Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter Seven
Diagon Alley
Perhaps it was payback for all the times Diana did it to him. She was just trying to sleep when...
"DIANAWE'REGOINGTODIAGONALLEYI'MGOINGTOHOGWARTS!"
Diana jumped out of bed. Harry was standing there looking electrified.
"What the bloody hell, Harry!" Diana said. "I'm trying to sleep."
Harry smiled wickedly. "Nothing personal, it's just that it's my turn. Now get up, we're going shopping."
Petunia explained it in the car. Diagon Alley was a wizard street, and after a long conversation her and Harry had agreed that he could go to Hogwarts.
Dudley was most displeased.
"Why can't I go to Hogwarts?" he complained. "Why can't I learn magic."
"Dudley," said Diana patiently, "not everyone is born with magic. You're one of those unfortunate people."
Dudley screamed at the top of his lungs. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a great idea to tell him so... bluntly.
"IWANTTOBEAWIZARDIT'SNOTFAIR!"
Diana put her hands over her ears. Dudley had most likely left her deaf in her right ear.
"Dudley, that hurt," Diana chided. She put her arms around the walrus/her brother and said, "I'm sorry, ok. Know that. I'm sorry that you can't go."
Dudley pushed her away, and Diana stared at her hands. No matter how hard she tried to connect with him, she always ended up getting hurt.
To Diana's immense confusion, they stopped at a dingy pub called The Leaky Cauldron.
"Mum, I don't get it," she said.
"You'll see, Diana, you'll see," Petunia replied.
She took them inside the pub. It was very dark and shabby inside, and it was mostly strange people who were drinking in it. Diana guessed it some of the strange people were wizards.
As they passed, some people began to stare and point at Harry.
"Good Lord - could it be?"
"Is that...?"
"The Boy Who Lived!"
Diana remembered what her mother had said about Harry being famous. Harry looked very uncomfortable.
Petunia took them to a small, walled courtyard.
"Mum, where does this lead us?" Diana asked.
"To Diagon Alley."
Diana stared at the brick wall. If this was the entrance to Diagon Alley then she was a member of Dudley's gang.
"Let's see... which one was it? This one... no... yes!" Petunia cried, something she didn't normally do. She tapped a brick three times.
The brick she had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing a very large archway.
"Is this..." Diana began.
"Diagon Alley," Petunia replied.
Diana, Dudley, Harry and Petunia walked forward, and Diana watched in amazement as the archway shrank back to a normal wall.
The sun shone brightly on a set of stacked cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copped, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said the sign above.
Diana wished she had about eight more eyes. She turned her head in every direction as she walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary, shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen sickles an ounce, they're mad..."
A low, soft hoot came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eyelops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. Several boys about Diana's age had their noses pressed to against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Diana heard one say, "the new Nimbus Two-Thousand - fastest ever-" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Diana had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, gloves of the moon...
"Mum, do wizards use normal English currency?" Diana asked. "Because we don't have any wizard money."
"Normal money, our money, can be exchanged for wizard money," Petunia said. "Harry has a vault because he comes from a wizard family, but I'd have to write all sorts of letters and contact people I... don't want to contact, so we're going to exchange money today, Diana."
Diana wondered who Petunia would have to contact, and whether she'd ever get to meet them. Oh well, it probably wasn't important. Probably.
After they exchanged their money for wizard money, Petunia took Harry to bookshop.
She handed Dudley and Diana a few coins. "I'll take Harry to get his stuff, while you two explore Diagon Alley. You'll only get to go once a year after all. Dudley, you're in charge, and share with your sister!"
Dudley snatched up the coins and ran off.
"Bye Mum," Diana said. "DUDLEY! WAIT!"
She ran after Dudley, but it was no use. Diagon Alley was too crowded, and Dudley had disappeared.
"Dudley!" Diana called, hoping he'd hear her and come back. "DUDLEY!"
She waited, but he did not come.
"Jerk," she muttered
"Yeah, my brothers are jerks as well," someone said next to Diana.
Diana turned and saw a girl about her age with vibrant red hair and freckles standing next to her.
"Who are you?" Diana asked. "And how do you know Dudley's my brother?"
"Just guessing," the girl said. "I have six brothers. Bill's not too bad, and Charlie's alright, but the rest..." she sighed. "I'm the only girl, and the youngest, so I get babied by my mum and teased by my brothers."
"I can relate," Diana said. "I live in a house of three kids. I have an older brother who is a bully and spoiled rotten, and a cousin who my parents and brother hate. I do like Harry, but it's hard to take his side when your family hates you for it."
"All my brothers are going to be at Hogwarts this year," the girl complained. "I'll be all alone!"
"Same," Diana replied. "Harry's going to be at Hogwarts this year, and Dudley's going to be at a Muggle school. It's not a boarding school, but I'll still be alone. I don't really count Dudley as company."
"Are you a witch?" the girl asked. "Or are you, you know, non-magical."
"I'm a witch," answered Diana. "I'll be going next year."
"So am I!" the girl exclaimed. "We'll be in the same year!"
"Just so you know, I'm Diana Dursley," Diana told her.
The girl blushed. "Oh, right. We probably should've introduced ourselves before going all deep. I'm Ginny Weasley."
