Semper Fidelis

Chapter 3.1

alis volat propriis
she flies with her own wings

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Chapter 3

James could not believe that it took him and his mum only thirty minutes to walk from their townhouse to the entrance of Diagon Alley. In fact, he knows exactly where they are for his school bus would drive down the opposite road every morning to take him to school. He can't remember ever sparing more than a glance at this direction though since there's only a very narrow alley with three doors. A sign reading "The Leaky Cauldron" hang precariously on its last nail atop the middle door on a wooden post.

James glanced at Hermione before looking back at the door. It looks very, very ordinary. He had expected the entrance to Diagon Alley to be more, well, magical. This just looked like an entrance to any old pub (emphasis on the old). The shops on either side were unremarkable too, one being a bookshop and the other a record store.

"Mum, are you sure we're in the right place?" He asked.

Hermione gave a soft laugh and looked at James. She can't wait to see his reaction. She put an arm around his shoulders and steered him towards the door. "I'm very sure, James. Let's go."

Hermione grasped the large bronze handle and pulled the door of The Leaky Cauldron open. There were a handful of patrons already inside enjoying what looked to be a full English breakfast. The pub was sparsely lit with only the sun filtering through the windows and candles on each table providing light. Still it was warm and inviting and cozy and Hermione felt a strange tightening in her chest as she saw the familiar scene. Despite all these years, The Leaky Cauldron had not changed.

"Hullo. How may I help you madam and sir? Would you care for a table?" The barkeep behind the counter asked politely as he polished his silverware. He regarded Hermione carefully. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed it was not Tom the owner who greeted them.

"No, thank you. We are just passing through to get this one some school supplies." Hermione replied with a smile, nodding her head towards James.

The barkeep nodded in understanding and raised a hand to point to the back of the pub. "Feel free to head along then. It's the perfect day for school shopping! Might I interest you to come back for lunch later on? We're serving shepherd's pie and I bet I can reserve the best table in the house for you two! Your drinks are on me!" He said with a devilish grin. He's not completely daft, oh no he isn't. He noticed her right away when she entered with the boy. He's well acquainted with all the beautiful witches this part of town and yet he's never seen her before. That alone spiked his interest. One look on her left hand told him that she's neither engaged or married (not that that would stop him anyway) and since she said she's here to school shop for the boy, there will be no son (or whatever he is) for nine months! She'll be lonely, and he's more than willing to keep her company.

James glared from his mother's side. It did not go unnoticed to the almost-eleven-year-old-boy that this man was looking at his mum funny. He didn't appreciate how this stranger's eyes lingered and scanned his mum from head to toe. "No, thank you sir. We will not be coming back here for lunch." He replied politely but sternly.

Without waiting for a reply, James tugged on Hermione's hand and led her to the direction the buffoon behind the bar had pointed to. Hermione's body shook with silent laughter at the exchange but she knew she still had discipline her son. "James! That was not necessary. He was only being nice to us." She whispered as they made their way down the hallway to the back of the pub.

"Mum, he was looking at you all weird. Like you're a piece of pie. I didn't like it." James stubbornly replied.

Hermione shook her head and dropped the subject. Now's not the time to talk about this and so she'll shelve the conversation for later. What better timing since through the door at the very end of the hallway, Hermione and James were brought to the walled courtyard. The only thing in the courtyard was a large dustbin pushed against red bricks.

She grinned and positioned James to stand facing the wall. He looked at her curiously as she reached into her bag to pull out her wand. With a smile on her face, Hermione walked up to the dustbin and laid her wand on the brick directly on top of the lid.

"Three up, and two across," James heard her mumble. He watched as she traced her wand three bricks up and two bricks left from where she began. She looked at him as she tapped her wand three times. Tap, tap, tap.

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