Starstruck

13. Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes

‘This is it!’ thought Albus happily as they met up once again with the beaming Lily and (for once) James. The Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Every child's dream shop, and the best part was- his uncle owned it. He was going to see his cousin, and best friend, Rose for the first time in weeks and go to the best shop in the whole of Diagon alley! If he was a cauldron he would be brimming over with excitement, spilling frogs and potion everywhere he went. As it happened, he was not, so had to resort to spilling enthusiasm every step he took, resulting in a raised-eyebrow patronising stare from James. But Albus couldn't care less. James wasn't being serious.

 As they walked back down Diagon Alley and then stopped, Albus did a double take. He could he have not seen a fantastically bright and absolutely astounding looking building the colour of his Uncle's hair, just intensified. It was quite frankly the most noticeable, mad, exotic shop he had seen in his entire life. How could he not have noticed it before? It simply oozed invitation. Any child who could resist the temptation probably needed a good dose of shock spells in St.Mungo's. At the very top silvery, sparking three W’s sat glinting in the bleary sunlight.

Being late August, yet Britain, any sight of improving weather seemed like a sure sign to pull on their wizard hats and throw a garden party. His father knew a man who did just that with muggles, an old folk by the name of Dedalus Diggle or something similar. The man was daft enough the invite a string of his elderly muggle neighbours a while back to celebrate the end of the wizarding war just months before his death. The poor guy must have been deranged, as several women emerged in shock after witnessing a "dancing teapot" and "magic stick" before being rushed to hospital for a thorough memory wipe. Diggle had been an old friend of Harry's.

But now he was peering through the tinted glass windows, and gazed upon  the weirdest products he had seen in his life. Dancing top hats, enchanted wands, swirling sneakascopes and multi-coloured arrays of tempting sweets (knowing Uncle George, probably all set with nastily impressive jinxes and tricks) seemed to tease Albus. "Buy me. No! Buy me." Was it his imagination or were the products actually speaking?

  An enchanted puppet version of youknowwho was set on a loop, exploding again and again and showering little black sweets everywhere. Albus tore his eyes away and stepped inside in a transfixed state of awe, just as ‘Voldemort’ swooped down and splattered him with fake vomit. He pulled a face, but it had disappeared within seconds. He looked up and a glint of red caught his eye. Could it be...? He wheeled around breathlessly. “Rose!” he called as the slim figure turned and he flung himself into her arms, hugging her tightly. Nobody was staring, but he wouldn't have minded if they were. He jumped back grinning, and it was clear from the pleasantly-surprised look on her face that she must have just waked in moments before the Potters.

They had always been very close, and Albus didn't even think of them as cousins as more so much as best friends. It had always been like this. Just him and Rose, laughing through everything, on a mission to rid the world of pesky younger siblings and in a way, Albus wanted it to stay this was forever. Maybe, once Rose went to Hogwarts she may forget about Albus... Come to think of it- maybe there was even a spell to freeze time.

Albus could see Harry and Uncle Ron grinning and shaking hands out of the corner of his glistening green eye. He ignored them for the moment. “Have you seen how amazing this shop is?” said Rose. “Not yet,” explained Albus eagerly, looking around in anticipation at the rows of eye candy. “Let’s explore together!” Rose nodded fervently and they set off together.