CH 4
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
Harry woke the morning of July 31, 1991 feeling excited. It was his birthday today. His magical eleventh birthday that he'd been waiting for, for a long while now and it had finally arrived. His master had been clear about the fact that when he turned eleven he'd be formally invited to attend a magical school, even if he was in a legally binding apprenticeship.
The boy had been worried, but there on the kitchen table next to his plate was 'The Letter'. It was the one that he'd been waiting for. It was official. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd been a bit worried about not getting a letter to go to a magical school. However there it was and his happiness could almost be felt by those sensitive with magical empathy.
Ollivander felt the joy and knew that his youngest apprentice and ward was happy, relieved and slightly saddened. "Now you Harry this is a day to celebrate," the old man said coming down to the kitchen. He patted the boy's messy dreadlocked hair and said, "I told you that you'd get one."
"I was just a little concerned," Harry said digging into his birthday breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and fresh berries. He wanted to read his letter, but he knew that it could wait. He'd been living in Diagon Alley for approximately the last five years. So shopping for school supplies in the Alley will not be that much of a novelty and yet he'd been planning everything to work with the pay he'd been receiving as an Apprentice.
He breakfast complete he looked at the address on it:
Harry Potter
Attic Room
Ollivander's in Diagon Alley
Harry grinned at the address and could only imagine that had he still been living with his blood relatives that it would say, 'Cupboard Under the Stairs'. That would have only been, if they'd let him have his letter in the first place. Still he was glad of the changes that had happened, so he opened the letter. He read the letter of greeting, which looked kind of standardized to him.
Attached was a long list of items to get, but the letter also said that they await his Owl. He didn't have one, but that didn't matter as the Post Owl Services Shop was only four stores down and he could send his letter with one of those.
"Well son," Ollivander said. "What do you have planned for today?"
"I think I'd like to make my school wand," Harry said excitedly. "Um... but, only after I mail off my acceptance letter, may I go now?"
"I think we should also go to Gringotts to see if your family had set up a school funds vault in your name too," Ollivander said. "That way you're not dipping into your Apprentice pay vault."
"Do you truly think that they did that," Harry asked, curious about his parents.
"Most magical Families do," Ollivander said. "It's only after you turn eleven that you're even permitted to know about the vaults your family may have."
"More than one," Harry asked wide-eyed.
"It's possible," Ollivander said sipping his morning tea. "The Potters are an old established magical family. Why don't you reply to your letter and then we can take care of Gringotts before you expend your energy in making your school wand."
"All right," Harry said. He got up from the table, brought his dishes to Frixy for cleaning and thanked the aging house-elf for his birthday breakfast. "Thank you Frixy, it was better than last year's."
"You say that every year," Frixy's ears wiggled happily at the complement like always. "Go on, go on, you've things to do."
"Yes, sir," Harry said happily. He went up to his school-work desk, pulled a piece of parchment off the paper roll dispenser made especially for scrolls of parchment.
Professor McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry
Madam,
I accept the invitation to attend Hogwarts, as of September first of this year.
I do have a question in regards to the animal, as I happen to be magically bonded to two familiars that are not on your list of accepted animals for first years. Will they cause a problem?
Harry Potter
It was a short and sweet note. At least he'd been able to ask about his familiars, there was no way the he'd leave them behind. He couldn't, that's what happens when magically bonded to creatures.
He let the ink dry while he went to change his clothing for a trip down the street and for later to Gringotts. Soon there was a non-descript postal owl taking the long journey to Hogwarts to deliver Harry's acceptance and question.
Then Harry and Ollivander closed up shop for a small part of the morning in order to attend some business at the bank. They walked up to the teller and asked to see Harry Potter's Account Manager. This had shocked the teller, but he called forth one of the courier goblins to guide the old man and his apprentice to a waiting room. It wasn't long before they were called into one of the larger offices.
"Gentlemen," the goblin said, gesturing them to have a seat. "How may I help you today?"
"We are here to see of the Potters' have left their son with a magical school tuition vault," Ollivander said.
"We've already sent the key to his magical guardian," the goblin said.
Ollivander didn't even blink when he said, "I never received it. When was it sent?"
"Two weeks ago," the goblin said in a horrified tone. "I need to check some records, please give me a few moments." He went to the cabinet and frowned at the contents. "I must call forth an audit at this point in time and I'll have to have a senior manager double-check the work in Mr. Potter's file." He sent a note away and a couple of minutes later an older goblin arrived with the note in hand.
