I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them sertainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
For now, the story will update every second Saturday, until I say otherwise.
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Chapter 20: Dobby the Loony
A warm and beautiful Summer reigned supreme over Little Whinging in early July, sunlight flooding the streets of the suburb, which in turn invited many of its citizens to spend their time outdoors. However, Harry had little eye for that while leaning on the windowsill of his room. While he was looking outside through the opened window, he was too deep in thoughts. He still had to think about the recently finished school year and the confrontation with Voldemort.
He still remembered Voldemort's words that he wanted to kill him with his own hands. The question was why Voldemort was so intent on that particular point - especially after learning it was the very reason for the events of Halloween 1981 - but there would be no answers for the time being. He sincerely doubted that Sirius and Remus would right now see him as mature enough for answers.
Makes me wonder what the big secret could be, Harry wondered.
Besides that, Harry was also starting to get a bit concerned on a different front. He had been home for over a week now and despite what they had agreed on, there had been no contact from his friends. While that was no wonder with Luna, who right at the moment was probably hiking through Sweden with her parents, all the others were at home - Hermione would only start her trip to Spain in about a week. Thus the lack of contact was weird.
Even more weird was Hedwig's behavior. He had sent her off with messages to some of his friends, but she had returned rather quickly each time, looking like she wanted to curse up a storm on each occasion. Too bad he couldn't speak owl, otherwise he could have asked her what had happened. Her strange behavior, and Harry very much doubting that his friends had forgotten him like that, made it obvious someone was messing with his mail. Someone with magic.
He had contemplated telling an adult of the strange problem, but then again felt he could solve it on his own. No need to worry them if I can do this myself, he thought.
"Aunt Verni, I have to use the phone," Harry called while walking downstairs.
"Good, but try to not let it become too long of a call," Veronica answered from outside, where she was busy with hanging the day's laundry on the clotheslines.
While most of his friends did not have a telephone in their house, Hermione of course did have one. While he guessed that her parents were at work during this time of the day, Hermione surely would be at home. He sincerely doubted that whoever was intercepting his mail had any concept of how a telephone worked - that was something Harry had deduced easily.
Reading her number from the phone list hanging on the wall, Hermione having given him her number, Harry dialed her number and then waited.
"Granger residence, Hermione Granger speaking."
"Hello Hermione. It's me, Harry," Harry answered her.
"Harry! Good to hear from you. I did send you a letter, but didn't get any reply yet."
Harry had a feeling that his suspicion did have some substance after all. "Well, that's the weird thing. I did send you a letter as well, but Hedwig returned only shortly later, looking rather cross for some reason. Also, I did get nothing from you in the regular mail."
"Yes, that's indeed strange. I did send off my letter at the post office four days ago. Harry, is someone intercepting your mail?" Clearly, Hermione did find the idea concerning.
"Looks like it. The same happened with our other friends." Now that he did have confirmation, Harry had a lot less scruples to tell an adult. "I'll wait until Uncle Sirius is home, then I tell him of the problem."
"You better do so. Harry, since my letter didn't reach you... I promise to get you something interesting from Spain for your birthday."
"Thanks. Oh, and don't get a sunburn," Harry thanked Hermione
They talked a little more, exchanging news, before they ended the call.
Walking back upstairs to his room, he suddenly heard Hedwig making a ruckus! Running to his room, he stopped when seeing a bundle of letters on his bed and Hedwig being riled up by something. "Hedwig, Hedwig! Calm down!"
It took him several minutes, but once his owl was calm, Harry took a look at the letters. "Now, that is interesting." He did recognize the letters he had sent with Hedwig, which clearly had never reached their destinations. Additionally, he found several letters from his friends, including one that clearly had been sent with the postal service.
"Regardless who took my mail, they were in here..." Harry then realized that whoever that was must have listened in to his phone call and quickly decided to get rid of the incriminating letters by giving them back.
Now Harry really wanted to tell Sirius, since this smelled of magical interference.
...July 16th...
Despite it already being early evening, the summer heat was still oppressive in Little Whinging. Harry had resorted to getting a small ventilator and putting it on his desk so that it could cool him down while he was being busy. That was essentially the only way he could continue to work on his summer assignments without sweating to death or suffer from heatstroke.
Ever since that weird incident with the mail, Harry no longer had trouble with sending and receiving mail; meaning that whoever had intercepted it had given up. Sirius had not been overly concerned about the incident and was more confused what that had been supposed to accomplish. It honestly made no sense whatsoever and he doubted dark wizards would resort to stealing the mail.
Harry's work then was interrupted when he had to refill his fountain pen. Thank all goodness we are not anymore forced to use quills. Just imagining Ron attempting to use a quill is enough to make me glad we don't have to use them anymore.
Harry was about to continue writing down important potions ingredients, when... -riiiing- That was the doorbell, and Harry wondered who could possibly visit them at this time. Deciding that his curiosity had to be satisfied, he put aside his work for the moment and walked downstairs.
"Oh, hello Professor McGonagall. It's a bit surprising to see you during the summer," Harry greeted his teacher when seeing her being let in by his Uncle Tom. The woman looked highly uncomfortable, which was no wonder with her conservative dress in such hot weather.
"Yes, I also didn't expect to see you over the summer, Mr. Potter, but something has come up that I need you and your guardians for," she replied, then discovered the ventilator that was set up to make sure the air would not go stale in the house, and made a point to sit near it.
"That must be quite important, if you come here personally, Professor," Veronica remarked after all them had sat down at the table.
"Oh, it is. Today, we received a very strange letter, addressed to my office." She then pulled said letter out of her purse and put it onto the table. "Here, take a look for yourselves."
They did and the more they read, the more they frowned.
"A letter declaring we are pulling Harry from school? That's an obvious forgery; after all, we told you in person we wouldn't do so. Also, taking one look at it reveals how poorly of a forgery it is," Thomas remarked.
"Yes, the way the letter is worded hints at someone who is not used to writing formal letters, not to speak that whoever wrote it clearly had troubles with actually writing it," Veronica added.
"We thought so as well. Also, the letter was written with a quill, something which you don't use. Not to speak of the fact that the cursive in the letter is the used in pure-blood circles, but looking like it was done in imitation. This never went past my desk, though I did inform the Headmaster of it," McGonagall added.
"So it's an attempt to get me out of the school, which failed right from the start," Harry finally said. "Who would actually do that?"
"That is the question. Any ideas?" Thomas asked McGonagall.
"It's honestly an enigma. The attempt was so amateurish it's difficult to even guess. Additionally, even first-year students would never write such a bad letter with such bad handwriting, not to speak of adults," McGonagall explained the situation.
"Perhaps it's the some jokester who found it funny to stop my mail," Harry mused.
