Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all these other great characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I just play with them!
13. Little Whinging and London.
Harry woke up very early the next morning. He was still almost as excited about going to Diagon Alley as he had been the first time. Hogsmeade was cool, but it couldn't compare to Diagon Alley. And last year Mrs Weasley had picked up his school stuff because of the World Cup. He had been able to go Gringott's right after the end of last school year, but he'd gone with Mr. Weasley who'd only had time for that one, brief, errand, and nothing else.
He tried to contain his eagerness at breakfast. He wore jeans and a T-shirt, his school robes shrunk in his pocket, in the light of their stop on Privet Drive. Professor Snape wore a dark suit, which to Harry's surprise looked quite in style. He'd expected Professor Snape to be as out of date as most wizards when it came to Muggle clothing, but Snape could've passed for any of Uncle Vernon's business partners.
They floo'd from the fireplace in the Great Hall, to their first stop at Mrs Figg's. Harry recognised the cluttered room with the multitude of cats, although the several open boxes and crates were, of course, only there now that she was getting ready to move.
Mrs Figg herself stood amidst the clutter, looking rather uneasy. She greeted them both. Harry returned her greeting shortly.
"Harry, I owe you an apology," Mrs Figg said nervously. "I didn't know how bad it was."
"No, apparently not," Harry said. He had intended to be polite, but he could not keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"You never said anything when you were here," Mrs Figg said apologetically.
"Of course not! I always thought you were one of Aunt Petunia's friends and you'd go right back to her and tell her what I said! Did you think I liked wearing clothes that were three sizes too big for me? Or glasses held together with cellotape?" Harry blew up. "You were supposed to be watching me, I was just a kid."
Mrs Figg looked taken aback. She stared at him for the longest time. Finally, she sighed. "You are right. I'm sorry."
Harry snorted. It wasn't this last incident that bothered him, he hadn't seen it coming and he had lived with the Dursleys, not just a couple streets away. It was the years of cupboards, ridiculous clothes, broken glasses and cutting remarks before he knew there was ever going to be anything more to life, before he knew it was just for the summer months. But he would take her apology for now. "Whatever," he said, and turned.
Professor Snape had not made any comment, and did not say a word when they walked out the door and down the street.
"I'm sorry I lost my temper," Harry said after half a block.
Professor Snape shrugged. "Best you get it out of your system, better here than at Hogwarts," he replied.
"I guess," Harry replied.
They took a right onto Privet Drive, and Harry immediately saw the hated house he had lived in. Now that he knew he was no longer going back here to live, it looked rather pathetic.
He stepped up to the door and rang the bell. For a long time, nothing happened, and he was about to ring again when he heard footsteps from inside. The door opened and Dudley looked out.
"Hi Dudley, glad to see you are back from the hospital," Harry said sweetly. For some reason he was having trouble controlling his voice once again, not that he was trying very hard.
"You!" Dudley called out, looking shocked. "Mom, Dad, it's him!" He tried to slam the door but Professor Snape caught it and pushed his way in. Harry followed.
"Didn't your parents teach you any manners, slamming the door on people?" Snape inquired.
Dudley backed away, turning pale. Almost immediately, the door to the livingroom opened and Uncle Vernon stepped out. Aunt Petunia emerged from the kitchen at the far end of the hall, catching Dudley in her arms as he backed into her.
"What are you doing here? You promised you wouldn't come back! And who the hell are you?" Uncle Vernon bellowed.
"This is Professor Snape, my Potions teacher at Hogwarts. We just came to pick up something I… forgot," Harry replied acidly.
"Well, you should've paid more attention when you packed, then," his aunt snapped.
Harry looked at her, confused for a moment, but Professor Snape turned to Uncle Vernon immediately.
"You filth, she doesn't even know what a lowlife scum you are."
It was Aunt Petunia's turn to look confused. Uncle Vernon turned a little pale, which was all the more obvious because he was usually so red faced.
"Dudley, get into the kitchen," he ordered.
Dudley fled.
"Harry attacked Dudley, then ran off while his aunt was at the hospital. He even vandalised his room," Uncle Vernon tried as soon as the door had closed after Dudley.
"And after all we have done for him, too. Fed him and took care of him for all these years!" Aunt Petunia added dramatically.
Professor Snape looked slowly from one to the other. He addressed Aunt Petunia first.
