Chapter 11: Diagon Alley
Lindsey scowled and looked into the mirror, surveying the large bruise now forming on her stomach.
"Great," she mumbled, glaring at the stall where the two people had been. She took one last glance at her bruise and then made her way back out to the table.
As she approached, she noticed that two more people had joined Harry. As she came even closer she just about fell over in shock as she realized that the two people talking to Harry were the two people who had been in the bathroom.
"Lindsey!" cried Harry, "Took you long enough. These are my friends, Ron and Hermione." Lindsey sat down in her seat, as Ron and Hermione watched open mouthed in horror. Harry noticed the awkward silence that followed his introduction, and looked around the table.
"Did I miss something?" he asked. "Do you know each other?"
"Yes!" blurted out Lindsey angrily. Ron and Hermione cringed, looked at each other, and then back at Lindsey, fearing what she might say next. Lindsey saw their looks, and suddenly had a revelation. Harry didn't know!
"Well, how do you know them?" asked a quite puzzled Harry.
"Um, well, it's like I know them," said Lindsey, looking at Hermione as if to tell them to play along. "After all I've heard, you know."
"Yeah," said Hermione, nodding feverishly. "Like we've known each other forever."
"In fact," said Lindsey, standing up. "Hermione and I need to take a trip to take a girl trip to the bathroom to commemorate our new friendship."
"Of course," said Hermione, also standing. "Right now."
They wandered off leaving Harry confused and Ron deathly pale.
"Do you understand it mate?" Asked Harry.
"Not at all," said Ron weakly. "Girls aren't meant to be understood."
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"How can you not tell him?" asked Lindsey.
"Well we were going to eventually," replied Hermione, pacing nervously though the tiny stall.
"When he caught you?"
"Well that's ridiculous"
"I'm going to tell him." Hermione stopped dead in her tracks.
"You wouldn't!"
"He deserves to know!"
"You are not," said Hermione, whipping out her wand and pointing it directly at Lindsey, "telling him."
Lindsey looked at the wand inches from her face and scoffed.
"Put the wand down. We both know that you'll get expelled if you do magic."
"You won't tell him," said Hermione, not moving the wand.
"Don't be stupid."
"I'm not joking, you can't tell Harry."
"Is it really that important to you?"
"Yes, it really is."
"Fine, I won't tell him." Lindsey pushed the wand away, "But you should."
Then Hermione did something that completely surprised Lindsey. She burst into tears.
"Oh you're right! He does deserve to know." She bawled. "But it's just so hard! And he's been through so much, just with you-know-who and all! There's so much we've had to keep from him this summer and it's so hard!"
Lindsey walked over and awkwardly put an arm around Hermione's shoulder.
"Hey, calm down. I'm sure it will all work out."
"I hope so," she sniffled, "We should go back out, they'll worry."
"Or at least Ron will," mmirked Lindsey. "So are we cool now?"
"I think so," said Hermione smiling, "I need a girl I can talk to. Ginny is great, but there are some things I just can't tell her."
"Well I'm your man. Well, not man, but you know."
Lindsey and Hermione made their way back out to the table and sat down. They were in a circle and Lindsey was directly across from Ron. She met his eyes quickly and smiled. He appeared to understand that everything was okay, because the color began coming back to his face.
"What is with girls and bathrooms?" asked Harry.
"It's a bonding place," said Lindsey, looking over at Hermione and laughing.
Then a waitress, who appeared around the same age as the four of them, came up to them and took orders. When she reached Harry she squealed.
"Harry Potter? Oh my gosh, it's such an honor! I've always wanted to meet you," she said very quickly. Harry smiled kindly back, but didn't say anything. Lindsey however was not going to remain silent.
"Oh my gosh, how about you take his order and stop staring?" mocked Lindsey. The waitress turned red and asked Harry what he wanted. Ron and Lindsey sat in silent laughter while Hermione seemed torn between amusement and anger. Harry on the other hand was just plain mad.
"Was that really necessary??" He hissed after the waitress had stomped off.
"Honestly Harry, do you really put up with that?"
"You don't have to bring her to tears."
"She wasn't crying," said Lindsey, rolling her eyes.
"Maybe you should try being more considerate," replied Harry.
"Oi, it's Fred and George," said Ron, calling to his brothers. They ran over looking excited.
"You won't believe the new Dr. Filibuster Fireworks that just came out," said Fred pulling up a chair between Ron and Harry.
"Last two times longer that the old ones," said George, pulling up on the other side of Harry, next to Lindsey as well. "More expensive of course."
"But we've managed," stated Fred happily, winking at Harry.
"Oh, you must be Lindsey," said George, noticing that she was right next to him.
"Yeah, and you must be Ron's brothers."
"That's us."
"Care for a toffee?" asked Fred.
"Don't do it, that's a canary crème," said Ron. Fred and George glared at him.
"Just thought we'd welcome her in true Weasly style," said Fred jokingly. The waitress then came back with plates of food, glaring at Lindsey as she served her.
"Oh thanks hun!" cried Lindsey after the waitress when she left. Harry glared at her. Why was she being so rude?
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After eating quickly and paying for the food, the group set off down the road. At the request of Ron, they first stopped in Quality Qudditch Supplies.
In the store, Lindsey stood open-mouthed watching a poster of the Irish National Team performing all their best moves, while Ron stood at her side, explaining what was happening. Hermione had found her way to the Quidditch book section and was reading intently. Harry had joined her, feeling a little frustrated with Lindsey's rudeness to the waitress. It was because of this that when Lindsey came over a few minutes later with a proposition, he wasn't exactly friendly.
"Hey Harry, can you do me a huge favor?"
"What do you want?" he asked grumpily. Lindsey chose to ignore this and continued on as pleasant as ever.
"Okay, so there is this really cool poster and I really want to buy it, and I have money, but its pounds, not galleons or whatever."
She looked at Harry expectantly, but he just raised an eyebrow.
"That involves me how?" snapped Harry. Lindsey didn't miss his anger this time.
"Silly me, of course you wouldn't get it!" she exclaimed furiously. "You're too caught up in yourself to understand the troubles of other people."
"You have NO idea what I go through everyday. No idea!" He said in a whisper, glaring at Lindsey.
"Well clearly not, seeing as I'm not as famous as you seem to think you are," said Lindsey, glaring back.
"You really don't know anything about this world, do you?"
"Nope, and if the people think YOU are a hero, I don't want to learn much more."
"Fine, then leave! We don't want you!!"
Harry and Lindsey's fight had been steadily growing louder and people were beginning to stare at them. Hermione and Ron stood near them anxiously and when Lindsey screamed "Fine!!!" and burst out of the shop, they dragged him into a back corner to calm him down.
Lindsey meanwhile had run into the street and was now heading off down the street furiously. She didn't know where she was going, but by the time she had calmed down furiously and looked around, she knew that she had wandered into an entirely different part of Diagon Alley. She looked into the nearest store window and saw a sight that nearly stopped her heart. Spiders. Giant spiders displayed in a window as if they were puppies in a pet store. Lindsey backed away quickly, and collided with something.
"AHH!" She shrieked, having been severely startled. She spun around and realized that she had run into a middle-aged man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose.
"Watch it!" He exclaimed, glaring at her. Then his expression changed. He looked compassionate for a moment so brief that Lindsey was soon sure that she had imagined it. "Turn left and keep walking till you are out of Knockturn Alley," he said in a low voice. Lindsey nodded, and he spun around and began walking away.
"Thanks," she muttered after the man's retreating figure. She turned immediately and began walking in the direction he had specified. She soon found her way back and soon spotted Ron and Hermione, looking around frantically. They saw her and ran towards her.
"Lindsey! There you are!" gasped Hermione. "Where were you?"
"We thought you had taken Harry seriously and left!" said an exasperated Ron.
"Of course I wasn't going to leave. Not that he would have cared if I did."
"Honestly, of course he would care," said Hermione.
"He's just been under a lot of stress lately."
"That's no excuse for being a complete jerk," pointed out Lindsey.
"I know, but just let this one go," pleaded Ron.
"Fine. But he better not pull that on me again," said Lindsey.
"He won't, now let's go inside Flourish and Blotts, he's waiting for us," said Hermione. They walked into the store, and once again Lindsey just looked around gaping. The walls were lined with books of every type. A group of younger kids were flocking around talking about a new comic book, a pair of motherly witches were looking at cookbooks and over by some spell books was Harry, clutching what appeared to be a tube. He saw them enter and walked to meet them.
