Christine felt a light nudge on her shoulder; someone was trying to wake her up, and obviously doing a poor job of it. She slowly opened her eyes, expecting the light to blind her at first, but there was no light, at least nothing harsh. She opened her eyes all the way and saw that she was still in the library. She moved her eyes to where the hand must have come from and saw Severus standing there, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"I have been looking for you for over an hour. I wanted to let you know that we will be leaving for Diagon Alley in less than an hour, so it might be a good idea for you to, well, freshen up a bit. Oh, and it looks like you might need this."
He handed her a bottle, filled with a blue green liquid. She was about to ask him about it when she remembered, it was a potion for her bruises and cuts. She said a quick thank you and stood up a bit too quickly. She had fallen asleep on that chair, so her body was incredibly stiff. After a quick stretch she left the room, trying to make it to her own without seeing Lucius on the way. She hurried up the stairs, and after looking down both sides of the hall, dashed to her room. She grabbed her things and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. She hated taking quick ones, it seemed as though you just couldn't enjoy them as much. She did, however, get out in record time and after wrapping herself up in a towel, put on the potion, watching as the marks slowly disappeared as if they were never there.
'Now if only I had something that could really make them disappear for good.'
She got dressed and muttered a quick drying spell on her hair. She then ran over to her trunk and took out her purse which she had filled with money the day before. She then walked down the stairs and into the living room, where she expected to find Severus and Lucius; however, the latter was missing from the picture. She looked at Severus in question.
"Lucius went early to meet up with some school friends."
Christine looked at him, "Well that's wonderful!"
Severus wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not, she did look happy about him not being there, but why?
"And why, exactly, is that wonderful?"
"Well, because now I won't have to figure out a way to ditch him."
Severus was about to open his mouth again, but she stopped him. "And now, I assume why I would want to ditch him, and I will show you, that is if you are a good boy. Now how about we hurry up? I want to miss the rush at Flourish and Blotts!"
Without another word, the two stepped into the fireplace. Severus grabbed a handful of floo powder from the pot and threw it down, yelling the words, "Diagon Alley" in the process. After a very uncomfortable moment or two, they arrived in the alley. They both were absolutely covered in dust, so Christine, being the quick witted one, took out her wand and muttered a quick cleaning charm.
"How you use magic without the ministry catching you, I will never know."
"Ah Severus, that you might find out in time, perhaps today, if your a good boy."
The two walked around Diagon Alley, getting all of there school supplies. They did, however, save the Apothecary and Flourish and Blotts for last, as they wanted to spend extra time there. They walked into the Apothecary, the sweet smell of potion ingredients quickly filling there senses. They first got what they would need for school potions class, then went on to purchase items that they would need for their own potion making. The two spent 45 minutes just walking around, getting the best quality ingredients, then finally left the store. Next they went to Flourish and Blotts. They walked in and thankfully, it was relatively empty. They purchased their school things and then immediately walked towards the potions section. The two spent an hour there, picking up books, talking about which ones were best, comparing authors then finally made their final purchases and left the store.
"So now are you trying to show me?"
Christine looked over him for a moment then nodded her head, "Yes, I think I will. You have been such a good boy"
Severus looked slightly offended at her wording, "I am not a dog."
Christine just smiled at him, "Yes Severus, I am quite aware of the fact that you are not a dog. Now, what are you wearing under your robes?"
Severus looked at her like she was a mad woman, "What? Why?"
"Just answer me, what are you wearing? Pants, shirt, fluffy pink bunny outfit?"
He glared at her, "I'm wearing pants and a shirt. But why-"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence as Christine grabbed his arm and ran down the street. She was in a sprint, Severus was hardly able to keep up, but was very thankful for the first time in his life, that he had long legs so that he could keep up with her. They finally stopped in front of a brick wall.
'Ok, now she has finally lost it.'
Before he could protest, she brought out her wand and tapped a few random bricks. Severus just stared in awe as the bricks began to move, and eventually, made an archway into some sort of Pub.
"Welcome Severus, to the Leaky Cauldron."
"This is what you wanted to show me?"
"Oh no, not this, just come here."
She pushed him towards the bathrooms and told him to take off his robes. She did the same, and once they were off, she shrunk them and proceeded to put them into her pocket. She led him out of the bathrooms once again and they headed for the door. Christine grabbed his hand and they left out the front door, into muggle London. Severus stood there for a moment and took everything in. He turned to look at Christine; her smile was as broad as ever. Severus really enjoyed her smile. It had only been a couple of days ago when he had seen her truly smile, and it had made her face absolutely glow. Christine, like most other Slytherens, kept up a constant guarded face, hardly let any emotion show. He hadn't realized that he had been starring until Christine cleared her throat. He mentally berated himself for staring at her like that; completely unaware that he had been doing it.
'How is it that she can make me do that?
He felt her hand, once again, wrap around his own and pulling him toward some unknown destination. After about five or so minutes of walking, they stopped in front of a shop. They stood at the door and Christine told him to go through the door. Severus hesitantly walked up and opened the door, a far of bell tinkling, alerting the store owner that they had yet another customer. He moved to allow Christine to enter.
'This is what she wanted to show me? Its nothing but a normal book store, a somewhat shabby one at that.'
Severus, however, was completely shocked as, upon closer inspection, the books turned out to be muggle! He shot a look of confusion at Christine, which she returned with a knowing smile. She grabbed his hand once again and took him to a secluded corner where she was sure they would not be heard.
"Christine, did you know that this was a muggle bookstore?"
"Yes Severus, in fact, it's my favorite book shop anywhere, muggle or wizard."
"But how did you find this shop?"
