Booking the Plan

Everyone. In Alisha's mind, that meant finally meeting Ron Wesley and Hermione Granger; the excitement was suddenly piling on in a way it hadn't before arriving at the Leaky Cauldron. At the same time, there was that boding feeling of her not belonging, of her messing everything up. And her plan—

"There's no getting around my plan drastically changing everything, but after an entire year of waiting, I couldn't just sit back waiting for things to unfold as they did in the books, could I? And I thought about this. I thought about how this was the best route for me because..."

Something was frightening about actually being in the stories and interacting with the existing plot. And she knew it was dangerous, the things that went on during every one of Harry's years, nor was there any inclination of Harry to avoid the path of danger. The worst part was that she didn't see how certain events would turn out the way they would when certain other factors had been removed from the equation.

Which was the reason she decided to do what she was going to do, as it seemed the safest route to go despite a voice in the back of her head telling her that was her problem—that she always took the safest route in her life, which in turn put this feeling in the back of her mind that things might not end up happening the way she wanted them to, that something might backfire.

Yet, there was a part of her, that part of her mind that wanted the frustration of not knowing what would happen, what would change with the plot to go away, to no longer worry about that. And so there she was, exiting Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions with her Aunt Petunia when she caught sight of them, a young man with red hair and a girl with bushy hair.

Harry and Dudley were with them, so they must, in fact, be Ron and Hermione. Ron looked at Petunia, his mouth twisting into a frown. "So this is your aunt?"

"Yeah. She's Dudley's mum," Harry said.

"It's nice to meet you," Hermione said, holding out her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger. And this is Ron Weasley."

And at that, Aunt Petunia tensed up while Alisha wondered if the timing would be right to pull off her plan at the bookstore, to prevent anything wrong from happening that year. Aunt Petunia reached out and shook her hand; though it didn't seem like she were pretty thrilled about that moment, Petunia's lack of comfort with magic started to show.

"You missed my parents and Ron's as well," Hermione said. "They're at the pub if you want to join them while we browse the shops. Oh! And Ron also has a sister who will be starting at Hogwarts this year."

"That's nice. We didn't see her getting her wand or getting robes." Petunia said.

"Ginny's lucky to get a new wand," Ron muttered. "I'm still stuck with my older brother Charlie's old wand."

Petunia looked at him, confused. Hermione frowned, glaring at Ron, before whispering something Alisha couldn't hear. She turned back to Petunia. "You don't want to meet up with Mr. And Mrs. Weasley and my parents."

"No. I need to make sure Lily gets her other supplies before the bookstore."

"I could help with that," Hermione said before turning to the boys. "You guys can do whatever."

Harry frowned, "Is that what you want to do, Aunt Petunia?"

"Didn't you say something about wanting to look at supplies for that sport you're into?"

"Ah. Sure. Here's the money we got for supplies," Harry said, handing the money over to Petunia. "We'll catch up with you."

To which they headed back out, Alisha feeling a bit disappointed Harry and Dudley weren't coming with her, even though Hermione was kind enough to come, yet—

Listening to Hermione explain things, perhaps it was the best thing that it was her tackling Aunt Petunia as she seemed far more comfortable shopping for magical items, but when they finished, Hermione led them to the bookstore, where she, of course, started becoming excited over Lockhart. At the same time, Alisha was more interested in Hermione's parents, who didn't look anything like they did in the movies, and the moment her plan could unfold.

As things unfolded in the same way, Alisha became more and more nervous, watching as Lockhart pulled Harry to the front and started embarrassing her brother—or Lily's brother by bringing public attention to him. Except, turning her head, she noticed that her Aunt Petunia was far from pleased as if she wanted to slug Lockhart but was only holding back to look normal. "She died that night."

"Harry's mother?" Ron asked.

"Precisely," Petunia gritted her teeth together.

"Her sacrifice," Molly spoke up. "It didn't just save the lives of Wizards and Witches, but Muggles as well."

"Yet, it feels like she's been forgotten," Petunia said, glad when Harry moved away and he, as before, handed his signed copies over to Ginny Weasley, who in turn turned a bright red. Alisha watched, looking over at Ron and Hermione, waiting—waiting for—

And then it happened, Lucius Malfoy's comments that set off Arthur Weasley. The Granger family were nervous as they had in their books, but—

Alisha watched Aunt Petunia, who was instead quite livid, but everyone's eyes were, in fact, on the two grown men fighting over simple slights. At that moment, she slipped her hand into Ginny's cauldron and slipped it out, but finding it among regular books was relatively easy, as there was a feeling to it.

And—

Alisha looked at Ginny to see if she'd noticed, but the girl was staring at her father, utterly embarrassed by his antics. The journal slipped into her cauldron, and she poked the books. "Don't we have more books than this to get?"

"Oh, yeah."

At which point Molly apologized profusely to Aunt Petunia and Hermione's parents for Arthur's actions.

"We have a preference for not standing out."

"But Harry stands out a lot when he plays Quidditch. Youngest player and all," Ron piped up as Alisha let out a deep breath, wondering how she'd been so lucky while thinking her singular action would prevent the Chamber of Secrets from opening that year and that nothing could go wrong.

"That's different."

"It's—Lucius Malfoy is a former Death Eater. One of the ones who followed You-Know-Who."

"I don't know."

"The one who killed mom," Harry said.

Petunia mused over it, then said. "Well, I guess no harm was done, given I can understand where he's coming from."