Chapter 4: The Books and the Quibbler
Both Harry and Ron instantly sent their owls to Auror Office, refusing their candidacy for admission exam, and as soon as Errol and Pigwidgeon had returned, they immediately wrote their next letters to McGonagall affirming their studies of the seventh year at Hogwarts. Hermione did not follow this procedure because she had applied for her seventh year at Hogwarts the very next day after the Last Battle against Voldemort. McGonagall had also allowed it to her, explaining that until the new school year, all the damage to the castle will be repaired so the students will be admitted again for the next school year. Discussing Alchemy, Harry, Ron, and Ginny decided to take advantage of this opportunity, while Hermione was thinking differently – she claimed she had already had enough Alchemy in her first school year.
Not only Hogwarts, but the rest of the magic world, were also involved in the damage prevention. Pius Thicknesse had fallen in the Last Battle and was replaced by Kingsley Shacklebolt. The new Minister for Magic had hands full of work – there had to be eliminated the consequences of catching the wizards and witches with Muggle ancestry, there had to be helped countless families to rebuild their homes where the financial aid was organized by the generous Mr. Gustav Gold, there had to be renewed the Ministry's own agenda and not even mentioning the organization of the Quidditch World Cup in the neighbor country Ireland. However, the Weasleys skipped the World Cup games of this year due to the security reasons. As well, led by experienced Martin Hunter, the Aurors had been busy with catching the last remains of the Death Eaters, therefore the hearings at the court went long through the day until late at night, and Harry had to come to a few of them as a witness.
Just over a week had passed since they had sent their letters, and on Tuesday morning all four of them received the lists of their required textbooks for their seventh year.
Harry opened a folded parchment sheet, described with green ink, and read:
The following textbooks are required for students of the 7th year of Hogwarts for studies of Herbology, Charms, Potions, Defence against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Alchemy:
Felicita Plum. Plants for Garden, Pot, and Tummy
Miranda Goshawk. The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7
Libatius Borage. Advanced Potion-Making
Quentin Trimble. Confronting the Faceless
Emeric Switch. A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration
Archibald Aberratius. Basics of Alchemy
The Head Boy is welcomed at the compartment number 3 at Hogwarts Express, where you will be contacted by Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
We are looking forward for your presence at Hogwarts Start-of-Term Feast on September 1st,
Filius Flitwick
Deputy Headmaster.
The list of books for Ron and Ginny were very similar to Harry's, but in Hermione's list was also added the book of Lukas Karuzos New Theory of Numerology for her Arithmancy studies, which Harry had given her as a Christmas present three years ago, but instead of Alchemy book she needed Rune Dictionary. They also had a whole pile of badges. Ron took the familiar Prefect badge out of his envelope, Ginny had the honor to wear the Captain's badge – technically she was also the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team last year, but the last season of Quidditch had its chips, especially for Gryffindor team. And Hermione and Harry had received their Head Girl and Head Boy badges.
Harry beamed at his friends, changing a little bit longer look with Hermione. He is going to be the Head Boy! He had received this badge like his father had before. Although the last ten days he had been living with dark thoughts, these seemingly simply news that he had been given a title of Head Boy blew him in the chest like a large balloon of happiness. Hogwarts had chosen him, had appraised him; Hogwarts needed him!
Receiving the list of school supplies for four friends meant only one thing – they had to go to Diagon Alley to buy all the necessary things. Unable to hide their excitement, friends decided to go to the paradise of magical shops today. They told Mrs. Weasley, who had already started to prepare food for meal of this evening – Ginny had a birthday today – and as they were ready to go, they flew by the Floo Network to Diagon Alley while it was still morning.
Today Diagon Alley looked almost like in the old days – there were no informative posters made by the Ministry on the facades of the houses, but only the usual advertisements of various shops. People, happily chatting, moved in little bunches or did their shopping alone. There were only few shops with shut down or nailed up windows looking like ugly scars from the endured terror, apparently no longer hosted by their previous owners. But in any other way, there had started another nice, sunny day in Diagon Alley, just as it had been at Ottery St Catchpole.
The friends decided to start shopping with buying the required books, then they wanted to go to the Apothecary and finally they needed to visit the Quidditch Supplies store. The new captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team definitely needed a decent broom. Likewise, Ron had intended to spend some of the Ministry's cash prize for special merit for the purchase of new clothes and a nice broom. They were awarded with money prize together with the Order of Merlin First Class at a solemn ceremony; while the other fighters of the Battle of Hogwarts had received smaller cash prize and the Order of Merlin Second Class. Since the four young people had pockets full with the Ministry's prize in a form of money they could skip the visit at Gringotts and at once go shopping.
So the friends leisurely strolled to Flourish and Blotts bookshop, where they wanted to buy the books they needed for their studies. All of them were now in a quite happy mood, wondering what might be the daily life at Hogwarts. Ron was eagerly anticipating the banquet of the first September. Although, Hermione was in completely different thoughts.
