A/N:To all the people constantly nagging about updates or making snide comments, updates will continue to be sporadic for the foreseeable future and your comments make me want update less, not more.
To all the reasonable people, I apologise for the delay. I'm currently working two jobs and redoing my thesis because my tutor screwed me over. Additionally, the people I'm living with are moving so I'm finding somewhere else to live. It's all very hectic and I don't often have the time/energy to write but I'm trying as hard as I can. Thank you for all the support and nice comments, they make my day and often spur me on to try and get some done. I promise I'm not giving up on this, I will finish all seven books no matter how long it takes
The Leaky Cauldron
It took Harry several days to get used to his strange new freedom.
"Kind of. I wouldn't say I was used to it, even by the end of the three weeks," muttered Harry.
"It must have been quite jarring," Ted agreed with a kindly smile.
"Honestly, it's a good job it was Harry in that situation, how many other teenagers his age could be trusted on their own in Diagon Alley for three weeks?" Kingsley mused.
"Dunno what you mean," Fred grinned.
"We'd have been perfect angels," George added. Several people snorted in disbelief.
Never before had he been able to get up whenever he wanted or eat whatever he fancied.
Several people grimaced at that.
He could even go wherever he liked, as long as it was in Diagon Alley, and as it was packed with the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world, Harry felt no desire to break his word to Fudge and stray back into the Muggle world.
"Maybe not in the world, but it does have some good hidden gems," Bill said.
"Where's your favourite place?" Harry asked interestedly.
"Obviously Egypt is up there, but honestly, Japan and Greece both have some absolutely fabulous shopping distracts," he told Harry. What he did say was that all of those places were a lot less restrictive than Wizarding Britain. A lot of what was considered 'Dark Magic' here was perfectly acceptable in other places. Even the so-called 'Unforgiveable Curses' were legal in specific situations in Greece, where the Killing Curse could be used to end the life of those who were unable to be cured. If the only alternative was a slow, painful death, then it could be used by approved medical professionals, with permission from the patient or a minimum of two other relatives if the patient did not have the capacity to approve themselves. If they did not have two living relatives to make the decision, then the medical professionals could plead the case before an ethics board.
"Egypt was pretty awesome," Charlie agreed. "Romania isn't all that great for shopping areas. We usually just owl order anything we need."
Harry ate breakfast each morning in the Leaky Cauldron, where he liked watching the other guests, including dwarfs, warlocks and someone who looked suspiciously like a hag.
"Cool," Fred whistled.
After breakfast Harry would go out into the magical alley. He spent the long sunny days exploring the shops and eating under the brightly coloured umbrellas outside cafes, where his fellow diners were showing each other their purchases or else discussing the case of Sirius Black. One particular person stated they wouldn't let any of the children out alone until he's back in Azkaban.
"That poor kid. He's gonna be waiting a while," George said, shaking his head and grinning.
"Do you reckon that will still apply once they know Sirius is innocent or will that kid be grounded forever?" Ron mused.
"Once they know he isn't a murderer, I'm sure it will be difficult to remain terrified of the boy who once cried because his hair was green," Remus smirked.
"What?" Harry asked.
"I did not cry!" Sirius protested.
"Yes. You did. James changed his hair to Slytherin green because…oh I can't even remember why now," Remus chuckled. "And Sirius cried and moped for an hour before he remembered he was also a wizard and could turn it back." Several people burst out laughing at that while Sirius pouted.
Harry didn't have to do his homework under the blankets by torchlight anymore, so he sat in the bright sunshine outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, finishing all his essays with occasional help from Florean Fortescue himself, who, apart from knowing a great deal about medieval witch-burnings, gave Harry free sundaes every half-hour.
"What?" Several people yelled out.
"Free sundaes every half an hour?" Tonks whistled, looking slightly jealous.
"Damn. I'm doing my homework there in the future," Ron stated, almost drooling at the thought of that much free ice-cream.
"No, you are not," Molly told him.
"But mum…" He moaned.
"No."
Once Harry had refilled his money bag with money from his vault at Gringotts, he needed to exercise a lot of self-control not to spend the whole lot at once.
"Well, that makes you better than most people your age," Sirius chuckled.
"Including your father and Sirius," Remus grinned.
"What do you mean?" Sirius spluttered.
"Your bike? The solid gold chess set, for a game you didn't even play!"
"That bike was the best," Sirius protested, though he didn't comment on the chess set.
"You bought a solid gold chess set?" Charlie asked, looking at him like he was insane.
"It was my parents' money," Sirius shrugged. "I bought the most expensive thing I could find to piss them off."
He had to keep reminding himself that he had five years to go at Hogwarts, and how it would feel to ask the Dursleys for money for spellbooks, to stop himself buying a handsome set of solid gold Gobstones.
"Ha!" Sirius grinned wildly. "Just like your godfather!"
"Merlin save us all," Minerva muttered, but she was smiling slightly.
"Had you ever even played gobstones, Harry?" Bill wondered.
"No," he admitted, "but it looked amazing."
"I'm not surprised the thought of asking the Dursleys for money was a good deterrent though. That would be enough to stop anyone spending money," Tonks muttered to Charlie who grimaced.
He was sorely tempted, too, by the perfect, moving model of the galaxy in a large glass ball, which would have meant he never had to take another Astronomy lesson.
