The Grangers, not being wizards, took Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley through the Muggle Underground--they must've looked very strange, Harry thought later, with Harry and Hermione's trunks taking up four seats, Hedwig in a cage screeching loudly, Crookshanks terrorizing fellow passengers ankles, and then Mr. and Mrs. Granger, looking very pink in the face.
However, when they got into the Leaky Cauldron they didn't look funny at all compared to some of the people; Harry saw a red haired man as large as Hagrid, and another man with white, waxy skin that had suspiciously sharp teeth.
Hermione and Harry smiled at the innkeeper Tom, an old toothless man--Mr. and Mrs. Granger smiled nervously.
"Er--three rooms," Mr. Granger said. Tom nodded, and with a smile beckoned to two surly looking wizards, who were washing dishes. The wizards took Harry and Hermione's trunks, while Tom took Mrs. Grangers small overnight suitcase and Hedwig's cage, carrying a whole chain of keys in his other hand. Then one by one, they were shown to their rooms, all of them very comfortable. Harry had only stayed in the Leaky Cauldron once, that was two years ago, it was a very enjoyable experience.
He met Hermione at the bottom of the stairs, with her parents, who smiled warmly (though somewhat nervously) at Harry, and they proceeded to Gringotts, the great, marble wizarding bank. Harry forgot how much he liked Diagon Alley; last year he had not visited it. There were people in the streets clothed in cloaks, and old witches, and little boys playing on their toy broomsticks.
The walk to Gringotts was short, but pleasant. Gringotts looked the same, tall, white and proud looking--a sneaky looking goblin beckoned them in through the door, where the Grangers took out a wad of Muggle money to exchange over the counter. They handed it to a pointed faced goblin who counted it and then carefully handed the Grangers back a sack of golden Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts.
Harry, who did not have any Muggle money to exchange, but a small fortune, in one of the vaults, took a cart, with yet another goblin, to his vault. The Grangers did not go with him (Harry expected they were scared to death of the roller coaster like ride). Harry grabbed some coins, without looking, and resurfaced, where Hermione met him. It was very nice having a bag full of money, jangling to be spent, and the first thing he and Hermione did was stop at the Leaky Cauldron for a butterbeer.
They sipped their butterbeers slowly for a minute before Hermione said. "So, You-Know-Who was after you?"
Harry looked into his butterbeer--Hermione hadn't mentioned Voldemort at all while he was staying with her. It was a little hard to talk about.
"Yes. Dumbledore reckons he was coming to finish me off. I mean, he can't, I was with the Dursley's, but I guess the--er--potion, um, thing, could've stopped that."
"So he hid you at our house?" Hermione had a slight smile on her face.
"Er--yeah. But that's cause your family's Muggle and all--,"
"Hermione!" a voice shouted. "Harry! How are you?" It was Ron Weasley, looking as freckled as ever. He looked very cheerful for someone who was to start school in a day.
"How are you?" he asked, pulling up a chair.
"Fine," Hermione said with a grin. "You've bought your stuff?"
"Yeah, George, Fred, me and Ginny are here with mum. So you're a prefect Harry?"
"No," said Harry, shrugging.
"Great, me neither. I was afraid they'd have made you one, cause, well it's you, isn't it? Famous Harry Potter."
Hermione cleared her throat awkwardly. "Oh don't be mad I didn't ask you Hermione," groaned Ron. "We all knew you'd be made one. You're like a miniature Percy or something."
Hermione was about to retort something back but she shut her mouth, as if deciding not to bother.
"Hey, you going to finish that?" asked Ron, he nodded towards Hermione's butterbeer. Hermione only waved her hand, so Ron grinned and grabbed the butterbeer.
"Do you think you'll be all right at Hogwarts Harry?" asked Hermione. "After all, You Know Who might come . . ."
Ron spluttered his butterbeer out. "What? But--but Dumbledore's there, right? And Dumbledore's after all, more powerful."
"But . . . oh Harry I'm just worried."
"Don't be," Harry said and he wasn't lying. "The safest place on earth is where Dumbledore is, after all. And Voldemort hasn't been doing anything for a while, has he?"
Ron and Hermione exchanged dark looks. "Oh," said Hermione awkwardly. "Oh, Harry, right before your birthday, there was another one."
"You mean a disappearance though, don't you," Harry said, feeling as if his stomach had been replaced with worms.
Ron shook his head. "It was a wizard, he worked for the Ministry. My dad met him once, said he was nice and everything."
"But why?"
"Why'd You Know Who kill anyone?" said Hermione dryly. "He probably just liked it."
"It made a real stir," said Ron. "It was the first real publicized killing--you know, the Dark Mark was shot up. It scared Ginny out of her wits."
"I didn't feel my scar hurt though . . ."
"Dunno..." Ron said. There was an awkward silence.
"Erm--," Hermione said after a while. "Maybe we should get our books now, don't you think?"
Harry nodded. "S'pose." His mind really wasn't on books. Now someone else had died--all because Harry had let Voldemort come back to power.
The night before leaving for Hogwarts was a pleasant one. The Weasleys, Grangers, and Harry all had supper at the Leaky Cauldron and the Weasley's who'd been in Diagon Alley for a week already, began to pack up. Hermione and Harry, sat on the floor of Hermione's room, playing Exploding Snap, which was much more fun the Muggle card games. Harry noticed that Ron peeked through the open door, from the hall, several times. Finally they all had a cup of hot cocoa ("On the house," said Tom with his usual toothless grin) and Harry fell asleep. He was too tired to even think about Voldemort.
What a nice dream, thought Harry, feeling warm and comfortable. There was orange swarthing around him, a comforting swirl of rich deep russet, that entwined him. Harry felt safe, and happy--and there were two burning brown lights, as warm and comforting as the russet, peering right at him. Harry rolled over in his bed and sighed, burying his face in a pillow.
What a nice voice. "Harry . . .Harry . . ." it said. But the voice was getting sharper--Harry sat straight up. There was Ginny Weasley, her bright red hair, curling from the humidity, her big brown eyes smiling at him.
"Harry, mum told me to come in and get you up."
Harry felt funny--what was Ginny doing in here? He was in his pajamas! "What time is it?" he said, harsher than he expected.
"It's eight thirty," Ginny replied. She was already dressed, her face scrubbed clean. "Come on, up!" she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of bed. "We'll be late."
Harry yawned, and put a bathrobe on over his pajamas. "The train doesn't leave until eleven though."
"Oh we're not going on the train," Ginny said. "The Ministry's taking all of us--at least, you, me, Hermione and my brothers--to Hogwarts."
Harry was beginning to ask why but he stopped himself. Voldemort.
"What time's it coming?" Harry said, alarmed.
"Oh don't be worried, it won't come until a quarter to ten. Well I'm going--you better hurry, breakfast's downstairs--you better come down before Fred and George replace all of the turnovers with Canary Creams."
Harry grinned, thinking of Fred and George's "Canary Creams" which had terrified Gryffindor students for the entirety of last year. He sighed, and pulled on some jeans and a tee shirt, stuffed his wand in his pocket and went down the hall to the bathroom where he found Ron brushing his teeth.
"Hey Harry," Ron said. Of course, since his mouth was full of Goobers Super-Clean Extra-Whitening Curse Free Toothpaste it sounded a bit more like "Fay Farry!"
Harry smiled, and took off his glasses, splashing his face with cool water--it felt good. Ron spit into the sink next to him.
"Mum tell you? We're taking the Knight Bus to Hogwarts."
Harry nodded, his own mouth full of toothpaste now. He spit into the sink. "Ginny."
"Wonder why..." Ron said. "I mean everyone else is riding the Hogwarts Express. You don't think it would have something to do with...hey Hermione this is a boys bathroom, get out!"
"You didn't seem to mind when you went into Myrtle's bathroom," Hermione said, with a toothbrush and Muggle toothpaste in hand. "Anyway only you two are in here and there's tons of girls in the other bathroom," Hermione looked at Harry and Ron's shocked faces. "All I'm going to do is brush my teeth," she said as if explaining to someone very slow. Ron still looked suspicious, but at least didn't protest. He sat against a towel holder and watched as Hermione flossed her straightened teeth no less than three times.
"Blimey," he said, as the three left the bathroom. "I guess it must have something to do with having a dentist for a mum."
The Knight Bus pulled up at exactly 9:45 as Ginny had promised. Unlike their previous rides to Hogwarts, which involved flying cars, hooded dementors, and some very suspicious Every Flavor Beans, the Knight Bus was rather uneventful. Harry, Hermione and Ron sat on a bed talking while Fred and George tried to make Ginny eat a new invention: Tummy Truffles.
"You'll be laughing for hours, come on Ginny," said Fred, trying to squeeze a chocolate Tummy Truffle into her mouth.
Ginny shook her head, her mouth clamped shut
"You'll be cracking up!" George wheedled.
"Oh no!" said Ginny. "I don't want to think what that would do to my stomach!" But before she could close her mouth, Fred had stuffed a Tummy Truffle into Ginny's mouth. Ginny chewed on it a little.
"Not bad," she said slowly. "What's this going to do to--"
Suddenly Ginny doubled over, falling off the bed that she'd been sitting on, giggling, and laughing, pounding on the ground.
