Harry stepped through the hole in the wall and began walking to the ice cream shop. He was dressed in his new black robe and had the diary tucked away in one of the pockets. The alley was slightly more crowded than the previous day. Harry didn't mind as this would provide him more targets and more cover while he was practicing. In a few minutes he was going to be starting his legilemency training. He was excited, but nervous at the same time. If he got caught he had no clue what might happen to him.

"What can I get for you?" a voice pulled Harry out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?" Harry then realized he had reached his destination and had been standing in front of the counter "Oh, I'll have an ice cream cone with pumpkin flavored ice cream please."

"Certainly, that will be one galleon." Harry watched as the man flicked his wand and the ice cream scooped itself into a cone he was holding. After paying he made his way over to the bench he had sat on yesterday.

Once he sat down Harry pulled out the diary and a quill and began to write to Tom.

Okay I'm in a spot. How do I use legilemency? (Harry)

There are two ways, one is without your wand and the other uses your wand. For now you are going to do it without your wand since you are only concentrating on emotions. You will pick someone and then concentrate like you do for wandless magic and say legilems. Eye contact makes it easier to accomplish, but that would be too obvious. That's all there is to it. Do not press with your magic or you will start going deeper into their mind and if they have any occlumency you will be found out. Now begin and tell me of your results when you have finished. (Tom)

Harry closed the diary and tucked it back into his pocket. He didn't want to get lost in his concentration and risk having someone snatch the book up. Harry thought about finishing his ice cream before starting, but then decided it worked better if he didn't. Because who was really going to accuse an 11 year old boy eating ice cream of invading their mind?

Just then a woman went up to purchase some ice cream. The woman wasn't very tall, but not short either. She had curly brown hair and an oval face. Her eyes were blue, and her nose looked to tiny and out of proportion with the rest of her head. Harry decided she would make a fine first attempt. He let himself fall into his mind like he did so often now. He had become quite good at it, and it came happened much faster now. Legilems. For a split second Harry felt something, but he wasn't sure what. The sudden rush of emotion had given him a shock and he had broken the connection. Now that he knew what to expect he would be ready for it.

The woman hadn't left yet, and she appeared to be flirting with the man behind the counter. Harry decided to give it another try. Legilems This time he was ready for the rush, but it didn't make it any easier to tell what she was feeling. There was a mix, but mostly it seemed she was happy. Harry pulled himself out, and scrunched his face up in confusion. "That seemed way too easy, why do I have to practice it?" He was confused. That took no effort at all. Deciding it couldn't hurt to try again, Harry picked another person. This time it was a short balding man dressed in some faded black robes. Legilems. Just like before Harry got in without too much difficulty, but what happened next caught him off guard. He was thrown out of the mind.

"Woah" Harry was nervous for a minute as the man seemed to be looking around for the culprit, as he looked at Harry he paused and then shook his head and kept going. Now he understood why he needed to practice. The man had noticed what he was doing and used occlumency to push him out. He would have to be more prepared for things like that if he was going to keep doing this.

For another hour Harry occupied himself with scanning different people to see how they were feeling. In total he had only been thrown out three times, and had managed to avoid two other attempts at throwing him out. Overall he had thought it went relatively well. Before he told Tom of his progress he decided to get some dinner since he was famished.

He walked to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron and tapped the bricks. Walking in he told Tom what he wanted and paid the bartender as he took a seat at a small table. When his food appeared it reminded Harry of Twink, and his future house. Once he finished dinner he decided to call the elf and find out the progress.

It didn't take him long to finish, only about ten minutes and soon he was up in his room diary out and ready to start again. First he called Twink though.

"Master Potter has called Twink?" The elf asked when it appeared.

"Yes I wanted to know how the repairs were going on the house." Harry told the creature.

