A/N: Phew! I had to drag this one out kicking and screaming! Enjoy!
Ohh wait.
Disclaimer: Blahblahblah not mine.
And per usual: Thanks to my beta!
Ella entered the hospital wing quietly, a bouquet of summer lilacs clutched in her hand. The smell was comforting; there was a lilac bush in her adoptive parent's yard in America. The hospital wing was lit up by golden sunlight streaming in through the many window and slits in the walls. All the beds were starched; the blankets tucked in so tight they seemed to be suffocating the mattresses. The curtains around all of the abandoned beds were pushed back neatly, dust particles floating off of them and lazily hanging in mid air.
All the curtains but one.
A bed all the way at the end of the hospital wing was shielded by the cream colored hangings. The space inside the little tent was dimly lit and sickness seemed to emanate from it. Professor Fairburn still hadn't fully recovered from her accident.
It was odd; Oliver was in good health, back on his broom three days after the incident bearing only mental and emotional scars. Ron's cracked skull had been healed fully and he was out of the hospital wing the next day. But Professor Fairburn's wound would not heal. She had developed a Wizard's fever. It was a very dangerous thing caused by a dark curse, especially in powerful witches and wizards. A few doses of antibiotics and some rest could cure Muggle fevers, but a Wizard's fever was caused when the infected person's magic slowly spiraled out of control, wreaking havoc inside their body.
Ella approached the curtained cot carefully, and pushed aside the hanging. Marissa Fairburn lay buried underneath several thick blankets. Her forehead was glistening with feverish perspiration and her eyes were shut. She was limp, one arm thrown feebly over her head, the other grasping at a handful of quilt. Her shoulder length blonde hair was damp and matted.
What the crap is Madame Pomfrey doing? Ella wondered to herself. She set her flowers on the night table, exchanging them for a damp cloth that was resting there. She wrung the extra water out of it and began to mop at the professor's tortured face.
Fairburn's eyes flew open and she gave a raspy gasp as the cold water touched her cheek. Ella started back, and tripped over something, or rather someone, lying on the floor. Oliver Wood started up, his Auror training kicking in automatically. He pointed his wand at Ella and she threw her hands up in the air, still clutching the wet cloth.
"What the Hell do you think your- oh! Ella!" he lowered his wand and sank into the chair at Professor Fairburn's bedside. "I must have fallen asleep, I'm terribly sorry."
There was a muted groan from the bed between them. They both glanced down and saw Professor Fairburn's eyes had squeezed shut again, likely in pain this time. Ella felt terrible for waking her up. Oliver immediately bent over her fussing like a mother hen.
"Hush, darling, you'll be all right." He pulled down the sheets a little and she shivered slightly. "I just want to check on your dressing." He gingerly pulled away the sleeves of her hospital pajamas revealing a blood soaked mess of bandages. "Oh god, the bleeding hasn't stopped." He put a hand to her forehead. "And you're burning up." She closed her eyes, relishing in the feel of his cool hand on her cheek. "I'm going to find that old bat Pomfrey and give her a piece of my mind. You should be in St. Mungo's, not in a hospital wing with a half-wit nurse. Ella, stay with her will you?" Ella nodded her reply and went back to mopping the sweat from her professor's forehead.
Marissa closed her eyes again, too weak to protest a student washing her face, and too weak to i/ protest going to St. Mungo's. Ella heard brief snatches of a shouting match going on in Madame Pomfrey's office. Apparently Oliver wasn't willing to accept the fact that the only thing you could do for a wizard's fever was give it time. It either cured itself, or not at all. None of them were ready to accept the latter possibility. The thought made her sick.
Ella pondered for a moment and decided that her guilt was nothing compared to Oliver's. He was the one who had done this to her. He had uttered a curse, although not intentionally that had caused his girlfriend to come down with an almost incurable disease. No wonder he had been here night and day once he found out Professor Fairburn was this ill.
Ella closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. The room was swimming around her and she swallowed hard, feeling nauseous. Waving a hand in Professor Fairburn's direction, she stood up abruptly, bidding her goodbye. She would be fine by herself for a few minutes. Ella swept through the dim halls of Hogwarts with a strange feeling coming over her. She had no idea where she was going, only that she knew she had to get away from that sickness, from the disease that had debilitated a woman who could have been a great teacher, and a great friend. All Ella could do was hope that she would get better.
