He tried to get help from an employee, but they all were busy helping other people. Finally he just took out his list of books and began looking. He soon realized that the store was organized by topic, with signs over rows like he saw in regular book stores, except of course that some of the signs kept erasing themselves and the words would reappear in different handwriting. Unfortunately he had no clue what many of the topics meant. Apparition, Quidditch, Animagi? Finally he spotted one labeled 'Potions'. He searched through the books until he found the right book. Taking it from the shelf he went back to searching the topics. Next he found 'Transfiguration' and then 'Defense against the Dark Arts'.
After that he found the Charms section and began looking for his Charms book. After he'd searched all the lower racks, he decided it must be on the top shelf, where he was having trouble reading all the titles. Carefully, he tried to pull himself up a little to see onto the shelf. He still couldn't see, so he propped his right arm up on the shelf and pulled up so his eyes were level with the books. Advanced Projective Charms, Theory of Charms, Advanced Movement Charms, Advanced-
His foot slipped and he felt himself start to fall. He reached for whatever he could, but all he could find were books. He grabbed one, but it slipped out from the others and Jackson found himself landing hard on the ground. Lots of people came to help him up. The first one to reach him was a girl his age with long blue hair and purple eyes and a beautiful face despite her look of worry. Jackson blushed with embarrassment as he started picking up his books.
"Are you all right?" the girl asked as Jackson stood up.
"Yeah," he replied, "I'm fine. I didn't fall that far, I just couldn't find my book."
The girl nodded. "An Introduction to Charms. Yeah, I couldn't find it either. They said they ran out of it yesterday. Should have some more next week."
"Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to come back before school."
"Me neither," she said, her blue hair suddenly turning green as she talked. "They said they can deliver it to Hogwarts. You'll get it before your first lesson."
"Thanks," Jackson said, staring at her hair. He started to open his mouth to ask, but he didn't know what to say.
She laughed, reaching a hand up to finger her hair, its color changing back to blue in a wave that started where her hand touched it. "I'm a Metamorphmagus," she laughed. "It's a special gift I was born with."
He smiled and said, "Cool."
"I'm Vanessa by the way," she said, holding her hand out to him. "Vanessa Thomas."
He shook her hand and said, "Jackson Smith."
"Nice to meet you, Jack," she said, smiling at him again.
"Nice to meet you too," he replied.
A woman came up behind Vanessa, gently grabbed her shoulder and said, "Vanessa, it's time to go."
"Yes, mum," Vanessa said, glancing at her. Turning back to Jackson she said, "I'll see you at school."
"Yeah, see you," Jackson replied, smiling as he watched her go. He was still picturing her smile and her amazing hair as he found the last of his books and bought them. He almost forgot to tell the clerk he needed the charms book sent to him, but he was soon on his way out of the store with a bag full of books.
He met his parents at another bench, and his mom led the way out, clearly in a hurry to get back to her normal life.
Normal? Jackson thought to himself, still picturing Vanessa's hair. Who needs normal?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment