Harry Potter and the Princesses for Magic
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter because JK Rowling does.
Author's Note: Hey readers! I know the beginning of the chapter was a bit screwed up, but you see, I've never had a driving test, so I wouldn't know how it's like. And I also don't live in England, so I wouldn't know the age to get your license is 17. I'm from Canada by the way (EH!). Well, we don't say 'eh' all the time, but it's sure fun to say!
I hope all of you read and review this chapter, and I hope you like it. Please review! I'm desperate for reviews! Anyway, this chapter's about Harry going to Diagon Alley with Remus and having fun with his friends, but it's not just a normal day to Diagon Alley: Harry will find out something that will change his whole entire year, and maybe life!!!! Read to find out!
Chapter 4
Friends and Fun
in Diagon Alley
The end of the vacation passed quickly and merrily. Harry and Remus had fun talks, water fights, and went out exploring London. To Harry, one of the best parts of those two weeks were getting to drive the Thunderbird. How wonderful it felt.... the wind blowing in his hair... with all worries behind him......
They even went to Buckingham Palace, and they did what no person had ever done before: make the Queen's guard laugh. Remus had put a Giggling Charm on the guard on duty. Harry asked about the "Royals" in Italy, but Remus said he couldn't tell him. With Remus around, Harry quickly forgot his awful past and the fact that he had no parents, although the memory of Sirius was always fresh in his mind. Even so, it felt like he had a godfather once again.
Harry had received a letter back from Hogwarts stating that he was accepted for his NEWT classes, which included his school supplies for his courses. Remus was tremendously proud of him, as if Harry was his own son.
"You did so great on your O.W.L.s," Remus had said proudly. "You're such a great kid, Harry!"
Harry eventually explained to Remus what had happened the night he and the others went to the Ministry. Remus listened to every single word that came out of Harry's mouth, everything sounded so strange and adventurous to Remus. Although when he got to the part when he saw Sirius fall through the veil, Harry burst into tears. Remus tried to calm him down, and it took Harry a long time to keep on explaining the events that had happened.
Despite the fact that his time spent with Remus was delightful, his life was yet again troubled by Lord Voldemort (or so he thought).
It was two days before school had started. He and Remus were in the kitchen. Harry was eating his breakfast while Remus was putting his plates and tea cup in the sink. Suddenly, the phone rang.
Ring. Ring.
"I'll get it!" said Remus, as he rushed over to the cordless phone on the counter and picked it up. "Hello? Good morning, Frank!....No, I'm not busy. I just finished breakfast.... You want to discuss the Johnson file? Sure, I'll go get the portfolio, it's just on the living room table."
Remus dashed into the living room and picked up his portfolio, going through all the pages of information. Harry was quite glad that Remus was an Auror, he was able to get to know his future choice of career because of it.
As Remus was speaking to a fellow Auror from Headquarters, Harry quietly ate his breakfast. Harry was about to eat a big chunk of his sausage when a splitting head-ache struck him like a blow to the head. He dropped his fork and sausage and clutched his hand to his forehead, shutting his eyes tightly in pain. This time the burn in his scar was a lot worse than ever before.
"What's happening?" he whispered to himself. With all his strength, he turned to the side to see if Remus was looking. Unfortunately, he was too busy talking on the phone.
Suddenly more pain came to him, and it sizzled his brain like mad. A high-pitch shrill was ringing in his ears. He would have called Remus, but he was too preoccupied to call him. His head burned so badly that he couldn't concentrate on doing anything, even to scream or shout. Oh... why won't Remus come here and help me? he thought desperately to himself.
His scar kept on burning for about 10 minutes. Tears streamed down his face from the pain. Its peak was at the very end, when it felt as if his head had been split open, a molten-burning throb in his head that was so awful he felt he might die. Just then, a severe pain slashed near his neck as if it was being sliced off. But in less than a minute, he became perfectly fine.
He turned to check on Remus, who was still talking on the phone and flipping through pages and pages of information. Remus hadn't seen or noticed anything of what happened, since he was on the phone for about half an hour. Harry had no idea what had just happened, curious at how the pain just vanished immediately. He didn't dare tell Remus about it, not wanting to scare him. It's probably just something to do with the war, no biggee, he thought.
A day before the summer holidays ended, Harry and Remus took the Hogwarts supplies list and went to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Remus, what are we going to do about the Thunderbird?"
"Well Harry, I just bought a new gadget a few days ago. It's called a belonging carrier box."
Remus pulled out a little metal box with buttons and a screen. Harry became quite fascinated with it.
"This here can carry any-sized object," explained Remus, holding up the little metal box. "If you press the big red button in the middle while pointing at something, that thing will be zapped into this little box. I'll try it with the car."
Remus pressed on the button pointing to the car and amazingly the car was beamed up into the silver box. Luckily, no one saw.
"Who invented it?" asked Harry.
"Well, it was... Maybe I shouldn't tell you," said Remus. "Let's just say the person who's fighting the war invented this."
"Wow, that's so cool! But why can't you tell me who it is?"
"It's Ministry business, Harry," told Remus. "And... a bit of Hogwarts business."
"Come on, tell me! Tell me who it is!"
"It's not really 'who it is', Harry. It's actually 'who they are'."
"They're more than one?"
"Well, yeah."
"I don't get it, why don't you tell me? Is it that top-secret?"
"It's nothing dangerous, we just want to keep it low-key. If it gets out, the press will be all over them and us."
"You think I'm going to tell? I won't!"
"I don't want to take any chances."
"You're so unfair!"
"Harry, remember what we said in the car?"
"Fine, be that way," muttered Harry.
"Let's just go into the Leaky Cauldron."
Remus put the belonging carrier box in his pocket and headed into the dark, dingy pub with Harry. They said hello to Tom the landlord, and the wizards and witches there. Once at the entrance to Diagon Alley, a brick wall creating a dead end, Remus took out his wand and tapped the wall in the special way. Magically, the bricks in the wall started to move aside to create an entrance into Diagon Alley. Once all the bricks had moved, they went in.
It was a very busy street that day, with magic folk young and old scurrying into every shop and others walking out with purchases in bags. The street was filled with crooked wizard-like buildings on both sides, with side-walk displays and wonderful window displays, with the morning sun shining on everything. Harry could even smell aromas from the Apothecary and ice cream parlour. Harry adored Diagon Alley, its magic enchanted his soul.
Through all the clutter of witches and wizards, they walked to Gringotts Bank.
the wizard bank at the very end of the promenade, in an ivory-white building with mighty bronze doors. They went through the entrance and entered the wizard bank, passing the tiny gruesome goblins and going through the creepy hallway. They went to the third counter, with a goblin scribbling down things on a piece of parchment. On the counter was a name plate: Petrink. Remus cleared his throat for attention. Petrink the goblin noticed them and looked up.
"May I help you two wizards?" he said in a rude voice.
"Yes, Harry Potter and I, Remus Lupin, would like to make a withdrawal. Here are the keys," said Remus as he handed two small, golden keys.
"Follow me please," grunted the tiny creature, as he hopped off his stool.
Harry and Remus followed him closely until they got into a cart that would take them to their vaults. They hopped into it and with a giant jolt, zoomed onto the rail tracks. Harry suddenly remembered how bumpy the ride was, and so did his stomach. Remus didn't look good either. He looked almost as bad as Hagrid did before his first year of Hogwarts.
When they were at Harry's vault, the cart made a big jerk and stopped. While Harry and Petrink hopped onto the platform in front of Harry's vault, Remus stumbled onto the platform uneasily.
"I've barely come down here through the course of my life, considering I was quite poor before, and didn't have much in my vault," he said as he stood up straight. "Oh dear, I think I need to barf."
"Stop fooling around and let's carry on," scolded Petrink with a sour expression.
The goblin took out the key and unlocked the vault. Harry took out 45 Galleons for spending. Once he took his money, Remus beamed the money into his belonging carrier box and hopped back into the cart and went. Harry could tell Remus looked very dizzy.
After 5 minutes, they got to Remus' vault. Remus was so dizzy that when they went onto the platform, he slammed right into the wall by accident. He finally got his balance and collected 50 Galleons, put them in his belonging carrier box and left.
Once they got out of the tunnels, Remus rushed to the washroom to throw up. Harry waited for him, thinking that Remus was extremely weak. When Remus got out of the washrooms, they hurried to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions for some new robes for Harry, including a new dress robe. It was a long, blue dress robe with black and gold-coloured rims and silver buttons. The neck part was folded quite nicely, almost like a coat. It was quite handsome, he had to admit. It was even better than any of Draco's dress robes.
Afterwards, they went to the Apothecary, Flourish and Blotts, Eeylops Owl Emporium for supplies for Hedwig and other shops. On the way, Remus bought a wizard radio for the car that he was meaning to get for a long time.
"This'll give us a bit of freedom from those horrible Muggle boy band songs," said Remus to Harry.
After buying all the supplies Harry needed for Hogwarts, they decided to walk around just for fun. They stopped at an enormous building that Harry had never seen before. It was a purple and orange shop that was quite large, so large that it filled up one whole entire corner of Diagon Alley. He looked up to see a huge sign in purple letters that were shaped in candy, which spelled out: Sweetsland.
"I've heard of this place!" said Harry. "Ron told me about this store. It's new, and it's supposed to be the biggest candy store in England."
"Speaking of Ron, there he is with his family," pointed out Remus.
Harry turned around. There he saw Ron waving his hand and running towards him, following Ginny who was running after him as well. Harry recognized that Ron had grown a few more inches, making him even taller than before, and even Ginny was becoming a pretty young lady.
"Harry! Finally, we've found you!" said Ron as he finally caught up to Harry.
"We've been looking all over for you, Harry!" said Ginny, panting a bit. "Hello, Lupin!"
"Hello, Ron and Ginny!" greeted Remus. "But don't worry, you can call me Remus now."
"Wow, Harry!" said Ron. "I can't believe you're going to be hanging out with Remus now."
"Yeah, I know. It's incredible, isn't it?"
"It is! It's pretty good, considering.... well, you know... he's gone...."
"I know, Ron," sighed Harry. "So, are you looking forward to another Prefect year?"
"It's okay, really. I'm starting to get used to it."
"I'm a school Prefect too!" said Ginny. "And so is Luna."
"That's great," said Harry, though he was surprised 'Loony' Luna Lovegood was a Prefect.
"You should have seen the look on Mum's face," said Ron. "She was prancing about, saying how wonderful of a family we have. She made a huge cake for Ginny."
"We still haven't finished eating it!" added Ginny.
"Wait a minute," said Harry. "Do you want to see something cool?"
