Living in the Leaky Cauldron was amazing and weird all at the same time.
Hazel was always the first up, and it was strange that she could take her time. No rushing downstairs to cook the dozen pieces of bacon for Dudley. She had time to lie for a bit, brush her hair and give Hedwig, who had arrived on their first morning, a stroke. 'A very smart bird' Tom had called her, and he couldn't have been more right.
Harry would never appear before mid-morning at the earliest, so she had time to settle down near the fire and read her books after breakfast. It was nice, being able to read her magical books in the open without worrying about them being taken away from her. Tom even had a few books behind the bar that he was happy to lend her.
The only bad thing was if Hawthorne was hanging around. Sometimes she spent the morning outside their bedroom until Harry was awake and other days she came down to sit in the Leaky Cauldron, on her own, in the corner. Her mood hadn't improved since that night in Little Whinging, with never so much as a smile to Tom, or the staff, or anyone else who came over to talk with her. Hazel had a horrible feeling that she was watching her, any time she took her eyes away.
When Harry was finally ready, they could step out into the little backyard of the Leaky Cauldron and tap the third brick from the left above the bins with their wands. That would open the archway to Diagon Alley with all its colour and noise and wonders. Fudge had asked them not to leave the street and there was no problem with that, because there was always something happening.
One day a wizard was making tiny dragons of fire with his wand that flew over the crowd's head and belched flame. Another day saw a witch with musical instruments that played themselves. It was quite spectacular until the instruments started fighting amongst themselves and needed to be separated by the witch with her wand. At least she now knew what it sounded like when a tuba tried to play Stravinsky while hitting a trumpet at the same time.
On the first day they went to Gringotts to refill their bags with gold galleons, silver sickles and bronze knuts. With the money weighing down their pockets, it took an awful lot of restraint not to just go out and spend it.
One day she had to stop Harry from buying a full set of Chudley Cannon quidditch robes ("You don't even support them!") but then the next day, he had to stop her from buying a steam-powered set of Remeberall Scales from the Apothecary ("There's nothing wrong with the scales you have!").
At least they agreed on their school supplies. Potion ingredients, quills, parchment and ink. Hazel bought herself some pink-coloured ink when Harry wasn't looking but then he thought he'd gotten away with buying himself a moving figurine of the Ballycastle Bats chaser so that was okay.
They came to the bottom of Diagon Alley and like they had each day for the past week, they went their separate ways.
"Enjoy drooling over your flying twigs," she said with a smile.
Harry tutted and shook his head, like he was bitterly disappointed in her, "Enjoy clearing up rat droppings."
"I will!"
Harry went straight for Quality Quidditch Supplies to drool over the brooms and Hawthorne went with him today. Thank goodness, it wasn't very nice having someone looking over her shoulder all day.
Magical Menagerie was just off Diagon Alley in a weird street where every shop was very narrow but had about five lopsided floors that stretched up to the sky. Kind of like the Burrow, only without the ghoul. And all the Weasleys.
Inside were large cages in which were all sorts of amazing animals. There was everything from rats doing handstands to frogs that croaked musical scales together.
"Good afternoon, Hazel," said a short and stocky witch with messy hair and a patchwork hat.
"Good afternoon, Mrs Harewood! Am I too late for feeding?"
"You've just missed it, but the kneazles need brushed if you would like to help?"
"Okay!" Hazel took the brush eagerly. Then realised she had no idea what a kneazle was, "Where are they?"
"They're just down here."
Kneazles turned out to be very similar to cats, but knee-high with huge moustache-like whiskers. They purred like cats too, especially as they were being brushed!
Hazel took her time with each and every one, making sure every knot was worked out and that every kneazle was purring happily when she was finished. This was like heaven. No worries, no aunt or uncle, no Aunt Marge. Just her and the animals, making sure they were cared for and content.
"Now," Her shoulder was aching and her knees sore from kneeling, but it was a long time since she'd felt this content, "Did I get you all?"
The group in front of her parted, some going for a sleep and others for some food. At the back of the cage was another, much smaller, kneazle. He looked different to the others, his fur ginger instead of black or grey. His face was quite flat, like he'd run into a wall but what caught her attention were his eyes. They were yellow and deep, like golden pools. She'd never seen anything like them.
"Hello," She gently shuffled towards him, "Would you like a brush?"
He watched her warily.
"Mrs Harewood, what's the name of this kneazle?"
"Aw, that's Crookshanks. He's been here for years, the poor darling. No one wants to take him. Be careful around him, Hazel, he does scratch."
Poor Crookshanks! How could anyone not want such a wonderful animal? She knew how that felt, not being wanted.
Runt…
If he tore her to shreds then so be it.
Crookshanks didn't move away but he was watching her without blinking. She carefully lifted the brush and held it for him to sniff. So far so good. No sign of any claws.
She slowly brushed through his fur. He seemed to like it, but he was still staring intently.
"I'm not going to hurt you," She whispered, "Promise."
He settled and closed his eyes. She might have even caught a few quiet purrs.
Far too quickly, it was dark and time to get back to the Leaky Cauldron. If she was any later, Hawthorne would have a heart attack.
Evening in the Leaky Cauldron was always fun. It seemed like there was someone new and interesting in every day. That evening there was a group of wizards at the bar debating furiously which seeker was the best in the league, and in an alcove a group of witches gossiped about 'the Weird Sisters' and giggled intensely. A mixed group of young witches and wizards seemed to be planning an evening in the muggle world while a table of dwarves laughed loudly and spilled their drinks everywhere.
The pub slowly emptied for the evening. The groups of witches and wizards headed to bed, the young group reappeared in muggle clothes and left for the muggle street and the dwarves collapsed into their cups and needed Tom and Cassandra, the barmaid, to bring them up to their rooms.
Harry sat in one of the comfy armchairs with his broom-repair kit open and his Nimbus 2000 resting on his lap. Hazel had taken the chair closed to the fire with a book resting on the armrest. Tom was putting the chairs up on the tables behind them and whistling tunelessly while Hawthorne sat silently in her corner.
"You seem very quiet tonight," she said at last.
"It's nothing," he said after a long pause.
"It doesn't seem like nothing."
"That night, after we left Privet Drive. What did you see in that alleyway?"
"I'm not sure," she thought back. What had she seen? "It was big."
"Like a dog?"
"I don't know," It might have been the light of the fire, but he looked worried, "Why?"
"Just something I saw in Flourish and Blotts, when I was getting my books."
"According to the book, it's called a grim. It's an omen of death."
Hazel's stomach lurched horribly, "In Little Whinging?"
He shrugged.
"It might have just been a dog, or maybe nothing at all. When Hawthorne looked, there was nothing there."
"Yeah, maybe," He went back to tending his broom and she went back to her book.
"You don't suppose we could stay here next year?" Harry asked after a while.
She had been thinking exactly the same thing. Their few weeks at the Leaky Cauldron had been like a dream, "According to the Minister of Magic himself, we have to go back to Privet Drive next summer."
"Do we have to?"
"Do you want to get in even more trouble?"
"Do you think Uncle Vernon will have calmed down by then?"
"Probably not. We'll be lucky if he's calmed down by the time we finish school completely."
"And I'd still like to know why I wasn't punished for blowing up Aunt Marge."
Hazel shrugged, "Maybe they found out about Dobby, now that he's free?"
"But why didn't Fudge just tell me that? Why did he get really awkward when I asked?"
"Because no one's ever been that annoyed at not being expelled before?"
"There's definitely more to it then that. What book are you reading anyway?" She showed him the cover, "The Tales of Beedle the Bard?"
"Tom leant it to me. I want to finish it before we have to go back."
"What's it about?"
"It's a children's book. It's got stories like Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump and The Wizard and the Hopping Pot."
Harry laughed, "Aren't you a bit old to be reading something like that? They sound like stories for babies."
Hazel bit her lip and looked into the fire. Did she tell him? What if he didn't understand? The thought had been in her mind ever since she had seen the book, ever since Tom had told her what it was about.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Harry was blurry.
"Do you think mum and dad would have read us these stories?"
Harry's smile dropped at once. He put his broom and his kit to one side, sat down beside her in the armchair and wrapped his arms around her.
