Harry Potter and the Rising War

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Chapter 2: Diagon Alley And The Learning Begins

After Dumbledore had gone, Harry spent the rest of the day reading and rereading the letter from Sirius. The letter itself gave him sufficient motivation to do everything in his power to take vengeance for his death, and to honour Sirius' last wish for him: to have a normal life. And the only way to do that was to end the war, which was what he was destined to do – or die trying. For the first time in weeks, Harry was able to get a completely peaceful sleep; there were no nightmares, no visions of Voldemort – just blissful, dreamless slumber.

Harry spent the next day mulling over the information that Dumbledore had given him. He was to experience a transformation on his birthday due to a high level of magical energy, and then he was to be Dumbledore's apprentice. He still couldn't believe his luck! On the one hand, he was to be singled out even more: after all, it wasn't every day there was a new sorcerer born and apprenticed to a great wizard like Dumbledore (or in Riddle's case made); but on the other hand, he had the honour to learn everything that Dumbledore had to teach him. And he could only hope to be half of what Dumbledore was. In Harry's eyes, the man was like a legendary hero, an untouchable, unwavering source of goodness and light through times of darkness and of corruption.

Harry's thoughts eventually led him to his own skills at using magic. So far, they weren't up to that much. He had never really tried that hard in any of his subjects. He always had something to worry about or something on his mind, be it an insane dark wizard after his blood or the safety of his godfather. So he never could concentrate or remember too well what he was taught. 'If I'm expected to be Dumbledore's apprentice, then I should put every possible ounce of effort into it. He probably expects me to know all of the previous years' stuff,' he thought. So he decided, to kill some time, he would go over some of the old books he had kept for DADA, Transfiguration and Charms. He had seen the way that Dumbledore and Voldemort battled at the end of last school year. It was intense; they didn't really duel head on, but rather used transfigurations, indirect charms and even apparation. So he decided to look up only those spells that he would be able to use in a battle situation from previous years' books, and let Dumbledore and his other professors teach him the rest of the 'conventional magic,' as Dumbledore told him. And Harry spent the rest of the day, and much of the night, looking through books.

'Boy! Get your lazy backside out of bed now! We're leaving in 15 minutes, and if you're not ready then we will leave without you,' Uncle Vernon's voice rang through the door to Dudley's second bedroom, and also through the thin blanket of slumber that Harry was lavishing in.

Harry sat up groggily rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He reached for his glasses, found them and put them on his face; then he looked at the blinking digital alarm clock on his bedside table. It read '9:45 am.' Harry was surprised he had slept so long. 'But then,' he thought, 'I was up half the night researching spells and magic.' Sighing, Harry got out of bed, after knocking the last book he had been reading ('Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5') off of his lap, and went to the bathroom to wash up before dressing and grabbing the red baseball cap.

''Bout time you got yourself out of that bed! It's disgusting, sleeping in this long!' Harry's aunt Petunia commented as she saw Harry enter the kitchen with 5 minutes to spare. Harry just ignored his aunt's criticism and grabbed some toast off the table, receiving the customary annoyed glare his uncle sent him. 'He was obviously hoping I had slept in,' Harry thought.

'I see you've taken to hiding that awful hair of yours with caps,' Aunt Petunia said, as she noticed the red baseball cap in Harry's hands.

'Not really, why would I want to do something like that?' Harry replied, knowing he was getting on her nerves by talking back to her. She just replied with a 'Humph,' and left the kitchen.

'Can we go yet?' Harry asked uncle Vernon across the table, who was trying to hide his slowly purpling face from view behind a newspaper.

'We're waiting for Dudley to find his shoes,' Uncle Vernon said in a forced calm voice. Right then, Dudley walked in wearing his found shoes, followed by Aunt Petunia.

The ride to London was fairly quiet; halfway there, Uncle Vernon began stating the rules that Harry was to abide by whilst in the company of his family, and also what time he was to meet them back at the parking spot.

'I don't want to see any of your abnormal objects in this car, so make sure that they are all covered up or in bags if you know what's good for you. I don't care what that weirdo with the funny eye says, I'll teach you a lesson if you disobey me. Understand?' he asked at one point. Harry just sat there nodding his head and only half listening to his rant, until he heard when he was to be back at the parking spot.

