A/N) A shorter chapter then the previous two because of how it ends. I would've continued but I think that what James is about to tell Harry at the end of the chapter should be left as a one entry chapter.
DEDICATION: This chapter is dedicated to littlewolf-moony for being my 200th reviewer! Congratulations! (I honestly thought this story would only get 50 reviews in total! I'm amazed at how many people are enjoying this story! Thanks!)
Prongs Rides Again
Chapter Seven: Diagon Alley
"I really need a wand," James muttered, as he stared at his empty hand. He had never been without a wand since he left Hogwarts, and now to be in a house full of Witches and Wizards with wands was quite embarrassing. James wanted a wand, yet he was helping Harry and Sirius clean Grimmauld Place. The day of Harry's trial was drawing closer and James intended to go to support his son. He had asked Dumbledore for permission but the Headmaster hadn't replied. James was beginning to think that if he didn't answer then he would go. Harry needed someone who would support him. James couldn't understand why people were refusing to believe that Voldemort was back. The person who had killed his Lily was out there, and plotting to kill his son, the last thing he had left in the world that remained of Lily. If he lost Harry…he didn't know what he would do.
He picked up a worn out cloth and began scrubbing the floor. Sirius was on the other side of the room, sitting on his knees, scrubbing away like mad. He was constantly muttering under his breath about the 'cursed house' 'bloody parents and their Dark Arts…'. It was not very nice to hear Sirius speak of such things but James knew his friend was just mad that the room they were in refused to clean.
Literally it did refuse to clean.
Specks of dust littered every bit of furniture that sat in the room. The wallpaper was falling apart and the floorboards were a nasty brown colour. It was this substance that had refused to wash away, even with magic, so the two Wizards had decided to go it the Muggle way by using water and soap. It seemed to be working but half of the stains did not wash up, therefore increasing Sirius' anger.
James knew when not to annoy his friend.
"What do you need a wand for, Prongs, magic doesn't work here?" Sirius said bitterly.
"No, I mean, I need a wand to defend myself. My magic is a little rusty. Heck, when I tried to use your wand just now, I accidentally mispronounced 'Lumos' causing me to set the floorboards on fire. I think I really do need a wand."
"Go and get one then."
James rolled his eyes. "I can't."
"Why ever not?"
"I want Harry to come with me. He's worried about the trial. Going into the magical community will not help him," James sighed, "I'd ask you but unfortunately…"
Sirius cut him off. "…I'm a deranged maniac who wants to kill Harry Potter and restore the Dark Lord to full power." He quoted from the Daily Prophet which had published the article sometime after his escape from Azkaban but before he had met Harry. Sirius could very well believe that people would think he wanted to kill Harry, but people close to James should've realised how much Sirius cared for his Godson. He had survived Azkaban by thinking of Harry, and of James. And knowing that I was innocent.
"Well, what about Moony?"
"He's busy with the Order," James said, "I really want to take Harry to Diagon Alley. Mainly because I want to show him this place."
"He's already been there."
"I know but I missed that. I want to see Harry in the magical world, not here. I want to take him to Diagon Alley to buy all his school stuff."
Sirius sighed. "Look, do you want me to talk to him?"
"Would you?" James asked. He was afraid that Harry would say no; at least Sirius would be able to talk to him. James was sure Harry wasn't comfortable with him around yet.
"I'll talk to him as soon as we've finished tackling this floor, okay?"
"Thanks mate."
Harry was sitting with Ron and Hermione in the dining room when Sirius sought him out. "Can I have a word with you?"
"Sure," Harry nodded and followed his godfather from the room. "What's up?"
Sirius scratched the back of his head. "Well, you see, James was a bit worried if he asked you to go with him to Diagon Alley so I got the job."
Harry looked at him confused.
"Would you go with James to buy a new wand and your school supplies?"
"Sure." He turned to leave, but a thought struck him. "Did Dad really think I'd say no?"
Sirius chuckled remembering the conversation. "He did. Imagine that: the fearless James Potter afraid to ask his son to go out with him."
James' voice rang out. He had been watching and listening to the conversation, hiding in the room over. "I heard that, Padfoot!"
"You were, though!" he retorted. Harry grinned.
James stepped into the room looking embarrassed. "All right, you got me. So, you don't mind coming?"
"I'd love to!" Harry said. "It'll be nice to spend sometime with you."
James blushed, glad that Harry wanted anything to do with him. "Do you want to go now?" he asked. "The sooner I get a wand, the better I'll feel."
Harry thought about it for a second, but then realised that he should want to go with his father since he'd hadn't had any quality time with him since he had talked to him about his years at Hogwarts. Harry realised that his father was still reeling from the fact that his teenaged son had fought Voldemort and survived.
"Okay," Harry agreed.
James sighed relieved. "Thanks kid." He reached out and ruffled Harry's hair.
"DAD!"
Diagon Alley, as was always, jam-packed full of people. As father and son walked and toured the Alley, curious onlookers pointed them out. Whispers echoed round them, but for once Harry didn't mind, mainly because he was with his dad. Nothing could harm him while James Potter was protecting him.
No one dared to approach them. Protective parents walked the other way when they saw Harry, telling their children to not mingle with such a boy, however a few people merely nodded a James, obviously not wanting to socialise with him at that moment for fear of damaging their reputation. However, James didn't mind being looked at or ignored. At least he could talk to Harry without Witches and Wizards coming to shake his hand, like they had done at the Ministry.
First the two travelled to Gringotts where James visited the family vault, collecting money to spend. Then they went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions where James spent a lot of money on buying quality made robes for himself. All of his had been destroyed at Godric's Hollow. He had been wearing an assortment of robes supplied by Remus and Sirius, even though they had been too big for him.
"Mr Potter!" a burly witch welcomed him. She smiled a warm face. "It's good to have you back."
"Thank you." James replied, grinning. "I'm glad to be back."
Harry was standing behind him, a child-like grin sliding onto his face as he watched his father reconnect with the magical world.
"And young Mr Potter as well!" the witch said, noticing Harry. "I've read a lot about you recently, but I don't believe it at all. It seems that people are willing to believe the rubbish that the Minister allows to be printed. Fortunately my family supports Dumbledore."
"I'm pleased that you have chosen to take the more realistic route," James commented, "in believing Dumbledore, that is."
The witch smiled, obviously pleased that she had something right. "Anyway lets get to the task at hand. I can't keep chatting to you when I should be serving you."
James shook his head, laughing. "That's all right. I have all the time in the world."
The witch lifted up the colour midnight blue and began arranging them around James, who had been directed to stand on a stool. "What kind of robes do you require?"
"Work, casual. The usual really." James shrugged. "The ones I'm wearing are a bit big."
"Yes, the arms are a bit long…." She frowned, "what colours would you like?"
"Any. I honestly don't care, as long as its wearable."
"Certainly, Mr Potter." The Witch used her wand to arrange the robes neatly over James and then summoned a charm to saw them together. Then she duplicated the robes in various colours. Waving her wand one more time, she packaged the robes up, leaving James in the ones he had been wearing when he entered the shop.
"How much?" James asked, reaching into his pocket.
"Seven sets of robes costs 40 Galleons 13 Sickles and twenty-three Knuts."
"Pricey." James remarked.
"New Ministry laws. Fudge is getting quite possessive with power. Unfortunately we've got to obey what he says."
James did not reply, instead he handed over the required amount. Picking up the bags of shopping he departed from the store, the witch waving good-bye.
Harry laughed. "I think she liked you, dad."
James rolled his eyes. "And what makes you think that?"
"Nothing…" Harry replied, in an innocent voice.
Father and son walked down the street till they came to Ollivander's. Passing the bags to Harry, James rubbed his hands in glee. "I can't wait to get a wand."
"Will it make you feel manly?" Harry asked.
"Are you always like this? Insulting your elders?"
Harry shook his head. "No, but I'm just trying to make our trip fun."
"I swear you've spent too much time with Padfoot." James remarked, but then turned to face Ollivander as he stepped into the light, moving gracefully across the floor to stand in front of him. Eyes searched him and widened in recognition.
"James Potter," he breathed, "Mahogany wand, I believe, eleven inches, pliable. Powerful and excellent for Transfiguration."
James nodded. He missed his old wand but since he had no idea where it was, he needed a new one to replace it. "That is correct, however due to unforeseen consequences I will require a new wand."
The old man nodded and immediately scooted away among the shelves looking through wands. He came back, lifting a shiny wand out of its box and explaining: "Unicorn hair; twelve inches and rather bendy."
