The Freaks on Privet Drive

Chapter Four: Terrible but Great

It was a few weeks before the representative that Dumbledore had mentioned would arrive to take them to Diagon Alley. When the sharp knock on the door finally came they were at the door within seconds, glancing at each other nervously before opening it.

Harry took a startled step back at the sight that greeted him, Lee doing the same a few moments later. In front of them, stood a tall, thin, pale man dressed completely in black with dark hair falling to his shoulders. His eyes were like obsidian, glaring at the two eleven year olds as Lee unconsciously took a quick step back. "Misters Evans," He hissed in a smooth, low voice. "My name is professor Snape." He said briskly, waving his hand slightly. "I am the…representative that the Headmaster saw fit to send." His lip curled in distaste as he surveyed them, before he spun around and began to stride away. "Well?" He snapped, not bothering to turn around. "Are you coming?"

Harry and Lee shared a wary look, before hastily following the black-clad man. As they reached him, he briskly grasped each of their sleeves, muttering "Portus".

The two stared wide eyed as they felt the sensation of being sucked through a tunnel, before landing in a crowded, unfamiliar place. "What was that?" Harry muttered, shaking his head as he glanced around in wonder.

"That was cool!" Lee breathed, eyes wide with wonder.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, it was just a portkey!" The man snapped, before hastily striding towards the exit. He was stopped, however, by a man in a purple robe with an odd looking turban on his head.

"P-p-professor…" The man stuttered, glancing at the two students with mild interest. "T-taking new students to the a-a-alley?"

"Yes" Snape said curtly. "Now kindly move aside and let me through." The man stepped aside with an odd glance, his eyes lingering on Harry for just a moment. Harry's eyes narrowed, meeting the strange man's stare before he was pulled along by Lee.

"A-apologies P-p-professor." The strange man trailed off as Snape strode past him.

"Good day, Professor." He snapped, before dragging the boys out by their elbows.

"Professor Snape?" Harry asked once they were in the alley, his eyes wide with confusion. "Who was that man?"

Snape glanced down at Harry, curling his lip. "That was Professor Quirell. He is a professor at Hogwarts." He said shortly, before tapping a series of bricks with a long wooden stick.

"Is…is that a wand?" Lee asked, staring blankly at it.

"Muggles." Snape hissed. "Wouldn't know a broomstick from a tree trunk."

"Muggles?" Lee asked, staring blankly at the irritated professor.

"Non-magic people." Snape answered curtly, as the bricks began to move.

Their concerns quickly forgotten, the two stared wide eyed at the world that opened before them. The alley was an array of colour with people literally everywhere – Harry felt almost overwhelmed as the crowds dashed passed brightly coloured shops and stalls.

"Wow…" Harry breathed, staring at the rush of activity.

"Yeah…wow." Lee said, pointing to a nearby shop. In the glass window, a cookbook was repeatedly turning itself into a different meal every few seconds, and then back to a book. "Look at that!"

"Enough dithering!" Snape growled menacingly. "Let us get what we came for and be gone."

The two boys nodded mutely, still staring in amazement at the magic around them. They almost had to jog to keep up with the man's large strides, staring wide eyed at everything as they passed. Finally, they stopped outside a large, elegant building. The doors were made of shiny bronze that stood out against the white marble of the building. The building was bigger then most of the other shops, and towered over the street like a palace.

The boys gasped in unison as they laid eyes on the…creature that was guarding the doors. There, dressed in a scarlet and gold uniform, was a goblin. Snape sneered at the short, grey being who bowed grudgingly as they walked inside. They were met by another pair of doors, this time silver, with the words of what looked like a poem engraved on them. Snape didn't give them time to read it, ushering them impatiently inside. He strode over to the nearest counter, glaring at the goblin behind it.

"Harry Potter's vault." He hissed lowly, so that the other customers couldn't overhear. The last thing he needed was a pandemonium. Harry's eyes widened as he glanced up at the professor - he knew who he really was? Had Headmaster Dumbledore not promised that he would be the only person who knew? Harry frowned heavily at the tall man's back, Dumbledore had lied to him.

"Key, sir?" The Goblin inquired with a sneer.

"I must also visit another vault, seven hundred and thirteen, in Albus Dumbledore's name." He muttered in a monotone, handing over a small golden key and a folded piece of parchment. The goblin glanced down, unfolding the note and reading it with a blank face. Finally, he nodded grudgingly, before waving them through. "Very well. I shall accompany you to both vaults."

Snape nodded and dragged the boys behind them by their elbows. "Pay attention." He hissed. "Next time you will be doing this on your own." Harry gulped and nodded quickly, afraid to invoke the wrath of the irritable professor.

"Yes sir." The two intoned in unison, following quickly behind the man's billowing cloak. As they walked, Harry glanced up at the stormy man carefully. "Sir?" He asked finally.

"What is it?" Snape snapped, glaring at the boy.

"Did Professor Dumbledore tell you my real last name?" He asked finally, eyes narrowing.

"Of course he did, boy. How else could we have accessed your vault." He growled in annoyance.

Harry frowned, nodding slowly as he thought over this information.

"Not that I would have needed it," Snape scowled. "Exactly like your father you are, couldn't possibly be anyone else." He muttered.

Harry startled at this information, glancing back up to the dark man. "You knew my father?" He asked softly.

"Unfortunately." Snape said coldly, before turning away. It was clear that no more questions would be answered, so Harry fell silent with a frown.

Half an hour later and a great deal richer, the two boys followed wide eyed as they were lead out of the bank. "I can't believe it!" Harry murmured, his eyes wide with amazement. "All this time I've been a millionaire."

"Ha!" Lee scoffed. "More like a billionaire! Did you see how much gold there was in there?"

Snape, with what seemed like a permanent scowl on his face, growled slightly and shoved them into an old shop, with the words "Ollivanders: Makers of fine wands since 382 BC." Printed in cursive script on the sign.

"Get your wands." He snapped, curling his lip distastefully. "Merlin knows how long it could take. I will see to your clothing in the mean time. Do not leave the store – I will come and collect you." He hissed, before stalking out of the shop.

"Mister Potter." A silky voice from behind him caused Harry to jump, spinning wildly to face his assailant. "I had thought I'd be seeing you soon." It was an old man with wide, pale eyes that seemed to stare into Harry's soul. Harry wondered if there had been any point in convincing Dumbledore to hide his true name - it seemed that everyone already knew it anyway. Suddenly, the elderly man turned to Lee, causing him to jump a little at the sudden attention. "Mister Dursley…or should I say, Mister Evans."

"How do you know who we are?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Well, for you, Mr. Potter…everyone knows who you are. Mr. Evans," He paused, as if thinking. "Well, let's just say I have a gift."

"Wait." Harry snapped, beginning to feel a little angry at being left out of the big secret. "Did you also know my parents?" He asked, a little sarcastically.

"Why yes, I did." He said simply, turning to the boxes of wands. "Now please take a wand and wave it around for me. Afterall, it is the wand that chooses the wizard Mr. Potter."


Snape collected them around an hour later, sneering slightly at the dazed looks on their had taken Harry nearly the full hour for the eleven inch holly and phoenix feather to finally select him, after pretty much every other wand int he shop had clearly rejected him. Lee's was twelve inches mahogany and chimera hair which had been just the third wand he had tried, much to Harry's annoyance. The wandmaker had left them with a cryptic comment about his wand being a brother tot he one who had given him his scar, unsettling Harry a little bit.

The words 'Terrible buy great' repeated in his head as Snape led them to what looked like a pet shop, his lip curled dangerously. "I am obligated to give you the option of choosing a pet to take with you to Hogwarts." He droned, sounding like it was an effort to stay civil. "I shall wait here."

"I can't believe what that man said about your wand." Lee breathed as he glanced over the pets in the cages. "This is all so cool." Harry nodded slightly, glancing around the shop carefully.

"Hey, look at that one!" Lee said, his attention shifting as he looked at the tortoiseshell cat. It was not really a kitten, but it wasn't full grown either. The cat was slim with medium length hair, mostly black with small brown and orange spots. They paws were all half black and half cream, except for the right front paw which was a pure, ebony black. Her face was mostly black with a brown stripe down the middle of its face, the nose small and pink. The cat blinked up at them with glowing yellow eyes, meowing softly.

