Disclaimer: I don't own either Harry Potter or Supernatural.
{Blah}=Harry
{Blah}= Gabriel
~Blah~=Hayden
"Blah"= Parseltongue
Morphing Potion: I had similar thoughts but I wanted to know what people thought. I mentioned that I had some stuff planned but that I could be persuaded to change my mind if any option was by far more popular than what I planned. So far, it seems like it'll end up the same as what I had thought originally.
Rosalind Fairchild: Check Poll
The Richmaster: They were Raphael's angels. The arrogance probably rubbed off on them.
Paxloria: James is an idiot; what you didn't know that by now? Dumbledore is a manipulative 'chess master' so he wouldn't just give up. More about the Dursley's since Harry left will be revealed. Plus, Harry said he'd personally "put them on the racks" so he does have a plan.
Sakura Lisel: Whichever you would like. I had the idea in my mind that they were destroying the vessel's meant for any angel that sided with Cas, while 'convincing' the other to accept their angel rider.
All the other reviewers: Would respond to each, but this AN is already too long. Thanks for the review, glad you're enjoying it!
I know I said this would've been up a while ago, but stuff got in the way. Christmas Holiday's threw my schedule and then I was ill for a little while. Still, here it is! Enjoy!
Summer of 92 (part 2)
"You got your ass kicked...by a house elf? A house elf!?"
"It took me by surprise,"
The reason for James' anger, Harry found out, was that a house elf had managed to get through the manor wards and into Hayden's room. As Hayden had come upstairs from eating lunch with the family, he'd encountered the elf who had been bouncing on the bed looking extraordinarily pleased with itself. Hayden had logically thought that at first it was going to try and kill him. Luckily that hadn't happened. The elf, introducing itself as Dobby, had in fact come to give Hayden a vague and mysterious warning about some great danger that was going to be at Hogwarts that year and that Hayden should stay at home instead; a warning that was virtually useless considering the elf wouldn't tell what exactly this oh-so-almighty-and-unspeakable danger was. When Hayden, channeling to his idiot father for a moment insisted on returning, the pointy eared bugger tried a different strategy.
Dobby had started using house elf magic to make things around the house start floating around and crashing into each other (breaking some family heirlooms in the process) while masking his magical signature to match Hayden's in order to get him in trouble for under age magic, and therefore expelled from Hogwarts.
In response, Hayden had tried to tackle the elf, only to wind up being blasted to the other side of the room. The wall didn't stand up to the impact of having a body magically flung at it, and Hayden was sent crashing into the adjoining room. That was the scene James and Lily had come upon. Upon seeing the parents of the boy-who-lived, the elf had fled. Hayden was alright in the end though he did have a nice collection of bruises. Lily had instantly began the short process of healing them.
Of course their parents had flown into panic mode when they couldn't find Harry in the house, still obsessed with creating the illusion that they actually cared about him and his well-being. They'd herded Terry, Hayden and Alice into the living room against Hayden's protest's that Harry was fine. James had gotten his colleague's at the Auror office involved. They had a team of warders checking the Manor's wards for any cracks, whilst other auror's were on the lookout for the 'missing' boy, who James was sure had been taken by the elf that he claimed had tried to kill his son.
So now here he was. Hayden and Terry were sitting on the couch in the living room while Harry was lounging in a seat nearby. Lily was trying to get him to allow her to look at his injuries. The same injuries that James was ranting about the House Elf causing. Harry couldn't believe his stupidity and by her eye rolling, neither could Lily. He wasn't even in the house at the time. His reluctant agreement with her thoughts didn't make it any more likely that he'd allow her to check his wounds though; not that puny human magic could heal anything inflicted by an Angel blade.
"That's no excuse," Harry said
{It really isn't}
"It is. I wasn't expecting it to throw me threw a wall. So shut up," ~Both of you~
"It doesn't matter!" James snapped. Harry lazily shifted his attention onto the man "We're checking over the wards to try and find out how he got in but for now its not safe here. So you'll both be going to the Weasley's," Everyone in the room looked at him incredulously. Even Lily knew that having Harry and Ron in the same house was just a recipe for disaster. Poor Ron would be in St. Mungo's by the end of the week.
