Chapter Ten

Saturday Excursion

Jennifer had almost thought she was going to get a Saturday free that next weekend, but on Friday evening while she was helping Minerva make some conservative dresses for Anna, Minerva asked her to go to the Alley for a few items that she felt couldn't wait until Monday. Anna, who was tired of being cooped up in the cabin, asked if she could go along, and Minerva didn't see any reason why not.

Perhaps if it had been Dumbledore that had been asked, he might have advised against it and thwarted the events that occurred. But as it was, Anna was grateful to be able to get away, and Jennifer was more than happy to have her along. It had taken a while to explain floo powder to Anna, and then Jennifer had to give her a long account on how it worked before she ever agreed to try it. But finally the two of them arrived safe and sound at the Leaky Cauldron.

"We need to head to Flourish and Blotts first," Jennifer told her as they walked through the smoky bar, waving at several familiar faces. "That's where most of the things on Minerva's list is at. So, you said you've been here before?"

"A few times by accident," Anna said. "In fact, nearly every time I've ever come to London, I've somehow ended up here. The first couple of times it was very strange. I was looking for my brother at that time, but I met a man who had known him and told me that my brother was dead. I guess he must have met the same fate as my Mom and Dad," she said, looking in the shop windows. "Anyhow, the next time I followed that same man into the Cauldron, that's how I found out how to get there on my own."

"Who was the man? Dumbledore?" Jennifer asked curiously, artfully dodging a rack hats that had been put on display in front of Malkin's as they passed.

"Oh no, I already knew him. See, sometimes he'd come and see me when I was little and visit me when my grandparents weren't around, along with my brother. I used to call him my uncle. But when I grew older, I didn't see him as much," Anna said.

"Were you surprised when you found out he was a wizard?" Jennifer asked.

"Not at all," Anna said after a moment. "In fact, I think it was when I saw him again that I finally realized that all this was real."

Jennifer grinned at her as they went into the bookstore. Anna quickly started absorbing everything in the room, glancing at titles as Jennifer picked up some ledgers, wax, ink, and several books and signed them off to the school, waiting for it to be bundled in a small tight package that seemed to be smaller than all the items bought.

"Well, that's done, so what do you want to see?" Jennifer asked her. Anna looked up from a book she was looking at with an idea in mind, and idea that before she even said it out loud Jennifer knew was going to be trouble.

"What I'd really like to do is some shopping in some normal shops." Anna said. "You know, we're really not all that far from downtown if we take the rail. Tubes, I mean. We could go to a regular book store too…" Jennifer quickly shushed her, looking around to make sure nobody heard her.

"Anna, I don't think Minerva would approve of us going out there," Jennifer protested. Anna looked at her sternly.

"What, Jennifer, are you afraid of the Muggle world?"

"No, no, of course I'm not, it's just… well, I haven't ever been, really, not in years anyhow," Jennifer admitted.

"Then it's high time! Let's go," Anna said, dragging the professor out of the shop.

"Wait! Wait! What about our clothes? And we need Muggle money."

"No we don't, I have plastic," Anna insisted, heading back towards the Cauldron.

"Plastic money?"

"Trust me, just come on." Anna said again. She was past the point of being argued with, and Jennifer soon realized that trying to argue with Anna was like trying to argue with Severus when he had his back up. Sighing in resignation she took out her wand, telling Anna to hold up as she changed her clothes to look similar to Anna's, adding a long coat so that she'd have a place to put her wand.

"There, how do I look?" Jennifer asked as she caught up.

"Lose the hat and it'll work," Anna said, tapping Jennifer's wide brimmed hat. Jennifer transformed her hat into a flowered barrette and followed Anna through the Cauldron, still thinking this was a bad idea.

"Now we have to be really careful," Jennifer reminded her for the tenth time as they got onto to the train. Jennifer was immediately puzzled as they entered. Why in the world were so many people standing up?

"Would you calm down?" Anna said with a grin. "Nothing is going to happen. You'd better hold on to the pole, Jennifer, or you're going to go flying." Jennifer suddenly clutched the pole in front of her. Anna shook her head at her.

"I didn't mean literally."

"Oh." Jennifer said, relaxing her grip a bit. They stepped off and up some stairs into a busy square.

"See? This isn't bad, is it?" Anna said as Jennifer craned her head around. "Come on, let's go to the ATM, then I need to use a phone real quick."

"Eighty what?" Jennifer asked, as they walked over to one of the walls of the buildings where there was a glass picture. Jennifer watched in amazement as Anna put a card in it and pushed on the numbers, glancing at numbers on the screen. "Can I ask you what this is?" Jennifer whispered, trying not to draw attention.

"It's a bank, sort of." Anna grinned at her.

"That is a bank?" Jennifer said skeptically.

"Yep," Anna answered, folding some paper money back in her wallet. "Okay, let's head over there…" she said, pointing at a small red box by a restaurant of some sort. "How about we order a pizza and then I can call my grandparents and let them know I'm all right? You've had pizza before, right?"

"Sure, they used to serve it in the school I attended in Pittsburgh," Jennifer said as they walked across the square. Anna looked at her blankly.

"There's a magic school in Pittsburgh?" Anna's lip twitched.

"Whitebridge. Not a very big school, though," Jennifer admitted.

"I'll buy that," Anna said. Anna found them a table outside and ordered the pizza and some drinks and headed off to the small box. As Jennifer watched curiously, the waiter brought out some iced black liquid to the table and sat one down in front of her. Thanking him, she quickly turned back to look at Anna, who was busy holding a strange contraption to her ear and wasn't paying attention to her. Jennifer peered around to the other tables and saw others, some with small kids, drinking the substance with no ill effect, so she decided it might be all right. Carefully she dipped the tip of one finger in the bubbling foam, cautiously tasting it on her lip.

"Jennifer!"

Jennifer nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise, nearly knocking over the table. She would have spilled the drink had Sirius not caught it, coming up from behind her. He was dressed in a t-shirt, jeans and a black jacket, looking fairly comfortable in the Muggle environment and yet not really all that different than his normal self. He also looked quite concerned to see her.

"What are you doing out here? Where's Anna?" Sirius demanded with a frown.

"She's in the box…" Jennifer said, pointing.

"Oh, that, that's a telephone. She must have wanted to call her grandparents. I doubt she's been able to charge her mobile phone since she moved to the cabin."

"That's what she said," Jennifer agreed. "But what did she mean?"

"Jennifer, you're a total fish out of water here. You really should try and get her back, or you're going to end up getting into trouble," Sirius warned her.

"But she's so insistent. And she feels the same way back in the Alley that I do out here, so what's the harm in…"

"Look, I think she's getting ready to get off the phone, so I'm going to go. If you need me, just holler. I'll be nearby." Sirius said. "Try to get back as soon as you can. And whatever you do, don't do anything that's going to get you another fine."

"How do you know about that?" Jennifer asked with irritation but Sirius waved and disappeared around a corner. It was a moment later that the pizza arrived, and Anna came out and joined her.

"Sorry that took so long. I had to let my grandparents know I was all right."

"Is this drink…safe?" Jennifer asked.

"Oh come on, you've had pizza but you haven't had a Coke?" Anna said grinning at her.

"They didn't serve anything like this in school," Jennifer assured her. Anna took a sip and Jennifer followed, coughing slightly at first. Anna laughed at her.

"Well?"

"It's interesting. Muggles drink this all the time?" Jennifer asked, but Anna hushed her.

"Say people, Londoners, city folk, anything, but don't say that," Anna chuckled. Jennifer suddenly realized there was nothing but ice in her cup, but after a moment the same man who brought one came out with a pitcher and filled it up. Jennifer leaned over to Anna.

"Did you order that whole thing?" Jennifer asked.

"Of course, that way we can serve ourselves. After all, glasses don't fill by themselves, do they?" Anna told her, taking a piece of pizza. Jennifer, who was realizing this was a bit more than she could handle at one time, stirred the soda with the straw.

"After we eat, we should go back before anyone starts to worry," Jennifer said, watching the bubbles dissipate. "Hey, what's the formula for this, anyhow?"

"What, already? We just got here! I need to get a few things for the cabin or I'm going to go insane." Jennifer found herself being quickly dragged off again after they ate, entering a series of shops that Jennifer didn't recognize half the things in them. One of them was blaring loud sounds that Anna told her was music, where she bought a large box, a bunch of small cylinders, and some small flat boxes.

