The Secret Lightning Scar- Chapter 2 [A Harry Potter FanFic]

I felt someone’s arms holding me and heard frantic voices. I couldn’t see much. Most of my vision, except a small circle in the middle, was dark. What I could see was extremely fuzzy, but it appeared to be one of the back rooms of the twins’ shop.

“Carrie, are you OK?” came one of the twin’s voices, but it was muffled, sounding like my ear was pressed to his chest. But I couldn’t will my mouth to answer him. My head throbbed and I had no idea what was happening.

“What happened? Is she OK?” came a new voice. It was Harry, sounding more frantic than I’d ever heard him before.

“I dunno. Can’t tell if she’s conscious,” the twin holding me said. I felt myself being laid on the ground, my head propped up on something, possibly someone’s leg, and someone’s hand stroking my hair.

“Carrie? Are you alright?” Harry said. I tried to speak but had to settle for a groan. My vision began to improve, and I looked up to see Harry looking at me, obviously worried. When our eyes met, he smiled. I tried to sit up, but couldn’t.

“What happened?” Hermione’s voice appeared suddenly.

“Is she OK?” Ron demanded. I tried to nod.

“I think she’s OK. She’s conscious,” Harry replied.

“I guess she hit her head,” a twin said. She must’ve spun or something, but she practically fell out of the fireplace. Lucky Fred was there to catch her.”

“Carrie?” Harry said softly.

“Mhmm?” I muttered.

“Are you going to be OK?” his fingers running through my hair were already helping my headache. I nodded. “Do you want to try to sit up?” he asked. I nodded again, and he helped me sit up. Within a few seconds, Fred had handed me a piece of chocolate and a cup of water.

“It’s alright, I haven’t done anything to it,” he said when I eyed it suspiciously, “honestly, I wouldn’t do that to you!” I took some small bites of the chocolate.

“Thanks,” I said with a smile. Fred nodded.

“So what happened?” Hermione asked.

“I dunno,” I replied before taking another bite of chocolate. “I blacked out. Definitely got spun around. My head hurts too.”

“Do you feel well enough to stand and shop with us?” Hermione asked.

“I think I’d better sit for a bit longer. I’m rather dizzy still. You can go on without me. I can catch up,” I answered. No one seemed to be leaving.

“Go on, I’ll stay with her,” Harry said to the others. Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny started walking out, but Hermione stayed put, her forehead wrinkled with worry.

“I’ll be fine. We’ll catch up,” I said to her.  Finally, she followed the others out.

Harry turned to me with a smirk on his face. “You’re quite possibly the most accident prone person I’ve ever met. Two accidents already this morning.”

“You forget that the first one was your fault,” I responded, attempting to glare at him but failing.

“True, but admit it, you’re an accident magnet,” Harry chuckled. I shrugged in pseudo-agreement, while in actuality my mind was drifting back to the conversation we’d been having in the field.

“Harry.” I said, my voice a lot quieter than I intended to be. Harry’s smirk left his face, sensing something was wrong.

“What?” He asked.

“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but whatever it was that you’re dealing with… I can only assume that you don’t want to tell me because you think I’d worry, which makes me worry even more. Whatever it is, you’re being careful, right?” I said. For a few seconds, he just looked at me, seemingly trying to figure out the best way to answer me.

“You don’t need to be worried about me. I’m not doing anything dangerous. Some confusing things have happened, and I’m trying to figure out what they mean before I talk about it to anyone,” Harry said. His words were slow and deliberate again, trying to avoid telling me extra information.

“Good,” I said, relieved that he wasn’t putting himself in danger yet again. “Because I’m not sure what I’d do without my best friend.”

“Well I’m not going anywhere, so you don’t need to worry about that,” he said, the smile returning to his face.

“And if you need to talk, I’m always here,” I said

“You’d better be,” He replied with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. “I think I’m feeling well enough to go shop now,” I said. We both stood up and walked toward the main shop.

“Where do you want to go first?” Harry asked as we made our way through the joke shop.

“I should probably go to Gringotts. I don’t think I have enough money with me to pay for everything,” I replied.

“Gringotts it is!” Harry said a bit too enthusiastically as we rounded the corner toward the bank.

