Chapter 9

Diagon Alley Again

The two weeks following his birthday were two of the best Harry had all summer. He attended his second Order of the Phoenix meeting, and eagerly awaited the third. In exchange for being in the Order, he continued working on his Occlumency with Snape, moving on to working at getting rid of emotions so that he could lie in front of Voldemort. Harry found this even more difficult than blocking off his mind, much to Snape's utter enjoyment. With one mention of James or Sirius, Snape could cause Harry to lose any control he had gained.

At the moment, however, Harry was not worried about Occlumency, or Voldemort, or anything else for that matter. He slept peacefully in a cozy bed, oblivious to the streaming sun shine and Ron's loud snores. That was until the mail arrived.

"Harry, Ron, wake up!" screamed Hermione, slamming their door loudly as she scampered into the room.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" asked Harry, sitting bolt upright in his bed and groping for his wand.

"Our O.W.L. scores have arrived!" she shrieked back, throwing an official looking envelope at him.

"Is that all?" mumbled Ron, rolling back over and sticking a pillow over his head.

"Don't you want to know what you got?"

"I don't need that piece of parchment to tell me that I failed miserably," came Ron's muffled reply.

"You want to know, don't you Harry?"

Harry would prefer to fall back to sleep, but curiosity slowly crept over him. Inside that envelope lay the answer to whether or not he would be able to become an Auror. "How did you do, Hermione?" Harry inquired as he slit open the top of his envelope.

"I'm too nervous to open it yet," she confessed.

Ron mumbled something incoherent from under his pillow.

"Well I don't see you tearing yours open either, Ronald."

"I already told you, I don't need a piece…"

"So how did you do, Harry?" Hermione cut Ron off in mid sentence.

Harry reached for his glasses and scanned the letter until he reached the list of grades. "Astronomy: A, Care of Magical Creatures: O, Charms: O, Defense Against the Dark Arts: O, Divination: P," at this Ron cheered, "Herbology: E, History of Magic: P, Transfiguration: E, Potions: E. How did I get an E in potions, I'm horrible at potions?"

"Luck?" suggested Ron, who finally emerged from beneath his pillow to thumb at his own letter.

Hermione shot Ron a dirty look and replied, "without Professor Snape taking out his personal grudges on you Harry, it should be very easy for you to do that well."

"So are you going to open yours?" Ron asked Hermione.

"You first," she replied as Ron rolled his eyes at her.

He pulled out a piece of parchment and read off his grades. "Astronomy: A, Care of Magical Creatures: E, Charms: A, Defense Against the Dark Arts: Bloody Hell, an O, thanks Harry, Divination: D, ha, beat ya Harry, Herbology: A, History of Magic: P, Transfiguration: E, Potions: A. Wow, I don't know how I did that well in Potions either Harry. Your turn Hermione."

Hermione, however, looked ashed. The letter shook in her hands. "I can't do it, I'm too nervous, too much is at stake."

"Oh give it here," snapped Ron moodily as he wrenched the letter out of her hands. Ripping it open he looked down it and paused for a moment. "You got an O in everything except Potions, there you got an A."

"I got what in Potions? How can that be? I wrote foot long essays for all those questions, I knew everything. There must be a flaw in the grading system." Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes.

"Relax, Hermione," growled Ron, "I was only having a bit of fun with you. You got an O in everything. Its disgusting, see." He shoved the paper back at her and Hermione angrily grabbed it.

"That was not at all funny Ronald," she barked, looking at her perfect scores.

"I thought it was," he retorted, knocking his scores onto the floor and rolling back over in bed. "Now if you don't mind, Harry and I would like to get some more sleep."

Hermione stalked out of the room in a huff, slamming the door shut behind her.

Harry and Ron exchanged amused looks. Harry pulled his blankets back up, snuggled down into his pillow and soon fell back to sleep.

When Harry and Ron finally crawled out of bed again, it was mid morning. They stumbled downstairs, rubbing their eyes and yawning.

"Well I'm glad to see you finally joined the world of the living," snapped Hermione, obviously still irked over Ron's joke.

