Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm merely using him to quench my thirst for creative writing. Stay away, lawyer dudes!

Chapter 9

Diagon Alley

The next day was a Sunday. Harry wondered why they were going on a weekend, when there were bound to be a crowd, with a lot of people who could probably recognize him, but Hermione told him that it was easier to be inconspicuous when there were a lot of people around than when there weren't any. "We found that out the hard way in our fifth year," she added darkly, leaving Harry mystified.

The six of them arrived at Leaky Cauldron at ten in the morning, with their escorts, Lupin and Tonks. Lupin had insisted that they use Muggle transport, as the Floo system was not as secure as they would like. Ron grumbled about the infernally slow Muggle contraptions, but they ended up taking two taxis to Charing Cross anyway. His father would have probably gone into raptures at the prospect of traveling the Muggle way, but Ron shared none of Mr. Weasley's enthusiasm for all things Muggle.

They had all been given Portkeys, to get out of Diagon Alley at any signs of trouble, otherwise known as Death Eaters. Harry hadn't liked the idea much, but he dutifully wore the Portkey anyway (it was in the form of a ring).

They hurried through the pub into the back alley. To Harry's surprise, there were two Aurors standing guard. He didn't know whether he ought to be surprised, but he somehow sensed that their presence was not normal. Then he recognized them and smiled.

Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody wore pale blue robes, with the symbol of crossed wands on the chest. Below was written… meaning 'Death before Dishonour'. The Aurors' crest, Harry realized, along with their motto…

The others' handed their wands to Moody. Harry held out his wand as well, but Moody ignored it. He cast a spell over the wands, 'Scaccus Deorc Incantatem'. The seven wands immediately glowed white at their tips. Harry somehow knew that if the same spell were to be cast on his wand, it would probably glow black… the spell was to check if Dark spells had been cast with the wand recently.

Kingsley was apparently engaged in a head count. "One two three four five six… and seven." And there are eight of us, Harry thought inwardly. He smiled when Kingsley gave him a conspiratorial wink.

This whole trip had been planned carefully, down to the last detail…

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

They stepped through the stone entrance that opened up before them. Harry took in the narrow street before him, lined with shops on either side, he had been right, there was quite a crowd bustling about.

It was drizzling slightly, and the dark clouds above their heads promised worse to come. Harry was thankful for the cloak and hood he was wearing as a disguise. The hood covered most of his features, people glanced at him suspiciously. Atleast the cloak was brown in colour, he thought to himself, it wouldn't do for people to think he was a Death Eater…

Lupin told them that they had best visit Gringotts first, which was a wizarding bank, run by goblins, Neville told him. As they made their way down the alley, Harry looked around with great interest. There seemed to be shops that catered to anyone and everyone. A few bookstores, shops that sold cauldrons, magical baggage, owls, robes, telescopes, crystal balls… everything. A few eateries, Harry made a mental note to visit one of them that sold delicious looking ice-creams.

They soon reached a white building that towered over most of the small shops next to it. The white walls were gleaming despite the cloudy weather. As they climbed the steps, Harry noticed that the walls were dry, as was the front porch. "An Impervius charm," Hermione murmured, and Harry realized that she was right.

They reached the burnished bronze doors of the bank. Standing next to a plaque, wearing a uniform of red and gold was a…

"Yeah, that's a goblin," Ron told him quietly, as they entered. Somehow, the words seemed very familiar.

They entered a huge marble hall, with atleast a hundred goblins sitting behind counters. Lupin walked up to a free goblin and spoke to him, too softly for Harry to make out the words. The goblin nodded, and yet another led them through a door, to what appeared to be a stone passage. Bewildered, Harry followed the others and sat down in one of the two waiting carts. And they were off…

A few minutes later, Harry emerged from the cart, his knees shaking slightly. The goblin opened the vault, and Harry simply stood staring, at the threshold of what appeared to be Aladdin's cave of treasure.