Hearing that, McGongall gave Harry an interested look. "What is that about?"
"Well, for about a week, I didn't get any mail and my owl Hedwig also returned early and annoyed whenever I sent a letter. So I called Hermione, and she said she didn't get any letter from me. Then suddenly, all of my mail appeared on my bed and I didn't have any problems ever since. Maybe whoever did that also wrote that letter?" Harry explained what had transpired.
"Hmm, very strange." Clearly, McGonagall felt there was more behind that.
"Does that mean someone wants to keep Harry out of the school? If yes, then why such bizarre attempts? I mean, keeping away his mail only annoyed Harry into taking action and that letter was such an obvious forgery, it makes me wonder if it even was a serious attempt," Veronica voiced her thoughts.
"That's the big question. Nothing about this makes sense," McGonagall answered, also wondered what this could be about.
"Oh, hello!"
The young voice pulled them out of their discussion. They had completely missed young Mark Evans coming in from the garden. The boy gave McGonagall an interested look, then looked in dismay at his dirty clothes. "I didn't know we have a visitor..."
"Oh, and who is this young man?" McGonagall asked, being more amused than anything, even though she already knew the answer.
"Oh, that's our son, Mark. Harry is practically his older brother." Veronica then looked to her son. "Mark, this is Professor McGonagall. She is one of Harry's teachers at his school."
"Woah!" the seven-year old boy gasped. "Harry, did you do something stupid that she has to come here?!"
"Mark!" Harry gasped, blushing at the implication. The little boy gave Harry a seemingly innocent smile, until noticing the look his mother was giving him.
"Sorry, Professor. I guess our son still needs to work on his manners," Thomas apologized to McGonagall.
McGonagall on the other hand didn't mind. "Oh, I actually find this quite refreshing. Well, young man, perhaps in due time you'll become one of my students, just like Harry."
"Uh, you think so?" Truth to be told, Mark had little idea what Harry's school actually was like. "Well, maybe? I honestly have no idea."
The funny thing was, that everyone present apart from Mark himself already knew that he would become one of McGonagall's students in four years. Of course they could not tell him that. It would only be in two years that they would explain to him about magic and prepare him for the preschool. At least, that was the plan.
Plans of course had a tendency to go awry.
They also had not noticed a small being, who had watched all this and was less than enthusiastic about that outcome.
"Oh, no, no, no! Again failure! Protecting Harry Potter is more difficult than anticipated."
...Privet Drive No. 4, July 19th...
Dudley honestly felt his situation was a bit weird while he was being busy with lifting his dumbbells in the garden, taking advantage of the summer weather this morning. He had imagined going back home would be relaxing for him, but now he knew better. The situation was rather complex.
If Dudley wanted to be honest, he for several reasons wished the summer would be over fast and he could go back to school. Oh, not to get him wrong, on one hand he loved being back in familiar surroundings with all the great things about modern civilization. He'd had no idea how much he'd missed the telly, refrigerators, microwave ovens, being able to ride a bicycle and many more things. It also helped him to appreciate these things more after being deprived of them for so many months and he had been busy with catching up.
No, the actual problem were his parents and their strange behavior.
While his trunk was in his room and he had been able to finish all the homework in a timely manner, it was depressing that he was unable to talk with them about his school year in anything but the most general terms. His mother was a bit better about it, actually asking questions when his father was not at home, but even then she didn't dig too deeply. At least she seemed to have gotten over her denial and now acknowledged that he was going to a magical school.
Still doesn't make up for how uninterested they are in that part of my life, Dudley thought, wondering if others went through something like that as well.
"Diddy Darling, put these things away and come in. Breakfast is ready!" Petunia called.
By now he was embarrassed that his mother wouldn't use his actual name, but in a way he also had gotten used to it over the years and it was just one of her quirks. Quickly wiping himself dry with a towel and putting on an actual shirt over his muscle shirt, he decided a shower could wait until after breakfast.
Walking to the table, he saw his father already sitting on his chair, being busy with the Friday edition of the Daily Mail. Vernon was still showing the satisfied smirk from managing to secure the biggest deal of his career by inviting the Masons to his home in order to butter them up over the evening.
Dudley on the other hand didn't like to remember that embarrassing display from some days ago. That his parents had felt it important to rehearse the whole thing in order to butter up the Masons properly made Dudley wonder how badly his father had wanted that deal. Not to speak of the embarrassing things they had made him say and the amount of alcohol consumed by the adults. It was like something right out of one of these cheesy American TV series with a plot of inviting the boss home to get a promotion.
That his father still got the deal even after how cringe-worthy the evening had been actually said a lot about the Masons.
"Pffft, always these know-it-all's in Brussels," Vernon grumbled while reading the newspaper. "I hold it like Maggie: 'I want my money back'. Major will never get that stupid treaty through he House of Commons, better believe it!"
Petunia right then served the bacon. "I honestly don't understand how you become thinner, despite eating so well," Petunia complained to her son.
Dudley had heard it a thousand times by now. All the training he did had the effect of burning away the extra fat in his body. He honestly found it baffling that she was actually complaining about that. It almost was like she wanted him to be obese like his father. It also was bizarre since she herself was really thin; being very much concerned about her own weight to the point of obsession.
It was several minutes later when Dudley heard the mail being delivered through the mail slot. Getting up, he went to retrieve it. Most of it were just invoices; there also was one letter from Aunt Marge to Vernon and... a letter to him. That created the question who would write him a letter, since the only friends he got were in the magical world.
However, the envelope looked a bit strange. It's almost like it was sent by someone who never did this before. The writing on it looks unsteady and why did they put on three stamps instead of one?
Knowing better, he put the letter on the stairs, before getting the rest of the mail to his parents.
Vernon put aside the invoices for the moment, but opened the letter from Marge. "Petunia, Marge asks if we can visit her while Dudley is at school."
The grimace from Petunia was answer enough, but no way she would deny her husband that wish. Marge knew perfectly well that Petunia couldn't stand pets, so inviting them to visit her was Marge's way of having some nasty fun at her expense. Dudley was just glad that since the incident, Marge - despite being unable to remember the incident itself - no longer wanted to visit them, so he was spared having to be in her presence.
Breakfast then proceeded as normal and Dudley made it a point to go upstairs before his father left for work, wanting to read the letter in the privacy of his room.
"It's from Millicent?" he realized when starting to read it and seeing the name at the top of the letter. That explained quite a bit, since this literally had to be the first letter she'd sent with the postal service. So putting on too many stamps was an honest error.
He then continued to read.
