The Pauper's Time by Jardyn39
Chapter 2: The Event
Very early the next Saturday they hurried down to the main entrance where they met Lupin and Tonks. The corridors and Great Hall were still deserted.
Tonks didn't stand on ceremony, hugging each of them as soon as she saw them.
Lupin shook hands with them both saying, "Well you've chosen the right day. The weather is wonderful today."
They walked outside into the bright early morning sunlight.
"Hagrid has been kind enough to provide us with a carriage into Hogsmeade. We will be travelling by floo powder to a nearby farm and them we'll catch a Muggle bus to the event."
As the carriage set off, Harry was a little sorry not to be travelling by Thestral.
"Here," said Lupin holding out his hands, "take this Muggle money. Remember to keep some for emergencies. In addition here is a list of telephone numbers that may be useful if there's trouble. The first one is direct to the Order."
"Where will we meet Carmen and her parents?" asked Hermione, pocketing the coins and the slip of paper Lupin had given her.
"At the farmhouse, so we can catch the bus together."
*
They alighted from the carriage a little later and Harry patted the Thestrals before being dragged into the Three Broomsticks.
"Good Morning," said Madam Rosmerta as they entered. "Mrs Cinder dropped off your costumes last night. They are in the back. Do you have time for a drink before you leave?"
Harry, who could feel his face redden already, said at once, "I'll get them."
He quickly made his way into the rear bar and found three large, labelled, cloth sacks.
He picked them up and was about to make his exit when he realised his way was blocked by Madam Rosmerta, wearing a small smile.
"I'm really sorry about what happened," he said quietly.
Madam Rosmerta took a couple of steps towards him and said kindly, "There's no need to apologise. My ale sales actually went up considerably while people recounted what happened."
Harry's shoulders sagged.
"Believe me," she said gently, "I've seen far worse things in this bar. You just embarrassed yourself a little, that's all. Next time will be better. Besides, your friend appears to have forgiven you."
Harry smiled and whispered, "Thanks."
*
Harry stepped out of the fire into a traditional farmhouse kitchen. The low ceiling had deep uneven beams and the floor was stone. He put his glasses back on just in time before Carmen bounded up and hugged him.
"You came! You came!"
Across the room Lupin was greeting Carmen's parents while Tonks was looking out of the windows, wand in hand.
Hermione, who had just been released by Carmen, stood and went over to Lupin.
"And I thought you'd be excited today," quipped Harry with a small smile.
"Silly," said Carmen, "of course I'm excited!"
"Are you going to let me say hello to your Dad?"
Carmen released him and allowed Harry to stand.
Her father approached with a smile and quickly transferred his walking stick to his left hand while they shook hands.
"How do you do, Sir," said Harry smiling.
"Hello, Harry. I was saying to Hermione, we feel we know you already."
Callidus' handshake was firm but he quickly let go and moved his walking stick back to his right hand.
"Are you recovering well?" asked Harry, knowing that Carmen was still ignorant of the injuries he suffered at the hands of the Death Eaters.
"No complaints," he replied, "but it'll be a while before I can catch this monkey again."
"Like you could catch me before!" said Carmen with a laugh.
Mrs Callidus had now joined them and Harry held out his hand but she gently hugged and kissed him, saying, "We're so glad you could come. Carmen has spoken of nothing else for ages."
"Let's get changed!" shouted Carmen.
"There is a changing room upstairs," said Lupin. "I suggest ladies first."
Hermione, Carmen and her mother grabbed their costumes and made their way up the creaky stairs.
"Aren't you changing Tonks?" asked Harry.
"Me?" she said with a laugh. "No, Harry, I'm on duty remember."
"Don't you want to blend in?" asked Lupin with a wry smile.
"I think I'll blend in okay," she replied laughing. "I bet you lot are the only ones stupid enough to dress up for this!"
After rather a long wait, Harry and Lupin hurried upstairs with their bundles of clothes to change. Mr Callidus had decided not to wear a costume and just before he closed the door, Harry wondered whether he would bother.
