Chapter 10: The Trio
Just as the word had escaped her mouth, Ellie unexpectedly felt the sensation of being sucked down a narrow tube. She quickly shut her eyes before a cloud of hot ash blew into her face. Ellie was now spinning rapidly, and was beginning to feel a bit nauseous. She remained as still as possible, not knowing what to expect. Still spinning, Ellie decided to open her eyes, carefully, to see what was happening to her. Hundreds of blurred fireplaces zoomed by, each with a different room beyond them. Suddenly, Ellie was hit with a new fear. What if she was supposed to stop on her own? How would she know what fireplace would take her home? Just as she was beginning to think that she would be doomed to continuously spin forever, Ellie found herself face flat on a hardwood floor.
She lifted her head slowly, still feeling extremely dizzy. Looking at the many boxes and crates that filled the room, Ellie concluded that she had landed in another storage room. It was very similar to the last room she was in, but this one was much bigger, with a wider fireplace. Ellie got to her feet as soon as she felt that the room had stopped spinning. She was covered in soot, and tried to brush as much off of her as she could. There was only one door in the storage room that could provide any means of escape. Ellie carefully pressed her ear against the door. There were no voices or any sound coming from the other side. Convinced that the coast was clear, she cautiously pushed open the door, and walked through.
It was another Apothecary, or so it seemed. The walls were covered with hundreds of glass jars, but had much more variety than the Apothecary she had just come from. Being a larger store, it also had twice as many barrels and dingy water filled tanks.
A new thought arose in Ellie's mind that caused her to groan out loud. Although she had gotten herself out of one wizard world, she had only landed herself in another. To make things worse, she had absolutely no idea where she was. For all she knew, she could have arrived in Malaysia.
For a person who attends a school for highly intelligent girls, she was sure making a lot of stupid decisions.
"What are you doing back there?!" A voice shouted. A balding man with thick square spectacles, and a curled moustache was briskly walking towards her from the front of the store.
It was then that Ellie realized that she was standing behind the cash counter.
"This is not a place to fool around!" The man scolded as he seized Ellie's arm. "The joke shop and candy store are across the street, why don't you go play there? The last thing I need is more kids mixing up my potion labels. It's not funny, it's dangerous!"
The man practically threw Ellie out of the store, and slammed the door behind her. Ellie had never been treated so rudely in her life, and was speechless in outrage. She glanced up at the store's sign; Potar and Dram's Potion Supplies.
"Well, I'll have to remember to never go in there again." Ellie grumbled, but her bad mood was abruptly interrupted by the sound of laughter coming from behind her.
Ellie turned around and saw children. Children around her own age. All of them were crowding around a store called Zonko's Joke Shop. In the front window hung a banner that read "Weasley Wizard Wheezes, TODAY ONLY!"
Ellie wasn't sure what the banner meant, but all the children seemed to be very excited over it.
It then dawned on Ellie that she was in a different town. She was now standing on a wide road instead of a cobble-stone path, and the stores weren't cramped together. The overpowering feeling that she was far away from London hit her like a ton of bricks. The only thing that prevented Ellie from panicking was the continuous laughter from the children; somehow it eased her nerves. Ellie decided it was best to push her worries aside until a solution presented itself, and take a look around. Since the joke shop was way too busy for her to even attempt to go in, Ellie decided to walk further down the street. She remembered the rude shop owner mentioning something about a candy store. A large sign saying "Honeydukes" caught Ellie attention. Glancing through the front window, Ellie could see that the store was busy, but not nearly as crowded as Zonko's.
"Well, there's no point in letting these Galleons, Sickles and Knuts go to waste." Ellie thought as she patted her pocket full of wizard money, and walked into the store.
A glassy stare grew on Ellie's face as her eyes took in the sight of the hundreds of candies, chocolates, and sweets that covered the shelves.
Ellie wasn't sure where to begin. She slowly made her way around the store, only picking out the sweets that most appealed to her (that left the cockroach-clusters and the blood-flavoured lollipops out of the picture).
