Here's the new chapter! Thanks for reading you guys, I love the reviews!
Let me know what you think, if you'd like, you can suggest some fics I
should read...but anyway, on with the story!
Chapter 10 A Day in Diagon Alley
The rest of the summer was a blast for Harry. First of, the twins arrived to stay at headquarters for a weekend, and had caused Mrs. Wealsey to give one of the most awful screams anyone had ever heard after having seen George and Fred's faces plastered to the window in joke after Apparating. It had been too long since Harry had last seen them, and he was delighted to hear of the success of their joke shop. They in turn were intrigued by the arrival of Cordelia, and they shared the same view on her presence as Ron and Harry.
"You haven't even talked to her," Hermione had said. "You can't say that you don't like her."
"We haven't talked to Voldemort, Hermione. Does that mean we should give him a chance as well?"
As the days wore on, Harry noticed that despite the changing day-to- day plans, Quidditch games, helping the twins with their latest pranks' formulas and such, Cordelia never once displayed any interest. On the contrary, she still kept her time locked away. The only change in this pattern was the trip to Diagon Alley.
At Gringotts, as they visited the respective vaults, Harry noticed that each one contained a greatly increased amount of money. Harry instantly realized that he wasn't the only one who received gold from Sirius. The Weasleys vault was stacked with several piles that Harry knew were normally absent. In his vault, he also noticed an increase of gold stacks, as well as in Hermione's. Cordelia's vault, which of course he had never glimpsed, seemed to be teeming with gold. She had quickly, and silently moved to add some coins to her small bag before rushing the goblin to get the cart out of the tunnel. It was almost as though she was afraid of the money residing in her vault.
The trip to Flourish and Blotts took a little longer. Locating the core curriculum books was not difficult, seeing as Hermione, Ron, Harry and Cordelia had all placed in the same required classes (Well, that is except for History of Magic, Potions and Astronomy. Thankfully, Ron and Harry had to drop Divination to make room for the additional period the new Defense Against the Dark Arts classes would take.). The difficulty really lied in collecting the numerous books for Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes. It took nearly an hour to locate the correct Arithmancy volumes (Arithmancy: Creating Magic with Numerical Theory, 3rd Edition, Volume 4, The Spell-bound Versions, Sections 1-4, Print and Practical Lessons, by Vara Blemarket) as well as collecting all of the tools and diagrams needed for Ancient Runes. After collecting new bottles of ink and quills, they were finally able to focus on the important things.
"I want to go visit Fred and George's shop," Ron said, shifting his various supplies around in his arms. "They said to stop by and pick up a couple of things to try out at Hogwarts for them."
"Sure," Harry said, grinning widely. "Still using the same audience to test on. So now they want us to be the pranksters of Hogwarts."
"I need to get some new robes," Cordelia said quietly. "As well as make a stop at Quality Quidditch Supplies."
Hermione and Ginny gave Cordelia small smiles. "We'll go with you."
Leaving Ron and Harry standing with faces of disbelief, the three girls walked off in the direction of the robe shop. Ron tried to muster some air of defiance. "Well, it's their funeral," he said.
Harry and Ron walked into the door of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Harry was immediately overwhelmed by the sight before him. There were shelves upon shelves of endless pranks, from Sneeze-inducing Quills to Papercut Parchment, rows and rows of trick sweets and Belligerent Broomsticks and endless pranks that Harry had heard them speak of. A smile curled on Harry's lips. The gold he had given to the twins had definitely done more in their hands. The shop was packed.
"Harry, Ron!" Fred had seen them out of the corner of his eye. The counter was swamped with people of all ages and sizes trying to buy goods. "Oy, do you think you could give us a hand?"
"Sure," Ron half-shouted over the noise. "What do you need?"
George appeared from a back room carrying a stack of boxes two times his height. In a quick, fluid movement, he whipped out his wand and conjured up a second counter. He quickly replaced his wand before he could drop the boxes. "Could you work at the second counter until Lee comes? He's supposed to be here in a half-hour. Ron, show Harry what to do."
