I'm sorry for the long wait, I wanted to work on the next chapter. I have swimming after school, and sometimes chorus, so during school I will be slower on the chapters. Please forgive me..
And I thank you, all of you for your reviews. Their what makes me like to write. I really do appreciate them.
Continue to enjoy it! Read and review, please.
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Diagon Alley
The next morning Mr. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Professors Moody and Lupin, and Tonks were sitting at the table for breakfast and Mrs. Weasley was dishing out eggs and toast, talking about where they would have to go that day.
"Well, first we'll have to go to Gringotts, then Flourish and Blotts, probably the Apothecary, too.. I'll let you have some time to run around loose for a bit... But for only a bit.."
"So, Harry, want to go check out the Quidditch supplies with me and Ginny afterwards?" Ron turned to him.
"Sure, why not?" Harry said, shrugging. He began to think. He'd want to have try outs the first week probably, and then start practices early, perhaps he could even take some of the newer members and have one on one practices to help them.. maybe.. just maybe..
Harry was dragged from his thoughts when Mrs. Weasley put her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Come on, Harry. You guys need to get ready."
Harry went upstairs to his trunk and pulled out a satchel of money then came down with the others.
"How are we going to get there?" Harry asked as they stood by the door. Tonks had navy blue hair in long pigtails and wore a white shirt and black pants with stars all over them. She looked funky.
"I'll meet you at the entrance of Diagon Alley, I have some quick things to do. You'll be riding in the Weasleys' new Ford Anglia." And with that, Tonks was gone with a small pop.
"All right then, Ginny, you ride in the front with me. Harry, Ron, Hermione, will you take the back?" Mrs. Weasley was walking away from the door. Curiously, they followed her to the back of the house. There was a drive way and a car parked in it. The Ford was the same turquoise blue the old one was, in fact, it seemed to have all the same dents and scratches (the ones BEFORE Harry and Ron decided to fly it...)
The three climbed in and it was, also, roomy for the three of them. Mrs. Weasley backed the car up and then rode around the houses on a bumpy, probably hidden road onto the public roads.
Harry looked around at all the muggles as they traveled through the muggle part of London. Harry hadn't been here for five years, in his first year, Hagrid, a friendly, a half giant, and Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts had taken him this route to get his school supplies.
Between two shops, was a sign that read `The Leaky Cauldron.' Though it was very hard to see, even being a wizard or witch.
They walked in and Mrs. Weasley led them straight to the back. As they were walking across the bar, Harry saw a few strange people. A hag, a wizard with an extra eye, who Harry think was a permanent accident or perhaps didn't know it yet, and a wizard with a hat that had to be three feet tall.
Finally, they went through the back door and then to a small alley with the brick wall and trash can. Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand and tapped one of the bricks three times. A large hole appeared in the wall, light shown through it. "Well come on then." Mrs. Weasley said, stepping into Diagon Alley.
People were walking around, everywhere. Wizards and witches, hags, and even a goblin or two.
They stood there for a few minutes and gazed around, looking for Tonks. There were a lot of strange people around there, one was wearing bright orange robes had neon green hair. There was a very old man, walking around in blue clothes, that seemed to have water rippling on them.
"Hey, I'm over here!" Tonks waved to them, as she came over in a small jog. "I had to interrogate Rita Skeeter about her next article on the Ministry." She smiled mischievously. "So! Off to Gringotts?"
They walked down the long street, passing the Cauldron shop and Apothecary. While they were walking past the Owl Emporium, a large gray owl flew out with a witch calling after and chasing it. When they were passing the Quidditch Supply store, Harry and Hermione had to drag Ron from the window, where they were showing another firebolt hovering in midair. On a red satin pillow under it, was a Broom polishing kit, kind of like the one Harry got from Hermione in his third year.
Twice, Harry almost lost the group because it was so crowded. But after about ten minutes, the group got to the Gringotts bank.
Gringotts is the only wizarding bank guarded by goblins. Many say you would be insane to try and steal from them, and those who say this are probably right.
Harry and the others climbed about twenty marble steps and reached two large bronze doors. They went inside and Harry quickly read the poem inscribed in the next set of doors quickly. When they went inside, Harry couldn't help letting out a small gasp of amazement. It seemed so big.
The floors were a white marble, with gold in them. The walls were high and had a lot of glass in them, and at the top were very large golden chandeliers with a hundred candles each for lights.
Along one wall was a very long counter that had to seat at least one hundred goblins, maybe more. Two of them near the front were Exchange lanes. Tonks took Hermione over to one of them, telling the Weasleys and Harry that they would meet back at the front of the bank.
