A Year Open to Possibilities
Skipping after the beginning where Aunt Marge gets blown up and Harry is now in Diagon Alley.
THOUGH IT HAD TAKEN HARRY A while to get used to the freedom he now had while living in the Leaky Cauldron, after several days of the new routine, Harry not only had everything he needed to be bought but by the last day he had of summer vacation he had everything packed as well. He was enjoying another stroll around the area when he heard his name called by an unfamiliar voice.
“Harry! HARRY!”
Startling, he turned to meet the equally surprised gaze of a boy he’d never met but was sure he knew. “Will?”
Will smiled at him, looking amused. “Hello Harry, I’d be offended by your shocked tone if I didn’t get what you mean. You’re not exactly the second year you were last year either.”
Will, who had always been the shortest of all the boys in the years prior, shorter than Freya even, had grown tall, tall enough that he was now Harry’s height who had also grown some too. His soft features had sharpened and in addition to the regular changes his hair had changed from the flat, almost childish hairstyle it had once been and he had gotten the sides cut close and his hair styled handsomely.
“Wow, I’d get a haircut too but there’s really nothing to be done with this,” Harry grinned gesturing to his hair that seemed to gain a new bit of wildness as each year passed.
"Some things aren't meant to be tamed," Will laughed as they began to walk.
"That would be the statement that brings Freya up in my mind," Harry mused as he looked around, "Were you with her at all?"
“No, I just got here myself.” Will checked his watch, “It’s a stroke of luck I found you because I was actually supposed to go pick Freya up to find you before we did extra shopping. Off to the Leaky Cauldron, I suppose.”
They walked catching up on things as Harry thanked Will profusely for his new broomstick cleaning set and finally, they got to their destination. Entering, he smiled as he saw Mr. Weasley sitting at the bar, a copy of the Daily Prophet opened in his lap.
“Harry! Will!” he said, smiling as he looked up. “How are you two?”
“Doing very well, thanks,” Will said politely as he looked around, checking his watch again. “We’re actually stopping here quick to come back later, Freya said to pick her up here, but I don’t see her.”
“Oh, the whole family should be coming right about-”
The front door dinged.
Turning around the three smiled at the incoming group as Ms. Weasley came into the bar, laden with shopping bags, first followed by the twins, Fred and George, who were about to start their fifth year at Hogwarts, and the newly elected head boy, Percy.
“Come on Perce, I saw you blushing with that letter! Tell us what it said!” Fred said jovially as they set their own bags on the table staring at his flustered-looking older brother.
“Yeah, come on, Percy!” George encouraged, “We’re all ears!”
“Oh, for the love of- quit teasing him.” Harry looked to the door at the girl’s voice and opened his mouth to tell his other best friend hello, when he stopped in his tracks, surprised.
The girl that walked through the door wasn’t the one he had known in the past two years with the tangled ponytail in too big robes. Instead, the girl who stared disapprovingly at her brothers was taller-but shockingly, not as tall as Harry or Will, so he assumed he had grown quite a lot. And her hair was down, curtaining what had thinned out into a face more grown - like a puppy becoming a dog, though Harry knew better then to use that kind of wording out loud. Her hair seemed to even have changed as it was not as firetruck red as it was Autumn Leaves…
He glanced at Will who looked over at him with raised brows, confirming he saw the change too. For a moment, Harry feared he may even go tongue-tied before she spoke again, settling his nerves for the words were completely Freya Jem Weasley.
“I mean, of course, you can tease him a little because it’s hilarious but really, not too much.” Freya continued setting some boxed down as she smiled at Percy. “And Percy, seriously, I saw the girl. Brag about it for Merlin's sake.”
Percy flushed even redder, “That’s not a very lady-like thing to say, Freya!”
“Being embarrassed by the interest of a real-life girl isn’t all that manly either, Percy!”
The bickering began in earnest as Fred and George decided to toss their hats in the ring, adding fuel to the fire by each taking somebody else’s side. It looked like it could have gone for a very long time if their father hadn’t coughed for their attention and said, “Children? We have guests.”
They all stopped and turned to look at Will and Harry who each lifted a hand in hello.
Percy rushed over to them, looking delighted at the subject change as he held out a hand solemnly to Harry as though they’d never met before. “Harry. How nice to see you.”
“Hello, Percy,” said Harry, trying not to laugh.
“Yes, and Will, I hope you’re well?” Percy questioned as he reached out a hand that Will clasped, looking half amused and half perplexed.
“Very well, hope you are too.” Will nodded, shaking Percy’s hand.
“Oh, I’m just-”
“HARRY!” said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. “Simply splendid to see you!”
“Will!” said George, pushing Percy, who had just regained his balance, away again as he tipped an imaginary hat. “Simply spiffing to be re-acquainted!”
“My best friends!” Freya said brightly, getting in the middle of the twins as she pushed her hands out to both sides, so her brothers were sent away, each twin tumbling dramatically to the floor. “Please, I beg of you, ignore the idiots! I do! I’ve done it for thirteen years!”
She blinked at Will and Harry, proving the truth of her statement by ignoring the grumbles and complaints of her brothers behind her.
“Look at you two! You’ve gotten so tall, Harry! And William, I almost wondered who you were until you gave me that usual disapproving stare! Some things never change, I guess."
“Oh, ha-ha.” Will deadpanned as Harry chortled, “And look at you. You got..." He let his brows jump as he grinned, just slightly. "Shorter.”
“Come off it!” said Freya indignantly, “My mum says that I’m growing into a beautiful young lady.”
“Which you are!” said Ms. Weasley as she passed,
“Mothers liiiieee,” Fred and George added in unison as they followed their mother away.
Freya rolled her eyes as Harry and Will laughed. “Well, what did you guys want to do? Any shopping?”
“Ah, I’ve got all my shopping done,” said Harry as they waved to Mr. and Ms. Weasley as they headed out into the streets.
“Oh, yes, you’ve been here a while haven’t you, you criminal?” Freya grinned, “Tell me, Harry, did you really blow up your aunt?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Yes,” Harry admitted, feeling slightly sheepish until Freya began howling with laughter.
“Don’t laugh!” Will said exasperatedly as Harry covered his mouth to try to stifle it, “Harry could have been in serious trouble, Freya-"
“Nah." Freya laughed, shaking her head. "Not this Incredibly Famous One. All his fans would probably riot around the world."
“Nice of you to believe I have fans around the world,” said Harry cheerfully as they passed the ice cream stand. “Does anybody care for some ice cream?”
Since the answer to that question was always yes, Harry offered to treat them as they went to Florence who smiled at them happily. “Ah, customers! Would you three like to be the first to try out our new Hogwarts specials?”
“Hogwarts specials?” Will questioned curiously.
“Yes, we have new specials called the Hufflepuff, the Gryffindor, the Slytherin, and the Ravenclaw!”
The three exchanged glances.
“Well, it’s obvious what we have to have,” said Harry, beginning to rifle through his money bag.
“Yes, quite obvious.” Freya nodded, “I mean, why pass on the chance to eat a Slytherin?”
Despite Freya’s amusing words, in the end, Harry bought them three Gryffindor’s which ended up being vanilla ice cream dyed maroon and gold with small magically chocolate lion sprinkles that changed many colors.
“Now, where are we off to next?” asked Harry as the three of them cheerfully walked down Diagon Alley, “We could go check out the quidditch store. Freya, did you see-”
“The Firebolt?” Freya finished excitedly giving a happy skip, “I did, and it was brilliant. Oh, I would die happy if I got to ride one. Speaking of brooms, did I tell you that I finally got my own? Charlie got it for cheap where he was at, just a usual clean sweep mind you...but it’s a broom!”
“Oh, if you bring it to Hogwarts we can fly around together!” Harry realized happily as he glanced over at Will, “Hey, Will, want to buy a-”
“No.” Will shuddered, “I had enough of broom flying in our first year. Besides, with the money I still have from my birthday I thought I’d use it to buy an owl. I mean, you have Hedwig and Freya has Errol-”
“I don’t have Errol,” Freya corrected, sounding slightly put-out. “Errol’s a family pet. All I have is Scabbers and-” she reached into her robe pocket, taking out Scabbers who, Harry blinked realizing, looked thinner. Even sickly. “-I have to go get him checked anyway. He hasn’t seemed well.”
With a destination in mind, Harry led his friends to a nearby magical creature shop that he had entered on occasion, being sort of an expert on the where's and what's of Diagon Alley at this point.
They entered the store called the Magical Menagerie and though there wasn’t much room inside it was still a very pleasurable shop as about every inch of the wall was hidden by cages containing magical pets. The witch on the counter was busy with another customer so the three gave a quick look around as they waited.
“Ah, look at this!” said Will, surprised as he pointed to a cage holding a small but cute looking mixed-breed dog, the pup looking bored as it lay about its cage. “It says this was a test gone bad, trying to see if dogs could be sent out as substitute owls.”
“It’s adorable,” Freya cooed as she reached to pet the dog that licked her hands affectionately. “But Scabbers is better...obviously.”
She turned away from the dog with great difficulty towards a cage where a bunch of sleek white rats had stood up and began to tap dance causing her to scowl. “Show-offs.”
“Oh, look at Freya,” said Harry hastily as he re-directed his friend's gaze from the obviously far better rats towards the counter. “The witch is free now.”
They both let Will know that they were heading to the counter as he nodded absentmindedly, still looking through the cages as though picking out the right pet was a graded test, as Freya and Harry went to go explain the Scabber's situation to the witch.
Harry was watching what was turning into a heated debate about Scabbers worth between Freya and the witch when suddenly Freya buckled as something huge and orange came soaring from the top of the highest cage, landing on his head, and then propelled itself, spitting madly, at Scabbers.
“NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!” cried the witch, but Scabbers shot from between her hands like a bar of soap, landed splay-legged onto the floor, and then scampered for the door.
“Scabbers!” shouted Freya, racing out of the shop after her pet with Harry following close behind.
It took them about ten minutes to catch Scabbers, who had taken refuge under a waste bin outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. Freya finally managed to grab the trembling rat by fainting with her left hand and grabbing with her right as she put him in her pocket, massaging his head.
“Bloody hell,” Freya said, starting as she caught sight of her cat-mauled hair in the mirror. She began to fix it, her ears tinged red, as she shook her head. “What was that?”
“It was either a very small tiger or a very large cat,” said Harry, repressing a grin.
“Stupid cat, hate cats. Always eating things and wandering around all cat-like,” Freya shuddered before she looked around. “Where’s William?”
“Probably getting his owl...”
They made their way back to the store, Freya making sure to keep her hold on Scabbers in her pocket. As soon as they reached it, Will came out, but to Harry’s surprise and slight horror, he wasn’t carrying an owl. His arms were clamped tightly around an enormous ginger cat.
“Wh-” Freya seemed at loss for words as she stared at the cat in his hands, “Why the bloody hell did you buy the monster?”
“He’s rather brilliant looking, isn’t he?” Will questioned as if he didn’t hear Freya or see her look of horror as he stroked the cat, whose fur may have been thick and fluffy but who was also bow-legged with a grumpy and squashed-looking face. “The witch in the store said he’s been in there for ages; no one seemed to want him.”
“I wonder why? Oh, wait, I can tell you a hundred reasons why and I just met the stupid thing!” Freya said wildly, “That thing messed up my hair, scratched me, jumped on my head, attacked Scabbers, and he’s looking at me weirdly!”
“Oh, honestly. Crookshanks didn’t mean all that and it’s just his expression, isn’t it Crookshanks?” asked Will to the cat, cooing.
They headed off to the Leaky Cauldron again and Harry didn’t know if it was because of Freya’s biased attitude towards the cat that it seemed this way, but he could have sworn as Crookshanks replied with a purr it sounded like less of one to Harry and more of a laugh.
***
That night at the leaky cauldron dinner was a pleasant affair.
At least if you weren’t Percy.
“And what'd ya know, Freya? When we got back from looking around the joke shop, you know what Percy was doing! He was writing a letter back!” George howled as Percy was gripping his fork tightly, looking as close to frazzled as he ever got as it seemed like he was truly debating on whether to stab his brother with it. “After all this big talk on ‘Oh, I just ignore the letters-”
“I was only writing back to explain that she needed to stop sending me the letters! That’s it!” Percy growled, frustrated as the twins snickered. “Honestly, you all take Mirabella too seriously. I thought you were jokesters but seems like you can’t see a joke that’s right in front of you! All these letters are just a laugh, that's all…”
“What’s this Mirabella situation about?” Will questioned glancing at the Weasley fight in front of them, perplexed.
Freya laughed, seeming to forget that she was mad at Will for buying Crookshanks as she explained. “Remember how Colina told us last year how that girl who came into our compartment confessed to Percy? Well, her name was Mirabella and it turns out that she’s a Ravenclaw that’s been sort of Percy’s friend since his first year!”
“Why is she sort of his friend?” Harry asked.
“Oh, because Percy thinks he’s much too ‘busy’ to have friends. So, it’s more like she’s his friend even though he isn’t really hers, but she likes him anyway!” Freya looked amazed as she shook her head, taking a bite of her baked potato. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
“Hey! Hey, you- nosy little gossip,” Percy said hastily as he pointed down at his sister from his side of the table. “How do you know all that?”
“Oh, I copied down her address from one of the letters she sent you and asked her all the questions about her that you wouldn’t answer,” Freya said conversationally as though she’d done absolutely nothing wrong as Percy gaped. “She’s rather cool, Percy. You should be grateful she’s giving you a time of day.”
“Now, honestly.” Will blushed as he spoke in unison to Ms. Weasley, causing Freya, Harry, and the twins to erupt into laughter as Ms. Weasley continued. “Quit teasing, Percy!”
Her children did not reply, as though knowing there was no way they could truthfully say they wouldn’t anymore.
***
Later on, while Fred and George were messing up a certain head boy's new badge, Harry was overhearing the ‘Sirius’ argument between Ms. and Mr. Weasley, and Freya had gone over to Will’s room to insist that Scabbers would heal much better if he got rid of the ugly cat-starting a new round of bickering- Percy sat in the room that he was sharing with Will frowning at the letter he had gotten earlier today.
Dear Percy Weasley,
I sent this letter knowing it would give your siblings a laugh if I sent it mid-afternoon! Hope it was fun for them!
Sincerely,
Mirabella.
He stared at the letter feeling irritated and a bit of something else before he noticed there was more written at the bottom.
P.S: I’ll stop by at whatever compartment you’ll be sitting all on your lonesome in tomorrow, so you have that to look forward to too~
Percy frowned as he stared at the letter and re-read the last few lines, considering the prospect that he would see her tomorrow...
And he tried his best, as he carefully folded the letter and put it in his safe binder as he had with the rest, to feel annoyed by the idea like he should.
And not sort of excited by the thought, like he shouldn’t.