Disclaimer: I own nothing in Harry Potter

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Mass Murderer

The only time Diana broke her word to Fudge was when she went back to Privet Drive via Knight Bus to get her trunk and her cat, Cindy. The rest of the time however, she and Harry were either in the Leaky Cauldron or Diagon Alley.

Every morning, Harry and Diana would eat breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron, watching other interesting looking guests like hags, whom Diana had never seen before, warlocks, dwarfs or sometimes just witches and wizards.

After breakfast, Harry and Diana would got into the backyard, tap the third brick from the left above the dustbin and stand back in awe as the archway to Diagon Alley opened in the wall.

The two spent long, sunny days exploring Diagon Alley, eating under brightly coloured umbrellas or looking through shops.

Harry had taken some gold out of his vault, but he had to exercise a lot of caution. He was tempted by a game called Gobstones, and by a perfect moving model of the galaxy in a large glass ball. Diana had to keep reminding him that neither Vernon nor Petunia would agree to fund him so that he would not spend all his money. But the thing that tested him most appeared in Quality Quidditch Supplies, Harry's favourite shop, a week after they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.

There was a large crowd around the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Harry and Diana managed to squeeze their way through the crowd, and Harry's jaw dropped.

"Just come out... prototype," a square jawed wizard was telling his companion.

"It's the fastest in the world, isn't it Dad?" squeaked a boy about seven, clinging to his dad's arm.

"The Irish International Side's just put in an order for seven of these beauties," the proprietor of the ship told the crowd. "And they're favourites for the World Cup!"

A large witch in front of Diana moved and she and Harry were able to read the sign:

THE FIREBOLT

This state of the art racing broom sports a streamlined, super-fine handle of ash, treated with a diamond-hard polish and hand numbered with its own registration number. Each individually selected birch twig in the broomtail has been honed to aerodynamic perfection, giving the Firebolt unsurpassable balance and pinpoint precision. The Firebolt has an acceleration of 0-150 miles an hour in ten seconds and incorporates an unbreakable braking charm. Price on request.

Diana turned to Harry and signed exasperatedly. "No, I'm not letting you."

Harry turned to her angrily. "You can't tell me what to do. It's the fastest broom in the world!"

"It'll cost way too much!" Diana protested. "Price on request! It'll cost too much money! You have five more years at Hogwarts, and I have six!"

"I can give you my old books," Harry suggested.

"Yes, we can do that, but you still need to buy five more lots!" Diana cried.

Harry sighed, the said, "You're right. I guess I've still got my Nimbus."

As they turned to leave, Diana saw someone very familiar approach Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Maisie!" Diana cried, running over to Maisie.

"Hi Diana," Maisie said. "My brother and sister - Ellie and Alfred - turned eleven today. They're twins."

Diana looked at Ellie and Alfred Cattermole. Ellie Cattermole had brownish blond hair and crystal blue eyes. She smiled at Diana.

Alfred Cattermole looked very different from his twin. He looked a lot younger than Ellie, for one, and he had Maisie's dark brown hair, but his mother's big, round eyes. He was very thin and pale, and Diana wondered if he was sick.

"Hi. I'm Diana," Diana told Ellie and Alfred.

"I'm Ellie!" Ellie squealed excitedly.

"I'm Alfred," Alfred said, shaking Diana's hand.

"And I'm Harry," Harry said to the twins. "Harry Potter."

"You are?" Alfred asked, amazed. He stared in awe at Harry's scar, and Ellie copied him.

Seeing Harry's discomfort, Maisie grabbed her two siblings' hands and dragged them off, muttering about getting wands.

As Maisie was dragging them away, Diana noticed several scratches on Alfred's arms and legs. She hadn't noticed these when she was on the Knight Bus; she'd been a little preoccupied with all the crashing.

Many people had been discussing the case of Sirius Black.

"Personally, I won't let the kids out alone until Black is back in Azkaban."

"He killed thirteen people, who's stopping him from doing it again?"

"I cast protective charms around my muggle neighbours' houses; they don't know, of course, but better safe than sorry."

Diana had been trying to think how Harry would recognise Black, but she had no idea. She had been constantly on the lookout for more information about him, but she was almost always unsuccessful. The only thing she knew was that Black had blown up the street the day after Harry's parents were murdered and Voldemort's was vanquished, but she'd already guessed that it had happened sometime around then.

After staying in Diagon Alley for two weeks, Diana and Harry needed to get their school supplies for the next year at Hogwarts. Diana and Harry visited the Apothecary, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and Florish and Blotts. As Lockhart had messed up the books Second Years needed for Hogwarts, Diana had to get copies of her own, and Harry was starting two new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination.

Harry pulled out his booklist before he and Diana entered Flourish and Blotts. But to his and Diana's surprise, instead of the usual display of of gold-embossed spellbooks the size of paving slabs, there was a large iron cage behind the glass, which held about a hundred copies of a book called The Monster Book of Monsters. Torn pages were flying everywhere as the books grappled with each other, locked in furious wrestling matches and snapping aggressively.

"Hagrid sent me that book!" Harry told Diana.

"Maybe it's one of his pets," Diana said.

Diana stared at Harry's booklist and saw that The Monster Book of Monsters was the set book for Care of Magical Creatures.

