Master and Disciple
"Oh. This is going to be expensive," Mrs. Weasley said while looking over the school supply lists, which this year seemed far too long, especially the one for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
It was obvious that the Weasley family was not particularly wealthy and didn't have much money. And every year they had to spend quite a lot to send their children to Hogwarts.
At least two of them had already finished school.
Charlie and Bill.
One working for Gringotts and the other studying dragons in Romania.
But even so, they still had five children left to send to school.
And Ginny also needed a new robe and a new wand to begin her first year.
"We'll manage, dear," Arthur said softly, though he looked exhausted at the same time.
Yet he never lost his smile, ready to endure anything for his family.
Sally looked at a family that didn't have much.
But they had what mattered most.
And she very much wanted to help if possible.
She couldn't help meeting Adrien's eyes. He had come along as their companion.
And as her bodyguard.
According to the agreement Sally had with the Pendragon Knights.
Adrien, as though he could easily read that expression, made a calm gesture toward her.
Seeming to say that he would handle it.
Or rather.
That he already had a plan to recruit Mr. Weasley into their ranks.
Just as they had recruited Sirius.
And then Lupin.
And of course Sally.
Mark didn't count because he had a binding magical contract inherited from his ancestors.
In the past, the Knights had hired wizards to help with some of their work.
But because their duties constantly clashed with what the Knights themselves did, it had never worked very well.
Since the Knights' job was specifically to keep watch over wizards.
And make sure they didn't lose control and harm the non magical world.
But recently, things had started to change.
With the discovery of another world far larger than even the magical world.
Or at least far more dangerous.
The mythological world.
So now the Knights would not only have to protect the non magical world from wizards.
But also from mythological monsters they had never noticed before.
Monsters that explained many incidents and damages they had always ignored.
And that realization had come from discovering Medusa's home, where she had at least five thousand statues of missing people from around the world.
And she was only one creature.
If they investigated by following the patterns described in some of the myths, they might uncover far more damage hidden by the Mist.
"Well. We've eaten, so... is everyone ready to go shopping?" Mrs. Weasley asked with a smile, since these outings were basically family trips.
The young Weasleys perked up immediately.
They already had everything prepared for Diagon Alley.
Tyson also started getting excited, since he would finally get to see the alley he had heard so much about with his own eye.
"We can travel by Floo Powder. Have you ever used it?" Molly asked Sally.
"Oh yes. We have a fireplace at home. The boys use it quite often to visit... a relative's home. I think I mentioned that in my letter so you wouldn't have to travel so far," she said, avoiding mentioning that they constantly visited a private magical island to bother Dred.
Even now that Dred was free, he still spent most of his time there.
Not particularly accustomed to the modern world.
And of course, both Harry and Percy still went there every day.
Because ever since they were children, their base of operations had been the island.
Now freed from its curse.
But still protected by powerful magic that prevented anyone from entering.
Upon hearing Sally's words, Molly suddenly made a fierce expression and slowly turned toward her husband.
Who was carefully avoiding his wife's gaze at exactly the same time.
Obviously, he had read the letter and deliberately said nothing about the fireplace just so he could use the car to get there.
"Now that I think about it, we should leave as soon as possible. We don't want the shops to close," Mr. Weasley said, suddenly standing up.
"Arthur..." Molly said as her irritation began to rise.
Because even though he had ultimately driven all the way to the Potter Jackson house, the fact that Arthur endangered his job simply by owning the car was already bad enough.
Actually using it was even worse.
"The children were excited," Arthur added, trying to calm his wife down.
But obviously that wasn't going to work.
"Arthur Weasley."
Five minutes later, after a brief argument that ended exactly the way everyone expected it to, the group finally gathered in front of the fireplace.
One by one they disappeared into the green flames.
Since everyone was already used to traveling this way, an accident was highly unlikely.
Even Tyson, who had traveled to Avalon several times with Percy and Harry, passed through easily after pronouncing the destination correctly.
His enormous body vanished into the fire with a roar of flames that made the fireplace complain for a few seconds.
When they emerged on the other side, they arrived through the official fireplace entrance to the alley.
Which was none other than Tom's establishment.
The Leaky Cauldron.
And today it seemed quite crowded.
Filled with wizards eating or drinking even in the middle of the day.
