Trouble
Wow. I'm surprised and humbled by the response this story has gotten! I'm glad you all like it so much. For your response I decided to complete the second chapter early. Here you go! I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 2: Getting Started and Making Enemies
Harry was awake long before Hagrid, chatting on the phone outside with Carrie and Pierce. The reception was really, really crappy but he couldn't wait to tell them what had just happened and he wasn't sure if a cellphone would work in a magical community.
Miranda, for her part, was ecstatic. She triumphantly proclaimed that she had been right about Harry's abilities from the start and demanded he tell her about his school and the things they used as soon as possible. Carrie had wished him good luck and warned him to be careful who he stole from; he should scout out the people he was going to be around first. Pierce just asked him to learn how to fix things magically, so he could break his math teacher's irritating educational DVDs and not have to worry about paying for a new ones when he was eventually discovered.
He had just finished with his last phone call and headed inside when he was approached by an owl.
"Wants payment for the mail," Hagrid said sleepily. "Give 'im five knuts."
Harry dug around the massive coat and grabbed a handful of coins, a few gold, some silver, and some bronze. "Which?"
"They're bronze."
So this was what wizard currency looked like. Harry put the Knuts in the owl's pouch before discreetly pocketing the rest of the change. He wondered if he could exchange muggle money for wizard money. The gold coins could probably go for twice their amount in muggle money; after all gold was highly sought after. Would be easier than having to constantly go through the bridge club's bags for keychains, phones and bracelets when they were visiting his aunt.
Hagrid slowly got up and collected his coat. "Well, best be off then, Harry, lots ter do today. Gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff for school,"
"How am I going to buy anything?" Harry asked. "I have some money, but it's muggle, and I'm not sure it would cover everything if I exchanged it -"
"Don't worry about that," Hagrid said, waving a hand. "D'yer think your mum and dad left you with n'thing? First place we're headed is Gringotts."
"Gringotts? Is that a bank?" Harry was relieved to hear this; he'd been worried that if wizards did things too differently from normal people, he'd have to spend a whole year reworking his skills to suit his new environment.
"Only one in Britain. Run by Goblins."
"Run by Goblins?" Harry echoed.
"Yeh. So Yeh'd be mad to try 'n rob it." Hagrid said. "Safest place in the world, 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter 'o fact, I havta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts buisness." The giant held himself up to full height when he said this.
Harry collected the backpack he carried everywhere and followed Hagrid outside. He didn't see another boat. "How'd you get here? Did you teleport or something?" He asked.
"Flew." Hagrid responded. He took in Harry's impressed look and said, "But 'm not supposed to use magic now that I've got you. We'll go back in this."
Harry felt slightly disappointed, but got into the boat nonetheless. The boat sped back towards land. "Why exactly is it mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry questioned.
"Spells – enchantments." Hagrid said, unfolding his newspaper. "They say there's dragons guarding the high security vaults. Then yeh havta find your way out – it's miles underground."
Harry continued to pester Hagrid with questions all the way back to land and through the streets. He learned about the Ministry of Magic and its current head, Cornelius Fudge. He heard about wands and robes and the courses he'd learn at Hogwarts – Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration.
Harry went over the list of things he would need for school. It was a novelty to not have to steal half of them – he'd almost forgotten what that was like. He was debating whether or not to get an owl or a cat when he and Hagrid reached the Leaky Cauldron.
It was a pub much like the one Carrie's troubled older brothers usually went to buy alcohol, The World's Ending. It didn't look to be in much better condition either, though to its credit its occupants looked a lot less unscrupulous.
Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; the bartender asked if he wanted the usual. "Not today Tom, on Hogwarts business." Hagrid slapped his knee and put a massive hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry was busy looking around, trying to see if there was a back door to this place that he could use to sneak into it at a later date.
The barman peered down at Harry and said, "Bless my soul – is that Harry Potter?"
As if on cue, every conversation in the pub suddenly went dead. Harry turned to see everyone staring at him, or more specifically, his forehead. A second later, he was immediately assaulted by dozens of people babbling, bowing to him and shaking his hand.
