Notes and Disclaimers: This story is about Eileen Pierce's summer between "Father Figure" and "Eternal Knight", she visits several of her friends and learns some interesting things about them in the meantime. Each chapter of this story will be about a different person she's staying with and the secrets they indulge. The characters starring in this short story are: Eileen (of course), Cheryl and Gregory Applegate, Artemis Prewett, Lucas, Page, and Roderick Beowulf, Fred and George Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Severus Snape. Special thanks to Starr and Otaku for helping me find my inner New Yawkah! XD Enjoy and make sure you read it, some of this might be referenced in the next story! ~_^
Chapter 3: New York
The morning came quickly and Eileen woke to find herself alone in the room, the smells of bacon and pancakes drifting in from the kitchen. She let out a soft yawn as she went about getting dressed, wandering out into the hallway after few minutes to follow the delicious odor.
The kitchen was alive with movement as Cheryl and her father prepared breakfast, taking turns cooking things on the stove and mixing on the counter.
"Oh, that was a good flip, pops! You're the best pancake maker ever!" Cheryl cheered her father on as he made a batch of pancakes.
"Heh, you know it!" Her father grinned as he tossed the pancakes with a great flourish to show off his mad flipping skills.
"Pancakes?" Eileen spoke up and surprised the two chefs.
Turning around, Cheryl beamed and said, "Yep, and my pops own recipe too! Appley Applegate Flaps!"
"It's nothing special, just has fruit in it and some spices and such." Her father said modestly, scratching the back of his head with his free hand.
"You kidding? They're the best thing since cheesy crust pizza!" Cheryl said boisterously as the two laughed.
"What's pizza?" Eileen asked, finding the scent of the pancakes intoxicating.
"It's the greatest creation on Earth! All the things you need for a balanced diet! And you're in luck cause New York is the pizza capitol, especially Little Italy! We've got pizza masters straight from Italy itself cooking here! We'll have to go over to Lombardi's for lunch, they have the best pizza!"
"Is Lombardi a friend of yours?" Eileen asked curiously, interested in experiencing the flavors of New York.
"No! We go there a lot during the summer when I'm home! It's a restaurant over in Manhattan! Hey, we should go to the Bronx Zoo too! Its really awesome, have you been to a zoo before?"
"Not really, I've been to a botanical garden though, is that similar?" Eileen said, remembering Snape's birthday excursion.
"Plants and animals are totally different things, you'll love it! Oh, we have to go by Augury sometime too, it's the off season but I'm sure that if we contact the headmaster he'll show us around! He might not want me to come in but you can check it out." Cheryl laughed.
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you visited." Mr. Applegate chuckled, giving her a shoulder squeeze before piling the freshly cooked pancakes on a plate.
"I guess not. Hogwarts is way better though; the teachers are nicer...well, except for Snape. Pancakes, Eileen?" Cheryl beamed as she stabbed a couple pancakes with a fork.
With a glare, Eileen said, "He's just...misunderstood. Yes, I'll have two and a couple strips of bacon, please."
"And he's grouchy, maybe he hasn't had a vacation in a while. Syrup?" Cheryl commented as she piled the food absentmindedly.
"Yes please; all the teachers are free for the summer, I'm sure he gets plenty of time off."
"What does he do during the summer anyway? Just sit around his house all day pondering ways to torture his students next term?" Cheryl asked, squirting a small lake of syrup over her pancakes before adding silverware and passing on the plate.
Eileen took it and headed out to the dining room table, saying over her shoulder, "I'm not exactly sure, perhaps he has a small side business of selling potions?"
"Seems like a logical course of action to keep one busy." Mr. Applegate chimed in as he served himself.
"As long as it doesn't require house calls, his bedside manner is less than stellar. Can you imagine? 'Does this hurt? 10 points from you for crying! It's not my fault if you die because my potion tasted gross and you wouldn't take it!' What a sweetheart." Cheryl mocked with a grin as she strolled out to join Eileen.
"He's not that bad, honestly..." Eileen scoffed as she munched on a piece of bacon.
"This Snape, is he that teacher you've told me about before, Cheryl?" Mr. Applegate asked as he joined them as well.
"Yep, he's the potions teacher who has it out for all his students. I bet he has a little diary somewhere with the names of all the kids he's going to whack." Cheryl laughed with a mouthful of pancake.
"Oh, I doubt it, he's just a tough teacher. When I was a young wizard, I had a teacher in Herbology that..." Mr. Applegate went off on a tangent about his childhood growing up, all the fanciful tales that often bore the listener to death.
