𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝐿𝑋𝑉𝐼𝐼.

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙭𝙩𝙮-𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

THEY WENT TO Diagon Alley, but mostly just to see Fred and George's joke shop. Caroline didn't realize how much she had missed Harry until they were asleep in the sitting room at dawn, the sunlight waking them up. Caroline fixed her silk bonnet and placed Harry's glasses over his eyes, kissing him twice. "Better enjoy post-nightmare hugs while you can, Harry Potter. In two days, it's all over." Caroline teased, standing up and heading upstairs to Ginny's room.

        The day passed by at a normal pace, and after dinner, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Caroline left for the Alley. Caroline walked beside Harry, hand in hand like they always did these days. Harry held her shaking hand, finding that the twitching relaxed when it was in his grip.

        Fred and George spoke from a central position in their store, wearing identical suits. "Step up, step up, we've got fainting fancies." Fred spoke, fireworks whizzing around in the air.

        "Nosebleed nougats." George added above the volume in their shop.

        "And just in time to school..." Fred trailed off.

        "Puking Pastilles." George said, winking at Caroline, the girl rolling her eyes, tugging Harry along.

        They passed a figurine of Umbridge that even sounded like her, shouting for order. People were testing the products all around, and it was a maze to get through. Caroline left Harry behind to follow Hermione, her hair bouncing around her head. "What the bloody hell is this madness?" Caroline asked, her and Hermione finding Ginny in an area of sickly pink.

        Neither girl had a clear idea, and the twins came over as Caroline lifted a pink vial up, Hermione and Ginny doing the same thing. "Hello, Ladies." the twins spoke together.

        "Love potions?" Caroline asked, not believing that they were real.

        The twins nodded. "Yeah, they really do work." George said.

        "Then again the way we heard it, sis, you're doing just fine on your own." Fred said, waggling his eyebrows dramatically to his brother.

        "Meaning?" Ginny asked, Caroline stuffing away a smile at Ginny's relationship she had heard every detail about.

        "Are you not currently dating Dean Thomas?" George spoke, Caroline ducking from a firework.

        "That's none of your business." Ginny denied, putting the potion back and walking away.

        Fred narrowed his eyes at Caroline, Harry watching her from a little ways away. "Thinking of straying away from your lovely blind boyfriend?" he teased as she twirled the potion between her fingers.

        Caroline rolled her eyes, tossing the potion to Fred. "In your dreams," she said, the twins leaving. Caroline looked at Hermione, seeing her very uncomfortable as a boy in their year, Cormac something, stared at her. Caroline met Cormac's eyes and he walked away after a moment. "Let's go."

         Hermione and Caroline found Harry, and the three of them looked around a little bit more, watching Ron try and fail to get a discount on something from his brothers. "Come on, let's go." Ron turned to his friends, the four of them leaving. Ginny was staying later and going home with the twins.

        "How're Fred and George doing it? Half the Alley's closed down." Hermione said once they had left, the rest of Diagon Alley dark and gloomy before them.

        "Fred reckons people need a laugh these days." Ron said with a shrug, walking on Harry's right, Hermione on Caroline's left.

        "I reckon he's right." Harry said as they walked, running his thumb absentmindedly over Caroline's twitching hand, knowing how sensitive she was towards the subject.

        They passed the wand shop, closed down, and Caroline frowned. "Everyone gets their wands from Olivander's." she said as Harry walked up to the battered door, pushing it open. Inside was a mess, practically destroyed. Caroline remembered getting her wand here with her mother, the woman so confused Mr. Olivander had her wait outside.

        "Harry?" Ron said suddenly, looking out the window. Harry and the girls moved over to him. "Is it me or do Draco and Mummy look like two people who don't want to be followed?" Harry didn't say anything before he slipped out of the shop, instantly following Draco.

        His friends followed him because they too were curious about what Draco was doing. Caroline held Harry's hand tightly as they slipped into Knockturn Alley, watching Draco and his mother enter Borgin and Burkes. When the lights in the shop turned on, they were scaling the roof behind Harry, watching carefully from the top-most window.

        Harry kept moving closer, making Caroline nervous. When someone turned to them, they ducked and flattened thenselves against the tiles of the roof until they were safe to look up again. But Caroline knew this person. She didn't allow herself to move until the blinds were drawn. "That's Fenrir Greyback. He's the werewolf that bit Remus when he was young. Big-time Death Eater." Caroline whispered her explanation, unaware of what she was stirring in Harry's mind.

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —