"Professor?"

"Good afternoon Potter. I assume you're heading out to the alleys one last time?"

"I don't have permission yet. Professor Snape was busy this morning and I haven't seen Professor Dumbledore."

"I see, and you were hoping I would give you permission?"

Harry nodded and she smiled, motioning for Harry to follow her through the door to the staff room. "As it so happens I need to pick up a few last minute packages in London. I can take you through to Diagonalley if you want. Tinky!"

A small houseelf appeared, looking anxious to serve her.

"I'm taking Harry with me to London to run some errands. Please inform Severus that we will be back by the staff meeting this evening."

The elf bowed and disappeared with a pop.

"Come along," she said, and led him through the floo.

McGonagall it turned out only had a few things to do on Diagonalley. She told Harry to do as he pleased for about an hour and to meet her by the back of the Leaky Cauldron at two.

Harry had designs on stopping by to ask Silver how it was coming with the house, but thought he could ask by owl, and instead headed down Knockturn to find Tilly.

Tilly's shop had several children pressing their faces against the glass from the outside, and just as Harry approached Justin came out of the shop with a rag and shoo'd them away. "Don't do that, I gotta clean up your face smudges," he chastised, and the children ran past him and into the shop to see what they could buy with the coins in their pockets.

"Hey," Harry said.

"Hey, I have another hour of work before I'm off."

"I can't stay that long today," Harry said. "Came to get some treats from Tilly."

"Well there's lots in there. I've been working late to help her stock up for the trolley for the ride to Hogwarts and she even hired a couple other kids from the orphanage to come help her make things because things have been flying off the shelves like they were charmed to have wings."

Harry laughed. "I'm glad to hear it. You're not selling on the steps of Gringotts anymore then?" he asked.

"No but every morning I go out on Diagon and hand out twenty coupons to people with kids, and every evening I take twenty more and hand them out. McGlaggen said we're responsible for everyone coming into his store because we're bringing them all the way down the alley, and he made a bunch more coupons for us."

"I heard."

"You tell the Flourish's to give me a free book?" he asked as he wiped the smudges off the window.

"They paid me twenty books for helping all summer. I spread some of them around to my friends."

"Thanks," Justin said.

"Yeah," Harry told him. "No problem. You get enough together to get new robes?"

Justin turned and grinned at him. "First new set ever. And Mrs. Ginger took us out and got each of us some new shirts and pants too. Just a few things, but still, I'm the first to ever wear them."

Harry grinned at him. "I only have a few minutes. I'll see you at school or on the train tomorrow."

"See you," Justin said, and Harry pushed the door open and went inside, careful not to get his fingers on the glass Justin had worked so hard to keep clean.

Tilly was behind the counter laughing at something one of the children had said as she handed a bag of sweets across the counter.

"Harry," she called, and motioned him over. "Have you seen the sales ledgers yet?"

"Justin said you've been selling a lot," he told her. "I have a few things to buy too."

She pulled out a bag and Harry picked some things out for the train ride to school and then said, "Do you have a parchment and quill? I was hoping you could start sending a little bag of candy to each kid that's staying at the orphanage over the school year. A little bag each month, and I'll pay for it. Maybe a bigger bag for Christmas."

"What do you want in each bag?"

"Surprise them," Harry said. "A little piece of everything."

"Do you want to open an account, or deduct it from what I owe you for rent and profit shares each month?"

"What's easiest for you?"

"From the rent I suppose."

Harry nodded and she wrote it down. They both read over it and signed it, and then Harry held out his hand for the parchment. "I can take it to Silver."

"I'll owl it to him," she said. "Had enough money this month to buy a little gray owl. I could have bought a hundred of them!" She laughed with glee and Harry nodded. He said goodbye, told her he hoped to stop by around Christmas, and left with his little bag of sweets.

Harry would have liked to have said goodbye to Mrs. Ginger, but it seemed she was out shopping with a few of the new first years from the orphanage, so Harry headed back towards Diagonalley and was just about to head to Fortescues when something solid collided with his back. He found arms wrapped around him from behind and Hermione's muffled voice said hurriedly, "Thank you thank you thank you!"

He grinned and extricated himself from the tangle of her arms and bushy hair. "Yes?" he asked. "Did you get something special at the bookstore?"

"Look at them Harry. I've been wanting them since last year, but they cost so much!" She held out four books, one of which was rather large. One of them was worth several galleons alone.

