Chapter 14: Diagon Alley

"Morning!" said a sunny voice. Rose squinted in the bright light as her mother pulled open the curtains. She sat up and looked around the unfamiliar room. She was staying at Shell Cottage with her family, in order to spend a bit more time with Bill, Fleur and their children, who had been in France for the past two weeks. It was the last day here, and they were leaving that evening to go to the Burrow.

"Mon Dieu, C'est trop tôt!" cried Dominique, "My God, it's too early!" She rolled over, hiding her face from the morning sun. Rose and Dominique were sharing this room, while Hugo and Louis were in the other. Victoire was allowed to stay in her room, but that was just because she had recently been accepted into the Ministry of Magic, and had lots of work to do.

"Tu es une fille paresseuse, ma chère," said a familiar voice from the doorway, "You are a lazy girl, my dear." Aunt Fleur, the beautiful-blonde-veela, came in too, and pulled the covers off Dominique. Rose laughed as Dominique cried out in protest.

"Maman!" she cried.

"We need to be up and breakfasted in half an hour, we're late enough as it is!" Hermione said, and tickled Dominique's little feet. She kicked lazily at her aunt and rolled over. She grabbed one of her pillows put it over her as a substitute blanket, and fell back to sleep.

"What are we doing today, mum?" Rose asked, getting out of bed as Fleur left.

"Going to London. The book lists have arrived," Hermione said, and left.

Rose dressed slowly, choosing jeans and a muggle t-shirt she had received for her birthday a couple of months ago. When Rose was fixing her frizzy hair into a single plait, Dominique finally got up too. Rose was jealous of the Weasley-Delacour family, especially her older female cousins.

Victoire was so clever: twelve outstanding OWLs, prefect, head girl, five outstanding NEWTs, and now a job in the Ministry of Magic's department for International Cooperation as a translator. She was also imperiously beautiful, with the classic long-blonde-hair and big-blue-eyes. Rose's eyes too, were big and blue, but they could never compete with the quality of Victoire's pupils, which were scattered with little grey specs which looked like stars. And Victoire had been born on Valentine's Day, how perfect was that?

Dominique was witty, funny and extremely popular. She had lots of friends from both Hogwarts and Beaubatons, as she had been schooled at both. She may not be as clever as her sister, but she still had passed every single OWL she had taken, and had been awarded prefect last year. She was even prettier than Victoire, in her own way. She was more approachable, with a girl-next-door kind of look. Her strawberry blonde hair was wavy and soft, and always perfect. Dominique's dusting of freckles made her look cute and mischievous, whereas Rose's made her look like a baby.

Rose could never hope to compete with such beautiful, clever girls, or even the rest of her cousins. It's not like Rose was stupid or unpopular. Rose was good at everything. "Lovely-little-above-average-Rose". But it would be nice to be outstanding at something.

Every one of Rose's cousins would be remembered for something they were outstanding at. Albus would be remembered for his skill with animals. Victoire would be remembered for being unbelievably clever. James and Fred would be remembered for being brilliant at flying, and their amazing pranks. Molly will be remembered for being able to quote Shakespeare at every opportunity. Roxanne would be remembered for her Quidditch prowess… Rose didn't want to be remembered at "above-average-Rose".

Rose wanted very badly to be as good as the rest of her family, or even better. But with a family so diverse and so brilliant, how could she ever get her deepest wish?

Rose sadly walked down the rickety staircase at Shell Cottage, and automatically raised her hand to touch the wind charm that hung by the window. It tinkled sweetly, making Rose's dark mood suddenly brighten. That charm had been at Shell Cottage as long as she could remember. When Rose was little, she used to jump to try and reach it, and as she grew older, the easier it had become. Rose was still incredibly short though, and she had to raise her hand all the way to touch it, whereas Albus could almost hit it with the top of his head.

Everyone in the kitchen looked up as Rose entered. Most of the family were sitting around the table, eating French toast, but Dominique and Victoire weren't up yet. Uncle Bill's scared face was hidden behind a Quibbler, and Rose's mum was reading a Daily Prophet.

"Nearly ready to leave?" Rose's dad asked, his mouth full of eggy bread. Rose nodded with a grin. She accepted a plate from her Aunt with a "merci," and began to eat.

An hour later, they were all arriving in the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron. Hannah Abbot, a family friend, waved merrily from behind the bar. She lifted a flagon of butter beer, and cocked her head to one side, as if asking if they wanted a drink.

"No thanks!" Rose's mum mouthed.

Rose had noticed that their appearance had caused quite a stir in the busy pub, but that was only to be expected; both of Rose's parents were on the chocolate frog cards, for heaven's sake. A couple of young witches came bobbing over, shaking Rose's parents' hands, smiling happily. An old man sitting on a stool by the fire, watched Rose and Hugo, a huge smile on his face and tears in his eyes. A little red-haired boy ran up to Ron, grinned broadly, gave him a high five, and then ran back to his mother, a triumphant glint in his eyes.

They left the pub and walked into the familiar alley behind the club. It was extremely crowded in the alleyway, so Rose couldn't see her uncle tapping the wall with his wand, or the archway appearing.

Rose grinned. Diagon Alley had revealed itself, and it was as amazing as ever.

They had to head up to Gringotts first, and they walked down the busy street. Rose wished she had eight more eyes. There were shops selling thousands of books, bound in dark leather, decorated with gold letters. There were shops selling brooms, with crowds of little children outside, all staring at the latest release. There were shops full of animals with the sound of owls squawking, cats yowling and frogs croaking coming from behind their doors

Gringotts didn't take long, and their moneybags were soon full to the brim with big shiny coins. Rose and Hugo were given a whole five galleons each to spend on whatever they desired. Rose suddenly felt very greedy. She wanted to go into every shop, look at every item and purchase all she could.

The family instantly split up into different groups. Bill, Hugo and Louis made their apologies and headed straight for the closest broom shop, where a gaggle of children were staring in through the window at the Firebolt 7. The Firebolt 7 had been released into the shops three days ago, and it you couldn't even buy it yet. This model was supposed to be able to go three hundred miles an hour, but that was just a rumour.

Hermione, Victoire and Aunt Fleur offered to go and buy everyone's books, and headed off down the street in search of Flourish and Blotts. That was Hermione's favourite shop. Hermione spent most of her time when she was in Diagon Alley brushing her fingertips over the shelves, trying to buy every book in the shop. Victoire declared that she needed to buy some new parchment and disposable quills, so the three women offered to go and replenish everyone's supplies after they had finished buying the books.

That left Ron, Dominique and Rose to get the rest of the supplies. Ron scrutinised the list he had been given by Hermione, and they began their shopping.

Rose had spent the whole day wondering in and out of shops, following Dominique. They bought new robes, potions ingredients and animal supplies for everyone. After they had finished, they all met up at the ice cream parlour, and Ron bought Rose her favourite 'chocolate thunder' ice cream sundae.

They had seen lots of people they knew that day. They had bumped into Dennis and Holly Creevy and their son Colin in the Eeylops Owl Emporium, and had a long discussion about the surprise birthday party Grandma Weasley had been planning for Uncle Harry and Neville. They also saw Cho buying her daughter Cedrica's first Hogwarts robes in Madam Malkin's. They didn't stop to chat, as the mother and daughter looked rather harassed. Ron spoke to a tall man called Justin with his Indian wife, Padma, who was twin sisters with the healer at Hogwarts. Rose and Dominique chatted away to Justin and Padma's daughter, Laura, who was in the same year as her, but in Hufflepuff.

Lots of people Rose didn't know greeted her father too. Ron started getting rather irritated at the constant interruptions, but Rose knew that Ron secretly loved being in the limelight. Dominique too spent a lot of the day exclaiming in delight and running over to one of her many friends.

