While Lucius was busy insulting everyone in sight, Arthur Weasley stepped out of the crowd and moved to Ginny's side.
"Kids, this place is getting too chaotic. Let's head outside."
"Arthur?" Lucius turned, deliberately blocking his path. His lip curled. "Busy at the Ministry these days, are we? All those surprise raids. Are you actually hunting illegal Dark artifacts… or just fishing for something in the old pure-blood families?"
Arthur kept his tone even. "Didn't you see the notice? It's routine inspection. If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about."
Lucius let out a cold laugh. "Of course. And judging by how you lot look right now, I'd say you found exactly nothing. No overtime pay either, am I right?" He sneered. "Not only do you scrape by on pennies, you embarrass the entire wizarding world while you're at it."
"Embarrass?" Arthur shot back. "On that point, we see things very differently."
Lucius glanced at Richie and Hermione, one eyebrow raised. "Different? I thought your family had sunk as low as possible. Turns out you're actually cozying up to Muggles now?" He gave a theatrical sigh. "I wonder how your ancestors would feel if they knew. They'd probably die of shame all over again."
The second the words left his mouth, Ginny's small cauldron slammed straight into Lucius's forehead with a loud clang.
A heartbeat later Arthur's fist connected.
Bang!
Arthur shoved Lucius hard into a nearby bookshelf. Dozens of heavy volumes rained down on both of them.
Fresh screams filled Flourish and Blotts—this time from terrified bystanders and clerks.
"Gentlemen, please! Stop fighting!"
The two grown wizards kept rolling around in the pile of books, trading punches.
George and Fred whooped and cheered from the sidelines. Harry and Ron planted themselves in front of Draco. Molly hovered nearby, frantically trying to pull everyone apart. Ginny quietly picked up her cauldron again, waiting for another opening.
Richie watched the two adult wizards wrestling on the floor like schoolyard kids and felt a strange sense of disbelief.
"They really just… throw hands like that?" he muttered.
Denton sidled up beside him, arms full of signed books, clearly enjoying the show. "So who's the good guy and who's the bad guy here?"
"Uh… the one in the black robes is the bad guy," Richie said, scratching his head.
A moment later Hagrid barged in, shoving spectators aside. He grabbed both men by the collars and hauled them apart like sacks of potatoes.
"Are you two serious?" Hagrid roared. "A department head and a pure-blood family patriarch having a brawl in a bookstore?! There are children here!"
Lucius's left eye was already swelling into a nasty bruise. He glared at Arthur, straightened his robes with as much dignity as he could manage, then bent down and picked up two books. He walked straight toward Ginny.
Ginny clutched her cauldron tighter, eyes wide, muscles tensed.
Molly stepped in front of her daughter, voice sharp. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Lucius's mouth twitched. He held up the books, then dropped them into Ginny's cauldron.
"Hold on to these, little girl," he said through gritted teeth. "After all, they're the most expensive things your father can afford to buy you."
With that, he spun on his heel and strode toward the door.
"Draco. We're leaving."
Draco shot Harry one last poisonous look, then hurried after his father. The Malfoy pair disappeared into the street.
The moment they were gone, Arthur's shoulders sagged. He winced and rubbed his arm. "Blimey… the man hits harder than he looks."
Molly immediately started scolding him.
Richie shook his head at the ridiculous scene, then quietly stepped over to Ginny.
"Hey," he said.
Ginny turned and found a good-looking boy standing beside her.
"Oh, I know you. You're friends with Harry and the others, right?"
Richie nodded. "Mind if I take a quick look at the books in your cauldron? I can check them for you."
"It's just an old Transfiguration textbook," he added. "If that's okay."
Ginny lowered her head a little. "Of course I don't mind. My second-year books are all second-hand anyway… except the Defense Against the Dark Arts ones."
Richie reached in, pulled out the Transfiguration book, and spotted the plain black diary tucked between the pages.
There it is. Lucius had staged the whole fight just to plant this thing on the Weasleys.
Richie didn't remember every detail, but he knew the diary was bad news—and that Harry would eventually destroy it and save the school again. Handing it straight to Dumbledore seemed like the simplest way to stop the whole Chamber of Secrets mess before it started. Then his second year could actually be peaceful.
He slipped the diary out, checked the textbook itself, and slid it back into the cauldron.
"Everything's fine," he told Ginny. "Old books are no problem as long as the knowledge is correct."
He straightened up. "Oh, and proper introduction—I'm Richie Harland, second-year Ravenclaw. Hope you have a great time at Hogwarts and study hard like your brothers."
With that, he gave her a polite nod and walked away.
"Hey…" Ginny stared after him, cheeks turning pink. She pressed both hands to her face. "He's so thoughtful!"
"Just like Lockhart!"
(Richie, somewhere in the distance: Slander. I'm suing.)
"What do I do? Harry's right here…"
She took a deep breath. "Come on, Ginny. Resist the bad influence!"
---
After saying goodbye to the Weasleys and the Grangers (who were still on a massive book-buying spree), Denton and Richie climbed into their little yellow car and headed home.
Halfway there, the car suddenly turned around.
Lunchtime was coming up, and neither of them wanted to risk another one of Mrs. Harland's experimental meals. They decided to eat out instead—and picked up a takeout portion for her too.
...
Back at 9 Silver Maple Road, Maple District, Pro County, the Harland family kitchen.
"Strange… why does it taste so bland?"
"Add a spoonful of sugar?"
"Another spoonful?"
"Still not enough… maybe another billion spoonfuls?"