- Chapter 3 - Diagon Alley
The next couple of weeks at the Burrow flew by. The days were spent playing Virtual Quidditch, playing on Ron's new computer console that Fred and George had brought him for his birthday, playing real quidditch out on the huge field opposite the house and Harry and Hermione even tried to teach everyone the game of soccer. Ginny and Ron took to this game like a duck to water. However the game didn't last long. Mr Weasley exploded the ball with a simple popping spell because he kept failing to get his shots on target. 'Stupid bloody game,' he muttered as he trudged back to the house.
That night around the dinner table Mrs Wealsey stated what Harry had been looking forward to for weeks.
'I want you all to get a good nights sleep tonight. We've got a big day tomorrow,' said Mrs Weasley
'Thats right,' added Mr Weasley
'Why. What are we doing? Where are we going?' asked Ginny sounding excited.
'Diagon Alley, to get all your new school equipment for next term.' said Mr Weasley.
'Yes,' said Ron and Ginny enthusiastically. 'That means we can go see Fred and George's shop Harry. It's amazing.' added Ron.
They all continued to talk throughout the rest of the meal. Harry was the first one to finish eating, followed by Hermione. They barely had enough time to put down their knives and forks before Metzie came along and whipped their plates of the table shouting 'Yes' more clean.'
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all retired for bed early at nine o'clock.
'Night guys,' said Hermione giving them their goodnight kiss and closing her bedroom door.
'I could get used to that,' Harry told Ron laughing.
The next morning there was alot of rushing about. Everyone was fighting there way in and out of the Bathroom. 'Get out the Metzie,' shouted Ron as he collided with her, sending her and all the laundry she was holding, flying.
'Come on Ron, get a move on. We want to get there before the lunch time rush,' yelled Mrs Weasley.
'What is she on about?' Ron asked Harry and Hermione as he entered boys bedroom. ' Its still only half past nine!'
They all quickly made there way down stairs, grabbed a small peice of toast to eat and headed for the fireplace ready to travel to Diagon alley. Mr Weasley grabbed the floo pot and beckoned Ginny forward. 'Go on Ginny, you go first.'
Ginny grabbed a hand fall of floo powder, stood in the fireplace and shouted 'DIAGON ALLEY'. She instantly dropped the floo powder and disappeared out of site. Hermione went next. 'DIAGON ALLEY,' and she was gone.
'Who's next?' asked Mr Weasley.
Harry stepped forward, took a handful of floo powder. He was very aware of the three sets of eyes now staring at him.
'Come on Harry,' he muttered to himself. 'Don't mess up'
Harry took in a huge breath of air.
'DIAGON ALLEY,' he shouted. Suddenly he felt his feet lift of the floor. He started spinning around at great speed not knowing in which direction he was heading. He put out his hand to try and grab on to something before he was sick. After a few seconds he found himself lying on the floor outside the Leaky Cauldron. Harry dragged himself off of the ground before Ron appeared on top of him. He pushed opened the door to the Leaky Cauldren and stepped inside.
It was very dark inside. Harry had never seen the leaky cauldron so empty before. In the far corner, Harry could see Ginny and Hermione talking intentively to each other. 'Harry over here,' yelled Ginny, spotting Harry in the entrance. Harry jogged over to their table and took a seat next to Hermione. 'Arn't you even going to offer to buy us a drink then Harry?' asked Hermione. Harry suddenly remembered something. He didn't have any money with him. He'd been so excited that he'd forgotten to bring his money from the Burrow. 'Ermmmm, I kinda forgot to bring my money with me.' said Harry feeling himself go red with embarressment. 'Really Harry, sometimes I think you'd forget your head if it wasn't stuck on! Okey then, I'll get the drinks in,' said Hermione laughing. 'No don't worry, I'll go back and get my money. I need it to buy my new school stuff anyway. Harry ran over to the bar where Tom the innkeeper was sitting reading the morning Daily Prophet. 'Er... excuse me Tom,' said Harry loud enough to get Toms attention. 'Ahhh, Mr Harry Potter. And how can I help you.' came the reply. I was just er... wondering ,if your fireplace is on the err.... floo network because I need to errr...get back to the Burrow for my money?' asked Harry nervously. 'Yes, of course,' Said Tom, looking down and continuing to read his paper. Harry took this as he was allowed to use the fireplace. Harry grabbed a handful of Floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. At this moment Ron and his parents came walking through the door. 'Hey Harry where you going?' called Ron. 'Oh, I forgot my money so I'm just going back to get it.' 'Do you want me to come with ya?' asked Ron 'Errr.. Nah, I'm, sure I'll be able to survive on my own' joked Harry. 'Are you lot still gonna be here when I get back?' 'Yeah, probably. See you soon.' 'THE BURROW' shouted Harry as he dropped the fllo powder. Within seconds Harry found himself laying face down in the Weasleys kitchen. 'I hate travelling like that,' Harry mumbled to himself emphasizing the word 'hate' as he pulled himself off of the floor. He ran across the kitchen and started to make his way up the stairs. He suddenly stopped when he heard people's voices coming from Ron's Room. Feeling braver the he raelyy was Harry made his way over to the door. Whoever it was, was making one hell of a mess in there. Why were they there? What were they doing? What were they looking for? All these questions were flying through Harry's mind as he aproached the door. Harry got out his wand and got ready to kick open the door. Come on Harry. On three,' he muttered to himself. 'One.......... Two........THREE!' Harry kicked open the door and came face to face with the intruders.
