Chapter 38
Window Shopping in Hogsmeade

George smiled at her as they crossed the street in front of The Three Broomsticks and then slipped into the alley rather than walking along the crowded sidewalks. "We'll run into them if we go on the street, so we'll use the back alleys. I know right where I'm going, so you don't need to worry." Cassie was not worried. In fact, of all the emotions she was feeling at this moment, worry wasn't even registering on the list. Mostly, it was excitement although happiness was ranking high as well. She felt like she was on an adventure - one you could read about in a novel or watch during a movie. And the fact that she was with a handsome boy who liked her and there was the definite possibility of more kissing later on in the adventure was adding to the pounding of her heart and the undoubted flush of her face. The stores from this angle looked like they could belong in any old-fashioned sort of town, Muggle or wizarding. Although when Cassie looked a little closer as they passed behind one, right before they turned a corner, she noticed some cauldrons stacked behind it. Okay, that she would not see in a Muggle town. A moment later George pushed open a dingy-looking door and they slipped into a darkened storeroom. He put his hand to her mouth as the door shut behind them. "Shhh. Don't want to scare anyone." He whispered low next to her ear and she nodded. The room was completely dark and George didn't move for a second. "Lumos," he said in a slightly louder whisper and his wand tip lit up. Cassie smiled at him through the dim light and he smiled back. "I know this place well. The door to the store is right through there." He indicated a door across the narrow room. "But first," and he turned to her and grabbed her shoulders. She let out a small squeal of surprise that was quickly muffled by his lips against hers.

She could have stood there all day, letting him kiss her like that. When she felt a wall against her back, she smiled to herself. Good. She liked being kissed this way because it helped support her when her knees got rather weak and watery. But before she could even settle into what she had hoped would be a very nice long kiss, George pulled away from her. "Come on." And then he was pulling her through the door into a totally surprising amount of light and noise. So far in Hogsmeade, she had not seen that many students. The five of them had found the streets still quiet as they approached the Three Broomsticks and though the pub had been full when she and George had left by the front entrance, the noise level had been low. Since then, she had only seen Ginny. But coming into what she must assume was Zonko's, she thought her eardrums might well explode. The store was absolutely packed full with students, and all of them seemed to be screaming at the top of their lungs. At first, she was terrified that something bad had happened, but George didn't even miss a step as he led her, weaving through packed aisles, until they reached a corner of the store. She looked around, wanting to see everything, although it was nearly impossible to see much more than a few inches in front of your face before you saw black robes. She saw a few faces she recognized and she said hello and hi and smiled as they passed. No one seemed to think it odd in the least that she was here with one of the Weasleys and after a short while she relaxed.

The shelves were stuffed full of merchandise, but she could see that this would not last long. Students were grabbing things off the shelves at an astounding rate. Cassie looked closer at what was on the shelves in front of them and saw that it was mostly Weasley's Wizard Wheezes merchandise that she recognized from their store. George grabbed a girl's arm as she grabbed a box of fireworks. "Excuse me . . .I'm taking a survey. Would you be willing to help? I have a nice gift for those participating." The girl, a third-year Ravenclaw, nodded rather hesitantly and he proceeded to ask her all sorts of questions about what else she was buying and why she had picked that particular item, etc. At the end of the brief discussion, he reached into his robe pocket and drew out a small bag. He enlarged it and then handed her an item from inside it. She scuttled off and he turned to Cassie. "Fred was supposed to be doing this. I don't even have parchment and quill to write down the answers. I don't suppose you do?"

"Sorry. Did you really come to town to do a survey?" Her heart sunk a little.

"Of course not. You know very well why I came. We don't really need to do this market research . . . but we thought it made a good excuse for why we would choose to come to Hogsmeade on one of the busiest days of the year. And these . . ." He handed her the bag, "are for you. They won't turn you purple or anything. They're just good chocolates, I promise." She smiled and took them. She felt much better now. It was silly, she knew, but she didn't care. She was thrilled that he had really come for her.

"Let's wait for everyone else to get here and then we'll put Fred to work doing the surveying and you and I can look around at the various things. This is a great store."

"It sure seems very popular."

"Yeah. We were pleased when Zonko's started carrying our stuff. Eventually we want to open our own outlet here, but that's a few years down the road, I think. We don't want to tie up too much capital and time. We're rather busy with . . ." His voice trailed off and he looked stricken for a second and Cassie suddenly realized what he meant. The war. Her heart skipped a beat. It was still hard to believe that he was fighting in this war. And there was every possibility that he or Fred may not survive it. She glanced at him with sudden terror. The thought of any of the Weasleys' lives being snuffed out by the evil they were currently fighting scared her and she grabbed his hand.

