The Fire You Touch

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Chapter 9: Diagon Alley

"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."

Aeryn, her stomach still churning slightly from the Floo powder, stared around her in amazement as she and Hagrid stepped through the archway behind the Leaky Cauldron and onto the cobbled street that was Diagon Alley. All around her bustled witches and wizards getting their shopping done—carrying bags from the Apothecary, dragging cauldrons along after them. Aeryn heard a soft hooting sound on her left and turned to a sign that read EELYLOPS OWL EMPORIUM—TAWNY, SCREECH, BARN, BROWN, AND SNOWY.

"Firs’ things firs’," Hagrid said firmly, steering Aeryn down the street. "We gotta get yer money changed."

"Aahm," Aeryn agreed absently.

Before entering into Diagon Alley, Aeryn had hurried to a nearby Bank of England and withdrawn five hundred pounds from her savings. It was a lot of money, she knew, and the banker had given her a very odd look when she had asked for that amount, but she wasn’t sure how much wizarding supplies would cost, and Hagrid was no help. "Muggle money’s no good, Aeryn," he told her. "Gold ‘n silver’s the only currency I know. Once yeh get it changed, then I can let yeh know if it’s enough."

She fervently hoped it wouldn’t cost more than she had withdrawn.

As they trotted down Diagon Alley, her eyes refused to be drawn away from the fascinating shops lining the street. Shops piled high with quills and parchment, shops selling robes and telescopes and broomsticks, and the people, hundreds of people wearing robes and chatting excitedly to each other about spells and familiars and gossip—"I just read in the Daily Prophet that there’s been another sighting by Muggles, that’s the second time this month, I tell you, the Ministry of Magic has got its hands full"—Aeryn hardly noticed where Hagrid was dragging her until they halted in front of a snowy white building that towered over the other shops.

"Gringotts," Hagrid said in explanation as he led Aeryn up the white steps. Aeryn only had a second to gawk at the scarlet and gold cloaked figure standing beside the burnished bronze doors before they pushed through them, then through a pair of silver doors, until she and Hagrid stood in a long marble hallway.

"What was that?" Aeryn whispered.

"A goblin." Hagrid led her up to the marble counter that lined the hallway, behind which sat hundreds of goblins, all scribbling in books, weighing little bronze scales, and ushering robed figures into a multitude of doors. "Gringott’s run by ‘em, and it’s the safest place yeh’ll find—got teh be, since it’s the only wizards bank here in England."

The goblin sitting at the desk peered at Aeryn over a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles. "Yes?" he asked in a low, gravely voice that sounded too big for his diminutive frame.

"Ah," Aeryn mumbled, suddenly tongue-tied. With clumsy fingers, she placed the five hundred-pound notes on the marble counter. "I need to…change my money…"

The goblin’s eyes gleamed as he picked up the notes with long, spindly fingers. "It will be just a moment," he informed her, and slipped off his stool and hurried into one of the numerous doors behind him.

Fifteen minutes later, Hagrid and Aeryn walked out of the snowy white building. "Blimey, Aeryn!" Hagrid exclaimed as she doubtfully fingered the building moneybag at her waist. "Yeh must’ve got sixty Galleons in there."

"Sixty-two Galleons, ten Sickles, and six Knuts, to be exact," Aeryn corrected. She couldn’t believe the exchange rate for wizarding money. That’s got to be…what…eight pounds to one Galleon? Insane! "Is that going to be enough?"

"Unless yer plannin’ on buying all your books bound in gold and written on boomslang skin," Hagrid shrugged. "Yeah, yeh’ll have plenty fer the rest o’ the school year."

Aeryn felt a little better. She stopped in the middle of the street, bouncing the moneybag in her hand and looking around her musingly. Now that she was ready to shop, she wasn’t sure where to start. All around her, the magical wares called to her temptingly. It was going to be a challenge not to spend all her money—shopping had always been one of her downfalls.

"What’s the list say?" Hagrid asked her after a moment.

Aeryn dug in her pocket for the folded scrap of parchment Professor McGonagall had given her that morning. She read:

UNIFORM:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

All clothes should carry nametags

(But I don’t want to wear a nametag

, Aeryn thought.)

COURSE BOOKS:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 – Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic – Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory – Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration – Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi – Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions – Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Newt Scamander

Break with a Banshee – Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls – Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags – Gilderoy Lockhart

Travels with Trolls – Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires – Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves – Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti – Gilderoy Lockhart

(His entire set of books! The…the…egotism of it all! she thought.)

