Till Forever Falls Apart

Chapter Twenty: Diagon Alley

August 15, 1992

Two weeks.

Just two more weeks till Val and Harry were set to start their second year at Hogwarts.

Sirius and James had decided to take the two kids to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, where Mr. Fortescue had been kind enough to satisfy their appetites in the brutal heat of that Tuesday afternoon.

Val's feet ached from walking around for hours, but the coolness of the chocolate cream soothed her moanings as she took another heaping scoop of the dessert, licking the utensil clean.

"Are we going to have to carry all of this home?" Harry looked sorrowfully at the bags of things they had bought during their shopping trip. James eyed the bags with little concern.

"I don't see another option. Come on, son, think of it as practice for strengthening your arms on that broom!"

"Have you seen the new chaser for the Cannons?" Harry set down his cup of ice cream before continuing his passionate conversation with his father about the ins and outs of quidditch.

A few moments later, two large owls swooped in through the open window, diving sideways to avoid being caught in the pale pink curtain. Val held out her arm and one of the owls perched itself on her wrist, leaning towards her with the familiar letter in hand. She had seen one exactly like it a little more than a year ago when she was getting ready for being a first-year.

Retrieving an owl biscuit from her pocket, the bird took it and nuzzled its beak against her hand for a brief second before taking off. Harry had been in a boxing match with the owl that delivered his-the animal kept trying to gnaw at his ice cream, and Harry was aggravated, taking the letter from its beak and sending it off. The owl gave an angry hoot as it ascended further into the air.

"You ought to be nicer to the owls, Harry," Val said as she observed the flourish of the handwriting on the envelope addressed to her.

"He wanted my ice cream! I didn't want him sticking his beak in it," Harry grumbled.

"Go on and open them!" James leaned closer to his son, blinking excitedly at the red seal on the back of the envelope.

Sirius shook his head as he watched Val break the wax. "You act like we didn't get several of these letters ourselves."

Val quickly read over the letter, her eyes jumping directly to the list of things she needed for the school year. She frowned slightly.

"Do I really need all of these Gilderoy Lockhart books?" Val questioned as she read each of the titles, mentally noting that she already had Voyages with Vampires, which Lockhart had given to Remus a little over a month ago. Sirius peered at the list over her shoulder.

"That many books for one class should be illegal," he shook his head disapprovingly. "Never heard of someone who loves their own material that much."

"You have to admit, some of the stuff he writes is entertaining," James licked the final scoop of ice cream out of the cup and threw it in the bin.

Sirius made a face. "Don't tell me you've read some of it."

"Mary was reading to me one time!" James defended himself. "I was bored with nothing else to do."

"It is rather close to the start of the year," Harry commented, looking somewhere between excited and apprehensive that they would be loaded down with schoolwork once more. Remembering that it would also mean the start of quidditch practice, he perked up slightly.

"Do you think you'll try out for quidditch this year, LB?" Harry asked her as they followed James and Sirius out the door who left a small stack of galleons on the table as payment. Mr. Fortescue, the owner of the ice cream shop, was trying to call out for the two men and tell them they had overpaid, but James only threw him a wave and proceeded down the road.