I'm back with Chapter 63... Enjoy!
Ron waited with bated breath. The few seconds of wait felt like an age. And then she arrived.
Daisy was about to fall, face forward, onto the cold hard stone. But, Ron caught her before any of that could happen. As Daisy steadied herself, Ron looked at her cautiously.
"That..." began Daisy and coughed a little. "That was awesome..." she gleamed excitedly. And Ron sighed in relief.
"Let's take a minute... Floo travel can be disorienting sometimes," said Ron.
"Where are we?" asked Daisy, looking around. It looked like a pub, a really old one at that.
"Welcome to Leaky Cauldron," whispered Ron.
"Leaky Cauldron?" chuckled Daisy. "You brought me to a pub, Weasley? Too soon for that, don't you think?" she added cheekily. Ron blushed a little in response.
"Let's go... I want to show you something," remarked Ron.
Leaky Cauldron was much less crowded that late afternoon as the couple made their way out of it, onto the street. After walking a fair bit, Ron came to a halt and so did Daisy beside him.
"Turn around," he said and turned around. Daisy did the same, curiously, and glanced at Ron. "Now look where we came from," he added.
Daisy looked in the direction Ron was pointing to, but all she could see was a broken-down old shop.
"What? I don't get it..." remarked Daisy, confused. "Where is Leaky Cauldron?" she asked.
Ron gave a chuckle and pointed at the broken-down old shop. "There it is," he replied.
"But that looks nothing like..." remarked Daisy and paused. Her eyes lit up and Ron smiled wide.
"Let's go back in," he remarked.
This time, Daisy cautiously walked beside Ron, towards the broken-down old shop. And sure enough, once they walked in, the pub suddenly looked like a pub.
"Woah..." exclaimed Daisy. "It's bigger on the inside," she added, in awe. "What magic is this, Weasley? How... I don't believe this," she remarked, speechless.
"We are just getting started..." retorted Ron with a big smile.
The couple spent a bit of time at the Leaky Cauldron and quickly made their way into Diagon Alley.
Daisy was in Candyland. The number of hours, days, weeks and months she had spent thinking about the magical world were all getting its worth in return in these few hours of experience with Ron. There was magic everywhere. If her experience were made into a movie, there would be magic in every frame.
Ron and Daisy wade through Diagon Alley's shops. Ron's anxiety about whether Daisy would like such a date, just walking through one of the most commonly visited wizarding locations in the country subsided pretty quickly. As it turned out, Daisy's fascination with the wizarding world was just like Ron's fascination with the muggle world.
What Ron felt the most heart-warming was that Daisy found every single minute thing fascinating. Be it the different quills at Amanuensis.
"You can not cheat if you write with this? How does that even work?" remarked Daisy, looking at an anti-cheating quill. "Multi-coloured ink? Changes to whatever colour the writer wants..." And then there were the different feathered quills.
"This looks gorgeous, doesn't it?" remarked Daisy taking a handsome scarlet quill from the display. Ron nodded along in response.
And then there were places like Gringotts that the couple didn't go into, but just admired from the outside.
"Run by goblins... Harry has told me about it," remarked Daisy.
The couple were making their way towards Flourish and Blotts when they came across someone.
"Ron... fancy seeing you here... Here to buy your books? And who's this young lady?" remarked Hagrid, the moment he saw Ron.
"Oh my God..." gasped Daisy at the sight of Hagrid. "Ron... who... is this?" she asked.
"Hagrid," exclaimed Ron. "I am just... we are just here to roam around... get some ice cream at Florean," he added. He was not comfortable meeting anybody from Hogwarts at the moment, while he was with Daisy. That would take some explaining for sure.
"Oh, Hagrid? This is Hagrid," thought Daisy to herself. Harry had told her about him.
"I'm just here for some Hogwarts business, you know?" retorted Hagrid.
"This is Daisy... my... my uh... cousin... she has come from far away," replied Ron as he noticed Hagrid staring at her, curiously.
"Nice to meet you, young lady," remarked Hagrid. "Got to go... See you soon, Ron," he added.
Ron heaved a sigh of relief, the moment Hagrid left.
"You are taking your cousin on a date? That's scandalous, Weasley," remarked Daisy with a chuckle.
"Ha ha... Not funny, Daisy... If we are seen by someone I know, we are toast..."
"I'd gladly get caught if it means a few hours spent in this place with you," retorted Daisy.
Ron came to a jerked halt and stared at Daisy.
"Yes... I said that... now, can we move along?" reacted Daisy, blushing, and walked ahead.
"I'm never letting you forget this one..." remarked Ron with a smile.
