The next morning was bright and cheery. Nora woke up early and quietly left the room, deciding to allow Elaine a lie in. Downstairs, delicious smells wafted out as Nora pushed the door to the kitchen open. Remus stood over a pot of gently bubbling porridge, using one hand to stir the mixture and the other to flip a pan of sizzling bacon.

He looked up when he heard her come in. "Good morning!" He called, smiling cheerily.

"Good morning, Mr...er...Remus. Is there anything I can do to help?" She said. Remus looked surprised but gratified, and he nodded over to a carton of eggs. "Do you think you could make a batch of scrambled eggs?"

"But of course." Nora said, putting on a French accent, "I can whip up a mean scrambled egg before you can say chicken!"

Soon they had made mounds of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, porridge, and pancakes. As the coffee was brewing, Remus poured two glasses of orange juice, and they sat at a small kitchen table.

"This place is very deceiving from the outside." Nora said, looking around the brightly lit kitchen. Remus smiled.

"That's what most people say."

"How did you get started in this business?" Nora asked curiously. Remus glanced away, looking reluctant to answer the question. She nodded understandingly, saying, "It's all right. Don't worry about it." He smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. Nora didn't know what to say in the silence, so she shifted back in her chair, letting the conversation drop. His eyes met hers, looking grateful, yet there was something else in their deep gray depths that Nora couldn't quite make out. But he does have nice eyes, doesn't he? They're so gray, they look like slate. Nora was shocked at her own thoughts. What the hell are you thinking, you idiot? He's too old!

After awhile, Remus pulled out of his reverie, looking at his watch. "Oh my goodness! It's 8 o'clock." He stood and picked up a tray of pancakes. Nora took the large bowl of porridge, following him into the main dining room. Most of the guests were already seated, including Elaine, who looked up sharply as Remus and Nora entered. Nora smiled at her, placed the bowl in the middle of the table and sat next to her.

"What were you doing?" She hissed harshly as Remus disappeared back into the kitchen. Nora reached for the plate of pancakes, pile three onto Elaine's plate as well as her own.

"Well," Nora replied calmly, "I woke up early, and I didn't want to wake you. So I snuck downstairs and seduced Remus Lupin in the kitchen over a frying pan." Nora laughed at the horrified look on Elaine's face. "Just kidding." Elaine frowned at her.

Nora smiled down at her plate. This was the way it always was with she and Elaine. Elaine was always cautious, always taking things very slowly. Nora had always been reckless, especially since her parents' divorce. It seemed that since then she had never been willing to take care of herself. She was very protective of her friends and her younger siblings, but she cared nothing when it came to her own safety. Only Elaine seemed to understand the real pain under the shields Nora had put up. Only Elaine knew what it was like to have visitation "rights" and to have to watch in agony as her little brothers and sisters were forced to spend every other weekend at a different house, rather than grow up with one intact family under one roof.

Nora had promised herself, that day, when she discovered The Secret her parents had, that she would never open her heart to any person, especially men. She knew too much what it would feel like to be abandoned.

Remus entered the room again balancing the rest of the food on a large tray, and Nora eagerly took a serving of eggs, dousing them liberally with the ketchup from the small bottle at the end of the table. She looked up to see the rest of the people looking at her strangely.

"What can I say?" She said, "Americans love ketchup and eggs." Elaine sighed.

"You're the only one who likes ketchup and eggs, Nora. You like ketchup and everything, I never understood why." Nora smiled sheepishly, until Remus sat down across from them and reached for the small bottle.

"Don't worry, Nora. You aren't the only one who likes ketchup." With that he covered everything on his plate, except for the pancakes, in a thick layer of ketchup.

Elaine looked at his plate in disgust, and stood abruptly. "Excuse me, I think I've lost my appetite." She walked from the room, with Nora calling from behind her, "Oh come on Elaine! We worked hard on this breakfast. You don't have to cover everything with ketchup, just some of it. Maybe the porridge will taste good with some. Elaine? Come back, please?" There was no answer, and Nora looked down at her plate again, her good mood ruined. The other guests started laughing and talking, and Remus leaned across the table.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. Nora looked at him in surprise.

"Sorry? Why should you be sorry?" Her voice was a little sharper than she had meant it to be, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. She shook her head. "What I'm upset about is the fact that this will be our last summer together before we're off to college, and she's acting like she's got a bee in her bonnet."