"Lindsey, I, well, um, I wanted to apologize."
"Hey, don't worry about it. I shouldn't have made fun of the waitress." He smiled.
"Yeah, well, still, I got you something to apologize." He handed tube into Lindsey's hand and she opened it. Inside was the Irish National Squad poster. Lindsey squealed and threw her arms around his neck.
"Thank you!"
"Yeah, well, I try"
"Well now Potter, isn't this touching?" They all spun around and saw a blonde haired boy sneering down from a stairway.
"Get out Malfoy."
"No I don't think I will."
"One word Malfoy... Ferret," said Ron simply. Malfoy turned pale for a second but then recovered.
"Funny, I thought you were the animal, Weasel," said Malfoy with a sneer. Ron glared at him. "Ohh, poor baby, you're not going to cry, are you?" Lindsey snorted and smiled, remembering making similar comments to Dudley in the past week. However the second she did it, she knew that she had made a mistake. Hermione stared at her, eyes wide. Ron looked angry, but his anger was nothing compared to Harry's. Harry looked absolutely furious.
"Well well Potter," said Malfoy, noticing Lindsey for the first time. "You actually found someone with a sense of humor." He winked at Lindsey and strutted out the front door and back out to Diagon Alley.
"WHAT WAS THAT???" cried Harry.
"Sorry!!" replied Lindsey. "I just remembered saying that to Dudley and so I laughed. I wasn't trying to encourage him!"
"Well you could have fooled us!" said Ron.
"And he winked at you!!!" said Hermione, shuttering.
"Wow, I'm sorry, but I didn't think it would be that big a deal."
But it did end up being a big deal. The time finally came for Harry and Lindsey to head back to the muggle world. Ron and Hermione parted on good terms with Harry, but with Lindsey, they said very little.
After meeting back up with the Dursleys, Lindsey had to hide her poster and was immediately abducted by Piers who made a point to guide her around everywhere.
"And that over there is the London Eye," droned Piers. Lindsey scowled and glanced over at Harry, who also happened to be looking at her. Their eyes met, but then they both turned away, neither willing to admit that they were wrong.
Lindsey scowled and looked into the mirror, surveying the large bruise now forming on her stomach.
"Great," she mumbled, glaring at the stall where the two people had been. She took one last glance at her bruise and then made her way back out to the table.
As she approached, she noticed that two more people had joined Harry. As she came even closer she just about fell over in shock as she realized that the two people talking to Harry were the two people who had been in the bathroom.
"Lindsey!" cried Harry, "Took you long enough. These are my friends, Ron and Hermione." Lindsey sat down in her seat, as Ron and Hermione watched open mouthed in horror. Harry noticed the awkward silence that followed his introduction, and looked around the table.
"Did I miss something?" he asked. "Do you know each other?"
"Yes!" blurted out Lindsey angrily. Ron and Hermione cringed, looked at each other, and then back at Lindsey, fearing what she might say next. Lindsey saw their looks, and suddenly had a revelation. Harry didn't know!
"Well, how do you know them?" asked a quite puzzled Harry.
"Um, well, it's like I know them," said Lindsey, looking at Hermione as if to tell them to play along. "After all I've heard, you know."
"Yeah," said Hermione, nodding feverishly. "Like we've known each other forever."
"In fact," said Lindsey, standing up. "Hermione and I need to take a trip to take a girl trip to the bathroom to commemorate our new friendship."
"Of course," said Hermione, also standing. "Right now."
They wandered off leaving Harry confused and Ron deathly pale.
"Do you understand it mate?" Asked Harry.
"Not at all," said Ron weakly. "Girls aren't meant to be understood."
-------------------------------------------
"How can you not tell him?" asked Lindsey.
"Well we were going to eventually," replied Hermione, pacing nervously though the tiny stall.
"When he caught you?"
"Well that's ridiculous"
"I'm going to tell him." Hermione stopped dead in her tracks.
"You wouldn't!"
"He deserves to know!"
"You are not," said Hermione, whipping out her wand and pointing it directly at Lindsey, "telling him."
Lindsey looked at the wand inches from her face and scoffed.
"Put the wand down. We both know that you'll get expelled if you do magic."
"You won't tell him," said Hermione, not moving the wand.
"Don't be stupid."
"I'm not joking, you can't tell Harry."
"Is it really that important to you?"
"Yes, it really is."
"Fine, I won't tell him." Lindsey pushed the wand away, "But you should."
Then Hermione did something that completely surprised Lindsey. She burst into tears.
"Oh you're right! He does deserve to know." She bawled. "But it's just so hard! And he's been through so much, just with you-know-who and all! There's so much we've had to keep from him this summer and it's so hard!"
Lindsey walked over and awkwardly put an arm around Hermione's shoulder.
"Hey, calm down. I'm sure it will all work out."
"I hope so," she sniffled, "We should go back out, they'll worry."
"Or at least Ron will," mmirked Lindsey. "So are we cool now?"
"I think so," said Hermione smiling, "I need a girl I can talk to. Ginny is great, but there are some things I just can't tell her."
"Well I'm your man. Well, not man, but you know."
Lindsey and Hermione made their way back out to the table and sat down. They were in a circle and Lindsey was directly across from Ron. She met his eyes quickly and smiled. He appeared to understand that everything was okay, because the color began coming back to his face.
"What is with girls and bathrooms?" asked Harry.
"It's a bonding place," said Lindsey, looking over at Hermione and laughing.
Then a waitress, who appeared around the same age as the four of them, came up to them and took orders. When she reached Harry she squealed.
"Harry Potter? Oh my gosh, it's such an honor! I've always wanted to meet you," she said very quickly. Harry smiled kindly back, but didn't say anything. Lindsey however was not going to remain silent.
"Oh my gosh, how about you take his order and stop staring?" mocked Lindsey. The waitress turned red and asked Harry what he wanted. Ron and Lindsey sat in silent laughter while Hermione seemed torn between amusement and anger. Harry on the other hand was just plain mad.
"Was that really necessary??" He hissed after the waitress had stomped off.
"Honestly Harry, do you really put up with that?"
"You don't have to bring her to tears."
"She wasn't crying," said Lindsey, rolling her eyes.
"Maybe you should try being more considerate," replied Harry.
"Oi, it's Fred and George," said Ron, calling to his brothers. They ran over looking excited.
"You won't believe the new Dr. Filibuster Fireworks that just came out," said Fred pulling up a chair between Ron and Harry.
"Last two times longer that the old ones," said George, pulling up on the other side of Harry, next to Lindsey as well. "More expensive of course."
"But we've managed," stated Fred happily, winking at Harry.
"Oh, you must be Lindsey," said George, noticing that she was right next to him.
"Yeah, and you must be Ron's brothers."
"That's us."
"Care for a toffee?" asked Fred.
"Don't do it, that's a canary crème," said Ron. Fred and George glared at him.
"Just thought we'd welcome her in true Weasly style," said Fred jokingly. The waitress then came back with plates of food, glaring at Lindsey as she served her.
"Oh thanks hun!" cried Lindsey after the waitress when she left. Harry glared at her. Why was she being so rude?
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After eating quickly and paying for the food, the group set off down the road. At the request of Ron, they first stopped in Quality Qudditch Supplies.
In the store, Lindsey stood open-mouthed watching a poster of the Irish National Team performing all their best moves, while Ron stood at her side, explaining what was happening. Hermione had found her way to the Quidditch book section and was reading intently. Harry had joined her, feeling a little frustrated with Lindsey's rudeness to the waitress. It was because of this that when Lindsey came over a few minutes later with a proposition, he wasn't exactly friendly.
"Hey Harry, can you do me a huge favor?"
"What do you want?" he asked grumpily. Lindsey chose to ignore this and continued on as pleasant as ever.
"Okay, so there is this really cool poster and I really want to buy it, and I have money, but its pounds, not galleons or whatever."
She looked at Harry expectantly, but he just raised an eyebrow.
"That involves me how?" snapped Harry. Lindsey didn't miss his anger this time.
"Silly me, of course you wouldn't get it!" she exclaimed furiously. "You're too caught up in yourself to understand the troubles of other people."
"You have NO idea what I go through everyday. No idea!" He said in a whisper, glaring at Lindsey.
"Well clearly not, seeing as I'm not as famous as you seem to think you are," said Lindsey, glaring back.
"You really don't know anything about this world, do you?"