Ron ignored her as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

Mrs. Weasley bustled over, reheating a plate of bacon with her wand before setting it down in front of Harry and Ron. "I see you received your school lists today," commented Mrs. Weasley. "I've already arranged it with Remus so that I can take you all to Diagon Alley next week to get your things. Aside from your list of supplies, is there anything else they sent you I should know about Ronald?"

She stared hard at Ron, unblinkingly for a few second before Ron grudgingly pulled his O.W.L scores out of his pocket. "Here," he said tensely, pushing them across the table to where his mother waited.

For a few moments, Mrs. Weasley scanned the list, emotionless. Then she silently crossed the room and gave Ron a tight hug. "I'm very proud of you dear. Not so good in Divination and History of Magic, but an O in Defense Against the Dark arts and passing in everything else! It seems being made a prefect has helped your grades."

Ron slouched in his seat as his face turned red. "Mum!" he groaned.

Harry laughed and pulled out his own letter to check his supply list. As he perused the usual list of items his eyes fell on the words: 1 set of dress robes.

"Ron," he said, "did you know we have dress robes on our list again this year?"

Ron hurriedly pulled his letter out again. "Ahh, bloody hell, I suppose that means we have another dreadful ball to attend."

"Balls aren't dreadful," said Hermione. "I had quite a lot of fun at the Yule Ball."

Ron went slightly rigid and mumbled something unrecognizable except for the name, "Vicky."

"Well at least Fred and George bought you new dress robes," said Harry, attempting to lighten Ron's mood.

"If it isn't mandatory, I'm not going," vowed Ron.

"Why do you think there will be a ball, Harry?" asked Hermione. "You don't think they could be thinking of bringing back the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

Harry shook his head. "No, not after what happened last time. Besides, I would have heard something about it in an Order meeting."

"Did McGonagall send you anything about Quidditch," Ron asked curiously, leaning over to peek at Harry's letter.

"No, why would she?"

"Well, I thought, with Angelina having graduated, that McGonagall would make you Quidditch Captain."

It was the first Harry had considered it. "She probably named Katie Bell captain, she's the oldest."

"Yeah, probably," muttered Ron. "I just hope she isn't as bad as Angelina."

"Angelina was a walk in the park compared to Wood," laughed Harry.


Two days later, Ron and Hermione found Harry standing by himself in the entrance way.

"Whatcha doing Harry?" Ron whispered.

"Well, now that this place belongs to me, I was thinking of redecorating. Sirius wrote in his will that he would like me to tear the place down, because it would annoy his mother." Harry smiled to himself at the thought. "Since I can't destroy it yet, I think I'm going to get rid of all snake stuff and replace it with Gryffindor lions instead."

"That will please the lady of the house, that will," replied Ron sarcastically.

"That's the point," Harry grinned. "I've been wondering what to do with her as well. Fred and George's idea isn't sounding so bad anymore."

"What was Fred and George's idea?" Hermione asked apprehensively.

"Blow her portrait to kingdom come," replied Ron enthusiastically.

"Harry, you cannot blow a hole in the wall!"

"You sound like my mum! Harry can do what he wants, it is his house now."

"Harry, I hope you are thinking more logically than Ronald."

"Well, how else are we going to get rid of it," mused Harry. "I mean, it's permanently stuck to the wall. If we blow it up before she gets out of the frame we can collect the pieces of portrait, burn them, and then repair the wall."

"I don't think it needs to be that drastic," replied Hermione. "I still think Kreacher knows how to get it off." She paused for a moment, "that reminds me, where is Kreacher?"

Harry and Ron shuffled their feet uncomfortably.

"Umm, he was set free by the Order after what happened at the end of last term," lied Harry in what he hoped was a convincing way.

"They set him free!" exclaimed Hermione, looking more shocked than happy.

"Well, that's what you wanted Sirius to do all last year, wasn't it?" asked Ron, a bit confused.

"Yes, but that was before I saw Kreacher with Bellatrix Lestrange's picture, and before he lied to Harry, and before Sirius died. I thought Kreacher knew too much information to be set free, and he was definitely working with Malfoy."

"So, you're off this spew thing then?" ventured Ron.

"It's S.P.E.W., Ron, and no, I'm not off it, but Kreacher was fraternizing with dark wizards."

Harry and Ron looked uncomfortably at the floor.

