𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 ☼ 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆

↘︎ chapter fifteen

15 | Diagon Alley

When Marley Macmillan was little, she liked to listen to stories of brave wizards, especially those in Gryffindor who made various mischiefs and whites, almost like house-elves. Her mother either told her true stories, or made up her own in a very pleasant way, which lulled Marley until she was nine and decided she was too old for a good night's talk. And now she was the Gryffindor witch who made the whites. Fred and George Weasley had coiled her for so many pranks during the second term of the Hogwarts school year, even fleeing their father's flying car at night to Surrey.

Now Marley didn't see her adventures Harry's town as so much fun - Mrs. Weasley was more than angry with the twins and Ron, looking at her and Harry as if they were angels. And she always thought she was in a lot of trouble. She had prepared for the worst, but Mrs. Weasley had shown nothing of the kind that would happen.

Percy Weasley had come down for breakfast, and everyone was eating when the rumbling of the stairs came and Marley saw her roommate and friend, Ginny Weasley, wearing a bathrobe and pajamas with frizzy red hair, running toward her mother. "Mom, where's my jumper?" she asked, not paying attention on anyone at the dining table.

"Hi," Harry greeted the girl with nice smile and Ginny's eyes fell on him, her face went pale and she froze. A moment later, she was running upstairs like she had seen a big black dog or wolf in her house. Fred and George just chuckled quietly. "What did I do?"

"Ginny talked about you whole summer. It's getting me annoyed but I don't know how Marley is dealing with her. They are sharing one room."

"Hey, Ginny is really cool." exclaimed Marley, protecting the red-haired girl. "And I'm here for only three days. I don't think anyone is annoying. Talk about yourself, Ron."

Ron just rolled his eyes, but Harry couldn't hide his smile. Marley continued with her breakfast and suddenly the back door opened, Arthur Weasley coming home. He was working at the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Ron explained to Harry what his father was working as Mr. Weasley kissed his wife on the cheek and sat on the front seat, next to Harry by his right side and to Marley by his left.

"I'm Harry, sir." introduced himself the black-haired boy with a friendly smile. On Mr. Weasley's face shone a smile and his eyes sparkled. "Harry Potter."

"He arrived this morning." hummed Mrs. Weasley placing scrambled eggs in her husband's plate. "And during the night, your sons have flown to Surrey with the car. They even dragged poor Marley in their whites."

Marley opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. It wasn't fair Mrs. Weasley to protect her while she went there by her own. She also had fault, because she helped to rescue Harry from the Dursleys. But Mr. Wealsey's face didn't seem angry. He looked actually really surprised and happy. "Really? How was it? Oh, uhm, I mean, this is so bad, boys."

And then a collision was heard, and Marley turned around in shock, seeing the family owl Erol of the Weasley family crashing into the window and fell. Percy got out of his seat, stroked the poor old bird on the wing and took the envelopes he was holding. "The letters from Hogwarts arrived." he announced and gave everyone a letter. Marley took hers and opened it, reading the same information - how the school year would start on the 1st September, 1992 and about Hogwarts Express.

"The spellbooks are really expensive." Percy blurted out, reeding his letter. But his mother only smiled.

"Don't worry, son." she said. "I know where we'll find everything we'll need. On Diagon Alley."

     ***

An hour and a half later, everyone was in a semicircle around the fireplace in the living room. Mrs. Weasley picked up a jar from the shelf above the fireplace. There must have been floo powder there. Marley had never traveled with floo powder before, but she knew very well how to use it. Her mother had taught her.