Fashion Valley
Harry had to admit that he felt kind of guilty about sneaking out of the castle especially when Sirius was around, but come that morning Sirius had told Harry that Remus and he had a few meetings all day long but then they had the rest of the break to spend with them. Hopefully those meeting would last all day.
Icicle had changed all of their money to American dollars and Harry had a feeling that she had added some more money to Ron's stash. Their escape plan was simple. Harry, Ron and Icicle spent the night setting up various timed pranks around the castle so that the staff would believe that they were running around and hiding so they wouldn't get into trouble. At 9 o'clock all three of them were out side of the anti-apparition wards. Both Ron and Harry were nervous about having Icicle apparate them around the world and they were showing it. "Isn't double, or triple apparition in this case, illegal?" asked Ron.
Icicle looked back at them, annoyed that they didn't' trust her, "Yes it is but it is also untraceable unlike portkeys, single apparition and floo powder. I don't want the ministry or Voldemort to know were we are going. Now hold on to my hands."
Harry grabbed one hand and Ron the other. All of a sudden Harry felt a tingling feeling all over his body and there in front of him was a mansion, "Why are we here?"
"Umm… because Hermione lives here…" replied Icicle.
"Bloody hell she is rich…." mumbled Ron.
"Yeah she would be since both of her parents are dentist and they both own their own practice."
They all walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. A while later the door opened and a middle age lady opened the door. "Hello you must be here for Miss Hermione. Come in and sit in the waiting room while I go fetch her."
Harry walked over to a chair and sat in it, everything was so elegant and glass looking that he was afraid to do anything for fear of breaking something. A while later Hermione appeared and looked at Icicle a little confused, "I didn't know that everyone got permission to go shopping."
"We didn't get permission, we kind of snuck out."
Hermione was about to yell at them for sneaking out but Icicle butted in and started explaining the American money system to get them out of trouble. After Icicle was done explaining, Hermione looked at a clock on the wall, "We should be leaving."
Icicle picked up her purse, "Well grab your stuff and take hold of me."
Ron and Harry grabbed Icicle's hands and Hermione wrapped her arms around her neck and with another tingling feeling all four of them appeared in a parking lot. Harry had to admit, apparition was by far the best magical way of transportation. Icicle was looking pale when they all got situated. She reached in her purse and pulled out a vile and drank it. "Are you okay?" asked Hermione
"I just drained a lot of my powers in a short time, but I'll live."
Icicle lead them out of the parking lot and to the front entrance of the mall, "Welcome to Fashion Valley in San Diego, California."
People were bustling around battling the crowds trying to find that perfect Christmas present. "Since both Hermione need to do some heavy shopping we will meet you at the pizza store at around 12," announced Icicle, "After that we can change groups and help you if you need help picking out presents."
"Okay see you at 12," replied Harry.
Ron and Harry wondered store to store picking out presents for their friends and family members. Harry had found gifts for Ron, Sirius, Remus and practically everyone else but he seemed to be having trouble with both Icicle and Hermione. He would just wait until he got some help from them. At 12 Ron and Harry walked into the pizza store and saw that Icicle and Hermione were already there surrounded by an unbelievable amount of bags. "These don't all belong to you?" asked Ron.
Hermione looked at all of the bags around her "Of course they do, when Icicle and I go shopping we go shopping."
Icicle ordered an extra large pizza and drinks for all of them. Ron had never had pizza before and was in heaven. After they had finished eating Icicle asked Ron and Harry if they had finished their shopping.
Harry shook his head, " I still have a few more gifts to go and I could use some help."
"Me too" put in Ron.
"Well then Hermione you can help Ron and I'll help Harry," said Icicle as she smiled sweetly at Hermione who looked not to happy with her. "Come on Harry let's get started."
"So what do you need?" asked Icicle.
"Gifts for girls such as Hermione."
"That's easy, come this way."
Icicle lead Harry into a store that he wouldn't have been caught in. If there was ever a store dedicated to girls this one was it. It was the chick stores of chick stores. "Hermione and I were in here earlier and there were a lot of things that she wanted but she had to save some of her money to buy presents for everyone else. I wonder how her and Ron are doing?"
Harry laughed, "So I am not the only one that notices that Ron has a major crush on her?"
"Ron is kind of obvious but one night in the middle of girl talk," Icicle did little quotes with her hands, "I got it out of her that she has a crush on Ron too. They would be such a cute couple. They would definitely be hilarious to watch."
"Yeah they already have the old married couple fighting down to a pat."
"Ah, yes that is always amusing," Icicle was skimming through some cloths, "How much do you want to spend?"
Harry shrugged.
"Give me a limit or I will pick out a full outfit for her." warned Icicle.
"Do it, as long as she likes the outfit it is fine with me."
Icicle went around and picked out this pair of light pink pants and then went off matching things up. By the end Icicle had picked out the pink pants, with a white turtle neck sweater, a pair of shoes and some Jewelry to go with it. All if it ended up being only $61.49 to Harry's surprise. Harry was paying when he saw Hermione and Ron walked in, Good maybe I will be able to get what Icicle wants out of her.
Ron seemed to have the same idea as Harry and started whispering to Icicle. Harry approached Hermione, "Hey Herms, I need help with what to get Icicle."
Hermione smiled and asked the exact same question that Icicle had asked, "How much are you willing to spend?"
Harry shrugged again.