"You might actually be self-deceived enough to believe that," he said flatly, then rounded on Uncle Vernon again. "But you are a lousy liar. A first year Hufflepuff could bring that with more conviction."
"I don't know what Harry's been telling you," Uncle Vernon tried, but it was obvious he was very nervous. Harry wondered why he didn't just give up.
"You know exactly what he's been telling me. And what he looked like when he arrived at Hogwarts two weeks ago."
Uncle Vernon threw a quick glance at Harry with his beady eyes, narrowing them even more as he looked down.
"He looks f…," Uncle Vernon broke off as Snape frowned. "So what are you here for?" he stammered instead.
"Just like Harry said, we're here to pick something up. You missed one of his books when you threw his possessions out of the window."
Aunt Petunia started, but recovered quickly. "We threw it out, we cleaned the room and threw everything out," she blurted out.
"You did not," Harry said. He'd recognise that fake, shifty tone of voice any time. "I bet you haven't even been into the room. So I'll just go upstairs and grab it."
He went upstairs, not waiting for an answer. He'd guessed right, the room looked just like it had two weeks ago. There was new glass in the window, but other than that it looked as if no one had been in there. Dudley's broken stuff on one side of the room, where Harry had piled it at the start of summer. The rest of the room almost bare. Sheets still on the bed, lamp laying on the desk where it'd fallen. And underneath the bed, exactly where he had thought it would be –or perhaps he'd seen it there, without realising it?- his Transfiguration book, the almost-finished essay inside.
Harry picked it up and quickly looked around the room for anything else that might've been left behind. The only thing he saw was an almost-empty packet of owl treats, but he left it. His Aunt might not have been in the room to clean it out, afraid of curses or whatever else she might find, but he didn't trust the Dursleys any better than they trusted him. He judged Dudley quite capable of poisoning owl treats, if his cousin had dared to enter the room and had thought of it.
Holding his book, he went downstairs again. He could hear his Aunt's voice but she fell silent as she saw him.
"Got it," he said.
Professor Snape nodded. "Good. Then let's get out of here." He threw a withering look at the Dursleys, who shrank back.
"Gladly, sir," Harry replied as they made their way to the door.
It wasn't good manners to leave without saying goodbye, either, but Harry did not care. He did not say a word nor looked back as they left the house.
"Decidedly unpleasant people," Snape commented as they walked the short distance back to Mrs Figg's.
Harry agreed wholeheartedly.
They didn't stay at Mrs Figg any longer than it took them to floo out, and soon Harry was brushing the soot off his clothes in the Leaky Cauldron. He pulled his robes out of his pocket. Enlarging them to their normal size, he threw them on and immediately felt much better. Here he belonged. He followed Professor Snape out behind the establishment and into Diagon Alley.
"We drop off the list at Slug and Jiggers first, it'll take them a few hours to get everything ready," Snape said. "You can drop off your own list as well, it will save us time waiting later on."
Harry nodded as they stepped into the large store.
The interior looked much the same as the previous times Harry had been here, and it still smelled strongly of strange and not all pleasant ingredients. When Professor Snape entered, the man behind the counter greeted him respectfully. He then pulled aside a curtain that closed off a doorway behind the counter, called out, and moments later a tall witch appeared. She was dark-skinned, wore flowing robes with tight sleeves, and dragon hide gloves.
"Professor, good to see you again," she said.
"Likewise, Madam Iruwa," Snape returned her greeting, sounding rather more friendly than usual. He handed her the long list of supplies he needed and she looked it over briefly.
"I will have your order ready by two o'clock," she said.
"And his," Snape said, gesturing for Harry to give her his much shorter list.
"Of course," Madam Iruwa replied, taking the parchment from Harry's hand. She smiled friendly enough, but her eyes were dark and seemed to bore into his. They briefly flickered to the Gryffindor shield on his robes. Here was someone who did not miss much, he thought as they left the store.
Their next stop was Gringott's, for Harry had not taken much gold out when he had exchanged the galleons for Muggle money, not daring to show the Dursleys he had more than what he'd needed for his summer clothes. Harry greatly enjoyed the ride on the cart, and all too soon they reached the lobby again.
Taking a left after stepping out of the bank building, they went by Madam Malkin's for Harry's new robes. There were only two younger kids in the store, whom Harry did not know. First years, no doubt. Harry was done soon and they proceeded to Flourish and Blotts.
