AN:- I do not like writing the girls out and about outside Hogwarts.
Chapter Two: Diagon Alley Again
After getting home it took them a while to organise a day when all three of their families would be able to get to Diagon Alley. In the end they could only get in on the day before term started. They were a little more organised than they had been the year before, and after the customary round of excited hugs and catching each other up on everything that had happened after they had spoken the day before (Lily's parents had a 'telephone' installed into the house now), they split off from their parents and went to get their things.
First they hit the apothecary, stocking up on Sally's potions supplies, which had run out sometime during second year. "Why didn't you get more earlier?" Lisa asked.
"You kept giving me your supplies."
After that they went to Madame Malkin's, because over summer they had all noticed that their robes were beginning to get small. Next was Flourish and Blotts, where they found the owner huddled behind his desk, rocking back and forth and crying.
"Is… everything okay?" Lisa asked, leaning over the desk.
"Never again," he whimpered, "never ever again, I'm not doing it, you can't make me."
The three girls exchange concerned looks. "Uh, what aren't you doing again?"
"It was only supposed to be one or two, but there were hundreds, and they never stop biting…" He hadn't blinked since they walked in, staring at a point somewhere on the back wall.
"The books wouldn't stop biting?" Lisa asked sceptically.
"Over there," he waved, and they looked over to a cage in the corner, where three books sat, their covers opening and closing of their own accord. A sign on the cage identified them as the 'Monster Book of Monsters.'
"Well what's so bad about them?" Sally asked. "They're just books."
"Just books?" He whimpered, "just books?" He stood and grabbed a stick, revealing that his hand was covered in what looked like hundreds of paper cuts and bruises. Lily backed away as he went to the cage and unbolted it.
The books attacked, flying through the air and snapping at the shopkeeper, who fended them off with the stick. One of them managed to clamp itself to the end of the stick and required a vigorous shake to dislodge it. Lisa caught the book neatly and used the strap from her bag to hold it shut. Another book made an escape attempt but Sally picked it up and stroked it, cooing gently. The book immediately calmed down, going first from a quivering mass of hate to lightly wafting pages before finally going still.
"Thanks," Lisa said, "we just needed two."
The shopkeeper was staring at Sally, his mouth agape and his arms hanging limply at his sides. "That's it?" He asked, "that's how to make them be quiet?"
Sally continued to stroke her book, and Lisa followed suit, calming hers down enough that she could untie her bag-strap.
"We'll also need two copies of Numerology and Grammatica, one copy of Unfogging the Future, one copy of Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles and three sets of the books for Ancient Runes."
The manager was still staring at them in disbelief, but he wobbled over to the shelves and put the stick back, still muttering to himself. They followed him through the stacks until they had all loaded up on the books they needed to get and paid, leaving him in a staring match with the one book left in the cage.
It was already almost lunchtime, so they decided to go to Florean Fortescue's and see what new concoctions he had on offer. Every summer Florean prided himself on coming up with at least three new ways to make a sundae, and no less than four new flavours of ice-cream. Sally of course ordered the pepper-mint-butter-cream-ripple delight (Only the Newest Flavours!) while Lisa and Lily stuck with the more traditional Blueberry and Mint chocolate.
They worked steadily through their ice-creams, enjoying watching the parade of wizards and witches go by them. Morag, one of Lisa's housemates, came over and they had a chat about the homework, and after that Susan Bones came to join them while she waited for her mum to arrive. Apparently all of the Hufflepuffs had had a barbeque over the summer, and she wanted to know where Sally had been.
"Why didn't you go?" Lisa asked when Susan had left.
Sally shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "After the last year things were a bit nasty in the house. I don't know if I really like Ernie."
"Nasty how?" Lily asked, "I thought only the Slytherins would be really horrible."
"Oh, just rumours and things," Sally mumbled. Both of Lily's friends were wary when talking about rumours, since the Slytherin girl had been at the centre of a very nasty one the year before.
They were about halfway through their sundaes when two familiar voices reached their ears.
"Didn't you say you had a new wand?"
The girls looked round to see Harry Potter's red-headed friend pulling a wand out of his coat. Sitting opposite him was the bushy mane of hair that signalled Hermione Granger. "Unicorn hair," the youngest Weasley boy said, "Ollivander said it was a nice sturdy wand. Really dependable."
"And what was Egypt like?" Hermione was leaning forwards, resting her chin on her hands, "I've always wanted to go."
"Oh wow," Sally whispered, leaning in close.
"What?" Lisa whispered.
"She likes him."
"No way."
All three of them were trying to keep eavesdropping while carrying on their own conversation.
"Look at her," Sally said, "she's leaning forward, listening to him. She normally only looks like that in class."
"You think?" Lisa was watching the two with new interest. "What's his name again?"
"Ron, and of course I think."
"She knew about your little crush," Lily chipped in, "Sally knows these things."
Lisa looked affronted, "my little crush? What about you, miss 'I like two boys and one of them isn't even in Slytherin?'"
"Shut up," Lily mumbled into her ice-cream.
