A/N: I'm looking for a beta reader! If you're interested please PM me!

Italics: Thoughts (or emphasis)

Underlined: Parseltongue

Chapter 2

Severus Snape POV

At 6 A.M. Severus Apparated to Potter's house and surprisingly found Potter looked to be ready.

"Hello, Potter are you ready?"

"Yes sir, also I realized I don't know your name?"

"I'm Professor Severus Snape Hogwarts Potions Master."

"Thank you, sir. Where are we going to get my supplies?"

"Diagon Alley, but before we go I must tell you some things."

"Okay."

"First do you know how your parents died?"

"A car crash."

"Dam those Dursleys," Severus muttered with a sneer.

"Your parents did not die in a car crash Potter they were murdered." he took a breath "Some time ago a dark wizard named Voldemort or you-know-who started to collect followers who started calling themselves death eaters. They believe that those with 'pure' blood are superior to those of lesser blood status. The death eaters wanted to overthrow the ministry of magic which is our government. There was then a war, which Voldemort lost. But it's why he lost that's important, Halloween 1981 Voldemort went to your house and killed your parents and tried to kill you but when he cast the killing curse it rebounded giving you that scar and destroying Voldemort's body. And because of that, you are famous in our world but be careful while Voldemort's body was destroyed he didn't die and will return."

"Okay Professor but what is a pure-blood?"

Severus could see that he was struggling to comprehend his fame and wanted a distraction but he answered anyway. "In the wizarding world, there are pure-bloods half-bloods and muggle-borns a pure-blood is someone who comes from a long line of wizards and, witches, a half-blood is someone who has at least one muggle parent or grandparent, and a muggle-born is someone with two muggle parents."

"What's a Muggle?"

"Someone who can't use magic."

"So am I a pure-blood, half-blood, or muggle-born?"

"Half-blood your father was pure-blood and your mother was muggle-born. Now please hold onto my arm tightly so we can apparate."

Once he did as he was told, Severus apparated the two of them to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hello, Potions Master Snape!" Tom said in his cheery voice.

"Hello, Tom."

"Anything to drink today?"

"No, Tom."

He nodded and then for the first time saw Potter.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Potter, "is this - can this be - ?"

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.

"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."

He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Potter, and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Potter clearly didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. An old woman with a pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out.

Then there was a great scraping of chairs and Severus realized he had to step in so he got in front of Potter and said "Stop! Can't you see you're making him uncomfortable!" in reality Potter's comfort had nothing to do with him stepping in, rather he was worried the boy's fame would go to his head.

He then quickly ushered Potter out of the room and to the back.

"Thank you, professor."

Severus didn't respond as he was tapping the bricks to open diagon alley. When the bricks started to move out of the way Potter stared with his mouth hanging open.

"First we need to go to Gringotts Potter, follow me."

Eventually, they had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was -

"What is that?" said Potter quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him.

"A goblin they run the bank."

The goblin was about a head shorter than Potter. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard, and very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing in and out of these. Severus and Potter made for the counter.

"Hello," said Severus to a free goblin. "We've come to take money out of Mr. Harry Potter's safe."

"You have his key, sir?"

"Yes," said Severus as he pulled it out of a hidden pocket in his robes.

The goblin looked at it closely.

"That seems to be in order."

"I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Severus. "It's about vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter carefully.

"Very well," he said, handing it back to Severus, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin. Severus and Potter followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.

"What's in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Potter asked.

"That's not for you to know," Severus said.

Griphook held the door open for them. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in and were off.

At first, they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way because Griphook wasn't steering.

Once the cart stopped and they got out Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Potter gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze knuts.

"The gold ones are Galleons," Severus explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine bronze Knuts to a Sickle, one galleon is about five pounds."

Once Potter got all that he needed they got in the cart again and went down to Vault seven hundred and thirteen.

Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.

"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Potter asked.

"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.

Severus entered and picked up the stone and tucked it inside his hidden pocket.

One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts.

"First let's get your uniform," said Severus, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. " They entered Madam Malkin's shop.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Potter started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

After Potter got his robes fit and they were leaving Madame Malkins he suddenly asked Severus "What's Quidditch?"

Severus responded with "A sport, I've never been interested in it."

Potter then told Severus about a pale boy in Madam Malkin's that Severus was sure was his godson Draco.

"- and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in!"

"You will find that opinion among many."

"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"

"Two of the four houses at Hogwarts, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor."

"Which are you in?"

"I'm head of Slytherin."

Potter nodded and then said "Where will we go next?"

They bought Potter's school books in Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. After getting all his school books Severus told him a few extra that would be useful to get all of which Potter got.

Then they quickly went and got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope.

Then they visited the Apothecary, where Severus instead of following the list picked out everything himself saying the list was meant for those with a small budget.

The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Severus sat on to wait.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Potter visibly jumped.

An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said Potter awkwardly.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Potter.

"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."

Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Potter were almost nose to nose. Potter could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.

"And that's where..."

Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Potter's forehead with a long, white finger.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

He shook his head and then spotted Severus.

"Severus Snape! How nice to see you again... Hazel, 11 inches, rather bendy, Dragon heartstring core, isn't it?"

"Yes," said Severus.

"Good wand, that one, very powerful," said Mr. Ollivander.

"Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Potter.

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Potter from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."

Potter took the wand and waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try-"

Potter tried - but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.

"No, no - here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."

Potter tried. And tried. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Potter took the wand. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light onto the walls. Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..."

He put Potter's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious...

"Sorry," said Potter, "but what's curious?"

Mr. Ollivander fixed Potter with his pale stare.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar."

Hearing this Severus raised an eyebrow filing the information away for later.

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

Potter paid seven Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed to them from his shop.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Potter?"

"I saw that I can get a pet and I was wondering if you could take me to a pet shop."

"Fine Potter."

Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Potter now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He wouldn't stop stammering his thanks.

"You shouldn't thank me when you paid for the owl. Now grab my arm, it's time to leave."

Severus then apparated to the Dursleys home and handed Potter his ticket for the Hogwarts express and said "To get on to platform 9 ¾ run into the wall between platforms 9 and 10." and then he apparated away.