For some, the constant attention may have been overwhelming, but Rose loved it.

Cassandra Spion closed her eyes, and lounged in her chair. She was tired. She was hungry. She was fed up. Her sister had been complaining at her all day, and Spion needed a break. So many years ago, when she had taken the potions master post at Hogwarts, Spion had hoped she wouldn't have to put up with her sister anymore, but she had been wrong.

Spion got up and walked through the corridors of her home. The walls were made of stone at first, as she had residence in the dungeons. As she went up the stairs, the corridors became grander and grander, until there were majestic tapestries adorning the walls, and shining suits of armour. Of course, Hogwarts wasn't her only home. She had had one other, which had been in a place far away from the old castle. She didn't usually think about the tiny wooden hut in the mountains, but she couldn't help it sometimes. It was so different to this place, the complete opposite.

She reached her destination, and walked up and down the seventh floor corridor. I need the place where everything is hidden, she thought. The huge beautiful oak door formed, and Spion walked through it. The mysteries of the Room of Requirement no longer astonished her, but it was still wonderful to watch.

The dark, charcoaled place was no longer terrifying to Spion either. She had spent the whole of the last schooling year wandering around it, to the beck and call of Her. Spion would do anything for Her.

She was most definitely Spion's mistress.

"Cassie, what have you to report?" said her mistress's voice in Spion's mother language, Russian. She was hidden from Spion, as usual, but Spion knew her Mistresses face very well. The big eyes, small lips and tall skinny body of her Mistress had haunted her childhood, and haunted her nightmares today.

"Our advert has had a response," replied Spion in Russian too, "Draco Malfoy has offered to take my old post as Potions master." Spion smiled secretly to herself. Spion hated teaching potions.

"Draco Malfoy?" the voice said, "is he aware of my presence here?"

"No," Spion said.

"Well, he was a Death Eater. He shall be a useful addition to our ranks. You are the only person who is any real use to me. Except for helping to keep me a secret, three imperiused teachers are no help. Crabbe, Goyle and Nott are not exactly geniuses either. Draco Malfoy will be a godsend." Spion felt herself swelling in pride for the praise her Mistress gave her.

"I will make Merrigan reply to Malfoy, accepting his application," her Mistress said, thoughtfully, "but he is not up to much. The curse is sending him quite mad; it has been on him for almost a year now. He should be up for the welcoming speech, but we shall not need him after that. We might as well dispose of him."

Spion nodded in agreement. Spion couldn't see her Mistress, but Spion knew that She could see her.

"Cassie," her mistress purred. Spion felt herself shiver with both pleasure and disgust. "We're going to have to do something about Longbottom." Her mistress revealed herself. Her long legs were still covered in little red cuts, her dress was still ripped and her body was still covered in charcoal. She still gave Cassandra Spion chills down her spine, even though she had known her since she was a baby.

"I know, Elizaveta. But we'll have to wait until school starts again. We only have a month to wait."

"Cassie, you've done so well. I'm very proud of you, little sister," Elizaveta said. Cassandra Spion shivered.

Elizaveta turned, her ripped dress whipping around, and pointed her crooked wand ahead of her. She stalked through the room, her tall figure disappearing into the blackness of the room.

"So, Dragana, you have been replaced. Cassandra Spion will teach Dark Arts to your students, and Draco Malfoy will join me. Hogwarts does have a single hope," Elizaveta said in her broken English. Cassandra smiled, and turned to leave.

The door slammed shut behind her, but Cassandra could still hear her sister torturing her old colleague, and his screams.

Dun dun dun!

So, this chapter, if you haven't noticed, was about explaining Rose's relationship with her cousins, and Rose's attitude to her parents fame. It was also a good opportunity to name the scary-Russian-lady: Elizaveta.

Please review. Thanks Verry muchies!

Jennifer Apple