Harry didn't stay very long with the Dursely's. Watch Harry make his way through the wizarding world on his terms, making friends along the way. HPSS. Warning: Underage stuff. Please don't flame, I'm warning you now.

Trickster: Chapter One

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Harry was going to go shopping in London today for the first time. He was terribly excited. He was six years old today! He thought maybe he'd been a good enough boy for his special treat on his birthday. Certainly a trip to London made up for the ones his Aunt and Uncle had missed before.

He glanced to his Aunt Petunia, who seemed to be searching the street for something. He grabbed her hand. She looked down at him and pulled away from his hand, muttering something about Freaks. Harry looked to the ground. He was always the Freak. His cousin insisted that was Harry's name, that it should be changed to it, but Harry knew his name was Harry Potter. They said so when he started school this past fall.

They got to a really busy street. His Aunt saw a building and stiffened. "That's where you're going. Don't look for us, we're moving." She muttered, pushing Harry towards a dingy looking pub.

Harry's jaw dropped as he stumbled to the front steps of the pub, and he looked around. She was gone! He looked down at the ground for a moment and sighed. Maybe she knew people here? He went in, and stared. There were the strangest looking people he'd ever seen... his Aunt and Uncle had always told him magic didn't exist…but those chairs really floated!

He saw several people go to a door in the back, and not come back. He saw some more go through. And some more. He wondered what was back there. He followed another group in, and it was a doorway of sorts, to the most amazing place!

He looked around with wide eyes at all the shops and books, and people in capes and strange looking clothes…he was accidentally pushed through a swell of people, and he wandered over to a darker street. He looked around. People were poorer around here, he could tell, the things on the main street weren't as nice here…why did he feel more comfortable here? Maybe it was the clothes…

He smiled as he saw a tabby cat leading three smaller cats into an alley. He chased it into the alley and picked up one of the smaller ones. "Hello there…"

The cat looked at him, purring as Harry scratched behind it's ears. Harry jumped, and so did the cat in his arms, and they all scattered as one of the shop doors that opened into the alley opened. An old man was dragging out a barrel of…something.

He stopped as he saw Harry staring at him. "Kid, where's your mother?"

"Haven't got one. She's dead."

The man frowned.

"You've eaten?"

Harry shook his head, his stomach rumbling at the mention of food. He flushed, grabbing his tummy.

The man called him in, and Harry went inside. He looked around with wide eyes at the small shop full of barrels and cases full of foreign looking bugs and things. It was rather dirty and messy, his Aunt would have a heart attack in here.

The man didn't notice his reaction, going up a flight of stairs. "Come on kid."

Harry went upstairs with the man, looking around at the small flat. It was much cleaner than the shop downstairs. The man fiddled around in the kitchen for a bit, telling Harry to sit at the table. Harry looked out the grimy window outside, seeing some of the shoppers outside. It was getting dark out.

The man put a bit of bread and some soup in front of him. "Here."

Harry grinned. "Thank you sir." He grabbed the bread hungrily and started to eat the soup quickly. The man stared at him for the longest time. "You got a place to go kid?"

Harry paused, swallowing a bit. "My aunt…she just left me here. I…I've never been to London before…she said I should be with people like me…"

"You have magic kid?"

Harry stared. "Magic? I…don't know-"

"You make things happen?"

Harry nodded.

"You got magic, then." The man slumped into a seat.

"Sounds like your Aunt is a mean old wench, gettin' rid of a kid just because of their magic. Can you read?"

Harry nodded with a smile. He'd started just before he turned four on his Aunt's cookbooks, and said so to the man.

The man gave him a small smile, holding out his hand. "Henry. I can't read very much anymore," (he pointed to his eyes at this) "and I have plenty of orders that need to be filled. You can stay here and help me out."

Harry grinned. "Sure! So…um, what exactly do you do?"

"I sell potions and potions ingredients. I have suppliers come in every Monday, people pick up their orders on Fridays and Saturdays."

The man glanced to Harry's robes. "Tomorrow's Sunday, it'll be slow, so I'll close the shop for a bit, so I can show you around the place, show you what you need to do." He pointed to a couch over by a fireplace. "You can sleep there tonight."

Harry grinned. "Thank you…this is…thanks!"

The man gave him a toothy grin, ruffling his hair. "Don't mention it kid. What's your name?"

"Harry."

"Nice to meet you kid, now I have to go back downstairs for a bit, so you go on to sleep."

--

The next morning, Henry gave him a set of second hand child's robes. They were black, and somewhat dingy around the edges, but they fit him just right, so it didn't matter to Harry.

Henry showed him to the back of the shop, where he prepared all of the ingredients, was his favorite place. There was the display place in front of the window, a shelves of cauldrons and ingredients, some things would need to be replaced regularly, if it was not sold, it would be used to make potions.