'METZIE!, what the hell are doing in Ron's room. It looks like a bomb has hit it! And you Dobby, I would not have expected this from you of all people.' yelled Harry 'Am very sorry Harry Potter sir,' said Dobby shaking. 'Metzie invited Dobby over to clean with her. Metzie likes cleaning with Dobby sir. Dobby enjoys it too.' 'Cleaning? Your cleaning? Sorry if I'm sounding rude but we wizards class cleaning as the exact opposite of what you two are doing. This is called Making a mess!!' said Harry, sounding more calm then he was a minute ago. 'No Harry Potter sir. Dobby knows cleaning. We is just making mess so we can be cleaning!' explained Dobby. 'Yes. Make Mess. Then Clean. Fun. Clean,' said Metzie jumping about on the bed. 'Is she always this hyper?' Harry whispered in Dobby's rather large ear. 'Only when it's time to clean Harry Potter sir,' he replied laughing. Harry grabbed a huge handful of money from within his bag and pocketed it. 'Well. enjoy your cleaning guys,' chuckled Harry as he closed the bedroom door behind him. Harry could swear he heard Metzie shout 'YES. CLEAN TIME' as he made his way down stairs. Harry stepped forward to the fireplace and grabbed his third handful of floo powder. Instead of Diagon alley, Harry shouted. 'THE LEAKY CAULDRON' with his eyes, tightly closed, not looking forward to the journey.
This time Harry landed feet first, instaed of facedown, when he arrived back at the pub. 'Yay, your back,' yelled Ginny as he walked towards the bar. 'Yep. Hay, where's everyone else got to?' questioned Harry. 'Oh, they've all gone to get some money from Gringotts.' 'Alright. Hey, do you wanna drink of some sort while we wait for them to get back?' asked Harry 'We'll actually now that we're alone I need to ask you something that I've wanted to ask for a long time now.'
What did Ginny want to know? he asked himself. Harry prepared himself for the worst. 'Err.. go ahead Ginny,' said Harry. 'Well, for a quite a long time now I've kinda been...,' Ginny was cut off mid sentence by Ron yelling from the door. 'Come on, We're about to go see Fred and George at work. 'Yeah, Okay we're just coming,' Harry replied. 'Tell me later Ginny. Okay' 'Nah, don't worry about it Harry. It was nothing important,' said Ginny looking quite glum. Ginny jumped off her stool and trudged out of the leaky cauldren, Harry closely behind. The street was getting quite busy now. There were lots of wizarding families out shopping with their kids. Harry, Ginny and Ron walked for about two minutes before the stood before a small, red bricked shop with a huge gold sign on top saying:
'Weasleys wizzing Wheezes'
They pushed open the door and a little bell rung to signify a new customer entering the shop. There was already about twenty customers browsing the shelves of there new stock. 'Little Ronnikins. What you doing here?' yelled Fred from behind the counter. 'Come to check out our excellent range of sweets have you?' asked George. 'Something like that. Actually I've brought Harry along to show him your shop,' explained Ron 'Oh, I didn't see you there Harry. EVERYBODY. LOOK. HARRY POTTER IS IN OUR SHOP. OUR SHOP PEOPLE. YES. NO-ONE ELSES. OURS' shouted George. 'Dont worry about him Harry. He's just been all sugared up. Been trying out some new inventions in the back and it's sort of turned him.. we.... a little bit hyper,' said Fred. After spending about ten minutes checking out all of the stock, they were finally ready to leave. Harry quickly purchased ten Sleeping Draught chocolate bars and five cans of animal polyjuice potion! Harry was going to have some fun this year!! They were all about to leave when George shouted out. 'Hey Harry, how about some free levitating Chewing gum! I've heard your a big fan.' Harry shook his head and laughed. 'I'll think I'll pass. Catch you again later' and with that he closed the door and left.
