Nabi Danyal Street, Alexandria; 1:30 P.M.

Alexandria - once home to the greatest library of the ancient world, now host to the largest density of booksellers in the Arab world. And Alvis loved every minute of it.

Within thirty minutes of arriving, he and a small knot of other Ravenclaws had split off from the main bunch of Hogwarts shoppers to explore Nabi Danyal, a street famous among booksellers the world over. Nabi Danyal was armed with a long line of pavement booksellers who hocked their wares in English, Arabic, French, German, and - in whispered undercurrents that Muggles couldn't pick up - Gobbledygook, Latin, and Ancient Greek. Before he'd left Shropshire, Dad told him all about the hidden wizarding bookshops squeezed in along the rows of Muggles - hidden behind curtains and between lampposts with charms and tricks to keep the Muggles away - and Alvis could pick some of them out among the bustle of the crowd.

But for now, his eye was drawn to a rack of old astronomy texts and star charts settled at the front of a Muggle shop. He scanned the selection and found, with a surge of excitement, an English translation of Ali ibn Ridwan's commentary on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, which included the most detailed description on record of history's brightest supernova, circa 1006 A.D.

With careful hands, Alvis drew the sixty-year-old book from the shelf, searched out the appropriate entry, and briefly reveled in its description of a 'new star, three times the size of Venus, and bright enough to read by,' without noticing that he was blocking the shelf, and there was someone hovering near his elbow.

"Brilliant," he muttered to himself, picturing the super nova in his mind's eye. "Absolutely brilliant."

Cyhirae was irritated. Tomorrow was Father's Day and she had yet to find a gift. It had seemed so easy when they had left school to just put it off until later, and then when later had finally come packing for the trip was more of a priority. So here she was, wandering around, trying to find a gift when she didn't really understand much of the language beyond stock tourist phrases. A book would be the most obvious choice, given her current location though most of it was Arabic. And even though her father could read the language, Cy really didn't want to pick up a book about something stupid just because she couldn't.

Stopping in front of a storefront, she squinted at it's sign for a bit and tried to decipher the shop's name before giving up. Glancing around for anyone else in the tour group, Cyhirae spotted the older Ravenclaw who always turned bright red around her in front of a large rack of books. Mentally shrugging, she walked up next to him. He was completely absorbed into whatever he was reading and didn't seem to have noticed that he was no longer alone.

Curious, Cy glanced at the book Alvis was reading. Happily it was in English, as were about half of the rest of the books, and relating to her father's job if she was reading the covers correctly. Star and space stuff was almost always a guaranteed good gift for her, though the RC flying shark had been a huge hit as well. Grabbing a random book, she flipped through it. Much to her irritation she couldn't really tell if her dad would like it.

"Brilliant," he muttered. "Absolutely brilliant."

Cy glanced at Alvis, at least someone was enjoying the books. She turned back to the book she held and frowned slightly before placing the book back and turning to the older Ravenclaw. "Excuse me?" She tapped him on the shoulder, "Your into Astronomy, right? Are these books any good?"

When she had his attention she gave him a big smile. "I'm looking for a gift for my dad and I don't know if he would like these books." She clasped her hands together and gave him a hopeful look, "Do you mind helping me?"

Alvis turned at the tap on his arm, a grin already spreading across his face. He was about to tell her that yes, he liked astronomy, and yes, these books were very good, and why...but the words died in this throat the moment he realized that he was being addressed by Cyhirae Trishna. Instantly, his brain shut off, and heat began to rise in his collar. He managed to keep the smile but realized, with a sinking feeling, that it probably looked rather goofy.

He hated that he acted this way, but he couldn't help it. Cyhirae was cute - adorable really - and the prettiest girl in Ravenclaw as far as Alvis was concerned. She was also brilliant, and friendly, and now she was...oh dear...

"I'm looking for a gift for my dad and I don't know if he would like these books. Do you mind helping me?"

Clasped hands, hopeful eyes - Alvis couldn't have said no to that look if his life had depended on it. His ears burned, and hew knew that he'd gone red from collar to hairline. He choked on his response, coughed, cleared his throat, and closed the book a bit too quickly.

