Chapter 5 : The Tourists

Mary was late to the meeting spot. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville along with Luna were already standing in front of her hotel when she spotted them from the car approaching. Snape turned off the music.

"You hadn't told me you had friends coming over. I thought you were bored?"

"They just arrived!" Mary replied defensively.

He stopped the car to let her out a few meters before them, and Mary wondered if he did so to avoid greeting them. She reckoned that it'd indeed be rather awkward and was glad of his decision. As she was exiting the car, Snape caught her wrist to stop her.

"If you get in serious trouble, immediately send me a Patronus." Snape told her.

"I'm an adult now, Snape. You're not even a teacher anymore." She yanked her wrist free of his grasp. "Besides," she hissed. "I reckon you didn't want to babysit me."

"I'm not the one who chose the word 'babysit', here." He smirked.

She didn't bother to say goodbye before slamming the door shut, and he sped off.

She took a moment to breath out her anger. She then jogged towards her friends.

"Sorry I'm late! So good to see you!" she said with relief, now genuinely smiling.

Everyone hugged her, at first they all moved forward simultaneously which ended up as a mess of bodies colliding. They ended up each taking their turn. She also kissed Ginny and Ron looked away, but he was smiling.

"Interesting, I think I just saw Snape driving the car." Luna commented with an innocent smile, her chin up. "I didn't know he could drive Muggle vehicles."

"Me neither until two hours ago…" Mary admitted.

"Where did he learn that?" Neville wondered. "Anyway, I'm certainly glad he didn't get out of the car."

Mary gave him a knowing look.

"I don't have a clue, I actually was about to ask him but he raised the volume to drown my voice after telling me, in different words, that he didn't want me around him anymore than necessary."

"Why didn't you apparate?" Luna asked.

Mary fidgeted with her hands. "I don't like how it feels. I'd rather only use it as a last resort."

"I also avoid it… I used it so much while we were on the run, that I associate it with bad memories." Hermione added.

They all went into the hotel to check in. Hermione and Ron had a room with a twin bed together, while Neville and Luna had a room with two single beds. Ginny was simply going to share Mary's double bed.

While the others were checking in, Ron took the opportunity to talk quietly to Mary alone.

"So… I understand you can't tell us what is going on. See, me and Hermione are worried. We were planning on having kids soon." He looked up at Hermione. "I'm not dumb. You're-"

"Kids? Already?" Mary gaped at him. "We're only 21 years old!"

"Your parents were 20 when they had you."

"They were in a war."

"We lived through a war, too."

"Point taken." Mary admitted.

"As I was saying, you're an astronomy apprentice and you're suddenly sent to meet with the bloody president of the United States." Ron looked stressed. "I reckon this is something serious, isn't it? I was just wondering if we should delay our family plans. What do you think?"

"I reckon you could wait about seven months before taking a decision."

"Only seven months? Also, that's oddly specific."

Their conversation was interrupted by Hermione showing him the keys and prompting him to go drop their trunks in their room. Luna and Neville did the same, Mary was now alone with Ginny in her room.

"That's where you've been staying the last three days? Looks small but cozy, I guess." Ginny commented while looking around the room.

"Yeah. Snape's room is the one next door, by the way." Mary said.

"Speaking of Snape. How is he doing? We haven't heard him since the war. He didn't show up to receive his Order of Merlin, did he?." Ginny asked.

"He seems… fine. He at least looks healthier. He's still sort of a git, though. Somehow, I had put in my mind that he would act differently now that I've been made aware, by him no less, about mum." Mary sat heavily on the bed and sighed. "I will have to announce in a live show what this whole ordeal is about. On muggle TV. Side by side with him." Mary said, now pointing at the wall that separated her bedroom from Snape's.

"So, is this bad news or good news? Ron and Hermione are sure it is bad, while I reckoned maybe you made a great discovery!" Ginny beamed at her, but she lost the smile as she saw the grim look on Mary's face. "Oh..."

It was killing Mary inside that she couldn't at least tell Ginny. At the same time, she didn't want to tell her. It was a truth that was hard to bear. Of course, she was going to find out like everyone else, therefor if she could save Ginny from a few sleepless nights spent crying then it was worth waiting a little longer. Mary was speaking from experience, and she was hoping that being in her girlfriend's arms tonight would sooth her enough that she didn't cry herself to sleep again.

The next three days were a blast. They were acting like normal tourists, visiting the popular tourist places around Washington. Ron, Ginny and Neville had a hard time posing as Muggles. Hermione and Mary had no issue blending in. Luna just looked out of place no matter which side she was on anyway so that was probably not going to be too much of an issue.

They also visited the hidden wizarding community street but it wasn't quite big, they were done seeing it in an afternoon. They were told that if they really wanted to visit a bigger Wizarding village, they had to go around Boston, which Hermione commented was 'logical'.

