Dumbledore's Army and The Alchemists Secret - 1. The Potters

‘Harry, Kingsley is here!’ called Ginny as she opened the door to let Kingsley Shacklebolt in.

‘I am coming, coming. Just a minute’ called Harry back as he hurried to the living room tucking his wand inside his pocket.

‘He has been up all night, Kingsley. You have been keeping him so busy with work’, complained Ginny as she served tea and hot scones to Kingsley.

‘Its not me, Ginny dear. Its just Harry. He has been working like a maniac round the clock’, said Kingsley sipping the tea.

Harry chuckled a little as Ginny forced a scone into his hand and started filling his cup with tea. This was the third Sunday in a row when he was expected to go to work and Ginny wasn’t pleased about it.

‘So what’s our Egyptian Counterparts saying?’ asked Harry accepting the tea cup from Ginny.

‘Same as usual. They found signs of dark magic. So they believe that Jamal Ud-Din is involved. They want us to help them catch him, since they believe that all the dark stuff he smuggles has a market in here’, said Kingsley looking grave.

‘Well, London had always had a history’ said Harry with a grim smile.

‘So young Albus is starting Hogwarts this year?’ said Kingsley with a smile to Ginny.

‘Oh yeah’ said Ginny brightly, ‘he will be starting this September. Albus is as nervous as James was when he started last year. But he is not showing it out. We were supposed to take him shopping for his school stuff. But since Harry is busy, I suppose I will call Mom to accompany me there. I cant handle James and Albus along with Lily all by myself’.

‘Dad, Dad. Guess what, Dad! Guess What! I have got a Dumbledore Chocolate Card!’ shouted Albus as he came running into the living room followed by Lily who looked as excited as he was.

‘This is the first time I got him!’ said Albus with excitement as he showed the chocolate  frog card to Harry, Kingsley and Ginny proudly.

‘I have 2 cards of Dumbledore already. And you know what I got Dad? I got Alastor Moody Card. He sure looks creepy, but look at what he did’, said Lily waving her chocolate frog card.

‘Look at them crooning over Chocolate Frog Cards. I told you already Albus. You still act like a child’, sneered James as he entered the living room carrying his broomstick ‘I am so hungry, mom’.

‘Help yourself to some scones, James. And don’t soil the sofa by sitting on it. Your clothes are so dirty. You look as though you rolled in dirt and came in’ chided Ginny.

‘I was practicing’ said James nonchalantly as he picked up a scone and stuffed it into his mouth.

‘So James, you seem to be practicing hard for your team’

‘Yeah minister. After all, chasers are important for goal scoring. We ought to practice hard for Quidditch’ said James importantly puffing out his chest.

‘You are like your grandfather, James. He too had a knack of, well, showing off a bit’, said Kingsley chortling a little.

Ginny and Harry smiled looking at their son.

‘It’s so wet’ said Ginny, as she carefully side-stepped a puddle.

They just got to The Leaky Cauldron by the Knight Bus. Exactly why that place was famous, Lily couldn’t understand. It was dingy and grey from outside though inside it was comfortably warm and spacey. It was here she came with her parents, whenever they met Neville Longbottom and his wife, Hannah.

Neville worked as a Herbology professor in Hogwarts and was always full of jokes and anecdotes, which made her laugh so much. They had a little son, Frank, who was a chubby 2-year-old and Lily loved being with him. She always looked forward to play with him.

‘Are we going to see Frank today?’ asked Lily clutching her mother’s arm as they stepped inside the Leaky Cauldron.

‘If we don’t run late from the shopping, we might’ said Ginny distractedly as her eyes swept the pub ‘ah! There they are!’

She walked to the other end of the pub with James, Albus and Lily in her wake, and sighed with relief as she sat down on a chair of the table occupied by Hermione, Rose and Hugo.

‘Hey all! You are late’, said Hermione beaming at the newcomers.

‘Mom didn’t make it to the shopping. She had some work to attend. She sent Errol to tell that to me and Errol came a bit late. We were waiting for her, so we got late’ sighed Ginny.

‘Why don’t we gift a new owl to Grandma this Christmas? Errol is getting too old for mail delivery’ said Rose to her mother.

‘So thoughtful of you dear’, smiled Hermione appreciatively at Rose ‘But Grandma wouldn’t let go of Errol. She is kind of attached to him’.

‘I want to see Frank today’ piped Lily longingly ‘it’s been weeks since I last him. I miss him’.

‘Sure Lily dear. We will go see them. Hannah already invited us lot for supper after we get our shopping done. Is that okay with you Ginny?’ said Hermione.

‘Yeah, it’s fine with us’ said Ginny smiling at Lily.

After the second war of wizards 19 years ago, Diagon Alley had changed a lot. New owners had taken over the old shops and some of them were completely changed. Some had included Muggle designs and mixed it with magic so that the shops in Diagon Alley became colorful and alive. Some of them took in Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes as an inspiration and displayed attractive previews of their merchandize from behind their windows. So Diagon Alley became all the more famous and now attracted so many shoppers from all over the world that the Ministry of Magic had to expand the space magically to avoid clogging.

‘Let’s go to Madam Malkin’s first’ said Hermione, ‘Rose takes a lot of time to buy when it comes to Robes’.

And so they went to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. It was already so crowded that they had difficulty finding an empty place to stand. After several minutes of waiting, a lady assistant ushered Rose and Albus in and started fitting black School Robes on them. Indeed Rose took a lot time fitting in. She ordered the assistant to pin in exactly the right places so that her robes would look body fitting and perfect in shape. When finally they were done, Ginny and Hermione hurriedly paid Madam Malkin and rushed to Shlamy’s Wizarding Accessories where they bought Pointed Hats, Dragon Gloves and Cloaks for School.

‘I think it would be better for us to split and shop’, suggested Ginny looking at her watch, ‘we are running late already’.

‘Yeah, that would be better. I will take the boys to Flourish and Blotts and you take the girls to Marmite’s Magical Ware and get the Cauldrons, scales and other stuff’ said Hermione clutching Hugo’s arm in one hand and Albus’s in other.

James smirked and mouthed ‘kids’ at the two boys who were looking embarrassed at being held like two-year-olds.

‘Oh, come on Aunt Hermione. I am not a child anymore. I can walk on my own. There’s no need to hold my hand. I won’t get lost or run away’ said Albus exasperatedly.

‘And neither am I a child, mom’ cried Hugo yanking his arm from his mother scowling.

‘Fine, then. You boys stick close to me. Or I will use a summoning charm in case you get down to any funny business’ said Hermione sternly.

‘Alright then, let’s run along’ said Ginny dragging Rose and Lily with her.

Marmite’s Magical Ware was a colossal shop with ceiling as high as that of a cathedral. It was filled from the floor to ceiling with Pots, Cauldrons of all sizes, shapes and material, Scales, Delicate Glass Phials, Bright Silver Knives, Telescopes, Lunascopes, Glittering crystal Balls, Teacups and a variety of other stuff.

‘Okay girls, pick up a pewter Cauldron each and grab a couple of glass phials and come to the billing counter. I will meet you there with Scales and Telescopes’ said Ginny and walked off to the aisle where scales were displayed.

‘Come on Lily, we better go get the stuff’ said Rose.

‘Rose, look at that!’ said Lily with awe as she pointed to a bright ruby red jewel stone displayed in a transparent glass casket on the counter, ‘isn’t it beautiful?’

Rose turned to look at the stone. She reached the counter and read the plaque below the casket.

This piece of stone is a part of the philosopher’s stone that was concocted by the well-known Alchemist Nicolas Flamel. The stone was broken into three pieces 25 years ago. Another piece resides in Devonshire at Mr. Flamel’s Residence. The third piece is believed to be lost. This piece of Philosopher’s Stone will be on display till 25th of August and then will be returned back to Mr. Flamel’s Residence.

‘Isn’t the philosopher’s stone the one which makes the person live a very long life?’ said Lily, ‘I heard mom telling me that story about it long back’.

‘Yes. The drinker is supposed to be immortal. But now since the stone is broken, it doesn’t have any power. It will just be a normal stone. Though it glitters a lot’, said Rose with a smile, ‘now, let’s go and get our shopping done’.

They all met at Ollivander's clutching their immense shopping bags which Hermione made feather-lite by magic. Albus and Rose looked nervous. Albus had always longed to get a magical wand. When James got a wand for himself, he made it a point to annoy Albus showing it off and blabbering about how hard it is to be chosen by a wand. Albus never believed that wands choose wizards. After all, there were just a piece of wood with a core containing a hair or feather or flesh of a magical animal.