"I, ah, sure. I do. I can. I mean." He coughed again and rubbed at his adam's apple, willing the words to come untangled. "Yes, I like astronomy, and I would be...be happy to help you. These books are very good." He traced the spine of the Ridwan commentary distractedly. "But most of them are old manuscripts, things that have been in the study of astronomy for decades, sometimes centuries. He might already have them, and they're not first editions or anything."

For that matter, would Professor Trishna even be interested in first editions? He was undoubtedly a bookworm, but Alvis couldn't recall if he'd ever seen evidence of the astronomy professor being a bibliophile of the sort who would collect rare first editions or ancient tomes. And then again, Alvis couldn't read Arabic either, or anything except for English, so he wouldn't have been able to identify a first-edition here even if they found one.

That put him a little out of his depth. Being the son of booksellers, Alvis almost always gave books for his gifts.

He traced the worn spin with a fingertip and did not look at Cyhirae. He wouldn't be able to think straight if he did. After a moment of contemplating the shelf, he struck upon an idea. "You know, at the head of the street, I saw a moving scroll in one of the shops - one of our shops, that is, a wizarding place - that showed the old Egyptian constellations, the ones they had in ancient times. They're not very common, and you wouldn't be able to get it England. Do you think he'd like that?"

'He's turning bright red again.' Cyhirae smiled amused as Alvis turned completely red  and began stammering when he saw her. She wasn't quite sure why he did that. He only did it around her, so it couldn't be embarrassment. And he was always smiling at her, albeit sillily, so he couldn't be angry. When she had asked Georgiana about it, Gigi had just snickered even after Cy continued prodding. 'Oh well, save the mystery for later. He said he'd help.'

"Thank You." She beamed at him, adding just a little bit more sugar. "Your a lifesaver."

"You know, at the head of the street, I saw a moving scroll in one of the shops - one of our shops, that is, a wizarding place - that showed the old Egyptian constellations, the ones they had in ancient times. They're not very common, and you wouldn't be able to get it England. Do you think he'd like that?"

Cyhirae pursed her lips in thought, "Maybe." She then smiled at him, "It's certainly a much better idea than digging through these books trying to figure out what Dad would like." She readjusted her backpack and smiled at him again. "Lets go."

"Right." Alvis croaked, coughed, tried to clear his throat, failed, and sighed, all over the period of one breath. He tugged at the strap of his messenger bag and nodded down the street. "It's this way."

The street was not exactly crowded, but there were several people about, some loaded with packages and some not watching where they were going and some doing both to great personal detriment. Alvis was taller than Cyhirae by almost half a foot, so he tried to shorten his stride to match hers; but that just resulted in his feet catching the first un-even bit of pavement they met. He stumbled several steps, caught himself on a lamppost, and groaned. Smooth, Norling. Real smooth.

"Er, that's it. The store, I mean," he muttered, pointing at the shop. A door stood squished between two Muggle bookshops, apparently unseen by the average passers-by. Looking at it was like trying to look directly at the Leaky Cauldron - Alvis's eyes wanted to slide away to the surrounding shops. In a second-story window above the door hung the painting he'd seen earlier, the blue disc of its sky slowly turning in the hands of its bearers as the constellations shifted and moved.

"I think it's bigger on the inside," said Alvis as he led the way to the door. "That is, er, I hope it's bigger on the inside..."

"Er, that's it. The store, I mean."

Cyhirae peered up at the painting in the window. It certainly was pretty but it looked expensive. Cyhirae pursed her lips before turning to Alvis with a smile. "Lets go in then."

Cy opened the door and peered inside. It was larger on the inside but not by much. Every shelf and table were crammed with strange objects and knicknacks. Stepping inside Cyhirae didn't see the shopkeeper or a stand with the star charts anywhere.

To pass time until the shopkeeper showed up, she walked over to a table stacked with small statues carved out of stone. Picking up a small cat carved out of pink quartz, Cyhirae turned it over in her hand. On the cat's side were several small markings. They looked like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs but Cyhirae didn't know them well enough to tell.

She turned to Alvis, cat in hand, "Can you read hieroglyphs at all? Daddy tried to teach me but all I really remember is how to read Grandma's name." She flushed slightly at admitting that and quickly continued on, trying to save face. "I'm much better Egyptian Arabic." It wasn't a total lie,  she at least could ask for directions with it.