Hermione and Ron were talking about her birthday now, and how he hadn't gotten her anything (I didn't know I was supposed to!) and how great her holiday had been. All three of the girls were now listening intently, trying not to make it obvious that they were trying to stay as quiet as possible and half-leaning out of their chairs to listen in.
"Why are we spying?" Sally hissed after a few minutes.
"Well it's them isn't it?" Lisa replied, as if that made everything obvious.
"Harry! HARRY!"
The girls looked up in surprise to see Harry Potter walking down the street from the Leaky Cauldron. Up close he looked a lot less impressive than Lily had imagined, not much different to how her friend Terry had looked the year before. His mop of black hair was entirely out of control and hid the scar completely. His glasses looked like they had been broken a few too many times even for reparo and he hunched his shoulders a lot.
"He looks a bit scruffy doesn't he?" Lisa said.
"Not like Michael?" Sally muttered into her straw.
"What was that puffer?"
Sally came up grinning, the picture of innocence, "nothing."
From the other table they heard Ron laughing and Hermione scolding the both of them, "I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled."
That sounded juicy, so they got back to listening in.
"Forget expelled," Harry was saying, "I thought I was going to be arrested."
The three girls exchanged scandalised looks. They hadn't thought the Daily Prophet article might have been telling the truth. Apparently the entire Weasley clan was staying at the Leaky Cauldron, and it seemed like the interesting gossip might all have been talked over. Ron jumped at another opportunity to show off his wand and they moved on to the subject of their subjects.
Lisa and Lily listened with some interest as Hermione rattled off her class list, which seemed to involve every subject on the timetable. "I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of her this term," Lisa said, only slightly bitter. The Ravenclaw didn't appreciate being beaten, no Ravenclaw did, and the thought of getting out of Hermione Granger's brilliant shadow had been appealing.
They couldn't put off shopping any longer, and reluctantly gathered up their bags and walked down to Scribbulus Writing Supplies. Once they had fully stocked up on parchment, quills and ink they went back to the Leaky Cauldron to find that their parents had settled in around one of the tables in the corner and were swapping tales. Mr Perks seemed to be grilling Vincent Moon on life in the Slytherin Dormitory while Mr Turpin and Mrs Perks listened to Selene and Katie recounting one of their stories from Hogwarts.
"Ah!" Cried Mr Perks when he saw them, "and here's the girls now!"
They dumped their bags around the table and slid in to the booth, gratefully accepted the pumpkin juice that had been ordered for them. "Did you meet anyone from school?"
"We saw Harry Potter actually," Lisa said, taking one of her books out of her bag. Her mother immediately took the book away from her. "Apparently he nearly got expelled and arrested."
"Whatever for?" Selene asked.
"He said he blew up his aunt," Sally said.
"Oh is that all?" Katie Turpin was grinning, "I blew up a dog house when I was younger."
Mrs Perks was looking worried, "is blowing things up common for magical children?" She was eyeing her daughter a little nervously.
"Well it probably means he lost his temper," Katie said, "I blew up the dog house because I had a huge row with my grandma about wanting to be an Auror."
"How about you?" Mr Perks was in 'excited about magic' mode again, asking Selene and Vincent, "ever do anything explosive?"
"Oh no," Selene said graciously, "I was far too calm a child to ever blow things up. And thankfully so was Lily."
She smiled the three girls tried not to look uncomfortable. Lily had actually blown something up in a potions class the year before when Pansy Parkinson had been bullying her too much. Apparently she hadn't told her parents about it.
"Should we stay here for dinner?" Mr Turpin asked. Lisa had told her friends in their first year that her dad loved all things wizarding, and had been almost as excited as Lisa to come to Diagon Alley the first time.
They agreed to stay for dinner, and it turned out to be very enjoyable. Vincent Moon and Mr Perks traded each other for questions about the muggle or wizarding world all throughout dinner while Mrs Perks grilled Selene and Katie Turpin for more stories about their time at Hogwarts. The Leaky Cauldron was loud and boisterous that evening, thanks in no small part to the addition of the entire Weasley family, which had taken over the majority of the parlour.
When they had finished their meal the girls went to say hello to Fred and George, who they were good friends with. The year before the twins had made a special effort to cheer Lily up when she was feeling bad, and they had let Lisa know about a secret passageway in the Astronomy Tower that had led them on an adventure of their own.
"Girls!" Fred and George exclaimed when they saw them. "How are you this fine evening?"
"Very well thank you," Lisa was watching them closely to make sure they didn't have anything explosive or mischievous. Just because they were friends didn't exclude them from pranking. "Do you have a badge in your hand?" She asked.
Fred (or George) looked impressed that she had noticed, "we do indeed," he said, tossing it to his twin, who caught it and flipped it like a coin. "It belongs to our older brother Percy."
"And what are you going to do with a Head Boy badge belonging to your brother?"
"Well we thought about enchanting it. Maybe change the name to something more fitting." George (or Fred) flipped the coin back over to the first twin.
"Maybe Head Idiot."
Flip.
"Rule Boy."
Flip.
"Bighead Boy."
