Chapter 58: Dreams of Sirius
He finally asked himself, "What would it hurt if I did call and she wasn't interested? I'd never have to see her again. It's not like at Hogwarts where I'd see her every day." And so with his resolve strengthened, Harry snuck out of his room and down the stairs. He headed into the kitchen and made sure the coast was clear before he snatched the cordless phone out of its holder and retreated back to his room. He locked the door magically since all the physical locks were on the outside and put up a privacy ward to prevent anybody from eavesdropping.
He dialed her number and waited while the phone range. After a few rings someone picked up.
"Hello," a female voice greeted him.
"Hi," Harry replied nervously. "Is Jessica there?"
"Speaking," she responded.
"Oh," Harry answered as he began pacing back and forth. "Hi Jessica. I'm not sure if you remember me, but my name's Harry, and you helped me with my shopping a week or so back and left me with your number."
"Hi Harry," she interrupted cheerfully. "It's good to hear from you. I was wondering whether or not you'd call."
"So you did want me to call then?" Harry half asked, half stated.
"Of course I did. Why else would I give you my number," she giggled softly.
"Oh, right," he said. "Well you had said that I could call you even if I didn't have more shopping to do…"
"Uh huh"
"… so I thought I would take you up on your offer. I know we hardly know each other and everything, and I'm not sure if you'd like to or not, but I was wondering if maybe you'd… if you'd maybe like to…" Harry stammered.
"Are you trying to ask me out on a date Harry?" she asked helpfully.
Harry slapped himself on the forehead for being such a dork. "Err… maybe?"
"Maybe yes? Or maybe no?" she asked candidly.
"Yes. Would you like to get dinner with me sometime?" he deadpanned, forcing his nerves out of his throat.
"I'd like that," she answered sweetly with a slight giggle.
"You would?" Harry asked dumbly. "I mean, you would. That's great. Umm… when would you like to go out?"
"How about this Saturday?" she supplied.
"Saturday." Harry said. "Okay, Saturday works."
"Will you be picking me up, Harry?" she asked.
"Oh, well I don't exactly have a car or anything," he explained.
"That's alright. Would you like to meet me somewhere?" she asked supportively.
"Sure," he replied. "Where would we meet?"
"Do you know your way around London?" she asked.
"Err, not really," he answered.
"Okay, why don't you meet me in front of the store at say 6:00? I know of a place nearby that we could go to," she explained. "Will that be okay with you, Harry?"
"Yes. Yes, that would be wonderful," he responded gratefully.
"Good. I'll look forward to seeing you at 6:00 on Saturday then," she told him.
"I'll look forward to seeing you too," he responded back. Then a thought struck him. "What should I wear? I mean, what kind of attire should I wear for the restaurant?"
She giggled softly again. "A very good question, Harry. I'm proud. Most guys wouldn't think to ask. Wear one of the nice khaki pants, a collared shirt, and your brown shoes and you'll be just fine."
"Thanks," he said, constructing a mental picture of his new clothing and what he'd wear.
"You're welcome. I'll see on Saturday then. Bye Harry," she said.
"Bye Jessica," Harry answered before hanging up the phone and collapsing on his bed. That was nerve racking, it was. Girls should come with a manual or a cheat sheet, something. But it didn't go too badly, he thought optimistically. Of course that was all thanks to Jessica. He had been a nervous wreck, but she was calm and collected and was helping him out whenever he stumbled. She seemed very cool like that. She didn't seem to mind that he got nervous or stumbled over his words.
For the rest of the week Harry was bursting to tell everyone about his date. He wished he had people in his life that he could tell things to. But at least he had Sirius. Sirius was the one person he could tell everything, all of his secrets, to. Sure Sirius was dead and only visited in his dreams, but it was still nice to have that one person he could share himself with. He loved his friends and Remus and everyone, but there was so much he couldn't tell any of them. He just got himself a date, but he couldn't mention it to his friends because it would raise way too many questions. He didn't hesitate to mention it to Sirius, though, and was teased mercilessly for it as a result.
His training went poorly for the next couple days as all his godfather had to do was bring up his date or make some suggestive comment and Harry would become distracted. After the second night of this torment, he put a lock on his emotions and no longer let himself become preoccupied with anything but dueling Sirius. And Sirius paid for his taunts. Harry won most of their duels now, with his godfather only winning an occasional one or two. They were usually all well fought, though, and were very good practice for Harry. They also spent a lot of time working on new spells, some of which were ones Harry was reading about, others were ones Sirius would teach to him. His repertoire of spells was increasing rapidly from all of the extra study and training time.
Saturday finally rolled around, and Harry was a nervous wreck for most of the day. His run was extra long as was his bout with his cousin's punching bag, but it still didn't settle his nerves. He had to force himself to eat lunch and only managed a small amount of food. He wondered how he was going to manage to eat later tonight when he was already having trouble with food.
The day passed by slowly, inching along as he read his books and practiced his magic. He was beginning to practice casting two spells at once. He started off practicing with the same spell, but he was starting to try casting two different spells at the same time. He was having mixed results with it but was optimistic. Today, however, he was having trouble getting it right when using the same spell.
He was ready to go at 5:00. He needed to go to Diagon Alley and into Gringotts before his date so that he'd have muggle money to pay with. He changed his hair color, put in his brown contacts and cast a cosmetic charm over his scar. He checked himself in the mirror before leaving and was satisfied with the results. Even looking up close he couldn't tell that he had a scar. It blended in perfectly.
