Christmas Chapter 35:
'I can't decide.' Arthur was at a loss. He was standing outside Flourish & Blotts, looking at the four books displayed in the window. This year, for Christmas, his older brother Alistair had said that he could get any book he wanted.
'Just pick a book already!', his younger brother Peter, who had joined the other two in Diagon Alley grumpily said. He disliked being dragged around with any of his older brothers (and it usually was Arthur whom he was stuck with) just because he was the youngest. It had especially been discomforting ever since a year ago, when Arthur started at Hogwarts. Before that, Arthur had also been escorted here and there, but now, now he could walk around everywhere alone.
Well, not everywhere, Peter had to admit that, but he was still freer than him whom couldn't go anywhere, not even outside their houses, not even in the gardens, without either his brothers or his parents.
Arthur, choosing to ignore his younger brother, as he normally did with his brothers, took a step back, as if trying to get a better look at the books, when he bumped into a person with long flowing brown hair who had hurriedly walked across the square.
'Oh, I'm sorry Arthur! I didn't realize that you were going to take a step back, so I thought I would spare some time if I cut through here, instead of going in a half-circle around you.' It was Elizaveta, one of his fellow Hetalia members.
'It's quite alright, Lizzie. No one got hurt. But may I ask, where are you off to in such a hurry?' Arthur asked as he brushed off the snow that had managed to get on him during the collision.
'I'm on my way to Leaky Cauldron. You see, I'm spending the rest of the Christmas Holidays at Gilbert's, and I'm meeting him and his family there, at Leaky Cauldron.'
'But isn't the Leaky Cauldron where you enter Diagon Alley from the Muggle world?', Peter, who had listened to their entire conversation, it wasn't that hard to do, as they didn't stand too far from each other, asked confusedly. He'd never entered Diagon Alley the Muggle way, but he'd heard enough stories from listening in on conversations of those of his brothers who had brought school friends over.
'Yes, and I was there first, but since I came so early, two hours before I agreed to meet them, I thought I could wander around, and maybe buy some last-minute Christmas gifts.', Elizaveta held up her two bags as she explained. 'Although I didn't anticipate the time flying by as quickly as it did, so now I've ten or fifteen minutes before I'm meeting them.'
'Well, we won't keep you then.', Alistair, who had kept quiet ever since he had pointed out the bookstore to Arthur, told her.
'Just one thing before you go,', Arthur said, before she could leave, 'Which one of these books would you've chosen?', he asked gesturing to the books in the window.
'Oh, that's easy.', she answered after barely casting a glance at them. 'Hairy Snout, Human Heart. It's one of the few books that doesn't exist in the Hogwarts Library.'
'That's true. Thanks for the tip.'
'You're welcome!', she shouted over her shoulder as she ran towards the Leaky Cauldron, the snow continuing to fall gently.
Author's notes:
In the next chapter:
With his constant staring at the door, it was ironic that the only time Gilbert wasn't looking at the door, was when the person they were waiting for strolled in through it.