Mind into Mind [Billie]

Caleb woke up this morning feeling excited. Today he was going to meet his friend from Hogwarts @Billie Fay  in Diagon Alley. He had not even left Hogwarts two weeks ago, but the idea of getting back into the magical world so soon excited him. Usually, Caleb spent his summers at his parents’ house pouring over his books in his room or playing sports with his older brother. This summer however, the wizard had an excuse to visit Diagon Alley before he even got his book list. When he saw the advertisement in the Daily Prophet a few weeks before the end of term he knew he wanted to go. Today, Lucetta Lewis, the author of one of Caleb’s favourite series, Legends of the Lionhearted Legilimens was having a book signing even at Flourish and Blotts. Caleb knew his classmate, Billie was a fan of the series as he had spotted her reading one of the books in the Ravenclaw common room a few years ealrier. The boy immediately asked Billie if she knew about the event and they discussed going together as it would take place in Diagon Alley after term ended. Billie’s owl that came in a few days ago confirmed the meeting and Caleb happily replied “Yes!” hoping his response would get back to her in time.

After getting ready and dressing in a plain t-shirt and jeans, the teenager walked outside and immediately felt the July heat on his pale skin as he stepped into the sunny morning. It was the perfect day to venture into London. Though he had to rely on muggle transportation, getting from Colchester to London took less than two hours which was very manageable for a day trip. He brought his copy of his favourite book from the series in his bag and brought a non-magical book his mother had suggested earlier that week for the train. Caleb doubted anyone would approach him when he was reading Lewis’s series, but he was still cautious to avoid questions about it from muggles. The cover was a bit flashy after all and he supposed images on book covers didn't move in the muggle world. When he got on the train, he was lucky to find an unoccupied seat near a window where he sat down and read his non-magical book comfortably during the duration of the trip.

After arriving in London, Caleb took some time to take in the non-magical views of the city. Yes, he was in London for Diagon Alley, but this was one of the first times he had been to London without either of his parents and he wanted to take advantage of this recent independence. He gazed at the various boutiques, apartments buildings, and pubs before finally arriving at the Leaky Cauldron. He still had about another hour until the time Billie and him agreed to meet, but that was no problem. The boy planned on being early in case something went wrong with the transit and also to give himself extra time to browse the shops without his brother or parents. He took some time in the Apothecary before moving onto Quality Quidditch Supplies to admire some broomstick models he could never afford. After about an hour of browsing, he decided it was time to make his way towards the shop in case Billie had also arrived.

Walking down Diagon Alley, Caleb noticed a small crowd had already formed outside the entrance of Flourish and Blotts. Everyone in the crowd was talking excitedly and pointing up at an electric blue poster with Lucetta Lewis’s face grinning down at them. Caleb approached the group and gazed up at the poster for a moment. He had been too engrossed in her books to ever really consider what she looked like. Not that it mattered. Caleb looked down at his watch and realized he was still a few minutes early. The fifteen year old started to take a closer look at the crowd in front of him searching for a familiar head of blonde hair.

Billie stepped out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron and brushed stray bits of ash from the front of her dress. Floo wasn’t exactly her favourite way to travel – she’d always found the ash and the embers crunching underfoot a bit disconcerting, and didn’t love the smell of smoke, or the way it lingered in her hair – but she was happy that she was allowed to floo places by herself these days. Kendrick had been working, so he hadn’t been able to bring her into London today. She was glad she’d made plans; she didn’t really like being at the Silvermans house alone.

Not that she’d be alone if she wasn’t with Caleb though, she supposed. She’d seen Phillip for the past four days in a row, and she’d probably be with him right now if she hadn’t made plans. Billie had told Phillip she was meeting up with Caleb today, and he’d responded a bit… strangely. She was surprised that he hadn’t known who her yearmate was, being only two years apart, and especially considering that Phillip was a Ravenclaw prefect and all, but she supposed she shouldn’t have expected anything different. Phillip wasn’t exactly a very good prefect, after all. The thought made her smile.

It didn’t take her long to make her way through the warm, bustling side streets of Diagon Alley to one of her favourite bookstores, and soon enough she was scanning the crowd for her friend. Spotting him, she raised a hand in a suspended wave. After waiting politely for a couple of people to pass by, the blonde walked over to him, greeting him with a small smile.

“I’m not late, am I?” she asked, a little breathless. She glanced behind him, where the rest of the line had started forming. She hoped no one minded that she was meeting up with her friend and cutting in front of them. The large poster containing the author’s face winked at her as she glanced at it. She looked back at Caleb, feeling a little unsettled by it, but feeling a bit more excited at the thought of getting her book signed. “How are you?" she asked, feeling a bit silly not to have asked that as soon as she'd seen him.