"Oh, they is going wonderful master. But there is still lots to be done. Twink will need more time..." Seeing the elf was nervous after saying the last part Harry told him it was fine and not to worry. He wasn't in any rush to move at the moment. Harry dismissed Twink and told him to go back to work. The elf left with a soft pop, and then it was just Harry.

He filled Hedwig's water dish and then began to write. He told Tom of everything that had happened during his practice, and about the house.

Yes, I'm glad you realized what happened; I would have been displeased had you asked me. Now you know why you must start small, if you had tried to go all out and read memories you might have become trapped. (Tom)

Trapped? Harry did not like how that sounded.

It is a rather advanced form of occlumency. If you are detected the oculems could close their barriers and trap you, and then they could force you to relive one moment of pain they experienced over and over. It is very dangerous and highly frowned upon by the Ministry of Magic.

That definitely wasn't good, and Harry decided he would be extra cautious when poking around in other people's minds.

Now, tell me how far you have come with your Occlumency. Harry told him the defense he had so far, and for the most part Tom seemed to think it was acceptable.

It will work, but I want you to work on adding just a blank sky over top of the shield you already have. That way an intruder will have to go through something to access your memories, it gives you more time to stop them.

Harry read over what Tom wanted him to do and after telling him that he was going to attempt it, shut the diary. Harry laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. By now he had practiced this enough he could almost instantly make himself fall into his meditation like state. The process of adding a new layer was going to take some time and Harry quickly went to work.

After some time Harry had gotten almost nowhere, and cursed himself for forgetting to look into his occlumency book to begin with. So far it was nothing like adding the first layer, because every time he tried to put the second layer on top, his memories would move on top of it, which defeated the purpose entirely. Resigning himself to having to read, Harry pulled himself out of his mediation state.

Not really feeling like having to get up, Harry used his wand to quickly summon the book to him. He used the table of contents to find what he was looking for, and turned to somewhere in the middle of the book. After reading the page over a couple of times it seemed like it was going to be a much more complex process than he thought. It turned out it wasn't like the first one at all. Where he had just been able to will it there in way, this one would have to be "weaved" into the first layer. He would have to use his magic to tie the new layer to the old. The book described it as a complex process that would most likely take hours to complete.

Groaning a little at the ridiculous amount of work necessary for one blank shield, Harry lay back down and let himself fall into his mediation once again. He got started right away, not wanting to take any more time than necessary. He let himself feel everything around him. The sensations were intense, and the feeling of raw magic power was euphoric. So much so that he nearly became lost in the sensations. FOCUS a voice shouted. That snapped him out of it and made him lose his hold on the magic.

"Who said that?! " Harry shouted, forgetting he was in his own mind. Their couldn't possibly be anyone else there. He decided it must have been his subconscious self. Harry gathered himself up and tried again to weave his magic into a new layer. After another hour and a half of no success he finally withdrew from his mind.

Once he awoke from his comatose state he slammed is fists down on the bed. "Why can't I get it to work!" He took out the diary again and began writing to Tom. He recounted his attempts to him in full detail hoping Tom would tell him what he had done wrong. His frustrations only grew though when he received no response. Still frustrated from his failure earlier, Harry attempted to put his anger into words so Tom could see how mad he was, but this backfired on him completely.

Do not take your frustration out on me. YOU CAN DO NOTHING TO HURT ME. But I can make you do anything. (Tom)

And then Harry felt himself passing out, but he wasn't really passing out. It was more like he was falling into his mediation state and could still see what was happening around him. Something wasn't right though. He was moving. How could that be? Harry watched with growing confusion as he took his wand and pointed it at a chair. With a wave of the wand the chair flew into the air. Then it was over, and Harry found himself back in control. He looked to the open book for answers.

What was that?! (Harry)

I was teaching you a lesson. Do not cross me. I am the one with the power. Now, I knew you would fail with your occlumency.

What? How did you know I would fail?

It is simply to complex of a process for you to grasp at this time. I have no doubt that by next year you might be able to though.

