Harry Potter

After the War

Chapter 7

"That's Harry Potter!"

"Harry Potter!"

"It's the Chosen One!" Voices followed Harry down Diagon Alley as he passed crowds of witches and wizards doing their shopping. Diagon Alley looked much better than the last time Harry had been here. The shops were all open again save for a few that had been burnt to the ground and people had flocked back into the hustle and bustle of the street. Harry and Ginny passed Olivanders and saw the old man sitting in a rocking chair by the window, a shop assistant bustling busily in the background. Harry waved and Ollivander smiled, waving back. They moved on past Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour and Quality Quidditch Supplies towards Gringotts, the Wizarding bank.

Ignoring the whispers around him, Harry stopped and turned to Ginny, "I think I dropped something so...can you go to my vault and get some coins please? Thank you." He kissed her on the cheek and quickly turned to go in the opposite direction. Ginny laughed and grabbed hold of his shirt sleeve.

"Oh, no you don't!" she pulled him back towards the bank; "All you did was steal a dragon, break into a vault, used the Imperius curse on one of the head goblins and destroy the building. Compared to other things you've done, that can be considered mild," Harry laughed, "You've defeated Voldemort how many times? And you're scared of a few goblins? Ridiculous." She started towing Harry towards the doors.

"I'd take Voldemort any day compared to these guys," Harry muttered under his breath. Ginny smiled sideways at him, dragging him towards the columns that sheltered the door. Looking up, Harry saw scaffolding on the roof, fixing the hole the dragon had made. As they approached, the goblins at the door started and one ran inside. Harry gave Ginny an 'I told you' look which she promptly ignored. As the ascended the stone steps, the goblin returned with another goblin. The new arrival looked important and he exhumed control.

"Mr. Potter. I am Leniraj, Manager of Gringotts. I'm afraid we're not open today. Please feel free to try and find another place for your money in the mean time." As he turned to go back inside, a couple exited Gringotts, the woman tied a money pouch to her belt as they passed. Leniraj paused then motioned for the guards to close the door behind him. Just as they began to push it shut, a familiar face pushed it back open.

"Harry! Ginny! Leniraj, are you still upset about Harry's little break in? I'm sure the Ministry said he had no responsibility for it, didn't they?" Bill shook his head at the goblin, who flung out his arms in exasperation and headed back to his desk. Bill laughed, "He likes to hold grudges." Bill quickly shook Harry's hand, gave Ginny a hug and ushered them inside. The hall was almost as Harry remembered it, excepting the hole in the ceiling and claw marks going up the walls as well as fractured cracks from where the floor had been repaired. Harry couldn't help but feel proud of himself; no-one had gotten out of Gringotts with stolen goods before.

"Hey, Nanumak!" Bill called to a goblin counting gold at a nearby desk. He steered them over to him. "Harry. Ginny. This is Nanumak. Nanumak, this is Harry and Ginny."

"Ah, yes! Mr. Potter!" the goblin exclaimed, "Back to destroy the rest of the building?" he laughed and Harry gave him a pained smile in return.

"After your little escapade, Harry," Bill winked, "Gringotts had to bring in a few...replacements."

Nanumak bowed his head, "My fellows fell as cowards, Mr. Potter, do not blame yourself for their fate." Harry thought back to the Daily prophet article about Voldemort's attack on the Gringotts goblins and the gnarling guilt filled his stomach again.

"Anyway," Bill said, breaking the tension, "Nanumak is a friend of mine from Egypt. We worked together at the pyramids. He's working here now, though and he agreed to help you with anything seeing as Leniraj is being ridiculous."

Nanumak nodded and smiled, "I've been told I'm not the most...normal of goblins, Mr. Potter but I hope you don't mind my friendliness."

Harry laughed, "It's a welcome change, believe me!"

"It's nice to meet you, Nanumak." Ginny said, "But we're only in Diagon Alley for a short time. Could we possibly see our vaults?"

Harry smacked his forehead, "I forgot! Sorry, Bill but we've got to be home in a couple of hours and we've got a lot to do. Andromeda's bringing Teddy over." He explained.

Bill nodded and Nanumak jumped down from his station, "I'll take you there myself, Mr. Potter." Bill waved as they headed towards the carts that took them to the vaults.

"So which vaults are we visiting today, Mr. Potter?"

"Please, call me Harry and we need to go to my vault, the Black family vault and-"

"The Weasley family vault, please, Nanumak." Ginny interrupted.

"Yes, of course, Miss-"

"Ginny."

"-Ginny. Which stop first?" the goblin asked.

"The Black vault, please." They clambered into the cart and Nanumak started the ride. The wheels began churning as they pushed sluggishly along the tracks. Ginny clasped Harry's hand, knowing what was coming next. Harry looked over at her and saw the look of anticipation on her face. He smiled, squeezing her hand gently. She grinned back at him and they threw their arms in the air. The cart was picking up speed and suddenly they flew over the edge and down a steep rise. Ginny had her eyes closed as they tunnelled further below the earth. Harry understood how she felt. This was almost better than Quidditch. The rails twisted and spun in a labyrinth of secrecy. Sirius' vault was deeper than Harry's by far, not as deep as the Lestrange vault, though. Gradually they slowed until the tracks paused outside of a large ornate door that led to the Black vault. The goblin jumped out of the cart onto a small ledge without any railings. Ginny leapt out after him, leaving Harry to bring up the rear.

"Vault no.711." Nanumak announced. He ran his finger down the middle and placed his palm onto an odd glowing disk. Next, he took the key that Harry offered and inserted it into the small keyhole which clicked. He then said something in a strange language that Harry could only assume to be Gobbledegook, the goblin language. A whirring noise strained from inside as the door began groaning. Suddenly the doors swung inward to reveal large quantities of galleons, sickles and knuts. A few objects sat amongst the mess; a goblet engraved with the black family crest, a jewel encrusted sword and a portrait of a woman who looked so alike to Tonks, Harry felt his throat constrict and tears bead in his eyes. Ginny gasped beside him and Harry winced. He felt bad that he should have so much whilst her family had so little. He would have to talk to Mrs. Weasley about paying lodgings. He moved into the vault and half filled his pouch, which he then reattached to his belt.

"Nanumak? Is there any way I could move the gold in my vault to this one?"

Of course, Harry," the goblin answered, hovering slightly over the informal use of Harry's name, "We can have it done by tomorrow morning if that's convenient for you. All you need to do is sign some papers and we could start moving straight away. Would you still require your other vault?" Nanumak enquired. Harry thought for a moment.

"Yes, I think I will keep it." Nanumak nodded and gestured towards the cart. They returned to the rails and the doors shut with a gust of wind and a slight dust that made Ginny sneeze. They passed through Ginny's vault and its pitiful contents, even with the compensation money, where Ginny removed three galleons and a handful of sickles and moved onto Harry's vault where he filled the rest of his pouch. Whilst Ginny got back into the cart, Harry drew the goblin aside.

"Can you do me a favour?" Nanumak nodded, "Could you transfer a hundred galleons to the Weasley vault from mine? I know it's probably against the rules, but could you try and keep it a secret from the Weasley's?"

Nanumak smiled, "Of course, Harry. I can do it whilst we move your gold and I promise I won't tell Bill anything." Harry shook the goblin's hand and got back into the cart.

"What was that about?" Ginny asked him as Nanumak put the cart in gear. He mumbled something about security measures and double checking. Ginny gave him a sceptical look but dropped the subject. Once they got back to the surface, Nanumak had Harry place his signature on a couple of papers and, with a wave to Bill who was arguing with Leniraj, they left Gringotts and stepped into the warm sunlight and fresh air.

"Where next?" Harry asked. Ginny grasped his hand and pulled him towards Quality Quidditch Supplies. Harry followed her gladly and they spent at least an hour looking at brooms, trying to ignore the numerous facing leering through the windows at him. Ginny stared longingly at the new Swiftstick 3000, reluctantly pulling away without even checking the price tag. Harry smiled to himself; he now knew what to get Ginny for her birthday. Gradually they worked their way through the shops until they reached Eeylop's Owl Emporium. Harry sighed, "I can't miss Hedwig forever. Maybe I should get another owl?"

"Or maybe a cat?" Ginny supplied.

Harry thought of Crookshanks, "Definitely not a cat." He laughed. They stepped into the dark shop and were assaulted by the smells of different animals and droppings. Almost instantly, the creatures near the door began squawking, meowing and hooting at the new arrivals. The witch who ran the shop looked up from her task of pulling apart two angry looking toads who kept burping fire at each other. She gasped, dropped the toads back into their tank and ran forward to greet them.

"Harry Potter! How honoured I am to have you in my shop!"

"I've been here before." Harry told her.

"Of course, of course, now, what can I help you with?" The witch leaned forward eagerly, her catlike green eyes inches from Harry's face.

Harry backed away slightly and Ginny answered for him, "We need a new animal. Harry's owl, Hedwig, she..."

The witch bowed her head and spoke gravely, "Of course, I heard about her on Potterwatch. Tragic loss, such a beautiful specimen," Harry jerked his head up, surprised.

"You listened to Potterwatch?"

"Of course I did!" she told him, "I wasn't going to support Him, was I?" Harry smiled; he was beginning to like this strange witch, "Anyway, I'm so sorry about Hedwig. She was one of my best owls. So," she said clapping her hands, "I don't think I've actually introduced myself. My name is Alexis Eeylop. My father owns the shop." She explained.

"This is my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley." Harry offered the information.

The witch grinned and winked, "Girlfriend, eh? Nice to meet you," she shook Ginny's hand. The bell that indicated a new customer rung through the shop and a stout man holding a purple yowling cat entered. "Out! Come back later!" Alexis yelled at him. The man's thick beard seemed to shrink in fear and the cat stopped yowling and started hissing. "We're closed! Come back later!" the man practically ran from the shop. Alexis walked over to the door, shut it and folded over an open sign to 'We're closed'. "Now," she returned to where Harry and Ginny stood in shock, "what sort of animal are you looking for? We've got a beautiful Serbian hairball that can see your death," she indicated an evil looking cat whose eyes seemed to sparkle with knowledge. It was smiling at Harry. He shuddered away from it. "Or, we've got two lovely-" she looked at the tank the two toads were in, "-one lovely Chinese fire toad." She corrected herself. She rattled off a list, showing them around various tanks and cages. They avoided a crate near the back that had 'Dangerous!' written on it in large red letters and shook violently every few seconds. Alexis led them past jewelled tortoise, three green mice and a snake that had tied himself into an unimaginable amount of knots.

"Actually," Harry interrupted her in the middle of telling them about a two headed rabbit, "I was thinking of getting another owl." Alexis stopped and held up her finger. She ran off into the back room. Ginny and Harry looked at each other, startled. A loud crash came from the store room, followed by various squawks and shrieks. A parrot next to Harry began shrieking in French as more noise came from the direction of Alexis. A few seconds later, Alexis pushed her way through a curtain separating the shop and back rooms, carrying something small and white in her arms.

"Don't mind the parrot, he goes off if he thinks someone's breaking in," she told them. "Here we go. Is this what you're looking for?" she held out a bundle of feathers and as Harry leaned closer, he saw that it was in fact a small owl. "We found him about a month ago. It turns out, he'd fallen from his nest and couldn't get back up," Ginny made a noise of protest, "But we took him in, fed him and taught him to fly. He should be perfect for you." Harry stared at the owl. It was smaller than a regular owl, but had a near perfect white coat and unusual green eyes that seemed to see deep into Harry's mind. The owl hooted softly and stretched out to brush his head against Harry's outstretched hand. He reminded Harry of Hedwig.

"How much for him?" Harry enquired

The witch looked affronted, "How much? Nothing! He's yours! Call it a thank you gift." Harry began to protest but Alexis held up her hand and shook her head at him, "It's the least I can do." She went into the back to get a cage and Harry placed 10 galleons on the counter. Alexis returned with the owl in a cage and a bag of food pellets. She handed the food to Ginny and Harry took the owl. They left the shop, Alexis waving furiously from the door, and started making their way towards Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The shop was buzzing, both outside and in, children running from their parent's side to look at all the wonderful pranks and objects. Harry hung back.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, retracing her steps back to him. Harry pulled out his cloak and Ginny nodded, pointing to an alcove to their side. Harry kissed her cheek and pulled away. Throwing the cloak around his shoulders and feeling the power of it, Harry felt extremely lucky to have found Ginny. He didn't have to explain himself like with most people. She just knew. After checking he was completely covered, Harry returned to Ginny and tapped her shoulder.

"It's me," he whispered. She nodded, smiled and headed off towards the shop, Harry in tow. He knew he'd done the right thing in becoming invisible. There were people everywhere! Ginny weaved through crowds of children and Harry almost lost his footing several times as he dodged them. Finally, they reached the back and found one of the shop assistants restocking Portable Swamps.

"Excuse me," Ginny asked, "Is George around?" The girl turned around to reveal Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff student from Hogwarts.

"Ginny! How are you?" Hannah asked. She'd always been on good terms with Ginny. "Are you here alone?"

Harry pushed the cloak away from his face, "Hey, Hannah." She jumped, knocking over a couple of swamps.

"Don't do that again!" Hannah hissed, trying to slow her breathing. Ginny had to cover her mouth to stop laughing. "Why are you hiding anyway, Harry?"

"I really can't stand people staring at me." He explained.

She shrugged, confused, "You said you're looking for Geo- Mr. Weasley?" they nodded, "I don't know where he is. He came back on Saturday from the wedding and fell asleep on the counter. I think he'd been drinking." Harry thought back, maybe she was right, "Bruno and I put him to bed and he spent most of yesterday there. Last time I saw him was last night around seven, leaving the shop. He didn't come back." Ginny frowned, worry painted on her face.

"Thanks, Hannah." Harry said, taking Ginny's hand and steering her back through the crowd.

Hannah called after them, "If you find him, can you tell him my pay check is due?" She may be brave but she sure is tactless, Harry thought to himself. The exited the shop and Harry pulled Ginny into another alcove. He pulled off the cloak and stuffed it into his bag. The owl squawked as it was jostled around inside its cage.

"Sorry," Harry said as he put the cage down. The owl looked back at him with intelligent eyes and hooted softly. "Ginny? Are you alright?" she shook her head, "Look, I know we haven't got much time but we could have a quick look for him. I'm sure he's fine but if you want to, we can." She nodded, hugging him fiercely. "Hannah said he'd been drinking, right?" she nodded against his chest; "Maybe we should start at the Leaky Cauldron?" she pulled back and looked up at Harry, sadly.

"He isn't coping, is he?" Harry shook his head, sullenly. Ginny took a deep breath and took Harry's hand. He picked up the owl and they began making their way back down Diagon Alley. They reached the dividing wall between the alley and the pub; Harry pulled out his wand and tapped the wall three times. They heard a grinding sound and the wall began to rescind, revealing a small courtyard. They passed through it and opened the back door to the Leaky Cauldron. Tom the barman looked up and hurried around the bar to greet them. A few other witches and wizards joined him, shaking Harry's hand and praising him. Harry shuffled awkwardly and got a flashback to his first time in the pub. Eventually, Tom told everyone to 'go back to what they were doing and leave Mr. Potter alone!' The irony was not lost on Harry and he muttered "Hypocrite" under his breath.

"Mr. Potter, what can I do you for?" he asked, beaming at Harry.

Harry shook Tom's outstretched hand, "Hi, Tom. I have two things to ask you about actually. You haven't seen George Weasley by any chance, have you?" Just then a commotion broke out across the bar. George was definitely in the Leaky Cauldron. And as that moment, his fist was impacting the face of another customer. The customer punched back. Other patrons began to try and pull the two apart successfully as George took a blow to the nose. Harry couldn't help but be slightly impressed that George had such a good aim whilst drunk as he drove his fist into the guy's stomach. Ginny screamed. Harry put his hand over his ears and saw that his new owl was trying to do the same with his wings. The sound seemed to help George though, as he stopped mid punch and searched for the noise. He found Ginny and lowered his fist, giving in to defeat. That didn't stop the other man, however, and the next moment, George was sprawled out over the floor, unconscious with a darkening mark on his temple. Tom stood motionless for a moment before rushing over to the scene.

"What d'you think you're doing?" he knelt down and felt George for a pulse. "Banned! You're banned!"

The man yelled in protest, "Why the hell should I be punished? He offended my girlfriend and poured my drink down me!"

"He just lost his twin!" Tom argued, "He's been in here drinking almost every day trying to forget." Ginny had run over to George and was now stroking his hair, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Now get out! This man may need medical attention and I'm sure you don't want the ministry involved?" the man wiped a trickle of blood from his brow and grabbed his coat. His girlfriend ran after him as him. Tom ordered the waitress to bring them some ice and Harry gave it to Ginny. She placed it on George's nose.

"Harry, I need to get him back home. Can I take him to Grimmauld Place?"

Harry nodded, "Can you get him back on your own?"

"Tom?" she asked, "Could you help me?" the barman nodded and fetched his coat.

Harry stopped him on his way back, "Tom? Could I ask a favour? I need to speak to your special guest." Tom's eyes widened.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Mr. Potter." Tom looked nervous.

"Tom, I know Malfoy is staying here and I know nobody can know about that, but I need to talk to him." The innkeeper paused, trying to make a decision, "Please?" Tom sighed and pulled out a key from his pocket.

"I didn't give you this. Understand?" Harry nodded and took the key, slipping it into his pocket. "Room 10. You remember the way?" He did; Harry had stayed in that room after blowing up his Aunt Marge. "I'll take your owl back if you want, Mr. Potter?" Harry gratefully handed the cage to Tom as watched as he, Ginny and an unconscious George disapparated back to Grimmauld Place. He had just under an hour till Andromeda was due so he had to make this a short visit. Glancing around at the customers discussing the fight, he slipped away and up the stairs. He passed a wizard who bowed so far down he stumbled a bit and continued up to the third floor. He pushed his way to the end of the winding corridor and slid the key in the lock. Turning it, he pushed the door open. On the bed in the centre of the room lay Draco Malfoy, tossing a ball and catching it again.

"Tom, I'm not hungry."

"Well, I guess I should leave, then." Harry said.

Malfoy jumped and leapt of the bed, "Sorry Harry, I thought you were-"

"Tom?" Harry asked, "Yeah, I got that." They stood awkwardly for a moment. Harry broke the silence, "I got an owl from McGonagall this morning."

Malfoy looked worried, "Really? What did she say?"

"She said I could use the penseive." Draco breathed a sigh of relief. "I still need your memories though."

"I don't have a wand," Draco pointed out. Harry had thought of this and, very reluctantly, pulled Malfoy's wand from his bag. Draco looked at it in amazement. "I thought you'd have thrown it away or broken it or something..." he trailed off.

"I'm only giving this to you on one condition. You use it for only this then you give it to Tom for safe keeping." Draco began to protest, "If not, you don't get it and I can't help your mum."

He paused, "Ok." Harry retrieved a flask from his bag and handed it, along with the wand, to Malfoy.

A short while later, Harry was standing in Tom's office and writing a note for him explaining the wand. He left the items, along with the key, on his desk, covered the pile with a stash of papers and left. Stepping onto Charring Cross Road, Harry took a deep breath and began his way home, memories filling his pockets. Literally.