THE POTTER SIBLINGS : A FORBIDDEN LOVE

Ron and Hermione

It took us several days to get used to his strange new freedom.We felt no desire to break our word to Fudge and stray back into the Muggle world.

We ate breakfast each morning in the Leaky Cauldron, where we liked watching the other guests: funny little witches from the country, up for a day's shopping; venerable-looking wizards arguing over the latest article in Transfiguration Today; wild-looking warlocks; raucous dwarfs; and once, what looked suspiciously like a hag, who ordered a plate of raw liver from behind a thick woolen balaclava.

After breakfast Harry would go out into the backyard, take out his wand, tap the third brick from the left above the trash bin, and stand back as the archway into Diagon Alley opened in the wall.

Harry and I spent the long sunny days exploring the shops and eating under the brightly coloured umbrellas outside cafes, where our fellow diners were showing one another their purchases ("It's a lunascope, old boy -- no more messing around with moon charts, see?") or else discussing the case of Sirius Black ("Personally, I won't let any of the children out alone until he's back in Azkaban").

Harry didn't have to do his homework under the blankets by flashlight anymore; now he could sit in the bright sunshine outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, finishing all his essays with occasional help from Florean Fortescue himself, who, apart from knowing a great deal about medieval witch burnings, gave us free sundaes every half an hour.

Once we had refilled our purses with gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts from his vault at Gringotts, I had to exercise a lot of self-control not to spend the whole lot at once. I had to keep reminding myself that we had five years to go at Hogwarts. 

But the thing that tested my resolution most appeared in my favorite shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies, a week after we'd arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.

Curious to know what the crowd in the shop was staring at, Harry and I edged our ways inside and squeezed in among the excited witches and wizards until we glimpsed a newly erected podium, on which was mounted the most magnificent broom I had ever seen in his life.

"Just come out -- prototype --" a square-jawed wizard was telling his companion.

"It's the fastest broom in the world, isn't it, Dad?" squeaked a boy younger than Harry, who was swinging off his father's arm.

"Irish International Side's just put in an order for seven of these beauties!" the proprietor of the shop told the crowd. "And they're favourites for the World Cup!"

A large witch in front of Harry moved, and I was able to read the sign next to the broom:

** THE FIREBOLT **

THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART RACING BROOM SPORTS A STREAM-LINED, SUPERFINE HANDLE OF ASH, TREATED WITH A DIAMOND-HARD POLISH AND HAND-NUMBERED WITH ITS OWN REGISTRATION NUMBER. EACH INDIVIDUALLY SELECTED BIRCH TWIG IN THE BROOMTAIL HAS BEEN HONED TO AERODYNAMIC PERFECTION, GIVING THE FIREBOLT UNSURPASSABLE BALANCE AND PINPOINT PRECISION. THE FIREBOLT HAS AN ACCELERATION OF 150 MILES AN HOUR IN TEN SECONDS AND INCORPORATES AN UNBREAKABLE BRAKING CHARM. PRICE ON REQUEST.

Price on request...I didn't like to think how much gold the Firebolt would cost. I had never wanted anything as much in my whole life -- but I had never lost a Quidditch match on my Nimbus Two Thousand, and what was the point in emptying my Gringotts vault for the Firebolt, when I had a very good broom already? I didn't ask for the price, but we returned, almost every day after that, just to look at the Firebolt.

There were, however, things that we needed to buy. We went to the Apothecary to replenish our store of potions ingredients, and as my school robes were now several inches too short in the arm and leg, I visited Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and bought new ones. Most important of all, we had to buy his new schoolbooks, which would include those for Harry's two new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination along with two more subjects for me, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies.