Hello, all! I'm finally back with an update! I never, ever meant it to go this long, dears. I just ended up going through a lot of personal things and had a bit of a tough time recently. And on top of that, I haven't had internet for several months. But, I've just recently gotten my internet back! And I'm settling down again. Things are still a bit busy, but I think it's safe to say you can all look forward to another chapter soon. It feels so good to be posting again!
I'm sorry if the quality of this isn't quite up to par. It's been a while. (Further apologies on that, dears.) All spelling/grammar mistakes are mine. If you'd take the time to review I'd appreciate it!
"So the next thing that happened that's worth talking about, I think, would be the day we went to Diagon Alley, then."
"Or at least, the day we tried to go to Diagon Alley," Ron said, smirking a little bit.
Harry turned a glare on him. "Oh, shut up."
"Hey, it's not my fault you managed to do… what you did," Ron said, avoiding giving anything away.
"What did you do?" Sirius asked immediately, looking back and forth between Ron's smirk and Harry's slightly reddening face.
"Well, we'd gotten a letter from Hermione. She'd given us the date that she'd be in Diagon Alley, so we all planned to go and get our school stuff then too," Ron said. "The only thing was, we were travelling by Floo Powder."
"Ah. You'd never travelled by Floo powder before, had you Harry?" Remus asked. Harry shook his head.
"No, I hadn't. So when Mrs. Weasley offered me the flowerpot they kept it in, I was thoroughly confused," he said, mumbling a little bit.
"I was apprehensive about letting him go on his own to begin with," Mrs. Weasley said. "We should have figured something else out. We could have avoided a whole lot of trouble and worry. Goodness, anything could have happened to you, dear, where you ended up… It's a miracle that nothing did go even more wrong…"
"Mum, stop worrying! He was fine!" Ron groaned.
"Wait, wait. Harry, where did you end up?" Sirius said, managing to look curious and a bit apprehensive at the same time.
"Well, see… I'd never even see anyone travel by Floo powder before I watched Fred and George go," Harry said. "And you were all telling me everything at once and threatening that I'd knock my elbows and fall out of the wrong grate and everything. So when I stepped in and took a breath to say where I wanted to go… I sort of, er… swallowed a bunch of ash."
"And then proceeded to choke out the words Diagon Alley through a major coughing fit," Ron said, chuckling.
Sirius groaned. "You could have ended up absolutely anywhere!"
Harry cringed. "I sort of… did, actually. I got all disoriented while I was moving, and then all of a sudden I fell out onto a very hard stone floor. Face first. And my glasses snapped in half, of course, so I had to clutch them to my face to see anything at all. And it was quite dark so I couldn't see much of anything anyway."
"Where were you though, Harry? You're avoiding that question," Remus said pointedly.
"I was sort of… in Borgin and Burke's," Harry said, mumbling slightly.
"What? You were in Borgin and Burke's? As in the Death Eater shop? In Knockturn Alley?" Sirius asked, looking like he was about to get up again, sitting very stiff and looking somewhat horrified.
"Yeah?" Harry said slowly. "I mean, it's not like I tried to be! I would never have chosen to go there. Everything in the store was sort of… well, gruesome. There was this old, withered hand. There were human bones, glass eyes. Strange, rusty metal things hanging from the ceiling. I didn't like it any more than you do. I tried to leave right away."
"But the word 'tried' implies that you didn't succeed in leaving?" Remus asked, looking like he knew the answer. Mrs. Weasley, meanwhile, was muttering to herself about how completely unsafe it had been and did they even realize how much could have gone wrong?
"Well, I made a beeline for the door, holding my glasses up so I could see. But before I got anywhere near the door, I saw some people show up outside the windows and start to walk in. A pair of blonde people. The very last people I wanted to see when I was lost, covered in soot, and had broken glasses," Harry said.
Ginny groaned. "Oh no. Malfoy?"
"Of course. And his father," Harry said, nodding.
Sirius looked like he was about reading to start growling in anger again. "Those bloody morons," he mumbled. "You did manage to get away from them, right?"
"If by that you mean hiding in a big cabinet until they went away, yes," Harry said, shrugging. "I just watched Mr. Malfoy haggling over prices on things he was selling for a while, and watched Draco walk around asking for things and complaining about how his dad promised to buy him something."
"Now that you mention it, I remember you telling me about that, Harry," Mr. Weasley said. "I remember saying that he must have been worried about something he had being found. I'd still absolutely love to get him on something…"
"But the Ministry's practically in love with him, the way he gives them 'donations' and everything," Sirius said disgustedly, shaking his head. "Just like what my father used to do. Bribe the Ministry with money so they turn a blind eye on anything you do."
