Chapter 3:  Diagon Alley

            Diagon Alley was bustling busily as always as five bright red headed figures made their way towards Gringots, the Wizards Bank.  Ginny was listening to her Older brothers Fred and George joking around about their latest wheeze:  Turning Ron into a Parrot that only said one thing: "I love Hermione."  Ron was still a bit mad about that, but the twins didn't notice.  The twins had taken a day off from running their joke shop to go with their family as the last two Weasleys bought school supplies.  As her Mum went into the bank to get money for their school things, Ginny looked around for any sign of Harry or Hermione.  This was where they were supposed to meet, and she was anxious to see a sign of either of her friends.  As she was looking around, Ginny saw that many witches were all gazing in one direction, their eyes slightly glazed over.  Ginny, overcome with curiosity of what could possibly make THAT many witches look like that, looked in the direction of their gazes and gaped.  Striding straight towards her wearing Muggle clothes was Harry Potter.  However this was NOT the Harry Potter that she remembered.  NO THIS Harry was tall as tall as Bill, but with broad shoulders and the muscular physic of well… almost that of a body builder.  What's more, his normally short messy jet-black hair was now long, to his shoulders, and gathered behind him in a ponytail.  Finally, his brilliant green eyes no longer hid behind glasses, because he was not wearing any.  What was probably the most astonishing thing, however, was the white, sliver, and gold phoenix sitting on his right shoulder, almost as if she had been there her whole life.  By the time Ginny had taken this all in, and felt her heart totally become lost to this boy, no MAN before her, Harry reached the group and grinned.  Grinning should be outlawed… wait… I WANT him to grin at me, even if it DOES send shivers up my spine… ESPECIALLY if it sends shivers up my spine.

"It's SO good to see you guys, you have no clue how much I've missed you," he said as he enfolded her in tight hug. "You've really grown Ginny, you're gonna have to start fighting the guys off with a stick when we get to Hogwarts."  He said stepping back from her and gazing into her eyes.  Ginny barely noticed Lily nipping her ear affectionately in greetings; she had suddenly lost herself in Harry's eyes.  They glowed with power, and… love? That can't be right Ginny, you're just imagining things, and Harry doesn't love you, she thought to herself.  Then the words that he spoke made her heart burst with joy, and her eyes widen in surprise.

"Why don't you let me decide who I do and do not love, Ginny," Harry spoke softly, so that only she could hear.  She was about to reply when.

"HARRY?!?!" exclaimed Ron.  "IS THAT YOU?!?!?"


Harry turned his attention to Ron and grinned.  "Surprised mate?" he laughed.  "I thought that you would be happier to see me than that."

"OH" exclaimed George.

"MY," yelled Fred.

"GOD" they both screamed.

"Harry what have those Muggles been feeding you, and where can I get some?" asked Fred, with a grin on his face.

"Forget using it for yourself, we could make a new wheeze out of that," exclaimed George.  "We could call it 'Bodybuilder Blasts' we'd make a FORTUNE!"

Harry chuckled.  "For your information, I've been working out a lot since I didn't have ANYONE to talk to for a MONTH" Harry said, making Ron look guilty.  "I've also have a bit of a growth spurt, as I told Ginny in my letters."

Now the Weasley's were looking at Ginny and Harry in surprise.  "Letters?  What Letters?" asked Ron, looking a bit angry that his best friend was writing LETTERS to his sister.

"Well since you and Hermione didn't write to anyone but YOURSELVES this summer, I HAD to talk to someone!" replied Harry, with a twinkle in his eyes, not unlike that of Dumbledore.

"Did someone say something about me?" piped in a new voice, as a very pretty and feminine Hermione stepped up to the group.  "MY GOD, Harry is that YOU??" she exclaimed as she saw him.

Harry grinned. "Yes Hermione it's me, I've grown a bit."

Finally, Ginny found her voice.  "OK I've had a bit too many surprises for today.  I don't want to hear about anything else that's new. NOTHING" she said vehemently.  Harry chuckled, and put an arm around her shoulders, and drew her into another hug, this one witnessed by three astonished Weasley boys, one happy Hermoine, and one EXTATIC Mrs. Weasley who had finally gotten out of Gringots.  "Harry!  Oh dear you HAVE grown.  And finally noticing our young Ginny I see," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

To everyone's surprise, Harry merely grinned back at her and replied:  "Yes I believe I have Mrs. Weasley, and I must beg your forgiveness for not noticing the wonderful person that your daughter is for all this time when she was right in front of me."

At this the three brothers looked as if they were sizing Harry up to see what it would take to beat him up, and not liking the ideas that they were getting, Hermione was looking smugly between Harry and Ginny, Mrs. Weasley's smile had, if anything gotten even bigger. And Ginny… Ginny was looking at Harry in astonishment, and with hope in her eyes. We'll talk more later, Harry's voice said in her mind.  If she had been in any other place, but in Harry's arms, she would have jumped in surprise.  With a mysterious smile on his face, Harry let go for a second, and then took her hand in his.

"Well," he said looking around brightly.  "Shall we go get our things?"

After the initial excitement, everything toned down for a little while.  Everyone was still casting furtive glances in Harry's direction every chance they got, everyone that is except Ginny, who was still trying to reconcile herself to the fact that Harry actually felt the same way towards her that she felt towards him.

You know, I'll bet my wand that they all think that I'm mad Harry thought.

*Considering the fact that you don't need a wand to do magic, that's not saying much.*  Countered Merlin's voice.

You know what I meant, Old Man.  I'm still not sure how much to tell them, Harry replied.

*Well my boy you're going to have to tell young Virginia over there at least some of it, since you decided to show off your telepathic abilities to her,* came Merlin's reply.

Actually I'm planning on telling Ginny as much as I can.  I don't like the idea of keeping things from her.

*You might want to keep the fact that you are an Arch-Mage from her.  Even if you DO trust her completely, you're really shouldn't put her in the position of keeping your identity a secret, especially when things start heating up,*  Merlin suggested.

I agree Harry returned, then turned his attention to his Ron and Ginny who were both gaping as Fred and George told them to pick out their choice of dress robes at Madam Malkin's. 

"But… Fred…" protested Ginny.  "How are you guys going to afford TWO new sets of dress robes?"

"Actually," replied George, "we're buying four new sets of dress robes, thanks to our secret partner." This with a grin to Fred and Harry who were both standing close together.

"You never HAVE told us who would be crazy enough to back the two of YOU" Ron broke in, even though he knew perfectly well that Harry was their backer.  "I mean… come on, you can tell US!"

"Sorry Ronnikins," said Fred.  "Our backer left strict instructions telling us that we could not tell ANYONE as to his or her identity.  Not even to our own family."  This was said quite firm.  Then Fred and George took Ron and Hermione took Ginny towards the racks of dress robes.

"Harry, I wanted to thank you for what you did for the twins," said Mrs. Weasley. 

Harry looked at her in surprise.  "You knew it was me?" he asked.

"Of course," came her reply.  "Who else could have given them exactly 1000 galleons between the time we saw them at Hogwarts and when you kids came back to King's Cross.  I just don't know why you don't want Ron and Ginny to know."

"In our fifth year Ron was a bit touchy about the fact that I have more money than he does," replied Harry softly.  "I didn't want him to think that I was trying to give him charity or anything like that.  So I told the twins to buy him dress robes and not tell him they were from me.  I told him last year however, and he didn't seem to mind much.  I was just keeping that from the twins because I didn't know how you or Mr. Weasley would react."

"That's sweet of you dear and of course I understand, but what about Ginny?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh well…" replied Harry, as his face flushed a bit.  "I'm planning on telling her everything soon.  I just think it would be better for me to tell her everything at once that's all."

"Very well dear, if that's what you want, then Arthur and I will of course follow your wishes, especially since it's not any of our business.  BUT I believe I WOULD like to know your intentions towards my daughter," said Mrs. Weasley, suddenly piercing Harry with her gaze.

Harry met her gaze with one of his own, and was about to respond when suddenly black robed figures apparated all over the outside of the shop and began firing off curses at everything that moved.  "Harry Potter," came a voice from one of the Death Eaters.  "We know that you are in that shop, come out, or we will start killing your precious mudbloods and mudblood lovers."   To emphasize her point, one Death Eater grabbed a very scared looking young girl that looked to be a first year at Hogwarts by her size, and pointed his wand at her.  Everyone in the shop was surprised as Harry calmly walked outside, despite Hermoine and the Weasleys all pleading with him to stay, and faced the Death Eaters.

"Let the girl go Bellatrix," came Harry's confident voice.  "Unless you're so scared of a sixteen year old that you have to hide behind a first year that is."

As soon as he had walked outside all 20 Death Eater had their wand trained on Harry, but he did not so much a flinch as he looked into the mask of Bellatrix Lestrange, who was holding the terrified girl.  With a snarl, Bellatrix threw the girl aside and raised her wand at Harry, but Harry was no longer there.  As soon as the girl was clear, Harry sprang into action.  His wand was out before any of the Death Eaters could react and shouted out a stunning charm.  "STUPIFY," he yelled, blowing five of them off their feet and out cold by the impact of his powerful spell.  As he was doing that, Harry's Phoenix Lily was swooping down from above and attacking anything with a Wand trained on Harry.  Harry started methodically cursing Death Eater after Death Eater until only Bellatrix remained, stunned as she watched the Boy Who Lived in action.

"Well Potter, it seems that you have been practicing since we last met," sneered Bellatrix, even though Harry could feel the terror coursing through her body at the thought of Harry's wand which was now trained on her.

"The only reason why you are still standing Bellatrix is because I have a message for you take back to your Master," said Harry.  "Tell him that I am warning him here and now.  If he even thinks of attacking my family or friends, I will take their pain out of the ranks of his Death Eaters.  And when I run out of them, I'll take it out of his flesh."

"My master will definitely hear your words Potter," spat out the conscious Death Eater before she apparated away.  As soon as he had gone, several Ministry wizards appeared all around the shop, looking at the carnage in a great degree of shock.

"M-Mr. P-Potter, could y-you please explain what just happened here?" asked the ranking Auror.  "And would you please tell me why you are performing magic outside of school?  This is ground for expulsion you know."

"Don't be stupid Adam," said a gruff voice from the crowd. As he stepped into view, Mad Eye Moody had his wand out and looked as dangerous and disfigured as ever.  "Potter there probably just saved the lives of everyone here.  He's got some moves on him, he does." 

"Moody," spat out the Auror named Adam.  "I take it that this," he gestured around, " is all your doing?"

"Nope," grinned Moody.  "All that was Potter over there."

"WHAT!?!?!?" screamed Adam, "THAT is IMPOSSIBLE!  A Sixteen year old could NOT take out twenty trained adult wizards."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but since the two of you are talking about me, I thought that you should know that I didn't 'take out' twenty adult wizards" broke in Harry.

"See!  I knew that you were lying Mood—"

"I actually only took out these ten.  Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Fred, and George Weasley and Hermione Granger took out those five over there, and Ginny Weasley took out Pettigrew over there, and Lily finished off those three" said Harry as he pointed to all the Death Eaters in turn.  At this, all of the Aurors, including Mad Eye Moody, were staring at him in disbelief. 

"How did you know who hit which Death Eater Potter?" asked Moody. 

"Oh Lily saw the whole thing, and she made sure that I knew which Death Eaters I needed to take care of, and which I didn't have to worry about," replied Harry.

"Lily?" asked one of the Aurors.  "Who is Lily" As he asked this, the Phoenix in question flew back down after checking all of Diagon Alley, and settled on Harry's shoulder.  At the sight of her, all the Aurors looked even more dumbstruck, if that was possible.

"Well, I'd say that you'll be getting the Order of Merlin for this Potter," said Moody with a smile on his face.  "Order of Merlin, First Class, in fact, I'll guarantee it as a member.  We'll be in contact," then turning to the Aurors.  "OK you lot, if I even HEAR that this fiasco has been misfiled with the Ministry, you won't have to worry about Fudge firing you, I will personally hunt down each one of you and feed you to my pet werewolf.  IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"  The last stated as he looked directly at the Auror named Adam. 

"Yes sir," came their weak responses, after a second.  Then they went about their work of gathering up all the unconscious Death Eaters.

"Good," then turning back to Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys, "Molly, you better get your lot back to Headquarters soon.  Go ahead and give me all the Hogwarts' lists and I'll get everything that they need straight away, and bring it by later.  Potter, do you mind if I borrow your Phoenix, Dumbledore needs to know about this immediately."  When Harry nodded, Moody quickly pulled out a quill and parchment scribbled some things down, and tied it to Lily's leg.  "Take this to Albus Dumbledore as soon as possible," he said to the phoenix.  After Lily made sure that everything was OK, she spread her wings, and flew off in the direction of Hogwarts.

"Mr. Moody, I need to ask you a favour," said Harry after Lily had left.

"What can I do for you Potter?" asked Mad Eye.

"I need you to make sure IN PERSON that Peter Pettigrew's capture is not covered up, and that the truth is known about him.  I want him tried for the death of my parents," said Harry firmly.


After a second of staring at Harry's face with both of his eyes, Moody nodded silently.  "I'll make sure that Fudge himself does it.  This attack was too public to be hidden, so Fudge will have no choice but to try everyone pulicly," answered Moody.  After that, he silently handed Mrs. Weasley a portkey in the shape of a golf club, and as soon as everyone had grabbed on, they were spinning on their way to the #12 Grummand Place.