Drama in Diagon Alley by Pottermum
Summary: Harry has to take all three of his children to Diagon Alley with him. 'Can he handle it,' asks James. Read and find out...
Rating: G
Categories: Post-Hogwarts
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: The Potters.
Published: 2014.07.09
Updated: 2014.07.10
Drama in Diagon Alley by Pottermum
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Author's Notes: “Ginny, please, how hard can it be? It's me, the Chosen one! Defeater of the Dark Lord! Married to the Amazing Ginny Weasley! Anything after all that is a piece of cake,” scoffed Harry.
“Potter, my name is Potter. It's just something you've never done by yourself, not with all three,” reminded Ginny.
“Well it's about time I did then, isn't it? Look, we should only be about an hour, we'll floo to Diagon Alley, stop in to see George and Ron at WWW, then head to Gringott's. Sign a few forms then badda boom, badda bing, we're done. We might even go the Emporium and look at the owls, or have lunch at the Leaky. Gin, we'll be fine,” said Harry, taking his wife into his arms and kissing her.
“Aw geez, do you two wait till I'm around before you do that,” complained eight year old James.
“No actually, we usually try to wait till you're not around,” said Harry, truthfully. Ginny elbowed him.
“Harry, really! James, watch the language. Will you please go and get your brother, your Dad's taking you and your sister to Diagon Alley,” said Ginny, with a false brightness to underscore her worry.
“Just Dad?” asked James suspiciously. He looked at his Mum. “Can he handle it?” he asked her.
Ginny winked at James. “We'll soon see.”
“Hey,” said Harry. Ginny and James laughed.
“I'm going to get Lily ready. Five minutes, James, no make it ten. I've got a lot to teach your Dad, and not long before my Portkey leaves. Go on, get Al, and make sure you brush your hair.”
With a cheeky grin at his Dad, he raced up the stairs. He ran past Lily's bedroom, then backed up and looked in. She was sitting on her bed, playing with a toy dragon, a present from her Uncle Charlie. As he had ran past, James could have sworn he saw the dragon flying around the room. He must have been mistaken, because now the dragon was cuddled in Lily's arms.
“We're goin' to Diagon Alley with Dad, Lil. Just Dad. Mum's coming up in a minute to get you ready, okay?” James told his sister, eyeing off the dragon. He swore it winked at him.
“ 'kay, Jamie,” said three year old Lily. James scowled. “My name is James, Jamie's a kid's name. Call me James, Lil.”
“ 'kay, Jamie,” agreed Lily. James shook his head. 'Sisters,' he thought, 'what are they good for?'
Ten minutes later, James and seven year old Al made their way to the kitchen, to find their Mum plaiting Lily's hair, instructing Harry what to put in a bag to take with them to Diagon Alley, and teaching him what to do about the kids.
“Okay Harry, I've given Lily a change of clothing in there, you probably won't need it, but you never know. Please keep a close eye on the boys, no matter what they say, they do need help in the bathroom. When they're quiet, you're in trouble. Now, pack some juice boxes, they're in the pantry on the right. Take some fruit. James and Al will have oranges, but Lily likes apples. You'll have to cut it up for her, and put it in a container. You'll find that in the cupboard next to the sink. Then you'll have to-”
“Ginny, love, your Portkey activates in one minute, you better get ready. Relax, we'll be fine,” reassured Harry, kissing her quickly.
“All right Harry, I'm sure you'll be fine. Bye my darlings, be good for Daddy. James, best behaviour please, I'm counting on you to help Dad, especially with Lil.”
“Yes Mum,” sighed James. 'It was such a curse being the eldest.'
“Bye Mum,” cried Al, as Harry left the kitchen with Ginny to go to the lounge where the portkey was.
As Lily waved bye to her Mummy, all the kitchen cupboard doors flew open. Her brother's looked up, impressed. “Did you do that, Lil?”
Lily nodded happily, then waved her arms again, and they all closed, just as Harry returned to the kitchen. “Mummy's gone,” he stated. “We all ready?” he asked the boys. They nodded, and Harry picked up Lily.
“What about the bag, Dad?” asked James, pointing to it, Lily's magical outburst already forgotten.
“Ah, we don't need that. We'll only be gone about an hour, there's no way Lil will need a change of clothes, and you just had a snack, so you shouldn't want anything else for a while. If you're good, we might go somewhere for lunch,” bribed Harry.
“Muggle Maccas,” cried Al and James. Harry shook his head. “Nah, probably the Leaky. IF you're good, boys,” he reminded them with a stern look.
“How come you never tell Lily to be good?” asked Al, curious.
Harry nuzzled Lily. “My angel is always good, aren't you Lil? Now, come on boys, let's go!” Harry turned around and walked to the fireplace, Lily in his arms. As the boys followed, Lily, from over Harry's shoulder, stuck her tongue out at her brothers.
Forty minutes later, and Harry was a mess. As soon as they had arrived at Diagon Alley, Al had to go to the toilet. They popped in to the Leaky Cauldron, where Al had reassured Harry he could go by himself. Harry was content to hand Lily over to Hannah for a cuddle while he sat talking to Neville. Al was only five minutes, and when he came out, Hannah offered the children some ice cream. It was as they finished and they were leaving, that something caught Al's eye, and he remembered something.
“Um, Miss Hannah? I just remembered, I couldn't turn the tap off in the bathroom. I forgot to tell you. Um, see!” he said, pointing to water flowing from under the Men's Bathroom door.
Hannah practically tossed Lily back to Harry, as she bolted for the men's room. She burst in, and water flooded out. Harry and Neville came to see if they could help.
“Cool, we could go swimming if we had our bathers,” said James. Lily clapped her hands and ran into the puddle of water, chocolate ice cream dribbling down on to her t-shirt..
Harry returned to find his kids soaking wet. He did a quick drying charm on the kids, and a Scourgify charm on Lily's t-shirt, but it was chocolate, and it didn't clean up completely. Harry cursed himself for not bringing the bag that Ginny had packed. Merlin, they had only just got there!
Neville returned to inform them they would have to leave, as Hannah would be forced to close the pub. “Uh-oh!” said Al, “sorry, Uncle Nev.”
Harry left with the kids, telling Neville to send him the bill from the plumber.
They had then gone to WWW to see George and Ron. With children on summer holidays, the place was packed. George was busy at the counter, but Ron came to greet his best friend and children.
“G'day mate, hi kids, where's Gin? What brings the Potter's to Diagon Alley today?” asked Ron.
“I've got a meeting at Gringott's, some new forms I have to sign. Ginny's got an interview with Viktor Krum in Bulgaria, it's been planned for weeks, so I've brought the kids with me,” said Harry, nodding to the boys who wanted to go and explore. “Don't touch anything!” he yelled. He heard a crash!
“Wasn't us, Dad!” cried James. Harry sighed.
“They can't do too much damage in here, mate. Seriously, you didn't bring back up? You could have called Hermione, or Mum?” asked Ron incredulously.
“I am perfectly capable of a quick trip to Diagon Alley with my three kids without needing help, thanks Ron,” said Harry, a bit put out.
“Ha ha, that's really funny, how much trouble have they caused already?” asked George, taking Lily from Harry.
“Just an overflowing tap in the Leaky. That really wasn't Al's fault, though, it was too tight for him to turn off,” said Harry in defence of his son.
“He turned it on alright, though,” said George, matter of factly. He turned to greet James and Al.
“Here we go boys, a couple of wands for you to play with,” he said, handing them over. “New product,” he whispered to Harry.
“I don't know if that's a good idea,” said Harry nervously, as they boys cried “Cool!”
“We're going to be Aurors, just like Dad,” said James.
“Or dragon tamers,” said Al. “Like Uncle Charlie. Today, we're Aurors,” he said as James shot him a look. They ran off to a secluded spot in the shop. Next thing, a dung bomb went off in the shop.
“Still wasn't us, Dad?” cried Al. Ron and George gave Harry a look. He smiled weakly back at them.
“Roar!” cried Lily.
George chuckled. “Are you going to be a roarer like Daddy? Do you want a wand, too?” he asked, handing her a wand. Lily shook her head.
“Roar!” she repeated, pointing. The three men looked where she pointed. Ron went to get a toy off the shelf. “It's another new line, inspired by Charlie. Dragon toys. Press it's belly and it roars. Pull the tail and it shoots fire out it's mouth. Not real fire, of course,” assured Ron, as Harry gave him a worried look. “Here you are Lily, a nice purple one,” he said, handing it over.
“Fanks Uncle Won Won,” asked Lily, clutching the toy that was nearly as big as she was. George and Harry snickered at the familiar name, given to Ron many years ago.
A loud crash made them all jump. James and Al hurried back. “We didn't mean to knock the shelf down. We just bumped into it. I blame the wand,” said James, shaking his new toy wand. “I think it's real, I did a spell Dad, honest. Watch! 'spelliarmus'!” Lights flickered from the end of the wand.
Ron and George hurried off to fix the broken shelf. Harry yelled out that they had to go. It was nearly time for his appointment at Gringott's. He ushered the arguing boys out the door, holding Lily's hand. She was carrying her dragon.
“C'mon Al, shoot a spell at me. I'm an Auror, I can take it!” said James, as they wandered toward Gringott's.
“I don't know many spells. Do you?” asked Al. James nodded.
“I've heard Dad talk about them. Go on, try one,” he encouraged Al. Harry chuckled, listening to his boys.
“Okay. 'Fringo!” called Al, suddenly. Harry's jaw dropped. Did Al know he had just tried to use Confringo, the blasting curse.
“Potato!” cried James, triumphantly. “I just did a protection spell so yours couldn't get me. Pretty good, huh Dad. Think I'm gonna be a good Auror?” said James.
“I think you mean Protego, not potato, son. You certainly have the, er, enthusiasm for it,” he said wryly.
“ 'Ducto!” cried Al, suddenly. “Ha, got you then. Accio wand!” he said accurately.
James threw his wand at Al, and it hit him in the head. “Ow,” he cried, “what was that for?” He rubbed his head.
“What? You wanted my wand and you got it. Good spell! Now tag, you're it!” James said, running off. Al chased after him. They raced off, nearly knocking over several people walking in the Alley.
“Boys, come back. James, Al, right NOW!” he said. The boys returned, out of breath.
“Boys, please, there's no time to play around. Now let's go to Gringott's, come on Lily-Lily, where's Lily?” asked Harry, frantically.
Al pointed to the shop next to Gringott's, Magical Menageries. The Potter males walked over to where Lily was looking in the window.
Lily looked up as the came toward her. “Owls, Daddy,” she said pointing. Harry looked at his watch.
“We have five minutes. Please don't touch anything, just a quick look around, okay?” he begged.
They went inside and James and Al yelled, “Cool”, and ran off. The sudden noise made the owls start flapping their wings, which made the cats start to meow, and the toads croak. The owner of Magical Menagerie looked up and frowned. Harry shot him a weak apologetic look.
He pulled Lily in front of a wall of owls, who all seemed to be watching him, judging him. “Stay here, Lily, I'm going to go and get your brothers, then we are going to Gringotts, and then we are going home. Daddy needs to lie down for about a week. Now, stay here and look at the pretty owls, okay?” he asked.
She nodded, and with relief, he turned to find his sons. Lily turned back, and wandered along the wall, talking gibberish to the owls. Funnily enough they seemed to understand, and were cooing and hooting back to her. She came to the last cage and stopped. Inside was a white baby snowy owl. It was the prettiest owl Lily had ever seen. It reminded Lily of a photo of her Daddy and an owl. She couldn't take her eyes off her.
“Come on boys, the sign says 'no touching the snakes,' you have no excuse. Now let's go and get Lily and head next door to Gringott's. Wait, where's Lily?” asked Harry frantically. 'What else could go wrong' he wondered.
“There she is, Dad!” said Al, pointing to the corner. Harry sighed in relief. “Come on Lils, time to go. Say goodbye to the owls,” he said, shepherding the boys out the shop.
Lily followed her Dad, and the owls followed her with their eyes. She stopped and turned back to wave to them. Suddenly, the doors to their cages were open, and they all flew out and around the shop, hooting madly. Lily left the shop, leaving a harried owner to wonder how all the owls had gotten out and were going crazy.
Finally Harry arrived at Gringotts. He sat in a chair, exhausted. How did Ginny do this? He pondered, while he waited for his appointment.
“Dad, I'm hungry. I'm thirsty,” wined James and Al. “Apple?” asked Lily hopefully.
Harry groaned. 'He should have listened to Ginny about that damn bag', he thought.
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