Chapter 10
Remy had no idea why Mad-Eye seemed to be heading to a record store on the Charing Cross Road. He'd never heard him play any music. Next to the record store was a broken-down old shop front, shabby and apparently deserted for years. Next to that was a book shop. Ah, maybe that was where they were heading. He had said Remy needed some books.
They stopped short of the book shop. Remy frowned at Mad-Eye, puzzled. Mad-Eye just grinned at him. "Come on, Junior." Mad-Eye led the way into the apparently deserted shop. Remy shrugged and followed him … and stopped dead. It was a pub!
"What the hell …?"
"Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron, Remy. One of the most popular pubs around London, for wizards anyway. It's a gateway between the non-wizarding world and Diagon Alley."
"Diagonally?"
Mad-Eye chuckled. "More than a few have got lost with that Remy. "Diagon … Alley. It's where we're heading."
Remy looked around. It was a dark, shabby looking place, definitely not your typical theme pub. The cobwebs in the corners looked genuine. There was a group of old ladies in one corner, all dressed in black, sipping some kind of purple smoking liquid from small glasses, and a group of middle aged men, again all dressed in the by now normal black garb, having a quiet yet animated conversation in the shadows at the far side of the room.
"Afternoon, Tom."
"Mad-Eye! Been a while since you've been through here." The barman was hunched and bald, and looked like an extra from a horror movie. That image wasn't helped by the toothless grin he flashed at Remy. "Is he old enough to be here?"
"Probably not, Tom, but he's with me. That a problem?"
"No problem at all, Mad-Eye, as long as he doesn't ask me to serve him alcohol. I could lose my license for that." Mad-Eye and Tom both chuckled at that, though Remy wasn't quite sure what was so funny. "Staying a while, or passing through?"
"Just passing through today, Tom. Some stuff the lad needs, and this was the best way to get there."
"Ah, well stop by for a chat before you leave. Some rumblings you may want to take an interest in."
Mad-Eye raised an eyebrow. "I'll do that, Tom. Come on, Remy."
Remy followed Mad-Eye through to the rear of the pub and into a chilly courtyard. He watched as Mad-Eye tapped various bricks in the wall in a counter-clockwise order, and blinked as a doorway appeared from nowhere. Mad-Eye walked through, with Remy close behind him. Once through the doorway, Remy turned to look at the courtyard, but there was only a wall there. He shrugged and turned to see where they'd ended up.
"And this is Diagon Alley, Remy."
Remy looked around in wonderment, his eyes wide and curious, peering at his surroundings. He wasn't sure where they were, but it wasn't like any place he'd ever been before. At first glance, this was a normal London street, albeit an old one. The street was cobbled and there was a seemingly endless assortment of shops and cafes, some with tables and chairs outside them, with brightly colored umbrellas. Various wizards and witches were bustling around, smiling and waving to each other as they scurried to make their purchases. But it was the shops themselves that made this place different.
The first one Remy could see declared itself to be Potage's Cauldron Shop, and sure enough, there was a stack of them in front of the shop. Across the way he could see a huge snowy-white building, towering over the neighboring shops. A bit further down the street there seemed to be cages of owls hanging outside one shop, while another had old fashioned feather quill pens prominently displayed. Remy blinked and looked around, trying to take it all in.
"Keep up, Junior." Mad-Eye paused to let Remy catch up, and saw a familiar figure up ahead. "Ah, Sienna. Come on, Remy."
Remy scampered after Mad-Eye as he forged a path down the crowded street. Remy grinned to himself as people literally fell over themselves to get out of Mad-Eye's way. He'd be great at crowd control at a football match.
"Sienna!"
A slightly built purple haired young woman spun around, her face lighting up when she saw Mad-Eye.
"Mad-Eye! Where have you been? When are you coming back to the Department?"
The two managed to clear a space on the street, the crowd flowing around them. Remy stood half behind Mad-Eye, carefully evaluating this new character.
"I've been in and out a few times, but I've been busy with other things. Remy, this is a student of mine, Sienna. Sienna, this is Remy. I'm looking after him for a while."