A goblin hopped off his stool and came around, motioning the three Weasleys and Harry into a cart, and surprisingly, they fit.
They rushed down the tunnels in the cart, torches flying past them at least one hundred miles an hour. It only took a minute until the cart stopped with a sudden, rough jolt.
They were at the Weasley's vault, 561. Harry was a little surprised when they opened the vault. There were a few small piles of sickles and two fairly decent sized mounds of sickles, and a handful of galleons. He smiled a bit for them, they deserved every knut they got.
They boarded the vault once again and not long after did they stop at Harry's vault, 687.
The goblin, a short, young one slowly unlocked and opened the door. Quickly, Harry grabbed a bunch of galleons, sickles, and knuts, blushing terribly and trying to get out of his vault as fast as possible. He felt a bit greedy because he couldn't give them any of his fortune, which they deserved, greatly.
They boarded the cart again and this time they were going up through the tunnels at top speed. Harry could understand why Hagrid would get a little car sick (cart sick?) with all the torches flashing by and lights flickering, Harry himself felt a little dizzy from the rush.
Hermione and Tonks were waiting for them by the door and the group walked down the steps. Now that their bags were filled with coins, they headed to the book store, Flourish and Blotts.
Harry only had to get three new books. He checked out Protect and Defend from the Dark Arts, Advanced, The Advanced Book of Spells (Grade 6) by Miranda Goshawk, and Advancements in Potions by Arnold Jigger.
He looked around at some books, while Ron, Hermione, and Ginny bought. Harry saw a rather interesting one about himself! `Harry Potter.' by Romeo DeCorsne. It was small, about Harry's past, present, and the possible future. He flipped through it and was relieved to find it wasn't personal and only dated to his first year of Hogwarts. It mainly covered the beginning of Voldemort's (Who the author always referred to as He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.) rise, theories on how Harry defeated him and then defeating Voldemort in his first year.
Though the story hadn't been personally, it made Harry quite uncomfortable to know that people knew about his life that he didn't know of. But then he remembered what Hermione had said in the early part of his first year, about her reading about him in several different books. Though he had never heard about a book that was just about himself!
He continued to wander around the shop for a little bit, only slowly straying away from his friends. He looked at a shelf of books on Quidditch, when he heard a voice drawling behind him.
"And if it isn't Potter here with his gang of friends. Can't go anywhere without your sidekicks, now can you?" Draco Malfoy, a few inches taller, but now shorter then Harry, came up to him with his usual cold sneer.
"Awe, go to hell, Ferret Face." Harry rolled his eyes and began turning back to the shelf.
"Oh! Potty is now using big words. I suppose you think your so big, because you narrowly escaped a couple of big bad Death Eaters?"
"Your forgetting one of those Death Eaters was your daddy. Now go away, don't try picking a fight with me in here."
"Oh what are you going to do about it?" Malfoy rolled his eyes and pretended to look scared.
"I don't know about me, but if you get in trouble, Daddy is gone and you have no one to go cry to." Harry shot at him, and Draco seemed to realize this because he grew quiet for a moment.
"Oh he'll be out of there, very quickly, I assure you. See you around, Potty." Malfoy turned heel and walked off.
"Harry? Are you okay? Was that Malfoy?" Hermione asked him and Ron and Ginny followed up behind her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know if Ferret Face is though. I think I got him to be quiet, for now." Harry shrugged and saw Mrs. Weasley coming toward them. "Come on, let's go."
They stopped for ice cream and Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and sat on a patio table outside the shop. Harry had a vanilla cone with chocolate sprinkles which kept falling off it.
"I'll let you on your own for awhile, all right? You cannot go into Knockturn Alley and don't go any farther then Gambol and Japes, okay? I'll meet you back here at 13.30, all right? (1:30 p.m. In German, the teacher said some countries in Europe use military time.) That gives you one hour. After the Apothecary, we'll visit your brothers are the store. Okay? And Ginny, I want you to stay with them or one of them at all times, got it?" Mrs. Weasley peered at her youngest and only daughter. Ginny sighed but nodded.
Ron grinned and looked over at Harry, "Can we check out the Quality Quidditch Supplies? Please? As Quidditch captain, there might be some books or something. And with my savings I was thinking about buying a book or something there." He looked hopefully at Harry.
Ginny sighed loudly and groaned. "I don't want to go to the Quidditch shop.." She tried not to whine, but failed.
"Don't worry, Gin. How about me and you go to the Scribbulus Ever-changing Inks? It's right next to the Quidditch supplies." Hermione smiled at her friend. Ginny didn't have a choice. It was either staring at colorful parchment or listening to the boys rant on about Quidditch.
