Steps
of stone, morning bright blue.
Stick of flame, a candle winks at
you.
After a thorough, yet fruitless, search of the internet the night before for any information on The Leaky Cauldron, morale was rather low the next morning. I was tired, cranky and seemed to be getting nowhere fast. Although I had no desire to ask random people on the street if they knew my father, Ronald or Hermione Weasely or Harry Potter, I had no trouble asking those same random people if they had ever heard of The Leaky Cauldron. It was difficult though because I needed to remain vague in my questioning. After all, I had absolutely no idea what The Leaky Cauldron was. It could be a place, a book, a band, hell, for all I know; Dudley could have yelled it out in some kind of psychotic stupor.
Nevertheless, I spent most of my day combing through London's coffee shops and bookstores, asking whoever was polite if they had ever heard of The Leaky Cauldron. After five hours of searching it was four in the afternoon and I decided to start asking whomever I ran into as I stumbled around the streets, with no consideration whether they were polite or not.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" a voice shouted at me as I ran straight into something solid. I looked up blearily right into the greyest eyes I had ever seen, highlighted by the whitest blonde hair in existence. It took me awhile to realize that the man was staring down at me as I stared up at him with my mouth hanging open.
"It's common courtesy to apologize when you run into someone, but you look American so I suppose it's to be expected," he drawled as he grabbed my arm and hoisted me off the ground.
"Sorry," I mumbled as I stared at my feet, "I was a bit preoccupied."
"Well, that's no excuse for being rude," he replied with a snort and then turned to walk away.
"Do you know anything about The Leaky Cauldron," I blurted out and then let out a silent cheer as he stopped in his tracks. He turned around and stared at me a moment while I blushed furiously.
"Are you lost?" he asked. Unknowingly he answered one of my biggest questions; I now knew that The Leaky Cauldron was a place.
"Yes," I said with a sigh of relief, "I was supposed to meet a friend there but I don't know my way around London." He gave me a reassuring smile and reached out to shake my hand.
"My name's Draco, why don't you let me escort you there, I was heading to Diagon Alley anyway." And with that he turned around and made his way through the crowds of people on the street.
"Um, my name's Jenny," I said as I walked beside him, "Thanks for this, I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't run into you, I would've been wandering around all day."
As we walked down the street side by side I had the opportunity to study him closer. Draco was definitely one good looking man. He appeared to be in his early thirties and carried himself like royalty. Plus, he had the most beautiful blonde hair, it looked so shiny and smooth that I could barely keep myself from reaching up to run my fingers through it.
"Well, we're here," he drawled. We had stopped in front of a small door which seemed to be squished between two bookstores. Above the door there was a hanging sign with a witch stirring some concoction in a cauldron.
"How fitting," I mumbled to myself and followed Draco inside.
Only two words could describe my experience of walking into The Leaky Cauldron, complete and utter culture shock. The place was dark and dirty. Old wooden tables were setup in the middle of the room with a few booths lining the sides. A bartender stood behind the bar serving drinks as waitresses bustled about taking orders.
The most shocking thing though was how the patrons were attired. All of the men and women wore long cloaks that brushed across the floor as they walked by. Draco glanced at me and he could tell right away that I was uncomfortable.
"Why don't you let me buy you a drink while we wait for your friend?" he asked as he led me towards a booth in the corner of the room.
"Um, okay," I said with a nod and sat down across from him. I carefully placed my backpack next to me on the seat as Draco ordered drinks for the both of us. It wasn't surprising that I didn't recognize the drink; I was finding out quickly that I was deeply out of touch with London culture.
"Two butterbeers please," he told the waitress. She flashed him a smile, a slight blush to her cheeks and then she was gone.
"So, this is the first time you've been here right?" he asked, obviously trying to draw me into a conversation. I nodded quietly once again, not sure of what to say. My heart was beating quickly in my chest as I realized that I had wandered way too far out of anything I was comfortable with. It was true that as a journalist I was used to being in many different types of situations but all of this was way over my head.
"Are you a muggle?" he asked quietly. His voice was serious and his eyes surveyed me from across the table.
"What?" I asked. His eyes widened slightly.
"You don't even know what that is do you?" he asked.
"No, but I've heard the term before," I answered plainly, this was no time to attempt to lie.
"Okay..." he said slowly, "How did you find out about The Leaky Cauldron?"
"Someone mentioned it to me and I was curious," I stated as the waitress set our drinks down in front of us. Tentatively I sipped at the liquid and was surprised at how pleasing the taste was.
"Who mentioned it to you?" He leaned closer to me and his voice sounded slightly worried.
"Um, I don't know if I should tell you, he seemed to be quite afraid he would get in trouble," I answered, "Can I ask you a question?" He nodded slightly and waited to hear my question.
