A/N: Do not own Potterverse or any of the characters, they all belong to J.K. Rowling. There are parts of this chapter that are from the first book, just a heads up. Please read and review. :)
Chapter 3
Harry was impressed; he finally saw the limitless potential magic had he saw many things that were considered impossible in the muggle world being casually displayed in the alley. The lust for Knowledge and power was evident in his eyes and if anyone were looking at them they would have been reminded of another pair of eyes glowing with an insatiable need for power.
Looking around as they walked towards the bank Harry saw that there were other alleys connected to diagon alley, in fact the entrance of what seemed like the biggest one after Diagon alley was just beyond the bank, curiosity peaked Harry turned to Hagrid and asked "Hey, Hagrid what's in Knockturn Alley"
Hagrid's eyes widened upon hearing that alley's name coming from Harry's mouth and he replied a little too loudly "Where did yah hear about tha place Harry?"
Internally sighing at Hagrid's lack of common sense Harry simply pointed at the sign.
Looking slightly abashed Hagrid sheepishly smiled at Harry and replied "Right, the sign forgot about that. Now Harry, don go roamin around in Knockturn Alley, tis a place for Dark Wizards."
Harry's mind processed this information and stored it for later use, carefully masking his face so as to not show his true emotions Harry simply nodded at Hagrid's warning implying that he understood.
As they arrived at the bank, Harry saw one of the ugliest creatures he had ever seen in his life, wondering what it was he once again turned to Hagrid.
"They are goblins Harry, one would be mad to steal from Gringotts with them guarding the place." Spoke Hagrid seeing Harry's questioning look.
Once again storing the information about goblins in his mind he stepped through the threshold of the bank and felt something brush against his shields, both physical and mental. It seemed like this foreign magic did not do anything overt to him but he made a note to investigate this further once he was done shopping.
They approached a teller and Hagrid spoke "Harry Potter here would like to make a withdrawal from his account."
The goblin reached over his desk and looked at Harry intently before replying "Does Mr. Harry Potter have his key?"
This prompted a five minute long search by Hagrid through the vast number of pockets within his coat, before he finally pulled out a small golden looking key.
The goblin took the key from Hagrid with a look of distaste evident on it's face before proclaiming "Well everything seems the be in order. GRIPHOOK!, please take Mr. Potter and his …associate to his vault"
Just as Griphook was approaching Hagrid pulled out a piece of parchment out of one of his pockets. "There is also the matter of You-Know-What, in vault 713" he spoke as he handed the parchment over to the goblin.
Until now Harry was only thinking of what he would do with the money he apparently had inherited from his parents, he already had rudimentary investment plans made in his head for muggle companies. After some more research of how the magical world works he planned to make some investments there as well. Harry knew that there were many forms of power, he clearly had the magical power in the bag, now he would have to work on increasing that while at the same time he aspired to gain both financial and political power and once he attains this power the world would be his. He was snapped out of his thoughts when the goblin teller shouted something that sounded like griphook and he once again focused his attention on Hagrid and the teller only to catch the tail end of their conversation.
Now as they walked towards the back of the bank Harry had something new to think of, he was curious of what "You-Know-What" was and he knew asking Hagrid directly would yield no results. As they entered the mine cart Harry decided that he would worry about the contents of vault 713 at some other time as it seemed like it was going to be taken to Hogwarts and he would have plenty of time there to puzzle it out. However this meant that he would have to reluctantly keep his ties with Hagrid as he was the one most likely to tell Harry what this mysterious item Dumbledore wanted at Hogwarts was.
The cart ride was interesting mainly because Harry had never been on a rollercoaster in his life and the feeling was not unpleasant there was also the added bonus of the look on Hagrid's face. Upon reaching the vault the goblin simply stated. "Key"
Hagrid still shaking a little handed the key over to the goblin.
Inside the vault was heaps of Gold, columns of silver and mounds of copper, quickly turning to the Goblin Harry asked, "How much?"