James took the wand and gave it a wave but nothing came of it. It was snatched away before he could lay it down again. James went through ten wands before the right one was found.
"Try this. Beechwood and dragon heartstring, Eleven and a half inches. Flexible and excellent for Transfiguration." James waved the wand and a shower of red and gold sparks erupted from it. He grinned in triumph.
"Excellent!" Ollivander said, clapping his bony hands. "That will be seven Galleons."
James handed him the money, and together the two walked from the shop, with James grinning like a child. He was glad that he had a wand. He felt much more alive then before.
"Where to now?" Harry asked.
"Do you need to buy things for Hogwarts?"
"We haven't had our letters yet…" he trailed off, "besides I don't know if I'll be going back, what with the trial and all."
James kicked himself for bringing it up. The trial was a sensitive subject for Harry. "Sorry." He muttered.
Once again James was helping Sirius clean out the Black Home. This time they were in one of the upstairs rooms which hadn't been cleaned in ages. It turned out that the room used to belong to Sirius before he had gone to Hogwarts. After being sorted into Gryffindor his parents had moved him to the attic. Apparently Kreacher didn't clean the rooms of 'blood-traitors'.
The little house-elf was quite fond of muttering 'dead-man' whenever he noticed James in the same room as he was. This of course served to James as annoying and repetitive and sometimes he wished Sirius would throw him out, unfortunately, if they did, Kreacher would be free to inform anyone he trusted as to where the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was.
And that information could easily leak into Voldemort's hands. James did not want his son exposed to that monster again. So, he had to put up with the elf, no matter how much it annoyed him.
James walked across the room to the wardrobe which sat dusty and dirty in the corner. He opened it up and looked inside. He was surprised to find a box labelled 'school stuff' at the bottom. He pulled the box towards him and began to look through it, mesmerised. Inside were old photographs from the time Sirius had been eleven years old to Summer of 1981.
Sirius had kept these memories, hidden away so that no one could take them from him.
James looked over his shoulder at his friend. "Remember this?" he asked.
Sirius turned and noticed the photo James was holding. He walked forwards and looked at it, his face dawning into a smile. "Harry's first birthday?"
James nodded. "We were so happy." He sighed.
"I honestly didn't know that stuff was in here." Sirius admitted. "I thought I'd lost it."
"Amazing where you leave treasured memories." James murmured, running a finger over the figure of Lily that was waving out of the photograph up at him. "I really miss her. I'd do anything to bring Lily back."
James looked up at Sirius. "Can I keep this?"
"Sure."
James tucked the photo into his pocket and left the room. Sirius did not follow.
Shouting.
Screams of torment.
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione.
"Who's that?" Ron asked.
Harry strained his hearing to listen and then it clicked. "Dad…"
Bolting from the bed (that he had been sitting on) Harry rushed out of his room and down the hallway towards his father's room. When he reached the door, the words were audible, filled with loss and anger.
"WHY! WHY TAKE LILY FROM ME? I DIDN'T DESERVE THIS!"
Cautiously, Harry opened the door and stepped inside, unsure of what to do. James was sitting on the bed, his knees drawn up to his face. Scrunched in his hand was a photo. Harry walked forward.
"Dad?" he asked, quietly, a little afraid, "are you okay?"
James didn't seem to hear him, but to Harry it looked like he was ignoring him. He saw tears running down his father's face.
He sat himself down on the bed, next to James and wrapped his arms round him. James looked to his son. "Harry, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have seen that."
He wiped the tears away, but more took their place.
"It's about mum isn't it?" Harry asked, catching sight of the image of the smiling Lily.
James nodded, his throat blocked from crying.
"Why not tell me about it? Let it out of your system." Harry urged, hoping to get his father to talk.
Slowly and carefully, James Potter poured his heart out to his son, telling him of the remarkable person his lovely Lily was.
TBC
So, what do you think? Once again I think I could've put a bit more into this chapter but I had no idea what to put into it.
IMPORTANT NOTE
In a few of the reviews from last chapter it was brought to my attention that my ages for Lucius Malfoy and the 'Black sisters' (Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa) were wrong.
