Disclaimer: I own nothin'.

~*A Change of Mind*~

Chapter 3

Diagon Alley

Harry didn't notice it before but both Professor Dumbledore and Lupin changed clothes before they left Privet Drive so they would fit in like the rest of them. When Sirius turned into a dog, Harry almost burst into laughter when he saw the look on the Dursleys' face when they saw Sirius do that. They all went to the Leaky Cauldron by the underground. Harry saw that Professor Dumbledore wore an interesting suit that could surpass him as a normal, loving grandfather and Remus was wearing a blue shirt and black long pants. Sirius had to put on a collar, which he felt very uncomfortable wearing as he kept trying to scratch it off. Remus let Harry hold on to Sirius's leash.

The journey there was quiet. Harry walked beside Lupin and held Sirius's leash, who was in his dog form, trotted beside him. Dumbledore was walking beside Lupin; both of them seemed to be in a deep conversation. The Dursleys, on the other hand, were walking way behind the four of them, so that other people wouldn't think that they were actually with the 'weird' bunch.

Harry was really looking forward to getting there. It was partly because he wanted to show off to the Dursleys that he was famous. I mean, c'mon. If you were treated the same way he was, wouldn't you feel the same?

When they outside the Leaky Cauldron, all seven of them entered together. Harry glanced over towards Aunt Petunia, who was looking extremely uncomfortable at the state of the place. Harry could see that Dudley and Uncle Vernon displayed the same expression on their faces. Harry knew very well that she wouldn't enter a place like this ever again even if her life depended on it. Harry couldn't help but to snicker. Remus turned towards Harry.

"Sorry. Couldn't help myself," Harry said, now smiling away.

Lupin smiled. It was the first time during this trip that he saw Harry laughing. They made their way to the back of the Leaky Cauldron and Uncle Vernon snorted. There was nothing there but a brick wall and a dustbin.

"Buying your things here, Harry? A little empty, isn't it?" Uncle Vernon smirked.

Harry sighed as Dumbledore looked at him.

"Why don't you do it, Harry?" Dumbledore suggested and Harry nodded.

He took out his wand and counted.

'Three up… two across. Ah this is the brick,' he said to himself. 'Here goes nothing.'

He tapped the brick. The Dursleys burst into laughter as he did this. Harry let them laugh, as he now felt confident that he tapped the right brick. He backed up a bit and the brick he tapped began to quiver. Before the Dursleys' very eyes, the bricks began to move, creating an archway large enough for all of them to go through. Harry smiled to himself as he, once again saw the look of disbelieve on their faces.

They made their way through the archway and then, there they were in Diagon Alley. He could see many people there as it was already nearing the beginning of school. Harry was excited of the hassle and bustle in Diagon Alley. He hadn't been there for quite a while now and he beginning to miss it. Professor Dumbledore and Remus were behind him, explaining to the Dursleys' about the place. Harry, not wanting to hear the things he already knew, decided to walk with Snuffles to the nearest shop.

Suddenly, Harry could hear somebody calling his name from somewhere in the crowd. Harry turned around and saw Ron and Hermione waving madly at him, obviously trying to grab his attention. Harry just beamed.
"Harry!" Ron yelled, as he was getting through the crowd to Harry. "Ouch! You stepped on my toe, Hermione."
" Sorry," apologised Hermione.

"Fancy meeting you here," said Ron.

"Hey guys. Buying some last minutes stuff too?" Harry asked as both of his best friends managed to reach him.
"Yeah. I need to re-stock my potions stuff. My supply of black beetle eyes is running a bit low. I have to restock them before Snape kills me," informed Hermione.
"Hey Harry. How 'bout we go and take a look at the Quidditch stuff? I… Merlin's beard! Is that Professor Lupin?" Ron exclaims as he saw Remus as he was walking over towards them.

Harry could hear the faint mumble behind him of Uncle Vernon mumbling something about Remus not even capable of teaching a kid to ride a bike. Harry ignored it and was sure that both Ron and Hermione haven't noticed their presences.
"Professor. You came back!" said Ron.

