Chapter Fifty-one

The girl, who Nathaniel had walked up to, looked at him oddly. "Can I help you?"

Her voice caught Nathaniel off guard, though he didn't know why. "Uh… Hi."

The girl smiled hesitantly. "Hi. Can I help you with anything?" she repeated.

"I, uh—" Nathaniel looked the girl in the eyes. Such pretty blue eyes. "Um…" Wait—here he was, the person with the best comebacks and sarcasm, couldn't even form a sentence around a girl. A sentence! "I like your eyes."

Completely surprised by what Nathaniel had said, she just laughed uneasily. "Thank you. Do you have a name?"

"Yes," Nathaniel said. "Um…" What's my name? Oh, yeah… Nathaniel Jacobs. That was easy. Too bad she couldn't read my thoughts, since I'm going to have a really tough time getting those two words out of my mouth. "N—Nathaniel Jacobs. What is yours?"

She grinned. "Amaryllis Jackson. I was going to get some coffee. Er—would you like to join me?"

Yes! Yes! "Sure."

Amaryllis nodded, walking forward. As soon as she reached the doors, she turned back as she realized that Nathaniel wasn't following. "Are you coming? Or are you going to stand there all day?"

"Uh, no, I'm coming," Nathaniel said, walking towards Amaryllis. She held the door open while Nathaniel went through, and then she followed.

Nathaniel had no clue what this place was called, only that they had small, round tables and chairs, and it smelled too much of coffee. At least, he suspected that the smell was coffee, since that was what Amaryllis was going to get.

"Are you getting anything?" Amaryllis asked as she went up to the counter.

"No," Nathaniel replied, staying behind Amaryllis as she ordered. Once Amaryllis had a cup in her hand, a contented smile was placed on her lips and she brought the cup forward.

"Mmm… doesn't that smell so good?"

"I… guess," Nathaniel said, wondering what to do next.

Amaryllis seemed to sense that. "Do you want to go sit?"

"In here?" Nathaniel said, looking around the small room. It smelled too much of whatever Amaryllis had, and the smell was starting to get to Nathaniel.

"Well… if you want. But there's more chairs and tables outside," Amaryllis explained. "It's up to you."

"Outside," Nathaniel said quickly. "We'll go outside."

-

Nathaniel watched Amaryllis drink her drink nervously. Was he supposed to say something? A lot of things came to mind—questions, mostly—but nothing seemed to be able to come out of his mouth.

"So… what can I do for you?" Amaryllis's voice cut through Nathaniel's thoughts. "You startled me when you came up to me, you know. I'm just not sure why you did. Care to enlighten?"

Nathaniel shrugged, becoming sheepish. "You looked friendly."

Amaryllis started to laugh. "Friendly? You come up to me and say 'hi' because I looked friendly? Really— Nathaniel, is it?—I could've been anyone. A—a mass murderer for all you knew!"

Nathaniel cracked a smile. "I could tell you weren't, though."

Amaryllis smiled. "So, what about you? Are you a mass murderer?"

Nathaniel smiled a bit more. "Nope. So why did you ask me to come sit here with you, even though you didn't know me?"

Amaryllis sipped on her drink. "I don't know. You just seemed—how do I put this?—friendly."

"Friendly, huh?" Nathaniel said with a teasing grin. "Well, that does make two of us."

"So where do you live?" Amaryllis asked, taking another sip. "I haven't seen you around until today. Did you just move here or something?"

"Actually, yeah," Nathaniel replied. "I'm with Snape and Harry."

Amaryllis nodded slowly. "Ah, yes. Severus Snape. Harry… is that his son?"

"Yeah, I guess," Nathaniel replied.

"Are you Harry's brother?"

"No," Nathaniel said with a laugh. "No, just… friend."

"So you're not staying here? Are you just visiting?" Amaryllis asked, looking only a bit disappointed.

"I'm not sure," Nathaniel admitted. He watched as Amaryllis shook her empty cup.

"Well, we should go."

Amaryllis stood up, waiting for Nathaniel to do the same. Nathaniel hesitated a bit, looking at the door that led into the smelly place.

"Do we have to go out that way? Isn't there… an easier other way?"

Amaryllis grinned, tugging on Nathaniel's hand. "Sorry, that's the only way out. Come on."

-

"Ugh," Nathaniel looked down at his clothing. "I stink."

"You smell good," Amaryllis said as they walked along the road to their houses. "You smell like coffee. Coffee smells good."

"It stinks," Nathaniel said, screwing up his nose. "If it stinks this bad, I can't imagine how you could even drink it. That's… it's… disgusting."

