Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.
"Beer…" Hermione said slowly, "should be over that way." She pointed to the sign reading 'beverages' and they walked in that direction. She took a pack of two, since she couldn't find a single and didn't want to waste time looking.
"A rubber duck." Because she had absolutely no idea where they could find one she ran a quick scan of every aisle, Pansy in tow. "Maybe they don't sell them here, let's ask by the cash."
Pansy followed her over and picked up a package of mint gum from a stand nearby (she also picked up a large amount of bulk candy after examining the different kinds with fascination). After minutes of fidgeting restlessly they found themselves at the head of the line.
"Do you sell rubber ducks here?" Hermione asked as she pulled her wallet from her bag.
"Hi Hermione." Pam's voice said boredly, "and nope, no duckies here. Sorry."
She rang through their items and Hermione thrust money into her hand before she could ask for it. "Do you know anyone named Jack?"
"Jack? Yeah I think my mom mentioned some old guy named Jack living around here. Not personally, though."
"Okay, thanks anyway." Hermione smiled, "talk to you later!"
Pam barely had time to wave as the two girls hurried out of the exit.
"The Department store…" Pansy said, "a pink pen, Herbal Essence shampoo, sunblock and keep looking for a rubber duck."
"Let's go then," Hermione said and they continued up the road.
-
-
Harry and Draco had gone through every aisle in the store and had found the shampoo, sunblock, sunglasses, and a cheap pair of socks.
"Let's go, you git." Harry tugged Draco away from a magazine featuring Jessica Alba.
The girl at the cash smiled readily at the two of them when they stepped up to it. "That's it?" Draco nodded. "Okay." Harry handed over some money, thankful that she hadn't noticed the looks Draco was shooting the machine.
"Here is your change, have a great day." She flashed them both a smile and winked at Draco.
"Thanks." Harry said and stuffed their purchases into his bag. As he neared the door he realized Draco wasn't with him and turned around. The blond was leaning against the counter, flirting with the girl who was responding enthusiastically.
"Malfoy!" Harry said exasperatedly, "come on." Draco turned to look at him, the charming smile on his face dropped to one of loathing. He shook his head jerkily and then turned back to the girl. A minute or so later he approached a fuming Harry and flashed a piece of paper at Harry.
732-6592
Beneath the numbers was 'Sherry' written with flourish.
"You still have to get one." Draco said, smirking as Harry's eyes flicked across the paper.
"Right." Was all he said and then turned abruptly, leading Draco from the store.
-
-
Blaise stepped into the store after Ron and they headed straight to the cash, ready to hand over the items list. However, when he scanned the room he felt his eyes widen.
"Weasley… have you looked around?" His voice was calm in the way voices were when the person speaking was on the brink of losing it. Ron noticed this and turned to look at what Blaise was looking at. A blush crept up his neck and his ears turned red.
"Holy shit." He said, "what is this?"
"Ah yes, that's one of our more complex models." A voice behind them made them both jump. Ron and Blaise both whirled around, Ron still holding the mysterious object. A man of about twenty four was standing in front of them, smiling in a knowing way.
"You want this? Okay, feel free to look around." He took the object from Ron's hands.
"What? No we don't- we're not really-I'm not sure-" Blaise couldn't help sniggering as Ron stammered.
"You don't know what to look for?" He supplied, his voice almost mocking. "Okay, well for a couple like you two I think you might really enjoy this." He pulled a DVD from a stand, along with a magazine and showed them pictures by leafing through. To Blaise's complete embarrassment and utter horror, the people weren't men and women, they were all men.
"Is that even normal?" He found himself asking as heat rose to his face. Not only were the people in the pictures frozen, they were in highly unnatural positions. Although he'd had his fair share, possibly more, of physical activities with other people, it would be a lie to say he'd ever done anything like what was shown in the pictures. Ron's face was quite purple and he was trying to look anywhere but the images, which resulted in him staring at the floor.