He turned back, and asked in a husky voice, "This… is mine?" The others smiled and nodded at him. Ron's smile appeared to be a trifle forced, but Harry didn't think any further of it. As Lupin explained to him about Galleons, Sickles and Knuts, Harry gathered some of the money into his pouch.

They visited the Lovegood vault next, followed by the Longbottom one. Both of them had plenty of money, although nowhere near the amount in his vault. Harry felt downright terrible when they reached the Weasley vault though… it had very little money, and Ron counted out the exact amount they were supposed to withdraw.

Harry had almost forgotten the weather outside before they stepped out, it had been warm and dry inside Gringotts. The rain had picked up, it was no longer a light drizzle. There were large puddles on the road, and the pitter-patter of the tiny rivulets of rainfall falling from the roofs of the shops formed a steady background noise against that of the crowd. So much for the day outside, he thought to himself morosely.

"Where now?" he asked, to no one in particular.

Hermione wanted to go to Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore, but Ron adamantly stood his ground, stating quite eloquently that Hermione was bound to spend atleast an hour there, and that he was damned (he used a stronger term actually…) if he was going to waste that long on their day out.

"Why don't we go to Madam Malkins' first," interjected Lupin quietly, effectively silencing Hermione when she opened her mouth to retort back. "I'm sure that Harry needs to buy some new robes."

This was true enough. Harry had to borrow Ron's and Neville's robes the past few days, Ron's were too long for him, and Neville's simply weren't meant for a person of his slight build. So, he nodded eagerly as they went to Madam Malkins' Robes for all Occasions.

As they passed Eyelops' Owl Emporium, a thought struck Harry. "By the way, I just remembered…" he turned to the others, "Where's Hedwig?"

Lupin answered, "She's safe, don't worry, with Hagrid at the moment. We tried to use her to track you down after you disappeared last Halloween, you know, but it was no use. Azkaban completely suppresses a wizard's magical signature, she couldn't find you. That alone made us think…" he broke off, not wanting to spoil the moment. He chuckled slightly, "Hagrid tells me that she's been rather restless for a few days now, she's evidently sensed your presence. 'In a righ' state, she is,' were the very words he used."

Harry smiled slightly, he could picture Hagrid saying that very clearly. "Why not just send her over?" he suggested. "Well, she is rather noticeable, you know, a white owl and all that… if she were to be seen near Grimmauld Place, it might give away the location."

Harry didn't think this was very likely, but he left it at that.

They entered Madam Malkins' store, there were no other customers when they entered. She was rather alarmed when Harry entered, he supposed that the fact that he was wearing a brown cloak instead of black did not make him any less menacing. Thankfully however, she clamed down when Neville entered, it appeared that she was close to his grandmother. While she enquired after his 'Granny Laura', a measuring tape was taking Harry's measurements automatically. They bought a few black robes (Hogwarts standard), and a pair of dragonhide boots, which Harry wore immediately as his trainers where already wet from the rain. Tonks recommended buying a pair of dress robes as well. Harry left the selection to the girls, who seemed rather eager, but his patience wore thin when they looked through all the dress robes in the store (or so it seemed), talking loudly all the time about 'bringing out the colour of his eyes' and 'presenting a contrast with his skin colour'. It was nice, no doubt, that they spared no effort to find the 'perfect match', but there was no denying that the whole process was bloody boring. Finally they settled on a pair of charcoal grey and bottle green robes.

"Where now?" Harry asked them, as they left the store laden with parcels.

"Here," Ron said, taking Harry's hand and dragging him into Quality Quidditch Supplies, leaving no room for argument. Harry didn't really have an objection, so he followed Ron around, as he discoursed knowledgably about the latest brooms on the market. Both the Cleansweep and the Nimbus companies had come out with new models apparently, with the Cleansweep Nine and the Nimbus Two Thousand and Three. Ron's voice reduced to a hushed whisper when they reached the display window, where a gleaming Firebolt Excelsior was mounted (floating, actually) on an equally polished wooden stand.