Hello, Dudley,
this honestly is the first letter I send the Muggle way. That was quite an adventure in itself, especially when I went to the post office for it. I know you explained it to me, but I do hope I did nothing wrong. To make sure, I put on three of these stamps on the envelope. I also followed your advice and you can send me letters to a postbox I rented - details are at the top.
So, how is the summer treating you? I for my part feel a bit bored, since my parents, lawful as they are, actually do enforce the no-magic rule for me. Daphne is visiting regularly, but it feels incomplete without you. Daphne says hello by the way. She still has trouble to fully understand how your postal service works, so please don't wonder why there's no letter from her.
I've grown so used to your presence, it's now weird to me that you are not present. Imagine the looks my parents gave me when I told them I'm writing to a boy. They honestly hadn't expected us to be such good friends. You wouldn't believe what they told me. They seem to forget we are only twelve years old...
The letter went on, but Dudley stopped reading it for a moment.
He honestly had not expected Millicent to go the extra mile of learning how to send letters with the postal system, but clearly the girl felt he was important enough for her to do so. After all, he had told both girls that sending letters by owl would be a bad idea, since his parents reacted very negatively at the sight of post owls.
Dudley couldn't help but to feel good when realizing that he had made actual friends. Others probably would make fun of him once hearing that both of his friends were girls, but he honestly didn't care. While he was not exactly great at writing letters - quite in the contrary, he was really bad at writing them - he simply had to write a reply to Millicent.
Now it looked like the summer had just been improved.
...July 31st...
Harry honestly felt this was one of his best birthdays.
All of his friends had come for it, and they'd had fun all day doing all kind of stuff the young minds could come up with while exchanging stories of what had happened since they'd last seen each other. Ron and Ginny had remarked how different Little Whinging looked when it's not winter, Hermione had shown off her tan - which she would surely lose quickly during the Scottish winter - Neville told them of Trevor the toad jumping into his grandmother's lunch one day and Luna had been very excited to tell them about Sweden.
One highlight definitely had been them watching a tape of Disney's The Sword in the Stone on the telly, considering all the commentary from them and how some things in the film were surprisingly close to the reality of the magical world. One big laugh was, that the Merlin in the film looked a lot like Headmaster Dumbledore, causing Luna to speculate about the Headmaster's ancestry.
Now it was early evening and everyone was gathering for Harry's birthday party. While his friends and family were already present, Remus, Sirius, Diane and the twins had only arrived recently and things were still being set up.
"Now, Harry, if you think this is many people, wait until my birthday party in a few weeks. Weasley parties are really a sight to be seen," Ginny told Harry.
That reminded Harry of something. "Will your Uncle Bilius be present as well? You know, the one who really livens up a party."
"Don't we all wish he would?" Ron threw in. "Sadly, he won't be there. His healer ordered him to take it easy. Said he's done too much partying with too much alcohol. Overusing his special trick certainly hasn't helped, either."
Harry knew what Ron was alluding to. "I can understand why that wouldn't be healthy when doing it too often."
"I honestly wonder how he even came up with that trick. Isn't it... you know, kind of gross to pull out flowers from there?" Neville asked, having a strange mental picture of it ever since being told.
"Maybe it's a lack of hygiene that allows flowers to grow there naturally? I should tell my father, he could know," Luna honestly suggested, resulting in laughter from her friends.
Mark Evans meanwhile was hanging around upstairs. While he was of course excited for Harry's birthday party, he felt like he was in the way while it was still being set up. This was why he was waiting upstairs until being called. However, simply sitting in his room appeared a bit boring to him, so he wondered what he could do, when hearing something from Harry's room.
Harry's owl is agitated by something, he thought.
Knowing that it was too loud downstairs for Harry to hear, he decided to investigate. The door to Harry's room was not fully closed, so he did it like he'd seen in these police series on the telly - he sneaked up to the door and then suddenly threw it open to surprise whoever was in there.
His eyes widened in surprise.
Downstairs, everyone was getting ready and Veronica was about to call her son down, now that there no longer was hectic activity, when suddenly there was noise upstairs, and then Mark appeared, dragging someone - or was it something? - down the stairs.
"Mum, Dad! Look! Gollum really exists! He is real!" he called, causing everyone to look at what was happening.
"Dobby is not being Gollum! Dobby is being Dobby!" the small being, male judging by the voice, protested vehemently, but only made halfhearted attempts to get free from the child that was dragging him along.
Most of those present had no idea what in all names this Dobby actually was, apart from the fact that he clearly had to be magical. However, Sirius was one of those who did know, since he had grown up around them. "What is a house-elf doing here?!" he barked.
"Ahh! Is being Sirius Black! The Head of the Blacks!" Dobby gasped, paling at the sight of the man.
"Exactly that one." Sirius couldn't help it. While Kreacher had become much better, an unknown house-elf in his godson's house brought up old reflexes.
"Eh, Padfoot, I think you are scaring him," Remus reminded his friend. The whole disaster of a house-elf being revealed to the children could wait until it was clear what he was doing here.
Sirius did back off, allowing the elf some breathing room. He looked around and then spotted someone. "Harry Potter! So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, Sir! ... Such an honor it is..."
"Me?" Harry wondered. "Why is that? Not that I'm not pleased to meet you, but is there any particular reason you're here?"
"Oh, yes, Sir," Dobby said, though it looked like he had some difficulties. "Dobby has come to tell you, Sir ... it is difficult, Sir ... Dobby wonders where to begin..."
Remus recognized the signs. "You have trouble spelling it out because of the enchantment that binds you to the family you serve, right?" Seeing the elf nod weakly, Remus sighed. "Everyone deserves a good treatment, regardless what species they are..."
Suddenly Dobby did burst into tears. "Dobby as an equal? Oh, never before has Dobby been treated as such!"
Everyone was taken aback by the emotional outburst from the elf. "You can't have met many decent wizards," Harry realized, suddenly having a bad feeling of Dobby's situation.
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head against the wall, shouting "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
"Stop - what are you doing?!" Harry gasped, looking horrified at this sudden display of self-harm.
"Dobby had to punish himself, Sir," the elf said, having gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, Sir..."
There was a loud gasp and they saw that Hermione had paled. "You mean they force you to hurt yourself?! Do they even know you are here?"
Dobby shuddered. "Oh, no... Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming here. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew..."
Hermione was too shocked to say something, but Harry did. "But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?"
"Dobby doubts it, Sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, Sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments..."
The silence from that statement was deafening and Remus noticed Hermione having gone even paler (which considering her tan quite remarkable). "Hemrione, Dobby clearly is an abused elf. There are families out there who treat their house-elves badly. And trust me, this is harmless compared to what the Blacks did before Sirius took over." If anything, this made Hermione pale even more.
"And there is no hope from you to get away from them? Is there anything I perhaps could do for you?" Harry asked Dobby.
"Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby... Dobby has heard of your greatness, Sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew..." Clearly Dobby was unused to such consideration.
Harry of course didn't like his fame. "Please, I'm not that great... I'm a normal student."
"Harry Potter is humble and modest," Dobby said reverently, his orblike eyes aglow. "Harry Potter speaks not of his triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named..." Dobby fell silent for a moment. "Dobby heard tell, that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago... that Harry Potter escaped yet again."
Harry was taken aback by the sudden praise from the elf, wondering where he could have heard of that. "Where did you hear that?"
"News travels fast between house-elves. Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later... Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."
This sudden change threw everyone off, causing Sirius to ask the obvious question. "What do you mean with my godson must not return to Hogwarts?"
If anything, Dobby looked even more scared. "Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger. There is a plot. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Dobby has known it for some time, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, Sir!"
"Mortal danger?" Harry was taken aback. After the previous year, he only wanted a quiet school year, and now this got dumped at his feet. "What terrible things? Who's plotting them?"
Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.
"Stop it!" Harry, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him.
"He can't tell you," Sirius told Harry, knowing exactly what this behavior was about. "His family put restrictions on him, which are forcing him to act like this. It's already a wonder that he's able to come here to warn you."
"You can't tell me... I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck Harry. "Hang on - this hasn't got anything to do with Vol- - sorry - with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod," he added hastily as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.
Slowly, Dobby shook his head, his eyes wide as if wanting to give Harry a hint. "Not -not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Sir-"
Harry looked the adult wizards in the room but neither Remus nor Sirius could make sense of the wording of that statement or Dobby's strange behavior. Harry finally shook his head. "Sorry, Dobby, but I have so many that look out for me, that I'm sure I'm not in danger."
Dobby looked disappointed. "Oh no, not another failure!"
The wording suddenly made Harry remember. "Wait a minute... Another failure? Dobby, did you hold back my mail and write that bogus letter claiming I'm withdrawn from the school?"
"Dobby has to try! Dobby has to try to keep Harry Potter safe!" It looked like Dobby was getting desperate again and strangely determined. "Dobby will make sure that Harry Potter stays safe, if he wants or not!"
Dobby suddenly vanished with a -pop-, but not before Harry's birthday cake all of a sudden began to hover above the table. Seeing the immediate danger of what could happen to the cake should the enchantment suddenly break, Remus whipped out his wand and used a spell to to carefully lower it back onto the table. Crisis averted, everyone wondered what that was supposed to accomplish.
"Sirius!" Diane finally called while looking at their very confused children she was holding by the hands. "Don't stand around there! Help me to explain to our children what has happened!"
"Daddy, what happened?" Steve asked.
"Who was that funny little man?" Kathleen added, eyes still wide in wonder.
Diane looked outright ready to simply faint and let him do all the work. "I will not explain that one to them on my own."
Sirius knew that this had happened way earlier than anticipated. "I'm coming, Diane!" He looked to Thomas and Veronica. "Sorry, but you explain this to your son."
Veronica sighed when seeing how excited Mark was about all of that. "We just wanted to celebrate Harry's birthday..."
"Mum, Dad, where did he go? What happened? Why could Remus float the cake back down?" Mark asked, questions coming like out of a machine gun.
"Oh, this is a wonderful mess..."Remus sighed, then looked to Harry and his friends. "I guess none of you expected something like this to happen, do you?"
"No, certainly not," Harry said, looking quite agitated. "Please don't tell me something nasty will happen at school, again!"
"Harry has little luck with such things, it seems," Luna finally observed. "Could it be that someone cursed him to have really bad luck? I've heard something like that is possible. Or maybe something has attached itself to him to cause it."
"I hope not!" Harry gasped.
Despite the serious atmosphere, Neville couldn't help but to look amused. "Luna, where do you get all these ideas? Nothing against what you believe in, but some of it sounds a bit far-fetched even for magic."
"Oh, I always speak my mind, as I believe there are no wrong thoughts. It also is nice that you respect what I believe in," Luna said earnestly.
Ron and Ginny meanwhile saw that Hermione was strangely quiet. "Hermione, is something wrong?" Ginny asked carefully.
That finally seemed to shake the girl out of her thoughts. "Are... are all elves treated so horribly like Dobby?"
They were a bit taken aback by the question. Ron then shook his head. "No idea. We always had been too poor to have some of our own and we never wasted a thought about that. Ask Neville. Remember, his family employs two. Or better, ask Remus, he seems to know such stuff."
"You better believe I will..." Hermione stopped when seeing an owl fly in through the open garden doors. "What now?"
The owl dropped a letter at Harry's feet and left again. Harry opened it, then read through it and frowned, looking quite annoyed and then angry. Wordlessly, he gave the letter to Remus, who read it and frowned as well, then Remus gave it to Sirius.
"Sirius, read it aloud. We all want to hear what this is about!" Diane told her husband, feeling annoyed at this silent. game.
Sirius knew this was not a suggestion. "Oh yes. It's from the Ministry. Just listen..."
Dear Mr. Potter,
We have received intelligence that a Levitation Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past eight. As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).
We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.
Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,
Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office
Ministry of Magic
"How can they accuse Harry of doing magic with so many of you present?" Thomas hissed in anger, then looked to Remus. "Remus, how do they even detect that? I thought no one at the Ministry has any idea where Harry lives!"
Remus shook his head. "They really have no idea where Harry lives. The trace is ancient magic and it doesn't work with things like addresses. In Harry's case they probably didn't even bother with checking the trace itself but just the impression on the area he normally is in - which again gives no indication where it actually is, apart from saying if it's a magical house or not. Oh, and of course the trace itself is useless in a magical environment, as that confuses it."
"Ah, so yet another reason why children from magical families can cast spells as they please at home," Veronica concluded, wondering what was worse, the Ministry observing children or them them being so bad at it.
"Can they actually detect elf magic?" Diane asked, having asked her husband many things about magic over the years, thus she didn't feel awkward asking about it.
"I don't think so. It more than likely was my counterspell they detected. Dobby seemed to have aimed for me or Sirius to react," Remus concluded.
"So Dobby thinks he can get me expelled by doing that now?" Harry asked, wondering what this elf was thinking.
"It's that Ministry who are really lazy. Just accusing our boy without even checking the facts," Thomas grumbled. "We can't let this stand."
...the next day, Ministry of Magic...
Harry still thought about the awkward birthday party the previous day. After Dobby's revelations and the subsequent letter from the Ministry, the mood had not recovered and despite him being glad that he got forewarned about a possible threat, Harry was bummed that it had soured his birthday.
