AN: I did start a marauder era fic, but then decided that I'd wait to get a little further with this story before I wrote any more of it, so I've taken it off ff.net – it will come back soon though! Thanks to those who sent me emails to say it wasn't working!
In Every Darkness
Chapter Twenty Sevent: Diagon Alley
8.8.1996 (morning)
Standing in the bustling Leaky Cauldron, Harry smiled slightly, though on his shoulder Grypis was turning his head this way and that, as if looking for something.
"Beware," the griffin hissed. "There is one here who's hatred and greed are great."
"I'll take your warning to heart," Harry replied easily, and looked around the pub, searching for the one that Grypis was speaking of. "Malfoy," Harry hissed angrily, seeing the blonde boy a moment later.
Draco Malfoy was standing with his mother near the entrance of the pub. It seemed that his fathers arrest had certainly changed his mother, who looked more than a little cowed, but Draco stood tall and imperious, he had not changed at all, it seemed.
"You know this boy?" Grypis asked, watching Malfoy with obvious dislike.
"Too well, but I'll tell you about him when we get home," Harry replied. Grypis nodded his head ever so slightly, just as the last of their party arrived.
"Malfoy's here," Harry muttered to Ron, who glanced up and saw Draco, scowled and looked away. Their party moved away from the fire place and headed into the courtyard out the back.
Mrs. Weasley opened the portal into Diagon Alley, and the rest of the group followed her into the street, Harry finding himself jostled into the middle of the group.
"Alright, Arthur, you take Harry and Hermione and got to Gringotts, the rest of us will be in Flourish and Blott's when you get out of there. Harry, Hermione, give me your lists dears and I'll find the books for you."
The matriarch of the Weasley clan swiftly took over the operation, and Harry soon found himself inside the Gringotts building, approaching a goblin. They handed over their keys (and in Hermione's case, Muggle money).
Once she'd received her wizard money, Hermione turned to Harry and Arthur. "I'll go back to the bookshop now," she said. "There are a few books that I wanted to have a look for."
"Right, we'll be out soon," Arthur replied. "Come on Harry."
Harry sighed and followed Arthur and a goblin into the gloomy tunnel that housed the carts which would take them down to the vaults.
"Get in then," the goblin said nastily as a cart appeared. Harry did his best to ignore the goblin as he, it and Arthur settled in the cart. The carts had a lot more room when Hagrid wasn't your companion.
Soon they were at the Weasley's vault, and Harry was embarrassed to note that still had very little wealth, though more than they'd had the last time he'd been to their vault.
When the reached his vault, he quickly stuffed money into a few bags, still feeling bad that he had so much money when the Weasley's had so little. "Come on then, let's get back to the rest of the family," Arthur said, when Harry joined him back in the cart.
The goblin didn't speak again as the cart returned to them to the entrance room of the building. Harry and Arthur left the bank quickly and headed for Flourish and Blott's.
When they got there, the Weasley's and Hermione had found most of the books they needed for school, and Harry quickly went searching the shelves for some new books to add to the Black library … His library.
Once he'd finished, he joined the Weasley's and they went to pay for all of the books. "You lot sure do have a lot of new texts," the shop assistant remarked in a jolly voice.
The group looked at all of the books on the counter and chuckled in agreement with the statement. "There are quite a few of us," Hermione said, grinning.
"So I noticed," the man said, laughing easily. "Well, here y'are then!" he packed the books into bags and handed them to Mrs. Weasley, who shrunk the bags and handed them to the children to put in their pockets.
"Then one from the pub, who you called Malfoy, approaches," Grypis warned.
"Malfoy's coming," Harry muttered under his breath to Ron and Hermione, who looked up immediately, searching for him.
"Well, if it isn't Mudblood, weasel and Potty," a cold voice sneered behind them.
"I'd watch your mouth, Malfoy, if you don't want to follow in your fathers footsteps," Harry growled out. "Because I'd be all too happy to send you after him!"
"Oh, has Potty got a tongue since last year then?" Malfoy sneered at Harry, turning his attention away from Ron and Hermione to focus completely on Harry.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione hissed at him. "Are you trying to make a scene?"
"It's alright Hermione. He can't do anything here," Harry replied, voice whisper soft so that Malfoy wouldn't hear him. "We are in the middle of a crowded street, if Malfoy tries anything, suspicion will come to rest on him, making him no use to the master he and his father serve."
As he hadn't heard a word Harry had said, Malfoy sauntered closer, still taunting. "You ready to go the same way as your relatives, Potty? They only died because of you, just like Cedric."
