(Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Marcus Flint, and other characters in this are copyrighted to JK Rowling and her respected publishers. The only characters I created were Ryan Connor, Endara Bail, and Cecilia Devogue. I make no money off of this.I hope you all enjoy this fan fiction.)

Two - "Whispers In The Alley"

By Travis J

It seemed that no matter how hard he tried not to be amazed, Ryan spent the rest of his summer vacation with his jaw dropped in shock. He had no idea how much magic could do, or that such a large community of witches and wizards exsisted. Cecilia Devogue, his guardian and guide to the magical world, took it upon herself to tell him everything he had missed. She explained how boring Quidditch was, what witch gave the best Halloween party, and gave a brief lesson on the most famous wizard bachelors in the community. She certaily led a rather busy life, always socializing and staying up to date with her gossip. It seemed like she was a fan of Rita Skeeter's column and a tabloid magazine called The Quibbler. Her apartment had a rather quiet and lonely feeling, and when he first got there, Ryan could obviously understand why she was so desperate to have him help her redecorate. Even though Cecilia led such a social life when she went out, at home it was quite lonely. Glad to be living under the graces of this particular witch, Ryan decided he would do everything he could to make her happy. She certainly deserved it.

When August came around and Ryan recieved a letter in the male from Albus Dumbledore welcoming him to Hogwart's, and briefly explaining how the school would do their best to help him at this later stage in life, Cecilia casually stated that they should go to Diagon Alley. Not knowing any such place in London, Ryan was a bit confused but then came to the conclusion that it was a magical area. That next weekend, he found out exactly what Diagon Alley was. It was a rather gloomy day, as the weather seemed to inflict it's sadness on others. Ryan brought his smaller backpack and put on a pair of sunglasses that Cecilia insisted went with his outfit. Deciding that she knew best when it came to all things fashion, Ryan put on the slick looking shades and listened to her latest gossip as they rode in the back of the cab all the way to this Diagon Alley. When they stopped in front of a rather rundown pub called "The Leaky Cauldron", he felt a bit nervous and looked over at his guardian. She simply laughed and instructed him to just follow her lead. Paying the cabbie and leaving him a nice tip for tolerating her gossip the entire way, she proudly made her way into the pub and practically ignored the characters waiting inside. With a casual wave to the hunched-over man behind the bar, she continued through and to the back alley. By now Ryan felt quite confused, and once again Cecilia's instincts caught on as she explained, "You see Diagon Alley isn't accessible to muggles. Well I mean unless they have a witch or wizard child that is. See you tap the bricks on this wall here in the right order to open the secret door. It's really quite simple."

Ryan watched as she tapped the bricks in a strange pattern, and stepped back as they slowly moved away to reveal a large opening with a view of a rather busy street. Apparently a number of other witches and wizards had decided that this weekend was prime shopping weekend as well. The street was bustling with shops that had bright and cheery signs, people chatting off to the side, children with the same wide eyes Ryan saw things with. He felt glad he had the sunglasses now...his embaressment of being so nieve saved by them. Cecilia pointed to Madame Malkin's shop, "I will be there if you need me. Take a look around for a bit, use the money I gave you to buy some of the books you needed at the bookshelf. Meet me there so we can go get your wand, dear."

Ryan smiled and hugged her, "Thank you Cecilia. I won't take long."

"Take all the time you want, dear. I remember my first time, it was amazing."

With that, they both set off in different directions. Diagon Alley certainly made a good business this time of year. Owls screeched when he passed a nearby shop, and there was a number of boys around a large glass window featuring new broomsticks. Two of the most excited was a dark haired boy younger than Ryan with glasses and a strange scar on his forehead, along with a red haired boy of the same age. They seemed quite amused over the broomsticks, and Ryan only shook his head and continued to move along the street. Walking into the bookstore, Ryan found a cage of books gnawing at the shopkeeper's hand as he fished around to grab one by it's binding. Taking off his sunglasses, his eyes scanned the area until he came across a familiar face. There stood Marcus Flint with two friends around his age, chatting and sniggering about something. It seemed like they found the poor shop keeper's struggled with the violent books amusing. Ryan didn't share that sense of humor. Walking over to Marcus, he touched him on the shoulder and smiled, "How strange we keep running into eachother!"

Marcus turned around quickly, going pale for a moment before he asked his friends to excuse him. A second later, he seemed to lower his voice, as if not wanting to be heard, "Hi there, Ryan. Listen...er...could we maybe talk another time? Only this isn't the best place and my mates and I don't...well...we're not a good group to be hanging around."

