Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket.

A twist at the end of Harry's first trip to Diagon Alley with Hagrid.

Chapter 11: The Tale of the Water Beetle that was not. Part 1. Plus the tales of beautiful Princesses, the blond Prince and redhead Pauper.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Summary: A twist at the end of Harry's first trip to Diagon Alley with Hagrid. As they approach the Leaky Cauldron to leave Diagon Alley, Hagrid decides to present Harry with his gold ticket to the Hogwarts Express, while Harry was really expecting to go directly to Hogwarts with Hagrid now. Harry asks a different question.

And that changes everything. HHr NLLL T for Characters deaths.

08/11/22 Beta by alix33. Thank you.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

My Muse thought it would be a good opportunity to colour in the background of Harry's new adventure, and add a little view in a brief interlude to show what else has been happening in the British Magical World while you have been reading what could have happened.

Well, that was the goal but, sadly it seems to be more black and white rather than full colour.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

The Tale of the Water Beetle that was not. Part One.

(Rita Skeeter claimed to be forty-three years old during her interview with Harry at the Wand Weighing Ceremony in Goblet of Fire in November, 1994, which would suggest that she was born in 1951, and attend Hogwarts from September, 1962 to June, 1970.)

Witches and wizards who enjoyed gossip were well aware of the Witch-To-Be-Feared and the Queen of the long acid-green Quick-Quotes Quill. Of course, we are talking of none other than the Daily Prophets' Machiavellian Ace Reporter of Industrial Spin, Lies and Propaganda, and of course, the Ministry of Magic's Way, J. K. Rita Beetle Skeeter.

Rita Skeeter was an attractive blonde, not quite the big four 'O', whose savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations. Her wide smile showed the three gold teeth that replaced the teeth lost to those who didn't appreciate her humour, er, in-depth reporting.

Rita loved outlandish robes in bright magenta. Her hair was set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. Her golden smile contrasted the jeweled sharp pointed spectacles she loved to wear. The thick fingers clutching her dragon-skin handbag ended in two-inch nails, painted bright crimson. Her scarlet-taloned fingers had a surprisingly strong grip, that wouldn't let go if you got too close.

She loved her Quick-Quotes Quill as it left her free to talk normally. Well, what was normal for an industrial sociopath.

Of course Rita had not been born that way, and there was a time when young Rita was a little bright eye witch who rode the Hogwarts Express for the first time in September, 1962, and marvelled at the beauty of the lights of the ancient castle as she sailed across the Black Lake.

But her tale starts back before her years at Hogwarts when the vivid imagination of Rita would allow her mouth to run away with many tall tales that she quickly spun to avoid the trouble she was in. Her wise loving mother was always amused with her antics and the length young Rita would go to avoid punishment, and she put that talent to good use and arranged for Rita to babysit the neighbours' children and keep them entertained with exciting tales of spirited audacious witches, courageous wizards, of vicious dragons, and bold brave gallant knights in shining armour, and most of all, love.

Rita took these storytelling skills to Hogwarts and kept her classmates entertained on the long winter nights.

Like a few other students, Rita had an interesting sorting and she took a chance to believe the Sorting Hat.

"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… I have never before seen such a vivid imagination. That could get you into a lot of trouble if used unwisely."

Rita gripped the edges of the stool and thought, 'Well if you are going to tell a whopper, don't tell a little one for you will always be caught out. Put some imagination into it and tell a big one. They will either find it funny and laugh or worse,they will believe you.'

"Oh! I see that you have already met the headmaster." The small voice chuckled. "So where shall I put you?"

Rita gripped the edges of the stool and thought, 'Not Gryffindor, not Gryffindor.'

"Not Gryffindor, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure?"

Rita continued to grip the edges of the stool as she thought, 'Not Hufflepuff either.'

"Not Hufflepuff either, eh?"said the small voice. "I agree that neither Gryffindor, nor Hufflepuff would be a good fit for you. Your vivid imagination would not be welcomed! But Slytherin would be an excellent fit. You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — yes?" Rita nodded. "Well, if you're sure — better be SLYTHERIN!"

In Slytherin, Rita met the three Queens of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Bella the Beautiful, Andromeda the Courageous, and Narcissa the Exquisite. These three queens ruled over Slytherin House and any wizard who foolishly stepped out of line suffered their wrath. There were a number of foolish wizards who got on their wrong side and couldn't sire children by the time they left Hogwarts.

