(A/N: Thanks for the kind reviews and the welcome back. As the bio page says I'm pretty busy now-a-days so I don't write as much as I used to.)
Ginny's Plan - Chapter 2
[Mon - Jul 7]
Harry had just finished breakfast the next morning when he heard a knock on the front door. Pulling out his wand, he went to answer it. While he wished he could see who was out there, there was no way, so he opened the door only a few inches. Smiling at his visitor, he opened the door and motioned her in. She came in knowing what was here and so said nothing as he closed the door and led her to the parlor.
"Hermione, good to see you," he told her when they were well away from the portrait of Mrs Black. That was something else he was going to have to take care of one day.
"Hi Harry. I'm glad you wrote me," she said. "I was about to try to contact you. How are you doing here?"
"Mostly fine," he said with a sigh. "I've had a few strong memories hit me, but I've been good for the most part. It's awfully quiet, so I'm looking forward to the rest of you joining me after the wedding."
"I'll try to come over when I can, even if it's just to read; then you'll have someone else in the house. When my parents are at work, it doesn't matter if I'm at home or here." She stopped and looked around. "Isn't Kreacher here?"
"He was here when I arrived, but I've sent him out to run a few errands," Harry said before moving to the next topic quickly. "Since you have some time, could you help me with a few things?"
"Sure," she agreed before she pinned him with a look. "What crazy task did you need my help with? Or your note made it sound crazy."
"What? No, nothing crazy. I just…" he paused and looked down for a moment. "All right, this may sound a little crazy at first, but I just wanted someone here as I looked around the house in case, you know, I run into something unexpected. You know how my luck goes sometimes." He gave her a sheepish look and saw her relax.
"That's sensible," she nodded and look around again. "I think this room is fine as Mrs Weasley and Mr Moody looked it over. We've all been in the kitchen and other rooms downstairs. So the rest of this floor and the others above?"
"Yeah, come on," Harry told her, "and be ready for anything." He pulled his wand back out and she followed his example as they started going from room to room.
"Speaking of your parents," Harry started as they looked around the dining room, "what are you going to do about them while we're busy hunting?"
When she didn't answer immediately, he looked over to see her looking pensive. "Hey," he said and stepped over and put a hand on her shoulder, which was apparently all it took for her composure to break and she practically leapt at him and threw her arms around his shoulders. "Hey, it'll be all right," he said softly as he patted her on the back and hoped it was the right thing.
She shook her head and sniffled. "The only plan I can come up with is to Obliviate them of my existence and send them to Australia and I'd rather not do that."
It was official, she'd shocked him. This was right up there and probably beyond her slugging Malfoy at the end of third year. "Seriously?" he asked quietly and felt her nod her head. "I know this is going to sound radical, but have you considered telling them about the war and asking them to move?" He couldn't help his grin, nor did he hide it when she pulled back and glared at him.
"Of course I have," she answered hotly
"And what did they say?"
"I considered that, but didn't do it," she said defeated and turned away from him.
"I admit I don't have a lot of experience doing something like this so maybe it's a bad idea, but I'd tell them there's a war on and they need to move for their own safety," he told her, causing her to turn back to him.
"The first thing they'll do is take me with them," she said pointedly, daring him to disagree.
"I'm sure they'll try, just like any parent would who loves their child, but you're Hermione; you'll talk them out of it," he said cheekily.
"Harry," she said with a lot of exasperation, "my parents aren't stupid."
"Didn't say they were," he replied. "Look, at least try. If the worst happens, then you can Obliviate them; but just maybe, they'll understand you need to be here, that they can't really protect themselves in a magical war, and they'll go to the continent. You could visit them there from time to time if this goes on for too long. Or maybe try South Africa, there are Brits there I've heard."
"I'll think about it some more," she said not sounding confident, but Harry knew she would. "Let's go to the next room."
After the first floor, then went up to the second floor that was mostly bedrooms.
"This one is the master's bedroom. Sirius stayed here as am I, so I know it's safe," he told her, trying not to think about his godfather too much.
Hermione nodded and moved on.