‘Good Evening Mr. Ollivander’, said Hermione smiling brightly at Mr. Ollivander who welcomed them into his tiny little shop.

‘Ah! So its young master Albus and miss Rose who would be needing wands now, I see’, said Mr. Ollivander with a serene smile.

Albus somehow never liked Mr. Ollivander. He usually saw Mr. Ollivander whenever they came to Diagon Alley with his dad, who insisted that they drop-in for some time at Ollivander’s just to say hi to Mr. Ollivander. Mr. Ollivander always sent a Christmas present to Harry which would be a very rare magical artefact or a rare potion ingredient. Ginny always said that it was because Harry saved Mr. Ollivander from something terrible.

‘Who would like to go first then?’ asked Hermione looking at both Albus and Rose.

‘I will’ said Rose with an air of confidence and moved forwards towards Ollivander who smiled a little more and conjured a tape.

The tape started taking measures of Rose, while Mr. Ollivander went into the depths of his shop and came back with boxes full of wands.

‘Alright Miss Rose. I would like you to give a wave to these wands one at a time so that we would know which one is yours’ said Mr. Ollivander putting down a few wands in front of Rose, ‘start with this Elm wand’.

Rose gave it a wave and nothing happened.

‘It’s okay, now try this one Miss’, said Ollivander giving her another wand.

And so on it went for half an hour and finally Rose got a 10 ¾ inches Birch wand with a feather of Diriclaw, much to James amusement.

‘Diriclaws are supposed to be plump and fluffy. Andddd flightless’ sneered James, ‘while mine is Dragon Heartstring’.

‘Oh no master James’, said Mr. Ollivander softly, ‘Diriclaw might be a flightless bird, but it has powerful magic that makes it a distinguishable creature. Where Dragons are immense but hunted, Diriclaws are adept at vanishing and protecting themselves from slayers. I would say Miss Rose that we would soon find you very good with Charms’.

‘You heard that, James? Keep away from me. I might turn you into a Dugbog if you annoy me!’ said Rose laughing.

‘And now, master Albus if you please’, called Mr. Ollivander.

Albus stepped forward. He was now so nervous that he clenched his fists tight so as not to show his hands shivering.

‘Hmm… Now what wand would favor you master Albus? Let’s start with this maple wood one shall we?’ said Mr. Ollivander handing out a small thin wand.

Albus gave it a swish and nothing happened.

‘See. I told you. You don’t have enough magic’, guffawed James.

‘Stop it, James. You don’t want yourself to be grounded for the rest of your holidays, do you?’ said Ginny sternly.

‘You now try this one. Yew. Rather unyielding’ said Mr. Ollivander handing out another stout wand.

Still, nothing happened. And, so it went for an hour and a half, by which time, Rose, Hugo, Lily and James started swapping chocolate cards, while Ginny and Hermione were trying hard not to look bored.

‘You are like your father. Very tricky customer. But he got a very good wand in the end, didn’t he?’ said Mr. Ollivander with maniac enthusiasm which seemed to increase by every passing minute.

Finally, when Albus almost doubted himself of being a squib, the wand he waved produced red and golden sparks and everybody whooped.

‘Ah! Albus, now I can claim that you are my brother’ said James thumping Albus on his shoulders.

Ginny smiled at Albus and said, ‘There you go sweetie. That’s your wand. So, what is it Mr. Ollivander?’

Mr. Ollivander didn’t reply but simply started putting the bag in a brown paper bag.

‘18 galleons that will be, Mrs. Potter’ he said handing her the brown bag.

‘Mr. Ollivander, you didn’t tell us the make of the wand’ said Ginny accepting the bag.

‘It is 10 inches holly’, said Mr. Ollivander and turned away to deposit the gold in the till.

‘But what is the core?’ asked Ginny a little nervously.

‘Unicorn Tail Hair’ said Mr. Ollivander tonelessly.

‘Oh! Mr. Ollivander! You scared me! Well, there’s nothing unnatural about the Unicorn tail hair, is there?’ said Ginny sounding relieved, ‘Well, thank you. We should be leaving now, come on everyone’.

But as they left the shop, Albus couldn’t help feeling that Mr. Ollivander was hiding something.

Albus, James and Hugo started picking out the joke merchandise that they thought would be most useful at Hogwarts. 

‘Wish I could come with you this year, Albus’, said Hugo wistfully as James babbled away what they could make of each of these merchandise at Hogwarts.

‘You can’t have too many Hufflepuffs in one year, Hugo’, said James smirking as he pulled a huge dragon buster firework and added to his already overloaded cart.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ said Albus, glaring at his elder brother.

‘Well, it’s obvious that you will end up in Hufflepuff. I doubt Slytherins will take in a dunderhead. No matter how horrible they are, they are brainy gits you know’, said James now positively guffawing.

‘Oh yeah! That’s why a great big leaky-head like you became a Gryffindor, isn’t it James?’ said a voice behind the shelf.

‘I am sure you will end up in Ravenclaw, Rosie’, sneered James as Rose came into view carrying purple hats, ‘what are those hats for? Trying to replace Hogwart’s Old Hat?’

‘These are for Lily. She wanted flying hats for her birthday for everyone. So I thought, since her brothers are still babies fighting over Hogwarts Houses, I would rather do something worthwhile’ said Rose with her head held high and nose up in the air as she marched off the room.

‘You know what? I bet she would end up in Slytherin. What with her temper and scoffing off’, said Albus shaking his head.

‘She has got a point, though. Have you thought of Lily’s birthday gift? It’s the day before we leave for Hogwarts. What do you think we should give her?’ said Hugo looking anxious in his sister’s wake.

‘I think we should give her a pygmy puff. Arnold’s getting too old for cuddling and playing. Lily is fond of them like mom’ said Albus looking at the miniature puffskeins cage.

‘Let’s gift an owl!’ said James brightly.

‘An owl? You sure? Because, that’s something we ought to ask mom and dad before gifting. Dad said only those kids who are going to school should have owls. And Lily has good two years for school’ said Albus frowning a little.

‘You prat, Albus. Why do you always go for lets-do-this-proper-way? What difference will an extra owl make in our family? We already have Singer, Beaky and Gold at home. Lily will love an owl’ said James rolling his eyes.

‘Yeah. Let’s give her an owl. That way when you three will be gone to Hogwarts, me and Lily can keep in touch’ said Hugo smiling broadly.

‘You both meet almost thrice a week. What would you wanna send her letters for?’ said James raising his eyebrows.

Hugo went red and mumbled something inaudible which made Albus and James roar with laughter.

‘What’s all this racket you are making in here?’ said Ron poking his face into the room.

‘Uncle Ron! Hugo has a girlfriend!’ said James grinning.

‘Girlfriend? But Hugo, you haven’t even started Hogwarts! How come you have a girlfriend? Is it that muggle girl who lives next-door? Or is it that blonde girl at your school who sits beside you? I think it’s that funny little girl in the stores who…....’

‘Dad, dad we are back!’ said Albus as he ran towards Harry in the living room, ‘look what I got! All my books, brand new robes, quills and parchment and a WAND’.

‘So you got a wand! And all your stuff for Hogwarts! That’s great, Albus! You are going to Hogwarts’ said Harry smiling at his son.

‘And James can’t fret now about me not being magical! Dad, I want to board Hogwarts Express righttttt away’, said Albus hugging Harry.

‘You will, in due time. Meanwhile, go help your mom in the kitchen’ said Harry kissing his son on the forehead.

‘Dad, you got mail!’ said Lily bringing a letter with her.

Harry took it. As he turned the envelope he saw that it was from Mr.  Ollivander. He frowned a little and turned towards Ginny who was pulling down her coat as she made her way towards kitchen. He followed her into the kitchen, closed the door behind him.

‘What happened?’ said Ginny turning around at Harry and then nodding towards the closed door.

‘What is Albus’s wand core and make?’ asked Harry slightly tense.

‘Unicorn tail hair and holly. Why? What’s the matter?’ asked Ginny starting to feel alarmed.

‘Oh! Unicorn tail hair. Alright. It’s just that I got a letter from Mr. Ollivander, so I thought its about Albus’s wand. I unnecessarily got worried. Sorry to worry you too’, said Harry hugging her lightly.

‘It’s over Harry. Our children are safe. The past is way behind us,’ said Ginny lightly stroking his hair.