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Author's Note: The Hogwarts welcome letter is taken from Sorceror's Stone (CH 4)

Chapter Six - Diagon Alley

Harry let out a whoop, hugging Bonnie and taking the letter from her hands. He ran out of their room and down the hall towards the dining area, where everyone would be starting breakfast. In his excitement over the letter, Harry didn't notice that Bonnie hadn't followed him out. He burst into the room, a big smile on his face as he waved the envelope in the air.

"It came! It came!" Harry skidded to a stop in front of his seated parents.

"Whoa, slow down, champ," James said, humor alight in his eyes. "Did the latest issue of Which Broomstick come out today?"

"No Dad," pouted Harry. "But my Hogwarts letter did!" He thrust the envelope into James's face, smiling at the others seated at the table. "I mean, I knew it was coming, but you're never sure until it does." He looked down to hide his nervousness.

"Congratulations, baby," Lily said, wrapping her arms around her son from behind. "My little boy is going to Hogwarts. You're getting so big these days."

"Aw, Mum," a blush rose on Harry's cheeks as he leant into his mum's embrace. "I'm eleven. Jack's the baby now." He reached over to ruffle his three-year-old brother's head.

"You'll always be my baby, Harry." Lily laid a kiss on his forehead and moved back to the stove to continue serving breakfast.

"Now, let's take a look at this letter of yours." James opened the envelope and pulled out the letter and read aloud:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
~*~
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress

James looked at the parchment behind the acceptance letter and let out an appreciative whistle. "We'll definitely need to make a stop at Diagon Alley this week; Harry can use Nym's books from her first year but everything else we'll have to buy. I always forget that first year is so expensive."

"I told you to come with us when we took Nym shopping for her first Hogwarts year all those years ago, James." Andromeda had stopped feeding Orion to comment. "It had been so long since we'd gone to buy books for ourselves to use at Hogwarts. It took a few shops before we remembered where everything was."

"Now, Ann, let's be fair about things. We'd just gotten back from our trip back then. With all the unpacking and setting up that needed to get done, it only made sense for you and Sirius to go with your daughter," James pointed out.

"Uh, Dad?" Harry pulled on his dad's sleeve to get his attention. "Can I get my own broom when we go to Diagon Alley?"

"Harry, it says right here that first years aren't allowed brooms," Lily answered, looking up from her son's Hogwarts letter.

"I'm afraid your mother's right, Harry," agreed James. "Even if you were able to sneak a broomstick in, there's no way you'd be able to hang onto it with Snivellus, I mean Snape, snooping around. I'll tell you what, how about a pet? I'm sure Bubbles could use a friend," James smirked at Sirius.

"Yeah, Harry, that would be fun," Nym said as she entered the room. Her dressing robe was hastily tied, revealing a bit of the thin nightgown she wore underneath. Sitting down in the open seat next to Remus, she leaned over towards Harry. "Better yet, you should get an owl. It's such a drag to have to use a school owl, and it'd be easier for everyone here to recognize when one of us is sending a letter to them."

Remus nodded in agreement at the teen girl's statement, but also subtly scooted his chair away from her direction as he saw Sirius glaring at her state of attire. "I'll talk to Olivia when she gets here. We'll figure out what day this week will be good for you to take Harry to Diagon Alley, James. You should probably take Dora with you, one less trip for us to make and the smaller party should keep Harry from being too visible to the public."

All parties involved agreed to the idea and commenced eating breakfast. Bonnie dragged herself into the room a little while later and plunked herself down in her seat next to Harry. Only Nym seemed to notice that her eyes were slightly red, presumably from crying, but she chose not to mention anything at the table to embarrass her sister. She caught Bonnie's gaze and gave her an encouraging smile. Nym seemed to have an idea of what had put her sister in the mood for tears.

It wasn't until the next Wednesday that they finally had time to visit Diagon Alley. During that time, Bonnie had been acting a bit subdued during the day around Harry and very clingy when they went to sleep at night. Harry was puzzled by her odd actions, but figured it was just something to do with her being a girl. He lived with enough females in this household to know that sometimes there were no explanations for what they did, and that he should just nod his head and agree during these times.

