Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter Thirteen
Trouble
Diana was grounded.
Minutes after the car had flown away, Vernon had marched back into the house and up the stairs. He'd yelled at his daughter for a decent amount of time and sent her to her room, and she was not to come out until "the time was right."
Diana wondered what had happened to Harry. He'd probably be at Ginny's house by now, as it was several hours later.
Diana was to get a proper punishment at 8:00, when her parents were awake. She probably wouldn't get a terrible punishment, but she definitely wouldn't have it easy.
As she thought, she was stuck with cleaning the whole house for the next few weeks.
Day 1 and she managed to clean the kitchen and living room, which included wiping the table, doing the dishes, going through all the food to see if it was out of date, cleaning the cushions, polishing antiques and many more things.
Day 2 was both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms. This included cleaning the toilet, seeing if there was enough toothpaste, scrubbing the bathtub and shower, cleaning the floor, checking if they had everything they needed in the medical cabinet, and more.
Day 3 was everyones room. That including having to go through her parents manky clothes, tidying Dudley's room, washing the sheets and cleaning pillows.
By Day 4 Diana was exhausted. She'd done 3 days of cleaning, only getting meals when the job was done, which meant that she hadn't had breakfast or lunch. And then she'd have to clean up after.
Why'd I not go with the Weasleys! she thought on the afternoon while sorting through the attic's bookshelf.
She looked at the calendar above the bookshelf. It was only August 4th. Still, less than a months until Hogwarts. 27 days. Almost 4 weeks. Only 648 hours. 38880 minutes. 2332800 seconds.
I'm going crazy, aren't I. And I'm only 11!
3 days later Ginny sent her a letter.
Dear Diana,
Harry's given me Hedwig so I can send you this letter.
On my birthday (11th August) Mum and Dad are taking the family into Diagon Alley, and they've let me invite a friend to come too, so I chose, you, partly because you're one of my best friends, and partly because I felt sorry for you being locked up with your magic-hating Muggle parents.
Dad's going to come and pick you up, because I know you well enough to know that you'll leap at this chance. We don't care what your Muggle parents will say, we're taking you with us. And if they get to angry then you can stay with us. We just want you to have a good time.
See you later!
Love, Ginny!
Diana almost screamed with excitement. It had been a while since she'd been to Diagon Alley, and going again would be a delight.
There was only one problem. Vernon and Petunia would not like this, especially not if she would be skipping her punishment for this.
Diana decided that neither of them would know about this until the 11th.
For the next 4 days, things did not go well for Diana Dursley.
Dudley laughed at her beyond belief because a spider landed on her forehead. He liked to sit and watch her suffer while he ate stuff like popcorn and chocolate.
Surprisingly, on the 11th Petunia decided the family needed to go out for the day.
"It will be a great way to bond without that Potter boy in the way," she insisted.
"Oh Mum, I can't go!" Diana lied. "I've got a terrible stomach ache. It's all the cleaning."
Petunia gave her daughter a horrible death glare, but let Diana stay at home. "As long as you don't get up to anything," she said strictly.
"I promise," groaned Diana, putting on the I'm so terribly ill! look.
"Go up to your room and rest. I don't want to see you out of it for the rest of the day!" snapped Petunia.
Diana trudged up the stairs and went into her room. As soon as she shut the door she felt a thrill of excitement. It was finally happening!
Half an hour later she heard the door slam, and crept out of her room to look out for any sign of the red-head.
Twenty minutes went past and Diana spotted a tall red haired man. She ran outside into the front lawn.
"Hello," he said. "You must be Diana Dursley. I'm Ginny's father, but call me Mr Weasley. Ginny's told me quite a bit about you. I've disguised myself as one of those letter deliverers from the Muggle world so none of your neighbours get suspicious. You must tell me all about it in the car."
Diana grinned at the sight of the familiar Ford Anglia.
"Now, hop in with me."
Diana clambered into the back and was supposed to see Colin.
"Hi Diana," Colin said merrily. "Surprised to see me? My parents are quite a bit more accepting than yours."
"Is everyone strapped in?" asked Mr Weasley.
"Yes!" called Colin and Ginny.
"Off we go!"
Diana loved the flying car. It went high above the clouds, and sometimes Mr Weasley would spin it around. She wished Vernon's new company car would do this.
She, Ginny and Colin had a talk about Hogwarts.
"My brothers have told me a lot about it, and the first thing you need to worry about is the sorting. It sort of determines your personality..."
30 minutes later, they had arrived at the same dingy old pub Diana had visited with Petunia, Dudley and Harry almost a year ago (though it only felt like it was a few months ago).
Mr Weasley led them to the courtyard and tapped the third brick on the left. It opened the revealed Diagon Alley.
It looked the same as last time: lots of shops, wizards and a wonderful atmosphere. Diana looked at Colin and saw him gaping.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley," she told him.
Mr Weasley walked them in. "I'm going to withdraw some money. You three meet me outside of Gringotts. We'll meet up with Molly there."
He walked off hurriedly and Ginny smiled. "It feels so real now, doesn't it? Soon we'll be at Hogwarts!"
She cheered, and Diana and Colin followed quickly.
Diana, Colin and Ginny waited at the steps of Diagon Alley.
