Harry felt as though he was being sucked down a giant drain. He seemed to be spinning very fast, the roaring in his ears was deafening, he tried to keep his eyes open but the whirl of green flames made him feel sick, something hard knocked his elbow and he tucked it in tightly, still spinning and spinning, now it felt as though cold hands were slapping his face, squinting through his glasses he saw a blurred stream of fireplaces and snatched glimpses of the rooms beyond, his bacon sandwiches were churning inside him. He closed his eyes again wishing it would stop, and then... He fell, face forward, onto cold stone and felt the bridge of his glasses snap.
Dizzy and bruised, covered in soot, he got gingerly to his feet, holding his broken glasses up to his eyes. Harry didn't even have time to look at his surroundings when he felt something heavy knocking into him and he fell to floor again.
"Sorry Harry." They said.
"Y/n?" Harry asked recognising the voice.
"I came after you. I suspect Mrs Weasley will be very worried about us." Y/n offered his hand out to Harry and helped him up.
Now that both boys were back on their feet they began to look around, but where they were, they had no idea. All either of them could tell was that they were standing in what looked like a large, dimly lit wizard's shop, but nothing in here was ever likely to be on a Hogwarts school list.
A glass case nearby held a withered hand on a cushion, a bloodstained pack of cards, and a staring glass eye. Evil looking masks stared down from the walls, an assortment of human bones lay upon the counter, and rusty, spiked instruments hung from the ceiling. Even worse, the dark, narrow street Harry could see through the dusty shop window was definitely not Diagon Alley.
"Come on, We had better get out of here and to Diagon Alley." Y/n suggested as he and Harry made their way swiftly and silently toward the door, but before either got halfway toward it, two people appeared on the other side of the glass, and one of them was the very last person Harry wanted to meet when he was lost, covered in soot, and wearing broken glasses, Draco Malfoy.
Harry looked quickly around and spotted a large black cabinet to his left. He pulled Y/n by his wrist and both shot inside it and pulled the doors closed, leaving a small crack to peer through. Seconds later, a bell clanged, and Malfoy stepped into the shop.
The man who followed could only be Draco's father. He had the same pale, pointed face and identical cold eyes. Mr. Malfoy crossed the shop, looking lazily at the items on display, and rang a bell on the counter before turning to his son and saying, "Touch nothing."
Malfoy, who had reached for the glass eye, said, "I thought you were going to buy me a present and why couldn't Atticus come with us?" Draco asked.
"I said I would buy you a racing broom." said his father, drumming his fingers on the counter. "And you're mother has kindly taken Atticus to have his robes adjusted."
'Well that explains where Atticus is.' Y/n thought to himself.
"What's the good of that if I'm not on the House team?" said Malfoy, looking sulky and bad tempered. "Harry Potter got a Nimbus Two Thousand last year. Special permission from Dumbledore so he could play for Gryffindor. He's not even that good, it's just because he's famous... famous for having a stupid scar on his forehead..." Malfoy bent down to examine a shelf full of skulls. "...everyone thinks he's so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and his broomstick..."
"You have told me this at least a dozen times already." said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son. "And I would remind you that it is not...prudent...to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, not when most of our kind regard him as the hero who made the Dark Lord disappear ah, Mr. Borgin."
A stooping man had appeared behind the counter, smoothing his greasy hair back from his face.
"Mr. Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you again." said Mr. Borgin in a voice as oily as his hair. "Delighted, and young Master Malfoy, too, charmed. How may I be of assistance? I must show you, just in today, and very reasonably priced..."
"I'm not buying today, Mr. Borgin, but selling." said Mr. Malfoy.
"Selling?" The smile faded slightly from Mr. Borgin's face.
"You have heard, of course, that the Ministry is conducting more raids," said Mr. Malfoy, taking a roll of parchment from his inside pocket and unravelling it for Mr. Borgin to read. "I have a few...ah...items at home that might embarrass me, if the Ministry were to call..."
Mr. Borgin fixed a pair of pince nez to his nose and looked down the list. "The Ministry wouldn't presume to trouble you, sir, surely?"
Mr. Malfoy's lip curled. "I have not been visited yet. The name Malfoy still commands a certain respect, yet the Ministry grows ever more meddlesome. There are rumors about a new Muggle Protection Act, no doubt that fleabitten, Muggle loving fool Arthur Weasley is behind it..."
