The Bookstore

The Bookstore

By Krysy

Harry potter was sitting in his flat doing absolutely nothing. He had just finished school and he was finally able to move away from the Dursleys. He had invited Ron, his best friend, to move in with him but he turned up the offer saying that he wanted to save the little money that he was making at his less then average work. Ron worked temporarily at Flourish and Blotts. Temporarily meaning until he got the job he wanted at the ministry. Anyway Harry was sitting in his flat when he heard a tap at the window. He went to open it and stood aside to let the owl in. He didn't recognise the owl but he relieved him from his delivery before the owl flew back out of the window. He looked at the envelope - it was quite think. He noticed that there was no address - just his name. He opened it, took out the parchment and read:

Dear Harry,

Happy 18^th birthday! I hope you're doing okay, living by yourself and all. For half of your present, I've enclosed a bit of Floo Powder so you can Floo yourself over here. The rest of your gift is here - at Grimmauld Place. Ron and Hermione arrived last night too so you won't be alone. Can't wait to see you.

With love,

Remus

Harry reread the letter. Then he picked up the envelope that he had pushed aside and took out a little pouch. He reread the letter again to make sure he wasn't dreaming, put all his things in his trunk and approached his fireplace. He threw the Floo Powder into the fireplace and said 'Grimmauld Place.'

He really hated the Floo Network, thus he had none in the house, but he wasn't up to apparating nor was he up to driving the hour to get there, so this was, at the moment, his best method of transportation. He stepped out of the fireplace and was able to keep his balance. Unfortunately he was knocked over by the number of people trying to give him a hug.

'Harry!' exclaimed Remus.

'Okay people, settle down, let the boy get up!' said a familiar voice. Then out of nowhere a big hand picked Harry up and put him on his feet.

'Thanks Hagrid,' Harry said thankful to be alive opposed to crushed by the mounds of people that were just standing on top of him.

'It's great to see you dear!' said Mrs. Wealsey.

He said 'hi' to everyone and then Remus stepped forward with an envelope and a box. Harry opened the box first. It was a dozen of different wizard sweets. It even contained some of the twin's new ones.

'Open the envelope,' Hermione said. Harry did and took out the card.

Happy Birthday Harry!

This is from everyone at Grimmauld Place.

Use it wisely...

He looked back in the envelope and took out a bunch of ten-pound bills. He counted them.

'Oh my god! That likes one hundred and fifty pounds! How on earth did you guys get muggle money?'

'There's one sixty pounds actually!' Hermione said.

'Wow! Thanks guys!'

Later Harry, Ron and Hermione went off to bed. Harry flopped onto his bed and fell asleep almost instantly. In the morning Mrs. Wealsey woke them up and cooked then breakfast. By 9 o'clock they were out of the house. They walked down the street and talked. About their temporary jobs, theirs love life, everything. After all they hadn't seen each other since they got off the train back in June.

Within a half an hour they had made it to the mall.

'This is so cool!' Ron exclaimed.

'Where do you guys want to go first?' Hermione asked.

'Oh, look at that,' Ron said pointing to a box with a screen. 'What do you call this Herm?'

'It's a computer,' Hermione said, rolling her eyes. 'Come here I'll show you how it works,' she said leading him over to the demo computer. Meanwhile Harry walked down the different isles looking at all the different games and counting how many Dudley already had and the ones he needed yet to buy.

'Oh, can we stop at Frank's bookstore?' Hermione asked once they were out of the computer store.

'Sure if you want to,' Harry replied before turning in the direction of the bookstore.

They finally found the bookstore, which was a little store in the corner of the mall. The store was lined top to bottom with books of all kind, it kind of resembled Flourish and Blott's if you thought about it.

Once in the store an older woman came by and asked the trio if they needed any help. After little persuasion the lady turned to help another customer.

Hermione was looking at almost every book; obviously trying to find something worth the ten hours she would spend reading it. Then in the middle of the store Ron stopped abruptly.

'Harry... look,' Ron said while pointing towards the stand in front of them. Harry followed his friend's finger and saw a tall display of books entitled Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

'Oh my god! How do they know?' Harry asked.

'Who's J. K. Rowling?' Ron asked picking up one of the books.

'Obviously she's the one who wrote the book. And she's probably a muggle who thought up a story line and it just so happens that it's real,' Hermione said confidently.

Harry approached the display and picked up the red and purple book.

'The Prisoner of Azkaban?' He opened the book and read:

'HARRY POTTER is a very unusual boy. He can't wait to get back to school after the summer holidays! But that's not the only unusual thing about Harry. Harry's school is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Harry is a wizard! But when Harry, along with his best friends Ron and Hermione go back for their third year at Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose, and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school...'

'That was third year. The year we met Sirius!' he said and Hermione saw a single tear fall down his cheek.

'Harry listen-' Hermione started.

'It's okay. I'm fine.'

'You know what "FINE" stands for don't you?' Hermione asked.

'Er, I'm in the middle of terrible and excellent?' he asked glancing at her quizzically.