More and more Hogwarts students started appearing in the Leaky Cauldron over the next few weeks. Romilda Vane appeared with her very glamourous mother one morning and came back that evening with bags and bags of shopping, so much so that it took three trips via floo powder to get them all home. Neville Longbottom appeared with his fearsome grandmother who was shouting at him for misplacing his school list.
Colin appeared one day with Magnus Gilchrist and Euan Neill, and they had a fun afternoon catching up, though Colin spent most of it talking about quidditch as well. There was still no sign of the Weasleys though and definitely no sign of Atia.
Hazel woke up on the second last day before the start of school with a sigh. She must have missed Ginny and Atia one of the days she was in Magical Menagerie. That was fine, she would see them on the train at least.
"Brush your hair," The mirror whispered as she checked herself.
"Alright, alright," she yawned.
Hair brushed to the mirror's high standards; she went down to breakfast.
Once Harry had appeared, they set off into Diagon Alley. It was a lovely warm day so instead of exploring the shops, they went to Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream parlour, where Florian provided them a sundae each for free and chatted happily about the weather. He even offered to get Hawthorne one and got a glare in response.
They were sitting and enjoying their ice creams when they heard a call,
"Harry! Hazel! There you are!"
Hazel's heart soared. It was Ron, Hermione and Ginny making their way through the crowd.
She hugged Ginny and Hermione tightly one after another, both had the most amazing tans. She felt very ugly, standing beside them with her paper-like skin.
Runt…
She got an awkward handshake from Ron, while Hermione hugged Harry followed by Ginny. Hazel had to keep from giggling as Ginny went pink even under the tan.
"We were looking in the Leaky Cauldron for you, but they said you'd gone out already!"
"How do you know about the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked.
"Dad," Ron and Ginny said together. Of course, Mr Weasley worked for the Ministry of Magic so of course he would have heard, "Is it true that you blew your aunt up?"
Harry and Hazel looked at one another but didn't answer.
"There you are!" Mrs Weasley came hurrying over, "Thank goodness you're alright, both of you!"
She took both Potters into a crushing hug, "We were so worried when we heard about…well…you're safe now and that's what matters."
It might have been Hazel's imagination, but she could have sworn Mrs Weasley glanced over Hawthorne sitting in the shade, like Tom kept doing.
"Have you already bought your school things?" She asked Harry and Hazel.
"Yes, Mrs Weasley," Harry replied.
"Very good, we've done most of our shopping as well. We just need to get Ginny a few more things."
"I'd quite like to go to Magical Menagerie," Hermione said, "And get myself an early birthday present."
"We could stop at Quality Quidditch Supplies on the way," Harry said, "Have you seen the Firebolt yet?"
"No," Ron sighed wistfully, "But it sounds wonderful…"
"Okay, you three can head over that way. Hazel, would you like to come with us?"
"Yes, Mrs Weasley."
"Alright, then we'll meet back at the Leaky Cauldron this evening."
They went their separate ways, with Hawthorne following Harry today.
"Come along dears," Mrs Weasley caught up with them, "We have a bit of gold left over from our holidays, so we'll need to stop off at Gringotts. Then we can buy Ginny a new uniform for this year."
Out of her mum's eyeline, Ginny looked to the sky and mouthed a silent, 'thank you'.
On the way they talked about Egypt, how hot it was, how amazing the tombs looked,how colourful the bazaar was and, of course, how the Harpies smashed the Caracals by three hundred points.
Once inside Gringotts, Mrs Weasley walked up to one of the counters and placed a pile of gold on the counter.
"This is for Harry and Hazel Potter's vault," She said firmly.
"Oh, Mrs Weasley," Hazel said as she felt her cheeks go warm, "You don't have to-"
"-of course I do dear. You were kind enough to buy Ginny's wand last year and I said we would pay you back."
"But-"
"Just say 'thank you'," Ginny whispered, "Or we'll be in here all day."
Hazel took a breath, "Thank you, Mrs Weasley."
It had never been a loan but a gift for Ginny. She and Harry had already agreed that the Weasleys could have as much gold as they wanted, if only they asked.
But they would never ask. That was what made them so amazing.
Next was Madam Malkin's shop for some new robes for Ginny. They were much better than her old ones, nowhere near as shabby or ruffled as her old ones. Harry had been fitted for new robes earlier in the summer as he'd outgrown his old ones. Her old ones still fitted her fine.
"We bought our other things earlier," Ginny said, "Did you see those books for Care of Magical Creatures? One of them escaped when we were there and there was a stampede to escape. Fred had to jump on it to stop it."
"Hagrid sent Harry one for his birthday this year."
"That was…nice of him?" Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Knowing Hagrid he thought it was cute. All his books are probably like that."
The mental image of a bookcase in Hagrid's hut with nothing with angry, hissing books fighting one another while Hagrid sat down with a mug of tea and a pair of glasses made her giggle.
"Have you seen Atia, by any chance?" Ginny asked.
"No," Hazel bit her lip, "Have you even heard from her?"
"Not a peep. I tried sending her a letter at the start of the summer, but Errol came back with it not even opened."
"Do you think she's okay?"
"I don't know. I can't imagine it's much fun living with Draco Malfoy or her dad. Hey, maybe if she blows her dad up like you did your aunt, she could come stay with you in the Leaky Cauldron next year!"
Mr Weasley was sitting at a table in the Leaky Cauldron with that day's edition of the Daily Prophet and gave her a warm smile as she sat down.
"Hello Hazel," he said, "It's good to see you. Are you enjoying your stay?"
"Yes, Mr Weasley," Hazel said as she tried not to think about Aunt Marge, "Did you enjoy Egypt?"
"It was wonderful, thank you," He set his paper down and Hazel saw the familiar picture of Sirius Black on the front cover, staring with intense and hollow eyes.
"Is there any news?" She asked.
"Not yet," Mr Weasley looked more serious than she'd ever seen him, "The whole Ministry is looking for him, but we've had no luck so far. But we'll get him. There's never been so many Azkaban guards deployed away from the prison at once. They'll find him."
"There she is!" It was the twins, Fred and George along with their older brother Percy who came through the door, "We've been looking for you!"
"You have?"
"We hear you're in the market of blowing up relations now. Any chance you could do Percy?"
"Yeah," said George, "We have a bet on if his head can get any bigger."
"That's not at all funny," Percy scowled as he shook Hazel's hand, like she was the mayor of the Leaky Cauldron, "It's good to see you, Hazel."
"You've heard the good news of course," Mrs Weasley said proudly, "We have another head boy in the family."
"So you can address him as 'your lordship' from now on," Fred said in the same voice.
"Or 'your highness' if you must," George added.
"That's enough," Mrs Weasley said as Ginny giggled, "Go and take your things upstairs, you two. It'll not be long before dinner."
"I shall go and get changed," Percy said pompously.
"Righto, old bean," Fred nodded.
"Jolly good," George said, "Toodle pip and tally ho."
"I said, that's enough!" Mrs Weasley barked as Ginny and Hazel went up the stairs.
Ginny had a room to herself, and she dropped onto the bed as soon the door was closed.
"Well?" she said with a raised eyebrow, "What happened?"
Hazel told her most of what happened but didn't go into too many details with Aunt Marge. She was doing her best to forget most of them herself.
Runt…
Ginny scowled deeply as Hazel finished, "That hag. She's lucky she only got turned into a balloon. If I got my hands on her, she'd be picking bats out of her nose for life!"
Despite herself, Hazel smiled at Ginny's anger. It felt nice to have someone who cared that much.
"So, who's the lady that was with you? I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so miserable at an ice cream parlour in my life."
"Her name's Hawthorne. She found us that night and brought us to the Leaky Cauldron. Fudge said she was an 'auror', whatever that is."
"No way," Ginny's eyebrows shot up, "An actual auror?"
"I guess so? Who are they?"
"They're dark wizard catchers. The best in the whole Ministry. I wonder why she's here instead of looking for Sirius Black?"
"Maybe it's in case he comes here?"
"Sirius Black? Walk into the Leaky Cauldron?" Ginny snorted, "No, there must be some other reason."
"You're starting to sound like Harry."
Her ears went a little pink and she started putting her new things into her trunk. Hazel sat cross-legged on the bed and watched.
"It'll be nice," she said after a while, "Not wearing patchwork robes this year."
"I didn't think they looked that bad." Hazel said.
"Really? They looked like something our ghoul would wear."
"He must be the best-dressed ghoul in the country!"
"He's really not, trust me."
"I am looking forward to finding out who the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is this year though."
"I bet you are," Ginny smirked.
"What does that mean?"
"Oh, nothing. I'll catch you if you swoon this year."
"I didn't swoon!"
"You definitely did."
"I did not!"
"Wait until their first test, then we'll see."
They collapsed into fits of giggles.
Dinner that evening was the best yet. All the Weasleys, Harry, Hazel and Hermione sat around a huge table and worked their way through five courses of delicious courses. It was even nicer because Ginny made it the whole way through without knocking over or spilling anything in Harry's presence.
Things were a little tense down at their end of the table though. Ron and Hermione kept glaring at one another across the table until eventually Hazel just to ask Harry,
"What's going on?"
"Hermione's present," He whispered, "She bought a cat from Magical Menagerie and it's taking a liking to Scabbers."
"Oh, which one?"
"Crookshanks?"
"That's brilliant!" She said a little louder than intended and both Ron and Hermione looked over. Hazel's cheeks went a little pink, "That you got Crookshanks I mean."
"I know!" Hermione sighed, "Isn't he just the cutest?"
"He is not," Ron scowled, "He's a menace, and keep him away from Scabbers!"
"Well, keep Scabbers in your room and we'll be fine," Hermione huffed.
"But Scabbers was here first!"
"How are we getting to Kings Cross tomorrow, Father?" Percy asked loudly at the other end of the table.
"The Ministry are lending us a couple of cars for the journey," Mr Weasley said, and everyone looked down the table at him.
"Why?" Percy asked.
"For you, Percy, clearly," George said.
"Yeah," Fred sniggered, "The England Quidditch team are going to do a flyby as well, and there'll be dancing unicorns."
"Anything for our Head boykins."
Everyone at the table but Percy and Mrs Weasley snorted into their chocolate cake.
"Why," Percy went on firmly, "Are the Ministry sending cars?"
"Well, there are a lot of us to go and as we don't have a car anymore," Mr Weasley said it quite calmly, but his ears had gone pink.
"Are you planning on nicking one of these, Harry?" Fred sniggered.
"They're sending two, so you and Ron can steal one each!"
There was more laughter around the table as everyone headed up to bed.
There was a shape outside their door when Hazel arrived, a ginger shape with a long tail and whiskers.
"Hello Crookshanks," Hazel leant down and scratched behind his ears. Crookshanks purred loudly and rubbed at her leg, "I'm really glad you found an owner. Hermione's really nice, I think you'll like her."
Harry wasn't there yet, so she contented herself with checking that her trunk was fine and carefully wrapping her presents from last year and this, so they weren't damaged. Her train and Fang carving from Hagrid, her book from Atia, a jumper from Harry. She was already wearing her friendship present, a gift from Ginny.
She was just settling into bed when Harry opened the door. He was frowning slightly.
"What's wrong? Ron and Hermione still arguing?"
"No, well sort of. It's Ron and Percy now but that's not it."
"What is it then."
"I went back downstairs again to get something for Ron, and I heard Mr and Mrs Weasley talking."
"So?" She didn't like where this was going.
"They were talking about Sirius Black, and they mentioned…us."
"Us? What have we got to do with Sirius Black?" She definitely didn't like where it was going.
"He's after us. That's what Mr Weasley said. Apparently, Fudge went to Azkaban just before Black escaped and all he would say is 'they're at Hogwarts'. That's why Fudge was so happy to find us, that's why there's an auror following us everywhere we go. Sirius Black is after us, because of what we…I did to Voldemort."
Hazel bit her lip. The man the entire wizarding world was hunting, the man who people were terrified to even talk about was after…them?
"But from tomorrow we'll be at Hogwarts. Everyone says it's the safest place in the world. If Voldemort wouldn't go after Dumbledore then surely Black won't either?"
"Yeah," Harry climbed into bed, having thrown his things in a pile in his trunk, "You're right."
She was right. But it was still a rather restless night as the gaunt man with hollow eyes and intense eyes kept floating into her mind every time her eyes closed.