Abandoned But Happy

Chapter 15

It was time to go shopping for the new school year, and Harry was excited. He had managed to convince the twins to join them, though he was less ecstatic about their family tagging along. Still, it did barely anything to dampen his mood as he strolled down the streets of Diagon Alley with the group of redheads, his father, his familiar, and his soulmate.

The youngest son of the Weasley clan was glaring at Draco heatedly, but looked away whenever Harry sent him a warning glare. He knew the Weasleys and the Malfoys had a feud, but the twins and Draco weren't seeming to mind it.

Another annoying thing was that the only daughter kept staring at him, a light blush dusting her cheeks. He knew what it meant, but he just wasn't interested in her at all. So, he ignored her.

"I do not like the glaring one," Reyna hissed to Harry, he tail jutting towards Ronald briefly.

Harry gave her a small smile. He didn't want the Weasley bunch to know about his uncanny ability to speak to snakes, but she got the message with just a look.

They first went to Gringotts, where Harry felt a sense of pity for the Weasleys at their very empty bank vault that was so very different from his own. He didn't like the majority of the family that he had met; Ronald was callous and rude, Ginerva was always shamelessly ogling him, the mother was prejudiced, but the twins were his friends and their father seemed okay.

They left the bank and went about getting their schools uploaded from the list. They got potions and stationary before moving towards Flourish and Blotts to buy their books from the list.

They entered the bookshop to find a crowd of people, mostly women. They were all giggling and sighing dreamily, making Harry ponder if some sort of amortentia had been administered.

The reason behind their odd behavior turned out to be something worse than that, in Harry's opinion.

The man at the table that everyone was fawning over was, indeed, handsome, but the moment Harry saw him, he knew he was trouble. He couldn't quite explain it, but there was something nagging at him about the man.

"He smells of cowardice," Reyna hissed scornfully.

Harry hummed in acknowledgement and read the banner above aloud. "Gilderoy Lockhart will be signing copies of his autobiography, Magical Me, today." He frowned. "Isn't that the name of the author from our Defense booklist?"

Lockhart stood up just then and said, in a clear voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd burst into loud applause, but Harry felt himself tense and he exchanged a worried glance with his boyfriend. Something would go wrong with Lockhart, he just knew it.

"Oh, isn't that wonderful?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed with a brilliant smile.

Mr. Weasley sent a small frown towards Lockhart at the adoration in his wife's voice, but ultimately sighed and ushered them all around the bookstore in search of their school books.

Harry, who had been keeping track of how much the Weasleys had been spending, offered to pay for the twins' books. Mrs. Weasley looked ready to decline but Mr Weasley accepted graciously.

As Harry searched for books that weren't in the curriculum, he heard a familiar voice from an aisle over. "Why couldn't I have gone with the twins, Mum?" Alex asked.

Harry edged around the bookshelf to see them better. Lily was dressed nicely in green robes, her red hair falling to her waist in waves. Alex was looking at books and had a downcast expression.

"They are shopping with the disgrace," Lily spat scornfully. "It's bad enough that you choose to associate with it at school. I will not have you put in public with it."

"Harry's not a disgrace!" Alex protested, turning towards his mother. "He's top of his year and charming and kind! He's also not an it!"

Lily seemingly ignored him as she caught sight of Harry and scowled at him, though he pretended to not recognize her as he picked up a book on mind magicks and checked the price before adding it to the floating stack behind him.

Alex also saw him, though, and grinned excitedly, bouncing over to him. "Harry!"

Harry turned and smiled. "Alex, hi! How's shopping going for you?"

The older boy frowned. "That Lockhart guy used me to get on the front page," he grumbled.

"Did you hear that he's our new teacher?" Harry asked. "Rey said he smells of cowardice and I've got a bad feeling about him."

Alex bit his lip worriedly. "We'll deal with whatever comes our way, Harry, don't worry."

"I don't want anything bad to happen, though," he muttered. He sighed. "Well, nothing we can do about it now. Would you like to join us for ice cream? My treat, of course."

Alex nodded happily, completely ignoring his mother, who was glaring at Harry like he was some sort of disease. "You will not be going with it!" Lily snapped.

Alex bristled at the insult in her wording. "Try and stop me!" he hissed angrily before grabbing Harry's arm and stalking away from his mother.

Neither noticed the little beetle that sat atop a nearby bookshelf, watching the interaction greedily. Yes, she would spin a fine story out of this. All she needed was a bit more research and she could finally tear down that horrible Lily Potter that had been flaunting her title of Lady Potter like she was the best thing in all of Britain, all while not even bothering to learn the Old Ways!