Harry glanced around diagon alley in surprise it was busier than he expected, although when he considered it he realised that people generally believed what the ministry told them, so if the ministry had said diagon alley was safe then that would explain the number of people willing to risk it. Actually from the number of aurors in the alley that Harry could see and the wards he could feel surrounding the alley it might actually be safe, from small attacks anyway, it seemed that Fudge was doing something useful for once. With one last glance around Harry set off into the alley.
After a brief stop in gringots to get some money Harry headed into Flourish and Blots to look around, he found a few books on advanced wards, one with more advanced combat spells, a book on how to construct portkeys and a set of books on enchanting objects, this Harry thought would be a very useful skill.
Next he went to get some combat robes but he found that all the ones in Madam Malkin's were just enchanted cloth and he knew you could get dragon hide ones so he decided to wait and see if they had any in Knocturn, while he was there he did buy a few new plain robes in black and gray and a new black cloak and he also bought a formal robe and cloak and numerous pants and shirts to wear underneath them.
'Now this was a surprise' Harry thought, Knocturn alley was nothing like he had been told, after the first 30 yards or so that could be seen from diagon alley the street widened slightly and became a well lit, if a bit cramped alley that twisted and turned around the various shops and buildings, looking at the dates on the shops Harry decided that the shops must have been built like this before there was an alley and the "alley" was just the space in-between them, as all the shops (well the buildings they were in) were over 1000 years old. Looking around the stretch he was in Harry found a book shop and entered.
"Hello there" said a voice from Harry's left as he entered turning to look he was an old man standing behind a counter sorting a pile of books.
"Hello"
"I don't remember seeing you before, I take it this is your first time in the alley?"
"Yes" Harry replied deciding to discount the time he followed Malfoy "It's not what I expected"
The old man grinned "are well yes parents tend to tell their children that it is a bad place as it is easy to become lost here for young children and there nothing for them here really anyway as the stores are all ones that supply rarer items and services or that are very specific. That is not to say there is nothing "Dark" about the alley, there are several pubs that are favourite meeting places for thieves, hit wizards and dark wizards in the side streets and some shops sell what the ministry deems dark materials and artefacts"
'Hit wizards? What the ministry deems?' Harry thought and decided to ask.
"Well hit wizards are like mercenaries, in times of war they are all hired by the ministry, at other times they hire out there services to anybody that will pay, say to kill of a rampaging group of giants, to guard somebody during a dangerous meeting, some of them will kill wizards for money but this is obviously illegal. Now what the ministry deems dark is an interesting point you see the ministry bans or regulates a lot of spells potions and materials and all rituals saying that they are dark and evil and should only be used in special circumstance it at all. However the a lot of these spells and potions are not really dark the ministry just doesn't want them used so they declare them dark, for instance the spell to remove the tracking charms from wands would be considered dark but really there is nothing dark about it. That is not to say however that there is no such thing as dark magic, there is but it is not good or evil just like "light" magic it is merely different. In "light" magic to casting a spell costs you a certain amount for magical power that you will recover over time, dark magic cost this power and something else. It can be anything else at all in theory for example the killing curse needs a lot of hatred to cast correctly, you don't need to hate what you are casting it on but you need feelings of hatred for something, the patronus charm is actually dark magic as it requires positive emotions to cast"
Harry thought about this for a minute and decided it defiantly sounded like something the ministry would do and decided that he should at least learn about dark magic even if he never used it.
"Do you have any books about dark magic?"
"Why yes I do, over there on the shelves to your left"
After looking around he found three books on dark magical theory, two spell books, a book on dark wards and one on the unforgivables, browsing the shop Harry also found a book on how to bring down or get around wards both the approved ways and the underhand and sneaky ones and a set off books he was very surprised to find on parsel magic. While he was doing this Harry was thinking about what the man had said about hit wizards, it would be perfect he would get experience of a variety of situations and enemies, it was just what he needed he wondered if hit wizards took apprentices?