"Well, all right. I think I need some new quills anyway. Most of mine are bent or broken." Ginny shrugged.
"Great! Come on."
The four split up into the shops and Harry and Ron walked into Quality Quidditch Supplies.
The smell of new quaffles hit their noses as soon as they walked in. Harry looked around, they definitely had moved things around. There was a whole wall at the front of the store dedicated to safety. Mouth guards, gloves, knee pads, and elbow pads and a rack of free guides and books.
Harry took one of the guides off a shelf and looked at it. He flipped through it, scanning it quickly and an crazy idea popped into his head. He took eight of them, since there was a whole box full, it wouldn't matter.
Against another wall was a life size poster of a Quidditch stadium, with two teams Harry didn't know of. They seemed to be having a game, but not like the Quidditch World cup or anything, but people had come and were cheering the teams on. He watched as the beater suddenly hit a bludger straight in his path and he backed up. Though, as soon as it seemed like it would pop out of the picture, it swerved and went after one of the Quidditch players.
Harry turned his back from the poster to show Ron, but he couldn't find him.
Ron had strayed away and Harry had to look all over to find him. He saw his friend who was looking at: Surprise, surprise. It was a poster of the Chudley Cannons. All seven of the players were flying and throwing the quaffle about. Harry had to drag Ron away from a Chudley Cannons jacket.
They went to the back of the store, where a lot of people were gathered an exhibit of some sort.
"Excuse me, sorry. Harry, come on!" Ron was moving toward the front, pulling Harry along with him. "Whoa." Ron said, coming to a halt.
"Whoa." Harry mimicked him in surprise, Ron was right. There stood the most /perfect/ broom hovering very gently above it's pillow.
The handle and seat were a deep mahogany tone, each twig was straight and stiff and Harry could almost feel the soft touch the wood would have, being so smooth and perfect. Harry could see his own reflection in the handle. There was a small sign under the hovering broom.
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WIND RIDER!
Best of the best, fastest of the fast, smoothest of the smooth, is the Wind Rider. Diamond-Hard Polish with a supreme wood treatment, unbreakable for you rowdy kids, and hand made and number with it's own registered number. Each twig is individually selected with birch and ash combined, to give it extreme aerodynamics and easy control. Balancing charms are perfect when you have to lean over and grab that snitch! Or stop that quaffle! The WIND RIDER had an acceleration of up to 175 miles per hour in 8.7 seconds! Price On Request.
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Again, Harry and Ron repeated, "Whoa."
"Harry, there is no way I could - maybe you couldn't afford this. It's amazing. How much did your firebolt cost?"
"I dunno, but this has to be a lot worse. Knowing Malfoy, he probably made captain by buying the whole team new Wind Riders." Harry tried not to sound bitter, but knowing Malfoy? He just might.
"You know what, Ron? It's a great broom and all, but I like mine better. I'd probably put the firebolt somewhere for safe keeping if my old one never got sliced." Harry smiled a bit.
"Do you still have the twig?" Ron asked.
"Yep."
"Harry." Ron grinned and slugged his friend playfully in the arm. "Come on, we outta get out of here, don't you think?"
Harry and Ron went outside and stood by the stationery shop to wait for the two girls.
"How can they take so long in a shop with parchment and quills?" Ron asked, looking at a fake watch that wasn't there.
"I dunno, it's a girl thing." Harry shrugged along with his friend. Harry was looking around and saw Cho Chang, a pretty seventh year in Ravenclaw. Ever since Sirius' death last year, in relationships, Harry had been a bit aloof. Even now, Harry didn't feel that nervous flutter in the pit of his stomach. "Hey Cho, Hey Michael." He said. Michael Corner was Ginny's old boyfriend and Cho's new one.
"Hey Ron, is Ginny still going out with Dean?"
"Nope. She dumped him in a letter over the summer. He didn't seem all that upset in his reply. Why? Are you interested in her?" Ron looked at his friend hopefully. Ron was overprotective with his sister and only wanted Harry to go out with her because he didn't trust anyone else.
"Nah, I was just thinking about her." Harry shook his head the minute he said that. "Stop smiling. Knock it off, Ron!"
"Knock what off?" Hermione asked, she and Ginny shutting the door of the stationery shop.
Ron grinned at Ginny like Christmas came early. "Oh nothing, nothing at all." Then he looked at his pretend watch. "Hey Hermione, do you have the time?"