Just like that, they decided to do a trip to Boston using the American Floo system the next morning. They visited the Muggle side of the Salem Witch Trials historical sites first. While looking at the souvenirs, Mary noticed the recurring images of a stereotypical muggle witch's silhouette from the side, and she noted that it looked like Snape's profile. Luna bought some 'magical powder' from the muggle merchants, reportedly composed of things like powdered nail clippings. It looked like a tourist scam and not an actual magical item. Nobody asked her why she bought it. Mary reckoned, why not. It's a souvenir like any other.

They went to the wizarding side for lunch in a small family-owned restaurant. The place was dark with few windows, but cozy nonetheless. The food there wasn't too different from what they were used to back home. It was only noon, and they were by now tired from all the walking. They fondly discussed about how much attending Hogwarts was healthy with all the walking between classes and all the stairs. Since they left, they all had noticed the slight decline of their health. They discussed strategies to walk more every day and regain their shape.

Then Mary gasped when she saw Luna casually staring at a Bash device, the light of the screen illuminating her pale face in the dark.

"Where did you get this?" Mary asked dumbfounded. "These are expensive!"

"Well," Luna started sweetly. "Since the last model came out, people have been selling their old ones on the street for cheap."

"How much did you pay?" Mary asked.

"One hundred fifty dollars."

"What's that? A muggle device?" Ron asked, stretching his neck to see better from his chair at the opposite side of the table.

"If it is… I've never seen anything like it before." Hermione commented. "May I see it?" she asked Luna, curiosity shining in her eyes.

"Oh, no." Luna answered with the same serene tone she'd used so far. "These are personal."

Mary turned to Hermione. "Snape reckons they're not entirely muggle technology."

"You mean it's enchanted? But I saw muggles carrying these around. In fact, I saw Luna buy it from a muggle! I bet their equivalent of the Ministry of Magic are pulling their hair over this." Neville said.

"I'm not sure they're actually doing anything about it… As you know, I've met the President of the United States to discuss my discovery and…" she stopped, hesitant, wondering if she wasn't telling them too much. "And they didn't care at all. My bet is that they're treating this issue the same way."

Mary felt the intense gaze Hermione was giving her. She knew Hermione's brain was working at full capacity right there and then because of her lip biting habit. Mary decided that was a good moment to move the subject of conversation back to the smart phone in Luna's hands.

"I'd like to buy one too." Mary said, thoughtful.

"I don't know about that. It's fishy. I mean, that's the kind of thing dad deals with at work." Ginny noted and Ron nodded in agreement.

"It gives me the heebie-jeebies. The trip is cool and all, but I'll be glad to be away from these devices." Ron added. Hermione rubbed his back in approval.

Mary's decision was unfortunately made. She didn't understand why exactly she desired that phone. She wondered if those feelings weren't parts of the enchantments placed on the device. Something to attract you to it… make you addicted… The muggles she had seen had been staring and tapping on it a lot.

When the waitress came to their table to pick up their empty plates, Mary turned to her. "Excuse me, I have a question. We're, er- not from around here and we saw those devices a lot in muggles' hands." She said while pointing at the Bash phone in Luna's hands. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Muggles? You must be English. We say No-Maj around here." The waitress peered down at the phone. "Oh dear, I wouldn't want to be seen with one of these on our side of things, if I were you… Peter Isherwell is a great wizard, but a mad one."

"Peter Isherwell is a wizard?" Mary said, surprised. She had guessed that someone in the company must have been, not the CEO himself.

"Who is Peter Isherwell?" Neville asked.

"The CEO of Bash, the company behind these magical devices." Mary answered.

"Mr. Isherwell is a reptilian according to my father." Luna said as she pocketed her Bash phone.

The waitress looked at Luna curiously but ignored her. "He is posing as a No-Maj businessman and he is quite the celebrity now. I don't know how it works in the United Kingdom, but this kind of meddling amongst No-Maj is frowned upon here. So, if you like him, I'd advise to not show it within our community." With that, the waitress cleared the table and made them pay for their meals.

The afternoon was a lot of fun as well. They visited the magical community streets with glee. It was like how they knew Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, but also somehow different.

Ron and Ginny bought souvenirs for George at the joke shops. Perhaps that could give him ideas for his own. They decided against buying the magical fake firearms, but they bought fireworks that acted like a homing missile after it pretended to go to the sky and exploded in giant flashes representing the American flag.

Neville bought seeds for plants that are native of North America and are rare in Europe. For the next hour, Ron had the urge to make him return them as he was tired of hearing Neville's anxious rambling about whether it was a good idea at all to bring these back home because it could cause issues if they spread in the wild. He didn't want to be the origin point of an invasive species and Hermione agreed with this sentiment.

They, of course, had to stop by a bookstore for her. It was fortunate the Shrinking Charm existed; she ended up buying so many books they were almost as tall as her when piled up. Mary offered her to store them in her house, 12 Grimmauld Place, if they lacked room. She tried to avoid saying outright For when the babies come.

At the end of the day, they went back to their hotel in Washington, DC despite not having seen everything yet and went to bed. Everyone was exhausted, and she shared with them some of the Dreamless Sleep potions she had brought to help them with their messed up sleeping schedule, they had had a hard time falling asleep the night before.

Mary didn't think about the comet at all for the first time in a while and her cheeks remained dry.