Though Daisy couldn't own any of the books from Flourish & Blotts, the visit was still worth it. The couple directly went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and grabbed ice cream for each other.
Along the streets of Diagon Alley were a variety of street peddlers. There was a flower vendor that Ron went to get something for Daisy as a joke. Some other peddlers included jewellery shops, that sold cheap fancy-looking jewellery, most of which Daisy did not understand the significance of.
"This one's interesting... what is it?" asked Daisy picking up a triangular-shaped pendant that had a circle and vertical line inscribed in it.
"She's a dangerous one, she is," remarked the shopkeeper glancing at Daisy's choice.
"What's this supposed to be?" asked Daisy, looking at Ron, who seemed to not know what it was either.
Ron spent some time buying sweets while Daisy looked through the various pieces of jewellery, though by the end she hadn't bought any.
Ron showed Daisy the wand shop, though he didn't dare enter. Ollivander had an incredible memory. Madam Malkin's Robes for all occasions and the jokes shop of Gambol and Japes were also some that the couple spent time at.
After a while, the couple found a nice spot to take a seat.
"I present to you..." exclaimed Ron and took out a box. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans," he remarked and opened up the big box.
"The what?" chuckled Daisy at the name.
"This, darling, is the most popular sweet box in all of the wizarding world," remarked Ron, proudly. "This has every possible flavoured sweet in it..." he added.
"Every possible? What all flavours are there?" asked Daisy, curiously.
"Take one to find out," retorted Ron and offered her the box.
Cautiously, Daisy took out one and stared at it. "This looks green... What is this?" she asked, slightly disgusted.
Ron shrugged and Daisy couldn't resist but find out the hard way.
"Ugh... That was horrible... was that spinach?" she remarked, disgusted, while Ron leapt into a roar of laughter, earning him a punch on the shoulder.
"My turn," exclaimed Ron and took out a pale-white-coloured sweet.
"Ah... that's heavenly... Almonds" remarked Ron making Daisy's face red.
Instantly, Daisy took out another bean from the box and to her disgust, this one turned out to be, "That's vile... what was that? Rotten egg... Ugh," she remarked spitting out immediately after a bite. Ron couldn't resist another bout of laughter.
"Oh honey..." he remarked, delighted with his choice as he bit into his next flavoured bean.
"Weasley... if I find out you're messing with me, I'll kill you... Are you doing something to these before I put them in my mouth?" she remarked, looking slightly annoyed.
"I swear I am not... You have just been unlucky," protested Ron, though he couldn't contain his laughter.
"I'm out... I'm not touching any of these anymore," retorted Daisy.
"Hold on... I'll get one for you," replied Ron and took out one for Daisy.
"I'm not putting anything in my mouth... not after the last two," retorted Daisy.
"Just one more?" pleaded Ron playfully.
After a couple of seconds, Daisy agreed and did not regret it. "Coffee... finally... something nice," she remarked sucking into the sweet.
Green apple, Orange, Ketchup, Broccoli, Watermelon, Mashed potatoes and Steak were just some of the sweets that followed, and parity came about as Ron got his fair share of disgusting flavours.
The couple spent some more time roaming around Diagon Alley. Though by this point, it had already gotten late. Ron and Daisy knew that it was time for them to leave, though neither of them wanted to say it out loud.
But eventually, it was time for them to leave.
"Uh... it's getting a bit late, isn't it?" remarked Daisy.
"Yeah... yes, I was about to say the same," retorted Ron, half-heartedly.
"Hey... I enjoyed my day a lot," remarked Daisy with a big smile. "This was an experience... like nothing else," she added and gave Ron a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"I loved spending time with you too," remarked Ron, blushing as he did.
Ron and Daisy went back to Leaky Cauldron. They were going to use the floo network to get back home.
"Be safe... see you soon," remarked Ron.
Daisy gathered herself mentally for another floo powder travel. "No 4, Privet Drive," she repeated mentally. After a few seconds, she threw the powder into the flames. With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose tall. Instantly, Daisy stepped onto the flames and shouted, "No 4, Privet Drive" and vanished. A few seconds thereafter, Ron vanished out of Leaky Cauldron as well.
Out of the shadows emerged Eldon Redwood, with a cunning smile on his face.
"Hey..." exclaimed Harry as Daisy arrived and fell to the floor with a slight thud.
"What's that noise? Dudley? Harry?" came Aunt Petunia's voice from another room. And a couple of seconds later, she barged into the living room.
"Oh, Daisy dear... that was you," she remarked as she saw Daisy.
"Hi, Aunt Petunia..." greeted Daisy calmly.
"How was your evening, dear?" she asked.