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

You may bring an owl OR cat OR toad

"Well…I think yeh’ll have enough money fer the year," Hagrid said after running an eye down the parchment, but his tone was slightly doubtful.

Aeryn shrugged and put the list back in her pocket. "I guess I’ll get started," she said, looking around for a robe shop.

"If yer wantin’ teh get yer uniform, better go teh Madam Malkin’s Robes fer All Occasions." Hagrid nodded to a shop on their far left. "Listen…I gotta get some things fer th’ gardens, an’ then maybe slip into the Leaky Cauldron…d’yeh mind?"

Aeryn shook her head and waved him away. "Have fun, Hagrid. Meet me back here in an hour?"

"Sure." The giant grinned at her and disappeared into the crowd of people thronging the street. Bracing her shoulders and crossing her fingers, Aeryn pushed open the door of Madame Malkin’s shop.

* * *

Purchasing her hat, gloves, and winter cloak had been easy, but the standard-issue work robes for Hogwarts students made Aeryn look two feet tall and four feet wide. Madame Malkin was a short, squat witch with an overwhelmingly amicable personality, and understood Aeryn’s predicament immediately. She tore through her back storeroom, and eventually found Aeryn three pairs of black robes that were actually quite flattering, though non-standard issue. In the process of finding black robes, however, Aeryn saw several beautiful robes she just couldn’t live without, never mind they were colored and several were very fancy. She staggered from the shop an hour later, her moneybag nearly forty Galleons lighter, but an extremely satisfied smile upon her face.

She didn’t see Hagrid when she left the shop. After waiting around for him for fifteen minutes, Aeryn ducked into some nearby stores and purchased her cauldron, phials, brass scales, and telescope. Hagrid still wasn’t there when she finished those purchases, so she wandered over to Eelyops and stared at the owls. The temptation to buy an owl was quite strong, especially when a very tiny owl the size of a tennis ball twittered at her from behind the bars of its cage, but Aeryn swallowed the urge.

She was poking her fingers through the cage of a sleepy-looking barn owl and wondering whether she should go down to the Leaky Cauldron and find Hagrid, when a familiar voice split over the roar of the crowd.

"Aeryn!"

Aeryn whirled around. Harry Potter was pushing through the crowds of people, his thin face lit up with a huge smile. Aeryn leapt to her feet and rushed towards him. She almost tripped on the cobblestones, but finally reached him and wrapped him in a huge bear hug.

"Harry!" They pulled away, and Aeryn ran a quick eye over him. "How are you doing? When did you get here?"

"I’ve been here for about an hour," Harry said, holding up a strawberry-and-peanut-butter ice cream. "As for getting here…" He rolled his eyes and raised a knowing eyebrow at Aeryn. "Floo powder. Not for the weak of heart."

"Or stomach," Aeryn agreed. "I take it you didn’t have a great experience."

Harry made a face. "Somehow I got the words muddled and I ended up a few streets down in Knockturn Alley." He shuddered and shook his head. "Don’t go there. Ever."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, if Hagrid hadn’t found me in there, I think an old hag was going to steal me away and boil me up for lunch. Oh, by the way, Hagrid told me to tell you, if I saw you, that he’d meet you at the Leaky Cauldron when you were finished shopping."

Hagrid. Aeryn sighed. "Well, I’m glad you got here okay. Are the Weasleys treating you all right?"

"It’s wonderful with the Weasleys," Harry exclaimed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "How are you? What do you think of Hogwarts?"

"Hey, Harry!" Aeryn looked over Harry’s shoulder and saw a boy with flaming red hair pushing his way through the street. "Wait up, will ya?"

"Honestly, Harry," said a girl with bushy brown hair, appearing at Harry’s side with a slightly peeved look on her face. "If you expect us to keep up with you, don’t go running off into the crowd without a warning. Oh—" she suddenly saw Aeryn, and her voice faltered. "Hullo."

"Hi," Aeryn answered.

Harry grabbed her hand and motioned to the other two. "Ron and Hermione, meet Aeryn Blake," he said in introduction. Immediately, their faces lit up in recognition.