"You would still need to attend your classes," Minerva told him firmly.
"Although, honestly, could the school not invest in something like that, so we don't have to take Astronomy in the middle of the night?" Hermione wondered.
"Given that the school apparently do not have the budget to replace the broomsticks, despite their condition, it would seem unlikely," Andromeda stated.
But the thing that tested Harry's resolution most appeared in his favourite shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies, a week after he'd arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.
All of the Quidditch fans sighed dreamily.
"The Firebolt," Fred murmured, awed.
Curious to know what the crowd in the shop was staring at, Harry edged his way inside and squeezed in amongst the excited witches and wizards until he glimpsed a newly erected podium on which was mounted the most magnificent broom he had ever seen in his life.
All of the Quidditch fans nodded in agreement.
One wizard was telling his friend it had only just come out as a prototype and a young boy commented to his dad that it was the fastest broom in the world. The shop proprietor told the crowd that the Irish International Side, who were favourites for the World Cup, had just put in an order for seven.
"It's going to be brilliant," Charlie said excitedly.
"I wonder if we'll hear about it in the books," Bill mused. Fred and George's eyes lit up at the thought of knowing who would win before it happened and how much money they could make betting on it.
A large witch in front of Harry moved, and he was able to read the sign next to the broom, naming it 'The Firebolt'. It then gave the details of the broom, ending with the price being available on request.
"It's quite unprecedented to have three big new broomsticks out in four years," Draco told Harry.
"Was the Nimbus 2000 new out in our first year?" Harry wondered.
"No. It came out the year before. It was released for the 1990 World Cup, but it was still the best in the market at the time."
Price on request. Harry didn't like to think how much gold the Firebolt would cost. He had never wanted anything so much in his whole life – but he had never lost a Quidditch match on his Nimbus Two Thousand, and he thought there was no point in emptying his Gringotts vault for the Firebolt, when he had a very good broom already.
Harry sighed. He loved his Firebolt, of course he did. It was his first gift, that he could remember, from his godfather. But his Nimbus was his first ever broom. And there was something special about that.
Harry didn't ask for the price, but he returned, almost every day after that, just to look at the Firebolt.
All the Quidditch fans nodded like this was a perfectly normal thing to do, while those who were less fond of the sport shook their heads.
There were, however, things that Harry needed to buy. He went to the Apothecary to replenish his store of potions' ingredients. He also needed new robes as his were now several inches too short in the arm and leg.
"Are we sure? I mean, clearly this book plays a bit fast and loose with some details. Two weeks or three weeks…several inches or just a couple of inches," Fred teased.
"Shut up," Harry grumbled. Fred winked at him.
"I am curious…if you had so much free time to do whatever shopping you liked, how come you didn't buy yourself some other clothes?" Tonks wondered. "Like, not your cousin's hand-me-downs." Harry flushed.
"I didn't want the Dursleys asking questions. With magic stuff they wouldn't dare look or know how much things cost. If I came back with new clothes they would notice immediately and want to know where I got the money for them. Or Dudley would find some excuse to ruin them," Harry explained.
"And, honestly, what thirteen-year-old boy thinks about clothes shopping except in cases of absolute necessity?" Sirius wondered. Several people rolled their eyes at him.
"Ones who need to?" Andromeda pointed out.
Most important of all, he had to buy his new school books, which would include those for his two new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Harry got a surprise as he looked in at the bookshop window. Instead of the usual display of gold-embossed spellbooks the size of paving slabs, there was a large iron cage behind the glass which held about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters.
"Bet the manager loved having those in," Bill chuckled.
Torn pages were flying everywhere as the books grappled with each other, locked together in furious wrestling matches and snapping aggressively.
"Would an immobilising charm not be a good idea?" Tonks wondered.
"Probably. Depends how quickly it wears off," Charlie said. "The book might be resistant."
Harry pulled his booklist out of his pocket and consulted it for the first time. The Monster Book of Monsters was listed as the set book for Care of Magical Creatures. Now Harry understood why Hagrid had said it would come in useful. He felt relieved; he had been wondering whether Hagrid wanted help with some terrifying new pet.
Several people grimaced at that.
As Harry entered Flourish and Blotts, the manager came hurrying towards him. He asked if Harry had come to get his new books for Hogwarts. When he said yes, the manager abruptly told him to get out of the way and put on a pair of thick gloves as he walked towards the Monster books' cage.
"What? Why would he assume Harry needed that? It's a Care of Magical Creatures book which isn't a core subject. He had no reason to assume Harry is taking that class," Emmeline pointed out.
"Seems a bit strange, but better prepared than not?" Charlie offered.
"There's still no need to be rude. He could have at least asked if Harry needed that book before doing anything," Andromeda stated.
Harry told him he already had one. The manager was relieved as he said he'd been bitten five times already that morning.
"Even if they are resistant, you'd think he could immobilise them while he took a single book out," Bill frowned.
"Harry's point of view saw him as a manager, he might not have been. Or maybe they didn't train their staff properly," Ted suggested.
A loud ripping noise rent the air; two of the Monster books had seized a third and were pulling it apart. The manager cried for them to stop it, poking the walking stick between the bars and knocking them apart.
"Effective," George said sarcastically.
He cried that he was never stocking them again and he'd thought he'd seen the worst when they had two hundred copies of The Invisible Book of Invisibility.