She rounded a corner running full speed, totally unaware of her surroundings, and suddenly found herself lying on the ground with a bang. She sat up, her vision blurry from her head hitting the floor. She reached out her hand and her fingers met something cold and metallic. A pair of glasses.
"Are you all right?" Harry's voice sounded shaky, but he seemed to have recovered from his fall. "You just came barreling around the corner," he paused for a moment, collecting his glasses and pushing them back up his nose. He shook his messy black hair and stood up, offering Ella his hand. Ella hesitated a moment, remembering the way he had been so reluctant to let go a few nights before. He stood looking down at her expectantly and she took it, allowing him to pull her up. She detached herself in a hurry, dusted off and began to stroll down the hallway with Harry.
"Sorry, I was just at the hospital wing, I-"Harry turned to look at her, his forehead creased worriedly.
"Why?! Are you all right? What's happened? Is it professor Fairburn?" Harry clenched his right hand into a fist. "Oh no, she hasn't..."
"No." Ella replied matter of factly. "But Harry," The edge in her voice melted. "It doesn't look good." Harry's face fell.
"There you have it," He spat his words out angrily. "Another triumph for Voldemort." His green eyes glinted furiously; Ella almost took a step backwards.
"Don't say that! He's not going to win i/ battle. She'll be fine, you'll see." Ella smiled a little and touched his shoulder. "You should see Oliver in there playing nurse, though. It's really quite... cute. For lack of a better word." Harry gave Ella a halfhearted grin and averted his gaze to the stone floor scuffing the toes of his sneakers sullenly. Suddenly she thought of something that would cheer him up.
"It's a beautiful day out you know," he acknowledged her with a grunt. "I've been in the wizarding world for almost a week, and I haven't been up on a broom yet..." Harry brightened immediately and grinned madly. His eyes lit up mischievously. He grabbed her by the hand and began running towards the entrance hall.
Before she registered what was happening the wind was rushing by her blowing out the band that was holding Ella's hair in place. Her chestnut locks blew wildly behind her as Harry dragged her out onto the grounds of Hogwarts. Ella laughed, feeling the stress of the last few days melt away in the bright afternoon sunshine. Harry finally stopped running and Ella banged into him again. They fell to the ground in a giggling heap, Harry's genuine laughter ringing out into the summer air. He sat up pulling Ella with him, grabbing both of her hands and standing to face her.
Ella began to pull away from him and changed her mind. She took a step closer.
"Where are we going?" She whispered. Harry's smile widened.
"Diagon Alley." He whispered back. Suddenly there was a feeling like someone had stuck a hook behind her belly button. She gasped in surprise as the world rushed passed her. Ella closed her eyes tightly and squeezed Harry's hand harder than she probably should have. And then it stopped. Ella cautiously opened her eyes.
They were standing in Diagon Alley. It was the same time of day it had been at Hogwarts, only the streets were wet here, as if it had just rained. She was still standing very still, squeezing the life out of Harry's hands. She let go abruptly and smacked Harry playfully.
"Thanks for the warning, i/." She said sarcastically. This only caused Harry to look even more pleased with himself. "What the heck was that?"
"A Portkey." Harry smiled and began shaking the blood back into his hands, strolling along the damp streets.
"Why are we in Diagon Alley?" Ella hurried to catch up with him.
"Well, if you're going to go flying, you'll need a broom, won't you?" Ella stopped in her tracks.
"A broom!? For ME?" Harry did an about face, and walked behind her, propelling her along the misty streets.
"What did you suppose I was going to do? Let you ride my Firebolt? No beginners on that, thank you, you'd kill yourself." They had reached a friendly looking shop. There was no sign hanging above the door, and several little wizard boys were crowded in front of the windows blocking the display. Harry opened the door of the shop for Ella with a sweep of his arm and she entered, curtsying derisively in his direction.
She finished her display of lady like behavior and finally noticed her surroundings. The shop was large and roughly hewn from wooden planks. Various Quidditch banners hung from the walls and ceiling, and a few snitches fluttered around slowly and aimlessly. One wall was lined with Quidditch gear, specifically balls. There were different kinds of bludgers strapped into little nooks, and little golden snitches flurrying about in glass boxes. Quaffles sat on individual shelves. A nice selection of beaters bats were tacked next to them.