Fred and/or George snatched the badge out of the air, his eyes gleaming, "that's it!" They crowed, "see you back at school girls!"
And they were away up the stairs, cackling in delight.
"Sometimes I wish they were my brothers," Sally said thoughtfully, "then I remember what they're like."
"I think they're great," Lisa said leading the way back to where their parents were getting ready to leave.
"Who's great?" Mr Turpin asked suspiciously.
"The Weasley twins," Lily said, gathering up her bags.
"I remember Molly and Arthur," Selene said, "they were in the year above us."
"How do you remember them?"
"Oh they had a duelling club when we were at school, Molly used to win. A lot."
Katie nodded, "I remember as well. You wouldn't think it, but she was really amazing. Flitwick wanted her to become a professional, but she married Arthur instead."
They bustled out onto the street, where Mrs Perks checked her watch, "oh we've been so long," she said in dismay, "we need to get home to Henry before he drives my sister crazy."
"Crazier," Mr Perks muttered under his breath, making the girls giggle.
"Stop that," his wife told him, "I'm very sorry," she said to the other parents, "we have to get back home."
"Of course," Selene said graciously, "it was so wonderful to meet you both."
They managed to get out a round of goodbyes and thank yous and see you back at schools before Mrs Perks dragged Sally and Mr Perks away to get a taxi.
"We should probably be going as well," Katie Turpin said to the Moons, "it was very nice to meet you again properly," she shook Vincent's hand and had an only-mostly-awkward hug with Selene, "we must do this again sometime."
Lisa and Lily were hugging as well. "We'll be seeing each other tomorrow," Lisa said.
"Wait on the platform for me?"
"Of course."
They broke apart and grinned at each other before Lisa turned to follow her parents down the road. Selene and Vincent were both arranging their clothes, ready to apparate back home. Lily took a firm grip of her mother's elbow, but she was still watching Lisa's back as they spun in place and were away.
Once they were back home Lily took her bags up to her room and arranged the contents in her suitcase, pointedly not looking towards her dresser. Only when she had everything stored safely in her trunk did she open the top drawer and take out the long thin box, setting in delicately on the bed. She unlocked the catch and opened it to reveal her wand, resting in its silk lined box.
She picked up the wand and held it, feeling it warm in her palm. She was so tempted to swipe it right then, not even meaning to do magic. But that could still get her in trouble, and she had enough experience of Sally doing accidental magic to risk it. Instead she replaced it carefully to its box and closed the catch, smiling as she put it delicately on top of the rest of her things in the trunk.
She traipsed downstairs to where her parents were both sitting and reading with the wireless playing .it was comfortingly normal, the way that her home life always was. She collected one of her books from the shelf and curled up on the sofa next to her mother to read as well. They sat in silence, each absorbed in their own world, until eventually night had fallen.
"Well then," Vincent said, closing his book and taking off his reading glasses. "Ready for tomorrow?"
She nodded, "I think so."
"You'll be fine," Selene said, "and you've got your friends."
"I suppose," Lily stretched and yawned, "I can't help thinking though."
"Thinking what?"
"Well Sally said that weird stuff always happens to Harry Potter and his friends every year. I wonder if something's going to happen this year as well?"
AN:- Poor shell-shocked book shop manager person. I had fun with that. Obviously a lot of the students decided to go last minute book shopping (in my canon) because he was only about to cry when Ron and Hermione saw him.
I liked the idea of a Hufflepuff barbecue. I also like the idea of Sally not going. This is something I'm going to explore a bit more (and have explored in the previous books) about how actually being friends with each other has cut the girls off from their houses a bit. A common theme for Harry-Ron-Hermione fics is how their weird little co-dependent thing is actually not very good for them in the long run, and I wanted to dissect that a little in my own story. It might be a critical support group for Lily, but for Lisa and Sally it's more than a little isolated.
Sally's amazing powers of spotting crushes come forth again. Yeah the third book was when I first definitively noticed that Hermione and Ron liked each other. One of my earliest fics was actually all told from Hermione and Ron's perspective of the times when Harry wasn't around and focused on their developing romance. I've actually cribbed some of my old ideas from that story for this one.
'well it's them isn't it' of course the other students are going to be interested in those three. They have actual adventures with evil and good doing battle.
Katie Turpin is not an Auror. She couldn't pass the entrance exams. She just wanted to be one. Nowadays she's a defensive magic tutor and does security work for businesses. Mr Perks is of course very interested in magic and Mr Moon is very interested in the muggle world, so they have a good conversation.
I continue my Fred/George puns. I enjoy them, sue me. I like Fred and George very much. I also reference the popular fanon that Molly Weasley is actually secretly really good at duelling.
Apparently Sally has an aunt now. Also, I like Selene and Katie's relationship. They were in the same year at school (as was Vincent) and obviously had some sort of interaction, because back in that first Christmas Katie referred to Selene as 'Leena. They drifted apart after school, and were never really that close, and now they're working together on a textbook and starting to realise they could be friends. Sort of a 'small world' story.
Oh Lily, if only you knew.
