Ginny magically made the boys clothes return to their normal sizes and Alina still could not believe her eyes. She shook her head furiously as they changed. Once they had donned their new attire they stepped from the pub bathroom and walked out the front door. Ginny immediately felt exposed and terrified. Alina inhaled and exhaled several times. She smiled and felt a sort of giddiness rise up in her.
"You know I lied to Lily earlier. I've never visited Grandfather before. I've never been to England. I wish we had more time, I'd see the palace and the bridge, and of course Big Ben!" Alina sighed.
"Who's Ben?" Ginny asked distractedly.
Alina looked at her and laughed. "Never mind."
"Well fine don't tell me, it doesn't matter. We don't have that much time and I have no idea where we're supposed to be going." Ginny said crossly.
"The owl perched himself on a fence across the street from Turners store. I have the street address."
"So?" Ginny asked expectantly.
"So it's probably across town, which is why we. Need a …..TAXI!!!" Alina stepped onto the street and waved her arm at a passing car.
Ginny almost fainted. She grabbed Alina's arm fiercely and Alina smiled and gently removed Ginny's hands. They stepped into the car and Alina gave the man directions. He tried to make casual conversation as they drove. Ginny sat with her eyes as large as saucers and remained silent. Alina on the other hand excitedly told him stories of their adventures in trying to get to London so they could see something called Led Zeppelin. The driver seemed to understand and even smiled at them.
When the scenery started to shift from the tall buildings and business of main London the conversation started to lull. Alina spotted the sign that said 'Turners Books' and asked the driver to stop a few stores down from it. The girls got out and Alina pulled a handful of folded paper from her pocket. Ginny stared at it and recognized it as the things Alina bought at Gringotts. The driver seemed more than happy at the several bills Alina handed him.
Alina tapped the roof of the car with the flat of her hand a couple of times and walked onto the sidewalk looking interested in the store she stood in front of. Ginny followed after her. After the driver disappeared Alina dropped her pretense and looked anxiously down the way to Turner's store.
"Why did you buy all of that stuff if you were just going to give it away?" Ginny grumbled pointing at the money in Alina's hand.
"I didn't buy it silly. This is just muggle money. We don't use coins exclusively; we don't like the sound of the jingle." Alina laughed. "And the exchange rate is awesome! It's so much cheaper to live in London."
"Uh-huh," Ginny said not really following. "So, what's the plan?"
"What plan?" Alina asked.
"To get his notes." Ginny said exasperatedly.
"Uh… I figured we'd wing it." Alina shrugged honestly.
"What?!" Ginny smacked her forehead with her hand. She began to pace back and forth and felt the anxiety start to build. Taking deep breaths Ginny tried to calm herself.
"Alright." She said at last. "Whatever happens, happens."
The girls readied themselves for anything and marched their way to the store. Alina had her hand on the door handle when she flipped her head to move a stray hair. She looked across the street and smiled. Ginny followed her gaze and smiled as well. There was a restaurant with several waitresses wearing black slacks and white button down shirts.
"I guess fortune is smiling at us." Alina laughed opening the door.
They walked in and were met by the musty smell of old books. A sort of calm took hold of them and they seemed to relax totally. There were several shelves that stood from the floor to the ceiling. It held a home town atmosphere, like they'd been there thousands of time before. There was a large gap between two shelves that served as an aisle to the checkout counter. Behind the counter was an older man, though he wasn't physically that old he had a sort of worn air about him. When the girls entered a small bell chimed causing him to look up. He had beautiful, warm, hazel eyes. He smiled amiably at the girls.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
The girls walked to him, neither felt it appropriate to break the lull of the store by raising their voice. Alina put her hands in her pockets and smiled at him. Ginny stepped back and pretended to stare at miscellaneous items on his counter.
"Hi, would you happen to have a sci-fi section?" Alina asked
"Sci-fi?" he asked looking at her with an amused smile.
"Yeah," Alina chuckled, "We're going to the Uni up the way. One of our finals is a research project with an assigned topic."
"Oh?" he slouched down and resting his folded hands on the counter. "What's your topic?"
Alina sighed and rolled her eyes, "Time Travel."
Turner's eyes quickly flicked to a shelf behind Alina. "What exactly are you looking for?"
Alina shrugged and pretended to think about his question, "Well, it's for a creative writing class. So I'm looking for ideas that are scarce, nothing main stream. It has to be unique, something different; none of this Martians zapped my brain stuff."
He laughed and put his head down slightly. "Well, let's see…" walking from around the counter he beckoned the girls to follow him.
He led them down a way to a shelf that was covered with dust. It was tucked in the back of the store in a corner. The front counter was visible from heir vantage and the front door easily accessible. He scanned the shelves and Alina eyed the front door for anyone walking past. If worse came to worse she supposed they could come back, or put some kind of spell on him. Alina was sure Ginny would know one that would get the information they needed from him.
"This section has some things like that in it. It's not exactly a tourist trap though." He said giving a side long glance at Alina.
She laughed, "Then it's perfect. I thought if I went to a local store there'd be some books here that were lost to the Barns and Noble's of the world."
