Chapter Four: Diagon Alley Beckons
The summer weeks passed by at a furious place for Harry, each day was a relative cauldron of relaxation, happiness and bliss compared to what he'd normally suffer cooped up in Privet Drive. He spent time playing chess with Ron, enlightening Mr Weasley about the muggle inventions he knew of and enjoyed every single meal that Mrs Weasley made. For Harry this was how his summers should be. He only hoped that Hogwarts would come around quickly, as much as he loved being around the Weasley's his heart was in Hogwarts and so that was where he wanted to be.
Ron thundered into the bedroom, his ginger hair a flash as he made from the bedroom door and leapt onto Harry's bed with Harry in it. Harry woke immediately, his eyes opening on the moment of impact, his head turning to figure out what on earth would be on top of him. "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine," shouted a very excitable Ron Weasley.
Harry looked at him for the briefest moment as he still tried to figure out why Ron was on top and why he'd woken him up, when it was clearly still dark out. Though obviously Harry couldn't be entirely sure, it could just be that the room was dark and the curtains were closed.
"Do you know what day it is Harry?" asked Ron as he bounced about like a young puppy.
"Err, no Ron, what day is it?" said Harry groggily as he still tried to transition from being asleep to being awake.
"It's your… BIRTHDAY!!" Ron shouted as loud as he could, the whole room seemed to shake as his voice bellowed and echoed.
A grin escaped onto Harry's face as the realisation of the day had dawned; the summer had flown by so fast that he'd forgotten that it was his birthday. In past years, he'd used his birthday as a way of motivating himself to continue on in that household, it was a glimmer of hope, a ray of light for Harry. "I'd completely forgotten," said Harry with a touch of sarcasm within his voice.
Ron jumped off Harry's bed and sat down on his own as Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. "The great thing is, we're all going to Diagon Alley today," Ron said as he sat staring at Harry with a giddy Christmas morning kind of smile.
"We are? But isn't that dangerous, with the whole thing at Grimmauld Place and everything?" questioned Harry, his enthusiasm being rather subdued as the memory of the prophecy and Sirius vying for space in his head.
"No, mum says that we'll be fine, she says that Diagon Alley will be fine as long as we stay together and even Mad-Eye Moody agrees," Ron replied quickly, his excitement unwavering. "We're leaving in ten minutes."
"Ten minutes!?" exclaimed Harry, "But why so early?"
"It's not early Harry, it's nearly noon, you slept like a log," Ron said as he stared out of the bedroom door and at the stairs, his anxiousness starting to shine through.
"Oh, right, well let me get changed and I'll be right down," Harry said quietly, his mind rushing away to thoughts of what could await him in Diagon Alley and what would happen if he was ambushed whilst out there. As much as Harry wanted to go to Diagon Alley, he didn't understand why they'd allow it to happen, when it was quite clear he was a marked wizard and he hadn't even told anyone about the prophecy yet.
Harry didn't waste much time in getting changed, he was in no particular mood to be taking his time or holding the others up on what was obviously something everyone wanted. Some time in a new location would do everyone a bit of good and maybe it wasn't so bad, after all who could know they'd be at Diagon Alley. It was also a very public place and so there'd be no worries or any attack being done without any witnesses.
Harry walked into the kitchen to see everyone lined up, looking all smartly dressed and ready to go. Ron looked particularly excited his grin stretching from ear to ear and his hands fidgeting as he waited as patiently as he could. "Morning Harry, or should I say good Afternoon," Remus said heartily, a sly smile itching onto his face. Harry bowed his head in embarrassment and walked to the front to the group.
"Right Ginny, you're first," Mrs Weasley said firmly, as Ginny walked to the front of the group and took a handful of floo powder from her mother and stepped into the fireplace. "Diagon Alley," she uttered and threw the handful of floo powder into the flames and in a big green flash was gone.
"Harry, I'll be keeping very close to you today, so don't go running off," Mad-Eye said sharply his magic eye glaring at Harry from underneath the ridiculous looking Bowler hat as Ron disappeared in a green flash.