Harry snorted "Sure. You keep telling yourself that," he spoke slowly, as if talking to a child. He turned to Hayden "I'll be with the Diggory's for a few week's if you need me. Terry you'll be coming too. I'll ask Trix to pack a bag for you,"
"Now hold on a min..." James sputtered angrily.
Harry just glared at him. James backed down.
"Well if that's everything, I'll be on my way," grabbing Terry he practically skipped (but of course he didn't; he strolled in a very casual manner) over to the fireplace and, after throwing in a pinch of floo powder which turned the flickering orange flames green, stepped into the fire with a call of "The Grove". With a flash Harry and Terry were whisked off to the home of the Diggory family. Harry hated floo travel with a passion. He much preferred to fly everywhere. Terry wasn't as uncomfortable, though neither of them succeeded in achieving the most graceful landing. The pair of small boys stumbled out of the fireplace, only to trip up over each others limbs, winding up in a tangled heap on the floor.
There was a heaved sigh, and the pair looked up to see Anna Diggory looking down at them from her seat on the couch.
"Amos, Cedric," she called and footsteps sounded above them and from the adjoining office. Sure that her son and husband were on their way, she looked at the two twelve year old's who were just picking themselves up and remarked "Harry isn't the only less than stellar floo user, it seems," then she grinned and swept Harry into a hug.
"Yes, hello Anna. Long time no see, can you please let me go because I'm human see, and we need this thing called breath," he casually said, being slowly compacted into an angel pancake by the embrace. Then, as the wife of Amos let her adopted son go, he stopped and sniffed the air. "But more than breath we need homemade brownie's," he sniffed again "Warm if I'm not mistaken, and I rarely am," before bouncing into the kitchen with all the glee of a four year old on Christmas morning.
"He thinks he's so clever when he does that," she commented.
At that moment, just as Harry passed out of sight, Amos finally opened the door coinciding with Cedric coming down the stairs. They could see that the only possible reason for Anna calling them was the short, mousey haired waif-like boy standing in their living room, looking a little overwhelmed. Terry meanwhile had frozen up a little. He often did that with new people and suspected that Harry had left on purpose, to force the anti-social preteen into getting to know the Diggory's. Of course, Terry acknowledged, it was Harry so it could simply have been that he wanted to scoff all the brownie's before anyone else could. It was hard to tell with him.
"Anna," Amos said slowly "Who's this? We're not adopting another son, are we?" this last part was said in a panicked rush that had Terry realizing how much stress living with Harry must have caused.
"No dear, Merlin knows Harry is enough trouble for a dozen kids," Anna responded
"His names Terry Boot, he's a friend of Harry's," Cedric informed his parents. Terry was shocked that the older boy had even noticed him enough in school to know his name. Cedric picked up on this and said "I pay attention to my little brother. I know who he hangs around with."
"Boot," Amos mused, which caused Terry to realize that the man likely knew his father, and he braced himself when an expression of recognition flashed across his features "Ah yes, I can see the resemblance. In my first year in the Magical Creature's department your grandfather, old Jonathan Boot, was my boss you know. Best director we ever had, and that's including me," he joked.
Terry was in shock. He'd presumed that his family was always as bad as his father, with his uncle being the exception. To learn that this might not be the case gave him hope that he might not be doomed to the same path.
"I guess Harry's here," Cedric asked and continued at Anna's nod "Then where is he?"
"Right here bro," Harry drawled, leaning on one shoulder against the door frame, munching on brownie's covered with fudge sauce.
"Hey Har! How are how you? You should have floo'd over on your birthday. Would have felt much better giving you your present then instead of now. Might have to just not give you it" Cedric teased.
"Shut up 'Ric," Harry shot back
The Hufflepuff faked a hurt expression "He told me to shut up. How insulting. I'd be hurt, if I was, you know, like six or something,"
"Figured since you had an IQ of a six year old, you might be more in tune with their insults,"
"You want to talk IQ. You're the one who thought jumping from the Whomping Willow into the Black Lake was a good idea,"
"Ah good times,"
"It hit you and threw you into a school window before you made it two feet down!"
"Like I said, good times,"
Terry watched the pair's playful arguing and smiled, knowing that this may just be the best summer he'd ever had.
