Chapter twelve
The three friends had a great time shopping. Hermione bought a lot of books, Harry also bought some books, Ron surprised the others when he bought some books as well. They went and stocked up on quills, parchment and ink. Ron of course wanted to buy a few of George's products, so they decided to do that last.
Harry found the shop he wanted to visit then he started to pile his arms with all different assortment of things. When he couldn't carry any more, he'd pile the first lot on the counter before getting more. He made four trips back and forth until he had everything he wanted and needed.
Hermione and Ron watched Harry and even though they knew what he was buying, they didn't know why. Harry said he'd show them in a few days but that's all he would say about it. After they left that shop they headed up to Weasley Wizard Wheezes where George, Lee and Verity were run off their feet with customers.
'Hi you three, just visiting or buying?'
'Hi George, I'll talk to you soon, I want to look around,' Ron took Hermione's hand and hurried away making Harry and George laugh.
'A bit of both George, but I can see you still as busy as ever. I'm not that big on crowds anymore. So I might let Ron get what he wants and wait outside.'
'That's different for you Harry, everything alright?'
'Yeah, I think I've got a bit of a phobia about crowds. Tell Ron and Hermione I'll be down talking to Mr. Ollivander, but not to rush, I'm fine,' Harry gave George a smile and hurried from the shop. He took a couple of deep breaths, then headed down to the ancient wand shop. The moment the old bell rang above the door, the old man stepped out.
'Harry my boy, it's good to see you,' Garrick Ollivander shook Harry's hand.
'Good to see you too Mr. Ollivander. You're looking a lot better.'
'I'm fine now, thanks to you and you're friends. Are you here to buy another wand, since you're one was broken?'
'Actually I wanted to talk to you about that. I know about what he did to you and why. So I figured you had a right to know about this. If anyone comes in though, I'll hide it again. But you know how he kept asking about another wand, the legendary elder wand?'
'Yes, I told him what rumours I knew at the time.'
Harry pulled out his phoenix feather wand, 'I was able to repair this Mr. Ollivander,' Harry pulled out another wand, 'Using this, it's the elder wand. Now I am going to get rid of it, I think it's too dangerous. But after what you went through, I thought you might like to see it before I get rid of it.'
'I never thought I'd live to see this wand Harry,' Garrick gently took the wand in his hand and started to study it, 'Merlin, this core is a tail feather from a thestral, I never use thestral hair, too unstable. The wood is from the elder tree,' the old man ran his fingers down the wand, 'These lumps represent the berries from the elder tree. It's a very nice and powerful wand Harry, but it does have a long and bloody history attached to it,' Garrick handed the wand back to Harry.
'Yes, it does. He found this wand, but luckily it already belonged to me. But I thought even though I've used my wand, I wanted to know if you could check it over for me.'
'Certainly,' Garrick took Harry's phoenix feather wand and started to run his fingers over that, 'You did a remarkable job fixing this wand and it is perfectly safe now, just like it was when it was new.'
Harry smiled then took his wand back, 'Thanks, I thought it was, but it's good to hear from an expert. I bet you've been busy though.'
'Extremely, so many people lost their wands or had them taken off them and never got them back. Just like your two friends, are they happy with their new wands?'
'Very happy especially Hermione since she got rid of Bellatrix Lestrange's old wand. We gave that to the minister after Hermione got her new one. Anyway, I just wanted to see how you were, I should get back to my shopping.'
Garrick shook Harry's hand, 'Thank you again for rescuing me, and you have my word no one will know you have that wand. Now he's gone, you can have a good life now.'
'I plan to Mr. Ollivander, but we all can now, see you later,' Harry gave him a smile then headed out and up to the ice-cream parlour. He sat there eating an ice-cream while he waited for his two friends. Then some other friends walked over and joined him, 'Hi.'
'Hi yourself Harry, are you here alone?' Neville asked.
'No, Hermione and Ron are up at George's shop. I'm not big on crowds anymore, so I decided to wait here.'