Hermione shifted her bag to her other hand and looked at her watch. "It's 13.10, now. We still have about twenty minutes. Why don't we check out the center fountain? They put it up two years ago. I hear it's supposed to be quite lovely, though I never saw it. It's near Gringotts and I think I saw a glimpse of it as we were going in." Ginny nodded and looked at them.
"Sure, come on."
They made their way past the crowds, which was a little easier because the wizards and witches were probably going home or back to work from their lunch breaks. Yet it still took them a few minutes to get to the fountain and at first it was like The Leaky Cauldron, almost hard to see unless you looked for the right thing. Maybe that's why, when they got there, there were very few other people.
The fountain and statues were amazing. They had to be at least ten feet high and the water squirting out of the top had to be another three or four feet. There were two statues, one of a man who had to be the founder of Diagon Alley, and a very elegant witch. Water sprouted from their wands and tips of their shoes. It was a very interesting exhibit.
"Hey look, there are coins in here! This must be one of those muggle Wishing Hells!" Ron said, pulling out a knut.
"Wishing Wells, Ron. Wishing /W/ells." Hermione and Harry snorted a bit, trying to sustain their laughter.
Harry was about to put in a sickle when he jumped back. High green flame admitted over the water and tried to catch him on fire, shooting his way. He gasped when he saw the head of Voldemort in the fire. But as soon as the flame erupted, they were gone.
"Harry.. what was that?" Hermione asked him, looking astonished and pale.. Ron and Ginny hadn't seen it and they looked quite confused.
"Seen what? What did you two see?" Ron scratched his head, looking completely puzzled.
Harry ignored Ron for a minute and pulled Hermione closer to him. In a hushed voice he asked her, "Did you see Voldemort's head in there?" She looked at him with the same confused look as Ron.
"No.. I-I saw the green flames and all, but I didn't see his head. P-Perhaps, since you had a recent encounter with him, since you saw him last, you saw his head in there, thinking the flames came from him. I don't know, maybe it was a trick of the eye. I never read of green flames like that.." Hermione stuttered, but only a little bit. "I think we better go."
"What were you guys talking about?" Ginny asked them, looking confused. "And why are you guys so pale?"
"Did you see flames sprout out from the fountain?" Harry asked them, but they shook their heads.
"No.. all I did was put a knut in, grin at Ron, and all of a sudden you and Hermione spring back."
"Oh.. Well.. Don't worry about it Gin, Ron." Hermione nodded, trying to smooth everything out. "It was probably just a trick of the light or something."
But deep down, Harry didn't think it had anything to do with the light. He could have sworn he had seen Voldemort's head, but perhaps.. Hermione was probably right. The head had to be Harry's imagination.
"Well come on, we better get back to Mum or she'll kill us for being a minute late." Ginny said.
They made their way back to the ice cream parlor and met Mrs. Weasley and Tonks who were already there waiting for them.
"Finally!" Mrs. Weasley stood up and they headed for the Apothecary to get some potion ingredients on the school list.
Harry looked at his list as they entered the shop and plugged his nose. The place smelled heavily of onions and rotten egg shells, and another smell he couldn't place.
They had to get two teaspoons of powdered unicorn horn, which alone cost one galleon, a package of jobberknoll feathers at sixteen sickles, and a five ounce bottle of Bundimun secretion.
The shop owner was Mr. Lubberstone, and he was a very nice man. He showed Harry a very old dragon claw that was said to bring good luck to a good person or bad luck to a bad person. Harry asked him casually if he had known anything about a potion to make Green Flames, but Mr. Lubberstone hadn't known of any recent potions like that.
Mrs. Weasley and Tonks wanted to check out a few beautiful robes in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, or at least to window shop. The kids followed the adults but stayed a bit behind to talk amongst themselves.
"Now, what happened?" Ginny asked Harry and Hermione.
"Well, I was looking into the water and I saw all the knuts and sickles and galleons, and then all of a sudden, the water turned green and the green flames shot out. I had to jump back and all. The flames were there for a few seconds and I could have sworn I saw Voldemort (Ron flinched.) in the fire. Maybe I was seeing things, but the image seemed there to me." Harry sighed and shrugged.
"Wouldn't your scar have hurt is Voldemort was that close?" Ron asked him.
"That's one of the weird things. It didn't hurt at all.." Everyone was quiet for a moment as they followed Mrs. Weasley and Tonks.
"Maybe you should talk to Moody or someone. Someone in the Order should be informed." Hermione said as they were walking out of the robes shop. Mrs. Weasley and Tonks were empty handed, but were chatting about some fancy robes that were on sale, though had no use for them.