"Promise me you won't die."

"I'm too stubborn to die." And he laughed, but she sensed the nerves behind it and she wanted to hug him in reassurance, but right then, the other five of their group found them and she and George both forced smiles onto their faces. "Glad you're here, Fred. We've gotten about 10 surveys done. Good stuff. Your turn. I would think 5-6 more would be an adequate sample. Meanwhile, I'll look around the store and see what the competition is offering. Come on, Pia." All six of them left Fred standing there trying to find someone who would be willing to answer a survey.

Ron and Harry seemed to know exactly what they wanted and headed immediately for that section of the store, a feat more difficult than one might have expected. They had to keep fighting their way through crowds. However, their persistence paid off and they both grabbed their desired items off the shelves. Ginny also smiled happily as she grabbed a box of dungbombs off another shelf nearby.

"Did you want to buy anything, Pia?" George asked as Ginny and Harry got into a bit of a friendly argument over who would be paying for her selected merchandise.

"No. I wouldn't have any idea what to get."

"You have a little brother, don't you?" At Cassie's nod, George grinned. "Well, then almost anything here would be great. He would have a great time tormenting your parents with the dungbombs or the frog-spawn soap."

"What do those do?"

"The dungbombs just stink like crazy - as the name implies. The soap looks innocent enough until you actually wash with it, and then the bubbles turn into tadpoles."

"Um - thanks for the suggestions, but I think I'll pass. I do have to get both my brothers Christmas presents, but I don't think either of those things sound like they would work."

"You have two younger brothers?"

"Yes. Matthew is 12 and John is 8."

"I think I only knew about the 12-year-old."

"Yeah. He had a birthday and I bought him some things at your shop. That's why."

"Oh. That's right. You wound up getting him some fireworks, if I remember correctly."

"The wet-start, no-heat kind. They were a really big hit. Everyone loved them. All of his friends were pestering me for more of them, but I told them I had ordered them from a catalog that I conveniently forgot the name of. I think they all were checking internet search engines for weeks hoping they would find them on line. They never had any luck, of course." Ron and Harry had finished paying for their purchases and were headed back toward them. Ginny was scowling as Harry had apparently won the argument and had paid for her box of dungbombs. But Cassie noticed that she took the bag when Harry presented it to her.

"Okay. I'll bite. What's an internet search engine?" Cassie looked at him in surprise but then remembered they didn't use electricity, thus, no computer.

"That's a long story. I'll tell you about it sometime. But if you ever want to expand into the Muggle market, you'll definitely want to use the internet. Basically . . . well, there's really nothing basic about it. Too confusing to talk about right now." They were joined a second later by the two couples, both holding hands and another minute later by Fred, who looked flustered.

"Next time I suggest coming to Hogsmeade to do market research - hit me. I forgot how completely insane this store is when the madding hordes are here." They all shoved their way through the crowds, heading toward the door. Once outside, they stood there, breathing hard, trying to cool off after the heat of the interior of the store.

"When are we going to eat, and where?" Ron asked. Hermione laughed.

"Do you ever think about anything but food? Honestly. It's rather embarrassing."

"I'm a growing boy. I need nutrition." He scowled at her, but then they both grinned at each other. Cassie had heard this argument between them several times in the week she had been at school with them and realized that it was sort of a running joke between them and no malice was intended.

"Anyone have any ideas?" They all looked at each other but no one volunteered any suggestions. "How about the Hungry House-Elf, then?" Hermione scowled this time, but Ron just jostled her arm.

"You know you like it there, Hermione. It's just the name that gets you frazzled."

"The food is good . . . but I always feel like a traitor when I go in there." Cassie deduced from this short conversation that this must be a restaurant or café. If the food was good, it sounded promising. But she didn't say anything. She would be happy with anything, really.

"I think that's a bit pricey, Fred, for us students." Cassie knew by that comment that Ron actually meant himself and she squirmed in sympathy. She decided she should mention that she didn't have much either.

"I'm a little strapped right now myself actually, Fred. I've only got a few galleons with me and I don't know when I can get more." Ron looked at her gratefully and Cassie smiled back at him.

