Chapter 3: Flourish and Blotts
A week after arriving at the Burrow, Cassia and Ginny entered the kitchen to eat breakfast. Mr and Mrs Weasley were already there.
"Here's your letters," Mr Weasley said, passing a piece of yellowish parchment to Cassia and Ginny.
Cassia sat down next to Mr Weasley and noticed that the letter was from Hogwarts and it had the address of the Burrow on it. She opened her letter, setting the Hogwarts Express ticket to the side. She looked at the booklist and balked at it.
Second-Year Students Will Require:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshank
Break with a Bansheeby Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghoulsby Gilderoy Lockhart
Holidays with Hagsby Gilderoy Lockhart
Travels with Trollsby Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages with Vampiresby Gilderoy Lockhart
Wanderings with Werewolvesby Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yetiby Gilderoy Lockhart
Apparently Gilderoy Lockhart loved alliteration.
Ginny looked over, "You have to get Lockhart's books, too?"
"Yeah," Cassia replied still balking at the books.
Ron and Harry entered the kitchen. There was a clatter and Cassia looked over to see Ginny diving under the table. She got up, glowing.
"Letters from school," Mr Weasley said, passing two letters to the two boys. "Dumbledore already knows you and Cassia are here – doesn't miss a trick, that man." Fred and George entered the kitchen. "You two got them, too."
There was silence as the three Weasleys and Harry looked over their letters. Fred looked over at Harry's list.
"You've been told to get all of Lockhart's books, too!" Fred exclaimed. "I bet the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a fan – bet it's a witch!"
Cassia looked at him and Fred busied himself with the marmalade.
"That lot won't come cheap. Lockhart's books are expensive," George said.
Cassia almost winced at the thought. She knew that the Weasleys are poor.
"Well, we'll manage. I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand," Mrs Weasley said in a worried tone.
"Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny.
Cassia looked to see Ginny blushing and she put her elbow in the butter dish. Percy walked in, wearing the Hogwarts prefect badge.
"Morning, all. Lovely day," Percy said, briskly.
"Morning, Percy," Cassia responded, smiling. "It is a lovely day." She noticed Ron giving her a look. "What?" She was a Hufflepuff after all.
"Errol," Ron said, taking a limp owl from Percy. He extracted a letter from under Errol's wing. "Finally – he's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going try and rescue you from the Dursleys."
Cassia frowned as Ron walked off to the back door as he read the letter out loud. She looked at her supplies list. Apparently they were going to meet up with Hermione on Wednesday. She figured that she can try to contact her friends to see if they can meet up in Diagon Alley.
Mrs Weasley started clearing the table, "What're you all up to today?"
"We were going to go up to the paddock to practice Quidditch," Ron said.
"I was going to ask my friends if we can meet up in Diagon Alley on Wednesday and I wanted to finish my homework," Cassia said.
"You're just like Hermione," Ron said. "You do schoolwork while we're on holiday."
"I don't want to do it at the last minute," Cassia said. "If I get past the schoolwork, I will have plenty of time to do whatever I want. Besides, if I decide on being a Curse-Breaker, I want to make sure I have good grades."
"You're twelve and you have a career picked out already?" Ron asked, sounding incredulous.
"I don't see anything wrong with Cassia planning out her future," Percy stated, and Cassia looked at him.
She was sure that it was probably the first time that someone, besides Harry, had ever defended her. At least, she was sure that Percy was defending her, she wasn't sure.
With that, Percy got up, and left the kitchen.
"Let's go," Ron said to Harry. Ron, Fred, and George stood up.
Harry however stayed seated, "I'm not going anywhere, until you apologize to my sister for making fun of her."
From the corner of her eye, she noticed how Ginny was looking semi-proud.
"Its fine, Harry, he was just asking a question," Cassia pointed out.
Harry studied Cassia's face and got up, following Ron and the Weasley twins outside. Ginny watched, almost wistfully. "I wish they asked me if I wanted to join."
Cassia looked at her course-books list. "I'll ask them to include you." She looked for some parchment to send letters for her friends.
"Okay," Ginny said. "Maybe we can watch them practice."
"Sure," Cassia replied. "Besides, maybe once they get down, I'll let you ride the Nimbus that I have."
On Wednesday morning, Mrs Weasley woke them up very early. Mrs Weasley had given Cassia the replies from her friends. Lily and Sally-Anne couldn't make it, but Terence and Adrian could, so it was fine.
