Hogwarts: Sink or Swim Method. What if the whole timeline of the tale of the Boy-Who-Lived was moved a little bit into the future? Harry Potter was born in 1993, rather than 1980; as a result, Voldemort's reign lasted 13 years longer than it should have. Harry, instead, enters school in 2004. Hogwarts has changed, just a bit.

Do or Die

The sky was already getting darker as Harry followed Percy out the back exit of the Leaky Cauldron.

Percy had shrunk Harry's two books for him again, and then had shrunk the whole car. Percy was so nonchalant about these extreme uses of magic that Harry knew he needed to make himself get over it. Magic was a part of who he was now.

The two young students had quickly passed through the pub, not attracting much attention. Harry supposed students were a common site this time of year, what with school coming up.

They stopped in front of a brick wall, and Harry turned to Percy in confusion.

"See this brick?" Percy asked Harry seriously, pointing to a seemingly random brick. Harry wanted to point out how ridiculous he sounded. "Remember that brick." With that said, Percy flicked his wrist in that odd manner again and his wand appeared; this he used to tap the brick. Right in front of Harry, an opening grew in the wall, letting Harry see into Diagon Alley.

And what a magical site it was.

There were all types of people bustling about. Some wore recognizable clothing, while others wore what looked like cloaks. One woman was wearing a dress that seemed to be made of hundreds or thousands of flowers in various shades of red.

There were wands being waved, and wizards yelling to their sisters, and children chasing one another with a multitude of rainbow bubbles trailing after them.

And there were so many shops, with books and clothes and things Harry couldn't even begin to name. There were moving pictures and flashing lights and Harry was entirely overwhelmed.

"Harry!" Percy snapped finally. "Let's go!"

Harry was looking straight forward, shoulders straight, making a valiant effort not to stare.

They were at the bank, and there were goblins. Percy's lesson had kicked in, and he was keeping his opinions to himself.

With each new thing he learned, his mind was awakened even more to the many possibilities that magic provided. Man, when did his life get so awesome?

Percy had taken a break in his lecturing, merely answering a few of Harry's questions while they walked through the Alley. A few of Harry's questions went basically unanswered ('it's in one of your books, I think'). Questions such as 'how did Professor McLain disappear like that?' and 'what the hell is a Slytherin?'

Harry's question of 'what classes am I taking this year?' was greeted with much enthusiasm. The famous young wizard would be taking Charms, Defense, Transfiguration, World History, Algebra, Biology, and Intro to Magic (which would last one term, then change to Latin). There were also many other classes he would be able to take later on. Percy had chattered on about the classes, clearly in his element, and Harry had done his best to remember the many tips Percy attempted to feed him.

Harry had also wanted to stop at all of the stores on the way, but the annoyingly insistent Weasley had dragged him to Gringotts, The Bank, first.

It was capitalized as The Bank because it was apparently the only wizarding bank in Britain. Harry was slightly thrown off.

Now, Percy handed Harry a small golden key, saying, "This is the key to your trust vault. Professor McLain gave it to me. Don't ask me how she got it, it's not my problem."

They stepped into line, a goblin in front of them snarling 'next,' in a guttural tone. It seemed kind of like an accent.

Harry could feel a headache coming on from being surrounded by so many people, as the bank was rather crowded and the witches and wizards seemed to grow louder the longer they stood in line. Harry guessed that people were just getting off work.

"Percy, how much is your currency worth? Galleons, I mean."

"The gold coins are galleons. 17 silver sickles to a galleon, and 29 bronze knuts to a sickle."

"Why 17 and 29?" Harry asked, slightly lost.

"They're prime numbers. Magically important. If you do right, you'll learn all about it."

They moved up in line as another customer, an older looking woman, was helped. The goblin yelled "Scarshield!" and the woman was led away.

"Oh. Well, how much are the coins worth?"

"Um. Well, it's hard for me to put it into perspective for you, quite honestly. Most things they sell in the non-magical world are much cheaper in the wizarding world because they are things much easier for us to make – or, in some cases, for us to steal."

He paused, seemingly regretting saying his last few words to an impressionable young wizard. Harry decided he would give the idea some thought later.

"Anyway, to give a few examples, though, a full course meal at an average restaurant is about one galleon, and buying a new pet owl is five. A portkey to travel to, say, Australia, would be about 30 galleons." He stopped, trying to think of more ideas. "Er, a chocolate bar would be a few knuts. A premade wand is about seven galleons. One school uniform-"

"I get the idea," Harry said, cutting him off. "Thanks, Percy."

They reached the front of the line.

"Good day, sir," Percy said, nodding his head politely. Harry followed his example, giving an awkward nod. "We're here to visit Mr. Potter's vault." He turned towards Harry. "Your key?"

