Chapter Five
"Harry, Harry dear. Come on now, wake up- you've got to buy your school equipment remember? Come on now- I know you can hear me."
A hand was gently yet firmly shaking Harry's shoulder through his duvet- well, more of a heap really, but it was only that since he had slept in it and made it the nest it had become. A groan satisfied Mrs. Weasley that there was life underneath the blanket and she left without another word. It was another quarters of an hour before he eventually peeled himself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to wash, dress and get ready for his trip to Diagon Ally. Awake, Harry guided a semi-conscious Ron down the stairs and into the kitchen where the latter was sat down in a chair; Harry greeted the assembled people with an incline of his head and a "Good Morning" each. It wasn't long before the children and adults who were accompanying them had eaten and were ready to leave: bar one- when Harry had asked Ron if he was ready, he didn't get a reply. Ron had fallen asleep in his cornflakes, milk and all. The only noise that could be heard in the kitchen at that moment was the click of a camera as George took a picture- for memories sake of course.
The party arrived in Diagon Ally at roughly twelve o'clock, the party soon split up to go about their separate chores. Fred and George had to check if their business stocks had arrived and left for the Owl Office; Mr. And Mrs. Weasley went off to have coffee and tea in a near by café; Lupin wanted to go to Flourish and Blotts to see if the books he had ordered had arrived yet- so that just left Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny to go and buy their supplies.
"What have we got to get then?" Ron asked as the group set off in their chosen direction; Harry checked his list. He had most of the usual things: a quill, another set of weighing scales (Neville had broken his), a new set of Quidditch robes- his old one were getting slightly tight and had been darned more times than he could remember, and then there was the new list of books. Even Hermione had to admit that there was a lot of them to get. "Advanced Transfiguration" by Emma Newt, "Advanced Potions" Level Three, Four and Five by Ethelgar Cauldron, Archibald Bloom's "Herbology- the Good, the Bad and the Poisonous", "Advanced Charms" by Thelma Teapot and the complete collection of books by Lucia Nirethyls- "Darks Arts- Defence and Attack. Advanced Level"- there was only one book to get, but it contained all seven books. Ron and Ginny both looked up at the mention of that name.
"Lucia Nirethyls? Are you serious? Lemme look!" Harry handed over the list and continued walking. He had walked about ten paces before he realized that the others weren't following. He looked back, sure enough, they were all standing where he had left them; sighing, he turned to join them. Ron was stammering something.
"Nirethyls…Nire… bloody hell, Harry, this is great!" Harry's brain by now had seemed to automatically recognise now that there was still a long was to go before he realised who all the important people in Ron's life were. So instead of looking confused, he calmly asked.
"Who is she?" Ron was silenced- he looked at Harry as if he had just asked who he supported in Quidditch. Ron jabbered something for a few seconds before he was able to successfully string some words together.
"Who is… Harry mate! Surely you've heard of Lucia Nirethyls! She's probably the most adept female Auror there is! Plus she's part of the oldest pure-blood family in this country- you've got to know her." Harry sighed and shrugged, shaking his head at the same time. Ron gasped- it was a while before he spoke.
"Ok, let me fill you in here: Lucia Nirethyls is the second eldest child of five, three boys and two girls. I don't know all of the boys' names, but I do know the youngest boys' name and that's Cassius, the second girl is called Georgiana. Now, are you listening, it gets a bit tricky here. Right, The two older boys became Death Eaters, much to their father's… oh, by the way, the mother and father are called Marcus and Sarah- any way, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, they became Death Eaters which pleased their father no end, but Cassius didn't believe that they should become servants to a half-blood- oh, no offence mate- and the two girls wouldn't become Death Eaters either: so their father tried to disown them, but their cousins' parents stepped in and stopped him. They still left though- they own a manor in Devonshire now- and well, I don't really know much else other than Lucia became an Auror and now, blimey- her own set of books…… I don't know if I'll be able to afford the entire set."
Harry blinked: never before had he seen Ron so excited about something other than Quidditch: this was evidently an event that would go down in History. Neither had Harry thought that Ron had the ability to talk about something so vigorously for a good five or ten minutes fluidly without breathing- this was definitely an event that would be marked in Ron's history. Hermione broke the heavy silence: well, it was only heavy due to Ron's eventual and much needed breathing.
"Do you mean to tell me Ron, that you are actually disappointed in not being able to afford a book! Well, I've heard my dad saying that a boy's attitude towards his education can take on a dramatic transformation- but this is just amazing!" Ron was about to answer when a small cough interrupted him and Ginny spoke.
