Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all
belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my
plot and my computer =).
A/N: Aw…I'll get a big head with your praises but please
continue to r/r.
Diagon
Alley
At first Dudley could not see the Leaky Cauldron. Now he
wondered where Diagon Alley actually was. When Harry took out his wand to show
Dudley the first glimpse of Diagon Alley, Dudley could only dazedly step in. He
was so amazed by the many different shops and the amount of people there. They
had checked into a room at the Leaky Cauldron earlier and were now shopping for
their school supplies.
First, Harry brought Dudley to Gringotts to change his
Muggle money into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. Dudley was still staring all
over, wide-eyed in wonder, until the breakneck pace to Harry's vault in
Gringotts made him snap out of it. He was amazed to see the amount of money
Harry had even though Harry had already told him about his parents leaving him
some money. Harry took some money and then off they went.
At Flourish and Blotts, they got their books and stationery.
Dudley had to get a mixture of first year and fifth year books. He was also
actually staring at the stacks of different books in wonder until Harry pulled
him away. They went into shop after shop to get their supplies and even
Ollivanders for Dudley's wand that did not take too long to choose him. They
both also went to Madam Malkin to get their robes. Harry's ones were too small
for him and he had also wanted to get new dress robes while Dudley needed to
get fitted for his new robes too. Dudley also decided not to get an owl as he
could share Harry's when necessary and he thought that his parents would
probably strangle his owl if he sent a letter home with it. Finally, they were
done with all the school stuff. They went to dump all their purchases into
their room and then headed for an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream
Parlor and also to go to Harry's favorite Quality Quidditch Supplies. When they
reached the shop after enjoying their delicious ice cream, they noticed a crowd
there staring at the newly arrived Laser. Also there, in the midst of the
crowd, was Harry's long-time nemesis, Draco Malfoy.
"Potter, who's that Mudblood with you?" sneered Malfoy.
"That's my cousin and it's none of your business." Harry
retorted.
At that moment, Ron and Hermione arrived and seeing Harry
and Malfoy at odds, they immediately came to back him up.
"Back off Malfoy, wait till you fall in love with one. Then
I'll be the one laughing," said Hermione who had overheard their conversation.
And before all of their astonished eyes, a faint flush
appeared on Malfoy's face and he actually backed off.
"Hey, where are your folks?" Harry said to Ron and Hermione.
"We got here just in time to save your butt. Shouldn't you
thank us instead of asking about our families?" Ron joked.
"Yeah, thanks. By the way, I was in total control of the
situation." Harry replied with a grin. "Oh and this is my cousin, Dudley."
Turning to Dudley, he motioned, "And that is Ron and this is Hermione."
"Well, he sure looks different since I last saw him." Ron
exclaimed.
"You were much bigger before." Hermione added.
"But you've never seen me," a confused Dudley said to
Hermione.
"Harry's described you often enough," Hermoine smiled in
reply.
Before Dudley could reply to that, Harry, trying to change
the subject, said, "Let's go into the shop. I want to check out on some new
Quidditch supplies."
As they walked in, Ron was excitedly talking to Harry about
the new Laser broomstick while Hermione left for the bookshop. Dudley was just
looking around the shop on his own. "It's supposed to be almost twice as fast
as the Firebolt at full speed. With it, you can beat everyone hollow." Ron said
rapidly in excitement before continuing with a grin, "Not that you can't beat
everyone at the moment."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence," Harry laughed.
"Oh and Fred and George bought the whole family Nimbus two
thousand and ones. I wonder where they got the money from." Ron rambled on.
"Really, that's great. I was going to offer you my Firebolt
now that I got a Laser for my birthday but that's fine. I'll just keep it for
spare." Harry said with a secret smile to himself.
"What? You got a Laser. You've got to be kidding. Who could
be so rich as to give that to you? I heard that it costs like the same amount
as a car." Ron exclaimed.
"Well, there's only one person who's rich and would buy me
such presents. You know him too." Harry had an annoying grin on his face.
"Sirius," Ron suddenly said.
"Shush, you don't want the whole world to know, do you?
Yeah, it was he. Moony contributed to it too." Harry replied.
"Moony?" Ron was confused for a while before continuing,
"Oh, it's Lupin."
At that moment, Dudley came up saying that he wanted a
broomstick too. It was just that he did not know how to fly.
"I don't think you'll be joining the first years for their
flying lessons but I'll teach you if you want." Harry offered.
Dudley's eyes immediately lit up and he pulled Harry around,
asking advice on which broom to buy and if he needed any other gear and such.
In the end, Dudley settled for a Nimbus two thousand and one. Harry thought
that the Firebolt or even the Laser would be too difficult for an amateur to
handle. Harry also found a broom-servicing kit that just came out and had more
features than the one he had so he bought it.
That evening, they all had dinner at the Leaky Cauldron with
all the Weasleys (A/N: Yes, I mean all and that includes all their children too
=)) and Hermione's parents. Throughout dinner and beyond, Ginny could not stop staring
at Harry and daydreaming, "It seemed impossible for Harry Potter to look even
better but he looks fantastic…Oh, that magnificent build…" Fred and George
noticed her dreamy looks and her constant staring at Harry. They deduced her
thoughts and teased her until it seemed that her face could not go even redder.
Harry either did not notice it or ignored it as he spent all
his time joking or just exchanging news or discussing Quidditch. But unknown to
all, at the back of his mind, he was sad that he never got to see Cho at Diagon
Alley today. These days, if he was not thinking of Voldemort's return, he would
be thinking about Cho, wondering how did she classify their relationship, that
they were just friends or more and if they could be more than just friends this
coming year. He soon pushed these thoughts away, replacing it with better ones,
which consisted of seeing Cho the next day. He was really eager and looking
forward to it though he still did not know what he would say to her when he
first saw her.
Dudley was having the time of his life. He was making new
friends and enjoying himself in this homey atmosphere. It felt much better than
always being coddled by his parents. The rest also started liking this 'new'
Dudley and were amazed at his changed while still learning more about him.
******************************
Morning soon approached and Mr and Mrs Weasley had to pull
all of them out of bed. They had chatted long into the night and were all
sleepyheads in the morning. After a lot of moaning and groaning, they were all
finally awake and ready to go. Those who could apparate, apparated to King's
Cross Station while the rest took the Muggle taxi there. It was quite a
squeeze, with five of them (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Dudley) in one
taxi. Even though they were tired and wanted to take a nap on the journey
there, they couldn't as it was way too squeezed to even sit properly. Soon they
were all wishing that the sooner this ride ended, the better.
Noticing Harry's edginess, Ron teased, "Eager to see Malfoy,
Harry?"
Harry immediately retorted with a resounding no and said, "I
was eager to see Snape."
At that, all of them except Dudley, who did not know what
they were talking about, laughed. That made them all less tense and eased them
up for the rest of the uncomfortable ride.
Seeing Dudley's confused face, they all also spent the time
telling him about Snape and the awful Slytherins.
******************************
Finally, they reached King's Cross Station. They hurriedly
unloaded their trunks and took turns to enter the barrier that led to platform
nine and three-quarters. Dudley was a little hesitant about crashing into a
wall at first but he made it through after seeing the others sliding through
easily.
