SMILE » n. longbottom

lxi

"DIAGON ALLEY"

It was the eve of Christmas, a holiday that even those from magical origins would celebrate. Through the winding and crooked alleyways, the wind blew furiously. A few rays coming from the sun's orb reached down, as if it were testing the shallow end of the area.

Alana closed her eyes, welcoming the sun that shined slightly on her face. Although the wind bit slightly at her face, she did her best to ignore its pesky behavior. She let the cold breeze refresh her, and when she opened her eyes, she welcomed the sights of Diagon Alley.

People were bustling in and out of the stores that lined the alley, coming out with big shopping bags. It seemed as though everyone was excited for the upcoming holiday, as they seemed to have bought most of their presents now. She looked across the way and spotted a clothing store that was selling Christmas-themed presents.

Neville waved to her from behind the windows of the store, with his grandmother right behind him, but she looked as about as stern as she could possibly be. Alana brushed it off, especially since she had not known the resting face of the woman fairly well.

She walked into the store, and found her way through the crowds of people rushing out of the store with their shopping bags in hand, and some even with boxes stacked in their hands. Many books and labeled cardboard boxes were stacked on the shelves that lined the area Alana walked through.

Before she reached the end of the aisle, a familiar face she had just been waved at by. It was Neville, and he was looking at a box that was at the bottom shelf, a piece of ripped off parchment in his hand, as if he was trying to identify the box.

Alana crouched down at his level and read his paper and the box's label which she could barely read. "Hmm, perhaps we could get an employee to help?" she stated.

Neville nodded, picking the box from the shelf. The two of them searched through the store as if they were looking for a needle in a haystack. Other customers in the store seemed to be in every area of the space, but to their astonishment most of the visible employees were busy helping customers pay for their items.

There was a second story over looking the first story of the building, where Alana and Neville ended their search at. They rested at the fence of it, looking for any employee that was not at the front desks. Neville shook his head, looking again at the label as if trying to make out the words that were written on it. He could only recognize a few letters of the words,

"I'll just bring it up to the cashier and see if it's the right item, — err —" he looked back at the line that spanned around the store, "it'll take a while, so perhaps just looking around." The Gryffindor boy nodded, smiling a bit before he turned down the stairway and collected himself at the end of the line.

Alana nodded in response, watching him as he stood in-line, he waved his hand in response. She turned pink, as she felt embarrassed for him to catch her looking. She waved back, and eventually turned down the nearest aisle — perhaps to leave his gaze.

She idly looked at the objects on the shelves, picking up and setting down objects that spiked her interest. But Alana's mind faded from her body, almost in a blur, and she found herself thinking about Neville.

Her memory of the greenhouse was still fresh in her mind, and she was glad that Neville showed her it — she probably would not have noticed it.

With him, she feels different. She does not feel the same way she feels when she's around her family. She does not feel the same way she feels when she had her machine with her, in the last school year. Alana feels as though her presence around Neville is welcome and appreciated, a way she has not felt in some time.

Through her difficult and low times, Neville helped even thought she did not ask of it.

As she looked through the shelving throughout the store, something caught the Hufflepuff girl's attention and it averted her focus towards it. The box seemed to be suspended by something, but as she picked up the object she realized that it was floating by itself. Alana turned the box around so that the label would face her.

She could barely see what the words said but as compared to the box that Neville was holding: this one was more legible. In blue ink that seemed to sway and twitch, the words read were: "Floating Terracotta Pot", with some smaller words behind it stating "Floating Charm Cast!"

Alana remembered how Neville's greenhouse only had the rows of various plants and she thought about how he might appreciate this as a present, especially from her. The line behind Neville formed, so she found her way in the line as though to not let it be in the eyesight of him.

Alana paid with the little money that she had left from the school year, and hid the present in a bag that the shop provides. She met Neville outside with many boxes and bags in his hands and his grandmother standing next to him.

The group headed to the Muggle streets that laid just outside of Diagon Alley, where they stepped into a sleek black car with tinted windows that was waiting for them. Augusta Longbottom spoke with the driver for a moment before returning to the back of the car where Alana and Neville were both sitting patiently.

She had noticed how they were not taking the route back to the Longbottom Mansion but instead somewhere else. Alana turned to Neville and noticed how his gaze turned grey and faded, and how the same look was present in the eyes of Augusta as well.

The Hufflepuff girl returned her focus to the route of the car, and she slowly recognized it. From around the start of summer, was where these roads were familiar. St. Mungo's Hospital. Although she was healed completely at this moment, the reason for why the car was traveling there was clear:

To visit the parents of Neville, almost every student at Hogwarts School knew the story. They were tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, and such actions from the witch resulted in the couple being hospitalized in St. Mungo's. They were never the same but their resistance allowed for the salvation of other Order of the Pheonix members and those who would oppose the Dark Lord and his followers.

The gravel beneath the wheels of the car crunched as it moved down the pathway. Augusta sighed and turned to Alana, "Pardon our visit here, dear. You may stay in the car as you wait, if you as so wish."