While Cheryl rolled her eyes and went back to stuffing her face with breakfast, Eileen listened intently to his story with thorough enjoyment.
They finished breakfast and stepped out around 10 am, making their way to the subway for a ride to Central Park. The subway was somewhat crowded as they waited for a train to come along, random conversations going on around them as people talked to each other and spoke into little boxes.
"What is that man doing?" Eileen whispered to Cheryl, pointing to one of the men seemingly talking to himself.
"He's on his cell phone, why?" Cheryl replied, looking confused before remembering, "Oh right, our people don't use phones. Well, it's how Muggles talk to each other when they're far apart, they don't have the Floo network or owls to send letters."
"I see, how interesting." Eileen nodded before saying, "Why don't we have cell phones?"
"Um...well...I don't know, really. I suppose cause those old wizards are set in their ways?" Cheryl chuckled as a train pulled up.
There was a ding as the sides of the train slid open and the people crowded in and out of the openings.
As the wizards hurried onto the train, Eileen dawdled as she admired the crowds of people trapped inside the metal cylinder. Suddenly, she heard a man near by shout at her, "Washda closendaws!"
"Huh?" Eileen gazed at him in confusion.
Cheryl grabbed her arm and pulled her all the way into the subway car and out of the way of the doors as they snapped shut behind her, saying, "He said to watch out for the doors. You'll get used to the accent; not everyone talks with one but a lot of the people around here do, depending on which borough you're in."
"That's interesting, perhaps that's why that woman was so confused when I was speaking to her." Eileen nodded contently.
Cheryl sighed, not wishing to enlighten her friend in the ways of the world.
The train sped through its tunnel, the compartment rattling ever so slightly as it crawled down the tracks to its many destinations. Eventually, it stopped at 81st Street and the group departed from the subway, making their way up to street level to wander. It was a rather busy area, full of yellow buses and children getting on and off them, all flowing in and out of a large building adorned with banners.
"What's that place?" Eileen asked curiously, admiring the structure they were passing.
"Oh, that's the Museum of Natural History. You can learn a lot about the history of Muggles all around the world in there. If you wanna go in after we visit Augury well have to grab some Muggle money from the Gnox Wizarding Bank first." Mr. Applegate said, gazing up at the building himself as they stopped on the street corner at the crossing lines.
"Hurry, the light just changed!" Cheryl said, grabbing Eileen's hand as she leapt off the curb and into the street. They crossed together, giggling as they ran and left Mr. Applegate to walk across alone.
The park was lush and green with fluffy bushes lining the many paths that wound through the trees in every direction. They followed a small, winding path deep into the park to a small lake hidden amongst the cherry trees. As they approached, a small stone pedestal grew up from the ground; Eileen guessed that magic made it appear in the presence of wand carriers while remaining hidden from innocent Muggle eyes.
The group gathered around the worn down stone and inspected its surface. On it was a plaque attached within 3 rings of carved numbers. Inscribed on the plaque was, "traba vos postulo ut excito, ut reperio moenia in lacus."
"The ship you need to wake, to find the castle on the lake," Eileen read out loud before turning to Cheryl, "Is it a clue?"
"Sort of, it just means you gotta poke the right numbers to call the ship up so we can get to the school. They change the code every year and only the teachers know it. Except us, we were an exception." Cheryl explained as her father pulled out his wand and began to tap the numbers on the stone face: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.
The circles began to revolve in different directions as the ground trembled and the wind picked up over the lake. Suddenly, the water was sucked down into a whirlpool, out of which swirled a medium-sized boat. The waters calmed as the boat steered itself to shore, dropping anchor and sending out a plank to allow the trio to board.
"Right then, let's go!" Mr. Applegate said as he marched up the rickety wooden ramp.
"You'll love this place, it's like Hogwarts! Not nearly as awesome though, nothing can beat that place!" Cheryl chirped, hopping onto the boat like it was a normal routine for her.
Eileen cautiously but curiously boarded behind the Applegates as the gangplank withdrew into the side of the vessel.
"You'll want to get below deck for this bit, lest you be washed off on the journey." Mr. Applegate said, waving the girls threw an entrance to the lower compartment.
Slowly, the ship pushed off from shore and headed out to the center of the lake as the whirlpool reappeared, swirling about as if someone had unplugged the lake. Down they went, spinning round and round with the current until at last the water swallowed them whole before settling back to its calm state, no trace of them left behind.