"Like if at home mom doesn't feed you round the clock. In my opinion, it is immensely important to gain an acknowledged educational document approved by the magical world, which opens up an enormous amount of opportunities for getting a decent job. And not even mentioning the very knowledge we're going to learn in our seventh year. I wouldn't miss it for all the money in the world."
"But I don't think it will be easy. After all these disruptions and, moreover, I didn't get the chance to finish my sixth year. I think we'll have to struggle quite a lot at first," Ginny expressed her concern.
"And with all those extra responsibilities when are we going to find the time to search for the Diadem?" Harry said, also sounding a little bit worried.
"Yes, Harry, we will also have the responsibilities of Head Boy and Head Girl, that is, we'll practically be the professors' assistants. As far as I know, we'll have to assist the professors in their duty to watch the corridors on Saturday nights, then at the festivities we'll have to help to prepare the decorations, and in the case of emergency we'll have to help to organize the prefects, and we'll have to inform the prefects about the new passwords at the beginning of the school year. Let's hope that at least this year there won't be anything to do with emergency situations," Hermione finished her list of responsibilities on a happy note.
"Harry, how difficult could it be for you the duty to watch the corridors? You could just watch the Marauder's Map, and it's done," Ron happily said to his friend.
"Yeah, only that hanging of Christmas balls in Christmas trees doesn't seem very exciting," Harry chuckled.
"And wait a moment, don't you forget about the Quidditch training! This year I am the captain, so both of you just try me not to come to the training!" Ginny laughed at them warningly.
"Hold your horses, my dear; you haven't even accepted us into the team yet. What if we fail at the tryouts?" Harry argued, smirking.
"Then Ron will be able to devote himself fully to his prefect duty," Ginny teased her brother. "Guiding around lost first years definitely is beyond exciting."
"Don't laugh at me like that. Everybody knows I'm bad at Quidditch," Ron said sullenly.
"Mhm, and two years ago did that Quidditch Cup fall to you out from thin air? If you just gather yourself up you play quite well," Ginny stated.
Ron answered nothing, just murmured something under his breath. Although, at the end of his fifth school year he had helped the Gryffindor team to win the Quidditch Cup, he still had a stage fright when he had to face a large group of people. Harry remembered the Order of Merlin Award ceremony when Ron was distracted by the constant and intense attention of such a huge crowd of people so then he had wanted to disappear in thin ear, although any other time he would've liked to be noticed and respected. So to say – it was too much of a good thing. In addition, Harry had suspected that Ron was still a little bit ashamed for leaving him and Hermione in the winter to wander alone in the woods.
"Of course, if you are going to be this grumpy during all the practices, then you better don't come at it at all," Ginny warned. "But while you are behaving like a normal person, attending the practices is obligated." She knew very well exactly how painfully Ron reacted to his failures in the Quidditch. But she also thought that sometimes he acted so overly exaggerated – Ron was already a grown up, and withal being a man, he could tiff like a little girl.
Suddenly someone interrupted their conversation.
"Harry, Harry Potter?" asked a man in a black top hat and dark blue robes.
"Yes, that's me," Harry answered, confused.
"It is such a pleasure and honor to meet you, sir. My name is Willis, and I would like to express to you my gratitude for saving the world. If not for you, everything still would sink into darkness. May I shake your hand?" the wizard asked.
"Um, yeah, thank you. Yes, of course," Harry said stuttering and stretched out his hand toward Willis. The short man shook it passionately, and then he shook also a hand to Ron and Hermione, and wished everyone a nice day and went off to his own business.
The central street of Diagon Alley was full of people, so, of course, the bypassing walkers had heard their conversation. And if the famous Harry Potter had shook his hand with one person, then others also wanted to look in the face and to congratulate the "most famous and most mighty wizard of our time", as he was honored by Daily Prophet which even many weeks after the Battle of Hogwarts constantly reminded almost in every newspaper issue that everyone needed to be grateful to Mr. Potter for all the prosperity and peace of the moment. Later after the battle, Harry had given into the insistence of the Daily Prophet and he had given an interview on Voldemort's hunting, and later he had written a press release about Dumbledor's death and Snape's true merit over the past year. Harry had only asked the journalists to say nothing to the wizarding society about the Horcruxes, because, according to Hermione's advice, it was the knowledge which would be better to be forgotten. After the interview was published, Ron and Hermione also had become widely known among wizards and witches.
"I am so happy to meet you, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger," said an older witch with blonde hair excitingly, shaking her hand with them with radiant eyes.
Right now, around the four young people had gathered quite a large crowd as the people tried with their elbows to break their way closer to the famous persons. Then they were greeted by a bunch of wizards in red robes, then came a group of giggling witches, being about some ten years older than Harry, then their hand wanted to shake countless other bypassers until in front of them stood a mother of two teenage girls who tried to push in front of Harry and Ron her daughters, almost completely ignoring Ginny and Hermione.
"Hello Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley! I have the immeasurable honor to meet both of you. My daughters, Henrietta and Adele, are very delighted to meet you as well. This year, they will begin their fifth and third year at Hogwarts," the mother explained.
"Hello," the girls cooed in a sweet voice both at the same time.
