Severus came back from his meeting with Professor Dumbledore looking stressed. When Harry and Henry asked what was wrong, Severus said he'd tell them when they got to Diagon Alley. However, due to everyone's schedule, the soonest Harry and Henry could go to Diagon Alley with their friends was the 12th of August.

It seemed like forever for that day to come and when it finally arrived, both Harry and Henry felt excited. It was agreed for them to all meet at the Leaky Cauldron.

"I don't think I'll get used to being Apparated..." Henry complained after Severus side Apparated him and Harry to the nearest Apparition point to the Leaky Cauldron, which was located in near by muggle alley.

"It takes some time to get used to." Severus replied as the three of them left the alley and headed to the Leaky Cauldron. Both Harry and Henry hoped to avoid a repeat of last year. Much to their relief, the bartender wasn't behind the counter when they walked in.

"That's a relief..." Harry muttered.

"What is?" Severus asked.

"The last time we were here, the bartender recognized me and Hagrid and I got mobbed." Harry explained.

"Indeed."

"Harry! Henry!" Hermione shouted from across the room getting Harry, Henry and Severus' attention. They turned and saw Hermione, the Weasleys, and two people who Harry assumed were Hermione's parents. The three of them walked to the group and after introducing themselves to Hermione's parents, they left the Leaky Cauldron and headed into Diagon Alley.

On display in the Quality Quidditch Supplies' window was the new Nimbus 2001.

"What are planning on doing with your old Nimbus 2000?" Ron asked immediately after the display entered his field of view.

"We haven't decided. Its still a good broom," Henry spoke for both himself and Harry.

"We are defensibly not going to throw it away because we have Nimbus 2001s," Harry added.

"I think we should get books first since it's the closest on this side of Diagon Alley," Mrs. Weasley suggested before Ron could reply.

"She's only suggesting that because she heard Gilderoy Lockhart is doing a book signing today... Mum fancies him..." Ron commented earning a glare from Mrs. Weasley. Severus immediately groaned when he looked ahead.

"I believe I should warn you about Lockhart. He's going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Even Professor Dumbledore agrees with me that the man is a fraud. The only reason that ponce was hired was because he was the only person who applied this year," Severus added.

"He can't be a fraud. His books..." Mrs. Weasley said, offended.

"Are just as educational as toilet paper," Severus interrupted. "All the idiot is good for is telling stories with serious errors of magic and major continuity errors. I had a long chat with Professor Dumbledore and he has given me permission to pull Harry and Henry out of Defense Against the Dark Arts this year and tutor them myself. They will not be getting Lockhart's books."

"You can do that?" Mrs. Granger asked shocked.

"Yes. Educational Decree Number 4 which was issued in 1822 states that parents or guardians have the right to pull their children out of any class at Hogwarts and have them be tutored with permission of the headmaster for any reason including, but not limited to, the teacher being incompetent," Severus answered. "It's one of the more obscure educational decrees."

"I see. We'll let Hermione decide if this Gilderoy Lockhart is incompetent or not. The amount of times she corrects her teachers..." Mr. Granger said as they walked past the sign announcing Lockhart's book signing for "Magical Me" that day. The first thing Harry noticed was the insanely large crowed inside the store.

"Can Henry and I go see if there're any books on Parseltongue?" Harry asked hoping only Severus would hear them.

"With this crowd? I doubt you can get to the books on languages... We'll have to move with the crowd for time being." Severus replied and they were pushed by a man with a camera.

"Out of the way! This is for the Daily Prophet!" the man said as he walked past them.

Harry looked straight ahead in between the people in the crowd and saw a man signing books that he assumed was Lockhart. Lockhart was wearing forget-me-not blue robes that matched his eyes. He also was wearing a matching pointed hat on top of his wavy blond hair.

Harry and Henry were forced closer by people wanting to get their books signed. Harry got concerned because he couldn't see anyone other than Henry he recognized because of all the pushing and shoving... Lockhart looked up and saw Harry.

"It can't be Harry Potter?" Lockhart shouted as he quickly got to his feet. Next thing Harry knew, someone grabbed him.

"Let me go!" Harry futility protested. Apparently Henry was having the same problem as somebody mistook him for Harry and soon both boys were next to Lockhart.

"When young Har- who are you?" Lockhart asked shocked to see two Harrys.

"Henry Potter..." Henry replied.

"I didn't know you had a blue-eyed twin Harry. I heard you were an only child. I guess you can't believe everything you read..." Lockhart said sounding rather unsure to Harry before turning back to Henry. "I guess Henry we need to remedy you living in your brother's shadow."

Lockhart then moved both boys in front of him as the man from the daily prophet took a picture. Harry looking out into the crowd saw Severus looking for him and Henry. He just hoped Severus would spot them soon and get them out of this situation they had found themselves in.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Lockhart, said loudly waving for quite. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!

"When young Harry and Henry Potter here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, they only wanted to buy my autobiography - which I shall be happy to present them now, free of charge..."

Severus finally spotted Harry and Henry just as Harry was hoping he would. Harry silently mouthed for help as Severus looked right at him.

