Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
And I am aware that the first couple of chapters is mostly verbatim from the books. I however want to show where and what exactly it is that I will be changing. You can skip the book parts as it is in Italics. Easy no?
DIAGON ALLEY
Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.
"It was a dream." He told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards and that I never received my second letter. When I open my eyes I'll be back at the Dursley's home in Dudley's second bedroom."
There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.
'And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door.' Harry thought his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"I'm getting up." Harry mumbled.
He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight; the storm was over. Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window a newspaper held in its beak.
Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though there were butterflies were fluttering inside his stomach. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.
"Don't do that." Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.
"Hagrid!" Harry called out to him. "There's an owl."
"Pay him." Hagrid grunted into the sofa.
"What?"
"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets. Bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags. Finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange looking coins.
"Give him five Knuts." said Hagrid sleepily.
"Knuts?" He asked.
"The little bronze ones."
Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.
Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up and stretched.
"Best be off Harry, lots ter do today. Gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."
Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the butterflies inside him had died.
"Um. Hagrid?"
"Mm?" Said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.
"I haven't got any money. And you heard Uncle Vernon last night. He won't pay for me to go and learn magic."
"Don't worry about that." Hagrid standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"
"But if their house was destroyed-"
"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold- An' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."
"Wizards have banks?"
"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."
Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.
"Goblins?"
"Yeah. So yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe, 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts, knows he can trust me see.
"Got everythin'? Come on, then."
Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.
"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat. "Flew," said Hagrid.
"Flew?"
"Yeah, but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."
They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid trying to imagine him flying.
"Seems a shame ter row though." Hagrid giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter. Er. Speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"
"Of course not." Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again tapped it twice on the side of the boat and they sped off toward land.
"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.
"Spells. Enchantments." Hagrid unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the highsecurity vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way. Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."
Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult he'd never had so many questions in his life.
"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual." Hagrid muttered, turning the page.
"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry spoke before he could stop himself.
"'Course." Hagrid said. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister. 0 ' course but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."
"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"
"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."
"Why?"
"Why? Blimey Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."
At this moment, the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street, the boat rowing itself back to the little rock island.
Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly. "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"
"Hagrid," Harry panting a bit as he jogged to keep up. "Did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"
"Well, so they say." Hagrid said wistfully. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."
"You'd like one?"
"Wanted one ever since I was a kid. Ah, here we go."
They had reached the station. Luckily there was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand. "Muggle money." As he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.
People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.
"Still got yer letter Harry?" He asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.
"Good." Said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."
Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
wand cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set
glass or crystal phials
telescope set
brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.
"If yeh know where to go." Said Hagrid.
Harry had never really, been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.
"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic." He said puzzled as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.
Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily, all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this be some huge joke that the Dursley's had cooked up?
If Harry hadn't known that the Dursley's had no sense of humor and with how they acted last night, he might have thought so. And yet somehow even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.
"This is it." Hagrid coming to a halt. "The Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."
It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't said something, Harry would have thought that it was just another pub. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it, which was strange. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.
For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass saying. "The usual, Hagrid?"
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.
"Good Lord." Said the bartender, peering at Harry. "Is this- Can this be?"
The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.
"Bless my soul, it is." Whispered the old bartender. "Harry Potter. What an honor."
He hurried out from behind the bar rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.
"Welcome back, Mr. Potter. Welcome back."
Harry was overwhelmed, he didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.
Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter can't believe I'm meeting you at last."
"So proud, Mr. Potter. I'm just so proud."
"Always wanted to shake your hand. I'm all of a flutter."
"Delighted Mr. Potter, just can't tell you. Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."
"I've seen you before!" Harry remembered, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."
"He remembers!" Dedalus Diggle cried, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again. Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.
A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.
"Professor Quirrell!" Said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."
"P-P-Potter." Stammered Professor Quirrell grasping Harry's hand and letting go immediately. "C-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you." He continued.
Harry was more interested in the painful jolt in his scar and hand that shaking the professor's hand had caused to reply right away. Harry looked towards the professor in curiousity, and asked.
"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"
"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts." Muttered Professor Quirrell as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it. Eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.
But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.
"Must get on. Lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."
Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small walled courtyard. Where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.
Hagrid grinned at Harry, who was not feeling to well as he had a headache and was very overwhelmed.
"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh. Mind you, he's usually tremblin'."
Harry was very interested in the professor because of the pain in his scar when he'd shook the professors hand. "Is he always that nervous?" He questioned.
"Oh yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience. They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag. Never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now. Where's me umbrella?"
'Vampires? Hags?' Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.
"Three up. Two across he muttered. "Right, stand back and watch Harry."
He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.
