DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and it's universe belongs to JK Rowling or whichever company really has it's legal rights. I just fool around with it's universe and characters.

A/N FAQ: For all those wondering "why not all 3 pairings?". I never meant that wasn't a possibility. To be honest, I haven't ruled out other possible pairings yet. All I mean is that Hermione, Tonks and Luna are the most likely candidates to end up in a love relationship with Harry. If turns out to be a harem or not, it will depend on how they evolve within my head (and therefore within the story) as I continue writing. I don't want to set anything in stone this early as it will be a long journey and I can't tell for sure how everything will turn out to be. (P.S.: Don't think I got angry at those who did ask about it. I just thought I'd run those kinds of reviews as FAQs in the next chapter)

I wanna thank my awesome brother for acting as my Alpha


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The wandering path of a Battlemage

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CHAPTER 002

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Three Sundays had gone by, and there had been no news from that wretched Hogwarts School. If they didn't show up today, he would have to give up any kind of hope, as classes were supposed to begin next Thursday.

Harry prepared breakfast for the Dursleys as any other Sunday and waited with baited breath for them to leave for church. Once they were gone, he began his own breakfast. He was halfway through it when he heard a tap on the kitchen's window.

"Oh bloody hell! Damn owls can't let me…" -Harry trailed off as he watched out the window. This time there was no owl as he had expected. Instead there was an older woman with stern eyes doing her best to hide the amusement from her face while watching him.

How she had arrived at the back garden instead of the front door he couldn't imagine. But he approached the back door nonetheless and welcomed her in.

"Thank you Mr. Potter. I am Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and professor of Hogwarts. I came here today in order to answer any questions you and your family may have as well as to escort you to Diagon Alley so that you may buy all the necessary equipment for the school year. Now, where is the rest of your family?"

"Umm… They have gone to church and won't be back for a while. So maybe we could go shopping for my stuff in the meantime?" -Harry nervously inquired. He wasn't overly confident that he would pull today off, she seemed to be a no nonsense kind of woman. And she wore those strange clothes… robes maybe? They were a rich burgundy colour.

*****************(Minerva)******************

Minerva found it all to be quite strange. Harry looked a lot scrawnier than James had ever been, shorter as well if her memory recalled properly. The scar seemed to be gone despite Albus' prediction. And his clothes seemed a lot worse for wear, aside from being clearly oversized.

Not only that, but neither of his aunt and uncle were present nor did he seem eager to witness any demonstration of magic. Granted, he was a wizard, but she had been fairly certain that this family wouldn't entertain the slightest idea of magic, back in the day when she had joined Albus and Hagrid to leave Harry in the Dursleys care. One could say that her feline instincts smelled something fishy, but perish the thought.

******************(Harry)*******************

After a few moments of further consideration, Minerva relented. "Alright Mr. Potter, we shall head to the alley and leave the meeting with your family for later. Do you mind if I call you Harry?"

"Of course not, professor. Should I change my clothes or bring anything for the trip?" -Harry replied feeling slightly relaxed now that he had managed to advance with his plan.

"Please, call me Minerva while we are off the school grounds. And you don't need to do anything. If you allow me instead, I could actually transfigurate your clothes in order to blend in amongst the crowd. It will be less likely that they recognize you that way"

'Recognize me? What could she mean?' -He wondered to himself- "Sure, go ahead Minerva" -he finally replied, eager to get going.

And so, with a swish of a stick which she pulled out from her robes, she changed Harry's old and baggy clothes into a set of plain black robes which fitted him perfectly. He was amazed to actually have sleeves fitting for his size.

"Wow! That's awesome!" -Harry exclaimed- "So, how do we get there?"

Minerva chuckled as she said- "Just hold on tight to my hand. And all you need to do is be willing to follow me."

Harry took the offered hand and before he had time to question anything else, he felt a pull from his navel and felt himself being squeezed through reality itself. A couple of seconds later the nauseating sensation was gone and he felt solid ground under his feet. He fell to his knees on hard stone, still clutched to Minerva's hand for dear life. He dry heaved a couple of times before he was able to compose himself and stand back up.

"What the hell was that?!" -Harry demanded.

"Behave yourself Mr. Potter. That was one of the many means of magical transportation, called Apparition. It allows the caster an almost instantaneous travel from one place to the chosen destination, and you simply side along apparated with me."

"Sorry professor"

"It's alright Harry. And please, it's Minerva"

"Alright Minerva. By the way, where are we now? And where are we going?"

"We are in London and we have arrived at Diagon Alley already, this is one of its apparition points. We should go to Gringotts first so we can sort out your galleons first."

"Gringotts? Galleons? What are those Minerva?" -Harry inquired.

