Simple Disclaimer: The characters portrayed in this story do not belong to
me, but to JK Rowling. No profit was made from this story. I bear no
responsibility for anything you may claim from this story, you have been
warned. I WILL NEVER use someone else's poems, songs, or work without their
permission or my prior note that I do not own such a thing.
A/N: () means parseltongue =) enjoy!!!
Chapter 4: Knockturn Alley
A few hours earlier back to Harry
It was already dark when the Knight Bus arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.
"Thanks guys," said Harry, as he waved them goodbye as Stan and Ern beamed at him.
"Anytime," said Stan, as the doors of the Knight Bus closed and zoomed off and disappear in a blink of an eye.
Harry walked inside the Leaky Cauldron and was greeted warmly by Tom, "Good evening Mr. Potter, what may I be of service?"
"I would like a room please," said Harry, politely.
"Certainly Mr. Potter, shall I show you to your room now or would you like to take a stroll for a while?" asked Tom.
"I'll be out for a while but could you please prepare some food for me for when I return?" asked Harry, politely.
"Not a problem Mr. Potter enjoy your stroll but please do be careful, it's rather dangerous wandering alone at night," said Tom.
"Thanks for the advice Tom, see you later," said Harry, as he walked up to the brick wall and tapped it with his wand in the right order.
Diagon Alley looked different at night, it's usually crowded street was empty except for a few witches and wizards. All the shops were closed except for Gringotts which was open 24 hours as well as Knockturn Alley which was open at nights due to its illegal activities there. As Harry entered Gringotts, he was welcomed by one of the goblins working there.
"What can I do for you?" asked the goblin.
"I would like to make a withdrawal please," said Harry, politely.
"What's your name?" asked the goblin.
"Harry Potter," said Harry, and as expected the goblin's eyes darted up to his forehead and looked at his scar.
"Very well, do you have your key with you?" asked the goblin, upon seeing his scar.
"Yes sir," said Harry, as he fished for his vault key inside his pocket and showed it to the goblin.
"Follow me," said the goblin, as he led Harry to a cart that would lead him to his vault. Upon arriving to his vault and opening it with his key, he was surprised to see that no matter how much he withdraws every year, it doesn't seem to affect the amount of gold he has in his vault. As a matter of fact it seemed to grow even more.
"Why doesn't my vault run out of money and instead seems to be earning more?" asked Harry, somewhat puzzled.
"It's because you spend less than what you earn every year from your family's businesses as well as the interest you get here at Gringotts." answered the goblin, in a tone that suggested he knew what he was talking about.
"Do I have complete confidentiality here at Gringotts everytime I make a transaction?" asked Harry, as he filled his moneybag with about 10,000 galleons and exchanged another 5,000 galleons to muggle money.
"We keep every information about our customers confidential, not even the Ministry can do anything to reveal what we know, rest assured that any transactions done here at Gringotts is 100% safe." said the goblin, in the same tone that suggested he knew what he was saying.
As Harry was about to leave Gringotts, Harry shook the goblin's hand and gave a 5 galleon tip for his services and said, "Thank you for your assistance Mr.?"
"Crookedus, Crookedus Galleus, and no no no, thank YOU sir for being one of our customers here at Gringotts," said Crookedus, as he shook Harry's hand enthusiastically.
"Since I am still underage and cannot handle my assets at the moment as well as I will be quite busy for a while, how would you like to be my personal accountant and manage my assets, with pay of course?" asked Harry.
"It would be my honor Mr. Potter, indeed it would be my pleasure to be of service to you," said Crookedus, in an excited tone.
"It's settled then, if I need money or anything else pertaining my assets, I shall go directly to you or owl you when I can't come personally," said Harry.
"Certainly Mr. Potter, I'll do my very best not to disappoint you," said Crookedus, while smiling broadly which was very scary specially since it was a face of a goblin.
"Well then goodbye for now as I still have some other things to attend to," said Harry, and with that he left Gringotts ready for shopping in Knockturn Alley.
Before entering Knockturn Alley, Harry made sure to wear his hood so that no one would recognize him as well as made sure that his wand was in his hand just in case. Unlike Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley was a very dark and dangerous place, there were more witches and wizards out here at night than there was in Diagon Alley, and most of them were all suspicious looking. Harry's next stop was a shop in Knockturn Alley he had once visited accidentally during his second year, which was called Borgin & Burkes. Upon entering the shop with his hood up, he was greeted by an old man he had seen the last time he was here named Mr. Borgin.
"What may I be of service to you stranger?" asked Mr. Borgin, keeping a close eye on Harry and observing him with a piercing gaze.
"I am looking for an item or a spell that can let an underage wizard do magic without being detected by the ministry," said Harry, in a low but clear voice as he showed how much gold he had with him.
"And what may I ask are you going to do with such an item or spell?" asked Mr. Borgin, trying to figure out who the person in front of him is.
"That is non of your concern, I will ask once more, do you or do you not have such an item or spell, if not then I will be on my way and find someone else willing to sell me what I am looking for without any questions asked, because I can assure you Mr. Borgin I know a lot of people with many connections," bluffed Harry, trying to look and sound intimidating even though deep down inside he is starting to panic.
"Very well, wait here I'll just be a minute," said Mr. Borgin, after taking a minute to think about what Harry said to him.
A few minutes later, Mr. Borgin returns with a small box in his hand. Mr. Borgin opens the small box and then places it on top of his counter where Harry was waiting for him patiently.
"Here is what you are looking for, it's called the Oblittero Cogo Ring, it is only known by a few people and is very rare, it cancels out the charms used by the Ministry to monitor underage wizard." said Mr. Borgin, proudly.
"How do I know if it works or not?" asked Harry, as he took the ring out of the box and examined it closely. It was a plain silver ring with no markings whatsoever. After examining the ring, he then slipped it into his finger to see if it fits, and to his surprise it disappeared.
"You'll just have to take my word for it stranger, oh and that ring has an auto-size charm on it so that it would fit whoever wears it, it also has an invisibility charm so that it automatically disappears once you wear it in order to prevent others from seeing the ring," said Mr. Borgin, grinning.
"I am sorry Mr. Borgin but I just don't trust you, so I'll just have to try it out for myself," said Harry, and with speed acquired from playing quidditch and daily work outs, pulls out his wand and points it straight at Mr. Borgin.
Mr. Borgin's smile was suddenly replaced by a look of total surprise and fear as he unconsciously takes a step back.
"Yo...your bu...buying that ring for yourself?" asked Mr. Borgin, sill looking scared and shocked at the same time.
"Why yes of course Mr. Borgin, I am buying this ring for myself as I plan to use magic while I am away," said Harry, casually then asked in a serious tone, "I will ask you one last time, does this thing really work or is this a fake?"
"I...it's th...the re...real thing, yo...you have to believe me, I know when I should and should not fool a person, i...if yo...you want you can try it out right now for yourself, ju...just please don't blow me or my shop up," said Mr. Borgin, clearly scared of the person in front of him.
Without warning Harry cast a spell that he was sure that would just strike more fear in the heart of Mr. Borgin.
"Serpensortia," said Harry.
Upon casting the spell, a large snake about 5 feet long came out of his wand and was automatically in attack position.
Stop, just scare him, said Harry, in parseltongue.
"Yo...your a...a pa...parselmouth, i...impossible o...only th...the Da...dark Lo...lord and Harry Potter has that ability and yo...you can't possibly b...be th...the Da...dark Lo...lord, then that means your...," stuttered Mr. Borgin.
"Yes I am Mr. Borgin, and if you know what's good for you, you will keep quiet about everything that has happened here today, do you understand me Mr. Borgin?" said Harry, in his most threatening voice, which added to the effect of his appearance, although mentally kicking himself for exposing himself to this person.
"I...I understand quite clearly stranger," said Mr. borgin, fear very evident in his voice.
"Now, back to business, how much is this ring worth, and please be sure that it is the correct price," said Harry, still in his low but intimidating voice.
"Yo...you ca...can take it, it's yours, free of charge just please, leave my shop and never return," said Mr. Borgin.
"That cannot be possible Mr. Borgin surely this has a price, I came here to buy something, I didn't come here to steal, now tell me the price before I lose my patience," said Harry, clearly starting to get annoyed.
"We...well in that case, i...it's 200 galleons, surely you will understand why it's very expensive," explained Mr. Borgin, not taking his eyes away from the wand pointed at him.
"Now, that wasn't too hard, was it," said Harry, as he handed the money to Mr. Borgin.
"N...no st...stranger it was not," replied Mr. Borgin, still fearful of the person in front of him.
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Borgin, goodnight," said Harry, as he banished the snake and lowered his wand before slowly exiting the shop and head back to the Leaky Cauldron.
But before exiting the shop, Harry stopped then slowly turned around as if he remembered something he wanted to ask.
"Oh and Mr. Borgin?" asked Harry.
"Yes Mr. Po... eh... stranger, what is it?" asked Mr. Borgin, almost saying Harry's last name.
With lightning speed reflexes, Harry pulled his wand out again and pointed it at Mr. Borgin and said, "Obliviate," and with that everything that has happened for the past few minutes was erased from Mr. Borgin's mind.
Upon exiting Knockturn Alley, Harry hunched his back and let out an audible sigh of relief that he was finally out of that place. After a few minutes just standing there calming his nerves, Harry continued on and went back to the Leaky Cauldron. Upon entering the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was greeted again warmly by Tom.
"Welcome back Mr. Potter, did you have a nice stroll?" asked Tom, smiling.
"Yes I did, thank you for asking, it was quite an interesting stroll," said Harry, while grinning mischievously.
After eating his late night dinner, Harry was led to his room by Tom.
"Goodnight Tom, and thank you," said Harry, honestly.
"It was my pleasure Mr. Potter, if you need anything you know where to find me," said Tom, smiling as he left the room.
Harry, feeling mentally and physically exhausted because of the day's events decided to just remove his cloak and lay down on the bed and immediately fell asleep.
A/N: Well here's the 4th chapter to tell you the truth, this chapter due to your comments and suggestions I was able to lengthen my chapters and turned this chapter into 3 chapters longer than it's original one chapter which was supposed to be titled Knockturn Alley, Diagon Alley and ?? Street(this is the place he is going to be staying thanks to javierr55 who was the only that gave me a name of a street). Keep those reviews coming and once again thanks for your reviews, I always like to hear what my readers have in mind whether or not it is good or bad. How can I change and turn into a good writer if I only hear the good side of my writing=). Now I believe when I read from other fellow aspiring authors that it is such a wonderful feeling to hear what other people think about your work=). I hope you like this chapter as this is my longest chapter yet to come=) ENJOY!!! Oh and by the way if there are any Filipino readers of my fic could you guys pleassssssssssssssse leave me a message, I really am looking for fellow HP Fans in the Philippines. Life can be really boring when you seem to be the only one here in the Philippines that likes HP very much.
A/N: () means parseltongue =) enjoy!!!
Chapter 4: Knockturn Alley
A few hours earlier back to Harry
It was already dark when the Knight Bus arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.
"Thanks guys," said Harry, as he waved them goodbye as Stan and Ern beamed at him.
"Anytime," said Stan, as the doors of the Knight Bus closed and zoomed off and disappear in a blink of an eye.
Harry walked inside the Leaky Cauldron and was greeted warmly by Tom, "Good evening Mr. Potter, what may I be of service?"
"I would like a room please," said Harry, politely.
"Certainly Mr. Potter, shall I show you to your room now or would you like to take a stroll for a while?" asked Tom.
"I'll be out for a while but could you please prepare some food for me for when I return?" asked Harry, politely.
"Not a problem Mr. Potter enjoy your stroll but please do be careful, it's rather dangerous wandering alone at night," said Tom.
"Thanks for the advice Tom, see you later," said Harry, as he walked up to the brick wall and tapped it with his wand in the right order.
Diagon Alley looked different at night, it's usually crowded street was empty except for a few witches and wizards. All the shops were closed except for Gringotts which was open 24 hours as well as Knockturn Alley which was open at nights due to its illegal activities there. As Harry entered Gringotts, he was welcomed by one of the goblins working there.
"What can I do for you?" asked the goblin.
"I would like to make a withdrawal please," said Harry, politely.
"What's your name?" asked the goblin.
"Harry Potter," said Harry, and as expected the goblin's eyes darted up to his forehead and looked at his scar.
"Very well, do you have your key with you?" asked the goblin, upon seeing his scar.
"Yes sir," said Harry, as he fished for his vault key inside his pocket and showed it to the goblin.
"Follow me," said the goblin, as he led Harry to a cart that would lead him to his vault. Upon arriving to his vault and opening it with his key, he was surprised to see that no matter how much he withdraws every year, it doesn't seem to affect the amount of gold he has in his vault. As a matter of fact it seemed to grow even more.
"Why doesn't my vault run out of money and instead seems to be earning more?" asked Harry, somewhat puzzled.
"It's because you spend less than what you earn every year from your family's businesses as well as the interest you get here at Gringotts." answered the goblin, in a tone that suggested he knew what he was talking about.
"Do I have complete confidentiality here at Gringotts everytime I make a transaction?" asked Harry, as he filled his moneybag with about 10,000 galleons and exchanged another 5,000 galleons to muggle money.
"We keep every information about our customers confidential, not even the Ministry can do anything to reveal what we know, rest assured that any transactions done here at Gringotts is 100% safe." said the goblin, in the same tone that suggested he knew what he was saying.
As Harry was about to leave Gringotts, Harry shook the goblin's hand and gave a 5 galleon tip for his services and said, "Thank you for your assistance Mr.?"
"Crookedus, Crookedus Galleus, and no no no, thank YOU sir for being one of our customers here at Gringotts," said Crookedus, as he shook Harry's hand enthusiastically.
"Since I am still underage and cannot handle my assets at the moment as well as I will be quite busy for a while, how would you like to be my personal accountant and manage my assets, with pay of course?" asked Harry.
"It would be my honor Mr. Potter, indeed it would be my pleasure to be of service to you," said Crookedus, in an excited tone.
"It's settled then, if I need money or anything else pertaining my assets, I shall go directly to you or owl you when I can't come personally," said Harry.
"Certainly Mr. Potter, I'll do my very best not to disappoint you," said Crookedus, while smiling broadly which was very scary specially since it was a face of a goblin.
"Well then goodbye for now as I still have some other things to attend to," said Harry, and with that he left Gringotts ready for shopping in Knockturn Alley.
Before entering Knockturn Alley, Harry made sure to wear his hood so that no one would recognize him as well as made sure that his wand was in his hand just in case. Unlike Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley was a very dark and dangerous place, there were more witches and wizards out here at night than there was in Diagon Alley, and most of them were all suspicious looking. Harry's next stop was a shop in Knockturn Alley he had once visited accidentally during his second year, which was called Borgin & Burkes. Upon entering the shop with his hood up, he was greeted by an old man he had seen the last time he was here named Mr. Borgin.
"What may I be of service to you stranger?" asked Mr. Borgin, keeping a close eye on Harry and observing him with a piercing gaze.
"I am looking for an item or a spell that can let an underage wizard do magic without being detected by the ministry," said Harry, in a low but clear voice as he showed how much gold he had with him.
"And what may I ask are you going to do with such an item or spell?" asked Mr. Borgin, trying to figure out who the person in front of him is.
"That is non of your concern, I will ask once more, do you or do you not have such an item or spell, if not then I will be on my way and find someone else willing to sell me what I am looking for without any questions asked, because I can assure you Mr. Borgin I know a lot of people with many connections," bluffed Harry, trying to look and sound intimidating even though deep down inside he is starting to panic.
"Very well, wait here I'll just be a minute," said Mr. Borgin, after taking a minute to think about what Harry said to him.
A few minutes later, Mr. Borgin returns with a small box in his hand. Mr. Borgin opens the small box and then places it on top of his counter where Harry was waiting for him patiently.
"Here is what you are looking for, it's called the Oblittero Cogo Ring, it is only known by a few people and is very rare, it cancels out the charms used by the Ministry to monitor underage wizard." said Mr. Borgin, proudly.
"How do I know if it works or not?" asked Harry, as he took the ring out of the box and examined it closely. It was a plain silver ring with no markings whatsoever. After examining the ring, he then slipped it into his finger to see if it fits, and to his surprise it disappeared.
"You'll just have to take my word for it stranger, oh and that ring has an auto-size charm on it so that it would fit whoever wears it, it also has an invisibility charm so that it automatically disappears once you wear it in order to prevent others from seeing the ring," said Mr. Borgin, grinning.
"I am sorry Mr. Borgin but I just don't trust you, so I'll just have to try it out for myself," said Harry, and with speed acquired from playing quidditch and daily work outs, pulls out his wand and points it straight at Mr. Borgin.
Mr. Borgin's smile was suddenly replaced by a look of total surprise and fear as he unconsciously takes a step back.
"Yo...your bu...buying that ring for yourself?" asked Mr. Borgin, sill looking scared and shocked at the same time.
"Why yes of course Mr. Borgin, I am buying this ring for myself as I plan to use magic while I am away," said Harry, casually then asked in a serious tone, "I will ask you one last time, does this thing really work or is this a fake?"
"I...it's th...the re...real thing, yo...you have to believe me, I know when I should and should not fool a person, i...if yo...you want you can try it out right now for yourself, ju...just please don't blow me or my shop up," said Mr. Borgin, clearly scared of the person in front of him.
Without warning Harry cast a spell that he was sure that would just strike more fear in the heart of Mr. Borgin.
"Serpensortia," said Harry.
Upon casting the spell, a large snake about 5 feet long came out of his wand and was automatically in attack position.
Stop, just scare him, said Harry, in parseltongue.
"Yo...your a...a pa...parselmouth, i...impossible o...only th...the Da...dark Lo...lord and Harry Potter has that ability and yo...you can't possibly b...be th...the Da...dark Lo...lord, then that means your...," stuttered Mr. Borgin.
"Yes I am Mr. Borgin, and if you know what's good for you, you will keep quiet about everything that has happened here today, do you understand me Mr. Borgin?" said Harry, in his most threatening voice, which added to the effect of his appearance, although mentally kicking himself for exposing himself to this person.
"I...I understand quite clearly stranger," said Mr. borgin, fear very evident in his voice.
"Now, back to business, how much is this ring worth, and please be sure that it is the correct price," said Harry, still in his low but intimidating voice.
"Yo...you ca...can take it, it's yours, free of charge just please, leave my shop and never return," said Mr. Borgin.
"That cannot be possible Mr. Borgin surely this has a price, I came here to buy something, I didn't come here to steal, now tell me the price before I lose my patience," said Harry, clearly starting to get annoyed.
"We...well in that case, i...it's 200 galleons, surely you will understand why it's very expensive," explained Mr. Borgin, not taking his eyes away from the wand pointed at him.
"Now, that wasn't too hard, was it," said Harry, as he handed the money to Mr. Borgin.
"N...no st...stranger it was not," replied Mr. Borgin, still fearful of the person in front of him.
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Borgin, goodnight," said Harry, as he banished the snake and lowered his wand before slowly exiting the shop and head back to the Leaky Cauldron.
But before exiting the shop, Harry stopped then slowly turned around as if he remembered something he wanted to ask.
"Oh and Mr. Borgin?" asked Harry.
"Yes Mr. Po... eh... stranger, what is it?" asked Mr. Borgin, almost saying Harry's last name.
With lightning speed reflexes, Harry pulled his wand out again and pointed it at Mr. Borgin and said, "Obliviate," and with that everything that has happened for the past few minutes was erased from Mr. Borgin's mind.
Upon exiting Knockturn Alley, Harry hunched his back and let out an audible sigh of relief that he was finally out of that place. After a few minutes just standing there calming his nerves, Harry continued on and went back to the Leaky Cauldron. Upon entering the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was greeted again warmly by Tom.
"Welcome back Mr. Potter, did you have a nice stroll?" asked Tom, smiling.
"Yes I did, thank you for asking, it was quite an interesting stroll," said Harry, while grinning mischievously.
After eating his late night dinner, Harry was led to his room by Tom.
"Goodnight Tom, and thank you," said Harry, honestly.
"It was my pleasure Mr. Potter, if you need anything you know where to find me," said Tom, smiling as he left the room.
Harry, feeling mentally and physically exhausted because of the day's events decided to just remove his cloak and lay down on the bed and immediately fell asleep.
A/N: Well here's the 4th chapter to tell you the truth, this chapter due to your comments and suggestions I was able to lengthen my chapters and turned this chapter into 3 chapters longer than it's original one chapter which was supposed to be titled Knockturn Alley, Diagon Alley and ?? Street(this is the place he is going to be staying thanks to javierr55 who was the only that gave me a name of a street). Keep those reviews coming and once again thanks for your reviews, I always like to hear what my readers have in mind whether or not it is good or bad. How can I change and turn into a good writer if I only hear the good side of my writing=). Now I believe when I read from other fellow aspiring authors that it is such a wonderful feeling to hear what other people think about your work=). I hope you like this chapter as this is my longest chapter yet to come=) ENJOY!!! Oh and by the way if there are any Filipino readers of my fic could you guys pleassssssssssssssse leave me a message, I really am looking for fellow HP Fans in the Philippines. Life can be really boring when you seem to be the only one here in the Philippines that likes HP very much.