Harry potter and the Time of Retirement
Everything related to Harry Potter belongs to JKR
Chapter 30 – Year 2
The following days were less and less awkward, until it finally seemed like a normal vacation. Time passed by with quidditch, helping around the house and playing. Mostly, things were going well: he got along with all the Weasleys, except Percy – that politely ignored him whenever possible – and Ginny that while obviously making an effort to act casual still kept blushing a little too much in his presence, on when he somehow touched her, as to make clear she still had a crush on him.
'Puppy love' kept thinking Harry, smiling a little every time it happened. It was pleasant to have Ginny, even a pre-pubescent one, fascinated by him. It brought good memories back, especially from the first years of his own marriage. In return, Harry tried to threat her as nicely as he could, in a sort of protective older-brother way.
Still, whenever Harry wanted to make a break from the kids in the house, he tended to join Mr. Weasley in his shed talking about Muggles, and working on their stuff. The weird fascination that the wizard had with them seemed only to grow with each detail Harry revealed about their traditions and technology. Mr Weasley seemed heartbroken when he tried once again, and failing, to make electric devices work inside the Burrow – the incompatibility between electric appliances and magic apparently insuperable. They started working on it – again – at the first hours of the day but it was useless.
"If you really want to enjoy the muggle world, sir, you just have to go into it" said finally Harry, abandoning a set of wires on the ground.
"Yes, yes… you gave me many ideas already, Harry. I really want to go to that mall you spoke about. Maybe I could bring the boys with me, too."
"Eh. I still think it would be better to go alone the first time and get experience, but it is up to you."
"Going alone would not be as fun, Harry, believe me. So, plain clothes you said?"
"Absolutely. Pants, shirt, shoes, of bland colors. The less is better. And the attitude, as I said" added evenly Harry.
"I won't be acting like a muggleborn in Hogwarts, boy" said Mr Weasley, rolling his eyes.
"Act like you have seen it all already dozens of times, or you will. Sir." countered Harry with a smile, now standing up.
"Leaving, Harry? We still have to set up the bicycle."
"For today I am done. I think I'll gather someone and start flying or something."
"Have fun" said Mr. Weasley, focusing on one more piece of his collection.
In the outside garden, Harry took a minute to readjust his sight to the light. Judging by the sun, it must be late in the morning – yet not so late it was time for lunch already. Surprisingly, no one was in sight. Had something happened? Usually at this hour there were people around, from one or more of the kids tending to the garden to Mrs Weasley completing house chores.
Stepping inside the house, Harry started to hear the voice of one of the twins in what seemed a sing-along phrase: "Mom and Gilderoy under a tree, kissinnn…"
"I said stop it, Fred!" said an irate, and blushing, Mrs Weasley.
"No, you said that to George, mom" said the boy, rushing away from her approaching figure and up the stairs, followed by his sniggering twin, leaving their mother in the kitchen looking definitely like a full teapot, her hands on her waist and steaming.
'Figuratively' sniggered mentally Harry. Still, the name Gilderoy nagged at him from somewhere. What was…
"Harry, Harry! Where were you? All our Hogwarts letters arrived!" said an excited Ginny, rushing at him from the table where she was sitting together with Ron and Percy.
'Right' thought Harry. Gilderoy Lockhart, of course. He clearly remembered the unlucky writer, though his sillyness and surname was all he could recall after so, so many years. 'Did he even help, last time?'
Forcing himself to smile, Harry picked up his own, still sealed, letter proceeding then to open and read it. Nothing surprising inside.
"Why so many books from the same guy?" he asked to the room.
"We all got them, Harry. And I mean, all years: Percy, Fred and George, even Ginny" said Ron without raising his head from the letter.
"Sure, you are starting this year. We'll be schoolmates, then" said Harry, at the blushing – once again – little girl.
"Don't even think on going Hufflepuff, Ginevra" added Percy from his corner "No one would take you seriously as a 'puff."
"Damn right!" said Ron only to cower at his mother's horrified "Ronald!", said after a quick glance to Harry that, politely, acted like he did not hear.
"Gold and red would suit your hair" said casually Harry "but it's not a fashion choice. Where do you want to go, Ginny?"
She didn't answer, though she seemed like she had something to say. Finally, her mother came to her rescue:
"All houses are perfectly fine, dear. And you'll be sorted exactly where you should be, too."
"If Slytherin, change your surname" said Ron, rolling his eyes. Before cowering again in front of his mother, and her "Absolutely not! I mean it, all houses are fine. Period, Ron".
"I would have not minded Slytherin" added Percy "but at the time I wanted more to stay with my brothers. I was a kid".
"Connections are useful, true" said Harry, sitting down at the table "but family is important too, right?"
"…right" said Percy, giving him a quick glance before ignoring him again. 'Rude', thought Harry.
"Here, dear, take some food. My husband kept you busy way too long, for that foolishness of his" said Mrs Weasley, in a mix between fondness and tiredness, while placing a tray filled with tea and pastries in front of him. Harry, finding himself hungry, started to eat.
In the background, Mrs Weasley started talking about when to go to shop for all the new school supplies her children needed – and, in a lower voice that still didn't escape everyone else, where she would find the money for it. This seemed to dampen a little the enthusiasm of the children, who quieted down and either started eating themselves, or went back upstairs.
A couple days later, late in the morning, they were all sitting at the table chatting and relaxing after breakfast when Mrs. Weasley gasped and passed to her husband the Daily Prophet she had just bought from an owl. "Arthur, look here! We should go. I mean, it would be good for the kids to meet the author of their textbooks. Right?" she said, now mysteriously embarassed.
Surprised, Mr. Weasley picked it up, read it, and started laughing softly while he shook his head "Good for the children, eh, Molly? I am sort of jealous, you know". This didn't help the reddening of his wife's cheecks.
"What, dad, what?" asked Fred – or George – trying to grasp the newspaper. Finally, their dad let it go and they spread it open on the table for everyone to see. In the middle of the page was a huge ad:
'Today – At Flourish and Boots, Diagon Alley
The One and Only Gilderoy Lockhart
Will be signing copies of his autobiography
Magical Me
12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.'
"It's mom's crush!" almost screamed one of the twins.
"We can't miss him!" said the others, grinning right in Mrs. Weasley's face.
Mrs. Weasley seemed to be getting angry, but her husband placed his hand on her arm and said "I am your mom's only crush, boys, believe me". Mrs Weasley, surprised, showed a huge smile and placed her hand over his. Even Harry felt a bit sappy, and happy, at this scene.
"Still" continued Mr. Weasley "It would be good to go and meet this Lockhart chap. Beside, there could be a discount on his stuff, today" he added sarcastically.
"Good point" murmured Harry on his seat. Ron, that was sitting next to him, probably heard him as he turned his head, but added no comments on his own.
Quickly, new plans were made for the whole group to have an early lunch and then to go to Diagon Alley. Immediately after breakfast, then, Mrs. Weasley started cooking – "Ginny, stay and help" – after sending all the boys upstairs to put everything in order and then get dressed.
Ron, once inside his room, started grumbling on how he was planning to play some Quidditch that morning, "not wasting time on that stupid dumbass guy", and while Harry partially agreed he remained silent and kept working on fixing the mess that their room was. As in, mostly picking Ron's stuff up from the floor.
"Aren't you curious about this Lockhart, though? If the new professor choose so many of his tales as textbooks, he must be an experienced wizard" said finally Harry, with a wry smile on his lips.
"Yeah, I guess. But I would like to watch him do the spells, not just read about them" said Ron, shrugging and stopping a second to scroll over a quidditch magazine.
Harry, uncaring, went on with his work – only to stop, once again, when his eyes stopped on the sleeping form of Wormtail. No matter how hard he tried to ignore him, his constant presence in the room, while unavoidable, simply irked Harry more and more.
With a sigh of tiredness and one last glare at the rat, Harry suddenly went back to cleaning, his mind focusing. 'It must be destiny' he thought, giving one more glance to the rat, and starting to plan for that evening. He had a couple ideas already…
Finally, when the room has long been cleaned already – as much as possible, for being a boy's room – a knock came from the door, and Ginny walked inside.