'Where should we go first?' asked Ginny to Harry and Ron. 'Well I told Hermione that we will meet her outside 'Sensational Stationery' as soon as we can. And that must have been about twenty minutes ago. It took them five more minutes to finnaly reach Hermione. She was carrying two bags, full to the brim of new school equipment. 'Are you really going to need all that stuff Hermione?' asked Ron. 'Well, you never know,' 'You're right, we don't,' laughed Harry. 'Anyway. Arn't you lot going to buy some new equipment for this year?' questioned Hermione. 'Don't know if Ron is but I've still got plenty of stuff left from last year. And even if I do run out im sure someone will have enough to lend me some' Harry said emphasizing the word 'someone'. 'Yeah, same here,' said Ron. 'Well, I need to get some new stuff. I'll only be five or ten minutes,' said Ginny. 'Okey. We'll just go sit over by the window and wait for you to come back,' said Hermione pointing to the vacant table and chairs.
Harry, Ron and Hermione located the nearest seats and sat down. Harry began to tell Ron and Hermione about Metzie and Dobby cleaning Ron's out room whilst he was collecting his money and how hw was thinking of buying a new broomstick for his final quidditch year. 'Why my room, why not mum and dad's. Or even Ginny's to that matter?' asked Ron sounding a little bit angry. 'Oh yeah. That reminds me. When I got back to the leaky cauldron from your house Ron, Hermione asked me is she could ask me question?' said Harry. 'What sort of question?'questioned Ron 'Im not very sure. She didn't get to finish asking me. However, she did say that she's been waiting along time to ask me it?' 'Oh, I know what it is! exclaimed Hermione. 'She was asking me last night what I thought about it and asked for my opinion weather she should ask you or not.' 'What is it? Tell me Hermione? said Harry 'It's not really my place to tell you Harry, after all, she has been waiting along time to tell you and it would spoil it for her if I told you.' 'I suppose so,' said Harry a little down hearted. 'I'll ask her tonight though, when everyones gone to bed,' 'Could you tell me please?' Ron asked Hermione, forcing on a nice wide smile. 'After all, she hasn't been waiting to tell me for ages!!'
When Ginny finally returned (with one bag less than Hermione) they decided that Flourish and Blotts was going to be there next stop. 'Have you seen the book list for this year. I swear I'm gonna fail all my NEWTS this year,' cried Ron. 'Well Potions is a certainty but I was still hoping that the other subjects would seem passable.' 'You did OK last year though didn't you, in your Practice NEWTS I mean?' asked Hermione. 'Well, I got an A in every subject except Defence against the Dark Arts where I got an O, and thats mainly down to Harry's help. Anyway, It's what I get this year that matters, and you just know its going to be much more harder than last year,' Ron explained. Ginny pushed open the door to Flourish and Blotts and they all stepped inside. There was only three other people in the shop. None of which Harry recognised. They all grabbed a shopping basket and headed straight over to the Transfiguration shelves. 'Look at the size of em',' exclaimed Ron with a hint of worry in his voice, holding up his copy of Toilsome Transfiguration. 'Don't worry Ron. Me and Hermione are in the same boat as you. We both need the same books as you.' explained Harry. They all shoved their Transfiguration books into thier baskets and continued to the next shelf. Ron continued to complain about the size and complexity of the books for the next five minutes. 'Just one book left now. The Complex book of spells 2. You'll be needing Book one won't you Ginny?' said Hermione. 'Yeah. Oh no look at the size of it!' Ginny said, mimicking Rons voice as Hermione handed her the book. 'Shut up Ginny. You wait until next year. Then you'll really be complaining,' said Ron. They all paid for their books in turn and the counter and left the shop with their new books. 'Well, I think it must be time for lunch now,' said Harry rubbing his stomach. 'Couldn't agree with you more Harry,' said Ron smiling. 'Well the best place for food is probably back at the leaky cauldron,' explained Ginny. They all agreed and headed back to the pub for lunch. It was much busier now that it was lunch time Harry noticed as they all stepped inside. Harry saw Mr and Mrs Weasley sitting at the bar talking to another wizard couple. They found an empty table right in the corner and sat down. 'Wheres the menu's?' asked Hermione. As soon as the words left her lips, four Menu's appeared right in front of them on the table. They all grabbed their menus and observed what was available. 'Well I think I'm going to have the burger and chips,' said Harry licking his lips. 'Yeah me too!' said Ron and Ginny in unison. 'Well I'm just going to have a salad,' stated Hermione. 'Errr...How do you order? There are no waiters. Only Tom and he's busy serving customers their drinks at the bar.' questioned Ginny. Harry saw a little message at the bottom of the menu written in blue bold writing. 