An Unexpected Encounter

Chapter Seven – An Unexpected Encounter

In a sort of daze, Severus shook hands with the senior Pettigrews as Lucius introduced them. I have got to ask cousin Lucius about this! The other boys were talking Quidditch still, which was a good thing as he wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying. Then Remus looked up.

"Hey, there's the chipmunk!" His voice was too low for the adults to hear it.

"You mean the bushy-headed chipmunk!" Harry snickered.

"The stuck up, bushy-headed chipmunk!" That was Ron's contribution. "Watch out for her, she'll give you a detention!" All three Gryffindor boys burst into laughter, and Ron added, "She's worse than Percy!"

The object of these comments was a girl about their age who was flipping through a book on a nearby shelf. She had long brown hair that fell down her back in untamed curls, and Severus had to admit it did look something like a bush. He couldn't see her face from where he was standing, but guessed that she had prominent front teeth. "Who is that?" he jerked his head in her direction.

"That," Harry's voice dripped with contempt, "is Hermione Granger, one of the Prefects for Gryffindor this year."

"She's a fright!" Ron agreed. "I don't know why the Sorting Hat put her in Gryffindor. She should've been in Hufflepuff."

"She's going to be unbearable!" Remus chimed in. "She's always going on about us sneaking out after curfew or whatever. Now she'll be taking points and giving detentions! She doesn't care about the House Cup at all!"

Well, if my Housemates treated me like that, I wouldn't care about it either! I don't think Slytherins would ever act like that in public. Severus made a show of looking up at the clock. "I'm afraid I have a lot of books to get yet," he said. "It was interesting meeting you all." And that is the most accurate statement I think I've ever made in my life. He wandered over to another section of the store seeking the rest of his books.

Half an hour later, they left Flourish & Blotts laden with books. In addition to Severus' schoolbooks, Lucius had bought a book on Wizarding Finance and Severus had chosen a biography of Andrew Pembroke, the captain of the Windriders. Once they were out of the store, Lucius shrunk the stack of books to the size and weight of a deck of cards and tucked them into his pocket. "That's better. Where to next, cousin?"

Severus was a little bemused. "I'd really like to learn that Charm. The only Shrink spell I know doesn't affect weight. Just size. I'd like to go into Eeylops, if you don't mind."

"I'll go over the Charm with you tonight, but I believe it's a standard part of sixth-year curriculum. While you're in the pet store, I'll step down to Bourke & Brown's and pick up your school robes. Let's plan to meet at the Apothecary in an hour."

Severus nodded and opened the door to the pet store. This version of Eeylops was much larger than the one he remembered. As he'd thought from the name, along with the ubiquitous owls, cats, and toads, they carried snakes, hawks, parrots, dogs, rats, and a few other animals that he didn't recognize. He cruised slowly up and down the aisles looking at everything. His first inclination was to get an owl or some other bird so he wouldn't be limited to school owls. But some of the other animals were interesting. In the cage in front of him were four half-grown dogs of some indeterminate breed. The cage next to them housed half a dozen black and tan Kneazle kittens. Further down was a pen of Nifflers. In the center of the store was a large cage containing a large white glistening sphere with highlights of green and gold. There was a sign next to it, and Severus read:

Coatl Egg

Imported under special permit from Mexico

Live Hatch Guaranteed*

Price upon request

*Guaranty void if proper care instructions are not followed explicitly.

There were quite a few people looking at the egg, including the two Slytherin boys he'd met in the infirmary. Severus nodded to them politely and strolled off down an aisle containing snakes of various kinds. The largest snake they had was a ten-foot reticulated python, but they also had a cobra, a puff adder, an American rattlesnake, and several others that he didn't recognize. In the very back of the store were several darkened cages containing a variety of bats.

Reluctantly, Severus decided to consult with Lucius – after all, whatever Familiar he bought would be living in his cousin's house during the summers and would have to get along with Lucius' cat. He made his way out into the sunshine and considered. He had nearly half an hour before their planned meeting at the Apothecary. A thought struck him, and he went over to the junk shop on the seamier side of the street.

