"So you knew all along, and you've been hiding it from me!"
The Granger Family had just seen Professor McGonagall off when Hermione rushed anxiously to the Snape Family home, ready to demand an explanation from Harley.
Facing Hermione's interrogation, Harley looked quite helpless.
She gave a wry smile, shook her head, and sighed, "Professor McGonagall should have explained it to you. Due to restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Magic's decrees, I cannot tell you anything related to the Wizarding World, and that especially applies to information about Hogwarts..."
Hermione puffed out her cheeks like an annoyed little hamster and glared fiercely at Harley.
She didn't press the issue further but quickly changed the subject: "In that case, is Cho Chang, the one who often brings you Chinese food, also a Wizard? No wonder you always stammered when I asked which school she attended—Hmph! Now that it's come to this, you'd better confess all the other secrets you've been keeping from me too!"
"There really are no other secrets I'm keeping from you—my father, Severus Snape, is the Potions Professor at Hogwarts and the Dean of Slytherin House; my mother, Lily Snape, is an Unspeakable in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries; their friend from school, James Potter, is a Quidditch superstar in the Wizarding World, and his two good brothers are an elite Auror at the Ministry of Magic and the chosen one's tutor and bodyguard..."
"The mother of Sister Qiu, whom you met before, is a colleague in the same department as my mom—these are pretty much all the Wizards I usually have contact with."
Seeing Harley honestly reveal all the details, Hermione finally gave a satisfied hum and reluctantly forgave her.
Hermione spoke again, "Professor McGonagall told me she would take me to Diagon Alley this Thursday to purchase some items. Do you want to come along..."
"Wait a minute! I suddenly remembered, this Thursday seems to be exactly your birthday!"
Hermione immediately found herself in a dilemma; she didn't want to miss Harley's birthday, nor could she refuse Professor McGonagall... Harley said, "It's fine. I was actually planning to go to Diagon Alley on Thursday anyway. This way, my mother only needs to take one day off. We can go to Diagon Alley during the day and come back in the evening for the birthday party."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and a smile appeared on her face.
Seeing Hermione relax, Harley suddenly wanted to tease her and said, "Speaking of which, hasn't St. Pauls been your goal for so many years? The Notting Hill + St. Pauls + Oxford University plan for your life... Are you really not afraid of regretting giving up more than ten years of persistence just to attend a school you've never even heard of?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at her and said, "The moment I found out you weren't on the St. Pauls freshman list, I decided I wouldn't go to St. Pauls; I couldn't stay a day at a school without you. If you're at a school, I'll brave mountains of knives and seas of fire to get there!"
That statement was a bit too heavy, and Harley was stunned for a long time, unable to think of a reply.
Hermione glared at her again, slightly annoyed, stood up, and said fiercely, "I'm going home now. See you on Thursday!"
July 31st was one of London's rare sunny days—though calling it sunny just meant the sky was a little brighter, with occasional rays of sunshine sprinkling down on the lucky few through the clouds.
Harley was quite lucky today; she managed to bask in the sunlight for dozens of seconds just standing at her front door.
The Granger couple, harboring a longing for the Wizarding World, specifically took a day off to accompany their daughter and Professor McGonagall on the trip to Diagon Alley.
Early in the morning, the Snape Family's living room was packed with people. Besides The Granger Family and Professor McGonagall, the three Marauders also came over to join the fun. They planned to decorate the Snape Family home while the Snape Couple took Harley shopping, so they could start the birthday party immediately upon their return.
Severus rubbed his temples as he watched James and Sirius carry a huge bag of items into his house, suddenly regretting agreeing to let them decorate the place.
Those two were experts at causing trouble back in school... Although he highly valued Harley's eleventh birthday, would they accidentally blow up his house?
James seemed to sense Severus's suspicious gaze, walked over, threw an arm around Severus's shoulder, and patted his back, saying:
"Relax, old Sev, just like we agreed, I absolutely won't touch anything in your storage room or Potion Brewing Lab. All the other decorations will basically be set up in the living room, so go ahead and enjoy your trip."
Because Severus had not associated with the blood-purist, Muggle-hating group in Slytherin during school, but had instead always stayed with Lily from Gryffindor, the relationship between the Marauders and Severus in this timeline was not as terrible as in the original timeline.
James and Sirius secretly even admired Severus for being able to stand firmly by Muggle-born Lily despite the immense pressure from the entire Slytherin House.
Back then, Severus vanished without a word after graduation, taking Lily with him. James and Sirius thought that Severus, as a Slytherin traitor, and Muggle-born Lily had been assassinated by Death Eaters, and they secretly erected Cenotaphs for the pair.
The previous argument when they visited was also fueled by anger over Severus's sudden departure—they had secretly mourned them for several years, only to find out he had just taken Lily, changed their names, and gone into hiding abroad! Even if it was Dumbledore's arrangement, not saying a single word for so many years was simply too much!
Thinking of this, James couldn't help but increase the force of his hand patting Severus's shoulder.
Severus's face turned ashen from James's overly enthusiastic pats. He glared at James, grabbed a handful of floo powder, and stormed off.
The rest of them also grabbed floo powder one by one and entered the fireplace. Before disappearing, Harley saw James and Sirius winking at her, while Lupin stood nearby smiling helplessly—it looked like the Marauders were planning something big.
Harley suddenly had a premonition that Severus would definitely regret handing over the decorating rights to his house so casually when he returned.
When they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, they happened to catch the moment when the chosen one, Neville, was also going to Diagon Alley to shop. The Leaky Cauldron was overflowing with fans, all wanting to shake Neville's hand.
Led by Professor McGonagall, the group finally managed to push through the crowd and reached the relatively quiet courtyard.
Professor McGonagall counted bricks while teaching Hermione and Harley how to open the entrance—as Professor McGonagall finally tapped a brick with her wand, the wall in front of them began to shake violently.
An extremely advanced Spatial Magic was cast on the wall leading to Diagon Alley, and specialized personnel from the Ministry of Magic came to maintain it every month.
If the bricks were not tapped in the correct manner, even smashing the wall would only lead to an abandoned parking lot.
As the wall stopped moving, all three members of The Granger Family widened their eyes—this was the Wizarding World, hidden right beside them, yet undiscovered and unreported by the media for so many years!
As per tradition, Professor McGonagall first took The Granger Family to Gringotts to exchange Muggle money. Harley didn't have this need, as her allowance had already increased to two hundred Galleons per month, and grabbing a few handfuls of Galleons from her Storage Box was enough for her shopping trip to Diagon Alley.
Harley and Hermione agreed to meet at the robes shop later, and Harley went with her parents first to Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions.
Since it was the summer holidays, the peak season for new Hogwarts students to shop in Diagon Alley, the custom robes shop—which took the most time—was basically packed every day. It was definitely the right move for them to go queue up first.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- if you want to support me you can go check it out
You can join at https://www.patreon.com/cw/catYT
if you like this fanfic, dont hesitate to drop a review
you can also give power Stones ;)