"The Ministry is definitely corrupt, we can all agree on that," Remus said. "But what happened then, Harry? How did you get out of Knockturn Alley?"
"Oh…" Harry said, the attention suddenly turned back to him. "Well, I heard Malfoy complaining about how Harry Potter was so perfect and everybody loved him and his broomstick, how it wasn't fair because that Hermione Granger girl got such perfect grades and all the teachers favoured her and everything." He smiled a little when he saw Hermione's proud expression. "His dad basically told him to shut up, it was great. But as soon as the Malfoys had left and the shopkeeper had gone in back, I managed to sneak out to the alleyway. Which wasn't altogether comforting, honestly."
"No, it wouldn't be. Knockturn Alley has a distinct 'dark arts' feel to it," Remus said knowingly. Sirius nodded stiffly.
The Twins muttered something about how they'd still never been allowed down there, but with yet another stern look from their mother (Harry reckoned it had to be about the hundredth since they'd sat down) they fell silent.
"Not to mention, I stuck out like a sore thumb," Harry added. "I didn't quite fit in there. Everyone who saw me kept staring. And then one lady who was holding a tray of whole fingernails tried talking to me."
"Fingernails?" Ginny asked, looking slightly sick. "Why would she have a tray of fingernails?"
"I have no idea. She asked me if I was lost though. And I think I remember her calling me 'dearie' as well," Harry said, making a face as he remembered the creepy old woman. "But just then, thankfully, Hagrid showed up."
"Hagrid!" Sirius shouted, laughing, finally dropping the tense expression on his face. "Of course he would! Good old Hagrid. What was he doing in Knockturn Alley?"
"He'd gone to get some Flesh Eating slug Repellant, I think it was. But he just sort of grabbed me and dragged me away and then suddenly we were back in Diagon Alley," Harry said. "Hagrid brushed some of the soot away and I told him I'd gotten lost and had to find the Weasleys again."
"And thank goodness he'd found you, or Merlin only knows what might have happened to you," Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head. "All those dodgy people…"
"But he did," Harry said quickly. "And then we met up with Hermione, and then ran into you lot again. So it all turned out fine."
"Still. Knockturn Alley. Only you, Harry," Sirius said, shaking his head. "You get yourself into more trouble without trying than should be possible."
"Tell me about it," Harry muttered, making Ron chuckle beside him, Hermione rolling her eyes. "Anyway, we went to Gringotts and picked up our money, then shopped around for a while before meeting everyone back at Flourish and Blotts."
"And of course, that was the day Gilderoy Lockhart was there, so it was completely packed with witches," Ron said, sneaking a look over to Hermione, who was resolutely not meeting his eyes and turning somewhat red. Most everyone else rolled their eyes at the mention of Gilderoy Lockhart.
"He was doing a publicity signing for his new book. And of course, when he happened to spot me in the crowd, he shouted 'It can't be Harry Potter!' and he hauled me up there next to him to take pictures. I remember him saying something like 'Smile big now, Harry. Together we're worth the front page.'" Harry said, shaking his head. "And if that wasn't enough, he decided to tell everyone that I'd only stopped in to buy his new autobiography, but as a parting gift I'd be leaving with his complete collected works, free of charge."
"Don't forget the best Part, Harry. He decided to tell everyone a little secret he'd been holding onto for a while," Ron said. "It was the perfect time to announce it, really. Harry was only planning to get his biography, Magical Me, when he walked into the store, but in fact, he was going to be getting the real 'Magical Me'! Because he was going to be taking up the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Sirius looked a little bit sick to his stomach, while Remus snorted in amusement. Everyone who'd been taught by Lockhart during that school year just shook their heads. Harry was pretty sure he heard one of the Twins mutter something like 'useless slug'.
"Honestly," Mrs. Weasley said. "He can't have been that bad, can he?"
Her sons all looked at her like she was mad and like they didn't know where to start with correcting her. Harry shook his head. "You'll see, Mrs. Weasley."
Anyway, I managed to escape from being under Lockhart's grip and made my way back to where the Weasleys were. I gave Ginny the set of books he shoved at me. I didn't need them, I could buy my own," Harry said. He ignored Mrs. Weasley's proud smile and kept talking. "But of course, Malfoy showed up once again."
"What's he doing, following you around?" Sirius asked irritably.
"He didn't know Harry was in Knockturn Alley," Hermione said logically. "He was just being his usual slimy self and happened to be there."
"And of course, he was insulting me and everyone I was with, as he always does," Harry said. "And of course, Ron here got offended and tried to jump him."
"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.
Ron groaned. "I didn't actually jump him, Mum! And if you remember what dad did after Lucius Malfoy got there…"
"What did you do, Arthur?" Sirius asked, swiveling around to look at him, eyes gleaming slightly with pride and anticipation.