Harry felt that Ginny was tightening her grip on his upper arm so he realized this was getting out of hand. They stood here for already half an hour in the middle of the Diagon Alley, shaking their hands with one after another person, but the crowd of people hadn't thinned in any way – it was just the opposite. Moreover, the people began to act even more shameless. Harry didn't know what to do.
"Um, hello there. Thank you for your kind words, but we really have our own business and we would like to go further. Have a nice day," Harry tried to excuse himself. But taking a step forward, they had a new wave of greetings and congratulations. Ron and Hermione had also started to become worried because they were not able to move forward even by a step. And they had gone just a halfway to Flourish and Blotts!
Suddenly, something with a clicking sound dropped to the ground and rolled away out of the crowd where it flourished into a gorgeous flower of fireworks. Everyone immediately turned to the unexpected wonderful event, and the four of the friends slipped away from the huge crowd unnoticed. It seemed to Harry that there were some wizards rushing to the scene with drawn out wands – they probably were from Magical Law Enforcement Squad observing the Diagon Alley and watching out for any disorder. Mr. Hunter, taking all the security measures for the Weasley family, had explained them that after the attack by Lestrange that the Squad is going to guard all major gathering places of wizards, so he advised the Weasleys to go out to these places in little groups being cautious and it would be better for them to not go out of their secured house at all if not necessary.
"It's the newest of George's inventions. I had come to an arrangement with him that I'll take the Fireflowers with me today so I can show him our latest improvements. That's why I have some of them in my pocket. George hasn't anyone to assist him now, since Fred… is gone," Ron explained.
"Let's hurry to Flourish and Blotts while the people haven't encircled us again," Hermione urged her friends.
Luckily, everyone on the main street of Diagon Alley was distracted by the flamy plant as it had blossomed with sparkling flowers which had begun to grow more and more new blossoms and people were amazed at the beautiful firework show.
As they entered Flourish and Blotts, the young people found themselves relieved that the bookshop wasn't overfilled with people. There were just a few older customers and several students from Hogwarts who wanted to buy their textbooks in time just like them.
The shopkeeper rushed to his new customers as he noticed them.
"Oh, Mr. Potter, you are welcomed here, and of course hello to you too, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger. And hello to you, Miss Weasley?" the older man greeted all of them. "How can I help you?"
"We'll need textbooks for the seventh year of Hogwarts," Harry replied, taking out his list of required books. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny also took out their parchment sheets with a list of books and gave it to the shopkeeper as he urged them to do so.
"Wait a moment, please. I'll find the books you need right away. Perhaps you are in a need for another book?" the bookseller asked with joy wanting to be helpful to famous Potter.
"We would love to see what you have in the stock, is it alright?" Harry suggested.
"Yes, sure, of course, Mr. Potter. When you have looked through the bookshelves, please, come and pick up your textbooks at the cash desk." And the shopkeeper hurried to get the books required for Hogwarts for his four customers.
"Harry, it seems everyone here is dancing to your tune," Ron said, partly amused, partly with a little bitterness in his voice.
"And does it look like that it pleases me even a teeny-tiny bit? We can't even come to shop properly as the people swarms around us," Harry said to Ron, being well aware that his friend didn't like to stay in the shadow of his fame.
"Let it be. At least here is peaceful. Let's go and look for a book – I have a feeling I know what you need, Harry," Hermione said, sounding more joyful.
"What kind of book are you talking about?" Harry asked, but Hermione had already plunged into depths of the bookshelves, and the other three friends had to run after her. She had gone to a department dedicated to magical protection. On the table next to the shelf were stacked several piles of books on the theory of the Defence, written by Trimble.
"Hermione, but this book is already in our list. The shopkeeper will pick them up for us." Ginny didn't really understand what has come into Hermione's mind.
"I think Harry needs another book. It will be useful to you later anyway." Hermione smiled at her friends and began to carefully examine the shelves.
Here, Harry also noticed other textbooks of Defence against the Dark Arts required for the previous years, including the book by Wilbert Slinkhard – thank goodness, there was no more Umbridge at Hogwarts or Ministry. She was not convicted to Azkaban due to the absence of evidence, but she had to leave her job at the Ministry.
"Aha, this could be it," Hermione soon exclaimed. "Transfiguration for Defensive Purposes." She took the book out of the shelf and swiftly opened a table of contents of the book and started quietly inspect it with her eyes.
"Harry, look at this. Here's a bunch of transfiguration spells which lets you change your look. Remember, in the sixth year, we tried to change the color of our eyebrows. In this book, there are spells starting with eyebrow changing, there are also spells for changing the hair color, beard attachment spells, and at the end there are also even spells for eye color or for complex facial transformation. Although these spells aren't the simplest ones, but you'll be able to learn them if you'll practice hard enough, and I think these spells will turn out to be useful later in your Auror training, and maybe even now you can use some of them," Hermione said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, thank you, Hermione. I hope these will be useful for me. I just need to learn to cast them somehow," Harry thanked his friend, not being really sure if he could succeed in casting the spell of complex facial transformation. Harry and Ron weren't on the ball doing just the eyebrow transfiguration, and that was the simplest of the transformations in this book. However, Harry was grateful to Hermione for her efforts anyway.