'No! It stands for freaked out, insecure, neurotic, and emotional,' Hermione replied.

(A/N I know Italian Job was not released back in 1998 but too bad!)

Harry broke into a smile. Not a full smile but a smile that showed he was going to be all right.

Harry took the book with him and after a while Harry and Hermione found themselves standing in front of the cashier at the front of the store.

'That'll be eleven pounds please,' said the woman at the register. Harry gave her a twenty-pound bill and got the change. Harry and Ron waited for Hermione and then the three walked out of the store. They continued shopping for a while longer and finally all three were ready to go home.

They walked out of the mall and a couple minutes until they arrived in a forested area. They shared a glance, bid adieu and all three of them disapparated.

After supper at seven Harry walked up to his room (Sirius' old room) and lay on the bed. Comfortable in his new clothes he reached over to his bags and grabbed his new book. He was about to open it when he heard a knock at his door.

'It's Remus, Harry. May I come in?' Harry picked up his wand, turned to the door and unlocked it letting in the tall light haired man. 'How was your birthday Harry?' Remus asked.

'One of the best in a long while,' Harry smiled.

'I'm glad,' Remus said smiling as well. 'Harry this package came for you in the muggle mail today,' Remus said as he handed Harry a box. It was covered in a colourful wrapping paper and had an address on the top corner.

'Muggle mail delivers here?' Harry asked surprised.

'Um, not normally,' Remus replied.

'Thanks,' Harry said and Remus turned out of the room giving Harry another encouraging smile.

Harry then turned his attention back to the box in front of him. At first instinct Harry would have not accepted the parcel but as Lord Voldemort was defeated and almost all of remaining Death Eaters were either in Azkaban or too scared to show their faces he thought better of the path.

He took the box in both his hand and started to tear off the wrapping paper. He then opened the box to find two photo albums. The first one he took out look like it was from the 1960's and the 1970's. He opened it to find pictures of his mother and father at school. At the beginning of the album she was young maybe eleven. As he turned the pages he notices she looked older and more mature.

Finally about halfway through the book he found the first picture of his father. He looked maybe fifteen. The picture was taken in he Great Hall and he supposed as this was his mother's book it seemed, the only reason he was in this picture was because he was at the

Gryffindor table. He was smiling and chatting with his three best friends. Harry couldn't help but smile at the picture.

Flipping the pages again he found more and more pictures of his parents together. Standing arm in arm, holding hand and looking happy. He flipped the page again and noticed that this picture wasn't moving. It was of two girls. They looked about nine and ten or eleven. The shorter girl had red hair and bright green eyes. The taller girl had long blond hair and blue eyes but she didn't look cold or distant. She looked warm. The younger of the two was sitting on a swing and the oldest was pushing her sister. "So Aunt Petunia did have a heart," Harry thought. This picture brought a tear to his eye. "Where was this woman now?" he wondered. There were only two more pictures in this album and both where of Lily and Petunia as kids. In both of the pictures they were happy and by each other's sides.

Finally he put this book down. It didn't look as full as the other one. Only a quarter of the pages looked full. He opened it up and was surprised to see a baby boy about two years of age looking up at him. The picture was a muggle picture and the boy was semi smiling. He was wearing jean shorts and a red shirt. His jet-black however was very out of place. Harry realised that this was a picture of himself.

He flipped farther into the book and noticed that all the pictures were of him. Finally coming to the last page that held a picture he notice a piece of paper. It looked like a letter and it was addressed to him. Taking the page out of the book he read it:

Dear Harry,

Quickly getting to the point, I guess you are wondering where these pictures came from. I took them as you grew up. I had bought a second camera just so that when Vernon went to get the pictures of Dudley developed he would not see them. I hope you like them.

The other album is of your mother and my sister, Lily. This was hers and she gathered the pictures from when she was at that school of yours. I added the couple of her and I at the back to show you that I didn't hate her at one point. Actually I don't even think I ever hated her I was just so mad that the cause of her death was what she was always so happy to have.

Harry, I am very sorry for the way my husband and I have treated you over the years (even thought he isn't). You deserved better and it's a wonder you turned out the way you did. You have grown into a wonderful man that both your parents would have been very proud of.

I wish you a very happy eighteenth birthday and I hope that you get this on time.

The best of luck,

Aunt Petunia Dursley

Harry put the letter back and smiled slightly. It was a very nice gift indeed. Taking both photo albums in his arms he hopped off the bed and put them on the desk by the window. He would show Ron and Hermione in the morning.

Walking back to the bed Harry picked Prisoner of Azkaban back off the night table and opened it to the dedication page, there he read:

To Jill Prewett and Aine Kiely

The Godmothers of Swing

He then reached over to his bedside table again and picked up the quill and the inkpot. Opening the ink pot and dipping the quill inside he then set the ink pot back on the bedside table a wrote:

How we met

In the memory of Sirius Black

1960 - 1996

He then put the quill back on the bedside table and flipped to the first page to read:

-CHAPTER ONE-

Owl Post

The End