Chapter 10
Ginny did not forget about the three Muggle surfers she’d met, but the next few days were too busy for her to seek them out. Arthur, Bill and Fleur returned from San Diego with the rental van, and the family was soon driving all over California in search of diversion and amusement. Ginny enjoyed bowling along the high-speed roadways, admiring the dry mountains, the shining ocean and the dusty chaparral, so different from Britain. She even enjoyed seeing the suburban sprawl and strip malls. They went out one day to San Diego, shopping and playing on the beach; another day they did indeed visit the San Diego Zoo, which was just as fine as advertised.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if they had magical creatures too?” she murmured to Hermione as they rode the truck around the savannah exhibit, watching elephants, giraffes and antelopes meander across the golden distance.
Hermione giggled. “They wouldn’t know what to do with magical creatures!”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Ginny craned around her to address Ron. “How about some acromantulas, Ron? They could put them in their own rainforest exhibit and feed them obnoxious zoo visitors.”
Ron shuddered, going green. “Shut up, Ginny.”
In the evenings, they retired to their rental, to eat dinner and make plans for the next day. It was all a lot of fun, but rather exhausting, and Ginny was a bit relieved when Molly decreed that Friday they would stay home.
“Aw, come on, Mum!” Ron protested. “I want to go out.”
“You can go into San Benito, then, if someone will drive you,” Molly said. “But not me. I’m staying here and so are you, Arthur.”
“I’ll drive you,” offered Bill. “Does anyone else want to go?”
“I’ll go,” said Hermione.
“Me too,” added Ginny. She wanted to explore San Benito a bit more. Maybe even find that Shadowed Planet Comics Store the Muggles had mentioned.
And so, after breakfast, Bill and Fleur drove Ron, Ginny and Hermione the short distance into San Benito. It was a bit sprawl-y, Ginny thought, looking out the window, but charming in a sun-bleached, sand-blasted sort of way. The shopping district was nice: lots of cute stores all lined up, with restaurants spilling tables and umbrellas onto the street, which was lined with palm trees. Between buildings, Ginny caught glimpses of the bright blue sea.
Fleur found a parking space by the simple method of sticking her head out the window and shining her most dazzling smile into the eyes of the Muggle driver about to take the last space. The Muggle car slowed to a halt, the man inside looking dazed, and Fleur neatly took the spot. While they were all getting out, Fleur blew a kiss to the Muggle driver, who was still hovering in the middle of the public parking lot, gaping.
“That wasn’t very honest, Fleur,” said Hermione, sounding torn between laughter and disapproval.
“But it was very nice for him,” said Fleur sweetly. “So! We are in San Benito. What do we wish to do?”
“We should actually pick up more groceries while we’re here,” said Bill.
Ron and Ginny both groaned. “Groceries! Bill!”
Bill looked amused. “Or we can walk around the shopping district and see what’s here.”
“Much better,” said Ginny, and they headed off down the crowded sidewalk, a procession of red, blond and brunette heads.
“Bill! A salon!” Fleur’s head whipped around. “Let us stop here!”
“But I want to go see that used bookstore.” Hermione pointed ahead.
“And the ice cream shop,” Ron added.
“And I want to see if I can find that Shadowed Planet store the Muggles were talking about,” Ginny said.
“Hold on, everyone!” Bill, laughing, put up his hands. “I think we can all look after ourselves for an hour or so. Fleur and I will stop here for a bit, and you three go see what you want to see. We’ll meet at the Whole Foods in two hours. Sound good?”
All agreed that this was well, and so Bill and Fleur disappeared into the salon, Hermione dragged Ron into the bookstore, and Ginny made her way alone through the tourist crowds, looking for the Shadowed Planet Comics Store.
As she walked along, she observed local Muggle custom. Why did all the shops have rainbow flags hung up outside? Ginny had a dim idea that rainbow flags signified something to do with gay Muggles, but she wasn’t sure what. And what was the San Benito Pridefest, as advertised on flyers plastered around town? Or how about Shakespeare in the Park: A Midsummer Night’s Dream & The Tempest?
It was getting hotter. Ginny wished she’d brought her hat along. She was just starting to wonder if a Muggle comics store was really worth all this effort when she spotted a large sign up ahead.