"Welcome back, Harry Potter, welcome back!"
"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm finally meeting you."
"So proud of what you did, Mr Potter."
"Delighted, Mr. Potter, can't tell you how delighted!"
This was insane. How on earth was he going to keep a low profile with this kind of treatment? It was hard to do much of anything when this many people were watching you. Harry had an ingrained dislike of large crowds due to most of his exposure with them being either Dudley's gang, the bridge club or Juvenile Hall, the correctional facility being the kindest of the three. Why on earth were people reacting this way?
On the other hand...Harry felt himself smirk ever so slightly. People who had this kind of blind adoration behind them could get away with anything. He knew that from personal experience, after all, his cousin was a perfect example of that.
He met his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher here, and honestly Harry was kind of disappointed. He was expecting someone who taught that course to be an adult, magical version of Carrie – not a stutterer who jumped when tapped on the shoulder.
It took Hagrid a while to finally get Harry out of the Leaky Cauldron. "What was all that about?" Harry asked. "I know you said I was famous, but that was crazy – what could I have done to have people bowing at me?"
Hagrid grimaced. "Well – 'member when I told you that your mum and dad were famous too? It's because when yer were born, a wizard gone bad went after yer parents."
"Wizard gone bad..." Harry muttered. He didn't like the sound of that. "How bad?"
"Oh, he wanted to rule Britain. He'd got it in 'is head that only a certain type of wizard should be allowed to practice magic...got 'imself some followers, some 'ere scared o' him, other wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettn' it for himself, all right. Dark days, those were, Harry..."
"Then mum and dad...they tried to stop him?" Harry could guess from the tone exactly where this was going. He'd read in history books about Germans who had attempted to resist the Nazi movement, and it had rarely ended well for them.
"Y-Yes," Hagrid said, swallowing. "Yer mum and dad – nicer people there weren't. He 'ent to their house for sum reason, maybe to get them to join, but in the end he killed 'em."
Harry stopped walking and turned that thought over in his head. For so long he had believed that his parents had died because of drunk driving – and now he learned that they died protecting him from someone who wanted to kill them. Harry wasn't sure if this was better or worse.
"'Ere's the strange bit, though. He tried to kill you too – to make a clean job, pr'baby. But – somehow, no'ne knows how, you survived. And he died that day. That's why you're famous. That's 'ere you got that scar"
Harry's hand immediately went to the lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. "I see." He said quietly. "What was this wizard's name?"
Hagrid gulped. "Hard to say – people are still scared – all right, Voldemort." He shuddered. "No one uses his name these days. Still call him You-Know-Who."
Voldemort. So he hadn't lost his parents – they'd been taken from him. Knowing this somehow made the last ten years feel so much worse.
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Harry stared up at the Gringotts building, specifically at the sign on it.
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've been warned, beware
of finding more than treasure there
At this point, Harry made a mental note that if he ever had to rob a bank, he was going to stick to the muggle ones.
He walked in with Hagrid and looked around. There were goblins everywhere, counting and weighing the wizard coins. They were smaller than him, but looked very nasty; he didn't want to be on the bad side of one of those.
He'd been distracted but a comment from Hagrid brought him back.
"It's about You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."
If Harry had been a cat, his ears would have swivelled towards Hagrid in uttermost interest. You-Know-What? What was Hagrid looking for?
If he felt the need to move it from here – supposedly the safest place in Britain – it must be something extremely important, but why on earth would a school headmaster take a highly sought after object into a, for all intents and purposes, boarding school? For that matter, how could a school headmaster have that kind of power?
What could this thing do, and how much would it be worth?
Perhaps he could snatch it later, get a look at it. Would be easy to get it off his guide.
A minute later, Harry stepped into his vault and stared. There were stacks of gold and silver coins bigger than him, with heaps of bronze scattered everywhere. If the Dursleys had known about this place, they never would have called him a burden; they'd be begging him to share with them. He got out his backpack and packed more coins than Hagrid seemed to think necessary, but it never hurt to be prepared.
They went down to the super-secret vault, and Griphook said something that re-affirmed Harry's new 'never steal from goblins' policy. "Go in there and you'll be trapped – and we only check once every ten years." He bared his teeth when he said this.
Definitely stick to muggle banks.
The vault was empty except for a single package sitting in the middle of the table. Hagrid picked it up and Harry watched which pocket he put it in. One rickety ride back to the surface and Harry stuck right behind Hagrid, holding onto his arm as though he were rather younger than he was.
"Whatsammater, Harry?" Hagrid asked in concern.
"It's just overwhelming," Harry mumbled. That much was true, at least partially. "There's so much to look at. I...it's just a little frightening. I don't understand very much."
"Ya will in time, Harry, don't you worry 'bout it." Harry pattered him on the head, "Now, let's go get you your wand."
When he started to walk again, Harry carefully slid a hand into the front pocket, pulled out the package, stowed it in the still-open compartment of his backpack, and zipped it up the rest of the way.
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Harry kept toying with his wand as he walked away from the wand shop, thinking about what Ollivander had said. He didn't really like having only one wand – Dudley was liable to snap it if he ever got the chance. He had been tempted to snatch another one but the way they were boxed hampered him, so he had to leave with one.
He was getting a headache from trying to memorize the streets and different directions they'd walked in. One of Miranda's cardinal rules was always know your way around a place before you do anything.
Next was robes. Harry had resisted the urge to groan; robes trailed near your feet and increased the likelyhood of tripping. Jeans would have been much more practical, in his opinion.
"Hogwarts too, young man?" The lady asked him. "Many have been coming in – stand here," She indicated a place next to an angular, blonde boy who was also getting fitted.
Harry looked at the fabric for the robes. It wasn't that bad he'd been afraid of, actually.
"Hullo," The blonde said, "Hogwarts too?"
"Yeah," Harry said, "Bit overwhelming – I've been stuck with my aunt and uncle for my entire life, and I've basically spent today playing catchup. It's incredibly irritating."
"Muggles?" The blonde echoed in his drawl voice, "You're a muggleborn then?"
"A what?" Harry echoed.
"Muggleborn. Means you don't have wizarding parents." The blonde explained, his head tilted back slightly in a gesture of superiority. Harry had seen that look before, and it never boded well. "My parents are both from respectable, ancient wizarding lines."
"My mum and dad were both wizards," Harry said.
"Were they purebloods?"
"I...don't know. Aunt Petunia never talked to me about my mother and father." Harry was starting to feel a little agitated. "It matters?"
"Of course it matters! Only people with two wizarding parents will be able to make great achievements." The blonde said. "We're of noble breed. You probably are too, if both your parents are wizards."
Harry wondered, if wizards knew anything about muggle history, if this boy was aware of how much he sounded like a junior Neo-Nazi.
"Which house do you think you'll be in?" the boy asked with that same pompous drawl. "I'm going to be in Slytherin, I'm sure of it, my whole family has been there."
Harry thought about what little Hagrid had told him about the four houses inside Hogwarts. "My best guess is either Gryffindor or Slytherin."
"Head for Slytherin. It only accepts the best. I really don't think they should let the other sort in. Most of them hadn't even heard of Hogwarts before they got their letter. What's your surname anyway?"
"No! I'm not going to talk to him!" An angry girl's voice startled both of them. Harry and the blonde boy both turned their heads to the right. At the door of the shop were two adults and two young girls, one their age and the other slightly younger, who was glaring daggers at the blonde boy. They were both blonde-haired and green-eyed, though the younger girl's angry expression distracted from her otherwise pretty features.
"Astoria, for Merlin's sake!" The father whispered in an unhappy tone, "He's your intended. You should get to know him better."
"Get to know him? I already know all I need to – he's a horrible, stuck up snob!" The blonde girl snapped, yanking her arm away from her father. "And I never, ever ever want to marry him!"
