Harry and his friends walked down Diagon Alley together with Mr. Weasley towards the bookshop where they would get all the books they would need, with Hermione almost running in front of them. She even opened the door with a flourish as if she wanted to buy the whole place, which caused Harry to smile a bit. He then noticed a sign in the shop where something was written on.
Today Only: Book signing from Gilderoy Lockhart, the famous, handsome wizard
Harry then remembered that almost all the books for this year were written by this Lockhart, so he had to be a strong wizard. He looked around, seeing that Hermione also saw the sign and was also looking around, when they heard someone in the shop calling to all the guests to be patient. Harry then saw the rest of the Weasley family, with Mrs. Weasley almost pushing to the front of the line. There was a man who wore some flamboyant robes and was smiling to everyone present, while he sat between pictures of himself and signed every book that was placed in front of him with his peacock feather quill.
Lockhart's eyes wandered over all his fans in the room. He would blow their robes off later with the big announcement that he would take a teaching position in Hogwarts beginning the next semester, together with an assistant no less. He still had to meet her, but after Dumbledore had to promise the schoolboard to let him take the post, Dumbledore told him that he would like to give him someone to help him, as his fame could be a bit much for a teacher to handle on the side. He gladly accepted, well knowing that he would show those children how a wizard of his caliber did things. He then noticed a black-haired boy with glasses, a scar on his forehead.
"That can't be, is it really Harry Potter?" Lockhart was now standing, demanding once more the attention of everyone in the room. As a reporter of the Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper was present, Lockhart wanted to take this opportunity and make the headlines of the next issue by posing with Harry Potter while he did his announcement.
Harry was suddenly pulled to the front, not knowing what was happening. He had to suppress his reaction to topple his grabber and pin him to the ground, as there was to many people as someone would try to kidnap him. Harry was also curious what the situation would lead to, so he let it happen and soon stood next to Lockhart, looking surprised.
"Ah, Harry, my boy, nice of you to join me. Now, my dear fans, is the right time to tell what opportunity was offered to me. You see, as Harry came into this store today, without a doubt to buy all my books, which I will give him as a gift, he may have known that he would meet me here today. What he did not know was, that the coming this September he and his school mates will get the real Gilderoy Lockhart as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Lockhart was smiling as the flashes of the camera from the reporter almost blinded Harry, who had to blink.
Callie was sadly not fast enough to filter the blending light out of Harry's eyes, but he did not mind. Harry just told her to remind him to ask why Triss hasn't taken this job, something he thought was almost a given knowing what was going on in school thanks to Dobby's warning. He soon found himself with his friends near the entrance of the shop, asking Ginny if she wanted all the books he got from Lockhart, as he wanted to buy his for himself.
"I bet you liked that Potter, being the center of all the attention." The silky voice of Draco Malfoy could be heard from a bit up the stairs, as he walked down to sneer at the company that was with Harry. He succeeded at making them angry for his pompous behavior even outside of school, as he was interrupted by a new voice.
"Now, now Draco, we are not here to bully people." The voice was owned by an older man, with the same silky-smooth tone in it. He had the same hair-color as Malfoy, just longer and his face was almost the same as Malfoy had. The man, Lucius Malfoy then spotted Harry, beginning to smile at him and introduced himself to the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Ah, and there is the famous Boy-Who-Lived, who defeated the Dark Lord when he was just a babe. Allow me to introduce myself, Lucius Malfoy, Head of the noble house of Malfoy- You know my son already I believe. Oh, what am I saying, you go to the same school after all." His eyes then wandered over Harry's forehead to the spot where his scar was. He looked at it with indignation, his sneer deepens.
"Such a shame that you surround yourself with such…let's call them low standing people. You could be great, you know. With your name and fame, you could control everyone you want." Mr. Malfoy could not say more, as Harry cut him off.
"I would never use my name for something so petty. The people should judge me because of my own achievements, and that I survived the killing curse from Voldemort is thanks to my mother. Now, Mr. Malfoy, please allow us to buy the rest of our school supplies in peace without your presence." Harry glared at the older man, now knowing from whom Draco had his demeanor.
Mr. Weasley then joined them, asking the children if they should go and let Mrs. Weasley do the shopping for the books. There was some agitation in his voice, Harry could think that it was because Mrs. Weasley was smitten by Lockhart. Mr. Weasley then saw Mr. Malfoy and they got into an argument about his attire, as it seemed that his job was not paying well enough to support all those children.