"A simple 'Finite Incantatem,' should have fixed that," Tonks snorted.
"The biggest mystery is how he assumed Harry was old enough to take a third-year class," Fred put in, grinning up at Harry.
"Shut up, Fred," Harry grumbled.
"I'm not Fred, he is," Fred protested.
"Yes. you are," Harry told him. Both twins stared at him. They'd known that Harry had been able to tell them apart better than most of their family, but it stilled stunned them how casually he knew who was who, regardless of the tricks they played.
Harry told him he needed a book for Divination. The manager asked if he was starting Divination.
"Obviously," Andromeda drawled.
He led Harry to the back of the shop where a corner was devoted to future-telling. The manager climbed a set of steps to retrieve a thick, black-bound book. Harry wasn't listening to the sales pitch as he noticed a book called: Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst is Coming.
"Of course you'd spot that book," Tonks chuckles.
"The cover had a Grim on that looked exactly like Sirius in the alleyway," Harry explained.
"That's pretty spooky," Emmeline said.
The manager told Harry not to read it as he'll start seeing death omens everywhere which would be enough to frighten anyone to death.
"It would have really helped if your animagus form didn't look so much like the Grim," Harry told Sirius jokingly.
"Sorry," Sirius winced.
"But, hey, Trelawney had a great year," Ron grinned.
Harry continued to stare at the front cover of the book; it showed a black dog large as a bear, with gleaming eyes. It looked oddly familiar.
Sirius flinched.
The assistant pressed Unfogging the Future into Harry's hands and asked if he needed anything else. Harry tore his eyes away from the book and said he needed the books for Transfiguration and the Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three. Eventually, Harry emerged from Flourish and Blotts with his new books under his arms, and made his way back to the Leaky Cauldron, hardly noticing where he was going and bumping into several people.
"You were that worried?" Sirius asked, concerned.
"I saw a creepy dog in the alley and then saw a death omen that looked exactly like it. I was freaked, but I got over it," Harry shrugged.
He tramped up the stairs to his room, went inside and tipped his books onto his bed. Somebody had been in to tidy; the windows were open, and sun was pouring inside. Harry could hear the buses rolling by in the unseen Muggle street behind him, and the sound of the invisible crowd below in Diagon Alley. He caught sight of himself in the mirror over the basin. He defiantly told his reflection that it can't have been a death omen. He had just been panicking and it was probably a stray dog.
"You tell that mirror, Harry," Fred grinned.
He raised his hand automatically and tried to make his hair lie flat. The mirror told him he was fighting a losing battle.
Everyone chuckled.
"Even the mirror knows," Tonks laughed.
As the days slipped by, Harry started looking wherever he went for a sign of Ron or Hermione. Plenty of Hogwarts students were arriving in Diagon Alley now, with the start of term so near. Harry met Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, his fellow Gryffindors, in Quality Quidditch Supplies, where they, too, were ogling the Firebolt; he also ran into the real Neville Longbottom, a round-faced, forgetful boy, outside Flourish and Blotts. Harry didn't stop to chat; Neville appeared to have mislaid his booklist, and was being told off by his very formidable-looking grandmother.
Neville winced.
"It's a wonder she didn't just keep it herself and prevent that happening," Emmeline muttered.
"I think that's why she owled my Hogsmeade permission form," he admitted. "
Harry hoped she never found out that he'd pretended to be Neville while on the run from the Ministry of Magic.
"She'd probably be fine with it. She's probably prefer you as a grandson anyway," Neville told him matter-of-factly.
Harry woke on the last day of the holidays, thinking that he would at least meet Ron and Hermione tomorrow, on the Hogwarts Express. He got up, dressed, went for a last look at the Firebolt, and was just wondering where he'd have lunch, when someone yelled his name and he turned. Ron and Hermione were sitting outside the ice-cream parlour, waving at him.
"We didn't get those free sundaes," Ron sighed.
"We were only there half an hour anyway," Hermione pointed out. "We'd spent most of the morning looking for Harry."
Ron told Harry that they'd been searching for him, and Harry said he'd gotten all his school stuff the week before. Then he asked how they knew he was staying at the Leaky Cauldron. Ron said it was his dad.
"Just because he works at the Ministry doesn't mean he should know all about it," Amelia sighed. She knew full well most of the Ministry loved to gossip, she didn't like it, but it was a fact that wasn't going to be fixed any time soon.
Hermione asked if he really blew up his aunt. Harry stated he hadn't meant to while Ron laughed. Hermione told Ron it wasn't funny, and she was amazed Harry hadn't been expelled.
"He didn't do it on purpose. I'd have thought you knew you don't get expelled for accidental magic," George said in surprise.
"I didn't know it was accidental magic," Hermione admitted.
"You thought Harry blew someone up on purpose? Harry?" Fred asked.
"I may not have known everything about his relatives, but I knew enough to guess it was possible," she said, giving Harry a guilty look.
"Anyone in their right mind would want to blow those people up on purpose," Sirius snarled.
Harry admitted he was surprised too. He had thought he was going to be arrested. Then he asked Ron if his dad knew why Fudge had let him off. Ron shrugged, saying it was probably because it was Harry.
"I assume you also thought he'd done it on purpose," Charlie looked at his younger brother. Ron shrugged and nodded.
He continued that he'd hate to see what the Ministry would do if he blew up an aunt.