"It was fun," replied Daisy, calmly. Harry stared at her as if something was wrong. "I am going upstairs to get changed from this... I need to go home to Olivia and Jacob before they start worrying about me," she said.
"Yes, yes you should..." reiterated Aunt Petunia. "Do you want me to phone them that you're back?" she asked.
"No, Aunt Petunia, it's alright," replied Daisy. "HP... Will you come with me upstairs?" she asked glancing at Harry. There was a look on her face that he couldn't quite decipher.
"Yeah, sure," he replied and the pair made their way up to Harry's room. The moment they were out of earshot, Harry spoke up, "Hey... what happened?" he asked, with a mix of worry and confusion. Daisy shushed him quietly and closed the door to Harry's room.
"What..." began Harry once again, but this time he got interrupted by a suddenly over-excited Daisy.
"HP... HP... HP... I don't know what to do... This is too much... Today was so good... Oh my God... Diagon Alley was so magical... I can't believe it... It was like a dream," she exclaimed jumping up and down, with a big smile on her face. Harry gave a chuckle in response.
"That good, huh?" he remarked.
"And more... HP... AND MORE..." retorted Daisy, her level of excitement remaining intact.
"What all did you two do?" asked Harry.
"Well... I used the floo powder and reached Leaky Cauldron... Did you know that it looks so very different from the outside than it does from the inside? How did they even do that? And then... and then we entered Diagon Alley... There was magic everywhere... Wherever I looked, somebody was doing magic, something was flying in the air... there were weird creatures talking with humans... I don't even know where to..." replied Daisy excitedly. But just when she started talking about everything the couple saw and did in Diagon Alley, she remembered something.
"Harry... I need to go home... It's getting late and I don't want to make Olivia upset," she said, changing topics.
"Right... I am coming with you, by the way... We will talk on the way over," retorted Harry.
"You don't have to... I know it's late, but I'll be on my bicycle... I'll reach home safely," replied Daisy.
"I am coming with... No questions asked," retorted Harry firmly.
"Fine... as you say... now, get out," retorted back Daisy, with a chuckle.
As the pair made their way out of 4, Privet Drive, on their bicycles, there was only one thing they talked about, and that was, the wonderful evening Daisy had just spent with Ron.
Though, neither of them failed to notice a certain someone, hiding in the shadows, watching their movement, ever so carefully.
"So, you are a muggle... And you are friends with Harry Potter," exclaimed Eldon Redwood, to himself, as he rounded off a fairly successful day.
Everybody was gathered at 12, Grimmauld Place. Everybody apart from Sirius, Remus and Albus Dumbledore of course. For they were at the Ministry of Magic, awaiting the final verdict. Notably, even Professor McGonagall was present at the Black family home, though the same couldn't be said for Severus Snape, and nobody was surprised.
The wait didn't last long.
They all heard 3 cracking sounds, presumably, the 3 of them arriving by apparition. Everyone knew the final verdict. It was a foregone conclusion, especially after Janus Keddle's death.
But hearing the news, for real was as sweet as possible.
"Sirius is officially innocent," exclaimed Remus loudly for the whole street to hear. And everyone inside 12, Grimmauld Place leapt up in joy. Cheers were all around as Sirius entered home.
"I'm so happy for you, Sirius," said McGonagall, smiling wider than anybody had seen her ever do.
"Sirius... I'm so happy right now," remarked Harry as he gave Sirius a quick hug. Though internally, he was worried. He was the only one who seemed to know that there was something fishy surrounding all of this.
Ron and Hermione proceeded to give Sirius a hug while Arthur, Molly, Percy and the Weasley twins expressed their happiness to Sirius as well. For the first time in what felt like years, there seemed to be something genuinely happy for the order to celebrate.
Later that evening, when everyone had finished their dinner, McGonagall and Dumbledore were going to leave for Hogwarts. However, before they did, both of them had something to speak about privately.
McGonagall called Harry and Hermione aside.
"Yes, Professor McGonagall," responded Harry while the pair walked over to McGonagall to a corner of the room.
"There is something I wanted to tell you both," she began as the pair watched her closely. "This will be made public in a couple of weeks when you receive your letters," she continued. "But, I wanted to let you know this personally," she added as the pair watched her, intrigued. "Miss Granger & Mr Potter... you are, hereby, prefects of house Gryffindor," she finished.
"What?" gasped Hermione, shocked, though internally she had been waiting for this, for a long time.
"Prefect?" gasped Harry, shocked. He, on the other hand, had never given it a thought.
"You may tell your families and friends, but I would like to keep this private until we announce it officially," added McGonagall. "Congratulations to both of you," she added with a gentle smile.
"Thanks, Professor," replied Harry and Hermione, together.
"I gather, Minerva has given both of you the good news," chimed in Dumbledore as he walked up to the three of them.
"Yes, Albus, I just did," replied McGonagall.
"Congratulations Harry, Hermione... you deserve this," remarked Dumbledore with a smile.
"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," replied Hermione with a big smile while Harry had a brief smile on his face as he thanked Dumbledore.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak with Harry," remarked Dumbledore taking Harry aback for a moment. McGonagall and Hermione left Dumbledore and Harry alone immediately.
"Professor?" exclaimed Harry, curiously.
"How are you doing, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, with a gentle smile.
"I'm fine, Professor," replied Harry, calmly.
"I needed a help from you," said Dumbledore.
"A help?" retorted Harry, surprised.
"Yes... We are, as you might be aware, understaffed once again. I need your help in convincing an old friend to come out of retirement," replied Dumbledore.
Harry nodded along, though he wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to do.
"I shall visit your home this Friday evening and we shall go from there," said Dumbledore.
"You are coming home? Sure... Yes, Professor," replied Harry. And with that, Dumbledore took leave.
Friday evening arrived soon enough. Harry was all set to leave with Dumbledore. Just then, the doorbell rang. Harry raced over to the door and opened it to find Albus Dumbledore, standing, waiting outside.
"Welcome, Professor," greeted Harry. As Dumbledore walked in with Harry right behind him, Aunt Petunia walked into the living room.
"Welcome home, Professor Dumbledore... please take a seat," greeted Petunia.
"Thank you, Petunia. How are you doing? How is Dudley?" asked Dumbledore with a gentle smile as he sat down.
"We are all fine, Professor," replied Petunia. Somehow, Harry hadn't quite realised that Petunia and Dumbledore knew each other from way back.
"Harry," called out Dumbledore. "I'd like you to take your wand with you... and your invisibility cloak as well," he said.
"Sure, Professor," replied Harry grabbing his things. "Invisibility cloak?" he wondered to himself. "Why would we need that?" he thought.
Once Harry was back down, "So, Harry? Shall we?" asked Dumbledore.
"Yes, Professor," replied Harry and with that, the pair left 4, Privet Drive.
Just as they got far away from the residential area, Harry spoke up.
"Professor, where are we going?" he asked.
"Harry," began Dumbledore, his expression seemed to have changed to one of remorse. "Something has happened in the past few days," he continued.
"What happened, Professor?" asked Harry, worried.
"Peter Pettigrew was killed on his way to Azkaban," replied Dumbledore, looking dejected.
"What?" gasped Harry, shocked. "How? When did this happen?" he asked.
"Peter was to be escorted to Azkaban, the evening after Sirius' verdict came. However, Peter was killed en route and so were the 3 Aurors accompanying him," replied Dumbledore.
Harry stood, shook.
"Was it, You-Know-Who?" he asked after a few moments.
"We are not certain, Harry... though that's a possibility we are all considering," replied Dumbledore. Harry's brain started ticking the moment he found out about Pettigrew's death. It had to be Voldemort's doing. He had killed Janus Keddle to get Sirius proven innocent, and now he has killed the man who was convicted instead of Sirius.
After a few moments of silence, Dumbledore noticed Harry and spoke up.
"Harry.. is there something else bothering you?" he asked.
"Uh... Actually, there is something, Professor," replied Harry. "It's about Janus Keddle," he added.
Dumbledore looked at him like he knew what he was about to say. "If you are wondering about any foul play in his death, be rest assured, that there wasn't any. I wondered the same when I found out. The timing itself was too good to be true," replied Dumbledore confidently.
"But, Professor, there was foul play involved," retorted Harry and Dumbledore stared back at him, surprised. Harry then proceeded to recite everything that had happened that afternoon, when he had his first vision during the daytime. Everything he had seen, the old man begging, the description of his surroundings and such.
"You are saying you have never had these visions before or after?" pondered Dumbledore.
"No... this one was different. Never had one like this before," replied Harry.
"Harry... A word of caution" remarked Dumbledore after a long silence. "Tom Riddle is one of the most dangerous Legilimens the magical world has witnessed. I do not fully understand what happened to you that afternoon. But you have to be careful not to fall victim to his tricks," he added. Harry nodded along. "Of course, we would help you train for that," finished Dumbledore.
"Right," he exclaimed after a few seconds. "Now, to the adventure that beckons us tonight," he remarked. "We will be apparating," he added.
Harry held on to Dumbledore's arm tightly.
"Well, here we go," remarked Dumbledore.
"Harry... What are you doing?" asked Daisy, out of the blue.