Turner laughed and shook his head. The bell to the front door rang and he excused himself. Alina stared hard at the shelves. If I had to hide a notebook about something like this, where would I put it? She pondered. There were several deep male voices echoing from the front counter causing Ginny to look curiously over.
"Are you sure fortune is smiling and not laughing hysterically?" Ginny asked
Alina looked at her like she was crazy. Ginny was staring at the front so Alina tried to see what caught her attention. Ginny grabbed Alina's arm and pulled them down to the floor and out of sight.
"What are-"
"Shh!" Ginny whispered. "See those men at the front?"
Alina pulled her arm away from Ginny and carefully looked through the gaps in the books to the front. There were two men dressed like they were colorblind and fashion assassins. Alina furrowed her brows and tried not to laugh.
"Those men are ministry officials." Ginny explained.
"Are you sure?" Alina asked anxiously
"My Dad has worked for the ministry my whole life, trust me."
"Is that bad? Are we in trouble?" Alina asked crouching lower.
"No, no, we're fine. They think we're Muggles." Ginny said carefully.
"Then what are they doing here?"
"I think they're here for turner. There are specified zones of magical activity, if there are any signs of magic use outside of those zones the ministry sends someone to investigate. If turner is practicing magic or trying to make too potent a potion, they'd be here to find out."
Alina nodded, "that's probably why he's so nervous. Look at him, he keeps licking his lips and looking around."
Ginny raised her head to get a better look. "Is here looking over here?"
Alina stared and tried to discern where turner's eyes were gazing. Ginny was right, his eyes kept flicking to the aisle they were in. But there was no way he could have seen them. Not even if they were standing at their full heights. So why was he looking over here?
"Would the ministry do anything to him?" Alina asked quietly
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked turning to her.
"Maybe he's looking to make sure that we're still here, that way they can't do anything to him with witnesses."
Ginny shook her head, "No need. If it came to that they would just wipe our memories."
Alina's eyebrows raised to her hairline, wipe our memories she mouthed in disbelief. Alina carefully stood and stepped back until she felt the spine of books at her back. She could see most of the shelf before her now.
"I think he hid it here." Alina finally stated.
"What his notes? Why?" Ginny stood up and mimicked Alina's stance.
"Why else would he be so concerned with what's back here. I mean look at this place, he doesn't even come back here. Now that there are magic cops here he cares, why?"
Ginny shook her head, "how do you know he doesn't come back here? Maybe he's worried we'll try to knick something."
Alina shook her head, "No. Look there's dust everywhere. There's no sign he comes back here at all."
"Except here." Ginny pointed to a section on the bottom shelf that was oddly devoid of dust.
Alina furrowed her brows and crouched before the shelf. Hesitantly she removed some of the books and felt the panel of the wood behind them. She felt around behind of books and finally the liner of the shelf above the books. Her hands grazed something leather bound and strapped to the wood. Feeling the straps she was able to remove the object. Pulling it out to the light she was able to see it was a journal. Ginny crouched beside her and looked on the journal nervously. The leather faded covering seemed too familiar.
"What is this then?" Alina murmured while she skimmed the pages.
There were odds symbols and strange numerical notations that neither of the girls understood. But there was something else, a hand drawn diagram of what looked to be a tiny hourglass. Excitement welled within them and they had to cover their mouths to keep from verbalizing their enthusiasm.
"This is it!" Ginny whispered frantically.
Alina quickly placed the other books back in their place and stood up. Ginny followed he lead as they tried to discreetly make their way out the door. But as they made it to the threshold Turner called to them,
"Did you find anything you were interested in?"
Alina carefully turned so that Ginny blocked out most of her from view and the journal was carefully hidden,
"You know maybe. But we're on break and don't really have the time we need to look. WE have to get back to work now." Alina nodded her head in the direction of the restaurant.
"Of course, come back any time!" he called.
The girls nodded their thanks and all but rushed out the front door. Carefully keeping the journal tight in her grasp Alina ran to the nearest main road waving her arms frantically in the air. A taxi pulled over and she and Ginny threw themselves inside. Alina gasped the address to the driver and added seriously,
"I will give you an extra twenty pounds to get us in the next ten minutes."
The driver seemed to fly over the streets as Ginny and Alina tried to catch their breaths.
"How long have we been gone?"
Alina checked the clock on the radio and her eyes bugged. "Too long."
They reached the pub in record time and Alina basically threw the money at the driver as she ran past the car. They slammed themselves into the door to the bathroom and changed as quickly as physically possible. Alina's shirt wasn't even buttoned when they raced to Diagone Alley. Unable to cast properly while running Ginny grabbed a bag from a kiosk and stuffed the journal and the clothes inside.
The magical creatures shop was almost deserted now, the girls could still see Hagrid speaking with some man wearing scaled on his boots however. Alina and Ginny stopped just in front of the store and looked each other over. They ran fingers through each other's hair and tried to help straighten shirts and skirts out. They were just starting to regulate their breathing when they heard Hagrid's loud, booming voice say,
"Now where'd you two run off to then?"