Chapter 8
"Come on, Harry," Ron beckoned as they walked away from the silver casket. "I just want to get away from that thing… it's spooky." Harry agreed wholeheartedly, and followed Ron into the huge crowd. They were heading back towards The Leaky Cauldron, as far as Harry could tell, and probably back to the hotel.
The bustling movements of everyone made it very hot, especially in the condensed center of the crowd. 'Perhaps it just [I]seems[/I] like there's more people than earlier,' Harry thought, eying the scaffolding in the distance. 'Maybe they're all being pushed to this end of the Alley because of whatever is over there?' It looked like one of the stores was getting a facelift with a new coat of paint, although it was too far away for Harry to tell which store.
The crowd made Harry's and Ron's progress very slow, but it wasn't until he was around so many people in Diagon Alley that Harry realized how badly the money shortage had hit the wizarding world. Bits and pieces of different conversations met his ears, and they all managed to center around money, or lack thereof.
A young woman was conversing with her group of friends. "Bill and I were going to get married this summer, but my parents used Gringotts…"
An older man with weary eyes told one of the shopkeepers: "Three of my four sons were fired from the Ministry of Magic. I can't support them [I]and[/I] my wife's brother!"
Someone who reminded Harry of Malfoy lamented, "… can't get a new broomstick. My parents get me the newest model every year, but those stupid goblins… I sent them another howler today."
Then, probably the most pitiful of all came from a little girl with her mother. "But Daddy promised he wouldn't work on my birthday…"
Harry lapsed into deep thought. He wished that there was some other way to get their money back; other than dying. Everyone would be rich if he just sacrificed himself, but that would mean Voldemort wins. That would mean that everything Harry's scar represented was nothing. As much as he hated it sometimes, Harry was The Boy Who Lived, and that somehow brought hope to people, even after Voldemort returned. If he just lived through this, Harry realized, it would be like good prevailing ultimately over evil, because it wasn't just one good wizard versus one evil wizard. It would be good people banding together against evil people, because he wasn't going to be able to survive on his own. If Ron was right…
"LOOK OUT!" A voice broke through the air.
Before Harry knew what was happening, somebody slammed into his right side, sending him into the center of the street. Harry hit the ground, his elbow breaking the fall. He sat up quickly to see what was going on.
The scaffolding towered in front of him and he noticed something accelerating towards the ground. It landed heavily exactly where Harry would have been, had he not been pushed out of the way. It was a full can of paint.
Blue paint splattered everywhere, mostly on Harry. People started screaming, realizing what had almost happened. A swarm of hands reached out and helped Harry to his feet. He was surrounded by so many people, he couldn't see who it was that had saved him. He caught sight of Ron, who was standing in one place, his freckled face whiter than Harry had ever seen it.
Wands began to swish here and there, everyone removing all the blue paint from each others' hair and clothes. Before he knew it, Harry had been cleaned up from head to toe. He managed to shake off the remaining few people, who were repeatedly asking if he was okay, and ran over to Ron.
"Harry?" Ron was panicking so badly Harry could see him shaking. "Harry… I'm sorry… I didn't help you… I didn't think…"
"Ron! Ron, calm down." Harry put a hand on Ron's shoulder. "It's okay. I'm fine. It was just an accident, it wasn't your fault."
"It wasn't an accident," someone said. A rush of relief coursed through Harry as he recognized the know-it-all tone.
"Hermione!" He turned toward her voice.
Harry could tell that she was very glad to see him alive, but she whispered, "Harry, we need to go somewhere else. It's not safe here." She looked over her shoulder, as if to make sure that nobody would follow them. If Harry hadn't been so shaken up from almost dying, he would have laughed at how much she sounded like a muggle secret agent.
"Come on, both of you," she said. "I know a place where we can go."
"Wait," Ron said, finally beginning to calm down. "My family's been staying at a hotel. We could just go there. It's in muggle London so we'll be safe there."
Hermione pursed her lips and, for a second, Harry thought she shot him a look of warning. But it must have been his leftover jitters, Harry decided, because she then said with a little smile, "No, you'll like this place better." She turned away from The Leaky Cauldron, which wasn't too far away from where they were, and started back towards the casket.
Harry put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Hermione, no. I don't want to go back there." Discouraged that he was unable to keep the fear out of his voice, Harry shuffled his feet and said, "It's just… it's so crowded… if there's another way to get there…" Hermione reached to her shoulder where Harry's hand was resting. She took his hand into both of hers and held it for a moment.