Walking out into the street after paying and thanking the old man he looked around for another shop to go in. He spotted one that sold various enchanted items and though he might find something interesting.
Inside there were tables covered in all sorts of objects sitting on a small slip of parchment that listed the objects properties, there was a sign on the wall saying that each table was warded so that you could pick items up but you couldn't take them more than four feet from the table. Moving around Harry found an enchanted watch that worked like a portkey, a single location could be programmed into it and when a button was pressed it would take you there, it could also be set to activate if you we stunned or otherwise unconscious, it could only be removed by its owner and could be hidden with a powerful built in notice-me-not charm. Harry also found an amulet that hid the users magical signature so they couldn't be tracked and hid the wearer from detection wards like the ones in the ministry or things like the marauders' map, the final thing he found as a silver ring that contained a powerful shield charm, it could shield the wearer from three for four combat type spells before being exhausted and it then could be recharged by the owner by poring their magic into it, Harry though it would be very handy if he was ever surprised as it would give him time to raise a shield of his own or if he ever missed a spell when deflecting them basically it would cover him if he made a mistake. These purchases were expensive but Harry thought they would be worthwhile.
The next shop Harry found that looked interesting was a magical weapons shop it was set out like the shop before with some weapons enchanted some mealy charmed (much cheaper) and some non-magical. Harry liked the look of the swords but decided to wait until he knew more about them before buying one. In the end he bought an enchanted mithril dagger that was enchanted to return to his hand when summoned to act like silver to werewolves and to be impossibly sharp. Harry also bought two dragon hide holsters one that that strapped onto his ankle for the knife and one that strapped to his right wrist for his wand. They had notice-me-not charms and a charm that hid the magical signature of both the holster an the knife so that is he was scanned for weapons they would not show up, this last charm was a bit illegal but Harry decided that it would be worth the risk.
Harry continued walking down the alley untill he saw a shop that surprised him it, the sign said it was a "wand crafter"? Harry wondered what the difference was so went to look.
The inside of the shop was very different from Ollivander's shop instead of piles of wands there were three long tables in the middle and work benches around the outside.
Harry felt a presence come up behind him and spun around and was surprised to come face to face with an old man that looked suspiciously like Ollivander.
"Hmm you felt my approach impressive, now what can I help you with"
Harry to a moment cot gather is thoughts then replied
"I saw your sign and wondered what the difference was between a wand maker and a wand crafter"
"I take it you have one of my brothers wands then?" He asked and then chuckled as understanding dawned on Harry's who nodded face "Yes he is my brother, well then you see a wand maker makes lots of wands cheaply and when somebody comes to buy one he then finds the best match between wand and wizard the match is never perfect though so some of a wizards power is wasted when it is channelled through a wand, a wand crafter though makes wands for each wizard individually so that the wand is perfectly matched to the wizard, the crafting process is complex and very expensive as lots of different cores are used and than fused together to make your perfect wand core.
Harry thought about it, it sounded that it was much like that advantages of understanding magical theory and that had helped him immensely and decided it would be a good idea to get one it would also solve the problem of priory encantatum with Voldemort's wand, Harry wondered why Voldemort had never gotten a crafted wand it was odd.
"Can I buy a crafted wand then?" Harry asked
"Of course, now you see these tables, the first one has different woods, pick each sample up and send a small pulse of magic into it and see how it feels some of them will feel right pick out those and bring them to me."
Has Harry went through the woods he picked out what he recognised as holly which was no surprise, yew, some very dark wood that he didn't recognise and a black wood and felt cool to touch. Finding no more he want back to Ollivander.