As it turned out, Uncle Vernon found a parking space just around the corner from the Leaky Cauldron, so Harry only had a short distance to walk. The first thing that Harry did before going into the pub was put his cap on, and then he practiced talking in a low voice, as the hat only disguised one's appearance. Finally satisfied with his appearance and voice, he walked into the Leaky Cauldron and walked straight through without attracting so much as a glance from any of the people at the bar. Once Harry had gone through the archway into Diagon Alley, he headed straight to Gringotts Bank. He wanted to transfer all of the funds that he had access to into one vault, and then see what was in Sirius' personal vault and storage space. He wondered if the motorcycle that was in Sirius' will was the same one that used to be in his dreams before he found out that he was a wizard. He also wanted to take out some money, and exchange some of it for muggle funds. He wanted to get some new clothes, and also have a look around some of the stores to see what the muggles had to offer.

Once inside the bank, he approached one of the goblins that ran the place. 'Good morning, I would like to transfer all assets from the Black family vaults that are accessible to Mr Harry Potter into Harry Potters vault; here are the keys,' Harry said. He handed over the keys which he had received the day before from the Ministry of Magic, after the public reading of Sirius' will. The goblin didn't find this transaction at all odd – or if he did, he didn't show his surprise or voice any question.

'Everything will be transferred over as soon as possible; is there anything else I can do for you?' the goblin said as he took the keys.

'Yes please, I would like to take out the deed to Godric's Hollow from Mr Sirius Black's personal vault, and any books that might be in there; and from Harry Potter's vault I would like to make a withdrawal, and then a cash exchange for some muggle money,' Harry replied; and again the goblin didn't question him. Once everything had been taken care of, Harry came out of the bank with a bag full of galleons, and a wallet full of notes. In total, Harry had over £2000 on him, and a muggle credit card that would magically charge anything, be it magical or muggle, to his account.

Harry's next stop was Flourish and Blotts' bookstore. He would look for some spell creation and alteration books, as Dumbledore had suggested, and also for any other books that piqued his interest. He didn't need any animagus books, due to the Marauders' notes he had taken from Sirius' private vault. When he couldn't find very many helpful books, Harry went to the shop assistant and asked her about this.

'I'm sorry, but we don't really sell many books that deal with other types of magic, as we get mainly students and professors who shop here; but you might like to try Knockturn Alley,' she replied to him. Harry thanked her and then exited the store once more. He headed to Knockturn alley; he really needed to be sure what he was going to study to know if he was going to need anything extra. When he arrived at the Alley it was exactly how he remembered it: dirty, smelly, and filled with a lot of people that you wouldn't want to meet on a dark night. Luckily for Harry, he was left alone, and soon located a bookstore; though it did not have a name on the outside, which Harry found odd. Entering it, Harry got a strong smell of – well, he wasn't sure what.

'What do you want here?' the shopkeeper asked Harry, eyeing him suspiciously. Harry supposed this was because not many people came here openly, displaying their true appearance.

'I'm looking for books that deal with unconventional magic,' Harry replied. At seeing the man's blank look, Harry explained what he meant, and was immediately led to an out-of-view corner of the store. It didn't take Harry very long until he came across some books that struck his interest. The first was a book on spell alteration and creation. It seemed very insightful; it began at a beginner's level and it finished at skilled. 'This one is perfect, exactly what I had in mind!' Harry thought. The next book was about magic itself: how it worked, why it worked and the history of its use; this one also looked very interesting. After about half an hour of searching, he came back to the counter with 7 books all told. In addition to the first two, he had a book on how wands and other objects that could concentrate and withdraw magic were created and worked; strange talents; magical enhancements; elemental powers; and finally, enchanting muggle objects. He thought that it would be handy to use a few muggle things, but he would have to look up the laws that might govern their enchantment.

'Is that all you will be wanting?' the shop keeper asked him. Harry began nodding his head but stopped. He had almost forgotten about Transfiguration, which would play a big role in what was to come.

'I need something for transfiguration; do you have any suggestions?' Harry asked.

'Try that shelf just there and look for "Obscure Transfigurations,"' the man said, pointing to a shelf that looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Harry walked over to the shelf and quickly found the book that he was looking for, but his eye was also caught by the title of the book next to it. It read, 'So You Want To Transform Yourself To Be Better At Stuff.' It looked to be quite a large tome, but Harry picked that up too, as well as some Dark Arts books he noticed, and paid the man, after getting looked at rather suspiciously.

On his way out, however, the man said something that disturbed him: 'You might want to try using a stronger charm next time, Mr. Potter!' Harry looked at the man for a second and then just picked up his magical bags (which shrunk any objects put into them, and were always feather-light) and fled from Knockturn Alley. 'So that's why that goblin didn't say anything about those transactions, then!' Harry thought to himself. Sighing with relief, Harry hoped he never had to visit that shop, or that Alley, again.

