After Shopping

James, finally done with the tedious work of shopping for school supplies, went to look for his family. His father told him to look for them in the Leaky Cauldron when he was done, and that was here he was heading now.

Pushing his way through the door of the pub - his arms were completely full with goods - and saw his family across the room. He walked over to them.

"Urgh. Never again. I'm exhausted," he said as he took a seat next to his father with a groan.

"Oh, come now James. It can't have been that bad," he looked down at the parcels that his son placed on the ground. "Ah. Been to Wheezes have you? Wonderful!"

James mother looked at her husband and son wirily. She didn't approve of James spending his money on pranking items. "You had better not get into trouble with all of them, James. If I get a letter from the headmaster, I won't be impressed."

"Relax, Diana. He'll be fine. Besides, he won't get caught, will you James?" Michael laughed and his mother sighed.

"Course not, dad. Not that stupid," he grinned and looked around for his brother. "Phil not back yet?" he asked.

Michael looked around as well. "Hmm. Apparently not," he shrugged and then noticed James' owl. "Ooh. Look at you!" he said, picking up the cage. "Haven't seen one like this before. What breed?" he asked his son.

"An Eagle Owl. Just got em' in apparently. I named him Flash," James was beaming.

Diana raised an eyebrow at her son and husband. "Cost a bit, I'd imagine," was all she said. She had a feeling her son was up to something but decided to ask him about it later. At that moment, the pub door opened again, and in came Phillip, sporting a brand new broomstick.

He placed it in the middle of the table, causing Diana to quickly move her coffee so it wouldn't spill. "Do you have to put it there, Phil?" she asked but knew it was useless. The way her three boys went on about Quidditch, a new broomstick would have to take a place in the middle of the table.

Phil merely smiled and took a seat next to his mother. "Got a bargain for that one, dad. Nimbus 2001. I was going to go for the Firebolt. But, I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself," he said and James almost snorted. His brother, being Prefect, drew plenty attention as it was.

Diana finished her coffee. "Well. I have to take a trip to the Apothecary and you needed to go there too, Phil, yes?" she asked her older son and received a nod from him. "Perhaps we'll get going then. James, would you like us to take your things?"

James nodded, thankful for the out so that he wouldn't have carry around all of his things. "We'll meet you back here in about half an hour, James," his mother told him, taking Phillip's broomstick and handing it to her Prefect son. "You carry this, seeing as you bought it," she told him.

Michael, Phillip and Diana stood and gave James a wave, leaving him to sit there at the table on his own. He decided that a drink would be perfect and walked up to the counter.

"A Butterbeer please," he asked the bar tender when he was free and walked back to the table he was at before with his drink.

James took a sip and wondered if he'd meet anyone whilst he was here. He supposed he wouldn't, but there seemed to be students around, here and there. It was possible.

"Marie, dépêche toi"

Sigh, really she was tired now, did her parents not understand that? Walking through Diagon Alley was no joke, and she had realised that not long before she entered the place. Really, now all she wanted to do was sit down and have her parents leave her for a few minutes.

Seemed like luck was on her side when she was seen entering the Leaky Cauldron. Her eyes searched around the room, stopping when she saw a figure seated alone in the corner, and made her way towards it.

"Puis-je vous joindre?"

James looked up when he heard someone speaking French nearby. The voice was coming from a girl was standing at the table where he was sitting. He didn't understand exactly what she said, but he knew enough to know that she basically asked if she could join him. He hoped that she spoke English as well as French, because the conversation would be very one-sided otherwise.

He nodded. "Sure. My French is appalling though, so I hope you speak English." He took another drink of his butterbeer, wondering if this girl was a first year too.

"Oops, my bad," she said, "I've been stuck with my parents all day".

Sighing, she seated herself down, really there was no harm in it. First of all, she needed to get away from her parents, and second, she could atleast make friends to start her off for the year.

"I'm Marie Anderson," she introduced, "Are you a first year too?"

James smiled slightly as she took a seat down at the table. "I know exactly how you feel. It's exhausting, being stuck with the parents all day. Somehow they seem to make everything ten times more challenging and painful."

He thought he'd introduce himself too, "I'm James Wilson, nice to meet you Marie." James nodded, "Yeah, I'm a firsty too." He took a drink before saying, "Excited about Hogwarts? What house do you reckon you'll be in?"

Marie smiled at him, first ordering a butterbeer for herself. When it had arrived, she took a sip before answering, "Well, I didn't believe I was a witch until Ollivanders had just the right wand for me," she said, remembering.

"As for the house, I have been doing a lot of reading, so I'm guessing either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," taking another sip, she continued, "How about you?"

James ears pricked up at what the girl said. "Oh, You're a Muggleborn? That's cool, I've met another Muggleborn going to Hogwarts too; at the park," James told the girl.

"I would like to be in Gryffindor too. My whole family are from the house of Lion, so that's where I'd like to end up."

James took a drink from his Butterbeer. "Did you just move here from France?" he asked.

It seemed like James was fast at putting things together, and so she smiled once more when he asked the next question. Nodding, she said, "I did. My parents wanted me to go to Beauxbatons, but I wanted something different, and it seemed like Hogwarts had a place for me, so here I am".

"So that means you're a Pureblood," noticing that he said his whole family had been in Gryffindor, "Do you have any siblings?"

James listened to her. Perhaps she received a letter from Hogwarts and from Beauxbatons. James only received a Hogwarts one, but he didn't mind that. Durmstrang wasn't his style anyway.

He, himself, had always liked the sound of the French language. James had wanted to learn it for a long while. Perhaps I can ask Marie to teach me sometime, he thought as he took a drink again. He felt the liquid warm his entire body.

He nodded, "That's right. We're not so strict about our heritage as some Pureblood families, such saying. It crazy how puristic they get about keeping the bloodlines 'pure'." James said the last word emphasised with finger quotation marks. "Nuts, if you ask me."

He nodded again. "Yeah. One brother. His name is Phillip. He's in fourth year this year; a Gryffindor like I wanna be."

James looked down at his watch then. Crap! he thought. "Hey. Nice talking to you Marie but I've gotta run. I was supposed to meet my mum at the ice-cream parlour ten minutes ago! She'll kill me! See you around Hogwarts!" James downed the rest of his drink and ran from the pub, not at all looking forward to his mother's ranting and raging about being punctual.