"Okay, now we can go," Anna said as they heaved two large sacks out of the shop. It was then that Jennifer noticed the bookstore and paused a moment. It was across a busy street with Muggle cars crossing it and honking horns, and Jennifer reasonably decided to forget it. Anna, however, had noticed it just after Jennifer did and began to drag her in that direction.

"Hey, wait! I thought you said we could go!" Jennifer protested.

"Not without getting you a book!" Anna said, punching a button on a pole.

"What happens now?" Jennifer asked. Several of the people on the corner with them gave her a strange look.

"Now…we cross," Anna said, and they hurried across the street and into the bookstore just as the cars started speeding back across where their feet had just touched.

"That's a rather nice sp…er, trick, er, whatever it is," Jennifer said.

"Sssh! Jennifer, come on," Anna said heading further in the store, reading the titles of some of the magazines and newspapers along the side, picking a few up. Jennifer slowly wandered about until she noticed a volume of Shakespeare and found her way to the classic section, puzzling over the books. Noticing the name Dickens, she picked one out then went back over to Anna.

"Nobody dies at the end of this one, I hope?" Jennifer asked. Anna chuckled.

"Yes, but it has a happy ending," Anna assured her, putting the copy of Oliver Twist on the counter. As Anna was paying for the books, a couple of men came in, looking around the shop thoughtfully then walked over to the counter.

"Excuse me, have any of you seen this man today?" One of them asked, holding up a picture. Jennifer recognized him at once, even though in the picture he looked sickly and pale. It was a picture of Sirius Black. Jennifer was caught in surprise, and the second investigator, which in fact they were, seemed to be watching her carefully.

"I haven't seen him," said the shopkeeper.

"That's Sirius Black, isn't it?" Anna said after a moment. "I've seen that picture before."

"That's right, a very dangerous criminal. He's wanted on several counts of murder. We had a tip today that he'd been seen in this area, talking to a woman matching your description, miss," the second man said, looking at Jennifer. Anna stared at Jennifer. So did several other people in the shop.

"I'm quite sure I don't know what you mean. I don't know anyone who looks quite like that," Jennifer said. "Besides, I thought I read in the papers somewhere that he was acquitted."

"Only if you read the Sun, Miss. Are you sure you have never seen this man, or talked to anyone close to his description?" asked the first, showing her the picture again.

"No," Jennifer shrugged.

"Either of you didn't happen to order pizza today under the name of Anna Hayes? We're told by the restaurant personnel that the woman he was seen with was at the table which had the order under the name Anna Hayes."

Anna stared at Jennifer. Jennifer looked back at Anna wondering what to do next. Anna quickly covered up the credit card she had on the table, whisking it into her wallet.

"Look! There he is!" The clerk suddenly shouted pointing at the door. Sirius was standing in it, waiting long enough for the two officers to turn around before taking off. The two officers then pelted out the door.

"Don't just stand there, let's get out of here!" Anna said, grabbing Jennifer's arm and the bag and heading out the door.

As the two men headed down the street, one of them happened to stop and look around as Anna and Jennifer took off in the other direction.

"Mike, the girls are getting away!"

"Just radio backup, stupid, it's Black we're really after, com'on!" Mike yelled back as he chased Sirius down an alley. He drew out his weapon and looked around the corner. There was nothing moving.

"You'd better come out with your hands up, Black!" Mike said, in a tone that wasn't completely convincing. "Give yourself up while you still have the option!" The partner caught up, peering out from behind the other man.

"He's not coming out, Mike."

"I can see that, Scott," Mike muttered, slowly heading in.

Reaching some garbage cans, Mike suddenly shoved them over and stood back, but the only thing that came out was a wild-eyed stray cat, which took off down the alley. Then they heard barking and got out of the way as a big black dog ran by, as if it was chasing the cat. They were too busy checking the alley for the man they saw to notice that the dog didn't follow the cat out into the street. Instead, it scurried around the corner. Back in the alley the two officers searched the area thoroughly, but there was no sign of Black. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

As Jennifer and Anna hurried down the street, it wasn't long before Jennifer started protesting that they had to stop.

"These bulky parcels have to go, Anna. I can't run with this. We need a fireplace," Jennifer insisted.

