Star and Lightning

2nd Chapter – Stumbling Over a Mysterious Pub

Starlett opened the door to "Michael's Place", a small dark pub with a kittchen in the back, went in and scanned the room for Zaza, who was working here. She didn't see her, so she went straight to the kittchen. There she was. Zaza was a tall and slender woman whose hair was blue that day. Though she was only 10 years older than Starlett, Zaza felt like a mother to her. She was the one who had found her and taken care of her. When she saw Starlett entering, she put the vegetables, she had been working on, aside and greeted her warmly.

"Hey, my little star." She hugged her, trying not to touch her with her hands in order to keep her a little clean. "Slept well?"

"Yeah, quite well. Do you happen to have some leftovers?"

Zaza carefully looked wether her boss was watching, then ushered Starlett into a corner of the kittchen and gave her some food, that had been prepared, but not sold the day before. While Starlett was eating, they talked.

"You can't imagine the rubbish I dreamed this night." Zaza said, turnig to her work. "I dreamed, I was in the London shopping mall, you know that one where they have so many juwellers. There I saw a damn expensive but also damn beautiful dress that was guarded by several guys with guns. I really wanted that dress, but how to get past those nasty guys? Then you appeared and made them fly high into the air. You should have seen their faces."

She turned around to look at Starlett and they both laughed until their stomaches began aching. Then Zaza added: " But I believe, in the end I forgot to take the dress with me."

They broke out laughing again and when they had calmed down, Zaza asked seriously: "What about that pain in your scar? Has it come back?"

Starlet shook her head. "No, not in quite a time."

After a short time, when no one spoke and the only sounds were the scrapping of Zaza's knife and the dimned talking and clattering from outside the kittchen, she added: "But my control has become better." Zaza looked up and smiled a little. "Yesterday I managed to make a briefcase falling out of a rich man's pocket without any side-effects like the last times. I only had to go where it had fallen after he left and pick it. Unfortunately it was almost empty. One would think those guys in tuxedos carrying a breifcase 'd have a lot of money with them, but no…"

"And let me guess, you spend that little money on a pot of coffee and a book."

Starlett smiled sheepishly and nodded. Zaza knew how much she loved to read. Starlett had sometimes gotten in trouble because she had spent the money she got on coffee and books instead of giving it to Garry, her "employee", the gang's boss.

"And did you…" Zaza began, but was interrupted by Starlett: "No. It seems hopeless to find any book about it. I even asked a saleslady in that great bookstore next to Winney's and she told me to look into the Fantasy departement. But that's all it is: fantasy. What I can do, is real."

Starlett sighed and concentrated on her food again. Zaza watched her with a frown, then turned back to her work. She knew how much this bothered the young girl, but she couldn't help. Starlett ate silently and Zaza didn't make any attempt to talk, either. When she was done eating, Starlett bade Zaza goodbye and left.

While walking through the busy shopping mall towards the meeting point, where the gang would meet soon, Starlett saw a dark little pub, she had never realised before. It was called "Leaky Cauldron" and curious as she was, Starlett opened the heavy door and peeked inside. It was dusky inside and only mildly illuminated. Although the Place was easy to oversee from the outside, it was crowded with people. A man and a woman, both wearing black clothes and long cloaks although it was summer, came in through the door and pushed Starlett in. She felt awkward there with her top and jeans because almost all the other people in were clothed so weird. She thought about going straight outside again, but seeing a man step into a fire and disappear made her decide to stay a little. If people could walk into fire here, maybe they could also make things happen, like Starlett. Curiously, Starlett made her way to the bar, trying to overhear as many conversations as possible. The people were talking about holidays in places with weird names she had never heard before, broomsticks, the ministry of magic, … Yes, Starlett decided, this Place was definitley worth an investigation, even if that meant risking to arrive too late at the meeting.

When she reached the bar and sat down on a barstool, a bartender turned to her and asked what she wanted. When Starlett ordered a coke, the man curiously eyed her and her clothing, then asked: "Muggleborn, eh? Keeping old habits?" Without waiting for an answer, he shouted "one coke" into the kittchen and turned to another guest. Great, Starlett thought, she already was noticeable enough and then she had to order a coke. Was anybody else in here drinking a coke? No. As she had no idea of how things worked in this world, she had to find a way to melt with these surroundings and the people in order to be able to watch before doing anything. So she decided to sneak out of this place before the bartender's attention was back on her and he maybe even wanted some money. She'd have to get herself a dark robe, like these people were wearing. Then she wouldn't be this noticeable anymore.