11. The owl
The pillar box rattled.
"Dudley, get the post", Vernon ordered form behind his newspaper.
Dudley grumbled and got the post.
"Dad, my acceptance latter from Smeltings!"
Upstairs, a tapping was heard from the window.
"Harry, get the post", Tom ordered from behind his newspaper.
Harry grumbled and relieved the brown post owl of its two letters.
"Tom, our acceptance letters from Hogwarts!"
Tom folded his newspaper and nodded.
"Very good. They certainly took their time. Now eat your breakfast. We have to go to Diagon Alley and get the rest of our stuff."
"By the way, why didn't you get everything as you went the last time?" Harry asked between two bites, while Tom wrote a quick reply to McGonagall, effortlessly forging Petunia´s handwriting.
"I didn't know about the defence books and Snape changes his requirements for first years every few terms, too", Tom replied, "And no speaking with full mouth."
Harry rolled his eyes, but complied. He didn't care either way, just as long as he got to go to Diagon Alley! Tom had told him, of course, but so far he had never been allowed to accompany his brother.
About two hours later a frowning Tom restrained a minimal hyper Harry, as he tipped the bricks of the wall, which hid the entrance to Diagon Alley. Praying for patience he endured Harry's exuberant excitement while at the same time collecting all necessary items.
He vaguely remembered the boy having an owl, so they looked into Eeylops Owl Emporium, which they left with a beautiful snowy owl. Tom had no idea why he wanted Harry to have the same owl as in his first life, but he didn't dwell on the topic. It was a very nice owl, full stop.
They got their robes made and Tom spent extra money for a few sets of high-quality everyday sets. Now that he had the money, he wouldn't run around like an orphan the second time and neither would his brother.
He was in no need of more money, so he skipped Gringotts and went to Olivander´s. A few yards before they could enter he stopped dead in his tracks.
"You better go in there alone."
Surprised, Harry stopped staring at the various displayed goods and turned to him.
"Why?"
"Uhm..", Tom looked for an excuse, „because your first wand is something special. That and I have something to do."
Harry frowned, not happy with his explanation but at the same time not in the mood to argue and wait even longer for his wand. Besides, he was used to his brother's secrets.
"Well, okay then, I guess. But you'll wait for me, okay?"
Tom nodded and handed him more than enough money to pay. He had nothing to do, of course, but he didn't want to risk Olivander recognizing him, as he did with every other customer, no matter how long it had been. That reminded him, how old was the man? He had bought his first wand about 80 years ago, which was now in the hands of the ministry or Dumbledore. Either way not reachable.
He had acquired another wand in the Knockturn Alley. So far all magic he had done had counted as accidental magic, but with the Hogwarts letter, they would register any magic from Harry or him. It was a nuisance, but since he could assume that Dumbledore kept a sharp eye on them, at least in the matter of magic, he couldn't get rid of the charm without attraction attention. For example why a pre-Hogwarts-student could chancel over-NEWT-level charms. No, for the time being he would have to get along without magic.
As Harry finally stepped out of the shop, Tom had begun to get nervous. What the hell was taking him so long to find a simple wand? Had Olivander somehow known who accompanied him? The man was one of the few he always had found creepy.
"Look!" Harry exclaimed excited and raised his brand new wand. Tom smiled relieved – and froze. He had forgotten that it was his wand's twin. Alone touching it felt ways better than the unicorn-hair wand he had in his pocket.
"Tom?"
Regretfully he let go and forced a smile on his face.
"It's a good wand, Harry. He will do you good service."
Harry seemed happy enough.
They finished their shopping with only minimal delay and only a few unnecessary littlenesses. In the end Tom had to ask a passing wizard to apply a lightening charm on his numerous bags or they would never make it home.
Foreseeing his magical limitation, from now on even wandless magic was monitored, he had changed their room in the Dursley's house accordingly. Nothing was left of the tatty furniture and broken toys. He'd even managed to get Vernon buy a second bed, since his transfiguration skills were adequate, but not sufficient for such a big piece of furniture. He hadn't exactly trained them since Hogwarts either, admittedly.
They put away their school stuff and Harry launched himself at his bed, only to jump up and run to the calendar at the wall. Tom merely raised an eyebrow at his attics, when the boy picked up a red Edding and marked the first of September.
"It's only five more weeks!" he exclaimed exited.
Tom nodded absently.
"That it is."
Later the moon found the former Dark Lord staring with mixed feelings at the red circle around the date on the paper.
I know, there was quite a break, but I during the week I have no internet at the moment and a workaholic as boss, so there is quite little time to write, sorry.
Thanks a lot for your Reviews, though, they keep me going.
