[Owen] We meet again

It would always be a shock to Emmett to see how many people managed to fit in Diagon Alley.

He'd chosen today to go to Flourish and Blots to get some supplies for his lessons, hoping it wouldn't be too busy as lots of the students would be away as this Greek summer school. He was wrong, however. The street was packed full of people, bustling and jostling each other, and making their determined paths to where they wanted to be. Emmett stood at the top, by the wall to the Leaky Cauldren, and stared in shock. He knew Diagon Alley could fit a lot of people in, but this was over the top.

Diving into the crowd, Emmett slowly but steadily made his way in the direction of Flourish and Blots, politely tipping his hat, smiling and offering a 'good day' to people he knew. More than once he reached to tip his hat and found himself unable to move his arm enough, so instead nodded politely.

Finally, he reached the shop, but it wasn't most better. At least inside the building there was breathing room. Emmett was surprised at the amount of students he could see - he thought more would be going to the summer camp. But he supposed that the summer camp did have a fee, and lots of parents could only just pay the school fees, never min an extra two hundred or so galleons to send kids away for even more lessons.

Making his way to the quill section, he picked up 20 quills pre-charmed with anti-doodling and neat-handwriting spells. Hogwarts had given the new professor a few galleons to spend on supplies, and he was spending a bit of his own too to make sure that they were of the best quality. Grabbing a roll of parchment as he passed the stand, Emmett made for the till, hoping to get out of Diagon Alley as quickly as possible, but something caught his eye.

A red book with gold edges was featured on a large green stand. The man couldn't quite see what the title was but it interested him, and he weaved his way through the people to the display. A younger but taller man stood looking at the book, and his face stirred a memory in Emmett's mind but he wasn't quite sure where he knew this man from.

"Good day." He said, nodding at the other man. "This looks an interesting book." He nodded the book in question, noticing that the title was 'Cooking the muggle way'.

It was July.

Which meant most, if not all, students were at the Academy Athena. Owen Willoughby was not one of the Professors who were teaching a lessons at the Greek school. Instead he was in Diagon Alley, gathering supplies for his new occupation. This would be the first time he was back at Hogwarts since he graduated...so many years ago. He didn't want to think about how long it's been since he's walked the familiar corridors of the large castle. Time went by in a blink of an eye and so much has changed about him, and within.

Moving throughout the large crowd of Diagon Alley, Owen straighten his shirt as a taller and bulkier man rammed into his shoulder. "Really, people these days can't even bother to watch where they ARE BLOODY GOING!" He yelled the last part to the departing man, who didn't even turn around as he slipped inside Madam Malkin's Robes. Taking a deep breath Owen continued towards his destination. Flourish and Blots. One thing that he had to do was pick out a few books for the students to use during their lessons. A few titles had already sprung to mind as he entered the book store. There were quite a number of students, but none should be getting any school materials just yet. The letters hadn't gone out yet. One particular young witch raced past him giggling as she was chased by another one of her peers. Their dresses swished and swayed as their small legs carried them through the shop. For a moment he watched them, a smile transforming on his lips as he enjoyed the innocence of youth. Hard and dark times hadn't touched them yet and hopefully it never would for a couple of more years.

Watching them go out of sight between a row of Potion books, Owen turned his attentions back to the display he had stopped at. The large green stand held the red book with a title that had cross his mind as a possible selection for his lessons. Surely young witches and wizards would be interested in cooking the muggle way...unless they were like him. Muggleborn and already full of the knowledge of how muggle things work. "Then they wouldn't be taking my class unless they need to further their career with muggle things....or if they are being lazy." It didn't bother Owen that people looked at him strangely when he talked to himself. His fingers twitched as he reached for the book, nervous energy always moved through him since the Dementors stole most of his happiness away. Suddenly a male voice cut through his thoughts, causing the British man to turn towards the shorter man beside him. "It can be if you enjoy cooking and muggle things." Grabbing the book he placed it under his arms as he took in the older man. His hair was grey with flecks of white and cut short. He wore a pair of glasses and was about...seven inches shorter than him perhaps. Owen looked at the man's things and then back at his face.

"Are you an Professor at Hogwarts?"

"Indeed I am, how did you guess?" Emmett replied to the man he was talking to. He cracked a warm smile, his eyes crinkling at the edges under his thick-framed glasses. The soon-to-be-professor noticed that the other man had tucked the book that they'd been looking at under his arm. It actually did sound quite interesting, if truth be told. It would be fascinating to find out the mechanics of the muggle cookers, and maybe either Ruth or Debra could try out a few of the recipes too? The former Ravenclaw made a note to himself to ask Ruth whether or not he should buy it. He'd learnt right at the beginning of their marriage, like a lot of men did, that he shouldn't buy things without first seeking out her opinion. His warm brown eyes quickly flicking to the shelves on the other side of the room, he saw that there were plenty of copies left. Looking back to the man he was talking to, Emmett hoped that he wasn't going to steal the book, that would be awkward. Somehow balancing all of his pens precariously in one hand, the 54 year old stuck out his hand to shake.

"My name is Emmett Markham, I'll be starting as the transfiguration professor at Hogwarts next term." He introduced himself, his grip tight and professional.

"And you are...?" He tailed off, waiting for a reply. The other man's identity was bothering Emmett. He knew he'd seen him somewhere, he just didn't know where. Were they at school together? No, they couldn't have been, the other man was far too young to have been at school at the same time as an old grouch like him. He was old enough to be a grandpa, and this man probably wasn't even old enough to be a dad yet.

Actually, that's not true, not with the amount of inappropriate things kids get up to these days... He mused to himself, recalling all the scandalous articles he'd read in the Daily Prophet. Not that he actively searched for all the latest juicy gossip - but sometimes headlines just caught his eye. They got it every week because Ruth liked to read it, so he might as well make good use of his time by reading. He'd read all the books that he owned and so had run out of reading material. Glancing out the front window of the store the 54 year old noticed that it had started to rain, the droplets gently pattering on the window and splattering the glass. The masses of seething people outside had begun to pull out umbrellas and shrug on coats

Merlin, that's going to make it even harder to get around out there...