"If I would be a disgrace to the wizarding world, I would see that I would be paid enough for it, but this," He took out some books from Ginny's cauldron. "Only shows how low you have fallen, Arthur."
Mr. Weasley was getting angry, almost enough to jump on Mr. Malfoy and start beating him up. But the presence of his only daughter soothed him enough to control himself.
"We have a completely different view on what a disgrace to the wizarding world is, Malfoy. Now, if you would hand over our belongings, if not I will report you to madam Bones. And I think you know how glad she would be to put you in a cell for few hours."
Mr. Malfoy was getting a bit red from anger, as he shoved the books back into Ginny's cauldron.
"Here girl, this is everything that your father could afford for you." Mr. Malfoy stormed out of the shop, with Malfoy issuing a threat to Harry too as he followed his father. Harry just shook his head and turned once more to Ginny to see if everything was alright with her. He then noticed that the Grangers were also close by, with Hermione's father saying something along the lines of "What a mean fellow" as they walked over to them. Mr. Weasley had to calm himself down a bit, so he excused himself for a short while as he did not want Mrs. Weasley to see him like that.
"Well, I have to say that I am glad that not all wizards are like that git. Who was that anyway?" Mr. Granger asked the Weasley children, knowing that it would distract them from this situation enough that they wouldn't storm off and chase that man to get the honor for their father back. He saw gladly that it was working, as Fred and George started to explain how the Malfoys thought that they were better, just because they were one of the few pureblooded families left in this country.
"And can you believe that they even getting support from the ministry, only because they bribe almost everyone? The only reason our father works in such a small department is because Malfoy votes against everything that he thinks is stupid and then pays the rest to vote like him. Or at least that is what our father told us, as the laws against the misuse of muggle things are all hindered by Malfoy's faction, who just want to use the loopholes created to cause chaos.
Mr. Granger just listened, wondering if he could help with some friends from the legal side he knew. If he asked them if they knew Diagon Alley, he could keep the secret of the existence of the magical world as only the magical ones would know it. And those could help them to find something they could use. Soon they were joined by Mrs. Weasley, who was told that Mr. Weasley was outside to let of some steam. When she asked why he would do that, Fred told her what happened.
"Oh, how pitiful for Lucius to bully Arthur like that. Only because my husband is so noble in his endeavor to keep the peace between muggles and wizards. Ginny, please do not believe anything this man told you, your father does everything he can to give you all you need. And as long we live, we will protect every one of you. Now that we have everything, I say we head back home, Harry please follow us. Mr. and Mrs. Granger, it was an honor to meet you. I would suggest you get an owl so we can keep in touch." Mrs. Weasley smiled at Hermione's parents, while Hermione herself said her goodbyes to Ron and Harry, arranging how they would travel back to Hogwarts on the September 1.
It was at this moment that another owl landed on Harry's shoulders, lifting its leg with an important looking letter tied to it.
Harry opened it and read it and told the others that he would follow them soon, but he had to go to Gringotts, as his account manager seemed to have found something interesting that he had to show him immediatly. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were looking a bit taken aback, but they understood the situation and told Harry that Mr. Weasley would wait for him in front of Gringotts until he would be finished with his business.
Harry soon found himself in the office for Grankor and closed the door as he heard some paper moved around the desk. "Account Manager Grankor, I received your letter. Do we really know more how I am the heir apparent of the House Black and Slytherin?" Harry sat down by the desk and waited for Grankor to talk with him.
Grankor looked up after he placed the papers into a folder and began to explain. "Hello, Mr. Potter. I must apologize that I did not mention it before, but I just got confirmation that our investigation has resulted in some good information, that explained a lot from your ancestry tests we did last year. Ruling out the obvious one of the Potter and Peverell family, it was surprising that our suspicion became true concerning the house of Gryffindor. According to the family trees of your father and mother, something remarkable and rare happened, as two branches of separating families found each other once again to give life to a true heir of the house Gryffindor. So, we know how that happened, as for the other two, it seems that after Sirius Black was named as your godfather, he performed an adoption ritual which would take affect if your real parents would die. That, together with the fact that his grandfather named him the head of house Black meant that you became the heir apparent of house Black. As by your permission, we talked about that with Dumbledore and Yennefer, and they told me that I should explain to you everything. If Sirius Black really betrayed your parents as the wizards believe, he would be dead by now. As this adoption ritual would have made it impossible to hurt you or your family. As of now we are the only one's to know that, we will investigate further to get more evidence for a trial, that he still did not get. As for being the heir apparent to the Slytherin name, it seems that after the Dark lord was bested by your mother's sacrifice, you became the new heir of Slytherin, as you are the son of those who defied and defeated him. So, according to magical law, your parents earned the Slytherin name by right of conquest and with their passing, it was passed down to you. But we do not know why it did, that is something the ministry of Magic, to be more precise the Department of Mysteries must find out. For that, we need your permission to tell them all they need to know, which only includes the name of Slytherin in your tree. Of course, we will take a vow from them that they would only talk to us about this matter." Grankor finished his explanation, asking afterwards if he should call Yen to sign the papers, as Harry was not legally allowed to do so.
Harry nodded, still thinking about what he learned as he stood back up and thanking him the Goblin way. After leaving the office, he was thinking over how he would handle this information in the future, as he also had an appointment with the Greengrass family, to which Yen and Triss would accompany him. But for now, he left the bank to meet Mr. Weasley outside, his red hair being like a beacon in the sea of wizards and witches. Mr. Weasley saw him too and waved his hand to call him, causing some other wizards and witches looking at him in astonishment for knowing Harry Potter. Harry walked over to him with the most dignity that he could muster, to signal the others that he respected the adult man in front of him, hoping that it would help him a bit in the future when Harry decides to drop the bomb, so to speak.
They walked together to the Leaky Cauldron, Mr. Weasley respectfully didn't ask him what he was talked about with his account manager. As they arrived in the small pub, Tom the owner smiled at them and pointed to the fireplace they could use to travel back to the Burrow.
As the green flames in the fireplace died down and Harry came through with Mr. Weasley and arrived in the living room. Harry looked around, searching for someone to greet them. Harry smelled something from the kitchen, telling him that Mrs. Weasley was cooking dinner for them, as Fred and George came out of the kitchen while carrying plates.
"Ah, Harrykins, nice of you to join us. Food should be ready soon, so please just sit down." They were almost storming with trained precision through the place, setting up the table for dinner. Harry then walked into the kitchen to see if he could help, as Ginny was cutting some potatoes into French fries and Mrs. Weasley cooking some meat. When she noticed him, she almost threw him out of the kitchen, telling him that he was their guest and should just be patient.
With a funny look on his face, he walked back into the living room, asking himself if he should ask Ron to begin their homework. He was almost finished of course, but he thought that Ron needed all the time they had. He climbed the stairs until he saw the door with Ron's name on it. He knocked on the door until Ron opened the door with a big smile on his lips.
"Ah, you are back. How about we play Quidditch for a bit? We have some brooms down in the shack." Ron did put his hands on Harry's arm, but Harry did not move one inch. Ron looked at Harry with a questioning look, as Harry explained that they should rather get his studies on its way. After all, he would only be here for a few days to help him, and the teachers would not be kind to him if he would not have done any of it.
Ron just moaned, telling him that these few days would be more than enough and that they should relax after this taxing day. But Harry stood firm, looking at Ron with a serious look on his face. They were soon be called for dinner, all the while they were standing in front of Ron's room. Ron let him go, but only because he was hungry. Harry had to ask himself once more why Ron asked him to visit them, it could not be the only reason that he should help his sister, as Ginny was now much more open to him then she was this morning.
Harry took his place on this crowded table, now getting a bit uncomfortable as he was one more the Weasley had to feed for the next days. He told himself that he would write a letter to Gringotts, telling them that they should transfer a few gold coins to the vault of this nice family. The meal meanwhile was delicious, even if Harry had to ignore the chaos that seemed to be the norm with this family. Even Ginny was almost snapping everything in her reach until she was full.
Somewhere else, an owl was landing on a window seal of a big house, looking for the one man who should get the letter tied to its leg. It soon found its target and glided down to let the letter fall on his desk, as it climbed back up and out of the window. The man looked up from his papers and frowned, as he recognized the writing on the envelope, being his spy in Gringotts.
Lucius Malfoy had to resort for such people to work for him, as he was wondering for some time now why his wife could not access the main vault of the Black family, even if she was the only one who was still considered a Black by her mother, may her soul rest in peace. For all the other candidates, they were either dead or in prison, something that would never giving them access again. Well, there was the little loophole he was not aware of, such is as long someone is not found guilty, he would still be eligible to access the family vault. But in his arrogance, he did not consider it that maybe Sirius, for who Lucius was giving his outmost best to keep him in prison by letting the Minister almost forget that Sirius had not had a trial for over 10 years by bribing him. Lucius remembered that he had to talk with the Minister soon to secure his standing in the next meeting. He wanted to be the head of the schoolboard a bit longer, but for it to be legal they would need to adjust the law a bit.
But for now, he would need to read this letter and hoping that it contained some good information. So, he opened the envelope and began to read, as his anger began to rise. After he finished it, he pulled his wand out and set the letter ablaze in anger. He even conjured a small bust of a goblin and blasted it into pieces, letting his anger guide his actions.
"How? How is it possible that suddenly an heir for the house Black appears? That could throw everything I worked for out the window. And why could he not find out who it is? What am I paying him for?" After some time, he calmed himself down enough to tell his house elf to clean up his office. He had to make some arrangements for his son, as this year he wanted to play in the house team, and to guarantee his spot as a seeker, he would use his skills and money to buy the whole team the newest and best brooms there are right now. It was time that Draco showed everyone that he was better than Potter.
Back in the Burrow, Ron was getting ready to sleep but Harry was not tired yet so he told them that he would take a small walk outside after he was getting something from his backpack. When he walked back down to the living room, he had put some weights on his hands and legs, as he would run a bit for his training. Ron was already in his room sleeping, as Harry heard him snoring as he passed the door. He was a bit surprised as he saw Ginny reading a book on the sofa by the fire that he recognized as one of the schoolbooks he had to read in his first year. He walked over to her to see which chapter she was reading.
Ginny was so engrossed in her book that she did not notice Harry walking up to her, something that reminded him of Hermione, maybe those two girls would become good friends when learning was something both would like to do. He thought it would be funny if she would also react the same way as Hermione and tried to get her attention, something that resulted in having the book almost smacked into his face. Luckily, his reaction was quick enough so he could put his hand between his face and the book, catching it before it would break his nose. As Ginny noticed to whom she threw her book at, she blushed almost as red as her hair, mumbling her apologies to him. He suppressed his laugh and handed the book back to her, telling her that she should go to sleep.
Ginny just nodded and walked up the stairs, as she heard the door to the garden open and looked over her shoulder to see Harry leaving for the garden. She walked down again and watched him through the window doing some warmups like her brother Charlie used to do. As she observed him doing all these things, she remembered how her oldest brother, Bill was telling her how a new teacher with a new subject came to Hogwarts and trained their body besides their minds. Bill was glad he took those lessons seriously, as his letters suggested that thanks to them his work as a curse breaker with Gringotts had put him multiple times on the edge of normal wizard's amount of endurance while he was evading the charms and spells that was aimed at him. She thought that she would try it out, but after seeing Harry she decided to take part in this training and opened the door to ask him if she could join him.
He could show her the basics for his training regime, if she could join him in school, she would be happy. So, she opened the door and walked over to him, preparing herself to feel soar the next day.
She did not even need to wait to the next day, as she was almost too tired to move even up the stairs as she wanted to keep up with Harry, even if he had just shown her the basics like she asked him too. Harry was helping her up the stairs to her room, to which she was thankful and bid him a good night before she closed the door. She was walking over to her bed and let herself fall on it, groaning a bit as she tried to relax. While she took deep breaths, she thought back to the small discussion they had about the school while she did her pushups like Harry had shown her. It seemed that some students were beginning to branch out of their own houses, most prominent Harry and Hermione themselves had made friends in all the different houses of Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.
She was curious how they would react if she would ask them if she could accompany them to one of their study sessions and if she could get some year mates of her own to come too. She expected of course that some would be against it, as the old ways were deep in some families, but she would be gladly making some friends with the muggle-born students if it would mean that they were true friends with her.
She then remembered the small black book that was in her cauldron when they came back from Diagon Alley, as she had found out that it was a diary, so she used it as such and wrote down what she did today. To her surprise, it wrote back to her.