Lily had agreed to accompany James, Harry, and Nym to Diagon Alley. She'd leave Rose, Daisy, and Jack in the capable hands of their aunts, while she helped Nym with her shopping--something she was sure James wouldn't be able to handle. Daphne would be taken another day with her mum and Remus. It was decided it'd be safer to keep her away from the chaos that was bound to happen when they took Harry to Diagon Alley. Before they left for Diagon Alley, Nym pulled Bonnie over to the side.

"You know you're being silly about this, right?" Nym whispered to her sister.

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie avoided looking directly at Nym.

"Harry is what," Nym reached out with her hand and turned Bonnie's face towards her. "You're upset that he'll be going off to Hogwarts for nine months and you won't be able to join him there until next year. But what you're missing, is the fact that he's still here for the next few weeks and you'll waste it if you're just moping around denying what's going to happen anyway, whether you like it or not."

"I know that, but we've never been apart since I can remember. He's my best friend. We do everything together," Bonnie replied, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"And he'll still be your best friend even if he's in Scotland and you're here at the estate." Nym put her arm around her sister, who melted into the comforting embrace.

"I'll miss him."

"Don't worry, sis. I'll make sure the lug writes home every week. I'll tell Uncle James to make sure Harry gets an owl, that way he'll have no excuse to forget to write." Nym gave her sister one last hug before stepping back towards the departing group. She was the last one into the fire. Shouting, "Diagon Alley," she disappeared into the green flames of the fireplace.

Harry stumbled out of the Floo grate, but failed to fall onto the floor thanks to his mum's quick actions of grabbing his arms and keeping him upright. He gave her a flustered smile while she swept ash off his robes. Nym was the last to arrive, tripping right into Harry's back. Despite Harry's scowl, she played it off as a hug and shook her now-auburn hair back from her face. She had decided to match with her Aunt Lily since James and Harry naturally looked similar.

"Well, kids, let's get a move on out of here before you're noticed." James helped block Harry out of the view of the patrons of the Leaky Cauldron as they edged towards the door.

Harry took the moment to look around at the place they had Flooed into. It seemed to be a dingy-looking pub. It was still early in the morning, so the tables were only moderately filled with a few customers standing around the bar. There seemed to be a staircase to the side of the bar, which Harry presumed led to rooms for rent; he did recall his dad saying the Leaky Cauldron was an inn. His train of thought was interrupted by a sharp nudge to his ribs.

"Harry, do you see that wizard by the bar?" Nym asked Harry, subtly nodding in the direction of a trembling wizard by the bar. "That's Professor Quirrell. He's a bit of a shifty one. I heard that he went on a trip the summer after my second year at Hogwarts, and he came back terribly jumpy."

Harry hung onto her every word as they neared a brick wall just outside the Leaky Cauldron. "What does he teach?"

"He's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher if you'll believe it. More suited to be a bookworm, that one," Nym let out a small laugh. James jumped at the sudden noise, causing Lily and Nym to burst into quiet giggles.

"Well," James cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Here we are." He pulled out his wand and tapped the bricks of the wall in front of them, revealing an archway to a bustling marketplace. "Welcome to Diagon Alley, Harry." James grabbed Lily's hand and led the group through the archway and onto the cobbled street.

Nym copied his movement and grabbed Harry's hand, half-dragging him down the street, preventing the young wizard from just standing in the middle of the way, staring in awe at all the magical shops. "C'mon, Harry. We can't blow our cover before we've even shopped." She brushed his hair down over his forehead, making sure the fringe covered his well known scar.

Despite the annoyed look on his face, Harry squeezed her hand and continued walking beside her. He, however, pulled them to a stop in front of the display window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. "Look!" Harry pointed at the main broomstick on display. "The Nimbus Two Thousand. They say it's the fastest model on the market. I'd love to get a chance to fly one."

"I'd think the chances of riding one are pretty slim, Harry. It would take a miracle to convince your mum that buying that broomstick would be any different from my Comet 260. Mind you, I love my Comet 260 but it's not the fastest broom around, that's for sure," Nym said, leaning close to the window, examining the Nimbus 2000 as closely as she could.

"Alright, you two." The two of them turned to see James approaching them. "I think standing and gawking at the latest Nimbus is a wonderful way to spend the day, however, we've got places to be before we get noticed. Your mum's waiting for us at Gringotts, Harry." James swept his arm in front of them, motioning for the two children to lead the way.

