Obliviate (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter Six

Chapter Six:

As soon as they left Le Petit Gateau, Jo felt lost. Truly lost. And it scared her - it scared her a lot. She was so used to being able to amble along the streets of D.C. like she owned them. But, this was different, she wasn’t going anywhere familiar, now she was on her own - and she didn’t like it.

They started aimlessly walking down the streets of D.C, when Evanna asked, “Do you know where we’re going?”

“No,” Jo answered, “I was following you. I thought you knew where we were going.”

“You’re the one that’s from here - I thought you did!” Evanna said, laughing.

“Oh, sorry.” Jo said, pulling out her phone and searching for the Dragon’s Roar. The result popped up almost immediately.

“5 blocks from here,” Evanna said, looking over her shoulder.

“Yep. Let’s go.”

Now, with a place in mind, they could blend in with the others on the street-walkers. The map had said that the Dragon’s Roar was located at 73 Baker Street. As they turned onto Baker Street, Jo began scanning the street for number 73. Where was it? Was it the wrong address?

But, then it seemed to almost appear out of the shadows, and she saw it, smooched between two other buildings.

“There it is!” she said to Evanna, pointing it out.

They hurried towards it, since drops of rain were beginning to drizzle on their heads. Evanna pushed open the door and the bell jingled as they pulled their hoods off inside the door.

The store was literally filled with books from top to bottom. Books lined the walls of the hallway and Jo could see that they lined the hallways as well. How could a place hold so many books?

She quickly pulled out her phone and saw that a new item had been added to the list; Meet Amelia, the bookstore owner.

“Amelia?” Jo called quietly.

“In here…,” said a voice from the back of the store.

They followed the voice, carefully stepping over the books and papers stacked on the floor. This place sure is a bookstore, Jo thought.

Amelia, they saw, was an old woman. So old, Jo wondered how she managed her way around the bookstore without falling and hurting herself. But, as they got closer to Amelia, Jo saw the glint in her eyes and her naturally rosy cheeks and realized that although Amelia was old, she was more than capable of taking care of the bookstore.

It was also as they got closer that Jo saw the other people. There weren’t many of them, but they were there. The other customers were peculiar people. People with cloaks and long curly beards. Of course, not all of them had beards, but those that did, had long ones; beards that reached the floor, and in some cases, trailed after them.

She knew that the others were curious and knew that although they turned towards the shelves as she looked at them, they looked back up and continued to watch her as she proceeded towards the shop.

“Hello,” Amelia said as they reached her.

“Hi.” Jo replied.

Amelia leaned towards them and Jo smelled her flowery perfume. “I suppose you two are Evanna and Jo, correct?”

They nodded in response, sensing that this was to be kept a secret.

“Please meet me at the back of the shop. Wander that way, so as not to be conspicuous.”

Jo nodded and strolled towards one of the bookshelves, scanning the titles of the books as she did so. The titles were strange and unique, and she couldn’t help but wish that she had the time to stop and read them all. But, she knew that she didn’t and so continued browsing towards the back of the store.

Luckily for them, the back of the store was obviously the least popular part of the store, since no one was there and she had to stand and read the titles of the books on the shelves for quite a while before Amelia showed up.

Amelia’s bookstore, Jo realized when Amelia appeared, was an amazing place. She decided this because of how Amelia arrived, which was quite a peculiar way. Amelia appeared between the books, and slowly, ever so slowly, a small door slid open and there stood Amelia, motioning for Evanna and Jo to follow her.

The passageway that they stood in, once they had gone through the door, was small and narrow, but brightly lit and nice smelling.

“Go through the passageway,” Amelia said to them, “And on the other side, knock twice on the door and then wait until Alexis appears. Alright?”

“Yes, thank you.” Jo said and shook Amelia’s wizened hand.

“Thank you.” Evanna echoed her.

“My pleasure, girls, my pleasure,” Amelia said with a small smile, “Say hello to Alexis for me. Goodbye!”

And then she was gone and they were left with a long, twisting passageway to follow to who-knows-where.