Concordia Discors

"Obliviate!"

Harry's jaw dropped, and Petunia gasped.

Vernon blinked, looking around. "How did I get on the floor?" Shaking his head, he rubbed the back of his head.

Dumbledore smiled at him kindly. "You took a bit of a nasty fall, Mr. Dursley."

The others nodded enthusiastically. "Yea," Harry said, looking curiously at Dumbledore, "tripped over the phone, there."

"I did? Oh," As Dudley tried to stifle a laugh, Vernon started to push himself up off the floor. Dumbledore reached out and pulled him off the ground.

"Thank you, Mister Dumbledore," Vernon said. "Now... I believe we were just discussing my son's education..."

Albus smiled and nodded, "Yes, indeed."

Petunia gaped at her husband. "You--you mean you don't have a problem with it, Vernon?"

Vernon furrowed his eyebrows. "No, of course not. Why would I? The headmaster, here, as proven effective in teaching our nephew." The large man smiled warmly at Harry, causing the boy to blink with raised eyebrows.

Petunia seemed to be struggling to find words, opening and closing her mouth in motions similar to that of a fish. "But--but, a second ago--"

"Memory modification," Harry hissed to her, so his uncle wouldn't hear.

She blinked. Then a look of realization passed over her face and she smiled, albeit a bit hesitantly. "Yes--you were saying, Harry could tutor Dudley?" she asked Dumbledore.

Albus nodded. "But first you would have to get a wand... Yes, I'm sure someone could accompany these two to Diagon Alley."

"Diagon Alley..." Petunia whispered, remembering. "We--that is, Vernon and I--wouldn't be able to get in there, would we? I mean--non-magical and all that."

The headmaster smiled. "No, you can get in, with a wizard. I'll send a member of the Order to escort you all, so they can buy supplies and such." Dumbledore twinkled, "Alastor would be much obliged..."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Mad-Eye?"

The old man continued to twinkle, pulling Harry aside. "Harry, I've only erased Vernon's prejudice, which in turn altered how he thinks he treated you. I'm sure, however, that all of the Dursleys will be excited to see Diagon Alley... make sure you and Alastor are good tour guides. Gringotts can change muggle money into wizard money, or you can allow them to use your account."

Harry nodded. "Of course, sir."

Dumbledore smiled. He addressed the Dursleys, "Well, I'd love to be staying to chat, but unfortunately there are things I must do up at the school. I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon." He nodded to Vernon and Petunia before turning and walking out the door.

After a few moments of silence, Petunia clapped her hands. "Well! Looks like we're going off to Diagon Alley," she said. The she glanced at Vernon, and, warily, she told him, "Change into some nice clothes, dear, we want to make a good impression."

"Of course!" the jolly man stated, shooing the children from the room.

Petunia escorted them down the stairs. When they were out of the bedroom's earshot, she turned to Harry. "What did that man do to him?" she hissed, sounding afraid.

"He erased the prejudice from his memory," said Harry, "nothing that would hurt him, it only made it so he doesn't hate wizards."

Backing away, she nodded and busied herself in the kitchen. "You're going to have to direct us to this alley, Harry, because I don't know where it is," she said, picking up dishes left from their breakfast. Frowning, she took out a sponge and started working the syrup off the chair and table.

Harry and Dudley watched her in silence until Vernon Dursley came traipsing down the stairs in a fresh change of clothes. He was wearing dark, but well kept jeans and a dress shirt. "I'm ready, Petunia dear!" he yelled happily, causing his wife to jump and drop the sponge.

"Now..." Vernon said, looking around, "where in the world did I put my keys?" He frowned. "Harry, would you mind?"

Shocked, Harry shook his head. Taking out his wand, he said, "Accio keys!" The keys came flying down the stairs to be caught by Harry, with his Quidditch skills at catching small flying objects.

Just then the doorbell rang. Grasping the keys as Harry threw them to him, Vernon perked up and yelled, "I'll get it!"

Harry smothered a grin as his uncle's enthusiasm to see a wizard. After a muffled exchange of words, they could hear Vernon yell, "Pleased to meet you, Mister Moody!"

Dudley and Harry both snorted with laughter, and even Petunia went into a fit of the giggles. "You know," Harry said quietly, "I think Professor Dumbledore may have added a Cheering Charm to Uncle Vernon, too..."

