Disclaimer - (I'm only doing this 'cos ev.1 else seems to..is it the ancient fanfic law?)

I don't own Harry Potter - apparently Warner Bros. do even tho JK thought it up. Does that really p any1 else off? I mean for God's sake, even the name HP 'belongs' 2 them! What if ur surname is Potter, do u have 2 ask their permission to call ur kid Harry??? Ne way - this is a disclaimer, not a rant, the cinematic fascists Warner Bros. are claiming all legal rights, not me (or JK :( )



Tis fic is 4 - Rachelfan5000

Angel+Devil=me

lana-la-banana (cool name)

Thanx 4 reviewing (they were the 1s who had when I wrote this, if u've reviewed thanx).



Went 2 London 2day and looked 4 Diagon Alley - 2nd time I've done that!



Ch.2 Diagon Alley

Sweating and out of breath, Harry heaved his trunk of the muggle underground, he smiled think of what Mr. Weasley would ask when he found out how he'd had travelled. ("How do they run again - is it eckeltricity? Ooh! Did you ride on an escapator?"). Harry smiled thinking about Mr. Weasley, in fact all the Weasleys, he missed them more than his own family (unsurprisingly) when he was away from the Burrow.

After a lot of curious stares - which was irritating when you weren't trying to attract attention to yourself - Harry finally entered the murky confines of the Leaky Cauldron. He took a deep breath. Unless you counted Hagrid's large musty overcoat (which Harry didn't) this had been his first smell of the wizard world. He sighed happily and, leaving his trunk (minus the letters from Sirius, which were safely tucked in his pocket) with Tom the barman, he made his way out into Diagon Alley to join Hermione, Ron and the rest of the Weasleys.



***



"HARRY!" seven voices called from the steps of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. They belonged to Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and the four Weasley children who were still studying at Hogwarts - the twins Fred and George, Ron and, the youngest and only daughter of the family, Ginny. She smiled, for once meeting Harry's eyes, all be it briefly. Harry smiled back, glad to see she was finally getting over some of her shyness. Mrs. Weasley sighed piteously at the sight of him,

"Don't they ever buy you clothes of your own?" she sighed, staring at Dudley's cast offs, which were swamping Harry. He shook his head.

"And them with plenty of muggle money and all," she muttered, more to herself than Harry, "Reducio!" she said, pointing her wand at him. The many loose flaps of material seemed to come alive as they wriggled, shrinking magically to fit Harry.

"Thanks." he said, feeling much less of an idiot now he was wearing clothes which fitted.

Once they had all got some money from the bank - the Weasleys considerably less than anyone else, and there were four to buy for - they split up, Ron, Hermione and Harry going together, Fred with George (who headed straight for Gambol and Japes), and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley accompanying Ginny.

"Have you started revising for your OWLs?" asked Hermione, her idea of a friendly greeting and interesting conversation.

"No!" exclaimed Ron and Harry, in a mixture of horror, amazement and resignedness. Hermione's eyes widened.

"We don't want to know how many days it is until they start." Harry cut across,

"Oh, but that's the thing, it's not many at all it's-"

"Heard from Sirius at all?" asked Ron quickly.

"A few times," Harry nodded, "He's fine, Buckbeak too."

They continued on in silence for a moment, Harry feeling slightly hurt that none of them had remembered to wish him 'Happy Birthday'.

"Probably all the excitement of buying new books." he thought looking at Hermione, "Mind you, she's never forgotten a single thing in her life, and Ron!" He was especially surprised at Ron.

To his amazement, Harry saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley leading Ginny into a sweet shop, normally kids dragged their parents in their. He shrugged as they went into Flourish and Blotts.

Some of the more disgusting titles interested him, but this was generally his least favourite shop (it only ever changed if Malfoy was in one of the others, which then became the target of his hate till Draco moved on). Hermione's eyes, however, had lit up as soon as they entered, Harry was sure he almost heard a wistful sigh from her. They'd be ages. Mind you, she never complained when they dragged her into 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' and he supposed he and Ron always spent ages in their, although it didn't feel like it, so he it was fair. They collected their new text books and he and Ron had paid for theirs but Hermione was still flitting between the shelves. After selecting about three of what she called "Good background reading" (and what everyone else called 'Fat and boring" - especially Ron) they left. Hermione decided they all needed an ice cream and a sit down, so they wandered over to Florean Fortescue's for ice creams, for which she paid. Sitting down in the warm sunshine Harry looked up at her. There was something different about her that he couldn't quite -

"Are you wearing lipstick?" he asked her.

"It's gloss, actually." said Hermione, almost stiffly, then, almost nervously, "Do you like it?" Harry and Ron made indistinct "Don't ask me, I'm a guy" noises. Harry didn't bother to ask if that was mascara and eye shadow too.

They stocked up on other supplies like parchment and potions ingredients.

"Um, I need new robes you guys," muttered Ron, "So I'll meet you back-"

"We'll come with you." said Harry, "Where are you going, Madam Malkin's is this way."

"Yeah," said Ron, staring straight at the ground, "But the second hand robe shop's over here."

Harry could have kicked himself. Ron was more embarrassed still when the shopkeeper greeted him like an old friend. Ron found some robes fairly quickly, Harry was under the impression that he just wanted to get out as soon as possible.

After they left the shop, Harry wanted to say something like "It's nothing to be ashamed of." But everything sounded patronising or like he was trying to flaunt how much money he had - something which, at times like these, he felt exceptionally guilty about. Hermione too looked like she was trying to think of something. There was an awkward silence.

"I think we've got everything," said Harry eventually, "I'm tired, why don't we just go back to the pub."

"NO!" said Ron and Hermione together.

"I mean," said Hermione "We haven't even been to Gambol and Japes, or the sweet store yet." Harry stared at her.

"Okay." he said eventually.

It was almost closing time when Harry finally dragged the other two back, they seemed to have wanted to go in every shop regardless of what it sold;

"Crystal ball specialists?" Harry had repeated outside the divination shop, "But you, we both, we ALL, HATE Div-"

"Oh, well!" Ron had said, dragging him in. Thinking about it, Harry realised that hadn't even been a real explanation. However, as soon as he got back over the threshold of the Leakey Cauldron he realised why. There were streamers hanging from the ceiling and a huge banner.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" everyone yelled as he entered, going as red as his quidditch robes.

"You didn't think we'd forget?" said Ron from his left.

"Honestly!" said Hermione, putting her arm through his on the right.

Grinning embarrassedly, Harry walked in to join the party.