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Title: A Day In Diagon Alley

Contributors: wings_of_charm, kestralsfan, boy_who_lived2, pb_prince, chochang___, ___neville___

Edited by: Carla Lute

Posted: 2005-12-14 to 15, 12-19 to 23

Game Date: August 27th

Disclaimer: No one at Levicorpus owns Harry Potter, the world or its characters. We just like to play in J.K. Rowling’s world.

* * * * * * *

Promise sat on one of the big fluffy chairs of the Gryffindor common room. She had a paintbrush and a 5x7 piece of gessoed masonite in her hand and lap respectively and was leaned over with a look of concentration on her face. Her hair was pulled back into a bit of a crazy arrangement held up by a paintbrush with little sprays of hair sticking out in every which direction. There were two other paintbrushes, both with a different color of paint on the brush end of them, jabbed into her hair as well for convenient storage until they were needed again.

After a few moments with an orange color she put that brush into her hair and pulled out a yellow one. Cursed, dipped it in water then in more paint and repeated the process, pulling the red brush out. She cursed again and went to her water cup.

"Damnit!" she swore, irritable.

Charm looked up at her, slightly concerned.

Promise smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. I'm just not used to using acrylics anymore. I'm used to oils and they dont' do that drying thing that these buggers tend to do so I always forget that I need to keep my brushes wet." She looked down at her painting of a phoenix. It was coming out nicely but she was getting bored of it. She'd painted about 5 pictures in the last few days and was not only running out of masonite but getting very tired of painting, though it had kept her entertained since the wedding.

She pulled the brushes out of her hair and stuck them in her water cup then with a sigh stood and set her unfinished painting next to the fireplace to dry before going and cleaning her brushes. The boredome was coming back.

She'd written to her mother, who had finally stopped bothering her about being careful and keeping her eyes open for her evil grandfather, and asked if she could take the portkey back home and stay there for the rest of the summer, that this hadn't been the best idea. Her mom, however became angry and said she'd sent her there early for a reason.

Charm was sympathetic. She was bored too, the two of them had been doing just about anything to keep themselves occupied. They'd even deep cleaned the entire gryffindor tower...which was already clean to begin with. Promise had written a 6 page essay about how modernization was effecting the natural habitat of dragons and gone about ridiculously painstaking processes when she disposed of a letter she'd recieved from Alex.
She was irritated with him, he had some nerve sending her a letter talking about problems that he and his new little girlfriend were having. Mally, Margarite, Myrtle, Myra...she couldn't remember the little hussy's name.

She had move on enough to be at least remotely friendly with him, as much of an asshole as he could be, but she was still bitter and it was just RUDE to talk to her about his new relationship. And as she always did, having a combination of both a rather big mouth and very brutal honesty, she told him exactly what she thought of it. Of course he wouldn't be offended by the almost mean nature of her letter, he'd be expecting it. They'd dated for four years...he knew how she was and more than likely he'd written the letter for the sole purpose of setting her off. He'd always thought she was 'cute when she was angry'...bastard.

Promise put all of her painting things away except for her painting that was still wet.

She then journeyed up into the boys dormitory (for she was technically allowed up there...and she didn't see any harm in being there unattended when no one was even there yet) Because she liked the view out of one of the windows very very much.

She looked out and sighed. Part of her wanted to go ride Eclipse for it was another beautiful day...but she really wanted some human company. She wished she could send a letter to someone but she didn't want to put any more stress on charm. Even though it was her natural ability, apparating across the world was still draining to the little creature. Besides she was lonely enough, to lose Charm's company as well would be terrible.

She could use one of the school's owls but she had only spoken casually with two people on the entire continent before and she thought it might be weird for them to recieve a random letter from her.
After a few minutes of just gazing outside she elected to go outside and visit Eclipse.

She lept up onto the winged horse who looked at her curiously. She gave Eclipse the go ahead to do whatever she wanted and Eclipse began to walk at a leisurely pace toward Hogsmead. At least she was in high spirits, feeling frisky and happy with the warm day. Promise had to admit that it did feel good to just ride. No bridle, no saddle, nothing, not even shoes. She was sitting on the huge black animal in shorts, a tank top and bare feet. It was her favorite way to ride Eclipse though in the winter she had to change her habits of course but for now she could do as she pleased and she smiled as Eclipse walked gracefully toward the town.

