The Empath

Chapter 6: Diagon Alley

"Aright now, is everyone ready?" Mrs. Weasley asked them as they were all standing at the door ready to leave.

Everyone nodded. Just as they were about to leave, the front door opened, and Lupin stepped in.

"Hello everyone," he said cheerily. "I got what you wanted Sirius," he said turning to Sirius and handing him a small bag.

"Thank you Remus," he told him happily and turned to Harry and Lily. "Now Harry, I am trusting you to make sure that she spends every dime."

And at this, Sirius handed the small, elegant looking bag to Lily.

"Dad, what's this? The books here can't be that expensive!" she looked up at him, shocked that the small bag was full of gold Galleons.

"Well, you also have to get your school robes, and what if you want to go to Florean's? You have to have money for that, you can buy a round of Sundays for everyone," Sirius said matter-of-factly and Lily frowned.

"Dad, I don't need this much!" she insisted.

"Lily, that money has done nothing but sit in my vault for fifteen years! The only thing I've bought with it is Harry's Firebolt."

"But Dad -"

"Lily, listen to me," he pleaded as he started to explain. "When your mother told me that she was pregnant, I got another Gringotts vault and I put more than half of my savings into it knowing that when you were born I could spend all of it spoiling you rotten. Now, I only have two years left before you graduate from Hogwarts, and I can finally make up for the time that was stolen from us. Will you please let me treat you like the princess that I deserve to treat you like?" Lily smiled up at him. "Come on, let your fool of a father spoil you."

"All right, if it's really that important to you I guess I could manage to spend it." Inwardly Lily was overjoyed thinking that she could defiantly get used to this.

"Harry? I'm putting her in your care. I trust you won't let me down?" Sirius asked Harry in a very businesslike tone.

"Yes, of course." Harry nodded in the same tone, grinning.

"Hey, I'm the one that saved you from under the Dark Lord's very nose! Or have you forgotten?" Lily protested to being treated like a business transaction.

"Of course I remember. I was merely telling Harry that he would be the one that would need to show you around Diagon Alley. Since he's been there before, right Harry?" Sirius asked turning to Harry for backup.

"Yes, of course. I knew exactly what you meant Sirius. And I'd be happy to show Lily around, since I've been there loads of times." Harry looked up at Sirius and together they both looked at Lily with devilish grins on the faces.

"All right, all right. Mrs. Weasley we should go. I think these two are having way to much fun teasing me," she told Mrs. Weasley while smiling back at Sirius and Harry. Mrs. Weasley laughed.

"Yes, I think your quite right, Lily. Let's be going, come along now children," she said while pushing Ron, Hermione, and Ginny out the door.

"Have fun, Lily," Sirius said as he hugged her one last time.

"I will, Dad." She pulled away and smiled up at him.

"You too, Harry," he told him. "And we'll have that talk when you get back." Harry nodded.

"Well the sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back," Mrs. Weasley said as she put her arm around Lily and ushered her out the door along with Harry.

~ ~ ~

The last few years, getting his Hogwarts letter had been a big deal, but this year Mrs. Weasley didn't even give him his letter. When they got on The Knight Bus, Ginny showed Harry her prefect badge. She also told him that Mrs. Weasley had said that it wouldn't be an appropriate time to celebrate because of everything that was going on. She was, however, going to get a Cleansweep like Ron's from Quality Quidditch when they got to Diagon Alley.

Harry had been very surprised to hear that he had gotten an Outstanding in Potions and that Snape had actually accepted him in his N. E. W. T. class.

He and Ron had managed to receive eight O.W.L.'s. To no one's surprise Hermione had received twelve O.W.L.'s, the highest in their year, and the highest you could possibly get.

An owl had arrived from Beauxbatons for Lily shortly after she arrived telling her that she had received eleven O.W.L.'s.

Professor McGonagall sat down with her after Harry's birthday party and talked to her about which classes she wanted to take to study for her pre-N.E.W.T. level classes this year. Professor McGonagall seemed to think that she wouldn't have any trouble getting into the classes (because of her excellent grades), and she made her a book list. She also owled Lily's professors to make them aware that she wouldn't be joining their classes this year.