"Leave off him Moody, the poor boy looks as if he's off to a trial," laughed Tonks as she flicked some bright blue hair from out of her eyes. "We're only going to Diagon Alley, what's the worse that can happen?"
"Not a word Moody, we don't want to scare Harry now do we?" interjected Remus as Moody looked as if he was about to read Harry his rights. Harry let out a sigh as he waited in line still, Mr Weasley had gone with Ron and Ginny and Tonks was next. Tonks stepped into the fireplace with her handful of floo powder as Mad-Eye approached Harry and dropped his head towards Harry's.
"Harry, like I said, no running off, you're very important, and I mean very," Moody said quietly but firmly, so only Harry could hear. Harry nodded as Tonks was gone in a flash.
"Right your turn Harry," Mrs Weasley announced as Harry stepped forward and took a handful of floo powder from the bag and stepped into the fireplace. He stared out at Kingsley, Remus, Moody and Mrs Weasley. "Diagon Alley," he said clearly and immediately threw down the floo powder. In a flash he was gone from the Burrow.
Harry emerged from the fire in the Leaky Cauldron unscathed, unlike his first ever incident using floo powder he hadn't ended up on Knockturn Alley and had arrived with the others. He looked around the room and other than the rugged looking bartender there was no-one but those of whom he'd come with. Everyone bar Ron was stood by the fireplace waiting; Ron was jumping about entrance to Diagon Alley as if he'd never been to Diagon Alley.
"What on earth has got into you," stated Mrs Weasley as she appeared from out of the fireplace, her motherly instincts locking onto Ron the moment she appeared. Ron just shrugged his shoulders and continued to bounce around. "Oh come and wait with everyone else Ron, we don't want to lose you."
Ron grudgingly walked back over and joined the crowd as Remus entered the room from the fireplace as Moody followed him soon after. Everyone stop motionless and quiet for a moment as Moody stopped dead in the centre of the room and then turned to the group, almost as if he was the nasty Drill Sergeant and they were his troops. Moody's magic eye looked up and down the group from underneath the atrociously picked bowler hat for concealment, and then stopped on Harry. Harry felt obviously uncomfortable under the gaze of Moody and his Magic Eye, he felt, no he knew that all these precautions of staying as a group were merely about him and that if he wasn't here, Ron would be out gallivanting and doing whatever it is he is so anxious to do.
"Right, if you want to go into any shop, you need full clearance first," Moody hollered as he started to walk up and down the line that had amassed. "This isn't about stifling your day-out, it's about safety, and safety is what's most important."
Ron quietly giggled and whispered into Harry's ear, "Safety matters; we're not having any fun today, and ask for clearance." Harry giggled in response as Moody continued to walk up and down the line but his eye was focused squarely on Harry and Harry alone, its magical qualities slicing through Harry like a scythe.
"Remus and I will be leading, Kingsley and Tonks will be flanking, so none of you will be able to sneak off without our knowledge and Harry we mean you most of all," Moody uttered monotonously at the group. Harry tried to hide himself from view on the words, as he felt the unrelenting thoughts that his being here was putting a dampener on the whole affair.
"Right everyone, let's go," Moody said without a single change in tone or volume.
Without question everyone began moving, with Remus and Moody going right to the head of the pack and Tonks and Kingsley taking the rear. Remus made sure Harry was close to him as they walked quickly towards the little dead-end around the back of the Leaky Cauldron. Moody stopped the convoy and tapped the specific brick for the wall to unveil itself as the archway to Diagon Alley. After a moment of reshuffling the archway to Diagon Alley was finally open and the group entered.
Diagon Alley was bustling with witches and wizards and all sorts of unique individuals, it was awash with cloaks and pointed hats scuttling from shop to shop, stopping and having brief conversations it was how Diagon Alley always was. Moody led the group into the alley and turned to face them; he didn't say a word but instead seemed to invite someone to offer a place to go.
"Well Harry, it's your Birthday, where do you want to go?" Mrs Weasley asked with a smile as he stepped from out of the group and next to Moody. Harry looked around, and then gazed at Ron who was trying to say something in some obscure sign language.
"I wouldn't mind going to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, that'd be a good start," Harry said with a weak smile as Remus put his hand on Harry's shoulder and smiled with him.
"Right, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour it is then," exclaimed Remus with a hearty jovial feeling to his words.
The group walked merrily around Diagon Alley towards Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, the mumblings and mutterings amongst the group being of what flavours of ice cream they'd buy and how good a choice Harry had made. As they came around to the front of the ice Cream parlour, Harry was immediately greeted by the sudden emergence of Florean Fortescue; he'd obviously seen him coming around the corner and had rushed out to meet him.
"Harry my dear boy, it's good to see you, how did you do with that Medieval report you were writing," he asked as he patted Harry on the shoulders in a fatherly like gesture.
Harry smiled, "It was fine," he said whilst trying to remember exactly how he'd done with his report.
"That's good, I'm glad my knowledge of Medieval Witch burnings helped," he said contently as he looked over the group and smiled nicely to everyone there. "Anyway, it's nice to see you Harry, as a treat you can all have free sundaes."
Immediately Ron let out a loud "Brilliant!" as Florean turned to him and grinned, his generosity not being lost on the others either.
"Oh you don't have to," said Mrs Weasley, trying not to burden Florean with 8 eager wizards and witches all wanting one of her delicious Sundaes.
"Think nothing of it," replied Florean his short tired hair straining in the air as a weak breeze overwhelmed him. "It's no problem at all, like I said 'my treat'."
Everyone stepped into the airy Ice Cream parlour and waited at the counter as Florean walked around the side and took her place in front of them, with his hand on the Ice Cream scoop and the first sundae glass. "So who wants the first one?" he asked with enthusiasm as Ginny stepped forward.
Ginny looked at the selection for a second and then looked up, "I'll have a banana and Strawberry whip Sundae please," Ginny said as her mouth salivated. Florean nodded and quickly scooped it up and together and passed Ginny the Sundae with the traditional long spoon.
Florean smiled at Ron as he jumped to the front after Ginny and franticly began to look over the selection. "What to have? What… to… have?" he said to himself as his eyes scanned the almost endless varieties on show.
"Have whichever you'd like, I've seen people have 8 flavours before," he said with a chuckle as Ron's eyes opened with wide-eyed glee.
"I'll have that, that, that ooh and that, wait add some of that, oh and a bit of this, oh I've got to have that mint looking stuff, and that orange looking flavour," Ron said with excitement as he pointed at a dozen different flavours as Florean followed his lead and put them all into a single big Sundae. Ron took the huge Sundae from Florean and followed Ginny to a seat in the corner of the small parlour; both of them wasted no time in getting stuck in as the others began ordering.
At the back of the queue stood Harry and Remus, they were several feet away from the counter and Remus had turned to face Harry. "Harry I never realised you knew Florean, he ran this ice Cream Parlour when I was your age and we never got Free Sundaes back then," he said with a smirk.
"I did my homework at the table outside, during the Summer the year you joined Hogwarts as Defence against the Dark Arts teacher," he replied with a glint in his eye.
"Good lad," replied Remus as he stepped up for his Sundae.
Harry watched Remus getting his Sundae and smiled an ignorant sort of smile as if this would be the only time this year or maybe for the next two years where he'd be able to feel the bliss of ignorance. It took a lot for Harry to forget about what he'd been through the last few years but seeing everyone laughing, joking and eating free Sundaes certainly did that.
Remus walked away from the counter with his Sundae and sat with Tonks and Kingsley as Harry walked forward and looked up at Florean. "So Harry, what will it be? Strawberry Surprise? Mellow Mint?" he said with a grin. Harry shook his head.
"No, Choco-Nut as always Mr Fortescue," Harry responded.
"Harry, call me Florean," he said as he smiled in reply and waited for his Sundae.
Florean didn't take long in rustling up Harry's Choco-Nut Sundae and it seemed to be larger than everyone else's. Harry said thanks and walked over to the table of which Ron and Ginny were sat at. Ron had almost finished his Sundae when he looked up and sat in shock as the size of Harry's Sundae.
"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed as he stared at the Sundae and compared it to his which paled in comparison. "He must've emptied out the shop to fill yours Harry, you're well lucky."
Harry just sat there with a cheesy grin and began to munch his way through his ice Cream mountain. It didn't seem to take him long to finish it off, and surprisingly he didn't feel at all full from eating it. Mind you Harry had skipped breakfast due to his waking up so late.
"Gorgeous things are Ice Cream Sundaes," announced Mr Weasley as he sat clutching his stomach and trying to hide the unmistakeable grin which was accompanying him. "We should come here more often."
"You do come here more often Arthur, you seem to spend a fortune in this place, every lunchtime whilst your working you're in here," said Mrs Weasley mischievously.
"How do you know?" Mr Weasley asked sharply, a look of confusion consuming him.
"Florean told me as he was serving," said Mrs Weasley with the smallest of winks as she turned to Florean who was busy cleaning the counter and smiling as exuberantly as always. Mr Weasley flashed a scowl in jest at Florean as he looked up every so often.
After spending almost an hour at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, the group began to shop Diagon Alley the proper way, at a fast and frantic pace though of course within reason with the group never splitting up or the arrangements set by Mad-Eye Moody never changing.
They went from Gambol and Japes to Flourish and Blott's to Magical Menagerie and back to Flourish and Blott's. They didn't seem to spend long in each shop and if they did, Harry or anyone didn't seem to buy much. But it never got boring, everyone was having a good time, joking, talking and generally being nice to each other. It was a Birthday that Harry felt he deserved and he of course wanted.
After two or three hours spent shopping or browsing or whatever you'd like to call it, they finally stopped outside a shop of particular notoriety.
Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes
Ron couldn't stop grinning as he nudged Harry in the arm consistently for what seemed like an age before Harry turned to the adults. "Well, can we?" he asked quickly, his enthusiasm for seeing what great things the Weasley twins had recently created overwhelming him.
The Adults converged together for a brief moment, the mumblings of the 5 of them as they mull over the prospect of the 3 children entering the Joke shop. Occasionally one would look over, almost mocking the 3 of them as if they wouldn't let them go in. After a minute or two, the adults all left the huddle and turned to face them.
"Yes, you can go into Fred and George's shop," stated Remus as he let slip a wry grin.
"YES!" shouted Ron with unabashed happiness his right clenched firmly into a fist and it thrown into the air in celebration, his day obviously being made with the chance to see his Brothers great jokes and joke shop. Harry patted him on the back and smiled, he was maybe not as enthusiastic as Ron but he was happy too. Ginny wasn't as enthusiastic but she was still walking around with a small smile and her eyes glinting.
The three of them left behind the adults and waltzed into the joke shop, their eyes immediately being drawn to the rows and rows of Skiving Snackboxes, Weasley's Wildfire Whizz-bangs, Portable Swamps and a multitude of other strange looking jokes. The shop wasn't exactly big; it looked to only have room for the rows of jokes, the counter and enough space for 4-5 people to be served.
The threesome stopped in the centre of the room and stared at the empty counter, Harry looked at Ron and then back at the counter as they wondered where the gruesome two some could possibly be. Ginny though just walked forward and gazed at the counter. "You two are so slow, there's a bell on the counter, I'll just ring it," she said.
Ron put his arm out to stop Ginny but instead retracted it and waited patiently. Harry didn't know why Ron looked as if he was going to explode at any moment but he watched anyway, it must be good if Ron knew about it. As soon as Ginny picked up the bell and rang it, the bell sprayed her with a strange red coloured liquid. Ginny dropped the bell and struggled to wipe the red liquid out of her face. "IF I CATCH THOSE TWO…"
"You'll do what?" said George as he apparated from out of nowhere.
"I'd be careful what you say Ginny," uttered Fred as he too apparated out of nowhere.
"Brilliant!" said Ron as his eyes lit-up at the genius of his twin brothers.
"Yea, nice one you two," retorted Harry as Fred and George bowed in recognition of their genius.
"Why thank you, thank you," replied Fred in his best impression of a muggle magician.
"That's one of our newest items," proclaimed George proudly.
"Spits out coloured paint at anyone that hasn't cast the right spell," Fred said as he ended George's sentence.
"Which is?" Harry asked.
"Spat, spot, spit, all those gits," the twins said in chorus, a malevolent grin etched into both faces.
"Wicked," uttered Ron without thinking, he was simply in awe of these two.
"Fred, George, where are all your customers? I'd expect this place to be packed," said Harry as he looked around the store, his mind trying to figure out why it could possibly be empty.
"Muggle Order," both Fred and George said.
"Don't you mean mail order?" Harry replied instantaneously.
"No, muggle order," responded George.
"It's our new way of getting the jokes to the people, it's like mail order," followed Fred.
"Only it's done the proper way," uttered George.
"With Owls," said Fred.
"But why call it Muggle Order then?" asked Harry, his questions making him seem completely stupid in the presence of the twins.
"Well, Dad kept talking about what the muggles do," replied George.
"So we decided we'd call it Muggle Order to take the mickey," said Fred as he finished George's sentence yet again.
"Brilliant, so does that mean we can order from Hogwarts and get them sent to us?" Ron asked as he walked around and continued to gaze as the rows of jokes and other things.
"Naturally, that's what it's for," they both said in reply to Ron, the sly grins, almost permanently implanted onto their faces.
"Well I won't be ordering from you," chided Ginny as she finally managed to remove the red paint from her face, though not with a wand but done the muggle way, with her top.
"Oh yea, we should've warned you, that paint cannot be removed by any spells, its wizard-proof," said Fred smugly.
"That'll be fun at Hogwarts then," scolded Ginny as she leered at her older brothers.
"Oh Harry, we nearly forget, here's your birthday present," said George as he pulled out a large box from under the counter.
"If you hadn't come we would've sent it to you by 'Muggle Order'," said Fred as he lingered on the reference to Muggle Order.
Harry let out a guffaw, "thanks," he said as he took the box from George.
"Have a good one Harry," the twins said in unison as Harry held the large box in his hands and let out a beaming smile.
The door the to the shop opened slight as Kingsley peered in, "come on you three, it's time to get going," he said as all three turned and said goodbye to the twins.
"Don't forget to use Muggle order, we're keep you well stocked up with all your joke shop needs," proclaimed George as the three left the shop.
Ginny made her way back to the group first, her huffing and puffing causing Remus and Tonks to look over and chuckle as her reddened top caught their attention. Ron and Harry lingered a little longer as they stood in awe of the large box and of course letting the meeting with the Twins play over in their heads.
Both boys finally reached the group and Ron immediately looked to see where his parents were. "Where are Mum and Dad?"
"Here we are," Mrs Weasleys' familiar voice bellowed as she walked along with a pile of bags and boxes and in her arms and Mr Weasley looking particularly chuffed with himself. They reached the group and immediately Mr Weasley ruffled up Ron's hair.
"Oh Dad, not when Harry's about," Ron pleaded.
"Oh right you are Ron," replied Mr Weasley with a smile, Harry just shook his head in jest at the whole situation as Moody and Remus led the way back towards the Leaky Cauldron.
The group passed Eeylops Owl Emporium, when Moody stopped in his tracks, he turned his head which way as his magic Eye whirled around in its socket like it was crazed and possessed. He signalled everyone to drop to the floor, as he continued to gaze around, unsure of what it could be. It didn't help that the crowds around Diagon Alley were a distraction and a pretty big one at that, the place was bustling with people and they cared not for what the group were doing.
CRACK!
The crowds screamed as a loud burst of light landed near to the group, sending a couple of random wizards sprawling. "Get Harry out of here!" shouted Moody at Remus as he immediately charged in the direction of the shot. Remus wasted no time in bringing Harry in under his cloak and quickly escorting him to the Leaky Cauldron.
BANG!
Remus went flying as the shot hit him full on the chest; Harry looked in stunned disbelief as Remus landed hard but fortunately wasn't seriously hurt. "Harry, get out of here… NOW!" he shouted as the ensuing Chaos caused Remus and the rest of the group to be lost in the crowds of scared and panicking wizards and witches.
Harry tried to see who it was that was throwing curses this way, but he couldn't see anything from the crowd when suddenly he saw in the corner of his eye a green light rushing his way.
Harry leapt out of the way and onto the floor to avoid the shot, the shot hit a wall behind him and large burst of flames seemed to erupt from the impact. Harry was quick to get back to his feet and using a pair of scared wizards he quickly made his way towards the Leaky Cauldron.
He ran through the archway and back into the pub as he heard the bricks closing up behind him. He ran into the main bar of the pub and looked around for help. Yet all there was in the bar was a mysterious cloaked wizard sat at the bar with a large glass of Firewhiskey in his right hand. Harry looked at him warily, he was a foreboding presence, his dark unkempt hair ran down from inside of the cloak onto his shoulders and he could see the glint of his eyes as he stared at him.
"Harry Potter, I've been expecting you," he said in a low, gravely voice. "Please do not be afraid, I will not harm you."
Harry stared at him still, he didn't know whether to trust him or not, he'd not missed being hurt by several curses and seeing a mysterious stranger sat at a bar didn't exactly seem inviting to him.
"Trust me, I will not harm, I can promise you," he said again, his gravely voice showing no signs of menace or want to hurt Harry. "Please sit," he said whilst signalling to Harry to take the stood next to him.
Harry considered it for a moment, he couldn't go back and he would be prey for attacks anywhere else in London and he'd never come to harm in the Leaky Cauldron before. With that in his mind, Harry seated himself on the stool opposite, though not without precaution he made sure he had his wand pointed at the mystery wizard at all times.
"Thank you Harry," the stranger said softly. "By all means point the wand; as long as you feel safe, then that is what matters."
Harry nodded. "Who are you?" he asked immediately, his mind wanting to know so badly, so he could put to rest the worries of him luring him into a trap.
"You will know in good time Harry, but for now just consider me a friend," he replied quietly, his voice never changing in its pitch or volume.
"You've been thinking about the Prophesy, haven't you Harry?" the stranger asked.
Harry's eyes opened in shock, "b-but how did you know about the Prophesy?" Harry gingerly asked, his mind asking question after question about how he could possibly know.
"Do not worry yourself Harry, I am a man who knows things, that is all you need to know," he retorted.
"But what's important is that you know something else," he said as his he leaned forward, his large eyes peering into Harry's. "It is imperative that you realise that, whilst the prophecy was thought to be referring to two people originally, it was in fact only referring to you."
Harry knew who else he meant, he meant Neville Longbottom, but what he didn't understand was how this stranger could know it was purely meant for him. "It was only ever meant to refer to you Harry, you and only you, you may think that maybe it was wrong and that maybe Neville Longbottom is in fact the one chosen by the Prophecy."
Harry had envisioned that being the case, but he'd never really had anything substantial to think it was Neville and not him, for Harry it was always him and that maybe it could've been Neville.
"The reason I'm telling you this is because, if he ever finds out, terrible things will happen, very terrible things," the stranger said his voice becoming slow and pronounced the unquestionable importance of his words being emphasised with his long drawn out breaths. "Did you ever wonder why it has always been you and only you that has vanquished evil after evil and that you and only you has been the sole focal point of the Slytherin House's hate?"
"Yes," replied Harry solemnly.
"Harry my dear boy, you're the…" before the stranger could finish his sentence, the shouting of Kingsley Shacklebolt could be heard from the back of the pub, from where the entrance to Diagon Alley is. Harry turned to see what was going on and as soon as he turned back, the stranger was gone. Harry looked around confused, disappointed, rudely interrupted. As much as he felt Kingsley's presence was important he felt what was about to be said was even more important.
"Harry, quick take the floo powder and go, now…" exclaimed Kingsley as he rushed into the room, his face bruised and welted, his left leg limping. "No questions just go I'll be right behind you."
Harry, felt no want to neither question nor take his time, he took a handful of floo powder and quickly made his way to the fire. "The Burrow," he said clearly and threw the powder down.
FLASH!