A Stroll Down The Alley.
As the apparently solid brick wall at the rear of The Leaky Cauldron's small courtyard opened fully to form a magical archway the Royal trio saw the incredible sight of Diagon Alley come into view and heard the enthusiastic shouts and applause of the many people lining each side of the cobbled thoroughfare.
The narrow street, with it's masses of shops purveying magical items of a myriad different types, was lined on each side by many people, mostly two deep, leaving sufficient space along the middle to permit the Royal Party to process along the street. All of the spectators present, apart that is from the shopkeepers and local residents themselves had applied to the Ministry's lottery, to get the limited number of free tickets available to see the 'Royal Walkabout' actually in the Alley itself. This crowd limitation was vital, as Diagon Alley could only safely contain about a thousand or so people over and above those who lived and worked there, but huge numbers more, both from the local British magical community and a great number of magical visitors from foreign countries also wanted to attend.
This dilemma had, however, been solved by the creation of a huge, magically created arena, linked to the far end of the alley, at the termination point of the processional route, built to accommodate all who wanted to be there that day to see the King and Queen and celebrate their daughter Victoria Jane's entry into the British magical community.
The adult Royals, eagerly pulled along by their excited daughter, who was holding both of their hands, emerged from the pub's courtyard into the Alley proper, proceeded by two Senior Aurors and flanked by two more, all with wands drawn and closely checking out the crowd, their eyes darting from place to place, assessing the situation. The protection Aurors were however, under strict orders not to crowd the Royal Party too closely and not to form a barrier, either physical or magical between them and their subjects, unless things got too out of hand. They were also under strict orders to permit them to approach anyone in the crowd that they wished to speak to.
Following the three Royals were Hermione Weasley and her husband Ronald and Harry Potter with his wife Ginny, none of whom had their wands drawn but all of who's hands hovered close to the pockets in their clothing that held them. Kingsley was no longer with the group, having gone off to check on the situation in the main arena that the Royals would visit later in the afternoon. Finally, following up at the rear of the party and providing more security cover were another two Senior Aurors, taking it in turns to look behind them and instantly ready to provide protection to the party proceeding them against any rearward threat. In addition there were many aurors amongst the crowd and several posted on strategic rooftops, thereby gaining an overview of the procession.
However, it instantly became very obvious that any attack was highly unlikely, the warmth of the enthusiastic greeting that the Royal Party met with positively radiated off of the enclosing rows of buildings and lit up the whole Alley as they came into view. The sound, considering the necessarily limited size of the crowd, was deafening and it took the Royal Family a little while to adjust to the eager clamour they were walking into. Even in Muggle London they had scarcely ever met with such a warm welcome.
The Royals and their escorts then began to slowly proceed along Diagon Alley, in which they made many stops to briefly chat to people, receive bouquets of flowers that many had brought to give them and shake people's hands. The most popular one of all the party was, of course, Victoria Jane herself. The crowds clamoured to meet her and give her flowers and gifts. For such a young girl she displayed great calm and poise, happily chatting to the adoring people and accepting the many items she was offered. Both of her parents, as well as Hermione, were very proud of Victoria Jane's popularity, and her handling of what might have been a stressful situation for a child less mature and more nervous, the young Princess however was obviously 'a natural' in public relations.
Because of the huge number of flowers and other things the Royal Party were receiving as they walked along they had to be regularly relieved of their burden or they would simply have been unable to carry all they were given. However trailing a little way behind the Royals there was a 'second unit' consisting of a group of uniformed Ministry employees, whose job it was to collect from the Royal party all the things they were accumulating at intervals and place them on a cart that was following on behind, this vehicle was being pulled by a well trained thestral. It had been announced in advance that any gifts or flowers received by the Royals on their 'walkabout' would be collected this way and after sorting for any possible problem items the flowers would be donated to St. Mungo's Hospital to brighten up their wards and also to the Bathilda Bagshot Memorial Home for Aged Witches and Wizards, a place which had been set up as a charity after the war to ensure no more vulnerable and old magical folk would be forced to live in poverty and squalor in their later years. Likewise the other gifts given would be auctioned off to charity, to support the same causes, apart from a single small keepsake each that the Royals would select from the donations, to act as special reminders of the day.
Eventually, despite the many frequent stops to chat with the people, the Royal Party approached the large white edifice of Gringotts Wizarding Bank near the end of Diagon Alley, which despite it's name is actually owned and run by Goblins. It had not been clearly known much in advance how the Goblin race would respond to this visit from human Royalty, relations between Wizarding humans and Goblins had, after all, often been strained in the past, right up to the point of large scale violence between the races at some points. Not only that but the Goblins had, in the past, had Royalty of their own and still lived very much according to their own laws and had their own hierarchy. As a result it was not known exactly how friendly or hostile they might be to the Royal visit. Therefore the Close Protection Aurors re-doubled their vigilance, focussing on the bank in front of them.
However, as the Royal Party reached the front of the building a fanfare of Goblin horns sounded from the rooftop of the building and a huge Union Flag, flanked by a message saying Gringotts Welcomes Our Royal Visitors was unfurled and rolled down the front of the building above the entrance. As it did so the doors of the bank were flung open and the Chief Cashier and other senior staff members of Gringotts came out onto the front steps of the building, clapping and cheering the amazed Royals who, of course, had never even seen Goblins before. The Royals, although taken aback at this surprise soon rallied and Victoria Jane and her parents walked up to the steps of Gringotts and received many handshakes from the Goblin bankers gathered there. They were also presented with Goblin made medals, cast in gold in the Goblins own mint, to commemorate the momentous day and affirming the Goblin race's loyalty to the British Crown.
Up until the aftermath of the war such a thing would have been inconceivable, but due to Hermione Granger, (as she still was then) and her tireless campaigns for House Elf, Goblin and Sentient Magical Creature's rights, (including those of Werewolves), many more liberal laws had eventually been passed by the Wizengamot and enacted by Kingsley Shacklebolt's Ministry, leading to the growth of far better relations over the years between such groups of magical beings and magical humans. This day's momentous decision by the Goblin race was a triumphant affirmation of Hermione's belief that greater equality for all the magical races would bring peace and justice to Wizarding World.
The Royal Party were then briefly shown around the ornate Banking Hall, given some much needed refreshments and told something of the Bank's history by the Chief Cashier and his senior staff. Then it was time for the Royals to leave Diagon Alley and move on to be presented to the far larger crowd, eagerly awaiting them in the huge purpose built magical arena, beyond the Alley itself. This great mass of people were being entertained whilst they awaited the arrival of the Royals by a musical concert and their safety and good order was being supervised by Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had gone on ahead of the Royal party to ensure all was in readiness for their arrival. He was there with an additional number of aurors, plus many voluntary stewards who had been recruited for the event.