"Candies that tickle you! Marvelous!" cried George.
"Brilliant," said Fred as he watched Hermione perform the counter curse on Ginny who was glaring at Fred with great anger.
However, when they got into the Leaky Cauldron they didn't look funny at all compared to some of the people; Harry saw a red haired man as large as Hagrid, and another man with white, waxy skin that had suspiciously sharp teeth.
Hermione and Harry smiled at the innkeeper Tom, an old toothless man--Mr. and Mrs. Granger smiled nervously.
"Er--three rooms," Mr. Granger said. Tom nodded, and with a smile beckoned to two surly looking wizards, who were washing dishes. The wizards took Harry and Hermione's trunks, while Tom took Mrs. Grangers small overnight suitcase and Hedwig's cage, carrying a whole chain of keys in his other hand. Then one by one, they were shown to their rooms, all of them very comfortable. Harry had only stayed in the Leaky Cauldron once, that was two years ago, it was a very enjoyable experience.
He met Hermione at the bottom of the stairs, with her parents, who smiled warmly (though somewhat nervously) at Harry, and they proceeded to Gringotts, the great, marble wizarding bank. Harry forgot how much he liked Diagon Alley; last year he had not visited it. There were people in the streets clothed in cloaks, and old witches, and little boys playing on their toy broomsticks.
The walk to Gringotts was short, but pleasant. Gringotts looked the same, tall, white and proud looking--a sneaky looking goblin beckoned them in through the door, where the Grangers took out a wad of Muggle money to exchange over the counter. They handed it to a pointed faced goblin who counted it and then carefully handed the Grangers back a sack of golden Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts.
Harry, who did not have any Muggle money to exchange, but a small fortune, in one of the vaults, took a cart, with yet another goblin, to his vault. The Grangers did not go with him (Harry expected they were scared to death of the roller coaster like ride). Harry grabbed some coins, without looking, and resurfaced, where Hermione met him. It was very nice having a bag full of money, jangling to be spent, and the first thing he and Hermione did was stop at the Leaky Cauldron for a butterbeer.
They sipped their butterbeers slowly for a minute before Hermione said. "So, You-Know-Who was after you?"
Harry looked into his butterbeer--Hermione hadn't mentioned Voldemort at all while he was staying with her. It was a little hard to talk about.
"Yes. Dumbledore reckons he was coming to finish me off. I mean, he can't, I was with the Dursley's, but I guess the--er--potion, um, thing, could've stopped that."
"So he hid you at our house?" Hermione had a slight smile on her face.
"Er--yeah. But that's cause your family's Muggle and all--,"
"Hermione!" a voice shouted. "Harry! How are you?" It was Ron Weasley, looking as freckled as ever. He looked very cheerful for someone who was to start school in a day.
"How are you?" he asked, pulling up a chair.
"Fine," Hermione said with a grin. "You've bought your stuff?"
"Yeah, George, Fred, me and Ginny are here with mum. So you're a prefect Harry?"
"No," said Harry, shrugging.
"Great, me neither. I was afraid they'd have made you one, cause, well it's you, isn't it? Famous Harry Potter."
Hermione cleared her throat awkwardly. "Oh don't be mad I didn't ask you Hermione," groaned Ron. "We all knew you'd be made one. You're like a miniature Percy or something."
Hermione was about to retort something back but she shut her mouth, as if deciding not to bother.
"Hey, you going to finish that?" asked Ron, he nodded towards Hermione's butterbeer. Hermione only waved her hand, so Ron grinned and grabbed the butterbeer.
"Do you think you'll be all right at Hogwarts Harry?" asked Hermione. "After all, You Know Who might come . . ."
Ron spluttered his butterbeer out. "What? But--but Dumbledore's there, right? And Dumbledore's after all, more powerful."
"But . . . oh Harry I'm just worried."
"Don't be," Harry said and he wasn't lying. "The safest place on earth is where Dumbledore is, after all. And Voldemort hasn't been doing anything for a while, has he?"
Ron and Hermione exchanged dark looks. "Oh," said Hermione awkwardly. "Oh, Harry, right before your birthday, there was another one."
"You mean a disappearance though, don't you," Harry said, feeling as if his stomach had been replaced with worms.
Ron shook his head. "It was a wizard, he worked for the Ministry. My dad met him once, said he was nice and everything."
"But why?"
"Why'd You Know Who kill anyone?" said Hermione dryly. "He probably just liked it."
"It made a real stir," said Ron. "It was the first real publicized killing--you know, the Dark Mark was shot up. It scared Ginny out of her wits."
"I didn't feel my scar hurt though . . ."
"Dunno..." Ron said. There was an awkward silence.
"Erm--," Hermione said after a while. "Maybe we should get our books now, don't you think?"
Harry nodded. "S'pose." His mind really wasn't on books. Now someone else had died--all because Harry had let Voldemort come back to power.
The night before leaving for Hogwarts was a pleasant one. The Weasleys, Grangers, and Harry all had supper at the Leaky Cauldron and the Weasley's who'd been in Diagon Alley for a week already, began to pack up. Hermione and Harry, sat on the floor of Hermione's room, playing Exploding Snap, which was much more fun the Muggle card games. Harry noticed that Ron peeked through the open door, from the hall, several times. Finally they all had a cup of hot cocoa ("On the house," said Tom with his usual toothless grin) and Harry fell asleep. He was too tired to even think about Voldemort.
What a nice dream, thought Harry, feeling warm and comfortable. There was orange swarthing around him, a comforting swirl of rich deep russet, that entwined him. Harry felt safe, and happy--and there were two burning brown lights, as warm and comforting as the russet, peering right at him. Harry rolled over in his bed and sighed, burying his face in a pillow.
What a nice voice. "Harry . . .Harry . . ." it said. But the voice was getting sharper--Harry sat straight up. There was Ginny Weasley, her bright red hair, curling from the humidity, her big brown eyes smiling at him.
"Harry, mum told me to come in and get you up."
Harry felt funny--what was Ginny doing in here? He was in his pajamas! "What time is it?" he said, harsher than he expected.
"It's eight thirty," Ginny replied. She was already dressed, her face scrubbed clean. "Come on, up!" she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of bed. "We'll be late."
Harry yawned, and put a bathrobe on over his pajamas. "The train doesn't leave until eleven though."
"Oh we're not going on the train," Ginny said. "The Ministry's taking all of us--at least, you, me, Hermione and my brothers--to Hogwarts."
Harry was beginning to ask why but he stopped himself. Voldemort.
"What time's it coming?" Harry said, alarmed.
"Oh don't be worried, it won't come until a quarter to ten. Well I'm going--you better hurry, breakfast's downstairs--you better come down before Fred and George replace all of the turnovers with Canary Creams."
Harry grinned, thinking of Fred and George's "Canary Creams" which had terrified Gryffindor students for the entirety of last year. He sighed, and pulled on some jeans and a tee shirt, stuffed his wand in his pocket and went down the hall to the bathroom where he found Ron brushing his teeth.
"Hey Harry," Ron said. Of course, since his mouth was full of Goobers Super-Clean Extra-Whitening Curse Free Toothpaste it sounded a bit more like "Fay Farry!"
Harry smiled, and took off his glasses, splashing his face with cool water--it felt good. Ron spit into the sink next to him.
"Mum tell you? We're taking the Knight Bus to Hogwarts."
Harry nodded, his own mouth full of toothpaste now. He spit into the sink. "Ginny."
"Wonder why..." Ron said. "I mean everyone else is riding the Hogwarts Express. You don't think it would have something to do with...hey Hermione this is a boys bathroom, get out!"
"You didn't seem to mind when you went into Myrtle's bathroom," Hermione said, with a toothbrush and Muggle toothpaste in hand. "Anyway only you two are in here and there's tons of girls in the other bathroom," Hermione looked at Harry and Ron's shocked faces. "All I'm going to do is brush my teeth," she said as if explaining to someone very slow. Ron still looked suspicious, but at least didn't protest. He sat against a towel holder and watched as Hermione flossed her straightened teeth no less than three times.
"Blimey," he said, as the three left the bathroom. "I guess it must have something to do with having a dentist for a mum."
The Knight Bus pulled up at exactly 9:45 as Ginny had promised. Unlike their previous rides to Hogwarts, which involved flying cars, hooded dementors, and some very suspicious Every Flavor Beans, the Knight Bus was rather uneventful. Harry, Hermione and Ron sat on a bed talking while Fred and George tried to make Ginny eat a new invention: Tummy Truffles.
"You'll be laughing for hours, come on Ginny," said Fred, trying to squeeze a chocolate Tummy Truffle into her mouth.
Ginny shook her head, her mouth clamped shut
"You'll be cracking up!" George wheedled.
"Oh no!" said Ginny. "I don't want to think what that would do to my stomach!" But before she could close her mouth, Fred had stuffed a Tummy Truffle into Ginny's mouth. Ginny chewed on it a little.
"Not bad," she said slowly. "What's this going to do to--"
Suddenly Ginny doubled over, falling off the bed that she'd been sitting on, giggling, and laughing, pounding on the ground.
"Candies that tickle you! Marvelous!" cried George.
"Brilliant," said Fred as he watched Hermione perform the counter curse on Ginny who was glaring at Fred with great anger.