"Sure!" chimed Ginny and Ron.
Just as Harry was about to turn to Remus for his belonging carrier box, Hermione ran up to them. She, too, was becoming a pretty young lady.
"Hello, Harry! Hi, Ron! Hey, Ginny!" said Hermione who had just budded in. Harry seemed very surprised of how tanned she looked.
"Whoa, Hermione!" exclaimed Ron, his eyes gaping at Hermione. "What happened to you over the summer?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Hermione curiously.
"First of all, you're as red as a beet, and second, you're..-"
"You're starting to look very....womanly," said Harry.
"Yeah...what he said...you're starting to look... womanly... you know.... you're getting.... developed... and you have.... stuff...."
"Ron!" scolded Ginny, hitting him over the head.
"Ow!" he said, rubbing his hand on his head. "What was that for?"
"For being so rude! That was disturbing."
"Well sorry."
"Thanks for that nice leather robe for my birthday," thanked Harry.
"Your welcome. Oh, hello Professor Lupin!"
"Hello, Hermione! You don't have to call me Professor Lupin anymore, you can call me Remus."
"Oh all right. Boy, was Italy ever amazing! Do you like my tan?"
"It's really cool!" said Ginny.
"It's...it' s...well...er...It looks different!" said Harry, not wanting to say that he thought that she overdid her tan a bit.
"He means you look like a tomato!" remarked Ron.
"Shut up!" said Hermione, angrily.
"Yeah, Ron, shut up!" scolded Ginny as she hit him over the head, once again.
"Ow! Why'd you hit me again?"
"For being rude!"
"What was that cool thing you wanted to show Ron and Ginny?" asked Hermione.
"I'll show it now. Remus, can you show them the belonging carrier box?"
"Of course, Harry."
Remus pulled out the small metal box, pushed several small buttons and then pushed the big red button. Amazingly, the Thunderbird appeared out of the box.
"Wicked!" said Ron in awe. "Dad, come over here!"
Ron's father walked over to them quickly, and immediately spotted the convertible. He had a big smile once he saw the car, he loved Muggle cars.
"Hello, Remus!" greeted Mr. Weasley nicely. "It's good to see you again! By the way, congratulations on that promotion!"
"Why thank you, Mr. Weasley! Congratulations on that raise!"
"Thank you. Wow, that's a magnificent car!"
"Yes, I've always wanted a Muggle car like this. Spectacular, isn't it? There's a car shop near my house and since this car was on sale, I went ahead and bought it. My co-worker is going to put some wizard features on it."
"That's great!"
"Well Dad, I guess we'll be in the sweets shop," said Ron, glaring excitedly at the huge sweets store.
"Be careful, okay?" said Mr. Weasley.
"Okay, Dad!"
While Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione went in the big store, Remus was showing Arthur Weasley the belonging carrier box and his car. Once they went in, they were blown away.
The interior of the shop was humungous, like a giant warehouse. It was brightly painted with every colour of the rainbow, and more! There were giant models of sweets hung up all over the walls. There were even manikin-like model sweets that came alive and gave free samples. It made them all seem as if they were little kids again.
But of course, the most spectacular thing of all was the variety of candies. There were candies from all over the world. There were shelves of Chocolate Frogs, bottles of Butterbeer, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans and more.
All candies were separated into shelves by country. First, they went to the International and England shelves for their regular sweets. Next, they went to the shelves of China, which had jelly-centered chocolate chopsticks, cakes of the Great Wall of China and Fizzing Frogs 'n' Dunking Dragons (with a choice of peanut butter, jelly, cream, butterscotch, cheese whiz, chocolate and flavoured whipped cream to dunk). They went to the shelves of Italy and got Leaning Towers of Cream Pizazz (small cakes shaped like the Tower of Pisa with cream fillings inside), pumpkin crisps (which also came in potatoes, tomatoes, olives, squash, figs and corn) and Chocolate Frog Chip cookies. Last but not least, they went to the shelves of Canada which had Parliament cakes, beaver tales with peanut butter centers, Maple Leaf chocolates with syrup centers and strawberry-vanilla puddings with crumbs of Chocolate frogs which showed one of the games that the Quidditch team the Moose Jaw Meteorites played in the pudding.
When they bought all of their candies, they went to the restaurant inside Sweetsland. They decided they wanted some ice cream and fish and chips. They went in line (which was a very big line-up) and when they finally got to the ordering booth, Harry ordered for them.
"Good day, how may I take your order?" asked the fat lady at the counter.
"I'll have 4 medium ice creams and 4 fish and chip combos," ordered Harry, glaring up at the menus on the walls.
"What kind of ice cream would you like?" asked the chubby counter-lady.
"Uhm... I'll have Rocky Road," said Harry.
"I'll have strawberry shortcake," told Hermione.
"I guess I'll take bubblegum ice cream," said Ginny.
"Then I'll guess I'll have Chocolate Frog chip vanilla with strawberry swirls," said Ron.
"That will be 6 Galleons," said the cashier lady after punching in a few buttons on the cashier.
Harry put his hand in his pocket and pulled out 6 galleons. The lady looked at him closely in shock.
"Wait a minute!" shouted the cashier lady. "I know you! You're Harry Potter!"
"Yes, I am."
"Jamie Lynne, come here!"
"What is it, Jane?" asked Jamie Lynne.
"It's Harry Potter!"
"Bless my soul, it's him! Jane, why are you charging him? Don't worry, Harry! It's on the house!"
Harry put back his Galleons into his pocket. The staff and some customers asked for his autograph. Ten minutes later, they finally got their food and found a table. Harry apologized for the commotion.
"Sorry about that, guys," apologized Harry. "I didn't mean to delay our lunch. I didn't even think the lady would make a fuss over it."
"Don't worry," said Ginny. "We know how famous you are. You can't help it."
"Thanks a bunch for understanding!" thanked Harry. "The fame can be a real pain, you know. Well enough of that, let's eat!"
They quickly started licking their ice cream. Ron told his father they would be eating lunch in Sweetsland. Right when they started eating their fish and chips, they heard a humming noise. That humming became cheering. Harry could see through the window crowds of people hugging and cheering.
"Merlin's beard, can't anyone eat their lunch in peace?" questioned Ron angrily.
"What's happening?" asked Ginny, looking out the window.
"Everyone's hugging and cheering," remarked Harry. "Look, now everyone in Sweetsland is running out to see."
It was true what Harry had said. All the people in Sweetsland rushed out and into the street. Harry was becoming extremely curious of what was outside.
"We should go out and see," said Hermione.
"Fine," grumbled Ron. "But if I found my fish and chips or any of my sweets gone, you're going to pay!"
"Oh shut up!" scolded Hermione.
All four of them left their lunches and hurried out of Sweetsland. They soon found out that there was a parade with cheering people, who were saying something that was muffled up because of the crying and cheering. Remus, Ron's father, mother and Hermione's family rushed up to them, crying with joy.
"HARRY! HARRY! HE'S GONE! IT'S OVER! YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ANYMORE!" shouted Remus with pure happiness.
"Who? What? How?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, Dad. What's going on?" asked Ron.
"You-Know-Who is gone! He's dead!" said Arthur Weasley.
"Yes, Hermione," said her father. "He's gone! Wizards and witches don't have to fear anymore!"
"Harry, he's gone!" exclaimed Hermione with tears in her eyes. "You don't have to worry about him going after you!"
"The war is over!" said Ron's mother, hugging everyone. "He's dead! And so is Peter Pettigrew!"
Harry felt like he would faint. He was a million times happier than when he found out that he was a wizard and that he'd be going to Hogwarts, yet in a way, something was keeping him from being completely happy.
Lord Voldemort was gone, thought Harry, as the words repeated in his head a thousand times. So the Prophecy would end that way? Without him? Was he really the boy that the Prophecy said?
Harry was quite glad all of this weight was released off his shoulders, but yet, he felt like something was missing. It was his duty to kill him, not those who were head of the war! He didn't know what his feelings were telling him, but he knew the news was making him think a lot.
Harry glared at Remus and noticed his expression. Remus looked happy, yet he had an expression that he was hiding something, like his sadness. Harry didn't know why Remus would be sad an occasion like this. Yet remembering all the things everyone had said, he remembered the two sentences that might have hurt Remus just a bit, the ones that Mrs. Weasley had said: 'He's dead! And so is Peter Pettigrew!'. Was he feeling sad that his ex-friend, one who he had shared great moments with in his youth, was dead?
Harry tried to ignore this and continued on listening to their conversations.
"Dear me, I'm hungry!" said Mrs. Weasley.
"It's lunch time, why don't we go in that Sweetsland?" suggested Mr. Weasley. "I heard they had a restaurant. Plus, the kids are already eating there."
"I guess that settles it!" said Remus, as they all went into the shop.
They all rushed into the sweets shop and bought lunch there. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron finished their lunches. All of the shops in Diagon Alley had a sale of 50% off everything sold in Diagon Alley.
After eating their lunch, the whole gang rushed over to Fred and George's joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Entering the boutique, they noticed it was very busy. Harry looked around to see that it had all the practical joke items Harry remembered Fred and George had invented: prank fake wands, Ton Tongued Toffee, Bewitched Bludgers,
Skiving Snackboxes and more. Harry went up to the counter, where Fred was just giving a receipt to a customer when he looked up and smiled.
"Why hello, Harry!" smiled Fred.
"Hello, Fred," said Harry.
"Happy aren't you, Harry? That ugly, bad wizard is gone. With him gone, everything is at peace and we've got huge business!"
"Right!" said George who had just come up to the counter. "We're doing gigantic business, I mean bigger than Hagrid! Business is booming more than rockets with the 50%-off sale!"
"Yeah! Really Harry, if it wasn't for you, we would never have been able to do this!"
"Don't mention it," said Harry. "You needed those Galleons more than me."
"So, do you want to buy anything?" asked Fred.
"Hello, Fred and George!" said Remus, going up to the counter.
"Hello, Remus! Would you like to buy anything?"
"Yes, of course! I have this co-worker named Chris who is in love with making pranks on people. I would like to buy him one of those fake wands, he has been dying to get his hands on one of those for ages."
"Sure, I'll just get some."
Fred went to a corner of the shop and got several wands.
"We have a wand that blows up in your face, a wand that says disturbing things to you, a wand that squirts jelly into your face..."
"I'll take the one that squirts jelly in your face. Do you by any chance have any Marauder's Maps? I'm an Auror and I'd like one to use at work. Plus, I still remember the fun we had when we were young. It'll bring back memories."
"Oh sure we do! And we've got just the map for an Auror like you!"
