Cursed With Curious Minds | Hp Next Generation

22 - To Last Forever

Astrid had spent all of Friday evening transfiguring her clothes, and using sewing spells to make her wizard robes look date-worthy. She had ended up transfiguring a set of navy blue robes to make them a lot more flowy and dress-like, and she had added some pastel pink embellishments to the edges of the seams.

"How do I look?" Astrid asked the room when she put her robes on.

"Like you're going to have the best first date ever." Delilah responded.

Astrid smiled, and grabbed her winter cloak and Ravenclaw scarf from her bedpost and threw them on. "I'll see you later!"

"Have fun!" Delilah said, as Astrid exited the room.

Astrid met Ophelia down at the courtyard, just next to the footpath to Hogsmeade. Ophelia also had a cloak on, but Astrid could see that she was wearing a black and gold, shimmering robe underneath it. It looked quite magical reflecting in the early morning sunlight.

"You look really nice." Astrid said.

"So do you," Ophelia replied, smiling.

Astrid did not argue with her this time.

"Shall we be off then?" Astrid asked, reaching out her hand.

"We shall." Ophelia said, taking Astrid's hand firmly.

They walked the whole way to Hogsmeade holding hands, and Astrid had never felt happier – well, it was a close call between that and their kiss on Monday. The two found themselves talking about a multitude of things, and not once did the conversation become awkward.

When they arrived at Hogsmeade, Astrid took the lead. "There's somewhere I want to take you."

Ophelia looked intrigued. "Somewhere that's not the Three Broomsticks?"

"We'll go there later, just need to make a pit-stop here first."

Astrid lead Ophelia down the winding streets of Hogsmeade village, going further and further out of the busy centre square, where the shops became few and far in between.

Astrid stopped in front of Morvin's Muggle Marvels.

"Morvin's Muggle Marvels?" Ophelia read out. Astrid could hear the tinge of excitement in her voice.

"It's a shop that sells entirely muggle artefacts and technology!" Astrid said. "Toby told me how fascinated you are by muggles and I thought you'd like a look around."

Ophelia excitedly hugged Astrid, her feet hanging off the ground. "I would love a look around!"

And they walked into the shop.

Ophelia's eyes immediately turned to wonder when she saw the interior. "This is amazing."

Astrid nodded in agreement, chuckling to herself at the randomness of items in the shop. One side sold technology, from typewriters to modern day smartphones; another was full of muggle transportation, skateboards, bicycles and the like; another was packed full of stationary including pens, pencils, notepads and even geometry sets; there was a wall full of muggle books, containing both fiction and non-fiction; next to it was a shelf full of muggle films and music, which included both CDs and vinyl.

Ophelia, however, was euphoric, and immediately rushed towards the bike. "This is a bike!" she said, excitedly. "Muggles use them to get around when they travel short distances, or for exercise. Isn't that cool? It's obviously much less efficient compared to apparating, but I just love how creative muggles are! I've never seen a real bike before." Ophelia said, admiring the handlebars, but immediately noticing something else and flying towards it. "Oh my god! A muggle camera! These are so interesting – you know their photos don't move? They're just still. I quite like that, honestly, it means you capture one, singular moment in time – rather than a few seconds. But this one is a video camera! This is how they get moving photos! You can't print videos though, you have to play them on a projector or a screen."