Bella didn't appreciate her full name and even the Dark Lord was not foolish enough to use it. The only one who was, was of course the headmaster, and he did it just to twig her cute button nose.

The three Queens of House Black enjoyed Rita's stories and guided and protected her. Gradually as she got older her stories turned from tales of adventure with knights and dragons, to just witches and wizards and the gossip of what was happening around them. In third year Rita started to report on what happened on the Hogsmeade Weekend, and who was kissing who. Rita started her own Hogwarts' magazine based on the Daily Prophet's Witch Weekly, which she called Teen Witch, and it contained all the gossip and beauty tips for the young modern discerning witch. She published it on Sunday morning full of gossip of the previous Hogsmeade Saturday.

Of course, Rita had been snagged by her Head of House, Professor Slughorn and his Slug Club. The Professor opened doors for her when she graduated, and he helped her to a position with the Daily Prophet. In her spare time, Rita made an effort to keep an eye on the next generation of Hogwarts' Elites and visited every Hogsmeade Weekend so she could get the latest gossip, scandal and scuttlebutt, to fill the pages of her Teen Witch magazine. That was still published on Sunday ready to be read for breakfast.

Of course the most popular tales in Teen Witch were the eternal love triangles.

The first love triangle that Rita reported on was the ill fated love triangle that no one speaks of, between Bella the Beautiful and the Lestrange brothers. The brothers tried to make a move on the Black Family Fortune by winning the heart of oldest Black Queen. You didn't hear from Rita but it appears that both Pure-blood wizards, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange wanted Bella the Beautiful and both brothers used Amortentia to win her affections. Unfortunately both idiot brothers forgot to add a bit of themselves, a single hair, when they sneaked the concentrated overproof Amortentia into her goblet at the same time and sent poor Bella over the edge and she was never the same. Then again neither of the Lestrange twins were ever the same in body, mind and soul after poor Bella responded by neutering both brothers with a rusty cursed Potions knife and ended the future of the family Lestrange. It was quite the scandal and Dumbledore hushed it all up with Bella the Beautiful becoming the Queen of the House of Lestrange.

The next wizard to make a move of the Black Family Fortune was the only heir of the impoverished House of Malfoy. This became the second love triangle between the dastardly slippery Lucius Malfoy, Queen Andromeda the Courageous and a Muggle-born wizard named Edward Tonks. Everyone knew that any couple that involved the heir of Malfoy would be a loveless match as no one believed that Lucius Malfoy could possibility love anyone as much as he loved himself. But he did love the gold he would get for marrying Andromeda from the rich Black Family. For you see the Malfoys, like the Lestranges, had lost all of their ill-gotten gold after Lucius father, Abraxas Malfoy, had supported Grindelwald in the previous Blood War. It was quite the scandal when Andromeda the Courageous eloped to Gretna Green with her true love Ted Tonks for a Muggle wedding under the Clandestine Marriages Act 1753.

Oddly enough, Dumbledore, the Champion of Muggle-borns, didn't lift a finger to cover up the Eloping Scandal of Andromeda the Courageous and the Muggle-born Ted Tonks, and sadly poor Andromeda was cast out of the Black Family without any gold. Of course the headmaster was very sorry, but he was afraid that it wouldn't do to have the wrong kind of Slytherin in his secret private militia called the Order of the Phoenix. Not that Andromeda would have anything to do with the manipulative leader of the light.

It was unfortunate for the last Black Queen, Narcissa the Exquisite, for she was 'charmed' by Lucius, though Rita long suspected Amortentia was also involved. Lucius didn't care which Black Queen he got as long as he got the Black Family gold and the Black Family Ancestral Home in Wiltshire. Poor Narcissa the Exquisite woke up one day years later to discover that she was pregnant with a mini-me baby Lucius, and her future was to be just a cash cow for the greedy evil ambitions of Lucius Malfoy.

The third eternal love triangle that Rita reported on was the love triangle between Severus Snape, Lily Evans and the serial cad, James Potter. Every Sunday morning impatient witches eagerly waited for their copy of Teen Witch as they wanted to read of the latest attempt by the hapless James Potter to win his true love. They enjoyed Rita's enchantingly nasty style. As Severus Snape was a poor half-blood, and James Potter was the rich Pure-blood heir to the Potter Family Fortune, the story was told from his point of view.

In the center pages, there was a color photograph of the wealthy and eligible James Potter, after yet another failed attempt to win the heart but his face had lost the battle to the creative talents of Miss Evans' wand. It was headed a short piece entitled: James Potter's Secret Heartache.