George went under the counter and pulled out a piece of parchment that looked very much like the Maurdere's Map Harry used in his 3rd year at Hogwarts.
"Here, it's a map of United Kingdom. Great for trapping criminals!"
"Thank you!" said Remus as he was handed the map. "I think I'll show this to the boss. This could come in pretty handy. I'll keep you in touch."
"You and the rest of the marauders are our idols," admitted Fred. "Although we never would have believed you were one of them."
"One of our professors, a maurader!" said George.
"All along that year, we were being taught by the one and only, Moony!"
"Oh how we love the marauders!"
"Thanks," sighed Remus. "I- uhm... appreciate it."
Harry could see something disturbing Remus. Was the thought of his old, dead friends disturbing him?
George pushed some buttons on the cashier and totaled up the amount.
"That will be 12 Galleons please!" said George.
Remus took out his money and paid, as George gave him his items.
"By the way, you, the Grangers and the rest of the Weasleys are all invited to my house after," said Remus.
"An invitation from a marauder?"
"Of course we'll take it!"
Remus and Harry said goodbye to the two as the other Weasleys started to talk to George and Fred. Afterwards, they explored Diagon Alley more.
At 4 o'clock, they all went to Remus' house. He gave them all a tour of his home (which was requested by of course, Fred and George). The Weasleys adored the house, and Mr. Weasley couldn't stop looking at the leather couches. He kept on repeatedly asking Remus about Muggle furniture.
Remus and Molly Weasley cooked dinner (Remus made his famous jelly-filled scones) and ate in the dining room. They all chatted and took place in vivid conversations, having their own little celebration.
Unfortunately after a while, the conversations became dull and uninteresting to Harry. Everyone was so happy about Lord Voldemort being gone, yet Harry still had that strange feeling of depression.
As everyone took part into their conversations near the end of the evening, Harry slipped out into the background. Its colourful flower garden, vegetable garden, lush green grass and tall peach tree gave Harry a fresh feeling of the outdoors. Its stone paths, comfortable gazebo, yard furniture, glowing lanterns and swinging sofa made Harry feel welcome. It was starting to become one of the many places that Harry felt safe.
Harry walked through the stone path up to the swinging sofa, and prompted himself onto it. He lied back and stared straight up into the starry night, the stars twinkling like tiny fairies and lanterns far away into a distant universe, and the half-moon glowed and dominated the night sky (Remus must be happy it's not a full moon, thought Harry).
As the summer was closing to an end, the chilly autumn season was upon them, as the days started to become shorter and night fell onto London a lot quicker, though instead of moist humidity it was a crisp, chilly night. The darkness of the night fell upon the cheerful and lively backyard, and laid it to rest as if everything was going to sleep.
Harry turned to the side at the Chang residence, and tried to glare beyond the white fence to see if Cho was near. He soon recognized that all the lights were off in the household. They must be celebrating with relatives, thought Harry.
Harry looked up again at the dim sky and stared up at the deep, dark ocean of twinkling lights. He could quickly spot many of the constellations he had studied in Astronomy.
At the top-right of his view of the sky, he could spot the canine constellation of Sirius. Oh Sirius... thought Harry to himself. He leaned his elbows onto his knees and looked up at the sky, as if addressing it.
"Oh how I miss you, Sirius," mumbled Harry quietly, as if sending whispers all the way to where Sirius was. "At least you're probably up there, in the heavens, which is a better place than this world. Lord Voldemort's gone too now, he's obviously gone to the other place.... down there...
"They killed him you know, Lord Voldemort. He's gone, and everyone's celebrating. On the way home we saw a few wizards and witches dancing in the streets and hugging each other, with a few bonfires here and there.
"Yet even as everyone celebrates, I have mixed feelings. Of all the people in the world, I should be the most happy, yet I'm not. I was supposed to kill him, not whoever's head of the war. They won't even tell me who it is! I would like to give them a piece of my mind. Why did Dumbledore let this happen? He knew about it, he told me! It's in the Prophecy! I was supposed to kill him!
"I can't believe myself, wanting to kill someone. It sounds barbaric, but he ruined my life! He killed my parents, he got Bellatrix to kill you, he took away my peace and he gave me this fame that I don't even want! If it was anyone's responsibility to kill him, it would be me! I wanted to kill him! It's my job-"
"Harry?"
Harry turned around and saw Ron and Hermione, walking down the steps of the back door and into the backyard.
"Oh, hello," said Harry.
"Did you want to be alone?" asked Hermione. "We'll go back inside if you-"
"No no, you can stay here," said Harry, feeling embarrassed at talking to himself. "Take a seat and relax, go ahead."
Ron and Hermione walked down the steps and across the yard to where Harry was sitting, and both of them sat down on the swinging sofa. Ron pushed gently to make the sofa swing slightly.
"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" said Hermione, looking up at the sky. "You can tell that fall's near. I can even see a few constellations."
"Hermione, is it impossible for you to not think about school for just one minute?" remarked Ron.
"Shut up!"
"Please guys, I'm sick and tired of you bickering at each other!" scolded Harry, laying back and resting.
"Sorry," sighed Hermione. "We didn't mean to aggravate you. Of course you won't be having much aggravation from Lord Voldemort anymore. Isn't that great, Harry?"
"Yeah, it's super," sighed Harry. "Great, wahoo."
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Ron concerned. "Of everyone, you should-"
"- be the happiest that Voldemort's dead," said Harry. "I know, I know. It's just... it's hard to explain."
"Harry, you can tell us!" said Hermione.
"Really, it's nothing-"
"Come on, mate!" said Ron. "We know something's bothering you."
"You won't understand," said Harry. "I-"
Should he tell them about the Prophecy? It was as if all his feelings needed to be explained by that Prophecy. Should he be telling anyone about it? Yet they were his best friends, they were the ones who stuck by him through every single thing he did. They had a right to know.
"Harry, do you want to tell us anything?" asked Hermione.
"I should have told you earlier," he said in guilt. "I could have told you at the end of the school year, but I didn't."
"What is it?" asked Ron.
"What I'm about to tell you may shock you," cautioned Harry. "You see, at the end of the 5th year, Dumbledore told me that there was a reason that Lord Voldemort tried to kill me in particular. There was this prophecy that was said, that born when the 7th month died, was a boy who would be equal to Voldemort, but he will have a special power unlike the Dark Lord, which he doesn't know. In the end, one would have to kill the other. The boy born when the 7th month died, the end of July, was me."
Ron and Hermione became still, silent, dumbfounded than ever before, maybe even shocked to the core. A frightened look spread across their face, they were pale, and they started to tremble. Harry thought it might have come to a shock, but he never knew how much. The evening that was thought to be a dark, ending-summer night suddenly became more chill, as Hermione gaped her mouth to speak.
"You m-m-mean," stuttered Hermione, "that you are Voldemort's equal, and that you have some special power that can defeat him?"
"Yes," he answered, "although I'm still not positive what special power I have. It could be the love that my mother gave me when she sacrificed her life for me, or it could be something else."
"And... one of you could have died in the end?" asked Ron trembling.
"Yes.... either him or I," said Harry. "For a while, I thought that no matter what I'd do, my life would always be on the line, that there would be no escape. Obviously, I was wrong."
"S-s-so, if Dumbledore knew about this, why did they have a war when they knew you were the only one to defeat him?" asked Hermione.
"I don't know," said Harry, wondering that too. "I thought about that this summer. I want to ask Dumbledore about it when we get to Hogwarts."
"Good idea," said Hermione, laying back on the swinging couch.
"So... the Prophecy was phony?" asked Ron.
"I have no idea," said Harry. "Professor Trelawney made it."
"No wonder! Of course it's phony," said Hermione, who loathed Professor Trelawney immensely.
"But she also predicted that Voldemort would come back," said Harry.
"Maybe there was another meaning to it."
"Maybe there was. I just feel... weird about what happened."
"Did you feel as if you were the one who was supposed to kill Voldemort, not the army?" suggested Ron.
"Exactly!" said Harry, a bit shocked. "Wow, you really understand me, do you?"
"Of course I do, mate! You're my best friend. The truth is, if someone made this giant Prophecy about me, not like that would ever happen, and I started to feel a sense of responsibility, then suddenly everything gets taken away and what I was born to do was achieved by someone that I don't even know, then I'd feel pretty empty."
"Thank you so much for understanding!" said Harry. "I felt like no one understands me a few times this summer."
"You've been through a lot, Harry," implied Hermione. "Not many people will understand you."
"Actually, if I was you, I would really be the one to get rid of him, Prophecy or not," said Ron. "After all the trouble he caused you!"
"I know," said Harry smiling, glad finally someone understood him. "He killed my parents, he ruined my life, he gave me this stupid scar, and it's all his fault that Sirius died!"
"I thought you would be over that by now?" asked Hermione.
"What?" questioned Harry. "You think- It's only been 2 months, Hermione!"
"I know, but you didn't really know him for long. I assumed-"
"Well you didn't assume right!" shouted Harry, as he stood up and backed away from his seat so he was facing both his friends. "He was basically the closest thing I ever had to a father, the one person who made me feel more connected with my parents, and then he was ripped away from me!"
"I'm sorry-"
"No, you're not! If you were, you wouldn't have said it in the first place! YOU KNEW HOW MUCH HE MEANT TO ME! YOU KNEW, AND SO DID YOU, RON! HE'S GONE NOW, AND HE WENT SO GRUESOMELY, JUST LIKE MY PARENTS!"
"Harry, please!" begged Ron.
"DON'T 'PLEASE' ME! NONE OF YOU UNDERSTAND! I THOUGHT YOU DID, BUT OBVIOUSLY YOU DON'T! VOLDEMORT RUINED MY LIFE! HE ABSOLUTELY RUINED MY LIFE! IF ANYONE DESERVED TO DESTROY HIM, IT WOULD BE ME, BECAUSE HE PRACTICALLY DESTROYED ME TOO!"
"Harry, please don't do this!" begged Hermione.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"
"Please Harry, please!" pleaded Ron.
Harry stared back to Hermione and Ron, and saw the terror and plead in their eyes. 'I wouldn't suggest ruining any relationships with others over an angry fit', was what Remus told him on their way to London, and that moment in the yard was a perfect example of what he explained. Over the past year, he had become a raging, angry monster. Why had he done this to his friends?
"I'm so sorry," apologized Harry as he trembled, and plopped down into his seat. "I can't believe what I just did."
"We know you've got a lot of anger in you," said Hermione.
"You needed to let it out," said Ron.
"No, you don't have to make excuses for me. I should be apologizing, not you. This year I've been so angry. I really need to cool down."
