I was waiting anxiously in Madam Rosmerta's pub. Biting my lip and drumming my fingers impatiently on the wooden table in front of me, I sighed. How long could Professor Dumbledore take? The pub looked somewhat full with a mish-mash of wizards and witches. A pretty lady bustled around the pub filling orders. She finally came to my table after a few orders from some staff members of Hogwarts.
"Hello, sweetheart! Are you here with your parents?" she asked, scanning the pub.
I was taken aback, but then realized that in this realm, I looked and technically was eleven, the still "innocent" age of being taken everywhere with my parents. I shook my head with a fake smile plastered on my face. She gave a small nod, as if she was acknowledging my "big girl-ness".
"What would you like to order then, miss?" she replied, with the enthusiasm on the last word. I rolled my eyes without her noticing. I could not really stand this "child treatment".
"I'd like one butterbeer, hold the foam," I said briskly, surprising the pretty lady with my tone and adult-like attitude. She smiled and went to get my order. I watched her retreat back and finally realized why Ron had a crush on her. She was very attractive, but this was more than twenty years before the famous trio had met her. She must have cast a few anti-aging charms over the years to retain her pretty youth. I smiled to myself, appreciating how well I knew this world.
As I waited, I looked around the pub to see the other staff members. None of them were familiar to me except the very huge man sitting by the wall of the pub by himself. Rubeus Hagrid, gamekeeper of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I thought to myself. The ragged half-giant saw me staring. I smiled at him and waved. He seemed flustered by this and hastily rose his giant hand to wave back, but instead knocked over the wooden table, causing all his glass of butterbeer flying and spilling all the contents all over the place. I bit back a great urge to laugh and hurried over to the distressed Rubeus.
As I brought up the table, he hurried over to the spilt contents of his butterbeer and his shattered remains of his glass and brought out his umbrella and whispered something that caused the glass the vanish. He turned around to look at me. I simply smiled at him, causing him to frown.
"Who are yeh?" he demanded. My smile faltered a little at his tone.
"My name's Ch- Mary," I replied, quickly remembering my new name. He raised an eyebrow. "How are you, Rubeus?"
He raised both his eyebrows and stuttered, "H-How do yeh know my name?"
"Oh, um, I-I'm a Seer," I lied. His bushy eyebrows rose even higher up his forehead. "Yeah, I-I kind of just saw meeting you at the Hogsmeade train station when I go with you to Hogwarts on the boats." Hagrid seemed to have believed me when I said this, and lowered his eyebrows and managed to smile.
"A Seer, eh? Tha's somethin'."
I smiled, ignoring my guilt of lying, and replied, "Thanks, Rubeus."
A slight blush crept his cheeks and he murmured, "No one calls me tha'. Call me Hagrid." I smiled again, and nodded.
"So Mary, why are yeh here anyway? School doesn' star' 'til next week," he asked. I opened my mouth to respond, but my answer had just arrived.
I heard a creak of the door, and I simply beamed.
Dressed in a simple dark robe came the headmaster. A few staff members gave enthusiastic greetings while others in the pub simply nodded. He spotted me at Hagrid's table and came to me. He gave Hagrid a smile.
"Hello Rubeus! Wonderful to see you that you have already made acquaintances with a new first year," he said, while drawing up a chair to sit down. Hagrid and I hastily looked for chairs and sat down.
"Ah, yeah, Professor. Mary is quite a firs' year, ain't she?" replied Hagrid, while giving me a grin. I felt my face getting a little warm. Professor Dumbledore half-raised his eyebrows and x-rayed me with his piercing blue eyes.
"Indeed she is," said the headmaster. I simply nodded, trying to ignore the guilt of lying to Hagrid.
Madam Rosmerta finally came hustling to our table and with a slight sigh, she said, "Finally! I was looking everywhere for you! I thought you had disapparated or something! Well, that's impossible since... Well, anyhow, don't go wandering off to other tables, miss! It makes it a lot harder for me to go around looking for y- Oh! I'm so sorry! Hello Professor!" She finally realized my company after giving me a slight scolding. Her cheeks reddened, and faced me again and stammered, "So, that'll be six sickles."