"Zero to a hundred and eighty miles an hour in under eight seconds," Ron said, in that unnatural voice (he did not whisper often), "Ebony handle, oak twigs in the broom." He snorted, "Makes the Cleansweep and Nimbus models look like mops, doesn't it?"

Harry could have pointed out that technically, they were mops, but he understood what Ron was saying. The Firebolt Excelsior looked magnificent, with it's gleaming jet black handle and perfectly straight twigs behind, offering all the aerodynamic advantages that were humanly, well magically, possible.

"You need to buy a broom," Ginny spoke up behind him, interrupting his reverie. "Wh-What? I thought I had one already? The Nimbus Two Thousand?"

"That was torn up by the Whomping Willow in our third year," Ron told him, "But then…" he hesitated, looking at Ginny for help. She dutifully continued, "You got a Firebolt, it was a gift from Sirius actually. You… you lost it last year."

"Lost it?"

Ron snorted, "That's what you told us, atleast." He didn't have to add that he clearly didn't believe that, but continued, "But the worst was when…" his face took on a pained expression, "When you decided to play a match with a school broom. Against Slytherin!"

"We won that match," Ginny reminded him, smiling slightly. Ron looked as though he would like to rake Harry over the coals (clearly not for the first time) for his crime… but grudgingly deciding that Harry couldn't be held responsible for something he didn't even remember doing.

"Anyway, you need a broom," Ginny told him, for the second time. Ron looked extremely hopeful, and (angrily waving away a nervous saleswizard) began to sing the Excelsior's praises for the second time round. Harry took a look at the price tag, gulped, and looked at Ron's hopeful face and muttered, "Maybe later… by owl order…"

After about ten minutes, Hermione could take it no longer and forcibly dragged Ron away from the store, with willing assistance from Neville. Harry, Ginny and Luna followed more leisurely. Surprisingly, Lupin had to drag Tonks away too, she was a hardcore Quidditch fan and an excellent flier too, apparently. Harry was surprised, considering how much havoc she managed to create on the ground, by tripping over her own feet.

They entered Flourish and Blotts', where Ron promptly disappeared in the quest for the latest issue of Quidditch Through the Ages, while Hermione asked the clerk for their seventh year texts. She insisted that Harry purchase his seventh year texts as well, for Transfiguration, Defence, Charms, Potions and Care of Magical Creatures. She assured him with a grim smile that she would take it upon herself to make sure that he was prepared adequately. Harry was vaguely disconcerted by the assurance she gave, knowing that it probably meant a long and hard summer ahead, but he bought the books anyway.

Lupin and Tonks added a couple of books to his pile, Advanced Curses and Shields and Battlefield Survival Guide. Harry was taken aback by the grim title of the second book, but bought it happily when Tonks confided in him that it was pretty much their bible during the second year of Auror training.

Tonks regaled them all with stories about what rookie Aurors were put through, as a part of their 'orientation', which included tales when she went high on Firewhiskey. She glared when Ron howled so hard that tears flowed freely down his face. "I hear you're trying to become an Auror, Weasley." She gave him an evil grin, "Let's see if you find it this funny then." This shut Ron up pretty quick.

As they passed a drab, rather nondescript shop with a broken sign proclaiming it to be Herbs and Spices, Harry suddenly stopped. There was nothing special about the shop, it just seemed to be a place where one could purchase potion ingredients, but he felt drawn to it somehow. Fortunately for him, Hermione glanced at the shop and said brightly, "Oh, I nearly forgot, we have to update our Potions supplies."

She made to go inside, but Lupin stopped her. "We're sticking together," he said, his tone mildly reproving. And all of them trooped inside the small shop, Ron muttering something about useless subjects and greasy-haired gits.

As Hermione asked the man behind the counter for some basic potion supplies, Harry glanced around the tiny shop. The shelves covered all four walls, even the window. The only light in the dingy store was from a spluttering oil lantern hung from the ceiling.

The shelves were packed full of jars, Harry could dimly make out a few of the labels, dragon blood, powdered Basilisk fang, Hippogriff claws, unicorn hair and a few hundred others. The man was arbitrarily pulling down jars from the shelves (or so it seemed), tipping out tiny quantities of each into small ampoules, when Harry crossed the threshold.

All at once, there was a loud screech, and the man dropped the jar he was holding, it was full of green slime, which spilled out on to the floor. From the label Harry learnt that it was in fact, Flobberworm pus, but that did not concern him at the moment. What occupied his attention, and that of everyone else in the room, was a white envelope, glowing faintly, and floating towards him.

Harry automatically caught the envelope, and the screeching stopped suddenly. He stared at the white envelope, the screeching still ringing in his ears, while everyone else stared at him. The owner of the shop was the first to break the silence. "Mr. Potter," he nodded at him, only to immediately find himself at wand point by Lupin and Tonks.

Harry could see the man clearly now, once he had stepped directly under the lantern. He was extremely fat, with great pouches hanging from his cheeks. He was nearly bald, the few wisps of hair he had, he had combed back carefully, unsuccessfully trying to hide his baldness. The eyes fascinated him, dark, beady, shrewd eyes, fixed on him calculatingly.

Suddenly, the man realized that he was being held at wand point and scowled at Lupin and Tonks. "It's only a letter," he snapped at them, "with an Identification charm. Check if you like." He nodded towards the envelope.

"Be careful, Harry. It might be cursed," Tonks warned, keeping her wand and her eyes fixed on the man. Surprisingly, he only snorted, "Unless Mr. Potter is daft enough to send himself a cursed letter, I believe there is no cause for concern."

Himself? What was going on?

The man casually knelt down to a shelf below the counter, and emerged with a silver goblet in his hand and set it down carefully. "It was ready six months ago," he told Harry, confusing him even more.

He looked at the envelope, which was addressed 'Harry Potter' in a very familiar handwriting… his own. Lupin warned him sharply, "Don't open it!"

Harry looked at him, "If this were cursed, I think it would probably have happened by now, don't you?" Not waiting for a reply, he tore open the envelope and opened the folded parchment inside. It was a letter, and was clearly written very hurriedly.

The apothecary owner is Dimitri Mendel. I asked him to prepare an Athletos potion, you will need it after Azkaban. He is trustworthy and an excellent potion master, he prepared the Occulus potion perfectly, it cured my sight. He will not have any objection to drinking a little of the potion to prove that it is not poisonous. It is paid for.

Harry Potter

PS: You would have had a vision of Albus Dumbledore the first time you looked at the sun after Azkaban.

Harry knew that the last bit was for confirming that the letter was genuine. No one else knew about the vision after all. But… the Athletos potion? Harry wrinkled his eyebrows, a memory of his reading a Potions text came to him. The Athletos potion was an illegal potion, mainly because of it's ingredients, which included powdered Manticore claws and a droplet of Griffin blood, both classified as Class A Non-tradable goods. Upon ingestion, the drinker's body would change, become healthier and more wiry. Earliest use of the potion was recorded by one of the ancient Greek wizards, who used it as a shortcut to prepare for the Olympic Games…

But what surprised Harry most was the extent to which he had been prepared for his incarceration. He had the foresight to get Mendel to prepare the potion, knowing that his body wouldn't be in the best of conditions after Azkaban. He also had the foresight to keep his memories in the safest place possible.

He sucked his breath in sharply suddenly, rereading the last line of the letter. The visions… he had planned those as well. The one about Dumbledore was triggered by looking at the sun apparently, and thinking quickly about the other visions, Harry found that they were triggered similarly, as when he had seen a Pensieve, or when his mind was invaded…

"Your letter was rather vague, Mr. Potter. You did not say when you would come for the potion… but," glancing over Harry's thin frame with cunning black eyes, "There's no denying you do need it. Your body will take a few hours to get adjust itself fully. Expect to feel extremely fatigued when new… effects happen," Mendel continued, oblivious to the confused glances between the rest of them. "What is that?" Hermione asked finally.