“Hey!” Caleb smiled at his friend as she approached. It was nice seeing a classmate outside of Hogwarts so early in the summer. The previous summers, Caleb’s family had kept him all to themselves. This summer was different. The boy was fifteen now and was allowed a lot more freedom. He could do things like take a trip to London without his older brother and in a few weeks, the boy would be going to North America for camp with other witches and wizards from all different schools. Caleb missed his family sometimes and understood that the summer holidays were the only time they got to him, but they couldn’t expect him to stay at the house all summer. His only friends left in the muggle world were friends of his brother and what fifteen-year-old wanted to spend two months with only their parents and sibling to talk to? A trip to Diagon Alley with his own friend to do something he wanted to do was a nice change of scenery.

“Nah, you’re not late,” he replied casually. “I was just early. I don’t get the chance to be in London much. The muggle trains aren’t as fast as Floo Powder or Apparition and my parent’s fireplace isn’t connected to the Floo Network and it will be another few years until we can apparate“. He seriously meant it. As much as Caleb was more accustomed to the muggle way of getting around than his classmates, it was much more convenient to arrive at his destination instantly, even if it meant he would be covered in soot. Even broomsticks which weren’t as fast as the floo network but even that option was more fun than sitting on a train, though Caleb supposed it would be harder to read his book on a broomstick than a train seat. 

“She’s younger than I expected,” he said looking up at the poster of witch responsible for the event today. She beamed at the teenager as he said this. He only ever glanced at the author's picture in their books finding the biography and context of the book itself much more interesting, but couldn't help but notice the poster taking up a sizable section of the window right in front of him.

“How’s your summer been so far?” he asked. It hadn’t been long since he’d seen Billie, but Caleb was always genuinely curious about what students from magical families got up to during their holidays.

“Oh,” Billie replied to his long sentence with a polite nod. She hadn’t realised that Caleb was a muggleborn – or she’d known, but forgotten perhaps? It wasn’t something she thought about a lot; perhaps she’d assumed he was a halfblood. Most people were, after all. “I’m not in London much, either,” she added with a smile. This was the first summer she’d really gone out of home by herself.

Billie looked up at the poster again, feeling a little uncomfortable under the woman’s gaze once more. How old was the right age to be an author, she wondered? The blonde hadn’t really thought about the author while she’d been reading the book; she didn’t seem to ever do that when she was reading fiction. The blonde tucked some loose strands of pale blonde hair behind her ears. “I hadn’t… thought about it.” She hesitated as the woman’s eyes turned to her.

Caleb’s next question made her smile, though, and she returned her gaze to him. She thought about Phillip, and about the past week, and her cheeks pinkened a little. “Good,” she replied, nodding, glancing down with a small smile, “Really good.” Honestly, it was difficult to think about much else at the moment; and thinking about him was very distracting. She thought it would be rude to gush too much about what had been happening, but a part of her was also compelled to share.

“I’ve seen Barbara and Aase,” she said, “...And I’ve seen Phillip a lot.” She felt a little flustered all of a sudden, and glanced at Caleb for… reassurance or something? “We’re kind of…” Billie smiled an embarrassed, self-aware sort of smile and gave a tiny shrug.

“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it either. I’m just used to authors looking like this,” he said pulling out the book he had been reading on the train. The author was a serious looking middle-aged man and unlike the poster of the woman smiling above them, was completely still. “Who cares how old she is when she writes such great stories though!” he commented as tucked the non-magical fiction away.

“Oh, you saw Barbara and Aase!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t seen anyone yet, but I suppose there will be people when I’m at SASI later this month,” he added with a smile. Caleb was glad to see she had at least been enjoying her summer. He was a little jealous other students seemed to be able to visit each other so easily during holidays, though he supposed his time at camp overseas would more than make up for it. Reading books without the interruption of the people in the common room wasn’t a terrible way to spend the summer, though Caleb sometimes got a bit lonely. He was lucky enough to get along with his family, but they were his only remaining connections to the muggle world after four years at Hogwarts.

Caleb noticed something about Billie when she mentioned Phillip. Was she blushing? The girl was definitely embarrassed to mention the older student. Caleb didn’t know the Ravenclaw prefect very well. All he knew about the boy was that he was older, in Ravenclaw and a prefect, but he couldn’t remember ever speaking to Philip.

“Oh, kind of like… dating?” he said genuinely. “I don’t know Phillip that well. He’s the older Ravenclaw prefect right?”

The line had begun to move inside the store and Caleb suddenly felt excited. The smell of new books hit him as he entered the shop and the conversations of the crowd around him seem to grow louder in the smaller space. 

"So how long have you and Phillip been... you know?" he asked over the crowd smiling at her.