"Oh, how d’you do?" cried Hermione, sticking out her hand. "Harry’s told me a lot about you—is it true that you only just discovered you had magical powers? That’s absolutely fascinating—I’ve read of a few instances happening, but they’ve all been ages ago!"

"Ah—" Aeryn said.

"Harry’s told me the coolest things about you," Ron said, his eyes lighting up. "Is it true that you’ve got a car and—what are those things called—a com-pewter?"

"I—"

Harry glanced disbelievingly at Aeryn’s packages scattered on the ground around them. "Aeryn, how much have you bought?"

"Not enough," Aeryn gasped, grabbing hold of the last question. "I still have to get my schoolbooks, and there’s a whole lot of them."

"Tell me about it." Ron made a face. "We’ve got to buy the whole collection of that Gilderoy Lockhart’s works. Our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a witch, that’s all I have to say."

Hermione harrumphed.

"Er…" Aeryn decided not to spoil the surprise for them.

"Well, we’ve still got to get our books, too," Harry said. "C’mon, Flourish and Botts is only a little ways away…we can all get them together."

They started pushing their way through the crowded streets, and Harry started explaining why he was living with the Weasleys. "Ron and Fred and George—they’re Ron’s brothers—rescued me from the Dursleys house a few days after I left your house." He looked around quickly, then leaned in and spoke to her in a quieter voice. "The Dursleys have been really rotten. They found out I wasn’t allowed to do magic over the holidays ‘cause a house-elf levitated one of Aunt Petunia’s puddings—but anyway, that’s all taken care of now."

"You have a house-elf?" Aeryn asked, puzzled.

"No—well, it’s complicated. I’ll explain later."

I think there’s going to be a lot of that,

Aeryn thought to herself. Finally, they reached Flourish and Botts, but they were by no means the only people in the bookshop. The place was teeming with witches, all about forty years old or so, and jostling outside the doors, trying to get in.

"Look!" squealed Hermione. Stretched across the upper windows of the bookstore was a large banner, which read:

GILDEROY LOCKHART

will be signing copies of his autobiography

MAGICAL ME

today 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

"Oh no," Aeryn groaned as they pushed into the bookstore. Avoiding the sea of toes to step on, Aeryn extricated herself from Harry and his friends and waded over to the shelves for her other books. As she pulled a copy of A History of Magic from the shelves, she heard a rippling of applause as Lockhart waded into the crowd.

Don’t look up,

she told herself, searching for The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2.

"It can’t be Harry Potter!"

Aeryn paused at the sound of Lockhart’s too-familiar voice. How did Lockhart know Harry? She almost turned towards them out of curiosity, but the thought of Lockhart calling "it can’t be Aeryn Blake!" across Flourish and Botts made her cringe, so instead she ducked her head and tried to ignore him as he started talking, concentrating instead on gathering her books.

"—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!"

The crowd roared. Aeryn, staggering under the weight of fourteen books, shoved her way over to the counter. A very harassed-looking wizard glared at her. "Is that all you need?" he asked sarcastically.

Aeryn blinked, and then glared right back at him. She hated crowds, was starting to feel claustrophobic, and her sides ached from being jabbed at by elbows. "Don’t give me that," she snapped. "How much?"

The wizard muttered something under his breath.

"How much?" Aeryn repeated.

"Eleven Galleons, three Sickles," the wizard grumbled.

"You’re kidding! That’s highway robbery!"

The wizard sighed. "Do you want your books or not, missy?"

Aeryn gritted her teeth and dug into her moneybag.

There was a sudden thud of metal from across the room. Aeryn whirled around, still fuming over the price of the books, and ducked as a spellbook sailed over her head. Two men were brawling on the floor. The crowd was stampeding, and bookshelves were tumbling left and right.

"Get him, Dad!" yelled Ron’s voice.

Aeryn shouldered her way through the crowd towards the disturbance. Another spellbook flew towards Aeryn’s nose, and she batted it aside with a telekinetic shield. She looked around wildly for Harry, and found him shrunk against the wall, standing next to Hermione, Ron, and three or four other flame-haired people whom she assumed must be Ron’s family. She tried to maneuver her way over to them, but was flung aside as the two brawling men rolled her way.

"Break it up there, gents, break it up—"

Hagrid waded through the sea of books, and, in an instant, he had pulled apart the two fighters. One of the men was pale-faced with icy-gray eyes and was nursing the beginnings of a black eye; the other had red hair, was very obviously Ron’s father, and had a bleeding lip. The gray-eyed man was holding a very battered Transfiguration book, which he thrust into the hands of a small red-haired girl standing against the wall.

"Here, girl—take your book—it’s the best your father can give you—" He pulled himself out of Hagrid’s grip and stalked from the shop, followed closely by a smirking boy with as similar pale face and an equally nasty disposition.

Now that the ruckus had been resolved, the customers of Flourish and Botts turned uninterestedly away from the small clump over by the wall. Aeryn stepped daintily over a pile of upturned books. "Hey, Hagrid," she greeted her enormous friend. "I’ve been waiting for you. Where’ve you been?"

"’Lo, Aeryn," Hagrid boomed as he straightened the red-haired man’s robes. "Yeh should’ve ignored him, Arthur," he said in a lower voice to the man.

"What happened?" Aeryn asked Harry curiously. Both Ron’s and Hermione’s faces were twisted in outrage.

"Draco Malfoy’s dad insulted my parents," Hermione said tightly.

"And then Dad jumped him," Ron growled, but there was a bit of pride on his face.

Aeryn recognized the name. Harry had told her enough about Draco Malfoy for her to dislike him as much as she disliked the Dursleys. It sounded as if his father was no better.

Harry waved a hand weakly around them. "Aeryn, these are the Weasleys. Over here—" But there was no time for introductions as the entire group was suddenly bustled out the door by a fuming, slightly plump woman who began fiercely lecturing Ron’s father. Aeryn ran along after them, wondering how much more excitement she was going to handle this afternoon,

"A fine example to set for your children," sniffed Ron’s mother as they hurried along the street. Her husband was looking positively sheepish. "Brawling in public…what Gilderoy Lockhart must’ve thought…"

Harry trotted along beside Aeryn and pointed to the woman. "That’s Mrs. Weasley," he began. The woman turned sharply on her heel at her name, a fierce glare in her eye. Aeryn backed up quickly, nearly stepping on Hermione.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," Aeryn squeaked. Fortunately, the fierce light in Mrs. Weasley’s eyes was erased instantly as realization lit her face.

"You must be Aeryn Blake," she said, nodding to Aeryn. "Harry’s told us a lot about you, dear. We appreciate all you’ve done to help him—honestly, those people he lives with…" She shook her head, and in the next instant, turned back around and began haranguing her husband again.

"And that’s Mr. Weasley," Harry continued, pointing to Ron’s father. "Those two over there—the twins—they’re Fred and George, and that other one on the side, that’s Percy—and that girl there, that’s Ron’s little sister, Ginny." Aeryn decided that the Weasleys looked like a very nice family—that is, if Mrs. Weasley wasn’t lecturing you.

Harry pointed to two adults walking beside Hermione. "That’s Mr. and Mrs. Granger. They’re Muggles—Hermione’s their only daughter, and it was a big surprise when they found out she was a witch."

Aeryn nodded to them. They looked scared out of their wits.

The group hurried along Diagon Alley until they reached the Leaky Cauldron. "Does everyone have everything?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking around at the multitude of packages.

Aeryn realized with a start that she had left all her purchases in Flourish and Botts.

"Are you leaving already?" she asked Harry, feeling slightly hurt. They had barely spent any time together, and now he was leaving.

"Guess so," Harry said, watching as Mrs. Weasley ushered the Weasley children into the pub. He shrugged and hoisted his packages over his shoulder. "I guess I’ll see you in a week, then?"

"I guess," Aeryn murmured. Harry, hearing the disappointment in her voice, gave her a quick hug and a smile.

"We’ll have lots of time to catch up at Hogwarts," he told her. "I’ll see you there! Bye!"

"Bye," Aeryn exclaimed, waving to him as he disappeared into the interior of the Leaky Cauldron. She sighed, then turned around and hurried back towards Flourish and Botts, hoping fervently that her purchases were still there and had not wandered away.

Hagrid was waiting for her when she burst through the door.

"Yeh left these," he commented, holding out his giant arms filled with packages. Aeryn took them from him thankfully, staggering slightly under their weight.

Hagrid tilted his head as Aeryn’s ankle bobbled and she almost toppled over. "Yeh need help?"

"No," Aeryn grunted, pulling her wand from her sleeve. With a clumsy wave, her packages rose into the air. "There. That’s better."

Hagrid opened the door for her. "If yeh’ve got everything yeh need, we can stop at the Leaky Cauldron for somethin’ to drink before we head back to Hogwarts."

They headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. The pub was small and dark, but there was a pleasing ambiance that permeated the place and swept over you as soon as you walked through the door. Aeryn and Hagrid squeezed into a corner table, putting Aeryn’s packages next to them on the floor.

"The usual, Hagrid?" called the bartender from behind the counter. Hagrid walked up to the counter to order, and Aeryn leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes. Her feet ached, and all this fresh air was making her tired. She looked around the pub. It wasn’t very crowded. Every once in a while, a group of wizards would walk through and throw some Floo powder into the fireplace.

Hagrid came back to the table and plunked a mug of something in front of Aeryn. Aeryn lifted it and sipped absently, not really tasting it, as she watched a family of four wizards, all squabbling, step into the fireplace and disappear. She wondered idly if Harry had gotten back to the Weasleys’ house okay. She also wondered what had eventually happened to Gilderoy Lockhart—she hadn’t seen him when she went back to Flourish and Botts.

"Knut for your thoughts," Hagrid commented after a moment.

Aeryn smiled, setting her mug down. "Sorry, Hagrid," she said, smiling at him. "I guess I’m not really talkative right now. Shopping sorta wore me out."

Hagrid grunted and took a draw from his mug. "S’all right. Yeh don’t have to talk if yeh don’t want to."

Aeryn drummed her fingers on the table for a moment, her eyes pensive. "Hagrid?" she asked finally.

"Yeah?"

"How does Professor Lockhart know Harry?" She frowned slightly. "I mean, Lockhart didn’t teach at Hogwarts last year, and I didn’t think Harry knew any wizards before he went to school."

Hagrid set his mug down, his beetle-black eyes opening slightly in surprise. "Blimey, yeh mean Harry hasn’t told yeh?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Told me what?" Aeryn asked curiously.

Hagrid shook his head. "Modest little chap," he muttered, half to himself. "I can’t believe yeh don’t know yet, you bein’ such friends wi’ him ‘n all!" And, leaning across the table, Hagrid began to tell Aeryn about Harry Potter—The Boy Who Lived.

When he was just a baby, a very powerful wizard—"Lord Voldemort," whispered Hagrid with a horrible shudder, "an’ don’t make me say the name again"—had attacked Harry’s family. Harry’s mother and father had been killed, but, miraculously, Harry survived, but the attack had left a zigzagging scar across his forehead. The attack had recoiled back upon the wizard, incapacitating him, and Harry was known throughout the wizarding world as The Boy Who Lived, the boy who had been the downfall of Voldemort—or You-Know-Who, as Hagrid insisted on calling him.

But that was not it. Apparently, last year at Hogwarts, Harry had again come face to face with Voldemort. Harry had defeated him for the second time, but in the process killed the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who had been a sort of host body for the Dark Lord. Hagrid told her the entire story, Aeryn’s eyes growing wider and wider with each sentence.

The gamekeeper finished and took a long drink from his mug. Aeryn slumped back in her chair. "Good heavens," she said weakly.

"Sure is somethin’ isn’t it?" Hagrid said, pushing back his chair. "Now, don’t yeh be treatin’ Harry any differently now that yeh’ve found out about this—he don’t much like being treated like some celebrity."

"I won’t," Aeryn promised. She couldn’t believe how modest Harry was over his fame. There he was, the most famous person in the entire wizarding world—one just said his name, and a hush fell over the room—and he didn’t even mention it to her!

Well, think about it…do you go bragging around how you defeated two enormously powerful mutants?

Aeryn asked herself. Besides…just think…instead of quiet Harry Potter, he could be a second Gilderoy Lockhart…

The thought was enough to make her skin crawl.

Hagrid burped and stood up. "C’mon, we should be getting’ back to Hogwarts." He picked up some of Aeryn’s packages and headed for the fireplace. "Yeh’ve got exams comin’ up this next week, an’ yeh’ll need to get studyin’."

Aeryn levitated the rest of her packages and toddled over to the fireplace. Hagrid tossed a handful of Floo powder onto the flames and walked into the fireplace, booming "Hogwarts!" as loud as he could. Aeryn stepped in behind him, murmuring her destination in a slightly more muted tone, her mind mulling over all the surprising realizations of the afternoon.