Looking up from the sink, Petunia bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh, but failed when she saw her husband bounce into the room. Mad-Eye Moody followed closely after, looking almost amused by Vernon's antics and yet still as menacing as ever.

"Petunia, dear, have you met Mister Moody? He has the strangest scars... Tell us how you got them, Mister Moody, I'd love to hear the stories!"

Petunia smiled at her husband... but Harry noticed that she suddenly looked very sad. Is this what he could have been? Petunia wondered.

"We ought to be going, unfortunately, Mister Dursley..."

"Oh! Please, call me Vernon!"

Moody looked a bit uncomfortable. After all, just days ago he had threatened this same man for being the opposite of what he seemed like now. I think Dumbledore may have gone a little overboard this time, Moody thought.

"All right... Vernon."

His eyes met Harry's, and suddenly Harry felt a deep-seated sympathy for the man again. What would it be like to live that way? He wondered again. Doing his part to get Moody out of that odd situation, Harry stood up. "Yep, we should be going." Suddenly he grinned. "Hey, Dud, you ever hear of Quidditch...?"

Dudley looked confused. "No..."

Harry's grin got wider. "Come on, Uncle Vernon, let's go!"

Vernon grinned back and led the others to the car, Moody tagging along with Dudley and Harry, keeping his distance from the overly enthusiastic man.

"Want me to sit out back with the kiddies, Mister--ah, Vernon?"

Vernon bit his lip and looked at his wife, his enthusiasm resting for a moment.

"Don't worry, dear, I'll sit in the back," Petunia said, resisting the urge to giggle like she was thirteen again, "I know how much you want to listen to Mister Moody's stories..."

Moody shot her a look, letting his magical eye rest on her, knowing exactly what she was playing at. "Really, Mrs. Dursley, I would hate to impose."

She widened her eyes in feigned innocence and the two boys started chuckling. "Oh, no! Mister Moody, I insist!" And with that, she slid into the back seat of Vernon's shiny company car.

Moody narrowed his eye at her, then settled himself into the passenger seat. As soon as the others were in, Vernon started the engine. "I'm going to need directions," he said. "This place is in London, right?"

Mad-Eye answered, "Yes. I'll give you directions from London's edge."

"All-righty-oh!" Vernon replied happily, and pulled out of the driveway whistling merrily. As they drove toward London, Vernon incessantly pestered Moody with requests for 'war stories'. Eventually, Mad-Eye Moody gave in, and began telling him about the day that he lost a large chunk of his nose to 'that sniveling coward'.

Stopping at a red light on the outskirts of London, Vernon looked at Mad-Eye nervously. "That's what this world is like? It's that... that dangerous? But... my boy and my nephew, will they be safe there?"

Harry stared at his uncle in shock. He honestly sounded scared... as if he cared. Had the Obliviate Dumbledore had cast done that? Or had it been buried beneath the surface all along?

"Oh, yes," Moody reassured, "Hogwarts is the safest place in all the Wizarding world, and Dumbledore's the strongest wizard, the most fit to protect them."

And Harry could have sworn he heard his Uncle sigh in relief.

There were a few moments of silence until they passed a sign that marked the official entrance to the city. Moody began barking directions and traffic maneuvers at a flustered Vernon, and it was all Harry could do to keep from laughing at Moody's knowledge of muggle traffic laws.

It wasn't too long before they were looking for a parking space in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Dudley was utterly shocked to discover that he could see it when his parents couldn't, and it immediately stirred more curiosity in him. Vernon found a spot to park about a block away, and the odd mix of people walked from there.

"It's right here, Uncle Vernon," Harry said eventually, walking up to the door of the bar.

Vernon looked delighted. "I can't even see it!"

"Of course you can't," growled Moody. "That's the point."

Vernon stared at him petulantly. "Well, you don't have to be such a spoil-sport."

Harry started to laugh again, so Vernon shot him a mock-glare.

Moody, however, scowled. "Come along, Potter." he muttered, as he clunked through the door of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry and Dudley took to the task of leading Petunia and Vernon through the invisible door.