"It's puberty," explained Hermione. "At our age, we'll be experiencing-"
"Please, Hermione, I've had enough puberty talks from my parents," begged Ron. "Harry just needs space to express himself."
"Gee, thanks!" said Harry. "Seriously, I appreciate it."
"No problem, mate! You're going through a lot. But do you know what really sucks? We haven't been getting any information about the war. This is a war we're talking about, with Voldemort! We deserve to know."
"You don't know either?" asked Harry.
"I have no clue, and neither does Hermione. Of course, the 'Order of the Phoenix', the Ministry and Hogwarts get all the details, and leave us all clueless!"
"Have you been to Grimmauld Place?" asked Harry.
"No, but Mum, Dad and Bill have dropped by a couple of times. Do you know if Remus has?"
"A few times he contacted some members, but that's it, although I think he went before I came."
"You know, you are really lucky to have Remus," said Hermione.
"I know," admitted Harry.
"But as I told Ron before, the only reason why they're not giving information is so no information falls into the wrong hands. Plus, they just want to keep it low-key."
"That's what Remus told me," said Harry. "They don't want the media getting all over them."
"But did they have to take away the Daily Prophet?" whined Ron.
"The Daily Prophet?" questioned Harry curiously. "Oh my goodness! I've been... well, grieving for Sirius.. so much this summer that I completely forgot about the Daily Prophet!"
"You forgot about the Daily Prophet? I cannot believe you forgot!"
"Well what happened?"
"As I said," said Hermione, "they don't want to let info fall into the wrong hands. There could be an article in an issue that a Death Eater or associate of Voldemort could find useful. And because the journalists weren't getting information, they went on strike, and they're trying to save up on paper and ink. The war's been bad with the Wizard Economy."
"Really?" asked Harry.
"Yeah!" said Ron. "They had a shortage of cauldrons until a week ago, and there haven't been any Magically-Made Margarine for a while."
"I never knew that," said Harry. "Do you think we'll get the Daily Prophet tomorrow?"
"I hope so, and they can give us a long explanation!" said Ron.
"Harry, you didn't happen by any chance have some really bad burnings in your scar, did you?" asked Hermione.
"Actually I had a couple of really bad ones," said Harry. "The first time my head was burning immensely, and when I looked out the window, I saw a parade of wizards and witches, including you two!"
"Now that's messed up," said Ron.
"After I collapsed and woke up two days later!"
"WAIT A MINUTE, HOLD ON!" said Ron loudly, as Hermione gasped. "You, were unconscious, for two days?"
"Yep."
"Now that's crazy."
"Do you know what caused it?" asked Hermione.
"No, I don't," said Harry. "Well the second time was yesterday, and I had the biggest burn in my scar I ever had! It burnt like molten lava in my head, and I was even hearing a shrill high-pitched sound in my head!"
"Oh poor you!" gasped Hermione. "How long did it last?"
"Ten minutes, and at the end I had a really bad burn that I felt I was going to die."
"Oh dear!" gasped Hermione again, putting her hands to her mouth.
"I felt this pain of something slicing my neck afterwards, and then, suddenly all the pain disappeared."
"Whoa..." said Ron.
"I guess you had that burn when Voldemort died," said Hermione. "Did you tell Remus?"
"No, I don't think he needs to know. I'm fine, and you're right, it was probably from Voldemort being killed. There's no need to tell him."
"Hey guys!" said Ginny, who had just come out of the back door and walked to them. "I cannot stand Fred and George worshipping those marauders anymore! I just had to come out here with all of you."
Ginny took one of the chairs near the set, laid it near the swinging couch and sat down on it.
"So, how are all you doing?" she asked.
"Pretty good," said Hermione. "So Ginny, congrats on being Prefect!"
"Thanks, although Mum's making it embarrassing. She tells everyone that I made it, and she sings about it in the kitchen!"
"Now you know how I felt," sighed Ron. "Have Fred and George teased you yet?"
"They were teasing a bit inside," said Ginny. "I'm a bit scared of them now. They said they'll tease me any time they get, since they're living in London now."
"Oh are they?" said Hermione. "They settled in London?"
"Yeah, they've got an apartment here," said Ron, "just like Percy."
"Is he still avoiding the family?" asked Harry.
"Actually they settled their quarrels now, though they still don't talk to each other much, not that any of us wants to!"
"He's such a snob!" said Ginny.
"Have you seen their apartments?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah we have," said Ron. "Percy's is really nice, though Fred and George's is really messy, even though it's pretty funky."
"And they're not even going to learn how to clean after themselves!" said Ginny. "They say once they've saved enough money, they'll get a cleaner."
"Hey, I'd do the same thing," said Ron.
"Are the twins working for the Order?" asked Harry.
"No, they decided not to. They'd rather work at their joke shop."
"So Ginny, do you have any new boyfriends?" asked Hermione.
Hermione put her hands to her mouth, knowing she had just said something wrong. Immediately, Ron's eyebrow started to flinch and he had an angry look on his face.
"Hermione, did you have to bring that up?" questioned Ron furiously.
"Ron, she can ask whatever she wants!" scolded Ginny. "Anyway, I don't have a boyfriend at the moment, but I would like to start dating again when I get to Hogwarts."
"Ginny, are you literally trying to kill me from worry?" questioned Ron. "Seriously, you're getting me so worked up that I feel like I'll explode from frustration. Why are you doing this to me?"
"I'm not!" said Ginny, who was starting to get angry at Ron. "I have a life, you know. Just because you can't get a girlfriend, that doesn't mean you have to bug me about it!"
"Why don't you just dig a hole and throw me in it, because that's what I feel you're doing!"
"If that happens, I'll get the shovel," muttered Hermione.
"Ron, just calm down!" said Harry. "It's her life, let her live it."
"But I'm her older brother, I'm supposed to look after her!"
"And you are! She needs her space, you know."
"Fine," mumbled Ron as he crossed his arms.
Just then Mrs. Weasley opened the backdoor to call them in.
"We're leaving, Ginny and Ron, and so is your family, Hermione," stated Mrs. Weasley with her head peeking out from the door. "Come on in."
Harry and the rest of them stood up and walked back into the house, a bit disappointed the evening had to end so soon. They all said goodbye to each other and left Remus' house to go back to their own homes.
As Remus was putting away the tea set and cookie trays, Harry sat down on one of the dining room chairs to rest.
"So did you have a good time today?" asked Remus from the kitchen.
"Yeah, it's been great," sighed Harry. "And you?"
"Oh yeah, wonderful, I had a wonderful time," said Remus, who was trying to act cheerful. Harry could notice that there was just something in his voice that didn't make him seem too happy, the same kind of expression he had in Diagon Alley.
"Are you sure?" asked Harry. "Are you sure you had such a wonderful time?"
"Yes, of course," answered Remus. "Why do you ask?"
"You don't seem so cheerful," told Harry. "Does it... does it have something to do with... Peter Pettigrew?"
Remus put away the last tea cup of the set and slowly closed the cabinet. A look of depression came across his face.
"Yes, yes it does," he sighed, as he walked slowly over to the dining room table and sat down on a chair. "I really don't know why I should be feeling this way. I mean, Voldemort is dead and-"
"Remus, I personally am happy he's dead, but I can understand why you're completely not," said Harry. "Peter was your friend, even though he went over to the dark side."
"I know, but it was his fault James died! He deserved what he got, he betrayed us! He betrayed the Order of the Phoenix! All those years we thought we could trust each other, then suddenly he goes off with the Death Eaters. So, why am I so sad?"
"I think you know why, Remus," sighed Harry.
"I do, I know I do, but- After all the things he did to us, he framed Sirius, he let Voldemort know where your parents were hiding, he betrayed the Order, and I still miss him for some reason.... He's evil, I shouldn't miss him."
"I think that's what makes us different from those who are evil," sighed Harry. "We don't hold grudges for ex-friends after death."
"That sounds like something Dumbledore would say, but it's true. I mean, he was.. Peter, Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, our friend, one of the mighty marauders.... and now he's... dead, like all of them."
Remus put his elbow onto the table and put his knuckles to his lip.
"I can't believe I'm the only surviving marauder," sighed Remus in a dismal tone. "I mean, we're still pretty young, well at least I am. It seems so scary, that out of all of them, I'm the one who's still.... alive. If I ever thought any of us would die young it would be me, I mean, I was the werewolf. I never knew our friendship would end like this, you know?"
"Yeah, I understand," said Harry.
"Because of it, I couldn't celebrate the day as much as I wanted to. You, Harry, must have had a great time though. You finally have that good-for-nothing wizard off your back."
"Actually I'm not too happy either."
"Why? Out of anyone in the world-"
"-I should be the happiest he's dead, I know," said Harry. "But that Prophecy... I thought I was going to kill him! He's the one who put torture in my life and gave me a hard time, I should be the one to kill him! I thought it was my destiny...."
"I think I might understand that," said Remus. "You felt that you had this giant responsibility, yet someone took that away from you and you feel empty, right?"
"Exactly. You know, I would really like to find out who killed him and give them a piece of my mind-"
"Harry, don't think those thing!" said Remus. "You're frustration is getting in the way of your thinking. Don't worry, you'll meet them eventually and you'll see that you can't be mad at them. The truth is, they probably didn't want to kill him."
"When will I find out who they are?"
"Soon," said Remus with a small wink. "You've got a bit more time before you go to bed, you should pack up for school."
"Good thinking. Good night."
"Good night, Harry."
Harry stood up and slumped slowly up the stairs and to his bedroom, where all his new things were laid on his bed. He stuffed all his robes and school supplies into his suitcases, though when it came to the box of the album and Sirius' belongings, he pushed his things aside to make room for the box and laid the box gently into his suitcase. He zipped everything up and put them on the ground.
Harry couldn't wait for his first NEWT year and 6th term at Hogwarts, though the news of Voldemort's death troubled him the whole night. I can't believe it, I'm actually whining and complaining that Voldemort's dead, thought Harry. I feel so disgusted with myself. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.
Thinking this, he got ready for bed and slept soundly, though his slumber sleep was disturbed by visions of Voldemort from all their encounters.... the small memory he had of his parents' death.... Cedric's death... the graveyard.... the night at the Ministry.... the veil....
Author's Note: I really hope you liked that chapter. The next one will be 'Chapter 5: From Platform 9 3/4 to the Great Hall with a Surprise in Between'. I know, really long name. But it's super interesting! It's where you read the big twist that'll start the story, and you'll find out why I called it 'Harry Potter and the Princesses for Magic'. Oh, and PLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!! See that button? No, not that one. Yeah, that one, the one that says 'go'? Please click it and type! I beg you!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter because JK Rowling does.