As Harry and Diana entered Flourish and Blotts, the manager came hurrying towards them.

"Hogwarts?" he asked abruptly. "Come to get your new books?"

"Yes," said Harry. "We need-"

"Get out of the way," said the manager immediately. He pulled on a pair of very thick gloves and proceeded towards the door of the Monster Books' cage.

"Hang on," cried Harry. "I've already got one of those."

"Have you?" A look of enormous relief spread over the manager's face. "Thank heavens for that, I've been bitten five times already this morning-"

A loud ripping noise interrupted the manger; two of the Monster Books had seized a third and were pulling it apart.

"Stop it! Stop it!" the manager cried. Once he had sorted the situation out, he said, "I'm never stocking them again, never! I'd thought we'd seen the worst with The Invisible Book of Invisibility - cost a fortune and we never found them! Well, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes," said Harry. "Diana needs A Standard Book of Spells, Grade Two and Magical Theory II. And I need Unfogging the Future, A Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three and Intermediate Transfiguration."

As the manager bustled off to get the books, Harry stared at a book called Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst Is Coming. On the cover, there was a large black dog the size of a bear. It looked oddly familiar...

The manger gave Harry and Diana their books, and the two left hurriedly, and dumped their books in their room at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Diana, do you remember that dog?" Harry asked. When Diana nodded, he continued, "We saw that dog a minute before I was almost crushed by the Knight Bus. It's a Death Omen!"

"It's not a Death Omen," Diana insisted. "It probably was a stray."

Harry raised a hand and tried to make his hair lie flat.

"You're fighting a losing battle there, dear," said the mirror in a wheezy voice.

The days slipped by, and Harry and Diana continued to see familiar faces. Diana saw Dahlia Boot and Harriet Bones chatting happily under a bright umbrella, eating ice cream, and Harry ran into Seamus Finnegan and Neville Longbottom. Harry had started looking for Ron and Hermione, and Diana was looking for Maisie, Ginny, Jamie, Colin, Luna and Rolf. The two awoke on the last day of the holidays, had breakfast, and were just wondering where they were going to have lunch when someone yelled their names.

"Harry! Diana!"

Harry and Diana ran over to find Ron, Hermione and Ginny all sitting under an umbrella outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, waving frantically.

"Finally!" said Ginny. "We checked Flourish and Blotts, Madam Malkin's-"

"We got our stuff a few weeks ago," Harry explained. Ginny blushed as he addressed her.

"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione asked in a low voice.

Harry nodded triumphantly.

"That's not funny," Hermione scolded. "You could've been in so much trouble-"

"Honestly, Hermione, Marge was insulting him and his family," Diana sighed.

Hermione sighed, but said nothing.

"Anyway, me and Hermione are staying at the Leaky Cauldron," said Ron excitedly.

Hermione nodded, beaming. "Mum and Dad dropped me off yesterday."

"Hey Harry, look at this," Ron said. He took out a long, thin bit of wood. "My new wand," he explained.

According to Harry, Aragog, a giant murderous spider, had broken Ron's wand when he and Harry had went into the Forbidden Forest.

"Come on, Diana, all they're going to talk about is their new subjects," Ginny muttered. She and Diana left the table and started walking down Diagon Alley.

Eventually, they ran into Rolf and Luna, and the four of them started chatting and laughing together. It was just like two months ago.

Diana, Ginny, Luna and Rolf entered the Leaky Cauldron after a long day.

At that moment, Fred and George Weasley along with their older brother Percy entered the Leaky Cauldron, followed by Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"Hello, you're Ginny's friends, aren't you?" said Mrs Weasley to Diana, Rolf and Luna.

"Er, yes," replied Rolf.

Percy Weasley approached Ginny, Diana, Luna and Rolf.

"Hello, Diana, Ginny, friends. I hope you've heard the news." Percy pointed to a silver badge on his chest. "I'm Head Boy."

"Good job, Ginny's brother," Rolf exclaimed, shaking Percy's hand.

"That isn't how you greet a proper Head Boy," Percy scolded.

"Hello, Percy," said Luna, who had met Percy before. "I'm not sure you want to be Head Boy. I heard Cornelius Fudge has them cooked into pies so they can't become Minister for Magic."

Diana snorted.

Diana was nearly asleep when Harry came bursting into the room, looking worried.

"What? What happened?" Diana asked, sitting up,

"It's Sirius Black," Harry said. "He's after me."

"What? But why would he be after you?" Diana asked, feeling worried.

"I overheard Mr and Mrs Weasley talking," Harry explained. "Apparently Black's after me. Mr Weasley said he would mutter in his sleep. 'He's at Hogwarts... he's at Hogwarts.' It all makes sense. Fudge was lenient with me because he was relieved to see me alive. The dog was a Death Omen."

Harry got up from the bed and starting pacing the room, muttering, "I'm going to die... I'm going to be murdered... I'm going to be murdered... I'm going to be murdered..."

"Harry, you're not going to be murdered," Diana said. "Dumbledore's supposed to be the only wizard Voldemort ever feared! He's not going to let you be killed right under his nose!"

"You're right," Harry mumbled. "I'm not going to be murdered." He turned to the mirror. "I'm not going to die!"

"That's the spirit, dear," muttered the mirror sleepily.