Later that day on the outskirts of Inverness, at a local convenience store, around 2:45 in the afternoon, a bored store clerk looked up as a tall man with a lumpy trench coat and oversized hat approached his counter.
"Great," he groused quietly. "Kids again looking for a bottle of whisky disguised as a tall man." Probably had one sitting on the shoulders of another. Happened a couple times every year.
"You kids want something?"
"Yes, we's…" a high-pitched voiced started, then stopped. A sudden clearing of the throat later and a lower voice continued, "We ams… are looking for something to drink."
"Uh, huh. Let me guess. You want some rum, vodka, whiskey, wine coolers, bourbon, and beer, right? But you'll settle on just a single bottle of whatever I recommend because you only have a few pounds, mostly in change that you nicked from the old man's pockets while he was sleeping on the couch, eh?"
"Uh, no," the same deeper voice said as Jockey kicked the other elf holding him on his shoulders to stand still or else the muggle would know something was up. "We's… we're looking for some Pepsi."
Surprised, "Oh. Well, I can help you there. How much you want?"
"How much do you have?"
Wednesday afternoon (after lunch, before classes)
Lunch had ended a few minutes before and Harry, Hermione, Padma and Lavender were on their way to their next class. Since Harry's apprentice schedule had him coming and going to all sorts of different classes, this would be the first time in over a week that they'd actually be in the same class together.
At an intersection in the halls, Harry and his friends took a right and headed towards the end of that particular hallway. Interestingly enough, only a few students were behind the quartet, which immediately raised the hairs on Harry's neck. Mostly because they weren't fellow first years: they were upperclassmen and if memory served, they didn't have any classes down this way.
A slight frown on his face, the group turned left at the next corridor and immediately stopped at the visage of four uppers who seemed to be waiting for them. Turning around, the other three uppers had blocked their retreat. Harry's heart immediately began to race, gearing his arms and legs up to do some action if it required it. Spells (defensive and offensive) immediately began scrolling through his mind.
"What do you think you're on, Potter?" one of the uppers demanded, stepping forward and grabbing his robe.
Harry could have grabbed the 5th year Gryffindor's hand and pulled it off his clothes, but that might have started spells flying. Besides, there might be a way to end this confrontation diplomatically rather than with fisticuffs.
Yeah, and flubberworms might fly as well.
Harry calmly looked at the assembled students. They looked to be all fifth years: five boys and two girls. "Let me guess," he said calmly, pulling the hands off his robes and straightening them out. "A bunch of upperclassmen and women think picking on some first years is kind of cool. Right?"
The girl in Slytherin green looked at the other girl in Gryffindor colors (they looked similar so could have been cousins for all Harry knew - he never kept track of any of the uppers from his timeline). "Yeah, pretty much," she said, smirking while tapping her wand in her hand. "Except we're not picking on them. We're picking on you, oh ever so elated apprentice."
Ah. Jealousy. Harry was surprised that this hadn't happened earlier than now.
"Well, then, ladies, why don't you give it your best shot," Harry allowed.
"I think Johnny wants to take you apart more than either of us, or anyone else for that matter," the Gryffindor girl said, indicating the boy who had grabbed his robe earlier.
....
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