I will never forget you

Today my mom picked us up. Audrey and I would go back to London and be there for one day before she had to fly back to America. I couldn't wait to show her the highlights in London. It would be awesome.
I said goodbye to Scorpius and Rose and they told more than ones that I had to invite Audrey another time. Audrey got hugs from a few Gryffindors, and then we left.
The ride home was pretty long. My mom and Audrey kept talking about school and London and eventually, the worst subject of all, boys. Not willing to hear this conversation I put on my headphones and listened to some muggle music, it was better than the best wizard song ever made. I leaned with my head against the window and thought about what it would be like to be home alone with Audrey and my parents for two days. James and Lily would come home after those two days, when the holiday had started for all the students. I glanced at Audrey, smiling and talking, her eyes sparkling with happiness. I was lucky to have a best friend like her.

A few hours later someone shook me awake, though I didn't remember falling asleep.
‘What?’ I asked. ‘Something wrong?’
Audrey smiled at me and shove my headphones from my head. ‘No silly, were home, well, at your home actually.’
‘Oh,’ I said, ‘of course.’
I got out of the car, Audrey following me. She looked at the other houses in the street, and than at mine. ‘They’re all the same,’ she said, ‘isn’t it hard to remember which house is yours?’
I laughed, ‘are you kidding?’ I asked. ‘Every house has a number remember? And you can recognize your house by it’s garden. Look at ours, do you see those plants?’
She looked in the direction I’d pointed to and nodded. ‘Yeah, but your plants look a bit… strange…’
‘True, that’s because they aren't muggle plants. It’s easy to recognize our garden because of them.’
‘Do people know you have magical plants in your garden?’
‘No of course not, so don’t tell anyone okay?’
‘Who would I have to tell? I don’t know anyone here.’
I shrugged, ‘well you never know right? Let’s go inside.’
We went inside, Audrey stopping every few seconds to look at magical things, like the clock on the wall. It was a copy from the one my grandparents had, it showed who was at home and who wasn’t. Audrey couldn't stop looking at it. ‘That’s you!’ She said, ‘and James and Lily, and your mom and dad. We need a clock like this too in America.’
I just smiled, not really knowing how to reply on all her comments. ‘Do you want something to drink?’ I asked, hoping she would stop asking me questions about all the magical stuff. I should have warned her for it.
‘Sure!’ She said. ‘Your house is really, really cool by the way. I can’t wait to see your room.’
‘Oh it’s not that special,’ I said, ‘just like a normal room.’
I handed her a glass filled with lemonade and took a sip of mine. My mom came in and asked what we wanted to do today. Audrey looked at me, apparently she expected that I had a plan. ‘Ehm.’ I said. ‘We could visit the London Eye and from there decide what we want to do next?’
‘The queue is really long,’ my mom said, ‘do you think it’s worth it?’
I shrugged, I’d never been in the London Eye before. ‘I think it’s cool.’
‘Shall I drive you there?’
I shook my head. ‘No thanks, the traffic is probably really busy, so it’s better to take the metro.’

‘Woooaahh!’ Audrey said excited when she saw the London Eye. ‘It’s so big! Mortals actually have really cool things.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘I should pay more attention to it.’
The queue was long, like, really long. I’d expected it to be long, but not this long. I couldn't remember the last time I’d seen a queue like this, though Audrey didn't seem to be very surprised. ‘If you go to a really popular attraction in a theme park, the queue is almost as long as this one.’ She said.
We talked, waited, talked, shuffled a bit foreward, talked, waited, and so on. I told her more about our wizard world and she told me more about the the gods. She told me how she trained with Alexander now, the son of two really good friends of her parents. She also told me that her parents finally told her about their past, and if I could believe all the stories she told me, her parents were awesome.
‘Tickets please.’ A woman standing before the entrance asked. I showed her the tickets I bought before and she let us through. We shared our place in the ferris wheel with a few others, definitely tourist, and we slowly went higher and higher. ‘This is awesome!’ Audrey said, almost pressing her nose through the glass. ‘Isn’t that the James Bond building?’
‘I think so,’ I said, not exactly knowing what she was talking about. How bad it may sound, I’d never seen a James Bond movie. I stood next to her, trying to see the same things as she was seeing. I noticed our hands were really close to each other and I wondered what would happen if I touched hers, I could say it was an accident right? Then I thought about why I was even thinking about that and after totally confusing myself, a question Audrey asked me brought me back to the present. ‘Sorry?’ I said.
‘I said,’ she said smiling, ‘what do you like best about London?’
I looked around the city, we were almost at the top now. ‘I think the… ehm… park? Or the football stadion, football is such a weird sport.’
‘Soccer,’ she said, ‘yeah it’s weird. I prefer field hockey.’
‘You know that America is like the only country that doesn't use a word for football that looks like football right?’
‘We’re hipsters.’
‘No. Definitely not.’
She grinned. ‘Of course we are. We’re awesome.’
‘Wannabes.’ I teased.
‘At least I watched a James Bond movie.’
‘How do you know I didn’t?’ I asked surprised and I immediately felt heat rising to my cheeks.
‘Every boy would know if it was the James Bond building or not. I even doubt if you know who James Bond is.’
‘A guy in a suit.’
She laughed and put her hands in the pockets of her jacket, away from mine. ‘Close enough.’

After the London Eye we went to visit the park. I told Audrey it might be too cold for that but she insisted on going, she wanted to see my favorite spot in London. After she said that I immediately wished I’d chosen for something else, something that was inside.
‘This is the park,’ I said. ‘Cool right?’
‘It’s beautiful!’ Audrey said excited, it was like everything in London made her excited. She ran towards the lake and I followed her, assuming that that was what she expected me to do. She sat down on a bench near the lake, and I sat down next to hear a few moments later. She was fast.
‘Look at the color of the leaves,’ she said, ‘isn’t it beautiful?’
‘Really beautiful,’ I said, looking at her. She noticed me looking and I immediately looked away.
‘I understand why you like this place so much.’ She said after a while. ‘If you concentrate, you can almost imagine yourself not being here anymore, it’s like you became one with the nature.’
‘Yeah.’ I said, I’d never thought about it. I dared to look at her again, and this time she didn’t notice me looking, not yet at least. She was looking up at the sky and the trees, probably trying to get one with the nature. The wind played with her blond hair, and made it more tangled than it already was. I liked her hair.
‘Why are you staring at me?’ She suddenly asked, still looking at the sky.
A cool guy from a movie probably would have said: “Because you’re beautiful.” or something else really cheesy but sweet. Instead I said something like: ‘Ehm… because you’re… Hey look at those baby ducks!’
In one movement she sat straight up again and scanned the lake. ‘Where.’
I pointed at the little ducks, glad that she didn't continue asking about me staring at her.

Notes