'WHEN YOU ARE READY TO ORDER, TAP TWICE ON YOUR TABLE AND CLEARLY STATE YOUR MEAL' Harry mentioned this to the others and they all insisted that Harry could go first. Harry cleared his throat and tapped twice on the table. 'Burger and Chips.' Within seconds Harry's menu was replaced by a hot delicious portion of Burger and chips. The rest of them , seeing how easy it was, took it turns to order their meals until everyone had their meal, ready to eat, in front of them. When everyone had finished eating, Harry went up to bar and ordered four Butterbeers to wash down their lunch. 'And did you enjoy your meals Mr. Potter?' asked Tom the innkeeper. 'We certainly did. They just hit the spot,' replied Harry. 'Good..good,' said Tom handing Harry the drinks. 'And will you be paying for them now, or when you leave?' Harry looked over at the table and then back at Tom. 'I'll pay for all of them now.' Harry handed Tom 3 galleons and 9 sickles for the drinks and the meals and carried all of the drinks back to the table. 'Here you go guys. Get that down your necks!' Harry joked. 'Cheers Harry,' said Ron, Hermione and Ginny almost all exactly at the same time. Mr and Mrs Weasley came walking over to the table. 'Well we better be off now. Your welcome to come with us if you want but if you've still got more shopping to do than you can stay as long as you want.' explained Mrs Weasley. 'I'll come home now. I've finished all my shopping and I want to start revising all my new books as well,' said Ginny. 'Anyone else' asked Mr Weasley. 'No. Okay then. We'll see you all back at home.' Ginny got up off her seat and followed her parents out of the door. 'See ya later guys,' she said waving. And with that she was gone. 'Where do you want to go next?' Hermione asked. 'Well I want to go to 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' but after that I don't really mind' said Harry. 'What about you Ron? Any where you want to go?' said Hermione. 'Well I suppose we could go see Fred and George again before we leave, but thats about it,' he replied. 'Well lets get going then. Oh wait. We almost forgot about paying for our meals' said Hermione. 'Oh. Ermm.. When I was at the bar.. Tom said that they were free of charge for...errr..Hogwarts students all this week,' said Harry, knowing that if he told them he had already paid for them they would insist on paying him back the money. 'In that case. Off we go!' beamed Ron.
They left the leaky cauldron and noticed alot more people out shopping. Harry now realised why Mrs Weasley wanted to get here as early as possible. It was alot harder to get to where you wanted to go now there was more people in your way. It took them fifteen minutes to get to Quality Quidditch Supplies and there was a group of ten to fifteen children gawping through the window at something. 'I wonder whats so brillaint in the window?' Harry asked to Ron and Hermione. This question was answered by a huge banner hanging above the door.
NEW - FIREBOLT XTREME 3000
'Your joking!' Harry said, dumbstuck. 'How much?' 'Lets go in and find out,' said Ron excitedly. 'Tut, Boys,' Hermione muttered under her breath. The three of them pushed there way through the crowd of people and fought there way into the shop. This was the busiest shop Harry had been in all day. There was hardly enough room to move about. Then they saw it. The state of the art Firebolt Xtreme 3000. It was hanging on the wall above the counter. Acording to the little notice underneath it, it was made of the strongest wood found only in the deepest forests of Africa. Each twig was individually picked by Ancient Magic Tribesman and blended together with a secret holding formula. The FX3000 can go from 0 - 60mph in seven seconds. Hanging from the handle of the broom was a little sign saying 'only 400 galleons'. 'That's a very tempting offer, Don't you think Ron?' asked Harry. Ron didn't answer. He was still staring wide eyed at the Firebolt with his mouth wide open. 'I really don't think you should waste your money on it Harry,' said Hermione 'Do you really think that this broom, is a waste of money,' replied Harry pointing up at the wall. 'Well, I'm not saying it's not a good broom but you already have a perfectly good broom at home. I mean, you havn't even lost one game with your original firebolt have you?' said Hermione. 'Well I suppose not. Yeah Your right Hermione. I'll just buy what I came in for then we can leave.' Hermione beamed a huge smile at Harry as he picked up a couple of boxes of Broom polish. 'Come on Ron, we'll wait outside for Harry,' said Hermione dragging Ron away from the firebolt. A few minutes later Harry came out of the shop with his bag of polish. They went to say goodbye to Fred and George and headed back to the leaky cauldron again.
'Who's going first?' asked Harry as they stood in front of the fireplace. 'I'll go,' volunteered Hermioe stepping forward. She grabbed some floo powder and stepped into the opening. 'THE BURROW' and she was gone. 'I'll go next Harry,' said Ron. He followed Hermione's lead and disappeared. Harry took what seemed like his hundreth handful of floo powder today, and stepped into the fireplace. Harry felt everyones eyes in the pub on him as he closed his eyes. Harry braced himself for the journey. 'THE BURROW,' he shouted and then he too, was gone.