"Is this true," the older goblin said pointing to the note. The other one just pointed at the two humans in the room. "I must apologize, but the key for the tuition vault was sent to Hogwarts care-of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school."
"He is not the boy's magical guardian," Ollivander said.
"Can you prove that sir," the older goblin said. "We need to be certain as the petition we have on file is two years old."
"I've been his guardian for the past five years," Ollivander said. He pulled out a copy of the Apprenticeship Contract and showed it to the goblins. Their noses twitched and then they snarled at the paperwork that Dumbledore had submitted.
One word from the older goblin and then there was a red rubber stamp 'VOID' across all documents that Dumbledore had initiated, accounts opened and any other transaction that occurred on the Boy-Who-Lived's behalf, all dated after and some of it before that false guardianship document. They were back dated to the day that the apprenticeship contract was signed.
"We apologize," the goblin stated. "An audit will be conducted, shall we forward you our finds?"
"Yes, please," Ollivander said. "Now about that tuition vault, can we access it without the existing key or should we request a new key for it."
"I'd personally recommend that all vaults listed under the Potter name be re-keyed," the older goblin said. Harry nodded and his guardian agreed.
"Please do so," Ollivander said. "Increase the security on all the vaults and re-call any heirlooms that should not have been removed from them after the deaths of James and Lily Potter. Are their Wills available for Harry to view?"
"We can re-key the tuition vault today and send it to you by the end of this day," the goblin told him. "The Wills will take time to locate, but so far as I know they have not been read."
"That's good enough for us for the moment," Ollivander said. "Harry?"
"I agree," the boy said. "A full audit will be a good thing. I'd love to hear their Wills too, whenever you can find them."
"We'll do the best we can," the goblin said. "Perhaps by the time Yule comes around everything will be done."
"Send all notices to my Master," Harry said looking at the man seated next to him. "Just to be clear for your files, my Master is Master Wandmaker Garrick Ollivander." He bright green eyes looked at the goblins. The oldest nodded and the other was beginning to not like his quick preliminary overview of what has been happening with the accounts. "Thank you," the boy said politely.
"You are welcome young man," the goblin said. "My name's Orvil Darkwater. My section will take over your accounts."
"Are you related to Swill Darkwater," Harry asked. He received a pleased grin and a nod. "He was nice when we traveled the mine paths. Say hello to him for me."
"I will do that young man," Darkwater said. "You can rest easy in regards to this. We will ensure that your money is safe."
"Weapons in hand and gold to your feet Master Darkwater," Harry said standing up, his master doing the same with a polite fisted bow that the boy imitated.
The older goblin was surprised at that and then he returned the bow with, "Battle and victory, young human."
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
The trip to Gringotts had been revealing and yet Ollivander was not quite surprised at the outcome that had occurred. However, his youngest apprentice never could remain down for long. The boy had such pure joy in the everyday, magical or not, that there were times, that the old man was loath to think of him as the Boy-Who-Lived.
Since the boy's tuition vault would not really be accessible until the following day, they returned to the wand shop and opened it for the remainder of the day. The old man smirked internally at the boy's not so subtle attempt to hint at wanting to make his school wand. He waited with the patience of his age when the green-eyed imp placed a couple of items in front of his Master.
Garrick smiled, pat the boy on his head and said, "Go dust the upper shelves." The boy nodded and left his prizes for his Master to analyze them. 'Oh my,' the old man thought looking at the small objects in front of him. 'A sliver of basilisk neck scale from that Brazilian Queen, if I'm not mistaken. There's a baby-sized finger shard of the first Faerie Gem that he'd mined and a small vial of venom from both his familiars. Oh, this will be quite the powerful wand.'
He paused to analyze them and knew that the boy wouldn't have brought them forward if there had been no pull to bring them together. He looked at the scale and the gem, that's when he noted that there were, several security runes etched into them. 'He's worked them too,' he thought. 'All the better to protect them, that's good thinking, smart boy.'
"Harry," Ollivander said, calling him down from the ladder that the boy was on, actively not working, but looking like he was working. The boy was down the ladder in a blink and at his side.
"Is it too much," Harry asked. "I just felt that they were needed, but I don't know how to find a proper conductor for them."
Ollivander just looked at the boy with a gentle smile. "You've been gathering and working these for years haven't you." He chuckled at the boy's sheepish blush and down turned head to look at his shuffling feet in nervousness. "I'm not angry. In fact I'm quite proud that you thought to protect your core items with runes like that. It keys them to you and only you."