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The next week passed quickly for Hayden, Harry, Terry and Dri.
Harry had, on that first morning, been given a late birthday party with just the Diggory's and Terry. He'd been gifted with many freshly made doughnuts and treated with snacks for the entire day, Anna for once placing no restrictions on the amount of sugar he ate. Terry had already known that his friend had a fondness for sweet things, but had no idea how far it went and actually felt awed by the amount of junk food such a small person was able to fit in his body. The next day they were back to normal, with the Diggory's , and now Terry as well, actively limiting the amount he could easily get his hands on.
Despite Amos' initial misgivings, followed by resignation, Terry became another brother to Cedric and therefore a son to Anna and Amos. Harry had tied to summon brotherly feelings for Terry but for some reason couldn't. He'd just shrugged his shoulders and put it down to some subconscious resentment still left over from Halloween. But still, even that didn't feel right.
{You want to sleep with him}
{No I don't}
{Yes you do}
{I want to sleep with Jesse. I slept with Athena. I slept with many people. This isn't the same}
{Hmm, interesting}
Terry also felt at home with the Diggory family. He got on well with Cedric, and Amos also made these little comparisons between Terry and either his grandfather or uncle. He experienced what a real mother was like for the first time (he couldn't really accept Lily when he stayed at Potter Manor, because of what she'd done to Harry) and found he quite liked having positive attention from adults.
Hayden had settled into the Weasley house with Alice quite well. Mrs Weasley doted on the two, making sure that they ate second helpings at the very least at every meal, and even made some treacle tart for him whilst making time to visit the Diggory's and picking up a delivery of chocolate rabbit's from Harry for Alice after discovering her obsession with them.
Arthur Weasley kept asking him question's about muggle devices, believing that with a muggleborn mother he might have some idea of how they worked. Unfortunately, the only two things Hayden could talk about was clothes, weapons and cars; though he took care not to mention anything incriminating about the second; so he told the man that he'd be better of asking Harry if they ever met, and promised to introduce them sometime. He did help with the Weasley patriarch's muggle fashion sense though.
As always he got on well with Ron and the twins. Though his relationship with former was becoming more and more strained while he was on better terms with the latter than ever before. Both was due to Harry. Ginny Weasley was squeaking and running away whenever she came within a few feet of him, which was cute the first few times, a little annoying after that and then just plain frustrating. But he got over it.
The trio met up with Dri for an hour or two everyday, sometimes being joined by the twins or Cedric and on one occasion all three. That was a fun day that ended up in a four on four quiditch match. One team was made up of Hayden as seeker, Fred as beater, Ron as keeper and Terry as chaser. They went up against Harry, George, Dri and Cedric. They had Ginny keep track of points and then dragged Percy in as replacement after she got too flustered by the presence of almighty Hayden Potter, slayer of snake-faced morons (~Get out of my head, Gabriel!~ {Mwhahahahaha}) Having the advantage of two fourth years instead of one, a better seeker, keeper and chaser as well as an equally skilled beater Harry's team won hand's down. With his slightly upgraded broom and narrowly lesser skill, the Potter brothers race for the snitch was close and George and Fred wound up playing tennis with the bludger so the match was decided by the other two players per team. Frankly, Dri was better than Ron and was the obvious choice to replace Wood in a few years no matter how much Ron complained. Cedric proved to be a fair bit less skilled a chaser than seeker, but outclassed Terry who took it in good nature, knowing he wasn't much of a player. They swapped Cedric and Terry and though Harry still won, his team was beaten by ten points, Dri simply not having the size to stop Cedric's last, all-in, full powered throw.
The tiebreak was called off on account of rain. {English weather at its finest}
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Hayden heard from Hogwarts one sunny morning about a week after he had arrived at the Burrow. He and Ron went down to breakfast to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny already sitting at the kitchen table. The moment she saw Harry, Ginny accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor with a loud clatter. Ginny seemed very prone to knocking things over whenever Hayden entered a room. She dived under the table to retrieve the bowl and emerged with her face glowing like the setting sun. Pretending he hadn't noticed this, Hayden sat down and took the bowl of Special K with bits of fruit (sent over by Harry) and a plate of toast Mrs. Weasley offered him. Ron opted for a much less healthy breakfast consisting of a large amount of fried tomato's, sausages and bacon. Alice skipped in, holding in her hands a large paper dinosaur from Harry that she adored and somehow managed to cuddle at night despite it being made out of paper, straws and copious amounts of sellotape .
"Letters from school," said Mr. Weasley, passing Hayden and Ron identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink. "You two've got them, too," he added, as Fred and George ambled in, still in their pajamas and accepted their toast.
For a few minutes there was silence as they all read their letters. Hayden's told him to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross station on September first. There was also a list of the new books he'd need for the coming year.
SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk
Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart
Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart
Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart
Hayden already knew that there was seven general, all-purpose spell books by Miranda Goshawk that could be used in any lesson that included wands, and a new set of defense books each year (new teacher). The books for the other subjects were each used for two years before a higher grade one was needed, with the exception of History and Astronomy both of which were in use for five years.
Fred, who had finished his own list, peered over at Harry's.
"You've been told to get all Lockhart's books, too!" he said. "The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan - bet it's a witch."
At this point, Fred caught his mother's eye and quickly busied himself with the marmalade.
"That lot won't come cheap," said George, with a quick look at his parents. "Lockhart's books are really expensive ...
"Well, we'll manage," said Mrs. Weasley, but she looked worried. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand."
"Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" Hayden asked Ginny.
She nodded, blushing to the roots of her flaming hair, and put her elbow in the butter dish. Fortunately no one saw this except Hayden, because just then Ron's elder brother Percy walked in. He was already dressed, his Hogwarts prefect badge pinned to his sweater vest.
"Morning, all," said Percy briskly. "Lovely day."
He sat down in the only remaining chair but leapt up again almost immediately, pulling from underneath him Errol, the Weasley's old, tiring owl that was practically useless in its old age.
"Errol!" said Ron, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under its wing. "Finally - he's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying about you coming to stay here because of that house elf."
He carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again so Ron lay him on the draining board instead, muttering, "Pathetic." Then he ripped open Hermione's letter and read it out loud:
"`Dear Ron, and Hayden if you're there,
The gist of the message was that she was annoyed with Ron for not even attempting his summer homework (Hayden had done his charms, herbology and transfiguration already. He still had to do his potions, history could be done on the spot and he had no astronomy) and she hoped that Hayden, Harry and Terry were all okay.
"'I'm very busy with schoolwork, of course'- How can she be?" said Ron in horror. "We're on vacation! - 'and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley?
"`Let me know what's happening as soon as you can. Love from Hermione. "'
"Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too," said Mrs. Weasley, starting to clear the table. "What're you all up to today?"
The four younger boys chose to play quiditch. The other half of the teams couldn't join them that day, so it wasn't as competitive. They couldn't use real Quidditch balls either, if they were using the Weasley paddock rather than the Diggory's enchanted field which stopped the balls from going anywhere muggles might see, which would have been hard to explain if they had escaped and flown away over the village; instead they threw apples for one another to catch. They took turns riding Hayden's Nimbus Two Thousand and One, which was easily the best broom; Ron's old Shooting Star was often outstripped by passing butterflies. Fred and George's Comet's were still in good condition despite being a few models out of date.
Five minutes later they were marching up the hill, broomsticks over their shoulders. They had asked Percy if he wanted to join them, but he had said he was busy. Hayden had only seen Percy at mealtimes so far; he stayed shut in his room the rest of the time.
"Wish I knew what he was up to," said Fred, frowning. "He's not himself. His exam results came the day before you did; twelve O.W.L.s and he hardly gloated at all."
"Ordinary Wizarding Levels," George shivered "Scary thought, those are. Bill got twelve, too. If we're not careful, we'll have another Head Boy in the family. I don't think I could stand the shame."
Bill was the oldest Weasley brother. He and the next brother, Charlie, had already left Hogwarts. Hayden had never met either of them, but knew that Charlie was in Romania studying dragons and Bill in Egypt working for the wizard's bank, Gringotts.
"Dunno how Mum and Dad are going to afford all our school stuff this year," said George after a while. "Five sets of Lockhart books! And Ginny needs robes and a wand and everything ...
"Don't worry about it. Focus on everything else, I'll get the books. Consider it me repaying you for letting me and Alice stay," he cut off the twins protest's. He missed Ron's look of jealousy at the casual mention of money.
Mrs. Weasley woke them all early the following Wednesday. Trudging downstairs, Hayden was the first to notice the bizarre sight of Arthur Weasley and Anna Diggory played table football against Harry and Dri in the Weasley's kitchen. Terry and Cedric watched from the sidelines making a small wager between themselves. With a war cry, Anna spun her mid-fielders and smashed the mini football into Harry and Dri's goal. Their mouths dropped open in shock.
Mrs Weasley tutted "Arthur went over to Amos' last night. The four of them have been at this since midnight," Hayden glanced at the Weasley clock (the one that told time, not the magical one that monitored the family) and saw that it was seven-thirty.
"Dammit, why didn't we just take our twenty four win streak when we could?" Harry growled, his competitive nature coming out.
"'Winner takes all' you said. 'It'll be easy' you said. Last time I trust you with a thousand quid bet," Dri grouched.
"WHAT!" Mrs Weasley screeched "A THOUSAND GALLEONS! ARTHUR HOW COULD YOU? YOU KNOW WE STRUGGLE WITH MONEY! WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET A THOUSAND GALLEONS"
"Molly!" Anna shouted to be heard "It's muggle money. At Gringotts, 1 galleon is worth about twenty muggle pounds, and it was from my money or Harry's. Arthur didn't spend a knut and even if he had it's not as much as you think,"
In their relief and exuberance that they suddenly had an extra fifty galleons on their hands (quickly worked out by Fred) the Weasley clan never noticed that Anna wasn't the type to gamble full stop, let alone with children. Dri didn't seem to be in on it, but Hayden narrowed his eyes at Harry who discreetly winked back.
It was explained that Lily and Remus were doing something or other for Dumbledore while Sirius, Amos and James were in work and Marlene wasn't feeling well so the Weasley's got saddled with a few extra kids. Anna was coming with them though, to 'assist in crowd control' or 'work as a sheep herder' as Dri and Harry, respectively, put it.
Before long the group was making their way through Diagon Alley.
"Harry! Hayden! Ron! Dri! Terry! Over here!" the amount of shouted names must have taken a lot of breath to say one after the other.
Hayden looked up and saw Hermione Granger standing at the top of the white flight of steps to Gringotts. She ran down to meet them, her bushy brown hair flying behind her.
"Hello boys," she said cheerily "Oh hello, you must be Mr and Mrs Weasley. It's lovely to meet you, I'm Hermione Granger" Harry was fake gagging.
Of course, Molly instantly loved her and just knew that she'd be a great match for Hayden in a few years, though she couldn't help but hope that he might take an interest in Ginny and that her youngest son could benefit from a relationship with the girl.
"Oh, but I'm sorry I don't know who you are," she apologized to Anna. She knew who Cedric was; everyone at Hogwarts did.
"This is my mother Anna. I'm Cedric," he smiled. She giggled. The others stared wide-eyed at Hermione actually giggling of all things. Harry, the mature person that he is, simply sang:
"Ced and 'Mione sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" before breaking off into mad cackling and ducking out of reach of Cedric's retaliatory slap that had been aimed for the back of the raven-haired teen's head.
Hermione recovered from her blush and introduced the man and woman with her as her parents. They'd met most of the group before, however briefly following the Troll break-in, but the novelty of talking to Muggle's had not yet worn off.
"Meet you back here," Ron said to Hermione as the large party were led off to their underground vaults by another Gringotts goblin.
The vaults were reached by means of small, goblin-driven carts that sped along miniature train tracks through the bank's underground tunnels. Harry enjoyed the breakneck journey down to the Diggory's vault, being the adrenaline junkie that he is. Dri and Hayden were much the same. Most of the Weasley's were partial to it as were Anna and Cedric. Terry looked a bit motion-sick after then visited Hayden and Dri's trust vault, Harry siphoning a little from each (both knowing he would pay them back) and then both giving some to Terry against all of his complaints.