The last brick he had touched quivered. It wriggled. In the middle, a small hole appeared. It grew wider and wider. A second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.
"Welcome." Hagrid turned to Harry. "To Diagon Alley."
He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. He was too distracted looking around to ask about anything.
The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons. All Sizes. Copper. Brass. Pewter. Silver. Self-Stirring. Collapsible. The sign read hanging over them.
"Yeah, you'll be needin' one." Hagrid told him. "But we gotta get yer money first."
Harry wished he had was able to split himself into eight more people so he could see everything there was. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed mumbling to herself. "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad."
A low soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium. Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys around Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look." Harry heard one of them say to the others. "The new Nimbus Two Thousand. Fastest ever." There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before. Windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon.
"Gringotts." Hagrid said.
They had reached a snowy white lopsided building, that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold was.
"Yeah, that's a goblin." Hagrid spoke quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him.
The goblin was about four and one inch's feet tall not much shorter than Harry, who came to four feet and four and a half inches. The goblin had a swarthy clever face a pointed beard, and Harry noticed very long fingers and feet. The goblin gave a small head bow as they walked inside.
Harry wanting to not be rude or to be disrespectful, returned the bow to the goblin. Now they were facing a second pair of doors silver this time, with words engraved upon them.
Enter stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it." Hagrid told him again.
A pair of goblins gave another small head bow to them through the silver doors, that Harry again returned.
They were now in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.
"Morning." Hagrid spoke to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."
"You have his key, Sir?"
"Got it here somewhere" Hagrid told the goblin and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose.
Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals, while wondering why and how exactly it was that Hagrid had his key. He'd thought that he would have to meet his parents account manager or something of the like to gain access to the account. It did not make sense to him that someone that he'd never met, apart from when he was a baby when his parents were alive.
"Got it." Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.
The goblin looked at it closely, as if inspecting the key to make sure that it was real and not a fake copy.
"That seems to be in order."
"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore." Hagrid said importantly throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."
The goblin read the letter carefully.
"Very well." He said handing it back to Hagrid. "I will have Someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"
Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.
"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry curiously asked.
"Can't tell yeh that." Hagrid said mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."
Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in. Hagrid with some difficulty. And then they were off.
At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering anything.
Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but it was to late. They plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.
Harry feeling a bit awkward decided to try and make conversation with Hagrid. "I never remember." Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart. "What's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?" He tried. Harry knew the answer, but he wanted to know what the limits were with this new person. He did not want to accidentally make a wrong move and have Hagrid angry enough to hit him. Looking at Hagrid, Harry knew it would not take much effort on Hagrid's part in order to seriously injure, or worse, kill him.
"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," Hagrid's wavered a bit. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."
At that Harry flinched reminded of his aunt and uncle. Though from what Harry could see, Hagrid did look very green. When the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall. Hagrid got out and leaned against the wall.
Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.
"All yours," smiled Hagrid.
All Harry's! It was incredible. The Dursley's couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than he could blink. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep a roof over his head? Though not that they ever spent any money on him anyways. While all this time there has been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.
Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.
"The gold ones are Galleons." He started explaining. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, the goblins will keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now please, and can we go more slowly?"
"One speed only." Griphook spoke with what looked to Harry a smirk on his face.
They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled around tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.
Harry flinched, stifling a whimper and decided to not bother Hagrid much more on this trip, other than what he already had. Hagrid had pulled at the lashes on his back from his uncle that had not had the time to heal. Harry thought that some of the lashes were infected, but hadn't been able to get to his aunts first aid kit recently.
Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.
"Stand back." Griphook said importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there" Griphook smirked.
"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry questioned.
"About once every ten years." Griphook told him with a rather nasty grin.
Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure. And he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see piles of jewels or money at the very least. But at first it looked empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.
"Come on, back in this infernal cart. And don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid gruffly. Harry stifled another flinch, again reminded of his aunt and uncle.
One wild cart ride later they were walking back to the lobby when Harry asked. "Hagrid is it possible to covert some of my wizarding money to pounds?" Thinking that he could use the money to come back to the wizarding alley and look around some more.
"O' course you can. But why would yeh want to do that?" Hagrid looked at Harry.
"Well I wouldn't mind buying things in the muggle world when I go back to the Dursley's."
"Well you go an' do that while I wait by th' doors. Alright?" Hagrid asked.
"Sure." Harry replied happily. He went over to a free teller the goblin looked a bit busy, so he waited until he was called on. The goblin upon noticing that Harry was waiting he set aside his work. "What do you want?"
"I would like to exchange some galleons to pounds please." Harry requested politely.
"Very well, what is the amount you would like to exchange?" The goblin asked.