Harry felt a hot surge of anger but Y/n put his hand on his shoulder to stop him getting them caught.
"and as you see, certain of these poisons might make it appear..."
"I understand, sir, of course." said Mr. Borgin. "Let me see..."
"Can I have that?" interrupted Draco, pointing at the withered hand on its cushion.
"Ah, the Hand of Glory!" said Mr. Borgin, abandoning Mr. Malfoy's list and scurrying over to Draco. "Insert a candle and it gives light only to the holder! Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine taste, sir."
"I hope my son will amount to more than a thief or a plunderer, Borgin," said Mr. Malfoy coldly,.
"No offense, sir, no offense meant." Mr. Borgin said quickly.
"Though if his grades don't pick up," said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly still. "That may indeed be all he is fit for..."
"It's not my fault." retorted Draco. "The teachers all have favourites, that Hermione Granger and Atticus's brother..."
"I would have thought you'd be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam. snapped Mr. Malfoy.
"Ha!" said Harry under his breath, pleased to see Draco looking both abashed and angry.
"It's the same all over." said Mr. Borgin, in his oily voice. "Wizard blood is counting for less everywhere..."
"Not with me." said Mr. Malfoy, his long nostrils flaring.
"No, sir, nor with me, sir." said Mr. Borgin, with a deep bow.
"In that case, perhaps we can return to my list." said Mr. Malfoy shortly. "I am in something of a hurry, Borgin, I have important business elsewhere today."
They started to haggle. Y/n and Harry watched nervously as Draco drew nearer and nearer to their hiding place, examining the objects for sale. Draco paused to examine a long coil of hangman's rope and to read, smirking, the card propped on a magnificent necklace of opals, Caution: Do Not Touch. Cursed, Has Claimed the Lives of Nineteen Muggle Owners to Date.
Draco turned away and saw the cabinet right in front of him. He walked forward... he stretched out his hand for the handle...
"Done." said Mr. Malfoy at the counter. "Come, Draco..."
Y/n let out a sigh of relief and Harry wiped his forehead on his sleeve as Draco turned away.
"Good day to you, Mr. Borgin. I'll expect you at the manor tomorrow to pick up the goods." The moment the door had closed, Mr. Borgin dropped his oily manner.
"Good day yourself, Mister Malfoy, and if the stories are true, you haven't sold me half of what's hidden in your manor..." Muttering darkly, Mr. Borgin disappeared into a back room.
Y/n and Harry waited for a minute in case he came back, then, quietly as they could, slipped out of the cabinet, past the glass cases, and out of the shop door.
Keeping Harry close to him Y/n looked around to see they had emerged into a dingy alleyway that seemed to be made up entirely of shops devoted to the Dark Arts. The one they'd just left, Borgin and Burkes, looked like the largest, but opposite was a nasty window display of shrunken heads and, two doors down, a large cage was alive with gigantic black spiders. Two shabby looking wizards were watching him from the shadow of a doorway, muttering to each other.
"Let us go, quickly." Y/n said quietly to Harry as they set off, Harry was trying to hold his glasses on straight and hoping against hope they'd be able to find a way out of here.
An old wooden street sign hanging over a shop selling poisonous candles told him he and Y/n were in Knockturn Alley. This didn't help, as Harry had never heard of such a place. He supposed he hadn't spoken clearly enough through his mouthful of ashes back in the Weasleys' fire. Trying to stay calm, he wondered what to do.
"Not lost are you, my dears?" said a voice in his ear, making him turn around. Y/n was face to face with an aged witch stood in front of him, holding a tray of what looked horribly like whole human fingernails. She leered at him, showing mossy teeth.
"We are fine, thank you." Y/n put his hand on his wand getting ready as Harry backed away.
"HARRY! Y/N! What d'yeh think yer doin' down there?"
Harry's heart leapt. so did the witch, a load of fingernails cascaded down over her feet and she cursed as the massive form of Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, came striding toward them, beetle black eyes flashing over his great bristling beard.
"Hagrid!" Harry croaked in relief. "We were lost...Floo powder..." Harry tired to explain.
