Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything assosiated with it is owned by J.K. Rowling. I'm just having a little fun writing a story, and my only (but sufficient!) payment is your gratitude and reviews. Thank you so much J.K. Rowling for granting us access to your world, you're amazing!

So without further ado...

Chapter 1: A worthwhile investment

Harry was awoken with a start by a sharp knocking on his cupboard door. "Wake up!" sounded the voice of Aunt Petunia. Groggily, Harry put on his glasses. He pulled the cord to turn on the light, and glanced down at his watch. He was surprised to see it was just 7 p.m. During work days he would get up around this time, but as it was weekend, he would have had his usual lie-in.

Not wanting to anger Aunt Petunia, he quickly got dressed. As he entered the kitchen, he saw Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon sitting at the coffee table.

"Sit down, boy." said Uncle Vernon impatiently.

Curious, he sat down. They never invited him to sit down, really. Most of the time they just ignored him, except for ordering him around.

"Popkin, come sit over here for a second, you should hear this too." Aunt Petunia said lovingly to Dudley, who was watching the telly as he normally did.

Slowly, Dudley got up and made his way to the coffee table.

Uncle Vernon looked at Aunt Petunia expectantly. She was silent for a while, apparently struggling to bring something up. Harry was about to say something, when she finally spoke.

"I got a letter from your Headmaster." she said. Harry's expression grew a bit worried. What had he done now? Besides, what did Dudley have to do with it?

"From Mr Prinns? Is something the matter?" he asked.

Aunt Petunia shook her head. She shifted uncontrollably, obviously uncomfortable. "No. It's from the Headmaster… of your new school."

Harry turned to look at Uncle Vernon, who seemed very interested in a stain in the rug. "New school? What do you mean? I thought I was going to Stonewall?" he asked her accusingly.

Once more, she shook her head. "Fine then. I will tell you. Your Headmaster send me a letter, insisting I tell you about the upcoming invitational letter."

Harry opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Let me finish. You are… not normal." Seeing his glare, she quickly continued. "I… I mean, you are…" she seemed unwilling to say whatever she had to say.

"Come on, Petunia. Just tell the bloody boy." Uncle Vernon said impatiently.

Aunt Petunia seemed to gather her strength. "Boy… Harry… You are a wizard." she forced the words out.

Harry's jaw hit the coffee table, only rivalled by Dudley's equally open mouth. Out of all the things he had been expecting, this wasn't one of them. "I'm... I'm a what?" he stammered, convinced he had misheard her.

"A wizard." she said briskly. "My sister was one, and her good-for-nothing husband was one too. And then she had you… and I knew you would be just like them… a freak. We certainly hoped you wouldn't be, but…" she trailed off.

"An invitation should be arriving soon." she continued. "You're going to be accepted into that school. I… must admit, I wanted to hide it from you. The Headmaster though, he can be… persuasive." her eyes darted to Uncle Vernon.

"We have agreed to let you go there." he said. "You will be spending most of the year at that… school. But under no circumstances are you to return during the holidays." he finished, obviously torn between being happy that Harry would be gone, or angry he would have to do his own tasks.

Harry didn't know what to say, and he said as much. "Good." Uncle Vernon said "Don't pester us with any of your comments."

"Does that mean I will never get to see you again?" he said hopefully.

"No." said Aunt Petunia, seemingly not liking that either. "The Headmaster insisted you return for the summer holidays."

Harry was still confused, he had so many questions. "But… what do I do? I don't know what to bring… and I haven't any money." he said, worried that they might just leave him without anything.

"That is none of our concern, boy. You have been enough of a burden." Uncle Vernon said, going a bit red in the face. "Don't think we will give you any money!"

Aunt Petunia looked thoughtful for a moment. "I will send them a letter." she surrendered, obviously not too fond of the idea, but not wanting anything to do with accusations of child abuse. Her mind skipped over the fact that it was already far too late for that. "Telling them to pick you up and all. They can deal with you then."

