Chapter 7: Shopping

Notes: Hello lovelies and welcome to chapter 7! This is a very long chapter that I have written, so yay! hahaha :) anyways thank you for those feedback last chapter, :) I was getting a little worried since I wasn't hearing back from anyone so thank you. Now that is enough from me, here is the chapter!

Harry was once again dealing with the joys of traveling the way wizards do; he just hoped one day he would have a graceful landing, one where he isn't spat out of the floo face first. Today did seem like the day that he would be learning that; instead he had a little roll, and tumbled into the center of the "Leaky Caldron" according to Severus. People, of course, stopped what they were doing to stare at him and some holding back their laughter behind a hand other just right out laughing at the young scowling boy. Harry couldn't be more grateful to Severus once the floo came to life once more, his presence silencing the whole pub.

"Harry will you ever land on your feet?" Severus asked one eyebrow cocked at the young boy who was still sprawled out on the floor. He was, however, glad that everyone was so focused on Harry's fall that they didn't recognize him and his scar.

Harry's check were inflamed red in embarrassment; if only Levi was here, then maybe he would have a great witty come back. Sadly, Severus made Harry leave him back at his manor for the day, unsure of how people would react to such a large snake draped over such a tiny boy.

Severus quickly helped Harry off the floor before taking him to a dark alley way and removed his wand from his robes. He tapped on the bricks in a certain order that Harry quickly forgot as soon as the bricks began to rearrange themselves. They opened into a path way to the hustle and bustle of a boisterous alley. Severus smiled down at the young boy, who stared in shock of the many people in one place, yelling and laughing at one another, kids running around with strange candies, asking the parents if they could have this and that.

"What is this place?" Harry asked, his words almost lost in the crowed alley, as the young wizard pressed himself to Severus's side, anxious about the noise and the people.

"This is Diagon Alley, the place where you will find everything you need for school, plus a little more. Now keep up Harry, we are going to Gringotts to get your money, as well as to meet up with the Malfoys." Severus said, diving straight into the crowd of people, as they parted to make room for the gloomy looking wizard and the young boy that followed right on his tail.

Harry froze at the sight of the large building that seemed to pop out of nowhere, he would have liked to just stand there and stare in awe, but Severus wasn't going to have that. Instead he grabbed the young wizards arm and dragged him into the building, out of the boisterous street. When they entered the large building, Harry was shocked that the workers were short, old looking creatures with pointed ears and sharp teeth, all wearing similar grumpy expressions when dealing with wizards.

"Severus." Harry whispered, tugging on the older man's sleeve.

"What are those?" Harry asked, trying to hide behind Severus, trying to get out of straying eyes of these strange creatures.

"Those are goblins Harry, be careful around them, and do not get on the wrong side of them, they can be a force to be reckoned with." Severus explained, not pausing in step as they made their way to the back of the building where a goblin was free to help them. Just before they could step up in front of the teller, a Giant took their spot.

"'Ello I 'ave a letter here from Professor Dumbledore." The giant said, catching Harry's attention quickly at the name. "It's about You-Know-What in vault 713."

The goblin just glared at the giant, thinking of refusing him until he learned respect.

"Hargid, nice to see you outside of school," Severus mused, knowing that if he didn't help him out, the Headmaster would be less then pleased.

"'Ello Professor Snape, I didn't recognize ya, and 'hose this?" Hagrid asked, looking down at Harry.

"This is Harry Potter, I have been charged to make sure that he gets all the supplies he needs for Hogwarts."

At that, the Giant looked a little hurt, knowing that the headmaster promised all those years ago that he could take Harry.

"Why don't we go down together, since Harry needs to get some money?" Hagrid only nodded, Severus quickly took the Giants place in front of the teller, and waited for the goblin to speak first, seeing that he was a little peeved as it was.

"How may we help you today?" The goblin's voice was deep and stretchy sounding, making Harry flinch in fear.

"Yes, young Harry Potter would like to remove gold from his Vaults." Severus speaking up for Harry, knowing that the young boy wouldn't know what to say to these creatures.

"And does young Mr. Potter have his key," The goblin snarled, leaning forward to peek at the terrified young wizard.

Severus produced a golden key from one of his many hidden pockets, handing it to the goblin, trying to snarl when he felt the tight clamp of the greedy goblins hand around the key.

"Alright sirs, it seems that everything is good, please follow Griphook here and he will take you to the vault in question."

Harry and Severus followed the smaller looking goblin to a mine cart, and took a seat.

"You might want this," Severus said, handing the small boy his key, "and hang on tight."

Before Harry could ask why, they were whisked away, traveling at mind boggling speeds. Harry could barely process as they passed other mine carts and other vaults. They came to a stop in front of a large vault before the goblin hopped out.

"Vault 687," Griphook said, looking back at the wizards as they struggled out of their seats of the mine cart.

"Key please," The young goblin said, holding out his hand to both wizards. Harry handed his key to the goblin and watched the process as the goblin opened the vault.

