The True Heir of Slytherin
Chapter 4: "Grachus's Study"
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Needless to say, Sirius was rather concerned about the new Dark Arts class once Harry had told him. Even more so, he didn't like the idea of taking Harry, Ron, and Hermione into Knockturn Alley.
"I'll take the three of you, so long as you promise to stick close to me. Knockturn Alley is no place for students to be, especially in these days."
Harry quite agreed.
*****
When the day came for them to buy their school supplies, Sirius took Harry aside for a moment.
"Are you sure you want to go?" Sirius asked, "because if you don't, I could have someone else pick up everybody's things."
"Of course I want to go," Harry replied, "Why wouldn't I?"
"Well," Sirius sighed, "it's just that...with the recent events...Harry--- Voldemort is still looking for you. He may very well have spies all throughout Diagon and Knockturn Alley, waiting for you to show up."
"But they wouldn't do anything with all those other wizards around, would they?"
"Well, no," Sirius admitted, "but in Knockturn Alley, well, there are lots of wizards that go there who are ... interested in the Dark Arts. It's Them that I'm worried about."
"We'll be fine," Harry replied, "I'm sure there will be some other students getting their supplies from Grachus's Study."
"Very well," Sirius said, "Go get ready, then."
About an hour later, Sirius, Hermione, Ron, and Harry left for Diagon Alley using Sirius's fork portkey.
When they arrived in Diagon Alley, there weren't as many people around as Harry had remembered there to be.
"Where is everybody?" Harry asked aloud."At their homes, most likely," Ron replied, "everyone's afraid to go anywhere because of You-Know-Who."
Harry didn't blame them, either. However, the lacking crowd of people made Harry a lot more nervous. This was the first time over the entire summer that he'd gone somewhere other than the Dursleys or Sirius's.
"Well," Sirius started, "Where do you three want to go first?"
"Umm, how about Gringotts?" Harry asked, "I need to get some money before I can buy anything."
"Me too," Hermione said.
"Me three," Ron added.
"Oh don't worry, I'll pay for the lot of you," Sirius replied.
Hermione, Harry and Ron all looked at each other in shock.
"Sirius," Hermione said uneasily, "you don't have to do that-"
"Yeah," Ron added, his ears going pink, "it's nice enough of you to have let us stayed at your house for so long. You don't have to-"
"Don't worry, guys," Sirius persisted, "I promised the Ministry that they'd pay for putting me in Azkaban for 13 years, and they're going to, even if that means simply paying for your school supplies. Remember, this is really their money, not mine."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't know what else to say, but they had no choice. Sirius was going to buy their school supplies whether they liked it or not.
*****
After buying almost all of their new school supplies, they only had one place left to go: Grachus's Study in Knockturn Alley.
"Stay close together," Sirius told the three as they entered Knockturn Alley.
Knockturn Alley, also, didn't have too many people wandering around, save the occasional hag or warlock.
They made their way down the main street, which was full of weird looking and scary things, half of which Harry didn't even know the use of.
They finally came to the end of the street where Grachus's Study stood. It was a tall and brooding place, and it seemed as though when you looked upon it, and eery, distant chanting could be heard, beckoning you to come in."There's an unfriendly face," Ron said bitterly as he pointed to the left side of the store.
"Ugh, what is he doing here?" Hermione snapped.
Harry looked over towards where they were pointing, and sure enough, there was Harry's least favourite teacher, Snape.
As Harry looked at him, he realized that Snape was a lot paler and thinner than usual.
"Is he sick or something?" Hermione asked.
"Hopefully," Ron muttered.
"C'mon guys," Sirius said, and they made their way into the shop.
The store looked like an old, Renaissance-styled library, with a lot of post-Gothic artifacts, arches, and candles.
"Well, this isn't so bad," Hermione said, smiling as she looked at all of the books.
Ron rolled his eyes at her. As he did, his eyes stopped at the corner of the store, and he looked at a girl who was sitting on a chair slightly behind him, reading.
"Woah," he said.
"What?" Harry asked as Hermione and Sirius left to look around the store.
