While it took Harry only a few days to get used to his newfound freedom, it took me much longer. I had never been able to simply hop out of bed and go wherever my heart desired until I arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.
My mother had rarely taken me to Diagon Alley for school shopping. In fact, one of the few times I had been there was when I was younger, and my mother had brought me to Borgin and Burkes, a shady decor shop. I had been too young to fully comprehend what my mother was buying from Mr. Borgin, but I tried not to dwell on it too much. Deep down, I had a feeling I didn't want to know.
One of my favorite aspects of my new life was the sense of routine. Each morning, Harry and I would have breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron, where we enjoyed observing the other guests. Both of us had had limited exposure to the diverse array of witches and wizards that populated our world, so encountering new people was always an exciting experience for us.
We witnessed peculiar country witches, wise-looking wizards debating articles in Transfiguration Today, eccentric warlocks, noisy dwarfs, and even a suspiciously disguised hag once, who ordered raw liver from behind a thick woolen balaclava.
After breakfast, Harry and I would go out into the backyard, wands in hand, tap the third brick from the left above the trash bin, and watch as the archway into Diagon Alley materialized in the wall. Our days were spent exploring shops and dining under vibrant umbrellas at outdoor cafes, where our fellow diners were showing one another their purchases or discussing the case of my cousin, Sirius Black.
One thing I most relished about these days, was that I no longer had to do my homework alone. Now, I could sit in the bright sunshine outside Florian Fortescue's, Ice Cream Parlor, finishing all of my essays, as well as copying my work down onto Harry's parchment and changing the words a bit to not seem to obvious. I had tried to explain the topics to him at first, but I soon realized that it would be much faster to just dumb it down onto his parchment.
Harry dragged me to Gringotts, the Wizarding bank, where he proudly showed me his vault brimming to the ceiling with galleons. Ignoring I's protests, he filled my money bag with coins from his vault. I was the voice of reason, preventing Harry from squandering his inheritance at the enchanting Wizarding shops lining the cobbled street. I halted him from purchasing a set of solid gold Gobstones and a moving model of the Galaxy in a glass ball by promising to tutor him in Astronomy.
My biggest challenge to conceal him from was his new obsession in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. I had to pull him away from the store multiple times a day, and remind him that he had in fact never lost a Quidditch game on his perfectly fine Nimbus Two Thousand.
I, in stark contrast to Harry, had no desire to squander the money he had forced into my bag. The mere thought of having to ask my mother for money sent shivers down my bones, so I was extremely careful not to waste the bagful of coins I carried so begrudgingly.
After a long day of shopping for our required spell books, including one for their Care of Magical Creatures class that terrified me, Harry and I heard two voices calling out to us.
"Harry! Jove!" the voices yelled from Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Sitting under a vibrant pink umbrella were their two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Both of them were frantically waving at us. Ron had grown at least a foot and gained a full face of freckles, while Hermione's hair had become significantly less voluminous and her skin a few shades darker.
"Finally!" Ron grinned as Harry and I sat down. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and-"
"We got all of our school supplies earlier this morning. We were at Quality Quidditch Supplies for like an hour while Harry boggled at a stupid broom." I shrugged, earning a severely dumbfounded look from Harry.
"A stupid broom?" He gasped. "The Firebolt is more than a stupid broom. It's a masterpiece."
"Whatever." I sighed. I rolled my eyes at him as I took a bite of Ron's chocolate ice cream.
"How'd you know we were saying at the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked Ron.
"Dad. But we didn't know Jove was with you." Ron shrugged simply.
"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't mean to." Harry said while Ron roared with laughter and I tried not to choke on the generous amount of ice cream I stole. "I just... lost control."
"It's not funny, you two." Hermione snapped, sending sharp glares to Ron and I. "Honestly, I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled."
"So am I." Harry said. "Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested. Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?"
"Probably 'cause it's you, isn't it?" Ron shrugged, still trying to manage his laughter. "Famous Harry Potter and all that. I'd hate to see what they'd do to me if I blew up my aunt Muriel. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum would've killed me."
"Speaking of murderous mothers, do you want to tell us why you're staying here, Jove?" Hermione asked.
"I ran away."
"Why did you run away, Jo?" Harry edged on as he tapped his chin jokingly.
"My mother tried to make me join the search for Voldemort." I muttered, my eyes looking anywhere but Hermione's shocked face.
"Oh, that foul woman!" Hermione huffed, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms exasperatedly.
"Anyways..." Ron said. "We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow! Hermione's there as well!"