After a good twenty minutes, Ellie walked out of Honeydukes with a bag full of toffees, chocolates, liquorice wands, jelly slugs, Fizzing Whizzbees, Chocolate Frogs, several different types of Honeyduke's own fudge, and a small box of Bertie-Bott's every flavoured bean. Needless to say that Ellie's pocket full of coins was now considerably lighter.
Once back out on the street, Ellie looked across the way and saw a pub called The Three Broomsticks. Still feeling guilty about the ice-cream sundae for lunch, Ellie thought it would be the perfect time to get some real food.
The Three Broomsticks turned out to be tremendously busy. There didn't seem to be one single empty table in the place. Ellie found herself often staring too long at the odd pub patrons. In a short time she had spotted four goblins keeping to themselves at a table in a dark corner, a group of hags gossiping about something (they were speaking too fast for Ellie to understand), and at the back there sat a gigantic man with wild, bushy hair and a beard to match, talking to a tiny man, who couldn't be more than three feet tall. Ellie had given up on looking for a seat, and was just about to leave when she was startled by a voice that came from over her right shoulder.
"You look a bit lost, do you need any help?" The voice asked kindly.
Ellie turned around and found herself staring into the most brilliant green eyes she had ever seen.
The green eyes belonged to a boy who looked to be about Ellie's age, with untidy jet-black hair, and round, thick-rimmed glasses. The second feature Ellie noticed about the boy, after his eyes, was an odd scar on his forehead that was in the shape of a lightning bolt.
"Uh....no. I'm just looking for an empty table." Ellie said, finally finding her voice.
"Well, there's an extra chair at the table I'm at. Its just me and two of my friends. Would you like to join us?" The boy asked with a polite smile.
"Yes, that'd be great." Ellie replied before she even realized what she had just said.
"Well, the table is just over there.' The boy said, gesturing towards the far right wall. "By the way, I'm Harry Potter."
"I'm Eleanor Richards, but everyone calls me Ellie." Ellie said shaking Harry's outstretched hand.
At that moment Ellie felt a sudden jolt in her stomach, but dismissed it as excitement from meeting a real wizard.
Harry led Ellie to a table where a tall freckled, red-haired boy was arguing with a girl with bushy brown hair. They abruptly stopped bickering when Harry and Ellie approached the table. Ellie was then introduced to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as Harry ran to get Butterbeers for everyone, even though Ellie wasn't quite sure what a Butterbeer was. Ellie sat quietly, too nervous to say anything. Seconds later, Harry returned carrying four tankards overflowing with foam. Ellie took a small sip of the Butterbeer, and was surprised at how delicious it was.
"I don't remember ever seeing you around Hogwarts before, what year are in Ellie?" Hermione asked pleasantly, but Ellie could detect a hint of suspicion in her tone.
Ellie took another sip of Butterbeer, giving herself more time to think of an answer without letting on that she didn't belong there.
"Umm..." Ellie began uneasily, "I'm fifteen."
"Ah, a fifth year." Ron hastily said. "You probably know my sister Ginny."
Before Ellie could open her mouth, Hermione wasted no time in asking another question.
"What house are you in?" Her tone of suspicion was much more apparent this time.
House? Ellie could feel her face heating up with panic. There was definitely no way Ellie could fake an answer this time. The longer she hesitated, the more stern Hermione's glare became.
"Well, she obviously isn't in Gryffindor Hermione, or we would have seen her around." Ron blurted out. "You're not in Slytherin are you?" He asked quickly after more hesitation from Ellie.
"Ron, she can answer for herself." Hermione snapped.
"I was just trying to eliminate the possibilities." Ron spat back.
"Well, either she knows or-"
"Guys, give it a rest." Harry said loudly over the bickering. "Its no wonder she isn't answering, she can't even get a word in edge wise."
With the fighting stopped, the focus was back on Ellie.
"You don't go to Hogwarts do you?" Hermione asked conclusively.
