Author's Note: I have borrowed two items for Fred and George to carry in their shop from other talented writers: The first is the face-freezing spray which Lady deMimsy mentioned in her story "Intruder, Counselor, Guardian, Heir" in Mugglenet.com's Library. The second is the Dragon Kisses that are found in a story by that name by a wonderfully talented author by the name of Davesmom who writes for this site. The candies are not really used in context here, but do fit in wonderfully with the whole idea of their store. All the other items are either mentioned in the books or are made up by me. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 4
Diagon Alley
The journey to Diagon Alley was quick, given the three took the old-fashioned Muggle transportation of the Underground. They didn't speak much. Cassie wanted to ask all sorts of questions about what they were going to see there but was a little nervous to do so. She imagined that they didn't want to be overheard. However, there was one question that she just had to ask and she didn't want to wait. "Remus?"
"Yes?"
"Are you mad I'm coming with you? Because you kind of looked like you might be. And if you are, I don't have to come. I can get off at the next exit and go home."
"I'm not mad, Cassie."
She could sense a but at the end of the sentence. After a minute, she asked for it. "But . . . what?"
He glanced at her. His eyes were kind and he had a sort of funny expression on his face. "But my purpose in coming to visit you, aside from just checking to see how you were doing, was to make sure that you were adjusting to the separation from our world; you know, adjusting to your own world again. And you were doing fairly well. And now, we're dragging you back into it. It just seems counterproductive."
"Oh."
"Arthur is a great wizard and I trust him implicitly, have trusted him with my life on many occasions. He just gets a little over-enthusiastic about Muggles sometimes. Forgets there needs to be a separation."
"Do you want me to get off the tube and go home?"
"No. I don't think that one afternoon's visit to wizarding shops is going to do a whole lot to damage you." He sounded like he might laugh so Cassie didn't argue with him. She just sat silently for the rest of the trip, afraid he might change his mind. She wasn't sure what to expect at the end of the ride but it certainly wasn't what actually happened. They got off the tube at a regular stop and stepped up onto a perfectly regular street. They walked along quietly and no one looked at them strangely or anything. Cassie kept her eyes open for the pub that she thought they were walking toward but, despite careful attention, she missed the doorway completely and would have walked past it except Remus grabbed her arm and steered her inside. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dim interior lighting after the bright street but when she finally could make out the shapes in the smoky gloom, she almost wished she could close her eyes again. The scene that met her eyes reminded her forcefully of Hermione's comment about "interesting individuals" patronizing the tavern. In a corner of the pub were two older women in black robes and witches hats; both smoking long-stemmed pipes and drinking from mugs of ale. At another table was a man in long green robes with a large glass of some bubbly, fizzing concoction. Resting against the bar, and enjoying various types of drinks as they visited with the balding, toothless old bartender, were several other men in as interesting dress as the others.
Arthur and Remus nodded at several people as they walked through the bar and out the back door into a small, walled courtyard. It was very dingy back there and Cassie thought she heard the scrabbling of a rat behind a waste bin. She moved closer to Arthur and wondered if this entire trip was a big mistake. But she watched as Remus tapped a few bricks in the solid brick wall and they rearranged themselves into a doorway -- one that opened onto Diagon Alley. As it did so, Cassie gave a slight gasp in excitement at the sight that lay before them. It reminded her in some ways of pictures she had seen of London 150 years ago. The shops were small and crowded together, looking like a good stiff breeze would knock them all over. The street was cobblestones and there was not a motorized vehicle in sight. The people, dressed in a wide variety of brightly colored clothing, were walking, sometimes jostling each other, as shopkeepers called out their wares.