Harry looked up, beaming at the compliment. He said, "I still haven't found a conductor though. I don't even know where to begin looking for one."
"Hm," the old man noised. "How about we go take a look in the hundred year storage shed, maybe you'll find something in there. You'll have to open your magical senses for it."
"Yeah," Harry bounced. He loved looking in the four storage sheds. They had magically expanding interiors. Only he couldn't do it alone because those sheds only opened up for a Master Wandmaker or a member of the Ollivander Family.
There was one for various different gathering ages and it was something that the Ollivander Family had kept for years. The first and largest was the 501-1000 years of collected wand ingredients. Next largest was the 101-500, followed by 51-100 and finally the under 50. Although over time they developed short names like the "100 Year", marked on the door and it was storage that contained items aged between 51 and 100. (...i...)
The under 50 was the one where the current Ollivander kept his gathered ingredients, plus those of his apprentices. It was where all modern wands came from, but on rare occasions a wand wanted to be made and a search was started in the sheds for the ingredients.
The sheds were the perfect place to begin looking for a conductor for Harry's school wand. Not that the 'Holly & Phoenix Feather' one was not enough. It was just that that wand was the one that he'd used to learn the spells he needed to work in the shop and practice his general cleaning spells for his room.
His school wand was going to be one that he used to learn the conventional Witch and Wizard spells from school. His Master had been hard pressed not to push the boy into learning too much of the programmed school work that the boy would experience when going to Hogwarts, but he had settled on a well rounded schedule, which had included the primary study of Runes and Weapons Training with the goblins.
That was one thing he couldn't allow the boy to be idle on and at the moment Harry was on an independent Owl Post study program for Runes, managed by the Goblins at Gringotts. They had the better Rune Masters for teaching that particular subject. The boy had been in their program ever since he turned eight.
He'd also been in their weapons program too, which included swords and daggers, as per his Master's request. However knowing that his eleventh year was approaching, they ensured that the boy had a schedule of exercises to do daily and on the week-ends in order to maintain his speed and accuracy. The fact that they'd be testing him when he returned the following summer was going to be incentive for the boy to actually continue his training while away at school.
However, now the boy was just bouncing back and forth in front of the '100 Year' shed waiting for his Master to open it up. "Harry," Ollivander called out. "Get into your meditative stance."
"Yes sir," the boy said, stopping mid-bounce to centre himself and took a deep breath. He let it out. His magic immediately pulled him to the '500 Year' shed. "This one Master," he said in a dreamy tone.
Ollivander had suspected that it would be the case. He knew that the cores would require an older wood, possibly from a near extinct species of tree or bush. He unlocked the doors and allowed the boy to wander in. He stood out of the shed and watched as the Boy-Who-Lived walked from one shelf to another, seeking the proper conducting wood, stone or bone for his new wand.
Harry was fascinated by all that he was seeing and feeling. However he knew how to create a wand by now, since he was very familiar with wand basics. He was supposed to concentrate on the core elements that he'd gathered, so he did. The whispers died down until nearly only one stood out.
He walked down an area of shelving and found the preserved tree that had been keep in a stasis type preservation, forever freezing it in that moment of its life. It was the only way that wand makers could still have what could actually be known as a currently extinct or endangered species of trees.
He gently released the preservation spell and found a likely branch for his wand. He did a gentle spell that released the branch from its location and then he activated the preservation spell again. Now that he had the one branch, he was being called to from another location of the shed.
This time he was lead to a row of small wooden and magical boxes. One was very adamant that it be taken out and so the boy collected it and left the shed before the nature of wands clamoured once more for his attention.
Ollivander shut the door and sighed. He too had felt the call of those wands wanting to be made, but realistically he knew that some combinations were just not meant to be, not in his lifetime anyway. It was something that all Wandmakers felt, but had long ago learned that it was dangerous to make all the wands they could in their lifetime, hence the formation of a Wandmakers Guild.
It was formed in order to preserve the Wandmaker's sanity. They came together every two to three years in order to exchange wand ingredients and in doing so the clamour of the ingredients were lessoned. That's why Wandmakers were also known to be naturally gifted Occlumens, which was important in order to protect their minds from the magical onslaught.
Harry had been training in Occlumency, nearly as soon as he was taken on as an Apprentice and he was just as gifted as Ollivander had hoped. It was probably one of the reasons why the boy was still open and friendly as he was and not bitter by the way his life had been when he'd been living with his relatives.
Ollivander looked at the wood piece and smiled. 'A branch from the magical Luminous Tomomiro, a very rare Easter Island find from Great Grandfather,' he thought. 'It's been waiting to be used for a long time. I've never made a wand with that particular wood.' He then looked at the box and shook his head. 'Of course, light and dark mingled, they would balance and contain the cores just right. Now, I wonder how the boy is going to put them together? He'll need to work the wood and stone first, just like he did with his cores.'
The old man had the boy's chosen cores in his pockets and then place them next to the stone and wood that the boy had collected from the '500 Year' shed. Harry was staring at them. "Interesting choices Harry," he said. The boy looked at him and then back at everything that would be used to become his school wand. "You do know that you'll have to work the stone and the wood too. They'll not come together today, I'm afraid."
"I know," Harry said. "That's all right. I might be able to finish it before I go to school, but I think that I could still use my Holly wand, if the wood and stone are not ready to become my true wand."
"Good," Ollivander said firmly. His apprentice looked at him with a question in his eyes. "It's good that you realize this now. Some wands are only going to be useful to you after you've had a bit of magical training. You may have felt the need to gather your true wand pieces together, but even if you were able to construct it before going to school, you might not be physically ready to use it yet."
"Oh," Harry said, looking at his true wand, not yet constructed. "I understand, it's like growing up in body, I'd have to grow up in using my magic a lot more than I do now, right?"
"That's right. So how about you take this pouch of coin and go get your school robes," the man said. "It is up to me to provide something for your schooling, which does include a proper trunk, but you know that that's been delayed." Harry nodded and the old man continued. "Now be sure to get your robes done in a thick material with warming and cooling charms that can be activated by the touch of a wand. Make sure that she adds at least two extra large expandable pockets in the inside, that way you can carry Midnight and The Dreamer with you during some of your classes. Any coin left over is your birthday treat, get anything you want from the Alley, now off you go and be sure to be back by three."
"Yes sir," Harry said. He unrolled a special sectional pouch and inserted his wand pieces into the pockets of the pouch. He rolled it back up and then put it in a secure lock box for the time he'd work on the branch and stone. "When I come back can you tell me about the stone and the branch?"
"Of course," the old man said and then shooed the boy playfully out of the store.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions was just the place that every student went in order to obtain the school robes. What many newcomers don't know is that the standard school robes are deemed standard for a reason and that many extras can be added to them. However they do cost extra, but they can be done on a request basis.
First years normally do not know this and therefore sometimes never do find out about the extra pockets with expanding spells that can be added. The woman was no nonsense and already had a blond boy on a stool for measuring. "First year dear," she called out to Harry, as he came into the store. "Come to the back, I've another student there getting measured already."
"Yes, ma'am," Harry said. "But I need my robes made in a thick material with warming and cooling charms that can be activated by wand touch. Also I'd like extra large expandable inner pockets on each side of the robes, waist to mid-chest high. Two medium sized expandable pockets on the outside of each robe, left and right at mid-thigh, perhaps a couple of small inner expandable pockets at the upper chest level."
"Very well dear," the woman said making notes on her work order pad. "Now for the temperature charms what do you want the wand activation to look like and where are they to be located?"
"How about small embroidery patches on the inner added pockets, the small ones," Harry suggested. "Can you make bandanas too?"
"I can," she said pulling out a book with different embroidery designs. "Have a look through here and let me know which one you'd like? What about the bandanas?"
"Twelve black to match the robes," Harry said absentmindedly as he leafed through the book. "Slightly longer than the one I'm wearing, so I can tie my hair in a tail if needed with the ends of it." He found a small embroidery image of a coiled black snake with a golden background. "This one, but can the background be changed red for warm and blue for cool, so that I know which charm is which?"
"Of course, good idea that" she said. "That'll be a total sixteen galleons, nine sickles and three knuts for all the changes requested, including pockets, charms and the embroidery. Are you sure?"
Harry looked into his pouch and saw that his Master had given him twenty galleons. "Yes ma'am," he said happily. "I have enough for it."
"Very well," she said. "Now step up here and let me get your measure. Are these going to be standard for the next seven years, for you dearie?"
"For now please," Harry said standing up on a stool next to an open mouthed blond boy that had been staring at him ever since he requested expandable pockets.
"I'll just open a file for you then," Madam Malkins said. "What name?"