"They would do exactly the same if you had a case of accidental magic like that," his dad told him.
"I know that now," Ron said.
Then he said that they'd have to dig him up first and his mum would have killed him.
"If you'd done it on purpose, yes. If any relative had said such things to you as that woman did to Harry, it would be them the Ministry would have to dig up," Molly stated firmly.
Ron told Harry he would be able to ask his dad that evening as they were staying at the Leaky Cauldron, including Hermione.
"I assume to keep an eye on me?" Harry asked, dryly.
"You'd been fine there by yourself for three weeks. It was more to escort you to the station the following morning," Arthur told him. Harry nodded.
"It would have been awkward trying to get there myself," he said.
Harry asked if they had all of their new school stuff and Ron showed off his new wand. Then he mentioned their books, saying the assistant had nearly cried when they wanted two Monster books.
"I bet he did," Charlie snorted.
Harry asked about Hermione's purchases, which spanned three bags to Ron's one. Hermione pointed out she was taking more new subjects than them.
"Only three more," Bill pointed out.
"I got some extra reading for them as well," she said.
"Naturally," George grinned fondly.
Ron asked what she was taking Muggle Studies for, and she said it was fascinating to study them from a wizarding point of view.
"It really won't," Tonks told her. "It'll just be disappointing."
"Yeah. I got that," she sighed.
Harry asked if she was planning to eat or sleep at all that year while Ron laughed. Hermione ignored them both.
"I was actually concerned," Harry told her. "And I was right in the end." Hermione said nothing.
She stated that she had ten galleons, and her birthday was coming up so she could get herself an early birthday present.
Ron scowled.
Ron suggested a new book, but Hermione said she wanted an owl as both Harry and Ron had one. Ron protested, saying all he had was Scabbers.
Sirius, Remus and Harry all scowled as well.
"Stupid rat," Ron grumbled.
He pulled his pet rat out of his pocket, saying he wanted to get him checked over as Egypt hadn't agreed with him. Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers.
Sirius smirked slightly; glad his escape had at least had some effect on the rat.
Harry, who knew Diagon Alley pretty well now, told them where the magical creature shop was. They headed to the Magical Menagerie. There wasn't much room inside. Every inch of wall was hidden by cages. It was smelly and very noisy because the occupants of these cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing. The witch behind the counter was already advising a wizard on the care of double-ended newts, so Harry, Ron and Hermione waited, examining the cages.
"It's not big enough in there. Most of those poor animals don't have enough room at all," Charlie frowned.
"Even magical space can only do so much, especially in an area like that," Filius said ruefully.
"They are still well looked after," Ted pointed out.
A pair of enormous purple toads sat gulping wetly and feasting on dead blowflies. A gigantic tortoise with a jewel-encrusted shell was glittering near the window. Poisonous orange snails were oozing slowly up the side of their glass tank, and a fat white rabbit kept changing into a silk top hat and back again with a loud popping noise.
"Are they supposed to do that or is it a charm?" Harry wondered.
"It's a charm. It has to be replaced every couple of years or so," Filius told him.
Then there were cats of every colour, a noisy cage of ravens, a basket of funny custard-coloured furballs that were humming loudly, and, on the counter, a vast cage of sleek black rats which were playing some sort of skipping game using their long bald tails. The double-ended newt wizard left, and Ron approached the counter. He told her his rat had been off colour for a while. She told him to bang him on the counter.
"Should have taken her literally," Sirius muttered.
Ron lifted Scabbers out of his inside pocket and placed him next to the cage of his fellow rats, who stopped their skipping tricks and scuffled to the wire for a better look. Like nearly everything Ron owned, Scabbers the rat was second-hand (he had once belonged to Ron's brother Percy) and a bit battered. Next to the glossy rats in the cage, he looked especially woe-begone.
"Yes, that rat certainly lived a long life," Pomona said to herself.
"Was he not an unfortunate victim of Miss Granger's cat this year?" Filius wondered. Everyone in the entire school knew about the rows between the two, and the cause.
"I believe so. But, like everything we've believed about these last few years, I suspect we might be wrong," she replied. He nodded in agreement.
She asked how old the rat was and Ron replied that he wasn't sure, but he had belonged to his brother.
"I found Scabbers when I was…seven?" Percy frowned, trying to remember.
"And you gave him to Ron before his first year, so you're fifth year, making you fifteen? And then Ron had him for three years. That makes him about eleven years old?" Emmeline frowned. "That can't be right."
"Even magical rats shouldn't live that long," Charlie agreed.
The witch asked what powers he has.
"None," Percy snorted.
"Aside from exceptionally long life," Andromeda stated suspiciously, eyes focused on her cousin.
Ron hesitated. The truth was that Scabbers had never shown the faintest trace of interesting powers. The witch's eyes moved from Scabbers' tattered left ear to his front paw, which had a toe missing, and tutted loudly.
Sirius sneered.
She stated he'd been through the mill and Ron defensively pointed out he had been like that when Percy gave him to him.
"He was like that when I found him," Percy shrugged.
She told him a common garden rat couldn't be expected to live longer than three years, but if he wanted something more hard-wearing he could buy one of the shop ones which were skipping again. Ron wasn't impressed so she offered him a rat tonic. Ron started to ask how much when he broke off with a yell. Something huge and orange landed on his head, spitting madly, and launched at Scabbers. The witch yelled at Crookshanks, but Scabbers shot from between her hands like a bar of soap, landed splay-legged on the floor and then scarpered for the door.
