A/N: Thank you all once more for your reviews. I received one from a guest who asked if I would be using the contract out on the family and harry being part of the criminal underworld previously. That will not be used in this fic. As the reviewer pointed out, a 10 year-old would not be able to develop such a relationship to an organisation where they would be willing to wipe out a very influential family. The author also freely admitted they used the situation to get rid of Karma, the deity they were using to help harry. This is not needed in mine as Yama only helped initially when putting harry in the new world.
There was also a suggestion that the griffin should have been female and named Hedwig. While this is a popular idea in fanfics, I myself if I had a pet who had died recently (remembering it was less than 2 years before), I doubt I would want to try and replace her with another by using her name or even buying a similar snowy owl. Hence why no owl and no Hedwig.
Chapter 10.
It was 2 days before iris's birthday and Harry had been allowed to go into Diagon Alley on his own in order to buy his sister a present. His mother had needed to see Elaina Greengrass and had taken Ivy and Iris with her. There was another reason why Harry had come into the alley, as he had received a letter from olivander, stating that he required him to visit as his wand was nearly complete. Harry, not understanding why his wand was not complete already, first made his way to Olivander's shop. This time, instead of the man trying to scare him by sneaking up on him, when he entered the shop, Olivander asked him to come through to the back where his workshop was. Stepping through, Harry was surprised when he saw what the workshop looked like. There was a large storage area, much like a library in structure, where there in one section were jars containing different wand cores and in the other, were large blocks of wood that harry could only deduce were to be used for wands.
Olivander was standing in the work-room part of this area where there was a large table with different tools and implements used for the creation of wands. "Good morning Mr. Potter." Olivander greeted in his other-worldly voice and Harry answered "Good morning sir. I understand you needed me here for a reason?"
Olivander smiled and nodded, pointing to his work-table, saying "Your wand is nearly complete, however, it seems not quite right. So in order for this wand to be complete I need to bind the materials together." Harry, knowing nothing about wand-lore looked confused and asked
"So how does this involve me?" Olivander's smile became a little creepier if that was possible and turning his eyes to the boy before him, said "it is quite simple Mr. Potter. The wand core reacted more strongly to your blood than your magic alone. Not many realise this but a person's magical pathways are identical to the pathways a person's blood flows. This means therefore that your blood is infused with magic, which is why blood magic is so powerful. I will need to infuse your wand with your blood in order to fully complete the wand and bond it to you." Seeing that Harry still looked slightly confused, he continued to explain "Your wand is made from rare materials Mr. Potter and very powerful materials. I have studied wand lore for more than a century and I have never seen where a wand core reacted more strongly to blood than magic before. This means that once your wand is fully complete, it will work only for a Potter and no other. If anyone other than a potter were to try to use this wand, the backlash would be quite severe."
Harry, looking intrigued, allowed Olivander to then take a large vial of blood which he then using spells he murmured, bathed the wand with, which absorbed the blood like a sponge. The only sign of the blood being black markings, which Harry identified as runes spiralling around the wand from the base to the tip. Once this was done, Olivander then levitated the wand into a box he had prepared and closing the box's lid, gave it to harry, saying "Let's go to the front of the shop before you touch your wand. As I have many volatile materials back here, I would prefer not to have an accident occur." Harry nodded in complete agreement and followed the wand maker back to the front.
Once both Harry and olivander had reached the front, olivander keeping a safe distance behind the counter, Harry opened the box and took out his wand. Upon wrapping his hand around the wand he felt an immense rush of power he had never felt before. If his old wand had felt like a warmth racing through his arm, this was like a volcanic eruption. Waving the wand a brilliant spectrum of sparks shot from the wand, looking like a firework exploding as the sparks sprayed across the room. Olivander's grin was almost manic as he saw the boy's magical core and the wand synch together and as the light show settled down he explained the wand to his customer "Mr. Potter this wand is 11 inches of cherry wood, representing death and rebirth with the hair of a Nundu one of the most powerful creatures I have ever seen. I was fortunate in my travel to gather materials to witness the subduing of such a large and fearsome animal. This wand is very powerful and I am sure you will do great things with it Mr. Potter." Harry, a little in awe at hearing what material his wand was made from thanked the wand maker and departed shortly after.
Harry made his way along Diagon Alley, pulling up his hood on his cloak as he did so. Continuing to walk at the same even pace, harry made his way into nocturne Alley, his body on guard and his eyes alert. While many glanced at him as he walked, as he had his hood up, the hags did not realise he was young and so left him alone as he looked as if he fit in. Harry had discovered while on the horcrux hunt in his earlier life that if you looked as if you belonged in an area and acted confident, you would be left alone. He found this to be true here and now ad he traversed the dirty cobbled street. Making his way past Borgin and Burkes, he then noticed that the alley became cleaner and the shops while a little older and a bit more decrepit, didn't look any different to some he had seen in Diagon. He then realised that the entrance was a way to keep those who had no business from coming too far into Nocturne Alley, which amused him for some reason he couldn't quite fathom. Harry was finding though that his personality had changed somewhat since he had begun this new life as he now found some situations humorous when he wouldn't before and also had a more open mind, if the fact that he was walking down nocturne Alley was any indication.
Seeing a book store on his left, he turned and entered the building. Unlike flourish and Blotts, this store was arranged more like a library, with single copies of books and arranged in alphabetical order by title rather than in subject areas. Harry mentally shrugged at this and began perusing the shelves. The shopkeeper, seeing that he would be a while, simply returned to his magazine he had been reading before harry had arrived. Harry found several more books on transfiguration and charms which seemed to give a more thorough explanation of the art behind the magic, if his quick browsing of the contents were any indication. He also found more extensive books on potions and duelling. While the potions books were a lot older than the ones he had purchased in Diagon, a lot of potions had not been revised in any years, so a lot of the material was still current and some potions were included which were not in his other texts, he noted absently as he carried the books to the counter.
