Lyla, Arabella, Ron, and Hermione strolled off along the winding, cobbled street. The bag of gold, silver, and bronze jangling cheerfully in Arabella's pocket was clamoring to be spent, so she bought her sister and friends large strawberry-and-peanut-butter ice creams, which they slurped happily as they wandered up the alley, examining the fascinating shop windows. Ron gazed longingly at a full set of Chudley Cannon robes in the windows of Quality Quidditch Supplies until Lyla dragged them off to buy ink and parchment next door. In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, they came across Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, who were stocking up on Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet- Start, No-Heat Fireworks, and in a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in a small and deeply boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power.

"A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers," Arabella read aloud off the back cover. "That sounds wonderfully fascinating…"

"Go away," Percy snapped irritatedly.

"' Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned out…" Ron told them in an undertone. "I swear, it's like he wants to be Minister of Magic or something."

After half an hour of strolling the streets, they came across another very familiar face.

"Daphne!" shrieked Lyla, throwing herself into the surprised girl's arms. "Oh, how I've missed you!"

Daphne stood with who Arabella could only guess was her family, a woman who shared her daughter's long wavy dark hair and a man with a big twinkling smile. Behind both of them, stood a younger girl who looked to be somewhere around Ginny's age, her light chocolate hair hiding the young girl's eyes from view.

"You're alright!" breathed out Daphne with a delightful surprise. "When Ron wrote to me and said—"

"Yeah, we're alright," said Lyla loudly, staring at the adults. "Why wouldn't we be alright?

Daphne turned to her mother and beamed brightly.

"Mama, Papa, Astoria, these are my friends, Lyla, Arabella, Ron, and Hermione."

"Ah," said the man with a friendly smile, "it is wonderful to meet the souls who've made our daughters' first year so memorable."

That made Ron go scarlet.

"I'm Isaiah Greengrass, and this is my wife, Violet."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you all," said her mother kindly. "Astoria, darling, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

The little girl hiding behind her parents seemed only to shrink smaller.

"My weird sister," Daphne whispered to Hermione, "forget it, she hardly talks to me either."

An hour later, the small group of friends made their way towards Flourish and Blotts. They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they approached it, Arabella saw to her surprise an enormous crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:

GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography "MAGICAL ME" today from 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.

"We can actually meet him!?" Hermione squealed in delight. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"

Daphne looked as if she were about to faint. The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age. A harassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying, "Calmly, please, ladies… Don't push, there… mind the books, now… "

The five second-year students squeezed inside best they could, still unable to see the man of the hour himself. A long line wound through the store's many shelves, right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. As they waited, Astoria and Mrs. Greengrass explored the shop's less crowded areas and snagged enough copies of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2. Through the chaos, Ron pointed out the rest of the Weasleys clan, who were standing side by side with Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair and fanning her face. "We'll be able to see him in a minute... Oh, you must be-"

Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a high table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair. A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

"Out of the way, there!" he snarled at Lyla, moving back to get a better shot. "This is very important, it is, for the Daily Prophet—"

"Big deal," muttered Arabella as Lyla rubbed at her shoulder where the photographer had very rudely hit her.

Gilderoy Lockhart heard this exchange and looked up with faint curiosity, eyes drifting lazily over the crowd— and then he saw Lyla, who was feverishly brushing at her face as a second plume of purple smoke made contact with her. He stared in momentary awe.

"It can't be, can it? Lyla Potter? And if she's here then that must mean- yes! Arabella Potter as well!

The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized the girl's arms, and yanked them to the front. The crowd burst into applause. Arabella felt her face burn as Lockhart shook her hand for the photographer. To her shock, he even wrapped the sisters in a large hug.

"Nice big smile, girls," said Lockhart, through his gleaming teeth. "Together, we are worth the front page."

When he finally let go of Arabella's hand, she could hardly feel her fingers. Lyla tried to sidle back over to where the Weasleys stood, but Lockhart threw an arm around both their shoulders and clamped them tightly to his side.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Arabella and Lyla here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, they only wanted to buy my autobiography — which I shall be happy to present now, free of charge —"

The crowd applauded again.

"However! Little did they know that I have a secret," Lockhart continued, giving Arabella a little shake, "that they would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. They and their schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd cheered and clapped and both found herself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering slightly under their weight, Arabella managed to wobble their way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing next to her new cauldron.

"You have these," she mumbled to her, tipping the books into the cauldron. "I'll buy my own—"

Lyla appeared to have a similar mindset, dropping her load of books into the surprised but grateful arms of Fred Weasely.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you?" said a sneery voice Arabella was all too familiar with. She straightened herself up and found herself face to face with Pansy Parkinson, who was wearing her usual ugly bulldog smirk.

"Famous Potter twins," said Pansy, pantomiming a swoon. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page, aye?"

"You leave her alone!" snapped Ginny unexpectedly, "she didn't want all that! Nobody would!" It was the first time she had spoken in full sentences in front of Arabella. She was glaring daggers at Pansy.

"Aww, isn't this sweet," cooed Pansy with false sympathy, "you've built yourself a little fan club it seems. Adorable…"

Ginny was glowing a bright pink as Lyla, Ron and Daphne fought their way over, all frowning as they saw who Arabella was talking to.

"Oh, it's you," said Daphne, looking at the other girl as if she were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe.

Pansy wrinkled her nose as Hermione now joined the throng, her bushy brown hair askew as she clutched a series of Lockhart books to her chest.

"I've just got all my copies signed by Lockhart himself!" she squealed in excitement, "after he heard– oh, hello Pansy. I didn't think you'd ever want to step foot into a store like this, reading doesn't really seem like a strong suit for you, no…"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Pansy with venom. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."

Ron went as red as Ginny. Lyla in turn stepped in front of the ugly Slytherin, but before she could do anything, Daphne grabbed the back of her jacket fiercely.

"Ron? Is that you? asked Mr. Weasley as he struggled his way through the crowd, followed by Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's too crowded here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well— if it isn't Arthur Weasley."

A tall thin man who shared his daughter's pug-like nose stepped out from behind a bookshelf, one hand delicately stroking his blonde chin thoughtfully. He seemed to float to where the small group stood, carefully setting one delicate hand on Pansy's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.

"Aldrich," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Parkinson with a nasty glint to his gaze. "All those raids… I do hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," he said with mild distaste. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny combined.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Parkinson," was his only response.

"Clearly," said Mr. Parkinson, his dark eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley… and I thought your family could sink no lower —"

There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at the other man, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeding backward, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen, please — please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all —

"Break it up, there, gents, break it up —"

To Arabella's shock, Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant, he had pulled the two grown adult men apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Parkinson had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book and thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.

"Here, girl— take your bloody book— it's the best your father can give you —" Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Pansy and swept from the shop before anything more could be said.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that— no Parkinson's worth listenin' ter— bad blood, that's what it is— come on now— let's get outta here."

The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them from leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright, the Greengrass's scowling, and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury.

"A fine example to set for your children— brawling in public— what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought—"

"He was very pleased," said George with a grin.

"Didn't you hear him as we were leaving?" asked Fred with glee. "He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report— said it was all publicity—"

But it was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron, where Arabella and Lyla, the Weasleys, and all their shopping would be traveling back to the Burrow using Floo powder. They said goodbye to the Grangers and Greengrasses's and soon stood before a large fireplace. Nervously, Lyla made sure to say her destination a few times before stepping into the bellowing green flames. Arabella could feel her stomach already ache, and soon was grasping a small pinch of Flood powder.

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