Chapter 62

"Will you agree to relax now, amore?" asked Selene. Harry, unable to even think of conjuring up another counter argument for why he should not do as she suggested, could do little more than nod.

His brain was still mostly stuck in limbo.

The kiss on the cheek he received for his silent answer was almost enough to jolt him back into conscious thought. Almost.

"Good," Selene unwrapped herself from around Harry and stood up, dispersing the strange tension that had been in the air like someone popping a balloon with a needle. Harry blinked as she took one of his hands in her own, pulled him to his feet, then began leading him to the entryway so they could portkey out of the Flamel Estate. "There's this lovely restaurant I wanted to go to when I was shopping with Perennelle, but did not get the chance."

XoX

Rue de la Magie, or Magic Street, was the French equivalent of Diagon Alley. It was the largest shopping center for magical beings within France, with hundreds of stores that sold all kinds of magical paraphernalia. Harry could see everything from potion stores to stores that sold cauldrons to broom shops, wands and more. It looked like everything Diagon Alley had, Rue de la Magie had as well.

Of course, even if the two places were of the same mold, they were not of the same make. Where Diagon Alley possessed the feel of a bazaar taken straight from medieval times, Rue de la Magie was a fascinating combination of Renaissance styled buildings and modern architecture that seemed to create a seamless flow between the two styles. Both were beautiful in their own way, but also vastly different from each other.

As the name implied, Rue de la Magie was a street, a thoroughfare that connected several different streets within the magical community together. Unlike Diagon Alley, which wavered and turned and twisted with small paths that felt like they had been placed completely at random, France's magical community had order to it. Streets were straight and pristine, the roads were standard muggle roads that did not deviate from their narrow lines. Branching off from the main thoroughfare were several smaller streets and back alleys that led to more shops and stores.

There was also much more life within Rue de la Magie. Human life, yes. Being in the mainland meant there were more people here than at Magical Britain. But there was also a lot of plant life.

Lining the street on either side were several trees, ubiquitos London Plane from the looks of them, that were planted in a square patch of dirt roughly half a meter wide spaced over two meter intervals. They created a just as stark contrast to Diagon Alley as the architecture was, which had no flora or fauna to speak of.

And the trees were not the only existing plant life in the magical district. Several parks had been strategically placed to offer children an area to relax and play while the adults sat down and conversed outside of shops and open air cafes while they rested from their shopping excursions.

That was another thing that just showed how different the culture in France was from Britain. While the English were nowhere near as bad as Americans, who were almost as bad as goblins with their need to rush everywhere as if wasting even one second was anathema to them, they still maintained a more 'time is money' approach to most things. This difference in culture was never shown more clearly to Harry than now.

At Diagon Alley, there was always a rush. Always. People were constantly hustling from one area to the next, rarely taking time to just stop and relax. The crowds would push and shove as they tried to bustle off to their next stop so they can get their shopping done as soon as possible.

Here, such was not the case. While even busier and more crowded than Diagon Alley, Rue de la Magie possessed none of the urgency Harry often sensed lurking within the other magical community. The pace of people as they walked was slower, some people were even just standing around as they conversed. He could see a number of people sitting down at open air cafes, sipping a cappuccino or laté either alone or with friends. It was so different from the more aged looking Diagon Alley.

Even the magic here felt different. While it still hummed vibrantly within the back of his mind, it felt more relaxed in a way. If he had to describe the feeling of the magic here with a word, he would say it felt lucid.

Sitting at a table inside of the salon of the restaurant he was eating at, Harry could admit, if only to himself, that he was actually grateful Selene had made him come out here.

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