The next stop was the apothecary, where he asked if he could start a tab for mail order ingredients, as he wasn't sure what he would be needing in the months to come. Harry's final stop was Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. He would need to get some new robes if he was to be changing soon; and he also needed to ask her: if he paid her a fee, whether she could place charms on some muggle clothes so that they would adapt to and grow with him.

'Certainly, sir!' she replied happily. Harry thanked her, and left with his newly-bought robes for the Leaky Cauldron, where he asked Tom the bartender if he could leave his things with him. It took Harry a few moments to persuade him; in fact, he had to take Tom to an empty room and show that it was him before he would agree. Before leaving, Harry looked at the clock. He still had two hours. 'It should be enough time to get what I need and to look around,' Harry thought.

Harry stepped out of the bar into Muggle London, and then took his cap off and resumed his normal form. He hailed down a taxi and got in; unsure where to go, he asked the driver his opinion. He told Harry that he would take him to a great place where you could get anything you needed: a newly opened super-store. On arrival, he paid the driver and got out. He looked up at the massive building in awe. 'It's really amazing what muggles can do,' he thought to himself. He knew that he had only been in the wizarding world for 5 years, but he had started thinking more and more like magic folk.

He entered the store unsure of where to go; this place looked to be more confusing than Hogwarts first was to him! After much walking around, he found the section he was looking for, and spent the next half hour just picking out the clothes that he liked, regardless of whether they fit or not. He would be getting them all resized back at Madame Malkin's anyway. He got all of the clothes he thought he would need, which included: two black t-shirts, 2 black sleeveless shirts, baggy (but nicely-fitting) black jeans, black underwear and socks, some sports trousers, shorts, trainers, shoes, a black jacket, 2 pairs of regular jeans, some shirts he liked the look of, some blue t-shirts, and a few sweatshirts (some with hoods on). He also got an extra pair of everything, but in white; he would experiment in creating his own colours and patterns when he got to Hogwarts. He went to the electronics department next, and picked out a stereo system and some compact discs. He had always wanted his own since he had to listen to Dudley's pop music, or his aunt and uncle's boring 'old classics' as they had called them when Dudley complained about them one time. He randomly picked out some CD's by Metallica, Linkin Park, Evanescence, System of a Down, and Green Day. He had no idea what was good, but he was sure by the covers that they would be better than the Dursleys' idea of pop music or 'old classics.' The last thing he bought, a little hesitantly, was a laptop computer; along with everything else, that nearly used up all his cash. He was unsure about buying it because he wasn't exactly a computer wiz, and wasn't sure if he would be able to charm it to work at Hogwarts – but if he could, then it would be worth it.

Harry made his way back to the Leaky Cauldron to pick up his things and get his new clothes charmed by Madame Malkin. He only had 5 minutes to spare before he was to meet the Dursleys back at the parking spot, so he had to rush to get the rest of his things.

'Thanks a lot, Tom, I don't know what I would have done if I had to carry all of that stuff, and this lot, all the way back!' Harry said to the barkeeper.

'That's okay; erm...' Tom trailed off, unsure of what to call Harry when he was wearing his cap.

'James' Harry said smiling. Tom smiled back and bid him farewell once Harry had all his things balanced. (His laptop computer and stereo system were too big to fit into the bags.) He left the bar, and just about made it to the car when the Dursleys showed up.

'Well, it seems that they do teach you some things in that... school of yours; you can actually tell the time!' jabbed Harry's uncle, hoping that he would get a reaction out of him just so he could have the pleasure of shouting at him. 'Obviously he has had to buy Dudley, the fat whale, more things,' Harry thought. Hoping to infuriate his uncle more, Harry just smiled at Vernon, and then said a short 'yep.'

'What's that in those boxes?' asked Dudley curiously.

'It better not be anything to do with you-know-what!' his uncle said beginning to turn red as they all got into the car and Harry put his purchases into the boot.

'No it's not, those are in some of the bags...' Harry replied, and then added 'which you said I should use to cover anything up!' with a grin, but making sure no one saw it. When he got into the car Dudley again asked what was in the boxes. Harry didn't know what to answer. He wasn't sure how they would all react – well, his uncle, mainly – to finding out that Harry had a whole lot of money now, and he hadn't shared it with them. Deciding there was no way around it after much thought and a little whining from Dudley to his parents to get the 'freak' to tell him what it was, Harry gave in and just told them.

