A Dark Time For The Light

Diagon Alley

Her promised shopping trip was here at last. At first it was just going to be herself and Harry and Draco, but as the word spread, more and more opted to come along until two mini-bus taxis deposited over two dozen outside the Leaky Cauldron. Which was closed, certainly from the Mundane side. No-one had expected this. “This is not good”, muttered Hermione as she waggled the large padlock and regarded it with her usual professional instincts. “Fuck it. Let’s all just Apparate in”, said Seamus. Severus nodded, “Yes. But let’s all keep our wands at the ready just in case. Does anyone need a side-along?”. The party had Joe and Caroline along who couldn’t Apparate, plus Josie and Tony as the Mundanes. “Yeah”, said Tony, “Gizza lift, mate”. Severus quirked a brow at his wife. “I can apparate myself, but I’ve had no practice taking someone along for the ride yet, and I’d hate to leave half of Tony behind, particularly the lower half”, which earned her laughs and an “Oi!! You”, from her beloved.

They all arranged themselves in the tiny alley beside the pub and one by one, popped out of sight and landed in varying degrtees of gracelessness in Diagon Alley. It was like landing in a ghost town.

They inched down the street, wands at the ready, but most of the shops were shuttered and closed. Madame Malkin’s was still open, but her window was stuffed with second-hand robes and a roughly lettered, “Buy one, get one free” sign hung in the window, but when they tried to enter, the door was locked and tapping on the glass brought no response.

The rack that usually held the hottest must-have new broom on display at Quality Quidditch Supplies lay empty. There was no tempting display of books on tables outside Flourish and Blott’s. A murmur from someone in the group, “I’m expecting to see sagebrush rolling down the street to the tune from ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’”.

George gasped when he caught sight of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and shoved his knuckles in his mouth, tears starting in his eyes. Caroline held him, glancing with concerned eyes up into his face. He held her tight and moaned with grief into her shoulder. Harry glanced over at Eeylops. No owls. No nothing.

They carried on. The offices of the Daily Prophet locked and abandoned. As a group, they ventured into Knockturn Alley where they expected at least some activity to find it as deserted as Diagon Alley, the shops all closed, some even boarded up. It was Ginny who asked the question that summed it all up. “The Magical World is fucked, isn’t it?”. Remus mused, “The other Death-Eaters must have fled to the four winds, just like we did”. Draco looked back up the alley, “Fuck. Gringott’s is closed. Shit. I have to get to the Manor. What’s happened to my son, our son?”, he glanced at Ginny with wide eyes, her equally round orbs met his as he drew his phone from his pocket.

Harry muttered, “We need to get to the Ministry, see if there’s anyone left. What’s happened to Azkaban?, stuff like that we need to know. And where did all the House-Elves and the Goblins go?. It’s totally destroyed. We didn’t save anything. It’s all gone”, he could feel his breath catch in his throat. Draco was still on the phone so Severus slipped an arm around Harry’s shoulders as the boy shook, “Bollocks, Harry. How many people are in the cadres?, how many new folk have joined us?. This place will live again. Christ tonight, one of our party actually owns property here. The word will eventually get out and this place will thrive again. We did save something, Harry, but we’re still all scattered. It will come together again, but it’ll take time”. Harry folded onto Severus’ chest, “All very well, but I still owe Alice’s, erm, people a shitload of money and I was quite hoping for access to my vault at Gringott’s”.

Hermione held him from behind, laying her head on his shoulder, “Look, Harry, if it helps, most of us still have chunks of what you gave us, we could still chuck 10 grand into the pot”. Ron nodded, “Yeah, us too”. Blaise interjected, “Let me help, Harry. I have my inheritance now, and I was unable to contribute on the, erm, night, and you have helped us so much”. Harry turned a tear-stained face to Blaise, “Thanks. It will help a lot. I didn’t envisage having to, well, you know, when we did what we did”. Alice chimed in, “I told you love, that they were in no rush. We could even do this in installments if you like, but a promise is a promise. I will get none of this, you understand. It’s a half-mil each for my, er, people, as you so graciously put it”, she smiled and stroked his hair, thinking, ‘I’ve got you over a barrel’.