The Leaky Cauldron, as usual, was dimly lit with various customers spread around at the tables. Few looked over when they came in, and the ones that did saw nothing of importance and returned to their previous conversations.

Suddenly, Moody grabbed hold of Harry's wrist and pulled him over, concealing him from the rest of the bar. "Boy," he said, "d'you know how to perform a glamour?"

Harry remembered McGonagall going over the theory with him, but didn't really remember the specific incantation. "Uh," he said slowly, "Mutare facies?"

Moody nodded sharply. "Cast it. Now."

Harry pulled his wand from the waistband of his pants and cast the spell. Moody watched until it was complete, then said gruffly, "Good. We can't have you being recognized here."

Agreeing, Harry walked to the other side of the bar with Moody and Dudley, followed closely by his aunt and uncle, through the bar leading into the alley.

The alley looked as it always did, bleak and seemingly unimportant. Moody tapped the correct brick with his wand and stepped aside, so that the Dursleys could see the Diagon Alley's magnificence.

There were many things Harry had never thought he'd see, and the sight of the Dursleys staring at Diagon Alley in glee and shock was certainly one of them. To his left, Dudley breathed an elegant, "holy shit" under his breath. Petunia's mouth fell open, and Vernon hopped from one foot to the next, smiling joyfully, clapping his hands together, and calling happily, "excellent!" Harry bit back a laugh, then smiled. The daily bustle and glory of Diagon Alley was, indeed, a sight to behold, and though Harry had seen it before, he couldn't help but watch with happiness as well.

Moody was looking around anxiously. Something doesn't feel right here, he thought. "Let's keep moving," he said gruffly, prodding harry and Dudley in the back to move the party forward.

They moved swiftly down the street to Gringotts, held up only by Uncle Vernon trying to shake the hands of the goblins guarding the entrance. They made their way quickly into Gringotts and, once Harry had secured the help of a goblin, down to Harry's vault. The goblins knew who Harry was, despite the glamour, because they validated his key. Harry had an odd suspicion that the goblins could see through the glamour, anyway, but shook it off.

Dudley and Vernon seemed to love the ride in the cart down to the vault, though Aunt Petunia looked a little green. Even Moody looked slightly nauseous. When Harry's vault was opened, and the others got a sight of the fortunes inside, uncle Vernon stared in shock. "Nice stash, harry," he whistled.

Dudley gaped. "All this time, you've had this?" he asked. Petunia was too shocked to say anything.

Harry shifted anxiously from one foot too the other. "Well," he muttered awkwardly. "Yeah."

This time, Moody came to the rescue. Potter looks really nervous, he realized. "Come on, folks, speed it up," And moving forward, he helped Harry scoop a sufficient amount of coins into his moneybag.

Once they were done, Harry, Moody and the Dursleys climbed back into the cart with the goblin, whose name Harry did not know. They rode back up to the main levels of Gringotts and Harry and company got out of the cart, dazed and blinking violently. As they crossed the large space to the doors, Harry saw a goblin he recognized--Griphook. He smiled and waved at the goblin, who froze in place staring at Harry, then smiled and bowed deeply before continuing on his way.

Moments later, they stepped outside into the blinding sunlight. Everyone had somewhere they wanted to go. Dudley wanted to go check out the Quality Quidditch Supplies store, Vernon looked interested in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, and petunia developed a quick affection for Madam Malkin's robe shop. But before they even went down the steps, Petunia remembered they had forgotten to change Muggle money for Dudley, and insisted she could go back in alone. Nervously, she passed the goblin guards yet again, then walked quickly to the main counter.

"Erm... Excuse me..." she muttered to the goblin behind the counter. "I would like to convert some... Muggle money, please?"

"Very well," the goblin drawled in a bored tone of voice. "How much would you like?"

"Well..." Petunia replied uncertainly. "How much money would it take to last a school year, and to buy school supplies?"

The goblin glanced at her with a measuring look, then said, "500 galleons would be far beyond sufficient, I'm sure. Is that what you would like?"

"Yes, please," Petunia said hurriedly. "How much Muggle money would that be?"

"Six hundred pounds, if you will," the goblin replied lazily. "You chose a good year for this transaction; the Wizarding economy is beginning to have inflation problems. Two years ago, it would have been 750 pounds for the same value in galleons."

Petunia raised her eyebrows, and then took the coins he handed her. The goblin quickly explained the number of Knuts to a Sickle and Sickles to a Galleon, just for when she got change back, and told her what each of the coins looked like. After handing her a moneybag, he bid her good day.

But Petunia did not leave like the goblin had expected her too. Instead she remained at the counter, looking nervous again and more than slightly hesitant.

"Yes?" the goblin pressed. "Can I help you?"

Petunia gathered up what little courage she had. "What's your name?" she asked politely.

The goblin stared at her blankly. "My name?" he repeated. He continued to stare, then said again, now sounding astonished. "My name... "My name, ma'am, is Ragnok." Ragnok looked at her with what she supposed was a smile for goblins, then asked her politely, "And what do you go by, ma'am?"

"Petunia Dursley," she replied happily. "A pleasure to meet you."

Ragnok smiled again. "Likewise."

Petunia Dursley walked away, and Ragnok stared after her with a speculative glance.

"You, Mrs. Dursley, are a breath of fresh air in our world," he whispered to himself.

Across the large room, Ragnok's eyes met Griphook's. He looks more confused than I feel, Ragnok thought with a smile.

Neither one said a word. Neither needed to. With the departure of Harry Potter and Petunia Dursley, both goblins realized that things had changed.

They had spent time enough standing idle.

----------------------------------------------------

When Petunia joined the rest on the steps, she laughed at the sight of Vernon staring longingly at the front of the ice cream parlor. Why couldn't he have been like that for the past fifteen years? She wondered woefully. She remembered him when they'd been dating, so full of life and joy, so spontaneous and just plain happy. What had changed?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her son eyeing her worriedly, and shook the thoughts out of her head. "So," she said with a smile, "where to now?"

"Well," Harry said slowly. "Dudley will need a wand..."

"Ollivander's it is then," Moody growled. "Lead the way, boy."

So they cut through the crowds toward the tiny old shop, Harry in the lead. Soon they arrived outside the ancient place, with the sign that said, 'Ollivander's: Makers of fine wands since 853 B.C.' Harry pushed the door open and the others filed in behind him as the door's bell echoed weakly throughout the store.

As it had before, the very air inside the wand shop seemed to resonate with magic. Harry could almost feel the magic thrumming in the air, and swore he felt something brush quickly by his cheek, but when he looked, nothing was there. He looked over at Dudley and saw him standing frozen in place, shocked beyond all explanation. "Scary, isn't it?" he whispered. Dudley could do nothing but nod.

Then from the back of the shop came a whispered voice that never failed to unnerve Harry. "Mr. Dursley," Mr. Ollivander said as he left his storage room. "I was wondering if I'd be seeing you at all. You're five years late."

Dudley looked incredibly nervous, and became very fidgety as Olluvander's silver eyes bored into his. "Well... err... sorry," he muttered finally.

Ollivander waved his left hand absently in dismissal as he peered into Dudley's eyes. But suddenly he turned his gaze on Harry, who did his best to appear unaffected. "Holly, phoenix tail feather, 11 inches, wasn't it? I trust it's still in good condition?"

Harry's hands slipped into his pockets of their own accord as he held his wand guiltily. "Of course it is," he mumbled.

Ollivander directed one last piercing gaze his way before turning his attention back to his client.

"Well, let's have a look at you, shall we?" Ollivander said, his eyes raking over Dudley before he snapped his fingers and turned to face the shelves of wands. The magical tape measure began hovering around Dudley, making all of the Dursleys jump in shock. Harry quickly stopped himself from grinning.

When it was done, Ollivander 'hmm'ed and grabbed a box off the shelf. "12 inches, yew, flexible, good for Charms... Veela hair core. Try it." The eccentric man opened the box and handed the dark wand to Dudley. Within seconds of the boy touching it, it was snatched away. "No, no, no..." Ollivander grabbed another wand box from the shelves and took it out. "Oak, 10 inches, not very flexible--good for Transfiguration--and, of course, a Pixie wing core."

Harry snorted.

Everyone turned to look at him, more than one gracing him with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry," he said, grinning, "Pixies automatically remind me of Lockhart..."

