Warnings: Mild cursing

"Talk"

*Telepathic talk*

'Thoughts'

Parseltongue

~Flashback~

-Dream-

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I'm just using the characters for my own pleasure. :D

Chapter 2: Being on your own

When Harry finally had his mood back under control, he raised his wand to signal for the knight bus. After a few minutes of waiting, the purple triple-decker sprang to a hold in front of him. The doors were thrown open and Stan Shunpike jumped out. "Harry Potter. Hello, hello, what can we do for you?" Stan asked while guiding Harry inside to a seat. "I would like to go Gringotts bank in London." Harry said. Stan nodded and took the money that Harry handed him. "We will be there in about a small hour." Stan said with a smile. "Do you need anything?" He asked. Harry thought for a moment. "I would like a copy of the newspaper." Harry answered. Stan walked away for a moment and then returned with the Daily Prophet.

The headline on the front page said: Minister found murdered in his own house! Read at page 2.

Harry quickly turned to page 2.

Minister Fudge was found dead in his own home, yesterday evening. The Auror department received an anonymous letter, which stated that the minister had been killed, and could be found on his own address.

Some Aurors believe that it is You Know Who's work. But others believe differently. We have interviewed Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt and he said: Minister Fudge had lately made a lot of enemies. I personally believe that this is someone's revenge. I will not out rule the possibility that the murder could have been done by You Know Who, but let's face it, Fudge weren't an angel.

So what will the ministry do now? Who will be our new leader?

The murder will be investigated the next couple of days. If you have any clues that could lead the Aurors to the killer, then please send an owl to the Auror department.

This was an article written by Missely Jane Hofkins.

Harry almost laughed out loud. Seriously he couldn't really feel sad about Fudge being dead. He never really liked the man. But still it was unnerving. Who would be chosen to lead the ministry now? 'I just hope they choose someone more serious now' Harry thought. He looked out of the window, but quickly looked away again. He didn't feel like getting carsick.

When the hour was up, he was dropped off the bus in front of Gingotts. Harry said thanks for the ride to Stan and walked inside of the great building. The clock weren't more than ten in the morning, so the goblins weren't really busy. Harry walked over to one of the desk. "I need to talk with someone about my vaults." Harry said while looking at the goblin, who was counting some galleons. The goblin looked up from its work. "Name?" It asked. "Harry James Potter." Harry answered. The goblin nodded. "You have just turned seventeen, correct? Then you will want to know about what you own. Just a moment and I will retrieve your account manager." The goblin said and left. When the goblin returned, it was with another goblin. "Hello mister Potter. I am Griphook your account manager. Please follow me, so we can have a little chat." Griphook said and walked down a hall with a lot of doors on each side. They entered a door with the name Griphook, Account Manager written on it.

The room was an office. It had a desk and two chairs placed with it. One on each side. The office also had a few bookshelves with a lot of books on. The room was done in calm red and golden colors. "Please take a seat, so we can begin." Griphook said while pointing at one of the chair. When they both were seated, Griphook took some papers out from one of the drawers in the desk. "First do you have any questions?" Griphook asked. Harry thought for a moment before he nodded. "Since I am now seventeen. Will Dumbledore still be my guardian?" Harry asked. "When a witch or wizard turns seventeen, they will be considered adults. So no, Dumbledore is not you legally guardian anymore." Griphook answered. Harry nodded. Griphook then laid all the papers out in front of Harry, so he could see them. "As you can see here, you have 17 vaults from the Black family and 9 from the Potter family. Some of these vaults hold money and others hold rare items and books. You have 1,899,223,445 galleons. So you are by far a poor wizard." Griphook said with a smirk. "If I am correct, you have more money than the Malfoys." He then said. Harry grinned. "You also have 4 Manors and 2 Houses. One of the houses is Gimmauld Place number 12." Griphook said. Harry nodded. He felt dread fill his body. That house he simply hated. He felt sick inside, thinking about it. That house was Sirius' house. How could he ever live there?

Harry got a special card before he left. The card was like a muggle credit card. It could be used in both the muggle and wizard world. Every time he purchased something, the money would be drawn from a vault that he had chosen.

Harry was standing just outside of Gringotts. He was thinking about what he was going to do now. There was a little over a month left until he had to be on the train to Hogwarts. He didn't really want to go to any of his so called friends places. He hadn't heard from any of them. So he was kind of pissed at them. He looked down the street. 'Where to?' Harry thought. 'I want a place where I won't run into people I know. Hm, that will mean… I have to go into Knockturn Alley.' Harry thought to himself. He slowly began walking down the street. After about 15 minutes he could see the entrance to the Alley. He stood there, starring at it for a moment, before he shrugged and walked down it. He walked for some time before he saw a small hotel. It didn't look like the rest of the street. The hotel looked nice and clean. But it was hidden a bit in one of the side streets.

Harry looked at it for a moment, before deciding that he would get a room there. He walked inside and was greeted by a warm and calm lobby. He walked over to the desk. A young woman was standing there. "Hello, what can I do for you mister?" She asked in a sweet and bubbly tone. Harry gave her a nod. "I would like a room for the next month." Harry said. The woman's eyes almost fell out of her head. "Uhm that will be really expensive, are you sure you want the room for that long?" She asked in a disbelieving voice. "Yes! Now, are you finding me a room, or do I have to go somewhere else?" Harry sneered. 'Did it really have to be so hard to get a room?' Harry thought irritated. His eyes flashed red for a moment, and the woman paled drastically. "Of course not sir. Here is the key. You can pay at the end of your stay. Please enjoy your time here." She rambled of while smiling nervously. Harry gave her a polite nod, grabbed the key in her hand and walked off to find his room.

When he found the room and entered, he was quiet surprised. It was a nice room. It was done in different shades of cream colors and gave you a feel of calmness. There was a queen sized bed with drawers underneath. And the sheets were done in a nice vine red color. On each side of the bed there was a window, so the room was lit up by the midday sun. On the right side of the room, there was a wall filled with shelves that were meant for books. On the left side of the room, there was a door which he found, led to a bathroom. It wasn't a big one, but it had all the necessary thing. A shower, toilet, sink and a mirror. The bathroom was done in white. All in all Harry was happy with his room. He unpacked his stuff and decided to go explore Diagon Alley a bit.

The first place he went to was Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. He decided that he wanted to say hello to Fred and George. As soon as he entered the store he was jumped by two identical men. "Hello Harry." Fred and George said, as soon as they let go of the smaller boy, not noticing the small flinch Harry made. Harry smiled at them. "Hey guys. How are you? I can see the shop is doing great." Harry said while looking around the mass of people that were filling the shop. "We are fine. What are you doing here? The school supply list hasn't been sent out yet. Ron is whining about it every day. He is hoping to get the head boy badge. Like that could ever happen." The twins said and laughed. Harry ginned.

"It was my birthday yesterday, so I am officially an adult now, so I left the Dursleys." Harry said. "Ah that is right, you birthday was yesterday. What did mum send you?" They both asked. Harry frowned. "Uhm, nothing? I haven't heard from anyone the whole summer…" Harry said. "WHAT!" The twins screamed. Harry jumped. "What do mean no one has written to you? Ron and Hermione say that they have written to you like a million times!" Fred said. "Uhm, I haven't got any letters... And I couldn't write to anyone since Hedwig died." Harry mumbled, while looking in another direction. The twins looked at each other, and then at Harry. "Harry did something Happen?" The asked concerned while eyeing him more carefully. They noticed the scars on his neck, but didn't say anything. "Nothing I couldn't handle." Harry said. "Okay, we won't push it. But it is obvious that Ronnikins and 'Mione have been lying." The twins said to each other. "What do you mean? Is Hermione at the Burrow?" Harry asked unsure, felling anger swirling in his stomach. Fred and George nodded.

"They said that they asked you to come over, but that was a lie, wasn't it?" George asked. Harry felt his temper rise. This was just so unfair. On the train ride back to London, Ron had said that Harry couldn't come over this summer, because of order business. Harry felt frustrated. He had even asked Dumbledore a million times, not to send him back to Privet Drive number 4. But Dumbledore had just said that the Dursleys house was protected by a blood ward, so he needed to be there.

"Uhm, Harry what is with your eyes?" Fred said slightly scared. Harry looked at the twins confused. "What do you mean?" He asked. "Well, firstly you don't need your glasses anymore? And, uhm, your eyes are kind of red right now…" George said scared. 'My eyes? Shit, right, they turn red if I get angry. Uhm calm down Harry, calm down…' Harry thought frantically. "Ah now they are green again… What the…?" The twins said confused in unison. Harry smiled sheepishly. "Well, uhm… I got into my inheritance… and it turns out that I have some nonhuman genes…. I am part vampire… That is why my eyes have corrected themselves and that is the reason they turn red, when I get angry." Harry said slowly. The twins nodded and then smiled. "Cool." They both said in unison. "Now, since you didn't get any birthday presents, how about picking something in our shop? We know that you hate taking stuff for free. So see it as our presents to you." They said and gestured to the shop. "Thanks guys." Harry said and gave the twins a quick hug while trying not to flinch at the contact.

Harry spent some time walking around in the twins shop. He took some firework, and other fun stuff. When he had grabbed all the things he wanted, he thanked Fred and George and got out on the street again. He slowly walked back towards his hotel. No one approached him, because they didn't recognize him. When he entered Knockturn Alley he noticed a shady looking shop on his left side. He walked closer to the window and looked inside. He couldn't see a damn thing. The window was all muddy and filled with dust. He looked up and noticed a sign. It was hanging quite loosely and it was impressive that it hadn't already fallen down and killed someone. The text on the sign was almost gone, it said Rare Animals Petshop. Curious as he was, he opened the door and entered the shop.

The shop was filled with all different kind of cages and animal food. There were terrariums lined up next to each other by one of the walls. Each terrarium contained some kind of poisonous reptile. There were frogs, spiders, snakes and blue mantises. Harry looked at the mantises for a moment… well they must be rare because of their blue color, but other than that they looked kind of harmless.

In the middle of the room there was a large cage with a phoenix inside. Its feathers were ice blue and white. In a cage next to the one with the phoenix in, there was a tiny little bird. The sign said that it was a Moonbird. But to Harry it looked like a small piece of candy floss. The bird was pink and had a white beak. Its eyes were huge and black. Frankly, it was creepy.

Harry walked around the cages and noticed an open cage on the floor in one of the corners. He got curious and walked over to it. He peered into it and saw a small black fur ball. 'What the heck is that?' Harry mused feeling a strong urge to poke it, but restrained himself. Suddenly the ball moved and a pair of green eyes looked at him. "Hey sweetie. What creature are you?" Harry asked it while smiling a little. The animal wiggled its ears, as if it was listening to what he was saying. Harry looked at the small sign on the cage, it said Felis Catus Panthera. 'What does that mean?' Harry thought confused. The creature got up from where it was laying and walked over to Harry. When it was standing in front of him, it sat down on its bum. Harry reached down to pet it on the head.

"You do know that it is a quite dangerous animal, don't you?" A female voice suddenly said from right next to him. Harry nearly jumped out of his skin in fright. "Shit! Are you trying to kill me woman!" Harry hissed at her. He noticed that she was dressed a lot like Trelawney. Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust. He never really liked Trelawney.

Suddenly Harry felt like knives pierced the skin on his hand. He screamed in shock. "Uh, she likes you." The woman said while pointing at the black animal, which was currently using Harrys hand as a chew toy. "She what? Are you blind? She just bit me!" Harry growled at the woman. She smiled at him. "Well that is how the felis catus panthera choose their owner. She wants to be your familiar." The woman said. Harry looked confused for a moment, until the words that the woman had just said, entered his head.

He looked down at the small animal. It looked just like a panther. A black one. It was about the size of a normal housecat. "Will she grow?" He asked the lady next to him. She nodded. "This race will grow just like a normal panther. She will eat raw meat and will be quite large. So are you taking her?" She asked. Harry looked at the fur ball one more time and nodded. How could he say no to those sweet eyes?

He took the cat up from its cage and it started purring while licking him on the cheek. He laughed at it and smiled. The woman went to the cash register. "Then it will be 150 Galleons. You will also get a bag with enough food to her for today." The lady said while smiling. "By the way. She doesn't have a name yet. So you will have to name her." She added. Harry nodded and paid her.

When Harry finally got back to his hotel room he was exhausted. It had been a long day and he was really starting to get hungry. He ordered a small meal, since his stomach couldn't handle too big meals yet. It was a side effect from being starved at the Dursleys place. After he had eaten and the cat had eaten he laid on his bed thinking. The cat really needed a name. He looked down on her. She was lying curled up next to him. His hands were running through her soft fur. "What do you say to Naydia?" Harry asked the creature. It growled and nipped at his hand. Harry laughed. "Okay, we'll pick another one. Hmm, what about Asha?" He asked. She purred at this and nuzzled her face into his stomach. "You like that? Okay then you will be called Asha from now on." He said with a small smile.

After naming Asha, Harry did some of his homework to after the summer. He quickly noticed that he really needed some new books. So he decided that tomorrow, he would go on books and clothes shopping. With that as the plan he and Asha went to bed.

TBC.

So guys what did you think? Was it boring?

What will happen to Harry from now on? Will he FINALLY get some better clothes? Who will he meet? You will have to read the next chapter to figure it out.

Please review and tell what you think. :D