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A Matter of Time	By : AdaraB Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 7796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe. I own nothing and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Chapter 8 - Hogsmeade

Ashleigh was waiting at the bottom of the staircase, having just arrived she knew she had not missed Hermione as she was a few minutes early. The trip up from the dungeons was surprisingly easy to navigate. She hadn’t thought it would be with the winding hall ways that were set with nothing but grey stone, she supposed her exceptional memory was more of a help than a hindrance this time. The Entrance Hall was filling rapidly with students. She noticed that they were not wearing their robes but jeans and sweaters. ‘Well I guess we’re not so different after all,’ she thought noticing how similar their clothing styles are. ‘I know that the styles have changed from what my parents wore, fashion must be repeating itself as it always does.’

At this last thought, Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione, came down the stairs, each pair holding hands. Ashleigh thought it was sweet and remembered her high school years when she would have liked to have done the same, hand holding being the only sort of intimacy allowed in school. She was however, a good deal younger than the rest of the students at the time.

She gave them a smile, which they returned.

“So, how are the dungeons? I can’t imagine living with Pansy Parkinson is going to be any fun after what you said to her at breakfast, which was brilliant by the way!” Ginny said with laughter in her eyes.

“Thank you,” Ashleigh said with a slight bow. “After the way she had been staring at me she deserved it. It was the truth though, that really is the meaning of her name. I really don’t know how Draco puts up with her! And as to the dungeons, they’re ok, a bit colder in atmosphere but I won’t be rooming with Parkinson anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked at her slight insinuation.

“The Headmaster decided to give me my own rooms, given that I need as much concentration as I can get to study all that I need to. My rooms are down in the dungeons, just not in the dorms. I’ll have to show you all one day, it’s really nice and the best part, it’s not entirely green like the common room.”

They began walking toward the exit when the doors opened, admitting the students out into the sunshine. The day was breezy, but not overly so. There were plenty of fluffy white clouds in the sky to give it some character. Ashleigh had a good feeling about this day despite her previous thoughts of something not feeling quite right.

They walked down a long dirt road once they were out of the Hogwarts gates. It took almost twenty minutes, walking at a leisurely pace to reach the village.

Hogsmeade was like nothing Ashleigh had ever seen. Its tall buildings, leaning in odd angles and extremely tall fire pipes filled the skyline. She couldn’t believe her eyes, this town was like something you would read about in a children’s fiction novel.

“Let’s go to Fred and Georges, they have a new prototype they wanted you to try out Harry.” Ron said, clearly excited about what this meant.

Ashleigh certainly had no idea. “Who are Fred and George?”

“They’re our older brothers, the twins. They have their own shop called Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. It’s a joke shop, but almost everything is edible.” Said Ginny, graciously filling her in.

When they reached the shop, Harry opened the door for the girls.

“Such the gentleman.” Ginny praised him, earning her a blush from Harry.

“Thanks Harry.” Ashleigh said, walking by him and into the store.

Ashleigh didn’t know where to look first there were so many things to see. It was as if a color bomb had been let off in the store, eye blinding shades graced every available surface. She made her way over to a display featuring ‘Skiving Snackboxes’ and laughed in pure enjoyment as she read the effects of the sweets inside the boxes. ‘So that’s what a nosebleed nougat is’ she thought. ‘The Headmaster must be a fan of the Weasleys.’

While Ashleigh was amusing herself with the twin’s products, the foursome went in search of Fred and George in the crowded shop. They found the twin’s barking orders at their employees who looked amused at them for trying to be so dominating when it was not in their nature.

“Hey, we were wondering when you four would grace us with your presence. Fred and I have something for you Harry; we thought you might like to try it out on Filch.”

“George,” Fred said, making his way over to his brother, “are you encouraging these young people to cause chaos and havoc on the beloved caretaker?”

George smirked his assent.

“Well then, I must give you props dear brother. I would have said on Malfoy, but the caretaker? Pure genius.”

“So what is this new mystery product?” Harry asked, wondering what could cause the infamous Cheshire grins the twins gave when they were up to something evilly funny.

George brought out from his pocket a small vial filled with transparent red liquid. It didn’t look like much, but they knew the twins better than to take anything they invented at face value. To do so would usually mean extreme humiliation at your own expense.

“Just a drop of this on the caretakers head and watch the fun begin. Oh, it’s nothing dangerous. Just a laugh for the students. One drop of this and Filch will be sprouting only the most fragrant flowers. It was inspired by him you see.”

“He does forget to bathe from time to time as you have surely figured out by now.” Fred finished for George.

“How long does it last?” Harry asked.

“Well you see, that’s the reason why it’s a prototype, were not sure. We figured that we’d give it to you to try out on Filch to see how long it will last without the counter potion. All you need to do is write us once a week to let us know how everything is going, or if he is getting out of hand, to let us know if you gave him the counter potion.”

“That’s brilliant, he really does stink you know. You never had detention with him in the trophy room. Doesn’t know what a shower is, I’m tell ‘in ya.” Ron said with a shudder.

