━━━━━━ ◦ ❉ ◦ ━━━━━━

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐇 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 in awe at the bustling street. Diagon Alley might not have been all that new to Gracie, but she could never escape how magical it really felt. Indescribable objects flew around so fast in the air, they were simply a blur to the naked eye. Young witches and wizards gathered around shop windows and their elders stood around gossiping about the latest edition of The Daily Prophet.

"It never ceases to amaze me." Gracie radiated a sense of contentment as their group passed by one of the shop windows having to avoid a large group of children standing outside. She looked upwards to read the shop's sign, 'Quality Quidditch Supplies'. "Oh, they must be looking at the new-"

"I want a broomstick!" James interrupted his older sister with excitement, running up to the shop window with his twin following shortly behind. "Look how cool it is! Mum, can I have it!"

"Broomstick?" Harry glanced at James and then back at Gracie. "Why would he want a Broomstick?" He asked.

"Do you not- Nevermind, I keep forgetting you didn't grow up around all this." She smiled at him awkwardly. "It's what we use for flying and for Quidditch. You'll learn about it all at Hogwarts. That's the Nimbus 2000" Gracie pointed to the Broomstick being showcased in the glass window. "I've heard it's the fastest make yet!"

"Wait so Wizards and Witches actually use broomsticks? That part is real?" Harry quizzed, going closer to the window.

Gracie let out a comical laugh and nodded her head. "Yeah!"

"What's it like?" He looked back at her as she stood closer to her mum.

"What's what like?" She asked, still laughing.

"Flying." He answered.

"Oh, I wouldn't know." She shrugged her shoulders. "We learn about flying in our first year of Hogwarts."

Harry nodded in return. Meanwhile, the younger twins were engrossed in conversation trying to convince Lilli to buy them each a Nimbus 2000. "Mum please!"

"No, you're too young."

"Please, please, I promise we'll be good!"

"When you're at Hogwarts you can have a broomstick." Lilli rolled her eyes with a grin at her children's enthusiasm for flying, she herself had been a seeker for the Gryffindor quidditch team when she attended Hogwarts.

James pumped his fists into the air, grinning from ear to ear. "We get to have broomsticks!"

"In a year." Gracie chimed in, laying on an innocent yet annoying voice to get under her brother's skin. "You know you still have a year til Hogwarts. If you get in that is!"

"I will get in, don't you worry." James clasped his hands together, then rubbed his stomach. "I'm hungry. Mum," He tugged on Lilli's sleeve. "I'm hungry."

"I heard you the first time dear." Lilli chuckled under her breath. She reached into her brown side bag and pulled out a matching wallet, pulling out a couple of silver and gold coins. "Here." She passed around the coins to her children, then stopped and looked at Harry. "Do you fancy anything to eat Harry? I know a place just down one of the alleyways that does amazing pumpkin pasties." She started reaching into her wallet again.

"I don't need to have your money, miss." He said, shaking his head.

"Please, call me Lilli." She smiled sweetly at the young boy. His face brought back memories for her, memories she had so longed to remember after all the pain her and her friends had gone through. "I insist. Go and treat yourself to something nice from the bakery. Kowalski's is simply divine Ja-" She stopped herself and quickly corrected herself, ending her sentence with "Harry".

She passed him the same amount of coins she'd given to her children and guided their little group down an alleyway to their right. Just down the cobblestone path was a light yellow building, covered in what looked to be fairy lights. It stuck out amongst the brick red and grey stone buildings that surrounded it. A wooden chalkboard sign stood outside one of the windows, decorated with different images of cakes and pastries.
'Kowalski's. A Generational Treat' was written in cursive in the middle of the chalkboard. James and Hope broke into a sprint upon spotting the building, obviously fighting for who would get in first.

"Come on Harry!" Gracie grabbed his hand and pulled him along to the shop. The two ran inside, watching the twins heaving in front of the counter, looking at what was on offer that day. Gracie let go of Harry's hand and placed her hands against the glass display cake. "Cauldron cakes..."

"What's a cauldron cake?" Harry asked, looking at the various desserts inside the display.

"The greatest cake you'll ever eat. We'll take two Jacob!" She slammed her coins onto the counter next to the display and a young man chuckled. He wore a matching yellow apron with a red tie, and a name badge that read 'Jacob Jr.'

"It's my grandfather's recipe." Jacob pointed to a portrait hung on the wall behind him. A short stout man stood with a taller blonde woman outside of a similar bakery. "Chocolate and orange flavoured, with a marmalade centre." He smiled to himself as he bagged up two of the cauldron cakes. "And what would the little rascals like?" He placed the bags on the counter and looked over at the twins.

"We are not rascals!" Hope protested.

"Ooh, I beg to differ young lady."

"And we're not little!" James nodded in agreement with his twin for one of the first times that day.

Jacob let out a hearty laugh. "You kids crack me up! I'm guessing you want the niffler cupcake and the thunderbird biscuits?" He guessed.

"How does he know!" Hope's eyes widened.

"It's all you guys ever order here." Gracie giggled. "Oh, Harry, you need to put your money in as well."

"Oh yeah, sorry." He put the coins Lilli gave him onto the counter, shortly followed by James and Hope doing the same. Jacob picked up the necessary coins, leaving the change where it was.

"Enjoy kids." He handed them the paper bags and watched as they took their change and left his shop.

Harry had coincidentally taken the change. "Here you go, Lilli." He handed it back to Gracie's mum. "Thank you for the money."

"It was my pleasure dear." She patted him on the shoulder. "What did you get?"

"Cauldron cakes!" Gracie answered for them. "He must be enlightened to the greatest snack our world has to offer!"

Harry laughed at Gracie's proclamation and pulled out the cake in his bag. He took a small bite at first, but his eyes widened instantly. "It tastes like..."

"Magic." Gracie was already halfway done with her cake.

"Magic." Harry agreed, nodding his head. "I need more."

"Well, you can all have more once we've gotten your school supplies." Lilli's gaze lingered on the young boy and her daughter interacting, it reminded her of the bittersweet memories of Gracie's father and Harry's father when they were younger.

"We need money first, don't we mum?" Gracie asked and Lilli nodded.

"To Gringotts!" She turned on her heel and headed out of the hole in the wall.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❉ ◦ ━━━━━━

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆

━━━━━━ ◦ ❉ ◦ ━━━━━━

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬| Hey guys! Thank you so much for your patience on updates for any of my fics! This year has been difficult on my mental health but I've been slowly getting better and I thought of no better way to celebrate the start of the new year and the end of my hiatus than to give you all this wholesome chapter as a gift! I hope you enjoy <3