Chapter Two
Flux at Diagon Alley
Harry Potter, famous among the wizard world as the "boy-who-lived" and credited with felling the evil Lord Voldemort when he was only a baby and again just last year, was now very nervous about the new year at Hogwarts School of Magic. Nervous, but excited, Hogwarts was definitely the best part of his life, as his "family" the Dursleys hated him with a passion. His friend Ron Weasley, and Ron's brothers George and Fred, the school troublemakers, had rescued him from the Durselys that summer. The two boys were now in Diagon Alley, the hidden street filled with magical shops, looking for their friend Hermione Granger, she was bound to meet up with him and Ron getting while they were all getting supplies.
It was only a few days before the new school year at Hogwarts and so the street of wizard shops was bustling and crowded with little witches and wizards, teenage witches and wizards, and their parents, all getting supplies for the coming semester. Even the odd muggle (non magic) parents could be spotted in the crowd (looking quite nervous and uncomfortable, as can be imagined.) That was certainly the case with Hermione Granger's parents, she was the top in her grade at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry but both of her parents were completely normal, unmagical, muggle dentists. She was so busy thinking about this that Hermione accidentally bumped into the man standing in front of her in the magic book store, and dropped her books.
He was tall, and she'd guess in his early to mid-thirties, good looking for a man that old, with long wavy brown hair pulled back into a pony tail and sparkling green eyes. And oddly enough, he was wearing what looked to be a cowboy hat.
"Oh excuse me."
"No, excuse me, little lady." The man smiled good-naturedly and picked up her books for her.
"Getting ready for your first year at Hogwarts?"
"My second." She said.
"Ah, my girls are just starting their first." As he said that Nafia and Nadia Kinneas walked up behind Hermione.
"Dad!" They said in chorus.
"See," Irvine grinned, "I bet you guys'll all be friends, right? These are my girls, Nafia and Nadia Kinneas."
Hermione nodded her head politely, "Nice to meet you Nafia, Nadia, Mr. Kinneas."
"Heh, just call me Irvine, little lady." He smiled, and tipped his cowboy hat to her.
He was about to say something more when the door to Flourish and Blotts bookstore swung open and Harry and Ron entered, they waved to her happily and walked over to her. "Harry! Ron!" Hermione beamed.
"Hey Hermione, see you met Nadia and Nafia." Ron said.
"You know them?"
"Yeah they stayed at my house all summer."
Irvine fidgeted a little at that remark.
Hermione noticed and quickly intervened by turning to Harry, "Did you pick up the new copies of A History of Magical Creatures, Heroic Witches in the 1800s, and 100 New Uses for Magic Root?"
"Uh . . . those books aren't on the school requirement list." Ron said.
Hermione sighed irritably, "Of course not, but they're new books and they look ever so interesting! How can you NOT buy them?"
"That's Hermione alright." Harry whispered to Ron as Nafia and Nadia giggled.
Abruptly, the door to the small shop swung open again, and in strode with the air of cool confidence and arrogant superiority trademarked of the Malfoy family, Lucius Malfoy and his son, Draco.
Hermione knew Draco well, he went to Hogwarts and was in her grade, but he was a rich snobby jerk, and Harry's worst enemy. He and his father both wore sharp black robes, and his father had long blonde hair and silver clasps on his cloak. He looked around the small bookstore in disdain as though it were it the most damned little hovel he'd ever laid eyes upon.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Weasleys." He said dryly, eyeing Ron's red haired family. The Weasleys had a very large family and very little money and the Malfoys had exactly the opposite and loved to show it off. Lucius sneered at Ron's younger sister, red haired and shy Ginny, and picked her school books out of her cauldron eyeing them with distaste. "Second hand no doubt? My, my."
"Back off, Malfoy." Irvine Kinneas said. They turned to look at him. He was glaring at Lucius with anger in his hazel eyes. "Leave them alone."
A cold stiffness seemed to filter through the air between Lucius and the man, which even the bystanders could sense. Lucius' gaze narrowed coldly, and he dropped Ginny's books back into her cauldron. He quickly turned around, his black cape billowing out swiftly. "Come, Draco, we won't be buying your books in such a pitiful little shack."