"That's impressive enough, if you ask me," Alvis said, somehow managing not to sputter in his hurry to reassure her. "I don't know any Egyptian at all...not really. Just some things I've read in Ancient Rune books..."

He glanced down at the cat to avoid meeting Cyhirae's eye. It was decent carving and didn't seem as mass-produced as a  lot of tourist trap souvenirs. He brushed his fingers along its side and vaguely recognized the markings as hieroglyphs, but he didn't have any idea of what they might mean isolated from everything else and on the side of a little statue. For all he knew, they just meant 'cat.'

"Not a bad carving job," he said distantly, mind wandering for some bit of conversation to grasp onto. "I can see why it caught your eye. It's cute. Like you."

It took Alvis a full ten seconds to realize what he'd said. When he did, the blush intensified three-fold. He quickly pulled his hands away, clutched them to his chest, and looked hurriedly around the shop, trying and failing to clear his throat. "I, er, wonder where the -cough- shopkeeper is. Must be around here, er, someplace. I'll go look arou...oh, there he is."

The shopkeeper - an older man in long white robes who spoke broken English in a heavy accent that Alvis found hard to place - bustled up to them through the tightly-packed shelves, saving Alvis from himself. Alvis stepped back and let the shopkeeper stand between him and Cyhirae, too embarrassed to meet her eye and wishing that he could fade into the shelves and disappear.

Thankfully taking the hint, the shopkeeper turned to Cyhirae with a broad smile. "Good day! I may help you, small lady? Looking for presents, yes? Pretty things?"

"It's cute. Like you."

Cyhirae blinked, a confused look on her face. "You think I'm cute?" Fortunately, or unfortunately, for Alvis it didn't really register what Alvis was implying. After all her father called her cute all the time, among other things. Cy turned to look at Alvis, whose fully red face had a panicked look on it. About to inquire more Alvis spotted the shopkeeper who hurried up to them.

"Good day! I may help you, small lady? Looking for presents, yes? Pretty things?"

Fully distracted from her previous line of thought, Cyhirae smiled at the shopkeeper. "Yes, I'm looking for something for my father. He's an astronomy professor and I was looking for something dealing with Egyptian astronomy. Like that map you have in the upper store window."

The shopkeeper's smile turned regretful when she mentioned the map. "Ah, unfortunately small lady the map is not for sale. Is a family heirloom, only for display. But we can find something else?" The man seemed to think for a moment. "If  looking for star things, I have a book. Almagest, by Ptolemy." The shopkeeper looked concerned for a moment, "Not in English, in Arabic."

Cy had looked disappointed when she was told that the map was not for sale but perked up at the mention of Ptolemy. "That's fine, Daddy knows Arabic. I'll take it." Smiling broadly she turned to Alvis, "Since I've found what I wanted, is there anything you want Alvis?"

"If  looking for star things, I have a book. Almagest, by Ptolemy."

Alvis made an appreciative noise. "That's a good one," he said quickly, happy that Cyhirae seemed to have forgotten his embarrassing slip-of-the-tongue. "Its mathematical equations were especially important to the Ancient Greeks. I'm sure Professor Trishna would love it."

When Cyhirae smiled at him, Alvis found himself smiling back, his heart giving happy little jump. It was a good day, a great day, absolutely brilliant. If he'd been a braver sort of boy, he might have mentioned a lot of things that he 'wanted,' like to keep sight-seeing with her until they ran out of free time, or a chance to take her out sometime when they could find a nice cafe.

Instead, he said, "Ah, no, I'm all right," and quickly checked the price on the cat statue before returning it to the table and committing it to memory. If Cyhirae really liked it, maybe he'd swing back by before they left Alexandria and pick it up as a surprise gift. He might even get up the nerve to give if to her in person.

For now, he tugged back the sleeve of his shirt and peered down at his watch. 2:25 - the whole trip here had taken less than an hour. "We've still got a lot of time left before dinner," he said to Cyhirae as they followed the shopkeeper to retrieve the book. "We could, er, keep window shopping. Or not. Whatever you'd like."