Harry and Ron walked behind the counter and immediately half of the crowd that had formed around the first counter moved towards them.
"So where's the register to ring everything up?" Harry asked, looking around.
"What? You mean those funny little Muggle things that make those bell sounds when you want to buy something? No, Harry, just grab that quill and tell it what they want to buy."
Five or so years ago, this would have been an odd command, but Harry obliged. He reached into a drawer and pulled out the solitary quill inside. To his mild surprise, the quill stood upright, seemingly waiting for something.
"Ah, er, okay then. A bag of assorted Sickly Sweets, two Super-Stick Lollies, A Vanishing Leg Chair and four Twisted Mirrors," Harry said, looking at the items a kid had placed in front of him. Harry then looked at the face buying them.
"Harry Potter!" Justin Finch Fletchly said a little loudly, causing a few looks to be thrown his way. "How's your summer been?"
Harry grinned. "Can't complain. How 'bout you?"
The afternoon pretty much followed his pattern. Most of the people Harry served were fellow Hogwarts students with whom he stopped to chat. Both Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas stopped by, and Harry could barely hold in his laughter when Dean asked Ron if Ginny was in Diagon Alley as well. In fact, the nasty looks the twins occasionally threw him for chatting too much didn't even upset him. It was great seeing his old friends again. Time flew quickly and Harry didn't want to leave the shop when it closed at six. Fred and George passed the prototype tricks onto Harry and Ron, along with some silver Sickles they said were for helping all day.
"And tell Mum we'll stop by later tonight," Fred said as they were leaving.
"That was great," Ron said, as they were walking towards the Leaky Caldron, where they would meet with the girls and Mrs. Weasley. "But now I'm going to have to worry about Dean and Seamus messing with my stuff. Did you see the bottle of Wheezie Wartz Seamus bought?"
"Yah, I did," Harry said, grimacing slightly. "I told them to buy the bigger bottle."
"That was actually pretty fun."
"I agree, it was," a cheery voice said behind them.
Harry and Ron turned to see that Hermione, Ginny and Cordelia had walked up right behind them. They were all smiling and laughing together, carrying large bags, but Cordelia appeared to be carrying the most, with bags from the robe shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies and Ollivanders.
"I've gotten new robes for school, I got a new wand from Ollivanders, and look"- Cordelia drew a large, long box from the last bag- "I got a new broom."
Two things blew Harry away. First, Harry couldn't help but notice that Cordelia had a nice smile. A REALLY nice smile. And it was nice to see her smile, rather than the melancholy expression she wore most of the time. Secondly, Cordelia had bought a Thunderbolt 3X, the fastest, newest broom there was. Aero-dynamic, patented new safety-breaking system, made of Bermuda cedar, and boasting unparalleled speed. Advertised as the first broom designed solely for the purpose of winning Quidditch matches, rather than just playing them. It was a broom made for serious players. Harry didn't even know that Cordelia played Quidditch. He realized that he didn't know anything about her. And suddenly Harry wanted to know everything about Cordelia, despite the fact that she might be the enemy.
"What's your team?" Ron asked, his jaw still hanging in awe.
Cordelia laughed softly. Her voice carried lightly in the air, like a hummed melody. "The Bermuda Bruisers. They're on their way to the Quidditch Cup this coming season. No one has better Chasers and Beaters in the world."
Ron was about to argue, but Harry interrupted. "I didn't know you played Quidditch. What's your position?"
Cordelia smiled at Harry warmly. With every passing second he was beginning to like that more and more. "Well," she began, "At Beauxbatons I was Seeker for my house. I really play everything though. But I'm probably best at"-
"Chaser." Everyone turned around towards the unfortunately familiar voice. And there was Draco Malfoy, looking as calculating and critical as ever with the permanent sneer on his face.
"Now I've got a question for you, dear cousin. What in the bloody hell are you doing with Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers?"
Chapter 10 A Day in Diagon Alley
The rest of the summer was a blast for Harry. First of, the twins arrived to stay at headquarters for a weekend, and had caused Mrs. Wealsey to give one of the most awful screams anyone had ever heard after having seen George and Fred's faces plastered to the window in joke after Apparating. It had been too long since Harry had last seen them, and he was delighted to hear of the success of their joke shop. They in turn were intrigued by the arrival of Cordelia, and they shared the same view on her presence as Ron and Harry.
"You haven't even talked to her," Hermione had said. "You can't say that you don't like her."
"We haven't talked to Voldemort, Hermione. Does that mean we should give him a chance as well?"
As the days wore on, Harry noticed that despite the changing day-to- day plans, Quidditch games, helping the twins with their latest pranks' formulas and such, Cordelia never once displayed any interest. On the contrary, she still kept her time locked away. The only change in this pattern was the trip to Diagon Alley.
At Gringotts, as they visited the respective vaults, Harry noticed that each one contained a greatly increased amount of money. Harry instantly realized that he wasn't the only one who received gold from Sirius. The Weasleys vault was stacked with several piles that Harry knew were normally absent. In his vault, he also noticed an increase of gold stacks, as well as in Hermione's. Cordelia's vault, which of course he had never glimpsed, seemed to be teeming with gold. She had quickly, and silently moved to add some coins to her small bag before rushing the goblin to get the cart out of the tunnel. It was almost as though she was afraid of the money residing in her vault.
The trip to Flourish and Blotts took a little longer. Locating the core curriculum books was not difficult, seeing as Hermione, Ron, Harry and Cordelia had all placed in the same required classes (Well, that is except for History of Magic, Potions and Astronomy. Thankfully, Ron and Harry had to drop Divination to make room for the additional period the new Defense Against the Dark Arts classes would take.). The difficulty really lied in collecting the numerous books for Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes. It took nearly an hour to locate the correct Arithmancy volumes (Arithmancy: Creating Magic with Numerical Theory, 3rd Edition, Volume 4, The Spell-bound Versions, Sections 1-4, Print and Practical Lessons, by Vara Blemarket) as well as collecting all of the tools and diagrams needed for Ancient Runes. After collecting new bottles of ink and quills, they were finally able to focus on the important things.
"I want to go visit Fred and George's shop," Ron said, shifting his various supplies around in his arms. "They said to stop by and pick up a couple of things to try out at Hogwarts for them."
"Sure," Harry said, grinning widely. "Still using the same audience to test on. So now they want us to be the pranksters of Hogwarts."
"I need to get some new robes," Cordelia said quietly. "As well as make a stop at Quality Quidditch Supplies."
Hermione and Ginny gave Cordelia small smiles. "We'll go with you."
Leaving Ron and Harry standing with faces of disbelief, the three girls walked off in the direction of the robe shop. Ron tried to muster some air of defiance. "Well, it's their funeral," he said.
Harry and Ron walked into the door of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Harry was immediately overwhelmed by the sight before him. There were shelves upon shelves of endless pranks, from Sneeze-inducing Quills to Papercut Parchment, rows and rows of trick sweets and Belligerent Broomsticks and endless pranks that Harry had heard them speak of. A smile curled on Harry's lips. The gold he had given to the twins had definitely done more in their hands. The shop was packed.
"Harry, Ron!" Fred had seen them out of the corner of his eye. The counter was swamped with people of all ages and sizes trying to buy goods. "Oy, do you think you could give us a hand?"
"Sure," Ron half-shouted over the noise. "What do you need?"
George appeared from a back room carrying a stack of boxes two times his height. In a quick, fluid movement, he whipped out his wand and conjured up a second counter. He quickly replaced his wand before he could drop the boxes. "Could you work at the second counter until Lee comes? He's supposed to be here in a half-hour. Ron, show Harry what to do."