"But father-"
"I said COME." Mr. Malfoy spoke with a harsh and reprimanding tone that chilled everyone in the store even though he was not speaking to them. His expression was cold and stern and he looked like a man not to cross.
" . . . Y--Yes, father."
Hermione looked back at the twins and their father, his green eyes were still fixed in an icy glare after Lucius Malfoy, not that the Malfoys had any shortage of enemies, being the type of people to openly hold those of not "pure" wizard blood in low regard, and even to stick up their nose at some who had no muggle family members, like the Weasleys.
"That jerk." Ron muttered.
"Don't let it get to you." Irvine said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, thanks, Irvine." Arthur Weasley said, as he walked up and the two began to talk for a while.
Soon the trio had set out for the magical train from Platform nine and three quarters to take them to another year at Hogwarts when Hermione found herself alone in the train and no sign of Harry or Ron, or even Nadia or Nafia, and she was a little annoyed that they must have gotten themselves lost or something, and sat down beside Ron's younger sister, Ginny who was heading for her first year at the school of witchcraft and wizardry.
"Hi, Hermione." The younger girl said shyly. "I saw you in the bookstore."
"Hey Ginny, do you know who our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher will be this year?" Hermione asked, no one knew yet it was a mystery. But hopefully, not someone possessed by the evil Lord Voldemort again.
The younger girl quickly shook her head, "It was gonna be Gildory Lockhart, but you know, since his big scam was discovered he lost the job."
"Yeah, I was really disappointed, I can't believe he used memory charms on all those poor wizards and took credit for their work." Hermione nodded, tugging a hand through her long wavy brown hair.
"I know, my mom tore up all her books and pictures of him and she was, like, a HUGE Lockhart fan!" Ginny exclaimed enthusiastically.
At that moment the door to the train car opened and a very pretty girl entered, she was older than Hermione, but she must have been about eighteen or nineteen, she had smooth pale skin and long dark black hair. Instead of wearing traditional wizarding robes she was wearing a long blue sleeveless coat that reached her ankles with a black shirt and a blue jean skirt. She looked around the car swiftly, and seemed to bite her bottom lip a little in worry. "No, Harry Potter's not here." She called to the other car, "I better send an owl ahead." And she disappeared again.
"Wow, who was that?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know, but she must be in her final year of Hogwarts." Hermione decided. "But I wonder what she's doing sending an owl ahead? And why do you suppose she was looking for Harry? Why would she care?"
Ginny shrugged, "Maybe she's a Prefect like Percy." She giggled, "You know, trying to act all important like he did all summer."
The two girls giggled at the memory of Ginny's older brother Percy, who had been made Head Boy of Gryffindor House and spent the summer polishing his Head Boy badge constantly as though it were some sort of obsession.
When the train arrived at Hogwarts and the students filed out there was still no sign of Harry or Ron, and Hermione would have been worried if she wasn't so annoyed at them! ('I bet their going to go and get themselves in trouble on the first day!' she thought to herself.)
Meanwhile, the flying car was chasing after the Hogwarts train through the skies, in the driver's seat was Ron. Nadia and Nafia were laughing, "Hee hee this is SO cool!" They cried together.
"Let's just hope we don't get into to much trouble." Harry reminded them.
"Don't you turn into Hermione on us!" Ron said, "We couldn't get through to Platform Nine and Three Quarters it wasn't really OUR fault!"
"Whee!" Nafia giggled as the flying car took suddenly jolted and shook.
"Hey that wasn't on purpose!" Ron said, looking worried, "Oh crap!"
Suddenly the car jolted more sharply and swung to the side, Harry's door popped open and he slid out of his seat. "HELP!" He cried, hanging onto the door with his fingertips.
"You didn't wear your seatbelt!" Nafia gasped as though it were some horrible crime.
"Just HANG ON!" Ron screamed, trying desperately to regain control of the car.
Nadia scrambled over into the front seat and pulled Harry back up.
"Thanks." Harry breathed, when he turned to look at Nadia, she was smiling at him shyly.
A sudden scream from Ron however, shook from his mind any thoughts Harry might have been having. "What is it?"
"I don't know how to land this thing!"
"WHAT?!" Nafia screamed from the back, "Then why did you decide to drive it?!"
"You guys told me to!" Ron yelled angrily, "Oh my god we're gonna crash!!"