The book store owner took one look at the pile of books in the young man's hands and knew this would be a repeat customer in the future. Calculating the total, he asked harry for 21 galleons, which he happily paid. Taking out his new wand, Harry shrunk the books and placed them in his pocket. He then enquired whether the man carried a listing of titles he carried, which the man provided for another 5 sickles. This was a self-updating catalogue, meaning whenever new titles arrived, they would automatically be updated within the catalogue and thus saving on Harry receiving post from a shop in nocturne. Thanking the man, he turned and made his way out of the book store and back into diagon as there was nothing else he really needed at the moment.
Harry then spotted a jewellery shop as he was walking and entered upon inspiration. His father had told him recently of the history of the four great houses, the Potters, the Bones, the Blacks and the Longbottoms. While 3 of the houses were currently in alliance, the Longbottoms, especially since Neville had become the boy who lived, held themselves aloof from the other 3 and on occasion had attacked the other 3 great houses. For this reason, harry was worried for his sister when she came to Hogwarts as it was only a year away. Entering the jewellers, he walked up to the jeweller and asked if they could do what he proposed to them. The jeweller offered some suggestions and showed him some selections which would be adequate for what he asked. Making a decision, he selected the item and paying the man for his work, informed him he would return in a few days to pick up the item. Pleased with himself, harry then departed and made his way back to the leaky Cauldron and home.
Later that evening, everyone was in awe of the wand that harry held in his hands, especially when he told everyone of the wand core that it contained and that it would only work for a Potter because of the blood used. "So what spell are you going to cast first?" His sister iris asked excitedly, not knowing he had already cast a shrinking charm earlier that day. Harry thought for a moment and then raising his wand, he performed exact wand movements as he had recently read in his transfiguration and charms books and whispered the words. There was a perfumed breeze in the air as he conjured red rose petals which spiralled around his wide-eyed sister and landed in a light carpet around her. James, Lily, Sirius and Remus were in awe of the spell, which was a third-year spell and at the control Harry had in his magic to be able to cast so well. Ivy just looked at her big brother with the usual look of adoration she always had on her face. Iris though blushed as she saw the roses had formed a heart-shape around her. Harry grinned at making his sister blush and while she was preoccupied, he walked over and offered her the wand. "What are you doing?" iris asked, slightly confused. Harry smiled at her, saying
"I know you have been dying to do some magic, so I decided I would let you use my wand all you liked before I went to Hogwarts. I trust you will take care of it. All I ask is that you only use it while either mum or dad are in the room to make sure you are okay, alright?" Iris, couldn't believe her ears and looked into his eyes to make sure he wasn't teasing her. Seeing the honesty and affection in his eyes, she leaped up and hugged him tightly, squealing "Thank you so much!" Harry returned the hug, saying "You are more than welcome." Everyone smiled at the touching scene. The rest of the night was spent with Harry coaching his sister on how to perform some simple charms he knew she should be able to do at her age.
A couple of days later as Harry was making his way to the jewellers, he decided to go into the second-hand shop and see what they had, not really knowing why. He walked through the shop, not really noticing anything interesting until he reached the back of the store, where old and broken wands were on display. Walking along and idly looking at them, harry was then shocked to see a wand with a metallic handle sitting amongst the broke and bent wands. Taking up the wand, he examined it minutely to see if there were any cracks in the wand. It appeared to be in pristine condition, which surprised him. What surprised him even more though was the fact that he found a training wand in a second-hand shop of all places. Making his way quickly to the counter and using his burgeoning occlumency skills to hide his excitement, he asked the shop clerk how much the wand was. The clerk, looking disinterestedly at the wand shrugged and said "2 galleons." Harry quickly paid and pocketing the wand, made a side-trip to Olivanders and then picked up the present for his sister from the jewellers.
When he arrived home, he rushed up to his room and hid all he had purchased, keeping it all away from the prying eyes of his 2 sisters. After wrapping Iris's presents, He actually used the floorboard that his diary had first been under and considered this a much better reason for having a hiding place. Deciding he had done enough work for today, Harry took out his broom and went outside to fly for a while to burn some of the adrenalin off that he had accumulated during his shopping trip and from his discovery in the second-hand shop. He stayed out for almost 2 hours and only came back in once he realised his mother was home. Taking a steep dive on his broom, he pulled up at the last moment and flew towards the back door only a few feet from the ground. When he hopped off his broom and opened the door, he was surprised to see his father there, applauding his flying, with his mother next to him, holding her face in her hands as she was near the window.
"I guess mum saw me flying huh?" harry asked somewhat sheepishly, as he knew his mother was overly protective of his sisters and himself. James grinned and only nodded, keeping a wary eye on his wife, as he didn't want to be hexed by saying the wrong thing. Harry walked over to his mother and drew her into a hug, saying "I'm ok mum. I was perfectly safe the whole time." Lily returned the hug a little fiercer than normal and Harry then realised that she was much like Hermione in his past, who had been terrified for him every time he was on a broom. Knowing she was already arguing a lost cause, as he was his father's son when it came to flying, Lily asked Harry "please promise me you will be careful when flying. I had enough scares when I see your father flying. I don't need any more seeing you trying to kill yourself." Harry promised, but knew in his heart that he wouldn't be able to resist performing more daring stunts in the future and just hoping that his mother wasn't witnessing it when he did so.