“Oh, no!” screamed Mrs Weasley, “ We better go look for him! Come on!”
The Weasleys all followed Mrs Weasley out into the street. When suddenly a brown bushy haired girl came running up to them shouting.
“Ron! Ron!”
“Oh! Hi,” said Ron, slightly flustered by this enthusiastic greeting. “Everyone this is Hermione Granger.”
So this is the famous Hermione Granger who Ron has a crush on, Ginny thought to herself. She new this because Ron had talked none stop about her nearly all holiday.
“Where is Harry? I thought he was staying at your house,” Hermione questioned.
“Well…erm…He kind of missed the exit fire place,” Ron told her.
“Oh, no! We better find him, He couldn’t have gone out of Diagon alley could he?” Hermione was starting to panic.
“Calm down dear,” Mrs Weasley said kindly to Hermione, “It is most likely he got out at Gringots or Madame Malkins. So we will go to Madame Malkins first. All right?”
“Yes, ok, I’ll go to Gringotts, I need to get my parents to change some money anyway.” Hermione turned round and walked off muttering to herself.
“Right then let’s get going,” said Mrs Weasley.
The Weasleys walked up the busy street in search off Harry. Ginny’s mind was filled with worries, What if they couldn’t find Harry? What if something terrible had happened to him?
As they entered the robe shop, Madame Malkin greeted them.
“How can I help you?” She asked
“Has Harry Potter arrived here by floo powder?” Mrs Weasley asked her.
“No, I’m afraid not,” replied Madame Malkin.
The Weasley's left the shop and headed to Gringotts to see if Harry was there.
As they made their way to the bank Mrs Weasley insisted that Ginny hold her hand so she didn’t get lost in the crowd.
As Gringotts came into view Harry’s unmistakable untidy black hair was visible at the base of the steps leading to Gringotts’ front doors. He was talking to Hermione and a very big bearded person that Ginny assumed was Hagrid the gamekeeper at Hogwarts although she had never met him before.
Mrs Weasley was thanking Hagrid over and over again; it turned out that he found Harry down Knockturn Alley, which Ginny knew was associated with dark magic.
Ginny was so relieved that Harry was safe she didn’t notice being dragged away by Mrs Weasley to go shopping until she saw Harry turn and head off in another direction with Ron and Hermione.
“Where are we going?” Ginny asked her mother.
“Witterings for your robes,” Mrs Weasley replied.
“But mum. Why can’t I do to Madame Malkins?”
“Because we have to get yours cheaper, Unless, that is, you want Percy’s old ones. Which are probably too big”
Ginny stayed silent.
“Here we are,” Mrs Weasley announced as they arrived outside the shop.
Ginny sighed as she looked up at the sign.
Wittering’s Second-Hand Robe and Accessory Store
Established in 1766
~*~
Ginny had got everything she needed apart from her Gilderoy Lockhart books Those couldn’t be bought second hand due to thier popularity; So she and her mother headed towards Flourish and Blotts.
As they arrived outside the bookstore they saw a large banner had been hung outside, it read:
Will be signing copies of his autobiography
MAGICAL ME
Today at 12.30- 4.30
“Oh yes I remember the Daily Prophet mentioning something about this last week,” said Mrs Weasley.
They entered the shop; Books were crammed in bookshelves and piled in stacks all over the place. It was normally hard not to knock any over but seeing as the shop was crowded with over excited women the task was even harder.
Ginny herself didn’t see why other witches just seemed to melt if Gilderoy said hello to them; personally she thought he was abit of a show off and really didn’t see it possible to do all these things he said he had done and maintain such good looks. Ginny, however had decided she didn’t like blondes ages ago when a boy from the village saw her in the market and teased her because of her red hair and hand knitted jumper.
As Ginny was pondering her thoughts, Fred, George and Percy appeared. The twins seemed highly amused about something and Percy slightly cross.
“We reckon that-“ Fred started.
“-He is planning to do-“ George continued.
“-Some word domination”
“Why?” Ginny asked confused.
“We found him reading-“
“-Some psycho prefect book,”
“It was simply an interesting book,” Percy said his face going slightly red.
“What ever you say Percy,” giggled Ginny.
Just at that moment Mr Weasley arrived with Hermione parents.
“Molly dear, You would never guess what Mr and Mrs Granger have told me about,” Mr Weasley told his wife with a look some one who had just discovered fire.
“What?” Replied Mrs Weasley who had obviously decided to humour him.
“Something called a com-pu-ty. It is simply wonderful,” he said.
“That’s very nice dear,”
Mr Weasley went off into a long explanation of how a computer worked even though no one was listening because Ron had entered the shop with Hermione and Harry.
Ginny felt the blood rushing to her face, making it go red as soon as she made eye contact with Harry. Which she broke very quickly.
Suddenly, as if a wand had just exploded, there was clapping, cheering and wolf whistles as a man with blonde hair, dazzling blue eyes and shining white teeth stepped into view, waving cheerfully. It was Gilderoy Lockhart.
A man was talking photos with a camera that was emitting puffs of purple smoke everytime he took a photo.
As Gilderoy Lockhart started talking Ginny looked around; most people (mainly women) in the shop were staring at him in awe. Ginny thought he was a total show off. Her attention came back to Lockhart when he grabbed hold of Harry, shaking his hand. Ginny looked at Harry and saw the expression on his face. Ginny could tell he didn’t want to go up there and have his photo taken and plastered all over the front page of the Daily Prophet.
Lockhart dumped a load of books into Harry’s arms, and then proceeded to make an announcement as Harry sneaked away from next to him and back to where he was stood.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make. From September the first I will be teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry in the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,”
There was a lot of chatter, applause and a few squeals of delight. But Ginny heard Fred, George, Ron and Harry complaining behind her, however Hermione was positively beaming with delight.
As they turned to leave they were greated by a boy with blonde hair and a very dirty look on his face. To Ginny he didn’t look a very pleasant person to know.
“The famous Harry Potter, Bet you loved that, front page as soon as you walk in a shop,” the blonde haired boy drawled.
That awoke something inside Ginny. She decided to say something to this boy, whoever he thought he was.
“Leave him alone,” She said menacingly glaring at him, “He didn’t want that,” she said.
“Oooh Potter’s got himself a girlfriend,” The boy spat.
A man with long blonde hair appeared behind him. Ginny know who this man was; Lucius Malfoy. It was then when she realized who the boy was.
“Now, now, play nicely Draco,” Mr Malfoy said in the same drawl as his son used.
“We better get going,” said a voice from behind the group, When Ginny looked, she saw it was Mr Weasley
.
“Arthur, They must not be paying you a lot at the ministry these days,” Mr Malfoy said lifting Ginny’s transfiguration book out of her cauldron.
Suddenly Mr Weasley leaped at Mr Malfoy.
“GO DAD!” shouted George.
“ARTHUR STOP,” screamed Mrs Weasley.
Mr Malfoy was still holding Ginny’s transfiguration book so he only had one hand to fight Mr Weasley when Hagrid appeared and pulled the two men apart, Mr Malfoy immediately pulled himself from Hagrid’s grip, threw Ginny’s book into her cauldron and left the shop with his son following.
When Hagrid had finished calming Mr Weasley down they left the shop via floo powder to the Burrow. Ginny grabbed a handful of floo powder and said loud and clearly.
“The Burrow.”