The next couple of weeks at the Burrow flew by. The days were spent playing Virtual Quidditch, playing on Ron's new computer console that Fred and George had brought him for his birthday, playing real quidditch out on the huge field opposite the house and Harry and Hermione even tried to teach everyone the game of soccer. Ginny and Ron took to this game like a duck to water. However the game didn't last long. Mr Weasley exploded the ball with a simple popping spell because he kept failing to get his shots on target. 'Stupid bloody game,' he muttered as he trudged back to the house.
That night around the dinner table Mrs Wealsey stated what Harry had been looking forward to for weeks.
'I want you all to get a good nights sleep tonight. We've got a big day tomorrow,' said Mrs Weasley
'Thats right,' added Mr Weasley
'Why. What are we doing? Where are we going?' asked Ginny sounding excited.
'Diagon Alley, to get all your new school equipment for next term.' said Mr Weasley.
'Yes,' said Ron and Ginny enthusiastically. 'That means we can go see Fred and George's shop Harry. It's amazing.' added Ron.
They all continued to talk throughout the rest of the meal. Harry was the first one to finish eating, followed by Hermione. They barely had enough time to put down their knives and forks before Metzie came along and whipped their plates of the table shouting 'Yes' more clean.'
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all retired for bed early at nine o'clock.
'Night guys,' said Hermione giving them their goodnight kiss and closing her bedroom door.
'I could get used to that,' Harry told Ron laughing.
The next morning there was alot of rushing about. Everyone was fighting there way in and out of the Bathroom. 'Get out the Metzie,' shouted Ron as he collided with her, sending her and all the laundry she was holding, flying.
'Come on Ron, get a move on. We want to get there before the lunch time rush,' yelled Mrs Weasley.
'What is she on about?' Ron asked Harry and Hermione as he entered boys bedroom. ' Its still only half past nine!'
They all quickly made there way down stairs, grabbed a small peice of toast to eat and headed for the fireplace ready to travel to Diagon alley. Mr Weasley grabbed the floo pot and beckoned Ginny forward. 'Go on Ginny, you go first.'
Ginny grabbed a hand fall of floo powder, stood in the fireplace and shouted 'DIAGON ALLEY'. She instantly dropped the floo powder and disappeared out of site. Hermione went next. 'DIAGON ALLEY,' and she was gone.
'Who's next?' asked Mr Weasley.
Harry stepped forward, took a handful of floo powder. He was very aware of the three sets of eyes now staring at him.
'Come on Harry,' he muttered to himself. 'Don't mess up'
Harry took in a huge breath of air.
'DIAGON ALLEY,' he shouted. Suddenly he felt his feet lift of the floor. He started spinning around at great speed not knowing in which direction he was heading. He put out his hand to try and grab on to something before he was sick. After a few seconds he found himself lying on the floor outside the Leaky Cauldron. Harry dragged himself off of the ground before Ron appeared on top of him. He pushed opened the door to the Leaky Cauldren and stepped inside.
It was very dark inside. Harry had never seen the leaky cauldron so empty before. In the far corner, Harry could see Ginny and Hermione talking intentively to each other. 'Harry over here,' yelled Ginny, spotting Harry in the entrance. Harry jogged over to their table and took a seat next to Hermione. 'Arn't you even going to offer to buy us a drink then Harry?' asked Hermione. Harry suddenly remembered something. He didn't have any money with him. He'd been so excited that he'd forgotten to bring his money from the Burrow. 'Ermmmm, I kinda forgot to bring my money with me.' said Harry feeling himself go red with embarressment. 'Really Harry, sometimes I think you'd forget your head if it wasn't stuck on! Okey then, I'll get the drinks in,' said Hermione laughing. 'No don't worry, I'll go back and get my money. I need it to buy my new school stuff anyway. Harry ran over to the bar where Tom the innkeeper was sitting reading the morning Daily Prophet. 'Er... excuse me Tom,' said Harry loud enough to get Toms attention. 'Ahhh, Mr Harry Potter. And how can I help you.' came the reply. I was just er... wondering ,if your fireplace is on the err.... floo network because I need to errr...get back to the Burrow for my money?' asked Harry nervously. 'Yes, of course,' Said Tom, looking down and continuing to read his paper. Harry took this as he was allowed to use the fireplace. Harry grabbed a handful of Floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. At this moment Ron and his parents came walking through the door. 'Hey Harry where you going?' called Ron. 'Oh, I forgot my money so I'm just going back to get it.' 'Do you want me to come with ya?' asked Ron 'Errr.. Nah, I'm, sure I'll be able to survive on my own' joked Harry. 'Are you lot still gonna be here when I get back?' 'Yeah, probably. See you soon.' 'THE BURROW' shouted Harry as he dropped the fllo powder. Within seconds Harry found himself laying face down in the Weasleys kitchen. 'I hate travelling like that,' Harry mumbled to himself emphasizing the word 'hate' as he pulled himself off of the floor. He ran across the kitchen and started to make his way up the stairs. He suddenly stopped when he heard people's voices coming from Ron's Room. Feeling braver the he raelyy was Harry made his way over to the door. Whoever it was, was making one hell of a mess in there. Why were they there? What were they doing? What were they looking for? All these questions were flying through Harry's mind as he aproached the door. Harry got out his wand and got ready to kick open the door. Come on Harry. On three,' he muttered to himself. 'One.......... Two........THREE!' Harry kicked open the door and came face to face with the intruders.