* * * * * * *

Seamus fell back on the grass, bored out of his mind. the wedding had went quite well, but now there was nothing to do until school started up again. As he stared up at the clouds, letting himself zone out, he felt a sharp peck on his hand. His owl, Arcadia, was perched beside him.

"Yeah, I know, you're bored out of your mind too.

Arcadia hooted sympathetically. A thought crossed Seamus's mind, and he ran to his room. emerged from the house a moment later with a piece of parchment and his quill.

"Want something to do?" He asked Arcadia, who began to hop excitedly on the branch she was perched on.
Seamus laid out the parchment, and began writing.

Promise,
How are you? This is Seamus, I talked with you at the Weasleys’ wedding. I'm bloody bored, so I figured I'd write you, with nobody else at Hogwarts you've got to be bored as well. School starts soon though, so things will pick up the pace finally.

Charm's still not annoyed with me for accidentally calling her an 'animal', is she?
I'm not sure if you've ever heard of this room, but on the seventh floor, by a painting (I don't remember what the painting was of, but you'll know where it is when you see it), there's a hidden room. It's called the Room of Requirement. You go there, and think about what you want to do, and a door appears. through the door is the room that you 'required'. It's pretty cool, it changes to whatever you're wanting to do at that moment. Something to keep from getting too bored, anyways.

see you soon,
Seamus

He folded the letter, and tied it to Arcadia's leg. "Promise is at Hogwarts, girl. Have fun, go stretch your wings!" He lay back down on the grass, watching as Arcadia disappeared into the mid-day sky.

* * * * * * *

Promise was startled to see an owl perched on her windowsill when she got back from riding Eclipse looking windblown. Eclipse had finally decided walking was boring and taken Promise on a rather wild ride.
She didn't even notice Arcadia at first, in fact. Charm peeped and she looked up, startled.

"Well hello there, pretty miss. What do you have there?" She asked. "Actually, hold that thought."
She looked around and dug through her trunk before coming up with a little owl treat. She then untied the letter from Arcadia's leg and smiled brightly before reading the letter almost greedilly she was so excited.
She was startled to find that it was from Seamus. She was glowing with glee at the letter and gave the treat to Arcadia.

* * * * * * *

Seamus! It's wonderful to hear from you. I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye at the wedding but it was getting late and I hadn't a clue where you'd run off to so I just left. And you're right, school starts in only a couple days THANK GOODNESS. I got so bored that I not only wrote a six page essay...but I cleaned Gryffindor tower...when it was already clean! You have no idea how happy I am to hear from you. I'm not sure if the Room of Requirement could give me what I want right now. That's just some real human company. However I will keep it in mind so when I finally think of something SO ridiculous to do that I worry for my sanity I'll go there and feel better about my mental state.

OH! And no Charm isn't irritated at you anymore. In fact she wasn't irritated then. Charm just likes to pretend she's irritated. She gets a kick out of it.

Actually speaking of school starting I still need to go to Diagon Alley, is it? And get all my books and whatnot. I'm a little nervous, I've never been there before. Have you done your shopping yet?

* * * * * * *

Arcadia returned several hours later, with a letter tied to her leg. Se seemed in very good spirits, and it took a few moments for Seamus to remove the note.

He read through, and decided that since there was nothing going on at the moment, he'd reply right away.

Promise,

I haven’t been to Diagon Alley yet. It's fantastic! I'll probably be going sometime this week, I was planning on getting a group of us Gryffindors together. I'll let you know when we're planning on going.


He once again sent Arcadia off, and decided that food would be a good thing right about then.

* * * * * * *

Yeah, Diagon Alley sounds like it is a really cool place but it also sounds confused to a newb like me. Thank you SO much for inviting me to go with you when you decide to go. I was pretty nervous but I kkjnow you won't let me do something stupid, right? I tend to be relatively good at that...being stupid. In any case, I'm really looking forward to it, now. It'll be great to see you again.

~Promise

* * * * * * *

Seamus emerged in the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace, and walked out back to the brick wall. He tapped the required brick, and Diagon Alley opened up in front of him. He wandered around for a few minutes, finally taking a seat on a nearby bench. He looked around, keeping an eye out for anybody. Promise and Harry were coming, and Neville and Cho said they'd be there as well. Despite being right before the school year, the streets were very quiet, nowhere near the bustling crowd that was there in previous years. Everyone was still scared. 'Oh well,' Seamus thought, and continued looking around for his friends.