Harry couldn't help it, he grinned. He was a wizard! He was going away from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and Dudley, and he was going to do magic! Magic! "Will I be able to turn anybody into a frog?" he asked despite himself.

"Quiet!" Uncle Vernon snapped. "There will be no more mention of this! Don't forget to whom you are speaking, boy!" he yelled, his face nearing a dangerous shade of purple that matched Aunt Petunia's new bag. He was wise enough not to tell Uncle Vernon this.

"Yes Uncle Vernon, sorry Uncle Vernon." he droned, having repeated that many times.

Uncle Vernon snorted. "Now move. Get out. We will tell you when we receive news."

Harry quickly staggered to his feet, before calmly walking out of the kitchen, leaving a quiet Petunia and a gaping Dudley. Closing his cupboard behind him, he jumped. He was a wizard! He just couldn't believe it! Deciding he would rest some more before waking up, he crept back into bed. It took a while for his excitement to settle, but he finally drifted off.

A few days went by, and Harry began to worry. Why was it taking this long? Had they been lying? Harry's face paled. Dudley would make fun of him for months! His thoughts were interrupted by an already opened letter being slid under his cupboard door. Curious, he picked up the envelope.

The address was written in emerald green ink, and read 'To Petunia Dursley, number 4 Privet Drive'. Sitting down on his small bed, he took out the letter.

Dear Mrs Dursley,

Thank you for informing young Mr Potter so soon, he must be delighted.

I read your concerns, and you needn't be. Harry will be picked up tomorrow, the 31th, by our gamekeeper, Hagrid, who will take him shopping in Diagon Alley. You will notice the key I have enclosed for Harry's personal trust fund, which will contain just about enough to buy him his books and robes and other supplies.

The term will start on September 1st, and Harry may decide to either return back home, or stay at the Leaky Cauldron for a month. In case of the latter, I shall be so generous as to cover his residential costs there.

Yours sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts

Harry carefully lay down the letter on his bed. Already he was taking a liking to this seemingly very friendly man. He was happy that he had the money for supplies, if only barely. He thanked his luck. He grinned as he re-read the last line. The generous Headmaster would even pay for his stay at the Leaky Cauldron! Whatever that was, anyway.

He picked up the letter, deciding to keep it. Surely Aunt Petunia wouldn't want it, anyway. As he pushed the letter back into the envelope, he noticed the little golden key that lay inside. "That must be my trust fund key the Headmaster mentioned." he mused. He closed the envelope, and went to the kitchen to do the dishes.

Harry sat in the kitchen, sipping his tea. Although the bag was used twice before he did, with some sugar it still tasted nice. It was the 31st of July, and the gamekeeper would pick him up soon. He was going over possibilities of his shopping trip, curious as to what he would be getting, when his thoughts were interrupted by a heavy knocking on the front door.

"Get the door, boy." Uncle Vernon called out from the living room.

Harry stood up, and made his way to the front door. Opening it, he saw a giant man standing in front of him. He was at least twice as big as Uncle Vernon.

"Why hello there, Harry! My name is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds fer Hogwarts. I came here ter pick yeh up!" the man bellowed, sticking out a huge hand, the size of a trashcan lid.

Hesitantly, Harry took his hand and shook it. "Pleasure meeting you, Mr Hagrid." he replied.

Hagrid's face lit up. "Please, call me Hagrid, Harry!" he looked inside. "Aren' yer Aunt an' Uncle home?" he asked.

As if on cue, Uncle Vernon came striding into the doorway, pushing Harry aside. He looked the man up and down, obviously unhappy at the man's un-normal appearance.

"You came for the boy?" he asked.

"Yeh must be Vernon Dursley!" Hagrid said. "Yes, I came ter pick 'im up." sensing Uncle Vernon's obviously unpleasant mood, he continued "We should be goin'. Lots of things ter get, and all."