"Well, when we get back. But not right now." Harry shook his head. Harry would tell Moody. Yeah, Moody would know what to do. Probably. Hopefully.
And I thank you, all of you for your reviews. Their what makes me like to write. I really do appreciate them.
Continue to enjoy it! Read and review, please.
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Diagon Alley
The next morning Mr. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Professors Moody and Lupin, and Tonks were sitting at the table for breakfast and Mrs. Weasley was dishing out eggs and toast, talking about where they would have to go that day.
"Well, first we'll have to go to Gringotts, then Flourish and Blotts, probably the Apothecary, too.. I'll let you have some time to run around loose for a bit... But for only a bit.."
"So, Harry, want to go check out the Quidditch supplies with me and Ginny afterwards?" Ron turned to him.
"Sure, why not?" Harry said, shrugging. He began to think. He'd want to have try outs the first week probably, and then start practices early, perhaps he could even take some of the newer members and have one on one practices to help them.. maybe.. just maybe..
Harry was dragged from his thoughts when Mrs. Weasley put her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Come on, Harry. You guys need to get ready."
Harry went upstairs to his trunk and pulled out a satchel of money then came down with the others.
"How are we going to get there?" Harry asked as they stood by the door. Tonks had navy blue hair in long pigtails and wore a white shirt and black pants with stars all over them. She looked funky.
"I'll meet you at the entrance of Diagon Alley, I have some quick things to do. You'll be riding in the Weasleys' new Ford Anglia." And with that, Tonks was gone with a small pop.
"All right then, Ginny, you ride in the front with me. Harry, Ron, Hermione, will you take the back?" Mrs. Weasley was walking away from the door. Curiously, they followed her to the back of the house. There was a drive way and a car parked in it. The Ford was the same turquoise blue the old one was, in fact, it seemed to have all the same dents and scratches (the ones BEFORE Harry and Ron decided to fly it...)
The three climbed in and it was, also, roomy for the three of them. Mrs. Weasley backed the car up and then rode around the houses on a bumpy, probably hidden road onto the public roads.
Harry looked around at all the muggles as they traveled through the muggle part of London. Harry hadn't been here for five years, in his first year, Hagrid, a friendly, a half giant, and Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts had taken him this route to get his school supplies.
Between two shops, was a sign that read `The Leaky Cauldron.' Though it was very hard to see, even being a wizard or witch.
They walked in and Mrs. Weasley led them straight to the back. As they were walking across the bar, Harry saw a few strange people. A hag, a wizard with an extra eye, who Harry think was a permanent accident or perhaps didn't know it yet, and a wizard with a hat that had to be three feet tall.
Finally, they went through the back door and then to a small alley with the brick wall and trash can. Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand and tapped one of the bricks three times. A large hole appeared in the wall, light shown through it. "Well come on then." Mrs. Weasley said, stepping into Diagon Alley.
People were walking around, everywhere. Wizards and witches, hags, and even a goblin or two.
They stood there for a few minutes and gazed around, looking for Tonks. There were a lot of strange people around there, one was wearing bright orange robes had neon green hair. There was a very old man, walking around in blue clothes, that seemed to have water rippling on them.
"Hey, I'm over here!" Tonks waved to them, as she came over in a small jog. "I had to interrogate Rita Skeeter about her next article on the Ministry." She smiled mischievously. "So! Off to Gringotts?"
They walked down the long street, passing the Cauldron shop and Apothecary. While they were walking past the Owl Emporium, a large gray owl flew out with a witch calling after and chasing it. When they were passing the Quidditch Supply store, Harry and Hermione had to drag Ron from the window, where they were showing another firebolt hovering in midair. On a red satin pillow under it, was a Broom polishing kit, kind of like the one Harry got from Hermione in his third year.
Twice, Harry almost lost the group because it was so crowded. But after about ten minutes, the group got to the Gringotts bank.
Gringotts is the only wizarding bank guarded by goblins. Many say you would be insane to try and steal from them, and those who say this are probably right.
Harry and the others climbed about twenty marble steps and reached two large bronze doors. They went inside and Harry quickly read the poem inscribed in the next set of doors quickly. When they went inside, Harry couldn't help letting out a small gasp of amazement. It seemed so big.
The floors were a white marble, with gold in them. The walls were high and had a lot of glass in them, and at the top were very large golden chandeliers with a hundred candles each for lights.
Along one wall was a very long counter that had to seat at least one hundred goblins, maybe more. Two of them near the front were Exchange lanes. Tonks took Hermione over to one of them, telling the Weasleys and Harry that they would meet back at the front of the bank.
A goblin hopped off his stool and came around, motioning the three Weasleys and Harry into a cart, and surprisingly, they fit.
They rushed down the tunnels in the cart, torches flying past them at least one hundred miles an hour. It only took a minute until the cart stopped with a sudden, rough jolt.
They were at the Weasley's vault, 561. Harry was a little surprised when they opened the vault. There were a few small piles of sickles and two fairly decent sized mounds of sickles, and a handful of galleons. He smiled a bit for them, they deserved every knut they got.
They boarded the vault once again and not long after did they stop at Harry's vault, 687.
The goblin, a short, young one slowly unlocked and opened the door. Quickly, Harry grabbed a bunch of galleons, sickles, and knuts, blushing terribly and trying to get out of his vault as fast as possible. He felt a bit greedy because he couldn't give them any of his fortune, which they deserved, greatly.
They boarded the cart again and this time they were going up through the tunnels at top speed. Harry could understand why Hagrid would get a little car sick (cart sick?) with all the torches flashing by and lights flickering, Harry himself felt a little dizzy from the rush.
Hermione and Tonks were waiting for them by the door and the group walked down the steps. Now that their bags were filled with coins, they headed to the book store, Flourish and Blotts.
Harry only had to get three new books. He checked out Protect and Defend from the Dark Arts, Advanced, The Advanced Book of Spells (Grade 6) by Miranda Goshawk, and Advancements in Potions by Arnold Jigger.
He looked around at some books, while Ron, Hermione, and Ginny bought. Harry saw a rather interesting one about himself! `Harry Potter.' by Romeo DeCorsne. It was small, about Harry's past, present, and the possible future. He flipped through it and was relieved to find it wasn't personal and only dated to his first year of Hogwarts. It mainly covered the beginning of Voldemort's (Who the author always referred to as He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.) rise, theories on how Harry defeated him and then defeating Voldemort in his first year.
Though the story hadn't been personally, it made Harry quite uncomfortable to know that people knew about his life that he didn't know of. But then he remembered what Hermione had said in the early part of his first year, about her reading about him in several different books. Though he had never heard about a book that was just about himself!
He continued to wander around the shop for a little bit, only slowly straying away from his friends. He looked at a shelf of books on Quidditch, when he heard a voice drawling behind him.
"And if it isn't Potter here with his gang of friends. Can't go anywhere without your sidekicks, now can you?" Draco Malfoy, a few inches taller, but now shorter then Harry, came up to him with his usual cold sneer.
"Awe, go to hell, Ferret Face." Harry rolled his eyes and began turning back to the shelf.
"Oh! Potty is now using big words. I suppose you think your so big, because you narrowly escaped a couple of big bad Death Eaters?"
"Your forgetting one of those Death Eaters was your daddy. Now go away, don't try picking a fight with me in here."
"Oh what are you going to do about it?" Malfoy rolled his eyes and pretended to look scared.
"I don't know about me, but if you get in trouble, Daddy is gone and you have no one to go cry to." Harry shot at him, and Draco seemed to realize this because he grew quiet for a moment.
"Oh he'll be out of there, very quickly, I assure you. See you around, Potty." Malfoy turned heel and walked off.
"Harry? Are you okay? Was that Malfoy?" Hermione asked him and Ron and Ginny followed up behind her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know if Ferret Face is though. I think I got him to be quiet, for now." Harry shrugged and saw Mrs. Weasley coming toward them. "Come on, let's go."
They stopped for ice cream and Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and sat on a patio table outside the shop. Harry had a vanilla cone with chocolate sprinkles which kept falling off it.
"I'll let you on your own for awhile, all right? You cannot go into Knockturn Alley and don't go any farther then Gambol and Japes, okay? I'll meet you back here at 13.30, all right? (1:30 p.m. In German, the teacher said some countries in Europe use military time.) That gives you one hour. After the Apothecary, we'll visit your brothers are the store. Okay? And Ginny, I want you to stay with them or one of them at all times, got it?" Mrs. Weasley peered at her youngest and only daughter. Ginny sighed but nodded.
Ron grinned and looked over at Harry, "Can we check out the Quality Quidditch Supplies? Please? As Quidditch captain, there might be some books or something. And with my savings I was thinking about buying a book or something there." He looked hopefully at Harry.
Ginny sighed loudly and groaned. "I don't want to go to the Quidditch shop.." She tried not to whine, but failed.
"Don't worry, Gin. How about me and you go to the Scribbulus Ever-changing Inks? It's right next to the Quidditch supplies." Hermione smiled at her friend. Ginny didn't have a choice. It was either staring at colorful parchment or listening to the boys rant on about Quidditch.