Author's Note: Hey readers! I know the beginning of the chapter was a bit screwed up, but you see, I've never had a driving test, so I wouldn't know how it's like. And I also don't live in England, so I wouldn't know the age to get your license is 17. I'm from Canada by the way (EH!). Well, we don't say 'eh' all the time, but it's sure fun to say!
I hope all of you read and review this chapter, and I hope you like it. Please review! I'm desperate for reviews! Anyway, this chapter's about Harry going to Diagon Alley with Remus and having fun with his friends, but it's not just a normal day to Diagon Alley: Harry will find out something that will change his whole entire year, and maybe life!!!! Read to find out!
Chapter 4
Friends and Fun
in Diagon Alley
The end of the vacation passed quickly and merrily. Harry and Remus had fun talks, water fights, and went out exploring London. To Harry, one of the best parts of those two weeks were getting to drive the Thunderbird. How wonderful it felt.... the wind blowing in his hair... with all worries behind him......
They even went to Buckingham Palace, and they did what no person had ever done before: make the Queen's guard laugh. Remus had put a Giggling Charm on the guard on duty. Harry asked about the "Royals" in Italy, but Remus said he couldn't tell him. With Remus around, Harry quickly forgot his awful past and the fact that he had no parents, although the memory of Sirius was always fresh in his mind. Even so, it felt like he had a godfather once again.
Harry had received a letter back from Hogwarts stating that he was accepted for his NEWT classes, which included his school supplies for his courses. Remus was tremendously proud of him, as if Harry was his own son.
"You did so great on your O.W.L.s," Remus had said proudly. "You're such a great kid, Harry!"
Harry eventually explained to Remus what had happened the night he and the others went to the Ministry. Remus listened to every single word that came out of Harry's mouth, everything sounded so strange and adventurous to Remus. Although when he got to the part when he saw Sirius fall through the veil, Harry burst into tears. Remus tried to calm him down, and it took Harry a long time to keep on explaining the events that had happened.
Despite the fact that his time spent with Remus was delightful, his life was yet again troubled by Lord Voldemort (or so he thought).
It was two days before school had started. He and Remus were in the kitchen. Harry was eating his breakfast while Remus was putting his plates and tea cup in the sink. Suddenly, the phone rang.
Ring. Ring.
"I'll get it!" said Remus, as he rushed over to the cordless phone on the counter and picked it up. "Hello? Good morning, Frank!....No, I'm not busy. I just finished breakfast.... You want to discuss the Johnson file? Sure, I'll go get the portfolio, it's just on the living room table."
Remus dashed into the living room and picked up his portfolio, going through all the pages of information. Harry was quite glad that Remus was an Auror, he was able to get to know his future choice of career because of it.
As Remus was speaking to a fellow Auror from Headquarters, Harry quietly ate his breakfast. Harry was about to eat a big chunk of his sausage when a splitting head-ache struck him like a blow to the head. He dropped his fork and sausage and clutched his hand to his forehead, shutting his eyes tightly in pain. This time the burn in his scar was a lot worse than ever before.
"What's happening?" he whispered to himself. With all his strength, he turned to the side to see if Remus was looking. Unfortunately, he was too busy talking on the phone.
Suddenly more pain came to him, and it sizzled his brain like mad. A high-pitch shrill was ringing in his ears. He would have called Remus, but he was too preoccupied to call him. His head burned so badly that he couldn't concentrate on doing anything, even to scream or shout. Oh... why won't Remus come here and help me? he thought desperately to himself.
His scar kept on burning for about 10 minutes. Tears streamed down his face from the pain. Its peak was at the very end, when it felt as if his head had been split open, a molten-burning throb in his head that was so awful he felt he might die. Just then, a severe pain slashed near his neck as if it was being sliced off. But in less than a minute, he became perfectly fine.
He turned to check on Remus, who was still talking on the phone and flipping through pages and pages of information. Remus hadn't seen or noticed anything of what happened, since he was on the phone for about half an hour. Harry had no idea what had just happened, curious at how the pain just vanished immediately. He didn't dare tell Remus about it, not wanting to scare him. It's probably just something to do with the war, no biggee, he thought.
A day before the summer holidays ended, Harry and Remus took the Hogwarts supplies list and went to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Remus, what are we going to do about the Thunderbird?"
"Well Harry, I just bought a new gadget a few days ago. It's called a belonging carrier box."
Remus pulled out a little metal box with buttons and a screen. Harry became quite fascinated with it.
"This here can carry any-sized object," explained Remus, holding up the little metal box. "If you press the big red button in the middle while pointing at something, that thing will be zapped into this little box. I'll try it with the car."
Remus pressed on the button pointing to the car and amazingly the car was beamed up into the silver box. Luckily, no one saw.
"Who invented it?" asked Harry.
"Well, it was... Maybe I shouldn't tell you," said Remus. "Let's just say the person who's fighting the war invented this."
"Wow, that's so cool! But why can't you tell me who it is?"
"It's Ministry business, Harry," told Remus. "And... a bit of Hogwarts business."
"Come on, tell me! Tell me who it is!"
"It's not really 'who it is', Harry. It's actually 'who they are'."
"They're more than one?"
"Well, yeah."
"I don't get it, why don't you tell me? Is it that top-secret?"
"It's nothing dangerous, we just want to keep it low-key. If it gets out, the press will be all over them and us."
"You think I'm going to tell? I won't!"
"I don't want to take any chances."
"You're so unfair!"
"Harry, remember what we said in the car?"
"Fine, be that way," muttered Harry.
"Let's just go into the Leaky Cauldron."
Remus put the belonging carrier box in his pocket and headed into the dark, dingy pub with Harry. They said hello to Tom the landlord, and the wizards and witches there. Once at the entrance to Diagon Alley, a brick wall creating a dead end, Remus took out his wand and tapped the wall in the special way. Magically, the bricks in the wall started to move aside to create an entrance into Diagon Alley. Once all the bricks had moved, they went in.
It was a very busy street that day, with magic folk young and old scurrying into every shop and others walking out with purchases in bags. The street was filled with crooked wizard-like buildings on both sides, with side-walk displays and wonderful window displays, with the morning sun shining on everything. Harry could even smell aromas from the Apothecary and ice cream parlour. Harry adored Diagon Alley, its magic enchanted his soul.
Through all the clutter of witches and wizards, they walked to Gringotts Bank.
the wizard bank at the very end of the promenade, in an ivory-white building with mighty bronze doors. They went through the entrance and entered the wizard bank, passing the tiny gruesome goblins and going through the creepy hallway. They went to the third counter, with a goblin scribbling down things on a piece of parchment. On the counter was a name plate: Petrink. Remus cleared his throat for attention. Petrink the goblin noticed them and looked up.
"May I help you two wizards?" he said in a rude voice.
"Yes, Harry Potter and I, Remus Lupin, would like to make a withdrawal. Here are the keys," said Remus as he handed two small, golden keys.
"Follow me please," grunted the tiny creature, as he hopped off his stool.
Harry and Remus followed him closely until they got into a cart that would take them to their vaults. They hopped into it and with a giant jolt, zoomed onto the rail tracks. Harry suddenly remembered how bumpy the ride was, and so did his stomach. Remus didn't look good either. He looked almost as bad as Hagrid did before his first year of Hogwarts.
When they were at Harry's vault, the cart made a big jerk and stopped. While Harry and Petrink hopped onto the platform in front of Harry's vault, Remus stumbled onto the platform uneasily.
"I've barely come down here through the course of my life, considering I was quite poor before, and didn't have much in my vault," he said as he stood up straight. "Oh dear, I think I need to barf."
"Stop fooling around and let's carry on," scolded Petrink with a sour expression.
The goblin took out the key and unlocked the vault. Harry took out 45 Galleons for spending. Once he took his money, Remus beamed the money into his belonging carrier box and hopped back into the cart and went. Harry could tell Remus looked very dizzy.
After 5 minutes, they got to Remus' vault. Remus was so dizzy that when they went onto the platform, he slammed right into the wall by accident. He finally got his balance and collected 50 Galleons, put them in his belonging carrier box and left.
Once they got out of the tunnels, Remus rushed to the washroom to throw up. Harry waited for him, thinking that Remus was extremely weak. When Remus got out of the washrooms, they hurried to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions for some new robes for Harry, including a new dress robe. It was a long, blue dress robe with black and gold-coloured rims and silver buttons. The neck part was folded quite nicely, almost like a coat. It was quite handsome, he had to admit. It was even better than any of Draco's dress robes.
Afterwards, they went to the Apothecary, Flourish and Blotts, Eeylops Owl Emporium for supplies for Hedwig and other shops. On the way, Remus bought a wizard radio for the car that he was meaning to get for a long time.
"This'll give us a bit of freedom from those horrible Muggle boy band songs," said Remus to Harry.
After buying all the supplies Harry needed for Hogwarts, they decided to walk around just for fun. They stopped at an enormous building that Harry had never seen before. It was a purple and orange shop that was quite large, so large that it filled up one whole entire corner of Diagon Alley. He looked up to see a huge sign in purple letters that were shaped in candy, which spelled out: Sweetsland.
"I've heard of this place!" said Harry. "Ron told me about this store. It's new, and it's supposed to be the biggest candy store in England."
"Speaking of Ron, there he is with his family," pointed out Remus.
Harry turned around. There he saw Ron waving his hand and running towards him, following Ginny who was running after him as well. Harry recognized that Ron had grown a few more inches, making him even taller than before, and even Ginny was becoming a pretty young lady.
"Harry! Finally, we've found you!" said Ron as he finally caught up to Harry.
"We've been looking all over for you, Harry!" said Ginny, panting a bit. "Hello, Lupin!"
"Hello, Ron and Ginny!" greeted Remus. "But don't worry, you can call me Remus now."
"Wow, Harry!" said Ron. "I can't believe you're going to be hanging out with Remus now."
"Yeah, I know. It's incredible, isn't it?"
"It is! It's pretty good, considering.... well, you know... he's gone...."
"I know, Ron," sighed Harry. "So, are you looking forward to another Prefect year?"
"It's okay, really. I'm starting to get used to it."
"I'm a school Prefect too!" said Ginny. "And so is Luna."
"That's great," said Harry, though he was surprised 'Loony' Luna Lovegood was a Prefect.
"You should have seen the look on Mum's face," said Ron. "She was prancing about, saying how wonderful of a family we have. She made a huge cake for Ginny."
"We still haven't finished eating it!" added Ginny.
"Wait a minute," said Harry. "Do you want to see something cool?"