"Sweetie, the discussions have already occurred," The woman said in a pained tone. "He's born to an old, powerful family. It would be the best for you! Show him some respect."
"I give respect to people who earn it." Astoria said highhandedly, turning to glare up at her parents. Her sister looked aghast at her behaviour, frantically looking around for some way to change the subject. Her green eyes fell on Harry, shot to his forehead, and she yanked on her father's sleeve.
"Father, father, look. Isn't that Harry Potter?"
All four family members stopped what they were doing and looked at Harry, who was now feeling very put on the spot.
"It is," Her father murmured, starting to walk towards him. He looked past him, saw the blonde boy and said, "Hello Draco, fancy seeing you here."
"Hello Mr. Greengrass." The blonde boy, Draco, said politely, though he looked like he was trying to hide his annoyance at Astoria's not-so-quiet comments and at Harry.
Mr. Greengrass then turned his attention to Harry. "You must be Harry Potter." He took Harry's hand and shook it. "My name is Daniel Greengrass. Off to Hogwarts, aren't you? I'm on the Board of Governors."
"Y-Y-Yes, I am." Harry managed. He felt like he was stuck in Buckingham Palace when he really shouldn't be there, talking to people who would squash him socially and legally if they were malicious enough to do so.
"My two daughters have just made their societal debut." Daniel Greengrass said. "The older one, Daphne -" he gestured to Astoria's older sister, who hadn't stopped staring at Harry since she'd spotted his scar. "-will be in the same year as you. If there is anything you need to know, she'd be happy to fill you in."
"Uh – okay, thank you." Harry said, rooting around for the right words. Politeness and decorum really weren't up his alley, but judging by the man's clothing and attitude he was probably high class, and thus would care very much about it. "I-I'll keep an eye out for her." He nodded at Daphne and gave her the lopsided smirk he was famous for. Daphne's cheeks flushed and her eyes immediately dropped to the floor. Astoria was scowling even more fiercely than when she had spotted Draco.
Speaking of whom, Harry shot the blonde a quick glance and saw the other boy glaring at him, all pretences of friendliness dropped.
Mercifully, Madam Malkin broke in and said, "you're all done, dear."
Relieved to escape the shop and calm his burgeoning blood pressure, Harry stepped off the stool and bowed to Mr. Greengass and his family. "I-I'm sorry I have to take off, but I'm running out of time and I need to get the rest of my school stuff." He said rapidly. "Nice to meet you, sir and ma'am. And Daphne and Astoria." He bowed again and left the shop in a dead sprint.
Astoria watched Harry Potter leave and resisted the urge to glare at her older sister, who was still blushing like crazy.
Her father looked extremely pleased with himself; he was probably planning to get in early, try and marry Daphne to Potter before the other pureblood families got wind of his return and started trying the same thing.
That smirk! There was so much personality in that smirk! Astoria had learned from her mother how to understand someone just by looking at their eyes; she could see the devil-may-care spirit that he was hiding for the sake of politeness. There was a life in Harry that Draco certainly didn't share. Astoria was willing to bet he was much cooler person than her betrothed.
Her scowl deepened and she wanted to stamp her foot at the injustice of it. It figured her older sister would get someone interesting to spend her life with while she got stuck with Draco Malfoy, an egoistical spoiled brat. It just wasn't fair!
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Luckily for Harry, the rest of his trip passed without another unpleasant encounter. He collected his parchment, ink and quills and headed into the pet shop, doing his best to put both Draco and the Greengrass sisters out of his mind.
While he was in there, a little grey kitten caught his eye. She looked pleadingly at him. He pointed at her and asked, "How much for that one?"
The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow, "Dearie, you'd be better picking something else. That kitten is a troublemaker of the highest order."
"I'll pay top gallon for her then," Harry said brightly, pulling out his bag. The shopkeeper looked at him with a little disbelief but gave him the kitten's cage.
Harry smiled at the kitten and said, "Troublemaker, huh? That makes two of us, doesn't it?" He gave his new pet a mock serious look. "Don't rat me out ever, okay?" The kitten mewed and rubbed her head against the cage. "What would be a good name for you...better think on it for a little..."
