With two
weeks to go before they were to return to Hogwarts, letters arrived for them
with their book lists attached. Harry quickly tore open his envelope as Ron and
Hermione did the same and tipped the contents out onto the floor – two pieces
of parchment and a gold badge.
‘Oh! Harry! You’re a
prefect!’ exclaimed Hermione. ‘And so am I.’ She seemed very surprised at
this.
‘That’s not surprising,’ said
Harry. ‘But me? Why me?’
‘I don’t know,’ said
Hermione. ‘I’m sure whoever chose you has their reasons.’
Harry read the first piece of parchment.
Dear Mr.
Potter,
We
will be expecting to see you for the beginning of term on September 1st.
The Hogwarts Express will be leaving Kings Cross at 11 o’clock on the morning
of August 31st.
We
are pleased to inform you that the Quill of Knowledge has chosen you as a
prefect of Gryffindor House. You have been chosen for your bravery, courage and
loyalty. As a Prefect you will be expected to set examples to other students and
make sure that no rule breaking happens while members of Gryffindor House are in
your presence. You may also be asked to escort members of Gryffindor House to
parts of the castle if a problem arises.
As
you likely know, Prefects are given certain privileges. The Prefects bathroom is
located on the fifth floor. The password is ‘Honey-suckle’. The kitchens are
located under the Great Hall. To enter the kitchen you need to tickle the pear
in a picture of a bowl of fruit. Prefects are not aloud to leave the Hogwarts
grounds as with any other student. You are to wear the Prefect’s badge that
accompanies this letter at all times starting from the minute you step aboard
the Hogwarts Express.
There
are two prefects assigned to each house. Your fellow prefect will be Hermione
Granger.
Yours
truly
Albus
Dumbledore
‘The Quill of Knowledge?’ said
Harry. ‘What’s that?’
‘Honestly,’ said Hermione. ‘You two have got to read Hogwarts a
History; Revised and Lengthened – you don’t have a clue about anything. The
Quill of Knowledge is a magical quill that decides who shows the right signs of
magic to come to Hogwarts when they are born and now, obviously, who’s worthy
enough to become a prefect.’
‘I never heard about that’ said Ron.
‘Yes but you never read, do you?’ retorted Hermione.
Hermione’s letter was much the same as Harry’s except in
the place of bravery and courage was knowledge and serenity. She was also
described as loyal. Harry then picked up the second of parchment, which was his
booklist.
The
books you will need for your fifth year at Hogwarts are:
A
Magical Preparation for Your OWLs
by Albus Dumbledore
‘That’s it?’ said Harry.
‘One book? They must have forgotten to finish my booklist. And I didn’t know
Dumbledore wrote books.’
‘Yeh, looks like they forgot to
finish mine as well,’ said Ron looking down at his booklist. He didn’t seem
to perturbed that he had not become a prefect when both Harry and Hermione had.
‘Don’t be so stupid,’ said
Hermione. ‘Of course they finished the booklists. The OWLs are very important
you know. We’ll be spending most of the year revising I expect. I’d say that
book would be a great help. Especially seeing as how Prof. Dumbledore wrote it.
Do know when we’re going to go into Diagon Alley, Ron?
‘I expect tomorrow,’ said Ron.
‘Mum said we should go sometime soon.’
***
And sure enough the next morning
they were on their way to Diagon Alley using the traditional method of Floo
Powder. Harry landed with a thud onto the floor of The Leaky Cauldron – he
still wasn’t used to travelling by Floo Powder (and by the looks of it neither
was Hermione – she had just landed flat onto her face beside him). Mrs.
Weasley, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny were already on their feet waiting to go to
Daigon Alley. In no time at all they were heading down the street to Gringotts
– the wizard bank. And then they were back out with their moneybags full of
Galleons, Sickles and Knuts (Mrs. Weasley’s bag was quite considerably lighter
than Harry’s or Hermoine’s.
They made arrangements to meet up
with Mrs. Weasley back at the Leaky Cauldron at 5 o’clock. That gave them just
over 6 hours to buy what they needed and wander around a bit.
The first shop they went into was
Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. Harry desperately needed new robes.
His old ones had been ripped in several places and were hanging a few inches
above his ankles. After he and Hermione had been fitted (Ron had been given Fred
and George’s old robes yet again) they left the shop with their purchases and
headed for Flourish and Blotts. Here they bought their only school book they
would need for this year. It wasn’t a normal book. For starters there was only
3 pages in it.
‘How are we meant to learn
anything from that?’ Ron blurted out
‘Maybe you should open it and
find out,’ said a familiar, wise voice behind them. They jumped and turned
around quickly. Albus Dumbledore was standing their gazing warmly at them. ‘Go
on open it.’