Hagrid seized Harry and Y/n by the scruff of their necks and pulled them away from the witch, knocking the tray right out of her hands. Her shrieks followed them all the way along the twisting alleyway out into bright sunlight. Both boys saw a familiar, snow white marble building in the distance, Gringotts Bank. Hagrid had steered them right into Diagon Alley.
"Yer both a mess!" said Hagrid gruffly, brushing soot off Harry so forcefully he nearly knocked him into a barrel of dragon dung outside an apothecary. "Skulkin' around Knockturn Alley, dodgy place, don' want no one ter see yeh down there..."
"I realized that." said Harry, ducking as Hagrid made to brush him off again. "I told you, I was lost and Y/n came to...what were you doing down there, anyway?" Harry asked midway through his sentence.
"I was lookin' fer a Flesh Eatin' Slug Repellent." growled Hagrid. "They're ruinin' the school cabbages. Yer two not on yer own are ye?"
"We are staying with the Weasleys Hagrid, but Harry said the wrong destination when using Floo powder and ended up in Knockturn Alley. I chose to follow him so that he would not be alone." Y/n explained.
"Well there's bein a good friend and all, but at's dangerous what you done." Hagrid warned him.
"We've got to go and find the Weasleys Hagrid..." Harry said now back up Y/n and the three set off together down the street.
"How come yeh never wrote back ter me Harry?" said Hagrid as Y/n and Harry jogged alongside him. They had to take three steps to every stride of Hagrid's enormous boots. Harry explained all about Dobby and the Dursleys.
"Lousy Muggles." growled Hagrid. "If I'd've known..."
"Y/n! Harry! Over here!" A voice called out and Y/n looked up and saw Hermione Granger standing at the top of the white flight of steps to Gringotts. She ran down to meet them, her bushy brown hair flying behind her.
"What happened to your glasses Harry?" She asked noticing they were broken. "Hello, Hagrid. Oh, it's wonderful to see you two again, Are you both coming into Gringotts?"
"As soon as we've found the Weasleys." said Harry.
"Yeh won't have long ter wait." Hagrid said with a grin.
Harry, Y/n and Hermione looked around, sprinting up the crowded street were Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Weasley.
"Harry, Y/n." Mr. Weasley panted. "We hoped you'd both only gone one grate too far..." He mopped his glistening brow. "What on earth were you thinking doing that Y/n, Molly's frantic, she's coming now..."
"Where did you guys come out?" Ron asked.
"Knockturn Alley." said Hagrid grimly.
"Excellent!" said Fred and George together.
"We've never been allowed in." said Ron enviously.
"I should ruddy well think not." growled Hagrid.
Mrs. Weasley now came galloping into view, her handbag swinging wildly in one hand, Ginny just clinging onto the other. "Oh, Harry, Y/n oh, my dears, you could have been anywhere..."
Gasping for breath she pulled a large clothes brush out of her bag and began sweeping off the soot Hagrid hadn't managed to beat away from Harry and then Y/n. Mr. Weasley took Harry's glasses, gave them a tap of his wand, and returned them, good as new.
"Well, gotta be off." said Hagrid, who was having his hand wrung by Mrs. Weasley.
"Knockturn Alley! If you hadn't found him, Hagrid!".
"See yer at Hogwarts!" He added and strode away, head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the packed street.
"Guess who we saw in Borgin and Burkes?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione as they climbed the Gringotts steps. "Malfoy and his father."
"I saw Atticus with a woman near Madame Malkin's earlier." Ron said.
"Malfoy's mother." Y/n told him.
"Did Lucius Malfoy buy anything?" Mr Weasley suddenly sharply asked Y/n and Harry.
"No sir, he was selling..." Y/n began.
"So he's worried." said Mr. Weasley with grim satisfaction. "Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy for something..."
"You be careful, Arthur." said Mrs. Weasley sharply as they were bowed into the bank by a goblin at the door. "That family's trouble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew."
"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" said Mr. Weasley indignantly, but he was distracted almost at once by the sight of Hermione's parents, who were standing nervously at the counter that ran all along the great marble hall, waiting for Hermione to introduce them.
"But you're Muggles!" said Mr. Weasley delightedly. "We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!" He pointed excitedly at the ten pound notes in Mr. Granger's hand.
Y/n could see that both Hermione's parents were slightly overwhelmed by the excited wizard in front of them as he looked at the money in their hand.