"I take it you don't like coffee," Amaryllis responded with a smile. "Have you even ever tried it before? I mean, if you didn't, then you can't judge it on the smell."

"Well, I'm judging it anyway," Nathaniel said with a laugh. "I should go now, since the house is right there and everything…"

"Yeah," Amaryllis nodded. "My house is right there." She pointed to the house next door.

Nathaniel frowned. "What did you say your last name was, Amaryllis?"

"Jackson," Amaryllis replied. "Jackson. Why?"

"No reason," Nathaniel responded with a shake of his head. He grinned. "See you later, maybe?"

Amaryllis nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

What do I do now? Nathaniel thought to himself as they just stood there. Should I hug her? Say goodbye again? Or just walk away? Maybe I'll walk away, because I already feel uncomfortable as it is.

Nathaniel grinned at Amaryllis again before walking through the door, only to be greeted by Harry, who flew down the flight of stairs.

"Nathaniel!" Harry exclaimed once Nathaniel shut the door. "Where've you been?"

"Out," Nathaniel replied simply, walking up the stairs. "Why?"

"Because I was waiting for you," Harry said calmly, following Nathaniel up the stairs. "You took a long time. Who was the girl you were with?"

Once Nathaniel reached the hallway that led to Harry's room, he stopped and looked back at Harry with raised eyebrows. "Were you spying on me?"

Harry's eyes widened innocently. "What? Spying on you? I wouldn't do that. I know better. Anyway, how could I have spied on you? I mean… you were somewhere… and I was here in my room waiting for you to come back."

"But when I did come back," Nathaniel started, continuing to walk to the room. "Were you spying on me then? Through your window, perhaps?"

Harry shook his head vigorously. "No."

Once they were in Harry's room, Nathaniel sat on the bed. "Really?"

Harry sat down next to him. "No. I lied. I was looking out the window to see when you were going to come back and then I saw you with a girl, so I wanted to know who she was."

"I met her today," Nathaniel replied. "Her name's Amaryllis Jackson."

"As in the Jackson's daughter?"

Nathaniel nodded. "Yeah. Her."

"Where were you at?" Harry asked.

"At this place," Nathaniel said with a shrug. "I couldn't read what it said. But she got coffee. I think I smell like that place, too."

Harry leaned forward and sniffed. "Yeah, kind of."

Nathaniel grinned. "Doesn't it stink?"

"So you were just at this place?" Harry repeated. "Drinking… coffee?"

"I wasn't drinking it," Nathaniel corrected. "She was. I was just watching."

"Were you at the Coffee Cup?"

"No, not the place we went past. It was another coffee place," Nathaniel explained. "I wonder if I'll ever see her again."

A slow grin started to form on Harry's face. "You like her, don't you?"

Nathaniel shrugged, looking Harry in the eye. "I don't know."

"Well… I'm happy for you," Harry decided firmly. "I think you should like her. Hey, maybe tomorrow we could go over to the Jackson's house and see Alexander and Amaryllis," he suggested.

Nathaniel started to nod. "I guess so. Do they… know? About magic and Hogwarts?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. You didn't… Did you?"

Nathaniel's eyes widened. "What? Did I—No! I did not."

Harry kept his eyes glued onto Nathaniel. "Are you telling the truth? Did you tell Amaryllis about magic, and that you could turn yourself into a snake and back?"

Nathaniel shook his head firmly. "I didn't. I swear I didn't."

Harry started to relent. "I believe you, Nathaniel. I just thought that maybe since you liked her that you told her. After all, you're not completely human yet, you wouldn't know not to tell her."

Nathaniel looked Harry in the eye seriously. "I promise that I won't tell Amaryllis that I can change into a snake and back. I promise, I promise, I promise."

Harry raised his eyebrows, waiting for Nathaniel to continue on.

Nathaniel sighed. "And I promise that I won't tell her about Hogwarts and magic, either. At least," he grinned at Harry, "not yet."

Harry hit Nathaniel's arm playfully. "Not yet?" he repeated. "C'mon, Nathaniel! You can't be serious. You and Amaryllis will probably go out tomorrow, you'll laugh or whatever, then you'll feel like you've known her for a long time, right? Then, out of the blue, you'll start saying how there's a magic school, and magic, and then you'll tell her that you can turn into a snake. And back."

"I'm not that mental," Nathaniel said, trying to bite back the smile that was forming on his face. "But really, Harry. I promise that I won't do that."

Harry looked up at Nathaniel and smiled. "I know you won't."

"Cross my heart," Nathaniel declared with a brief nod of his head. "Now… how can we get this awful smell of coffee out of my clothes?"

-