"LET GO OF MY NEPHEWS!" Severus yelled as he pushed through the crowd.

"Yo-your nephews?" a shocked Lockhart stuttered.

"Yes. Didn't Professor Dumbledore bring it up during last week's staff meeting or was your brain even later to the meeting than your body? Now let go of them if you don't want any bad publicity," Severus scowled.

"I remember now... But I assure you Severus there's no such thing as bad publicity." Lockhart replied.

"Let's test that theory, shall we? Exactly how does one go about making a pepper-up potion?" Severus asked, smirking.

"Severus, it's been a long time since I brewed one... I think it was in potions class with Professor Slughorn when I was 16... And I fail to see how this is a test to see if there is such a thing as bad publicity." Lockhart replied.

"According to Year with the Yeti you brewed a pepper-up potion to fight a head cold. I might want to point out to you that you claimed to have added gilly weed when brewing it at the same time you added chopped willow bark. As a holder of a level one potions mastery I would like to point out to you that gilly weed and willow bark are, not only, not ingredients in a pepper-up potion but added gilly weed at the same time as willow bark, no matter what the potion is, is suicidal. In a partially dissolved stated both gilly weed and willow bark react violently with each other and will create an explosion that will level the building depending on how much of either ingredient has dissolved." a still smirking Severus pointed out as some people flipped through copies of Year with the Yeti.

"Now see here Severus, I'm sure we all forget things when in stressful situations..." Lockhart trailed off as Harry and Henry managed to sneak away from Lockhart and got back into the crowd. Fortunately, the crowd was too thick and they found an aisle of books on the other side of it where there was nobody standing in. It was just their luck it had books on languages. After a quick look of the books, Henry found a rather old paper back book on speaking Parseltongue that had seen better days. It had a cover that had more damage from being folded than an elephant had wrinkles on an area of skin the same size as the book. The inside, with the exception of a few pages that had been torn a little, was in better condition.

"How old is that book?" Harry asked and Henry thumbed through it.

"It said 1768. I didn't know wizards made paper back books back then. I think we should get it. The price tag says its only one knut." Henry answered.

"They must be desperate to sell it." Harry replied.

"So this is where you two went..." Severus said from the other end of the aisle where the crowed was. "After what happened, I don't blame you for getting out of the crowd. Ron's mother went into full panic mode when we got separated. What is this that you two have found?"

"A book on Parseltongue. Its only one knut," Henry replied.

"That's not too expensive," Severus sarcastically replied. "I already picked up a copy of standard book of spells for the two of you. I haven't paid for them yet because I was enjoying making an idiot out of Lockhart. Needless to say, I think he lost a lot of his fans today. Let's go pay for our books. Hopefully Molly is at the cashier and not getting all her kids books signed. Also, Hermione is going to be joining you to in the private lessons I give you. After her parents overhead my chat with Lockhart and looked at the books they would have to buy, they decided that they don't want their daughter learning from Lockhart. They still need the arrangement to be approved but I will see to it that it is."

The three of them made their way into crowd, which had thinned down some as Lockhart had decided to leave due to Severus. As they made their way to the cashier, they heard a commotion.

"Get him, Dad!" Fred or George shouted.

"No, Arthur, no!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.

From what Harry could tell it looked like Mr. Weasley was having a fight with Lucius Malfoy. A few book shelves got knocked over as the crowd tried to get away. Harry saw Hagrid wade through the crowd and managed to pull the two men apart.

"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you." Lucius spat as he tossed Ginny a used transfiguration book and walked away towards Harry, Henry, and Severus after grabbing a scared looking Draco.

"Severus, what a surprise!" Lucius said acting like he hadn't be in a fight even though he had the start of black eye from being hit with a book.

"I'm shocked as well Lucius. Getting into a fight with Arthur Weasley? I don't think Narcissa will be happy about it if it's mentioned in the Prophet," Severus replied, gesturing to the reporter from the Daily Prophet that was taking pictures earlier.

"Lovely... I can't afford any more trouble after Madam Bones decided to investigate what happened last June. I don't blame you for having to tell her about Draco's confession. I just hope Draco has learned his lesson." Lucius grumbled.

"Any word on what will happen to Draco if he is found guilty?" Severus asked.

"He's already been found guilty. Madam Bones decided to go easy on him and Draco has to do volunteer work once a week at Azkaban. Fortunately he doesn't have to interact with any of the more dangerous prisoners. Only the ones have done non-violent crimes..." Lucius explained. He and Severus chatted for a couple of more minutes while Draco, Henry and Harry stared at each other expecting someone to say something insulting. After the Lucius and Severus finished talking Severus paid for Harry and Henry's books and met the Weasleys and the Grangers outside of the shop. Fortunately Lucius and Draco were nowhere in sight as the group made their way to the next store. As they were walking to the next store and while the adults were talking about the what happened in the store, Ginny turned to Harry, Henry, and Hermione holding a small, thin book with a shabby black cover.

"Any of you want this old diary? I don't know why my parents bought this because my brother Bill gave me a bunch of them last Christmas..." Ginny asked. The diary looked oddly familiar and almost called out to Harry.

"I'll take it," Harry replied.