Harry looked at Malfoy coolly. "You aren't going to scare me Malfoy. Your fool of a father chose the wrong side for his family – Voldemort will never triumph. He did not gain what he wanted at the end of last year because he was incompetent. Do you think a good lord would have lost to a group of school children? I'll be laughing in your face when the dark lord lies dead, that I can promise you, Malfoy."
Contemptuously, Harry turned his back on the young heir of the Malfoy estate. "Come on guys. We waste our time on scum like him," he added to his friends, stalking away.
Had Harry looked back, he would have seen Malfoy staring after him in complete amazement. Harry hadn't ever talked back like that before.
"Well done Harry," Ron grinned as they drew further away.
"I don't like him," Grypis snarled in Harry's mind. "I didn't attack him because I knew you didn't want me to, but I don't like him one little bit!"
"Not many people do. He isn't the nicest of people, and his family are as bad – or worse."
"You've certainly made yourself an enemy," Arthur Weasley remarked, as if trying to sound at least a little chiding, but Harry could hear the approval in his tone.
"Please – Malfoy and I have been enemies since … almost since the moment we met," Harry shrugged it off. "I don't think that I've endangered myself with an enemy who is by any means new."
The rest of the Weasley children hurried to agree with him.
"Well, if you've got to make enemies, at least you've chosen good ones," Arthur said, abandoning his attempt at being stern.
Mrs. Weasley looked about to protest, but then sighed and didn't. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked between each other with expressions of amazement – Mrs. Weasley hadn't taken the opportunity to scold? Incredible!
"Come on! We've got to get to Madam Malkin's," Mrs. Weasley told them, herding them to the robe shop to purchase some new robes – Dress robes for Ginny, and new robes for Harry, who'd been growing a lot over the summer, and the previous one.
After the robes, everyone dispersed a little bit, Ron, Hermione and Harry went to the Apothecary, then dropped momentarily by Quality Quidditch Supplies, and then Harry dragged the pair of them to Magical Menagerie.
"But I wanted to-" both began, then stopped when they saw the other saying the same thing.
"You two can go wherever," Harry said easily. "I'm going to Magical Menagerie." They both stayed with him.
"I like this place. The creatures seem to be content," Grypis remarked, seeming happy. Harry smiled a little – having Grypis around was a great thing. He loved his two best human friends, but they could be so trying at times!
"I'm glad you like it. If you see anything that you'd like, just tell me. I don't know what your kind needs, but if there is anything I can do to make you more comfortable, just ask," Harry told the creature.
He could almost feel Grypis smiling at him. "If I see anything, I'll let you know," the griffin promised him. "But you are doing a wonderful job already."
Harry smiled, happy with the griffins complement. "Hermione, do you still want an owl?" Harry asked suddenly. "We could go and have a look at Eyelops Owl Emporium, if you want to."
"Oh! Yes, I'd love to!" Hermione immediately dragged the pair of boys from the stall. Harry waved over his shoulder at the witch behind the counter.
"She had a lot of stuff there," the griffin remarked.
"It's a good shop," Harry replied, and sensed the griffins agreement. "Here we are guys," he added, as they entered the shadowy interior of Eyelops Owl Emporium.
Hermione browsed through the shop, looking at all of the different owls that the shop had for sale. "Oh!" she cried out suddenly. Harry dragged a reluctant Ron over to see what she'd seen.
They found her gazing raptly at a barn owl with gentle, sapphire eyes. "It's beautiful," she said, then saw the price and sighed unhappily. "But I don't have nearly enough money to buy it."
"Tell you what, Hermione, I'll pay for whatever you can't," Harry offered. "I'll do the same for you Ron, if you like," he added, knowing that Ron really wanted a bird as well.
"Oh Harry! Thank you!" Hermione hugged him tightly and Ron smiled slightly.
"Yeah, thanks mate," Ron added, shuffling his feet in embarrassment.
Harry just smiled and waved the two of them away. "Least I can do – I can make up for my behaviour last year," he replied easily.
"Oh, that wasn't really your fault," his friends waved it off.
"Yeah it was," Harry muttered, but quietly, so his friends wouldn't hear and tell him off about it.
Ron quickly found an owl he liked, an Australian breed called Tawney Frog-Mouth that had come to England about a year ago. The fuss about them was now beginning to dissipate a little, and their prices were now dropping to an affordable level.
Harry gave his friends the extra money that they needed, and the three of them walked out – into havoc.
"What the?" Their voices melded together voicing the single question.
***
What the? Indeed *grins* I'll tell ya next chapter, promise!
~WolfMoon~