"Nope, and if the people think YOU are a hero, I don't want to learn much more."
"Fine, then leave! We don't want you!!"
Harry and Lindsey's fight had been steadily growing louder and people were beginning to stare at them. Hermione and Ron stood near them anxiously and when Lindsey screamed "Fine!!!" and burst out of the shop, they dragged him into a back corner to calm him down.
Lindsey meanwhile had run into the street and was now heading off down the street furiously. She didn't know where she was going, but by the time she had calmed down furiously and looked around, she knew that she had wandered into an entirely different part of Diagon Alley. She looked into the nearest store window and saw a sight that nearly stopped her heart. Spiders. Giant spiders displayed in a window as if they were puppies in a pet store. Lindsey backed away quickly, and collided with something.
"AHH!" She shrieked, having been severely startled. She spun around and realized that she had run into a middle-aged man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose.
"Watch it!" He exclaimed, glaring at her. Then his expression changed. He looked compassionate for a moment so brief that Lindsey was soon sure that she had imagined it. "Turn left and keep walking till you are out of Knockturn Alley," he said in a low voice. Lindsey nodded, and he spun around and began walking away.
"Thanks," she muttered after the man's retreating figure. She turned immediately and began walking in the direction he had specified. She soon found her way back and soon spotted Ron and Hermione, looking around frantically. They saw her and ran towards her.
"Lindsey! There you are!" gasped Hermione. "Where were you?"
"We thought you had taken Harry seriously and left!" said an exasperated Ron.
"Of course I wasn't going to leave. Not that he would have cared if I did."
"Honestly, of course he would care," said Hermione.
"He's just been under a lot of stress lately."
"That's no excuse for being a complete jerk," pointed out Lindsey.
"I know, but just let this one go," pleaded Ron.
"Fine. But he better not pull that on me again," said Lindsey.
"He won't, now let's go inside Flourish and Blotts, he's waiting for us," said Hermione. They walked into the store, and once again Lindsey just looked around gaping. The walls were lined with books of every type. A group of younger kids were flocking around talking about a new comic book, a pair of motherly witches were looking at cookbooks and over by some spell books was Harry, clutching what appeared to be a tube. He saw them enter and walked to meet them.
"Lindsey, I, well, um, I wanted to apologize."
"Hey, don't worry about it. I shouldn't have made fun of the waitress." He smiled.
"Yeah, well, still, I got you something to apologize." He handed tube into Lindsey's hand and she opened it. Inside was the Irish National Squad poster. Lindsey squealed and threw her arms around his neck.
"Thank you!"
"Yeah, well, I try"
"Well now Potter, isn't this touching?" They all spun around and saw a blonde haired boy sneering down from a stairway.
"Get out Malfoy."
"No I don't think I will."
"One word Malfoy... Ferret," said Ron simply. Malfoy turned pale for a second but then recovered.
"Funny, I thought you were the animal, Weasel," said Malfoy with a sneer. Ron glared at him. "Ohh, poor baby, you're not going to cry, are you?" Lindsey snorted and smiled, remembering making similar comments to Dudley in the past week. However the second she did it, she knew that she had made a mistake. Hermione stared at her, eyes wide. Ron looked angry, but his anger was nothing compared to Harry's. Harry looked absolutely furious.
"Well well Potter," said Malfoy, noticing Lindsey for the first time. "You actually found someone with a sense of humor." He winked at Lindsey and strutted out the front door and back out to Diagon Alley.
"WHAT WAS THAT???" cried Harry.
"Sorry!!" replied Lindsey. "I just remembered saying that to Dudley and so I laughed. I wasn't trying to encourage him!"
"Well you could have fooled us!" said Ron.
"And he winked at you!!!" said Hermione, shuttering.
"Wow, I'm sorry, but I didn't think it would be that big a deal."
But it did end up being a big deal. The time finally came for Harry and Lindsey to head back to the muggle world. Ron and Hermione parted on good terms with Harry, but with Lindsey, they said very little.
After meeting back up with the Dursleys, Lindsey had to hide her poster and was immediately abducted by Piers who made a point to guide her around everywhere.
"And that over there is the London Eye," droned Piers. Lindsey scowled and glanced over at Harry, who also happened to be looking at her. Their eyes met, but then they both turned away, neither willing to admit that they were wrong.