As they were all laughing at Ron’s antics, no one saw Ashleigh come up behind the twins. Wondering what was so funny, she addressed the group that had mysteriously disappeared when she was checking out the snackboxes.

“Hey guys?” At the sound of her voice, they all sobered up and looked over to her. Fred and George turned around and gaped at the good looking witch in front of them. They looked over her simultaneously from her straight black hair, to her hazel eyes and her bow shaped mouth all the way down to her feet and back to her face in quick succession.

In the five seconds it took for them to look her over was gone, Ashleigh was blushing slightly.

“You must be Fred and George.” She assumed.

Ron came around his brothers with a smirk on his face. He knew his brothers would like her and he knew they liked her even more now that they heard her accent. All of the male Weasley children had something for American accents.

“Harry, you never said you had a sister?” Fred asked completely confused, he knew Harry didn’t have any siblings but the similarity between the two was unmistakable.

“She’s not,” Ron said, “this is Ashleigh Grey, she came from America.”

“She’s just found out she’s a witch, were going to get her supplies today in Diagon Alley, Dumbledore gave us special permission.” Hermione piped in. “Actually we need to get going if we’re going to meet you lot for lunch. Ready?” She asked Ashleigh.

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you guys.” She said to the twins, who were still looking at her with awed expressions. “Are they always like this?” She asked Ginny.

“No they only act like stupid gits around pretty girls with American accents.” She replied with a sly smile.

“Hey!” Said the twins in unison.

Ashleigh just smiled and gave them all a wave before leaving with Hermione.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashleigh and Hermione appeared in a busy alley way filled with shops. Slightly dizzy from her first apparition, Ashleigh stumbled a bit on the cobble stone road. That was certainly an experience that she would not soon forget. She decided that apparating was like being sucked through a straw, it was pretty wild in her opinion. Regaining her footing, she took a look around. Diagon Alley as she was told this place was called was very similar to Hogsmeade. It was a very endearing sort of town, historically old.

“Let's go to Madam Malkin’s first, it’s the farthest away from the apparition point. We can work our way back here.” Hermione said, walking slightly ahead of Ashleigh.

“Who is Madam Malkin?” Ashleigh asked, wondering what her first purchase of the day would be.

“She has a robe shop, that’s where we’ll get your school robes. While we’re there we’ll get dress robes as well. She has such a better selection than the store in Hogsmeade.”

“What do we need dress robes for?”

“The Yule Ball of course! Ever since Hogwarts hosted the Tri Wizard Tournament, it has been extremely popular. The students petitioned to have one every year from then on. That was our first school celebration not counting Halloween, but that of course is only a feast.”

“What is the Tri Wizard Tournament?”

“Oh, sorry. The Tri Wizard Tournament is a competition between three schools. One person is chosen from each school. There are three extremely dangerous tasks that each champion must complete to obtain a clue as to what the next task is. Each champion is scored on things like timing and originality. At the end of the three tasks, the champion with the highest score, or whoever reaches the Tri Wizard Cup first wins. They held it at Hogwarts during our fourth year but have not done it since.”

“Why not? It sounds like fun to me, I love a good adventure.”

“Well you see…things, strange things, happened that year. Although it seems that strange things happen every year.” Hermione said, muttering that last part to herself. “To be a champion you had to be at least seventeen years of age but someone put Harry’s name in under our house name instead of one of the school names so that it would be a definite that he would be chosen. That year there was four champions instead of three.” She said with a heavy sigh.

“The third task was a maze. Each champion had to navigate through it, while protecting themselves from magical beasts and situations. Harry and Cedric, the Hogwarts champion, reached the cup at the same time and took the cup together, both deciding to declare it a tie.”

Hermione stopped, taking a deep breath. They had reached Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. Hermione made no move to enter the shop. She merely turned toward Ashleigh and continued one of the worst memories she had ever experienced at Hogwarts, even though it was only a second hand memory to Harry’s.

“One of Lord Voldemorts followers turned the cup into a portkey.”

“Portkey?”

“It's another method of magical transportation.”

Nodding, Ashleigh motioned for Hermione to continue. She just knew that this story was about to hit a sour note.

“It took them to Voldemort, the current Dark Lord. He wanted Harry’s blood for a potion that would allow him to be reborn. He killed Cedric straight away since he wasn’t needed. I don’t know if we’ll ever get over seeing Harry crying over Cedric’s body when he returned.” Hermione finished with a single tear escaping from her eye.

“What do you mean reborn?” Ashleigh asked, not really knowing if she even wanted to know. This seemed extremely creepy to her.

“That’s a long story, but I suppose it’s better for me to tell you now. You’ll find out anyway and Harry hates to talk about it…When Harry was only a year old, a prophesy was made and it just about spelled out that a boy, that was taken to be Harry, would be the only one who could defeat the Dark Lord. Well, Voldemort found Harry and killed his parents before trying to kill him. Only he couldn’t kill Harry, somehow the Avada Kadavra, the killing curse, bounced off of Harry and hit Voldemort. But it didn’t kill Voldemort either like everyone thought it had. He roamed the earth for years as a spirit before he could regain his body. That’s how Harry got that scar on his forehead. It’s a curse scar, one that can’t be healed.”