The Knight Bus came to an abrupt halt in front of The Leaky Cauldron, and they all filed out accompanied by Mad-Eye Moody and Lupin.

Everyone walked into The Leaky Cauldron. Lily was at Harry's side as Mrs. Weasley led the way to the back.

Everyone in room went quiet when they saw Lily enter. She was becoming very aware that everyone was looking at her when the bartender dropped the drink the had been serving to the Minister of Magic causing it to shatter on the floor.

She walked a little closer to Harry as they slowly followed Mrs. Weasley, leaned into him and nervously whispered.

"H-H-arry, there staring at you right? Your - your scar?"

"I spent two weeks of my summer holiday just before my third year here. They all know me. Well at least they've all seen me before," Harry told her also curious to know why everyone was staring at her.

"Oh, well that's comforting," she retorted.

"Well, your dad says you look a lot like your mum, maybe they think you're her, like he did?" he suggested.

"I don't know, but it's freaking me out. Could we walk a little faster?" she asked him.

"Sure," he replied as they quickened their pace.

"Harry!" They heard someone shout.

When they turned around, they saw that it was the Minister of Magic. Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to the table where he was sitting. Everyone followed suit, and Lily stayed close to him.

"Did you need something, Minister?" he asked coolly.

"Now Harry, you're not still sore about what happened a few years ago, are you?" Fudge asked him as if it was nothing.

"You mean when you calling me a liar and made everyone think that I was insane? Why would I be sore about that?" he said casually, but you could defiantly hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Good, well now that that's settled," he said ignoring Harry's comment completely. "Can you introduce us to your little friend here?" He nodded at Lily.

"Harry is a friend of mine, but I have my own voice. If you're being rude enough to not even worry to put your eyes back in their sockets, then why don't we skip any formalities all together? My name is Lily Black," she said calmly, sounding completely annoyed.

Fudge just sat there, a bit taken back by her forwardness.

"Black you say?" Fudge said nervously when he finally found his voice again.

"Yes, Black," she said firmly. "Why is there something wrong, Minister?"

"No, no, my dear. I just didn't think that there was anyone left from the Black line. Are you a foreigner?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, I believe you knew my parents."

"Did I really now?" he questioned.

You could see that he was racking his brain, trying to come up with who she was because the obvious was impossible.

"Yes, my mother was Hannah Patil and my father is Sirius Black," she said calmly.

"S - S - Sirius B - Black? What are you talking about? This is madness. You can't be Sirius Back's daughter. He was sent to Azkaban before you were born," he stated as if he was trying to convince himself of it.

"No, actually I was nine months old, and I never met him." You could tell that she enjoyed him faltering under her words.

"W - Well um, where have you been all this years, my dear? And where is your mother?" he asked her.

"Children, we really must be going on to Diagon Alley. You understand Cornelius?" Mrs. Weasley asked him, trying to get Harry and Lily, who were obviously getting angrier by the minute, away from the Minister of Magic before they did something that they would regret.

"Yes, yes, of course, Molly. It was nice seeing you again Harry and Lily it was very nice meeting you," he said as he stood up and stretched out his hand.

She narrowed her eyes on him.

"It's Miss. Black to you. And I wish that I could say the same to the man who so conveniently left my father in Azkaban for twelve years and never once gave him a trial." Lily turned and followed Mrs. Weasley to a small, walled courtyard.

~ ~ ~

When they entered Diagon Alley, Mrs. Weasley turned to Lily and Harry.

"Now Harry dear, you know to take extra precautions. You all can go and show Lily around and meet me back here at one o'clock, and we'll go and have some lunch, alright?" Harry nodded. "Remus is going to the Magical Menagerie, but Moody will be watching you all from a distance so that he doesn't attract any attention. Alright then, have fun and be careful," she said before leaving them.

"So where do you want to go first?" Ron asked Harry.