Harry blinked, he didn't know how much pounds there was to a galleon or anything. "I'm sorry, but could you please tell me how much muggle to wizard money is?"
"Very well, it is 5 pounds to 1 galleon." The goblin answered. Harry quickly did the math for 500£. "I'd like to exchange 100 galleons please."
"Would you like to withdraw it from your vault or here?"
Harry thought about that and while he had plenty of galleon on him, he didn't know how much his school things would cost. "From my vault please."
"Key." The goblin requested. Harry handed him his key. The goblin took the key examined it and stamped some papers that he then handed to Harry to sign. With that was done the goblin handed him his key back, along with a clip of notes.
"Thank you Bloodaxe." Harry said, he then turned and left to go rejoin Hagrid. Harry left too quickly that he never saw the calculating glean Bloodaxe fixed on him as he walked away.
Both Harry and Hagrid stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to go to first now that he had money to use. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life. Maybe even more money than even Dudley had ever had, he wasn't to sure about that though.
"Might as well get yer uniform firs'." Hagrid said nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen Harry I've been thinkin', would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." Now that Harry could see Hagrid in the daylight he did look a bit sick.
Harry nodded and started heading towards Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.
When Harry entered Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.
"Hogwarts dear?" The woman asked before Harry could even speak. "Got the lot here. Another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."
In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipping a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.
"Hello." The boy started. "Hogwarts, too?"
"Yes." Harry answered.
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands." The boy had a bored, drawling voice that didn't suit him. "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."
Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley from how he spoke. But he also knew that first impressions were always off. It always was, at least for Harry. From all the rumours that his aunt and uncle spread everyone treated him like a thief, all before they even met him. They also never changed their minds to try and get to know him either.
"Have you got your own broom?" The boy continued.
"No."
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No." Harry said again wondering what Quidditch could be.
"I do. Father says it'd a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"
"No," Harry feeling stupid and depressed for not knowing anything by the minute, Hagrid was right he didn't know anything about anything.
"Well, no one really knows until they get there do they. But I know I'll be in Slytherin, all my family has been. Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave. Wouldn't you?"
"Mmm." Harry went along wishing he could talk about anything else but this. He would regret thinking that in a few minutes.
"I say, look at that man!" The boy spoke up suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.
"That's Hagrid." Harry spoke pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."
"Oh." The boy said. "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"
"He's the gamekeeper." Said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second for he sounded almost exactly like Dudley did from how he was acting. Harry did not want to deal with another bully when he wanted to leave the Dursley's behind him.
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage. Lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."
"I think he's nice." Harry coldly told the boy.
"Do you?" The boy said with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"
"They're dead." Said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like telling anybody who he was after what happened earlier in the leaky cauldron. He also didn't was to speak with the boy much anymore right now as it seemed like he was just going to become more nasty about the things that they were talking about.
"Oh sorry." The other boy said not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"
"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you want to know."
"Good, I really don't think they should let the other sort in don't you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine that. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway? I've never met or seen you before."
As Harry went to answer the blonde before he could say a word, Madam Malkin spoke interrupting them. "That's you done, my dear." And Harry, not really sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy about the current topics, hopped down from the footstool.
"Well I'll see you at Hogwarts then, I suppose." The blonde boy drawled.
Harry was rather quiet as he thought over the encounter with the boy from the robe shop. He realized that he the boy was somewhat right; he didn't know anything about the wizarding world or magic at all. He resolved to find some books about them and read up on it.
"What's up?" Hagrid asked him.
"Nothing," Harry lied. He didn't want Hagrid to get upset again about him not knowing anything, plus it was embarrassing. They stopped to buy parchment and quills, Harry wondered if he could use normal pen and paper as the quill looked hard to write with, and the parchment was not bound together so it wasn't good for note keeping. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote, he found that neat. When they had left the shop, he had finally gathered enough courage and asked. "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"
"Blimey Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know. Not knowin' about Quidditch!"
"Don't make me feel worse." Harry was red with embarrassment. Harry then went on to ask.
"I overheard someone that said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."
"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were. He's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what do they know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles. Look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"
"I guess. So, what is Quidditch?"
"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like. Like football in the Muggle world. Everyone follows Quidditch. Played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls. Sorta hard ter explain the rules."
"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"
"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers. But better Hufflepuff than Slytherin." Hagrid said darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."
"Vol-. Sorry, You-Know-Who went to Hogwarts?" Harry was curious about why Hagrid said that all Slytherin's went bad, the boy wasn't bad enough to be considered evil. A bully, but surely not everyone who was in that house was like that?
"Years an' years ago." Hagrid spoke as if recalling a memory.