"So, what do you like to do Kid?"

"Do?" Harry was confused. What did he like to do? What kind of question was that?

"Like a hobby, like read, or draw, or something kids do…I dunno." Henry murmured with a frown.

"Well…I like to read. A lot. But I wasn't allowed to read anything else besides my school books and my Aunt's cookbooks, they said I couldn't…um, it was too dark in the cupboard to draw, and I didn't really have any toys…" Harry said, looking down.

He missed the thunderous look on Henry's face, which cleared when he looked back up.

"Don't worry Kid. You'll get all the books you ever want. There's a bookstore right across the way, Matilda doesn't mind if you sit there and read. She's one for knowledge and all that, a little too much I say, but she'd like you."

Harry smiled a bit at that.

"Now let me show you how I make the potions, you can read off the instructions while I make 'em." Harry beamed.

--

Harry loved Knockturne Alley, the place he found he'd wandered into. It was January now, nearly six months after he came to this place. It was home. Harry found out Henry was a werewolf, and locked himself in the cellar every full moon. The noises he heard from the cellar were frightening, so he tended to wander the streets instead. He couldn't stay in the flat when he heard Henry hurt.

Matilda waved to him from the window of her shop as she closed up for the night. Harry waved back, locking the door of the shop behind him, slipping his outer cloak on. There weren't a lot of kids around here, and the ones who were were pickpockets, the ones that didn't bother trying to earn an honest living like Harry, usually squibs.

Harry frowned and moved out of the way as he saw a group of them hurry by. They didn't really like Harry. Harry went to Marshall's pub, like he usually did the night of the full moon. There were a lot less people here on full moons, as most of the customers tended to be werewolves. Marshall grinned at him from the bar.

"Hey Kid!" Harry was called Kid, affectionately. A lot of people didn't really bother with names around here, especially for children, unless they did something wrong. Harry ordered his usual fish and chips, and opened his latest book. It was a beginner's Arithmicancy book. It was a lot like his math books in a way, but much more interesting.

Marshall grinned as he saw the kid open his book, eating his dinner around it. The kid came by every full moon at this time, like clockwork. He knew old man Henry was a werewolf, that's probably why the kid came here. He was surprised when Henry took the kid in, but…the boy grew on you. He was so…naïvely innocent and it seemed the darker bits of Knockturne just bounced right off him.

He'd escape this place one day, no doubt about it. Do something important.

A lot of people said that when they looked at him. He just gave off that feeling. But the kid was humble, always, saying that he wasn't much, and he'd go back to whatever he was doing. Marshall went back to scrubbing the table, smiling a bit as he remembered when he arrived to Knockturne.

Harry looked up as he saw a few regulars walk in. "Hey Kid." They all called out with small smiles, sitting at the bar.

Harry grinned back. "Penny, Grey, Vicky."

"How's it goin' kid? What you readin' there?"

"Beginner's Arithmicancy."

"Bloody hell Kid, you're a regular genius, you know that?" Penny laughed.

Harry flushed, looking down.

"Yeah, one day, we'll tell everyone we knew you once, that'll be the day…"

"Hey, you thinkin' about goin' to apprenticeship or somethin'?"

Harry shrugged. "I hope so. I'm only six, I think I have quite a bit of time before I do that, though."

They all laughed, turning back to their mead. Harry went back to his book, eating the rest of his chips.

--

Harry went back as the sun rose to the shop. He knew Henry would be asleep for most of the day, so he went ahead and opened it up. He would be dead tired tonight, since he didn't sleep last night, but someone had to be in the shop. It was quiet this morning, as most people weren't out this early. He had his Arithmicancy book open out on the counter as he boxed ingredients together for an order, reading at the same time.

He missed the man coming in. "Boy."

Harry jumped, looking up. "Sorry sir, I…"

The dark haired man rolled his eyes. "I came for my order." Harry paused. "Name sir?"

"Severus Snape." Harry's eyes widened. Severus Snape was quite known around Knockturne, it was rumored he'd come out of this place himself, and was a potions genius…

"You must be a new customer then…" Harry murmured, going to the back, looking for the man's order. He saw the man's package, grabbed it, and came out.

"Here you go sir…" He trailed off as he saw the man looking at his book. "Hey, give that back-"

He hoped the man didn't steal it, Matilda had leant that to him…

"Beginner's Arithmicancy." He grabbed the package from Harry, eyeing the boy carefully.

"How old are you boy?"

"Six." Harry said softly, his eyes never leaving the book. "That's not my book, I only borrowed it…may I please have it back?"

Snape handed it back to him, a slight smirk on his lips. "You didn't grow up around here. Your language hasn't been butchered yet."

