Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

Chapter 2: Diagon Alley

Harry was up early the next morning, ready to go to London with Uncle Vernon on his way to work. He'd been about to leave his new room when he noticed a small box on the end of his bed. There was a note on top, written in what Harry recognised as Aunt Petunia's neat handwriting:

This was left with you the night you were brought here; I thought you should have it now that you know.

'Strange,' thought Harry, Aunt Petunia had never done anything to suggest she cared about him. Harry hesitantly lifted the lid off the box, excited yet nervous about what it might contain. A letter lay on top, and as Harry removed and read through it he found it was addressed to his Aunt Petunia, from Albus Dumbledore and that it explained his Parents' deaths and the reason he was left with his relatives. Harry discovered that his Mother's sacrifice of her life, for his survival, had given him a protection causing the Killing Curse to rebound. But if it were to be sustained he would need to live with a blood relative of Lily's, which meant Aunt Petunia. This protection had also allowed Dumbledore to construct very powerful Blood Wards, which could only work if Harry called the place that his mother's blood resided, home. Apparently, Petunia was also supposed to tell Harry he was a wizard, 'well, at least I won't have to pretend that I'm completely clueless about the Wizarding world' thought Harry.

Harry then laid out the rest of the contents of the box on his bed. It contained his Parents' Wedding rings and his Mother's engagement ring, as well as what must have been his Father's glasses. But best of all, were the two wands belonging to Lily and James, 'That's one problem solved,' thought Harry, it would certainly be difficult to purchase a wand before he turned 11 without it being noticed. Once Harry removed the Trace, he could find out if either of the wands would work well enough to use until he could purchase his own.

After putting the items back in the box and hiding it under a loose floorboard he'd discovered, Harry went downstairs to eat a quick breakfast, now of a reasonable size, so he could go with Uncle Vernon to London.

Vernon gave Harry fearful glances repeatedly during the journey into London, Harry got out at Charring Cross Road, outside the Leaky Cauldron. "I'll make my own way home when I'm done." As soon as Harry finished, Vernon was speeding away down the road.

Harry was forced to hang around outside the pub to wait for a family he could go in with, entering alone would likely draw attention and could result in him being recognised. So Harry snuck into the pub with a family of four who didn't notice as he followed them through the pub and to the entrance to Diagon Alley. The Father of the family tapped the wall three times and a small hole appeared, growing wider and wider, allowing the family to step through an archway and onto the cobblestone street of Diagon Alley.

'Wow', thought Harry as he glanced around at all the strange items in shop windows, even Tom's memories hadn't prepared Harry for the wonder he felt at the sight of Diagon Alley. Families of Wizards and Witches were bustling about, even more so now that it was the summer holidays. Harry would first need to visit Gringotts to inquire about his inheritance from his Parents, as he knew the Potters had been a very old wealthy family from Tom's memories.

Harry made his way through the Alley towards the snowy-white building he knew to be Gringotts. As he approached the burnish bronzed doors Harry noticed the Goblin guard wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, 'a bit Gryffindorish' thought Harry. The Goblin had swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. Harry carried on, until he came upon a second set 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.

Harry gulped as he finished reading the inscription, from Tom's memories he knew that one of Tom's Horcruxes had been hidden within Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. If he planned on destroying it he'd most likely have to steal it. But he needn't worry about that now as he didn't plan on retrieving the Horcruxes until he aquired the resources and skill needed to destory them.

Harry made his way through the vast marble hall towards one of the hundred Goblins sitting on high stools behind a counter. "Excuse me sir," started Harry deciding it would be best to be polite, the Goblin looked at him, "Could you tell me where I need to go to find out about my inheritance?"

"Yes, and what is your name?" asked the Goblin.

"Harry Potter sir, but can you keep it quite, I don't want anyone to know" Harry replied quietly so that only the Goblin could hear.

"Of course sir," answered the Goblin after his eyes had flicked discreetly to Harry's forehead "follow me please," continued the Goblin as he climbed off his stool and led Harry through some nearby doors and down several corridors. The Goblin stopped at a set of ornate doors and knocked, "Gnarlfang sir, Harry Potter is here to see you about his inheritance."

"Send him in." responded the Goblin named Gnarlfang. Harry entered the large office. "Mr. Potter," Gnarlfang said as he bowed his head slightly in customary greeting. He motioned for Harry to take a seat. "So you would like to know about your inheritance?"

"That's correct, sir." replied Harry, as the Goblin that had shown Harry in returned to place some files on Gnarlfang's desk.

"Well I can tell you that your Parents left their entire estate to you, however you wont be able to access it until you become legally of age at 17. Until then a Trust fund has been set up for your use with the sum of 1,000 Galleons, to be replenished to that amount annually. Our records state that your vault key is currently in the possession of Albus Dumbledore."

"Would it be possible to have a new one made and not make Dumbledore aware of it?" Harry asked the Goblin.

"If that is what you wish, client confidentiality is very important to Gringotts," Gnarlfang then retrieved a document from a draw in his desk and placed it in front of Harry, "if you'll sign this form we can get you your new vault key." Harry scanned through the document quickly so that he knew what he was signing; satisfied with the document Harry picked up the quill to sign and realised it wasn't an ordinary quill. "That is a Blood Quill, it is necessary I'm afraid" Gnarlfang told Harry, although he didn't look very sympathetic to Harry, "we couldn't give you a vault key with out being certain you are who you say you are after all," continued Gnarlfang with a rather nasty grin.