"So, what goes on at Diagon Alley?" enquired Colin.
"It's like the British version of a mall," responded Diana smoothly. "You buy stuff in the stores, and it's very crowded outside."
Colin nodded to show that he understood.
Minutes later, Mr Weasley returned with the money, with a crowd behind him. Colin gasped at the sight of Harry.
"Diana, I've heard all about him! He's famous!" He ran up to Harry. "Can I get your autograph?"
Diana sighed. This wasn't going to go well, was it?
They were split it groups. Diana, Ginny and Colin were to go with Mr and Mrs Weasley to get their supplies, while Harry, Ron and Hermione went to go get the stuff they needed, which was significantly less than the younger ones needed. After an hour, they were all to meet up outside the bookshop Flourish and Blotts, where they would all watch famous author Gilderoy Lockhart's book signing.
Harry, Ron and Hermione took off in a completely different direction from Diana, Ginny and Colin, and Diana felt a twinge of nostalgia as she saw Harry laugh with them, and it reminded her of summers they spent together making up scenarios about Dudley and his gang, and most of them involved Diana and Harry's freakishness.
They first went to buy robes and were measured by fussy Madam Malkins. Then they went to lol at cauldrons and scales. After that they headed to buy ingredients for potions. And finally, they proceeded to the wand shop.
Diana's wand was 14 inches long with silver birchwood and a Hippogriff feather. The bronze swirls around the wand seemed like enchantments.
Finally, after a tedious hours of shopping, they arrived at Flourish and Blotts for Lockhart's performance.
There was a long queue outside the bookshop, but luckily Harry and his friends had gotten their before a few people had, so Diana and the others managed to skip, but it was still a long wait, so Diana showed Harry her wand.
Harry grinned. "Bronze engravings, huh? This looks pretty cool."
"Not as cool as your evil wand," insisted Diana. Noticing the shadow that crossed his face, she left it at that.
Ten minutes later they were all let in to the extremely crowded bookshop.
"When are we going to see him?" asked Colin.
"Once everyone in front of us has had their book signed," answered Ginny.
At the front of the queue, Diana could make out a very extravagant man with curly blond hair, forget-me-not blue robes and dazzling white teeth. But her view was soon ruined as an irritable looking man came dancing around taking pictures.
"Move over!" he called rudely Ron. "This is for the Daily Prophet!"
"Big deal," muttered Ron.
Lockhart had heard him. He turned his head up towards Ron, and then Diana saw his eyes widen. She groaned inwardly. He leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter?"
The crowd parted, whispering excitedly. Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm and pulled up to the front. The crowd burst into applause. Harry's face burned as Lockhart shook his hand and the photographer clicked away.
Lockhart muttered something Diana couldn't make out to Harry, and let go soon after.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary event this is!" boomed Lockhart once Harry had made it back to the Weasleys. "The perfect moment to make an announcement I've been waiting for. I am, in fact, not only giving Harry a free signing of my books, but teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts as well!"
The crowd burst into heavier applause, and Diana saw Harry flush. She knew she was going to hate this guy.
Harry was presented with Lockhart's books, but he tipped them into Ginny's cauldron as soon as he was out of Lockhart's sight range.
"You have them," he muttered. "You'll need them more than me. I'll buy my own-"
"Bet you loved that, didn't you Potter!" snarled a voice from behind the bookshelf. A boy with slick blond hair and fancy robes came into sight.
"Malfoy," growled Harry.
"Famous Harry Potter, can't even go to a bookshop without making the front page!"
"Ooh, looks like someone's jealous," Diana smirked. She put her hand on her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that. It just slipped out.
Malfoy glared at her.
"Don't say that, he didn't want any of it!" said Ginny. Diana registered Harry's surprise.
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy.
"Oh, you," commented Ron, noticing the argument. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"
"Not as much as I am to see you, Weasley. What'd your family have to do to pay for this? Go hungry for a mouth?" sneered Malfoy.
"Ron!" called Mr Weasley. "What are you doing in here? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."
"Surprise to see you here, Arthur."
It was an older version of Malfoy. He had long, platinum blond hair tied up in a ponytail, and a long dark robe.
He looked at the crowd around them. He turned his attention to Diana.
"And who must you be? You don't have red hair?"
"I'm a friend of Ginny's," stammered Diana.
"What's your name."
"D-Diana Dursley."
"Oh Arthur, have we come so far as to hanging out with... Muggle-borns?" he picked up a book from her cauldron. "At least her parents can pay well," he muttered shoving it back into the cauldron. "Unlike her friend's."
It all went so fast. One moment they were exchanging insults, the next the two men were fighting each other, knocking over bookshelf and brawling.
"Arthur!" shrieked Molly. She managed to pull Mr Weasley off Malfoy Sr, and dragged him out of the bookshop. Something told Diana that she should follow, and clearly that something told the rest of the group as well, as they all followed Diana out of the shop.
"-brawling like boys!" Mrs Weasley was ranting. "What will Gilderoy Lockhart have thought?"
Fred stated, "Actually, Mum, I heard him say to a bloke from the Daily Prophet to work it into the story-"
No one spoke after seeing the glare Mrs Weasley gave Fred.