Sienna shot Remy a huge grin. "Lucky you, huh?"
Remy grinned back as Mad-Eye grumbled "Kids!" under his breath. "So how are things, Sienna?"
"Fitz is driving everyone nuts, Barbara is complaining about too much paperwork. Saron hasn't been around for a while, which is good. Apparently he had his face re-arranged. I'd like to see what improvements were made. We miss you. I miss you."
Mad-Eye muttered. Remy grinned. "Maybe you need better aim."
Sienna frowned at Remy. "Better aim?"
Remy nodded and stepped sideways out of Mad-Eyes reach. "Well it's not like he's easy to miss."
Mad-Eye growled as Sienna started laughing. "Oh, I like this one, Mad-Eye."
"Good," grumbled Mad-Eye. "So you won't mind keeping an eye on him for me for a while. I have some business to take care of. I'll meet you outside Fortescue's in … say an hour."
"Ok, Mad-Eye. Come on, Remy."
Mad-Eye pushed some coins into Remy's hand as he trailed after Sienna. "And try to stay out of trouble, Junior."
Remy followed Sienna along Diagon Alley, stopping to look in various shop windows full of strange and wonderful things that Remy had never seen before. Cauldrons, brooms, potions. Even the clothing stores had strange looking robes and cloaks, and what Remy still thought of as silly pointy hats. They were stood in front of one such shop now. Sienna was oohing and ahhing over a belt in the window. Well, two belts in the window. One was red with little sparkles on it. The other was a deep purple color with thin black stripes.
"I really like the red one. It's a bit sparkly though, not sure the sparkles are really me."
Remy looked at the two belts, then at Sienna. "The purple one would match your hair."
"You think?"
"Yep."
"I could change my hair color though." Sienna wriggled her nose, and her hair turned red. Remy tilted his head on one side, looking at her.
"Purple suits you better. Matches your eyes. Unless you can change the color of them too?"
Sienna laughed. "No, my eyes stay bluey purple no matter what I do to them. Purple it is then." Her hair changed back. "Coming in?"
"Into a dress shop?" Remy sounded aghast. "No way."
"I told Mad-Eye I'd keep an eye on you."
"Well I'll be right here. I'll be looking in the … um … pet shop." Sienna looked a little doubtful. "How long is it going to take you to buy a belt anyway?"
Sienna grinned. "Ok. But don't go anywhere."
"I'll be right here." Remy turned his attention to the 'pet shop' window and looked at the animals. There was a bored looking owl in a cage, various rodents of differing sizes and colors, a few snakes, a rabbit and a couple of cats. There were even some bright orange snails, and some frogs, croaking loudly to each other.
"Hey. MacKenzie."
Remy was busy pulling faces at one of the rats in the window and ignored the voice.
"I'm talking to you."
Remy looked around. There was a group of four teenage boys stood looking at him. Their leader had a face which seemed to be frozen into a permanent sneer. He was flanked by two smaller boys, one of whom has eyes not unlike the rat in the window. The larger boy at the rear had a vacant expression, which somehow suited his face.
"MacKenzie."
Remy looked around to see who they were talking to.
"You."
Remy looked surprised. "Me?"
"Yes. You. Good Grief. You're MacKenzie aren't you?" The lead boy sounded exasperated at Remy's ignorance. "Where's your sister?"
Remy blinked, confused. "Who?"
"Your sister!"
"I don't have a sister. And I'm not MacKenzie."
"Oh for heavens sake. She was here with you a minute ago."
Remy scratched behind his right ear. "Do you mean Sienna?"
The boy ran his fingers through his greasy looking, slicked back black hair, and sighed. "Yes. Sienna. Your sister."
Remy laughed. "That's going to come as a shock to her parents."
"She isn't your sister?"
"Nope, I only met her a few minutes ago."
"Oh. So you're not MacKenzie?"
Remy shook his head. "Nope. Told you that already."
"Oh. Well. Anyway, where is she?"
Remy looked around as though searching for Sienna, and even patted his pockets. "I dunno."