Harry signed the document and only suffered a small amount of stinging from the words cut into his hand by the Quill. After he finished signing his full name there was flash of white light, confirming his identity Harry assumed. Gnarlfang then tapped the document with the tip of his long finger and whispered something in Gobbledegook. Afterwards the form began to fold in on itself and then seemed to melt into an indiscernible shape, there was a flash of light and a tiny golden key lay where the form had previously rested.

"Here you are Mr. Potter," said Gnarlfang as he handed Harry his new vault key, "if that will be all then I'll send for a Goblin to take you down to your vault."

"Thank you for your time sir, you've been very helpful," said Harry as he left Gnarlfang's office with a Goblin called Griphook. After a thrilling ride in the cart through a twisting maze of passages, they arrived at Harry's vault. Since he wasn't certain when he would visit his vault again, Harry placed around 300 Galleons inside the money bag the Goblins had provided him with, and then returned to the cart for the wild cart-ride back. Before leaving the bank, Harry also exchanged half the Galleons for pounds so that he could use them in the Muggle world.

Harry visited the Apothecary in Diagon Alley first, and bought a cauldron, Potions equipment as well as a large amount of ingredients including some rarer samples, these would be required for some of the potions Harry planned on brewing. After leaving the Apothecary Harry entered Flourish and Blotts Bookstore to purchase some books on recent history in the Wizarding World that he needed to catch up on, as well as a few Potions textbooks so that he could make certain Tom's memories on subject were entirely correct.

Since there wasn't much else he needed to buy until he started Hogwarts, Harry decided to treat himself to an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. After paying for his ice cream and sneaking back into the Leaky Cauldron with a family as they left, Harry caught a bus back to Little Whinging.

Shortly after arriving home, Harry decided to start brewing the potion to break the magical trace place on him, the concoction would take a week to brew. Afterwards, he would be able to begin using magic undetected. Until then Harry spent his time going through Tom's memories to fully learn the knowledge they contained, for now he only studied the non-wand subjects such as Herbology, Astronomy, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. He also focused on Potions, Harry found Potion-making came more naturally to him than it had to Riddle. Harry also continued to improve and strengthen his Occlumency shields.

Harry had begun reading the books on recent History that he had purchased. He discovered that he was famous, as he had assumed, and frequently referred to as the Boy-Who-Lived. The Wizarding World also seemed to think he was a hero, something Harry disagreed with since he hadn't really done anything, afterall, his Mother's sacrifice was the cause of the Killing Curse rebounding. Harry also discovered that a friend of his parents, named Sirius Black had been framed for their betrayal by the real culprit Peter Pettigrew, who'd been named a hero after his death, which made Harry even more outraged. It seemed that Sirius, one of the few to know Peter was the Secret Keeper, must have tracked Peter down after realising that the rat had betrayed Lily and James. Harry may have had a chance of freeing Sirius had he not blown up the street, killing Peter as well as 12 nearby Muggles. 'At least Peter got what he deserved' thought Harry.

After reading about the trials of captured Death Eaters; Harry found that some of the more notorious ones such as the Lestranges and Antonin Dolohov had all been imprisoned in Azkaban while several had managed to convince the Wizengamot that they had been under the Imperius Curse. Coincidently these wizards were from the wealthier families, so Harry assumed that their freedom was a result of bribery.

One Death Eater in particular interested Harry, Severus Snape, the man who had given Voldemort the information that caused him to target Harry's family, had been pardoned after Dumbledore testified that Snape had been spying for him. Initally, Harry had been angered by this, but upon further consideration conceded that it was possible, Snape had made the peculiar request of Voldemort sparing Lily Potter. Harry would need to find out more before he could be sure of where Snape's allegiances were.

Harry had also discovered that Neville Longbottom, the other possible child from the prophecy, had also lost his parents. Although, in a different way to Harry; Frank and Alice Longbottom had been driven insane from the Cruciatus curse, after the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. attacked their home shortly after Voldemorts defeat. The Longbottoms now resided in St. Mungo's Permanent Spell Damage Ward. Harry decided that when he got to Hogwarts he would try to get to know Neville.

After a week of brewing, Harry had finished the potion to break his magical trace. Once he'd taken the potion Harry tested out each of his parents' wands, and found that the longer one worked surprisingly well for him, although, he was unsure which of his parents it belonged to. Afterwards, Harry began to also learn from Tom's memories on Charms, Transfiguration and Defence against the Dark Arts. Harry planned on going through the knowledge chronologically and would begin learning the knowledge from Tom's Hogwarts years, and then move onto the knowledge Tom gained from his travels. After beginning this Harry found that he seemed to have a natural talent for both DADA and Transfiguration, which based on what Peter had told Voldemort, he must have inherited from his father.

As well as continuing to improve his Occlumency shields, Harry had also begun learning Legilimency. With only small amounts of guilt Harry had decided to test his Legilimency skills on the Dursleys, whose non-magical minds were less resistant to Legilimency. This led to Harry making an interesting discovery while using Legilimency on Aunt Petunia. He'd discovered that Snape had actually known his mother before Hogwarts since he had lived nearby, Snape had even told Lily she was a witch. After Lily received her letter to Hogwarts, Petunia had felt left out and even sent a letter to Dumbledore. But she was unable to go since she wasn't magical and subsequently became jealous of Lily; this jealousy seemed to have grown into hatred over the years. Harry found himself unable to discover anymore memories containing Snape past his mothers Fifth Year, he'd attempt to discover what had happened if an opportunity arose.

So far, this summer had been the best in Harry's life, learning from Tom's magical knowledge was keeping him busy and the Dursleys were too afraid to provoke him. But Harry still hoped the next few years would pass quickly, as he was eager to start Hogwarts.

A/N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think of the chapter, or if you have any questions.

I'll try and post the next chapter soon,