"Oh, right, let me give you a quick rundown. Gringotts is the wizarding bank as well as the kingdom of the Goblin nation. As for galleons, it is our currency of highest value." -Minerva explained- "Present currency stands as 20 sickle to a galleon and 50 knuts to a sickle"

She started walking towards the alley as Harry took notice of his surroundings. They had apparated into a circular stone slab, surrounded by four columns etched with some sort of runes. There were two more apparition points to the left and three more across the alley.

Harry stepped down the apparition point and quickly caught up with Minerva before he could lose sight of her. As he followed her, he paid closer attention to the alley and its occupants.

The alley was bursting with cheerful shoppers and the day was bright and sunny, quite a rare occurrence considering they were in London. The shops at either side of the alley were rather old red brick buildings, slightly leaning towards the street. Nonetheless, every shop display was bursting with life and all kinds of wondrous things. Some shops were filled with cauldrons and pots; others were stocked with different kind of herbs and plants; there were some that had many different owls and other domestic animals on display; they came across an ice cream parlor that he would definitely like to visit later; one shop had brooms on display, which if he had to guess were designed for flying; they came across a bookstore where he would swear he saw the pictures on the books moving; multiple clothing shops showed a variety of robes and a few normal outfits, though only Madam Malkin's shop displayed sensible casual clothing.

They finally arrived to the end of the street and stood in front of a gigantic white marble building that reminded him of the Forum of Augustus he had seen at school. Its front was dominated by wide stairs that led into enormous columns holding the roof where "Gringotts Bank" was etched into the stone. On top of the main entrance made of polished bronze doors, was etched what could only be the bank's motto "Fortius Quo Fidelius". This leads to a small entrance hall and another set of doors. Engraved on these second set of silver doors were the words:

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.

Both set of doors were flanked by a pair of what could only be described as massive goblins. The four of them carried what could only be described as full battle armor made of a polished gold with red details. Each of them carried a mace, an axe, a spear or a long sword at the ready, watching closely everyone brave enough to step through their doors.

Once inside, Harry found himself inside of a cathedral like hall, with raised counters at either side filled with hundreds of goblins working relentlessly. Just then did he remember an itsy bitsy problem.

"Umm… Minerva? Is there a way I can access a loan or a scholarship?" -Harry asked nervously- "Because I don't know how willing my relatives will be of providing for everything I need on top of the school fee" 'Not that they had actually agreed to the school at all anyway' -he finished in his thoughts.

"What? Oh nonsense Harry" -Minerva replied with a chuckle- "Your parents paid for your school tuition as soon as you were born. And I was lead to believe that they also left a considerable trust fund for you until you become of age"

"What? My parents?" -He asked perplexed- "As in both?"

"Yes…" -Minerva answered with suspicion- 'There is something definitely fishy going in that house, but this was neither the time nor the place to ask about it' - "Come on, we can discuss this later along something for lunch. Remain polite but straightforward when dealing with goblins, they despise people who look at them as inferior or that waste their time and gold in equal measure"

It turned out that the Potter family was actually loaded. Even if he wouldn't be able to access to the main account until he became of age at the age of 18, he still had a trust fund of 1500 galleons, which would replenish every summer solstice from the main account. After some hard negotiation with Minerva, she allowed him to withdraw the whole 1500 galleons. His winning argument had been that he would be joining the wizarding world from scratch and he would have to buy all of the basic stuff aside from those things required by the school. Once outside the bank, carrying four heavy bags of gold in each of his pockets, they headed to their first stop: Ollivander's Wand Shop.

The shop they arrived to was narrow and looked really dilapidated. The shop window had a single item in display, a rather refined wand resting on a purple cushion with golden thread embroidery; though all of it was covered by a thick layer of dust. On top of the window one could see faded golden letters, which probably used to be the name of Ollivander's Wand Shop.

Once inside, one would find the same shabby look as the front of the shop. There was no other furniture than a single spindly chair in the corner, the shop's counter and, behind it, endless rows of shelves going up and to the back of the store until one would lose sight of them, all filled to the brim with slender wand boxes.

"Ahh, Mr. Potter. I was expecting the day you would come to my shop" -A raspy old voice said from behind Harry, startling him out of his bones- "And Minerva, a pleasure as always. Allow me to introduce myself; I'm Garrick Ollivander owner and master wand maker of the shop"

He was frail old man, his hair completely silver of age. But his eyes made it clear as day that he remained sharp of mind and wit.

Harry shook the man's offered hand. "I was looking f-"

"Yes, a wand dear child. Let me help you" -Ollivander quickly interrupted- "Wait right here, as I get a few for you to try"

Moments later he returned with a box in his hand while another thirty trailed floating behind him. He set them all on the counter except for the one he carried himself, which he opened directly for Harry to try.