After eating a lot of bacon sandwiches, the Weasleys put their coats on. Cassia put on a yellow denim jacket that Terence got her as a late birthday present and grabbed her messenger bag with her course-book list in it. She stood next to Harry, "I need you to go down to the vault without me."
"All right," Harry replied. It was going to be cramped.
Mrs Weasley took a flowerpot off the mantle and held the flowerpot out to Harry, "After you, Harry, dear."
"W-what am I supposed to do?" Harry stammered. He looked at Cassia, who shrugged in response.
"They never traveled by Floo Powder," Ron said. "Sorry, you two, I forgot."
The only thing she knew about Floo Powder was that it was invented by Ignatia Wildsmith.
Mr Weasley asked, "Never? But how did you two get to Diagon Alley to buy your school things, last year?"
Cassia started, "Yeah, well, about that—"
"We went on the Underground," Harry finished.
Eagerly, Mr Weasley asked, "Really? Were there escapators? How exactly—"
"Not now, Arthur," Mrs Weasley said. "Floo Powder's a lot quicker, dear, but goodness me, if you've never used it before—"
"They'll be all right, Mum," Fred interrupted. "Harry, Cassia, watch us first."
He took a handful of glittering powder and stepped into the fireplace. He dropped it, said, "Diagon Alley," and was enveloped by a roar of green fire, causing him to disappear. Cassia stepped back at the sight of the green fire and grabbed Harry's arm at the sight. Her mind went straight to the memory of the green light from when Voldemort tried to kill them as babies.
"You must speak clearly, dears," Mrs Weasley said as George grabbed a handful of Floo Powder. "And be sure to get out at the right grate…"
"The right, what?" Harry asked, grabbing Cassia's hand tightly when George disappeared in green fire too.
Mrs Weasley explained, "Well, there are an awful lot of wizard fires to choose from, you know, but as long as you've spoken clearly—"
"They'll be fine, Molly, don't fuss," Mr Weasley said.
"But, dear, if they got lost, how would we ever explain to their aunt and uncle?" Mrs Weasley asked.
Cassia said, "They would find it brilliant. I can hear Dudley laughing and saying, 'So, the Potters got stuck in a chimney trying to be like Santa Claus.'"
"Well, they would think it's a brilliant joke if we got lost up a chimney, don't worry about that—" Harry spoke at the same time as Cassia.
"Well…all right…" Mrs Weasley started.
"Cassy you go first," Harry said. Cassia almost sighed and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder and stepped to the fire place.
"Now, say where you're going—" Mrs Weasley started.
"And keep your elbows tucked in," Ron advised.
"And keep your eyes shut," Mrs Weasley continued, "The soot—"
"Don't fidget or you might well fall out of the wrong fireplace—"
"But don't panic and get out too early; wait until you see Fred and George," Mrs Weasley finished.
Cassia nodded, trying to keep it all in mind. She closed her eyes, said, "Diagon Alley," and dropped the powder.
The fire felt like a warm breeze and she felt like she was being sucked down a giant drain. She seemed to be spinning very fast – the roaring in her ears was deafening – she tried to keep her eyes open, but the whirl of green flames made her feel sick. Something hard knocked her elbow and she tucked it in tightly; she was still spinning and spinning – it felt like cold hands were slapping her face – she squinted to see through the green flames, she saw a blurred stream of fireplaces and saw glimpses of the rooms beyond and she felt her bacon sandwiches were churning inside her stomach – she closed her eyes and wished everything would stop and then—
She fell forward right into some poor bystander. The bystander managed to catch her around her waist, the bystander stumbling backwards and Cassia stumbled foreword, and she squinted up at…Adrian. He steadied her, and she noticed that he had gotten a bit taller over the summer holiday.
Adrian steadied her and let her go. "Are you okay?"
Cassia straightened up, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just—" She noticed that she had left soot and ash on Adrian's travel cloak, "—Used the Floo for the first time and got lost."
"Were you looking for Diagon Alley? Because you got out in the Leaky Cauldron," Adrian told her. "Terence said that he'll be at the Quidditch shop. He doesn't like it in here." In a lowered voice, he whispered, "He says it feels dirty in here."
One-by-one the Weasleys came out of the fireplace.