From the archway connected to Diagon Alley from the leaky cauldron Promise appeared, led by Hagrid and looking intrigued, her cheeks flushed with excitement. She was looking as lovely as ever in a long, light blue skirt and a black sweater with a sloping v-neck. Charm perched on her shoulder, looking more overwhelmed than most people ever saw her, her little wings pressed tightly to her small, furry body.

Hagrid and she spoke a few words and he pointed to some shops along the way. They then parted company and Promise looked about, as if looking for something in particular, standing on tiptoes and looking around herself. After only a few moments her brilliant blue eyes fell upon Seamus and her face lit up. She smiled brilliantly and swept over to him, full of grace for once, for she seemed to thrive under pressure (and to her this was a pressured situation, she was pretty nervous.)

"Seamus!" she exclaimed happily when she came near to him. "Wonderful to see you again! I've really been looking forward to it."

Seeing no one else was there yet she set herself down on the bench next to him, glowing with happiness. She hadn't been out of Hogwarts since the wedding really, except on her forays to Hogsmeade on Eclipse and she had barely seen any other people, certainly not anyone of her age, either. Now she not only got to see Seamus but she'd be in a small group of people her age. get to meet some other students.

Harry shun with happiness when he saw Seamus and the new girl in school, Promise. He had so much catching up to do with Seamus, and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the books for the 7th year. He knew that anything that could come handy, in the battle against Voldemort was welcome. So he went forward to greet Seamus...

* * * * * * *

Blaise walked towards Flourish and Blotts, kicking at stale puddles as he went. He was in a dark mood, and had thrown on some dark blues robes he had never liked to reflect this. He was about to turn into the store when he spotted Promise and Seamus sitting on a bench with the Car Danathi perched on Promise's shoulder. He considered approaching, but then he saw Potter walk up to them and decided to hang back and watch.

Promise spotted Blaise outside of a store and considered calling to him but he had clearly spotted them. As irritable as he looked he almost looked as if he was going to come and visit with them so she smiled at him in a friendly manner until a boy, who by the scar on his head she assumed was Harry Potter, came ambling up and…well...completely ignored her.

Upon Harry's arrival Blaise seemed completely disinclined to approach so she smiled weakly at Blaise and waved very slightly in more acknowledgement than greeting for she was pretty certain by the look on his face that as long as Harry was present Blaise was going to steer completely clear.

Charm looked almost as if she were going to launch off of Promise's shoulder and go to greet him but she held back and flicked her wings in a Charm-like greeting as well, deciding that she was far too protective of her charge (Promise) to be leaving her in a new place filled with strange witches and wizards.

* * * * * * *

Cho ended up having to sneak out of the house just to get to Diagon Alley. Before she left, her mother had scolded her about 'how unsafe it was' for her to be out. Cho was going to stay home but she really needed to get out and she had told Seamus the day before that she would be in Diagon Alley.

She arrived promptly at 11:24, and walked around for a few hours until she caught glimpse of Seamus. "Seamus!" Cho yelled out. She saw he was with a girl, so she thought she might as well introduce herself. "Hello, I’m Cho" she said to the girl.

"Oh, hello Cho! Hi Harry!" Seamus said. "Anybody know if Neville was going to be here? He said he might be, but I haven't seen him yet."

"Nope, haven’t seen him yet, but he’s bound to come before too long right?"

Promise smiled brightly at Cho, "Hello, Cho, nice to meet you. I'm Promise, the American Exchange student."

Charm bopped Promise on the nose with her tail in reminder causing Promise to wrinkle her nose and motion to the winged cat, "and this is Charm."

Charm nodded her little kitty head in a stately manner before rearranging her wings disinterestedly.

Seeing that it would be a long afternoon in the Alley, Harry suggested that they should go to Gringotts first, to see how much they had in their accounts.

"I’ve always liked cats, but my mother is allergic to them so I can’t get one until I move out. Your cat is very pretty " Cho said as she stroked the cat’s head.

Charm bristled at the word "cat" and Promise glared at her. "Oh, calm down," she scolded. "Charm is actually not a cat. She's a Species that only lives where I grew up called the Car Danathi. She tends to get offended when people call her a cat. But she knows better, it's not your fault you've never seen one before."

Charm sniffed irritably at being scolded but pretended that she wasn't listening and cleaned her paw.

Promise smiled at Cho, "She's more friendly than she likes to pretend she is, I swear...Sucks that you couldn't get a cat. They really are lovely companions."