Harry slipped past Uncle Vernon. "See you in the summer holidays, Uncle Vernon." he said.

"Goodbye." Uncle Vernon said, before promptly closing the door.

Harry looked at Hagrid. "Mr- I mean, Hagrid, where do we need to go?" he asked.

"Ter the Leaky Cauldron, Harry. 's in London." he replied, ushering Harry along. "We'll be takin' the bus there, if yeh don' mind." And with that, they walked to the bus station.

The trip to London was generally uneventful, with only Harry giving Hagrid his key for safekeeping.

They got out at the bus station, and Hagrid led him to a small pub, next to a hamburger tent. "Tha' be it. The Leaky Cauldron." Hagrid said, opening the door and stepping inside.

It was quite dark and shabby. Hagrid led him past two old witches, who were looking rather odd. One of them was smoking a long pipe.

"Mornin' Tom." Hagrid addressed the bartender.

"Ah, Hagrid. The usual, I presume?" the man behind the bar asked.

"Can't, Tom. I'm on official Hogwarts business." Hagrid said proudly. "Need ter get young Harry here his school supplies."

Tom turned to regard Harry.

"Good Lord, is this- can this be-? Bless my soul. Harry Potter… what an honour. Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back."

Several people looked up at hearing Harry's name, and almost all of those walked over to him. Most of them bowed, greeted him or asked to shake his hand. He didn't have a clue what was going on. Welcome back from what? How did these people know who he was?

"Yes, err… we should be goin', now. Got lots of stuff ter do and all." Hagrid said once more, and he hastily pushed Harry towards the back of the pub.

"What did all those people want from me, Hagrid? How did they all know who I am?"

"Because yeh're famous, Harry." he replied.

"But why am I famous? I haven't done anything!" Harry said.

And so followed the tale of the Death of the Potters, and the survival of the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But Hagrid… that doesn't make any sense. How did I survive, while my parents didn't? He choked up at that last part.

"Well that's the question, innit? Nobody knows, Harry. That's why yeh're so famous. Yeh're the only one who has ever survived the Killing Curse." he said.

And with that, Hagrid turned around and went into the small room they were standing in front of. On the inside were just a brick wall, and a bucket with a mop in it in the corner. Hagrid tapped the tip of his pink umbrella in counter-clockwise order on the bricks in the wall. The bricks suddenly started turning away from the middle, and soon a smooth brick arch was defined, leading to a wide corridor lined with shops, people and other interesting things.

Harry grinned. "That's so cool." he said. He had just witnessed that no, his Aunt and Uncle weren't pulling some stupid joke. That it was all real. He couldn't describe how happy he felt. He was going to Hogwarts!

Hagrid smiled at him. "Firs' we'll be goin' to the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts. Need to get yeh yer money, an' all." he said, walking through the arch.

Harry was looking at the funny creatures behind one of the counters. 'I should probably be respectful to them.' he thought. After Hagrid gave the goblin behind the counter his Harry's key, they walked through a set of double doors at the back of the hall. The goblin entered a mine cart, and Hagrid and Harry followed him.

Harry couldn't believe his eyes when the goblin opened his vault. He had not had any money at the Dursley's, but he hadn't needed to to know that this was an amazingly large sum.

"Hagrid, how much is this?" he asked the giant figure. If he was going to go shopping, he should at least know how much he should bring with him.

Hagrid scratched his head with his overly-sized hand. "I'm not sure, Harry. 's certainly a lot yer parents left yeh. I would reckon tha' fer yer school supplies, yeh would need about a small bag full."

The goblin cleared his throat. "If I may, Mr Potter. Simply buying supplies, a medium-sized bag would do. If you would want some better equipment, however, I would suggest taking a bag a little bigger." he said.

Harry considered this. Was he content with just normal supplies? No, probably not. He wanted some improvements made, if possible. Judging from the contents of his vault, if he were to take a bag like the goblin suggested, he would still have a huge pile of gold. Making up his mind, he smiled.