The next wall over had Quidditch robes. There were practice robes, keeper robes, beater robes, chaser robes, and seeker robes. Padding and gloves were hanging from the lines across the ceiling there, Witches and Wizards were levitating them down to try them on. A sign proclaimed, "For house Quidditch robes, see desk." Ella saw the desk, another roughly hewn wooden structure draped with banners. From this wall to the other there were brooms. Brooms, brooms, and more brooms!
"Welcome," He paused dramatically. "To Quality Quidditch supplies!"
About two hours later, they had narrowed it down to two brooms; The Cleansweep 470, and the Nimbus 2004. Harry was gazing affectionately at a model of the Nimbus 2000. Ella wanted to ask his opinion on the brooms she had chosen. She called him over.
"Hey Harry, what do you think?" Harry remained enthralled by the Nimbus 2000. Ella picked the Cleansweep off the wall rack and poked him with it. He whirled around snapping out of his reverie, eyes wide. Ella strode over to see what the big deal was. The broom in the case looked like a fairly regular broom. It was nice, sure but nothing special. "Is that your girlfriend?" Ella raised an eyebrow at him. Harry's ears turned red and he grinned nostalgically.
"No, my first love. That was my very first broom, the year I came to Hogwarts. It got totaled during a match... She sure was a great broom..." He trailed off, staring affectionately at it. Ella sighed and wandered back to the wall rack. She replaced the Cleansweep with the Nimbus 2004 and walked up to the counter to pay. She had liked it better anyways.
They left the shop with their purchases, Harry having bought some new twig clippers for his broom servicing kit. Ella couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and try it out. But boys being boys, Harry decided that it was high time for a snack, and they wandered for a bit looking for someplace to eat. The conversation went something like this:
"The Snapping Dragon?"
"Looks a little Slytherin oriented to me... How about the leaky cauldron?"
"Harry, it's on the other side of town."
"Oh. Jolly good point. The Grinning Ogre?."
"Are you kidding me? How about The Skipping Centaur?"
"Believe me, Centaur's don't skip."
"Argh look at that place, it's disgusting!"
Ella was pointing out a teashop not unlike Madame Paddifoot's in Hogsmeade. Her upper lip was curled into an expression of pure disgust at the decor of the little place. Flowers were everywhere, enchanted to hang from the signs and windows and plant themselves in the coat pockets and hair of every person who walked by. Ella covered her head and bolted past the window swatting at flowers that tried to stick themselves in her long brown hair.
"You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that." Harry stood transfixed by her. When the flowers started trying to poke her in the eyes he ran to her aid, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her across the street.
"It think you made them mad." Harry grinned at her. Ella glared back at him. Several Lilies had implanted themselves in her hair. Harry plucked them out one by one while Ella stared back at the little teashop, apparently trying to set fire to it with her eyes. If Harry hadn't presented her with a bouquet she may very well have succeeded. "My mother's name was Lily."
Ella accepted the flowers gratefully until one of them bit her on the finger. This was going too far. Ella dropped the flowers and they scuttled across the cobblestones only to be run over by a cart. Harry doubled over with laughter, and Ella marched off in the opposite direction thoroughly peeved.
"I'm sorry!" Harry ran to catch up with her. "It's just..." She stopped and spun around, facing him with her eyes narrowed to tiny slits. Harry's eyes were still twinkling impishly. His ears turned red and he scuffed the ground like he always did when he was embarrassed. "I had this, err... Girlfriend? I suppose you could call her that, anyways... She's a year ahead of me in Ravenclaw, and on our first date she wanted to go into this horrible teashop that was exactly like that one over there." Harry smiled genuinely at her, motioning towards the flowery hellhole. "And I've never met a girl yet who thinks that those sappy little places aren't romantic." Ella tried her best not to turn red.
"I find them repulsive." Harry smiled broadly again. Ella got the feeling that he hadn't done this much smiling in a while.
"I know! Florean Fortescue's! The best sundaes you could hope... what? What's wrong with ice cream? Everyone likes ice cream!" Harry yelled exasperated as Ella's face fell. She looked at him sheepishly.
"Lactose intolerant." Harry burst out laughing again, this time so hard he almost fell over. Ella grabbed him by the shoulders holding him up. A few witches and wizards glared at them. Ella couldn't help but smile. Harry straightened up breathing hard, at a loss for words. Ella looked him in the eyes and retorted:
"You think living a life deprived of dairy products is funny?" This caused Harry to start laughing all over again. By the time they had recovered, it was about seven o' clock. They decided to head back to the leaky cauldron after all. So they picked up their purchases and headed off after a brief struggle over who got to carry Ella's nimbus. Harry won.