Harry had to light the lamps in the hallway it was so dark. When he turned, he saw Hermione staring at the next door. He was about to ask why when he saw the name plaque on the door: Regulus Arcturus Black. "R.A.B."
"Could it really be this easy?" she asked, still not moving.
"He was a Death Eater. I wonder if it's here?" Harry asked hopefully as a memory tickled the back of his brain. Hermione finally moved and opened the door and he followed.
"I think someone else has been in the house," she told him. "It's been ransacked."
"The master bedroom was a little messy, but that could have just been Sirius. It wasn't this bad though." He looked around anyway and didn't see anything useful for their hunt or anything that looked dangerous.
The next room was also ransacked. "Fletcher, I'll bet on it," growled Harry. "Kreacher said he'd been here stealing things. Good thing I've locked him out."
Hermione nodded. "I don't see anything helpful in here."
As he was about to leave, Harry saw photograph of a woman wearing a gold necklace with a golden heart around her neck. That brought the memory forward. "The locket!"
"We know Regulus had it at one time, so what about the locket?" Hermione asked, surprised at his outburst.
"The locket we want was here. We found it while cleaning the dining room two summers ago, remember?" he asked excitedly.
Hermione just blinked at him for a moment before she grinned too. "Yes, you're right. Where do you think it went? We need to go look."
"Kreacher, come!" Harry commanded.
The elf popped in a moment later, looking tired. "Master called?"
"Uh, Kreacher, you don't look so good. Are you eating and sleeping properly?" Harry asked, wondering about the elf.
"Master said to retrieve Black treasures, Kreacher is doing so. Nasty thief is resisting," Kreacher gave his ugly grin again, "Kreacher is enjoying the challenge."
Hermione looked puzzled and like she was about to start asking questions, questions that Harry was sure he didn't want her asking. "I'll let you get back to that in a moment, but I need to know what happened to the gold locket with a snake on it that we found when we were cleaning. Where is it?"
The house-elf's expression turned murderous. "Nasty thief took it then sold it. Kreacher has yet to find it but he will. It was Master Regulus's and the last thing the master gave me." He looked down as if defeated.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, kneeling down on one knee.
"Master told Kreacher to destroy it but Kreacher has been unable to. It resists Elf magic."
Harry looked up at his friend and saw she was wide-eyed, probably thinking "That's it!" like he was. "Kreacher, if you can get it and bring it back, I'll help you destroy it. All right?"
The elf looked up with hope on his face and renewed vigor. "Kreacher will find it!" He snapped his fingers and was gone again.
Harry stood and considered the conversation for a moment before he shook his head. "I wonder what other surprises we'll find here?" He moved on to the next room and Hermione followed him. He was thankful she didn't ask him about Kreacher's mission.
"At least we're one little step closer," she encouraged him.
"Yeah, but if we don't get it, then that wasn't much help." Harry stopped and looked at the library. "I think we're good here and I don't see anything we might want to take with us to hunt with."
"Harry, can I borrow this book, and the one next to it," she asked as she pulled two off the shelf and started looking through them.
"As long as you bring them back later, sure," he told her.
She closed the two slim and plain brown leather bound books with faded gold letters on their spine and smiled at him. "I promise."
They moved onto the next room. Harry found little else of importance that he felt he had to have by the time they'd finished walking through the house, making him feel a little disappointed. Still, this was one thing he could cross off his list.
— — —
Harry felt someone stroke his head and immediately woke up to find Ginny sitting on the couch where he'd fallen asleep. "What are you doing here?" he asked a little groggily.
"Hi to you too, sleepyhead," she said with a grin before yawning.
"You don't seem so bright yourself," Harry quipped as he sat up.
"I had to wait longer than expected for everyone to fall asleep so I could sneak over here," she explained, "but I'm ready."
Harry blinked at her for a moment. "Ready for what?"
"For you to explain what's going on. It's just the two of us, no one else can overhear, plus we have a couple of hours if we need it." She just looked at him and waited.
Harry nodded slowly and looked across the room, seeming to be in a daze.
"How much do you remember of … Tom Riddle?" he asked, dreading this conversation but knowing he'd promised to tell her.
