Hogsmeade was a zoo this weekend. People had been streaming in from every godforsaken corner of the British Isles. It had happened every so often since Robin had lived there: Hogwarts hosted some event or another and the neighboring town would be packed to the gills with visitors. It was something one just had to get used to, like the way that teenagers would flood the streets and shops for an afternoon every now and then.
He knew it bothered some of his neighbors, but Robin sort of enjoyed the excitement of it all. Hogsmeade was a good place to meet people, to be exposed to all manner of interesting things. It was like living in the Leaky Cauldron.
As for the kids, perhaps he was too much of a kid himself to mind.
He’d done some asking around to find out what precisely Hogwarts was up to this time. A server at the Three Broomsticks told him it was something to do with Beltane, and open to friends and family as a result of the dome debacle. He had nodded blankly. Though mildly interested there would be no reason for him to attend. Besides a few of the older students he was friendly with whenever they came into town, he really had no connection to the school anymore. Sometimes he just felt like he did, living in the shadow of the place.
So many people were having breakfast that it was impossible to get a table so he took his Saturday morning tea to go, sipping it against the side of the inn under the eaves. It was clear now that many of the visitors were families, mothers and fathers and little siblings making their way up the High Street. He watched them curiously. In his time at Hogwarts his family had been involved precious little. But his time at Hogwarts hadn’t been so fraught with disaster either. He’d been there in a sweet spot, peacetime, allowing him to care about nothing and only talk to his parents on holiday.
The door of the Three Broomsticks opened, bells jingling, and it startled him out of his trance. Hot tea sloshed down his shirt. He spat a nasty word as he reached for his wand to clean up, siphoning the liquid off his clothes and onto the ground. Rubbing his chest where it still burned, he glanced up, hoping no one had been paying attention.