"Oh my, I’m so sorry. My mistake," Cho apologized, feeling silly. "Well, she is very beautiful."

Charm primped and preened, spreading her feathers, at the compliment and Promise laughed. "Don't pay any attention to her. She isn't ACTUALLY offended by it. She just likes to be dramatic."

Charm glared but didn't deny the claim as she continued to clean her unnaturally soft fur.

"Yeah, I think Gringotts would be a good place to start. Security is still high, I picked up some gold from my vault last week, but it's okay. I want a bit more anyway." Seamus stood up, and they began to walk toward the bank.

* * * * * * *

Blaise sighed, glanced at his list, and approached the group. Gringotts was still locked down like a fortress, so there was no telling when they would get back from it. "Do any of you lot have Arithmancy?"

Promise was about to smile at him again until he mentioned Arithmancy. At that her face fell into one of horror then of grudging acceptance. She raised her hand slightly, "unfortunately..." She muttered.

Divination and Arithmancy were her worst subjects; unfortunately she was being forced to take both this year. Divination was irritating but nothing to be terrified of. She wasn't great at it but she could hold a passing grade easily…Arithmancy, however, was going to be a struggle and she was not happy about it in the least bit.

"...why do you ask?"

"I need to know what book you're using this year," Blaise said.

Promise scrunched up her face in thought for a moment, "uh...Numerology and Gramatics, if I recall correctly." She looked at Charm questioningly and the little creature nodded causing promise to smile slightly, looking more confident in her answer but still clearly unhappy about taking the class.

Blaise nodded, turned around and headed into the bookstore.

Promise looked after him and shrugged then turned around to find that Seamus and the others had begun walking toward Gringotts already. She grumbled about something or another before going to join them. She already had all of the money she needed but she figured she would follow them rather than Blaise. He seemed in a bit of a fowl mood and not really in the mood for company. Besides, it would be rude to desert her group, even though she was a little bit of an outsider in this group of old friends.

* * * * * * *

Cho had not really thought about money considering she didn’t need any books for school. But she also had not been to Diagon Alley in quite some time, so she figured she would just get a little money out and then go and buy a few things with the others.

Neville was waiting for everyone in front of Gringotts. When he saw them approaching, he smiled and walked over to the group.

"Hello!" he called out. "I knew you'd all go to Gringotts first, so I figured this would be the best place to meet you."

"Hiya, Neville!" Harry said then. "Sincere apologies again for withholding that information from you. Looking forward to school?"

"It's no problem, mate!" replied Neville. "I was just upset because we're all in this war together, and we should tell each other these things. I'm over it now."

Neville reached into his pocket and pulled out the list of books he would need for this year at Hogwarts. "I'm definitely looking forward to school! Which classes are you taking?"

Harry then replied: "I’m not quite sure yet but, but definitely I will continue with the NEWT-material I began with last year. How about you, Neville?"

"Well, I'm taking Herbology, of course, and Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm also taking Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic." He looked back down at his list and winced. "That's a lot of books I have to buy. Let's go to Flourish and Blotts last so that we don't have to carry all those books everywhere we go."

"Sorry to butt in, but I just remembered that I have something of great importance to tell you all!" Cho smiled brightly. "I was going to wait, and just post it… but I really need to tell someone and since we are all here, perfect timing right?"

Promise was fairly certain that Cho wasn't really addressing her since they'd just met that day, but she perked up significantly, eager to hear what the other girl (with the ridiculously fun accent) had to say. At least it was something aside from walking awkwardly behind the friends who were all chatting amongst themselves. Somehow she hadn't thought this little meet up would be quite so awkward but apparently she'd been a tidbit wrong. She felt quite out of place, really. She hoped it would get better and she would get to know everyone but for now...awkward.

Neville looked at Cho and smiled. "You're not butting in. What's the big news?"

"Now, I’m not completely sure about this but I’m pretty confident it will happen. I am taking Hooch’s job as broom teacher!"

Cho was very excited about what their reactions would be and even more excited to spend time at Hogwarts with everyone again. She had no idea what could possibly happen this year at Hogwarts but whatever it was, she was prepared.

"Cho, that's great! Congratulations! That means you'll spend the year at Hogwarts with us! I didn't even know Hooch was leaving. And I know you'll be great at teaching that since you were always such a good Quidditch player!"

"Thank Neville! I didn’t know either, I guess it was just a sudden thing you know? I’m really excited that I get to spend the year with you all. Let’s just hope everything goes well."

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