'The big box has a stereo system in it, and the little one a laptop computer.' Harry said in an almost bored tone. The information didn't seem to sink in at first, but when it did he got the reaction that he was expecting.

'Where did you get the money to pay for those?' his aunt asked eyeing him suspiciously in the rear-view mirror.

'You stole the money from us, didn't you, boy?' his uncle bellowed. Harry could see the red spreading around his uncle's tight shirt collar.

'Of course I didn't; don't you think you would have noticed that much money going missing if I had? Laptops and stereo systems aren't cheap, you know!' Harry replied back, using one of the Dursleys' favourite sayings when lecturing Harry on his 'ungratefulness,' and talking as if his relatives were stupid. 'Which they are,' Harry thought to himself.

'Well how did you pay for them?' his aunt prodded.

'You didn't use you-know-what to steal them, did you?' his uncle asked in a dangerously low voice as if expecting someone in a car from the other side of the road to hear.

'No!' Harry shouted exasperatedly. 'I paid cash for them! I got the money from an inheritance, but it's all gone now, I just used it all up,' Harry added the last part quickly, as it had never occurred to him to use that lie before.

'Humph!' was all the answer he got from his aunt. But again, as expected, his uncle was a different matter.

'And you never thought to give it to us, after all we have done for you! You don't think you owe us?' he asked what Harry assumed was meant to be a rhetorical question, but he answered none the less.

'No way! I have paid you! Every time I clean up after you, or cook for you, I pay you. I have practically been your slave since you took me in. I think that is ample payment!' Harry said, raising his voice just a little as he began to get angry. Luckily his uncle decided to let the matter drop, which Harry was glad for. Ever since last year his temper had been dangerously close to breaking at all times, but especially now. He still had yet to receive any owls from his friends all summer, which only fuelled his anger.

As soon as Harry got back, he got all his shopping out of the car and went up to his bedroom as fast as possible. Once inside the sanctuary of his room, 'or should I say Dudley's second bedroom,' he thought as he sighed to himself, he emptied his bags on the bed and placed the boxes on the floor. Before he even attempted to sort any of the books out or the music player or laptop, he grabbed all of his old clothes that he had gotten from the Dursleys, and chucked them into the corner of the room. He would put them in the bin when he went downstairs again. 'No need in going down there if I can avoid it,' Harry thought as he undressed himself and picked out some of his new clothes. He put on the black underwear and jeans (which immediately shrunk so they fit, but were still baggy) and a sweater that had a hood on it.

Satisfied for now, he put the rest of the clothes away, and then started arranging the books on his desk, leaving enough room for his laptop computer. He had wanted to get one because he was tired of always making mistakes with parchment and quill and having to start over. Also he wanted to begin typing up notes on spells and other things he was going to learn. He was also thinking of making a database, as he had learned in his last year at Muggle School. He would eventually have a database large enough that he would be able to look up different classifications of magic and spells, find their counter-curses or ways to shield them. This would help to sort them and speed up research. Also the laptop was a lot more secure; there were, after all, very few wizards or witches who would know how to use one – even Harry wasn't too sure. Harry was positive that the use of muggle things would speed things up and make them a whole lot easier.

Once he had placed the laptop, he began unpacking his stereo system. He had been looking forward to this since he had seen it. Once he was at Hogwarts and had charmed the thing, he would be able to make a magical bubble around himself and the stereo so no-one outside it could hear. Thus he could have the music as loud as he wanted. But for now he resigned himself to listening to it on low, so as not to give the Dursleys something more to yell at him about. After all, something was better than nothing.

Once he was done, he stood back and observed his new belongings and said, 'Mum, Dad, Sirius: I'm going to make you all proud of me. I'll put an end to this war, and I'll do it in honour of all of those who fought to do so before me. I will honour your sacrifices, and I will make sure they are not in vain. I swear that I will do all in my power to end all of the suffering.' He walked to his stereo system and picked a random CD and started playing it. The case said that it was Metallica's '...And Justice for All'.

And so began Harry's first month of remaking his life. He would listen to his songs, read up on different things and take notes, and practice what magic he could do without a wand. For instance, to prepare for his animagus training, he would change his hair or fingernails, or practice turning himself invisible wandlessly, from his book on Obscure Transfigurations.

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It was now most of the way through the first month, and Harry had done very well, he thought. He had begun to grasp spell creation; it was very technical. He had also made a large database of Dark-Arts spells that he had been researching, which included effects, counter-curses and shielding techniques; and he had made a separate one for all of the other spells that he knew, and sorted them.