"Uhh...Mr Weasley sir, I think you might be making them uncomfortable." Y/n tired to point out to them.
Mr Weasley looked up at the Granger's now who tried to give him a polite smile.
"Arthur really..." Mrs Weasley said shaking her head embarrassed as she pulled him back gently. "Come on Weasley's let's go down to the vault and take out what we have first."
"Actually Mrs Weasley. I have to something to hand into the Goblins at Gringotts." Y/n said as he took out an sealed envelope. "My grandmother asked me too before I came to the Burrow."
Mrs Weasley looked hesitant to let Y/n out of her sight but knew there was not much she could do. "Well alright, but you are not to leave Gringotts without us alright!" She warned him and Y/n nodded. "Come on Harry." She said to the other boy in her care.
"Meet you two back here." Ron said to Y/n and Hermione who agreed as the Weasleys and Harry were led off to their underground vaults by another Gringotts goblin.
"What does your grandmother want with Gringotts?" Hermione asked Y/n.
"I'm unsure to be honest." He said looking at the envelope. He then looked at Hermione's parents who seemed to be struggling to change their money still as the goblin asked them if they wanted Sickles or Knuts.
"I do not wish to be presumptuous, but would you like some help Mr and Mrs Granger?" Y/n asked them.
Mr Granger did not look like he wanted to admit he needed help but he sighed and nodded his head knowing he was out of his depth with the wizarding world. "I don't understand the currency exchange." He said to the young boy.
"I see." Y/n nodded. "I may not know too much about muggle money but I can only assume you want the most convenient amount of change to be given to you rather than a large amount."
"That's right dear." Mrs Granger nodded.
"May I?" Y/n held out his hand.
Mr Granger looked at it for a moment before he place the 10 pound note in it. Y/n then turned to the Goblin at the desk. "Excuse me, but what is highest possible exchange rate for this?" He asked the Goblin sat at the desk.
The Goblin examined the ten pound note in Y/n hand for a moment. "That particular amount is worth 2 Galleons and 3 Knuts."
Y/n turned to the Grangers now. "There are 3 types of wizarding coin, Galleons are the highest valued coin you can get and they have a gold colour to them. Next is Sickles which are silver, 17 Sickles equals a Galleon, and the last coin is know as a Knut. They are bronze in colour and 29 Knuts make a Sickle."
"So...It goes Gold, Silver, Bronze?" Mr Granger asks.
"If that ways helps you remember then you can look at it that way." Y/n nodded.
"Right, were getting somewhere." Mr Granger said to his wife sounding relieved to be understanding at least something for once today.
"Now it is time to give it a try sir." Y/n said as he handed Mr Granger back the ten pound note.
Mr Granger nodded with some more confidence as he turned to the bored looking Goblin. "May I change this for 2 Galleons and 3 Knuts was it?" Mr Granger asked it.
"Certainly sir..." The Goblin said drably as it took the note then handed over the correct amount to Mr Granger in his hand. "Will that be all...sir?" The Goblin then asked.
"Uhh...Yes, Yes." Mr Granger said as he moved out of the way now.
"Thank you for helping my parents Y/n." Hermione said gratefully. She had just been about to help her parents herself earlier when Y/n had spoken first so she had left him to explain it to them.
"It is no worries Hermione. I was happy to help." Y/n told her.
"So this is the Y/n you've been writing to over the summer Hermione?" Mrs Granger perked up now.
Hermione's back went rigid for a moment as she stood to attention. "Mum, Dad this is my friend Y/n." She introduced Y/n properly now.
"A pleasure to meet you both." Y/n said as he extended his hand to them.
Mrs Granger shook it first as she gave him a smile.
"Thank you again for your help Y/n, I must admit you're the most helpful Wizard we've come across today." Mr Granger said shaking his hand next firmly.
"Some are...closed minded and unwilling to mix with those without magic." Y/n said as he thought of on his own family history for a moment. "There are then others who are excited by the differences. Like Mr Weasley who you met earlier. He can be slightly...eccentric..." Y/n admitted. "But he has no ill intentions. Just a curious mind."
Mr and Mrs Granger looked slightly better now knowing that Mr Weasley was not insulting them but rather that he was curious about their differences in life.
