Magic Behind The Pages (Fred Weasley)

Chapter 64

1 month later, two weeks before school ...

Witches and wizards buzzed throughout Diagon Alley. Lylie held her mother's hand tightly as they swerved in and out around wizardfolk.

"Come, come, this way! Flourish and Blotts is just here!" Lylie's mother called to her daughter over all the loud chattering.

Lylie nodded her head as she squeezed through a big group of Hogwarts students, standing in the middle of the alley.

Mrs. Aqua and Lylie stepped into the small shop, cluttered with dusty textbooks and documents.

"Hello?" Mrs. Aqua called, looking for assistance.

"Yes! Yes! So sorry, miss!" An older man came flying through the back door, with a stack of unorganized papers in his arms.

"How can I help you?" He panted as he slammed the pile of papers on the front desk.

Mrs. Aqua cleared her throat, "My daughter is in year four now, and we have the list of textbooks right here ..." Mrs. Aqua fished around in her purse for a list with messy writing scribbled on it.

The man scanned the list murmuring, "Yes. Uh-huh. Right. Got it. That's good. This one's in the back ..." he paused at the last textbook, he squinted his eyes, "don't have this one. Might be able to get it somewhere else, though."

Mrs. Aqua nodded and leaned into the list as she put on her reading glasses. Lylie turned on her heel and went to examine some textbooks for the Study of Ancient Runes.

She opened one up and flipped through it, her fingers brushing the dusty corners of the thin paper. The faint, low voices of the man and Lylie's mother discussing the school books could be heard from a short distance.

Lylie began to read a passage about the structures in Ancient Runes when Mrs. Aqua called for her daughter.

Lylie shuffled back to the front of the shop to greet her mother.

Mrs. Aqua explained, "We've gathered all your textbooks, we just need one, it's for a class entitled Care of Magical Creatures."

The man added, "Yes, we do not have any in stock. You can visit the shop a few buildings down, they may have it in store."

Lylie smiled and her mother went to the register to pay for the supplies. Lylie exited the shop and stood outside, observing the atmosphere around her.

*

At home the next morning, the phone rang. Lylie picked up.

"Hey! Missed you this summer!" Fred's sweet voice came cooing out of the phone.

"Yeah, yeah I've been busy. My family and I went on a road trip with my cousins to Birmingham and also I've been writing." Lylie blushed.

"The road trip sounds like it was fun." Fred paused, "As for the writing part, well that's just old news. You and your stories." Fred playfully rolled his eyes.

Lylie smiled kindly.

"So," Fred began, "George, Ron and I are planning this big rescue mission."

"Who exactly are you rescuing?" Lylie laughed heartily.

"Harry."

"Harry Potter?"

"Of course." Fred explained, "You know he has a miserable summer every year. We thought we'd get him out early."

Lylie snorted, "How are you going to do that? You can't use magic outside of school."

Fred chuckled a low laugh, "My dad's flying car, of course."