Ashleigh had noticed that scar and wondered how he had gotten it. Now she knew although she wished she didn’t.

“Oh my god! And I thought my life was unfair. I’ve had some pretty sucky times myself, and I know what it feels like to lose my parents, but jeeze! How much more can the boy take?”

“That isn’t the half of it, but enough of the depressing stories for now; we have some shopping to do.” Hermione said as she turned and led the way into the robe shop.

An hour later saw Ashleigh and Hermione walking toward Ollivander’s. Hermione had told Ashleigh what their next stop was and Ashleigh was more than a little excited. Entering the wand shop, Ashleigh immediately sneezed from all the dust particles floating around the shop. The owner clearly must have never heard of air filters.

Just as the door closed, an old man with white/gray hair and spectacles very similar to Dumbledore’s came around the corner, eyeing them curiously.

“Ah, Miss Granger, what can I do for you today? Are you in need of a new wand?”

“No sir, this is Ashleigh Grey, she’s a new student at Hogwarts, she just found that she’s a witch and will of course need a wand.”

“Oh yes, Albus owled me this morning, well let’s get started shall we?” When he finished speaking a tape measure sprung from his hand and started measuring her in all sorts of odd angles.

When the tape measure had finished, it snapped back into Ollivander’s hand, coiled once again. With a nod of his head, he set off to the stacks of wands behind the desk. When he returned, he held several slim boxes. He opened the first to reveal a wand. It wasn’t very nice looking, Ashleigh thought. She liked Hermione’s wand quite a bit, it had a beautiful ivy pattern etched into it. This wand however was a very dark wood and was curved in an odd angle with harsh looking knobs on it. It looked exactly as a tree branch should.

“Hawthorn and Dragon Heartstring, eleven and a half inches. Give it a wave why don’t you.”

She did so and the front window shattered.

“Definitely not.” He said in a stressed voice as he took the wand back and handed her another.

Hermione held a small smile on her face. Mr. Ollivander had not changed one iota since she had last been here when she was eleven. He still made the same comments and facial expressions, she thought as she watched Ashleigh try out a fourth wand. She was almost certain that Ollivander made every new student try out numerous wands just for entertainment, she had noticed more than once an amused gleam in his eyes.

Ashleigh was now on her sixth wand. When Ollivander handed it to her he had a look in his eyes as if he knew what was about to happen. As soon as Ashleigh grasped the wand, she started glowing gold as the wand spouted red sparks and wind blew her hair about her head.

“I would say nice choice, but as it is, the wand chooses the wizard. Holly and unicorn hair that is, twelve inches…quite springy.”

Ashleigh was admiring her new wand which was a dark wood and had a beautiful pattern of etched swirls that reminded her of the night sky in Van Gogh’s Starry Night. She was quite happy that a beautiful wand had ‘chosen’ her opposed to the hideous one she had first laid eyes on.

After Ollivander had recorded the information from the card Dumbledore had given Ashleigh, the two girls headed off to get supplies from the Apothecary. Hermione had Ashleigh get every potion ingredient she knew of, including ones she knew the girl probably wouldn’t actually need. After picking out a cauldron and paying for their goods, they headed over to Flourish and Blotts, their last stop of the day.

Ashleigh was overwhelmed with the book store. Hermione had her get all of the seventh year books as well as the new book for second year Defense Against the Dark Arts as the new professor had changed the book since Lockhart had left. Hermione offered to let her use her old books from her previous six years. It wouldn’t have been an overwhelming experience if it weren’t for the high stacks of books that loomed precariously over head, threatening to spill down onto them at any moment.

Hermione had gathered the books Ashleigh would need in a matter of minutes; however the girls spent about an hour gathering books to read for pleasure but most of all, to further their knowledge on specific subjects. Hermione concentrating on Ancient Runes and Transfiguration and Ashleigh concentrating on Potions and Herbology. Ashleigh vaguely wondered if Potions was anything like Chemistry because if it was, that was sure to be her favorite subject.

Once they had gathered and paid for the books of their choosing, Hermione shrunk down their newly acquired packages and cast a feather light charm on them, stuffing her own purchases into her pocket and handing Ashleigh hers. Ashleigh added her new books to the collection of tiny parcels collected in the pocket of her green jacket. She felt relieved that the days shopping was done, she was tired and hungry and very happy that she didn’t have to go to another store to get more ‘Muggle clothes’ as Hermione had put it. Madam Malkin began selling them the year figuring she could increase her business. After all, wizards did have a problem when it came to dressing as a Muggle, they never could get it right. This way they could get the help they needed from a very trusted witch and actually look the part of a Muggle when they were out of Wizarding society.

Hermione was very pleased with the time they were making as it was only one o’clock. She, Ron and Harry usually ate around one thirty, two o’clock on Hogsmeade trips. Turning to Ashleigh, she grabbed the girls arm and apparated them away.
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A Matter of Time