Miss Quinn

31 ~ Diagon Alley

Emma came out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. Her mum appeared a second later. They pushed through the small crowd in the bar and made their way to the back door. It opened up into a small, square yard with a trashcan and a brick wall. Beatrice Quinn tapped a few stones on the brick wall that surrounded a spot where a brick was missing. The wall groaned and the bricks started moving to form an archway. Emma stepped through and glanced around at the witches and wizards milling about. She spotted a group of red-headed wizards and started making her way toward them. Mrs. Weasley greeted her when she reached the group.

"Oh, Emma, thank Heavens you're alright! Ron told us he'd only gotten a few letters from you this summer, we thought you'd been cut off like Harry." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Oh, yeah I'm perfectly fine Mrs. Weasley. I spent the summer in America with my father." Emma said.

"America! Well why didn't you tell us?" Mrs. Weasley said.

"I did, I told Ron." Emma said.

"We're you surrounded by Muggles?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Well yes, I'm sure you'd like to know all about them?" Emma asked.

"Well of course! Tell me everything!" Mr. Weasley said.

"Well Muggles have these little boxes that are different colors. So you talk into them and someone else talks into theirs and you can speak with each other no matter how far away you are!"

"Fascinating!" Mr. Weasley said.

"They call the boxes Telephones." Emma said.

"Telephones?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley. Then they have these transportation system underground and overground. The overground one is for trains and the underground one is for subways. And the subways are just like underground trains but they don't go as far." Emma said.

"Trains, underground?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley," Emma said.

The group had begun to move into Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore. Emma and Mr. Weasley followed a step behind everyone, still discussing Muggles.

Emma had just finished her explanation of taxis when someone tapped her arm. She turned to see Venus. Emma flung her arms around her best friend.

"Venus! I haven't seen you in forever!" Emma exclaimed.

"Me either! How was America?" Venus asked.

"Oh it was great, but I'm glad to be back." Emma said.

"Well I'm glad you're back!" Venus said.

The two friends waved goodbye to Mr. Weasley and hurried up the stairs to the second level. Gilderoy Lockhart was in the store signing autographs. They wanted a better view. The only person who seemed to have the same idea as them was Draco Malfoy. He was leaning against the railing overlooking Lockhart with a scowl on his face. Emma and Venus stood next to him, though leaving a good ten inches in between.

"Quinn, Tyler, have a good summer?" Though the question was more of a sneer, Emma answered.

"I went to America to visit my father," Emma said.

Draco immediately perked up from the mention of Emma's father. He had spent the whole summer looking through books to figure out who he was, and now he could.

"And who is he?" Draco asked. At Emma's look of disgust, he added, "What was his name?"

"What is his name, you mean." Emma said.