Fwoosh! Crash! Clatter!

Harry slid on the floor as he got ejected out of the fireplace. He crashed into many things which fell on the floor and made noise. Dust flew up, covering him and his vision. Once the cloud of dust settled, he stood up to see his surroundings. His black cloak and hair had a coating of dust on them. His face was covered with dirt. His glasses had a crack on one side. The place he had entered looked dark and eerie. The walls were black, skulls and shriveled faces were put behind glass cabinets as decorations. Harry walked to one of them and looked closely. He saw skulls stacked on the mantle nearby. They had a glass casing on them.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

Harry tapped on the glass but nothing happened.

Fwoosh! Thud!

As Harry was moving on, he heard a loud noise behind him. He turned around to see a plume of dust floating up and a figure moving in it.

“Fuck...” he heard a familiar voice. After the dust settled, he saw Sol get up from the floor. He looked around and frowned.

“This is why I don’t like using Floo Powder,” he said when he saw himself covered in dust. After dusting himself off, he looked at Harry, “What part of ‘speak clearly’ don’t you get?”

“I-I...” Harry tried to come up with an excuse but Sol cut him off, “Stop! Now's not the time.”

Harry felt a bit wronged when he wasn’t even given the chance to explain himself but he didn’t speak anymore and let Sol do what he wanted. Sol took his wand out and waved it. A stream of water appeared from the tip of his wand and converged into a sphere. After he was done, he opened his mouth, “Dust yourself off and use this to wash your face. It’s covered in dirt right now,” He looked at Harry's face, specifically his cracked glasses, “Oh, right.”

With that, he waved his wand in front of Harry's glasses, and the cracks repaired themselves. Harry looked surprised as he looked at his glasses.

“Stop thinking, more doing,” Sol's voice broke him out of his stupor. He wore his glasses again and looked at Sol. He had another sphere of water in front of him. Which he used to clean his hands and face. Harry decided to wash himself up as well. After a while, the two left the place which looked like a store.

“It really is Knockturn Alley...” Sol looked around in annoyance. The people walking on the street had an eerie air about them. As though, they had done many evil things. Harry started to feel more creeped out by the second. Sol didn’t mind the stares of the people and used Mana Eyes.

As expected, the mana here is dark as well. Sol went towards where the dark mana was getting thinner and Harry followed closely behind, wanting to get out of this place as soon as possible. Along the way, many people tried to sell them things or get the two to follow them.

“Are you lost, my dear?”

“Would you like to buy my magic dissolution potion?”

“Come with us, we have the largest collection of Murtlaps in Knockturn Alley!”

Sol ignored them but Harry kept responding with either ‘no’ or ‘no thank you’. After a while of speed walking, a gruff voice sounded from the side, “Harry? Sol?”

The two of them turned around to see Hagrid come out of one of the alleyways to the right.

“Hagrid!” Harry exclaimed.

“Come on!” Hagrid waved at the two to come and they all headed the direction Sol was going. The three soon exited Knockturn Alley.

“Skulking around in Knockturn Alley? Dodgy place.” Hagrid reprimanded the two, “Don't want no one to see you there. People will think you’re up to no good.”

“We were lost, we- hang on!” Harry looked at Hagrid, “What were you doing down there?”

“Me? I was... I was looking for Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent. They're ruining all the school cabbages.”

Sol felt like something was wrong here, so he asked, “How are Flesh-Eating Slugs ruining cabbages? Aren’t they supposed to only eat flesh?”

“Well...” Hagrid hesitated, trying to search for an excuse when Hermione came out of the store in front of them. She also had her black cloak on with a blue cardigan underneath.

“Harry! Sol! Hagrid!” she greeted.

“Hello, Hermione!” Harris greeted back.

“Hi there, Hermione.” Sol did the same.

“I suppose you’ll be alright now, I’ll get going!” with that Hagrid ran off to God knows where.

Sol narrowed his eyes but eventually let it go.

“Come on, everyone’s been so worried!” Hermione led the way while Sol and Harry followed.

Soon they came to Flourish and Blotts to buy their books. But Sol saw a line of people standing in front of the store with more inside. They headed inside without joining the queue. The very fact that they could enter without needing to join the queue gave birth to the possibility to the idea that the queueing people were there for a specific reason and not just that the owners of the store made people queue up to stop the store from getting cramped.

Sol, Harry, and Hermione went to the front of the queue just to see what was happening. Second or third in line, they saw Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, and the others standing. Mr. Weasley stood to a side with Hermione's parents.

As soon as Mrs. Weasley saw Harry and Sol, she exclaimed, “Thank goodness! I hoped you had only gone one grate too far.”

An announcer suddenly spoke up, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart!”