I raised my eyebrows, and completely forgot that I had no money to pay her! I shot a quick look to the headmaster and he had a bemused look on his face. He chuckled at my panic and reached into his robes and brought out his wand. He waved slightly and my books, cauldron, and bag of galleons were conjured up.
"You seemed to have forgotten your belongings when you left my office, Miss MacDonald," said the professor. I breathed a sigh of relief and took the bag of galleons and brought out a fat gold coin. I handed it to the impatient Rosmerta who snatched it and gave the exact change in one swap.
However, she faced the headmaster, and asked sweetly, "Would you like anything, Professor?" The headmaster simply shook his head. Madam Rosmerta gave a slight bow and left. As I watched her walk away, I heard her grumbling to herself, "Why did you bow, Rosmerta! You looked like such a troll!" I giggled a little.
"So, er, how are things Professor?" asked Hagrid. I looked at Dumbledore.
"Well, first, I'd like to apologize to you Miss MacDonald for my tardiness. I had to finish up a few, ah, matters for this school year."
"Oh, no, it's okay! Really!" I said, feeling a tinge of regret for being mad before on his lateness. He nodded and smiled and turned to Hagrid.
"Well Hagrid, things are turning a bit well, even in the current situation the wizarding world is in," said Dumbledore, "I feel that this school year will turn out to be very well indeed." I didn't have to face the headmaster to feel his eyes x-ray at me. I gave a nervous smile.
"Ay, professor. It's a week before school, and we already have a Seer!" exclaimed Hagrid, giving me another grin. I felt like a huge slab of guilt slapped me in the face. The headmaster gave another look of bemusement and neither denied or supported this statement.
"Ah, so, Professor, I-I think we should be heading off now," I stammered, very eager to leave. I liked Hagrid, but he did have a habit of talking too much.
"Why yes, we should. But I do think it would have been worth six sickles to have your butterbeer," commented Dumbledore, pointing a finger at the lone drink. I completely forgot and grabbed the glass and started to chug. I drank the whole thing and slammed the empty glass onto the table. I looked at the surprised faces of Hagrid and Dumbledore. I just chugged a drink. I looked like more a weirdo than before. I mentally slapped myself. Now it wasn't just the drink that was warming up my face.
Dumbledore simply chuckled, and said, "Alright then. We should depart now. Thank you Hagrid for your warm company!" He stood up and I quickly got up too.
"Oh, uh, Professor? Are yeh leavin' somewhere then?" asked Hagrid, seeming almost crestfallen.
Professor Dumbledore nodded and turned to leave. I looked behind and waved a goodbye to Hagrid. He waved back and forced a small smile. I felt bad that we were leaving him alone.
"Oh, um, sir?"
Professor Dumbledore turned around again to face me.
"Yes, Miss MacDonald?"
"Um, I-I think maybe I should go by myself. I realized that you have a lot of things to do and that I shouldn't make you accompany me," I said, feeling selfish. Dumbledore, on the other hand, smiled.
"Ah, you are right. But you shouldn't go by yourself, even if you may act older than your age," he said, his eyes twinkling. He turned again to Hagrid. "Hagrid, would it be too much of a favor if you accompanied Miss MacDonald to Diagon Alley for her school shopping?"
Hagrid beamed and said, "Oh yes sir! I'd love ter go!" He got up and thumped his huge hand on my back, crushing a few bones and knocking the wind out of me. Professor Dumbledore smiled again and bowed slightly and with a loud crack, disapparated.
Hagrid smiled down at me.
"T-Thanks Hagrid," I said, trying to regain my breath.
"No problem! So, yeh wanna get goin'?"
"Sure," I responded, grinning. I did pass up a chance to go shopping with Dumbledore, but I'll be shopping with Hagrid! Besides, I always had a chance to go shopping with Dumbledore. This all was a dream.
Right?