Thanks for all of the reviews! I'm going to try and reply to them soon! (:
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Warning: Grammar mistakes.
Don't put your life in someone's hands.
They're bound to steal it away.
Don't hide your mistakes.
'Cause they'll find you, burn you.
Then he said.
If you want to get out alive.
Hold on, run for your life.
Chapter 2: Meeting with a dragon
Finding Diagon Alley hadn't been easy. Harry had gone the wrong way quite a few times before finally finding the right direction. Now, he really had to use all his willpower not to gape like a fish at what he saw. It was like a completely different world.
Well, Harry supposed, it is like another world. Pretty much everyone was wearing robes and some were even carrying brooms. What they could be used for was anyone's guess. Harry had a suspicion though and even the thought of flying was almost enough to make him giddy. Everything here was so new to him.
And he belonged in it. For once, he wasn't an outsider; a freak.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he brought forward the list of things he needed to acquire for Hogwarts. First, though, he needed to visit Gringotts, which he learned the "magical bank", was called.
Putting his left hand in his pocket and turning right, he hugged the golden key to his parents vault, trying to ignore the stares he had begun to get from all sorts of directions. At first, he assumed the few stares he had got in the beginning would decrease and vanish, but rather the opposite was happening. The whispers and stares were increasing and now he could even hear some of it.
Whispers of "Harry Potter", "Look at the scar!" and "The-boy-who-lived," were starting to make him nauseous. He had never really been fond of being the center of attention, mainly because all attention he had ever received had been a negative one.
His relatives had been a big part in that.
First, he played with the idea of trying to avoid the stares and whispers at all costs by slipping in to the shadows, hunching his shoulders to look smaller and keeping his head down. That would surely work out fine, wouldn't it?
But alas, Harry Potter had too much pride to do that. So he did the exact opposite.
Squaring his shoulders and lengthening his steps, he tried to keep his face impassive as he entered Gringotts.
"Hello, sir, what is your name and business here?" A voice greeted him who belonged to a goblin. First, Harry could only stare at the odd creature before he managed to answer.
"My name is Harry Potter and I would like access to my parents vault, the Potter vault," He said.
"So you are Harry Potter, I see." The goblin began, studying Harry's face. "Very well, follow me and I'll have Gargoff take you down."
While they walked, Harry took the moment to admire Gringotts. The hall he was currently in had desks all lined up at along the walls, some with goblins occupying them, some empty.
Chandeliers hung from the ceiling and lit up the polished floor. All in all; it practically screamed money and wealth.
Harry's musings came to a stop, however, when the goblin stopped in front of a small wagon, where another goblin was seated.
"Gargoff, I need you to bring Harry Potter to his vault." The seemingly older goblin spoke to the one in the wagon.
The only answer he got was a mutter that sounded fairly close to a "yes".
Carefully entering the wagon at Gargoff's cue, he sat down stiffly on the small seat. He had never liked the sight of the roller-coasters Dudley had seemed so fond of when they were smaller. Naturally, he hadn't been allowed to try but if he had, he would have probably refused.
With a yelp he grabbed hold of the edge when the wagon shot off in a speed Harry hadn't thought possible. He quickly closed his eyes and tried to think of something else. It didn't work.
After many turns and ups and downs, they finally stopped. Harry quickly got out and sighed in relief when his feet touched safe ground again.
'Don't vomit, don't vomit,' Harry repeated in his head before he managed to take a deep breath and straighten up from his hunched position.
Raising his head, he could see that Gargoff were trying to hide a smirk. Harry saw it anyway, and tried to look offended. It came out as a grimace. Instead, he chuckled quietly, realizing some of the humor in the situation.
"I'd rather not do that again." He muttered, with the smile still on his face though.
He got a smirk in return that could almost classify as a smile.
{Unravel Me}
"Books, I need books," Harry murmured as his eyes swept past the titles for the material he would need on the paper. He was currently inside Flourish & Blotts, moving past shelves filled with books. Even his primary school's library didn't have this much books! Harry was in heaven.
He had always loved to read and had consumed every book he could get his hands on living with the Dursleys. He grimaced at the name, how he hated that family! Deciding not to think about it, he started searching for the books he would need again.
'Hogwarts: A history', was quickly found in the bookshop and after a little bit of looking, he found the other books he would need, together with a potion set. He picked out some other interesting looking books as well and decided to buy them too, even if they weren't on the list.
Books had never hurt anyone, right?
Just when he was about to go and pay for everything, a tingling feeling crept down his back. He stopped abruptly before he slowly walked to a bookcase standing in a corner. Green eyes swept past the titles before they came to a stop on a dark green cover with silver lining.
Taking out the book, he tried to make sense of the symbols written on the cover.
At first, they looked unreadable before they started to morph into what looked like another language. Suddenly, it was like readable English.
Giving the book one last look over, he added it to the pile of books he had decided to buy, together with his school supplies.
{Unravel Me}
The shopkeeper paused at the green book with silver lining before looking up at Harry with a frown.
"You can read this?" He wondered.