Time Skip
Harry walked back into Privet Drive loaded down with his stuff for school. Dudley opened the door, saw him, screamed and ran further back into the house. Harry smirked, rolled his eyes and headed up to his room. He wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school, but Dudley didn't need to know that.
He shut the door and opened his kitten's cage. "I'll call you Maria." He whispered. "Welcome home." Maria bounced out and purred, rubbing against Harry's ankles.
Harry organized his trunk and then set down his backpack. He dug through the money and books and eventually pulled out the package from Gringotts.
Harry unwrapped it, and a large red stone dropped into his palm. It glimmered slightly in the light of his room.
"What is this?" Harry whispered. He lay back in his bed, turning it over in his hands. "Is it a ruby?" As quick as that thought came he dismissed it, "No way. Even a ruby as big as this wouldn't receive that level of security...but then, what is it? Some sort of artifact?"
He thought for another moment, and then said, "What do I know about this? Okay, it's a magical stone that Headmaster Dumbledore was going through great pains to see wasn't stolen. What kind of thing could..."
He trailed off. The only stone he knew of that was associated with magic was the Philosopher's stone. Was that what this was?
Harry got off his bed and walked over to his desk and his questionably-legally obtained desktop computer. He quickly booted it up and googled 'Philosopher's Stone'. Then he switched to 'Images'.
Sure enough, the images on the screen matched the item in his hand. He switched back to 'Web' and read the wiki article. And read it again.
"Bloody hell." Harry swore, staring at the innocuous-looking red stone. "I could get anything I wanted with this thing, if it could make gold out of nothing. Hell, I could use this thing to make the Dursley's do whatever I wanted! No wonder it was so high-security. It also makes you immortal? Crazy...I gotta tell Carrie about this..."
He paused and then laughed. "I just pulled off the greatest theft of my life and it was by far the easiest! Man, if the whole wizarding world is this easy, I'm going to have a ball this year."
Maria hopped up on his lap and mewed in agreement. Harry absently stroked her fur while looking at the legendary stone on his desk.
"I wonder..." Harry muttered, "does this have anything to do with that guy...the one who killed my parents? I return to the wizarding world for the first time, Headmaster Dumbledore asks the guy taking me shopping to bring him this precious stone, and I meet a bloodline elitist who will be at my school? This might be paranoia, but it's seems strange...the guy who killed my parents is dead now, Hagrid said, but he had followers...what happened to them?"
Maria licked his hand and stared up at him with wide yellow eyes. "You're right, Maria. I should talk to Carrie and the others about it tomorrow. In fact, I think it's time I invited them over."
Time Skip
Petunia looked like she had swallowed a wasp two days later when Harry's juvenile friends appeared on her doorstep after lunch. Carrie didn't say hello, she just said, "We're here to see Harry, he told you were we coming right?" Without waiting for an answer she pushed past his aunt and walked upstairs towards his room. Pierce and Miranda followed immediately, only Pierce deigning to be polite enough to acknowledge Petunia.
Carrie opened the door and looked in surprise as a grey kitten padded up to her and nuzzled her leg. "Hi, who are you?" She scooped the kitten up and looked at Harry. "You look cheerful."
"That's Maria, my familiar. Pierce, could you close the door? I've got a lot of stuff to tell you guys about."
Immediately, the three older kids sat down and Harry began showing them his wizarding things.
"You're rich!" Pierce said joyfully when Harry spilled some of his gallons and sickles onto the floor. "Filthy stinkin rich!" He suddenly looked hopefully at Harry. "I don't suppose you'd mind paying my college bills? You know, for being such a nice friend?"
Harry laughed, knowing his friend was at least half joking. "Come on, Pierce. I haven't even gotten to the good part yet." He removed the Philosopher Stone from the desk. "This, my dear friends, is a real, true-red Philosopher Stone."
