Chapter - 62 : Glitterent Part - 4

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A visit to Diagon Alley proved his intuition correct. Unless he was willing to pay about a year's worth of his new salary – funds he didn't have – buying a new pensieve was not an option. Not so easily deterred he made his way to one of the second-hand shops, hoping for a bargain.

Inside the obviously expanded space filled with shelves of dusty knick-knacks Harry was faced with the familiar sight of Mundungus Fletcher haggling with a store owner. To his surprise he was again wearing witches robes and hiding his face in a cowl. The heavy smell of tobacco was unmistakeable, however.

Both crook and store owner looked up when the bell above the door chimed and Harry came to a halt. The three of them stared at each other.

For a moment Harry was tempted to turn right back around and leave, not happy to encounter an Order member, no matter how accidental. He steeled himself, though. No way in hell would he let them dictate any more of his life than they already did.

He turned away to peruse the shelves and, unaware of his inner turmoil, the two men returned to their haggling.

The shop was a veritable treasure trove of interesting objects. It seemed wizards were utterly incapable of making something without side effects. An at first sight ordinary kettle, enchanted to pour tea, could obviously not do so without producing a dignified cough of steam and lifting its lid like a top hat before growing legs and bowing over a cup to finally pour its contents.

Wizards were weird.

Sadly, however, there was a distinct lack of pensieves in the shop and Harry left it half an hour later, having seen many interesting things and feeling thoroughly entertained but not having found what he came there for.

Barely had he set foot out the door before he came face to face with Amanda, who was toting a number of bags, clear evidence of her recent shopping.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, smiling happily, before frowning and biting her lower lip.

Harry's mind was whirling. Thoughts of Amanda had produced a vision about a pensieve. Acting on that vision, he ended up talking to McGonagall, who suggested – ever so politely – he buy one himself. That led him to Diagon Alley and who should he run into there but the woman herself. There was no way this was a coincidence.

"Are you all right?" Amanda asked asked worriedly and suddenly he realised he'd been staring blankly at her.

"Divining is wicked," he blurted out before shaking his head rapidly and coughing in his hand. "Sorry. What I mean is that I'm surprised to run into you. Honestly, I didn't think I'd see you again."

She flinched. "Would it help if I said I'm sorry for ditching you?"

"It would probably help if you told me why," he said, taking care to keep any kind of accusation out of his voice. "I was worried."

She fidgeted awkwardly. "It's kind of embarrassing."

He snorted. "That sounds like decent payback for trying to burn out my cheeks."

"But it looked so good on you," she retorted with a small smile and despite his questions Harry found his own mouth curling upwards in response.

Together they started walking, ambling aimlessly over the cobblestones.

"Are you in some kind of trouble with the law?" he asked gently when she stayed silent.

"What?" She whirled her head around to look at him before groaning and hiding her face in her hands. "Scratch that. This is even more embarrassing than I thought it would be."

Relief swept over him and Harry couldn't stop himself from grinning. "Out with it. Share your sordid story."

Amanda sighed. "Bonesy – er, Madam Amelia Bones – is kind of friends with my mom. She wasn't very impressed with some of the choices I made recently and the last time we spoke there may have been yelling. She's frightening when she's angry."

Harry vividly recalled her icy demeanour as she towered over him when she was merely frustrated and shuddered. "No argument there."

"Exactly," she exclaimed, happy that he knew what she meant before sobering. "She wasn't exactly wrong though. That kind of made it... not better so I scampered, not wanting to face her just then."

Harry let out a slow breath. "I was worried you might be in some kind of trouble and started thinking maybe I revealed my secrets to a master criminal of some kind."

She gave him a hurt look. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Hey, I said master criminal. It was a compliment!"

She rolled her eyes. "I promise you, I am not a criminal, master or otherwise."

"Good." He thought over what she'd revealed. "Why didn't you owl me?"

She sighed. "I was... conflicted about meeting you again." Her eyes met his, all apologetic and honest before she hung her head as she continued her explanation. "My track record of dates has been terrible lately and I didn't exactly leave a good impression either of the times we met. I didn't want to top that with some kind of awkward apology note about bad choices in my past. I figured if it were meant to be we would run into each other like we did the first two times."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "And so we did."

"And so we did."

The silence that followed was awkward. She was visibly uncomfortable, but unlike their earlier embarrassment competition Harry took no enjoyment from it. He missed the rosy flush on her cheeks and the sparkling eyes that had drawn him in and made her gorgeous looks so irresistible.

He wanted to see that look on her again, he realised. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

"You are sorry, right?" he asked, leading.

She arched an eyebrow. "And what if I am?"

"Well, then you could make it up to me," he said casually.

A second eyebrow joined the first. "Really now?" She licked her lips. "What did you have in mind?"

His smile turned brighter even as his heart beat just that bit faster. "Buy me dinner." Please say yes, please say yes.

She blinked. "Nobody has asked me out in quite such a fashion before," she demurred.

"Ah, but then they weren't – what was it you said? – 'meant to be'," he retorted wisely.

"I did, didn't I," she mused with a smile. "Very well. Might as well replace that awkward impression with a better one."

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If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters

50+Advanced Chapters there.

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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