"I think you'll find Hermione that Ron has the hugest crush on her, and that he will always read an article or book mentioning her name." Now Harry was impressed- not only did Ron read the newspaper's headlines- but he also read through articles just to see her name! He had to know more about this witch.
"How old is she? Twenty, thirty?" Ron opened his mouth to answer, but yet again Ginny did it for him.
"She's forty-one." An amazed and all too embarrassed silence fell over the group once more, Ron contributed the silence part to the pause. Harry soon found himself doing something that he thought he wouldn't hear again for a long time: he was laughing. He couldn't believe it- Ron, the boy who Harry had grown to think didn't have crushes on anyone above the seventh year: and yet here was the unveiled truth, Ronald Weasley had a crush on someone who was in her forties: easily as old as his… Alarm bells suddenly started screaming in his ears: if this Auror Ron was so obsessed with was forty-one, then she was roughly the same age as Lupin, or Sirius, or Snape: she would be the same age that his parents would be now if they were alive. Harry's heart started thumping violently: here night be someone else who had known his parents, and might be able to provide him with a bit more information than he had already. He had to speak to Lupin when he got back to Grimmauld Place- he had to know more about this mysterious Gryffindor.
The group did eventually manage to buy their equipment- after Harry's infection of laughter had finally died away and Ron's complexion had returned from beetroot to normal peach, the four friends started walking again and returned to the original topic in hand: the list. First they got their quills, Hermione took great care in selecting hers: it seemed that she was trying to get back at the remark that Draco had made about her old one ("Too smart for a Mud-blood eh? I'll show him the meaning of smart- I'll write it all over his face next time I see him!"); next stop-Quidditch robes. Both Harry and Ron took a great deal of time looking over the newest broom kits, and the shop keeper was very surprised when Harry took a "So, You've Got A Firebolt?" to the front desk: evidently he didn't think students could afford a Firebolt, but then, Harry didn't buy his. The scales were bought next, and Harry made sure he got a pair of sturdy ones- just in case Neville asked to borrow his set again. Finally, it was time to buy their books- so the group headed off to Flourish and Blotts. Ron chided and grumbled all the way to the counter about it being too heavy, but everyone knew that really he couldn't wait to start reading it. After buying his, Harry flicked through a couple of the pages in the first book: he was impressed. Not only was it a huge, red leather bound book with all of the words stamped deep into the cover, spine and back in gold, but was there coloured, moving demonstrations of the hexes in motion along with their written teaching, a timeline of when they were first discovered, who by and a short description of the effects when cast properly and (interestingly) incorrectly. Harry made a mental note to include some of this in the D.A. meetings- if he was allowed to continue them that is.
The whole party arrived back at the house about half an hour later, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were looking over the new equipment and making comments about all of it; Hermione was already nose deep in the Transfiguration book (and mastered everything she had learnt no doubt), Ginny was playing with Crookshanks again and Ron had joined Harry in reading the Defence Against the Dark Arts book. However, while Ron seemed to be completely absorbed in reading, Harry only scanned the texts: "this woman might have known my parents" this seemed to be the only thing that resounded in his head- that and the annoyance that he hadn't managed to pin Lupin down for some serious questioning yet. He still hadn't managed to by the time supper was served, and by then everyone was exhausted, and Harry really didn't want to start probing Lupin's memories while everyone was trying to relax. "I'll ask him tomorrow" he thought as he watched the ex-Marauder chatting happily to Mr. Weasley- and with that, he joined the debate that was now roaring to life between Hermione and Ron whether or not homework was a complete and utter drag.
Right, if you're reading this chapter: then I can only say one thing. Thank You! Please review if you felt it was slightly more bearable than having your teeth pulled out: it does lift the spirits somewhat!
"Thank You" list
JEDIKNIGHT32: Thanks for the encouragement- and I'm glad you hoped to see another chapter- hope this one will satisfy you too! I'm going to get round to reading yours- I've been a bit bogged down with work for quite a while now, so I will read it- Brownie Promise!
wi11ow: Thanks for the heads up- I still hadn't quite gotten the hang of the uploading thing: I think I've got it cracked now though. ;- )
chocoholicbookworm: love the name- and thank you for the compliment: it made my day- I'll check out your fic a.s.a.p! Promise!
AP Mom: I have now reset the review option to let those who haven't joined up yet to review, and thank you for pointing out the bloopers- I fixed them as soon as I had finished reading the review.