"Look at her," Ron whispered, pointing at the girl.
Harry looked at the girl. She was about 15, very pretty, and somewhat mysterious. She was reading a thick book that looked very old. Her long black hair was let down and slightly covered her deep purple dress, covered by a long, black cloak. As she read the book, she seemed to be taking notes.
"What about her?" Harry asked.
"What about her?!" Ron repeated, "Look at her, she's ... gorgeous."
Harry sighed and looked around for Sirius.
"I wonder if she's a Veela," Ron whispered as Harry left.
Finally, Harry spotted Sirius, who was at the counter, paying for all of their books to an old, gangly looking man.
At that moment, a voice from behind Harry caught his attention.
"Mr. Potter," it said coldly.
Harry turned around to find Lucius Malfoy looking down upon him.
Harry clenched his fists as anger flooded through his body.
"What are you doing here?" Harry growled.
"Temper, temper," Lucius replied, "I'm simply shopping, like yourself."As he said this, Snape suddenly appeared beside Lucius.
"Come now, Lucius," Snape replied, "Let the boy be."
"Or what?!" Lucius hissed, "The little brat deserves what's coming to him." Lucius grabbed for his wand.
"And what might that be?" a gentle, yet powerful voice said.
Harry turned around to see the girl who had been reading five minutes ago, now holding her wand directly at Lucius Malfoy.
"L-Lady Siren," Lucius gulped, "How - How nice to see you again."
"I think you should leave, Lucius," the girl said coldly.
Lucius didn't hesitate, and immediately left the store.
"That wasn't necessary," Snape said to the girl.
"Severus, he deserved it," the girl replied darkly, "besides, he was asking for trouble." She looked at Harry.
"I would not have let anything bad happen, Siren," Snape added.
"I know," the girl replied. She looked once more at Harry. "Are you from Hogwarts?" she asked.
Harry could feel himself going red in the face as she stared at him. She was even prettier up close, he noticed, and he felt almost unworthy of her company. "Yeah," Harry answered, a little confused, "Sorry, but, er, who are you?"
"My name is Siren," she answered, "And you?" She held out her hand to Harry.
"Harry," he said, shaking her hand, "Harry Potter."
Siren looked somewhat shocked (as most wizards and witches did when Harry introduced himself).
Siren, however, looked almost afraid of Harry.
"Oh," she stammered, and she quickly let go of Harry's hand.
"Um," she added quickly, looking away, "I have to go." And with that, she left the store, her black cloak and hair flowing in the wind behind her.
Snape looked at Harry, then turned on his heal to follow Siren.
Ron and Hermione appeared at Harry's sides.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked.
*****
Harry told Ron, Hermione, and Sirius all that had happened at Grachus's Study, and none of them seemed to understand it."Harry," Sirius said afterwards, "You should have gotten me when Lucius Malfoy showed up. I would have loved speaking with a real, live Death Eater."
But Harry knew that if Sirius had attempted to hurt Lucius, that would have put Sirius back in Azkaban, for Lucius had not yet been convicted to be a Death Eater, and attacking him would have been a punishable offence.
Over the next few days, Harry, Ron, and Hermione got ready for school.
Hermione was especially happy when she received a letter from Viktor Krum, saying that he would be attending Hogwarts for his final year, rather than Durmstrang. This didn't please Ron too much, though.
The day finally came for the three of them to set off for Hogwarts.
"I've arranged for some ministry members to drive you three to London," Sirius told them all at breakfast, "I believe they will also have an auror with them. They should be arriving in about an hour, so I hope you all are ready."
"You mean, you're not coming with us?" Ron asked as he took a bite out of his scrambled eggs.
"I'm afraid I can't," Sirius replied, opening a copy of the Daily Prophet, "The Minister of Magic wants me to meet with him this morning."
Harry finished eating his sausages and looked up at Sirius. "What for?" he asked.
Sirius smiled proudly at this, and put down the paper.
"Well," he answered, "Apparently the Ministry members are holding an important meeting. Don't tell anyone yet, but they want to make me an auror or something of the sort."
