"Hey, long time no see," I say jogging up to Chandler. He's sitting on a bench in front of an empty shop nearby. Mum and Dad have been talking about buying it and turning it into a pick-up spot for owl orders and things but nothing has happened yet.
"You look like hell. The hell have you been doing?" Chandler says to me as he stands up. He shoves his hands in his coat pocket, "It's fucking freezing out."
"Oh don't be a baby Chan." I laugh at him.
Chandler pretends to be offended, "Christ, I thought Christmas holidays were supposed to mellow you out not make you even more of a bitch. Seriously what happened?"
"Seriously, I don't want to talk about it."
We look at each other for a second before Chandler nods, "You know where we're going then?"
"Yeah? That dark, run-down alley over there? You do know what Knockturn Alley is right?" I pull the hood of my coat up over my head and start walking towards it. Chandler has to jog for a second to catch up with me.
"No dumbass, like do you know what shop we've got to go into?"
I stop just at the entrance of Knockturn Alley. I haven't thought that far through my plan yet. I don't even know what the hell is down here let alone what store will have the shit that we need.
"Freddie Bear! What happened to your face!" Poppy's shrill voice echoes through the pretty quiet streets.
I glance over my shoulder and see my brother standing outside of the shop with his girlfriend... ex-girlfriend? Hell if I know at this point.
"Not a single clue but we don't have enough time to figure it out. If Freddie sees us he's gonna tell someone or want to come with us." I say, taking Chandler's hand and dragging him into the dark and narrow path.
"You do realize that your kitchen looks out into the street right? If literally anyone in your family looked out the window we'd be fucking goners." Chandler half whispers to me.
Some old, wrinkly, witch with really long nails reaches out and tries to touch my hair, "I'll give you ten galleons for this beautiful hair darling. One snip of my scissors and it'll be done."
I pull away from her, "No sorry, not for sale." I say awkwardly.
She cusses me out as Chandler and I continue down the path. "Who in their right mind would pay for your hair of all things? Have you ever brushed that mop?" Chandler says behind me.
"I'll break your kneecaps, Miller." I stop in my tracks which makes Chandler walk right into me. "Noggin and Bonce... your one-stop shop for all things shrunken head related." I say reading one of the shops signs.
"That's disgusting. Let's go in." Chandler takes a step towards it but I pull him back.
"Are you mad? We can't just randomly go into a store full of shrunken heads. Honestly Chandler."
"You're not scared are you?" He says with one of his eyebrows raised.
"What? Course I'm not bloody scared! I've only got a few galleons on me from my allowance and I know that if I go in there I'll want to buy one of them." I say. "Let's go, I think I see a sign for an Apothecary up ahead."
"You think or you know? You aren't going blind on me are you?"
"Eat shit and die," I say to him with a smile. I start walking again, avoiding eye contact with any and all other witches and wizards in the path. I dunno what it is but the closer we get to the Apothecary, the worse the air starts to smell.
Chandler and I stand outside of the shop, looking at the sign, "Mister Mulpepper. No one can be evil with a name like Mulpepper can they?" Chandler says looking at me.
"Here's hoping," I say, pushing open the door. A little bell rings as I do it and a very old and grey wizards pops his head around the corner.
"Where are your parents?" He says. His voice feels like someone just spilt oil all down my back. It sticks to me, and it feels dirty.
"Died, a long time ago," Chandler says confidently. I glare at him for a second but I go along with it.
"Yep, tragic death too. Taken out by one of those muggle automobile things."
The man moves from behind the shelf. He's much shorter than either Chandler or me, his back is hunched nearly a perfect ninety degrees. "Nasty things, muggles are." He breathes. "What are two young wizards doing in my shop of all places hmm?"
"We're looking for a few ingredients that Dogweed and Deathcap didn't have. Thought you might have them in your shop, we've heard great things." I say. I walk further into the shop, it doesn't look like anyone else is in here but us. Doesn't look like anyone has been in here for a long time, everything on the shelves is covered in a thick layer of dust, and it reeks of death.
"Great things eh? Well come on then, tell me what you are looking for." Mister Mulpepper shuffles over to the desk on the wall and stands behind it.
"Two death moth chrysalises, some dew that hasn't been touched by human feet or sunlight, and a silver teaspoon," Chandler says.
Mister Mulpepper looks at each of us carefully, "Attempting to become animagi are you?" He says. The sticky feeling that his voice has just got so much worse.
"Do you have what we need or not sir?" I say, not wanting to give him more information than I already have.
"Feisty girl you are. That tone could get you into a lot of trouble down here young miss." Mister Mulpepper says with a sick and twisted smile on his face. He steps from behind the desk and scurries off into the shelves like a scared mouse. He comes back a few seconds later which sketches me out cause I didn't think he could move that fast.