Hermione had actually questioned Remus and Neville intensively about house-elves and they had barely stopped her from going on some kind of crusade without knowing all of the facts. Indeed, Remus had even told her that elves were like people in that everyone is different. He'd also advised her that self-righteously standing on a soapbox wouldn't accomplish anything. She would have to fight this from inside the system once she was old enough with more influence.
The sheer determination Hermione showed when promising she would do so had actually been a bit scary.
After the party, the adults had spoken about the whole situation - something he as the one impacted thankfully was being present for. They had agreed that while Dobby's warning should be taken seriously, they right now had no idea what that cryptic warning could have been about. So they had decided to just be vigilant and tell the Headmaster of this strange encounter, hoping it could shed some light onto this matter.
Of course there still was the matter of the Ministry, something everyone agreed had to be addressed as soon as possible.
"Really strange. It's been quite some time since the last time I've been here, but nothing has changed," Sirius said while looking around.
"Well, I for my part find the decor deplorable. Just look at that tasteless fountain," Thomas added, pointing at the fountain in question.
Harry had expected Sirius to escort him into the Ministry, but for Thomas to come along was unexpected. Of course he had then explained that he would be at Harry's side after he'd been wronged by lazy officials. The entrance to the Ministry also had been an adventure in itself, since it was located in a telephone booth of all things. The ride downstairs had been a bit unpleasant, but now they stood in the atrium of the Ministry and had a prime look at the centerpiece of it.
A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. The last three were all looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. Glittering jets of water were flying from the ends of the two wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and each of the house-elf's ears, so that the tinkling hiss of falling water was added to the background noise.
"Yes, that thing really pulls everything down," Harry agreed. The fountain reminded him of his history lessons about colonialism.
They quickly made their way to the security desk, where a man was busy with reading the Daily Prophet and didn't bother to look up. "Yes?" the guard asked while continuing his reading.
"Sirius Black with two guests!" Sirius said forcefully, not liking the man ignoring him like that.
"Argh!" the guard gasped, dropping the newspaper. Looking first at Sirius and then at the ring on his finger, which was proof of him being the Head of House Black, the man now looked ready to faint in terror at his faux-pas. "Sir! How can I help you today?"
Looks like putting on the damn ring already paid off, Sirius mused in thoughts, before speaking up. "We need to go to the Improper Use of Magic Office to clean up a... misunderstanding concerning my godson. Make sure that they know of our arrival."
"Yes, Sir! I will inform them right away!" The guard had become even paler when realizing that not only was Sirius Black standing before him, but Harry Potter as well! He didn't even bother with checking them, just allowed them to enter without any further trouble.
"Impressive how cooperative they become as soon as they realize they are messing with the wrong man," Thomas mused while they walked to the lifts.
"I'm actually concerned they do that. Shouldn't the government treat all its subjects the same?" Harry asked while they all entered the lift.
"Oh, it should. Sadly, the magical government has went through a long time of rot. At least we can use that rot to fix their incompetence which got you an entry in your file," Sirius agreed, while selecting the correct floor.
After reaching the correct level, they walked down a corridor. Thomas and Harry were surprised to see how much all of it looked like ordinary offices, apart from the fact that seemingly everything was being written by hand and the decor looked like it came straight from the late 19th century. Question however was, why there were paper aeroplanes flying between the various offices?
"I heard of those from Arthur when he told me some stories," Sirius remarked when seeing them look at the strange sight. "That's how they exchange memos, since using owls in the building would leave a huge mess."
"I don't try to imagine that," Thomas remarked, being very glad Hedwig always made sure to either do that outside or in her cage.
Finally reaching the correct office, they saw they were already expected by a highly nervous-looking woman.
"Mr. Black... when we were told you would come to our office..." Clearly she was not used to someone this high on the foodchain to come to them in person.
"You may dispense with the pleasantries. I am personally here to ask why my godson was sent a warning when it was my friend, an adult wizard, who did so. It makes me wonder if the trace on my godson was even checked before someone decided to be the first to take action..."
"Wow, I've never seen Uncle Sirius like that..." Harry said in awe when seeing his godfather effortlessly push his point.
"Well, you have to remember the circumstances of his upbringing. While he really dislikes to use what his parents forced into his head, at times he simply has to," Thomas reminded Harry, then saw Sirius giving him a sign.
"Eh... you are Mr. Potter's guardian...?" The woman by now sounded like she was ready to crawl under her bed.
"Yes, I'm Thomas Evans. I was present when the incident happened, and witnessed that Harry was not the one casting the spell," Thomas started. As agreed, they would leave Dobby out of the whole thing.
Half an hour later saw all of them back in the car, Thomas driving them back to Little Whinging.
"Someone clearly must have talked, I can't explain it otherwise," Sirius grumbled due to their latest headache.
"Oh, I think we got away from from easy enough after you warned them what would happen otherwise," Thomas remarked.
It had not been very difficult to get Harry's record cleared of the wrongful entry. No, the real difficulty had been to get back outside when a mob of reporters had waited for the in the atrium, clearly someone had talked about their presence, wanting a piece of Sirius Black and especially Harry Potter. Sirius had been forced to threaten them with turning them into sewer rats, before they finally had managed to get back to the surface and made a run for the car to get away before they could be followed.
"Well, it was surprisingly easy to get that out of my file," Harry remarked, still impressed.
"It's with such paper-pushers the same as it is with bullies. Always stay firm and never give them an inch, then they'll cave quickly," Sirius remarked. "Though me being important certainly helped. Damn, I hate throwing my name around like that. Reminds me too much of my old man."
"Well, Sirius, there is a difference. According to you, your father simply used it to get his way all the time. You on the other hand only use it sparingly, and then only to do the right things," Thomas commented from the driver's seat while taking the correct road to the motorway M3 to Surrey.
"Well, all right." Sirius then seemed to remember something. "Ah yes, before I forget it..." Reaching into his pocket, Sirius pulled out a hand-held mirror. "I wanted to give this to you yesterday, but with all the chaos, I completely forgot."
"What is this for?" Harry asked, wondering if his godfather wanted to improve his vanity.
"That's a communication mirror. I have the matching mirror. Your father and me used these to stay in contact all the time after we created them, which had not been easy. It certainly is faster and more direct than sending a letter, and considering yesterday it's always good to have an emergency line to me," Sirius explained.
"So it's like a magic version of one of these fancy mobile phones?" Harry asked, having seen those quite a few times in the hands of some parents in primary school.
"Yes, but don't see it as an invitation to misuse it. I did and your father had not been happy with me at all," Sirius reminded Harry.
Imagining the mirror ringing in Sirius' pocket while he was at the police station, Harry promised to be careful with it.
...Diagon Alley, August 15th...