Griphook pulled a ledger of sorts from within the walls of the vault looked it over and spoke "The potter trust vault has 130,000 galleons, 14 sickles and 21 knuts."
Eyes narrowing with a hungry glint in them Harry asked "Two questions, first what is the current conversion rate of wizarding currency to muggle pounds and second you said trust vault does this mean there is a main vault?"
The goblin pursed it's lips and answered, "The current conversion rate for the galleons to British pounds is approximately 12 pounds to a gallon. So your vault is worth almost 1.6 million british pounds. The answer to your second question is yes there is a main potter vault and no it does not have money in it all the money from the main potter vault was placed in your trust vault after the death of your parents. It now comprises mainly of books and other family heirlooms, you will not be able to access it until you reach your majority."
1.6 million pounds was far more than what he expected to inherit and though it was a little disappointing that he could not access the main Potter vault until the age of 17 there were a lot of things he could do with the money he had access to. After taking a moment to calculate mentally how much money he would need for the current shopping trip and then adding 100 galleons on top of that for additional expenses harry closed the vault with a smile on his face.
Once again the cart ride was fun, Harry had been manipulating Hagrid's blood and other body fluids ever since they entered the bank with the intention to make him sick enough to leave Harry alone to do his shopping, this manipulation combined with the cart rides seemed to be doing the trick as Hagrid looked about ready to throw up by the time they reached vault 713.
The way the goblin opened the vault was quite impressive, observing everything he could Harry stored that tit-bit of information about goblin magic in case he ever needed to rob Gringotts. Hagrid quickly leaned inside and grabbed a small grubby looking package. While Harry did not know what was in the package he could somehow sense that it was powerful. Memorizing the size and shape of the mysterious object Harry decided he would try and steal it from Hogwarts if possible.
Having finished with their business at Gringotts, one quick cart ride later they were standing outside of its entrance. Seeing that Hagrid was about 3 steps away from emptying his stomach on the steps of the bank Harry smoothly held out a hand motioning Hagrid to stop and spoke, "Hagrid you don't look so good maybe we should go sit down somewhere for a while until you feel better?"
"Nah Harry, I need ter get to You-Know-What to Dumbledore as soon as possible."
Biting his lip and putting on the face of a brave child Harry replied, "Well, if you want I can do all my shopping myself, it's no problem my aunt makes me shop alone for her all the time."
Seeing that Hagrid looked unsure on what to do Harry decided to push is magic a little more making all of the giant man's blood rush to his head at once. The effects of this was instantaneous Hagrid immediately held his head in both hands and groaned loudly.
Once again looking really worried Harry spoke, "Hagrid you really need to lie down or something, go to Hogwarts now I can take care of myself."
Hagrid still holding his head just nodded and started walking towards the leaky cauldron. Harry watched him walk all the way down the alley and kept the innocent smile fixed on his face until he was sure Hagrid could not see him anymore.
Silently thanking the gods that he was finally rid of that oaf Harry pulled out the required materials for first years list from his pocket. Looking through it he mentally catalogued everything he needed into four categories, Wand, Clothes, Books, and supplies. Seeing that he wanted a wand as soon as possible he decided to get that first.
The sign on the door read "Ollivander's makers of fine wands since 382 B.C", it also said that the store was open so Harry did not understand why there was no one in there. Just as he was about to turn around and leave an old man walked in from behind one of the shelves.
"Apologies, usually the ward on my door alerts me when a customer walks in." spoke the man in a soft voice.
Noting to himself that his shield seemed to have evolved to avoid magical detection harry spoke, "It's fine, I need a wand."
"Ofcourse" said the wandmaker then upon looking closer at Harry his eyes widened just a fraction and flicked towards the infamous scar.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, I was wondering when you would come in here to get your first wand, I remember the day your parents came to get their wands."
"Lily Evans, 10 and ¼ willow, swishy great for charms work and James Potter 11 inches mahogany excellent wand for transfiguration"
Snapping out of his reminiscence Ollivander simply asked Harry to hold out his wand hand as a tape measure started taking all kinds of measurements.