Shadowed Planet Comics Store, it read, superimposed on an image of the planet Saturn and with a large rainbow flag hanging down. Grinning, Ginny crossed the intersection and waltzed in, bells ringing to announce her arrival.
Harry, working the cash register, barely noticed the chiming of the bells. It had been a busy day at the store: the tourist season was now in full swing, and Shadowed Planet was doing brisk business from visitors ducking in out of the heat, as well as the usual crowd. Harry had a long line of customers to ring up. It wasn’t until the line finally petered out and Harry paused to take a breath that he noticed the redhaired girl standing in the video games aisle.
It was Ginny Weasley.
Harry froze, staring at her. The teenage witch looked disconcertingly normal right now, dressed in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals, face sprinkled with freckles. She was reading the back of a video game box with a bemused expression. There was nothing about her to suggest that she was a witch, let alone that her family currently had custody of the Dark Lord’s One Ring.
Harry hesitated. But Severus had spent all week drilling him in nonverbal protective charms, and he wore several protective amulets under his clothes. Besides, underage wizards weren’t supposed to use magic outside of school. Relax, Harry. You’re supposed to make friends.
Scratching Felicita’s ears for good luck, Harry made his way out from behind the register, strolling over. “Can I help you?” he asked, fixing a bright smile on his face.
She looked up, and her brown eyes widened. “Oh! It’s you!”
Harry blinked past the sudden brilliance of her smile. “Yeah. I work here part-time, like Tomas said. You’re…Ginny, right?”
“That’s right.” She grinned. “And you’re Harry Powell. The Mug—the kid who got swamped by that wave.”
“Um, yeah.” Harry hesitated while Ginny laughed. “Look, Ginny…I wanted to apologize. I was pretty dickish to you before.”
“‘Dickish?’” Ginny giggled.
Not a word they used in Britain, Harry supposed. Or at least, not among British wizards. “Means I was being rude,” he explained. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been like that, just ‘cause you took me by surprise.”
“It’s okay!” said Ginny. “I might’ve been rude too if I’d just been wiped out by a wave. Here, why don’t we start over?” She held out her hand. “I’m Ginny Weasley, nice to meet you. This is my first time in California.”
“Harry Powell.” Harry shook her hand. It was warm and firm in his. “I’ve lived in California since I was a baby.”
“Really? What made you and your guardian—Stephen, right?—move here?”
Your evil overlord, actually. “Better opportunities here, or so Stephen says.” He indicated the game box. “Do you play video games?” He knew she didn’t—no witch or wizard did, Severus said—but, after all, he wasn’t supposed to know she was a witch.
“Oh, no.” She turned a very becoming pink when she blushed, Harry noticed. “I was just looking.” Her gaze wandered around the store. “I don’t know if I’ve ever actually been in a store like this before.”
“Don’t you have comics stores in Britain?” Harry asked, honestly surprised. He knew the wizarding world was out of touch with pop culture, but come on.
“Yes, but we live in the country. What do you sell here?”
Harry glanced back at the register. Felicita was sitting upright, glaring at him in feline judgment. Behind her, Miguel was now manning the register. He smirked at Harry, mouthing lover-boy! He gestured around the store: take her on a tour.
“Let me show you,” said Harry, grinning at Miguel in gratitude. Good thing it was Miguel on duty and not the sour Mike, he reflected as he led Ginny off around the store.
It was a bit like guiding around an alien from another planet. Ginny stared at everything, from the electric lights to the jigsaw puzzles, with an expression of wonder. She listened with attentiveness when Harry introduced her to the books, from The Mortal Instruments graphic novels to William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. “What is this, exactly?” she asked, looking baffled as she flipped through Verily, A New Hope.
“It’s all the Star Wars movies re-written as Shakespearean plays,” said Harry, enthusiasm charging his voice. “I’ve got all of them at home! They’re really great! Pretty funny too, in places. Especially Han Solo,” he laughed.
“Shakespearean…plays?” Ginny looked blank.
“Come on, you must’ve heard of William Shakespeare!” Harry’s grin faded. “Right?”
“Oh—yes!” said Ginny, completely unconvincingly.
Harry blinked. He hadn’t supposed wizarding ignorance of Muggle culture went this deep. What did they teach students at Hogwarts School?
