RP: Al, Lily Who: Al Potter, Lily Potter Where:The Leaky Cauldron When: May 10, 2025 Rating/Warnings: Summary: Al has lunch with his grandmother while reevaluating the quality of food in his brief former living location
Perhaps the Leaky Cauldron's menu wasn't as suspicious as Al first considered it to be. After staying there for a few days with Scor and hearing enough non-suspicious noises from the kitchen, as well as smelling enough mouthwatering odors rising from the lower floors, he decided to give it another chance. Therefore, he factored the Monday lunch at the Leaky Cauldron into his plans and budget and descended from the Prophet Offices down into the maddeningly headache-inducing Diagon Alley crowd.
However, this is what typical people did for lunch and Al was rather determined to pose as one of them.
But as he entered the street, he stopped, his brain too occupied with figuring out the best route to avoid coming into contact with strangers, to remember the right way to turn except toward the nearest wall and stay there and so he did, suddenly overwhelmed with realization that there would not be a foolproof way to avoid being touched by someone's elbow or shoulder.
Al sighed, flattening himself against the bricks rather than being flattened by the onslaught of moving human bodies, and shook his head to clear it.
Change of plans. "Apparate."
He appeared just a few doors down from his original location and immediately slid inside, planning to collapse into his usual seat: darkest corner, back facing the wall.
Wait, he thought to himself. I suspect this is hardly typical either, and with Apparating instead of walking a few blocks down like regular people, it would put me over the limit of non-typical public behaviour and then what would I become?
He looked longingly at the empty chair in the corner for one last time, but instead forced himself to concentrate on the people inside: suspicious and not, eating and drinking and making noise with random chatter and blocking his view.
Act typical, he told himself. Right. What would an average human do in this situation?
One of the people inside was, by his initial evaluation, average on the suspicious scale, not yet eating, drinking, or making noises, and wasn't blocking his view, which spoke in her favour. On additional bright side, he already knew her so he could skip the initial introductions. Al walked up to her table and eyed the seat opposite of hers, then returned his gaze to her face, because people seemed to act funny when he wasn't giving them an occasional glance during conversations.
"Hello, Grandmother," he smiled politely. "In the spirit of efficient seating arrangements, do you mind if I join you today?"