In this chapter, Mary will need to find a way to get to school. But as I said before, the way to the Hogwarts Express is blocked!

There's got to be a way to get to Hogwarts somehow.

I don't really think the story can really progress forward if Mary doesn't go there.

I don't think you want her to spend the whole arc at the Dursleys.

Chapter 16: Roadblocked

As soon as Mary was transported, she realized this wasn't where she wanted to go.

"This isn't Diagon Alley." remarked the girl.

Oh wait, she had said Dragon Alley, hadn't she?

Whoops.

Well, at least she remembered it now.

She decided she might as well figure out where she was.

Suddenly, Mary noticed something that alarmed her.

There was a skeleton in this store. And it wasn't even October.

Not only that, but there was somebody's name written underneath its feet.

"Who's this?" asked Mary.

She decided to read it…and then she screamed.

It read "J.K. Rowling"!

"Noooooooo! Noooooo!" screamed Mary, her eyes widened with fear.

Oh wait, it looked like she misread it.

It read "M.K. Boling."

She sighed in relief.

She also noticed an eye staring at her.

It made her feel uncomfortable.

But she figured she would be fine.

After all, she met a man with a face on the back of his head.

Was this normal for people possessed by Voldemort?

She didn't think she would scare easy after that.

However, though it appeared to be a wizarding store, she wasn't sure whether she would be able to find the school supplies she needed.

Suddenly, two people checked into the store.

With Draco Malfoy was a man who Mary assumed was his father. The two did bear some resemblance to each other, after all. Just as Lily bore some resemblance to both her parents.

"Draco and his dad shop at this crazy place?" questioned the girl.

She wondered why anybody would ever want to shop here.

Mary discovered that the shop was known as Borgin and Burkes. It was run by a man by the name of, you guessed it, Mr. Borgin.

Also, she was at Knockturn Alley, not Diagon Alley.

Perhaps she should buy some floo powder and use it to get to Diagon Alley.

Something told her she wasn't far though.

Could she consider walking?

Then again, it seemed scary to do so alone.

Knockturn Alley didn't look like a pleasant place.

Draco suddenly noticed Mary.

"Mary, what are you doing here?" asked the blonde boy.

It didn't seem like a goody two-shoes would be buying from this place.

"I didn't end up here on purpose." noted Mary.

"That explains why the fat guy isn't with you." answered Draco.

"Would you please not call him fat? I've already received a bunch of hate mail from you, and I can assure you I won't need firewood for the next month." remarked the girl.

"Don't worry, I won't be doing that again." noted the blonde boy.

Suddenly, Hagrid entered the store.

"Are you sure the big guy isn't with you?" asked Draco.

After Hagrid sent him to the forbidden forest last year, perhaps he wouldn't be calling him by name.

That was a dreadful experience.

"Hagrid? Is that you? It's good to see you again!" exclaimed Mary.

Rubeus waved at her.

"It's good ter see ye too, lass. But wha' are ye doing in a place like this? Ye should be in Diagon Alley, not Knockturn Alley!" shouted Hagrid.

"Well, why are you here?" asked Mary.

"Just gettin' some flesh-eating slug repellent." explained the man.

"I see." comprehended the girl who lived…and had a scary experience today.

The two of them left the store.

As they did so, they noticed Lucius selling Mr. Borgin something.

Hagrid handed her a list of what she needed this year.

Everything seemed similar to last year.

However, there was one noticeable difference.

"Who is this Gilderoy Lockhart?" asked Mary. As a wizard who lived with Muggles, she did not know about him.

For this year, she was supposed to get a few books about the handsome man.

It seemed he had been chosen to replace Quirrell after he was outed as one of Voldemort's minions.

"If yeh want ter meet him, ye'll be pleased ter know he plans on signing his autographies today." explained Hagrid.

He was at Flourish and Blotts, a bookstore.

And yes, Hogwarts students went there. It was a good place to get their books.

Mary had gone there last year.

"Sounds good! Won't there be a long line though?" asked the girl with glasses.

Something told her that Gilderoy Lockhart was a celebrity.

"I imagine tha' since yer a hero yerself, ye'll be allowed at the front of the line." said the man.

Mary was pleased to hear that.

Sure enough, Gilderoy Lockhart was there signing his books.

He was a very handsome man, to say the least.

He noticed Mary Potter.

"Well, would you look at that! Another famous hero, just like me!" exclaimed Gilderoy.

Lockhart requested Mary to stand next to him.

"Sure." nodded the girl.

He wrapped his arm around Mary.

"So, how did you become a hero? Did you defeat a dark wizard too?" asked Mary.

"I've done a lot of things! Take a look!" exclaimed Gilderoy.

Lockhart handed the girl a list.

"It looks like you've fought a lot of magical creatures." noted the girl.

They ranged from III to IV.

"I sure have! I came on top every single time." explained Lockhart.

"Nicely done." remarked Mary.

She remembered the time she had taken on a mountain troll.

Mary had beaten it, but she doubted she could have done it alone.

For comparison, Lockhart had taken on an entire mountain troll tribe. And he had done it himself.

Not just mountain trolls, but also forest trolls and river trolls.

It seemed Gilderoy was a very talented wizard.

Since he was nice to her, he helped Mary with obtaining some of her school supplies.

"Thanks!" exclaimed Mary.

Suddenly, she noticed Hermione entering the building.

Ron and Ginny Weasley were there as well. And so were Fred and George.

And Molly and Arthur Weasley too.

"Hi everybody!" exclaimed Mary.

"It's good to see you again. I wish your foster parents were as accepting of wizards as mine are." noted Hermione.

"That reminds me, my dad is a profound supporter of Muggles." spoke Ron.

"Really? My parents will be pleased to hear that." remarked the girl with brown hair.

Arthur Weasley was shaking Mr. and Mrs. Granger's hands. What were their first names? The world may never know.

The two Muggles were grateful that not all wizards were like that blonde boy who threw a tomato at them.

Lucius Malfoy approached the Weasleys.

He was about to execute his terrible plan.

While the Weasleys weren't looking, he slipped the diary into Ginny's school supplies.

They were all busy looking at Gilderoy Lockhart (or making friends with Muggles in Arthur's case), so now seemed like the perfect time.

And indeed it was.

It looked like a job well done.

"I got my book signed by Gilderoy Lockhart! This is the best day of my life!" exclaimed Ginny.

Oh, and she also got to meet Mary Potter.

Suddenly, Neville bumped into Ginny.

"Oof!" exclaimed Neville.

They both ended up dropping their school supplies.

"Sorry, I didn't see you!" shouted the boy.

"It's OK." answered Ginny.

She was a forgiving girl. And she was pretty sure Neville didn't bump into her on purpose.

Neville was a second year and Ginny a first year. So there were noticeable differences between their books.

As such, they needed to be careful not to get theirs mixed up.

However, in the process, the diary Lucius Malfoy gave Ginny ended up in Neville's bag.

Ginny didn't recall having it in her bag to begin with, so she didn't ask Neville about it.

After getting her book signed, the redheaded girl (who wasn't Mary Potter) asked if she was going to have a pet of her own.

She knew Ron had one. Though she always wondered why he was missing a finger.

"Our apologies, dear, but due to the money we had to spend on Lockhart's books, all we could afford was this frog." explained Molly.

"Ribbit!" exclaimed the frog.

"It's…something." remarked Ginny.

This frog happened to be a girl.

After getting their school supplies, all that was left was to board the Hogwarts Express.

Just as Fred and George showed Ron the way to the train, Ron would show Ginny the way.

But when they reached the secret passage, they ended up crashing into a brick wall.

"Ow!" exclaimed the girl with glasses.

Hedwig was frightened.

"I thought this was the way to the Hogwarts Express." questioned Ginny.

"Oh no! Somebody blocked off the secret passageway!" shouted Mary, pressing her arms against the side of her head.

This was a problem for people who wanted to learn at Hogwarts.

"That's not all! I think somebody stole my school supplies!" exclaimed Ginny.

Her bag was missing.

"Your bag is missing?" asked Mary.

Ginny nodded. She didn't know where it was.

Had she left it somewhere?

She sure hoped she wouldn't be late for her first day of school.

The first year had been pretty excited about it. Especially since Gilderoy Lockhart would be teaching at her school.

The Weasley girl just so happened to have a poster of him in her room.

Perhaps the person who had stolen the bag was the same person who had blocked the path to the Hogwarts Express.

And Mary had a feeling who that was.

Suddenly, Ginny's frog hopped away.

"Oh no, you don't! I already lost my school supplies, and I'm not losing you too!" exclaimed Ginny.

Mary got the feeling that the frog was trying to show Ginny something, but she wasn't sure what.

Currently, Dobby was rummaging through Ginny's school supplies.

"Dobby really dodged an Avada Kedavra!" exclaimed the house elf. Ironically, he had been threatened with that in the past. Multiple times.

The cursed diary had almost made it onto the Hogwarts Express, but he had stopped it.

Or so he thought.

Now he could take the diary and then bury it so that nobody would ever find it. Especially not Death Eaters. Why were there so many left after Voldemort's downfall?

However, Dobby realized that there was one small problem.

"Wait a minute. Where's the diary?" asked the servant of the Malfoys.

It was not in the bag.

"Oh no!" exclaimed the house elf, his big eyes widening with fear.

It must have ended up in another student's bag, by accident.

How was he going to find it, now?

Anybody could have it.

Still, he had prevented Mary Potter from getting to Hogwarts, so he could rest knowing she was safe.

"Isn't that the same house elf who tried to steal Dad's wallet?" questioned Ginny.

He was pretty greedy, it seemed.

One thing was for sure, he shouldn't mess with the Weasleys.

She could only imagine what her mother would do with him.

As it turned out, Ginny's frog has been leading them to the thief.

"Huh. I think I'll call you Croaky." spoke the girl.

Croaky croaked in approval.

Anyways, it was time to deal with the book bandit.

"Hey!" exclaimed Ginny.

Dobby chuckled nervously.

"Give those back! I spent hard-earned cash on them!" demanded the girl.

Normally, she wasn't fiery as her mother.

But she couldn't allow this house elf to make off with her school supplies.

"You can have them! Dobby didn't find what he was looking for, anyway!" exclaimed Dobby.

Dobby handed the bag back to Ginny.

"Thanks…I guess." thanked the girl who was a fan of Mary Potter.

"What was that all about?" asked the girl who lived.

Ginny shrugged.

But at least she got her stuff back.

However, she wasn't sure how she was going to get onto the Hogwarts Express.

Perhaps it was going to leave...without them.

What a scary thought.

Luckily, Ron showed up.

He assured everyone that everything was going to be fine.

"Don't worry! I have a plan!" exclaimed Ron.

"What plan is that?" asked Ginny.

Ron pointed to their dad's car.

"Won't dad get mad?" questioned the girl.

"He'll understand that it's an emergency!" exclaimed the boy.

"But Muggles might see us..." pointed out Ginny.

It was kind of important to keep magic a secret.

"We'll make it turn invisible." explained Ron.

"Do you know how to fly the car?" asked Ginny.

"I think so." assured the ginger boy.

"OK, but I hope you know what you're doing." hoped the ginger girl.

Ginny hopped into the car with Ron.

"Are you coming, Mary?" asked Ron.

"Somebody needs to tell Dumbledore about the blocked passage." explained Mary.

"OK. I hope you make it to school!" exclaimed the ginger boy.

She hoped so too.

Though considering the monster living in Hogwarts, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she didn't go to school this year.

She needed to know defense against the dark arts though.

As she started writing her letter, Hagrid approached her.

"Mary? Why aren't yeh on the Hogwarts Express?" asked the man.

Fang was with him.

Seemed he was going to take his dog for a walk before he went to his hut.

"Somebody sealed off the door." explained Mary.

"I sure hope it's not because people think Albus Dumbledore is a crazy nutcase." remarked Hagrid.

"I don't think that's it." answered the girl.

"No worries, we'll fix that." said the man.

Using his arm, he punched through the wall, creating a way to the express.

Muggles looked at Hagrid curiously…and with surprise.

"Whoops, I don't know me own strength!" exclaimed the half giant.

"That works, but won't people discover the train?" asked Mary.

Hagrid added a sign to the train saying "KEEP OUT. HAUNTED."

"That ought to do it!" exclaimed the girl.

It was only until they got the passage fixed.

Mary boarded the train and off to Hogwarts she went.

Little did she know, Dobby had stowed away.

It doesn't seem like Ron knows what he's doing, does he?

I sure hope he'll be alright.

We can only hope he and Ginny will be alright.

At least Mary will be going to Hogwarts.