First, I last read OOTP in summer of 2004, and when planning this story out I just flicked through the book making notes and, obviously, I missed out on noting Lucius Malfoy's age, so he is a bit old to be in school with the Marauders, and I am sorry if that has frustrated anyone. I actually had forgotten that his age was now known, so I hope that people don't mind giving me a little bit of freedom. (Thanks to Mariann's and Lady Taliesin for pointing this out. If I missed anyone then a thank you goes to you as well!)
Secondly the issue with the Black Sisters. Usually on a family tree, the oldest child of a couple is put on the left and the youngest on the right. In my OOTP version it clearly states this: He pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa. To me this states that Andromeda is the 'burn mark' and therefore the middle child. Bellatrix is the oldest as she's the first name mentioned and Narcissa is the youngest as she's the last. That is why they were in that order, although a reviewer pointed out that in Goblet of Fire we are told that Snape hanged out with the Lestrange's, however I checked my copy of the book and it states that Snape hang out with a group of Slytherins who nearly turned out to be Death-Eaters, it doesn't mention who. I do hope I haven't offended anyone with these notes, and I do appreciate people correcting me, though sometimes if I do know that I've got information right I do like to give a reason.
I do hope this clears a few matters up.
Responses and Thank you's:
The following people get a special hug and a Thank You from me for reviewing: Mariann's; Lunatic Pandora1; BrItsR; StonySilence; Sugary-Quills; Mrs Daniel Radcliffe; Lady Slone of Snow Mt; Jeran; Thanatos Nemesis; amrawo; FreedomGundam; PrincessSkywalkerOrgana; Siriusly Sirius Lily Black; Canadian Coco Chick; Crazy-Physco; LikePink; Yokai Cesia and Chi; Stella9876; Barbossa'sApples; twinsrthebest; emerald hazel; iluvjames; Porcelain Prayer; kbluesmom; Docteur Gribouille; Loonie Potter; shaziaRiavera; Rsegovia; rosiegirl; Kim Kotchanski; HandsOff; SilverHawk 27; HarrysGrrl; Annasun; Kirjava Deamon; lovenhope and Inumaru12.
IamSiriusgrl: I'm not actually thinking of including Harry's love life but it might pop up later on…I'm not sure. It made me laugh when you suggested about Harry, Remus and James starting Riots trying to get people to see Sirius as innocent. That just had me laughing…
Silverspecter: I hope the Diagon Alley scene was okay…I didn't make it too chaotic, but at least James got what he needed without too much trouble…
magicgirl45853: Did you test my idea out?
TajM14: Welcome to I won't be changing Ron and Hermione. They will get together just not in the Book 5 version of this story. To me Friday is not the weekends and it's my genuine policy to update every three to four days, no earlier, unless I have to.
ambereyes2873: I've got something planned for Sirius. Though the ending has changed, it might (author puts emphasis on the word 'might') still occur only later on in the story. But I'll probably take the harder route and keep him alive just to satisfy people who like the character so much. Aside from James, he is my favourite too.
Smorefan: Umbridge will still teach DADA.
Lady Taliesin: I hope you did well in you History test. If you were revising (really hard) then you must have a break every twenty minutes otherwise you get bored. I learnt that the hard way when sitting my GCSE's (luckily I managed to get all the grades I needed to get into the Sixth Form). Thank you for pointing out the mistake of Lucius' age. I should re-read OOTP to make sure I've got all the facts right…I hope you liked this chapter!
MaraudersIce: You'll have to wait and see what James does to Umbridge later on…
SeriousSiriusFan: Yes, you have succeeded…I will check out all those stories you listed…it'll keep me entertained for a while…hehe. If you're looking for some good Sirius reading material I would recommend the Unbroken Universe which has three stories in it: Promises Unbroken; Promises Remembered and Promises Defended. The third one isn't completed yet but they are remarkable stories. I'm not sure if you'd like them or not, or if you've read them anyway, but I thought I'd mention them as they are my all time favourite stories on this site. They are written by Robin4.
Lily and James Potter: I think that some of the reviewers don't like the words 'father-figure' as it doesn't seem like something Harry would say.
littlewolf-moony: Thank you for pointing out my grammatical mistakes. Once this fic is completed (probably won't be for another year) I will go back through it and revise it, and then upload (hopefully) the corrected version of the story. Thank you for being my 200th reviewer.
Chapter 8 is entitled 'Lily' - James tells Harry about his mother…coming next Wednesday (warning this chapter is really short - you'll see why when it's posted).
Thank you for reading,
MissBlackPotter