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Chapter Two – A walk through Diagon Alley

Someone, no one knows who, ordered for Lucius Malfoy to have the Dementor's Kiss. Whoever it was had to be extremely powerful and controlling, and had to hate Lucius enough to do it. Kisses were rare and always reported in the Prophet, but this one . . . well this one would remain unknown for a long time.

After Hermione's news (which was news to all of them) she brought out an article and they discussed it for a moment. They ruled out the Ministry quickly because Fudge was easily swayed by things. It wasn't that Harry wasn't happy for the news, but he really didn't think it solved that much.

He didn't bother dwelling on the mystery; he was too busy having fun with his friends. Well, not all of it was fun. Hermione bothered him and Ron to do their homework and they had a lot of chores; the house would remain the Headquarters for awhile, and they had to keep it clean, now that Kreacher was gone.

Yes, Kreacher was gone. Killed, actually, and the death of him was pretty much unnoticed. He was getting up in years; after all . . . Hermione had a field day when she heard how he died: Someone ran over him. Ron had said 'Keerrrr-splat!' which caused him to get a severe slap. The decision for a new house elf was turned off because Hermione thought it was cruel, and because if any information got out about the Order, they'd be in big trouble.

Sometimes, Harry felt even trapped in the house. It was quite large, but he did miss going outside. He knew not to ask because the answer would still remain 'No.' The Order was very protective and so they kept themselves mostly towards small games between each other or homework. However, despite the bored ness, time actually did time by and before they knew it, it was just a week before school.

On an early Saturday morning, a bunch of people were at the breakfast table. Severus, much to his dislike and everyone else's, was there, as well. Remus had invited him over and there was nothing they could do about it. Severus, however, did act civilized. He complimented Mrs. Weasley on her cooking in such a manner that she blushed a bit as she thanked him. There was silence from his four students at that moment, never once hearing a positive phrase come out of his mouth. But he glared back at them and they returned to their normal actions.

Four owls suddenly flew into an opened window, one by one, dropping letters into the proper laps. They circled around once and were out again in a matter of seconds. Hogwarts owls, Hogwarts letters. Everyone paused to look at Hermione, who was as white as a ghost. Then it hit them all; they were receiving their O.W.L. scores.

Harry opened his letter and scanned through his results:

Charms: E
Transfiguration: E

Defense against the Dark Arts: O
Potions: A
History of Magic: P
Astronomy: E
Care of Magical Creatures: O

Divination: D
O.W.L. Score: 13

"Is a score of thirteen good?" Harry questioned, looking around the table. Ron nodded; he

had the same. Ginny was busy reading the new rules since she didn't have O.W.Ls yet. They turned to Harry. To say that she changed colors faster than a rainbow was not far from the truth. From pale, she went to red, to pink "Hermione . . ." He murmured carefully.

"TWENTY-ONE OWLS! TWENTY-ONE!" She screeched happily, jumping out of her chair and took Ginny into an embrace. "I'm going to be Head Girl next year . . . I just know I will! And look, I'm a prefect again! Are you, Ron? Ohmygosh, this is so exciting!"

"Uh . . . No. I'm not. I guess I'm just not fit for the whole rule-following stuff, right Harry?" Ron smirked, punching Harry's shoulder. "Harry?"

"I'm the Quidditch Captain," he mumbled.

"You're WHAT? You're the QUIDDITCH Captain?" Ron gasped, slapped Harry on the back and took the note from him. "Dear Mr. H. Potter, your former captain, Angelina Johnson, and I have decided that you would be most appropriate as the new Quidditch Captain. Your position has been reassigned now that Professor Umbridge is gone. If you do not wish to take the title as Captain, please speak to me on the first day of school. Professor M. Mcgonagall." He took a breath and passed the note around. "Blimey, this is amazing! Do I get to be keeper still?"

Harry grinned, "Yes, King Weasley, you can be the keeper." There was an exchange of hugs around until Remus pulled Harry aside.

"You want to be an auror, right? After much persuading," He glanced at Severus, "And I mean, much persuading, Severus is willing to allow you into Advanced Potions, along with Ron. You will need to work extremely hard to get caught up to the others and you don't have to take it if you don't want to, but I think it's in your best interest; Potions is important in the magical defense occupations." Remus smiled softly. Harry glanced over at Severus who looked like he just ate dung, but sat poking at his food.

"I guess . . . How are we going to get caught up?"

"By tutoring, of course!"

"But-"

"Where's Hermione?" Harry said, looking up. She was nowhere to be seen.

"She's going to borrow my owl and send something to Mcgonagall. She left. . really fast." Ron shook his head.

"Girls."

"Girls."

"She's also going to get ready to go to Diagon Alley. We got our new school lists." Ginny said, turning from her mother. "Expect to leave in about an hour." The redhead said, trailing the same path Hermione took.

Getting out of the house was a bit of a task, itself. Since the fireplace was not open to the floo network at the time (at Moody's bidding,) there was a lot of frustration and grumpiness amongst everyone. On Mad Eye's instructions, they were to leave the house and get into what appeared to be a cramped car in a matter of seconds. Luckily, like many wizard objects were, the car was charmed to have more room than it appeared on the outside. When they got to London, they squeezed in between two cars directly in front of The Leaky Cauldron and hurried into the small pub.

Mrs. Weasley hadn't come and in her place as Remus and Snape. Mr. Weasley thought it was too dangerous to go to Diagon Alley by herself, so he asked if Remus would go. Remus insisted that Snape come to get some 'fresh air' in place of Mrs. Weasley who needed a break. Harry didn't know what Snape's opinion on this was, but he was sure that he didn't like it. Perhaps he was ordered by Moody because of his past experience, or maybe he really did need 'some fresh air.' He also thought that Snape might be up to something, but didn't really have the time to stop and think about that possibility, as when the entrance to Diagon Alley opened up, his mind shut down.

Years previous, the small village was crowded and high in spirits. Vendors sat outside shops and haggled with the hags. Now the vendors sat outside (in fewer numbers) and were quiet unless you approached them, where their buoyant and jubilant personalities were toned down a bit. Before, you would enter with a large smile on your face, but now it was a frown. The group fell silent and Remus spoke softly.

"This is the extremity of the war. They're saying that one in fifteen people will die by the time this is over."

"It's nonsense, really. The statistics are completely off. Everyone thinks that someone is going to come down on Diagon Alley. They wouldn't waste their time on some little town around here. If anything, it's the government buildings or anyone that holds significant power, like Potter, here."

"I don't hold power!" Harry protested with annoyance.

"Oh really? As I know, the media would stop breathing if you commanded it. There's no need to remind you that you are quite famous." Snape sneered, walking on. Harry would have shot back if Severus hadn't ended the argument in such a stiff manner. Could professors give detention when they weren't in school?

"Harry? Do you need to go to Gringotts to pick up any gold?" Remus asked. Harry felt around in his pockets – he had stuffed them with money. "No? All right, does anyone else?" There were no's all around. "All right, get your books and potion ingredients first and meet right back here in thirty minutes."

The four teenagers headed towards Flourish and Blotts while Severus and Remus hung back, then headed for a market type area. Together.

"Is it just me . . . or are those two getting friendly? D'you think Snape is up to something?" Ron asked, sticking his hands in his pockets as they headed towards the store.

"That's just what I was thinking," Harry commented. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Don't you get it?"

"Get what?"

"They- ugh, look." Ginny spoke up, and then nodded her heads in front of them. Amidst the books and witches and wizards was a head of light blonde hair. It was distinctive, as if a marking of the family: The Malfoys. It was Draco Malfoy, the son of Lucius Malfoy. He was in Harry's year and one of his worst enemies.

"I hear your father's got smooched by the dementors, Malfoy," Ron commented, taking a step forward. Harry didn't know what to say as Draco turned about. His face was it's usually hatred expression, but he seemed careless of Ron's remark.

"I'm surprised you can even afford a newspaper, Weasel. I guess you have to have a roof somehow, mm?" Draco retorted, now it was Harry's turn as Ron's ears were pinking.

"Bugger off, Malfoy. At least he has a dad who cares." Draco's expression changed. Not so much as hurt, but more like surprise. Harry had a feeling that he was going to bring up his own dad, but he didn't.

"I think you need to get your glasses checked, Potter. If you noticed, your weasel here got it going. Or maybe you're too naive to think that your friends would dare say a tart thing? Here's a hint, Potter: Think before you speak. Maybe the mudblood can inform you on thinking, since knows all about that." He didn't leave, but turned back around, advancing towards the cashier with books slung into one arm. The comment towards Hermione was quite confusing: Was it a compliment or an insult? Or both?

"Git," Ron spat, looking at his list of books. "Wow, these are all in pretty good prices, especially the Dark Arts books."

"That's because there are three books, Ronald. And there's a sale today." Hermione commented, heading for an interesting book on studying tips. Both Ginny and Ron looked pleased at her comment though; money was tight for them.

Harry looked at his list and took special notice of the Defense against the Dark Arts books. One was 'The Dark Arts: A list of dangerous spells.' That was interesting and he had no idea why the new professor would assign a book with dark spells. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? The second book was more understandable, 'What Not to do When Encountering Someone Evil,' and another that was simply 'Psychology.' The taste of the books' names themselves suggested that the new professor wasn't another Umbridge who was stiff and rude.

After collecting all the required books for his other classes (he wasn't taking Divination that year, or History of Magic,) he and the others went to the cashier. They had to sign several papers in order to purchase 'The Dark Arts: A list of dangerous spells,' because it was a new law instituted by the Ministry and then headed towards the apothecary. On their way over (although it was only next door) they spotted Severus and Remus walking away from some shop. Remus spotted them and waved, then pointed to his watch.

They took a bit longer in the apothecary; it was dark and they had trouble separating the black beetle eyes between the pepper roots. It also smelled pretty badly in there; Ginny shooed them out quickly. Meeting up with the two adults, Snape looked very unhappy to see them. Not like that was new, though.

"How about we stop for some ice cream?" Remus said cheerfully. The group headed over to the ice cream parlor, but as they sat on the patio outside the little shack, Severus disappeared. For some reason, Harry could picture him saying to Remus something like 'Ice cream is nonsense!'

The five sat around and enjoyed their ice creams, talking about this and that. Harry brought up how they always ran into Draco, but even Ginny pointed out that purebloods often shopped in Diagon Alley. They claimed that their mother stopped by there every other week or so to stock up on food.

As they finished their lunch, Severus returned in the midst of him placing something into his robes. Remus was the first (and only) to greet him, going up to him and conversing for a few moments.

"You will need some new equipment this year, so you will have another thirty minutes to purchase what you need. After that, we will be leaving." Severus drawled, pulling out an odd looking watch. "I rather not dawdle, if it is all the same to you."

The equipment (such as cauldron and weight measures) and stationery took a rather short period of time, giving them some time to check out the Quidditch supplies. The boys got really into it, looking at magazines and poster, but Hermione and Ginny held back, talking casually about the upcoming Quidditch games of the year.

Through The Leaky Cauldron and into the car they went, heading back for the Grimmauld. No one noticed, but for only a single moment, Remus had his hand covering Severus'.