"Harry, now you've got a costume you might as well wear it," said Lupin with a smile. "Besides, I don't want to be the only one looking the fool."
*
As they waited at the Bus Stop, Carmen and Hermione inspected Harry's outfit and declared that he was wearing almost contemporary Pauper clothing.
Indeed, there were only two discrepancies. The first was that he was rather too clean. Carmen did suggest that Harry might just have time to roll about in some mud and few piles of manure in the field. He politely declined.
The second discrepancy concerned his underwear. Although Harry had explained that he had no idea how to wear the cloth nappy provided and, besides, who would see his boxers?
Lupin passed the inspection of his scribe's outfit and, perhaps wisely, refused point blank to discuss what he wore underneath.
They boarded the single decker bus and almost made it to their seats before it shot off at an incredible speed. For a moment Harry thought Ernie Prang might have got himself another driving job.
Carmen loved the short journey, sitting with Harry right at the front as they clung on around the many tight turns, each one accompanied by screams from the passengers. Harry was sure they must have taken off as they leaped across a humped back bridge before finally skidding to a halt.
Laughing and thanking their driver, they got off and walked the short distance to the fête entrance.
Mr Callidus paid for their tickets and handed Carmen one of the event booklets entitled, "A Medieval Fête."
Carmen dragged Harry and Hermione through the arched entrance, through the car park and finally into the field where the event was to be held. There were several tents dotted around the perimeter. He expected her to want to dash off and explore, but instead Carmen and Hermione perched themselves on a convenient tree stump and read their pamphlets from cover to cover.
Harry thumbed through the pamphlet, but nothing in particular caught his eye so he helped Lupin gather enough plastic chairs to they could all have a coffee at the same table outside the tea tent. It was still early and most of the tents wouldn't be open for business until an hour's time so there weren't too many people present yet.
Carmen and Hermione interrupted their studies to join them.
"Oh, I do like your outfit, young Miss," said the waitress as she placed the tray on their table.
Carmen beamed at her.
"It looks like being a nice day too," she continued. "We had plenty turn up last year and it wasn't half as nice."
They finished their drinks just in time for the first displays which Carmen hurried Harry and Hermione along to, with her parents following behind. Lupin and Tonks had decided to keep ahead of them to watch out for any trouble.
It was soon clear, however, that there would be no trouble today and after a while Harry saw Tonks drag Lupin to see one of the display tents.
The first tent they visited demonstrated bread making and they all had a go at grinding flour. Several other tents demonstrated food preparation as well, and Carmen and Hermione competed to explain everything to Harry, much to the bemusement of the volunteers who were supposed to be demonstrating.
They visited every one of the displays of arts and crafts of the middle ages and had even joined in a few activities.
Harry's favourite was the archery. Even Hermione had a go, but was far more interested in the explanation the archer gave of the development of the bow and arrow in England. He'd brought along examples that stretched way beyond the period of the event but that just made it all the more interesting. Harry had been staggered to see the damage an arrow could do, and he began to appreciate why it was at one time the law that everybody had to practise.
Hermione had enjoyed just about everything, but Harry thought her favourite display was the apothecary.
Lupin, encouraged by Tonks, had helped prepare a quill from a feather and soon found his expertise in high demand from all the children wanting to try writing with a quill and ink. As Harry watched Lupin patiently show each child how to write their name, he was reminded forcibly what a good teacher he was.
The children's favourite display, judging from its popularity, was of the birds brought from an owl sanctuary. Harry appreciated at once why the children were captivated.
It was rare to see Carmen behave like a nine year old, but she loved watching the fascinating birds as much as her contemporaries.
On reflection, Harry realised that the owl display was actually the second most popular attraction.
The most popular was the bouncy castle, an obligatory feature even in authentic "dark ages" events. Harry hadn't managed to persuade Hermione and Carmen to have a try, but he could see the benefit of allowing the smaller children to let off steam. Both of them had scowled at the great orange thing as soon as the generator had been started.
Other than the bouncy castle, the only thing Carmen didn't try was the rather rickety looking hand turned four seat ride that was the fore-runner of the Ferris wheel. Harry was rather relieved she didn't want to try it. Although the maximum height reached wasn't actually that far up, all of the young passengers looked terrified as their crude seats swung and lurched as the wheel was turned.
*
For lunch they decided to buy sandwiches and sit in the adjacent field to eat them. It was quieter here, apart from a couple of incredibly loud babies who were demanding to be fed. The long grass had recently been cut and several small children were having a good time running around throwing handfuls of cuttings at each other.
"Thanks for your letter, Harry," said Carmen abruptly. "I'm so glad you took our advice."
"What advice?" asked Tonks interestedly.
Mrs Callidus smiled widely, obviously realising it was Harry for whom Carmen had been seeking their opinion.
Lupin smiled enquiringly and Mr Callidus pretended to sleep under the shade of his newspaper, his stomach giving away the fact that he was desperately trying not to laugh out loud.
Carmen beamed at Harry and he supposed he ought to explain himself.
"Thanks, Carmen," he said dryly but giving her a small smile.
"Carmen has been giving me the benefit of her considerable experience and expertise on a number of very important matters," he began.
Hermione laughed, catching on just what the matters might be.
Harry decided to press on before his nerve failed.
"One of the important matters was how I might get a certain young lady to forgive me for embarrassing her in The Three Broomsticks."
"Young lady?" mused Lupin with a small smile, "oh, you must mean Madam Rosmerta."
The others laughed except Carmen who asked, "Who's Madam Rosmerta?"
"She runs The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade," explained Tonks.
"Yes, we've booked a table for dinner this evening," added Mrs Callidus kindly, "so you may meet her."
Carmen looked seriously at Harry.
"I did leave out some of the awful truth in my letters," admitted Harry. "Hermione and I were having dinner at the Three Broomsticks. We hadn't planned to go there, or I'd have been too nervous to ask, but we were running late.
"Anyway, we found a nice quiet corner and I was really having a good time."
Hermione discretely put her hand over his and squeezed gently, out of sight of everyone except Carmen who was sitting opposite them.
"And?" prompted Carmen with a wide smile.
"It was rather romantic, actually," continued Hermione. "We were in a kind of alcove with a corner bench seat. After our meal we just sat and chatted over drinks for a while. Gradually, we kind of slid around next to each other and for a while I completely forgot we were in a crowded bar."
Carmen clasped her hands together and sighed.
"Probably at the same moment," said Harry, "we realised that everyone else was being rather quiet. Silent, in fact. I looked around to see the entire bar staring at us, each of them wearing identical grins. I kind of lost it at that point."
"Yes," agreed Hermione, "having your date leap up and start hexing everyone in the bar did sort of dampen the romance of the evening."
"I didn't hex everyone," corrected Harry sheepishly, "only the ones that hadn't run for it quick enough."
"But," said Carmen, "you didn't say why they were all staring at you both."
"Harry kind of forgot where he was for a moment, that's all," said Hermione, blushing furiously but smiling back at her.
Harry was as red as Hermione at that point.
"You kissed!" exclaimed Carmen.
"Well, almost," agreed Harry.
"Almost? That's terrible," said Carmen. "Hermione can't miss out like that. You'll just have to make up for it this evening, at dinner!"
Harry laughed and said, "You do know I have a history of hexing anybody who looks at us, don't you?"
"It'd be worth it!" replied Carmen, laughing loudly with the others.
*
By four o'clock it was almost time for them to leave, having seen nearly every exhibit twice.
Harry had thoroughly enjoyed the day but was beginning to tire. Carmen was too, but clearly she didn't want the day to end quite so soon.
"Hey," said Harry gently as they sat waiting for the others to come out of the toilets, "you know I have to be back at school early. We had to agree or we wouldn't have been able to come at all."
Carmen shrugged her shoulders, still pouting.
"Would you accept a bribe?" asked Harry, drawing a small smile from Carmen. "How about we find you a nice souvenir from that White Elephant stall over there?"