"An auror?" Ron exclaimed, "That's awesome!"
"Wow!" Hermione added, "You know, Viktor's Uncle AND Grandfather used to be aurors--really good ones, too."
"Well good for him," Ron said, annoyed.
Sirius chuckled a bit and turned his eyes onto Harry.
"What do you think, Harry?" he asked excitedly.
"Um," Harry stammered, "that's great."
Harry quickly put his breakfast dish onto the coffee table and stood up.
"You know what," he said, "I'm just gonna go get my things ready."
"I'll join ya once I'm done," Ron said with a full mouth of toast."Me too," Hermione added.
Harry quickly left the room.
"That's odd," Ron said as Harry walked out, "all of his stuff os already down here."
Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard. Sirius was going to become an auror? How could he?
Harry now felt very upset and alone. Being an auror is a dangerous job, and lots of them get killed. What if Sirius was to be killed? Then Harry would have nobody left. Didn't Sirius know that? Did he even care?
All of these thoughts and questions flooded Harry's mind as he walked up the Grand Staircase. Harry was jerked back to reality, however, when he heard his name being called.
"Harry!"
He turned around. Sirius was coming up the stairs.
"Hey," Sirius said as he reached the top. "Harry," he continued, "you know, your stuff is downstairs already."
"Oh," Harry answered. He already knew this, of course, and was searching his mind for an excuse for leaving the living room.
"Um," Harry finally added, "Hedwig-she's still outside. She usually goes to my bedroom window. I'm just going to get her."
"Oh," Sirius replied, "OK."
Sirius looked at Harry for a bit, rather concerned.
"Harry, are you alright?" Sirius asked, "I mean, is there something bothering you?"
Harry took a deep breath. Of course there was something bothering him. Things had been bothering him ever since Voldemort rose again. There was so many bad things that Harry wanted to say to Sirius at that moment. Harry's anger gave him a new sense of power, and the feeling of authority. However, he buried those feelings deep down, and refused to let them out.
He faked a smile and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine." To Harry's relief, Sirius smiled as well.
"Good," Sirius said as he gave Harry a pat on the back, "good."
"Well, I'm gonna go - get Hedwig," Harry said.
"Alright," and Sirius went back down the stairs and to the living room.Harry made his way into his bedroom, where, sure enough, Hedwig was waiting outside the window.
Harry opened the window and Hedwig soared in.
"C'mon," Harry told her as he held out his arm, "We're leaving soon."
Hedwig flew onto Harry's forearm, and together they left the room.
Harry made his way down the hallway, saying good-bye to the painting of Godric, and to all of the other paintings which wished him farewell.
*****
The cars sent by the Ministry finally showed up to take Ron, Harry, and Hermione to King's Cross, where they would board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4 at 11:30 am.
"Goodbye!" Sirius said to them all as they left.
"Bye!" Ron said.
"Bye, Sirius," added Hermione, giving him a hug, "Thanks for everything! And good luck at the Ministry!"
"Thanks," Sirius replied kindly, "Have a safe ride."
Sirius at last turned to Harry. "Well, I guess this is it," Sirius said, putting his hands on Harry's shoulders.
"I guess so," Harry replied.
"Excited?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah," Harry smiled.
"Well," Sirius continued, giving Harry a quick hug, "I expect I'll see you soon - Professor Dumbledore says I'm welcome to visit the school at anytime."
"Cool," said Harry, "Come soon, then."
"I will," Sirius smiled.
"Bye," Harry sighed.
"Goodbye," Sirius replied.
And with that, Harry, Ron and Hermione all walked outside.
The Ministry workers had already packed their things into the trunk, and were now holding the doors open for them.
"Ready?" one of the men asked.
Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at one another. Harry then looked back at Godric's Castle, with an ill foreboding that he wouldn't lay eyes upon it ever again. He shook his head of those ridiculous thoughts and sighed."Yeah," he answered, "I'm ready."
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Whew, that took me about half an hour to type out. lol.
