AN: Hey all. Early super short chapter, and a very short bonus Omake at the end. I'm publishing this early because I'm going to be switching to Saturday updates, still every two weeks, and I managed to get more writing done in that I thought.
Not a lot happening in this chapter, mostly a set up for the fifth chapter, but I've had a lot of fun writing it. Enjoy it!
Upon their arrival in London, Hagrid took the lead. He pretended to have no idea how to operate in the Muggle world, similar to how most wizards acted. Hagrid was annoyed by his own act. How could wizards be so stupid that they were confused by money of all things. One hundred pence to the pound. That's it. There was nothing mystical about it. And yet, for some strange reason that escaped him, most wizards could not grasp Muggle money. It was as if there was an ongoing competition between all wizards as to who understood Muggles the least. Maybe the decimalization of the pound in 1971 had confused the older wizards, who were used to 20 shillings to the pound, and 12 pence to the shilling, for a total of 240 pence to the pound. It's not like the wizard money made much more sense with 17 Sickles to a Galleon and 29 Knuts to the Sickle for a total of 493 Knuts to the Galleon. Prime numbers were probably the least effective way to divide money, yet no wizard was confused when they bought a total of 371 Knuts worth of things which took a mental effort to divide by 29 to arrive at 12 sickles, and now the remainder needed to be found, and so subtracting twelve times 29 from 371 which resulted in 23 Knuts. Hagrid almost yelled out in frustration when, being distracted by his thoughts, he got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground.
He stopped his train of thought when they sat in the much too small seats and complained as he had seen some obese Muggles do. The Hagrid he portrayed would not think that the seats were designed to fit the average Muggle and not a half-giant.
"I don't know how Muggles manage without magic." he said as they exited the Underground. Hagrid made use of his size to part the crowd, making sure Harry stayed close behind him as they made their way to the Leaky Cauldron. They reached their destination a few minutes later.
"This is it, the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place." Hagrid said. He noticed Harry looking at the people around in confusion and then staring intently at the pub. Hagrid thought that Harry was more observant than he let on, which contrasted with his earlier lack of observation in regards to the Dursleys being stuck on the island. He made a mental note to definitely steer Harry clear of Slytherin and guided the young boy inside before he could ask any questions about the magic that made the Leaky Cauldron invisible to Muggles.
As everyone smiled and waved at him, Hagrid's eyes jumped straight to Quirinus Quirrell, who was sitting alone in a corner. He was the only unusual customer for this time of day, which put Hagrid on guard. While the bartender asked him if he wanted his usual, Hagrid saw Quirrell's eyes widen when he noticed them, before his face returned to a neutral expression. He filed that information in his head as further evidence. "Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid said, clapping Harry's shoulder to show Tom exactly what his business was. Hagrid was pretending to show off, proud of being asked to take care of the Boy-Who-Lived, but in reality he was working on two things. Making Harry even more afraid of his celebrity status, and trying to find more evidence to either confirm or contradict his hypothesis.
Hagrid did not trust Quirrell. The man had always been weak of will and had always sought for ways to prove himself. If Voldemort's spirit wanted to recruit someone to get into Hogwarts, Quirinus was the perfect candidate. And Merlin knew the amount of incentive that was present to bait Voldemort back to Hogwarts. There was the Philosopher's Stone, that he would want to steal for the Elixir of Life. Furthermore, it was the first year that Harry would be outside of the protection offered by the blood wards, meaning that any attempts on his life could occur as soon as this year. It was thus crucial for Hagrid to remain as vigilant as possible.
The old Muggle Studies professor had taken a year long sabbatical to supposedly travel through Europe and gain first-hand experience. According to Hagrid's information though, he had ended up in Albania, where rumours placed Voldemort's spirit. Instead of returning with increased confidence, he had been changed for the worst. He seemed less competent with his wand and he stuttered to an almost ridiculous extent. He had stuttered before, but never as much as he did now, which made Hagrid think that Quirrell was pulling an act, a very bad one at that. Hagrid thought that there were a few likely scenarios, most of them revolved around Quirrell trying to steal the Philosopher's stone.