Diana and Ginny shook hands.
"So where's your family?" Diana asked.
"They're getting their robes fitted," replied Ginny. "It's painful to see them prepare for Hogwarts when I have to wait a year, so I kind of slipped away. Anyway, what happened to your family?"
"My mum gave me and Dudley a couple coins to spend here while she took Harry shopping," Diana admitted. "Dudley took them and ran off."
"Well, you have me," Ginny said. "What do you want to do?"
"I dunno, maybe we could check out the stores."
"Good idea."
Diana and Ginny ran towards the nearest shop, the broomstick shop.
"I'm new to magic, by the way," Diana said. "Do you just fly on brooms for fun, or do you have some sort of wizard game."
"We have a game," Ginny said. "It's called Quidditch. You have seven players: three chasers, two beaters, one keeper and a seeker. There's four balls: the snitch, a tiny golden ball the Seeker hunts out, the quaffle, the regular ball tossed around, and two bludgers, which are wild balls you've got to stay away from."
Ginny spent half and hour talking Diana through the rules of Quidditch and how to play.
"Sounds interesting," Diana said after Ginny finished her explanation.
"Ginny!" someone was calling. "GINNY!"
"Crap, my family's looking for me," sighed Ginny. "They're going to drag me through seven more stores at least."
Diana pulled Ginny into the wizard's pet shop.
They have toilets here, right?
She found a door which was obviously the toilet door, and pulled Ginny in. She forced her into a cubicle.
"They won't find us here," Diana smiled. She walked into the stall next to Ginny's and locked the door.
"So what do we do now?" Ginny asked. "Now that we've locked ourselves in toilets?"
"I dunno," replied Diana. "By the way, is this the men's toilet? Please tell me we didn't run into the men's toilet."
"This is a gender neutral toilet, Diana," Ginny said. "Only Hogwarts has gender separated toilets."
Diana sighed in relief. If they'd walked into the men's toilet, then that would've been awkward.
The door to the toilet opened.
"Ginny! Are you in here Ginny!"
Diana cursed under her breath.
"Ginny, do you mind coming out?"
Diana opened her stall a little and peaked at the Weasley. He had vibrant red hair and freckles like Ginny, but had blue eyes instead of brown and looked a lot taller. He looked about thirteen height-wise, but she could tell he was about Harry's age.
"Excuse me?" the boy asked her all of a sudden. "Have you seen a little girl with red hair and freckles, probably about 4'9."
"I'm not a little girl Ron!" Ginny stormed out of her cubicle.
"Oh, hi Ginny," Ron said. "We better get back to Mum and Dad."
"Actually, Ron, don't you want to hang with us?" Ginny asked innocently.
"Ginny, if you ran down Knockturn Alley and joined a hidden Death Eater gang again Mum's going to be so mad."
"Ron, I didn't join a gang again!" Ginny cried indignantly. "Diana's just a ten year old Muggle-born girl who'll be in my year! And I was four when that happened, give me a break!"
"Come on, Ron," Diana pleaded. "You're done with your shopping, right? So you can join us."
"That's true," Ron considered. "I would, for once, like to be out of my brothers' shadow. So maybe I could come..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry Ginny, but you're coming with me. I'd be in so much trouble if I came with you. Mum and Dad have already worried that you met Fenrir Greyback again."
"I'm not coming with you," Ginny huffed. "Now we're leaving, and you can either come with us or drag us back to Mum and Dad."
And that was the first time Diana got dragged through a pet shop by an eleven year old boy with her first ever friend that was not a member of her family.
"I'm sorry Mum," Ginny kept saying over and over again, but it was no use. Molly Weasley would not let Ginny out of her sight.
"Well, I guess this is it for now, Diana," Ginny said. "Come over and visit me. Just call on the Knight Bus and ask for them to take you to the Burrow. See you soon."
"Yeah, see you soon Ginny," Diana said. She watched sadly as Ginny was dragged off by her mother, and wished that she was a member of the Weasleys.
She turned around and started looking for Harry and Petunia. She'd explain to them what Dudley did, and tell them about Ginny, her first real friend (cousins didn't really count.)
When Diana found Petunia and Harry, the scene was not pretty.
"-I don't know what you were thinking Dudley, running off like that, you know better! Your sister has been gone for two hours now! She may never come back!"
"I'm here Mum," Diana said. "Need me?"
"Oh Diana!" Petunia shrieked. "I was so worried! How did you find us?"
"I don't know. I just did, I guess," Diana said awkwardly.
"We got all the stuff, even a wand!" Harry whispered to Diana once they were in the car.
"That's great Harry!" Diana whispered. "I can't wait to go to Hogwarts!"
"Excuse me?" Petunia asked. "What did you just say, Diana?"
"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts," Diana repeated.
"No, no no! Diana, you are not going to Hogwarts! You are not a witch! You can't be!"
"Yes I am, Mum," Diana snapped. "I'm a witch and I'm going to Hogwarts!"
"No you are not!" Petunia snapped. "You will not be going to Hogwarts! You cannot learn magic! You can't be a witch! I forbid you!"
"It's not up to you," Diana retorted. "It's my decision, and mine only!"
"You will not go to Hogwarts! You will not! I forbid you from mentioning the topic! You are not a witch!"