As soon as the announcement was finished, the people inside gasped and clapped in excitement, waiting for the man to make an appearance.

From behind the curtains came a man. He had blonde hair done in a regal hairstyle and a smile on his face that really made one want to punch him. Though that was what Sol felt seeing him, he couldn’t vouch for the others. Especially when Mrs. Weasley and several other women in the crowd were fixing their appearance. Sol peeked at Ginny who was also looking at the man, supposedly Gilderoy Lockhart with eager eyes. He smirked.

Guess crushes and idols are separate...

His mind then wandered off to think if the two would get together but he shook those thoughts out of his head and focused on what was in front of him.

“Mum fancies him,” Ron told Harry.

“Make way there, please. Let me by, madam, thank you!” a man with a grey beard and wizard's cap pushed through the crowd to get to the front. He came to the front holding a camera. He told Ginny who was in the front of the crowd, “Excuse me, little girl! This is for the Daily Prophet!” He then aimed the camera at Lockhart and took a picture.

Kachak!

As Lockhart was smiling for the pictures, his expression changed into one of disbelief. “It can't be. Harry Potter?”

Everyone's gaze shifted to Harry who was next to Mrs. Weasley. Lockhart only spotted him because Harry's scar wasn’t covered by his bangs. The photographer exclaimed, “Harry Potter!” and grabbed Harry forward. He then pushed him towards Lockhart who grabbed him and look towards the camera.

“Nice big smile, Harry. Together, you and I rate the front page,” he told Harry as he smiled and redirected Harry towards the camera.

Kachak!

The photographer took the shot. Lockhart gave the camera a large smile whereas Harry had a bewildered look on his face.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is!” Lockhart spoke to the crowd, “When young Harry stepped into Flourish and Blotts this morning to purchase my autobiography, Magical Me-” the crowd applauded as he smiled. Many girls looked star-struck. Ron had a look asking ‘what is he saying?’ and Sol rolled his eyes. He looked up only to see a boy with silver-blond hair and a somewhat sinister face full of boredom and disdain.

Hey! Isn’t that Draco?

Sol redirected his gaze back to Lockhart who had started speaking again, “Which incidentally is celebrating its 27th week atop the Daily Prophet's Bestseller List,” he looked at Harry, “He had no idea that he would be leaving-” he looked at the clerk behind him who got a stack of books from the table beside them, “-with my entire collected works.” He then handed the stack to Harry and patted him away as the crowd applauded. Lockhart then sat at the desk in front of him with a quill and addressed the crowd in front of him, “Now, ladies?” it looked like the signing event had begun.

Harry walked towards Mrs. Weasley, bewildered. She took the books out of her hands, “You give those, Harry, and I’ll bet them signed,” she then looked at the others, “All of you, wait outside.” With that, Sol, Ron, Harry, and the others stepped out of the queue and headed to the front of the store.

“Oi, Ginny~” Sol whispered to her.

“What?” she looked at him.

“Use this-” Sol handed her a napkin, “-Wipe your face with it. It’s a bit dirty.”

Ginny took the napkin from his hands, though she felt a bit bad at being called ‘dirty’. Sol noticed this so he smiled and pointed at Harry, “Love is all about first impressions.”

Ginny's face reddened and she glared at him. Sol just threw his hands up and backed away. She shot a glance at Harry who was in front of him and then looked at the napkin in her hands. She wiped her face with it and then gave it back to Sol. She smirked and sarcastically said, “Thank you for that!”

Sol was confused. Why did she say it like that? He then looked at the napkin in his hands which was brown and black from the dirt. She doesn’t think that this is a nuisance for me, right? Sol let out a thin stream of water from his hands and let it take the dirt out of the napkin when no one was looking. After it was thoroughly washed, he heated it up. In a moment, it was back to its pre-used state. Sol nodded with satisfaction and pocketed it. Sol and the others came to the front when Draco appeared in front of them, “Bet you liked that, didn’t you Potter! Famous Harry Potter! Can’t even go to a bookshop without making the front page.”

Ginny stepped forward and glared at him, “Leave him alone!” Sol, on the other hand, had passed by all of them and went to the second floor to take a look at the books there, some of the ones on Potions. Yet he still kept an eye on what was going down there.

When Draco heard what Ginny said, he smirked, “Oh look, Potter! You’ve got yourself a little girlfriend.” Right then, the front of a cane hit Draco's shoulder. It looked like a silver snakehead.

Everyone's gaze shifted behind Draco. A man was behind him. He had the same silver-blonde hair and blue eyes as Draco. He shifted Draco to a side with his cane, “Now, now, Draco. Play nicely.”

He then looked at Harry and smiled, “Mr. Potter,” he raised his hands for a handshake, “Lucius Malfoy, we meet at last.”