Chapter 14- Diagon Alley
"Hurry up, you two or we are going to be late," said Mrs. Weasley. Harry and Ron had just come down stairs. Draco and Ginny were waiting for them in the kitchen. "Does everyone have their supply lists? Ok dears, grab some floo powder and get ready. Remember to say 'Diagon Alley' clearly when you step into the fireplace," said his mum. Ron looked over at Harry, who swallowed rather loudly. He looked beyond nervous. He had a nasty spill in Knockturn Alley once when he mispronounced his destination in the fireplace.
Once they all had arrived by floo, they group decided to go to Gringott's Wizarding Bank to retrieve their money from their vaults. They would have to make it a quick trip because they promised Hermione and Neville that they would meet them outside of the ice cream shop at one o'clock, and it was already 12:30. They quickly picked up the pace.
Ron saw that Harry was smiling as they walked the long corridor to Gringott's. He looked happier than he did in a long time. Ron looked at him curiously. "What are you smiling about?"
"It just feels so good to be back in the wizarding world, you know?" Harry replied. Ron smiled back understanding what he meant.
As they walked along, Ron noticed that Harry and Draco's hands would periodically brush past one another, and Draco kept stealing shy glances at Harry. Oh brother, it has already started to happen…
When they reached the bank, two goblins herded the group down a long dimly lit corridor that led to the carts that would take them to their vaults. "We will need to take two carts. There are too many of you to fit in one," said the fatter goblin.
"Oh, alright. Ginny why don't you come with me?" said her mother.
"But mum…" Ginny whined.
"No buts," she said. The mother and daughter stepped into the cart and one of the goblins followed. They were soon on their way.
"Let's go!" said Ron, and three boys hopped into their own cart. They soon found themselves speeding through the dark passageways under Gringott's bank. They were flying in the small cart at break neck speeds. The boys looked over at one another excitedly. They were all enjoying this death defying trip immensely. Suddenly the cart came to an abrupt halt.
Harry was led to his vault first. Ron watched as Draco's mouth dropped open with utter amazement when he saw the mound of gold and silver that lay inside. He probably had no idea that Harry was rich! It was kind of ironic that he was raised like a house elf, but had enough money of his own to live in a modest size manor. He watched as Harry placed an enormous amount of money is his bag, and returned to the cart.
"Wow, that's a lot of money to spend in one afternoon!" Draco said jokingly.
Harry looked away and quietly said, "I have to replace everything I have ever owned." Ron slugged Draco in the arm and called him an idiot. He knew that his uncle had burned all of his things. Just when they were beginning to enjoy their afternoon, Draco had to go and ruin it.
"How stupid of me! I am so sorry, I had forgotten," said Draco pleading. He probably felt like an ass right now.
"It's all right," said Harry.
By the time they had reached the next vault, Draco looked like he was feeling pretty sorry for himself. Ron knew that he would never again have the luxury of spending his money as frivolously as he once did. One part of him felt awful for Draco for losing his inheritance, the other part was glad that the boy was finally able to see what it is like to be poor.
Draco had told Ron and Harry how his godfather, Severus Snape, had generously given him money to get through school. When Draco got out to enter his vault, he noticed that Harry had politely looked away. Ron decided to do the same. Draco quickly filled his money bag and sat down beside Harry.
"All set?" said the dark haired boy.
"Yup. Let's go!" And with that, they were again speeding back to the upper levels of the bank. They then met up with Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, who had retrieved their own money from the family vault.
They blinked at the glaring sun when they stepped back out into Diagon Alley. There eyes had become adjusted to the darkness of those awful passageways. Ron looked down at his watch and said, "Bloody hell! We are 10 minutes late! Let's go!"
"Calm down lover boy. I am sure Hermione will still be there," said Draco teasingly. Harry glanced at them both like he was missing something. He hadn't yet picked up on the fact that Ron fancied Hermione.
Sure enough Hermione was waiting for them. She was sitting outside the ice cream parlor with Neville, finishing an ice cream cone. She waved them over enthusiastically. Ron watched as she ran over to Harry, and squeezed him with all her might. He felt instantly jealous, but calmed himself when he realized that she hadn't seen him since she learned what had happened at the Dursleys. It was a happy reunion of sorts.
"Hi, Harry. I am so glad that you are alright. I have been so worried!" she said. She looked really good. She had an awesome tan and had grown quite a bit. She and Harry were almost the same size again, Harry being only slightly taller.