"What's that one?" he asked. It didn't have a title on the spine. Harry knew a lot of the books in the bookstore now having had to inventory and stock them all summer, but not all of them.

"It's a never-ending journal. The parchment inside will never run out!"

He grinned. "Seems perfect for someone who loves taking notes."

"It is!"

Hermione turned to enthuse with her mother about the journal and other books again, and her father leaned down so only Harry could hear. "I thought something was wrong when we went to pay for her schoolbooks. The shop owner said something to her quietly, then she screamed and went running to the bookshelves." Harry laughed and he continued, "Then a moment later she came back with those four books and the owner told her they were from you."

"I worked there all summer," Harry said. "They paid me in books."

"Better not tell Hermione that," Mr. Granger said and laughed, "or she'll want to work there next summer too."

Harry didn't have more time to talk to his friend however, because he had spotted McGonagall coming out of Twilfitt And Tattings with a package wrapped in brown paper and twine and she was heading towards the Leaky Cauldron. Harry said a hurried goodbye to Hermione and her parents, and speed walked down the alley to catch up with his Head of House.

"Ready Mr. Potter?" she asked, eyeing his small bag of sweets. "Are you quite sure you have enough for the train ride?"

"I can always get more from the trolley," he said, and she nodded in approval.

"I have several stops in Muggle London before we return to the castle."

"Yes maam."

Harry was surprised to find there were hidden wizarding shops across Muggle London. She apparated them to an alley in Croydon where they found a tea shop that carried her favorite teas, and she put in an order to be delivered to her at Hogwarts to last her through Christmas. "The elves serve many kinds of tea," she informed Harry, "but Once Upon A Tea Time makes up blends just the way I like them."

Then she took them to Bexley to a place near the river that carried Transfiguration books, and Transfiguration journals from other countries and far flung places in the world. "An order I placed six months ago has finally come in." She accepted three books and a journal that looked like it might be from China or Korea, and Harry offered to carry them for her.

Finally she apparated them to Redbridge where she picked up another package, this one a new deep green teaching robe. "Professors are given an allowance for teaching robes every year," she said. "I always buy from Twilfitt and Tattings, but if I want something extra special, I come to Knitt Needle And Knott."

Harry didn't own shares in any of the businesses she'd taken him to in Muggle London, and he was surprised to find that some of them served Muggles as well. Perhaps this was what Silver was talking about when he said many businessmen ran businesses in the Muggle world.

It was five when she apparated them back to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds and they began the walk back to the castle in the warm afternoon light.

"Professor, are there more wizard businesses in Muggle London?"

"Many more," she said. "Apothecaries, pet supply stores, bookstores specializing in certain types of books, the offices to various publications like some of the Quidditch magazines I'm sure you've read, robe stores for men and women... there's even a day school for students to attend the year before they come to Hogwarts if their parents have enough money for it."

"Like the day school for Fae?" he asked.

"I didn't realize you knew about that. I suppose it is somewhat like the Fae school, except the Fae school teaches magic like at Hogwarts, and the day school in London teaches pre-Hogwarts subjects, like history, basic runes, Latin and essay writing."

In the castle Harry helped her carry her items up to her quarters and then thanked her for taking him to Diagonalley, and then he headed for the Great Hall for dinner. Several of the staff were there eating and talking amongst themselves at the Ravenclaw table, where they ate over the summer.

"Harry, there you are," Dumbledore said, calling him over to sit next to him. "Did you have a good day out?"

"Yes sir. I helped Professor McGonagall with errands."

As Harry put roast chicken and vegetables on his plate, Dumbledore said, "I hear you have become the proud owner of fiteen new brooms." Harry paused and looked up at the old man and found his eyes twinkling. His eyes roved around the table to Professor Flitwick, Madam Hooch and Professor Sinistra and Hagrid.

"Not- exactly," Harry said.

"Oh? Professor Snape says you have so many they're lined up across the living room of your quarters."

Harry tried not to cringe. He still hadn't found a place to store them, and knew Snape must be upset.

"The broom company sent them to review," he said. "I don't want them, but they said not to send them back."

"The school could use some new brooms," Madam Hooch said. "Even experimental ones."

"I think they're mostly the same, but with different colors and names. I haven't even had a chance to test them out yet."

"Well let's get them tested," Hooch said. "We can take them out after dinner."

"Wonderful," said Dumbledore, eyes still twinkling like mad, "I can't wait to hear how the Potter 2000 performs."

Harry turned red as the staff gathered chuckled, but Dumbledore reached over and tossled Harry's already messy hair.