Moody let out a short bark of laughter as well. "I heard all about that one, Potter. Dumbledore told me. Thought it was quite funny, in fact..."

Ollivander just turned back to Dudley, handing him the wand. A few green sparks shot out of it. Ollivander grabbed it from him again, frowning. "No, no, no, not that either." He turned back to his shelves. "Hmm...." A small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Perhaps..."

Ollivander climbed his ladder to reach the very top shelf. Pulling down a dusty box, he smiled. "Mahogany," he said slowly, smiling again. "9 inches. Not very flexible, very good for Transfiguration. And, of course, Unicorn hair core."

Hesitantly, Dudley took the wand from him. When he brandished it slightly, the two discarded wands jumped back into their boxes and zoomed onto the shelves.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Nice."

Ollivander smiled triumphantly. "Very good, Mr. Dursley!"

Even Moody gave a low whistle. Once Petunia paid for the wand--with a little help from Moody, who, it seemed, was even less trusting of Ollivander than he was of everybody else--they left the store. Harry noticed with surprise the way Moody spoke and the guarded looks he directed Ollivander's way, and he made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Their next stop, to Petunia's delight, was Madame Malkin's robe shop. A bell jingled through the room as they stepped in, alerting the shopkeeper to their presence. She came around from behind a rack of robes, smiling at her customers.

"And what can I help you with today?"

"My son, Dudley, needs new school robes," Petunia said, gesturing to the boy.

The woman, Harry didn't know who--it definitely wasn't Madame Malkin, smiled and nodded, snapping her fingers. A magical measuring tape came flying over to take Dudley's measurements. Not surprised this time, Dudley stood there and allowed it to do its job.

Under Moody's watchful gaze, Petunia and Vernon bought Dudley three sets of school robes, one dress robe and cloak, a heavy winter cloak, and two casual robes. Dudley was happy with his new purchases and eager to move to the next shop.

So they did. Harry was eager to see what Dudley would pick for a familiar and was quick to steer his cousin to Eeylops Owl Emporium for him to pick a creature.

"I suggest an owl, Dudley, for carrying letters, et cetera, but they do allow cats as familiars as well, and Dumbledore's never really cracked down on anyone for having any other creature," Harry said, thinking of Scabbers--darkly--and Neville's toad, Trevor.

Dudley brightened a bit. "Any other creature?" he asked.

Harry narrowed his eyes and looked around the store. "I suggest you pick an owl," he repeated. "Then, if you have leftover money, we'll go to the Magical Menagerie

In the end, Dudley ended up just picking a light gray, male owl with a small brown diamond between his eyes.

"And what do I call you, Mister Owl?" Dudley said, petting the creature tentatively.

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"How about Snuffles?"

Harry's first response was to quickly suck in breath and half-gag, trying to drown out rapidly surfacing memories by clenching his jaw. Then Dudley made some sort of half-strangled noise as the owl looked at him oddly, causing Harry to laugh and be dragged forcefully to the present.

"I'll take that as a 'no'..." Dudley said, looking around. "Harry, do you know of a name?"

Harry looked at the owl staring back at him for a few moments. "He looks like a Crux to me."

"Crux?"

Harry shrugged.

"I like it." Turning to the owl, Dudley said, "Alright, you're Crux. Is that alright?"

The owl hooted happily and ruffled his feathers, nipping slightly at Dudley's outstretched finger.

After that small escapade, they moved on to the school necessities, which were many, like quills, parchment, ink, cauldron, a few potions ingredients (thinking it might be a good idea, Harry bought some for himself as well), and other various knick-knacks.

"Alright..." Harry said eventually, stopping at a small bench and enlarging Dudley's previously shrunken trunk. "Put all your stuff in there. I'm really getting tired of carrying your bags."

Rolling his eyes, Dudley obliged quickly, picking up his new items and putting them in the trunk with the same amount of organization that Harry did it with--none.

"Where to now, Harry?"

Harry looked over his shoulder and pointed. "Flourish and Blotts. Books. You're gonna need them." Looking curiously at the shop, Harry added, "I will, too."

Dudley nodded solemnly, and the five of them set off for the bookstore.