"Fine, fine. We'll pay for everyone, then." Ron brightened up measurably. Cassie was embarrassed, but she assumed George had planned on paying for her lunch at that inn by Loch Ness anyway, so maybe as far as she was concerned it wouldn't make any difference. Hermione didn't say anything to argue against it and Cassie watched her carefully for a second. It was sort of interesting, the dynamics of the two established couples there. Harry had lots of money, she had been told, and Ginny didn't have much. So Harry was easily able to pay for anything and everything she wanted and that worked okay. But Hermione came from a family where both her parents were dentists and she was an only child. So, she was probably not used to watching her spending and her parents probably kept her in however many galleons she wanted. But Ron, who was expected to pay for everything, had hardly any money and probably had to scrimp and save for the simplest meals and things. She wondered vaguely if Hermione chafed under the forced spending restrictions. At school, she imagined, it would make little difference. It was only on days such as this and maybe at Christmas and other holidays that it would matter. Cassie looked away from Hermione and looked up at George instead. However Hermione dealt with it, she had obviously done so, because she was definitely in love with Ron and his lack of money didn't seem to be a hindrance. George glanced down at her and grinned.

"Does that sound good?"

"Anything would be fine. I'm not fussy."

"Okay. Well, Fred, why don't you pop over and see if we can get a table? It's usually crowded on Hogsmeade day, and with seven of us . . . it might take them a bit to get ready for us." Fred nodded and a second later with a quiet pop, he was gone. Cassie blinked. She hadn't seen anyone young disapparate before. She had forgotten that once they got to be 17, they could get a license for this. "Oh, darn it. I was going to ask him to check into getting one of their private rooms. I thought it would be easier to talk there. I'll be right back." And then, with an almost identical pop, he was gone, too. Less than a minute later, George was back. "Okay. He's going to try. He'll be here in a few minutes. What else shall we do today?"

Everyone seemed to have a suggestion. Honeyduke's was suggested by both Ron and Harry and Cassie jumped in, saying that she wanted to go there, also. They were discussing other places that they wanted to visit when Fred reappeared. "All right. The only room available was the Slytherin one. Hope that's okay." There were groans all around. "Just kidding, just kidding! Don't bite my head off. We could have had the Slytherin room at noon, but if we were willing to wait until 1, we could get the Gryffindor one. Of course, that's what I told them we would prefer to do."

"That's more than an hour from now!" Ron groaned. "I'll die."

"You won't die. Just think how nice and hungry you'll be when we get there."

"I'll definitely get one of those appetizers I love so much if you're keeping me waiting that long."

"That's fine. We'll probably all need something like that by then. Meanwhile, have a chocolate." Fred held out a bag of chocolates that Cassie thought was identical to the one George had given her inside the store. Ron reached out to take one, but then drew his hand back.

"No thanks. I'll . . . wait. Let's go to Honeyduke's first."

"Ron! No. You'll eat too much and you won't be hungry for lunch. Let's go to some other stores first and then Honeyduke's after we eat." Everyone else agree with Hermione's suggestion and Ron grumbled but gave in. His hesitancy at eating from the bag Fred held made Cassie a little nervous about her own chocolates. George had promised that they were fine and she doubted that he would lie to her about something like that . . . but then she remembered the Dragon Kisses and thought she would eat them with caution. She thought about offering Ron one of her chocolates, but didn't want to try to explain how she had gotten them, so she didn't.
Since Honeyduke's had been vetoed, Ron seemed set on getting them all into his second-favorite store and they followed him down the street to a place called Spackman's. It was not nearly as busy as Zonko's had been, although Cassie could see through the window that there were some students looking at the merchandise. The sign above the door read "Spackman's Wizarding Sports and Magical Games" and it was with a definite warming of interest that Cassie followed George into the shop. The store had a wide variety of items and Cassie thought it all looked fascinating. There was a whole Quidditch section and Harry and Ginny made a beeline directly for that corner of the store. There seemed to be a professional Quidditch teams area which sold all sorts of items with the teams logos and what looked like a selection of team posters. Ron made an exclamation about there being a new Chudley Cannons poster and dragged a bored-looking Hermione toward it for inspection. Fred, George, and Cassie watched the four as they headed off and Fred grimaced. "It looks like we found something to distract Ickle Ronniekins from his stomach. We'll be lucky if we can get him out of here before we lose our reservation." George laughed in response and Cassie smiled, too. Poor Ron. It must be hard to be younger than two brothers like George and Fred. He would be the subject of unbelievable teasing. Then Fred muttered something about needing some new Exploding Snap cards and left the two of them standing there alone.

"Anything in particular that interests you?"

"Whatever you think would be fun to look at. I'm not interested in buying anything. Do they sell those animated chess sets here?"

"Animated chess sets?" George looked confused.

"Yeah . . . the ones that move."

"They sell chess sets here, of course. What do you mean by animated?"

"They move."

"Of course they move."