"Right lets see holly, yew from the Fortingall tree in Scotland it's the oldest tree in Europe you know it might be as much as 5000 years old, hmm ebony, oh and a piece of Árbol de la Noche Triste or the Sad Night Tree its where Cortes mourned his defeat and the slaughter of his armies when he fought to conquer Tenochtitlan its said that the tree socked up the blood from all those that died in that war. Right well onto the cores, that's the next table, same process"
Harry went down this table testing out the various items; it looked like there were enough things here to open a potions shop. Eventually he found what looked like a black phoenix feather although he never knew they existed, what looked suspiciously like unicorns blood, a bottle of clear liquid, some blood, a white powder, a strip of flesh that he guessed was a hart string of some sort and a vial of green liquid.
"Hmm black phoenix feather, unicorns blood willingly given, phoenix tears, powdered vampire fangs from an elder vampire, the heart string of an emperor horntail dragon and basilisk venom how interesting. The last table has focus stones off you go"
This table was magnificent it was covered with heaps of gems and crystals of all different shapes and colours he picked up a blood red stone, a blue one with a white star in the middle a black stone that seemed to suck in the light and a dark blue gem.
"Ooh interesting blood emerald, star sapphire, a crystallized dementor soul and a blue diamond. Right now we have to combine the woods, cores and stones so we only have one of each. For this I will need 4 small vials of your blood" he said handing Harry the vials, using his new knife to cut himself Harry filled the vials then handed them back and watched as Ollivander poured 1 vile into each of three cauldrons and then put all the cores in one, the woods in another and the stones in the last and put the last vial aside. The golden potion in the cauldrons boiled and writhed before stilling and Ollivander fished around inside them and pulled out a length of black wood a straight stick that was silver and gold and a blue gem that shone with an inner light. Ollivander then assembled the wand muttering spells under his breath Harry watched as the parts merged together to form a single complete wand and then as Ollivander very carefully carved runes into the wand before pouring the last vile of his blood over it which was absorbed by the wand.
"Right now the last step, when you pick it up the wand will draw on you magic to charge the runes so don't be alarmed, the runes make sure nobody else can use it allow it to be summoned to you no matter where you are and make it unbreakable"
Harry reached out and picked up his new wand immediately he felt the pull on his magic as the runes glowed blue briefly before they stopped and a shower of black, blue and gold sparks poured out of the end in a thick stream and shot around the room. Harry felt the connection between him and his wand form and marveled at its strength it made his older wand feel like somebody else's.
After thanking Mr. Ollivander profusely and paying for his wand along with two wand holsters he left the shop.
Next Harry found a shop that sold allsorts of magically expanded spaces, be bought a truck that had four levels the first two were storage like an ordinary trunk, the third was a set of rooms, a bedroom and small bathroom, a kitchen/dining room, a library and another room that could be used for anything, it was currently empty. The last level was a set of four cells apparently the truck had been a custom order from an aura but he had never come to collect it, it required the correct password and magical signature to open so it was very secure especially as Harry set his password in parseltounge. He also bought a small bag that was expanded to contain five times what it should be able to and a book on how to expand pockets you're self.
The last thing Harry found was a shop called Druids Nightmare that sold Battle robes, after talking the man in the shop he bought a set that were made of basilisk skin layered between to sets of dragon skin, they were the best robes available and with all the protective enchantments they greatly reduced the effects off spells on the wearer, they were also enchanted to be more flexible, lighter and cooler and Harry had asked to have two extra enchantments added one to dampen sound around them so not only did the robes make no noise but they made everything else quieter and a glamour spell that made then look like ordinary robes . They were jet black and completely covered his body the hood had spells on it that could hide his face if he wished that even moody's eye could not penetrate. Needless to say such protection came at a huge price but Harry deemed it worth it and it was not as if he lacked money. The protection they offered was such that a stunner cast by most Hogwarts students would have no effect whatsoever. Harry also bought a pair of dragon-hide boots that didn't leave footprints, and a set of black leather gloves that were charmed to shrink after they were put on so they fitted like a second skin.
After buying everything he wanted Harry decided to go back to the leaky cauldron and ask Tom about people who taught swordsmanship and marshal arts and about dueling.