6) Visiting Diagon Alley

Harry rang the doorbell at exactly ten o'clock. He tried to keep the conversation with the Flemings short because he wasn't sure if he could handle to stay calm. David had been dressed into the best of his worn out clothes and as the door closed behind them they both signed.

"Where are we supposed to get all the stuff I need? I've never seen a shop that sold wands."

"Well, the places where wizards live are hidden by magic. It would take too long to walk there and I rather not let you travel by Floo on your first day. It is a rather sickening way of travelling and I still prefer to take the underground, when travelling around London. Plus I also wanted to visit a Muggle shop to buy some decent clothes. It would look suspicious if we came back without anything."

"Floo? Muggle?"

"Muggles are non magic people and Floo is a way of travelling by fire."

David had a lot of questions and after a while Harry asked himself if he had been that way when he had entered the magical world. The whole trip on the train he tried to answer all his student's questions properly.

In Muggle London they bought some clothes and David was kind of surprised how nice they looked on him. When they entered the Leaky Cauldron all of the conversations stopped and people were staring at Harry. David tried to hide behind him. Tom the ancient barkeeper greeted them friendly and offered them a private room for lunch.

When they seated themselves he gave them a huge amount of Harry's favourite food.

"Why were they all looking at you that way?" asked David. "At first I thought they were staring at me seeing that I don't know a single spell."

"I don't think they realised you there, David. I don't like it either. When I was younger I did something, they considered great. I did not like to do it and I wish there had been a better solution. It is long over now, but I can still not go out without being stared at."

David opened his mouth as though he wanted to keep on asking, but he stopped himself by shoving in some mince pie.

The young boy was thrilled when he saw Diagon Alley. It was crowded like always and it was hard to get through. They had already been shopping for a while and there was only the wand left to get as Harry heard a familiar voice calling for him.

"Harry, Harry over here!" Molly Weasley pushed her way through the crowd; she seemed to be very concerned.

"I am so glad to see you! I was just looking for some beetle eyes in the apothecary and when I got out they were gone! He promised me not to stroll of! What if they landed in Knockturn Alley? Oh, if something happens to them it is my fault!"

"Molly, calm down! What are you talking about? Who wandered of?" Harry was sure there was no Weasley attending Hogwarts this year. Fred and Gorge's children were still too young and Charlie's daughter Francine also had another two years before starting Hogwarts education.

"Our neighbours, the McCarty's asked me to take their son and a muggle born boy from town here to buy their school stuff. They couldn't come, because their older daughter is going to get married soon. And now they are gone! They are worse than Fred and Gorge and that muggle born Robin is getting almost as much in trouble as you did. I am so worried."

"All right Molly I will go and look for them. Do me a favour and walk Mr. Green here to Ollivanders, he needs to get his wand. I'll meet you two at Hermione's when I found them." He turned to David: "David, this is Molly Weasley. She is my best friend's mother and she will take good care of you."

Mrs. Weasley laid her arm over the boys shoulder and shoved him through the crowd into the next shop. Harry turned to Knockturn Alley.

The wizarding world had not gotten rid of every foe and all the dark creatures after the war ended. How could they? There were even a few Death Eaters out there, some hidden and some in the open. Everyone knew they were Voldemorts followers, but there was no prove. Harry made himself invisible and had a look around. The streets were dirty and the houses so close that no direct sunlight was coming all the way through to the ground. As it was the early afternoon it was even darker.
He had to be very careful not to bump into people and he also had to avoid vampires, because even though he was invisible they could smell his blood.
Harry did not have to go far. When he turned into an unnamed dead end he saw two boys surrounded by a bunch of dark looking people. Harry got closer to listen. The taller one of the boys stood in front of the other.

A cloaked man addressed the boys: "What are you searching down here, boys? You don't want to get lost, do you? If you follow me I will take you somewhere safe."
And he took a step towards the boys.

"I don't think so, Sir!" The tall boy said. "We will just go back… ."

"Go, back? No! You are here and you stay here. It is your own fault you went here and you will have to live with the consequences!"

Harry could see that this evil person was scaring the boys to death especially the small one whom he thought to be the Muggle born Robin. He took off the invisibly cloak and stepped closer.

"I think you better stop this Mister, you don't want the Aurors to show up and get you."

The man turned around to face Harry. To mention the Aurors was a thread that usually was followed by a duel, but the man held himself just in time. When he realized who was standing in front of him his eyes grew wide and he was shaken with fear. Harry turned to the boys.

"You two, get out to Diagon Alley and wait for me there. Hurry!" He shouted when they did not move. They took of.

"Mr. Potter, I…"

"Don't say a word, if I ever hear something about you again you'll wish you've never been born." He turned around leaving the inhabitants of Knockturn Alley behind. He was thinking to ask Mr. Weasley for a raid just to make sure that there weren't some kids hidden somewhere in the shabby houses.

The boys were waiting for him. He rushed past them. "Follow me!"

He heard the boys whispering behind him.

"Do you think we can trust him?"

"Sure! Don't you know who that is? It's Harry Potter!"

"Who?"

They were in front of Hermione's shop.

"Listen boys! You probably think it was cool down there, but you scared Mrs. Weasley. She is a really nice person and she did not deserve this. I want you two to be really nice to her, you understood? What are your names?"

"Yes Mr. Potter, Sir. I am really sorry, but my brother told me Knockturn Alley was the last place for adventures."

"Your brother?"

"Yes, his name is Charles he is in 7th grade in Hogwarts. My name is Andrew McCarty." To Harry's surprise it was the small boy who spoke. "And this is my friend Robin White. We live in the same town."