They walked up to a large, white marble building. Waiting on the steps was Lily Potter, her fox red hair blowing slightly in the wind. They joined up with her and walked into the building. Inside, hundreds of goblins were sitting behind a long counter, weighing coins, and writing in ledgers. Harry remembered goblins from their time in Egypt. While visiting the local tombs, they had met some curse-breakers who were working for Gringotts.

James led the group to the nearest free goblin. "Hello," he greeted the goblin. "We'd like to make a trip down to our vault, number one hundred and fifteen."

"Very well," answered the goblin, briefly looking up from the parchment on his hands to verify the key in James's hand. "I'll have someone take you down to your vault. Griphook!"

Another goblin came up to them and led them through a door on the side of the corridor. They entered a narrow stone passageway and were greeted by a small cart sitting on railway tracks. Once the group was safely into the cart, they were hurtled down a twisted maze of passages. Nym had been coming down to the vault every year since she started Hogwarts, but this was Harry's first trip to the family vault and he was avidly staring at the glimpses of things he could see as they went by.

Before Harry knew it, the cart had stopped and they had arrived at their vault. Griphook led them to a medium-sized door in the passage wall. Harry gawked at the sight of the door; it had no keyhole, so he looked over at his dad questioningly. James just smiled and nodded towards Griphook.

The goblin reached the door and ran a finger along it, causing a keyhole to suddenly appear by the door handle. James moved forward and used the key in his hand, opening the door and revealing a large room filled with coins, jewels, trunks, parchment, and family heirlooms. When they had first returned home from their trip, James and Sirius decided to put their family and individual vaults into one large high security vault. It made it easier for Remus and Olivia to manage their costs, and reduced the amount of vaults they'd need to take care of at Gringotts.

Once inside, James grabbed a few small leather pouches hanging on the wall and proceeded to fill them up with Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. Harry being the only newcomer of the group to the family vault, openly gaped at the wealth surrounding him.

"Yes, we're wealthy, sweetie," Lily said, closing her son's open mouth with her hand. "It doesn't make us better than anyone; we just have more opportunities to do the right thing."

Once they'd taken the cart back up to the ground level, James handed a money pouch to Lily and Nym. He tucked Harry's into his robe pocket. "Well Harry, we need to head off to Madam Malkin's and get you fitted for your school robes. Your mum and Nym need to go other places," James finished uncomfortably, causing Harry to look at the witches questioningly.

"I'm taking Nym over to Morgana's Secret after we stop at Twillfit & Tattings and look at some dress robes," Lily said smiling at her husband's embarrassment.

The girls left, and James pulled his son towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, muttering along the way about how Sirius was going to kill him. "I'm going to get your supplies from the Apothecary while you get your robes, Harry. Don't dawdle and don't attract attention to yourself." James glanced in the direction the girls had gone and sighed, before turning and walking down the road towards the Apothecary.

Harry headed into the store and was immediately shepherded into the back of the store by a smiling witch dressed all in mauve. "Hogwarts, dear? I have another young man being fitted just now, in fact."

Standing on a footstool being attended to by another witch was a pale blonde boy. Harry was guided to the stool next to him and had a robe thrown over him that Madam Malkin immediately began to adjust.

"Hello, Hogwarts too?" the boy asked.

"Yes," answered Harry, shifting the glasses on his face and looking in the mirror to make sure his scar was covered.

"My father is next door with Pansy and her mum at Flourish and Blott's buying our schoolbooks. We're going to look at racing brooms when I finish here. I think it's silly that first years aren't allowed their own brooms." The boy said in a bored, drawling voice.

Harry was anxiously looking at Madam Malkin hoping that she'd be finished soon; he didn't like the obnoxious attitude of the boy next to him.

"Have you got your own broom?" asked the boy.

"No, but I sometimes ride a Comet 260," said Harry.

"Played Quidditch then?" the boy continued.

"Yeah, sometimes. Not a full game or anything since we don't have that many fliers, but we do throw the Quaffle around." Harry liked this subject; he could talk about Quidditch to a rock and have a good time.

"Well, I do. Father feels it will be a crime if I'm not on the house team, and I must agree. Slytherin will be unbeatable once I'm there."

"Confident you'll be sorted there?" asked Harry, astounded by the boy's brazen attitude.

"Of course. My family have all been in Slytherin. There aren't any other decent houses. Imagine being in Hufflepuff? I think I'd leave. What's your surname, anyway? I didn't catch it."

"I didn't say it," Harry answered shortly, tired of talking to the boy.

Before the boy could retort, Madam Malkin told Harry he was done, and he wasted no time in paying for his robes and leaving the store without haste. He met up with his dad outside Flourish and Blotts, where he was standing with his mum and Nym, who were both holding elegant shopping bags with the Morgana's Secret label on them. They quickly entered the bookstore.

Inside, the bookstore was a madhouse. Children filled up the aisles, with harried parents weaving through the crowds trying to hold on to the books they were carrying. Nym grabbed Harry's booklist from Lily and led the way. She elbowed and charmed her way through the mass of people, quickly finding the books they needed. Nym and Harry left their books with James and Lily to pay for them, while they went across the street for ice cream. By the time they had reached the front of the line and were paying for the books, rumblings were passing through the store that Harry Potter had been seen in Diagon Alley earlier. Lily and James shared a nervous look and bolted from Flourish and Blotts as soon as they had paid, heading in the direction of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

They found Harry and Nym at a table, sharing an ice cream sundae, Nym's arm around Harry to help shield him from passing eyes. "I didn't realize you were into older girls, Harry," James said as he and Lily approached the two. Harry just rolled his eyes and ate another scoop of ice cream while Nym stuck out her tongue at James.

Lily slapped her husband on the arm. "Like you Marauders didn't spend an inordinate amount of time at the Three Broomsticks during Hogsmeade trips."

"Cut me some slack, Lily," James said, a slightly affronted look on his face. "What normal growing boy wouldn't be attracted to Rosmerta? It didn't hurt that she was only a few years out of Hogwarts when she started. She must've graduated right before we started there."

"Yes, well, hopefully our son can behave better than you did once he reaches Hogwarts. Why do I have the feeling I'll be in constant contact with Minerva this year?" Lily bent down and sneaked a bite of their sundae.

"Well, let's finish up. I definitely feel like people are starting to look around more now that word that Harry is around got out. How about you take Harry to Ollivander's, Lily? I'll need Nym's help with something." James winked at Harry before motioning for Nym to join him.

Nym just shrugged her shoulders at Harry and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Go get an awesome wand, Harry and don't worry about it. You'll love what we get."

A few minutes later, Lily and Harry entered a narrow and shabby shop near the end of Diagon Alley. It was a tiny room filled with thousands of narrow boxes piled upon one another, right to the top of the ceiling. An old man appeared from within one of the aisles and approached the mother and son.

"Hello, Ollivander. We're here for Harry to get his wand," Lily said, greeting the man.

"Ah yes, Mrs. Potter. I remember when you came here for your own wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy and made of willow. Still in good shape I hope? Let us see if dear Harry will follow in your footsteps."

Mr. Ollivander proceeded to take some measurements of Harry's right arm and then offered up various wands for him to try. The pile of tried wands continued to grow until Mr. Ollivander got a peculiar look on his face and drew out a wand box that was hidden under a few books. Lily looked nervous but let her son grasp the wand. A stream of red and gold sparks came out from its tip when Harry waved it, signaling a match. Mr. Ollivander congratulated him and began wrapping the wand back up, the whole time muttering, "Curious... very curious."

"Sorry, Sir," said Harry, "but what is curious?"

"Mr. Potter, I happen to remember every wand I've ever sold. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather-just one. It is curious that you are destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar." Mr. Ollivander reached out and pointed at Harry's forehead, right where his scar from Halloween was.

Harry swallowed nervously, and Lily trembled slightly when putting away his wand into their bags.

"I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named achieved great things. Terrible things, yes. But still great." Mr. Ollivander finished just as the Potters left his shop, quite shaken from what he'd just said.

Lily kept Harry close as they walked back down Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron. After a few minutes, James and Nym caught up with them. Nym was carrying a large cage in her arms. It held inside a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing.

"Here you go, Harry," Nym handed the cage over to him. His encounter with the strange old man was now forgotten as he laid his eyes on the lovely owl. "Don't forget to name her."

"Wow, thanks Dad, Nym. I had totally forgotten about getting a pet." Harry said, awed at his family's thoughtfulness.

"And don't you forget it," James said, ruffling his son's hair. "Now, let's head home. I didn't like the look in that shopkeeper's eyes when I bought that owl. I think he recognized me." He put his arm around Lily and started heading towards the brick wall. Nym grabbed Harry's hand and followed behind the couple, as they headed through the archway and into the Leaky Cauldron.