Then why assign me something I was going to fail at? Harry was getting angry again, but he needed to stay in control of his emotions for now.

Did you pay attention to anything I told you? It was all a lesson. I was testing you to see how hard you were willing to work, and how you dealt with failure. And I must say, you failed the second part rather spectacularly.

That last sentence hit Harry hard. He had failed and then not only had he failed, but he had taken it out on his mentor. The man who was teaching him to be great. He was disappointed in himself. He was a Slytherin; he shouldn't have lost control like that.

It was only his first day of training and it was already getting to him. He needed to distract himself with something else for awhile. He noticed Hedwig on her perch and decided to write to Blaise and Daphne. He didn't want to lose his only real friends so far by not keeping in touch. He decided to write his letter to Blaise first.

Blaise,

Hey it's Harry. I wanted to let you know I was wrong for being angry at you and Daphne on the ride home. Hopefully you aren't too mad at me. I took your advice and wrote to Daphne and told her the same thing I just told you. Anyway, that's all I really had to say, hopefully we get to see each other over the break, but if not I hope you have an enjoyable summer.

Harry

The letter was short and to the point, just like his first one to Daphne had been. He put it aside and started on his letter for Daphne.

Daphne

It would be nice to see you sometime over the summer, and I hope we manage to. I'm glad you somewhat forgive me, even if it isn't fully. You and Blaise are my two closest friends, and to lose either of you because I couldn't control myself would have been terrible. I'm going to end here, because I'm actually doing some summer work. Hope to hear from you soon.

Harry

After reading through both letters again, Harry concluded that his letter writing ability was not very good. Most likely because he had never had anyone to write to before. For the time being they were passable, and as he wrote more they would most likely improve anyway.

He called Hedwig over, and tied both letters to her leg. Surprisingly she made no fuss at all. Harry gave his owl a questioning stare.

"What's this? No pecks, no 'you're an idiot' stare, and not even a single hoot of displeasure. Are you feeling okay?" Harry questioned his bird. Hedwig for her part just ignored him, and flew towards the window. Harry was really confused now. Was his owl sick? He got the answer to his question when heard a whoosh of wings and a sharp peck a second later on the back of his head. He turned just in time to see his bird fly out the window again, and he swore it was smirking at him. "Ruddy good for nothing bird!" Harry called out the window after her. He couldn't believe it; he had just been had by a bird. This was turning out to just not be his day.

He checked the time and found that it was around six thirty. Not really feeling in the mood for dinner, Harry decided to practice with wandless magic a little more. He sat cross-legged on top of his bed and concentrated on the quill he had been using to write his letters. In his mind, it was the only thing in the room. Wingardium Leviosa the thought rang in his head. And the quill moved. It didn't float or leave the table, but it shook a little. Concentrating harder he repeated the spell. This time the feather started to lift, but never left the table. After another half an hour of practicing he had managed to get the feather about an inch off the table and keep it suspended. It wasn't much, but progress was good. Not having the energy to tell Tom about it, Harry changed out of his new robes and into his sleeping clothes. Then he laid down on the bed and reflected on his day. He had started doing some serious work, and if he wanted to be the best he knew he had to keep at it. Yet he couldn't help but recall that Tom could take possession of him. And for the first time, Harry really began to wonder about just what he had gotten himself into.

The weeks seemed to be flying by for Harry. Tomorrow was going to be his birthday already. While it went quick, that didn't mean it was easy. Quite the contrary, when Harry had told Tom he managed some wandless magic, Tom was thrilled. He had not thought Harry would be able to get any results for at least a week. This made Harry happy as well, because it seemed Tom had forgotten he was angry with him.

He wasn't to learn everything wandlessly just yet. For now he was only to practice spells that would have some practical use. After he had managed to get a hang of the levitation charm he had moved on to the disarming charm. It was taking time, and seemed like such tedious work, but Tom assured him that it would become much easier after he had the hang of four or five spells. The disarming spell, was a more powerful spell than the levitation charm, but Harry was still making progress. He had managed to knock over the chair and throw it back about a foot earlier.

His wandless abilities weren't the only thing to improve though. His skill with legilemency, while still mediocre was greatly improving. He hadn't been thrown out of someone's mind in two weeks. Once he managed three weeks of scanning with no error, Tom had said they could move onto looking for surface thoughts instead of emotions.

While the two things took up most of his time, he wasn't completely absorbed by the work he was doing. He had stayed in touch with Daphne and Blaise like he had wanted. And with any luck he would be seeing Daphne tomorrow, for a little while at least. Blaise was out of the country though, visiting relatives for a few weeks.

Daphne had convinced her parents to take her shopping for the next school year early, so as to avoid the crowd. She had told Harry they were going to get there around noon, and would be arriving through the Leaky Cauldron. So lucky for Harry, all he had to do was go downstairs and pretend to be eating lunch or a late breakfast. He hadn't told his friends about where he was staying yet. He didn't want anyone to pity him, and while he didn't think his friends would he wasn't going to take unnecessary chances.

His relationship with the owl from hell hadn't improved one bit. In fact, it seemed like the bird was making it into a game of sorts. To see how many ways she could trick him. Like the other day for example, Hedwig was laying down, as best an owl can, not moving. Harry found that strange because usually she would be up on her perch. He took an owl treat out of the box and walked over to where the bird was sprawled. At first he poked her, and got no response. He tried softly calling her name and still nothing. He was getting a tad worried now, and waved the treat under her beak. This resulted in him nearly having his fingers bit off. The greedy bird had just wanted a treat. Harry made the situation worse by accusing the bird of being fat and greedy. He spent the next 15 minutes dodging a bird hell bent on pecking his eyes out.

A soft pop drew Harry's attention away from his thoughts. He had his wand aimed at the sound of the noise, but put it back in its holster upon seeing it was only Twink. He had nearly forgotten about his elf, and the house.

"Master Potter sir, I has finished the house sir!"

"Really? That's excellent! When do you think I can go see it?" Harry asked his excited little servant.

"Yous could be going right now to see it sir, right now. I will take you!" By now the elf was jumping up and down in excitement.

It was still early so there would be plenty of time to visit the house. "Sure let's go Twink. But how can you take me?"

"Just hold onto my arm master Potter sir." The elf held out his arm and Harry grabbed on. With a pop the two were no longer in the room at the Leaky Cauldron, but standing outside of a small two floor modest looking house. It was a plain white color on the outside and the door was green. Perhaps the most eye catching thing about it was the silver knocker on the door. It shone dimly in the setting sun, and seemed to light up the eyes of the serpent. It was finely crafted and every scale on the snake could be clearly felt and seen. The interior looked brand new. Everything was spotless and in place. Upon first entering Harry found himself facing a staircase directly in front of him, with a small hall next to it, and a door to his left and right. He could see what appeared to be a kitchen at the end of the hallway, and decided to ignore that, as Twink would be doing all the cooking anyway.

He opened the door to the left first, and found an empty room. The floor was wood paneling, and the walls appeared to be stone.

"Umm, Twink, what exactly is this room for?" Harry asked the elf with all his confusion evident.

"This is a practicing room for you master Potter sir. Twink was thinking you would need an area to try your spells and such. Oh noes, was Twink wrong? I'm sorry master, bad Twink should be punished!" Harry tried to stop him but was just a tad bit late as Twink promptly smashed his head against the stone wall.

"Stop! I'm not upset, this is great! It will come in quite handy, thank you Twink. Now come on, show me the rest of the house."

The room to the right turned out to be a living room. In it were two medium sized couches, both of them were green with silver trimming. The floor was stones, but in the center there was a rug that spread out under the legs of the table there. At the end of one couch sat a small end table. The most prominent feature of the room was the fireplace. It was almost an exact model of the one in the Slytherin common room. In fact, Harry noticed after a second glance that the whole room was a scaled down version of the common room at Hogwarts.

The only other room downstairs was a small area with a dining table and a few chairs. Presumably this is where he would be eating his meals. On the way upstairs Twink spoke up in a nervous voice.

"I has only finished the bedroom up here, Twink wasn't sure what to make the other rooms into, please don't be mad sir." Harry assured his worried elf that it was quite alright. The bedroom was to the left and not very large, it was only a little bigger than the dining area. It had one large bed in the middle of the room, his trunk lay at the foot of the bed (apparently Twink had taken the liberty of brining his stuff here), Hedwig's perch was next to the only window in the room, and there was one door that led to the bathroom.

Overall the house was nothing extravagant or spacious, but that would work just fine as it would only be Harry living there. It wouldn't draw too much attention hopefully. He didn't need any questions as to why he was living on his own at such a young age.

By the time he finished looking around his new house it was around seven. He decided to tell Tom about the house, before going to bed, since he had a long day tomorrow. He went back upstairs to his new bedroom and opened his trunk. He pulled out the diary and a quill and began writing.

Tom my elf finished repairing the house I had it working on, so I am going to be staying there now.

That is good news, it could not have happened at a more perfect time either.

Why is it a perfect time?

I will tell you when I feel you need to know, until then you will not worry about it.

This answer didn't satisfy Harry at all, and apparently Tom knew this.

Yes I know this is not what you wanted to hear nor do I care. You will listen to me or I will destroy you, it is as simple as that. Do you understand?

Harry wanted to argue back, but he wisely bit his tongue as an image of him being controlled flashed across his mind.

Yes.

After responding Harry shut the diary, and threw it into his trunk. He wasn't sure what was going on anymore, and he was really beginning to worry. What had Tom meant by destroy him? Then he collapsed to his knees, his body was shaking and it felt like he was having fire run through his veins.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" He let out a scream that got the attention of his house elf.

"Master Potter sir!" The elf yelled.

Then it stopped, and Harry looked up at his elf and spoke.

"Leave elf, go back downstairs and do not come back up tonight." His voice was dead, and Twink wanted to fight his orders, but could not since it came from his master's body.

As soon as the elf was gone Harry began to speak again. "You will not show me disrespect again, I decide when we are done talking. Let this be a lesson to you, do not cross me."

Just like that it was over, and Harry was back in control of his body. He was sprawled on the floor, and all he could feel was pain. None of it seemed to be subsiding and his vision began to darken.

There were seven black cloaked figures around him. Each had their hood up and a pure white mask with two slits for the eyes. A few had their wands aimed at him, but most just seemed to be relaxed and watching him. His right arm was in excruciating pain, and he couldn't move it. Very slowly he stood up and took everything in. He had his wand in his left hand, his robes were torn, and his face was bleeding. Yet he couldn't remember how it happened. Had he been in a fight? Two of the figures in the circle parted and Tom stepped into it.

"Tom? What's going here?" Harry practically yelled at the boy.

"Don't worry Harry, someday you'll get the chance to join my most worthy of followers, but for now you will just have to endure and persevere, or die." Tom pointed his wand at Harry and then a sickly yellow light flew at him.

Harry sat upright so fast it made him dizzy, and it was made worse by a squeak of fear. Once the world stopped spinning Harry took in his surroundings, Twink was a few feet away with a rag in his hand.

"Twink? What are you doing here, and what's that rag for?"

" You was shaking and sweating, so I had a rag for yous head."

"Thank you Twink, that was very thoughtful, but I'm fine really. Just a strange dream. What time is it?"

" It's a little after nine o clock master Potter sir. Would you be liking some breakfast now?"

Glad that he wasn't late to meet Daphne, Harry told his elf that breakfast would be wonderful, but he was going to take a shower first. Twink told him it was no problem, the food would be ready when he was done. So an hour later, Harry was showered and had eaten his breakfast. It was a few minutes after ten, that left two hours before he had to be at the Leaky Cauldron. He decided to practice his wandless magic for a while to pass some time. His wandless disarming spell was getting stronger and stronger every time he practiced it. At the pace he was going it should only be a few more days before it was up to par with the one he could cast using a wand.

It was almost eleven, and having nothing else to do Harry got ready to go to the Leaky Cauldron. He decided to take the diary with him when he left. He had had just about enough of whatever Tom was doing, and he was going to get rid of the diary. Part of him was sad that he would no longer have someone to teach him, but he knew it was for the best, he didn't want to be a servant to anyone. With only twenty minutes to go before he was supposed to meet Daphne, Harry asked Twink to take him back to the Leaky Cauldron. Twink was happy to help and in a few seconds they were no longer in the house, but instead were downstairs in the dimly lit pub.

"Harry! Where were ya last night?!" You missed supper and I went up to check on you, but the room was empty." Tom had seen Harry and come right over to question him.

In his excitement over having a home Harry forgot to tell Tom he would no longer be staying in the little room upstairs.

"Oh! Sorry Tom, didn't mean to worry you, I have an actual house now, so I will be staying there from now on."

"Oh ok, no worries mister Potter. You're all paid up on the room so that's fine. Hope you enjoyed your stay. If you ever need a room in the future just let me know. " The friendly bar owner told him.

Harry thanked him, and then went and sat down at one of the stools up by the counter while he waited. He didn't have t long of a wait it turned out, because ten minutes later Daphne walked through the door followed by a woman Harry presumed was her mother. The two looked very similar and would have been identical had they been the same age. It didn't take long for Daphne to notice Harry, and she made her way over to him. Before Harry could say anything, she hugged him.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" She said cheerfully.

This caught Harry off guard completely. Normally she would be very reserved and not show much affection, even in private let alone out in the public. It seemed Mrs. Greengrass was shocked by her daughter as well.

"Daphne, what are you doing? That is no way for a pureblood heiress to act in public." Her mother berated her.

Daphne quickly let go once her mother started talking, and looked down at her feet embarrassed. She was starting to blush and Harry might have teased her about it except for the fact that her mother was right there.

"Sorry mother, I was just excited to see Harry and I forgot myself." Daphne apologized.

Her mother sighed before responding, "I'll excuse it this time since it is your first. Next time you will be punished though. Now, who is your friend here? Harry you said his name was?"

Harry spoke up now, "Hello Mrs. Greengrass, I'm Harry Potter."

"Potter? And how exactly did a Potter come to be friends with my daughter, a Slytherin." Mrs. Greengrass seemed skeptical.

"Well ma'am I'm also in Slytherin."

Shock was evident on the older woman's face, but only for a moment. She quickly composed herself. "My my, that is a surprise to hear. Who am I to judge though, I'm sure you must have been sorted there for a reason. Well Harry, although I have a sneaking suspicion you already know, Daphne and I are going shopping for school supplies. Would you care to join us?"

Harry accepted the invitation and thanked Mrs. Greengrass. The three of them made their way across the pub and out the back entrance into the Alley. Harry and Daphne walked a little behind her mother chatting idly about the classes for the coming year and what they wanted to learn. Mrs. Greengrass would occasionally interject with something about when she went to Hogwarts, but for the most part seemed content to just listen to the two.

The first stop was the robe store . Daphne had grown a little and some of her robes were too short so she would need new ones. Since Harry had just bought his he sat with Mrs. Greengrass and watched as the magical tape measure took all of Daphne's measurements. It didn't take too long to get all the robes Daphne would need, and they were soon on their way to the next shop. They stopped at the apothecary to pick up what they would need for Potions, and both got a few extras of each ingredient just in case of a mistake. They went to the counter and paid the man, and then went back outside to meet Daphne's mother. She hadn't gone in because she did not like the smell and said it made her dizzy.

The book store was next, and it seemed like almost the entire book list was written by some guy named Lockhart. When Harry asked who he was, both Daphne and her mother looked at him like he was an idiot.

"You've never heard of Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry?! He is like the biggest celebrity in the Wizarding world. Almost every girl has a crush on him. He claims to have done many amazing things, but my mother and father both say he is a fraud." Daphne explained.

"That's because he is, no man could have done all the things that man claims to have done, and still care so much about his appearance. Besides, if you had read the books you would see there are many time discrepancies. I think he claimed to have fought Vampire's in Transylvania the same time he was fighting Werewolves in Albania. Which even for a wizard is not physically possible." Mrs. Greengrass told them.

Once they got to the bookstore Mrs. Greengrass told them not to leave and she would be back in a little while because she had a few non school related errands to run. They both agreed and went in.

It didn't take them long at all to gather all their books since most of the ones they needed were pulled up front on displays. The two really didn't have much to talk about so they spent the time in a comfortable silence. Ten minutes passed and the two were in a section of books towards the back of the store and finally Daphne spoke up.

"Oh Harry, I have to give you your gift!"

"Gift? What for?" Harry was confused.

"It's your birthday! Now close your eyes, it isn't wrapped and I want you to be surprised." Daphne ordered him.

Harry did as he was told and waited. And then he felt something soft touch his lips. He opened his eyes to see Daphne's face. She had kissed him. Just as quick as it happened she stopped.

Harry was speechless and all he could manage to get out was "Wow."

Daphne was blushing a little, but seemed to gain confidence from the fact that Harry was smiling and hadn't freaked out.

"So did you like it Harry?" Daphne teased him.

Harry still was a little confused but spoke anyway, "Well I was surprised," and they shared a little laugh together at that. Then something dawned on him. "Umm Daphne, what does that make us now?"

"I was thinking about that while I was planning this. We're still friends I just don't think I'm ready for a boyfriend. We are still pretty young after all. I just wanted to let you know I was interested.

That worked for Harry and he agreed with Daphne, they were still young he had just turned twelve for Christ's sake! But at the same time it was nice knowing Daphne liked him as more than a friend. He couldn't explain it, but it gave him a comforting feeling to know that someone actually cared about him.

The two just stood there for a minute letting everything sink in. They started towards the front of the store figuring Mrs. Greengrass would be back soon. Unfortunately they ran into someone that made Harry let out a groan. The noise drew the attention of said girl and she turned to address the two of them.

"Oh hello Potter. And Daphne is it?" It appeared the girl had mellowed out a bit from the beginning of the year, but that didn't mean Harry was going to change his mind about her.

"Granger, please move out of the way." Harry didn't want to be around her any longer than he had to. Then he had an idea, and as she moved out of the way he dropped the diary into her satchel. He didn't care about what happened to her, she was just a muggleborn anyway. Tom could be her problem now. The two Slytherins went and paid for their books together. And like they had guessed Mrs. Greengrass showed up right as they had finished.

She noticed the smiles on their faces and knew instantly what the cause of it was. She still remembered her first kiss, and she had almost the same expression they did now. She wouldn't make it awkward for them by bringing it up, but if this developed into something she would just keep a closer eye on them as they got older. For now it was probably just an innocent crush.

"It's getting later and we have to be home for dinner with your father Daphne. Let's head back to the Leaky Cauldron so we can floo home." She told them.

The two children followed her down the sidewalks and into the pub. Once in there, the two Greengrass females said goodbye to Harry. Mrs. Greengrass has told him it was very nice to meet him, and Daphne had reminded him to keep writing her during the summer. Once they had both stepped into the floo and it had turned back to normal Harry called Twink and had him take him home. Harry decided this was definitely the best birthday ever.