Lee smiled widely at the high pitched mew. "I want that one." Harry frowned at the cats before moving along, he had never particularly liked cats. He finally stopped beside a row of cages, several different coloured owls perched within them. His eye was immediately caught by a beautiful, bright white snowy owl that met his gaze as he peered inside.

"That one." He said simply to the store assistant, gesturing to the snowy owl.

Several minutes later, the two left the shop, each holding a cage under their arm. The tortoiseshell cat sat, meowing loudly, in Lee's cage, whilst the beautiful snowy owl was perched in Harry's. professor Snape merely sneered at them, before striding off, expecting them to follow.

The rest of the trip consisted of them buying books and cauldrons, Professor Snape remaining tight lipped and tense for the rest of the afternoon. He finally took them back home, leaving them with a curt goodbye before turning on the spot and disappearing with a soft crack.

Over the following weeks the two boys became wrapped up in excitement. They spent the weeks reading through most of their textbooks, not wanting to be at a disadvantage to their magically raised peers once and Hogwarts.

"This is going to be so amazing." Lee exclaimed as he read through the book dedicated to the history of their new school. "I can't believe all this is true." His cat, now named Artemis, meowed softly in agreement.

When the day finally came that they would leave for Hogwarts, Lee woke Harry at the crack of dawn. "Come on, Harry! We'll miss the bus!"

They just made the bus to King's cross station, Lee becoming more exuberant by the minute. His exuberance faded, however, when they cared to look at the train tickets Professor Snape had thrust into their hands before leaving them.

"Uh…" Lee said, staring blankly at the ticket. "Platform nine and three quarters?" He muttered, glancing between platforms nine and ten. "Right."

"What the bloody hell does that mean!" Harry exclaimed angrily, gaining the attention of quite a few people. "Nine and three quarters." He scoffed. "How can you have three quarters of a platform?"

The two were becoming quite distressed as their watches ticked closer to eleven o'clock, with no platform nine and three quarters in sight. Eventually, a red headed woman with a large number of red haired children approached, looking at them in concern. "Is there a problem, dears?" She asked, glancing between Lee and Harry as they stared desperately at the wall between the two platforms. The two jumped, turning to face her as one as Harry stepped forward slightly.

"Yes." Lee said quickly. "Now please don't laugh at us like the other six people we asked have, but where can I find platform nine and three quarters?" Desperation was evident in his voice as he glanced around wildly, afraid of being laughed at once again.

"Oh you poor dears, you must be muggle born!" The woman said, shaking her head with a fond smile.

"Close enough." Harry answered shortly. "Half bloods, but muggle raised."

"Poor dears!" The woman gushed. "They really need to make it clearer on the tickets…" She muttered, ushering the two bewildered boys closerto the wall between platforms nine and ten. "My name is Molly Weasley. This lot belongs to me." She began to point at each as she introduced them. "That's Ron, Percy, Ginny, Fred and George."

"No, mum!" One of the identical red heads said, placing a patronizing hand on her shoulder. "I'm Fred, he's George!"

"Really?" The other twin said, appearing on their mothers other side. "I thought I was Fred!" He paused, as if thinking. "Wait, no you're right! I am George!"

"Stop it, you two!" Molly snapped with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry about them, dears."

"That's alright, Mrs. Weasley." Lee said politely. "I'm Lee Evans and this is my brother, Harry. We're first years, and as Harry said, muggle raised…we were just wondering how to get to the platform."

"Lovely to meet you dears. Now, all you do is walk directly at that wall between platforms nine and ten." At their hesitant looks, she gestured to her eldest son. "Percy, you go first, show them how it's done."

Harry and Lee stared in amazement as the boy simply walked through the wall with his trolley as if it wasn't even there. "But…" Lee murmured, staring wide eyed as the twins followed. "Don't the other people notice?" He gestured to the many people milling about the station.

"Muggles don't tend to notice magic, even when it's right in front of them." Molly said, shaking her head with a sigh. "Now go on boys!" She aid as Ron disappeared after the twins.

"Thank you very much for your help." Lee said with a smile.

"Yes, thank you." Harry said softly, before grabbing Lee's arm. Together, they pushed their trolleys through the wall, disappearing from sight.