Diagon Alley was just as wonderful as Tom imagined, if not better- though he suspected that was due to the fact that he wasn't literally vibrating with excitement this time around and overwhelmed with everything he was seeing. He and Chadwick were able to make bad jokes and quips to each other about everything in the shop windows and at least once Chadwick's mother overheard him make a comment about another witch's attire being a bit too shrub-like and it earned him a quick smack on the back of his head.
This time in, they went by Gringotts first, and Tom and Chadwick hung around the front while Mrs. Chadwick went inside to withdraw some money.
"She's been working cleaning houses for some muggles," Chadwick explained while they stood there. "I guess she's not quite as panicked about money for school supplies this year, she didn't look as stressed as she did last year, but we also don't need to buy quite as many things, I suppose."
"That's good to hear," Tom said, and he meant it. Mrs. Chadwick seemed like a lovely woman and was only ever nice to him in the interactions they'd had. She'd even spent a few minutes chatting up Mrs. Cole when she'd stopped by to get him from Wool's and smoothed his hair back when Jack had ruffed it up.
"Alright boys," Mrs. Chadwick said as she walked out the doors and stepped up beside them along the wall. "Why don't we go by Threads and Needles to get both your robes looked at and then while the madam there works we can go through the rest of your list?" Tom and Chadwick followed her towards the same secondhand robe shop he'd been in the year before with Professor Dumbledore. Instead of shaking nervously as he stood on a stool this time Chadwick tossed balled up yarn at his face when the madam wasn't paying attention and asked the witch is she could charm his Gryffindor robes to be Slytherin green instead. A couple of older wizards came in when they were nearly finished and they went quiet at Mrs. Chadwick began chatting them up, but Tom and Chadwick kept elbowing either other through it all.
"You two," Mrs. Chadwick said fondly, patting both of their heads, "Okay then, what do you want to pick up first?"
"Flourish and Blotts is closest," Chadwick pointed out, his hands in his pants pockets and the group headed towards the old bookstore. Unlike Threads and needles which had been empty, Flourish and Blotts was quite crowded. Apparently a portion of the store had recently been renovated and many adults were hanging around, commenting on the newly opened area that was nestled under the stairs that led up into the second floor of the shop and Tom and Chadwick broke off to explore while Mrs. Chadwick went to ask the man at the counter for assistance in gathering two sets of secondhand school books.
Having had the Hogwarts library to see all the ancient texts the previous year, Tom as vaguely more interested in the newer books that he didn't even know existed and began looking through the shelves with the fine leather and paper binders that were glossy and new. Chadwick was pulling the occasional book of a shelf and opening them to random pages to read excerpts, complete with voices, cause Tom to snicker uncontrollably.
"I found a snake and a lion!" A voice boomed loudly behind them and suddenly Chadwick was lifted off his feet with a shout of protest and Tom blinked and flinched away from his friend's flailing legs.
"Put me down you prat!" Chadwick snapped, struggling out of the taller boy's hold and Tom stared in confusion as the older boy set Chadwick down and ruffled his hair.
"You're not going to introduce me to your friend?" The boy asked, scratching his hand through his short black hair. "Honestly I can't believe Aunt Diana didn't tell us you were coming to Diagon Alley today- we could have planned to meet up for lunch and shop together."
Chadwick was still openly glaring at the other boy, his eyes narrowed and the dark-haired boy let out a loud sigh and held his hand out for Tom. "Honestly, he acts like a wet cat sometimes. Monty Potter, Gryffindor, third year, et cetera."
"Monty!" Mrs. Chadwick said excited, grabbing the boy in a tight hug, "Oh love, I haven't seen you in ages-" She gushed, patting his head and straightening his shirt, talking excitedly with the Gryffindor.
Tom shot Chadwick a confused look and the boy nudged himself away from his mother and the other boy, "My cousin- he's a prat."
"I thought your mum's sister lived in the states?" Tom questioned, happy more people were moving in the fill the gap, blocking them from the sight of Mrs. Chadwick and her nephew.
"She does- but that's her younger sister, my aunt Margaret- My Aunt Josie lives here in London with my uncle and their sons, but they're busy being part of the high-society purebloods, and mum married my dad and had me so-"
"They ignored you," Tom finished, looking over his shoulder but Mrs. Chadwick and Monty were still out of sight.
"Eh, for the most part, Aunt Josie's always been nice, but she kind of just ignored my mom when she needed help up until she was certain I was going to be a wizard and not a squib so…" Tom knew that look. He held it against his aunt and uncle that they didn't step in and at least try to help his mother when she'd been struggling. Tom could understand it, even if to a lesser degree.
"And your cousin?" Tom asked. He wondered if Chadwick just couldn't stand the boy or if he was of a similar mindset to his parents.
Chadwick shrugged, "He's just an annoying idiot, like a dog that's too stupid to kick out." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Come on, I hope it's my aunt here and not my uncle, I can't stand him-"
Tom followed Chadwick back through the bookstore to where Mrs. Chadwick was still standing with Monty and another woman who was clearly her sister. She had the same general face shape and nose, but her hair was slightly darker and pinned in a tight bun at the back of her head.
"I'm glad you're both doing well," The woman was saying, "Monty got his grades in earlier this week, he's brought them up, I've been meaning to send an owl to ask how Keegan's year was, and about your visit to Margaret."
"Keegan's been doing very well," Mrs. Chadwick said excitedly, patting his shoulder and he paused to stand beside her, Tom on his other side. "Having trouble with a bit of wandwork but got very good grades all the same-"
"Mom," Chadwick practically hissed, but she ignored him.