"We should probably go to Madam Malkin's so that Lily can get her robes." Harry looked over to Lily for conformation, but she wasn't there. "Lily, where'd you go?"

"I'm right here," she said while gazing into a window at Quality Quidditch Supplies. "I want to go in there," she said as they started to walk in the store.

After an hour in Quality Quidditch Supplies, they got refills of everything that they needed in their potion making kits from the Apothecary (all except Lilly, she hadn't needed anything) and went to meet Mrs. Weasley. When they had finished their lunch, Lily offered to buy them all ice cream, so they went to Florean's Ice-Cream Parlor. When they sat down, Florean Fortescue came out to take their orders. Harry thought that if Florean's eyes got any wider they would literally fall to the ground.

"Hannah? It can't be," he said, quickly walking over to Lily.

"No sir, I'm her daughter Lily Black," Lily told him, extending her hand, which he took with both of his.

"I knew our Hannah was pregnant, but I thought she died before she delivered the baby," he said beaming down at her.

"No sir, I was found fifteen years ago after the Dark Lord's fall," she told him as he finally let got of her hand.

"Horrible thing that happened to your father. But if it's alright for me to say, you do look a lot like him as well."

"It's defiantly alright. I'm proud to be his daughter," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, well, what can I get for you then?" he asked.

After he took their orders, he left and Lily started a heated discussion with Ron about the last Quidditch match in which Puddlemere United won.

"We just spent an hour in Quality Quidditch Supplies, and you're still talking about Quidditch? Where have you been all my life?" Harry blurted out, making the both of them blush fiercely.

"Harry, I believe you're supposed to be showing her around Diagon Alley, not flirting with her." Harry heard a familiar voice say.

When he turned around, he saw Lupin grinning down at them. "But I suppose if you can manage both, then its alright."

"Lupin, would you like to sit down and have an Ice Cream Sunday? My treat," Lily asked him.

"Well how am I supposed to turn down an offer like that?" he said and when Florean Fortescue came out with the orders, he asked Lupin what he would like, and left again.

After they finished their ice cream, they left for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Madam Malkin came out and clasped her hands over her mouth when she saw Lily.

"Child, tell me please, who is your mother?" she asked as tears started to trickle down her face.

"Hannah Patil." At this, Madam Malkin ran over to her and pulled her in to a hug.

"Remus, is it true?" she asked Lupin when she pulled away.

"Yes Daphne, it's true," he replied.

"Bless your heart dear, I knew your mother since before she could walk. Why is it that I haven't seen you before now?" she asked Lily.

"I've lived in France since I was five, and I went to Beauxbatons when I started school, but now I'm transferring to Hogwarts," Lily informed her.

"And your here for your school robes?"

"Yes ma'am," Lily replied.

"Come on then dear. We can catch up a bit while I'm fitting you for your robes," she said ushering her to the back of the shop.

When they came out awhile later, Lily had tears in her eyes, and Madam Malkin had tears streaming down her face again.

"So you promise to keep in touch dear?" Madam Malkin asked her, holding Lily's hands in her own.

"Yes of course I will. Thank you for telling me all those stories. It really means a lot to me," Lily said as she hugged her one last time before they left.

Lupin went to Lily's side and put his arm around her comfortingly as they walked to Flourish and Blotts to get their school books.

"Here, drink this before we go any further," Lupin said taking a flask from his robes and handing it to her.

"It's your potion. Your dad thought you might need more of it after meeting a few people."

They walked into Flourish and Blotts, and Mrs. Weasley came up to them.

"I thought you might be about to get your books. I'm done with my shopping. You don't mind if I join y - Lily dear, what happened? Are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked her worriedly as she finished the last bit.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley. I'm fine. I just met Madam Malkin," Lily told her, as she wiped the tears out of her eyes and handed Lupin his flask.

"Oh, I see. She was your grandmother's best friend. I expect she enjoyed meeting you."

"Yes, and I enjoyed meeting her as well. She told me some great things about my mother."

