Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Number of Fools
DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.
Chapter 11: Back to Diagon Alley
The next month seemed to go by in a blur for Dan as he finished up school and was looking forward to summer vacation. Even then, summer vacation was just the beginning; in the fall, he would be going to Hogwarts!
Harry, on the other hand, wished it had never come to this. Of course, he could have put his foot down and stopped all this from ever happening, but his damn Gryffindor nobility made sure that didn't happen, and now he couldn't rescind his decision to let Dan attend Hogwarts. Besides, he wasn't low enough to erase the memories of his own family members.
It was during one of the first days of August that Harry took his son to Diagon Alley. First, Harry drove both of them to the nearest wizarding pub he could find, and after paying a special toll for international trips using the Floo network, father and son jumped through and fell out in the Leaky Cauldron.
Harry got up, looking around warily. He was wearing a cloak and hood as it was, and he had already used a Glamour Charm on himself so his scar was hidden, and had auburn hair and hazel eyes.
Harry led his son out back into the courtyard, and after tapping the right brick, Diagon Alley opened up to them.
Harry looked over his shoulder to see Dan gazing around in all directions in awe, and wondered if that was how he himself looked when Hagrid first took him there.
Pushing those hurtful memories aside, Harry continued onward.
However, they only resurfaced once Harry passed the booming Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which had a banner boldly declaring its twentieth anniversary. Time seemed to stretch for eons when Harry recognized Ron and Hermione talking to each other happily, with their red-haired daughter clutching her mother's hand.
Something about seeing them made Harry's heart feel as though it was able to break and crumble, and it almost felt like watching a train wreck, where he wanted to look away but he couldn't...
"Dad?" Dan whispered, tugging his father's arm.
Harry snapped out of his funk and continuing walking after muttering an apology.
"Was that them?" Dan asked quietly.
"Yes," Harry said almost ruefully, hiding the anger welling up inside of them. "Those were my friends."
Neither of them took the subject any further.
Harry already had plenty of Galleons from an amount of them which he had saved, should he ever need to return to the wizarding world for whatever reason. He suggested that Dan go try on some robes in Madam Malkin's while he would go to the Apothecary himself; Dan didn't seem to tolerate certain smells and odors very well, as the Potter family once learned the hard way during a camping trip.
So, as Harry walked back down the alley, Dan entered the store. A witch greeted him and motioned him to a platform where he would be measured.
Looking off to one side, Dan saw a boy about his age observing himself in the mirror. He was slim, with pale skin, blond hair and gray eyes. He stood aristocratically, vividly reminding Dan of illustrations of senators from his father's Roman history books.
This other boy noticed him. "You going to Hogwarts as well?" he asked.
"Yes," Dan said, trying to be polite and making conversation.
"I haven't seen you around Hogwarts before," the other boy commented, sizing Dan up. "You going to be a first year?"
"Yeah. Why, what year are you?"
"Second year," he said proudly, as though a year's difference was much to boast about.
"I'm in Slytherin," he continued in that same tone. "What House do you think you'll be in?"
"I dunno," Dan shrugged. "That's the Hat's decision, isn't it? My dad told me about it."
"He went to Hogwarts too?"
"No, but he knew someone who was a Gryffindor," Dan said as sort of a half-lie.
The boy sneered, causing something to click deep within Dan's mind, although he couldn't tell exactly what. "Gryffindors," the boy muttered.
"What about them?" Dan said innocently.
"Has to be the most hypocritical House of the four," the other boy drawled. "They spout about nobility, bravery and chivalry, and yet the moment something goes wrong, they'll turn on any convenient scapegoat they can find and throw him to the wolves."
"Surely they can't all be like that."
"Well, I've yet to see one not like that. Then again, I've only been at Hogwarts for a year," he smirked. "Slytherin has gotten an interesting little boost in popularity over the last several years, especially after some Gryffindors made one of the biggest blunders in history."
"Come again?"
"Ever hear of Harry Potter?"
Dan nodded. "Yeah, my dad told me about him. He survived a deadly attack from a terrible Dark wizard when he was infant, fought with him over the years while at Hogwarts, and finally killed him before he was even of age."
"Yes, but after his so-called friends and family betrayed him faster than you could say 'Azkaban.'"
"Yeah, I heard about that too." At this point, Dan was feeling uneasy.
"So, since your dad went to Hogwarts, what does he do for a living?"
"He's a schoolteacher. He teaches Latin at a high school."
The other boy looked surprised and blinked. "He doesn't live in the wizarding world? I thought he went to Hogwarts."
"No, I said he knew someone who went to Hogwarts..." Dan paused here for a moment, before deciding to continue with this lie. "But eventually, he left England and moved to the United States, which is where I live."