"I have to apologize, but I need to hand this in now." Y/n said as he held up his letter now.
"No worries and thank you once again." Mrs Granger said kindly.
Y/n gave them a smile before he turned and walked up to the desk of one of Goblins who was using a quill to write on some parchment. Y/n cleared his throat. "Excuse me?" He called out to get it's attention. The goblin placed it's quill back in a ink bottle before it leaned forward to look at Y/n.
"I am to hand this in." Y/n told the goblin as he held out his letter now. The goblin took a hold of it and opened it as it began to read it.
Y/n looked to see the name of the Goblin's plaque was Griphook as he waited for them to finished reading the letter.
"Very well." Griphook said a few moment's later. "It is time for you to make the key to you're new vault."
"I'm sorry...My grandmother got me a vault?" Y/n asked surprised.
"Yes...Madam Grindelwald visited us many weeks ago to make the arrangements of acquiring you and you're brother vaults separated from the main Grindelwald vault."
"She did?" Y/n said still surprised.
"If you would step this way, We need to draw some blood...In order to make a key for your vault." Griphook told him.
"Very well..." Y/n said reluctantly before he turned to Hermione. "I will see you in a moment I suppose."
Hermione just nodded as she stood with her parents and watched Y/n follow Griphook.
"Did I hear them right when they said...draw blood?" Mr Granger asked his wife and Hermione.
"It's how they make the vault key's." Hermione told him.
Y/n followed Griphook to a room and when instructed he held out his hand where a small cut was made. Y/n made no sounds but his brows did furrow instead.
"Most wizards of you're age cry and complain about a drip of blood." Griphook commented as he filled a small vial then healed Y/n's hand.
"I am not like most children I guess." Was all Y/n could say.
Griphook just looked at him. "It would seem, not."
Once Y/n received the new key too his vault he was taken down to it. The vaults were reached by means of small, goblin driven carts that sped along miniature train tracks through the bank's underground tunnels. When the vault door was opened Y/n was momentarily stunned to see it was stacked full of nothing but Galleons and sickles.
Y/n now retrieved some of the Galleons and sickles from the vault into a sack. He thought for a moment as he looked at the pile of galleons before deciding to take a handful more and placed them into a second sack.
He then exited the vault as it sealed and locked tightly behind him before he was taken back to the Gringotts lobby where he could see the others waiting for him.
Back outside on the marble steps, they all separated. Percy muttered vaguely about needing a new quill. Fred and George had spotted their friend from Hogwarts, Lee Jordan. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were going to a secondhand robe shop. Mr. Weasley was insisting on taking the Grangers off to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink.
"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your school books." said Mrs. Weasley, getting ready to set off with Ginny. "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!" she shouted at the twins' retreating backs.
"Mrs Weasley..." Y/n called out to her.
"Yes dear?" She asked him.
Y/n took out the small second sack filled with some galleons and held it out to her. "Please take this to use on Ginny's school needs today as a token of my gratitude for allowing me to stay with your family this summer."
Mr and Mrs Weasley looked into the sack shocked.
"Y/n we can't allow you to..." Mr Weasley began.
"You don't have to do this dear..." Mrs Weasley started.
"I know I do not have to, I simply want to. I will not hear of either of you refusing, otherwise I shall simply toss the galleons down the drain and they will be wasted." Y/n told them not taking no for an answer.
Mr and Mrs Weasley looked at each other before giving up and smiling.
"You're a very good boy dear." Mrs Weasley told him as she gave him a deep hug.
Harry, Y/n, Ron, and Hermione had strolled off along the winding, cobbled streets Of Diagon alley. A bag of gold, silver, and bronze jangling cheerfully in Harry's pocket was clamoring to be spent, so he bought four large strawberry and peanut butter ice creams, which they slurped happily as they wandered up the alley, examining the fascinating shop windows. Y/n noticed as Ron gazed longingly at a full set of Chudley Cannon robes in the windows of Quality Quidditch Supplies until Hermione dragged them off to buy ink and parchment next door.
In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, they met Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, who were stocking up on Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet Start, No Heat Fireworks, and in a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in a small and deeply boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power.
"A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers." Ron read aloud off the back cover. "That sounds fascinating..."
"Go away." Percy snapped.