It again was time for school supplies shopping. The Grangers had arrived first at the Leaky Cauldron and it took only a short wait before the Evans arrived together with Harry and Sirius. It had been agreed that the others - those with easy access to magical travel - would wait for them in the Alley itself. It was the first shopping trip the children would do together.
"I guess today won't be nearly as bad as the first time. After all, we this time know where to find everything," Ian Granger said while they walked to the entrance to Diagon Alley.
"As if!" Harry laughed. "Ron and Ginny told me how their school shopping trips usually are like. Trust me, with so many Weasleys present, things are bound to get interesting."
"I hope not!" Hermione gasped. "We already get enough excitement. I want this to be a simple shopping trip."
"How again did you convince Mark to stay with Diane this time? I mean, he was very eager to see Diagon Alley, now that he knows," Remus asked, having waited for them at the entrance.
"Oh, I did promise him to instead take him along for when Harry leaves. Seeing the Hogwarts Express sounded like a good consolation prize for him," Veronica explained.
"It already was difficult enough to explain everything to him and why we kept it secret from him. Now he can't stop talking about it at home and I think he did read Harry's schoolbooks more than Harry himself did," Thomas remarked on the change in their son. "Hogwarts beware once he arrives."
"You think you had it difficult? Diane and me, we had it worse with the twins. Steve and Kathleen are only three years old and incapable of lying, so we had to make it sort of a game to make sure," Sirius added. "Diane still wants to pull Dobby's ears from one side of the United Kingdom to the other for doing this to us."
Entering the Alley itself, they were right away greeted by the others. The entire Weasley family - minus Bill and Charlie - was present, as were Luna and Neville. Luna's parents knew the Weasleys well and thus entrusted their daughter to them for this trip they couldn't make for themselves, while the Longbottoms had taken same convincing. With enough adults present however, they did agree that they didn't need to accompany Neville or give him extra security.
"Ah, we have been waiting for all of you. Looks like we are complete now!" Molly called.
"So, how do we do this best? Should we go to the bank first?" Ian asked.
"Considering that many of the shops only accept cash for school supplies..." Thomas honestly had never understood that, but perhaps more convenient forms of payment were only available to richer or bigger customers.
"That would be for the best. We then should split for the time being, so that we don't crowd a shop. We'll meet in front of the bank in an hour to go and do the book shopping at Flourish and Blotts, which doubtlessly will be the most exhausting thing to do," Arthur Weasley agreed, having lots of experience in shopping for school supplies considering the big family.
"Mum, Dad, remember I'm going to buy my own owl once I got the money," Ron reminded his parents.
"Don't worry, you told us often enough," his mother said, showing her approval. "Perhaps you'll write us more once you have your own owl."
And thus after getting money, they did split, though each group was still under adult supervision.
Harry, Ron and Hermione ended up in one group escorted by Arthur, Thomas and Jean, mainly because all of them needed to visit the pet shop for various reasons. They first got the other things on the list, causing Arthur to comment that Ron was growing like a weed that he needed completely new uniforms. They had just finished buying everything and wanted to go to the pet shop, when they noticed someone leaving a side alley. Someone impossible to overlook.
"Oh, hello Hagrid!" Harry called.
"Ah, out for school supplies shopping, aren't you?" Hagrid greeted them, seeing the bags with supplies they were carrying.
"Yes, though it's not as much as last year." Ron then gave Hagrid an interested look. "Not that we aren't happy to see you, but strange to meet you here."
"Oh, it's because I have a pest problem. Damn flesh-eating slugs are ruining the cabbages I grow for the school," Hagrid explained, then pointed to the side alley he had come from. "Tried everything, but now I have to resort to the strong stuff. Sadly, I can only get that exotic stuff in Knockturn Alley."
"What is Knockturn Alley?" Hermione asked, though the entrance alone looked a bit unpleasant.
"It's a place where lots of shady business is done," Arthur explained, having experience with the place due to his job. "Lots of criminal business and a wall of silence. The Ministry has been trying for years to dry out that swamp. Never go in there, got it?"
I remember Fred and George trying to do that when shopping for their second-year supplies. Boy, did Mum make sure they would not try again... But who am I kidding? They of course will try again, Ron thought.
"Well, it does have a look that screams: 'stay out!', so hopefully none of you ever gets any stupid ideas," Thomas remarked, knowing it would be akin to entering some place called 'crime alley'.
Jean looked to Hermione. "At least I know you are smart enough to never enter such a place."
"Well, I'll need to buy some other stuff as well. See you later," Hagrid then excused himself and left.
With Hagrid leaving, they did move to the pet shop. Hermione want a toy for Crookshanks to keep him entertained, while Harry wanted to buy some special treats for Hedwig. Ron of course wanted to buy his own owl.
"I hope whatever owl I get will get along better with Errol and Hermes than Trigon does. That owl seems highly offended that he's not the only owl in the house," Ron remarked while looking at the various owls in cages. "Man, selecting an owl is more difficult than I thought."
"Don't look at me. It were Sirius and Hagrid that got Hedwig for me," Harry reminded his friend.
"Well, Ron, you surely want an owl that fits to your character. Just look around," Arthur suggested.
Ron did that and at first no owl caught his eye... until he got to one cage that seemed to hold a hyper-active feather ball. Closer inspection revealed a scops owl - a breed that was quite a bit smaller than normal owls - which also only seemed to have reached maturity recently. That owl's defining trait was, that it seemed to burst with energy. The owl then stopped and gave him an interested look.
"Ah, young man, so this one caught your interest? Not many would want him considering his seemingly limitless energy and that his breed is smaller than normal post owls," the clerk told Ron when seeing his interest.
Ron did give the owl another look. "How much?"
Ron would leave the shop as the proud owner of a scops owl.
While that happened, another group consisting of Ginny, Luna and Neville, escorted by Remus, Veronica and Ian, was in the clothing store, where they were buying their new uniforms due to having outgrown their old ones. While Neville was being busy with getting new uniforms, the girls, having already made their selection, did some gossiping.
"Percy's behavior over the summer was quite strange. He's always sending letters with Hermes and didn't lord around that he got twelve OWLs by even doing exams for subjects he doesn't attend lessons for," Ginny whispered to Luna.
"You didn't make the connection, Ginny?" Luna asked, then saw her friend's confusion. "Remember that Percy talked a lot with that female Ravenclaw Prefect. It's clear he is writing to her."
"Ohhh... We saw it before but that confirms it. Percy's got a girlfriend. Let's better keep silent about that. I have no wish for Percy to get angry should someone tease him about it. He's been quite pleasant this summer after all," Ginny decided.
"Yes, that would be unfortunate. Fred and George would not show such consideration." Luna pushed her glasses up her nose, a habit that showed she was thinking about something. "We should however make sure these two don't end up under mistletoe. I've heard it can be infected with Nargles."