Once inside, they all spread out. Well, mostly. Dudley went off to look for schoolbooks, first year through sixth year; Petunia and Vernon walked over to the history of magic and theory of magic sections, looking eager to learn about their two wizards; Harry didn't know what was on his list for sixth year, so he went over to the defense section and began looking, with Moody following from a safe distance, testing his previously dormant espionage skills.

"I need... wards," Harry said, picking up a book and scanning it before setting it on a nearby table. "But that's about it from here... Moody's and Remus's books have most everything else..."

Moody's eyebrows raised from where he was leaning against a bookshelf. The werewolf sent books, too? Hmm...

Harry searched through the books for a few more moments before turning back to the book on the table. Shaking his head slightly, he set the book back on the shelf and mumbled something that sounded to Moody suspiciously like "Knockturn Alley".

Then Moody rounded the corner and announced his presence, "Come, Potter, the others are done here."

Harry jumped at the sound of another voice, a guilty look coming onto his face. Sobering, he said, "Oh, all right. Coming."

He and Moody walked over to where the Dursleys had gathered, by an old fashioned register that fascinated Vernon.

Petunia paid, since the goblin had told her about Wizarding funds, and Harry had wanted her to gain experience in his world. Then, stuffing all of their purchases into Dudley's trunk, they exited the shop and stepped into the sunlight.

"Now..." Vernon said, looking around Diagon Alley as they walked in between the shops. "Now seems like as good a time as any to have some ice cream..."

Mad-Eye Moody snorted.

"Yea, Dad's right," Dudley said, rubbing his still-slightly-overlarge stomach circularly. "Ice cream sounds really good after shopping."

Harry nodded and led them to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, taking out some galleons. "My treat," he said, pushing the money into Petunia's hand. As the Dursleys began to order, Harry exclaimed, "Oh! You know what, maybe I do want that book..."

The others turned to look at him.

"I'm just going to go get it, I'll be back in a quick minute," he said, reassuring.

Moody narrowed his normal eye, but consented. The Dursleys smiled their encouragement from behind triple-ice-cream-cones.

But Harry had other things on his mind. He needed books that held the dark things, the things that Dumbledore and the Order didn't want him to know. And simple ward and defense books from Flourish and Blotts weren't going to cut it.

Harry walked quickly once he ducked into Knockturn Alley. He was hoping that if he spent a small enough amount of time in the alleyway, he would not be spotted. Besides, he mused, the less time spent in this disgusting place, the better. Knockturn Alley positively reeked of evil, of Dark Magic, of a tragic sadness, of forlornness, and of choices stolen away. To spend too much time there would weigh down his soul.

His eyes darted over the people passing him; all heavily cloaked and walking with their heads bent to the ground. If a naïve person, a bleeding-heart, were to walk down this alley and look around, that person would feel a great swell of pity for the people gone astray. There were so many people here who looked lost, broken, and trapped, and so many more who looked dead. But the ones who scared Harry the most were people like the man who passed him on his right. He had dark brown hair and grayish eyes and, at one time, probably stood at an impressive height. But he was so bowled over by something or someone- from his past or present- that he walked in a stoop, his back bent at an odd angle. The man's eyes met Harry's, and Harry recoiled in shock at what he saw. Though the man's face was expressionless, his eyes were a sea or pain, and anguish that threatened to swallow Harry whole.

Harry jerked his eyes away and kept walking, not noticing that the man stopped to stare after him... not realizing what the man saw in him.

Harry did not make eye contact with anyone else for the rest of his walk down the alley. He breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted a rotted old sign hanging over the door or a dilapidated old building: a sign that simply read Books. He quickly turned and walked into the building, nearly choking on a cloud of dust that flew up at the door.

A forlorn bell announced his arrival as he stepped gingerly into the shop. Harry moved his hand carefully to his sleeve, where his wand resided, and glanced around himself before moving forward. There was no one else in the store as far as he could tell, and that was just fine with him. It was better if no one noticed a lone teen boy looking through the shelves of a bookstore in Knockturn Alley, even if no one could tell he was Harry Potter.

Easing his guard a bit, Harry took a moment to look around at the books, instead of merely search for danger. The store, though appearing tiny from the outside, was huge, and filled with rows and rows of shelves. Old and dusty books, books clearly stained with some potions ingredients, and a book that was stained with what Harry would prefer to think was ketchup adorned the shelves closest to him. Moving forward, he read the titles down the line, stopping when he came to a particular title.

