"Hurry up Ginny, get a move on!" Percy yelled, ruffling his fiery red hair and jogging down the busy streets of Diagon Alley. He dodged many young wizards shopping for school supplies being followed by a trail that consisted of four redheads and a boy with exceptionally messy black hair.

"Percy, slow down! There's no rush! Can't you see poor Ginny can't keep up?" Ron Weasley yelled up to his older brother, breathing heavily. Harry Potter was close behind him, and Ginny, Ron's younger sister, struggled a few steps behind them.

"Nonsense. Mum left me to take all of you school shopping and I'm determined to hurry and get it over with!" Percy snapped, his energy level not fading at all, in contrary to the five who followed him. The other two boys, who were right behind Percy and looked older than Ron, also had flaming red hair and looked exactly alike.

"Are we there yet?" the first one, George, said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Because we're getting tired!" Fred whined, as if continuing what George had meant to say. Ginny slowed down a bit, falling a few more steps behind Harry. Seeing this, he took her hand and helped her catch up to the others.

"Flourish and Blotts is about a block away. We should be there soon." Percy said. He kept neatening his red hair as he flew down the streets which were heavily occupied with young wizards holding cages, boxes, and shopping bags.

Each of the Percy's trailers carried a pretty heavy shopping bag containing the school supplies which they had already purchased in one of the many wizarding shops of Diagon Alley. Harry, however, was carrying two bags- one which was his, and the other, which was Ginny's.

Ever since his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry has been very protective of Ginny, who almost died in only her first year of school. He tried to keep an eye on her, even though she was much more grown up and capable now. Harry was now in his fifth year, along with Ron, his best friend. Ginny was in her fourth, and the twins, Fred and George, were in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts.

Lucky for Ginny, Harry was often keeping her out of trouble. She had liked him ever since she first met him when he first went to Hogwarts.

Harry was almost a member of the Weasley family. All of these redheads had taken him in as often as his aunt and uncle would let him go, which wasn't very often at all. Mrs. Weasley in particular had taken quite a liking to Harry.

The twins suddenly spotted Gambol and Japes, their favorite wizarding joke shop, on their left and wanted to stop.

"Please, Perce!" George pleaded, beginning to breathe heavily.

"We need to restock!" Fred said.

Percy frowned, but nodded, "Fine. I don't feel like arguing with you right now." The twins yelped with joy as they began to run down the steps into the shop, "Flourish and Blotts in fifteen minutes!!" Percy yelled back at them as they left.

Finally, Percy halted and opened the door to Flourish and Blotts, the largest bookstore in all of Diagon Alley. They heard a little bell ring, which was bewitched to do so ever time someone entered, and noticed that the many walls were lined with endless bookshelves that towered clear to the rather high ceiling. Many more young wizards like themselves were picking out their selected books for their next year at Hogwarts.

Percy handed two sheets of parchment, which he had removed from his pocket, to Ginny and Ron, and Harry did the same with his own.

"Come and get me when you've found all of your books. And don't take too long!" Percy walked over to his favorite section, which was devoted entirely to the Ministry of Magic. Percy hoped to get involved with the ministry, and maybe even be the next Cornelius Fudge!

"Look Harry, We've got some new subjects this year!" Ron said, reading down the sheet of parchment, which was his book list for this year at Hogwarts.

"I know, doesn't Immortalization sound like fun?" the three of them turned around when they heard a familiar girl's voice, seeing that it belonged to Harry's fellow fifth year, Hermione Granger. Behind her was a taller girl with light brown hair that held a slight curl.

"Well you must be excited, Hermione!" Harry said sarcastically.

"Of course I am!" she turned a little, and saw the girl behind her, "Oh, this is Emalyn Sweeting. She works here; isn't that delightful! Imagine, working here! I'll have to apply next year!!" Hermione beamed at Emalyn with admiration.

"Harry Potter," Harry shook Emalyn's hand. He noticed the familiar glance to his forehead, which he often got when first meeting people. They all wanted to see the lightening-shaped scar that was given to him by the Dark Lord himself.

"And this is Ron and Ginny Weasley," Hermione said, introducing Emalyn to the two redheads. Ginny smiled shyly, not making much eye contact.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Emalyn said, with a sweet voice, "Do you need any help finding your books?"