The streets were growing dark, and surprisingly vacant of street lamps. Harry warned Ella to be on her guard, as it was not the norm for Diagon alley to be this gloomy at 7 in the evening. They walked close together wands out and lit. Passing witches and wizards nodded at them in greeting, their faces illuminated by lumos light, packages tucked under their arms. It rained briefly as they trekked wordlessly across the dark city. After about half an hours walk Harry extinguished his wand. Dark figures glided by silently. Ella knew they were just shoppers headed to the floo hub, but the faceless shapes made her skin crawl. She had a bad feeling.
"Look, there's the Leaky Cauldron!" Harry picked up his pace, walking a few meters ahead of her toward the friendly pool of light coming from the pub. Ella sighed in relief.
"Nox." Her wand light went out. She took a step forwards...
...and that was as far as she got. Before she could set foot into the safety of the light, a hand clamped over her mouth, and a wand pressed into her neck. Ella suddenly found her arms clamped to her sides. She lifted her leg up and delivered a sharp kick to a very sensitive area. The hand releasing her and the groan escaping her attacker was proof enough that he was male. Ella ran.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Ella turned as the spell hit her in the back and she saw her attacker's face before she hit the ground. Petrified and immobile she stared up at the shaggy man standing over her. His robes were a tattered mess and he was dirty. Very dirty. He had longish, unkempt hair that hung into his eyes. But his eyes were what got Ella. They were pure black, bottomless pits of darkness. He kneeled next to her, and if Ella could have stiffened anymore, she would have. The grungy man reached out and touched her face, and to her surprise, muttered;
"I'm sorry, Ella, you'll understand later." He pulled out a tattered wand that looked like it had been through a war, and pointed it at her head. "Stupefy."
The last thing Ella saw was a jet of red light, and she seemed to be sinking into the man's eyes, sinking into the darkness.
A/N:Thanks to my new reviewers, Magical Muggle, who writes awesome reviews, and Rachel! Thanks to everybody else as well!
Ohh wait.
Disclaimer: Blahblahblah not mine.
And per usual: Thanks to my beta!
Ella entered the hospital wing quietly, a bouquet of summer lilacs clutched in her hand. The smell was comforting; there was a lilac bush in her adoptive parent's yard in America. The hospital wing was lit up by golden sunlight streaming in through the many window and slits in the walls. All the beds were starched; the blankets tucked in so tight they seemed to be suffocating the mattresses. The curtains around all of the abandoned beds were pushed back neatly, dust particles floating off of them and lazily hanging in mid air.
All the curtains but one.
A bed all the way at the end of the hospital wing was shielded by the cream colored hangings. The space inside the little tent was dimly lit and sickness seemed to emanate from it. Professor Fairburn still hadn't fully recovered from her accident.
It was odd; Oliver was in good health, back on his broom three days after the incident bearing only mental and emotional scars. Ron's cracked skull had been healed fully and he was out of the hospital wing the next day. But Professor Fairburn's wound would not heal. She had developed a Wizard's fever. It was a very dangerous thing caused by a dark curse, especially in powerful witches and wizards. A few doses of antibiotics and some rest could cure Muggle fevers, but a Wizard's fever was caused when the infected person's magic slowly spiraled out of control, wreaking havoc inside their body.
Ella approached the curtained cot carefully, and pushed aside the hanging. Marissa Fairburn lay buried underneath several thick blankets. Her forehead was glistening with feverish perspiration and her eyes were shut. She was limp, one arm thrown feebly over her head, the other grasping at a handful of quilt. Her shoulder length blonde hair was damp and matted.
What the crap is Madame Pomfrey doing? Ella wondered to herself. She set her flowers on the night table, exchanging them for a damp cloth that was resting there. She wrung the extra water out of it and began to mop at the professor's tortured face.
Fairburn's eyes flew open and she gave a raspy gasp as the cold water touched her cheek. Ella started back, and tripped over something, or rather someone, lying on the floor. Oliver Wood started up, his Auror training kicking in automatically. He pointed his wand at Ella and she threw her hands up in the air, still clutching the wet cloth.
