WHO Claire Macmillan, William Goyle and Alden Morgan. WHEN 27 July 2013, early afternoon. WHERE Diagon Alley then Knockturn Alley (vice versa) WHY young love leads you to do crazy things RATING high PG-13 STATUS closed, complete.
“Where are we going?” Claire asked William. He was holding her hand firmly in his and leading her through Diagon Alley. Claire was a little worried because she didn’t know where her boyfriend was taking her. He told her that he wanted to show her something, but he didn’t want to elaborate until they arrived at their destination. He wanted it to be a surprise.
“You’ll see,” he replied with a smirk as they walked. Suddenly he was ducking into Knockturn Alley and dragging her along to boot. She resisted at first but he kept tugging her arm. “Come on! I promise it’s nothing bad. You’ll love this surprise. Don’t worry! Everything’s going to be alright. Don’t you trust me?”
The last question made her feel guilty so she agreed to follow him. They walked deeper and deeper into Knockturn Alley until Willam came to stop in front of an ancient artifacts shop next to Borgin and Burkes. “We’re here,” William announced. He looked at the window display in awe. Claire looked at him strangely, but then turned her attention to the item he was admiring. It was a black onyx necklace. Claire found it odd that he dragged her all the way to Knockturn Alley just to look at jewelry. They could’ve done that in Diagon Alley. There were plenty of reputable shops selling necklaces that looked similar to the one he was admiring. It didn’t make sense to her. William usually made more sense to her, but apparently today he decided to go off the deep end.
“You dragged me into Knockturn Alley to look at a necklace?”
“It’s not just a necklace. It has an extremely powerful necklace. It wards off enemies and heightens your magic to the point of being invincible.”
“How much does it cost?”
“The shop owner isn’t selling it.”
“So why is it on display?”
“She just wants to show it off to everyone. She thinks no one is going to dare do anything to her as long as they know she’s the owner of such a valuable piece of jewelry. She’s a fool. We’ll show her.”
William briefly filled Claire in on his plan to steal the coveted necklace and even though she thought it was a bad idea, she agreed to help him. William entered the shop first and once five minutes passed Claire entered too. When Claire walked into the shop, William was already working his magic. He was flirting up a storm with the shop owner’s daughter named Lilian Vaisey, a young woman in her early twenties. William was a tall young boy, who could easily pass for a nineteen year old, even though he was way younger than that. Lilian didn’t know this though. She thought he was nineteen because that’s what he had told her so she was okay with the flirting that was happening between them. She was working in the shop alone while her mother was out of town on business. Her mother trusted her with her shop because she was a capable young woman, who knew how to hold her own. When she noticed that Claire walked in, she told William to hold on while she asked Claire if she needed help.
“No, I’m just looking.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
Claire offered her a smile and nod then continued to look around. She looked through silver and gold rings. Suddenly Lilian burst into a fit of giggles. Claire looked up and saw that William was whispering sweet nothings into her ear and she couldn’t help but feel jealous. She heard him whisper, “Let’s go to the back room for a minute. I want to show you something.”
“I can’t. There’s a customer here. It’s not a good idea.”
William continued trying to convince her about going to the back room. He somehow managed to gain her trust enough so that he could wrap his arms around her in a hug and continue to flirt. “Just ask her to leave. I’m sure she’ll understand,” he cooed.
“I can’t do that. She might want to buy something and I’d lose business that way.”
Claire started to edge closer and closer to the window display which held the necklace they wanted to steal. William tickled and played with Lilian until she had her back to the display. When Claire noticed this she made a quick grab for the necklace, pocketing it instantly. She briskly walked towards the other end of the room and acted like nothing happened. Suddenly the door chimed and two other people entered the store. William stopped his flirting and told Lilian he’d come back some other day when things weren’t so busy. He promised to owl her so that they could go to dinner someday. Claire was the first person to leave the shop followed by William minutes later. As Claire waited for William in an alleyway near the shop, she heard someone say, “Bravo! I applaud you on your audacity. It was easy too, wasn’t it?”
Claire whirled around and looked towards the dark part of the alleyway. “Who’s there?” Alden came out of the darkness instantly and grinned at the young girl. “I saw what you did. I’m extremely impressed. You and your little boyfriend make a good team.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play innocent with me. I know that game too well.”
He took a few steps towards her, but it didn’t take long for them to be face to face. Claire was extremely uncomfortable by how close this stranger was getting to her. He was acting really strange and this worried her. Alden reached out to touch Claire’s hair, but she backed away before he could get the chance.
“Get back!”
“Relax girlie. No need to get all jumpy.”
Then he was gone and William was beside her. “We did it! Let’s go,” he told her. He kissed her on the lips then dragged her back towards Diagon Alley. Claire couldn’t help but look at the alleyway she had just been in with that stranger and wonder where he took off to. Had that even happen to her? She couldn’t be sure. What she was sure of was that love made you do strange things sometimes, even resort to shoplifting just to prove a point to a snobby shop owner.