"I have an idea but it may be a little too rich for your blood. She really wanted this necklace but she said that Dumbledore had forbidden her to buy anything major until after the Christmas season so that people would have things to buy her."
Harry looked at the necklace that Hermione was pointing at. It was a heart shaped amethysts, her birthstone and favorite color. The metal was white gold and there was a diamond in the middle of the amethysts. Harry signaled one of the people who worked at the store, "How much is that necklace."
"It's 75% off for only one hundred and thirty dollars."
"Are you sure that she will like it Hermione?"
"Positive."
Harry purchased the necklace and with that he finished all of his shopping for the Christmas season.
A while later Harry, Ron, Icicle and Hermione were all organizing their bags so that they didn't have to carry them around. Icicle was going to apparate, give them to the Grangers maid and return. After that they all decided to head to the beach and see the Pacific Ocean since England was next to the Atlantic and they all wanted to claim that they had touched the Pacific. It was late and they had picked up some snacks at stands for dinner when they heard the worst news they could have received at the moment. "Didn't you hear? There were attacks all over the world today at several malls. London, San Antonio, New York, LA and here."
Harry's heart sunk, Hermione gasp and Ron accidentally smashed their castle that they had just finished before dinner.
"I know there were so many deaths….."
"Excuse me, what happened today?" asked Harry to the people that were walking by.
"You didn't hear?"
"We have kind of been out and about all day."
"Well supposedly terrorist attacked malls here, in London, San Antonio, New York and LA. No one knows why but the whole thing was planned out because they happened with in 30 minutes of each other."
"Thanks," said Harry as he ran towards Icicle who was off wading in the ocean, "Voldemort is attacking malls around the world!"
"What?!"
Harry filled her in on what he heard. "Shit he knows me too well. He knew I would go shopping the first day of break because if he tracked my single apparition then he wouldn't have messed with the other malls."
"No offense but why would he care about you?" asked Ron.
Icicle looked at her feet, "Well besides the fact that Harry is my friend and there is a good chance that I brought him with me; there is the fact that he kind of wants me to join his side and I haven't been as cooperative as he would like."
There was a pregnant pause and then a scream. The all looked at the direction of the scream and there were death eaters swarming the beach looking for something, or rather someone. Icicle jumped to action quickly and grabbed all their stuff, "That is our cue to leave."
Harry grabbed hold of Icicle and the tingling sensation returned as they all escaped before being spotted. Arriving at Hermione's house they all got the parcels and apparated to Hogwarts. Now they had to sneak in with out being seen since the attacks had probably put Hogwarts on the defense. Icicle was dragging behind and it was obvious that all of the apparating had taken a toll on her. They had reached they portrait of the pink lady and breathed a sigh of relief, they were home clear. When they opened the door, there in the common room sat Sirius, Remus and Mrs. Weasley. Sirius had the marauders map in his hand.
Shit, thought Harry
"Shit," swore Ron under his breath.
"Shit," said Icicle so that every one could hear.
Ron and Harry glared at her.
The adults all jumped up and went to their respective teen.
"What the hell were you thinking sneaking off of grounds like that!" yelled Sirius, "When the attacks started and we couldn't find you do you have any idea what conclusion we jumped too!"
Harry winced.
"You could have been dead! We didn't know if you were in the attacks or not… my God Harry are you okay?"
Harry just merle nodded and was then crushed in a hug. It seemed that Icicle and Ron were getting the same treatment from Remus and Mrs. Weasley.
Everyone had calmed down and things were looking up for Harry, Icicle and Ron. They really weren't in trouble for some weird reason, they all guessed that they were too happy that they were alive and forgot about the punishing. All of a sudden the portrait flew open and Dumbledore stood there with a look of relief washing over his face, "Icicle what in the world do you think you were doing! Triple apparating!"
"Actually it was quadruple, we picked up Hermione…." whispered Icicle as she avoided eye contact.
Dumbledore marched over and made Icicle look him in the eyes, "You above everyone knows what it could cost the magical community if we lose any of you four."
"I know, but I was feeling so smothered and I wanted to get out and bring my friends with me. You have so many things guarding and protecting us that I feel like I am in a cage at a zoo and people walk by a stare at me all day long. We are fine, the death eaters didn't catch us and I am sorry for dragging Harry and Ron around with me."
Dumbledore sighed, "Look at you, you have practically drained all of you magic. Let's go see Madame Pomfrey."
"Let's not and say we didn't."
"Come on."
As Icicle was lead out of the door by Dumbledore, Remus chuckled, "He has a really soft spot for that girl. She could go on a killing spree and I don't think he could stay mad at her for ever."
Sirius hid a smile, "You shouldn't talk, you have that exact same spot for her. I think every adult that knows her does."
"How did he know we apparated?" asked Ron
"He was trying to track you guys down and when her couldn't he knew that you most likely tripled." said Remus.
Mrs. Weasley fretted over Ron and Harry for a while longer until she announced that she had to get back home. When she left Harry turned to Remus and Sirius.
"Sorry if we scared you," apologized Harry.
"Apology accepted." replied Remus, "If you guys wanted to go all you had to do was ask."
Sirius nodded, "We wouldn't have said no."
"Really?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, do you guys really think that we were going to spend the whole break in Hogwarts?"
"Yes."
All of a sudden Harry remembered something, "How did all our pranks go?"
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