Harry and Ron walked behind the counter and immediately half of the crowd that had formed around the first counter moved towards them.
"So where's the register to ring everything up?" Harry asked, looking around.
"What? You mean those funny little Muggle things that make those bell sounds when you want to buy something? No, Harry, just grab that quill and tell it what they want to buy."
Five or so years ago, this would have been an odd command, but Harry obliged. He reached into a drawer and pulled out the solitary quill inside. To his mild surprise, the quill stood upright, seemingly waiting for something.
"Ah, er, okay then. A bag of assorted Sickly Sweets, two Super-Stick Lollies, A Vanishing Leg Chair and four Twisted Mirrors," Harry said, looking at the items a kid had placed in front of him. Harry then looked at the face buying them.
"Harry Potter!" Justin Finch Fletchly said a little loudly, causing a few looks to be thrown his way. "How's your summer been?"
Harry grinned. "Can't complain. How 'bout you?"
The afternoon pretty much followed his pattern. Most of the people Harry served were fellow Hogwarts students with whom he stopped to chat. Both Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas stopped by, and Harry could barely hold in his laughter when Dean asked Ron if Ginny was in Diagon Alley as well. In fact, the nasty looks the twins occasionally threw him for chatting too much didn't even upset him. It was great seeing his old friends again. Time flew quickly and Harry didn't want to leave the shop when it closed at six. Fred and George passed the prototype tricks onto Harry and Ron, along with some silver Sickles they said were for helping all day.
"And tell Mum we'll stop by later tonight," Fred said as they were leaving.
"That was great," Ron said, as they were walking towards the Leaky Caldron, where they would meet with the girls and Mrs. Weasley. "But now I'm going to have to worry about Dean and Seamus messing with my stuff. Did you see the bottle of Wheezie Wartz Seamus bought?"
"Yah, I did," Harry said, grimacing slightly. "I told them to buy the bigger bottle."
"That was actually pretty fun."
"I agree, it was," a cheery voice said behind them.
Harry and Ron turned to see that Hermione, Ginny and Cordelia had walked up right behind them. They were all smiling and laughing together, carrying large bags, but Cordelia appeared to be carrying the most, with bags from the robe shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies and Ollivanders.
"I've gotten new robes for school, I got a new wand from Ollivanders, and look"- Cordelia drew a large, long box from the last bag- "I got a new broom."
Two things blew Harry away. First, Harry couldn't help but notice that Cordelia had a nice smile. A REALLY nice smile. And it was nice to see her smile, rather than the melancholy expression she wore most of the time. Secondly, Cordelia had bought a Thunderbolt 3X, the fastest, newest broom there was. Aero-dynamic, patented new safety-breaking system, made of Bermuda cedar, and boasting unparalleled speed. Advertised as the first broom designed solely for the purpose of winning Quidditch matches, rather than just playing them. It was a broom made for serious players. Harry didn't even know that Cordelia played Quidditch. He realized that he didn't know anything about her. And suddenly Harry wanted to know everything about Cordelia, despite the fact that she might be the enemy.
"What's your team?" Ron asked, his jaw still hanging in awe.
Cordelia laughed softly. Her voice carried lightly in the air, like a hummed melody. "The Bermuda Bruisers. They're on their way to the Quidditch Cup this coming season. No one has better Chasers and Beaters in the world."
Ron was about to argue, but Harry interrupted. "I didn't know you played Quidditch. What's your position?"
Cordelia smiled at Harry warmly. With every passing second he was beginning to like that more and more. "Well," she began, "At Beauxbatons I was Seeker for my house. I really play everything though. But I'm probably best at"-
"Chaser." Everyone turned around towards the unfortunately familiar voice. And there was Draco Malfoy, looking as calculating and critical as ever with the permanent sneer on his face.
"Now I've got a question for you, dear cousin. What in the bloody hell are you doing with Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers?"