Okay! Here we go, I didn't quite realize how long this chapter was going to get. Hope you enjoy this little unexpected treat.
I don't own Harry Potter.
Harry, Dumbledore, and Hagrid (with Yang hovering overhead) traveled to Diagon Alley. Dumbledore had extended his hand to take Harry's hand in his own, but Harry flinched away from him and Hagrid, keeping his eyes down at all times.
"That's alright, Harry." said Dumbledore with a kind smile. "Just stay within our sights."
Dumbledore felt guilty, he had dealt the boy a terrible, horrible life and wanted to make it up to the lad. He knew he couldn't undo the damage done with simple affections, he would have to look after the boy when he came to school. Though...he knew that could spell trouble with Severus...he dreaded those potential arguments, but...if he could have the child open up a bit...smile...bask in the light of life...then he would endure anything that came his way.
Hagrid wanted to throttle Dursley and curse him into oblivion, but he knew that was only a pipe dream. Not only would Dumbledore certainly stop him...but he didn't want Harry to undergo anymore trouble. The little boy was so sweet and gentle that Hagrid swore that he'd never suffer again. He'd protect Harry with everything he had.
Yang however couldn't stop howling with laughter. He could see the two of them looking at Harry with adoration in their eyes, he didn't figure they would be this easy to play...guess everyone fell over themselves when it came to tragic youths with big eyes. But what made it so humorous was that this Headmaster was a powerful wizard, and they were running the whole show...and he didn't even know it.
"Here we are Harry...the Leaky Cauldron." said Dumbledore holding the door open for the boy to enter.
"Uh...you first." said Harry with a weak smile.
"Alright." said Dumbledore with a smile.
He led Harry into the pub and past the people gossiping and talking amongst themselves about the latest discoveries.
"Oh! Hello Headmaster! What can I get for you today? Hagrid! Your usual?"came a call over the chatter. Soon the room went quiet, they looked at Hagrid and Dumbledore...mostly Dumbledore. It wasn't often that the man could be seen outside of school grounds lately.
"Afraid not right now, we have some shopping to do today..." said Dumbledore.
"We're helping young Harry here get his school things." said Hagrid patting Harry's shoulder gently. The people turned and looked at Harry and caught the scar on his head before he could hide behind Hagrid. They stood up suddenly and came over to the boy. But Harry...with agility that surprised the giant man, began to scramble up Hagrid's moleskin coat and held on.
The people looked at the little figure hiding behind Hagrid's head.
"Skittish, ain't he?" said one of the wizards.
"Poor thing..." said the witches looking at the little boy with misty eyes.
"He...he's a bit nervous around new folks..." said Hagrid.
"Hagrid..." said Dumbledore quickly. Harry was obviously upset, telling everyone in the pub about the life he had led would make him feel worse...best keep that information between themselves for the time being.
"Well, no worry...you'll do fine at Hogwarts, lad." said one of the wizards supportively.
Harry grasped the back of Hagrid's head carefully, not wishing to pull hair right out of the man's scalp. He was having quite a bit of fun playacting and pretending to be this way as opposed to the stronger yet peaceful young wizard.
The two wizards that were escorting him to Diagon Alley were the two of the three that dropped him off at the Dursleys, forcing him to endure the life that he had had to live. The both of them had to see what happened when one would play God with a child's life, and leaving them to fate after wards.
That, unfortunately, means that the two men would have to be put through a living hell when it came to him. He felt bad for doing it to the larger man, he was just following orders, but Dumbledore was the man who made the decision to leave him. Dumbledore would have to suffer the consequences...for as long as Harry's front could hold out. He would have to keep up the charade for seven years...and he had never kept it up that long...seven months was one thing...years was another story in a whole other library.
Dumbledore led the two of them outside into the small enclosed area behind the pub. They waved to the wizards and witches that were sending the shy pre-teen words of encouragement and support and carefully removed Harry from Hagrid's neck.
Dumbledore opened the passageway to Diagon Alley, smiling down at the boy who opened his mouth wide in awe.
"This Harry, is Diagon Alley..." said Dumbledore with a smile as he gestured to the cobblestone street.
"This..this is where wizards and witches come and shop?" asked Harry meekly.