She appreciated that he wasn't really looking at her as she felt embarrassed at having been tricked by the dairy. Ginny decided this was a conversation for full honesty, no holding back anything even if it was embarrassing. "I tell everyone that I don't remember much, but I remember some things. I didn't learn everything he knew at time he created the diary, but I did learn some magic from it … and I learned about him too.
"He could be very charming, but he had a cruel streak too. Very smart and well read, strong magically, could be very patient … at least until he reached his breaking point then he was as reactionary as any Gryffindor," she ended with a chuckle that Harry shared. "Why?"
"I know a lot of the why's now," Harry told her. "I know why he attacked my family and still comes after me. I know why he didn't die that night and why it's hard to kill him. It's not pretty."
"He's not a good person," Ginny returned quietly.
Harry looked her in the eyes for a long moment and nodded. Then he started talking, using most of an hour to explain about all that had happened to him and his family, including a prophecy and about soul anchors, which included his conversations over the last year with the Headmaster.
Ginny wasn't shocked silent because of the horror; no, she was silent because she was trying to take it all in and make sense of it - so many things that shouldn't have happened. While he just looked at her after his long story, she finally flung herself at him and wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'm so very sorry this has all happened to you."
A tired "Thanks" was all he said as he hugged her back.
"I need to think about all of this," she told him. "It probably works that it'll be a few days before I can sneak back since I have a lot to think about. How's your planning?"
He let go of her and leaned back; she twisted a little and laid her head in his lap. Ginny enjoyed him laying a hand on her head and stroking it lightly.
"All right, I suppose," he answered finally after a moment. "I think I have a list of a few things that are in this house that could be helpful and I've started a longer list of things I should probably buy soon, like you said, before full war makes it hard.
"Hermione came over and spent most of the day here and we walked through the house. Nothing bad happened, but we didn't poke around too much either. I think Sirius did clean out the worst of things.
"Oh, I called Kreacher back from his errand and got an update. He's apparently found Dung and is getting all the things that the thief stole."
"I'm almost afraid to ask, but is he doing anything to Dung?" she asked with a little trepidation. "You could be held accountable if he hurts Dung and Dung reports it."
Harry looked surprised. "I didn't know that, but I doubt it'll be a problem. If he reported it, he'd have to admit to stealing enough stuff he'd be spending twenty or more years in Azkaban I bet." Harry snorted. "In fact, the thing that was stolen that I want the most might be considered priceless - Slytherin's Locket."
"It was here?" she asked with wide eyes.
"I think we all touched it a couple of summers ago when we were cleaning."
Ginny looked like she might be sick.
"Anyway, I'm not too worried; I told Kreacher he couldn't kill Dung," Harry finished.
"Still-" Ginny was interrupted by the sound of various small pops. The two sat up and looked over and in the middle of the room, another small pop was heard and what looked like a wooden briefcase appeared and joined several silver candlesticks, a money pouch, and other unidentifiable things in a small pile, which continued to grow.
"I would guess Kreacher has been successful," Harry said dryly as the teens continued to watch items and small boxes continue to appear.
Several minutes after it all started, the largest pop occurred and Kreacher appeared, looking a bit haggard but also victorious with a large golden locket on a chain around his neck. "I have it all back, Master."
"Well done, Kreacher," Harry praised him honestly. "I do hope Dung was still alive when you left?"
"Nasty thief will live if he wants to," the elf spat. "Stole and sold Master Regulus's prize locket. Took Kreacher hours to find it on neck of nasty toad-like woman."
Harry and Ginny looked at each other in surprise. "You don't suppose…" he started.
"Don't want to know," she told him seriously.
"Yeah, probably for the best," Harry agreed.
He stood and reached into a pocket and pulled out the fake locket that he'd carried with him ever since that fateful night; he removed the note in it though. "I'll give you this from your Master Regulus for that locket and I promise I'll find a way to destroy it. You'll also feel better without that near you, or so I'd think."
Kreacher looked down at it for a moment and frowned, before he grabbed it and removed it from his neck. He took the locket from Harry and gave Slytherin's locket to his master.
"Thank you, Kreacher." He looked at Ginny. "I need to put this someplace safe, be right back." Harry hurried towards the stairs.
