17Chapter Five: In which our heroine finds herself in a store full of candy…
Abbie awoke the next morning in a strange bed, in a strange room, with a strange man sleeping on the floor. It took her a few minutes to remember she was in Room 11 at the Leaky Cauldron in London, with her uncle. The room they had booked had only one bed, and the room was tiny. The bed took up most of the room, there was a small fire place, and a giant mirror over the mantle. There was a small table with a bowl of water on it, and a towel to dry your face with.
Remus was sprawled out on the floor in front of the door, next to him in her backpack, were all the legal documents that they had looked over the night before, and Remus' story for his newspaper job. Abbie crawled out of the bed and stepped over her uncle, and walked down the hall to use the toilet. She passed several rooms, and was the only person up on the floor. She came back from the loo feeling relieved and managed to get back into the room without waking Remus.
Glancing at the small clock on the mantle, Abbie saw it was three pm, and then glanced at the watch on her own wrist. Six am, no wonder she was wide awake and hungry, she was still running on LA time as she usually got up a bit earlier than normal people. She picked up her bag and began to organize her paper work.
An hour later Remus finally woke up. Abbie had given up on him at three thirty, and had already eaten lunch down stairs, and was waiting for him to gain access to Diagon Alley. Remus was amazed when he learned this, and then remembered that the girl was still running on LA time. He thought he'd be the first one up, but apparently she was an early riser as well.
"Right, I'm going to eat, and then we can go in to the alley, and then after we shop for a bit, we will go to the Ministry to appeal your father's case."
"Kay," Was all Abbie said as she riffled through the papers. "Oh no!"
"What's wrong? Did we leave something important behind? Is something missing?" Remus asked, scared something was missing from the appeal.
"No, I broke a nail!" Abbie looked at Remus' face and laughed at him. "What, you thought I left stuff behind after all the work I put into it? Now I know why people think you're crazy!"
Remus rolled his eyes and swatted her over her head with his copy of the Daily Prophet that had been delivered to their room. On the front page, was a story about Harry Potter, and Abbie grabbed the paper out of her godfather's hand. "Hey! I was reading that, young lady!"
"Well now I am." She unrolled the paper and began to read the story. Boy-Who-Lived Defeats You-Know-Who Again! "What's this all about Uncle Remus?" She stressed the 'uncle' part of his name because several patrons of the pub were giving them funny looks.
"I wouldn't know, Ab. I haven't read the paper yet, and I did just spend the past three days in America, mind you."
"Whatever," Abbie looked back at the paper and did a quick double take when she saw the picture of Harry move back and forth, with his two friends, as if dancing to some type of music.
Earlier this month while most first year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were preparing for their end of year exams, Harry Potter has defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named yet again! While most of the details are being with held by Headmaster Dumbledore, the Daily Prophet has learned that the struggle took place in the dungeons below the school, and that You-Know-Who was after the Sorcerer's Stone created by Nicholas Flammel. For more on the Sorcerer's Stone, please see page 4. For more on the actions of the Boy-Who-Lived, please see page 6.
"That was...well...short," Abbie looked up from the article and folded the paper back up and handed it to Remus who was finishing his bowl of oatmeal. "And extremely pointless."
"Ah yes, the Prophet is well known for its frighteningly short articles, and sub articles that tie into tiny points mentioned in the story," Remus accepted the paper and then shoved it into the backpack. He got up and left some money on the table and they worked their way out to the alley. "Mind you, they are the only paper in the wizarding world that people will actually pay to read, unless you're one of those poor saps that will believe anything that's published in the Quibbler."
"Oh, well that sucks then. I'm glad that in LA we have at least two dozen different papers to choose from, and none of them can ever get a story right, because they all want the same story to be different then the other guy. But the comics are fun to read," Abbie pushed the back door open and stepped into the courtyard as Remus removed his wand from his pocket. He quickly tapped the appropriate bricks and the archway appeared.
"Welcome, my dear, to Diagon Alley. This is the busiest Wizarding market place in the world, and the home to Gringotts." Remus presented the street to Abbie with a some what comical flair. He mockingly bowed halfway as Abbie's giggle trailed off.
"Wow," was Abbie's only response. The large amount of people crammed into the brightly decorated street amazed her. The patrons of the shops were dressed in bright colors, and in every color imaginable. One woman was dressed in violet, lime green, and a pair of blue jeans, her hair was short, spiked and bubblegum pink. Her violet and lime green shirt had a logo on it, but Abbie couldn't see it. The woman looked from her to Remus and a confused look crossed her face, and then a sad smile replaced it. She then continued into the store she was heading into as if the brief encounter had never happened. Gotta remember to ask Uncle Remus about her Abbie thought to herself as she and Remus advanced into the throng of early morning shoppers.