-Summer :)
Chapter 4: "Grachus's Study"
__________________________________________________
Needless to say, Sirius was rather concerned about the new Dark Arts class once Harry had told him. Even more so, he didn't like the idea of taking Harry, Ron, and Hermione into Knockturn Alley.
"I'll take the three of you, so long as you promise to stick close to me. Knockturn Alley is no place for students to be, especially in these days."
Harry quite agreed.
*****
When the day came for them to buy their school supplies, Sirius took Harry aside for a moment.
"Are you sure you want to go?" Sirius asked, "because if you don't, I could have someone else pick up everybody's things."
"Of course I want to go," Harry replied, "Why wouldn't I?"
"Well," Sirius sighed, "it's just that...with the recent events...Harry--- Voldemort is still looking for you. He may very well have spies all throughout Diagon and Knockturn Alley, waiting for you to show up."
"But they wouldn't do anything with all those other wizards around, would they?"
"Well, no," Sirius admitted, "but in Knockturn Alley, well, there are lots of wizards that go there who are ... interested in the Dark Arts. It's Them that I'm worried about."
"We'll be fine," Harry replied, "I'm sure there will be some other students getting their supplies from Grachus's Study."
"Very well," Sirius said, "Go get ready, then."
About an hour later, Sirius, Hermione, Ron, and Harry left for Diagon Alley using Sirius's fork portkey.
When they arrived in Diagon Alley, there weren't as many people around as Harry had remembered there to be.
"Where is everybody?" Harry asked aloud."At their homes, most likely," Ron replied, "everyone's afraid to go anywhere because of You-Know-Who."
Harry didn't blame them, either. However, the lacking crowd of people made Harry a lot more nervous. This was the first time over the entire summer that he'd gone somewhere other than the Dursleys or Sirius's.
"Well," Sirius started, "Where do you three want to go first?"
"Umm, how about Gringotts?" Harry asked, "I need to get some money before I can buy anything."
"Me too," Hermione said.
"Me three," Ron added.
"Oh don't worry, I'll pay for the lot of you," Sirius replied.
Hermione, Harry and Ron all looked at each other in shock.
"Sirius," Hermione said uneasily, "you don't have to do that-"
"Yeah," Ron added, his ears going pink, "it's nice enough of you to have let us stayed at your house for so long. You don't have to-"
"Don't worry, guys," Sirius persisted, "I promised the Ministry that they'd pay for putting me in Azkaban for 13 years, and they're going to, even if that means simply paying for your school supplies. Remember, this is really their money, not mine."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't know what else to say, but they had no choice. Sirius was going to buy their school supplies whether they liked it or not.
*****
After buying almost all of their new school supplies, they only had one place left to go: Grachus's Study in Knockturn Alley.
"Stay close together," Sirius told the three as they entered Knockturn Alley.
Knockturn Alley, also, didn't have too many people wandering around, save the occasional hag or warlock.
They made their way down the main street, which was full of weird looking and scary things, half of which Harry didn't even know the use of.
They finally came to the end of the street where Grachus's Study stood. It was a tall and brooding place, and it seemed as though when you looked upon it, and eery, distant chanting could be heard, beckoning you to come in."There's an unfriendly face," Ron said bitterly as he pointed to the left side of the store.
"Ugh, what is he doing here?" Hermione snapped.
Harry looked over towards where they were pointing, and sure enough, there was Harry's least favourite teacher, Snape.
As Harry looked at him, he realized that Snape was a lot paler and thinner than usual.
"Is he sick or something?" Hermione asked.
"Hopefully," Ron muttered.
"C'mon guys," Sirius said, and they made their way into the shop.
The store looked like an old, Renaissance-styled library, with a lot of post-Gothic artifacts, arches, and candles.
"Well, this isn't so bad," Hermione said, smiling as she looked at all of the books.
Ron rolled his eyes at her. As he did, his eyes stopped at the corner of the store, and he looked at a girl who was sitting on a chair slightly behind him, reading.
"Woah," he said.
"What?" Harry asked as Hermione and Sirius left to look around the store.