Thankfully, Ginny got distracted before she would have been forced to hold down her laughter.
"I'm done. Though... what's so interesting that you two whisper the entire time?" Neville asked, being done with buying new school uniforms.
"Oh, only girl talk. Nothing that would interest you," Ginny said quickly.
"Eh, what...?" Neville wondered, before noticing Remus standing beside him.
"Trust me, when girls say that, we men would do well to stay out of it. It means what they talk about will either be incredibly boring to us, or outright embarrassing," Remus explained to Neville.
"Are you kidding me?" Neville asked.
Veronica decided to take pity on him. As a woman she knew there were some things men didn't really want to know, and it was time to make that clear to Neville. "Just look at them and tell us honestly: do you really want to know what they are talking about right now?"
Neville again looked over to Ginny and Luna and heard his name several time, with Luna looking a bit more dreamy than normal. Nothing out of the ordinary, but now... "Eh, maybe I do understand what this is about."
Why must girls be so weird? Neville wondered while they left the shop.
"For the last time! There is nothing wrong about reading poetry!" That was Percy arguing with the twins while they walked to the clothing store.
"But you have to admit Perce..." George started.
"...that is quite out of character for you," Fred finished with a grin.
"Honestly, it's none of your concern what I do in my leisure time," Percy finally said, clearly not wanting to talk any longer about it. He did not want them to know why exactly he was reading poetry, since otherwise they would pester poor Penny.
"Boys, respect your brother's privacy!" Molly scolded the twins. "After all, he doesn't ask about whatever you do in your room. Though I soon will, if that ruckus continues!" Molly then noticed the other group. "Ah, you are done with the uniforms?"
"Yes, though poor Neville just learned that men don't want to know what girl talk entails," Ian said, looking a bit amused. "I guess you two managed to keep the terror twins on task?"
"Yes, though for some reason they did see fit to buy a box of Dr. Filibuster's fireworks with their own money," Sirius said, then saw the twins being distracted. "To be honest, they were giving me strange looks, but I have no idea what in all names this could be about."
"Who knows what goes on in their heads?" Molly said, clearly having given up to understand where Fred and George got their strange ideas from.
Finally, all the shopping was done and they met in front of the bank and decided to first get some rest and some ice cream, before they would move to the bookshop together.
"Oh, this is a really cute owl, Ron!" Ginny said when looking at Ron's new owl while they were all enjoying some ice cream at Florean Fortescue's. "What is he named?"
Ron, busy with his ice cream, shrugged. "Oh, he doesn't have a name yet and I haven't thought of one. You got any good ideas for a name?"
Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment. "Ah, I got it! What about the name Pigwidgeon? That's a really great name!"
Suddenly the owl, who had listened to the exchange, became very animated, loudly proclaiming his agreement with that name. Ron looked in horror at what had just happened. "Oh no! Ginny, what have you done?!"
"Bad luck, mate," Neville commented when seeing Ron trying to quickly find a different name. "You think he will be successful?" he then asked Luna.
Luna looked up from her ice cream, something she like many girls had a weakness for. "Owls can be very stubborn once their mind is set on something. That's how they make us humans do things. So no, he won't have any success."
Almost half an hour later - and many fruitless attempts from Ron to rename his owl, for which he gave Ginny a very annoyed look - they walked to the bookshop, but stopped when seeing the large crowd getting into the shop. They at first wondered if there was a special book sale, but then saw the big banner hanging 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. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"
"Damn, I wish I could have told you with this..." Remus then pulled out the list of things for second year students. "You've all read the book list?"
"Yes, and I find it bit strange why besides the second year defense book, the children are also supposed to buy all these books from that Gilderoy Lockhart man... who judging by that banner must be some kind of celebrity. The titles sound more like a mixture between adventure books and a self-adulating biography," Jean remarked, having scratched her head at the strange book list.
"Mum, I told you who he is!" Hermione whined.
"Hermione, while you are quite mature for your age, your description of him sounded more like a teenage crush on a famous singer," Jean reminded her daughter. Hermione blushed while the boys barely managed not to laugh.
"Lockhart? Wasn't he that mediocre Ravenclaw several years behind us? I remember him being full of himself, but that's it. I'm not exactly in the habit of following the wizarding yellow press, you know," Sirius reminded his friend.
"Really, you... I..." Molly gasped, trying to find words to defend that Lockhart person.
"Mum admires him and bought all of his books," Ron whispered to Harry. "Despite never having met the man, Dad can't stand him for that fact alone."
Remus decided to explain. "Gilderoy Lockhart is a very illustrious person. Claims to have traveled the world extensively and having done great feats while doing so. He wrote a number of books about that and is making a fortune with those. However, while certainly entertaining to read, if you ignore his rampant narcissism, these books are useless for school and even quite suspect."
"Why... eh ... why do you think so?" Hermione asked carefully, unused to Remus speaking so harshly about someone.
"Because I was contacted by Dumbledore. The disaster with Quirrell caused the recruitment pool for Defense professors to dry up, since no one is now insane enough to do the job. There was exactly one applicant, so Dumbledore was forced to pick him. Take a guess who will be your Defense professor," Remus said, looking disgusted.
No one answered, since the answer was pretty obvious. "Dumbledore asked me to take a look at these books. There's definitely something not right. While most of the feats are realistic, they are from such different specialized fields of magic that it's doubtful Lockhart has done all of them. Not to speak of the fact that numerous times the timeline is plain absurd and he would have been at two or even three places at the same time. Oh, and then there are things that are so clearly fiction it's painfully obvious. I saw that when reading his supposed encounter with a werewolf."
Everyone present by now knew of Remus' condition, so no one blinked an eye that he was especially sour on falsehoods about werewolves. "He honestly claims to have bodyslammed a werewolf, held him down with one hand and then used a spell to 'zap' him back to human form."
"That has to be a lie, and I should know, because I saw a real werewolf many times. The wolf would have ripped Lockhart into tiny pieces and there's nothing that can artificially reverse the transformation during the night," Sirius remarked, for obvious reasons knowing more about werewolves than most other people.
"Perhaps Mr. Lockhart should have hired a better ghostwriter. That, or he must have used a bad dicta-quill," Luna observed calmly. "Truly a pity; I wanted to ask him some questions about his encounters."
"So, don't buy his books, as you won't learn anything from them. The one set I have can be used by all of you if needed. That saves money," Remus concluded.
Molly and Hermione were quite subdued when the group entered the bookshop.
They did manage to buy their books and tried to avoid the circus going on with Lockhart's book signing, but sadly, that was not to be when they tried to get to the checkout area.