"Well, we can't go in every shop looking for one. Besides, I doubt just anyone's going to let us step in their fireplace. Look, there's a park up the street. We can find some place to stash our stuff there, maybe," Anna suggested. They crossed another busy street, making Jennifer all the more nervous, then they walked towards the center of the park where Anna had spotted a small public bathroom, ignoring several looks as they went in together. Anna locked them in, looking around the small stall. "Leave the stuff here, maybe?"

"No, I've got it," Jennifer said, pulling out her wand and dropping the packages on the floor. "Minimize!" The items were enveloped in a flash of light then reduced to a size that Jennifer could stick them in her pockets. "Okay, now we need to find a way to get out of here."

"Can't you just pop out?"

"I'm not leaving without you," Jennifer said. Suddenly there was a knock.

"You all right in there? I thought I saw a large flash of light!" A muffled voice said.

"Uh… just a camera going off! Sorry!" Anna said, knowing very well the light had been much larger than that. The man wandered off muttering something about 'tourists.' "How about another change of clothes?"

"I can do it, but if we end up getting caught, how do we explain the change?" Jennifer asked.

"Then we just don't get caught. Come on, Jennifer." Anna insisted, instructing her on what to make. Quickly Jennifer changed their clothes to blue jeans, t-shirts, and college jackets, throwing their hair into tails. "It's far from perfect, but it'll have to do. Let's go." They walked out of the restroom, receiving odd stares from an elderly couple sitting on a bench nearby.

As Anna and Jennifer walked towards the exit closest to the square, a large black dog ran up to them, being followed by a man with a strange pole and leash wearing a grey uniform.

"That looks like Jake! You know, the dog that hangs out by the cabin…"

"Imagine that," said Jennifer as the dog jumped up on her.

"Is he someone's familiar?" Anna asked.

"Hey, Miss, is that your dog? He can't be running around London without a collar or leash," the control officer said.

"We're sorry, he got away from us," Anna blurted out as Jennifer knelt down.

"We'll put one on him right now," Jennifer said, fumbling in her pockets for something to transfigure. "What in heck would a Muggle one look like, anyhow," she muttered to Anna.

"Like a rope attached to a collar," Anna said in annoyance then Jennifer pulled out just that. "Not that kind of rope," Anna hissed glancing at the coarse utility rope.

"Well I can't do anything about it now, I've already pulled it out," Jennifer hissed back as she tried to get it on him.

"Do you have a license for that animal?" The man asked, walking up. Jennifer knew she had no hope in copying anything like that without having something to copy.

"Uh, no sir," Jennifer admitted, glancing around.

"I'll have to write you a citation for that then," the man said, taking out a small pad. "Can I have your name, please?"

Suddenly the dog jumped up and tackled the man, leaping over him and speeding away with Anna and Jennifer right behind, shooting off across the street with cars honking in their wake. As they hurried around the corner towards the rail station, they ran head first into Mike and Scott. Recovering, the two of them ran into the crowd.

"I think that was them!" Scott said.

"Can't be! How did they change clothes that fast?"

"I'm telling you, it's them!" Scott said, taking out his radio.

The dog stopped at the top of the stairway as Anna and Jennifer hurried down. Anna then stopped and pulled Jennifer back, making her nearly trip down the rest of the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked.

"Look at the lines going in. There are officers on either side, probably looking for us."

"Someone looking for an exit?"

There was a loud noise, and Jennifer hurried back up to see a man wearing a visor helmet sitting on a motorcycle, waving them over expectantly.

"Hurry Anna, get on," said the man, offering her a helmet. "Come on, before they see you."

"Get on, Anna. Sirius can get you home," Jennifer agreed. "Hurry up, it's the only way!"

"I'm not getting on that thing with him!" Anna said flatly. "He's… he's a murderer!"

"No he's not, they're totally Muggled out," Jennifer said. "He was acquitted two years ago. Why they don't know, I have no…"

"Not now! Later! Get on!" Sirius snapped.

"It's Sirius Black!" warned on of the officers.

"FREEZE!" Someone yelled out. Jennifer spun around, instinctively whipping her wand out to block a spell that never came. Realizing her mistake, Jennifer knew it was too late to do anything about it now. The only thing that was important was getting them out of there in one piece.

"Fumble!" she said, pointing at the officer who had shouted. The agent dropped his gun. Leaning over to get it, he tripped over his feet as people in the square backed away from what was going on and began to quickly clear out.

"Don't just sit there, get her out of here!" Jennifer snapped, and between them, Sirius and Jennifer were able coax Anna on the bike so that he could take off.

There were too many people around for Jennifer to try and do a memory erase, and she knew it; she was going to have to Disapparate and hope she didn't lose her job. But before Jennifer could leave, she felt a spell hit her and she felt as if her feet had momentarily sank into the pavement.

Jennifer groaned, realizing that someone had cast the earth bind spell on her to keep her from leaving. Spinning around to meet this new threat, Jennifer saw a man she had only seen pictures of. Even so, she was still quite certain who it was in front of her; it was Cornelius Fudge.

A shot rang out behind her, and Jennifer turned to see one of the Muggle agents had shot himself in the foot, and several other officers went over to aid him. Fudge had not moved and was watching her carefully, as if waiting to see what she was going to do next. Feeling like she was stuck between her world and one she had no business being in, Jennifer dove into the crowd of very excited people, hoping to lose herself in the commotion.

She felt as if she had little choice but to either run or cast more magic, and the last thing she wanted to do was to expose any more magic in front of so many Muggles. She began peering into shops, hoping to find a place to hide. Finally she noticed something across the busy street that looked promising; it was a shop with a painted window that read. "Batchim's Occult Book Store." Desperate to find a safe haven, Jennifer dashed across the street and heard the sound of screeching brakes and horns. She stopped dead in her tracks from surprise when someone came up behind her, pushing her across to the opposite side of the street where they both hit the pavement.

"Here now, Professor! What were you thinking by trying to cross the road like that? You might have been killed and me along with you!" panted the Muggle, who was rubbing his scratched up arms.

"Mr. Willowby?" Jennifer said, quite disoriented. "What are you doing here?"

"I was trying to get a quick half after a hard day's errand running, but it seems like you had other plans for me," Charles said, slowly getting to his feet and helping her up. "Now then, do you mind telling me what this is all about?"

"I… I'm in trouble. I was with some friends, but we got separated, and there are some men after me, police or something... I need to get home."

"It sounds to me where you need to be going is to the police station," Mr. Willowby said sternly. "To turn yourself in."

"No, you don't understand. I didn't do anything wrong! They just think I know someone they're after, is all…"

"Well, if you haven't done anything wrong, it's all the more reason not to run. Come on," he said, putting an arm around her and leading her down the street. "I know what it's like. I was in trouble enough when I was younger. You'll find it'll all work out all right if you just stop running."

"Mr. Willowby, you don't understand…"

"That's all right, I'll speak up for who you are. Get in the car, Professor, it'll be for the best," he insisted, opening the door for her. Jennifer cautiously got into the car, afraid to touch anything, watching as Charles got in the other side. He started up the car and told her to fasten her seat belt, showing her how it worked. Jennifer watched the car move out, not really enjoying her first ride in an automobile too much. They didn't seem to go very fast, and it always seemed like they were stopping for some reason.

"I saw there was some excitement in the square when I passed a few minutes ago. Something about an armed officer shooting his foot after he saw a lady sparking blue lights or something." Charles said casually, looking at her side-wise. "I expect you must have been pretty startled to have done something like that in a crowd, being as I've never heard it happen before. All right?"

"Yes, I'm all right now," Jennifer said slowly. "But I don't think this is a good idea, turning myself in. I just know that they'll notice something strange."

"Stranger than a lady with sparkling blue lights coming out of her hand?" Charles asked. "The damage is done, now it's high time to minimize it. You say you didn't do anything, and I believe ya. But I can guarantee that nobody else is going to believe ya if you keep running. Running is for guilty folks, not honest folks," he said, pulling into a parking lot.

"You may be thinking right now those officers are your enemies, but they're there because they want to help people, not hurt them. Some of my best friends are police officers. One of them used to summer up near the bluffs when I was growing up, so we were chums when we were lads. He still goes to the same pub I do," he winked, turning off the car and getting out.

Inside the station, they were more than a little startled to see Charles Willowby coming in with his arm around strange girl, and even more startled to find out that she was one of the women that officers were now combing the square for. They had her empty her pockets (which contained the 'leash', a pen, her letter opener, three tiny bags and a tiny wrapped parcel and some folded plain-looking paper) and asked her to sit down. Charles sat down beside her with his hat in his lap, waving occasionally as a new officer came in. One of them that Charles called Sarge sat at the desk before them, holding one of those phone things to his ear, talking to someone before hanging it up and looking over to them.

"You say you have no license or passport?" he asked pleasantly.

"No, sir," Jennifer said.

"Her name's Miss Jennifer Craw, right enough, Sarge. She's my neighbor. Lives up at the end of Cliff Drive."

"You mean the old Pince-Mure place? I thought it was abandoned," he said, more out of curiosity than not believing him.

"Just the same, she was there. She had my boy Corey doing chores for her over the summer," Charles said with a grin.

"Oh, now that is surprising," Sarge chuckled. "And you thought he'd never amount to anything."

"Now, I never did say that, Sarge, never did, only said he'd lot to learn, and so he does, doesn't he, Miss Craw?" Charles said. Jennifer nodded, then smiled unsurely. Just then two agents came in, pointing at her.

"That's her, that's the one who was talking to Sirius Black. Where did he go?" They demanded getting up beside her.

"I want to know what exactly you did to Agent Edison to make him drop his gun," Scott shouted at her.

"All right, boys, settle down," the Sarge said with a frown. "Don't forget I'm still in charge here, it's my district. Besides, anyone carrying a gun deserves what they get, I don't care who you think you are. Charlie's owning up to her, so I'm sure this is all some sort of misunderstanding. Miss Craw, do you happen to know Sirius Black?" Jennifer looked over at Charles Willowby, then back at Sarge.

"Yes, sir. I know him. But he was acquitted two years ago. A man by the name of Pettigrew was responsible for the murders, not him."

"Hey, don't we have a recent bulletin on that name? Thought it was on the Specials list," The Sarge said thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair, pointing at someone to get him a copy of the latest Special Services wanted list. "Martha, patch me in to the Specials, I want to talk to them."

"Is this all she had in her pocket?" Mike asked, looking at a tray. "Witnesses say she was waving a stick around when the funny lights went off."

The Sarge, who had the phone between his ear and his chin waiting for the connection, gave Mike a strange look.

"Go get a cup of coffee. You sound like you need a break," he said, glaring at the other man, "In the meantime, I'll be calling your bosses after this and you'd better hope I don't mention the fact that you pulled a gun out in public in a crowd of people," he added coldly. Scott grabbed the other man's shoulder whispering to him, coaxing him to head to the coffee tank as the Sarge started muttering something about waving sticks around. "Damn secret service and their g… hello, Special Services? I got a girl here turned in as a suspect to being a party to Sirius Black and was causing a bit of a stir up here earlier, but she's saying he was acquitted or something. Apparently the Secrets were trying to question her. Oh, he was? Yeah… yep. Yeah, I know how that goes. Gotta love bureaucracy. Uh huh. Miss Jennifer Craw. Sure, I'll hold." The Sarge smiled at her, pulling the phone away.

"Yer right, Miss Craw, guess they forgot to update him off the list… hello?" he suddenly became interested in the phone again. Jennifer, who didn't hear him talking to anyone, looked at the device suspiciously, trying to figure out what made it tick. She felt a tug on her shoulder, and Charles smiled at her. She leaned back and tried to relax. "Oh, you will? Sure, I'll keep her here. Yep. Thank you too." He hung up the phone and got up. "Special Services is sending someone down to take you home, Miss Craw, they want to talk to you about what happened so they can file a report in case you want to sue or anything," he explained. "Pretty routine. Martha, why don't you get them some coffee or tea or something, I'm going to go talk to Scott and Mike and try to get them out of our wigs."

As the junior dispatcher handed them their coffee, Charles looked over at Craw with a knowing smile.

"You see? I told you it would all work out," he smiled. "Isn't that a sight better than running about afraid and feeling like you're in trouble?" But Jennifer didn't feel all that much better or any more out of trouble when she looked behind him in time to notice Arthur Weasley walk in the door. In fact, she began to wonder if her trouble hadn't just begun.