Express Day Who: Lucy and OPEN. What: Lucy's having a nostalgic moment. Where: The Leaky Cauldron (at least to begin with). When: Monday, 6pmish. Rating: SFW.
It was barely a week since Lucy had last been on Diagon Alley. Then, she'd been directed towards Finnigan's, stood outside it for about twenty minutes and then fled. It was just too strange, that it had been opened by someone who'd been in her own school year. It had been too personal a connection to part of her life she thought she'd left behind her.
Then on Monday morning on her way to work she'd seen a tiny blonde girl holding tight to an adults hand - trying to get a caged owl into the lifts at Tufnell Park station. September 1st hadn't been a significant day in Lucy's life for years, but just seeing that she knew what it must mean. The Hogwarts Express would be waiting at King's Cross... All day, Lucy had been trying to distract herself from memories of Susan, Justin, Ernie and Hannah all crowded into one train compartment, talking over one another in their eagerness to share what they'd been doing over the holidays.
So now here she was again, standing in the courtyard of The Leaky Cauldron. She hadn't brought her wand with her, hadn't had any reason to think she would need it when she'd left the house. Part of her wondered whether she'd have been able to activate the doorway even if she did have it. She'd been standing there alone for five minutes when the door to the Leaky behind her opened and Lucy stepped aside, not wanting to be in the way.