"Everything you asked for my dears." He says. He puts two small vials on the table that have the death moth chrysalises in them, the silver teaspoon, polished to the point where it even gleams in this dark and gross shop, and a black, velvet bag.
"What's that?" Chandler says, nodding at the bag.
Mister Mulpepper looks at the bag and then at Chandler, "The dew of course. It can never see the sunlight, that's what makes it so special."
Chandler and I look at each other, I try to read his face but he's doing a damn good job at hiding whatever he's feeling. I really hope that I'm doing the same. "How much for it all?" I say to Mister Mulpepper.
"Thirty galleons. But for young wizards like yourself... how much have you got with you?"
I dig through my coat pockets and Chandler does the same. I pull out all the money I've got. Ten galleons, three sickles, and a knut. Chandler has fifteen galleons and six knuts. "This is all we've got sir," Chandler says.
Mister Mulpepper, reaches across the desk and drags all of our money closer to him. He counts it carefully, looking at each individual coin like he's trying to see if it's leprechaun money or not... it's not. Well, at least mine isn't, I hope that Chandler isn't stupid enough to pay with leprechaun money in a place like this.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Mister Mulpepper says. He opens a drawer in the desk and scrapes all the money off the desk and into it. He takes out a brown paper bag and carefully puts all of our items in it and hands it to me. I am careful when I take it from him, I make sure not to touch his hand. I don't know why I do it but I do it anyway.
"Thank you, sir. Much appreciated." I say. I nod slightly and turn around and walk out of the store. I try not to show that I'm rushing, but that place gave me all the wrong vibes.
"I hated that," Chandler says once we are out.
"And you said you wanted to go into the shrunken head store," I say as a joke.
We walk out of the alley swiftly, I only look at my feet, dunno if Chandler is doing the same thing.
"Oh tell me I didn't just see you walk out of Knockturn alley."
I nearly jump out of my skin. Freddie is sitting at a table nearby. Poppy isn't with him anymore, I dunno if she is just in the shop or if she's gone, gone.
"You didn't just see me walk out of Knockturn Alley," I say casually. I put my hands behind my back and thankfully Chandler takes the hint. He takes the bag out of my hand and shoves it in one of his pockets.
"Mum and Dad are going to kill you." He says. He stirs the cup in front of him with a spoon and puts the spoon on a napkin that he's got on the table.
"No, they aren't because you're not going to tell them anything. Mum doesn't need that sort of stress." I try to pull on his heartstrings by bringing up mum.
"Why would I just let you of all people off the hook? You and your big fucking mouth."
I take a breath, "I told you I was sorry Freddie, how much more do you want from me?" He just stares at me, "Look dude, you getting me in shit isn't going to make you feel any better. Mum would probably have a heart attack and drop dead from the stress of today and I swear to god Dad might just cry."
"You deserve it. Maybe you getting in shit would teach you a fucking lesson." He says. I watch him as he takes a big drink from his cup, it leaves whip cream on his top lip and I don't bother to tell him about it.
"Holidays aren't for learning," I say matter of factly. Chandler snorts behind me and I jam my elbow backwards to get him to shut up.
"Get your ass back home before I change my mind, Ophelia." He says, sounding a lot like mum when she was talking to Narcissa a few hours ago.
"You're a gem you know that? Really, truly, a gem. Diamond in the rough." I smile at him and take Chandler's hand before rushing back to the shop. None of the lights are on which looks strange but Dad hasn't opened the shop since mum got the news about Lucius. But given we're off to Hogwarts again tomorrow, I don't think it'll open till Tuesday.
"Here, take it back," Chandler says once we get outside of the shop. He pulls the bag out of his coat and hands it to me.
"You take it! I've got four siblings that enjoy shoving their nose into other people's business, you my friend are an only child."
"Yeah, an only child with a mum that goes through their room every chance she gets. Take it!"
"You're insufferable." I take the bag from him and shove it deep into one of my coat pockets.
"Speaking of mums, I've got to dip," Chandler says, his eyes are fixed on something behind me.
"What?" I turn around and a very tall, very slim woman is walking towards us. She's holding her purse very close to her body, looking around at all the shops. "You brought your mum?"
"Mum brought me, how did you think I got here?"
I shrug, "Didn't really think of that. I'll see you on the train tomorrow. We'll start the mandrake leaf step then yeah?"
"Yeah, sounds good." He says before walking over to his mum. I wave at Chandler's mum before unlocking the shop and heading back inside.
The thought of finally starting the process to become an animagus gives me butterflies in my stomach. I can't fucking wait...
Hold on...
What if I get some lame-ass animal?
Like a bunny?
Or like...
An earthworm?
Fuck.