A/N- Hi there. :) Remember me? (Us?)

Well, if you do, here's a million hugs and York Peppermint Patties.

I hope you all had a wonderful summer and a wonderful start of year. I can't speak for Wolfqueen, but mine's been pretty decent. My musical's been going well (tech week!), and from what I've heard, so was Wolfqueen's play.

So. I (Hedwig) wrote this chapter. I think that's the way it'll be from here on.. Wolfqueen's lost interest, from what I can gather.

Without further ado...

Chapter 3

Not much later, Elphaba, Hermione, Glinda, Ashley, Fiyero, Ron, and Hagrid all filed into The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Each of the Ozians had chosen each of the others in turn. Actually, Fiyero wanted to take Harry, but he was serving detention with Snape. The detention was supposed to take place in a week, but Dumbledore had written Harry requesting that their first private lesson be that same day, and Snape had immediately moved the detention up by a week.

Hagrid nodded to Madame Rosmerta, who, as he explained to foreigners, was the owner of the Three Broomsticks. It was pretty empty, save for an old woman dressed in a long black cloak. You couldn't see her face, but as Hagrid approached, she pulled back the hood to reveal a pale, heart shaped face. She wasn't that old after all. She seemed to be in her young thirties, or late twenties. She had dark brown eyes and dark brown hair, but the feature that was most prominent was her expression. She looked as though she had been in the presence of a dementor- that is, she looked as though she'd never be happy again.

"Good ter see yeh, Tonks," Hagrid said, waving a large hand. She nodded.

"You too, Hagrid," she replied, standing and stretching. She nodded at each of them, and her eyes fell on Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero. Hagrid looked around as though everything were normal, and his eyes grew wide as he realized what had been forgotten.

"Oh! Righ' sorry. Tonks, this is, ah, Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero. They're here ter shop in Diagon alley. They jus' came from far away, an' Dumbledore told me to take 'em to get their supplies. An' this is Ashley. She's a sixth year at Hogwarts too." Tonks nodded yet again.

"Yeah, he sent me the message to meet you here. He thought Harry would be coming..."

"He has detention," Fiyero and Ron provided at the same. Tonks raised her eyebrows, but didn't display any more emotion than that.

"I'm supposed to come with you… Is that alright?"

"Don' see why not. Is it all righ' with you lot?" Hagrid replied, turning to the younger members of the group. They nodded, and Hagrid and Tonks led them to a fireplace in the back of the room. "Righ' then. Now all yeh got to do is take a han'ful o' Floo Powder, and yeh step into the fire, and say 'Diagon Alley,' and then yeh throw down the powder, and yeh'll be there. This fireplace is, er, too small. I'll meet yeh there." Hagrid stood and waited for someone to move. The Ozians were hesitant.

Tonks noticed this and stepped up, to their relief.

"Ron or Hermione, why don't you go first, so they can see how it's done?" Hermione nodded and stepped up to the fireplace. She took some powder from a little bowl and threw it down saying, "Diagon alley." "Who's next?" Tonks asked. Fiyero stepped up. Nervously, he repeated Hermione's actions. Once again, Tonks looked around expectantly. Glinda seemed to be hyperventilating over the fact that she would actually have to go in the fireplace. Ron seemed to be attempting to calm her down. Ashley seemed to be watching them both, unsure of what to do, which left... Elphaba. Rolling her eyes, she gave a half-smile to Tonks and climbed into the fireplace, grabbing a handful of the grey powder as well.

"Diagon Alley," Elphaba said, throwing the powder down at her feet. Suddenly, everything went black. She felt as if she was being pulled in two directions at once. Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped. She fell out of the new fireplace and fell into Fiyero. She couldn't see and was still gasping for breath.

"Sorry," she gasped, stumbling backwards. He grabbed her wrists.

"Calm down," Fiyero said with a smirk. She nodded, still coughing and wiping dirt out of her eyes. There was a pop, and Elphaba jumped out of the way as Ashley fell out of the fireplace. She fell onto the floor and sprang up immediately, wiping dirt off of her outfit. Soon, Ashley was followed by Ron and Glinda, who came through the fireplace at the same time. Glinda stood, her eyes shut tight, Ron stood behind her, with his hands on her shoulders. Elphaba watched as Ron and Fiyero exchanged glances, followed by Hermione shooting a knowing look at Fiyero, as if she knew a secret. When Glinda opened her eyes, she gasped.

"I'm sorry, Fifi," she whispered, rushing forward. "He just went with me because I was really, really scared." Fiyero smiled.

"It's fine," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist easily. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him but said nothing.

"Fifi, you're too nice!" Glinda chirped, kissing him on the cheek. He turned away wearily, so she kissed the air, but she didn't notice; she was still getting over the shock of being 'forgiven.' Tonks reappeared then, and they started walking. It was the first time since entering did Elphaba actually look around. They were in a dark and dingy bar, with a few scattered tables around it.

Tonks led them wearily out a back door, which led to a flat brick wall. She drew her wand, and tapped a few bricks on the wall. At once, they pulled away from each other and revealed a passage to a long street filled with forlorn looking shops and buildings.

Tonks half-smiled for the first time since meeting everyone. It wasn't a real smile, it was a fake smile, but it was a smile all the same.

"Welcome," she said, "To Diagon Alley." She swept her hand out, gesturing to the abandoned-looking street behind her. They couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but Elphaba guessed she wasn't.

Glinda raised her hand. "Does it always look like this?"

"No," said Hermione. "Bad... governmental things started happening, and this is the result. It used to be much more..." she paused for the right word again. "It was brighter." Fiyero and Elphaba exchanged glances.

"The first stop is Ollivander's, for your wands. I think Hagrid's meeting us there. He forgot to tell us. Anyway, let's go," Tonks said, leading them down the road. A few of the shops they passed were totally empty, the windows smashed and the doors boarded up. Fiyero moved to Elphaba's side.

"Wasn't Ollivander kidnapped?" he asked quietly. Elphaba nodded.

"Well, a few things here are not exactly the same as the book, like... never mind," she said. She didn't want to reveal Hermione's secret.

"Like Hermione?" Fiyero whispered. Elphaba nodded, slightly surprised.

"How did you know that?"

"Know what? Harry told me," he shrugged. The green girl's eyes widened. Did that mean Harry liked Hermione?

They approached a small dusty looking shop with a sign reading, "Ollivander's." They couldn't see inside, due to a thick curtain covering the window. The other window had a large hole in it, and glass shards littered the ground in front of it.

"Reparo," Tonks muttered. The glass flew back into the window.

"Oooh, that was cool!" Glinda exclaimed. "Are we going to learn how to do that?" Tonks knocked on the door and tried to see inside.

"Elphaba can alreadydo that," Hermione pointed out, smiling at her.

"Shut up," she replied, but she grinned anyway.

"Yeah, I know," Fiyero said lamely. Elphaba raised her eyebrows at him. "Well, what else was I supposed to say?" They all jumped as the door opened with a long creak. A thin face poked out of the small space between the door and the doorframe. The man's eyes settled on Elphaba for a moment. She shuddered, and Fiyero put his arm around her instinctively. She didn't turn, but her shoulders stiffened the smallest bit. Hermione saw this and smiled to herself. Ollivander's mouth opened a little and closed again, still watching Elphaba. He turned to Tonks and opened the door a little wider.

"Quickly," he hissed, widening the slit in the door. Tonks slipped inside, followed by Ron, Hermione, Ashley, Glinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero. Elphaba finally shrugged his arm off as she went through the door. The second Fiyero was inside, the door slammed shut.

"We're here for-" Tonks began.

"Yes, yes, Dumbledore has written me," Ollivander said, still staring at Elphaba. She glared back, thinking he was looking at her due to her skin. "You three need wands, yes?" he asked, waving his arm in the general direction of the Ozians, who nodded. "Will you step up here, please?" He led them to stand in front of a tall counter, and then proceeded to disappear into the rows of shelves behind him. A small tape measure that had been resting on the table suddenly sprung to life and began to measure each of them. Strangely enough, it measured both typical things like their arm length and wrist size, and then it measured rather odd things like their eye size or the size of their earlobes. A moment later, Ollivander returned with an armful of long, thin boxes.

"Now, I want to make this very clear. The wand chooses the wizard, not the other way around. This could take one minute or an hour. All right?" They nodded. "Miss Upland, you first." He took one of the many boxes and opened it, proceeding to pull up a ribbon from the inside. He pulled out a long and thin wand, made of wood, of course. He passed it to Glinda, the handle towards her. "This is made of birch and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches. It's good for charms."

"I toldyou unicorns exist, Elphie!" Glinda squealed, and looked down at her wand. After a pause, the old man looked at her expectantly. "Well? Give it a wave," he added, when she looked confused.

Glinda aimed it at the window curtain and 'gave it a wave.' At once, the curtain turned into what looked like cotton candy. Ollivander nodded approvingly. Next, he turned to Fiyero and carefully opened another wand box. This was similar to Glinda's only darker and a little bit longer. "Oak. Dragon heartstring, thirteen inches. It's particularly good for defensive spells. You may try it, Mr. Tiggular. It does not bite," he added with a small smile. Fiyero picked up the wand and aimed it at the curtain, as Glinda had done. It burst into flames.

"Oh, dear, not quite," Ollivander muttered. He took the last wand and handed it to Fiyero. Cringing, he aimed the wand at the curtain yet again. The flames subsided, and the curtain changed from cotton candy to curtain again.

"Sweet," he muttered. "You're up, Elphie." He waved her forward and she shot him a death glare.

"Don't. Call. Me. Elphie," she said very slowly.

"Glinda can do it."

"Glindais my best friend."

"Then what am I?"

"My... ugh, never mind," Elphaba said, and she turned to Ollivander, who was reading a piece of parchment. There was a small owl beside him with beady, pointed eyes. None of them had even realized the owl had come in.

"Okay.." Fiyero murmured. Hermione raised her eyebrows. Ollivander's eyes widened with curiosity as he looked from the note to Elphaba to the note again.

"What?"

"I see," the wandmaker muttered, ignoring Elphaba. He turned and disappeared into the back of the shop. Everyone exchanged glances. What was that about? He soon returned, and Glinda couldn't help but think he was creepy. Who lives in that kind of dump, any way?

Ollivander re-appeared with a strange grin, he opened the box. It revealed a wand that almost looked reddish.

"It's mahogany, twelve inches, and made with a Phoenix feather. It should be interesting to see the results..." the last part of the sentence was more to himself than to the others. Elphaba shuddered, thinking that he had said similar things to Harry when he got his wand. She didn't like the way he looked at her, as if he knew something she didn't.

She took the wand from him, and at once felt a sort of warmth come from it. Elphaba grinned, without really knowing why. Ollivander nodded.

"Curious.." Ollivander said.

"What is it with you and 'curious?'" Fiyero asked, referring to when Harry had bought his wand. Everyone but Elphaba gave him a strange look. Elphaba gave him a shutupglare. Ollivander merely raised his eyebrows as if to say, youtellme. Elphaba shuddered again.

"Exactly what is curious?" Hermione asked, stepping forward.

"Let me guess..." Fiyero said. "It's curious that the Phoenix that had that feather was the same one that gave Harry his wand and Voldemort his." Hermione and Ron cringed at his name. Elphaba glared at Fiyero. Ollivander nodded, squinting suspiciously.

"Yes..."

"Ha!" Fiyero shouted, pointing at Ollivander. "I knew it!" Elphaba stomped on his foot. "What was that for?" He asked.

"Can it," she hissed.

"It's alright, Miss- Miss Thropp. Professor Dumbledore has informed me of your position." Elphaba was so shocked by this she forgot his strange slip.

"What position?" Ashley spoke up. "She's right there."

"Okay, I swear she was blonde at some point," Elphaba decided.

"As Mr. Tiggular so kindly pointed out, your wand does indeed contain a feather from the same phoenix that gave the feathers to Mr. Potter's wand and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's wand."

"Wicked.." Ron muttered. Tonks looked slightly nervous.

"Sweet, Elphaba! You two could be long lost twins or something!" Fiyero exclaimed. The green girl rolled her eyes.

"Fawkes?" Elphaba asked, turning back to the shopkeeper. The old man nodded. "Wow."

Maybe it was just because they were standing in a dingy, dusty shop with a creepy old man, but Elphaba was getting the feeling that something about this wand situation was not right, and even a little scary. Shaking it off, she followed the others out of the shop.

After Ollivander's, they had all gone to Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions and Glinda, Fiyero, and Elphaba had been fitted for robes. After that, they headed to Flourish and Blotts, to pick up schoolbooks. Dumbledore had suggested they take the same classes as their classmates, and the excuse was Hermione. Dumbledore had thought that her schedule would overwhelm the threesome, and rightly so.

Therefore, Glinda, Fiyero, and Elphaba were now buying books for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration, Potions, History of Magic, and Charms. Glinda was also buying books for Divination, because that was a class Ashley was taking. Glinda and Fiyero were in a short line waiting to pay, and Elphaba was a few feet away, lost in the wonder of the foreign books.

"Elphaba," Fiyero called as Glinda moved to the front of the line. "Come on." Hermione hurried over to her roommate.

"I've got all of these books in the room," she whispered, grabbing Elphaba's hand and pulling her into line.

Glinda and Fiyero finished paying, and now they were waiting with Tonks, Ron, Hermione, and Ashley at the entrance. When Elphaba had paid and turned around she came face to face with Hagrid. She jumped back about a foot and almost hit the counter.

"Sorry about tha'," said Hagrid, pulling Elphaba upright. "Didn' mean ter scare yeh. I jus' got here." With a nod to the terrified woman behind the counter, he led her to the door where the others were. Once they reached the door, they all stepped onto the street.

While in Diagon Alley, they went to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, Potage's Cauldron Shop, and Quality Quidditch Supplies (Ron needed new gloves). They had also stopped at Florean Fortsecue's Ice Cream Parlor for a quick snack.

The trio soon found out they were in Harry's sixth year, and classes had just started the day before they landed, two days ago.

As they walked Ron pointed ahead excitedly to a large building that seemed the liveliest place in Diagon Alley. Though there were no customers visible, the bright lights and colorful inside gave the appearance that it was a crowded and popular place when students were not in school.

"FredandGeorge?" Fiyero mouthed.

Elphaba shrugged but nodded. "Mostlikely." As they moved closer, Elphaba and Fiyero's suspicions were confirmed. In bright gold letters were the words "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," on the top of a large revolving door.

"Can we go in, Hagrid?" Ron asked like a four year old asking for a cookie. Hagrid looked to Tonks, who nodded.

"I'm supposed to pick up an order of Shield Cloaks, so it's alright if you look around," Tonks said.

"Don' buy anythin' now," Hagrid told them as they stepped inside. "Hogwarts doesn' allow this stuff inside." They nodded as two tall, identical looking, red-haired young men appeared in front of them.

"Welcome," they said at the same time.

"I'm Fred Weasley," said the first one.

"And I'm George Weasley," finished the other.

"No you're not," Ron said, stepping forward. "It's the other way around."

"Right you are, little brother," the twins said once again at the same time.

"I'm really confused," Glinda said. Ashely nodded. "Who's who?" The twins introduced themselves properly.

"Okay," Ashley nodded. The twins greeted everyone and came to an awkward end as they searched for the names of the others.

"This is Elphaba; my bestest friend, Fiyero; my amazifying boyfriend, Ashie, my splendiferous roomie, and I'm Glinda," the blonde said dramatically. Elphaba and Fiyero rolled their eyes; Glinda's introductions got bigger each time. Fred and George exchanged glances filled with confusion, mischief, and suppression of laughter.

George opened his mouth to speak, looking at Elphaba. "Was that something one of our products did?"

"No," she answered, not really as annoyed as she thought she would be. She assumed the fact he clearly didn't mean it as an insult was the reason why.

"Don't worry about him," Fred said, stepping in front of his twin, but not before elbowing him in the side. "He's not right in the head. Highly insensitive. I wanted to send him to an asylum a few years back, but mum wouldn't hear of it."

Elphaba laughed. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

"See Fred?" George asked his brother. "She said it was-" he was cut off by another elbow in the ribs.

"So what can we do for you all?" Fred asked, looking at Tonks and Hagrid.

"I think the Ministry ordered a load of Shield Cloaks for the Aurors," Tonks said.

"Right," George nodded. He turned and called to the back of the shop. "Verity!" After a moment, a thin, blonde girl in a scarlet outfit appeared, carrying a box of Edible Dark Marks. She waved her wand and a small table appeared, where she set the box.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley?"

"Can you take Tonks to the back and get her order of Shield Cloaks?" Fred asked, gesturing to Tonks at the same time. Verity nodded once, her ponytail swinging.

"I'll go with you," Elphaba offered quickly. She wanted to talk to Tonks, while she still had the chance. The others eyed her curiously for a moment, but Verity led them away, and the others went back to browsing.

As they walked, Tonks kept her eyes trained on the back of the store, as though any distraction could be costly. The young employee clearly wanted to get her job over with, either to take a break or to get away from Elphaba, and so she sped ahead of them.

The silence was a little awkward, and the green witch made an attempt to break it. "Tonks?" Tonks did not reply, but glanced at her for a moment. She assumed this was the now-brunette's way of telling her to continue, so she did. "Are you okay?" Despite her outward, tough appearance, Tonks seemed to leak a little. She reminded Elphaba a little of herself; not letting anybody in to see her feelings.

"No."

"Look, I know what's wrong." The Auror glanced at her doubtfully. "You have to promise not to ask any questions." She nodded, and Elphaba continued. "Don't give up on Remus." Tonk's head whipped around to look at the Ozian. She glared at her, just for going to that place where nobody was allowed.

"I know how it feels.." she swallowed, "to not have someone love you back." Tonks's gaze softened, just a little. "But, for you, it's different. He feels the same way. He just needs time. He needs time to accept that you know the risks, and are willing to take those risks." Tonks was no longer glaring, but was watching with a mix of sadness and pity. She shook her head.

"No, Elphaba. He's made his decision." She sped up, wanting the conversation to end.

"Tonks, stop." Elphaba said it with such authority that she did stop. But she didn't turn. "You know that's not true. You have to listen to me." She was almost desperate, and tears began to burn her eyes. She refused to let them fall. "He's just worried about you. He'll see his mistake, but you can't give up on him before he does." Tonks didn't smile as she looked at Elphaba, but her hair turned a pale shade of pink.

Back at the front of the store, the students and Hagrid browsed the shelves of the store, occasionally letting out a small yelp when something attacked them. Hermione and Ashley wandered over to the Pygmy puffs, watching the smallest one bounce around, occasionally hitting the edge of the glass cage. It would stumble, dazed, for a moment, before picking up speed again.

Hagrid hovered by the love potions rack, but whenever somebody looked over, he would pretend to be interested in the Fanged Frisbees. Glinda wandered aimlessly, running her fingers lightly on the sides of the shelves and the walls. Ron followed her, awkwardly. Fiyero watched them, shaking his head. He made his way over to a shelf of Reusable Hangman sets. He picked up the worn "Try Me!" set and started to play. After loosing a few games, he began to get slightly unnerved by the little man getting hung on the small stand.

Glinda stopped at a rack of multi-colored scarves. Curious as to what something so.. normal was doing in a joke shop, she pulled a pink one off of the rack and wrapped it around her neck. She jumped when Fred and George apparated right in front of her. Glancing at Ron briefly, the twins gently pulled the accessory off of her neck.

"You don't need that," George said quietly, taking the scarf into his hands. Ron moved closer, his face growing red with jealousy. Glinda giggled, suddenly embarrassed and unsure. She glanced at Ron and then at Fiyero, uselessly hoping he'd be as jealous as Ron seemed to be. He wasn't paying attention; instead he was waving Elphaba over to help him with the tiny hangman.

"Besides," began Fred with a grin. He beckoned Ron closer. "These can get pretty dark." He looped the pink scarf around his younger brother's middle and grinned as it slowly began to turn him blue. Horrified, Glinda yanked the scarf from the redhead's waist. Ron glared at the twins, and they only grinned at him angelically before disapparating.

"Um.." Ron said, turning red again. Glinda gave a sort of a half-smile, before turning around.

"Your welcome," she said, before flouncing away to join Ashley and Hermione.

Harry stormed back to his room, muttering curses under his breath. Snape had given him detention- sorting good flobberworms from bad ones… without gloves. Snape had also conveniently misplaced his pocket watch, and so the detention had gone on for an extra hour and a half. Not only did he reek of rotten flobberworms, but everyone had gone to Diagon Alley without him. It wasn't their faults, of course. Fiyero had even confided in him that he would prefer to bring Harry if he was available. That should have provided some solace, but it didn't.

When he entered the room, he glared at the empty beds, wishing someone else was there. Not thinking, Harry kicked the trunk at the foot of his bed. He hopped backwards, the toes of his right foot beginning to hurt. There was a thud, and the sound of glass breaking. With an exasperated sigh, he unlocked the leather case and bent over to find what had made the noise. He rummaged through it until he found the photo album Hagrid had given him in his first year.

Harry turned it over in his hands. The front cover was torn, by something in the trunk. He bent over again, now looking for whatever sharp objet had torn the book. The culprit was a small piece of glass, a mirror, with sharp jagged edges. Sirius had given him the mirror a year or so back, in case he ever needed to contact him. Somehow, over time, the mirror had been broken and was no longer a perfect oval. There were smaller shards of the mirror at the bottom of the large suitcase, but it was clear the mirror was beyond repair.

With yet another sigh, he placed the broken mirror back in the trunk, and turned back to the damaged book. The tear was a diagonal line from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. Harry ran his fingers lightly over the tear, regretting kicking the chest. Used to the silence, Harry jumped when Ron and Fiyero entered the room. The album fell to the ground with a thud.

"You okay?" Fiyero asked, coming to stand next to him.

"Yeah," Harry said slowly.

"What's that?" Fiyero asked, and Harry turned away a little.

"Just something someone gave me once," he replied quickly.

"What happened?"

"I kicked my suitcase, and a broken mirror tore this," he said with a short laugh at his own stupidity.

"Ah," Fiyero nodded, like it was perfectly normal. "Well, after your anger management session, you can tell me all about it." Harry laughed and adjusted his glasses. The Ozian tilted his head, looking at the photo album. "What's that?" There was what looked like paper stuck in in tear in the album.

Curious, Harry tried to pull the paper from the cover. It wasn't moving, so he pulled out his wand and aimed it at the paper. A tiny orange light came out, and this time the paper did come. Harry and Fiyero stared at it for a moment.

It wasn't a paper, but a black and white photograph. In it were two young babies, both with dark black hair. They looked familiar, but Harry couldn't place how or where he'd seen them before.

"Who are they?" Fiyero asked, confused.

"I dunno," Harry replied, staring at the picture again. After a moment of silence, Fiyero backed away and put his jacket on his bed.

"Are you coming? It's time for dinner."

"Yeah," Harry said, putting the strange picture on his nightstand. "Let's go."

A/N- There you have it! A little bit of Tonks in this chapter, for all my fellow Hufflepuffs.

Review, and you get your own Daniel Radcliffe/Rupert Grint/Tom Felton. (Did anyone see Dan in the Macy's Parade? He was fantastic!)

Until next time, my pretties!

Hedwig