Surprisingly, it took less time than usual to get money out, and not long after, Harry and I were back in the middle of Diagon Alley, deciding where to go.

“I guess they went to Flourish and Blotts? Should we start there?” I asked.

“I have a better idea,” Harry said, a mischievous look in his eyes.

“I’m not quite so sure about that,” I replied, with no inkling of an idea of what he was thinking of doing.

“Trust me,” he said with a smirk, starting down the alley. I followed him as he passed every single shop, wondering where on earth he was going. Finally, we reached the courtyard with the entrance into the Leaky Cauldron.

“Do you even know how to get through from this side?” I asked, skeptical of whatever idea was brewing inside his head.

“Well, I figure that if you have to tap the bricks counter-clockwise to get in, you tap them clockwise to get back,” he replied as he began to tap bricks. Sure enough, the wall opened up right away and we entered the back of the Leaky Cauldron. I followed him through to the main room of the pub.

“Harry, what are we doing here? You’re not hungry, are you?” I asked, completely confused.

He grinned. “Nope, we’re just passing through,” he replied. Finally it clicked.

“We’re going into muggle London? Why?” I asked.

“Everyone needs to experience the muggle world at some point. It’s a fascinating place, really,” he said as he waved hello to Tom behind the bar.

“I’ll probably hate it, but it sounds exciting,” I said.

“Good, because we’re going whether you like it or not,” he said, and with that he turned and walked toward the front door. I followed him out, both curious and skeptical about what was to come.

The Leaky Cauldron opened onto a long alleyway. Harry went left and I followed close behind. “So where exactly do you plan on dragging me?” I asked.

“I dunno. Whatever we come across that will absolutely confuse you,” he grinned.

“I already regret this,” I replied.

“No turning back now. You’ve committed,” He said.

“I could totally turn around now if I wanted to,” I retorted.

“But you won’t, because you’re too curious.” I frowned, knowing he was right, causing him to chuckle.

When we reached the end of the alley, I saw that it intersected with a fairly large road full of shops. Harry looked both ways and once again, turned left. The sidewalk was fairly crowded with people, so I grabbed ahold of his wrist so I didn’t lose him in the sea of muggles. We passed by all sorts of shops that didn’t make much sense to me. One store was called “The Disney Store.” I couldn’t even guess what might be sold in there.

After a fairly short walk, I was pulled through the door of a shop called Bright’s Electronics. I looked all around, baffled by dozens of unfamiliar items. There were signs hanging from the ceiling, seemingly labelling the areas of the store. The area to our immediate left was called “cellular phones,” while to our right, the sign was labelled “computers.” Behind that was the music section, which I assumed must mean the same thing as in the wizard world. To its left, the sign read “video games,” which left me just slightly confused. What were these special games? Then, in the back of the store, there was a section labelled “appliances” and another labelled “televisions.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t started asking questions yet,” Harry said.

“I’m taking everything in,” I replied. “I want to figure at least something by myself.”

“Alright then, care to tell me what you think a television is?” Harry asked. I thought about it for a second, hoping to avoid sounding stupid.

“Well… I think my best guess would have to be that it’s something that gives you telekinetic vision,” I replied. I’d barely said anything before Harry started laughing, really belly laughing, louder than I’d heard him laugh before. A couple muggles looked up at us with odd expressions on their faces. I gave him a quick swat to the chest, half out of annoyance and half from trying to blend into the muggles around us. He quickly stifled his laughter.

“Sorry, Carrie,” he said between laughs, “It’s just that if you knew what it actually was, you’d find that assessment absolutely ridiculous.”

“Well then, why don’t you go ahead and show me what exactly a television is?” I retorted, still quite annoyed at him.

“Fine, I will,” he said. I followed him to the back of the store, where the televisions were. After looking at them, I wasn’t much less confused than I had been already. They seemed to be large boxes with moving pictures on the front. Sound was coming from somewhere, but I couldn’t tell where.

“So, what exactly is the point of these televisions?” I asked, still utterly baffled at its point. Harry went on to explain that there were things called television shows and movies, which muggles would sit and watch as entertainment. He explained it as a sort of visual book.

“How on earth is that remotely entertaining?” I asked. “You’re just sitting there!”