"That's right, now, how about we go and examine the shops before we get down to shopping?" said Dumbledore with a smile.
"I...will they take Mr. Pepper's money?" said Harry as he saw someone hand over a few gold coins.
"Well, we will give Mr. Pepper's money back to him, you're able to pay for the things yourself." said Dumbledore.
He smiled at the shocked look on the boy's face.
"H-How?" asked Harry, gripping Dumbledore's hand tightly as a wizard in frayed clothing came too close to him.
"Well, your parents left you quite a large sum in their will, enough to take care of you for the rest of your life." said Dumbledore, giving the boy's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Does Mr. Pepper know about it?" asked Harry softly.
"He will be notified when we return, we'll need to have him sign a few papers so he will have access to it if he wishes." said Dumbledore. "I suppose we should go to the bank first and get you some money, but first...let's get you some ice cream."
"W-Where?" asked Harry gripping Dumbledore's hand even tighter.
"Fortescue's down this way." said Dumbledore leading Harry and Hagrid down to the Ice Cream Parlor, they arrived and allowed Harry to pick out his own frozen treat.
"Get the chocolate coconut cream one." said Yang.
I'm leaning towards the peanut butter and chocolate. thought Harry.
"Well, Harry?" said Hagrid taking his chocolate, raspberry and chopped nuts ice cream cone.
Harry and Yang looked at what Hagrid had.
"Can I have what you're having?" asked Harry. Yang nodded quickly.
"Hang on! What are we doing getting all excited over ice cream?" said Yang loudly. "God...this is starting to backfire."
Hey, I want some ice cream...call it a day off... thought Harry.
Dumbledore smiled. "We'll have another one of these." said Dumbledore pointing to his own similar cone.
Hagrid and he smiled as Harry began to lick the treat quickly, a smile on his face.
"Well, we really look like a little kid now..." said Yang licking his lips, faintly tasting the treat that was in his partner's mouth.* "We'll have to get this again." He looked up onto the rooftops, a flicker of light flashed from above. "There's the signal, Colt's in position...are we sure he can do this?"
He's the best sharpshooter the Rangers have. He can handle this.
"I know that he's got the skills, but this is the magical world, he'll have to get through this magical bubble that Dumbledore threw around us. He'll have to use a wand as opposed to what he's used to using...Why couldn't...?" said Yang.
"She was busy, he'll be fine." said Harry.
"Hey, this is our body, and..." said Yang.
"We'll be fine." repeated Harry. "His orders are to just to use enough force to get through the shield, and deepen the scar about a fraction of a millimeter. He's studied what the scar looked like and he's confident he can get the job done."
"We'll see..." said Yang crossing his arms. "When are we going to go through with this?"
"Once the shopping is all done, we'll run ahead of them, that'll be the signal." said Harry.
Dumbledore's heart felt as if it were gripped in a tight fist. The boy was no longer quivering around them, but when someone else came too close into his personal bubble, he would retreat to either behind himself, or crawl rather squirrel-like onto Hagrid's shoulders. He could only imagine what horrors this poor boy had been subjected too, and what anguish he had been put through by bouncing from one foster home to the next and then, enduring the hearings to have his uncle properly punished.
He was such a dear little thing, his messy black locks, his bright, shining green eyes and the smile that would burst forth when something would amuse the sweet boy. To think...he brought about the boy immense pain and suffering.
After the visit to the family bank vault, they had decided to stop at the bookstore first, they watched Harry wander around and open random books with amusement in their eyes. He would flit from aisle to aisle, opening books, dodging people that were looking for a book in particular, climbing the shelves to thumb through the books on the upper shelves.
What they had no idea was, that Harry was quickly reading the books he would pick up, and they were not random, they were books that he had not read before and with the abilities he had acquired during his tenure with the Rangers, it was far from natural. His eyes were...the term would perhaps be magically enhanced, nothing he read would escape him, and he could easily recall it, no matter how fast he flipped through the papers. However, it came at a price, he wouldn't be able to properly recall what it was for a week at least. The faster he flipped through the pages, the longer it took for his brain to process it.
If he were to actually sit and read the book as if he were just normally reading, he would remember it instantly, but when time is the essence and appearances mean everything, he couldn't take his sweet time about anything.