"It's okay, Harry." She squeezed his hand, then let it fall back to his side. Harry nodded, feeling a little stupid, but secretly glad that Hermione was sympathetic. She turned and headed towards a vacant store nearby. Harry, making sure that Ron was close by, followed her.
They stepped inside the dark, empty shop.
"Oh this is much better than a hotel room, Hermione," Ron said, eyeing a huge spider web in the corner.
Hermione, though, ignored him and walked towards the door leading to the back room. She opened it, and let Harry and Ron in first.
Harry had never been in the back room of a Diagon Alley store. Not that it was much different than the main section, or impressive in any way, but there was another back door, and a small window. Harry reached out to wipe the grime off the window as to see what was on the other side, but Hermione told him not to.
"Why not?" Harry said, trying to see through the greenish dust that was mucking up the window. "What's back there?"
"You'll see," Hermione said. "I just don't want to make it obvious that we were here."
"Yeah," Ron whispered in his best impression of a ghostly voice. "Someone might be [I]following[/I] us." Hermione glared at him, and Ron stopped joking around, realizing that what he said had a very good chance of being true.
Hermione opened the back door and stuck out her head. She looked to her left and right, then beckoned for Harry and Ron to follow her out.
They stepped out into a very narrow alley, so narrow that two people couldn't walk comfortably side by side. There were countless doors, but they were all on one side. It was very long, as well. Unlike Diagon Alley, where the streets twist and turn, this alley was straight and Harry couldn't see a turn in either direction.
Hermione thought for a moment, then started toward the right. Harry got behind her, and Ron filed in behind Harry.
"Hermione, where are we?" Harry asked, eying the old bricks on either side of him.
"Fin Alley," she answered. "I'm not exactly sure why it even exists, but it is very useful."
"I've never even heard of Fin Alley!" Ron said.
"So?" Harry said, wondering why Ron was so surprised. Harry didn't know about it either until then.
"So! I live with Fred and George. They've never been back here, I'd bet."
"How can you be sure?" Harry asked, stepping over a discarded cauldron.
"Because whenever they find something interesting that I don't know about, they rub it in my face." Ron rolled his eyes. "I'd see them sniggering after coming back from a secret Hogsmeade run and they would just laugh or make up something stupid. I've never seen them act like that in Diagon Alley."
Hermione said, "Well, the only people who know about Fin Alley are the people who work at the shops and the Ministry of Magic."
"Why the Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked.
"I'm guessing that when people from the Department of Magical Objects and Retail come around to check on the stores, they come down Fin Alley because it's a lot easier to find a specific store." Hermione pointed up and to the right where a faded sign read: "Ollivander's Wand Shop." Harry hesitated as he passed the door, remembering the last time he was in that store. He got a sudden urge to go inside and talk to Mr. Ollivander and tell him everything that was bothering him, maybe even tell how he got his black eye.
"Go on, Harry," Ron poked him in the back. "You're slower than a flobberworm."
"Sorry," Harry said, shaking himself mentally. What was he thinking? He couldn't tell [I]anyone[/I] about his black eye. He kept behind Hermione, glancing up every now and then to read which store they were passing, trying to keep his thoughts from wandering too far into the past.
"This is strange," Ron said. "All the doors are on one side, but I KNOW Ollivander's is across from the candy shop. Look!" Ron pointed at the candy shop sign.
Hermione sighed, "Ron, of the three of us I'd expect that you'd be the one who is most used to magic, having been around it your whole life." Ron started to grumble an insult under his breath, but Hermione interrupted him. "Just be quiet, we're almost there, okay?"
She began to look at every sign they passed, apparently looking for a specific door. She stopped in front of one and read the sign aloud: "'Excess Supplies.' This is the one." Hermione opened the wooden door and stepped inside. Harry followed her into the dark room, then waited for his eyes to adjust. A moment later, he found out that there was no need to wait, because a dim light filled the room, revealing a lot of cobwebs and broken magical items. He turned to his left, where the light was coming from, and saw Hermione crouched over a trapdoor.
"Oh, this doesn't look familiar at all," Ron said, peering down into the hole.
"Well, at least Fluffy isn't here," Harry shrugged.
"Right," Hermione said. "But this time, I'm going first."
"Wait, what's down there?" Ron asked, but before Hermione would answer him, she lowered herself slowly into the hole. It wasn't deep at all, probably a little less than 6 feet.