Cassie tried to pay close attention as this was probably going to be her only chance to see this wonderful place. She remembered another thing Hermione had said about her first visit to Diagon Alley, and that was that it was a very impressive place and it could convince the most hardened sceptic to believe in magic. The shops all looked very interesting and Cassie wished she had days to explore. There were stores selling cauldrons, stores selling owls, wands, robes, etc. She even saw a shop that sold Quidditch supplies and she just wanted to run in really quickly and take a look at the flying brooms, but she was being escorted at a fairly rapid pace and decided she didn't want to ask. Neither Arthur nor Remus said anything as they walked, although they nodded at several people who spoke to them. She suspected they were nervous about her and she had a sudden feeling of guilt at the trouble she was putting them through. But then, they passed a quaint looking ice cream shop and she saw a newer-looking store front ahead of them with a bright purple sign announcing Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Arthur, ginning broadly, directed them into his sons' shop.
As they opened the door and entered the shop, Cassie heard a loud voice announcing "Customers! Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes! You will always leave laughing!" Cassie looked around, surprised, to see who was talking, but then realized it was probably an enchantment. The voice sounded very much how she remembered the voice on their business card when it had yelled at her when she had touched it for the first time. One of the twins stepped out from the back and smiled happily at Remus and his father.
"Dad! Remus! What brings you to our . . ." His voice trailed off and Cassie felt his eyes on her. She had been staring around at the various merchandise, absolutely amazed. The store had looked small and rickety from the street, but inside it held a lot more than she ever would have guessed possible. She turned and met his eyes.
"Hi, again."
"Oh, have you two met?" Arthur was looking a little surprised at this.
"Yeah, Dad. At Hogwarts."
"Oh, of course, of course. I didn't realize, but it makes sense. Where's George?"
"He's in the back. What can we help you with?" Cassie wondered if he thought she was strange or suspicious looking, but he flashed a bright smile at her and held out his hand. "Fred Weasley, in case you've forgotten."
"Thanks. Cassie Robinson." Before she could say anything more, George came in from "the back" and introductions were made. She was amazed again at how identical they looked. No wonder even family members had a hard time telling them apart. Her hand was engulfed in both twins' larger ones in turn and then Arthur and Remus were gone with a vague instruction to "keep her entertained, would you two? We'll be back soon." Cassie was a little nervous about what she was going to talk to them about, but she decided quickly that she didn't need to worry. The shop was very busy, and both boys were basically running around collecting merchandise, making suggestions, and working the till so they didn't have time to even look at her, much less talk. She watched them work and listened to them talk about their various products and was quite surprised at the level of effort they put into each customer. She soon realized that they had a definite way of approaching each sale and it must have worked because the entire time she was there she never saw a customer leave without at least buying something.
The customer would come in and one of the boys would approach them to find out what they wanted. She realized that there were different levels of jokes, ranging from fairly amusing to downright mean. Each customer had specific ideas for who they wanted to play them on and what sort of reaction they wanted. Once that was decided, the customer was guided to the section of the store that was appropriate. If necessary, the twins would even demonstrate the specific product. Cassie soon stopped jumping at sudden noises, explosions, or appendages appearing suddenly on one of the boys. She didn't know what sort of magic was behind all of their tricks, but she was fairly impressed at their business acumen. There were samples of some of their candies in shallow bowls throughout the store and a couple of times, she was tempted to reach for a particularly yummy looking nibble. She resisted, however, remembering what Harry had said about not wanting to eat anything the twins gave you. The sample plate on the front counter, however, was very hard for Cassie to resist. She kept looking at the chocolates, wondering what exactly they did when you ate them. Finally, one of the boys had a quiet moment and was leaning against the counter quite close to where she was. She was fairly sure it was George.
"George?" He turned his head to look at her and Cassie was pleased that she had been right. "What do these do if you eat them?" He smiled wickedly and raised one eyebrow.
"Try one and find out."
"Harry said never to eat anything you gave me."
"Harry's a stick in the mud. It won't hurt you. Come on. Give 'em a try." There was a distinctly teasing note in his voice and she bit her lip, very tempted to show him that she wasn't afraid. She picked up a piece from the plate and looked it over carefully. It looked like a normal filled chocolate, but the name "Dragon Kisses" sounded a little scary. "Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. You'll never know till you try it."