Suddenly, a familiar lightly stretched voice sounded behind the corner. "That vendor has gone off to who knows where. Now, how can I pay for the books? How long will I have to walk around the bookstore?"
"No one shows us neither respect nor honor anymore," someone else slowly said nearby.
"That's true. Probably that's why I didn't even get back my prefect badge." At that moment, Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott came around the corner into the view, talking to each other. After seeing the four Gryffindors, both of them stopped.
"Oh, that's why – the bookseller has hurried to fulfill Potter's order, but for the others he gives only cold shoulder," Theodore spoke out grudgingly.
However, Draco Malfoy was not so eager to express his frustration. After all, Harry had saved his life, and at that moment at the Malfoy Manor, he hadn't betrayed Harry when he had fallen into the hands of the Snatchers. One definitely couldn't call it a friendship, but it was such a relationship between those two young men that didn't allow starting the conversation with an insulting or a hostile note. Therefore Draco greeted them and at the instant looked away, feeling uneasy and then went away with Theodore further into the bookstore.
"Let's go back to the cash desk. I don't like to be pampered all the time," Harry said.
"But it's only Malfoy. It wouldn't hurt him if he has to wait for five minutes in the queue next to ordinary people," Ron said to Harry.
"Well, Malfoy may have deserved it, but the bookstore is also visited by other people, and they all have to wait just because we have wanted to enter here. It doesn't seem right to me, so, please, let's go back," Harry urged his friends to finish their shopping so they wouldn't become a burden on other customers. It seemed Ron wouldn't have minded to be attended as a celebrity without waiting in the queue, but he knew how much Harry didn't like to be overpraised or admired by other people. In addition, Harry had doubts about the positivity of his fame because he knew how unstable it could be – one day there everyone was praising him as a savior of the magical world, but the next day there could have been published an article similar to Rita Skeeter's ones in a newspaper which would show him as a complete madman. In Harry's mind, there was still fresh the memory of the dark sides of his glory when he had to endure too much of it in his fifth year of Hogwarts. That's why he thought – the more everyone is leaving him be, the better. And although his fame among the wizards and witches was completely positive at the moment, he did not feel the slightest liking that he was regularly greeted by strangers who constantly thanked him for saving their peace and prosperity. For the saving of the peace and prosperity of all the people – both wizards and Muggles – which he probably hasn't even saved, if it was true that Voldemort was still wandering somewhere out there… And now each praise of a familiar person or a stranger said to Harry felt to him like a thorn in his heart, which reminded him that his current glory was undeserved, that he had not done his job properly, even though he had put himself fully into doing it. There is just a slight hope that Voldemort without his many Horcruxes has become very weak, and this time it would be quite easy to destroy him, Harry thought in despair, wishing to be able to correct his failure when he will return at Hogwarts.
Meanwhile, the friends had arrived at the cash desk. The shopkeeper was already rushing to it with a sizable stack of books, more or less ignoring the other customers waiting at the counter.
"Oh, Mr. Potter, have you already looked through this modest bookstore? I've picked up four sets of books for Hogwarts and also for Miss Granger a copy of her New Theory of Numerology and Rune Dictionary," the bookseller put all the books on the counter, pointing to two books of which the dictionary was so thick it could easily be mistaken with Hogwarts: A History.
"Thank you, but instead of Numerology and Rune Dictionary we will take this book. And we are sorry we forgot to tell you we already have the Confronting the Faceless and A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, and the book of potions will only be needed just for me," Harry apologized, placing a copy of Transfiguration for Defensive Purposes on the counter.
"Yes, of course. As you wish, sir," the book salesman said, making a stiff smile at them – later he will have to go and bring the redundant books back to the shelves. "Mr. Potter, I'll give you a little discount. Then you have to pay for your books one Galleon and three Sickles plus five more Sickles for your Transfiguration book," the salesman named the price for all of Harry's books as he effortlessly calculated it in his mind.
The young people paid the named price for each of their set of books and started to go out of the store. Just nearby the counter Harry heard as one older woman whispered to another: "My boy is also going back to Hogwarts this year, but one Galleon for a set of books? I just paid three Galleons for the books for my boy. It means I've paid an arm and leg for these books!"
Going out of the bookstore, Harry being interested pulled out his purchased books from his shopping bag and looked at the price tags – indeed they actually cost ten Sickles each. It meant the shopkeeper had sold them the books for only a half price. Somehow this revelation made Harry angry.
Next, the four friends went to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes because Ron needed to give George the improved Fireflowers. Feeling a bit grumpy and not wanting to attract unnecessary attention, Harry walked with his head down. Luckily for him this time, people didn't delay him on this short move to George's shop.
Entering the Weasleys' store, it seemed to Harry that everything here looked like as usual – gorgeous and eye-catching. There were all kinds of extraordinary wonders on the shelves, including the especial novelty: the Gryffindor Swordpencils – In the lesson it's a common pencil, but in your free time challenge your friend to a real sword fight! –, and the wristwatches with a small cuckoo figurine that makes their cuckoo calls in full hours. On the shelves for the girls there were marvelously glittering lipsticks and hair color changing hair bands, as well as hair clips with very alive looking butterflies. However, not all of the shelves were overly full with the goods. Some of them were half empty and it seemed the goods had not been restocked for some time.
