Chapter 5 - The Shop
After the talk that Harry and Hermione had (though neither of them meant it to be) became very awkward for the both of them. Hermione was no longer holding on to Harry's arm and Harry tried to stay as far away as possible, but still keep her within a safe range as they walked down alleys.
Neither of them spoke of why they were walking down alleys, but Harry said to himself that it was a way to settle down the tension that had builded between them at dinner. Harry slapped himself mentally had hard as he could. If he didn't come to his senses at the last minute, he could have sworn he would have kissed her right then and there.
"Wait a minute?" came a voice in his head as he absentmindedly looked at shops while keeping a close distance on Hermione. "Don't you want her to know that you like her? By kissing her, you could've easily gave it away there! She was so vulnerable, it would've worked!"
"But that's not the point," said another voice. "It wouldn't have been right going about it like that." At that moment, Hermione tugged him on his shirt; this caused him to come back to reality and the voices disappeared.
"Oh Harry look at that!" she exclaimed, looking at something to her right. Harry turned to look and felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
"A bookstore?" Harry chuckled. "Yes I've seen one before," he joked.
"No Harry!" said Hermione, hitting him on his arm. "I meant that I would like to go and look around in it."
"Okay," replied Harry, but he was distracted to the store that was on the right of it. The store was called "Lynda's Wizard Anythings". It wasn't the store simply being a thrift shop that caught his eye, it was the sign next to the door that did. It read: Find amazing gifts here. Guaranteed to impress anyone!
Looks like I can find Hermione an early gift for Christmas, Harry thought happily.
"You go on ahead with the bookstore," persuaded Harry, "I want to look in that one over there." He motioned toward the other store.
"Ok," sighed Hermione, "but I don't want to stay long."
"I won't be long," confirmed Harry, "Besides, it's getting lat and we should be headed back soon. We'll meet right back over here in 10 minutes ok?"
Hermione nodded and made her way in the semi-deserted bookstore while Harry made his way to the small shop. In the window were two manikins, one wearing a fine red elegant dress and the other had nothing on.
Maybe someone bought whatever was on it, laughed Harry in his head as he thought that one dressed manikin and a naked one didn't really look very pleasing to the eye. It was no wonder it was a thrift store. The moment Harry had stepped through the door, his jaw dropped to the floor.
The store didn't look that big from the outside, but the inside as about as big as the Great Hall back at school, only that miscellaneous items were scattered everywhere, some were in huge piles in corners, things were out of order, and a mess. It was a miracle if anyone could walk in there without stepping on something and breaking it.
"How do people find things in this place?" asked Harry out loud.
"They come to me," said an acute female voice in front of him. Harry's head shot up and came face to face with an older girl that looked a lot like Ami from the Restaurant he and Hermione had eaten at. The only thing was that she looked… prettier for some reason than Ami was.
"Ami?" questioned Harry as he squinted his eyes and made his way to the counter she was behind.
"Oh!" said the woman, turning a shade of pink. "You must have met my sister. She and I are twins."
Harry couldn't help but smile at the statement. This would be the second set of twins he ever met in his life.
"I'm Ashley"
"And I'm Harry," he said as he carefully made his way over to her. "I was going to guess that you were Lynda," he added right when he had succeeded in stepping over any items in his path and finding coming to a rest at the counter.
"Harry? Surely you don't mean Harry Pott… Bless my soul! You are Harry Potter!" Ashley exclaimed after successfully spotting the scar on his forehead. Harry didn't say anything. He was too used to this sort of thing.
"I'm sorry," Ashley said as she caught up with her breath and returned to normal. "Where were we…ah yes… Lynda was our grandmother," she confirmed, "she ran this shop for decades… until she passed away."
"I'm sorry," was the automatic reply from Harry.
"Don't be," replied Ashley. "Now what can I do for you?"
"Well I saw your sign outside and I was wondering…"
"Oh wait a minute," Ashley interrupted. "I'm sorry but were all sold out of gifts."
"Sold out!?" cried Harry incredulously. "I nearly stepped on half a million things in here, and you tell me that your sold out of stuffs!?"
Ashley shot a hand to her mouth to hid her giggling.
"What's so funny?" asked Harry, feeling very impatient.
"I'm sorry," apologized Ashley as she tried to stifle her giggles. "Let me explain. First, I should have taken that sign down days ago, so that's my fault. Second, the reason why we call it "amazing gifts" is because we get things way in advance than the other shops do. Just imagine, getting something that no one else in the world has really is an amazing gift. Don't you agree?"
"I suppose," said Harry, feeling a bit embarrassed at yelling like that and rubbing the back of his head. "So what are all of these then?" he said, motioning to all the junk on the floor.
"These are all second hand stuff," explained Ashley. "Usually people don't buy these things. That's why there's so much of it. People usually come here to buy the unreleased stuff."
"How come I never heard of this place if it's so popular?"
"I don't know," shrugged Ashley. "Maybe it's because people want to keep this place to themselves when buying all the goods we receive."
Harry nodded. All in all, the place really did seem like a nice store; it just needed a good make-over and a janitor who was willing to do such an excruciating job.
"If you don't mind me prying, how do you get all the things in advance?" asked Harry in a whisper as if someone else would hear.
"My grandmother knew big people in high places," said Ashley mysteriously. "That's all I'm allowed to say."