"She's a very fine woman, and I'm sure she will be able to tell you a lot more about your mother. Be sure to keep in touch," Mrs. Weasley hugged her. "Now, we need to get all of your books."

The manager came out and helped them find all of their school books, but Hermione, Lily, and Ginny wanted to look at some other books. So, they wondered around the store to see if they could find anything interesting.

"Lily, can I ask you a question?" Hermione stopped her search to ask.

"Sure, ask me anything you like," she replied.

"Well, you said your mother's last name was Patil."

"And it is."

"Yes, but I was just wondering if you knew if you were related to Parvati and Padma Patil?" Hermione questioned.

"I don't know. Those names don't sound familiar. As much as I know about my family, I just might be," Lily answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering. They're twins in our year. Padma is in Ravenclaw and Parvati is in Gryffindor. When you said the name, I just thought that you might be."

"She does look a lot like them," Ron added. He and Harry were listening in on the conversation.

"Maybe Sirius would know," Harry thought out loud.

"Yeah maybe," Hermione said.

"We should go and visit Fred and George's joke shop before we leave," Ginny interrupted them in their thoughts.

"Yeah, let's go," Ron said taking Hermione's books from her. "You know Hermione, being your boyfriend isn't easy. Maybe I should have fallen for Lavender Brown. I don't think she's ever read a book that wasn't for school. Then maybe my arms wouldn't be so sore," Ron told her as they left Flourish and Blotts.

They walked down the street a ways and came to a store with a huge sign over it that said "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" and Fred ran out to greet them.

"Hello everyone. Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Since Harry obviously hasn't made his move yet, I'll be happy to escort you through the store Miss. Black," he said bowing, and offered his arm for her to take. She blushed slightly and accepted.

They all walked into the store.

"Lily, how good it is to see you," George said, coming over to her.

He took her hand and kissed it lightly, making Lily giggle and smile up at him.

"We're here too mate. You know, your friends and family," Rom said annoyed.

"Oh just ignore him, Lily darling, we do," Fred told her matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, after you live with the guy for fifteen years, his voice becomes a part of the background," George assured her.

Lee Jordan walked out of the backroom, and his jaw dropped when he saw Lily.

"Is this the girl you were telling me about?" he asked.

"Yes, allow me to introduce you to Lily Black, Lily this is our friend Lee Jordan," Fred introduced them.

"It's nice to meet you Lee," Lily said politely. "What's that?" she asked, looking over at a pile of what looked like small, colorful candies.

"Those are called Ton-Tongue Toffees. Harry's cousin Dudley was kind enough to test them for us a couple of years ago. Would you like to try one?" Fred asked her.

"Oh no you don't, Fred. You can just leave Lily alone," Ginny said defensively, knowing what her brothers' Ton-Tongue Toffees would do to her.

"No, that's alright, Ginny. Whatever it does, can you change it back?" Lily asked Fred who was shocked that she was agreeing to try it.

"Yes, of course I can," he assured her and handed her a piece.

She took it and ate it. Then she started to act like she was choking, opened her mouth, and out came what looked like a purple foot long tongue that was rapidly growing.

George (seeing his extremely angry mother's face) took out his wand and muttered something. Lily's tongue turned back to its normal size and color, and she smiled brightly up at the two of them.

"That was bloody brilliant!" she told them excitedly.

"You mean you're not angry with us?" he asked her, sounding very surprised.

"Of course not. Here try this," she said as she took what looked like a mint from a small bag in her robes and handed it to George.

He took it and put it in his mouth, and his face slowly turned red.

"Cool, what'd you give him?" Fred asked her.

"I call them Mood Mints. They change your face a different color, depending on what you're feeling at that very moment towards the person who gave it to you. Because your face turned red, that means that you're very attracted to me," Lily said and blushed slightly.

"Where did you get them?" George asked, admiring his now very deep red face in a mirror.

"I made them," she replied.

"You made them?" he asked her astounded.

"Yes, I did," she answered.

"Like father, like daughter," Lupin murmured.