"And Charlie's gotten accepted into that position with the Ministry," The woman, Aunt Josie or Mrs. Potter or whatever she was supposed to be called, said, smiling proudly. "Henry didn't even have to put in a good word about it for him, they picked him right up when he applied."
"Cause they saw his last name," Chadwick quietly growled, low enough that no one but Tom seemed to hear.
"How wonderful," Mrs. Chadwick said, "Goodness I remember when he was just toddling around and now he's an adult on me- Good Lord, I'm getting old." She took a breath and looked down, realizing full that the two boys had rejoined them. "Have you met Tom yet?" She asked, patting Tom on his shoulder as she moved both the boys in front of her proudly, "He's one of Keegan's friends, Keegan said he got all O's in his classes."
"Is that so?", said Mrs. Potter, looking only mildly interested.
"Not quite," Tom said, "Two Exceeds Expectations, one in History of Magic and one in Transfiguration."
"Still better than any students I know," Mrs. Chadwick said proudly and Tom blushed at the praise.
"Are you about done with your shopping, Di?" Mrs. Potter asked and Mrs. Chadwick shook her head, "Oh no, just started in fact, took the boys to get their robes fitted and came straight here."
"Pity then," Mrs. Potter said in a way that Tom knew wasn't actually a pity but perhaps relief. "We've just finished- we're headed to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch if you'd like to join us."
"Oh no, thank you though, I'll get the boys through the rest of their shopping and we'll get something on our way out, but it was wonderful to see you," Mrs. Chadwick said cheerfully, reaching in for a hug which Mrs. Potter hesitantly returned.
"See you at the platform," Monty said, inclining his chin at Chadwick, who simply returned a tight-lipped smile and a slight nod.
Tom gave them his best fake-friendly smile that he could muster as the pair disappeared towards the exit for the shop. Chadwick's tight smile quickly turned into a scowl, and Tom just barely caught the sight of Mrs. Chadwick's bright smile falter, her eyes looking sad again, the wrinkles by her eyes seeming more pronounced.
Before Tom could say anything she clapped her hands together. "Alright boys," she said, smile back full force. "Books are acquired, we need to run by and restock on stationary, quills and parchment, make sure both your bags don't need any mending," She continued rattling off the list of their shopping and Tom and Chadwick followed closely behind her, each taking a bag of their books from the bookshop attendant. Tom worried for a moment that she'd attempted to pay for his, but the attendant handed him a receipt with a scribbled signature with the instruction to give it to his Head of House when he headed back to school.
"Are you excited to head back to school, Tom?" Mrs. Chadwick questioned when he held the door open for her and Chadwick at the stationery store.
"Yes, ma'am," Tom replied earnestly. "I miss Hogwarts."
"It's one of my happiest memories as well," she said fondly, "I felt so bad leaving Keegan behind during Christmas last year but I'm glad you and he were able to spend it together."
Tom wondered just how much Chadwick had told his mother about anything, so he just nodded his head, "It was good to have him around too, most of Slytherin house had gone home." He didn't feel the need to mention that they'd all gone home because he had no doubt she would be upset by the notion when in fact Tom had been quite excited about it.
"Aunt Josie and Uncle Henry could have invited me to spend it with them, but we know how they feel about letting filthy half-bloods in their immaculate home," Chadwick complained bitterly, picking imaginary fuzz off his shirt.
"Keegan," Mrs. Chadwick hissed in warning looking suddenly cross, "You will not speak about your aunt and uncle that way."
"Why? They talk about me that way," He spat back and Tom wondered if he could sink into the wall and just walk out of Diagon Alley and get back to Wool's by himself. He'd heard plenty of adults fight before but he'd never actually witnessed one between a child and their parent. A few of the older kids at Wool's would occasionally get in spats with Mrs. Cole, but never in a manner that felt this personal. She was their guardian, not a mother or even a family member. Her goal was to keep them alive, not happy.
Tom stepped away and pretended to intently examine a set of quills, Mrs. Chadwick and her son still bickering by the entrance and after a few minutes, Chadwick broke off and came over to him, standing in silence while Tom moved through and looked at the stationery. Tom only shot him a look a few times, wondering what he should say, if he should say anything at all, but ultimately decided against it. He wasn't certain what else was said when they were arguing in hushed tones, or if they were still miffed at each other or what, but by the time they were leaving the stationery store, Chadwick was perking up and He and Tom convinced Mrs. Chadwick to let them stop by the pet store to see the animals.
This time around, Tom decidedly ignored the tanks the snakes inhabited and spent his time cooing at the little owls instead.
A/N: This is for all the people who kept asking if xyz random person in the background is fleamont potter. Here's the idiot of the hour, my son, Monty Potter. Also, a couple of people thought Chadwick was Fleamont based on the description of fluffy hair in the Diagon Alley chapter, so I wanted to let them know I saw those comments and I chortled. Also to note, to some degree all the half-blood and pure-blood wizards are related. I made a family tree for all of them with over 2,000 people currently on it and yeah, it's a bit intense.
The potters are not immune to the pureblood problems and being a Gryffindor does not mean you are automatically a "good" person, which I wanted to reflect here. Notes on Henry Potter (Fleamont's dad) say he's very Pro-Muggle but I decided to take it in a sort of condescending way, like one would protect an animal, not that he's down for wizards/witches marrying with muggles. It's just my take on it to make everything more interesting and diverse.
As always, this is something I'm doing in my spare time, but I do have all the chapter planned out up until the reboot of Empathetic, and a good bit already written out. If you want to support me or read more of my writing, I'd really appreciate it if you checked out my original works at StrongwindAcademy dot com, or on our WattPad, if that's your preference (wattpad dot com (/) user( /) strongwindacademy).