"That, I will have to save for later, long story. I'm sorry if you're a bit awkward here, but this is my last chance to come before school starts, and I figured, you being an avid reader also, that you might enjoy it. I know you don't have muggle money, but I do. Just look around, get anything you want. But we only have an hour here, so I have to hurry. Have fun."
With that she walked off, knowing exactly where she wanted to go. Severus just stood there, not knowing what to do. This was a muggle bookstore after all; he would be in so much trouble if his family knew about this. However, he decided to look around and try and find something. As it was, Severus was in the Occult section and a book on witchcraft quickly piqued his interest. He thumbed through it and found it to be quite comical.
'The things that muggles come up with, honestly!'
Severus walked around bit longer, picking up a couple books along the way, mostly science and history books; those were two of his favorite subjects in school so he decided to see what muggles had to say on the subject. After an hour, he caught up with Christine, her arms absolutely filled with books. With a smile plastered on her face, she turned to Severus.
"Well, I seem about done, did you find anything?"
He nodded to the couple of books in his hands and she allowed a small smile. "Well, looks like the hour is almost up, ill take these and check them out. Be right back."
She grabbed the books from her head and trudged over to where a lady was standing by a strange looking machine. He watched as she scanned the back of the books with a red light and as Christine handed her what looked to be some sort of paper. Then the strange machine made a noise and part of it popped out. The lady at the register handed Christine some paper and a couple coins, then put the books in two bags.
'Ill never understand muggles.
Christine walked back over to him, a smile still plastered on her face. "So, feel like going to lunch then?"
Severus nodded in reply as they made there way back to the Leaky Cauldron. They grabbed their robes and put them back on, and then Severus made back towards Diagon Alley.
Christine looked at him oddly, "Where do you think you are going?"
"Back to Diagon Alley, I thought you said you wanted lunch."
"I do, but why not just eat here?"
He looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted antlers and begun mooing like a cow. "Don't look at me like that. This place is as good as any, honestly Severus, learn to live a little. Maybe if you brought you nose out of the air, then you see that there are things besides high priced restaurants and manors."
He glared back at her, as if trying to burn a hole in her skull. She simply glared back, finally, after about ten minutes; Christine broke the silence, her glare still in place. "Severus, I'm hungry, I'm angry, and I'm on PMS. If you don't stop glaring now, I won't be responsible for my actions, and I don't think you would enjoy living as a eunuch for the rest of your life."
Severus paled slightly and moved slightly, as if unintentionally trying to protect his groin. He glared a moment later, then walked over to a table and hesitantly sat himself down. Christine moved toward the table and sat on the opposite side, looking as happy as ever. She grabbed her menu which had appeared upon sitting down and looked through it.
"Boys will never cease to amuse me. One slight mention of PMS or causing harm to their groin and they fold like a napkin." She could feel Severus glaring at her again, his eyes burning her skin, "I'll have the Fish and Chips with a glass of Pumpkin Juice please."
In a flash, her menu disappeared and her food sat where her menu had been moments before. She grabbed a bottle of ketchup and began to drizzle it over her food. She could still feel Severus' gaze on her as he ordered chicken something. She simply ate her food, doing her best to ignore him. If he was going to be all pouty and snotty, then that was his problem, not hers.
She was avoiding his gaze, he knew it. He watched as she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, trying to eat her food. Severus grabbed a bit of his and ate it slowly, hardly taking his eyes off of her. He enjoyed making her uncomfortable, but he also enjoyed just watching her. There was a question still, plaguing his mind from earlier.
"So, tell me, how exactly did you know about that bookstore?"
She looked up in surprise, not at his question, but at the fact that he had spoken. She watched as he lowered his gaze back to his food. "Well, about three years ago, I was doing some research for school when I came across this one book. I had never seen it before and had no idea why it was in the library. The author, J.R.R. Tolkien was a muggle writer, I later found out, but seeing as how I had never heard of him before, I checked out the book. Once I started to read it, I began to get a little more interested. Growing up I had been taught that all muggle things were trash and not worth our time, so, I figured that muggle literature had to be terrible garbage as well. Turns out I was wrong, while the book was very far fetched, even for wizarding standards; I found it to be very entertaining. I looked all around the library for another muggle book but I couldn't find one, so I stone some Ravenclaw's Muggle Studies book. I read it and it turns out muggles are quite interesting. I then remembered reading somewhere about how there was a way to get to Muggle London from the Leaky Cauldron and all you had to do was poke certain stones with your wand. So, one day, on break I decided to check it out. I had warned my brothers before hand that I wanted to have a day of research in my library and that I shouldn't be disturbed because it was that time of the month and they would loose their ability to reproduce."
"You like to do that don't you?"
"It's one of the perks of being a girl. You get to threaten the opposite sex with castration and female problems. But anyway, I flooed to Diagon Alley, walked to the Leaky Cauldron and walked out the front door out into muggle London. It took a bit for me to figure out where to go, I had exchanged a few galleons for some muggle money so I bought myself a map of the city and memorized the store name that was next to the Leaky Cauldron, seeing as how that probably wouldn't be on a muggle map. I walked around a bit until I found that bookstore, I went in and the rest is history."
"Well, that brings up another question. How did you use your wand? Wouldn't you get caught? Haven't you got caught? God knows you've used magic enough this past couple weeks alone to get your wand broken."
"Well that's simple enough to answer. I have two wands. One registered that I use for school, and one unregistered and untraceable one, that I use during the summer. My brother's gave me their old one summer of second year."
Severus looked back at his plate and began to eat again. Christine was quite the interesting witch, never ceased to amuse or surprise. A few minutes later, the two had finished. They both paid for their meals and made their way back into Diagon Alley and back to the Manor, though not before running into an old friend.
Hope you enjoy :) Again, please review!