"What the Hell do you think your- oh! Ella!" he lowered his wand and sank into the chair at Professor Fairburn's bedside. "I must have fallen asleep, I'm terribly sorry."
There was a muted groan from the bed between them. They both glanced down and saw Professor Fairburn's eyes had squeezed shut again, likely in pain this time. Ella felt terrible for waking her up. Oliver immediately bent over her fussing like a mother hen.
"Hush, darling, you'll be all right." He pulled down the sheets a little and she shivered slightly. "I just want to check on your dressing." He gingerly pulled away the sleeves of her hospital pajamas revealing a blood soaked mess of bandages. "Oh god, the bleeding hasn't stopped." He put a hand to her forehead. "And you're burning up." She closed her eyes, relishing in the feel of his cool hand on her cheek. "I'm going to find that old bat Pomfrey and give her a piece of my mind. You should be in St. Mungo's, not in a hospital wing with a half-wit nurse. Ella, stay with her will you?" Ella nodded her reply and went back to mopping the sweat from her professor's forehead.
Marissa closed her eyes again, too weak to protest a student washing her face, and too weak to i/ protest going to St. Mungo's. Ella heard brief snatches of a shouting match going on in Madame Pomfrey's office. Apparently Oliver wasn't willing to accept the fact that the only thing you could do for a wizard's fever was give it time. It either cured itself, or not at all. None of them were ready to accept the latter possibility. The thought made her sick.
Ella pondered for a moment and decided that her guilt was nothing compared to Oliver's. He was the one who had done this to her. He had uttered a curse, although not intentionally that had caused his girlfriend to come down with an almost incurable disease. No wonder he had been here night and day once he found out Professor Fairburn was this ill.
Ella closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. The room was swimming around her and she swallowed hard, feeling nauseous. Waving a hand in Professor Fairburn's direction, she stood up abruptly, bidding her goodbye. She would be fine by herself for a few minutes. Ella swept through the dim halls of Hogwarts with a strange feeling coming over her. She had no idea where she was going, only that she knew she had to get away from that sickness, from the disease that had debilitated a woman who could have been a great teacher, and a great friend. All Ella could do was hope that she would get better.
She rounded a corner running full speed, totally unaware of her surroundings, and suddenly found herself lying on the ground with a bang. She sat up, her vision blurry from her head hitting the floor. She reached out her hand and her fingers met something cold and metallic. A pair of glasses.
"Are you all right?" Harry's voice sounded shaky, but he seemed to have recovered from his fall. "You just came barreling around the corner," he paused for a moment, collecting his glasses and pushing them back up his nose. He shook his messy black hair and stood up, offering Ella his hand. Ella hesitated a moment, remembering the way he had been so reluctant to let go a few nights before. He stood looking down at her expectantly and she took it, allowing him to pull her up. She detached herself in a hurry, dusted off and began to stroll down the hallway with Harry.
"Sorry, I was just at the hospital wing, I-"Harry turned to look at her, his forehead creased worriedly.
"Why?! Are you all right? What's happened? Is it professor Fairburn?" Harry clenched his right hand into a fist. "Oh no, she hasn't..."
"No." Ella replied matter of factly. "But Harry," The edge in her voice melted. "It doesn't look good." Harry's face fell.
"There you have it," He spat his words out angrily. "Another triumph for Voldemort." His green eyes glinted furiously; Ella almost took a step backwards.
"Don't say that! He's not going to win i/ battle. She'll be fine, you'll see." Ella smiled a little and touched his shoulder. "You should see Oliver in there playing nurse, though. It's really quite... cute. For lack of a better word." Harry gave Ella a halfhearted grin and averted his gaze to the stone floor scuffing the toes of his sneakers sullenly. Suddenly she thought of something that would cheer him up.
"It's a beautiful day out you know," he acknowledged her with a grunt. "I've been in the wizarding world for almost a week, and I haven't been up on a broom yet..." Harry brightened immediately and grinned madly. His eyes lit up mischievously. He grabbed her by the hand and began running towards the entrance hall.
Before she registered what was happening the wind was rushing by her blowing out the band that was holding Ella's hair in place. Her chestnut locks blew wildly behind her as Harry dragged her out onto the grounds of Hogwarts. Ella laughed, feeling the stress of the last few days melt away in the bright afternoon sunshine. Harry finally stopped running and Ella banged into him again. They fell to the ground in a giggling heap, Harry's genuine laughter ringing out into the summer air. He sat up pulling Ella with him, grabbing both of her hands and standing to face her.
