PRESENT DAY

August 27th 2022

9:37 AM

"JAMES!" Lily shouted from upstairs.

"Oh, here we go," Harry sighed, his face hidden by the morning's Daily Prophet.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" James apologized, running down the stairs. His hands covered his face.

"THAT'S WHY YOU KNOCK, YOU IDIOT!" Lily screamed at her older brother.

"Again, James? You're nearly eighteen, and you still haven't figured out how to knock on a door?" Ginny said incredulously.

Al sat at the kitchen table beside his dad, chewing on a piece of toast contentedly. He looked up at James who looked horrified.

"I'm going to guess that this time, you didn't walk in on her behind the shower curtain, did you?" Al said reasonably.

"No," James moaned through his hands, "I opened the door and she was standing in front of the mirror and I didn't see anything! She hid behind her towel and I just turned around—It was horrible."

"How do you think she felt, James?" Ginny scolded.

"Absolutely annoyed that I have such a prat of an older brother," Lily said as she swept into the room. Her bright red hair was damp and unbrushed and her eyes were ablaze with annoyance. She grabbed a piece of toast and slathered jam onto it and swept back out of the room just as quickly.

"I think she felt absolutely annoyed that she has such a prat of an older brother," James said to his mother. Ginny rolled her eyes, but smiled just the same.

Ten minutes later, Lily arrived back in the kitchen, her long hair in a side braid.

"It took you ten minutes to do a braid?" James said skeptically.

"You know what, James? You're right. I think I'll do my hair differently and take another fifteen!" Lily snapped, her cheeks flushed.

"That's enough. Both of you," Harry added as his daughter opened her mouth to retort. He folded the newspaper and stood. "Are we ready to go now?"

"Yes, I think so," Ginny replied, grabbing the three separate school lists from the counter. And the five of them were off to Diagon Alley.

Harry, Ginny, James, Al, and Lily met up with Ron, Hermione, Hugo, and Rose at the Leaky Cauldron. This was an annual tradition for the two families, who had begun it once Rose had started school.

As they walked behind the Leaky Cauldron and Ron began tapping the bricks, James put his arm around Rose.

"So, are you ready for your O.W.L. year?"

"Yes. What's there to be worried about?" Rose said as they walked through the archway leading into Diagon Alley.

"Well, half of my year had miniature meltdowns by the time the O.W.L.s actually came round. One girl even started having fainting spells," James said nonchalantly.

"Your stories don't scare me, James. I'll be fine," Rose said brightly.

"Just don't get behind on homework this year, sweetheart. It will take ages for you to catch up if you do," Ron warned.

"Yes, your father and your uncle would know all about that," Hermione laughed. "They were behind on homework within the first few days."

"Hey, I had detention with that horrible Umbridge hag, remember?" Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, and I was practicing for the Quidditch team," Ron said indignantly.

"Both of which could have been avoided," Hermione said.

They had arrived at Gringotts.

"Ron and I will go in to get the money and we'll meet up with you at the bookstore," Harry said to the group at large. Once they had entered the monstrous white building, the kids all turned to their parents at once.

"Can I go to Uncle George's joke shop?" James and Hugo said at once.

"Me too?" said Lily at once.

"Yes. Watch them, James," Hermione said, and the three of them hurried off.

"You two going anywhere?" Ginny said to Rose and Al.

The two exchanged the briefest of glances before Al spoke. "Yeah, um, I need to go to the Apothecary to get some potion ingredients."

"I'll go with him," Rose piped up.

"Okay, we'll be at the bookstore," said Ginny as the two started in the direction of the Apothecary.

"Be careful!" Hermione called after them.

"Do you actually need to go to the Apothecary, or were you just making that up?" Rose asked.

"I actually do need something there, but the general idea was to get away from our parents," Albus replied casually.

"That's what I thought," Rose laughed appreciatively.

The two wandered around for a bit aimlessly.

"Is that Knockturn Alley over there?" Rose said mischievously.

"Um, yeah, I think so. Why?" Al said with suspicion.

"Just curious," Rose said innocently.

Suddenly an odd silence fell on the crowd bustling up and down the street. The people seemed to part and it soon became obvious why. A group of about ten men was walking purposefully down the crowded street. All were clothed in stormy gray robes and their hoods were pulled up so that their faces were not visible to onlookers. Rose grabbed Al's arm and whispered, "They're coming toward us. They're going into Knockturn Alley."

Al nodded slightly as the troupe sliced through the crowd. They were upon the two in a few seconds, and the group paused in front of them as Al and Rose pressed themselves against the brick. Rose watched the group with fearful eyes.

The man at the front of the group advanced toward Rose, snarling, "Where is it?"

"W—where's what?" she gasped in fear.

"Knockturn Alley, you stupid girl!" The man shouted.

"Hey!" Al growled, stepping in front of Rose protectively. "I dunno about you, but we around here tend to ask for things politely, and we certainly don't yell at people for no reason."

"Excuse me?" the man said incredulously.

"You heard me, pal," Al said threateningly.

The man stared at Al for a long while before throwing his head back and laughing. The others in the group also began to laugh. "The audacity! How impressive. Must be a Gryffindor, am I right?"

Al nodded tightly.

"Well, boy, thank you for the lesson in manners, but we don't use manners when dealing with people." Suddenly the man's hand was around Al's throat. He began to lift Al from the cobblestone with ease, being quite a bit larger than Al.

"Oh, stop, please," Rose whimpered tearfully.

The man slammed Al into the brick mercilessly, and Rose screamed.

"Stop it! You're hurting him!" she cried.

The man let go, and Al fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. He grabbed Rose's wrist and pulled her closer to him. "Then tell me where Knockturn Alley is," the man breathed.

"It's right over there," Rose gasped, attempting to pull away. He slapped her with his free hand and pushed her hard as the group moved toward the alleyway.

Rose kneeled next to her cousin to check that he was okay. She looked up through her red hair and the man was sneering at her maliciously. Then he turned and walked away.