An hour later, Abbie and Remus reemerged from Gringotts and had filled their money sacks greatly. Abbie had spent a half hour being interrogated by the goblins when she had requested to make a withdrawal from the Black family vault. Apparently, the account was being watched by the Ministry of Magic, and if a withdrawal was made, they would be instantly alerted to it, and would summon the person who made the withdrawal to the Ministry. Abbie had to explain to the goblins that the Ministry was originally their next stop, and it had taken fifteen minutes for her to do that. She then had to prove to be a blood relation to the Black family to gain access to the vault, and that Remus was in fact who he said he was, and was her legal guardian in the Magical community. And then they were taken to the vault, on the ground floor of the bank so to say.
They went all the way down, past the dragon, all the way down to the oldest vaults known to wizard kind. Inside had been piles of gold, mounds of books and heaps of treasures. There were mounds of out-dated clothing, desks piled high with deeds to various properties, paintings of long dead lords, ladies and important dignitaries. The torches flared to life when Abbie entered, the vault recognizing a true Black, the paintings sprang to life, and the whispers from the portraits filled the chamber as Abbie scooped up a handful of gold and then left, silencing the portraits, and dosing the torches. She said nothing the entire trip down, or on the return trip, something had made her stay silent for a half hour, a silence that Remus was grateful for.
Once they were outside Abbie spoke up, "So, um, yeah, Uncle Remus, why did the goblins act all crazy when I said I was a Black?"
Remus sighed and looked down at his young charge. "The Black family is supposedly extinct kiddo. Your father is the last male heir to the Black family fortunes, and people forgot that your father once was married with a daughter. People either forgot that you and mother had existed, or pretended like your father's marriage had never happened. People are set in their ways when it comes to matters like this."
"Oh," Abbie's response was so quiet that Remus had almost missed it. Fortunately for him, somewhat, the full moon was in less than a week and his hearing was extremely improved. Abbie's head hung a bit and her dark brown hair fell like a curtain around her face. She was clearly upset and there was nothing Remus could do to make her feel better. Except free her father, now there was something he might be able to do. His mood slightly brightened, and he pulled her off of the main part of the Alley.
"Come on, kiddo," Remus picked up the pace, and rushed them past various stores that seemed to appear out of nowhere. After ten minutes of weaving through the narrower and narrower street Remus stopped in front of a dull looking building. Abbie noticed that all of the buildings on this particular street were rather dull and modest looking. "Well here we are!" Remus pushed the door to the store open and entered.
"Where are we again, Uncle Remus?" Abbie asked as she followed Remus into what looked like an old fashioned ice cream parlor.
"We, my dear, are currently in what is known as the Marauder Magical Mischief Providers, Inc. This is the one place in Horizontal Alley that supplies jokesters and the studious alike. It's the only store on Horizontal Alley actually. Come to think of it, the only store this far from Diagon Alley that sells anything useful."
Abbie looked around at the empty store front in disbelief. "Um, Uncle Remus, this store is empty. There's nothing on the shelves, in the bins or on display. There's nobody managing a register, and there's no staff working here at all."
Remus turned around. Up until this point, he had his back to the empty store, and his back to the lack of staff coming out to greet one of the founders of the establishment. "So it is, Abbie, so it is," He reached into his pocket and withdrew his wand from it. He muttered to himself and waved his wand. Suddenly the store glowed with a soft golden light, and the shelves and bins stocked themselves. After a moment or two the light receded, and the door to the store opened again.
"Aha! Mr. Lupin! You have returned. For longer than last time, I hope?" A slightly elderly man had come in, carrying a maroon colored apron over one arm. He was bent over from years of hard work and his snow white hair was thin and wispy. He wore thick glasses and gray robes, and then placed his maroon apron on over his robes and shuffled to behind the counter.
"Yes I'm back, Albert, and I don't know how long I plan on remaining open this time. At least for the length of the Hogwarts Term, if things don't go as planned," At he spoke, he jerked his head towards Abbie, who wasn't paying any attention to him and Albert at all. She was too busy exploring the shop.
"Ahhhh. Young Miss Black," Albert said understandingly, "Abigail is it?"
"Yup, that's me. Just, don't call me 'Abigail'. I'm only Abigail to teachers and when I'm in trouble with my Dad," the fourteen year old replied as she explored.
Albert laughed, "That's all you young kids want to be known by, nicknames. But if that's how you prefer it, Miss Abbie."
"Just Abbie." The girl said turning to the older man and her Godfather. "The 'Miss' makes me feel like an obnoxiously rich person who doesn't care about anyone other than herself."