Ginny just shook her head at it all. "Did Dung sell very much of it so you had to go find it? Or did he still have most of it?"
The elf looked at her for a moment, obviously trying to figure out if he should answer. "Over half was gone and had to be retrieved," was finally said.
"I'm impressed you found it all so quickly," said Ginny, trying to make nice with the old house-elf.
Harry came tromping back down the stairs at a fast clip. "Sorry, but I really didn't want to have to hold onto that."
"I understand," she said as she rose. "I probably should go."
"Yeah, don't want you to get into trouble."
She giggled. "You're the one in trouble, mister. Mum is not happy with you with preventing her from coming over and checking on you. She's sure you're doing things you shouldn't be."
"Like snogging her daughter?" he said with a grin.
Ginny laughed. "That for sure. Dad's not thrilled; he only thinks it would be wise of you to add them in case you need help from adults."
"Please point out to them that Remus and Tonks have access," he told her. "Tell them I'll think about adding them, but between you and me, I don't think I want her here after the way she treated Sirius. I'm afraid she'd try to treat me the same way."
"Probably a reasonable concern," she said with a snort. "Owl me a letter with that in it so she doesn't wonder how I found out."
"Sure."
"If I come over in the day time, I'll probably have to bring Ron. I assume that's all right?" she asked.
"Yeah, it would be good to see and talk to him. I can't plan all the time or I'd be bored," he said teasingly.
"We wouldn't want that," she said as she wrapped her arms around him and proceeded to kiss him. It was a few minutes before they broke apart, each breathing heavily. "I need to go."
"If you must," he said with resignation.
"One day, Potter…"
"Yeah, one day, Weasley."
They grinned at each other and then she turned to leave.
Harry watched her leave the room to go home. It wasn't until then that he realized Kreacher was still there, watching him with a sour look. "Go get all the rest you need. This stuff can stay here. You can put it away when you get up. We'll talk about your duties tomorrow." With that, Harry left for bed.
[Wed - Jul 9]
Harry hadn't worked overly hard on his plans, but with a couple more days with not much else to do, he had finished the lists he needed for now. Currently, he was in research mode in the library, looking at the titles of books, hoping he could find the next thing he needed. The last two hours had been fruitless, but he forced himself to continue. Hearing a voice behind him gave him some relief from his task.
"Harry?"
"Remus?" he said as he turned. "What brings you over here?"
"A letter. Do you have a few minutes to talk?" the man said as he walked over to the small table and stood by a chair, his request obvious.
"Sure," Harry replied and took the other chair as Remus took his. "As I don't remember sending your letter yet because it's only half written, what letter are you referring to?" He was quite certain he knew, and it turned out he was correct.
"The one from the Weasleys I received this morning." When Harry made no reply, Remus continued. "Molly was quite upset with what you wrote and is … well, she's demanding you come to The Burrow."
"And you've been sent as the messenger?" Harry asked calmly, probably enjoying this conversation more than he really should.
"Since she can't get here, then yes."
"What about Arthur?" Harry asked.
"He thinks it'd be best if you had some supervision, but he's not upset," Remus answered. "Look, Harry, I get it, I really do. You're experiencing some freedom for the first time in your life, but is this really the best time to flaunt it? We're on the edge of a war and it's about to get very ugly. I have first-hand experience from the last one, and in a way you do too."
While Harry didn't appreciate the reference to his parents' death, he could understand what Remus was trying to tell him. "Remus, I appreciate you checking on me, but I'm fine here-"
"Snape can get in!"
Harry just grinned. "I'd like to see him try. Besides, aren't we discussing how I've successfully restricted access? Remus, you're here only because you're enough of a family friend that I let you, not to mention that I can see the benefit to having some adults in my life. But honestly, there are very few adults I fully trust."
"Not even Arthur and Molly Weasley?" Remus asked with incredulity.
"Arthur more than Molly, but while I generally trust them, I don't fully trust them. Tell me, Remus," Harry looked at the family friend, "how did she treat my godfather in his own house? And did Arthur ever rein her in?"
Remus looked down at his hands on the table.
