Diagon Alley: A Harry Potter Tale

5. A Favor

A week had passed since Jack had given his speech at Hogwarts. Still, he couldn't get his mind off of Jane Reynolds. In his 250 years of life he had never seen someone as beautiful as her. He regretted not asking the Minister of Magic for her contact information so he could speak to her, because at this point he only knew she worked at the Ministry. He was stumped as how to see her again, and seeing how he knew nobody at the Ministry, it looked like it was a lost cause.

Jack was realistic about his chances, but kept his trademark American optimism, and even though he had no lead, he was determined to find one. As luck would have it, on his way to work one morning, he found a potential lead.

"Charles! I need a favor!" Jack said as he jogged over to Charles

"Hello Jack. What do you want. If it's money, then I'm sorry to tell you the answer is no."

"What? No, I don't need money. I need to know if you know anybody who works at the Ministry of Magic."

"Oh definitely. I know many people in the Department of Accounting. But why are you concerned about who I know in the Ministry?"

"I'm looking for a girl who works there."

"Oh a girl? I understand now. You've fallen in love with someone at the Ministry and want my help to get to know her better."

"Yes, exactly! So will you help?"

Charles chuckled at Jack's remark

"Absolutely not. My ties to the Ministry are not meant to be used for personal gain. Think of what would happen to me beloved shop if people found out I used my personal links for gain. Might as well just move on Jack. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a shop to run."

Charles turned to enter his store, and in doing so, dropped a piece of paper from his back pocket. Jack went to pick it up and return it to him.

"Oh wait Charles—"

"I said we're done Night, I have things to do." Charles said as he slammed the door shut.

Jack stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket and returned to his store. Diagon Alley was incredibly busy that day. There were floods of customers going in and out of every store. The whole place was a mad house. Jack had an eventful day, selling almost everything ranging from books to broomsticks. At the end of the day, he was exhausted. He closed shop at the usual time 6pm, but decided he would stay for a bit to read. He liked to read more in his store than at home sometimes, mainly because there were less distractions.

However, there was a major distraction today, but a welcome one, as George knocked on the door to Jack's shop. The two had become good friends over their time as fellow shop owners, spending many lunch breaks together. Jack opened the door, letting George in. He grabbed a chair for George and the two sat down.

"You wouldn't happen to have something to drink would you? Tea? Soda? Water?" George asked

"I've got something much better, wait here!" Jack said excitedly as he rushed into his store. It took him two minutes of rummaging through his store, but he brought back something that caught George off guard.

"You've got Butterbeer? Wicked!"

"Indeed I do! Got some from the Leaky Cauldron. I don't sell it though, these are just for me and guests." He handed George a bottle and the two opened them up.

"So tell me Jack, how'd the speech go? I would've asked sooner, but I've been far busier than I thought I would be."

"Oh. Well overall it went great, but there was a snag."

"Did the Gryffindors act up against the Slytherins?"

"Nope."

"Oh, so McGonagall lectured you after your own little lecture."

"Not that either."

"So then what happened?"

"See, there was this girl. I've never seen anyone like her. It was like, like seeing an angel."

"So she was pretty."

"Beautiful! I mean, c'mon George, she's been on my mind since then. I just can't get her beautiful smile out of my head. Her eyes were brighter than stars."

"You sure she didn't slip you a love potion? Seems like your madly and hopelessly in love with this girl."

"I am George! I've got to see her again. Even if it's just for a couple of minutes."

"Aren't you like 250 years old mate? Don't you think you're a little late to this? I mean, you may only have her for a short amount of time compared to her being with, you know, someone who doesn't live for 900 years. Isn't that the reason there aren't many centenarians left?"

"That's half of it. You see George, centenarians only stay centenarians if they start families with people of the same kind. It's a bit of a blood thing. Not that we hate or look down on others, but we can be limited when choosing our future husbands or wives. The second we start a family with a regular wizard or muggle, our ability to live for centuries disappears."

"So you're telling me that once your hypothetical kid is born, you'll turn to dust?"

Jack let out a chuckle, which prompted George to laugh with him

"No, I'll just be 25 in regular years, and I'll pass away around 80, instead of 800."

"So you would really trade near immortality for this girl?" George asked

"Yeah, yeah I would."

"Then that confirms you are indeed in love with this girl. No love potion could make you sacrifice that much for someone. I'll help you out with your little dilemma here. Consider it a favor payback for all the times you've helped me."

"Really? You will?"

"Absolutely! I think I've got some experience in this area with being the brother of Ron and Ginny. So tell me, what do we know about her."

"Beside the fact that she's the most beautiful person I've ever seen, absolutely nothing."

"You're joking. How are we supposed to get you two to meet if you don't know anything about her?"

"Well, hold on, there is one thing I know. She works at the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of Artifacts. But I don't know anyone in the Ministry so I won't know how to navigate when I'm there. If only we had someone who knew the Ministry."

"Well, what if I told you that the Minister of Magic is my sister-in-law."

Jack looked up in disbelief, and George had that devilish grin that he hadn't brandished since his time at Hogwarts. He felt as if it was just like the good old times, and Jack had a twinkle of hope in his eyes, and they both toasted to their friendship as they finished their butterbeers.