Ginny, oblivious to Harry’s bemusement, replaced the book on the shelf. “Doesn’t make any sense.”
“I guess it wouldn’t, if you haven’t seen the movie. Or—have you?”
“Nope.” Ginny shook her head.
“Aw, you need to! You can stream them on Disney+ or rent them on YouTube…” Harry trailed off at Ginny’s blank expression. “Do you, uh, not have those?”
Ginny shrugged. “Maybe you can show me sometime. You and your friends,” she added a bit hastily.
Harry felt an unexpected pang at the thought of sharing Ginny with Tomas and Maya. He shook the irrational moment off. You’re on a mission, Harry. “Yeah, maybe sometime.”
“We have Game Nights here at the store every Thursday evening,” Miguel called. “And fantasy drawing classes every Tuesday afternoon. You’re welcome to join us.”
Ginny flashed him her dazzling grin. “That’d be great! Thanks.” She turned her kilowatt smile on Harry. “Will you be there, Harry?”
Harry tried to blink away the dazzle. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m just the cashier.”
“Oh.” Was it just him or did Ginny’s smile dim just a little at this news? “Well, what else do you have here?”
Harry tried to pull himself together. “We have all kinds of games. Jigsaw puzzles, D&D-based stuff…and books, of course. Comics and graphic novels. What are you into?”
“I don’t know,” Ginny said. “I’m kind of new to all this.”
“Well, what kinds of genres do you like?” Harry asked with genuine curiosity. What did normal witches and wizards read? Harry hardly ever saw Severus read any fiction: he was more into science journals and the occasional potions periodical smuggled from the magical world.
Ginny caught her lower lip in her teeth. “I like adventure stories. And romance, sometimes.”
“Well, there’s Rapunzel’s Revenge.” Harry led her to the appropriate shelf. “Though that’s more of a kids’ book. Or Punderworld. That’s a good one.”
Ginny flipped through Punderworld and giggled. “This does look good!” She read some more. “I think I’ll take it.”
“Great!” Harry grinned at her. “I’ll give you a ten per cent discount, since it’s your first purchase.”
Miguel made way for Harry at the cash register with a knowing smirk, and Felicita gave Harry a censorious glare as she jumped heavily down. Harry ignored them both while he rang Ginny up. Somewhat to his surprise, Ginny had real Muggle money: U.S. dollars. He wondered what the exchange rate was between dollars and Galleons, the wizard currency Severus had told him of. “Hope you enjoy it,” he said, handing back her purchase, receipt and change.
“I will!” Ginny’s grin lit up her whole face. “It’s really nice meeting you properly, Harry Powell.”
“Of course!” Harry paused. “We’re still on to meet up on Sunday morning at North Beach, right?”
“Yes. I still want to see Maya’s wildlife center.”
“Maybe not on Sunday,” said Harry, thinking how exhausted surfing always left him and his friends. “But maybe Monday. And I need to show you Star Wars sometime.”
“I’ll look forward to it!” Another lightning-grin that left Harry slightly dazed. “See you Sunday, Harry!”
And with that Ginny Weasley waltzed out, bearing her new book with her.
Miguel watched her leave before turning to Harry with a smirk. “El amor entra por los ojos,” he said. “Though perhaps I should be saying, una cosa es el amor y el negocio es otra cosa.”
“Zapatero a tus zapatos,” retorted Harry, turning Miguel’s Mexican sayings back on him. “Anyway, we’re not in love.” Actually, I’m using her to spy on her family. To his surprise, the thought depressed him a little.
Miguel chuckled. “Keep telling yourself that, amante.” He strolled off, whistling a Mexican love song under his breath, Felicita at his heels.
Harry shook his head after the older man before going back to work. Whatever Miguel’s fantasies and whatever Harry’s feelings, it hadn’t been a bad first reconnaissance.
Hidden behind the counter, Harry texted Severus. Ginny Weasley was just in here. We’re on to meet on Sunday!
Nice work, came Severus’s reply a few minutes later. Don’t try to rush things, though. That could ruin everything.
I won’t, Harry texted back, and put his phone away. His moment of depression had vanished. He smiled with optimism. Surely it would only be a matter of time before Harry was invited into the Weasley’s rental, and he could start hunting the One Ring in earnest.