Harry Potter, famous among the wizard world as the "boy-who-lived" and credited with felling the evil Lord Voldemort when he was only a baby and again just last year, was now very nervous about the new year at Hogwarts School of Magic. Nervous, but excited, Hogwarts was definitely the best part of his life, as his "family" the Dursleys hated him with a passion. His friend Ron Weasley, and Ron's brothers George and Fred, the school troublemakers, had rescued him from the Durselys that summer. The two boys were now in Diagon Alley, the hidden street filled with magical shops, looking for their friend Hermione Granger, she was bound to meet up with him and Ron getting while they were all getting supplies.
It was only a few days before the new school year at Hogwarts and so the street of wizard shops was bustling and crowded with little witches and wizards, teenage witches and wizards, and their parents, all getting supplies for the coming semester. Even the odd muggle (non magic) parents could be spotted in the crowd (looking quite nervous and uncomfortable, as can be imagined.) That was certainly the case with Hermione Granger's parents, she was the top in her grade at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry but both of her parents were completely normal, unmagical, muggle dentists. She was so busy thinking about this that Hermione accidentally bumped into the man standing in front of her in the magic book store, and dropped her books.
He was tall, and she'd guess in his early to mid-thirties, good looking for a man that old, with long wavy brown hair pulled back into a pony tail and sparkling green eyes. And oddly enough, he was wearing what looked to be a cowboy hat.
"Oh excuse me."
"No, excuse me, little lady." The man smiled good-naturedly and picked up her books for her.
"Getting ready for your first year at Hogwarts?"
"My second." She said.
"Ah, my girls are just starting their first." As he said that Nafia and Nadia Kinneas walked up behind Hermione.
"Dad!" They said in chorus.
"See," Irvine grinned, "I bet you guys'll all be friends, right? These are my girls, Nafia and Nadia Kinneas."
Hermione nodded her head politely, "Nice to meet you Nafia, Nadia, Mr. Kinneas."
"Heh, just call me Irvine, little lady." He smiled, and tipped his cowboy hat to her.
He was about to say something more when the door to Flourish and Blotts bookstore swung open and Harry and Ron entered, they waved to her happily and walked over to her. "Harry! Ron!" Hermione beamed.
"Hey Hermione, see you met Nadia and Nafia." Ron said.
"You know them?"
"Yeah they stayed at my house all summer."
Irvine fidgeted a little at that remark.
Hermione noticed and quickly intervened by turning to Harry, "Did you pick up the new copies of A History of Magical Creatures, Heroic Witches in the 1800s, and 100 New Uses for Magic Root?"
"Uh . . . those books aren't on the school requirement list." Ron said.
Hermione sighed irritably, "Of course not, but they're new books and they look ever so interesting! How can you NOT buy them?"
"That's Hermione alright." Harry whispered to Ron as Nafia and Nadia giggled.
Abruptly, the door to the small shop swung open again, and in strode with the air of cool confidence and arrogant superiority trademarked of the Malfoy family, Lucius Malfoy and his son, Draco.
Hermione knew Draco well, he went to Hogwarts and was in her grade, but he was a rich snobby jerk, and Harry's worst enemy. He and his father both wore sharp black robes, and his father had long blonde hair and silver clasps on his cloak. He looked around the small bookstore in disdain as though it were it the most damned little hovel he'd ever laid eyes upon.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Weasleys." He said dryly, eyeing Ron's red haired family. The Weasleys had a very large family and very little money and the Malfoys had exactly the opposite and loved to show it off. Lucius sneered at Ron's younger sister, red haired and shy Ginny, and picked her school books out of her cauldron eyeing them with distaste. "Second hand no doubt? My, my."
"Back off, Malfoy." Irvine Kinneas said. They turned to look at him. He was glaring at Lucius with anger in his hazel eyes. "Leave them alone."
A cold stiffness seemed to filter through the air between Lucius and the man, which even the bystanders could sense. Lucius' gaze narrowed coldly, and he dropped Ginny's books back into her cauldron. He quickly turned around, his black cape billowing out swiftly. "Come, Draco, we won't be buying your books in such a pitiful little shack."
