LURK
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"I hate you!" Charlotte cried with a laugh, dusting cinders off her shoulders as Zara landed in the chimney that connected Diagon Alley to the Floo Network. She'd sworn against wizarding travel her entire life, but now that Zara had shoved her into the fire, it wasn't all that bad.

They'd had a long chat that day, one where Charlotte wasn't able to control her tongue and she'd just shoved her honest feelings into Zara's face, how she felt ignored by her friend, and how she wished the girl would just write- as if it was such a hard thing to do.

See, with Harry it was different. He wasn't her boyfriend before, he had no obligation to write and frankly, he did write something, and not just last minute- but Zara was her best friend. She had no excuse.

But now they'd made up, like they always did, and were on their way to buy brand new owls, to make communication a lot easier.

"It was for your own good," Zara laughed as she stepped onto the cobblestone street. The alley was empty and dark, shops were boarded up and there were barely any people to be seen. Charlotte could've sworn she'd seen tumbleweed blow around the corner. Zara sighed. "I promise it used to be much more magical than this."

"I'm sure it was," Charlotte nodded. "But times change, and they'll change again. This war will pass soon."

They continued their walk towards a shop Zara had called Eeylops Owl Emporium, and still don't come across anyone, except for one strange man who stood with a cigar pipe in his hand and wore all black wizard robes, who stared at them as they passed.

They enter the shop and Charlotte's heart stopped. It was wonderful. There were birds of all shapes, colours and sizes, mostly owls but also swallows, and small robins that twittered around the room. One of the little red chested birds came to settle on her shoulder and she grinned, turning the Zara.

"Now, this is magical," she smiled, before wandering through the shop, browsing through cages of large birds, looking at different bird houses or containers, but also looking at the birds themselves. They spent a good half hour there but none of the owls were for her. They were all wonderful, but she wanted an owl she could bond with, properly, like Harry had with his.

Zara on the other hand, was different. She settled on a large black owl almost straight away, telling Charlotte that: "You ought not to be too picky. It's only going to be sending letters."

Her friend did not intend to bond with her owl, and Charlotte knew it would probably just be kept in the school owlery she'd heard about, and only ever used as a post owl, and not a pet. A shame.

Charlotte then dragged her friend to the next shop, 'Magical Menagerie' which had an array of pets inside. She found herself enthralled by a British Blue shorthair cat, that walked with his tail up straight and was pleasing to the eye, but when she tried to stroke him, he shrieked and scratched her arm.

The toads made her feel sick to the stomach, their croaking ringing in her ears long after she'd moved away from them, their slimy skin cool to the touch. When Charlotte and Zara finally reached the owl section, there were so many to choose from.

Plenty of barn owls, a couple of snowy owls too- skreech owls and many more but only one caught her interest. Away in the corner was a small cage, perhaps only thirty centimetres tall, and in it was a baby owl. It was small, with tawny feathers and large eyes and immediately Charlotte fell in love.

"This one," she said, decidedly, crouching beside the cage and Zara frowned.

"Are you sure?" Her friend asked her. "It won't be able to send letters for quite some time- it's only a baby."

"I love it," she said, before looking at the label and correcting herself. "Her. I want to take her in, and nurture her, and love her, and give her a happy home."

"What are you going to name her?" Zara grinned.

"She strikes me as an Ivory," she replied. "Or a Butterscotch. Yeah, Butterscotch sounds good."

"Let's take Butterscotch to the till then," Zara suggested, and Charlotte picked up the owl's cage and made her way over to the front of the shop, paying for the owl in some of Zara's wizard money that she had exchanged the muggle equivalent for earlier. When they left the Menagerie, Charlotte had a new spring in her step, as she walked past the man in black once more, and even Butterscotch looked happier at the outdoors.

"Let's stop at the joke shop," Zara said, rubbing her stomach with the hand that didn't hold the owl cage. "You haven't lived until you've been in there."

"Sounds amazing," Charlotte smiled, noticing the man from earlier walking several meters behind them, following their tracks. She lowered her voice slightly. "I could do with a laugh. Especially with how that man is following us."

"Who?" Zara asked, turning around to look for a second. "Oh, him. I don't think so. He might just be headed the same way."

"Really? Because I'm sure he's been stalking us," Charlotte said and Zara laughed awkwardly.

"I'm sure once we get to Fred and George's shop he'll drop it," Zara explained. "Particularly when he notices that they know us."