"I'm alright now, Hermione. Ahh… could you let me go now?" Harry asked
"Oh, sorry!" said Hermione releasing him. "Hi, everyone!" She gave Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley a quick hug hello, and then turned her head toward Draco.
"Hello, Grang…er…Hermione. How are you?" he asked.
"I am fine, Draco," she said trying out his name. There was an awkward silence as everyone tried to figure out what to say next.
Finally, Draco began, "Listen Hermione, there is something I need to say. I am sorry…"
Hermione cut him off, "Don't!"
"What? I was…"
"Don't bother apologizing right now, okay. I believe in actions, not words. If you can show me that you are not the same arrogant prick I knew from school, I will forgive you."
"Okay," said Draco smiling. "But I am sorry for being an arrogant prick."
"Yeah, sure. Ready to go?" she asked. They all nodded.
The shopping trip to Diagon Alley took longer than any other trip before; mostly because Harry had so many things to buy, but also because their group was quite large. Harry was fortunate to have so many things replaced from the gifts that he received from his belated birthday party, but there was a lot that he still needed. They went from store to store waiting in the long lines and helping each other to find what they needed as quickly as possible. After the first couple of stores, it was clear that Harry had way too much to carry, so Mrs. Weasley rented a trolley for him.
It wasn't until they had reached the third store that Ron noticed how close Ginny was standing to Neville. After questioning Ginny endlessly he got down to the bottom of everything. Apparently his little sister was quite the player. She had broken up with Dean Thomas earlier in the summer, and had begun owling Neville. He had no idea that anything was going on between them. His attention had been entirely directed towards Harry and he was oblivious to everything else. Two years ago, Ron would have been horrified that Ginny was interested in Neville. He used to be a bumbling idiot to say the least. But he had matured considerably last year, and proved to be a loyal friend, especially after what happened at the Department of Mysteries last year.
Ginny and Neville were definitely a couple now. They walked from store to store holding hands. It irritated Ron that his sister was getting more action than him. He was definitely going to have to fix this situation. He turned his head toward Hermione and watched her as she helped Harry select a new kit of potion's supplies to replace his old one.
After Harry paid for his items, they entered Flourish and Blott's to purchase their 6th year textbooks. An overenthusiastic salesperson greeted them at the door. "Hi, I am Theodora Catmint. Can I help you find anything today?"
"No, I think we will be alright on our own. Thanks," said Hermione. They all split up once they were inside.
Ron noticed that Draco was following him the to second hand selection of textbooks. "I see you are buying everything second hand now, too. Well isn't this ironic."
"Ron, don't give me a hard time. I know I was wrong before. Don't make this any worse on me as it is. My pride is on the mend here," said Draco.
"Oh, all right," said Ron disappointed that he couldn't tease the boy any further.
They made their purchases, and moved onto the next store. Hermione and Ron already had everything that they needed so they decided to rest outside on a bench to wait for the others to return.
Ron was glad to finally have some time alone with Hermione while the others shopped with Harry. They had grown quite close last year while they were staying at Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
"How was France?" asked Ron.
"It was lovely, but all I wanted to do was come to the Burrow and be with you and Harry. I hope you understand why couldn't," said Hermione.
"Of course I do. Your parents have every reason to want to spend some quality time with their daughter. We got ourselves in quite a scrape last year, didn't we?"
"Yeah, we did. How is Harry by the way? How is he handling Sirius's death?" she asked sadly.
"It's hard to say. He was in pretty bad shape when he first came to the Burrow. He has good and bad days now. Today is definitely a good day. He is still having nightmares about Sirius and everything. He keeps me up most of the night. Other than that, he doesn't say much. You know he is," said Ron.
"Yeah, I know. I still can't believe that Harry isn't going to press charges against his uncle. I guess I understand though. The newspapers would have a field day with that story."
"I told you what Remus did to them, didn't I?"
"Yes, I didn't know he had it in him. At least the Ministry of Magic only put him on probation. It's pretty risky to hex any muggle like that. Does Harry know?" she asked.
"No, Draco is supposed to tell him sometime soon," responded Ron.
"Draco? Why?" she asked indignantly.
"Well…because…" Ron wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't told her yet about catching them kissing out in the woods.
"What are you not telling me?" she demanded.
"They are kind of together," Ron said quietly.
"Together together? As in a couple?!?"
"Shhh….keep it down. Well, I don't think anything is official yet, but I caught them kissing once," said Ron glancing around.
"Oh, my god! I would never would have expected it. Harry and Draco?" She thought about it for a minute, letting the information seek in. "It does kind of makes sense though, you know? All those years of bickering….Harry's troubled relationship with Cho…"
Seizing the opportunity, Ron asked the question that he had been thinking about since he saw her. "Speaking of couples, are you still writing to Vicky?"