A boy like no other, perhaps - yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love as an only child of elderly parents, fourteen-year-old James Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Lily Evans. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.

Miss Evans, a plain but ambitious girl with fiery red hair and a temper to match, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that James alone couldn't satisfy. Since her arrival at Hogwarts, Miss Evans has been toying with the affections of both Severus Snape and James Potter.

Snape, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Evans, has already invited her to visit him in beautiful Cokeworth over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."

However, it might not be Miss Evans's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.

"She's really mean and ugly," says Bella Nott, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."

Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, James Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.

Sadly the fortunes of Love can change and from fifth year, it was Severus Snape who was the sad one.

As the ace reporter for the Daily Prophet, Rita had a front row seat to the developing Blood War as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named made his move to enslave the whole of Magical Britain, and she watched in horror as the Manipulative Old Fool Dumbledore seemed to doing everything he can to lose, as so many promising witches and wizards were senselessly murdered and many famous Ancient light side families were wiped out. Then when all seemed lost, the Boy-Who-Lived happened, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gone. Rita noticed how disappointed the Manipulative Old Fool Dumbledore was.

The only 'Death Eater' trial Rita missed was the one for Sirius Black for betraying the Potters. She discovered that she had missed that trial only because it never happened. She knew something bad was going down for Sirius Black to be arrested and sent directly to Azkaban without a trial. The heir of the House Black was the first alleged 'Death Eater' thrown into Azkaban soon after the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and it was done immediately on the word of Albus Dumbledore who affirmed that Sirius was the Secret-Keeper of the Potters. The Heir of the Most Wealthiest Pure-blood family was condemned to Azkaban on the signatures of Dumbledore, Bagnold and Crouch Senior.

Rita covered the rest of the Death Eater sham trials and watched as the Manipulative Old Fool Dumbledore seemed to do everything he could to lose again, as the evil scum bribed their way out of Azkaban. No one believed the Imperius Defense of Lucius Malfoy, but his gold was good.

The evil that these Death Eater monsters had done to people she knew and grew up with, gave Rita nightmares. But what really sickened her was that with her beetle Animagus form she was able to investigate what was really happening in the secret backroom deals that Bagnold and Manipulative Old Fool Dumbledore, did to redeem and give second chances to the Pure-blood Death Eaters who didn't give their many victims any chance whatsoever. When they all should have been sent through the Veil in the Death Chamber. So only the worst, the most insane or poorest Death Eaters were sent to Azkaban for life. All the backroom deals were paid for by a fortune of Malfoy gold donated to Bagnold's re-election campaign. A fortune that disappeared after Bagnold's untimely death. There were only two suspects who knew of the fortune, Malfoy and Dumbledore. Rita's money was on Dumbledore as Malfoy was not happy. While the bumbling Cornelius Fudge was rewarded for his part in capture of the evil vicious Sirius Black, and became the Minister of Magic.

There were mountains of blackmail material against the most powerful wizards and witches that Rita couldn't use for fear of meeting a very painful organic phenomenon, if she were to publish tell-all books before their deaths.

Rita had been there for the trials of Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband Rodolphus and his twin brother, with a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-coloured hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white. The four had been caught red handed torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom for information on their Lord and Master. She was shocked as she had seen the boy at Hogwarts and knew he was the only son of Barty Crouch senior. She was shocked that the four were sent to Azkaban when everyone else felt that the Lestranges should have been thrown through the Veil for what they had done. Barty Crouch senior condemned his only son to Azkaban and showed how hard and heartless everyone had become.

So after a year of this sickening miss trials of evil deeds, greed and corruption, Rita wanted to do an in-depth story of the only one who was untainted and was a beacon of hope to Magical Britain, the Boy-Who-Lived.

Rita was sent to interview the Great Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry before the anniversary of the fall of He-Who-Must-Be-Named. The Daily Prophet was doing an expose about the Victory of the Boy-Who-Lived and everyone wanted to see Harry Potter and thank him. But the Great Albus Dumbledore just smiled and refused to reveal where the Boy-Who-Lived, lived. He just said he was a happy two year old who was loved and well cared for and had everything he could dream of.

That interview was her big chance and she felt so disappointed that the headmaster had told her a whole lot of nothing with his theories and fears, and the dangers the Boy-Who-Lived would face from all the very unrepentant Pure-blood Death Eaters that the headmaster had given so many second chances to for the Greater Good.

But who's Greater Good?

Rita had hoped to get some clues that she could piece together that would reveal the location of the Boy-Who-Lived. She really wanted some photos of young Harry for her story. Her readers had a right to know. The only thing the headmaster would tell her was that young Harry was the image of his father with emerald green eyes and a scar shaped like a lightning bolt. She took that clue and searched yearbooks and old copies of Teen Witch and the Daily Prophet for photos of a young James Potter to illustrate her article.

That one large article of hope soon led to more and before Rita knew it, she was ghostwriting the Adventures of the Boy-Who-Lived. Dumbledore tried to discourage her but soon saw the positive angle as he wasn't beleaguered for information on his more famous ward. So he settled for a cut in the Royalties. For the Greater Good, of course.

Rita borrowed a wealth of ideas from Muggle comic books, the adventures of Tin Tin, Asterix and Obelix, and Godzilla. Her Boy-Who-Lived adventures were soon giving hope to so many witches and wizards young and not so young so they would forget about the betrayal of their leaders.

And for the next ten years the real Boy-Who-Lived was hidden, and the Magical World was well supplied with made-up exciting action and adventure stories that made Rita and the headmaster quite wealthy.

So that brings us up to 1991.

For the last few months Rita had been busy writing her Boy-Who-Lived stories, and articles for the Daily Prophet and Teen Witch in preparation for the long-awaited return of the most famous Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter.

Then after an anonymous tip, Rita's favourite photographer, Bozo, had managed to get a photo of the actual Boy-Who-Lived with the oaf Hagrid when he had been in Diagon Alley shopping for his school supplies at the end of July.

That magical moving picture captured the brief moment when Hagrid gave a happy smiling Boy-Who-Lived, his very own Gold Hogwarts Express Ticket, and showed the sheer joy of the Boy-Who-Lived and the wonder of magic.

That amazing magical moving picture was on the front page of the Daily Prophet and Teen Witch the very next day and was soon on the front page of every magical publication around the Magical World. All the young witches were so happy that he matched his pictures in their favourite story books.

But it gave Rita a beyond brilliant idea for a new Boy-Who-Lived story. What if Harry lost his gold Hogwarts Express Ticket? She put the tip of the green quill into her mouth, sucked it for a moment with apparent relish, and then placed it upright on the parchment, where it stood balanced on its point, quivering slightly while Rita allowed the imagination of her muse to go wild. She started to speak and the quill whizzed across the parchment, back and forward as though it were skating.

An ugly scar, souvenir of a tragic past, disfigures the otherwise charming face of Harry Potter, whose eyes looked hopefully to the giant Keeper of Keys, as he presented him with his Gold Hogwarts Express Ticket.

Tears fill those startlingly green eyes as our story turns to the parents he can barely remember...

It only took her a day to write with her long acid-green Quick-Quotes Quill including the illustrations.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

Boy-Who-Lived mania that hit the magical universe and at midnight around the world there were queues of witches and wizards outside Magical Bookstores in Magical Shopping Centers like Diagon Alley waiting for the synchronized time release of the latest Boy-Who-Lived book, Harry Potter and the Lost Gold Ticket. A mystery of how Harry had lost his gold ticket to the Hogwarts Express in Diagon Alley, and the adventure he had getting to Hogwarts.

The queue outside Flourish and Blotts waiting for the bookshop to open at Midnight stretched all the way down Diagon Alley. There was a loud plump redhead witch complaining that all these children should be home in bed. She was there to purchase the latest book for her Ginny.

When the children and, to be fair, some young at heart adults, had read that their hero, Harry, had somehow lost his Hogwarts Express Gold Ticket, they descended on Diagon Alley like a swarm of locus to find the lost ticket for Harry. They couldn't get enough. Many desperate witches mailed their own Hogwarts Express Gold Ticket to the Boy-Who-Lived so he could catch the train.

Even Minister Cornelius Fudge got into the act and had to announce that the lost Gold Ticket had been indeed found, and that he assures everyone that Harry Potter will be on the Hogwarts Express in September. Then riding the wave of publicity, he wrote to Professor McGonagall and ask her to reissue a Gold Ticket for the Hogwarts Express to all the witches who had mailed their own gold ticket to the Boy-Who-Lived. As all those letters had disappeared to wherever letters and parcels to the Boy-Who-Lived went for the last ten years.

You can just imagine how happy Professor McGonagall was to do that. Given that she already had twice the workload with the headmaster out of action and under the care of Poppy.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

Then only days later the Minister suddenly had to announce that the forgotten most evil Death Eaters in Azkaban had all died suddenly, and it brought back terrible memories of dark times. For the victims hearing the names of Death Eaters that they had tried to forget, it felt like that they were back in the last war with all death and destruction of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Cornelius Fudge tried putting a positive spin on it as no one wanted Bellatrix Lestrange to ever leave Azkaban alive. But it was the survivors who had lost family and friends to the Death Eaters that came together to remember and rejoiced that finally justice had been done.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

The tales of beautiful Princesses, the blond Prince and the redhead Pauper.

Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot were two Pure-blood Princesses who were looking forward to the start of their magical education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They had grown up together and were the Bestest of Best Friends that ever there was. And they loved the Adventures of the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter.

So when a new Boy-Who-Lived Book was announced, Susan and Hannah were excited and found themselves in Diagon Alley waiting for the synchronize time release of the latest book, Harry Potter and the Lost Gold Ticket.

As Susan's Aunt had supplied some Aurors for security, Susan and Hannah ended up first in line in the queue outside Flourish and Blotts waiting for the bookshop to open at Midnight. They could see the queue stretch all the way down Diagon Alley and heard a loud plump redhead witch complaining.

Mr Flourish saw Susan and Hannah waiting in the cool evening air and invited them inside the warm bookshop. Being true Hufflepuffs, Susan and Hannah helped Mr Flourish and his staff to unpack all the boxes of books and set up the displays of books and posters to sell along with a large stuffed Snowy Owl that matched the beautiful Snowy Owl Harry received in Diagon Alley, and that had been enchanted to fly around the room.

After everything was ready for the mad rush, Mr Flourish thanked Susan and Hannah, and gave them a copy each of the limited leather bound Special Edition with full colour magically moving illustrations of the latest Boy-Who-Lived book, Harry Potter and the Lost Gold Ticket. The new book had the same magical moving picture of Harry receiving his Gold ticket on the cover.

So, an hour before midnight, Susan and Hannah sat down on a bean bag in a corner of the bookshop to read their special edition. They laughed, and cried, and cheered as they shared the adventures with their favourite hero. As Harry had lost his gold ticket to the Hogwarts Express in Diagon Alley, and the adventure he had getting to Hogwarts. Returning to search Diagon Alley and avoiding the clutches of unreformed Death Eaters and their evil spawn. But in true serial story fashion, it ended with a Cliffhanger. At precisely 10:58 am on the first of September, only two minutes before the Hogwarts Express was due to leave. The Boy-Who-Lived found his path to discover the secret entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross station and be on the Hogwarts Express, was blocked by a loud herd of redhead trolls.

They didn't say a word as they spent the next two hours helping Mr Flourish sell the new book to the other waiting children and adults in the queue once Midnight struck and the doors to the bookshop were opened and the mad rush began.

Early the next morning Madam Bones had to send more Aurors to Diagon Alley to help control the crowd of young witches desperately trying to find the lost Gold Ticket.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

The Tale of the blond Prince of Slytherin.

One young blond wizard who had been enjoying his summer so far was Draco Malfoy, the future self appointed blond Prince of Slytherin. He had been looking forward to going to Hogwarts so he could sneer at Muggle-borns, look down at half-bloods, and ensure the lesser Pure-blood wizards knew their place, while he was the very model of a modern Privileged Perfect Pure-blood Wizard. Just like his dear old father.

He even practiced his favourite line in the mirror.

"Just wait until MY Father hears about this!"

It was guaranteed to strike fear and dread in the hearts of those unworthy of Magic. As his favourite Father would say. And he loved the look of fear in their eyes. It was all about fear, power and control.

His favourite Godfather, Professor Severus Snape, had been a regular visitor to Sunday lunch and afterwards would give him private lessons on the introduction to Potions. It wouldn't do for the Prince of Slytherin to suck at Potions.

Draco's father had given him a very important task. To befriend the Boy-Who-Lived and guide him to take a walk on the Dark Side and see their point of view, and away from the influence of the foolish headmaster.

A task Draco took very seriously, but unfortunately, given that his father was the glorious fearless leader of the dark side of politics, he had never seen any of the Boy-Who-Lived books, and therefore had never seen a picture of the Boy-Who-Lived. He had just assumed that everyone would know who the son of Lucius Malfoy was. Even the Minister of Magic knew that. (Unfortunately, thanks to Dumbledore, Harry had been kept totally ignorant of who Lucius Malfoy was or his son, and didn't recognise either of them. And furthermore, didn't even know that there was such a thing as the Minister of Magic.)