Harry opened it and was on a page
about the Transfiguration exam. He turned the pages again and again and again
but each time he never seemed to be getting any closer to the last page. They
just kept coming and coming. Harry then closed the book and reopened it on the
same page he had been before but this time it wasn’t a page on transfiguration
he was starring at but a long list of anti-cheating charms that were put in
place for each exam. The next time he opened it he was starring at a picture of
a wizard fighting, what appeared to be, a Re’em (and the wizard didn’t seem
to be doing very well).
‘That’s bloody brilliant,’
Ron burst out before he could stop himself.
‘Thank you, Mr. Weasley,’ said
Dumbledore. ‘That is one of my finest pieces of work that is. Alas! It is time
that I go. I have important work that needs doing.’
And with that Dumbledore turned and left.
‘I wonder what he was doing here,’ said Harry.
‘What?’ said Hermione. ‘Can’t a headmaster come to Diagon Alley
to shop and lead a normal life like everyone else?’
‘Do you want to pay for these and head for Quality Quidditch Supplies
– just to look around?’ Harry asked the other two.
‘Yeh, sure,’ they chorused so they went up to the counter and paid
and then left the shop and headed for Quality Quidditch Supplies. But when they
got their the shop had changed its name to Quality Quidditch and Classy Carpet
Supplies. Inside Harry saw so many things he never knew you might need for your
carpet: a burglar alarm that hit the burglar over the head until he said sorry;
a special box that cleaned your carpet whenever it got dirty; and so on. It was
amazing. But the shop still had all its usual quidditch supplies. After at least
thirty minutes of looking at the fabulous carpet accessories they moved onto the
quidditch section. The Firebolt was still the best broomstick by far that was on
display. Harry supposed that less and less people would want a broomstick now
that the carpet had come back in and that was why there hadn’t been a new
broomstick produced.
There wasn’t very much in the shop that Harry hadn’t seen on previous
trips to the shop and so they soon left. It was just after one o’clock now so
the three of them went to one of the many cafés to have something to eat. Each
of them ordered a sandwich and a drink. At the other end of the café Harry
spotted someone he did not want to be seen by but it was too late. He’d
already started to walk over to him
‘Hi, Harry!’ Colin Creevey called over to them on his way over. Harry
didn’t return the welcome.
‘Is there anyone else here today?’ Ron asked Colin.
‘Seamus was here earlier but he’s gone back to his hotel – his
family are spending the last two weeks of the summer in London. I was meant to
meet Parvati hear but she hasn’t come yet. She hasn’t answered my last two
owls I sent her. Maybe she doesn’t like me anymore.’ (‘I wonder why,’
Harry whispered to Ron quietly enough so Colin wouldn’t hear) ‘Oh well. I
can’t wait for the Quidditch season to start again, can you, Harry? I wonder
who’ll be the next Gryffindor keeper. We also need a captain. I think you’d
be a brilliant captain Harry. Have you found out if you are yet?’
‘No, Colin,’ Harry said in an annoyed sort of voice. He really
didn’t want to spend the rest of his day with Colin. They finished their lunch
and as if Hermione knew exactly what Harry was thinking she said ‘Come on we
better go now. Mrs. Weasley might be getting worried.’ And they left the shop
quickly enough so that Colin wasn’t able to follow. The next shop they went to
was Eeylops Owl Emporium – Harry had been running low on owl treats and Ron
wanted to get something that Pigwideon might choke on.
‘Are you going to get something for that cat of yours,’ Ron asked
Hermione.
‘I don’t have a cat,’ Hermione said back.
‘What,’ said Harry turning around. ‘Did you get a new pet? What is
it?’
‘No I didn’t get a new pet,’ said Hermione. ‘I still have
Crookshanks but he’s not a cat, he’s a kneazle.’
‘A what?’ asked Ron.
‘Oh just read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It has loads
about them in there.’
By half past four they had bought everything they needed for school and
had visited every shop on the street. They returned to The Leaky Cauldron where
they found Mrs. Weasley and Ginny waiting for Fred and George. They had
obviously already finished their shopping. As soon as Harry had walked in
through the door Ginny had gone as red as the hair on her head.
At five o’clock Fred and George walked through the backdoor of the pub with Lee Gordan and they sat down with the others and talked for two hours. At the end of this Mrs. Weasley decided it was time to go home and so they all used Floo powder to get back to the Burrow while Lee went back to the Muggle part of London where he would meet his parents.
The rest of the summer in the Weasleys’ flew by and Harry had great fun. He was almost sad to say goodbye to the house when it was time to leave for the Hogwarts Express but he then thought of the Dursleys’ and realised that leaving the Burrow was still far better then going back to them.