"You see Mr. Potter, a wizard does not choose his wand, rather a wand chooses a wizard. Now try this 12 inches willow, dragon heartstring good wand for charms work." Spoke Ollivander as he held out a box with a wand in it.
As soon as Harry picked it up the light bulb exploded, startling him.
Ollivander just snatched the wand back and quickly handed him another, this process went on for a while as the wandmaker kept getting more and more excited.
"Hmm could it be…", muttered Ollivander.
"Could what be?" replied Harry who was now getting annoyed at the amount of time it took to find a wand.
"Wait here a moment Mr. Potter." Said Ollivander as he disappeared into the back of the store and returned shortly holding a box.
Looking inside Harry saw another wand and at Ollivanders prompting he extended his hand and picked it up to immediately feel a warm feeling spread through his body as sparks shot out the wand tip.
"11 inches Holly, with a phoenix feather core." Spoke Ollivander and with a strange look in his eye he continued to mutter. "Curious…."
Finally biting the bullet Harry asked with a scathing tone, "What's curious."
"You see Mr. Potter like I told you earlier I remember every single wand that I have ever made, and the phoenix that gave the feather that resides within that wand gave another feather, just one other."
Still not understanding why this would be curious Harry simply nodded to Ollivander asking him to continue.
"While this wand chose you, why it's brother gave you that scar, 13 and ½ inches yew. It seems we can expect great things from you Mr. Potter for He-Who-must-not-be-named did great things, terrible yes but still great."
Now that was curious thought Harry. His initial theories on how he survived the killing curse basically boiled it down to dumb luck, however now he knew for sure there was some kind of a connection between him and Voldemort and it seemed like it was this connection that prevented the Killing curse from ending his life ten years ago. Following that train of thought Harry realized that it was rather strange that Voldemort himself went to kill the Potters from what he had heard so far about the war there were a lot of murders and a lot of families were wiped out however Voldemort himself never went to kill someone, especially not alone. Realizing that there was more to the story than what Hagrid told him Harry decided to uncover what he can during his time at Hogwarts this year.
Snapping out of his thoughts Harry thanked Ollivander paid him and walked out the store with his new wand and wand holster that he bought as an afterthought.
After quick stops at a few shops the last couple of things left on Harry's list were his robes and books. He intended to spend at least a good hour at the book store and maybe a few more book stores in Knockturn ally scouring for material on the wizarding world and magic in general so that he could get a better understanding of both as Hagrid's explanation was woefully inadequate. So he decided to get the purchasing of robes out the way first.
Walking into Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions Harry looked around to find a squat witch dressed in all mauve smiling at him.
"Hogwarts dear?" she said, Harry simply nodded as she went on speaking "Got the lot here – another young man is being fitter up just now, in fact."
In the back of the shop was a blonde boy with a pale, pointed face standing on a footstool while another witchpinned up his robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry up on a stool next to him and started to take measurements for his robes.
"Hello", said the boy, "Hogwarts, too I assume?"
"Yes", replied Harry mildly curious what a normal magical teenager is like.
"My father is next door buying my books and mother's at Ollivander's looking at wands, though father says there is a better wand shop in Knockturn alley where they don't put the trace on your wand if you can pay for it." spoke the boy. Continuing in a nonchalant voice he spoke "after getting my wand I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms, don't see why first years can't have their own just because a few mud-ggleborns don't know how to fly yet."
Harry caught the slip up on the muggleborn phrase, while he did not know what the blonde was going to say he figured it was some kind of a racial slur.
"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.
"No I don't and before you ask I've never played Quidditch never had the time for sports as an orphan." Spoke harry dancing around the fact that he was muggle raised as he had a hunch that it would not go over so well with the boy.
"Oh sorry about your parents", said the boy not sounding sorry at all. "They were our kind right?"
"Don't be sorry, and yes they were a witch and wizard."