Ella began to pull away from him and changed her mind. She took a step closer.
"Where are we going?" She whispered. Harry's smile widened.
"Diagon Alley." He whispered back. Suddenly there was a feeling like someone had stuck a hook behind her belly button. She gasped in surprise as the world rushed passed her. Ella closed her eyes tightly and squeezed Harry's hand harder than she probably should have. And then it stopped. Ella cautiously opened her eyes.
They were standing in Diagon Alley. It was the same time of day it had been at Hogwarts, only the streets were wet here, as if it had just rained. She was still standing very still, squeezing the life out of Harry's hands. She let go abruptly and smacked Harry playfully.
"Thanks for the warning, i/." She said sarcastically. This only caused Harry to look even more pleased with himself. "What the heck was that?"
"A Portkey." Harry smiled and began shaking the blood back into his hands, strolling along the damp streets.
"Why are we in Diagon Alley?" Ella hurried to catch up with him.
"Well, if you're going to go flying, you'll need a broom, won't you?" Ella stopped in her tracks.
"A broom!? For ME?" Harry did an about face, and walked behind her, propelling her along the misty streets.
"What did you suppose I was going to do? Let you ride my Firebolt? No beginners on that, thank you, you'd kill yourself." They had reached a friendly looking shop. There was no sign hanging above the door, and several little wizard boys were crowded in front of the windows blocking the display. Harry opened the door of the shop for Ella with a sweep of his arm and she entered, curtsying derisively in his direction.
She finished her display of lady like behavior and finally noticed her surroundings. The shop was large and roughly hewn from wooden planks. Various Quidditch banners hung from the walls and ceiling, and a few snitches fluttered around slowly and aimlessly. One wall was lined with Quidditch gear, specifically balls. There were different kinds of bludgers strapped into little nooks, and little golden snitches flurrying about in glass boxes. Quaffles sat on individual shelves. A nice selection of beaters bats were tacked next to them.
The next wall over had Quidditch robes. There were practice robes, keeper robes, beater robes, chaser robes, and seeker robes. Padding and gloves were hanging from the lines across the ceiling there, Witches and Wizards were levitating them down to try them on. A sign proclaimed, "For house Quidditch robes, see desk." Ella saw the desk, another roughly hewn wooden structure draped with banners. From this wall to the other there were brooms. Brooms, brooms, and more brooms!
"Welcome," He paused dramatically. "To Quality Quidditch supplies!"
About two hours later, they had narrowed it down to two brooms; The Cleansweep 470, and the Nimbus 2004. Harry was gazing affectionately at a model of the Nimbus 2000. Ella wanted to ask his opinion on the brooms she had chosen. She called him over.
"Hey Harry, what do you think?" Harry remained enthralled by the Nimbus 2000. Ella picked the Cleansweep off the wall rack and poked him with it. He whirled around snapping out of his reverie, eyes wide. Ella strode over to see what the big deal was. The broom in the case looked like a fairly regular broom. It was nice, sure but nothing special. "Is that your girlfriend?" Ella raised an eyebrow at him. Harry's ears turned red and he grinned nostalgically.
"No, my first love. That was my very first broom, the year I came to Hogwarts. It got totaled during a match... She sure was a great broom..." He trailed off, staring affectionately at it. Ella sighed and wandered back to the wall rack. She replaced the Cleansweep with the Nimbus 2004 and walked up to the counter to pay. She had liked it better anyways.
They left the shop with their purchases, Harry having bought some new twig clippers for his broom servicing kit. Ella couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and try it out. But boys being boys, Harry decided that it was high time for a snack, and they wandered for a bit looking for someplace to eat. The conversation went something like this:
"The Snapping Dragon?"
"Looks a little Slytherin oriented to me... How about the leaky cauldron?"
"Harry, it's on the other side of town."
"Oh. Jolly good point. The Grinning Ogre?."
"Are you kidding me? How about The Skipping Centaur?"
"Believe me, Centaur's don't skip."
"Argh look at that place, it's disgusting!"
Ella was pointing out a teashop not unlike Madame Paddifoot's in Hogsmeade. Her upper lip was curled into an expression of pure disgust at the decor of the little place. Flowers were everywhere, enchanted to hang from the signs and windows and plant themselves in the coat pockets and hair of every person who walked by. Ella covered her head and bolted past the window swatting at flowers that tried to stick themselves in her long brown hair.