The boy rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure how they allow some people out in public unaccompanied. Look, just tell her I was looking for her, ok?" He turned to walk away.
"Sure," said Remy helpfully. "Um, you wanna leave a name, or should I just say some kid with weird greasy hair wanted her? 'Cause I'm not sure that's gonna narrow it down a whole lot."
The boy paused and took a deep breath. "Wesley. My name is Wesley. Idiot."
"Ok. Wesley Idiot. I got that. I'll tell her. If I see her. If I don't tell her it's 'cause I didn't see her. Or I forgot."
"No, my name is Wesley, you're the idiot ... Never mind. You make Tank here look intelligent." He stalked off in a huff with his friends close behind, the one with the vacant expression screwing his face up as he tried to work out if he'd just been insulted.
Remy grinned and went back to pulling faces at the black rat in the window. Sienna appeared a few moments later, clutching a paper bag.
"You were right. The purple one is much more my style. Hmmm, I see you've made a new friend."
Remy grinned. "Cute ain't he?"
"He's a rat."
"So?"
"Boys! Come on, let's check out the sweet shop."
They peered in the window.
"Strawberry Laces!"
"I don't like strawberry."
"You don't like strawberry?"
"Nope."
"You're weird."
"Of course I'm weird. I'm a boy."
Sienna laughed. "So what do you like?"
"Um ... dunno, not really into sweets. I can never afford them."
"Oh. I never thought to ask that. Have you got any money now?"
Remy reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of the strange coins Mad-Eye had given him. He looked at them and shrugged. "Got these. Not sure what they are though."
Sienna looked at the coins. "Oh, you have enough for sweets, Remy. Come on, let's go inside and choose."
Inside the shop, the walls were crammed from floor to ceiling with jars filled with sweets of different shapes, sizes and colors, each jar with a neat label with the name and price, not that the prices meant much to Remy. From the weird coins in his pocket, even he'd managed to work out that this place had it's own currency system. He already had a hard enough time converting from dollars to pounds, without worrying about a whole new system. They looked around, Sienna trying to find her favourites, Remy just trying to work out how many different types of sweet there actually were. The shopkeeper, a small rotund man with short grey spiky hair and big ears, watched them browse for a while, before smiling at Sienna.
"Can I help you?"
Sienna smiled back at him. "I'd like some Cherry Gum, Strawberry Laces and Mint Choc Chunks please. Oh, and I'd better get some Chocolate Frogs for my brother too."
The shopkeeper bustled about, weighing the sweets out. "Anything else?"
Sienna looked at Remy, who just shrugged. "Told you. I don't usually do sweets. I know I like Orange Fizz Bombs."
"Orange Fizz Bombs? You're kidding me."
"No. I've had them before."
Sienna shook her head. "Weird."
"How about Strawberry Ruffles?" suggested the shopkeeper.
"No," sighed Sienna. "He doesn't like strawberry."
"Got anything aniseed flavoured?" asked Remy.
"Aniseed? Hmmm, yes I believe we have. We have Lick 'O'Rish Spiders?"
Remy shuddered. "Um, no thanks. I don't like spiders either."
"Ok, well how about Licorice Mints? Or Aniseed Balls?"
Remy pondered which to try, but Sienna chose for him. "He'll take both please. Oh, and some Jelly Slugs too."
"Jelly Slugs? I'm not eating slugs!"
Sienna laughed. "They're not real slugs silly. They're just jellies that look like slugs. My brother raves over them."
"Oh, that reminds me, someone was looking for you earlier, Sienna. He thought I was your brother. I tried to put him straight. Now he just thinks I'm an idiot."
Sienna looked at Remy. "He thought you were my brother? Well you're certainly not my older brother, and even my younger brother is older than you. And taller. And he has black hair."
Remy shrugged. "He said his name was Wesley."
Sienna rolled her eyes. "Oh. Him. Annoying little twerp with an equally annoying older brother. If we're lucky, he'll have gone home already."