Harry stood there, gasping at the largest pile of money he has ever seen, of course it was the only pile of money he has ever seen. Harry took a step into the large vault before turning to the goblin.

"Can you please explain these coins? I am not sure how to use them." Harry said, still in awe over the vast amount left for him, but confused because the wizarding world had such different money system then muggles did.

Griphook smiled, showing all his pointy teeth to the young wizard. At least this wizard was smart enough to ask the goblin for help, instead of taking his money in one go. Yes, he liked this wizard a lot already.

"Of course Mr. Potter, the gold coin there is a Galleon, the silver ones are Sickles and the bronze one is a Knut. Galleons are worth the most, followed by the Sickle, it takes 17 Sickles to equal a Galleon. Lastly there's the Knut, it takes 493 Knuts to equal a Galleon. Now a Galleon can be exchanged for Muggle money, and is worth about £4.97." The young goblin explained in great detail for Harry to understand. Harry nodded, and quickly, with Severus and the goblins help, had a sack filled with coins to pay for his school expenses.

Another wild ride and they stopped at their next stop.

"Vault 713," Griphook said stepping out of the cart, "Stand back please."

He stroked the door with his spider like fingers, and the door before them started to melt away, as if it had never existed. Hagrid got out the cart and stepped inside the ancient vault, which was holding only a small, brown, badly wrapped package. With that done they sat back down in the cart.

"Do you 'hink you can slow it down some?" The giant asked, growing a little green at the thought of another crazy mine cart ride.

"Only one speed," Griphook said, before they took off once again, but this time it seemed that he was pushing the cart as fast as it could go, taking sharper turns and a longer way back, just to make the giant sick it seemed.

Harry was content to say in the least, for once in his life he was holding money that was his, not having to give it to anyone else, nor did he have to rely on anyone ever again it seemed. They soon stepped back into the hustle and bustle of the overcrowded street, just in time to see three white blonde heads start to head their way. With small greeting out of the way, the strange looking group set off to start to buy the young boys their much needed school supplies.

After many stops, Lucius and Severus decided it was time for them to take a leave, and head down to another ally way leaving the boys alone with Narcissa, who dragged the boys off to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Of course Harry was happy to finally get his own set of clothes that weren't hand-me-down from his cousin Dudley. Narcissa left the boys and started to explore the shop seeing what the new trends were.

Harry was sitting behind the blonde as he took a step up onto the stand with the women. Madam Malkin took measurements for the blonde and writing down everything. Draco, of course, was up there scowling, unhappy that the woman had to touch him.

"Draco, can you tell me more about Hogwarts?" Harry asked, wanting to know what it would be like, for he hasn't been able to even fathom such a place. Draco did try to explain what Hogwarts looked like and even some of the different ghosts, but Harry wanted to know more about the place that he was going to spend a lot of time at.

Draco sighed at his new friend's questions, of course he was more than happy to answer them, but at the same time the black haired boy could easily read everything that he wanted to know. That made Draco pause for a moment thinking; could his friend read? His mother and father told him some of why the boy was staying with his uncle, but not enough for the boy to completely understand.

"Hogwarts is a large castle, as I have already told you, which have four different house that the first years are separated into, you have Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. These house are to be you family, or at least that is what my parents said, while you are at Hogwarts. You are to look out of each other, and make sure that you don't get into any trouble. Then you Quidditch, something sadly, we first years can't play." Draco snorted as he saw his friend reflection in the mirror tilting his head in question. "It's a wizard's game that is played in the air on broomsticks, you have a total of three balls, and 4 different positions… You know, I will tell you more about it later, when we go back to the manor." Draco said as he was getting down off the stand and Harry quickly took his place.

When both boys were done being measured, and after a short argument with Narcissa over paying for Harry's clothes, one she won easily, she took the bill for Harry as well as buying him some other clothes to replace those from his muggle family.

"Mum, can we go to the owl emporium? I would like to get my own owl." Draco said, looking up at his mum. Narcissa thought about it for a moment, but decided that Draco was old enough now that he could get his own owl.

They entered the owl emporium, and Harry was taken aback by the amount of owls and other species of animals that fit in one place. Draco and his mum walked around looking at the different animals that Draco could possibly want, while Harry stood in the door glancing around nothing catching his attention. That was until he heard a small muffled noise coming from a small cage. Taking a few steps into the store and following the sound Harry took a peek inside to see a small black kitten with bright blue eyes staring into his own green eyes. Harry smiled and cooed at the small cat, watching it slowly makes its way to the front of the cage mewing softly at Harry.

"Well would you look at that, the little lady has found someone." A voice said, making Harry jump away from the small kitten. "Don't you worry, lad I am happy that she has found someone, everyone passes her up, taking all her siblings and leaving this little girl all alone." The man said looking at the boy. "Look I will sell her for 15 Galleons, how does that sound?" Harry thought about sending a glance at the young kitten that was looking at him with such promise and hopeful eyes that he couldn't deny her. Harry nodded at the man and handed him 15 Galleons, while the man let the kitten out of the small cage. Harry spotted Draco and his Mum buying him an Eagle owl who held his chest all puffed out all proud like, Harry couldn't help but smile at them. Now he only hoped Severus wouldn't be too upset with his purchase.

