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People were crowding up the Alley, and the Leaky Cauldron was stuffed with customers. -The Roleplay begins-

A'Marie was sitting at a table with a "toads last chance chocolate sunday". Her father had given her the money as he went off to do some of his own bussiness. She had three large bags filled with all her school supplies at her feet.

Tucking a determinedly out-of-place lock of hair behind one ear with a grimace at her hair's tendency to curl slightly in the heat of late summer, Gretel cast a quick glance side to side and hurried across the cobbled street to Ollivanders. It was only slightly cooler inside and dust floated in the air, casting the shop in an ethereal golden shimmer. Gretel tried and failed to stifle a sneeze; it was loud enough in the eerie silence of the shop to rouse what was left of Mr. Ollivander from wherever he had been previously
The old man was completely bald now, and resembled nothing so much as a house elf. He was shrunken with age, his limbs thin and bony. However, Gretel couldn't help but notice with a shiver how unnervingly alive his large silver eyes were. They were as soft as his voice, though, and the girl was comforted slightly by the faint smile of recognition on his lips as he approached her. "Cherry and the most intriguing black unicorn hair, if I remember correctly. 18 inches. Very nice finish and good with the more complex spells, yes?"
He already knew the answer to his own question; she could see it in the faint twinkle of humor in his pale eyes. She smiled in confirmation. "It's served me well, sir," she replied. "I've only brought it in for your inspection. I've got a little nick just above the handle." She placed the wand in Mr. Ollivander's long-fingered hands, her own face mirroring his expression of faint alarm and worry. He examined it closely before handing it back with an approving smile. "Not to worry, my dear," he reassured her. "Most students have more than just a small nick like that after four years of use. You've taken admirable care of it." Gretel beamed proudly and thanked him, reluctantly leaving the quiet, if dusty, peace of the wand shop. She blinked in the glare of the sun and darted into the current of people, letting it carry her down the street. Her golden eyes flicked from one shop sign to the next, mentally checking off each shop as she scanned down her list of supplies needed for her fifth year at Hogwarts. She had everything now; she'd reserved her stop in at Ollivanders for last, as it wasn't quite so critical as getting the rest of her things. She neared Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, where her parents were seated. The bags containing Gretel's supplies were tucked under the table near her mother's knees, where they were safe from "prying eyes and fingers", as her mother said. Her mother was a Muggle, but was remarkably accepting of the wizard world. On the other hand, she tended to be most mistrustful of the filthy wizards that tended to spend their lives sitting on the street in Diagon Alley.
As Gretel approached, her father beamed his good-natured beam and summoned a chair from another table with a skillful flick of his wand. "Ice cream, pumpkin?" he asked with a wink. Gretel grimaced and shook her head. "You always get something weird, Dad. I'm not touching your ice cream." She shook the loose ringlets of gold-streaked hair back away from her face, twisting around to gather up the length of her hair before sitting down. She had it braided, but it still hung to a formidable length. Heaving a sigh of relief at having finished her day's work of darting in and out of hot, dusty shops, Gretel let her attention wander as her parents chattered. She caught snippets of conversation here and there, and turned in her chair to identify the source of a familiar voice she couldn't quite place. It was Gustav, the Griffindor Seeker. She blinked, taking a minute longer to remember who A'Marie was, and then turned back around, satisfied with having identified the two fellow students.

A'Marie glanced up at the boy but couldn't remember him. Her mind wandered to the last years of school tyring to place the boys face to a name but nothing came up. SHe shook her head and came back to reality. Er....I don't know. My Dad got it for me. Um...I could ask him for you when he gets back...wait, here he is now." Her dad was walking briskly towrds her table from the throng of passerbys. A few of them contuniusly turned their heads and stared at him as if they had seen a ghost. A"Marie smiled up at him as he came to the table. He looked tired and sighed. 'He was always tired these days' she thought to herself. 'He has to stop working himself so hard.'
"Your Grandfather wants to see you before you go off to school," he said as he took a seat next to A'Marie. SHe shuttered at the thought of her grandfather. She kept thinking of his creepy smile and the way his bone like fingers always curled around her shoulder. As if just noticing the boy for the first time, her father said, "And who might you be?"

OoC|| ^^ Lurve you too, Chelsae.
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BiC|| Gretel turned back around again at Gustav's voice. "Hullo, Gustav," she replied with a smile. "My summer was fine, I guess. Vacation isn't nearly as much fun as being at Hogwarts, though. I'm glad we're going back." She glanced past him to A'Marie and Draco with a barely-suppresed shiver. "Uhm....." she said, pondering his second question. "I think I might have seen him earlier, but I've been here all day. If you want to know specifically, I think........I believe I saw him outside Flourish and Blotts. I can't really tell you when, though. Sorry." She shrugged and gave him an apologetic smile at her inability to really help him.

Steve wandered the streets feeling rather uncomfortable. The more people that were around her, the harder it was to keep track of them all and that bothered her greatly. She was carrying a rather large bag full of school supplies and it was starting to become rather annoying. She could feel it shift as people walked past her no matter how she carried it. She had to stop. She had to get out of all of these people. She heard giggling and whirled around. A group of girls were standing in a circle and apparently something was hilarious. Steve scaned the area and noticed that the flow of people was akward around this group. "No wonder everything is such a mess," she muttered. The girls were disrupting the natural flow. No wonder she was so on edge. She began to walk toward them. One of the girls looked up and saw her coming. Steve figured she had done her work because the girls quickly disperesed. Behind where they had been she saw a familiar sight: A'Marie. She walked over to the table set her bag down making the table shutter. "Hey Mar. Sir" She nodded at A'Marie's father.

Drake wandered around with Gustav for a bit. They had got the stuff they needed, and Gustav was touching up his nails back at the ice cream shoppe. He hated it when his nails were chipped and not completely black. Gustav then slipped his nail polish back in his boot, and pulled his gold pouch out of his black robes. "Oy Drake, get me a large Chocolate, and get some for yourself. Thanks." When Drake got back, he handed Gustav the treat, and sat down.
"How in the world do you wear all that black? It's hot outside!" Drake could never understand his best mates clothing choice. "Nevermind, I will still wonder." Drake looked over and saw the group that Gustav had met with before. The two went over and joined Gretel. They threw down thier bags and sat back. "So, how you been?" Drake asked Gretel.