She threw a glare in his direction and popped the entire sweet into her mouth. Her first thought was that she had been worried over nothing. It was good chocolate. Then she felt the burning. Sudden heat flooded her mouth, the hottest cinnamon she had ever tasted melded with the sweetness of the chocolate and she opened her mouth to gasp. That was when she realized that she should have listened to Harry. When oxygen hit her mouth, a small flame erupted and she could see it coming out on her breath. She wanted to scream in fright but didn't want to take a chance of hurting herself more. She wasn't on fire, she had the presence of mind to think, it was just a trick, but she was unsure what to do. George was laughing at the expression on her face. "Close your mouth and the fire goes out." She did but then the cinnamon was too intense and she could feel tears gathering in her eyes. When she opened her mouth again to ask for some water, the flame erupted once more. George took pity on her then, apparently, because he waved his wand lazily and there was a glass of water suddenly at her elbow. She drank it quickly, dousing the flame and the cinnamon-flavored burning immediately. He was laughing as she finished the water and glared at him.
"That was . . . incredible. But how was I supposed to get the fire out?"
"It only lights three times. Then it just goes out by itself." Cassie wanted to chew him out for daring her to eat one of the things but another customer came in and he sauntered over to help. Cassie decided right then that she was going to heed Harry's advice and not eat anything else in the store. She looked around at some of the merchandise, wondering what the various things did. She looked for a long time at a section of fireworks, wondering whether she dared buy anything for her brother. He would get a kick out of them, she was sure, but she didn't want to have to explain anything too far away from the norm. There were several different types of fireworks from what she could tell and several different sized packages to buy them in. She looked down at the price though and realized she couldn't buy anything. She had brought money, but she didn't have anything like galleons, sickles, and knuts. She thought about asking Fred and George for an equivalent price in pounds sterling, but she never had a chance. She would have wanted to ask them privately, and there was never a moment when it was just the three of them in the store before Remus and Arthur returned.
They came in smiling and Cassie was torn between relief at seeing them or sadness that her adventure in Diagon Alley was close to ending. Arthur held up a bag. "Cassie, we bought your pumpkin juice for you. Thought it would be easier that way."
"Dad, we had pumpkin juice we could have sold her." It was Fred and he had a funny smirk on his face. Arthur scowled in response and Cassie wondered what that was about. She found out quickly, though.
"Well, next time she wants to drink your pumpkin juice and have her head turn into an actual pumpkin, I'll make sure to send her your direction." Fred laughed and Cassie knew instantly that Arthur hadn't been being sarcastic. Arthur looked down at his watch. "It's four o'clock. Cassie. We'll get you home in plenty of time for your date, then."
She didn't know why but she felt suddenly self-conscious and she wished that he hadn't announced her plans for the evening in front of the twins. She felt their eyes on her and she flushed slightly. Neither of the older wizards noticed. "Come on, Cassie. Let's get going." It seemed just moments later that she was standing on the Underground again and then moments after that when she was standing on her front porch. Her head was whirling from everything she had seen and heard and the actual length of the trip seemed inconsequential.
"Thank you so much, Remus, Arthur. That was the most fun I have had in a really long time."
"You're doing okay, then? Not too, um, . . ." Remus seemed hesitant to say the word moody and so Cassie just smiled.
"I'm fine. Thanks again. Be sure to . . ." and then the front door opened and Cassie's mum looked out at them.
"You're back. Come in, then." All three of them dutifully went inside.
"Did you have fun, Cassie?" She nodded eagerly.
"It was great, Mum." She said goodbye with a bit of a heavy heart a few minutes later because she really thought that this was probably the last time she would see them. After all, Remus had come to see if she was adjusting all right, and she was. And then today they had come on business and taken her along to that wonderful place but the chances of her going back were practically nil.
She was extremely surprised then, when almost three weeks later, her mother answered the door and found both Remus and Arthur standing on their porch. Cassie was back in her bedroom, looking for probably the hundredth time at the pictures she had brought with her from Hogwarts and remembering how much fun she had had that morning with Harry. So when she heard Remus' voice, she thought she was just imagining things. It wasn't until her mother knocked on her door and told her she had company that she realized it wasn't just wishful thinking.
"Hi, Cassie." Remus looked quite ill and Cassie tried to remember if the full moon was coming or had just passed. But since she didn't regulate her life by the cycles of the moon, she didn't know and she didn't dare ask.
"Hi. Is everything okay?" She was so surprised to see the two of them standing there that she had a sudden fear that something bad had happened.
"Oh, everything's great. It's just that we're headed back, um, downtown for business and Arthur is certain that you would want a repeat visit." For a minute, Cassie thought she must have misheard. They would take her back to Diagon Alley?
"Yes. I'd love it! I'd absolutely love it!" Cassie hesitated a moment, "As long as it's okay with you, Remus." He smiled patiently and nodded. She ran to ask her mum's permission and grab her purse. She also decided that she would ask Arthur and Remus about getting money in the currency that was used at the shop. Her mother wanted to talk to the two men and so Cassie had to stand there listening as they were questioned about what exactly Cassie would be doing while they were at their meeting.
"Mum! Fred and George are very nice and very funny. And their store is very busy. It's not like I'm being abandoned or anything. You should see of the jokes they have . . . when I met them at school they were making . . . ." Cassie suddenly realized that she could not finish that sentence. There was no possible way to explain the racing roasted chickens. "Um, anyway. It's fun there and I can get something for Matthew's birthday." Her brother was turning 12 within the next week and she had been really struggling to find something he would like. She remembered the fireworks and wanted to see if she could afford any of them. Finally, just when she had given up hope, her mother said it was okay if she went as long as they were home by six. Cassie was embarrassed that her mother was so paranoid about things but when she started to apologize as they walked to the Underground station, Arthur cut her off.
"Your mother is watching out for you, Cassie. It is her job and we aren't offended, neither of us. Truly, Molly is the same way, especially with Ginny," Arthur and Remus exchanged meaningful looks and Cassie suddenly remembered that Harry was staying at the Weasley's house this summer. With Ginny. And others, too, but it was probably Ginny he was spending most of the time with. She felt a now-familiar ache in the pit of her stomach and acknowledged it silently to herself. It wasn't as bad as it had been in the past.
"How come you've never married, Remus?" Cassie asked. Remus laughed.
"How do you know I haven't?"
"Uh, well. Harry told me you hadn't. He said you were lonely now that Sirius . . ." Cassie didn't want to continue. It was tragic really. The whole thing.
"I got very used to Sirius being gone, Cassie. Yes, I miss him but as for being lonely, well, I have things to keep me busy. Now, I haven't married because I haven't found a woman who is willing to put up with my rather nasty personality." Cassie laughed along with Arthur as they entered the underground station. Despite having been there before, Cassie's first sight of Diagon Alley was just as overwhelming as it had been the first time. It was a lot busier this time with a lot more youngish people, kids her age.
"Hogwarts' new year starts fairly soon, Cassie. You may even see some Hogwarts students here." Arthur acted like that was wonderful but it made Cassie feel slightly nauseated. She wasn't exactly sure, why, but she remembered Harry telling her that no one could know she was a Muggle, that it was dangerous. She had explained to Remus about her need to get some money exchanged and after he and Arthur took her into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Remus took her 20-pound note and agreed to go to the bank and have it exchanged into galleons for her. She wanted to come herself, but he told her in no uncertain terms that it would not be possible. Arthur argued with him a little bit, but finally gave in and kept Cassie company for a few minutes.. One of the twins, Fred, Cassie thought, had stuck his head out of the back when they had entered the store, but neither of them came out for the few minutes Arthur was visiting with her. She supposed that they were taking advantage of a lull in the steady flow of customers. When Remus returned, he pressed four large gold coins into her hands. "Four galleons."
