This is just a little something I thought up the other day, and I thought it was cute. Don't we all wish this could happen to us? ;) -K.P.
Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter related is Joanne Rowling's. Kings Cross belongs to itself, or to England, or whoever owns it. Quiko-Mart and the nameless coffee shop are mine, as is Sour Triple Limeberry ChooChooChewys. All the characters you don't recognize (most of them) are mine, too. Thanx!
The Day I Met Harry Potter
September the first. It was just another ordinary busy day at Kings Cross Station, full of cranky travelers, impatient passengers, crying kids. A typical day.
I work at a small convenience store at Kings Cross, minimum wage. My store is situated across the way from platforms 9 and 10, right next to a little coffee shop that sells the best brownies ever made.
I glanced at the clock, yawning. Five minutes to break. My shift had started at 5 am, and now, hours later, I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. Just five more minutes. I could almost taste the mochaccino: easy on the whipped cream, heavy on the chocolate bits.
"Excuse me?"
I started out of my reverie. A guy about my age stood at the counter, waiting expectantly. He had black hair and the most gorgeous green eyes. Most unusual, though, was a thin white scar on his forehead, in the shape of a lightning-bolt. He was really cute. I love guys in glasses.
I self-consciously adjusted my Quiko-Mart baseball cap. "May I help you?"
"Umm . . . yeah." the guy looked around a little nervously. "I'll get these-" he placed a magazine and a bottle of juice on the counter. "-and a pack of . . ." he paused, straining to see the names of the gum behind me. "ChooChooChewys, please."
"What flavor?" I asked, my hand poised at the gum racks.
"What would you recommend?" he asked with a smile.
I gave him my best I-know-what-you're-on-about-but-I'll-play-along-anyway smile. "Think you're up for Sour Triple Limeberry?"
"I am if you are." he replied.
I tossed him the pack. "My favorite." I started to ring in his order. "Hey-" he said suddenly. "You know if that coffee shop over there is any good?"
"Get the brownies." I said immediately. "Quadruple Chocolate Fudge with no nuts. The best in England."
He laughed. "If you say so."
I saw my co-worker entering the shop, so I took a chance. "In fact, I just started break. If you'd like, I come with you." I hoped I wasn't being too forward.
He stared at me for a moment, then grinned. "Sure. I could use the company."
I handed the reins over to my co-worker and we headed out of the store. "Just a sec." he said, stopping. "I should check on my, ah- luggage."
I followed him around a corner to luggage storage and gasped. A large snowy owl blinked sleepily at me from her golden cage, perched on a large trunk. "Is she yours?"
"Yep." he looked pretty proud of himself.
"She's gorgeous!" I stared in awe at the magnificent bird.
"Thanks." the boy said. "Shall we?"
We entered the coffee shop and I headed straight for the counter. The cashier looked up. "Hey, girl." he greeted me.
"Hey." I replied.
"The usual?"
"Of course." The boy waited until I got my brownie and mochaccino then ordered the same for himself. He took a handful of change out of his pocket to pay, and I caught sight of some pretty strange, almost fake looking coins before he hastily stuffed them back in his pocket.
We took our purchases to a corner table and started eating. "Mmm . . ." he said through a mouthful of brownie. "This is good."
"Of course." I said, removing my cap and shaking out my long, and I do mean long hair. I could sense him watching interestedly and smiled to myself. "So where are you headed?"
"Well . . ." the boy hesitated. "I'm off to boarding school. I was dropped off extra early, and I'm just waiting it out til my friends get here."
"Parents were in a hurry to get rid of you, eh?" I grinned.
He suddenly looked sad. "My parents died when I was a baby."
"Oh." Me and my big mouth. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." he said. "You couldn't have known."
We sipped in silence for a few minutes. "So what's boarding school like?" I asked.
"Oh- I like it." he said. "You're with your friends all the time, and they teach some pretty cool subjects at my school."
"Oh yeah, like what?"
"Well- stuff like- caring for- creatures, and different plants, and- fortune telling, and Astronomy, and such."
"Fortune telling? Huh. All we get is biology and algebra."
"Yeah, well," he coughed. "My school's one of a kind."
"Sounds like it." I said, suddenly wishing I attended his school, too. And not just for the lessons, either.
He glanced up suddenly, out the shop window. "Oh!" he said. "There's my friends. It must be time to go."
I glanced at my watch. "My break's almost over, anyway." We stood up and then looked at each other awkwardly. "Well," I said finally. "It was nice meeting you."
"Yeah, you too." he offered his hand, and I shook it. "Well, see you."
"See you," I echoed, and watched as he waved, then turned and walked toward a bunch of redheads.
I returned slowly to my shop, thinking. I wondered what it would be like if we had met at another time, another place. Would we perhaps become friends? Or even- a little more. I cursed fate in my head.
I was just about to enter the store when I remembered. He never even told me his name! Now there was no way we'd ever meet again. I turned and scanned the crowd, but he was out of sight. Suddenly I did a double take.
I could've sworn I just saw three people slide through the solid barrier between platforms 9 and 10.
I stared for a second, then dashed across to the wall. I cautiously approached and touched a finger to the barrier.
Solid.
I returned to my shop, shaking my head and wondering if I was really going crazy this time. I couldn't have seen them go through the barrier. It was just . . . and optical illusion or something.
A little kid sitting on a bench outside my shop was reading a Harry Potter book. I usually didn't pay much attention to this, as it was a fairly common sight. But today something on the cover caught my eye.
I had heard of Harry Potter, of course. Everyone had. But I had always deemed the books "children's books" and left it at that. I sat down beside the kids to look more closely at the cover. A picture of a boy standing in front of a red train with the sign: Kings Cross Station, Platform 9 3/4.
"Hey." I said. The kid looked up. "That's this station."
The kid raised an eyebrow. "Yeah."
"Well, where's Platform 9 and 3/4? I've never seen it."
He gave me a don't-you-know-anything? look. "You have to go through the barrier between 9 and 10 to get to it."
I started. "Through the barrier?"
"Yeah." He was still giving me a funny look. "It's just in the books, of course."
"Of course," I said weakly. I was staring at the boy on the cover of the book. He had black hair, green eyes and glasses- and a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. "Is that- Harry Potter?"
"Duh."
"This Harry Potter. He wouldn't happen to- own an owl, would he?"
The kid nodded. "Yeah, named Hedwig."
"His school teaches fortune telling and stuff?"
"Well, Divination, to be exact."
"He's friends with a bunch of redheads?"
"The Weasleys." the kid said. He gave me another weird look. "Have you read these books before?"
"No." I said. The kid looked at me disbelievingly. "I just- heard about them. From- a friend."
The kid just stared at me. "Maybe you should read the books."
"Maybe I should." I stood up. "Thanks."
He shrugged and returned to his reading.
I wandered into the store, still in shock. Could it be? Did I really meet- Harry Potter? No. They were just books. There was no such thing as wizards and magic and- and sliding through solid walls . . .
I took my place at the counter and saw something taped to it. My co-worker winked at me as I tore it off. It looked like a piece of old-fashioned parchment.
"Some guy left it for you a few minutes ago, while you were on break." My co-worker said, grinning.
I read the note.