"You mean Victor? Well, no I am not anymore." Hermione said looking away.
"Really? I thought you were all gaga over him."
"That's before I got to know him. He met us up in France, and we had an opportunity to hang out. I had only communicated with him before in my letters. He drove me crazy!! And he came on way too strong. I decided to end it before the situation got carried away."
"He didn't hurt you did he? Because I would kill him!" Ron said angrily.
"No, no. Calm down. It's nothing like that," she said. She looked up at him and smiled, "Would you really kill him if he had hurt me?"
"Absolutely. You know how much I care about you," said Ron.
"You do?"
"Yeah," he said sheepishly.
"Well, I care about you too," Hermione said smiling again. Ron was overcome with happiness. Finally, something was going right!
"Really?' She nodded. Ron stood up and scooped her up into a big hug, her legs dangling towards the ground. She began to giggle, and insisted that he put her down again. Just when he was about to steal a kiss, the rest of their group met up with them. Harry was looking at them curiously, with a smile on his face.
"I'm sorry. We are not interrupting anything are we?" he asked innocently.
"No, nothing at all," Ron said, irritated with their timing. He felt Hermione give his hand a small squeeze. He looked down at her and smiled. He knew that there would be plenty of time for them to talk about things once they were back at Hogwarts.
Harry was clearly in an awesome mood despite the fact that he just spent several agonizing hours shopping. Ron decided to take advantage of it. "Hey Harry, do you know what time it is?"
"No, what?" he asked stupidly.
"Time to shop for a broom!" He dragged his friend into the store and began to walk around with interest. The rest of the gang stayed outside with Harry's trolley.
"I don't know Ron. I really shouldn't. I have already had to spend so much. Besides, I probably won't be able to join the team again anyway," Harry protested.
"Are you kidding? I am sure they will allow you back on the team now that awful Umbridge is gone. It's not like you can't afford it, Harry. You deserve this after what happened this summer. Are you going to borrow brooms for the rest of your life?" asked Ron.
"Well, no, I guess not. Alright, you talked me into it," Harry said smiling.
"Good, now check this one out. Top of the line!"
After only another 15 minutes, Harry walked out of the store with a fabulous new broom. It was the fastest broom to be produced yet. He was grinning from ear to ear as he rushed over to show Draco, who was waiting with Ginny and Hermione just outside. Harry stopped dead in his tracks when he realized that they were not alone. Ron watched the scene before him not knowing what to do.
Pansy Parkinson had just walked up to the small group and confronted Draco.
"What the hell is this Drake? Are you a Gryffindork now or something?" she asked coldly. She looked at each one of them with a piercing gaze.
"No, just leave me the hell alone Pansy. And don't call me Drake!"
"Touchy, touchy. Have you gone soft or something? I heard that poor little Draco ran away from home," she said in an icky sweet voice.
"Get lost! Nobody cares about you have to say," said Ron trying his best not to lose his cool.
"You've got the Weasel defending you now Draco? The next thing you are going to tell me is that you are in love with the mudblood."
"I said leave me alone, Pansy," said Draco once again. Ron looked like he was going to attack her for calling Hermione a mudblood, but Draco gabbed his arm to hold him back.
"Fine, but I am warning you. There are quite a few slytherins that are not going to be as kind to you for being a traitor. Do watch you back now won't you dear?" and with that she walked away.
Draco was clearly fuming. He turned to Harry, but didn't say anything. Harry reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. They looked at one another for support.
Ron saw his mother coming out of the Apothecary not a moment to late. "Is there anything anyone else needs?' Everyone shook their head no. "Than I think that it is time for us to go."
He hated leaving Hermione, but Pansy had certainly dampened everyone's mood. Draco and Harry clearly needed to get out of there.
"Sorry, Hermione, but I think we should leave," said Ron gently.
"Its alright, I will see you again in about a week anyway," she replied.
"I will write you again soon."
"Okay," she said smiling sweetly. Ron bent down and gave her a kiss on her forehead. It would have to do for now.
They said their goodbyes and made their way back to the fireplace to floo their way home. It had been quite a long day.
A/N: The next chapter is awesome! There is enough fluff and angst to satisfy everyone's taste. Plus, another entire chapter with Harry and Draco together! And guess what, it will be written entirely from Harry's POV as a special treat!!!!
Catmint- Did you like? I said you would be starring in a very minor role. lol