There was a long silence as Harry casually looked in the room from wall to wall. There was no way he was going to find anything in here that was good enough to impress Hermione, other than the fact that the place was messier and more disorganized than Ron was.
"I guess there's nothing in here that can impress a girl then huh?" said Harry as he gave up trying to look at the heap of stuff al over the floor.
"A girl?" questioned Ashley, her eyebrows furrowing at what Harry had just said. Her eyes seemed to light up too. "If you don't mind, tell me about this girl. Maybe I could help you find something for her."
"I wish I could," Harry said dreamily. "She's… absolutely one of a kind. I don't think I could describe her if I wanted to. I mean, Hermione's just… Hermione."
"Hermione huh? That's a pretty name," smiled Ashley. "She must be some girl if the famous Harry Potter wants to impress her."
"I've liked her for so long already," continued Harry, as if he hadn't heard a word Ashley said. "I just which there was something I could give her that'll really impress her."
"How about jewelry?" suggested Ashley.
"Tried that already. That really didn't seem to do anything. Besides, it's not 'Hermione'."
"How about clothes?"
"No. It's not… 'Hermione'."
Ashley did as best as she could in suggesting just about anything that a "normal" girl would like: clothes, jewelry, makeup, gift certificates for shopping, etc; still, Harry always gave the same answer…
"No. It's still not… 'Hermione'."
"Well I don't know then," gave up Ashley. "Seems like you really need to work to impress this girl. I'm sorry I can't help you."
"It's ok," said Harry, feeling a bit disappointed, "but I really appreciate your help." Suddenly, a look of revelation flashed across Ashley's face.
"I just remembered!" she yelled, slamming her hands down on the counter. "We got a new unreleased item this morning!" She looked so excited that Harry started to feel afraid.
"I can't believe that I forgot…! Oh…" Her face suddenly fell.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Forget what I just said," she stated sadly.
"Why?"
"Well unless your friend likes to read, I'm afraid that I can't help you," Ashley explained sadly.
Harry's facial expression went from hopeful, to excited, to worried, to disappointed, to ecstatic all in the course of their conversation.
"Huh? Books?" was all Harry could say because he was so dumb-founded.
"Yeah," continued Ashley, "I got Hogwart's: A Revised History Volumes I-IV."
Harry's eyes lit up even more than they already were.
"You're kidding, right Ashley?" asked Harry, his tone in a sort of dead manner, still in awe of what Ashley said she had.
"Yeah," she said, raising an eyebrow at him and feeling slightly afraid now. "Why?"
"I'll take it!" Harry shouted literally at the top of his lungs in a light-hearted manner. Ashley practically had to shield herself from him.
"What?" was all that Ashley could say.
"You're a life saver!" exclaimed Harry as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.
"Oh my gosh," said Ashley. That was about all she could say, considering that she was having a had time breathing. When Harry finally released her and Ashley could breath correctly again, she spoke.
"I don't get it," she pondered. "Why are you so excited over those books?"
"Oh you don't know Hermione," Harry tried to explain. "Books to Hermione is like… Quidditch is to me."
"Ohh," nodded Ashley, indicating that she got it. "You play Quidditch?"
"Yeah."
"I'm guessing Seeker?"
"You're right, but how…"
"My father loved the game too," explained Ashley. "He was a Chaser, just like my grandfather, and his dad before that."
"Oh, so you know the perks to the game?" asked Harry interestedly.
"More than you think," smiled Ashley. There were a few exchanged laughs.
"So… Herm-me-own-knee likes to read does she?"
"It's Her-my-oh-knee," corrected Harry. "And yes she loves to read. That's why I'm so excited about the books. If I get her that, it's guaranteed to impress her."
"Well I sure was wrong," admitted Ashley as she went in the back to get the books.
***
The size of the 4 books that Ashley brought back were enormous; it looked like Ashley ran around Hogwart's grounds for hours nonstop when she finally put then down on the counter with a loud thud. All the books were bounded in dark blue leather with gold calligraphy written across the covers: Hogwarts: A Revised History Vol. 1 and so on.
After Harry paid her for the books and told her what situation he was in, Ashley helped him shrink the books with a shrinking charm so that he could hide it safely in his pocket.
After a final thank you, a firm hug, a good luck, and a final wave, Harry made his way outside of the shop and walked over to the bookstore where Hermione had gone in. He waited a few minutes before she came out; Harry greeted her with a wave.
"Well how was it?" asked Harry, trying as hard as he could not to look excited.
"It was great!" Hermione exclaimed, literally jumping up and down.
"Whoa! Calm down," said Harry as he tried to settle her. "What was it that was so great?"
"Well I just found out that they're going to release Hogwarts: A Revised History Vol. I-IV late in the school year!"
"Really?" said Harry. He could help but smile just a little.
"Yes, really Harry! I wanted to reserve the set for myself, but they weren't taking any more reservations. I guess I'll just have to wait until it comes out in the shops," Hermione said with hopefulness in her voice. "But late in the school year!? That's too long of a wait for me!"
"Oh I'm sure you'll manage," Harry grinned at her. "Good things come to those who wait right?"
"I guess you're right," said Hermione. "But I'm just so excited!"
It was great to know that he had something that was indeed going to impress her and probably even more than that. Harry couldn't help but smile back at her; hopefully she didn't see how excited he was too.