"Come on, and don't forget to close the door, Ron!" she called up to them. Harry sat on the edge of the hole as Ron pulled the door shut. 'It isn't so bad when you can see where you're going,' Harry decided as he dropped down. The ceiling was only a couple inches higher than his head. Ron came down next, and groaned at the fact that he was at least an inch taller than the ceiling.
As Ron complained about getting a sore neck, Harry took some time to check the place out. It was a square, stone hallway that disappeared into darkness. The only light came from the torch Hermione was pulling out of a holder on the wall.
"Wow, Hermione," Harry said, ignoring the fact that he interrupted Ron's ranting. "How did you find out about this?"
"Someone showed me," she smiled, pulling the trapdoor closed over her and Ron's heads.
"Who?"
"Snuffles!" Ron shouted, and pointed toward the dark end of the hall. Harry turned quickly and smiled as the huge dog trotted their way.
"Sirius, I'm glad you're here," Harry sighed. The dog sat down next to them, and the next moment, Harry's godfather was sitting with his back against the wall. Like Hermione, Sirius was glad to see Harry alive, but something in his eyes was very wrong. Harry wanted to ask what was the matter, but Hermione approached Sirius and offered a hand.
"Here, let me help you up."
Sirius smiled and said hoarsely, "No thanks. I think Ron's the only one other than me who really understands the lack of comfort in this place." Ron tried to nod in agreement, but ended up looking very awkward since his head was already bent forward to keep it from hitting the ceiling.
"Go ahead and sit down," Sirius said. "I'm sure you've had a long day."
"That's an understatement," Harry said as he plopped to the ground, unaware, until then, of how tired he really was.
"They tried to do it today…" Hermione said to Sirius. His smile was gone. He closed his eyes and shook his head disbelievingly at the news. "… you were right about the scaffolding," Hermione continued.
"What?" Ron asked, looking confusedly from Hermione to Sirius. "Who?"
"A group of wizards," Sirius said rubbing his left temple. "But I thought they would've waited longer for their first attempt."
Harry looked up at Ron. His friend was staring back at him, his face paling again.
"… I knew that scaffolding was bad news…" Sirius was muttering to himself. He looked up at his godson, shaking his head again. "I don't know how you're going to live through this."
"Come on, Harry," Ron beckoned as they walked away from the silver casket. "I just want to get away from that thing… it's spooky." Harry agreed wholeheartedly, and followed Ron into the huge crowd. They were heading back towards The Leaky Cauldron, as far as Harry could tell, and probably back to the hotel.
The bustling movements of everyone made it very hot, especially in the condensed center of the crowd. 'Perhaps it just [I]seems[/I] like there's more people than earlier,' Harry thought, eying the scaffolding in the distance. 'Maybe they're all being pushed to this end of the Alley because of whatever is over there?' It looked like one of the stores was getting a facelift with a new coat of paint, although it was too far away for Harry to tell which store.
The crowd made Harry's and Ron's progress very slow, but it wasn't until he was around so many people in Diagon Alley that Harry realized how badly the money shortage had hit the wizarding world. Bits and pieces of different conversations met his ears, and they all managed to center around money, or lack thereof.
A young woman was conversing with her group of friends. "Bill and I were going to get married this summer, but my parents used Gringotts…"
An older man with weary eyes told one of the shopkeepers: "Three of my four sons were fired from the Ministry of Magic. I can't support them [I]and[/I] my wife's brother!"
Someone who reminded Harry of Malfoy lamented, "… can't get a new broomstick. My parents get me the newest model every year, but those stupid goblins… I sent them another howler today."
Then, probably the most pitiful of all came from a little girl with her mother. "But Daddy promised he wouldn't work on my birthday…"
Harry lapsed into deep thought. He wished that there was some other way to get their money back; other than dying. Everyone would be rich if he just sacrificed himself, but that would mean Voldemort wins. That would mean that everything Harry's scar represented was nothing. As much as he hated it sometimes, Harry was The Boy Who Lived, and that somehow brought hope to people, even after Voldemort returned. If he just lived through this, Harry realized, it would be like good prevailing ultimately over evil, because it wasn't just one good wizard versus one evil wizard. It would be good people banding together against evil people, because he wasn't going to be able to survive on his own. If Ron was right…
"LOOK OUT!" A voice broke through the air.
Before Harry knew what was happening, somebody slammed into his right side, sending him into the center of the street. Harry hit the ground, his elbow breaking the fall. He sat up quickly to see what was going on.
