Chapter 8

Knockturn Alley

Dear Diary,

I've been thinking about what Harry said in his last letter. I don't really know why we've never been close before. I guess 'cause he's older than me and he's always been close to Ron and Hermione, and now that Ron is older, well, he wouldn't want to hang out with his younger sister. I'm quite good friends with Hermione... but... well, I don't know. Perhaps we can be much better friends this year...

Ginny put her chin in her hands with a sigh. How to tell Harry exactly that the reason they were never really good friends was because she was too shy to hang out with him? And not just because she was a shy person by nature but because she'd had a crush on him since practically forever? Scary.

Today's kind of frightening because we're going to Diagon Alley. And yes, alright, I've been there hundreds of times before but this time it's different. I'm meeting up with Harry. Alone. By ourselves. Without Ron. And... we've been writing letters all summer, and I thought I could detect something in them... something like him maybe liking me back and oh, if only. But today... today has to be the most perfect day. He will meet me and smile and we will walk hand in hand down the road and he will bend down to kiss me and all will be perfect from that moment on. It will be perfect because he's Harry Potter... and I'm... Merlin, I'm Ginny Weasley and he's Harry Potter and what am I THINKING? This is going to be a--

Molly poked her head around Ginny's open door, disturbing Ginny's writing frenzy. She cleared her throat and Ginny jumped, sending her quill flying.

"Ginny, are you nearly ready to go to Diagon Alley?" Molly asked.

Ginny nodded, not lifting her eyes from her journal.

"What are you writing?" Molly asked curiously. She took a step into the room and looked around.

Ginny looked up quickly, not meeting her mother's gaze. "Nothing."

Molly regarded her suspiciously. "Alright... well, hurry along then."

Ginny nodded again, absorbed in her thoughts. Sighing, Molly backed out and shut the door. Ginny closed her journal and slid it under her mattress. She hugged her pillow to herself. She'd arranged to meet Harry privately at Diagon Alley, and she still hadn't told him how she felt about him. In fact, how embarrassing is it going to be to see him anyway? I've never communicated with him so much in my entire life, and now all of a sudden, we're revealing our inner-most thoughts to eachanother! It's mortifying! Potentially humiliating! Ginny could feel her cheeks burning. She didn't know whether to be incredibly excited or desperately afraid. Everything was riding on today.

"Ginny!" Ron opened the door and stuck his head around it. "We're going now!"

"Okay." Ginny slid off her bed and took her hat and her purse. "I'm ready."

"What were you writing?" Ron asked innocently. Ginny's hackles rose.

"Nothing! I wish people would stop asking me!" she shot at him as she stalked past. "How did you know anyway?"

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Sheesh, sorry."

He watched as Ginny departed the scene, frowning to himself. Ginny was still writing to Harry, he knew that much. And not just once or twice a week, but every day! Sometimes twice a day! Ron had received a letter from Harry the other day finally, but to his disappointment it hadn't been very exciting; it had just outlined what he'd been doing and 'fondly hoped for the start of the new school year to come quickly'.

Where was the banter? The Quidditch talk? The lamenting of not being with Ron and Hermione?

Ah, Hermione...

Ron sighed to himself briefly before returning to the issue at hand. Where was the complaining about Dudley? The screaming about how unfair the Dursleys were to him and how rotten the food was and how Hedwig was only allowed out sometimes and even then how he felt jealous of her? What had happened to turn Harry's letters into the epitome of dullness? Ron rather considered it to be a letter that Harry would have sent Professor McGonagall, not Ron Weasley, his best friend! Something had to be done.

At the fireplace, ten minutes later

"Alright, I'll go next," Molly fussed, clutching a fistful of Floo Powder. She stepped into the grate. "Diagon Alley!" POOMF! She was gone.

Arthur winked merrily at Ron and Ginny. "See you there! Don't get lost now!" he joked. "Diagon Alley!" POOMF!

Ginny took a handful of the Floo Powder. She started to step into the grate. Ron took her sleeve on impulse.

"Gin," he said curiously. "Gin, are you meeting up with Harry at Diagon Alley?"

Ginny shrugged, not meeting his gaze.

"Ginny," Ron said, raising his eyebrow quizzically. "Surely you are?"

"Yeah," Ginny said slowly, matching his facial expression. "So?"

"When?" Ron asked.

"This afternoon, if you must know," Ginny said, looking back at the grate pointedly.

"Can I come?" Ron asked eagerly. "Will Hermione be there? Can we all go together?"

"Um..." Ginny gave him a panicked look. "I... don't... know. No." She stepped into the grate quickly and cried, "Diagon Alley!"