Finally Hagrid caught Harry around the middle and hoisted him up into the air.
"Gotcha yeh little menace." said Hagrid with a twinkling smile.
Harry laughed as tossed him lightly in the air.
"Really?" said Yang rolling his eyes. "This is getting too sappy for me."
"Hey, shut up..." said Harry.
"Did you see any book that seemed to catch your fleeting fancy?" said Dumbledore with a smile. He smiled a bit brighter when he saw Harry's eyes flash back to where he just was. "Why don't you go and get a few books for you to read for fun, call it a birthday present."
He watched as Harry went and grabbed a book, a book that if Severus had seen him grab, he would have fallen over in a dead faint.
The Pulchritudinous Art of Potions
By Severus Snape.
"What made you decide on that book, dear boy?" asked Dumbledore.
Well, potions are like chemistry, right? I love chemistry." said Harry.
"And the real reason?" said Yang.
"The potions are amazing, and I know the history this man has with my father. It wouldn't hurt to show him that I want to be a decent potioneer." said Yin.
"So are you going to be better than average in that class?" asked Yang.
"...why not...I'm supposed to be a talented young man...might as well go the whole nine-yards...so they say." said Yin.
"I think the Potions teacher would be...stunned that a first year would attempt to read that particular book." said Dumbledore.
"Why...are the potions inside it that hard?" asked Harry, looking up at Dumbledore with his big green eyes.
"Let me see..." said Dumbledore taking the book out of Harry's hands. He flipped through the pages and had a pitying smile. "It's quite...well...don't be discouraged."
Harry smiled and held the book to his chest.
"Is there any other book you would like?" asked Dumbledore with a smile.
"Oh, no sir, this'll be fine." said Harry with a smile.
"Oh, I think we can do a mite better than that." said Dumbledore. He walked around the bookstore, while Hagrid kept Harry sitting on his shoulder, and brought back a small tower of books.
"These should be enjoyable...and perhaps even a bit informational." said Dumbledore with a smile. "We'll take these plus the first year assortment." added Dumbledore to the clerk.
As the man wrapped the books in protective paper, Harry turned to look at the old man standing beside him. "You...didn't..."
"Of course I did, now, lets go and get your robes...get the more tedious items done." said Dumbledore with a continuous smile.
"Why is it tedious?" asked Harry.
"The cloaks are in a way tailored, you'll have to stand in place for a short while." said Dumbledore.
"Ah, but don' worry, yeh such a small thing, it won' take long." said Hagrid with a smile.
"Wonderful, tailored made clothes on top of all this..." said Yang. "Aren't we going to be all prissy..."
After being pricked and pinned by Madam Malkin herself as she made him a set of school robes, they left just as a blonde man with his nose in the air, and a similarly looking boy entered.
"Ah, Headmaster, strange to see you amongst the...less scholarly." said the man with a sneer.
Hagrid growled, stood in front of Harry and picked him up, shielding Harry with his body from the gaze of the oily speaking man.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry in a whisper.
"Don' get too close to him." said Hagrid. "He can be dangerous..."
"I'm often out of the school, I'm just escorting a student to gather his school supplies." said Dumbledore with a small smile.
"And this student would be?" said Lucius.
"Why do yeh wanna know?" asked Hagrid gruffly.
"I need to alert the governors, that...this student's exams and accomplishments should be taken with a grain of salt, if the Headmaster is already showing favoritism." said Lucius smoothly.
"What a bastard." said Yang with a frown.
"Lucius Malfoy, higher ranked Death Eater, one of the twelve wealthiest wizards in the country, has a wife, son and a spacious mansion. We can't do much, the evidence is there to convict him...they just don't look." said Yin.
"Can't we smack him at the very least, that would make me happy." said Yang with a growl.
"Me too, but we have to stay undercover."
"This cutesy crap is getting on my nerves...let's snap and beat the daylights out of someone." said Yang.
"No."
"You're no fun at all, you know that right?" said Yang.
"I'm flattered that you think that I have such a touching heart to be swayed by a child. But I think you'll remember receiving a notice that I would be showing a student to Diagon Alley." said Dumbledore with a smile.
Lucius stared. "I received no such notice."