"Wait, the first time you met Crookshanks, he tried to attack Scabbers, and you bought him?" George frowned.
"The witch said he'd been in there for ages as nobody wanted him," Hermione said defensively.
Ron shouted for his rat, haring out of the shop after him; Harry followed. It took them nearly ten minutes to find Scabbers, who had taken refuge under a wastepaper bin outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron stuffed the trembling rat back into his pocket and straightened up, massaging his head. He asked what it was, and Harry replied it was either a big cat or a small tiger.
Several people chuckled at that.
Ron then asked about Hermione and Harry said she was probably buying her owl. They made their way back up the crowded street to the Magical Menagerie. As they reached it, Hermione came out, but she wasn't carrying an owl. Her arms were clamped tightly around the enormous ginger cat.
"You really bought a cat that attacked your friend's pet?" Tonks reiterated George's question.
"He's definitely not an owl," Fred added.
"I just…he was an outsider, unwanted. I felt a kinship with him."
"Still, it seems a bit rude to buy an animal that literally tried to maul your friend's pet completely unprovoked," Bill put in. "But, as long as you understand the issue and take steps to prevent problems it should be alright. Especially if he's part kneazle and can be trained." Ron snorted. Hermione glared at him.
Ron stated that she'd bought the monster. Hermione stated he was gorgeous. Harry privately disagreed, thinking he was bow-legged and his face was squashed like he'd run into a brick wall.
A few people snorted while Hermione turned her glare on Harry who put his hands up defensively.
Now that Scabbers was out of sight, however, the cat was purring contentedly in Hermione's arms. Ron pointed out that the cat had nearly scalped him but Hermione just said he hadn't meant to.
"He might not have meant to scalp Ron, but he did mean to attack Scabbers," Bill pointed out.
"Why though? He must be used to seeing rats, there was a cage of them on the desk, right by Scabbers at the time," Charlie frowned.
"Scabbers was out and not in a cage. Maybe he just knew he could get to that one unlike the ones in the cage," Tonks suggested. They all shrugged.
Ron asked about Scabbers, pointing out that he needed rest and relaxation which he wouldn't get with the cat around. Hermione stated he'd forgotten the tonic, handing it over to him, before saying Crookshanks would be in her dormitory and Scabbers would be in his.
Harry and Neville both snorted at that. They knew full well neither pet remained in the appropriate dormitory. Crookshanks had practically lived outside the boy's dorm when Scabbers was in it and Ron after took his pet out to the common room with him.
"Pets don't often remain in the dormitories. They will have to learn to share space in the common room at the very least," Tonks pointed out.
"They certainly didn't learn to share," Fred commented, thinking on all the times he'd seen Crookshanks try to attack Scabbers. Which he now knew was Pettigrew. Could Crookshanks have known that? He must have done. He hadn't tried to attack anyone else's pet that year, that he knew of anyway.
She asked what the problem was.
"The problem is your pet just tried to attack his ill pet and you don't seem to be taking the issue seriously," Bill frowned. "If your plan is just to keep the two in separate dormitories, that's not going to work, neither of you are likely to stick to that and it's hardly fair to keep a cat in just one dormitory. So, you need to put a different plan in place."
She continued that the witch had said Crookshanks had been in there for ages as nobody wanted him. Ron sarcastically said he wondered why. They made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron and found Mr Weasley sitting in the bar, reading the Daily Prophet. He greeted Harry, asking how he was. Harry said he was fine.
Mr Weasley put down his paper, and Harry saw the now familiar picture of Sirius Black staring up at him.
Sirius scowled as he was brought up yet again.
Harry guessed they still hadn't caught him. Mr. Weasley said no, and they'd all been pulled off their regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him.
"Really? But surely they can't have expected you to be searching for a supposed mass murderer? That's Auror work, hardly something most of the staff should be doing," Emmeline frowned.
"We weren't actively out searching for him, but we were all trying to contribute to finding him. For example, Perkins and I were providing information and monitoring on muggle transport that he might have been using, as we thought he didn't have a wand. That sort of thing," Arthur explained.
Ron asked if they would get a reward for catching him as it would be good to get more money. Mr. Weasley, who was looking rather strained, told him not to be ridiculous.
Arthur gave a wry half-smile at Harry's perceptiveness.
He stated that Black wasn't going to be caught by a thirteen-year-old wizard.
"Actually, of everyone who had a chance of catching me, it would be Harry," Sirius said, forcing a grin.
It would be the Azkaban guards that got him back.
Sirius shuddered.
"Well, your words are marked, dad," Fred smirked. Arthur chuckled slightly.
At that moment Mrs Weasley entered the bar, laden with shopping and followed by the twins, Fred and George, who were about to start their fifth year at Hogwarts, the newly elected Head Boy, Percy, and the Weasleys' youngest child and only girl, Ginny. Ginny who had always been very taken with Harry, seemed even more heartily embarrassed than usual when she saw him, perhaps because he had saved her life during their last term at Hogwarts.
Ginny blushed furiously.
She went very red and muttered 'hello' without looking at him. Percy, however, held out his hand solemnly as though he and Harry had never met and greeted him. Harry tried not to laugh as he greeted Percy in return. Percy pompously said he hoped Harry was well which made him feel like he was being introduced to the mayor.