They bought Harry's school books from Flourish and Blotts. Hagrid dragged Harry away from the history section where he was looking for books about the wizarding world and customs.
" I was trying to find out more about the history of the wizarding world." Harry protested trying to go back and find the best book to learn about this new world.
"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yeh will cove' that in history o' magic." Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh wouldn' prolly want to read those dry ol' books." Hagrid waved him off.
Harry still wanted to know, because he didn't really want to be caught unaware like today. Though Hagrid only let him buy what was on the required school list and not a thing more.
They got his pewter cauldron and a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients, and a collapsible brass telescope.
Then they went to the Apothecary which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. The cabbage smell reminded Harry of old Mrs. Figg.
Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls. Bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling.
While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes five Knuts a scoop. Harry wanted to get more as he would like to try some small things out so he could get somewhat familiar working with everything.
Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.
"Just yer wand left. Oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."
Harry felt himself go pale remembering all of his past presents from his uncle. Harry didn't want anything.
"You don't have to-"
"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yeh animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at. An' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yeh mail an' everythin'."
Harry was relieved and bemused he didn't think that there was anything wrong with toads, he didn't mind cats and he didn't know anything about owls.
Twenty minutes later they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.
"Don' mention it" Hagrid said gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursley's. Just Ollivander's left now. Only place fer wands, Ollivander's, and yeh gotta have the best wand."
'A magic wand.' This was what Harry had been really looking forward to, as he can now probably do more than just grow his hair. Granted he didn't try much of anything else as a lot had happened since that day, he promised himself that he would practice magic when he had time alone as he got the feeling from shopping with Hagrid that he wouldn't let Harry even think about trying to do anything not expressly on the school list.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait.
Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library, but there was a warm feeling that he felt in here. Sort of like a warm summers day, he felt like when he had while trying out magic a week ago. Harry swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon." Said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.
An old man was standing before them, his wide pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Hello." Harry said feeling awkward.
"Ah yes." Said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.
"Your father on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it. It's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."
Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.
"And that's where."
Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long white finger.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it." He spoke softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful. And in the wrong hands. Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do."
He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief spotted Hagrid.
"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again. Oak sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"
"It was, sir yes." Hagrid said solemnly.
"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" Mr. Ollivander suddenly stern.
"Er. Y-yes, they did, yes," Hagrid said now shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though." He added brightly.
"But you don't use them?" Mr. Ollivander asked sharply.
"Oh no, sir." Hagrid answered quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.
"Hmmm." Mr. Ollivander hummed, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now. Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Er. well, I'm write with my right hand." Harry answered unsurely.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he talked. "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.
"That will do." He said and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."
Harry took the wand and felt foolish when he waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try."
Harry tried. But he had hardly raised the wand when it too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.
"No, no. Here ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches springy. Go on, go on try it out."
Harry tried and tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves. The happier he seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere. I wonder, now. Yes, why not. Unusual combination. Holly and phoenix feather eleven inches, nice and supple."
Harry took the wand. He felt a rush of sudden warmth in his fingers and throughout his whole body, he raised the wand above his head brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of green, orange, blue, purple, white, black, gray, red and gold ribbons shot from the end and floated to the floor.
Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed. Oh, very good. Well, well, well. How curious. How very curious."
He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering. "Curious. Curious.
"Sorry." Harry apologized. "But what's curious?"
Mr. Ollivander picked up the ribbons off the floor and fixed Harry with his pale stare.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather. Just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."
Harry swallowed.
"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember. I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter. After all He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things. Terrible yes, but great."
"It is also curious that these ribbons came out of your wand Mr. Potter. Normally children who are just getting their first wand only have one or two sparks explode from the tip, kind of like fireworks. These colours represent you somewhat, either what you have or what you can achieve." Mr. Ollivander handed Harry te ribbons. "I will let you find out the rest of what it means on your own. However, be careful of them Mr. Potter. These colours to the right person, tells quite a bit about a person, keep an eye on them."
Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked what Mr. Ollivander told him too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.
The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley. Back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron that was now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road, he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station. Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.
"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves." He said.
He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.
"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet." Hagrid enquired.
Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life. And yet. He chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.
"Everyone thinks I'm special." he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander. But I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol- Sorry. I mean, the night my parents died."
Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows, he wore a very kind smile.
"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts. I did. Still do, 'smatter of fact."
Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursley's, then handed him an envelope.
"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " He said. "First o' September. King's Cross. It's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursley's send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me. See yeh soon, Harry."
The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight, he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.
This is only the beginning to the story, and I didn't want to immediately start off where I changed things because it didn't seem right.
Disclaimer - Harry Potter or anything associated does not belong to me.
Enjoy.