Felix Fernsby and the Circles of Malice - A Harry Potter Story

Familiar Faces

 Though Felix usually found no problem in getting up in the morning, whilst staying in the Leaky Cauldron he found that once awake he was too excited to even try to go back to sleep.

 The room was bare and simple, and the muggle railway that passed close to the window was unpleasantly loud whenever a train went by, but knowing he was just a moment's walk from the magical village of Diagon Alley filled him with a happiness it was difficult to quash. And his smile widened as he remembered it was the day Eliza had said she was coming to London.

Gently sliding Kazoo off his chest, he got up and dressed, taking care to disturb as little of his packed case as possible, before knocking on Oscar's door. There was a quiet grumble and then silence, and he didn't get much more from Cora, so he decided to go down to get breakfast alone.

"Are you with Garrick Skipton?" Tom the bartender asked as he entered the bar.

"Yes," Felix replied.

"Well you'll be waiting a while for him, no doubt about it."

"One too many Fire Whiskeys?"

"Ten too many. Drank everyone under the table, he did last night. Then he got under it himself. Took us forty-five minutes to tempt him out. Good job you folks had gone to bed."

There were only three other people having breakfast. One was a man dressed all in black with a yellow snake around his neck, whose head turned from side to side as though reading the paper along with its owner.

 Quite juxtaposed was a woman sat a couple of seats away dressed so flamboyantly that she seemed to illuminate the shadowy candlelit bar. She wore a dress that would have made Mrs. Fernsby's wardrobe look most ordinary, and on her head was what resembled a fruit miranda, but instead of fruit were placed stuffed animals that peered over the rim of the hat.

 The final person was watching Felix, waiting for him to notice her. She was quite short with her shoulder-length brown hair in a ponytail, and she was someone Felix was overjoyed to see.

"Eliza!" he said, hurrying over to her table.

"I thought I'd have to wait ages for anyone else to show up," she said. "We just got here."

"You came early. Have you come with your parents, or did they send you on your own like last year?"

Felix remembered how last year her parents had told her if she wanted to go to London early, she's have to go on her own. So she'd done just that.

"Actually, I've come with Brennan and his family. You know Brennan Turpin in my house?"

Felix did indeed know Brennan Turpin. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were usually on pretty good terms, as far as inter-house dispositions went, but even amongst Felix's friends Brennan Turpin had earned himself a reputation as the boy who 'always knew better'.

"Erm... what are you doing with Turpin?" Felix frowned.

"Well he helped me work on my protective spells for my Defence Against the Dark Arts exam last year, and then earlier in the summer he sent me an owl inviting me to stay with him for a few weeks. Well, I was away at the time visiting my great-grandmother in Stornoway, but he suggested I should come up for the last week of the summer so I could come to Diagon Alley with him. And here I am."

Felix knew he should've responded by asking her how her summer was, or whether she had enjoyed Stornoway, but suddenly all ounces of small talk had made a beeline out of his brain.

"But don't you think Turpin is a bit... well... pompous?"

"Oh, I know you and Oscar don't think much of him, but please try your best to be nice whilst he's here."