"Well, not all chess sets move, you know. Muggle ones just stand still."

"I've heard that but I never really believed it. I thought Hermione was just pulling my leg. They don't move at all?"

"No. They don't talk either."

"That doesn't sound like it would be very fun."

"I'm hardly an expert. I haven't played much . . . Muggle chess. Never wizard chess. But, when I did play, it was fun."

"Haven't played much, huh? Interesting." Cassie looked up at him because he had a strange tone in his voice that she could not identify. But his face was totally serious and she couldn't really tell what he meant by that. He led her over to the chess sets and she looked in amazement at the variety of chess sets available. There were probably 20-30 sets on display, ranging from a small set that looked like it could be tucked into a pocket or purse to an extremely large, very ornate set whose individual pieces were probably 12 inches high. Each piece was decorated with what to Cassie at least looked like real jewels and the crowns on the heads of the kings and queens sparkled like gold. One set was playing by itself and Cassie laughed at the different pieces as they all argued among themselves over which pieces should be sacrificed to the other team.

"How do they do that? Make them play by themselves, I mean."

"It's not difficult. If they are set up, they play. A simple charm on the two kings to be in charge of the other pieces, and . . . well, it's not that hard." She laughed as one of the pawns refused to move in front of the enemy's knight but then she turned to George.

"It sounds hard."

"It's not." George stepped a little closer to her and put his hand on her arm. "We're by ourselves here. No one is looking at us. And if we step over there a little bit . . ." Cassie looked where he was indicating. He was right. This corner of the shop was exceptionally deserted and the wall jutted out there. If they stepped behind it, it would be almost impossible to be seen unless someone was practically on top of them. She nodded faintly, hoping that she understood what he was asking her. He stepped over to the tiny alcove and pulled her in next to him. They had to stand very close to each other. Neither of them complained. "Hi, beautiful." She flushed at his compliment. His hand cupped her chin, lifting her face up to his for his soft kiss.

You would think, she told herself, that after kissing the same boy a few times it would start to be kind of repetitious. But it wasn't. Every time it was different. This time, it was almost tentative, like he had forgotten what it was like in the 45 minutes or so since their lips had last touched. She made a small noise in the back of her throat and he seemed to take that as encouragement, because he pulled her closer. After a few minutes, though, they both realized that they were taking a rather big risk and so by mutual agreement they pushed away from each other and walked back out into the main part of the store. They drifted casually over to the Quidditch supplies and George admired the latest model of Firebolt that was on display. After a few moments of that, though, he and Cassie headed over to the area where Ron was still examining the various Chudley Cannons merchandise.

"Do you like the Cannons, too?"

"Hell, no! I actually have taste, unlike my pitiful younger brother who seems to feel that lost causes are always the best ones to support. I like the Falmouth Falcons." Ron just smirked at him and left the area. Cassie thought that he probably didn't want to hear anything bad about his beloved Cannons. He did seem to really be attached to that particular Quidditch team. Of course, she couldn't say anything. She had seen many an extended family argument over which football team was worthy of support. Men. They all seemed to be the same, whether they were wizard or Muggles.

"Ron doesn't always support lost causes." And Cassie nodded her head over toward the younger brother in question, who had his arms around his girlfriend and was whispering something in her ear.

"Hmph. Only because she wouldn't let him be too big a prat to notice him. And, of course, the famous Weasley charm didn't hurt matters."

"Weasley charm, huh? I'm not sure I'm familiar with that concept."

He slanted her a nasty look. "Ha. Very funny. Watch it, or I won't buy you any lunch." Cassie decided she better change the subject rather quickly although she had only been kidding. She glanced over the team displays.

"Did you say the Falcons?" He nodded. She raised an eyebrow. "Their colors are horrid. That gray is really blah."

"Colors? That's a girl's comment for you. Who cares about colors? They're a good team. They play hard and they're great to watch. And they actually win a lot of their games." He turned to talk to Fred, who had come over to see what they were looking at. Cassie grabbed a small Falcons sticker. It was only a sickle and she could afford it. On second thought, she grabbed another one. He probably already had one, but he surely wouldn't mind another. She saw Harry up at the register, paying for something and she headed over to him.

"Hi, Pia. Are you having fun?"

"This is a great store!"

"It's fun. We come here quite often and spend too much money. I'm getting a book today. What are you buying?"

"A couple of stickers."

"The Falcons? Who likes the Falcons?"

"Um. . . . I like their mascot. It's nice."

"Yeah. Okay." He looked like he had serious doubts about her taste, but she ignored that.

"Who do you like?"

