A Chaotic Encounter

Chapter 2 - A Plan

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Harry was the first to snap out of it.

"Excuse me, but which movie?" he asked skeptically. Hermione composed herself and nudged Ron who quickly assumed a politely curious expression, confusion evident in all of their eyes.

"The Harry Potter movie," he answered suspiciously, "You kids better not be playing some--"

"Thankyou, sir." Hermione cut in quickly, rushing towards a staircase leading up to the second floor, beckoning for Harry and Ron to follow. They took one last look around and made their way up the stairs to the deserted, except for a graying man slowly sifting through the shelves, history section.

"Harry Potter movie?? This has got to be some prank. I bet Fred and George are right around that shelf over there!" Ron burst out insanely as soon as they'd seated themselves at a table in the back.

"Shh!! Ron, be quiet--" Hermione started, looking alarmed.

"No, Hermione. I will not be bloody quiet! We're in a Muggle bookstore and there are people here who want autographs from the stars of the Harry Potter movie!" he cried heatedly, not lowering his voice.

"Well thanks ever so much for recapping the last episode, Ron. In today's show, we'll see just how--"

"I want to know what's going on!" Ron interrupted her. Harry set his glasses down on the table and rubbed his eyes.

"Well, guess what? So do I!" Hermione cried indignantly.

"Will you both just shut up!!" Harry yelled. They heard a faint `shhh' coming from the biography section on the other side of the floor and looked up to see people glaring at them, annoyed.

"Sorry!" Harry called, giving his friends icy looks, "Okay. We have to figure out what's going on..."

"Yes. Let's... let's get our information together..." Hermione suggested quietly, embarrassed at her outburst. She pulled a piece of parchment from her bag of purchases and Harry produced a Muggle fountain pen from his pocket.

"Ready." Hermione said, looking at them expectantly. They stared at the parchment.

"Er... the man said that there was a Harry Potter film..." started Ron. Hermione smiled.

"That's a start, `Harry Potter film.' " she read out as she wrote.

"It's a book signing." Harry put in.

" `Book signing' "

"And people want pictures."

" `Pictures, autographs' "

"We're in a Muggle store."

"Yeah, that's important."

"Yes, it is... `Muggle manage...' hold on... what if this isn't a Muggle establishment?" Hermione asked excitedly, "Why don't we ask to see the manager?? I bet this place is owned by wizards!"

"But the people are Muggles..." Ron reminded them. Harry, who appeared quite distressed, just buried his head in his arms. Hermione pulled it back up and looked at them thoughtfully.

"You know, we don't know that they're all Muggles, there could be some magical people down there, urging the whole thing on."

"Yeah, I bet they're making a whole load of money out of this!" Ron exclaimed, "The movies are probably about Harry and You-Know-Who, maybe they're rallying up supporters to fight the Dark side--"

"Wouldn't that be illegal?" Harry asked, clearly disturbed at his image being used as propaganda.

"Yes, and don't be ridiculous, Ron, rallying Muggles against You-Know-Who wouldn't do any good. You know, I think we should split up, it'll be easier to find out what's going on that way."

"Yeah, I could figure out if downstairs we're dealing with Muggles or Wizards." Ron volunteered.

"Great, now Harry, you and I are either going to ask to see the manager or go downstairs and find these movies. And this is a bookstore so if there's a Harry Potter film, it must have been based on a book or something. What would you like to do?"

Ron nodded eagerly.

"Er... are you alright? What do you want to do, Harry?" Hermione asked with concern, noting his lack of response.

"I guess I'll check out those books..." he answered resignedly.

"Ok, great, I'll go talk to the manager." Hermione decided happily, shoving the parchment and quill into her bags and walking towards the staircase.

"Wait! Hermione, do you really think they'd let you..." Harry trailed off.

It was useless, she had already gone.

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"Hullo." Ron greeted the girl standing at the end of the line. She looked about fifteen years old, average height, with long, brown hair that looked like it had recently been electrocuted.

She jumped.

"Er... hi," she replied nervously. Perhaps he shouldn't have snuck up on her, Ron thought.

"Hi," he repeated, "I'm Ron."

She smiled, "Nice to meet you, Ron. I'm Hermione."

This time he smiled, "Yeah? Funny, I met a Hermione up there too." He pointed up ahead towards the first girl they'd spoken to.

"Well, about a third of this store is filled with Rons, I hear," she replied, laughingly.

"Really?" Ron looked alarmed. Maybe he should just cut to the chase, a quick `So are you Wizard or Muggle?' would do. But then if she was a Muggle, she would most likely think he was bonkers; as far as he knew, Muggles didn't know that they were called Muggles. How could he find out, then? The girl was giving him an uneasy look. "So are you... er... have you ever heard of Albus Dumbledore?" he asked, figuring that if she was a witch, she would surely have heard of him.

She gave him an odd look and then laughed uncertainly, "Well, of course I've heard of him. He's the greatest wizard of all time."

Ron let out a breath of relief, "Yeah, isn't he? So you know him? Do you go to Hogwarts?" he asked. She was actually very pretty, minus the hair.

"No, unfortunately, I don't." She gave him a weak smile and looked as though she wanted to end the conversation.

"Oh, that's too bad. Well, do you learn at home or something? Do you have a wand?" he asked quickly.

She pulled a polished twig out of her bag and waved it in front of him for a second before shoving it back quickly. It looked thinner and too polished for any wand he'd ever seen but then again, "the wand picks the wizard" - or witch. She looked slightly disturbed at his questions for some reason. He'd have to change the topic to something lighter, he thought.

"So... so why are you pretending to be Hermione?" he asked.

"Why are you pretending to be Ron?" she retorted.

"I am Ron. Ronald Weasley."

"Well, I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"Er... okay... what's going on? Is this some sort of rally or something?"

"It's a simple book signing. Try reading the sign," she answered irritably, turning around so she no longer faced him. He tapped her shoulder and stepped out of line so he could stand next to her.

"Alright, just tell me what's going on. You know I'm not a Muggle, and I know you're not, so you can tell me. What's this about a Harry Potter movie... and books too?" he whispered, grabbing her arm and mimicking the manner with which he'd seen Aurors interrogate suspects on his visits to his father's office.

She stared at him.

"You're bloody bonkers," she said, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

"I'm serious, just tell me what's going on? Why's everybody dressed up like us? I mean, Hermione, Harry, and me. Who are they?" he asked, pointing to the three figures at the beginning of the line, still taking pictures and stopping to shake hands and sign books. She gestured to the nearest guard while he spoke.

"You're crazy! Please, just leave me alone!" she cried shrilly as a tall man with extreme girth and moustache quickly strode towards them.

"Is there a problem, Miss?" he asked gruffly, shooting Ron a dark look.

"Yes, this boy is bothering me. Tell him to go away!" she replied haughtily.

"I didn't do anything, I swear! I was just asking her some questions! We were talking about the Harry Potter movies!" he pleaded quickly, hoping this would get him off the hook. The man gave him a knowing look and appeared torn between chuckling heartily and punishing Ron. He pat Ron's back and steered him away from the girl towards the children's section.

"Now son, I know you didn't mean any harm but, well, sometimes it's best not to be too persistent," he advised kindly. He pat his back once more and wobbled towards the door. Ron spotted the girl watching him from her spot on the ever-growing line, trying to ignore the nasty looks people were throwing him.

She stuck her tongue out.

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