"Well, then I hope that you tested them on some girls too, to make sure they worked because I don't think that there's a man in this world who's face wouldn't go red if you gave it to them," Fred told her making her blush again at all the attention she was getting from the twins.

"So what took you all so long to get here?" George asked turning to Ron, and sounding annoyed.

"Well, we were going to come when we first got here, but Lily found Quality Quidditch Supplies. We spent about an hour there. We got our potion making kits refilled at the Apothecary, and then it was time to meet Mum," Ron informed them.

"You mean you spent an entire hour in Quality Quidditch Supplies and didn't die of boredom like a lot of girls do?" Fred asked her.

"No, I like Quidditch. I was a chaser at my old school," she told him at which he stepped in front of her and he and George got down on one knee in front of her.

"Make us the happiest men in the world and marry us, please," George pleaded.

"Yeah, it's a two for one deal, and we're rich, successful businessmen. It doesn't get any better than that," Fred added, making everyone in the shop burst out laughing.

When Mrs. Weasley finally got Fred and George to stop flirting with Lily, they left the joke shop. Lily still had a lot of money left, so Lupin suggested that she get an owl from the Magical Menagerie, and they made their way over there.

After the witch behind the counter gawked at Lily, introduced herself, and hugged her three times, she finally asked why they were there.

"So you want an owl? Well we have two beautiful Snowy Owls if that's what you'd like," she said ushering Lily over to the cages.

"I like this one," Lily said pointing to the younger, smaller one of the two.

"Yes, all right then, let me just go and get you a cage," she said and hurried to the back of the shop.

"Oh, Mrs. McNeal!" A man shouted in a singsong voice the second he came in the store.

"Daren, you're here, and I see you've brought them with you," the witch said as she came out from the back with Lily's cage. "Daren, let me introduce you to Miss Lily Black. She's our Hannah's daughter."

The man seemed to know exactly who she was talking about because he quickly put the box he was carrying down and hugged Lily.

"It's an honor to meet you," he said smiling bright down at her. "I went to school with your mother and father." The man paused and smiled as he looked at Harry. "And you with Harry Potter! Your parents would be so please that you're friends and maybe a bit more, hmm?" He winked at them. "Well, Mrs. McNeal, I'm afraid that I can't sell you these little ones yet," the man informed her.

"Why on earth not?" she asked him worriedly.

"Because I started breeding them when I was still at Hogwarts, and I believe that my first customer was Miss. Hannah Patil. It only seems right to repay the favor by giving her daughter one," he said confidently and he opened the box.

The box had five longhaired kittens in it. Two of them were black, one was pure white, another one was gray, and the last one, the smallest and frailest looking one of them all, looked like a white tiger, but with long hair.

"They're eight weeks old. Take your pick. You can have any one of them, free of charge," the man told her as she picked up the smallest one. "I thought you might choose that one. Just like you mother, you are. She always picked the underdog or in this case the undercat. Now, she'll need a lot of extra attention. You'll need to fatten her up a bit and give her some extra vitamins, but she should be fine in the end."

"Thank you so much!" Lily said brightly as Ginny and Hermione came over, and they all gushed over the little kitten who weakly purred in her arms.

~ ~ ~

When they got back to Black Manor, Lily rushed to her father to tell him everything that had happened in Diagon Alley.

"Dad, look!" she said excitedly when she found him in the living room, and she pulled the kitten from her pocket. "A man named Daren gave her to me when we were in the Magical Menagerie. I named her Atelix."

"Daren Cummings, yes I remember him. He sold a kitten to your mother as well, a little white one I believe. Your mother adored him, but I always thought it a bit odd that a man would want to breed cats for a living. Whether they're magical ones or not," he told her. "So you spent all of your money did you?"

"Well, I tried to."

"Lily, I told you to spend all of it! Leave!" he said with a wave of his hand.

"What? But Dad, I - I tried - I really did," she pleaded.

"She really did Sirius! I told you that she wouldn't be able to spend that much in one day, but no you insisted didn't you? She went all over Diagon Alley all day buying things, trying to spend all of the money you gave her. I for one think that she did an excellent job considering the fact that people kept giving her things and not letting her give them a dime in return," Lupin stated firmly when he and everyone else came into the living room.

"All right you can stay. Did you have fun?" he asked her.

"I had a lot of fun! Dad?" She looked at him hesitantly.

"What is it?" he questioned her.

"It's just everyone was - well - treating me like I was their own daughter. I understand that people saw that I looked a lot like mother, but why were they so kind? I mean, people I'd never met once in my life just came up to me and hugged me. Some of them were even crying."

"Lily, there's one thing you must understand about your mother, and that's that everyone loved her. She was so kind and generous. She would help anyone in need and not just because it made her look good or to soothe her own conscience, but because she honestly cared about people. That's why I had to protect her so much. Some people would try and take advantage of her kindness. She knew of course because she wasn't naive or stupid, but she would still help them anyway, and I had to make sure that she didn't get hurt," he told her smiling up at her.

"She was also purposed to today, Sirius," Lupin informed him and sat next to Dumbledore, who asked to see the kitten, it curled up in his arms and fell asleep.

"Really? And when were you going to tell me this?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"It was just Fred and George," she said blushing fiercely, making Sirius laugh.

"I'll have to speak to those two," he said sternly and laughed when Lily shot him a warning glare. "You're too much like your mother, Lily. Harry, I need to talk to you. Do you mind sitting down?" he asked Harry who sat on the chair next to him. Lily and the others went to leave. "Lily, you can stay, you deserve to hear this as well."

"Alright," she said and sat next to him as everyone else left the room except for Dumbledore, Lupin, Harry, and Sirius.

"Now, I know both of you want to know what happened, so I'm going to tell you, and then Dumbledore here can make sense of it for you, alright?" he asked them and they nodded. "Harry, what you might have been able to figure out already is that the curse that hit me was not the killing curse because you saw the sparks that flew out of Bellatrix's wand were red and not green. The spell that she hit me with was just a stunning spell that made me fall back into the veil. The veil is the archway between the living and the dead. When I fell behind the veil, it felt as if I had fallen in acid, and my body was slowly dissolving, but I was still alive and I couldn't get out. I don't know how long I was in there, but someone came in and grabbed me and brought me out. The next thing I remember is waking up in Voldemort's dungeons."

"How did you live? How did you survive through all of that?" Harry asked him.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, still petting the sleeping kitten that was half the size of his hand. "You are supposed to already be dead when you pass through the archway. Sirius was not, so whatever's behind the veil had to slowly kill him because only spirits can pass on to the afterlife."

"But if he couldn't get out than how did someone else go in, get him, and step right out again?" Lily asked completely bewildered.

"When we were in the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort possessed Harry, and when I didn't kill Harry to kill Voldemort, he came out of Harry. When he knew that there was nothing left that he could do, he Dissapparate with Bellatrix. The orb that concealed a very important prophecy concerning Harry, which was the reason Voldemort was there, was smashed. Voldemort quickly became aware that he now had absolutely no hold on Harry what so ever. So, I assume that when he Dissapparate he went back to the Department of Mysteries to get Sirius. Voldemort has gone to great lengths to try and defeat death. He's done many experiments and it was revealed to us when he should have died fifteen years ago and didn't that at least one of these experiments worked. Whatever he did must have allowed him to pass back through the archway, alive. I imagine that he did go through a great deal of pain and was probably seriously injured in the process, but Bellatrix was there to make sure he got back to his Headquarters."

"Why did he even try to get Sirius though, Professor?" Harry asked.

"As I said before, he knew that he no longer had any hold on you. He thought that having Sirius would put the control back into his hands. Little did he know that an extremely clever, young witch was about to outsmart him." He winked at Lily and then turned to Harry with a more urgent look on his face. "But Harry, this means that our worst fear has happened. This means that the only thing that keeps Voldemort from complete immortality is you're blood. You are now the only one who can kill him and if anything happens to you, than Voldemort will be completely immortal," Dumbledore finished staring at Harry with concern in his eyes.