All is well - A Hinny fanfiction

Chapter 23

Wordcount: 4307

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After having settled Mary in her room, Harry decided to get some Christmas shopping done, as the hubbub of the train's attack had made it slip his mind. And so, on December 23rd, Harry and Mary set out to Diagon Alley.

When they stepped out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, Tom greeted them and promised to save them a table for lunch. Mary still felt queasy when Apparating, so they decided to use the Floo. Their first stop was Gringotts, where Harry extracted around ten thousand galleons.

"Are you really spending all that on Christmas presents?" asked Mary after they had exited the marble building.

"First of all, I take Christmas shopping very seriously," he reminded her, "And second, no I am not spending it all on presents. I just like to take out a little extra for the rest of the month."

"Or the rest of the year," she added with a smirk.

Harry laughed and draped his arm around her, "Something like that," he said.

After Gringotts, they visited Quality Quidditch Supplies. Both of them browsed the store for about twenty minutes before Harry purchased a small practice broom for Teddy. He was nearing two years, and Harry wanted to spoil him rotten.

They visited a number of stores, leaving each of them with shrunken bags in their pockets. By the end of their shopping spree, they were exhausted and decided to head into the Cauldron. Tom was waiting for them behind the bar.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. Right this way, if you please?" he said, gesturing to a table in a corner. Harry was grateful that it was somewhat secluded, as he didn't want to bring unnecessary attention to Mary or himself. They had a pleasant meal, filled with conversation about Mary's school term and Harry's training program.

"So how is Neville doing as Sprout's assistant?" asked Harry.

"I think he's doing amazing," she replied, "He's very fun to have around, and really knows his way around those plants."

"Yeah, that was his best subject when we were there," said Harry.

"A lot of the older students look at him in awe most of the time, too," she said, smiling, "and he gets super embarrassed about it."

"Well, he better get used to it. He's a hero," he replied.

"Wasn't he the one who killed Voldemort's snake?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, he did. One day, I'll tell you more about that," he promised.

Mary was beaming as they paid for their food and stepped into muggle London. They walked toward a shopping mall and went into a couple of stores there. Harry explained that he thought they shouldn't always be dependent on magic. Mary nodded and followed him around. Although her mother had been muggleborn, she had very rarely been exposed to the wonders of muggle livelihood.

As they were exiting a store called Macy's, Harry stopped dead on his tracks. Mary almost bumped into him and looked up at him quizzically, "What is it, Harry?"

Harry, however, didn't respond. He was looking at one particular person walking their way, speaking on their cell phone, "Dudley?" he said.

Dudley Dursley looked up and his eyes widened as he spotted his cousin. Making an excuse, he hung up the phone. He approached them with a smile on his face.

"Harry! How have you been?" he exclaimed.

"Been just fine, Duds," replied Harry, "It's been, what?"