Though very little sunlight ever seemed to make its way inside the Leaky Cauldron.
As soon as they stepped out of the fireplace, as always there were wizards interested in seeing who was arriving.
Many immediately recognized the Weasleys' red hair and gradually stopped paying attention as they came out one by one.
Even if there had been a dozen of them.
Without paying any attention to the drunks, the entire large group headed straight toward the entrance to Diagon Alley and crossed through in a line.
The moment they stepped through the wall that opened for them, they noticed that Diagon Alley seemed more alive than usual today.
Witches and wizards accompanied by young people of all ages walked everywhere.
The constant sound of conversations filled every corner of the street.
It was obvious that it was the season for preparing to return to school.
Everyone excited about going back to Hogwarts.
Tyson stared at everything with excitement in his single eye.
Fortunately, the Mist hid this as though he simply had long bangs covering it from view.
Otherwise people would be quite surprised to see a Cyclops walking among them.
Harry and Percy kept hold of him just in case he suddenly decided to run off from excitement and get lost or get himself into trouble.
Which would be strange, because Tyson, despite his large build, was genuinely too kind and too innocent for a world as cruel as the magical world.
A world filled with xenophobia, racism, discrimination, well... and many other things.
Because of that, knowing Tyson would be attending Hogwarts, while not a bad thing, still worried both Harry and Percy a little.
But seeing him so excited, they couldn't help feeling bad about trying to stop him.
Neither of them could completely hide their own excitement either.
After all, no matter how much time passed, returning to the Alley, or more specifically to Hogwarts, was something truly amazing.
Something no one would want to miss.
"First, we're going to Gringotts. We need money for our shopping," Molly announced, interrupting the excitement.
"Gringotts?" Percy said, suddenly widening his eyes in concern. "Uh... why don't you use the bags the bank gives you to withdraw your money? It's much easier," he added quickly, earning everyone's attention.
And especially Harry's suspicion.
Who immediately turned to stare at him.
"Those bags are very expensive, dear. Not every wizard or witch owns one. Most people simply go to the bank," Sally explained gently.
Percy wanted to point out that both he and Harry had one.
But the tug Harry gave his clothes clearly told him not to say it.
With nothing more to add, the group continued down the street until the enormous building that always drew attention the moment you saw it appeared before them.
Meanwhile, Harry, seeing the bank entrance that had become so familiar, increasingly felt like turning around and running away.
Especially when the goblins standing at the doors turned and recognized them.
One of them even muttered something to the other before turning around and heading back inside the bank.
Percy's desire to run only increased when he saw that.
"And now what?" Harry asked in a tired tone while giving his brother a long stare.
Percy cleared his throat before answering.
"Well. Do you remember my master Einjard? The goblin with the permanently grumpy face who always looks annoyed..."
"Yes. I remember him. He's been training you for years. Just like Cousin Dred," Harry interrupted, knowing his brother would start circling around the point if nobody stopped him.
"Well, uh... I'm pretty sure he knows about our ancestry and all that."
"I'm pretty sure he does too," Harry replied calmly.
"And when he agreed to train me, he told me he would never train a human because it wouldn't earn him any reputation. I'm pretty sure he accepted me because I'm the son of... well, the sea god. He also warned me never to lose a battle or run away from one, or he'd personally beat me up," Percy said, his face growing pale.
"..."
Harry fell silent for several seconds and started thinking about their summer.
About everything that had happened during the Lightning Thief situation.
And when he thought about it carefully, the only thing they had done during most of that time...
Was run away whenever they had the chance.
And only fight once there was no other option left.
"Does running away right now count toward the beating too?" Percy asked.
"Yes. Very likely," Harry answered with an easy nod. "Besides, I think it's already too late," he added while pointing toward the bank doors.
Where the goblin who had left earlier had returned.
This time following another one who, unlike when he normally wore a guard's armor and stood outside doing security work, was dressed the way the actual manager of this branch would be.
Perhaps even a little more elegantly than usual, and he looked as though he had left an important meeting just to come see his "beloved" disciple.
Displaying a truly violent smile filled with sharp teeth like spikes.
And staring directly at Percy.
Exactly like a hunter who had just found his prey.
It was none other than his master.
And his smile fooled absolutely no one.