'Well I get that Harry. Think about it, you almost died while being surrounded by hundreds of death eaters, snatchers and giants, then when you finally killed that bastard, you were surrounded again by hundreds more, our side of course, but still, a lot of people.'
Harry smiled at his friend, 'You are very wise Neville and very right, that's exactly it. Whenever I'm with a lot of people, I keep thinking about those two times. It'll get better eventually. So what are you lot doing in here?'
'Same as you, shopping,' Seamus lifted his bags, 'I think a lot of people are just enjoying the fact they can shop now with no danger around us.'
'That's true, it was good to be able to do my shopping without worrying if there's going to be an attack or having blasted guards around me.'
'Guards, when did you have guards around you?' Susan asked.
'Every time I came shopping. Usually it was the Weasley's with Hagrid, sometimes order of the phoenix members like Kingsley or Tonks. Dumbledore kept telling them to keep me safe but to me, it was just annoying. So it's good now I can come in alone.'
'But you mentioned there had been threats Harry,' Hannah said.
'Yeah, but Kingsley and the two aurors I spoke to don't think it's that serious. They seem to be a little frightened of me. So they just keep hearing they want me dead, but they aren't doing anything about it.'
'Why would they be frightened of you even if you did kill their boss?' Susan asked.
'They saw me hit with the killing curse and survive, so they think I can't die, well that curse can't kill me and it is the only curse that kills.'
Neville saw that Harry was a little uncomfortable so he decided to change the subject.
'How's Hermione?'
'Better, she'll still have a few bad days, but she realised her parents wouldn't want her to just sit around crying all the time. So she's up with Ron at George's shop. She does want to go back and do her last year at Hogwarts. How about all of you, who's going back and who's not? I'm not, neither is Ron.'
'I am, I want to get my N.E.W.T in herbology.'
'Knew you would Neville, what about you Luna, going back?' Harry asked.
'No, I'm going to keep helping my father with the Quibbler.'
'If that's what you want to do,' Harry gave his friend a smile, then everyone else said if they were or weren't going back to Hogwarts and the ones that weren't, they mentioned what they wanted to do. Hermione and Ron joined the group and Harry shouted ice-creams for everyone including another one for himself.
The friends all had a good time talking, laughing, sometimes winding each other up. They never noticed the smiles they got from all the people that passed them, they were just enjoying their time now it was safe. But they were smiling because they knew it was these young people that helped make their world safe
After a while everyone went their separate ways, Harry went and bought a new owl before Harry, Hermione and Ron headed back to the house to have some lunch then they went into Godric's Hollow to get more food. For the rest of the day Hermione sat reading, Ron surprised the other two by reading one of the books he bought and Harry set up all his stuff in his library until he had another room added to the house.
It didn't take long for Harry to start and got lost in what he was doing until Hermione knocked on the door to tell him dinner was ready. Harry packed up his stuff, cleaned everything, covered it so no one could see it, and then sealed the door as well before joining his friends.
'What were you reading before Ron?' Harry asked as the three friends started eating.
'Advance defence against the dark arts, I still would like to be an auror, so I'm going to contact Kingsley, find out if I can without going back to Hogwarts.'
'I'm sure there would be a way Ron, a lot of people our age aren't going back. Some like you and me that just don't want to, others it's what happened there. They don't want the reminders, which I do get. When are you going to see Professor McGonagall Hermione, since you need to give her that stuff?'
'If it's alright, I'll send your owl to her tomorrow. Find out if I can go there to see her or if it's okay with you, for her to come here and get them.'
'Anyway you want it Hermione, it doesn't worry me. But Ron, when are you going to tell your parents about staying here?'
'Actually I'm not Harry. At first, I wanted to, but I realise I want to stay with the family for a while. But I'll be here a lot, just not sleeping here. The main reason I was going to at first and I know you will both hit me for this, but it was to keep an eye on you two.'
Hermione and Harry looked at each other than Ron, before they both put their arms around their friend to show him they understood but also to let him know that everyone was okay. Hermione and Harry will only ever be good friends, brother and sister as they have come to think of each other, so Ron had nothing to worry about.