* * *

Harry was still red when he and Madam Hooch traipsed across Snape's living room after dinner to gather the boxes. Snape watched silently from his desk, but didn't say a word, aside from to nod at Hooch when she greeted him.

They carried the boxes out and up through the castle and then out to the front lawns.

"No need to go to the Pitch," she said. "If they're to be donated to the school," she paused and then asked, "you are donating them aren't you?"

"Yes maam."

"If they're to be donated we need to be sure they're suitable for children just learning to fly. Any that are too wild can go into the community Quidditch closet in the pitch for those that don't have brooms of their own."

She pulled a sleek dark blue broom out of a box and mounted it, and Harry got on the Potter 2000, cheeks red and wishing they hadn't put his name on it. He could just imagine kids coming to school and saying, ‘I ride a Potter 2000! What broom are you sporting this year?'

They rose into the air and Harry flew a ways away from Hooch and did several loops, went into a little dive, tested how fast his broom could come to a stop and make a quick turn, and then how fast it could get to top speed again. He really liked this broom. It was definitely faster than his old Nimbus 2000, but it didn't turn as sharply as he would have liked. He needed speed as a Seeker, but he was still in awe with how the brooms of Chaser's preformed and thought he'd like to have a Chaser's broom.

"Well?" Hooch asked as he touched down next to her a few minutes after they'd separated.

"It's faster than the Nimbus 2000, but it doesn't turn sharply or stop quickly," he said.

She nodded. "A good broom for a Seeker, which I suspect they know given they've put S7 on it." She held out the blue broom for Harry to try and he handed her the Potter 2000. "I think the blue one is suited for a Beater. Not very fast, definitely not a racing broom, but it's hefty and I can feel the strengthening charms reinforcing it. That broom could lift Hagrid if he fancied a broom ride."

Harry got on the blue broom (the Blue Nimbus) and took off. She was right. It was quick to get to it's top speed, though it wasn't as fast as he was used to on his Nimbus. It was more like a Cleansweep 70. The broom handle was much thicker than the other brooms Harry was used to seeing, and it was able to come to a stop before Harry had really even thought about making a full stop. It stopped so suddenly that Harry pitched forward, unready for it, and nearly flew off the end of the handle.

He went back to the ground and set the broom back in it's box. A moment later Hooch came down on the Potter 2000 and put hers away as well. "Very fast," she said. "Not as fast as the Firebolt I tried over the summer, but nearly. I wonder if this is the budget version."

They tried a plain brown racing broom that turned the tightest circles Harry had ever seen, and a black and silver one with a sparkling yellow streak down the handle that shot off to top speed so fast Madam Hooch nearly fell off the back.

"This one goes in the Quidditch closet," she said, setting it aside. "No first year should use a beast that powerful."

It was nearing eight thirty when they finally tried the last one. There were four for the Quidditch closet, and eleven in the pile to be donated for flying lessons.

"Well Potter, do you want help writing up your findings?"

Harry nodded and after they had taken the brooms to the correct closets and locked them up, Harry retrieved the forms the broom company had sent him and brought them to Madam Hooch's office, which was a door behind the staff table a ways down from the door to the staff room.

Together they discussed the brooms and checked off boxes about each one, and then commented their thoughts on the features of each.

"I'll leave the comments on the color schemes up to you," she said, straightening the stack of parchments and pushing them across her desk to him.

"Thank you for your help." If it had been left to Harry it might have been weeks, or even months before he had finished testing them all out, though he was sure his friends would have liked to try them.

"I have enough for the school," she said. "If they send you more, pass them out to your friends. Don't forget to keep one in reserve."

"Maam?"

"Brooms break. Every year it happens to someone. Last year a Slytherin flew his into the side of the Pitch and hit a beam. Snapped his broom clean in half. That's why we keep spares in the Quidditch supply closet."

"Yes maam."

Harry thanked her again and took his stack of papers back to Snape's quarters for the last time. He was looking forward to being back in the tower with his friends. Tomorrow he would go to London and take the train to school, share candy with his friends, and tell them about his summer. He couldn't think of a better way to spend the day.