"Mum and dad drop me off this morning with all my Hogwarts things." Hermione nodded, beaming.
"Brilliant!" Harry said happily. "So, have you got all your new books and stuff?"
"Look at this." Ron said, pulling a long, thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand. Do you want. 14 inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail hair."
"Lucky. I wish I could get a new wand. I'm stuck with this stupid one." I sighed, throwing my mother's wand on the table.
"You should've said something. I would've bought you a new wand." Harry shrugged.
"And I would've said no." I said, shooting him a glare.
"What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked as he rolled his eyes at me.
"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I?" Hermione said, looking at her three bulging bags of books. "Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies-"
"What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" Ron scoffed. "You're Muggleborn! Your mom and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"
"It's not a bad idea, honestly. It's an easy O." I shrugged.
"Thank you, Jove. And I thought it would be fascinating to study them from the Wizarding point of view." Hermione smiled proudly.
"Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year, Hermione?" Harry asked while Ron sniggered. Hermione made a point to ignore them.
"I've still got ten gallons," she said, checking her purse. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."
"How about a nice book?" Ron asked innocently. I had to stifle a laugh as he fluttered his eyelashes.
"No, I don't think so." Hermione said, taking us all by surprise. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig and you've got Errol-"
"I haven't." Ron said. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers. And I want to get him checked over." He pulled Scabbers out of his pocket and placed him on the table. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him." Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite drop to his whiskers.
"How old is he, Ron? He's probably just dying." I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Don't say that!" Ron snapped. "Scabbers isn't dying, he's just sick." I raised her hands to the usual "I'm innocent" pose.
"There's magical creature shop over there." Harry said, breaking up the two. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl." Ron carefully put Scabbers back in his pocket while glaring at me, while I couldn't care less as we crossed the street to the Magical Menagerie.
Inside the shop, space was scarce as every inch of wall was obscured by cages. The air was pungent and filled with noise from the various creatures inside, emitting squeaks, squawks, jabbers, and hisses. While a witch assisted a wizard with double-ended newts, me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione explored the cages.
Among the occupants were enormous purple toads devouring blow flies, a jeweled tortoise by the window, and orange snails sliding leisurely in their tank. A peculiar white rabbit alternated between a rabbit and a silk top hat with a loud pop. There were cages full of ravens, and a basket of humming custard-colored furballs. On the counter, sleek black rats engaged in a skipping game with their tails.
The double-ended newt wizard left and Ron approached the counter, pulling Scabbers out of his pocket again. "It's my rat," he said. "He's been a bit off color ever since I brought him back from Egypt."
Like everything Ron owned, Scabbers was a hand-me-down. He looked quite pathetic next to the sleek rats in the cage next to them, and apparently they agreed as they stopped their game to watch him.
"Hm. How old is he?" The witch asked as I picked him up and peered at him through her black spectacles.
"Old." I said, leaning against the glass tank full of snails.
"Jove, bugger off." Ron growled. "He used to be my brothers."
"What powers does he have?"
"Er..."
The witch examined Scabbers closely, her eyes moving from his tattered ear to his front paw which had a toe missing. "He's been through the mill, this one." She sighed.
"He was like that when Percy gave him to me." Ron defended.
"An ordinary common or garden rat like this can't be expected to live longer than three years or so," I said, handing Scabbers back to Ron. "Now, if you were looking for something a bit more hard-wearing, you might like one of these." I pointed to the black rats, who were now skipping around happily in their cage.
As Ron glared at the rats, My mind went back to the witch's previous statement. Scabbers was definitely older than three. If Scabbers was just a common garden rat, how was he still alive?
"Well, if you don't want a replacement, you can try this rat tonic." The witch said, reaching under the counter, and bringing out a small red bottle.
"Okay." Ron said. "How much- OUCH!" Ron buckled as something huge and orange came soaring from the top of the highest cage, landed on his head, and then propelled itself, spitting madly at Scabbers.
"No, Crookshanks, no!" The witch cried, but Scabbers shot from between Ron's hands like a bar of soap, landed splay-legged on the floor, then scampered for the door.
At-least I'm not the only one who thinks something is off with that rat, I thought as I stood back and watched the chaos unravel.
"Scabbers!" Ron shouted, racing out of the shop after him; Harry followed while Hermione and I stayed in the shop. While the witch struggled to get Crookshanks under control, I stayed out of the way and watched while Hermione did it with ease. She scooped up the fuzzy, fat orange cat in her arms and placed him on the counter.
"How much is he?" Hermione beamed.