"Apprentice James," Harry said, not wanting to let anyone know that he was the Boy-Who-Lived, just yet.
"Well that explains it," the blond boy said with a sigh, relieved that he didn't truly need those pockets or charms.
"What does," Harry asked.
"The pockets," the boy stated. "We don't need those kinds of pockets as a first year."
"Why not," Harry asked. "I don't want to carry everything in a school bag. It's probably better to carry any ink or quill in a pocket then to leave it to accidentally spill in the bag if the stopper is not properly set."
"You're not choosing the right bag if the ink spills," the boy said. "I've been trying to convince my father to get me a Never-Out Quill, but he thinks that it's too much for a first year."
"Never-Out," Harry frowned. "Don't they run out if they're not linked to at least three ink bottles?"
"What?"
"My Master had a couple, but they had to be linked to three full ink bottles in order to maintain their charm of always having the right amount ready for use," Harry said. "I asked him if I could get the Muggle equivalent with replaceable ink cartridges instead. So far despite the fact that the pens are Muggle in origin, they still function like a quill pen, but much better, no spillage."
"How can anything Muggle be better," the blond said with his nose wrinkling in the air.
"Hold out your hands," Harry said and he held out his. "No nicks or cuts, no ink spills. Look at your fingers and sleeves."
The boy looked at the two and compared. "Bloody hell," he hissed out disappointed that his hands were not as pristine as they should be. "I did the hand cleaning spell before I left the manner. This is from testing those quills at the other store."
"There you have it," Harry said.
"Stand still dearie," the seamstress said Harry, who stood straight in order for the magical tape measure to do its job. "Young Mr. Malfoy you're done and your robes are at the counter."
"My names Draco Malfoy," the blond said looking at Harry, who just stepped off of the stool in order to pay for his robes which would take about another five minutes to be completed and packaged.
"Harry James," Harry said, leaving out the Potter since he didn't want the boy to think of him differently. "So which Quiddich team do you follow, I kind of like the chances of the Holyhead Harpies this year."
"Falmouth Falcons are the best team to follow and no other," Draco said snottily. "I think it's a shame that first years are not permitted to bring brooms."
"The Falcons are not even doing well this year," Harry said. "What," he asked when received an incredulous look. "What's wrong, with the Harpies? I think it'll be them or the Kestrels this year. As for brooms, I can only imagine that some first years have never been on one before going to school, I know I haven't."
"You lie. Everyone's been on a broom. Do you not have a favourite team over any other," Draco asked. "You know one that you'll follow no matter what."
"I never tell an outright lie. So no, I've never been on a broom before and I can't imagine many of the muggle-borns or muggle-raised have either," Harry said. "If you're asking my preferred Quidditch team over any other, then it's the Harpies no question. I like the way they organize their plays."
Draco ignored the muggle comment. He huffed and said, "You have no idea what it means to be a Quidditch fan then."
"Don't want to either," Harry said with a disgusted expression. "Fans seem like a scary lot to me." Madam Malkins wrapped up his robes in a brown paper with strong string to hold it together. He nodded his thanks to the woman and lifted the package of heavy robes to his right shoulder with ease. "See you around, then," he said to the blond boy and left the shop.
"Were they really that heavy," Draco asked the seamstress, watching the boy walk down the street and heading in the direction of the Wandmaker's shop. 'At least I didn't have to get my wand from there,' he thought. 'Father says that they do inferior work.'
"They are," the woman said. "It has to do with the material selected, plus all of the extras he requested."
"Why do you suppose he needed all those pockets," Draco wondered, as his father came to escort him to the Apothecary Shop for his standard school supplies.
"What was that," Lucius Malfoy said.
"Nothing," Draco said, looking over a pot with filled 'Eyes of Newt'. "I met a strange boy that asked for a lot of adjustments to be made to his standard school robes, which included expanding pockets. I was just wondering, why he'd need so many of them? That is all!"
"He may already be bonded to an animal familiar," his father told him. "Now let's this part over with, I hate the smell of this place."
"Yes, father," the blond boy said. He looked at the items for the standard kit and the selected three times the amount of the preserved ones just in case he needed them. He also picked up a couple of order forms for the shop in Hogsmeade for when he needed to replenish the fresher stuff.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TBC…
(...i...)
Storage Shed marked names are: Under 50 = "Under 50", 51-100 = "100 Year", 101-500 = "500 Year", 501-1000 = "1000 Year"