"Umm, well then, if you promise not to go off about elvish welfare, then I guess we should tell you what really happened," stuttered Ron. "Tell her Harry."

Harry gaped at Ron momentarily. "You tell her, you're the one who told me."

"It's your house, so technically Kreacher was your elf, you tell her."

Glaring daggers at Ron, Harry finally stuttered out the truth. "The Order had Kreacher executed, Hermione."

"Well, I can't say that he didn't deserve it," replied Hermione.

Harry and Ron just gaped at her.

Finally Ron grabbed her shoulders firmly and demanded, "who are you and what have you done with Hermione?"

Hermione pushed Ron away. "I can change my mind if I want to Ron. And I do still think that Sirius should have treated Kreacher better, hold on Harry, don't blow up at me yet. " She put up a finger to stop Harry, who had gone rigid, from speaking. "Because if Sirius had treated Kreacher a little nicer, perhaps he would not have gone to Narcissa Malfoy, and not lied to you, Harry."

"But he did, Hermione," retorted Harry hotly, "he did, and he's the reason Sirius is dead. I'm sure if Sirius had known Kreacher would betray him, he would have hung his head on that wall the first week here."

Hermione and Ron didn't mention Kreacher again for the rest of the week, for fear of rekindling Harry's wrath. Ron and Hermione, however, weren't as naïve as they appeared. They knew there was something more than just Sirius' death weighing on Harry.

The day of their trip to Diagon Alley dawned gloomy and overcast. Mrs. Weasley herded everyone out of bed just a bit after seven, turning a deaf ear to their sleepy complaints. The only people who seemed to be awake were Mrs. Weasley, Percy, and Lupin. Bill and Mr. Weasley kept nodding off over their oatmeal, and Ginny had given up on breakfast, pushing her bowl to the side to lay her head on the table.

Prodding Ginny none too gently, while yelling at her husband and oldest son to get moving or they would be late for work, Mrs. Weasley served everyone breakfast. Harry drudged through his porridge, wishing he was still in bed. The dreary day did nothing to energize him, and he felt no more awake an hour later when he exited a fireplace into Diagon Alley.

The frenzied cart ride through the vaults of Gringotts woke Harry up slightly. He was shocked when the Goblin opened his vault door and he saw even more gold than usual. With a pang he remembered Sirius's inheritance. Embarrassment flooded over him, as he thought about the amount of money he had compared to the Weasleys. He knew even if he offered it, they would never accept any money from him, but he promised himself that someday he would find a way to repay them for their love and kindness.

The first stop on their shopping excursion was for dress robes. Mrs. Weasley promptly dragged Ginny off to a second hand robe shop, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed for Madam Milkin's Robes for All Occasions. Ron already had a robe that fit, but both Hermione and Harry needed new ones. Harry browsed through the selection and picked one out almost instantly. It was the same bottle green color as his first one. If it's not broken don't fix it, thought Harry, knowing that the bottle green color complimented his eyes. Hermione on the other hand, spent almost three quarters of an hour trying on robes of differing colors and examining herself in a large mirror before finally picking one.

"Okay, where too next?" she asked the boys, who had passed out in a pair of chairs while she shopped.

"Oh, are you finally done?" commented Ron, eying her bag. "Are you even going to show us what you spent all that time looking for?"

"No, actually," she replied with a wry smiled. "You'll have to go to the ball to see it."

Ron opened his mouth to argue, but Harry nudged him and gave him a look that clearly said not to push the topic.

Next was Flourish and Blotts bookshop.

"I can't believe I'm actually taking Potions," moaned Harry as he looked with disgust as his N.E.W.T. level book. "I don't know how Dumbledore talked Snape into letting me into the class with just an E, but I'm sure I'll pay for it later."

"At least you won't have to put up with Trelawney," reminded Ron cheerfully as he pulled an advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts book off a pile. "Harry, who's the new Defense teacher?"

Harry shrugged, "how would I know?"

"Well I just thought that maybe, sometime during one of those meetings someone might have mentioned something…"

"Unless our next defense teacher is Voldemort, I don't see why it would have anything to do with Order business," replied Harry in a whisper.

"I was just wondering," returned Ron defensively.