George rushed out of the storeroom at the back of the shop, carrying new boxes with Gryffindor Swordpencils as everyone bought them like crazy. Harry noticed that the young red-haired man looked tired – apparently he was working without stopping all day all night, but with all this hard work it was nearly too much for him alone. Before he always had have Fred with him doing half of the work; now George had to deal with everything alone. Or almost alone – a young blonde girl straightened out from under the counter as she found some of the client's required Shield Gloves that she hadn't yet stocked on the shelf.
Seeing the small group of his family and friends, George greeted them joyfully. Placing the boxes with Swordpencils on their stand, the young man looked sideways at his assistant for a brief moment, but then immediately turned to his brother who gave him a couple of something that looked like large round seeds.
"I brought you the new Fireflowers. You can check them for yourself. Harry and I made some improvements for them to roll away a little further from the people, otherwise it was no pleasure to lose our eyebrows," Ron told about the latest developments, while George put the Fireflowers in the pocket of his suit.
"Very well, thank you! I'll check them later," George murmured.
"Well, how is it going with you and Verity?" Ron asked. Meanwhile, Ginny and Hermione had rushed to take a look at the offer of the girl section.
"Uh, now we have been more or less friendly with each other," George reluctantly replied throwing a glance at his employee. "You know, after Fred's death, I acted as an asshole, so if Verity wouldn't have stayed here this shop would have gone to the dogs long ago. But well, it is as it is. Thanks for the Fireflowers. Now I don't have even a moment for a rest. The shelves are always half empty, I'm carrying the boxes almost all day long. I even started to look for some employees to do the restocking but those who came to me the first ones – they looked more like some kind of Slytherin bandits. I suppose they weren't able to find a decent job anywhere else, so they were oppressing me. I hope Angelina will come here later to help me at my shop. I'm really glad you came in, but now I have to rush! And Harry, remember, everything here for you is at my expense," George said goodbye as he winked to his friend.
"Well, what actually happened between him and that his employee, Verity?" Harry asked to Ron, while both of them examined the stand of the Swordpencils.
"You know too well what George was like for the first few months after Fred's death. He didn't eat, didn't sleep, only worked round the clock, and he demanded the same from Verity. In addition, it seemed to me she actually liked Fred a bit more. Then, for the first month, Verity was enduring it all without saying a word, but in the second month both of them started to argue because they were so overworked that they barely could stand on their feet. Then Verity contacted me and asked for my help. Then, you already know, I started to help George with the new products," Ron explained.
Before Harry was able to ask him anything more about George, he was greeted by some Hogwarts schoolmates.
"Harry, Ron, hello! Have you also received the McGonagall's letter from Hogwarts?" asked the former roommate Dean Thomas standing next to Seamus Finnigan and Lavender Brown. Seeing the girl, Harry barely resisted himself of wincing. One side of her face was rough, bumpy, and malformed. She had been trying to shield it with her thick brown hair, but the scars on her neck bitten by Greyback at the Battle of Hogwarts were well visible. After the battle, she was brought to the St Mungo hospital being barely alive, where she had spent almost a month, lying unconscious on the bed. Even the Daily Prophet had constantly reported her health condition, and now for a few weeks, Lavender had recovered to the point that she was able to leave the hospital and she could return to a full life.
"Yes, we received it," Ron replied.
"Then we are going back to Hogwarts, right?" Seamus asked. "If you are coming back too, then these Slytherins wouldn't have a chance this year!" the young man added with a smile.
"Yes, we are going to finish our seventh year. Then we'll see each other at school. I'm glad to see you all. However, we still have a lot to do," Harry made an excuse, searching for Ginny and Hermione with his eyes.
"Oh, well, yeah, we will see you at Hogwarts. By the way, these glasses suits you very well, Harry," Lavender called after him before turning to the shelf of WonderWitch cosmetics – Rash, warts, and scars on your face Will disappear without a trace! It seemed to Harry that Lavender was sounding somehow oddly sad. Was she hoping that Harry would now begin to recite his last year's adventures or she wished to hear a pity from him in the presence of all these people? "I wonder why did Lavender sound so odd?" Harry said grumpily.
"That's probably because I treated her as an asshole before," Ron sneered without any joy.
Ron was right. Harry had already forgotten it – Lavender just felt awkward in the presence of Ron, and there was nothing to do with him. Oh God, he thought to himself, I am imagining things that aren't even true. The sooner I'll get out of this Diagon Alley, the better.
However, as he shouldered through the crowd to the Ginny, some groups of students looked at him with nastily hungry stares.
Fortunately, he and Ron soon reached their girlfriends, and they all together agreed to quickly get the rest of their needed things and then eat an ice cream at the newly opened Fortescue parlour, and then without any delay go home.