Baggins Backdoor Bargains was a small dirty shop filled with a huge variety of items that had seen better days. A couple of rusty swords were propped up in the window, supported by threadbare red velvet thrown over a stack of bricks. A sagging bookcase missing a shelf leaned against one wall. A few tattered books were the only contents. Wobbly tables loaded with other items filled the center of the one-room shop, and dust motes drifted thickly in the air making it hard to breathe. In the back of the shop, in the corner, a stack of paintings and mirrors were leaned haphazardly against the wall. Severus flipped through them. The paintings were all junk – bad copies of masterpieces. The painted figures moved jerkily, as if they were surrounded by a morass. Two of the mirrors were cracked, one so badly that pieces of the glass were missing. He lifted the third mirror and examined it. The frame was scarred and splintered around the edges, but basically intact. The glass was undamaged. The mirror itself was relatively small – about a foot square. With his handkerchief, he wiped some of the dust from the glass.

"Romalg?"

"Nay, I am Aphros. How know ye of my tree-sib?" The voice was cracked and tired – an old man's voice. Quite the contrast to Romalg's pleasant baritone.

"He's hanging in my bedroom," Severus whispered. "He told me about you. I'll talk with you tonight, but right now I have to get you out of here." He tucked the mirror under one arm and headed for the counter at the front of the dismal little store. A few minutes later, he was back out in the sunshine of Diagon Alley and on his way to the apothecary, the shrunken mirror safely tucked into a pocket

As he neared Quality Quidditch Supplies, he saw the three Gryffindor boys he met earlier standing outside obviously enraptured with the brooms on display there. They were talking animatedly, but broke off when Remus pointed at a girl just leaving the bookshop. He watched as they deliberately blocked her way, bumping into her just hard enough not to be an accident. Her arms were loaded with books, making her clumsy when she tried to avoid the trio. Severus was reminded of times in his past when a certain quartet of Gryffindors had done similar things to him.

He was close enough to hear the boys now, hear the hissed "chipmunk" and "stuck-up know-it-all". Hermione Granger again. Ron "accidentally" knocked her books out of her arms, and Severus got his first clear look at her face and stopped dead in his tracks.

Oh. Dear. Merlin. Her face wasn't quite the twin of the girl he had raped, but it was close. Too close. The memories came crashing down, and some of his self-disgust found its way onto his face just as she looked up and saw him. She bit her lip and ducked her head, quickly gathering up her scattered books. The other boys had gone. He hadn't seen them leave. Before he could organize his thoughts, she'd retrieved her belongings and fled down the street toward the Leaky Cauldron.

The shock of seeing her staggered him, and he nearly fell. Only a desperate grab at a convenient lamp post kept him on his feet. His stomach churned madly, and he felt bile rise in the back of his throat. That's not the same girl! It can't be! It's been almost twenty-two years! I wasn't even here then! It didn't happen! He swallowed hard. I didn't do... that. I'm just feeling bad because Potter and his gang are bullying her. That's all it is. His heart-rate slowed and his death-grip on the lamp post eased. I didn't do ... what I did before. It didn't happen! I've got to get a grip on myself. Lucius will notice that something's wrong and I can't tell him. His breathing began returning to normal. Since it didn't happen, there's nothing to worry about. She's a Gryffindor. It's not like I have to live with her. He took one last deep breath and straightened up before continuing on to the Apothecary.

Lucius wasn't there when he arrived, so he began picking out the supplies he would need, including scales, cauldron, gloves, and so on. He was pleasantly surprised to notice that the cauldrons of 1996 were just as solid as those of 1975, but considerably lighter. Another pleasant surprise was the Herb Garden in the back of the apothecary, where you could get absolutely fresh ingredients. He strolled down the rows of plants, nodding in approval and calming to something like his normal self. All common plants, but they comprised a large percentage of the ingredients for many useful potions – particularly those used in medicine. On impulse, he added several packets of fresh herbs to his load and made his way back to the front of the shop just as Lucius swept in. Ten minutes later, his supplies were paid for, and they were on their way back to the Leaky Cauldron.