He hadn't really looked too much at the books on how wands work or magical enhancement; they would both have to wait till he was at Hogwarts, where he had access to more equipment like magical cores and other magical items, and could use magic. He had looked up information on elemental abilities – and, as it turned out, very few wizards were able to use them. They had to brew two potions (if they knew how): one that would identify if they had the ability, and then one that would unlock the ability. Fortunately, Harry was able to find out that he was an elemental mage using the first potion.

He turned out to be a fire mage! The book said this was incredibly rare in itself; the only rarer gift was the ability to control any element. Unfortunately, the second potion (to unlock the ability) required magic to be performed on the potion. He also wanted to be in Dumbledore's presence when he did it, in case something went wrong. He still researched and compiled information on the use of elemental magic, so he was still learning a lot. Harry briefly looked over the book on the muggle enchantments to see if there was a way he could substitute muggle electricity with magic. To Harry's relief, there was; so he just marked the page for when he got to Hogwarts.

The book 'So You Want To Transform Yourself To Be Better At Stuff' was very insightful. There were a few transfigurations that he knew Tom Riddle had used on himself, so he researched those to find any weaknesses, and added them to his notes and database. There were also a few transfigurations for 'light wizards' like himself that he could do to himself if he needed to, but he would not mention them to Dumbledore, as the old man would surely try to stop him. (Most of the light-wizard transfigurations were very painful, and often left a mark in the form of a tattoo.)

All in all, his research was going very well. He had a very large and easy-to-use database system, and extensive notes on all of the things he was researching, and on conventional magic. He now had a very good idea of what he wanted to do, what he needed to do and what he could do with magic – and he hadn't even looked at the book about magical history yet. He was sure that would show some ways to improve his use and understanding of it.

Harry had also obtained a few books to learn how to better use his laptop. Learning how to do these things was slow and often frustrating, but once he had learned something he would put it to use straight away. One such thing he had learned was a little bit of database programming and organising, so his magical database was becoming more complex and intricate as it grew. He also learned how to create his own CD's. The first thing he did after he had learnt how to use it (and had a few failed attempts) was to create a CD that had all of his favourite songs on it from some of the other CD's he had got.

His choice of music was perfect; some of these songs suited different aspects of his mood ideally. When he was thinking of Sirius or his parents, if he wasn't reading, he would put on the Evanescence CD, and listen to 'My Immortal.' When he was feeling particularly determined to do something, he would listen to his Linkin Park or System of a Down (only certain songs) CD's. And when he was angry, he would listen to Metallica or System of a Down (again, only certain songs). And he was angry quite often lately, as he had hardly heard from his friends. When he had sent them a letter, the reply he had got was 'Harry, things are fine here, we're all doing fine; hope all is well, Ron & Hermione' which angered him beyond belief! Now was the time when he needed his friends, and they were practically ignoring him!

With the notes that he had obtained from Sirius' private vault about the animagus transformation, he was able to brew a potion that would show the potion brewer their form, so they could research it. It had taken all this time to collect the correct ingredients and to brew the potion: Harry had made a mistake the first time, which luckily only rendered the potion ineffective, so he didn't explode the cauldron or create a mess. Today, at last, the potion was ready. First he wrote his normal letter to the Order, telling them he was fine, and that the Dursleys were treating him okay and feeding him well. Once he had written the note and sent it off with Hedwig and stood watching her fly away, he had a funny feeling in his stomach – but shook it off, and moved to the beaker which contained the potion.

'Bottoms up!' he said as he knocked it all back in one go, so as not gag at the taste. Which, as it turned out, wasn't all that bad, considering some of the things that went into it – mainly animal parts and entrails. He could feel the effect almost straight away, so he did what the book told him to do next and pricked himself with a safety pin, and let some blood drip into the second part of the potion. Once it did, he looked into the cauldron to see what would happen. The green gunk-like potion started to give off a mist, and soon looked like the substance that was in Dumbledore's pensieve when Harry saw it in his fourth year. After about a minute Harry began to get disheartened by the lack of any result; but no sooner had he started to feel down, the potion began to clear. It took a few moments for the shape to become definable, but when it did, it took Harry's breath away. Of all of the possible forms, he hadn't expected this one. Harry's was a huge, golden, proud lion! His form was his house's emblem. Harry couldn't have been more proud if it was a stag, like his father. That night Harry went to sleep with a smile on his face. But the smile was not to last, as the morning brought with it some bad news: there was a death.

A/N: Thank you all for reading, and thank you to my fantastic and very efficient beta reader david305.