"The old goat has been insisting for ages that this shall be your wand." -Ollivander said while Minerva snorted and began to chuckle sitting by the chair- "Its eleven inches, made of Holly wood and with a phoenix feather core. Go on, pick it up and give it a shake."

Harry did as he was instructed, producing a couple of green sparks. Minerva seemed surprised for some reason, but Ollivander seemed doubtful about the outcome.

"Curious… very curious…" -Ollivander pondered to himself- "But not good enough. Give it back and let's try some others."

They kept trying for over an hour, each time to various disappointing results and with wands increasing in their oddity of design as well as combinations.

"I have only a few left which I would like you to try. These seven over here are unique among the uniques of my collection" -Ollivander said bringing in the oldest of the boxes that he had yet to be seen- "If they don't work, I'm afraid Holly and phoenix will have to do and I'll owe a hefty amount of galleons to that old goat. Now, pick whichever box you may fancy"

Intrigued by the new method, he looked at the seven boxes and decided to go for the one with a faded blue with green stripes colour. He opened the box and found a simple smooth wand that seemed to be made of two different shades of dark wood intertwined together in a spiral.

"Ahh, a most intriguing choice young Potter. It was an accidental experiment of mine shall I say. Go on; try it, if you dare"

Not paying attention to his remark, Harry took the wand and gave it a flick. A spark of electricity jumped from its tip as well as light wind coiled around him. It definitely felt strange, like two brutal forces of nature colliding within himself. But instead of fear or wariness to the sensation, he felt comfortable with, maybe even warm.

"Aaahhh! Excellent! Marvelous! I knew we could find you a better match!" -Ollivander exclaimed- "Eleven inches, Blackthorn intertwined with Ebony. Dual core as well, a Horned Serpent Horn that somehow got enveloped with a Thunderbird Tail Feather. It wasn't supposed to happen but it did nonetheless, and in this craft one learns to listen to the magic instead of trying to bend it to our will. If the materials are of any clue, your life is doomed to be most amusing as well as intriguing, many secrets await for you to unveil. Although it may prove to be a little feisty for you, until you gain it's loyalty"

Harry didn't appreciate the final comments at all. But he wouldn't back down, 'cause he felt like it was the one meant for him.

"Now, you should get a holster for such a fine wand. A regular one would be for the hip, but as it is a wand definitely meant for a warrior you should be a lot better with a wrist holster. What would you fancy? Cloth, silk, acromantula-silk, hippogriff-hide or dragon-hide?"

"Damn, I'll definitely take the dragon hide holster" -Harry replied eagerly- 'who wouldn't want a dragon armor after all?' -he added in his mind.

Soon after, Ollivander returned with the dragon hide wrist holster and another box. After some fitting and adjustments, he instructed Harry how to store it and how to later release his wand with a flick of his wrist. "Now, this is a set of wand polish which I'm sure you would like to buy in order to take care of such a magnificent work of art" -Ollivander explained with a rather severe stress on the caring part, to which Harry swiftly agreed- "So the cost would be 14 galleons for the wand, as it is a dual rather than a regular which go for 7 galleons instead; 10 galleons for the holster and 2 galleons for the wand polish kit."

Harry handed him the 26 galleons and grabbed the wand polish under his arm, already having his holster strapped on and his wand secured in it.

Ollivander casted a quick spell to Minerva, who had dozed off soon after they had begun testing for wands, which jump started her awake. "Now Minerva, do wake up as sleeping in that chair will pain your sciatic. I should actually throw it away if I'm being honest" -Ollivander explained to no one in particular while pushing them both out the door- "Oh! Harry, next time you do drop by we'll be sure to get you a suitable handle for your wand. Have a lovely day!" -he said as he closed and locked the door.

"He always does that…" -Minerva said with a drowsy voice- "Did you manage to find a better wand after all?"

"Yup, along with a dragon holster and some wand polish kit" -Harry beamed at her

"Ohh, it must be a real piece of art if he insisted on those. He would usually kick us out right after picking the proper wand sometimes. I think he actually kicked some students before they had even time to pay for his work." -Minerva chuckled before adding- "Barmy old man… a master of his craft, but eccentric nonetheless. Now let's go get your trunk before we buy anything else, so you have some way to carry your things around"


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A/N 01: Minerva is going to be severely changed compared to canon. Why? Because my Headmistress and Deputy Headmistress back in school were chill af. So I don't see why I should force myself to picture Minnie with a stick up her ass.

A/N 02:

A/N 03: Big thanks to the reviewer timelgard who tipped me off about this chapter having a second copy of itself during its first upload.