Chapter Eight Two
Dean was rather early to Flourish and Blots. Part of that was due to his particular arrangements, which required him to be on the tube at 0523, having been dropped off at Chorleywood by his father. This was not actually considered optimal by his parents, but both of them had to go to work today. He'd been met up by Seamus at Moorgate, where they'd headed down to Bank, and the walk to the Leaky Cauldron.
So sun was just coming through the alley to hit the promotional poster announcing the signing for Letters to the Boy Who Lived: And His Replies to Ginny. By Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter. Edited by Ron Weasley. The painting was his third commission for the project, the first being the cover with Hedwig flying away from Ginny, and the second being the back with Hedwig landing on Harry's arm delivering Ginny's letter on a moonlight night. This one was actually one of the discards from his attempts at a cover.
The original intention was a wrap around cover, with each writer on a side. Of course he'd made a mistake starting it, placing Harry on the right, before realizing that it would have put Harry on the front, but for a promotional poster, it worked. He wasn't going to tell the publisher that it had been a discard, either. He'd gotten Harry very well, with his pensive gaze as his quill tickled his upper lip, with the roll of parchment before him with the carefully imitated last few paragraphs of Harry's first response to Ginny just visible along with the dot of ink caused by Harry's indecision as to how to close the letter. Ginny wasn't as faithful to reality, mainly because his memory of her was rather old when he started it, and she'd grown quite a bit since then.
They'd been rather artful with the text, announcing that starting at nine thirty until two, with a break at eleven thirty for lunch, there would be a signing of the books by the authors. "That's one big painting, Thomas," Seamus said as he put his arm around Dean's shoulders.
"It's nothing compared to the one I painted for my sister's room, Finnigan," Dean replied. "Come on, we've got too much time before the stores open, so let's go back to Leaky and see if we can get a second breakfast."
"You ate at four. I ate at six thirty, but we are growing boys, so why not?"
It was half past nine, and Sally-Anne was enjoying a rare time in the back room of her favorite shop in Diagon Alley, Flourish and Blotts. It wasn't because she was a bookworm, by any fashion. Though she loved to spin a yarn, reading it wasn't her thing. It was because her aunt Marian was the manager, and was quite willing to help her with her story telling craft. Oral history and storytelling were almost as important as the written word, according to Marian, especially if you could use it as a hook to sell. At the moment, though, she was readying things for Harry and Ginny's book signing.
Sally-Anne had the misfortune to be right next to the door to the back of Flourish and Blotts when a blonde man dressed in flamboyant flashy robes strode past her into the back. "It is I, Glideroy Lockhart, and I am here to sign my books. Where might I find my table to greet my adoring fans?" The door impacted Sally-Anne's shoulder, causing her to stumble into a stack of crates full of Hogwarts textbooks.
"Not here, not today," Aunt Marian said firmly. "Your signing has been scheduled for next week. Perhaps you didn't get the owl. Are you okay, Sally-Anne. I warned you about that door."
"How could you not schedule me, a multi-best selling author, on the date of the debut of my next best selling work?" Lockhart said as Sally-Anne straightened back up. "I simply could not believe the owl."
"Believe it," the manager said firmly. "And I doubt it will. Pre-orders of Letters to the Boy-Who-Lived are already past twice Magical Me. With the Hogwarts book list having come out last week, I'm sure it that many of their classmates will pick it up."
"But I'm announcing that I'm the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor today at the signing," Lockhart said. "Surely being on the booklist and that will boost sales."
"You're not going to have a signing here, today, Lockhart," the manager said. "I'm not going to push aside the writers of the best selling book this week, whose parents and guardians could only agree to let them do this day. You're next week. If you want tomorrow, I have an opening then as well. Otherwise I will see you then, or not, if you want to make a big scene that forces me to call the aurors."
"You will regret this!" Lockhart said, before turning and plowing through the door.
It caught Sally-Anne on the backswing.
Ginny Weasley did not believe she was anything special, really. She knew that Harry didn't believe he was either, though at time she wondered. She was the little girl from Devon, seven of seven, the lone girl. Her brothers were curse-breakers, dragon-tamers, and prefects. It seemed like all of her brothers were destined for greatness, at least in anyway that she thought of things. She was sheltered, and knew it. There was a big wide world that she was just beginning to be exposed to.
There was Hogwarts, where she would soon be sorted, a Gryffindor, she was sure, and Diagon Alley, but that wasn't all the world that she'd seen. She'd been to Crawley, and seen the muggle world, with all of its hustle and bustle. Hermione had said it was a new town, making her wonder what a city would be like. Harry and Hermione were taking her for shopping in the muggle world and a late meal after the signing.
Ginny looked down at the table she was at, just to Harry's right. They'd gotten special quills for the signing, provided by the publisher, a very full bottle of ink. There were three bottles of the deep green signing ink that had been chosen available if either of them ran out. Ginny figured that she wouldn't. Everyone would want to get Harry's signature. He was the boy who lived.
"Scared?" Harry sudden asked. Ginny nodded. "Same. I've never seen such a line. I never thought I'd be getting this as the freak living in the cupboard under the stairs."
Ginny remembered when he'd first revealed that to her in a letter. He'd poured out his life before Hogwarts to her. She was still getting at least a weekly letter, usually outlining the milestones that James had, and other things. This was a day they'd both remember, Ginny was sure of that. This was the day when they stepped out into the world and set themselves on paths away from the isolation that had been the pattern of their lives.
Ginny saw Harry take a deep breath. "Ready?" Ginny nodded. Then Sally-Anne opened the door for her Aunt Marian. The horde descended on the signing table, barely contained by the ropes. Fortunately Dean and Seamus immediately stepped up, making sure that the table itself was not rushed. But still, the crowd, the line, grew large, switch backing between the rows of bookcases.
The first one line, to Ginny's great surprise was a familiar face. Ginny would recognize her blond hair and silvery eyes anywhere. Luna Lovegood stepped right up to Ginny first and put the book down in front of her. Somehow no one stepped around her to go directly to Harry. "Hello, Ginny. I see you got your wish to sit down next to Harry Potter." The book was slid, open to the title page, ready to sign, right in front of her. "I'm sorry I missed your birthday."
"You were in Norway with your father chasing down Snorkacks," Ginny dismised. "You're still my best friend, even if your father keeps taking on all these trips, and I'm stuck in Devon."
"Oh, you're going a lot farther than I am," Luna said. "Just sign it like you do my letters."
Ginny quickly personalized this, the first book she'd signed, "To my best friend Luna, Ginny Weasley." It was signed clear, readable, just like she had practiced.
Then Harry slid the book over to him, and added his own signature, setting the pattern for the day.