Hagrid had another hypothesis, one that he did not like one bit. It was entirely possible that the Quirinus had been abducted and his hair was being used for Polyjuice. That hypothesis was the scariest one since it introduced an unknown into Hagrid's plan, an element that he could in no way predict. Voldemort and Quirrell were both pretty straight forward in their approaches, but a third party could put a wrench in his plans. Hagrid was not sure exactly whether or not it was for personal gain or if he worked for Voldemort or even if the man was actually Quirinus Quirrell. But the half-giant would figure out exactly what the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was up to.
One distinct possibility that Hagrid wanted to rule out as soon as possible was whether Quirinus was possessed by Voldemort. According to Hagrid's research, a wizard with a Horcrux needed to possess someone in order to be resurrected, making it a very likely possibility. But Hagrid further knew that the blood magic that protected Harry was still strong, meaning that if Voldemort came in direct contact with Harry, there would be a reaction of some sort, just like the previous widening of his eyes, but more severe. The half-giant, being an astute observer, would be able to see it fairly easily and act accordingly. Thus, as soon as he had seen Quirrell in the pub, he had made sure that Harry became the centre of attention. If Quirrell approached without any adverse effect, Hagrid would have to figure out the man's allegiance as either a servant of his own greed or of Voldemort. But if he did not approach when everyone else did, it would be evidence towards the idea that Quirrell was being possessed by Voldemort, since the Dark Lord would not risk coming into direct contact with Harry without some knowledge about what had happened ten years prior.
Everyone in the pub swarmed Harry, but Hagrid paid them only little attention. He knew them all and he was confident they would not do anything. He was focused on Quirrell, though no one would have been able to realize that. After four fans, it was Professor Quirrell's turn and Hagrid introduced him as a Hogwarts professor. He shook Harry's hand without so much as a flinch. That dramatically reduced the probability that he was possessed by Riddle's spirit. Hagrid would have to come up with further tests to determine who Quirrell was working for. His intuition was set on Voldemort, but Hagrid knew not to make up his mind about an idea too fast, because a classic failure mode was looking for evidence that confirmed your hypothesis and dismissing any contradicting it. It was called the confirmation bias, which Hagrid had found to be a cognitive bias in his reading of Muggle psychology. They had figured out a lot of very interesting and useful things. As people swarmed Harry, Hagrid decided to let the show run on for another few minutes, pretending to be unable to break the crowd surrounding the boy before finally raising his voice. It would give the boy a negative idea of what it meant to be famous, which would steer him further from that path.
"Must get on – lots ter buy. Come on, Harry." he finally said, taking the boy before the wall leading to Diagon Alley. "Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh – mind you, he's usually tremblin'." Hagrid said with a smile.
"Is he always that nervous?" Harry asked in reply, which Hagrid found very funny. Quirrell had never been this bad, but he had always been a nervous man.
"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books, but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience..." Hagrid explained to Harry a few of the hypothesis that surrounded Quirrell's misadventures. After he finished his overview of the rumours surrounding Quirrell's trip, Hagrid took out his umbrella and pretended to count the bricks on the wall. He knew the specific brick by heart, but he wasn't counting for his sake. Harry needed to know how to get into Diagon Alley for the day that he would come back by himself. So Hagrid said "Three up...two across...", making sure Harry heard him, before tapping the right brick three times with his umbrella, his body out of the way so that Harry could see. A few seconds later and the brick wall had been replaced by an archway leading straight to Diagon Alley.
Hagrid had been here many times before, and so paid little attention to the shops. The magical world had so few innovations that weren't brooms in terms of useful magical objects that it was basically pointless to be on the lookout for new items. Instead, he told Harry that getting money came first, and then they could buy his supplies. A few minutes later found them both in front of a snowy white building, taller than all the others. At the door stood a goblin.
"Yeah, that's a goblin." Hagrid said, making sure that Harry would not ask any insensitive questions like 'Why is that person so ugly?' or 'Professor, what's wrong with him?' he had heard from a couple Muggle-borns. He had nothing against them, but the new students that had no connection to the magical world usually lacked any of the tact that most wizards were taught to have. The goblin bowed and Hagrid smiled. Their trip to Gringotts would surely be very exciting. Hagrid would soon get to try the vaults' defences and get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone.
Omake: Hagrid's fist hit the door with tremendous force, collapsing the precariously standing hut-on-the-rock in a single blow. "Oops, I should not have done that!"