"Look at her," Ron whispered, pointing at the girl.
Harry looked at the girl. She was about 15, very pretty, and somewhat mysterious. She was reading a thick book that looked very old. Her long black hair was let down and slightly covered her deep purple dress, covered by a long, black cloak. As she read the book, she seemed to be taking notes.
"What about her?" Harry asked.
"What about her?!" Ron repeated, "Look at her, she's ... gorgeous."
Harry sighed and looked around for Sirius.
"I wonder if she's a Veela," Ron whispered as Harry left.
Finally, Harry spotted Sirius, who was at the counter, paying for all of their books to an old, gangly looking man.
At that moment, a voice from behind Harry caught his attention.
"Mr. Potter," it said coldly.
Harry turned around to find Lucius Malfoy looking down upon him.
Harry clenched his fists as anger flooded through his body.
"What are you doing here?" Harry growled.
"Temper, temper," Lucius replied, "I'm simply shopping, like yourself."As he said this, Snape suddenly appeared beside Lucius.
"Come now, Lucius," Snape replied, "Let the boy be."
"Or what?!" Lucius hissed, "The little brat deserves what's coming to him." Lucius grabbed for his wand.
"And what might that be?" a gentle, yet powerful voice said.
Harry turned around to see the girl who had been reading five minutes ago, now holding her wand directly at Lucius Malfoy.
"L-Lady Siren," Lucius gulped, "How - How nice to see you again."
"I think you should leave, Lucius," the girl said coldly.
Lucius didn't hesitate, and immediately left the store.
"That wasn't necessary," Snape said to the girl.
"Severus, he deserved it," the girl replied darkly, "besides, he was asking for trouble." She looked at Harry.
"I would not have let anything bad happen, Siren," Snape added.
"I know," the girl replied. She looked once more at Harry. "Are you from Hogwarts?" she asked.
Harry could feel himself going red in the face as she stared at him. She was even prettier up close, he noticed, and he felt almost unworthy of her company. "Yeah," Harry answered, a little confused, "Sorry, but, er, who are you?"
"My name is Siren," she answered, "And you?" She held out her hand to Harry.
"Harry," he said, shaking her hand, "Harry Potter."
Siren looked somewhat shocked (as most wizards and witches did when Harry introduced himself).
Siren, however, looked almost afraid of Harry.
"Oh," she stammered, and she quickly let go of Harry's hand.
"Um," she added quickly, looking away, "I have to go." And with that, she left the store, her black cloak and hair flowing in the wind behind her.
Snape looked at Harry, then turned on his heal to follow Siren.
Ron and Hermione appeared at Harry's sides.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked.
*****
Harry told Ron, Hermione, and Sirius all that had happened at Grachus's Study, and none of them seemed to understand it."Harry," Sirius said afterwards, "You should have gotten me when Lucius Malfoy showed up. I would have loved speaking with a real, live Death Eater."
But Harry knew that if Sirius had attempted to hurt Lucius, that would have put Sirius back in Azkaban, for Lucius had not yet been convicted to be a Death Eater, and attacking him would have been a punishable offence.
Over the next few days, Harry, Ron, and Hermione got ready for school.
Hermione was especially happy when she received a letter from Viktor Krum, saying that he would be attending Hogwarts for his final year, rather than Durmstrang. This didn't please Ron too much, though.
The day finally came for the three of them to set off for Hogwarts.
"I've arranged for some ministry members to drive you three to London," Sirius told them all at breakfast, "I believe they will also have an auror with them. They should be arriving in about an hour, so I hope you all are ready."
"You mean, you're not coming with us?" Ron asked as he took a bite out of his scrambled eggs.
"I'm afraid I can't," Sirius replied, opening a copy of the Daily Prophet, "The Minister of Magic wants me to meet with him this morning."
Harry finished eating his sausages and looked up at Sirius. "What for?" he asked.
Sirius smiled proudly at this, and put down the paper.
"Well," he answered, "Apparently the Ministry members are holding an important meeting. Don't tell anyone yet, but they want to make me an auror or something of the sort."