"You again?" simply said Ron from his bed, where he and Harry were playing chess. In the beginning he kept teasing Ginny for how often she came around, but it seemed like her presence was just bothering him lately. And, in truth, beside when she was helping her mother or the couple of times she went away to meet her friends – 'Luna', guessed Harry – she tended to be around Ron and him almost constantly. It was cute in a way, but it also worried Harry that his talk might have encouraged her crush instead of trying to set her up as a polite, semi-distant friend.
"Do you have to be a git every time, Ron?" she said simply, sitting down herself next to them.
"If you don't like it, go. This is my room" he said simply, before moving a rook. She didn't answer, but got a little more red. Harry shrugged mentally, while examining his own next move - and the difficult position he was in. 'I can't believe this' he was thinking, considering how, old age and all, he was only able to be roughly on Ron's level, in chess. Either he was really bad, or Ron was really good. 'Probably both'.
After he moved, he started talking "So, how is the lunch going? Today's menu?"
"Nothing special. Veggie soup and garlic bread" said Ginny "I cut the vegetables."
"So impressive" said Ron, earning only a kick from his sister, and then a snort from Harry at his yelp of pain. Before a sibling's quarrel could start, Harry spoke again:
"Not even a dessert, at least?"
"Nope. Mom said she doesn't want us to fall asleep after lunch."
"I hope we can get some ice cream at Fortesque's, then" said Ron, moving again.
"I wouldn't mind that" said Ginny. Harry nodded, too.
"Shouldn't you get dressed yourself, Gin?" said Ron.
"Sure. I have time. Who cares?" she answered.
"Oh, maybe he cares" sniggered Ron while nodding at Harry, and earning himself another kick from his blushing sister. A red shade that only got worse when Harry added in a teasing tone "Who knows?".
Moving one of his knights, Harry smiled again, lightly. This was not a bad way to spend time, overall. 'Not at all', he thought.
"How come there are so many people already?" said frustrated Mrs. Weasley, when they arrived in front of Flourish and Boots. And, undeniably, even though they came here immediately after exiting from the fireplace of the Leaking Cauldron and the signing event had barely started, there was already a sizeable crowd of people in line.
'Mostly witches' thought Harry, snorting, and turning by instinct towards Mr. Weasly who caught his look but, judging from his expression, couldn't understand it. His amusement damped, Harry shrugged.
"I am not standing in line for him, mom. Can we just go and find our school books?" said Ron, whining a little. Mrs Weasley thought about it for a second, turned to look at the smiling face of Lockhart away in the shop, turned again and said "Arthur…."
"Yes, Molly, I get it" he answered, sighing a little. "Ginny, you come with me. Ron, Harry, do you think you can do it alone?"
"Sure dad" said Ron, giving a bump to Harry's shoulder "Let's go" and with this, he left. Harry, quietly, followed him. Behind him, he could hear the twins adding "We are going too, dad" and what seemed a "Yes" of agreement from Percy.
"These women are crazy" said Ron, once they were far enough, looking up and down a middle-aged witch who was admiring a copy of Lockhart's biography as if it was a piece of art.
"No one said fans are reasonable" added lightly Harry. "So, first book in the list?"
"Beside those absurd Lockhart's books? We only need the standard book of spells for the year."
While searching for it, they got pushed away by several more witches, and managed also to meet some of their year mates, from all the houses. Seemed like half of the wizarding population was in Diagon Alley today, and a good share of them absolutely had to buy books.
At least, they could spend some time chatting with everyone they met. Well, Ron mostly did, especially with other Gryffindors - "Oh, you are here too Neville? Don't tell me that even your grandma…" – or with Slytherins – "It must be nice to be slimy today, easier to move around" said Ron smirking to Harry, while in hearing range of Blaise Zabini and his family. At this, in particular, Harry tried to act like he suddenly had to check some book on the side, as Zabini's parents narrowed their eyes and whispered between themselves while glaring at Ron.
Still, it was reasonably interesting to tour around such a crowded place for once, thought Harry. Plus, there were some interesting books to check, stuff that was not present in the otherwise superior library at Hogwarts for some reasons: fiction, current trends, or some dark-related tome. Unsure, Harry finally picked up a set of three books on sale about older aurors and their cases, just for the heck of it.
'Paying for this would also work as an excuse' he reasoned, thinking of his overall idea for later in the day. With a focused expression, he turned towards Ron.
"Ron, are we done? Let's go back to your mom for a second".
Shrugging, and waving his hand at Dean Thomas who was busy picking up some supplies with his mom, Ron moved back towards the main line of people in wait. Even among the crowd, his mom was easy to find thanks to her size and hair color – next to her was Percy, loaded with his own books for the year, while Mr. Weasley and Ginny were talking a couple steps on the side.
"Are you done, boys?" asked distractedly Mrs. Weasley to them, while smiling constantly at the now close sight of Lockhart.
"Yeah, mom" said Ron, while Harry gave a quick tug to Mrs. Weasley's skirt. "Excuse me, but, I don't have money with me. Could I go to the bank for one minute?"
"Money?" said Mrs Weasley, confused for a second "Right, Gringott! We have to go, Arthur! But…." she concluded, a semi-desperate glance at the two witches left in front of her.
"Merlin, Molly" said Mr Weasly, but with more affection than stress "Fine. I don't mind getting out of here for a second, anyway. You all stay here."
"Mr. Weasley, I would like to come" added Harry, but Mr. Weasley just shushed him "No, Harry, it's ok. I have your key, remember? Stay here" before leaving.
'What it is with that man?' thought Harry, stressed, before turning to Ron.
"Ron, I have things to do at Gringott's myself. If your mom ask, I am with your dad" he said, before dropping his set of books in his hands and rushing out. He could hear Ron calling him from behind, but he did not stop.
Outside, he needed a second to find Mr. Weasley among the crowd, before rushing to him and starting to walk at his side. When he glanced down on him, surprised, Harry said:
"Sorry I disobeyed, sir. I really have things to ask about, in Gringott".
"Harry…" started Mr. Weasley, only to shake his head sadly, apparently giving up "You are always like this. You never really listen, don't you?"
'Look who's talking' thought Harry, while trying to fake an appropriately chastized face.
The two of them walked silently across Diagon Alley and into Gringott. The roads looked relatively empty, compared to how the bookstore had been, but it was as colorful as ever with shops on each side; a couple of them caught Harry's eyes. 'Later, maybe' he thought regretfully – having to rely on the relatively meagre amount Dumbledore allowed him the previous year, there was so much he would like to buy and so little he actually could.
On the marble steps of the bank they met the Grangers, coming outside, but beside a polite nod from Harry and a smile from Hermione's mom, no one stopped to talk. Hermione showed neither friendship nor hostility to him, and for a second Harry wondered if that was to be taken as a positive or negative sign. 'Whatever' he thought, a spark of bitter nostalgia biting at him. They were not friends, and that was it.
Inside the bank, Mr Weasley approached a teller and asked to visit a couple of vaults, providing the keys when requested. At one point, he turned towards Harry:
"There was something you had to ask, right Harry?"
"Yes sir" said Harry, checking quickly if other people were walking towards the entrance of the cart tracks "but it can wait. It's about my vault anyway."
Mr Weasley shrugged, and after a moment of pause one goblin arrived motioning for them to follow. Entering the rocky passageway Harry gave a quick glance around himself, seeing how there were customers both in front and behind them, though at a distance. Finally arriving at the tracks, the goblin whistled and a cart arrived for them. Mr. Weasley entered it, but Harry stopped and, slowly, re-tied his shoes while the man and the goblin watched.
"Mr Potter, if you could hurry" said the goblin, while another one – followed by a couple of senior wizards – got closer and whistled, calling one more cart that stopped next to the one with Mr Weasley inside. Harry, rushing on his feet, approached this one.
"No, Harry, we go together. Move" said Mr. Weasley, now obviously irritated. Harry, that had opened the other one, went back – not before dropping, as incospicuosly as he could, what seemed a brown bundle in the back of that cart.
Sitting down next to Mr Weasley, Harry gave a quick glance behind him while the cart started moving. 'I hope it works' he thought, a tense expression on his face. Finally shrugging, he relaxed on the seat while the cart speeded up and their trip into the depth of Gringott began.