'METZIE!, what the hell are doing in Ron's room. It looks like a bomb has hit it! And you Dobby, I would not have expected this from you of all people.' yelled Harry 'Am very sorry Harry Potter sir,' said Dobby shaking. 'Metzie invited Dobby over to clean with her. Metzie likes cleaning with Dobby sir. Dobby enjoys it too.' 'Cleaning? Your cleaning? Sorry if I'm sounding rude but we wizards class cleaning as the exact opposite of what you two are doing. This is called Making a mess!!' said Harry, sounding more calm then he was a minute ago. 'No Harry Potter sir. Dobby knows cleaning. We is just making mess so we can be cleaning!' explained Dobby. 'Yes. Make Mess. Then Clean. Fun. Clean,' said Metzie jumping about on the bed. 'Is she always this hyper?' Harry whispered in Dobby's rather large ear. 'Only when it's time to clean Harry Potter sir,' he replied laughing. Harry grabbed a huge handful of money from within his bag and pocketed it. 'Well. enjoy your cleaning guys,' chuckled Harry as he closed the bedroom door behind him. Harry could swear he heard Metzie shout 'YES. CLEAN TIME' as he made his way down stairs. Harry stepped forward to the fireplace and grabbed his third handful of floo powder. Instead of Diagon alley, Harry shouted. 'THE LEAKY CAULDRON' with his eyes, tightly closed, not looking forward to the journey.
This time Harry landed feet first, instaed of facedown, when he arrived back at the pub. 'Yay, your back,' yelled Ginny as he walked towards the bar. 'Yep. Hay, where's everyone else got to?' questioned Harry. 'Oh, they've all gone to get some money from Gringotts.' 'Alright. Hey, do you wanna drink of some sort while we wait for them to get back?' asked Harry 'We'll actually now that we're alone I need to ask you something that I've wanted to ask for a long time now.'
What did Ginny want to know? he asked himself. Harry prepared himself for the worst. 'Err.. go ahead Ginny,' said Harry. 'Well, for a quite a long time now I've kinda been...,' Ginny was cut off mid sentence by Ron yelling from the door. 'Come on, We're about to go see Fred and George at work. 'Yeah, Okay we're just coming,' Harry replied. 'Tell me later Ginny. Okay' 'Nah, don't worry about it Harry. It was nothing important,' said Ginny looking quite glum. Ginny jumped off her stool and trudged out of the leaky cauldren, Harry closely behind. The street was getting quite busy now. There were lots of wizarding families out shopping with their kids. Harry, Ginny and Ron walked for about two minutes before the stood before a small, red bricked shop with a huge gold sign on top saying:
'Weasleys wizzing Wheezes'
They pushed open the door and a little bell rung to signify a new customer entering the shop. There was already about twenty customers browsing the shelves of there new stock. 'Little Ronnikins. What you doing here?' yelled Fred from behind the counter. 'Come to check out our excellent range of sweets have you?' asked George. 'Something like that. Actually I've brought Harry along to show him your shop,' explained Ron 'Oh, I didn't see you there Harry. EVERYBODY. LOOK. HARRY POTTER IS IN OUR SHOP. OUR SHOP PEOPLE. YES. NO-ONE ELSES. OURS' shouted George. 'Dont worry about him Harry. He's just been all sugared up. Been trying out some new inventions in the back and it's sort of turned him.. we.... a little bit hyper,' said Fred. After spending about ten minutes checking out all of the stock, they were finally ready to leave. Harry quickly purchased ten Sleeping Draught chocolate bars and five cans of animal polyjuice potion! Harry was going to have some fun this year!! They were all about to leave when George shouted out. 'Hey Harry, how about some free levitating Chewing gum! I've heard your a big fan.' Harry shook his head and laughed. 'I'll think I'll pass. Catch you again later' and with that he closed the door and left.