"I cheer for the Cannons. Keeps the peace. Besides, I don't really follow the professional teams. They play in the summer and in the past, it hasn't been that easy to find out what's going on. That'll probably change now. Maybe I'll find a team of my own to support. Ron will eventually forgive me, I suppose." Cassie paid her two sickles and took the bag back from the smiling cashier and then turned back to Harry.

"I'm sure he won't hold it against you forever."

"Have you ever actually spoken to Ron about Quidditch? He's a little obsessed." Cassie was about to make a funny comment back, since that had been exact thought a few minutes before but everyone else came over to join them.

"We're going to head out to see what else there is to see before we go to lunch." George looked at the bag Cassie still held in her hand but she just grinned at him and put the bag into her purse. It wasn't much, but she wanted to surprise him with it later. They left the store a moment later and started down the sidewalk. They stopped several times to visit with students that they recognized. They saw Neville who was walking with Dean and they talked for a few minutes. A little later, they saw Pavarti and Lavender, who tried unsuccessfully to flirt with George. Cassie tried not to scowl at her openly. She wanted to punch her in the nose, but she restrained herself. She knew Lavender was not really interested in George. It was just that she liked to flirt with anyone male. At least, that was the impression she had gotten from Hermione in the past.

As they left the two girls, Ginny grabbed Harry's arm. "I've always wanted to look in this shop and you always say we don't have time. We're standing here, we've got about a half hour before lunch, and I've got backup in Hermione and Pia. I want to look in here and I won't take no for an answer." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But you've really only got 20 minutes. So make it quick."

All seven of them entered the shop and Cassie immediately saw why there had been a conflict. It was a jewelry shop - and it didn't look cheap. On top of that, there was an entire section of the small store dedicated to engagement and wedding rings, a subject that Cassie supposed all males were instinctively wired to avoid. Ron groaned and George patted him on the back.

"Better start saving those sickles, son. I'm afraid your single days are numbered." Hermione shot George a dirty look, but then all three girls headed over to the ring section. They were not all engagement rings. There seemed to be a counter full of magical rings of all types and since Cassie was not interested in the engagement rings at all, she stopped there and studied the items out on the counter. Most of them were quite lovely. There were some obviously geared for Hogwarts students and their parents because they had the crests of the different houses of the school and there were some that had two different houses' crests. There were some that had what Cassie recognized as the Hogwarts' crest with all four mascot animals. There were some rings that seemed to have been charmed to do various things for the wearer such as making them smarter or more beautiful. Cassie looked those over briefly but didn't pay too much attention to them. There were lockets of all sorts, all of them magically charmed. From what she could tell from the brief description, if you put likenesses of your true love and yourself into the lockets, different things would happen. It could strengthen love, protect your lover, ensure that he could not stray, etc., etc. Cassie looked these over carefully, trying to decide if these were something her mother would like. She had just discarded the idea completely when she heard her name being called.

"Pia. Come here." She looked up and saw Harry motioning her over to a counter. She stepped over to him and caught her breath. The pendants, each suspended on a slender gold chain, were beautiful and she looked in wonder at them. "There's yours."

Cassie looked closer. Each of the pendants were round with some sort of gemstone that Cassie didn't recognize. It had a depth to it that made the pendant look deep and mysterious. Each of the pendants had jewels, diamonds she supposed, set into the gemstone in a random-looking pattern. The overall effect was lovely, like nothing she had ever seen before. George walked up behind her. "What are you looking at?"

Harry answered him. "They're constellations. See? The dark sky and the diamonds are the stars. I was just telling Pia that this one is hers."

"Her what?"

"The constellation she was named after. Cassiopeia." George's eyebrows rose into his fringe.

"I didn't know . . . that makes sense, though. And those are nice. Do you like them?"

"It's lovely - but too dangerous for me to wear. No one can really put both names together, you see." Cassie was extremely embarrassed by this conversation. But she raised her chin. No reason to be embarrassed. Harry was just pointing them out, not suggesting that she buy one. And they really were lovely. "Thank you, Harry. They are beautiful." She was about to say more, but Ron interrupted.

"Aren't we done here yet? I'm starving. It's gotta be time for lunch." Cassie glanced down at her watch. It was about ten minutes before they were supposed to be at the restaurant. Everyone laughed and the seven friends stepped out of the cool dark shop onto the brightness of the Hogsmeade street again and Fred led the expedition toward the restaurant. It might have a strange name but everyone seemed to agree that the food was good, and right now that was her main priority. She didn't want to admit it to anyone but she was in complete agreement with Ron. She was starving, and it had to be time for lunch.