“I dunno,” Harry replied with a shrug. “I never understood it. The Dursleys loved it though. Dudley practically worshipped his television.” I laughed at the thought of the Dursleys all just sitting down and watching this moving picture for hours.

“Ready to learn about the rest of the things in this store?” Harry asked.

“Sure, let’s do it,” I replied.

For the next half hour, Harry and I walked all over the store, looking at all of the muggle electronics. Some of them seemed to simplify tasks, such as the contraptions for washing and drying clothes. Other things seemed a bit pointless, such as the video games and computers. I was particularly interested by the music section. I love listening to music on the wireless, but it would be nice to be able to choose what to listen to rather than just what someone else chooses. The cellular phones also seemed to be very useful. Harry wasn’t quite as knowledgeable about those, because apparently they were rather new when he first went to Hogwarts, and he hadn’t seen them much since then. But they seemed to be rather useful to be able to talk to someone whenever I might want to.

We then decided that it was probably time to get back to Diagon Alley, since everyone else would probably wonder where we had been for so long. We pushed our way back through the crowded muggle London, down the alleyway, and back through the Leaky Cauldron.

“Now, aren’t you glad I showed you that?” Harry asked as we once again walked along Diagon Alley. I sighed, knowing I’d have to admit defeat.

“Yes, alright? It was interesting to see a little glimpse of the way muggles live,” I said.

“I knew you’d like it. You never pass up the opportunity to learn something,” Harry replied.

“You make me sound like I’m Hermione or something,” I said with a laugh. Harry gave a little chuckle.

“I meant that you’re insatiably curious. Hermione learns so that she can know as much as possible. You learn because you want to answer questions you’re curious about,” He said. I thought about that for a second, surprised at the depth of his statement. Before I could comment, however, he continued on. “So I guess we should actually get our things for school. Want to start in Flourish and Blotts?”

“Sure,” I replied, once again excited to get ready for Hogwarts. We walked into the shop and found Ron, Ginny, and the twins standing around and talking, while Hermione perused the shelves beside them.

“Where have you two been? You couldn’t have been sitting down this whole time?” George said when he saw us.

“No, we went to Gringotts and I showed Carrie a bit of muggle London,” Harry replied.

“Muggle London?” Hermione asked, turning around to join in the conversation.

“Yeah, he showed me an electronics store,” I told her. Hermione gave a little frown, seemingly in disapproval.

“I’m not sure that’s necessarily a good idea. You could’ve been discovered,” Hermione said.

“Oh, lighten up, Hermione!” Harry said. “We blended in just fine. Although, Carrie did guess that a television was something that gave you telekinetic vision.” Hermione immediately began to giggle.

“It is quite funny when you actually know what it is, but just from the name, it does seem to make sense,” she said. Ron, Ginny, and the twins simply stood there, looking at each other in confusion. Each of them seemed just as confused as the others.

“Have you lot already gotten your books? We clearly still need to buy everything,” I said.

“We’ve been done for ages,” Ron said. “We’ve just been letting Hermione look while waiting for the two of you to show up.”

“And I already pulled all of the books for both of you,” Hermione added, indicating two piles of books set upon the table near her.

“Great! You’re the best, Hermione,” I said. She gave me a wide grin, and I picked up my stack and took it over to pay and Harry followed.

From Flourish and Blotts, we went to Madame Malkins for the twins, who had apparently burned all of their Hogwarts robes, not expecting to need them again. We then went to get other supplies for classes and then to check out quidditch equipment.

To finish off our trip, we all sat down for ice cream. As we sat there, eating and laughing, I realized that for the first time in what seemed like forever, life was going to go back to something partially normal. We would all be going back to classes, going to Hogsmeade, and just overall enjoying our last year of school. And in that moment, I’d never been more excited to return to Hogwarts. Couldn’t it be September 1^st already?

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I hope y'all enjoyed chapter 2 of The Secret Lightning Scar! Chapter 3 is coming on Saturday, February 15th.

I was going to give y'all a promo for the next chapter, but this time I'm not finished with the next chapter yet, so you'll have to wait and see.

Hope y'all are excited for the next section, because I'm excited for y'all to read it! See you back here soon!

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