"What do you mean?" retorted Harry a few seconds later, as he closed the book he was reading.
"I've been staring at you for a while now... You have been lost in a world of your own," replied Daisy, looking perplexed. "And since when are you an avid reader?" she added curiously.
Harry was holding one of his books from the prescribed 5th-year set. In fairness, he was merely holding the book. His mind was somewhere else worrying about everything. Just a few weeks back he had been with Albus Dumbledore to where Horace Slughorn, now Professor Slughorn was hiding. On the way back, he had found out why getting Slughorn on their side was essential. Dumbledore had in simple terms informed Harry that, if they were to find anything about Voldemort's obsession with Horcruxes, and the details around it, Slughorn was the best place to start.
Since then, Harry had been officially announced as the new prefect of Gryffindor along with Hermione. He was also officially reinstated back into the quidditch team.
While positive news came his way, Harry couldn't manage to feel any kind of happiness for it. He found himself constantly worrying about Voldemort and how powerful and dangerous he was.
While he tried to drown himself in things that could distract him, like reading a book (Hermione's solution to everything), he evidently wasn't.
"Harry..." called out Daisy.
"I uh... I was just..." began Harry, but he stopped speaking after that.
Daisy glanced at Harry. He was looking a bit strange. At first, it looked like he was worried. But there was a sudden change in his expression. His eyes widened, and there was an expression of shock on his face. And his eyes seemed weirdly fixated on Daisy.
"Hey... HP? What's going on?" asked Daisy. She waited a few seconds but got no response, whereas Harry's eyes remained fixed on Daisy.
She slowly got up and walked towards him, only to realise immediately that Harry's eyes weren't fixed on her, but just in the general direction.
For the uninitiated, he looked paralysed throughout, except for his expressions.
"HP... Harry... are you alright?" continued Daisy a couple of times before she was near enough to Harry. Daisy was already panicking, and his fixed eyes and a lack of response made for an eerie fear creep up her spine. Daisy couldn't call for help, for there was no one else in the home, apart from these two.
Panicking, she started shaking Harry's body vigorously. And just as she started, Harry suddenly blinked and he seemed paralysed no more.
Harry's reaction post getting out of his vision was instant and extreme.
The moment he got out of his vision, the first thing he saw was someone extremely close up. Instinctively, he pushed Daisy away and scrambled backwards, falling out of his seat in the process.
He had his wand out and pointed at Daisy for half a second, before realising what he was doing.
"Harry... what are you doing?" exclaimed Daisy and watched Harry's wand point away from her.
"I'm so sorry... I didn't mean that... I..." gasped Harry and dropped his wand on the floor. Daisy rushed towards a petrified-looking Harry as he stayed down on the floor.
"Harry... are you alright? You're scaring me. What just happened to you? You weren't moving at all..." began Daisy, talking rapidly as she knelt down in front to get level with Harry.
Harry stayed quiet for a few moments, while the expression on his face remained petrified. Slowly, he reached out his arm and Daisy took the hint and hugged Harry back tightly.
"You're alright... you'll be fine... Look at me, it's alright, I'm here," she continued, there were tears in his eyes now.
Just then, the lock in the front door turned and in walked Dudley.
"Who's there?" exclaimed Daisy.
"I'm home," replied Dudley as he walked in.
"Dudley... come here," exclaimed Daisy.
Dudley sensed the worried tone in Daisy's voice and rushed. The moment he walked into the room, his eyes fell on Daisy and Harry.
"What are you two doing?" he remarked, confused. "What happened?" he asked, noticing Daisy's face.
"I don't know... Something happened... HP was fine one second and he was..." replied Daisy but couldn't finish the sentence. Dudley rushed towards the pair.
With one look at Harry, Dudley knew why Daisy was speaking the way she was.
"I'm calling mother... She'd know what to do," remarked Dudley and was about to head out the room when Harry spoke up.
"Dudley... wait," he exclaimed. Dudley turned around and glanced at Harry.
"Nobody finds out about today..." remarked Harry and glanced at Daisy and then back at Dudley.
"What? Why not?" retorted Dudley, surprised.
"Dudley... please don't ask questions... not about this. No one finds out about this unless I decide to tell them, understand?" retorted back Harry. "Not Aunt Petunia," he added looking at Dudley. "And not Ron," he finished looking at Daisy.
Harry had just had a virtual front-row seat to Voldemort and his death eaters destroying what looked like the Ministry of Magic, just not their country's. And in the process, brutally murder more than 30 wizards and witches.
Did you like the "date" sequence? These kinds of scenes/moments are some of the toughest ones for me to write. Hope you enjoyed this one...
PS - I'll try to get Chapter 64 up by early next week