"Maybe I shouldn't have used so much ketchup?" Remus asked softly. She smiled weakly.

After breakfast, Nora walked back up to their room and found Elaine intently studying a map of London. "Hey." Elaine looked up.

"Hi. I've found some great sites we could go to today, all within walking distance." Nora smiled in relief. Elaine wasn't resentful; it must've been the sight of the ketchup that had really upset her.

"That sounds great!" Nora said enthusiastically. "We should head out right away."

The day proved to be fun for both of them. They took pictures, watched the changing of the guard, and even managed to make the stiffly standing guard twitch by kissing him on the cheek. They bought a lunch of fish and chips, and sat eating it in Picadilly Square while trying to fend off the masses of pigeons.

Later, while they were walking down a larger avenue, Nora spotted a tiny, unremarkable doorway in between a flashy record shop and hairstylist's. There was a sign on the outside that said The Leaky Cauldron. Her curiosity was instantly piqued.

"Hey, Elaine."

"What?"

"Let's go in here."

"What, the record store? But we can see the record store anytime in America."

"No, not that, the one next to it."

"You want a haircut now?"

"No, no," Nora said gesturing impatiently, "I mean in between the record store and the hairplace. That little door there...don't you see it?" Elaine gave her a worried look.

"Nora, are you feeling all right? Maybe we've walked too much for today. Do you want to head back to the inn?" Nora couldn't understand why Elaine was refusing to see the Leaky Cauldron, but she gave in. It was most likely because it appeared so much like the Rose Inn on the outside, and Nora clearly remembered how Elaine had first reacted to that.

"Perhaps." She said with a sigh. As they walked back to The Rose Inn, Nora made a mental note of the location of the Cauldron. She had the funniest feeling that she had not imagined it.

That afternoon, Remus Lupin was not at dinner, though everything was set up before they sat down. Nora wondered vaguely where he could be as she ate a delicious slice of mince pie. She noticed that Elaine was coming out of her shell more, describing to Trelawney what they did that day.

"Then, we ate lunch in Picadilly Square, right in front of those huge stone lions, you know the ones I mean? And those pigeons! Oh, my god, they were ready to tear us from limb to limb if we didn't give them something to eat. I told Nora not to, but she gave them a few of her French fries...I mean, chips. Droppings everywhere! But we decided to come back when we were walking along another street, and poor Nora had a hallucination, which I'm sure was brought on by the heat."

Trelawney looked excited by this, her already large eyes widening. "A hallucination, dear? Perhaps it was a premonition brought on by the ambiance of..."

"Yes, yes, all very well and good," Diggle interrupted quickly, "Perhaps Nora wants to describe what she saw today?"

Slightly taken aback, Nora said, "Sure." They all looked at her expectantly. "Well," She said slowly, "We were walking down a street, though I can't remember which one," A lie, but they won't know, "and I spotted this tiny door in between a record store and a barber's. It had a sign that said The Leaky Cauldron, it looked kind of like a bar...um...pub. Elaine didn't see it for some reason, so I've decided that I must have had some kind of hallucination or something like that. Oh, yeah," She said, remembering something from the corner of her mind, "I saw this man walk in to the pub. He was wearing what looked kind of like scarlet robes. So, I must have been hallucination, because no one wears clothes like those. Not anymore, I would hope." Nora stopped talking and looked around the table. Elaine was snickering at her, but that was to be expected after ranting on about hidden doorways and men in robes. However, the other guests were looking rather excited. The man with the bowler derby was practically bouncing up and down in his chair, looking around at everybody and winking. Ms. Trelawney looked slightly disappointed but was smiling as well, and Diggle kept leaning over and whispering to the man with the mustache.

"Well?" Nora asked. Trelawney took the opportunity.

"It was not quite what we expected, but I would have to say that this is startling news. I believe that we need to have a discussion after dinner with you. Sorry, Elaine," She looked apologetically at Nora's friend, who seemed stunned by their reaction, "But I'm afraid we cannot allow you to be a part of this conversation."

"Excuse me?" Nora broke in indignantly, "She cannot be allowed in the conversation? She is my friend, my best friend to be exact, and there's no way in hell you are going to exclude her. If you want to say something to me, well then you are going to have to say it to both of us."