"Then there was the time Fred and George, along with Ron, broke me out of my relatives house and as far as I know, their parents never really questioned or investigated why their sons had to do that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they didn't believe a word of what their sons told about that time, making me wonder how much they really care about me, little Harry, and not The-Boy-Who-Lived.
"Despite that, I truly appreciate them accepting me into their home for the few times they did. I even have a special fondness for them. Nevertheless, I don't fully trust them at the moment.
"Truth be told, I have my questions about if I should really trust you after not seeing you for twelve years." Harry watched Remus jerk his head up to look at Harry. "But I'm going to call those mistakes, uh, misunderstandings because of my parents. You also get points because you've tried to make up for the misunderstandings, so I'm going to try to trust you anyway. Since Tonks is with you and is family from my Black side, she gets access too."
"But Molly and Arthur don't," he stated, seeming to have the need to clarify.
"Not now, but later is possible." Harry paused and sighed. "Can you keep something to yourself?"
"Yes," Remus answered without hesitation.
"Professor Dumbledore gave me a task to do in relation to the war," Harry said seriously. "I'm not going to say what as he asked me not to spread it around, but it's something that needs to be done and he chose me. So besides enjoying my freedom, as you put it, I need freedom to pursue that task. If Molly Weasley were here, I couldn't do that because she has unrealistic expectations."
"How so?" asked Remus.
"You really need me to tell you?" Harry queried with what he hoped was his best 'are you truly serious' look.
"I can guess," Remus said tiredly as he leaned back in his chair, "but humor me."
"She wants the war over like a lot of people, including me," Harry explained. "To end the war is going to take not only a small miracle but a lot of work. Yet on the other hand, she doesn't want me or anyone else my age to grow up and take part in the war. Those two things are contradictory."
"She'd tell you that you shouldn't be fighting in the war-" Remus started until Harry cut him off.
"But the war isn't going to end unless I, me, Harry Potter, do some very special things!" he told the man hotly.
"You really are the Chosen One?" Remus asked, sounding like he hoped it wasn't so.
"Dumbledore told the Order nothing about ending the war?"
"Not really," Remus said dejectedly. "Of course the Daily Prophet says you have to defeat him, but I don't believe it."
Harry wanted to roll his eyes but resisted. "I fully agree that newspaper isn't worth the paper it's printed on most of the time; but in this instance, it is correct."
Remus's eyes went wide and he stared at the younger man.
"If you can have a private conversation with only those two, you have my permission to tell them that the war isn't going to end without me doing some very special things. While not required, I'd appreciate their support; but I will not accept interference, from them or anyone else. Remus, I'm very serious about this."
The werewolf put his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes for a moment. Harry let him, giving the man a moment to fully absorb the situation. He knew he'd taken a slightly heavy-handed approach, but he felt the message had to be sent. He really did like the Weasley parents, but he couldn't allow Molly to wrap him up safely and prevent him from destroying the Horcruxes and eventually Voldemort.
"I know it may be an unusual way to do it," Harry said softly, "but I'm trying to protect them."
Remus dropped his hands. "Perhaps you should come over and tell her that."
Harry chuckled and Remus joined him lightly. "If I have to, I will; but honestly, it'd probably devolve into a shouting match at the moment. I'd suggest talking to Arthur alone and let him explain it to her; it's what I'd do if I had to."
"Probably the best either of us could do," Remus admitted. "Err, I do have to ask, does dating her daughter factor into this desire for extra privacy?"
Harry hoped he hadn't blushed, but the small smirk on Remus's face told him he probably had, at least a little. "Not purposefully, but it's a nice coincidence."
"Right," Remus drawled knowingly. "So what are you doing here and in the library at that? This seems more like Hermione's past-time not yours."
Harry relaxed at the change of topic. "I come here mostly for planning with the occasional bit of relaxation in the evenings. At the moment, I'm trying to find a spell. You could help me while you're here, if you have time."
"Perhaps, what did you need?"
"I need to know how to do glamours. I'd also like to know why Sirius didn't use them to get out a little so he didn't feel so caged," asked Harry.