"Hm, come to think of it, that would explain your accent," the other boy commented.
Just then, one of the witches told the other boy he was done. Walking out, he called over his shoulder, "See you at Hogwarts."
A minute later, Dan met his dad outside, who was carrying all the needed potions supplies in a nice new cauldron. From there, they went to Flourish & Blotts, where they got all the necessary books. Harry took a moment to observe the history books, including a few of which on the topic of Harry Potter before snorting and muttering something under his breath.
They made a brief detour to Eeylops Owl Emporium where Dan selected a young and eager Great Grey owl. He still had memories of Hedwig from when he was younger, and liked the idea of having an owl again.
"So, have any ideas what you want to name him?" Harry said as they walked out.
"Um, I dunno..." Dan said, trailing off as he thought about it. "Cloudy?"
The owl hooted happily, and Harry raised an eyebrow. "Cloudy?"
Dan shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to mind. Besides, where'd you get a name like 'Hedwig'?"
"I found the name somewhere, and she liked it."
"Well, there you go."
Their last stop was Ollivander's, but before they could get that far, Harry heard two voices behind him that did nothing for his state of mind.
"Why, look at that, dear George, a Hogwarts-bound student!"
"Yes, dear Fred, he's someone who seems like a bright lad."
Dan turned around with curiosity while Harry stopped dead in his tracks. 'Oh hell no...'
There were Fred and George Weasley, co-owners of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. "Well, this seems to be one bright young man," Fred said, inspecting Dan with mock seriousness.
"Indeed, he does seem to have the potential to come out as one of Hogwart's finest one day," George added.
"I do realize both of you mean well and are only trying to sell your goods, except we must be on our way," Harry said with the most polite voice he could muster.
Recognizing the voice of parents not interested in their line of work, the twins let them leave, bade them farewell and offered for them back another time.
Finally, they made it to Ollivander's, where the shop owner looked exactly the same as he did the last time Harry saw him years and years ago.
Mr. Ollivander also went through the same motions as he did with Harry all those years ago, and soon enough, he was looking for the right wand for Dan.
It didn't take as long as it did with Harry for Dan to get the right wand for him. As soon as he handed Dan the wand (very carefully too, Harry noticed), there was a sharp flare of blinding white light which also caused the room to shake a little.
Harry was speechless. Dan muttered a small "whoa."
However, Mr. Ollivander once again muttered "Curious..."
"What is it?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.
"This wand... is unlike any I've ever seen before..."
After a moment in which Mr. Ollivander collected himself, he told Harry and Dan exactly what was so special about this particular wand. With a secretive tone that reminded Harry somewhat of Professor Trelawny, Mr. Ollivander told the Potters. "This was the first wand I ever made. Oh, don't worry, it's in perfect condition as though I just finished it yesterday, but it's also made of possibly the most unusual combination out there."
"What combination would that be, Mr. Ollivander?" Dan inquired.
"Holly and powdered basilisk eye," Mr. Ollivander said, sounding close to a whisper. "It is said that such a combination in a wand will warn its owner about approaching evil."
"Well... does it?"
"Unfortunately, wands of this kind of combination have been crafted the least throughout magical history, and so such accounts are near-impossible to find. For the most part, wands using ingredients from basilisks have used powdered /fangs/, not /eyes/." Mr. Ollivander looked a little apprehensive here, and Harry knew it was because of how a basilisk could kill its victims by making eye contact with them. After recollecting himself, the elderly wand-maker told Dan, "May you make good use of your wand. That will be eighteen Galleons, please."
After that, Harry and Dan finally left Diagon Alley. Once they were back home, Dan made room for all his new possessions, and found a nice cozy corner of his room for Cloudy.
At dinner, Dan was rhapsodizing about all his new things and how he was looking forward to going to Hogwarts, much to the interest of his mother and sister and the chagrin of his father.
'And thus, history repeats itself,' Harry thought ruefully, remembering how Dan even set up a chart for the days remaining until his first year at Hogwarts started.
(End of Chapter 11.)
A/N: Now we're getting somewhere...
Note regarding WWW: I did the math. Harry's fifth year was 1995-96, towards the end of which the Weasley twins opened their shop up, and the current year is 2016. Hence, WWW has been around for twenty years.
Note regarding the obvious junior Malfoy: I couldn't resist the temptation.
Note regarding Dan's new wand: I've seen fics where Harry's kid gets a wand which has yet another feather which Fawkes donated at some point. Nothing against any of them, but I just wanted to do something different. Ta-da!