The man in the bowler derby bounced even more, crying, "Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff! I would stake my life on it!" The man with the mustache looked at the derby man sternly, before turning to Nora.

"We respect your loyalty to your friend, we most definitely do. However, what must be said is for your ears alone, and should you wish to relay the information to her at a later time, then you may do so. But for now, you are to be the only one who hears what we have to say. Is that understood?"

Nora stood up abruptly. "Yes, I understand. Therefore, I am going to choose not to hear what you have to say." With that she turned and walked from the room.

Elaine walked into their bedroom later to see Nora staring at herself in the ornate mirror with a strange look on her face

"Hi." Elaine said, quietly.

Nora turned. "Hey. You know what, I think this mirror was just talking to me. It said, 'Listen, listen.' Maybe I'm going crazy." She turned back and looked at the mirror. Elaine walked quickly over, hugging her from behind. She felt Nora tense up as she always did when others touched her.

"You are not going crazy!" Elaine whispered fiercely. "Though it was rather rude what you did to them tonight."

Nora stood up, breaking the embrace, her green eyes flashing dangerously. "I...I was rude!" She sputtered, "Who are they to just brush you off? 'I'm afraid we cannot allow you to be a part of this conversation?' Doesn't that define as rude in your dictionary? 'Cause it sure as hell does in mine! They're nothing but a bunch of...of...dammit, I can't think of what to call them!"

"Stuffy old British codgers?"

"That's it!" Nora said, starting to pace around the room. Elaine watched her friend working herself up. She had only seen her act like this a few times in all the years they'd known each other. Usually Nora was cheery and easy going, quick to make friends, but rarely get very close to them, keeping the relationship superficial. Whenever anyone tried to reach out to her, to bring more meaning to their relationship, she backed away quickly, as if she felt she couldn't touch anyone. Only Elaine had been able to cross this border, and even now she was careful about touching Nora.

"Nora?" Elaine asked after awhile.

"What?" Nora said, stopping to look at her.

"Aren't you the slightest bit curious about what they have to say to you?" Elaine plowed on, knowing that closed look on Nora's face. "I mean, I really don't mind missing out on the conversation. After all, you could just tell me everything when you feel like it, like the guy said." The closed look had receded somewhat, but Nora still remained adamant.

"No, I'm not curious. If they want to say something to me, you'll have to hear it with me. Not later."

"Well, all right." Elaine backed off. "How about a movie, then? I heard there's a pretty good film out right now." Nora smiled, a controlled, forced smile. Elaine seemed to know what to do all the time. She's just so calm and placid.

"Sounds good." Nora tried to seem enthusiastic. Just forget about everything. You can't think about things too much, or they will drive you crazy.

It was a good movie, a British comedy that had both of them laughing hysterically. They left the movie-theater happily chatting and flicking popcorn at each other. Nora had temporarily forgotten what had happened earlier that evening, when suddenly...

"Did you see that?"

"What?"

"An owl! An owl just flew right overhead!" Nora cried pointing up.

"Where? I don't see anything."

"It's gone now, but I swear, a huge brown owl flew overhead carrying what looked like..." She trailed off, unwilling to say what she swore she had seen the owl carrying.

"Well, what was it carrying?" Elaine asked.

"A mouse." Nora finished weakly. She didn't think it could be possible that an owl would be carrying a package. Or could it? Oh, my god. I think I'm losing my mind. She looked at Elaine.

Elaine shrugged, saying unconcernedly. "That's cool." Nora felt herself breathe a sigh of relief. She was going to drop it, not talk any more about owls, or hidden doors, or talking mirrors, or anything.

With a shock, Nora realized they were walking down the street where she had seen the Leaky Cauldron. She took a quick glance to see if the door was still there, and felt her stomach drop when she saw it was there. She gave a small start when two people entered the Cauldron, both in billowing black robes. This time she was sure she wasn't imagining things.

Nora looked at Elaine to see if she finally did see it, but Elaine's eyes seemed to slide from the record store to the barber's without even resting on the door. Nora felt slightly ill, and Elaine stopped and stared at her.

"Nora? Are you feeling all right? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Anna moaned, swaying slightly. "Must be the popcorn."

"We should get back." Nora nodded, and turned back around, allowing Elaine to lead her.