The Shop
Guendolen, Aileen, and Kimberly walked down the cold stone steps into the dungeons.
"Do we have to go to Potions?" Kimberly muttered.
"Potions isn't that bad," Aileen piped up in her usual cheerful manner.
"I agree with Kimberly," Guendolen said. Aileen shrugged.
"Whatever, but I still like it." Just then they reached the Potions door. They opened it and went in, taking their seats near the back. The professor walked in right after them.
"Good morning, class," she said in her raspy voice. Professor Willaver took her place by the cauldron in the front of the room. She was a short woman, with tightly curled brownish grayish hair. She wore tiny little glasses that barely covered even the bottom half of her eyes. Guendolen figured she just wore them to look more intelligent. Willaver actually was an intelligent woman, but she was strict and angered easily.
"Today we will make a sleeping draught," she continued. Everyone groaned; they did this every year. The girls sat through the familiar lesson, mixing the potion almost by memory. Finally they got out, and walked out of the dank dungeons as fast as they could. When they were on their way to Transfiguration, their friend Trey ran up.
"Hey guys!" he said excitedly. "You gotta come check this out!"
"Sorry, but we have Transfiguration," Guendolen said.
"Aw, come on!" Trey exclaimed. "It's really cool! It won't kill ya to skip class this once."
"Yeah, come on!" Aileen said excitedly. Kimberly shrugged.
"Works for me." Guendolen stood there silently. Everyone looked at her expectantly.
"I dunno..."
"Guendoleeeeen!" Aileen moaned. She made her best puppy dog face she could. Guendolen sighed.
"Fine." Aileen smiled. The girls followed Trey up a few flights of stairs to the sixth floor. The walked down the hall, then stopped in front of the abandoned girls room.
"Oh no," Guendolen groaned. If anyone heard her, they ignored her. Trey pushed open the door and they went inside.
Guendolen's mouth fell open when she saw the old dirty bathroom. She had been in there once in her first year, as a dare, but now it was totally transformed. The whole place had been cleaned, and all the cubicles and toilets had been cleared out. They had all been replaced by tables along the walls, all covered in emerald green fabric. On top of the tables were all kinds of things; potions, trading cards, books, candy...these were only a few of the thing that Guendolen saw.
"Welcome to my shop!" a voice said. Avery stepped out from behind the sinks, his arms open wide in greeting. He smiled at everyone, but froze and dropped his arms when he saw Guendolen.
"Yup, we created this whooole thing," Trey said proudly, apparently not noticing Avery's strange reaction. "Look around...if you see anything you like, give us a call and we'll tell you the price! Or you can trade for something. We accept pretty much anything." Guendolen looked at the tables again and knew this was true. She turned around and pretended to be interested in an ugly old ring so that no one (especially Avery) would notice the strange smile on her face. She walked along the tables, looking at all the items. Suddenly she collided into something. She looked up and saw Avery.
"Sorry," Guendolen half-whispered with a small smile and red cheeks. Avery had a horrified look on his face. Guendolen gave him a strange look.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"I...uh...gotta go do something!" he said quickly, then dashed out the door. Guendolen stared after him, wondering what had gotten into him.
Up near the ceiling, Dog was chuckling quietly.