Seeing the boy's confused look at his comment Harry sighed and continued. "They brought me into this world and then promptly died fighting someone far stronger than they were thus leaving me with my pathetic muggle relatives, so don't be surprised if I don't particularly cherish their memories."
Looking horrified at the thought of being muggle raised while at the same time smiling at Harry for calling his muggle relatives pathetic the boy simply raised his hand as he spoke, "I am really sorry for your upbringing then, no witch or wizard deserves to be raised by filthy muggles, my name's Draco Malfoy by the way."
Steeling himself for the unavoidable hustle his name would bring about Harry took Draco's hand and replied, "Harry Potter."
The way Draco's eyes bulged as they flicked towards Harry's forehead would have been comical if it weren't so pathetic.
Just as Draco was about to say something Madam Malkin said, "That's it dear, you're done."
Before Harry could leave Draco called out, "Wait! Are you done shopping? Because if you are not I would like to introduce you to my father. Maybe we can finish our shopping together after that?"
Harry mused the potential advantages and disadvantages of accepting Draco's offer. On one hand, judging by what he observed from Draco the Malfoys seem to be a rich and powerful family so a potential alliance with them should not be bad at all, there was also the added bonus that they did not seem to care much about Muggles. On the other hand going with Draco meant that he would not be able to spend that much time at the book store browsing for books on the Wizarding world and magic and the plan to stop at a bookstore in Knockturn alley would have to be scrapped as well, though the wand shop Draco mentioned earlier would not be a bad tradeoff. Deciding that agreeing with Draco would be best for now Harry said, "I've already bought a wand, though I still need to purchase books and I am interested in getting one of those untraceable wands from Knockturn alley, so sure I'll go with you."
With a pleased look on his face Draco simply nodded.
Walking out of Madam Malkin's both boys made their way to Flourish and Blott's, just before entering Draco stopped Harry and spoke, "I'm not going to lie to you and you'll probably hear this from someone else anyways." Taking a deep breath and in a quick hushed tone Draco continued, "Father sympathized with the Dark Lord's cause so he will not receive you warmly, please let me explain to him your views on muggles and your muggle relatives before reacting to father's demeanor."
Looking at Draco for a moment Harry burst out laughing, "Draco, Draco, Draco, do not worry, I truly do hate my relatives and while I do not hold any particular grudge against muggles in general I DO feel that they are inferior to wizards and therefore should be subservient to us. So do not worry I am sure your father will see it in his heart to not to ignore my hand of friendship." This was of course only partially true, while Harry did not care about muggles he did not really care that much about wizards either, in his mind there was only one person he cared about, himself; and in order to ensure that he would have the Malfoys or at least Draco assisting him in his goal he knew exactly what to say and when to smile and nod.
Draco visibly relaxing after Harry's outburst resumed his confident pointed look and entered the book store like he owned it, behind him Harry followed with a slight smile on his face and a graceful nonchalant air around him that completely contradicted the cruelty reflected in his haunting green eyes.
Draco led Harry up to a blonde couple who were browsing books in the History of Magic section of the store.
"Ah, there you are Draco, I presume you are done with purchasing your robes then?" spoke the man as he replaced a book on the rack and turned around to face them.
Noticing Harry as he turned around he spoke, "and who might this be?"
Cutting off Draco's reply Harry simply made eye contact with the Malfoy Patriarch and extended his hand, "Harry Potter."
Lucius Malfoy was about to knock the hand of the arrogant boy aside and make a few scathing remarks and not so subtle threats at the boy-who-lived before he was stopped by the look in those emerald eyes, they reminded him of another pair of eyes, blood red. It was a look that promised power, pain, cruelty and death all wrapped in one. Slowly reconsidering his previous course of action he simply took the boy's hand and replied, "Lucius Malfoy, at your service."
Harry suddenly letting go of the elder Malfoy's hand while at the same time reigning in the magic that was brimming just under his skin, turned to Draco with a childish innocent smile on his face and said, "See Draco I told you your father would understand."