"You do ask some hard ones," he muttered, but obviously not trying to hide what he said. Adopting his teacher look, he said, "Glamours are actually fairly hard to do for most people. They're like Notice-Me-Not charms, they generally work but if someone tries hard enough, they can be broken - or rendered useless. That usually happens because the glamour wasn't cast well enough, leaving something that looks 'off', and when someone looks close enough and questions what they're seeing, the glamour tends to break. It also suffers from the problem that if an Ending Spell, purposeful or stray, hits you then the glamour is gone. So few actually use them, including Sirius who was quite average when casting them, meaning his didn't work well."
"Hmm, what other options exist to disguise someone who needs to be out and talking to people but doesn't want to be recognized?" Harry asked.
"Well, Tonks might be better able to answer since she had a course at Auror School for that, or so I think," Remus said. "However, sometimes it's better to do a several little things. Like changing the color of your hair is pretty easy and that can fool people who are only giving you a glance. You might want to change glasses, or even get contacts. A hat can hide your scar, but…" he smirked, "you might do better to investigate make-up, like girls or theater performers use."
Harry just blinked, as he considered using something like Ginny or Hermione used. "Uhh, yeah, right," he said, not sure how to respond.
Remus out-right laughed. "You should see your face."
"I can imagine," Harry said dryly. "Can you teach me a glamour so I can see if I can do it? After that, the hair coloring charm might be good to know."
Harry found a true glamour hard to cast because he could always see flaws when looking in a mirror, but he knew the spell now and could practice later. For coloring, he went with a golden blond; there was no way he'd go a white blond like Malfoy.
"So you're going out?" Remus asked after the short lesson.
"Yeah, I need a few things in Diagon Alley." Harry noticed that Remus looked like he wanted to say something, but was having trouble. Guessing, he said, "If you have a couple of hours, you can come with me if you like."
Remus gave him a relaxed smile. "Actually, I would, if you don't mind. Oh, maybe this will help too." He conjured a hat and handed it to Harry who put it on. "It's a newsboy cap; maybe not as common in the Wizarding world as the Muggle one, but you'll see them around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade if you look."
"Thanks!" Harry said brightly and put it on before grabbing his planner from the table. "I need to get my Gringotts key; I'll meet you by the fireplace."
A few minutes later, they were in the Leaky Cauldron and heading into the shopping area, the cap pulled down on his head to cover his scar. He'd also brought his backpack with only an empty money bag in it.
"This may be a bit boring for you," Harry told his companion, "but I need to get some money and talk to someone in the bank."
"What if I go to the bookstore for about twenty minutes and meet you in the lobby?" Remus suggested.
"That's fine. If you would, keep an eye out for a Wizarding Tent; I'd like to buy one," Harry told him.
"I know where to get one. See you in a bit."
"Yeah, later," Harry told his friend before he headed for the Wizarding bank.
Harry walked into the bank and stepped into the shortest line. A few minutes later, he reached the front and said, "I'd like to talk to the account manager," then with a lowered voice added, "for the Potter family."
The Goblin waved a much younger one over and said something in his own language and then looked at Harry. "Follow him. Next."
Harry was led to a small office with an older Goblin who had a large ledger book.
"What do you need?" the Goblin asked in a bored tone, not introducing himself.
"Are you the account manager for the Potter family?" asked Harry.
"For any family. No one is assigned to any one family. What do you need in regard to your accounts?" the Goblin repeated.
"Oh, well, I've never received a statement for my account. I'd like to know when you sent the last one as well as get one now - for all my accounts or vaults or however you do it." Harry hoped he'd find there was more than his normal vault as wars can make things expensive.
The Goblin flipped through the large ledger. "None have been sent because you didn't sign up for a statement. It's ten Sickles a statement."
"I'd like one now and send them to me once a year." Harry thought that would be good enough.
"It will only show monetary amounts and transactions. Any items are your own business," the Goblin said as he set a purple crystal on specific lines in the ledger book before setting the crystal on a stack of parchment. When he was done, he handed them over and said, "I'll deduct the thirty Sickles from your account."
"I thought you said ten," Harry queried, sure that was the amount.