"Oh, good, Cassia, you made it," Mr Weasley said with a smile. "Where's Harry?"
"I don't know," Cassia admitted. She had been side-tracked by talking to Adrian, that she hadn't noticed that Harry wasn't there.
"He probably accidentally took one wrong turn and ended up somewhere else in Diagon Alley," Adrian said.
"Yeah, he probably did," Ron agreed.
They went to the courtyard and Mr Wealsey tapped at the brick wall like Hagrid did last year. After the wall expanded, they went down to Diagon Alley.
They made their way past stores; Terence was the Quidditch shop and joined them when Adrian waved him over. Cassia was actually happy to see him that she hugged him. He did hug her back.
"You all need to check the other grates," Mrs Weasley said to the group. "He may have gotten out at the wrong grate."
Cassia nodded and Terence led them to Madam Malkin's Robes and walked in.
"Hogwarts, dears?" a witch greeted.
"I do need some new robes, but I'm looking for my brother. He may have gotten out at the wrong grate," Cassia explained. She had gotten a little taller over the summer.
"Okay, I didn't have anyone come shooting out of the grate," the witch told.
They left the shop.
Terence asked, "Did you see the book list? Seven Gilderoy Lockhart books! Seven!"
"I know," Adrian agreed. "I read them and I didn't even learn any Defense. All he did was bang on about himself."
"That was worse," Terence agreed. "I fell asleep three times reading one of his books."
"It can't possibly be that boring," Cassia said.
"You need to read one of his books," Adrian told her.
"Well, I am here to get supplies," Cassia responded.
They ran into the Weasley boys; Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr Weasley.
"I see Harry, come on," Mr Weasley urged them.
They followed after them.
Harry was looking ashy and sooty, with Hagrid. Harry's glasses were broken.
Mr Weasley was panting, "Harry, we hoped you'd only one grate too far…" He wiped his head, "Molly's frantic – she's coming now."
Ron asked, "Where did you come out?"
"Knockturn Alley," Harry said grimly.
The Weasley twins said, "Brilliant!"
"It's really not," Terence whispered to Cassia. "Lots of dark stuff there."
"We've never been allowed in," said Ron.
"I should ruddy well think not," growled Hagrid.
Mrs Weasley came over, her handbag swinging wildly in one hand, nearly hitting Adrian.
Ginny was holding Molly's hand.
Mrs Wealsey said, "Oh, Harry – oh, my dear – you could have been anywhere—" She took a clothes brush out of her bag and started beating the soot of Harry. Mr Weasley took Harry's glasses, tapped them with a wand, and returned them to Harry.
"Well, gotta be off," Hagrid said, "See yer at Hogwarts!" He took off after shaking hands with Mr Weasley.
Harry said, "Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?" They started walking up the Gringotts steps.
Cassia asked, "Who?"
"Malfoy and his father," Harry told them.
"No surprise," Adrian said. "Malfoy talks about how his dad wants more dark artefacts."
"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" asked Mr Weasley from behind them.
"No, he was selling," Harry told them.
"So, he's worried," said Mr Weasley. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something…"
"You be careful, Arthur," Mrs Weasley told him. "That family's trouble, don't go biting off more than you can chew."
Mr Weasley asked, "So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?"
"Well, considering he can bribe his way out of going Azkaban, I wouldn't doubt it," Terence said.
"Also, he can bribe the school board, so making him mad will be on your head since he can expel your children," Adrian added.
"But you're Muggles!" Mr Weasley said, looking at Hermione's parents who were at the counter ran along the great marble hall. "We must have a drink! What's that you got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!"
Cassia felt like she had gotten whiplash from the change of topic.
Harry and the Wealseys were led to the underground vaults.
Cassia nodded at Hermione, "Hello, Hermione."
Hermione nodded at Cassia, Terence, and Adrian, "Hello, Cassia, Terence, and Adrian."
"Hey," the two older Slytherins greeted.
Cassia asked, "Have you seen the booklist?"
"Yeah," Hermione said. "I bet Gildeory Lockhart must be very clever if the new Defense teacher is requesting seven of his books."
"Not really," Adrian said.
Hermione seemed to narrow her eyes, "If he isn't, Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him."
"Dumbledore hired a man with the Dark Lord's face on the back of his head, and before that, he hired a professor who wanted to bring him back and caused a student to have a mental breakdown," Adrian pointed out.
Terence and Cassia looked at each other awkwardly.
The Weasley family and Harry finally emerged from the vaults.
Harry passed Cassia a leather pouch and they left Gringotts.
"I think I saw Lee," Fred said.
"I need a new quill," Percy said offhandedly.
"We need to get Ginny new robes," Mrs Weasley said.
"I need to take Hermione's parents to the Leaky Cauldron to get some drinks," Mr Weasley said happily.
"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your school books," said Mrs Wealsey, setting off with Ginny. To Fred and George, she ordered, "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!"
"I don't know why they want to go down there. It's not that interesting," Adrian muttered.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione strolled off, while Cassia, Adrian, and Terence went off in their own direction.
"I think I need to get an owl of my own," Cassia said, looking at the owls in Eeylops Owl Emporium. She went in and got a tawny owl that she named Rosemary.
After that, she went and got some new robes at Madam Malkin's, and got a new shoulder bag that was beige with a brown star on it. They headed to Scribbulus Writing Instruments to get new quills, ink, and parchment. Terence got her a sketchbook as a late birthday gift.
They ended up going to Sugarplum's a candy shop. Cassia got some Chocoballs, while Adrian got some cauldron cakes and Terence got some pumpkin pasties.
They ended back to Quality Quidditch Supplies.
Adrian made a face at the already bought Nimbus 2001s that Cassia kind of admired.
"Malfoy's dad bought them so Malfoy can get on the team," Adrian said to Cassia.
Cassia asked, "So, he already got Terence kicked off the team?"
"Yeah," Terence said bitterly.
Cassia passed him a Chocoball in a half-hearted attempt to cheer him up.
Terence smiled at her and Adrian rolled his eyes.
They went to the cauldron shop and Adrian got a new cauldron.
"We should probably head over to Flourish and Blotts," Terence said.
They headed to the bookshop.
Cassia asked, "Okay, what's with the large crowd?"
Adrian groaned.
Terence asked, "What is it?"
"Lockhart is signing copies of his autobiography, today, right now 'til four-thirty," Adrian said, looking at the large banner across the upper windows of the bookshop.
"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed, "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"
Harry looked at the cage that Cassia was holding, "What's with the owl?"
"I decided to get an owl for myself so I'm not using Hedwig in case you need her," Cassia explained.
"I'm fine with you using Hedwig," Harry replied. "I could use the school owls."
"Yeah, but this way, we're not straining her," Cassia pointed out.
The crowd looked to be made up of witches that were around Mrs Weasley age.
There was a harassed-looking wizard at the door, "Calmly, please ladies…don't push, there…mind the books, now…"
They squeezed inside to see a large queue winding right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They grabbed a copy of Break with a Banshee and sneaked their up the line to the rest of the Weasley family.
Mr and Mrs Granger were with them.
"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs Weasley, sounding breathless. She was patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute…"
Lockhart came into view. He was at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd.
Lockhart was wearing forget-me-not blue robes, matching his eyes. He wore a pointed wizard's hat that was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy blond hair.
In person, he wasn't that good-looking, Cassia realised.
There was a man dancing around, taking photographs that emitted purple smoke with every blinding flash.
"Out of the way there," the photographer snarled at Ron, Terence, and Adrian, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet."
"Big deal," Ron said, rubbing his foot from where the photographer stepped on.
"You should apologize for stepping on my friend's foot," Cassia snapped at the photographer, who ignored her.
Lockhart heard her and looked up. He looked at Ron, then at Cassia and Ron. He stared at them and the Potter twins stared back.
Lockhart got to his feet, "It can't be Harry and Cassia Potter?"
The crowd whispered and parted for them. Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm.
Adrian grabbed Rosemary's cage and Terence grabbed a hold of Cassia's book, because she grabbed Harry's arm with both hands, pulling him back. "Let go of him!"
Lockhart took her arm and dragged her forward as well.
The crowd clapped and Cassia's face burned with the attention. There was a reason she made it into Hufflepuff. She was modest and didn't want the attention, especially not with this man, who had his arms around their shoulders. He said, "Nice big smile you two." He was smiling, "Together, you two and I are worth the front page."
Cassia considered hitting Lockhart with her bag, but that didn't seem very Hufflepuff-like.
To her surprise, Terence came up and smacked Lockhart with the book he was holding, "Let go of her."
