The Sibylline Code; A Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction

3: Diagon Alley- Part 2

AN: Hey people, here is stuff! (THAT IS WHAT AARDVARK TOLD ME TO SAY!)

CHAPTER 3: Diagon Alley, Part 2

I turned back to the group of kids to see them all shuffling uncomfortably. Great, I thought. Awkward silence.
"Err... so... what are these?"I pointed to the fluffy things speaking to no one in particular but hoping that one of the many children would answer.
"Pygmy puffs. Aren't they cute?" The smallest girl who, I recalled as Lily, picked one of the pink fluffy balls up and shoved it in front of my face. My nose twitched, and I took a hasty step back.
"They're very... nice and.... fluffy?" I bluffed.
"I know, right!" She exclaimed oblivious to my discomfort. Suddenly her face darkened. "My mum had one of them. Only one of my uncles used him as bludger practice."

"Lily, shut up, she probably doesn't even know what a bludger is!" Said the boy with black hair. I shrugged.

"Basically, there's a sport called Rounders in your world, right," Rose took over. Then, in explanation to my obvious confusion, she added, "so basically, Uncle Fred used the pygmy puff as the ball, and used a bat to hit it somewhere. Funnily enough, the pygmy puff died."

I nodded again awkwardly. It had been a long time since I had had a proper conversation with people my age and now I'd started, I really wanted to stop talking and move away. I glanced up to see them all looking at each other nervously. Awkward silence.

"Hey... have you seen the defence items? They're still the most popular! Would you believe that some people at the Ministry can't even do a simple shield charm?" Suddenly one of the red heads blurted out.

"I can't. Can you?" I asked uncertainly. Flitwick had definitely said we would learn everything at Hogwarts and we didn't need to know anything beforehand, right?! The girl flushed, and Rose pulled my arm. I jumped as she touched me, and she let go, awkwardly blushing even more. Embarrassed, she started walking and I followed her wondering whether anyone could ever have a more awkward first conversation.‏

"Well... well, we haven't even started Hogwarts yet!" She started, easing the tension. I smiled slightly and she relaxed and continued "We'll both be able to at some point... oh, here they are." We were standing in quite a busy, but rather uninteresting section.

"What's so interesting about this?" I asked, as people lovingly stroked the items, watching people hold them in delight. "Are they like, hypnotic or something?" I asked uncertain. Rose laughed. Well, I'm sorry! Anything is possible!

"Asha, put this on." She reached, and passed me a cloak. I put one on, feeling ridiculously stupid. Rose took out a...

"Is that your wand?" I asked in surprise. She nodded proudly.

"Fir and unicorn hair. 9 and a quarter inches."

"What are you going to do...?"

"Oh, don't worry! Nothing lethal! Just- don't move, okay?" She flicked her wand, and three blue sparks came out of it, flying towards me. I didn't move despite the strong urge to turn and run away from her as fast as possible. They bounced right off me, and back towards her. I relaxed, suddenly shocked at how comfortable I was getting with talking to her.

"You see?" Rose said, as she helped me take off the cloak. "The sparks can't do anything, they're harmless, cloak or none. Oh, and yeah. These reflect off the spells, but some of the cloaks just stop them completely. And then there are the hats, the shoes, the trousers... and so on."

"Wow... did your dad and your Uncle George really-"

"Asha!" My mum waved at me from the door. My dad was talking to George. We went over to them. When we got closer, it was obvious they were holding a lot of bags. "Is there anything you want?" Mum asked. I shook my head. I had started to open up I guess, but my parents don't understand that, nor do they need to know that now. Best just to stay quiet. "You can say bye to the others." Dad said, nodding towards Lily, Hugo and Roxanne, obviously so he could continue talking to George.