"Sure!" chimed Ginny and Ron.
Just as Harry was about to turn to Remus for his belonging carrier box, Hermione ran up to them. She, too, was becoming a pretty young lady.
"Hello, Harry! Hi, Ron! Hey, Ginny!" said Hermione who had just budded in. Harry seemed very surprised of how tanned she looked.
"Whoa, Hermione!" exclaimed Ron, his eyes gaping at Hermione. "What happened to you over the summer?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Hermione curiously.
"First of all, you're as red as a beet, and second, you're..-"
"You're starting to look very....womanly," said Harry.
"Yeah...what he said...you're starting to look... womanly... you know.... you're getting.... developed... and you have.... stuff...."
"Ron!" scolded Ginny, hitting him over the head.
"Ow!" he said, rubbing his hand on his head. "What was that for?"
"For being so rude! That was disturbing."
"Well sorry."
"Thanks for that nice leather robe for my birthday," thanked Harry.
"Your welcome. Oh, hello Professor Lupin!"
"Hello, Hermione! You don't have to call me Professor Lupin anymore, you can call me Remus."
"Oh all right. Boy, was Italy ever amazing! Do you like my tan?"
"It's really cool!" said Ginny.
"It's...it' s...well...er...It looks different!" said Harry, not wanting to say that he thought that she overdid her tan a bit.
"He means you look like a tomato!" remarked Ron.
"Shut up!" said Hermione, angrily.
"Yeah, Ron, shut up!" scolded Ginny as she hit him over the head, once again.
"Ow! Why'd you hit me again?"
"For being rude!"
"What was that cool thing you wanted to show Ron and Ginny?" asked Hermione.
"I'll show it now. Remus, can you show them the belonging carrier box?"
"Of course, Harry."
Remus pulled out the small metal box, pushed several small buttons and then pushed the big red button. Amazingly, the Thunderbird appeared out of the box.
"Wicked!" said Ron in awe. "Dad, come over here!"
Ron's father walked over to them quickly, and immediately spotted the convertible. He had a big smile once he saw the car, he loved Muggle cars.
"Hello, Remus!" greeted Mr. Weasley nicely. "It's good to see you again! By the way, congratulations on that promotion!"
"Why thank you, Mr. Weasley! Congratulations on that raise!"
"Thank you. Wow, that's a magnificent car!"
"Yes, I've always wanted a Muggle car like this. Spectacular, isn't it? There's a car shop near my house and since this car was on sale, I went ahead and bought it. My co-worker is going to put some wizard features on it."
"That's great!"
"Well Dad, I guess we'll be in the sweets shop," said Ron, glaring excitedly at the huge sweets store.
"Be careful, okay?" said Mr. Weasley.
"Okay, Dad!"
While Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione went in the big store, Remus was showing Arthur Weasley the belonging carrier box and his car. Once they went in, they were blown away.
The interior of the shop was humungous, like a giant warehouse. It was brightly painted with every colour of the rainbow, and more! There were giant models of sweets hung up all over the walls. There were even manikin-like model sweets that came alive and gave free samples. It made them all seem as if they were little kids again.
But of course, the most spectacular thing of all was the variety of candies. There were candies from all over the world. There were shelves of Chocolate Frogs, bottles of Butterbeer, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans and more.
All candies were separated into shelves by country. First, they went to the International and England shelves for their regular sweets. Next, they went to the shelves of China, which had jelly-centered chocolate chopsticks, cakes of the Great Wall of China and Fizzing Frogs 'n' Dunking Dragons (with a choice of peanut butter, jelly, cream, butterscotch, cheese whiz, chocolate and flavoured whipped cream to dunk). They went to the shelves of Italy and got Leaning Towers of Cream Pizazz (small cakes shaped like the Tower of Pisa with cream fillings inside), pumpkin crisps (which also came in potatoes, tomatoes, olives, squash, figs and corn) and Chocolate Frog Chip cookies. Last but not least, they went to the shelves of Canada which had Parliament cakes, beaver tales with peanut butter centers, Maple Leaf chocolates with syrup centers and strawberry-vanilla puddings with crumbs of Chocolate frogs which showed one of the games that the Quidditch team the Moose Jaw Meteorites played in the pudding.
When they bought all of their candies, they went to the restaurant inside Sweetsland. They decided they wanted some ice cream and fish and chips. They went in line (which was a very big line-up) and when they finally got to the ordering booth, Harry ordered for them.
"Good day, how may I take your order?" asked the fat lady at the counter.
"I'll have 4 medium ice creams and 4 fish and chip combos," ordered Harry, glaring up at the menus on the walls.
"What kind of ice cream would you like?" asked the chubby counter-lady.
"Uhm... I'll have Rocky Road," said Harry.
"I'll have strawberry shortcake," told Hermione.
"I guess I'll take bubblegum ice cream," said Ginny.
"Then I'll guess I'll have Chocolate Frog chip vanilla with strawberry swirls," said Ron.
"That will be 6 Galleons," said the cashier lady after punching in a few buttons on the cashier.
Harry put his hand in his pocket and pulled out 6 galleons. The lady looked at him closely in shock.
"Wait a minute!" shouted the cashier lady. "I know you! You're Harry Potter!"
"Yes, I am."
"Jamie Lynne, come here!"
"What is it, Jane?" asked Jamie Lynne.
"It's Harry Potter!"
"Bless my soul, it's him! Jane, why are you charging him? Don't worry, Harry! It's on the house!"
Harry put back his Galleons into his pocket. The staff and some customers asked for his autograph. Ten minutes later, they finally got their food and found a table. Harry apologized for the commotion.
"Sorry about that, guys," apologized Harry. "I didn't mean to delay our lunch. I didn't even think the lady would make a fuss over it."
"Don't worry," said Ginny. "We know how famous you are. You can't help it."
"Thanks a bunch for understanding!" thanked Harry. "The fame can be a real pain, you know. Well enough of that, let's eat!"
They quickly started licking their ice cream. Ron told his father they would be eating lunch in Sweetsland. Right when they started eating their fish and chips, they heard a humming noise. That humming became cheering. Harry could see through the window crowds of people hugging and cheering.
"Merlin's beard, can't anyone eat their lunch in peace?" questioned Ron angrily.
"What's happening?" asked Ginny, looking out the window.
"Everyone's hugging and cheering," remarked Harry. "Look, now everyone in Sweetsland is running out to see."
It was true what Harry had said. All the people in Sweetsland rushed out and into the street. Harry was becoming extremely curious of what was outside.
"We should go out and see," said Hermione.
"Fine," grumbled Ron. "But if I found my fish and chips or any of my sweets gone, you're going to pay!"
"Oh shut up!" scolded Hermione.
All four of them left their lunches and hurried out of Sweetsland. They soon found out that there was a parade with cheering people, who were saying something that was muffled up because of the crying and cheering. Remus, Ron's father, mother and Hermione's family rushed up to them, crying with joy.
"HARRY! HARRY! HE'S GONE! IT'S OVER! YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ANYMORE!" shouted Remus with pure happiness.
"Who? What? How?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, Dad. What's going on?" asked Ron.
"You-Know-Who is gone! He's dead!" said Arthur Weasley.
"Yes, Hermione," said her father. "He's gone! Wizards and witches don't have to fear anymore!"
"Harry, he's gone!" exclaimed Hermione with tears in her eyes. "You don't have to worry about him going after you!"
"The war is over!" said Ron's mother, hugging everyone. "He's dead! And so is Peter Pettigrew!"
Harry felt like he would faint. He was a million times happier than when he found out that he was a wizard and that he'd be going to Hogwarts, yet in a way, something was keeping him from being completely happy.
Lord Voldemort was gone, thought Harry, as the words repeated in his head a thousand times. So the Prophecy would end that way? Without him? Was he really the boy that the Prophecy said?
Harry was quite glad all of this weight was released off his shoulders, but yet, he felt like something was missing. It was his duty to kill him, not those who were head of the war! He didn't know what his feelings were telling him, but he knew the news was making him think a lot.
Harry glared at Remus and noticed his expression. Remus looked happy, yet he had an expression that he was hiding something, like his sadness. Harry didn't know why Remus would be sad an occasion like this. Yet remembering all the things everyone had said, he remembered the two sentences that might have hurt Remus just a bit, the ones that Mrs. Weasley had said: 'He's dead! And so is Peter Pettigrew!'. Was he feeling sad that his ex-friend, one who he had shared great moments with in his youth, was dead?
Harry tried to ignore this and continued on listening to their conversations.
"Dear me, I'm hungry!" said Mrs. Weasley.
"It's lunch time, why don't we go in that Sweetsland?" suggested Mr. Weasley. "I heard they had a restaurant. Plus, the kids are already eating there."
"I guess that settles it!" said Remus, as they all went into the shop.
They all rushed into the sweets shop and bought lunch there. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron finished their lunches. All of the shops in Diagon Alley had a sale of 50% off everything sold in Diagon Alley.
After eating their lunch, the whole gang rushed over to Fred and George's joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Entering the boutique, they noticed it was very busy. Harry looked around to see that it had all the practical joke items Harry remembered Fred and George had invented: prank fake wands, Ton Tongued Toffee, Bewitched Bludgers,
Skiving Snackboxes and more. Harry went up to the counter, where Fred was just giving a receipt to a customer when he looked up and smiled.
"Why hello, Harry!" smiled Fred.
"Hello, Fred," said Harry.
"Happy aren't you, Harry? That ugly, bad wizard is gone. With him gone, everything is at peace and we've got huge business!"
"Right!" said George who had just come up to the counter. "We're doing gigantic business, I mean bigger than Hagrid! Business is booming more than rockets with the 50%-off sale!"
"Yeah! Really Harry, if it wasn't for you, we would never have been able to do this!"
"Don't mention it," said Harry. "You needed those Galleons more than me."
"So, do you want to buy anything?" asked Fred.
"Hello, Fred and George!" said Remus, going up to the counter.
"Hello, Remus! Would you like to buy anything?"
"Yes, of course! I have this co-worker named Chris who is in love with making pranks on people. I would like to buy him one of those fake wands, he has been dying to get his hands on one of those for ages."
"Sure, I'll just get some."
Fred went to a corner of the shop and got several wands.
"We have a wand that blows up in your face, a wand that says disturbing things to you, a wand that squirts jelly into your face..."
"I'll take the one that squirts jelly in your face. Do you by any chance have any Marauder's Maps? I'm an Auror and I'd like one to use at work. Plus, I still remember the fun we had when we were young. It'll bring back memories."
"Oh sure we do! And we've got just the map for an Auror like you!"