"As you wish then, Abbie," Albert replied and turned back to Remus.
Abbie smirked and resumed her exploring. She could see off in the far back left hand corner there were some book shelves and a small table and chairs to read at. In the right back hand corner were some Quiddicth robes, some very out of date, others were the latest fashion and came in multi-colors. Along with the robes was a small broom display, only four brooms were left out on the floor at all times, and they ranged from a Cleansweep Six to the new, top of the line Nimbus 2001. In the front left hand corner was a prank and joke items display, Self Inking Quills, Zonko's products, and a various assortment of International Wizarding and Muggle magic tricks took up most of the front window on that side of the store.
The remainder of the store was devoted to candy. Lots and lots of candy. More candy brands and types than Abbie had ever seen. There were the muggle classics, Reese's Peanutbutter Cups, Charleston Chews in various flavors, Hershey's products, Crunch Bars, Oreos, and Dove chocolate. Then there was the wizard candy, brands that Abbie had never heard of took up most of the bins and shelving in that section. Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Ice Mice, Sugar Quills, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, Acid Pops, and the list went on and on. Abbie was tempted to help herself to a large handful of something call Ivonne's Ice Less Ice Cream. It was sold in packages that resembled ice cream cartons and came in all of your favorite flavors, but at the Marauder's store, they only sold five hundred of the one thousand flavors. After reading the label for the ingredients to check to see if she'd be allergic to anything in it, she saw that Ivonne was Bertie Bott's younger sister and had turned the flavored jelly beans into ice cream. And the flavors in stock looked absolutely delicious. Abbie was still a little leery of Bertie Bott's and Ivonne's Ice cream, she didn't want to get a cauliflower flavored bean.
She had learned the hard way she was allergic to that tasteless food, and Johnny learned never to ignore his younger cousin's protests of how a certain food made her feel, especially if she said she felt like an inflating balloon. Abbie continued to explore, slowing her already slow pace if she saw something interesting, and ignored the jingling of the bell over the door that announced customers to the small shop for the first time in years.
A steady stream of teenagers and younger children filed into Marauder's Magical Mischief Providers, Inc. and began to make a lot of noise once the older kids had spotted Remus.
"Oi! Jimmy! Mr. Moony's back and he has opened the shop again!" shouted one boy.
Another, most likely Jimmy, answered him, "I know that, you dolt! I'm right behind you; send the brat to tell people."
The first boy bent over to the height of his little brother, the 'brat' Jimmy had referred to, whispered something in his ear, and pointed to the door. The sandy haired child raced out the front door of the shop and carefully closed the door behind him before bellowing:
"MAURADER MISCHEIF INC. IS OPENED FOR BUISNESS! MR. MOONY'S BACK!" Once the little boy was finished yelling, he came back inside and held his hand out to his older brother. "Pay up Robbie," he said with a rather smug smile. Robbie stuck his hand into his pants pocket and removed three galleons, ten sickles, and ten knuts. He gave his brother two galleons, five sickles, and five knuts for his advertising skills.
Remus was impressed. These kids only knew him as Mr. Moony, but didn't know about 'his furry little problem'. Most of them attended the local magical school, Marauders' Magical Institution for Magical Education, a charter school that the Marauders and Lily had contributed to, as many of these families couldn't afford to go to Hogwarts, and so a local smaller school had been opened and approved of by the Ministry. The neighborhood mothers had even convinced Lily to be the first official headmistress of the school. Lily had tried to politely decline on the offer, but in the end agreed and gave up her job as an Unspeakable to educate children. It was a career that Lily had enjoyed thoroughly until she and James went into hiding.
"Hey! Uncle Remus?" Remus was pulled out of his musing by Abbie's voice and a sharp tug on his sleeve. "Where'd all of these kids come from?" She gestured to the second and third waves of kids coming into the shop.
Remus quickly looked them all over and replied. "From school, by the looks of their uniforms, kiddo."
"Oh. They go to school in the summer?" Abbie asked confused.
Remus chuckled, Abbie's reaction was similar to that of her father's when someone mentioned summer school around Sirius. "Only the students who need extra help on certain subjects that are on the OWLs and NEWTs," he replied.
Abbie nodded, pretending she knew what the OWLS and NEWTS were. "So, since its summer school, they get out late?" she asked.
Remus was startled and looked at his watch, "It's that late already? Come on, we're never going to make it to the Ministry at this rate." Remus waved at Albert to signal that he was going out and would return. He grabbed Abbie, and took her out onto the street, checking to see that the blue L.L. Bean backpack was still with her. Once they were outside, Remus apperated into the lobby of the Ministry of Magic.