* * *

The lightness Harry felt from his trip to Diagonalley the day before, from the giant hug Hermione had given him after receiving the new books, from Tilly's laughs in the sweet shop, from his trip into London with McGonagall, from testing brooms with Madam Hooch: all of that was gone. It was all eclipsed by darkness so deep and profound that Harry had never even imagined such a thing. He was drowning in it, like he'd been dropped in the sea and couldn't tell which way was up. It pressed in around him until he couldn't breath, until he couldn't remember who he was or where he was, or even why he was. And then at the end of that darkness, there was a green light. A sickly green light growing steadily brighter, and a scream that started low but soon overwhelmed his ears. It was a woman's scream of sorrow and pain and fear. The only thing he could make out in the blinding green light was her scream and his name wrapped up in it. "Harry!" And then Harry passed out.

* * *

"Harry. Harry!" Ron was shaking him, and Harry tried to move but his arms and legs felt like something was weighing them down. As he woke up, he could feel motion beneath him, like he was on a train or carriage, but he couldn't remember getting on a train or carriage. He was in Snape's quarters wasn't he? Or in his bed above the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Wake up mate." Ron shook him again.

"What'r you doin' here?" Harry said, words slurring, but he slowly opened his eyes and was confused by the ceiling he saw. It seemed he was most definitely on a train.

Someone pulled him upright from where he'd been laying, and Harry's mind sluggishly tried to catch up with whatever was going on.

"Here, eat this, it'll make you feel better." Someone stuffed something with rough edges into his hand and Harry looked down and found he was grasping chocolate. His eyes came up slowly to find a man he'd never seen before with a scar across one cheek.

"I'm Professor Lupin, the new Defense teacher," he said. "Do you know where you are and what happened to you?"

Harry's eyes came around until they met Ron's worried look and Hermione's scared stare.

"The train?" Harry asked. "Are we going to school?"

"Very good Harry," the man said.

"Eat the chocolate, I promise it will clear the fog from your mind and warm you up."

Harry took a bite of chocolate and chewed slowly, mind still working to figure out how he'd gotten there, but as he swallowed warmth spread out from his throat and down into his stomach, and with it some of the fog went away. It was Friday and they were on the train to Hogwarts. He took another bite and swallowed and more cobwebs were cleared away as warmth spread down his arms and legs. Snape had dropped him off at the platform in London, and then Harry had spent an enjoyable morning with his friends telling them about his summer on Diagonalley and his holiday to the beach. After a third bite of chocolate, Harry began to remember details about his holiday to the beach and how much fun he'd had. How had he forgotten? It had been one of the best times of his life.

"That's it, finish the bar," Lupin told him. "I'll be right back. I need to make sure everyone else on the train is well."

When he'd gone, Ron leaned forward and asked seriously, "Harry, what happened?"

"I dunno," he said. "We were on the train talking, and the next thing I was waking up with you guys hovering over me."

"Harry, the train stopped and the lights went out. Then the compartment began to freeze and ice crawled up the windows," Hermione told him. She was still shivering and he handed the last piece of chocolate across the aisle to her. She accepted it without complaint and ate it. "Then those things came down the hall and you fell down on the seat and passed out."

"What things?"

"Dementors," Ron said solemnly. "Dad told us about them. They guard Azkaban and they suck all the happiness and hope out of a person until there's nothing left. If they take too much... if they give you the Dementor's kiss, they take it all. They leave a person just an empty shell of themselves." Ron shuddered then and Harry was sorry he didn't have another piece of chocolate to give to his friend.

Harry scrunched up his eyes and tried to think back to talking to his friends before he'd passed out. "It was dark... like I was swimming in darkness," he said. "And there was a bright green light and a scream." Realization dawned on him then and his eyes snapped open in horror. "I think- I think it was my mum screaming my name... the moment she-"

Ron got up and crossed the compartment to sit next to Harry. "That's horrible." Harry didn't realize he needed a hug until his friend wrapped one arm around his shoulders. Then Hermione crossed and sat on the other side of Ron and he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders.

"It was dark like Harry described," she said. "I didn't hear anything though."

"I just felt hopeless," Ron said. "Like I'd never be happy again. Like there was no such thing as happiness."

"Well there is." The compartment door slid open and Professor Lupin came back in and sat across from the three friends huddled together. "I would give you more chocolate but I have none."

"It's ok," Harry said. He was only sorry he'd hogged it all to himself and that Ron hadn't gotten any.

"Why did they stop the train and come on board?" Ron asked Lupin.

"They were searching for Sirius Black."

"Sirius?" Harry asked. "He's not on board."

"How do you know?" Lupin asked warily.

"He'd be in the compartment with me if he were."

