Harry woke to a banging on his door.

"Alright Aunt Petunia. I'm awake! I'm awake!" He calls, voice muffled by the pillow.

"Harry come on! We're going to Diagon Alley and Molly says that you have to get up now or she won't be able to get you breakfast." Hermione calls, banging on the door again. Harry frowned slightly. Usually Hermione would at most, knock once or twice then barge in, literally pulling him from the bed if necessary.

"Hermione-"

"No Ginny. Harry's awake and he's coming down for breakfast. He'll be down in a few moments." Hermione says. Harry pales slightly, praising Merlin that Hermione had got to his door before the ginger girl. It would have been possibly traumatic to see how the girl had intended to wake him.

Quickly struggling out from the tangle of blankets, he stumbles slightly before quickly going to shower and dress. Looking at the dark blue shirt he held in his hands, he moves to his trunk. Removing the pocket knife Sirius had given him, he cuts two long slashes into the back of the shirt before pulling it on. Rolling his shoulders, he unfurled his wings, making sure they managed to fit through the holes comfortably before furling them again, keeping them pressed against his back. Pulling black jeans and calf boots on, he grabs a denim jacket out of the trunk before hurrying downstairs, stumbling on the landing as a flash of ginger accousts him, arms wrapping around his waist.

"Harry! I went up to wake you, but Hermione was already making such a racquet. We're going to Diagon Alley and I thought we could go together to get our supplies, and maybe drop in and see the twins or go to Florean Fortescue's for some icecream. We haven't spent time together for ages." She says, smiling flirtatiously. Harry looks stunned before gently pulling her arms from around him, holding her out at arms length before looking down into her brown eyes

"Thanks but no thanks Gin. I haven't seen Hermione and Ron for ages either and I wanted to hang with them awhile. If this year is going to be anything like the rest of the school years, it's doubtful that it's going to uneventful. Besides, theres the whole school year we can hang out." Harry says, before mentally kicking himself when he saw her eyes light up.

"You mean-"

"As friends. Gin, I told you before, whilst this war is going on, I can't go having a relationship. Voldermort would use anyone I care for in that way against me." He says. Ginny huffs

"But you've been teaching in the D.A. I know how to defend myself."

"You're like a sister to me Gin. I don't want to risk anyone of you getting hurt." He says before sidling past her and hurrying into the kitchen, not noticing the determined glare she shot after him.

As soon as he enters the room, Molly grabs him, setting him down at the table, setting a plate of food down that made him gulp slightly. He doubted anyone but Ron would be able to eat the amount she'd given him. Looking up, he saw Sirius whince slightly as a near identical tower of food was set in front of him.

"Molly, I know I haven't eaten well, but I-"
"Not another word Sirius. You will not leave this table until you have finished the whole plate." Molly says, turning when she sees Harry sniggering slightly at his Godfather's expression,"The same goes for you too Harry. I doubt those relatives of yours fed you properly at all." She says. Sirius looks shocked, but from the glare from Mrs Weasley, both Harry and himself began working through the food under the stony gaze of Mrs Weasley.

When Molly turns her back, Harry and Sirius both quickly slide a good protion of their food onto Ron's plate, who barely notices, just continuing his way through the already sizable amount of food. Hermione scowled slightly, glances at the two black haired men's plates before nodding. She wasn't glad that they were hiding some of their food, but was at least understanding enough that they had enough still on their plates to satisfy her demands at least. The two men grin before eating.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sirius whooped with joy at seeing Diagon Alley, face cracking into a boyish grin at the sights and smells. A few of the surrounding wizard population who noticed him looked scarred. But news had also been sent out soon after Sirius had passed through the Veil about the truth behind the death of the Potter adults, that it had been Peter who had betrayed them, and set Sirius up. But the fact that he was standing in the middle of the street laughing and looking like an excited child at the circus, made a lot of them believe that he had infact gone mad in Azkaban.

"Sirius, calm down. You're scaring people." Remus says, grinning at his friends obvious joy.

"But Moony, I haven't seen this place in years." Sirius says before grabbing Remus' hand and dragging him away, Remus stumbling at first to keep up.

"We'll meet at the twins shop at three!" Molly calls after them. Harry Ron and Hermione head down the street also, if at a more controlled pace, laughing at how excited Sirius was.

"Well you can't blame the man. Being in Azkaban then in a void prison for the last sixteen years would make anyone act like that in Diagon Alley." Harry says as they enter Gringotts, joining the line for a goblin. Hermione and Harry were lead away by Griphook as Ron is lead by another Goblin to a second desk to be given some money from the Weasley account. Harry scowls slightly before turning to Griphook as he guides them into one of the carts.

"Excuse me Griphook. Could I by chance have an amount of money deposited into the Weasley account from my own?"

"How much were you thinking Mr Potter?" the goblin responds as the cart jolts to a start.

"A thousand galleons." the goblin nods, noting it down on a small page of parchment which glows before disappearing. Hermione hisses slightly.

"Don't argue Hermione. The Weasleys have given so much to the war effort, and they've never demanded anything. I feel bad having more money then I need and the Weasleys barely manage to buy supplies each year. It's done, and I'm not going to reverse it." He says as they arrive at his vault. Removing an amount from the still large piles of money, he pockets the pouch before they head to Hermione's account. Being Muggle born, Hermione had negotiated with the goblins to have any muggle money she had get converted into galleons. Her parents, knowing this and glad that they would still be able to help her with her studies, had been depositing money into her account, so there was a sizable amount there, including everything from her muggle bank account that had been going to a college fund.

It was a half hour before they returned to the street, Ron waiting for them.

"I was looking at the book list, and it is a little weird." He says. Harry and Hermione look at their own lists.

"Which one is weird Ron?" Hermione asks after a moment.

"Well, the Defence Against Dark Arts text. I mean we've had fairly traditional sounding books, but this one, Recognising, Combatting and Surviving the dark magicks of the worlds' By Titania. I mean for one, why doesn't the author have a surname, and what worlds. And the note saying this book is only permitted to be used by seventh years as requested by the current teacher. It gives the impression that this isn't something students are allowed to read usually." He asks, looking at his two friends.

"Ronald, I don't set the text books, so I don't know why one is chosen. Maybe if we look through the book then you're question will be answered." Hermione says exasperated as she drags the red head towards Flourish and Blotts. Typically, the store was crowded by Hogwarts students, all seeming to have decided to come to Diagon Alley on the same day to get their books. The trio get seperated fairly easily, and it takes them half an hour to fight their ways to the correct shelves and grab the books they needed, then another half hour in the que to pay for them and then leave.

Exiting the store, they breath easily, straightening their clothes. Ron quickly opens his bag to grab the copy of the D.A.D.A. Book he was so curious about, but Hermione scolds him.

"Ron, let us finish getting our supplies then you can scrounge through the book." She says. Harry grins,

"Hermione, I never thought you'd be dissuading anyone to not be looking in a book." Hermione gives him a mock glare as they move down the street

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Grateful that their supplies were collected, the trio head straight to Florean's for some icecream and a much needed rest. They still had half an hour before they had to meet the others at Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Ron finally unearths the book, frowning slightly at the green velvet like cover. Opening it, the top an bottom of the pages are decorated with runes, the pages looking to have been hand written, the parchment used has green and brown light streaks, as if it wasn't properly made, the streaks seeming to shift slightly as if the very page was enchanted. Hermione glances at the book and frowns.

"Those aren't runes I've studied. In fact, their not even in the text book for this year either. How could they leave out an entire language of ruins?!" She asks, looking horrified at the idea of not being given 'vital' information.

"Well they could always be just decoration. Maybe this Titania person wanted the book to look nice." Harry says, trying to reassure his friend.

"No. That can't be it. Maybe it's a lost or secret language. But Titania sounds familiar. I've heard the name before..." She says, massaging her head, obviously frustrated that information wans't springing to her fingertips. Suddenly she jumps, startling Harry and Ron.

"That's it! Elves!"

"Elves?" Harry asks, glancing at Ron in case he might know what she was talking about. The red head shrugs, as in the dark as Harry.

"Yes the Elves, Or Sidhe as they prefer. The High Queen of the Sidhe was called Titania. Her husband, the High King, was Oberon. But this book must be ancient. The Sidhe disappeared centuries ago. The only proof they existed is the occasional artwork or ruin or the hundred bottles of elvenwine left to wizard kind. And the Founder's swords." She says. Ron and Harry look confused.

"But the swords were made by the goblins. And I doubt elves would actually make weapons. Weren't they like tree huggers or something?" Ron asks.

"No Ron. The founders swords were made by the goblins, but enchanted by the elves. The swords were nearly unbreakable by the goblin workmanship, but the elves enchanted them so that they could cut anything they were used against. Elven magic is ancient, and different to our magic, but no one alive remembers how. The last person who was trusted enough by the elves when they were around to learn their magic was Merlin." She explains, grabbing Ron's book to flip through and examine, hoping it would give her more information.

"I wonder why the teacher wants us to learn some ancient elven queen's guide to dark arts. Surely this stuff wouldn't be too relevant these days. He should be teaching us how to combat modern dark arts that You-Know-Who might use." Ron says. Hermione shrugs, but obviously was planning to read the book cover to cover a few times before the school year started.

"We best get going. We can think about the mysteries of a teacher's mind later." Harry says, reminding them that they still had to get to the twins shop. Putting back their books into the bags, they head to the store. Unsurprisingly the store was crowd, people pushing to get in. Managing to squeeze inside, it was within a few seconds that a set of arms drape over Harry's shoulders. Looking up, he sees the twins, still sporting the vibrant magenta robes.

"Harry dear boy! So glad you could come." Fred says, grinning from ear to ear

"What can we get you Harry! Same as always, whatever you want is completely free. You're like a brother to us." George says. Ron looks shocked.

"What about your actual brother? Do I get stuff for free?" He asks, already reaching for some of the Snackboxes.

"Special discount for actual brothers. But nothing's for free." Fred says, seeming oblivious to the glare Ron shot towards him before browsing, this time looking more at items rather than grabbing eagerly.

"You two really should stop giving me stuff for free." Harry says as the twins march him out the back. The store room was still very wellstocked, mostly with the defensive items.

"We'll start charging you when you've bought out the thousand galleon store credit. So far, you're not even close." Fred says.

"I didn't give you that money to set up store credit-"

"Harry, do stop arguing. That honest streak will do you no good. Now be quiet and say 'thank you Fred and George."

"But-"

"Say it"

"Thank you Fred and George." Harry says with a sigh. The twins pat his back before piling some more items into his arms, perching a shield hat on his head.

"Guys, I have to be able to carry this." he says, voice muffled by the merchandise piling into his arms.

"Don't worry. We'll give you one of our special bags. You could put all your shopping in one and still have plenty of space, and it'll be as light as a feather." Fred says, grabbing a magenta bag with 'WWW' in gold written on it. Grabbing the items Harry carried, they placed everything into the bag, including his text books and school supplies. Harry takes the bag, surprised that it did infact way very little.

"Can I grab another two of those bags? Ron and Hermione deserve one, and I assure you, Hermione would want one to study at least, and I don't want mine getting torn apart." Harry says, grinning as the twins laugh and hand two more bags to him

"We only use these for really big orders, and they're usually twenty sickles, because it is a lot of spellwork. But we're not telling you this so you pay us for them." George explains

"No, we just want Hermione to know that we wouldn't use these for the wrong cause." Fred adds

"You know, if you applied the spells to regular bags or pouches, the Ministry would again be trying to buy out your stock. You really should make another shop for defence against the dark arts items aswell. In these times, it's better to have items from you two than the shoddy stuff being sold on the streets." Harry says, grinning as they move back into the main shop. The twins bow dramatically.

"Thankyou kindly Harry. We'll do that. Afterall, you're advice is what we treasure most. Except on potions. Then we'd go for Hermione." They says. Harry laughs before spotting the rest of the Weasleys, Remus, Sirius and Hermione and moving over to them, Sirius looking around like he was in Heaven, Remus holding his arms firmly at his sides so he wouldn't touch anything.

"Ah, there you are Harry dear. All ready? Good, we best get back. There's not long till you are due back to school and we might aswel use the time effectively." Mrs Weasley says.

Following them out, grinning at Sirius' protests, he hands Hermione and Ron the bags. Hermione stares at the bag before putting her shopping in it, eyes widdening when she realised the amount of spellwork that would have gone into it.

"Those two never cease to surprise me." She says. Harry agrees as the group head to the Leaking Cauldron to floo back.