"No." Miranda said disbelievingly. Pierce laughed for a moment before seeing Harry's expression and realizing he was completely serious. "That thing that creates the Elixir of Immortality? That can turn anything into gold?"
"Yes." Harry said smugly.
"How'd you get it?" She demanded.
"Swiped it from my guide's pocket." Harry chuckled. "It was ridiculously easy for something with that high security. He didn't suspect a thing!"
It was Miranda's turn to laugh; she lightly batted Harry around the head. "I'm so proud of how much you've learned from me!" She squeed.
Carrie hesitantly reached out and touched the smooth surface of the Stone. "Well, you'll never be short on cash, at least." She remarked.
"Yeah, the problem is I don't know what to do with it while I'm at school." Harry explained, "I don't feel like taking it with me – I get enough attention as it is. I'll be exposed fast."
"Enough attention?" Carrie enquired. More seriously, Harry explained the story of the Leaky Cauldron, the story of his parents and his encounter with the Draco and the Greengrass family.
Carrie sat up straighter and let out a resigned sigh. "Bigots are bigots, magical or not, I guess. You were bound to run into one sooner or later."
"That stuff about your parents...oh, that's terrible, Harry." Miranda said, eyes wide. Maria took this as a sign she needed comforting and jumped from Carrie's lap to hers. Miranda immediately started petting her. Harry had a feeling that the general intelligence of any given human dropped twenty percent when confronted with an adorable kitten. "At least the guy who did it is dead."
"So you're basically a celebrity?" Pierce theorized. "I have to admit, I don't envy you Harry, the life of a celebrity isn't as cracked up as it makes itself out to be."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Harry said with a scowl. "My point is, I don't think I should bring this with me and I don't want Dudley finding it when I'm out." He then reached out and put the Stone in Carrie's hands. "You hold onto it, Carrie. If anyone needs gold, you do."
Carrie's eyes widened. "You...you're okay with that? You have a stone that makes gold – and you're just giving it to me?"
"For safekeeping." Harry said. "But seriously, use it to upgrade your house and pay off your brother's alcohol debts. You deserve better than that."
Carrie looked shocked, touched and thankful. She leaned over and kissed Harry on the forehead. "Thank you Harry."
"Now what's this about two girls? You'll be a regular ladies man; you haven't been in the wizarding world a day and you've already scored a pair of sisters!" Pierce added teasingly.
Flustered, Harry retorted. "That's not what happened! I just met them today! I'm not looking for a girlfriend, not yet! Older people do that!"
Miranda groaned. "We're you listening, Harry? 'My daughters just made their societal debut'. Before muggle women were allowed to pick who they married that was code for 'I'm interested in creating an alliance between our families by marrying you to my daughter."
"M-M-Marry? But...she's eleven! I'm eleven!" Harry protested, now beyond alarmed. "Hell, forget out ages, how exactly is he going to convince Uncle Vernon to let me marry another magic user? He hates me, but he's still my guardian, and I don't think he'll want a witch around here besides me."
"I suppose you could refuse. And if he finds out you have a criminal record there's a good chance he'll change his mind, especially if he's from high society. Most lords and ladies would die before associating with a criminal, let alone marrying one, unless they were sufficiently well-off and canny." Miranda said thoughtfully, "But if they read that as an insult that would make you enemies."
Harry groaned. "Oh, this is just great, I've met a bigot, heard about a mass-murderer and met a guy who wants me to marry his daughter and I haven't even gotten to school yet!"
"Speaking of the school, how exactly are you going to get there?" Miranda enquired.
"Oh – I have to go to King's Cross station..." Harry dug out his ticket and showed it to them. "Platform Nine and Three Quarters."
Miranda looked confused. "I'm pretty sure King's Cross doesn't have that platform."
"Maybe they do, we just can't see it." Carrie said. "That makes sense, it keeps the muggles away."
"Right." Harry stared at his ticket. "Could you guys get me there?"
"Sure. I'll 'borrow' dad's new car."
Harry tilted his head slightly, and Maria mewed again. "Going to crash this one too?"
"...Maybe."
End Chapter
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