"It's ten per statement; you have three statements. Is there anything else or are we done?" asked the Goblin as if he wanted to be elsewhere.
Harry ignored the attitude and glanced through the statements, seeing his trust vault, the Potter Family vault, and the Black family vault. "Can you tell me who can access to each of these vaults and if there are any automatic payments from them?"
The Goblin returned to the ledger book. "Your trust vault is accessible by anyone with your key. The other two vaults are accessible by yourself or anyone born of the family, though you may not enter the Potter family vault until you are seventeen. There are no automatic payments authorized on any of them, except for your trust vault to pay Hogwarts invoices."
That was fine for the Potter vaults, but not so for the Black vault, he thought. "Please turn off automatic payment to Hogwarts. Also, disallow all access to the Black vault except for myself or my house-elf."
"Done," the Goblin said after a moment of writing. "Is there anything else?" he asked, sounding hopeful there was not.
"No, I just need to visit my trust vault and the Black vault," Harry said rising.
The Goblin rang a bell. The door opened and the younger Goblin was there and motioned him out. The older goblin didn't even say good-bye but returned to work. Harry shook his head and left.
"I need to go to my vault and the Black family vault," Harry told him.
"Key for your vault?" the Goblin held out his hand. When Harry handed it over, the goblin said, "Follow me."
After a rather enjoyable ride in the cart, the goblin opened the door to his vault. Harry pulled out a money bag he'd purchased on a previous trip and filled it up, doing his best to get only the golden Galleons. That went into his backpack. "Can I borrow a bag to be returned to the counter?"
The young goblin grudgingly pulled a bag from the cart and handed it over. Harry filled this one, not caring what went in as long as at least half was Galleons.
They went to the Black family vault next. Harry had to place his hand on the door for a moment. It clicked and the Goblin pulled it open. Inside, Harry saw a pile of money several times bigger than the one in his trust vault. There was also some jewelry and a few boxes of parchment. A quick look showed them to be certificates for various things: ownership in businesses, deeds to properties, old contracts, and who knew what else. He'd have to investigate those one day, but not today. He didn't spare more than a glance at the stuff in the back, saving that for another day since nothing looked obviously helpful.
Done, they returned to the lobby and the Goblin escorted Harry to the counter where money was exchanged. Harry assumed the Goblin came with him to make sure the borrowed bag wasn't taken, as they charged five Galleons for it since it was magical. A few moments later he had several "bricks" of Muggle notes which he stuffed into his backpack so he didn't look to be so obvious in carrying a large amount of money.
Turning, he saw Remus waiting on a bench with a book in his hand and looking at him curiously. Remus joined him as he walked out of the bank.
"Get what you need?" the man asked.
"I think so. I need to get a few Wizarding clothes so I don't stand out so much here because I don't plan to wear my school robes; a tent and trunk are also needed." Harry looked at him.
"Clothes first then." Remus led him to Madam Malkin's which was nearby.
Harry picked out a few sets of casual robes along with the shirts and trousers that normally went underneath. A new pair of boots was also purchased. He wore a set of his new clothes out and put the rest in his backpack.
Feeling better about blending in, he looked at his friend. "I think a trunk is next, and some place that does multi-compartment ones."
"Twill's Trunks then." Remus led him to the entrance of Knockturn Alley; the store was on the corner.
"Robert Twill. What can I help you gentlemen with?" a thin man that was going bald asked when they'd entered.
"A multi-compartment trunk with three or four compartments," Harry said as he looked around slowly. "I need at least one compartment to be large."
"How large?"
"Four by five meters, or larger," Harry replied, noting his friend looking surprised.
The owner looked him over. "That will be expensive."
"What is expensive?"
"Over 500 Galleons, maybe even double that if you get all the options." The owner didn't look optimistic that Harry would take it.
"If it has what I want, it'd be worth it," Harry told him, smiling on the inside at the man's surprised looks.
"This way, I have one sample. If you don't like it, we can custom make one for you but it'll take two weeks extra. This one's outside is teak and it has three compartments. The first is the size of the trunk; the second is double height, useful for storing brooms and other longer items; the third is four by six meters and useful for bulk storage. While we make a model with more compartments, this model has the largest single compartment."