They were stood outside Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, peering at the produce on sale, most of which seemed to be brightly colored or slimy. Or both. Remy thought the shop smelled a little like rotten cabbage, but Sienna didn't seem to notice this. They were swapping sweets while Sienna explained what some of the items on display were called, and what they were used for. Remy listened intently while chewing a Mint Choc Chunk, which he decided he liked.
He caught sight of Wesley and his friends in the reflection of the window and quickly stuffed his sweets into his pockets. Sienna noticed his movements and followed his look towards Wesley.
"Great. Just what I need. Trouble. Well, trouble's younger brother anyway."
As Wesley neared, Remy spoke up loudly. "Oh, Sienna, I forgot to tell you. Some kid was looking for you earlier. Little dude with greasy hair. Weasel Face or something. Least I think that's what he said."
Sienna had to stifle her laughter. Wesley looked indignant. "Ah. Sienna. There you are."
"Yes. Here I am, Wesley. What do you want?"
Wesley puffed out his chest self importantly. "My brother asked me to pass on a message to you."
Sienna rolled her eyes. "Oh goody. A message from your brother. What happened? Did he run out of messengers so he had to send his baby brother?"
Wesley frowned. "Look, I have a message for you. My brother is an important man. You should respect that."
Sienna yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Important man."
"Ohhh," said Remy. "I thought he said impotent."
Sienna snickered. Wesley stepped forwards, pulling himself up to his full height and squaring up to Sienna, who was a good few inches taller than him. "Look, I've been nice so far. Get the idiot here under control and we'll start again."
Sienna smiled at Wesley, over politely. "Get on with it, Weasel Face. Hey! I like that name, Remy, it suits him, don't you think?"
Remy lost track of the conversation between Sienna and Wesley. He was too busy watching Rat Boy and Tank. They'd sneaked quietly off to the side while Sienna was busy with Wesley and were maneuvering so that they would soon be behind her. Remy sensed this was no accident, nor did he think the 'message' Wesley was supposed to be passing to Sienna was an entirely verbal one.
Remy drifted to the side, putting himself between Sienna and the two boys. He weighed up his options. Even Rat Boy was bigger than him, which had never been a problem to Remy before, but he had a feeling these two knew magic too. That could be a problem. Or maybe it could work to his advantage. He'd noticed that those that could use magic seemed to prefer to use that first, and did things the 'normal' way only as a last resort. Well, except for Mad-Eye anyway.
As the two teens made their move towards Sienna, Remy moved faster, taking Tank's feet from beneath him with a swift leg sweep. Totally unprepared, Tank toppled backwards with a yell and a thud. Sienna spun round to see what the commotion was. Wesley glared at Remy, not bothering to make any attempt to conceal his annoyance.
"Sorry," said Remy calmly. "My foot slipped."
Rat Boy backed away slowly, then turned and ran off down the street. The other boy by Wesley's side slipped away into the gathering crowd.
Remy shrugged. "I guess he forgot to feed his cat."
Wesley pushed past a bewildered Sienna and stalked towards Remy. Remy stood his ground, smiling. Wesley stood toe to toe with Remy and stared down at him.
"You're going to pay for that, you … you … little runt."
Remy just grinned. Sienna stepped in between the two, pushing Wesley back. "Leave it, Wesley. Go tell your brother you delivered his message. And the answer is no."
Wesley glared at Sienna. "That's a bad mistake. It's a generous offer."
Sienna shrugged. "It doesn't matter how generous the offer is, the answer is no. If he wants a job at the Ministry, he'll have to earn it like everyone else. I'm not about to make short cuts for him or anyone else."
Wesley harrumphed and turned his attention back to Remy. "I'll tell him. After I've dealt with this minor annoyance."
"Leave him alone, Wesley."
"I'll leave him in pieces."
Remy just grinned as Wesley pulled his wand from his back pocket.
"Well draw your wand, runt. What are you waiting for?"
"I ain't got one."
"What?"
"I don't have a wand."
Wesley looked like he was about to have a temper tantrum. He stopped just short of stomping his foot. "But … how can you not have a wand!"
Remy shrugged. "I got a set of fists if that helps you."
Wesley practically vibrated with anger and then made a move with his hand. Sienna's wand was immediately in her hand as she placed herself firmly in front of Remy. Remy merely balled his right hand into a fist.
"Problem, Mr. Henderson?" The deep voice, with a slight hint of a Scottish accent, came from behind Remy. Remy didn't look around. He remained focused on Wesley, who stared at a point past Remy's shoulder and visibly paled.
"Er … er … er … no … no not at all, I … er … was … er …"
"Was just leaving?"
"Yes, yes. Just leaving. Come on Tank." The two boys scrambled off down the street at speed, not looking back once.
Remy looked round, and then up. This guy was built like Mad-Eye, but taller, with broad shoulders, short jet black hair, and eyes as black as coal that seemed to look straight through you. Despite their blackness, there was a mischievous twinkle in them, although Remy had a feeling that twinkle could vanish at a moments notice.
"Hi Fitz."
"Hi Sienna. And you are?"
"Remy."
"Well, hi Remy. Where did you find this one, Sienna? Sparky little thing, isn't he?"
Sienna grinned. "Yes, he is. Very sparky. And funny too. And I'm keeping an eye on him for Mad-Eye."
Fitz's eyes widened. "Are you now?"
Remy groaned. "Yeah, and I'm supposed to be staying out of trouble. I think I just blew that."
Fitz chuckled. "You dinnae start it, Remy. You were just sticking up for a friend. If Mad-Eye has a problem with it, tell him to see me. Doubt he will though."
Remy tilted his head on side considering this. "Thanks. And thanks for the assist."
"Anytime, lad. Oh, and Sienna, good answer to Henderson's proposal. If he was half as good as he thought he was, he wouldn't have a problem getting a job."
Sienna nodded, suddenly serious. "That's his third go at me in the last couple of weeks. He's getting to be more than an annoyance."
Fitz's eyes narrowed. "I'll have a word. See you later, Sienna. And it was good to meet you, Remy." He turned and walked off.
Sienna looked at her watch. "Damn, we're going to be late." The pair hurried off to meet Mad-Eye.
They were sitting outside Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They were the only customers sitting outside, everyone else preferring to sit inside. Remy had a feeling that was as much to do with Mad-Eye being outside as it did the weather. It was actually quite a warm day for early March. Mad-Eye had a glass in front of him, the contents of which he'd immediately emptied into a nearby plant pot, refilling it from his hip flask, and earning him an eye roll from the proprietor. Sienna was wading through a strawberry ice cream sundae with great gusto, and Remy was working his way slowly through a citrus version that hadn't even been on the list of sundaes available. It had been specially concocted for him when he'd said he didn't like strawberry, but he did like orange.
Mad-Eye had refused Remy's offered sweets with a grin and a ruffle of the hair, and Sienna was now filling him in on their encounter with Wesley. Remy was relieved to note that Sienna's account completely failed to mention the part about him dumping Tank on the ground. Remy busied himself in an in depth examination of the inside of his sundae glass. Sienna finished hers with a lick of the lips.
"I need another. Want one, Remy?"
Remy shook his head. "No thanks. I haven't finished this one yet."
"Ok. Back in a sec." She headed inside. Remy pulled the remaining coins out of his pocket and made to hand them back to Mad-Eye, but he shook his head.
"Keep them, Remy. Call it pocket money."
Remy practically beamed. "Thanks."
"Nice leg sweep by the way."
Remy blinked. Mad-Eye had seen that? How? Remy had been sure he'd been nowhere near. Mad-Eye chuckled and rubbed his left eye.
"Oh. Wow. You saw?"
Mad-Eye nodded. "Shhh. Don't tell Sienna. I think she thinks she got away with the edited version. I'll let her know she didn't later."
Remy frowned a little. "But she stood up for me."
"I know. I saw. She also let herself get distracted and outflanked. And you protected her."
Remy shrugged. "I like her."
Mad-Eye nodded. "Me too, kiddo. Me too."
