After the War

Chapter 4

The next morning, I had slept in, which led to me rushing around trying to get ready for work before Emma got here and we had to leave. Thankfully I had a bath last night, so I could skip having a shower this morning. I finished getting dressed and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on, I turned around saw my wand sitting there on the table. I completely forgot that it was there. I picked it up and was on my way to put it away when the doorbell went off. ah shit. I turned around and walked down the hallway quickly shoving it into my handbag before opening the door to see Emma standing there holding out a coffee for me.

"Oh my god yes. Thank you so much. I was already running late." I took the coffee and stepped aside so that she could come in.

"It's all good, I had a feeling that it might have happened what with your appointment yesterday. How are you feeling today?" Emma asked as she stood there waiting for me to finish getting ready.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just needed the sleep apparently." I slipped my jacket on and grabbed my handbag. Forgetting once again that my wand was in there "Alright, let's go. I'd ask who is driving, but I feel like that's a moot point by now." Emma laughed as I picked up my car keys and she put hers down.

"Nope, no point." I rolled my eyes at her, and pushed her out the door, closing it behind us. We walked down stairs, talking about nothing and everything at the same time. We walked into the building's parking lot and saw her car sitting there next to mine. "Really?" I looked at her with an eyebrow raised she just smiled at me and hopped into the passenger seat. "You only ever use one of your 2 spaces. Might as well." I swear we have this conversation everyday before work.

"So now that you can't run from me, how are you really?" Emma looked at me as I pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm fine, really. I guess I was just over thinking things last night and was more tired than I thought. I don't know if I'll ever fully recover from everything. But I will get there. I am getting there." I had told her little bits, in ways that I could. But I hadn't told her the full thing, for obvious reasons.

"Good. I hope you do get better. And like always, I'm here if you need me. Anyway. Have you see the latest episode of Bull? It was ama-"

"Shut up. No. I haven't. It was on last night. I'll watch it later today, after work." I said quickly, making sure that she didn't spoil anything. She laughed at me, and changed the subject, talking about this and that until we got to work.

We get the shop all set up and open for the day. It was amazing just how many people still wanted hard copy of books and not the E-readers. Its also amazing the amount of people that will come, sit and read through their lunch. You would think that being a weekday, it would be quiet, but people kept coming in and out. Probably helped that we had a sale on.

The day flew past, faster then I thought it would have. It got to 4.30 pm and with only half an hour to go before closing, we all started to pack up and clean the shop, getting it ready for the next day. We were 5 minutes from closing the doors when the door opened, and someone walked in. I was in the middle of stacking books, so I was happy to let someone else serve whoever it was. I was in my own world when I heard someone behind me "Excuse me? I was looking for a book for a friend. I haven't seen her in while and was hoping I could get some advice." I turned around and lost my breath. Harry. Oh my god, are you serious? How the hell was he here? "Miss, sorry, are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry. You just look like someone I used to know. Someone I was extremely close too. Anyway... sorry... You said you were looking for a book for an old friend, what books do they like?" If I didn't want him to know it was me, I was going to have to be extremely careful. I also wanted to know who this old friend was. But for the love of all things colourful, don't let it be me.

"She is into facts more than fantasy. But if the book is fantasy filled with facts, as well as entertaining, she loves it. For example, the Percy Jackson books. She loved mythology, any kind. She loved learning about all different types of history." Ah crap.

"There is a book, it came out the start of this year." I said walking away from where I was stacking books and to the other side. "It's called Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I'm yet to read it but I hear that it's an amazing retelling of the Norse Mythology. Apparently, it is amazing for those people who are into the gods."

"Alright, this sounds good. I just hope she likes it." He said looking at it.

"Well if you keep the receipt you can return it within 30 days."

"Alright, well I'll get it then" He said. I led him up to the till and sold him the book. I waved good bye to him and watched him walk out the door. As soon as he was out of sight I quickly locked the door, leaning my head against it. Trying to calm myself down. Trying to slow my breathing. It was fine. He didn't know it was me. He just wanted the book.

In saying that, I had no idea what was going to happen next week.