The man was caught. He knew it, John knew it. Now the only question was how they were going to proceed. Once again the fudge thief shuffled back towards the door. John felt his own muscles coil like a spring, ready to leap into action. When he tried to throw the accusation back in his face, John raised an eyebrow of disbelief. “Really? Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” He would have loved to add the man’s name to the end of that sentence, but the feeling of familiarity had yet to give way to proper recognition. He suspected a fellow student in Gryffindor, and if he had a long think on it he could probably pull the name out of his memory. For the moment he watched the thief shuffle closer to the door and prepared for what would come next.
“No need, I know exactly where it is.” he spat back, just as sarcastic. With that parting exchange of words the man took off through the door and scampered out into the street. John sighed and hopped over the counter to catch a glimpse of where he was going. He doubted his ability to catch up with him on foot. Even if he could, it wouldn’t do to return to the store with a single piece of fudge recovered only to find that someone had taken advantage of the shopkeep’s absence. And he wasn’t about to start throwing around hexes in the middle of High Street over stolen fudge.
When he laid eyes on his fleeing thief, a thought popped into his head and he smiled. John lifted his wand and cleared his mind. He knew exactly what the package of fudge looked like. He had set it out on the shelf earlier that morning and seen it peeking out of the man’s pocket a minute earlier. John kept the mental image in his mind and said a prayer that his charmwork was still sharp before speaking the incantation “Accio fudge.”
Summoning items took a lot of practice for him to get right in charms class. John went over Professor Ruskin’s instructions from all those years ago and hoped that his skills were sharp enough to summon the fudge (and possibly the offender with it). Or, if not that, catch him off-balance for a moment keeping hold of the package. And at worst, well, at least John would walk away with the knowledge that he needed to set some time aside for practicing his spells.
“No need, I know exactly where it is.” he spat back, just as sarcastic. With that parting exchange of words the man took off through the door and scampered out into the street. John sighed and hopped over the counter to catch a glimpse of where he was going. He doubted his ability to catch up with him on foot. Even if he could, it wouldn’t do to return to the store with a single piece of fudge recovered only to find that someone had taken advantage of the shopkeep’s absence. And he wasn’t about to start throwing around hexes in the middle of High Street over stolen fudge.
When he laid eyes on his fleeing thief, a thought popped into his head and he smiled. John lifted his wand and cleared his mind. He knew exactly what the package of fudge looked like. He had set it out on the shelf earlier that morning and seen it peeking out of the man’s pocket a minute earlier. John kept the mental image in his mind and said a prayer that his charmwork was still sharp before speaking the incantation “Accio fudge.”
Summoning items took a lot of practice for him to get right in charms class. John went over Professor Ruskin’s instructions from all those years ago and hoped that his skills were sharp enough to summon the fudge (and possibly the offender with it). Or, if not that, catch him off-balance for a moment keeping hold of the package. And at worst, well, at least John would walk away with the knowledge that he needed to set some time aside for practicing his spells.
![[Image: XNNq4aK.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XNNq4aK.png)