A Familiar Face In Diagon Alley

Marysia Duncan was sitting at a small table in Diagon Alley having a cool drink just down the alley from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and she looked pretty with her jeans and white blouse covered with sawdust. Fred knew that Annie Ett's Bed Bath and Body Boutique was moving in just down the street and already it looked very feminine with window boxes, bay windows and a new French door. Even the balcony on the second floor above the shop was already lined with planters and pots full of flowers.

As Fred Weasley watched her, he thought that she was admirable to be opening up a shop here in Diagon Alley, but nuts to be doing so all by herself, considering that almost half of the shops were closed. Florean Fortescue's and Ollivanders had closed, and the windows were boarded up. Flourish and Blotts remained open, though, and Madam Malkin's was busy enough as were the Apothecary and the Quill Shop. Eeylops Owl Emporium had the usual amount of business, but there were only three cages of birds hanging from the eaves of the shop, and the selection inside was less than usual. But as long as there were kids being sent to school, school supplies would have to be bought, and this the best place to get them.

The Leaky Cauldron was practically empty of patrons, although the rooms were sometimes occupied with people not wanting to be home. However, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was doing well, and Fred was thankful for it. Both Fred and George had a real knack for mischief and tricks, and their shop was full of many creative products with several new items in development. Behind him a cute girl in magenta robes was putting back items misplaced by customers, a stock boy was refilling the shelves, and George was busy closing out the cash drawer.

Fred watched as Marysia got up and walked away; her long honey colored hair was tied up in a band that swung when she turned her head. He was curious why she didn't come by to say hello. He had known her from school, of course. They were in the year above hers, however, and she had been in Ravenclaw while he had been in Gryffindor. But Fred knew that she had had a crush on him since his fourth year. Granted, she had rarely come up to him when he was in school, and whenever he had spoken to her, she had blushed deep pink every time. She was kind of cute when she blushed, which was probably why he had always tried to make her blush in the first place.

But she had sat there at that little table for almost an hour and a half, watching him – hadn't she? He checked his watch again. Yep. So why didn't she come by and see the shop? He had seen her around Diagon Alley for several weeks, getting everything set up for her shop, the leases and permits – he remembered those days setting up this shop!

His eyes followed her as she walked down the street back toward the shop across the street and a short way down. Obviously, a bit of money was being put into the new shop, and rumors from the workers said that Marysia was being really picky. But the shop would look really nice when she was done, he imagined, given Marysia's sense of detail. He tossed out the last of his water and went back inside to close shop for the day. Well, if she was avoiding him, fine.

Inside George was grinning at him, but continued to count out the cash drawer. "We did a really good day today, bro." George smiled openly. "Has she said hello to you today?"

"That's really good," Fred replied, not really listening to George as he watched her disappear into her shop. He darkened the windows and moved to help restock the empty spaces on the shelves.

"She finished dinner, then?" George asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, she went back to her shop," Fred replied back.

"Do you want to make the night deposit?" George asked, grinning as he closed the day's earnings into the money bags for the night deposit. He was amused at this brother's lack of attention lately and knew very well why.

"Oh, yeah, sure." Fred caught the bag George sent flying to him and was turning to get out the door...

"You can say hi as you go by," George called out as Fred left. Gringotts Wizarding Bank always had a goblin standing at the bank doors when the shops closed to receive the night deposits. A nice courtesy, but it was really intended to get the gold into the vaults as soon as possible.

As Fred headed down the cobbled street toward Gringotts, he passed by Marysia's new shop and gazed in at the construction inside. He couldn't see her through the windows, and the workers she hired to help had gone home. It was vulnerable for her to stay alone in a shop left in a state of construction, and he glanced up as a light went on in the window upstairs. The flowering plants in the planters and pots on the balcony were all he could see from here on the street. Fred passed by without disturbing her and made his night deposit at the bank. The goblin seated just inside the great double doors signed the cash deposit slip as acceptance of the bag and quickly counted the coins. The goblin then handed Fred a receipt of deposit and returned the empty bag to Fred before dumping the coins back into a second bag and tossing it onto a small cart standing behind him.