Back outside on the marble steps, they all separated. Percy muttered vaguely about needing a new quill. Fred and George had spotted their friend from Hogwarts, Lee Jordan and Dri followed to see the missing member of the New Marauders, with Terry trailing behind. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were going to Madam Malkins. Mr. Weasley was insisting on taking the Granger's off to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink. Anna was going to Fortesque's to stop Harry from raiding the place and 'Ric was meeting up with his friends {Friends? Ooooh, Hermione's gonna be jealous!}
~Not everyone's as sick in the head as you two for thinking about that, so please keep the comments to a minimum
"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your schoolbooks," said Mrs. Weasley, setting off with Ginny. "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!" she shouted at the twins' retreating backs.
Ron and Hermione strolled off along the winding, cobbled street. Hayden was all set to follow, but Harry dragged him back. {They'll be a while. Fred, George, Ron and Ginny will all get their own wands. The twins and Percy probably won't bother to get new books or equipment now, but Ginny's probably gonna get everything new. We have time}
~For what~
{Inheritance Test. I'm curious}
Once back inside of Gringotts, Harry pulled his brother over to Griphook's counter and the Goblin, almost like it was prearranged, led them to Ragnarok's office.
The Goblin Chief boomed "Mr Gabriel, what a surprise. You don't write, you don't call..."
"Why is that the first thing anyone had said to me in the past two months?" {Because it's true?}
"I presume who wish for Mister Potter to take an Inheritance Test?"
"Aye, and I want to look at the account details for my houses and his,"
They underwent the ritual and the following appeared on the page in thin, black spidery writing.
Inheritance Test:
Name: Hayden Remus Potter (age 12)
Birth Parents: James Charlus Potter (father) & Lily Potter-Evans
Godfather: Remus John Lupin
Godmother: Alice Longbottom-Smith
Inheritance:
1/3 of the Potter Wealth
/3 of the Potter Property (Potter Manor, Australian Beach House)
1/3 of the Potter family heirlooms
1/1 of the Peverell Wealth
1/6 of the Black Wealth
Angel Vault
Abilities: Level 1=Beginner, Level 2=Average , Level 3=Student , Level 4=Apprentice, Level 5=Master (Underlined abilities cannot increase in levels)
Animagus, Lvl 1 Blocked 100% (By James Potter at age 14 months
Occlumency, Lvl 3 Blocked 80% (By Albus Dumbledore at age 4)
Legilmency, Lvl 1
Metamorphmagus, Lvl 1 Blocked 100% (By Albus Dumbledore age 6
Parseltongue, Lvl 1
Fire Elemental, Lvl 1 Blocked 90% (By James Potter at age 16 months)
Angelic Abilities:
Angel Telepathy (Low Level Connection to Archangel Gabriel)
Weaknesses:
Ice/Water Spells
Strength's
Mind
Charms
Transfiguration
DADA
Flame spells
End of Test
"Would you like me to remove the blocks? I warn you the procedure is quite difficult," Ragnarok offered after a few moments of Hayden numbly staring at the sheet, the last shreds of trust in Dumbledore being torn away. Harry shook his head.
"I'll do it," he said, "With Gabe we can do it quicker and less painfully. I'll work on training him in his new abilities at a later date," he began to steer Hayden out of the room, accepting a ledger on the way out. As the door was closing, Harry shouted back that he'd send Ragnarok a Nundu tooth at Christmas. Hayden would normally have freaked out at this statement, but in his shock it didn't even register on his 'protective-big-brother-meter'.
Snapping Hayden out of it took a few minutes but it worked eventually. He only kept calm as a result of Harry promising to let Hayden rage and rant in a safer, more controlled environment later on.
Swallowing his anger for the time being, they met up with Ron and Hermione. Harry only stuck by them because he refused to leave his brother in the state he was in. They visited the ice cream store, each getting whichever flavor they wanted, Harry, naturally, going for a chocolate fudge sundae. Ron and Hermione had already gone around most of the alley and in Harry's eyes it had nothing on Muggle shopping districts except the fact that Diagon's light show was year round instead of only Christmas or Halloween.
Only a few minutes later, they headed for Flourish and Blotts. They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they approached it, they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling out side the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:
GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12:30 P.m. to 4:30 P.m.