The scaffolding towered in front of him and he noticed something accelerating towards the ground. It landed heavily exactly where Harry would have been, had he not been pushed out of the way. It was a full can of paint.
Blue paint splattered everywhere, mostly on Harry. People started screaming, realizing what had almost happened. A swarm of hands reached out and helped Harry to his feet. He was surrounded by so many people, he couldn't see who it was that had saved him. He caught sight of Ron, who was standing in one place, his freckled face whiter than Harry had ever seen it.
Wands began to swish here and there, everyone removing all the blue paint from each others' hair and clothes. Before he knew it, Harry had been cleaned up from head to toe. He managed to shake off the remaining few people, who were repeatedly asking if he was okay, and ran over to Ron.
"Harry?" Ron was panicking so badly Harry could see him shaking. "Harry… I'm sorry… I didn't help you… I didn't think…"
"Ron! Ron, calm down." Harry put a hand on Ron's shoulder. "It's okay. I'm fine. It was just an accident, it wasn't your fault."
"It wasn't an accident," someone said. A rush of relief coursed through Harry as he recognized the know-it-all tone.
"Hermione!" He turned toward her voice.
Harry could tell that she was very glad to see him alive, but she whispered, "Harry, we need to go somewhere else. It's not safe here." She looked over her shoulder, as if to make sure that nobody would follow them. If Harry hadn't been so shaken up from almost dying, he would have laughed at how much she sounded like a muggle secret agent.
"Come on, both of you," she said. "I know a place where we can go."
"Wait," Ron said, finally beginning to calm down. "My family's been staying at a hotel. We could just go there. It's in muggle London so we'll be safe there."
Hermione pursed her lips and, for a second, Harry thought she shot him a look of warning. But it must have been his leftover jitters, Harry decided, because she then said with a little smile, "No, you'll like this place better." She turned away from The Leaky Cauldron, which wasn't too far away from where they were, and started back towards the casket.
Harry put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Hermione, no. I don't want to go back there." Discouraged that he was unable to keep the fear out of his voice, Harry shuffled his feet and said, "It's just… it's so crowded… if there's another way to get there…" Hermione reached to her shoulder where Harry's hand was resting. She took his hand into both of hers and held it for a moment.
"It's okay, Harry." She squeezed his hand, then let it fall back to his side. Harry nodded, feeling a little stupid, but secretly glad that Hermione was sympathetic. She turned and headed towards a vacant store nearby. Harry, making sure that Ron was close by, followed her.
They stepped inside the dark, empty shop.
"Oh this is much better than a hotel room, Hermione," Ron said, eyeing a huge spider web in the corner.
Hermione, though, ignored him and walked towards the door leading to the back room. She opened it, and let Harry and Ron in first.
Harry had never been in the back room of a Diagon Alley store. Not that it was much different than the main section, or impressive in any way, but there was another back door, and a small window. Harry reached out to wipe the grime off the window as to see what was on the other side, but Hermione told him not to.
"Why not?" Harry said, trying to see through the greenish dust that was mucking up the window. "What's back there?"
"You'll see," Hermione said. "I just don't want to make it obvious that we were here."
"Yeah," Ron whispered in his best impression of a ghostly voice. "Someone might be [I]following[/I] us." Hermione glared at him, and Ron stopped joking around, realizing that what he said had a very good chance of being true.
Hermione opened the back door and stuck out her head. She looked to her left and right, then beckoned for Harry and Ron to follow her out.
They stepped out into a very narrow alley, so narrow that two people couldn't walk comfortably side by side. There were countless doors, but they were all on one side. It was very long, as well. Unlike Diagon Alley, where the streets twist and turn, this alley was straight and Harry couldn't see a turn in either direction.
Hermione thought for a moment, then started toward the right. Harry got behind her, and Ron filed in behind Harry.
"Hermione, where are we?" Harry asked, eying the old bricks on either side of him.
"Fin Alley," she answered. "I'm not exactly sure why it even exists, but it is very useful."
"I've never even heard of Fin Alley!" Ron said.
"So?" Harry said, wondering why Ron was so surprised. Harry didn't know about it either until then.
"So! I live with Fred and George. They've never been back here, I'd bet."
"How can you be sure?" Harry asked, stepping over a discarded cauldron.
"Because whenever they find something interesting that I don't know about, they rub it in my face." Ron rolled his eyes. "I'd see them sniggering after coming back from a secret Hogsmeade run and they would just laugh or make up something stupid. I've never seen them act like that in Diagon Alley."
