Story: The Enemy of My Father
Author: Mihra~Attar
Chapter: Diagon Alley
Chapter Rating:
Disclaimer: Don't own, etc.
A/N:
B/N: I loved Diagon Alley, the end part.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry stood at the sink, elbow deep in soapy water, humming to himself as he scrubbed the dishes. He'd noticed first at Spinner's End and now at home. Home? He had a Home! And now at home, he found that he liked doing dishes. Heck, he enjoyed scrubbing cauldrons…though he was going to keep that fact away from Severus, at least for a while. He was content, happy even. Then his peaceful little world was shattered.

"Blaise Zabini! Why are you just sitting there doing nothing?" Mrs. Zabini sounded angry. Instinctively Harry flinched, whirling to face her.

"I'm sorry." He said unthinkingly, even as he took in the strangely frozen tableau in front of him. Mrs. Zabini had been glaring at her daughter before he'd spoken, and Blaise was sitting back in one of the kitchen chairs with a very satisfied smirk on her face.

"Harry, you've done enough dear. Please go to your room and rewrite your Transfigurations essay. I've finished checking it." Mrs. Zabini said, a calm expression on her face. "Blaise, finish the dishes."

Blaise jumped up from the chair, and before Harry knew what was happening she had pushed him out of the kitchen, and taken his place at the sink. Confused, worried, and altogether not willing to argue with Mrs. Zabini after the anger he'd heard in her voice, Harry hiked up to his room and sat down at his desk to start working.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Blaise grinned when her mother walked in and saw her lounging while Harry did the dishes. Blaise didn't like chores, and made no secret of the fact, but she always did what she was assigned. Her mother knew this, but anyone could change when a new family member was added. Blaise hadn't, of course, but she could pretend.

"Do you see nothing wrong with Harry doing the dishes while you do nothing?" Her mother asked, her voice like sharpened ice. Blaise noticed the silencing spell that popped up, and grinned to herself.

"Of course I do," Blaise turned the water off, and swiveled to face her mother, "but Harry doesn't." She watched her mother's face, waiting for the anger to resolve into something else. She didn't have to wait long.

"You set that up."

"Yes."

"He said 'I'm sorry' when I yelled at you."

"Yes."

"He doesn't expect rules and chores to be enforced unilaterally."

"Correct."

"Dammit!" Her mother's hand went through the wall and she allowed a slight wince to escape from her mask.

"I tend to agree. Care to fix the wall? And your hand?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Blaise both woke the next morning to envelopes hitting them in the head. This would have been a bit more irritating had they not been Hogwarts envelopes.

Floo calls were made. Children excused from summer programs, and side-along apparition arranged. By noon Harry, Blaise, Draco, Vincent, Gregory, Kira, and Hermione were standing in the entrance to Diagon Alley.

"Lockhart?" Draco complained, looking down at his book list in horror. "Really?"

"Pardon?" Lucius ripped the parchment from his hands. "Right. First stop: Flourish and Blotts."

Harry traded glances with the other kids in their group as they walked towards the store. There were seven kids, and eleven adults, and Lucius wanted to drag them all to Flourish and Blotts? Then they got there, and realized they probably wouldn't even be noticed.

They wound their way through the store, running into the Weasleys on their way to the Defense section. Harry stopped to nod at Fred and George, and thought of something. He'd noticed the price on Magical Me, and figured the 7 or so other Lockhart books on the school list were as expensive.

"Hey Fred, George." He hissed, keeping his voice low.

"Yeah?" They were a tad suspicious, but not much. After all, they'd played Quidditch against him and all that jazz.

"You can probably share textbooks, you know." He grinned as their expressions changed to bewilderment and then to greater cheer.

"You know, I think we can." Fred said.

"Thanks Harry." George added. There was a pause, as though the conversation around them stilled.

"It can't be! It's Harry Potter." Lockhart strode around the table he had just about to sit at. Harry hadn't even noticed him, but it was definitely the man on the cover of the books. Harry shot a glance at Lucius as Lockhart tried to grab him. He pulled away, then grinned, realizing something.

"My name's not Potter." He walked around Lockhart and rejoined his companions.

When they left Flourish and Blotts a half an hour later, complete with three sets of Lockhart books, and three sets of ten 'supplemental' books (one set for Hermione, two sets for the Slytherins), the adults decided they needed to split up to cover everything that needed to be done. It was because of that decision that Harry and Hermione ended up with Mrs. Zabini and Dr. Granger, the male one, at Ricardo's Optometry office.

"Ah. Missus Zabini. You are as radiant as ever. More beautiful than the Earth itself, you light up my heart more than the sun ever could!" Ricardo bowed and slobbered over Mrs. Zabini's hand, making Harry gag and Hermione giggle. "Pray tell my lady, what may I do for you today?"

"The boy needs new glasses, the girl needs her eyes checked." Mrs. Zabini said, her tone bored, her eyes amused.

"What you desire, I grant! I am your to command!" Harry and Hermione found themselves seated side-by-side, strange contraptions over their eyes, and Ricardo practically having a seizure when he looked at what must have been a display over Harry's head.

"Oh my heavens! Missus Zabini! When was the last time this boy had an eye exam? This cannot be right, not from you!" Ricardo seemed to be having some sort of panic attack.

"I adopted him less than a month ago, Ricardo, now do your job." Mrs. Zabini sounded a tad irritated, a mite tetchy.

Less than an hour later Harry was in possession of a pair of oval glasses, a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, and, amazingly, a pair of magical contacts designed for Quidditch players. Hermione had two pairs of oval glasses, and was exclaiming about how she could read the sign for Eyelope's from half a block away. (It turned out she needed a mild correction for distance vision, the bookworm.)

"Professor Snape!" Harry caught sight of Severus about to step into the apothecary, and ran forward.

"Professor Snape!" Hermione ran after him.

"Professor Snape?" Blaise and Kira were, apparently, in the apothecary.

"Can you not yell so loud? Hi Professor!" Draco shouted from Madame Malkin's. Severus pinched the bridge of his nose as though he had a headache.

Harry traded glances with Blaise, and both smirked.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So they mobbed you in Diagon Alley with angelic smiles on their faces?" Lucius smirked, idly swirling the wine in his glass.

"Yes. My reputation is ruined!" Severus groaned, knocking back the last sip from his own glass.

"How awful." The sarcasm in Lucius' voice was blatant and held an edge of wry amusement.

"What did I do to them?" Severus asked, looking over at his old friend. "Why do they torture me so?"

Lucius couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

"Severus?" That was…Harry's voice?

"Uncle Severus?" And…Draco?

The two boys were hiding behind the study door, peeking around it with wide eyes. Severus' eyebrows started to inch towards his hairline.

"Would it help if we said we were sorry?" Draco asked, taking the lead.

"Would you mean it?" Severus asked, trying not to smile.

They nodded, both looking rather ashamed.

"Then it would help." Severus said sagely.

"We're sorry. We'll try not to ruin your reputation any more." Both said, simultaneously, as though they'd practiced…a lot.

Severus opened his arms. "Apology accepted." They ran forward to hug him, then ran out to rejoin the others…wherever they were.

Lucius managed to put up a silencing spell before both adults started laughing out loud.