Chapter Seven
Preparing For Hogwarts
Harry and Ginny had split up from the others. They were to meet up back at the Leaky Cauldron. Their first stop was Madam Malkin's, Harry's robes where too short, and his sleeves where halfway up his lower arm. After they left Madam Malkin's, they went to get their new books from Flourish and Blott's. Lucky for Harry, Hagrid had given him a copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, and the terrified shop keeper didn't have to reach into the pen to retrieve one. Ginny didn't need one until next year.
"They keep tearing each other up!" exclaimed the terrified man.
Luckily, Harry's had come with a belt around it, so it would not attack him when he'd opened the gift. It hadn't made sense then, but it did now. The book was literally a monster.
They gathered their new books and headed from the shop. The next stop was the Apothecary. Harry was running low on his basic potion ingredients, and Ginny was completely out.
The Apothecary always gave Harry and edgy feeling. It was always sort of dark, and sinister. He was glad when they finally left the shop.
As they were walking to the Leaky Cauldron to wait for the others to turn up, they passed Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and decided to just get a little treat. They continued on their way to the Leaky Cauldron as they licked the quickly melting ice cream.
When they arrived, the bar was nearly empty. Harry and Ginny made their way to a quiet corner of the bar. They sat in a booth across from each other, talking about useless things like animals and colors, but it was pleasant all the same.
It was about an hour later before the others turned up. They were each carrying large packages. Ron seemed more jovial than ever.
"Harry, Harry! Look at my new wand! Fourteen inches, willow with unicorn tail-hair! Isn't it beautiful?" Ron said clearly very excited.
"That's great, Ron!" Harry fed into Ron's happiness.
"How come I don't get a new wand, mum?" Ginny complained.
"Your wand is in fair condition; however, Ron's was snapped in two because he decided to steal your father's car last year. Bloody lucky he hadn't kill Harry or himself. It's a miracle we'd even got the thing back." Molly rambled.
Ron looked embarrassed, and had turned a deep scarlet. His head was in a deep bow to the floor.
Hermione came into view holding a large carrier.
"What do you have there?" Harry pointed at the thing she was carrying.
"Well, I got a cat. His name's Crookshanks." Hermione smiled.
"Bloody creature tried to eat Scabber's as soon as we walked into the owl emporium!" Ron complained quite loudly.
"Ron, Scabber's is just fine." Hermione snapped.
"Anyways, we must be off, soon," Arthur said, "So gather your things and we'll use Tom's fireplace to floo back home."
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The hours turned into day, and the days into weeks, and before Harry knew it, the very next day he'd be getting on the Hogwarts Express to return to school for his third year. He was still very upset about not getting his permission form in, but there was no way that Vernon would have signed it.
Harry sat alone in Ron's room, finishing up a few final assignments that were due when he returned to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was Harry's true home. The Dursley's was a prison that kept him locked up and magic free. He didn't like not being able to use his magic. It was so much simpler to use magic than to do things the muggle way, and besides, using magic made him feel free.
Harry began to get a cramp in his hand and decided to take a break. He stood up from the battered desk and stretched as a yawn erupted from deep inside him. He walked over to the open window and looked into the starry night. Hedwig hadn't been around for about a day now, but she'd turn up.
Harry hadn't gotten any other letters from the stranger since the one he'd gotten while in this very room with Ginny.
Ginny. She'd been occupying his thoughts for almost his entire stay at the Weasley's. Other than a select few occasions, Ginny had been the only one to actually hang out with him. Hermione and Ron did so a bit, but that wasn't much. It didn't even compare to the amount of time spent with Ginny.
Harry continued to look into the night. Like a lightning bolt, pain seared his forehead. It was the first time in over a year that his scar had hurt like this. Harry fell to his knees with a very loud thud. He grabbed at his forehead, but the pain didn't cease. Then a light and airy feeling washed over him. The pain was gone.
Harry pulled himself to his feet. He'd fallen completely over. He rubbed his scar gingerly as if at any moment the pain would oppress him again. Harry realized, by the steady 'thump, thump, thump' and heavy breathing, that everyone had heard him hit the floor, and someone was coming to check on him.
He quickly threw himself back into writing his transfiguration essay just as the door was flung open. Harry flipped his head around in fake surprise to see Molly and Arthur both breathing hard and red-faced.
"Are you okay?" Harry tried his best to sound completely innocent.
"We thought something had happened. Where heard thudding. We just wanted to make sure you were okay." Puffed Arthur.
"Are you okay, dear?" Molly wheezed slightly, but was recovering quickly.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just finishing my essay." He answered deliberately slightly slower than normal.
"Okay, then. We'll leave you be." Arthur ushered Molly out, gave one last glance at Harry and to the open window and then left, closing the door behind him.
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Harry had long finished his essay, but he stayed upstairs alone. He was running his fingers over his scars, and every once in a while, he'd go over one of his newer gashes. The ones he'd made while still at the Dursley's had long been healed, thanks to an anti-infection potion he'd found in the Weasley's potion cupboard. The new ones, however, were very recent. He'd only done them it two days ago.
He and Ron had had a row about Ginny. Ron didn't like it that Harry seemed to be all 'lovey-dovey' on his sister. Harry, in turn, didn't agree that Ron could tell him he couldn't be fond of Ginny. It hadn't lasted very long, but by the time that Ron had apologized, Harry had already done the dirty. Harry suspected Ron was a bit high-strung because Scabber's just seemed to hide all day long now that Crookshanks was around. Anyways, now there were six, very deep and very tender, gashes on his left arm.
Harry hung his head low. He was ashamed of himself, but it had made him feel better. He didn't know what to think anymore.
Finally, Ron had come up for bed. He changed in silence, and as he did so, Harry slipped out of the room to use the restroom. He tip-toed down the steps, careful to miss the creaky ones that might wake someone. Then just as he reached the bottom, he heard his name spoken is a hushed tone.
"Harry should know, Molly. Fudge is keeping it hushed up from him, like he's a mere child." Arthur was arguing, "He has a right to know about Black, and he needs to be warned."
"Arthur, do you not realize that it would terrify him. What's he supposed to think? He has a very serious murderer on his trail!" Mrs. Weasley whispered angrily.
"My intentions are not to frighten him, Molly; I want him to be aware! If He knows what's going on, the better he'll behave this year, he'll be more careful." Arthur spat back. "If he doesn't know, well I can't bear to think about all the risky things he may attempt, not knowing his life could be in danger. Black is mad Molly."
"All you have to do is tell him to not do anything out of line, Arthur. You do not have to tell him that the man his parent's put so much trust into betrayed them. You don't have to tell him anything in detail." Molly was pleading now, worrying solely about how terrified Harry would be if he knew.
The only thing is that Harry wasn't terrified, surprised, yes, but not scared.
"He will get to Harry, Molly. One way or another, he will. He escaped from Azkaban for Merlin's sake! He is clever and determined. It's been weeks, and there still no one's seen hide nor hair of him." Arthur stated angrily. "I'm going to tell him, whether you like it or not."
"Fine, Arthur. Do what you have to do, just try to not frighten the poor boy. He's already had so much going on." Molly whispered, clearly defeated.
"Hey, don't worry. I won't frighten Harry. I promise." Arthur reassured her.
Harry, knowing that the conversation was over, made his presence known by faking coming down the stairs, deliberately making as much noise as possible.
"Evening, Harry." Was Arthur's greeting. Molly just smiled, wiping her cheeks clean of the tears that she had shed.