Hermione said, "Well, the only people who know about Fin Alley are the people who work at the shops and the Ministry of Magic."
"Why the Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked.
"I'm guessing that when people from the Department of Magical Objects and Retail come around to check on the stores, they come down Fin Alley because it's a lot easier to find a specific store." Hermione pointed up and to the right where a faded sign read: "Ollivander's Wand Shop." Harry hesitated as he passed the door, remembering the last time he was in that store. He got a sudden urge to go inside and talk to Mr. Ollivander and tell him everything that was bothering him, maybe even tell how he got his black eye.
"Go on, Harry," Ron poked him in the back. "You're slower than a flobberworm."
"Sorry," Harry said, shaking himself mentally. What was he thinking? He couldn't tell [I]anyone[/I] about his black eye. He kept behind Hermione, glancing up every now and then to read which store they were passing, trying to keep his thoughts from wandering too far into the past.
"This is strange," Ron said. "All the doors are on one side, but I KNOW Ollivander's is across from the candy shop. Look!" Ron pointed at the candy shop sign.
Hermione sighed, "Ron, of the three of us I'd expect that you'd be the one who is most used to magic, having been around it your whole life." Ron started to grumble an insult under his breath, but Hermione interrupted him. "Just be quiet, we're almost there, okay?"
She began to look at every sign they passed, apparently looking for a specific door. She stopped in front of one and read the sign aloud: "'Excess Supplies.' This is the one." Hermione opened the wooden door and stepped inside. Harry followed her into the dark room, then waited for his eyes to adjust. A moment later, he found out that there was no need to wait, because a dim light filled the room, revealing a lot of cobwebs and broken magical items. He turned to his left, where the light was coming from, and saw Hermione crouched over a trapdoor.
"Oh, this doesn't look familiar at all," Ron said, peering down into the hole.
"Well, at least Fluffy isn't here," Harry shrugged.
"Right," Hermione said. "But this time, I'm going first."
"Wait, what's down there?" Ron asked, but before Hermione would answer him, she lowered herself slowly into the hole. It wasn't deep at all, probably a little less than 6 feet.
"Come on, and don't forget to close the door, Ron!" she called up to them. Harry sat on the edge of the hole as Ron pulled the door shut. 'It isn't so bad when you can see where you're going,' Harry decided as he dropped down. The ceiling was only a couple inches higher than his head. Ron came down next, and groaned at the fact that he was at least an inch taller than the ceiling.
As Ron complained about getting a sore neck, Harry took some time to check the place out. It was a square, stone hallway that disappeared into darkness. The only light came from the torch Hermione was pulling out of a holder on the wall.
"Wow, Hermione," Harry said, ignoring the fact that he interrupted Ron's ranting. "How did you find out about this?"
"Someone showed me," she smiled, pulling the trapdoor closed over her and Ron's heads.
"Who?"
"Snuffles!" Ron shouted, and pointed toward the dark end of the hall. Harry turned quickly and smiled as the huge dog trotted their way.
"Sirius, I'm glad you're here," Harry sighed. The dog sat down next to them, and the next moment, Harry's godfather was sitting with his back against the wall. Like Hermione, Sirius was glad to see Harry alive, but something in his eyes was very wrong. Harry wanted to ask what was the matter, but Hermione approached Sirius and offered a hand.
"Here, let me help you up."
Sirius smiled and said hoarsely, "No thanks. I think Ron's the only one other than me who really understands the lack of comfort in this place." Ron tried to nod in agreement, but ended up looking very awkward since his head was already bent forward to keep it from hitting the ceiling.
"Go ahead and sit down," Sirius said. "I'm sure you've had a long day."
"That's an understatement," Harry said as he plopped to the ground, unaware, until then, of how tired he really was.
"They tried to do it today…" Hermione said to Sirius. His smile was gone. He closed his eyes and shook his head disbelievingly at the news. "… you were right about the scaffolding," Hermione continued.
"What?" Ron asked, looking confusedly from Hermione to Sirius. "Who?"
"A group of wizards," Sirius said rubbing his left temple. "But I thought they would've waited longer for their first attempt."
Harry looked up at Ron. His friend was staring back at him, his face paling again.
"… I knew that scaffolding was bad news…" Sirius was muttering to himself. He looked up at his godson, shaking his head again. "I don't know how you're going to live through this."