George went under the counter and pulled out a piece of parchment that looked very much like the Maurdere's Map Harry used in his 3rd year at Hogwarts.
"Here, it's a map of United Kingdom. Great for trapping criminals!"
"Thank you!" said Remus as he was handed the map. "I think I'll show this to the boss. This could come in pretty handy. I'll keep you in touch."
"You and the rest of the marauders are our idols," admitted Fred. "Although we never would have believed you were one of them."
"One of our professors, a maurader!" said George.
"All along that year, we were being taught by the one and only, Moony!"
"Oh how we love the marauders!"
"Thanks," sighed Remus. "I- uhm... appreciate it."
Harry could see something disturbing Remus. Was the thought of his old, dead friends disturbing him?
George pushed some buttons on the cashier and totaled up the amount.
"That will be 12 Galleons please!" said George.
Remus took out his money and paid, as George gave him his items.
"By the way, you, the Grangers and the rest of the Weasleys are all invited to my house after," said Remus.
"An invitation from a marauder?"
"Of course we'll take it!"
Remus and Harry said goodbye to the two as the other Weasleys started to talk to George and Fred. Afterwards, they explored Diagon Alley more.
At 4 o'clock, they all went to Remus' house. He gave them all a tour of his home (which was requested by of course, Fred and George). The Weasleys adored the house, and Mr. Weasley couldn't stop looking at the leather couches. He kept on repeatedly asking Remus about Muggle furniture.
Remus and Molly Weasley cooked dinner (Remus made his famous jelly-filled scones) and ate in the dining room. They all chatted and took place in vivid conversations, having their own little celebration.
Unfortunately after a while, the conversations became dull and uninteresting to Harry. Everyone was so happy about Lord Voldemort being gone, yet Harry still had that strange feeling of depression.
As everyone took part into their conversations near the end of the evening, Harry slipped out into the background. Its colourful flower garden, vegetable garden, lush green grass and tall peach tree gave Harry a fresh feeling of the outdoors. Its stone paths, comfortable gazebo, yard furniture, glowing lanterns and swinging sofa made Harry feel welcome. It was starting to become one of the many places that Harry felt safe.
Harry walked through the stone path up to the swinging sofa, and prompted himself onto it. He lied back and stared straight up into the starry night, the stars twinkling like tiny fairies and lanterns far away into a distant universe, and the half-moon glowed and dominated the night sky (Remus must be happy it's not a full moon, thought Harry).
As the summer was closing to an end, the chilly autumn season was upon them, as the days started to become shorter and night fell onto London a lot quicker, though instead of moist humidity it was a crisp, chilly night. The darkness of the night fell upon the cheerful and lively backyard, and laid it to rest as if everything was going to sleep.
Harry turned to the side at the Chang residence, and tried to glare beyond the white fence to see if Cho was near. He soon recognized that all the lights were off in the household. They must be celebrating with relatives, thought Harry.
Harry looked up again at the dim sky and stared up at the deep, dark ocean of twinkling lights. He could quickly spot many of the constellations he had studied in Astronomy.
At the top-right of his view of the sky, he could spot the canine constellation of Sirius. Oh Sirius... thought Harry to himself. He leaned his elbows onto his knees and looked up at the sky, as if addressing it.
"Oh how I miss you, Sirius," mumbled Harry quietly, as if sending whispers all the way to where Sirius was. "At least you're probably up there, in the heavens, which is a better place than this world. Lord Voldemort's gone too now, he's obviously gone to the other place.... down there...
"They killed him you know, Lord Voldemort. He's gone, and everyone's celebrating. On the way home we saw a few wizards and witches dancing in the streets and hugging each other, with a few bonfires here and there.
"Yet even as everyone celebrates, I have mixed feelings. Of all the people in the world, I should be the most happy, yet I'm not. I was supposed to kill him, not whoever's head of the war. They won't even tell me who it is! I would like to give them a piece of my mind. Why did Dumbledore let this happen? He knew about it, he told me! It's in the Prophecy! I was supposed to kill him!
"I can't believe myself, wanting to kill someone. It sounds barbaric, but he ruined my life! He killed my parents, he got Bellatrix to kill you, he took away my peace and he gave me this fame that I don't even want! If it was anyone's responsibility to kill him, it would be me! I wanted to kill him! It's my job-"
"Harry?"
Harry turned around and saw Ron and Hermione, walking down the steps of the back door and into the backyard.
"Oh, hello," said Harry.
"Did you want to be alone?" asked Hermione. "We'll go back inside if you-"
"No no, you can stay here," said Harry, feeling embarrassed at talking to himself. "Take a seat and relax, go ahead."
Ron and Hermione walked down the steps and across the yard to where Harry was sitting, and both of them sat down on the swinging sofa. Ron pushed gently to make the sofa swing slightly.
"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" said Hermione, looking up at the sky. "You can tell that fall's near. I can even see a few constellations."
"Hermione, is it impossible for you to not think about school for just one minute?" remarked Ron.
"Shut up!"
"Please guys, I'm sick and tired of you bickering at each other!" scolded Harry, laying back and resting.
"Sorry," sighed Hermione. "We didn't mean to aggravate you. Of course you won't be having much aggravation from Lord Voldemort anymore. Isn't that great, Harry?"
"Yeah, it's super," sighed Harry. "Great, wahoo."
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Ron concerned. "Of everyone, you should-"
"- be the happiest that Voldemort's dead," said Harry. "I know, I know. It's just... it's hard to explain."
"Harry, you can tell us!" said Hermione.
"Really, it's nothing-"
"Come on, mate!" said Ron. "We know something's bothering you."
"You won't understand," said Harry. "I-"
Should he tell them about the Prophecy? It was as if all his feelings needed to be explained by that Prophecy. Should he be telling anyone about it? Yet they were his best friends, they were the ones who stuck by him through every single thing he did. They had a right to know.
"Harry, do you want to tell us anything?" asked Hermione.
"I should have told you earlier," he said in guilt. "I could have told you at the end of the school year, but I didn't."
"What is it?" asked Ron.
"What I'm about to tell you may shock you," cautioned Harry. "You see, at the end of the 5th year, Dumbledore told me that there was a reason that Lord Voldemort tried to kill me in particular. There was this prophecy that was said, that born when the 7th month died, was a boy who would be equal to Voldemort, but he will have a special power unlike the Dark Lord, which he doesn't know. In the end, one would have to kill the other. The boy born when the 7th month died, the end of July, was me."
Ron and Hermione became still, silent, dumbfounded than ever before, maybe even shocked to the core. A frightened look spread across their face, they were pale, and they started to tremble. Harry thought it might have come to a shock, but he never knew how much. The evening that was thought to be a dark, ending-summer night suddenly became more chill, as Hermione gaped her mouth to speak.
"You m-m-mean," stuttered Hermione, "that you are Voldemort's equal, and that you have some special power that can defeat him?"
"Yes," he answered, "although I'm still not positive what special power I have. It could be the love that my mother gave me when she sacrificed her life for me, or it could be something else."
"And... one of you could have died in the end?" asked Ron trembling.
"Yes.... either him or I," said Harry. "For a while, I thought that no matter what I'd do, my life would always be on the line, that there would be no escape. Obviously, I was wrong."
"S-s-so, if Dumbledore knew about this, why did they have a war when they knew you were the only one to defeat him?" asked Hermione.
"I don't know," said Harry, wondering that too. "I thought about that this summer. I want to ask Dumbledore about it when we get to Hogwarts."
"Good idea," said Hermione, laying back on the swinging couch.
"So... the Prophecy was phony?" asked Ron.
"I have no idea," said Harry. "Professor Trelawney made it."
"No wonder! Of course it's phony," said Hermione, who loathed Professor Trelawney immensely.
"But she also predicted that Voldemort would come back," said Harry.
"Maybe there was another meaning to it."
"Maybe there was. I just feel... weird about what happened."
"Did you feel as if you were the one who was supposed to kill Voldemort, not the army?" suggested Ron.
"Exactly!" said Harry, a bit shocked. "Wow, you really understand me, do you?"
"Of course I do, mate! You're my best friend. The truth is, if someone made this giant Prophecy about me, not like that would ever happen, and I started to feel a sense of responsibility, then suddenly everything gets taken away and what I was born to do was achieved by someone that I don't even know, then I'd feel pretty empty."
"Thank you so much for understanding!" said Harry. "I felt like no one understands me a few times this summer."
"You've been through a lot, Harry," implied Hermione. "Not many people will understand you."
"Actually, if I was you, I would really be the one to get rid of him, Prophecy or not," said Ron. "After all the trouble he caused you!"
"I know," said Harry smiling, glad finally someone understood him. "He killed my parents, he ruined my life, he gave me this stupid scar, and it's all his fault that Sirius died!"
"I thought you would be over that by now?" asked Hermione.
"What?" questioned Harry. "You think- It's only been 2 months, Hermione!"
"I know, but you didn't really know him for long. I assumed-"
"Well you didn't assume right!" shouted Harry, as he stood up and backed away from his seat so he was facing both his friends. "He was basically the closest thing I ever had to a father, the one person who made me feel more connected with my parents, and then he was ripped away from me!"
"I'm sorry-"
"No, you're not! If you were, you wouldn't have said it in the first place! YOU KNEW HOW MUCH HE MEANT TO ME! YOU KNEW, AND SO DID YOU, RON! HE'S GONE NOW, AND HE WENT SO GRUESOMELY, JUST LIKE MY PARENTS!"
"Harry, please!" begged Ron.
"DON'T 'PLEASE' ME! NONE OF YOU UNDERSTAND! I THOUGHT YOU DID, BUT OBVIOUSLY YOU DON'T! VOLDEMORT RUINED MY LIFE! HE ABSOLUTELY RUINED MY LIFE! IF ANYONE DESERVED TO DESTROY HIM, IT WOULD BE ME, BECAUSE HE PRACTICALLY DESTROYED ME TOO!"
"Harry, please don't do this!" begged Hermione.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"
"Please Harry, please!" pleaded Ron.
Harry stared back to Hermione and Ron, and saw the terror and plead in their eyes. 'I wouldn't suggest ruining any relationships with others over an angry fit', was what Remus told him on their way to London, and that moment in the yard was a perfect example of what he explained. Over the past year, he had become a raging, angry monster. Why had he done this to his friends?
"I'm so sorry," apologized Harry as he trembled, and plopped down into his seat. "I can't believe what I just did."
"We know you've got a lot of anger in you," said Hermione.
"You needed to let it out," said Ron.
"No, you don't have to make excuses for me. I should be apologizing, not you. This year I've been so angry. I really need to cool down."