"But what about the, uh, silver coins and bronze coins?" She got a quick crash course on wizard money from Arthur and then they were gone and she was, once again, looking around the joke shop. The only differences were that this time she knew not to eat or drink anything and she had money. She was a customer. She decided that when she was ready to buy, she would insist they give her the same one-on-one treatment they gave to their regular clients. But for now, she just wanted to look around more carefully at what was available. The door announced another customer and one of the boys came out to help. He noted her presence and waved. Cassie smiled back and started investigating the shelves.
She had noted on her last visit that the twins had rated their jokes on a scale that let prospective customers know how dangerous a joke was. This was done with wands - one wand meant the joke was mild and funny; seven wands meant it was suitable for your worst enemy. Although the boys certainly specialized in individual customer service, Cassie knew that there were always people that liked to browse by themselves. And on a day like today, the shop was busy, usually with more people than Fred and George could handle. Cassie had also noted that the shop, which appeared to be a mass of confusion and chaos, was actually laid out into "categories" of jokes, if you could call them that. There were food-based jokes, useful trinkets, sprays and lotions, things that exploded, a whole section devoted to the fireworks, some area called "school specialities," and animal pranks. She started looking in the food-based joke section but quickly decided these were not for her. She just could not imagine her family's reaction if Matthew suddenly turned bright blue or sprouted an elephant's trunk. She spotted a box of the "Dragon Kisses" on one shelf and quickly walked past. There were candies that made you fall in love, fall out of love (temporarily, the box assured the customer), drinks that made you speak in rhyme, or that caused smoke to come out of your ears. Along with the pumpkin juice Fred had mentioned on her last visit, there was grape juice that turned you purple, and biscuits that made you inflate like a balloon (temporarily, of course) but Cassie just couldn't see anything that would work for her.
The useful trinket section featured something called extendable ears. To Cassie these looked like nothing more than pale pink strings and she decided against them. They were pretty pricey for what looked like a stupid idea. There were also eyeglasses that let you see what was behind you and enchanted quills that could copy anything from a neighbor. There was also a big display of fake wands. Cassie thought they looked very much like the few wands she had seen up to that point and thought they looked like a pretty good joke. Then there were shoelaces that refused to stay tied (useful for driving your enemies mad - and a great joke for Muggles, the paper said), as well as keys that shrunk away to nothing when placed in dark pockets. There was also parchment that wouldn't hold ink and quills that made a big mess when you used them. Cassie seriously considered the shoelaces but decided she'd come back later if nothing else was suitable.
The sprays and lotions were, she decided, mainly for women as they seemed to primarily consist of colognes that either made you smell bad or smell really good to the wrong sort of creature. For example, there was "Feline Fantastique" cologne that guaranteed the wearer would be followed by every cat within a 5-mile radius. That one had six wands and Cassie thought they should have made it seven. There was a helpful face-freezing spray to scare parents into thinking "your face really did freeze that way," and a spray that could turn a solid material transparent for a few minutes (adults only). Cassie didn't even want to hazard a guess as to what that was used for. . Nothing was suitable for Matthew so she moved quickly on to an area she thought more appealing to his tastes.
The things that exploded section basically consisted of a whole lot of normal-looking objects that when used just, um, well, exploded. There were parchments, quills, wands, letters, cauldrons, pipes, some foods like crisp packets or cupcakes, chess pieces, whistles, pillows, and (Cassie didn't look too closely at these), boxer shorts. Cassie looked long and hard at the exploding crisp packets and cupcakes. She thought that Matthew might get a kick out of those and they weren't so strange that Cassie couldn't have bought them at a Muggle joke shop. The price was right, too. For little more than a Galleon (she thought) she could get four or five really great exploding items.
She also spent quite a long time looking at the fireworks, but most of the packaging did not make much sense to her. She could tell they were highly magical as one box promised that the firework could be charmed to spell out all sorts of rude words and a big selling point seemed to be that if these were hit by a vanishing spell, they multiplied. She decided that if she was going to get any of these, she would definitely need some guidance from the twins. Some of these looked fairly dangerous and there wasn't a box in the entire section she could find that was rated at less than four wands.
The school specialties section seemed to be primarily aimed at Hogwarts students and Cassie chuckled to herself at the thought of what that school must have been like when Fred and George actually went there. These items were on sale and a further discount was promised if they were to be used against certain students and teachers. Cassie wondered about that, but decided not to ask. The main feature seemed to be something called "skiving snackboxes" which were rated only two wands. Cassie thought from reading the boxes that they should have been more like a five or six wand item, but maybe to wizards being forced to faint, throw up, have a horrible nosebleed, or run a very high fever was not terribly disgusting. There were also various quills and parchments for annoying professors or cheating on difficult exams. She should have moved on, she knew, because there was obviously nothing here that would be appropriate for a regular school, but a display caught her eye. It was a section of fake potions ingredients - "They look like the right ones but they don't act like 'em" the boxes proclaimed. She saw bat wings that exploded, dragon liver that smoked, asphodel that made potions catch fire, etc. She shook her head. That must be a really disgusting class. She couldn't imagine trying to deal with ingredients like bat wings or dragon liver. Yuck.
Cassie moved quickly on to the animal pranks section where she knew there would be nothing she could buy for Matthew. However, curiosity about what the twins could possibly offer made her look at the boxes. There was fake owl feed that would make owls fly in circles or refuse to carry mail; potion to make cats grow to the size of lions or tigers; and a powder that, when put into a rat's food would charm the rat into being able to tap dance. Tap dancing or not, Cassie really didn't like the idea of being around a rat. She shuddered. It would be difficult to be a witch.
She continued on with her inspection of the products until she came to a section that was kind of hidden in a corner so that she almost overlooked it. Cassie hesitated a moment as a sign prominently placed announced that the products were for people seventeen and older. The section was titled, "Ah, Sweet Revenge." The area was divided into two categories, Him and Her. Cassie looked at the Him section and the first item she saw was a potion for "cheating boyfriends or husbands." The potion promised to shrink certain appendages and would last up to twenty-four hours. Furthermore, the affects of the potion were guaranteed to withstand any counter-charm or re-growing charm for the time listed. Blushing, Cassie decided to not even investigate the other products.
As she turned away, George sidled up next to her grinning. "So, have you found anything interesting? Have any guy you want to get revenge on?" Cassie's face turned a shade redder and she shook her head. "Speaking of guys, Cassie, how was your date?
Cassie stared at George in puzzlement for a moment and then remembered what he was talking about. She scowled at the memory of her date with Brian. She had been amazed when Brian had spent practically the whole date being extremely fresh with her. Needless to say, she had turned him down for a second date and had been very disappointed in the whole experience. "Ugh. It was horrible. He was all hands. I spent the whole night trying to fight him off."
"Too bad. The next time a guy tries something like that, you ought to put a hex on him. Ginny knows some good ones. Her bat bogey hex is great. We should get you two together and let her teach you how to do it."
Cassie fidgeted uncomfortably and was about to explain to George that she was Muggle when he was called away to help one of the customers trying to decide between the Canary Cremes and Dragon Kisses. Cassie continued to mill about the shop until Fred walked over.
"It's been really busy today. A lot of kids are getting ready to go back to Hogwarts. How about you; are you getting your things for school?"
"Uh, well, I don't really go to Hogwarts."
"Oh. I saw you there."
"Uh, yes . . . I was there as a guest of, well, because of the battle and . . ."
