Chapter Nineteen: Knockturn Alley

Jim came over again around eleven a.m. the next day. I suggested that instead of staying around the house we went to Diagon Alley, so we did. I went into the fireplace first ¨C I crash-landed at the exit, and Jim did as well. Dusting each other off, we stepped out into the memorable streets that made up the Alley.

It was packed as usual. All the Hogwarts students who had gone home for the holidays like we had were scattered all over the place. I remembered how I had seen them at the beginning of the year shopping for their school stuff, and for the first time I realized that my letter had come a day late to all of theirs. So had Jim¡¯s ¨C we had gone shopping together, I remembered that much. I asked Jim, ¡°Hey, did your letter come in later than everyone else¡¯s?¡± Yeah, why? ¡°I was just wondering. Mine came late as well.¡± It was a mystery, but I wasn¡¯t going to pursue it too far.

We had lunch at the Wimbleton Wasps¡¯ Sanctuary. It was a place around the corner that was kind of like Quality Quidditch Supplies, except it was all about that particular Quidditch team and it had a food bar inside it. It was a weird little place, but it served things like pretzels shaped as Quidditch goalposts and Quaffles, or the names of players in the team. We were sitting there, quite innocently I must say, when I noticed that right across the street from where we were was an entrance into Knockturn Alley.

It wasn¡¯t obvious to the crowd, but I knew it was there because I had spent so much time in Diagon Alley and it had given me time to explore. The brick wall that I was staring at was actually a hidden doorway to the place ¨C all you had to do was tap it with a wand and mutter the incantation, ¡°Inclemence.¡± Then you¡¯d be able to get through. The reason that it was hidden was that most people usually had no business in that part of town, and they weren¡¯t too eager to have any in the future.

I told Jim about it. He refused, naturally.

¡°Come on, Jim! When was the last time you ever did anything fun and risky just for the sake of it?¡± He thought it over ¨C and I could hear it ¨C and he gave in. We waited till the coast was clear before we got up and walked over to it. The bricks looked normal enough, and when you touched it, it felt like normal bricks. But then I did what had to be done, and the whole wall gave a shudder like it was affected by the wind. I reached into it ¨C my hand went in about five inches. I took Jim¡¯s hand, and pulled him through with me.

It was like trying to go through play-doh. After only a few seconds, we reached fresh air all around us again. Behind me Jim gave a gasp.

We weren¡¯t where we had been those few seconds ago. The fresh air was practically dark and damp, but it was dry and it was unbearably itchy to breathe in. We were standing on a street, but the stones set in it were unleveled with each other, chipped, and in some cases missing. The shops in this part of the alley had suspicious dark curtains drawn over them, but I knew that if there hadn¡¯t been there would have been awful things in the window. Gruesome shrunken heads with horrible, twisted expressions. Blood-stained robes, axe heads or knives. Snapped or intact wands that might¡¯ve belonged to old Xavier Rastrick for all I knew. Books about Dark magic, forbidden potions, nasty incantations, banned practices. Skeletons of old Dark witches and wizards, their skulls leering like they were mocking the living. Knockturn Alley was not exactly the kind of place people from Diagon Alley would want to visit, but I found it interesting. This was what people missed when judging the place ¨C there were tons and tons of old history here. The things in the windows had been from centuries ago and they held so much that people weren¡¯t bothering to investigate. If I ever became a person in the Ministry ¨C which was very unlikely ¨C I would excavate the whole place and ship all the stuff to museums and laboratories to be rated. But then that would have been unfair for the inhabitants of Knockturn Alley.

Speaking of the inhabitants¡­in Diagon Alley everywhere you looked people chatted happily amongst each other and wore bright robes and in general were happy. Here, everyone was alienated. They wore long dark robes, sometimes very shabby. They didn¡¯t usually stay away from clueless kids wandering in from any other Alley ¨C they tended to come forward and offer the unlucky soul a dumpling which was really a brewed knuckle or something like that. It was very unsafe to eat almost anything in Knockturn Alley unless you¡¯d brought your own food.

Jim was scared out of his wits, I could feel that much. His fear was making my head ache a little, so I hissed, ¡°Hey, cut off the broadcast, will you?¡±

He stopped, but my head still throbbed. I was feeling a little woozy. I wondered what I had eaten that was making me feel like this. It definitely wasn¡¯t the right time for me to get sick. All the better that no one was hassling us today, there was no telling how Jim could¡¯ve reacted. But even that was strange. The street seemed empty. Before there would be at least a small cluster of people huddled and whispering in a corner in high, unnatural voices, or a tall figure roaming around aimlessly or a couple of ghosts making noises in the gutter. Now all we were seeing in the dark was a black cat on a shop window sill, staring at us through slit yellow eyes. There wasn¡¯t anybody else.