"Hello Ron, Hermione. Nice to see that you haven't forgotten about me," Remus laughed when he noticed the surprise in Ron's voice.
"Professor Lupin! Please tell me that you will be teaching us again this year," Hermione exclaimed, looking just as excited as Ron.

Remus just smiled at their reaction of his presence.
"We shall see. Professor Dumbledore hasn't mention anything of wanting me to teach Defence Against Dark Arts. We better get going and start looking for the things you need to buy, Harry," said Remus.
Remus turned towards Harry.
"Have enough money on you, Harry?" he asked.

Harry noticed that the Dursleys were now looking at him. Harry knew that by now they should know that their money was worthless here from Professor Dumbledore. So when they heard Lupin mention money, they naturally wanted to get their hands on some.
"No. I spent most of it during the last time I was at Hogsmeade," Harry said quickly.
"Okay then, first stop, Gringotts. Let's go, Harry," said Remus, raising one of his eyebrows at Harry's peculiar behaviour.

Harry nodded and walked with his friends towards Gringotts, the Dursleys somewhere behind them. They were chatting about what happened at 'The Burrow' after Harry was dropped at Privet Drive.
"You guys really haven't noticed them?" Harry asked suddenly, looking at both of them.
"Notice who, Harry? Oh, you mean Snuffles? I've noticed-" said Ron, giving a pat on Snuffles head.
"That wasn't whom I meant," Harry said, cutting Ron off.

He pointed towards the three people whom Ron knew very well and clearly he was dumbfounded but Hermione didn't recognize them at all, looked back at Harry.
"Who do you mean Harry? I didn't see anyone that I can recognize," asked Hermione.

Ron and Harry looked at each other.
"Well, now that I think about it, I don't think Herm has ever seen them before," Ron pointed out after recovering from the shock.
"Herm, do you remember the Dursleys?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yes, of course. You have been talking about them for the past few years but I… Oh, my word. Harry, are those…" Hermione trailed off.

Harry nodded weakly.
"I'm afraid so," replied Harry sadly.
"But... but... Why are they here? I mean... muggles...come here?" Ron stammered. "Not that all muggles are bad, Hermione, but…"

Harry just sighed.
"It's a long story. Actually, not that long but I'll tell you later in the train," he said.

Both Ron and Hermione just nodded their head. Finally, they arrived at Gringotts. They all went inside except Dumbledore who told them to meet him at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour when they are done. The goblin in charge asked them for the key to Harry's vault and Harry handed it to the goblin. Then he called another goblin to take them down there, seeing that everything was in order.
Naturally, the Dursleys wanted to come along for the ride. Two carts were needed to fit all of them. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Sirius were in the first and The Dursleys and Remus were in the other. After a few short minutes, they arrived at Harry's vault. The goblin placed the key and a green smoke came out. Once it was opened, Harry saw three figures passed him with a blur but he knew that they must have been the Dursleys. They were practically stealing Harry's money.
"Hey, get out of there! This is Harry Potter's money!" the goblin yelled before Harry could.

Uncle Vernon turned his head towards the goblin while he was still filling money into his pockets and said, "We're his guardians. We have every right to this money."
"No they aren't! No you're not!" Harry yelled out loud.
"Yes we are! Now shut up before I kill you!" Uncle Vernon snapped at him.
"Put back all the money now or you'll be sorry!" Sirius, who had turned back into his human form, growled, his wand pointed towards them.

The Dursleys stopped dead in their track but didn't do as he told them to do.
"NOW!!" Sirius yelled, as light was starting to form at the tip of his wand.

Uncle Vernon gave a yell as he emptied all the gold he took while Aunt Petunia and Dudley did the same. After making sure they hadn't taken anything, the goblin pulled them out of the vault and Harry stepped in, taking a little bit of the money his parents had left him into his pouch.
"Never do that again or the next time you're in danger, it'll be because of me!" Sirius warned them.

Then he transfigure back into his dog form. Lupin, on the other hand, had to perform a memory charm on the goblin to make forget that he had just saw Sirius Black.