Harry held up the delicate key, and the goblin snatched at it with its sharp claws, inspecting it closely. Harry tried his best to keep the goblin's gaze when the small creature turned its beady eyes upon Harry.

"Griphook!" the goblin teller yelled abruptly, handing the scar-headed boy his key back. Another goblin appeared. "Vault 320!"

"So am I rich then?" Harry had to ask. "Or does the average witch or wizard have this much money?"

The trip to his vault had been quick. The cart ride had made him feel a bit dizzy, but he had pushed down the feeling as Griphook the goblin opened his vault. Percy had appeared lost in thought, and Griphook didn't seem very open for conversation, so Harry had stayed quiet. He had filled a velvet sack with galleons, provided for by Percy - and he was told he would be able to apply for something that sounded like a debit card as soon as he turned 15 - and then they had quickly left the bank.

Harry had been surprised at the large amount of small gold coins in his vault.

"No, you're rich." Percy looked amused. Harry scowled at him. "Money only counts for so much in the wizarding world, though. If you learn enough magic, you really don't need money for anything. It will be useful to get you through your Hogwarts years, true enough, but..." He trailed off, stopping and looking down his nose at Harry. "You do know that's only your trust vault, right? You have much more stored away in another vault."

Harry's brain froze. If that was true, then damn he was rich. Whatever Percy thought he was talking about, Harry disagreed. Money was always useful.

"Did they leave anything else? Like furniture or pictures or anything?"

"Probably nothing you can access until you reach your majority at age 17," Percy replied calmly.

"Oh."

They walked for a few minutes in silence, Percy clearly leading Harry somewhere with a destination in mind.

"Percy?" He received no answer. "Percy!" The red-haired boy looked around, startled. "Where are we going?"

"Just follow me," Percy said, looking ahead again.

Harry didn't like that answer. He took a few quick steps forward, catching up and falling into step with his companion. "Percy," he said again, "where are we going?"

The red-haired wizard glanced at him and then away again. Harry's baseless anxiety grew tenfold. "Clive's Clinic," Percy said finally, not looking him in the eye.

"A clinic?" Harry stopped dead in his tracks. "Why would we go to a clinic?" Harry had only been to the doctor a few times in his life, and he always associated it with some form of punishment from his uncle.

"Trust me, Harry, you'll be fine," Percy replied, somewhat impatiently. He continued walking, and Harry followed, scowling.

"Okay, how about a compromise?" It was Percy's turn to stop abruptly. "Have you eaten dinner yet?"

"No," Harry answered, thrown off by the non sequitur.

"Neither have I. Over dinner, I'll explain why it's a good idea to go to the clinic."

The Weasley made a 180 and strode quickly back the way they had just come from.

"Percy," Harry said, clearly exasperated.

"Don't worry, my young friend, we just passed it. I was just thinking how good some pizza sounds right about now."

Thoroughly convinced, Harry quickly followed Percy. Pizza was perfect. Too many things were happening all at once, and pizza sounded gratifyingly normal.

He had hoped for too much. The pizza Percy had ordered turned out to be a light blue color and seemed to be fizzling slightly as it appeared on the table. Harry swore he heard the pizza hiss as Percy cut the pizza into several slices.

Watching him, Harry had to ask, "When am I going to get a wand?"

Percy smiled, understanding. "As soon as we're done at the clinic. You have my word."

Harry stopped himself from grumbling too much as Percy passed him a plateful of the blue pizza. He sat back and shut his mouth. First rule of magic, got it.

Harry bit into the pizza. It tasted a fair amount like the pizza Harry was familiar with, except it tasted rather like pineapple. Harry chewed for a bit, then swallowed the pizza thoughtfully. No, pineapple wasn't quite right.

He took another bite, surprised to taste not only the not-pineapple flavor, but something else quite spicy that Harry couldn't quite name. The pizza melted in his mouth in a way that was unquestionably delicious.

Between the two wizards, the large pizza was quickly devoured. Every bite was better than the last.

Harry sat back in his chair, content. He looked around the small restaurant, which looked surprisingly normal. Perhaps that was why Percy had taken him here to eat. It looked like any old pizza place, with the exception of the suspicious looking gentleman eating at the corner table who seemed to be covered in fur.

The boy wizard took a long sip of the white-tinted pop that Percy had ordered, called Sweet CoCo Soda. Ridiculous name, Harry thought, but the drink was unexpectedly refreshing.

"That was great, Percy, good idea," Harry complimented.

Percy practically beamed at him, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "I thought pizza might be to your liking. Well. On to business, I should think. I want to discuss some magical theory with you. This is the information that will give you an advantage over the other students and the reason why we should stop by Clive's Clinic."

Harry leaned forward, cracking his neck to wake himself up a bit. Right. On to business.