Billie watched with polite interest as he took out the book from his bag. If she put some thought into it, she supposed she agreed; it just wasn’t something she thought about much. Maybe she preferred reading fiction in a way that separated it from its creator. She nodded at his comment about age not mattering.

“Oh, you’re going to camp?” She asked, her eyebrows raising and a smile appearing. It did sound exciting, the summer camp. A little too outdoors for her, maybe. She liked being outside, but what would she get out of hiking, quodpot (whatever that was…?) or kayaking? Really though, it wasn’t about any of that, for her. She knew there was no way Phillip would go to something like that, so she’d decided not to apply. Now, though, she was glad she hadn’t. She’d just come off the back of four days of hanging out with him, and couldn’t imagine spending weeks apart.

“That’s right,” Billie said with a small smile. Somehow, for some incomprehensible reason, Phillip was still prefect. “Yes, kind of,” she added, answering the first question second, and hoping he understood. It felt good to share, even with a someone that she hadn't ever had a similar conversation with. The crowd started moving, and Billie held her book bag close to her as things got a little more packed. She stayed close to Caleb; she was always a little uncomfortable in packed spaces like this.

“Oh, er…” Billie trailed off a little, unsure of how to answer that. She gave an embarrassed sort of smile. “I mean, technically, we aren’t – I mean, we haven’t said –” she gestured uncharacteristically with one hand in the small space, trying to get the point across as she got more confused. Was it a problem that they hadn’t really talked about it? What they “were”? Was she definitely not his girlfriend, then, since he hadn’t actually asked her? “I mean, he kissed me,” she said with a tiny frown, not that he’d asked. "Er, a couple of weeks ago?" She was properly flustered now.

Even Caleb could tell Billie was getting embarrassed when she talked about the older Ravenclaw. So they kissed? Well it sounded like the two at least liked each other. The teenager knew kisses didn’t necessarily mean you liked someone, but the way Billie was blushing and getting shy talking about it, Caleb could tell how she felt about Phillip. He briefly thought about kissing someone himself. No one in particular came to mind, just fleeting faces of pretty girls he had seen around Hogwarts. He wouldn’t mind kissing someone at Hogwarts this year, Caleb thought to himself. Suddenly embarrassed, he looked over at Billie hoping she hadn’t been watching him as his own thoughts had come across his mind.

“Oh okay, so you guys like each other, but having made it official?” he asked quietly. The crowd was moving around them and Caleb was careful not to be overheard. He thought it would be bad manners to loudly talk about a subject his friend was clearly shy about. “You’ve been seeing each other a lot then?” he whispered hoping his question wouldn’t further embarrass the girl.

The crowd had begun to bustle towards the back of the shop. Caleb felt a bit relieved the group had started to gather away from the pair.  Crowds weren’t a huge issue for him, especially if it meant he would get to meet the author of one of his favourite books, but he sensed his friend’s discomfort. He walked over to a clearing in the cluster of witches and wizards around the shop hoping to get a better look of the section the signing would be taking place.

“Anyways, do you think Miss Lewis has arrived?” he added cheerfully trying to peer over the crowd. It wasn’t much use. Caleb was only average height for a fifteen-year-old and seeing over a crowd of pointed hats was not one of his strengths. That didn’t stop the curious boy from trying to get a view through a clearing in the crowd.

Billie felt a little flustered, the mix of conversational topic and the crowd applying different kinds of pressure. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and she wondered what he was thinking. “Yes, I think that’s right,” she answered, giving him a small smile despite everything, thankful that she didn’t have to explain more explicitly. She liked Phillip a lot. And she thought he liked her a lot too. Assumed. Hoped.

“Oh, sorry,” Billie said automatically as someone jostled her from her left. She straightened the front of her dress self consciously before turning back to Caleb, leaning in a little as he whispered. She nodded in response to his question. “Yes, so him, Aase, Barbie – I think Barbie and I are going to go shopping later this month–” in muggle London, too, but she didn’t specify, “–and that’s all I have planned for the summer so far. Did you have any plans other than summer camp?”

Billie was thankful that Caleb didn’t tease her. He could be quite playful sometimes, but always – Billie thought – in a kind way. She appreciated that. She laughed lightly at his question, not even attempting to look through the crowd. As someone who barely made over five feet tall, the blonde didn’t stand a chance. “I think so,” she said. It felt like the crowd had gotten more dense, or perhaps more excited. Either option indicated the arrival of their author. Billie clutched her bag a little more tightly, feeling a fresh wave of excitement.

“I haven’t done anything like this before,” she told him. They inched forward, and she felt some uncharacteristic nervous impatience. “You know, met someone… Famous, I suppose? Or, someone I admire? Have you?” she asked politely.