Now significantly burdened by their books, the trio made their way toward the Apothecary to get refills for potions class. After a brief stop at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream shop for lunch, they visited Fred and George.

The twins' joke shop was booming during the back to school season. Fred and George busily rang up sale after sale while Lee tried to restock shelves in between helping customers.

"You two are going to have your Prefect jobs cut out for you this year," smirked Fred during a lull. "You wouldn't believe how many Hogwarts students we've seen in here. The portable swamps are still very popular, though our portable tropical forests and deserts aren't doing too badly either."

Hermione blanched slightly at the idea of chasing around first years armed with portable deserts.

"Hey, have Mum and Ginny stop by and see us later," George yelled as Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way back onto the street.

They met up with Mrs. Weasley and a harassed looking Ginny in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ginny was begging her mother for a new broom, "But Mum, I'm going to try out for chaser this year. I can't compete on the old school brooms. I'll be laughed off the pitch."

Mrs. Weasley's reply was a most adamant, "no."

Ginny sulked for a few seconds until she spotted Harry and the others, then waved them over.

It was clear Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had spent most of the day bickering, so Mrs. Weasley left Ginny in their charge while she went off to do some shopping for herself. Ginny still gazed longingly at the brooms in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Hey Ginny," said Harry suddenly, remembering how surprised he had been when he had found out it had been her birthday the week before. "I never got you a birthday present, let's go in and see what they have on sale."

Ginny looked ready to throw her arms around Harry, but instead she smiled widely and walked boldly into the shop, with Harry and the others in tow.

"You're going to buy her a broom?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Well, she will probably be on the team this year, and she does need something better than what the school can provide."

"Wish I had the gold to buy a broom on a whim," Harry heard Ron sigh.

Ginny and Harry looked at the broom sticks on display inside the store. The new Nimbus and Firebolt series were much too expensive, but the Cleansweeps and Shooting Star models were on sale to make room for their new models coming out soon.

It didn't take long for a salesman to scurry over and assist them in their choice, but Harry was amazed at how Ginny handled the negotiations. She first steered the conversation toward the price of the Shooting Stars, but then she started pointing out the broom's limitations, especially compared to that of the Firebolt and Nimbus. By the time Ginny and the salesman were finished haggling, she had gotten the price of the broom down to nine galleons, almost five galleons below the sale price.

"Happy Birthday," Harry said brightly as he handed Ginny her new broom. "Where did you learn to haggle like that?"

Ginny smiled mischievously, "when you grow up shopping at second hand stores, you pick up a thing or two."

Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a very strange look when Ginny proudly showed her the new broom, but didn't say anything other than, "that was very sweet of you dear."

They finished off the trip with a stop at a stationary shop to get more ink, extra quills, and parchment. As they headed back to Fred and George's shop, Harry spied a quaint little store he hadn't noticed before.

"Hey, can we stop here for a few minutes?" he asked as he pushed open the door.

Fitz & Myers' Fixtures displaced just about anything a wizard could want or need for their home. An elderly witch and wizard sat behind an aging wooden counter, while a young man bustled around the sales floor.

"Hey, Harry, look at this," called Ron, who had been enthralled by a magical doorbell that could talk to visitors. "You can charm it to yell insults at some people and compliment others."

He pushed the display button and the bell squawked, "I told you that if you ever showed up here again, I would sic my house elf on you!"

Harry had to fight a very great temptation to buy the bell and charm it to say rude things to Snape when he came to Grimmauld Place for meetings.

"This is more what I was looking for," explained Harry, eying a section of metal door knockers. He spied one in the shape of a Phoenix near the top of the display, "that one, to be exact."

Harry found himself admiring door knobs in the shape of lions' heads, as well as some very beautiful candelabras, wall brackets, and chandeliers. He knew he didn't have enough gold to buy it all that day, but Harry had a very strong feeling that he would be visiting this shop frequently over the next couple of years. He left with the pewter Phoenix shaped door knocker.

I'm going to turn Grimmauld Place into a fitting place for the Order of the Phoenix, Harry thought silently, and erase any evidence of the dark wizards who lived there before me.


A/N: According to J.K. Rowling, Ginny's birthday is on August 11, which in my story would have made it the day before they received their O.W.L. scores and approximately a week before they go shopping at Diagon Alley.