"I'd also suggest this, it's for the inexperienced and provides some good tips for couples like you." He shove another DVD at them, which contained explicit pictures on the cover as well. He continued down the row, occasionally pulling out DVD's.
"No, we're looking for these." Ron finally managed to shove their list into the man's hands and dump everything they'd been given onto on of the shelves.
"Oh," the man scanned the list and shot them both confused looks, "okay. We have a rubber duck, but nothing else."
Wondering why they had a rubber duck amid everything else in the store, Blaise followed the man to the counter and watched him ring in the duck and, to his chagrin, the thing Ron had originally picked up. He wanted to get out of the store as soon as possible and Ron obviously felt the same since he just shoved money into the man's hand without saying anything.
"You're short."
"What?" Ron asked, looking confused.
"You're short money."
"Oh." Ron said, and after shooting a nervous look at Blaise he handed over more money. "We're sort of new in this area. Foreign, you know? Haven't really gotten the hang of this money." Thinking back to the Quidditch Cup, when they'd been asked if they were foreign, he hoped it would work.
"Okay, yeah." The man gave them the bag with their purchases and they high tailed it out of there.
"Never choose what store we go into ever again." Blaise said when they'd run half-way down the street.
"Yeah, right." Ron said, his face still red. "Let's go."
With another furtive glance back at the store they started moving again.
-
-
"Come on, Granger!" Pansy called. Hermione was bending over a small collection of rocks, searching through them for one that was heart shaped.
"Why don't you come help me!" She shouted back irritably. She may as well be doing everything for all the help Pansy was being. So the other girl joined her and they sifted through the stones, though none came close to the right shape.
"Why don't we just use magic?" Pansy asked with an edge of frustration to her voice after they finished their rapid searching.
"Because that's against the rules." Hermione rolled her eyes and they set off back down the street, passing the sinister looking grave-yard.
"Life isn't about rules, Granger."
Hermione sighed exasperatedly, "we can't win if we use magic. And if we don't win, we can't be off camera." She could tell she'd already won that argument.
"Fine. Now hurry up we lost time looking through those stupid rocks."
They hurried towards the Department store and as they neared it saw Harry and Draco standing several meters away and seemed to be bickering. "Hurry! If they're fighting now we might be able to overtake them! It doesn't look like they're doing well, we could win!"
They hurried inside and gathered up sunblock, the pen and shampoo. Unfortunately there was still no duck. On the way to the cash Pansy pointed to a postcard with a picture of a couple getting married on it and she snatched it up. When they left the store they saw that the spot where Harry and Draco had been was now vacated.
"Where to next?"
"The, erm," Pansy looked at the list and glanced around, "movie store."
Hermione followed her gaze and snorted. "Adult movie store? That's definitely not the movie store we want."
"It says toys though." Pansy pointed out a sign near the door. "See? Toys toys toys."
"Not that kind of toys." She laughed, "There, electronics. Let's try there."
They set off down the road and suddenly Hermione said, "look!" She was pointing to a tree planted outside a clothing store. "It's a maple."
They dashed over to it and stood, staring. "It's not very big." Pansy muttered and ripped off a leaf off a branch.
"It's not fully grown," Hermione said and pressed it into her notebook. "Okay, let's go. We should probably look for an article of clothing in there."
She began walking but halted when she saw Pansy staring at the base of the tree. "Look."
It turned out that the tree had been planted and then a small collection of rocks had been placed around the trunk. Heart-shaped rocks. Imbedded in the ground, glossy and smooth, was a plaque.
In memory of the family
That contributed to this store
And lost their lives so mysteriously
Rest in piece
Pansy picked up on of the rocks. It was perfectly symmetrical and she turned it over in her fingers for a few seconds before handing it to Hermione, who tucked it safely away in her bag.
For some reason walking away seemed disrespectful, and so she didn't move. Neither of them knew quite how long they stood there, simply looking at the memorial, because for some reason it seemed like time didn't even exist anymore.