Is it always like this? ¡°No,¡± I whispered back. I wished my head ache would go away. Where¡¯s everybody, then? ¡°I¡¯m not sure that you¡¯d want them to appear, Jim. We¡¯d better explore before they all come back. Are you scared?¡± I¡¯m scared plenty, he admitted.

And so we walked. One foot after another in the snow, which instead of making the alley look Christmasy and cute like Diagon Alley it made the place look even more darker and sinister. Snow fell from the sky ¨C I caught some on my tongue. I spat it out in a spray of spit. ¡°Yuck,¡± I gasped, and spat some more. ¡°I forgot that the most terrible snow falls here.¡± Yeah, well, Jim said dryly, I kinda figured that out the moment we stepped in the place. Even through his sarcasm, he still hadn¡¯t let go of my hand from the moment I had taken it to take him through the brick wall.

We must have gone through five minutes walking down that long winding street, and still no one came into sight. Jim seemed braver by then, but my head was giving me hell. It seemed to be getting worse as we went deeper into the Alley, for some reason. It was that reason that made me decide to return to Diagon Alley. I turned to look at Jim.

¡°There¡¯s a passage up ahead that leads into the back of Flourish and Blotts. We¡¯re getting out soon.¡± Okay! Okay. That¡¯s good. He was even smiling.

Then¡­the smile faded. He stopped in his tracks and his mouth feel open a bit. At that same moment my head gave a large inner bump! I cried out and clapped a hand to my forehead ¨C it felt like it was sizzling. Everything in front of me burned bright white, then went to pitch black. I could hear people, a lot of them. They sounded nearby. Above the pounding of my head, they were talking in a low buzz, and they seemed to be getting closer. Jim¡¯s thoughts broke into my pain ¨C ¨C Kora! Kora, get up, there¡¯s a huge crowd, they¡¯re going to trample over us if we don¡¯t move now! Come on! An arm grabbed mine, and then I was up and moving across the snow. I bumped into a hard wall and that was when we stopped moving, and Jim was hissing at me to shush and stop talking. What the? I wasn¡¯t talking¡­Jim was imagining it¡­what was happening? My head¡­

I decided to try and open my eyes. They were open, I could feel the freeze of the air getting at them. Was I delirious? What was it exactly that had poisoned me like this? Then bits and pieces of images came through to me, in a slow but busy pace. I saw tattered robes, purple and black and dark blue, pass us by wherever we were. We must have been pretty close to them ¨C I could hear what they were saying¡­something about the Messiah¡­a revolution¡­an attack? A tack? Anarchy¡­what anarchy¡­who¡­

Then the world opened up. Light, although the dim illumination of Knockturn Alley, flooded my sight once again, and I was looking up into the dark faceless hood of one of the men in the crowd. My head crashed, and I screamed. Whether it was for real or I had imagined that scream I had no idea. He only looked at me for a split second ¨C he was the only one I could see, everything else was blurry, what the hell, what the hell, what the hell¨C then he had turned away, had lost interest in the little girl slumped against the dark corner of the street behind the cracked, wooden crates.

The crowd passed after what seemed like days. All that time Jim kept me upright in my wet, snowy seat, asking me in rapid-fire thought what was wrong. Long after the crowd had disappeared I was able to gain control of myself again. My head ache was still there but at least it wasn¡¯t threatening to kill me. Jim looked so worried, it was funny. I would¡¯ve laughed if it had all been some kind of sick joke, and I would¡¯ve cried if it weren¡¯t for the fact that I had never cried before in my whole life. Something was wrong in Knockturn Alley.