Ellie just shook her head, looking down at the table.
"Well, you don't sound like you go to Beauxbaton or Durmstrang because-" Ron stopped talking immediately once he noticed Hermione's harsh glare.
"What school do you go to Ellie?" Harry asked gently.
This was the first question Ellie actually had an answer to.
"Pileforth Academy." She replied.
"Never heard of it!" Ron said quickly, shaking his head.
Hermione, on the other hand, had suddenly turned very pale.
"Have you heard of it Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Yes I have. It's a muggle school for highly intelligent girls." Hermione said seriously, not taking her eyes off of Ellie.
"How do you know that?" Ron asked.
"Because that's where my parents were planning to send me before I received my letter from Hogwarts."
Now, both Harry and Ron were staring at Ellie with the same expression as Hermione.
"I don't mean to sound ignorant," Ellie began awkwardly, "but what's a muggle?"
There was a brief moment of silence before Harry gave an answer.
"It's a person who isn't able to do magic."
"Oh." Was all Ellie could reply. She could feel her face becoming more red with all the attention focused on her.
Hermione was the first to break the long period of stunned silence.
"Ellie, how on earth did you get here? It should be utterly impossible for a muggle to enter Hogsmeade."
"Obviously not that impossible if she's here." Ron commented.
Ellie thought back to how her day had begun. It seemed like ages since her mother dropped her off in front of Jo's house.
"Well, it all began when I followed two men wearing cloaks into a pub..."
Harry, Ron and Hermione hung onto Ellie's every word as she told them every detail about going through the brick wall, exchanging her money at Gringotts, the woman she bumped into (who turned out to be Ron's mother) and mistaking the fireplace as a way out. The only detail she intentionally neglected to tell was the reason why she was in London in the first place; searching for clues abut Nicole's death. For some reason Ellie didn't feel like mentioning her dead cousin.
The table went silent again once Ellie had finished, but this silence was more in amazement than in shock.
"I can't believe nobody realized you were a muggle." Ron said astonished. "No wonder you go to a school for highly intelligent girls."
"You still shouldn't been able to see the Leaky Cauldron." Hermione said frowning. "There are too many charms and enchantments preventing muggles from entering the magic world. I'm worried that a weakness in the enchantments could be caused by-" she stopped abruptly.
Harry and Ron seemed to understand what she was about to say, but Ellie didn't have a clue.
"I think it would be best if we took Ellie to see Dumbledore." Hermione said to Harry.
"He'll probably just obliviate her memory." Harry said glumly.
"Harry, she doesn't belong here."
"Obliviate my memory?" Ellie asked uneasily. What ever it was, she didn't like the sound of it.
"Its just a simple charm that erases your memory." Hermione casually replied.
"Then again, we are talking about Dumbledore. Maybe he won't obliviate her memory. He's usually very understanding." Ron commented.
"Who's Dumbledore?" Ellie asked.
"Its Professor Dumbledore," Hermione corrected Ron, "and he's the headmaster at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."
"Whether Dumbledore modifies Ellie's memory or not, we still have to talk to him." Harry said reluctantly. Hermione beamed at him.
"Right after we take Ellie on a tour of Hogsmeade." Harry added quickly.
"Harry, we can't, we shouldn't."
"What's the harm Hermione, if she's going to get her memory obliviated anyways?" Harry asked slyly.
"What if someone else realizes that she doesn't go to Hogwarts? What if a teacher notices? We could get into a lot of trouble."
"If you ask me, she's already done a good job of blending in. I don't think anyone will suspect a thing." Ron grinned.
Hermione rolled her eyes in frustration.
"What do you think Ellie?" Harry asked.
"I don't want to cause any trouble, but I would like a proper tour instead of assuming what everything is on my own." Ellie replied with a wishful smile.
"Well, that settles it then." Harry said standing up.
"Are you coming?" Ron asked the still seated Hermione.
"Fine!" Hermione exclaimed. "But the only reason I'm coming is to make sure you two don't get yourselves into any trouble."