Next chapter is Dan going to Hogwarts ... -Quillian
Chapter 11: Back to Diagon Alley
The next month seemed to go by in a blur for Dan as he finished up school and was looking forward to summer vacation. Even then, summer vacation was just the beginning; in the fall, he would be going to Hogwarts!
Harry, on the other hand, wished it had never come to this. Of course, he could have put his foot down and stopped all this from ever happening, but his damn Gryffindor nobility made sure that didn't happen, and now he couldn't rescind his decision to let Dan attend Hogwarts. Besides, he wasn't low enough to erase the memories of his own family members.
It was during one of the first days of August that Harry took his son to Diagon Alley. First, Harry drove both of them to the nearest wizarding pub he could find, and after paying a special toll for international trips using the Floo network, father and son jumped through and fell out in the Leaky Cauldron.
Harry got up, looking around warily. He was wearing a cloak and hood as it was, and he had already used a Glamour Charm on himself so his scar was hidden, and had auburn hair and hazel eyes.
Harry led his son out back into the courtyard, and after tapping the right brick, Diagon Alley opened up to them.
Harry looked over his shoulder to see Dan gazing around in all directions in awe, and wondered if that was how he himself looked when Hagrid first took him there.
Pushing those hurtful memories aside, Harry continued onward.
However, they only resurfaced once Harry passed the booming Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which had a banner boldly declaring its twentieth anniversary. Time seemed to stretch for eons when Harry recognized Ron and Hermione talking to each other happily, with their red-haired daughter clutching her mother's hand.
Something about seeing them made Harry's heart feel as though it was able to break and crumble, and it almost felt like watching a train wreck, where he wanted to look away but he couldn't...
"Dad?" Dan whispered, tugging his father's arm.
Harry snapped out of his funk and continuing walking after muttering an apology.
"Was that them?" Dan asked quietly.
"Yes," Harry said almost ruefully, hiding the anger welling up inside of them. "Those were my friends."
Neither of them took the subject any further.
Harry already had plenty of Galleons from an amount of them which he had saved, should he ever need to return to the wizarding world for whatever reason. He suggested that Dan go try on some robes in Madam Malkin's while he would go to the Apothecary himself; Dan didn't seem to tolerate certain smells and odors very well, as the Potter family once learned the hard way during a camping trip.
So, as Harry walked back down the alley, Dan entered the store. A witch greeted him and motioned him to a platform where he would be measured.
Looking off to one side, Dan saw a boy about his age observing himself in the mirror. He was slim, with pale skin, blond hair and gray eyes. He stood aristocratically, vividly reminding Dan of illustrations of senators from his father's Roman history books.
This other boy noticed him. "You going to Hogwarts as well?" he asked.
"Yes," Dan said, trying to be polite and making conversation.
"I haven't seen you around Hogwarts before," the other boy commented, sizing Dan up. "You going to be a first year?"
"Yeah. Why, what year are you?"
"Second year," he said proudly, as though a year's difference was much to boast about.
"I'm in Slytherin," he continued in that same tone. "What House do you think you'll be in?"
"I dunno," Dan shrugged. "That's the Hat's decision, isn't it? My dad told me about it."
"He went to Hogwarts too?"
"No, but he knew someone who was a Gryffindor," Dan said as sort of a half-lie.
The boy sneered, causing something to click deep within Dan's mind, although he couldn't tell exactly what. "Gryffindors," the boy muttered.
"What about them?" Dan said innocently.
"Has to be the most hypocritical House of the four," the other boy drawled. "They spout about nobility, bravery and chivalry, and yet the moment something goes wrong, they'll turn on any convenient scapegoat they can find and throw him to the wolves."
"Surely they can't all be like that."
"Well, I've yet to see one not like that. Then again, I've only been at Hogwarts for a year," he smirked. "Slytherin has gotten an interesting little boost in popularity over the last several years, especially after some Gryffindors made one of the biggest blunders in history."
"Come again?"
"Ever hear of Harry Potter?"
Dan nodded. "Yeah, my dad told me about him. He survived a deadly attack from a terrible Dark wizard when he was infant, fought with him over the years while at Hogwarts, and finally killed him before he was even of age."
"Yes, but after his so-called friends and family betrayed him faster than you could say 'Azkaban.'"
"Yeah, I heard about that too." At this point, Dan was feeling uneasy.
"So, since your dad went to Hogwarts, what does he do for a living?"
"He's a schoolteacher. He teaches Latin at a high school."
The other boy looked surprised and blinked. "He doesn't live in the wizarding world? I thought he went to Hogwarts."
"No, I said he knew someone who went to Hogwarts..." Dan paused here for a moment, before deciding to continue with this lie. "But eventually, he left England and moved to the United States, which is where I live."