"Yeah, I need…" Harry glanced down at his book list and happily said, "Quidditch across the ages!"

"Wait, that's not on my list! Harry you're so lucky to be taking History of Quidditch!" Ron whined, scanning his list for the same book. Emalyn slid a green book with gold edges from the shelf and handed it to Harry.

Suddenly, Fred and George ran into the shop quickly, breathing heavily. They ran up to the five of them, laughing and couching at the same time.

"Did you see the look on his face, Fred?" George said, bending over and laughing harder.

"I do NOT want to know!" Hermione walked away quickly with her stack of books.

"So who might you be?" George asked Emalyn, who was looking at the two of them confusedly.

"That's Emalyn, she's a sixth year who works here," Harry said. Ginny nodded, smiling up at Harry.

"Oh, hello; I'm Fred," George said, holding out his hand.

"Actually, I'm Fred. George here was only kidding," Fred said, hitting George out of the way so he could shake Emalyn's hand.

"Twins; I get it." Emalyn said, laughing a little. Nobody else laughed.

"The trickiest twins on this side of Britain," George said, whacking Fred back out of his way.

"Yeah. More like most annoying," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. Harry elbowed Ginny, and then took her hand, spreading a wide smile across her face. He turned and walked her in the other direction. Ron followed them as well.

"Well, off to get my books. Can't keep Percy dear waiting," George said, winking at Fred and walking over to a shelf that suspiciously said "Joke books".

"So, need help finding anything?" Emalyn asked Fred, who was the only one left of his group.

"Yes thanks," he unfolded his list from his pocket and scanned for a bit, "Umm, Apparating with Aurors."

Emalyn immediately walked down a corridor, Fred close behind. She started scanning the shelves and spoke up, "So you're a 7th year?" She tried to hide the disappointment on her face.

"Yep, I'm surprised I lasted this long. George and I know every trick in the book and got caught just as often." Fred laughed a little.

Emalyn spotted the book that Fred needed and handed it to him, "But only one more year, right?" She smiled at him. Fred smiled and nodded.

For a little while, he just looked at her in an awkward moment of silence. Emalyn noticed this and smiled sweetly.

After what seemed like hours, Fred broke the silence with a very deep, thought provoking question, "What's your name again?"

Emalyn laughed at the quizzical look on his face and replied, "Emalyn Sweeting,"

"Wait a second," Fred smiled and pointed at her, "You're not related to Havelock Sweeting, the unicorn expert, are you?"

"Actually I am; are you interested in unicorns?" Emalyn's face lit up a little.

"Well, yes and no. Unicorns are cool but that's not how I knew about old Havelock." Fred smiled, and Emalyn sent him another confused glare, "I collect Famous Witches and Wizards cards, you know the ones that come in chocolate frogs?" Fred stifled a laugh.

Emalyn found this very humorous, but a little charming too. Fred was honest, something you didn't find too often.

"So her really opened unicorn reserves all over Britain?" Fred asked as the two of them continued to find his books.

"Yep, about 30 of them, all hidden from muggle eye," Emalyn seemed very proud of this fact, "With over 50 unicorn species and breeds."

"Very cool; that must be an amazing sight." Fred commented, taking another book from the shelf and adding it to his pile.

"It's beautiful," Emalyn smiled sweetly at Fred, and her blear blue eyes glowed a little. Fred couldn't help noticing how pretty she was. Her eyes were literally glowing. His gaze was yet again broken when she handed him the last book on his list.

"Okay, Fred, that's all of them!" Emalyn folded up his book list and put it in his shirt pocket, since his hands were full of new books for the school year.

He paid the cashier gladly, and then picked up his books, which were now bundled with string.

Soon Hermione, Ginny, Harry, George and Percy joined him by the front of the store. They all held their bundled purchases happily as they each said good bye to Emalyn. Fred made sure that nobody was listening, then shoved his hands into his pockets and looked into her eyes.

"So, you wanna get some ice cream or something?" Fred asked quietly.

Emalyn smiled, "Oh, I'd love to, but I'm still working, then I have to buy my own school supplies." Fred felt his heart sink, but he forced a smile. Emalyn looked at his pathetic grin and added, "I'll see you at Hogwarts; maybe we can go then."

They just smiled and Fred happily followed Percy and the others out of the store, an extra hop in his step.