'Where should we go first?' asked Ginny to Harry and Ron. 'Well I told Hermione that we will meet her outside 'Sensational Stationery' as soon as we can. And that must have been about twenty minutes ago. It took them five more minutes to finnaly reach Hermione. She was carrying two bags, full to the brim of new school equipment. 'Are you really going to need all that stuff Hermione?' asked Ron. 'Well, you never know,' 'You're right, we don't,' laughed Harry. 'Anyway. Arn't you lot going to buy some new equipment for this year?' questioned Hermione. 'Don't know if Ron is but I've still got plenty of stuff left from last year. And even if I do run out im sure someone will have enough to lend me some' Harry said emphasizing the word 'someone'. 'Yeah, same here,' said Ron. 'Well, I need to get some new stuff. I'll only be five or ten minutes,' said Ginny. 'Okey. We'll just go sit over by the window and wait for you to come back,' said Hermione pointing to the vacant table and chairs.
Harry, Ron and Hermione located the nearest seats and sat down. Harry began to tell Ron and Hermione about Metzie and Dobby cleaning Ron's out room whilst he was collecting his money and how hw was thinking of buying a new broomstick for his final quidditch year. 'Why my room, why not mum and dad's. Or even Ginny's to that matter?' asked Ron sounding a little bit angry. 'Oh yeah. That reminds me. When I got back to the leaky cauldron from your house Ron, Hermione asked me is she could ask me question?' said Harry. 'What sort of question?'questioned Ron 'Im not very sure. She didn't get to finish asking me. However, she did say that she's been waiting along time to ask me it?' 'Oh, I know what it is! exclaimed Hermione. 'She was asking me last night what I thought about it and asked for my opinion weather she should ask you or not.' 'What is it? Tell me Hermione? said Harry 'It's not really my place to tell you Harry, after all, she has been waiting along time to tell you and it would spoil it for her if I told you.' 'I suppose so,' said Harry a little down hearted. 'I'll ask her tonight though, when everyones gone to bed,' 'Could you tell me please?' Ron asked Hermione, forcing on a nice wide smile. 'After all, she hasn't been waiting to tell me for ages!!'
When Ginny finally returned (with one bag less than Hermione) they decided that Flourish and Blotts was going to be there next stop. 'Have you seen the book list for this year. I swear I'm gonna fail all my NEWTS this year,' cried Ron. 'Well Potions is a certainty but I was still hoping that the other subjects would seem passable.' 'You did OK last year though didn't you, in your Practice NEWTS I mean?' asked Hermione. 'Well, I got an A in every subject except Defence against the Dark Arts where I got an O, and thats mainly down to Harry's help. Anyway, It's what I get this year that matters, and you just know its going to be much more harder than last year,' Ron explained. Ginny pushed open the door to Flourish and Blotts and they all stepped inside. There was only three other people in the shop. None of which Harry recognised. They all grabbed a shopping basket and headed straight over to the Transfiguration shelves. 'Look at the size of em',' exclaimed Ron with a hint of worry in his voice, holding up his copy of Toilsome Transfiguration. 'Don't worry Ron. Me and Hermione are in the same boat as you. We both need the same books as you.' explained Harry. They all shoved their Transfiguration books into thier baskets and continued to the next shelf. Ron continued to complain about the size and complexity of the books for the next five minutes. 'Just one book left now. The Complex book of spells 2. You'll be needing Book one won't you Ginny?' said Hermione. 'Yeah. Oh no look at the size of it!' Ginny said, mimicking Rons voice as Hermione handed her the book. 'Shut up Ginny. You wait until next year. Then you'll really be complaining,' said Ron. They all paid for their books in turn and the counter and left the shop with their new books. 'Well, I think it must be time for lunch now,' said Harry rubbing his stomach. 'Couldn't agree with you more Harry,' said Ron smiling. 'Well the best place for food is probably back at the leaky cauldron,' explained Ginny. They all agreed and headed back to the pub for lunch. It was much busier now that it was lunch time Harry noticed as they all stepped inside. Harry saw Mr and Mrs Weasley sitting at the bar talking to another wizard couple. They found an empty table right in the corner and sat down. 'Wheres the menu's?' asked Hermione. As soon as the words left her lips, four Menu's appeared right in front of them on the table. They all grabbed their menus and observed what was available. 'Well I think I'm going to have the burger and chips,' said Harry licking his lips. 'Yeah me too!' said Ron and Ginny in unison. 'Well I'm just going to have a salad,' stated Hermione. 'Errr...How do you order? There are no waiters. Only Tom and he's busy serving customers their drinks at the bar.' questioned Ginny. Harry saw a little message at the bottom of the menu written in blue bold writing. 