"Give me a bag three times as big as your recommendation please, sir." he said.

Hagrid shifted uncontrollably. "Are yeh sure, Harry? That's a lot of money. Yeh will be needing it."

"Exactly Hagrid. I will need it. So why wouldn't I spent it on good equipment?" he retorted.

Hagrid seemed to have no valid reply to that, and thus the goblin filled a very big bag for Harry.

"So how much is in here?" Harry had to ask. He had to know his limits.

"I would assume about 500 galleons." the goblin said.

Harry's look of anticipation turned into a look of confusion. Of course he had seen that these were not just pounds, but he hadn't given it much more thought. "Right. Could you… explain to me the currency?" he asked quickly, not wanting to sound stupid.

The goblin looked at him funny, but explained it nonetheless.

"Alright, I think I got it. Thank you." Harry said. "So how much money is 500 galleons, in pounds?"

The goblin seemed to think for a moment, apparently calculating galleons to pounds. "Around 3700 pounds, sir." he said.

Harry had a sudden coughing fit. "3700 pounds?!" he exclaimed, not believing what he was hearing. If this bag contained nearly 4000 pounds, he couldn't even begin to fathom how much his vault contained. "But… Headmaster Dumbledore told me my little trust fund contained barely enough to buy me my school supplies!" he said.

Hagrid chuckled. "I think yer Aunt an' Uncle woulda done summat about yer money if they had known yeh had so much. Dumbledore is a good man, he is." he said.

Harry silently thanked Dumbledore for being so thoughtful. Taking the bag from the goblin, he and Hagrid sat back down in the cart. After a short ride, Harry was surprised to see them stop next to another vault. Hagrid got out.

"I'd prefer it if yeh won' tell anybody about this, Harry. Official Hogwarts business, very secretive." Hagrid said, looking a bit nervously at Harry.

Harry just nodded. Hagrid had been too kind to him, of course he wouldn't tell.

The goblin opened the vault, and Hagrid took out the small, stone-sized package inside, putting it in his pockets.

Once outside of Gringotts, Harry visited a couple of shops with Hagrid, including Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, Flourish and Blotts, which was the book shop, the apothecary and a couple of other, smaller shops. The apothecary was especially interesting, selling things like dragon liver, redcap toenails and other amazingly disgusting things.

At last, Hagrid took him to Olivanders Wand Shop. Harry had been excited for this since they had entered the alley. Hagrid said he needed to get something, so he left Harry to pick up his wand by himself.

Once outside again, he brandished his wand. It was made of holly, had a phoenix feather core, and was eleven inches long. The shop owner, Olivander, had told him something about his wand being the brother of You-Know-Who's wand. To be quite frank, the kind, though intimidating man had scared him a little.

Harry was just wondering where he ought to go next, when Hagrid came striding into view, carrying a beautiful snow-white owl in a cage. "Harry! I bought yeh a presen'!" he called out.

Harry stared at him in awe. He had actually bought him a present! As Hagrid came closer, he saw the owl eyeing him with interest. He would come up with a good name for her later. "Hagrid… I… thank you!" he said, before promptly hugging the giant man.

Hagrid was a loss for words. "There, there." he said, patting Harry on the back. "'s no problem, Harry. 's yer birthday, after all. No need ter thank me."

Harry let him go, and took the owl from him. "Thank you, Hagrid. This means a lot to me."

Hagrid couldn't quite hide his blush. "Come on, now. We need ter get yeh yer trunk, las' of all."

The trunk shop was very elegant, refined, and bore a sign titled "Tugwood Trunks and Tapestries". The inside contained all kinds of trunks. Big trunks, small trunks, yellow trunks, spherical trunks, even a trunk which seemed to move away when you got close.

A tall witch approached them. "May I help you, young Mr…?" she asked.

"Potter. Harry Potter, ma'am." he replied.

Her eyes widened a bit, glancing for his scar for a moment, but not commenting on it. "I see. Well then, I assume you are here for your Hogwarts trunk, Mr Potter?" she asked him.

"Yes, ma'am. But if possible, I would like a more complicated trunk, not the usual." he told her.

"I see." she said again. "Well then, may I enquire as to what you were going for?"

Harry looked around. "I was hoping you would have some suggestions, ma'am." he said. "I'm not particularly experienced, to be honest."

She seemed to consider this. "Very well, then. Come with me, please." she said, before turning around and going through a side door.

Harry and Hagrid followed her. Hagrid had a mildly curious look on his face.

Inside the room were several refined trunks. These were all polished, and the metal shone brightly. Several trunks had red, green, yellow or blue metals alongside the respectively golden, silver, black and bronze ones. He correctly assumed these were for the houses Hagrid had told him about.

Madam Tugwood turned to look at him. "These are all laced with defensive charms. Of course, all trunks have them, but these are a lot heavier, and will make sure only you have access to your trunk. Other trunks might be forced open or simply opened with relative ease, while these ones require more intricate spell work to open, which is generally too difficult for the common witch or wizard." she said, waving her arms around at the trunks. "The trunks in the front all have only one or two compartments, where you can store your stuff. Most of the time, they also have smaller, side compartments. These trunks, however…" she pointed at the trunks with Hogwarts colours.

Harry looked at them more closely. "They don't look that big." he said earnestly.

She actually laughed. "I'm sorry, Mr Potter. No, they don't look that big. There are numerous expansion charms on the trunks, magically expanding them from multiple drawers to entire rooms."

"Oh." was all Harry could say, amazed. He should have expected it, really.

"Yes." she continued. "I'm not sure… how much money you are willing to spend?" she asked him.

"How much do these cost? I'm willing to pay quite a bit for a decent trunk." he said.

She nodded approvingly. "These are all around 150 galleons." she said, motioning to most of the trunks in the room." she said, hoping he wouldn't find it too steep. To his credit, he didn't even flinch.

"That is acceptable. I spent barely 50 galleons on school supplies, so I still have over 400 galleons." he said to her surprise.

"I… very well." she said. She seemed to think for a moment. "I still have one… special trunk. It's the only one I have left, they are very rare. The last time I sold one was in 1938, to a young man expressing interest in rare artefacts. While they aren't artefacts, they are rare and capable of many things." she said, while leading them further into the room.

At the back of the room was a little step, on which stood a normal-sized trunk. It looked stunning. It was made of polished dark word, and had silver metal lain all around its curves. The metal strips seemed to be thick. The side halves were a bit thinner, but had beautiful, emerald green metal on top of it. The trunk was lined with very thin, golden lines in unreadable runes. The handle was silver, and shaped like a snakes head.

"This is… Hogwarts' Trunk." she said, coming to a halt. "While its name might not be promising, it's an ancient trunk made far from here. The golden runes give the trunk extra protection, and will stop anybody but the bound owner from opening it. It contains three, equally large, trunk-sized compartments, and four smaller side compartments. It also contains… well, maybe it's better if I show you." she said, before opening the bottom drawer of the trunk.

It was a thin compartment, and contained a trapdoor made of brown wood, with a golden handle. Madam Tugwood tugged on the handle, and the trapdoor opened, revealing a silver ladder going down. They followed her down the ladder into a room made of grey concrete. Along the three walls facing the ladder were a total of five doors. The long wall across from them contained three doors. Well, sort of. He couldn't quite explain it, but the two side doors looked a bit transparent. In the middle was a wooden door, its edges made of gold. There were golden plaques above the three doors which read, from left to right: "Common Room", "Choice Room" and "Room of Requirement". Hagrid's eyebrows rose as he read the last plaque.

"What?" Harry asked him, after seeing the look on his face.

"The Room o' Requirement… It be a sor' of myth. 's about a room which summons yer needs. So if yeh want it ter be a cosy room, that's wha' it becomes. I didn' think it actually existed, though." Hagrid said.

"That is true." Madam Tugwood said. "It gives you whatever room you need. Now, as for why these are sort of transparent, while the others aren't…" she began. Harry didn't listen, for he was looking at the two double doors in both side walls. The one on the left read "Great Hall" and the one on the right said "Hospital Wing".

"Mr Potter?" Madam Tugwood asked.

"Oh, sorry!" he said, embarrassed for not listening to her.

"It's quite alright. As I was saying, the room of requirement is meant to be summoned. It's not normally a door, that's why it's transparent." she said. "As for the common room, it adjusts to the owner's house. As soon as it's owner sorted, the door will become that of his or her house common room."

"So how do you summon the Room of Requirement, ma'am?" he asked, intrigued now.

"It's simple." she said. "You pace back and forth in front of it three times, while thinking what you need. So say, you would want a library, you would pace thrice and think: 'I need a library'. Now, I should probably explain the rules."

"Rules?" Harry asked.

"Yes, this is not simply an amazing object which you can use to infiltrate Hogwarts or to abuse. It has its limits." she said. "First of all, you can only use it inside of Hogwarts. Anywhere else, no door will open." she looked at Harry as he nodded, seeing the importance of that rule.

"The second rule… for every door you open, you lose 5 house points. For the Room of Requirement, you lose 20." she said.

Harry looked thoughtful. He hadn't heard all that much from Hagrid.

The giant man in question spoke up. "That's fair, I think. Although I did not earn lots of points mesself, you get a few points for answerin' questions correctly in class, normally one or two or five." he said. "But be careful, yeh can also lose points if yeh misbehave."

Harry nodded, prompting Madam Tugwood to continue. "Lastly, there's the choice room. It is self-explanatory; you may choose a room in Hogwarts for it to be connected to. There are limitations, however." she said. "You may not change the choice room once you have chosen, so choose wisely. You may choose from any classroom, such as potions or transfiguration, the kitchens, the staffroom, the library or your Head of House's office. You do not have to decide the choice room on purchase. You may choose a room by tapping your wand on the door and saying the name of the room."

Harry was trying to take this all in. "Could you write that all down, if I decide to purchase it? And also, how much does it cost?" he asked.

She seemed to think for a moment. "Yes, I can write that down for you. As for the cost… normally it's 500 galleons, but I'll make it 450 galleons. You are the Boy-Who-Lived, after all." she said.

Despite the fact that she was being nice, it took some effort not to roll his eyes at her. "Thank you, ma'am. That's awfully nice of you." he said, sincerely grateful. He had essentially just gotten his school supplies for free.

He looked in his money bag. The discoloured patch of cloth on the front said it contained 463 galleons. This meant he would have 13 galleons left for on the train and at Hogwarts. He was content with that, he probably wouldn't need any money at Hogwarts anyway.

"Oh, one final thing," she started "the metal colours will change according to your House allegiance."

All in all, it seemed like a very good trunk. He didn't have any expensive possessions (yet), but the defensive charms were nice. If he was going to spend this money wisely, which was only a fraction of what lay in his vault, this would be a worthwhile investment.

Harry smiled. "I'll take it."

Well? How was that for a first chapter? I'm new to this site (in terms of posting, I've read quite a lot of fics mesself), so I'm not sure if the line breaks worked and all. What did you think of the story? I'm hoping at least somebody will read this, the feeling of somebody appreciating your work is great. Nevertheless, I hope you liked it. Look forward (or not) to another chapter coming within probably 1-2 weeks (sorry, but don't hold it against me if not, I'm new to scheduling this and all!). Next chapter... we'll you'll see. Cheers!

P.S. Flames are accepted, but will be distinguished. Feel free to leave criticism, it helps a lot!