I Swung a Sword at Hogwarts

Mundungus had begun renovating. He thought that maybe after working under the esteemed Silverhand Johnny, he could become someone like the owner of Borgin and Burkes.

John left only after making sure Mundungus didn't say anything rude.

After stepping out of the shop, John headed towards Diagon Alley.

He saw Lucius and Draco Malfoy coming out of Borgin and Burkes. It looked like they had already sold whatever they came with.

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

"Harry?"

John was stunned. Why would Harry be in Knockturn Alley?

It was Harry's first time in Knockturn Alley, and he was terrified. He saw shrunken heads being sold in a shop across from Borgin and Burkes, and a large cage full of crawling, dark spiders.

Two shabby-looking wizards were whispering to each other while staring at Harry, which made his skin crawl.

He ran along the street, glasses slipping from his face repeatedly as he tried to fix them.

The wizards around him were very interested in this small intruder. John, following behind, noticed one wizard already moving closer to Harry.

An old witch grabbed Harry's hand, revealing moss-covered teeth and giving him a terrifying smile.

"Lost your way, dearie?"

Harry took a step back. This old witch was bone-chilling, and in her other hand, she held a plate that seemed to be full of dead fingernails.

His heart was pounding in fear as the old witch came closer.

"I'm fine, thank you. I just want to leave," Harry said, resisting the old witch's approach.

John stepped out just in time, as the old witch aggressively tried to offer her fingernails to Harry.

"Harry, what are you doing here?"

The sudden voice startled the old witch. She turned around and saw the handsome John, grinning eerily.

But John narrowed his eyes dangerously. As soon as she turned, his left hand lashed out like a venomous snake, shattering her plate.

The old witch screamed, ready to retaliate, but then saw a wand pointed straight at her eye.

"Leave. Or I'll make you blind."

John's icy voice rang out, sending chills down the old witch's spine.

At that moment, a tall figure emerged from the crowd.

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

It was Hagrid. Upon seeing the old witch, he shouted furiously, "Get out of here, you filthy thing!"

He pulled Harry away firmly and started leading them out.

The old witch didn't dare stop them—she had been thoroughly threatened by John.

Once out of Knockturn Alley, Harry spotted the familiar white marble of Gringotts.

Hagrid led them into Diagon Alley and helped brush the soot off Harry's clothes.

When he learned Harry had ended up in Knockturn Alley by mistake, he scolded him for being too careless.

"John, what were you doing there?"

Hagrid was surprised that John had been in Knockturn Alley too. Of course, John wasn't going to admit he was there for business.

"I was looking to see if there were any interesting alchemy materials," he said with a smile.

"That's too risky! You could've just asked me," Hagrid grumbled.

He had come to gather some materials for John anyway and had picked up some potion for flesh-eating slugs while he was at it.

If John hadn't shown up, Hagrid couldn't even imagine what might've happened if that old witch had taken Harry away.

"Thank you, John. You saved me again," Harry said gratefully.

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

"John, you don't know—I'm staying at the Weasleys' house now. It's amazing!"

Mentioning that reminded Harry he'd lost the Weasleys, so he hurried off to find them.

"Harry, why didn't you write back to me?" Hagrid asked.

"Sorry, Hagrid, something happened…"

Hagrid began complaining about Harry not replying, and Harry explained how the Dursleys had locked him up.

Hagrid was furious and roared about going to teach the Dursleys a lesson.

"Harry! Harry! Over here!"

They were just passing Gringotts when they saw Hermione standing on the steps.

She ran down to greet them, her bushy brown hair bouncing behind her.

"What happened to your glasses? Oh, John, you're here too! And Hagrid—this is great! I'm so happy to see you all again."

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

"Have you been to Gringotts yet?"

"I'll go after I find the Weasleys," Harry said—he hadn't even had a chance to go in after being dropped in Knockturn Alley.

Thanks to his height, Hagrid quickly spotted the Weasley family making their way through the crowd.

"Harry! We hoped you'd only missed one fireplace!" Mr. Weasley said, panting.

Like all Weasleys, he had red hair—though balding—and wore glasses. He was tall and thin.

"Molly was nearly frantic! She'll be here soon. And you must be… Oh, I remember—John Wick."

Ron saw John too and immediately asked where Harry had gone.

"Knockturn Alley," Hagrid said sternly.

"Wicked!" the Weasley twins shouted.

Even Ron looked jealous—his family never let kids go to Knockturn Alley.

"It wasn't wicked at all. If it weren't for John, Harry might've been taken away," Hagrid said, still fuming over the old witch.

This only made the twins more curious—they surrounded Harry, begging for the story of his "bravery."

"Harry! Oh darling, thank goodness you're safe!"

Mrs. Weasley came rushing in, gasping for air. She pulled out a large clothes brush from her bag and began brushing soot off Harry from head to toe.

Mr. Weasley took John's glasses, tapped them with his wand, and they were good as new.

The youngest Weasley, Ginny, was beside Harry, helping her mum dust him off.

"I've got to go—see you at Hogwarts," said Hagrid.

Overwhelmed by Molly's enthusiasm, Hagrid took the opportunity to leave quickly.

"Oh John, thank you so much. You're a wonderful friend," Molly said warmly after hearing how John had helped Harry. She clearly liked him even more now.

Even Ginny came up to say thanks, and John, scratching his nose, said it had just been a coincidence.

But soon, Molly was treating John like one of her own. Her enthusiasm was a bit much for John to handle.

"Ahem… I've already been inside Gringotts. I'll just wait for you out here," he said, hastily making an excuse.

After waiting outside Gringotts for a bit, John saw Mr. Weasley come out arm-in-arm with Hermione's father.

They were to meet again in an hour at Flourish and Blotts. Meanwhile, Molly would take Ginny to buy clothes.

The four kids wandered the cobbled, winding streets.

"You went abroad? That's so cool!" Ron was amazed to hear John had gone to France and really wanted to visit too.

"Where in France? Paris?" Hermione asked—John had mentioned it in a letter but hadn't said where exactly.

John thought for a moment and said, "I went to Paris, yeah. There's a drunkard in the hidden areas who sells portkeys. He gave me a broken one, and I ended up being chased by a dragon."

"Haha, John, you're hilarious!" Ron burst out laughing, thinking John was joking.

Even Harry and Hermione found it funny, not realizing he was telling the truth.

John felt helpless. Why did no one ever believe him when he told the truth?

The four of them visited many places in Diagon Alley and arrived at Flourish and Blotts an hour later.

It was already packed, with banners hanging from the windows above.

"Gilderoy Lockhart? That name sounds familiar," Harry said.

Hermione squealed with joy. "We'll get to meet him in person! I mean, almost all the books on our list are written by him!"

John looked at the long, crowded queue and felt overwhelmed. He spotted Draco Malfoy.

The trio got separated in the crowd, but John used his superior strength to reach the second floor.

He saw Malfoy grinding his teeth as Harry took a photo with Lockhart.

"Seriously? You're jealous of that?" John said, speechless.

Malfoy was so startled he nearly fell over, but John grabbed him in time.

"Look at Harry Potter—his tail's about to wag right off!" Malfoy complained bitterly.

He was clearly jealous of Harry stealing the spotlight—little did he know, Harry just felt completely mortified.