"The books we need are Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2. Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, Wanderings with Werewolves, and Year with the Yeti," Harry recited all of the books they needed to get dutifully, without even bothering to look at his booklist, which was nowhere in sight.
"Not very original title's are they?" asked Terry, getting a snort of amusement from Blaise.
"No, not very original at all."
"Come on, Daphne!" Astoria shouted excitedly over the loud crowd as she tightened her hold on her sister's hand and tried to pull the older blond girl inside of the store with her. Key word being tried. She was, unfortunately for her, much to small and weighed far to littler to pull her sister anywhere. "Hurry up! We get to see a real life celebrity!"
Daphne rolled her eyes a bit, but complied all the same. And since her hand was connected to Harry's, it wasn't long before she was also pulling him inside.
This had the chain reaction pulling everyone else inside since they were all still connected at the hands.
Because they were so small, they managed to push their way through the crowd of people more easily than an adult would. It was still a tight fit though and several people got bumped into or smacked.
"Owch!" Hannah tried to rub her cheek, but it was very difficult when she was holding someone's hand. "Someone just elbowed me in the face!"
"You think that's bad," Lisa winced as she tried to shake her foot. "Someone just stomped on my toes."
"Ugh, this is so not cool. Damn, greedy old bats."
"Language, Tracey."
"...Sorry."
"Is it just me," whispered Terry to Blaise, "or has Tracey begun to run her mouth even more than she used to."
"I wish it was just you," Blaise muttered with a small shake of his head.
"Tracey?" Harry called out over the noise from the crowd as they finally made it past the large crowd outside, catching his friends attention. His eyes scanned the long line inside of the store that wound it's way to the back of the shop. "Where's your mother? And where are Mister and Misses Granger."
"Mum? She's..." Tracey blinked as she looked around and realized that her mother was not inside with them. A bit of searching yielded no results until Blaise pointed out Misses Davis with the other two adults standing with the other witches that were in line.
She was speaking quite animatedly to Misses Granger, who was smiling and nodding along with everything the woman said while Mister Granger seemed to have a minor scowl on his face.
"Yep, that's mum alright," she said dryly. "Damn, I'm so jealous she's already in line to get an autograph."
"Language, Tracey," Hermione scolded her her friend.
"Right," Tracey scratched the back of her neck. "Sorry."
"Honestly," Hermione huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. Harry noted that it didn't look like she was growing in that area yet, and he could see her figure more clearly since she was wearing muggle clothing; jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. "Must you swear so much? It's like you've gotten periodically worse throughout the summer."
"Ugh," Tracey flinched.
"Smooth, Trace," Daphne shook her head. "Real smooth."
Tracey blushed.
"Hush up, Daph."
The group soon split up after agreeing to try and get the books they needed separately in the hopes of it making the area around them less crowded and more maneuverable for them. Blaise, Terry and Neville ended up going their own way. Meanwhile, Hermione, Lisa and Tracey headed off to do grab their books then get in line so they could they could get an autograph from Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Looks like it's just as five," Hannah said as she looked at the others. Standing beside her was Harry, Daphne, Astoria and Susan. Astoria had tried to make her way to the line, but Daphne had stopped her from doing so.
"Don't be so impatient, Stori," Daphne said. "Lockhart's not even there right now. It's not like waiting in line is going to make him come out faster."
"But I really want to see a real life celebrity!" Astoria complained.
"You already have," Daphne said dryly, looking over at Harry.
"Ah!" Astoria gasped in surprise, as if just now remembering that Harry was something of an iconic figure in the wizarding world. "I didn't mean to make it sound like you weren't famous either, Harry. I just really want to see Lockhart."
"You and just about every other girl between the ages of eight and eighty," Harry replied with a shake of his head. He didn't know how Lockhart dealt with his own fame. While Harry found it useful, it was so incredibly annoying. He could only imagine how Lockhart felt.
"Personally, I don't care a single wit for Lockhart," Daphne declared, much to the surprise of Astoria.
"Why not?"
"Because he's a fraud," Hannah chimed in. It was the first and only time Harry had ever heard her say something even mildly insulting. Astoria frowned while Susan nodded her head in agreement.
"Really?" asked Harry.
.
.
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