Intrigued, Harry reached forward and picked up the book titled Fight Dark with Dark: 101 Ways to Cripple Your Enemy. Flipping open to a random page, Harry choked at the first line he saw.

Disgusted but interested, Harry flipped forward to the second to last page.

Harry quickly scanned down the page... He was certain Voldemort had never felt remorse for anything he had done, could he perhaps force him to--

His enthusiasm was short-lived. As his brain slowed back to its normal rate of thought, he realized that that was the end of the page. Nowhere did the book tell him how to force Voldemort to feel remorse.

"You're useless," he muttered, shoving the book back on the shelf. He certainly didn't need it if it didn't tell him how to do that- he wasn't planning on killing off anyone's family anytime soon.

For the next two hours, he scanned the store, and his success didn't improve much. He found three books on wards that weren't completely Ministry-approved, six or seven on pain inducing spells, several different advanced transfiguration texts, and two that instructed on swordplay. With all those books tucked under his arm, he went off in search of a place to pay for them. In the far back corner of the store, he finally found a counter where he could pay. Behind it stood a woman so ancient, Harry was almost afraid she would fall dead right in front of him.

His new books set him back twenty galleons--they were old texts, most of them, so worth a lot, he'd been informed--but already he had learned new things from them. Carefully, Harry tucked them into a bag he'd bought in Diagon Alley and nervously made his way back to said street. He walked quickly and anxiously, not bothering to glance around.

And because of that, he never saw the man who stared down the street after him.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Several hours later, Harry lay across his bed, a book propped open on his pillow. He was quickly yet carefully reading up on how to set the wards he'd found in a text called Protect Your Loved Ones Whether the Ministry Likes It Or Not. He found that he liked the author's blunt sense of humor quite a bit, though he realized that if Cornelius Fudge ever saw him with this book in his possession, he would be in serious trouble.

He spent at least half an hour carefully studying the theory and usage of the warding spells he found, and paid extra attention to the section about the counter-spells for the wards. When the half-hour had passed, he was almost confident that he would be able to perform the spell without injuring anyone or anything. He decided to practice on Hedwig's cage, but just in case, he took her out and sent her to fly around the room before he would perform the spell. After a few moments of thinking he decided to try the ward he had liked the most; if cast on a certain living space, it would protect the being inside that living space from being harmed in any way or stolen. Harry rather liked the idea of Hedwig being invulnerable whenever she was in her cage. He pointed his wand at her cage and calmly and clearly said the incantation, though he still said it with force. A jet of pale blue light shot out of his wand, and when it struck the bars of Hedwig's cage, it was immediately absorbed into them. For several seconds, the cage gave off a pale blue hue before returning to its original color. Harry called Hedwig to him and then placed her in her cage, and then turned and picked up a book off his bed, which he immediately threw at the cage. The pale blue light rose up from the bars of Hedwig's cage and hit the book in midair, sending it flying back onto Harry's bed. As Hedwig hooted with confusion, Harry smiled. It had worked.

His triumph was short-lived, however... it was interrupted by a shout from downstairs.

"Hey! Everyone down here!" his uncle gleefully called up the stairs. "Harry! Get down here! Come on!"

Trying desperately not to laugh, Harry walked out of his room, after saying goodbye to Hedwig, and down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs he saw his uncle bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, looking around excitedly. Harry raised an eyebrow at Dudley, who had just come out of the living room, and Dudley shrugged. Seconds later, Aunt Petunia joined them from the kitchen, looking as if she wasn't sure whether she should laugh or cry.

Uncle Vernon, however, looked as if he knew exactly what to do. Apparently, what they all should do was spin around in circles waving their arms happily. Mid-spin, he stopped, turned to them all, and smiled the happiest smile Harry had ever seen.

"Oy! Who wants to go out to eat!" Vernon called excitedly, and he ran to the front door, pulling his coat on as he went. Suddenly, his shoe caught on a mat near the door, and he fell sprawling across the ground. He shot to his feet right away, his pride not dented at all, and bounced right out the door with car keys jingling like bells in his hand. Biting back a grin, Harry followed Vernon and the others out the door.