When Harry was done, they climbed into the cart. The Dursleys were still shaking from the warning Sirius had given them and soon they were walking around Diagon Alley, getting Harry his school supplies without a sound from them. They kept their distance from the black dog, which was at Harry's side.



~*~


It was nearly nightfall when Harry had got everything he needed for school. They went to meet Professor Dumbledore and all of them decided to spend the night there and travel on the Hogwarts' train tomorrow. Harry knew that Voldemort wouldn't come after him with Dumbledore around.

After their dinner (The Dursleys didn't even bother to sit on the same table with Harry, Lupin, Dumbledore, Sirius, Hermione and most of the Weasleys whom Harry met during his hunt for his school supplies that evening), all of them got six rooms to accommodate all of them. One was for Hermione and Ginny. Next to their room was Harry and Ron's room. Remus and Sirius got the room next to them. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley got the room across the hall from Sirius and Lupin's while the Dursleys got the room next to them, across from Harry and Ron's room. Dumbledore got the room next to that.
Both Harry and Ron didn't get much sleep that night because Ron was busy asking questions about what had really happened that day until Professor Dumbledore could do such a thing as asking the Dursleys to come with Harry to Hogwarts.
"C'mon Harry. Something bad must have happened if even Dumbledore is here with you," Ron asked Harry who was busy packing his stuff into his trunk so that they could leave quickly tomorrow morning.

Hermione was there too. She and Ron had placed themselves on Ron's bed.
"Yeah Harry. You always tell us. Why is it that it's different this time?" Hermione agreed.

Finally, Harry sighed and shut his trunk. He took a seat on his bed.
"Do you remember what you told me yesterday?" Harry asked Hermione and she nodded.
"Yeah. I told you not to worry because Voldemort would never attack you there," said Hermione.
"Well, he did," said Harry.

Hermione looked shocked and Ron fell off the bed. It was obvious to Harry that he shouldn't have told them if these were their reactions. Ron later got back on the bed and rubbing his elbow.
"He did? Oh my god. Harry, are you okay? Did he do anything to you?" Hermione asked with concern.

Harry just nodded.
"But Dumbledore said that he would never-" Ron managed to find his voice
"I know but Voldemort did. He tried to attack me… with Dementors," Harry cut Ron off.
"With WHAT?" both Ron and Hermione exclaimed together.
"Yeah but I managed to hold them off using the Patronus spell. Luckily for me Professor Lupin was just about to get me to go to his house or something. He managed to sneak up on Voldemort but he apparated before Lupin could do anything," Harry explained.

Harry had totally left out some finer things like him about to faint and Wormtail able to use his metallic hand for a wand, as he didn't want to make a big deal about it.
"Wow. I never thought that he could do that," Ron said but his voice was barely a whisper.
"Yeah. And then, Sirius and Dumbledore showed up. Dumbledore thought it was better if they'd come to Hogwarts with us so Voldemort couldn't use them to get to me," Harry continued.

Ron snorted.
"Yeah right. Even if Voldemort did capture them and held them hostage, you still wouldn't rescue them, right Harry?"

Harry chuckled.

Hermione looked at both of them.
"But Harry, you've got to remember that Mr. And Mrs. Dudley did raise you. It would be the least you could do," she said.
"Well, that was what Sirius told me. I guess, at some point, it is true. So, I didn't object," Harry shrugged.
"Don't worry Harry. I'm sure that Dudley won't come near you," Ron said, patting Harry's back.
"I sure hope you're right, Ron. I sure hope so," said Harry, feeling a little worry.


~*~



"Mum, why do we have to follow Harry to his awful school?" Dudley wined.

He was lying in between Mrs. Dursley and Mr. Dursley (A/N: god knows how they managed that.).
"We don't have a choice, Duddikins. I don't want the bad man to come after you and take my little angel away from me," Mrs. Dudley said, hugging Dudley close to her.
"Petunia, did you see all that gold in there?" asked Mr. Dursley suddenly.
"Yes. Oh Vernon, we have to get it from him," Mrs. Dursley beamed, thinking about the gold.
"We have to. We will think of a way to get it from him," Mr. Dursley said.

He was thinking of ways he could get the key away from Harry until he fell asleep.