Uncle Vernon was taking an afternoon snooze on Saturday while his wife sat in the kitchen, knitting a sweater for Dudley. Harry snickered to himself when he thought of how many sheeps would need sheering to accomodate the large amount of wool Aunt Petunia would need in order to make a sweater for Dudley that would actually fit. Which made him wonder why Dudley wears sweaters in the summer.
"HARRY!" Aunt Petunia barked, leaving Harry a bit startled. "Uncle Vernon is asleep and Dudley is in the middle of a computer game and I just don't feel like going out right now so you have to go into town and do the shopping." she glanced at her watch, "Be back by five." She thrust the shopping list into Harry's hand and pushed him out the door.
"Oh great," Harry said to himselfas he trdged down the street, "It's about ninety degrees out here and once again, I have to do everything that involves discomfort." Out of frustration, he kicked a rock that was on the ground. For a slight moment, he concidered apparating onto town, but if something goes wrong then he would have to deal with the ministry of magic. Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to take a quick look at the list Aunt Petunia had prepared.
Crisps
Pretzels
Palm Pilot
Soda Pop
Computer Mouse
Roller Blades
"HUH? Where the hell am I supposed to get a palm pilot!?" Harry said a little too loudly for a lady who was tending her garden gave him a strange look, which he just returned with an even stranger look.
Roller blades were on the list because about a week before, Dudley's Alien Workshop skateboard had actually just snapped in half beneath his tremendous weight. Remembering this cheered Harry up a bit because the incident was pretty funny. Until he got shouted at by Uncle Vernon for laughing at Dudley.
Suddenly he bumped into something. "I'm terribly sorry," Harry said out of reflex before looking up. When he looked up, his eyes popped. He thought she was the most adorable girl in the world. She had the cutest face with the most brilliant, shimmery ice-blue eyes.
*Wow* Harry thought to himself, *She makes Cho Chang look almost plain.*
"Oh, no, I'm the one that should be apoligizing. I'm such a klutz," the girl began, smiling sweetly. She had a distinct American accent, but not valley girlish. Harry took notice of the fact that she was carrying a lot of bags.
"Do you need any help with those?" Harry asked, brushing his untamable black hair out of his face so he could see her more clearly. Suddenly, a shocked expression grew upon the girl's face.
"Are you Harry Potter?" The girl asked, her ice-blue eyes enlarging. Harry nodded. "Wow... Haha... Who would ever think that I would meet Harry Potter?" She said, her grin widening. Harry was very thankful for this. Normally, people would go rushing over to him make a whole big scene. You would have thought that the Backstreet Boys had come to town. "I'm Estelle Beauregard. It's so nice to meet you."
"You too. By the way, where are you from?" Harry asked, interestedly. He assumed that she was a witch, or else she wouldn't have a clue who Harry Potter was.
"San Diego. It's in Southern California. I went to Oceanside School of Magic. I just moved here a few weeks ago. My dad got transferred. Oh yeah, my parents are 'muggles'." She said very fast. *She is really talkative* Harry thought to himself.
"Where are you going to go to school now?" Harry asked, hoping that Estelle would say 'Hogwarts' and indeed she did.
"Yeah, I'm going to be a fifth year there. Hey, where are you going?"
"Oh I was just heading to town to get these items that my aunt and uncle are forcing me to get for them. I mean dear Lord, how the hell am I supposed to get a Palm Pilot!?" Harry whined. It was just then that it occured to him that she really was going to Hogwarts and it wasn't just his mind causing him to hear things that weren't really said.
"Hmm... I was trying to get to Diagon Alley, but I don't know where it is and I accidently left my floo powder back in my apartment. See what a fool I am? I guess I'm just going to have to apparate there."
"But wait, isn't that illegal? There are serious consiquenses for apparating without a liscence." Harry pointed out in attempt to warn her. Besides, he wanted to talk for a little bit longer."
"Hmm... apparition without a liscence isn't as much of a big deal back in America... It's kind of like jaywalking in New York City," Estelle added with a shrug.
"What's jaywalking?" Harry asked, scratching his head with confusion. But in the blink of an eye, Estelle had vanished, leaving behind a cloud of sparkly, ice-blue dust. "What is a muggle saw that?" Harry thought out loud. Then he realized that he would not see her for a month, just about. This caused him to be grouchy again.
Just then, he felt something poking his leg. He remebered that his wand was in the cargo pocket of the khaki pants he was wearing that day. He removed his wand from his pocket and apparated into Diagon Alley despite the fact that it was incredibly risky. He immediately spotted Estelle looking in the window of some shop. Harry approached her.
"What are you looking at?" Harry asked without really thinking.
"Oh just this Lightningbolt. It's made by the same people who made the Firebolt but the Lighningbolt is newer and state-of-the-art. But it's wildly expensive."
"Whoa," Harry said, arching an eyebrow, "I never met a chick that was so interested in broomsticks. Hey, do you play quidditch?"
"Yes I'm a seeker," Estelle replied, peering at something out of the corner of her eye before biting lower lip, "was anyway."
Harry had completely forgotten about the errands he was supposed to run for his horrifically aggrivating aunt and uncle as well as the time. He was just so intrigued by Estelle that he was uable to think about anything else because she was extremely wild and carefree.
Estelle was trying to persuade Harry into exploring Knockturn Alley with her when he sensed upcoming trouble. He got the bone-chilling feeling that someone or something was watching him so he spun around just to see that a well-fed white rat had scurried into a hole between two cobblestones. It looked strangely familiar. "Well, well, if it isn't Harry Potty and... his new lover," came a trademark sneer.
"Hello Draco," Harry said exasperatedly, trying to keep cool infront of Estelle. Estelled turned around. "Who the hell are you?" Estelle said, thrusting her hands on her hips as her eyebrows curled up in an agitated sort of fashion. Draco's expression of amusement quickly transformed into one of astonishment.
"How dare you speak to me like that?" Draco said, flailing his thin white arms like a windmill that had been caught in a violent hurricane. He recieved a slap across the face because he was staring at someplace she didn't want him to be staring at.
"How dare you speak to THE Harry Potter in that way?!" Estelle hissed, narrowing her eyes into two tiny slits. Draco just gave her a phony look of disdain before going somewhere far far away.
"It just pisses me off when people mess with my friends for no reason," Estelle started, tossing her shiny chestnut hair over her angular shoulder. This got Harry thinking all the way back to his first year at Hogwarts. Why did Draco just decide to hate him just like that for no reason whatsoever? What did Harry ever do to cause this growing problem? Suddenly, he caught a quick glance at Estelle's watch.
"SHIT!!!!" Harry screamed very loudly, "Six o click already?!"