Ron and Hermione stayed silent. Harry had explained to them about Sirius, but he wasn't sure they believed he was innocent, especially given that Harry had no evidence to prove it and was going on a gut feeling alone. Harry had a renewed longing for Sirius then. He wanted to run his fingers through the dog's fur for comfort, or to bury his face in the long fur and forget that creatures like Dementors existed.

"Yes, well," Lupin finally said, finding his voice again. "Let us be glad he is not."

Half an hour later they began putting on their robes, and just before they pulled into the station Ron left to check on Ginny and the twins, who were in a compartment a few doors down.

Harry's legs were shaky as he exited the compartment and made his way to the platform. They lost sight of Lupin in the throng of students, and Harry had a sudden fear of losing sight of his friends, so he gripped the sleeve of Hermione's robes. Hermione didn't seem to mind and did the same to Ron until they were on a carriage together. Justin climbed up a minute later, looking pale before the carriage took off.

"Ok?" he asked Harry, and Harry nodded.

"Ok."

"That was- something," Justin trailed off. "A girl passed out in the hall outside our compartment. Some new Professor came and gave her chocolate and left her in our compartment to take care of until we got here."

"Fred and George said Ginny fell over too, but she didn't pass out," Ron said gravely.

"I hope there's hot chocolate with dinner," Hermione said, still shivering in the darkness despite that the evening wasn't chilly.

As the procession of students made their way to the castle, they were mostly quiet. There were a few who spoke quietly, like Harry's group, but the mood was sullen. It was nothing like how Harry had started his day, excited for a new year.

When they made the Great Hall Dumbledore and McGongall were waiting for them at the Great Oak front doors, and ushered them inside. A second year Hufflepuff grabbed onto McGonagall and wrapped her arms around her, burying her face in the woman's robes like Harry had wanted to bury his face in Sirius' fur. McGonagall gave her a brief hug and then encouraged her to get into the castle as quickly as possible.

Albus reached out to stop Harry from continuing into the Great Hall and Harry reached out for his friends behind him and found Hermione's hand. He was glad they had stopped with him.

"Are you all right?" Dumbledore asked seriously.

Harry nodded, trying not to shiver. "Do you think the house elves could give us all hot chocolate with dinner?"

He rested a hand on Harry's head and nodded, eyes not twinkling in the least, and then motioned for Harry and his friends to move into the Great Hall. That new professor, Lupin, must have sent word ahead about what had happened if they were waiting there for them to arrive.

They found a seat at Gryffindor table across from Fred, George and Ginny. Ginny was squished in between her older brothers and looking pale, and they seemed determined not to leave her side.

"Hot chocolate is coming with dinner," Harry told her. He noted Ron and Hermione had pressed up against him as well and noted the same scene was playing out across the hall with other groups of friends. Even at Slytherin table the students looked somber and scared.

Before the sorting started Dumbledore swept in and stood on the platform before the other students. "I was unaware the Dementors would be searching the train," he said. "I would never have allowed such a thing to happen had I known. Hot chocolate will be served to everyone with dinner and I expect all of you to drink it until your cup is gone. It will help. After dinner, any of you that are still feeling unwell are to stay in the Great Hall, where Madam Pomfrey will stay to see to you."

He sat down and a few minutes later Professor McGonagall came in leading the group of first years. Harry was scared enough as a new student, and couldn't imagine having to be a first year that had just arrived on a train attacked by creatures of death and hopelessness.

Several Prefects had arranged themselves at the end of Gryffindor table nearest the Head table, and as soon as first years began being sorted into Gryffindor, they waved the first years over to that spot, hugged each of them and pushed a cup of hot chocolate into their hands. The sorting was soon over and Gryffindor had ten new first years, four girls and six boys. None of them were kids from the orphanage this year. Two of the orphanage kids had gone to Ravenclaw, and one to Hufflepuff with Justin.

As kids drank their hot chocolate and filled their stomachs with roast beef and potatoes, and later on strawberry cake drenched in chocolate sauce, the mood in the Great Hall began to lighten. As soon as the first kid laughed at Ravenclaw table, it was like a spell had been broken and others had permission to laugh as well. Soon Ron said something funny which made Ginny giggle and then Harry retold the story Hermione's father had told him about her trip to Flourish and Blotts, and all of them were laughing. By the end of dinner Harry still didn't feel like he had that morning, bright and full of excitement, but he felt better, almost like what had happened on the train was just another nightmare he'd woken up from.

Nightmares he could deal with, he told himself, and as long as it was just something that had happened once on the trainride to school, it was something he could push to the back of his mind and forget about, because nightmares were best forgotten.