"Okay, then," Hermione finally tore herself away, "we have to hurry."
As they both turned away and took the first step forward, sighs escaped their lips for an unknown reason.
-
-
"What's with that building?" Draco asked, looking towards the boarded up Adult move store.
Harry looked over his shoulder and shook his head, "it's boarded up so no one can see inside, idiot. Now let's go."
Draco scowled, "don't tell me what to do, Potter. It's not like we have much of a chance, anyway."
Harry rolled his eyes, "well I don't want to stand around having a nice little conversation with you. Let's go."
Draco's eyes focused on something over Harry's shoulder. "Don't look, but its Pansy and Granger. Pretend we're arguing, it will give them a false sense of security."
"We are arguing, Malfoy. That's what happens when two people who hate each other say nasty things." He said it in a mocking tone.
"Wow, Potter, your intelligence has astonished me." He said sarcastically.
"Oh, you can actually feel surprised? And here I was under the impression you couldn't do anything unless you went and groveled at-"
It was probably best that Hermione and Pansy had disappeared into the shop, causing them both to take off down the road and disappear into a tuck shop.
"What's that?" Draco pointed to a shelf with a rusty coffee machine on it.
"Shut it," Harry hissed, "if you keep pointing at normal things and asking what they are you'll attract attention."
Draco snorted, "what do we need?"
"A duck, a pen, a rock, gum, Friends, wedding picture-"
"Like that?" Draco pointed to a painting propped up by the cash register.
"Yeah," Harry said grudgingly, "so go get it."
"Don't tell me what to do," Draco snapped, "you get it."
"You saw it, Malfoy. You get it, I'm not your slave." The two men stood, glowering at each other.
"Excuse me but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. Is this what you were looking for?" A girl with chestnut brown hair and blue eyes held the picture they'd been arguing about up.
"Yeah, thanks." Harry said and took the painting. He looked down at the list and then back up at the girl, hit with a thought. "I'm Harry."
"Lucille." She smiled. "Are you new in town?"
"Yeah, yeah I am." He said and cleared his throat nervously, "I don't want to be, er, too…forward. But maybe sometime, er, you and I? I mean, er, we could, er," he thought back to the Yule Ball, "couldIhaveyournumber?"
"Sure," Lucille breathed and scribbled onto a piece of paper 739-0121.
"Do you know anyone named Jack?" Draco asked as Harry slipped the paper into his pocket.
"Jack? Sorry, no."
"That's okay." Harry said though he mentally sighed, "we're, er, going to look around now. So I'll, er, talk to you later?"
"Yes, definitely." She smiled and as she walked away Draco pulled Harry behind one of the shelves and sniggered.
"You really are rubbish with girls."
"I got her phone number!" Harry defended himself loudly.
Draco rolled his eyes, "yeah and now she thinks you're going to call her. If you don't she'll probably cry or something. Plus she'll gossip and no one in this village will consider you."
"I don't care if no one in this village will cons-"
" Because you're in love with Weasel's sister, I know, I know. But Potter that means anywhere you go there will be a mass of angry, un-considering girls. Some of the more crazy ones might even come to the house in search of you. The Prophet will have a field day."
"What about that Sherry woman? She'll want you to call her."
"I never said I was going to call her or was even considering calling her. All I did was flirt a little and she gave me her number."
Harry paused, thoroughly annoyed that Draco actually had the sense to think that far into something. "I hate to break it to you but my life isn't so un-complicated that I can spend hours at a time thinking over how I can trick girls into liking me and then disappointing them."
"Yeah, yeah Potter we all know your sad story, now let's get on with it." He and Harry stood still for at least three minutes, scowling at each other before Harry finally turned away.
"Right." He muttered, "right. This is stupid, I don't want to see that much of your face. Right."
"Yes, I am." Draco smirked, "right. Glad you've got that sorted out."
"Oh shut up, Malfoy." Harry snapped, "now what do we need?"