On the way back to the shop, Fred once again looked over the new premises of Annie Ett's Bed Bath and Body Boutique, wondering if the girl within would be okay all by herself up there. Taking out his wand, he hung a small bell on the wall near the door and set a Shield Charm on the door and windows. If anyone touched the door in the night, a similar bell in his room would ring and alert him. Fred went back home and upstairs to the flat he shared with George.

"Got the deposit in on time?" George looked up, watching his brother enter and drop the deposit slip into the basket where keys were usually dropped. "So, how was she?" he inquired as Fred turned toward the window facing the street below.

"Yeah, just in time. We made a good amount today..." Fred replied as he looked out of the window overlooking Diagon Alley. "Not too safe sleeping in there, is it?"

"With us watching her all the time, who could possibly get in?" George asked from across the room, comfortable in his favorite chair. "Besides if anyone did break in, all we'd have to do is Apparate in there."

"She had an enchantment set so that no one can Apparate into the flat or the shop. I've tried it – yesterday after she moved in." Fred replied. "Besides, she is a full witch now and can take care of herself." His eyes stayed at the window where a moving silhouette could be occasionally seen.

"Good thing or we would have to sit by the window all night and make sure." George was grinning at his brother's back as he picked up another pretty goose quill he was enchanting to spit ink as one wrote with it. He was making this one especially for his sister, Ginny. The ink was going to spit pale stars onto the parchment when she used it, but at the present it was spitting splotches. It was a variation of the new trick quill he had invented last week.

*~*****~*

Marysia had changed pajamas and slipped into a silk robe that wrapped around her and fell to her ankles. She slid open the sliding glass doors and looked out onto the balcony patio from the room that would be hers if she moved in here. Auntie Annette was eager for Marysia to run this shop as an expansion of her famous shop in Hogsmeade, but Marysia wasn't sure this was what she wanted to do.

She had done an internship at St. Mungo's Hospital in the Potions department last summer with her mother and was signed up for their Potions Master training starting in September. She really liked that as a career choice as well. She could have her pick between both career choices, actually, and both had distinctly different benefits.

Then there was her father, always sending her scrolls, papers, journals and diaries to either copy or to translate for him. Marysia sat down on a chair in the open door and gazed down the street at the other lit windows. Diagon Alley would have been pretty if it had been all lit softly for the evening, but too many dark windows made the street look haunted.

As it was, the only furniture she had was her bed, her two traveling trunks, a heavy chair and one table she used as a desk to pile books, scrolls and floor plans on. Well, she could immerse herself into the latest pile of scrolls her dad wanted copied, translated and returned. What she didn't like were the shadows that seemed to move in the dark street below, and she felt a cold breeze on the air.

Odd for early July, she thought. She gazed down the way and could see where Fred and George's flat was and wished that she had the place all cleaned up and respectable with actual furniture in it. It would have been nice to invite them over for dinner and have company sitting here sipping on elf wine instead of being alone. She wondered why being alone bothered her so much lately. Surely, Dementors and Death Eaters weren't running around Diagon Alley?

All the same, her father and brothers were keeping tabs on her daily, all six of them, sending owls regularly or stopping by unexpectedly. Her brothers had all been on hand when she had moved in here two days before, setting all kinds of protection spells on the shop for her safety, and that was comforting at least. But this was her third night alone in the flat.

*~*****~*

Fred sat and watched the pale light as it flicked and danced from the open doorway between her balcony patio and her flat above her shop. I wonder which room that doorway leads to, he thought, a living room or bedroom? He could see her if he stood up and looked. Tomorrow he'd make an excuse to talk to her. Maybe check on her to see how things were going, see if she needed some help. His thoughts were on her as he fell asleep by the window, a small bell hanging from the window latch in front of him.

*~*****~*

Author's Notes:

I owe a big debt of gratitude to Phoenix for all her hard work and time in cleaning this stroy up and making it presentable. Thank you, Phoenix. I appreciate it more than you know.