It was Percy's turn to flush.
Harry replied he was very well but was interrupted by Fred who elbowed Percy out of the way and bowed deeply. He said it was simply splendid to see him. George then pushed Fred aside, cutting his twins off and agreeing it was absolutely spiffing to see him while shaking Harry's hand.
Most of the room chuckled at the twins' antics.
"Honestly boys, Percy was just being polite," Molly told the twins.
"We know. We were being polite too," Fred grinned. Percy rolled his eyes.
Percy scowled.
Fred rolled his eyes.
Mrs Weasley told them that was enough, but Fred greeted her as if he'd only just spotted her, shaking her hand as well, saying it was corking to see her.
There were more chuckles.
Mrs Weasley repeated that it was enough and then greeted Harry after putting her shopping down. She said she supposed he'd heard their exciting news and pointed to the badge on Percy's chest, saying he was the second head-boy in the family. Fred muttered that he would be the last. Mrs Weasley said she didn't doubt that.
"That's a little harsh. Ron could still be in the running," Bill pointed out. Privately, he thought it highly unlikely his brother would be head-boy without some major growing up and leaving his lazy habits behind, but anything was possible in the next four years. He knew neither of the twins would be, but they wouldn't want it either.
Molly nodded and apologised to her youngest son.
She added that the twins hadn't been made prefects.
"Of course not. Besides, you wouldn't be able to make both twins prefects, there's only one per year, and how would you pick between the two?" Charlie said. Molly pursed her lips but said nothing.
George asked why they would want to be prefects as it would take all the fun out of life.
"Exactly!" Sirius agreed.
"Really? I don't recall the fun being taken out of things because I was a prefect," Remus muttered.
"You were a wet blanket anyway," Sirius teased.
"A wet blanket who made sure most of your insane ideas would actually work," he retorted. Sirius just grinned.
Ginny giggled. Mrs Weasley told them to set a better example for their sister.
"We're setting an example of how to have fun," George said.
Percy loftily put in that Ginny had other brothers to set her an example.
The twins both snorted. They knew full well that Ginny did not take after Percy in pretty much any way. Bill was disagreed, although not outwardly. He might not have spent much time with his younger sister, given that he'd been at Hogwarts for most of her life and then left for Egypt when she was seven, but even he knew she took after the twins more than most of her other brothers.
He disappeared to change for dinner and George heaved a sigh. He told Harry they had tried to shut him in a pyramid, but their mother spotted them.
"You did what?" Bill asked, glaring at the twins. "I told you those tombs were dangerous. You could have seriously hurt Percy."
"It was one of the ones you'd told us was clear and safe. We just wanted him to shut up about being head boy for a bit, not to hurt him," George said defensively. Bill relaxed marginally at that, but he was still unhappy.
"Still, those pyramids are not to be messed around with. Just because they've been cleared and declared safe doesn't mean you should be messing about. Something could have been missed, or you could have gotten the wrong tomb."
"We wouldn't have put him in the wrong tomb," Fred scoffed.
"You shouldn't have been shutting anyone in any tomb," Molly scolded them angrily.
"Sorry, Perc," they muttered in unison.
Dinner that night was a very enjoyable affair. Tom the innkeeper put three tables together in the parlour and the seven Weasleys, Harry and Hermione ate their way through five delicious courses. Fred asked how they were getting to King's Cross the next morning and Mr. Weasley told him the Ministry was providing cars which caused everyone to look at him. George seriously said that it was because of Percy. There would be flags on the bonnet with HB on them. Fred chimed in that it would stand for Humungous Bighead.
"Fred! George!" Molly scolded. They both smirked.
"Honestly guys, you'd think you'd know that a joke isn't funny if it's repeated too often," Charlie told them. "Lay off."
"We can't do anything about it now," Fred reminded him.
Everyone except Percy and Mrs Weasley snorted into their pudding.
"I love how that implies Arthur snorted into his pudding as well," Remus muttered to Sirius quietly. Sirius barked out a surprised laugh at that.
Percy asked why the Ministry was providing cars. Mr. Weasley told him that they were doing him a favour as he worked there and no longer had a car.
"So, I assume it's because of Harry then," Kingsley said. He knew there was no way the Ministry would 'do Arthur a favour' and loan him multiple cars just to get to the platform.
"Yes," Arthur admitted.
His voice was casual, but Harry couldn't help noticing that Mr Weasley's ears had gone red, just like Ron's did when he was under pressure.
Arthur shook his head at Harry's observations once more.
Mrs Weasley cut in saying it was a good job as they had so much luggage, they'd be a nice sight on the Muggle Underground.
Harry and Hermione both winced at the idea of all nine of them trying to get to King's Cross on the Underground.
She asked if they were all packed. Percy told her Ron wasn't as he'd dumped his new things on Percy's bed.
"Thanks for that, Perc," Ron muttered grumpily.
Mrs Weasley told Ron to pack properly as they wouldn't have much time in the morning.
"That is a good point," Bill nodded, knowing how chaotic it was on Hogwarts day.
"If you pack the night before you can sleep in longer in the morning," Tonks pointed out with a grin. Ron nodded thoughtfully.
"You would know," Andromeda sighed.
Ron scowled at Percy. After dinner everyone felt very full and sleepy. One by one they made their way upstairs to their rooms to check their things for the next day. Ron and Percy were next door to Harry. He had just closed and locked his own trunk when he heard angry voices through the wall, and went to see what was going on. The door of number twelve was ajar, and Percy was shouting that it had been right there on his bedside table. Ron protested he hadn't touched it. Harry asked what was going on and Percy rounded on him, saying his Head Boy badge had gone.
"And you thought Ron had taken it? Had Ron ever done something like that before?" Charlie asked with a frown.
"Well, no. But nobody else had been in the room," Percy pointed out.
"That you noticed," Bill said, eyeing the twins.
Ron added that Scabbers' tonic was also missing. He thought it might be downstairs, but Percy yelled that he wasn't going anywhere until his badge was found.
"Considering how much you'd been wearing it, maybe you should have searched for both downstairs," Ted suggested.
"I knew it had been on my bedside table. I hadn't worn it to dinner," Percy shook his head.
Harry offered to get the tonic as he was already packed.
Arthur sighed.
Harry went downstairs and was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, when he heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlour. A second later, he recognised them as Mr and Mrs Weasley's.
Most people looked at the pair in surprise.
He hesitated, not wanting them to know he'd heard them rowing, when the sound of his own name made him stop, then move closer to the parlour door.
"Harry!" Molly and Hermione scolded.
"He overheard his best friend's parents arguing and his name came up. Most people would eavesdrop on that," Draco pointed out. He certainly would have done. Quite a few of the younger generation nodded in agreement.
"I'm going to guess Sirius is about to come up again," Remus said.
Mr. Weasley was saying that it made no sense not to tell him. Harry had a right to know, which he'd tried to tell Fudge but the Minister insists on treating Harry like a child.
"He is a child," Molly frowned.
"He hasn't been a child in a long time," Sirius told her grimly.
He continued that Harry was thirteen, but Mrs Weasley cut across him, saying the truth would terrify him. Did he really want to send Harry back to school with it hanging over him. He was happy not knowing.
"Not really. I'd rather know and be prepared. Even if Sirius had been after me, I already knew Voldemort wanted to kill me. He'd tried twice. Sirius could hardly be any scarier than that," Harry pointed out.
"And he'd escaped from Azkaban, something nobody else has ever done. If they were concerned enough to put those horrible things around the school, clearly someone thought he would break into Hogwarts, which he managed to do multiple times! Harry should have been prepared not left in the dark," Fred stated, backing Harry up. Harry smiled at him gratefully.
Mr. Weasley stated he didn't want to make Harry miserable, he wanted to put him on his guard. She knew what Harry and Ron were like, wandering off by themselves and having been in the Forbidden Forest twice.
"Technically, I've only been in there once," Ron corrected his dad.
He continued that Harry couldn't do that this year. Arthur was prepared to bet that if the Knight Bus hadn't picked Harry up, he would have been dead before the Ministry found him.
"The Ministry didn't really 'find' him. Harry pretty much walked into Fudge in a fairly obvious place to wait for him," George pointed out.
"I wouldn't be betting if I were you, dad," Fred grinned. "First you wanted your words marked and now this bet." Arthur chuckled lightly.
Molly replied that he wasn't dead. Arthur stated they Sirius Black was supposedly mad, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, which was supposed to be impossible. It had been three weeks, and nobody had seen him.
"Three weeks? I guess that extra week is missing again for some reason. It had been four weeks, because Harry had been in Diagon Alley for three weeks, and Sirius escaped at least a week before," Charlie pointed out.
"He escaped almost exactly a week before. He escaped on the day before Harry's birthday, which was made everyone even more worried. We thought the date was too much of a coincidence," Kingsley stated.
"Honestly, I didn't have a real clue of the date. I saw the date on the newspaper Fudge had given me, but other than that I didn't have much of a sense of time," Sirius admitted.
He continued that they were no closer to finding him than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing they knew for sure was what Sirius was after.
Sirius snorted.
Mrs Weasley said Harry would be perfectly safe at Hogwarts. Mr Weasley disagreed, saying they'd thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black could escape there, he could break into Hogwarts. Mrs Weasley argued that nobody was sure Black was after Harry. Harry heard a thump as if Mr. Weasley had banged his fist on the table. He reminded her that they hadn't reported it to the press, but Black had been talking in his sleep for a while before his escape, saying 'he's at Hogwarts'.
"Yeah. There can't be that many people at Hogwarts Sirius would be thinking about," Andromeda said, frowning at her cousin.
"He's my godson, of course I was thinking of him," Sirius shrugged, giving nothing away.
Mr. Weasley continued that Black was deranged and wanted Harry dead.
Sirius winced.
He suspected that Black thought murdering Harry would bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black had lost everything the night Harry had stopped him and he'd had twelve years in Azkaban to brood on that.
"That much is true at least," Sirius muttered bitterly.
There was a silence. Harry leaned still closer to the door, desperate to hear more. Mrs Weasley said he had to do what he thought was right, but he was forgetting Albus Dumbledore. She didn't think anything could hurt Harry while Dumbledore was headmaster.
"Really?" Andromeda asked her in disbelief. "He's almost died far too many times in that school under the headmaster's watch."
"All of those troubles were already inside the school," Molly pointed out.