"Well, all right. I think I need some new quills anyway. Most of mine are bent or broken." Ginny shrugged.
"Great! Come on."
The four split up into the shops and Harry and Ron walked into Quality Quidditch Supplies.
The smell of new quaffles hit their noses as soon as they walked in. Harry looked around, they definitely had moved things around. There was a whole wall at the front of the store dedicated to safety. Mouth guards, gloves, knee pads, and elbow pads and a rack of free guides and books.
Harry took one of the guides off a shelf and looked at it. He flipped through it, scanning it quickly and an crazy idea popped into his head. He took eight of them, since there was a whole box full, it wouldn't matter.
Against another wall was a life size poster of a Quidditch stadium, with two teams Harry didn't know of. They seemed to be having a game, but not like the Quidditch World cup or anything, but people had come and were cheering the teams on. He watched as the beater suddenly hit a bludger straight in his path and he backed up. Though, as soon as it seemed like it would pop out of the picture, it swerved and went after one of the Quidditch players.
Harry turned his back from the poster to show Ron, but he couldn't find him.
Ron had strayed away and Harry had to look all over to find him. He saw his friend who was looking at: Surprise, surprise. It was a poster of the Chudley Cannons. All seven of the players were flying and throwing the quaffle about. Harry had to drag Ron away from a Chudley Cannons jacket.
They went to the back of the store, where a lot of people were gathered an exhibit of some sort.
"Excuse me, sorry. Harry, come on!" Ron was moving toward the front, pulling Harry along with him. "Whoa." Ron said, coming to a halt.
"Whoa." Harry mimicked him in surprise, Ron was right. There stood the most /perfect/ broom hovering very gently above it's pillow.
The handle and seat were a deep mahogany tone, each twig was straight and stiff and Harry could almost feel the soft touch the wood would have, being so smooth and perfect. Harry could see his own reflection in the handle. There was a small sign under the hovering broom.
---
WIND RIDER!
Best of the best, fastest of the fast, smoothest of the smooth, is the Wind Rider. Diamond-Hard Polish with a supreme wood treatment, unbreakable for you rowdy kids, and hand made and number with it's own registered number. Each twig is individually selected with birch and ash combined, to give it extreme aerodynamics and easy control. Balancing charms are perfect when you have to lean over and grab that snitch! Or stop that quaffle! The WIND RIDER had an acceleration of up to 175 miles per hour in 8.7 seconds! Price On Request.
---
Again, Harry and Ron repeated, "Whoa."
"Harry, there is no way I could - maybe you couldn't afford this. It's amazing. How much did your firebolt cost?"
"I dunno, but this has to be a lot worse. Knowing Malfoy, he probably made captain by buying the whole team new Wind Riders." Harry tried not to sound bitter, but knowing Malfoy? He just might.
"You know what, Ron? It's a great broom and all, but I like mine better. I'd probably put the firebolt somewhere for safe keeping if my old one never got sliced." Harry smiled a bit.
"Do you still have the twig?" Ron asked.
"Yep."
"Harry." Ron grinned and slugged his friend playfully in the arm. "Come on, we outta get out of here, don't you think?"
Harry and Ron went outside and stood by the stationery shop to wait for the two girls.
"How can they take so long in a shop with parchment and quills?" Ron asked, looking at a fake watch that wasn't there.
"I dunno, it's a girl thing." Harry shrugged along with his friend. Harry was looking around and saw Cho Chang, a pretty seventh year in Ravenclaw. Ever since Sirius' death last year, in relationships, Harry had been a bit aloof. Even now, Harry didn't feel that nervous flutter in the pit of his stomach. "Hey Cho, Hey Michael." He said. Michael Corner was Ginny's old boyfriend and Cho's new one.
"Hey Ron, is Ginny still going out with Dean?"
"Nope. She dumped him in a letter over the summer. He didn't seem all that upset in his reply. Why? Are you interested in her?" Ron looked at his friend hopefully. Ron was overprotective with his sister and only wanted Harry to go out with her because he didn't trust anyone else.
"Nah, I was just thinking about her." Harry shook his head the minute he said that. "Stop smiling. Knock it off, Ron!"
"Knock what off?" Hermione asked, she and Ginny shutting the door of the stationery shop.
Ron grinned at Ginny like Christmas came early. "Oh nothing, nothing at all." Then he looked at his pretend watch. "Hey Hermione, do you have the time?"
Hermione shifted her bag to her other hand and looked at her watch. "It's 13.10, now. We still have about twenty minutes. Why don't we check out the center fountain? They put it up two years ago. I hear it's supposed to be quite lovely, though I never saw it. It's near Gringotts and I think I saw a glimpse of it as we were going in." Ginny nodded and looked at them.