"Okay," she said getting up.
"Hang on," warned Harry. "We agreed to stay and wait for the others. We have to wait of they won't know where we are. We are also not buying anything we can't carry or is over Ten Pounds, agreed?"
"Hermione!" shouted Carmen as she approached. "Harry's promised to buy me a white elephant! Let's go and choose one!"
Harry waited for Carmen's parents before joining them at the White Elephant stall.
"I'm afraid I offered to bribe Carmen," he admitted with a smile. "Unfortunately, she's got her heart set on a White Elephant. I hope she doesn't actually find one!"
As they entered the tent, Carmen rushed over and grabbed Harry. She had picked out an old battered book and an ancient framed watercolour. Each was for Ten Pounds but she couldn't decide which to have.
Harry smiled and bought her both from the money he'd exchanged last weekend.
"Thanks, Harry," she said clutching her gifts and dashing over to show the others.
Harry went over to Hermione who was still studying the trays of books.
"Any you fancy?" he asked.
"No, I don't think so," she said absently. Then she looked up and smiled. "You know you're going to have to drag me out of here, don't you?"
*
The seven of them returned by Floo Powder to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade where they enjoyed dinner together before Harry and Hermione returned to school.
Carmen was looking very tired now and rather white in the face, but enthusiastically showing Hermione her new book.
"Good grief," said Hermione, "Carmen, this is a first edition. Did you know?"
"I did notice," she admitted, "but I didn't want the man to realise."
Harry felt a little uneasy hearing this, but Carmen continued, "I would have chosen this one regardless, though. I've wanted a pre-classification encyclopaedia of plants for ages and the coloured drawings are wonderful."
"Yes," agreed Hermione, "I believe they used to colour them by hand."
Harry frowned slightly.
"It the book valuable?" asked Mrs Callidus.
Mr Callidus examined the book carefully as Lupin looked on interestedly.
"I would say it's not particularly valuable," said Mr Callidus. "It would go for more than Ten Pounds, certainly, but the condition is very poor. I'm surprised that the prints are still here though. Usually they get cut out and sold separately."
He looked more closely at the coloured drawings.
"These are hand drawn, not just hand tinted. Pity about the condition. This is a nice book, but I wouldn't have paid more than Forty Pounds."
Harry looked over to Mrs Callidus who smiled and said, "My husband is something of a collector."
"What about the picture?" asked Tonks. "Did Carmen get herself a bargain there too?"
"Well," teased Mr Callidus, "Unfortunately, the frame is the only part of any interest. Actually, I suspect the frame has woodworm."
"Hey," said Carmen indignantly, "I like that picture! I'm going to hang it in my bedroom."
*
Hermione yawned widely as the portrait hole closed behind them. They had spent rather a long time enjoying dinner with the others at the Three Broomsticks and they found the common room deserted.
"I'm tired," she declared pulling Harry over to the couch in front of the fire. "Let's sit for a while," she said, "I don't want the day to end just yet."
They dumped their bundles of clothes and sat down in front of the dying fire and Hermione snuggled up to him.
"I really enjoyed today," said Harry.
"Me too," she replied sleepily. "I wasn't too sure about you bribing Carmen though."
"Hey, it was worth it. I got extra hugs!"
Hermione laughed and said in a mock pitying whisper, "Ah, you never get hugs, do you?"
"Hardly any."
Hermione pushed him down and lay half on top of him, her head resting next to his. Harry wrapped his arms around her.
"I can't believe you told them about what happened in Hogsmeade."
"I didn't mean to embarrass you."
"I wasn't, really. I was just surprised you wanted to tell them."
"Well, Carmen deserved to know and I suspect the others already knew something."
"Yes, but they didn't know it was us."
"I am sorry for losing it that time. All I could think of was those newspaper articles and how they'd be dragged up again."
"I know," she replied gently. "So do I get my kiss now, or what?"
"Hang on, I'll get my wand out. I may want to hex someone after."