"But father-"
"I said COME." Mr. Malfoy spoke with a harsh and reprimanding tone that chilled everyone in the store even though he was not speaking to them. His expression was cold and stern and he looked like a man not to cross.
" . . . Y--Yes, father."
Hermione looked back at the twins and their father, his green eyes were still fixed in an icy glare after Lucius Malfoy, not that the Malfoys had any shortage of enemies, being the type of people to openly hold those of not "pure" wizard blood in low regard, and even to stick up their nose at some who had no muggle family members, like the Weasleys.
"That jerk." Ron muttered.
"Don't let it get to you." Irvine said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, thanks, Irvine." Arthur Weasley said, as he walked up and the two began to talk for a while.
Soon the trio had set out for the magical train from Platform nine and three quarters to take them to another year at Hogwarts when Hermione found herself alone in the train and no sign of Harry or Ron, or even Nadia or Nafia, and she was a little annoyed that they must have gotten themselves lost or something, and sat down beside Ron's younger sister, Ginny who was heading for her first year at the school of witchcraft and wizardry.
"Hi, Hermione." The younger girl said shyly. "I saw you in the bookstore."
"Hey Ginny, do you know who our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher will be this year?" Hermione asked, no one knew yet it was a mystery. But hopefully, not someone possessed by the evil Lord Voldemort again.
The younger girl quickly shook her head, "It was gonna be Gildory Lockhart, but you know, since his big scam was discovered he lost the job."
"Yeah, I was really disappointed, I can't believe he used memory charms on all those poor wizards and took credit for their work." Hermione nodded, tugging a hand through her long wavy brown hair.
"I know, my mom tore up all her books and pictures of him and she was, like, a HUGE Lockhart fan!" Ginny exclaimed enthusiastically.
At that moment the door to the train car opened and a very pretty girl entered, she was older than Hermione, but she must have been about eighteen or nineteen, she had smooth pale skin and long dark black hair. Instead of wearing traditional wizarding robes she was wearing a long blue sleeveless coat that reached her ankles with a black shirt and a blue jean skirt. She looked around the car swiftly, and seemed to bite her bottom lip a little in worry. "No, Harry Potter's not here." She called to the other car, "I better send an owl ahead." And she disappeared again.
"Wow, who was that?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know, but she must be in her final year of Hogwarts." Hermione decided. "But I wonder what she's doing sending an owl ahead? And why do you suppose she was looking for Harry? Why would she care?"
Ginny shrugged, "Maybe she's a Prefect like Percy." She giggled, "You know, trying to act all important like he did all summer."
The two girls giggled at the memory of Ginny's older brother Percy, who had been made Head Boy of Gryffindor House and spent the summer polishing his Head Boy badge constantly as though it were some sort of obsession.
When the train arrived at Hogwarts and the students filed out there was still no sign of Harry or Ron, and Hermione would have been worried if she wasn't so annoyed at them! ('I bet their going to go and get themselves in trouble on the first day!' she thought to herself.)
Meanwhile, the flying car was chasing after the Hogwarts train through the skies, in the driver's seat was Ron. Nadia and Nafia were laughing, "Hee hee this is SO cool!" They cried together.
"Let's just hope we don't get into to much trouble." Harry reminded them.
"Don't you turn into Hermione on us!" Ron said, "We couldn't get through to Platform Nine and Three Quarters it wasn't really OUR fault!"
"Whee!" Nafia giggled as the flying car took suddenly jolted and shook.
"Hey that wasn't on purpose!" Ron said, looking worried, "Oh crap!"
Suddenly the car jolted more sharply and swung to the side, Harry's door popped open and he slid out of his seat. "HELP!" He cried, hanging onto the door with his fingertips.
"You didn't wear your seatbelt!" Nafia gasped as though it were some horrible crime.
"Just HANG ON!" Ron screamed, trying desperately to regain control of the car.
Nadia scrambled over into the front seat and pulled Harry back up.
"Thanks." Harry breathed, when he turned to look at Nadia, she was smiling at him shyly.
A sudden scream from Ron however, shook from his mind any thoughts Harry might have been having. "What is it?"
"I don't know how to land this thing!"
"WHAT?!" Nafia screamed from the back, "Then why did you decide to drive it?!"
"You guys told me to!" Ron yelled angrily, "Oh my god we're gonna crash!!"