He apparated to Diagon Alley and walked quickly into the bank. He got in the line that Griphook had directed him to in order to exchange wizarding for muggle money the last time he was there. He stood in line for 10 minutes before he was helped by the goblin at the counter. He changed 50 galleons for about 250 pounds and bid the goblin a good day. He received little more than a grunt in reply as he turned and walked out of the bank.
He made his way through the busy crowd in the streets toward the Leaky Cauldron. He had plenty of time, so he would walk to the store. He made it to the pub without incident and was soon walking out the exit into the muggle streets. He began his trek toward the department store. He stopped off in an alley along the way and hid himself as he changed his hair color to black and replaced his brown contacts with the clear ones. His hair length on a normal day was only a touch shorter than it was now. By the time the 1st of September came around, he'd have his hair this length for good.
He continued walking towards the store, taking his time, knowing that he was still early. He took stock of his surroundings and marveled at the hustle and bustle of the world. People were going every which way, everyone in a hurry. Cars sped down the streets as people traversed the sidewalks walking at speeds more closely resembling a jog. All the while Harry took his time to enjoy his walk and settle his nerves as he prepared for his date. Before long he was coming up to the store.
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Chapter 59: A Smile
He saw a clock in the window and saw that he was 25 minutes early. With nothing better to do, Harry entered the store and sat on a bench near the door. He watched the shoppers and store employees as they all set about their tasks. Some shoppers seemed to just be browsing casually while others seemed intent on finding clothing that suited them. Some of the employees were greeting customers cheerfully and offering assistance, a few greeted the shoppers with less cheer and more grumpiness, but offered help nonetheless. Still others seemed to be in charge of restocking the shelves and racks of the clothes that were disappearing of them. They seemed to be the least cheerful of all the workers, but Harry couldn't blame them. The job did seem rather boring.
After a short while he saw her; she was leading a customer toward one of the registers. There eyes met briefly, and she gave him a small smile as he gave her a casual wave. She returned his greeting and tilted her head toward her customers and held up one finger to let him know she'd be with him in a minute after she finished helping the shoppers. She rung them out cheerfully and bid them a goodnight. They replied in kind. She then sauntered toward Harry, so he got up and met her halfway.
"Hi," he greeted.
"Hey," she said back. "You're early."
"I know," he replied sheepishly. "I didn't want to be late, so I gave myself plenty of time."
"That was sweet of you," she told him. She glanced at a watch on her wrist. "I still have ten more minutes until I can punch out. Are you alright just hanging out here 'til then?"
"Oh," Harry responded, "yeah, that's fine. I'll be right here whenever you're ready to go. Take your time though. I'm not in a rush or anything."
She gave him a full smile in return and said "Thanks. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long." And with that she turned and headed back into the store. Harry returned to his bench and continued his people watching. He also used the time he had to focus on controlling his emotions. He didn't want to be a stammering wreck the entire night and was hoping that his Occlumency practice would help in that respect.
It was about fifteen minutes later that Jessica walked back towards him. She had changed, he noticed immediately. She had been wearing a cotton skirt before, red in color, with a white blouse. Now she was wearing a black skirt that seemed to be a more silky material. It had some white flowery designs on it. She was wearing a light blue top that came down in a V over her chest.
"Shall we?" she asked.
"You look beautiful," he told her without registering what she had asked. She shot him a dazzling smile as a reward, and Harry's brain took another moment to catch up with him. "Err, right, I'm ready to go."
She giggled softly again, and Harry found he rather liked the sound. It wasn't like when girls like Lavender or Parvati giggled while gossiping at Hogwarts. That was a louder, more intimidating laugh. Jessica's giggle was soft and… inviting. He decided that anything he did to make her laugh like that was worth it, even if he did look stupid as a result. "Thank you, Harry. You look rather dashing yourself."
Harry blushed brilliantly at the unexpected compliment. "Well, a woman with impeccable taste helped me pick it out," he managed to say without stammering one bit.
She giggled again, and Harry mentally congratulated himself for accomplishing that without making an idiot of himself. He opened the door for her and waved her through it. She smiled at him as she passed and whispered, "Thanks," as she walked out into the street. Harry followed her out the door and looked at her for direction. "Right. It's over this way," she explained gesturing to the right. Harry followed her lead, and they walked side by side down the street.
"So how is the job going?" Harry asked her conversationally.
"Oh, it's going alright," she replied. "I haven't had many cute guys coming in spending hundreds of pounds and leaving me enormous tips lately though, so it could be better."
Harry chuckled sheepishly at her joke, shrugging slightly. "You really did save my life that day, you know. I think I'd still be wandering around the store looking for clothes if it weren't for your help."
She looked over at him and met his eyes for a moment and knew that he was being honest. "It was my pleasure, really," she told him. "As I said, it's not every day I get a customer like you. And it's not every day that I actually enjoy myself so much while on the job. Ah, here we are," she said, gesturing toward the Italian restaurant in front of them. "I hope you like Italian?"
"Uh huh," he responded.
They entered the restaurant, and she immediately led him to the host table and said "Jessica Roland, party of 2."
The man looked through a list in front of him and responded, "Ah yes, I'll be able to seat you in just a moment, if you'll just wait to the side momentarily."
She nodded to him, and the two of them stepped to the side to wait. "Thanks for setting all of this up," he told her. "I really don't know where anything is in this city. I had to ask someone to direct me to the nearest department store that day just to find the place."
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