"'Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned out... he wants to be Minister of Magic..." Ron told Harry, Y/n and Hermione in an undertone as they left Percy to it.
"That is a pretty large ambition to have..." Y/n just commented.
An hour later, they headed for Flourish and Blotts. They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they approached it, they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:
'GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12.30—4.30'
"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed to the three. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!"
"I know he has written the book list Hermione, But I have honestly never heard of him before you mentioned him or before we got the list." Y/n said not anywhere near excited as she was.
The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age. A harassed looking wizard stood at the door, saying. "Calmly, please, ladies... Don't push, there... mind the books, now..."
Harry, Y/n, Ron, and Hermione squeezed inside. A long line wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were standing with Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
"Oh, there you are, good." said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute..."
Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget me not blue that exactly matched his eyes, his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.
A short, irritable looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.
"Out of the way, there." he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet!"
"Big deal." Ron said to Y/n, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.
Y/n just nodded as he used the moment to cover his silver eye with his hair not wanting to stand out.
Gilderoy Lockhart had heard Ron however. He looked up. He saw Ron, He saw Y/n and then he saw Harry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted. "It can't be Harry Potter?"
The crowd parted, whispering excitedly and Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm, and pulled him to the front. Y/n felt bad for his friend as the crowd burst into applause but he was glad he had not been spotted himself. Harry's face burned as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly, wafting thick smoke over Y/n and the Weasleys.
"Nice big smile, Harry." said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page."
When he finally let go of Harry's hand, Harry could hardly feel his fingers. He tried to sidle back over to the Weasleys, but Lockhart threw an arm around his shoulders and clamped him tightly to his side.
"Ladies and gentlemen." he said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!"
"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography, which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge..." The crowd applauded again as Y/n and Ron just looked at each other.
"He had no idea." Lockhart continued, giving Harry a little shake that made his glasses slip to the end of his nose. "That he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Y/n just groaned to himself as the crowd cheered and clapped and Harry found himself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering slightly under their weight, he managed to make his way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing next to her new cauldron.
"You have these." Harry mumbled to her, tipping the books into the cauldron. "I'll buy my own."
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face to face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer.
"The famous Harry Potter...." Atticus's voice sounded out now as he appeared from behind Draco.
"Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page." Draco sneered.
"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.
"Look Draco, Potter's gotten himself a girlfriend!" Atticus said maliciously. Ginny went scarlet.
"That is enough Atticus..." Y/n said appearing behind both Harry and Ginny.
Atticus just grimaced. "I should have known you'd be with them. Blood traitors stick together after all...."
Before Y/n could say anything back Ron and Hermione fought their way over now, both clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.
"Oh, it's you." said Ron, looking at Malfoy and Atticus as if they were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"
"Not as surprised as we are to see you in a shop, Weasley." retorted Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those."
Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron, too, and started toward Malfoy, but Harry and Y/n grabbed the back of his jacket.
"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."
"Well, well, well...Arthur Weasley." A voice started and they all looked up. It was Mr. Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.
"Lucius." said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.
"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear." said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime?"
He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
"Obviously not..." Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
Mr Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy." he said.
"Clearly." said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower..."
There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying. Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads, there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!" the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over. "Gentlemen, please....please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all...
"Break it up, there, gents, break it up..." A shopkeeper cried and Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.
"Here, girl, take your book it's the best your father can give you..." Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and Atticus as the three swept from the shop.
"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur." said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that, no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter...bad blood, that's what it is, come on now let's get outta here."
The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury.
"A fine example to set for your children... brawling in public... what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought..."
"He was pleased." said Fred to his mother. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report...said it was all publicity."
"I think he's a narcissist personally..." Y/n said as he held some new extra books he had purchased alongside his required ones.
"I think he was excellent actually and personally can't wait till he teaches us at Hogwarts!" Hermione said making an annoyed face to Y/n but he paid her no mind instead shaking his head.
It was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron, where Y/n, Harry, the Weasleys, and all their shopping would be traveling back to the Burrow using Floo powder. They said good bye to the Grangers, who were leaving the pub for the Muggle street on the other side; Mr. Weasley had started to ask them how bus stops worked, but stopped quickly at the look on Mrs. Weasley's face.
"So much for a quiet trip..." Y/n said to himself as he arrived back at the Burrow.