Summary of the last chapter:

Harry is visited by Dobby the house-elf, who warns him not to go back to Hogwarts. Dobby won't tell him anything specific, just awaiting him there. Harry promises to stay away (but doesn't mean it) and gets the letters back that Dobby somehow snatched from Vernon's meeting with a potential customer doesn't go well and puts the Dursleys in a bad mood. When Harry sets snakes on Dudley, he's locked into his room. Harry eventually sneaks out to meet with Hermione and Neville in Diagon Alley. His attempts to buy a new wand fail, but he gets a brand new floating trunk. He then accidentally enters Knockturn Alley and runs into Mr. Malfoy who's exiting a highly suspicious shop. He finally meets the Grangers in the Leaky Cauldron.

A/N: When retelling a story with a slightly different premise, there's always the issue of having to describe things that remain largely unchanged. This is true for quite a few parts of this story, until things finally develop in an altogether different direction. Hopefully, I made enough change s to keep things interesting for you. The events in the bookstore were of the kind that needed to happen like in canon, for obvious reasons. As a general rule, I don't change how people act if Tom's presence in Harry's mind doesn't have any influence on them or on events that took place.

At Flourish and Blotts

To Harry's, Tom's and Hermione's surprise, a lot of people suddenly seemed to share their view that the bookstore was THE place to be, as there was an unduly huge crowd at Flourish and Blotts. They soon found out the reason why: The illustrious author of this year'sDefence Against the Dark Arts books, Gilderoy Lockhart, was present for a book signing. Hermione was thrilled.

"What's so special about him?" asked Harry, keeping his arms close to his body to make himself smaller in the crowded room.

"Why, haven't you seen that he's written our entire booklist? The man is an absolute professional in Defence – he has dealt with vampires, banshees, ghouls, werewolves and yetis, all by himself! Finally a competent teacher!"

"I very much doubt it," said Tom to Harry (as he regrettably couldn't talk to Hermione in person).

"Why?"

"Because if what the twins told us is true – and Quirrell's sad demise says it probably is – there's a curse on the position. Only an idiot would be willing to take it."

Harry passed his doubts on to his friend, who would have none of it. "No, that can't possibly be true. I bet he just feels that after all the dangers he has faced, the curse won't be an issue for him. I bet he'll simply break it."

She squeezed into the line in front of the desk, where Lockhart was posing for the cameras, a huge smile on his face as he showed off his perfect teeth. "He's handsome, too!" Hermione sighed, making Harry roll his eyes. Lockhart knew how to dress himself, Harry had to give him that, although his style was a little too flamboyant for his own taste.

As it turned out, they generally disagreed when it came to attracting the public's attention. Lockhart seemed to bask in it and probably thought Harry enjoyed it, too. As soon as Lockhart had spotted The-Boy-Who-Lived in the crowd, he leapt at him and dragged him to his side. There was nothing Harry could do without causing a scene, so he just stood there with a sour expression on his face when the photographer of the Daily Prophet took their picture.

He was also gifted with a signed edition of 'Magical Me' under the applause of the languishing – mostly female – audience. As soon as common politeness allowed it, Harry escaped from his highly embarrassing future teacher.

"That was awful!" he complained to no one in particular, only to be scoffed at by Ron Weasley, who happened to have overheard him.

"No need to pretend," the Gryffindor said. "I bet you liked it. Really, what's it with you that you can't even walk into a bookstore without making headlines?"

"If you look really closely," said Tom to Harry in an unnecessary confidential whisper, "you can make out the green-eyed monster right there on his left shoulder."

Before Harry could react to either statement, a small red haired girl punched Ron heavily in the ribs. "Leave him alone!" chided the ginger who Harry assumed was his younger sister. "He didn't do anything to make Lockhart do that, and it was clear as day that he didn't enjoy it at all."

"Thank you," Harry said, looking at the feisty girl, who now blushed and seemed to shrink under his attention. "What's your name?"

"Ginny Weasley …" the suddenly very timid girl peeped, clinging to the cauldron filled with books in her hands.

"Oh, look at that!" suddenly came a familiar, haughty voice from behind Harry. "Potter has gotten himself a girlfriend! And from such a reputable – if poor – family, too! If you want to be chivalrous, gift her with your books. Otherwise they might go without food for a month to pay for them all."

Tom, as usual, gave the running commentary. "It really makes you wonder if money and blood status are the only topics Draco ever gets to talk about at home. Ron, I get, but what's his problem?"

"Don't you dare insult our family!" shouted Ron threateningly, pushing himself in front of Harry. His sister's sudden shyness seemed to have passed as well, as she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, taking a proud stance right beside her brother.

Fortunately, both of their fathers had noticed the impending quarrel and came closer. Unfortunately, they didn't make the move to berate their children, but rather to continue with the insults. Draco's dad made some snide remarks about Mr. Weasley's work at the Ministry, expressing his concern that they might not be paying him enough overtime for the raids of decent citizens' homes, judging by the second-hand books in Ginny's cauldron, which he had taken out and inspected. First, Mr. Weasley tried to stay cool, but when Mr. Malfoy proceeded to call him a disgrace to the wizarding world, he flung himself at the taunting wizard to defend his honour.

While all the Weasley kids cheered him on, the Grangers, Harry, Tom and the customers in the bookstore watched with bated breath as tempers, cauldrons, fists and books went flying, until the shop keeper stepped in and Hagrid appeared out of nowhere, separating the two and dragging Mr. Weasley away from his opponent with a cut lip.