"A duck, leaf, pen, rock, sunglasses, gum, Friends, landscape, beer, Jack and a CD." When he was finished reading the list he just looked up at Harry blankly.
"Just follow me, then, got it?" Harry said gruffly.
Before Draco could respond he set off down the aisle, pausing every so often to examine something closer. Draco trailed after him, holding the second hand copy of Friends that Harry gave him, a battered CD, and a charcoal drawing labeled Jack that they both assumed would work.
After handing over some money they left, but almost as quickly as they'd stepped out the door they ducked behind the wall: Blaise and Ron had just emerged from The Hanged Man.
-
-
"Okay, so we have a rubber duck now. But nothing else. Let's go into that store." Blaise pointed to the electronics store right across from them. Ron checked his watch and was astonished to see that it was already 12:00. An hour had already gone by.
He handed the list over to the girl behind the counter. "We're looking for any of the items on this list."
"Oh." She scanned it quickly, "yeah. Follow me."
She led them to an aisle full of DVD cases and picked one out from under a sign reading 'hit series.'
"What kind of music do you like?"
"Er…"
"Okay, well here, I'll show you stuff I like." As they followed her down another aisle she said, "I like Linkin Park-"
"Me too." Blaise said quickly, "could we have that one?"
"Alright." She picked a CD case off another shelf. "Is that all?"
"Yeah."
As she rang through their items Ron spoke up suddenly, "oh and can I have your number?"
A blush rose on her cheeks, "oh. Er, well, wow," she laughed nervously, "I'm, er, sorry but I don't even know you."
"Okay." Ron said, not even understanding the significance of her words: that he'd been rejected.
She gave them the bag and hurried away, still red in the face.
"What is a number?" Blaise asked as they turned on the street, "do muggles have ID tags or something?"
"I think you can use the telly-phone to contact them with that number. It's really weird, I've tried using one before."
"Huh." Blaise said thoughtfully. Ten minutes later they'd been inside the clothing store and had picked up a t-shirt and, after having spotted the tree, picked off a leaf.
"I don't know what a Tuck Shop is, do you?" Ron asked in reference to the store across from them.
"No, and I think we should avoid things with weird names. Hey, let's go in that pub."
"Yeah, sounds good."
And so they found themselves inside a smoky pub at the bar, being examined at all sides by the building's occupants.
"Can I have a, er, beer?" Ron asked after glancing at the list.
"How old are yeh?" The man asked his, squinting suspiciously.
"Seventeen."
"I can't sell yeh beer if yer not of age."
"I am of age!" Ron said hotly, he'd been seventeen for awhile now!
"Not in this world yer not."
Automatically he tensed up. How did this man know? Was he a wizard? A squib? Did the ministry know he had intelligence of their world? What should he do? What should he say?
"I'll take a beer, then, and drink alone." Blaise cut in smoothly and passed a ten pound note across the counter. As the man turned to get him the drink he shot Ron a warning look.
The red head couldn't help but scowl at the unfairness of this and marched to the door as Blaise received the amber liquid in a bottle. There was a table of women ranging from 20-23 and he stepped up to.
"Can I have your number?" He asked a brunette girl with heavy blue eye shadow and red lipstick.
"Ooh, a bold one. I absolutely love a man that takes command. In more ways then one." She winked at Ron and the other women tittered excitedly. "Here you go cutie." To his embarrassment she reached into her low-cut shirt and pulled a small card out of it.
Dot- 739-1564
"Dot?" He asked before he could stop himself.
"After my grandmother."
"T-thanks." He stammered.
"Let's go." Blaise muttered; the rest of the table had turned to eye him greedily.
They left and both took deep breaths as they were released from the smoky confines within. Suddenly Blaise whirled to face the door to the Tuck Shop.
"What?"
"I thought I saw Draco." Blaise frowned, "hmm…"
"We should keep moving." Ron said, "we're losing time!"
Their next stop was the Department Store, where they picked up the pen, shampoo, sunglasses, wedding picture, and sunblock. When they re-emerged they had half an hour until they had to be back at the house.
"Hi I'm looking for these things." Ron handed the list to a girl with black hair cropped short and grass green eyes who looked extremely bored.
"Ok, sure, I can help you." She took the list and scanned it, "huh. Okay well follow me. I'm Pam, by the way." She called back to them as she set off walking.
"Here," she thrust a pack of gum at them as she grabbed it off a stand. "So what are your names?"
"Blaise."
"Ron."
"Cool." She stuffed painting at Blaise and carried on, " you know you're not the first person who's been in here asking for someone named Jack."
"Oh, really?" Blaise said, trying to sound interested. It wasn't as though he hadn't realized this would happen, there were four other people looking for the exact same thing.
"Unfortunately I don't know who that is, or what you're looking for so all I can give you is this stuff." She gestured at the items Ron was holding. "So shall I ring you in?"
"Er, yeah."
"Okay." As she handed them a bag with their purchases Blaise spoke up suddenly.
"So can I have your number?"
"Hmm…" Pam pursed her lips thoughtfully and looked Blaise up and down. "Yeah, sure." She scribbled it down and handed it to him. "Oh and I can tell your not going to call me, already, so can you please not be bothered that I only gave it to you because you're hot."
"What?"
She laughed, "never mind. If you ever do get interested, though, I'll tell you now, my affections are taken."
"Really?" Blaise asked, "by who?" (He didn't really know what she was talking about but pretended he understood everything.
"Him." She was looking over their shoulders and both turned to look. The guy she was looking at had black hair with red tips and was laughing with another cashier. "But if you ever say anything I will hunt you down."
"Oh, okay." Blaise said but Ron's eyes had bugged out of his head.
"Him? You like him?"
"Yeah, why? Is that a problem?" She asked, giving him a strange look.
"Well that guy must be hitting on everyone, then!"
"What are you talking about?" She asked, looking very confused.
"He was getting all up close with my friend Hermione." Ron glowered at the man.
"Hermione?" Pam's eyes widened, "she's my friend. Do you live with her?"
"Yes." Ron said.
"And he was flirting with her?"
"Yes."
"Oh." She turned very suddenly to Blaise, "maybe we should go out sometime."
"Yeah, yeah definitely." He said, now quite confused. This girl had just said she liked that guy, but now she was saying they should go out? It didn't make sense.
Pam turned to look at the guy once more before banging something really noisy on the desk. "Sorry!" She shouted loudly then turned to Blaise and said in a very audible voice, "so tonight would be great." She leaned forward and, to his shock, kissed him right on the lips, in front of everyone. "Call me." She whispered and leaned back. Everyone was watching, including Mike.
Blaise, who was still in a shocked stupor, and Ron, who was glaring daggers at Mike, who he considered to be some sort of player, began to walk slowly to the exit.
"Oh wait!" Pam's voice called after them and she jogged over. "You forgot your list." She finished when she was closer. She glanced at it once again and handed it over. "What's a muggle?"
"What?" Both boys yelped.
"At the bottom of your page it says be nice to muggles."
"Oh." Blaise said as Ron turned with his arms open and shouted, "cut!"
"We were making a move, you know. And you've ruined it. The camera people will not be happy." The red-head said after he'd turned back, "now we have to pack up and go. Go home people!" He shouted the last bit. "You have destroyed a masterpiece. Let's go, Blaise." As he passed Pam he snatched the paper from her hands. Blaise exchanged her raised eyebrows with a roll of his eyes and followed him out.
They froze, Draco and Harry and Hermione and Pansy had just emerged from stores all around, checking their watches. It was 12:54. As though there had been some kind of signal they all set off sprinting up the hill.
-
-
In a short trip into the clothing store they picked out a cheap tank top, sunglasses and Pansy took the number of the guy working the cash register and left. Their next stop was the electronics store across the road and a door down.
A girl received them, blushing. "Hi, can I help you?"
"Oh, I'm looking for the Friends season two and a CD for Coldplay." Hermione said, smiling. The girl gave her an odd look and then hurried away, returning with the desired items. They paid and thanked her, then left at a brisk walk.
Their next stop was the Tuck Shop next door, where Hermione scoured for a painting of the landscape. They found one the size of a CD case and went forward to pay. There were two people there, a girl and a guy.
"Hi, is this all?" The guy asked. He had blonde hair and hazel eyes.
"Yep." Hermione replied, digging out her money. As she handed over the cash she took a good look at him. "Hey, I hope this isn't too forward but can I have your number?"
He looked mildly surprised, but then a smile grazed his lips. "Yeah, sure." As he scribbled his phone number down she made a note to actually call him, instead of throwing her phone number out at the first chance she got.
Jack-738-0118
As they turned to go Hermione glanced down and froze. "Your name is Jack?"
"Yeah," he said as she wheeled around.
"Can I have a picture of you?"
"Oh, uh…"
"I mean us together. Here Pansy, take my camera." She handed the other girl her camera and stood close to Jack, smiling. A few minutes later they emerged from the store and set off up the road. As they got to the end of the stretch Hermione glanced at her watch. "We have to go now, it's 12:54."
Just then Blaise and Ron came out of the grocery store and Harry and Draco came out of the cemetery. Harry looked very tense. One thought crossed her mind. Run.
-
-
"Okay they've moved, let's go!" Draco said and they hurried over to the book store, hoping that there was some kind of landscape painting. "A tree."
Harry turned to where Draco was pointing and saw a small tree by the clothing store. "It's a maple!" They ran over and pulled a leaf off it as a gust of wind pulled it from Harry's fingers. Almost instantly it died and the leaf floated to the ground, where he bent to pick it up and saw heart shaped rocks. "Oh good, we killed two birds with one stone."
"Why would you kill a bird?" Draco asked as Harry tucked away their findings.
"Nevermind."
Their time in the book store was short, though they did find a medium sized painting of a landscape that was supposed to make the environment for reading even more delightful. Then they went up to the grocery store and found the pen and the gum. Unfortunately a security guard forced them to put down the beer because they didn't have ID.
"I need to go into the cemetery." Harry said firmly as they stepped out of the store.
"We have more stuff to find and we only have about ten minutes."
"I need to go into the cemetery, Malfoy." He repeated.
"Fine, if we lose it's your fault." Draco snapped. He waited impatiently by the gate as Harry wandered through it and out of sight. At 12:54 he came sprinting back muttering, "I knew it!" under his breath.
"Come one we have to go!" He shouted and didn't stop, flying by Draco. The blonde snarled and followed, unaware that the other two groups had joined them.
They finally stopped, panting and gasping, in front of the house where Sheila and James were standing, looking clean, sweat and dust free, and perfectly hydrated. Clutching a stitch in her side, Hermione gasped out, "who won?"
"Well, well, well, I guess no one found everything?"
They all shook their heads.
"Okay then, display your things on the tables behind us." Sheila gestured behind her to the three tables lined up.
They set everything up, thankful the wind wasn't blowing, and waited for Sheila and James to look everything over.
"Do you two realize that-"
"Shh. No talking Harry, dear."
"It's important!"
"Hold on."
Hermione's cell phone rang and she picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Mike."
"Oh, hi Mike." She was surprised, she hadn't given him her number.
"Pam gave me your number, I wanted to call you. I found out the name of the dead family."
"Oh, yeah?" She said, waving away the curious glances.
"It was a family of three. Their last name was Riddle."
A/N I know, cliffie. Who won and the Riddles. I was wondering if anyone caught the clues I put out, Little Hangleton, their neighboring town, the death of Frank, the woman named her daughter after Dot who is in the bar in the first chap, the stones, anyone? Read the first chap. of the fourth book.
Well well, I'm going away tomorrow and I might be able to type super fast the next chapter of The Initiation, but I doubt it. LOL.
Review review review!