"Oh, I understand. Yeah, there were a lot of us there because of that."
George had taken advantage of a short lull in the flow of customers and joined the conversation. "So, where do you live?"
"Just a bit north of the city." He looked like he was going to ask more questions but Cassie was happy she had an excuse to change the subject. She didn't know why, but she felt a little self-conscious about telling the boys she was a Muggle. It was true their dad seemed to like her all right, but who knew what they would think of her. "Um, my brother is going to turn 12 this week or so and I wanted to buy him something. Do you have any suggestions?"
Fred grinned kind of evilly. "Oh, yeah. Lots of suggestions. How badly do you hate him?"
"I don't hate him at all."
"Too bad. So a quill that -"
Cassie interrupted quickly. "I was thinking of maybe some fireworks, nothing too dangerous, but I know he'd like some."
A few minutes later, her head was spinning. She hadn't known that most of the fireworks sold in the store were Fred and George's own inventions and that there were so many different possible combinations. And they seemed to be willing to discuss each and every one. Fred thought he would be happiest with the fireworks that spelled out rude words, but Cassie turned him down firmly. They finally settled on some of the wet-start no heat fireworks the twins had perfected. Cassie thought that Matthew would really enjoy being able to surprise his friends and she also thought they were not so unusual that people would be suspicious about how she had gotten them. She had looked the box and packaging over very carefully, making sure nothing moved on it, before she finally got three galleons worth. She spent her last galleon on four exploding crisp packets, thinking she would use these as practical jokes some other time. George teased her by trying to put some Dragon Kisses into her bag as a "gift with purchase" but she took them out and said she wouldn't have anything they gave her to eat. He pretended to be insulted but she ignored his pouting.
A couple moments later, before they could get too involved in asking her more questions, Arthur and Remus walked into the store and Remus announced that they needed to get her home right away. He looked a little askance at the bag Cassie had clutched in her hands, but he said nothing about her not being able to buy anything or wanting to know what it was she had bought, so she didn't volunteer the information.
When they got to Cassie's house, her mum introduced Remus and Arthur to her dad, who had just barely arrived home from work. Cassie was a little nervous about how everyone would get along and she really did want to be able to have Arthur and Remus come by every once in a while, even if she couldn't go back to Diagon Alley with them. However, her fears were needless as very quickly the three men struck up a conversation. They got along great and even with Arthur asking a couple of peculiar questions about plugs which made Remus wince and Cassie suck in her breath, before dinner they were friends. Rebecca asked the two visitors to stay and eat dinner with them, but Remus said he had to be getting back and Arthur, although he looked longingly around the house, agreed.
With that visit, then, a pattern was established. Every 2-3 weeks, Remus and Arthur would come and get Cassie and she would then spend a very enjoyable hour or two in Diagon Alley. Quite honestly, Cassie wasn't sure why she was allowed to continue to go to Diagon Alley when Remus had been so frank in his desire to help her separate herself completely from the Wizarding World. Once she had broached the subject with him and he had given her a patient smile and said simply that Arthur thought she should be allowed to come as long as she wanted to, and he didn't want to argue with him.
After that, she didn't ask again because she really enjoyed the visits to Diagon Alley. She didn't always visit Fred and George's shop. One day, Remus even spent the whole time with her and they toured all the various places Cassie wanted to see. She also got to wander around on her own a little bit, although she never got very far out of sight of the twins' shop. She still hadn't told them she was a Muggle, but they were friendly toward her and she felt like if she was ever really threatened, she could run in there and be protected.
August had given way to September and the visits continued. Furthermore, the friendship between Cassie's parents and Remus and Arthur had continued to grow. On one occasion, they even stayed for dinner and visiting. Cassie quietly wondered what her parents would say if they knew they were becoming friends with two wizards. She shuddered at the thought and hoped that would never happen. As is usually the case in such a situation, her fears would eventually have to be faced.