"Ginny!" Ron said, incensed. POOMF! "Oh, sod!" He jumped in after her. "Diagon Alley!"

POOMF!

"Uhhh," Ron moaned, rolling out of a particularly dusty and grimy grate. He blinked, looking around him. This wasn't the usual grate to Diagon Alley... oh, sod, he'd said it wrong. Bollocks. His mother was always at him to enunciate properly when using Floo Powder and it looked like she'd been right. Double bollocks. The room was dark, the wallpaper peeling away from the walls and the carpet moldy and cold. There were hideous trinkets all around him, and an ugly, ugly hag peering down at him.

"Hello, my pretty," she cooed down at him, wagging a finger in his face. "Wrong grate did you come to? Lookit what the cat dragged in, Mister Petals," she said to the cat purring on her lap. Ron squinted at the hag, winced and decided to analyse the situation. He was in a scary room with a hag addressing him with endearments and there was a cat named Mister Petals...

Time to run.

"Er..." Ron said, getting to his feet and dusting himself off gingerly, "Don't mean to be rude or anything but I gotta run. See ya!"

"Oh, no, no," the hag said delicately, indicating a chair. "Sit."

"Ah, I'd- I'd rather not," Ron said, furtively looking for a door.

"You aren't going anywhere," the hag said, looking up at him with a ghoulish smile. "I've been waiting for a handsome boy like you. What's your name?"

"Um," Ron said, his mind blank. Handsome boy? "Percy. And I'm taken. Have been for years," he added hurriedly. "Practically engaged. Must run. Where's the door?"

"I took the door away years ago. Made no sense to have one. No one ever visits," the hag sulked. "So you're stuck here with me forever."

Ron finally spotted a window. He pulled his wand out of his pocket. "Much as I'd like to, I can't. Wife at home. Seventeen kids. Job. Responsibilities. Sorry about the window, the Reparo charm ought to fix it." Ron took up a heavy book from the table and launched it at the window, shattering the glass. "Bye!" He clambered through the window, out of the little yard and through the grimy, darkened streets of Knockturn Alley before coming to a halt in Diagon Alley, covered in dirt and panting with exertion.

"Ron!" Hermione rushed up to him and engulfed him in a huge hug before realising how dirty he was. "Ugh! You're completely covered in disgusting stuff!"

"Thanks," Ron said weakly, choking for air. "Let go."

Hermione stepped back and took out her wand. "Scourgify."

The dirt was gone. Ron straightened up, smiling as he took a few deep breaths. "Phew. Hi, Hermione, how are you?"

"Good!" Hermione said happily, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek exuberantly. "I'm so happy to see you! How was your holiday?"

"Alright," Ron said, shrugging. "Could've been more exciting, I suppose. How was yours?"

"Excellent! I finished all my homework in the first month, then Mum and Dad took me to Australia for two weeks! Look at my tan! And, oh Ron, I missed you!" Hermione suddenly threw herself into Ron's arms. "I've taken you for granted all this time, Ron, and it just suddenly hit me while I was lazing on Bondi Beach in Sydney, I really appreciate you!"

"Er..." Ron was at a loss for words, though felt much pleased. "Thanks!"

Hermione disentangled herself from his arms, smiling up at him. "Let's go find your family!"

"Sure!" Ron agreed, ears ringing pleasantly and a crimson blush creeping up his neck. "Um... where's Harry?"

"Oh, he and Ginny went off ages ago to do something," Hermione said airily. "Come on, look, there's your mum!" She took off still attached to Ron's hand, so he was forced to jog along behind her.

"Oh, there you are, Ronald!" Molly said, eyeing his hand attached to Hermione's. "Where did you go?"

"Knockturn Alley," Ron said sheepishly, letting go of Hermione's hand surreptitiously. "It's alright, Mum, honestly, it was a mistake! I got out of there really quickly."

Molly covered her mouth in shock. "Are... are you alright? Did you see anyone? Did you talk to anyone? Did anyone see you down there?" She fussed over him, brushing dirt off his clothes and patting his hair back into place. Ron swatted at her.

"Mum!"

"Oh, it's fine, Molly," Arthur said fondly, coming over and draping an arm across her shoulders. "He looks fine, and he's got Hermione to look after him now."

"Yes, thank goodness you found him, Hermione," Molly said, smiling fondly at the brown-haired girl. "You do look after Ron well. Well, let's go into Madam Malkin's – Ron, you'll need a new dress robe for this year."

Hermione giggled beside him. Ron groaned.