"Of course you did, in fact, I told you all in the last meeting." said Dumbledore, continuing to smile. "And that meeting was last night."
Lucius snarled.
"He doesn't like Headmaster Dumbledore does he?" asked Harry to Hagrid.
"I'd be shocked teh death if he did..." said Hagrid with a grim smile.
"I'd love to chat, but we need to finish up our shopping, and I'll wager your son would like to get this over with and go see that new broomstick that had just come out." said Dumbledore looking kindly down at the young boy in front of him.
"Broomstick?" asked Harry.
"We'll go see it once we're done with yer shoppin'." said Hagrid.
"Really?" said Harry excitedly.
"Finally, something fun to do." said Yang.
"I can't wait, we can't fly like normal, this should hopefully be just as good." said Yin.
"I swear, my wing is starting to cramp up." said Yang.
"So is mine, I'm going to need to check them when we get home." said Yin.
"You and your feathers, I at least don't have to do much maintenance, I just have to make sure there is no holes in the membranes." said Yang.
"Batboy." said Yin.
"Featherduster." said Yang.
Their next stop was Ollivanders, Dumbledore smiled down at Harry as he opened the door for their party to enter.
"Here we are Harry, this is where you'll find the perfect wand for you." said Dumbledore.
An old man came out from the long shelves full of thin long boxes.
"Ah, Albus, don't often see you in Diagon Alley so close before the beginning of school." said the wizened old man coming forward to shake the Headmaster's hand.
"I'm escorting a new student around Diagon Alley, Garrick." said Dumbledore with a smile. He took a hold of Harry, who was hiding behind him and brought him forward. "It's time for this young man to receive his wand."
Ollivander looked down at the boy and his eyes widened slightly, a smile began to form on his lips. "Ah, I've been wondering when I was going to get to meet you, Mr. Potter."
"This guy is creeping me the hell out." said Yang leaning away.
"Just relax." thought Harry.
Ollivander took Harry over to the large, ancient looking desk and placed a large assortment of wands before him.
"Now," said Ollivander, his tone becoming business like. "In accordance with the length of your family members' wands, I would recommend these to start with."
There were wands that all seemed to be over ten inches long, but each one had a series of different materials that went into it. The core's ranged between unicorn tail hair all the way even the thin wisps of hair from a troll.
"Can you imagine us having a troll hair wand?" said Yang.
"What sort of wand do you think we'll get?" thought Harry.
"It had better be dragon heartstring." said Yang.
"Well, we'd better get through this little mountain of boxes." thought Harry.
For almost a complete hour, the wand maker placed wand after wand before the boy who stood before him. He had gone through a great number of wands with the more unusual cores, but after getting absolutely no results from those, he switched it over to the three more powerful ones, Dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, and phoenix feather.
After noticing the latest wand shiver slightly, Ollivander stopped completely, he didn't move towards another box and was just looking between Harry and Dumbledore. He went over to the wand that was on display in the window, and picked it up carefully.
"Garrick?" said Dumbledore.
Ollivander didn't say anything, he walked the wand back to the youth, cradling it as if it were a priceless treasure. He placed the wand carefully in Harry's hand.
The air itself began to increase in temperature and a mysterious wind began to swirl the dust that covered a few of the boxes into the air, around Harry. Then a light that consisted of streaks of gold and red radiated from the wand.
"Albus, this wand..." said Ollivander looking over to Dumbledore.
"It..It is, isn't it?" said Dumbledore softly.
"What...what are you talking about?" asked Harry looking between the two men.
Both Harry and Yang saw the conflict in Dumbledore's eyes.
"He's debating whether to tell us about Voldemort or not." said Harry.
"He'd better tell us." said Yang shortly.
"It's...a special wand Harry, you should take care of it exceptionally well." said Dumbledore with a small smile.
"He's playing God again." said Yang with a groan.
"Well can't blame him really, I wouldn't want to trouble an eleven year old with that kind of truth, not yet anyway." thought Harry.
"Lionus told us a few months after we joined up." said Yang.
"We gave up our childhoods for the Rangers, Dumbledore...he's trying to give us a few years of oblivious joy." said Harry slowly.
"Why does it sound like you're defending him." said Yang.
Harry said nothing.
Hours later, Hagrid and Dumbledore walked beside Harry as they strolled through Diagon Alley, his small hand firmly gripping the men's larger hands. He had warmed up to them so much that he began swinging on their hands, as if he were a mere toddler. The men didn't mind, in fact, they rather enjoyed it.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Yang.
"We're done shopping, that means that it's time for the finale as Lionus would say." thoughtHarry.
"Dramatic ass..." said Yang.
Harry swung on the men's hands and released his hold, landing a few feet ahead of them.
"Don't go too far..." said Dumbledore with a smile.
"Ah...with the two of us here, nuthin can happen." said Hagrid with a smile.
"Here, he'll take us out here..." thought Harry.
But then something caught his eye. A flying birdcage came from the Owl Emporium, with a snowy owl flapping angrily within. Without thinking, Harry leaped back and caught the cage nimbly in his hands.
"What the...?" said Hagrid.
Then a pair of men came thrashing out, punching, kicking and throwing an assortment of things at each other.
"You sold me a bum bird!" shouted one of the cloaked wizards. Then he reached behind him, grabbed a rock and hurled it at the apparent shopkeeper. The man ducked and the rock made it's way to it's new target, Harry Potter.
Harry watched the man throw the rock towards him, he could easily dodge it, but at the speed it was flying, it would hit him...it was at the wrong angle and wasn't sharp enough to claim he got the scar from the rock. With a flick of his fingers, the world froze.
Yang looked to his left from where he hovered and there was Yin, both looking like the mirrored image of each other.
"Been a while since we've done this." said Yang.
"Yeah, we need to find a way to dodge this rock, end the fight and yet give Colt the opportunity to do what he needs to do all at the same time." said Yin.
"If we were to go all out, then it would be easy, but with us holding back, it's another story." said Yang looking around.
They were in front of the cauldron store and Harry's eyes couldn't be torn away. "You know, if that this works...then the outcome will be hilarious."
"Huh?" asked Yang.
"Just wait." said Yin with a smirk, he reached over and tilted one of the cauldrons.
The world than returned to it's normal pace, the rock was still moving towards the youth, Dumbledore's wand was just about to clear his pocket and Hagrid was moving ahead to grab Harry and move him. Harry ducked and the rock slammed into the cauldron, bounced out and ricocheted back to the thrower, smashing him in the nose.
"Arrgh!" shouted the man grabbing his nose and falling down.
"S-Sorry!" said Harry moving a little further away from both the men on the ground, Hagrid and Dumbledore.
He stopped on the brick that had a minute star scratched into it and suddenly the entire Alley fell into dramatic chaos. A spell shot through street, bouncing off several surfaces, several people began to scream at once and a dark cloaked figure blasted through crowd.
This was a diversion, the an apparently stray spell ricocheted off several different objects, rebounded off the ground and then slashed up the side of the boy's face, tracing the scar that was hidden under the makeup. Harry gave a high pitched yell and collapsed to the ground, dropping the birdcage to the ground.
"Harry!" shouted Hagrid and Dumbledore as they hurried over to the child. Harry was clutching his face and twisting his legs all over the dirty street in pain. Dumbledore lifted Harry into his arms and with one hand tried to gently pry the boy's hands from his face.
"Harry...come child...it'll be alright..." said Dumbledore trying to take Harry's hands from his face. When he pulled the child's fingers from his skin, he saw that the boy's face bore a scar that traveled from the the boy's left temple, down his eye, over his nose and down his right cheek.
Hagrid cringed when Harry screamed once again. Even Yang who was hovering overhead twitched as Harry cried.
"Don't worry lad, we'll get you fixed up in no time." said Dumbledore picking up Harry and taking him to a nearby building, where a Healer did her business for anyone passing by. Hagrid, not knowing what to do with his hands, picked up the cage with the snowy owl in it and followed the Headmaster and screaming child.
This day was not going according to plan at all.
This day was going perfectly.
*Alright, get your minds out of the gutters, there will be no slash in this story!
Thanks for reading! Please review!
Question of the chapter! If you could choose your wand, what would you want yours to be made of?
What would my ideal wand be? Cherrywood, and dragon heartstring!...(Just looked up cherry and dragon heartstring wand...) NO! LOCKHART HAS THE SAME WAND! SON OF A...