* * *Meanwhile with Severus* * *

Severus was out hunting down potion ingredients for Harry, after watching the boy all day he noticed that the boy had a hard time seeing things from his left side. He wanted the boy to have an easier life now that he was away from those muggles, and to do so was to erase all the damage they have done to the poor boy. So Severus thought that he would surprise the young boy with a healing potion, he wasn't sure how bad the damage was and wouldn't know till they were back at his manor, so Severus just bought all the ingredients he thought he would need.

Much to Severus disappointment though, Lucius decided to hang around with him instead of his wife and the boys. So he was forced to listen to the blonde man, talk about almost nothing, while he shopped around for the ingredients, well until one part caught his attention.

"You know Severus you would make a good father to Harry." Severus froze at his friend's words blinking in surprise, him a father? No that could never happen, he was just a teacher and a spy, and that was no way to raise a child.

Lucius of course saw the reaction. "Now I know what you are thinking, but you have so far proved yourself more than capable. You have opened your house to young Mr. Potter and showed him things that a father would; and you didn't even think twice about it. I know that Harry would jump at the chance to have you adopt him, have you seen the way he clings to you?" Lucius, of course, made too many valid points for Severus to argue with, so he shot his friend a glare.

"Now we could make this happen, it's either going to be you adopting him or us, since Narcissa has become very attached to the boy." Lucius said with a chuckle. "But I think it should be you, since the boy knows you better than he knows me or Narcissa. He sees you as his savior. I know that I could have the ministry process the papers real quick, and we do not have to worry about young Harry going back to those people."

"Lucius let me think on this, please. I have never really had a family myself and raising a boy will be something new to me. Not only that, I would have to change the way I live, to accommodate a child." Severus said, since he knew that his friend would not drop the subject until he said that he would think about. Lucius left it at that, knowing that if he pushed his friend too far that Severus would push back, and he wouldn't get his way. So instead he just smirked at Severus, knowing that the seed he planted in his mind will grow into something that he could work with.

"Alright boys, one more stop, time to get your wands!" Narcissa said as she led the boys through the ally to the wand makers shop. The shop at this time was deserted and the old wand maker was nowhere to be seen until the door rang.

He came sliding in on his ladder spying who just walked into his shop. "Ahh look who we have here a young Mr. Malfoy, and ahh yes young Mr. Potter. I was wondering when I would see you two in this shop, let me see ahh yes let's start with you Mr. Malfoy. I think I got just the thing." Ollivander muttered and he sorted through box after box of wands before choosing the one he wanted. "Here we are, try this out!" He exclaimed, handing one to Draco.

Draco took the wand that was thrusted upon him, he felt a warm breeze and magic pouring around him, yet no one saw this save for Ollivander who was smiling like a lunatic. "Ten inches Hawthorn wood, with a unicorn hair core! Perfect for young Draco."

Now he turned to Harry, looking him up and down his brow farrowed a bit thinking of any wands that could fit this young wizard. "Let's see." He turned around and rummaged through his wands. "Try this one." He said handing a wand to the boy.

Harry took the wand, not sensing anything, "Well, give it a wave!" Ollivander exclaimed, so Harry did. The wave caused a shattering of a vase, Harry quickly set the wand on the counter, backing away quickly as if it had burned him. "Nope not that one!" Ollivander went back on his hunt for a wand.

After a couple more wands, Harry felt like giving up, there hasn't been one that he liked. At this point Narcissa and Draco had retreated outside after paying for Draco's wand, the kitten following them as well, as each wand produced a new catastrophic effect. Ollivander frown grew grave as he thought of a wand and went to retrieve it, of course he knew this was the one for boy, but it was curious.

"Try this one Mr. Potter, it is an eleven inch holly with a Phoenix Feather as its core." Harry took the wand a little afraid that this would reject him as well, but felt a happy warm feeling fly across him, wind picking up around the store then quickly settled down.

"Curious, very curious." Was all the elder man said, as he looked at Harry with fascination.

"Sir? What do you mean by Curious?"

Ollivander stood proud, "I know every wand that I have ever sold Mr. Potter, every single last one of them. What is curious is that the same Phoenix gave one other feather—just one other. It is curious that you are to have this wand, when its brother gave you that scar, Mr. Potter." Harry shivered at the thought, "Yes 13 inches Yew. Curious indeed, these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard Mr. Potter… I expect great things from you Mr. Potter… After all He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name did great things—terrible yes, but great."

Harry shivered at what Ollivander said, not sure on how he felt, that the murderer of his family, carried the brother of his wand. He thanked Ollivander and payed for the wand before stepping out of the shop, lost in the dark thoughts that now entered his mind because of what Ollivander had said. It was late now, and Severus and Lucius had joined back up with the group, it was then that they called it a day. With goodbyes said, they departed Diagon Alley, and returned home to see the treasures the trip had produced.