Pop got his wish. He had the chance to meet Jim, but only because Jim had insisted that he stayed with me for the rest of the day. Therefore he took me home and practically forced me to have a rest, and sat by my bedside the whole time. He was still sitting there when Pop suddenly came through the door at five p.m. all bustling and rowdy in the aftermath of coming home for the day. I didn¡¯t think Jim might have noticed, but the instant Pop caught sight of Jim his arm did a slight jerk, and I knew that he had nearly acted to draw his wand out and point it at my friend before realizing who it might be. Pop did a huge smile and said, ¡°Well, hello! You must be Jim. Erm, pardon me, my boy, I must ask Kora, what are you doing in bed so early?¡± Jim looked at me. We hadn¡¯t really talked about the visit to Knockturn Alley and whether to admit to Pop or not, but I figured that I had it covered. Getting up on my elbows, I said sincerely, ¡°We were playing around on the brooms, Pop, and I¡¯ve hurt my back a bit. Should teach me not to try professional sloth grips without consulting the experts first, huh?¡± Pop just shook his head and invited Jim to stay for dinner.

At the table Jim watched, slightly gaping, as Pop went about the kitchen throwing pans and food on the stove. He¡¯s so normal. ¡°Ahem.¡± I mean, no offense, but¡­my Gran doesn¡¯t think much of him. She says¡­never mind what she says. I never believed her anyway. I nodded ¨C that sounded better. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m lucky to have him.¡±

Jim ended up telling Pop how he was able to talk to me. Pop¡¯s eyes went wide, and said that he had never known. ¡°Fancy that! Well you¡¯re a little fighter, aren¡¯t you? I suppose it comes in handy when you¡¯re in detention, doesn¡¯t it? You¡¯d still be able to communicate with each other, one through thought-speak and the other through facial expressions and body language.¡± ¡°Yes, Pop,¡± I said, catching Jim¡¯s cautious glance. I hadn¡¯t mentioned to him that I had told Pop about the detentions.

After dinner Pop left us. He said he was going out to have a puff of Moreton¡¯s Medial Cigars, but I knew that really he wanted to be alone to think. Nobody could stand the smell of those cigars so he was ensured privacy for a while. I let him go without a fuss, and led Jim up onto the roof. There we lay, looking up at the sky. It wasn¡¯t full moon, but it was getting close. The stars were definitely brighter, almost like Jim¡¯s eyes.

You must be so happy here. ¡°Yeah. You understand how I didn¡¯t want to go to Hogwarts at the beginning of this year. Even though I¡¯ve only got Pop, I still feel as if everything in my whole entire life is here and I never want to leave them behind. Do you feel the same about your home?¡± Jim¡¯s thoughts were ruffled. He mumbled, Yeah, I guess. He didn¡¯t seem comfortable with heartwarming talks such as this, so I changed the subject. ¡°What do you think?¡± About what? ¡°Pop.¡± Oh, he¡¯s wonderful. ¡°Yeah, he is, actually. Pity we couldn¡¯t meet your Gran. From what you said about her, she¡¯d probably spray us with pesticide or something if we showed up on her porch.¡± Actually, more like repellent for Blast-Ended Skrewts. We have an endless supply of those. The back yard¡¯s full of the ugly worms. ¡°Sounds interesting. You¡¯ve got Blast-Ended Skrewts in your back yard, as well as a pond with a Grindylow. All we¡¯ve got is an Asphodel garden, and that¡¯s not even remotely interesting.¡± Don¡¯t worry, you and your Pop are interesting enough by yourselves. ¡°Thanks.¡± Jim got up into a sitting position and looked at the long thin trail of smoke curling up in front of us from the dark front yard. He¡¯s happy enough when he¡¯s with us, but he seems stressed now. ¡°Yeah¡­that¡¯s just how he is.¡± How did he take the news the first time you told him? About Snape and what he did and the two detentions he¡¯d gotten us into? ¡°Well, he was surprised. He said we should¡¯ve told him sooner. But other than that he was okay with it. He only told me to behave myself, which is very unlikely.¡± Actually, Snape took it pretty easy on us. Dusting a hall and polishing up a whole trophy room? Gran¡¯s made me done worse. ¡°You see? He¡¯s not that bad.¡± He probably knew you had a crush on him and decided to favour us. ¡°It¡¯s not that obvious, is it?¡± An image popped into my head. It was of me in the Potions classroom. While Jim was nearly falling asleep in his seat, I was busy sketching a drawing of Snape on my spare parchment. ¡°You had no right to spy on my business like that.¡± I couldn¡¯t help it. I won¡¯t do it in the future if it bothers you. ¡°I was kidding, Jim.¡± We sat in silence, watching the smoke below us thicken and swirl in the cold night air. I found myself thinking about the return to school, and dreaded it. No way! I wanted to stay here. There was nothing better than sitting on your roof at night or talking with friends or having fun with your family. Still, at least Jim was enough.

We sat up there till the smoke thinned, and blew out.