So, on the day after his triumphant expedition to Diagon Alley, Draco expected to see his own picture the front page of the Daily Prophet, and it came as a complete surprise for Draco, that there was a full page picture of the shy boy he had met in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. He was shocked that the Boy-Who-Lived had failed to recognise him. His brief encounter with the Hero of the Magical World, made him think that he was an illiterate poor orphan who didn't know anything. His first question was, what had happened to the Potter fortune that his father had tried to claim?

Draco was so glad he hadn't told his parents of the encounter, and would employ the full Malfoy Charm offensive next time he met the Boy-Who-Lived.

Sadly, Draco's world would change overnight. His father, the glorious fearless leader of the dark side of politics, was in terrible pain.

Something had happened to the Dark Lord, and that had affected his proud father's Dark Mark and worse, his magic. A terrible pain that had also affected all of his father's friends as they gathered together at Malfoy Manor to discuss the problem. Mother was very worried but wouldn't tell him anything. But he did overhear enough to know something had happened to the Dark Lord that was as bad as the last time the Dark Lord had crossed paths with the Boy-Who-Lived.

For two weeks, His father and his father's friends were desperately trying to find the Dark Lord, but had failed. Then they tried to have another friend freed from Azkaban, Augustus Rookwood, who had worked as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries. They needed his help to fix their Dark Marks and stop it from draining all of their magic. Mother also implored that her sister, Aunt Bella, be also freed. His Father had invested a lot of gold in the personal private projects of Minister Fudge to encourage that to happen on compassionate grounds. But on the very morning that Aunt Bella and uncle Rookwood were to be quietly released, they received the terrible news that all of his father's friends in Azkaban had died of the terrible Dark Mark Wasting Plague, including Aunt Bella and uncle Rookwood.

Draco tried his best to comfort his parents, but he had never seen his father cry before as the pain of his Dark Mark seemed to get worse, and he became very angry, short-tempered and totally irrational. So irrational that his beloved father had lashed out and viciously struck Draco for the first time in his pampered life. And his father had used his fist and struck him like a filthy Muggle.

And it hurt!

But the pain of seeing the anger and sheer hatred in the eyes of his father hurt far worse!

Draco spent most of the following week comforting his mother and staying out of his father's way as he slowly turned into a monster.

Well slowly turned into the monster that hid behind the white skull mask.

And Draco knew it was all the Dark Lord's fault!

Then one day his father received an urgent summons to the Minister of Magic. Little did Draco know that morning would be the last time he would see his father.

Sadly, Draco's tale was repeated for all the children of the Dark Lord's Death Eaters.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

The Tale of the Redhead Pauper.

The youngest redhead wizard of five brothers had been enjoying his summer. His was the Pure-blood Ronald Bilius Weasley, and he made every effort to live up to his middle name of Bilius. At the beginning of summer he had a visit from the illustrious headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and he was given the important task of befriending the Boy-Who-Lived and guiding him to the light-side of the Greater Good of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards, and winner of the Witch Weekly Best Merlin Impressionist for the last century). And more importantly, Bilius had the most important task to guide the Boy-Who-Lived away from the dark side and to hate all things Slytherin and Malfoy.

But all Ronald Bilius had heard was that the famous Boy-Who-Lived would be his best friend, and he was rich. All of which would make Ronald Bilius rich and famous and definitely better than all of his brothers put together. So he was a little peeved not to get new robes and a new wand. Plus there was something else small and furry he had also got second-hand that he seemed to have forgotten about. But it was explained that he had to match what the Boy-Who-Lived would be wearing.

Ronald Bilius knew that once the Boy-Who-Lived with the famous scar was his best friend, he would have everything his heart desired.

And HE wouldn't have to lift a finger as it would be just given to him as he deserved for being a Pure-blood wizard.

And it would be HIS alone and he wouldn't have to share!

And it would be all very expensive and new!

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

The news that the forgotten most evil Death Eaters in Azkaban had all died, had completely caught Rita off guard. Something was happening and the return of the Boy-Who-Lived had triggered it. That was the reason why she found herself waiting outside the office of the Minister of Magic that fateful moment on the same day Sirius and Croaker took the rat to visit Madam Bones, and the same day Harry met Hermione in Diagon Alley.

Rita Beetle was there outside the office of the Minister of Magic to find out what would happen next.

Rita Beetle would not be disappointed.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -

Thank you for reading.

- Harry Potter and the Unwanted Ticket. -