'WHEN YOU ARE READY TO ORDER, TAP TWICE ON YOUR TABLE AND CLEARLY STATE YOUR MEAL' Harry mentioned this to the others and they all insisted that Harry could go first. Harry cleared his throat and tapped twice on the table. 'Burger and Chips.' Within seconds Harry's menu was replaced by a hot delicious portion of Burger and chips. The rest of them , seeing how easy it was, took it turns to order their meals until everyone had their meal, ready to eat, in front of them. When everyone had finished eating, Harry went up to bar and ordered four Butterbeers to wash down their lunch. 'And did you enjoy your meals Mr. Potter?' asked Tom the innkeeper. 'We certainly did. They just hit the spot,' replied Harry. 'Good..good,' said Tom handing Harry the drinks. 'And will you be paying for them now, or when you leave?' Harry looked over at the table and then back at Tom. 'I'll pay for all of them now.' Harry handed Tom 3 galleons and 9 sickles for the drinks and the meals and carried all of the drinks back to the table. 'Here you go guys. Get that down your necks!' Harry joked. 'Cheers Harry,' said Ron, Hermione and Ginny almost all exactly at the same time. Mr and Mrs Weasley came walking over to the table. 'Well we better be off now. Your welcome to come with us if you want but if you've still got more shopping to do than you can stay as long as you want.' explained Mrs Weasley. 'I'll come home now. I've finished all my shopping and I want to start revising all my new books as well,' said Ginny. 'Anyone else' asked Mr Weasley. 'No. Okay then. We'll see you all back at home.' Ginny got up off her seat and followed her parents out of the door. 'See ya later guys,' she said waving. And with that she was gone. 'Where do you want to go next?' Hermione asked. 'Well I want to go to 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' but after that I don't really mind' said Harry. 'What about you Ron? Any where you want to go?' said Hermione. 'Well I suppose we could go see Fred and George again before we leave, but thats about it,' he replied. 'Well lets get going then. Oh wait. We almost forgot about paying for our meals' said Hermione. 'Oh. Ermm.. When I was at the bar.. Tom said that they were free of charge for...errr..Hogwarts students all this week,' said Harry, knowing that if he told them he had already paid for them they would insist on paying him back the money. 'In that case. Off we go!' beamed Ron.
They left the leaky cauldron and noticed alot more people out shopping. Harry now realised why Mrs Weasley wanted to get here as early as possible. It was alot harder to get to where you wanted to go now there was more people in your way. It took them fifteen minutes to get to Quality Quidditch Supplies and there was a group of ten to fifteen children gawping through the window at something. 'I wonder whats so brillaint in the window?' Harry asked to Ron and Hermione. This question was answered by a huge banner hanging above the door.
NEW - FIREBOLT XTREME 3000
'Your joking!' Harry said, dumbstuck. 'How much?' 'Lets go in and find out,' said Ron excitedly. 'Tut, Boys,' Hermione muttered under her breath. The three of them pushed there way through the crowd of people and fought there way into the shop. This was the busiest shop Harry had been in all day. There was hardly enough room to move about. Then they saw it. The state of the art Firebolt Xtreme 3000. It was hanging on the wall above the counter. Acording to the little notice underneath it, it was made of the strongest wood found only in the deepest forests of Africa. Each twig was individually picked by Ancient Magic Tribesman and blended together with a secret holding formula. The FX3000 can go from 0 - 60mph in seven seconds. Hanging from the handle of the broom was a little sign saying 'only 400 galleons'. 'That's a very tempting offer, Don't you think Ron?' asked Harry. Ron didn't answer. He was still staring wide eyed at the Firebolt with his mouth wide open. 'I really don't think you should waste your money on it Harry,' said Hermione 'Do you really think that this broom, is a waste of money,' replied Harry pointing up at the wall. 'Well, I'm not saying it's not a good broom but you already have a perfectly good broom at home. I mean, you havn't even lost one game with your original firebolt have you?' said Hermione. 'Well I suppose not. Yeah Your right Hermione. I'll just buy what I came in for then we can leave.' Hermione beamed a huge smile at Harry as he picked up a couple of boxes of Broom polish. 'Come on Ron, we'll wait outside for Harry,' said Hermione dragging Ron away from the firebolt. A few minutes later Harry came out of the shop with his bag of polish. They went to say goodbye to Fred and George and headed back to the leaky cauldron again.
'Who's going first?' asked Harry as they stood in front of the fireplace. 'I'll go,' volunteered Hermioe stepping forward. She grabbed some floo powder and stepped into the opening. 'THE BURROW' and she was gone. 'I'll go next Harry,' said Ron. He followed Hermione's lead and disappeared. Harry took what seemed like his hundreth handful of floo powder today, and stepped into the fireplace. Harry felt everyones eyes in the pub on him as he closed his eyes. Harry braced himself for the journey. 'THE BURROW,' he shouted and then he too, was gone.