Here, they spent more time. After Harry got his books, Professor Snape spent some time browsing through the Potions section. Harry saw several Hogwarts students, but no one from his own class. He exchanged a few brief greetings, but when they saw who he was with no one cared to chat for too long. The few Slytherins who saw them of course greeted Professor Snape respectfully, but avoided Harry.
After Flourish and Blotts came the stationary shop for ink, quills and parchment. Harry would have liked to spent some time at Quality Quidditch Supplies, but he remembered how Professor Snape had broken off the topic the previous week and he only bought the wax he needed. Across the street, at Eeylops, Harry picked up the owl treats for Hedwig. He was surprised when Professor Snape studied the various owls in stock with interest. Still it was only lunch time when they finished Harry's shopping.
Professor Snape suggested lunch in the Leaky Cauldron, and Harry readily agreed. Once again, several people greeted them from a distance, but no one stopped to talk.
After lunch, there was still about an hour left before they could pick up the order. Professor Snape led the way to the small junk shop at the far end of Diagon Alley and spent some time browsing through the second-hand books, while Harry inspected the rest of the inventory. Most of what the store had in stock really was junk, but apparently Professor Snape had better luck with the books, for he purchased four old and dusty volumes.
Walking back, Harry glanced over to the tempting storefront of Gambol & Japes. And on the other side of the street he noticed a small candy store he had not seen before. He'd been all out of sweets for a while, and of course he wouldn't be able to buy any on the Hogwarts Express, either. He was debating whether to ask Professor Snape for a stop at either of the stores when Snape spoke up.
"I'm not going to go into Gambol and Japes, but if you want to spend your money on Chocolate Frogs and the like, I suppose we have a few minutes left."
"Thank you, sir!" Harry replied, grinning widely, and was inside the store in a blink. He quickly picked out some of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, some Droobles Best Blowing Gum, a few Peppermint Toads and, indeed, Chocolate Frogs. They had a few items he'd never seen before, but he did not want to try Professor Snape's patience. He was long glad Snape had agreed to go in in the first place.
Emerging from the store, he broke open a bag of Bertie Bott's and picked one out.
"Would you like one, Professor?" he offered. He seriously doubted Snape would, but it was polite to ask.
"No, thank you. I've never understood why one would like a sweet when there's also a chance of vinegar or baking grease," Snape replied.
"That's the fun of it," Harry said. "Well, mostly fun," he admitted after a moment, remembering one or two particularly nasty ones.
The tall witch was waiting for them with several boxes of ingredients. Professor Snape signed for the purchase and Harry paid for his few items. Then the man who usually stood behind the counter helped them carry everything to the Leaky Cauldron. They shrunk the non-magical ingredients, and Harry's school stuff, but there were still several boxes left that couldn't be shrunk, and two boxes that couldn't even be levitated. Professor Snape put a shielding spell on those before taking them into the fireplace.
Fortunately, they could floo directly to the dungeons. The system was really convenient, any fireplace that was hooked up could be reached and they wouldn't have to carry everything through half the school. Harry had gone first, and stood waiting at the store room door, carrying three large boxes in his arms and two more tethered and floating behind him. Snape stepped out of the fireplace.
"Umbra Niger," Professor Snape called out, and the store room opened.
Surprised but relieved, Harry went in and put down his large load.
"Most of it can wait until Monday, but I would appreciate if you could help me put these away," Snape said, indicating the two special boxes.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied.
That task took almost two hours, for some ingredients needed complicated spells and protections for storage. Professor Snape took the time to explain the procedures, and Harry found he was fascinated by the rare items. Well, most of them anyhow, some were just plain gross.
Harry then put his own purchases away, leafed through some of his new books, and went down to the Great Hall for dinner.
Sunday was utterly uneventful, especially compared to the past couple weeks. Harry was glad Hedwig flew in with a return letter from Ron, for other than that there was not a whole lot to do. It was still pouring rain outside. He was glad that it had been dry in London the previous day, even though it had been overcast. He did go out briefly, and knew it was good to practice in any kind of weather, but it had definitely been more fun to fly in the sun. At least he hadn't purchased his all-weather broom wax for nothing, not that he'd have to worry about that here in Scotland. He carefully cleaned and waxed his Firebolt before going out, then dried it off just as carefully when he returned. Finally, he sat down and finished his Transfiguration essay, then added a couple things to his Potions homework that he had learned during the previous week.