he rolled his eyes at the third year's sloppy handwriting.
He was reading through the, surprisingly, well-put-together thesis on why boggarts started manifesting when the strong scent of coffee and vanilla cream hit his nose. He looked up from his work to see Bubblegum Girl pulling a chair over to the table he was at, carrying a portable coffee cup. She was almost to the table when she tripped over someone's foot. The chair crashed to the floor with a loud clatter and the beverage fell out of her hand, splashing the hot liquid everywhere within 5 feet of the poor girl, now lying face-up on the ground. The entire cafe area was now silent, everyone staring at her.
Eyes wide, Remus stood and made his way around the table slowly, so as not to call attention to himself. It was in vain, however, because the moment he lifted out of his chair, every eye in the room focused on him, especially the cappuccino-colored pair he had met in the young adult shelves.
He shook off the stares and focused instead on helping the poor girl on the ground. Kneeling down beside her, he placed a hand on her back, easier now that she had sat up a bit. He took her hand in his free one and stood up with her, making sure she didn't slip on her still strongly-scented coffee. Once she was standing straight, he picked up the dropped chair and placed it near the table she was trying to get to, table four, leaving it slightly pulled out, an offering for her to sit. She looked up at him, his face soft and friendly, and sat down, letting him push the chair in for her, as a gentleman does. She dropped her head, hiding her face as the blood rushed to her cheeks.
Remus walked over to his chair on the other side of the table and sat, picking up his quill. Then, he dropped it back onto the table and glanced at Bubblegum Girl. She peered at him through her bangs, confused as to why he was paying attention to her, as the room was still silent.
"What was it you had ordered?" he asked her, a look of kind seriousness on his face.
She hesitated, but answered. "Medium espresso with a generous amount of vanilla cream. Why?"
Remus stood again, this time making his way over to the barista at the cash register, one of the many Muggles still staring at him with wide eyes.
"One medium espresso with generous vanilla cream, and one of those large cookies, please."
Broken out of his trance, the barista uttered a simple "Yessir" and began making the drink. When he'd finished, he pulled a cookie out of the plastic display case and looked back at Remus, standing in front of the counter so calmly. "Um, that'll be $5.15, sir."
Remus pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a five-pound note. "Keep the change, and I apologize for not having the correct currency. Coming here wasn't exactly a planned event. I hope you can understand." The barista simply nodded his head, taking the bill.
As the wizard walked back to the table, coffee and cookie in hand, a man sitting near the counter began to applaud, slowly, then gaining speed as others joined him. Remus practically had a standing ovation from the cafe customers and employees as he placed the cup and the cookie down in front of the girl with the cappuccino eyes and covered in coffee stains.