Twill stopped in front of a medium brown colored large trunk with a rounded top and three latches on the front. He opened the first two and they were as he said. He opened the third and there was a ladder that looked to descend into the corner of a room that went out of sight.
"May I?" Harry asked and Twill gestured for him to take a look. After climbing down the ladder and looking around, he called, "Mr Twill, could you join me for a few questions?"
Remus watched the shop owner descend the ladder as well. His mind was still trying to figure out what Harry was up to. Stopping by the bank and even getting Muggle money wasn't too hard to figure out, given they were shopping. A tent was a little harder, but could be rationalized as a place to stay if he had to travel somewhere overnight, though Remus was going to advise against that for his safety. But a trunk with a large compartment, or essentially a room? Remus had no idea for this.
A few low murmurings came to him, but the words were too quiet for him to make out. It was nearly five minutes later before the pair climbed back out of the trunk and the owner closed the top.
"Are you sure, lad?"
"Yes, Mr Twill. You said it'd be ready by Friday afternoon?" Harry asked as the two walked towards the back where a desk was.
"Aye, after one I believe." Twill wrote on a parchment for minute or so while Harry took his backpack off and opened his bag of money and started pulling Galleons out and putting them in a stack carefully counting to ten. After the first stack he started matching that stack as fast as he could. By the time the shop owner finished, Harry had fifty stacks.
Twill handed Harry the parchment. "Did I miss anything?"
Taking a moment to look it over, Harry said, "No, sir, that looks good. Here's half of the amount."
Twill wrote a receipt. "What name do I put on this?"
"Black," Harry said without hesitation. "I'll return personally to pick it up and give you the other half of the amount."
"I appreciate the business, Mr Black." Twill handed the receipt over and shook Harry's hand.
"Cheers," Harry said brightly to the shop owner and led Remus out.
"Harry," Remus hissed when they were outside, "that's a lot of money for a trunk. It might take Arthur Weasley a month or more to earn that much. And what are you going to do with one that big?"
Harry smirked at the man. "I'm going to store things in it. As for the cost, it's an investment that will last me for the rest of my life, however long that is.
"Now, I think I'll skip the tent for now, but can you point out where the store for that is so I can investigate later." Harry was amused by Remus's reaction, and he had no plans to answer all the man's questions.
"It's that way, just beyond Fred and George's place," Remus pointed.
"Good, I'll have to stop by there later too. I'm about to go into the normal world and it'll be boring but you're welcome to come if you like. We should have time to talk; stories about my parents would be appreciated." Harry continued to walk towards the Leaky Cauldron.
"I'll come if you don't mind," the man said after a moment. "I'd like to make sure you're safe."
Harry stopped near the portal and called, "Kreacher, come."
The elf popped in with a, "Yes, master," that was barely respectful.
Harry pulled out one brick of Muggle money and handed the backpack with the rest of his money and his purchases to the elf. "Take this home and put it on my bed, then you can return to whatever you were doing."
The elf disappeared and Harry resumed his walk, pleased the trip had been going so well and he hadn't been recognized, at least not that he saw.
Remus accompanied him into Muggle London, continuing to talk about life as they walked and shopped. An hour and a half later, Harry had some new Muggle clothes that truly fit him, along with a non-conjured newsboy cap, and some new trainers.
Despite how embarrassed he felt, he stopped by the cosmetic department and picked up a small jar of make-up that matched his skin color. The lady who'd helped him was very understanding of him wanting to hide his scar.
They walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron since it wasn't too far way. When they reached its door, Harry turned to the family friend. "I think this is where we part ways. Thanks for the afternoon, I enjoyed getting to know you and my parents a little better."
"You're welcome, but shouldn't you use the Floo?" Remus asked.
"No real need. Later Moony." Harry Apparated away leaving a surprised looking friend behind. He really was pleased with the day, mostly because he could cross a few things off his to-do list in his planner. The stories about his parents and getting to know Remus better were a nice bonus.
After updating his planner and looking at it to plan tomorrow, he wrote out a quick letter to Hermione and gave it to Hedwig to deliver that evening.
(eof)