Sticking to their plan, they all went to Madam Malkin's shop where they bought proper new Hogwarts robes, then they shopped for stationery supplies, and got ingredients from Apothecary for potion lessons. Luckily, all this time, the friends were able to avoid the overwhelming attention of people. Only a few of the pedestrians greeted them and expressed their honor to meet them. Finally the four of them had come into a Quidditch supply store, which was a small shop in the middle of the main street of Diagon Alley. This year, unlike last year, Ginny will have a real chance to be a captain of the Quidditch team, so she needed a new broomstick which Harry had promised to give her as her birthday present. Besides, he and Ron also needed a new broom.
As they went inside, Harry noticed there were just a few people here. Only some girls with Ravenclaw badges on their chest were examining a broomstick talking to each other: "Jodie, you are now the new captain, so I'm saying you need at least the Nimbus two thousand two. We can't afford the Firebolt, but if Potter is going to return at school you need a decent broom to be able to compete with him. Terry was the best of our flyers, but you already heard what Anthony said – with his potion skills he was accepted into St Mungo, so he won't come back to the school this year," one of the girls expressed her opinion.
Thinking for a brief moment, the girl named Jodie didn't respond anything, but then, after noticing Harry, she began to speak. "Hello Potter! You've got cool glasses! Are you getting ready for Quidditch? I hope this year we'll have a chance to meet on the Quidditch field to have a good match. Of course, if you are intending to return to Hogwarts this year. I am Jodie Muller, the Captain of Ravenclaw's Quidditch team," a blonde, slender girl introduced herself as she was quickly narrating her monologue.
"Um, hello. I'll return to Hogwarts…" Harry replied awkwardly.
"But the Captain of Gryffindor Quidditch team is me," Ginny added, knowing well the Ravenclaw girl of her year. "Then we'll meet on the pitch."
"I'm looking forward to it," Jodie said to them as she finished the conversation, but then she turned to her friends and said, "Maybe let's go to the Snitch on the Green alley. Hasn't there arrived a new supply of broomsticks?"
The other three girls nodded and then all of them hurried away quietly murmuring goodbye.
Hermione glanced around absently while Harry, Ron and Ginny began to examine carefully the broom offerings. Immediately, the shopkeeper rushed to offer his help – he was a thin, old man. "Good day! What do young people want, then? Is your need just for leisure or for serious Quidditch match?"
"We'll need broomsticks for Quidditch, three of them," Ron replied.
"Well, well, the broomsticks for Quidditch are just right here. Look, here's the new Cleansweep; here I have the Nimbuses. And here, being the most important, of course, is the Firebolt. I heard the second version will be available soon, but we all have to wait for it at least half a year. So, what should I show to you?" the man began to show everything around with enormous enthusiasm rubbing his hands.
Three of friends studied the Quidditch brooms, being very interested in the newest Cleansweep 8 and Comet 500. Of course, the Firebolt would be the best available broomstick, but it cost several hundred Galleons – such amount of money for Ron and Ginny could only appear in their dreams, but Harry felt too sorrow for his old Firebolt, so it didn't seem right to him to give away a large pile of money from his Gringotts vault to simply buy a new Firebolt. And the old one he got as a present from Sirius…
Finally, they decided the Comet 500 will be good enough for them, which also cost a pretty penny – fifty Galleons for one broomstick. While paying money for his and Ginny's broom, Harry heard Hermione say: "Look, there's Hagrid. I'll go out and say hello to him."
The girl briefly glanced at her friends and rushed out through the door. As soon as they had paid for their new brooms Harry, Ginny and Ron also run out of the shop, hastily saying goodbye to the overly happy shopkeeper.
"Oh, what a surprise! Look it, there's yeh too, Harry. An', Ron an' Ginny," the giant said as he joyfully made a smile in his beard.
"Hi Hagrid!" they greeted him.
"Please tell us how things are going at Hogwarts – what's going on there right now?" Harry asked first before Hagrid.
"O', we have a lot to do. We are working till late at night. Not everything has been completely repaired yet, but at least the main walls of the castle are in order. The Boathouse is still ruined; there's not much left to the September first when I have to take them new first years over the lake," Hagrid told them excitedly. "An' how do yeh do – I see, ya got all kinds of shoppin' bags. Then are ya getting ready for Hogwarts, right?" the giant asked.
"Of course," Ginny replied. "How can one not want to go back to Hogwarts? So we all will be in the same class this year with the permission of McGonagall."
"But if you have so much work to do, what are you doing here, Hagrid?" Ron asked.
"Well, yeh are not takin' the Care of Magical Creatures, but near me hut, in the forest, there are roaming such interestin' creatures as whatacrows. They are smart birds, but scary as hell. I need to go to the Magical Menagerie to look fer somethin' to scare them away," Hagrid said thoughtfully, although it seemed to Harry that the giant actually was quietly thinking how to domesticate them. "An' there are those nasty boggarts all over the place. As people are saying – when there's any kind of disaster or a battle, then yeh later can't get rid of them."
"I hope you'll get all your work done in time, Hagrid," Hermione said with a smile. "I am very happy to see you, and we are going to see each other at Hogwarts again."
"Of course, I have a great pleasure to see yeh too. And especially for yeh, Harry. Yeh all went through such difficulties as only a rare wizard have seen, an' now look at yeh – yeh are happy an' getting ready for Hogwarts. You-Know-Who is defeated, an' now yeh can live in peace. Good job Harry! That's the way to go! An' yeh, Ginny, help him how yeh can, now yeh two can live happily ever after. Bye, bye all of yeh. Then we'll see at Hogwarts," the giant said, waving his large-sized palm and went off to the shop of Magical Menagerie.
Harry was delighted to hear Ginny's suggestion that they could finish their shopping ending it with an ice cream. "The Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour has been reopened again, hasn't it? Let's go there?" Ginny had said.
"All right, let's go there," Ron agreed. "Harry, listen, didn't you say some time ago that Fortescue knew a lot about history?"
"Yeah, it's true. He knew a lot about it," Harry said reluctantly with a groan. Hagrid's genuine happiness had spoiled his mood. Their old, huge friend truly thought the war against Voldemort has been won and now everyone can have their happy lives back. But what if there are still some other cruel and terrible challenges ahead? When Harry had escaped from the Dursleys in his third year and had lived in the Leaky Cauldron, back then Fortescue had given him ice cream for free every day and had told incredibly lot of stories about medieval witches. Who can tell now – maybe he would have known something about the relics of Hogwarts, but now the life of a wise, intelligent and knowledgeable old man has been taken away by Voldemort's terror more than a year ago. If this monster was wandering somewhere around out there, how many more kind, sincere, and wise wizards will have to suffer?
Sunk in his dark reflections, Harry noticed that they had already arrived at the Fortescue Ice Cream Parlour which was indeed open to visitors. But there was no friendly old man sitting behind the counter, there was just a smiling lady. Approaching the parlour, Hermione greeted a visitor, hidden behind the latest issue of the Quibbler. "Hi Luna!"
"Hi my friends!" The girl smiled with true joy as she saw her friends, putting aside her magazine. "Come, join me! The new glasses really do look good on you, Harry!" she said excitedly.
The four of them instantly took the seats around the table next to Luna at the white wooden chairs and on one of them they placed all their purchases.
Harry now wanted to get up and go to the counter to order ice cream but the lady was already standing at their table.
"Oh my dear God, you are Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, and you Miss are also a Weasley?" the owner said enthusiastically.
"Yes, I'm Ginny Weasley," she confirmed. Harry cast a glance at the counter – there were three customers waiting patiently. He pursed his lips in frustration – did others really have to wait in the queue just because he had come here; he, Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the boy who vanquished the Dark Lord. Sort of… He was the boy who didn't do his job properly, that's what he was, Harry thought bitterly.
"My name is Diana. Fortescue was my dad, but that's a long time ago when I called myself a Fortescue," she said happily telling her story as she waved her hand. "What should I bring to you? You are such nice and noble people, so I will gladly give you ice cream for free. At my expense. It is such a pleasure for me that you have come to my Ice Cream Parlour. In the evening I could tell my children at home, that Harry Potter himself with his friends had visited my parlour," the lady just continued to talk without a pause.
"No!" Harry exclaimed quite loudly. "I can pay for my ice cream myself. You don't have to give it to me for free!"
Diana was strongly confused by Harry's harsh voice, but then she smiled stiffly.
Hermione looked at the Luna's two ice creams for a brief moment and to make amends, she quickly placed her order: "We would like to also have four big ice creams with hazelnuts, please."
The owner murmured, "Alright," and hastily rushed for the requested ice cream. It seemed she felt relieved when Hermione had made her order, so she could leave their company.
Luna turned her head to Harry, leaning it on one side, and said: "Harry, why are you so anxious today as if you were going to catch another evil wizard? And Ginny – I wish a happy birthday to you!"
Ginny mumbled, "Thank you," with a smile, but Harry stared at the blonde Ravenclaw girl with wide eyes – Luna was the first person who hadn't become overly excited about his endless and great feats, but actually wanted to know how he felt. And even her observation was unusually accurate. Only he wasn't going to catch another dark wizard, but the same one.
"Look, I think we can tell it to Luna too," Harry suggested. "And also to Neville," he added as soon as he saw his friend coming out of the nearby apothecary and approaching to them. Neville raised his hand to greet them and they greeted him back. Meanwhile, the owner of the parlour has already brought them the four ordered portions of hazelnut ice cream. "Here you are! You have to pay twenty Knuts for each ice cream."
The friends gave the lady the required money. Harry noticed that Diana now acted very stiffly in his presence.
"I'm sorry," Harry began, "for being too harsh with my reply. I just don't like to get things for free if others have to pay for them. And I often used to come here to your father for an ice cream. He really knew a lot about history."
"Thank you, dear," she said with a smile as she obviously accepted the apology. "Yes, as a child I also liked to listen to his stories. Especially dear to me was the story of the daughter of old Lady Ravenclaw. It had everything what a little girl needs – it was a story of love when a young girl falls in love with a handsome young man, and then she runs away from her home to her happiness. Oh, this story I could listen again and again in the evenings," Diana said daydreaming, but then she suddenly woke up. "Sorry for talking so much! I won't bother you any longer, there's ice cream melting for you. Enjoy your ice cream!" As she said it, she hurried back to the counter, but Harry was sitting with open mouth – now when he actually might have wanted to ask her more about the story of Ravenclaw's daughter, she had run away.
Meanwhile, Neville had come to their table. "Hello, hello," he said, seeing his good, old friends, and made a sincere smile. Then he took a chair from a nearby table and sat down to their company.
Everyone greeted back Neville, and Luna smiled knowingly at him. "I told you I'll save one for you too. A small freezing spell, and the ice cream will still taste as freshly made. This is your favorite – with hazelnuts."
Smiling, Neville took his portion of ice cream, and Luna at once remembered: "Harry, did you want to tell us why are you so anxious today?"
"Anxious?" Neville wandered glancing at Harry. "What happened then? Why Luna thinks you're anxious?"
"Oh, he just can't stand that everyone's giving him things for free," Ron said grumpily.
Hermione threw a little bit critical glance at him and interjected: "And there's also that other thing. Harry, tell it yourself; you are the one who discovered it."
Neville began to appear worried, but the expression on Luna's face transformed into a mild interest.
Quickly Harry cast the Muffliato Charm over their table. "All right, listen then – I had a bad dream ten days ago. A very bad." Harry had to gather all the courage to be able to tell his revelation to someone else – as if the more he was talking about it, the more real it was becoming. However, if there was anyone else who deserved to know this, it was certainly Neville and Luna, his most loyal fighters, except for Ron and Hermione. "So, in short, I saw in a dream that Voldemort wasn't completely destroyed and he was seriously planning to rise again."
After Harry's statement, both Neville and Luna sat in their chairs shocked with their mouths halfway open.
"It can't be," Neville finally breathed.
Luna was the first to regain her clarity of thoughts. "Harry, but if you say you saw it in a dream, how do you know it is even a little bit of truth? The dream, however, is a dream. That could be true only then if you had put my given Dreamer by your bed that night." When Harry heard it, he at instant remembered the moment Luna had given him her present at his birthday: This is the Dreamer. It doesn't allow nightmares to visit you at night, but sometimes it may catch bypassing thoughts. Thinking back, it seemed to him as there a thorn of fear would prick in his abdomen.
"You see, at first Hermione told me the same that it was probably just a dream," Harry said, knowingly glanced at Hermione, who slowly ate her ice cream, licking the spoon. She nodded approvingly. He turned back to the Ravenclaw girl and continued: "But then we started to discuss why it can't be true until we realized where we could have made a mistake. We probably haven't destroyed all of Voldemort's Horcruxes."
"We haven't? But all of you hunted those bloody Horcruxes all the year, and I cut off that snake's head. Are you going to say this snake was not a real Horcrux, but the real one could be who knows where?" Neville said, expressing his anxiety.
"Neville, I think the snake was a real Horcrux. You did everything correct," Luna comforted her friend, well knowing his doubts about self-confidence which were haunting him since childhood. After all, he had begun to show the heroism worth of Gryffindor only in his fifth school year. Until then, even his closest relatives had a great deal of doubt as to whether the boy had any abilities. "Harry, please tell us what did you actually conclude?" Luna suggested calmly as she blinked her big round eyes.
"We began to discuss how we had destroyed all the Horcruxes, and Luna, remember how you led me to show the Ravenclaw's Diadem how does it look like?" Harry began.
"Mhm." Luna nodded.
"You see, back then we thought we had found it in the Room of Requirement, but then we started to think that it might not have been the real Diadem, because after the exposure to Fiendfyre it turned into the dust. Contrary, all other Horcruxes were visibly damaged after the destruction, but their magic was strong enough to save the Horcrux in one piece. That's why we suspect that this burnt-out diadem was just another forgery, but the real one is somewhere out there untouched. Most likely it is located at Hogwarts," Harry told them.
Neville still seemed shocked. If only in his eyes were gone the fear and guilt for having somehow mistook something, for example, cutting off the head of the wrong snake.
"At Hogwarts? Are you sure? If the diadem in the Room of Requirement was just a fake, then the real one could be anywhere in the world," Neville said hopelessly.
"We are completely sure of Hogwarts because Voldemort hurried exactly there to save the Diadem. That's why we are now going to return to Hogwarts for our seventh school year so we can devote all of our efforts to search for it," Harry explained. "Well, Neville, you are also going back to Hogwarts, right?"
"Yes, I am. I received the letter from McGonagall and at once sent an affirmation. I didn't learn much during that Snape's dictatorship. Ginny and I had to organize bold sabotages so there wasn't enough time for me to study," their friend said with a smile. "And my grandmother thinks every proper wizard is obligated to have a Hogwarts diploma."
"Well, this means the struggle against the darkness isn't over yet," Luna summarized the conversation. "Mmm – she has added a caramel to this ice cream, isn't it delicious?" she said as she licked the tasty spoon in the hot sunshine.