Draco folded his phone and sought out Harry and Ginny, to find him in Severus’ arms and Alice running a hand through his hair, an odd look in her eyes. She smiled as soon as she saw Draco and relinquished Harry to him. He pulled him close, then sought out Ginny. They huddled. “Mutti has Reuben. Our son is safe”, then he broke with Harry to hold a weeping Ginny. He stroked her back as she cried, “He’s safe, sweetpea, he’s safe”, he murmured. Harry smiled at the name, Draco had never called him that, it was plainly a private name between them as husband and, still, wife. He wondered if to feel jealous, then caught the winking gold of Ginny’s wedding band on his right hand and let it go. They had a son, they had things to work out, and Harry knew that both had tentatively petitioned Jephaniah Osgood to assist them in seeking a Wizarding divorce.

Draco and Ginny parted and Draco threw himself into Harry’s arms. “This is too much. Let’s get the hell out of here”. But Hermione had a different idea. The lock holding the ‘Cauldron’s door locked from this side was easy to pick and half of her hair hung down as she used the clip in the crude padlock, then fastened her hair back up as she let them into the dark and empty pub.

They all lit the tips of their wands, then stuck them into the sconces on the walls wedged in by long dead torches. Hermione hopped behind the bar with Seamus. They found the supplies of Butterbeer, dust coating the shoulders of the bottles, Hermione held one up triumphantly. “Alice, Caroline, Joe, taste the drink that fuels the Wizarding world, Tony and Jose, too”. She found the bottle opener suspended beneath the bar and flipped the caps on five bottles, handing them out. Alice winced slightly, her mouth puckering, she pushed the bottle away from her, “Yuck. Too sweet”. Severus leaned slightly over the bar, consulting with Seamus, who nodded and slunk away, tipping an aged bottle with sure fingers into a shot glass, he pushed it over to Alice, “There you go. Aged firewhiskey. Sev tells me you like the Malts. Have a go o’ this”, and the glass was pushed towards her. She took a cautious sniff at the contents, ‘Ugh, no better than cheapskate 8 year old blended’, she knocked back the shot, the predictable fire in her throat, but nothing afterwards. She was deeply disappointed at this excuse for Magical intoxicants.

She decided hers were better, then held up a large wrap, “Anyone fancy one?. Right here on the bar, that you all know so well”. She had rifled their minds for the memories, floating so close to the surface of their minds. This time they hadn’t felt her let herself in. She grinned, she was definitely getting better at this.

As Dean came up to take his line, she murmured, “You and Seamus should take this place over, put in pool tables, the other room is big enough for discos or to put bands on. You could open both sides, the Magical and Mundane, put a few tables out in the yard, a couple of hanging baskets to brighten the place up, hold Goth nights, stuff like that”. She could see the wheels turning in his head. As Hermione stepped up, she said, “And you should take over the bookshop”. The girl smiled, “Nah, but you could. How long have you been selling books for, anyway?”. Alice grinned, “Over thirty years, but I love my little Bunker and I could hardly use here for target practice. No, I’m happy where I am. I like living in my world. I’m sorry that a bit more of yours hasn’t survived, but still, at the end of the day, it’s the people that make the Magic not the bricks and mortar”.

Hermione secured the doors to the pub as best she could and the whole party apparated out again to the London side. “Oh, well, that was a disappointment”, said Tony, to the agreement of all, “Never mind, I’m off to Computermart”. Hermione shyly enquired whether this was the computer fair held in an aircraft hangar once a month. Tony grinned, “The very same. Some of the gear is as hookey as fuck, but you can get some real bargains too. D’you want to come with?”. She glanced at Ginny who rolled her eyes and grinned, giving her a little push, “I’m sure I can find something to do. Go on, have fun. See you later”, so Tony, Hermione and Josie piled into a taxi and away they went. Alice smiled at Ginny, “Geeks, eh?, but we love ‘em. Now, shall we find a real pub with some decent beer?”