"It's puberty," explained Hermione. "At our age, we'll be experiencing-"
"Please, Hermione, I've had enough puberty talks from my parents," begged Ron. "Harry just needs space to express himself."
"Gee, thanks!" said Harry. "Seriously, I appreciate it."
"No problem, mate! You're going through a lot. But do you know what really sucks? We haven't been getting any information about the war. This is a war we're talking about, with Voldemort! We deserve to know."
"You don't know either?" asked Harry.
"I have no clue, and neither does Hermione. Of course, the 'Order of the Phoenix', the Ministry and Hogwarts get all the details, and leave us all clueless!"
"Have you been to Grimmauld Place?" asked Harry.
"No, but Mum, Dad and Bill have dropped by a couple of times. Do you know if Remus has?"
"A few times he contacted some members, but that's it, although I think he went before I came."
"You know, you are really lucky to have Remus," said Hermione.
"I know," admitted Harry.
"But as I told Ron before, the only reason why they're not giving information is so no information falls into the wrong hands. Plus, they just want to keep it low-key."
"That's what Remus told me," said Harry. "They don't want the media getting all over them."
"But did they have to take away the Daily Prophet?" whined Ron.
"The Daily Prophet?" questioned Harry curiously. "Oh my goodness! I've been... well, grieving for Sirius.. so much this summer that I completely forgot about the Daily Prophet!"
"You forgot about the Daily Prophet? I cannot believe you forgot!"
"Well what happened?"
"As I said," said Hermione, "they don't want to let info fall into the wrong hands. There could be an article in an issue that a Death Eater or associate of Voldemort could find useful. And because the journalists weren't getting information, they went on strike, and they're trying to save up on paper and ink. The war's been bad with the Wizard Economy."
"Really?" asked Harry.
"Yeah!" said Ron. "They had a shortage of cauldrons until a week ago, and there haven't been any Magically-Made Margarine for a while."
"I never knew that," said Harry. "Do you think we'll get the Daily Prophet tomorrow?"
"I hope so, and they can give us a long explanation!" said Ron.
"Harry, you didn't happen by any chance have some really bad burnings in your scar, did you?" asked Hermione.
"Actually I had a couple of really bad ones," said Harry. "The first time my head was burning immensely, and when I looked out the window, I saw a parade of wizards and witches, including you two!"
"Now that's messed up," said Ron.
"After I collapsed and woke up two days later!"
"WAIT A MINUTE, HOLD ON!" said Ron loudly, as Hermione gasped. "You, were unconscious, for two days?"
"Yep."
"Now that's crazy."
"Do you know what caused it?" asked Hermione.
"No, I don't," said Harry. "Well the second time was yesterday, and I had the biggest burn in my scar I ever had! It burnt like molten lava in my head, and I was even hearing a shrill high-pitched sound in my head!"
"Oh poor you!" gasped Hermione. "How long did it last?"
"Ten minutes, and at the end I had a really bad burn that I felt I was going to die."
"Oh dear!" gasped Hermione again, putting her hands to her mouth.
"I felt this pain of something slicing my neck afterwards, and then, suddenly all the pain disappeared."
"Whoa..." said Ron.
"I guess you had that burn when Voldemort died," said Hermione. "Did you tell Remus?"
"No, I don't think he needs to know. I'm fine, and you're right, it was probably from Voldemort being killed. There's no need to tell him."
"Hey guys!" said Ginny, who had just come out of the back door and walked to them. "I cannot stand Fred and George worshipping those marauders anymore! I just had to come out here with all of you."
Ginny took one of the chairs near the set, laid it near the swinging couch and sat down on it.
"So, how are all you doing?" she asked.
"Pretty good," said Hermione. "So Ginny, congrats on being Prefect!"
"Thanks, although Mum's making it embarrassing. She tells everyone that I made it, and she sings about it in the kitchen!"
"Now you know how I felt," sighed Ron. "Have Fred and George teased you yet?"
"They were teasing a bit inside," said Ginny. "I'm a bit scared of them now. They said they'll tease me any time they get, since they're living in London now."
"Oh are they?" said Hermione. "They settled in London?"
"Yeah, they've got an apartment here," said Ron, "just like Percy."
"Is he still avoiding the family?" asked Harry.
"Actually they settled their quarrels now, though they still don't talk to each other much, not that any of us wants to!"
"He's such a snob!" said Ginny.
"Have you seen their apartments?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah we have," said Ron. "Percy's is really nice, though Fred and George's is really messy, even though it's pretty funky."
"And they're not even going to learn how to clean after themselves!" said Ginny. "They say once they've saved enough money, they'll get a cleaner."
"Hey, I'd do the same thing," said Ron.
"Are the twins working for the Order?" asked Harry.
"No, they decided not to. They'd rather work at their joke shop."
"So Ginny, do you have any new boyfriends?" asked Hermione.
Hermione put her hands to her mouth, knowing she had just said something wrong. Immediately, Ron's eyebrow started to flinch and he had an angry look on his face.
"Hermione, did you have to bring that up?" questioned Ron furiously.
"Ron, she can ask whatever she wants!" scolded Ginny. "Anyway, I don't have a boyfriend at the moment, but I would like to start dating again when I get to Hogwarts."
"Ginny, are you literally trying to kill me from worry?" questioned Ron. "Seriously, you're getting me so worked up that I feel like I'll explode from frustration. Why are you doing this to me?"
"I'm not!" said Ginny, who was starting to get angry at Ron. "I have a life, you know. Just because you can't get a girlfriend, that doesn't mean you have to bug me about it!"
"Why don't you just dig a hole and throw me in it, because that's what I feel you're doing!"
"If that happens, I'll get the shovel," muttered Hermione.
"Ron, just calm down!" said Harry. "It's her life, let her live it."
"But I'm her older brother, I'm supposed to look after her!"
"And you are! She needs her space, you know."
"Fine," mumbled Ron as he crossed his arms.
Just then Mrs. Weasley opened the backdoor to call them in.
"We're leaving, Ginny and Ron, and so is your family, Hermione," stated Mrs. Weasley with her head peeking out from the door. "Come on in."
Harry and the rest of them stood up and walked back into the house, a bit disappointed the evening had to end so soon. They all said goodbye to each other and left Remus' house to go back to their own homes.
As Remus was putting away the tea set and cookie trays, Harry sat down on one of the dining room chairs to rest.
"So did you have a good time today?" asked Remus from the kitchen.
"Yeah, it's been great," sighed Harry. "And you?"
"Oh yeah, wonderful, I had a wonderful time," said Remus, who was trying to act cheerful. Harry could notice that there was just something in his voice that didn't make him seem too happy, the same kind of expression he had in Diagon Alley.
"Are you sure?" asked Harry. "Are you sure you had such a wonderful time?"
"Yes, of course," answered Remus. "Why do you ask?"
"You don't seem so cheerful," told Harry. "Does it... does it have something to do with... Peter Pettigrew?"
Remus put away the last tea cup of the set and slowly closed the cabinet. A look of depression came across his face.
"Yes, yes it does," he sighed, as he walked slowly over to the dining room table and sat down on a chair. "I really don't know why I should be feeling this way. I mean, Voldemort is dead and-"
"Remus, I personally am happy he's dead, but I can understand why you're completely not," said Harry. "Peter was your friend, even though he went over to the dark side."
"I know, but it was his fault James died! He deserved what he got, he betrayed us! He betrayed the Order of the Phoenix! All those years we thought we could trust each other, then suddenly he goes off with the Death Eaters. So, why am I so sad?"
"I think you know why, Remus," sighed Harry.
"I do, I know I do, but- After all the things he did to us, he framed Sirius, he let Voldemort know where your parents were hiding, he betrayed the Order, and I still miss him for some reason.... He's evil, I shouldn't miss him."
"I think that's what makes us different from those who are evil," sighed Harry. "We don't hold grudges for ex-friends after death."
"That sounds like something Dumbledore would say, but it's true. I mean, he was.. Peter, Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, our friend, one of the mighty marauders.... and now he's... dead, like all of them."
Remus put his elbow onto the table and put his knuckles to his lip.
"I can't believe I'm the only surviving marauder," sighed Remus in a dismal tone. "I mean, we're still pretty young, well at least I am. It seems so scary, that out of all of them, I'm the one who's still.... alive. If I ever thought any of us would die young it would be me, I mean, I was the werewolf. I never knew our friendship would end like this, you know?"
"Yeah, I understand," said Harry.
"Because of it, I couldn't celebrate the day as much as I wanted to. You, Harry, must have had a great time though. You finally have that good-for-nothing wizard off your back."
"Actually I'm not too happy either."
"Why? Out of anyone in the world-"
"-I should be the happiest he's dead, I know," said Harry. "But that Prophecy... I thought I was going to kill him! He's the one who put torture in my life and gave me a hard time, I should be the one to kill him! I thought it was my destiny...."
"I think I might understand that," said Remus. "You felt that you had this giant responsibility, yet someone took that away from you and you feel empty, right?"
"Exactly. You know, I would really like to find out who killed him and give them a piece of my mind-"
"Harry, don't think those thing!" said Remus. "You're frustration is getting in the way of your thinking. Don't worry, you'll meet them eventually and you'll see that you can't be mad at them. The truth is, they probably didn't want to kill him."
"When will I find out who they are?"
"Soon," said Remus with a small wink. "You've got a bit more time before you go to bed, you should pack up for school."
"Good thinking. Good night."
"Good night, Harry."
Harry stood up and slumped slowly up the stairs and to his bedroom, where all his new things were laid on his bed. He stuffed all his robes and school supplies into his suitcases, though when it came to the box of the album and Sirius' belongings, he pushed his things aside to make room for the box and laid the box gently into his suitcase. He zipped everything up and put them on the ground.
Harry couldn't wait for his first NEWT year and 6th term at Hogwarts, though the news of Voldemort's death troubled him the whole night. I can't believe it, I'm actually whining and complaining that Voldemort's dead, thought Harry. I feel so disgusted with myself. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.
Thinking this, he got ready for bed and slept soundly, though his slumber sleep was disturbed by visions of Voldemort from all their encounters.... the small memory he had of his parents' death.... Cedric's death... the graveyard.... the night at the Ministry.... the veil....
Author's Note: I really hope you liked that chapter. The next one will be 'Chapter 5: From Platform 9 3/4 to the Great Hall with a Surprise in Between'. I know, really long name. But it's super interesting! It's where you read the big twist that'll start the story, and you'll find out why I called it 'Harry Potter and the Princesses for Magic'. Oh, and PLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!! See that button? No, not that one. Yeah, that one, the one that says 'go'? Please click it and type! I beg you!