Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the sole property of JK Rowling/OCs are my property

Chapter 4: Diagon Alley

As Harry stepped through the portal and took his first look at the Alley, he had to struggle to control his shock and awe at the sight in front of him. The book had definitely not prepared him for what lay ahead - never before had he seen such vivid colors, strangely dressed people or unusual stores, Eeylops Owl Emporium and Ollivanders to name just a few.

Aware of the place he had to find, Harry slowly strolled up the street, dawdling and able to take in the vivid sights as there was nobody to chivvy him along. Soon though he reached the pristine white building that he knew contained goblins, goblins that had his money.

Pushing his shoulders back, Harry headed towards the building, a goblin looking as though it was standing guard positioned on the steps to the bank, just as it had been in the book. Giving it a polite smile as it bowed as he walked by, Harry stepped into the bank. He had already read the warning contained in the book about stealing from Gringotts more than once and he felt a little nervous that what he was about to do might be conceived as being wrong. However, it was his money and he would need it if he was going to go to school.

Locating a teller who was free, Harry nervously headed up to him. "Hello."

"Key, please."

"I don't have one."

"Name."

"Harry James Potter," Harry said, thinking that it might be helpful to give all of his names.

Up until then the goblin hadn't even bothered to look up. Now it did as it gave instructions. "Second door on the left."

Harry knew only too well that the book had not mentioned anything about doors, and he was more than a little nervous as he headed in the direction the goblin had instructed. Knocking on the door that was second on the left, which was a big wooden door with a brass handle, Harry was bidden to enter.

Upon doing so, he was surprised to see a man and not a goblin sitting at the desk. "Um, the goblin told me to come here."

The man smiled and pointed at a chair. "Then come in. How can I help you?"

"I want to take out some money but I don't have a key," Harry said as he perched on the edge of leather clad chair which appeared to have arms carved out of gold.

"Name."

"Harry James Potter."

The man's eyebrows rose almost into his hairline. "Really?"

"Um, yeah," Harry said hesitantly as the man came around the desk.

"I'm Hector Cashton," the man said as he reached down to shake Harry's hand. "I'm so pleased to meet you, Mr. Potter, so pleased!"

"It's Harry, Mr. Cashton," Harry said, understanding a little of how the Harry in the book must have felt upon being recognized in the Leaky Cauldron.

However, unlike the people in the book, Hector obviously realized he was making Harry uncomfortable as he immediately backed off. "Well then, Harry, let's see what we can do about getting you some money."

Harry watched as Hector opened up a long sliding drawer and a file was extracted from it, a very thick file. "Is that mine?"

"It is," Hector said, placing it on the table and tapping it with his wand.

This was the first magic that Harry had witnessed apart from Tom's opening up the portal to Diagon Alley, and he was thoroughly enthralled when the file flew open and papers shot up into the air before several separated themselves from the paper stream and landed on the desk. The remaining papers shot back towards the file before it closed itself.

Hector then seated himself to review the papers. "It says here that your godfather was supposed to be taking care of your key. Oh…"

"What's wrong?" Harry asked worriedly at the concerned look.

"Your godfather can't be contacted."

"Why not?"

Hector struggled to find an answer, in the end blurting out the truth. "Because he's in Azkaban."

Harry looked blankly at Hector – the book had not mentioned Azkaban, or at least he didn't think it had. "What's Azkaban?"

"You don't know?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Sir."

"It's a prison, Harry," Hector said gravely.

Harry decided that his godfather couldn't be a very nice person if he was in prison but he still wondered what the mysterious godfather had done. "Why is he in prison?"

"Because he was in league with You-Know-Who."

Having read the chapter about the Keeper of the Keys four times, since Harry had suspected it would vanish if he kept on his divergent path, Harry knew exactly who You-Know-Who was and that if his godfather had been in league with him, he most definitely wasn't good. "You mean he was on the Dark Side?"

"Yes," Hector said, shivering. "And it looks…"

A knock at the door interrupted them and Harry was a little bemused by the sight of the man who entered when Hector called out 'come in'. Harry had seen some strangely dressed wizards on his way through Diagon Alley but this man made them look dowdy; he had on a bright orange robe and it had suns of even brighter yellow rising up from the hem on the right and setting on the left after make their way up the robe, across the man's chest and back down again.