"They know you."

"And of you," Zara said. "There were articles about you and Harry getting together on the platform- and as you know, Harry is very close to the Weasleys. I'm sure the twins would love to meet you."

"Hang on, articles?" Charlotte gasped. "I haven't read any. Why didn't anyone show me?"

"Well, I know Theodore didn't think it was any use," her friend shrugged. "You're already aware of your own relationship."

"Yeah," she pondered. "I would've liked to know what was being said about us though. Harry could've at least mentioned it though."

"He probably thought nothing of it, he's used to press reports by now. If it really bothers you, I can get you a copy of the article," Zara said as they neared the large purple and orange shop and Charlotte thanked her. "Here we are. Welcome to the most magical shop in all of Diagon Alley."

~

"Honestly, Lottie, this isn't funny." Harry breathed a deep breath in, lungs rattling in his chest, heart beating two times it's usual rate.

"This isn't a joke," she replied, with an awkward laugh as she played with his hair as he lay on the sofa of the cottage, his head in her lap. He sat up straight.

His girlfriend had just told him she'd been stalked, and was acting as if it was nothing. An everyday thing, not to be investigated.

"I can't believe Zara."

"Hey!"

"No, really, I cannot believe her," he turned around to face her. "How could she just brush you off like that? She's the witch, she's supposed to do something when Death Eaters are on your case!"

"We don't know that it was a Death Eater," Charlotte told him, eyes full of regret.

"Well, I'm struggling to think of who else would do this."

"I don't know, Harry, maybe some pervert who likes the way we look!" Charlotte snapped. "Honestly, maybe if you would have told me that my face was all over your newspapers- I would've been more careful in public!"

There was a short silence between them, the only noise being the wizard radio that blared out a Weird Sisters tune.

"Sorry," she said, eventually. "I should never have shouted. I should never have told you about this in the first place."

"Those articles were a load of rubbish, Lottie," Harry told her, taking her hand and tracing shapes on the back of it as he swallowed his guilt. "I didn't think you needed to see it."

"Nobody gets to decide what I need to see," Charlotte said, firmly. "From now on, we be one hundred percent honest with each other, yeah?"

Harry didn't know what to say to this, so he nodded and kissed her instead, feeling her body noticeably relax at his touch, and savouring the moment because it wasn't long until he had to go to school again. Then he wouldn't see her until Easter.

As if reading his mind, Charlotte pulled away, touching her forehead against his and whispered: "It's always a countdown, isn't it?"

"It won't always be," Harry reassured her, and himself. "After seventh year, that's it. No more countdowns." If he even made it past seventh year.

Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and hid her face in his shirt, squeezing him tight and all he could think about was how wonderful this was, and how he would ever be able to get on a scarlet steam train up to Scotland, and leave this wonderful human here, and not hold her like this for months. It was impossible.

And now that she'd told him the events of the day, however small they were, he didn't want to leave her side.  Harry couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to her. Ever.

"What time is it?" She asked and he glanced at the clock on the wall, still holding her tightly.

"A little past four o'clock," he answered and she pulled away.

"I have to meet Flynn," Charlotte told him, and his heart sank a little. But he just grinned, kissed her, offered her one last cup of tea, and showed her out when she refused.

"Listen," he said, as she stood on the front doorstep, bundled up in a coat, scarf and hat. "I'm gonna speak to Sirius. The Order will put some kind of protection on your home, as soon as possible, I promise."

"You don't have to do that."

"I promise," he repeated and she smiled, rising to her tip-toes to kiss him softly, before walking slowly backwards, waving at him and walking away, body illuminated by the orange street lamps. Harry closed the door and headed back to th living room.

He sat down on the sofa, alone as he listened to news reports on missing people until Layth Afasy joined him, flopping down on the couch next to him, and making a racket as he did so,  and putting a pizza box down on the coffee table.

"Yes," Harry grinned, immediately opening the box after giving him a fist bump.

"Knew you'd appreciate it," Layth said. "Unlike Zara- too busy making spells."

"That only leaves more for us."

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(I feel like this isn't nearly long enough, but at least it's something.)

Hi everyone! Long time no see, huh? Hopefully you're not too mad at me, but I have had a shit ton of work and drama in my life lately. But how are you? I hope you're all well!

qotd: do you borrow books from the library or buy them more frequently?
aotd: buy- I save my bus money for books istg

-Amber.