The Parent Trap

Chapter Eight- Diagon Alley

                     Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter :D

                  "Hailey, hurry up please. We need to be at the airport in an hour to catch our flight!" Hermione exclaimed as she waited for Hailey to come in the living room. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she was quite nervous to be going back to England after ten years.

              "I'm coming Mom!" Hailey said as she ran out of her room and met her Mum in the living room.

           " Alright let's get going then." Hermione said as she and Hailey walked out the door and got into her red VW Bug. Thirty minutes later they reached the airport, had their bags checked, passports and tickets in hand as they waited patiently for their flight to be called over the intercom. After a long, ten hour flight, Hermione and Hailey hailed down a cab to take them to the Leaky Cauldron. Once the cab driver pulled up to their destination, he gave them an odd look. " Who would want to be dropped off at such an old place?" He muttered under his breath. Hermione paid the driver his fee as she and Hailey exited the cab.

             Once the cab driver was out of sight, Hermione took Lily by the hand and entered the pub. Hailey took in her surroundings as she had never seen the inside of a magical building before, besides the hospital where her mother worked. The pub was dim and tattered, with a bar and an abundance of tables in the gloomy corners. She looked up above and noticed there were several doors that led to rooms for those who wished to stay the night. Leading to the rooms was a striking wooden staircase and beneath it sat another set of stairs leading to what she guessed was the basement. It came out in the right wall where two sitting areas were occupied by red couches and chairs settling in each corner. The front wall was draped with red curtains and the back wall was blank but lead to another sitting area.

       "This place seems rather dingy, Mom." Hailey told her mother as they continued their way towards the back of the old pub.

          "It's always been that way, dear but it's a popular place to go to if you need to catch a good night's sleep or want to let loose a little bit. Mind you, you will be doing none of that until you are well of age." Hermione teased earning a playful nudge from her daughter. Once they stepped foot outside, Hermione took out her wand, and gently tapped the brick wall in the pattern she had done many years ago for six years. The wall suddenly began to disappear before Hailey's eyes, causing her to beam in amazement. Hermione, catching her daughter's eye, smiled as she took her by her hand.

         "So, are you ready to explore Diagon Alley?"

          "Absolutely."

            Meanwhile, at Ron's place, everyone was getting ready to travel by Floo Powder.

            "Lily, Dylan why don't you two go first and stay right where you are once you arrive" Luna told the two eleven-year- old children as Dylan grabbed a handful of floo powder while Lily took hold of his hand.

        "Yes, Mum." Dylan told his mother as Lily nodded her head in agreement. "Diagon Alley!" Dylan said clearly and then he and Lily disappeared into the engulfing, green flames. After the two older children left, Luna and a giggly four-year-old Christina, went next, followed by Harry and Ron. Once they all arrived and dusted off the soot, everyone walked to the back of the pub and opened the entry way to Diagon Alley.

           "So where to first Harry?" Ron asked him.

           " Well they are going to let the kids bring brooms so they can play some Quidditch games at the camp, so I was thinking 'Broomstix'. You said you were planning on getting Christina a training broom anyway." Harry told him.

           "Excellent.." Ron told him as they began to walk to the broom shop. While Harry and the others headed for 'Broomstix' , Hermione was picking up a few books for Hailey to read at camp.

         "What about this one Hailey?" Hermione asked as she held up a book titled "Oceans Apart".

         "Sure." Hailey said as she picked up another book that was a mystery called 'If You Ever Tell.' When Hermione and Hailey were done at 'Obscurus Books', Hermione decided to take Hailey to Ollivander's so she could get a wand.

          Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were finishing up their purchases at Broomstix while Luna took Christina to the 'Eeylops Owl Emporium' to pick up supplies for Pig, Ron's owl. Ron purchased the Shooting Star model for Christina, since it would be the perfect size and height for Christina along with the Bluebottle broom for Dylan. Harry bought Lily the newest Nimbus model along with a new broom polishing kit gloves. Once they were finished and the kids carried their new brooms, they began to walk to 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour' to meet Luna and Christina.

        "Daddy!" Christina had shouted once she caught sight of her father and began to run towards him.

         "Hey baby. Did you and your mum have fun looking at the owls?"

         "Yes! We even bought Pig some tasty treats! And since I was so good in the stores, mummy promised I could have chocolate chip ice cream!" she squealed excitedly as Luna came up beside her and picked her up.

         "I take it you bought her the Shooting Star model?" Luna asked Ron with a smirk.

           "Why of course. Only the safest broom in the world for our munchkin." Ron told his wife as he pecked her on the lips.

         "Come on Dad! I want some ice cream." Lily said as she tugged on Harry's hand, gesturing for him to follow her.

        "Alright I'm coming." Harry said but then dropped one of the bags. As soon as she bent down to pick up the bag, he was hit in the shoulder by the door. "Ouch." Harry said as he rubbed his shoulder.

        "I am so sorry." the woman said as her and her daughter had walked out the door.

          "It's okay." Harry told her as he kept his eyes on the ground as he finished gathering the bags. Once he stood up, he turned around to see who had smacked him on the shoulder with the door, but he wasn't able to get a very good look at the woman who had hit his shoulder, other than she had bushy brown hair.

          "You okay?" Ron asked as he held the door open for Harry.

         "Yeah, I'm fine." He said as he headed into the ice cream shop.