Mr. Malfoy had suffered some damage, too, even if it was mostly to his dignity. He picked up the books that had fallen out of Ginny's cauldron and put them back into it. If it was meant to be a gesture of good will, he ruined it by saying: "Here, girl, take your second-hand books – it's obviously the best your father can give you."

Fortunately, Mr. Weasley was still being soothed by Hagrid and never heard Mr. Malfoy's last insult before he left the store.

The Grangers, very bewildered at the conduct of two adult wizards in a public bookstore, gently steered Harry and Hermione to the much quieter back of the store where they could hopefully finish their shopping in quiet.

Here, they finally found Neville and his grandmother, who had preferred to observe the happenings from the sidelines. Apparently, they had been here for a while, but with so many people and distractions, Hermione and Harry had not seen their friend earlier.

Neville introduced them all to his grandmother, a very stern looking, thin woman in the weirdest clothes Harry had ever seen. He and Tom kept staring at her hat with morbid fascination: It had a stuffed bird attached to it which seemed to nod every time Mrs. Longbottom moved her head.

She was extremely displeased about the altercation they had witnessed, and assured the Grangers that this was not how decent wizards were supposed to act. "Tempers are flying high at the moment," she explained. "You see, Mr. Weasley, who's working for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry, pushed through a new law that met a lot of opposition from families like the Malfoys: The Muggle Protection Act was designed to protect Muggles from potentially dangerous magical artefacts, but it enables Ministry officials to conduct raids at private residences and businesses in search of such items. Especially the old and wealthy pure-blood families are enraged."

"Oh," said Mr. Granger. "I understand why this is controversial. The sacredness of people's homes is protected by law in our world, too. Raids are only possible if there's very strong evidence of a serious crime."

"Well, the Malfoys always knew how to make sure that no dirt sticks," said Mrs. Longbottom disdainfully. "Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater under You-Know-Who, but walked away with a white robe, claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse."

"That's a forbidden spell which, if cast on you, makes you do whatever that person tells you to," explained Harry, seeing the Grangers' puzzled expression.

Mrs. Granger looked horrified. "That's possible?"

"It's an Unforgivable Curse," said Mrs. Longbottom, "and punishable with a life-sentence in Azkaban. But let's not talk about such disagreeable topics any longer on such a fine day. I'm curious to finally meet my grandson's friends. He has told me so much about the both of you, the most surprising bit being the fact that you, Mr. Potter, are as good as family to us!"

"Please, Mrs. Longbottom, call me Harry!"

"Then you must call me Aunt Augusta! Now my dears, tell me what your favourite subjects are and which teachers you like best. Did you know that I was best friends with Minnie McGonagall during my Hogwarts years?"

Mrs. Longbottom – or rather Aunt Augusta – turned out to be as chatty as Hermione and very interested in everything they had to say. The two families and Harry talked amiably while doing the rest of their shopping. As Neville would be going with them, Aunt Augusta enquired how they were all going to get to the Grangers' from here, and didn't quite know what to think about the fact that they would be travelling by car. She deemed the Muggles' insistence on travelling in metal boxes powered by means of explosion highly dangerous.

Tom laughed out loud (well, to Harry's ears) at that. Mr. Granger tried to soothe her worries and assured her that they would deliver Neville safe and sound back to London on Saturday, two days before the holidays ended.

They would meet not at the Leaky, but at the wizards' magical hospital St. Mungo's, which Harry was astonished to learn was located in the heart of the city. Neville's parents were longterm residents of the 'Irrevocable Spell Damage' ward. He and his Grandmother always came for a last visit at the end of summer holidays, as Neville wouldn't be able to see his parents again until Christmas.

It had been difficult to get exact directions from Augusta at first, as she used wizard means to get there. When the Grangers told her that they would need a Muggle street address and a house number, she simply decided to check and Apparated there with Hermione as a side-along, so she could memorize whatever landmarks she deemed helpful.

Hermione was no more fond of side-along Apparition than Harry had been, and almost vomited on her shoes when they got back.

"I'm very sorry, dear – it gets better when you are more used to it, though not by much, to be honest. Side-along is very disorientating. Neville much prefers the Floo."

"Really?" asked Mrs. Granger, appalled. "It's worse that the flu?"

It took a moment to explain the misunderstanding, as the Floo Network wasn't something that Harry or the Grangers were very familiar with.

"Well, there you have the reason why Muggles love cars," Mrs. Granger remarked drily, offering Hermione a moist towelette. "I guess not everything is better in the wizarding world."

Aunt Augusta shrugged and pulled a smaller bag out of her rather big purse, which she handed to Neville. Then she waved her wand at it, making it triple in size, so that their friend now held a travelling bag in his hands.

"And there's the reason wizards love their magic," said Mr. Granger to his wife, smiling. "How lucky that Hermione and Harry will get to enjoy the best of both worlds. And maybe we can introduce Neville to some of its advantages as well."

Aunt Augusta nodded. "There you go, dear. Have fun with your friends and don't give anybody any trouble. We'll meet on Saturday at St. Mungo's then." With a last good-bye she Apparated away, while the Grangers headed back to the Leaky Cauldron with their charges, and from there to the Muggle street where they had parked their car.

A/N: On a similar note as my author's note above the chapter: I'm slowly heading to the completion of book 3, which means I'll soon have to think about what I want to do with book 4. It's the only one for which I don't have a clear idea yet what will happen – except for the ending.

Will Harry participate in the tournament as in canon? There probably wouldn't be much to write about if he didn't. If he does, however, I'm afraid many things will be very similar to canon, as there's no reason why the tasks should be different. So basically, my question for you (if you're interested in a little brainstorming) is this: If you did a re-write of book 4, what would you like to see changed?