The second instalment of Harry Potter and the new life. Please read and review!
The main shops were only a mile down the road and Harry decided to walk through the houses and footpaths rather than down the main road. During this walk Harry passed down the joining path where he and his cousin had been attacked the previous year. He also passed the back of Mrs Fig's house and out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a man upstairs watching him.Harry didn't turn to look he just remembered how last year Harry had had people watching and following him all summer without him knowing and most likely the same would be happening this year especially after what had recently happened. Harry ignored this thought for the time been it reminded him of the wizarding world that he supposedly belonged to and today it was a how to be a muggle test. Harry unconsciously took an odd route through the houses wondering if he was still been followed but eventually arrived at the shopping centre mid-morning.
Upon wondering around the centre Harry passed the large opening to the built in train station hearing the announcement for the London train. For some unknown feeling inside Harry felt himself walking over to the board showing the times of arrivals and departures for the day. Picking up a leaflet about day trips and overnight trips to London it took a moment but regaining his sense's Harry continued his search for some decent new shoes.
It was mid-afternoon when Harry had finally found a pair of shoes he liked and was moving around the remainder of the store looking at the survival in the mountains display. Harry remembered what Hagrid had said about muggle when they first met.
'Muggles go to extraordinary lengths to cover the fact that magic does not exist, the things they come up with instead of using a wand.' It was true in some way what Hagrid had said as Harry looked at a torch, His wand could make light, a box of match's and a lighter, is wand could make fire, a swish-army knife complete with tin and bottle opener, three different sizes of knife and a leather case to keep it safe in his pocket. The rest of the display showed a dummy putting a tent up and unrolling a sleeping bag, a little camp fire burning at the entrance to the tent and a collection of instruments that Harry was sure his wand could do the same job of if he just new the right spell.
Whilst looking at this display Harry started to come to the conclusion that been a muggle wasn't so bad after all, there were some very clear advantages. No one was whispering or staring at him from behind shelves or hands, pointing and looking at his scar remembering the story behind it and not even bothering to do it discretely. Everywhere he went he didn't get the hissing sound of Harry Potter silently drifting over to his ears. But he was brought back to reality when he herd his uncles voice telling Dudley to hurry up as they didn't have time to dordal otherwise they will be late for his aunt. Harry hid behind a huge stand-up tent so he wouldn't be noticed by them.
"Can I help you sir?" A young male assistant was gesturing him to a till to pay for the shoes in his hands so Harry followed looking at how old this boy was he couldn't be more than a year older than Harry was but he looked much different.
Harry looked carefully at his own self and he was right he couldn't be much more than a year older than Harry so what was the difference, he received his shoes now carefully packed in a box and carrier bag and started back out of the shop. This kept Harry wondering about how he looked so different to everyone else and why this could be, seen as Harry had carefully cleaned every bit of him self only this morning, he could have hardly got that mucky by walking through the houses so why would he look so different?
Harry entered through the back door and quickly climbed up the stairs to his room to look in the mirror. What was the difference between him and that other lad? Harry was fustigated but glad for such a large distraction. Harry looked in the mirror but all he saw was himself starting back at him, giving up on the mirror he sat down and started pulling his new shoes out of the box and emptying the carrier bag.
His hand and then eyes fell on the complementary catalogue that came with every purchase and ignoring his shoes starting to look at the pictures. Harry could see the same sort of people in the picture as the assistant who had served him that morning. But as for why he looked so different Harry was still struggling so gave up on the catalogue as well and started to put his money away in his money bag.
It was as he was doing this that Harry wondered why his aunt and uncle had chosen to change the way he looked first and had given him some money for new clothes. Then just for no clear reason it appeared to Harry that it was his clothes that made him so different, and he realised just as the Dursley's must have realised that he was still wearing Dudley's old clothes that Harry still hadn't grown into but had faded and torn with at least four years of wearing them.
Harry had inherited a lot of money from his parents for looking after him and all he had ever spent it on was necessary stuff for school. But Harry thought the reason he never bothered with any of that money was because it was wizarding gold and not money that could be used in the muggle world. Silly really that was he was probably almost a millionaire and he was walking round in hand-me-down worn clothes that didn't even fit!
Harry looked again at the clothes in the catalogue and saw the plain and simple answer to his big question of the moment. Why did Harry look so different to the boy in the shop who was barely a year older? Because the boy in the shop took pride in what he wore even if he probably had very little money, whereas Harry who had lots of money didn't seem to bother what he wore as long as it covered his body. Harry didn't like this thought much, not because he had money but never spent it, but because he didn't seem to care about himself when really the feelings he had been having since the moment he realised that Sirius was never coming back was, that there was no one else in the world to care about him.
