Chapter 9 – Intern Alley
After breakfast the next morning Wendy was to go down to her house to get more stuff for going to Hogwarts. The others were going to the Belfast equivalent of Diagon alley, Intern Alley.
"Do you live far away from here?" asked Harry.
"No not far, about a mile." Replied Wendy.
"Come on we have to go now Wendy," said Walter.
"Ok you have to tell me all about it when you get back." She told Harry.
They all had become very friendly with Wendy, Hermione and Ginny would read books with her and then talk about them after and then she would have fun with Harry and Ron they would teach her how to play chess and give her a very detailed description on quidditch. Wendy enjoyed the wizarding world, learning all the different spells, charms and learning about all the different creatures. She had named her owl bludger; she had taken to quidditch quite well.
"We should get going too" said Lillian.
"How are we getting there?" asked Ginny.
"Floo I'm afraid." She replied sadly, "I hate travelling by Floo but Dumbledore hasn't had time to set up a portkey. He has been so busy with the order."
They lined up in front of the fire. "Ok, I'll go first, then you can follow." Lillian threw the powder into the fire and said clearly, "Intern Alley." The others followed behind her and emerged in an alley similar to Diagon alley only a lot smaller. The small but busy street was full of shops and cafes. Teenagers were running back and forward from shops getting their school supplies.
"Ok, meet back here at about 12 o'clock and we will go and get some lunch. And for heavens sake be careful," whispered Lillian. "Death eaters don't usually attack here but we can never tell so stick together." Lillian strode of to a little bookshop on the corner of the alley.
"So where do you want to go first?" asked Ron.
"Well I was talking to Walter about Intern alley and he said there was a nice sweet shop called Sugar Magic, it's just down from here." Said Hermione. They nodded in agreement and proceeded down the street. Harry was getting strange looks from passers by but he ignored them.
Sugar Magic had every sweet you could ever imagine. Sugar quills, pepper imps, acid pops and much more. The shop was crawling with children going in every direction buying every sweet they could get their hands on.
"Look they have my favourite!" Hermione dragged Ron over to where all the different flavour creams were. Harry walked over to where a woman was standing giving out free samples.
"Try magical fortune cookies, a predicting snack! Here you go" she handed Harry a cookie. He cracked it open and read the bit of parchment inside.
What you need to complete your task is right in front of your eyes.
Harry thought, the only real task he had was to defeat Voldemort, but was the answer to his problems really in front of his eyes? He snapped out of his daydream when the others called him from the other end of the shop.
"Harry we are thinking of getting Wendy some sweets since she couldn't come today. Do you know what ones she likes?"
"Good idea. Just get her a mix of different ones because I'm not too sure what she likes."
They left with their moneybags lighter than before and headed for a quidditch shop. In the window was a firebolt with people staring at it with drool hanging out of their mouths; it had only been released in Belfast.
After a considerable amount of time in the quidditch shop looking at all the different brooms and Belfast quidditch team kits they decided to meet back with Lillian and go for lunch. They ate lunch in a nice little café called The Black Emu.
"Does anyone want to go anywhere else before we go back?" asked Lillian.
"Oh! Can we go to that bookshop you went to when we got here?" cried Hermione.
"Yes but we don't have long so be quick."
You didn't have to tell Hermione twice she got to the bookshop at the speed of light, the rest of them in her tracks. The shop contained books that were of interest to all of them. It even contained many books that would be held in the restricted section at Hogwarts. Hermione bought many books, Harry bought a book on defensive magic even Ron bought a book on quidditch. After paying for their purchases they decided to call it a day and head back to Lillian's.
Just as they approached the fireplaces Harry got a searing pain in his scar and blacked out.
"Harry, Harry are you ok?" the darkness faded and he realised he was on the ground with the others crowding round him.
What was it Harry was it You-Know-Who?" asked Ron.
"He's happy, really happy. Some thing has gone right for him." They gasped but Lillian on the other hand said "come on lets get you home"
They stood up and one by one flooed back to Lillian's in time to see a very moody Wendy storm out through the front door.