Gryffindor Princess and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter Three: The Phone Booth

Hope had wished to avoid staying with the Malfoys this summer. After all surely there was no way for Bellatrix to enforce that Hope kept her promise? She'd only been back at Hogwarts for three days when she received another letter from Mrs. Malfoy. In the letter she'd told Hope that they were over-joyed she'd accepted their invitation to stay with them. She'd told Hope to meet her outside of Kings Cross station at seven in the afternoon the next day so that she could pick her up and take her to the manor. With her fathers permission Hope had packed her bags and taken the floo network to Kings Cross the next day.

She'd arrived early with the intention of using a Muggle telephone booth to call Harry. She'd had to use the ministry's floo network however and then walk the distance between kings cross and the muggle entrance to the ministry. It didn't take too long, however, with a bag full of school books and clothes the journey had been tedious.

When she finally arrived outside of Kings Cross she spotted a large red muggle telephone booth just outside. She'd never actually used a telephone booth before and she hoped she'd be able to figure out how it worked. She opened the door and stood inside of the tiny glass case. A small black pole with two wide sections on either end was hanging on the wall. She picked it up gingerly and looked into it.

"Harry?", She asked it, staring towards the telephone.

"Harry are you there?", She asked it. The phone said nothing.

"Hello?", She called, "I want to speak to Harry Potter please!"

The phone still didn't move. She tapped it against the glass of the booth and requested to speak to Harry again several more times. The phone still did not call Harry. Perhaps this phone was broken, and she needed to find another one. She opened the door to the booth and was about to step out when she heard a voice.

"Excuse me, dear", an old man was approaching her. He had his bowler hat in one hand and his walking stick in the other, "I think you have to put in a quarter there love."

The old man smiled at her, chuckling lightly.

"Oh right yes", Hope stuttered, wondering what on earth a quarter was, "erm, a quarter of what?"

"Money dear", the old man now looked slightly confused, "you've got to pay to use the phone."

"Oh", Hope quickly stuffed her hand into the pocket of her bag, where she kept both her wizard money and Muggle money in case of emergency's. She pulled out a few funny looking notes and showed them to the man.

"Which one of these is a quarter?"

"What?"

"Well which one will let me use the machine?"

"None of them 'll work", the man said, "you need a coin- here - one of these."

He fished around in his pocket and pulled out a tiny small silver coin, like the one Harry had been given from his aunt and uncle during their first Christmas together.

"Oh dear", Hope didn't have any sort of Muggle coin, "you don't think I could trade you for it? Here would you exchange this one for the coin?"

She held out the note with one hundred written on it.

"You want to trade me a hundy for a quarter?", The man looked appauled, "I can't take that. Here just have it."

He placed the quarter into her hand.

"Thank you", Hope said, "are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Just take care", the man smiled at her, walking off using his cane.

Hope quickly turned back to the phone. She could see a small slot beside it that looked big enough for the coin. She pushed the coin in and waited. After a few seconds nothing had happened.