Hector stood up and bowed his head slightly. "Headmaster Dumbledore."

Harry's hackles went up at the mention of the name and unlike Hector, he didn't bother greeting the strange looking man.

Dumbledore, however, greeted Harry. "Teller Cashton, Harry."

Harry now had no choice but to greet Dumbledore. "Hello."

Dumbledore could see that Harry was far from enamored with him, and he turned his attention to Hector. "I received notice that someone had heard that Harry was in Gringotts and I thought I should come by to see if I could be of assistance."

Hector glanced back at Harry's file. "You're not listed as being a guardian."

"But I do hold Harry's key," Dumbledore informed Hector, producing it seemingly out of thin air.

"Then we can make a withdrawal for him," Hector said to Dumbledore before turning to Harry. "You should know that you can only make a withdrawal from your trust fund vault up until you turn seventeen."

"Okay," Harry said, not having a problem with this.

"Then I'll ask Griphook to accompany you to the vault."

Harry said nothing to Dumbledore during the ride down to his vault which, just like his book counterpart, he loved immensely. He decided he would have loved it more if Dumbledore hadn't been sitting behind him.

Dumbledore said nothing to Harry until they arrived at the vault, where he explained about the different coins, unaware that Harry already knew what they were from his book. On arriving back upstairs, Harry reluctantly followed Dumbledore out into the lobby of the bank and out of the doors, only to be mobbed as soon as he stepped foot back in Diagon Alley.

A woman reached out and patted his cheek. "Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

Harry's eyes widened as this was the woman who had accosted book Harry in the Leaky Cauldron. His eyes were to widen more as two more people were to repeat what had been written. He was soon rescued though by Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid Harry has school shopping to do, so if you'll excuse us."

Harry was led off and just like in the book, he was taken into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. However, unlike the book, Dumbledore remained by his side, giving instructions to a young girl, who kept shooting Harry surreptitious glances from under her rather long dark lashes. Harry might have been spared meeting the obnoxious drawling boy from the book but he decided he would have preferred him to the giggling girl who was currently pinning up robes for him. He was therefore thankful when the ordeal was over.

He was then led from shop to shop picking up what he needed until finally they reached the shop that Harry had been most anxious to visit, the wand store.

Dumbledore noted that the sullen look had dropped away from the boy's face as they entered the store. "Garrick?"

"Albus," came the response from the strange moon-eyed man who had appeared from behind a stack of wands. "I see you've brought Mr. Potter in to buy his first wand."

Harry almost switched off as Ollivander droned on about his parents' wands, something of which Harry was already aware, until he realized that he was being measured and then the man was handing him a wand to try. Harry had no idea what holly looked like and so he picked the wand up and swished it around. He had barely done more than that when the wand was pulled out of his hand and a fresh one had taken its place.

After eight wands, Dumbledore made a suggestion. "Perhaps the holly and phoenix feather wand."

Ollivander glanced at Harry's forehead before saying, "Perhaps you might be right." He then headed into the back of his shop before returning with a box which he opened and from inside he took out a wand, which he presented to Harry.

The moment Harry touched the wand he felt as though he had come home and after a quick swish, red and gold sparks flew out of the wand.

Ollivander and Dumbledore shared a meaningful glance before Ollivander turned to Harry. "That will be seven Galleons."

After Harry had paid, Dumbledore led the way out. "I think it's time we had a little talk before we return home, Harry."

Harry glanced at the Owl Emporium and he decided that since Hagrid had not been there to buy him an owl, he would purchase one for himself. "I'd like to buy an owl first."

"Of course," Dumbledore said and he led the way to the store, starting to make a suggestion as they went inside. "Perhaps…"

Harry interrupted him and pointed towards a snowy white owl. "I want that one."

The owner smiled. "He's…"

Again Harry interrupted. "I'd rather have a girl owl."

"Then if it's a snowy owl you're after, we have one right here," the owner said, leading Harry to the back of the store. "She's a bit temperamental though."

The owl locked eyes with Harry and he knew that this was going to be his owl. "I'll take her."

After paying for her and a cage, Harry headed out of the store.