"You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that." Harry stood transfixed by her. When the flowers started trying to poke her in the eyes he ran to her aid, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her across the street.
"It think you made them mad." Harry grinned at her. Ella glared back at him. Several Lilies had implanted themselves in her hair. Harry plucked them out one by one while Ella stared back at the little teashop, apparently trying to set fire to it with her eyes. If Harry hadn't presented her with a bouquet she may very well have succeeded. "My mother's name was Lily."
Ella accepted the flowers gratefully until one of them bit her on the finger. This was going too far. Ella dropped the flowers and they scuttled across the cobblestones only to be run over by a cart. Harry doubled over with laughter, and Ella marched off in the opposite direction thoroughly peeved.
"I'm sorry!" Harry ran to catch up with her. "It's just..." She stopped and spun around, facing him with her eyes narrowed to tiny slits. Harry's eyes were still twinkling impishly. His ears turned red and he scuffed the ground like he always did when he was embarrassed. "I had this, err... Girlfriend? I suppose you could call her that, anyways... She's a year ahead of me in Ravenclaw, and on our first date she wanted to go into this horrible teashop that was exactly like that one over there." Harry smiled genuinely at her, motioning towards the flowery hellhole. "And I've never met a girl yet who thinks that those sappy little places aren't romantic." Ella tried her best not to turn red.
"I find them repulsive." Harry smiled broadly again. Ella got the feeling that he hadn't done this much smiling in a while.
"I know! Florean Fortescue's! The best sundaes you could hope... what? What's wrong with ice cream? Everyone likes ice cream!" Harry yelled exasperated as Ella's face fell. She looked at him sheepishly.
"Lactose intolerant." Harry burst out laughing again, this time so hard he almost fell over. Ella grabbed him by the shoulders holding him up. A few witches and wizards glared at them. Ella couldn't help but smile. Harry straightened up breathing hard, at a loss for words. Ella looked him in the eyes and retorted:
"You think living a life deprived of dairy products is funny?" This caused Harry to start laughing all over again. By the time they had recovered, it was about seven o' clock. They decided to head back to the leaky cauldron after all. So they picked up their purchases and headed off after a brief struggle over who got to carry Ella's nimbus. Harry won.
The streets were growing dark, and surprisingly vacant of street lamps. Harry warned Ella to be on her guard, as it was not the norm for Diagon alley to be this gloomy at 7 in the evening. They walked close together wands out and lit. Passing witches and wizards nodded at them in greeting, their faces illuminated by lumos light, packages tucked under their arms. It rained briefly as they trekked wordlessly across the dark city. After about half an hours walk Harry extinguished his wand. Dark figures glided by silently. Ella knew they were just shoppers headed to the floo hub, but the faceless shapes made her skin crawl. She had a bad feeling.
"Look, there's the Leaky Cauldron!" Harry picked up his pace, walking a few meters ahead of her toward the friendly pool of light coming from the pub. Ella sighed in relief.
"Nox." Her wand light went out. She took a step forwards...
...and that was as far as she got. Before she could set foot into the safety of the light, a hand clamped over her mouth, and a wand pressed into her neck. Ella suddenly found her arms clamped to her sides. She lifted her leg up and delivered a sharp kick to a very sensitive area. The hand releasing her and the groan escaping her attacker was proof enough that he was male. Ella ran.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Ella turned as the spell hit her in the back and she saw her attacker's face before she hit the ground. Petrified and immobile she stared up at the shaggy man standing over her. His robes were a tattered mess and he was dirty. Very dirty. He had longish, unkempt hair that hung into his eyes. But his eyes were what got Ella. They were pure black, bottomless pits of darkness. He kneeled next to her, and if Ella could have stiffened anymore, she would have. The grungy man reached out and touched her face, and to her surprise, muttered;
"I'm sorry, Ella, you'll understand later." He pulled out a tattered wand that looked like it had been through a war, and pointed it at her head. "Stupefy."
The last thing Ella saw was a jet of red light, and she seemed to be sinking into the man's eyes, sinking into the darkness.
A/N:Thanks to my new reviewers, Magical Muggle, who writes awesome reviews, and Rachel! Thanks to everybody else as well!