Mr. Weasley shrugged. "As my son so elegantly put it, I jumped him."
The Twins decided his actions deserved another round of applause, getting up and cheering. They eventually sat down under the withering look from their mother. Sirius, however, was oblivious to Mrs. Weasley's stare, laughing too hard to notice. Remus was even hiding his own sniggers behind his hand. He was the first of the two to sober up, saying, "In public, Arthur?"
"Well, he insulted my job, my family, and even the Grangers because they were muggles!" Mr. Weasley said, although he was grinning. "Someone needed to take him down a few notches."
"And of course, it had to be you?" Mrs. Weasley said sternly, if not a bit tiredly.
"I couldn't let him stand by and insult you and our family, Molly," he said seriously. Her stern expression broke.
"Well, it was still a good thing that Hagrid showed up and pulled the two of you apart."
"Hagrid did?" Sirius asked, finally calming down enough to be able to speak. "He's always around when you really need him, isn't he? And I can assume the fight ended rather quickly after he got there?"
"Of course it did. Hagrid practically lifted them both up and shoved them apart," Ron said. "And Malfoy's dad gave Ginny back the book he'd taken from her cauldron and they left."
Harry locked eyes with Hermione, both of them thinking the same thing. That was when the diary was passed. Lucius had slipped the diary inside the other book and nobody had known until Ginny had found it days later. But of course, she never would have expected that the diary was as dangerous as it really was…
The thought suddenly struck him as he looked over at Ginny, who was looking slightly pale. The whole retelling was hard for him, dredging up bits of his past that he'd rather forget. But the story of his second year would likely be just as hard as Ginny as it was for him. He hadn't been the only one Voldemort had manipulated that year.
He gave Ginny a slight nod and an attempt at an encouraging smile before he went on. "And we left a few minutes later, heading back to the Burrow."
"And this time, Harry managed to show up in the right place!" Fred said brightly.
"And he didn't even get himself into some kind of potentially deadly trouble!" George added.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I can do some things without almost dying, you know," he said.
"Well Prongslet, from what I've heard so far…" Sirius started, laughing when Harry sent him an irritated look.
"It's sort of like what I told you back in your third year," Remus said. "You inherited a knack for getting yourself into trouble, direct from your father. Although I'd say yours is a little… ah, stronger that his was."
"Well, my dad didn't have a crazy person obsessed with killing him, either," Harry said, smiling a little.
"True," Sirius said. "But you're still so much like James in so many ways. When I think about what he would have done if he were in your situations, a lot of times you act just like he would have."
"Except the part of your mother in you that owns the common sense," Remus said. "That, and compassion for others. That's probably helped you a lot as well."
Harry nodded, smiling a little bit. He'd heard it all before, how he was so alike his parents and everything. But it never stopped him from feeling proud.
At that moment, however, his scar gave an almighty twinge. He hissed in a breath between his teeth and let out an involuntary cry of pain, his hand involuntarily flying up to his forehead to try and press the pain away. He hadn't had pain in his scar since last night, but it was back again full force. As if to remind him that the contentment he'd started feeling wasn't permanent.
He heard Hermione call his name, sounding worried, but was distracted by the blurry vision of a body crumpling in a flash of green light behind his eyelids, which made him feel slightly sick. How many people was he going to see blurry visions of being killed before this was over? How many had to die?
"I'm fine," he mumbled quickly, attempting to pacify everybody he was with. The pain passed a few seconds later, and his vision cleared back up enough to see that everyone was looking frightened. He could hardly stop himself from rolling his eyes. Even Fred and George were silent and concerned.
"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I'm fine. It's no big deal when that happens, you know," he announced to everyone. "It's not like it hasn't happened before, or won't happen again. I'm not about to die or anything. It's only a little pain, which I can handle. Voldemort's just feeling particularly murderous this morning. And unfortunately, when he's particularly murderous or furious or excited or anything like that, I get to feel it too."
Some looked a bit sheepish, others still concerned. The thought crossed his mind yet again that he loved everyone around him, but they were all getting on his nerves with how on edge they were. And then he thought about how much of his second year they still had yet to go. The spiders. Hermione being petrified. And not to mention the chamber…
He saw Sirius open his mouth, likely to say something about how he shouldn't have to deal with the pain or that he was brave to do so.
"I'm fine!" Harry said quickly. He'd heard enough of that in the last few days. He gave his scar a final rub and then dropped his hands to his sides again, scar only prickling now. "Anyway, we spent the last weeks at the Burrow. Not too much happened in those few weeks. So I suppose the next thing that would be interesting… King's Cross Station."
Hopefully that was alright! I'd appreciate it very much if you could leave a review, dears. My biggest motivator, as always, is you all. Thank you!