"Well, I don't blame you. When I was your age I thought going to Knockturn Alley cool, too. But you will find that there are a lot of adventures to face in Hogwarts."

"My brother said it was rather dull."

"Well, I'll have a chat with him. Maybe he just wanted to get you in trouble. What house is he in?"

"Slytherin."

"He definitely wanted to get you in trouble. So in you go." He opened the door and as soon as the bell rang Molly Weasley started one of her goes at the boys, dragging them upstairs, probably to prepare some food. Hermione was busy with some costumers and Ginny filled a shelf with boxes of flo powder.

"Good you found them. Were they in danger?"

"Well they could have handled it, I think. Especially that Robin is not easy to scare. Where is David?"

"Upstairs. He is nice. But he asks so many questions."

"He will soon have a friend he can talk to."

"Where do you think to put him on holidays? You can't keep him with you. You are his headmaster!"

"I know. I thought of your mom."

"What? When I'll be at home there would be a student running around, no way!"

"Well, I thought you might want to spend your holidays with your headmaster?"

"Oh, is this a thread?" They laughed and Harry kissed Ginny on her forehead. Hermione watched them from a distance and smiled.

The shop closed in the early afternoon and they all went upstairs for dinner. The kitchen was rather crowded, but that way Mrs. Weasley liked it best. The tree boys were comparing their wands.

"So, you found a decent wand, David?" Harry asked while he sat down.

"Yes, Sir. Eight an a half inches, maple with crushed dragon scale. Do you think it is a good one? I thought I would never find the right wand, this Mr. Ollivander made me nervous."

Harry laughed. "Yes, he is creepy. I went through his whole stock before we found mine."

"Really? You never told me." Hermione said.

"I didn't? Well, I think at that time I didn't want everyone to know that my wand was the brother to Voldemorts."

All except the two Muggle born dropped whatever they were holding.

"Who?" asked David breaking the silence.

Since nobody else answered him Harry sighted. "Lord Voldemort or Tom Riddle by his real name was a powerful dark wizard. He and his followers tried to take over the wizarding world and I am sure the Muggle world, too. They killed a great number of people, but were defeated in the end. Where is Arthur by the way Molly, I thought he would join us?" Harry wanted desperately to end this conversation.

Molly Weasley cleared her throat picking up her fork and said: "He flooed before and said he was going to be late. Someone smuggled a flying carpet in and was seen over Bath. Arthur wants to make sure they don't have more hexed Muggle stuff. Oh, there he comes!"

The fire had suddenly turned green and out stumbled Mr. Weasley. His wife summoned an extra chair and he placed himself next to David. They were introduced and because the boys had already eaten they were sent downstairs to play.

"So Harry, have you found out something about the new teachers jet?"

Harry had to explain the situation and there was uproar. Especially Hermione was angry. But it was nothing against the go Mrs. Weasley had at him for not telling them about the wand.

In the meantime the three boys were sitting in the shop.

"Can somebody explain what that was about?" asked David.

"Sorry, I am Muggle born, too. Andrew?"

"Well, You-know-who was really bad…."

"Who?" asked Robin and David.

"You don't say his name."

"You mean that Voldemort person? Mr. Potter was calling him this." David said.

"Well, Harry Potter is next to Albus Dumbledore the most powerful wizard known. He can call him as he wants to, but most people are still scared." Andrew shivered by the thought alone.

"I am not frightened by a name, is he in prison?" Robin wanted to know.

"In prison? You can't put someone that powerful into a prison. He is dead. There was a great war six years ago and Harry Potter killed You-Know-Who in the end."

"What?" David's mouth stood wide open and Robin looked like he heard some madman talking.

"That's the story. There is more to it, but that's the main outline. I am surely proud we got rescued by him out of Knockturn Alley. Most people doesn't get to see him at all, he lives pretty secluded. As far as I know he only talks to people very close to him. He was with you today, David. What brought you together?"

David wasn't comfortable jet to tell his story so he just said: "He told me about being a wizard and he took me to get my school supplies."

Andrew was thinking about that and the boys went silent for a moment. David went around the shelves, the same way Harry had done a few weeks ago and nearly dropped a glass of stardust when Andrew shouted suddenly: "I got it! Maybe Mr. Potter is going to teach this year. That would be great, imagine him teaching us Defence against the Dark Arts! We would really learn a lot." Andrew went on talking. Most of it did not make sense to Robin and David, but they listened closely.

It was already dark outside when they actually said goodbye. Robin and Andrew went home by flo and so did Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harry and David walked back to the Muggle street. David had been thinking all the way to the station and now had the confidence to ask: "Mr. Potter, Andrew told us that you… that you killed that Lord Voldemort, is that true?"

"I am not proud of it, David. But yes."

David was searching for the right words: "Was that the one that killed your parents?"

"You are a clever boy."

"Was it… revenge?"

"No. There were a couple of tries to get him alive, but he always disappeared leaving dead behind. It had to end and I was the only one powerful enough." The boy was looking at him with his big round eyes.

"Have you been thinking about your parents?"

"Yes. When they died I wanted to kill that drunken bastard… sorry, I mean that man who drove the other car." David was looking at his shoes.

"I understand very well, David. There where times when I wanted to do it out of revenge, too. When I was older I realized that it wasn't going to bring my parents back. One day, even if you do not believe me right now, you will think the same way or I would be very much mistaken. You are no murderer, just hurt." Harry saw David's tears and reached over a tissue.

Harry reminded David to look very sad when he returned home that night. He also explained that they would meet up on Kings Cross on September the first.