Mendel fell silent, but Harry replied, peering down at the goblet, "It's the Athletos potion." The potion was dark grey in colour and had a fresh fruity smell to it. 'Perfect,' he thought to himself.

"But… but that's illegal," Hermione exclaimed, looking at him worriedly. Tonks started violently, "If that's true, you're in big trouble mister!"

Mendel smiled slightly, his huge cheeks seeming to swell further, "I daresay that wouldn't happen. Not unless you want to get Mr. Potter in trouble too."

Tonks spluttered incoherently, but Lupin interjected quietly, "It is not safe, Harry."

"Mr. Mendel," he spoke, glancing down at the letter to make sure he had the name right. "You will need to test it of course."

"Of course," the shopkeeper nodded politely. He dipped a silver spoon in the potion, stirred it gently, and drank a spoonful. Harry nodded, satisfied.

Lupin wouldn't give up so easily, "Harry, I'm sure that if you told Dumbledore, he would get it prepared for you…"

"By Professor Snape," Harry finished for him. "Somehow I think this will be safer…" Not waiting to hear any more arguments, he quickly downed the potion. It felt warm, the taste was rather like a mug of hot chocolate.

No one said anything after that. Tonks looked helplessly at Lupin, but he didn't say anything more. They waited for a while anxiously to see if there were any side effects. They left after Harry said he felt fine, Tonks giving Mendel a futile glare as they exited the shop. Harry smiled and nodded his thanks.

The warm feeling had spread throughout his body now, right to the ends of his fingers and toes, he knew that it was the potion working and smiled slightly. No more huffing and puffing after climbing the stairs too quickly!

They entered Florean Fortescue's Ice-cream parlour, walking in a single file to avoid a large puddle of water just outside the entrance. Little did Harry know that the puddle would save his life later that day.

They had just taken seats when they heard the faint popping sounds outside. Simultaneously, a few other things happened.

Harry felt a prickling at the back of his neck, which indicated that powerful wards had been cast on the area. Lupin and Tonks sprang up, wands in their hands. A woman screamed… which was quickly followed by shouts and cries. Looking out, Harry could make out dark-cloaked figures, and flashes of light, caused by spells being cast.

Death Eaters…

"All right, time for you to leave," Lupin said in a calm voice. Only the tenseness of his body and the look in his eyes gave away his feelings. Harry opened his mouth to object… he wanted to stay to help Lupin and Tonks, but Neville cried, "Activate!"

The ring he was wearing, or rather, the Portkey… vibrated slightly. Harry braced himself for the swirl of colours indicating Portkey travel and waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened.

Harry guessed that this was due to the wards that he had felt being laid on Diagon Alley. As Lupin and Tonks exchanged a worried look, Harry smiled grimly and took out his wand.

If there was going to be a fight… he'd sure as hell fight…

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

A/N: Next chapter is almost entirely devoted to action, Harry faces off against the Death Eaters…

I've received a few queries as to when he'll go the Chamber of Secrets and how long the story's going to stretch on. Can't say for certain, but only after he goes back to Hogwarts for his seventh year… won't be in the next few chapters atleast.

Something reassuring, just know I'm not going to leave bits and pieces hanging at the end, I know exactly how the plot is going to unfold, and I'll tie everything up in the end.

But I'd like to hear about the other ideas all of you might have about the whole unfair Azkaban imprisonment thing… anyway, here's a clue, it all comes down to the Cruciatus curse(s) Harry performed with his wand… if not on Malfoy then on whom? Guess away!

And do take a look at my new story, 'Battle in the Past', it's of my favourite kind… a Harry-in-MWPP-era one. It'll be a lot different from the usual ones of that sort.

shadylion