"Sirius broke into the school multiple times and even made it into Harry's dormitory. If he had wanted to kill Harry, he could have done. Easily. Even under Dumbledore's watch," Remus stated grimly. "He might not have known about Sirius' animagus form, or even that he knew about the secret entrances to the school, but the fact still remains Harry could have been killed once more. Hogwarts simply isn't as safe as people believe."
"Something we will be using these books to remedy," Minerva stated firmly.
She assumed Dumbledore knew about all of it. Mr. Weasley agreed and said they had to get his agreement to station the Azkaban guards at the entrances to the school, which he wasn't happy about but agreed to.
All of the students shuddered at that.
"It was horrible," Neville muttered.
"Going past them every time, you wanted to go to Hogsmeade. And the stupid Quidditch game," Fred agreed, eyeing Harry with concern.
Mrs Weasley wondered why he wouldn't be happy if they were there to catch Black.
"Because having those awful guards around a school, full of children, was a terrible thing," Minerva stated grimly. All of the teachers and students nodded in agreement.
Mr. Weasley told her Dumbledore wasn't fond of the guards.
"Nobody is fond of those guards," Amelia stated.
"Good point," Arthur agreed.
He continued that he wasn't fond of them either, but when dealing with a wizard like Black, you had to join forces with those you'd rather avoid. Mrs Weasley started that if they save Harry, but he cut across her saying if they did, he'd never say another word against them.
"Save me?" Harry snorted. "They almost killed me and almost sucked out my soul more than once over the course of the year. They did more damage than anyone else that year."
"What?" Molly and Arthur asked at the same time.
"Er…long story?" He grimaced.
Eventually, he suggested they go to bed. Harry heard chairs move. As quietly as he could, he hurried down the passage to the bar and out of sight. The parlour door opened, and a few seconds later footsteps told him that Mr and Mrs Weasley were climbing the stairs. The bottle of rat tonic was lying under the table they had sat at earlier. Harry waited until he heard Mr and Mrs Weasley's bedroom door close, then headed back upstairs with the bottle. Fred and George were crouching in the shadows on the landing, heaving with laughter as they listened to Percy dismantling his and Ron's room in the search for his badge. Fred whispered that they had it and had been improving it. The badge now read Bighead Boy.
Percy rolled his eyes at the twins. "Sorry Ron, for falsely accusing you."
"It's fine," Ron muttered after a few moments of surprise.
Harry forced a laugh, went to give Ron the rat tonic, then shut himself in his room and lay down on his bed. So, Sirius Black was after him. That explained everything. Fudge had been lenient with him because he was so relieved to find him alive. He'd made Harry promise to stay in Diagon Alley where there were plenty of wizards to keep an eye on him. And he was sending two Ministry cars to take them all to the station tomorrow, so that the Weasleys could look after Harry until he was on the train.
"All that fuss for lil ol' me. I should be flattered," Sirius said lightly, trying not to dwell on how much he hated every minute of this.
"You did always like being centre of attention," Remus chuckled.
Harry lay listening to the muffled shouting next door and wondered why he didn't feel more scared. Sirius Black had murdered thirteen people with one curse; Mr and Mrs Weasley obviously thought Harry would be panic-stricken if he knew the truth. But Harry happened to agree whole-heartedly with Mrs Weasley that the safest place on earth was wherever Albus Dumbledore happened to be.
Several people stared at Harry like he'd lost his mind.
"Were you not at the same Hogwarts we've been reading about in these books?" Bill asked him in astonishment.
"Well, yeah, but where else would I have been safer?" Harry asked.
"That is a good point," Emmeline put in. "It's not like there are many other options. Unless you consider his relatives where the wards are. Other than that, it's pretty much Hogwarts or nowhere."
People always say that Dumbledore was the only person Lord Voldemort had ever been afraid of. He thought that Black, as Voldemort's right-hand man, would be just as frightened of him. And then there were the Azkaban guards everyone kept talking about. They seemed to scare most people senseless, and if they were stationed all around the school, Black's chances of getting inside seemed very remote.
"Not really. He'd already gotten past them once," Draco reminded him. Harry shrugged.
No, all in all, the thing that bothered Harry most was the fact that his chances of visiting Hogsmeade now looked like zero.
"Of course that's your biggest concern," Fred chuckled.
"It was a big thing. All of my friends were able to go and I didn't want to be left behind because my relatives suck and now crazy dude was after me."
"Hey!"
Nobody would want Harry to leave the safety of the castle until Black was caught; in fact, Harry suspected his every move would be carefully watched until the danger had passed.
"Yet, clearly, not carefully enough," Severus drawled.
He scowled at the dark ceiling. Did they think he couldn't look after himself? He'd escaped Lord Voldemort three times, he wasn't completely useless.
"It's not a case of you being useless," Kingsley pointed out. "It's that you shouldn't have to look out for yourself if the adults in your life did their jobs."
"Besides, you're no match for me, pup."
"Really? I seem to recall differently," Harry grinned at him. Sirius pouted.
Unbidden, the image of the beast in the shadows of Magnolia Crescent crossed his mind. What to do when you know the worst is coming. Out loud, he stated firmly that he wasn't going to be murdered. The mirror sleepily said that that was the spirit.
A few people chuckled at that.
"That's it for the chapter," Pomona announced.
"We have time for a couple more yet," Minerva said. She took the book from Pomona and began reading.