"Sure, come on."
They made their way past the crowds, which was a little easier because the wizards and witches were probably going home or back to work from their lunch breaks. Yet it still took them a few minutes to get to the fountain and at first it was like The Leaky Cauldron, almost hard to see unless you looked for the right thing. Maybe that's why, when they got there, there were very few other people.
The fountain and statues were amazing. They had to be at least ten feet high and the water squirting out of the top had to be another three or four feet. There were two statues, one of a man who had to be the founder of Diagon Alley, and a very elegant witch. Water sprouted from their wands and tips of their shoes. It was a very interesting exhibit.
"Hey look, there are coins in here! This must be one of those muggle Wishing Hells!" Ron said, pulling out a knut.
"Wishing Wells, Ron. Wishing /W/ells." Hermione and Harry snorted a bit, trying to sustain their laughter.
Harry was about to put in a sickle when he jumped back. High green flame admitted over the water and tried to catch him on fire, shooting his way. He gasped when he saw the head of Voldemort in the fire. But as soon as the flame erupted, they were gone.
"Harry.. what was that?" Hermione asked him, looking astonished and pale.. Ron and Ginny hadn't seen it and they looked quite confused.
"Seen what? What did you two see?" Ron scratched his head, looking completely puzzled.
Harry ignored Ron for a minute and pulled Hermione closer to him. In a hushed voice he asked her, "Did you see Voldemort's head in there?" She looked at him with the same confused look as Ron.
"No.. I-I saw the green flames and all, but I didn't see his head. P-Perhaps, since you had a recent encounter with him, since you saw him last, you saw his head in there, thinking the flames came from him. I don't know, maybe it was a trick of the eye. I never read of green flames like that.." Hermione stuttered, but only a little bit. "I think we better go."
"What were you guys talking about?" Ginny asked them, looking confused. "And why are you guys so pale?"
"Did you see flames sprout out from the fountain?" Harry asked them, but they shook their heads.
"No.. all I did was put a knut in, grin at Ron, and all of a sudden you and Hermione spring back."
"Oh.. Well.. Don't worry about it Gin, Ron." Hermione nodded, trying to smooth everything out. "It was probably just a trick of the light or something."
But deep down, Harry didn't think it had anything to do with the light. He could have sworn he had seen Voldemort's head, but perhaps.. Hermione was probably right. The head had to be Harry's imagination.
"Well come on, we better get back to Mum or she'll kill us for being a minute late." Ginny said.
They made their way back to the ice cream parlor and met Mrs. Weasley and Tonks who were already there waiting for them.
"Finally!" Mrs. Weasley stood up and they headed for the Apothecary to get some potion ingredients on the school list.
Harry looked at his list as they entered the shop and plugged his nose. The place smelled heavily of onions and rotten egg shells, and another smell he couldn't place.
They had to get two teaspoons of powdered unicorn horn, which alone cost one galleon, a package of jobberknoll feathers at sixteen sickles, and a five ounce bottle of Bundimun secretion.
The shop owner was Mr. Lubberstone, and he was a very nice man. He showed Harry a very old dragon claw that was said to bring good luck to a good person or bad luck to a bad person. Harry asked him casually if he had known anything about a potion to make Green Flames, but Mr. Lubberstone hadn't known of any recent potions like that.
Mrs. Weasley and Tonks wanted to check out a few beautiful robes in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, or at least to window shop. The kids followed the adults but stayed a bit behind to talk amongst themselves.
"Now, what happened?" Ginny asked Harry and Hermione.
"Well, I was looking into the water and I saw all the knuts and sickles and galleons, and then all of a sudden, the water turned green and the green flames shot out. I had to jump back and all. The flames were there for a few seconds and I could have sworn I saw Voldemort (Ron flinched.) in the fire. Maybe I was seeing things, but the image seemed there to me." Harry sighed and shrugged.
"Wouldn't your scar have hurt is Voldemort was that close?" Ron asked him.
"That's one of the weird things. It didn't hurt at all.." Everyone was quiet for a moment as they followed Mrs. Weasley and Tonks.
"Maybe you should talk to Moody or someone. Someone in the Order should be informed." Hermione said as they were walking out of the robes shop. Mrs. Weasley and Tonks were empty handed, but were chatting about some fancy robes that were on sale, though had no use for them.
"Well, when we get back. But not right now." Harry shook his head. Harry would tell Moody. Yeah, Moody would know what to do. Probably. Hopefully.