"Shouldn't I?" Harry questioned slowly, emerald eyes moving from the shopkeepers face to the book.
"Well," The shopkeeper began hesitantly. "Nobody has ever been able to read it before. Apparently, it's a book written in parseltounge."
"Parseltounge?" Harry repeated incredulously.
"You don't know?" The tone was disbelieving. "Apparently Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth, just as you-know-who, the same man who gave you that scar." Here, he paused and motioned to the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. "What I'm trying to say is, they could both speak to snakes."
{Unravel Me}
Harry's mind was in turmoil as he made his way to Ollivander's wand shop. So, the man who had killed his parents (and tried to kill him) had also been able to speak to snakes. But it also seemed like this Salazar Slytherin, who he really had no idea who he was, could also speak to snakes.
Was it only two known wizards that could speak parseltounge?
Pushing the thoughts aside for now, he entered Ollivander's shop. Harry barely had time to take his first steps in before the sound of a sliding ladder was heard and on one of the shelves, an older man quickly climbed down the steps of the ladder.
"If it isn't Harry Potter, finally here to receive his wand, I presume?" The man exclaimed happily as he shook hands with Harry. Before he could even reply, he spoke again.
"Now, I'm curious as to the wand you will choose."
"Choose, sir?" Harry interrupted after having recovered a bit from the wand maker's exuberant personality.
"Oh? No one has told you? Well, try a wand and we'll see." He took up a wand from a small box before reaching out to give it to Harry. "Try this one."
Harry's finger had barely touched the wood before a loud crack, followed by sharp spark, and a bookshelf crashed down. Ollivander quickly retrieved the wand before it could do any more damage. Several more tries later (and a much more damaged shop) Ollivander gave a resigned sigh. Then, his eyes widened.
Moving to one of the shelves furthest away, he picked out a wooden case, containing a light brown wand and giving it to Harry.
And Harry, expecting nothing more than an odd sensation and another broken item, was quite shocked when the wand practically hummed in his grip. A warm and fuzzy feeling spread through him and out of reflex, he waved the wand sharply in the air. Green sparks erupted from the tip and Harry could feel the pleasant feeling increase.
"Interesting," He heard Ollivander, voice close to a whisper.
Harry instantly snapped out of his reverie to look at the man, almost having forgotten he was there.
"It's interesting," He repeated, "That you choose the twin of the wand who gave you that scar."
Twin?
"Twin?" Harry repeated, loud this time.
"11 inches long, holly, phoenix core. Albus Dumbledore's bird, Fawkes, only ever gave two feathers. One, in the wand you're holding. The other belonged to the same person who killed your parents and gave you your scar, he-who-must-not-be-named."
Harry didn't know what to say after that, so he just remained quiet instead. What was he supposed to say?
{Unravel Me}
Harry was gratefully moving to the last stop for the day. He was now holding another addition to what he would need at Hogwarts. A snowy white owl sat inside a cage, hooting softly when she noticed that he was looking at her. She was very intelligent he had quickly realized. Despite being happy that he now had a pet, he was actually looking forward to be able to settle down under the cupboard, for the first time in his life, and be able to rest.
He was tired and needed to sort through all the thoughts in his head of the things he had learned today. He didn't like to be feeling this unorganized and having his thoughts in a jumble. He had always prided himself with always trying to remain in control.
But, alas, it was lot of things to take in on one day so he was thankful when he spotted 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions' where he would be buying his first wizarding robes. He almost smiled at the thoughts before realizing how stupid he was sounding.
Pushing the door open, he entered the shop and quickly understood that he weren't the only one wanting to buy robes. Another boy was standing with his arms outstretched while the shopkeeper was taking measurements. The other boy had pale blond hair, slicked back so that his high cheekbones and grey eyes came into focus. His posture was straight and he seemed to try and give off an air of indifference.
When the shopkeeper finally noticed him, he paused in his measurements.
"I'll help you in a-…" He began to say before he noticed the lightning-bolt scar and instead exclaimed."
"Harry Potter! You're probably here to get your Hogwarts robes, just as this young man here! A pleasure to finally meet you!" The man was certainly making Harry uncomfortable and he just nodded mutely, before gray eyes met emerald.
The two boys seemed to measure each other up, ignoring the shopkeeper's excitement and ranting.
"My name is Draco. Draco Malfoy." The boy finally said and would probably have offered him a hand if it weren't for the fact that he still stood with his arms stretched out, in order for the robes to be fitted properly.
"Harry Potter." Harry replied with a nod before his eyes were drawn to who had to be Draco's father.
He held out a hand while piercing Harry with gray, almost silver, eyes. "Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco," He introduced while they shook hands.
A handshake was always a good clue to a person's character. Lucius was confident and strong
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Malfoy," Harry said smoothly.
Harry had always prided himself with being very knowledgeable with manner, even if his relatives hardly knew the word.
"The pleasure is all mine," Lucius replied pleasantly.
{Unravel Me}
I'm trying to see if anyone got my reference that I sneaked in. It's not very obvious, just one sentence. ;)