Here was my chance but I wasn't quite sure what I should ask. There were so many questions running through my head. I decided on the safest one.
"Do you know Ronald or Hermione Weasely?" I asked. A small sneer grew on his face as he seemed to think to himself for a moment.
"Weasel and Granger," he sneered with contempt, "Why would you be looking for them?" I was slightly taken aback by his tone but recovered quickly.
"My father mentioned them in his will so I've been searching them out."
"Well, if your father knew them then maybe I knew your father. Was he from London?" I thought for a moment, not knowing for sure how much I should tell him.
"Yes, he grew up in London and went to school in Scotland," I said, trying not to make it too obvious that I was fishing for information, "I'm not quite sure what school though, he never told me."
"Hmmm, interesting, what was his name?" he asked.
"James Riddle," I answered and then watched Draco lose all sense of decorum and drop his glass of butterbeer onto the table with a loud thud.
"Is something wrong?" I asked as the waitress hurried over to clean up the spilled butterbeer. Draco watched in silence until after she was long gone and then leaned back in his seat. His cheeks had paled considerably and his hands shook slightly.
"What was your father's name?" he hissed. I was startled for a moment before answering.
"James Riddle," I answered again, "did you know him?" He shook his head fiercely and then leaned towards me.
"No, I've never heard of him," he answered in a low voice, "Are you related to a Tom Riddle?" The last question was spoken so quietly that I had to strain to hear him properly.
"Not that I know of," I answered, "but Dad didn't speak much about his past, so who knows." We sat in silence for a long moment, neither one of us knowing which of our questions to ask next.
"Draco, what am I going to do with you," a voice called out. I turned to see a tall, pale, older man with chin length black hair and beady, black eyes walking towards us.
"Hello Severus," Draco drawled and nonchalantly waved his hand. I could feel the man's eyes on me as he approached and I couldn't help shifting nervously under his gaze.
"So," he said with a purr, "picking them a little young aren't we? Not that I can blame you, she's beautiful." He reached for my hand and pulled it to his lips. My cheeks flushed red and Draco nearly choked on his butterbeer.
"Severus, I think you should sit down, we really need to talk," Draco said as he tugged on Severus' robes. Severus batted his hand away and continued to stare at me.
"Just a moment Draco, I need to introduce myself to your lovely lady friend." He stood straight, bowed slightly and then said, "Severus Snape and I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance." Draco rolled his eyes and I couldn't help but let out a small giggle.
"Jenny Riddle, and I'm very pleased to meet you also."
Thunk! Severus Snape dropped down into the booth, seating himself next to Draco and stared at me with an unreadable expression on his face. The strange reactions to my name were starting to get frustrating and I had no trouble voicing my opinion.
"WHAT NOW!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY NAME?! WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE AND THE NAME RIDDLE?!" After I finished with my tantrum I realized that yelling my last name for all the bar to hear probably hadn't been the best idea.
All sound in the bar suddenly disappeared and The Leaky Cauldron became deathly silent. I could hear whispers coming from all around me.
"...Did she say Riddle?..."
"...sitting with Death Eaters..."
"...supporter of You-Know-Who I bet..."
"...dressed like a muggle..."
The whispering became too much and I had to get away from there. I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door. My feet were leading me blindly across the sidewalk and I was so focused on getting away that I missed the sound of two people running up behind me.
"Hey, slow down would you?!" Draco yelled at me from behind. I stopped in my tracks and slowly turned around. Severus and Draco walked up to me slowly.
"I need answers," I whispered and stared at the ground.
"What was that?" Severus asked.
"I NEED SOME FUCKING ANSWERS RIGHT NOW!" I screamed. Birds flew up into the sky, babies cried, heads turned, but I saw none of it, I cared about none of it. I was thoroughly pissed off.
"Okay, calm down," Draco said as he stepped towards me, "Let's go somewhere and talk, I'm sure we can figure something out." Severus attempted to smile at me but ended up staring impassively instead.
"I can't breathe," I choked out. It was true, I was having a panic attack and it was going to be bad.
"Severus," Draco whispered, "look there." Draco pointed at the spot on the sidewalk under my feet and we all stared down at it. Small hairline cracks were forming in the concrete and slowly spreading in a spider web type pattern.
"Just calm down Jenny, just calm down," Severus said in a gentle, monotone voice, hinted slightly with a tinge of anxiety.
"I...I can't...o god...I can't..." I stammered as I tried to catch me breath. The cracks underneath me began to get bigger and snapping sounds could clearly be heard. Severus reached into his robes and pulled out a long, narrow stick.
"Severus, what are you...?" Draco's voice trailed off as Severus quietly said, "Stupify," and then everything went black.