Trip to Hogsmeade: Zonko's

As soon as they entered the shop, Lucy's gray eyes widened with curiosity and excitement. There were so many things to look at! People were crowded around the employees, trying to get prices on things and help to finding the perfect joke item.
There was a wall on the right side of the shop, filled with empty frames with a banner on top that read Employee of the Month.
"How could they not have an employee of the month yet?" She asked as she glanced up at the frames.

Sydney was in the back room counting inventory when she heard the bell above the door. Then she heard voices and laughter. Customers! She went into the main area and saw James, Lucy and Ella. She smiled at James and gave a small smile at Lucy, only because she had to as she was a customer. “Hey guys. How can I help you?”

Sydney smiled and said, “Yeah. We were short staffed today so I’m working. On my day off.” She giggled softly and moved over to a shelf. “Well, I just got some new stuff in. We’ve got exploding wands, biting tea cups, extendable ears, sneakoscopes, a new shipment of pigmy puffs, and smoke bombs. What’s your fancy, Riddle?” She smiled at him as she asked him the question in a fake British accent. Everyone knew she was American, but it was fun to talk with the cute accent.

Lucy smiled as James glanced at her before turning his attention to Sydney. Surely everyone knew about their mutual dislike, but she wasn't going to let that ruin her first trip to Hogsmeade. "I'll take one of these...for Wade." she said as she took a Nose-Biting Cup from the shelf. "How much would it cost?" she asked the Ravenclaw girl.

"That would usually be 6 galleons. But I'll give you the secret friend discountof 4." She said with fake kindness . She was trying to look good in front of james and so far it was working, she thought. She took a new shipment of rigged brooms off the shelf. "Here james. Check this out."

Lucy frowned as Sydney's sarcasm annoyed her. Quietly, she walked away to find another employee and pay for the cup. She had no intent of dealing with the immature Second Year at the moment, so she left her with Ella, Ellie and James for a while. 

As she walked through the store, she saw all the items they had. It really was too much! There where extendable ears, which Uncle Draco had talked about very often, so that was interesting. They came in various colors, which she supposed were meant to be similar to the buyer's skin tone, so she looked for one similar to hers. After a few minutes, she finally found the perfect, very similar shade and held onto the ear so she could buy it later.

So far, she only had the extendable ear and the nose biting cup, but that seemed enough, until she saw the shelf in front of her. Pieces of folded parchment showed the steps of all the people in the crowded shop; Lucy instantly looked for the banner with her name.


Smiling brightly, her hands instantly reached for it. These maps had grown insanely famous after the Second Wizarding War, and Lucy couldn't help not having one. Out of a sudden, a tall, dark-skinned boy stood next to her. 

"Amazing, right? That these things would be so public now." His voice was rough and Lucy couldn't recall ever seeing him, so she simply nodded and went back to her thoughts.
"I'm Roland." He introduced himself. Lucy, unsure of what to do, introduced herself as to not seem rude. 
"Lucy." Her smiled seemed friendly, yet uncomfortable. Roland seemed to not notice, as he kept on talking about how the Marauder's Map was now useless as they no longer held it's secret status. Lucy wanted so desperately to cut him off and say that it wasn't about the map being secret, but about taking advantage of it's ability, but Roland wouldn't shut up and after a while, Lucy began to understand that this boy was really only talking about how Muggle Borns were bad for the wizard community.

Finally, after minutes of talking, Lucy cut him off. "It's very nice to see that people still care about keeping our secret safe and away from Muggles,  but I sincerely have no desire to listen to you rant about how much you dislike them. My parents are Muggles, and I'm sure that if you had known that from the beginning you wouldn't be talking to me at all." she said as she took the map, the cup and the extendable ear and walked away from the scene, leaving Roland wide-eyed and confused.
"I hate his guts." she said as she took a place next to Ella.

Sydney notcied lucy talking to a boy, So she moved towards james. "So., james, you know you want one of these bad boys. F you can fly on this, you can fly on anything." She smiled her "buy this" smile and hoped it worked. She hadn't made a sale all day, and she really needed too.

"Well, you know how in the muggle world they have mechanical bulls? This is kind of like a mechanical broom? It jerks you around and stuff. It trains you for the worst possible flying conditions. But it also makes great pank supplies. I love them." She smiled at james before lucy came walking back over to them and muttered something to herself.

" for you james, 8 galleons. Half off for one of my best mates." She had gone british again and giggled. "That there is one of our marauders maps. They're quite popular with the students." She nodded at the map and smiled.

Sydney took the gold coins and slipped them into the register. "They are in a way. They show everyone one at all times through out they castle. Everyone, where they are, what theyre doing, any time all the time. Its pretty cool. I've got one myself."

"Its not like you can see them actually. Just they're footsteps. It helps for sneaking around the castle at night. Not like indo that." She laughed nervously at the end of her statement

"Its all part of the job james. A pigmy puff is this little fella." She reached into a cage and pulled out a small fluffy pink creature. "He's a little pet. Isn't he cute.?" She kissed the creatures head and put him back. "And a sneakoscope is a machine that can detect when someone untrustworthy is around"

"Excelent. Thanks james. Hey, aybe when I get off we can all.hang out?" She said mostly to james.

Lucy was about to reply when she was suddenly cut of by Sydney, making the Slytherin's cheeks turn red with anger. However, she decided it was best to not answer at all, since Sydney already answered everything...
Lucy could feel herself growing impatient with the Ravenclaw girl, so she kept close to Ella, trying to feel a familiar figure. 

"Hey, Ella? Wade, Ryland and I will be going to France this summer, do you think your mom would let you and Ellie come with us?" she asked suddenly, remembering Phoenix's promise to take Ryland back to France to visit his home. "We're going to take Ryland to relieve some memories, so maybe you'd like to explore with us?"

Lucy suddenly caught Sydney's words. "Actually, you can't." She snapped. "It's school rules. You can only come to Hogsmeade if you work, but you can't leave work just like that." she said as she put her things on the counter. "If you do, you can cause Ravenclaw to lose the House Cup, and you would get in trouble with Torres." After a few seconds, she took out some golden coins from her purse. "I've got the Marauder's Map, the Nose Biting Cup, and the Extendable Ear. How much?" she asked Sydney.

After she told her the price, Lucy felt strangely bad about having talked to her that way. "You can hang out with us after we come back. Sit with us at dinner, maybe?" she suggested, glancing at James quickly before turning her eyes to Sydney.

"Its fine. I'll just sit with aylee like usual. I'll see you back in the common room , yeah?" She turned to james and smiled. She rung up lucy's items, put.them in a bag and said, "can I help you with anything else? You know, since I'm only allowed here if I'm working?"