Flames of Eternity // George Weasley

2. The Leaky Cauldron

Song for this chapter ~ This Side of Paradise by Coyote Theory

My last week of summer holiday spent in Diagon Alley had come and gone so fast that I had completely lost track of time.

I had managed to collect all my school books from Flourish and Blotts, as well as the rest of what remained on the school's list.

For the most part, my week couldn't have been any better. The only thing that could possibly make it worse was, well, Harry Potter. Although I had managed to steer clear of him the entire first day, it wasn't until day two of my stay that he began to take regular trips to the one place where I was able to study without being bothered—Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

This small shop, which had an infinite amount of colourful ice cream on display, had been my go-to spot in Diagon Alley ever since I first stumbled upon it two years ago as I was strolling the cobblestone streets.

Now, however, Potter had decided to make it his own.

On top of spending most of his afternoons here, every half hour, Mr. Fortescue would serve him a sundae—on the house of course.

Must be nice getting special treatment.

Although the kid's presence annoyed me most times, I couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of pity for him—his parents had been killed at such a young age, and when not around his two closest friends, he seemed rather lonely.

Nonetheless, I carried out the rest of my week as planned, with the rest of my days being spent mostly at The Leaky Cauldron with a book in hand. Not to mention, I had not seen the frightening dog once this week, coming to the conclusion that it probably had just been my imagination.

As I hopped out of bed on my last morning at The Leaky Cauldron, I quickly got changed and headed downstairs for my morning coffee.

As I approached the bottom of the stairs, two figures stood out to me—a bushy-haired girl holding an orange cat, and a messy haired red-head, who I remembered to be the youngest Weasley boy.

Potter's friends arrived—finally. Maybe now he'd stop lingering around me.

Walking past them, I headed to sit at one of the individual tables in the tavern; however, they were all taken. The only table left was the large one situated in the middle of the room, which sat probably around ten people. I settled on this one, seeing as most people only sat here in small groups.

As I took my seat at the head of the table, I could overhear the argument Potter's friends were having amongst each other. Something about her cat not leaving his pet rat alone.

The two bickering friends quickly noticed Potter standing atop the staircase, grinning at them.

"Harry!" His red-headed friend shouted with excitement in his voice.

He rushed down to meet his two friends, with speed, nearly tripping on a step on his way down.

He embraced his friends, a huge grin on his face, quite a change in expression from the rest of his week.

"Harry, please tell me you didn't actually blow up your aunt?" His bushy haired friend asked him, looking like she already knew the answer.

As they took their places at the same large table I sat at, the three began to discuss how their summers went, with the Weasley boy going on about his time spent in Egypt with his family.

I quickly zoned out of their conversation, tuning into the barmaid who had begun speaking to me.

"Just the regular black coffee then?" She said to me with a small grin.