"Hm, come to think of it, that would explain your accent," the other boy commented.
Just then, one of the witches told the other boy he was done. Walking out, he called over his shoulder, "See you at Hogwarts."
A minute later, Dan met his dad outside, who was carrying all the needed potions supplies in a nice new cauldron. From there, they went to Flourish & Blotts, where they got all the necessary books. Harry took a moment to observe the history books, including a few of which on the topic of Harry Potter before snorting and muttering something under his breath.
They made a brief detour to Eeylops Owl Emporium where Dan selected a young and eager Great Grey owl. He still had memories of Hedwig from when he was younger, and liked the idea of having an owl again.
"So, have any ideas what you want to name him?" Harry said as they walked out.
"Um, I dunno..." Dan said, trailing off as he thought about it. "Cloudy?"
The owl hooted happily, and Harry raised an eyebrow. "Cloudy?"
Dan shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to mind. Besides, where'd you get a name like 'Hedwig'?"
"I found the name somewhere, and she liked it."
"Well, there you go."
Their last stop was Ollivander's, but before they could get that far, Harry heard two voices behind him that did nothing for his state of mind.
"Why, look at that, dear George, a Hogwarts-bound student!"
"Yes, dear Fred, he's someone who seems like a bright lad."
Dan turned around with curiosity while Harry stopped dead in his tracks. 'Oh hell no...'
There were Fred and George Weasley, co-owners of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. "Well, this seems to be one bright young man," Fred said, inspecting Dan with mock seriousness.
"Indeed, he does seem to have the potential to come out as one of Hogwart's finest one day," George added.
"I do realize both of you mean well and are only trying to sell your goods, except we must be on our way," Harry said with the most polite voice he could muster.
Recognizing the voice of parents not interested in their line of work, the twins let them leave, bade them farewell and offered for them back another time.
Finally, they made it to Ollivander's, where the shop owner looked exactly the same as he did the last time Harry saw him years and years ago.
Mr. Ollivander also went through the same motions as he did with Harry all those years ago, and soon enough, he was looking for the right wand for Dan.
It didn't take as long as it did with Harry for Dan to get the right wand for him. As soon as he handed Dan the wand (very carefully too, Harry noticed), there was a sharp flare of blinding white light which also caused the room to shake a little.
Harry was speechless. Dan muttered a small "whoa."
However, Mr. Ollivander once again muttered "Curious..."
"What is it?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.
"This wand... is unlike any I've ever seen before..."
After a moment in which Mr. Ollivander collected himself, he told Harry and Dan exactly what was so special about this particular wand. With a secretive tone that reminded Harry somewhat of Professor Trelawny, Mr. Ollivander told the Potters. "This was the first wand I ever made. Oh, don't worry, it's in perfect condition as though I just finished it yesterday, but it's also made of possibly the most unusual combination out there."
"What combination would that be, Mr. Ollivander?" Dan inquired.
"Holly and powdered basilisk eye," Mr. Ollivander said, sounding close to a whisper. "It is said that such a combination in a wand will warn its owner about approaching evil."
"Well... does it?"
"Unfortunately, wands of this kind of combination have been crafted the least throughout magical history, and so such accounts are near-impossible to find. For the most part, wands using ingredients from basilisks have used powdered /fangs/, not /eyes/." Mr. Ollivander looked a little apprehensive here, and Harry knew it was because of how a basilisk could kill its victims by making eye contact with them. After recollecting himself, the elderly wand-maker told Dan, "May you make good use of your wand. That will be eighteen Galleons, please."
After that, Harry and Dan finally left Diagon Alley. Once they were back home, Dan made room for all his new possessions, and found a nice cozy corner of his room for Cloudy.
At dinner, Dan was rhapsodizing about all his new things and how he was looking forward to going to Hogwarts, much to the interest of his mother and sister and the chagrin of his father.
'And thus, history repeats itself,' Harry thought ruefully, remembering how Dan even set up a chart for the days remaining until his first year at Hogwarts started.
(End of Chapter 11.)
A/N: Now we're getting somewhere...
Note regarding WWW: I did the math. Harry's fifth year was 1995-96, towards the end of which the Weasley twins opened their shop up, and the current year is 2016. Hence, WWW has been around for twenty years.
Note regarding the obvious junior Malfoy: I couldn't resist the temptation.
Note regarding Dan's new wand: I've seen fics where Harry's kid gets a wand which has yet another feather which Fawkes donated at some point. Nothing against any of them, but I just wanted to do something different. Ta-da!
Next chapter is Dan going to Hogwarts ... -Quillian
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