Harry glared at him. "Henry, the shopkeeper took me in when I was left here this past summer, if you must know…" Harry muttered.

The man opened his package, eyeing some of the ingredients carefully, holding up a vial to the light. He nodded curtly, setting it back, and closed it back up.

"If the ingredients are prepared this sufficiently next time, I may come back." Snape said as he walked out the door. Harry beamed. Having Snape as a regular would draw some great business…

--

"Kid, I think you've read nearly all the books in my store." Matilda called out as Harry entered the shop. "Hey Matilda." Harry was nine now, he'd been in Knockturne for three years. And it was still home. Matilda was a squib from an old pureblood family. She was terribly smart, especially about history and she was even older than Henry!

Harry returned his books back to their proper places.

"Hey, maybe you should think about going to Diagon. They have a real nice bookstore there."

"Probably full of the boring books…" Harry murmured, looking at all the titles of the musty looking books as he passed. Matilda laughed.

"How's Henry doing?"

"Fine, just fine. The last full moon didn't settle right with him…he sleeps more now." Harry said softly.

Matilda frowned. "How's the shop going along?"

"Fine." Harry said absentmindedly as he saw a book he was looking for on transfiguration. He still didn't have a wand, he wouldn't be able to use it anyways.

"How's Little Jackie and Violet doing?"

Harry grinned. They were two kids that he was teaching how to read on the side, both kids were werewolves. "They're doing just fine, Mama Sammy is treatin' them real well." Mama Sammy was an old woman that took a lot of children in that were werewolves, at the far end of the Alley.

"That's good…so, how old are you now kid?"

"Um…nine now."

She smiled. "I remembered when you were just a wee thing, you're still a little runty though."

"Hey!"

She walked out from behind her counter, cocking her head. "You know, you could do right proper at Hogwarts. I bet you you're smarter than all those kids there, and you actually use that brain you got there..."

Harry flushed, looking down. "You have to have money to go to Hogwarts. Anyways, Henry said he'd teach me right. I've already learned a lot with him."

Matilda gave him a sad smile. "All right kid…you know what…we cant call you kid anymore…you wont be much of a kid any longer, you'll be hittin' double digits soon."

Harry giggled. "Harry." She smiled. "That your real name boy?"

Harry nodded. She shrugged, going back to her counter. "Hey, maybe you should talk to those Goblin's that stop by Maggie's pub all the time, I bet you can make a deal with them to get you some books."

Harry grinned. "You really think so?"

"Yeah. They like clever people, as look as you're real polite to them. Lots of the rich folks down in Diagon think they're better than the Goblins, but you should know better. They're terribly smart."

--

Harry wandered down to Maggie's pub one night. He hadn't been here often at night, as it was mostly visited by vampires, and a few goblins. He walked in. Maggie grinned at him from the counter. "Kid, what you doin' here? You're usually here durin' the day…"

"Just came by for a spot of butterbeer…" She grinned, handing him one. "You know, I had to order some just for you…you're my youngest customer."

Harry flushed, opening his bottle. "I'm sorry…"

She winked. "That's all right Kid, I wouldn't be about to give you fire whisky or some such, that'll ruin you, it will."

Harry watched the goblins that were playing poker in the corner as he sipped his butter beer. A vampire sidled up to him, smiling idly, his fangs showing. "Hello."

"Hey." Harry said softly, still staring at the goblins. They glanced his way for a moment, and then went back to their card game.

"My name is Stephan."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Harry." Harry said shortly, not liking how the vampire was looking at him. Maggie cleared her throat behind them, and Stephan backed off a bit, seeing the look on her face.

"Go home kid. Go on to Henry." Harry nodded, ducking out of the pub. He sighed as he went into the dark shop, locking the door behind him. He went upstairs, smiling as he saw Henry sprawled out on his bed asleep. He went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. He looked much older than his age, but he guessed it was just from dealing with what he had over the years. He was pale. Nearly everyone was in Knockturne. He washed his face, watching water drip from his chin.

He was Harry. Kid. Just Harry. And he had a secret. No one knew but he and Henry what his last name was. He lifted his long bangs, revealing his lightning bolt scar. Potter. The Boy Who Lived. He heard Harry Potter's name cursed and celebrated enough times over the years to know exactly how people felt about him.

The wouldn't know. They couldn't. He would have thought some one would have found out he was missing or something, some long lost family member…but no. The Daily Prophet held no news of him. Not one peep. It was just as well anyways.

His hair was long now, reaching just past his shoulders. It was hard to take care of, working over a cauldron all day though messed it up terribly. He liked his eyes though. Bright green. Loads of people loved them, they said it made him look adorable. He rolled his eyes at his reflection. He didn't want to be adorable, he wanted to be respected…but that wouldn't happen until he was older.

He idly wondered if they knew his name…what would happen.

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