《 Skip a Beat 》

Once upon a Tina

"Come on, come on, come on, come on!"

Tina huffed agitatedly at the slowpokes still yanking on their coats. She was ready within the first ten minutes of waking up, and had been sticking around with the rest of them impatiently for over an hour.

"Let's go!" she whooped with all the ecstasy of a four-year-old.

Almost kicking the door open, Tina loped down the pathway while her five companions hastened to catch up after her, squeezing and stumbling over each other in the doorway.

All except for Newt, who, with the benefit of crutches, walked in front of all of them, right by Tina's side. He was the only person she'd slowed her pace for.

Even now, he was giving her a sidelong grin, sharing her excitement in finally acquiring a new wand.

Newt insisted that he was strong enough to apparate, so the six of them linked arms in pairs and disapparated.

They reappeared, one after another, just around a corner adjacent to a busy road. First Newt and Tina, then Leta and Theseus, followed by Queenie and Jacob.

The Americans glanced around; cars slowly rattled past them along the bleak grey road, and monochrome clouds swirled overhead- the looming promise of rain, probably. A few ramshackle shops and pubs lined one side of the road, with people bustling in and out of them, clutching coats around their freezing bodies. A dog barked somewhere.

"This way," Theseus told them, sotto-voced. The gang snaked in and out of milling crowds- Tina had no idea where they were going.

At last, he paused in front of the most squalid, droopy building on the street- The Leaky Cauldron, according to the faded gold lettering on the sign. From beside her, she heard Newt's confirming murmur of "Yep."

Tina craned her neck upwards, at the crooked estate. Surely this couldn't be it?

But it was, apparently.

"What- what are we looking at?" asked Jacob nervously. The Goldstein sisters turned to him, confused, but Theseus suddenly whacked his head, remembering.

"Of course! Hold on-"

Tina saw him perform some kind of glittering gold spell, that showered a misty sort of substance over the no-maj. When Jacob recovered from his initial surprise, he looked straight at the pub with a somewhat unimpressed demeanour.

"Oh."

Theseus led them inside, past wooden tables and dim lamp fittings. A small collection of heavily scarred and hooded figures hunched over a table in the far corner, and there were a couple of house elves slowly wiping down the tables with filthy rags.

Other than that, it seemed completely empty.

They approached a little courtyard in the back, by which time Tina was hoping that there was more to Diagon Alley than the brothers and Leta had dismissed it as.

Theo went to pull out his wand once the six of them were crammed in, barely an inch to move.

"Ready?"

"Ready for w-"

Before she could finish, Theseus tapped his wand lightly on a selection of seemingly random bricks, then stood back...

Nothing happened.

"For goodness' sake, Theseus!"

Leta chided her husband, whipping out her own wand. She tapped the same bricks, with one minor change to the second one.

At last, the wall retreated into itself slightly- from behind her, Tina heard Jacob audibly gasp. The side of the courtyard folded away completely to reveal Diagon Alley.