"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed, while Harry rolled his eyes. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"
The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age. A harassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying, "Calmly, please, ladies ... Don't push, there ... mind the books, now . . . . "
Hayden, Ron, and Hermione squeezed inside. A long line wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and sneaked up the line to where Molly, Arthur, Anna, Cedric, Percy and Ginny were standing with Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Harry slunk off to a corner where Terry and the New Marauders were pouring over prank books and plotting.
"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute ...
Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.
A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.
"Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet -"
"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.
Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Ron and then he saw Hayden. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Hayden Potter?"
The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized Hayden's arm, and pulled him to the front. The crowd burst into applause. Hayden's face burned with embarrassment, annoyance and anger as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly, wafting thick smoke over the Weasleys. He was about to explode but an unusually stern glare from Harry warned him to keep cool. Hayden resigned to not use his martial arts or various hidden weapons to brutally murder the frigging, self righteous peacock.
~God, I'm turning into you~
"Nice big smile, Hayden," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page."
When he finally let go of Hayden's hand, he could hardly feel his fingers. He tried to sidle back over to the Weasleys, but Lockhart threw an arm around his shoulders and clamped him tightly to his side.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!
"When our young Boy-Who-Lived here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography -which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge-" The crowd applauded again. "He had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Hayden a little shake that made his glasses slip to the end of his nose, "that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
The crowd cheered and clapped and Hayden found himself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering slightly under their weight, he managed to make his way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing next to her new cauldron.
"You have these," Harry mumbled to her, tipping the books into the cauldron. "I'll buy my own -"
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice Hayden had no trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer.
"Famous Hayden Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."
"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy. Ginny went scarlet as Ron and Hermione fought their way over, both clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.
"Better than having to sleep around with Pug-Nose Parkinson and those two gorilla's you have trailing after you," Harry said, and Malfoy turned around and paled at the sight of all five New Marauders, with Terry skirting around the confrontation to grab Cedric and some adults if possible.
"You see Malfoy," Dri said.
"Those two aren't here now," Lee picked up where the younger boy left off.
"And if I were you," Fred continued.
"I would try to avoid," George said.
"Picking a fight," the both spoke in unison.
"When you're outnumbered eight to one," Harry finished.
"Ron! Fred! George!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Terry and Cedric. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."
"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley."
It was Mr. Malfoy. He strolled past the prankster group, who obeyed Harry's nod to let him past, and stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.
"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.
"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids ... I hope they're paying you overtime?"
He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.
"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.
"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley ... and I thought your family could sink no lower ='
There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen, please - please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all
"Break it up, there, gents, break it up -"
But rather than breaking up, it intensified as Harry snapped his fingers and conjured a toilet seat which he tossed to Mr Weasley. The red headed man instantly used his new weapon to gain the upper hand, not caring where it came from. Looking at the two, he knew that Hayden could take either out in hand to hand without breaking a sweat. Despite Malfoy Sr's slim and tall frame, he was weak and out of shape.
All good things must come to an end, however. Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools, forming an impressive shiner. However the purple bruising all up the side of Malfoy's face showed just who had won the fight. Harry was proud of the toilet seat. {Good boy, Lennie!} {Lennie? No, no, no. You can't call him Lennie. He's obviously a Nick} ~I'm surrounded by idiot's~
Malfoy was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.
"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you -" Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.
"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it is - come on now - let's get outta here."
The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Granger's shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury.
"A fine example to set for your children . . . brawling in public . . . what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought -"
"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report - said it was all publicity -"
But it was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry, the Weasleys, and all their shopping would be traveling back to the Burrow using Floo powder. They said good-bye to the Granger's, who were leaving the pub for the Muggle street on the other side; Mr. Weasley started to ask them how bus stops worked, but stopped quickly at the look on Mrs. Weasley's face.
Hayden took off his glasses and put them safely in his pocket before helping himself to Floo powder. He might be used to it but it definitely wasn't his favorite way to travel and he had a habit of losing his glasses.
Still, the fight in the bookstore and the nauseating trip had done one thing: Hayden's was distracted from his rage. For now
So, quite a long chapter. Quite a lot was edited text from Chamber of Secret's Chapter 4. Not much Gabriel, but it was mostly a filler. Had fun writing it though (the first time that is)
Cya next time. Yozza Out!