"An auror?" Ron exclaimed, "That's awesome!"
"Wow!" Hermione added, "You know, Viktor's Uncle AND Grandfather used to be aurors--really good ones, too."
"Well good for him," Ron said, annoyed.
Sirius chuckled a bit and turned his eyes onto Harry.
"What do you think, Harry?" he asked excitedly.
"Um," Harry stammered, "that's great."
Harry quickly put his breakfast dish onto the coffee table and stood up.
"You know what," he said, "I'm just gonna go get my things ready."
"I'll join ya once I'm done," Ron said with a full mouth of toast."Me too," Hermione added.
Harry quickly left the room.
"That's odd," Ron said as Harry walked out, "all of his stuff os already down here."
Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard. Sirius was going to become an auror? How could he?
Harry now felt very upset and alone. Being an auror is a dangerous job, and lots of them get killed. What if Sirius was to be killed? Then Harry would have nobody left. Didn't Sirius know that? Did he even care?
All of these thoughts and questions flooded Harry's mind as he walked up the Grand Staircase. Harry was jerked back to reality, however, when he heard his name being called.
"Harry!"
He turned around. Sirius was coming up the stairs.
"Hey," Sirius said as he reached the top. "Harry," he continued, "you know, your stuff is downstairs already."
"Oh," Harry answered. He already knew this, of course, and was searching his mind for an excuse for leaving the living room.
"Um," Harry finally added, "Hedwig-she's still outside. She usually goes to my bedroom window. I'm just going to get her."
"Oh," Sirius replied, "OK."
Sirius looked at Harry for a bit, rather concerned.
"Harry, are you alright?" Sirius asked, "I mean, is there something bothering you?"
Harry took a deep breath. Of course there was something bothering him. Things had been bothering him ever since Voldemort rose again. There was so many bad things that Harry wanted to say to Sirius at that moment. Harry's anger gave him a new sense of power, and the feeling of authority. However, he buried those feelings deep down, and refused to let them out.
He faked a smile and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine." To Harry's relief, Sirius smiled as well.
"Good," Sirius said as he gave Harry a pat on the back, "good."
"Well, I'm gonna go - get Hedwig," Harry said.
"Alright," and Sirius went back down the stairs and to the living room.Harry made his way into his bedroom, where, sure enough, Hedwig was waiting outside the window.
Harry opened the window and Hedwig soared in.
"C'mon," Harry told her as he held out his arm, "We're leaving soon."
Hedwig flew onto Harry's forearm, and together they left the room.
Harry made his way down the hallway, saying good-bye to the painting of Godric, and to all of the other paintings which wished him farewell.
*****
The cars sent by the Ministry finally showed up to take Ron, Harry, and Hermione to King's Cross, where they would board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4 at 11:30 am.
"Goodbye!" Sirius said to them all as they left.
"Bye!" Ron said.
"Bye, Sirius," added Hermione, giving him a hug, "Thanks for everything! And good luck at the Ministry!"
"Thanks," Sirius replied kindly, "Have a safe ride."
Sirius at last turned to Harry. "Well, I guess this is it," Sirius said, putting his hands on Harry's shoulders.
"I guess so," Harry replied.
"Excited?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah," Harry smiled.
"Well," Sirius continued, giving Harry a quick hug, "I expect I'll see you soon - Professor Dumbledore says I'm welcome to visit the school at anytime."
"Cool," said Harry, "Come soon, then."
"I will," Sirius smiled.
"Bye," Harry sighed.
"Goodbye," Sirius replied.
And with that, Harry, Ron and Hermione all walked outside.
The Ministry workers had already packed their things into the trunk, and were now holding the doors open for them.
"Ready?" one of the men asked.
Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at one another. Harry then looked back at Godric's Castle, with an ill foreboding that he wouldn't lay eyes upon it ever again. He shook his head of those ridiculous thoughts and sighed."Yeah," he answered, "I'm ready."
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Whew, that took me about half an hour to type out. lol.
-Summer :)