"It can't be Harry Potter?"
Looking up, they saw someone approach. The man - who clearly had to be Lockhart - looked like he would have been more at home in Las Vegas. Besides his wavy blond hair and blue eyes, his teeth looked so shiny it looked like there are reflections on them. His robes were a blinding shade of forget-me-not blue and he was wearing a pointed wizard's hat at a jaunty angle. Several of the adults had the same thought, then felt it was an unfair comparison, since Siegfried and Roy would never dress so ridiculously.
The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm, and tried to pull him to the front. Emphasis on 'tried', since a sudden stinging hex made him let go and he was confronted with a very displeased-looking Sirius pointing his wand at him.
"Hands off my godson," Sirius told Lockhart under no condition.
Lockhart was not stupid enough to anger a Black, but quickly regained his cool. "Oh, that is all just a big misunderstanding! I wanted to welcome Harry Potter personally. It after all is not often that two such prominent people meet!"
Is he for real?! Harry wondered.
"I can think of no better time than this extraordinary meeting to reveal my little announcement I've been sitting on for some time." If anything, Lockhart's teeth seemed to shine even more. "Harry here 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 suddenly a stack of books landed in Harry's hands, which he barely managed to catch while several flashbulbs from press photographers went off. "And to show how much I value young Harry here, he gets my collected works free of charge. Hold on them Harry, they are all signed and valuable collector's items!"
Finally the adults had enough of that farce and quickly pushed their way to the checkout area, while Harry quickly dumped Lockhart's books into a shopping bag. "Was he for real? Well, at least we don't have to pay for those, even if they're useless."
"Bet you liked that, didn't you, Potter? Famous Harry Potter can't even enter the store without making the front page"
That was a very unwelcome voice they sadly knew all too well. Looking to their left, they of course spotted Draco Malfoy. However, he was not alone. Harry and Hermione did recognize the rude woman that was Draco's mother. The man at her side could only be Draco's father, considering how much Draco looked like him. The Malfoys didn't look thrilled to see them, either, judging by their expressions.
"So what, Malfoy?! Looks more like you are jealous that you don't get enough attention!" Ginny shot back, feeling the need to defend Harry.
Malfoy looked offended. "Potter, keep your Weasel girlfriend on a leash. I don't want to catch whatever she has. And I have no reason to be jealous!"
"Don't say that about my sister!" Ron growled.
"Seriously, Lucius, is that the good manners you are teaching your son?" Sirius finally said. "And Narcissa. Don't look at me like I'm Satan. I've had good reasons for cutting you out."
"Sirius Black..." Mr. Malfoy said with barely held back anger, while his wife kept quiet. "You are a disgrace for magical society, surrounding yourself with Muggles and the Weasleys, who have sunk so low."
Draco fell silent when realizing that man was Sirius Black. This was the first time he actually met the man, and truth to be told, the man had an aura of strength that intimidated him. Despite how how much he disliked Potter and his friends, he certainly wouldn't dare to go directly against that man. Draco felt like Black could eat him raw for breakfast.
"Our ideas of what good company is certainly differ." Sirius was no idiot and even after so many years, he did remember the lesson that had literally been beaten into him. "After all, your idea of good company are people with memory problems."
It was pretty obvious what Sirius was playing at when seeing the faces of the elder Malfoys sour.
Ron meanwhile was not done with Draco. "Hey, Malfoy! You have have no right to make fun of Harry being friends with my sister! After all, you always hang out with that Parkinson girl!"
Draco became red, probably from equal parts embarrassment and anger. "Draco..." That was Draco's mother. It was pretty obvious Draco had neglected to tell his parents how often Pansy was around him.
Ron however now was on a roll. "Oh yes, considering how she's always where you are, it makes me wonder if you have to compensate for the two numbskulls that always hang out with you."
"Bastard!" Draco screamed, then suddenly attacked Ron.
"Draco!" Mrs. Malfoy screamed in mortification at her son acting like a common thug.
"Get him Ron, get him!" Neville cheered on Ron, making no secret of his dislike of Draco.
It was complete chaos, everyone dropped their shopping bags and shouted over each other to stop this, resulting in no one really noticing what else was going on outside of the two boys now laying into each other. However, Draco had made a critical mistake in that Ron was quite a bit bigger and bulkier for someone their age, so the fight didn't go well for him. Ron had just managed to give Draco a black eye when their respective fathers finally managed to pull them apart.
"So that is how the great Malfoys react when they are not getting their way!" Arthur growled, before they left the Malfoys - who in turn left the shop - and everyone finally got to paying for their purchases.
"Wow, Ron, you really handled him!" George told his brother, being very impressed.
"Yes, this is quite the shiner you've given him," Neville agreed.
"Children, this is nothing to be proud of!" Molly told them, but knew she he no ground to scold Ron. After all, it was Draco who had attacked Ron.
"Ginny, where are you?" Percy called, wondering where his sister was.
"I'm here!" Ginny called, running to them with her shopping bag looking like she'd thrown things back in. "Someone had stumbled over my shopping bag and both our books spilled out. She was being busy with getting her books back into her own bag and I had to get mine. Man, I hope my books are okay. Both our books landed in a big pile after all." In the chaos, Ginny had paid no mind to whoever that had been.
"Let's pay for your books and leave. Mum certainly thinks this has been enough excitement," Percy told her.
With the Malfoys meanwhile, Narcissa was busy with scolding her son. "Draco, really?! That was not how the heir of a noble pure-blood house should act. Keeping that black eye for a few more hours should teach you not to act like a common thug. Also, what is that about the Parkinson girl? You know her family are nouveau riche."
"You can't tell me who I can be friends with!" Draco said defiantly, deciding to be rebellious about it. Pansy after all, despite some of her faults, had turned out to be a good friend to him.
Being as busy as both of them were with their argument, they hadn't noticed that Lucius looked quite pleased with something.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"Return With Obstacles"
Notes:
Here the notes.
As you can see, Dobby being up to his old tricks from canon does not exactly work out for this Harry. He simply calls Hermione over the phone concerning the missing mail and Sirius quickly corrects the false mark in his file. Additionally, I had him try something new, but that one also failed for the reasons stated.
We get an idea what Dudley's home life is now. Not exactly something to look forward to, eh? Though do note the difference between Petunia and Vernon. Of course without Dobby interfering, Vernon did get his deal.
I did not want a copy of the canon Diagon Alley scene, so I mixed up things considerably. Ron does get his trusted owl Pig - and Ginny again sets the name. Note Percy's reading material.
The Lockhart scene is considerably different. Though, Lockhart's dialogue is difficult enough to write that I did lift some of the things he says from the book. The confrontation with the Malfoys also is quite different.
Also... ?