Unification

Julia glanced at her clock. Good. Ten minutes until close, and no drunks stumbling through the door. She flipped her French history textbook back open, and was getting ready to do ten more minutes' worth of studying, when the familiar jangling of bells interrupted her. "Clay, we've got company," she yelled into the back of the store. Why do customers always have to come in right before close? Julia forced herself to smile and looked up.

Two guys in their early twenties stumbled in to the shop, laughing loudly and hanging off of each other. They were obviously sloshed. At two in the morning, though, who else is going to be walking into a tattoo parlor?

One was six feet tall, tops, and had a shock of red hair. The other one was slightly taller and had a lean build, and an unruly mess of black hair. Julia decided he'd probably be cute if it weren't for the fact that he looked as if he'd be worshiping the porcelain god soon. The guys somehow made their way to Julia's desk.

Cute Guy clapped Redhead on the shoulder. "My friend Ron here would very much like a tattoo."

Redhead - well, Ron - tried his best to look stern. "I would like proof that I've visited Muggle London, please, and I'd like it on my arse." He collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Muggle? What the hell is that? "Alright. You two stay here and I'll go tell our tattoo artist to prepare for you. In the meanwhile, why don't you think about what kind of design you want?"

Cute Guy grinned. "I know what he wants. He wants this." He grabbed a piece of paper off of the front desk and began to scribble. It ended up being a rather decent sketch of a snake with the word "Slytherin" beneath it. Cute Guy then erupted into gales of laughter.

Julia had a feeling that when Ron woke up tomorrow morning, he was not going to be happy. Oh well. That's what you get for getting piss drunk and walking into a tattoo parlor. She walked the design back to the tattoo artist, Clay, who motioned the guys back to the chair he usually used.

This meant that Julia would have to stay until Ron was done howling and had paid, which was okay. She had more studying to do, which was largely uninterrupted, except for a few exclamations from the back room. One of the more entertaining ones was "Hey! What do you think you're doing with that?"

Finally, Cute Guy came out and paid and ended up carrying his friend out the door. Julia began to close up shop. She was sweeping the floor in the back when she noticed something rather odd underneath the metal and leather chair. Leaning over, she picked it up.

It was a piece of wood, about twelve inches or so. It wouldn't have necessarily been that odd except that there was very little wood in the room, and that the wood had been deliberately shaped. It almost reminded her of... a wand. She shook the thought out of her head and held it up for Clay to see. "Hey, is this yours?"

He shook his head. "Nah. Don't know what that is."

She put it underneath the front desk just in case someone came back to claim it. Even though it was just a piece of wood, she got the feeling that it was someone's, and it was somehow special.

The next day flew by. Classes, more classes, and mindless homework filled her hours. After that, she went back to the boring job that paid the rent on her share of the flat she rented.

Julia's intuition had been dead on. At half past ten, Cute Guy walked back in, sober this time. "Um, miss? I don't know if you remember me, but I was here late last night..."

She pushed her hair behind her ear and grinned. "Funny. I would have guessed that you'd have problems remembering what happened last night. How's your friend doing?"

Cute Guy blushed. "He's, um, sore. And not too happy with me right now." He pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. "This is going to sound strange, I'm sure, but did you happen to find -"

Julia finished his sentence. "A odd-looking piece of wood?"

"Yes."

She fished it out from beneath the desk and handed it to him. "Here you go. Gotta hand it to you, though - that is the oddest thing I've found while closing, and I have seen some odd things." She mustered up some courage. "I didn't get your name last night."

He smiled at her. "Harry Potter. And you are?"

"Julia Stevenson."

"Are you here on holiday, Julia?"

Julia shook her head and smiled. "No, I live here. I kind of got sick of living in the United States and decided to come to university here. I'm applying for permanent citizenship."

Harry looked down at his shoes. "Um, I hope this isn't too forward, but.... I'd love to take you to dinner sometime."

"That depends - does your idea of an evening out usually include getting drunk and visiting tattoo parlors?"

"Oh God, no. Last night was a celebration that got out of hand a bit. My friend Ron got his dream job."

Julia went against her better instincts and smiled. "Alright. Dinner it is. How's Friday for you?"

"Friday's great."

She wrote down her phone number for him, and they agreed to meet at five at a little French café. He then thanked her, told her he'd see her then, and walked out with that funny-looking little piece of wood sticking out of his pants pocket.

~~~~~

Julia stood back and surveyed herself. She'd pinned one side of her dark brown, chin-length bob behind one ear, put a little makeup on, and had put on her favorite pair of jeans. She'd chosen a pretty peach floral v-neck to wear as well. "Hey, Suze," she called to her roommate. "Come here and tell me what you think."

Susan, a petite blonde, walked into the room. "Hmm. Decent, I guess. I still think you ougt to wear that little black dress, but that's just me."

Julia grinned. "Well, I didn't ask you what you wanted me to wear, I asked your opinion on what I'm currently wearing."

Susan cocked her head to one side. "It's cute. Not a knockout, but cute."

"I can always count on you to take me down a couple of notches, Susie."

The blonde grinned. "Isn't that what friends are for? Anyway. Good luck with Drunk Boy."

Julia rolled her eyes at her friend, slipped her favorite leather sandals on, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door. Thankfully the café wasn't too far of a walk, and the weather was pretty enough for it. Approaching the café, she spied her date already waiting at a small outside table. Okay, he's punctual. He gets points for that. He looked up, saw her, and waved.

Harry stood up and pulled out a chair. "Hi, Julia," he said with a smile..

She sat down, and a waiter hurried over. "Bonjour, mademoiselle. Would you like something to drink?"