Harry was all alone in the world now and he would have to learn how to care about himself, then he had the feeling that he should make himself the best person he possible could because he owed it not only to his mum and dad but Sirius now too. It was evening now and the rest of the household were making plans for eating the evening meal but Harry wasn't hungry at the moment he was having ideas of how to make himself a better person, and he was hoping it could become an obsession, obsessions can be healthy he thought. It wasn't dark yet but Hedwig was waking up to the sound of Harry searching for more paper, a quill and ink he was going to make a plan. Firstly he thought was about some money, if he was going to sort his appearance out then it was going to cost him but he had to be careful not to waste any money because that money was to last him all his life and even if there was a lot he may need to buy something very expensive in his future like a house or something.
So, that means he needs to get to Gringotts in London, in keeping with his plan as been as much of a muggle as he can be even if it means he goes to a completely none muggle area it would be best to travel by train. Harry remembered the train times he picked up today and filtered through the stuff on the bed to find it.
Hedwig was awake now hooting slightly after seeing the letter to Ron on the side thinking she was going for another evening post. Harry stood up walking back over to his desk with the train times and stroked Hedwig softly behind the ears.
"I haven't forgotten about the letter I was just waiting for you to wake up and it to be evening." She hooted again in appreciation for letting her sleep. He stroked her feathers softly saying.
"Well it looks like I'm going to go to London for a short time and I think it might be best if you didn't come to in the muggle world. You don't mind do you it's just I wouldn't like to leave you locked up in here for a few days or anything." Harry stopped stroking her and turned back to his paper which now read.
'Jobs for self preservation; One: Take a suitable amount of money from Gringotts bank, Gallons Stickles Knuts. Two: Travel to London on the Muggle train's at cheapest possible rate time of departure, time of arrival, place of arrival, time train takes, price of tickets there and back, date to go, date to come back. Three: Stop over night in a cheap bed and breakfast.'
Harry had wondered about stopping in the Leaky Cauldron but decided there would be too many reminders of been a wizard and he was after all travelling by muggle train. Harry had started thinking aloud as the only person to talk to was Hedwig he was speaking for both of them as normal.
"Now to think about what day to go and when to come back. Hmm.' Harry absent mindly rubbed his head.
'Well I suppose travelling by day time would be safer because it would be easier to blend into the crowd." Harry looked at the times.
'I suppose I do want to go as quickly as possible but I best give some sort of warning to the Dursley's even if I don't tell them what I'm doing and it would only depress them if they thought that I was gone for good when really I was only away for a few days.' Harry looked at the train prices.
'The cheapest would be to go on a Tuesday or a Wednesday early in the morning and then return on a Thursday or a Friday evening. What do you think Hedwig?' Harry looked at her and she hooted in reply . 'Well yes I suppose leaving first thing tomorrow sounds good but it's cheaper to pay in advance, so I suppose it will have to be first thing on Wednesday morning.'
Harry filled in the gaps he had left already noting that it was going to be twenty pounds to travel to London on the train. And it would take two hours unless there was a delay as there often was, but that wasn't so bad now was it he thought. Harry looked at the muggle money he already had and decided there was more than enough.
He continued forming a list of everything he was going to need to think about well in to the night, writing down things about the train times and prices all the way down to what exactly he was going to buy, how many items of clothing he was going to buy and anything else he was going to get like a muggle bag and wallet to use in the muggle world and keep his muggle money in.
Harry stopped putting his quill down looking at his clock he realised it was midnight and thinking a new watch that actually worked would be a necessary item to go on the list. Harry looked at Hedwig and she was ready to go out for a night time hunt and was impatient to prove she could deliver the letter. Harry re-read the letter he had written and was wondering weather to put that he was going to London for a bit, he realised that as soon as he said he was going to London to the Weasley's either they will automatically ask why and Harry didn't want to say 'to get lots of money out of his vast store in London because he hadn't spent enough of it yet'.
He new this would be upsetting to Ron and his family who had very little money. And if they didn't say that Harry knew someone would follow him around London keeping tabs on him or all the Weasley's would turn up to meet him which sadly Harry thought would be worse.
Harry enjoyed and liked spending time with all of them but this was something he wanted to do by himself without others interfering, as it was his way of learning about looking after himself. Sort of a safe adventure to keep his mind busy and occupied over the holidays. And if creating an obsession out of looking after himself was the only way he could cope then he was just going to have to do it. After reading the letter again to check there was nothing more to add to it he tied it carefully to Hedwig's leg telling her.
"I haven't actually told them I'm going to go to London and because I'm staying in the muggle world I don't want you drawing attention to yourself unless it's absolutely necessary to get to me. Hang around at Ron's house for a day or so without making it look obvious and then you won't have to stay here by yourself because you know they would never come and look after you." Hedwig gave Harry an affectionate nip on the ear and flew off out of the window.
Harry read his list again not feeling tired but then started to add something to the end. 'Take out 100pounds worth of money and transfer it in to a muggle bank account to make it easier for future years to get to muggle money, whilst in London research high interest accounts to put muggle money in to make it easier to access in future school holidays.'
There Harry thought that was everything he needed to think about for his little trip to London. Looking at the clock it now said one thirty in the morning and although his room was a mess and he simply dumped his stuff on the floor from his bed Harry laid down fully dressed and slept until he heard the sound of breakfast down stairs.
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