Rediscovering Reality

Last Night of Freedom

With a crack we landed in a small back alley in Paris, right where i had planned. 

"Where are..." She didnt finish her sentence as we emerged from the alley and she found herself staring right at the Eiffel Tower. 

"...wow" Mari finished and i couldn't help but giggle a little at her awe. She was speechless. And for once it seemed that brain of hers was simply taking in the sight before her not trying to think or plan. 

"Well its one of my favorite places in the entire world, and i thought you might enjoy it as well. Anyway no time to dally we have places to be!" I grabbed the crook of her arm and gently steered her across the street and past a bar bubbling with activity further into the city.

When we stopped i spoke in rapid French to a bored looking cook at a small stand on a surprisingly well lit avenue. With a nod from the man i pulled her into the entrance of the building next door.

"What was all of that?"

"That's the newstand for this book shop. Wanted to make sure they weren't going to close soon. He assured me that he still had hours left on his shift." With this new information she giggled before looking around the store. Walls covered in books, floor to ceiling of elegantly created bookshelves that were now overcrowded. In the most beautiful way. 

"Come on," There was no time to waste, down the aisles toward the back where I pushed a few books around before swinging open a dingy looking wooden door.

With a creak it opened, quickly i ushered Mari in before closing the door behind us. Music played happily in the corner, there was a gentle chattering echoing throughout the room and glasses clinked merrily. 

"Oh my merlin." 

"Yeah," I looked around and linked arms steering her toward a table near a row of windows that shouldn't have been there, "It is a speakeasy of sorts... you see in the early 1900s there was a prohibition in France. Both muggle and wizarding. In the wizarding world the French Administration started taxing any hard alcoholic drink crazy high. Wizards created this place to avoid the tax- but now it's just a normal wizarding bar, any witch or wizard could stop in- if they know how to get to it that is. " I stopped a waiter who was moving with incredible speed and order two drinks before he sped off again. 

"How did you find it?" She looked around in amazement. I couldn't blame her. This place looked like another world even without acknowledging the fact that we had walked through a door on the first level of a bookstore and were now seated next to windows on the tenth floor staring straight at the Parisian skyline.

"You hear whispers of thing when you grow up the way I did. As a kid i was supposed to be invisible, the whole seen not heard bit. Honestly i wish they had been a little more original- that trope is a little played out I think." She giggled and all i wanted to do was keep her smiling like that, "But this is just the first stop don't worry."

She peered out the window and pointed at a few building she recognized, monuments and important marks to world history or culture. Both wizarding and muggle.  Chatting away, i got swept up in the way she looked when she talked about something she loved. 

-- Mari --

I sipped my drink and thought about how the Paris skyline had been shaped by so many wars. I wondered how many places like this had been destroyed over the years due to that violent force we called war. 

As we came to the end of our drinks Theo stood up, offered me his hand and lead me toward a door, tossing a some coins onto the table as we went.