Adults and children

Mundungus began renovating. He felt that working under this Johnny Silverhand might let him become the sort of dealer who ran Borgin and Burkes Antique Shop.

Only after seeing that he had no insolent remarks to make did John finally leave.

Once out of the shop, John headed toward Diagon Alley.

He spotted the Malfoys, father and son, coming out of Borgin and Burkes. It looked as though they had sold whatever they had brought.

Just as John was about to leave, he saw a familiar figure slip out of Borgin and Burkes.

"Harry?"

John froze. What was Harry doing in Knockturn Alley?

Harry's first visit to Knockturn Alley had given him quite a fright. In the shop opposite Borgin and Burkes, he saw Shrunken Heads for sale and a large cage crawling with a dark mass of enormous spiders.

Two raggedly dressed wizards were whispering about Harry, making his skin crawl.

He ran along the street, constantly pushing his glasses back into place as they slipped down his nose.

The wizards here, however, were interested in the little boy who had wandered into Knockturn Alley. Following behind him, John had already spotted some of them sneaking toward Harry.

An old witch seized Harry's hand and gave him a chilling smile, revealing moss-covered teeth.

"Not lost, are you, dear?"

Harry slowly backed away. The old witch's grip was icy cold, and in her other hand she held a plate of something that looked like dead people's fingernails.

He was terrified, his heart pounding as the old witch drew closer.

"I'm fine, thank you. I just want to leave." Harry resisted her approach.

John stepped forward as the old witch pressed Harry, even trying to share the dead people's fingernails on her plate with him.

"Harry, what are you doing here?"

The sudden voice startled the old witch. She turned and saw the handsome John, and a sinister smile immediately spread across her face.

John narrowed his eyes dangerously. The instant the old witch turned, his left hand lashed out like a venomous snake, a blur of his whip shattering her plate.

The old witch shrieked and was about to lash out when she found a wand aimed straight at her eyeball.

"Get lost, or I'll leave you blind."

John's icy voice sent a chill down her spine.

Just then, a towering figure approached through the crowd.

"Harry, John! What are you doing here?"

Hagrid came over, spotted the old witch, and immediately bellowed, "Get away, you nasty old thing!"

He reached out to pull Harry away and firmly ushered them out.

The old witch did not dare stop them after John's threats.

Once they were out of Knockturn Alley, Harry saw the familiar snow-white marble of Gringotts.

Hagrid took the two of them into Diagon Alley and helped brush the soot off Harry.

When he learned that Harry had wandered in after getting lost, all Hagrid could say was that Harry had been far too careless.

"John, why were you there too?"

Hagrid wondered why John had also been in Knockturn Alley. Naturally, John was not going to admit he had been doing business there. He smiled and said, "I went to see if there were any interesting alchemy materials."

"That's too dangerous. You only had to ask me," Hagrid grumbled.

He had gone there to get materials for John himself, though he had also stopped to buy some repellent for Flesh-Eating Slugs.

That had held him up a little. If John had not appeared, he dreaded to imagine what might have happened after that old witch took Harry away.

"Thank you, John. You saved me again." Harry's gratitude was heartfelt.

John shrugged. He had only happened to be passing by.

"John, you don't know this yet, but I'm staying with the Weasley family now. It's brilliant there."

Mentioning this reminded Harry that he had become separated from the Weasleys, and he grew anxious to find the family.

"Harry, why haven't you answered any of my letters?"

"Sorry, Hagrid. Some things happened."

Hagrid brought up Harry's unanswered letters again, and Harry told him how the Dursleys had locked him up.

Hagrid was so furious that he roared about going to teach the Dursleys a lesson.

"Harry! Harry! Over here!"

As they passed Gringotts, Hermione happened to be standing on its steps.

She ran down to meet them, her bushy brown hair flying behind her.

"What happened to your glasses? John, you're here too! Wonderful-and Hagrid! It's so good to see you all again."

Hermione smiled, showing her two large front teeth. She had just come out of Gringotts.

"Have you been to Gringotts yet?"

"I'll go once I've found the Weasley family." Having ended up in Knockturn Alley, Harry had never even had a chance to go inside.

Hagrid's height let him see over the crowd, and he immediately spotted the Weasley family pushing through the packed street.

"Harry, we hoped you'd only missed your grate by one," Mr. Weasley said breathlessly.

Like all the Weasleys, he had red hair, though his was thinning a little. He wore glasses and was tall and thin.

"Molly's been frantic. She'll be here in a moment. And this is... oh, I remember. John Wick."

Seeing John there too, Ron immediately wanted to know where Harry had been.

"Knockturn Alley," Hagrid said grimly.

"Brilliant!" the Weasley twins cried.

Ron was envious too, since his family never let the children go to Knockturn Alley.

"There was nothing brilliant about it. If not for John, someone might have carried Harry off." Hagrid was still upset about the old witch.

This only made the Weasley twins more curious, and they pestered Harry to tell them about his heroic adventure.

"Harry-oh, dear, thank goodness you're all right!"

Mrs. Weasley arrived, out of breath. She pulled a large clothes brush from her bag and gave Harry a thorough brushing from head to toe.

Mr. Weasley took Harry's glasses and restored them with a light tap of his wand.

The family's youngest daughter hovered around Harry, helping her mother brush the soot off him.

"I'd better go. See you at Hogwarts."

A little overwhelmed by Molly's enthusiasm, Hagrid made his escape as quickly as he could.

"Oh, John, thank you so much. You're a very good friend."

Learning that John had appeared just in time to help Harry made Molly like the handsome boy even more.

Even Ginny came over to thank him. John rubbed his nose, repeatedly saying that he had only happened to be there.

Before long, though, Molly seemed to be treating John like one of her own children, and her enthusiasm was becoming a little too much for him as well.

"Ahem, I've already been to Gringotts, so I'll wait outside for you."

Seeing that they were about to go in, John hurriedly found an excuse to escape.

After waiting outside Gringotts for a while, John saw Mr. Weasley and Hermione's father come out with their arms around each other's shoulders.

They would meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour. For now, Molly was taking Ginny to buy clothes first.

The four of them strolled along the winding cobblestone street.

"You went abroad, John? Lucky you." Hearing that John had been to France, Ron wished he could go too.

"Where in France did you go? Paris?"

Hermione knew John had mentioned it in his letters, but he had not said exactly where he had gone.

John thought for a moment and said, "I went to Paris too. There was a drunk selling Portkeys in the hidden quarter. He gave me a faulty one, and I ended up being chased by a dragon."

"Ha! You're really funny, John." Ron laughed heartily, thinking John was joking with them.

Even Harry and Hermione thought John had a great sense of humor, unaware that every word was true.

John felt helpless. Why did nobody believe him when he told the truth?

The four of them explored quite a few places in Diagon Alley before arriving at Flourish and Blotts an hour later.

A crowd had already gathered there, and a huge banner hung across the upstairs windows.

"Gilderoy Lockhart? I think I've seen that name somewhere." Harry thought the name sounded familiar.

Hermione gave a delighted cry. "We can meet him in person! I mean, he wrote almost all the books on our book list."

The long, crowded queue made John feel a little overwhelmed. He spotted Draco Malfoy.

The crowd scattered the Golden Trio, while John used his exceptional physique to make his way upstairs.

Malfoy was gritting his teeth as Harry posed for photographs with Lockhart.

"Seriously? You're jealous of this too?"

John walked over, looking utterly speechless.

Malfoy was so startled that he nearly fell, but John caught him in time.

"Look at that Harry Potter. He's so full of himself his head's practically in the clouds."

Malfoy bitterly resented Harry stealing the limelight, unaware that Harry only felt mortified.