Ryan looked confused and narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing!", seeing that he yelled that last word out, Marcus flushed in his cheeks and lowered his voice again, "Look we're Slytherins. We only talk to other Slytherins and usually purebloods. That's how it goes when I'm at school. I don't want to be rude but...it's how it has to be now. I promise, I'll explain later. You...you are going to Hogwart's aren't you?"

"Oh yes. I recieved my letter and a book list in the mail today. I was going to ask for your help finding them once I saw you, but I'm guessing you aren't in the mood."

At first Marcus looked offended, but he heard the sniggering of his two friends and then nodded, "Right. I'm really sorry about this. We'll talk again later. I promise."

With that, he went back to join his two rather rude friends. Ryan didn't know what to make of the situation. He had just been ignored by the same man who had a ten minute conversation with him and sent him flowers that same day. Now he was suddenly acting brash and rather rude. Not to mention...what in the hell were Slytherins? With the list almost falling out of his hand, Ryan shook himself out of his thoughts. Turning around, he bumped into a girl of about 13 with brown busy hair, whom he apologized to profusely. She seemed rather cheery and shook her head, "Really it's no problem. Are you lost?"

"Very. I have these books to get in summoning and basic spellcasting, and I don't know where to begin to find them. I would ask the shop keeper but he seems rather...preoccupied."

As a loud wail of pain came from behind the register, the younger girl laugh and nodded, "Nothing to worry about. I know my way around this store like the back of my hand. I make sure to get my textbooks first, I always buy an extra book or two...leisure reading of course. My name is Hermione by the way. Hermione Granger."

Shaking her hand, Ryan smiled, "My name is Ryan Connor...recently the Ministry discovered I was a summoner disguising my powers. They found me a right nice lady to live with in London and a man named Dumbledore accepted me into Hogwart's for some training. I need to learn how to control and properly use my powers."

The girl listened to his story while she checked over his list and handed him the needed books, "I've never had the fortune to meet a summoner before. I'm sure it's rather exciting to summon spirit guides and animal totems and such to help you."

"It's interesting for sure. Hermione...this may seem a bit odd since I just met you, but do you know anything about the Slytherins?"

At this, the girl seemed to make the most awful face, "Unfortunatly. They're practically the bullies of the school. Always so arrogant with a strong dislike of anyone that's not a pure blood. I would steer clear of them if I were you."

He nodded, saying quietly, "That's funny. He didn't seem like that kind of guy."

"Who didn't?", Hermione looked at him with interest.

He blushed, not realising he had said the words as loud as he did, "Just someone I met at St. Mungo's. He's in Slytherin...it doesn't matter."

She seemed to accept this answer, and quickly went to look for her own books. He followed her around for a bit, they both purchased their books, and said their goodbyes. Ryan promised to talk to Hermione again soon when he saw her on campus. She waved gingerly and left the shop with an armfull of books. Behind him, Ryan heard the sniggering of one of the oafish guys with Marcus, "Nasty mudblood stinking up the store!"

Filled with anger, Ryan turned on his heels quickly and narrowed those icy blue eyes, "How dare you say that about her! She seemed like a very intelligent and kind person...and you are in no position to judge anyone!"

The oaf clenched his fists, "Repeat that again and you'll be hobbling home with broken legs."

"I would like to see you try, you overgrown piece of troll dung."

Before this large guy could move forward, Marcus quickly grabbed his shoulder and spoke through his teeth, "Leave it Terrence. Just...let's get out of here. I need a drink anyway."

Narrowing his eyes, the wanker called Terrence moved to the door. For a moment it seemed like Marcus flashed Ryan a grin, but it was gone by the time he had followed his friends out of the shop. Ryan decided he had enough of exploring, and went to Madame Malkin's shop to get Cecilia. From there they both went to Ollivander's for a wand. After some rather scary trial and errors, which involved breaking a few things and cause a light to bust, he found the perfect wand made out of mahogany wood with a unicorn hair in it. The day of shopping ended with Cecilia giving him a nice set of robes for school while they rode him in the cab. Ryan didn't tell her about Marcus and the sudden change that had come over him. He didn't want to put a damper on his guardian's cheery demeanor. Frustrated over Marcus whispering to him, as if he was ashamed or embaressed to talk to someone he was cheery with before, made Ryan quite upset. What sort of game was this Marcus guy playing anyway? As they sped towards their apartment, Ryan found that he couldn't wait to start school at Hogwart's. He looked forward to that explanation from Marcus.