Chapter 9

Caedmon woke them up early for their trip to Diagon Alley.At first, Ron refused to get out of bed,but Hermione's threat to hex him sent him grudginglyoff to shower.After a quick breakfast, he, Hermione, Ron, and Caedmon all got into the car. Caedmon drove while the three youngsters all crowded into the back, chatting away.

"Gred and Forge say hello, by the way," Ron said, grinning.

Caedmon glanced back at them, surprised. "Who are they?"

"My brothers, Fred and George, but they'll do that every now and then to surprise people. They told me to tell Harry that Gred and Forge say hello."

"Well, tell them that Parry Hotter says hello back," Harry said, laughing.

They all heard Caedmon chuckle a little up in the front seat.

"Did you get your school letter, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, Dumbledore sent it with the letter he wrote me. Lots of books this year..."

"Yeah, isn't it great?" Hermione said dreamily. "All that reading..."

"Ah, we haven't even started the school year and she's already going!" Ron complained. "You should be a librarian, Hermione."

"I haven't decided on what I want to do after school, thank you very much," Hermione said testily.

"Could we please avoid bloodshed?" Caedmon asked from his seat, keeping his eyes on the road. "I don't want to have to explain to the Ministry why there are two dead people in my car."

Space

They reached the Leaky Cauldron, parked outside it, and went into the pub. It was crowded, and people everywhere were poring over newspapers and magazines, talking excitedly.

"I wonder what all the excitement's about?" Hermione said, looking around.

Ron grinned evilly. "It's because the world's greatest midget in glasses is here!"

"Or the world's biggest bighead," Hermione said, smiling innocently.

Ron's grin disappeared, and he looked perplexed. "What do you mean? Percy's not here."

Harry and Caedmon had to laugh as they went out the door that led to Diagon Alley. Once through the archway, they headed down the street to Gringott's. The atmosphere of excitement had carried out into the street, and people walking by would look at Harry, smile or wave, or they would bustle past, sometimes even stopping to shake his hand.

"What's all this about?" Harry wondered aloud as they went into the bank. "People don't usually do this."

Ron shrugged. An old woman came out of the bank, saw Harry, burst into tears, and gave him a hug, saying how happy the news made her before bustling off, sobbing into a handkerchief.

"What news?" Ron said, very puzzled. "Is this 'news' what everyone's excited about?"

"Well, it'll certainly explain why everyone's so happy to see Harry, if it is," Hermione said.

Space

Harry wondered aboutthe "news" while they visited his, Caedmon's and Ron's vaultsand the money changer's stallfor Hermione, and he kept wondering about itasthey re-entered the shopping alley and looked at their school lists, trying to decide where to head first.

"Why not save the books for last?" Caedmon suggested, breaking into Harry's brown study. "They're heaviest."

"Good idea," Ron said. "Let's visit the apothecary first, we all need some new ingredients after this past year."

From the apothecary they went to Eeylops' Owl Emporium to pick up some owl treats for Hedwig and Pig, and to a magical creatures' shop to get some cat treats and a toy for Crookshanks. (Hermione said that he'd been bored lately and Ron earned a black look when he remarked that the poor cat didn't have anything to chase.) They stopped off at Madame Malkin's for some new cloaks, and then it was off to Flourish and Blott's.

As always, the bookstore was very crowded, and there were lots of other Hogwarts students there as well. They were standing in line to check out when another old woman showed up, saw Harry, and gave a small scream before hugging him.

"May I ask what you're doing?" Caedmon demanded, a little annoyed. Any dark wizard could pretend to be an emotional old lady, and Caedmon wasn't taking any chances as he began to pry the old witch off Harry.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she gushed, wiping at her face with a very lacy handkerchief. "It's just that when I heard the news I was so happy..."

"What news?" Harry asked, thoroughly tired of not knowing what was going on.

"You mean you haven't heard?" she said, surprised. "Amazing!"

"Heard what?" Ron persisted.

"Well, it was all in the news this morning, my dear, yes, it was," she said, patting Harry on the shoulder. "It turns out that your father had a brother, and he was raised by relatives living over in France, and he's only just learned of your parents' deaths because he's been traveling about, you see, and he's come back to England now, and--here's the best news of all--he'll be teaching at Hogwarts this year! You'll get to see him!"

Harry felt as if the world had slowed down and gone very cold. Had he really heard what he thought he heard?

The next thing Harry knew, he was sitting on a chair in the Leaky Cauldron with Caedmon tapping at his face and trying to get him to take a sip of butterbeer. He took a sip, but continued to feel as if everything was very cold.

"Come on, Harry, take a bigger one," Caedmon said, giving his shoulders a little shake. "Come back to us."

"Huh?" Harry said, wondering what was going on while Caedmon kept holding the cup up to his face.

"You sort of went white and started shaking, Harry," Caedmon explained. "Take a drink now, it will help."

"How did we get here?"

"I brought us here," Caedmon explained, still looking worriedly at Harry. "I left Ron and Hermione to pay for the books and Apparated both of us here. Are you all right? Honestly, I thought you were going to pass out."

Harry shook his head. "No, I don't think I'm going to pass out. I would like to see a paper, though. Or do you think you could get the mail from the house here? I want to see if there's anything from Professor Dumbledore."

Caedmon nodded, and made a small gesture in the air above his right shoulder. Suddenly, he was holding a Daily Prophet and a few letters.

"Figures we'd miss the mail since we left so early," he said, glancing at the Prophet and looking through the letters. "Ah, here we go. It's addressed to you."

Harry took the letter that was held out to him and studied the handwriting. It didn't look familiar, and when he looked at the return address, he saw the name T. Potter. His hands started shaking, but he managed to open the envelope and unfold the parchment inside of it.

Dear Harry, it read.

I certainly didn't intend for you to find out about me in this way. It's a secret I intended to keep, but this nosy reporter was hanging around Hogwarts forever, and she heard someone say my name and ask about you, so the secret got out. I'm sorry that I had to keep it, but it was safer for everyone involved, most of all you. I apologize and ask your forgiveness in advance. I'm not a blood relative, more like an adopted one, but I hope that you'll look on me as a friend. I'll be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I hope I last longer than a year. I saw a picture of you, and you look astonishingly like James. For a moment I thought it was him, but then I spotted Lily's eyes looking out at me. Here's good wishes for the rest of the summer, and in case you're wondering, I won't insist you leave Caedmon unless you want to. From what Dumbledore has told me, there is no better guardian available right now in terms of power. I hope to see you on Semptember 1st, and try not to worry. I won't bite. Take care, Harry.

Your "uncle,"

Thomas Potter