Ron and Adrian both looked like they were trying not to laugh.
A hush fell over the crowd.
Lockhart seemed to recover from his shock. "No worries. This young man here is just trying to protect his girlfriend here."
Where did he get girlfriend from? Cassia wondered.
Lockhart allowed Cassia to leave. Her face was still burning from Lockhart's comment. He said, "When young Harry and Cassia here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, they only wanted to buy my autobiography – which I shall be happy to present them now, free of charge—" the crowd applauded. "—they had no idea that they would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. They and their school fellows will, in fact, be getting the real, magical me."
Adrian uttered a curse word under his breath, staring in disgust. Cassia agreed with him.
"Yes, ladies and gentleman, 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!"
Cassia uttered the curse word that Adrian did, but it was silenced by the crowd cheering and clapping.
Terence and Adrian laughed alongside her. Harry and Cassia ended up being presented with entire works of Lockhart.
Harry made his way out of the limelight to the edge of the room. Cassia, with her new books, passed them to Ron, "Here, take these because I'd rather buy my own." Ron's ears turned pink and he muttered a thanks. Cassia followed after Harry.
Harry seemed to have the same idea because he gave Ginny the books as well. "Yeah, I'd rather buy my own as well."
"Bet you liked that, didn't you Potter?" snarled a familiar voice. Cassia groaned. "Famous Harry and Cassia Potter can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."
"Leave them alone, they didn't want all that!" Ginny demanded, glaring at Malfoy. It had to have been the first time she had spoken in front of Harry.
"Oh, look, Potter. You've got yourself a fan club," drawled Malfoy.
Ron and Hermione came over with stacks of Lockhart's books. Adrian and Terence came over as well.
A silver snake on a walking stick was placed on Malfoy's shoulder, "Now, now, Draco. Play nicely." He looked at Harry and Cassia, "Mr and Miss Potter. Lucius Malfoy. We meet at last." He used his cane to move Harrry's fringe back to look at the scar. "Your scar is legend. As, of course, is the wizard who gave it to you."
"Voldemort killed our parents. He's just a power-hungry murderer, who killed innocent people," Cassia pointed out. "And get your eyesore of a cane of my brother's head."
Mr Malfoy did just that. "Hmm, you must be very brave to mention his name. Or very foolish."
Cassia said, "You were foolish for following along with what Voldemort was saying. I bet you thought of him as a hero, targeting after Muggle-borns, didn't you?"
Harry grabbed her arm, pulling her backwards. In a low voice, he said, "Cassy, knock it off."
Mr. Malfoy must've gotten bored and looked at Hermione, "And you must be Miss Granger. Yes, Draco's told me all about you…and your parents," He looked at the Grangers. "Muggles, aren't they?" He looked at Terence and Adrian, "Higgs and Pucey. Still friends with the Hufflepuff, I see."
"I'd rather be friends with a Hufflepuff than with rubbish like your son," Adrian said to Mr Malfoy coldly.
The older blond man seemed to ignore that and looked at Ron, "Let me see. Red hair, vacant expressions…" He took a tatty book out of Ginny's cauldrons. "Tatty, secondhand book," He smiled coldly, "You must be the Weasleys."
Mr Weasley arrived, noticed Mr Malfoy and was now clearly trying to ignore him by saying, "Children, it's mad in here. Let's go outside."
"Well, well, well. Weasley Senior," Mr Malfoy spoke.
"Lucius," Mr Weasley replied.
"Busy time at the Ministry, Arthur? All those extra raids; I do hope they're paying you overtime." He held up Ginny's book, "Though, judging by the state of this, I'd say not." He put the book in Ginny's cauldron. "What's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard…if they don't even pay you well for it?"
"We have a very difference idea about what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," Mr Weasley said.
"Clearly," replied Mr Malfoy. "Associating with Muggles…and I thought your family could sink no lower."
"Like you have room to talk," Terence said. "At least his family didn't sink so low as to become a Death Eater and then crawl back claiming to be under the Imperius Curse, just to save his own arse."
Mr Malfoy brushed that off, "I'll see you at work."
Malfoy Junior seemed to narrow his eyes at Terence, "See you at school."
"I hope not," Adrian replied.
The two Malfoys left.
The larger group, however it seemed like the rather good mood was ruined. They all had to say their goodbyes while leaving through the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron.